call "such an undigested counsel," and the necessity of augmenting rather than diminishing our forces in the Netherlands. The reasons he gave were mainly two. First that most of the enemies' strong places in Flanders might be kept by one battalion in each, whilst the great towns in Brabant which we had conquered, as Ghent and Bruges, required twenty times that number of men for their preservation. Secondly, that if our army in the Netherlands were weakened and the French should in consequence, as they probably might, gain very considerable advantages, the discontented party in Holland would not fail to cry aloud for peace. It was one of the very few occasions on which we find Marlborough stirred to a burst of passion; "strange" said Rochester when replying "in that noble Peer who has ever been conspicuous for his calmness and moderation." And Rochester added, "There is, I again maintain it, an absolute necessity for us English to succour King Charles, and the more so since the Noble Earl (of Peterborough) has this day reported to us the opinion of Prince Eugene; that the German soldiers had rather be decimated than sent into Spain."

Marlborough was allowed a rejoinder. "Although he said "it is improper to disclose secret projects in so large an assembly, yet to gratify your Lordships I can assure you that measures have been already concerted with the Emperor for the forming of an army of 40,000 men under the Duke of Savoy, and for sending powerful succours to King Charles; and it is to be hoped that Prince Eugene may be prevailed upon to go and command in Spain, in which case the Germans would gladly follow him."

With this speech ended the debate. It had not been possible for Somers and the Whigs to support the views

of Rochester as to the war in Flanders, pledged as they had always been to the system of King William. Somers however applied himself to frame a Resolution on which both Whigs and Tories could unite. Accordingly before Lord Herbert left the Chair the following words were moved by the Whig leader: "It is the opinion of this Committee that no peace can be honorable or safe for Her Majesty or her Allies if Spain and the Spanish West Indies be suffered to continue in the power of the House of Bourbon." This Resolution

was agreed to without a dissentient voice. Then, the House still in Committee, Wharton and Halifax acting in concert with Somers made two further motions which were combined in one Address. It prayed Her

Majesty to continue to make the most pressing instances that the Emperor might send powerful succours to Spain with expedition and under the command of Prince Eugene, and might further reinforce both the army of the Duke of Savoy and his own upon the Rhine. This Address was unanimously carried, as was also in the whole House the Address of Thanks so long delayed for Her Majesty's Speech at the commencement of the Session.

The passing of these two Resolutions in Committee was the last act of the short-lived alliance at this time between the Whigs and Tories out of place. That alliance had already produced all the effect that Somers and his friends intended or desired. It had thoroughly terrified Godolphin. He had bent before it as the reed before the tempest, and he hoped by further submissions to dissolve it. He made at this juncture pressing overtures of reconciliation to the Whig chiefs. They were assured that Godolphin and Marlborough would henceforth make common cause with them, and

carry through all their objects, however great might be the repugnance of the Queen.

On these conditions-on the prospect of seeing at an early period his party restored to power-Somers was well content to relinquish all connection with the Tories. He signalised this change of course by a step of singular skill and boldness, though not perhaps altogether just to his late allies. At the close of the debate on the 19th the Lords had appointed a Select Committee to embody in the usual form, for presentation to the Queen, the Resolutions just reported from the Committee of the House. It was supposed that the business was merely verbal, and the Committee of but little importance, nor was any umbrage taken when its members. were named almost wholly from the Whigs. Scarce any Tory name but Rochester's appeared upon it:

The Committee having met next day as ordered "at the Prince's lodgings near the House of Peers," Lord Somers was called to the Chair and proceeded at once to make a most important motion. It will be remembered that the Resolutions as carried in the House stated an opinion that no peace would be safe or honorable which left in the power of the House of Bourbon Spain or the Spanish West Indies. That was an opinion from which in all probability not even a single member of either House of Parliament would have dissented. But Somers now proposed to alter these words into "Spain, the West Indies, or any part of the Spanish monarchy." This made it a wholly different question. This brought it into opposition with the views, more or less avowed at that period, of many eminent men both in England and in Holland. This implied that not even Naples, nor Sicily, nor Sardinia, should be left to Philip on his consenting to relinquish the throne of Spain. It

was a proposal which neither Louis nor his grandson would accept unless in the most dire extremity, and it therefore seemed to involve a further vast effusion of blood and treasure, and a continuance of the war during several more campaigns.

The altered Resolution with a new and according Preamble was readily passed by the Select Committee, and was reported by Somers to the House at the earliest possible moment; the first business upon Monday the 22nd of December. Then Somers moved, and the Lords ordered that a Message should be sent to the Commons desiring their concurrence in the proposed Address. So far as we can gather from the scanty records of this singular transaction, it seems to have taken the Tories in both Houses by surprise. They had no time for concert or deliberation, and they may have feared to incur the popular disfavor by resisting the extension of the national claims. Certain it is that they remained entirely passive. Before the Peers rose that same day the Address was returned from the Commons as concurred in by that House, nor did any one of their Lordships raise his voice against it. It went up therefore to the Queen as the joint Address of the two Houses; and the Queen in her answer as framed by Godolphin and Marlborough declared herself fully of the opinion it expressed.

Thus did Somers prevail. By these means was he able to carry both the Houses very much further than very many of the principal men in either desired or designed, and to pledge the Parliament, so far as it could be pledged, to an indefinite prolongation of the war.

CHAPTER X.

On the 1st of May, as already stated, the Act of Union came into practical effect. The earliest proceedings under it were such as still further to increase the disfavor with which it was viewed north of Tweed. New Commissioners of Customs and Excise had been named, consisting in great part of Englishmen. With them came a crowd of subordinate officers, trained in the English methods and imposing them abruptly on the Scottish people, so that even where the new taxes were not burdensome they were at least vexatious. To enforce and carry through the collection of revenue the Scottish Privy Council appointed by a new Commission Scottish Justices of Peace, but the powers of these, being limited of course by the laws of their own country, were found to be feudal rather than fiscal and of slight avail for the purposes desired. In these departments and in others also the evils were strongly felt of several still subsisting distinctions. What might be well for Scotland was not well for North Britain.

It would indeed have been strange if the Court of St. Germain's had been slow to discern, or willing to let pass, the growing discontents in its ancient kingdom. Projects for an expedition to Scotland, combined with a popular rising, were submitted to the Court of Versailles. As a preliminary step, Colonel Hooke, a Jacobite exile