The formation of such a constitutional and Protestant power as this in Great Britain, and the fact that it not merely supported, but actually led the attempt to drive back and repress the dominant European power,–this it is that has given their special character to modern times.

At the very centre of the Catholic world, men oppressed by the ecclesiastical and temporal pretensions of Louis XIV welcomed at first with satisfaction the rise of William III. The Spanish-Imperial party in the Roman Curia only expressed its regret that the Pope did not enter into closer relations with him. People were amazed to see how he never abandoned his aim, but when driven back always pressed forward again, and so reached his goal: after the taking of Namur he was regarded as the great man of the century, before whom the glory of Louis XIV was destined to pale; a hero whose like could only be found in the records of antiquity. Yet at this very moment the fear of him had sprung up–a fear directly connected with the idea that Louis XIV would have to make up his mind to a peace, in which he must abandon the cause of James II. Innocent XII protested that he would never acknowledge such a peace, yet that he would scarcely be able to prevent it; that no Catholic power would listen to him, Pope though he was; that the Prince of Orange was the arbiter, lord, and master of Europe; that the Imperialists arid Spaniards were not merely his subjects, they were his slaves, and ever afraid of offending him.