ok up arms against Charles
the First acted under the authority of a Parliament which had been
legally assembled, and which could not, without its own consent, be
legally dissolved. The opponents of Charles the Second were private men.
Almost all the military and naval resources of the kingdom had been at
the disposal of those who resisted Charles the First. All the military
and naval resources of the kingdom were at the disposal of Charles the
Second. The House of Commons had been supported by at least half the
nation against Charles the First. But those who were disposed to levy
war against Charles the Second were certainly a minority. It could
hardly be doubted, therefore, that, if they attempted a rising, they
would fail. Still less could it be doubted that their failure would
aggravate every evil of which they complained. The true policy of the
Whigs was to submit with patience to adversity which was the natural
consequence and the just punishment of their errors, to wait patiently
for that turn of public feeling which must inevitably come, to observe
the law, and to avail themselves of the protection, imperfect indeed,
but by no means nugatory, which the law afforded to innocence. Unhappily
they took a very different course. Unscrupulous and hot-headed chiefs of
the party formed and discussed schemes of resistance, and were heard, if
not with approbation, yet with the show of acquiescence, by much better
men than themselves. It was proposed that there should be simultaneous
insurrections in London, in Cheshire, at Bristol, and at Newcastle.
Communications were opened with the discontented Presbyterians of
Scotland, who were suffering under a tyranny such as England, in the
worst times, had never known. While the leaders of the opposition thus
revolved plans of open rebellion, but were still restrained by fears
or scruples from taking any decisive step, a design of a very different
kind was meditated by some of their accomplices. To fierce spirits,
unrestrained by principle, or maddened by fanaticism, it seemed that to
waylay and murder the King and his brother was the shortest and surest
way of vindicating the Protestant religion and the liberties of England.
A place and a time were named; and the details of the butchery were
frequently discussed, if not definitely arranged. This scheme was known
but to few, and was concealed with especial care from the upright and
humane Russell, and from Monmouth, who, though not a