The reign of James II. was the last effort of royal despotism to
recover its own. He tried to recall the right of Habeas Corpus;--to
efface Parliament--and to overawe the Clergy, while insidiously
striving to establish Papacy as the religion of the Kingdom. Chief
Justice Jeffries, that most brutal of men, was his efficient aid, and
boasted that he had in the service of James hanged more traitors than
all his predecessors since the Conquest!

The names Whig and Tory had come into existence in this struggle. Whig,
standing for the opponents to Catholic domination, and Tory for the
upholders of the King. But so flagrantly was the Catholic policy of
James conducted, that his upholders were few. In three years from his
accession, Whig and Tory alike were so alarmed, that they secretly sent
an invitation to the King's son-in-law, William, Prince of Orange, to
come and accept the Crown.

[Sidenote: James II. Deposed.]

William responded at once, and when he landed with 14,000 men, James,
paralyzed, powerless, unable to raise a force to meet him, abandoned
his throne without a struggle and took refuge in France.

[Sidenote: William and Mary, 1689-1702.]

The throne was formally declared vacant and William and Mary his wife
were invited to rule jointly the Kingdom of England, Ireland and
Scotland (1689).

The House of Stuart, which seems to have brought not one single virtue