ch
army. Charles I and his ministers had gone to the block for less than
this.

If the thing should become known, nobody could foretell the
consequences. Turenne was told, because he would be wanted if it came
to blows; and Turenne told a lady of his acquaintance, who proved
indiscreet. The king, in a fury, asked him how he could be such a
fool. The marshal, not unaccustomed to the experience of being under
fire, replied that he was not the only man who had been made a fool of
by a woman, and King Lewis XIV did not see his way to pursue the
conversation. His political object was secured, even if nothing
should be done in England to fulfil the agreement. He had Charles
completely in his power. The secret text only needed to be divulged,
in order to raise the country against him. He never again could be
formidable. If all other devices for dividing him from his people
were insufficient, this one could not fail. Many years later Lewis
caused a book to be printed, by an Italian adventurer, in which the
secret was revealed. The book was suppressed and the author
imprisoned, for the sake of appearances. But 155 copies were in
circulation, and the culprit was released after six days. It became
dangerous for Charles to meet parliament. The facts became known to
Shaftesbury long before, and determined his course from the time of
his dismissal from office, in November 1673. The scheme laid down in
the Dover Treaty was a dangerous one, and after the beginning of the
Dutch war there were no French troops to spare.

Charles tried another way to gain his purpose. Both he and his
brother desired to establish Catholicism for its own sake. They were
not converts, but they intended to be before they died. The
difference was that James was ready to make some sacrifice for his
religion, Charles was not. They both regarded it as the only means of
putting the crown above the law. This could be done more safely by
claiming the right to dispense from penalties and disabilities imposed
by parliament. The idea, entertained as early as 1662, ripened ten
years later, when the Penal Laws, as well as the intolerant
legislation of Clarendon against the Puritans, which had been
considered the safeguard of monarchy, were declared inoperative. The
ministers, including Shaftesbury, expected to obtain the support of
Nonconformists. This calculation proved delusive. The Dissenters, on
an assurance that they would be relieved by p