the meantime the squire set himself to work for the baronet. The
ablest lawyers were obtained, but Whitecraft most positively objected
to Folliard's proposal of engaging Doldrum as his attorney; he knew the
stupidity and ignorance of the man, and would have nothing to do with
him as the conductor of his case. His own attorney, Mr. Sharply, was
engaged; and indeed his selection of a keen and able man such as he was
did credit both to his sagacity and foresight.

Considering the state of the country at that particular period, the
matter began to assume a most important aspect, A portion of the
Protestant party, by which we mean those who had sanctioned all
Whitecraft's brutal and murderous excesses, called every energy and
exertion into work, in order to defeat the Government and protect
the leading man of their own clique. On the other hand, there was the
Government, firm and decided, by the just operation of the laws, to make
an example of the man who had not only availed himself of those laws
when they were with him, but who scrupled not to set them aside when
they were against him, and to force his bloodthirsty instincts upon his
own responsibility. The Government, however, were not without large and
active support from those liberal Protestants, who had been disgusted
and sickened by the irresponsible outrages of such persecutors as
Whitecraft and Smellpriest. Upon those men the new Government relied,
and relied with safety. The country was in a tumult, the bigoted party
threatened an insurrection; and they did so, not because they felt
themselves in a position to effect it, but in order to alarm and
intimidate the Government. On the other hand, the Catholics, who had
given decided proofs of their loyalty by refusing to join the Pretender,
now expressed their determination to support the Government if an
outbreak among that section of the Protestant party to which we have
just alluded should take place.

But perhaps the real cause of the conduct of the Government might be
traced to Whitecraft's outrage upon a French subject in the person of
the Abbe ------. The matter, as we have stated, was seriously taken
up by the French Ambassador, in the name, and by the most positive
instructions, of his Court. The villain Whitecraft, in consequence of
that wanton and unjustifiable act, went far to involve the two nations
in a bitter and bloody war. England was every day under the apprehension
of a French invasion, which, of