The British nation a history / by George MWrong . step of avowing himself aconvert to Eoman Catholicism, was forced to resign allhis offices and to leave England. On Xovember 9, 1673, Charles dismissed Shaftesbury from office because of his support of the Test Act, and henceforth found him the most resolute op-The persecution . ? of Eoman ponent of the royal policy. The nation hated CathoUcs. ^i^g alliance with France, and in 1674 obliged Charles to conclude a separate peace with Holland. Al-ready the truth about the discreditable Treaty of Doverwas known; it drove the English nation to the oj
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . step of avowing himself aconvert to Eoman Catholicism, was forced to resign allhis offices and to leave England. On Xovember 9, 1673, Charles dismissed Shaftesbury from office because of his support of the Test Act, and henceforth found him the most resolute op-The persecution . ? of Eoman ponent of the royal policy. The nation hated CathoUcs. ^i^g alliance with France, and in 1674 obliged Charles to conclude a separate peace with Holland. Al-ready the truth about the discreditable Treaty of Doverwas known; it drove the English nation to the oj)positeextreme, and a wild outburst of fanaticism was in timeprovoked by Charless plan to use the jjower of France tore-establish Eoman Catholicism in England. Titus Oates,a disreputable man, who had obtained orders in the Churchof England, told on oath, in September, 1678, a circum-stantial story that, feigning to be a convert, he had learnedthe secrets of the Jesuits; that a reward of £26,000 had 416 THE BRITISH NATION supreme in the been made up for the persons who should murder theking; that prominent leaders in England were also to bemurdered, and that with the aid of a French army Jameswas to be made king, and the Jesuits were to become A few days later, Sir EdmundBerry CJodfrey, the magistrate be-fore whom Gates made his deposi-tion, was murdered, possibly byGates himself to create a furthersensation. Even moderate and lib-eral-minded men like William,Lord Russell, were carried awayby the fury of suspicion. Nostatement was too grotesque to bebelieved. It was whispered thatthe Roman Catholics — a smallminority in England—were aboutto burn London and to murderall good Protestants. Both theCommons and the Lords asserted their belief in the plot,and November 13 was declared a fast-day. The panic offear lasted about two years. Leading Roman Catholicswere thrown into the Tower. Lord Stafford, a RomanCatholic peer, was kept in prison two years, and then,after a scan
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