This event opened the eyes of the king to the dangers by which he was surrounded. The army had shown signs of disaffection. Many of the leaders of the Protestant party in Ireland and Scotland were known to be connected with this conspiracy; even the members of his council were more than suspected of complicity; and he saw that his rule could only be established by the introduction of a Catholic element into the army. Since the passage of the "Test Act," nearly all the Catholic officers of the army and navy had been removed. Many of these were men of distinguished ability, and he now determined to recall them to the service. Accordingly, in his speech to Parliament on the 9th of November, 1685, in allusion to the rebellion of Monmouth, he introduced the proposition in the following words: "Let no man take exception, that there are some officers in the army not qualified, according to the late Test, for their employments; the gentlemen, I must tell you, are most of them well-known to me, and having formerly served me on several occasions (and always approved the loyalty of their principles by their practice), I think them now fit to be employed under me; and will deal plainly with you, that after having the benefit of their services in such time of need and danger, I will neither expose them to disgrace, nor myself to the want of them, if there should be another rebellion to make them necessary to me. I am afraid some men may be so wicked, to hope and expect that a difference may happen between you and me upon this occasion. * * * I will not apprehend that such a misfortune can befall us as a division, or even a coldness between me and you; nor that any thing can shake you in your steadiness and loyalty to me, who, by God's blessing, will ever make you all returns of kindness and protection, with a resolution to venture even my own life in the defence of the true interests of this kingdom."
It is scarcely necessary to say that this met the opposition of Parliament; and so far from being received in the liberal and loyal spirit which the king seems to have anticipated, it was denounced as a measure for the abolition of the Protestant religion. The revocation of the "Edict of Nantes," by Louis XIV., occurring about the same time, had filled England with Protestant refugees, which gave strength to the arguments of the opposition, and excited a spirit of retaliation in the English people. The king, however, persevered, and tested the legality of the "Test," in the person of Sir Edward Hales, who had held the commission of colonel in the army, and who had lately become a Catholic. The judges decided in his favor, but the king was accused of intimidation. This opened the way to reform in the army, and gratified the Catholics, but it raised the spirit of opposition among the bishops and leaders of the High Church party in a corresponding degree. Not deterred by this opposition, the king persevered in his measures of redress; and called Dissenters and Catholics to office wherever opportunity occurred; and, says Hume, "Not content with this violent and dangerous innovation, he appointed certain regulators to examine the qualifications of electors, and directions were given them to exclude all such as adhered to the test and penal statutes." In all of which one fails to see, notwithstanding the exaggeration of Hume, any attempt at injustice, or proscription. It was in fact, from beginning to end, an effort to establish equality and right on the one part, and to preserve and perpetuate an odious ascendency on the other. That many of the steps taken by the king to reach his object may have been imprudent, and must, from the surrounding circumstances, have met with bitter opposition, is not to be wondered at; but that his views were right, and his object wise and magnanimous, cannot be denied. The exclusion of Nonconformists, from social and legal equality, in a former reign, produced a civil war, which most Protestant writers vindicate as necessary, and it is hard to see why the same writers advocate the permanent exclusion of the Catholics, who were certainly entitled to equal consideration. Meanwhile the opposition ran high, and the High Church party being now united by the death of Monmouth, took council throughout the three kingdoms, and determined to call in William Henry, Prince of Orange, as their last hope to preserve their cherished and glorious ascendency.
The title—Prince of Orange—is derived from the town of Orange (ancient Awrasio), in the southeast of France, department of Vaucluse. In the middle ages this town was the capital of a principality, which for a considerable period belonged to the house of Nassau; and William Henry was then the incumbent both of the title and the domain. After his death the title passed to his heir, the King of Prussia, and is still retained in the royal family of Holland; but the principality whence the title is derived, has been since ceded to France. The father of William, who was Stadtholder of the Dutch provinces, died in 1650, and the office, which was not inherent, but elective, remained in abeyance, under the management of the brothers De Witt, until 1672, when England and France declared war against Holland. William laid claim to the office of his father, but was opposed by the De Witts. The emergency pointed out William as the choice of those opposed to the claims of France, and the De Witts, still opposing, became the victims of an assassination, said to have been concocted by William. This placed William at the head both of civil and military affairs, which, however unscrupulous were the means of attainment, he conducted with great ability, and saved Holland from subjugation to the French king. From 1672 to 1677, the war continued with various success. At the close of that year's campaign, William visited England by invitation, and Charles, in order to terminate a war which was unpopular with the majority of his nobles, acceded to the proposal of his counsellors, to pave the way for an alliance with Holland, by espousing Mary, the eldest daughter of James, then Duke of York, to the Stadtholder. This marriage, which took place shortly after, gave William, who was then both nephew and son-in-law to James, the right of heir-presumptive; and, the immediate result of it was a peace between England and Holland, at Nimeguen, in 1678.
William was a very ill-favored prince, weak of body, ungraceful in gait and manner, and of a forbidding countenance at once expressive of cruelty and unscrupulousness. He was not a statesman, nor yet an able diplomatist, but possessed a keenness of perception, that enabled him to see through the motives of men, a reticence of habit, which protected him from importunity, and a will subservient to the call of ambition. Yet though he was the acknowledged head of the Protestant league, and conformed to the ceremonies of exterior worship, he was a most confirmed sceptic, and averse to all religious disquisition. He, however, possessed those qualities which the enemies of James most desired. He was ambitious of power, an able soldier, the ostensible champion of Protestantism, and the irreconcilable enemy of the French monarch.
From the time of his marriage with Mary, he was ambitious of the English throne, chiefly, 'tis said, that he might check the power of his detested enemy, Louis, and the connection gave him a valid title, should the king, his father-in-law, die without legitimate male issue. The Duke of Monmouth, who was an English favorite, being removed, and the Duke of Berwick, the natural son of James, and nephew of Lord Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, cherishing no such pretensions, William's fears were quieted, and it is even said that he received the first advances of the High Church party with indifference. But rumors of the queen's pregnancy excited the fears of William; he became apprehensive, listened to their appeals, a conspiracy was set on foot through the agency of Bishop Burnet, Sydney, Peyton, and Gwynne, and he began to organize a military force for the invasion of England. The materials were ready to his hand. "The Thirty Years' War" had overspread Europe with adventurers from every nation, and he soon gathered to his standard an army of the most daring spirits of the age, consisting of Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Huguenots, and Germans, always ready and eager for any enterprise that offered fame or fortune to their arms.
On the 10th of June, 1688, while these preparations were carried stealthily forward, the Queen of England gave birth to a son. This event removed all hesitation on the part of the Prince of Orange, and precipitated "the Revolution." From this time forward negotiations between the Prince and the English conspirators were pressed with earnestness and vigor; every concession demanded by the Prince was yielded without question by the agents of the Church party, and he bound himself to the invasion and the maintenance of Protestant supremacy. Still the utmost secrecy was observed on both sides, and the Earl of Sunderland, who was in the king's confidence, and at the same time in league with William, kept the one impressed with a sense of security, and apprised the other of all that transpired in the national councils.
An incident which occurred at this time may serve to show the animus of party spirit, and illustrate the intriguing and unscrupulous character of William. It had been prearranged between the Prince and his English partisans, that in case the queen gave birth to a son it should be declared suppositious. Accordingly, William prepared an instrument to that effect, to be published on his arrival in England; and yet, with characteristic duplicity, he dispatched Zuylestein, ostensibly to congratulate the king on the birth of his son,—the Prince of Wales,—but covertly to complete arrangements with the heads of the conspiracy in England.[3] By such artifices the king was kept in complete ignorance of the storm gathering around him, until the summer had nearly passed, when Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnell,—then deputy for Ireland,—received information from the captain of a Dutch trading vessel, of the extensive preparations going on in Holland, and of the designs of the Prince of Orange on the English throne.[4] Tyrconnell lost no time in communicating this intelligence to the king; and a letter which he received shortly after from his minister at the Hague, informing him that a powerful invasion must be soon expected, followed by private information from the French king to the same effect, at last opened his eyes to his real situation. M. Bonrepos, the envoy of Louis, who brought this intelligence, accompanied it with the offer of 30,000 French troops, to suppress the invasion before it could make head; but as the evil counsel of Sunderland still prevailed, on the ground that such an armament from France would excite the indignation of his English soldiers, and precipitate the catastrophe which he wished to avoid, the generous offer of Louis was declined. James continued in a state of the greatest bewilderment. All the boldness and decision of his earlier years seemed to have deserted him; and at a time when only men of approved loyalty should be trusted, he recalled to his service the contumacious officials of the late reign, and so paved the way for the success of the impending Revolution.
Preliminaries being arranged between William and his English adherents, by the beginning of October, 1688, he collected his forces at Holvoetsluys, a port in the south of Holland, lying over against the eastern coast of England, and, under the advice of Bishop Burnet, put to sea toward the end of the same month. His armament consisted of fifty ships of war, twenty frigates, four hundred transports, and some smaller craft, carrying 14,000 men, with arms and equipments for 20,000 more. The van and rear of this fleet were commanded by Admiral Herbert and Vice-Admiral Evertzen, respectively, having the Prince of Orange and his military adherents in the centre. All the ships carried the English flag, having the arms of the Prince emblazoned at the top, with the words:
"RELIGION AND LIBERTY,"
and at the bottom with the device of the house of Nassau,