o murder her husband. Monstrous as such charges were they revived
the waning frenzy of the people and of the two Houses. The peers under
arrest were ordered to be impeached. A new proclamation enjoined the
arrest of every Catholic in the realm. A series of judicial murders
began with the trial and execution of Coleman which even now can only be
remembered with horror. But the alarm must soon have worn out had it
only been supported by perjury. What gave force to the false plot was
the existence of a true one. Coleman's letters had won credit for the
perjuries of Oates, and a fresh discovery now won credit for the
perjuries of Bedloe.

[Sidenote: Dissolution of the Parliament.]

From the moment when the pressure of the Commons and of Danby had forced
Charles into a position of seeming antagonism to France Lewis had
resolved to bring about the dissolution of the Parliament, the fall of
the minister, and the disbanding of the army which Danby still looked on
as a weapon against him. The aims of the Country party were the same as
those of the French king, and even before the Peace of Nimeguen the
French ambassador, Barillon, had succeeded in opening a correspondence
on these points with its leaders, with Shaftesbury, Halifax, and Lord
Russell. A closer connexion was negotiated in 1678 through the mediation
of Algernon Sidney; and money was entrusted to Russell and other
prominent members of the Country party by Barillon to be used in the
bribery which, disgraceful as it was, was now almost necessary to
counteract the bribery of Danby. The confederates soon brought a more
effective weapon into play. The English ambassador at Paris, Ralph
Montagu, returned home on a quarrel with Danby, obtained a seat in the
House of Commons, and in spite of the seizure of his papers laid on the
table of the House the despatch which had been forwarded to Lewis,
demanding payment for the king's services to France during the late
negotiations. The Commons were thunderstruck; for strong as had been the
general suspicion the fact of the dependence of England on a foreign
power had never before been proved. Danby's name was signed to the
despatch, and he was at once impeached on a charge of high treason. But
Shaftesbury was more eager to secure the election of a new Parliament
than to punish his rival, and Charles was resolved to prevent at any
price a trial which could not fail to reveal the disgraceful secret of
his foreign policy. Charles was