58 



WILLIAM 111 -WILLIAM IV. 



tained n personal hatred. To curb the ambition of 

 the French monarch, be instituted the league of 

 Augsburg, July 29, 1686, between the emperor, 

 Spain, Sweden and Holland, to which Denmark, 

 and some German princes, also acceded. Perhaps 

 he may have had the further object of giving effect 

 to nis plans with respect to England. His wife, 

 Mary (married in 1677), was the daughter of James 

 II., and presumptive heiress to the throne. Unex- 

 pectedly, James's second wife gave birth to a son, 

 June 10, 1688. The greater part of the parliament 

 and of the nation now feared that the bigoted James 

 would introduce the Catholic religion, and subvert 

 the constitution. Rumour also asserted that the 

 prince was supposititious. The Episcopalians and 

 Presbyterians in England, under these circumstances, 

 united, in order, by the aid of Holland, to give 

 Mary the succession to the throne. William fore- 

 saw that England, by the policy of his father-in-law, 

 would become more and more closely connected 

 with France: he therefore joined with the great 

 majority of the British nation ; and the pensionary 

 Fagel persuaded the states-general to support him 

 with ships and troops for the preservation of British 

 freedom and the Protestant religion. William ar- 

 rived suddenly at Torbay, Nov. 5, 1688, with a 

 fleet of 500 sail, ostensibly equipped against France, 

 and with 14,000 troops. Upon his landing, a great 

 part of the nobility immediately declared for him ; 

 and James's soldiers, by degrees, went over to him ; 

 so, too, did Churchill, afterwards Marlborough, 

 who was followed even by the second daughter of 

 Jaruts, Anne, with her husband prince George of 

 Denmark. The overtures of the king were reject- 

 ed : he therefore fled with his family to France, in 

 December, after which William made his entry into 

 London. The two houses of parliament, in con- 

 vention, now declared that James II. had broken 

 the fundamental compact between the king and the 

 people, and had consequently forfeited the throne. 

 After this (Feb. 13, 1689), Mary was proclaimed 

 queen, and William, her husband, who had, mean- 

 while, gone over to the English church, was pro- 

 claimed king, and was alone to conduct the admin- 

 istration. At the same time, the declaration or bill 

 of rights (see Bill of Rights) settled the limits of 

 the royal power, and the order of succession. This 

 is called the revolution of 1688. Scotland followed 

 England's example ; but in Ireland, whither Louis 

 XIV. sent James with an army, the majority of the 

 Catholics maintained the cause of the deposed king. 

 But the victory gained by William over the army 

 of James on the Boyne, July 1, 1690, and by his 

 general Ginkel at Aghrim, July 13, 1691, assisted 

 by the clemency with which he treated the van- 

 quished party, made him master of Ireland. William 

 was wounded in the former battle ; but he caused 

 the wound to be dressed at the head of his troops, 

 and fought on horseback till the battle was won. 

 In the war on the continent he was less successful. 

 At Steinkirk he was defeated by marshal Luxem- 

 bourg, in 1692, and at Neerwinden by the same 

 general, in 1693 ; but be always succeeded in wrest- 

 ing from the French the fruits of their victories by 

 skilful retreats and marches. He even took 

 Namur, in 1693, in the sight of a superior hostile 

 army. Louis was finally compelled to acknowledge 

 him as king of England, at the peace of Ryswick, 

 in 1697. The parliament insisted, at that time, on 

 the disbanding of nearly the whole army, because 

 it deemed a standing army incompatible with the 

 iccurity t>f the constitution. Soon after, the will 



of Charles II. of Spain, who had made the grand- 

 son of Louis XIV. his heir, induced William to arm 

 all Europe against Louis in the great alliance of 

 the Hague, Sept. 7, 1701. For the benefit of 

 Austria, and to preserve the balance of power, but 

 more especially because he could not brook that 

 Belgium should be dependent on the policy of 

 France, he wished the Spanish monarchy to be 

 divided, and for this purpose repaired to Holland, 

 at the end of June, 1701. Though his lungs, at 

 tliis time, were so weak that he could not speak 

 loud, and he felt that his end was approaching, he 

 made all preparations, with his usual sagacity, for 

 the opening of the campaign. After the death of 

 James II. Louis XIV. having caused his son, James 

 III. to be proclaimed king of England, William 

 found it easy to induce England to accede to an 

 alliance with Holland, the emperor, Denmark and 

 Sweden, and to consent to the equipment of 40,000 

 soldiers and 4000 sailors. But in the midst of these 

 projects, he broke his collar-bone by a fall from his 

 horse, between Kensington and Hampton court, 

 March 8, 1702, and died, in consequence of the ac- 

 cident, March 16, aged fifty-two years. (His wife, 

 Mary, had already died childless, in 1695.) With 

 him the hereditary stadtholdership of the five pro- 

 vinces became extinct, and the Orange possessions 

 were divided between Prussia and William's nearest 

 cousin and testamentary heir, John Will. Friso, the 

 prince of Nassau-Dietz, hereditary stadtholder of 

 Friesland and stadtholder of Groningen, from whom 

 the present king of Holland is descended. William's 

 manners were too cold and ungracious to allow him 

 to be popular with the British. Under a reserved 

 exterior he concealed a strong love of renown and 

 power. His chagrin, when he was compelled to 

 disband his Dutch guards, and the regiments of 

 French fugitives in his pay, was so great, that he 

 was on the point of resigning the government, and 

 was prevented with difficulty by his friends and 

 ministers. The British continental policy, a con- 

 sequence of jealousy towards France, was founded 

 by William; but he founded, at the same time, the 

 subsidy, or loan system, and the national debt. To 

 obtain the majority of votes in parliament, he made 

 use of bribery. Otherwise he reigned in the spirit of 

 freedom and tolerant Protestantism, and agreeably 

 to the true interest of the nation, which had been 

 wholly disregarded by the Stuarts. The whigs 

 were, therefore, now the ministerial party, and the 

 house of commons from this time acquired new 

 political importance. In the Netherlands, William 

 founded a school of great statesmen, like Fagel*and 

 Heinsius. Immersed in politics and war, he had 

 neither leisure nor inclination for literature and art. 

 In conversation, he was grave and repulsive ; but 

 in business, penetrating, quick and decided ; in 

 danger, undaunted ; in difficulties, unshaken ; in 

 war, bold without ostentation. Though of a weak 

 constitution, he feared no hardships. Much as he 

 loved fame, he hated flattery and pomp. See James 

 II. , Marlborough, and Britain. 



WILLIAM IV., king of the united kingdom of 

 Great Britain and Ireland, was the third son of 

 George III., and born August 21, 1765. He 

 ascended the throne on the death of his brother, 

 George IV., June 26, 1830. Previous to his ele- 

 vation to the royal dignity, he was known by the 

 title of the duke of Clarence. Being appointed lord 

 high admiral, during the short administration of 

 Canning, who, deserted by a large part of the tory 

 party, had been obliged to cast about for support 



