A Student's History of England, v. 2: 1509-1689

24. Character of the Revolution.– The main characteristic of the revolution thus effected was that it established the supremacy of Parliament by setting up a king and queen who owed their position to a Parliamentary vote. People had been found to believe that James II. was king by a Divine right. Nobody could believe that of William. Parliament, which had set him up, could pull him down, and he would have therefore to conform his government to the will of the nation manifested in Parliament. The political revolution of 1689 succeeded, whilst the Puritan Revolution of 1641 failed, because, in 1641, the political aim of setting the Parliament above the king was complicated by an ecclesiastical dispute which had split Parliament and the nation into two hostile parties. In 1689 there was practically neither a political nor an ecclesiastical dispute. Tories and Whigs combined to support the change, and Churchmen and Dissenters made common cause against the small Roman Catholic minority which had only been dangerous because it had the Crown at its back, and because the Crown had been supported by Louis and his armies. A Revolution thus effected was, no doubt, far less complete than that which had been aimed at by the more advanced assailants of the throne of Charles I. It did not aim at changing more than a small part of the political constitution of the country, nor at changing any part whatever of its social institutions. Its programme, in short, was one for a single generation, not one, like that of the 'Heads of the Proposals' (see p. 555) or the 'Agreement of the People' (see p. 556) for several generations. Consequently it did not rouse the antagonism which had been fatal even to the best conceived plans of the Commonwealth and Protectorate. It is much to be regretted that the moral tone of the men who brought about the Revolution of 1689 was lower than that which had brought about the Revolution of 1641. That this was the case, however, was mainly the fault of the unwise attempt of the Puritans to enforce morality by law. The individual liberty which was encouraged by the later revolution would in due time work for morality as well as for political improvement.

Books recommended for further study of Part VII

Ranke, L. English History (English translation). Vol. iii. p. 310-vol. iv. p. 528.

Airy, O. The English Restoration and Louis XIV.

Christie, W. D. Life of A. A. Cooper, first Earl of Shaftesbury.

Macaulay, Lord. History of England from the Accession of James II. Vols. i. and ii.

Hallam, H. Constitutional History. Chapters XI. – XIV.

Mahan, A. T. Influence of the Sea-power upon History. Chapters I. – III.

Lodge, R. The Political History of England. Vol. viii. From the Restoration to the Death of William III. (1660-1702).