But Caermarthen was designated as the person on whom, in case of any difference of opinion in the council, she ought chiefly to rely.

Caermarthen's sagacity and experience were unquestionable; his principles, indeed, were lax; but, if there was any person in existence to whom he was likely to be true, that person was Mary.

He had long been in a peculiar manner her friend and servant: he had gained a high place in her favour by bringing about her marriage; and he had, in the Convention, carried his zeal for her interests to a length which she had herself blamed as excessive.

There was, therefore, every reason to hope that he would serve her at this critical conjuncture with sincere good will, [653] One of her nearest kinsmen, on the other hand, was one of her bitterest enemies.

The evidence which was in the possession of the government proved beyond dispute that Clarendon was deeply concerned in the Jacobite schemes of insurrection.