Still, it will be felt that
for Stuart to fight against Stuart, brother against sister, would
be contrary to nature. Foreigners are always unpopular, and, as
against William, every Jacobite is ready to take up arms. But I
think that nothing will be done during Anne's reign. The Elector of
Hanover would be as unpopular, among Englishmen in general, as is
William of Orange, and, should he come to the throne, there will
assuredly ere long be a rising to bring back the Stuarts."
Charles shook his head.
"I don't want to ruffle your spirit of loyalty to the Stuarts,
Captain Jervoise, but they have showed themselves weak monarchs for
a great country. They want fibre. William of Orange may be, as you
call him, a foreigner and a usurper, but England has greater weight
in the councils of Europe, in his hands, than it has had since the
death of Elizabeth."
This was rather a sore point with Captain Jervoise, who, thorough
Jacobite as he was, had smarted under the subservience of England
to France during the reigns of the two previous monarchs.
"You Englishmen and Scotchmen are fighting people," the king went
on, "and should have a military monarch. I do not mean a king like
myself, who likes to fight in the front ranks of his soldiers; but
one like William, who has certainly lofty aims, and is a statesman,
and can join in European combinations.
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