Willingly would the mind ascribe to the immediate agents of this horrid business, all the execration that is due to it, and transfer it, if possible, from one of the greatest and best of sovereigns ; but, after all allowances, it is impossible to exculpate William from all knowledge and consent in the transaction. He was beset, indeed, with sanguinary ministers, and he was, in some degree, deceived and betrayed into an act of cruelty, inconsistent with the general tenor of his mild and merciful charac ter ; but no enquiry was made at the time, and no punish ment \vas afterwards inflicted on the authors of the massacre.
The king having settled the affairs of the nation, went abroad in March to promote the measures of the grand confederacy against France. Whilst he was thus employed, the emissaries of James conveyed notice to the disaffected at home, that the late king was prepay ing to make a descent upon England, at the head of 30,000 men, and that a French fleet which was to con vey them would sail from La Hogue. The intrigues of James's friends had already been conducted within the verge of the court ; a formidable party of the nobility was implicated in the present conspiracy ; and, if we may believe the assertions of some writers, the Princess Anne, herself, sought to expiate her past conduct to her father, by infidelity to her sister. But the court of England was the easier informed of these designs, by pretended converts.' William, abroad, hastened the preparations of the Dutch, and detached several regi ments from Holland. The measures of the queen's ministry at home, were prudent and spirited.
A camp was marked between Petersfield and Ports mouth ; and the militia, both of England and Scotland, were called out. On the 18th of May, the combined fleets of England and Holland, consisting of 99 ships of the line, sailed from St Helen's. The main fleet of France, under Tourville, consisting of about 50 ships of the line, was at that time at sea, in quest of the Eng lish, and was descried next day, about three o'clock in the morning, seven leagues from Barfleur By the good fortune and good plans of the English council, the four allied fleets had united before they sailed, a circum stance unknown to the enemy, who, trusting that they should meet the allies in divisions, had ordered Tourville to give battle wherever lie found them. The French admiral, either trusting to the defection of the English seamen, or impelled by his peremptory orders and his high courage, bore down with his flag ship, the Rising. Sun, of 110 guns, upon the English admiral, Russel ; and the other ships following soon after, the engage ment became general. About four in the afternoon, a thick fog parted the combatants, but a running fight was renewed in two hours, which was again closed by darkness. The chace was continued next day along the French coast. On the third day, Tourvillc, with a part of the remains of his fleet, fled to Cherbourg. Eighteen more of the enemy sought refuge near La Hogue, and others escaped through the race at Alderney. The
English Admiral, Delarclle, pursued and burnt several of the former, and then rejoined the commander in chief, who employed the subsequent days in attacking those ships which had repaired to La Hogue. They were now reduced to 13, but were covered by two forts, while the whole of the French army, and of James's followers, were drawn up on the adjoining shore. The ships themselves were drawn as far up upon the shallows as tides and cables could bring them. Nothing, however, could resist the British seamen, who crowded in barges, under cover of such frigates as could be brought suffi ciently near, boarded the whole fleet, and climbing up the ships on one side, drove out the French with little resistance on the other, and then destroyed them, When James beheld the efforts of his late subjects thus employ ed against himself, he could not restrain his admiration of their gallantry ; but exclaimed, "Ali, none but my brave English could do this :" The victory of La Hogue overthrew, for the present, if it did not eradicate, the hopes of the Jacobites. Wil liam spent a considerable part of the succeeding year on the continent, in the conduct of those important campaigns against Louis which do not belong properly to our history. The other warlike enterprizes of Eng land, during the same year, were unimportant ; the political struggles between William and his parliament were vehement as before, but did not impede the sup plies which the commons, in the midst of complaints at the king's rejection of several popular bills, (the bill for triennial parliaments in particular,) still liberally granted. The king, who had, soon after his accession, thrown himself into the hands of the Tories, was in duced, by the advice of Lord Sunderland, to recal a mixture of the Whigs into his councils. The,effects of this change were displayed in the enactment of a bill for triennial parliaments in 1694, to which the king gave his assent ; a renovation in the constitution, which un happily was too soon forgotten. On the 28th of Decem ber, William was deprived, by death, of his consort Mary. She died of the smallpox in her 33(1 year, to the inexpressible grief of his majesty, who, for some weeks after her death, could neither see company, nor attend to the affairs of the state. The conduct of this prin cess has been taxed with want of natural affection, from the indifference with which she is said to have ascended the throne of her father, and witnessed his misfortunes ; hut it should be remembered, that William's marriage with her was founded upon affection, and that they had long lived in the most endearing connection of life, be fore the bigotry of her father precipitated him from the throne. She could not have deserted William ; nor was she culpable to have endured with serenity the promo tion of the cause of religion and human happiness, of which her husband was the leader. Her personal worth could not be small, nor her affections unamiablc, to whom such a husband was so tenderly devoted.