"To have been a Sovereign, yet the champion of liberty,—a revolutionary leader, yet the supporter of social order, is the peculiar glory of William. Till his accession the British Constitution was in its Chaos. It had contained, from a very remote period, the simple elements of an harmonious government. But they were in a state not of amalgamation, but of conflict,—not of equilibrium but of alternate elevation and depression. The tyranny of Charles the first produced civil war and anarchy. Tyranny had now again produced resistance and revolution. And, but for the wisdom of the new King, it seems probable that the same cycle of misery would have been again described."
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Anglicans from the United KingdomMonarchs from EnglandMonarchs from ScotlandPeople from The HagueMonarchs from the Netherlands
Original Language: English
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Thomas Babington Macaulay, 'Essay on the Life and Character of King William III' (1822), written for the Greaves Historical Prize at Cambridge, quoted in The Times Literary Supplement (1 May 1969), p. 469
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_III_of_England
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William III of England
1650 – 1702
William III of England (14 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William II of Scotland and William of Orange, was a Dutch aristocrat and the Prince of Orange from his birth, King of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689, and King of Scotland from 11 April 1689, in each case until his death.
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