last campaign: and the more enlightened part of BOOK I. the public began extremely to doubt the policy 1691. of continuing the continental war at so enormous an expence and with so little effect. It was said, that the confederacy of continental princes, if they resolutely exerted their powers, was fully equal to check the ambitious projects of France; that England had but a remote and secondary interest in these contentions; that the emperor, depending on the strength and resources of Great Britain, pursued his victories in Hungary, apparently forgetful that he was himself the head of the league of Augsburg, and the chief of the grand alliance. "It would have cost less," says lord Delamere in his famous pamphlet, styled Impartial Enquiry, &c. "than the money given to have sent out yearly a royal fleet of an hundred sail for our defence and glory. This alone had secured Europe from French tyranny, had given safety and peace to England, and made all nations court our friendship. Surely these things could not have been forgotten, having been so lately proved by those who pursued this course, who were without right and title to the government, and yet were submitted to by all the world. But, on the contrary, these advisers must needs understand, that when they counselled the king to war against France at land, it must be upon very unequal terms both of expence and hazard. 1691. BOOK I Can we hope this summer, or the next, to gain those frontier cities and garrisons which it hath cost the French monarch near thirty years to complete and many millions to fortify?" The zealous whigs were not indeed at this time disposed to view the measures of the king with any peculiar predilection. The tories were still the favored and governing party; and at this very period the earl of Rochester, lord Ranelagh, and sir Edward Seymour, three of the leading men in that interest, were sworn of the privy council. The earl of Pembroke, a nobleman of respectable talents, and disinterested views, who attempted with reputation and success the difficult task of steering between the two opposite state factions, was advanced to the office of lord privy seal; and lord Sydney, a man of art and address, who retained a strong personal interest with the king, though a whig, was appointed lord Unpopula- lieutenant of Ireland. The behaviour of the king himself was not calculated to acquire popularity. He was of a disposition naturally silent, reserved, and thoughtful. He never appeared perfectly naturalised amongst the English; and was scarcely ever known to unbend himself but in company with his Dutch counsellors and favorites, Bentinck, Zuylestein, Auverquerque, &c. He avoided coming to the metropolis except on council days, and spent his leisure rity of the king. 1691. hours either in stag-hunting, of which diversion BOOK I. he was passionately fond, or at his favorite residence of Hampton Court, where he expended much money in magnificent and, as many affected to style them, superfluous embellishments. He was persuaded indeed to make a visit to the university of Cambridge, to partake, like king Charles II. of the sports of the turf at Newmarket, and to accept of the freedom of the city of London; but these condescensions not being natural to him, the coldness of his manner predominated over, and perhaps even cancelled, the sense of the obligation. the East An attempt, which extremely attracted the at- Affairs of tention of the public, was made during this session, India Com by a very powerful combination of commercial pany. adventurers, wholly to supersede and annihilate the existing East India Company, who had, as their enemies alleged, greatly abused their powers and privileges, and to establish a new company upon their ruins. This design was however opposed with vigor and spirit. The company was first incorporated in the 43d of Elizabeth, with an exclusive right of commerce, upon a joint stock, for the term of fifteen years. In the 7th of James I. they obtained a charter erecting them into a perpetual body politic. In the year 1661 they received from king Charles II. a charter of confirmation, with a donation shortly after BOOK I. wards from the royal bounty of the islands of 1691. Bombay and St. Helena. Lastly, another char ter of confirmation was granted them in the se- tion had been so busy in dividing, that the obli- BOOK I. gation of paying was forgotten. Lastly, it was 1691. alleged against them, that they had exceeded their powers, and had acted not only illegally but criminally, in putting persons to death at St. Helena by martial law, in contempt of the known constitution of the kingdom." The company replied, "that they had neither exceeded their powers nor abused their trust. Among their powers was that of holding courts-martial, and of military punishments. Even in the affair of St. Helena, which had drawn down upon them such heavy censure, they were justified by an express commission from the late king James; that the temper of the court was such at the time this commission was granted, that if they had presumed to question its validity, or even to insinuate the expediency of its being ratified in parliament, they had exchanged protection for indignation, and been infallibly exposed to all the rigors of a quo warranto. As to the war with the Mogul, it was so far from being perfidious, unprovoked, and piratical, as represented by their adversaries, that it was just, necessary, and unavoidable.* Un * The partisans of the existing company having pretended that the war with the Mogul had terminated in a very advantageous peace, their opponents were malicious enough to publish a translation of the phirmaund issued upon that occasion by Aurengzebe, emperor of Hindostan, which is as fol |