[195] Burnet; see the notes on the Oxford edition. Ralph, 692. The motion for bringing in the bill, Nov. 6, 1696, was carried by 169 to 61; but this majority lessened at every stage: and the final division was only 189 to 156. In the Lords it passed by 68 to 61; several whigs, and even the Duke of Devonshire, then lord steward, voting in the minority. _Parl. Hist._ 996-1154. Marlborough probably made Prince George of Denmark support the measure. _Shrewsbury Correspondence_, 449. Many remarkable letters on the subject are to be found in this collection; but I warn the reader against trusting any part of the volume except the letters themselves. The editor has, in defiance of notorious facts, represented Sir John Fenwick's disclosures as false; and twice charges him with prevarication (p. 404), using the word without any knowledge of its sense, in declining to answer questions put to him by members of the House of Commons, which he could not have answered without inflaming the animosity that sought his life. It is said in a note of Lord Hardwicke on Burnet, that "the king, before the session, had Sir John Fenwick brought to the cabinet council, where he was present himself. But Sir John would not explain his paper." See also _Shrewsbury Correspondence_, 419 _et post_. The truth was, that Fenwick, having had his information at second-hand, could not prove his assertions, and feared to make his case worse by repeating them. [196] Godolphin, who was then first commissioner of the treasury, not much to the liking of the whigs, seems to have been tricked by Sunderland into retiring from office on this occasion. _Id._ 415. Shrewsbury, secretary of state, could hardly be restrained by the king and his own friends from resigning the seals as soon as he knew of Fenwick's accusation. His behaviour shows either a consciousness of guilt, or an inconceivable cowardice. Yet at first he wrote to the king, pretending to mention candidly all that had passed between him and the Earl of Middleton, which in fact amounted to nothing. P. 147. This letter, however, seems to show that a story which has been several times told, and is confirmed by the biographer of James II. and by Macpherson's _Papers_, that William compelled Shrewsbury to accept office in 1693, by letting him know that he was aware of his connection with St. Germains, is not founded in truth. He could hardly have written in such a style to the king with that fact in his way. Monmouth, however, had some suspicion of it; as appears by the hints he furnished to Sir J. Fenwick towards establishing the charges. P. 450. Lord Dartmouth, full of inveterate prejudices against the king, charges him with personal pique against Sir John Fenwick, and with instigating members to vote for the bill. Yet it rather seems that he was, at least for some time, by no means anxious for it. _Shrewsbury Correspondence_; and compare Coxe's _Life of Marlborough_, i. 63. [197] _Life of James_, ii. 558.