MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 93-81262 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded bv the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. A UTHOR: ROWLEY, JAMES TITLE: THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION... PLACE: LONDON DA TE: 1877 COLUMBIA UNIVEI^ITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIDLIOCRArillC MICROrORM TAR^FT Master Negative tt Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record '942.068 R79 Rowley, James, m. a. ... The sottleiiic'ut of the coiLstitution. 1689-1784 P.^ •^^,««^^l7-- With four maps. Ne^^' York Harper .^pr^lS^S. London, Lon^.ns. 1B77. ' ""^^P^"^ f?t-lW p. ,ncl. 4 n„ps. 13"». (Epochs of 'English history. ,y. 6,) HarpcFVJi aU - hour c c ries. Restrictions on Use: 1. Cl Bi;:.-Hi3t.— 18th cent. i. Title. Library of ConRrcss ( DA32.E64 vol.6 ia23fli 3—29740 REDUCTION RATIO: /^-^ TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA FILM SlZE:_____^_S_/^(^^^__ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA . IIA ID IID DATE FILMED: MTzZ-- INITIALS /.. 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J ^^?» MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 93-81262 MICROFILMED 1993 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or other reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. A UTHOR: ROWLEY, JAMES TITLE: THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION... PLACE: LONDON DA TE: 1877 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTKIENT Master Negative # DII3LI0CRAPHIC MICROFORM TARfiRT Original Material as I-iliued - Existing Bibliographic Record "942. 0G8 R79 I f f i Rowley, James, m. a. ... Tlio sottleiMciit of the coii.stitutioii. 1689-1784 Bv James Eowloy ... With four maps. Ne^v- York Earner &>othersy-1878. Lon«)iri^,\VOOl)H AXU CO.. XE\V-STUi;i.l sQLAUt an:) PAKLIAMKST hTUKKT SETTLEMENT OF THE I CONSTITUTION 1689-1784 BY JAMES ROWLEY, M.A. PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY AND LITERATURE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BRISTOL /^ r WITH FOUR MAPS "^^'^K. / untuKtnMm ,y y LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. I !l 1877 All rights reserved CONTENTS. Introduction PAGE I BOOK I. THE KKVOLUTION SKTTLEMF.yT (1689-1701). CHAPTER I. England and the Revolution .... II. Scotland and the Revolution .... III. Ireland and the Revolution .... IV. The Williamite War with France .... V. William III. and his Parliaments 2 7 12 16 20 \ w^ ROOK II. THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (I702-I713). I. The causes of the War • • II. The War itself III. Constitutional History during the War .... IV. The Tory Ministry and the Peace of Utrecht BOOK III. ENGLAND UNDER THE RULE OF THE GREAT FAMILIES (1714-1756). I. The First Years of the House of Hanover II. The Ministry of Sir Robert Walpole .... III. The Pelhams ..,•■• 31 38 43 47 53 61 ■4. VI Contents. BOOK IV. THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR (l7c6-I76q) CHAPTER ^ ' -^ / O/- I. How the War was brought about II. The events of the Seven Years' War III. The Rise of the English Power in India BOOK V. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE KING AND THl WHIG HOUSES (1762-1784). I. First Ten Years of George III.'s Reign II. George III. and Lord North PAGE 68 72 79 INDEX OF PERSONS INDEX OF PLACES 86 92 103 107 MAPS. 1. The Low Countries, and neighbouring lands 2. Scotland and North of England . 3. North America and West Indies 4. The East Indies . . . , 36 66 75 95 s in S ^§ I O > tJO.H fin's «£ H II — ^-* u "I rt •a O u 2o II — a o ■j: I ■o- Ed NO (N CO U -<- X u Po II ^ 6 c '^ la so 0) M _ c/: - ^ °-« 3 00 00 NO M I in 00 VO II u- ^° c p «-• « << -a >vO W " (2h c,vo a -O OS o a in £ rt 1 M O 75 en a) 2 .Si >— I 0\~ l-H NO (A '^ vo~ il rt /; ocr; a " • pi>4 u 0) U 00 4> .,' o N CO M I 1^ a -0_ c a O o -S3 5 ro 00 M 00 4> M — I— I u r^c . 00 Q -joo 4i2 w La 4> h— o 00 ^ J, "5 O w N 11 CO — 4) o THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION, -•o»- INTRODUCTION. V The chief aim of this little book is to show the following things : — 1. How the Revolution of 1688 made the House of Commons the strongest thing in the State. 2. How England engaged in a long and costly war with France, the greatest nation in Europe at that time, because the French king thought fit to meddle in her affairs, and how she won much fame and new lands thereby. 3. How a new line of kings was set on the throne ; and how, during the reigns of the first two o these kings, the great families among the English nobility took to themselves the foremost place in ruling the country. 4. How the rule of the great families broke down at a time when England was called upon to put forth all her strength ; and how the task of guiding the country through its troubles was given to a man of surpassing genius, who raised it to a height of greatness such as it had never before reached. E.H, r: ^ r Settlement of the Constitution. 1689. 5. How a king came to the throne, who strove with all his might to beat down the strength of the great families, and win for himself some of the power which his forefathers had held ; and how, after a hard fight, he gained his object. BOOK I. THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT CHAPTER I. ENGLAND AND THE REVOLUTION. I. In February 1689 the Lords and Commons asked William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, to William, King, 1689-1702 become King and Queen of England. Mary, Queen, 1689- 1694. William and Alary agreed to do so ; and at once the new order of things which is called the '■ Revolution settlement,' began. 2. Though a good many changes in our rulers and ways of ruling have been brought about by force, the change made at this time is the only one ' Revoiu- ^° which the name ' Revolution ' has been tion ' not a given. Yet it is not a good name. For the fo°r°the"change change, though it led to great things in later of 1688-9 times, w^as not itself a great one. The laws which were in force under William and Mary were not very different from those which ought to have been in force under James II. The rights of the people were much the same. The Declaration of Rights made nothing law that had not been law before. It only stated clearly, so that henceforth there could be no mis- tak about them, what the rights of the people were. !' 1689. England and the Revolution. 3 3. Yet the nation gained a good deal by the Revolu- tion, ^i) There was no longer as much quarrelling be- tween the king and the Parhament as there what the had been. Parliament now got the masterv Revolution in the State ; from this time it grew ever Engbnd. stronger, and the king ever weaker, until the king could do nothing which the Parliament disliked, and the Parliament could force the king to do anything it pleased. (2) The House of Commons became much more powerful than the House of Lords. All the money that was wanted for keeping up an army and a navy, or for any other public purpose, had first to be voted by the Commons. Thus the Commons were able henceforth to get anything thev greatly wished to have ; for, if the king or the Lords were unwilling to assent to what they asked, they had only to refuse to vote the taxes, and the king and the Lords had to assent. It is true that the king might still choose his ministers ; but, if most of the Commons did not like a minister, they could make the king send him away. Hence the king had to put into offices of State such men as the Commons wished to see there. (3) Though the laws were much the same, the way in which they were put in force was difTerent. Parliament made a law that the judges should stay in their offices so long as they gave just judgement. Before this the king could make and unmake judges as he pleased, and so they had been too careful to do his will. 4. The parliament which gave the throne to William and Mary had not been called by a king, and was there- fore supposed not to be a true parliament, able to pass laws binding on the people. It was only named a convention. But it was thought dangerous to have a new parliament chosen while men's minds were unsettled ; and accordingly it changed itself from a convention to a parlia- E 2 The Con- vention made a Parliament. February, 1689. .,-.*. 4 Settlement of the Cojistitittion. 1689. ment. It lasted a year longer, and did many things of great importance. 5. The men who had been most helpful in bringing about the late changes did not all belong to one party ; William's some were Whigs, some were Tories. William first therefore wished to show no liking for W^higs more than for Tories, and took as his ministers men of all parties. Chief among these were the Earls of Danby, Nottingham, and Shrewsbury\ This plan, how- ever, did not work well ; and afterwards William had to choose his ministers almost all from the same party ; the Commons would not let him do anything else. Moreover the men who had been most helpful in bring- ing about the late changes were not all of the same way of thinking in religion ; many of them belonged to the Church of England ; many were Dissenters. It seemed, therefore, a fitting time to grant the Dissenters some relief from the harsh laws passed against them in Charles II.'s reign. Protestant Dissenters, save those who denied the Trinity, were no longer forbidden to have tion Act, places of worship and services of their own, Apnl, 1689. jf ^j^gy would only swear to be loyal to the king, and that his power was as lawful in Church as in State matters. The law that gave them this is called the Toleration Act. Men's notions were still, however, very narrow ; care was taken that the Roman Catholics should get no benefit from this law. Even a Protestant Dissenter might not yet lawfully be a member of either House of Parliament, or take a post in the king's service ; for the Test Acts ^ were left untouched. 6. King William, who was a Presbyterian in his own The Com- land, wanted very much to see the Dissenters sctem^"^ won back to the Church of England. To tSSq. bring this about, he wished the Church to alter those things in the Prayer Book which kept Dis- 1 See Epoch V., pp. 64, 68. 1689. Enoland and the Revolution. 5 A* 9* f senters from joining with her. But most of the clergy would not have any change ; and because ^these were the stronger party in Convocation — as the Parliament of the Church is called — William could get nothing done. At the same time a rent, which at first seemed likely to be serious, was made in the Church itself There was a strong feeling among the clergy in favour of jj^g j^q„. the banished king. So a law was made by jurors, 1689. which every man who held any preferment in the Church, or either of the Universities, had to swear to be true to King William and Queen Mary, or had to give up his preferment. Most of the clergy were very unwilling to obey this law ; but only 400 were found stout-hearted enough to give up their livings rather than do what they thought to be a wicked thing. These were called nou- JurorSj or men who would not swear. Among ihem were five out of the seven Bishops who had withstood James II. only a year before. The sect of non-jurors, who looked upon themselves as the only true Churchmen, did not spread. But it did not die out altogether until seventy years ago. 7. It was at this time that the names High-Church and Low-Church first came into use. The parties so called were of much the same way of thinking as High- Churchmen and Low-Churchmen are now. Another new name, which we shall meet very often, is also now first found in our history. Those who ites, 1689- wished to bring back James 11. were known ^^^' as yacobites (from Jacobus^ the Latin word for James) just as those who held to William were known as Wil- liamites. The Jacobite party were never strong enough to rise in arms during this reign ; but it was very rest- less, made many plots, and gave a good deal of trouble to the Government. Its great longing was to overthrow William by getting Lewis of France to send an army to 6 Settlement of the Constitution. 1689-90. England. The English never cared much for William. He was a stranger ; his temper was gloomy ; he was Characters ^^^^ ^"^ distant with all save his old and of William tried friends ; and he took no pains to win the and Mary. i r ^i i love ot those who came near him. Mary's character was different ; she was frank, cheerful, and gay ; and her sweetness of temper and grace of manner did more at first to strengthen the new order of things than all her husband's wisdom and valour. But there was a good deal of mismanagement and wicked dealing among William's ministers at this time ; some men in office thought the new king and queen would soon be Unpopu- driven out of the kingdom, and eagerly filled wmTam's t^^^^ pockets out of the king's treasurv rule at first, whilst they had the chance. In this way the Government fell into disfavour with the people ; the Jacobites became every day stronger ; and before a year was over it seemed as if the Revolution Settlement would soon be all unsettled again by a second restoration of the Stuarts. 8. Moreover, William was himself ill at ease in England. His Whig ministers quarrelled with his Tory William's ministers ; Parliament would not give him the dissatisfac- revenue which had been given to James H. • it would not settle the Crown, as William wished, on the Electress Sophia of Hanover in case he and Mary died childless. Nor would it agree to an Act for granting a full pardon to the agents of tyranny in the late reigns unless a great many men were shut out from its benefits. Early in 1690 the king is said to Revolution have thought of going back to Holland so d^iSdvTd"' little did he like the way the English were 1690. treating him. However this may be, he deemed it impossible for him to get on with the Parlia- ment that then was ; therefore he put an end to it, and h iU 1689-90. England ajid the Revolution, j called a new one, which he hoped would be easier to deal with. 9. But before this, two laws of great importance had been passed— the Mutiny Bill and the Bill of Rights. The Mutiny Bill gave the king power to put The Mutiny to death any soldier who deserted his ^^^^' ^^^9- colours or mutinied against his officers. At first it was very short, and was to have force for six months only ; but it has since grown into a kind of military code, and is passed from year to year. It has thus become a means of forcing the king to bring together Parliament every year. The Bill of Rights is little more than the The Bill of Declaration of Rights ^ turned into a regular Rights, 1689. law. There are two things, however, in it which are not in the Declaration : (i) it makes it impossible foi any King or Queen of England to be a Roman Catholic ; and (2) it settles that the Crown has no power of setting ^ aside a law in any case whatever. The Declaration had only said that the way in which James had used such a power was unlawful. But bitter foes rose up against the new settlement in Scotland, Ireland, and France. CHAPTER II. SCOTLAND AND THE REVOLUTION. I. In 1688-9 Scotland and England were still separate kingdoms. The only bond of union between them was that the king of one country was also kin? of , , - , - _ England the Other. It was not therefore a matter of and Scotland course that when James II. ceased to be ^" ^^^9- King of England, and William and Mary were given his place in England, he should cease to be King of Scot- 1 See Epoch V., p. 79. 2 Ibid. p. -j^. 8 Settlement of the Constitution. 1689. land also, and William and Mary be given his place in Scotland. It was for the Scottish people to decide whether they would follow the lead of England. But the bulk of the Scottish people were only too glad to get rid of the Stuarts. The Stuarts had tried to root out the Presbyterian religion, and had set up among them a Church which most Scotsmen disliked and many hated. In other ways, too, the later Stuart kings had The Scots deeply wronged the worthiest of their Scot- jamefiLf ^^^^ subjccts ; they had caused oppressive 1688. laws to be made, and had dealt harshly with those whom they disliked or feared. As soon, therefore, as the Scots heard of the overthrow of James II.'s rule in England, they took up arms and frightened the Scot- tish Council into changing sides. Then many Scottish noblemen and gentlemen, who chanced to be in London, Scottish ^""^^^ together and asked William to assemble Convention a Convention of the Scottish Estates, and meets . March, take upon himself the rule of the country in 1689. ^j^g meantime. William did both the things they asked ; and in March 1689 the Scottish Convention came together in Edinburgh. 2. James had still some friends left him in Scotland. Chief among these was John Graham of Claverhouse, ^ , ^ now Viscount Dundee, who worked hard to Graham of • i ^ Claver- make a party m the Convention m favour of °"^^' his old master. When he failed he rode away with fifty horsemen to his castle in Angus. The Estates at once went swiftly to work. They voted that James, by his acts of injustice and tyranny, had fore- faulted {foj-feited) the throne, and was no longer king, and agreed to ask William and Mary to become King and Queen of Scot- land. They also drew up a statement of the people's rights, which they called the Claim of Right, and William and Mary- chosen King and Queen of Scotland, 1689. 1689. Scotland and the Revolution, told the men whom they sent to offer the crown to William and Mary to take care that the new king and queen should promise to abide by this claim as long as they reigned. Tliis paper said that prelacy, or the rule of the Church by bishops, was unbearable, and ought to be done away with. In May the Scottish crown was offered to William and Mary on these terms. They agreed to them, and took the oath in the form which the Estates had approved of Thus a king and a queen who had no other title to rule save what Parliament could give them were set up in Scotland as well as in England. 3. There were still Scotsmen who thought that the Estates had been over-hasty in what they had done ; and there were others who felt that James was still ^he High- their lawful king, and that they were bound to landers. fight for him at all risks. Most of the chieftains of the Highland clans were of this way of thinking ; and these men were able to do much mischief, for their clans- men were sure to follow them in any cause with dog-like fidelity. The Highlanders were a daring race, fond of fighting, often at war among themselves, and had usages and laws of their own. Many Highland chieftains now saw reason to take up arms for James ; and a war broke out which lasted for almost a year. It is true that the largest clan, the Campbells, whose chief was the Earl of out in Scot- Argyle, was loyal to William ; but most of ^^"'^' ^^^9- the other clans hated Argyle and looked upon his friends as their foes. As soon, then, as Dundee came into their country they at once gathered round him. He was just the man to lead them, being fearless and skilful, fiery in onset and wary ; and he was willing to let them deal with their foes their own way. In May 1689 some thou- sands of armed Highlanders came together in Lochaber ; Dundee put himself at their head, and civil war began. lO Settlement of the Constitution. 1689-90. 4. To make head against this danger General Hugh Mackay was sent from Edinburgh with a few thousand Battle of soldiers. For a time nothing was done ; but hankie ^^^^ ^^ J^^^ Mackay led his army through the July, 1689. wild pass of Killiecrankie. He was making for the Castle of Blair in Athol, which had fallen into Dundee's hands. But Dundee was too quick for him ; Mackay's men had just reached the head of the pass, when, in the dusk of the evening, the Highland army came down upon them. There were only 2,000 High- landers against 4,000 trained soldiers ; yet so mighty was their rush that in a few minutes Mackay's army was broken in pieces. But a chance bullet smote down Dundee, and the cause of James gained nothing by the victory. Less than a month later the shame of Killiecrankie was wiped away by the heroic defence of Dunkeld. A Defence of short time before, the Government had raised Au"ust^' a regiment from ' the wild western Whigs,' 1689. ' who were such fierce Covenanters that many of them thought it sinful to fight for William, for in England William still upheld the bishops. This regiment was called ' Cameronian,' from Richard Cameron, a preacher who had been killed in the evil days. Sent as a garrison to Dunkeld, they held the cathe- dral of that place for four hours of the night against 5,000 Highlanders, whom they beat off at last. But their com- mander, William Cleland, a very brave man, was killed. Next year the last remnant of the Highland army was caught sleeping, as it lay in Cromdale on the Spey, by a force sent from Inverness, and was easily wafend^, routed. This affair may be said to have ended 1690. ^j^g ^y^j. jj^ ^^ Highlands. Forts were built to keep the clans in awe. Of these the strongest was Fort William in the west, named after the king. ..'^ 1690-92. Scotland and the Rcvolutiofi. 1 1 5. Yet the clans which had taken part in the war still held aloof from the new Government ; and William found that other means than war was needed to bring them to put themselves under his rule. He sent money to be divideci among their chiefs, and let it be made known, at the same time, that he was ready to forgive all who would swear, before January i, 1692, to be foyal to him for the future. When that day came, it turned out that all had sworn but the Macdonalds of Glencoe. Their chief, Maclan, had put off taking the Massacre of oath until the latest day, and then, finding Glencoe. no one at Fort William who could lawfully 1692'^"'''^' give it to him, had to travel to Inverary in search of some one who could. Thus it happened that Maclan was not sworn until six days after the time fixed. Sir John Dalrymple, William's chief man in Scotland, wish- ing to strike a great fear into the Highlanders, whose lawless habits he hated, did not tell the king that Mac- Ian had come in at last, and got William to sign a warrant giving his Scottish ministers power to root out ' that sect {set) of thieves,' the men of Glencoe. Accordingly, in February 1692, a band of soldiers, led by Captain Camp- bell of Glenlyon, marched to Glencoe, and after having lived as guests among the Macdonalds for twelve days, fell upon their hosts before dawn one morning and shot down thirty of them. The rest of the tribe, hearing the peals of musketry, rushed out of their homes into the surrounding mountains, then deep with snow. It is thought that thirty more afterwards died of cold and hunger. It was a frightful deed, and William has been greatly blamed for it ; but it is hard to think that he looked forward to such a thing being done when he put his name to the warrant. Still when, some years later, the Scottish Parhament dragged the horrible thing to light, William did not punish as they deserved the men 12 Settlement of the Constitution. ,688-9. who were chiefly guilty ; the worst of them, Dalrymple he only sent away from his service. ^ ' 6. In the meantime the Presbyterian form of Church C™h\he'' '"","' "' ''''" '" Scotland and henceforth there was less religious strife than before The e„„,3 ,,.higs of the west were indeed angry becauTe the Covenant was not also set up again, but the bulk of the people were satisfied. CHAPTER III. IREL.4ND AND THE REVOLUTION. what' tTf 1.°','°°,'' "" "^""^ '^"^^'■^"' '"■■" '" I^^'and from what they had taken m Scotland. In that country the Revolution led to a long and deadly war, in which neariy Eng^sh. '' '" '^ ^""'l"^^^^ °^^^ ^S-" by the Ireland, like Scotland, was in 1688 a separate kin<.- dom with a Parliament of its own. But, unlike Scotland, It was not free to act for itself; its Parliament could no do what It pleased, as the Scottish Parliament could ■ it was generally believed in England that Ireland ^as ?rUh"str "°*'."S but an English colony, and that with James, "illiam and Mary became its king and .688-9X. queen when they were chosen to the English Most of the Irish people, however, wanted to keep James II. as their king, because he had the same faith as hemselves. But the English settlers, who were Protestants were afraid of being massacred, or at least of losmg their lands and powder in the country, if the native Irish got the upper hand. Most of these there- fore, would have no king but William, and taking up 1689. Ireland and the Revolution: \ T i \ 13 arms, tried to hold out against Tyrconnel, James's deputy, until help should come to them from England. They were not very successful at first, and in the The English beginning of 1689 had only two strong places se"iers side in their hands— Londonderry and Enniskillen. William. 2. In March 1689 James came to Ireland from France, and set about bringing the whole land under his rule. He called a parliament to meet him at Dublin, and then went north to join his army /oTeland,'^ which was marching to besiege Londonderry. '^^9- In this city were gathered many thousands of the English settlers who had fled from their homes through fear of the Irish. They were bent on resisting to the last, and would not listen to James, who offered to for- give them if they would yield at once. Thereupon James went back to Dublin ; and the siege of London- derry began. This siege lasted for more than three months. Some people look upon it as the greatest siege in British history. At first the Irish sought to batter dowTi the town with cannon ; but the men London- inside had made up their minds to bear any- ^^""y* ^^^9- thing rather than give way. Then Richard Hamilton, the Irish general, tried to take the place by storm ; but the men of Derry fought well, and Hamilton had to call back his soldiers. The Irish then waited quietly until want of food should force the townsmen to give in. At length, when all seemed over, three ships, sent from England, made their way up the river Foyle, on which the town is built, in spite of the Irish, and brought food to the starving people. Then the besiegers lost heart and marched away. About the Aulust!*^^^' same time not only was Enniskillen relieved, '^^9- but its defenders attacked a large body of Irish horse near Newtonbutler, and put them to flight. 14 Settlement of the ConstitiUion. 1689-90. 1690-91. Ireland and the Revolution. IS 3. The war had now become one of races and reh- gions. Nearly all the Protestants distrusted James, and held to William ; and the Irish longed only to drive the Enghsh from the land, and get it to themselves. They did not care for James because he was their rightful king, Doings of but they fought for him because he was a Pariil^ent, RoHian Catholic, and because they hoped he 1689. would give them the mastery of the country. It was patriotism, not loyalty, which made them join James. When Parliament met, it passed a bill for doing away with an Act of Settlement made in 1663, that is, for taking away from most of the English settlers the lands which that Act had secured to them. A cruel Bill of Attainder was also carried, by which 2,500 persons, whose names were given, were ordered to deliver them- selves up before a certain day, on pain of losing their lands and being put to death without trial. James did not hke either of these bills ; but through fear of dis- pleasing the Irish he agreed to them both. This did him much harm in England. 4. Next year, 1690, William himself came to Ireland. Landing at Carrickfergus, he at once pushed towards William Dublin with 30,000 troops, many of whom were irefand" French Protestants, Germans, and Darfes. June, 1690. During the winter King Lewis XIV. of France had sent 7,000 French soldiers to aid James ; yet James did not feel himself strong enough to meet his son-in-law in the open field. He therefore posted his army, in number about 30,000, on the right bank of the Boyne, near Drogheda, and there awaited William's coming. But William, on reaching the place, sent a force to cross T5 ..T r I. the river six miles higher up. WHien James, Battle of the ...... ° ^ -' ' Boyne, fearmg that his retreat to Dublin might be July, 1690. ^^^j. ^^^ hurried with his French soldiers to meet this force, William led his main body across the river in front. The Irish horse fought well, the Irish foot badly, and William won the day. James fled back to France ; and William soon entered Dubhn, and put the power there into the hands of the Protestants.' Then, after taking several other strong places, he led his men to Limerick, which he thought he could take very easily, and so end the war. But there was a valiant Irish general inside the city, Patrick Sarsfield, who saved it for a time. Then William went back to England (September 1690). 5. In June 1691 William's general, Ginkell, a Dutch- man, renewed the war by taking Athlone before the eyes of the enemy. Then following the retreating Irish he came up with them at Aughrim. Aughrim, Here took place the last pitched battle of this J^'^' ^^^i- war. The Irish were strongly posted ; and for a time it seemed as if they were going to win. But their general, St. Ruth, got killed by a cannon-ball ; one last fierce onset was made by Ginkell's men ; and the disheartened Irish broke and fled. In another month Ginkell was before Limerick, the last refuge of the native race. There was little hope of their being able to beat back their foes this time. A treaty was made in which the victors pledged themselves to let Limenck, the Irish worship God in their own way as ^^^• freely as they had done in Charles II. 's time, and to allow those soldiers of King James who had come from certain counties to keep the lands they had in the same king's reign. Many thousands of the Irish sailed away to France, where they entered the army of King Lewis. Ireland once more lay at the feet of the English. 6. The treaty of Limerick was not kept, though William was eager that it should be. The Irish Parlia- ment would not be bound by it, and made law after law to take away utterly from the natives everything they i6 Settlement of the Constitution. 1689. most valued. To Protestants only was given any power in the State ; and even those Protestants who dissented from the Church could not sit in Parliament or hold any place under the Crown. The law forbade Roman Catholics to send their children to schools of their own The Irish either at home or abroad, to buy lands, to vote penal laws. fQj- members of Parliament, to keep arms, to gain lands by marrying Protestant heiresses, or to inherit lands from Protestants. Roman Catholic bishops were to be banished from the country ; the priests then in Ireland were allowed to stay on giving in their names to the Government ; but care was to be taken that no others should come to the country. Every Roman Catholic was believed to be a rebel ; and Parliament wanted to make the whole Irish people Protestant. Thus the Revolution was far from being a blessing to the greater part of the Irish nation. CHAPTER IV. THE WILLIAMITE WAR WITH FRANCE. I. From the summer of 1689 to the summer of 1697, England was waging a fierce and costly war with Lewis XIV. of France. In this war the English ^^■Z^ spent more money and made greater efforts 1689-97- than in any previous one ; but they could not help engaging in it. It was part of the price they had to pay for getting rid of the Stuarts and making their freedom safe. In 1689 they had to choose between a war with France or taking back James as their king. From his youth up William had been the steady foe of the French king. Lewis XIV. was a very unpleasant neighbour ; he had a large and well-trained army, and r 1689. The Williamite War ivith France. 17 skilful generals, and often used his strength to seize lands and towns which belonged to Germany or Spain. •Once indeed (1672) he had sent an army into Holland ; and ever after William thought of hl S nothing so much as how to take away Lewis's ^^^^^ ^^^' strength from him. It was this deep feeling of dislike of Lewis, and dread that his power would do lasting harm to the other States of Europe, that made William wish to overthrow James II.'s rule in England. He knew that so long as James was king, England would not only take no part against Lewis, but might even help Lewis against William and his friends. He also knew that there was little chance of beating France in war if England stood apart. William was of course glad to be able to save English Protestantism and freedom ; but he wanted above all things to draw England into the Grand Alliance which Spain, Germany, and Holland had then formed against Lewis XIV. Lewis was well aware that this War with was William's aim ; he was afraid that, if \^\^^ England were added to the number of his ^lay, ^689. enemies, he might lose his lordly place in Europe. There- fore he determined to try and set James again on the English throne. Thus war with France came soon after the Revolution. 2. In this struggle England had many allies— the Empire, Spain, Brandenburg (the Prussia of our own times), and even Savoy. This array of States ^he Grand against France was called the Grand Alliance. Alliance. But France was then so mighty a power ; King Lewis had so many and such good soldiers, and such wise ministers and able generals, that William with all his allies was not able to do him nearly so much harm in this war as he had hoped. Indeed, most of the battles in it were won by the French. One thing very much strengthened Lewis against William— every army that E. //. c i8 Settlement of the Constitution. 1689-92. fought for him did what it was bid and at the time it was bid, whereas WiUiam could not always get the Spaniards or Germans to come to him just when he needed them. In this way Lewis was able to take for- tresses from William before the smaller armies that made up William's big army could be brought together. 3. For the first two years William was so busy in England and Ireland that he had to leave the fighting on the Continent to others. At first things went ill with the English. Men in office and men in command were sometimes careless, and did not do their duty. Even at Battle of sea the English were beaten. The day before p.eachy ^|-^g battle of the Boyne the English and Dutch June,' 1690. fleets under the Earl of Torrington were attacked by the French admiral, Tourville, off Beachy Head, and were forced to flee. 4. Two years later Lewis and James made a plan for landing an army in England, and beating down William Threatered in that way. They hoped that James's English invasion of friends would rise and join them, and that ^^t""^^ even the English fleet would not fight against them. They had indeed good cause to hope that this would be so, for some of William's own servants had written to James promising to help him. One of these was the chief admiral of the English fleet, Edward Russell, who had first asked William to come to England. We may be surprised to learn this, but great men in England were then very base. They thought only of themselves, and were ready to join one king or the other according as each seemed likely to prevail. In May 1692 all was ready ; 30,000 fighting men, mostly Irish, were encamped near La Hogue L^ Ho?ue. in Normandy, waiting to be carried over to May, 1692' England. Tourville then sailed out with his fleet to meet Russell. The English and Dutch at once 1692-97. The Williamite War with Pi-ance. 19 closed with him ; they had more ships than the French, who got beaten and made for the land. Next day the victors gave chase, and falling on the French ships burnt or sank sixteen of the biggest of them. For a time there was no more talk of invading England. 5 By land William was less prosperous. The year before he had lost Mons ; this year he lost Namur, and was defeated by the French general, Luxem- burg, in the hard-fought battle of Steinkirk. ISnkirk, But William was very skilful in contriving J"'^' ^^'^• that the loss of a battle should do the least possible harm to his army ; a few days after Steinkirk he had as strong a body of troops as before, and Luxemburg dared not try to follow up his victory. Next year William was again beaten. Luxemburg, with 80,000 men, caught him with only 50,000 near the little stream of Landen, and forced him to give battle. He stubbornly withstood the Landen,^ onsets of the French for a long time, but -^"^y* ^^93- had to yield ground at last. Again William soon filled up the gaps in his army, and the French gained little by their victory. 6. In 1695 the fortune of war changed. Both parties had been much weakened by the struggle, but England less than France. Death, too, had carried wiiiiam off Lewis's great general, Luxemburg. Ac- ^^^^^^s cordingly when William laid siege to Namur 1695. '^' the French were unable to drive him off, and William took the place. This retaking of Namur was the finest thing William ever did in war. It was also the last thing he did. For, though the war lingered a while longer, nothing worthy of mention was afterwards done in it. In September 1697 peace was made at Ryswick. By the treaty then made Lewis promised to give up helping James II. to get back to the English throne, c 2 20 Settlement of the Constitutiofu 1689. and also agreed to look upon William as the lawful King of England. It was not a peace for Englishmen to Ry'l.wlck, be proud of ; but at least it stopped a foreign 1697- king from trying to thrust back upon them a ruler whom most of them did not want. CHAPTER V. WILLIAM IIL AND HIS PARLIAMENTS. I. Ar no time did Parliament gain so much that it was able to keep lastingly, as in William III.'s reign. One little fact is enough to show what a firm hold upon power Parliament got by the Revolution. During the seven years that went before the meeting of the Con- vention only one Parliament was called, and that one was not allowed to sit for quite two months ; whilst Why Par- during the thirteen years that followed six liament Parliaments were chosen, and not a single stronger. year passcd without the Houses being brought together, sometimes twice. Many causes worked to- gether to make this change, (i) The Commons took care not to grant so much money to the king personally as had been granted to King James, and to make their grants for a short time only, not for the king's life, as formerly. (2) The king's wars were very costly, and he had to ask at least once a year for a great deal more money to keep up his army and navy. (3) Instead of giving these moneys in a lump, Parliament appropriated the supplies— that is, settled the way in which they were to be spent, setting apart so much for one thing, and so much for another. (4) The Mutiny Bill, without which the soldiers and sailors cculd not be made to obey their commanders, was passed for a short time only, and . 1689-90. William III. and his Parliaincnts. 21 Parliament had to be called together to renew it. (5) W^illiam had no right to be king save the right which Parliament had given him, and therefore could not afford to quarrel with it as the kings before him had done. 2. Things did not go on ver}' smoothly between William and his parliaments. Now and then a bad feeling sprang up between them, and led more than once to a serious misunderstanding. Throughout his reign the Commons were bent on making their power felt by the king and his ministers. They looked into all the busi- ness of the State, forced the king to do many things w^hich he disliked, made him alter things which he had already done, and weakened his power in many ways. William did not yield to the Commons without making a stiff fight. It seemed to him hard that he, who had done so much for the people's rights, should have so many of his own rights taken from him. He would not consent to some of the bills which Parliament passed to lessen his authority. Thus he would not wiiiiam consent to a law for making the judges inde- ^"^^ j°- . pendent of him ; or to a law for keeping place- power. vien (men who held places under the Crown) out of the House of Commons ; or to a law for putting an end to every Parliament three years after it had been first called — the Triennial Bill, as its name was. Yet he was made to give way on each of these at some time or other, for there was a hne which W^illiam dared not pass. He never fully understood the temper of the English, and did not always act wisely. He was never altogether liked by any class of his subjects. 3. His second Parliament did not cross him so much as his first had done. It gave him a fixed income of about 1,100,000/. a year, part of it for life, part for four years. It was also generous in voting taxes to enable him to second par- liament, 1690-95. The origin of the National Debt, 1693. 22 Settlement of the Constitution. 1690-94. put large armies in the field ; but in doing so was careful to see that the money raised was spent as it wished. William's Two of the plans it was persuaded to agree to are noteworthy. The Chancellor of the Ex- chequer of that time, Charles Montague, who became in later days Earl of Halifax, finding the debts of the State growing bigger and bigger from year to year, thought of having a standing debt, and laid the plan before the Commons. They agreed to it ; and in this way the National Debt began. This is unlike other debts in that its interest only need be paid. When William died the National Debt had grown to 16,000,000/. The other plan was that a }5ank should be founded, which was to have certain powers of dealing in money on condition of lending the Government 1,200,000/. This was the beginning of the Bank of England (1694). 4. WiUiam did not give his consent to all the laws that this Parliament passed. In 1693, ' The Bill for the frequent calling and meeting of Parliaments,' known as ^ . . , the Triennial 13ill, fell throuirh in this way ; Triennial . .' .*^ ji-j Bill passed, but m 1 694 it was agam passed and laid ^ ^'^' before the king. This time he agreed to it ; and henceforth until the reign of George I. no king could keep a Parliament longer than three years, no matter how- well pleased he was with it. A few days after this Bill became law, Mary the Queen qucen died of small-pox. She was a wise and Mary dies, amiable woman, much loved by her husband, JJecember, ' •' ' 1694. who was deeply grieved at her death. In- deed she was a great loss to him, for the English people had always a kindlier feeling for her than ever they had for her husband, and their love for her strengthened William's throne. 5. It is to this Parliament also that the Enghsh owe I 1 I 1 i 1694-96. William III, and his Parlialnents. 23 the freedom of their Press. In 1694, the law which had hitherto made it unlawful for writings to be printed un- less they had been read and approved of by the king's licenser came to an end. In 1695 the Commons would not let this law be renewed. After this time ^^^ p^^^^ any Englishman might print or get printed becomes . anything he pleased. But the Courts might ^^^' ^^^' still punish a man very severely if he printed anything which the judges thought to be a slander upon the Go- vernment, for, until 1792, the law of libel was very harsh. 6. With most of the four Parliaments that came after this one, William had a great deal of trouble. His ministers were not the same as at the beginning of his reign. Nottingham, and Danby were now gone, and their places had been given to Whigs. The wor- thiest of the Whigs was John Somers, Lord Keeper, who was the best lawyer then in England. But William had to change his ministers very often. The Commons would take a dislike to the highest among them, and would give the king no peace until he sent them away. The truth is that government by party was then just beginning. If most of the Commons were Whigs, they made Beginning the king choose his ministers from among goy^rn^" the Whigs ; if most were Tories, from ment. among the Tories. For the ministers could not get on, unless most of the Commons were ready to vote for what they wanted. 7. In 1696 the law ^for regulating trials in cases of treason ' was passed. Men charged with treason had hitherto little chance of being found not guilty, so much against them were the rules that the Courts of Law fol- lowed in trying them. They could not have skilled law- yers to defend them ; those who bore witness in their favour could not strengthen their witness with an oath. The Act of 1696 did away with these unfair rules. 24 Settlement of the Constitution. 1696-99. Henceforth men put on their trial for treason might have counsel to plead their cause, and were to have lists of the jurors and of the witnesses against Law of them given to them some days before the day ^^^* named for their trial. Moreover, two wit- nesses were henceforth needed to justify a jury in finding, the accused guilty. 8. The same year an association was made to pro- tect the life of King "William, like the one that was made Assassina- ^^ 15^4 to protect Elizabeth.^ Some wicked tion Plot men had bound themselves together to Association, murdcr the king near Turnham Green as he 1696. ^^.^g riding home from hunting. This plot was found out, and the chief men engaged in it were tried and put to death. Then the Lords and Commons, all but a very few, of their own free will signed a bond in which they pledged themselves to stand by William against James and James's friends, and if harm befell William, to take signal vengeance on his murderers. Their example was followed by the country at large, and hundreds of thousands put their names to the associa- tion. It was a grand outburst of loyalty, and made it clear that the vast bulk of the people were not Jacobites. 9. Yet for the rest of his life William had an uneasy- time in England. The Commons would have their own way in all things, caring little how much pain their doings gave to the king, (i) William knew that war with France must soon break out again, and wished a good part of the army to be kept up. But the Commons, especially the Tories, had a horror of standing armies, and voted that all the troops but 7,000 should be guards sent disbanded. They went further, and said that away, 1699. ^^ j,-^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^ |^^^j. ^^ Holland his Dutch 1 See Epoch IV., p. 72. 11 ! 1 699- 1 70 1 . William III. and his Parlialnents. 2 5 guards, who came with him to England, and for whom he had a strong liking. William's feelings were deeply hurt, and he made up his mind to leave the kingdom for ever ; but from this purpose he was turned aside by the wise words and firm conduct of Lord Somers, who was then Chancellor, and would not put the Great Seal to the paper in which William gave up the Crown. (2) In the same way William was forced by Parliament to take back the lands in Ireland which he had granted to some of his friends. These lands had belonged to Irishmen who had fought against the English and so had lost them at the end of the Irish war. From the first. Parliament thought that these lands should be sold to help to pay the costs of the war ; and William had once promised not to do anything with them without first telling Parliament. Yet he afterwards gave them to his generals and ministers. The man who got the largest share was a Dutch- ,v„- . ° ° William . man, Bentmck, Earl of Portland, WilHam's forced to closest friend for many years. The Commons hS'^ants were very angry, and in 1700 passed a bill for o^^^nds. taking back these lands ; and to make sure that the Lords and the king would not refuse the bill, they ' tacked ' it to a bill granting the king money, so as to make one law of the two things. The will of the Com- mons prevailed, such strength did ' the power of the purse ' give them. 10. William and Mary had no children ; and in 1700 the young Duke of Gloucester, the only child of Anne that lived beyond infancy, died. There was now no hope of there being anyone to inherit the crown by the Bill of Rights after the death of William and of Anne. In 1701, therefore. Parliament settled the crown on the Electress Sophia of Hanover, Settlement, and her heirs. Sophia was one of the children ^^oi. of that Elizabeth, daughter of James I., who in 161 3 had IS 26 Settlement of the Constitution. 1701. married* the Palsgrave Frederick. She was chosen to come after WiUiam and Anne because she was the nearest to the Stuart hne who was a Protestant. The law that did this is called the Act of Settlement ; it gives Queen Victoria her title to the throne. Parliament in passing it tried to make the nation's liberties still safer. It was now made impossible (i) for any foreigner to sit in Parliament or to hold an office under the Crown ; (2) for the king to go to war in defence of countries that did not belong to England, unless Parliament gave him leave ; or (3) to pardon anyone so that the Commons might not be able to impeach him. 11. One clause of this law brings before our minds a great change that had then taken place in the way of ruling the kingdom. By ancient usage the Privy Council was the body from which the king was bound to seek advice in matters of State ; but of later years the king had fallen into the habit of letting his leading ,^^^ ministers only into his secrets, and a body Cabinet much Smaller than the Privy Council, ^"^^^ ' called the Cabal or Cabinet, was gradually formed. But the Commons got uneasy about this new body ; it kept its doings carefully hid from every- one, and there was no means of finding out which of its members advised the king to any course which the Commons might think harmful to the country ; for the king's ministers had now come to be answerable to Par- liament for everything the king did. An attempt was made in this new bill to give back to the Privy Council all its old strength, and so check the growth of the Cabinet. But nothing came of it ; this part of the Act of Settlement was done away with in the next reign. 12. The Commons were growing more and more unruly, when suddenly a foolish step taken by King Lewis delivered William from them. In September 1701 * See Epoch V., p. 8. 1 701-2. William III. a7id his Parliainaits. ly James II. died at St. Germains ; and Lewis took it upon him to publicly hail James's son, James Edward, as King ■of England. This uncalled-for meddling in their affairs greatly enraged the English ; and dfeT,^sipt., William seized the chance of getting rid of his ^7oi- troublesome Parliament. He dissolved it, and called an- other. Most of the members chosen to this one were well-disposed to him, and wished to work heartily with him. There was now a general eagerness for war with France; and William set briskly about getting the nation ready. To tell the story of this great war, one of the greatest in our history, will be the chief task of the next book. \ BOOK II. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION, CHAPTER I. THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. I. The War of the Spanish Succession is so called because it was fought to decide who should succeed Charles II. on the throne of Spain. We might War of the think it mattered little to Englishmen whether '^P^'^"ish *u 1 • r o • A . Succession, the kmg of Spam was an Austrian or a French- 1702-13. man. But the chief desire of William's heart was to see England throwing all her strength into the struggle against the French king's greed. To gratify this desire he bore patiently with the unruly temper and thirst for power of many of his Parliaments, and allowed much of the royal authority to slip away from him. In the main he was successful ; owing to his eftbrts England won a place in the front rank of European Powers which she has never since lost. William made England feel that i 28 Settlement of the Constitution. 1698. she was concerned in everything which concerned the cause of hberty in Europe. 2. Moreover, England's right of settling her own affairs without foreign meddling was at stake. Lewis XIV., as being an absolute prince and a Roman Catholic, had a natural feeling of enmity towards a free and Protestant State, such as England became after 1688. He hated the Revolution and longed to put it down. If he had been victorious in this war, doubtless the Stuart line would have been restored to the English throne. It must be borne in mind that after the passing of the Act of Settle- ment it became a necessary part of the new order of things, that the House of Hanover should succeed Anne in the kingship. The friends of the Revolution felt that all would be lost if this arrangement were not carried out ; therefore they pushed forward the war with France with the utmost earnestness. So that in fighting to place an Austrian prince on the Spanish throne the English were in reality fighting for what they most cherished — national freedom. 3. The war came about in this way. Towards the end of the seventeenth century^, Charles II. of Spain The was clearly drawing near his end. He had no the^Spanbh children ; and his nearest of kin was the crown. Dauphin of France. Next in order of kinship came Joseph, eldest son of the Elector of Bavaria ; and after him the Emperor Leopold.^ But the dauphin's * Table showing the Spanish descent of the above-named persons : — Philip III. Philip IV. ? Mary Anne. Charles II. Maria Theresa= Lewis XIV. Margaret = Leopold, the Emperor. The Dauphin. Mary Antoinette = Elector of Bavaria* I I Philip, Duke of Anjou. Joseph, the Electoral Prince. 1698-1700. The Cattses of the War. 29 mother and Joseph's grandmother had, when leaving Spain, solemnly laid aside, for themselves and those who might spring from them, all claim to the Spanish crown. Nothing of the kind stood in the way of Leopold. It was the belief of some, however, that no one has power, by any words or acts, to bar his or her descendants from anything to which they may come to have a right ; and that, therefore, the dauphin's claim to succeed King Charles was still a good one. Yet it was certain that, however good his claim might be, the other European States would not stand still and see the almost boundless Spanish Empire— Spain, Naples, Sicily, Milan, the Spanish Netherlands, and the Indies — go to swell the dominions of the mightiest prince of Europe ; for the dauphin or his heir must sooner or later become king of France. On the other hand Lewis would be sure to oppose with all his power the union of the Spanish and Austrian dominions. William and Lewis at The First first thought it possible to settle the question ^^^e^'^^^" by a friendly arrangement. In 1698 they 1698. made a treaty — the First Partition Treaty, as it is <:alled— with each other. By this Joseph was to get the kingdom of Spain, the Indies, and the Spanish Nether- lands ; while some regions near the Pyrenees, Naples, and Sicily, were to go to the dauphin, and Milan to the Archduke Charles, second son of the emperor. This treaty might have saved Europe from war ; but a few months after it was made Joseph suddenly died, and his ^eath spoiled the plan. 4. The two kings then tried to hit upon a new plan. Early in 1700 the Second Partition Treaty was signed. By this the Archduke Charles was to have The Second Spain, the Netherlands, and the Indies; t^^^J'°" Milan — with power to exchange it for Lor- 1700. raine— was added to the dauphin's share. But this 30 Settlement of the Constitution. 1 700-1. making of treaties all turned out wasted labour. Before the year was over Charles II. died, leaving by will Spain The Duke ^nd all the countries belonging to Spain to Ki>fgo? ^^^ D"^e of Anjou, second son of the Spain, 1700. dauphin ; and Lewis, in utter disregard of the treaty he had signed, accepted the bequest for his grand- son. Anjou at once became King of Spain as Philip V. Shortly afterwards war broke out between Lewis XIV. and the Emperor (lyoO- 5. At first it seemed as if the King of England would have to look on and see the great game played out with- Th c ^^^ him. Parliament had grown angry about mons get the Partition Treaties ; and William dared not thf trea-°" even speak of war to it. Most of the Com- ties, 1701. mons thought that, in making those treaties, the King had shown small regard for English interests ; and, moreover, it was soon found out that they had been made in a way by which the rules of the Constitution had been broken. Throughout his reign William was his own minister of foreign affairs, and in arranging the terms of the first treaty had told no one of his English ministers anything about them. Somers, the Chancellor, had even put the Great Seal to a paper in which blanks were left for the names of the men who should sign for England. These and other awkward things came out ; Impeach- and the Commons straightway impeached ment of the Somcrs and three other lords. The king was vV hig ° Lords, 1701. SO disheartened by the turn things had taken that he recognised Philip as King of Spain. He was afraid the Commons would make him do this some time or other. The Lords, however, were not of the same mind as the Commons, and cunningly contrived that the impeachment of Somers and his friends should come to nothing. The feeling of Englishmen generally was rather in favour of the course which William desired to 1 701-2. TJie Causes of the War, 31 take, and soon the Commons themselves came to see that England must shortly join in the war. Then King James died ; and Lewis took the fatal step of putting forward James's son as King of England. The nation at large felt this to be a gross insult ; Tories and Whigs called loudly for war. The new Parliament passed laws of the utmost severity against the Jacobites, and heartily voted large sums for the army and navy. William went zealously to work to get the nation ready for the great struggle. 6. But William's end was now near ; he did not even live to see war declared. Early in 1702 he was thrown from his horse and broke his collar-bone. He Death of had never been a strong man ; and of late his iY'"'t"'' ,,-,,, . March, health had been growmg worse. His feeble 1702. body had not now enough strength to bear up against the shock. On March 8, 1702, he died at Kensington. He was but fifty-two years old. William was a little, meagre man, with a thin, worn- looking face. He talked little save to his closest friends, was seldom cheerful save in battle, had a blunt William's way of speaking, and cared nothing for lite- character, rature or art. But his heart was strong and tender ; he was borne away fainting from his wife's dying bed, and a lock of her hair was found over his heart after his death. He had some grave faults ; but on the whole his character was noble. He was the last of our great kings. CHAPTER II. THK WAR ITSELF. I. The Bill of Rights had settled who was to take the crown after William's death. Anne, second daughter of 32 Settlement of the Coiistitution, 1702. 1702. The War Itself. K/ IZ Anne, Queen, March, 1702- August, 1714. The great Duke of IMarl- borough, b. 1650 ; d. 1722, moor.^ James II., at once became queen. She was thirty-seven years old, and was married to Prince George of Denmark ; but she was childless, though she had borne many children. She was dull-witted, but kind- hearted, was easily led by anyone whom she trusted and loved ; but nothing could move her when her mind was made up. For many years after her coming to the throne, almost the whole power of the State was in the hands of John Churchill, whom Anne made Duke of Marl- borough. Churchill, the son of a Devonshire gentleman, had risen to wealth and honours by the kindness of James II., and had won fame as a soldier in the Low Countries and at Sedge- But in 1688 he deserted James, and did much to make his overthrow sure. He is charged with having been false to William also. William, however, forgave him, took him into favour, and marked him out for high command in the coming war. Marlborough was a general of wonderful skill, firmness, and daring ; he had a temper that nothing could ruffle, and a rare power of working upon the minds of men. But he was over-fond of heaping up riches, and is said to have cared little for anvthing but his wife and his own greatness. This wife, Sarah Jennings, was in many ways as remarkable as himself. She was a woman of great force of character and overbearing temper, but was deeply loved by her husband. Indeed her husband owed his greatness largely to her ; for Anne had from her early days been ver>^ fond of Lady Marlborough, and was always ready to do whatever she wished. That they might talk and write to each other with greater ease Anne called her friend Mrs. Freeman, and was in turn known to Lady Marlborough as Mrs. Morley. The Queen gave herself 1 See Epoch v., p. 74. I i up altogether to her friend's guidance ; and in this way Marlborough became, on WiUiam's death, the most powerful man in England. 2. Lord Godolphin, a wary and experienced statesman, was made Lord High Treasurer, then the highest'Minister of the Crown. Marlborough and Godolphin ^^^ were Tories, and put none but Tories into Ministry the other important posts. But after a time GodCfphin, a change came over their views. The Tories 1702-1710. were lukewarm in upholding the war ; the Whio-s warmly pressed it on ; and therefore Marlborough and Godolphin, who were all for war, kept drawing farther from the Tories and closer to the Whigs. Thus, as time went on, the Tory members were every now and then dropping off from the Ministry and dlred,^' the Whigs were joining it, until it became ^^^^' ^702. altogether Whig. Almost the first act of the new Ministry was to declare war with France. Marlborough was named Captain-General of the land forces. 3. England had never yet engaged in a war that spread so far and wide over the earth as this one. It was carried on at the same time in the Low Countries, in Spain, in the Mediterranean Sea, theYow '" and in the West Indies. Its greatest battle Countries. was fought in Germany. But its chief scene of action was the Spanish Netheriands— the country that is now called Belgium— and the parts of France that lay near. The armies there were led by Mariborough. They were made up of men from many lands— English, Dutch, Prussians, and Hanoverians— all of whom cheerfully obeyed the great English general. 4. No grand deed of arms was done by Mariborough's army for the first two years. The French stood on the defensive j and Mariborough was much hampered by tlie E. H. D 34 Settlement of the Constitution. 1702-04. Dutch, who would not let him give battle when he wished. He had to rest content with taking several strongholds. But in 1704 the English captain struck a mighty blow at the power of France. Finding in that vear that the French and their allies, the Bavarians, •< .... were making alarming way against the Austrians in South-western Germany, he marched his army from the Battle of Rhine to the Danube, and having joined it to Blenheim, ^^ Austrian force under Prince Eugene of i7o5" ' Savoy, came up with the French and Bavarians at Blenheim. There, on the banks of the Danube, was fought the battle which has shed its chief lustre on Marlborough's name. Tallard, the French marshal, had about 60,000, the Englishman about 50,000 men under his command. For a whole day the French held their ground manfully, driving back the Allies at almost every point. At last, in the evening, Marlborough led a ge- neral assault along the whole line ; the French army was cut in two, and utteriy routed. It was a crushing defeat ; almost two-thirds of the beaten army were killed, wounded, or made prisoners. Tallard himself fell into Marlborough's hands. The pride of Lewis XIV. was humbled at last. 5. Ten days before the battle of Blenheim an English admiral gained a success which, though thought little of at the time, proved to be of vast importance. Early in August, Admiral Sir George Rooke, who had been cruising along the coast of the summer, and been able to do nothing, few thousand seamen and marines near Gibraltar, and took the place with the utmost ease. This fortress was kept by the English when peace was made ; and every attempt to wrest it from them again has utterly failed. 6. Next year Marlborough is again found warring in Taking of Gibraltar, Aug., 1704. Spain all landed a 1705-09. The War Itself. 35 the Low Countries ; and, though he could get no chance of winning a great battle, he managed to push the French hard. But in 1706 he again over- RamUlks, threw their armies, at Ramillies ; and nine of ^'^^^' ^7o6.1 the strongest fortresses in the Spanish Netheriands were the fruits of the victory. Another year (1707) of com- parative inactivity followed. Then, in 1 708, a third grand victory was won, and the most skilfully-managed siege of the whole war brought to a triumphant close. For the French under the Duke of Vendome, having laid siege to Oudenarde, Mariborough fell upon Oudlnide. them and drove them from their position. He J^^^' '^oS.' then drew his army round Lille, perhaps the strongest of the strong places on the French border. The garrison of Lille was commanded by Boufflers, the general who had held Namur against William III. This siege lasted more than three months, and LUiltAug.- was watched with eager interest throughout ^^^'•> ^7o8. Europe. Prince Eugene pushed forward the siege, while Mariborough kept off the French army, which lay in the neighbourhood trying hard to relieve the place. In the end Boufflers had to yield. 7. In the campaign of 1709 the great Duke won the last and bloodiest of his successes. The French Marshal, Villars, had entrenched his army at Malplaquet; and the allies had to carry by storm strongly MaipfaqLt, fortified heights held by 90,000 stout-hearted ^^p^' ^709. men. They carried them, but at a frightful cost— a loss of 20,000 killed and wounded. The next two campaigns were not marked by any very striking event. But many towns were taken, and' France itself was invaded. The upshot of Marlborough's fighting was, that the French were swept out of the Netheriands, their] renown in war was lost, and their kingdom was drained of well-nigh all its D 2 36 Settlement of the Constitntioih 1705-10. 1705-1713- The War Itself, 37 strength. Not often has a great nation been brought so low as France was in this war by Marlborough. But in 1 7 12 the great soldier was disgraced; and the Duke of Ormond was sent to take his command. How such a thing as this came to be done will be explained farther on. Ormond did nothing worth mentioning here. 8. During these years the war was going on in Spain The com- mand taken from Marl- borough, Jan. I, 1712. also. There the Allies were not so successful, perhaps because they had not a general like Marl- Spain,T702- borough to lead them. In Spain an effort '7^2. ^^.^g made to carry out directly the chief pur- pose of the AUies— to dethrone Philip and set up the Archduke Charles as King. And in 1705 the Archduke, calhng himself Charles III., went to the country under the guard of an English fleet. But most of the Spaniards favoured the French prince ; and Charles never had a chance of winning the crown in this way and keeping it. It is true there were some valiant deeds done by the English in Spain. In 1705 the Earl of Peterborough took Barcelona with a very small force, and marched hither and thither through the eastern provinces unchecked. And in 1706 the Allies, under the Earl of Galway, advanced from Portugal and entered Madrid. But Peterborough's strange career soon came to an end; and not only was Galway forced to leave Madrid, but in 1707 his amiy was destroyed. Yet this Aimanza, overthrow did not end the war in those parts. ^7°^* In 1 710 the French were beaten in their turn ; and the Allies a second time took possession of Madrid. Again, however, they found it necessary to march Battles of away from the place. As they were making Brihuega /•I , T- , 1 1 •■ IT and Villa for the east coast, the French, led by Ven- vidosa, dome, overtook at Brihuega their left wing, ^^^■' ^7io- which was English, and commanded by General Stan- hope. Stanhope's troops were surrounded ; and after some tough fighting had to surrender themselves pri- soners. Next day the other Allies were more prosper- ous at Villa Viciosa. Yet all they gained was freedom to go on to Barcelona. This was the last contest of the war in Spain. Already, in 1708, the English had conquered Minorca, an island which they Utrecht, afterwards held for seventy years. In 171 3 ^^^^" peace was made at Utrecht. 38 Settlement of the Constitution. 1702-03. 703-05. Constitntional History during the War. 39 CHAPTER III. CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY DURING THE WAR. 1. Of Anne's reign it may be said, as a general truth^ that in it the course of things which had been set going How Anne's Under Wilham went on without check. In feredfrom °^^ ^^^^ °"^^' ^^^ pubhc Hfc change after William's. William's death — there was less strife between Parliament and the Crown, and more between Whigs and Tories. Anne was an Englishwoman, a Stuart, and a sound Churchw^oman. The Tories therefore trusted her far more than they had ever trusted William, and did not seek to weaken the royal power any further. More- over the new settlement had seemingly been made safe ; Anne quietly accepted the position which the Revolution had given her, and so was allowed to enjoy a peace that had been denied to William. There was, however, great stir and noise in her time. Party spirit ran very high,, and Whigs and Tories strove with each other as they had seldom striven before. 2. The Tories were not just of the same mind as they had been in the days of the Exclusion Bill.^ They did not now struggle to keep the Crown powerful with the same zeal as they had then shown. They not only accepted the arrangement made in 1688-9, but they up- held the authority of Parliament often with greater earnestness than the Whigs themselves. Traces of their old faith, it is true, might still be seen in them ; the>- would rather have Anne than William on the throne, because in her title there was something of hereditary right ; and those of them who went farthest in Toryism were apt to become Jacobites. But they mainly showed their Torj-ism by * See Epoch V., p. 69. Tories and Whigs in Anne's I 1 being great friends of the Church, and by disliking Dis- senters. They wanted to have all the power in the Com- monwealth given to Churchmen alone. The Whigs, on the other hand, wished to see all Protestants made equal under the law. Moreover, in Anne's reign the Whigs were very zealous for the war from first to last ; but the Tories both were not over-warm in its support at first and came to dislike it very much at last. 3. The Commons in Anne's first Parliament were mostly Tories, and in their very first session carried a law which would have made it quite impossible for any Dissenter to hold a post under the Crown. But the Lords threw out this bill, for in those days most of the Lords were Whigs. The Lords, as having so much that might be lost by a violent change, are mostly in favour of keeping things as they are, and accordingly were then in favour of the Revolution Settlement, which they thought might in the long run be upset if the Tories always had Occasional their way. The aim of this bill was to prevent Bi'ir/ijoil^ occasional cotiformity , as the custom of taking 1703- the Sacrament according to the Church ritual, just to fit oneself for holding office, was called. Next year the Lords again threw it out. From this time the Tories lost ground. 4. The war with France was a Whig war. It was waged to carry out the plans of William, who had become the great Whig hero, and sprang from the ThcW^higs Revolution, which had been a triumph of Whig JJJsteJ!^ principles. Marlborough's victories, therefore, 1705- spread a W^higgish feeling through the country ; and, in 1705 a House of Commons was chosen in which Whigs had the mastery. What followed will show clearly how the new way of governing was likely to work. The Whigs were now so strong that the Ministry could not get on without them. To win them to his side Marlborough had to promise to get one of their leading men, Charles 40 Settlement of tJie Constitution. 1700-08. Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, raised to some high office. But Anne liked the Tories better than the Whigs ; she thought she had a right to choose her own Ministers, and for a time would not hear of a place being given to Sunderland, though he was the husband of Marlborough's daughter. Marlborough knew how necessary it was that what the Whigs asked should be done, and eagerly pressed it on. But the queen was most unwilling, and yielded only to Marlborough's earnest prayers. In De- cember 1706 Sunderland was made Secretary of State. In 1708 the same struggle took place again on a larger scale. The general election of 1708 having again given the W^higs a majority in the Commons, the other „, ,,. . Whicr leaders — the Whig Junto, as they were The jNIinis- » o j ; .? try be- called, of whom the Lords Somers and Whar- aitogether ton wcre the chief — demanded to be taken Whig, 1708. into the Government. Marlborough, knowing the disHke of Anne to the Whigs, held out for a long time against them ; but they made things so unpleasant, and there was so much dread that they would use their strength to work mischief to the Queen's friends, that Anne had at last to give offices to Somers and Wharton. Then the Ministr>^ became purely Whig. 5. The most noteworthy change of Anne's reign was the Union of England and Scotland, the blending together of the two kingdoms and two parliaments into ancf Scot- the Kingdom and Parliament of Great Britain, land, 1700. When one looks at what was then going on in the two countries one is rather surprised that such a good thing should have been brought about at that time. For never since Englishmen and Scotsmen had fallen under the sway of the same king had Scottish hearts been so filled with rage against England as in the first few years of the eighteenth century. England, the Scots said, was working them great and lasting wrongs ; and they \ / 1 700-04. Constitutional History during the War. 41 would never forgive her. There was too much reason for what the Scots said. Many Englishmen were very selfish and greedy, and could not bear that their kinsfolk in Scotland and Ireland should share in the pursuits which brought them wealth. These men, merchants of the great seaport towns of England, had so worked upon Parliament that heavy taxes were laid on all products of Scotland which were carried into England. Scotsmen were not allowed to trade with any country belonging to England, or with England in anything but what was grown or made in Scotland. Their anger at finding their hands tied up by English greed was yearly growing more bitter. In 1 699-1 700 a plan which they had tried to carry out, for planting a trading settlement at Darien had come to a disastrous end. Its Scheme, failure brought ruin on a vast number of Scot- 1699-1700. tish families. The Scots cast the blame on the English East India Company and on King W^illiam ; and their wrath against England rose higher than ever. After W^illiam's death the Scottish Parliament passed an Act ot Security, by which it was made impossible that the same person who had already been Security, chosen to sit on the English throne after Anne ^^°^' ^7°"^' died should be chosen to the Scottish throne also, unless security were given for the ^ religion, freedom, and trade ' of the Scots. This law made it possible that at Anne's death the two kingdoms should pass to different kings. 6. To the danger arising from this state of things we owe the Act of Union. The wiser men in England now saw clearly that nothing short of a thorough blending of the two peoples into one would put a stop to their quar- relling, and, to gain this, were willing to give the Scots all they wanted. The very last paper that William signed was a message to his English Parliament asking it to consider how such a union could be brought about. ■i^-^PW^^^W 42 Settleme7it of the Constitution. 1 707-1 710. Act of Union passed. In Scotland, Jan. 1707 ; in England, Mar., 1707. Parliament did look into the question, and gave the Queen power to name men who might meet other men sent from Scotland, and with them try to find out a way of uniting the two countries. But the trading jealousy of many Englishmen and the blind patriotism of many Scotsmen made the task of arranging the terms very hard ; and this attempt failed. The plan, however, was not lost sight of ; some Scotsmen longed for freedom of trade; the wisest English statesmen were afraid of Scot- land falling again under French influence. In 1706 there was a meeting in London of thirty-one men from each king- dom ; and these at last found a way to a settle- ment of the question. By the Act of Union Scotsmen were to have the same freedom of trade as Englishmen ; the Presbyterian Church was secured to Scotland ; there was to be but one Parliament for Great Britain, to which Scotland was to send forty-five Commons and sixteen Lords. For a long time many Scotsmen talked of this law as if it were the ruin of their country ; but it has undoubtedly done much good to both nations. 7. In 17 10 the Whig Ministry fell from power. It had foolishly made the Commons impeach a noisy High Church clergyman, called Sacheverell, who had preached against Godolphin, and misrepresented the Revolution. The Lords found Sacheverell guilty ; but the trial stirred Fall of up a mighty outburst of High Church feeling Minfit^^^"^ throughout the country. The people too were 1710. growing rather wear>' of the war, and of the heavy taxes which they had to pay to keep it going. Marlboroucrh also had lost the Queen's favour. His wife was a woman of violent temper and overbearing ways, and in her rages did not spare the Queen herself A coldness had grown up between the two old friends. The Duchess never tried to soothe the Queen's wounded 1 710. TJic Tory Ministry and the PeacC. 43 feelings ; and the breach between them went on widen- ing until at last Anne had come to hate her friend as much as she had formerly loved her. One Mrs. Masham, once a bedchamber-woman to the Queen, had already taken the Duchess's place in Anne's affections. The upshot of these changes was, that in the summer of 17 10 TheHariey- the Queen sent away her chief Whig Ministers, Mimsu" and gave the guidance of the nation to 1710-1714 Robert Harley and Henry St. John. CHAPTER IV. THE TORY MINISTRY AND THE PEACE OF UTRECHT. 1. This daring act of Anne's — the turning away of her Ministers— helps us to see plainly the working of the altered Constitution. The Whig leaders had Party go- been able to win office in 1708 merely because ^emment. most of the Commons thought as they did, and were ready to vote as they wished. The Queen had now a strong hope that the members of the. new Parliament would be mostly Tory ; and, relying on that hope, had sent away her Whig Ministers and taken Tories in their places. She was not disappointed ; most of the new members ixjere Tories ; and she was able to keep Harley and St. John. But it is certain that, if it had turned out otherwise, she could not have kept these Ministers, and would have been forced to bring back Godolphin, Somers, and Halifax. 2. Harley, who was made in 1711 Earl of Oxford, and St. John, who was made in 171 2 Viscount Bolingbroke, ruled England for nearly four years. During this time the war of parties never ceased. The great writers of the day took part with one side or Party strife. 44 Settlement of the Constitution . 1 7 1 1 . the other, each doing his utmost to make people beheve that his party was right and the other wrong. The stoutest champion of the Tories in this way AddLon; was Jonathan Swift, better known as Dean Steele. Swift, because in 171 3 he became Dean of St. Patrick's Church in Dublin. Swift had once been a Whig, but in 17 10 had gone over to the Tories. He wrote for the Tories with all his might ; and being the greatest genius then living, did a great deal by his writ- ings to spread a Tory feeling throughout the country. The ablest writers on the Whig side were Joseph Addison, a most graceful author and amiable man ; and Sir Richard Steele, an honest but somewhat hot-headed Irishman. Men had not then the same means of reading speeches made in Parliament as they have now, for it as very difficult to get any account of a Parliamen- \\ tary debate, and unlawful to print it if it were got. Yet even then it was an important thing for a states- man to be thought well of by the people ; and the only way he had of winning a good name was either to write himself, or to get others to write, in favour of his opinions. 3. The clergy and the country gentlemen were zealous for the Tories ; the large towns and trading classes heartily upheld the Whigs. The Tories charged the Whigs with trying to destroy the Church ; their cry was that the * Church was in danger.' The Whigs charged the Tories with wishing to undo the Act of Settlement ; their cry was that * the Protestant succession was in danger.' Whilst Anne lived the Tories were the stronger party, for most Englishmen loved the Church and sent Tories to Parlia- ment. There was, it is true, no general desire for a second Restoration ; but the country thought there was little fear of this, and the cry of the Whigs did not frighten them. The Whigs and the lories. peace of Utrecht wa made, 1711-13. 171 1 13. The Tory Ministry and the Pead'c. 45 4. But the point that Whigs and Tories fought most about was the making of peace with France. The Whigs wanted the war to go on until Philip ^^^ ^^^ should be driven from the throne of Spain and King Lewis should grant all that the Allies asked. The Tories wanted to have the war ended at once, and were willing both to allow Philip to stay on the Spanish throne and to let Lewis off very easily. The Whigs said that if the Kings of France and Spain both belonged to the same family they would always take part with each other in wars, and it would not be easy for the other States to hold their own against them. The Tories said that if Charles became King of Spain the House of Austria would be as dangerous to the quiet'of Europe as the House of Bourbon, for in 17 11 Charles had been chosen Emperor. The Tories, too, were against the war, because it was a Whig war, and success in it had always given strength to the W^higs. They resolved, therefore, to have peace. But they went about getting it in a very bad way. Some years before Lewis had become so humble from the many beatings his armies had got that he offered not only to cease help- ing his grandson, but also to supply the Allies with money to wage war against him. These offers had not satisfied the Allies ; the war had gone on, and many more losses had befallen Lewis in it. But now Harley and St. John secretly sent a messenger to Lewis to ask if he would agree to a peace. Peace was the thing that Lewis longed for most ; but finding that the English Ministers also were so eager for it, he did not now offer to yield what before he had been willing to yield. His grandson, he now said, must be left on the Spanish throne. There was much stealthy going to and fro of messengers between England and France ; and at length the rulers of the two nations came to an understanding with each other. But not a e 46 Settlement of the Constitution. 1713-^4. word of these doings was told to the Dutch or the Emperor, though as the alhes of England they had a right to know everything that was going on. And when at last the English Ministers did tell the Dutch, they showed them a different treaty from the one that had been drawn up by them and Lewis. In 17 12 they took away the command of the army from Marlborough, sfiparated the English army from the Allies, and privately settled with Lewis a plan for carrying on the war that year. 5. Next year the Peace they so wished for was signed at Utrecht. Philip was to keep the Spanish throne, but Terms of the was to swear that he gave up all claim ever to utrech°^ become King of France. Lewis XIV. pledged 1713- ' himself to have nothing more to do with James Edward, now known in England as the Pretender, and to recognise the Protestant succession to the English Crown. England was to have Gibraltar, Minorca, and Newfoundland, and trading rights with the Spanish settlements. The Dutch were given a strong line of fortresses to guard their border ; and the House of Austria got the Spanish Netherlands and Naples. This has been called ' the shameful Peace of Utrecht,' partly because of the way in which it was made, and partly because nothing was done in it to save the Catalans from the vengeance of Philip, though these had risen in arms at the bidding of the Allies. 6. Anne lived little more than a year longer. This was a very anxious time for Englishmen. The Queen's Th 1 health was bad. Oxford and Bolingbroke year of were thought to be planning to overthrow Veign,^ the Act of Settlement and bring in the Pre- 1713-14- tender. The Jacobites were believed to be busy laying plots for having James Edward made King when Anne died. The Tories had seemingly the greater number of the people on their side, for in 1713 a new 1 4 1 714. The Toiy Ministry and the Peace. ' 47 Parliament was chosen, in which most of the Commons were again Tories. But one thing crippled the strength of their party very much— their chief men, Oxford and Bolingbroke, had come to hate each other, and very often had angry quarrels. In July 17 14 Bolingbroke con- trived to poison the Queen's mind against his rival, and Oxford was turned out of office. But it was too'late for Bolingbroke to gain anything by dSsTAugu"t the change ; three days later Anne died. The '' ^^h- day before her death she had named the Duke of Shrewsbury, a nobleman who had been active in brino-- ing about the Revolution, Lord High Treasurer. Shrews- bury was a Whig ; and his appointment was a kind of pledge that plots to bring back the Pretender, if there were such, would be crushed. BOOK IIL ENGLAND UNDER THE RULE OE THE GREAT FA ML LIES. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST YEARS OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. I. The Electress Sophia had died two months before Queen Anne ; and the right of succession to the English Crown had then passed to her son, George, Elector of Hanover. Accordingly on August i, 17 14, George became King of England as George 1. Kingf^ Much fear had been felt throughout the countr>^ 1714-27. that the Jacobites would try to hinder his coming to the If 48 Settlement of the Constitution. 1714-15- throne ; but it turned out quite othenvise— no one dared even to raise his voice for the Pretender. Indeed, most people showed great joy when they heard the new king proclaimed. In foreign lands also George was looked upon as the true King of England ; even Lewis of France kept the promise that he had made in the Treaty of Utrecht. 2. George came to England about seven weeks after Anne's death. As soon as he came the Tory Ministers Whig were sent away, and their places given to Ministry Whigs. For George did not try, like William, ^x^^- ' to allow each party a share in governing ; he thought that the Whigs, who had always been in favour of his title, were likely to be more faithful to him than the Tories. Of course, if the Commons had wished very much that the Ministers should be Tories, they would have made the King take Tories. But the new House of Commons, which was chosen a few months afterwards, had many more Whigs than Tories, and the King was able to keep the Ministers he liked. The foremost man in the new Ministry was Charles, Lord Townshend ; but General Stanhop j and Robert Walpole were also very powerful members of it. W^alpole had rare skill in finding out the best way of settling questions about money, and thus made himself very useful to his party. 3. In 17 1 5 the quiet of the land was broken in two ways. First, the new Ministers were so angry at what had been done during the last four years of Iiiniifr^ Anne's reign that they stirred up Parliament attacked. .^o take Steps to punish the fallen leaders of the Tories. They tried to make out that Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond had been guilty of treason in yielding up to Lewis in the late war more places than they need have done. Bolingbroke and Ormond fled to France ; but Oxford was not easily frightened, and stayed 1715. First Years of House of Hanover. 49 at home. They were all impeached ; and bills of at- tainder were also passed against Bolingbroke and Ormond. Oxford was sent to the Tower, where he lay for two years. In 171 7 he was brought to trial ; but in the meantime Walpole had fallen out with the other leading Whigs and lost office ; and now, to spite his old friends, he cunningly contrived that the Commons should not come fon^'ard to prove the charges they made against Oxford. The Lords, therefore, voted that Oxford was not guilty. Bolingbroke, soon after reaching France openly joined the Pretender, but in a short time gave up his cause as hopeless ; and in 1723 he was allowed to come back to England. But Ormond never came back ; he died abroad in 1745. 4. Secondly, there were Jacobite risings both in Scot- land and in England. Early in September John Erskine Earl of Mar— who some years before had been The jaco- ' a Whig and helped to bring about the Union ^'^^^ take —raised the standard of rebellion in Braemar, 7^^^s^^' and in a short time found himself in command of a large Highland army. But Mar was very slow in his move- ments, and lingered for six weeks in Perth. The Duke of Arg>4e, famous as both a warrior and a statesman, was sent from London to deal with this danger ; and goino- to Stirlmg, used the time which Mar was wastino- in gathermg round him soldiers and loval Lowlanders. " While things stood thus in the far north a few hundred Jacobites took up arms in Northumberland under Mr Forster and Lord Denventwater. Joining with some Southern Scots raised by Lord Kenmure, and some Highlanders whom Mar had sent to their aid, they marched to Preston, in Lancashire. The fate of the two risings was settled on the same day. At Preston the English Jacobites and their Scottish allies had to give themselves up to a small body of E.H. E i..^.m^.,^, ■— -^ i fti P-. '■ f , 50 Settlement of the Constitution. 171 5-16. Affair of Preston, 1715. Fi?ht at Sheriffmuir, 1715- Scotland. soldiers under General Carpenter, At Sheriffhiuir, about eight miles north of StirHng, the Highlanders, whom Mar had put in motion at last, met Argyle's little army in battle, and, though not utterly beaten, were forced to fall back to Perth. There Mar's army soon dwindled to a mere handful of men. Just when things seemed at the worst the Pretender himself landed in But he altogether lacked the daring and high spirit needful to the cause at the time ; and his presence at Perth did not even delay the end, which was now sure. Late in January 1716 Argyle's troops started from Stirling northwards ; and the small High- land force broke up from Perth and went to Montrose. Thence James Edward and Mar slipped away unnoticed, and sailed to France ; and the Highlanders scampered oft to their several homes. Of the rebels that were taken prisoners about forty were tried and put to death ; and many were sent beyond the seas. Derwentwater and Kenmure were beheaded ; the other leaders of rank either were forgiven or escaped from prison. 5. These risings were followed by an important change in an important law. The people were in a rest- less state ; and it was feared that trouble might Act passed, befal the country if a new Parliament were '7' 6. chosen which would be unfavourable to the Ministry. A bill was therefore passed to enable the King to keep the same Parliament for seven years ; and in passing it care was taken that it should apply to the Par- liament that then was, which thus might last till 1722. This bill, which is called the Septennial Act, is in force still. 6. The Whigs now became stronger than ever. But shortly afterwards Townshend and Stanhope quarrelled upon a grave question of foreign policy ; and a split took ^ I 1717. First Years of House of Hanover, 5 i place in the Whig party which weakened it much for a time. Townshend and Walpole not only ceased to be Ministers, but also did their ScMsm!"^ utmost to thwart Stanhope and Sunderland, '717- Avho now held the first place in the King's counsels. The question about which the Whig leaders fell out was the right way of forming the Triple Alliance. This treaty, which England, France, and Holland made with one another in 1716-17, gave Imancef'^ England great power abroad, and did much ^716-17.' to strengthen the hold of the Hanoverian family on the English Crown. It seems strange to find the rulers of England and France, who had lately been such deadly foes, now linked together in a close friendship. But each liad an interest in making a friend of the other. In France Lewis XIV. had died ; his great-grandson, a mere child, had become King ; and the Duke of Orleans, who was next heir to the crown if the King of Spain should h)e true to the pledge he had taken by the Treaty of Utrecht, held the Regency. But the Duke feared that the Spanish king would not keep his promise, and thought it would be a good thing to have England on his side, to help him if the boy-king died. In England, Stanhope felt that France was the only foreign state that could give any real aid to the Pretender, and thought it would be a good thing if France could be brought to take part with the Hanoverian family. Thus it came about that an alliance was made between the two countries, by which their rulers agreed to stand by each other in any troubles that might arise. The Dutch also afterwards signed this treaty (January 1717). 7. This alliance gave England and France a proud position in Europe. It was now the aim of Stanhope and Orleans to make the other nations abide by the terms of the Peace of Utrecht. They would not let the quiet of £2 Whig Schism ends, 1720. ' ^2 Settlement of the Ccmstitution. 171S-21. Europe be broken by any country. In 1718 the Empero Charles joined the Alliance, for the King of Spain wanted to take Sicily from him, and sent an army thither for the purpose. Thereupon an English fleet under Sir George Cap? °^ ^^'"^ attacked the Spanish near Cape Passaro, Passaro, ^"^ ^^^at it thoroughly. Next year (17 19), '718. French and English armies began to make war in the North of Spain, and took some strong places Then King Philip yielded, and consented to a peace in which he gave up everything that he had laid claim to (1720). From these things we see how mightv Encrland nad become. 8. For a time all went well at home also. In 1720 Stanhope made up his quarrel with Townshend and Walpole, and the Whigs became a united party once more. For Walpole had shown how dangerous he might be, by causing the Commons to throw out the Peerage Bill, which Stanhope wished to see passed. This was a bill for taking away from the King the power of making any more peers than SIX over the number that then was. Townshend and Walpole again became Ministers. But soon after their return to office there came a time of great distress for many people. Some years earlier a company had been founded for trading with the South Seas. It grew and prospered ; it often had dealings with the Government, nnd in 1720 its shares had risen to ten times their original value. An eager desire to get rich very fast then spread throughout the countr>' ; a great many other companies were set up ; and men bought shares in these greedily and thoughtlessly. Soon a change of feeling came ; men got frightened about the money they had laid out in this way, and all tried at once to sell their shares, but no one was willing to buy them. Hence The Peer- age Bill, 1719. The Sea Bubble.' South ■""t^frmwT[r"i i iri-r -i r i . ': \ t 1722. First Years of House of Hanover. 53 not only did the new companies fail, but the South Sea shares also fell very low. A loud cry of distress was raised by those who had lost their money ; and all men were deeply enraged when they heard that some of the Ministers had taken bribes from the South Sea Company In the midst of this trouble Stanhope suddenly died. It was thought that Walpole was the FtSho^. only man who knew how to help the people '^^'' in this misfortune ; so he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. He carried laws through Parliament which did much to calm men's minds and revive their faith in one another's honesty. The nation then saw that ^ alpole was the ablest man the King had ; and upon the death of Sunderland, in 1722, Walpole became Prime Minister. CHAPTER II. THE MINISTRY OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. I. Robert Walpole was a Norfolk squire of good family, who had gained sound judgment and rare skill in the conduct of affairs. He was clear-headed Robert and practical, and was just the man that Encr- Walpole .- land wanted at this time. A calm had fot d." %ti lowed the great storms caused by the Revolution, and the country felt a general longing for a little rest. Now, VV alpole wished above all things to give the nation rest. He tried with all his might to c'hS/ l^eep England from going to war, and to help ^"^ po^'^^y- her to make herself rich and prosperous. But he never thought of doing great deeds, of doing away with unjust laws and getting just ones made, of setting right some of 54 Settlemaii of the ConstitiUion. 1 722, the many evil things that then were, or of helping men to grow wiser and better. Indeed, he believed that most men neither were, nor could be made, good ; his opinion of men was so low that he thought they would do any- thing for money. * Every man has his price,' he said. There was little in him to love or respect. But he had much good sense, and knew well how to work on men's minds. It was not a time for carr)'ing out great plans ; the people were not in a humour for them, and were quite content to be ruled by Walpole. And they were right ; for on the whole things went well with England during the twenty years that Walpole was Prime Minister. 2. Perhaps Walpole would not have been so long at the head of affairs but for the cunning way in which he The Cpnsti- managed the Commons. We have seen how ef lueenth^ ncccssary it was for the King or his chief century. Minister to get most of the members of the Lower House to give him their votes. W^alpole, partly because the state of things favoured him, and partly because he was ver\' clever in managing public assem- blies, got members to vote with him better than any minister who had lived before him. For the ways in which men gained seats in Parliament were very different then from what they are now. Many of the towns that had the right of sending representatives were mere vil- lages ; and in many others, though they were larger, there were only very few people who had a vote. It had there- fore come to pass that the noblemen or gentlemen who owned the lands on which these towns stood ti^nTo""" could have whatever members they liked roughs.' chosen for these places. Besides, the great landowners had often such influence in the counties that the voters in these were willing to please their landlords or noble neighbours by voting for the persons whom they favoured. There was also a class of boroughs, chiefly 1722. The Ministry of Sir Robert Walpole. 55 seaports, which were quite ready to give their votes to whomsoever the King or his Ministers desired. It is clear, then, that most of the Commons were not represen- tatives of the \jeople, but of the King's Ministers and other great men of the kingdom. 3. In this way it came about that the Revolution, in making the House of Commons the strongest thing in the State, gave the leading part in ruHng the _, „ 1 he l\.evo- nation to a number of great families. These Uition are known in history as the Revolution /ami- f^'^'^i^^- lies^ ox great Whig houses^ for most of them belonged to the Whig party. For a long time it would have been almost impossible to carry on the Government without the active support of a good number of these houses ; and their support could be gained only by giving the chief men among them a large share in governing. It is true that the King had still some power ; he could give away posts of great dignity and value in Church and State, pensions, peerages, and other honours that many men were glad to have. But the first two kings of the line of Hanover were strangers ; neither of them knew much of English ways or English feeling, and did not care to take any trouble to keep up the king's power. Accordingly the heads of the great houses generally had their own way. We shall see that the third king of the line did make a great effort to win back to the Crown the autho- rity it had lost, and succeeded too. 4. For twenty years Sir Robert Walpole was able by wise management to keep on his side iDoth most of the Whig Houses and the king, and thus to get Walpoie's the Commons to vote in the way he wished menrof the on every question that came before them. Commons. Moreover, he is believed to have paid away great sums of money in bribing Members. He was not the first to use this means of gaining votes ; but he is said to have 56 Settlement of tJie Constitution. 1722-24. used it much more than any other minister ever did. It was begun in Charles II/s reign, and first became com- mon in WilHam III/s time, when the good-will of the Lower House was seen to be so needful to the King's Ministers. 5. But we must not think that the King's Ministers need pay no heed to the wishes of the people. Walpole The people himself was more than once forced to give up cl*Iif L his own wull and do what the nation bade him, count. even when Parliament would have cheerfully agreed to the course he wanted to take. Only the people had to speak out very strongly, and show that they were really in earnest, and ivoiild have the matter settled in the way they thought right. They were sel- dom, however, very much in earnest then about anything ; for a time they cared very little how things went on in the State. 6. Few ver>' noteworthy things happened while Walpole ruled England. So long as George I. lived this Minister ran little risk of losing his place, and was able to deal in a high-handed way with each question as it arose. In 1722 the Jacobites tried to make themselves troublesome, but failed ; and next year their leader, Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, was banished for life by Act of Parliament. In 1724 the English settlers in Wood's Ireland flew into a great rage because Walpole halfpence, began to issue among them a new supply of halfpence and farthings, made by William Wood, an English ironmaster. They said that these coins were far below the value of similar coins in Eng- land, and that they were issued only to enrich Wood and some worthless people about the English Court. Dean Swift, who owed Walpole a grudge, wrote with great force against this coinage, and so worked upon the minds of his countrymen that they would not receive it on any \ I 1 724-33- T/ie Ministry of Sir Robert Walpole. 5 7 terms. Walpole, powerful as he was, had to allow the coinage to be withdrawn. Then in 1725 Spain, wishing to get back Gibraltar, made an alliance with Another Austria, and went to war with England. But s^ain^^^ none of these things shook Walpole's hold on 1725-27- power in the least. So quiet had things become that in the session of 1724 there was but one division in the Commons. 7. In June 1727 the reign of George I. suddenly ended. He had gone to visit his German subjects, and was on his way to Osnabruck, when apoplexy seized him, and he died in his carriage. George°l., George I. was an upright man, who sought to i"'^^ ^727- deal justly with all men, and was much loved King, 1727- in Hanover. But he was silent, awkward, and ^^ cold in his manner, and was little liked in England. His son at once became King as George II. The new king at first thought of sending W^alpole away, but in a few days he changed his mind and kept him in office. 8. England and France were still fast friends ; for Walpole was bent on keeping the country out of war, and above all out of a war with France. This, he knew, was the only nation that could help the wfth"^^^'^ Pretender in a way that would make him really France, dangerous ; without aid from France the Jacobites were harmless, and could do little mischief. For many years, therefore, the Pretender, owing to Walpole's wisdom, was unable to move ; and thus the new line of kings had time to strengthen themselves on the throne. 9. But Walpole failed in one thing which he had set his heart on getting done. In 1733 he brought a bill into Parliament for levying the duties on certain goods, tobacco being the first, not as customs scheme,*^^^^ —which are paid at the seaports, when the ^733- goods are brought into the country — but as excise, which 58 Settlement of t/ie Constitution, 1733-39. Walpole's jealousy of able men. his will, doincfs. is paid when the goods are sent throughout the country. He said that it did not cost so much to raise an excise, that men could not keep back or steal part of it so easily, and that thus more money would come into the treasury, while the people paid just the same. But most English folk then hated the excise ; the very word put them in an ill-humour. A loud outcry against Walpole's plan went up from all parts of the country ; and Walpole, much against his will, gave it up. 10. But this did not weaken Walpole ; both King and Parliament still upheld him, and for a while longer the people also rested contentedly under his rule. Year after year passed, leaving Walpole still at the head of affairs, as strong as ever to work But he had made one great mistake in his He had always been jealous of able men, and had driven away most of those who had been in office with him. There was hardly one man of merit in his Government whom he did not get rid of at some time or other. Even Townshend had to resign his place. This unwise conduct hurt Walpole in two ways : it chased away from his side the men who were best fitted to help him in the hour of need, and it sent them to join the ranks of his foes. Thereupon this band of The foes, who called themselves the Patriots^ went Patriots. Qj^ steadily growing until nearly every able statesman belonged to it. Its leader in the Commons was William Pulteney, a brilliant speaker, who had once been Walpole's trustiest friend. But the man among the Patriots who had the greatest gifts of mind and noblest character was a young man, William Pitt, who first made himself known by his fiery speeches in Parliament against Walpole. Seldom has a Minister had so many great men arrayed against him. 11. Yet for many years Walpole held his ground in 1739. TJie Ministry of Sir Robert Walpole. 59 spite of them all. They brought many charges against him. They said that, to please the King, he waipole took more pain s about H anover than England ; ^^^ ^^^ f°«s. that he was tamely letting Spain trample upon the honour and the interests of England ; that he was destroying the manly tone and honesty of the nation by his wicked arts, bribery and corruption. On these points they assailed him again and again, but for a time without success. Single-handed Walpole withstood them, and beat them in every division. Indeed, once (1739) they got so dis- heartened that they left Parliament altogether. At last a great longing for a war with Spain seized upon the people ; and the Patriots turned this into a means of overthrowing their great enemy. 12. At this time fresh life was given in England to the old hatred of the Spaniards by the cruelties which English seamen were said to be suffering at Troubles Spanish hands in the Southern Seas. Spain did ^'^^^ Spain, not like that any country but herself should trade with her colonies in America, and very unwillingly allowed a single English ship to carry goods to them once a year. But the English found the traffic profitable, and in one way or another contrived to send to Spanish America far more goods than one ship could carry. For a time the Spaniards took little heed of these things ; but in 1733 their King secretly made an alliance, called a Family Compact, with the French King, and after this the American coasts were more closely watched. English ships that sailed or were driven by opposing winds into their seas were boarded and searched by Spanish officials, who often did their duty very roughly. One of them even tore off the ear of Robert Jenkins, the master of a Jamaica trading sloop. Hence the war that these doings led to is ' The Jen- sometimes known as ' the Jenkins' Ear War.' kms' Ear The English grew more and more angry as ^^^' they heard of these things, and at last began to call 6o Settlement of the Constitution. 1739-44- loudly for war with Spain. Walpole tried eagerly to pre- vent an outbreak of war ; but his efforts failed. The English were bent on punishing Spain for the many wrongs they thought she had done them. Walpole, much against his will, had to go to war (1739). Yet the English arms did not prosper. Though Vernon took Portobello in 1739, the Spaniards m 1741 beat back from Carthagena with great loss a large force that Walpole had sent to take it. Walpole got the blame of every failure ; the Patriots grew ever louder and fiercer in call- ing him the cause of all the nation's troubles. Still he Fall of Wal- ^^^^^^^ doggedly for his place. But the General pole, Feb. Election of 1742 gave the Patriots a small ^'^^'^- majority in the Commons, and Walpole was forced to resign. He was at the same time made Earl of Orford. 13. The war with Spain went on until 1748; but nothing further that was striking happened in it except Commodore Anson's great voyage round the world. In September 1 740 Anson had been sent with a squadron to do all the Anson's damage he could to the Spaniards along the voyage, westeru coast of South America. He was away 1740-44- almost four years, during which he met with many wonderful adventures. In a storm he lost, or was separated from, all his ships but two ; but with these he seized many ships and took the town of Paita, in Peru. In crossing the Pacific he burned one of his ships. With the other he fought and took a great Manilla galleon near the Philippine Islands. In June 1744 he reached home. 1 1742-44. 61 CHAPTER III. THE PELHAMS. 1. The Ministry that followed Walpole's was not alto- gether made up of new men ; many of those who held the smaller places stayed in office after the fall of xhe new their leader. In those days the Ministers did Ministry. not form a close and united body, as they do now. Each sometimes took a course of his own apart from the rest ; so that a change of Ministry often meant little more than a change of leaders. The man who now took the first place in guiding the counsels of the King was John, Lord Carteret ; but Lord Chancellor Hardwicke and the Pel- hams, who stayed with Walpole to the last, were still very powerful. Indeed, only a few of Walpole's foes were taken into the new Cabinet. There was much discontent at this, and the Ministry was not at first very strong in the Commons. 2. Carteret was much liked by George II. He had good parts, was gay and genial in society, but over-fond of strong drink. He was the only Minister who knew German and the right way of dealing with German States. He therefore led the nation into a closer connexion with German affairs than pleased either his brother Ministers or the Commons. Without asking power?' '" their advice he made treaties, and pledged ^742-44- the Eng'lish people to give away large sums of money. . So whilst he rose ever higher in the King's favour he became unpopular. In November 1744 the Pelhams and their friends told the King plainly that they and Carteret— now Earl Granville by his cJneret, mother's death — could not any longer work ^744- together, and that either he or they must give up office. The King would gladly have kept Granville rather than 62 Settlement of the Constitution. 1744-46. the Pelhams ; but the Pelhams had many more followers in the Commons than their rival, and the King had to send away the Minister he liked best. For without a majority in the Commons no Minister could now get on. 3. The Pelhams were the Duke of Newcastle and his younger brother, Henry. The Duke was a fussy man, The Pel- who bustled about in a way that made people Jower!" laugh. He had much knowledge of business, 1744-54- but little ability. Henry Pelham was in every way superior to his brother, though his powers of mind were not great. He did not shine either as a speaker or as a ruler ; but he was hard-working, sensible, and clearheaded ; and his training under Walpole had given him some skill in managing affairs. For these reasons he was in 1744 placed at the head of the Ministry. This has been called the broad-bottom Ministry^ from the number of men of various parties who belonged to it. Even Tories held places in it. But its chief strength lay in the support of the great Whig houses, many of whose heads were members of it. On one point only did George II. stand firm: he would not take Pitt into his service, as the Pelhams wished. For Pitt had in his speeches spoken of Hanover in a way that had deeply hurt the King. Yet in little more than a year George had to yield on this point also. In February 1746 the Ministers, Ministerial knowing that the King was listening in private crisis of to GranviUe's advice, and was therefore not June 1746. trusting them, suddenly gave up their places in a body. Granville then tried to get together a Ministry of his own, but failed ; and the King had to take back the Pelhams on their own terms. One of these was that Pitt . should have a place ; and he was appointed, Pittin office. r ^ ^ • r ^ ■, \ iirst to a mmor post, afterwards to that of Paymaster of the Forces. The great families could now make the King do what he most disliked. I 1740-43. T/ie Pelhams. 63 \ J J I 4. By this time England had been drawn into a war with France. It is usually called the War of the Austrian Succession. England joined in it as the ally The War of of Maria Theresa, whose title to the ancestral the Austrian J . . f. . ' , buccession, dominions of her father, the Emperor Charles 1740-48. VI., was disputed by Bavaria, France, Prussia, and other States. Charles, having no son, had been eager that his daughter should succeed to the rule of the lands that had come to him by inheritance ; and, to make her succession sure, had got nearly all the European Powers to sign a paper called the Pragmatic Sanctioji^ by which they bound themselves to uphold her claim. But when he died (1740) the Elector of Bavaria said that by right the Austrian lands ought to come to him, and set about con- quering them ; whilst Frederick II., the young King of Prussia, laid hold of Silesia ; and France, wishing to weaken Germany, sent two armies across the Rhine to aid Bavaria. Only England and Holland loyally stood by their promises. In 1743 a united force of British and Hanoverians, 40,000 strong, marched to Aschaffenburg, on the river Main. King George himself came and took the command. W^hilst they lay at this place, Dmingln, Noailles, the French general, blocked them J""^ 1743.' up so closely that they could move neither forward nor backward without fighting a battle under great disad- vantages. At last their supply of food became scanty, and one morning, late in June, they started back along the right bank of the Main, hoping to force their way to Hanau, where their bread-stores were. As they drew near to Dettingen they found that there was a French force posted right in front of them on the far side of some marshy ground. Whilst they were putting themselves in battle-array the leader of this French force, Grammont getting impatient, led his men across the marshy ground 64 Settlcmcfit of the Constitution, 1743-45. and charged down on the Allies with great swiftness. Their first three lines were broken through ; but the fourth held its ground, and poured such a steady musketr>' fire into the ranks of the French that they had to fall back in disorder. Then the Allies pushed boldly on, and routed and drove the French from the field. The victors then pursued their march to Hanau. The Allies gained nothing but glor>^ from the fight of Dettingen. Never since has an English king led an army in battle. 5. As yet the two nations were not at war ; England merely fought as the friend of Maria Theresa, France as the friend of the Bavarian Elector, who had been chosen Emperor the year before. But in 1 744 the French took up the Stuart cause and tried to land 15,000 men on the English coast. A storm scattered the fleet that carried Battle of ^^^"^ ' ^^^ ^ declaration of war followed. This Fontenoy, War was waged chiefly in Flanders, where the May, 1745. Allies were led by King George's younger son, the Duke of Cumberland. Its greatest battle was fought at Fontenoy in May 1745. Cumberland had ad- vanced with 50,000 British, Dutch, and Austrians, ta drive the French besieging army from before Tournay. Prince Maurice of Saxony, the French leader, had taken his stand near Fontenoy, and there thrown up strong defences. Cumberland, then a hot-headed youth, made his troops attack these ; but they were beaten back at all points. Angry at this repulse, the English general sent a column of British Infantry, 16,000 strong, straight upon the French position. This fearless body of men marched steadily whither they had been sent, and, getting inside the French lines, for a time swept from their path every force that strove to check their course. But they were not backed up as they ought to have been, and they had to march back the way they came, beaten but not dis- graced. Then Cumberland led off his army, and I 1745. The Pelhams, 65 Tournay fell. Shortly afterwards the Duke was called back to England to face danger nearer home. 6. The war with France had given fresh life to the dying Jacobite cause. And there had lately come for- ward as the leader of this cause a high- spirited young prince, of handsome person and EdwlS winning manners, who believed it was his ^^"^" fate to win back the kingdoms to his house. Scotland, This was Charles Edward, sometimes named '^'^^' the Young Chevalier, the elder of the two sons of James Edward. Towards the end of July 1745 he came with only seven companions to the west coast of Inverness-shire and sought to stir up the Highlanders to take up arms in his father's behalf. The Highland chiefs doubted at first, but many of them were won over by Charles's eager words. Gathering at Glenfinnan, the clans swept round by Corryarrick and Blair Athol to Perth. Sir John Cope had gone northwards with a small force to meet them but on reaching Corryarrick had become afraid, and turned aside to Inverness. The road to the Lowlands then lay open, and Charles promptly took it. In the third week of September the Highlanders entered Edinburgh. Three days later the pSon^ Prince led them westwards to meet Cope's ^^"''' '745. army, which had sailed to Dunbar. They found it near Preston Pans, and in a single rush almost destroyed it. Returning to Edinburgh, Charles stayed there for six weeks, and then started for England. He had now about 6,000 men under his command. Taking the Western road, his troops went t?and from steadily on until they entered Derby. There q^*"^/' they paused ; and though Charles was himself December, full of hope and burned to push on to London, ^^"^^^ the chiefs resolved to go back to Scotland. Few English E.H. F 66 Settlenmit of the Constitution, 1746. had joined them ; and they were disheartened. On their way back they beat a body of soldiers that overtook them at Chfton, in Cumberland. On the day before Christmas Fight of they marched into Glasgow. They then laid ja^nuary, siege to Stirling, but could not take it. But 1746. at Falkirk Muir they overcame General > •1746-54. The Pelhams. 67 Hawley, who had been sent with 8,000 men to relieve Stirling. Cumberland himself then took the command of the royal troops ; -and the Highlanders fell back to Inverness. Next spring the Duke went in search of them, and found them at Culloden Field, near Inverness At Culloden the royal troops were handled so well that the wildest rushes of the High- cSbden landers could not break their firm array AprU, ly^e. The mountaineers, thus baffled, soon scattered before the murderous volleys of musketry, and made for their several homes. Thus ended the last Jacobite rising. The poor Highlanders were most cruelly treated by the victorious soldiers. For five months Charles wandered about through the Highlands and Western isles, suffering many hardships and meeting with very romantic adventures But in September he got off safe to France. Of his fol' lowers the Lords Lovat, Kilmarnock, and Balmerinoch were beheaded ; nearly a hundred others were also executed. A law was then made doing away with the special authority of the Highland chieftains over their clans. 7. The war with France still went on ; but in Flanders the Allies were generally unsuccessful. As a set-off to their failures by land the British Pe.ce of gained two victories at sea. At length in 1748 A^^'^- peace was made with France and Spain at ^'X"'' Aix-la-Chapelle. None of the nations won anything in this war, except Prussia, which was allowed to keep Silesia 8. Six years of unbroken quiet at home and abroad followed. In 1754 Henry Pelham died, and the strife of statesmen began anew. At the same time Death of things were fast ripening towards the outbreak ^^^'^ of one of the most important wars in history fzt'"' -the Seven Years' War, as it afterwards came to be named. F 2 68 BOOK IV. THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, CHAPTER I. HOW THE WAR WAS BROUGHT ABOUT. I. After the death of Henry Pelham it was not easy to form a ministry that could both do the work of govern- Newcastie's ^"^^"^ ^"^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^'^^ thought needful iviinistry, through the House of Commons. Newcastle 1754-56. ^Q^j, ^j^g ^j.gj. pi^^g . j^^^ j^^ wanted a man to lead the Commons. It was not easy to get such a man ; Pitt was too high-minded, and was, moreover, disliked by the King. Henry Fox, a clever man, who knew well how to humour the Lower House, and had few scruples, was willing to take the post ; but Newcastle wanted ta keep all the power to himself; and it was some time Newcastle's bcforc he could make his bargain with Fox. troubles. Even after he got Fox troubles came thick upon Newcastle. The nation kept drifting into war with France ; and the Duke, looking about for alhes, wanted to draw closer to Austria, which had secretly entered into a friendship with France. Then the French, without declaring war, besieged St. Philip's, in Minorca ; and Admiral Byng, who had been sent with a fleet to bring succour to the place, came away without doing anything. The people grew very angry ; and men began to think more and more of Pitt as the only man who could save Newcastle ^^ nation. Newcastle offered to have Eyng resjgn hanged — indeed, next year Byng was tried by court-martial and shot— but the people were still uneasy and fretful. Then Fox left Newcastle, and soon his Ministry broke up. ^756-57- The Seven Years' War, 69 Pitt Secre- tary of State, November, 1756— April, 1757. 2. By this time war with France had come in earnest, and the voice of the people called loudly for Pitt as the only man fit to have the management of it. Thereupon the King yielded ; and a Ministry was formed in which the Duke of Devonshire, a man of spotless honour, was Prime Minister, and Pitt Secretary of State. In a few months, however, the King— in whose mind the hard things that Pitt had once said about Hanover still rankled— took away his office from Pitt, and asked Newcastle to try and get a ministry together once more. But Pitt had now become the darling of the people, and men gave utter- ance to their feelings in a very marked way. The lead- ing cities and towns sent each its freedom to Pitt in a gold box ; ' for some weeks,' it was said, ' it rained gold boxes.' The King and Newcastle found that it was hopeless to try any longer to withstand the will of the people. Pitt was sent for, again made Secretary, and allowed to become the ruling spirit in the new Pitt's great Cabinet. The management of the war and ^^'"'^try all dealings with foreign States were wholly Ju^t 1*757. placed in his hands. Newcastle was First Lord of the Treasury, and Anson First Lord of the Admiralty. Thus was brought into being one of the strongest minis- tries that have ever ruled England. It had all the strength that came from Parliamentary support, for most of the Commons voted as Newcastle wished ; and it had all the strength that came from masterly intellect and the hearty love of the people, for Pitt was the largest-minded and most popular statesman that England has known for two hundred years. The King too forgot his old grudge against Pitt, and held loyally by his great minister. William Pitt, known in his own days as * the Great Commoner,' was the son of a West Country gentleman. His character was very pure and noble ; when Paymaster 1 \1 70 Settlement of the Constitution, i u9-<,^^ he would not take anything but his lawful salar>', though It was then usual for Paymasters to enrich themselves by wmiam putting out at interest the balance of public b.'i7o8, money in their hands. His ways of speaking :^ rcJi,' «rfL 1 ^^^ .^^ J - i-i 74 Scttleinmt of the ConstiUition. ,759. which more than wiped away the disgrace of Ber-en He was standing at bay on the left bank of the Weser with two French armies before him. These were stron<^lv posted, and he dared not attack them. But he cun- ningly tempted the French to come across the river • whereupon six Enghsh regiments of foot boldly charged OfMinden, and Scattered the French horse. The French Enghsh foot, but were again routed by the swift and steady musketry-l^re of their foes. Then the French general gave the word for retreat. Ferdinand sent orders to Lord George Sackville, the commander of the En-lish horse to charge the retreating army ; and it is thotght that, If Lord George had done so, the French army would have been utterly crushed. But the Englishman, for reasons that are not exactly known, would not char-e • ana the beaten French were able to get back across the river. They lost 7,000 in this battle. For this contempt of orders Sackville was put out of the army altogether by Kmg George. The Marquis of Granby took his place .n command of the horse. Ferdinand kept the upper hand throughout the rest of the campaign, the French armies moving back towards Frankfort. (2.) But the war in Germany was important only be- cause It made success in America possible. It was in The war in '^"'erica that the greatest event of the war America, indeed of the century, took place. This was frnn, ri, r ^l f "f Q"ebec, the chief town of Canada, from the French. Late in June a large fleet, having on Wn[f 'T, "■°°P'' ""^"'' *^ <^°'""''^"d °f General V\ olfe, sailed into the St. Lawrence. Quebec stands on Quebec '"^ 'eft bank of this river, perched on very besieged. high rocks ; and the French commander, a li,rl. I. ^^°""^^'"'' '^'^d posted his army, ,0,000 in all, a httle lower down on the same side. Wolfe began by ■ . 1759. Events of the Seven Years' War, ' 75 bombarding the town from the other side, but did not get a bit nearer winning it, though he did it much harm. Next he crossed to the left bank and tried to force Montcalm from his position. But his foremost troops were too eager, and rushing upon their foes before the 1/ 76 Settlement of the Constitntioji. 1759. others could be brought forward, were beaten and driven back in confusion. Wolfe became disheartened, and almost gave up all hope of getting Quebec that year. Through death and disease his army dwindled to hardly more than 4,500, and he himself fell into a fever. He waited on, however, thinking that help might come to him from the South, whence Generals Amherst and Johnson were striving to make their way. But no help -came ; Johnson took Niagara, Amherst Ticonderoga, yet neither could get near Quebec. At last, one dark night in September, Wolfe's men went aboard boats and drifted silently with an ebbing tide to a point two miles above Quebec, now called Wolfe's Cove. There they landed, climbed the Heights of Abraham, which rose steep from' the river, and early next morning stood drawn up in battle array on the level ground behind the town. Montcalm was taken by surprise, but at once hastened with his army to ' smash ' the English, as he said. The French came briskly on ; the Enghsh stood stock-still until they got their foes within forty yards— then they all Death of at the Same moment poured a deadly volley Wolfe. jj^^Q ^YiQ French ranks. The French paused ; and Wolfe at once led his grenadiers to the charge. In a few minutes all was over ; the enemy fled from the field. But the noble Wolfe fell ; hit by three musket-balls, he Sken^ Se ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ ^° ^^ ^°^^ ^^^^ ^^^ French ran temblV, ^^' and to say, ' I shall die happy,' when he breathed ^759- his last. Montcalm too was wounded, and died next^day. Four days later Quebec surrendered. (3.) This year the French made a grand plan for the^p^rtu°^ invading England. They got together fleets ^eseand at Toulon, Havre, and Brest, and thought coSs, ^^at i^ these could be combined success was ^759. sure. But Pitt took care to prevent the union •of these fleets. In July he sent Admiral Rodney against , ment of Havre, July. Battle of Lagos, August. 1759-60. Events of the Seven Years' War, 77 Havre, who did much damage to the town and the flat- bottomed boats that were to carry the French soldiers across the Channel. In August, Admiral g^ , Boscawen caught the Toulon fleet, which had ""^ ^^ ' slipped through the Straits of Gibraltar, off Lagos, in Portugal, and at once closed with it. In this fight five of the largest French ships were taken or sunk, and the rest driven ashore or forced to flee. Yet the French still clung to their plan ; and the preparations at Brest were pushed briskly forward. To Admiral Hawke had been given the duty of watching that port, and he had watched it all the summer and autumn. But in November the French fleet under Conflans, finding that wild weather had driven Hawke from his sta- Battle of tion, put out to sea. Hawke heard of this Q"iberon movement, came back with all speed, fell upon November.l Conflans, and beat him utterly. This battle was fought in the midst of a raging storm, among dangerous rocks and shoals, well known to the French, but not to the English. It was an awful scene; three French ships were sunk or burnt ; two struck their flags ; the rest were chased into the river Vilaine or Charente. 6. The war lasted some years longer; but the English always got the better of their enemies. In 1760 three small armies moved at the same time on Canada Montreal, where the French still held out. ^^^^^6. Montreal surrendered, and the French power lyeS.^" ' in Canada came to an end. Prince Ferdinand too kept his ground in Westphalia against forces much larger than his own, and even gained one or two battles. Never had the name of England been so great. 7. But at this point the King of Spain thought fit to enter into the war on the side of France. He was a Bourbon, and had a kindly feeling for his cousin of w 7S Settlement of the Constitution. 1 761-63. France. English war-ships, he said, had done grievous wrong to Spanish trade during the war ; and Enghshmen Spain joins ^"^^ ^ut logwood, in spite of him, on the fgJi"n?t ^^""^^ °^ Campeachy Bay. In 1761 he bound England, himself by another Family Compact to go to 1762. ^^j. ^i^j^ England if peace were not made before May i, 1762. Pitt found out about this Family Compact, and wanted to make war on Spain at once when she was unprepared. But George II. had died the year before (October, 1760) ; his grandson, George III., was not so hearty in upholding Pitt ; war was not de- clared ; and Pitt went out of office. In 1762, however, the Spaniards, having got themselves ready, began war Spain vvith England. Again England was victo- defeated j-ious at every point. A Spanish army which had invaded Portugal, then an ally of England, was forced to withdraw ; Havanna, the chief town of Cuba, was taken at one end of the earth ; Manilla, the chief town of the Philippine islands, was taken at the other. Vast sums of money fell into the hands of the victors at both places. 8. In 1763 the war was brought to a close by the Peace of Paris. This treaty has some likeness to the Peace of Peace of Utrecht. The Earl of Bute, George FeWry ^^^''^ ^cw Minister, was so anxious to end the 1763. war that he not only abandoned England's ally, the Prussian king, but let off France and Spain much easier than they had hoped. France made over to England, Canada, Cape Breton, and some West India islands, and gave back Minorca. To Spain, England restored Havanna and Manilla, getting only Florida in their place. Most Englishmen were greatly displeased with this arrangement ; but Bute carried it out neverthe- less. 79 CHAPTER III. THE RISE OF THE ENGLISH POWER IN INDIA. I. Two things make the Seven Years' War the most fruitful event of modern times for England. The first is that it overthrew the French power in America, and thus smoothed the way for the revolt of the English colonies When the colonists no longer needed the help of the mother-country against foes on their feln"'^ soil they were sure soon to separate them- ^^^''s' War. selves from her altogether. The second noticeable thing about this war is, that during it the English be-an to build up their Empire in India. 2. England owes her sway over India to a mere body of traders. In 1600 some London merchants got from Queen Elizabeth a charter giving them the sole right of trading with the East Indies for Complnf fifteen years. Thus the great East India gLcetb'er Company was founded. In 1609 James J. 3m6oo. renewed this charter without fixing any term of years only keeping to himself the power of taking it awav at noHrrVv ^^r^^ ^" ^^ '^" ^"^^P^^y three years' notice. This Company lasted until 1859; but in i8n other people were allowed to trade with India as well .1, 3.^^^ ^50 years the Company went on trading with the East with no other thought than that of gainin- riches. Their earliest dealings were not with Eadiest " India Itself, but with the islands beyond their English first factories being at Acheen, in Sumatra, theTnll" and Bantam, in Java. In 1612, however, they turned their thoughts towards India itself, and built a factory at Surat. And mi6i5 Sir Thomas Roe was sent to Agra to seek for his countrymen the good-will of Shah Jehan- Rhir, the Great Mogul, as the chief ruler in India was 8o Settlement of the Constitution. 1612-1698. called. But it was not all smooth sailing with the Corn- Enmity of pany at first. The Portuguese and the Dutch, thePortu- ^^Jjq j^^^j „q^ ^ footlng In the Indies before guese and ° ° the Dutch. the English came, and did not wish any others to share in their gains, gave the Company much trouble. They had forts and ships of war in those parts, and sought to drive the English away by force. The English met force with force ; and for many years a bitter warfare was kept up. In 161 2 a Portuguese fleet made a bold attempt to crush the English at Surat, but failed. The Dutch fought longer and more doggedly ; and having more men and armed ships in the Indies than the English, got the upper hand for a time. James I. wanted very much to reconcile the Dutch and English Companies, and twice made them agree to a peace. But the hatred between them was long in dying out, and led to more than one lawless deed of bloodshed. 4. Still the English Company not only held its own but found a way into other parts of India. In 1640 it built Fort St. George (Madras) and Fort St. David on lands which it bought from a native prince. Next Charles II. gave it Bombay (1662), which had come to him by his marriage with a princess of Portugal. After the Restoration it became wonderfully pros- thTcom-*^ perous. But in William III.'s time it got into pany. trouble both at home and in India. A new Company was formed which claimed freedom of trade ; and having many friends in Parhament, seemed likely to destroy the old. At the same time it did something in India which kindled the wrath of the Great Mogul, Aurengzebe ; and it lost the flourishing trading settle- ments which it had formed at Hooghly. But in a few years both clouds passed away. Aurengzebe was per- suaded to take the Company again into favour, and granted it some lands on the Hooghly. There in 169S 1702-48. Rise of the Eftglish Power in India. - 81 The English in India in 1740. it raised Fort William, round which the present Indian capital, Calcutta, afterwards grew up. And, in 1702, the old and new Companies made up their quarrel by uniting themselves together. Thus quiet came, and fresh pros- perity along with it. 5. In 1740 things stood thus. Each station — Fort St. George, Fort William, and Bombay — formed a kind of little state in itself, with a ruling body named by the Company, and a small army, partly Europeans and partly natives. These latter were called Sepoys, from the native word for soldier (sipahi). Money-making was still the only thought of the English. The notion of bringing any part of India under their rule seems never to have entered their heads. But in 175 1 they were drawn, almost in spite of them- selves, into the quarrels of the native princes, and were thus tempted to enter on a wider field of action. 6. At this time there was a French East India Com- pany also, with its chief stations in the island of Mauritius and at Pondicherry, south of Madras. In 1746 the Governor of Mauritius was La FrSich in" Bourdonnais, an able and honourable man ; ^"^*^- and the Governor of Pondicherry was Dupleix, also a man of great ability, but ambitious and vain. As war was then going on between England and France, La Bourdonnais sailed with 3,000 men to Madras, which being unable to withstand his greater force, surrendered to him. The Frenchman promised to give back the place to the English when they had paid him a large sum of money. But Dupleix claimed Madras as his con- quest ; and when La Bourdonnais sailed away he not only kept tjie place, but laid siege to Fort St. David. From Fort St. David he was frightened away by the coming of a new force from England. In 1748 the war in Europe ceased, and Madras again became English. E.H. G 82 Settlement of the Constitution. 1748-51. 7. But peace with the English brought no rest to Dupleix. The Empire of the Great Mogul was now fast Dupleix-s breaking up ; each native ruler was as good designs. ^s independent in the lands under his govern- ment ; and Dupleix thought that he might, by mixing himself up in their affairs, make himself the greatest man in Southern India. He was very successful for a time. He pulled down one Nabob of Arcot and set up another ; he pulled down the Viceroy of the Deccan — the Nizam, as he was called — and set up another in his place. The rule of South- Eastern India from the river Kistna to Cape Comorin was put into Dupleix's hands ; his will was law among thirty millions of people. 8. At this state of affairs the Enghsh in Madras got afraid of being driven out of the country altogether, and The English Sent a few hundred men to help Mahommed interfere. ^1^ gon of the slain Nabob, who still held out in Trichinopoly. But these men were shamefully beaten, and shut up with their ally in Trichinopoly. It was just Robert at this time that Robert Clive, a young man of Ciive, noble daring, yet wary and cool-headed, came d. 1774. forward to take the lead among the English. He was the son of a Shropshire gentleman, had been first % clerk in the Company's service, then an officer, and then a clerk again. He was now put at the head of 500 men, of whom but 200 were Europeans, and in August Ciive's early 175 1 marched Straight upon Arcot, the chief successes. town of the Camatic. Arcot fell w^ithout strik- ing a blow ; and Clive at once strengthened the walls and got all things ready for a siege. Ten thousand men soon closed round Arcot ; but for fifty days Clive kept them at bay. In November the besiegers tried to storm the place, but were utterly defeated, and gave up the siege. A body of Mahrattas, which had been hired to fight for Mahommed Ali, then coming up, Clive went in search of the retreating 1751-56. Rise of the Ejiglish Power in India. 83 army, overtook it at Arnee, and beat it thoroughly. Clive then went on from success to success ; the siege of Trichi- nopoly was raised, and Mahommed Ali was made Nabob of Arcot. Dupleix worked hard to undo the effect of Ciive's daring deeds, but in vain. The upshot of the strife was that Dupleix was recalled to France, and a peace favourable to the English was made in 1754. The year before this, however, Clive had fallen into ill-health, and gone back to England. 9. In 1756 CHve came back to India as governor of Fort St. David. About the same time a dreadful misfor- tune befell the English in Bengal. The young The Black Nabob of Bengal, Surajah Dowlah, was jeal- Calcutta ous of the prosperity of the strangers who had 1756. settled on his soil, and, in 1756, led an army to take and rob Calcutta. The English governor and the chief officer ran away ; and the small garrison had to give up the place. Then an awful deed was done by the Nabob's officers. They thrust their 146 prisoners, one of whom was a woman, into the narrow guard-room of the fort, called the Black Hole, in which hardly a score of people could breathe freely. Stifled for want of air they shrieked to be let out ; but the men on guard were afraid to do this without an order from the Nabob ; and the Nabob was asleep, and no one dared to wake him. They were therefore kept in all night. The scene was horrible; the prisoners trampled on one another in their agony ; some died at once; some went mad. Next morning, when the doors were opened, 123 were corpses. Yet the hard heart of the Nabob was untouched ; he put some of the few survivors in chains, and took Calcutta to himselfi But in some months Clive was sent from Madras with 2^4.00 men. He soon won back Calcutta from the Nabob's soldiers ; and when the Nabob came down on the place with a mighty host, Clive struck such fear into G 2 84 Settleme7it of the Co7istitution. 1757. him by a march which he made through his camp that the Nabob was glad to agree to a peace. 10. This peace lasted only a short time. The Nabob soon came to hate and dread the English more than ever ; and Clive, thinking there would be no safety for his countrymen so long as Surajah Dowlah was lord of Bengal, made a plot for his overthrow. Meer Jaffier, his chief general, was to be made nabob in his room. In ^^ j^^ this affair Clive stooped to do a very shameful agal^s^ thing. Omichund, a Hindoo merchant, who Dowiah. had been taken into the plot, threatened to »757- ' tell Surajah Dowlah of it unless he was pro- mised 300,000/. in the treaty made by the persons en- gaged in the design. To quiet Omichund, Clive caused a false copy of the treaty to be drawn up ; and when Admiral Watson would not sign this, Clive had his name put to it by another man. In this, which was shown to Omichund, the promise of 300,000/. was made to the Hindoo, but there was not a word about the money in the true treaty. Clive marched at the head of 3,000 men towards Moorshedabad, the chief town of Bengal. At Plassey he met the Nabob's army, 50,000 strong, led by Battle of the Nabob himself Here took place the first Plassey, ^reat battle fought by the English in India. Tune ix ^ o ^ 1757. '' The Nabob's army broke almost at once before the onset of dive's little band, and rushed wildly from the field. Surajah Dowlah fled far away, but was caught, brought before Meer Jaffier, and slain in prison. Clive went on to Moorshedabad, and there set up Meer Jaffier as nabob of Bengal. Then Omichund was told of the trick that had been played upon him. The shock was so great that he became an idiot, and soon afterwards died. The new nabob granted the EngUsh the lordship of a wide tract of land as the reward of their services to him. 1 1757-61. Rise of the English Power in India. 85 11. Clive's second stay in India lasted three years longer. He was not idle during this time. He put to flight the army of the Great Mogul's eldest son cilve's from before Patna. He destroyed a Dutch ^l^^^^^ fleet and army which were on their way up 1757-60. the Hooghly to Chinsurah, a Dutch station, because he believed they had been sent to work evil to his country- men. He never faltered, and everything he put his hand to prospered. Early in 1760 he sailed home, and was at once made an Irish peer as Lord Clive, and got a seat among the Commons. 12. Whilst Clive was busy in Bengal, the English at Madras were in serious danger. Count Lally ToUendal, a brave and skilful but rather fiery general, Laiiy had been sent out from France with 1,200 i^dll^xjsS- trained soldiers to strengthen the French at 1761. Pondicherry. In 1758 he laid siege to Fort St. David, took it and levelled it to the ground. Next he went against Madras itself ; but after trying every means he could think of to win the place, he had to give up his design and march away. In 1760 he was End of overthrown by Eyre Coote, a famous English }j^^^}-^^ soldier, at Wandewash. Next year Pondi- i"dia, 1761. cherry was taken by the English. With the fall of Pondicherry the French power in India came to an end. It was now clear that the English were to be masters of India, if India was to have foreign masters. S6 BOOK V. THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE KING AND THE WHIG HOUSES. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF GEORGE III.'S REIGN. I. In October 1760 George II. suddenly died, and his eldest grandson became king as George III. The new king was twenty-two years old ; and his character was in many ways unlike that of the earlier kings of his line. He was thoroughly English in feeling as in birth ; he had much good sense ; he was fully alive to Kingfijei his duties as a king, and strove to fulfil them 1820.' faithfully ; and he had always a warm desire to do good to his people. He had also high courage and spirit. Perhaps his most marked quality was his unflinch- ing pursuit of any end that he had once set before him. His life was pure, and his tastes were homely. oMeOTge But his powers of mind were not great ; his i^^- understanding was narrow and untrained ; and he had little knowledge. Eleven months after his accession he married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strehtz, a lady like-minded with himself Queen Charlotte became the mother of many children, and lived until 1818. 2. George III.'s coming to the throne wrought great changes, but not at once. The Jacobites and High Pitt's Min- Tories indeed, who had held aloof in dislike istry still Qj. enmity from the first two Georges, saw in office.'" George III. a native king to whom they could be loyal, and crowded to his Court. The Earl of Bute, ^. X761. First Ten Years of George I I lis Reign. "^J who had hitherto been his great friend and counsellor, was made one of the Secretaries of State ; and there were some other little signs that a new order of things was at hand. But the Ministry of William Pitt was still kept in power. The whole management of the war and of foreign affairs was still left to him. 3. But in October Pitt withdrew from office, because his advice to make war at once upon Spain was not fol- lowed ; and the king straightway struck into -phe King a new path. Taking as his guide John Stuart, enters upon Earl of Bute, he set to work to make himself course, king in reality. For almost fifty years the '^Si- King of England had been helpless in the hands of the great Whig houses. The Constitution still gave him a large measure of power ; but the heads of these houses had come to look upon this power as their own. The king could not withhold from them anything they were firmly bent on having ; for everything now hung on the vote of the Commons, and the Whig leaders had the means of getting this vote whenever they wished. As George II. had once said, ' in England the Ministers were king ; ' and these must be taken from the ranks of the great Whig lords and of those whom these lords favoured. But George III. made it the grand purpose of his life to wrest from the Whig lords the foremost place in the State. Thus began a struggle that lasted for many years, in which George had his own way in the end. 4. One or two things make this fight for power unlike other struggles of the same kind in our history, (t.) It was not a strife between the king and the -^^^^^^ people, but between the king and a few men of the of vast influence. The Revolution Settlement struggle. had left to the king a fair share of power ; he could declare war ; make peace ; call together and send away 88 Settlement of the Constitution, 1762. parliaments ; bestow honours, dignities, and every kind of appointment in Church and State at his pleasure ; and do many other things which made people look up to him with reverence, and be glad to win his favour. George III. now raised the question — was all this power to be used by the king himself or by the Whig houses ? George strained every nerve to make this power the king's, and his alone. He called himself a Whig of the Revolution, for he wanted things brought back to what they had been in 1690. (2.) The kings of former days had sought to work their will in spite of the Commons ; but George sought to work his will throtigh the Commons. To gain his ends he used every means he could think of to get members of Parliament to vote as he wished. And it was only by mtmbers of Parliament voting as he wished that he was able to gain his ends. This, then, is the meaning of the struggle— George was resolved that his will should be of some account in the ruling of the country, and sought to make the working of the Constitution such as the Revolution had made it. 5. The battle began in earnest in May 1762, when Newcastle was forced to resign his post. Bute, who had Bute Prime ^"^^ some time held all the power of a Prime Minister, Minister, then became so in name also. The May, 1762. raising of such a man to so high an office in itself showed what the king was bent on doing. Bute had been in the service of the king's father, had won the fast friendship of the king's mother, and had been the tutor of the king himself. He had no better gifts of mind than his fellows, and no training as a statesman ; but he had the good-will of the king, and so was made chief ruler of the nation under the Crown. The first trial of strength between the king and the men whom he was eager to humble was about the making of peace with France in 1762. Henry Fox undertook for a large reward I k 1762-65. First Ten Years of George Ill's Reig7i:8g to get a vote in its favour from the Commons. He fulfilled his promise thoroughly. Only 65 of the Commons voted against the Peace, whilst 319 voted for it. George now felt himself to be indeed King of Eng- land. But the wrath of the people at these signs, doings showed itself so plainly that Bute got ^P"'' *^^3' frightened and threw up his office. 6. George Grenville, whose sister was Pitt's wife, was then placed at the head of affairs. It was thought that Grenville would not only carry out the king's Grenville, wishes, but would also be willing to follow Minster, Bute's guidance. But Grenville complained 1763-65- so much to George about Bute's influence that George soon became anxious to get rid of him. There were, however, few statesmen willing to be the king's min- isters on the king's terms. George made several at- tempts to win over Pitt to form a new Ministry ; but they all fell through. At last in 1765 the King's dislike of Grenville overcame his dislike of the Whig lords ; and a Ministry of the old kind, with the Marquis of Rocking- ham as its leader, came into office. 7. Englishmen will long remember Grenville's Min- istry for two causes, (i.) It began and carried on a legal persecution of John Wilkes, a member of Parliament who had written against the 'general Government in a paper called the ^ North ^^'^'^'^^'^'s. Briton.' Wilkes was seized along with several others on a ^ general warrant,' that is, a warrant in which no per- sons were named, but which simply empowered the king's officers to arrest those that had done a certain thing supposed to be unlawful. The Court of Common Pleas released Wilkes because no one had a right to arrest a member of Parliament for libel. There was much excitement throughout the country, and Wilkes became very popular. He soon, however, got into 90 Settlement of the Co?tstitutio7i, 1765-66. trouble again, was wounded in a duel, fled to France^ and was outlawed. But Chief Justice Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden, gave a solemn judgment against the law- fulness of general warrants ; and they have can Stamp never been used since. (2.) Grenville carried ^^' through Parliament the law which first stirred up a strong ill-feeling in the American colonies against England.^ This was an Act for raising a tax from the Americans by means of a duty on stamped paper. . 8. Rockingham's Ministry lasted no longer than a year. The king did not like it, and kept it only until he could get a body of ministers more to his mind. It lived long enough, however, to do away with the American Stamp Act, which had caused a general outburst of angry feeling in America, and indeed could not be Rocking- enforced.- But the king looked coldly on this MiUisferr^ Ministry ; and the Kmg's Friends, as those 1765-6. members in the Commons were called who were always ready to vote as the King bade them, took the side opposed to it. The King, moreover, vvas at last able to make an arrangement with Pitt. Rockingham was dismissed, and Pitt, who was now created Earl of Chatham, took his place. 9. Pitt's second Ministry was as great a failure as his first had been a success. For this there were several Pitt's reasons. He had lost the love of the people Innfsfry, ^y becoming a peer. He had undertaken to 1766-8. break up parties — a task which he found to be impossible. He had separated himself from his old Whig friends, and found himself with no other followers than the King's Friends, who looked more to the King than to him. But there was a sadder cause still. Early * See Epoch VII., p, 6. 2 See Epoch VII., p. 7. 1768. First Ten Years of George I IIJs Reign. 91 in 1767 a strange disease laid hold upon him ; his mind seems to have given way ; and for eighteen months he was utterly helpless, being unable to take the slightest part in the management of affairs. During this time everything went wrong, for the Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister in name, was too weak to hold in check the other ministers. Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, got Parliament to agree to a bill laying duties on tea and other goods imported to America ; ^ and thus the wound which the repeal of the Stamp Act had almost healed vvas torn open anew. In 1768 Chatham's health of mind came back to him ; but the first use he made of it was to give up his place in the Ministry. 10. Grafton stayed in office for some time longer. During this the King was making good way towards the object he was seeking after, for neither Grafton nor Lord North, whom the death of Charles Townshend had made Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767, cared to thwart him. The noisiest question this Min- istry had to deal with was one that arose out Ministry, of the election of Wilkes to Parliament. In ^768-70. 1768 Wilkes had returned from Paris and been chosen one of the members for Middlesex. But he was sent to gaol for two years in punishment of the libels he had written. Whilst in gaol he wrote a the rights letter which the Commons regarded as a libel of electors. on the Secretary of State, Lord Weymouth. They therefore expelled Wilkes from their House. Middlesex again elected him. A second time the Commons ex- pelled him. Middlesex elected him a third time. But on his being expelled a third time, another man, one Colonel Luttreil, stood for Middlesex ; and, though three times as many votes were given for Wilkes, the Commons took Luttreil as their member. Many people thought 1 See Epoch VII., p. 7. 92 Settlement of the ConstitiUion, 1770. a gross 1 7 7 1 . George III, and L ord North. 93 that the Commons in taking this course did wrong to the electors. In 1770 Grafton resigned, and Lord North at once be- came the chief of a new Ministry. CHAPTER II. GEORGE III. AND LORD NORTH. I. Lord North was the eldest son of the Earl of Guildford. He was a very good-humoured, even-tem- Lord North, pared man ; it was almost impossible to make MiSster ^^^ angry. To most people his Ministry at r77o-82. ' first seemed very weak and not likely to live long. Yet it lived for twelve years. Many things worked together to give it this unusual length of life. The King's Friends were hearty in upholding it. The King found in Lord North a Minister to his mind, and used his power and influence to the uttermost to keep him in office. He took pains to find out how each ^u^rs^o?* member of Parliament voted, and gave or action. withheld his favours according as he voted for or against Lord North. Then the old Tory party had come together again, and, true to its principles, held to the man whom the king delighted to honour. Lastly, the Whigs had got disunited, some looking to Chatham, others to Rockingham as their leader. And George, who longed to do away with party-government, now and then gave office to a Whig of mark who was willing to break with his party. 2. The king had now fairly got the upper hand ; during these twelve years he was in every way the real ruler of the nation. He and Lord North thought alike ^ i about the rights of the people and the rights of the king, for Lord North was a stout Tory. Moreover, George was a man of masterful will, Lord North was of an easy, yielding temper, and did little more than carry out the King's wishes. The bulk of the Commons cheerfully agreed to everything that the ministers laid before them. 3. Yet in 1771 the Commons foolishly thrust them- selves into a quarrel which ended in a way that, in the long run, weakened the king's power, and helped forward great changes in Parliament itself. At this time men outside Parliament had not the means which they have now of easily learning what members said in their debates. Neither the Lords nor the Commons would let anyone publish in an open way any account of their debates. In 1771 certain newspapers began to give to the world reports of speeches in Parliament without dis- guise. The Commons grew angry, and called upon the printers to come before them and answer for what they had done. One or two of the printers thus summoned would not come, and an officer of the House was sent to arrest them. But this officer was himself seized and brought before the Lord Mayor on a charge of having tried to arrest a citizen of London without a lawful warrant. The Lord Mayor ordered him to be sent to prison. In this way the House of Commons and the City of London got into a bitter dispute, in the course of which the Lord Mayor was sent to the Tower. But the men of London showed so dangerous a temper, that the Com- mons took care never to bring on themselves a similar trouble again. Henceforth newspapers have been al- lowed to publish as full reports of Parliamentary debates as they can get. 4. Statesmen had now begun to watch the growth of Parliament- ary debates first allowed to be printed, 1771. 94 Settlement of (he Constitution, 1760-65 . English power in India with some interest ; and a feel- ^ ^^^ ing was spreading that the men who were at EngTish° the head of Enghsh affairs in that land had inlia' '" often been guilty of wrongful deeds. After 1760-4. 1760 the onward course of the Enghsh in India had gone on unchecked. In 1763 the Council of Calcutta, who had shortly before set aside Meer Jaffier, and made Meer Cossim nabob of Bengal in his place, took offence at Meer Cossim, and sent an army to over- throw him also. He was overthrown, and Meer Jaffier became nabob once more. But this high-handed way of dealing with an Indian prince was very displeasing to other Indian princes; and in 1764 the Great Mogul himself, Shah Alum, and his Vizier, the Buxir^ more powerful nabob of Oude, Sujah Dowlah, 1764. ' marched a force of 50,000 men against the meddling strangers. At Buxar this force was met, and shamefully routed by 8,000 Sepoys and 1,200 Europeans, led by Major Hector Munro. Next day Shah Alum, glad to free himself from the control of his Vizier, slipped into Munro's camp, and agreed to a treaty which placed in the hands of the Company the rule of still more Indian lands. 5. But by this time the misconduct of the Company's servants had reached such a height, and the Company's dive's last affairs had fallen into such disorder, that in 1765 Lord Clive had to go out a third time to try and set things right. A great fear fell upon the native princes when they heard that Clive was again in India ; Sujah Dowlah at once yielded himself up, and the Great Mogul was ready to do anything the English liked. Clive gave back to Sujah Dowlah the greater part of Oude, whilst he got the Great Mogul to make over to the Company, in return for a yearly rent of 260,000/., the rule of Bengal, Orissa, and Bahar. In this visit to India, 1765-6. f 1765. George III, and Lord North. 95 way the English in India became lords of a region larger than England itself. Clive found his own countrymen much harder to deal with. They were loth to give up trading on their own account and taking gifts from the q6 Scttlevicnt of the Constitution. 1765-74. natives, by which they were growing very rich. The arm 'which lay at Monghir, mutinied. But Chve stood fear essly to his purpose ; the mutmy at Mongh.r was put down with a strong hand, and every man m the pay of the Company had to bow to Chve's wdl. Late ^1766 ill-health again forced Clive to return to ^"?ciive's reforms did not at once work all the good expected from them. In .767 the English at Madras !. ^ ; , were drawn into a costly war with Hyder Ah, SftelfTht the Rajah of Mysore, the most dangerous l^r' foe they had yet encountered ; and after two vears' fi-hting they had to make a peace from.wh.ch they Ta^ed nothing ; and in 1770 a dreadful famme carried off a third of the people of Bengal. The Company sank d!ep J and deeper into distress, and Parliament felt Jound to take steps to lessen this evil state of things After certain members of the Commons, who had been ^med to look into the Company's affairs had gn^en m their report. Parliament passed the Regula- TheRegu- • it brought in by Lord North. Ihis "^ ^" law set up a new court at Calcutta, called the Supreme Court, made the Governor of Bengal-who then happened to be Warren Hastings-Governor-General of Tndfa and named a council of four to advise this official ^wvhT doings The Commons also soon after TaLdatteof-s-eon Lord Clive ^r some of Ms r t / acts in India, though they allowed he had ?S? done great things for his country-. Clive, how- November, ^^^^ ^^^ treatment very much to heart, Ind towards the end of 1774 killed himself in his London Lnnse He was only forty-nine years old. 7 But it was upon America that men's eyes were chie'fly fixed whUe n' rth was Minister.^ In the first half 1 See Epoch VII., pp. 8-19. i 1774-77. George III. and Lord North, 97 \ of his time of office the chief work of Parliament was to agree to those laws— laid before them by the King's trusted Minister— which led to the colonists l^.^ taking up arms against the mother-country ; North^s^ during the second half, Parliament, Lord North, with • • 1 Am cries. and the King were vainly strivmg to undo the mischief they had done. The Commons must share with George 1 11. the blame of having driven the Americans into war, and seen their mistake only when it was too late. Nor should it be forgotten that the country at large was of the same mind as King and Par- Public liament regarding the justice of their cause ; theTmer?- the English people, save a few deep-thinking can war. and far-seeing men, approved of the course that the King and his Minister were taking. 8. Such, however, was not the opinion of Lord Chatham. He often spoke with great force and earnestness against the laws and doings that were angering the Americans, and in 1775 he brought in a bill for doing Lord away with all causes of quarrel between the tHe^to pre- two countries. This bill the Lords at once vent war. threw out ; but Chatham still tried hard to save his coun- try from herself. When the war had broken out, he told his countrymen that they could not ' conquer the Americans,' and again and again spoke warmly in favour of peace. When'the news of the disgrace at Saratoga in 1777 came,^ and France made an alliance with America, there was a general wish that Chatham should be made Prime Minister, and Lord North would gladly have given place to him. But the frank words that Chatham had often uttered regarding the management of American affairs had greatly displeased the king, and he was slow to see the necessity of taking the great statesman into his counsels ; and before the king could make up his mind 1 See Epoch VII., p. 15. E.H. H 98 Settlement of the Constitution. 1778 1779-82. George III. and Lord North. Chatham was dead. In April 1778 he had, though very ill, gone to the House of Lords to speak against a motion in favour of peace ; for now that France had joined America, Chatham would not hear of peace ; he had spoken against the motion, and when rising to S^May speak a second time had fallen back in a fit- II. 1778. Five weeks later he died. Lord North, eager as he was to leave his post, was forced to stay. If he, had gone, the heads of tne Whig houses must have come into power ; and the king said, ' I would rather lose the crown I wear than bear the ignominy of possessing it under their shackles.' 9. Yet Lord North had no easy task. A group of very able men, small in number, but great in gifts of The Oppo- genius and power of speech, opposed him in sition. the Commons and gave him no rest. Of these the deepest thinker and speaker was Edmund Burke, an Irishman, who had been brought into Parlia- ment by Lord Rockingham, and gained a foremost place Edmund in the ranks of the Whigs by sheer force of ?"^^^^ intellect. Burke wrote as well as spoke d! 1797! powerfully ; indeed he is believed to be our greatest political writer. The greatest speaker of the group was Charles James Fox, a younger son of Henry Charles Fox. At hrst Fox had been a Tory, and been James Fox, jj^ ^ff^^e for some ycars under Lord North ; b. i74y» d. 1806. but he changed his views as time went on, became a Whig, and ere long took the place of Whig leader in the Commons. By watchful care he made himself the most skilful and telling Parliamentary speaker of the day. Other Whigs of mark were Colonel Barre and Mr. Dunning. 10. Session after session these men withstood Lord North in every way they could think of. They spoke strongly and boldly against everything the Minister did, 99 warned him of the fatal course he was taking in taxing and then trying to conquer the Americans, and frankly said that they thought the Americans right in resistino- the armies of England. They were nearly always beaten by large majorities, but they were not disheartened, and never ceased from their attacks on the Minister. The thing they were most bitter against was the Economic great and growing power of the kinor. To cut ^^^^o'"'" A^ iX.- ^ ^ • , ^ movement, down this power they hit upon a plan for les- 1779-82. sening the king's influence, which they named Economic Reform, and strove zealously to get Parliament to approve of it. It was Burke who thought out, and was most eager in pushing forward, this plan. It sought to do away with all useless offices, to bring down the pension list to a fixed sum, 60,000/. a year— in fact to make the work of ruling the nation less costly. But its grand ^ aim was to weaken the king's influence; most of the useless offices were in the king's household ; many of the men who held them sat among the Commons, and readily voted as their master wished. A brief sentence states the whole evil which Burke wanted to destroy— 'The king's turnspit was a member of Parliament.' Efforts were made to carry this plan through Parliament from time to time, but they all failed so long as Lord North was Prime Minister. 1 1. But in March 1782, owing to the ill-success of the English arms in America,^ the Commons began to show signs of turning against Lord North ; and the Lord North king at last consented to let him go. Once more George had to fall back on the Whig houses, and to take Lord Rockingham a's Minister. Still he was able to keep a high place for at least one of his friends ; Lord Thurlow re- mained Chancellor. Fox was one of the Secretaries of ^ See Epoch VII., p. 18. h2 resigns. Rocking- ham Prime Minister, March, 1782. lOO Settlement of the Constitution. .782-S3. State and Burke Paymaster of the Forces. This M^ni^trv lasted but a few months, for Rockmgham died Mmistr> lastea uui enough, however, to in the foUow.ng J J ^^^fj^^^ol^^ i^io.r.. This carry a Pa" of » ^i^"^^,,,^, offices, and cut down X. Tent: li:trbut'tt :.. far from doin, aU that had '^^ta'ToSham was no sooner Jea^tb-an^t^^^^^^^^^^^ r: °?" wi rad%:'r r Sde?of fhe 'c^ i l';rr Min. Whigs after Chatham's death, and w,th h,s i's"' J"'^'- friends had taken office under Lord Rockmg- T' Rnt now the king gave the first place to the v'",- of Shelburne and Fox, Burke, and the other Sdfof'SSan. resigned ^-a body, and became thf. enemies of the new Ministry. They did worse , they took th^ a al step of uniting themselves with the party of Ae man a<.ainst whom they had fought so long and b t ter y Lord°North. This conduct brought dcnvn upon them the wrath both of king and people, and led, after a hon struggle, to their utter o-'^^f Fo.lndVonh the ' Coahtion,' as the combined party of Fox and JNortn *' wa^ called, outvoted Shelburne on a quest on The'Coall- ^ j p-gx had himself set in mot,on-the l^.^F^r making of peace.' Shelburne had to retire Dec. .783. ^^ then forced the king to take them as his ministers ; and George for nearly a je-'-^a^ to ^cten to the counsels of men whom he hated. He made no secret of his enmity to them, and thwarted them by Trtm ans in his power. Yet ^e two statesmen had mo^ of the Commons at their command, and the king ivas helpless in their hands. But in December 1783 he Wt that he could bear the yoke no longer ; and when an ?ndia Bill of Fox's, which the Commons had approved of 1 See Epoch VII., p. 22. 1784. Geovire II L and Lord NortJi. lOI went up to the Lords, the king let it be known that he would look on every lord who voted for it as his enemy. The Lords therefore threw out the bill ; and the king not only turned away his hated ministers, but boldly offered the post of Prime Minister to WilHam Pitt, a younger son of Lord Chathams, then only twenty-four years old. Pitt, with even greater boldness, accepted the king's offer (December 1783)- 13. For three months the new Minister had to hold his place against a House of Commons that promptly voted against him on every question. Pitt william was beaten over and over again ; the ' Coali- Pjj^^^^^j;"^ tion ' strained every nerve to drive him from i^ecember, office. But Pitt manfully stood his ground. '^Ss- A strong feeling against Fox and North was setting in throughout the country, and Pitt was resolved to wait until this feeling had reached its height. Late in March 1784 he saw that the proper time had come, and asked the king to dissolve Parliament. The king did so ; and in the general election which followed, by far the greater number of members chosen ^,^^^^^j were pledged to give their votes to Pitt. The election of king had won ; the election of 1784 gave the '7^^- Tories the rule of the country for almost fifty years. When we look closely at the ninety-five years of English history which we have just passed through, side :bv side with the times which go before, the thing that we see most clearly is this — the House of Commons has now come to be all-important in the State. But when we look at the history of these same years side by side with the times that come after, the thing that strikes us most is— the House of Commons I02 Settlciuent of the ConstiUition. is not yet a body that has a mind of its own and can. act for itself. Owing to the way in which most of its. members are chosen, it willingly puts itself into the hands of others, and gives them its power to use as they wish. At one time some powerful men among the nobility manage to bind together their friends among the Commons, and through these to make and unmake the king's Ministries at their pleasure. At another tmie a resolute king, by bringing into play the means still left in his power, can win over most of the Commons to his side, and carry out his will in every part of the State. It is clear, however, that any great change in the way of choosing men to sit in Parliament might take away from the king and the great folk the power of getting any kind of vote they want from the Commons, and might thus aUer very much the manner of ruling the people. Such a change has since come, as will be told in a later Avork in this series. But for a hundred years the people were pretty well satisfied with the order of things they lived under, and desired no change. Many men were growing rich ; trade was spreading swiftly ; there was a rude plenty among the tillers of the soil, and there was little complaining. And there is much in the history of this time for English- men to be proud of. It is true, they lost the American colonies of their own planting ; but, on the other hand, they twice overcame in war the most warlike European power, wrested from this same power its great American colonies, crushed its strength in India, and began build- ing up in that country a grand empire for themselves. f INDEX OF PERSONS. ADD A DDISON, Joseph, 44 ^ Amherst, General, 73, 76 Anne, Queen, 25, 26, 28, 31-47 Anson, Commodore, 60 ; Lord, &9 Arcot, Nabob of, 82 Arg^'le, Earl of, 9 Argyle, Duke of, 49 Atterbur>% Francis, Rochester, 56 Aurengzebe, 80 Bishop of BARRE, Colonel, 98 ^ , , Bentinck, Earl of Portland, 25 Boscawen, Admiral, 77 Boufflers, Marshal, 35 Braddock, General, 71 Burke, Edmund, 98, 99 Bute, Earl of, 78, 87, 89 Byng, Sir George, 52 Byng, Admiral, son, 68 PAMDEN, Lord, 90 ^ Cameron, Richard, 10 Campbell of Glenlyon, Captain, Carpenter, General, 50 Carteret, Lord, 61 ; Earl Granville. 62 Charles IL, King of England, 4 Charles IL, King of Spain, 27, 28, Charles IIL, King of Spain, 77 Charles, the Archduke. 29, 30. Emperor, 45. 52, 6.3 Charles Edward, Prince, 65, 67 Charles, Elector of Bavaria, 63; Emperor, 64 Charlotte, Queen, 86 Cleland, William Colonel, 10 GEO Clive, Robert, 82, 83, 84 ; Lord 85 Conflans, Admiral, 77 Coote, Eyre, 85 Cope, Sir John, 65 Cumberland, William, Duke of, 64. 67, 72 D ALRYMPLE, Sir John, n Danby, Earl of, 4, 23 Dauphin, the, 28, 20, 30 Derwentwater, Earl of, 49 Devonshire, Duke of, 69 Dunning, Mr., 98 ^ „ ,. , Dupleix, Governor of Pondicherry, 81, 82 ELIZABETH, Queen, 24, 79 Elizabeth of Bohemia, 25 Eugene of Savoy, Prince, 34, 35 FERDINAND of Brunswick, Duke, 72, 73, 75, 77 Forster, Mr., 49 Fox, Henr>', 68, 88 Fox, Charles James, son, 98, 99, 100 Frederick, the Palsgrave, 26 Frederick IL, King of Prussia, the Great, 63, 71 Freeman, Mrs., 32 C ALWAY, Earl of, 37 ^ . ^^ George of Denmark, Prince, 32 George I., King, 47-57 George IL, King, son, 57-78, 87 George IIL, King, grandson, 76, 86-101 104 Index of Persons. Index of Persons. lo; GIN SAC Ginkell, General, i Gloucester, Duke of, 25 Godolphin, Lord, 33, 42, 4^ Grafton, Duke of, 91, 92 Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, 8, 9, 10 Grammont, Duke of, 63 Granby, Marquis of, 74 Grenvllle, George, 89 Guildford, Earl of, 92 HAMILTON, Richard, 13 Hardwicke, Lord, 61 Harley, Robert, 43 ; Earl of Oxford, 43> 45. 46, 4? Hastings, Warren, 96 Hawke, Admiral, 77 Hawley, General, 67 Hyder Ali, 96 cy ACQ BITES, the, 5 J James L, King, 70, 80 James IL, King, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, T4, 17, 18, 24, 27, 31, 32 James Edward, the Pretender, 27, 46, 48, 49, 51. 57. 64 Jenkins, Robert, 59 Joseph, Electoral Prince of Bavaria, 28, 29 TZENMURE, Eari of, 49, 50 ■^^ Kilmarnock, Earl of, 67 T A BOURDONNAIS, Governor -■-^ of ^L1uritius, 81 Lally Tollendal, Count, 85 Leopold, Emperor, 28, 29 Lewis XIV., King of France, 5, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26-31, 39, 45, 47. Lewis XV., Kmg of France, great- grandson, 51, 59 Lovat, Lord, 67 Luttrell, Colonel, 91 Luxemburg, Marshal, 19 TV/TAC IAN, of Glencoe, 11 ^^^ Mackay, Hugh, General, 9 Mahommed Ali, 82 Mar, Earl of, 49, 50 Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, 63, 64 Marlborough, Duke of, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 42. 46 Marlborough, Duchess of, wife, 32, 43 Mary II. , Queen, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 22, 25 Maurice of Saxony, Pnnce, 64 Meer Cossim, 94 Meer Jafifier, 84, 94 Mogul, the Great, 79, 80, 85 Montague, Charles, 22 ; Earl of Halifax, 43 Montcalm, Marquis of, 74-6 Morley, Mrs., 32 Munro, Hector, Major, 94 N EWCASTLE, Duke of, 62, 68, 69, 88 Nizam, the, 82 Noailles, Marshal, 63 Nonjurors, the, 5 North, Lord, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100 Nottingham, Earl of, 4, 23 f^MICHUND, Hindoo merchant, ^ 84 Orleans, Duke of, 51 Ormond, Duke of, 36, 48, 49 pELHAM, Henr>% 62, 68 •*■ Pelhams, the, 61-67 Peterborough, Earl of, 37 Philip, Duke of Anjou, 30 ; Philip v.. King of Spain, 30, 36, 45, 46, 5^. 52, 59 „ „ Pitt, William, 58, 62, 68, 69-78, 87, 90; Earl of Chatham, 91, 97. 98 Pitt, William, the younger, son, 97, Id Pulteney, William, 58 ■O OCKINGHAIM, IMarquis of, 89. ■*^^ 90, 99, 100 Rodney, George, Admiral, 76 Roe, Sir Thomas, 79 Rooke, Sir George, Admiral, 34 Russell, Admiral, 18 C ACHEVERELL, Henry, 42 *^ Sackville, Lord George, 74 SAT WOO ■St. John, Henry, 43; Viscount Bolingbroke, 43, 45, 47. 4^, 49 St. Ruth, General, 15 Sarsfield, Patrick, General, 15 Shah Alum, 94 Shah Jehanghir, 79 Shelbume, Earl of, 100 Shrewsbury, Earl of, 4 ; Duke of, 47 Somers, Lord, 23, 25, 30, 40, 43 Sophia, Electress of Hanover, 6, 25, 47 Stanhope, General, 37 ; Eari, 48, 50, 51. 52, .53 . , , Steele, Sir Richard, 44 Sujah Dowlah, 94 Surajah Dowlah, 83, 84 Sunderland, Earl of, 40, 51, 53 Swift, Jonathan, Dean, 44, 56 T^ALLARD, Marshal, 34 ■■■ Thurlow, Lord, 99 Torrington, Earl of, 18 Tourville, Admiral, 18 Townshend, Lord, 48, 50. 5i. 52. 58 Townshend, Charles, grandson, 88, 90 Tyrconnel, Duke of, 13 WENDOME, Duke of, 35 * Victoria, Queen, 26 Villars, Marshal, 35 A^rALPOLE, Sir Robert, 48, 50 51. 52, 53-60 ; Earl of Orford, 60, 61 Washington, George, 71 Watson, Admiral, 84 Weymouth, Lord, 91 Wharton, Thomas, Lord, 40 Wilkes, John, 89, 90, 91 William III., King, 2-31, 33, 35. 3S, 39, 40, 80 Wolfe, James, General, 73, 74. 75 Wood, William, 56 '^m T r< Yc \ INDEX OF PLACES. ABR A BRAHAM, Heights of, 76 ■^^ Acheen, 79 Agra, 79 Aix-la-Chapelle, 67 Alleghany Mountains, the, 70 Almanza, 37 America, 59, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74. -j- 78, 90, 97, 09 Arcot, 82 Amee, 82 Aschaffenburg, 63 Athlone, 15 Aughrim, 15 Austria, 57, 68 TDAHAR, 94 ■*-^ Bantam, 79 Barcelona, 37 Bavaria, 34, 63 Beachy Head, 18 Belgium, 33 Bengal, 83, 84, 85, 94, 96 Bergen, 72 Blair Athol, 10, 65 Blenheim, 34 Bombay. 80, 81 Boyne, the, 14 Braemar, 49 Brandenburg, 17 Brest, 76, 77 Brihuega, 37 Buxar, 94 r'ALCUTTA, 81, 83 ^-^ Campeachy Bay, 78 Canada, 70, 73, 74, 77, 78 Cape Breton, 73, 78 -*o*- FRA Carrickfergus. 14 Carthagena, 60 Chinsurah, 85 Clifton, 66 Comorin, Cape, 82 Corryarrick, 65 Crefeld, 73 Culloden, 67 Cromdale, 10 T^ANUBE, the, 34 ■*-^ Darien, 41 Deccan, the, 82 Derby, 65 Dettingen, 63 Drogheda, 14 Dublin, 13, 14, 15, 44 Dunbar, 65 Dunkeld, 10 pDINBURGH, 65 ■*-' Empire, the, 17, 30 Enniskillen, 13 "PALKIRK Muir, 66 -*■ Florida, 78 Fontenoy, 64 Fort Duquesne, 71, 72 Fort St. David, 80, 81, 85 Fort St. George, 80, 81 Fort William, Scotland, 11 Fort William, India, 80, 81 Foj-le, the, 13 France, 16, 17, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36, 50, 57, 63, 65, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71. 78, 97 Frankfort, 73 io8 Index of Places. GEO pEORGIA, 70 ^^ Germany, 17, 33, 62, 72. 73 Gibraltar, 34, 46, 57 Glasgow, 66 Glencoe, 11 Glenfinnan, 65 HALIFAX, 7T Hanau, 64 Hanover, 25, 33, 57. 62, 69, 72 Havanna, 78 Havre, 77 Holland, 17, =4. 5i. 63 Hooghly, 80 Hooghly, the, 85 I NDIA, East, 79-85, 92-96 India, West, 78 Indies, the, 29, 33 Inverary, 11 Inverness, 67 Inverness-shire, 65 Ireland, 13, 16, 18, 41, 56 J AVA, 7Q K ENNEBEC, the, 70 - Kensington, 31 Killiecrankie, 9 Kistna, the, 82 Kloster-Zeven, 72 T AGOS, 77 ■*-' La Hogue. 18 Landen, 19 Lille, 35 Limerick, 15 Lochaber, 9 London, 42, 65, 93 Londonderry, 13 Lorraine, 29 Louisburg, 73 Louisiana, 70 MADRAS, 80, 81, 82, 85, 95 Madrid, 36 Malplaquet 35 Manilla, 78 Mauritius, 81 Mayn, the, 63 RYS ISIediterranean Sea, 33 Mexico, Gulf of, 70 Minden, 73 Middlesex, 91 Milan, 29 Minorca, 35, 46, 63, 72, 78 Monghir, 96 Mons, 19 Montreal, 77 Montrose, 50 Moorshedabad, 84 Mysore, 96 ■NT AMUR, 19, 35 ^ ^ Naples, 29, 46 Netherlands, the Spanish, 29, 33, 35, 46 Newfoundland, 46 Newtonbutler, 13 Niagara, 76 Nova Scotia, 71 QHIO, the, 71 ^-^ Orissa, 94 Osnabruck, 57 Oude, 94 Oudenarde, 35 PACIFIC, the, 60 ■*■ Paita, 60 Paris, 78 Passaro, Cape, 52 Patna, 85 Perth, 50, 65 Philippine Islands, 60, 78 Plassey, 84 Pondicherry, 81, 85 Portobello, 60 Portugal, 73, 77, 78, 80 Preston, 40 Preston Pans, 65 Prussia, 17, 63, 67, 71 Pyrenees, the, 29 pvUEBEC, 74, 76 \c Quiberon Bay, 77 AMILLIES, 35 Rhine, the, 34, 63 R Russia, 71 Ryswick, 19, 20 Index of Places. 109 SAI CT. GERMAINS, 27 •^ St. Lawrence, the, 74 St. Philips, 68 Saratoga, 97 Savoy, 17 Saxony, 71 Scotland, 7-12, 41, 42, 65, 67 Sedgemoor, 32 Sheriffmuir, 50 Sicily, 20, 52 Silesia, 63, 67 South Seas, 53, 59 Spain, 17, 27, 29, 30, 33, 36, 52 59. 67, 87 Stade, 72 Steinkirk, 19 Stirling, 50, 66 58 WOL Sumatra, 79 Surat, 79, 80 nrOURNAY, 64 •*■ Ticonderoga, 76 Trichinopoly, 82, 83 IJTRECHT, 37, 45, 46, 48, 51, 7S yiLAINE, the, 77 • \'illa Viciosa, 37 T\rANDEWASH, 85 * ^ Weser, the, 74 Wolfe's Ccve, 76 LONDON : PRINTED BY SrOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET ENGLISH HISTORICAL EPOCHS. h *-\ *-> .-> ,-\ / ''^^^t^ Nou) in course of piblication in Eight Volumes ^ each complete in itself EPOCHS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, A SERIES OF BOOKS NARRATING THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND AT SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS. By VARIOUS WRITERS. Edited by the Rev. MANDELL CREIGHTON, M.A. Late Fellow and Tutor of Merton College, Oxford. I. EARLY ENGLAND up to the NORMAN CONQUEST. By Frederick York PcnvELL, B.A. Law Lecturer Ch. Ch. With Four Maps. and Historical Price IS. ' These historical handbooks have the merit of limiting the view of the reader to distinct periods of history treated as distinct historical studies— a form of studying history which cannot fail of making its lessons more impressive than the old system of •dealing with history in the general. To understand with any degree of fit- ness the real character and spirit of an -epoch it must be studied by itself, on its own bearings, and by a due con- sideration of the peculiar political cir- cumstances and forces which moulded Lecturer Trin. Coll. Oxford. its character. In the volumes before us this single aim is kept in view, and carried out with marked success. The best authorities have been con- sulted, contemporary and modem, and the social life and literature, as well as the political character of the time, is set before us with vigour and clearness by authors who have evi- dently made these periods matters of careful and thorough investigation. The maps and plans given in illustra- tion are equally satisfactory and useful.' English Chukch.man. II. ENGLAND a CONTINENTAL PO-WER, from the CONQUEST to MAGNA CHARTA, 1066-1216. By Louise Creighton. With a Coloured Map of the Dominion of the Angevin Kings. Price gd. 'A very good epitome of English history from the Conquest to the Great Charter. It is simply and intelligibly written, without being overloaded with details ; and the constitutional changes, and leading fctures of the period generally, are brought within the comprehension of the youthful scholar Altogether the volume is admirably adapted, to its purpose as an Elementary School History for beginners.' Academy. 'The skill with which she has managed to make legal and constitu- tional matters intelligible, and even interesting, deserves high prai.se. Nothing can be better, for example. than the account of the rise of the jury system, and the clear manner in which the ancient is distin- guished from the modern juror The narrative part is, as a rule, so good that we wish Mrs. Creighton had been allowed to give her young readers more of it, even at the ex- pense of some of the constitutional matter. The style is clear and sim- ple If Mrs. Creighton's work thus comes to be generally read, we may perhaps hope to see some dimi- nution in the amount of nonsense that is talked and written about the Feudal System.' Saturday Review. Epochs of English History. in The RISE of the PEOPLE and aKOW^^ of P\RT^IAMENT from the GREAi '-"%^,,j,^ rowlev. S^,:^:t:r With Four Maj^^P^^^^ . Professor Rowlev divides hjs hundredye_ars . 4. ^^^^.^ .^ ^^^^^j subject covering the period from i2ii to 1485, into five sections and ueats each of the following subjects quite independently of the others ? How Parliament grew up to its i:;j;f4°sae»j- Scotland a,» iLngus" Fr-ince • and how the EnlllTpetle w-%Ws drawn into wL^ whi?h lasted for more than a IV. hundrea years 4, ^-"" tlTn ^nrial came over the people in social mSters; how Parliament grew Sronger and some men tried 10 re- form the Church : 5, How the barons, towards the end of this Pmod divided into two parties and fought for different kings ; and how thelaml was filled with disorder and blood- htd The growth of the Parhament and the wars of the Karons the con The TUDORS and the BEFORMAT^^^^^ With Three INIaps. Price 9^. such as the di^^pute over the Petiu^a of Ri<^ht, shews that historians worthy of that honoured title, such as ?Ir Gardinek. have not written fnvahi . . . A thorough, yet brnf condensation of history' is a task ot the utmost difficulty a difficid Y which Miss CoRDEKV has very fairly ;tVtme. Her little book may - safely recommended asjot^ "-f" ^ 'The scheme of this treatise en- sures the accomplishment of |ts mten- suresuic^^ f well-defined tion. Markea oui uy limits it commences with trie reigu of Tames I., and ends with the ac- ensured. . • • /-"^ , tt ..-e de- li'^Siithfn.t&^^deSiol; ....- VI Tlxe SETTLEMENT of tlie CONSTITUTIO^^^^ Maps. Price 9 • T ^ o ^/^ >— • a- CO O T\ m 2^ c» r> -^ r- u> t'^ o c/> -^ X -^ OJ