l
and interest, as it came in. Most of this money had already been spent by
Charles in paying off the fleet that brought him over, and in carrying on
the late war with the Dutch;(1391) but the bankers and capitalists who had
provided the money were content to abide by the king's frequent assurance
that he would continue to make good all assignments until their whole debt
should be wiped out. We may judge therefore of their surprise and
disappointment when they learnt, as they did on the 2nd January, 1672,
that the king proposed to suspend all payments out of the public revenue
for one whole year!

(M700)

It is true that he promised to add the interest then due to the capital
and to allow six per cent. interest on the whole as some compensation to
his creditors for the delay; but this, even if carried into practice,
proved unavailing to ward off disaster. The inevitable crash came. Many of
the London bankers, and among them Alderman Backwell, who held revenue
assignments exceeding a quarter of a million sterling, were made utterly
bankrupt. A few of them who had interest at court got wind of the
threatened danger and managed to withdraw their money from the exchequer
in time, whilst Shaftesbury, one of the prime movers in closing the
exchequer, foreseeing the inevitable result, took all of his own money out
of his banker's hands and warned his friends to do the same.

(M701)

The exchequer having been in this way made richer by L1,300,000, Charles
was prepared to declare war. An attempt to intercept a fleet of Dutch
merchantmen before any declaration of war had been made--a piratical act
admitting of no possible justification--brought matters to a climax and war
was declared (17 March, 1672) by England and France. The 27th March was
appointed by royal proclamation to be kept as a solemn fast for the
purpose of begging the Almighty's blessing on his majesty's forces, the
same prayers being used as had been specially ordained for the late
war.(1392)

(M702)

The war, which was chiefly remarkable for the noble stand made by the
Dutch under the young William, Prince of Orange, Charles's own nephew and
afterwards King of England, soon drained the king's resources, and once
more he had to face a parliament. The parliament, which met on the 4th
February, 1673, showed itself willing to vote a subsidy of L70,000 a month
for a period of eighteen months, but only on its own terms. These were (1)
the repeal of the Declarati