BRITAIN. 



Gil 



he is 



a 



scm- 

 ic 

 >crsof 



of 

 es II. 



irone 

 red 

 t. 



senseless rabble. Tlic Prince of Orange then conve- 

 ned a council at Sion Hou rate what mea- 

 sures should be taken. It w\s resolved to ?end orders 

 to James to remove from Whitehall to Ham ; but as 

 the terrified monarch preferred Rochester from 

 cinity to the sea, and as William saw that In 

 an escape, he granted him his choice of resui -i: -.-. In 

 the mean time, the Dutch troops entered London, 

 and, as some resistance was apprehended from the ob- 

 stinacy of Lord Craven, who commanded the guards, 

 they marched through the Park at eleven o'clock at 

 night, with drums beating, matches lighted, and in 

 order of battle. James proceeded to Rochester with 

 only five attendants of distinction ; * and the Prince 

 of Orancre arrived at St James's the evening of the 

 same cay. He received I lie congratulations of the 

 clergy, tin 1 ilissi-ntcrs, the city of London, and the 

 lawvi-rs, and all ranks hastened to pay their respects 

 to him. 



The only authoritative body that yet subsisted 

 since the dissolution of James's government, consist- 

 ed of the peers and Ivsliops, who, to the number of 

 ninety, advised the Prince to summon a convention. 

 But William, who was determined to obtain a more 

 express declaration of the public consent, invited an 

 assembly of all the members who had sat in any 

 House of Commons of Charles II., (the only parlia- 

 ments whose election was regarded as free.) and to 

 them were added the mayor and aldermen of Lon- 

 don, and fifty of the common council. By the ad- 

 vice of this body, in addition to that of the lords, the 

 Prince summoned a convention. The conduct of the 

 Prince, with regard to Scotland, was founded on the 

 same prudent and moderate maxims. He called to- 

 gether the most eminent Scotsmen in London, about 

 80 noblemen and gentlemen ; and he accepted a vo- 

 luntary offer of the administration from that assem- 

 bly, as from the fairest representation of their coun- 

 try, that could be found in the present place and cir- 

 cumstances. The English convention was assembled 

 on the 22d of January 1G89, which, from the influ- 

 ence of the present crisis, was composed chiefly of 

 Whigs. In the peers, however, the Tory party was 

 yet strong, and, after protracted debates, a confe- 

 rence of the houses was necessary, before the vote of 

 the commons could be adopted, that James had ab- 

 dicated the throne, and that it was thereby vacant. 

 While the Tories were endeavouring to avert this 

 decision, and proposals of a regency were strongly 

 urged, the Prince, who had entered into no intrigues, 

 who had retained a magnanimous silence, and had dis- 

 dained to bestow caresses on even the leaders of the 

 party which favoured Jiis accession, at length called 

 together some of the chief members of parliament, 

 and gave his sentiments on the state of affairs. He 

 pretended not, lie said, to interpose in the decision of 

 parliament, to whom the free settlement of the nation 

 belonged, but he had heard that a regency was pro- 

 posed by some, and that others were desirous of 

 the crown being settled on the Princess. If either 



Tim crowu 



' on 



William 

 and Mary. 



The revo- 

 lutiun in 

 Scotland. 



1689. 



of the'.e :'<-he;ne-, should \>f adopted, he t}< 

 hecouldnot accept of s<. preiM- iity,and rn 



ivc countr 



he had made for England. Ti; rimi produ- 



ced its desired effect ; of tin- Whigs pre- 



vailed ; and the convention passed a bill, in which 

 they settled the crown on the Prince and Pm, 

 Orange, the sole administration to remain in the 

 Prince : the Princess of Denmark to Micceed after 

 the death of the Prince and Princess of Orange ; the 

 posterity of the Princess Anne after those of the 

 Princess Mary, but before those of the Prince by any 

 other wife. The convention annexed to this settle- 

 ment of the crown a declaration of rights, by which 

 the powers of royal prerogative were circumscribed, 

 and defined more narrowly and precisely than at any 

 other period of the English government. 



The revolution was not in Scotland, a9 in England, 

 effected by a coalition of Whig and Tory. Balcar- 

 ras and Dundee, the leaders of the Tories, withdrew 

 in rage and terror from Edinburgh ; and the Scottish 

 convi ntion having voted, by a bold and decisive reso- 

 lution, that James had forfeited the crown, tendered 

 it to the Prince and Princess of Orange. Of the 

 kings who have deserved popularity, none perhaps 

 ever possessed less than William, in proportion to 

 his merit. He had been led, by policy as well as 

 gratitude, to entrust the administration to Whigs. 

 Halifax got the privy seal, Dauby was made presi- 

 dent of the council, Shrewsbury a secretary of state. 

 Nottingham was the only Tory admitted into power ; 

 and even of that one admission, the Whigs complain- 

 ed. It was not possible to reward all the Whigs ; 

 and a few honours and trusts conferred upon the 

 Dutch friends of the king, roused the accustomed 

 fury of the English against foreign favourites. The 

 pecuniary supplies of William's first parliament were 

 rigid, and below the acknowledged exigencies of go- 

 vernment ; nor would they countenance, but, on the 

 contrary, fiercely opposed the noblest object of Wil- 

 liam's ambition, his wish to relieve his dissenting sub- 

 jects from the sacramental test. All that he could 

 obtain, was a partial toleration. The levity even of 

 those statesmen, who had acted the highest parts in 

 the late glorious revolution, and who had profited 

 most by the change, was still more strange than the 

 conduct of those who were chagrined by disappoint- 

 ment ; if we can believe, that Halifax and Danby ca- 

 balled with the king's enemies, and declared the im- 

 possibility of keeping James from the throne, if he 

 would concede certain points to the Protestants. 

 The parliament, however, though divided in every Coalition 

 other point, were unanimous in promising to support against 

 the king in a war aga ; .iji France. The measures of France. 

 France, William declared, left now no choice but 

 that of war on the part of England ; and the empire, 

 Spain, Holland, and the Elector of Brandenburgh, 

 were now united in curbing the ambition of Louis. 



The parliament of Scotland soon displayed a more 

 decided spirit of resistance to William than even the 



Lord Arran, son to the Duke of Hamilton, Lords Aylesbury. Litchfield, Dumbarton, and Col. Hamilton. On the 23d of 

 December, in the night, attended by the Duke of Berwick, and two other persons, lie went to a smull vessel which was prepa- 

 red for him, and which carried him to Ambleteusc in France. 



7 



