ad
been concerted with the English malecontents, [666]

The Queen and her Council hastened to take measures for the defence of
the country against both foreign and domestic enemies. Torrington took
the command of the English fleet which lay in the Downs, and sailed to
Saint Helen's. He was there joined by a Dutch squadron under the command
of Evertsen. It seemed that the cliffs of the Isle of Wight would
witness one of the greatest naval conflicts recorded in history. A
hundred and fifty ships of the line could be counted at once from the
watchtower of Saint Catharine's. On the cast of the huge precipice of
Black Gang Chine, and in full view of the richly wooded rocks of Saint
Lawrence and Ventnor, were mustered the maritime forces of England and
Holland. On the west, stretching to that white cape where the waves roar
among the Needles, lay the armament of France.

It was on the twenty-sixth of June, less than a fortnight after William
had sailed for Ireland, that the hostile fleets took up these positions.
A few hours earlier, there had been an important and anxious sitting of
the Privy Council at Whitehall. The malecontents who were leagued with
France were alert and full of hope. Mary had remarked, while taking her
airing, that Hyde Park was swarming with them. The whole board was of
opinion that it was necessary to arrest some persons of whose guilt the
government had proofs. When Clarendon was named, something was said
in his behalf by his friend and relation, Sir Henry Capel. The other
councillors stared, but remained silent. It was no pleasant task to
accuse the Queen's kinsman in the Queen's presence. Mary had scarcely
ever opened her lips at Council; but now, being possessed of clear
proofs of her uncle's treason in his own handwriting, and knowing that
respect for her prevented her advisers from proposing what the public
safety required, she broke silence. "Sir Henry," she said, "I know, and
every body here knows as well as I, that there is too much against my
Lord Clarendon to leave him out." The warrant was drawn up; and Capel
signed it with the rest. "I am more sorry for Lord Clarendon," Mary
wrote to her husband, "than, may be, will be believed." That evening
Clarendon and several other noted Jacobites were lodged in the Tower,
[667]

When the Privy Council had risen, the Queen and the interior Council of
Nine had to consider a question of the gravest importance. What orders
were to be sent to Torringto