med to be the chief study of the House of Commons to
cross him and to humble him. The history of the late session was known
to the Spaniards principally by inaccurate reports brought by Irish
friars. And, had those reports been accurate, the real nature of a
Parliamentary struggle between the Court party and the Country party
could have been but very imperfectly understood by the magnates of
a realm in which there had not, during several generations, been any
constitutional opposition to the royal pleasure. At one time it was
generally believed at Madrid, not by the mere rabble, but by Grandees
who had the envied privilege of going in coaches and four through the
streets of the capital, that William had been deposed, that he had
retired to Holland, that the Parliament had resolved that there should
be no more kings, that a commonwealth had been proclaimed, and that a
Doge was about to be appointed and, though this rumour turned out to be
false, it was but too true that the English government was, just at
that conjuncture, in no condition to resent slights. Accordingly, the
Marquess of Canales, who represented the Catholic King at Westminster,
received instructions to remonstrate in strong language, and was not
afraid to go beyond those instructions. He delivered to the Secretary
of State a note abusive and impertinent beyond all example and all
endurance. His master, he wrote, had learnt with amazement that King
William, Holland and other powers,--for the ambassador, prudent even in
his blustering, did not choose to name the King of France,--were engaged
in framing a treaty, not only for settling the succession to the Spanish
crown, but for the detestable purpose of dividing the Spanish monarchy.
The whole scheme was vehemently condemned as contrary to the law of
nature and to the law of God. The ambassador appealed from the King of
England to the Parliament, to the nobility, and to the whole nation, and
concluded by giving notice that he should lay the whole case before the
two Houses when next they met.

The style of this paper shows how strong an impression had been made on
foreign nations by the unfortunate events of the late session. The King,
it was plain, was no longer considered as the head of the government. He
was charged with having committed a wrong; but he was not asked to make
reparation. He was treated as a subordinate officer who had been
guilty of an offence against public law, and was threatened with th