aid, Prince Charles
embarked when he was a little over twenty years of age, we must
premise that Frederic, the German prince who married Charles's sister
Elizabeth some years before, was the ruler of a country in Germany
called the Palatinate. It was on the banks of the Rhine. Frederic's
title, as ruler of this country, was Elector Palatine. There are a
great many independent states in Germany, whose sovereigns have
various titles, and are possessed of various prerogatives and powers.

Now it happened that, at this time, very fierce civil wars were raging
between the Catholics and the Protestants in Germany. Frederic got
drawn into these wars on the Protestant side. His motive was not any
desire to promote the progress of what he considered the true faith,
but only a wish to extend his own dominions, and add to his own
power, for he had been promised a kingdom, in addition to his
Palatinate, if he would assist the people of the kingdom to gain the
victory over their Catholic foes. He embarked in this enterprise
without consulting with James, his father-in-law, knowing that he
would probably disapprove of such dangerous ambition. James was, in
fact, very sorry afterward to hear of Frederic's having engaged in
such a contest.

The result was quite as disastrous as James feared. Frederic not only
failed of getting his new kingdom, but he provoked the rage of the
Catholic powers against whom he had undertaken to contend, and they
poured a great army into his own original territory, and made an easy
conquest of it. Frederic fled to Holland, and remained there a
fugitive and an exile, hoping to obtain help in some way from James,
in his efforts to recover his lost dominions.

The people of England felt a great interest in Frederic's unhappy
fate, and were very desirous that James should raise an army and give
him some efficient assistance. One reason for this was that they were
Protestants, and they were always ready to embark, on the Protestant
side, in the Continental quarrels. Another reason was their interest
in Elizabeth, the wife of Frederic, who had so recently left England a
blooming bride, and whom they still considered as in some sense
pertaining to the royal family of England, and as having a right to
look to all her father's subjects for protection.

But King James himself had no inclination to go to war in such a
quarrel. He was inactive in mind, and childish, and he had little
taste for warlike enterprises.