William landed in England with a small army and marched
unopposed to London. The wretched king, deserted by his courtiers and his soldiers,
soon found himself Harness alone. He fled to France, where he lived the
remainder of his days as a pensioner at the court of Louis XIV. Parliament
granted the throne conjointly to William and Mary, William to rule during his
lifetime and Mary to have the succession, should she survive him.
THE BILL OF RIGHTS
In settling the crown on William and Mary, Parliament took
care to safeguard its own authority and the of Protestant religion. It enacted
the Bill of Rights, which has a place by the side of Magna Carta and the
Petition of Right among the great documents of English constitutional history.
This act decreed that the sovereign must henceforth be a member of the Anglican
Church. It forbade the sovereign to "suspend" the operation of the
laws, or to levy money or maintain a standing army except by consent of
Parliament. It also declared that election of members of Parliament ought to be
free; that they ought to enjoy freedom of speech and action within the two
Houses; and that excessive bail ought not to be required, or excessive fines
imposed, or cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. Finally, it affirmed the
right of subjects to petition the sovereign and ordered the holding of frequent
Parliaments. These were not new principles of political liberty, but now the
English people were strong enough not only to assert, but also to uphold them.
They reappear in the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United
States.
