CHAP. LXIX.

Of the Revolution, A. D. 1688.

ALL the opposition, which, during the reign of the second Charles, had shaken the throne, seems to have vanished, at the accession of James II The popular affection towards him was increased by the early declaration he made in favor of the church of England, which during the late reign, had formally pronounced all resistance to the reigning king to be unlawful. This doctrine proved fatal to James, and almost ruined protestantism. The army and people supported him, in crushing an ill concerted rebellion in favor of the Duke of Monmouth, who pretended to be the lawful son of Charles II. and as such had assumed the title of king. That duke's head being cut off, James desperately resolved to try, how far the practice of the church of England would agree with her doctrine of non-resistance. The experiment failed him. He made the most provoking steps to render popery the established religion of his dominions. He pretended to a power of dispensing with the known laws. He instituted an illegal ecclesiastical court. He openly received and admitted into his privy-council, the pope's emissaries, and gave them more respect than was due to the ministers of a sovereign prince. The encroachments he made, both upon the civil and religious liberties of his people, are almost beyond description, and were disapproved of by the pope

himself, and all sober Roman catholics. His sending to prison, and prosecuting for a libel, seven bishops, for presenting a petition against rendering his declaration, and their acquittal upon a legal trial, alarmed his best protestant friends.

In this extremity, many great men in England and Scotland, though they wished well to James, applied for relief to William prince of Orange, in Holland, a prince of great abilities, and the inveterate enemy of Lewis XIV. who then threatened Europe with chains. The prince of Orange was the nephew and son-in-law of James, having married the princess Mary, his eldest daughter. He was no stranger to the murmurs of the English, and was resolved to turn them to his interests. He therefore accepted the invitation, and still more willingly embarked in the cause, as he found the malcontents had concerted their measures with prudence and secrecy.

A fleet was equipped sufficient to transport fifteen thousand troops; and it was at first given out, that this armament was designed against France. James, at length, began to see his own errors and the discontents of the people. He would now have retracted his measures in favor of popery, but it was too late. The fleet of the prince was already sailed, and had landed thirteen thousand troops at the village of Broxholme, in Torbay.

The expectations of the prince of Orange seemed at first to be frustrated. Very few Englishmen offered him their services, though

the people were in general well affected to his design. Slight repulses were not sufficient to intimidate a general, who had, from early youth, encountered adversity. He continued ten days in expectation of being joined by the malcontents without success; but, just when he began to deliberate about reimbarking his forces, he was joined by several persons of consequence, and the country-people came flocking to his standard. From this day his numbers began to increase. The nobility, who had composed the court and council of king James, now left their old master to solicit protection from the new.

Lewis XIV. had long foreseen this defection, and had formerly offered the king thirty thousand men for his security. This was then refused by James, by the advice of Sunderland, his favorite, who was secretly in the interest of the prince of Orange. James, however, now requested assistance from France, when it was too late. He wrote in vain to Leopold, emperor of Germany, who only returned for answer, that what he had foreseen had happened. He had some dependence on his fleet, but they were entirely disaffected. In a word, his interests were deserted by all; for he had long deserted them himself. He was at the head of an army of twenty thousand men; and it is possible that had he led them to the combat, without granting them time for deliberation, they might have fought in his favor. But he was involved in a maze of fears and suspicions. The defection of those he most confided in took away his power &

of deliberation; and his perplexity was increased, when told that the prince of Denmark, and Anne, his favorite daughter, had gone over to the prince of Orange. In this exigence he could not repress his tears, and in the agony of his heart, was heard to exclaim, "God help me, my own children have forsaken me!"

He now hung over the precipice of destruction! invaded by one son-in-law, abandoned by another, hated by his subjects, and detested by those who had suffered beneath his cruelty. He assembled the few noblemen, who still adhered to his interests, and demanded their advice and assistance. Addressing himself to the earl of Bedford, father to Lord Russel, who was beheaded by James's intrigues in the preceding reign, " My lord," said he," you are an honest man, have great credit, and can do me signal services." "Ah, Sir," replied the earl, "I am feeble, and can do you but little service; but I had once a son, who could have assisted you, but he is no more." James was so struck with this reply, that he could not speak for some minutes.

The king was naturally timid; and some counsellors about him, either sharing his fears or bribed by the prince, contributed to increase his apprehensions. They reminded him of the fate of Charles I. and aggravated the turbulence of the people. He was, at length, persuaded to think of flying from a nation he could no longer govern, and of taking refuge at the court of France, where he was sure of finding assistance and protection. Thus instructed, he first sent

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away his queen, who arrived safely at Calais; and soon after disguising himself in a plain dress, he went down to Feversham, and embarked on board a vessel for France.

But his misfortunes still continued to follow him. The vessel was detained by the common people, who, not knowing their sovereign, robbed, insulted, and abused him. He was now persuaded by the earl of Winchelsea to return to London, where he was once more received amidst the acclamations of the people.

The return of James was by no means agreeable to William, though he well knew how to dissemble. It was his interest and his design to increase the forsaken monarch's apprehensions, so as to induce him to flee. He therefore received the news of his return with a haughty air, and ordered him to leave Whitehall and retire to Richmond. The king remonstrated against Richmond, and desired that Rochester might be appointed as the place of his abode. The prince perceived his intention was to leave the kingdom, nor did the one wish for flight more ardently, than the other desired him away. The king soon concurred with his designs. After staying but a short time at Rochester, he fled to the sea-side, attended by his natural son, the duke of Berwick, where he embarked for France, and arrived in safety, to enjoy, for the rest of his life, the empty title of a king, and the appellation of a saint, a title which still flattered him more. There he continued to reside among a people, who pitied, ridiculed, and despised him. He enrolled himself in the order of the