Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/616

Rh 580 WILLIAM III [ENGLAND. its majority, ministers must represent the party which was strongest in parliament. His natural reluctance to recog nize this change, or to give up any of the powers which his predecessors had possessed, led to not unfrequent collisions with parliament and exposed him to some humiliation, while the struggle between the two parties at times re duced him to despair, and constantly hampered his action on the Continent. For nearly a year and a half after William s acceptance of the crown he was occupied in forming the coalition against Louis XIV. known as the Grand Alliance. As stadtholder of the United Netherlands, William had already entered into an alliance with the emperor. In December he joined the league as king of England, and in 1690 the coalition was completed by the adhesion of Spain, Brandenburg, and Savoy. William had thus gained his first great object : he had united Europe against the Bourbon. Meanwhile, however, his arms had made little progress in Scotland and Ireland. James had landed in Ireland in March 1689 and nearly the whole island was in his hands. The relief of Londonderry (July) and the battle of Newtown Butler (August) saved the north for William, but elsewhere Schomberg could make no way. In Scotland the convention had offered the crown to William and Mary; but in the battle of Killiecrankie (July) the clans under Dundee had routed William s army. The convention, which shortly after his accession had been turned into a parliament, met for its second session in the autumn of 1689, and the two parties quarrelled so violently over the Corporation and Indemnity Bills that William threatened to leave the country. He was induced by Nottingham and Shrewsbury to give up this intention, but in January 1690 he dissolved the parliament. William put an end to the quarrel about the indemnity by issuing an Act of Grace, which gave an almost complete amnesty ; and, after placing the government in the hands of the queen and a council of nine persons, he left for Ireland. The defeat of the English and Dutch fleets off Beachy Head and the repulse of the allied forces at Fleurus (June and July 1690) were severe blows to William s hopes; but the former led to no important results and the latter was more than balanced by the victory which William won at the battle of the Boyne (1st July 1690). James fled from the country, and William entered Dublin in triumph. In September he returned to England, leaving Marlborough to conquer the south of Ireland in a short but brilliant campaign. Meanwhile the resistance in Scot land had collapsed, and Mackay reduced the Highlands to tranquillity. In 1691 William was able to go abroad and to take the command in Flanders, where, however, his efforts were unsuccessful. The next year (1692) opened with the massacre of Glencoe. It is improbable that, in signing an order for the &quot;extirpation&quot; of the Macdonalds, he intended that the order should be literally executed. Nevertheless, the order came from him, and he cannot be acquitted of all blame. About the same time the insecurity of his position was shown by the discovery of Marlborough s treachery ; and Marlborough did not stand alone. While many whom William trusted or appeared to trust were intriguing with James, an invasion of England was being organized by the French Government. Fortunately, and in great measure owing to the politic conduct of Mary, the commanders of the fleet were induced to stand firm, and the great victory of La Hogue (19th May 1692) put a stop to the projected invasion. But the fortune of war went against William on the Continent. He could not save Namur from the French, and he was severely defeated in an attempt to surprise the duke of Luxembourg at Steenkerke (4th August 1692). Next year he was again beaten by the same commander at Neerwinden (19th July). The battle of La Hogue had not given England the command of the seas, and French privateers inflicted great damage on English trade. In June 1693 the Smyrna fleet was almost entirely destroyed off Cape St Vincent. In spite of these reverses William struggled on with indomitable courage, and he was well supported by the country. Parliament, under the skilful guidance of Montague, adopted various important financial measures to meet the expenses of the war. The land-tax was re-assessed, the national debt created, the Bank of England established, and the coinage renewed (1693-95). In 1694 William confirmed the parliamentary system by giving his consent, though an unwilling consent, to the Triennial Act, and he recognized the principles of ministerial government by modifying the ministry, until in 1696 it was in thorough harmony with the parliamentary majority. In 1695 Wil liam won his first important success on the Continent by recovering Namur, and, though no advance was made by the allies next year, the exhaustion of France was becoming more and more evident. At length, in March 1697, a con gress met at Ryswick, and in September peace was made. Louis was obliged to give up all (with the exception of Strasburg) that he had added to his dominions since 1678, and he recognized William as king of England. With the conclusion of the war the dread of a standing army revived in England, and, much to William s disgust, a vote of parliament reduced the military force to 10,000 men, although the question of the Spanish succession (see vol. ix. p. 580) was pending. The new parliament which met early in 1699 reduced the army still further and resolved that it should consist solely of English troops, thus com pelling William to dismiss his favourite Dutch guards. They went on to institute an inquiry into the manner in which the forfeited estates in Ireland had been disposed of, and in their second session (November 1699) they passed a bill for the &quot;resumption&quot; of these estates. William died on 8th March 1702 from the consequences of a fall from his horse on 20th February. Authorities. Burnet, History of his own Times ; Voltaire, Siecla de Louis XIV. ; Negotiations of the Count d?Avaux(Lon&oi, 1754) ; Negotiations relatives a la Succession d Espagnc, &c. , collected by Mignet (Paris, 1835) ; Lettres et Memoir es de Marie, Heine $ Angle - terre, &c. (The Hague, 1880) ; Harris, History of the Life and Reign of William III. (Dublin, 1749) ; Mackintosh, History of the Revolu tion in England ; Macaulay, History of England ; Ranke, English History. (G. W. P.) WILLIAM IV. (1765-1837), king of England, was the third son of George III. He was born at Windsor, 21st August 1765. When he was fourteen years old he was sent to sea as a midshipman under Admiral Digby. Next year he sailed under Rodney and took part in the action off Cape St Vincent (16th January 1780). During the rest of the war the young prince saw plenty of service, for which he imbibed a strong liking, and so laid the founda tion of his popularity. On the conclusion of the war he travelled in Germany, visiting Hanover and Berlin, where he was entertained by Frederick the Great. In 1785 he passed for lieutenant ; next year he was made captain and stationed in the West Indies. Shortly after 1787, being tired of his station, he sailed home without orders, and was punished for his insubordination by being obliged to stay at Plymouth till his ship was refitted, when he again sailed for the West Indies. In 1789 he was made duke of Clarence. When war was declared against the French republic in 1793, he strongly supported it and was anxious for active employ ment ; but, though he was made rear-admiral of the red, he could obtain no command. Thus condemned to in activity, he amused or revenged himself by joining the prince of Wales and the duke of York in their opposition