Struggle in England between King and Parliament 361 to conform to the Church of England into a single class, still known today as Dissenters. It included the Independents, the Presbyterians, and the newer bodies of the Baptists and the So- ciety of Friends (commonly known as Quakers). These sects had no desire to control the religion or politics of the country and asked only that they might be permitted to worship in their own way outside of the English Church. 617. Toleration Favored by the King ; Opposed by Parlia- ment. The king, in spite of his dissolute habits, was inclined to be tolerant toward differences in religious beliefs and had secret leanings toward Catholicism. But his efforts to secure religious liberty for- Catholics and Dissenters only aroused Parliament to pass harsher measures, for fear the king might once more restore "popery" in the realm. The law excluding all but adherents of the English Church from office remained in force down into the nineteenth century. 618. War with Holland. Charles II, who was earnestly de- sirous of increasing English commerce and of founding new colonies, renewed a struggle with the Dutch which had begun under Cromwell. This war aimed to destroy Holland's shipping and thereby increase the trade of England. The two nations were very evenly matched on the sea, but in 1664 the English seized some of the West Indian Islands from the Dutch. And what was of much greater importance, the English captured the Dutch settlement on Manhattan Island, which was renamed New York in honor of the king's brother, the Duke of York. In 1667 a treaty was signed by England and Holland which confirmed these conquests. IV. THE REVOLUTION OF 1688 619. James II (isss-iess). Upon Charles IPs death he was succeeded by his brother, James II, who was an avowed Catho- lic and had married, as his second wife, Mary of Modena, who was also a Catholic. He was a far more religious man than the late king and was ready to reestablish Catholicism in England
