endeavouring to sow divisions in the army was a mere vague
rumour of the day; the design against Dunkirk did not take
place till the ensuing August; and the earl was confidentially
employed by the king, more than two years after the dis-
cussion relative to the revenue of the princess.

For Marlborough's subsequent detention, we must seek
another cause, namely, his clandestine intercourse with the
exiled family. We have already adverted to the commence-
ment of that intercourse: and whether the motive which
induced him to listen to the overtures of the Stuart agents,
arose from disgust with William, or the fear of a counter-
revolution, we cannot doubt that it must have operated with
double force, during the course of the preceding winter,
when he was personally implicated in the dispute between
the princess and the king; and when a powerful expedition
was preparing in the French ports, to restore the exiled
monarch. So general was the panic felt on this occasion,
that even the princess of Denmark herself made overtures
to her father, towards the close of 1691. Such a corre-
spondence could not have entirely escaped the vigilance of
William; and he might naturally have ascribed the overture
of the princess to the advice of Marlborough and his countess,
who possessed her full confidence. But whatever were his
suspicions, the evidence on which they were founded was
too slender to justify severer measures; for otherwise the
powerful cabal, whom Marlborough had so grievously of-
fended, would scarcely have failed to push their vengeance
farther than mere detention.

The atrocious forgery of Young was detected the instant
he was confronted with the bishop of Rochester. Accord-
ingly the prelate, and all those implicated in the same charge,
except Marlborough, were released without delay. Even the
arrested Jacobites were liberated, when the defeat of the
French fleet off La Rogue had dissipated the alarm of in-
vasion. But although the guilt of Young and his associate
was legally substantiated ^* , and although they suffered a

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