1690, an act of parliament had been passed
empowering Mary during his absence to exercise the government in his name as well as in
her own. William had, according to Burnet (iv. 87), repeatedly said to Shrewsbury
that, though he could not hit on the right
way of pleasing England, the queen would.
As she had, with her usual modesty, told
him that the real responsibility must after
all lie with the privy council (Memoirs, ap.
Doebner, pp. 22-3), he was at special pains
to furnish her with a suitable confidential
committee of that body on which she might
rely. To the loyalty of its nine members,
who together with Carmarthen (Danby) in-
cluded Kussell as chief naval and in the ultimate selection Marlborough as chief military
adviser, William made an earnest appeal, but
her letters to him show that she entertained
no high esteem for most of them (Macaulay,
iii. 593, f>98; Burnet, iv. £3; Clarendon
Correspondence, ii. 31(5; Klopp, v. 101-2).
She had recently recovered from an illness,
but she promised Carmarthen 'not to be
governed by her own or others' fears, but to
follow the advise of those she believed had
most courage and judgment ' (Memoirs ap.
DoEBNER,p. 31). From her ' Memoirs,' and
from her daily outpourings to her husband
in the pathetic series of letters, it is abundantly clear that her piety and her affection
for her husband enabled her to do her duty.
Almost the first occasion on which she felt
constrained to speak in her council was to
approve of a warrant issuing for the arrest
of her uncle Clarendon, who was involved
in a plot against William. The French fleet,
under Tourville, had entered the Channel,
and an insurrection was daily expected. Furthermore, the conduct of Torrington, who
was in command of the English fleet, gave
rise to the gravest suspicion, but the queen
followed the advice of the majority of her
council, and, while sending him orders to
fight, agreed that Russell and Monmouth
should go down to the coast to supervise his
proceedings. They were too late to prevent his losing the battle of Beaehy Head
(30 June), and the queen, who had moreover just received the news of the disastrous
battle of Fleurus. shared the sense of humiliation which filled the nation (Dalrymple,
iii. 83-5). Shrewsbury's chivalrous offer of
his services may have contributed to encourage her at this crisis(MACAULAT, iii. 613 ;
Dalrymple, iii. 88-9), and after being distressed beyond measure by the news of William being wounded (ib, pp. 89-92), she was
on 7 July rewarded by the news of his decisive victory of the Boyne, with which the fear
of invasion virtually ended (ib. p. 600; cf.
Macaulay, iii. 165). In the letter in which
she confessed to William the ' confusion of
thought ' into which she had been plunged,
she begged him for his and her sake to see
that no hurt should come to the person of
her vanquished father, and characteristically
added an entreaty that he would provide
without delay for the church in Ireland,
which everybody agreed was ' the worst in
Christendom' (Dalrymple, iii. €2-6). Torrington, who had hoped for an audience from
her, was straightway ordered to the Tower
(Klopp, v. 135). The king, after raising the
siege of Limerick, returned to Hampton
Court 10 Sept. (Dalrymple, iii. 126-9), and
she had the satisfaction of finding him ' very
much pleased with her behaviour' (Memoirs
ap. Doebxer), while both houses of parliament, when they met in October, voted her
thanks for the prudence of her government
(Macaulay, iii. 716). She at once relinquished all participation in public business
(Memoirs ap. Doebner, p. 34).
During the king's absence in Holland, from Jan. to 10 April 1C91 , she dissembled her anxiety, played every night at comet or basset, and allowed dancing at court on the occasion of her sister's birthday (ib. p. 36). But, with the sole exception of Henry Sidney, who had succeeded Shrewsbury as secretary of state, she was surrounded by enemies or cold friends. On the night before the king's return she was alarmed by a serious fire at Whitehall, from which she is said to have made her escape with difficulty (Miss Strickland, xi. 189-90: Macaulay, iv. 334). In the middle of April 1091 the sees of the deprived eight nonjuring bishops were at length tilled. Since their deprivation the queen had, through Burnet, Rochester, and Trevor, endeavoured to obtain a lenient treatment for thestt prelates (Burnet, iv. 128), more especially for Ken and Frampton ; and to her seems to belong the saying, attributed by Macaulay to William, that however much they wished to be martyrs, care should be taken to disappoint them (Plumptre, u.s., ii. 09-70; cS. Doebner, p. 41 ). In some of the many admirable appointments now and soon afterwards made, especially in the elevation to the primacy of Tillotson, for whom, as more moderate, her faithful Compton was, to his bitter chagrin, passed over, the influence of the queen seems distinctly traceable (cf. Burnet, iv. 137; Macaulay, iv. 34 seqq.; C. J. Abbey, The Em/Hsh Church and its Bishops, 1700-1800 (1887), i. 94). Tillotson henceforth became the regular adviser as to church preferments of Mary, to whom William delegated such matters, but notwithstanding the moderation and conscientious-
