The government of Charles was now as absolute as that of any tyrant in Europe ; but as if to please his subjects by an act of popularity, lie thought proper to marry the lady Anne, his niece, to prince George, bro ther to the king of Denmark. This was the last remark able transaction of his reign. On the 2d of February 1685, lie was seized with a fit of the apoplexy ; and though lie recovered his senses so for as to give a death bed exhortation to his brother the duke of York, and to give a false declaration of his satisfaction in the Church of England, he expired in the end of four days illness, after a reign of 25 years, and a life of 55.
On the 6th of February, (the day of Charles's deatb,) his successor, James II., was proclaimed in London. It was expected, from his known principles, that he would make his brother's reign the model of his own. He de clared to that effect in his first speech to the privy coun cil, and his continuing Charles's ministers in his confi dence, confirmed the declaration. Hyde, earl of Ro chester, was appointed lord treasurer ; Halifax, notwith standing some suspicions of his having been busy in recommending a change of system to Charles, was con tinued in high employment ; and so was Sunderland, although he had been at one time a favourer of the exclusion bill. Whatever personal objections there might be to some of these ministers, James supposed that, with the same servants whom his brother had em ployed in a reign which had almost eradicated the sen timents of liberty from the minds of Englishmen, he could hardly fail in the great object of his views, to be arbitrary. For establishing this favourite project, an intimate connection with the court of Versailles being the principal engine, James early applied to Bannon, the French ambassador, with an indirect and timid hint at his necessity for pecuniary assistance. Five thousand livres were speedily remitted, and James, the French ambassador is to be believed, received the gift with tears in his eyes. It had been for some time Louis's favourite object to annex to his dominions what remained of the Spanish Netherlands, as well for their own value, as to second his views upon Holland ; and this object Charles had bound himself by treaty with Spain to oppose. The first fruits which France reaped from the bribe, was to obtain from James a dereliction of the Spanish treaty. The principal agents in this bu siness, besides the king himself, and lord Churchill, who acted a subordinate part, were Sunderland, Roches ter, and Godolphin. It is with difficulty the reader can persuade himself, that these were the Churchill and Godolphin who, the one in the senate, the other in the field, redeemed this subserviency to baseness, by their glorious efforts in the war of the succession.
The king having first informed the French ambassa dor, and apologized for a measure apparently at variance with his engagement to France, to support an arbitrary government, issued proclamations for meeting a parlia ment. He, at the same time, issued orders for levying,
upon his sole authority, the customs and other duties which had constituted part of the late king's revenue, but to which, the acts granting them having expired with the prince, James was not legally entitled. So servile was the spirit of the nation, that addresses poured in from all quarters, expressing the highest approba tion of this direct and daring outrage on the constitu tion.
Previous to meeting his English parliament, James directed a Scottish parliament to assemble at Edinburgh, where the spirit of loyalty, as the base and slavish spirit was then called, was not confined to words : Acts were passed to ratify all the late iniquitous judgments; to in demnify the privy council, judges, and all officers of the crown ; to authorize the privy council in imposing the test (under whatever penalties they chose ;) to punish with death the hearers and preachers of house, as well as field conventicles, and even those who refused to be witnesses against them. The executive government of the same country, scorned to be outdone in cruelty by the legislative. A refusal to abjure the declaration, in the terms prescribed, was cause for immediate execu tion. In one part of the country, information having been received that a corpse had been buried, an enquiry took place—it was dug up, and found to be that of a person proscribed. Those who had interred him, were suspected; not of having murdered, but of having har boured him. For this crime, their house was destroy ed ; the women and children were driven out to wander as vagabonds; and a young man belonging to it was executed. In another county, three females, one of six ty-three years of age, one of eighteen, and one of twelve, were charged with rebellion, and refusing to abjure the declaration, were sentenced to be drowned. '['he last was let off, upon condition of her father's signing a bond for a hundred pounds. The elderly woman bore her fate with the greatest constancy. The girl of eighteen was more pitied, and, after many intreaties, and having been once under water, was prevailed upon to utter some words, which might be fairly construed into bless ing the king, it was thought she was safe ; but the mer ciless barbarian, who superintended this business, was not satisfied, and upon her refusing the abjuration, she was again plunged into the water, where she was suf focated. It is to be remarked, that being at Bothwell bridge, and Airmoss, were among the crimes stated in the indictment of all three, though, when the last of these affairs happened, one of the girls was only thir teen, and the other not eight years of age.