“No popery!” shouted the people in the streets.
Louise had as yet failed to obtain any promise from Charles as to when he would declare himself a Catholic. He had, however, abolished certain laws against the Catholics. He wanted toleration in religious matters, he declared. But many of his subjects were demanding to know whether he had forgotten what happened to English sailors who fell into the hands of the Inquisition. Had he forgotten the diabolical plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in his grandfather’s reign? The King, it was said, was too easygoing; and that with his brother a Catholic, and the French mistress at his ear, he was ready to pay any price for peace.
“If the Pope gets his big toe into England,” declared Sir John Knight to the Commons, “all his body will follow.”
The House of Commons then asked Charles to revoke his Declaration of Indulgence. To this Charles replied that he did not pretend to suspend any laws wherein the properties, rights, or liberties of his subjects were involved, or to alter anything in the doctrine or discipline of the Church of England, but only to take off the penalties inflicted on dissenters.
The Commons’ reply was to resolve not to pass the money bill until there was a revocation of the Liberty of Consciences Act.
Then Charles, finding both Houses against him, had no alternative but to give his assent to the Test Act, which required all officers, civil or military, to receive the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England, and to make a declaration against transubstantiation.
Having done this, he immediately sought out James.
“James,” he said, “I fear now you must make a decision. I trust it will be the right one.”
“’Tis this matter of the Test Act?” asked James. “Is that what puts the furrow in your brow, brother?”
“Aye; and if you were possessed of good sense it need be neither in mine nor yours. James, you must take the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England. You must take the Oath of Supremacy and declare against transubstantiation.”
“I could not do that,” said James.
“You will have to change your views,” said Charles grimly.
“A point of view is something we must have whether we want it or not.”
“Wise men keep such matters to themselves.”
“Men wise in spiritual matters would never enter a holy place and commit sacrilege.”
“James, you take yourself too seriously in some ways—not seriously enough in others. Listen to me, brother. I am past forty. I have not one legitimate child. You are my brother. Your daughters are heiresses to the throne. You are to marry a young girl ere long, and I doubt not she will give you sons. If you want to run your own foolish head into danger, what of their future?”
“No good ever grew out of evil,” said James firmly.
“James, have done with good and evil. Ponder on sound sense. You will come to Church with me tomorrow and by my side you will do all that is expected of you.”
James shook his head.
“They’ll not accept you, James,” insisted Charles, “they’ll not have a Catholic heir.”
“If it is God’s will that I lose the throne, then lose it I must. I choose between the approval of the people and that of God.”
“The approval of the people is a good thing for a King to have—and even more important for one who hopes to be King. But that is for the future. You have forgotten, my lord High Admiral, that all officers, under the Test Act which I have been forced to bring back, must receive the sacrament according to Church of England rites, make a declaration against transubstantiation, and take the Oath of Supremacy. Come, brother, can you not take me as head of your Church? Or must it be the Pope?”
“I can only do what my conscience bids me.”
“James, think of your future.”
“I do … my future in the life to come.”
“The life here on Earth could be a good one for you, James, were you to bring a little good sense to the living of it.”
“I would not perjure my soul for a hundred kingdoms.”
“And your soul is more important to you than your daughters’ future, than the future of the sons you may have with this new wife?”
“Mary and Anne have been brought up as Protestants. You asked for that concession and I gave it.”
“My solicitude was for your daughters, James. Has it ever occurred to you that if I die childless, and if you have no sons, one or both of those girls could be Queens of England?”
“It has, of course.”
“And you jeopardize their future for a whim!”
“A whim! You call a man’s religion a whim?”
Charles sighed wearily. “You could never give up your post as Commander of the Navy. You love the Navy. You have done much to make it what it is this day. You’d never give up that, James.”
“So they are demanding that?” said James bitterly.
“It has not been mentioned, but it is implied. Indeed how could it be otherwise? Indeed, James, I fear your enemies are at the bottom of the desire to have this revocation of the Declaration for the Liberty of Consciences.”
“Who would take my place?”
“Rupert.”
“Rupert! He is no great sailor.”
“The people would rather a Protestant leader who knew not how to lead their Navy, than a Catholic one who did. People are as fierce in their religion—one against the other—as they were in our grandfather’s day.”
“You constantly remind me of our grandfather.”
“A great King, James. Remember his word, ‘Paris is worth a Mass.’”
James opened his candid eyes very wide. “But that was different, brother. He … a Huguenot … became a Catholic. He came out of error into truth.”
Charles gave his brother his melancholy smile. He knew that he had lost his Lord High Admiral.
It was a misty November day when the royal barges sailed down the Thames to meet James and his new bride recently come from Dover. The people crowded the banks of the river to see the meeting between the royal barges and those which were bringing the bridal party to London. There was still a great deal of murmuring about this marriage. A strong body of opinion—set up by Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury—had declared firmly against it. Charles had been petitioned by this party in the Commons to send to Paris at once and stop the Princess from coming to England to consummate her marriage.
“I could not in honor dissolve a marriage which has been solemnly executed,” said Charles.
In a fury of indignation the Commons asked the King to appoint a day of fasting, that God might be asked to avert the dangers with which the nation was threatened.
“I could not withhold my permission for you gentlemen to fast as long as you wish,” was the King’s reply.
It was unfortunate that the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot should have fallen at this time. When the feeling against Catholicism ran high, the ceremony of burning Guy Fawkes was carried out with greater zest than usual, and that year Guy Fawkes’ Day was watched with great anxiety by the King and his brother. They feared that the burning of the effigies of Guy Fawkes, the Pope, and the devil would develop into rioting.
Arlington suggested then, since the King would not prevent the departure of the Princess of Modena from Paris, he might insist that, after his marriage, James and his new bride should retire from the Court and settle some distance from London, where he might enjoy the life of a country gentleman.
“Your suggestions interest me,” said the King. “But the first is incompatible with my honor, and the second would be an indignity to my brother.”
So Mary Beatrice of Modena had with regret left the shores of France where she had been treated with great kindness by many people in high places.