GREAT SEAL OF JAMES II.
CHAPTER X.
REIGN OF JAMES II.
James's Speech to the Council—Rochester supersedes Halifax—Other Changes in the Ministry—James Collects the Customs without Parliament—French Pension continued—Scottish Parliament—Oates and Dangerfield—Meeting of Parliament—It grants Revenue for Life—Monmouth and Argyll—Argyll's Expedition—His Capture and Execution—Monmouth's Expedition—He enters Taunton—Failure of his Hopes—Battle of Sedgemoor—Execution of Monmouth—Cruelties of Kirke and Jeffreys—The Bloody Assize—The Case of Lady Alice Lisle—Decline of James's Power—He Breaks the Test Act—Revocation of the Edict of Nantes—Prorogation of Parliament—Acquittal of Delamere—Alienation of the Church—Parties at Court—The Dispensing Power Asserted—Livings granted to Catholics—Court of High Commission Revived—Army on Hounslow Heath—Trial of "Julian" Johnson—James's Lawlessness in Scotland and Ireland—Declaration of Indulgence—The Party of the Prince of Orange and the Princess Mary—Expulsion of the Fellows of Magdalen College—New Declaration of Indulgence—Protest of the Seven Bishops—Birth of the Prince of Wales—Trial and Acquittal of the Bishops—Invitation to William of Orange—Folly of James—William's Preparations—Blindness of James and Treachery of his Ministers—William's Declaration—James convinced, makes Concessions—William lands at Torbay—His Advance to Exeter—Churchill's Treason—Flight of the Princess Anne and her Husband—James sends Commissioners to Treat with William—Flight of James—Riots in London—Return of James—His Final Flight to France—The Convention—The Succession Question—Declaration of Rights—William and Mary joint Sovereigns.
To the reign of merry cruelty now succeeded the reign of gloomy, ascetic, undisguised ferocity. Charles could laugh and sport with his ladies, whilst his subjects were imprisoned and tortured. James, who never laughed, pursued his cruel bent with a settled butcher-like mood, and would have extirpated nations, were it in his power, to restore Catholicism, and establish the political absolutism adored by the Stuarts. Yet he began the reign of the Inquisition with the hypocrisy of the Jesuit. When the breath had left the body of Charles, James retired for a quarter of an hour to his chamber, and then met the Privy Council with a speech which promised everything that he was most resolved not to perform. He began by eulogising the deceased "as a good and gracious king." If he really thought his late merry, debauched, and despotic brother good and gracious, it was an evil omen for the nation, whose ruler had such conceptions of what was good and gracious. He then added, "I have been reported to be a man fond of arbitrary power; but that is not the only falsehood which has been reported of me; and I shall make it my endeavour to preserve this Government, both in Church and State, as it is by law now established. I know the principles of the Church of England are favourable to monarchy, and the members of it have shown themselves good and loyal subjects; therefore I shall take care to defend and support it. I know, too, that the laws of England are sufficient to make the king as great a monarch as I can wish; and as I shall never depart from the just rights and prerogatives of the Crown, so I shall never invade any man's property. I have often before ventured my life in defence of this nation, and shall go as far as any man in preserving it in all its just rights and liberties."
The first thing which scandalised the people was the miserable economy of the late king's funeral. It was said to be scarcely befitting a private gentleman, and the Scottish Covenanters asserted that the dead tyrant had been treated, as the Scriptures declared tyrants should be, to the "burial of an ass." The first thing which James set about was the rearrangement of the Cabinet. There was but one man in the Cabinet of the late king who had his entire confidence—this was Rochester, the second son of the late Lord Clarendon. To him he gave the office of Lord High Treasurer, thus constituting him Prime Minister; to Godolphin, who had held this office, he gave that of Chamberlain to the Queen. Halifax was deprived of the Privy Seal, and was made President of the Council, a post both less lucrative and less influential, a circumstance which highly delighted Rochester, who now saw the wit who said he had been kicked upstairs, served in precisely the same way. Sunderland, the late Secretary of State, was suffered to retain his office. He had intrigued and acted against James; both he and Godolphin had supported the Exclusion Bill, but Sunderland now with his usual supple artifice, represented that he could have no hope of the king's favour but from the merit of his future services; and as he possessed some dangerous secrets, he was permitted to keep his place. He did not, however, content himself with this, but cherished the ambition of superseding Rochester as Lord Treasurer, and therefore represented himself to the Catholics as their staunch friend, whilst they knew that Rochester was the champion of the Church of England. For the present, nevertheless, from having been at high feud with both Rochester and Clarendon, he cultivated a strong friendship with them to make his position firm with the king. Halifax had opposed the Exclusion Bill, but he had become too well known as a decided enemy of Popery and of the French ascendency. James, therefore, tolerated him for the present, and whilst he assured him that all the past was forgotten, except the service he had rendered by his opposition to the Exclusion Bill, he told Barillon, the French ambassador, that he knew him too well to trust him, and only gave him the post of President of the Council to show how little influence he had.
The Great Seal was retained also by Lord Guildford, who, though he was by no means a friend of liberty, was too much a stickler for the law to be a useful tool of arbitrary power. James secretly hated him, and determined to associate a more unscrupulous man with him in the functions of his office. This was his most obedient and most unflinching creature, the Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys, of whose unexampled villainies we shall soon hear too much. Guildford was by the overbearing Jeffreys at once thrust back into the mere routine of a judge in equity, and all his State functions and patronage were usurped by this daring man. At the Council board Jeffreys treated him with the most marked contempt, and even insult, and poor Guildford soon saw all influence and profit of the Chancellorship, as well as the Chief Justiceship, in the hands of Jeffreys, and himself reduced to a cipher.