ontrived
by some pamphleteer in Holland. The Dutch minister resolutely
answered that he could prove the contrary by the testimony of several
distinguished members of His Majesty's own Church, nay, that there would
be no difficulty in pointing out the writer, who, after all, had written
only what many priests and many busy politicians said every day in the
galleries of the palace. The King did not think it expedient to ask who
the writer was, but, abandoning the charge of forgery, protested, with
great vehemence and solemnity, that no thought of disinheriting his
eldest daughter had ever crossed his mind. "Nobody," he said, "ever
dared to hint such a thing to me. I never would listen to it. God does
not command us to propagate the true religion by injustice and this
would be the foulest, the most unnatural injustice." [301] Notwithstanding
all these professions, Barillon, a few days later, reported to his court
that James had begun to listen to suggestions respecting a change in the
order of succession, that the question was doubtless a delicate one,
but that there was reason to hope that, with time and management, a
way might be found to settle the crown on some Roman Catholic to the
exclusion of the two Princesses. [302] During many months this subject
continued to be discussed by the fiercest and most extravagant Papists
about the court; and candidates for the regal office were actually
named. [303]

It is not probable however that James ever meant to take a course so
insane. He must have known that England would never bear for a single
day the yoke of an usurper who was also a Papist, and that any attempt
to set aside the Lady Mary would have been withstood to the death, both
by all those who had supported the Exclusion Bill, and by all those
who had opposed it. There is however no doubt that the King was an
accomplice in a plot less absurd, but not less unjustifiable,
against the rights of his children. Tyrconnel had, with his master's
approbation, made arrangements for separating Ireland from the empire,
and for placing her under the protection of Lewis, as soon as the crown
should devolve on a Protestant sovereign. Bonrepaux had been consulted,
had imparted the design to his court, and had been instructed to assure
Tyrconnel that France would lend effectual aid to the accomplishment of
this great project. [304] These transactions, which, though perhaps
not in all parts accurately known at the Hague, were strongly