from his cottage by the soldiers, asked if he would take the test of conformity to the Church of England and to Charles's Government; if not, then came the order, 'Make ready—present—fire!'—and there lay the corpse of the rebel."[1] Under mere suspicion many innocent persons were thrown into prison and executed.[2]
James II (1685-1689) was no less cruel than his predecessor. The defeat of the rebellion led by Monmouth was followed by the "Bloody Assizes" (1685). This tribunal was a travesty of justice. Those who were brought before it were not allowed to defend themselves. Judge Jeffreys, who presided over it, was the embodiment of cruelty and corruption. Over 1,000 persons were sentenced either to be hanged, beheaded, or sold as slaves. "The guide-posts of the highways were converted into gibbets from which blackened corpses swung in chains, and from every church tower in Somersetshire ghastly heads looked down on those who gathered there to worship God; in fact, so many bodies were exposed that the whole air was tainted with corruption and death."[3] To rid themselves of James II the English people were obliged to call William of Orange to their aid. The latter landed in England (1688) with a force of 14,000 soldiers. Deserted by his army, James fled to France.
William and Mary succeeded him (1689-1702). This revolution had great consequences. Courts of justice ceased to be "little better than caverns of murderers."[4] The divine right of kings was no longer asserted and the liberty of the press was established. However, the dynasty of Orange did not maintain
- ↑ D. H. Montgomery, The Leading Facts of English History, p. 265.
- ↑ One Titus Gates pretended that he had discovered a conspiracy (the Popish Plot) formed by the Catholics with a view to burn London, massacre the inhabitants, kill the King and restore the Roman religion. On the charge preferred by him many innocent persons were executed. (Ibid., p. 270.)
- ↑ Ibid., p. 278.
- ↑ Hallam's Constitutional History of England. Montgomery, op. cit., p. 284.
