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Home Domestic Affairs, 1660-88, in England and Scotland England; Part 8 |
England; Part 8For the first nine months of his reign, till towards the close of 1685, James himself behaved with some moderation. The ease with which the two risings were quelled, however, encouraged him to a more extreme policy. He increased the numbers of the standing army, which was a very unpopular institution, to thirty thousand men. He began a systematic policy of officering it with Roman Catholics, by making use of the dispensing power, a power by which the judges held he was able to dispense, in the case of particular individuals, with the laws passed against the Roman Catholics. He changed his ministers, moderate men like Halifax or High Churchmen like Rochester giving way to Roman Catholics and recent converts to that religion like Sunderland; and in Ireland he made Tyrconnel, a bigoted Roman Catholic, viceroy. He showed his intention of converting the University of Oxford by appointing a Roman Catholic to the Deanery of Christ Church and by substituting Roman Catholic for Protestant Fellows at Magdalen College; and therefore incurred the hostility of that University, which had always been the most loyal supporter of the House of Stuart He re-established the High Commission Court and issued a Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the penal laws against the Roman Catholics and Dissenters. He prorogued and finally dissolved his first Parliament (July, 1687), and he then made preparations for "packing" another one by calling on the Lords-Lieutenant to provide him with a list of Roman Catholics and Nonconformists suitable as Members—a demand which led most of them to resign.Such conduct on the part of James alienated not only those classes who had fought against his father but also the classes—the country gentlemen and the clergy—who had fought for him. In the early summer of 1688 the crisis came. In May, the king issued a second Declaration of Indulgence, and ordered it to be read in churches. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six other bishops drew up a protest, and James decided to try them for libel. On June 10 a son was born to James by his second wife, Mary of Modena. People had so far been content to await the advent of a new reign, in the hope that James's Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange, the ruler of Holland and a strong Protestant, would succeed. But now James had a successor who would be educated as a Roman Catholic. Moreover, it was widely believed that the child was not really the child of James and his wife, but had been brought into the palace in a warming-pan. On June 10 the Seven Bishops were acquitted, and on that night there was a scene of indescribable enthusiasm and rejoicing in London. On the same evening seven men of importance, representing different shades of opinion, met and drew up a letter inviting William to bring an army over to England and to restore to its people their liberties (The letter was signed in cipher and conveyed by Admiral Herbert (afterwards Lord Torrington) who, disguised as a common sailor, managed to reach the Dutch coast in safety). At this moment Louis XIV offered James his assistance. James, not appreciating his danger, refused it. Fortunately for William, Louis then moved his troops from the Netherlands frontier to wage a campaign in Germany. With Holland no longer threatened by a French army, William felt himself justified in coming to England, especially as he had received assurances of help from leaders of the English army and navy. He landed at Torbay on November 5, 1688, and received support at once. Later he was joined by John Churchill (afterwards the famous Duke of Marl-borough), the chief man in the army, whilst an insurrection, supported by Anne, James's second daughter, took place in Yorkshire. James tried conciliation, but it was already too late. He then tried flight, and was ignominiously brought back to London. Finally, William, having arrived in London, sent James to Rochester. There only lax guard was kept over him, and James again escaped—to William's great satisfaction—and at 3 a.m. on Christmas Day, 1688, landed in France. James's reign was over (During his first flight, on December 11, James had thrown the "Great Seal" into the Thames at Vauxhall, the seal being the symbol of authority without which no deed of Government was valid. This date was subsequently taken as the legal date of James's " abdication "), and so at last was the long struggle of King and Parliament. The Revolution of 1688 was, as we shall see, to produce wide-reaching and permanent changes in our system of government. |
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