He knew its actual depressed condition; and the measures he at once took to restore it, both in numbers and efficiency, were thoughtful and thorough.

In the three years of his reign very much indeed was done to prepare a weapon which was first proved against himself and his best friend.
The accession of James II., which promised fairly for Louis, precipitated the action of Europe against him.

The House of Stuart, closely allied to the King of France, and sympathizing with his absolutist rule, had used the still great power of the sovereign to check the political and religious enmity of the English nation to France.

James II.

added to the same political sympathies a strength of Roman Catholic fervor which led him into acts peculiarly fitted to revolt the feeling of the English people, with the final result of driving him from the throne, and calling to it, by the voice of Parliament, his daughter Mary, whose husband was William of Orange.
In the same year that James became king, a vast diplomatic combination against France began.