House of Lords, and versed in our insular politics. But, in the
deliberations of the Congress, Caermarthen and Nottingham would
have been found as far inferior to him as he would have been found
inferior to them in a parliamentary debate on a question purely
English. The coalition against France was his work. He alone had
joined together the parts of that great whole; and he alone could
keep them together. If he had trusted that vast and complicated
machine in the hands of any of his subjects, it would instantly
have fallen to pieces.

Some things indeed were to be done which none of his subjects
would have ventured to do. Pope Alexander was really, though not
in name, one of the allies; it was of the highest importance to
have him for a friend; and yet such was the temper of the English
nation that an English minister might well shrink from having any
dealings, direct or indirect, with the Vatican. The Secretaries
of State were glad to leave a matter so delicate and so full of
risk to their master, and to be able to protest with truth that
not a line to which the most intolerant Protestant could object
had ever gone out of their offices.

It must not be supposed however that William ever forgot that his
especial, his hereditary, mission was to protect the Reformed
Faith. His influence with Roman Catholic princes was constantly
and strenuously exerted for the benefit of their Protestant
subjects. In the spring of 1691, the Waldensian shepherds, long
and cruelly persecuted, and weary of their lives, were surprised
by glad tidings. Those who had been in prison for heresy returned
to their homes. Children, who had been taken from their parents
to be educated by priests, were sent back. Congregations, which