"The Catholics are not now in accord," wrote Barillon to Louis XIV.; "the ablest, and those highest in the king's confidence, know well that this conjuncture is the most favorable that they may hope for, and that if they allow it to pass by, it may be a very long time ere another such opportunity returns. The Jesuits are of this opinion, which is, without doubt, most reasonable, but the rich and well-established Catholics fear the future, and apprehend a reaction, which may ruin them. Those nearest the court of Rome share this opinion." {424} Innocent XI. in fact had given to the Nuncio this prudent counsel: "The safety and advantage of the Catholics depend upon a reunion of his Majesty with his Parliament." "What a great shame and outrage this quarrel is!" replied the Nuncio. Italian sagacity comprehended the advantages of a constitutional policy to the Catholics, as against the dangers which might arise from royal favors tainted with illegality. French artifice in the service of Louis XIV. desired an entirely different result. The secret intrigues of Barillon and of his coadjutor Bonrepaux tended to raise the temper of Parliament by exciting both the religious zeal and absolute temper of the sovereign. The advances of the court of Spain to the King of England disquieted France. "The news from Madrid is alarming," wrote the king; "they menace us with an alliance between England and the court of Austria, at the moment the king is assured that Parliament will no longer embarrass him." "They flatter him with the hope of holding the balance of power in Europe, and of being regarded as the only one capable of checking the power and designs of your Majesty," responded Barillon. The interest of France was evidently to maintain discord between the King of England and his Parliament. The narrow obstinacy of James II., the inconsiderate zeal of a small fraction of the Catholics, and the audacious cleverness of the Jesuits, actively served the views of Louis XIV. {425} "I will not make concessions; my father made concessions, and he was beheaded," often remarked King James. The nation demanded of the king that he remain faithful to his engagements; he regarded the fidelity of a prince as a concession, and absolute submission as the simple duty of the subject. One principle alone remained to him of his education by the English Church: he admitted the doctrine of non-resistance, and charged the bishops to strenuously enforce the same. Already the discourse of the Bishop of London, Compton, delivered on the 19th of November in the House of Lords, astonished and irritated him. "The civil and religious constitutions of the kingdom are in peril," the prelate had the audacity to say. One resource remained to the king: the "_dispensing power_," which gave him, he thought, the right to suspend the action of the penal laws. He resolved to exercise this power before the reassembling of Parliament.