CHARLES II., King of England, Scotland, and Ireland (164945), the eldest son of Charles I., was h. 29th May, 1630, and went with his mother to France during the civil war. He was at the Hague at the time of his father's execution, and immediately assumed the title of king. Ile meditated an expedition to Ireland for the assertion of his claims, when the Scots offered him their crown in 1650, and proceeding to Scotland, he was crowned at Scone in the beginning of 1651. The limitations, however, under which he received the crown, were disagreeable to him, and he hated the restraint put upon his inclinations by the Presbyterian clergy. After the defeat of the Scots at Dun bar, he put himself at the head of their army, in hope of rousing the royalists of Eng land to his support; but was completely defeated by Cromwell, at Worcester, on 3d Sept., 1651. He made his escape, amidst many dangers, to France, where his situation was by no means agreeable, and from which he went to Cologne, and afterwards to the Netherlands. After Cromwell's death, the desire of the English fox a settled govern ment leading to the restoration of the house of Stuart, he landed at Dover, on 26th Slay, 1660, was received with acclamation by the people, and ascended the throne almost untrammeled by a single condition. He was surrounded by men of extreme party-feeling, among. whom the most influential was the chancellor, Clarendon (q.v.). The persons immediately concerned in the death of Charles I. were brought to the scaffold; Episco pacy was restored; and the Presbyterians and other non-conformists, both in England and Scotland, were subjected to great hardship and persecution. The king was extrava gant, and soon found himself in want of money: he married the princess Catharine of Portugal, for the sake of her large dowry; he shamefully sold Dunkirk and Mardyke to the French; and for a pecuniary consideration, agreed to make war against the united provinces, although such a war was contrary to all the feelings of the English people and the interests of English commeree. The Dutch fleet, under De Ruyter, entered the Thames, and C. was compelled to make an ignominious peace. After the fall of Clarendon, the ministry known as the Cabal (q.v.) ministry came into power—a ministry hateful to the country, composed of unprincipled men, and bent upon the restoration of popery and absolute monarchy. C. sought to conciliate the
people by the triple alliance, in May, 1668, with Sweden and the states-general; but the French court soon found means to persuade him again to make war against the united provinces. He basely accepted pecuniary gifts and a pension from the French govern ment; and, as even this, with all that lie could get from his parliament, was insufficient for his expenses, he had recourse toillegal means of raising money. The story of the plot (q.v.) against the life of the caused prodigious excitement amongst the people, and lord Stafford and many other persons were most unjustly brought to the scaffold. The parliament of 1679, very much against the will of the court, enacted the celebrated habeas corpus act (q.v.): and a bill was under consideration for the exclu sion of the king's brother, the duke of York, from the throne, on account of his avowal of the Roman Catholic religion. The king, at this period of his reign, had, however, completely crushed the Presbyterians of Scotland, and was more absolute than any of his predecessors had been on either of the British thrones. Most arbitrary measures were adopted. The city of London was deprived of its privileges, because of the elec tion of a sheriff disagreeable to the court. The plot (q.v.), a widely-extended conspiracy, and in which the king's natural son, the duke of Monmouth (q.v.), was con cerned, was discovered in 1683, and cost the lives of a number of persons, amongst whom were lord Russell and Algernon Sidney. C., however, appears to have recog nized the necessity of a more liberal policy, when he was unexpectedly carried off by death, on 6th Feb., 1685. In his dying hours, he called in the assistance of a Roman Catholic priest, although he had not previously avowed his attachment to that religion. His reign was full of events dishonorable to his country, and of which he himself was generally the cause. His life was most dissolute; his adulteries, and the profligacy of his court, scarcely paralleled in British history. He had an affability, however, which won for him a certain sort of popularity.