King James II

PEOPLE

James II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland

James II succeeded his brother, King Charles II, as monarch, having previously been known as the Duke of York. The events of his short reign triggered the third major crisis regarding popery and arbitrary power in England.

James was regarded as a better man morally than his brother Charles, yet his rule was afflicted by a catastrophic lack of political judgment coupled with excessive energy.

Accession and Catholic Agenda

James II was a deeply sincere Catholic who had converted to the faith. His conversion, publicly known since AD 1673, had previously instigated the Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681), which saw three Parliaments dissolved in attempts to remove him from the line of succession. Upon his accession, his initial position was nevertheless strong, supported by a Tory-dominated Parliament that granted generous financial aid despite his Catholicism.

James was determined to remove the legal disabilities faced by his co-religionists and promote their interests. He desired widespread conversions to Catholicism, intending the nation to move gradually in a Catholic direction. He found it necessary to repeal the Test Acts, but Parliament refused to consent to this action.

Pursuit of Arbitrary Power

Lacking parliamentary consent, James used his prerogative powers, exercising his dispensing power to illegally suspend the law itself, transforming a prerogative meant only for relieving individuals from legal penalties into a broad suspension of the law. This was viewed as deeply provocative.

He made highly contentious Catholic appointments, including granting his Jesuit confessor a cabinet position, appointing four Catholics to the Privy Council, and instituting 250 Catholics as justices of the peace. He also appointed Catholic officers to the army and established a Catholic seminary at an Oxford College.

In April AD 1687, James issued a Declaration of Indulgence suspending penal laws against both Protestant dissenters and Roman Catholics. This policy alienated the Tory Anglican majority who had previously supported the Crown, forcing them to choose between loyalty to their Church and loyalty to the King. Simultaneously, James attempted, but failed, to win the crucial support of Protestant dissenters, who distrusted his intentions. He attempted to pack a future Parliament to secure the repeal of the Test Acts by interrogating public officials on their intended voting behaviour.

Military and Imperial Ambitions

James II pursued an agenda of creating a massive authoritarian territorial empire overseas. This centralisation of control over the West and East Indies and North America was intended to generate revenue to finance a large standing army in England. England traditionally maintained an army of merely 2,000 men, but James created a huge, professional, and efficient standing army of between 40,000 and 50,000 men.

In pursuit of imperial aims, he declared war on the Mogul Empire in India in AD 1687, a campaign that ultimately proved to be a disastrous failure.

The Final Crisis and Flight

The profound political alienation experienced under James II culminated in June 1688 in the Glorious Revolution. Two events exacerbated the crisis:

1. The Queen, Mary, gave birth to a son, Prince James, which threatened the establishment of a Catholic dynasty with absolutist ambitions. Rumours circulated widely that the child was substituted, having been smuggled into the bedchamber in a warming pan.

2. In April AD 1688, James ordered his Declaration of Indulgence to be read out in all Anglican churches. Seven bishops, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, petitioned against this order, leading to their trial for sedition; their subsequent acquittal was met with widespread public rejoicing.

These events led the Immortal Seven (comprising five Whigs and two Tories) to invite William of Orange to intervene to secure a free Parliament, citing fear for their religion, liberties, and property.

Upon the successful invasion by the Dutch force, King James initially joined his army but subsequently lost his nerve and withdrew to London. His army commanders began defecting to William.

James attempted to flee on 11 December 1688, casting the Great Seal of England into the river Thames to paralyse the government. He was apprehended and returned to London, but was allowed to escape to France on 20 December 1688, likely by collusion on the part of William’s supporters, whose political process required his absence.

The Convention Parliament subsequently convened and resolved that King James II had broken the contract between king and people, violated the fundamental laws, and, by abandoning his kingdom, had abdicated the government and vacated the throne. His Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William were then proclaimed co-monarchs.