firmed this account with many additional circum- BOOK III. stances, saying that a commission had been 1696. brought over from the late king, authorising this attempt on the person of the prince of Orange, and that more than forty persons were engaged in the said design, which was called "attacking the prince of Orange in his winter quarters." He further declared, that Saturday the 15th instant was the day fixed upon for putting their plan in execution, and that the attempt was to be made on a certain spot between Brentford and Turnham Green, as the king came in the evening from hunting, according to his usual custom: and that, in case of resistance from the guards, he was to be killed. But this informer pertinaciously persisting in his refusal to specify the individuals engaged in this plot, the king, who was little subject to alarms, treated the whole story as a fiction, and declared his resolution to hunt in the forest as usual on the succeeding Saturday. But in the evening of the 14th, lord Information Portland, going late to his apartments at White- grass. hall, found a person of the name of Pendergrass, who desired to speak with him on a subject of the highest importance, which could not be deferred: and being admitted to an audience, he accosted the earl in these words :-"My lord, persuade the king to stay at home to-morrow; for, if he goes to hunt, he will be assassinated." He then pro

of Pendi

BOOK III. ceeded to give a detail, in substance the same 1696. with what had been already recounted by Fisher. This informer acknowledged himself to be " an Irishman and a papist." But he declared, "that when this business was proposed to him, he was struck with horror, and immediately resolved to discover it—that his religion was accused of authorising and encouraging such actions; but that he for his part abhorred such principles, though in all other respects he was a true catholic. And he thought it most advisable to impart it to his lordship, as the person whose zeal and fidelity were fittest to be relied on." Like Fisher, however, he absolutely refused to mention the names of any of the parties concerned in the plot.

The earl of Portland immediately repaired to Kensington, though at a late and unseasonable hour; and, having obtained access to the king, who had retired to rest, informed him of the additional evidence by which the reality of the conspiracy was now confirmed. On hearing this, the king thought proper to alter his resolution of hunting on the morrow. This appears to have excited no alarm amongst the conspirators, as being attributed to accident; and the execution of the design was postponed to the following Saturday. In the interim, a third witness, named De la Rue, came to sir William Trumbull, and discovered not only the particulars of the conspi

racy as before related, but the names of divers of BOOK III. the conspirators, who were said to be sir George 1696. Berkeley, sir William Perkins, Charnock, Parker, Porter, &c. &c. Fisher and Pendergrass, hearing this, consented at length to come forward as legal witnesses. No suspicion being even yet entertained by the conspirators of a discovery, they met at Porter's lodgings, Pendergrass and De la Rue being of the number, on the morning of the 22d; and in the midst of their consultations they received intelligence that the king's hunting was a second time put off; upon which the company fell into a consternation, and talked of treachery and, after drinking confusion to the prince of Orange, they separated in great confusion themselves.

Warrants being issued the evening of the same day, various of the conspirators were apprehended in their beds. At this critical juncture advices were received from the elector of Bavaria, governor of the Low Countries, that the French troops stationed on the coasts of Normandy and Picardy were in motion, and ships of war and transports assembling in different ports of the channel. It was resolved, therefore, without farther delay, to communicate the whole of this extraordinay business to parliament; and on Monday the 24th of February, the king in an interesting speech

1696.

BOOK III. from the throne apprised the two houses that he had received several concurring informations of a design to assassinate him; and that the enemies of the kingdom were very forward in their preparations for a sudden invasion. The parliament, astonished and inflamed at this intelligence, voted unanimously a most loyal and affectionate address,

National Associa sion.

66

expressing their detestation of so villainous and barbarous a design, and their resolution to revenge the same on his majesty's enemies and their adherents." A bill was immediately ordered in for suspending the habeas-corpus act; and the model of an association was immediately drawn, to be signed by the members of the house, nearly in the terms of the address, solemnly declaring that his present majesty king William is rightful and lawful king of these realms. Above 400 members of the house signed this association immediately; and an order was made, that all members should sign the same, or declare their refusal, on or before the 16th of March. was a procedure extremely obnoxious to the high tories and concealed Jacobites. "The distinction of a king de facto and a king de jure was revived on this occasion; and all the ability of the party was exhausted in their endeavours to shew, both from authority and argument, that they ought not to be pressed on this head; and that compli

This

ance or non-compliance ought not to be esteemed BOOK HIT. the test of a good subject*."

In the house of lords, where the same association was proposed, the words rightful and lawful were strenuously attacked on the old ground, as not applicable to an elected sovereign; and the earl of Rochester moved, that in the stead of them should be inserted દ that his present majesty king William hath a right by law tó the crown of this realm; and that neither king James, nor the pretended prince of Wales, nor any other person, hath any right whatsoever to the same." This was indeed a very nice and curious, if not rather a senseless and untelligible, distinction: yet it served as a salvo for the honor of the party; and it was wisely adopted by the house, in order to conciliate the more moderate tories, who throughout the kingdom signed the association of the lords, while the whigs adhered to that of the commons. And the originals of both were, conformably to an address of the commons to the king, lodged among the records in the Tower, there to remain as a perpetual memorial of the national loyalty. As a further proof of their attachment to the present establishment, towards the close of the session a bill was introduced with general approba

Ralph, vol. ii. p. 623.

1695.