James II
James II of England and VII of Scotland, was the grandson of James I of England, and son to Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. He was born in 1633, and bore the title of duke of York till after the death of his brother Charles II. James succeeded the latter as king of England in 1685. His bigotry and tyranny caused great discontents, and an insurrection broke out, headed by the duke of Monmouth, natural son to Charles II. The rebels were soon overpowered, but the cruelties exercised by Kirke and Jeffreys disgusted the king's subjects generally, and left an indelible stain on his name.
After the capture of Oxford by the parliamentary' army, he escaped, and was conducted to his sister, the Princess of Orange. At that time he was 15 years of age. He soon after joined his mother at Paris, and, when he had reached his 20th year, served in the French army under Turenne, and subsequently entered the Spanish army in Flanders, under Don John of Austria and the Prince of Condi. At the Restoration he returned to England, and married secretly Anne Hyde, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, by whom he had two daughters, who afterwards became queens of England, viz. Mary and Anne.
In the Dutch war, he signalized himself as commander of the English fleet, and showed great skill and bravery. On the death of Charles II, in 1685, the Duke suceeedod, under the title of James II, and, from the time of his ascending tho throne, seems to have acted with a steady determination to render himself absolute, and to restore the Roman Catholic religion.
For the last four years of his reign, Charles had ruled without a parliament, but with the goodwill of the Tories and the church. This half of the nation would probably have acquiesced in the growth of despotism under James II, had not the new king ostentatiously ignored the wisdom of Charles II. He began (1685) with everything in his favor: a Tory parliament, a discredited opposition, which further weakened its case by Argyll's and Monmouth's rebellions, and a great reputation for honesty.
Within a couple of years he had thrown away all these advantages by his revival of Charles II's abandoned Roman Catholic policy, and had alienated the Anglican church, by whose support alone he could hope to rule as an English despot. After disgusting the great majority of his subjects, by attending mass with all the ensigns of royalty, he proceeded to levy the customs and exciso without the authority of parliament. He suspended and dispensed with laws, introduced Roman Catholics into the army, the universities, the privy council, raised a standing force of thirty thousand men, and finally prosecuted seven bishops for seditious libel.
He even sent an agent to Rome, to pave the way for a solomn re-admission of England into tho Catholic church, and received advice on the score of moderation from the Popo himself. A few months after his accession, severe laws having been passed against tho Covenanters, against whom Graham of Claverhouse was sent, the invasion of Scotland took place under the Earl of Argyle, and the invasion of England under the Duke of Monmouth, both of which failed, and cost the lives of the leaders.
By virtue of his assumed dispensing power, James rendered tests of no avail, and filled his army and council with Roman Catholics; while by a Declaration in favour of liberty of conscience, he also sought to gain the favor of the dissenters, who were, however, too conscious of his ultimate object to be deluded by this show of liberality. The resistance to this illegal declaration led to tho trial of the Seven Bishops, Archbishop Sancroft being one of them, and their acquittal was an occasion of great popular rejoicing.
Thus the king proceeded by every direct and indirect attack to overthrow the established constitution; but these innovations, in regard both to the religion and government, gradually united opposing interests, and a large body of the nobihty and gentry concurred in an invitation to tho prince of Orange, who had been secretly preparing a fleet and an army for tho invasion of the country.
James, who was long kept in ignorance of these transactions, when informed of them by his minister at the Hague, was struck with terror, and, immediately repealing all his obnoxious acts, he practised evory method to gain popularity. All confidence was, however, destroyed between the king and the people.
The arbitrary conduct of James at length caused William of Orange, who had married Mary, one of his daughters, to be invited to England. William arrived with his fleet at Torbay, Nov. 4, 1688; and being speedily joined by several men of high rank, his adherents multiplied, while the army of James began to desert by entire regiments. Incapable of any vigorous resolution, and finding his overtures of accommodation disregarded, James resolved to quit the country.
Ho repaired to St. Germains, where he was received with great kindness and hospitality by Louis XIV. In the meantime the throne of Great Britain was declared to be abdicated; and William and his consort Mary (the daughter of James) were unanimously called to fill it conjointly. Assisted by Louis XIV, James was enabled, in March, 1689, to make an attempt for the recovery of Ireland.
James landed in Ireland, marched to Dublin, and subsequently besieged Londonderry. Defeated by King William in person, at the battle of the Boyne in July 1690, James returned to France. All succeeding projects for his restoration proved equally abortive, and he spent tho last years of his life in acts of ascetic devotion. He resided at St. Germains till the time of his death Sept. 16,1701, aged 68. He was twice married, first to Anne Hyde, daughter to the earl of Clarendon, by whom he had two daughters, Mary and Anne, afterwards queens of England; and secondly, to Mary of Modena, by whom he had a son, afterwards known as the elder Pretender, or the Chevalier St. George.
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