The part played by the Royal Navy in the Revolution of 1688 was obviously important; but no proper investigation of the subject has been made by students of Naval History. It is hoped that this full presentation of the facts and the findings here reached will be of value. Wrong notions of the preparations of James II and the Secretary Pepys should not prevail; the recognition of the professional merits of Admiral Lord Dartmouth is overdue; historians and their readers must grow accustomed to think of the invasion of William of Orange as a colossal gamble—for such it was. Incidentally it may be remarked that some of the circumstances of the surrender of the English fleet to William are quite picturesque; and certain of the details of the frustration of James's attempt to spirit the baby Prince of Wales out of Portsmouth into France are amusing. A curious unsolved problem emerges in connection with James's own flight in France.

An exhaustive search of the English authorities has been made. Most of the materials on the Dutch side perished, some years since, by fire at the Hague. Happily the historian de Jonge had already studied them; and his work has availed, with other accessible data, to check and supplement, as far as necessary, the story revealed by the English sources. James II received information from, but refused the assistance of, Louis XIV, during the crisis. It is believed that the essential facts of the correspondence between the French and English courts have been gathered from D'Avaux, Mazure and Ranke into this narrative.