WILLIAM III, king of England and heredi tary stadtholder of Holland: b. The Hague. 4 Nov. 1650; d Kensington. England, 8 Mardi 1702. Ile was the son of William II of Nassau, prince of Orange, and his mother was Henrietta Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I of Ele• land_ Educated by the grand pensionary, John De Vitt, he gained the love of the people, who ni 1672, when Louis XIV invaded the republic, appointed him at once captain-general, grand admiral and stadtholder of the United Prov inces, after enforcingthe abrogation of a reso lution which De Witt had got passed in 1667, and which declared that in future no captain general should at the same time be stadtholder.
illiam's management of the war against France was masterly. In the campaign of 1673 be opened the sluices in the dikes around Amsterdam, inundating the whole of the neigh boring district and forcing the French to retire. He was able to keep the enemy in check, and by his policy engaged the empire, Spain and Brandenburg to take part with Holland, so that at the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678 the integrity of Holland was respected. William's whole policy was directed against Louis XIV, for a hom he entertained a personal hatred, and to curb the ambition of the French monarch he instituted the league of Augsburg, July 1686, between the emperor, Spain, Sweden and Hol land, to which Denmark and some German princes also acceded. His wife, Mary, whom he had married in 1677, was the daughter of James 11 of England. and presumptive heiress to the throne. Unexpectedly James' second wife gave birth to a son, 10 June 1688, and the greater part of the Parliament and of the nation now feared that the bigoted James would intro duce Roman Catholicism as the state religion and subvert the constitution. Rumor also as serted that the prince was supposititious. The Episcopalians and Presbyterians in England, under these circumstances, united, in order, by the aid of Holland, to give Mary the succession to the throne_ William foreseeing that England, by the policy of his father-in-law, would be come more and more closely connected with France, joined with the great majority of the British nation; and the pensionary Eased per suaded the States-General to support him with ships and troops for the preservation of British freedom and the Protestant religion. \\'illiam arrived suddenly at Torbay, 5 Nov. 16&8, with a fleet of 300 sail, ostensibly equipped against France, and with 14,000 troops. Upon his land ing a great part of the nobility immediately declared for him; and James' soldiers by de grees went over to him. In December the king tIed with his family to France, after which ham made his entry into London. The two
houses of Parliament in convention now de clared that James 11 had broken the funda mental compact between the king and the people, and by withdrawing from the kingdom had abdirated thegovernment. On 13 Feb. 1689 Mary was proclaimed queen, and William, her husband. who had meanwhile gone oyes to the English Church, was proclaimed king. At the tame time the declaration or bilhof rights set tled the limits of the royal power and the order of succession. Scotland followed England's exam le; but in Ireland, whither Louis XIV sent James with an army, the majority of the Roman Catholics maintained the cause of the deposed king. But William's victories over the arms. of James on the Boyne. I July RHO, and at Anghnm, 13 July 1691, assisted by the clem ency with which he treated the vanqutshed party, made him master of Ireland. In the war on the Continent he was less successful. At Steinkirk be was defeated by Marshal Luxem bourg in 1692 and at Neerwinden by the same general in 1693; but always succeeded in wrest ing from the French the (nuts of their victories by skilful retreats and marches. Louis was finally compelled to acknowledge him as king of England at the Peace of Ryswick in 1697. The Parliament insisted at that time on the disband ing of nearly the whole army, deeming a stand ing army incompatible with the security of the constitution. Soon after, the will of Charles II of Spain, who had made the grandson of Louis XIV his heir, induced William to arm all Europe against Louis in the great alliance of The Hague 7 Sept. 1701. But in the midst of these projects he broke his collar-bone by a fall from his horse between Kensington and Hamp ton Court, 21 Feb. 1702, and died in consequence of the accident, His wife, Mary, had already died childless in 1694. William's manners were too cold and ungracious to allow him to be popular with the English people. Under a re served exterior he concealed a strong love of renown and power, and to obtain the majority of votes in Parliament made use of bribery. Immersed in politics and war, he had neither leisure nor inclination for literature and art. In conversation he was grave and unattractive; but in business, penetrating, quick and decided; in danger, undaunted; in difficulties, unshaken; in war, bold without ostentation. Consult Burnet, 'History of His Own Timcs'; Trevor, 'Life and Times of W awn III' (1833); Mac aulay, 'History of England': Hallam, 'Con stitutional History' ; kanke, 'History of Eng land' (1875); Trail, 'William III' (188.8); Ilippold, '1\ illiam 111, Prince von Oranien, Erbstatthalter von Holland, Kiinig von En g land' (1900); Lodge, k, 'History of England' (1910).