ENGLAND, 225 



the bankers, which had been lent him at 8/. per cent, and to shut up 

 the exchequer. This was an indefensible step; though Charles 

 pretended to justify it by the necessity of his affairs, being then on 

 the eve of a fresh war with Holland. This was declared in 1672, 'and 

 had almost proved fatal to that republic ; for in this war the English , 

 fleet and army acted in conjunction with those of France. The duke 

 of York commanded the English fleet, and displayed great gallantry 

 in that station. The duke of Monmouth, the eldest and favourite 

 natural son of Charles, commanded 6000 English forces, who joined 

 the French in the Low Countries ; and all Holland must have fallen 

 into the hands of the French, had it not been for the vanity of their 

 monarch, Lewis XIV, who was in a hurry to enjoy his triumph in 

 his capital, and some very unforeseen circumstances. All confidence 

 was now lost hetween Charles and his parliament, notwithstanding 

 the glory which the English fleet obtained at sea against the Dutch. 

 The popular clamour at last obliged Charles to give peace to that 

 republic, in consideration of 200,000/. which was paid him. 



Charles died, February 6th, 1645, in the 55th year of his age, and 

 25th of his reign. He had married Catharine, infanta of Portugal, 

 with whom he received a large fortune in ready money, .besides the 

 town and fortress of Tangier in Africa; but he left behind no lawful 

 issue. The descendants of his natural sons and daughters are now 

 amongst the most distinguished of the British nobility. 



All the opposition which, during the late reign, had shaken the 

 throne, seemed to have vanished at the accession of James II. The 

 popular affection towards him was increased by the early declaration 

 he made in favour of the church of England. The army and people 

 supported him in crushing an ill-concerted rebellion of the duke of 

 Monmouth, who pretended to be the lawful son of Charles II, and as 

 such had assumed the title of king. That duke being beheaded, 

 July 15, 1685, and. some hundreds of his followers hanged, drawn, 

 and quartered, in the west of England ; exhibiting a scene of barbai'i- 

 ty scarcely ever known in this country, by the instrumentality of 

 Jefferies and colonel Kirke ; James desperately resolved to try how 

 far the practice of the church of England would agree with her doc- 

 trine of non-resistance. The experiment failed him. He had recourse 

 to the most offensive and at the same time most injudicious measure, 

 to render popery the established religion of his dominions. He pre- 

 tended to a power of dispensing with the known laws ; be instituted 

 an illegal ecclesiastical court ; he openly received and admitted into 

 his privy-council the pope's emissaries, and showed them more re- 

 spect than was due to the ministers of a sovereign prince. He sent 

 an embassy to Rome, and received at his court the pope's nuncio. 

 The abrupt encroachments he made upon both the civil and religious 

 liberties of his people were disapproved of even by the pope himself, 

 and all sober Roman-catholics. His sending to prison, and prosecut- 

 ing for a libel, seven bishops, for presenting a petition against reading 

 his declaration for liberty of conscience, and their acquittal upon a 

 legal trial, alarmed his most loyal protestant subjects. 



In this extremity, many great men in England and Scotland, though 

 they wished well to James, applied for relief to William prince of 

 Orange, in Holland, a prince of great abilities, and the inveterate 

 enemy of Louis XIV, who then threatened Europe with chains. The 

 prince of Orange was the nephew and son-in-law of James, having- 

 married the princess Mary, that king's eldest daughter, He, in con- 



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