aws of the kingdom had been systematically violated.
The power of dispensing with acts of parliament had been strained, so
that the king had usurped nearly all legislative authority. The courts
of justice had been filled with unscrupulous judges, who were ready to
obey all the king's injunctions, whether legal or illegal. Roman
Catholics had been elevated to places of dignity in the Established
Church. An infamous and tyrannical Court of High Commission had been
created; persons, who could not legally set foot in England, had been
placed at the head of colleges, and had taken their seat at the royal
council-board. Lord lieutenants of counties, and other servants of the
crown, had been dismissed for refusing to obey illegal commands; the
franchises of almost every borough had been invaded; the courts of
justice were venal and corrupt; an army of Irish Catholics, whom the
nation abhorred, had been brought over to England; even the sacred
right of petition was disregarded, and respectful petitioners were
treated as criminals; and a free parliament was prevented from
assembling.

Under such circumstances, and in view of these unquestioned facts, a
great conspiracy was set on foot to dethrone the king and overturn the
hateful dynasty.

Among the conspirators were some of the English nobles, the chief of
whom was the Earl of Devonshire, and one of the leaders of the Whig
party. Shrewsbury and Danby also joined them, the latter nobleman
having been one of the most zealous advocates of the doctrine of
passive obedience which many of the High Churchmen and Tories had
defended in the reign of Charles II. It was under his administration,
as prime minister, that a law had been proposed to parliament to
exclude all persons from office who refused to take an oath, declaring
that they thought resistance in all cases unlawful. Compton, the
Bishop of London, who had been insolently treated by the court, joined
the conspirators, whose designs were communicated to the Prince of
Orange by Edward Russell and Henry Sydney, brothers of those two great
political martyrs who had been executed in the last reign. The Prince
of Orange, who had married a daughter of James II., agreed to invade
England with a well-appointed army.

[Sidenote: William, Prince of Orange.]

William of Orange was doubtless the greatest statesman and warrior of
his age, and one of the ablest men who ever wore a crown. He was at
the head of the great Protestant party