Character of James-Monmouth's Rebellion-The Dispensing Power-Hales' Case The Ecclesiastical Commission-Attacks upon the Universities-The Declaration of Indulgence-Adverse Feeling in the Country-Birth of James' Son-Trial of the Seven Bishops-Expedition of William of Orange- Flight of James-The Interregnum-The Declaration of Right.

WHEN an event has been long anticipated with apprehension, it frequently happens that its actual accomplishment surprises by its apparent simpliQuietness of city. So it was in the accession of James II., which occurred the accession. so quietly and so much as a matter of course, that for s time it seemed that the apprehensions of the exclusionists had been completely groundless.

The new king had some excellent qualities, marred not only by constitutional defects, but by some curious inconsistencies. Sir John

Character of Evelyn describes him as a man of 'infinite industry, James. sedulity, gravity, and great understanding, and of a most sincere and honest nature. He makes a conscience of what he promises, and performs it.' The great Marshal Turenne had formed a high opinion of the talent for war which James had shown as a young man ; and he had seen much service with the fleet. At the Admiralty Office he had been most diligent, and Bishop Burnet seems to express the general opinion when he speaks of a future reign of action and business, not of sloth and luxury.' These qualities, however, had all been shown in subordinate offices. As sovereign, James possessed in a full measure the

defects which had been so fatal to his father. He was very narrowminded, and incapable of seeing both sides of a question, or being affected by argument. From a similar cause, his imagination was deficient, so that he failed to sympathise with the views of others, and in his own opinions he was, like his father, extremely obstinate. Though more careful of the forms of his religion than the late king, he was little less immoral. These bad qualities marred all the rest, and, in less than four years, James had contrived to array against himself 'not only those classes who had fought against his father, but those who had fought for him.' Immediately after the death of Charles, the council assembled, and James, on taking his brother's place, declared that 'he would make it his endeavour to preserve this government, both in church and state, as it is now by law established,' and that as he would never depart from the just rights and prerogatives of the crown, so he would never invade any man's property.' The actual words of the spoken speech are not quite ascertained, but the published version of it gave great satisfaction; and the cry went round,' We have the word of a king, and a word never yet broken.'

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The new king gave his chief confidence to his brother-in-law, Lawrence Hyde, earl of Rochester, the second son of the great earl of Clarendon, who became lord-treasurer; to Halifax, whose speech in The Hydes. the House of Lords had brought about the defeat of the Exclusion Bill; to Lord Godolphin and to Lord Sunderland. It soon appeared, however, that Halifax was to have little power. From being lord privy seal he was promoted to the more dignified but less important post of president of the council, a process described by himself as 'being kicked upstairs.' The seal was then given to Rochester's brother, Clarendon.

Godolphin.

The brothers Hyde, though they had been stout partisans of James while duke of York, were chiefly distinguished by their devotion to the interests of the church, and their employment was a sort of guarantee of its welfare. Lord Godolphin was an admirable financier, and had so much recommended himself to Charles by his tact and efficiency as to earn the compliment that 'Sidney Godolphin is never in the way and never out of it.' Sunderland, who was now secretary of state, had voted for the Exclusion Bill, 'not by his own inclination for the preservation of the Protestant religion, but by mistaking the ability of the party to carry it.' He was now prepared to wipe out the memory of his error by a thick-and-thin support of the new sovereign. He, Godolphin, and Lawrence Hyde were often spoken of jocularly as the 'Chits.'

Sunderland.

James' first act was to order that the customs duties, which had been voted to Charles for life, should be collected as usual, though they could

The
Customs
Duties.

not be renewed till parliament met. There was much to be said for avoiding a break. An intermission in the collection would cause great confusion in trade; and it was so obviously unfair that a merchant, whose goods had by mere accident entered port a day after the king's death, should be able to undersell another who had paid duty the day before; to say nothing of the loss to the revenue through goods being largely imported during the cessation, that it has now been arranged that the taxes should be voted for a definite period without regard to the demise of the crown. At that time, however, the act was certainly unconstitutional; but it seems, on the whole, to have been approved by the mercantile world, judging by the ready compliance expressed by the East India and other great trading companies.

James had made great professions of patriotism, but he was not proof against an offer of a sum of £67,000 from Louis XIV., which Louis placed in the hands of Barillon, the French ambassador, remarking Louis XIV. that, 'after all the high things given out in his name, James is willing to take my money as his brother has done.' Some of this money, however, was arrears due to Charles ; and in reality the amount actually received by James during his whole reign was insignificant.

of Oates.

At James' accession, the prison doors were opened to numerous political and religious prisoners. Danby and four Roman Catholic lords were reRelease of leased from the Tower, and several thousand Roman Catholics Prisoners. and twelve hundred Quakers were discharged from other prisons. Soon after the accession, also, a terrible retribution was meted Punishment out to Oates and Dangerfield, the leading witnesses in the Popish Plot, who were answerable for the lives of many innocent men. Before Charles' death, Oates had been indicted for perjury, and his trial came on shortly after the accession of James. Being convicted on two counts, he was sentenced to pay a fine of £666 on each, to be twice publicly flogged-once from Aldgate to Newgate, and, two days later, from Newgate to Tyburn-to stand every year five times in the pillory, and to be imprisoned for life. The sentence was probably designed to be fatal; but Oates, being an original in all things,' survived it, and lived to receive a pension from William III. A little later, Dangerfield, his fellow-perjurer, suffered a similar fate, but had the ill-luck to die, either through the effects of the flogging, or of a wound from a cane thrust into his eye by a law-student named Francis, who was hanged for the offence. About the same time, a much worthier

man, Richard Baxter, also suffered from the ill-will of the court. He was prosecuted for libelling the church in a book called a Paraphrase of the New Testament, and tried before Jeffreys. On conviction, he was fined £333, 6s. 8d., and ordered to be imprisoned till it was paid, which he was unable to do.

Parliament.

The

In May, parliament met. Full use had been made of the king's new power in the boroughs. Particularly was this the case in the west, where the conduct of the elections had been handed over Meeting of to the 'prince elector,' Lord Bath, who had freely introduced officers of the guards into the Cornish municipalities. result, however, was so satisfactory to James, that he declared 'that there were not above forty members but such as he himself wished for.' In the House of Commons, however, Edward Seymour had the courage to make a vigorous protest against the new charters, but he received no serious support, and a liberal revenue was granted without difficulty. Of Charles' gross income of £1,400,000, about £500,000 was permanent, and £900,000 parliamentary. This was entirely renewed, and besides, a new tax on sugar and tobacco, wines and vinegar, was voted to James for eight years, and on foreign linen for five.

Though James had been allowed to succeed so quietly, the Whig exiles had no intention of giving up their hopes without a struggle. Immediately on the accession of James, the Prince of Argyll's Orange had required Monmouth to leave Holland. He Rising. retired to Brussels, and there he, the earl of Argyll, Lord Grey, Fletcher of Salton, Ferguson and Rumbold, devised a scheme for a simultaneous rising in favour of Monmouth in England and Scotland. Monmouth had faint hopes of success, as he well knew the difficulty of leading untrained rebels against drilled troops; but Argyll was eager; and, against his better judgment, Monmouth yielded. Argyll sailed first, taking with him Rumbold, and made his way to his own country. The government, however, being warned of his approach, took the precaution of arresting all the leading Campbells, and of barring with troops the outlets from the Highlands. Argyll, therefore, found himself powerless in his own country, where his chief strength lay, and an abortive attempt to raise the western Covenanters only led to the capture of himself and Rumbold. Argyll, who had already been condemned to death in the last reign, was executed on his old sentence; Rumbold was tried and convicted, after boldly declaring that 'he did not believe that God had made the greater part of mankind with saddles on their backs and bridles in their mouths, and some few booted and spurred to ride the rest.'

Six days after Argyll's capture, Monmouth, with Grey, Fletcher, and

Ferguson, landed at Lyme in Dorsetshire, and issued a cleverly worded manifesto, in which he demanded toleration for all Protestants, annual Monmouth's parliaments, upright judges, elected sheriffs to command Rising. the militia, the repeal of the Corporation Act, and the restoration of the forfeited charters. He was soon joined by some two thousand followers, and might have had more had his stock of weapons been larger. After wasting some time in drilling his men, Monmouth made his way to Taunton, the centre of the manufacturing district of Somersetshire, where he was popular with the clothiers and with the miners of the Mendip hills. By the lower and middle classes he was received with enthusiasm, but he obtained no support from the gentry or nobility. Unhappily for Monmouth, Fletcher quarrelled with and shot Dare of Taunton, one of his most influential supporters, and had to be sent away by sea, while Lord Grey, who commanded the cavalry, showed himself hopelessly incompetent. In spite, however, of these mishaps, Monmouth assumed the title of king, and pressed on towards Bristol in hopes of making his way to his Cheshire friends; but, his troops being repulsed in a trifling skirmish at Philip's Norton, he retreated to Bridgewater.

Thither he was pursued by the royalist troops, commanded by the earl of Feversham, a nephew of Turenne, and by John Churchill, Battle of afterwards duke of Marlborough. As a last resource, Sedgemoor. Monmouth attempted a night attack on their camp, which had been pitched near the village of Weston Zoyland, among the halfreclaimed flats of Sedgemoor. Had the surprise been effectual, the darkness of the night would have neutralised the want of discipline in the rebel army; but accident or ignorance led to the discovery of the attacking party while a broad ditch still separated it from the royalist camp. Though attacked instead of attacking, Monmouth's foot-soldiers fought well, but his cavalry under Grey disgraced themselves by flight; and when daylight came, Monmouth recognising that all was lost fled from the field. Making for the coast, he contrived to reach the New Forest, but was there ignominiously captured in disguise, and with his fellow-rebel, Lord Grey, was taken to London. There he had been already attainted by parliament; but he begged desperately for life, throwing the blame on the 'false and horrid' companions by whom he had been led on, and eventually was put to death, after such an exhibition of pusillanimity as makes it difficult to believe his earlier reputation for courage and conduct. Grey completed his disgrace by turning king's evidence, and procuring the conviction of some of his former friends.