We are not now
concerned to examine the particulars of a transaction which even Charles
himself did not dare to confide entirely to his ministers, familiar as
the Cabal was with shameless deeds. It is enough for our present purpose
to remember that, in return for a large annual subsidy and the promise
of help should England again take up arms against her king, Charles
bound himself to aid Lewis in crushing the rising power of Holland and
to support the claims of the House of Bourbon to the throne of Spain.
Supplies were obtained for immediate purposes by closing the Exchequer,
an act which ruined half the goldsmiths in London. As a set-off against
this, a royal proclamation, arrogating to itself powers only Parliament
could rightly exercise, suspended the laws against Nonconformists and
Catholics. The latter were, indeed, allowed to say Mass only within
their private houses, but to dissenters of every other class was granted
the freest liberty of public worship.
The declaration of war followed close on the declaration of indulgence.
The immediate result of the latter was the release of John Bunyan from
an imprisonment of twelve years, and the publication of the "Pilgrim's
Progress." A more important and lasting result was the Revolution of
1688. Both declarations were unpopular, but the Declaration of
Indulgence was the most unpopular of the two.
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