rian power threatened
the liberties of Europe; that the progress of the Catholic religion in
England bred the most melancholy apprehensions, lest it should again
acquire an ascendant in the kingdom; that the indulgence of his majesty
towards the professors of that religion had encouraged their insolence
and temerity; that the uncontrolled conquests made by the Austrian
family in Germany, raised mighty expectations in the English Papists;
but above all, that the prospect of the Spanish match elevated them
so far as to hope for an entire toleration, if not the final
reestablishment of their religion. The commons, therefore, entreated
his majesty, that he would immediately undertake the defence of the
Palatinate, and maintain it by force of arms; that he would turn his
sword against Spain, whose armies and treasures were the chief
support of the Catholic interest in Europe that he would enter into no
negotiation for the marriage of his son but with a Protestant princess;
that the children of Popish recusants should be taken from their
parents, and be committed to the care of Protestant teachers and
schoolmasters; and that the fines and confiscations to which the
Catholics were by law liable, should be levied with the utmost
severity.[*]

* Franklyn, p. 58, 59. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 40, 41. Kennet,
p. 787.

By this bold step, unprecedented in England for many years, and scarcely
ever heard of in peaceable times, the commons attacked at once all the
king's favorite maxims of government; his cautious and pacific measures,
his lenity towards the Romish religion, and his attachment to the
Spanish alliance, from which he promised himself such mighty advantages.
But what most disgusted him was, their seeming invasion of his
prerogative, and their pretending, under color of advice, to direct his
conduct in such points as had ever been acknowledged to belong solely
to the management and direction of the sovereign. He was at that
time absent at Newmarket; but as soon as he heard of the intended
remonstrance of the commons, he wrote a letter to the speaker, in which
he sharply rebuked the house for openly debating matters far above their
reach and capacity; and he strictly forbade them to meddle with any
thing that regarded his government, or deep matters of state, and
especially not to touch on his son's marriage with the daughter of
Spain, nor to attack the honor of that king, or any other of his friends
and confederat