Introduction

Introduction.

The agitation aroused by the Popish Plot finally dispelled any possibility of reconciliation and mutual understanding between Charles II and his Parliament. As a consequence, for the remainder of his life Charles received no further financial assistance from his faithful Commons, or, to put it more succinctly and truthfully, the English Members of Parliament acting as the deluded dupes and the perjured tools of Louis XIV made default and betrayed their own King and country by financially wrecking the administration. The closing chapter, therefore, of the history of this reign presents a single and a simple aspect. Abandoning all hope of further Parliamentary aid, Charles and his administration practically withdrew from the field of European politics and devoted themselves to the task of liquidating the account for the abortive "New Raised Forces" and of financing the ordinary governmental machinery of the country. The financial story of this closing chapter, from 1679 to 1685, is told in the present volume now issued and in the succeeding volume, which will appear almost immediately. As it is impossible to divide between two volumes an introduction dealing with a period so uniform and possessed of so single an aspect and unity of interest as is the period of 1679–85, it has been decided to defer the introduction to the succeeding Volume VII.