After this there was a change for the worse in the character of the government; from being wantonly indifferent, it became sullenly mischievous. Presbyterians and non conformists were excluded from all offices. Among other arbitrary acts, may be men tioned the recall of their charters from London and many of the other principal cities, which were only restored, with diminished privileges, on payment of heavy fines. Con duct such as this made men more than ever afraid of the succession of the king's brother. A conspiracy to secure the succession to the duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of the king, was formed. Lord 'Toward betrayed the conspiracy, and among others who suffered death for it were lord Russell and Algernon Sidney.
When the king died, in 1685, James II. succeeded amid universal dissatisfaction. Monmouth's attempt to seize the throne, however, was mismanaged, and failed. The punishment of those who had aided his rising formed an occasion for the perpetration of great cruelties by Jeffreys, then chief-justice of England. In the meantime, nothing could be fairer than the king's language. He issued a declaration in favor of general toleration, and announced that the penal laws against Catholics were no longer to be enforced. A second declaration to the same effect was issued, but he went further, and added to it an order that the clergy should read it in all churches. The archbishop of Canterbury and six bishops presented an address to the throne, humbly setting forth that their duty to maintain the Protestant establishment would not permit them to give obedience to the royal mandate. For this they were indicted as guilty of sedition_ The trial of the bishops (1688 A. D.) was the turning-point of James's career. It created immense excitement, and when the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, even the soldiers joined in the tumultuous rejoicings.
William, prince of Orange, who had married Mary, the eldest daughter of the king, had long been intriguing with the malcontents. He now landed in E. with a small body of troops. The soldiers, the leading nobles, even the king's own children, joining the prince, the king fled to France. Parliament then settled the crown jointly on Wil liam and Mary for life. James, with the assistance of Louis XIV., made one effort to regain his throne. He landed in Ireland, where the lord lieutenant, Tyrconnel, was devoted to his cause, and managed to raise an army. William defeated him at the battle of the Boyne; and the contest was soon after this terminated by the second flight of James to France. So easily was the great revolution of 1688 effected.
The domestic government of William was marked by his efforts to introduce a gen eral toleration; but of his foreign administration, which led the country into costly wars, it is hardly possible to speak in very favorable terms. To reduce the power of France, E., in alliance with Holland and Germany, embarked in a protracted contest. Its termination at the peace of Ryswick, in 1697, brought to E. nothing beyond an increase of reputation. William died in 1702.
Under queen Anne, the war with France was renewed, and the duke of Marlborough's splendid victories of Oudenarde, Blenheim, and Ramilies were achieved. With these the history of E. as a separate state closes. In 1707, the long-wished-for union with Scotland was accomplished; and after that, Great Britain, united under one legislature, as well as under one crown, has a common interest among nations, and therefore a com mon history.
A table of the English sovereigns is appended, beginning with Alfred, and continued, for convenience' sake, to the present time: