‘To persuade them all’: James Johnston, state communication and the Fagel’s Letter campaign of 1688

The subject of Fagel’s Letter, a propaganda campaign financed by Prince William of Orange, Stadhouder of Holland, was carefully recorded by his principal spy and propagandist, James Johnston. The significance of Johnston and the wider campaign on religious toleration are still obscure amongst students of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. This essay will draw on Johnston’s secret intelligence, harnessing his rich chronology of Fagel’s Letter to reveal a fuller assessment of Dutch propaganda in England. Crucially, this is a study about how and why intelligence can improve state communication with a foreign public. While this essay suggests that Fagel’s Letter was a flawed experiment, it considers the breadth of Johnston’s covert activities to increase the appetite for Williamite propaganda. The concluding hypothesis will show that Johnston’s reports enhanced William’s ability to penetrate the English public sphere, laying much of the groundwork for the monumental Declaration of Reasons.