the 22nd of January of 1689 he summoned
Parliament. On the 13th of February of the same year he and his wife
Mary were proclaimed joint sovereigns of England and the country was
saved for the Protestant cause.

Parliament, having undertaken to be something more than a mere advisory
body to the King, made the best of its opportunities. The old Petition
of Rights of the year 1628 was fished out of a forgotten nook of the
archives. A second and more drastic Bill of Rights demanded that the
sovereign of England should belong to the Anglican church. Furthermore
it stated that the king had no right to suspend the laws or permit
certain privileged citizens to disobey certain laws. It stipulated that
"without consent of Parliament no taxes could be levied and no army
could be maintained." Thus in the year 1689 did England acquire an
amount of liberty unknown in any other country of Europe.

But it is not only on account of this great liberal measure that the
rule of William in England is still remembered. During his lifetime,
government by a "responsible" ministry first developed. No king of
course can rule alone. He needs a few trusted advisors. The Tudors had
their Great Council which was composed of Nobles and Clergy. This body
grew too large. It was restricted to the small "Privy Council." In the
course of time it became the custom of these councillors to meet the
king in a cabinet in the palace. Hence they were called the "Cabinet
Council." After a short while they were known as the "Cabinet."

William, like most English sovereigns before him, had chosen his
advisors from among all parties. But with the increased strength of
Parliament, he had found it impossible to direct the politics of the
country with the help of the Tories while the Whigs had a majority in
the house of Commons. Therefore the Tories had been dismissed and the
Cabinet Council had been composed entirely of Whigs. A few years later
when the Whigs lost their power in the House of Commons, the king, for
the sake of convenience, was obliged to look for his support among the
leading Tories. Until his death in 1702, William was too busy fighting
Louis of France to bother much about the government of England.
Practically all important affairs had been left to his Cabinet Council.
When William's sister-in-law, Anne, succeeded him in 1702 this condition
of affairs continued. When she died in 1714 (and unfortunately not a
single one of her seventeen children su