and so well did the proceedings of Churchill on that side of the channel, and of Barillon on this, succeed, that successive remittances, amounting to two millions of livres, were sent over. But of this, besides four hundred and seventy thousand livres, the arrears of the late king's pension, and about thirty thousand pounds for the corruption of the house of commons, Louis strictly forbade Barillon paying over more at present to James without his orders. In fact, he was no more assured of the good faith of James than he had been of that of Charles; and he had ample reason for his distrust, for at the very same time James was negotiating a fresh treaty with his son-in-law, the prince of Orange.
It is impossible to comprehend the full turpitude of this conduct of James without keeping steadily in view the aims of both James and Louis. James's, like that of all the Stuarts, was simply to destroy the British constitution and to reign absolute. To do this they must have the money of France to render them independent of parliaments, and a prospect of French troops should the English at length rebel against these attempts at their enslavement. The object of Louis was to keep England from affording any aid to any power on the continent, whilst he was endeavouring to overrun them with his armies, and anticipate the later endeavours of Napoleon to make Europe and France synonymous. To such a height had Louis carried his endeavours, that he had nearly absorbed Flanders, and kept Spain, Holland, Germany, and even Italy in perpetual alarm. Whether at peace or at war, this lawless monarch was in a constant position of aggression. He was constantly encroaching and disregarding treaties. For this reason catholic princes, Austrians, Spaniards, and Italians, the pope himself, looked anxiously to England for aid. The ancient religious antipathies were forgotten in the more imminent danger. Holland, besides the sympathies of protestantism, was allied closely by marriage with England, yet Holland was also sacrificed for the accursed gold of Louis; and England, which under the Tudors and under the commonwealth could hold the balance of Europe, under this detestable national treason of the Stuarts, was sunk to a condition of the utmost contempt amongst the nations. James, like his brother Charles, played on the fears and jealousies of Louis to extract all that he could; and when Barillon was obliged to refuse further supplies, he assumed a haughty air, and received Marshal de Lorge as Louis had received Churchill, seated and covered. When de Lorge reported this, Louis laughed and said, "The king, my good ally, is proud, but he loves my pistoles even more than his late brother did."
Great Seal of James II.
On the 23rd of April the coronation took place. It was a strange mixture of the pecuniary meanness, the superstition, and the occasional fits of compliance which marked this king. As to expenditure, he was desirous to follow the ancient form, and go in procession from the Tower to Westminster. Charles had done this on his restoration, to the great delight and edification of the citizens and their wives, as well as to the encouragement of the public. But James, on inquiry, recoiled at the expense, and gave up this only portion of the ceremony which was open to his subjects at large. On the other hand, he expended upwards of one hundred thousand pounds on the dress and jewels of the queen, which could be seen only by a very small fraction of his people. The difficulty of a king and queen, both catholics, being crowned according to protestant rites, presented itself to James, and he consulted the pope and the most eminent theologians on the subject. There was, however, no other mode, and he told Barillon that to attempt anything else would cost him his crown. But if he could not set aside the protestant rites altogether, he resolved to curtail them. By his order Sancroft abridged the ritual, and removed such things as were most objectionable to catholics. The communion service was omitted, so was the usual presentation of a fine, richly-bound Bible, with the ordination to prize above all earthly things the precious volume. Yet what the king did allow to remain, and did himself participate in, was strange enough in a catholic. He appeared to join in this chanting of the heretical litany.
