and offered to resign. The king declined to accept their resignation, but at the same time was unwilling to dissolve, although it was obvious that in the existing parliament a ministry pledged to reform could not retain office. From this dilemma William was rescued by the conduct of the opposition, which, anxious to bring on a change of ministry, moved an address against dissolution. Regarding this as an attack on his prerogative, William at once dissolved parliament (April 1831). The elections gave the ministry an overwhelming majority. The second Reform Bill was brought in in June, and passed its third reading (21st of September) by a majority of 109. A fortnight later (8th of October) the Lords threw out the bill by a majority of 41. But after a protracted political crisis (see the article on Grey, Charles Grey, 2nd earl) the king was compelled to consent to create a sufficient number of new peers to carry the bill, and the threat was successful in bringing about the passing of the act in 1832.
During the rest of his reign William IV. had not much opportunity of active political interference, but on one other occasion he made an unjustifiable use of his prerogative. Two years after the passing of the Reform Bill the ministry of Lord Grey had become unpopular. In July 1834 Lord Grey himself retired and Lord Melbourne took the lead. There were divergences of opinion in the cabinet, and the king strongly objected to the ministerial policy respecting the Irish Church. On the shallow pretext that Lord Allhorp's removal to the Upper House would weaken the ministry in the House of Commons, where, however, they still had a majority, he suddenly dismissed them and summoned Sir Robert Peel (14th of November). Peel's ministry, containing many members who had been in the government on the king's accession, was called from its short duration “the ministry of the hundred days.” Its formation clearly indicated that the Whig proclivities of the king, which had never been more than partial or lukewarm, had wholly disappeared. The step was regarded with general disapprobation. It was immediately followed by a dissolution, and the ministry soon found themselves in a minority. Beaten on Lord John Russell's motion respecting the Irish Church (3rd of April 1835), Peel resigned and Melbourne again came into power. Under him the Whigs retained the lead during the remainder of the reign. This coup d'état of November 1834 was the last occasion on which the English sovereign has attempted to impose an unpopular ministry on the majority in parliament.
In May 1837 the king began to show signs of debility, and died from an affection of the heart on the 20th of June, leaving behind him the memory of a genial, frank, warm-hearted man, but a blundering, though well-intentioned prince. He was succeeded by his niece Queen Victoria.
Authorities.—Correspondence of Earl Grey with William IV. and Sir Herbert Taylor (London, 1867); Fitzgerald's Life and Times of William IV.; Greville's Memoirs; Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel; the Creevey Papers; Civil Correspondence of the Duke of Wellington; Walpole's History of England; Martineau's History of the Peace. (G. W. P.)
WILLIAM (1143-1214), king of Scotland, surnamed “the Lion,” was the second son of Henry, earl of Huntingdon (d. 1152), a son of King David I., and became king of Scotland on the death of his brother, Malcolm IV., in December 1165, being crowned at Scone during the same month. After his accession to the throne William spent some time at the court of the English king, Henry II.; then, quarrelling with Henry, he arranged in 1168 the first definite treaty of alliance between France and Scotland, and with Louis VII. of France assisted Henry's sons in their revolt against their father in 1173. In return for this aid the younger Henry granted to William the earldom of Northumberland, a possession which the latter had vainly sought from the English king, and which was possibly the cause of their first estrangement. However, when ravaging the country near Alnwick, William was taken prisoner in July 1174, and after a short captivity at Richmond was carried to Normandy, where he soon purchased his release by assenting in December 1174 to the treaty of Falaise. By this arrangement the king and his nobles, clerical and lay, undertook to do homage to Henry and his son; this and other provisions placing both the church and state of Scotland thoroughly under the suzerainty of England. William's next quarrel was with Pope Alexander III., and arose out of a double choice for the vacant bishopric of St Andrews. The king put forward his chaplain, Hugh; the pope supported the archdeacon, John the Scot, who had been canonically elected. The usual interchange of threats and defiance's followed; then after the death of Alexander in 1181 his successor, Lucius III., consented to a compromise by which Hugh got the coveted bishopric and John became bishop of Dunkeld. In 1188 William secured a papal bull which declared that the Church of Scotland was directly subject only to the see of Rome, thus rejecting the claims to supremacy put forward by the English archbishop. This step was followed by the temporal independence of Scotland, which was one result of the continual poverty of Richard I. In December 1189, by the treaty of Canterbury, Richard gave up all claim to suzerainty over Scotland in return for 10,000 marks, the treaty of Falaise being thus definitely annulled.
In 1186 at Woodstock William married Ermengarde de Beaumont, a cousin of Henry II., and peace with England being assured three years later, he turned his arms against the turbulent chiefs in the outlying parts of his kingdom. His authority was recognized in Galloway which, hitherto, had been practically independent; he put an end to a formidable insurrection in Moray and Inverness; and a series of campaigns taught the far north, Caithness and Sutherland, to respect the power of the crown. The story of William's relations with King John is interesting, although the details are somewhat obscure. Soon after John's accession in 1199 the Scottish king asked for the earldom of Northumberland, which Richard I., like his father, had refused to restore to Scotland. John, too, refused this demand, but the threatened war did not take place, and in 1200 William did homage to the English king at Lincoln with the ambiguous phrase “saving his own rights.” After a period of inaction war between the two countries again became imminent in 1209; but a peace was made at Norham, and about three years later another amicable arrangement was reached. Both these treaties seem to have been more favourable to England than to Scotland, and it is possible that William acknowledged John as overlord of his kingdom. William died at Stirling on the 4th of December 1214 and was buried at Arbroath. He left one son, his successor Alexander II., and two daughters, Margaret and Isabella, who were sent to England after the treaty of 1209, and who both married English nobles, Margaret becoming the wife of Hubert de Burgh. He also left some illegitimate children. William's reign is a very important period in the early history of Scotland, and may almost be said to mark an epoch in every department of public life. The relations of England and Scotland and of Scotland and France; the rise of towns, the development of trade and the establishment of order in Scotland itself; and the attitude of the Scottish Church, both to the papal see and to England, were all vitally affected by the events of this reign. William founded and richly endowed the abbey at Arbroath, and many of the Scottish towns owe their origin to his charters.
See F. W. Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings (Edinburgh, 1862); Lord Hailes, Annals of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1819); A. Lang, History of Scotland, vol. i. (1900); also Scotland: History.
WILLIAM I. (1797-1888), king of Prussia and German emperor, was the second son of Frederick William III. of Prussia and Louise, a princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was born at Berlin on the 22nd of March 1797, and received the names of Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig. He was a delicate child and had to be carefully nurtured. His constitution, however, was sound, and he became one of the most vigorous men in Germany. After the battle of Jena he spent three years at Königsberg and Memel. Meanwhile he had given evidence of sterling honesty, a strict love of order, and an almost passionate interest in everything relating to war. On the 1st of January 1807 he received an officer's patent, and on the 30th of October 1813 was appointed a captain. William accompanied his father in the campaign of 1814, and early in the following year received the iron cross for personal bravery shown at Bar-sur-Aube. He took part in the
