Note 705 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
Dalrymple, p. 129. The immediate cause of those intrigues was the indignation of Louis at the Princess Mary's marriage. That event which, as we know from James himself, was very suddenly brought about, took the King of France by surprise. Charles apologised for it to Barillon, by saying, "I am the only one of my party, except my brother."—P. 125. This, in fact, was the secret of his apparent relinquishment of French interests at different times in the latter years of his reign; he found it hard to kick constantly against the pricks, and could employ no minister who went cordially along with his predilections. He seems too at times, as well as the Duke of York, to have been seriously provoked at the unceasing encroachments of France, which exposed him to so much vexation at home.
The connection with Lords Russell and Hollis began in March 1678, though some of the opposition had been making advances to Barillon in the preceding November. Pp. 129, 131. See also Copies and Extracts of some Letters written to and from the Earl of Danby, published in 1716; whence it appears that Montagu suspected the intrigues of Barillon, and the mission of Rouvigny, Lady Russell's first cousin, for the same purpose, as early as Jan. 1678; and informed Danby of it. Pp. 50, 53, 59.