James the Second

by Hilaire Belloc

THE SECOND By Hilaire Belloc Preserve tfie MLastery of the Sea 9 Jamess instructions to his heir as King of England J. B. Lippincott Company 192,8 IKT DEDICATED TO R. B. CUNNINGHAME-GRAHAM PREFACE THIS essay is not a biography, still less a chronicle. It is an attempt to portray a character of capital interest to English and European History, of which our academic historians give but a caricature. Were it either a biography or a chronicle, a great mass of detail would have been added, with which the book has no concern. Were it a biography, it would have been essential to describe all the main facts of the subjects life were it a chronicle, it would have had to include a conspectus of the world contemporary with James at home and abroad and to give the sequence of events in a regular and dated order. Neither of. these tasks appears in the pages that follow. Thus, James was conspicuous and successful as a British Aomiral in two great naval engagements the most important of those fought by the fleet which he had created, and the chief actions of the century. I have given the story of one only, as typical of his attitude in command. He was attacked and betrayed by a good score of men in the small clique of great fortunes all allied by marriage which destroyed the ancient monarchy of the English. I have described but two, as typical of their set, Shaftesbury and his brother-in-law Sunderland. He presided over, and in great part initiated, the making 6f the British Navy his chief work. That in itself would be material for a volume. I have given it but a chapter, and in that chapter have emphasized but two main points his new corps of professional officers j his new idea of a National Fleetindependent of pressed merchant auxiliaries. But these are sufficient to show his creative role iii the setting up of that service. The characters and careers of his numerous vii PREFACE mistresses would be essential to a life I have concerned myself only with the very difficult problem of his own emotions in such amours, for that is the point of character. I have thus deliberately selected, because it is surely by such selection of special points in connexion with his temperament, achievement and failures that he can be best presented and, I think, in no other way. But that he should be presented truly is of the first value in understanding England during and sincd his day. The Revolution of 1688 completed the work of the Refor mation. From it dates the Modern Aristocratic England which is nearly all the nineteenth century and our own can conceive of as English. To know the man whose failure produced that Revolution is a thing the nine teenth century and our own has hardly attempted. It is high time the attempt should be made. I trust that in doing so I have exaggerated neither his vice, nor as is the temptation in face of our academic text-books his virtues neither his capacities, which were great and remarkable, nor his deficiencies which were startlingly pronounced and, combined with certain high moral quali ties, led to his ruin. HILAIRE BELLOC Kings Land Shipley Horsham CONTENTS PREFACE Vil I THE CHARACTER 13 II THE CIRCUMSTANCE 30 III THE FIRST EXILE 58 IV ADMIRALTY 8 1 V THE CONVERSION I08 VI THE CONFLICT 139 VII THE ORDEAL 175 VIII DERRY AND THE BOYNE 227 IX THE END 268 NOTE I ON THE NUMERICAL SITUATION OF CATHOLICISM IN ENGLAND DURING THE ATTEMPT AT TOLERATION UNDER JAMES II28O NOTE II CONSULTATION OF THE COUNTIES AND BOROUGHS, LATE 1687 287 NOTE III ON THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE 293 INDEX 295 FRONTISPIECE PORTRAIT OF JAMES II, AS DUKE OF YORK Reproduced from the painting by John Greenhill, in the Dulwich College Picture Gallery, by kind per mission of the Governors. JAMES THE SECOND

Genres: History, Catholic, Biography

297 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc, French-born British writer, is considered a master of light English prose and also widely known for his droll verse, especially The Bad Child's Book of Beasts in 1896.

The sharp wit of Belloc, an historian, poet, and orator, extended across a large literary output and strong political and religious convictions. Throughout his career, he prolifically wrote across a range of genres and produced histories, essays, travelogues, poetry, and satirical works.

Cautionary Tales for Children collects humorous yet dark morals, and the historical works of Hilaire Belloc often reflected his staunch Catholicism and critique of Protestant interpretations. He led advocates of an economic theory that promoted and championed distribution of small-scale property ownership as a middle ground between capitalism and socialism, alongside Gilbert Keith Chesterton, his close friend.

In politics, Hilaire Belloc served as a member of Parliament for the Liberal party, but the establishment disillusioned him. His polemical style and strong opinions made him a controversial figure, who particularly viewed modernism, secularism, and financial capitalism as threats to traditional Christian society in his critiques.

Reviews

[Joseph Ficklen · Rating 3 out of 5]

By his own admission, Hilaire Belloc's work is not a biography but a character study of King James II. A series of sketches of the man at the most critical moments of his life, connected by lengthy expositions on Belloc's peculiar interpretation of English history which is both Jacobite and rabidly Catholic. The central contention of the work is this: James II was the last true King of England, both in form and in fact, who nobly attempted to revive the Catholic faith in England, a country which was stubbornly Protestant, in the face of a mounting Whig Squirarchy, the moneyed gentlemen determined to undermine him. James, Belloc insists, was the last "Popular Monarch," which he defines as the form of monarchy which had existed before the Reformation; not a King with popularity (James was certainly not that) but a King who ruled by and for the common interest of the people, rather than the landed gentry, which Belloc so despises. The author dissents from most historians, who grant a proportion of about 5% to Roman Catholics in 17th Century England, insisting that before 1688, the proportion was truly something like "an eighth or a seventh," 12-15%. With that understanding, James' mission to revive Catholicism in England was not a quixotic anachronism, but very viable indeed. But it was opposed by the Whig squires, the villains of the work, and undermined by the foibles of James' own character.

I find this point untenable; if such a large proportion of Roman Catholics survived in England well over a century after the English Reformation, where did they go in the 18th Century? These phantom Papists, so faithfully enduring proscriptions and penalties for over a hundred years, suddenly disappear after the Glorious Revolution of 1688? It makes no sense. Belloc's judgement is colored by his own religious faith, but filtering through this bias, his casting of James II in tragic-heroic light is fitting. Belloc portrays James with three characteristics:

1. James was a Stuart, a scion of that royal house which tried unsuccessfully to go against the grain of English society, leading to the Civil Wars, the execution of Charles I, the exile of Charles II, and ultimately his own deposition. It was just in the blood.
2. James was a Soldier, who came of age in a period of Civil War, served bravely in the French and Spanish armies in his exile, headed the Royal Navy after the Restoration, personally commanding in two of the greatest fleet actions of the day, Lowestoft in 1665 and Solebay in 1672. Through all of it, even in his final exile, he displayed a staunch love of his own country, England.
3. James was Stubborn (admirers have said staunch, enemies say stupid).

This last is the crowning characteristic of his life. When a prisoner of Parliament after the English Civil War, he stubbornly attempted escape multiple times. When a Protestant, he stubbornly resisted the agitations of his Catholic mother. When seeking a wife, he stubbornly married Anne Hyde against the objections of all his family. When he became convinced of Roman Catholicism, he stubbornly resisted the counter-arguments and appeals of nearly everyone. A lesser man would have yielded for the sake of policy; his brother Charles II was notorious for it. But the baseness of their appeals only made James stronger in his own convictions, convictions which would inevitably strip him of his crown. Through many of the challenges, James came out a victor. When the Test Act was passed, he resigned his beloved office of Lord High Admiral. When the Exclusion Bill was working through Parliament, he obeyed his brother the King's command and went into exile. While his brother vacilated and compromised and worked hard to preserve the crown and James' right to inherit it, the Duke of York remained a professed Catholic, as constant as the North Star. Eventually he inherited the crown as King James II in 1685, and defended it against two not insignificant rebellions that year. Steady on his course, he granted toleration both for his fellow Roman Catholics and for the Nonconformists, many of whom had been in arms against him in 1685. In all of this, James displays nobility and constancy, and which was finally rewarded in 1688 with a son of his own to continue the Stuart dynasty. But that was only the herald of the end...

Tragic hero indeed. All the more so because his staunchness was in part due to an inability to consider others. He was set on his own purpose, detached from other men, unable to consider their purposes and motivations. In Belloc's words:

"His intelligence, which was strong, his energy and capacity for work, which was exceptional, he could not direct either towards finesse or towards appreciating the motives of others. He did not even watch his opponents. He hardly distinguished their characters, he overestimated their morals, he heavily underestimated their powers; and (worst and most dangerous trait of all) he was unable to make friends."

As William of Orange and the Whig conspirators made preparations against him, James might have averted disaster by resorting to the arms of France, the staunch support of his cousin Louis XIV, who offered to invade the Netherlands:

"But James repudiated the proffered aid. It made the Crown of England seem dependent; it made him look, in the eyes of his Protestant subjects, the hanger-on of a Catholic Power, and he would have none of it. He publically repudiated Louis' friendship, said he could trust to the solemn promises of the Dutch Government. He recalled his Ambassador in Paris (Skelton) to mark his disapproval of so anti-national a policy as that diplomat advised. James's decision to stand alone was patriotic, sincere, and proud--but against such forces as were then massed against him it was fatal. It was the act of a truthful and open man incapable of following a conspiracy, and it was the end of his chances."

And so William landed in England, James' closest supporters and even his own daughters deserted him, and he went into exile. He attempted several times to regain his crown, but died in exile in 1701. He was a man of good qualities, but still, I cannot help but believe that all of James' virtues were wasted in pursuit of a wicked and false creed. Among his last words were his professed devotion to a piece of bread.

Although Belloc is himself a staunch, even a biggotted Roman Catholic, and his Jacobitism is detestable, --his description of the events of 1688 breaks down into insults and pejoratives-- yet he has a good grasp of the providential nature of 1688. As well, his mastery as a writer is his ability to see James' faults as well as his virtues in the face. It displays a magnanimity and generosity that we would do well to emulate. Overall, if you can tolerate Belloc's Papistry and Jacobitism, I would recommend this book to any student of the era.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thinking about the Bible, and parts that were taken out around James the Second's lifetime, this book plainly asserts that England's history becomes similarly redacted.