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.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way 1st Edition Jeffrey Palermo instant download

.NET DevOps for Azure by Jeffrey Palermo provides a comprehensive guide to implementing DevOps architecture effectively on the Azure platform. The book covers essential topics such as deployment, continuous integration, and monitoring, along with practical examples and tools necessary for a professional-grade DevOps environment. It aims to equip developers with the knowledge and skills needed to streamline their development processes in the cloud.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
53 views

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way 1st Edition Jeffrey Palermo instant download

.NET DevOps for Azure by Jeffrey Palermo provides a comprehensive guide to implementing DevOps architecture effectively on the Azure platform. The book covers essential topics such as deployment, continuous integration, and monitoring, along with practical examples and tools necessary for a professional-grade DevOps environment. It aims to equip developers with the knowledge and skills needed to streamline their development processes in the cloud.

Uploaded by

takbirzordu
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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.NET DevOps
for Azure
A Developer’s Guide to DevOps
Architecture the Right Way

Jef frey Palermo

www.allitebooks.com
.NET DevOps for Azure
A Developer’s Guide to DevOps
Architecture the Right Way

Jeffrey Palermo

www.allitebooks.com
.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way

Jeffrey Palermo
Austin, TX, USA

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-5342-7     ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-5343-4 


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5343-4

Copyright © 2019 by Jeffrey Palermo


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the
material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
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every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an
editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the
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The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not
identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to
proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,
neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or
omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein.
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Printed on acid-free paper

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To my wonderful wife Liana.
Thank you for your help, your smile, and for keeping
the kids out of my office while I finished the last chapter.

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Table of Contents
About the Author����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi
Acknowledgments������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiii
Introduction�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xvii

Chapter 1: Introduction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
The Problem���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
The Challenge of Explosive Growth����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 2
No End-to-end Reference Implementation������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 4
The Solution���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
DevOps Architecture���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5
DevOps Methodology������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15
How to Get Started���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 17
Application Runtime Architectures���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18
The Necessary Tools�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19
The Sample Application��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19
About the Book���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
Wrap Up�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 23
Bibliography�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 24

Chapter 2: Zero to Azure in 60 Minutes������������������������������������������������������������������ 25


Deploy an App to App Service����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 25
Download and Test the App��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 26
Create the Azure App Service Web App��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 28
Deployment with Visual Studio��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 30
Deployment Slots������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 33
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 38
Additional Reading���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 38
v

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Table of Contents

Continuous Integration and Deployment������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 38


Publish the App’s Code to GitHub������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 39
Disconnect Local Git Deployment������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 40
Create an Azure DevOps Organization����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 41
Configure the Azure Pipelines Pipeline���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 42
Commit Changes to GitHub and Automatically Deploy to Azure�������������������������������������������� 51
Examine the Azure Pipelines pipeline������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 53
Additional Reading���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 60
Monitor and Debug��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 60
Basic Monitoring and Troubleshooting���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 60
Advanced Monitoring������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 63
Profile with Application Insights�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 63
Logging���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 67
Log Streaming����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 68
Alerts������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 68
Live Debugging���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
Conclusion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 69
Additional Reading���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 70
Wrap Up�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 70

Chapter 3: The Professional-Grade DevOps Environment��������������������������������������� 71


The State of DevOps������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 72
Removing the Ambiguity from DevOps���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 73
A Professional-Grade DevOps Vision������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 75
DevOps Architecture������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 76
Version Control���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 77
Private Build�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 78
Continuous Integration Build������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 78
Package Management����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 80
Test-Driven Development Environment (TDD Environment)�������������������������������������������������� 80
Manual Test Environment������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 81

vi
Table of Contents

Production Environment�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 82
Production Monitoring and Diagnostics�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 82
Tools of the Professional DevOps Environment��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 83
Azure DevOps Services��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 84
Azure Subscription���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85
Visual Studio 2019����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 86
A DevOps-Centered Application�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 86
Using Onion Architecture to Enable DevOps�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 87
Implementing Onion Architecture in .NET Core��������������������������������������������������������������������� 90
Integrating DevOps Assets����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 92
Wrap Up�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 94
Bibliography�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 94

Chapter 4: Tracking Work��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 95


Change your Process Template��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 96
Types of Work Items������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 100
Customizing your Process��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 102
Working with the Process��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 106
Linking Commits������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 106
Branching from Azure Boards���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 108
Merging Using Pull Requests����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 111
Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 113
Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 115

Chapter 5: Tracking Code������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 117


How Many Repositories?���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 117
What Should be in Your Git Repository�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 120
The Structure of the Git Repository������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 122
Choosing a Branching Pattern�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126
Useful Tips in Azure Repos Configuration��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127
How does GitHub Fit in?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 128

vii
Table of Contents

Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 128


Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 128

Chapter 6: Building Code�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 131


Structure of a Build������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 131
Flow of a Build on a Feature Branch����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 132
Flow of a Build on the Master Branch��������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 133
Steps of a Build������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 134
Using Builds with .NET Core and Azure Pipelines��������������������������������������������������������������������� 137
Enabling Continuous Delivery’s Commit Stage�������������������������������������������������������������������� 138
Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 146
Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 152

Chapter 7: Validating the Code����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153


Strategy for Defect Detection���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 153
Strategy and Execution of Defect Detection������������������������������������������������������������������������ 156
Code Validation in the DevOps Pipeline������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 158
Static Analysis��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 160
Testing��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 161
Inspections�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 164
Implementing Defect Detection������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 166
Static Analysis��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 166
Testing��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 169
Inspections�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179
Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 180
Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 180

Chapter 8: Release Candidate Creation���������������������������������������������������������������� 183


Designing Your Release Candidate Architecture����������������������������������������������������������������������� 183
Creating and Using Release Candidate Packages��������������������������������������������������������������� 185
Defining the Bounds of a Package�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 186

viii
Table of Contents

Azure Artifacts Workflow for Release Candidates��������������������������������������������������������������������� 188


Specifying How Packages are Created�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 190
Use Release Candidate Packages in Deployment Configurations��������������������������������������� 194
Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 197
Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 197

Chapter 9: Deploying the Release������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199


Designing Your Deployment Pipeline���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 199
Determining Environments�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 200
Assigning Validation Steps to Environments����������������������������������������������������������������������� 203
Deploying Data Changes Across Environments������������������������������������������������������������������� 205
Choosing Your Runtime Architecture����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 208
Implementing the Deployment in Azure Pipelines�������������������������������������������������������������������� 212
Deploying an Application Component���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 219
Running Test Suites Using a Release Configuration������������������������������������������������������������ 229
Differences in the UAT and Production Environments��������������������������������������������������������� 240
Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 245
Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 245

Chapter 10: Operating and Monitoring the Release���������������������������������������������� 247


Principles���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 248
Architecture for Observability��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 250
Jumpstarting Observability������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 253
Wrap Up������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 264
Bibliography������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 264

Afterword�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 265

Index��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 269

ix
About the Author
Jeffrey Palermo is currently the Chief Architect and CEO of Clear Measure, Inc., a
DevOps-centered software engineering company. He is also the founder of the Azure
DevOps Podcast and the Azure DevOps User Group. Previously he was a founding board
member of AgileAustin, the founder of AzureAustin, and a leader in the Austin .NET User
Group.
Jeffrey is a well-known author and international public speaker. He has received
13 Most Valuable Professional awards from Microsoft and has spoken at industry
conferences such as Microsoft TechEd, Microsoft Ignite, Microsoft Build, DevTeach,
VSLive, and various other regional conferences. Jeffrey has other books in the ASP.NET
MVC in Action series as well as two video books on ASP.NET MVC and nearly a dozen
magazine articles on various .NET development topics.
Jeffrey resides just outside of Austin, TX, with his wife, three children,
and various livestock.

xi
Acknowledgments
First, I must thank God and his son, Jesus, for giving me the ability to think and
write. Next, I’d like to thank my beautiful wife, Liana, for being awesome at her job
and affording me the flexibility to go away and concentrate for long periods of time
while writing this text. With three kids in the household, she is an expert mother and
homemaker, and this book would not exist without her expert work. Thank you to my
kids, Gwyneth Rose, Xander Jeffrey-Boris, and Annika Noel. Thanks also to my parents,
Peter and Rosemary Palermo, for instilling in me a love of books and learning from
an early age. I also need to recognize my college professor at Texas A&M, Mike Hnatt,
who, through his programming courses, business coaching, and ongoing friendship,
has continued to mentor me. Additionally, I’d like to acknowledge Jack Welch, of whose
MBA program I am a graduate. From him, his books, and his curriculum, I learned to use
fewer words when presenting ideas and information.
To Steve Hickman, thank you for being my first and longest-tenured software mentor.
Steve was my first boss. He hired me for my first programming position 22 years ago. He
now mentors the software engineers and architects at Clear Measure, Inc. He has been
instrumental in forming the vision for how to simplify software engineering on the .NET
platform.
To Megan Beutler, thank you for your ongoing encouragement. Megan has
been a part of Clear Measure for over five years and has been a constant source of
encouragement and positivity. She brightens the day of anyone in her path.
To the engineers and architects at Clear Measure, Inc., who are blazing the trail of
better .NET software methods and the DevOps approach illustrated in this book. Without
the learning from the many client projects, the guidance of this book would not exist.
Thank you to Rayne Fulton, Tony Fauss, Nick Becker, Scott Wilson, Troy Vinson, Danny
Vandergriff, Vlad Serafimov, Eric Fleming, Colin Pear, Corey Keller, Kyle Nunery, Eric
Williams, Mike Alpert, Mike Sigsworth, Zeeshan Ansari, Joe Lockbaum, Valerie Gurka,
Haley Akchurin, Trish Polay, Eric Farr, Richard Hartness, Monica Pritchard, Jim Wallace,
Justin Basinger, and Chris Thomas.
To Scott Guthrie, whose leadership at Microsoft not only with .NET but also
with the Azure platform has made it the leading computing platform on the planet.

xiii
Acknowledgments

I’ve considered Scott a friend since 2006. In 2017, I met with Scott at his office for
almost an hour talking about the problem that is addressed in this book. That most
.NET developers have too many options, too many disconnected tools, and that the
DevOps environment for .NET and Azure isn’t defined in a cohesive, simple way. Scott
encouraged me to build the model that would show developers how to bring everything
together.
To Scott Hunter, who heads up the .NET platform at Microsoft. Scott and I discussed
this book in mid-2018 over lunch, mulling over the complexity of choices developers need
to make when choosing how to bring together the different elements of the Microsoft
platform in order to create an environment that causes the “pit of success” – where things
fall into place because everything is integrated properly. Thank you, Scott, for being the
sponsor of this book.
Finally, I’d like to mention some influential people who have taught me, knowingly
or not, some key skills and habits along my career. Each of these has had either a direct
or indirect impact on the synthesis of ideas and patterns in this book. First, Robbie
McDonald, who took a chance on a cold resume for an internship at Dell. Through
the chance he took on me, I was exposed very early in my career to very complex,
sophisticated, and high-scale computer systems. Next, Eric Brand was the first architect
I worked under. At that time, I didn’t understand the difference between a software
developer and a software architect. Eric was patient, encouraging, and always had
time for questions. Under his projects, I became deeply adept with the .NET runtime
and SQL Server, much more than I had been in the past. When the Iraq war started in
2003, my Army Reserve unit was called up for back-to-back tours in Iraq for 15 months.
I was paired with Brett Rogers as co-truck-commanders in our HET tank transport
company. Brett was also a .NET developer. Thanks, Brett, for the welcome .NET pair
programming out in the Iraq desert. Next, I’d like to acknowledge Steve Donie. Steve
taught me continuous integration and the mechanisms of build scripts. The build script
in this book is an adaptation of build scripts he authored many years ago in both Ant and
NAnt. Additionally, Jeremy Miller taught me dependency management and test-driven
development. As the author of StructureMap, Jeremy afforded me an opportunity to
contribute to that open source project as well as the deep learning applying it on some
complex software projects. Paul Leury also played a key role in some of the patterns in
this book. Paul hired me into my first management position. The team I managed under
Paul built a significant native Windows desktop application. During that project, my
thoughts on hub and spoke architecture and application buses solidified. The learning

xiv
Acknowledgments

on that project made its way into the application bus pattern in the MvcContrib open
source library as well as some projects that contributed to Jimmy Bogard’s Mediatr
library. Code in this example application is adapted from both of those open source
projects. I next must thank Eric Hexter and Stephen Balkum for hiring me as an
independent consultant advising one of their team architects, Blake Caraway, who has
remained a good friend. Through that work, the guidance on team workflow and process
emerged. Additionally, Eric has been a thought leader on deployment automation and
production operations. I learned a great deal in those areas from him. He was a terrific
asset as a cofounder of the MvcContrib OSS project as well as a coauthor with me on
previous books in the “ASP.NET MVC in Action” series. Some of his work is cited in this
book. Additionally, I thank my previous coauthors of various books. In working with
them I became better at authoring larger bodies of work. Thanks to Ben Scheirman,
Jimmy Bogard, Jeremy Skinner, Matt Hinze, and Eric Hexter. Finally, thanks to all the
great people in the Microsoft MVP program. I’ve learned something from each of you
since my time in the program from 2006 until now. Specifically, thanks to Carl Franklin,
for helping me start the Azure DevOps Podcast and for your friendship.
My final acknowledgment goes to Kevin Hurwitz. We made the transition from
developer to architect at a similar time. Kevin was instrumental as a sounding board,
challenger, and coprofessional with me as we developed some of the ideas in this book
while working on mutual projects. Notably was when Kevin introduced me to the SQL
schema migration pattern that has now become industry standard and implemented
by multiple libraries and products. The pattern he taught me is now recognized across
the DevOps community and is in this book. Kevin has also contributed to many of the
other ideas that have made their way into this book. Thank you, Kevin, for your ideas,
innovation, and your friendship over the years.

xv
Introduction
This book has been a culmination of long-time vision, some key leadership, and a
confluence of industry events. Almost 15 years ago, the author gained a passion for
helping developers succeed, for making the complex simple, and for finding rules of
thumb that would work for 80% of situations. With too many options in the software world
and too many answers of “it depends,” the industry has been starved for the ability to do
something “by the book.” This book seeks to provide that text where a .NET developer
can say “I’m doing DevOps with .NET and Azure by the book.” In this manner, one would
know what models and patterns were in play and what to expect from said environment.
This book is being released while .NET Core 3 is in preview status; therefore, the version
of the book should be considered preview as well. The examples largely use Visual Studio
2019 preview edition. The code itself and the Azure DevOps Services pipeline function
perfectly well with .NET Core 2.2, however, and can be used to implement applications
immediately. It is the intent of the author to release a .NET Core 3 edition aligning with
Microsoft’s release schedule. The example configuration used throughout this book
can be leveraged through a public project and source code repository online
at https://dev.azure.com/clearmeasurelabs/Onion-DevOps-Architecture.

xvii
CHAPTER 1

Introduction
You, dear reader, are starting down the path of excellence. By picking up this book, you
are showing your leadership and resolve to equip your development organization to be
world class, competing with any other development group on the planet. You are taking
initiative. You are a software leader. You are confronting the challenge head-on. This
book is for you. This book is a synthesis of practices, tools, and processes that, together,
can equip a software organization to move fast and deliver software of the highest
quality. In this chapter, we cover the relevant common problem our industry faces, the
solution to that problem, and how to implement it for your team. This text goes hand in
hand with a fully implemented example publicly available at https://dev.azure.com/
clearmeasurelabs/Onion-DevOps-Architecture.

T he Problem
Every day, millions of developers use .NET to build and operate mission-critical software
systems for organizations around the world. Visual Studio, .NET, and Windows Server,
whether on-premise or in Azure, provide astounding capabilities that enable any
kind of software. The marketplace has scores of books, online courses, and tutorials
teaching every technology framework and language feature. Microsoft’s own online
documentation is broad and comprehensive. The Microsoft platform, along with the
marketplaces, extensions, and packages, has a building block for everything you can
imagine. BUT, it is completely up to you to put it all the blocks together in just the right
way for YOUR environment. This book seeks to change that.

1
© Jeffrey Palermo 2019
J. Palermo, .NET DevOps for Azure, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5343-4_1
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
were violent denunciations of any liberty to Nonconformists, and
they again voted the continuance of the Conventicle Act. They then
adjourned from the 8th of May to the 11th of August.
Buckingham, who, during the session of Parliament, had not found
himself very popular, now the object of driving out Clarendon was
accomplished, in seeking to strengthen his party by removing such
as were not favourable to him, drove his plans almost too far. He
had a dread of Clarendon returning through the influence of his
daughter, the Duchess of York, and he endeavoured to undermine
the duke with the king. He blamed the conduct of the Admiralty, at
the head of which James was; he displaced James's friends, and put
his own dependents into offices in James's own department, in spite
of his remonstrances; he spread rumours that the duke had lost the
royal favour, and was about to be dismissed from the office of Lord
Admiral. He even affected to go about with armed followers, on the
plea of being in danger from the duke. But Charles soon convinced
the minister that these attempts were vain, and then Buckingham
began to pay court to the duke, which was repelled with contempt.
The only mode of maintaining favour with Charles was to find plenty
of money, and as Buckingham had failed in that, he recommended
retrenchment and economy, which suited Charles still less. For the
rest, both Court and minister went on their way of open profligacy,
and it would have been difficult to say which was the most void of
shame or principle, the king or his chief servant. Charles was
surrounded by Sedley, Buckhurst, and other libertines, who treated
all the decencies of life with contempt, and the monarch laughed
and encouraged them. Though Miss Stewart had become Duchess of
Richmond, he continued his attentions to her. He had elevated
actresses to places in his harem, who bore the familiar names of
Moll Davies and Nell Gwynn. Moll Davies was a dancer, Nelly was an
actress of much popularity, and was a gay, merry, and witty girl, who
extremely amused the king by her wild sallies. By Mary Davies he
had a daughter, who afterwards married into the noble family of
Radclyffe. Nell was the mother of the first Duke of St. Albans; and
Castlemaine, who had now a whole troop of little Fitzroys, was
during the next year made Duchess of Cleveland. Another lady was
already on the way from France, sent by the cunning Louis XIV. for
his own purposes. As for Buckingham, he very successfully imitated
his royal master. In January of this year he fought a duel with Lord
Shrewsbury, whose wife he had seduced; and Pepys says that it was
reported that Lady Shrewsbury, in the dress of a page, held the
duke's horse whilst he killed her husband. He then took her to his
own house, and on his wife remarking that it was not fit for herself
and his mistress to live together, he replied, "Why, so I have been
thinking, madame, and therefore I have ordered your coach to carry
you to your father's."

SAMUEL PEPYS. (After the Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller.)


[See larger version]
In this precious Court the subject of religion was just now an
interesting topic. The Duke of York told Charles secretly that he
could no longer remain even ostensibly a Protestant, and meant to
avow his Popery. Charles replied that he was thinking of the very
same thing, and they would consult with the Lords Arundel and
Arlington, and Sir Thomas Clifford. They had a private meeting in the
duke's closet; but though their three counsellors were Catholics open
or concealed, they advised Charles to consult with Louis XIV. before
taking so important a step. The French king was apprehensive that
his avowal of Popery would occasion disturbances amongst his
subjects, but these might be put down by the assistance of French
money and French troops. That was the object at which Louis knew
that this abandoned king was really driving, and the price of this
assistance was to be England's co-operation in Louis's schemes of
boundless ambition. Instead of Charles inducing Louis to maintain
peace with Holland, it was the object of Louis to drive Charles to
break again the Triple Alliance, and plunge once more into the
horrors of a wicked and mischievous war with that country. Charles
hated the Dutch for the treatment he had received in Holland whilst
an exile, and for the humiliations he had been subjected to in the
last war. Louis wanted not only to swallow up the bulk of that
country in his vast plans of aggrandisement, but also make himself
master of Spain in case of the death of the young Spanish king. The
pretended desire of Charles to adopt open Popery was merely a feint
to secure the French king's money, and the next question which he
raised was, whether he should avow himself before the rupture with
Holland or afterwards. The Duke of York was in earnest, Charles was
only playing with the Catholic scheme as a bait; and he afterwards
told his sister, the Duchess of Orleans, at Dover, that "he was not so
well satisfied with the Catholic religion, or his own condition, as to
make it his faith." Lord Arundel and Sir Richard Billings were sent to
Paris to secure the promised cash, and to keep up the farce of his
conversion.
Whilst these infamous negotiations were going on, Buckingham was
exerting himself to ruin the Duke of York's prospects of the
succession. He observed the king's fondness for his natural son by
Lucy Walters, who had borne the name of Crofts, and he caught at
the idea of Charles legitimating him. Charles had created him Duke
of Monmouth, and married him to the wealthy heiress of Buccleuch.
Buckingham asked the king why not acknowledge a private marriage
with his mother, and suggested that plenty of witnesses might be
found to swear to it; but the answer of Charles destroyed this vision,
who declared that he would see the lad hanged sooner than own
him as his legitimate son. Buckingham, still not disconcerted,
proposed an absurd scheme of carrying the queen privately to the
Plantations, where she would never more be heard of; and next a
divorce from her on account of her barrenness, and a second
marriage. Bishop Burnet, afterwards of Sarum, had decided that
such cause was sufficient for divorce, and that it only wanted an Act
of Parliament authorising the divorced parties to marry again.
Charles listened sufficiently to cause them to attempt such an Act. It
was sought for in the case of Lord Ross, whose wife was living in
open adultery; but it was soon rumoured what was the ultimate
object of it. The Duke of York, therefore, opposed the Bill with all his
might, and Charles supported it with equal ardour, even taking his
seat on the throne in the Lords whilst it was discussed, to encourage
his party. The Bill was carried, and the right to marry again has
always since then been recognised in Bills of Divorce; but Charles
again disappointed Buckingham, for he showed no desire to make
use of it in his own case.
The King obtained from Parliament considerable supplies in the
spring Session of 1670, for his consent to the renewal of the
Conventicle Act, and the fury of persecution was let loose against
the Nonconformists. Spies and informers were everywhere, and
many of the Dissenters, to save their property, and their persons
from prison, were fain to forego their usual assembling for worship
in their chapels. The Society of Friends, however, scorned to
concede even in appearance to this religious intolerance. They
persisted in meeting as usual. They were dragged thence before
magistrates, and on refusing to pay the fines were thrust into prison.
No sooner were they liberated, however, than they returned, as
usual, to their meetings, and when the doors were locked against
them, assembled in the street, and held their meetings there. On
one of these occasions, William Penn, son of Admiral Penn, and
afterwards the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania, was taken with
William Mead, another minister of the Society, at an open-air
meeting in Gracechurch Street. They were thrust into Newgate, and
brought to trial in September, 1670, before the Recorder of London,
John Howell, and the Lord Mayor, Samuel Starling. This trial forms
one of the most brilliant facts in the history of the independence of
trial by jury, and has often been reprinted. Both Penn and Mead
made noble defences, and terribly puzzled the Recorder as to the
law of the case. They demanded to know on what law the
indictment was based. The Recorder replied the "common law."
They begged to be shown it. On this he flew into a passion, and
asked them if they thought he carried the common law on his back.
It had been founded on hundreds of adjudged cases, and some of
the ablest lawyers could scarcely tell what it was. Penn replied that if
it was so difficult to produce, it could not be common law. He still
pressed for this law, and the Recorder replied, "It is lex non scripta,
that which many have studied thirty or forty years to know, and
would you have me tell you in a moment?" "Certainly," replied Penn;
"if the common law be so hard to be understood, it is far from being
common." And he proceeded to tell them what the law was, and
how the rights of prisoners were secured by the Acts of Henry III.
and Edwards I. and III. On this the court became furious, and the
Lord Mayor said, "My lord, if you take not some course with this
pestilent fellow, to stop his mouth, we shall not be able to do
anything to-night."
This was the style of treatment throughout the trial, but the
prisoners stood firm, and were therefore taken away and thrust into
the bail-dock whilst the Recorder charged the jury. But as the
prisoners could catch what he was saying, which was most grossly
false, Penn shouted out that it was contrary to all law to charge the
jury in the absence of the prisoners. He then told the jury that they
were his judges, and that they could not return a verdict till they
were fully heard. The Recorder shouted, "Pull that fellow down, pull
him down." Under such circumstances of violence, violence only too
common in those days, the jury proceeded to bring in their verdict,
which was, "Guilty of Speaking in Gracechurch Street." "And is that
all?" exclaimed the Lord Mayor. "You mean guilty of speaking to a
tumultuous assembly." The foreman replied, "My lord, that is all that
I have in commission." In a fury, and with much browbeating, the
jury were sent back to amend their verdict, but when again called
into court, they brought it in writing, with all their signatures, only
strengthening it by adding, "or preaching to an assembly." As that
was no crime, the court in a rage ordered the jury to be shut up all
night without meat, drink, fire, candle, tobacco, or any of the most
necessary accommodations. Penn enjoined them to stand firm, and
not give away their right, and one of them, named Edward Bushell,
declared they never would. When brought up the next day, the jury
declared they had no other verdict. This infuriated the Lord Mayor
and Recorder beyond patience, and they vowed they would have a
verdict out of them, or they should starve for it. Bushell replied they
had acted according to their conscience, whereupon the Mayor said,
"That conscience of yours would cut my throat, but I will cut yours
as soon as I can." The Recorder added, addressing Bushell, "You are
a factious fellow; I will set a mark upon you, and whilst I have
anything to do in the City, I will have an eye upon you." The Lord
Mayor, addressing the jury, said, "Have you no more wit than to be
led by such a pitiful fellow? I will cut his nose."
Penn protested against their jury being thus insulted and abused.
"Unhappy," he exclaimed, "are these juries, who are threatened to
be starved, fined, and ruined if they give not in their verdict contrary
to their consciences." "My lord," cried the Recorder, "you must take a
course with this fellow;" and the Mayor shouted, "Stop his mouth!
Gaoler, bring fetters and stake him to the ground!" To which Penn
replied, "Do your pleasure: I matter not your fetters!" On this the
Recorder exclaimed, "Till now I never understood the reason of the
policy and prudence of the Spaniards in suffering the Inquisition
among them; and certainly it will never be well with us till something
like the Spanish Inquisition be in England." The jury was again shut
up all night under the same condition of starvation, darkness, and
destitution of common conveniences; but like brave men, after being
thus imprisoned and starved for two days and two nights, they
shortened their verdict into "Not guilty."
Defeated by the noble endurance of this truly English jury, the court
fined every member of it forty marks, for not doing as the bench
required, and committed them to prison till it was paid. They also
fined Penn and Mead for contempt of court, and sent them to prison,
too, till it was paid. The parties thus shamefully treated, however,
had shown they were Englishmen, and were not likely to sit down
with this tyranny quietly. They brought the case before the Lord
Chief Justice Vaughan, who pronounced the whole proceedings
illegal, and from the bench delivered a noble defence of the rights of
juries.
This trial is a fair specimen of the spirit and practice of those times.
The greater part of the magistrates and judges took their cue from
the spirit of the Government; and the scenes of violence and
injustice, of persecution for religion, and of robbery by officials of
the outraged people, were of a kind not easily conceivable at this
day.
Parliament being prorogued to October, Charles was now engaged in
completing the secret treaty between himself and Louis, by which he
was to be an annual pensioner on France to an extent releasing him
in a great measure from dependence on his own Parliament. On his
part, he was to employ the naval and military power of England to
promote the wicked designs of Louis against his neighbours on the
Continent. The conditions of the treaty were these:—1st, That the
King of England should profess himself Catholic at such time as
should seem to him most expedient, and after that profession should
join Louis in a war on Holland when the French king thought proper;
2nd, That to prevent or suppress any insurrection in consequence of
this public avowal, Louis should furnish him with two millions of
livres (nearly one hundred thousand pounds) and an armed force of
six thousand troops if necessary; 3rd, That Louis should not violate
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and Charles should be allowed to
maintain it; 4th, That if new rights on the Spanish monarchy should
accrue to Louis, Charles should aid him with all his power in
obtaining these rights; 5th, That both monarchs should make war on
Holland, and neither conclude peace without the knowledge and
consent of the other; 6th, That the King of France should bear the
charge of the war, but receive from England a force of six thousand
men; 7th, That Charles should furnish fifty, Louis thirty men-of-war,
the combined fleet to be commanded by the Duke of York; and that
to support the charge of the war, the King of England should, during
the war, receive annually three million of livres, about one hundred
and fifty thousand pounds. England was to receive of the Dutch spoil
Walcheren, Sluys, and the Island of Cadsand, and the interests of
the Prince of Orange were to be guaranteed. These were the chief
provisions of the Treaty of Dover.
THE ASSAULT ON SIR JOHN COVENTRY. (See p. 233.)
[See larger version]
Perhaps the whole history of the world does not furnish a more
infamous bargain, not even the partition of Poland in later days.
Here was a King of England selling himself to the French monarch
for money, to enable him to put down Protestantism and Parliament
in Britain, to do all and more than his father lost his head for
attempting—for Charles I. never plotted against the Protestant
religion. This was bad enough, but the bargain went to enable
France to put its foot on the neck of England, and to employ its
forces to destroy Protestantism abroad—Protestantism and liberty;
to throw Holland, and eventually all the Netherlands, and then
Spain, into the power of France, making of it an empire so gigantic
that neither freedom, nor Protestantism, nor any political
independence could ever more exist. Had this infamous scheme
come to light in Charles's time, the Stuarts would not have been
driven out in 1688, but then and there. But that this odious bargain
did actually take place, and was acted on, so far as Charles's
domestic vices and extravagance permitted, later times produced the
fullest evidence. The above Treaty was deposited with Sir Thomas
Clifford; and Sir John Dalrymple, seeking in the archives at Paris for
material for his "Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland," published in
1790, unexpectedly stumbled on the damning evidences—under the
hands of Charles and his ministers themselves—of this unholy
transaction and its reward. The Duke of York was at first said to be
averse from this secret treason and slavery, but he fell into it, and
received his share of the money, as well as Buckingham, through
whose agency a second treaty was effected, raising the annual sum
to five million of livres, or nearly two hundred and fifty thousand
pounds a year; the article requiring the king's change of religion
being omitted altogether, Charles, meanwhile, having shown his
readiness to engage in the Dutch war, which was the main question.
Ashley and Lauderdale, Clifford and Arlington were also in the
secret, and had their reward. Many were the suspicions of this
diabolical business which oozed out, and much talk was the
consequence at times; the proofs were preserved with inscrutable
secrecy during the lives of the parties concerned, discovery being
utter and inevitable destruction. The French copy of the Treaty has
hitherto escaped all research.
THE DISGRACE OF LORD CLARENDON AFTER HIS LAST INTERVIEW
WITH THE KING IN WHITEHALL PALACE, 1667.
From the Painting by E. M. WARD in the National Gallery of British Art.

[See larger version]


To induce Charles to declare war without waiting for his confession
of Catholicism, Louis sent over Charles's sister, Henrietta, Duchess of
Orleans. The king met her at Dover, and the point was discussed,
but Charles would not move another step till the Treaty was formally
signed, and the first payment made. The duchess, indeed, was much
more earnest on her own affairs. She was most miserably married to
the Duke of Orleans, the brother and heir-apparent of Louis, who
treated her with cruelty and neglect for other women. She was
anxious for a divorce and to live in England, but Charles would not
hear of what was so hostile to his interests. The unfortunate duchess
returned to Paris, and within three weeks she was a corpse, though
only twenty-six years of age. There was every reason to believe that
she was poisoned, though the doctors, on a postmortem
examination, declared there were no signs of poison; but what was
the value of the testimony of medical men given at the risk of their
heads? On her deathbed, when questioned by Montague, the
ambassador, as to her belief on that point, though warned by her
confessor to accuse nobody, the poor woman would not say that she
had no suspicions, but only shrugged her shoulders, a significant
expression of her internal conviction.
The duchess left behind her in England one of her maids, a
Mademoiselle Querouaille, or, as the English came to call her, Madam
Carwell, whom Louis had selected as a spy and agent, feeling
assured that she would soon captivate this amorous king, which she
did at once, and became, in the usual way, his mistress, and at the
same time maid of honour to the queen. She was soon advanced to
the title of Duchess of Portsmouth, and so well did she serve the
purposes of Louis, that in 1673 he gave her also a French title and
estate. It was now thought by Charles and James that they could
venture to put down the liberties, and, as James earnestly
advocated, the religion of the nation. It was proposed to fortify
Portsmouth, Hull, and Plymouth, at which towns French soldiers
might be introduced, and James having the command of the fleet,
no interruption to their transit could take place. When Parliament
met in October, Charles observed that both Holland and France were
increasing their navies—he could have told them really why—and on
pretence of necessary caution, he demanded large supplies to place
our own navy on a proper footing. There were complaints of
prodigality and hints of Popery thrown out, but a sum of no less than
two million five hundred thousand pounds was voted, by taxes on
land, stock, law proceedings, and salaries—in fact, an income and
property tax. There was a proposal to tax theatres, and when it was
objected that the theatres contributed to his Majesty's pleasure, Sir
John Coventry asked sarcastically, "whether his Majesty's pleasure
lay amongst the men or the women players?"
For this remark Sir John was made to pay severely. The King and the
whole Court were furious at his hard hit against the Moll Davieses
and Nell Gwynns. The king declared that he would send a
detachment of the Guards to watch in the street where Sir John
Coventry lived, and set a mark upon him. The Duke of York in vain
endeavoured to dissuade the king; the Duke of Monmouth, who was
living on terms of great professed friendship with Coventry, yet
undertook the execution of the business. He sent Sandys, his
lieutenant, and O'Brien, the son of Lord Inchiquin, with thirteen
soldiers, who waited for Sir John as he returned from Parliament on
the evening of the 21st of December, 1670, and encountering him in
the Haymarket, assaulted him. Sir John placed his back to the wall,
snatched the flambeau from the hands of his servant, and with that
in one hand he so well plied his sword with the other, that he
wounded several of the soldiers, and got more credit by his gallantry
than for any action in his life. But he was overpowered by numbers
in the end, beaten to the ground, and then had his nose cut to the
bone with a penknife, to make a mark for life, to teach him respect
for the king. They then went back to the Duke of Monmouth's,
where O'Brien, who was wounded in the arm, had it dressed.
Coventry had his nose so well sewed up, that the trace of the
outrage was scarcely discernible; but the House of Commons, even
such a House, resented this dastardly attempt on one of its
members, and it passed an Act making it felony without benefit of
clergy to cut or maim the person, and banishing for life the four
principal offenders unless they surrendered before a certain day, as
well as rendering the crime incapable of pardon, even by Act of
Parliament. But Monmouth and his assistants got out of the way, and
the Parliament never had the virtue to enforce its own Act.
The year 1671 was chiefly employed in preparing for the war with
Holland. Though Charles was under condition to become an avowed
Roman Catholic, he published a proclamation, declaring that, as he
had always adhered to the true religion as established, he would still
maintain it by all the means in his power. De Witt, who was aware of
what was going on, hastened to make a treaty with Spain, and Louis
demanded a free passage through the Netherlands to attack
Holland, or declared that he would force one at the head of sixty
thousand men. Whilst war was thus impending, the Duchess of York,
Hyde's daughter, died. She had been for some time a professed
Catholic. Henrietta Maria, the mother of Charles, had died in August,
1669, at the Castle of Colombe, near Paris.
Charles and his ministers of the Cabal bribed by Louis (who even
pensioned the mistress of Buckingham, Lady Shrewsbury, with ten
thousand livres a year) prepared to rush into the war against Holland
in the hope of retrieving past disgraces, and securing some valuable
prizes. At the close of the last session, on pretence of maintaining
the Triple Alliance, the very thing they were intending to betray, and
of keeping Louis of France in check, whom they were, in fact, going
to assist in his aggressions, they procured eight hundred thousand
pounds from the Commons, and then immediately prorogued
Parliament. But this most unprincipled trick was nothing to what
they were preparing to perpetrate.
During the recess of Parliament, it was suddenly announced by
proclamation on the 2nd of January, 1672, that the Exchequer was
shut. To understand what was meant by this most flagitious act, we
must recollect that Charles was in the habit of anticipating the
supplies voted, by borrowing of the London bankers and goldsmiths,
and granting them some branch of revenue to refund themselves
with interest. He had at this time obtained one million three hundred
thousand pounds in this manner, but calculating that the Dutch war
could not be carried on without larger means than the recent
Parliamentary grant, it was therefore announced that Government
was not prepared to repay the principal borrowed, or, in other terms,
could not grant the annual security of the incoming taxes, but the
lenders must be content with the interest. This would enable the
Government to receive the revenue themselves instead of paying
their just debts with it. The consternation was terrible. The
Exchequer had hitherto kept its engagements honourably, and had
thus obtained this liberal credit. The lenders, in their turn, could not
meet the demands of their creditors. The Exchange was in a panic,
many of the bankers and mercantile houses failed, a great shock
was given to credit throughout the kingdom, and many annuitants,
widows, and orphans, who had deposited their money with them,
were reduced to ruin. Ashley and Clifford were said to have been the
authors of the scheme, but Ashley was a man of infinite schemes,
and probably was the original inventor. Government declared that
the postponement of payment should only be for one year; but the
greater part of the money was never again repaid, and this sum so
fraudulently obtained became the nucleus of the National Debt.
The manner in which the Government commenced the war on
Holland was characterised by the same infamous disregard of all
honourable principle. Though Charles had bound himself to make
war on the Dutch, he had no cause of quarrel with them, whatever
he pretended to have. When Louis menaced them with hostilities,
Charles offered himself as a mediator, and the Dutch regarded him
as such. Under these circumstances he sent Sir Robert Holmes with
a large fleet to intercept a Dutch fleet of merchantmen coming from
the Levant, and calculated to be worth a million and a half. Holmes,
in going out, saw the squadron of Sir Edward Spragge at the back of
the Isle of Wight, which had lately returned from destroying the
Algerine navy; and though his orders were to take all the vessels
along with him that he could find at Portsmouth, or should meet at
sea, lest Spragge should obtain some of the glory and benefit, he
passed on and gave him no summons. The next day he descried the
expected Dutch fleet; but to his chagrin he found that it was well
convoyed by seven men-of-war, and the merchantmen, sixty in
number, were many of them well armed. The vast preparations of
Louis, and some recent movements of the English, had put them on
their guard. Notwithstanding Charles's hypocritical offers of friendly
mediation, he had withdrawn the honourable Sir William Temple
from the Hague, and sent thither the unprincipled Downing, a man
so detested there, that the mob chased him away. Van Nesse, the
Dutch admiral, successfully resisted the attack of Holmes, who only
managed to cut off one man-of-war and four merchantmen. The
chagrin of Charles was equal to the disgrace with which this base
action covered him and his ministers. Both his own subjects and
foreigners denounced the action in fitting terms, and Holmes was
styled "the cursed beginner of the two Dutch wars."
There was nothing now for it but to declare war, which was done by
both England and France. Charles mustered up a list of trumpery
charges, which, bad as they were, would have come with a better
grace before attacking his allies without any notice—the detention of
English traders in Surinam; the neglect to strike the Dutch flag to
him in the narrow seas; and refusal to regulate their trade relations
according to treaty. Louis simply complained of insults, and declared
his intention to assert his glory. Under such thin veils did Louis and
his bond-slave Charles attempt to hide their real intentions.
The Dutch fleet was not long in appearing at sea with seventy-five
sail under De Ruyter. On the 3rd of May the Duke of York, admiral of
the English fleet, consisting of only forty sail of the line, descried this
powerful armament posted between Calais and Dover, to prevent his
junction with the French fleet. He managed, however, to pass
unobserved, and join the French squadron under D'Estrées, La
Rabiniere, and Du Quesne. On the 28th they came to an
engagement near Southwold Bay; the battle was terrible—scarcely
any of these sanguinary conflicts of those times with the Dutch more
so.
Owing to the wind and tide, not more than twenty of the English sail
could engage the enemy. The French squadron under D'Estrées
formed in opposition to the Zeeland squadron of Banker; but they
stood away under easy sail southward and never came to action; in
fact, it was the well-known policy of Louis to allow the Dutch and
English to play the bulldogs with each other, and to spare his own
infant navy. The Duke of York, with a part of the Red squadron,
opposed De Ruyter; the Earl of Sandwich, with part of the blue, Van
Ghent and the Amsterdam fleet. The English were so surrounded by
multitudes of the enemy, that they could afford little aid to each
other, and were exposed on all sides to a most merciless fire. By
eleven o'clock the Duke of York's ship was totally disabled, and had
lost one-third of her men. He himself escaped out of a cabin
window, and got on board the St. Michael, of seventy guns. Poor old
Admiral Montagu, Earl of Sandwich, in the Royal James, did marvels
of valour. Surrounded by the enemy, he boarded a seventy-gun ship
that lay athwart his hawse, and killed Van Ghent, the Dutch admiral;
but assailed by two fire-ships, he destroyed one, and the other
destroyed him. The Royal James was blown up, and thus the old
man, who had so long figured both under the Commonwealth and
Crown, finished his career. He had a foreboding of his fate, and told
Evelyn, when he took leave of him to go on board, that he would
see him no more. Two hundred of his men escaped.
In the afternoon the St. Michael, to which the Duke had fled, was
also sinking, and he had to remove to the London. In the evening
the Dutch fleet drew off, and the next morning the two divisions of
the English fleet joined and offered battle, but De Ruyter tacked
about and a chase commenced. Twice the English were on the point
of pouring their broadsides into the enemy, when a fog saved them,
and on the second day the Dutch took refuge within the Wierings.
The duke showed unquestionable courage on this occasion; no real
advantage to the country, however, but much cost and damage,
resulted from this unnatural war to prostrate a Protestant country, in
order to pander to the mad ambition of the French king. Louis all
this time was taking advantage of the Dutch being thus engaged. He
marched upon Holland with one hundred thousand men, assisted by
the military talent of Turenne, Condé, and Luxembourg. He took
Orsoi, Burick, Wesel, and Rhinberg on the Rhine, crossed the river at
Schneck in the face of the enemy, and overran three of the seven
united provinces. The city of Amsterdam itself was in consternation,
for the fires of the French camp could be seen from the top of the
Stadt House. Even the great De Witt was in despair; but at this crisis
Holland was saved by a youth whose family had been jealously
thrust from the Stadtholdership. This was William of Orange,
afterwards William III. of England.
William of Nassau was the nephew of the English King, being the
son of Charles's sister. He was then only twenty-one years of age, of
a sickly constitution, and at that time of no experience in State or
military affairs. The House of Nassau had acquired almost sovereign
power in Holland, from having rescued the country from the cruel
yoke of Spain, and had rendered the office of stadtholder almost
synonymous with king. The municipal body, the aristocracy of the
country, jealous of the powers and aims of the House of Orange, at
the death of William's father had abolished for ever the office of
stadtholder, and placed the government of the country in the hands
of the Town Council, the Provincial States, and the States-General.
De Witt, the Grand Pensionary of the Province of Holland, was made
Chief Minister, and conducted the government with consummate
ability. William of Orange was a posthumous child and a ward of De
Witt, who was also at the same time at the head of the Louvestein
faction, which was violently opposed to the House of Nassau. But
William of Orange stood high in the affections of the people. They
regarded with as much jealousy the municipal oligarchy which ruled
the country as that did the House of Nassau. They felt that the
Orange family had achieved the independence of Holland, and, being
themselves shut out from all influence in State affairs, they
sympathised with the young prince. Besides, he had a princely
fortune, the possession of territories entrenched behind the river
Maas, and the dykes of South Holland, not easily invaded, and was
not only a prince of the German Empire, but of the royal blood of
England.
The people, now seeing the critical condition to which the Louvestein
faction had reduced their country, demanded that the command of
the army should be put into the hands of William. De Witt, who
could not prevent it, endeavoured to persuade the people to bind
the prince by an oath never to aspire to the stadtholdership; but the
Orange party now seized their opportunity to rouse the people
against the oligarchy, and they did it to such effect that De Witt and
his brother were torn to pieces by the populace before the gates of
the palace of the States-General at the Hague (July 24, 1672).
William, who had no share in the murder, however, committed the
same grave error as he did afterwards in England, in the case of the
massacre of Glencoe—he rewarded the murderers, and accepted the
office of Commander-in-Chief. Low as the country was reduced, its
very danger was its strongest means of rescue. Germany and Spain,
alarmed for the consequences to Europe, sent promises of speedy
assistance, and even Charles II. seemed to perceive the folly of his
proceedings. The war at sea had brought nothing but expense and
bloodshed. If Spain came to a rupture with France, England would
lose the benefit of its lucrative Spanish trade. Charles had sent six
thousand troops, according to treaty, to assist Louis in Holland,
under the command of his son Monmouth, who displayed no talents
as a general, but plenty of courage—a quality of the family. With him
he sent Buckingham, Arlington, and Saville as plenipotentiaries.
These ministers now hastened to the Hague, and expressed the
friendly feeling of England towards Holland. The Dowager Princess
of Holland, who knew what friendliness had been shown towards his
nephew by Charles, who, Buckingham said, did not wish to use
Holland like a mistress, but love like a wife, replied, "Truly, I believe
you would love us as you do your wife!"—a hard hit. From the
Hague they proceeded to the camp of Louis, who, however, before
he would treat with the Dutch, made the English sign a new treaty
that they would not agree to any separate peace.
The terms then proposed by these allies show how little they were
aware of the power yet lurking in the invalid but stubborn and subtle
young Prince of Orange. Charles required, on his part, the dignity of
stadtholder for the prince, his nephew, the acknowledgment of
England's sovereignty of the narrow seas, ten thousand pounds per
annum for liberty of fishing on the English coasts, and the fortresses
of Goree, Flushing, and some others as a guarantee for the
payment. Louis demanded all the territory lying on the left bank of
the Rhine, all such places as the French had formerly wrested from
Spain, seventeen millions of livres as indemnification of the costs of
the war, which he had himself commenced, and an annual gold
medal in acknowledgment of his surrendering the three provinces he
had now taken, but in reality in retaliation for the medal which the
States had cast on the formation of the Triple Alliance. They were
also to grant freedom of worship to the Catholics.
William of Orange bade them reject the whole of these conditions.
He told them that even were they beaten to the last, they could
transport themselves with their wealth to the Indian Archipelago,
and then erect in Java and the isles a new and more resplendent
Holland, with a new and vast world around them for their empire.
The courage of the people rose at the dauntless spirit of their young
prince, and they resolved to resist to the last man. William ordered
the dykes to be cut; the invaders were obliged by a precipitate
retreat to seek their own safety. Amsterdam was saved, and the
different towns of Holland stood isolated amid a vast sea, which no
enemy could approach without a large fleet of flat-bottomed boats,
and supplies which must be conveyed by the same mode. Meanwhile
William, where he could reach the French, beat them in several
smart actions, and thus further raised the courage of his
countrymen, whilst forces from Germany were fast pouring down the
Rhine to their aid.
ANTHONY ASHLEY COOPER, FIRST EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. (After the
Portrait by Sir Peter Lely.)
[See larger version]
Louis XIV., who by no means relished a campaign of this kind,
returned to Paris, and left Turenne to contend with the enemy, who,
though he displayed the highest military talents, and still held many
strong places, saw that the conquest of Holland was little better than
hopeless. At sea the Duke of York arrived off the Dogger Bank, to
intercept the Dutch East India fleet in vain, and De Ruyter lay snug
in port.
At home Charles had promoted his Cabal Ministry, as if they had
done some great deed, to honours and titles. Clifford was called Lord
Clifford of Chudleigh; Lord Arlington, Earl of Arlington; and Ashley,
Earl of Shaftesbury. Buckingham and Arlington received the honour
of the Garter. In order to protect the bankers whom he had kept out
of their money from the suits commenced against them by their
creditors in Chancery, Charles desired Bridgeman to enter an
injunction there, but Bridgeman doubted the rectitude of the
proceeding, and he was removed, and Shaftesbury put in his place
(1672), who at once issued the injunction, and appointed a distant
day for hearing evidence against it. Ashley, as the new Lord
Chancellor, displayed a vanity and eccentricity which caused him to
be greatly ridiculed by the lawyers. He went to preside on the bench
in "an ash-coloured gown silver-laced, and full-ribboned pantaloons."
He at first acted with much self-sufficiency and conceit, but was
soon brought to his senses by the lawyers, and afterwards became
one of the most tame and complying judges that ever sat on the
bench. Violent altercation, however, arose between Ashley and
Arlington, who expected Ashley's place made vacant in the Treasury,
which was given to Clifford.
On the 5th of February, 1673, Parliament was summoned after a
recess of nearly a year and a half. Ashley undertook to justify the
shutting of the Exchequer and the Dutch war. But the days of the
Cabal were numbered. The king, by their advice, had, during the
recess, issued a Declaration of Indulgence. This was done with the
hope of winning the support of the Nonconformists and the Papists.
But of all subjects, that of indulgence of conscience in religion, at
that period, was the most double-edged. The Nonconformists were
ready enough to enjoy indulgence, but then the eternal suspicion
that it was intended only as a cloak for the indulgence of Popery
made them rather satisfied to be without it than enjoy it at that
peril. No sooner, therefore, had they granted Charles the liberal sum
of one million two hundred thousand pounds, to be collected by
eighteen monthly assessments, than the Commons fell on this
Proclamation of Indulgence. The members of the Church and the
Nonconformists united in their denunciation of it. On the 10th of
February they resolved, by a majority of one hundred and sixty-eight
to one hundred and sixteen, that "penal statutes, in matters
ecclesiastical, cannot be suspended except by Act of Parliament."
Charles stood for awhile on his prerogative, but the effervescence in
the House and country was so great that he gave way, and his
declaration, on the 8th of March, that what he had done should not
be drawn into a precedent, was received with acclamations by both
Houses, and by rejoicings and bonfires by the people. Shaftesbury
immediately passed over to the Country party, as the Opposition was
called.
The Cabal was now forced to submit to another humiliation. The
Country party introduced, at the instance of Shaftesbury, an Act
requiring every person holding any office, civil or military, not only to
take the oath of Allegiance and Supremacy, but also to receive the
Sacrament in the form prescribed by the Church of England, or be
incapable of accepting or holding such office. All such persons were
likewise required to make a declaration against Transubstantiation,
under a penalty of five hundred pounds, of being disabled from
suing in any court of law, and from being a guardian or executor.
This Act was passed by both Houses unanimously, the
Nonconformists being promised that another Bill should be
introduced to protect them from the operation of this. But before it
was done Parliament was prorogued on the 29th of March, and they
were caught in their own trap.
No sooner was this Act passed, which became known as the Test
Act, and continued in force till the reign of George IV., than the
Cabal fell to pieces. Its immediate effect was to compel Lord Clifford
and Arlington to resign: the wedge was thus introduced into the
Cabal, and the Duke of York, who resigned his office of Lord High
Admiral, became inimical to them. The office of Lord Treasurer,
resigned by Clifford, was given by the king to Sir Thomas Osborne, a
gentleman of Yorkshire, who was created Earl of Danby, and became
in reality Prime Minister. The rise of Danby was the certain
destruction of the Cabal. His foreign policy was entirely opposed to
theirs: he saw clearly enough the ruinous course of aggrandising
France at the expense of the Protestant States of Europe; his views
of domestic policy were more profound, though not less unprincipled
than theirs. He saw the necessity of combining the old Royalist and
Church interests for the support of the throne, but he set about this
process by buying up the favour of the Cavaliers, the nobles, the
country gentlemen, and the clergy and universities. He was not the
first to bribe—the Cabal had done that so far as Parliament members
were concerned—but Danby, like Walpole, and the ministers after
him, bought up by direct bribes or lucrative appointments any and
every man that could secure his views.
When Parliament reassembled on the 7th of January, 1674, there
appeared alarming proofs of some whispered disclosures having
taken place during the disruptions in the Cabal, regarding the king's
secret treaty with Louis. Charles solemnly denied his having any
secret engagement whatever with France. Parliament also exhibited
its uneasiness regarding the practices of the Papists. The Duke of
York, since the prorogation of Parliament on the 4th of November
last, had married Maria D'Este, a Catholic princess, sister of the Duke
of Modena. This had roused all the fears of the country regarding
the succession, and the Commons recommended severe measures
against the Papists, and that the militia should be ready at an hour's
notice to act against any disturbances on their part. They also
demanded the removal from the ministry of all persons Popishly
affected, and of those who advised the alliance with France and the
rupture with Holland, and the placing a foreigner at the head of the
army. Both army and navy, in fact, were commanded by foreigners—
Prince Rupert had succeeded the Duke of York as admiral;
Schomberg was sent with the army to Holland.
Charles himself not having been able in the autumn to draw his
pension from Louis, and Parliament now holding fast its purse-
strings, he was ready to listen to terms from Holland, whereby the
triumph of the Country party was completed. On this the States
offered, through the Spanish ambassador, Del Fresno, the terms
which they had once already refused. The conquests on both sides
should be restored, the honour of the flag conceded to England, and
eight hundred thousand crowns should be paid Charles for
indemnification for the expenses of the war. Had the terms been far
inferior, the fact of the money would probably have decided the
matter with Charles. As to the dignity of stadtholder for William, the
States themselves settled that, by conferring it on him and his heirs
for ever, before the time of their treaty, and nothing whatever was
said of the ten thousand pounds for liberty to fish. On the 9th of
February the treaty was signed, and on the 11th announced to
Parliament by Charles.
We may now take a brief glance at proceedings in Scotland and
Ireland.
In Scotland Archbishop Sharp had pursued his persecuting and
coercive system to such an extent, that Charles was obliged to order
him not to overstep his proper duties, but to confine himself to
spiritual concerns alone. Such was the hatred which this renegade
Churchman had excited, that in 1668 a young man of the name of
Mitchell, who had witnessed the horrible cruelties which followed the
battle of Rullion Green, believed himself called upon to put Sharp to
death. He therefore posted himself in front of the archbishop's
palace in St. Andrews, and as the archbishop came out with the
Bishop of Orkney to get into his carriage, he stepped up and fired at
Sharp, who was just seated; but at the same moment the Bishop of
Orkney raised his arm to enter the carriage, and received the ball in
his wrist. There was a cry that a man was killed, but some one
exclaimed, "It is only a bishop!" and Mitchell, coolly crossing the
street, mixed with the crowd, walked away, and changed his coat;
and though the Council offered a large reward for his apprehension,
it was six years before he was discovered.
The Earl of Rothes had been removed from the office of Royal
Commissioner, and the Earl of Tweeddale, who now occupied that
post, endeavoured to soften the spirit of persecution, and granted a
certain indulgence. This was to admit the ejected ministers to such
of their livings as were vacant, or to appoint them to others,
provided they would accept collation from the bishop, and attend the
presbyteries and synods. But this was to concede the question of
episcopacy, and the king's supremacy in the Church. The more
complying of the ejected members, to the number of forty-three,
accepted the offer; but they found that by so doing they had
forfeited the respect of their flocks, who deserted their churches,
and crowded to other preachers more stanch to their principles.
Lauderdale soon after returned to Scotland, and his very first
proceeding was to pass an Act to appoint Commissioners to co-
operate with English Commissioners, to endeavour to effect a union
of the two kingdoms. His next was to pass another, converting the
Act of Allegiance into an act of absolute Supremacy. This at once
annihilated the independence of the Kirk; and a third Act was to give
the king a right to maintain an army, and to march it to any part of
the king's dominions. This was so evidently a step towards
despotism, that not only in Scotland, but in the English Parliament,
the indignation was great, and the English Commons presented an
address to the Crown, praying for Lauderdale's removal. The
address, however, produced no effect. Lauderdale proceeded,
plausibly offering indulgence to such easy-principled ministers as
would accept livings subject to the oath of Supremacy and the
acknowledgment of bishops, whilst at the same time he passed an
Act in July, 1670, more rigorously prohibiting conventicles within
private houses or in the open air. Any minister preaching or praying
at such meetings was to suffer forfeiture of both life and property.
The Scots did not understand this kind of indulgence, which allowed
their ministers to enter their churches by the sacrifice of their moral
principles, and put them to death if they took the liberty of following
their consciences. The people took arms and went to their meetings,
determined to defend their preachers and themselves. Lauderdale
then, with the aid of Archbishop Leighton, extended the
"indulgence" to all such ministers as would attend presbyteries,
where the bishops should have no negative voice; but this did not
deceive the people. The rigour against their own chosen ministers
and places of worship was kept up, and they declared that bishops,
even without a negative voice in the presbyteries, were bishops still;
that such assemblies had no resemblance to those previous to 1638;
that they had no power of the keys, no ordination, no jurisdiction;
that the whole was but a snare to draw in unwary or self-interested
ministers, and after them their flocks. To assent to such terms would
be apostacy from the principles of the Kirk. Lauderdale made
another step in his "indulgence" in 1673. He named eighty ejected
ministers, and ordered them to repair to their churches and officiate
there, but nowhere else, under severe penalties. This was to lock up
the conventicles in which these preachers ministered. About one-
fourth of the number refused to obey, and were confined by order of
the Council to particular places. But this did not diminish the number
of conventicles: it only excited a schism between the complying and
the non-complying. He next passed an act of grace, pardoning all
offences against the Conventicle Acts committed before the 4th of
March, 1674; but this only encouraged the people to fresh freedom
in their attendance on conventicles. They regarded his concessions
as certain proofs of his weakness, and scorning any compliance with
episcopacy and royal supremacy, their independent meetings spread
and abounded more than ever. They assembled in vacant churches,
where they would not have entered to listen to what they called an
intrusive minister, or in the open air in glen or mountain, around a
lofty pole erected as a signal. "The parish churches of the curates,"
says Kirton, "came to be like pest-houses, few went into any of
them, and none to some; so the doors were kept locked." No policy,
however severe or plausibly insinuating, could induce the wary Scots
to swallow the hated pill of episcopacy.
In Ireland, the prohibition of importing Irish cattle into England was
followed by a like prohibition from the Scottish Parliament, and the
Irish Parliament retaliated by prohibiting Scottish woollens being
imported into Ireland. These illiberal measures only spread mischief
and misery on all sides. So long as the Duke of Ormond retained the
lord-lieutenancy, he endeavoured to mitigate these evils. He
procured the liberty of free trade between Ireland and all foreign
countries, whether at war or peace with England; and five hundred
families of Walloons were induced to settle in Ireland and to
establish the manufacture of woollen and linen cloths. But the many
sufferers from the Act of Settlement, which confirmed the possession
of the Irish lands in the hands of the English soldiers and
adventurers, complained greatly of Ormond, and his enemies at
Court procured his removal in 1669. After him succeeded Lord
Robartes, and next Lord Berkeley; but it mattered little who
governed, nothing could induce the natives to sit down quietly under
the loss of their estates, and that, too, whilst they had been often
firm loyalists and the intruders rebels. In 1671 a Commission was
appointed to inquire into all alleged grievances, consisting of Prince
Rupert, Buckingham, Lauderdale, Anglesey, Ashley, and others. This
lasted till March 26th, 1673, but ended in nothing. The possessors of
the Irish lands were too powerful at Court, and no result followed
but fresh severities against the Catholics, who were expelled from all
corporations, and their priests banished the kingdom.
The war between France and the confederates—Holland, Austria,
and Spain—had now spread all over Europe, both by land and sea.
Louis poured his soldiers in torrents into the Netherlands, and
excited insurrections in the dependencies of Spain. He managed to
excite sedition against her in Sicily, and against Austria in Hungary.
De Ruyter, the famous admiral, was despatched by the Prince of
Orange to assist the Spaniards in Sicily, and was killed at Messina.
On the other hand, Louis's great general, Turenne, was killed at the
battle of Salzbach, on the Rhine. After his death, the Austrian
general, Montecucculi, defeated the French repeatedly, and
recovered Alsace. But Vauban, who introduced a new system of
fortification, recovered the ascendency of Louis, by teaching the
French how to defend towns. Louis maintained this enormous war at
a cost which brought an immense burden on France, and laid the
foundation of the great Revolution which horrified Europe. On the
other hand, William of Orange manfully maintained the conflict
under many disadvantages. His authority at home was often
questioned; the governors of the Spanish Netherlands frequently
crossed his plans, and his German allies frequently failed him. Yet
reverse after reverse was not able to damp his spirit, or overcome
his imperturbable tenacity of purpose. Charles, during this awful
struggle of his nephew, was enjoying peace, but a most inglorious
peace, purchased by the money of Louis, to allow him to destroy all
the independent States of Europe. Not even the interests of his own
subjects were protected. In the course of seven months fifty-three
sail of merchantmen were captured by the French cruisers. The
sufferers made loud complaints, and Charles promised to obtain
restoration, but very little was ever obtained. He received his annual
pension from Louis; and though he drew it through Chiffinch, his
pander and man of the back stairs, the transaction was well known
to his ministers Danby and Lauderdale, and his brother the Duke of
York.
VIEW IN THE HAGUE: THE GEVANGENPOORT IN WHICH CORNELIUS
AND JOHN DE WITT WERE IMPRISONED (1672).
[See larger version]
When he reassembled his Parliament on the 5th of February, 1677,
the Country party, headed by Shaftesbury and Buckingham in the
Lords, contended that the Parliament was legally at an end. That, by
two statutes of Edward III., it was required that Parliaments should
be held once a year, or oftener; and this Parliament having been
prorogued for a period of fifteen months, had ceased to exist. But
Lord Chancellor Finch truly replied, that by the Triennial Act of
Charles I. the vacations were extended to three years. In the
Commons there was also a motion for a dissolution, but it was
postponed. The motion of Buckingham in the Lords to vote the
present Parliament effete was negatived, and he, Salisbury,
Shaftesbury, and Wharton, were ordered by the House to retract
their illegal opinions, and beg pardon of the House and the king.
They refused, and were committed to the Tower. The following day
the motion for a dissolution in the Commons was lost by a minority
of one hundred and forty-two to one hundred and ninety-three.
Defeated in the attempt to break up this corrupt Pension Parliament,
the Opposition in the Lords next endeavoured to secure the
succession against a Catholic prince. Charles had no children but
illegitimate ones, and James, therefore, was heir to the Crown. The
Bill passed the Lords, and provided that on the demise of the king,
the bishops should tender a declaration against Transubstantiation to
the heir; and if he refused to take it, they should appoint to all
bishoprics and benefices, and take charge of the education of the
king's children; but the Commons rejected the Bill on the ground of
the undue power which it conferred on the bishops; and they
immediately threw out another Bill of the Peers for abolishing the
punishment of death for Popish recusancy. The two Houses,
however, agreed in abolishing the detestable writ De hæretico
comburendo.
This Parliament has been accused of singular inconsistency in calling
upon the king to declare war against France, in order to check that
country in its ominous progress against Holland and the
Netherlands, and yet refusing him money. A very valid plea for
anxiously desiring the declaration of war, and yet shrinking from
putting money into Charles's hands, might have been advanced had
it been an honest Parliament. The nation saw with great discontent
and humiliation the growing ascendency of France, the increase of
Louis's navy, the expansion of his ambitious plans, the danger of
Protestant Holland, and the despicable position into which England
had fallen. It had fears of Popery, fears of absolutism through a
standing army. There were dark rumours, though no direct proofs, of
the king's secret league with France. Whilst they, therefore, would
have willingly granted him money for a war with France, they
dreaded to do it, knowing how it would go in folly, and believing how
it would go to strengthen despotism. They did not leave him
destitute; he had the excise, and they now granted six hundred
thousand pounds for the building of new ships; but they took care to
tie it up, by proper securities, to its legitimate purpose. How well
they were justified was shown by the first use which the king made
of the money now received from France. The bulk of it went to
purchase votes in the House of Commons.
Unfortunately, this Parliament was little more honest than the king
himself; it was receiving bribes on all sides. Dalrymple shows that
Spanish, Dutch, German, and French money was freely distributed
amongst the members. In 1673 three leaders of the Opposition in
the Commons were bribed with six thousand pounds, to induce them
to vote unusually large supplies, and they did it. They were now in
the pay of all the chief contending countries in Europe. When they
raised the cry of war on this occasion, the king expressed his
readiness, but demanded six hundred thousand pounds at the least
for the necessary expenditure. Thereupon Spain bribed the patriots
to vote for it with twenty thousand pounds, and the King of France
bribed them against war with a still larger sum. The proposal was
thrown out, Louis having feed not only the Parliament but the
ministers and the king. On receiving about two hundred thousand
pounds from Louis, Charles adjourned Parliament on the 16th of
April, and did not call it together again till the next January. Never,
surely, had everything like principle or patriotism so thoroughly
abandoned the nation. Soon after the adjournment, Buckingham,
Salisbury, and Wharton, made their submission to the king, and were
released; Shaftesbury held out seven months longer, and then
followed their example.
During the recess the Prince of Orange came to England. Though
William could place little dependence on the alliance of his uncle
Charles, yet he could not be insensible that a marriage with Mary
opened up a prospect towards the throne of England, and that an
alliance between the two Protestant nations must mutually
strengthen their position in Europe. He therefore began to cultivate
the friendship of Danby, the Prime Minister, and then solicited the
union which he had before declined. The overture was received with
a coldness that the more sensibly impressed the prince with the
political blunder which he had committed. He therefore humbled
himself, and requested permission to make a visit to London and
apologise for his past conduct and explain his future views. Charles
not only resented William's refusal of his former offer, but he was
jealous of his intrigues with the popular leaders; and though he did
not forbid his coming, he stipulated that he should return before the
meeting of Parliament. On the 9th of October he joined his uncle at
Newmarket, and, having the services of Danby and Temple, Charles
was soon persuaded to his marriage with the princess. James
appeared at first averse from the connection, but he soon
acquiesced; and whilst Charles boasted of having made this alliance
to secure the religion of the nation, James took credit to himself
from his consent, of proving how false were the suspicions which
had been expressed of his intention to make changes in both the
religion and the State. The marriage gave universal satisfaction, and
during the festivities with which it was celebrated at Court, in
November, 1677, William engaged the king in the project of a
general peace. The following were the proposals arrived at by them,
to be submitted to the different Powers: That Holland and France
should mutually restore the conquests that they had made; that the
Duchy of Lorraine should be restored to the duke, its rightful
sovereign; and that France should keep possession of the places
won from Spain, except Ath, Charleroi, Oudenarde, Courtrai,
Tournai, Condé, and Valenciennes, which should be restored, and
form a chain of fortresses between the new frontier of France and
the old ones of Holland. Charles despatched Lord Feversham to lay
the proposals before Louis; but the French king would not listen to
them, and tidings reached William which caused him immediately to
hasten home.
In spite of the season, the end of November, Louis had taken the
field, according to his novel plan of winter campaign, and invested
Guislain, which was expected to fall in a few days.

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