e, together with an act for taking away the writ "_De
heretico comburendo_;" another annulling all attainders and acts passed
in the late pretended parliament of king James; a third to prevent
foreign education; a fourth for disarming papists; and a fifth for
settling the estates of intestates. Then they resolved, That a sum
not exceeding one hundred and sixty-three thousand three hundred and
twenty-five pounds, should be granted to his majesty; to be raised by
a poll-bill, additional customs, and a continuation of the additional
excise. Sir Charles Porter, the chancellor, finding his importance
diminished, if not entirely destroyed, by the assuming disposition and
power of the lord-deputy, began to court popularity by espousing the
cause of the Irish against the severity of the administration, and
actually formed a kind of tory interest which thwarted lord Capel in all
his measures. A motion was made in parliament to impeach the chancellor
for sowing discord and division among his majesty's subjects; but being
indulged with a hearing by the house of commons, he justified himself so
much to their satisfaction, that he was voted clear of all imputation
by a great majority. Nevertheless, they, at the end of the session,
sent over an address, in which they bore testimony to the mild and just
administration of their lord-deputy.

DISPOSITION OF THE ARMIES.

King William having taken such steps as were deemed necessary for
preserving the peace of England in his absence, crossed the sea to
Holland in the middle of May, fully determined to make some great effort
in the Netherlands that might aggrandize his military character, and
humble the power of France which was already on the decline. That
kingdom was actually exhausted in such a manner that the haughty Louis
found himself obliged to stand upon the defensive against enemies over
whom he had been used to triumph with uninterrupted success. He heard
the clamours of his people which he could not quiet; he saw his advances
to peace rejected; and to crown his misfortunes, he sustained an
irreparable loss in the death of Francis de Montmorency, duke of
Luxembourg, to whose military talents he owed the greatest part of his
glory and success. That great officer died in January at Versailles, in
the sixty-seventh year of his age; and Louis lamented his death the more
deeply, as he had not another general left in whose understanding he
could confide. The conduct of the army