The Protestant Succession and Jacobitism in the Reign of William III

Abstract

The Glorious Revolution of 1688-89 has long been considered an epoch-making event by which Parliament finally overcame the monarchy of the Stuarts. However, this too easily accepted view makes it impossible to see any serious meaning in the rather negative attitude of the Jacobites towards the Revolution. But since an assurance of the 'Revolution Settlement' was above all guaranteed by maintaining through parliamentary laws a new monarch against his lifelong rival, Louis XIV, and since only a minority of Englishmen accepted the Revolution without hesitation, Jacobitism should be regarded as more reality than nightmare. To begin with, this paper questions whether the Act of Settlement of 1701 could actually 'settle' the succession of the Crown and do away with all hopes of Jacobitism. And if not, as the author believes, it must be asked how subsequent attempts were made to secure that settlement and what circumstances necessitated such measures. One of the most important events of 1702 occured when Louis XIV, despite his former recognition of William III as the lawful King of England in the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, proclaimed James II's son 'King James III'. This single action was enough for England to declare war on France, although the Spanish succession has been a sounding issue among the major sovereigns of Europe since 1701. Just before the War of Spanish Succession broke out, the English Parliament decided at last to take positive steps to reject any implications of Jacobitism as illegal : first, dealing with foreign allies by proposing a Commons' Resolution requiring an additional clause in some treatises of alliance ; and next, dealing with the English people themselves with two resolute pieces of legislation -the Bill of Attainder for the Old Pretender and the Abjuration Oath demanding that they 'renounce, refuse and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him'. These events make clear that Jacobitism was regarded in much the same way as Louis XIV's intervention in determining the English throne and therefore in the Revolution Settlement itself, and explain why Jacobitism posed a serious threat in that critical year of 1702. The fact that admittedly not all M.P.s were ready to abjure allegiance to the Pretender is another testimony concerning the extent to which the Revolution Settlement was established, or was expected to be established, during the thirteen years of William III's reign.