The king, finding the parliament unwilling to alter the laws, resolved to carry out his schemes by means of the Dispensing Power, that is, the power of setting aside the laws by means of the royal prerogative. Having appointed judges who would be subservient to his plans, he obtained from them a decision affirming the legality of the dispensing power. James now openly disregarded the Test Act, and appointed Roman Catholics to posts in the army and to high offices in the state.

In 1686 a new Court of Ecclesiastical Commission was appointed to try ecclesiastical offences. At the head of this was the Lord Chancellor Jeffreys.

Permission was given to the Roman Catholics to perform mass, hold religious services, and establish schools and convents. This led to riots; priests were insulted in the streets, and Romanist places of worship were attacked.

The king formed a standing army at Hounslow Heath. Most of the officers were Roman Catholics. The Earl of Tyrconnel, a zealous Roman Catholic, was made Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. He remodelled the Irish army, excluding all Protestant officers, and making it a fit instrument for carrying out the designs of the king. Father Petre, the chief of the Jesuits in England, stood high in the king's favour, and was consulted on most of the affairs of the state.

In 1687 the king commanded the University of Cambridge to admit Francis, a monk, to a degree of M.A. without taking the usual oaths. The senate of the university refused on the grounds of illegality. Dr. Peachall (the Vice-Chancellor), was dismissed from his office by the Court of Ecclesiastical Commission.

In the same year the fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, were commanded by the king to elect as their president Anthony Farmer, a Roman Catholic, and a man of immoral character. They disregarded the king's injunction, and elected Dr. Hough. His election was declared void by the Court of Ecclesiastical Commission; Parker, bishop of Oxford, was installed in his place, and the fellows were ejected from the university. On the

death of Parker, Giffard, another Roman Catholic, was appointed in his place, and the college was filled with Roman Catholics.

In 1687 James published a Declaration of Indulgence, giving liberty of conscience and free toleration to all religious bodies.

In 1688, a Second Declaration of Indulgence was published. It was followed by an Order in Council, sent to the bishops, directing it to be read by the clergy in all the churches on two successive Sundays. The clergy and the majority of the natior objected to this document, regarding it as illegal, and as being drawn out in the interests of the Roman Catholic religion Seven bishops, Sancroft (archbishop of Canterbury), Lloyd (St. Asaph), Turner (Ely), Lake (Chichester), Ken (Bath and Wells), White (Peterborough), Trelawney (Bristol), signed a petition and presented it to the king praying to be excused from reading the declaration, on the ground of its illegality. The king was very angry, and dismissed them from his presence with threats. On the appointed Sundays, the declaration was read in only four churches in London, and in very few in the country.

The seven bishops were committed to the Tower, and brought to trial before the Court of Queen's Bench on the charge of publishing a "false, malicious, and seditious libel." This famous Trial of the Seven Bishops caused intense excitement through the country, and when the jury gave a verdict of "not guilty," the joy of the nation was extreme. Even the soldiers at Hounslow broke out into cheers at the news of the acquittal, to the great alarm and vexation of the king, who was present in the camp.

During the imprisonment of the bishops, a son was born to the king. This increased the alarm of the nation, since it seemed to threaten a Roman Catholic succession to the throne. Many refused to believe that the child was the real son of the king, and suspected that an infant had been introduced into the palace and was being palmed off on the country as the heir to the crown.

THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. The country had now ceased to have any confidence in the king. The eyes of the nation were turned towards William, Prince of Orange, son-inlaw of the king, as the deliverer from the tyranny of James II. An invitation, signed by some of the leading men in the country, was sent to him, calling on him to come over and help England to regain her liberties.

When William had made his preparations, he issued a declaration stating his intention of appearing in England, not for conquest, but to secure the assembly of a free parliament, to which should be entrusted the settlement of public affairs.

When James found that matters had gone so far, he endeavoured to propitiate his subjects. The Ecclesiastical Commission was dissolved, the fellows of Magdalen College were restored to their seats, Petre was dismissed from the Council, and promises were made that a parliament should be assembled. The fleet and army were assembled, and the latter was placed under the command of Faversham.

But it was now too late. William landed at Torbay, Nov. 5, 1688, with an army of about 15,000 men. He marched to Exeter, and thence to Axminster. James advanced to meet him as far as Salisbury, but was deserted by many of his leading officers, including Churchill (afterwards Duke of Marlborough). The king retreated towards London. Prince George of Denmark, and his wife Anne, the king's own daughter, went over to the enemy. William's adherents continually increased ; York, Plymouth, Bristol, and other large towns fell into the hands of his party, and the king found himself almost destitute of friends.

William advanced towards London. James was alarmed for his own personal safety, and after sending away his wife and son to France, fled from London, throwing the great seal of the kingdom into the Thames. He was seized at Faversham in Kent, and brought back to London. Being removed to Rochester, a second attempt to escape proved successful, and he arrived safely in France.

INTERREGNUM. William entered London, and was joyfully received by the people. He called a Convention Parlia ment, which declared the throne vacant, by the flight and consequent abdication of James II.

After some discussion, and disputes between the Lords and Commons, an Act of Settlement was passed which conferred the crown on William and Mary conjointly during their lives, and on the survivor after the death of either of them. If they died without issue the crown was to descend to Anne of Denmark and her heirs. This act also excluded papists, or those marrying papists, from the throne.

At the same time a Declaration of Rights was drawn up and accepted by William and Mary. It set forth :

(1) That the royal power of suspending or dispensing with the laws is illegal.

(2) That levying money without consent of parliament is illegal.

(3) That keeping a standing army in time of peace without consent of parliament is illegal.

(4) That subjects have a right to petition the king.

(5) That electors have a right to choose representatives freely. (6) That parliament has a right to freedom of debate.

(7) That excessive bail shall not be required, nor cruel or excessive punishments inflicted.

(8) That parliament shall be frequently held.

(9) That Protestant subjects may have arms for their defence. (10) That courts of ecclesiastical commission are illegal.

Thus ended the long struggle between the king and the people, which had continued through the whole of the Stuart period, and finally ended in the triumph of liberty and the establishment of free institutions.

THE KING'S DEATH. James II. died at St. Germain's, in France, 1701.

WILLIAM III. and MARY II. (1689-1702).

FAMILY. William, Prince of Orange, was the son of

William, prince of Orange, by Mary, daughter of Charles I. He was born at the Hague, 1650.

Mary was the daughter of James II. and Anne Hyde. She was born 1662.

William and Mary left no issue.

CONVENTION PARLIAMENT. The parliament still continued sitting, as it was not considered expedient to call a new one. William was not popular. He was a foreigner, sought the counsel of Dutch statesmen, and wanted the affable manners which made Charles II. popular with his subjects, notwithstanding his faults.

The parliament passed the Mutiny Bill, regulating the affairs of the army; the Toleration Act, granting religious liberty to Protestant Dissenters, while refusing it to Roman Catholics; the Bill of Rights, embodying the clauses of the Declaration of Rights in an Act of Parliament.

This parliament also settled the revenue, allowing the king £1,200,000 annually for the expenses of the government, to be voted year by year, and £600,000 for the cost of the Prince of Orange's expedition to England.

Judge Jeffreys having been found in an alehouse at Wapping disguised as a sailor and covered with coal dust, was with difficulty rescued from the mob, which threatened to tear him in pieces. He was conveyed to the Tower, where he died miserably soon after, 1689.

Titus Oates was released from prison and allowed a pension of £300 per annum. He died in 1705.

NON-JURORS. The doctrine of divine right was still held by many persons in England. Some of the clergy, including Sancroft, and other bishops, refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign, and were deprived of their sees and livings. Those who declined to take the oath were called Non-jurors. The term Jacobite was applied to those who desired the return of King James.

AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND. A Convention assembled in Scotland and proclaimed William king. Many of the clans,