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This changed the whole situation. The leading men refused to believe that the boy was the child of James and the Queen, but claimed that he was an adopted child, who had been smuggled into the palace in a warming pan.

The doctrine of non-resistance was now forgotten. On the very day that the bishops were acquitted, seven of the leading men, some of them Whigs and some

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WILLIAM OF ORANGE SETTING OUT FOR ENGLAND

Tories, joined in an invitation to William of Orange, to come over with an armed force, and defend the rights of his wife Mary and the liberties of the English people.

William accepted the invitation, and landed in England with a small army, on November 5, 1688. James tried to undo his illegal acts, and to recover the lost loyalty of his people; but it was too late. The Orange soldiers whom he sent against William were England. persuaded by their commanders to go over to the side

William of

invades

of the invader. In the north, a rebellion was raised against the King, with cries of "A free Parliament, the Protestant religion, and no Popery." The Princess Anne and her husband fled from the Court, and joined William.

"God help me," cried James, when this news was brought to him, "my very children have forsaken me!" Deserted by everybody, he determined to flee to France. On his first attempt, he was arrested by some fishermen,

Flight of
James II.

who took him for an escaping criminal, and he was brought back. This did not suit William, for he did not want to have the problem of deciding what should be done with a deposed King. So James was driven from his palace, and the way was left open (which James was not long in finding) to escape abroad. His second attempt was successful. Louis XIV. received him kindly, and gave him the use of a palace, and a yearly pension.

The Bill of Rights passed

(1689).

To settle the government in England, a new "Convention Parliament" was called. This declared that James had broken the "contract" between King and people, and that by fleeing from the kingdom he had given up the throne. William and Mary were then chosen as joint sovereigns. The next year, the Parliament passed the Bill of Rights, which confirmed all that had been done in the Revolution, declared illegal the oppressive acts of James II., and provided that no Catholic should ever succeed to the throne of England. This famous law ranks in importance with the Great Charter of 1215, and the Petition of Right of 1628. Scotland also deposed James II., and accepted William and Mary as its sovereigns; at the same time, it declared Presbyterianism to be the established religion of that kingdom. Only in Ireland did govern

ment continue in the name of James II., and there also, as we shall see, it was soon to be overthrown.

Thus the Stuart rule was ended, and the principle was established that the King is under Parliament and the law, and not above them. This change was accomplished almost wholly without war or bloodshed and with very little disturbance among the people.

Well may Englishmen-and we also who derive our governments from them-look back upon the benefits which this change brought, and call it the "Glorious Revolution of 1688!"

TOPICS FOR THOUGHT AND SEARCH

1. Compare the character of James II. with that of Charles II. 2. Make a list of the things which caused James's fall.

3. Read the account in Macaulay's "History of England" of the rejoicing when the bishops were declared "Not guilty.

4. Compare the religious struggles under Charles II. and James II. with those under Charles I.

5. Which were the wiser rulers, the Tuders or the Stuarts? Why? 6. State in writing, in your own words, the significance of the

Revolution of 1688.

XXIX

THE REIGN OF WILLIAM AND

MARY (1689-1702)

POINTS TO BE NOTICED

Characters of William and Mary; dates of their reign; France aids James II.; Battle of the Boyne in Ireland; Battle of Killiekrankie in Scotland; Massacre of Glencoe.

William's war against Louis XIV.; attitude of Englishmen; Battle of La Hogue; terms on which France made peace; importance of this war.

The Toleration Act; Catholics excluded from it; the Mutiny Act; practices aiding the growth of political liberty; the Triennial Act; a step toward Cabinet government; censorship of the press removed.

Death of Queen Mary; the Act of Settlement; death of William; importance of his reign.

Characters

PARLIAMENT chose wisely in placing William and Mary upon the throne. Mary was a Stuart, was still young and handsome, and was popular because of of William her good heart and pleasing manners. William and Mary. III., on the other hand, was a foreigner, and had a distant manner, which held people off at arm's length. His English subjects never loved him, as they did Mary, although they recognized his ability and his just character. On the Continent, he had already become the leader of the Protestants in resisting the ambitious plans of France. As King of England, his chief object was still to unite Europe against Louis XIV., but at the same time he wished to govern strictly according to the constitution.

Although James II. had fled from England, he had no intention of giving up his throne without a struggle. Louis XIV. treated him as if he were still King of Eng

land, and supplied him with soldiers, arms, and money. James's chief attempt was made in Ireland, where the great majority of the people were Catholics, and favored his cause.

When James arrived in Ireland he laid siege to the Protestant town of Londonderry. The siege lasted for more than a hundred days. The inhabitants of the town suffered terribly; more than half James II. of them perished, and the survivors were

WILLIAM III.

War with

in Ireland.

forced to eat the flesh of horses, cats, and dogs. James's officers carried on the siege with savage cruelty; but still the cry was, "No surrender." When at last food was all gone, except a little tallow and some salted hides, a fleet sent by William broke through the "boom" which closed the harbor, and the town was saved.

The next summer (1690) William himself took a large force

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to Ireland, and won a great victory in the battle of the river Boyne. The Irish cavalry fought bravely, but their foot soldiers were untrained, and fled from the field. James was one of the first of the fugitives to reach the city of Dublin, and there he bitterly told an Irish lady that her countrymen had "run away."

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