Chapter XXXVII: James II. a Maddening King

Although a Good Man, James II was a Bad King and behaved in such an irritating and arbitrary way that by the end of his reign the people had all gone mad.

JUDGE JEFFREYS

One of the first things that happened was a rebellion by Monmouth, an indiscriminate son of Charles II who, landing incorrectly in Somerset, was easily defeated at Newbury, Sedgehill, Marston Moor, Newbury, etc. (see Civil War). The Rebels were ferociously dealt with by the memorable Judge Jeffreys who was sent out by James as a Justice in Ire in the West, where he made some furious remarks about the prisoners, known as “The Bloody Asides.”

MADNESSES OF JAMES II

James II further enraged his subjects by

(_a_) attempting to repeal the Habeas Corpus Act, saying that nobody
might have a body after all, and

(_b_) claiming the Dispensing Power which was a threat to revive
Pride’s Purge and do the dispensing of it himself;

(_c_) suspending (probably a modified form of hanging) the
Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge, who was apparently mad too, for
refusing to have a Benedictine.

ENGLAND’S ANSWER

The final and irreparable madness of the people was brought on by James’s action in bringing to trial Seven Bishops (Bancroft, Sancroft and Sacheveral others) for refusing to read Charles II’s Declaration of Indulgence (which they thought would be dangerous under the circumstances), and when in addition it became known that James had confined his infant son and heir in a warming-pan the people lost control of themselves altogether and, lighting an enormous number of candles, declared that _the answer was an Orange_. James was thus compelled to abdicate.