the designs of rebels. But all classes of the nation were united; all differences of political and religious opinion were for the moment laid aside; and the declaration issued by William of his intention to reform the administration, and settle the succession to the crown by a free Parliament, was hailed with enthusiasm. The people eagerly watched for the east wind, (calling it the Protestant east wind,) that should bring William to the shores of England. On the 5th of November his fleet appeared off Torbay, in Devonshire, and there he disembarked his army, which consisted of about 14,000 veteran Dutch soldiers, and some English refugees. Meanwhile, James tried to conciliate the nation by concessions; but it was too late. Consternation seized the Court when it was announced that William had landed.

William was at first somewhat disappointed at the few men of note who joined his standard; but the memory of the bloody assize of Jeffreys was still fresh in the west. Gradually, however, as he advanced, many of the nobility flocked to him. The Earl of Devonshire raised the northern counties, and even the personal friends of James wavered, and forsook that monarch; and at length his daughter Anne joined the prince. When James learned this, he exclaimed, "God help me! my very children have forsaken me." After an attempt at an arrangement with the prince, James fled towards France, but was captured, and brought back to London. On the 17th of December, William's Dutch guards occupied Whitehall; and next day William arrived in the capital. James retired to Rochester, and soon contrived to escape to France,

where he was received with kindness by Louis. William immediately assembled all the peers in London, and as many of the members of the various parliaments of Charles the Second as could be found. It was unanimously agreed by them that he should take the government in the meantime, and that a Convention Parliament should be summoned.

When this Convention met, it was found that, while the Tory party desired a regency, others were for granting the crown to Mary alone; but the great majority desired that William should be king, with the supreme executive power. The House of Commons, under the presidency of John Hampden, grandson of the great John Hampden, passed the following resolution:-"That King James the Second, having endeavoured to subvert the constitution by breaking the original contract between king and people, and, by the advice of Jesuits, and other wicked persons, having violated the fundamental laws, and withdrawn himself out of the kingdom, hath abdicated the government, and that the throne is thereby vacant." After a long discussion, this was agreed to by the House of Lords. A bill was then proposed and passed, settling the crown on the prince and princess of Orange during their joint lives, and that of the survivor; but the exercise of the regal power was vested in the prince alone; the succession to go to the heirs of the princess; and, in default of such issue, to her sister, the princess Anne, and her heirs.

In Scotland, which had suffered more severely than England from the Stuart tyranny, a Convention Parliament also met, and declared that James had by his acts forfeited the crown of Scotland, and they therefore

invested the prince and princess of Orange with the

vacant crown.

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The English Convention thereafter drew up a claration of Rights," which we shall mention particularly when we relate its enactment as the Bill of Rights. This was read to William and Mary, and they were solemnly crowned at Westminster, with the ancient ceremonies, on the 11th of April, 1689, under the titles of William the Third and Mary.

Thus was closed the struggle between the crown and the people, which had begun early in the seventeenth century, and had been carried on with varying fortune to the ultimate victory of the Revolution.

CHAP. XXXII.

WILLIAM III. AND MARY. 1689-1702.

Ir is a maxim that no Parliament can be called without the king's authority; so, as soon as William and Mary were crowned, an act was passed by the Convention, which received the royal assent, converting that assembly into a legal Parliament.

One of the first acts of this Parliament was to turn the Declaration of Rights into an act, known by the name of the "Bill of Rights." This introduced no new

law, either in restraint of the crown or extension of popular privileges. It is but a declaration of what the spirit, and even the letter, of our old constitutional law

had long before repeatedly recognised. As it was the crowning act of the long struggle between liberty and prerogative, its chief provisions should be remembered. These are as follows::

The king cannot suspend or dispense with the laws. All ecclesiastical or other courts set up by the king, without consent of Parliament, are illegal. He cannot

raise money without the same consent. It is the right of the subjects to petition the king. The raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in the time of peace, unless it be with the consent of Parliament, is illegal. All subjects who are Protestants may have arms for their defence. The election of members of Parliament ought to be free; and there must be freedom of speech in Parliament. Excessive fines, and cruel or unusual punishments are not to be inflicted. And for the redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.

William was desirous that all his English subjects should have the free exercise of their religion according to their own forms; and the Tories and Church of England party, when they had combined with the Nonconformists to effect the Revolution, had promised that some measures of toleration should be adopted. But neither the Church nor the Nonconformists were willing that their Roman Catholic fellow-subjects should have like freedom with themselves; and the Toleration Act, passed in 1689, did not include these last.

The partisans of James in Scotland and Ireland had not submitted to William and in the former country the Jacobites (as they were called) rose in arms, and

under Lord Dundee the Highlanders defeated the royal troops at Killiecrankie; but their success was not permanent, and the clans gradually retired to their native hills, and submitted outwardly to William. Meanwhile, James left France and came to Ireland, where he assumed the royal office in Dublin. He had a large Roman Catholic army, and received the help of men and money from the King of France. The Protestants of the north of Ireland were unable to resist him, and many of them fled to Scotland and England. Londonderry, almost alone, would not submit, but closed its gates against the generals of James. The besieged sent for help from England, and determined to resist to the last. They endured extraordinary privations; famine and disease thinned their ranks, till a fleet arrived from England and relieved them, and James' army retired.

William sent over an army to Ireland under the command of the Duke of Schomberg, an old and skilful general; and in 1690 he arrived himself. At the battle of the Boyne, William and James, at the head of their armies, met each other. The victory was gained by the former, and James was compelled to return to France. Ireland soon after submitted to William's generals.

Meanwhile, in England, many men of rank holding high offices in the government were unfaithful to William, and entered into correspondence with James with a view to his restoration. William's popularity had begun to decline. His manners were cold, stern, and reserved, and he never could gain, like Charles the Second, the personal affection of his people. Besides, he showed a great partiality for his Dutch friends, and though this was natural, it gave offence to the nation;