^hap.IV. from the Revolution, to the Death os .As.William.

i6o 0 King’s Pveign fays, on the ninth tofffindsor. (a)

As soon as the Fleet was in a tollerableForwardness, it was put under the jointCommand of Sir Richard Haddock ,Henry Killegrew Esq; and Sir John -Ash-by. Two of these Admirals arrived iniheDowns, the one and twentieth of Au-guft, and sailing from thence, the fiveand twentieth, were join’d by fÆr.Ki/k-

hist net " [ a ) I shall take the Opportunity here, that

VVjij. °f K. I may not break the Thread of my Discourse^nrn. hereafter, to look back upon one Transactionwhich passed during His Majesty's Absence. To-wards the latter End of the Year, 1689 , KingJames, and His Pop’ijh Council, in Ireland , laidthe Foundation of the Lancashire Plot, havingsent over Commissions into that, and other Nor-thern Counties, to raise an Army, which His Ma-jesty engaged to head himself, in Person, in Au-gust- 1690 . But the Plot being discovered, bysome of the Confederates, and soon after effectu-ally baffled, by that Monarch’sDefeat at the Payne;another Project was set on Foot, by the Jacobitesin England, for His Majesty’s Restoration ; Andthat was to gain Assistance from France, to invadeEngland: To compass this End, the leadingMen of the Party, in all Counties, immediatelyrepaired to London, and there consulted what newMeasures were to be taken, after this fatal andunexpected Disappointment, by King William'sVictory in Ireland: And because the Conspiratorswere then, generally speaking, but of one Fac-tion, it was resolved, that the Plot to restore theabdicated King should be laid wider, extendedfarther, and more Interests be united, m private.Cabals of their most confiderable Friends, Lordsand Gentlemen, both Whigs and Tories : That,at every Meeting, they should propose and debatethe most effectual Ways to bring their Design a-bout; And, when come to a Resolution, theylhould transmit their Sentiments to the Royal Club(as they called it) in Convent Garden, and they se-lect the most rational among the various Opinions,and digest them into such Methods for Practice,as lhould govern the whole Party. The Result oftheir several Consultations was, First ; That theJacobites, being unable to re-inthrone the. lateKing,by their own Strength, they Jhould endeavour toobtain AJfiftance from France, who had formerlymade them such Promises-, And, Secondly, SinceDelays were dangerous, sending Letters intoF raneehazardous, the Court at St. Germain’! faBiousand treacherous, that some Men of known Abilityshould go over into France, to tranfaT that x Mat-' ter for the whole Party■ This Project having theApprobation of the leading Club, in Dec. 1690 .The Lord Preston, Mr. AJhton, and Mr. Elliotwere pitched upon, as proper Persons, to be sentinto France. Some would have had their Num-ber encreased; But they were over-ruled by thisstanding Maxim among them ; Chuse well, buthave to do with but a few ; For a Multitude maygive, but can never keep Council.

These Gentlemen thus appointed by theParty,having hired a Vessel of Mrs. Jane Prat, ofParking, in Essex, for their Transportation intoFrance, went on Board her near Battle-bridge ;But the whole Plot being discovered, the Go-vernment ordered Captain Billop to attend theirMotion, who accordingly suffered them to sailbelow Gravefend, and then boarded and tookthem. In Mr. Ajhton’s Bosom was found a Pac-Let of Letters and Papers, whereby it appeared,that they were going to France, to promote the

grew , off of Dover, with the Ships he ibrought from the Streights. TheseShips had been confined at Plymouth, byReason the French were in the Channel,as I before observed. The Fleet ar-riving at Spithead, the eight and twenti-eth, the Admirals received Instructionshow to proceed, and Orders what Shipsto take under their Command. (£)

7 Z The

treasonable Defign of that Party against the Kingand Queen, to invade the Realm, subvert tbe Go-vernment, and restore the late King by the AJJi-stance of French Forces. See a Copy of the Pa-mpers contained in this Packet, as they were pro-duced in Evidence against my Lord Preston, andMr. Apt on, at their Trial, in the Appendix tothe Second Volume of the History of King William,among which is the following very remarkablePiece :

A List of the English Fleet, which the LordPreston and Mr. Alhton were carrying overinto France.

SHIPS.

Rates.

Ships.

In Repair.

Not.

Building.

X

8

5

3

2

12

11

1

3

35

34

1

4

38

34

4

4

5

14

14

1

6

9

9

Firessiips

25

25

8

Bomb-Veil 1

I

Ketches

X

1

8

143

1 34

9

21

Brought in by Admiral Rujfel to the House ofCommons, Dec. the four and twentieth, ninety theFleet, whereof sixty Dutch.

Memorandum. The new Ships building areexpected will be ready to be landed by the Endof March-

{b) These Ships were as follows, and werethen dispersed at the several Places expressed a-gainst their Names, viz. One First-Rate, the So-vereign ; Seven Second-Rates, the Sandwich, Co-ronation, Duchess, Royal Catherine, Neptune,Duke, and Offory; Six and twenty Third-Rates,the Captain, Grafton , Defiance, Elizabeth, Ber-wick, Hope, Breda, Edgar, Hampton-Court, Ex-pedition, Suffolk, Sterling-Gastle, Restoration, Le-nox, Warfipight, Cambridge, Exeter, Kent, Nor-thumberland, Monmouth, EJfez, Swiftfure, Reso-lution , Eagle, Burford and Mountague TwoSixth-Rates, the Saudadoes and Salamander ; TheFubs-Tacht; Nine Fire-ships, the Griffin, Cadiz-Merehant, Charles , Hunter, Owner’s Love ,Wolf, Vulture, Hound and Pelican ; At Spit-head- The St. Michael, a Second-Rate, atBlack Stakes. The Harwich, a Third-Rate, andthe Sampson, a Fourth-Rate, (hired) at she Were.The Modena , a Third-Rate, (hired) the Wolf(hired) and the Dragon, Fourth-Rates, at Long-Reach. The Charles-Gzlly, a Fourth-Rate, goneto Holland ; And the Hopewell , Fire-slstp, atDeptford. •