WILLIAM. 



ate, and to confer that dignity with all its prerogatives upon 

 William. Thus authorized by the States to change the 

 regency in all the moft confiderable towns of Holland and 

 Zealand, party oppofition was extinguiftied, and every pro- 

 pofal for the defence of the country was unanimoufly 

 adopted. The prince, at this early age, fully jullified the 

 confidence that was repofed in him by the firmnefs and ele- 

 vation of his mind. At an extraordinary affembly of the 

 ftates, he pointed out, in an elaborate fpeech, the pernicious 

 confequences that muft refult from the " peace propofed by 

 the French king, who was in pofieffion of three of the pro- 

 vinces ; he fhewed the poflibility of raifing fupplies for a war 

 in defence of their rehgion and liberty ; and by the cool 

 intrepidity of his manner and force of his arguments, he 

 produced fuch an effeft upon his before-defponding audi- 

 ence, that they concurred in the refolution of making every 

 facrifice, rather than dcfert the caufe of their country. 

 Vigorous meafures were entered upon ; foreign alliances 

 were formed ; fortunate circumftances prevented the further 

 advance of the French, who evacuated the province of 

 Utrecht; Charles II. was obhged by his parliament to 

 make peace, in 1674, with the Dutch, who in the fame 

 year figned feparate treaties with the bifhop of Munfter 

 and the eleftor of Cologne ; and at length the three con- 

 quered provinces were re-united to the States General ; and 

 the conduft of the prince of Orange fo much ingratiated 

 him with the ftates of Holland, that the offices of ftadtholder 

 and captain-general were declared hereditary in his male 

 line." In all hismiUtary aftions, he difplayed both courage 

 and wifdom ; fo that the prince of Conde teftified in his 

 favour, that at the battle of SenefF, " he had in every point 

 afted like an old captain, except in venturing his life too 

 like a young foldier." The humiliation of the French 

 king feems to have been his favourite objeft ; and with this 

 view he wiftied to fix the Enghfli court in the fame in- 

 tereft. This was one motive which induced him to conneft 

 himfelf more clofely with the royal family, by a marriage 

 with Mary, eldeft daughter of the duke of York. Accord- 

 ingly he came into England in 1678, and then the nuptials 

 took place which were fo fatisfaftory to the nation, and 

 which were afterwards followed by the moft important con- 

 fequences. Without enlarging on the meafures purfued by 

 the prince on the continent, we (hall direft our attention to 

 thofe in which' our own country was more immediately in- 

 terefted. The fuccefQon of the prince's father-in-law to the 

 crown of England in 1685, inftead of ftrengthening the 

 bonds of afGnity by which they were attached to one 

 another, ferved only to feparate them more widely. 

 The king was a bigotted papift, and the prince was re- 

 garded as a great fupporter of the Proteftant caufe on 

 the continent, and therefore they could not cordially concur 

 in their views and operations. King James, whofe objeft 

 was to render the Catholic religion predominant, began with 

 endeavouring to procure for it a free toleration in Great 

 Britain, by a repeal of the penal laws and the teft-aft ; and 

 in order the more effeftually to accomplilh his purpofe, he 

 ftrongly folicited the prince of Orange to exprefs his con- 

 currence and that of the princefs; but as they knew how 

 unpopular the defign was in England, they refufed to grant 

 it. About this time Lewis XIV., under the impulfe of his 

 own bigotry, and that of thofe with whom he afted, re- 

 pealed the edift of Nantes, which had fecured the privi- 

 leges of his Proteftant fubjefts ; and by his harfli treatment 

 of them, drove numbers of them out of his dominions, and 

 thus excited a dread and hatred of popery through all 

 Proteftant countries of Europe. The effeft of this mea- 

 fure with regard to the prince of Orange was, that it fuf- 



pended all party oppofition to him in Holland, and gave 

 him additional importance in Europe, as the determined foe 

 of French ambition. The arbitrary proceedings of king 

 James alarmed all the friends of civil liberty, and of the 

 eftabliflied religion in England ; and apprehenfive of danger, 

 they direfted their views to the prince of Orange as their 

 deliverer. Accordingly conferences were held with a con- 

 fidential envoy whom he fent over to afcertain the public 

 opinion ; applications were made to the prince by feveral 

 perfons of rank ; and at length, when the birth of a prince 

 of Wales difappointed all hopes of a Proteftant fuccefRon, 

 the leading men of different parties concurred in aftually 

 inviting him to come over, and to undertake the proteftion 

 of the church and conftitution from threatening ruin. The 

 prince confented, and with confummate prudence and fecrecy 

 prepared for the interefting expedition ; and as exifting cir- 

 cumftances afforded a profpeft of a breach between the 

 United States and their allies, and the king of France, he 

 was thus enabled to augment the Dutch forces by fea and 

 land without fufpicion. Having previoufly difperfed 

 through the kingdom a declaration, ftating the grievances 

 of the reign, and announcing his intention of bringing over 

 an armed force to defend the nation from tyranny, and to 

 procure the affembling of a free parliament, he put to fea in 

 Oftober 1688, with a fleet of about 500 veffels, and an army 

 of 14,000 men. He was once driven back by a ftorm, but 

 a fecond attempt fucceeded, fo that he gained the Englifh 

 coaft without oppofition, (the king's fleet being wind- 

 bound,) and on the 5th of November difembarked his 

 troops at Torbay. Of the caufes, progrefs, and termina- 

 tion of the Revolution, we have given an account under the 

 articles James II. af England, and Revolutiom. King 

 William feated on the throne became fovereign of a power- 

 ful kingdom ; but his tranquil poifeffion of the crown de- 

 pended on a variety of circumftances which he could neither 

 direft nor controul. The conflift of different parties was 

 not eafily reftrained ; nor were his difpofition and manners, 

 which were cold and referved, notv^ithftanding all his excel- 

 lent qualities, adapted to unite and conciliate the partifans 

 of the old and new government. Amongft thofe who had 

 taken an aftive part in the late meafures, or who had ac- 

 quiefced during their progrefs, fome were diffatisfied with 

 the total exclulion of James and his infant fon ; and others 

 could not approve the transfer of the crown by the will 

 of the people. In Scotland, the appointment of William 

 was the aft merely of the whigs ; and in Ireland, where the 

 population was chiefly Catholic, the intereft of James was 

 predominant. The church zealots in England were not 

 pleafed with the tolerant principles manifefted by king 

 William, and with the wifhes he expreffed for the compre- 

 henfion of the diflenters. Thus circumftanced, the com- 

 mencement of his reign was embroiled by the open oppofi- 

 tion and fecret intrigues of his enemies, and in the progrefs 

 of it the collifion of parties was the occafion of much per- 

 fonal difquietude both to him and to the queen. His atten- 

 tion was for a confiderable time diftrafted by the ftate of 

 his native country, when war with France was renewed m 



1689, by James's invafion of Ireland in the fpring of that 

 year, when his intereft with the Cathohcs was powerful, 

 and in which he was aided by the French king, and alfo by 

 an iufurreftion of the Jacobite party in Scotland. Ireland 

 feemed at this time to demand his principal exertions ; for 

 though mardial Schomberg had been fent over in 1689 to 

 oppofe the progrefs of the late king, little had been done 

 to any important purpofe. Accordingly in the fummer of 



1690, he embarked with a reinforcement for this country, and 

 by the battle of the J3oyne, in which Schomberg was killed, 



he 



