CHAPTER VIII.

REIGN OF CHARLES II. (_continued_).

Demands of Parliament--A Bogus Commission--Crushing the Covenanters in Scotland--The Dutch in the Thames--Panic in London and at Court--Humiliation of England--Peace is Signed--Fall of Clarendon--The Cabal--Sir William Temple at the Hague--The Triple Alliance--Scandals at Court--Profligacy of the King and the Duke of Buckingham--Attempt to Deprive the Duke of York of the Succession--Persecution of Nonconformists--Trial of Penn and Mead--The Rights of Juries--Secret Treaty with France--Suspicious Death of Charles's Sister--"Madam Carwell"--Attack on Sir John Coventry--National Bankruptcy--War with Holland--Battle of Southwold Bay--Declaration of Indulgence--Fall of the Cabal--Affairs in Scotland and Ireland--Progress of the Continental War--Mary Marries William of Orange--Louis Intrigues with the Opposition--Peace of Nimeguen--The Popish Plot--Impeachment of Danby--Temple's Scheme of Government--The Exclusion Bill--Murder of Archbishop Sharp--Bothwell Bridge--Anti-Catholic Fury--Charges against James--Execution of Lord Stafford 221