the whole nature of his government. All show of
legal rule had disappeared. Sheriffs, mayors, magistrates, appointed by
the Crown in defiance of a parliamentary statute, were no real officers
in the eye of the law. Even if the Houses were summoned members returned
by officers such as these could form no legal Parliament. Hardly a
Minister of the Crown or a Privy Councillor exercised any lawful
authority. James had brought things to such a pass that the restoration
of legal government meant the absolute reversal of every act he had
done. But he was in no mood to reverse his acts. His temper was only
spurred to a more dogged obstinacy by danger and remonstrance. "I will
lose all," he said to the Spanish ambassador who counselled moderation;
"I will lose all or win all." He broke up the camp at Hounslow and
dispersed its troops in distant cantonments. He dismissed the two judges
who had favoured the acquittal of the Bishops. He ordered the
chancellor of each diocese to report the names of the clergy who had not
read the Declaration of Indulgence. But his will broke fruitlessly
against a sullen resistance which met him on every side. Not a
chancellor made a return to the Commissioners, and the Commissioners
were cowed into inaction by the temper of the nation. When the judges
who had displayed their servility to the Crown went on circuit the
gentry refused to meet them. A yet fiercer irritation was kindled by the
king's resolve to supply the place of the English troops whose temper
proved unserviceable for his purposes by drafts from the Catholic army
which Tyrconnell had raised in Ireland. Even the Roman Catholic peers at
the Council-table protested against this measure; and six officers in a
single regiment laid down their commissions rather than enrol the Irish
recruits among their men. The ballad of "Lillibullero," a scurrilous
attack on the Irish recruits, was sung from one end of England to the
other.

[Sidenote: The Invitation.]

Wide however as the disaffection undoubtedly was the position of James
seemed fairly secure. He counted on the aid of France. His army,
whatever signs of discontent it might show, was still a formidable force
of twenty thousand men. Scotland, disheartened by the failure of
Argyle's rising, could give no such help as it gave to the Long
Parliament. Ireland on the other hand was ready to throw a Catholic
army in the king's support on the western coast. It was doubtful too if
in England itse