addition to the above sum, it was furthermore agreed that Louis
should pay Charles a pension of 200,000 pounds a year from the date
when the latter should openly avow himself a Roman Catholic. Later
(1671), Charles made a sham treaty with Louis XIV in which the article
about his avowing himself a Catholic was omitted in order to deceive
Parliament.[1]

[1] See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p. xix,
S21.

True to his infamous contract, Charles provoked a new war with the
Dutch, but found that he needed more money to prosecute it
successfully. Not knowing where to borrow, he determined to steal
it. Various London merchants, bankers, and also persons of moderate
means had lent to the government sums of money on promise of repayment
from the taxes.

A part of the national revenue amounting to about 1,300,000 pounds, a
sum equal to at least $10,000,000 now, had been deposited in the
exchequer, or government treasury, to meet the obligation. The King
seized this money,[2] partly for his needs, but chiefly to squander on
his vices, and to satisfy the insatiate demands of his favorites,--of
whom a single one, the Duchess of Portsmouth, had spent 136,000 pounds
within the space of a twelvemonth! The King's treacherous act caused a
financial panic which shook London to its foundatyions and ruined
great numbers of people.

[2] "`Rob me the Exchequer, Hal,' said the King to his favorite
minister in the `Cabal'; then `all went merry as a marriage
bell.'"--Evelyn's "Diary."

477. More Money Schemes; Declaration of Indulgence; Test Act, 1673.

By declaring war against Holland Charles had now fulfilled the first
part of his secret treaty with Louis (S476), but he was afraid to
undertake the second part and openly declare himself a convert to the
Church of Rome. He, however, did the next thing to it, by issuing a
cautiously worded Declaration of Indulgence, 1673, suspending all
penal laws affecting the religious liberty of Protestant Dissenters
(SS382, 472) and Roman Catholics. Under cover of this act the King
could show especial favor to the Catholics. Parliament issued such a
vigorous protest, however, that the King withdrew the Declaration.

Parliament next passed the Test Act,[1] 1673, requiring every
government officer to acknowledge himself a Protestant according to
the rites of the Church of England. Charles became alarmed at this
decided stand, and now tried to conciliate Parliament, and coa