eroualle, the so-called "Madam Carwell," who had accompanied
the duchess of Orleans, the king's sister, to Dover, at the time of the
negotiations, and who joined Charles's seraglio, being created duchess
of Portsmouth, and acting as the agent of the French alliance throughout
the reign.

On the 24th of October 1670, at the very time that these treaties were
in progress, Charles opened parliament and obtained a vote of L800,000
on the plea of supporting the Triple Alliance. Parliament was prorogued
in April 1671, not assembling again till February 1673, and on the 2nd
of January 1672 was announced the "stop of the exchequer," or national
bankruptcy, one of the most blameworthy and unscrupulous acts of the
reign, by which the payments from the exchequer ceased, and large
numbers of persons who had lent to the government were thus ruined. On
the reassembling of parliament on the 4th of February 1673 a strong
opposition was shown to the Cabal ministry which had been constituted at
the end of 1672. The Dutch War, declared on the 17th of March 1672,
though the commercial and naval jealousies of Holland had certainly not
disappeared in England, was unpopular because of the alliance with
France and the attack upon Protestantism, while the king's second
declaration of indulgence (15th of March 1672) aroused still further
antagonism, was declared illegal by the parliament, and was followed up
by the Test Act, which obliged James and Clifford to resign their
offices. In February 1674 the war with Holland was closed by the treaty
of London or of Westminster, though Charles still gave Louis a free hand
in his aggressive policy towards the Netherlands, and the Cabal was
driven from office. Danby (afterwards duke of Leeds) now became chief
minister; but, though in reality a strong supporter of the national
policy, he could not hope to keep his place without acquiescence in the
king's schemes. In November 1675 Charles again prorogued parliament, and
did not summon it again till February 1677, when it was almost
immediately prorogued. On the 17th of February 1676, with Danby's
knowledge, Charles concluded a further treaty with Louis by which he
undertook to subordinate entirely his foreign policy to that of France,
and received an annual pension of L100,000. On the other hand, Danby
succeeded in effecting the marriage (4th of November 1677) between
William of Orange and the princess Mary, which proved the most important
political event