X ^. * HZ <$ & ./. , x \ .** *> v o. o X ^ x American i^tetorical Setter GENERAL EDITOR CHARLES H. HASKINS Professor of History in Harvard University Hmerican Historical Series Under the Editorship of Charles H. Haskins, Professor of History in Harvarq University A series of text-books intended, like the American Science Series, to be comprehensive, systematic, and authoritative. Ready Europe Since 1815. By Charles D. Hazen, formerly Professor in Smith College. Historical Atlas. By William R. Shepherd, Professor in Columbia University. Atlas of Ancient History. By W. R. Shepherd. History of England. By L. M. Larson, Professor in the University of Illinois. History of American Diplomacy. By Carl Russell Fish, Professor in the University of Wisconsin. In preparation Medieval and Modern Europe. By Charles W. Colby, Professor in McGill University. The Reformation. By Preserved Smith. The Renaissance. By Ferdinand Schevill, Professor in the University of Chicago. Europe in the XVII. and XVIII. Centuries. By Sidney B. Fay, Professor in .Smith College. History of Greece. By Paul Shorey, Professor in the University of Chicago. History of Rome. By Jesse B. Carter, Director of the American School of Classical Studies at Rome. History of Germany. By Guy Stanton Ford, Professor in the University of Minnesota. History of the United States. By Frederick J. Turner, Professor in Harvard University. Statue of Lord Chatham In St. Stephen's Hall, Westminster. By D. Macdowell, R.A. Copyright by Sir Benjamin Stone A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE BY LAURENCE M; LARSON PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY &5 Copyright, 1915 BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY SEP 231915 ©CU411657 /to/. PREFACE In this volume an attempt has been made to trace the growth of the English nation from its faint and unpromising beginnings in the early middle ages to the opening years of the twentieth cen- tury. During this period the little kingdom of the West Saxons has developed into an empire, the most extensive and the most diverse in all history. A subject of such dimensions may be viewed from many different angles; in this case the writer has tried to discuss it from the view point of his American readers. Certain important periods of English history are in a very real sense our own history: the beginnings of the American Republic were also the beginnings of the British Empire; and our country is still a part of the great empire of English culture. That the United States has inherited much of its constitutional system from Great Britain is a fact that needs no emphasis; but even greater is our English inheritance in the fields of literature, religion, ideals, and general culture. In the building of American civilization we have drawn ma- terials from nearly all the cultivated peoples of the world; but the greatest single element in our culture is still the English. With the English language we have inherited the treasures of English thought. The non-conformist churches, for example, had their origin in the storm and stress of the Puritan Revolution, but in no other country have they taken root and developed strength as in the United States. It is therefore believed that a study of English history from a view point that is not too narrowly British cannot fail to give a deeper insight into the development of American life and thought and civilization. At the same time an effort has been made to give prominence to those facts of Eng- lish history that lie at the root of our own social and political development. Throughout the seventeenth and most of the viii PREFACE eighteenth centuries, the larger movements in the British Tsles were also felt in the colonies and frequently gave a definite turn to the course of American history. A narrative that takes into account the expansion of England into Greater Britain necessarily carries the author far afield. To compress the story into a small manual like the present means that the topics to be discussed must be carefully chosen and a mass of interesting and even important materials must be excluded. The type of text-book that attempts to tell the story of national development with a fulness of detail is the despair of the teacher of history: the facts come in such throngs that very few of them are able to make any lasting. impression. The author has striven to avoid this by including such facts only as have seriously affected the course of English history or have definitely contributed to the building of the British Empire. It is, of course, true that the demands of the narrative have frequently interfered with the con- sistent application of this rule, but in the main it has been followed. The value of the study of history in its general and elementary phases probably is to be found, not so much in the acquisition of a wide knowledge of facts as in the insight acquired into the larger events and movements. It is indeed true, that such insight must grow out of the mastery of certain important data, which must consequently be clearly and accurately stated. Too often, how- ever, the permanent result is apparently lost sight of in the effort to give a satisfactory narrative. In this work, matter that has illustrative value only has generally been omitted, that the space thus saved may be used for a fuller discussion of the more impor- tant topics. It is believed, however, that, if some use is made of the materials referred to in the footnotes or in the lists of refer- ences at the close of the various chapters, the teacher will find an abundance of illustrative data. It is also hoped that the use of these references will assist the teacher to get away from a cer- tain type of recitation which is satisfied with a mere recital of the facts mentioned in the text-book. In the preparation of this volume the author has received assistance from many sources. Dean Charles H. Haskins of PREFACE ix Harvard University, the editor of this series, has followed the work through all its various stages and has contributed much in the way of criticisms, suggestions, and corrections. Prof. E. B. Greene of the University of Illinois has read most of the chapters that deal with the more modern part of English history, and Prof. Frederick Duncalf of the University of Texas has rendered a similar service for the earlier chapters. Dr. A. C. Cole of the University of Illinois has read the proof sheets of the entire work. My wife, Lillian May Larson, has assisted in a great variety of ways since the work was begun. Mr. W. H. Dudley of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin has contributed a number of photographs, the work of his own camera. To all these persons the author wishes to confess his indebtedness and express his thanks. L. M. L. University of Illinois, June, 1915. CONTENTS PAGE I. The Beginnings of England i II. The Old English Monarchy 25 III. England under Norman Rule 5 2 IV. The Conflict with the Church and the Baronage . . 77 V. The Beginnings of Nationalism m VI. The British Idea and the War with France 132 VII. Social and Political Revolution i57 VIII. The Fifteenth Century: The Renaissance 187 IX. The Eve of the Protestant Revolt 214 X. The Revolt from Rome 236 XI. The Protestant Advance and the Catholic Reaction . 256 XII. The Triumph of Anglicanism 272 XIII. The Age of Elizabeth 293 XIV. The Rise of the Puritan Party 3°9 XV. The Failure of Personal Government 33 2 XVI. The Age of Cromwell 354 XVII. The Stuart Restoration 374 XVIII. The Whig Revolution . 397 XIX. The Long Duel with France 416 XX. The Rule of the Whigs 437 XXI. The Age of Pitt ..." 455 XXII. The Revolt of the American Colonies 47 1 XXIII. The Eighteenth Century 49 1 XXIV. The Great War with France 5 I 3 XXV. Social and Political Reforms 535 XXVI. Palmerston and the Empire 557 XXVII. Gladstone and the Problem of Ireland 576 XXVIII. The Unionists and the British Empire 59 6 XXIX. England in the Twentieth Century 617 Index 6 45 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Statue of Lord Chatham in St. Stephen's Hall, Westminster Frontispiece Stonehenge 4 Hadrian's Wall 7 Rood Strips and Balks, Bygrave, Hertfordshire 12 Ruins of Whitby Abbey ... 16 The Church at Escomb, Durham 1 7 Benedictine Monk 18 Durham Cathedral 21 Viking Ship 26 The Alfred Jewel 30 Ruins of Hyde Abbey, Winches- ter S3 Danish Runic Monument ... 34 Agriculture in Old English Times 36 Anglo-Saxon Weapons .... 41 Battle Abbey 47 Norman Warriors Riding to Battle 48 William Sailing to England . . 49 Seal of William the Conqueror . 50 Ideal Plan of a Twelfth Century Castle 52 Hawking 53 Carts and Oxteams, Eleventh Century 55 William the Conqueror's Writ and Seal 50 Part of a Page from Domesday Book 60 Gloucester Cathedral 63 The Tower of London .... 66 Keep of Castle Rising .... 73 Kirkstall Abbey 74 Canterbury Cathedral .... 80 The Murder of Becket .... 84 The Martyr's Corner, Canter- bury Cathedral 85 Ceremony of Conferring Knight- hood Q4 Papal Bull of Alexander III . . 101 The Great Charter, first 25 lines, greatly reduced 106 The Great Charter, part of the illustration preceding, four- fifths the size of the original 107 A Church Council 117 Lincoln Cathedral 118 The Hall, Acton Burnell, Shrop- shire 121 A Monk in His Study .... 126 Glastonbury Abbey 127 Salisbury Cathedral 130 Carnarvon Castle 135 The Bruce Statue, Stirling . . 143 Stirling Castle 145 Melrose Abbey 147 Drawbridge, Fourteenth Cen- tury 152 The Steelyard in the Seventeenth Century 159 Crossbow Used at Crecy . ... 168 English Archers and Gunman of the Fifteenth Century . .- . 16S John WyclifTe 171 Geoffrey Chaucer 176 The "Wife of Bath" 177 Fourteenth Century Writing . 180 XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Coronation of Henry IV . ... 183 The Battle of Shrewsbury ... 184 The Home of Joan of Arc at Domremy 191 Joan of Arc 192 Fifteenth Century Artillery . . 194 Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI, and Ladies of Her Court 196 Warwick Castle 201 The Earliest Picture of a Printing Press 204 Reproduction of a Caxton Adver- tisement 205 John Colet 206 Ships of the Fifteenth Century . 209 Edward IV 210 A King in His Royal Robes . . 212 A Courtier in Court Dress ... 212 Henry VII 214 Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scot- land 221 Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey ... 224 Desiderius Erasmus 229 Henry VIII 236 Thomas Cranmer 242 St. Edmund's Abbey 247 Tintern Abbey 248 Edward Seymour, Duke of Som- erset 257 Mary Tudor 263 Reginald, Cardinal Pole . . . 266 Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford . . 269 Queen Elizabeth 273 William Cecil, Lord Burleigh . 274 Mary Stuart 280 John Knox 281 Loch Leven Castle 283 Philip II 287 The English Send Fire Ships into the Armada 290 Ann Hatha way's Cottage, Strat- ford 294 PAGE Sir Francis Drake 296 Drake's "Golden Hind" . . . 297 Sir Walter Raleigh 298 Edmund Spenser 301 Shakespeare's Globe Theatre . 302 The Shakespeare Memorial, Stratford 304 The Fleet Prison 310 James I 315 The Brewster House, Scrooby . 317 Old London Bridge 319 Charles I . . . 323 Westminster in the Seventeenth Century 327 John Hampden 336 The Old Star Chamber, West- minster 337 Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh . . 342 Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 344 John Pym 345 Nottingham Castle (restored) . 351 Oliver Cromwell 355 Sir Henry Vane, the Younger . . 357 Admiral Robert Blake .... 369 General Monk 375 Charles II 376 Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon 377 Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury 385 Coffee-Room in Cheshire Cheese Inn 388 John Milton 390 John Bunyan's Meeting House, South London 391 John Dryden 392 Choir of St. Paul's, London . . 393 Isaac Newton 395 James II 401 Magdalen Tower and Quad- rangle, Oxford 405 The Seven Bishops on their Way to the Tower 406 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv PAGE William III 416 Queen Anne 424 John Churchill, Duke of Marl- borough 425 Henry St. John, Lord Boling- broke 434 No. 10 Downing Street .... 440 Sir Robert Walpole 442 A Highland Cottage 447 The House of Commons in 1742 451 Robert, Lord Clive 461 George III 471 An English Revenue Stamp . . 475 Lord North 478 Edmund Burke 485 The Sleeping Congregation . . 496 John Wesley 497 The Spinning Jenny 501 James Watt 503 Captain Cook 509 William Pitt, the Younger . . 510 The Bank of England .... 517 Napoleon 519 Lord Nelson 525 Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wel- lington . . . 531 Robert Stewart, Lord Castle- reagh 540 George Canning 541 Daniel O'Connell 542 Lord John Russell 543 Houses of Parliament, London . 547 "Puffing Billy" 549 "The Rocket" 549 The Manchester Ship Canal. . 551 Queen Victoria 552 Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston 558 Parliament Buildings, Ottawa . 559 A Wool Train in Australia . . 561 Thackeray's Free-Trade Car- toon 562 Sir Robert Peel 563 Florence Nightingale 570 The Old East India House, Lon- don 571 Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Bea- consfield 577 William Ewart Gladstone ... 578 Charles Stewart Parnell ... 586 Joseph Chamberlain 589 Edward VII 592 Arthur James Balfour .... 594 Majuba Hill 600 General Charles George Gordon 601 Governor's Palace Khartoum . 602 Cecil Rhodes 603 Lord Kitchener of Khartoum 605 The University, Sydney, Austra- lia 609 (a) Winnipeg in 1870 612 (ft) Winnipeg in 191 2 613 The Cabinet Room 620 David Lloyd George 624 H. H. Asquith 627 George V 628 MAPS IN COLORS PAGE The British Isles i Ecclesiastical Map of England and Wales 248 England during the Civil War 354 The Thirteen American Colonies in 1775 474 India in 1858 570 Africa in 1914 597 Australia and New Zealand 610 Canada and Newfoundland 612 County Map of England and Wales 618 The British Empire in 1914 638 IN BLACK English Settlements in Great Britain about 600 9 The English Kingdoms about 800 22 Scandinavian Settlements: Britain and Normandy 28 Wessex about 886 32 Viking Raids in England, 980-1016 &. 42 Dominions of William I 75 The Angevin Empire 79 Ireland in the Middle Ages 87 Wales in 1282 134 Scotland about 800 137 Southern Scotland in the days of Bruce 144 France in 1328 15° France at the Treaty of Bretigny, 1360 154 The Chief Wool-raising Districts in England and Wool-manufacturing Towns in the Netherlands 158 Modern Scotland 226 The Shores of the Narrow Seas 4*7 India during the Seven Years' War 4° 7 Distribution of Population in South Britain, Prior to and After the Indus- trial Revolution * 507 xvi MAPS xvii PAGE Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October, 1805 r 24 Europe about 1812 - 2 g The Suez Canal 604 The Boer Republics till 1902 5 g London and Westminster 5 x g The Elections of 1906 and January, 1910 626 LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO IN THE FOOT NOTES BY THE AUTHORS' NAMES ONLY A Bates, Katharine Lee, and Katharine Comans English History Told by English Poets. New York, 191 1. Cheyney, E. P. Readings in English History. Boston, [1908] . Gardiner, S. R. A Student's History of England. London, 1906. Innes, A. D. Source Book of English History. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1912-1914. Kendall, Elizabeth K. Source Book of English History. New York, 1908. Masterman, J. H. B. A History of the British Constitution. London, 191 2. Robinson, J. H. Readings in European History. Boston, Ginn. (One-volume Edition.) Tuell, Harriet E., and R. W. Hatch Selected Readings in English History. Boston, [1913]. A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND CHAPTER I THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND 1. The British Isles. Just off the northwestern coast of Europe lies the British archipelago, the most important single group of islands in the world. But though the British Isles count perhaps more than one thousand separate islands, only two of these are of any considerable size : Great Great Britain Britain and Ireland dominate the entire group, and Ireland. The smaller islands, many of which are mere inhabited rocks, are grouped about these two with the greater number lying in a broken, irregular line along the western coast of the larger island of Great Britain. Some of these form The lesser minor groups, such as the Scilly, the Hebrides, lslands - and the Orkney Islands. At the same time, several of the more important ones, like the Isle of Wight, Man, and Anglesea, lie detached and alone, though not far from the larger islands. It seems that nature has intended this archipelago to be a political as well as a geographical unit ; and the history of England is in a large measure the story of how the unification of the British Isles has been achieved. English history, there- fore, concerns itself finally with the whole of Britain ; still, its chief field is the southern kingdom on the island of Great Britain. 2. The Island of Great Britain. 1 This island is a large, irreg- ular body of land, nearly six hundred miles in length from north to south. It is widest at the south (the dis- Extent of tance from the Forelands of Kent to Land's End Great Britain - in Cornwall is more than three hundred miles) and gradually grows narrower as it extends northward, until in the region 1 Cheyney, No. 6. i 2 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND between the Forth and the Clyde it becomes almost an isthmus with a distance across of less than forty miles. North of this narrow neck are the rough Highlands of Scotland ; to the south are the Lowlands, which are virtually an extension of the English plain. The backbone of the island is formed by a low but rough range of highland some twenty miles across, the Pennine The Pennine range, which runs southward from the Scottish range. Highlands into the center of England where it terminates in the Peak near Derby. A more or less broken range of hills continues the watershed southward and south- westward, until it terminates in the highlands of the Cornish peninsula. The Pennine range is important, not only as a crest which gives direction to some of the larger streams, but also as a barrier which served in earlier times to check the spread of settlement and the progress of invasion. In the many wars between England and Scotland this central hill country deter- mined the routes taken by the invading armies ; these will always be found to run near the eastern or the western coast. 3. The Rivers of Great Britain. As the distance from the watershed to either shore is not great, the island has no rivers of great length ; but streams are plentiful and this fact secures the drainage that is necessary to successful grazing and agriculture. Many of these short streams, especially those of northern England, run a swift course ; this means water power with its great possibilities in an age of manufacturing by ma- chinery. Most of the rivers of Great Britain discharge their The larger waters through wide channels : the Thames, the streams. Humber, the Severn, and the Clyde furnish the most striking examples of this type of river mouth. There is, consequently, no lack of deep and spacious harbors or other natural facilities for trade and shipping. Near these river mouths have grown up such important commercial towns as Commercial Liverpool, Bristol, Hull, Glasgow, and the mighty centers. c j t y f London. In the earlier ages, however, the streams of Great Britain had but slight commercial value : in THE STONE AGE: EARLY COMMERCE 3 those days their chief importance was as highways leading into the interior. 4. The Natural Resources of England. Deep below the beds of the northern rivers lie other sources of wealth and power in the form of vast mineral deposits, par- „ , - Coal and iron, ticularly coal and iron. The natural resources of this region have made the borders of the Pennine range one of the greatest industrial centers of the earth. Lancashire and the western part of Yorkshire, which for centuries were only sparsely populated, now count their inhabitants by the mil- lion. This, however, is a comparatively recent development, less than two centuries old. It was, indeed, the mineral wealth of the island that attracted the merchants of the „ Tin. Mediterranean lands more than two thousand years ago ; but it was the tin of Cornwall and Devon, 1 not the coal and iron of Wales and northern England. Before the vast growth in manufacturing in the eighteenth century, England was chiefly an agricultural country. The population was massed on the great plain of the . . south and southeast, where soil and climate com- bine to produce luxuriant growth of grass and grain. Occa- sional ranges of low hills cut this plain; but these, though unsuited to cultivation, have been found to furnish excellent pasturage for sheep. 2 The South Downs, a range The trade of hills that runs for more than one hundred miles m w ° o1 - parallel to the Channel in Sussex and Hampshire, have given their name to a breed of sheep that is still famous. Another splendid breed was developed on the Cotswold Hills near the Bristol Chan- nel. For several centuries the wool of England formed its most important article of export. The great cloth manufacturing in- dustries of present day England have developed from this early trade in wool ; for the time came when it was found more profitable to sell the fleece in the form of woven cloth. 5. The Stone Age : Early Commerce. 3 Commercial inter- course between England and the Continent seems to have 1 Cheyney, No. 2. 2 Ibid., No. 5- 3 Kipling, The River's Tale. THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND existed in some form at a very early period, long before the Phoenicians learned of the Cornish tin mines. The earliest inhabitants of whom traces have been found on the island were in that stage of civ- ilization that we call the Stone Age: they were Stone Workers, so called because they made Flint their implements. tools and weapons chiefly of stone, though wood and bone were also largely used. In the later period of the Stone Age the New Stone Workers developed considerable skill in grinding the rough flint on a granite slab with a little moist gravel thrown on the granite surface to make the grinding easier. It was a slow process, but six or eight hours of grinding every day for a week would pro- duce a fairly good ax of the desired form and finish. As good flint did not exist everywhere in Europe, it seems possible that there was a somewhat brisk trade in this com- The trade modity, at least in the later Stone Age. It is also in flint. likely that something like a flint industry may have been developed where the materials were plentiful, as for instance in Denmark. Some of these manufactured flint im- plements may have found their way to Britain. But the British Stone Men also had a native source of supply in the southeastern part of the island, which was doubtless distributed by commercial methods to the other parts of Britain. 6. The Bronze Age : the Celts. The Stone Men were succeeded in the island by the Bronze Workers, a race that Stonehenge A prehistoric ruin on Salisbury plain, probably of Cel- tic origin and devoted to the worship of the sun; its greatest height is about twenty -two feet. From a pho- tograph by W. H. Dudley. THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN: JULIUS CESAR 5 learned the art of making implements from a composition of copper and tin. There seem to have been several migrations of bronze-using people from the Continent to Brit- The use of ain. The race that the European travelers en- bronze- countered on the British Isles at the dawn of British history, more than two thousand years ago, were called Celts; 1 they had by that time learned to work in iron, but it is likely that the Celtic tribes that first came to Britain were still in the bronze age. The Highlanders of Scot- land, the Irish, and the inhabitants of Wales and Cornwall are chiefly of Celtic blood, the descendants of these prehistoric workers in bronze and iron. The Celts who occupied the southern and larger part of Great Britain were known as Bry- thons, hence the terms Briton and Britain. 7. The Phoenicians and Greeks in Britain. It was the commercial possibilities of Great Britain that first attracted the attention of the Mediterranean merchants to this northern country. The bronze-smiths needed the tin that Phoenician the streams of Cornwall laid bare ; and Phceni- traders in cian traders from Spain and Carthage appear to n ain ' have sought this commodity in Britain at a very early date. Toward the close of the fourth century b.c, they seem to have found competitors in the Greeks from the Hellenic city of Massilia (Marseilles) in southern Gaul. In the days of Alex- ander the Great the merchants of that city sent an expedition to the "Pretanic Isles" headed by a Greek scien- Pytheas. tist, Pytheas by name. It is likely that the visit Ca * 30 ° B,c - of Pytheas did much to stimulate the overland trade between the Channel and the Mediterranean by way of the great valleys of the Seine and the Rhone. On his return Pytheas wrote an elab- orate report of his journey, parts of which have come down to us and serve as the earliest literary source for the history of Britain. 8. The Romans in Britain: Julius Caesar. In the days of this Greek explorer, Carthage was the greatest power in the western Mediterranean, Rome being still confined to central 1 Cheyney, Nos. 11, 13; Gardiner, 9-10. 6 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND Italy. The three centuries that followed were notable for the swift and wonderful expansion of Roman power, a movement that culminated in the extraordinary career of Julius Caesar. The expeditions While engaged in conquering Gaul, Caesar had of Julius Caesar, come to realize the need of an expedition across the Channel to punish the Britons, who seem to have brought military assistance to their Celtic friends in northern Gaul. Caesar made two such expeditions and appar- ently accomplished his purpose. 1 These were mere incidents to his Gallic wars ; but they have their importance, as the great general's account of the island inspired the Romans with an abiding interest in these distant lands, which finally led to annexation and conquest. The revolutionary movements in Italy that accompanied the change from republic to empire and the cautious policies of the first emperors, whose desires were to strengthen rather than to extend the frontiers, prevented further expansion of Roman territory, and for nearly a century the British tribes were The Roman allowed to retain their independence. But in conquest. 43 a.d., an invasion was begun for the purpose of subduing the island. Northward and westward the Roman eagles were carried, northward to the Humber and westward to the sacred isle of Mona (Anglesea). The conquest covered a period of nearly forty years and was carried to prac- . , tical completion by the Roman general Agricola, Agncola. l J ... the father-in-law of the historian Tacitus. Agnc- ola carried the frontier to the edge of the Highlands ; but Rome soon withdrew from these northern territories and drew the frontier along a line connecting Sol way Firth with the river Tyne. 9. Roman Civilization in Britain. To make it easier to hold the country the Romans built a network of roads, four principal highways running northward and many shorter transverse lines. At the intersections camps were located and important cities grew up, inhabited largely by Roman merchants and discharged soldiers. Half 1 Cheyney, No. 7; Gardiner, n-12. ROMAN CIVILIZATION IN BRITAIN 8 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND a century after Agricola's time, the Emperor Hadrian built, Hadrian's between the Solway and the Tyne, a strong wall, walL fragments of which can still be seen after the pas- sage of eighteen centuries. The south side of the wall was lined with Roman camps and guarded by a force of about 10,000 men gathered from every quarter of the Roman world. The Romans also did much to improve the civilization and to utilize the resources of the island. Mines of tin, lead, and Progress in iron were opened and worked. Splendid houses civilization. were built of which an occasional ruin is still to be seen. 1 Cities were founded ; trade was developed ; and agri- culture was improved. In time the Christian religion came to the island along with numerous forms of pagan faith. The native Celt no doubt came to some extent under the spell of Roman civilization ; but Britain never became thoroughly Romanized, except in the neighborhood of the Roman towns ; in the more remote rural districts the rude British habits of life seem to have persisted. 10. Withdrawal of the Roman Legions. For more than three centuries the larger part of Great Britain was under the domination of the Caesars. But about the year 400 the western part of the Roman Empire was rapidly crumbling. Among the military chiefs who were striving to get some advantage from the confusion by seizing and holding some fragment or province Constantine was one Constantine, a British soldier who enjoyed crosses over the imperial title and honors for about four years. to Gaul. 407. Not satisfied to rule Britain alone, he collected what forces he could and crossed over to Gaul (407). The soldiers never returned and the Britons were left to their own devices. Civilization soon began to decay and Celtic bar- barians reconquered much that had been lost. Christianity, however, did not die out, but seems to have won a firmer foot- ing after the Roman government had disappeared. The century that followed the withdrawal of the legions from Britain saw great changes everywhere in Europe. The 1 Cheyney, No. 24. THE ANGLO-SAXON INVASION 9 fifth century was the age of the migrations when Germans from the north and Huns from the east broke the The Germanic frontier along the Rhine and the Danube and migrations, seized parts of the Roman Empire. During this period the Romanized Britons were also sorely afflicted by invading enemies, — Picts from the Highlands, Scots from Ireland, and Teutonic tribes from the Continent. v ' ' A r 3^^—^ 7 7:: rr:: : Merid. O of Greenw. The English Settlements in Great Britain about 600 11. The Anglo-Saxon Invasion. These Continental tribes were the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes, who lived in north- ern Germany along the Weser and the lower Elbe Angles and and in the Jutish peninsula. They were all appar- Saxons - ently addicted to piracy : the Romans had felt the attacks of the Saxons on the British shores for several generations; and so bothersome had they become that a special officer, the Count of the Saxon Shore, had been given charge of the coast defenses from the Wash to Beachy Head. Now that this official and his forces were gone, the piratical Saxons doubtless came in greater io THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND numbers. About 450 there was great commotion in the German lands : Attila was on the march toward Gaul with a vast army, — according to tradition he had half a million men. His defeat came at Chalons the following year (451). It seems probable that Attila's movements were the cause of the removal of the Angles and Saxons to Britain, whose lands they had long known and whose shores were 449? open to attack. The traditional date of the migra- tion is 449 and seems to be approximately correct. Following the ancient route along the German and Dutch coast to the Strait of Dover, the invaders first came to Kent, the invasion of the home of a Celtic tribe in southeastern England. gi^and tht n " Thence tne Y would sail north P ast the mouth of Saxons. the Thames or westward along the shore of the Channel. Islands lying close to the shore, such as Thanet and Wight, were evidently first seized and used as places of refuge and bases for further operations. Rivers formed the highways into the country. Apparently there was no organized move- ment or united action, each invading chief proceeding on his own responsibility and initiative ; but a Jutish leader by the name of Hengist, who probably founded the new kingdom of Kent, was regarded, it seems, as the most influential among the leaders. 1 12. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms. The Anglo-Saxon in- vasion continued with interruptions for more than a century. The nature of the attacks, favored the creation of a number of little kingdoms that lined the eastern and southern coasts from the Firth of Forth to Southampton Water and beyond. The interior limits of these kingdoms might be a range of hills, like the Pennine range in the north, which for a time proved a barrier to the expansion of Northumbria ; a strip of broad swamp land, like the Fens that run southward from the Wash, which divided East Anglia from Mercia ; broad, pathless oak forests like the Weald, a long strip of woodland between the Downs, which served to isolate the little kingdom of Sussex ; 1 Cheyney, Nos. 26-27; Kendall, No. 3. ANGLO-SAXON SOCIETY IN THE HEATHEN AGE n or sometimes a wide river mouth like that of the Thames or of the Humber. Of the kingdoms formed in the interior, only one, Mercia, is of any great importance : this was formed by Anglian tribes that moved up the valley of the Trent and took possession of the Midlands. The Britons gradually retired to the regions beyond the watershed, where they, too, organized petty kingdoms. In the sixth century perhaps as many as twenty little monarchies existed on the island south of the Highlands, of which about a dozen were Anglo-Saxon. In time the number was reduced by conquest and absorption, until in the eighth century four kingdoms controlled The four lead- the territories of the Angles and Saxons: Wessex, ing kingdoms. East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria. Cut off from central England by the broad Fenlands, East Anglia had only small opportunities to expand and never played a great part in English history ; but the other three kingdoms rose to succes- sive leadership in order from north to south : first Northumbria, then Mercia, and finally Wessex. 13. Anglo-Saxon Society in the Heathen Age. The coming of the Germans completely transformed the civiliza- tion of the greater part of the island. The institutions and the mode of life among the Anglo-Saxons were essentially Germanic, 1 though the invaders doubtless appropriated much of the Celtic civilization that they found in their new lands. The old Roman cities were left deserted and permitted to fall into ruins, as the conquerors were accustomed to rural life and settled in small villages where they carried on agriculture and stock farming on a basis of common owner- Village life, ship. In these villages each individual family of freemen seems to have had exclusive control and possession of the family homestead, the house and a parcel of ground about it, as well as of the live stock and other personal property that the household would need ; but the plowland, the meadow, the woods, and the pasture lands were apparently owned by the community as a whole and distributed among the farmers 1 Cheyney, No. 28;- Kendall, No. 2; Tuell and Hatch, No. 1. 12 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND so that each had his own ground to work. The plowland was The strip divided up into strips, usually an acre in area, of system. w hich each family might have one hundred and twenty These with certain undivided rights in the village forest' and grass land formed the normal holding or farm of a household. Ordinarily the acre-strips given to each farmer were scattered about in various parts of the fields; this may have been done to prevent any one from seizing the more Rood Strips and Balks, Bygrave, Hertfordshire The balks are the raised ridges separating the " Acre " strips. desirable land, but it also made tilling the soil more difficult and cumbersome. The agriculture that was practiced in the Old English village was not of a high order. The tools were primitive and clumsy ; the plow was of such rude construction that a team Agriculture. of ^ ^^ ^ Qxen wag necessary t o draw it. As there was no market for a surplus, the farmers made no attempt to produce more than could be consumed in the village, lo maintain the fertility of the soil, one-third of the plowland was allowed to lie fallow each year. In addition to raising the HEATHEN CULTURE AND RELIGION 13 common varieties of grain, the Old English farmer kept cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry. Butter and cheese were made, and beer was brewed from various grains, especially barley, which seems to have been a leading crop. Sweetened with honey the beer became mead, which was much used on festive occasions. 14. Political Institutions. 1 In general the society in these villages was of a democratic type: farmer and freeman were synonymous terms. There was, however, also a class of slaves and bondmen, many of whom may have been of Celtic blood, as well as an important aristocratic class with certain recognized rights of leadership. At the head of each state was a king, whose chief business was to lead in warfare and to perform certain important rites at the great sacrificial festivals. He could also proclaim laws and revise the old "customs" of his people ; but as an administrator he had very little authority. To assist him in what little government there was, he had a council of the chief nobles, a body that after several transforma- tions developed into the English house of lords. 15. Heathen Culture and Religion. The Anglo-Saxon aristocracy served a useful and highly important purpose as the patrons of heathen culture. When the king or the chief called together his followers after a foray, or on some other joyous occasion, to feast with him in his rude wooden hall, the tale of the poet and the chant of the singer were regarded as indispensable features of the enter- tainment. Stories were told of superhuman valor and heroism, sagas that had come into England with the migration from Germany, some of which had a nucleus of historic fact. 2 This was the beginning of English literature, which has had an almost continuous existence and growth for fifteen centuries. Of these early poems only a few have survived, as the heathen Englishman knew no written characters but the _, • r 1 r t • , The runes, runes, a series of letters formed of straight lines and of little service except for brief inscriptions on wood or stone. 1 Gardiner, 29-33. 2 Cheyney, No. 29. i 4 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND In religion the Anglo-Saxons were heathen and worshiped the old Teutonic gods, particularly Woden, the god of wisdom and warfare. Originally the Germanic peoples Sun worship. *.',•,,:,, , . „ worshiped the bright sky and more especially the shining sun. In time various phases of this heathen worship came to be looked upon as having separate existence and the number of deities increased. Three of these attained a general preeminence. The fire of the sun was again seen in the flash of the lightning and the result was the worship of Thunor (Thor), the god of strength. In the fury of the The gods. ■, . , \ , , tempest that accompanies the thunder-clap, the Teutons recognized another god, Woden, whose power was also manifest in the fury of the battle rush. It is likely that the Anglo-Saxons also worshiped the god Frey, the sun as the giver of life and growth to the fields and the forests. The names of these three divinities appear in Thursday, Wednesday, and Friday ; Tuesday and perhaps Saturday are also named in honor of the old gods. The gods were given peculiar honor on certain great festive occasions in which the entire population joined, when bloody and repulsive rites were performed and „ . , human sacrifices probably offered. Among the Festivals. . \ J P . , Teutonic peoples three such great festivals were commonly celebrated : the first late in autumn to secure the return of the receding sun ; the second early in January in joyful recognition of the lengthening days ; and the third at the opening of spring when sacrifices were offered in honor of the god that gave life and growth and vegetation. It is likely that the Angles and Saxons had corresponding festivals. 16. British Christianity. In the western part of the island among the Britons, the Christian religion had retained its vigor. One of these Welsh Christians, Saint Patrick, a con- st. Patrick temporary of the heathen Hengist, whose home in Ireland. seems to have been somewhere in the Severn valley, even took up missionary work in Ireland and gave new vigor to the feeble Irish church. A century later a new mission field was opened on the western coast of modern Scotland. Saint THE CELTIC MISSIONARIES 15 Columba, a Celt from northern Ireland and an exile from his native land, repaired to an Irish settlement in st. Columba; modern Argyle, and there, on the little island of Iona - Iona, founded a celebrated monastery which became the center of an active missionary movement that extended even to the Continent. But for a century and a half after the coming of the Anglo-Saxons we know of no effort on the part of the dis- possessed Britons to convert their Anglo-Saxon enemies. 17. Roman Christianity: the Mission of St. Augustine. In the days of Saint Columba, however, a man of unusual tact and abilities ascended the papal throne, and the Gregory the Roman church began to prepare for further con- Great - quest. Pope Gregory the Great had long been interested in the Anglo-Saxon tribes, and in 596 sent a missionary force of forty monks under the leadership of Saint Augustine to win the people for Christianity. 1 The following year, Saint Augustine and his party arrived in Kent and were cordially M ission oi received by King Ethelbert, who was not wholly St. Augustine, ignorant of the Christian faith, as his queen, Bertha, was a Frankish princess, who worshiped Christ according to Catholic standards. This was the year of Saint Columba's death in Iona (597). At Canterbury, which was the royal residence, Saint Augus- tine founded a monastery which became the ecclesiastical center of all England and has remained the capital „ & ^ Canterbury, of the Anglican church to this day. An effort was made not only to christianize the English, but also to bring the British church under the control of Canterbury, but in this Saint Augustine failed. A conference was held with the Welsh bishops at "Augustine's Oak," somewhere near the Bristol Channel ; but to no purpose : the Welshmen refused to modify their rites and practices and found submission to the bishop of Kent too odious to be seriously considered. 18. The Celtic Missionaries. A generation after their arrival in Canterbury, the Roman missionaries succeeded in 1 Cheyney, Nos. 31-32; Innes, I, 1-4; Robinson, No. 18. i6 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND converting Edwin, king of the Northumbrians and the mighti- est ruler on the island. 1 The north country, however, soon relapsed into heathendom and the honor of converting the Council of Angles beyond the Humber belongs to Celtic mis- Whitby. 664. s i naries from Iona. By the middle of the seventh century it had become a matter of doubt whether Christianity of the Celtic or of the Roman type was to dominate in the British Isles. The situation disturbed the king of Northum- Ruins of Whitby Abbey bria, and in 664 he summoned a council at Whitby to debate the merits of the two churches. 2 During two centuries of independence and isolation, the Celtic church had developed certain peculiarities acTeristics of" that were of practical importance. The Britons were inclined to regard Saint John as superior to Saint Peter ; but this belief could not be tolerated by the Catholics of Rome, as it struck at the foundations of the Celtic church. 1 Cheyney, No. $3; Innes, I, 5-7; Kendall, No. 4; Robinson, No. 19. 2 Gardiner, 49-50. THEODORE OF TARSUS 17 papal authority, which rested on the belief that Saint Peter had once been bishop of Rome. The churches also celebrated Easter at different times : this was important, as it was almost necessary that the Lenten season should begin for all at the same time ; otherwise one faction might be celebrating the joys of Easter, while the other was deep in the sorrows of Pas- The Church at Escomb, Durham This church is one of the oldest in England; it was built about 700. sion Week. The Celts, as a half nomadic people, emphasized the monastery as a center of religious worship, while the Roman church was organized on a parish basis, each village or group of neighboring villages having its own church and priest. The king finally decided in favor of the Roman system. 19. Theodore of Tarsus : Organization of the Church. The organization of the church among the Anglo-Saxons was chiefly the work of a Greek monk, Theodore of Tarsus, who came to England as archbishop of Canterbury five years after the council of Whitby. Up to this time the work had remained in the missionary stage with a missionary bishop directing the work in each kingdom. But some of the kingdoms, like North- i8 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND umbria and Mercia, were clearly too extensive for a single bishop ; there was danger, too, that under separate heads the churches in these kingdoms might become independent of Canterbury. Archbishop Theodore therefore broke up these The new large dioceses into smaller ones, and definitely dioceses. established the supremacy of Canterbury over all the other dioceses. The parish system, too, was put on a more The parish definite footing : system. priests were pro- vided and the parish boun- daries more clearly drawn. Churches were built and monasteries founded. A hundred years after the ar- rival of Saint Augustine the new faith was firmly rooted in English soil. 20. The Old English Monasteries. An important institution within the Catho- lic church was the monastery, a community of monks or nuns who wished to with- draw from the attractions of a sinful world and devote their lives to the pursuit of holiness. Every monastic community was an organized brotherhood governed by a Organization chief called an of monasteries. abbotj and Hved according to a set of regula- tions known as the Benedictine Rule which were drawn up by Benedict of Nursia, an Italian abbot who flourished in the first half of the sixth century. No monk or nun could marry or pos- sess any property except the merest necessities, and all were Benedictine Monk From Dugdale's Monasticon. THE OLD ENGLISH MONASTERIES 19 pledged to absolute obedience to the abbot or abbess : these were the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Their lives were to be spent in prayer, worship, and labor. The externals of a monastery were a group of buildings usually built around a court ; in these the monks lived, worked, and stored the pro- duce of the monastic lands. The monastic life appealed strongly to these new English Christians and soon a number of these institutions were founded. So impressed were the Monastic kings and other men of wealth and power with the wealtn - practical value of the monasteries to society, that they made large donations, chiefly of land, for the support of the monks. For while the individual monk was pledged to poverty, the monastic brotherhood might enjoy unlimited wealth. In the advancement of the new civilization that came with Christianity, the monks had a large and important part. They copied books and thus preserved what the times possessed of knowledge and classical literature. These books culture were frequently illuminated, that is, provided with of the ,. 1T1-.L c t_ • t_ i_ monasteries, drawings and colored pictures, some of which show rare skill, though, on the whole, the pictorial art of the middle ages was of an inferior type. At a time when inns were few and public hospitals unknown, the monastery proved a great blessing to the traveler, the unfortunate, and the contributions one who was stricken with illness; for the monks to material practiced a generous hospitality, and what knowl- edge the world had of nursing and medicine they usually possessed. On their large estates they built new and improved buildings patterned after those that they saw in their journeys in southern Europe; these were often of stone and were some- times even provided with glass. They also brought home and introduced new ideas of agriculture, which soon became common property among the tenants who farmed the monastic lands. Frequently the monks went into regions that were waste and uncultivated and built their monasteries there, and in this way they added to the cultivated and civilized area of the country. But all these worldly activities inevitably 20 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND led to a lowering of ascetic ideals; after two or three generations of monastic development, bitter complaints of corruption in these institutions began to arise; of this there is evidence in the writings of Bede, who was himself a monk. The arrival of so many men from the southlands, missionaries, prelates, and abbots, the introduction of a stately church ceremonial based on a new system of religious thought, and the building of churches, cathedrals, and monasteries gave a remarkable impetus to Old English culture, especially to poetic literature. Schools were established in the cathedrals and monasteries where Latin was taught and the Classics were read and thus a large fund of new ideas became current among the educated classes. The chief scene of literary activity was The new liter- n0 l° n S er tne princely hall but the quiet cloister, ary impulse. The transition, however, was not violent. The Beowulf. great poem Beowulf, a production of more than three thousand lines, a heathen story of valor and warfare with additions that are clearly Christian, belongs to the first half of the seventh century, the period of missionary ac- tivities among the Anglo-Saxons. In this poem we have an excellent picture of a heathen civilization that was about to expire. 21. The Beginnings of Christian Literature. In the second half of the same century, a few years after the coming The Cadmonic of Theodore of Tarsus, there appeared in England poems. tne fi rst native Christian poet, one Cadmon, an aged Northumbrian convert who was in the service of the monastic community at Whitby. 1 In the poems ascribed to Cadmon there is much that is of heathen origin: the form is the same, and alliterative rhyme is used, as in the earlier non- Christian productions; the old poetic materials are also em- ployed, especially the figures of speech that reflect the warlike activities and the festive joys of the race. In a large measure the fund of ideas and the views of life belong to heathen times; but the themes are Biblical, the stories of Genesis and Exodus, 1 Cheyney, No. 35. THE BEGINNINGS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 21 for example, and the religious thought is Christian of the medieval type. The greatest of all the Old English writers was the Venerable Bede, a gentle, pious, and humble monk, who lived in the Northumbrian monastery of Jarrow. Bede was The Venerable born in the days of Theodore and Cadmon. As Bede - an infant he was given into the keeping of the monks; conse- 735. Durham Cathedral Burial place of Bede. quently his literary education began at an early age. The Northumbrian boy, who was only one generation removed from heathendom, grew up to be the most perfect Latinist of his age and the greatest scholar of his century. Bede wrote Latin prose for the most part, but he did not neglect his native tongue; his last work was a translation into Old English of the Gospel of Saint John, a work Bede's Eccle- that he completed on his deathbed. His chief work siastical His- is the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a record of events in England from the time of the conquest and especially of the progress of conversion to the Christian faith. 22 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND There were other writers and intellectual leaders that flour- Alcuin. ished in NortnumDria during the eighth century, the most famous after Bede being the learned Alcuin whose work was done on the Continent in connection with ,r,- J -^J^rJumttmi im g%J§l ■* /«: .v <; Ll s 11 (' R A X X K L, .1 the palace school of Charlemagne. Alcuin was also a Northum- brian and was trained by one of Bede's pupils. In his day he was the foremost teacher in Christendom. The series closes SUMMARY 23 with Cynewulf, a poet whose themes, like those of Cadmonic times, were chiefly Biblical, though Cynewulf also made use of Christian legends. Cynewulf was the first English poet who affixed his signature to his writings; for this purpose he made use of the runic characters that spelled his name and distributed these among his verses. With his poems the glory of Northumbrian culture came to a close. After the death of Bede (735) it had begun to decline; and with the coming of the Norse vikings sixty years later, intel- lectual activities in northern England almost ceased. 22. Summary. The year 800 closes an epoch in Old English history. For more than three centuries the Angles and Saxons had occupied British soil. During the sixth century the prominent facts are conquest, colonization, gradual westward expansion, the formation of villages, and the building of states. In the seventh century the heathen worship disappeared, and an important province was added to the Roman church at a time when the Mohammedan advance was rooting out the Christian faith east and south of the Mediterranean. This century also saw the beginnings of Christian culture with its chief center in Northumbria, which was the leading English kingdom of the age. This culture found its highest develop- ment in the following century in the prose of Bede and the poems of Cynewulf. On the whole, however, the eighth cen- tury was a period of decline in the northern kingdom. Politi- cal leadership was lost early in the century and Mercia took the place of Northumbria as the kingdom of promise. The dominant figure of the age was the mighty King Offa, the friend of Charlemagne, 1 who ruled Mercia for nearly forty years (757-796). In his early days East Anglia was made a Mercian dependency and the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were forced into a state of vassal- age. In his days, too, a definite boundary was drawn between the Mercians and the Welsh, and an earthwork constructed to mark this boundary, which was called Offa's Dyke. But 1 Cheyney, No. 37; Kendall, No. 5. 24 THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND Mercian leadership perished with the great king. A new- dynasty was rising in southern England and the hopes of the Anglo-Saxons came to be centered about the kingdom of Wessex, with whose leadership the history of the English kingdom begins. REFERENCES Geography of the British Isles. — Cheyney, Short History of England, c. i; Cross, History of England, c. i; George, Relations of Geography and History, c. x; Mackinder, Britain and the British Seas. The earliest inhabitants of Great Britain. — Cross, 11-18; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, Part i, c. i; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 3-9; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 1-5. Roman civilization in Britain. — Fletcher, I, i, 20-26; Tout, 9-12. The English conquest. — Innes, History of England, 6-10. The conversion of England. -7- Ransome, 26-36; Tout, 28-35. Early Anglo-Saxon institutions. — Fletcher, I, i, 27-38; Ransome, 40-50; Walker, Essentials in English History, c. iv. CHAPTER II THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 23. The Northmen in Britain. In the ninth century the tide of immigration once more began to flow toward the British Isles. This time the invaders were Northmen, or Danes, as the English preferred to call them, though all the Scandinavian tribes evidently joined in the attack. The viking movement may be regarded as a belated wave of the Germanic migrations. The purpose was the same: the acquisition of new homes in a more favored clime. Due east of the Shetland and the Orkney Islands lies the southern part of Norway, and from this region the westward movement seems to have begun. The islands Scandinavian mentioned and northern Scotland were the terri- settlements, tories first occupied; thence the stream of settlement flowed on to the Hebrides, down the west coast of Scotland, and across to eastern Ireland and the Isle of Man. Later, Norwe- gian settlers appeared north of the Humber and Danes in the East Anglian kingdom. It will thus be seen that parts of both the eastern and the western shores of the island were being visited and seized. Like the Anglo-Saxons the Scandinavian invaders were of Teutonic blood and spoke a Germanic dialect with enough points of resemblance to the Old English to make civilization of it possible for the two peoples to learn each other's the Northmen, language without great effort. In religion the Northmen were still heathen, worshiping the old gods that the English had renounced two hundred years earlier. 1 In civilization they occupied a lower stage than the English, though in some respects they were their intellectual equals. In shipbuilding, for 1 Review sec. 15. 25 26 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY instance, they soon came to lead Europe, and for several cen- turies the Norse vikings ruled the European seas. Piracy was common among them, but loot and pillage were not the chief objects of their visits to Britain: it was land-hunger and eco- Viking Ship Model of a ship found in 1880 in a burial-mound at Gokstad, Norway, where it had been buried nearly one thousand years before. nomic pressure that led the Northmen to emigrate, though love of adventure and the prospect of sharing in plundered wealth doubtless also proved strong incentives. 24. The Vikings as Conquerors. The earliest recorded visit of the vikings to any of the English kingdoms for the THE VIKING ATTACK ON WESSEX 27 sake of plunder was in 793, when they pillaged the Northum- brian monastery at Lindisfarne. That was toward . The attack on the close of Offa's reign as king of Mercia and En g lan d. 793. overlord of the English, and while Cynewulf may still have been writing in some Anglian cloister. From that date for a hundred years, English history is an almost unbroken account of warfare with the Scandinavian invaders. It was the custom of the vikings to land and seize the horses in the regions visited, and thus mounted they rode everywhere at will. Some of the English kings made vigorous efforts to defend their lands, but too often they strove in vain. Egbert, the king of Wessex, kept the invaders at bay for a time; but after his death (839) the Angles and Saxons were again hard pressed. In 866 the vikings in England found new leaders in the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, whom a Northumbrian king is said to have seized and thrown into a den of serpents Conquest of some years before. The fierce brothers wintered Northumbria. with their host in East Anglia. The following year the Danes swept northward across the Humber and crushed Northumbria. They next turned south again into middle England. West Saxons from the south hastened to the aid of the Mercian king, but to no purpose: the men of Mercia submitted, and six years later the Mercian kingdom ceased to exist. Next the Danes stormed into East Anglia where the glorious Edmund was king. He was seized and suffered martyrdom; Mercia and soon he was adored as one of the most powerful East An s lia - saints of the English church; but his kingdom passed to the Danes. In 870, after five years of hostile operations, the northern pirates found themselves in control of all the region from the river Thames northward almost as far as the Firth of Forth. Wessex was now the only surviving Anglo-Saxon state in Britain. 25. The Viking Attack on Wessex: Alfred the Great. In those days the throne of Wessex belonged to Egbert king of the family of Egbert, a prince who represented a Wessex - 802 - younger line of the ancient dynasty and became king in 802. 28 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENTS BRITAIN AND NORMANDY The Danelaw ES3 Norse Settlements! Danish Settlements.1123 Scale of Miles O 25 50 100 THE VIKING ATTACK ON WESSEX 29 While still a youth he had been driven from the land by his reigning kinsman, and a part of his exile was spent at the court of Charlemagne, where he learned the Frankish methods of government and developed ambitions to rule conquered lands. Egbert proved a ruler of unusual abilities; but none of his immediate successors showed any marked talents either as rulers or leaders in warfare. During the decade 860-870, when the Anglian kingdoms were yielding to the onslaught of the Danish hordes, three of Egbert's grandsons ruled succes- sively in Wessex. Their reigns were brief and unimportant save for continued and unsuccessful wars against the vikings. After they had seized East Anglia and had slain King Ed- mund, the Danes moved their forces across the Thames and carried the war into the neighborhood of Winchester, the very heart of the West Saxon kingdom. In the early months of 871, a series of battles was fought, the Danes being usu- ally victorious. In the midst of these disasters, ^f Te ^ Alfred, commonly known as the Great, 1 a fourth becomes grandson of King Egbert, ascended the tottering ng * throne. Alfred was a young man, perhaps not more than twenty-three years old; but the events of the previous reign had given him much experience in the field as well as in the council chamber, and he proved equal to the task. For several years the young prince had been the real force in the Saxon host; as king he continued the war, 2 but, seeing the futility of keeping up an unequal struggle, he made peace as soon as opportunity appeared. However, after four years of quiet, the enemy reappeared in Wessex and fought with such success that for a time Alfred was almost a fugitive in his own kingdom. But in 878 the yeomanry from the counties of Somerset, Hants, and Wilts gathered about him and the enemy was overcome. Guthrum, the leader of Treaty of the defeated Danes, agreed to accept the Christian Chippenham, faith and withdrew to his own kingdom in East Anglia. The 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 6; Bates and Coman, 18-19 (Wordsworth, Alfred). 2 Innes, I, 16-21. 3° THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY treaty was made at Chippenham and the two kings apparently divided southern England between them with the Thames as the chief boundary. 26. Alfred as Statesman and Reformer. 1 Alfred's first care after peace had been secured was to provide for the defense An English of the country. Cities were fortified, the militia navy built. was organized, and a navy was built. 2 The art of shipbuilding the king learned from his Danish enemies ; The Alfred Jewel A jewel of gold found near Athelney in 1603. The inscription reads: Aelfred mec heht gewyrcan, i.e. Alfred had me made. but Alfred is said to have made notable improvements on the plans of the Norse builders: he built ships that were swifter, steadier, and higher. Alfred also made a thorough study of Alfred as the ancient laws of his kingdom, and after careful law-giver. sifting he reenacted those that he approved, though he made certain important modifications especially in the direction of greater mercy and lighter penalties for minor offenses. 3 The administration of justice was also reformed: the local officials were instructed to deal out equal justice to all without fear or favor. 27. Alfred's Work for English Literature. 4 The great king's work of improvement was not limited to administration and defense. It was he who gave the first impulse to the re- vival of learning in England toward the close of the ninth Low state of century. The need was great; barbarism was con- Enghsh culture. q Uerm g tne } anc j- f or nearly a century English intellect had produced almost nothing of lasting importance; 1 Cheyney, No. 40. 2 Ibid., p. 65. 3 Ibid., No. 47; Innes, I, 29-32; Kendall, No. 6t 4 Cheyney, pp. 67-68; Gardiner, 61. THE EXPANSION OF WESSEX 31 Anglo-Saxon scholarship seemed to have barely survived in Mercia, but Wessex was utterly illiterate. The king him- self was not able to read before he was twelve years old; but he seems to have developed an early interest in learning, 1 and he continued a student till the end of his days. Learned men were called to his court, from Mercia, from Wales, and from over the sea. A school was opened at the royal a palace court, and in a sense the king himself became a schooL teacher; for Alfred lived for a great ideal: that all young Englishmen should learn to read their mother tongue. But reading requires books; and it was Alfred's great in- terest in education that gave rise to English prose. In his reign there appeared several notable translations 01d En H , of what at that time was considered the most use- prose: trans- ful among the Latin writings. The work was atlons - done at court, under royal supervision perhaps, though it is doubtful whether the king himself took a very active part as a translator. Among the books chosen were Bede's Ecclesi- astical History; Gregory's Pastoral Care, which was intended to help the ignorant priests; Orosius' History, which detailed calamities as great as those that England had lately endured; and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, which was also suited to a sorrowful age. In addition Alfred encouraged The An l the writing of current history; as a result some of Saxon the leading monasteries undertook to compile the Chromcle - annals of Britain and the great Anglo-Saxon Chronicle came into being. 28. The Expansion of Wessex. Alfred died in 900. He was not a genius either as a statesman, a general, or a writer; he was simply a wide-awake, practical Englishman Achievements with great administrative abilities and a marvel- of Alfred the ous capacity for work. Still, his achievements reat " are greater than those of any other English king: English prose literature and the English nation both look back to him. In his long reign of nearly thirty years the English state saw 1 Innes, I, 8-9. 3 2 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY its beginning, and Alfred the Great may be said to have been the first king of England. The making of England was the expansion of Wessex. There was no union of the Old English kingdoms, for Mercia, East Expansion of Anglia, and Northumbria were never revived: Wessex. nor was Alfred or any of his immediate successors chosen king by all the English nation. What happened was IRISH SEA G* 1 WESSEX cll ANNEL AB out 886 S ** Boundary accordrng'To C~- — 'Alfred and Guthrums'/Peace _} I z that the king of Wessex, the dynasty of Alfred, gradually conquered the lands north of the .Thames from the Danes and Norwegians who held it. Mile by mile the frontier was pushed northward, until the authority of the kings at Winchester extended as far as the Firth of Forth. Naturally the name Wessex was soon dropped for the more inclusive term England. The first real advance came fifteen years after Alfred's ele- vation to the kingship. About 886 a new agreement was drawn THE EXPANSION OF WESSEX 33 up between Alfred and his Danish neighbor in East Anglia, according to which the Thames and the Ouse as Advance into far west as Watling Street were made the boun- western dary between the kingdoms. By this treaty Wessex came into possession of a small area of south Mercian territory to the northwest of London. Watling Street was an old Roman road that ran northwestward from London to Chester. As to Mercia west of this road, the treaty is silent, perhaps because neither king had a claim to this region: it was never an integral BEsNfc Ruins of Hyde Abbey, Winchester Alfred is supposed to be buried here. part of Wessex and was not occupied by the Danes. But the English people of this section, wedged in, as they were, between the Danes and the Welsh, naturally turned to Alfred, whom all Englishmen were now disposed to accept as king. The chief ruler or ealdorman became Alfred's subject and „ The Lady married his daughter, the spirited Ethelfled, known of the in history as "the lady of the Mercians." In this way a large triangular area extending north to Chester was added to Alfred's dominions. The work of expansion was successfully carried on by Alfred's successors, several of whom were strong, capable men, until, Mercians. 34 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY after two generations of continuous advance, every Danish state on English soil had been forced into subjection. 1 The result was due in large measure to the aggressive valor of the Saxons, but still more to disunion among the Danish colonists and to the fact that reinforcements came no longer from the Scandinavian lands. For throughout almost the entire tenth century there was a lull in the activities of the vikings, and the Scandinavians in England were thrown on their own inadequate resources. 29. The Danelaw. The Danelaw, as the Anglo-Danish settlements were called, was not a political unit. There was a The divisions of king in East An- the Danelaw. g^ a; another in the ancient city of York; earls with more or less au- thority ruled over various sections or groups of settle- ments; in the Midlands the English were held in subjec- tion by the garrisons of the "Five Boroughs," five Dan- ish strongholds that formed some kind of a city league. Of this division of strength the English made good use. It is also true that the in- vaders were gradually losing their alien character and were becoming English in language and sympathies. Danish Runic Monument The monument was raised at Jelling in Jutland by King Gorm, the great-grandfather of Cnut the Great, in honor of Thyra his queen. The part of the inscription visible reads: sina : Tanmarkar bot, i.e. — his (wife), Denmark's Resistance, nevertheless, defense . continued for half a century Edgar the after Alfred's death. Not till the accession of Ed- Peaceful. 959. g ar the Peaceful as king of all England (959) did the Danish chiefs seem to have become reconciled to Saxon rule. 1 Gardiner, 62-64. LOCAL GOVERNMENT 35 30. Old English Cities and Towns. By the time of Edgar there had grown up a number of cities on English soil, in the south as well as in the Danelaw. None of old English these can have been large, but they were more Dorou g hs - than mere villages: they had their own governments; they were often surrounded by a wall ; they were usually the center of a considerable trade. The settlement of the Danes stimu- lated the growth of these "boroughs," for the Danes were traders as well as pirates, and brought a great variety of prod- ucts to England, especially from the Baltic shores. i ■ • t / 1 • London. Among these cities London was the most impor- tant : it was of ancient origin, possibly dating from Celtic times ; it had an excellent location not far from the mouth of the Thames, where the banks were high and the river was easily crossed both by ford and bridge. But there were other cities that almost ranked with London. Winchester was the capital; York was the center of the eastern trade; Sandwich was the most important seaport. The great mass of the population, however, still lived in villages l and followed rural pursuits. The village with the land belonging to it made up the Old English _ 1 • i-i 1 11 . r The town, town or township, which was the smallest unit of social and political life. Not all the villagers were farmers: the priest, the miller, and the smith formed a separate class slightly above the ordinary farmer. Many of the villages were under the domination of some influential noble who some- times lived in a more pretentious home called a hall a little distance from the village. In such cases the lord exercised some control over the villagers, 2 but he was also held re- sponsible for them to the higher authorities. 31. Local Government. 3 The towns were grouped into larger areas called hundreds. Every month the chief men of the towns (sent, perhaps, as representatives) came together near some large rock or under a spreading oak and held the 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 24-26. 2 Cheyney, No. 42. 3 Gardiner, 72-73; Masterman, 14-16. 36 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY (a) March. — Preparing the soil {b) July. — Making hay (c) August. — Harvesting grain (d) December. — Threshing grain Agriculture in Old English Times From an Anglo-Saxon Calendar, ca. 1050 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 37 hundred court. In this court the disputes between the quar- relsome villagers were taken up and settled. The i- j j 4. • n u • j vu • The hundred, hundred court was especially busied with trying crimes of theft, usually cattle stealing, which was a common crime in those days. If for any reason a villager failed to get his suit taken up in the hundred court, he could carry his quarrel to the court of the shire. The division of the kingdom into shires , . . , . , . The shire, was ol early origin and may have resulted from the consolidation of the petty kingdoms: a few of the shires such as Sussex, Kent, Surrey, and Essex, are clearly the old kingdoms of the same name; many of the western and north- western shires are evidently of artificial origin; they were created when Alfred and his successors were adding Mercian territory to their kingdom. The system had reached its completion by Edgar's time, and has been changed but slightly since: the English shires have kept their old names and in general their old areas. After the Norman conquest they also took on the title of county, which was later brought to America. The shire was governed by a chief called an ealdorman, who might or might not have more than one shire. Another im- portant official was the shire reeve, whom we now The ealdor _ call the sheriff. The court of the shire, like that man and the of the hundred, was made up of the chief men from s en * the villages. It met twice a year, chiefly for judicial purposes. It may be believed that, in ordinary cases, disputes were settled on the testimony of those who had actual knowledge of the facts; but where evidence was wanting and suspicion strong, the court resorted to the ordeal. Like the other Germanic tribes, the Angles and Saxons had in such cases permitted the use of compurgation: the accused would swear to his own innocence, and if a certain „ Court proced- number of "oath helpers" would swear that they ure: com- believed his oath to be "clean," he was acquitted purgation and ordeal, of the charge. In an age when the belief that God would bring swift punishment upon every perjurer was still 38 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY strong, this method might be quite effective in cases where the accused was actually guilty. But it was soon superseded by the ordeal, which was a solemn appeal to God to declare the guilt or the innocence of the alleged criminal. 1 The ordeal was carried out by the priests and was accompanied by elaborate religious ceremonies. Various tests were employed, but that of the hot iron is typical: after the preliminaries had been completed, the accused would be given a red-hot iron to carry a short distance. That his hand would be burned was expected; but if the wound seemed fresh after three days, it was a sure indication of innocence. The ordeal, too, might be effective, as a man with a guilty conscience would be unlikely to submit to a fiery test. 32. Development of the Monarchy: Central Govern- ment. 2 In theory the Old English kingdom was an absolute monarchy; in practice the royal power was not widely felt, as the king lacked the necessary machinery for effective govern- ment. Usually he took no steps of importance without consult- ing the great officials of the land, the bishops, the ealdormen, The Wite- and a few others, who formed the " meeting of nagemot. j-]^ w i S e," or the witenagemot. This body had a variety of vague powers, but only when a weak king was on the throne did it ever display much strength as a governing body. From the treaty of Chippenham, to the accession of Ethelred II, the Ill-counseled, was almost exactly a century. This was England in the the great age of the Old English monarchy. Sue- tenth century. cess f u i conquest gave the English a sense of strength and security. The literary impulse that Alfred gave to Saxon intellect continued and the tenth century saw the production of several spirited martial poems of great merit inspired by the struggle with the Danes. 3 The Anglo-Saxon kings entered into closer relations with the rulers of the Continent : several of Alfred's granddaughters found royal husbands across the 1 Cheyney, No. 46. 2 Masterman, 16-19; Tuell and Hatch, No. 4. 3 Cheyney, No. 43; Innes, I, 33~35; Kendall, No. 8 (Battle of Brunanburh); see Gardiner, 63. ST. DUNSTAN: MONASTIC REFORM 39 sea. The church, however, did not share in the new vigor; especially were the monastic institutions in a bad way. This gave occasion for a thorough reform of the English church which was planned and carried out by the strenuous Dunstan, who became archbishop of Canterbury in 960 while the mighty Edgar was king. 33. St. Dunstan: Monastic Reform. The medieval Eng- lishman looked with favor on the monastic life, though he did not enjoy its severities. It will be recalled D ec H ne that even as early as the time of Bede, when the of the English monasteries were scarcely more than monas enes ' half a century old, a loud complaint was raised against the corruption that had crept into the Northumbrian foundations. 1 The viking invasions were very destructive to the discipline as well as to the prosperity of these houses ; and the settlement of large colonies of heathen among the discouraged Christians of the Danelaw cannot have failed to spread indifference and corruption in the church. But the English situation was by no means unique: the same paralyzing influence was felt in varying degree throughout all western Europe. In 910 a reform movement of vast consequences began in eastern France by the founding at Cluny of a great monastery where the Benedictine Rule was to be observed in TheCluniac all its strictness. Similar institutions were soon movement. 910 founded elsewhere, and these, unlike the older mon- asteries, were not independent, but were organized into a great federation of monasteries, the Congregation of Cluny, of which the abbot of the parent monastery was the chief. As each monastery was supervised and supported by the Congregation, it was easier to combat corrupting influences in these newer houses than under the older system of independent monasteries. A generation later the Cluniac ideals of reform and centraliza- tion had struck root in England, where their chief promoter was a learned monk from the Severn valley, the virile, but imperious and tactless, Dunstan. 2 1 Review sec. 20. 2 Tuell and Hatch, No. 5. 40 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY About 950 Dunstan, as abbot of Glastonbury, completely reorganized this monastery according to Cluniac models. For Dunstan and tne next thirty years there was an active interest his reform in the revival of decayed or ruined monasteries after the stricter Benedictine type. Soon the movement extended to the Danelaw, and the monastic houses of the Fenlands rose once more. But Dunstan and his followers were not content with rebuilding monasteries and reviving discipline : their purpose was to make the reformed monks the controlling force in the English church. To this end they proceeded to reorganize the cathedrals and other important churches where the services were being performed by secular priests. The dispossession of these priests, whose places were taken by monks, and the arrogant behavior of the monastic party Civil war in called forth strong opposition, and the reign of the Danelaw. Edgar the Peaceful soon became a period of violent strife. It is significant that the trouble was limited to the southern Danelaw, where the partisans of the monks and the faction of the priests took up arms and brought the region to the verge of civil war. Such was the situation when Edgar died (975). 34. The Viking Invasions Renewed. A few years later the Scandinavian pirates renewed their attacks on the English shores. The counties of the southwest were the first to suffer, as the raids apparently originated in the Norse colonies about the Irish Sea. But soon the entire coast from the mouth of the Thames to Bristol Channel was made to feel the fury of the vikings. It was not long before the raiders began plundering farther inland and even wintered on the island. The region that suffered most was the old kingdom of Wessex, which for more than thirty years knew only brief intervals of peace. 1 Of the country north of the Thames, only the East Anglian regions were troubled to any great extent : the vikings usually spared the settlements of their countrymen. 1 Cheyney, No. 48; Innes, I, 36-39; Kendall, No. 11. SWEYN FORKBEARD AND CNUT THE GREAT 4i Danegeld. The king of England during this mournful period was Ethel- red the Ill-counseled, a younger son of the mighty Edgar, who came to the throne as a mere boy. As he developed Ethelred the into manhood it was discovered that he was grossly ^-counseled, incompetent ; but this defect was common to the English leaders of the age. With discontent and disloyalty north of the Thames and the vikings spreading desolation in the south, the king and the "wise men" soon found themselves in desperate straits. Finally the English chiefs hit upon the expedient of buying off the enemy. Silver to the sum of more than one hundred thousand pounds was collected and paid from time to time in the form of Danegeld (Dane- money). After each payment the enemy departed ; but soon the same bands, and others, too, that had been attracted by the news of British wealth, were once more in the land. So frequently was the Danegeld levied that it soon came to be looked upon as a permanent land tax, which might be collected even in times of peace. Finally the English adopted the even more doubtful expedient of hiring several thousands of these vikings to defend the land against their piratical brethren. 35. Sweyn Forkbeard and Cnut the Great. 1 Among the Scandinavian chiefs who were interested in the English venture was Sweyn Forkbeard, the king of Denmark. Sweyn Fork- Sweyn was a king of the olden type, an able warrior beard - and a cunning diplomat, who seems to have regarded himself in the light of a war chief rather than of a national ruler. Several times this warlike king led a host into England. When 1 Cheyney, No. 50. Anglo-Saxon Weapons 42 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY he came for the last time (in 1013), it was with the avowed purpose of seizing Ethelred's kingdom. He sailed his fleet into the Humber and up the. Trent to Gainsborough, where he built his camp. Soon his army was in swift march southward *° LongitudeWestftomGrwrovich 2 into Wessex. A brief campaign gave him control of the entire kingdom. Ethelred fled to Normandy. After a few months, Sweyn Forkbeard suddenly died, and the English rose in revolt. Ethelred returned, and with the aid of the viking mercenaries who had remained loyal to their agreement he drove the Danes, who were now led by Sweyn's younger son Cnut, out of the land. Cnut returned to Denmark, where his older brother was king, 1014. THE ANGLO-SCANDINAVIAN EMPIRE 43 and collected a new force of adventurers with which he invaded England in 1015. In this force were Danes, cnut the Norwegians, and Swedes ; Ethelred's mercenaries Great - now deserted and joined their countrymen. A hard-fought campaign followed, during which King Ethelred died. His son Edmund Ironside kept up the resistance with wonderful energy and for a time the war promised to be a drawn battle ; but in the autumn of 1016 the English suffered a crushing defeat at Ashington in East Anglia, and Cnut was master of the land. He divided the kingdom with Edmund, taking for The hatae of himself most of the country north of the Thames. Ashington. When Edmund died a few weeks later, the young conqueror came into possession of the entire kingdom. 36. The Danish Rule in England. The Danish king governed England for nearly twenty years. It was galling to the Saxons to have to submit to an upstart pirate, who had neither crown nor lands elsewhere, and during the first few years of his reign there was much plotting ; but Cnut was able to defeat the conspirators on every occasion. He divided the Danelaw into a number of earldoms over which he placed the captains of his viking army. The West Saxon part of his kingdom he reserved for his own immediate rule. 37. The Anglo-Scandinavian Empire. The native English gradually became reconciled to alien rule, for Cnut gave the country a long period of peace and good government such as England had not known so long as men could remember. He also strengthened his rule by making a strong alliance with the English church. Added luster king of Den- came to his kingship when Cnut succeeded his ™ arkanii Norway, brother as king of Denmark two or three years after he had mounted the English throne. About ten years later (1028) he added Norway to his dominions. The Danish kings had an ancient claim to the southern shores of Norway, but none to the kingdom as a whole. But King Olaf of Norway had made many enemies in his kingdom by his stern missionary methods and his ruthless persecution of the heathen worshipers. 44 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY Cnut seized the opportunity to press his claim, and Norway- was conquered without a battle. The old city of Winchester was thus the capital of a mighty empire of three kingdoms and several vassal states : for Cnut Other domin- had possessions on the south shores of the Baltic ions of Cnut. g ea . h e held the islands to the north and west of Scotland with parts of the Scotch mainland ; the east coast of Ireland may also have belonged to his empire. In this Anglo- Scandinavian empire the Danish rather than the English influence was dominant. What hopes Cnut may have had that the empire would remain a permanent creation were not realized : his sons did not possess their father's abilities, and seven years after Cnut's death, his kingdoms all had separate kings. 38. The Reign of Edward the Confessor. 1 A new alien influence, the Norman-French, almost immediately succeeded that of the Danes. Ethelred the Ill-counseled had married Norman influ- Emma, a Norman princess, and their son Edward, enceinEng- known as the Confessor, who had spent thirty years in exile among his Norman kinsmen, became king of England after the death of Cnut's second son. With the new ruler, who was Norman in sympathies, came many of his friends and relatives, to whom he gave high offices in Eng- land. Especially did Edward favor the foreigners in filling the great offices of the church : the archbishopric of Canterbury, the highest dignity in the English church, was given to a Nor- man abbot. On the secular side, however, the chief offices remained largely in the hands of the English. In the south the ruling in- fluence was that of Godwin, King Edward's father- Rivalry of the . , , _ ,,..'.. it. families of in-law, one of Cnut s chief administrators, who had Godwin and r i se n from comparative obscurity to become Earl Leofnc. . of Wessex and husband of a Danish princess. In the Midlands a Mercian chief, Leofric, was the ranking earl. The history of the Confessor's reign centers largely about the 1 Gardiner, 86-91. DUKE WILLIAM OF NORMANDY 45 rivalry that existed between these two families. This reached a crisis ten years after Edward's accession, and resulted in civil war : Godwin and his many fierce sons were sent into tem- porary exile. 39. Duke William of Normandy. The duchy of Nor- mandy L had been founded in the early part of the tenth cen- tury, a dozen years after the death of Alfred. In Normandy. 911 a considerable force of Scandinavian pirates 911 - had taken possession of the lower Seine valley, and were per- mitted by the helpless French king to occupy and hold the land on condition that their chief should do homage to him and protect the Channel shore from the depredations of other vikings. The Northmen settled down in their new homes, intermarried with the conquered population, and accepted the faith of their neighbors and subjects. After a few generations the Normans had become French in language and civilization, though they continued to keep in close touch with their kins- men in Scandinavia. In the days of Edward the Confessor, William, a young prince of great strength of character and purpose, ruled in Normandy. He was Edward's cousin, and in 1051, while the Duke William Norman influence was at its height at the English of Normandy, court, he visited his English kinsman. It is said that Edward on that occasion promised to make William his successor to the English throne. It seems that William had an ambition to repeat the great exploit of Cnut ; and while no promise on the Confessor's part with respect to the succession could have any legal force, it might prove useful when the time came to raise forces for an invading expedition. Soon after this visit a reaction set in against Norman domina- tion. Earl Godwin was permitted to return from exile and was restored to all his rights. After his death his Earl Harold oldest son Harold succeeded to his dignities, and of Wessex - during the closing years of Edward's reign, he was the virtual ruler of the kingdom. 1 Gardiner, 80-81. 46 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY 40. The Death of Edward and the Election of Harold II. Edward the Confessor was a man of good purposes and inten- Ch racter tions, but he was weak and unkingly. At one time and rule of he seems to have looked forward to a monastic Edwar . career, and he never lost his admiration for the monastic life and habits. He believed in peace and frugal ad- ministration, and did not find it necessary to levy burdensome taxes. Among his people he enjoyed a reputation for saintli- Westminster ness ; this together with the fact that he discon- Abbey. tinued levying the Danegeld seems to have formed the basis for his great popularity. The last public act of his life was to assist at the dedication of Westminster Abbey, a church that was founded through his liberality and in which he showed a deep interest. He died early in January, 1066. Immediately four candidates appeared as claimants to the English throne : Harold, the earl of Wessex ; William, the Fourcandi- duke of Normandy; Edgar, a grandson of Ed- dates for the mund Ironside; and Harold, the king of Norway. English throne. Qf thege £dgar had the best right as representative of Alfred's dynasty ; but he was insignificant and incompetent and was never seriously considered. William of Normandy also claimed to represent the Saxon line as Edward's cousin and chosen heir ; Harold of Norway made a weak pretense at having inherited the rights of Cnut, though the reigning king of Denmark, who was Cnut's nephew, had a better right, but was not an active candidate. Harold of Wessex had no con- stitutional rights to the throne, but he was the ablest and mightiest lord in England and the late king's brother-in-law ; Election of he had long planned to secure the throne after Harold. Edward's death. A meeting of the lords was hur- riedly called, and Harold was chosen king. It is likely that this election was somewhat irregular, as the entire kingdom may not have been represented in this assembly. At any rate, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria, two brothers of the rival family of Leofric, did not accept the new king with any degree of loyalty. This was the weakness of Harold's BATTLES OF STAMFORD BRIDGE AND HASTINGS 47 position : the English aristocracy did not give him its undivided support. 41. The Battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings. 1 Harold ruled England for less than a year and spent nearly all the time in vain efforts to bolster up his tottering throne. Till early summer he was safe, as no hostile force would venture to Battle Abbey The Abbey of St. Martin of the Place of Battle was founded by William the Conqueror soon after the battle of Hastings; it was located on the battlefield. cross the sea in winter ; but trouble was in prospect, as both Harold of Norway and William of Normandy were preparing for an invasion. The English king collected a strong force on the Channel shore in expectation of a Norman landing. Wil- liam, however, was delayed by unfavorable winds and the Nor- wegian host had landed in Yorkshire before the Batt i eo f Normans were able to embark. King Harold hur- Stamford ried northward and crushed the Norwegians in the n ge * battle of Stamford Bridge. 2 Nevertheless, the Norse invasion was fatal to Anglo-Saxon freedom and nationality. While Harold was in Yorkshire, William was able to land his sea- 1 Cheyney, Nos. 52, 54; Innes, I, 39-44; Robinson, No. 45; these accounts are from four different sources. 2 Gardiner, 93-96. 4 8 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY wearied Normans without opposition, and Harold now had to meet the new enemy with a weakened force. On October 19, 1066, the Norman and Saxon hosts met on William Sailing to England From the Bayeux Tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry is a strip of linen cloth 231 feet long and 20 inches wide, on which is embroidered a series of pictures, seventy-two in all, illustrating the various stages of the Norman invasion of England. It seems likely that the tap- estry was prepared on the order of Bishop Odo, William I's half brother, for his cathedral at Bayeux. It is preserved in the public library of Bayeux. the field of Hastings l and fought a battle with the most far- Battle of reaching results. The nucleus of the Norman army was a splendid body of knights, heavily armed warriors mounted on powerful horses, whose favorite weapon was the sword. On the Saxon side the forces 1 Gardiner, 96-98. Hastings. 1066. THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND 49 were grouped about the housecarles, a force made up chiefly of Scandinavian warriors that was organized by Cnut soon after his accession in England. The housecarles used the battle-ax as their principal weapon and fought on foot. The knight overcame the housecarle. When the fight was ended William had won a complete victory. The English had lost not only their army but their king : Harold and his brothers and the flower of the English host lay dead on the battlefield. T^YMjMrmfrmrFmx Norman Warriors Riding to Battle From the Bayeux Tapestry. 42. The Norman Conquest of England. Two months later William was chosen king by the English lords and was crowned on Christmas day in the new church of Westminster. But actual control of England he did not have for some years. One revolt appeared after the other, especially in the old Danish settlements ; but they were local and sporadic. So long as the English did not unite in their resistance, William found it com- paratively easy to put down these rebellions. The Devastat i n conquest was carried forward in ruthless fashion : of the Vale of when the men of Yorkshire refused to submit, William marched his army into the beautiful vale of York and 50 THE OLD ENGLISH MONARCHY transformed it into a desert. 1 For a distance of more than fifty miles between York and Durham, not a single Hereward. „/ , __ . * village was spared, the last important revolt was that of Hereward, a Mercian of noble ancestry who led an uprising in the Fenlands, and whose exploits became a favorite theme in the ballad literature of medieval times. It was not until the surrender of Hereward in 107 1 that William could look upon the work of conquest as completed. Seal of William the Conqueror 43. Summary. The history of the Old English kingdom covers exactly two centuries : it begins with the accession of Alfred to the throne of Wessex in 871 and closes with the com- pletion of the Norman conquest in 107 1. Of these two cen- turies, the first was a period of greatness and growth in almost every field of English life ; the second was an age of disaster and decline. During the tenth century the English kings pushed their boundaries to the limits of Wales and Scotland and formed the whole into a single kingdom. The period was also one of notable achievements in literature, in education, and in church reform. But the new structure had a fatal weakness : it was based too largely on conquest. The Dane- law 2 was the larger part of the kingdom ; and it was inhabited by Angles who had no strong sense of loyalty to the kings of 1 Cheyney, No. 55. 2 Review sec. 29. SUMMARY 51 Wessex and by Danes who had resisted them to the utmost. Had the dynasty of Alfred been permitted to remain in peace on the new English throne for another century, it is likely that Saxons, Angles, and Danes would have been welded into a single nationality ; but the viking invasions prevented this. After southern England had been pillaged by the vikings for thirty years, the strength of Wessex was gone, and Sweyn Fork- beard found conquest a comparatively easy task. When the English people submitted to Cnut in 1016, they gave up their right to govern England; for Cnut placed foreigners in many of the higher offices, and after the Danes were gone, the Nor- mans came in with Edward the Confessor. Cnut built up an empire, but he added nothing to the territories of England, and he lost Lothian to the Scots. 1 Edward did nothing to con- solidate his kingdom and the two great sections continued to drift apart. The campaign against William of Normandy should have called out all the forces of the kingdom, but the lords of the Danelaw sulked and failed to appear at Hastings ; and the enemy conquered. REFERENCES Alfred. — Oman, History of England, 37-44; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 53-60; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 43-49; Plummer, Life and Times of Alfred; Tappan, In the Days of Alfred the Great. The Danish conquest: Cnut. — Oman, 52-56; Ransome, c. viii; Tout, 57-61; Larson, Canute the Great. Later Anglo-Saxon institutions. — Andrews, History of England, c. iii; Irines, History of England, 38-49; Cross, History of England, c. v. The coming of the Normans. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 77-85; Oman, 62-71; Ransome, 81-93; Tout, 67-72. English life before the Norman conquest. — Gardiner, Student's His- tory of England, c. v; Tout, 73-80; Wrong, History of the British Nation, c. v. 1 Gardiner, 84. CHAPTER III ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 44. Policy of William. William of Normandy apparently did not regard himself as a conqueror : he professed to believe, in his rights to the English crown as Edward's heir. It was, therefore, his avowed pur- pose to govern England as an English king ; to enforce English laws ; and to main- tain English institutions. The results of the conquest, however, do not show any clear traces of this policy : the coming of William and his Norman barons initiated certain marked changes in English government and so- ciety, some of which came to be permanent features of the English constitution and of English life. 1 45. The Norman Aris- tocracy. Perhaps the most important of the earlier re- sults was the destruction of the native Anglo-Saxon aristocracy. The English nobles fell in great numbers on the field of Hast- ings where Earl Godwin's family perished, in the uprisings led by the family of Leofric two years later, and in various later revolts. During William's reign the » Tuell and Hatch, No. 8 (Freeman) ; Gardiner, 104-106. 52 Ideal of Plan a Twelfth Century Castle Destruction of the English aristocracy. THE NORMAN ARISTOCRACY 53 Danes made two expeditions to the English shores, 1 the chief results of which were the ruin of several important native chiefs who had joined the Scandinavians in the hope of dislodging William. As a rule, the Conqueror was generous to his Eng- lish opponents if they were of noble blood; usually he spared their lives, though in such cases he managed to render them harmless by transporting them to Normandy. Those whom he permitted to remain in England were deprived of their lands and wealth, and consequently lost all their power and influence. In these various ways the native Englishmen lost their natural leaders and organized opposition was made impossible. The places of authority and power that had formerly been held by the English nobility King William gave to his Norman followers and barons. These aliens were often The Norman permitted to live in castles, which in theory be- castles - longed to the king but were held by the barons on his behalf. A castle was a combination of home, fortress, and camp. At first it was merely a fortified enclosure or a single square building called a keep, built with massive walls and several stories high ; but in time a more elaborate form of cas- tle-building arose. The later castle was an enclosure surrounded by a deep moat and a strong wall provided with towers at regular intervals to facilitate defense. Along the wall on the inside were placed the necessary buildings : the lord's hall, the chapel, the kitchen, the barns, the stables, the barracks for the retainers, and various other buildings. In this lit- tle fortress the lord kept a number of warriors, often mercenaries and in the Norman period usually foreigners, a force that served as a garrison and an army of occupation for the neighborhood. With the country dotted 1 Innes, I, 45-48. Hawking A favorite form of amuse- ment of the Norman nobility- including the ladies. The hawks were trained to assist in certain forms of hunting. From the Luttrell Psalter, ca. 1340. 54 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE with such fortresses, a native uprising had only the slightest chance to succeed. 46. Dispossession of the English. The experience of earlier kings had been that a vassal so well provided with military strength might become a dangerous subject; but the circumstances of the conquest forestalled such results in England. It was with difficulty that William had persuaded his barons to join in the invasion ; he finally had to enter into a series of separate agreements with them, according to which they were all to be rewarded with English lands and honors, each in Confiscation proportion to the assistance rendered. By dis- of land. possessing the Anglo-Saxon nobility much land was secured for distribution ; but the Conqueror went farther and confiscated the lands of almost every Englishman who had Distribution joined in resisting the Normans. The distribu- of land to tion of land began in southern England soon after the battle of Hastings. After each subsequent rebellion more land was confiscated, until finally the great mass of the native population was deprived of all rights to the earth. These successive confiscations als.o had the result that the possessions of the Norman lords came to be, not large compact areas as on the Continent, but a number of estates usually called "manors" sometimes widely scattered and in counties far apart. In this way the noble was unable to mass his strength, and the danger from rebellion on the part of the bar- Revolt of ons was materially reduced. Nine years after the 1075 - battle of Hastings, two of these Norman magnates, the earls of Hereford and Norfolk, planned a revolt; but William was able to defeat the conspiracy with little difficulty, and he inflicted severe punishment on the followers of the two rebels. From that time on, the restless Normans held their peace until after the Conqueror's death ; but no sooner had Revolt of the William II succeeded to the throne than he had barons. 1088. j- f ace revolts in several parts of his kingdom. On this occasion the Norman king called on the English militia in the counties near London to assist in fighting the rebellious THE MANORIAL SYSTEM: VILLEINAGE 55 nobles; the English came in force, and the conspiracy was unsuccessful. 47. The Manorial System: Villeinage. 1 This disposses- sion of the English was the second great change that came with the conquest. It is not to be supposed that the natives were driven away from the land ; the Normans needed them to till the soil and permitted them to remain in possession of their farms so long as they rendered the services and paid the dues that the new system demanded. Practically the entire rural population was in this way forced into villeinage. The English A serf, or villein, was an unfree farmer who tilled become vii- a farm that was assigned to him on condition that eins ' he should render certain payments in the form of products, Carts and Ox teams Eleventh Century. labor, and sometimes money. So long as these conditions were promptly met the villein could not be deprived of his land ; nor could he surrender the farm, for a villein was regarded as belonging to the soil like a house or a tree. His duty was to till faithfully, and this duty was inherited by his children. For a long time there was practically no refuge for a dispossessed serf, no place where he might go and find a welcome ; conse- quently, he found it expedient to labor at his farm in quiet obedience. It is easy, however, to overestimate the servile condition of the villein; his rights very soon came to be clearly defined, and it is not likely that the villagers suffered much from arbi- 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 46-56. 56 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE trary treatment on the part of the lord. Life on the manor was regulated by time-honored customs ; and these the vil- leins would not permit the lord to set aside. It is also clear that, if the landlord subjected his villeins to very much ill Treatment of treatment, his income from the land was likely to the villeins. shrink. There is probably more discontent, degra- dation, poverty, and actual suffering in large sections of the modern industrial city than in the medieval village, where the population was rooted to the soil. 48. Norman Feudalism in England. 1 Upon this basis of villeinage the Normans built an aristocratic system, a form of what on the Continent was called feudalism. The feudal system (if we can use the term system for an arrangement so Origin and confused and unsystematic) originated and de- nature of veloped in the Frankish Empire during the troub- lous times of the eighth and ninth centuries. It was at once a government and a social system. In theory the king owned all the land, which he distributed among his chief lords, who would in turn give parts of their share to men of lesser rank. All who in this way had land that had been given Dues services ^y a king or a lord owed certain services to this and privileges overlord which they must render, or all their rights to the land would be forfeited. 2 In this respect the lord resembled the serf ; but the lord had privileges that the villein did not possess : the dues that he owed were honorable, while those paid by the villein were servile ; the lord's profession was warfare and government, and his sons might also look for- ward to honorable careers as important officials in the church. The serf, on the other hand, was practically bound to manual labor ; if the lord permitted, his son might enter the service of the church ; but ordinarily a villein could have no hopes beyond the limits of the manor. It is important to remember that King William did not give out all the confiscated lands. Like the other lords he had estates all over England which were managed by stewards 1 Masterman, 22-24. 2 Cheyney, No. 81. JUSTICE AND POLICE IN NORMAN TIMES 57 who were responsible to the king as landlord. On these estates the farmers rendered service and paid rent directly Th .. to the king. This group of manors was known as landlord; the the king's demesne and was far larger than the royal demesne - possessions of any other landlord in the kingdom. 49. Justice and Police in Norman Times. The introduc- tion of feudalism and villeinage brought about certain profound changes in the constitution of the kingdom. The L , Norman lord was at the same time a warrior, a ment under landlord, and a local ruler. He was given his land feudalism - that he might be able to equip himself with horses, weapons, armor, and other necessities of warfare, and to bring other armed men with him. But he not only drew revenue from the land, he also governed the people upon the land, at least to a very large extent. Government in those days meant chiefly furnishing police protection, settling disputes and quarrels, and punishing criminals. As there was no regular system of police officials, William decreed that all the men of the villages who had reached the age of twelve years should be grouped as nearly as might be into groups of ten, each group The frank- to be responsible for its own members to the extent P led s e - of securing the arrest of any one who should offend against the law. This institution was called the frankpledge and was under the supervision of the sheriff. Ordinarily the lord was allowed to have his own law-court on his estates, where the villeins met under the presidency of the lord's steward, or other representative, to settle The private the disputes of the community. It was presumed (manorial) that the Old English law would be applied in these courts ; but the Normans had little knowledge of what was law in England, so there was introduced a great deal of Norman custom which was accepted as binding. Local customs, too, grew up and these also received the force of law. The establishment of these private manorial courts meant the practical extinction of one of the old judicial institutions : * 1 Review sec. 31. 58 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE the hundred court, which in Saxon times had heard a vast num- Declineofthe ^er °^ P ettv disputes and complaints, had now Old English almost no business to transact, and gradually with- courts. ere( j awa y ^he county court also suffered some- what in prestige ; but it did not wholly disappear, as there was much litigation that the manorial courts could not be expected to take up and settle. The survival of the shire court and the sheriff's office was of prime importance. A century after the conquest the kings became anxious to reduce the power and authority of the feudal lords, and in the struggle that followed they found the old shire government exceedingly useful. 50. The Great Council: the Curia Regis. The changes in the central government are chiefly concerned with two The Great institutions, the exchequer and the council of the Council of barons. According to feudal practice, the council of the barons l should be made up of all who had received land directly from the king, that is, of the tenants-in- chief. As there were hundreds of such tenants and many of them had received only small grants from the king, it is likely that only the more important actually attended these meetings. King William spent much of his time in Normandy ; but when he was in England he entertained his chief men at three great church festivals, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. These occasions were not wholly social : important political matters were brought up and discussed, though it is not likely that the king was expected to follow the advice of the barons unless he felt disposed to do so. The king also kept a small group of counselors and officials continuously at court to assist him in the management of his The Curia affairs as king and landlord. This body was com- Regis. monly called the curia regis 2 or "king's court," a vague term that was also at times used for the great council. The membership was largely composed of lawyers and church- men, the latter being chosen for their knowledge of Latin and 1 Masterman, 25-26. 2 Gardiner, 127; Masterman, 26-27, 33~34- THE GREAT COUNCIL: THE CURIA REGIS 59 for their ability to draw up documents. In its earlier days the curia regis transacted a great variety of business ; but when some particular phase of the government grew to great impor- tance it would be assigned to some part of the membership and rVnsswaws &imr* A*rSf vtrum *<&mm ! Srtimg*'. "' If *■• ntc. ktfe ■ fw» ttifr* onoEHinr, turn *»«*, • i •MW» mtlius 1 fttatUS fife* ! r William the Conqueror's Writ and Seal Translation or William I's Grant to Coventry William, king of the English, sends greetings to Peter, bishop of Chester, and Earl William Fitzosbern and Hugh, earl of Chester, and to his other earls, barons, and sheriffs, and to all his faithful liegemen, both French and English. You shall know that I have granted and confirmed to God and the church of St. Mary at Coventry and to Abbot Leofwine and the brethren of that place, for their support and sustenance, all the gifts of land and of all other things which Earl Leofric gave to them for the health of his soul, to to be held with sac and soc, toll and team, as fully and freely as King Edward of pious memory, my kinsman, gave the same to them even more fully and freely and confirmed the gift with his charters. These are the witnesses: Odo, bishop of Bayeux; Gosfrid, bishop of Coutances; Robert, count of Mortain; Roger, earl of Montgomery; Henry of Ferrers. ("Sac and soc" is a technical term for the right to try criminal offences and to collect the fines imposed on conviction; "toll" means the right to collect, or to be excused from paying, tolls; "team" probably meant the right to summon to a private court men who ordinarily would not be under the jurisdiction of that court.) this group would in time develop into a separate body. Out of this curia regis nearly all the central administration of the kingdom has developed: the central law courts, the privy council, and the cabinet. 60 ENGLAND UNDER NORMAN RULE 51. Financial Administration: the Exchequer. The Nor- man kings were thrifty administrators and sought to enlarge Domesday the royal revenues as much as possible. It was for Book. this purpose that William the Conqueror shortly before his death had the great assessment made that is re- ■ ■■■■mi T:r\ Jra^JSmLrwV S^fNhf SMf.S *" lUJtt C| 3g ffllfU ^ curse ; and the state of the English church was worse than ever. When the king, who was in France at the time, heard of the archbishop's behavior at Canterbury, he was furious. Four of his knights who believed that Henry had ex- pressed a desire for Becket's death crossed the Channel and slew the stout-hearted bishop in his own ca- thedral. 1 Henry was appalled at the deed, 2 but the murderers were apparently never punished. The result of Beck- et's murder was that Henry was halted in his efforts to extend Failure of nis j uclicial system to the clerical orders. Though Henry's anti- the " Constitutions " were never formally with- clericai plans. drawn ^ n0 attempt was made to enforce those that dealt with the subject of accused clerks. The king did i Inncs, I, 89-94; Cheyney, No. 96; separate accounts. 2 Cheyney, No. 97. The Murder of Becket From a manuscript of the thirteenth century. THE ANNEXATION OF IRELAND 85 succeed, however, in limiting the power of the church courts to try civil cases ; most of the cases involving property rights were kept in the secular courts. But for more than three cen- turies longer, the educated classes continued to enjoy benefit of clergy. In time, however, as the knowledge of letters came to be a more common accomplishment, the abuse of this privi- lege became intolerable and was limited by a parliamentary The Martyr's Corner, Canterbury Cathedral In this part of the church Becket was slain. From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. act. At the same time, the churchmen felt that Becket had taken an extreme position, and later archbishops followed a more moderate course. But the martyred archbishop was im- mediately rewarded with a place in the calendar of saints; the shrine of Saint Thomas at Canterbury became one of the most important in the kingdom. 72. The Annexation of Ireland. Becket was stricken down in December, 11 70, just before the close of the year. Some months later Henry was preparing an expedition for the conquest of Ireland. In the twelfth cen- tury the English people had very little accurate knowledge 86 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE of Irish conditions; the Green Isle was widely famous, how- ever, for its mild and pleasant climate and its fertile soil. A historian of the period informs us that Ireland lacked only one thing to make it the most attractive country in the world : there were no grapes on the island. 1 Among the more culti- vated Englishmen Ireland was known for its many saints, for its beautiful books, and for the untamed freedom of its people. Many strange tales were current of marvels that were believed I land rant- to ex * st * n distant parts of the 'island. 2 Henry II ed to Henry II had conceived a plan for the annexation of this by the Pope. d es i ra ble country soon after his accession; and the reigning pope, Hadrian IV, who was an Englishman, was induced, as ruler of all the islands of the sea, to add the Emerald Isle to the domain of Henry II. At the time, however, the king was too busy with other matters to undertake the project; but ten years later (1166) an opportunity was offered that Henry did not entirely permit to pass. An Irish chief from the Dublin country had been sent into well-deserved exile by the high-king of Ireland and came to seek aid at Henry's court. This was at the time of the Becket controversy and the king felt that it would be unwise to leave his French possessions just then, as his old enemy and overlord, who was Becket's host, was eagerly awaiting an opportunity to relieve his vassal of his lands in France. Henry, however, permitted the Irish exile to enlist support among the Norman-English barons, and several of these crossed over from Pembroke in Wales to southeastern Ireland and seized considerable territories along the eastern coast. The chief of these was Richard of Clare, earl of Pembroke, Strongbow in commonly known as Strongbow. Richard Strong- Ireland. ] D0W was preparing to join the earlier adventurers during the same month that saw the reconciliation of the king and the archbishop. At first he had some success, but soon troubles thickened around him, and he was compelled to return to England to seek assistance from King Henry. 1 Innes, I, 99-101. 2 Cheyney, No. 101. THE ANNEXATION OF IRELAND 87 88 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE The king had already planned an expedition to Ireland. Two motives were apparent : first, the fear that Strongbow and his wild Norman associates might win a expedition to kingdom for themselves in Ireland ; second, the Ireland. hope that by forcing the Irish church into more 1171-1172. F , , . . , -r. complete submission to the Roman see he might win the pope's gratitude and succeed in securing more favor- able terms when the time should come for a formal reconcilia- tion with the head of Christendom. Henry II was in Ireland during the autumn and winter of 1171 and 11 72. He did not attempt a complete conquest; the native high-king remained in his strongholds in the southwest and did not come in to make submission. But a large part of the eastern shore-land was actually secured. 1 A colony was founded in Dublin, and garrisons were placed in that city and in Wexford and Waterford. A justiciar was appointed to represent the king in his absence; the office still exists, though it has long been known by the later title of lord lieutenant. Henry II also convened the bishops of the Irish church into a great council at famed Cashel, where the authority of the Church council English king was formally recognized. In return at Cashel. f or tn j s recognition, Henry II helped the prelates to reform the Irish church and secure the obedience of the lower clergy. Three years later a treaty was made with the high king, according to which he acknowledged the suzerainty of Henry II and was in turn recognized by the English king as ruler of all Ireland except such parts of the eastern coast as were in the hands of the Norman-Welsh adventurers. Im- Conferenceof mediately after his return from Ireland (May, Avranches. 1 1 72), Henry had a conference with the papal legates in the Norman city of Avranches, and made peace with Holy Church. 73. The Judicial System of Henry's Reign. The fear of France, the Irish problem, and the quarrel with the church did not consume all the energies of the strenuous monarch. 1 Innes, I, 101-102. THE ITINERANT JUSTICES 89 The same period, 11 66-1 172, saw certain important develop- ments in the English government. When Henry came to England he found a half developed form of central administra- tion centering about the curia regis. 1 This institution, it will be remembered, was created in the Norman period, but it found its greatest development under the new Angevin dynasty. As in the days of Henry I it did work chiefly of two sorts: sometimes it sat as a court of justice; sometimes as a committee to consider matters of finance, and when acting as such it was called the exchequer. In the Local and counties there still existed the old shire courts, in central gov- which the chief men of the shire met under the presidency of the sheriff to try criminals and settle disputes. Between these two bodies, the ancient shire court and the newer curia regis, King Henry found no connecting link except the sheriff who twice a year came up to the exchequer to render account for the royal revenues due from his shire. 74. The Itinerant Justices. 2 Henry II supplemented this system with a group of itinerant justices who went from the curia regis into the various counties and tried cases in which the king might be interested. It seems that such delegates had been sent out earlier, and that Henry conse- New - circuit quently did not originate the system; but he courts" and improved and extended it and gave it a definite place in the government. In his days England was divided into districts or circuits with a definite number of judges for each. In this way the authority of the central administration was extended to all the sections of the kingdom. The business transacted at the county court by these itiner- ant justices was not extensive at first, but it soon increased in amount. Originally the judges were probably sent out to investigate matters that related to the royal revenue, but as they were men learned in the law, they were soon called upon to settle a great variety of disputes. However, to investigate and pass upon controversies that were purely local, these 1 Review sec. 50. 2 Masterman, 39-40. go THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE judges were scarcely competent for want of information. King Henry was a man with a practical turn of mind; and he in- structed his judges to make inquiries among the chief men of the localities, and in this way get what information the community might possess. These and other instructions he Henry's embodied in a series of documents called "as- of Clarendon and the Assize of Northampton, which deal with procedure and punishment in criminal trials. 75. The Origin of the English Jury. 2 Out of this inquiry by the itinerant justices developed the English jury system, The jury the origin of which may be regarded as the greatest system. achievement of Henry's reign. Neither the method nor the idea upon which it was based was original with Henry II ; but it was he who first made extensive use of the method in the law courts and made the jury a necessary part of the judicial system. Two forms of the jury are used in the courts of the present day : the grand jury and the petit, or trial, jury. The grand jury investigates charges against accused or sus- pected persons to determine whether they shall be held for trial or not : it is this jury that indicts or accuses. The actual trial is held before a body of twelve men called the petit jury. Henry II introduced . the grand jury into criminal court procedure; but the petit jury for the trial of crimes was not fully developed until two or three generations later in the thirteenth century. In certain forms of civil cases, however, the king ordered that his judges should accept the award of a jury chosen from among the best men of the hundred, usually twelve in number. By what is known The Grand , J „ , . . ,,. , ,1 Assize: trial as the Grand Assize the king ordered that in the jury in certain king's court all disputes concerning the title of civil cases. . land should be tried by a jury if the defendant so desired it, as the common method of determining ownership, 1 Cheyney, No. oo. 2 Masterman, 42-44; Gardiner, 146-148. REVIVAL OF THE ENGLISH MILITIA 91 the duel, or wager of battle, seemed grossly unfair to the weaker side. But no less ridiculous was the ordeal, 1 which for some time continued to be employed to determine actual guilt or innocence in criminal trials. Henry was skeptical about the appeal to God, and ordained that notorious criminals should be banished from the realm even though they were cleared by the ordeal. When in the early part of the thirteenth century the church forbade the priests to participate in the ordeal, that form of trial became impossible and a new method was needed. The question of determining guilt came sometimes to be left to the grand jury of the hundred to which Trial jury in the case belonged; but more often representatives criminal cases, to the number of twelve were chosen from the various grand juries and the case submitted to this new body. Out of this body of twelve the modern petit jury was developed. 76. Revival of the English Militia. Parallel to these judicial reforms went certain important financial improvements. After a hundred years of experience with feudalism the states- men of England saw clearly that the barons could not be depended upon to supply the necessary forces for offensive warfare. It had already been a problem how long a vassal was obliged to serve in the host, though forty weakness f days appears to have been the rule, and also the feudal whether he could be forced to serve in warfare upon foreign soil. Henry had ambitions to extend his territories in southern' France; but the English barons disliked to serve in such distant fields. The king therefore permitted them to pay money as a part of the services due; this was known as scutage or shield money. Although, in assessing this tax, the king had no intention to overthrow or even weaken the old system, the levy was important as marking the beginning of feudal decline; for with the money the king hired mercenary soldiers and the feudal knight gradually ceased to be a necessity in warfare. Toward the close of his reign Henry went a step further: i Review sec. 31. 92 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE he issued the Assize of Arms, 1 which ordained that certain The Assize classes among the commoners were to provide of Arms. themselves with the most necessary armor and weapons and be ready for military service. In a way this was a revival of the Anglo-Saxon militia. It was not an elaborate force that was thus provided, but the new militia might prove useful as an army of defense ; and the act shows clearly the great king's distrust of the feudal levies as a reliable force in times of trouble. 77. Financial System of Henry II. In the central govern- ment the reign of Henry II saw no great innovations. The machinery of the exchequer was not materially changed, but its efficiency was highly improved. The royal officials watched carefully over every source of royal income and the amounts collected steadily increased. At the same time the revenues from the expansion of the king's judicial system were not increased so much as might be expected : in the case of serious crimes fines gave place to other and more severe penalties, while for less serious offenses the fines were reduced. Since the New forms days of the Danegeld, the English people had of taxation. become accustomed to occasional taxation on land ; in the reign of Henry II a faint beginning was made with taxation on movables, or personal property, the proceeds from which were to be used to promote the crusading move- ments of the time, in which Henry strove to show a respectable interest. 78. Henry IPs Last Years and Death. The last few years of the great king's life were a period of much bitterness. Queen Eleanor had borne him several sons whom she had deliberately trained to oppose their father. The older two died before the The sons of king, but Richard and John remained to make Henry II. trouble. The new king of France, the able and crafty Philip Augustus, also found it expedient for his many and devious purposes to stir up the ambitions of the two young princes who were anxiously waiting to come into their inheri- 1 Cheyney, No. qi. RICHARD I 93 tance. In 1188, King Philip and these two Angevin princes formed an alliance and made common war on the broken-down monarch. Henry felt that his day was past, and finally acceded to all the demands of his undutiful sons. He even promised to forgive all his enemies on condition that he was furnished with a complete list of the conspirators to whom he was ex- pected to extend his clemency. The request was Death of the considered reasonable and the list was produced; king - 1189 - but when Henry saw the name of his beloved son John among the rebels, his heart broke. Two days later he died l and his son Richard succeeded to all the Angevin dominions. 2 79. Richard I. Richard the Lion-heart was a unique figure, unlike any other English king before him. Least of all did he resemble his father, for in personal appearance Richard was impressive and kinglike. He is described p ersona ii ty as " lofty in stature, of a shapely build, with hair and character half-way between red and yellow. His limbs ofRichardL were straight and flexible, his arms somewhat long, and for this very reason better fitted than those of most folk to draw or wield the sword." 3 In an age that admired chivalry, a king of Richard's type was sure to win popularity; for the 1 Cheyney, No. 103. 2 The earlier Angevin (Plantagenet) kings, 1 154-1399. Henry II, 1154-1189 Henry, died 1183 Richard I Geoffrey, died 1186 John 1189-1199 I 1199-1216 Arthur, died 1203 Henry III 1216-1272 I Edward I 1272-1307 I Edward II 1307-1327 I Edward III 1327-1377 I Edward the Black Prince, died 1376 I Richard II I377-I399 3 Cheyney, No. 104. 94 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE king was a mighty warrior and an excellent knight. As a general he was not wholly successful, though he was skillful in siegecraft and had thoroughly mastered the art of fortification. King Richard was merely a royal adventurer whose joys were sought and found in battle and tournament; as a king he was expensive and of little worth. Only twice during the ten Ceremony of Conferring Knighthood From a medieval manuscript. years of his reign did he appear in England, and then for a few weeks or months only. The importance of Richard's reign for English history lies chiefly in the fact that by his financial exactions and his neglect of the kingdom, he sowed widely the seeds of discontent and rebellion which brought forth a harvest of revenge in the reign of his successor John. 80. The Third Crusade. 1 For a king who wished to dis- tinguish himself in personal warfare, a magnificent opportunity appeared at the very outset of the new reign. It was now almost a century since the great wave of religious emotion that culminated in the First Crusade had swept over the West. The Third Now for the third time the sovereign of the church Crusade. called all Christendom to arms, this time against the mighty Saladin, Mohammedan sultan of Egypt and Syria. 1 Gardiner, 1 61-162 RESULTS OF THE CRUSADES 95 Among the princes who responded were Richard I and his former ally in sinful rebellion, Philip Augustus of France. Preparations were made on a vast scale, and in 1191 the allied monarchs joined the crusading host in the Holy Land. During the two years that Richard spent in the Mediterranean lands, he maintained his high reputation as a knight; l but by his overbearing temper, his obstinate refusal Richard in to be guided by others, and his insistence on the 0rient - leadership, he did much to weaken the cause that he defended so brilliantly on the battlefield. 2 After a time the great crusading army was completely disrupted. Philip Augustus returned to France in disgust. Under the circumstances it was impossible to regain Jerusalem, and all that Richard secured was a truce and security for the pilgrims who might wish to visit the holy places. But far more important to the English people was a terrible humiliation that befell their king on his return from the Orient. Fearing that Philip Augustus might have set a Richardis trap for him, he did not return by the usual route, imprisoned in but sailed up the Adriatic Sea, from the head of erman y- which he planned a journey overland in disguise. But he was recognized and seized 3 while passing through Austria and was handed over by the duke of Austria to the . 1193. emperor, who held him for the huge ransom of 100,000 marks, a sum equal to several million dollars in present day values. The nation had contributed heavily to the prepar- ations for the expedition, and it was with difficulty that the ransom was raised. It took almost the entire revenue of the English government for two years to purchase the liberty of the reckless king. 81. Results of the Crusades. The results of the crusades were not according to expectations : in their chief purpose, the rescue of the Holy Land, they were failures in the end. There were, however, certain important results of the sort that 1 Cheyney, No. 107. 2 Innes, I, 103-105. 3 Bates and Coman, 67-69 (Lament attributed to Richard). g6 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE come from travel rather than from righting. With the rest of Civilizing in- Europe, England came into contact with two forms fluence of the of civilization with which the West had hitherto been almost wholly unacquainted : the Byzantine and the Saracen. With the Greek culture of the Byzantine Empire the crusaders came into contact at various points, notably at Constantinople, where they saw with amazement a spacious city with paved and lighted streets, splendid public buildings, and a marvelous series of walls. With Saracen civi- lization the crusaders became acquainted in the Orient and on the island of Sicily, which may be regarded as a Moorish out- post. It is doubtless true that the knowledge of Eastern ways and methods had been filtering into the West for many cen- turies past ; but it seems clear that the crusades hastened the process of assimilation very materially. 82. The Government of Hubert Walter. The five years that followed Richard's return from the Holy Land he spent Richard and across the Channel fighting Philip Augustus who Philip Augus- was striving to reduce the Angevin possessions in France. Philip Augustus was a great statesman and a resourceful, though unscrupulous, ruler. His ambition was to reorganize France and to strengthen the royal power. To accomplish this it was clear that he had to reduce the power of his great vassals, especially the Angevins, who could bring against him not only French but English forces. Instead of having Richard as duke or count of Normandy, Anjou, Aqui- taine, and the rest, Philip wished to get the Angevin counties and duchies for himself and to make himself the duke or the count. In England the government was carried on by Hubert Walter, the archbishop of Canterbury, a statesman who had been Hubert trained in the curia regis of Henry II. Hubert Walter. Walter was not a great administrator, but he was faithful, he had the king's confidence, and he understood the workings and possibilities of the governmental machinery that Henry II had perfected. During the French war Richard KING JOHN: THE LOSS OF NORMANDY 97 turned aside to punish a humble viscount who had found a treasure and refused to surrender it to the king. In Death of Rich- an attack on the viscount's castle he was wounded ard L 1199< and died soon afterwards. 1 83. King John: the Loss of Normandy. His successor on the throne was his younger brother John, a prince of some ability, but sadly lacking on the moral side of his character. Of all the English kings, John was the meanest and the most thoroughly despised. But the very wickedness of John proved an advantage in the end : it created conditions that separated England from the Norman duchy and brought forth the solemn announcement of the Great Charter that the king is below the law. The loss of Normandy came as a result, not of warfare but of a breach of feudal law. In the first year of his reign John put away his wife Isabella, the heiress of Glouces- John's second ter, and the next year he married another Isabella, marria ge. the daughter of a French count in the Loire country. The new queen was only twelve or at most thirteen years of age, but had already been betrothed to a neighboring nobleman, when temptation came to her in the form of the English crown. The disappointed bridegroom was Hugh of Lusignan, one of John's French vassals ; in his anger Hugh appealed to King John's overlord, King Philip of France. The wily king gladly seized the opportunity to make trouble for his English vassal, and ordered John to appear before a feudal court to make answer to the charge of bad faith and dishonorable treatment of a vassal. The English king, knowing that he had violated the law as charged, failed to appear and lost his Loss of the case by default. Philip Augustus decreed that Norman John should forfeit his French possessions north of the Loire River, and prepared to carry out his decision. An army was sent into Normandy and after two years of warfare the duchy on the Channel with neighboring regions to the southward became the immediate possessions of the French 1 Gardiner, 165. 98 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE king: Philip Augustus succeeded John as lord of these terri- tories. To the Angevin dynasty the loss of Normandy, Anjou, and Touraine was a grievous blow ; for with these possessions went large annual revenues from ducal estates and feudal rights. To the English nation, however, the separation was Results of the . ° r . ■ separation of a decided advantage. A century earlier it had England from k een f e j t t h at England and Normandy should by Normandy. , all means continue under a common ruler, as many of the barons held lands on both sides of the Channel. But during the twelfth century the situation changed : many- families divided their possessions, so that in John's day there were but few barons who held fiefs both in England and on the Continent. The possession of Normandy was of no ad- vantage to England except to a slight extent commercially; it took too much of the king's time and of the energies of the nation. The French territories belonged to the English king but not to the kingdom; still, the English were continuously called upon to defend these foreign possessions of the dynasty. With fewer outlying territories the policies of the English king would necessarily become more national, more English. 84. The Death of Hubert Walter : the Canterbury Election. Normandy finally passed into Philip's hands in 1204. John, though he did little to thwart the plans of his rival, did not give up hopes of regaining all that he had lost. There still remained to the Angevin family the large duchy of Aquitaine, which had come to the dynasty with Queen Eleanor. The Gascons of southwestern France, who were enjoying a profitable wine trade with England, were loyal to John; and with Aqui- taine as a base from which to operate, the English king planned to invade and reconquer the territories north of the Loire. He was planning to take an English army into France, when Death of ^ e became involved in a new quarrel which engaged Hubert his attention for the next eight years. In 1205 Walter. 1205. Hubert W alter, the statesman-bishop who ruled the see of Canterbury, died, and the primacy was vacant. THE DEATH OF HUBERT WALTER 99 Hubert Walter had not been an aggressive prelate, but he was no blind tool; and the king had determined that the next archbishop should be a more pliant personality. In the early days of the church, the bishop's office was filled by election in which the people and the clergy of the diocese took part. But whatever the theory of elections . ...... , Influence of may have been, in practice the choice ultimately the king at fell to the kings or princes most interested. 1 Even elec *ions m K i ! 1 1 , . the church, the development of cathedral chapters as electing bodies did not secure freedom from governmental interference, as by the compromise of 1106 the king was permitted to be present or to be represented at the elections. In the case of Canterbury, which was a monastic chapter, the right of the king to control the election was established by a long series of precedents. While the formal. election was the function of the Canterbury monks, they could scarcely claim the right of absolute choice, as there were other clerical bodies that had a right „ . . . r Parties inter- to be consulted. The priests of the diocese of ested in the Canterbury were interested because the archbishop Canterbury J 1-1 election. was their bishop; the bishops of the province, be- cause he was their archbishop; the prelates of the entire king- dom, because he was the primate of the English church. The king's interest lay in the fact that the primate's office was second only to his own; and he naturally wished to control the choice. The older monks realized the importance of these facts and wished to consult the various interests; but the younger brothers were full of the newer pretensions to clerical inde- pendence and proceeded to hold an election. The first Their choice was one Reginald, an official of the Canterbury monastery, a man who was clearly unfit for the exalted office. But the archbishop elect was immediately dispatched to Rome to get the pallium, the symbol of his office which the pope alone could confer and without which 1 Review sec. 60. loo THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE he could not execute the functions of his office. When John learned of Reginald's journey, he was furious. His own candi- The second ^ate was J onn de Gray, the bishop of Norwich, Canterbury one of the king's own creatures who was as thor- oughly unsuited to the dignity as the insignificant Reginald. Pressure was brought to bear, and the older monks, obedient to the royal will, admitted the bishops to their con- clave and elected John de Gray. 85. The Election of Stephen Langton. There now appeared at Rome two candidates both bearing credentials from the chapter at Canterbury, and the papal authorities were naturally much perplexed. The imperious Innocent III was pope at the time; he had a strong, keen mind and soon realized that both elections were irregular and both candidates unfit : and after due deliberation he determined to reject both. Repre- sentatives of all the interests concerned were summoned to Rome to hold a new election. Firmly convinced that his Election of candidate would be successful, John consented Stephen Lang- to this arrangement. But Innocent had other plans : Stephen Langton, an English cardinal who had been a student friend of the pope at the university of Paris, was chosen and promptly invested with the office. 1 These proceedings were at best unusual, perhaps they were contrary to the canon law; but the times looked favorably on papal absolutism, and the monks accepted the decision. More- over, the choice was no doubt the best that could have been Character of made. Archbishop Langton was a native English- Langton. man an( ] a man f learning, ability, and strength of purpose. But never before in the history of the English church had the primacy been filled in the teeth of royal opposi- tion. 86. The Quarrel with Innocent III. The wrath of King John was boundless. He refused to accept the new archbishop, forbade the bishops to obey him, and proceeded to punish the monks of Canterbury, whose stubborn behavior had precipi- 1 Gardiner, 176-177. THE QUARREL WITH INNOCENT III IOI tated the conflict. Innocent in his turn laid an interdict on the English nation, an act that paralyzed the Eng- The interdict, lish church by forbidding all but the most neces- 12 <>8 1213. sary rites and services. 1 The church bells were silenced; iiiW-mffl'-*' 7 *-— :&..-.—•« a>L>jfi Auutuiik eyonavi* fcanorq l)amniu m)iy*r iu«<) ! <* •: c w . " f Sill •*"-- /^ • L* -i f iMt&, Papal Bull of Alexander III A "bull" derives its name from the leaden seal (bulla) that is appended to it. the church holidays passed without celebration; the church buildings were closed; it seemed as if the nation had been handed over to the evil powers. In an age that invested the externals of worship and the sacramental acts with such great 1 Cheyney, No. 108; Innes, I, 106-109; two different accounts. 102 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE importance, the discontinuance of church services meant priva- tion and sorrow and fear. King John met the interdict by Excommunica- seizm g a lar g e P art of tne ecclesiastical properties, tion of King After a year and a half of the interdict, the pope resorted to excommunication : King John was solemnly placed outside the pale of the church, and his sub- jects were forbidden to associate with him or to give him as- sistance in any way. For more than four years England was governed by a king who was under the ecclesiastical curse. The papal sentence awakened all the terrible energies of the sluggish king. He crushed out opposition wherever it was evident and prevented serious defections by securing hostages from the principal baronial families. It seems that the king inspired greater terror than the papal decree. Many English- men also supported him from a feeling that the papal court had not acted with due regard for the honor of England. It appeared that the papal weapons were making but slight impression. As a final resort Innocent turned to Philip Augus- tus and sought to enlist his services in an effort to carry out a sentence of deposition with which he had threatened King John. The English king was preparing to meet King John's . . . . - submission to any invader ; but his suspicious soul distrusted the pope. every one, and he suddenly decided to humble himself and make peace with the church. In the presence of the papal legate he surrendered his kingdom to the church and received it back as a fief from the Holy See on con- dition that a yearly tribute of iooo marks (700 for England and 300 for Ireland) should be paid into the papal treasury. 1 This tribute was a legal charge on England for a century and a half, and was paid during the greater part of that period. It was finally abolished by act of parliament in 1366. 87. The Coalition against France. The English leaders appear to have offered no protest against this amazing bargain. In an age when almost every man of importance was some- body's vassal, arrangements of this sort did not outrage national 1 Innes, I, 109-116. THE QUARREL WITH THE BARONS 103 feeling as they would to-day; and there were several instances in the pontificate of Innocent III of some such submission to the Roman see. Perhaps the English barons hoped that peace with the church would also mean peace with France; but if they did they were disappointed : both John and Philip were eager for war. An alliance was formed against the grasping French king by his equally avaricious neighbors, King John, the emperor, and the count of Flanders. John was to attack from his territories in the southwest ; the emperor and the count from the Netherlands to the northeast of France. But Philip Augustus crushed the emperor's army in the battle of Bouvines (1214) and the alliance crumbled. This BattleofBou- was a year after John's humiliating submission to vines - 1214 - the papacy : with his allies defeated he did not dare to pursue his plans, but returned to England thoroughly discredited and wholly unprepared to meet an uprising that partook of the nature of a national revolt. 88. The Quarrel with the Barons. King John had now alienated both the two great orders in the kingdom, the clergy and the nobility, in part by his treatment of the church during the five sorrowful years of the interdict, and in part by his tyrannical actions in his efforts to raise funds opposition of for his unpopular and unsuccessful foreign wars, the three These years of trouble had also interfered with the profession of the merchant, especially with the foreign trade; and the cities had become disaffected with the rest of the nation. Thus all the three estates of the realm, the classes that possessed the power, the wealth, and the influence, were arrayed in opposition to the king. During the two years following the submission (12 13-12 14) there was much agitation among the magnates of England. Several meetings were held, the most important being under the guise of a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint pilgrimage of Edmund in Norfolk just before Christmas, 12 14. the barons to J , , , . . , St. Edmund's. The barons had heard of the coronation charter of Henry I, in which the king had promised to deal justly 104 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE with his barons and to exact only the legal and customary dues and revenues. To the lords who had suffered for nearly a generation from the exactions of Richard and John, this seemed a desirable document, and they were determined to have it confirmed. The months between Christmas and Easter were spent in fruitless negotiations, in which Archbishop Langton took a leading part as mediator between the king and the barons. Neither side could take any effective action during the winter months; but soon after Lent the discontented barons gathered Revolt of the a, large force of knights and foot soldiers and barons. marched upon London. Deserted by all but a few powerless favorites, the king withdrew from the city, and London opened its gates to the rebels. A month later the Great Charter was signed and sealed at Runnymede, a meadow on the south bank of the Thames not far from Windsor. 1 89. The Great Charter. 2 The Great Charter bears some resemblance to the earlier Charter of Henry I, but it is more A feudal extensive, more elaborate, and more explicit. It document. } s a feudal document and is concerned almost ex- clusively with the nobility : almost every section deals with some grievance of the baronage. There are also a number of sections that are of interest to the church and the mercantile classes or have to do with the government of the kingdom. The provisions of the Charter may therefore be grouped under four heads. i. An effort is made to secure the rights, the privileges, and the property of the nobility. According to feudal custom, Security for certain payments or services were due the king the nobility. from his tenants or from their lands. These were stated in fairly specific terms and the king promised to exact only what he had a right to exact according to ancient custom. 1 Cheyney, pp. 180-181; Tuell and Hatch, No. 14 (Norgate); Kipling, Reeds of Runnymede. 2 Cheyney, No. no; Robinson, No. 47; Tuell and Hatch, No. 15; Gardiner, 182- 184; Masterman, 46-50. The first three give extracts from Magna Carta. THE GREAT CHARTER 105 It thus became more difficult for the king to increase the bur- dens of the baronage as William Rufus had done or to reduce the rights of the nobility as Henry II had tried to do. 2. The Charter makes some attempt to secure the property of the merchants as well as of the nobles; for the merchants had been useful allies in the fight against King John. Security Specific mention is made of the city of London: for the . , • ,1 i 11 1 ii •, merchants. the king promises that it 'shall have all its an- cient liberties and free customs, as well by land as by water." The same rights are secured to "all other cities and boroughs and villages and ports." These guarantees have special refer- ence to commerce and were of interest chiefly to merchants, whom the English kings had occasionally afflicted with bur- densome dues and taxes. 3. The church is assured of the right to govern itself, or to be free from secular interference in the election of its high officials, but the terms used are very general. Freedom for After the death of Stephen Langton Henry III the church, protested against the choice of the Canterbury monks, and the pope sustained the protest. There were several contested elections in the thirteenth century, and the pope was usually found on the king's side, for the Roman see could not always afford to insist on the freedom that it claimed for the church. 4. The machinery of government is left practically un- touched. The reforms of Henry II are recognized ; but there seems to be an effort to limit their operation Reforms of and to prevent further extension of the king's Henry II , 1 st ■. ni. * recogmzed. power. In a sense, therefore, the Great Charter is a reactionary document : it looks back to the times before the king had begun to interfere with feudal rights. It is im- portant to note that the king promises to collect only the cus- tomary dues from the baronage, unless the barons themselves shall consent to the new demands in a formal great council. In this we have at least a recognition of the principle that the king ought not to change the laws without the consent of the classes that were affected by the change. io6 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE THE GREAT CHARTER 107 The term "freeman," which is used repeatedly in the Great Charter, is used in a feudal sense, and was practically limited to lords and knights. " Liberties" in those days meant privi- leges ; and it was the liberties of the aristocratic classes that the Charter was intended to secure. There were men 0f slight in England who were neither nobles, churchmen, interest to nor tradesmen, but were still ranked among the freemen ; but they formed neither a large nor an important class; the vast mass of the nation was composed of unfree The Great Charter Part of the illustration opposite, four-fifths the size of the original. villeins. For the villeins the Charter makes no promises of any value. Only when villeinage had disappeared and all were freemen, did the Charter come to have importance for all classes. Four hundred years after the signing of Magna Carta, in the fight between the English people and their Stuart kings, the Great Charter was revived by the famous Later interpre- lawyer Edward Coke; and with a new interpreta- rations of the tion of the word "freeman," it was used very effectively against the king. The following two sections be- came very important in Coke's day : " 39. No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed, or outlawed, or banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor send upon him, except by the legal judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. 108 THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE "40. To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice." In John's day this meant that the king promised fair and just dealings to his own feudal tenants or vassals, and that a baron should be tried by a court of barons and not by men of a No reference l° wer class, as they would not be his "peers." A to jury trials jury for the trial of criminal offenses did not yet in the Charter. exigt ^ England> Coke and the p ur i ta ns, however, understood that these sections limited the king's power to im- prison his political enemies and secured a jury trial to all who were charged with crime. New England was settled in Coke's day, and the views of the great Puritan lawyer as to the rights guaranteed by the Great Charter ultimately found their way into the earliest amendments to the American constitution. 90. The Death of John: Importance of His Reign. Innocent III condemned the Charter on the plea that it was an attempt to bind his vassal without consulting himself as Revolt of overlord of England. He ordered Stephen Lang- the barons. ton to excommunicate the opponents of John, and when the archbishop refused to do so, he suspended him from official duties. John broke his promises almost as soon as he had made them, and the result was civil war. This time it was the barons who turned to France for help ; and Philip's son, Louis, came over to England to lead the disaffected lords. Death of But a year after he had granted the Charter, John J° hn - died from partaking too freely, it is said, of unripe peaches. A few months earlier Innocent III had passed away. The rebellion soon died down, and Louis of France, consoled by an indemnity of 10,000 marks, departed for France. In spite of the fact that the reigning monarch was a man of low ideals in government as well as in personal morals, and Summary of that many of his chief advisers were of the king's John's reign. own y nd with small enthusiasm for good govern- ment, the reign of John is a notable one in English history. In this reign was broken a foreign connection that had prevented the adoption of a purely English policy. Aquitaine, it is true, LATER HISTORY OF THE CHARTER 109 remained a possession of the Angevin kings; but the connec- tion with this distant duchy was never so close as with the nearer Normandy. In this same reign it became apparent that, although the papacy had reached the culmination of its power and had become what Hildebrand and Anselm and Saint Bernard had hoped that it would become, its weapons, when directed against a resolute nation led by a capable king, would be of little service. But most important of all, in this reign it was asserted in the Great Charter, at least by implica- tion, that the king is subject to law and that there The king is are forces in the nation that have a right to share below the law. in the control of the government. The separate provisions of the Charter were easily broken or evaded ; but the central principle has remained in the English political system to this day. 91. Later History of the Charter. King John was suc- ceeded by his nine year old son Henry III. For the next decade the country was governed by a regency, a small Reissues of the committee in which the papal legate, as the repre- Great Charter, sentative of Henry's recognized overlord, held a prominent position. The regency once more issued the Charter though in a mutilated form, some of the more significant provisions being omitted. During the thirteenth century the document was reissued or confirmed more than thirty times, but always in a mutilated form : the original document was never carried out in full. After the feudal system had fallen into decay, the provisions of the Charter became obsolete, and the document was forgotten. Not till the seventeenth century did it again become an object of national interest. 92. Summary. Henry II and his two sons governed England for nearly two generations. It was a period of great disturb- ances in the Christian world and of much interest chief lines of in foreign affairs ; still, it was a period of great development, importance for the internal history of England. Four lines of development can be distinctly traced. (1) There was an evident effort on the part of the king to strengthen his no THE CHURCH AND THE BARONAGE position in the kingdom and to give a new meaning to kingship by resuming some of the powers that the monarchy had lost to the church and the nobility. This is particularly true of Henry II. (2) This purpose led to a great conflict with the church which was renewed in the reign of John. There was also an attempt to reduce the importance of the barons ; this led to opposition and rebellion and to the demand for a " Charter of Liberties." (3) An important step was taken toward the unification of the British kingdoms by the annexation of Ireland. (4) A great series of reforms in the local government was ini- tiated : the system of itinerant justices was developed ; the local courts were strengthened ; and the jury came into being. The real achievements of the period belong to Henry II. In the conflict with the church and with the baronage the king lost ; but the victorious parties gained very little. The church learned that it was unwise to fight the king ; and the barons found that it was difficult to control the ruler after they had defeated him. REFERENCES Henry II. — Green, Henry II, 1-20. The quarrel with Becket. — Bateson, Medieval England, 194-200; Oman, History of England, 100-106; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 139-144; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 1 17-122. Reforms of Henry II. — Cheyney, Short History of England, 147-156; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 140-148; Green, cc. iv-vi. The annexation of Ireland. — Barnard, Strongbow, 7-16, 28-40; Green, c. viii; Innes, History of England, 88-91; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xii; Lawless, Ireland, 76-97. Persecution of the Jews. — Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, 11 2-136. The Third Crusade. — Archer and Kingsford, Crusades, 324-328; Oman, 1 16-120. The Great Charter. — Fletcher, I, i, 182-188; Innes, 98-100. Progress in the twelfth century. — Bateson, 70-95; Cross, History of England, 125-132; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 167-171; Tout, 146-156. CHAPTER V THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM 93. The Medieval Ideas of Universality. Throughout the middle ages the human mind was haunted by the idea that all great institutions should be universal. From the ancient world came the magnificent idea of the Empire, a universal monarchy like that built up by the armies of Rome, Medieval which for several centuries governed all the lands ideas and that were then regarded as lying within the limits of civilization. It was this idea that inspired Charlemagne with his mighty purpose to unite all the Germanic peoples and tribes into one Christian Germanic Empire with the Franks as the guiding element. In the tenth century and later the kings of Germany strove to realize the same idea but with little success. All through the later middle ages the Christian kings of Europe looked upon the emperor as a ruler of higher rank than themselves ; but he could not command their obedience. From Christianity came the idea of a universal Church which in the middle ages came very near realization in the ecclesiastical empire of the Roman papacy. The institutions of the church were all of the universal type : its language, its form of govern- ment, its doctrines, and its ritual were practically identical everywhere. Universal, too, were the monastic orders, and especially the newer orders of friars, each of which was con- trolled by a general who resided at Rome. The middle ages also developed a typical social system, one that was, at least, widely diffused : feudalism with its basis in villeinage. 94. Nationalism in the Thirteenth Century. The argu- ment must not be pushed too far, however, as there were always ii2 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM local institutions and local peculiarities in the various parts of Europe. In fact, the lack of easy communication tended to emphasize these. There had also been a constant interest in what we now call the nation : the Anglo-Saxon realized that he was an Englishman and that England was his home ; and he fought fiercely for his country and his dynasty against the invading Danes and Normans. But the all-pervading passion of nationalism, the feeling that England should be for the England be- English, that all its institutions should bear a comes English, peculiarly English stamp, and that the external influences that to such a large extent directed the life and activ- ity of the nation should be controlled from within the state, — this feeling was a matter of slow growth. Nationalism is the product of a common history : not until the Saxon, the Mercian, the Northman, the Dane and the Norman had lost their interest in their individual pasts and had developed a new interest in their common historic experiences, could real nationalism become possible. When English history reaches the thirteenth century, this new feeling is evident in every important field of national life. 95. Opposition to Alien Officials. 1 The first prominent fact is opposition to foreign influences and foreign control. One Foreigners in thing that John had to promise in the Great Char- England. ter was "t remove from the kingdom all foreign- born soldiers, crossbowmen, servants, and mercenaries, who have come with horses and arms for the injury of the realm." During the first half of the century alien influences in the administration were also gotten rid of to a considerable extent. So close had been the relations between England and the country in the valley of the Loire, that it was only natural that adventurers in search of offices should crowd into Eng- land, where the natives had been shut out of officialdom for a century and a half. A stream of such adventurers came into the country during the first decade after the granting of the Great Charter, when 1 Innes, I, 126-129. THE GASCON AND SICILIAN VENTURES 113 the bishop of Winchester, a native of Poitou, was the personal tutor and guardian of the young king, Henry III. Poitevins and In the following decade came a host of impoverished Provencals, noblemen from southeastern France, the old region of Provence, who arrived on the occasion of King Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Provence. Among these were four uncles of the royal bride, princes of no striking abilities, but l23fi eager for places of power and importance. One of them was even elevated to the office of archbishop. Ten years later, about 1246, came a third migration, this time again from Poitou. The king's mother, Isabella, was ^ nAC 1246. still a young woman when John died ; soon after that event she returned to France and married the son of the Count Hugh to whom she had been betrothed before King John made his fateful journey into western France. By this second marriage Queen Isabella became the mother of a numer- ous family ; but many of her children were finally forced to withdraw from France because of unsuccessful resistance to King Louis IX (Saint Louis), who was striving to extend the influence of the French crown into the Loire country. They sought refuge in England ; and the king's half- The king's brothers, like the queen's uncles, were given places half-brothers, of profit and prominence in Henry's kingdom. They, like the other immigrant nobles, were utterly ignorant of English needs, and did little to help the amiable and kindly, but weak and incompetent king to govern the land. 96. The Gascon and Sicilian Ventures. It was only natural that these French relatives should be interested in the extension of Angevin influence on the Continent, especially in France. It was largely through their influence that Henry III was induced to look with favor upon two ventures, neither of which accorded with- true English policy: he wanted to regain some of the French territories that his father had lost ; and he wished to secure the Sicilian crown for his younger son, to whom it had been offered by the pope. In 1 241 Henry made an effort to regain Poitou, which had H4 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM been lost during the period of the king's minority. But King Henry was no match either in war or in diplomacy for his great rival, Saint Louis of France. Louis IX had inherited all the great qualities of kingship that his grandfather Philip Augustus had possessed ; in addition he had certain personal virtues that his grandfather never cared to possess. He defeated Henry's The failure attempt to regain Poitou, and the boundary of in Poitou. English Aquitaine was finally moved one hundred miles south from the Loire to the Charente. On other sides, too, Henry's French territories were pared away, till only a remnant remained of Eleanor's grand duchy. From now on for a hundred years, the possessions of the English kings in France were usually known as Gascony. Since the days of Hildebrand there had been an almost continuous strife between the papacy and the emperors, who claimed sovereignty over northern Italy and some authority over the papal kingdom itself. In the thirteenth century the The Sicilian emperor also came into possession of Naples and venture. Sicily, and the pope now found a hostile dynasty on both borders of his kingdom. After the death of Frederick II (1250), the pope made an effort to break up this dangerous connection between northern and southern Italy by finding a new king for Naples and Sicily. The crown was offered to Henry's brother Richard and even to Henry himself; but the English king finally accepted it for his younger son Edmund, and in return for the honor he offered to help the pope with a subsidy of 140,000 marks. 97. The Opposition of the Barons: 1 Simon de Montfort. These two ventures, the Gascon and the Sicilian, were as futile as they were expensive and the barons objected to the contri- butions levied. The great chronicler Matthew Paris tells us that when the subject of the Sicilian subsidy was broached in the Great Council, "the ears of all men tingled and their hearts stood still with amazement." 2 The barons finally found a leader in Simon de Montfort, 3 the king's brother-in-law, who was 1 Cheyney, No. 126. 2 Kendall, pp. 80-81. 3 Tuell and Hatch, No. 17. THE "MISE OF AMIENS;" BARONIAL REVOLT 115 also a Frenchman. It is not likely that in his opposition to King Henry Simon de Montfort was inspired with Simon de the highest motives. Some years before, the king Mon tfort. had sent him to Gascony as governor, but his methods were not enjoyed by the Gascon people, who had serious objections to efficient government of any sort. Henry III gave a ready ear to the complaints of his subjects and Simon lost the royal favor. Soon he was enrolled among the king's most active opponents. 98. The "Mise of Amiens;" the Baronial Revolt. The chief grievances of the barons were the influence of foreigners in the government and the heavy taxes that were levied for purposes that brought no advantage to the nation. Several attempts were made to limit the royal power by giving the king a council appointed by the assembled barons, the most notable of which was a series of provisions drawn up at Oxford at an angry meeting of the barons known as the Mad Parlia- ment. 1 According to the provisions of Oxford the The Mad king was to take no measure of importance with- Parliament - out consulting a committee of fifteen men chosen by the king and the barons ; but neither this nor any other scheme of reform seemed workable. The king was incompetent, but the barons were selfish, and it is unlikely that they would have given England good government. The king soon set the "Provi- sions" aside and the result was civil war. Finally Louis IX as it was agreed to refer the matter in dispute to arbitrator. Louis IX of France as arbitrator. Saint Louis was a king who was just by nature ; but he believed that royalty should exercise wide authority, and to him any plan to limit the king's powers seemed an abomination. By a decision known as the " Mise of Amiens" (1264), he found Henry Ill's position correct and proper in every respect. The barons refused to accept this decision and prepared to resist the king. Henry now had the assistance of his young son Edward, a strong, sensible prince, who from this time on 1 Innes, I, 130-134. n6 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM came to be the real force in the government. Simon de Mont- The battle of fort led the baronial army against the royal forces Lewes. 1264. at Lewes in Sussex and gained a complete victory. Prince Edward was taken prisoner and for a year Simon was in control of the kingdom. 99. Simon de Montfort's Parliament. In attempting to reach a settlement with the king, Earl Simon made use of an institution that had been taking form since late in the reign of John, the parliament. 1 A parliament was the old great coun- Beginnings of cil of prominent nobles with an added element of parliament. representative knights from the shires. Simon de Montfort did not originate parliament. As early as 12 13, the year of John's reconciliation with the church, an attempt was made to consult the shires through their representatives. Dur- ing the troubles between Henry III and the nobility, both sides had called in representatives from the counties to assist in the deliberations of the great council. As the members chosen were always knights, this additional element might be looked upon as a representation of the lesser nobility. In the local government of the shires the knights were the controlling element ; and it was wise to seek the support of a class that was of such great influence and importance. Simon de Montfort added a new element, one that was dis- tinctly non-baronial, in the burgesses or representatives from Representation ^ ne or g an i ze d towns called boroughs. The parlia- of the bor- ment of 1265 was packed with Simon's friends; oug s * ' it was to make his control absolutely sure that he summoned in the king's name representatives from such bor- oughs as he knew to be friendly to himself. It is not probable that he intended this arrangement to be permanent; but Edward, when he became king, acted on the precedent of 1265 and thus parliament came to be composed of three elements : the barons, including the chief officials of the church ; two knights from each shire; and two burgesses, usually mer- chants, from each borough or city. Sixty years after de Mont- 1 Gardiner, 196, 201-202; Masterman, 54-55. THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN THE CHURCH 117 fort's time, the members from the counties and the boroughs began to sit as one body and the house of commons came into being. In the term "commons" there is no sug- The House of gestion of any lower or humbler class : the house Commons, of commons was the representation of the organized communi- ties, 1 which were the shires and the bor- oughs. As the bor- oughs were far more numerous than the counties, the bur- gesses at once came to be the controlling force in the house. Simon de Mont- fort's work of reform was not lasting. Prince Edward es- caped from captivity and joined the Marchers on the Welsh Battle of Eve- border who were already in revolt. At the battle sham - 1265> of Evesham the baronial insurgents were defeated, Simon de Montfort being among the slain. 2 100. The National Movement in the Church. The opposi- tion to foreign influences was also apparent in the church. During Henry's minority the papal legate took a prominent part in the government, with the result that a great deal of jealousy was excited among the barons. When Opposition to he was finally withdrawn, Archbishop Langton papal legates, persuaded the pope to leave the post of legate vacant for a time. In 1237, a new legate appeared on the king's own invitation; his presence excited a great deal of open hostility, and when he came to Oxford he was mobbed by the students. 1 Masterman, 59-60. 2 Innes, I, 134-139; Kendall, No. 26; different accounts. A Church Council Drawn by Mathew Paris, the St. Albans Chronicler (iiq5?-i25q). n8 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM At this point there appears prominently in history an Eng- lish churchman who from that time on for a period of more than twenty years led the English church in its opposition to foreign domination : Robert Grosse- teste, bishop of the extensive diocese of Lincoln. Robert Grosseteste was an Englishman of the villein class, who by Grosseteste. Lincoln Cathedral One of the finest churches in England; the choir dates from 1192, sheer power of intellect and courageous devotion to study and research had gained a fame for scholarship and intellectual leadership that extended far beyond the limits of the island. He had studied at the universities of Oxford and Paris, was interested in the translation of Greek writings, and was «a friend of Roger Bacon, the greatest scientist of the time. He had passed middle life before he was promoted to the bishopric of Lincoln ; but he stepped almost im- mediately into Langton's place as a national leader of the English church. Bishop Grosseteste was a firm believer in the rights of the 1235. THE SYSTEM OF " PRO VISORS " 119 Holy See : he held that the pope was above kings and bishops and must be obeyed. But he realized that much Grosseteste corruption and unwisdom existed in high places, as a reformer, and he felt that it was his duty to punish sin wherever he found it. Till the day of his death he was outspoken in opposition to extortion and misgovernment on the part of pope and king. Once he was suspended from his office for resistance to Rome and at a later time was threatened with even severer punish- ment ; but the pope was warned that to proceed 1253 against a bishop with such a wide renown for piety and zeal would be indiscreet and the strenuous bishop was per- mitted to retain his diocese till his death. 101. Papal Taxation in England. 1 Aside from the exas- perating officiousness of the papal legate, the English church had two grievances against the Roman curia : heavy taxation and the system of provisors. The financial troubles were the earlier ones. The legate who had such a serious encounter with the studious men of Oxford spent several years in England, chiefly in the interest of the papal treasury. The legate finally demanded that the English churches and monas- Papal teries should pay a fifth of their income for that exactlons - year to the Roman see. The English churchmen protested, but to small purpose, as the king, who was unable to see how his obedience to the church could have any limits, took the legate's part and threatened the objectors with dire punish- ment. Bishop Grosseteste was not able to interfere much with the legate's success as a collector, but he did much to formulate a strong public sentiment against the papal demand. 102. The System of "Provisors." The system of pro- visors was one by which church offices were -provided" with future incumbents, even before there was any prospect of an early vacancy. In other words, the pope would promise a cer- tain definite appointment to some favored friend, Provisors> follower, or relative while the office was still filled. Frequently the men for whom such "provision" was made 1 Gardiner, 194, i97- 120 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM were Italians; thus England was threatened with another stream of foreign office-holders, though as a matter of fact most of these "provisors" never came to the country; they per- formed the duties of the office through deputies, their own care being for the revenues only. To a people that was de- veloping a vigorous national consciousness, such conditions soon became intolerable ; and when the pope promised the spoilsmen of Rome the next three hundred church offices that should be- come vacant in England, the entire nation was stirred. The archbishop of Canterbury, the saintlike Edmund Rich, promptly set out for Rome to protest against this measure. He died on the journey, and Boniface of Savoy, one of the queen's uncles, succeeded him. 103. England Becomes English. Thus far the national movement has been considered chiefly on the negative side, as Positive phases opposition to domination from abroad. It had, of English however, a strong positively English phase, which nationalism. a p pearec i most prominently in the growth of Eng- lish law and legal institutions, in the revival of English language and literature, and in the development of an English type of architecture. Henry III was a native Englishman and took great pride in the fact. He gave English names to his two sons Edward and Edmund. French, however, remained the language of the royal court for some time yet, though Henry's successor, Edward I, made considerable use of English in con- versational speech. 104. Development of English Law. The thirteenth cen- tury saw the completion of a remarkable development of Eng- lish law ; it saw the beginning of still another. In feudal times, when custom ruled, laws were local in their application, each section or region having its own usages that passed for law. The itinerant justices 1 that were sent through the circuits by Henry II found these customs deficient ; and soon there arose from the decisions of these judges a body of law that was common to the whole kingdom and was therefore known as the 1 Review sec. 74. DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH LAW 121 "common law." The common law was made up of a variety of elements : Old English law, feudal customs, royal The Common instructions to the judges, principles borrowed Law - from Roman and canon law, and judicial decisions were the more prominent. Toward the end of Henry Ill's reign, after this growth had continued for one hundred years, „ & J ' Bracton. Henry Bracton, an eminent English lawyer and jurist, summed up and systematized the common law in a The Hall, Acton Burnell, Shropshire The hall in this case partakes of the nature of a castle, as the towers were probably intended for defensive purposes. One of Edward I's most famous statutes, The Statute of Merchants, was drawn up in the manor house of Acton Burnell. famous law book. The growth of the common law did not cease with Bracton's work, but after the close of Henry Ill's reign this growth is not such a prominent fact in the history of English law. The legal development continued in statute law, which was enacted from time to time as it was found necessary to supple- ment the common law. Statute law emanates „ Statute law. from some authority that possesses law-making power ; in earlier times this was the king, but the power soon passed to parliament. The Charter of Henry I and the Great Charter are counted among the statutes ; but the earliest law that bears the statute name belongs to the reign of Henry III. 122 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM There were, however, but few enactments of this sort before the reign of Edward I, when they became quite numerous. So great was his activity in this direction that he has come to be Legislation of known as the English Justinian. Edward ordered Edward I. ^he highways to be widened and the underbrush removed so as to make travel safer. Better protection was given to the merchants. A police system was originated for the boroughs. These and many other practical questions were taken up in the councils of the great lawyer-king and found settlement in the form of statutes. The First Statute of Westminster which was drawn up soon after Edward's corona- tion included no fewer than fifty-one laws. 105. Anti-ecclesiastical Legislation: the "Dead. Hand." Suggestive of English opposition to papacy as a foreign power and to the growing strength of the ecclesiastical side of the state was an effort in Edward's day to limit the wealth of the church. Feudalism as a force in the state was passing away : the knight was yielding his place to the yeoman archer; and representa- tives of the mercantile class in the boroughs were soon to con- trol the lower house in parliament. But the financial and social arrangements of feudalism persisted a long time. The death of a tenant brought certain monetary advantages to the overlord : his heir would have to pay a certain sum of money called the relief before he could get possession of the ancestral lands ; if the heir was a minor, the lord managed the property, usually to his own advantage, till he was of age ; perhaps there would be a widow or an heiress for whom an advantageous marriage could be arranged. These payments, or profits, were Statute of known as feudal incidents. The church, too, held Mortmain. lands on feudal terms ; — but the church never died. The lords who gave lands to an ecclesiastical corpora- tion could no longer collect the feudal incidents. The hand of the church was a "dead hand :" it could never give out or back what it had once acquired, though its abilities to receive and to hold were never impaired. There was, consequently, a great deal of land in England which could never be bought or sold and THE LITERARY REVIVAL: LAYAMON AND ORM 123 which yielded very little revenue to the nominal overlord. To remedy this condition, Edward, by the Statute of Mortmain, forbade all further grants of this type to the church ; but various expedients were found by which the statute might be avoided ; later kings gave their permission freely, and land continued to pass into mortmain. 106. The Great Central Courts. During the thirteenth century the development of the three central courts also reached practical completion. In the twelfth century, the age of Henry I and Henry II, important disputes of Development various sorts had begun to find settlement in the of the judicial curia regis, the king's own court, theoretically in sys em * the king's own presence. These disputes increased in number and fell into three main classes : financial questions ; matters in which the king was interested or concerned; and disputes between the king's subjects that had not found satisfactory settlement in the local courts. The financial disputes very soon came to be decided in the exchequer, which in this way became a court as well as a chamber of accounts. Soon a bench of judges was provided for each of the other two classes, the king's bench and the common pleas. In the same period the jury system of the local courts was perfected by the develop- ment of the petit jury for criminal cases. 1 The The petit English judicial system, both the central and the J ury - local, was thoroughly national ; there were no corresponding institutions just like these elsewhere in Europe. But certain features of the English system, such as the jury and the itiner- ant justices, have been widely copied. 107. The Literary Revival: Layamon and Orm. The thirteenth century also saw an important literary revival. Old English literature reached its highest point about the year 1000 in the prose writings of Alfric. But the Dan- Anglo-Saxon ish conquest crushed the spirit of the Anglo-Saxons literature, and their writings during the eleventh century show little originality or literary excellence. With the passing of the 1 Review sec. 75. 124 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM Norman dynasty, Old English literature also passed away : the last entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is for 1154. For half a century the literary voice of the English people was almost silent. The merry Englishman still sang old folk songs and probably composed new ballads; but, so far as we know, Latin and French were the only languages employed by liter- ary men during the reigns of Henry II and Richard I. English Layamon's literature reappeared, however, about 1205, when BruL Layamon, a priest from the Severn valley (Worces- tershire), wrote a rhyming chronicle in the tongue of the people. Layamon's Brut is a confused, inartistic production made up largely of Celtic legends ; nevertheless, it is an important land- mark in the history of English thought and culture. A few The years later another important literary document Ormulum. saw th e light : the Ormulum, a rhyming almanac and religious handbook by Orm, a priest who lived somewhere in the Midlands. It was Orm's purpose to give an English version of the passages from the Gospels that the church had appointed as a part of the service on each particular Sunday or church holiday, and to add a little sermon to each. Ten thousand lines of this strange production still exist. 108. The Middle English Language. For the student of the English language the awkward verses of Layamon and Changes in ® rm are °^ inestimable value, as they serve to show the English how the language had developed in the preceding language. century. Great changes had come over the Eng- lish idiom in the twelfth century : the grammar had become simplified, largely by the loss of inflections in which the Anglo- Saxon was rich. Certain changes in the vowel sounds of the language had also begun to appear. A and e, which in Saxon times were sounded as in modern German, have become changed to their present sound values ; i, o, and u have in many cases The shifting of shifted to I, u, and ou respectively. Thus hal, vowel sounds. mmj ^5, anc j nuSj have become hale, mine, do, and house. In many instances the changes have not followed this rule and in many other cases the old sounds have remained. NATIONAL THEMES IN LITERATURE 125 Some of the Old English vowel sounds have disappeared en- tirely. This development was not completed before the six- teenth century ; but some of the changes can be traced back to the twelfth. There had also been changes in the vocabulary : in the writings of Orm, who lived in the old Danelaw, there is evidence of a considerable borrowing from the Danish. It is surprising to find that neither of these two poems shows much French influence on the English. Apparently the changes came from growth within the language itself and not from foreign influences. 109. The Chroniclers: Matthew Paris. The English spirit is apparent even among the men who wrote their thoughts in Latin. A little later than Layamon and Orm came Matthew Paris, the greatest historical writer of the English middle ages, who gathered into a lengthy chronicle all that he could learn of the British and English past. In the middle ages history was written chiefly in the monasteries : the monks had leisure, they knew the art of writing, and they had access to books. A short distance north of London was the great monastery of Saint Albans, the wealthiest and most important monastic founda- tion on the island. It had among its officials a Matthew historiographer ; and in the reign of Henry III Paris - Matthew Paris held this important post. This famous monk also wrote the happenings of his own day ; and his words betray much indignation when he writes of the inroads of the aliens, whether churchmen or seculars. Matthew Paris con- demns abuses wherever he finds them, and in his criticism he spares neither king nor pope. 110. National Themes in Literature. The national ten- dency is also seen in the choice of literary themes, whether the writing was in English or not. In the eleventh century a liter- ary revival had appeared on the Continent which The new liter- continued in the romances of the French trouba- fry movement in England and dours and the German minnesingers of the twelfth onthe Conti- century. The English literary movement of the nent - thirteenth century doubtless got its impulse from France and 126 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM was, therefore, not wholly national. But it is to be noted that such time-honored subjects as the Trojan war, the deeds of Alex- ander, Caesar, and Charlemagne were at this time beginning to A Monk in His Study give place to subjects that were English or at least British: King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan and Iseult, the. Holy Grail, King Horn, Havelock the Dane, Alfred the Great, and Richard the Lion-heart became favorite subjects among the English roman- cers of the thirteenth century. Havelock the Dane and King THE UNIVERSITIES: OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE 127 Horn were probably Danish viking chiefs ; but the more im- portant of the themes mentioned were Celtic and belonged to the Celtic lands of Wales and Cornwall. It was believed at one time that King Arthur's bones rested in a church at Glastonbury. According to legend Glastonbury was also the British home of the Holy Grail. -: m ^ "*fe#jj lf^ ESS**?; ,- 1 ! ' ■<*.; '- - «;« Glastonbury Abbey Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea. King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are said to be buried in the Glastonbury cemetery. Saint Dunstan was one of the abbots of this abbey; the same honor is claimed for Saint Patrick. From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. 111. The Universities: 1 Oxford and Cambridge. An im- portant factor in this nationalistic development was the English university. Oxford 2 became a university in the Oxford and twelfth century, in the days of Henry II, though Cambridge, an important school had existed there somewhat earlier. Cam- bridge was founded in the thirteenth century, in the days of Henry III. It was during the latter reign, too, that arrange- ments were made for the accommodation of stu- The college dents in colleges. A college was a group of build- s y stem - ings where the students ate, slept, studied, and worshiped; it 1 Cheyney, Nos. 111-114. 2 Tuell and Hatch, No. 23. 128 THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM would therefore have a dormitory, a dining hall, a library, and a chapel. The first of these colleges is said to have been Merton College, founded by Bishop Merton of Rochester toward the close of the reign of Henry III. About the same time the wealthy Balliol family founded and endowed Balliol College. In those same years a group of students at Cambridge were formed into an association that later grew into the college of Peterhouse. In time the colleges became the most characteristic feature of English university life. 112. Medieval Science: Roger Bacon. The universities were still chiefly devoted to theological study, but other sub- jects, such as law, also flourished. The sciences were scarcely Medieval m existence as yet, for the medieval mind feared science. ± investigate nature, as that might mean searching out the secrets of God, which, it was believed, He guarded jealously ; or it might mean coming into contact with the forces of Satan, whose control in this evil world was thought to be quite extensive. However, such men as Robert Grosseteste were not to be deterred from any form of study ; and Roger Bacon. , _, _, Grosseteste s younger contemporary, Roger Bacon, 1 was a true scientist with wonderful insight. He looked forward to a time when the secrets of nature should all be known, when carriages should be self-propelling, and men should sail the air as well as the sea. Roger Bacon soon came to be regarded as a dangerous character ; the pope withdrew his right to teach at Oxford and soon afterwards he was sent to prison, where he spent many years, though superior knowledge of nature was his only crime ; but to his contemporaries the science of physics was very much like magic, which, it was agreed, was of evil origin. 113. The Friars in England. 2 The great scientist belonged to a new religious order of the monastic type, the Franciscan Franciscans friars. During the years of the interdict in Eng- and land, an Italian layman, Francis of Assisi, was Dominicans. g atne ring a small band of followers and organizing them into a monastic brotherhood, whose great purpose should i Robinson, Nos. 78-79. 2 Gardiner, 190-191. PROGRESS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 129 be to serve humanity, to go out into the world and bring phys- ical and spiritual aid and comfort to the distressed and suf- fering, not like the monks 1 to strive in solitude for their own salvation. The Franciscans and a similar organization of Spanish origin, the Dominicans, came to England in the early years of Henry Ill's reign, and soon became an important force at the universities. The friars had headquarters of the monas- tic type and were bound by monastic vows ; but they were not necessarily bound to any particular locality, they traveled wherever their presence seemed needful, often begging their way from door to door. The travels and labors of the friars doubtless did much to break down local prejudice and to develop a common English feeling. 114. Architecture : Early English. A national characteristic also appeared in the architecture of the period. The thirteenth century was the great age in the building of the English cathe- drals ; many of the splendid religious monuments church that still adorn the English cathedral cities were architecture, built in large part during the reigns of Henry III and Edward I. The erection of great ecclesiastical edifices, churches, cathe- drals, and monasteries, began with the Normans, who were far in advance of the Anglo-Saxons as builders. Their style was a form of the Romanesque, with round arches and massive columns. This was later displaced by the lighter Gothic style with its pointed arches, lofty ceilings, stained Early English glass windows, and high towers and spires. In architecture. England the builders developed a national type of the Gothic that has since been called the Early English. 115. Progress in the Thirteenth Century. The period of misrule and foreign influence extends down to the middle of the century, when the barons began an organized Political opposition. The twenty years from 1235 to 1255 disturbances, were especially fruitful of trouble and discontent. Within this period fall the king's marriage to Eleanor of Provence ; the coming of the queen's uncles and the king's half-brothers; 1 Cheyney, No. 117; Tuell and Hatch, No. 19 (Jessopp). J 3° THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM the exactions of the papal legate ; the trouble over the pro- visors ; the unprofitable expedition to France, and the tempta- tion of the Sicilian crown. The rise of baronial opposition Salisbury Cathedral Perhaps the finest specimen of early English architecture in England. Built in the thirteenth century (1220-1258). culminated in the events of 1264 and 1265, with the mise of Amiens, the battles of Lewes and Evesham, and the parliament of Simon de Montfort. For the next forty years, the influence of Edward as prince and king is the controlling force in the PROGRESS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY 131 government, and England enjoyed a period of sane, efficient administration and progressive legislation. With the close of the century, however, Edward I became involved in foreign affairs and warfare to such an extent that domestic matters were lost sight of. But the weakness of the political rule in the days of Henry III must not be permitted to obscure the fact that the thir- teenth century was a wonderful age. About 1250, Achievements when the discontent was rising to the point of re- o f the century, bellion, there lived in England a number of men whose works form strong links in the chain of progress. Five of these deserve to be mentioned once more : Bracton the jurist ; Grosse- teste the learned churchman ; de Montfort, the leader of the baronial opposition and the transformer of parliament ; Roger Bacon, the great scientist ; and Matthew Paris, the historian of the age. It is the activity of these and many other writers, thinkers, builders, and statesmen which constitutes the true glory of the thirteenth century. REFERENCES The thirteenth century : general account. — Cheyney, Short His- tory of England, 187-204; Cross, History of England, 157-165; Fletcher, Intro- ductory History of England, I, i, 217-236; Jenks, Edward Plantagenet, c. iii; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 244-248; Wrong, History of the British Nation, c. viii. The universities. — Barnard, Companion to English History, 307-315; Bateson, Medieval England, 237-246; Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, vi. Monks and friars. — Jessopp, i, iii; Jenks, 57-59. Simon de Montfort and the barons ' revolt. — Hutton, Simon de Montfort; Innes, History of England, 104-108; Jenks, c. vi; Oman, History of England, 139-147; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 193-200; Tout, 167-175. Edward I. — Fletcher, I, i, 199-201; Innes, 117- 119; Tout, Edward I, c. i. Edward I as a lawmaker. — Andrews, History of England, 139-144; Cross, 178-181; Innes, 119-122; Jenks, c. ix; Oman, 149-153; Ransome, 208-213; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 182-185; Tout, Edward I, c. vii. The beginnings of parliament. — Fletcher, I, i, 201-204; Tout, Edward I, c. viii. CHAPTER VI THE BRITISH IDEA AND THE WAR WITH FRANCE 116. Edward I. 1272-1307. Edward I, whose reign began in 1272 and continued for thirty-five years, was one of the ablest and strongest kings that have ruled in England. He _, , T had none of the weaknesses of his amiable father, Jbdward l : per- ' sonaiity and nor did he inherit the mean spirit of his grand- character. f a ther John. In many respects he resembled his great ancestor Henry II, but his character was formed of finer clay. Edward I had great faith in himself, in his judgments, and in his purposes, a faith that almost amounted to a weak- ness, for the great king found it extremely easy to justify his own actions : so conscious was he of a desire to do what seemed right in every instance, that he rarely doubted the justice of anything that he purposed to do. Like Henry II he strove Statesmanship f° r order in the kingdom, for internal peace and of Edward's efficient government ; but with the notable differ- ence that what the first Angevin strove to attain by means of administrative machinery, Edward I sought to accomplish through extensive and enlightened legislation. 117. The British Idea. In the national movement that has been traced in the preceding chapter, Edward had a consider- able part : more than any of his Norman or Angevin predeces- Unification sors he realized that he was an English king. But of Britain. Edward's plans were not limited to England : he wished to unify the British archipelago into a single state by extending the English political system over Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. This " British idea" was an ancient one; both the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman kings had asserted feudal 132 THE FINAL SUBJUGATION OF WALES 133 claims to Wales and Scotland, and for a few years the king of Scotland had been the vassal of Henry II, who had also made some progress toward the conquest of Ireland ; but not before the reign of Edward I did circumstances appear favorable for the complete realization of the plan. 118. The Final Subjugation of Wales. 1 Edward failed ultimately to subdue Scotland, but he succeeded in his opera- tions against the Welsh. In the thirteenth cen- The situation tury Wales was nominally under the suzerainty in Wales< of the English king ; but in fact the Welsh princes ruled quite independently over the parts of their country that still remained under Celtic control. It will be remembered that the Norman kings, being unable to annex the principality, had allowed those of their nobles who had the resources and the inclination to invade Wales and seize lordships for themselves. 2 These adventurers were fairly successful, and soon all the eastern and the southern borders had passed into the power of The March the lords of the March. Most prominent among the Marchers was the Mortimer family, whose possessions lay along the east border of Wales. The territory actually governed by the Welsh princes was therefore limited to the west and northwest, where the mountain masses of Snowdon make hostile movements extremely difficult. While Edward was still a prince, he was made earl of Chester, a county that lies on the border of North Wales. Llewellyn, the last Welsh prince of that name, ruled the prin- Llewellyn . cipality at the time. Though a vassal of Henry III it was his policy to oppose his overlord at every opportunity. In the Barons' War of 1265, he sided with Simon de Montfort. Llewellyn's purpose was to extend his sway over all the terri- tories of Wales, the March as well as the Snowdon country. Edward and the Welsh prince regarded each other with deep distrust; and when Edward became king Llewellyn showed no desire to appear at court and do homage. Five years after his accession (1277), the king invaded Llewellyn's territory and 1 Gardiner, 210. 2 * eview sec - & 134 THE WAR WITH FRANCE with the help of the lords of the March succeeded in defeating the prince, whose realm was now definitely limited to the north- west part of Wales. The March-lands were formally separated from Wales and annexed to England. The Welshmen of the March soon found rule by English officials unbearable, and after five years of uncertain peace, war once more broke out between Edward I and his vassal Llewellyn. The English forces set out to conquer the prin- cipality, but found the task beset with great difficulties. Across Conquest of the northwest part of Wales lies the mount of North Wales. Snowdon like a massive wall with gentle slopes toward the Irish Sea and steep declivities toward England. Llewellyn's position seemed impregnable ; but at the critical moment the prince fell in a skirmish and resistance melted away. The conquered principality was 1283. THE SCOTCH SUCCESSION 135 cut up into shires after the English plan and governed by royal officials after English methods. The shire system, however, was not extended to the March, where the lords for some time yet were allowed to continue in control. With Welsh the death of Llewellyn the old Welsh principality nationalism, perished. But the Welsh people have refusedTo become Eng- lish and have to a large extent remained Welsh in language and sentiment to the present day. Carnarvon Castle Edward II, the first "Prince of Wales," was born in this castle. 119. The Scotch Succession. 1 The pacification of Wales was completed in 1283. Three years later the problem of Scotland took on an unusual interest. In the reign of Henry II, the Scottish king, William the Lion, was taken Feud&1 rela _ prisoner in battle and compelled to do homage to tions of Eng- the English king for all his lands. For fifteen l £*£* m years Scotland was virtually a province of England ; but when the impecunious Richard I became king, William was allowed to buy a release from his homage for 15,000 marks. The terms of the treaty were somewhat ambiguous in language, and there remained some doubt as to whether the English king 1 Gardiner, 214. 136 THE WAR WITH FRANCE did not still possess the right to some sort of overlordship over Scotland ; but for a century the matter was not pressed. Alexander III was king of Scotland in the early years of Edward's reign; but in 1286 he was accidentally killed, 1 and maim - Scotland was without a ruler. The nearest heir 1286. Margaret, the was a little granddaughter Margaret, the daughter "Maid of f £ r j c? kj n g f N orW ay. a marriage was arranged between the eight year old princess and Edward's young son Edward, who was born soon after the Welsh cam- paign and bore the title prince of Wales. The princess was sent for, but on the way to Scotland she died, and the hope of a peaceful union of the kingdoms disappeared. 120. The Makeup of Scotland. The kingdom of Scotland had arisen out of the consolidation of several minor kingdoms ; Picts and four separate sections make up modern Scotland. Scots - Bede informs us that in the fifth century, after the Romans had withdrawn from the island, the Britons were greatly distressed by the raids of Picts and Scots. The Picts were an ancient and probably Celtic people who had dwelt in the Highlands ; the Scots lived in Ireland. But a century later (about 500) the Scots had crossed into Great Britain and had settled in modern Argyle. With them came Saint Columba who founded the famous religious center at Iona and introduced Christianity among the Picts. The two kingdoms led a separate Kenneth existence for three centuries ; but in 844 Kenneth MacAipine. MacAlpine, king of the Scots, whose mother was a princess from Pictland, also became king of the Picts. Scone became the capital of this Highland kingdom, so far as any capital really existed, and the whole country was called Scotland. But south of the Forth was the Anglian dis- trict of Lothian, which was a part of Northumbria, and in the southwest was the Welsh kingdom of Strathclyde, which also included the northwestern counties of modern England. In 1018, just after the conquest of England by Cnut and before the Dane was strong enough to risk war, the Scots 1 Innes, I, 140-143. THE MAKEUP OF SCOTLAND i 37 invaded Northumbria, seized Lothian, and extended their boundaries to the river Tweed. Sixteen years Conquest of later the kingdom of Strathclyde was absorbed L <>thian. 1018. and the consolidation was complete except for the fact that % GOIDSCHMIOMK m 1 SCOTLAND about 800 Scale of Miles West from Greenwich the three adjacent groups of islands, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands, were still for some time held Strathc i yde by the Norwegians, who had colonized them cen- added to Scot- turies before. In 1266 the Hebrides were added to the Scottish crown, but the other two groups remained under Norwegian rule for two centuries longer. 138 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 121. English Influence in Scotland. The annexation of Lothian brought far-reaching consequences, for Lothian was En lish English and from this section English civilization elements and English speech spread throughout the kingdom in Scotland. untn the Cdtic elements lost cont roL The capital was moved from Scone to Edinburgh, an ancient English town in Northern Lothian. The language of the capital was Eng- lish, for what is known as Scotch is merely a dialect of English. The old Gaelic speech, however, persisted in the Highlands. During the Norman period, especially in the reign of Henry I, whose queen came from Scotland, close relations were es- tablished between London and Edinburgh, and a strong Nor- man element migrated to the northern kingdom and began to strike roots in Scotch soil. The infiltration of alien nobles continued for some time, and some of these adventurers came Bruces and into close association with royalty itself. Among Baliiols. these were the Bruces and the Balliols, who by marriage came to be related to the Scotch dynasty. 122. The Award of Norham. 1 When little Queen Margaret died, there was no lack of claimants to the throne ; nine pre- The Scotch tenders immediately appeared and before long four pretenders. more } a ^ c i a j m to the kingship. Of the thirteen eleven were of Norman-Scotch blood. Only three of them were seriously considered, however : John Balliol, Robert Bruce, and 1 The problem of the succession to the Scotch throne in 1290. David I, 1124-1153 Henry, earl of Huntingdon Malcolm IV, William the Lion, David, 1153-1165 1165-1214 earl of Huntingdon Alexander II. Alan, lord of = Margaret Isabella = Robert Bruce, Ada = Henry 1 2 14-1240 Galloway I I lord of Annandale I Has- | I tings Alexander III, John Eal- = Devorguilla Robert Bruce | 1 240-1 286 liol (claimant) Henry Hastings Eric of = Margaret John Balliol, Robert Bruce Norway | 1 292-1 296 I Margaret, Robert Bruce, John Hastings the Maid of Norway, 1306-1329 (claimant) died 1290 REVOLT OF SCOTLAND AND WAR WITH FRANCE 139 John Hastings. Two of these, Balliol and Bruce, were also vas- sals of Edward I for lands that they held in England. It was impossible for the Scotch people to decide among so many com- petitors ; so the chiefs agreed to submit to Edward's arbitration : and in requesting his intervention they advanced the theory that he was in fact the lord paramount of the kingdom. King Edward had never made any claim to the control of Scotland, but it is only natural that he should make as much as possi- ble out of this admission on the part of the Scotch leaders themselves. Edward I summoned the Scotch magnates to meet him at Norham on the border in 1291. 1 He came to the meeting.place with a strong force and at once revived the old claim to over- lordship. The Scotch submitted and acknowledged him as su- zerain. All the candidates for the kingship agreed "of our own free will to receive judgment from him as our Lord Paramount," and to abide by his decision. The following year ^ , , , , , , 1 . J° hn Balliol, Edward made the award, and the crown was given king of to "John Balliol, a decision that was in strict con- Scotland. J ' 1292. formity to the feudal law of inheritance. John Balliol promptly did homage to Edward, who was continued as lord of all Britain.. 123. The Revolt of Scotland and the War with France. Soon, however, the satisfaction of Scotland turned to distrust ; for Edward adopted a policy that went far beyond what feudal law would sustain : he demanded that appeals should go from the courts of Scotland to his own court of king's John Balliol bench at Westminster. The first case to be ap- renounces his pealed was one that was brought against King John Balliol himself by a certain wine merchant of Gascony who had an old bill against the Scotch crown for wine that had been furnished to Alexander III. This was too much for the Scotch king. After scarcely more than a year of apparent loyalty, John Balliol began negotiations with Edward's enemy, Philip the Fair of France. King Edward summoned him to join in a 1 Cheyney, No. 133; Gardiner, 215-216. 140 THE WAR WITH FRANCE war upon France, but King John refused. The following year, 1295, he renounced his allegiance. 1 The year 1295 is one of great landmarks in English history. Edward I was in a difficult position. Scotland was in revolt ; Situation Wales was restless ; and trouble was brewing in in 1295. France. There still remained to the Angevin kings the Gascon part of the Aquitanian duchy that Louis IX had permitted Henry III to retain half a century before. For these lands Edward, who was duke of Gascony, was the vassal of the French king. Philip the Fair treated his vassal in Gas- cony very much as King Edward treated his own vassal, King John JJalliol, though the English king, who was easily blinded by his own advantage, did not perceive the similarity. Philip had come into the possession of some of the frontier fortresses in Gascony and refused to return them. War was unavoidable, but with Scotland in rebellion, the time was anything but favorable. 124. The "Model Parliament." 1295. 2 King Edward now called on all the nation to help provide funds for the wars that The Model were in prospect. All classes of society that had Parliament. wealth and all the organized communities that had authority to make assessments were called into parliament ; this was the so-called "Model Parliament, " though the name is hardly appropriate, as no subsequent parliament was just like the model of Edward's reign. It was a large body that Edward assembled in 1295. The earls and the barons appeared in person. The higher church officials, the bishops, the abbots, the archdeacons, and the priors of the cathedral chapters also attended in person ; the lower clergy sent proctors or repre- sentatives. The shires were represented by 74 knights and the boroughs by 220 burgesses. It is not known how this body transacted its business or whether it sat in a single house. Parliament was still in the process of formation and had no definite field of activities ; this parliament was Taxation. ... called to grant funds to meet an unusual situation. The king was successful in his negotiations with the lords and the 1 Innes, I, 146-147. 2 Review sec. 99. THE TROUBLE WITH BONIFACE VIII 141 representative members : each particular class voted a fraction of its personal property to the king's use : the nobles and the knights from the counties offered an eleventh, the church a tenth, and the merchants from the boroughs a seventh. 125. The Conquest of Scotland. 1296. The next year King Edward attacked the northern kingdom, deposed John Balliol, and proclaimed himself king of Scotland. For ten years Edward ruled as sole king in the British u . Islands. To symbolize the union of the crowns, England and the Stone of Scone, on which the Scotch kings Scotland - had long been crowned, was carried off to England and placed in the seat of the throne in Westminster Abbey where it still remains. An English regent was left in Scotland to represent Edward's authority. For a time the Scotch nobles acquiesced in these agreements, but their loyalty was of doubtful character. 126. The Trouble with Boniface VIII: "Clericis laicos." The trouble with France was still unsettled, and Edward soon found himself in need of more money. Instead of calling another parliament, he tried to secure funds by making private arrangements with the merchants and the church for aid. On the papal throne at this time sat Boniface VIII, p apacv and an aged and unbending Italian, who clung to the church taxa- principles of Gregory VII and Innocent III l lon * without realizing that it would be most inexpedient to make them practical issues. In 1296 Boniface issued a famous bull, the Clericis laicos, in which the old claims to supe- The bull riority were restated, and the clergy forbidden to Clericis contribute money on the king's demand. The a - tcos ' bull had its effect : when a new parliament was called later in the year to vote taxes, the archbishop of Canterbury resisted and the church did not contribute. In reply the king with- drew the protection of his courts from the clergy, thus virtually outlawing the entire clerical order. An agreement was soon reached, however, according to which the clergy were to give voluntary gifts but not pay taxes. These " gifts" were as- 1 Review sees. 54-55, 86. 1 42 THE WAR WITH FRANCE sessed by church councils called convocations that were sum- moned whenever the king called a parliament. Of these con- vocations there were two, one for each of the two provinces, Canterbury and York. This arrangement was the rule for more than two centuries. The clergy withdrew permanently from parliament. The bishops and many of the abbots con- tinued to hold membership, but they sat as lords, not as repre- sentatives of the church. 127. The Rebellion of William Wallace. 1 The conquest of Scotland had been marked by much unnecessary severity and cruelty, and Edward's commissioners showed little tact in administering the government. Aroused by these wrongs, the Scotch nation revolted. William Wallace, a Scotchman of Wallace's gentle though not noble blood, led the rising. The rising. aristocracy held aloof from the movement ; but the national church, which feared subjection to the archbishop of Canterbury, aided the revolt. At Stirling Wallace's ragged followers routed an English army (1207). Wallace Stirling. 1297. . , , . t. 1 j / now carried the war into England and ravaged the northern shires. Edward hurried back from France and took command in person. At Falkirk Wallace suffered a disastrous defeat and his influence began to wane ; some Falkirk. 1298. , , , „ . . , , , , , U ,- 1 years later he tell into the hands 01 the English government and was executed as a traitor. The rebellion continued for six years after the battle of Falkirk, but when the second conquest was completed, Edward at once proceeded to annex Scotland to England. Scotland f. . . . _ _ . b . annexed to * It was his intention to retain Scotch laws and England. institutions as far as practicable, but the parlia- 1304-1305. _„ . ^ . ' ment at Westminster was to be made up 01 repre- sentatives from both kingdoms. It is interesting to note that the final union of England and Scotland four centuries later followed the lines laid down by Edward I (1305). 128. The Rebellion of Robert Bruce. It was now fifteen years since Edward had been invited to intervene in the matter 1 Gardiner, 221-222; Lines, I, 148-152. THE REBELLION OF ROBERT BRUCE H3 of the Scotch succession. During these years much had oc- curred to sow hatred for the English king in Scottish hearts. There was, however, no leader around whom the northern magnates were willing to rally. But the next year the leader appeared in Robert Bruce, the young grandson of RobertBruce the aged Bruce who had claimed the thfone in 1291. 1 In 1306 Bruce took up the sword and demanded the crown. He was young, strong, ag- gressive, and per- sistent, a chief with something of the heroic in his make-up. But even with a leader like Bruce the Scotch were slow to rally. The nobles were dis- trustful and jealous of the young pre- tender ; he had sev- eral times broken his oath to King Edward; he had slain a fellow-claim- ant ; his following was therefore small. Only one national force, the Scotch church, continued to favor revolt. Bruce was formally crowned king, but so weak was his support that he soon found himself a fugitive in his own kingdom. The strongholds of Scotland were in English hands, but the garrisons were so small that, in their efforts to reduce them, 1 Innes, I, 152-155. The Bruce Statue, Stirling 144 THE WAR WITH FRANCE Bruce and his followers had no need of large forces. 1 But Death of Ed- soon Edward appeared on the southwest border ward I. 1307. w j t j 1 a powerful army, and prospects looked gloomy for the young rebel, when the great king suddenly died and the advance into Scotland was halted and given up (1307). Edward II. 129. The Battle of Bannockburn. The death of Edward secured the independence of Scotland. His successor, Edward II, was an incompetent king, who permitted him- self and the kingdom to be ruled by worthless favorites. This disgusted the English barons who regarded themselves as the true counselors of the king. Under such conditions all plans for the reconquest of Scotland had to be postponed. Meanwhile, Bruce and his men carried on a series of success- ful attacks on the castles and strongholds that were still in English possession, until after six years Stirling, a position of great strength and strategic importance at the entrance to the Highlands, alone remained in the enemy's hands. The siege 1 Kendall, No. 29. THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN H5 of Stirling awakened the English, and Edward II made prepa- rations to succor the garrison and reduce the country. With a vast army of more than 50,000 men the English king appeared in the neighborhood of Stirling in June, 13 14. Robert Bruce with a force only one-third as large took up a position behind Stirling Castle Stirling is situated at the gateway into the Highlands and is a strategic point of great importance. the little stream of Bannockburn, 1 a few miles southeast of Stirling. The field was well chosen, for in addi- Battle of tion to the stream in front the Scotchmen had a Bannockburn. swamp on either side, which made a successful at- tack on the enemy's part very difficult. In the battle that followed, the English host suffered an overwhelming defeat. Scotland secured her freedom and her nationality, and Robert Bruce secured his throne. 1 Cheyney, No. 134; Gardiner, 226; Innes, I, 155-159; Tuell and Hatch, No. 24 (Burns, Scots who, hae). The selections from Cheyney and Innes are from differ- ent chronicles. See also Bates and Coman, 100-106 (Scott, Lord of the Isles, Canto VI) . 146 THE WAR WITH FRANCE 130. Edward II Deposed: the Rule of Mortimer. The defeat at Bannockburn completely discredited the government of Edward II. The rule of England fell into the hands of the chief nobles, but their selfishness and incompetence were so Misrule in great that the nation fared even worse for the England. change. After much strife and turmoil the king once more got the upper hand ; but his devotion to his favor- ites alienated all the classes that were of any importance in the state. In 1325 Isabella, the queen, a French princess of low character, found a pretext for a journey to her relatives in France, where she was joined the next year by her eldest son Roger Edward. A conspiracy was formed of which the Mortimer. queen and Roger Mortimer, a wealthy nobleman from the Welsh March, were the chief members. In 1326 the conspirators arrived in England with a foreign host. A parliament was summoned a few months later (1327) which compelled the king to abdicate in favor of his son Edward. Not long afterwards Edward II was murdered. The rule of the conspirators was brief. The great problem was what attitude the government should take toward Scot- land : the English refused to recognize the independence of the Scotch, but were unable to stop their raids across the border. 1 Finally in 1328, Roger Mortimer made peace and acknowledged the independence of Robert Bruce's kingdom to the great disgust of the English. Not long after- wards he, too, was slain, the victim of a conspiracy which in- cluded the young prince. Edward III, who had been nominally king for a year and was already a husband and father, though only in his sixteenth year, now began his long and adventurous reign of fifty years. 131. The Hundred Years' War: the Succession in France. Thirty years of intermittent warfare with their neighbors to the south had unified the Scottish people and intensified their passion for nationality. And what is more important for English history, it led them to seek allies elsewhere : a close 1 Innes, 164-166. THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 147 relationship sprang up between Scotland and France which endured for nearly three hundred years. Morti- Alliance of mer's treaty was of short duration : war with Scotland and Scotland soon broke out again, but the new war- rance - fare came to be closely associated with another and greater conflict, the Hundred Years' War with France. This was jM fc^» ^nflm Iran ^jjgg|gP?jg|^*«>- *^~j£^f Jk"I H^i^HA' mS* ' ftSra l v !HiJ "Mil - - <- •* ^ m H lui Ajfej Hr; r** f ' 'iV It » > &j rTTt Mmi Melrose Abbey The heart of Robert Bruce was buried in this monastery. From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. rather a series of wars, which with long periods of merely pas- sive hostilities continued for more than a century, till final peace was made in 1453. The dispute that introduced this war began in 1328, the year of the truce with Scotland, when the direct male line of the French dynasty expired and a representative of a collateral branch of the family inherited the kingship. Three The French brothers, the sons of Edward I's old enemy, Philip succession, the Fair, had successively mounted the French throne and 148 THE WAR WITH FRANCE died leaving no sons. 1 On the death of the third and last, Edward III (or rather his advisers in the government, as the king himself was a mere youth) thought seriously of claiming the French crown for himself as the heir of his mother Isabella, who was a daughter of Philip the Fair. But the claim, for which there was no legal basis, was not pressed, and Edward, as lord of Gascony, rendered the usual homage to the new king of France, Philip VI. 2 132. Difficulties in Gascony and Flanders. Ten years passed without any attempt to revive the claim. Conditions were such, however, that war with France was almost inevitable. The Gascon The French king was anxious to get rid of power- problem. f u i vasS als like Edward of Gascony, and eagerly sought a pretext for depriving him of his rights on French soil. Edward III on his side protested against the aid that France continued to render to his Scotch enemies. But more im- portant than either of these considerations were the trade relations that existed between England and Flanders. The Low Countries, or the modern kingdoms of the Nether- lands and Belgium, were, in the fourteenth century, a group of more than a dozen little states, whose only bond of union was geographical. Nearly all of these were dependencies of the German kingdom ; but Flanders, the most important member The problem of the succession to the French throne in 1328: Louis IX (Saint Louis), 1226-1270 I Philip III, 1270-1285 Philip IV, the Fair, 1285-1314 I Louis X, Isabella = Edward II 1314-1316 I Edward III of England Daughter Gardiner, 232. Philip V, .Charles IV, 1316-1322 1322-1328 Daughters Daughter Charles, count of Valois Philip VI, 1328-1350 John II, 1 „s 50-1 364 Charles V, Philip, 1364-1380 founder of the Bur- gundian house DIFFICULTIES IN GASCONY AND FLANDERS 149 of the group, was a French fief governed by a count. In Flanders a number of cities had grown up, which were among the chief industrial and commercial centers of Europe. The most important industry of the time was the manufacture of cloth, for which the Flemings needed English wool. Between these wealthy Flemish towns and the English kingdom there were consequently important economic bonds. Neither side could afford to offend the other, for the Englishman was as anxious to sell his wool as the Flem- ing was to purchase it. 1 While drawn to England for economic reasons, the Flemings were chronically hostile to France for political reasons. The cities claimed a large measure of self-government, The En H - far more than their rightful but indiscreet ruler, wool trade the count of Flanders, was willing to grant. In in anders - his trouble with the rebellious merchants the count had the active support of his overlord, the king of France. In 1328 the new king induced the count to arrest all the English mer- chants in Flanders. It will be remembered that Edward III was at this time putting forward a hesitating claim to the French crown. Edward's reply to the count's attack on the merchants was to forbid the exportation of English wool. The result was economic distress in the Dutch towns and in- creased hostility to the French overlord, who had ruined their industry and their trade. The Flemish merchants wished to be loyal to the king of France, but not to Philip VI who was then on the throne. They approached Edward III with the proposition that he should claim the throne of France, and promised to accept and support him as the true king. 2 In this way they fancied that their oaths and pledges of loyalty would remain unbroken. The plan was one that appealed mightily to the English king, for Edward III was a knight rather than a states- Personality of man. In many respects he resembled Richard I : Edward IIL he was a strong, well-built, and handsome man of twenty-five i Innes, Industrial Development, 78. 2 Cheyney, 236-238. i5° THE WAR WITH FRANCE FRANCE in 1328 Scale of Miles 50 50 100 I I French Holdings Ut the Accession, ° J of the House, of PP English Holdings [Valois 1328 <**, taLais h kinii by the treaty of Bretigny. • March of Edward M, 134S. 0° East from Greenwich 2 C SUMMARY 155 137. Decline of English Power in Aquitaine. The treaty was, however, scarcely more than a temporary truce. So long as the English remained in Aquitaine, the French kings could not be expected to lay down their arms, and very soon the strife was renewed. Edward III was now advancing into premature old age, — he was becoming feeble both in body and in mind. At the same time a most capable king, Charles the Wise, ascended the throne in France. Condi- Failure of the tions became more and more unfavorable for the English in English. Edward the Black Prince, who had Gascon y- shown such genius and bravery on the field of battle, did not prove to be a wise governor. He tried to interfere in Spanish affairs and taxed the Aquitanians heavily to pay for a fruitless expedition across the Pyrenees. Revolts broke out in various parts of his duchy, in suppressing which he displayed a cruel strain in his character that has defaced an otherwise fair reputa- tion : in the rebellious city of Limoges more than Massacre at 3000 were put to the sword in one day. In 13 71 Lim <>ges. the prince, broken in health, left Aquitaine and returned to England, where he died five years later. When Edward Ill's reign closed in 1377, the English kings scarcely retained more territory in southwestern France than the city of Bordeaux, which remained loyal because the connection with England was likely to bring commercial profit. The wines of Bordeaux were famous even in that day ; but in France they had to compete with the products of Burgundy and the Rhine coun- try, especially with those of Champagne. England, however, produced no wines, and so long as the English kings had terri- tories in Gascony, the merchants of Bordeaux would enjoy a monopoly of the English wine trade. 138. Summary. The three Edwards ruled England for a little more than a century. It was a period when foreign affairs occupied a very prominent place in the Foreign pol j cy thoughts of the English nation. Three purposes of the three dominated and directed the foreign policy of the w r kings and statesmen of the period: (1) they wished to consoli- 156 THE WAR WITH FRANCE date Britain by uniting Wales and Scotland with England and Ireland into a single monarchy ; (2) they wished to secure full sovereignty for the English king in Gascony ; (3) they wished to make sure of a market for English products in Flanders. These purposes led to nearly a century of almost constant warfare. It was a period of many great battles, an age that produced a number of heroic figures ; but in the end little was gained for England. Wales was conquered, but Scotland was lost. The king gained complete control of Gascony, but when Edward III died, most of his Gascon lands had been seized by Charles the Wise. With respect to the Flemish markets England was more successful ; for some time there was a close alliance between England and the manufacturing towns of Flanders. In the next century, however, this connection was broken ; meanwhile, the manufacture of woolen cloth had been introduced into England, and the time was coming when the island would not be in such great need of Flemish markets. REFERENCES The final conquest of Wales. — Edwards, Story of Wales, cc. x-xi; Innes, History of England, 122-126; Jenks, Edward Plantagenet, c. viii; Oman, History of England, 153-157; Tout, Edward I, c. vi. Methods of warfare in the thirteenth century. — Fletcher, Intro- ductory History of England, I, i, 231-236. William Wallace. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 134-147; Innes, 135-137; Jenks, 281-295; Lang, Short History of Scotland, c. vii; Maxwell, Bruce^ cc. v-vi. Bruce and Bannockburn. — Brown, 147-168; Innes, 137-138, 141-145; Lang, c. viii; Maxwell, cc. vi-vii, ix; Oman, 169-170, 174-176. The era of victories in France. — Ashley, Edivard III and His Wars; Cheyney, Short History of England, 233-242; Fletcher, 253-264, 268-272; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 235-243, 251-254; Innes, 154-160; Oman, 183-195; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 210-219; Froissart's Chronicle. CHAPTER VII SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION 139. An Age of Revolution: the Reign of Richard II, 1377- 1399. The second half of the fourteenth century was a period of great and far-reaching social and political Socia i changes changes. English society was being transformed in the four- at its very foundations ; the center of authority teenth century - in the English constitution was shifting from kingship to parliament ; serfdom was disappearing and the economic system of the nation was being rebuilt on a new basis ; heresy threatened to disrupt the English church. These develop- ments are often associated with the reign of Richard II (1377- 1399) ; but they began long before and continued far into the fifteenth century. 140. The Hundred Years' War and the Wool Trade. One of the principal factors in this series of movements was the war with France. The victories of Sluys, Crecy, and Poitiers meant much for the prestige and glory of England, . but these were frail rewards : English success was n ings of won at a terrible cost in blood and treasure, woolen manu- factures. Nevertheless, the struggle was not without advan- tages to the English people, though these were chiefly indirect. It was during the reign of Edward III that the manufacture of woolen cloth in England had its beginnings. Edward I had en- couraged trade, particularly the commerce in wool, Flem i sn which was the staple product of the kingdom. He weavers in encouraged Flemish weavers to settle in England ng a and set up their looms in the great English wool district, which comprised the old East Anglian country and adjacent terri- i57 i58 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION tories. The Hundred Years' War in which the Flemings were involved made it easy to induce the weavers to come. 1 From this time on, England dealt in cloth as well as in raw wool. From these small beginnings in the fourteenth century has grown the greatest system of manufactures in the entire world. "-Mar- The Chief Wool-raising Districts in England and Wool -manufacturing Towns in the Netherlands Scale of Miles 0° East from Greenwich 2 ° 141. The Development of Foreign Commerce. 2 In addition to wool, England produced leather, tin, and lead in consider- Medieval a ^ e quantities, most of which found markets ideas of abroad. It was believed in the later middle ages that the wealth of the country consisted chiefly in gold and silver ; since a man who had money could purchase whatever he wished, it seemed evident to the statesmen 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 82. 2 Ibid., 70-72, 76-S0. THE DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN COMMERCE J 59 of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that the real purpose of foreign trade must be to bring the precious metals into the country. It was, therefore, held necessary to regulate com- merce in such a way that only a part of English products should be exchanged for foreign goods. The English merchant who sold his wool in Flanders was forbidden to take Flemish cloth in exchange for the full value of his wares ; a part must be paid The Steelyard in the Seventeenth Century The headquarters of the Hanse Merchants in London, 1 250-1597. in gold or silver. This regulation was, of course, difficult to enforce : for the English people had developed a strong taste for foreign products. As a result of the Flemish The import trade, the English were beginning to wear more trade - expensive clothes ; the old, coarse native cloth was giving way to the finer and more expensive fabrics of the Flemish looms. During the two hundred years of the crusades, the people of Britain had been introduced to the fashions and luxuries of the Orient. The Hundred Years' War in France did much to intensify the desire for the comforts that the English soldiers found abroad. These new wants were regarded as very ex- travagant by the moralists of the time. Carpets appear to have been seen in England for the first time in 1254, when Eleanor of Spain came to the country as the queen of Edward 160 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION I. Matthew Paris tells us that her apartment was "hung with palls of silk and tapestry like a temple, and even the floor was covered with arras." This, however, was not agree- able to the simple tastes of the great historian, for he explains that "this was done by the Spaniards according to the custom of their country ; but this excessive pride excited the laughter and derision of the people." 142. The Merchants of the Staple. 1 As a part of their plan to regulate the foreign trade, so that it might be produc- tive of the precious metals and bring revenues to the royal treasury, the English kings decreed that all the leading products of the land should be bought and sold in certain specified towns only; these were known as the "staple towns." The The "staple word staple came from a German word stapel, towns." meaning a heap, in this case a heap of wares ; next it came to be applied to a warehouse ; later to a market, and finally to the products that were bought and sold in these markets. A staple town had a market that was open the entire year ; it also could force all merchants that came that way to take their wares to the public market and offer them for sale. It is clear that if a certain line of trade could be limited to a small number of market towns, the law governing that trade could be quite easily enforced, and the collection of tariff duties would be a simple matter. In the thirteenth century it was customary to send all the chief exports of England to some city on the Continent, usually in the Netherlands; for a time Dordrecht in Holland had a monopoly of the English staples. After the taking of Calais this became an important staple town. But in 1291, Edward I Staple designated certain English towns which-were also products. to nave staple rights. The five great staple arti- cles were wool, woolfells, leather, lead, and tin. The merchants who dealt in these commodities were the "merchants of the staple." Edward III gave them the monopoly of the trade in certain other products, such as butter, honey, and tallow, .* Lines, Industrial Development, 81; Tuell and Hatch, No. 21 (Gibbins). MERCHANT GILDS AND CRAFT GILDS 161 by adding these to the staple list ; but this arrangement was temporary only. 143. Merchant Gilds and Craft Gilds. The development of trade led to the organization of a certain characteristic medieval institution, the gild. In Anglo-Saxon times groups of men frequently organized themselves into fraternities for social, charitable, or religious purposes ; these fraternities were called gilds. Later the merchants of a particular city banded themselves together in the same way for the pur- Merchant pose of promoting their business interests; this gllds - was called a merchant gild ; 1 and there could be only one in each borough. Still later, as trade and industry grew, the various crafts began to organize separate fraternities : thus the carpenters had their gild, the weavers theirs, and so on through all the trades or industrial occupations. 2 The tendency to organize the crafts into gilds is quite apparent in the reign of Edward I, and in the four- teenth century these fraternities became a powerful factor in industrial life. The gild system had its advantages and its disadvantages. The master workmen who composed the membership of each gild soon began to draw up very definite regulations for the trade concerned; these covered such sub- and disadvan- jects as materials to be used, weight and measure, ta , ges of the J ' & gild system, hours of labor, and the like, and each member watched his fellows closely to make sure that the rules were observed. 3 The buyer could then be sure that every article that bore the stamp of the gild was what it was claimed to be ; adulteration, short weight, and kindred faults were little known in the medieval crafts. But the system also made it exceedingly difficult for any one to engage in business or follow a trade who was not a member of the proper gild. No man could learn a trade except as an apprentice in the shop of some 1 Cheyney, No. 120; Innes, Industrial Development, 62-69. 2 Innes, Industrial Development, 62-69. 3 Cheyney, Nos. 121-122 Robinson, No. 71; TueJl and Hatch, No. 22. 162 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION master workman who belonged to the gild. The gilds also were able to control prices to a large extent, and usually fixed them with an eye to their own profit. It will be seen that the gilds in their small way combined the characteristics of the modern trust and the labor union : they controlled the manufacture, the prices, and the labor supply; and they determined the conditions under which industry was to be carried on. The chief, or governor, of a gild was usually called an alder- man. Time came when the government of many boroughs Borough fell i n a large measure into the hands of the gilds, 1 government. anc [ t h e CO uncil that managed the affairs of the town was frequently made up of these aldermen. The men of the borough showed an early desire for self-government; but this privilege was one that the king was not likely to grant unless he was paid for it. The merchants were the class that could best afford to pay for this privilege, and so it came about that the merchants frequently secured a charter from the king that permitted the borough to manage its own affairs and allow the merchant gild to control the trade of Borough the city. Such charters were granted as early charters. as ^q reign of Henry I and the privilege was sold quite freely after the accession of Richard I. The twelfth century was the great age of the merchant gild. In the reign of Edward III, however, its importance was on the decline, and the craft gilds were taking its place. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the government of the cities and boroughs came almost entirely into the hands of these gilds. 144. The Development of Tariff Duties: Tunnage and Poundage. It was in this period, too, that England first developed a regular system of tariff duties. In the middle ages the freedom to carry on trade in a larger way seems to have been regarded, not as a right, but as a privilege that ought to be paid for. Merchants, and especially alien merchants, had 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 59-60. MEDIEVAL ARMIES 163 consequently long been subject to certain local dues, collected sometimes by the municipal authorities of the port Medieval or market town where the wares were unloaded or tariff duties offered for sale, and sometimes by lords or other important men who levied tolls on the trade of their localities or for the use of roads and routes that had come into their control. In the thirteenth century the central government began to " regulate" trade and to take over these customary local dues, which now became a tax payable to the king. This tax was not regularly imposed, however, and its legality was often in dispute, as the king frequently charged "evil tolls," or more than was customary. The first general levy of such duties in the fourteenth century came in 1347, the year after the battle of Crecy, when a tax of two shillings on every tun of wine and of six pence on every pound's value of other forms of imported merchandise was agreed to by parliament. This tax was henceforth known as tunnage and poundage. Tunnage and The financial needs of the warlike monarch led to P° unda ge. further levies by the king without the permission of parliament : the result was much complaint on the part of the merchants and consequent disputes between the king and parliament. The outcome was that while the king was allowed revenue from this source, the rates were to be determined by parlia- ment. At first tunnage and poundage was granted for a fixed number of years ; but in the next century it became customary to make the grant once for all to continue to the close of the reign. 145. Medieval Armies. The armies of the middle ages were commonly small bodies of knights and their attendants who served for a limited period at their own ex- ~. . - „ . r ine armies 01 pense ; but a war of invasion could not be carried the fourteenth on with such forces. Edward III needed a vol- cen ury ' untary army that would be willing to remain in the field till the campaign closed. It seems that every man in the English host was paid a daily wage ranging from two pence to two shillings a day ; these seem small sums, but they would prob- 1 64 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION ably purchase twenty or thirty times as much as the same amount in our own country at present. It is also true that the shilling of the reign of Edward III contained at least twice as much silver in weight as the English shilling of our own time. The army was raised by the contract system : the king ar- ranged with different lords of prestige and influence that they Classes of were to raise bodies of men and to see to their soldiers. wages, provisions, and equipment. Three classes of soldiers made up the forces: the men-at-arms (knights), the archers, and the knife men, whose chief duty seems to have been to kill the enemy's horses and to slaughter wounded Frenchmen. 146. The Growth of Parliamentary Power. 1 Trouble came when the king was called on to pay the lords who had recruited the forces, for the war proved more expensive than had been anticipated. It was held in the middle ages that the king The king's should "live of his own," which meant that the customary customary revenues that came to him from his revenues. demesne lands, from his feudal tenants, from fines, and from tariff dues and the like were really all that the king had a right to collect and with these he was supposed to carry on the government as best he could. But foreign warfare soon brought the royal treasury to the verge of bankruptcy. There was nothing for Edward to do but to summon parliament ; and this body was called year after year to provide funds for the war chest. The result was that in this way parliamentary 1340. control over finance came to be established for _ ,. all time. In 1340 (the year of the victory of Parliamentary ( a + * control of Sluys) Edward was forced to grant as a new taxation. principle of government that no taxes should be imposed without parliamentary consent. This was followed by the demand that parliament should also be allowed to appropriate the funds for definite purposes to which alone they could be applied. 2 The king also agreed to this (1353). During the same period parliament also began 1 Masterman, 69-77. 2 Cheyney, No. 164. ENGLAND AND THE PAPACY 165 to examine the accounts of the government to determine how the money was spent and whether it had been used as parlia- ment had directed. The commons, as the chief . . . Money bills contributors to the royal treasury, also claimed to originate that all money bills should originate in their house; in the house , . . . , r „ , , of commons, but this principle was not formally accepted by the king before the next century (1407). These four princi- ples — that parliament should control taxation, . . 1407. examine the accounts, and make definite appropria- tions, and that all financial legislation should originate in the house that is most nearly representative of the people — have passed into practically all the constitutional systems of the world, including the American. Their origin lies in the finan- cial needs of the English king during the Hundred Years' War. 1 At one time this need was so great that Edward III had to mortgage his own person to the Dutch bankers ; but at the first opportunity the king broke faith by mounting his horse and galloping away from his insistent creditors. 147. England and the Papacy. The Hundred Years' War was also to some extent responsible for a growing hostility ♦ toward the papacy during the fourteenth century. In 1305 the cardinals elected a Gascon archbishop as pope; The « Baby _ and for seventy years the church was governed by Ionian cap- French popes and cardinals. During this period tmty ' of the " Babylonian Captivity" of the church, the capital of the Catholic world was at Avignon in the Rhone valley. The Avignonese popes were suspected of being favorable to the French cause and consequently could not be popular in England. Three specific questions helped to intensify feeling against the court at Avignon and led to a series of anti- papal acts on the part of parliament. These were the sub- jects of the papal tribute, provisors, and appeals to the papal court. A few years before the war began (1333), England had sent her last installment of the tribute that John had promised the 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 83-84. 1 66 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION pope in 1213. 1 The pope made repeated efforts to collect the The tribute tribute in arrears but failed. After thirty-three of 1213. years of failure to pay, the English parliament repudiated the tribute entirely, declaring that John had no right to bind the nation to any such payment (1366). The repudiation was doubtless in part due to the finan- 1 ^fifi cial difficulties of the crown and in part to a reluctance to pay tribute to a foreign power, which, to make matters worse, was French. 148. The Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire. In 1351 the Statute of Provisors 2 was passed to correct an evil that Statute of had become acute a century earlier in the days of Provisors. Henry III and Grosseteste. 3 In this act parlia- ment forbade the practice entirely and provided severe penalties for all who should accept offices in the church as papal pro- visors. The act was no doubt dictated by hostility to a French pope ; but the English might fairly plead the impossibility of accepting French church officials from Avignon while the war with France was still in progress. Two years later parliament passed the Statute of Praemunire, which forbade the king's subjects to take appeals to any foreign Appeals to court. The act was general, but it was clearly Rome forbid- aimed at the papacy. It would seem that disputes en ' ' could be settled more equitably in the country where they had arisen and where their merits were known than in distant Rome or Avignon. But the act did not grow out of any such consideration: its purpose was to reduce papal authority, and this it would have done very effectively, had enforcement been practicable. Both these statutes were reenacted and strengthened at later times, but neither was strictly enforced. The crown could not do without papal assistance when vacancies had to be filled in the church. As a rule the government continued to dictate the choice of bishops to the chapters, but the bishop-elect had to have his election confirmed at the papal curia before he could be consecrated ; 1 Review sec. 86. 2 Cheyney, No. 145. 3 Review sec. 101. THE VILLEIN AS A WARRIOR: THE LONG BOW 167 and the king could not afford to risk failure of confirmation by a too determined stand on the matters of provisors and appeals. 149. The Disappearance of Villeinage. 1 The most signifi- cant fact in the social history of the period is the disappearance of the condition known as villeinage or serfdom. 2 For at least three centuries the mass of the rural population had been chained to the soil, each successive generation inheriting the duty of tilling the earth on the estate where it was born. But in the fourteenth century the villeins were develop- Weakening of ing an interest in the world beyond the boundaries serfdom. of the manor, and it became increasingly difficult to hold them to their inherited duties. There were several causes that led to the disappearance of villeinage. Of first importance were the great wars of the age. The vast military undertakings of Edward I and Edward III demanded more men than could be collected from the nobility and its force of retainers : consequently it became The vil i eins necessary to draw soldiers from the unprivileged employed in classes. The common farmer was found to be a war are * capable warrior, and, as a result, he came to have a value in the eyes of the state that he did not earlier possess. 150. The Villein as a Warrior: the Long Bow. 3 As the typical weapon of the knight was the sword, that of the peasant was the bow. The long bow, which was the most effective weapon of the age, was very much like the kind The long of bow that the American Indian used with so bow - much skill : it was a piece of tough yew carefully strung with a strong cord, a weapon so well made, it is said, that a strong- armed archer could drive an arrow through an oaken plank three fingers thick. Ordinarily the arrow was drawn to the breast without much attempt at taking aim ; but the shaft sped to the mark with wonderful accuracy. At Crecy the French army was four times as large as the English and at 1 Cheyney, Nos. 123-124; Innes, Industrial Development, 85-87. 2 Review sec. 47. 3 Cheyney, No. 141; see also Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 13 (archery contest). i68 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION Poitiers six times as numerous ; but the English archers secured the victory. The long bow seems to have come to England from the Welsh border. On the Continent the crossbow was a favorite Crossbow Used at Crecy The crossbow shot a winged bolt called a quarrel. weapon, and it had certain advantages, especially when careful aim was a consideration ; but the man with the long bow could shoot six arrows to every bolt that the crossbowman The cross could discharge, as his weapon was ready at all bow - times no matter how damp the weather might be. At Crecy many of the Genoese mercenaries in the French host found their cross- bows almost use- less because a recent rain had shrunk the bow strings. Warfare took the farmer away from his little manorial world and off into other lands where he learned new things and came into contact with new forms of civilized life. But the most important fact was that he began to realize his new importance in the state; and English Archers and Gunman of the Fifteenth Century From fifteenth century manuscripts. THE STATUTE OF LABORERS 169 on his return he found it difficult to resume his former tasks in the old servile spirit. 151. The Black Death. 1 A second cause was the great pestilence that passed over western Europe soon after the victory at Crecy. The Black Death was ap- The great parently what is to-day known as the bubonic P estll ence. plague, and had its immediate rise in the Orient. It followed the routes of commerce into all parts of western Europe ; to England it seems to have come from Flanders with returning soldiers. In 1348, the year after the fall of Calais, it appeared in southwestern England in Dorsetshire, whence it traveled eastward and northward the whole length of the island and across the sea to northern Europe. The mortality was fright- ful : in places half the population was stricken down. In the middle ages there was a popular notion that such calamities were sent from heaven and came as punishment ,, .. . Medieval for national sins : prayers, processions, and ex- attitude treme forms of penance, such as scourging, were toward great ^ M1 r calamities, therefore the only effective means of stilling the divine wrath. But these measures, which brought the sick and well together in large throngs, were rather likely to spread the contagion. Furthermore, the hovels of the manorial villages were anything but sanitary habitations, and the death rate everywhere was abnormally large. 152. The Statute of Laborers. 2 One result was that the manorial lord found large areas of his land lying untitled ; the farmers who escaped the plague were unable Scarcity of to cultivate the entire estate. Nor was it easy to labor - recruit the force farmers from other villages, as the same con- ditions obtained everywhere. Matters were further com- plicated by the dearth of labor in the growing boroughs, where the population also had been materially reduced. Many of the villeins left their homes in the country and settled in the towns, where they joined the industrial classes. 1 Cheyney, No. 146 2 Innes, Industrial Development, 88-90; Kendall, No. 33. 170 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION The sudden activity in the labor market inevitably brought a demand for higher wages on the part of those whose time was at their own disposal. The employers soon began to complain that their workmen would no longer serve at the old rates and asked for a statute fixing a maximum wage. While the pestilence was still raging, the king's council issued an Wages fixed ordinance commanding the laborers to work for by statute. {he customary wages. Soon afterwards this ordi- nance was made a parliamentary statute and is known as the Statute of Laborers. The enforcement of the law was entrusted to special " justices of laborers " but after a time it was placed in the hands of the local justices of the peace. For some years the act seems to have been strictly ap- plied, and it was no doubt one of the chief grievances that led to the peasants' revolt thirty years later. 153. The Enclosures. 1 These enactments, however, could not supply the lack of laborers. Rather than leave their lands lying untilled, many landlords decided to enclose their fields. By enclosure is meant the practice of surrounding a certain area of tilled land with a fence or hedge and turning it into Sheep a pasture for sheep. This was an old practice in farming. England which had grown steadily with the in- crease in the wool trade. As it was found that a greater income could be derived from these enclosed pastures than from fields that were cultivated in the old way, the landlords gladly enclosed their lands. So eager were many to enclose their fields that they dismissed the villeins whose families had held and tilled the land from time past all memory. Agricul- Effects of tural employment was thus lost to many, and they enclosing land. were forced to find work in the cities. It was not till the following century was well under way, however, that the practice of enclosing became particularly burdensome ; but then it became a problem of food as well as of employment ; for with the increase in sheep farming came a corresponding decrease in the production of grain; food became expensive, 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 135-138. DISSATISFACTION WITH THE CHURCH 171 while wages in the overcrowded cities naturally sank to lower levels. 154. Dissatisfaction with the Church: John Wy cliff e. The general dissatisfaction with the economic situation in the second half of the fourteenth century was soon paralleled by a revolutionary move- ment on the religious side. In the days of the great pestilence, John Wycliffe, 1 a professor of theology at Oxford, was developing a set of heretical JohnWycliffe: opinions. Wy- his heretical cliffe was one opinions ' of the many Englishmen who disliked to render serv- ice and submission to the French pope. He was largely influential in the movement that abolished the papal tribute in 1366 : he furnished the argument that parliament used to justify the repudiation. Wycliffe also gradually came to doubt a large part of the medieval theological system. Especially important was his position on the subject of the Eucharist, or Lord's supper. For several centuries it had been the offi- cial belief of the church that when the priest consecrated the bread and wine that were used in the sacrament, they became the body and the blood of the Savior ; this doctrine was known as transubstantiation. Wycliffe rejected this belief and all that the doctrine might imply. As transubstantiation was a fun- damental tenet in the church, Wycliffe's position was distinctly 1 Cheyney, No. 153. John Wycliffe From an engraving by Alexander Van Hecken. 172 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION revolutionary. He also held peculiar views on the subject of social organization : he looked on all land from the opinions on feudal view-point, as held from some higher lord society and m re turn for service. But as it was inconceivable government. ,-,1111 tit • , . that God should want a disobedient sinner as his tenant or vassal, it was clear to Wycliffe that only the righteous were entitled to hold land. 1 For the churchmen he had only slight respect ; he charged the entire hierarchy from pope to priest with wickedness and sin. He also held that the friars were of little service to the world, and that the ascetic life of monks and nuns was less holy than the active life. For an age that believed in ascetic ideals, this was a hard doctrine. The patience of the church was at last exhausted, and 1377. . in 1377 the pope ordered Wycliffe to be tried for heresy. He was tried twice, but no conclusion was reached. The English church was actually in a bad way. The black death had naturally caused a great mortality among the church- men. The monks, whose abodes were not always clean and Decline of sanitary, the friars who traveled widely through efficiency in the infected districts, and the village priest who ministered to the dying in his parish fell ready victims to the plague. The church was compelled to recruit her forces as best she could, and many were admitted to the priesthood who were scarcely more than youths, and moreover were lacking both in education and saintly character. To take up the work in parishes that were vacant or provided with indifferent service, Wycliffe sent out a number of itinerant The "poor preachers known in history as the "poor priests, 1 ' priests." many of whom were university men who had re- ceived his own teachings. In the church at large the situation was, if possible, worse than in England. In the year after Wycliffe's trial for heresy began the Great Schism, with two The Great popes, one at Avignon and the other at Rome, Schism. contending for supremacy in the western church. It is not surprising that the decree against the militant English- 1 Gardiner, 261. THE GREAT REVOLT OF 1381 173 man was ignored, for no one could now be sure where authority really resided. 155. The "Good Parliament." 1376. During the closing years of Edward Ill's reign, there was, therefore, much dis- satisfaction — with the church, with the. government, with economic conditions, and especially with the heavy taxation that resulted from the wars in France. This discontent came out openly in the "Good Parliament" of 1376, , .,. rr .i r , . The Speaker, whose presiding officer, then for the first time called the Speaker, led the opposition to the government. Edward III, though not aged, was feeble in health ; his intel- lect was much impaired ; and he was controlled by wicked and incompetent favorites. As "the king can do no wrong," his acts could be reached only through his chief officials, and the Good Parliament is best known for introduc- , . . , ^ Impeachment, ing the practice of impeachment. Two men were charged with corruption by the commons and sent to the lords for trial. They were convicted, but as the government continued in the old hands, little improvement resulted. The next year King Edward died and was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II, a boy of ten years. For some time the government was in the hands of a group of nobles, Richard n . the chief of whom was the young king's uncle, John aristocratic of Gaunt. The evils in the administration persisted, ru e ' and the men who led the opposition in the Good Parliament were imprisoned. The war with France flared up again and led to a new grievance, a poll tax, which was levied on all, , , , • r \ t rr , The poll tax. both men and women, 01 the age 01 fifteen or above. The population was roughly classified according to rank and supposed abilities to pay, and were taxed accordingly, but all paid something, and the dues were rigorously collected. 156. The Great Revolt of 1381. 2 The poll tax furnished the occasion for a wide-spread uprising on the part of the 1 Cheyney, No. 165. 2 Cheyney, No. 151 (Knighton); Gardiner, 268-270; Innes, Industrial Develop- ment, 91-96; Kendall, No. 34 (Froissart). 174 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION peasantry, the great revolt of 1381. The peasants' revolt in many ways resembled a modern strike : it was an organized Grievances an< ^ somewhat violent movement to secure greater of the economic freedom for villeins and laborers. The villeins. • t-> t i • , grievances were many : English society was slowly passing through a change from compulsory dues and labor to money rents and hired labor. But the workingman was held by the laws fixing maximum wages, and many of the landlords insisted on collecting the old customary dues in labor and kind : l a cock and two hens at Christmas ; com- pulsory harrowing, mowing, harvesting, wood cutting, and the like ; two shillings at Easter and Michaelmas ; fees for per- mitting a villein's daughter to marry or his son to enter the clerical order. In their effort to strike off the shackles, the rebels terrorized the insistent landlords, persecuted the king's officials who had collected the poll tax in merciless fashion, slew lawyers who had assisted in enforcing the old manorial customs, and burned manorial records that might be used as evidence of dues and debts. The movement began at two different points, the old East Anglian counties and Kent, but finally spread to nearly all parts of the kingdom. The Kentishmen found aggressive leaders in Wat Tyler, whose particular Wat Tyler and grievance was the poll tax, and John Ball, 2 a John Ball. 6 , ^ ' . , . . pr est whose deas were distinctly communistic. The rioters finally decided to appeal to the government ; from Kent and Essex, from the southeast and the northeast, armies of discontented farmers marched upon London. The men from Kent seized London Bridge and entered the City, where they found sympathy among the laboring class, espe- cially among the apprentices. For some days London was at Rioting in the mercy of a riotous mob : John of Gaunt's London. palace was destroyed ; the Temple and the Inns of Court, where the lawyers had their schools and their head- quarters, were burned down ; several of the king's ministers 1 Kendall, No. 32; Robinson, No. 69. 2 Cheyney, No. 150. THE REACTION AGAINST REFORM 175 were slain ; and the Flemish weavers in the city were made to feel the wrath of the envious apprentices. The authorities treated with each force separately. At Mile End the king parleyed with the Essex men and made satisfactory promises, on the strength of which they returned home. The next day King Richard held a conference with the Kentishmen at Smithfield, and during an altercation with the lord mayor of London Wat Tyler was killed. l Death of With his death the movement disintegrated. Wat T y ler - The young king forgot all the promises that he had made ; . but the men in power did not neglect to take a bloody revenge, and for a time it looked as if the lot of the peasantry would be worse instead of better. The landlords, however, did. not dare to repeat the old harshness ; gradually improvements came and villeinage died out. 157. The Reaction against Reform. A strong reaction set in after the peasants' revolt, a reaction that also extended to the religious field. Wycliffe and his followers came to be looked upon as dangerous agitators and were attacked on Attack on all sides. In the year after the riots, Wycliffe was Wycliffe, summoned before convocation to answer to the charge of heresy. He was convicted of twenty-four erroneous beliefs ; his works were ordered to be burned ; he was dismissed from his chair at Oxford and was compelled to retire to his parish at Lutterworth, where he died two years later. The last years of his life were spent largely in preparing an English translation of the Bible, but it is not likely that this work was circulated very widely until somewhat later. For the historian the translation is valuable chiefly as a literary document that shows the state of the English idiom in the four- 1 TTT ,.„ , T „ The Lollards, teenth century. Wycliffe s party, the Lollards, survived for some time and probably never wholly died out in England before the Protestant revolt one hundred and fifty years later ; but in the next reign, persecution became severe and the strength of Lollardy was broken. In the wider field 1 Innes, I, 200-204. 176 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION of European history, Wycliffe is important as the intellectual father of John Huss, the Bohemian reformer. King Richard II's first queen was a Bohemian princess, and in the negotia- tions that preceded the marriage, the doctrines of Lollardy found their way to Prague. 158. " Piers Plough- man" and Geoffrey Chaucer. Several other writers who flourished in the age of Wycliffe are The Vision also of g reat of Piers importance Ploughman. ag iUustrat _ ing not only the literary and linguistic situation in this century, but also the social, economic, and moral conditions. The Vision of Piers Plough- man, 1 the first install- ment of which appeared in 1362, is a poem that describes the misery of the poor and the vain ostentation of the rich. It seems to have been the work of several hands ; but William one of these melancholy singers appears to have Langiand. been one William Langland, who lived among the Malvern Hills on the Welsh border. He is thought to have been in some way associated with the religious profession, and apparently earned his living by singing at funerals. It is worth noting that Langland places the scene of his poem in a region that was not touched by the movements of 1381; per- haps we may infer from this that the troubles of the peas- antry were not limited to the east and southeast, and it is 1 Gardiner, 258-259; Innes, I, 184-189. Geoffrey Chaucer From an engraving by Goldar. "PIERS PLOUGHMAN" AND GEOFFREY CHAUCER 177 likely that in this border country conditions changed more slowly than in the regions nearer the capital. Geoffrey Chaucer lived under more favorable circumstances and gives us a far more agreeable picture of contemporary society. Chaucer was a soldier, a diplomat, and Geoffrey a poet. He was of the citizen class (his father Chaucer, was a London wine merchant), but he enjoyed the friendship of the great, even of royalty ; especi- ally was he fa- vored by John of Gaunt, whose third wife was the sister of Dame Chaucer. When John's son Henry ascended the throne as Henry IV, one of his first acts was to in- crease Chaucer's pension ; but the poet did not en- joy it long, for he died the follow- ing year (1400). About 1350 the Italian writer Boccaccio wrote the Decameron, a series of one hundred short stories that he pretended were told by ten Florentines who had fled into the coun- The Canter- try to escape the Black Death. It was this work buf y Tales - that suggested to Chaucer the form of the Canterbury Tales, 1 a collection of stories that were told by a company of pilgrims 1 Gardiner, 270-272; Innes, I, 190-194. The "Wife of Bath." "Upon an amblere easily she sat Y-wimpled wel, and on hir heed an hat As brood as is a bokeler or a targe." -Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue, 11. 469-471. 178 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION on a journey from Tabard Inn, Southwark, to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury. From these tales and especially from Chaucer's Prologue, we get an admirable picture of life among the more prosperous classes of the English com- monalty. Most of the lay members of the company Chaucer describes as excellent people, though some of them have their weaknesses. It is significant, however, that the clerical mem- bers do not all find favor in the poet's eyes. The prioress dressed in a very worldly fashion. The monk, too, loved fine clothes and "a fat swan loved he best of any roost ; " he also delighted r , ,„.,,, in horses and in the chase, but for monastic rules he Chaucer's atti- _ ' tude toward cared very little. The friar heard confession sweetly thecergy. and gave pleasant absolution ; " he knew the tav- erns well in every town," and was the best beggar of his order. The pardoner had a sack brimful of pardons "hot from Rome." But the "poor parson" was a man after Chaucer's own heart. He was patient, diligent, and devout; "riche in holy thought and work ; " and heedless of "pompe and reverence" — "But Christes lore, and his apostles twelve, He taughte, but first he followed it himselve." There was also an Oxford scholar l in the company who had the poet's sympathy. He was, if anything, poorer than the parson — • As lene was his hors as a rake, And he was nat right fat, I undertake." But this was because he was not sufficiently worldly to get an office in the church. The Prologue was written a few years after the death of John Wycliffe. It is clear that the English people were much displeased with the church and the clergy ; but conditions were not yet ripe for a revolt from Rome. 159. The Beginnings of the Renaissance. It was in the reign of Richard II that the intellectual revolution known as The Italian the Italian Renaissance first found its way to Eng- Renaissance. land. While on a diplomatic mission to Genoa in 1372, Chaucer became acquainted with the movement and the 1 Cheyney, No. 160. THE GOVERNMENT OF RICHARD II 179 ideals that it represented. It may be that he met the great Petrarch, who was the first prominent figure of the Renaissance. He also brought back with him a new supply of literary ma- terials : in his Canterbury Tales he has told some of Boccaccio's stories in English verse. The interest of the Renaissance in- cluded the whole field of intellect ; but during the fourteenth cen- tury the movement in England showed itself chiefly in the impetus that it gave to literature in the national tongue. The enthusiasm for classical literature and art, the renewed study of the Greek language, and the growing interest in scientific investigation did not come to Britain until the fifteenth century was well under way. 160. The Government of Richard II. During Richard's minority, the government was in the hands of a council com- posed of the chief barons, who controlled the king- Baronial dom for a decade. When the king became of age, control of the he began to show a desire to rule as actual king. governmen • He also appeared inclined to follow the advice of upstart fa- vorites, as Edward II had done, with much the same results. The aristocracy, fearing that the power would soon be trans- ferred from themselves to these hated favorites, rebelled and for some time continued to control the kingdom. After a few years, however, Richard succeeded in throwing off the baronial control and began to conduct the government in person. For ten years, Richard II was actual ruler of England. At first he showed a self-control and an intelligent appreciation of his duties that approached real statesmanship, Eight years of and England had eight years of constitutional constitutional government. 1 But all this time he seems merely monarc y - to have been awaiting an opportunity to take revenge on the lords who had bound his hands in his younger years. In 1397 he showed his colors : absolute rule was evidently Two years of his aim and purpose. 2 He began by terrorizing the absolutism. ■j ,, , xu ,■ ,1 1397-1399. aristocracy, and among those who felt his wrath was Henry, earl of Derby, his own cousin, and son of John of 1 Gardiner, 280-282. 2 Ibid., 282-284. ^Ji£ tutors mfw ftl iT&giaitf £puuia igtfiuittflluui&ijr tlEtU qui tw himrfumttfeout w&ut umauatr ftHtmmto armmi hm&wti fatoffllt ljmft wjiati amir mu? fkcuui fc8 Utonufc mil : tr mui* uurtfuita £t*0U etftiif j|aruawi6umrtt^atfrf tm$ fauna ttmuftus pfas otmsfiutnfiii^ afl \mvty jarmtt D itettw flfc flut u(ty aSlru otttuiui cta&s omul ut4mm la ama ttgis ^utyfii manfit ittitmmiMm fiur ft «^* £tefcttaM«f- CtomfflAft (toinr^fl.f Crco mint rem mimmmaotm im^jniflfim* (mrtiuutur fata ((mm, fartor iiooMa rfttuuf^.cr vftjucuift flrcr fmafeta uoa ata (ftTrtnk&otai mitrta far film* flfhtcfeat Fourteenth Century Writing From Liber de Hyda (Book of Hyde Abbey, Winchester). The manuscript dates from about 1400 or perhaps a little later. The part reproduced gives an account of the early years of Alfred the Great and of his accession to the English throne. THE LANCASTRIAN REVOLT ■181 Gaunt, the duke of Lancaster. For a trivial reason he exiled Henry for a term of six years, but promised not to touch his in- heritance. This promise he did not keep : when the aged Duke John died a few months later, King Richard seized the Lancas- trian estates. Doubtless he feared that the vast possessions of the Lancastrian family would make his young, aggressive cousin too powerful and might prove a temptation to disloyalty. 161. The Lancastrian Revolt: Richard II is Deposed. 1399. 1 When Henry of Lancaster learned of his father's death, he hastened to England. At the moment Richard was out of the country: the affairs of the English Retur f colony in Ireland were in a bad way, and the king Henry of had set out to rectify matters in person. Mean- Lancaster - while, Englishmen were gathering in support of the returned exile, who asserted that he had come to demand his titles and patrimony only. King Richard hastened back to England, but he found the national leaders in arms against him. By his many arbitrary and unjust acts during the two years of absolute rule, he had forfeited the loyalty of his people. At Flint in northern Wales he encountered Henry of Lancaster's host and was forced to surrender. With a scrupulous care for legal forms that is characteristic of the English people, the rebels called a parliament in the captive king's name, and before this body was laid Richard's abdication, a document that was evidently drawn up by his enemies and in which he surrendered all his regal rights. The abdication was accepted, but to make matters Richard II doubly sure, parliament formally proceeded to de P° se d- depose Richard II. When this had been done, Henry of Lancaster stepped up to the vacant throne, and in a brief speech in the English language laid claim to the kingship as a descendant of Henry III. Parliament at once Henry oi Lan _ approved the claim and Henry IV mounted the caster given throne. The real significance of all these proceed- ings lies in the part played by parliament. In deposing 1 Gardiner, 284-288. 182 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION Richard and approving the claim of Henry (which had no good basis), parliament reaffirmed an ancient principle that the great council of the nation has the ultimate authority to deter- mine who shall sit on the English throne. It was circumstances that dictated the choice : Henry of Lancaster was the leader of the uprising and the wealthiest and most powerful noble in England ; no other choice would have seemed practicable. 162. Henry IV: Early Difficulties of his Reign. With Henry IV the kingship passed to a younger branch of the Angevin family, the Lancastrian, descended from John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III. In choosing Henry parlia- ment had passed over other heirs whose claims were better than those of the Lancastrians ; and this fact made much trouble for the new king. It was apparently Henry's intention to let his deposed cousin die a natural death in prison ; but before many months conspiracies were discovered looking toward Death of the restoration of Richard II. The result was Richard II. ^^ the unfortunate monarch, like Edward II, his equally unlucky and indiscreet ancestor, lost his life. More dangerous was the Mortimer family, a powerful clan on the Welsh border which was related by marriage to Lionel, "John of Gaunt's older brother. The Mortimers The Mor- •* , ■ . ' , timers, the had vast domains and were able to muster large Nevilles, and f orces f tenants and retainers. A nationalistic the Pcrcics. uprising in Wales also promised to be of advantage to the Mortimers, for the Welsh rebels allied themselves with their old enemies of the March, who were now hoping to seize the English throne. Two powerful noble families in the north, the Nevilles of Westmoreland and the Percies of Northumber- land, had also become dissatisfied with Henry IV and had joined the partisans of Mortimer. But while on their march Battle of toward the Welsh border where the Mortimers Shrewsbury, were mustering, these northern earls were inter- cepted by the Lancastrian forces at Shrewsbury, where a bloody battle was fought. 1 The king was victorious, 1 Cheyney, No. 157; Gardiner, 292, 298, 300. HENRY IV: EARLY DIFFICULTIES OF HIS REIGN 183 > P, 1 84 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION and as the Mortimers were deprived of their allies, the con- spiracy collapsed (1403). 163. Henry Allies Himself with the Church: Persecution of the Lollards. Realizing that his title to the crown was defective and that he ruled by sufferance only, Henry of Lan- The Battle of Shrewsbury From a drawing in the "Life of Warwick" by John Rous, ca. 1485. caster sought the alliance of the two great forces in the kingdom, the house of commons and the church. It was during this Parliamentary reign that the commons were granted their claim monarchy. to originate all money bills. The Lancastrians ruled England as a constitutional monarchy in which parlia- SUMMARY: THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY 185 ment was the controlling force ; but unfortunately neither the lords nor the representatives of the commons were ready for the self-government that limited monarchy implies. Richard II had been accused of inclinations toward Lollardy or at least indifference toward the welfare of the church, and it may be that this was one reason why the bishops and abbots acquiesced in the revolution of 1399. To the churchmen Henry IV appeared as a zealous defender of ancient rights. The king disappointed many of his supporters but not the church : he placed his signature on a terrible statute that pro- vided for the burning of heretics, which meant the Statute for followers of Wycliffe. 1 There was to be no tolera- the burning tion any longer. The Lollards were to be seized, ° eretlcs - tried by the courts of the church, and if found guilty, they were to be burned by the sheriff of the county. Even before the statute was enacted, a Lollard priest, William Sawtre, was burned by order of the king. Persecution continued under the new law, and in this and the following reigns a number of Lollards were executed. The second half of Henry IV's reign was uneventful. A natural caution that was emphasized by the irregular mode of his accession kept the king from embarking upon Accession of any important undertakings. During the last Henry V. eight years of his reign Henry was afflicted with a lingering disease ; in 141 3 he died and was succeeded by his oldest son, Henry V. 164. Summary: the Fourteenth Century. The history of the fourteenth century was one of far-reaching movements and stirring events. For twenty years (1340-1360), the chief business of the nation was foreign warfare, and Foreign the popular imagination was stirred by the news warfare - of English success at Sluys, Crecy, Calais, and Poitiers. Then followed twenty years of discontent and heretical agitation which culminated in the peasants' revolt of 1381. During the following two decades the interest is chiefly political and 1 Gardiner, 293-294; Innes, I, 204-209. 1 86 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REVOLUTION centers about a running strife between a small group of nobles who wished to control the government and the young king who longed for absolute power. The strife closed with the revolution of 1399 and the election of Henry IV. In statesmanship the period is decidedly barren. The kings and politicians of the age are more famous for errors in govern- ment than for great practical ideas. The real importance of the century lies in the movements that stirred and transformed society ; for the age was one of considerable progress. The functions of parliament were becoming more clearly defined. Villeinage was disappearing and the masses were enjoying greater economic freedom. Trade and manufacture were developing. The resources of the English language were being brought to light. It was the age of John Wycliffe and Geoffrey Chaucer. REFERENCES Art of war in the fourteenth century. — Barnard, Companion to English History, 53-80; Edwards, Story of Wales, 236-242 (the long bow). Medieval gilds. — Barnard, 204-213; Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 169-184 (Ashley). Foreign commerce. — Barnard, 282-294; Innes, History of England, 166- 170. Development of parliamentary powers. — Beard, 140-157 (Stubbs); Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 279-283; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 267-271; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 239-241. The Black Death. — Ashley, Edward III and His Wars, 122-129; Fletcher, I, i, 264-268; Jessopp, Coming of the Friars, iv-v. Wycliffe and the Lollards. — Beard, 221-230 (Trevelyan); Fletcher, I, i, 299-304; Ransome, 271-277; Sergeant, Wyclif; Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wyclif e. A fourteenth century manor. — Beard, 158-168 (Maitland). The peasants' revolt. — Fletcher, I, i, 293-299; Innes, 172-179; Oman, History of England, 202-206; Sergeant, 272-298; Tout, 229-232. Town life in the middle ages. — Bateson, Medieval England, 394-418; Beard, 185-203. Social life in Chaucer's day. — Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, Prologue; Cross, History of England, c. xiii; Gardiner, Student's' History of England, 270-277; Walker, Essentials in English History, c. xiv. CHAPTER VIII THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 165. The Fifteenth Century. The fifteenth century is the dreariest age in the political history of England. From 141 5 to 1485, the story is one of fruitless and calamitous warfare, first with France as a continuation of the Hundred Years' War, and finally among the English barons themselves. For seventy years the blood and treasure of the nation were spent to satisfy morbid ambition. Otherwise, too, the period is character of barren of true greatness. English intellect was the period- active as in the century before, but it produced nothing of enduring qualities : no great literary genius appeared to carry on the work of William Langland and Geoffrey Chaucer. Under the surface, however, the forces of the newer civilization were at work. The process of enclosures was going steadily forward at an increasing rate with its double result of unem- ployment and increased production of wool and cloth. And among the scholars of the time the impulse of the Renaissance was expressing itself in various ways. 1 166. The Character of Henry V. The mass of the nation had but one interest, the French war, which was renewed in 141 5. Henry IV had been anxious to avoid foreign warfare, and had made no serious attempts to interfere in French affairs ; but with the accession of Henry V in 1413, the quiet came to an end. Henry V was not remarkable for statesmanship, and cannot be ranked among the great rulers of England ; but he was virile and energetic, and had many personal „ . 07 , * - Prince Henry. traits that endeared him to his subjects. As a prince he had not been a model son : it seems that he was 1 Review sec. 159. 187 1 88 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE unduly anxious to succeed his invalid father, and Henry IV who had dethroned and murdered his predecessor was much shocked when his " madcap" son suggested abdication ; it may be that the prince actually plotted to dethrone his father. However, when the throne was finally his, the young king, who had apparently led a wild life as prince, cast aside all the frivolities of earlier days and took up the duties of kingship with unusual energy. 167. The Situation in France. Across the Channel the situation was one of misery and confusion. On the throne of France sat Charles VI, an insane king, and the chiefs among the nobility were striving for the power to govern in his name. Partisan strife Two contending parties stood prominently forth : in France. t ne Burgundians under the lead of the dukes of Burgundy, whose strength lay in the north and east ; and the Armagnacs, whose partisans were chiefly from beyond the Loire. The temptation to attack the disrupted country was too great for the young English king. With a cool assurance that is almost astonishing, he revived the ancient claim to the French throne. It will be remembered that the to the rights of Edward III were at best doubtful, 1 and French crown tnat they had been wholly surrendered in the renewed treaty of Bretigny. Moreover, if any such rights yet remained, they belonged to the Mortimers, whose rights of inheritance as descendants of Edward Ill's second son, were prior to those of Henry, who represented a younger line. The English attack on France in 141 5 was, therefore, scarcely better than piracy. The French war, however, had always been popu- lar ; one of the reasons for the unpopularity of Richard II was that he did not push his claims against France. 168. The Battle of Agincourt. With a large army Henry V invaded France and landed near Harfleur ; but like his warlike Invasion of ancestor he found that fighting in Normandy had Normandy. j ts difficulties and he therefore hastened toward his own city of Calais. On the way he encountered a vast 1 Review sec. 131. THE TREATY OF TROYES 189 French host at Agincourt, a few miles from the field of Crecy, and once more the army of France suffered a. crushing defeat. 1 It is thought that Henry V was prompted to attack. France by a desire to gain personal popularity among his subjects and permanence for the Lancastrian dynasty ; if he did, he suc- ceeded beyond his wildest hopes. On his return Agincourt. to London soon after the battle of Agincourt, 2 1415 - he shared the idolatry of his subjects to a greater extent than any of his predecessors for centuries. A single victory had made the wild prince a hero. 169. The Treaty of Troyes. Two years after the battle of Agincourt, Henry returned to France with an army and pro- ceeded to reduce the strongholds of Normandy. In this he had considerable success, though his conquest was not The treaty of extensive. Finally in 1420, an effort was made to Tr °y es - end the war by the treaty of Troyes, according to the terms of which Henry V was to marry the princess Katherine, daugh- ter of the insane king, and to inherit the French crown after the death of his father-in-law. Two years later Death of both the young English hero and the old witless Henr y v - king died ; but Henry V died first. The treaty of Troyes was consequently never carried out as intended. Henry VI, the new king of England, was an infant less than a year old ; and for twenty years the nation was ruled by a council of which the little king's uncles, John, duke of Bedford, and Humphrey, duke of Glouces- of Henry vi: ter, were for some time the chief members. The Bedford and • ■ r i-rr Gloucester. situation was at best one of grave difficulties, and the insistence of the English statesmen on placing the infant on the French throne complicated matters still further. Bed- ford, who was by far the abler and the wiser of the two uncles, found it necessary to spend most of his time in France, the selfish and intriguing Humphrey being left at home to govern England. 1 Gardiner, 301-303; Innes, 209-215. 2 Bates and Coman, 1S6-190 (Drayton, Agincourt). I go FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE 170. Renewed Efforts to Conquer France. The English continued to have some success in France, though in the end Burgundian their efforts failed. During the same period, Philip power in the the Good, the duke of Burgundy, by means that et eran s. ^^ anything but honorable, was coming into possession of the small but wealthy provinces of the Nether- lands. The duke who controlled the weaving district of Europe and founded the Order of the Golden Fleece could not be in- different to the claims of the English wool trade. Bedford therefore found it easy to secure support from the Burgundian faction ; and for more than a decade there was close alliance between England and Burgundy. The war was renewed soon after the accession of Henry VI, and for seven years the English advance continued. For the Causes of Eng- ultimate failure several reasons may be assigned, lish failure First of all, England did not possess the resources necessary to conquer a country that was far richer and more populous than itself; without the aid of the Bur- gundian faction the attempt would have been absurdly hope- less. The second difficulty was that a coolness gradually arose between Henry's advisers and Philip of Burgundy. Philip the Good's purposes were essentially selfish ; and soon he began to fear English interference with his ambitions in the Netherlands. Two years after the accession of Henry VI, Duke Humphrey married Jacqueline, a Dutch princess, whose lands the "good duke" of Burgundy coveted. So great a stir did the Burgun- dians raise about this that the marriage was practically an- nulled. Later in the reign the duke of Bedford committed the same mistake in marrying a Dutch heiress. This was too much for the Burgundian duke : Philip the Good had intended that all feudal heiresses in the Netherlands should, if possible, die unmarried ; and this interference with his plans cost Eng- land his friendship. 171. Joan of Arc: the Rise of French Patriotism. 1 A third and perhaps the chief cause was the wave of patriotic 1 Cheyney, Nos. 174-176; Gardiner, 309-312. JOAN OF ARC: RISE OF FRENCH PATRIOTISM 191 Joan of Arc. fervor that swept over France as the result of the appearance among the French soldiers of the Maid of Orleans. Joan of Arc was a young girl from the eastern bor- der of the kingdom, who believed that heaven had sent her for the deliverance of her country. So long did she brood over the miseries of France that her thoughts and purposes began to The Home of Joan of Arc at Domremy become real and she believed that she heard the saints, whom she adored in the village church, speak to* her and urge her to go to the rescue. She set out in 1429 and found her way to the Dauphin Charles' court at Chinon, and informed him of the mission that the saints had entrusted to her. Reluctantly the Dauphin after much delay allowed her to join the army and proceed to the relief of Orleans which was The relief just then narrowly besieged by the English. It is of Orleans, likely that the English would have been obliged to raise the siege in any event, as their strength was not sufficient for the undertaking ; but the aggressive attacks of the French under the Maid's inspiration hastened the out- coronation of come. The French discovered that their enemies Charles vn - were not invincible. The English advance was checked and the Dauphin was taken triumphantly to the old coronation city of Rheims, where he was crowned king of the French. 192 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE The coronation at Rheims changed the situation completely. After seven years the nation had once more a consecrated king ; Martyrdom of an< ^ man Y °f tne Burgundians began to fear the the Maid. consequences of opposing the Lord's anointed. On the Dauphin's urgent request Joan of Arc continued to assist in leading the French forces ; but less than a year Joan of Arc From a miniature of the fifteenth century. after the coronation she was captured by Burgundian soldiers, who soon afterwards sold her to the English. After a year of imprisonment she was tried as a witch by a court of ecclesiastics THE ENGLISH FAILURE IN FRANCE 193 belonging to the Burgundian party. It was clear to these holy men that a young girl could not do what Joan had done unless she was in league with the evil powers. She was condemned and burned at the stake in Rouen (143 1). She was at the time probably nineteen years old. Her public career had comprised but little more than two years, one year at the head of the French army, and one in the prison at Rouen. She had been neither general nor soldier : she took importance of no part in the active fighting and directed no Joan's career, movements, though she often gave the officers excellent ad- vice. Her task was to inspire the French soldiers with a faith in themselves and their cause and with a fervid love for the fatherland. And since her day patriotism has never cooled in France. 172. The English Failure in France. 1431. That same year Bedford brought the English king, now ten years old, to France and had him crowned, not in Rheims but in Paris. _. . 11., TheBurgundi- But it was now too late to stem the adverse tide a ns desert that was setting in. It was soon after this that the En s lish - 1435. Bedford committed the imprudence of his Dutch marriage. Philip the Good began to tire of a war that was going against his allies. After a fruitless effort to secure a general peace, the duke of Burgundy made a separate peace with Charles VII (1435). Bedford had died a few months earlier and no capable leader was ready to, take his place ; but English pride would not permit a retreat, and so the hopeless war continued. At the same time there was a powerful peace party in England that was anxious to end the war. Finally, ten years after Bedford's death, this party came into control of the English government and arranged a truce with France. . . Henry VI's Among the provisions was an agreement on marriage to Henry's -part to marry Margaret of Anjou, a French Margaret of princess fifteen years of age, whose family was conspicuous chiefly for its poverty. The arrangement was unsatisfactory to the majority in the nation and the truce i 9 4 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE Fifteenth Century Artillery From a manuscript of "The Chronicles of England" (fifteenth century). RIVALRY OF MARGARET AND RICHARD YORK 195 was unpopular. Soon the war flared up again on the Nor- man frontier and later in Gascony. The English sustained repeated defeats ; and in 1453 they finally retired from France, though Calais was retained for another century. 173. The Rivalry of Margaret and Richard of York. Two years later began a series of civil wars which continued with intermittent periods for sixteen years. Later writers, be- lieving that the Yorkist line had adopted the white rose and the house of Lancaster the red rose as a family emblem, called these duels the Wars of the Roses ; it seems, however, that the red rose was first used as a dynastic emblem by the Tudors. The wars were fought for the possession of the English crown. The peace with France was a terrible blow to English pride, which could not forget Crecy and Agincourt ; and Queen Margaret and her advisers were exceedingly unpopular. Henry VI was a pious, gentle, and amiable man, but he was feeble in intel- lect and weak in will. 1 In 1453, the year of the character of ignominious retreat from the Continent, his mind Henr y VI - gave way, and for some months he was hopelessly insane. It will be remembered that his grandfather was the insane king Charles VI of France and the weakness was probably in- herited. Under the circumstances some form of regency was necessary. Queen Margaret, 2 who was a strong Queen and spirited though not always discreet woman, Margaret- claimed the right to rule in her husband's name ; but this was opposed by a large faction of the nobility. At the head of the opposition stood Richard, duke of York, a descendant of Lionel and Edmund, the second and fourth sons of Edward III. As chief of the Mortimer family duke Richard of Richard had wide possessions in the west, whence York - he drew the larger part of his forces. At first he pretended to be fighting for better government only — England should not be 1 Cheyney, No. 178; Kendall, No. 37; Bates and Coman, 210-212 (Shakespeare, Henry VI). 2 Kendall, No. 41. ig6 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI, and Ladies of Her Court From a fifteenth-century tapestry. THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 1455-1471 197 ruled by a French princess and an insane king — but soon he set his heart on the crown itself. 1 174. The Wars of the Roses. 1455-1471. The war between York and Margaret began with the battle of St. Albans in 14s c and closed five years later on the field of War between Wakefield, where the Yorkist pretender fell. 2 How- York and ever, his young son Edward, the earl of March, Margaret. 1455. who now succeeded to his father's power and dignities, openly claimed the throne and was crowned the following year. The Wars of the Roses differed from ordi- nary civil wars in this, that they were fought chiefly by the nobles and their retainers ; the masses of the nation took no great interest in the struggle, except when forced Q ueen Mar _ to take sides in self-defense. This happened in garet loses 1460, when the queen came into southern Eng- land with a large force of wild warriors from the northern border, who could not resist the temptation to pillage the country as they were in the habit of doing on their raids into Scotland. It was this campaign that ruined the Lancastrian Genealogy of the houses of Lancaster and York. Edward III, 1327-1377 1 Edward, Lionel, 1 John of Gaunt, Edmund, the Black Prince, duke of Clarence duke of Lancaster duke of York died 1376 1 1 Henry IV, Richard II, 1399-1413 I377-I3Q9 Henry V, Edmund Mortimer, = Philippa 1413-1422 earl of March 1 Henry VI, Roger Mortimer, 1422-1461 earl ot March 1 H\r Anne Mortimer Richard, earl of Cambridge duke of York lard III, Edward IV, George, Ric 1461-1483 duke of Clarence 1483-1485 Edward V, 1483 2 Gardiner, 327-328. 198 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE cause : in their wrath the populous districts of the south ac- cepted the young Edward. 1 Margaret was defeated Edward IV. F t n , J ° , . , . . f . . , . and fled to Scotland with her helpless husband. For ten years England had two regularly crowned kings, the invalid Henry VI and the capable but unscrupulous Edward Battle of IV* Margaret, meanwhile, continued the fight Tewksbury. and gave up only after the battle of Tewksbury, 147 ' where she suffered a complete and final defeat. Her young son probably fell in this battle and her husband was killed shortly afterwards (1471). There was no longer any ef- fective opposition to Yorkist rule, and for twelve years longer King Edward wore the crown in peace till his death in 1483. Margaret retired to France. 175. Parliamentary Government. 2 The fifteenth century, the age of Lancaster and York, is known in political history King and as the age of parliamentary rule. Circumstances parliament. forced the kings of both dynasties to be very defer- ential to parliament and to consult that body at frequent in- tervals. Henry IV owed his crown to a parliamentary act and dared show no independence. With Henry V the French war was revived and parliamentary support, especially in the form of subsidies, was called for at the very outset of the reign. The long minority of Henry VI, the weakness of that unfortunate monarch, and the financial necessities of protracted warfare continued the need of frequent parliamentary sessions. Edward IV was in a position similar to that of Henry IV : he was a usurper and realized that he could not maintain his position without parliamentary support. Throughout the century, there- fore, the representatives of the nation met frequently and were consulted on all important matters. The ultimate power and the Parliament ^ na ^ wor d were consequently with the houses of par- loses popular liament. But, as this body gained in authority, it lost its popular favor ; and when the Tudors in the next century introduced a type of absolute monarchy into the English government, the nation welcomed the change. 1 Cheyney, No. 181. 2 Masterman, c. 8. INFLUENCE OF THE BARONS: HOUSE OF LORDS 199 176. The Decline of Parliamentary Prestige. The chief reason for the decline of parliamentary prestige was that par- liament had gradually ceased to be representative of the nation and had become the instrument of some momentarily success- ful faction. The latter fact appears especially in the numerous bills of attainder that disgrace parliamentary history during the strife between Margaret and the Yorkists. A Bills of bill of attainder is "a criminal condemnation by attain der. legislative act:" an act of parliament that deprives a subject of his life and his family of what property they might expect to inherit from him. In such cases there was no trial : parlia- ment had unlimited power, — it could even take life. After a campaign the successful faction would call a new parliament and complete its revenge upon the vanquished by attainting the leaders and sending them to the block. It is not surprising that the nation lost faith in its representatives. 177. The Influence of the Barons: the House of Lords. The chief difficulty was that parliament had become subservient to the aristocracy of the kingdom. A few years before the beginning of the Hundred Years' War (about 1330), the mem- bers of parliament came to be definitely grouped into two bodies, with the knights from the shires and the The House merchants from the boroughs forming the house of of Lords- commons. In the house of lords there were also two classes, the lords spiritual and the lords temporal. Of these the spirit- ual lords were the more numerous ; they were the bishops and the mitred abbots, that is, the abbots of the larger and more important monasteries. But though the temporal peers were fewer in number, they were, nevertheless, the controlling element ; for while the selection of bishops and abbots lay ultimately with the king, he usually chose the candidates from among the younger sons of the great noble families. As a rule these churchmen would be faithful to the family interests and would follow the lead of the family chief, who was always a member of the house of lords. In Norman times and later, all the lords were known as 200 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE barons ; only occasionally did the king grant the ancient and higher title of earl. But in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- Rank within turies, new titles began to appear : first the duke the nobility. anc [ later the marquis took places above the earl ; and in 1440 the last of these new dignities, that of the viscount, appeared as an honor next below that of the earl. The barons remained as the lowest class in rank in the peerage. Still lower were the knights, but they did not sit in the house of lords. The possession of a peerage brought with it no power or author- ity of any sort, except membership in the house of lords. Nor did rank within the peerage count for anything except on social occasions, when the lords held places according to rank. In the house of lords the vote of a baron was equal to that of a duke. The title of lord usually includes some geographical name : he is duke of Norfolk, earl of Chester, or lord of some other region. But this does not signify that he in any sense governs that region ; it usually means that his estates or other wealth Local are cn i e fly located in the region that gives him the influence of title. This fact is extremely significant ; it gives the lord an influence in that locality that amounts to authority ; at least such was the case in the earlier cen- turies. Power within the peerage was consequently a matter of wealth. When the Wars of the Roses opened, the most powerful peer in England was the earl of Warwick : he drew revenues from more than one hundred and fifty manors and Warwick the had retainers in fifteen castles. Warwick was • king-maker." f tfie wealthy Neville family, whose estates were largely in Westmoreland ; he married the heiress of the Beau- champ family in Warwickshire, which marriage brought him the Warwick title and his vast possessions. During the wars between Lancaster and York, he played such an important part that he is known in history as the " kingmaker." His career illustrates the selfishness of the English aristocracy- of the fifteenth century; most of the time he was a Yorkist par- tisan; but the last year of his life he was allied to Margaret. 1 3 Innes, I, 222-230. ARISTOCRATIC CONTROL OF HOUSE OF COMMONS 201 He was one of the many peers who perished in the battles of 1471. 178. Aristocratic Control of the House of Commons. It is clear that in counties where families like the Percies, the Mortimers, and the Nevilles had centered their strength, a . . ■ ^ Y: ^Y L M '11 ' - 3 s " ^'^^^S£^ Warwick Castle One of the finest castles in England. It has been rebuilt in recent years but a part of the medieval structure is still intact; one of the towers dates from 1394, another from the Norman period. free election of representatives to parliament would not always be possible. That was one reason why the knights and the burgesses ceased to be representatives of the people. Another reason was the restriction of the suffrage. To The "forty make it easier for the men of power to control the shilling elections, a law was made in 1430 that limited the right to vote for members of parliament to freeholders whose lands would rent for at least forty shillings annually, a sum that would mean twenty times as much or more in present day values. But the majority of the farmers were not freeholders, they were still tenants of some sort. When the lord of a manor released his tenants from the old customary villein services and dues and agreed to take a specified money rent instead, the agreement was recorded on the records of the manor, and 202 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE from that time on the tenant was a copy-holder. But no copy-holder or other tenant could vote for members of parliament, no matter how large his income might be. In the boroughs, too, a like condition existed : the right to elect members of parliament had fallen into the hands of a small group of favored electors. 179. The Local Government: the Justices of the Peace. Thus the majority of the nation was excluded from all share in Decline of t ^ ie na tional government ; during the same period the shire the masses also lost control of the local adminis- courts. tration. The ancient shire courts of the middle ages were democratic bodies ; they were composed of farmers from the various towns, who acted as jurors and otherwise assisted in the work of government. But during the fourteenth century the king' began to depend for the maintenance of order in the rural districts on a set of new officials, the justices of the peace. These were originally intended merely to sup- plement the existing courts; but in time they practically displaced them. The riot and disorder that followed the enactment of the Statute of Laborers, the return of the soldiers after the treaty of Bretigny, and the peasants' revolt gave these new "keepers of the peace" much to do and their authority grew as their activities increased. By 1450 the government of the counties had fallen almost wholly into their hands. The justices of the peace were appointed by the king, and were chosen from the wealthier class among the land owners, the landed gentry, or squires. Each county could have as Quarter ses- many as the king cared to appoint. In 1362, two sions. 1362. y ears after the treaty of Bretigny, the justices were ordered to hold general sessions four times each year : these meetings were the "quarter sessions" which still are held. At these sessions a great variety of business came to be transacted : disputes were settled ; criminal offenses were tried and punished ; taxes were assessed ; the public funds were appropriated ; appointments were made ; and many other THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND 203 administrative functions executed. Meanwhile the old shire courts shrank into insignificance. In our own political system the quarter sessions found an early place : the counties of the Virginia colony were governed by justices of the peace meeting in the county court ; and many of their administrative functions still survive in the powers of the circuit judges in Pennsylvania. 180. England and the Church. While the aristocracies were fighting for crowns in England and France, vast changes were being prepared in Europe that were to affect England along with the rest of the world. In 141 5, the year of Agin- court, a world-council of the western church was The c ouncil held at Constance, which finally settled the papal of Constance, schism and once more unified the church under a single pope residing in the old Roman city. In this council the representatives of the English church played a leading part ; for England favored a Roman papacy because the nation was opposed to Avignon and everything else that was French. The council also initiated a new struggle which endured for nearly half a century : an effort was made to change the constitution of the church from an absolute to a limited monarchy by giving it a controlling legis- The conciliar lative body like the parliament of England or the movement, estates general of France. The movement failed : parliaments were losing ground everywhere, even in England. The world was beginning to look on a strong monarchy as the safer and more efficient form of government. 181. The Renaissance in England. Of greater importance was the Renaissance movement which reached its height in the fifteenth century. In England it is associated with two chief lines of development : the growth of libraries and the introduc- tion of Greek as an important study in schools. Some of the men whom we think of chiefly in connection with war or poli- tics were much interested in the promotion of scholarship. In 1440, the young king Henry VI founded a Eton College college for boys at Eton just across the Thames from his palace at Windsor. Eton College is still one of the 204 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE important schools of England. The same king also founded a number of grammar schools and King's College in Cambridge. 182. Books and Printing: Gloucester and Caxton. Everywhere the new movement was hampered by a lack of books. Writing materials, especially parchment, which was prepared from the skins of animals, were scarce and expensive. Books were written by hand, and copyists, at least skillful ones, were few, and their work was naturally slow. Conse- Duke Hum- quently, books were not plentiful and could be phreyasapa- produced at great cost only. Among the men who did the most to improve this situation, Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the unstatesmanlike and intriguing politician, holds a high and honored place. He realized the need of better libraries and sought books wherever they could be found, espe- cially in Italy. The great church councils of the period were usually held on Italian soil ; and a Nor- man bishop who attended these also acted as Hum- Humphrey's phrey's agent gifttotheOx- in the pur- ford Library. -, n i chase of books. Many of the copies that the duke in this way pro- cured were presented to the library of Oxford Uni- versity which Humphrey remembered with a gift of 129 volumes, a princely gift for those days. Soon the want was helped by the invention of printing. The first printed book left the press of the German inventor John Gutenberg in 1455, the year of the first fight of the Roses. The rig pH^L BK TMtoS&ft&amw ]{5 1 ji§l HLftli' WOT 1 BaSa The Earliest Picture of a Printing Press INTRODUCTION OF GREEK INTO THE SCHOOLS 205 new invention was of immense importance : almost any num- ber of copies could be produced from the same Gutenberg- types, and the cost of a printed book was only invention of one-eighth of what was charged for one written out pnn mg * by hand. Gutenberg's establishment was at Mainz on the middle Rhine, and soon the invention was known along that river to the Netherlands, where the presses began to interest Caxton, an English merchant. William Caxton printed the first English book in 1474 at Bruges; but a few years later he removed his press to Westminster, Caxton. and the English book famine began to be relieved. In three years more than thirty books came from Caxton's press. Unfortunately, Caxton had to make use of 3ft tt pk&onpman (piutueloi fimtprcl tabpt onp ppcs at ttta and ttjtx comemo&idS* of & Wbtm trie mprpnto afer tt)e fimm oi rtjie pte&t km %fyufyz ten s&tl anD truly comctlate fypm comt fintttgmo; wtfta: in tsu tfydmtmtttpt at tty mi pk anD^e (^ai SutplicDQetcrmila Reproduction or a Caxton Advertisement Dutch printers as the only available ones, and these took great liberties in the matter of English spelling and did much to fasten on the language the difficult and illogical orthography that is still in use. 183. The Introduction of Greek into the Schools: Wil- liam Selling. The introduction of Greek as a subject for study may be traced to the efforts of William Selling, a William Canterbury monk, who studied in Italy during Sellin s- the period of the Yorkist kings. After his return to Canterbury he made the library of the monastery his particular care ; and he also taught in the monastery school. Some of his pupils went to Oxford and brought with them their enthusiasm for 2o6 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE the Greek language that Selling had taught them. One of The these, Grocyn, later taught Greek at Oxford. Humanists. Another pioneer in this field was Linacre, a Can- terbury student with leanings toward scientific study. Colet, John Colet From a drawing by Holbein. Hans Holbein was a German artist, but most of his work was done in England where he died in 1554. a young theologian, also gave efficient assistance. Selling, Grocyn, Linacre, and Colet are to be remembered as the pio- neers in this work which has had such a strong influence on the intellectual growth of modern England. The study of Greek brought these so-called humanists face to face with the greatest literary artists of the ancient world ; DEVELOPMENT OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 207 it also took them into a literary atmosphere where reason was regarded as the only safe guide. Not only did the The study humanists feel free to think and speculate on all of Greek - manner of themes, — they held it a duty to do so. This new- found freedom led to much criticism and doubt, and it finally helped to produce a revolt from the most venerable and power- ful of all institutions, the medieval church. 184. The Development of Commerce and Industry. 1 In spite of the great waste of wealth and energy in foreign and civil warfare, the fifteenth century saw a notable expansion of English commerce. The trading vessels of the Netherlands and the North German cities were coming to English ports as of old ; and now the Venetians also came to compete for the northern trade. The Italian galleys that arrived Expansion of every year from the Adriatic to the ports of London forei s n trade, and Southampton were welcome guests, for they brought the products of the Orient, which formerly had come to England in the ships of the Hanseatic merchants. Italian merchants- found it convenient to settle in English towns ; it was during the reign of Edward IV that John Cabot found „ , ^ • 1 ™, , J° hn Cabot, his way to Bristol. The growth of commerce called for more available capital and German and Italian banking houses established themselves in the chief trading centers of England. The presence of so many foreigners cre- ated a great deal of ill feeling, and the persons as well as the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in London were often in serious danger. In the fifteenth century, too, we find the earliest traces of the wonderful growth of English commerce in English ships owned by English merchants. For a long time An English England had been wholly dependent on the Flem- merchant ish manufacturers and the Hanseatic merchants in the matter of imports and exports ; but this dependence was now at an end. The domination of the Germans was shaken off, and soon English ships were trading freely on the Baltic 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 97-108. 208 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE shores, to the great disgust of the Hanseatic merchants who had earlier enjoyed a monopoly of the Baltic trade. In in the Baltic this same period English merchant adventurers ex- andtheMedi- tended their operations to the south and the first terranean. . . English ship appeared in the Mediterranean. The fifteenth century was an age of great ventures in which England shared, though in a small way only. During the period of the Roses a generation of famous navigators was growing to man- hood, among whom were Columbus, Cabot, and Vasco da Gama. And it was the discoveries of these men that made possible the British Empire. The dependence on the looms of Flanders had also come to an end. We have seen how Flemish partisanship for the Growth of English king had made it difficult for the weavers woolen to remain in Flanders, and that many of them manu ac ures. m }g ratec [ j- England, especially to the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. 1 Here in ancient East Anglia, where wool-raising was already an important occupation, they set up their looms and laid the foundation of a growing and pros- perous business in woven cloth. With this prosperity the Wars of the Roses did not materially interfere. The leading families that were concerned in the war, the Lancastrians, the Yorkists, the Nevilles, the Mortimers, and the Percies, had their estates chiefly in the west and north. In the wool dis- trict no battles were fought. 185. The Merchant Adventurers. 2 When the fifteenth century began, England stood ready to enter the markets of the Continent with her first important manufactured product. As no individual trader could hold his own against the Hansards and the Flemings, the English merchants began to organize The Merchant themselves into associations called Merchant Adventurers. Adventurers, the purpose of, which was to sell English cloth abroad. To secure an official standing and pro- tection from the English government these associations found it advisable to apply for charters, and the first charter of this 1 Review sec. 140. 2 Innes, Industrial Development, 104-105. THE NEW TOWNS 209 sort was granted by Henry IV in 1404. The merchant ad- venturers differed from the merchants of the staple 1 1404. in that they did not deal in raw materials and were not bound to any particular Continental towns. They carried their cloth wherever there was a market, even as far Ships of the Fifteenth Century as Venice. At first these merchants had to depend on foreign shipping ; but before the century closed, the woolen cloth of England was carried largely in English ships. 186. The New Towns. The growth of industry was also responsible for the rise of several new commercial towns. London, York, Lincoln, Exeter, Southampton, and Winchester 1 Review sec. 142. 2io FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE had been important boroughs in Saxon times. Bristol and The older Norwich grew into prominence after the Norman towns. conquest. It will be noted that all these towns are situated on the coast or not far distant. All these towns main- tained their position in the fifteenth century ; but, with the exception of London, their growth was slow. This was due largely to the narrow and selfish policy of the craft gilds : their mon- opoly was dear to the master workmen ; they were reluctant to admit new masters into their gilds; nor did they care to give places to the newer crafts ; and they clung to the old regulations and restric- tions long after these were out of date. 1 But in the interior of west- ern and northern Eng- land were a number of growing villages where trade was unrestricted and gilds were no bar, and to these the craftsmen repaired who had found the door _, closed elsewhere. In this way there grew up such The new towns. J & \_, important industrial centers as Manchester, Birm- ingham, Sheffield, and Leeds. 187. Edward IV: Benevolences. The growing passion for commercial ventures even seized on the English king. Edward IV was a business man as well as a ruler. It did not always suit his purposes to have parliament in session, for Edward IV liked to govern without interference ; and he there- 1 Review sec. 143. Edward IV RICHARD III: DOWNFALL OF YORKIST DYNASTY 211 fore was compelled to find revenues by other means. He tried forced gifts from the wealthy, which were euphemistically called benevolences. 1 These were not always F inancial joyfully given, though it is told that an elderly methods of Englishwoman liked the handsome king's appear- war ance so well that she gave him twenty pounds instead of the ten that he asked for ; King Edward gratefully kissed her and she doubled the amount once more. 2 He also tried to raise funds by commercial speculations. These were doubtful sources of revenue ; but fortunately Edward did not engage actively in foreign warfare and had therefore no need of extraor- dinary sums. 188. Richard III: 3 the Downfall of the Yorkist Dynasty. Edward IV died in 1483. His young son Edward V is counted as his successor, though he never ruled. The boy was seized by his vigorous uncle Richard and deprived first of power and later of life. The usurper placed the crown on his own head and wore it two uneasy years. His brother Edward was large, strong, and handsome ; but Rich- ard III is said to have been ugly, short, and mis- Personality of shapen. He was therefore lacking in some of the Rlchard DL chief qualities that make for popularity. His usurpation had to be bolstered up by crime and tyranny ; and soon a combina- tion of the Lancastrian remnant and a group of discontented Yorkists was formed to dethrone the monster. There were still many descendants of Edward Ill's numerous sons, but unfortunately for the conspirators nearly all of them were women and children, while leadership against a resourceful king like Richard III could be safely entrusted to none but a strong man who had been seasoned by experience. Such a leader was found in Henry Tudor, the son of a Welshman, Edmund Tudor, and Margaret Beau- TT „, a c 1 1 , , <■ T ,r^ Henry Tudor. tort, who was descended from John of Gaunt. Henry was in Brittany in exile, but he promptly responded to 1 Cheyney, No. 182. 2 Gardiner, 335-336. 3 Cheyney, No. 184; Innes, I, 241-245. 212 FIFTEENTH CENTURY: THE RENAISSANCE the call. He landed in southwestern Wales and with constantly growing forces marched northeastward into central England. At Bosworth he met and defeated Richard. Henry Tudor was at once proclaimed king, though accord- ing to English law he had no right whatever to the throne. The defect in his title was soon remedied, however, by an act of parliament, which recognized the validity of his Battle of Bosworth 1485. A King in His Royal Robes A Courtier in Court Dress From a fifteenth century (ca. 1480) manuscript of the "Romance of the Rose." kingship. Soon afterward he married Elizabeth, the daughter of Edward IV, whose hereditary claims to the throne were unquestioned. The dynasties of Lancaster and York were thus united and the civil wars came to an end. 189. The Close of the Middle Ages. With the battle of Bosworth and the accession of the Tudor line the medieval period of English history is generally regarded as having closed. The last century of the middle ages was a dismal period; kings were false and cruel ; popes and bishops were corrupt and THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 213 immoral ; low and sordid ideals ruled among the masses. x The person and career of Richard III make a fitting close to the fifteenth century in its medieval aspects. At the same time it is far more important to remember that the same century carried forward the Renaissance with all that it Achievements signifies: the revival of learning; the discovery of the fifteenth of new worlds ; the growth of scientific knowledge ; cen ury * the invention of printing ; and the development of industry and commerce. Far more important than the many battles in France and England are the growth of the library at Oxford ; the founding of Eton College ; the study of Greek in the Canter- bury cloisters ; and the work of the Caxton press. REFERENCES Persecution of the Lollards. — Kingsford, Henry V, 323-328; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 302-303, 314-315; Trevelyan, England in the Age of Wyclijfe, 333~349- Agincourt. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 318-325; Innes, History of England, 193-198; Kingsford, c. x; Oman, History of England, 2^2-226; Ransome, 317-321. Joan of Arc. — Fletcher, I, i, 333-336; Oman, 234-238; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 272-275; Lowell, Joan of Arc; Lang, Maid of France. The close of the middle ages. — Andrews, History of England, 222- 229; Edwards, Story of Wales, c. xviii (social life in Wales); Fletcher, I, i, 373- 379; Innes, 226-240 (aspects of the middle ages); Kingsford, c. xx; Tout, 300-307. The Renaissance. — Einstein, The Renaissance in England; Seebohm, The Oxford Reformers; Vickers, Humphrey, ex. 1 Gardiner, 330-331 • CHAPTER IX HE EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT. 1485-1527 190. The Tudor Dynasty: Henry VII. With the coming of the Tudors to the English throne, the transition from medie- Beginning of va * to m °dern conditions in England was near- the modern ing its end. Closer fellowship had developed, not peno ' only between provinces, but between nations. Commerce had grown immensely and new in- terests were being developed which all civi- lization was coming to share. The Renaissance was at its height : the enthusiasm of the Italian scholar had spread to the lands north of the Alps and across the Channel. Antiquity was being studied as never before, and new worlds were on the point of discovery. In the immediate future lay great changes that could come through revolution only ; and the great task of the Tudors was to carry the nation through this revolution with the least possible disturbance and danger to the kingdom. When he seized the English throne, Henry VII was only twenty-eight years old, but he was thoroughly matured, highly 214 Henry VII From an engraving by J. Robert. THE YORKIST PRETENDERS 215 experienced, and carefully schooled. Most of his lessons, how- ever, had been learned in prison and in exile ; still, they were important for the future of England. In all essential respects, Henry Tudor was a modern king. He showed, it is true, some of the medieval fondness for the church and selected his chief advisers from the clerical order ; but this could scarcely be avoided, as nearly all the choice Tudor intellects of the land were still to be found in the poKcies. ranks of the church. He had, however, none of the medieval passion for conquest and warfare. His policy aimed at domes- tic quiet and peace with the nations of the neighborhood. The first Tudor was not a lovable man : he had no endearing quali- ties ; he was cold, suspicious, and grasping. But he possessed evident business abilities ; he was cautious in his dealings with his subjects as with his royal neighbors. Unlike his Yorkist predecessors, he was not a cruel king ; he was averse to needless executions and was always willing to show mercy, especially if the royal clemency was likely to bring a financial reward. On the whole the new reign was popular, for it brought the rest and quiet that the nation sorely needed after the long struggle between Lancaster and York. 191. The Yorkist Pretenders: Lambert Simnel and Per- kin Warbeck. A fragment of the Yorkist party had survived the slaughter at Bosworth and continued hostile to the new king. Risings and intrigues appeared soon after Henry's accession and continued for more than ten years. Margaret of Burgundy, the widow of Charles the Bold and a sister of Edward IV and Richard III, was exceedingly hostile toward the Tudor dynasty, and the English plotters found her court in the Netherlands a safe rendezvous and a convenient rallying point. Two pretenders were put forward, each claiming to be a Yorkist prince. Lambert Simnel, 1 an Oxford Lambert boy who claimed to be a nephew of the kings Simnel - 1487 - Edward and Richard, appeared as early as 1487. Henry knew that he was a fraud, as he had the young prince himself safe in 1 Gardiner, 347. 216 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT the Tower. The pretender was caught and finally relegated Perkin to a subordinate place in the royal kitchen. More Warbeck. dangerous was Perkin Warbeck, 1 a youthful Dutch- man, who tried to impersonate Richard, the younger son of Edward IV, who with his brother, Edward V, is believed to have been secretly murdered in the Tower by the orders of their wicked uncle, Richard - III. Warbeck's attempt was also a failure ; he was seized and imprisoned. The king had intended to be lenient with him, but as a third pretender 1499. . . ' . ^ soon appeared, it was thought necessary to be severe for once and Perkin Warbeck was hanged (1499). 192. Statutes against Livery and Maintenance. 2 Interest in the fallen dynasty was not the only cause of opposition to Henry VII. The Tudors believed in a strong and efficient gov- ernment and insisted upon order and due respect for law throughout the kingdom. As the more conspicuous offenders were lawless members of the nobility, who wished to continue Livery and as uncontrolled as they had been during the age maintenance. f fae Roses, the king's efforts had to be directed largely against men of great power and influence. Early in the reign, steps were taken to enforce certain old statutes against livery and maintenance. The wealthier lords were in the habit of keeping large bands of armed retainers at their castles or within easy call : these wore their lord's uniform (livery) and they could always count on the lord's pledge to maintain or support them even in the public courts ; this was known as maintenance. The ordinary citizen was often, Disorder in therefore, at the mercy of the magnates, who fre- the kingdom, quently respected neither person nor property. It was this condition that Henry VII tried to remedy. By his efforts in this direction he alienated some of the more promi- nent noble families ; but at the same time he drew the middle classes closer to the Tudor throne : and this union of interest between the monarch and the masses was a source of great strength to the new dynasty. 1 Gardiner, 350-352. 2 Ibid., 281, 321-322, 345-346. THE PRIVY COUNCIL 217 193. The Star Chamber Court. 1 To secure peace and order in the kingdom, the Tudors relied chiefly on the justices of the peace. Henry VII and his successors understood thor- oughly how useful the courts of quarter sessions might be to the monarchy, and they did much to develop them. 2 As there was no limit to the king's power to appoint justices, he was usually able to keep a friendly majority in charge of the local government in every shire. But in dealing with the nobles these local courts were often helpless. To meet this difficulty, the king trusted to a new judicial and political organ, the Star Chamber court. This was made up of judges selected from the privy council ; their particular duty was to seek out offend- ers among the barons, summon them to trial, and punish the guilty ones. As the star chamber assumed the parts both of accuser and judge and was not hampered by the em- The star ployment of juries, it proved very efficient for the Cnam ber. king's purposes. Gradually its activities were extended until a century later it had developed into a powerful engine of tyranny. 194. The Privy Council. In theory the star chamber was merely a committee of the privy council : frequently it was in practice the whole council meeting in judicial session. The reign of Henry VII emphasized the importance of the privy council. The king in the middle ages always had the assistance of a body of councilors ; but their share in the administration was not usually well defined. In the Norman The curia period this body was called the curia regis or king's re s is - court and was given important and extensive duties as judges and as a committee on finance (exchequer) in addition to their ordinary function of giving the king good counsel. In the reign of Edward I the council came to be known as the "ordi- nary council," and its importance became more The " ordi- evident. It was a great honor to belong to this nary council." body and the temptation to reward a faithful baron with a place at the council board was frequently yielded to ; and as a consequence the number of councilors grew too large for effi- 1 Masterman, 88-89. 2 Review sec. 179. 218 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT cient work and secrecy. It became customary, therefore, in the fifteenth century, especially in the days of Henry VI and Margaret, to ignore the " ordinary council" as much as possi- The "privy ble, and to consult merely a few select members, council." which were then known by the new name of "privy council." l When Henry VII began his reign, the privy council was a comparatively new creation ; • but the shrewd king real- ized its great possibilities and entrusted a large share of the administration to this council, or to its various courts or com- mittees. Especially were new forms of business, such as con- trol of Irish affairs and colonial matters, likely to come under the authority of the privy council. Under the Tudors and their successors the Stuarts, the activities of the privy council were extended continuously, until it finally threatened to super- sede parliament itself. As the members were chosen by the king, the importance of this body when directed by a strong king is evident. The privy council still enjoys a nominal exist- ence ; but nearly all its functions have passed to the cabinet, which in a sense is a committee of the privy council. 195. The King's Financial Methods; Benevolences. The increase in the authority that was wielded by the organs of His Majesty's government was paralleled by an evident decline in the prestige of parliament. It will be remembered that all the kings of the fifteenth century had recognized the supremacy of parliament, but that this body had suffered in popular esti- mation since it had become an instrument of fac- tions that were seeking revenge. After the first few years of his reign, Henry VII rarely summoned parliament ; and when he did, it was usually for the single purpose of levy- ing taxes. Henry VII recognized the right of the commons to control taxation, and was not backward in asking for subsidies ; but he did not assume that this was the only source of the royal funds. He found various expedients for increasing his revenue, which, though they were not authorized by law, were not expressly forbidden and for a time served the purpose well. 1 Masterman, 78-80. THE KING'S FINANCIAL METHODS: BENEVOLENCES 219 The collection of benevolences, which had originated in the reign of an earlier royal financier, Edward IV, 1 was reduced to a system in Henry's day. 2 The king also em- Benevolences . ployed lawyers whose business it was to ferret out violations of old forgotten laws, with the expectation that the offenders would pay liberally to escape prosecution. These methods bear a striking resemblance to common blackmail; but they helped the king to finance his reign without having to summon the representatives of the nation. The English people, however, did not wholly escape taxa- tion. On Henry's accession to the throne, parliament gave him permission to collect tunnage and poundage 3 as long as he held the kingship. On the pretext of impending war with France (1489), he summoned parliament and requested funds which were cheerfully granted ; the old animosity toward Qther sources France was not yet dead in the popular breast, of royai^ After some show of hostilities and extensive nego- tiations, Henry, by the treaty of Etaples, concluded peace with the French on the basis of a money indemnity which that kingdom was glad to pay. When his daughter Margaret was married to the king of Scotland, the royal miser insisted on a cash payment on the part of the bridegroom. The old feudal payments due to the king were collected to the last penny. The feeble Yorkist uprisings also brought money into the royal treasury, for Henry was careful to confiscate the lands and other wealth of the nobles who supported the pretenders. The recent laws against livery and maintenance were another source of revenue. At one time when the earl of Oxford entertained the king, he had all his retainers present and drawn The case of up in his Majesty's honor. Henry noted the num- th^earl of ber, but said nothing until he was ready to leave. He' thanked the lord for hospitality and good cheer; "but," he added, "I may not endure to have my laws broken in my sight. My attorney must speak with you." 4 The attorney Review sec. 187. 3 Review sec. 144. Gardiner, 349 (Morton's fork). 4 Gardiner, 357- 220 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT appeared and the earl had to pay 15,000 pounds. Thus the money chest of Henry Tudor was rilled from many sources : it is said that Henry's hoard on the day of his death amounted to nearly ten million dollars, an enormous sum for those times. As the hoard grew, the statesmanship of Henry VII grew more and more economical ; but when he was dead and his son Henry VIII ruled in his stead, the contents of the royal chest rapidly disappeared. 196. Continental Problems: the Spanish Alliance. In 1485 Europe was on the eve of vast political changes. France had become fairly unified. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon to Isabella of Castile had brought about a permanent Changes on consolidation in Spain. The Netherlands were the Continent. now a political unity in the possession of the Burgundian dynasty ; but its ruler was a young woman whose choice of a husband might and did determine the fate of these wealthy provinces. In all these developments Henry VII showed a keen interest, especially as they might concern the fate of England's ancient enemy, France. The old duchy of Brittany, which for centuries had main- tained a semi-independent existence, was now on the point of Threatened being absorbed into France. England was opposed war with to any strengthening of her old rival, and more particularly to the acquisition of Brittany, as this would mean a great extension of France along the Channel coast. To prevent this Henry sought the alliance of Spain and prepared for war. He did not enter upon active hostilities, however, and after three years of strained relations he concluded the peace of Etaples, as noted above. The venture was, nevertheless, important : it brought The Spanish a considerable money indemnity and an alliance alliance. with Spain which was cemented by the fateful betrothal of Henry's oldest son Arthur to the princess Catherine of Aragon. 197. The Scotch Marriage. The French troubles were followed by a Scotch difficulty. The pretender, Perkin War- HENRY TUDOR AND THE NETHERLANDS 221 beck, found help at the Scotch court which was still in chronic opposition to England. As war was expensive, an economical king like Henry could not be expected to push the quarrel. Negotiations were begun which finally ended in a . & ° » j i Marriage of treaty and the marriage of Henry s daughter Margaret Tu- Margaret to the Scotch king, James IV (1503), ?£ ^aS"* a marriage that ultimately led to the union of the two kingdoms, one hun- dred years later when Queen Margaret's great-grandson mounted the English throne as James I. 198. Henry Tudor and the Netherlands: : Com- mercial Treaties. With the Netherlands, which were still theoretically parts of France and the Empire, the relationship continued close. English wool was more than ever a necessity to European commerce and industry, especially in the case of the Flemings. Henry appre- ciated this fact and used it to drive hard bargains. In 1496 the "great treaty" {Inter cur sus Magnus) was drawn up, a treaty of commerce which regulated Eng- The " Great lish-Dutch trade. A few years later Philip, the Treat y-" ruler of the Netherlands, came into the power of Henry, who used the prince's predicament to force from him a The "Evil still more favorable treaty, in which the Flemings Treat y-" yielded so much that they named it the "evil treaty" {Inter- cur sus Mains). 1 Innes, I, 248-250. Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland After a painting by Holbein. 222 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT Earlier treaties of the same import'had been made with Den- mark and the Italian cities, and in this way English products Expansion of were able to find more favorable markets on the foreign trade. sn0 res of the Baltic and the Mediterranean. As the Flemish treaties were largely in the interest of the mer- chants of the staple, the agreement with Denmark was to the particular advantage of the merchant adventurers, 1 who still dealt chiefly in manufactured cloth, but were allowed to trade in other commodities. At the same time Henry narrowed the privileges of the Hanseatic merchants in England. Measures were also taken to confine English trade, as far as possible, to English vessels, measures that gave a tremendous impetus to English ship building. Thus, while his brother monarchs were dreaming of territorial acquisitions and fighting for out- lying possessions, especially in Italy, Henry VII was laying the foundation of the future economic greatness of England. 199. The Great Navigators; India and the New World. It was during Henry Tudor's reign that European navigators Geographical made the great discoveries of new routes and new discoveries. worlds, which were to afford such vast fields for the commercial and colonizing energies of England. The Cape of Good Hope was rounded, India was reached, and the founda- tions of a great East Indian empire were being laid by the Portuguese. The West Indies and the American mainland were discovered by Christopher Columbus, and Spain was colonizing islands of the Caribbean Sea. In these ventures England, too, The Cabots. had a part : the Cabots, who were still located in 1497. Bristol, sailed out into the awful west and reached the coast of North America. 2 There was much excitement in Bristol after John Cabot's return. "Vast honor is paid to him; he dresses in silk, and the English run after him like mad people," wrote a Venetian from London later in the same year. In his private account book the close-fisted king records that he gave "to hym that founde the new Isle, io pounds." 3 1 Review sec. 185. 3 Cheyney, p. 308. 2 Cheyney, No. 186; Tuell and Hatch, No. 28. THE ADMINISTRATION OF CARDINAL WOLSEY 223 It was the discoveries of the Cabots that gave England her claim to North American soil. 200. The Administration of Cardinal Wolsey. To a large degree Henry VII had served as his own chief minister : the policies of the government were his own ; and to him also belongs the credit for carrying them out successfully. When he died (1509), he was succeeded by his son Henry VIII; but for nearly twenty years English affairs were directed according to the ideas of a brilliant churchman and politician, Thomas Wolsey. 1 Wolsey sprang from the middle class Cardinal — he was the son of an Ipswich tradesman. He Wolse y- was educated for a clerical career and rapid promotion soon brought him successive bishoprics, the archbishopric of York, and finally the cardinalate. His hand was even stretched out after the papal office, but in this ambition he failed. On the political side he held the office of lord chancellor, which placed him next in rank only to the primate among the king's sub- jects ; and in power and influence even in the church he was decidedly superior to the archbishop of Canterbury, for he was the pope's official representative or legate in the kingdom. His position was emphasized by a court and a retinue of ser- vants which were almost royal in magnificence. 2 With a love of splendor Wolsey united an extraordinary capacity for work and unusual industry in attending to adminis- trative details. The king himself was a totally different person. As time amply proved, Henry VIII possessed a wonderful insight into matters of state and unusual abilities both as a demagogue and a statesman. But in the earlier eighteen years of his reign, he did not apply himself to the task of governing. For the first four years he had no minister ; but when he dis- covered Wolsey 's genius (in 15 13) he surrendered authority to him and devoted himself to the arts of a gentleman of leisure. A fine, handsome, athletic prince, skilled in archery, successful in the chase, and a leader in all '- Tuell and Hatch, No. 30. 2 Cheyney, No. 108; Innes, I, 272-275. 224 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey After a portrait by Holbein. kinds of manly sport, Henry VIII developed a remarkable popularity which he never entirely lost. 1 i Cheyney, Nos. igo (Erasmus), 195; Kendall, No. 44; Robinson, No. 114; Tuell and Hatch, No. 2g (Jusserand). WAR WITH SCOTLAND AND BATTLE OF FLODDEN 225 201. The Continental Situation: the " Balance of Power." Wolsey's great strength lay in his diplomacy. It was he who evolved the idea of " balance of power." This meant that the kings of Europe ought not to allow a single state or ruler to become so powerful as to dominate European politics, but should strive, by forming alliances or otherwise, to build up several powers of approximately equal strength. In the earlier decades of the sixteenth century, three great nations laid claim to leader- ship in European affairs : France, Spain, and Germany. The strength of the German Empire was largely imaginary ; but a decade after Henry's accession it took on new importance through its union with Spain in the person of Emperor Charles V. The strife between the jealous kings of France The problem and Spain found a favorable field in Italy where of Italy - each tried to gain a foothold or to extend his territories. The Italian troubles naturally involved the pope and Venice, as leading powers in the peninsula ; and England was interested as the supposed ally of Spain. However, it was Wolsey's plan not to commit England too completely, but rather The "balance to throw her influence to the weaker side in the con- of P° wer -" flict in order to prevent any nation from becoming too powerful and thus destroy the European balance. 202. War with Scotland and the Battle of Flodden. The attention of Henry and Wolsey was, however, soon drawn to affairs nearer home. In spite of the marriage between King James and the princess Margaret, the relations between England and Scotland continued strained. The old French alliance, 1 now two centuries old, had become a habit which the Scotch found it difficult to overcome. While Henry was absent at Calais directing operations in a futile war against France, his brother-in-law James IV invaded the north of England with a strong force. Lord Howard (the earl of Surrey) Flodden Field, was sent against him and on Flodden Field 2 1513 - inflicted a defeat on the Scotch that crippled their military 1 Review sees. 123, 131. 2 Innes, I, 263-268; Bates and Coman, 248-257 (Scott, Marmion). 226 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT MODERN SCOTLAND Scale of Miles 20 30 INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT: OXFORD REFORMERS 227 power for years to come (15 13). King James fell in the battle, and for some years Queen Margaret was in chief control of the Scottish government. For twenty years England and Scotland were at peace, except on the border, where private raids con- tinued as of old. 203. The Intellectual Movement: the Oxford Reformers. These years also saw the culmination of the intellectual move- ment that may be called the English Renaissance. This movement did not reach England in one overpowering wave : its various interests came slowly and singly during the period of a hundred years. 1 The importance of Chaucer's enthusiasm for modern English, of Duke Humphrey's activities as a collec- tor of manuscripts, of Selling's work as a teacher of Greek, and of Caxton's achievements as a printer has been discussed in earlier chapters. In the reign of Henry VII, Oxford was the center of the new type of learning and among its chief pro- moters were Colet, who later established a boy's The Oxford school of a new type at Saint Paul's, London; reformers. Grocyn, who was professor of Greek; and Linacre, who was instrumental in founding the first medical college in England. Associated with these were Thomas More, 2 who became a famous lawyer and was Wolsey's successor in the chancellor- ship, and the great Dutch scholar Erasmus. 3 Two years after Flodden, Thomas More began to write his famous . Utopia, 4 " which shows clearly the influence of classical studies, especially of a close reading of Plato's Republic. In the Utopia More outlines the social and political conditions in the land of Nowhere which was located on the " island " visited by the Cabots. The interest of the book lies chiefly in the fact that it brings before us the great prob- E Conor m C lems that called for solution in the Tudor period, conditions in Economic conditions were not satisfactory. Eng- ngan land was steadily growing in wealth ; but in this prosperity the masses were not permitted to share. Prices were fixed arbi- 1 Review sees. 158, 182, 183. 3 Cheyney, No. 187. 2 Kendall, No. 45. 4 Cheyney, No. 192; Gardiner, 367-368. 228 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT trarily by the merchants who enjoyed practical monopolies, and the cost of living was deemed unreasonably high. At the same time the workingmen were protesting against the laws that fixed maximum wages. Thomas More, as the lone social reformer of the age, worked out solutions for these problems which he embodied in his famous work. The great purpose of the Oxford reformers was not social but educational : they wished to change radically the methods and subjects of university study. Instead of law and theology they would emphasize literature, more particularly classical literature. This would necessitate the study of the Greek language, and Latin would be viewed as the gateway to the treasures of the ancient literature and not, as in the middle ages, as an aid to theological study. The plans of the reformers, who called themselves " humanists," met with violent opposition from the friends of the "old learning." If the classics and the other human studies were to take the place of theology, there would soon be a class of educated men who were not churchmen, and the church would lose its monopoly of education. The king would no longer be compelled to choose his chief ministers from among the clergy, and the church would lose much of its influence in the state. The fears of the theo- logians were well founded : since the time of Wolsey the chief offices of the state have been filled by laymen. Cardinal Wolsev and Wolsey was to some extent in sympathy with the the "new humanists and had great plans looking toward learning. larger and better facilities for teaching and study. How far he was willing to go in this matter cannot be known, for very soon English interest was drawn to a new field, the German revolt against papal authority. 204. The Eve of the Reformation. 1 Various causes had Dissatisfac- combined to weaken the wonderful strength of the tion with the medieval church. The constant interference of the pope and the bishops in the affairs of state came to be resented by the governing classes, especially after 1 Review sees. 55, 61, 70-71, 86, 100-102, 126, 147-148, 154. THE EVE OF THE REFORMATION 229 the rise of the new national consciousness. The residence at Avignon during the Babylonian captivity had deprived the papacy of its universal character and had given it a provincial appearance ; in England it was looked on as a tool of a faction. The scandal of the great schism and the fight between the pope and the church coun- cils in the first half of the fifteenth century had further lessened the respect for Rome in the minds of thoughtful men. Then fol- lowed a series of "Renais- sance" popes, whose ideals were low, whose morals were in some cases ques- tionable, and whose policies were not wholly acceptable to the church at large. When one of these, the ease-loving Medicean, Leo X, sent out men to sell in- dulgences with a view to securing funds for the building of Saint Peter's, the Germans rose in pro- test under the vigorous leadership of Martin Luther. 1 England had offered resistance to the papacy at intervals for several centuries : we need only to recall the protest of Grosse- teste, the opposition of Edward I to the edicts of Earlier resist- Boniface VIII, the statutes of provisors and ance to papacy, praemunire, and the agitation of John Wycliffe. But in 15 17, when Luther threw down the gauntlet to Romanism, England had no particular grievance that would justify revolt from the authority of the papal see. But against the clerical order the English people held that they had a real grievance : the church- 1 Gardiner, 377~379- Desiderius Erasmus From a portrait by Holbein. 230 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT men, like other Englishmen of the Tudor period, were eager for money ; with almost every important religious act some fee was associated ; and these fees were often collected by priests (and other churchmen) whose lives were not suggestive of holiness or even ordinary piety. 205. State of the English Church. As all these religious acts were the expression of some important doctrine, the fees exacted did much to discredit the beliefs themselves. Before the reformation movement closed, some of the more important of these had been rejected by the English church. i. The church had always held that it was a meritorious act for one to confess his sins to a priest and receive the assur- ance that his sins were forgiven. For several Confession. . . , . , . , . . centuries this had been regarded as a duty that no Catholic should neglect. But before the forgiveness (absolu- tion) was extended, the confessor would order the penitent to perform some act that would in part atone for the offenses committed. This was called penance and might consist in fasting, pilgrimages, or some work that would call for self-denial and would show real sorrow for sin. But in Tudor times it had become possible to pay a sum of money instead of doing the prescribed penance, and to many this seemed to be no penance whatever. 2. The laws of the church with respect to fasting and other matters of personal conduct were also made a source of revenue. It was possible for one who did not enjoy fish or Dispensations. . . . , who wished to marry a cousin to have the law set aside in his particular case. This was called a dispensation, and the power to grant such privileges belonged to the pope as ruler of the entire church. Dispensations were always expensive. 3. A common form of penance was a pilgrimage to some holy place like the shrine of Saint Thomas at Canterbury or the holy places on the Continent. To the pil- Pilgrimages. . '/ ,. . .. . , •. .. grimage itself there was little objection, — as a rule the journey was thought very enjoyable ; but every pilgrim felt it his duty to bring some gift to the shrine that he visited. STATE OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH 23 : Thus there was a steady stream of gold and silver flowing toward certain favored centers in the church, and to this the average Englishman had strong objections. 4. Papal taxation had long been a real grievance. In some way or other a great deal of English gold found its way to Rome. The two more prominent forms of tribute _. A , . _ , . Peter's pence, were Peter s pence and annates, or first fruits. The Peter's penny was a tribute of a silver penny from every family in England except the very poorest. Annates resembled feudal relief and were paid by certain church officials before they could enter upon the duties of their offices. No bishop-elect, for instance, could be consecrated before his election had been confirmed by the pope, and for the bulls of confirmation he paid into the papal treasury all the income from his office for the first year. 5. The sale of indulgences was another important source of revenue for the papal treasury. It was believed that very few escaped the tortures of purgatory after death, . Indulgences, but it was also held that the living could help the dead by having masses said for their souls and by the purchase of indulgences. An indulgence is the remission of certain penalties ; and in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries these were offered freely for sale. The common people who bought these pardons were sure that they would materially shorten the stay in purgatory. The official teachings of the church did not justify this belief ; but the men who sold the indulgences often made claims for these that the church had never sanc- tioned. Thus the practice of the church officials was in a measure responsible for the general belief. Many had their doubts, however : Chaucer's remark that the pardoner's wares were "hot from Rome" would indicate that the genial poet had but little faith in papal indulgences. 6. It was also felt that too many fines for trivial offenses were assessed in the church courts and that the _ Fees and fines, parish priests were often ruthless in collecting fees from the very poor. The fact that many of the chief officials of 232 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT the church lived in luxury and that the monks and nuns passed the time in apparent idleness did much to strengthen the growing dissatisfaction with the church. It was inevitable, therefore, that the explosion in Saxony should find echoes in Britain. The English revolt from Rome, like the German A popular movement, began in a popular agitation. How movement. f ar ^j s movement would have succeeded without support from the government cannot be known ; but it had its importance, for when Henry VIII took up the fight in 1529, much had been done to prepare the nation for the events that swiftly followed. 206. The Cambridge Movement; William Tyndale. The Lutheran teachings found their readiest acceptance at the The Cam- university of Cambridge, where Thomas Bilney, bridge an English priest, seems to have been the first conspicuous adherent to the new movement (1524). Bilney is important for having won a number of Cambridge men to his views, among whom was the famous Hugh Latimer. Nicholas Ridley, another great Protestant leader, got his im- pressions of Lutheranism at Cambridge during the same year, as did Thomas Cranmer, who a decade later became the first Protestant archbishop and in a sense the builder of the English church. All these men found death at the stake, Bilney in 1531 after having twice denied the new faith, the others more than twenty years later in the days of Mary Tudor. The order for Bilney's death was secured from the Lord Chancellor, the gentle and tolerant Thomas More, who himself suffered for conscience a few years later. It was an Oxford man, however, who did more than any other to prepare the English mind for secession from Rome. William Tyndale was a pupil of Erasmus and Tyndale. J ^ ^ an enthusiastic student of the Greek language ; and soon after Martin Luther had begun his German transla- tion of the New Testament, Tyndale formed a resolution to turn the Bible into English. Being forbidden to publish his work in England, he withdrew to the Continent and completed TWO CURRENTS IN THE ANGLICAN REVOLT 233 his translations there. Tyndale provided the various Biblical books with notes and prefaces in which he devel- T nd l , oped the views of the German reformers. He also translation of wrote a number of controversial tracts which found the Scn P tures - their way into every part of England and were widely read. Tyndale's New Testament was translated and printed in 1524 and 1525, the same years that saw the beginnings of Protestant preaching at Cambridge by Bilney and his associates. The new version met with immediate hostility from the rulers of the English church, not so much because it was a translation of the Scriptures as because it was unauthorized and was provided with "prefaces and other pestilent glosses." Tyn- dale's writings were effective : in 1526 a strong popular current was moving in the direction of church reform. For a period of four years the English people read and discussed the writings of the English exile and learned the watchwords of Protestantism. But thus far no great leader had appeared and no means had been found to give the movement a definite form. Tyndale's Tyndale himself was hunted from city to city and death - after ten years of labor for reform he was imprisoned in the Netherlands and finally executed by the order of Charles V. 207. The two Currents in the Anglican Revolt. Then it happened that in 1527 and the following years a series of events occurred which gave the movement both energy, leader- ship, and direction. Henry VIII, who had thus Henr vm far shown no sympathy for Luther and Tyndale, becomes found it convenient to follow the lead of the Ger- reformer - man princes and abolish papal authority in England. During the decade of 1530 to 1540 a double current runs through the history of the English church : on the surface appear the signs of parliamentary activity in a series of great statutes that were directed chiefly at the government of the church. But under- neath, the popular movement was running with constantly growing force in the direction of reform in doctrine and wor- ship. For a time the two movements followed the same course ; the reformers assisted the government by developing public 234 EVE OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT sentiment in favor of change ; the government became useful to the reformers as an effective means of translating their ideas into law. 208. Summary. The period from 1485 to 1527 is not an age of striking achievements on the part of the English people ; still, the period is not without significance. Several facts and An age of tendencies are prominent. (1) Both Henry VII P eace - and Wolsey strove to keep England at peace with other nations. The old menace of the French-Scotch alliance Henry VII tried to match with an alliance with the Spanish sovereigns. Cardinal Wolsey favored a wider system of alli- ances that should maintain the "balance of power." (2) The period reveals a strong tendency toward absolute Absolutism. r , , & p , \ TT tttt rule : it was the purpose of both Henry VII and Wolsey to consult parliament on rare occasions only. The problem was how to provide the necessary revenue for the government ; and the first Tudor tried to solve this by demand- ing forced loans, collecting benevolences, etc. (3) English foreign commerce grew immensely during the reign of Henry Growth of VII ; the king promoted it intelligently and commerce. effectively by well-considered legislation and com- mercial treaties. The geographical discoveries of the same period also meant much for the future of English trade. The Renais- (4) The Renaissance movement, with its center at sance. Oxford, showed much vigor ; it enjoyed the favor of Cardinal Wolsey and of Henry VIII, who took great pride in his learning. For a time Erasmus, the chief of the human- istic forces, resided and worked in England. (5) The Protestant _ movement was gathering great strength in Ger- Protestantism. , , 6 . , , . 6 6 , . _ * , many and the neighboring lands. In England it centered about the university of Cambridge and its ideas were being widely disseminated. But it lacked leadership and did not make much headway before 1529, when Henry VIII allied himself with the revolutionists. REFERENCES 235 REFERENCES The Government of Henry VII. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 16-22; Gairdner, Henry VII, c. xiii; Innes, History of England, 249-252. Progress of the Renaissance. — Cross, History of England, 302-307; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 389-391; Seebohm, Oxford Reformers; Taunton, Wolsey, cc. iv, vi; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 329-331. Flodden Field. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 268-275; Ransome, 395-397- Henry VIII. — Fletcher, I, ii, 23-30; Pollard, Henry VIII. Wolsey and his work. — Creighton, Cardinal Wolsey, c. xi; Innes, 262- 268; Oman, History of England, 285-289; Ransome, 398-402; Taunton, c. xi. The eve of the Reformation. — Beard, Introduction to the English His- torians, 246-254 (Froude), 274-280 (Gasquet); Innes, 268-271; Taunton, Wol- sey, c. v; Tout, 331-333. CHAPTER X THE REVOLT FROM ROME 209. Henry VIII and the Anglican Revolt. The anti-Roman movement, which had been gathering strength in England during the ten years following the challenge of Martin Luther in 151 7, was now to find support and leadership at the English court itself. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the English king initiated a new movement into which the earlier currents drawn. But Henry's qua r r e 1 with the church, unlike that of Martin Luther, did not grow out of any differ- ences as to morals or doctrine : it was a ques- were Henry's quar rel with the church. Mzt -■■ -■■■■■"■<■ '"'■ Henry VIII From an engraving after Holbein. tion of authority, of power, of supremacy in the English church. Henry VIII had, indeed, always claimed supremacy for the crown in ecclesiastical as well as secular affairs : but up 10-1527 this claim had no particular importance, — it was a mere theo- retical assertion. In that year, however, a difficulty arose that 236 THE PROBLEM OF THE KING'S MARRIAGE 237 altered the situation completely : the occasion was the king's divorce. 210. The Problem of the King's Marriage. The death of Henry's older brother Arthur left the young princess Catherine a widow after a marriage of only a few months. The Spanish and English dynasties had, however, good reasons The king's for wishing to continue the alliance : Catherine's mama e e - dowry had been paid in part only. Henry VII was afraid the remainder would never be paid, while Ferdinand had similar well-founded fears that what had already been paid would never be returned. After some negotiations it was agreed that Catherine should marry her brother-in-law Henry. As the laws of the church forbade a union of this sort, The papal it was necessary to secure the permission of the dispensation, pope ; and on the urgent request of Queen Isabella, who was on her deathbed, Pope Julius II granted the license. There seems to have been some doubt at the time as to the validity of the pope's dispensation, since marriage with a sister-in-law was thought to be forbidden by the Mosaic law ; the obstacle that Pope Julius had removed might, therefore, be considered as a divine ordinance, and the church had never claimed authority to dispense with divine law. The legality of the dispensation was not seriously questioned, however, before 1527, when Cath- erine had been Henry's wife and queen for eighteen years. 1 Five years before this, Anne Boleyn, a young girl of sixteen years, had come to court and had attracted the king's attention. Henry's interest soon grew to infatuation and J ° . Anne Boleyn. he determined to marry the dark-eyed maiden. 2 But to do this he must get his marriage to Catherine annulled. Wolsey was ordered to secure a papal decree to this Clement vn effect, and proceeded to the task with much reluc- and Henry's tance. Clement VII was pope at the time; he ^™ an(L was a weak man and would probably not have scrupled to grant Henry's request, had he been free to do so : 1 Cheyney, pp. 337-339; Robinson No. 115; Bates and Coman, 238-239 (Shake- speare). 2 Cheyney, No. 199. 238 THE REVOLT FROM ROME the European situation was such, however, that it seemed equally dangerous to grant and to refuse. 211. The Pope's Dilemma. Germany was in revolt against the Roman see and Lutheran ideas were spreading into the Scandinavian North. Charles V, Catherine's nephew, had ambitions in Italy ; Henry VIII and Francis I, the king of Difficulties France, were allied against him. Consequently, in Italy. Charles was the pope's enemy while Henry VIII would be counted among his active friends. The year that brought Henry's urgent request to Rome also brought Charles' forces to the papal city : Rome was sacked by the imperial (German) troops, and Clement was made a prisoner. Situated as he was, the pope naturally found it difficult to choose between Charles and Henry, for a prisoner is not wholly a free agent. If he should refuse to grant the petition of the English king, England might be lost to the Roman church. On the other hand, to annul Catherine's mar- riage would offend Charles, who was the nearer and more dangerous enemy. There was, therefore, nothing to do but to delay the decision, and in this Clement succeeded for two years. 212. The Failure of the King's Suit; the Fall of Wolsey. 1 However, the pope could not refuse the request for a formal trial of the king's case, and accordingly he provided a special Cardinal Cam- court f° r this purpose of which the lawyer Cam- peggio and peggio, an Italian cardinal who was also bishop of Salisbury, was to be the presiding judge with Cardi- nal Wolsey as chief assistant. 2 It was some time before the new machinery was set in motion, and after the court was formally opened it proceeded at a pace that seems to have been purposely slow. Before it had concluded its hearings, The court *-he P°P e na< ^ made peace with Charles V ; and transferred to suddenly England learned that Clement had ome. . or( j ere( j the court and its hearings and the whole case transferred to Rome. 1 Gardiner, 383-384; Innes, I, 275-282; Tuell and Hatch, No. 31 (Shakespeare). 2 Cheyney, No. 200. THE "REFORMATION PARLIAMENT" 239 As this practically amounted to a decision in Catherine's favor, the impatient Henry became furious and his wrath struck Wolsey, the minister and diplomat who had failed to secure what the king's heart so much desired. A few months after the new orders had come from Rome, the car- The fall of dinal was deprived of his secular offices and ordered Wolse y- to return to his cathedral at York. 1 For a year the worldly statesman strove to act the part of a devoted and efficient churchman ; but his old habits still in part controlled him and tempted him to communicate with the king of France. The correspondence was discovered and Wolsey was summoned to London to answer to the charge of treason. On the way he died at Leicester Abbey, where illness had driven him to seek refuge (1530). 2 The power that had centered in Wolsey's hands was dis- tributed among several officials. The chief guidance of the state Henry took into his own hands, and the The new lover of pleasure and adulation was soon trans- minis ters. formed into a remarkable statesman and politician. Stephen Gardiner became the king's secretary and confidential agent. The chancellorship was given to Thomas More, who has been mentioned as one of the greatest of the humanists and the author of the Utopia. In matters relating to the English church, the king very soon began to listen to Thomas Thomas Cranmer, the Cambridge scholar, who in Cranmer - 1533 was made archbishop of Canterbury. A little later in the reign, the king discovered another agent in Thomas Crom- well, who assisted Henry on the administrative Thomas side of the church. Of these four men all but Cromwell. Thomas More were in agreement with Henry in hostility to Rome. 213. The " Reformation Parliament." The summons to appear at Rome was a blow in the face of the national con- sciousness that the English people were quick to resent. The thought that their much admired sovereign should have to 1 Bates and Coman, 246-247 (Shakespeare). 2 Innes, I, 284-286. 240 THE REVOLT FROM ROME appear in person or by attorney before a foreign law court the nation refused to entertain for a moment. Nearly two centuries earlier all appeals to the papal court had been for- bidden by the statutes of Praemunire, and these laws had never been repealed. The present case was clearly a violation of the spirit of this legislation, the purpose of which was to secure a final decision of all suits in English courts. Henry's Henry calls re ply to the papacy was an order for parliamentary parliament. elections. There is no evidence that any attempt was made to influence the electorate : at the moment compulsion was unnecessary, as the indignation of the governing classes was sure to lead to the choice of anti- clerical members. When the new parliament met, it was found that on church matters the majority was in hearty accord with the king and willing to follow his lead. 1 The king's challenge was well-timed : in attacking the papal claims to authority and supremacy in 1529, Henry displayed Progress of no extraordinary courage, only vigor, shrewdness, Protestantism and decision. The cause of Rome was losing urope. everywhere in the Teutonic lands. Three years earlier the Germans had established the principle that every prince should determine the religion of his own land. Sweden had seceded from Rome two years before. Denmark was rapidly moving away from Catholicism: in 1527 the Danish parliament had recognized Lutheranism as on equal footing with Romanism. The outlook was dark for Clement VII. If threats could move him this was the time. The Reformation Parliament was, perhaps, the most important legislative body that England had thus far seen. It legislated for six years (15 29-1 534), and in a series of bold enactments carried through a successful revolution that has mightily af- The fected the later history of the state as well as the Reformation church. Most of its work was done, however, ar lament. d ur i n g the last two years of its existence (1533- 1534). It was the statutes of these two years that destroyed 1 Masterman, 92-94. THE SUBMISSION OF THE CLERGY 241 the authority of the papacy in England and placed the Anglican church on a national, anti-Roman basis. 214. The Appeal to the Universities. Soon after the temper of the new parliament had become known, two suggestions came to the king, on both of which he proceeded to act. Thomas Cranmer proposed that, since the question Henr , of the validity of Henry's marriage to Catherine before the was really a matter of canon law, it might properly umversities - be referred for settlement to the universities, where canon law was taught. Could a papal dispensation set aside the law in this case? This question was accordingly submitted to the theological faculties of the various European universities. It is believed that both Henry VIII and Charles V made suc- cessful attempts to bribe the learned theologians ; at any rate, the decisions show much disagreement. Oxford and Cambridge supported Henry's contention that he Divided had never been legally married, as did Paris, opinions. Bologna, and some of the other important universities on the Continent ; while those of Spain held that the marriage was unquestionably legal. 215. The Submission of the Clergy. 1 The other suggestion came from Thomas Cromwell, an educated layman of great business abilities, who had served as secretary to Cardinal Wolsey. It went to the root of the whole matter : The attack on the difficulty lay with the papal supremacy ; if the papal this were abolished the whole matter might be su P remac y- tried and definitely settled in the English courts. There was no doubt, said Cromwell, that the king had ultimate authority in all matters, both secular and religious ; and if the pope exercised authority in the English church, it was merely because Henry permitted him to do so ; but this permission the king could withdraw at any time. But to become the recognized lord of the church the king must first of all secure the allegiance of the churchmen. The English prelates, in submitting to the authority of Wolsey as 1 Gardiner, 385-387. 242 THE REVOLT FROM ROME the pope's legate, had technically violated the Statute of Prae- munire, now nearly two centuries old and long ago fallen into disuse. This act was now dug up and the clergy was threatened Convocation with its penalties. The bishops realized the dan- submits to the ger of their situation and in convocation (1531) ng ' ' confessed that they had violated the law, craved the king's pardon, and voted a heavy contribution to the royal treasury. The king was acknowledged "the singular pro- tector, the only su- preme lord, and so far as the law of Christ allows, even the su- preme head" of the Anglican church. The next year (1532) this " submission of the clergy " was given prac- tical force by a promise on the part of the con- vocation to draw up no canons, or laws, for the church, and to hold no more sessions except when expressly permit- ted by the king. The rulers of the church thus meekly resigned their authority in the church at large and made impossible every form of resistance to the king's will. 216. Cranmer Becomes Archbishop. The same year the death of the aged Archbishop Warham still further secured the king's power over the English church. Thomas Cranmer, who at Cambridge had listened favorably to the preachings Thomas Cranmer After a portrait by Holbein painted in 1547. THE SECESSION FROM ROME MADE COMPLETE 243 of the early reformers, was chosen archbishop of Canterbury and primate of England. The desperate position Archbishop of the papacy is shown by the fact that Rome Cranmer. promptly confirmed the appointment of a man who was strongly suspected of heresy and hostile opinions, and sent the necessary bulls of confirmation in spite of the fact that parliament the year before by an "Act of Annates" had re- duced the fee for such confirmation from the entire first year's income from the office to five per cent of the same. 1 217. The " Act of Appeals." With the appointment of Cranmer the revolt began. The head of the English church now joined with the ruler of the English state in the effort to destroy every vestige of Roman authority in the kingdom. The bulls confirming the archbishop's appointment had scarcely reached England, when parliament passed an " Act of Appeals" which forbade all appeals to the papal curia and Appeals to provided for the termination of all suits in English Rome courts. 2 A month later the new primate organized or 1 en * a court to try the king's suit. After a hearing of two weeks this tribunal declared in the king's favor. The Catherine's marriage of Catherine was declared null and void, marriage Several months earlier the king had privately annu e married Anne Boleyn : this marriage was now confirmed. 218. The Secession from Rome Made Complete. The following year (1534) the work of secession was continued and three statutes of wide import and far-reaching consequences were passed. These were (1) the so-called " statu- Anti-papal tory submission of the clergy" which completely le g islation - subordinated the church to the state; (2) "an act forbidding papal dispensations and the payment of Peter's pence" which swept away the last traces of papal taxation; (3) the "act of supremacy" which declared the king to be "the only supreme head on earth of the English church." These three enactments, with the earlier "act of appeals," cut every bond that had hitherto joined the English church to the Roman see. 1 Review sec. 205 (4). 2 Review sec. 148.. 244 THE REVOLT FROM ROME These statutes were not wholly destructive : they reorganized the church on a national basis. In general it may be said that no church dues or ecclesiastical authority were abolished ; they were simply transferred to authorities already existing, to the archbishop of Canterbury or the king. The Act of Appeals provided that all suits that earlier might have been appealed to Rome should be settled finally in the Act of archbishop's court, though appeals were to be Appeals. allowed to a special tribunal of " delegates" (as they came to be called) which derived its powers from the courts of chancery. This was essentially a secular court, though not necessarily under the king's influence. The court of delegates continued to act in ecclesiastical matters until 1832, when it was abolished and its powers were transferred to the privy council. The following year a new tribunal was estab- lished, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which hears appeals in ecclesiastical cases and also acts as a sort of supreme court for the British Empire. The act that abolished Peter's pence also did away with indulgences and papal dispensations ; but dispensations were Papal taxation not wholly abolished; under certain conditions to cease. they might be granted by the archbishop of Canterbury. It may be said, however, that dispensations in the medieval sense have never been granted in England since the separation from Rome. The supremacy of the king was virtually acknowledged in all these acts: (1) in the provision for a review of appeals by Royal suprem- tne court °f delegates; (2) in the provision of the acyinthe "submission of the clergy" that made the king's consent necessary for the holding of convocation ; (3) in the act abolishing Peter's pence which formally absolved the subjects of Henry from all allegiance to the papacy; but most particularly (4) by the Act of Supremacy, 1 which gave to the king all the power and authority formerly exercised by the bishop of Rome. 1 Cheyaey, No. 204. Robinson, No. 118. THE ANGLICAN CHURCH IN 1534 245 Persecutions. 219. The Act of Succession. 1 An act that had no eccle- siastical import was the Act of Succession which was passed the same year (1534). It confirmed the decision Act of Succes- of Cranmer's court as to Henry's early marriage sion - 1534 - and declared the infant Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn's daughter, heiress to the English throne. An oath was required of all to support the provisions of the act. There were The princess Englishmen who were willing to accept the princess Eliza beth. Elizabeth but were unwilling to swear that they believed Catherine's marriage to have been illegal. Among these were the lord chancellor Thomas More and the aged Bishop Fisher of Rochester. A year later both were beheaded (1535). 2 220. The Anglican Church in 1534. When the year 1534 closed, there were at least three churches in Europe that claimed to maintain Catholic standards. The English The En „ « church had taken a place alongside of the Ortho- Catholic dox Greek church, both repudiating the su- urc ' premacy of the Roman bishop, though holding to the essentials of Catholic faith and worship. So far as doctrine and ritual were concerned, no changes had been made ; the 1 Genealogy of the Tudor dynasty. Edward III John of Gaunt Edmund Tudor, earl of Richmond Catherine Swynford (third wife) Margaret Beaufort Henry VII, 1485-1509 Arthur, died 1502 Henry VIII, 1509-1547 Mary, 1553-1558 Edward VI, IS47-I553 Elizabeth, 1558-1603 Margaret = James IV I of Scot- | land James V of Scotland I Mary Stuart Mary = Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk Henry Grey = Frances Lady jane Grey 2 Cheyney, No. 207; Kendall, No. 47; Robinson, No. 119; Tuell and Hatch, No. 32; Innes, I, 291-297 (other executions). The accounts of More's death are all from Roper's life except the one in Robinson. 246 THE REVOLT FROM ROME worship in the churches continued as before in the Latin lan- guage and according to the customary forms. All the church officials in England retained their respective offices. The pope indeed had been repudiated, but a new pope had been created in the person of the king. 221. Thomas Cromwell and the Suppression of the Mon- asteries. To carry out the many duties of his new office, the pope-king needed an efficient assistant ; such a one he found in Thomas Cromwell, whom he appointed, a few months after Cromwell as tne ^ c ^ °^ Supremacy was passed, to exercise au- "lord vice- thority as "lord vicegerent in ecclesiastical causes." Cromwell's office was administrative and was not concerned with spiritual matters ; consequently it did not encroach on the enlarged sphere of Archbishop Cranmer. Thomas Cromwell was a man of extensive learning and con- siderable abilities of the practical sort. He understood the The problem king's purposes and acted accordingly. The first of the important move of the new vicegerent was to monasteries. i nS p ec t the English monasteries. Henry and Cromwell saw clearly that these institutions were dangerous to the new regime. While the abbots and priors seemed tractable and obedient, it was not likely that they approved of the violent acts that had terminated papal authority. Their influence with the people of the country surrounding the monasteries would probably lead to national unrest, perhaps to rebellion. In addition there was the fact that these institutions possessed numerous and extensive estates, which the English aristocracy had long regarded with covetous eyes. The "visitations" began in 1535 and continued for several months with the result that sufficient evidence of corruption was Cromwell's found, it was claimed, to warrant drastic action, "visitations." Accordingly, parliament in the spring of 1536 sup- pressed all the smaller houses, 376 in number, 1 and gave all their possessions to the king. The larger monasteries, those that had an annual income of 200 pounds or more, were permitted 1 Cheyney, No. 205; Gardiner, 393-395; Robinson, No. 120. CROMWELL AND SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES 247 > U pq n < u r/l u c-1 a U 8 s n W -d H r/3 "o c ft IX 248 THE REVOLT FROM ROME to remain a few years longer. But a panic seems to have The larger seized the monastic world in England. One after monasteries the other, the great monasteries surrendered their possessions and disbanded. An uprising in favor of the monasteries in northern England, known as the Pil- Tintern Abbey Ruins of a famous Cistercian monastery in Monmouthshire dating from the twelfth century. It was one of the monasteries suppressed by Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. After an original drawing by R. Godfrey. grimage of Grace, was also responsible in part for the king's renewed persecution. In 1539 parliament added the posses- sions of all such disbanded houses to the king's revenues. In 1540, monasticism disappeared from England. Nearly six CROMWELL AND SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES 249 hundred institutions harboring about 10,000 monks and nuns had ceased to exist. Thus large sums were added to the yearly income of the unthrifty king, but it was not long before the greater part of this wealth had passed into other hands. The spoils were em- ployed in various ways. They were used to en- ,. • r 1 • 11-111 , Distribution dow university professorships, establish schools, and and use of the build colleges ; to improve fortifications, especially monasti c along the Channel shore; to pension homeless monks and nuns ; and to finance a new aristocracy. The suppression of the abbeys reduced matorially the membership in the House of Lords, since the abbot's office had become extinct ; but the places of the mitred abbots were taken by members of a new nobility of Henry's own creation to whom monastic lands were given outright or sold at absurdly low prices. In this way Henry was able to tighten his control of the House of Lords. It is impossible to approve either the purposes or the meth- ods of Henry and Cromwell ; at the same time, it is not likely that English monasticism in the sixteenth century deserves much sympathy. Its old usefulness was passing away ; mod- ern civilization has provided agencies that perform the social service of the convents and monasteries far more effectively than most of these institutions were ever able to perform them. 1 Nor does there seem to have been either spirit or energy left in the religious houses. Many of the younger monks appear to have lost faith in the ascetic life and were anx- Monastic ious to be released from their vows. Protestant decadence- ideas had struck root in some of the monasteries, and in such houses the dissension on religious matters was so great that the abbots gladly disbanded them. A few of the chiefs heroically refused to stifle their consciences and found death in martyr- dom ; but the vast majority meekly submitted. It seems that those who suffered death were executed, some for refusing to accept the principle of the Act of Supremacy, others for refus- ing to deny the legality of the king's marriage to Catherine. 1 Review sec. 20; Tuell and Hatch, No. 19. 250 THE REVOLT FROM ROME 222. The Introduction of the English Bible into the Churches. In the suppression of the monasteries England took a second long step in the direction of Protestantism. A The English third was taken during the same period when the Bible. 1537. king authorized the use of the English Bible in the churches. In 1537, when monastic strongholds were surrender- ing everywhere, the so-called Matthew's Bible was ordered to be placed in every church. The new Bible was virtually the old version of Tyndale who had suffered martyrdom the year before. Cranmer was evidently anxious to have the Bible read in the churches, and the king assented, it seems, because the Bible was likely to prove useful in his fight with the papacy. But Henry evidently did not believe that the Scriptures could be hostile to Catholic doctrine. Only two years later appeared the famous "Six Articles" in which the king took Catholic ground on all the chief theological questions that were in dis- pute between Protestants and Catholics. 223. The Agitation for Doctrinal Reform. At this point the two currents of reform, the constitutional and the doctrinal, The question the parliamentary and the popular, came squarely of doctrine. mto collision. The agitation begun by Bilney and Tyndale sixteen years before had continued without abate- ment. 1 At first the questions debated were of secondary importance : the use of relics, the efficacy of pilgrimages, the worth of the monastic life, and the doctrine of purgatory. But soon the nature of the Eucharist came up for discussion, and here was a dogma upon which a large part of the Catholic doc- trinal system rested. In abolishing papal supremacy, in dis- solving the monasteries, and in permitting the reading of the Scriptures in the churches, the king had acted in harmony with the doctrinal reformers ; but he would go no farther. The Six Arti- In the Six Articles the Catholic position on the cles. 1539. Eucharist, celibacy, and confession was affirmed ; prayers for the dead were approved ; the laity were to receive only the bread in the communion ; and the monks, friars, and 1 Review sec. 206. THE FALL OF CROMWELL. 1540 251 nuns, whose monastic homes were now closed, were ordered to continue the celibate life according to their earlier vows. These articles were law during the remainder of the reign, but they were never strictly enforced. 224. Archbishop Cranmer. In the doctrinal statement of 1539 Cranmer had no part. In the Reformation movement the archbishop occupied a peculiar place : he stood Cranmer's somewhere between the king and the advanced P° sitl0n - reformers, though his thoughts flowed in the popular current. Cranmer's mind was fine in quality and highly cultivated ; but he was of a timid disposition both intellectually and morally. Cranmer was constantly advancing toward the Protestant ideal ; but the advance was cautious, slow, and halting. He was a reformer, not a revolutionist, and he wished to have everything done in an orderly manner and by legal methods. It may be that his caution was inspired by the masterful personality of the king to whom nearly all the great intellects of the nation yielded all too frequently. At times he was in mild opposition to the ruler ; but Henry loved Cranmer, as he loved no other man ; and their friendship continued unbroken till the king's death. 225. The Fall of Cromwell. 1540. The Six Articles Act was followed the next year (1540) by the fall of Thomas Crom- well. All through this period both domestic and church policies were largely influenced by the relations cromweiiand with foreign powers. It was Cromwell's policy the German to form a close alliance with the German Protes- tant princes, a policy that would unavoidably force England further along the road to Protestantism. After less than three years of married life Henry became a widower; Anne Boleyn was charged with gross crimes and executed. After Birth of ten days the king took a new wife, Jane Seymour, Prince who bore him a son Edward, the king's first legiti- mate male offspring. But twelve days later the mother died, and Henry remained unmarried two entire years. Cromwell now conceived the plan of cementing the proposed 252 THE REVOLT FROM ROME alliance with the German Protestants by the marriage of his sovereign to some Protestant princess. But Anne of Cleves, Anne of the chosen princess, did not please the king ; and Cleves. though a wedding ceremony was performed, the marriage was merely a nominal one. Cromwell's failure to secure an attractive queen doubtless hastened his downfall ; but his Protestant leanings and his Protestant foreign policy Cromwell were also largely responsible. In 1540 he was executed. charged with treason ; a bill of attainder was rushed through parliament and Cromwell was executed without trial. 226. Irish Affairs. 1 During the last seven years of Henry's reign the interest shifts to affairs beyond the borders of Eng- land. One of the most troublesome problems was that of Ireland. Though the king of England was lord of Ireland, his The authority was practically limited to the Pale, an Irish Pale. English colony in and about Dublin. The Irish Pale had its own parliament ; but it was virtually controlled by the English privy council, as the parliament of the Pale had agreed in what is known as Poynings' Law (1494) 2 to pass no act that the English council had not approved beforehand. Efforts to extend the control of the Dublin government were met with stubborn resistance. During the decade of the Reformation Parliament and the suppression of the monasteries, Ireland was in almost constant rebellion. These uprisings were put down, however, and in 1540, Henry VIII induced Henry be- the Irish chiefs to recognize him as king of Ireland. 3 comes king of The practical result of this was to extend the au- thority of the Irish parliament and the English privy council over all the island. 227. Renewed War with Scotland: the Battle of Sol way Moss. Trouble was also gathering across the Scotch borders. King James of Scotland was in close alliance with the Catholic bishops of his kingdom, and at their instigation he broke the peace with his aggressive English uncle. After ten years of hostility, open or threatened, war broke out in 1542. A 1 Review sec. 72. 2 Gardiner, 350-351. 3 Ibid., 404. THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII 253 Scotch army invaded northwestern England, only to be driven back with frightful slaughter at Solway Moss. 1 War with The broken-hearted Scotch king dragged his weary the Scots- body back to the edge of the Highlands where he died a little later. The throne went to an infant daughter who was born a few days before her father's death, — Mary Stuart. The birth of the Stuart princess awakened new aspirations in the English mind ; a marriage was promptly proposed between Mary and Henry's son Edward, who was , • , 1 t^ r Maf y Stuart, now about six years old. _But the queen regent of Scotland, Mary of Guise, could not think of a union with a heretic dynasty and renewed the old alliance with France. England was thus involved in a new French war ; some righting occurred but without important results : when peace was made there was no mentionable gain for either side. 228. The Reign of Henry VIII: Course and Significance. In 1547 Henry VIII died after having held the English kingship for nearly thirty-eight years. The years were not kind to Henry : the fine, athletic young prince who rowed so well and danced so gracefully developed into a gross old Henry VIII king, so burdened with flesh that he was finally as king * unable to walk without assistance. As a king, however, he was remarkably successful : in every statute that was passed after the fall of Wolsey, evidence of the royal will is clearly seen. Circumstances were favorable for the revolt that the king led : still, the outcome proves that the royal leader possessed unusual abilities. Like his father he was grasping, shrewd, and cal- culating; like his grandfather Edward IV he was headstrong, unscrupulous, and cruel. In addition he had all the charac- teristics of the modern politician : no executive ever managed a parliament more successfully than did Henry VIII. His reign is chiefly important for the Protestant revolt that resulted in the secession of the Anglican church Achievement from Rome. For two years (15 2 7-1 5 29) the inter- of the reign. est lies in the king's suit at Rome and in England. Then follow 1 Innes, I, 306-310. 254 THE REVOLT FROM ROME three years of strained relations with the papacy, during which period the king endeavors with threats of hostile legislation to force the pope to decide in his favor. A step is taken toward the reduction of papal revenues by the Act of Annates. In the years 1 533-1 534 came the great statutes that destroyed the pope's authority in England and made Henry pope of the na- tional church. During the following six years the king and Course of the n ^ s cme ^ agent, Thomas Cromwell, attacked the English monasteries and destroyed the entire monastic sys- e ormation. tem ^ ^ t ^ same t j me Cranmer was introducing the English Bible into the churches. Thus three great steps were taken in the direction of Continental Protestantism : the separation from Rome ; the suppression of the monasteries ; and the authorized use of the English Bible in the churches. The movement so far as Henry is concerned had run its course by 1539 and closed with the reaffirmation of Catholic doctrine in the Six Articles. It will be observed, however, that all these changes were au- thorized by parliamentary acts. There were only two bodies that could make any legal changes in the English Legal charac- . . it t-, ter of the church : convocation and parliament. But con- revolt from vocation was a weak and spineless body ; and after it had resigned its power to the king by the " sub- mission of the clergy" (1532), parliament remained as the only power that could carry out a legal reform. When changes were made by royal decrees, the king acted by virtue of powers expressly granted by parliament. REFERENCES The king's divorce. — Creighton, Wolsey, c. ix; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 44-46; Innes, History of England, 274-278; Pollard, Cranmer; Pollard, Henry VIII, cc. vii-viii; Taunton, Wolsey, c. x. Separation from Rome. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 255-263 (Dixon); Edwards, Story of Wales, 339-346; Fletcher, I, ii, 47~535 Gardiner, Student's History of England, 385-391; Innes, History of England, 278-284; Innes, Cranmer, 58-65; Oman, History of England, 293-298; Pollard, REFERENCES 255 Cranmer, 69-78; Pollard, Henry VIII, cc. xi-xii; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 406-412. The executions of 1535. — Beard, 264-269 (Gairdner); Cross, History of England, 320-321; Pollard, Henry 7/77,331-334. Suppression or the monasteries. — Beard, 269-272 (Gairdner); Fletcher, I, ii, 55-64; Gasquet, Henry VIII and the Suppression of the Monasteries; Innes, Cranmer, 71-79; Pollard, Cranmer; Pollard, Henry VIII, 336-342; Ran- some, 414-418; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 341-345. Henry VIII and Ireland. — Johnston and Spencer, Ireland'' s Story, 150- 152. The last years of Henry VIII. — Fletcher, I, ii, 67-73; Innes, History of England, 291-297; Tout, 346-351. "What England owes to Henry VIII." — Fletcher, I, ii, 73-84. CHAPTER XI THE PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND THE CATHOLIC REACTION 229. England in 1547. During the last eight years of Henry's reign no changes were made in the creed or constitu- tion of the church. It remained Catholic in doctrine, in ritual, and in government. It is not to be inferred, however, that the English mind was quiet : the Protestant party was growing among the people ; several of the newer bishops were inclined toward Protestantism, especially was this true of those chosen while Thomas Cromwell administered the temporal affairs of the church ; and the primate himself was gradually coming to hold reformed views. But so long as Henry lived, the machin- Growth of er y °^ g° vernmen t was beyond the control of those Protestant who favored the Protestant system, and no legal opinion. changes could be made. When the masterful king was dead, however, the forces of the revolt could be held in check no longer. England took another long step away from the old standards. This was followed by a period of reaction dur- Reaction ing which almost the whole medieval system was under Mary, restored. Had the reaction been less complete, it might have succeeded ; but after twenty years of Cranmer's system in the church the nation found it difficult to resume the old habits of obedience to Rome. 230. Edward Seymour, Protector of the Realm. During the decade of Edward's and Mary's reigns, three men succes- sively guided the destinies of England : Edward Seymour, John Dudley, and Stephen Gardiner. Edward VI was a The regency. Ji * mere child ol nine years when he ascended the throne, and he died before he reached mature manhood. Con- 256 EDWARD SEYMOUR 257 sequently, the government throughout the reign had to be carried on by a regency. Henry VIII had provided for such a body in his will : he had appointed a committee of sixteen men to whom the execu- tive authority was to be entrusted. Among these were to be found repre- sentatives of almost every faction or tendency in the church ; but the members who favored continuing the work of reform were the abler and more aggres- sive ; and they soon suc- ceeded in placing the substance of power in the hands of Edward Sey- mour, duke of Somerset, the king's maternal uncle, who was given the title of Protector of the Realm. For two stormy years the policies of Somerset con- trolled England. The Protector was a well-meaning man with some abilities ; but the times also re- quired unusual strength, and Seymour's arm was Somerset's weak. Three large problems interested the Pro- P° licies - tector: (1) the unsatisfactory condition of the English church, which he hoped to remedy by making it more distinctly Prot- estant ; (2) the ancient hostility of Scotland, which he hoped to remove by a marriage of the two youthful sovereigns, Edward and Mary ; (3) the economic misery that had come upon the land largely as a result of the practice of enclosures, which he hoped to alleviate by legislation directed against the landlords who were enclosing their fields. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset After a portrait by Holbein. 258 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION 231. The Protector's Scotch Policy. It was not to be expected that Somerset could resist the temptation to interfere in the affairs of the turbulent neighbor to the north. During the closing years of Henry's reign, a movement for church reform had begun in Scotland under the leadership of the The Protestant f amous preacher, George Wishart. For some time movement in Wishart was accompanied by the more famous John Knox, who acted as his bodyguard and bore "a two-handed sword." In 1546, George Wishart was burned; but John Knox lived to become the chief builder of the Pres- byterian church. Seymour had ambitions to settle the troubles that distracted Scotand by uniting that kingdom to England ; but the Protector was not a diplomat. In his usual blunt a and tactless manner he attempted to force the Seymour and . A the Scots: government at Edinburgh to agree to the marriage Pinkie Cleugh. that he was planning for the little Scotch princess. With a strong army he crossed the border and overwhelmed a Scotch force at Pinkie Cleugh near Edinburgh. After the battle came a season of plunder and then a return to England. The result was embittered hostility and a closer alliance between Scotland and France, to which country the little queen was sent for education and marriage. 1 232. Attempts at Economic Reform. Somerset also failed in his efforts to secure economic reforms. The development of textile manufactures had created an increasing demand for English wool. Land owners found it even more profitable than before to " enclose" their fields, or turn them into sheep pas- The Tudor tures. 2 Tenant farmers thus lost their holdings enclosures. an( j were compelled to wander elsewhere in search of land and work. But as the same movement was going on throughout the kingdom, it became increasingly difficult to secure a livelihood. This condition was productive of much economic unrest ; and the ranks of the revolutionary party 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 35. 2 Cheyney, No. 209; Innes, I, 250-254; Kendall, No. 62, selection from More's Utopia; Innes, Industrial Development, 140-144. ENGLAND BECOMES PROTESTANT 259 were readily recruited from these elements in distress. Though usually associated with religious changes, the uprisings of the Tudor period, of which there were several, were more frequently due to economic difficulties. Somerset wished to put an end to the practice of enclosure and to force enclosed land back into agricultural holdings. But it was the nobles and the men of wealth who L eg i s i at i on owned the land and enclosed the fields : the same against element sat in the house of lords and in large meas- enc osures ure controlled the elections to the house of commons. It was therefore impossible to secure effective legislation : the first parliament of Edward VTs reign could think of nothing better than to have collections taken in the churches to help the dis- possessed ; parliament was also willing to have certain types of vagabonds sold into slavery; but these expedients did not prove effective. Efforts had also been made in earlier reigns to check the process of enclosures ; x but these p a ii ure f older statutes were easily evaded ; juries were Somerset's intimidated and failed to convict the offenders ; po lcy ' a few oxen were turned in with the sheep and the enclosure was called a cattle pasture ; occasional furrows were run across the pasture that it might be classed as plowland. Meanwhile distress grew, and the Protector lost support on all sides : the landlords were irritated by continued threats of legislation ; and the dispossessed were disappointed in finding that the policy of the government showed no results. 233. England Becomes Protestant. 2 Seymour's religious policy seemed more successful. With the aid of Cranmer 3 he transformed the English church into a Protes- Somerset's re- tant communion. In this work the archbishop h g 10us policy, had the assistance of his two old Cambridge friends : Ridley, who was made bishop of the neighboring see of Rochester, and Latimer, who took up his residence in the archbishop's palace. The reform work began a few months after Edward's accession. 1 Kendall, No. 63; review sec. 153. 3 Gardiner, 413-414. 2 Cheyney, No. 208; Kendall, No. 49. 260 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION Anything that suggested actual worship or undue reverence for images and pictures was forbidden. Various acts looking toward the punishment of heresy were repealed. The clergy were given permission to marry and the laity were permitted P ress to P art ake °f the wine as well as of the bread in the toward communion. The Six Articles Act was repealed. Protestantism. But of the greatest importance was the publication of a new liturgy or order of church worship, the English Prayer Book of 1549 which in a revised form is still in use in the Angli- can church. An Act of Uniformity, which was passed by parlia- ment in that same year, for the first time in English history ordered absolute uniformity of worship in the churches of the kingdom. The Prayer Book was first used at Whitsuntide, 1549; and on that day the English people came face to face with the positive side of the Reformation. The earlier changes did not directly concern the common man : they were mainly financial and administrative, and concerned chiefly the officials of the church. But now the forms of worship were changed. The Latin ritual was replaced by one in English. From now on all shared, though for the most part unwillingly, in the novelties of Protestantism. 234. The English Prayer Book. 1 1549. The Prayer Book was chiefly the work of Cranmer ; and, though it has seen many Cranmer's revisions and changes, it still remains essentially Book of Com- Cranmer's work. In large measure it was based mon rayer. Qn ^ e ancient "Uses" and was composed of what were considered the best forms and prayers in the medieval liturgies. In the translation of these materials Cranmer showed himself a great master of English prose style. In the selection of ceremonial forms, and still more in the changes and omissions, the influence of Protestant thought is clearly evi- dent. But aside from the repeal of the Six Articles, no official changes were made in the doctrinal standards of the English church, though a step in this direction was taken later on in the reign. 1 Gardiner, 415, 418-419. FALL OF SOMERSET; RISE OF NORTHUMBERLAND 261 The movement for church worship in the English language began five years earlier ; when Henry VIII was fighting in France, Cranmer ordered prayers to be said for his The Litan safety; these were to.be said in English. The and the same year Cranmer drew up a Litany in English nmer - 1544 for use in the church service and published a book of private prayers called the Primer. The priests were also ordered to have the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command- ments repeated in English. The masses were, therefore, not wholly unprepared for the changes ; still, the Prayer Book was received with mixed approval. The mysterious phrases in the older Latin suddenly became intelligible and seemed to lose their sacred character. For the majority the change was too great. The dissatisfaction with the new service added to eco- nomic pressure soon led to risings. In three parts of the king- dom rebellion appeared. In the extreme southwest where Cornish (a Celtic language) was largely spoken, Dissatisfaction the uprising was caused by the compulsory use of with the Eng- the English language in the church service. In the 1S service * eastern counties the grievances were economic, but many joined the rebels because of their dissatisfaction with the changes in religion. An insurrection was also attempted in Yorkshire. These movements all failed, but indirectly they brought about the Protector's downfall. 235. The Fall of Somerset and the Rise of Northumber- land. Somerset's policies had failed to meet the difficulties of the situation and had alienated all classes except the religious reformers, most of whom were of little consequence in the government. The council that ruled in Edward's name finally turned against him and deposed him. It was his „ • Seymour policy as to enclosures that ruined Somerset. The deposed from leader in the plot to depose him was Dudlev, whose ^f P rotect <> r - ship. 1549. enclosed fields had been plowed up by officers of the law. The vacancy in the protectorship was not filled, but Dudley, commonly known by his later title as duke of North- umberland, became the ruling force in the state. Somerset 262 PROTESTANT ADVANCE AND CATHOLIC REACTION submitted ; but three years later he was found intriguing with Dudley's enemies and was sent to the block. Dudley was the son of a lawyer who had gained a doubtful reputation in the days of Henry VII as attorney and extortioner Northumber- for the king. He was dishonest and unscrupulous, land - and possessed of little real statesmanlike abilities, though he had much sly cunning and capacity for intrigue. In most respects he continued the policies of Somerset. In religious matters he found it expedient to follow Cranmer's lead and to push the nation farther along the path of Protes- tantism. In this respect he achieved nothing, however, except to replace some of the more conservative bishops like Bonner and Gardiner with men of more pronounced Protestant tenden- cies. Steps were taken in the direction of a new official creed. The " Forty- A set of " Forty- two Articles" drawn up by Cran- two Articles." mer was published by royal mandate in 1553; but as the king died less than a month later, no attempt was ever made to force the acceptance of these Articles. The Roman standards of faith remained the official creed of the Anglican church for nearly twenty years longer, till the "Thirty- nine Articles" were made the doctrinal standard by act of parliament in 1571. 236. Lady Jane Grey: the Nine Days' Queen. 1553. Northumberland is remembered chiefly for his unsuccessful attempt to change the line of succession to the English throne. The succes- Edward died at the age of sixteen and according sion: Lady to Henry's will, to which parliament had given the rey. f orce f j aWj the elder of the king's sisters, Mary, should succeed him. It was clear to the regents whose power was now to cease that the granddaughter of Queen Isabella, who gave her favor to the Spanish Inquisition, was likely to spare neither themselves nor their work. Northumberland now conceived the plan of proclaiming the young and lovable princess, Lady Jane Grey, 1 as queen of England. Lady Jane was the granddaughter of Henry VIII's youngest sister and 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 33 (1). MARY TUDOR: RESTORATION OF CATHOLICISM 263 next in line after the princesses Mary and Elizabeth. In an- ticipation of success Northumberland had married her to his own son. The duke had laid his plan carefully. The council had agreed to the change, though with much reluctance, The nine for Englishmen have always shown a great and days ' s to be dismissed. When the speaker attempted to resolutions. . 1629 announce the royal will in this matter, two stal- wart Puritans held that officer in his chair until Eliot could finish reading a set of resolutions against the illegal collection of tunnage and poundage, the favor shown to Arminianism, and the introduction of Romish ceremonies. 2 After the reading the members dispersed. King Charles did not neglect to take his revenge. Eliot, 1 Gardiner, 511-513; Masterman, 119-120. 2 Cheyney, Nos 276-277; Innes, II, 22-27; Kendall, No. 72. 330 THE RISE OF THE PURITAN PARTY Selden, and several other parliamentary leaders were impris- oned and heavily fined. In time all were restored to freedom, however, except Eliot, who refused to show proper sorrow for his deeds. After two years his health broke down completely The king's and death removed him. Eliot was a high- revenge, minded, enthusiastic Puritan and endowed with all the abilities necessary to a partisan leader ; but he was not far-seeing and had little appreciation of statesmanship. 1 So great was the king's hatred for this chief of the opposition that he refused the request of the family to bury Sir John with his ancestors in the tomb of the Eliots. 300. Reorganization in Virginia. 1624. The quarrel be- tween the king and the Puritans also extended to the American colonies. The settlement at Jamestown was owned Jamestown. . . , T by the Virginia (later the London) Company, which also exercised the right of government. The company had hoped for large returns from its venture, perhaps as large as those from the East India Company, but in this it was dis- appointed. The colony, however, was not abandoned ; but after some years the membership of the London Company was changed and a group of Puritan merchants came into control of affairs, while the settlement itself remained as before quite strongly Anglican. When King James discovered that the hated Puritanism controlled the councils of the London Com- pany, he determined to end its power. The title Virginia r , . . placed under of the proprietors was called into question ; the royal control. cour t decided as the king wished ; the company lost its charter, and Virginia came directly under royal control. His new authority the king exercised through the privy council. It is likely that King James also planned to abolish the legislature that had been granted to the colony five years earlier through this same Puritan influence ; but he died only a few months later and before the necessary measures had been taken. His successor Charles, who hoped to eke out his revenues by getting a monopoly of the Virginia » Tuell and Hatch, No. 43. SUMMARY 331 tobacco trade, permitted the colony to retain its assembly, though the authority of the company was never restored. 301. Summary. The Puritan movement began in the earlier years of the English reformation in a feeling that the ritual of the church ought to be simplified. In the reign of Elizabeth the Puritans came to believe that the government of the church was also in need of reconstruction : on this point there was no general agreement, though it is likely that a Pres- byterian form was widely favored. In the Stuart period they came to stand for Calvinistic doctrine in opposition to the Arminian views of Laud and the high churchmen p latform of who followed his lead. As the Stuart kings allied the Puritan themselves with the enemies of Puritanism, the par y ' Puritan movement also came to stand for parliamentary gov- ernment and taxation as against absolute monarchy and arbitrary taxation. While James was king, there was no serious clash be- tween the king and the Puritan party, for King James lacked the courage to force the fight ; but when Charles became king, the lines were drawn for battle on both sides, and for four years the king had to deal with hostile Puritan parliaments. The incapacity of the king, the favors that he showed to Bucking- ham, and the dismal failure of his military ventures did much to strengthen the Puritan opposition. In 1629 King Charles had almost no choice but to surrender to the Puritans or to govern without a parliament. He chose the latter alternative. REFERENCES Puritanism and the Puritan parties. — Andrews, History of England, 320-323; Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 321-330; Innes, His- tory of England, 404-409; Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 42-60. Parliamentary opposition to James I. — Beard, 331^346 (Trevelyan); Cheyney, Short History of England, 406-410; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 235-249; Innes, 394-397; Ransome, Advanced History of Eng- land, 494-495, 500-508. The rule of Charles I and Buckingham. — Fletcher, I, ii, 279-297; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 502-513; Innes, 397-404; Ransome, 509-520; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 435-439. CHAPTER XV THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT 302. Government by Privy Council. The Petition of Right is one of the great landmarks in the history of England. The document has great constitutional and historical significance ; but more important is the fact that its adoption virtually forced Charles I farther along the road toward practical absolutism. Parliament had proved refractory : instead of assisting the king and providing the needed funds, it had tried to restrain the Eleven years monarch and control his government. Charles of arbitrary accordingly determined to make an experiment in government without a legislature, and for eleven years the representatives of the nation were not consulted in any matter of governmental action or policy. It was the king's purpose to carry on the administration through the privy council and its courts or committees. 1 This The privy a g encv > which the Tudors had found so useful and council in efficient, saw the highest development of its power imes. « n t ^ e £ rgt ^ a if f tne seventeenth century, and since the early Stuart period its decline has been swift ; at present it has a membership of nearly three hundred highly honored and very able men, but it is rarely called upon to trans- act governmental business. In Stuart times it was a compara- tively small body of about forty members or a few more, all appointed by the king himself. The weakness of such a sys- tem is apparent, however ; as royal appointees, the privy coun- cillors might be expected to represent only one party or faction in the state. It is, indeed, true that Charles did not shut the opposition out altogether : such active Puritans as the elder 1 Review sec. 194. 332 THE TWO PROBLEMS: FINANCE AND RELIGION 333 Sir Henry Vane and the cunning Lord Saye (who is also re- membered for promoting a settlement in Connecti- opposition cut) were councillors during these years. There members in were also many moderate royalists and churchmen * e counc ■ in the privy council ; but the majority and the most influential members were men after the king's own heart and mind. 303. The Two Problems: Finance and Religion. There was no law to compel the king to summon a parliament, and the people had not always felt the necessity or even the desira- bility of frequent or regular parliamentary sessions, as such meetings were expensive and usually meant new or increased taxes. If Charles could have carried on the gov- The problem ernment without violating English laws, no great of finance - complaint would have been heard. But this was impossible. As king he had certain ancient revenues, largely feudal sur- vivals, which he could lawfully collect and which centuries before had been fairly adequate. 1 Times had changed, how- ever, and Charles' predecessors had found it necessary to ask for frequent money grants from parliament. The chief question that the king had to face was, therefore, a financial one : where was he to find revenues to carry on an expensive government and to support an extrava- Arbitrary gant court? The situation forced him to adopt methods of unusual and questionable methods of taxation. It was these that most aroused the indignation of his subjects. Many Englishmen who sympathized with the king's religious policy regarded his financial exactions as a violation of the con- stitution which called for resistance. Second in importance was the religious issue. Up to this time the Puritans had been the more aggressive party; now the conservative Anglican, who loved the stately The religious ceremonial of the Prayer Book, had found a mighty lssue - leader in William Laud, Bishop of London, who combined a veneration for the historic church with a vigorous dislike for all forms of pruning. Bishop Laud possessed considerable 1 Review sec. 146. 334 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT abilities : his will was iron ; his energy inexhaustible. It seemed clear that both Laud and the non-conforming Puritans violated the statutes governing the church : the Puritans by omitting significant matters in the ceremonial ; Laud and the high churchmen by making unwarranted additions, either by reviving discarded forms or by borrowing from the storehouse of the Catholic church. On the whole, however, it seems that Bishop Laud kept closer to the law ; the Puritans, in trying to evade what the statutes specifically commanded, were greater offenders than he, who merely revived what was not expressly forbidden. But Laud was tactless and obstinate, and his exas- perating methods drove moderate Englishmen in large numbers into the ranks of the Puritan opposition. 304. Bishop Laud and the Puritans. The Puritans were especially numerous in eastern England from the Thames Strongholds of northward to the Humber. It was from this sec- Puritanism. t j on that the great migration to New England came during the reign of Charles I. The intellectual center of Puritanism was the University of Cambridge. The region about Cambridge had long been responsive to the Cambridge. . , . *> . . & *V _ newer ideas in religion : a century earlier Lranmer and his associates in the Protestant revolt had gone forth from this university ; later Cambridge sent forth Burleigh and Par- ker, but its colleges also produced Thomas Cartwright and Robert Browne. 1 The tendency toward radicalism in this region was in part due to the fact that it was the wool district of England, and consequently was in close touch with the Con- tinent, especially with the United Netherlands which were one of the strongholds of Calvinism. The English Pilgrims who migrated early in the century went to Holland ; on the other The wool hand Flemish and Walloon weavers in consider- district. a ^i e num bers had settled in the wool district and were sowing seeds of hostility to Anglicanism. In many par- ishes the entire congregation had become Puritan under the influence of priests educated at Cambridge. This condition 1 Review sees. 206, 247, 279-280. FINANCIAL EXACTIONS 335 Laud was determined to rectify. As bishop of the great dio- cese of London, he was the ruler in church affairs of the Puritans of Essex ; as privy councillor and strong friend of the king, he had much influence in the government of the kingdom. This influence became authority in 1633, when Laud became arch- bishop of Canterbury and primate of the national church. 1 A bishop is primarily a superintendent; and as such Arch- bishop Laud proceeded to investigate the situation in the English church. The years 1634-1637 were the period of Laud's "visi- Laud's "visitations," which carried the Archbishop's tations." deputies into all parts of England to determine, among other things, whether the priests carried out the law as Laud under- stood it. Priests who were not found obedient or repentant were disciplined. The engine that was used to enforce obedi- ence upon clergymen and others who violated religious stat- utes was the Court of High Commission. 2 This court of High was a committee of the privy council which, as Commi ssion. will be recalled, was created in the reign of Elizabeth, chiefly to deal with the Romanist recusants. Though the high commis- sion took.no life, its punishments were still very severe. Of this court Archbishop Laud was a leading member. 305. Financial Exactions. 3 During these same years, 1634- 1637, the period of Laud's warfare on the Puritan clergy, there arose a stern opposition to the king's financial tyranny. The royal strong-box was sadly in need of replenishing, and to pro- vide funds additional customs duties were levied ; Fi nancia i monopolies were created ; and old long-forgotten methods of laws were revived for the purpose of levying fines for their violation or forcing monetary settlements. Even such a necessary article as soap was made the subject of monop- oly, and Englishmen were forbidden to use any other brand than the one that the privy council had approved. It was once the rule that all men who possessed a certain amount of wealth should apply to the king for knighthood, which would be granted in consideration of a fee. This custom had become 1 Innes, II, 31-35. 2 Review sec. 282. 3 Review sec. 195. 336 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT Ship money. obsolete ; but Charles, seeing another source of revenue, tried to revive the practice. At one time he even bought a ship load of pepper on credit and sold it at a low price to secure a little ready cash. The most famous expedient employed was the exaction of ship money from the inland counties. Since the time of the Danish invasions it had been customary for the shore towns to provide ships for the royal navy or to furnish an equivalent in money. Charles preferred the latter. With the ships and the money he built a fine and efficient fleet; but he failed to provide ade- quate food and wages for the sailors, and a few years later, when the civil war broke out, the dissatisfied crews saw the opportunity for revenge and deserted to the Puri- tans, who probably would have lost the fight but for the fleet that Charles I built with the hated ship money. King Charles also tried to collect ship money from the interior coun- ties. Whether it could be legally collected in times of peace even from the seaports was doubtful ; for such John levies elsewhere in England there was no prece- Hampden. dent. The levy met much opposition ; and John Hampden, 1 a squire from Buckingham, supported by Lord Saye and perhaps by other lords, determined to take the matter into 1 Gardiner, 523-524; Tuell and Hatch, No. 46 (Firth). John Hampden From an engraving by Goldar. STAR CHAMBER AND COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION 337 the courts. The case was heard before twelve of the king's judges, a majority of whom finally (1638) rendered a decision favorable to the king. Hampden's case aroused great interest throughout the nation and was largely instrumental in forming a compact opposition which became determined to deprive monarchy of the sovereign power. The Old Star Chamber, Westminster In this building the Star Chamber Court held its sessions. 306. The Star Chamber l and the Court of High Commis- sion. At the time, however, open opposition to the king's de- mands was fraught with considerable danger. Thg gt&r Comparable to the court of high commission on Chamber in the secular side was the famous Star Chamber ^.Stuart court, which dealt with refractory nobles and gentlemen. During the century of the Tudors the star cham- ber had often proved useful in stamping out lawlessness; but under the Stuarts it degenerated into an engine of tyranny. Like the high commission, it was a committee of the privy 1 Cheyney, No. 278; Gardiner, 519-520; review sec. 193. 338 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT council ; and many of the councillors, Archbishop Laud for one, sat in both courts. It had lost whatever reputation it had ever had for justice and mercy ; one of its favorite forms of punishment was mutilation, especially the cutting of ears ; but long imprisonment, heavy fines, and exposure in the pillory were also employed. 307. Colonial Growth. The king's persistence in employ- ing methods of doubtful legality and more especially the in- sistence of the bishops on ceremonial uniformity were indirectly of vast importance and benefit to the world: they led to the Puritan migration to New England. These eleven years of Stuart tyranny (1629-1640) were of immense importance to America American history. If a ship had sailed north- in 1628. ward from the West Indies to Canada in 1628, only four settlements of any consequence could have been found on the long stretch of nearly two thousand miles of coast land. At St. Augustine in Florida, the Spaniards had a settle- ment which was a military post rather than a colony. On the James River in Virginia was a group of English settlements which were rapidly developing in extent and stability. A few Dutch traders had settled on Manhattan Island, the site of the future New York. On the Massachusetts coast was a weak settlement at Plymouth. Of these four, only the colony of Virginia then showed any great promise. In the founding of the colony at Plymouth l eight years be- fore, the English government had no direct part. The English Pilgrims in Holland, 2 fearing that they would lose their char- acter as Englishmen if they remained indefinitely among the The Pilgrims Dutch, determined to settle in the New World on at Plymouth, ^ e i anc [ s f the London Company. They asked the government for toleration in their new home, but received no direct reply. King James, however, promised informally to "connive" at their religious practices, and on this assurance they undertook the venture. Instead of reaching the shores that had been selected, they landed on the coast of Cape Cod. 1 Cheyney, Nos. 265-266; Tuell and Hatch, No. 42. 2 See sec. 286, THE PURITAN MIGRATION TO NEW ENGLAND 339 The importance of the Plymouth colony was never great ; but it served as a suggestion and example to the dissatisfied Puritans who were planning colonies in the next reign. 308. The Puritan Migration to New England. 1 1628- 1640. In 1628 while parliament was debating the Petition of Right, certain wealthy and influential Puritans in eastern Eng- land were preparing to found a settlement on the Settleme nts Massachusetts coast; and in the autumn of the on Massachu- 1 ,01 setts B& y- same year a beginning was made at baiem on the ruins of an earlier colony that had disbanded shortly before. During the following decade some 20,000 of England's strong- est, most serious, and most intelligent citizens left the father- land for the New England. Their settlements were scattered along the coast and some distance inland from what is now Maine to the limits of New Netherland. The settlers came chiefly from the great Puritan section in the east and south, as can be readily seen in the reproduction of English geographical names in the new colonies. The spread of settlements follows closely the development of royal absolutism in England. During the years of Laud's visitation and the trouble over ship money (1634- spread of 1618) settlements were formed at Hartford, Say- settlement in . , 1 ^r tt 117-u ^u New England. brook, Providence, and New Haven. When the Long Parliament was called in 1640, the tide of migration at once began to wane. Many of the New England leaders were Cambridge men. The first American college (Harvard, 1636) was founded on the model of a Cambridge college and was named after a young Puritan minister from Cambridge. In the west The Cam _ the leaders realized their ideals of Puritanism: bridge in- , fluence. they organized their churches on a congregational basis, but they did not draw any firm line between church and state: on the contrary, they associated the functions of the state and the church very closely. The Massachusetts Puri- tans enforced their ideas of conduct as rigidly as Laud ever 1 Kendall, No. 73. 340 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT pursued the ideal of uniformity in worship. Some of the leaders in the opposition movement in Old England also had an important part in the building of New England. Sir Henry Vane was for a year governor of Massachusetts. Two of the leading nobles of the kingdom, Lord Saye and Lord Brooke, were instrumental in the settlement of Connecticut. They were both counted as opponents of the Stuart policy. The year after Laud's appointment to the primacy (1634), suspicion arose that he was planning to extend his operations to the new colonies in New England. There was Laud's plan . . to extend his no good reason why he should not extend his visi- authority to tations to America, if he desired to do so ; but his deputies did not arrive. The same year, however, the privy council created a commission to oversee colonial affairs, and of this body Laud was made a member. Massa- chusetts was ordered to lay its charter before the privy council, but the young colony refused. The refusal had been deter- mined upon after prayerful consideration which was accom- panied by more worldly activities in the way of efforts to Defiant atti- fortify Boston harbor. The defiant attitude of tude of Mas- the American Puritans was permitted to go un- punished, however, as troubles were beginning to multiply in Britain, and the king thought it inexpedient to divide his energies. 309. The Catholics in Maryland. During the same decade the Calvert family planted the colony of Maryland, a settle- Maryland, ment of Roman Catholics who were afflicted by 1634 occasional enforcement of anti-Catholic laws. Thus England had two blocks of settlement on the American mainland, the New England towns in the north and Virginia and Maryland in the south. Further expansion was in- evitable as a matter of colonial defense, if for no other reason. 310. The War in Europe and its Effect on Colonization. England's success as a colonizing nation in this decade was due chiefly to two causes : the unsatisfactory condition in the king- dom, which induced thousands to seek new homes in the West ; OPPOSITION TO CHARLES IN SCOTLAND 341 and the general situation in Europe, which prevented the other maritime nations from interfering with the English colonial ventures. In the days of Eliot and Laud the Thirty Years' War had reached its culmination. In the summer when the Puritans were founding the city of Boston, Gustavus Adolphus landed in Germany. The war now involved al- The Thirty most every nation in Europe except those of the Years ' War - British Isles. The influence of the great conflict on English history is traceable at many points. It was no doubt the fear of Roman Catholic success, which in the early years of Charles' reign seemed assured, that intensified Puritan opposition to the supposedly Roman inclinations of William Laud. The war also gave England free hands in the New World : neither Spain nor France nor Holland, all of which nations had colonial interests in North America, could spare any energies from the battle- fields of the great conflict in Germany. Nor did the colonies of the other European nations that had settled the mainland north of the Gulf of Mexico show much the war on thrift and vigor : in the motherlands neither men Ame «c an . . . , . . colonization, nor money could be spared from the great war. There was, therefore, little mentionable progress in Canada, the New Netherlands, New Sweden, or Florida. 311. Opposition to Charles in Scotland; l the Covenant. What saved the Puritan colonies from interference by Charles and Laud was not the resolute spirit of Massachusetts, but a far more defiant opposition of the king's northern kingdom. In England there was hopeless division on the question of religion ; in Scotland there was unity to the point The religious of fanaticism : the Scotch population was over- question in whelmingly Presbyterian. Charles, encouraged by cot an ' his hard-fought success in dealing with the Puritans, unwisely determined to interfere with the Scotch church. Laud was anxious to give the Scotchmen an orderly form of worship : it was accordingly planned to force episcopal government and the Anglican ceremonial on an unwilling people. For more 1 Gardiner, 524-526. 342 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT than half a century there had been bishops in Scotland ; but their authority had never been extensive. The people ignored them and their offices were of little importance except to the nobles who secured their appointment and in return shared Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh Holyrood was built about 1500 and became the chief residence of the Scotch kings. the revenues that they collected. Charles hoped to strengthen A prayer book tne position of his Scotch bishops ; but trouble for Scotland, came in 1637 when he ordered these bishops to formulate a prayer book for the Scotch worshipers after the Anglican pattern. An attempt to use the new service book in the Scotch churches during the summer met with de- termined opposition which in places amounted to riots. The The National Scotchmen determined to resist the king's plans, Covenant. and thousands signed a pledge called the National Covenant, by which they agreed to use every lawful effort to restore the Presbyterian system. This was the year of Hampden's trial ; that victory was the king's last. He retreated from the position taken and called THOMAS WENTWORTH, EARL OF STRAFFORD 343 a General Assembly of Presbyterian churchmen and prominent laymen which was to determine the future of the Scotch church. But as the assembly insisted on taking up important Defiance of subjects that were forbidden, the royal represen- the General tative dissolved the body. The assembly, however, ssembl y- refused to be dissolved and continued its sessions. Thus the Scotch nation in 1638 was in virtual rebellion against its king. 312. The First Bishops' War. 1639. The result illustrates the inherent weakness and danger of a union of kingdoms in the person of the king : an aggrieved monarch is likely to bring against his subjects the military power of his other kingdom. Charles resolved upon war ; he promptly raised an English force and marched towards the border. Here he was met by a smaller Scotch army under the command of General Leslie, who had learned warfare in the camps of Gustavus Adolphus. It seems that Charles had every advantage ; but war with the dissatisfaction ruled among his soldiers and in- Scotch- competence among his officers ; and the First Bishops' War came to an end without a single battle. In the treaty that was agreed to in Berwick, King Charles acceded to the Scotch de- mands that the affairs of the kingdom should be settled by an assembly and a parliament chosen freely by the nation. But Charles soon repented of his weakness : the agreement was not carried out and preparations were made for a new war. 313. Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Charles I was usually unfortunate in the choice of his advisers : most of them were weak, impolitic men, who initiated no policies, but merely tried to execute the sovereign's will. But in 1639 a strong man appeared at the king's side at West- minster. Thomas Wentworth, who was soon to become earl of Strafford, had opposed the king in the early years of his reign, and had followed the lead of Coke and Selden in insisting upon the Petition of Right. But when the opposition identified itself with Puritanism and followed Eliot in an attack on the episcopacy and the Laudian beliefs, Wentworth deserted its ranks and became a member of the king's party. Wentworth 344 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT was a man of energy and foresight ; next to the great Cromwell he was probably the strongest English statesman of his age. He had developed a political theory according to which mon- archy was to be the central fact in the state. Went- worth believed in good gov- ernment and in an honest and equitable administra- tion ; and he believed that an unfettered kingship could achieve these results better and more readily than a par- liament that was split into hostile factions. There can be no doubt that Wentworth was .en- tirely in sympathy with the purposes of Charles and Laud ; but he was not pres- ent at court and can have had little to do with actual administrative details. For some years after 1629 he ruled the northern counties as president of the Council of the North, a local division of Strafford in the privy council. Later he was sent to Ireland as Ireland. j orc j d e p U ty or viceroy, and for six years he gov- erned the island with a strong hand, though in many respects his rule was intelligent and beneficial. He ruined the Irish wool trade to remove a competitor from the foreign markets ; but in return he built up the linen industry, which has since been an important occupation among the Irish, especially in Ulster. He kept peace and promoted prosperity among the less wealthy classes, but his methods were arbitrary and severe. 1 In 1639 Wentworth's career in Ireland closed; he was re- 1 Innes, II, 27-31. Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford After a painting by Van Dyck. THE SHORT PARLIAMENT. JOHN PYM 345 called to England and for a year he was the controlling force in the councils of Charles I. Plans were now being made for a new war with Scotland, but funds were wanting. Wentworth, who was now Earl Strafford, believed that the English people were favorable to the project and anxious to wipe out the dis- grace of the First Bishops' War. Furthermore, a Scotch army on the border was a continuous menace to the peace The situation of England. He, therefore, with all the other in 1639 - members of the privy council, urged the king to call a parliament that funds might be provided for use against the northern enemy. Thus after eleven years, on the unanimous advice of the privy council, the king gave up the at- tempt to govern without consulting the nation ; the Stuart experiment of government by coun- cil had failed. 314. The Short Par- liament. John Pym. The Short Parliament that met in the spring of 1640 did not prove so loyal as had been hoped; it insisted on redress of the many grievances from which the nation had suffered for a decade and instead of The Short voting money counseled peace with the Scotch. Parliament. After a session of about three weeks, the Short 164 °" Parliament was dissolved without having taken any action worth mentioning. The session was chiefly remarkable for the appearance on the Puritan side of a shrewd and capable leader John Pym After a portrait by Cornelius Janssen. 346 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT of Wentworth's type in the person of a wealthy country gen- tleman from Somersetshire, John Pym. John Pym was one of the few chiefs among the Puritans who had worked out a fairly consistent scheme of government. According to his ideas, sovereignty rested with John Pym. , . to , . , , i • , - • , parliament, to which the king s ministers should be responsible. Apparently he favored a scheme somewhat like the present system of cabinet rule. His political theory was therefore fundamentally different from that of Strafford. So long as the king raised revenues in an equitable manner, taxing the citizens strictly according to their ability to pay, it made little difference according to Strafford's views, by what authority the taxes were imposed. With Pym the supremely important consideration was to have revenues raised by the proper authority, which he held was parliament and parliament alone. 315. The Second Bishops' War and the Treaty of Ripon. 1640. The Second Bishops' War was even more disastrous than Second war tne nrst - Charles' army was ill provided, dis- with the satisfied, and disloyal to the point of mutiny. Strafford was finally placed in command ; but his efforts to introduce discipline merely fanned the flame of re- bellion. A treaty was negotiated at Ripon which insured to Treaty of the Scotch all the advantages that they had thus Ripon. f ar gained. King Charles even agreed to pay an indemnity, and until the money should be paid the Scotch were •to keep two of the northern counties as a pledge. The treaty of Ripon marks the close of Stuart absolutism. Charles I could no longer govern by the aid of- his privy council Collapse of alone, for that body had exhausted all the sources personal of revenue at its command ; and now that the king government. had promised to pay a Scotch army for rising in rebellion against him, he was in greater need of money than ever before. There was nothing to do but to lay the whole miserable matter before parliament. Elections were ordered once more, and on November 3 the houses met. This was the EXECUTION OF STRAFFORD. 1641 347 famous Long Parliament which with long interruptions legis- lated for England until it finally dissolved itself nearly twenty years later. 316. The Long Parliament. 1640. 1 It was a determined body of men that made up the last parliament of Charles I. The electors had gone to the polls in an angry frame of mind; and, while many moderate members were chosen, the majority favored changes as " thorough" as any that Straf- Tem er f ford had ever proposed. On the subject of reform the Long in the government the house was practically a ariament - unit, though there was considerable disagreement as to meas- ures. But on the matter of changes in the church there was no such unanimity ; and it was the effort of a weak majority to change the constitution of the Anglican church that finally disrupted the government and drove the nation to civil war. John Pym was again the leader of the opposition. He was seconded by Hampden, Selden, the younger Vane, and Oliver Cromwell, who had sat in silence through the Leaders of Short Parliament. 2 Among the more moderate the opposition reformers were Edward Hyde, a young lawyer of t0 the king * considerable ability, and Lord Falkland, who is remembered chiefly for his unselfish devotion to what he believed was right, and for his vain efforts to secure honorable peace between the contending factions. But of all the leaders of the Long Par- liament, Edward Hyde and Oliver Cromwell were the best equipped, though the talents of neither had been discovered in 1640. 317. Execution of Strafford. 3 1641. Eight days after the sessions had begun, the house of commons voted almost unanimously to impeach Strafford, and a month Arrest of later ordered Archbishop Laud to be confined in Strafford the Tower, where he remained three weary years, which closed with his execution. Strafford was in Yorkshire 1 Masterman, 123. 2 Innes, II, 38-42. 3 Cheyney, No. 280: Gardiner, 530-531; Innes, II, 50-57; Kendall, No. 76; Tuell and Hatch, No. 47. 348 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT with the army, but came to Westminster on the king's command. It was difficult to prove that Strafford had violated the treason laws, and to make sure that the strong earl should not escape, parliament passed a bill of attainder instead of completing the impeachment proceedings. A little earlier the parliamentary leaders had learned that the king was planning to liberate Strafford and that the queen was plotting with the officers of the army in Yorkshire. So great was the excitement when these Execution of matters were revealed, that the king felt compelled Strafford. to Drea k his pledge to Strafford and sign the bill of attainder for fear that a refusal would result in serious riot and endanger the life of the queen. 1 318. Reforms of the Long Parliament. 2 For nearly a year the opposition held together and passed a number of highly important acts. The various courts that had grown out of the privy council, such as the star chamber and the court of high commission, were abolished. Ship money as collected by Charles was declared illegal. The king was also deprived A series of °^ n * s °ther irregular sources of revenue : he was important forbidden to fine his subjects for violating obsolete forest laws or for neglecting to seek the honor of knighthood. It was definitely enacted that tunnage and pound- age could be collected only when granted by parliament. To prevent a repetition of personal monarchy it was enacted that there should not be a longer period than three years between parliaments ; and to be sure that it would be able to carry out its program, the Long Parliament resolved that it should not be dissolved without its own consent. All these measures received the royal assent. They had met . scarcely any opposition in parliament, and the king had no choice but to accept the bills that came up to him though their purpose was to destroy the Stuart system of government and to chain the king's hands. 319. The Grand Remonstrance. 1641. All these reforms were carried out during the first session. When the second 1 Cheyney, Nos. 281-283; Kendall, No. 77. - Gardiner, 531; Masterman, 124-127. CHARLES AND THE FIVE MEMBERS 349 session opened in the fall of the same year (1641), it was found that unanimity was gone. The two great problems now before parliament were the army and the church. In Divisions in the same autumn a revolt broke out in Ireland, parliament. To suppress this an army would be necessary, which, according to law, would be under the king's orders. It was feared, how- ever, and with the best of reasons, that the king, who had such an elastic public conscience in contrast to his very rigid private one, could not be trusted with an army : it might be used against parliament instead of against the Irish. In their anger and per- plexity the majority determined to appeal to the The « Grand English nation which they did in a curious document Remon- . 1 j. strance." called the "Grand Remonstrance,' x which in form was an address to the king. The Remonstrance is composed of three chief parts : a statement of the king's errors as a ruler ; a list of important reforms already enacted; and a project for further changes, especially in the church. It was over the last part of the Remonstrance that the disagree- a royalist ment appeared. A royalist party of considerable party - strength now came to be formed under the leadership of Hyde and Falkland. 2 320. Charles and the Five Members. It had been a terrible year for the king and the queen, but, with the clash in parliament over church legislation and the formation of a moderate group, Charles and his partisans found new hope and courage. When the new year came he was ready Charles takes to take the offensive. The latter half of the year the offensive, the king had spent in Scotland making efforts to compose affairs among his rebellious subjects there. It had come to his knowl- edge that Pym and certain other Puritan leaders had been in communication with the Scotch prior to the Second Bishops' War, and he believed they had invited the invasion. If this were true, they were guilty of treason. On January 3 he brought charges in the house of lords against one peer and five members of the house of commons. Impeachment by the king 1 Lines, II, 62-64. ' Ibid > TT ' °S-° 8 - 35Q THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT was a new procedure and of doubtful legality ; and the demand Attempt to for the arrest of the five members was clearly arrest five unprecedented and illegal. As the house of corn- members of . the house of mons refused to heed his orders, Charles after commons. some wavering determined to go in person to make the arrest. It was the queen's influence that finally decided Charles ; Henrietta Maria feared that her own impeachment for efforts to secure aid from the pope and the Catholic powers was imminent, and she hoped to remove the danger by a bold counter-stroke. So overjoyed was the queen at the tardy show of courage on the king's part that she shared the secret with one of her ladies, who promptly notified Pym and his associates of their danger. The attempt to arrest the five members failed ; but Charles, by appearing to interfere with the privilege of parliament, had ruined his cause forever. 1 321. Preparations for Civil War. 1642. A week later Charles had left London not to return till nearly six years later when he came as the prisoner of parliament. In February he went to Dover to see Queen Henrietta safely on board a Charles I ship for Holland, 2 whither she went ostensibly leaves London. to gi ve her daughter in marriage to William (II) of Orange, though really to secure help from the Continental powers. This, however, was a difficult task, inasmuch as the weary nations of Europe had just begun to look forward to the close of the Thirty Years' War. A few weeks later King Charles took up his abode in York. Meanwhile the quarrel continued at Westminster and parliament passed several im- portant bills ; but only one, a bill to exclude the bishops from the house of lords, received the royal assent and became a law. Soon the king's partisans began to leave parliament and gather in York. By midsummer both sides were collect- Civil war. ing forces for the conflict that was sure to come. On August 22, the royal standard was set up at Nottingham i Cheyney, No. 285; Kendall, No. 78; Tuell and Hatch, No. 45 (Gardiner); Gardiner, 535-536. 2 Cheyney, Nos. 291-204. PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL WAR. 1642 35 : in Puritan territory: all men were summoned to the king's aid, and the civil war was formally opened. For this outcome parliament was not wholly blameless: by depriving the king of his ancient power to dissolve the houses it virtually declared itself independent of the royal Responsibmty will and wrought a complete change in the consti- f parliament tution of the kingdom ; it now threatened to trans- ^f^ form the government of the national church by making its officials subordinate to parliament. But the chief Nottingham Castle (restored) In front of Nottingham Castle Charles I raised his standard in 1642 and gave the signal for civil war. From a drawing by W. Westall. and his Responsibility of Charles and his counselors. part of the blame must be charged to the kin counselors, especially Archbishop Laud and At- torney General Noy, who strengthened him in his purposes to do what the law clearly forbade. King Charles possessed an unusually attractive personality : he was a handsome man and had all the dig- nity of a king. He had also certain private virtues that are not always found in kings : he was kind and devoted to his family ; in personal matters he was honest and upright ; and 352 THE FAILURE OF PERSONAL GOVERNMENT he strove to be loyal to his friends. But he also possessed in full measure the stubborn tenacity of the Stuarts and their inordinate appreciation of the kingly character and office. Character of Too long had King Charles listened to those Charles I. wno nac i taught that in matters of government the only test of right and wrong, of legality and illegality, was the sovereign's own intentions. There were certain hin- drances in the way of a complete realization of the Stuart theo- ries, and to overcome these the king made use of expedients that were not honest. He was constantly asking his subjects to accept his "royal word ; " but the royal word of Charles Stuart was utterly worthless. 322. Stuart Absolutism: Summary. The period from 1629 to 1642 falls into four divisions. (1) During the first four years, the king was organizing the machinery of govern- ment, looking for men upon whom he could depend, punishing Development the leaders of the opposition, and experimenting of absolutism. w jth new forms of taxation. This was also the period of extensive colonization in New England. (2) In 1633 Laud was placed at the head of the English church, and the king was ready to establish absolutism in every field of govern- ment. This was the period of persecution of Puritan clergymen and of the agitation over ship money. But "personal govern- ment" had an active period of a little more than three years only (1633-1637). (3) In 1637 began the trouble with Scotland over episcopal offices and a new ritual, and the Stuart system broke down when Charles failed to overcome the Scotch in the Failure of two Bishops' Wars. (4) In 1640 parliament was personal again summoned. The Long Parliament enacted governmen . a number of very important constitutional reforms ; but when the parliamentarians began to attack the English church, the party split, and a strong royalist faction was formed under the leadership of Hyde and Falkland. A few month3 later, King Charles proclaimed civil war (1642). It is not to be forgotten that the effort to establish absolute monarchy in England was not an isolated instance of such a STUART ABSOLUTISM: SUMMARY 353 movement : it was a part of a great movement in that direction that covered the entire Continent. When the Absolutism seventeenth century closed, absolutism had con- on the quered in nearly all the more important states in on inen ' Europe, the notable exceptions being the Dutch republic and the British kingdom. The failure of personal monarchy in England is, therefore, a matter of European importance. REFERENCES Personal government of Charles I. — Cheyney, Short History of Eng- land, 418-429; Cross, History of England, 460-473; Innes, History of Eng- land, 409-414; Oman, History of England, 366-370; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 439-443. Laud and the Puritans. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 355-363 (Gardiner); Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 302-308; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 516-521; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 526-528. Financial methods of Charles I. — Cross, 466-468; Fletcher, I, ii, 308-315; Gardiner, 521-524; Ransome, 528-530. The American colonies. — Fletcher, I, ii, c. xx; Ransome, 497-499, 530- 531; Tout, 423-424- Charles I and the Scotch. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 412-423; Fletcher, I, ii, 316-326; Innes, 414- 422; Lang, Short History of Scotland, 179- 190; Ransome, 532-537; Tout, 443-445. The Long Parliament. — Andrews, History of England, 354-361; Beard, 364-372 (Gardiner); Cress, c. xxix; Firth, Cromwell, c. iii; Fletcher, I, ii, 327-356; Gardiner, 529-537; Innes, 423-428; Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 71-84; Oman, 372-379; Ransome, 539-555; Tout, 446-449. CHAPTER XVI THE AGE OF CROMWELL 323. Parties of the Civil War. The civil war that broke out in the summer of 1642 continued for a little more than three years till the autumn of 1645, when the royalist forces began The First to disintegrate ; when the following spring came, Civil War. ^ e cause of the Stuarts was definitely lost. It is called the First Civil War to distinguish it from the brief period of hostilities in 1648 which is known as the Second Civil War. In this great conflict England was divided socially, politically, and geographically, though clear lines of division existed no- where. On the one side were the partisans of parliament, by which is meant the majority of the house of commons ; on the opposite side were gathered the followers of the king, men with a profound respect for the historic rights of monarchy, who were unwilling to see the royal prerogative diminished in favor of Parties in the upstarts in the house of commons. The An- the conflict. gHcan naturally drifted into the royal following, while the Puritan stood with parliament ; still, there were many Puritans who finally chose to support the king. The peers with their tenants and retainers were commonly found in the roy- alist ranks; at the same time there were many men of sub- stance on the side of the revolutionists : the parliamentarian armies were commanded by Puritan lords. In general, the north and the west rallied to the support of the dynasty, while the east and the south sympathized with the parliamentarians. 324. Advantages and Disadvantages of the Parties. When the war broke out, each side had certain decided advan- tages, though at first conditions appeared to favor the king. The nobles and the gentlemen who volunteered for his service 354 ENGLAND DURING THE CIVIL WAR ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PARTIES 355 were men who spent much time in the saddle and were trained to the use of arms ; consequently, the king had a The reliable army from the very beginning. There Cavaliers - were also some excellent officers among these royalist " cav- aliers," the most noted, though not the ablest, of whom was Prince Rupert of the Prince Palati- Ru P ert - nate, 1 the king's nephew, who won fame as a brilliant, though somewhat reckless, cavalry leader. Many of the cavaliers were very wealthy and contributed liberally to the royal war chest ; but the sup- ply was not inex- haustible and the king was often in sore straits for funds. On the other hand, parliament had three distinct advantages which eventually led to victory : the parliamenta- rians controlled the wealthiest and most populous Advantages of section of the kingdom ; they had the support of the Pariia- the fleet that King Charles had built and equipped men a few years before, with its crews which had been starved in the interest of personal monarchy ; and they had possession of the ports on the eastern and southern coasts where their customs 1 See sec. 291. Oliver Cromwell From an engraving by O. Faber. 356 THE AGE OF CROMWELL officers collected the tunnage and poundage that parliament had denied the king. And on the Puritan side was Oliver Cromwell, the most capable leader of the age. Cromwell was Oliver a country gentleman who had known service in Cromwell. parliament l but was entirely without experience in warfare. He had, however, military as well as political talents, and under his leadership the Puritans developed an army that the cavaliers found almost invincible. 325. Charles' Plan of Campaign. The king established his headquarters at Oxford ; and here were gathered a majority The king's of the house of lords and a strong minority of the government, house of commons whom the king recognized as forming the parliament of the kingdom. England thus had two capitals and two governments. The parliament at Oxford proved, however, of little service in the conduct of war, as the king retained his aversion to parliamentary bodies and was suspicious even of a legislature composed of his own partisans. It was the king's plan to advance to London with three armies : 2 Military one was collected in the Cornish peninsula, another plans of the in Yorkshire, and a third was gathered on the upper Thames. During the opening year of the war, the successes were chiefly on the royalist side ; but the king's generals were nevertheless unable to carry out the plan agreed upon, because of the obstinate resistance of the parliamentarians at Plymouth and Hull, which prevented the southwestern and the northern armies from marching upon the capital. Charles' Failure of the own force, the army on the Thames, actually did king's plan. advance to within a few miles of London, bnt his forces were insufficient to seize and hold the hostile city and he marched his troops back to Oxford (November, 1642). 326. Parliament and the Scotch: Solemn League and Covenant. 1644. In the summer of 1644, the parliamentarians were facing a dangerous situation. Not only had the royalist forces been generally victorious, but the Irish rebellion 3 had spread to the entire island, and it was conceivable that the king 1 See sec. 296. 2 Gardiner, 537-538. 3 Ibid., 541. THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 1643-1649 357 might make terms with the Irish rebels in return for assistance against his English enemies. Accordingly, Pym and his asso- ciates began to look for help among the Scotch. A commission headed by the younger Vane was sent to Edinburgh Henry Vane to negotiate an alliance. The Scots, having a in Scotlan d- natural fear that the king after crushing out Puritanism would renew the warfare on Scotland, were not averse to join- ing the English parlia- mentarians ; but they insisted that there could be no alliance unless England should accept the Presbyterian sys- tem. Sir Henry Vane was a Puritan and a republican ; but he dis- liked the intolerant atti- tude of the Presbyte- rians, and was unwilling to grant the The alliance Scotch de- with the Scots. mand. He agreed, how- ever, that the English church should be reorganized "according to the best example of the reformed churches and the word of God." To this the Scotchmen could not object, and an agreement known as the Solemn League and Covenant was entered into by the two parties. Soon after the new year had begun, a Scotch army entered England. 327. The Westminster Assembly. 1643-1649. While Vane was negotiating with the Scots, an assembly of English Pres- theologians was in session at Westminster wrestling bytenamsm. with the problem of church reform. It was intended that this Sir Henry Vane the Younger After a portrait by Sir Peter Lely 358 THE AGE OF CROMWELL body should represent all the religious parties in England, but all that were appointed were not willing to attend the sessions, and the assembly proved to be dominated by the Presbyterians. 1 A few of the members, however, opposed extensive departures from the Anglican system ; among these was the famous lawyer John Selden. For nearly JohnSelden. . , ,,, TT J . J _. . „ \ six years the Westminster Divines continued their labors ; they finally drew up a new order of worship and a creed, the well-known Westminster Confession, which is still the standard of Presbyterian beliefs, though some of its doc- trines are now held more loosely than formerly. 328. The Puritan Sects. Presbyterianism was, neverthe- less, not to become the ruling system in England. When time came for Puritanism to be expressed in a definite platform, it Break-up of was found that the emphasis that had been placed Puritanism. on ^ e rights of the individual to shape his beliefs according to his own judgment and conscience had split the party into a number of fragments, of which the Presbyterian was no doubt the largest. 2 But during the civil war and the George Fox following years, a number of religious movements and the developed and received recognition as "sects." George Fox, the originator of the Quaker move- ment, began his activities shortly before the Westminster Assembly finished its work. A little earlier (1644) the Baptist movement took definite form by the adoption of a creed to Baptists and which several London churches subscribed. What Congrega- is now known as Congregationalism took on more definite form during the same years. These and other related sects agreed in claiming self-government in re- ligious matters for each local group of believers : hence the Puritans who had accepted the Presbyterian standards spoke of them as " Independents." Among the more prominent leaders who accepted "Independency" were Sir Henry Vane, John Milton, and Oliver Cromwell. 1 Bates and Coman, 308-309 (Butler, Iludibras). 2 Gardiner, 543-544. BATTLE OF MARSTON MOOR. 1644 359 329. Oliver Cromwell and his Ironsides. 1643. Mean- while the Puritan forces maintained a united front against the royalists. In the year of the Scotch alliance (1643), nve Puritan counties north and northeast of London formed The Eastern a union known as the Eastern Association for the Association, purpose of raising and providing for soldiers. Of this union Cromwell was the guiding spirit. He was given a colonel's commission and at once proceeded to raise and organize a regiment of cavalry that proved so efficient in battle as to be nicknamed the "Ironsides." In the seventeenth century and even later, the armies and navies were often Cromwell's recruited by " press-gang methods," that is, men "ironsides." were forced into the service, even kidnapped at times. In this way many vagabonds, men without employment, or friendless unfortunates, came into the ranks, and military efficiency was not much profited. It was Cromwell's plan to enlist men of stability, character, and substance, and to pay them for their services. Two years later when the New Model army was organized, Cromwell's ideas were applied as far as possible to the entire parliamentarian host. 330. Battle of Marston Moor. 1644. A few months after its organization, Cromwell's "lovely company" had an oppor- tunity to match its training and efficiency against the valor and discipline of the best soldiers in the cavalier armies. The Scotch and the parliamentarians were besieging a royalist force in York. Prince Rupert hurried northward with an army to relieve his fellow cavaliers and succeeded in Marston Moor, raising the siege. He could, however, scarcely 1644 - return to Oxford without giving battle to the enemy who were still threatening York; and at Marston Moor, six miles west of the city, the forces met in what was perhaps the bloodiest battle of the war. Here the Roundhead force of horsemen attacked the splendid calvary of the gay prince and swept them off the battle field. " God made them as stubble to our swords," wrote Cromwell with true Puritan enthusiasm. 1 Northern 1 Cheyney, No. 289. 360 THE AGE OF CROMWELL England was now completely lost to the Stuart cause, but the king's forces held out for another year in the west and about Oxford. 331. The New Model Army and the Battle of Naseby. 1645. The next year parliament proceeded to organize the entire army along lines advocated by Cromwell. Inefficient soldiers were discharged ; new men, chiefly of the Puritan type, were enlisted or forced into the service ; the recruits were largely sought in the counties of the Eastern Association and were The New consequently the kinsmen and former neighbors Model. Q £ tne m en who had settled New England a decade earlier. This new army was also to a large extent officered by a new set of men, of whom many happened to be Independents. The New Model, as it was called, was made up largely, though not exclusively, of men whose religious enthusiasm was deep and enduring. They sang psalms, spoke at prayer meetings, observed the Sunday religiously, and respected the rights of peaceful Englishmen with respect to their persons and property. 1 But they were also most excellent soldiers. Sir Thomas Fairfax was nominally in command with Oliver Cromwell as lieutenant general. The army was maintained for nearly twenty years, un- til it was disbanded in the beginning of the reign of Charles II. The New Model was ready in April and in June (1645) it completely crushed a royalist army at Naseby, 2 where Crom- well's cavalry again was the deciding factor. King Charles The battle lost more than half of his forces and his partisans of Naseby. realized, though the king himself did not, that the Stuart cause was lost. After Naseby there were no more real battles : the task was now to disperse the royalist forces that were still under arms and to seize the strongholds that were held by royalist garrisons. When the following spring opened, King Charles had no longer any forces in England. 332. Charles Surrenders to the Scotch. 1646. For about a year after the battle of Naseby the luckless king wandered 1 limes, II, 68-70; Kendall, No. 79. 2 Bates and Coman, 321-325 (Macaulay, Naseby); Gardiner, 547-549. FRUITLESS NEGOTIATIONS. 1646-1648 361 about in the vain hope that help would come from somewhere; but none came and one day in 1646 he left Oxford surrender f and rode to the Scotch army. He was with the Charles I. Scotch for less than a year. As he appeared to show no great interest in the Scotch purpose of forcing Presby- terianism upon the English, the disgusted leaders began to prepare for a return to the north. Parliament had finally come forward with the money that had been promised in return for military assistance w r hen the Solemn League The k - . g and Covenant was entered into, and the Scotch handed over had no longer any reason for remaining in England. ° par iament - But before returning to Scotland, they handed the king over to parliament. 333. Fruitless Negotiations. 1646-1648. Now that the English had the king at their mercy, the problem was what to do with him. The vast majority of all parties were anxious to have Charles I resume the kingship ; but few „ ,. ,. . , • Parliament were willing to risk an unconditional restoration, and the army For two years the greatest confusion reigned in in disa s ree - England. Parliament was Presbyterian and was unwilling to agree to religious toleration. The army was strongly Independent and asked freedom for all manner of wor- ship, though many objected to "popery and prelacy." Par- liament was in great fear of the New Model and was anxious to see it disband ; but no provision was made for the payment of the wages that were in arrears. The soldiers mutinied and the army remained intact. For some time both the army and parliament carried on ne- gotiations with the king ; but to no purpose, as Charles found it impossible to be truthful in dealing with his Negotiations subjects. 1 The officers of the army drew up a scheme with the kin s- of limited monarchy which they called the Heads of the Pro- posals, but these heads were not satisfactory either to the king or to parliament. Charles was now the prisoner of the army; for Cromwell, fearing that the king and parlia- 1 Gardiner, 551-552. 362 THE AGE OF CROMWELL merit might come to an agreement, had sent one of his officers to take charge of him. While Charles was actually a prisoner, he was deprived of nothing but his liberty : he enjoyed all possible comforts and was treated with all due deference. He even found opportunity to continue his intrigues with English factions and with foreign powers. 334. The Second Civil War. 1648. The king was finally forced to choose between parliament and the army ; and in 104S he appeared to favor the former: he agreed Civil war be- , ,. , ~ , . . - , . tween Presby- to establish Presbyterianism lor three years and terians and t0 ] ie }p SU pp ress Independence. In support of Independents. ^ J? ■.. , , , . this plan Englishmen began to take up arms in various parts of the kingdom ; the Scotch army invaded the north country, and the royalists rose in Wales. But the second Civil War was not of long duration : Fairfax put down the ris- ing in the southeast, while Cromwell crushed the Welsh revolt and drove the Scotch out of the kingdom. The Xew Model was now supreme in England, but Oliver Cromwell controlled the Xew Model. 335. Pride's Purge. 1648. Voices within the army now began to demand the life of the king. Cromwell was anxious _ „ , to save Charles, but he was determined that par- The Presby- ^ terians liament should become Independent. With his removed from armv ne too y s . possession of the capital. On De- parliament. cember 6, 1648, Colonel Pride, acting on orders from Cromwell, stationed himself outside the door of the house of commons to "purge" parliament of Presbyterianism. One hundred and forty-one members were refused admission, forty- five of whom were placed under arrest. Fewer than a hundred Thelndepend- members, all Independents, remained: this was ent Rump. t ] ie f amous "Rump," that carried on the govern- ment for four years longer. 336. Trial and Execution of Charles I. 1649. Cromwell still hoped to restore Charles, but the king refused to accept his conditions. Just before the close of the year, the Rump brought charges against the king for treason. A court was THE COMMONWEALTH: CROMWELL. 1649 363 formed and all the forms of a trial were gone through. 1 After a session of nearly three weeks, the court found Execution of Charles Stuart guilty and sentenced him to death. Charl es I. On January 30, he was beheaded. On the day of his death the handsome, dignified, kinglike man looked more handsome and dignified than ever before. Charles I, like his famous grandmother, Mary Stuart, died like a monarch. 2 The crowned heads of Europe heard the news of the long trial with amazement and horror; but no one dared to inter- fere. To invade England was a difficult task, and the efficiency of Cromwell's army was no secret. However, ~, .. J » The situation had it not been that Europe had just gone through on the a terrible war of thirty years, there might have Continent - been efforts to save Charles. But it was only three months since the treaty had been signed at Westphalia, and the Eng- lish Independents were allowed to deal with monarchy as they chose. 337. The Commonwealth: Cromwell. 1649. A week after the king's execution, the Rump abolished the house of lords, which for some time had not been taken seriously, The common- however, as it contained only thirteen peers. . A wealtn - month earlier monarchy had been abolished, 3 and the estab- lishment of the Commonwealth was now complete. In place of the king a new executive was established in the form of a council of state composed of forty-one members, The council of which Oliver Cromwell, 4 who still retained his of state - command in the army, was a prominent member. This body is also memorable for employing John Milton as one of its secretaries. It was while the great poet was working with the Latin documents of this council that he lost his sight. As many members of the council of state were also members of parliament, that body was in one sense only a parliamentary 1 Cheyney, No. 295; Gardiner, 557-560; Innes, II, 80-86. 2 Bates and Coman, 327; Cheyney, Nos. 298-300; Kendall, Nos. 82-83; Tuell and Hatch, No. 49. 3 Cheyney, No. 302. 4 Cheyney, No. 306; Kendall, No. 84; Tuell and Hatch, Nos. 50-52. 364 THE AGE OF CROMWELL committee ; but so large was the membership of the council and so few were the men who attended the sessions of the Rump, frequently fewer than fifty, that the council really controlled The dominant tne parliament. Oliver Cromwell, as member of position of both council and parliament and commander of the victorious New Model, soon came to dominate the situation. Cromwell was a masterful man, strong, ener- getic, and resourceful ; he could take in a situation at a glance and was never in doubt as to what to do next. It is probable that he at no time desired to become the ruler of England, but when circumstances forced him to undertake the task he did Character of not shrink from it. Cromwell was a Puritan, but Cromwell. j^ was not a fanatic ; he was stern and unrelent- ing, but he was also tolerant of the views of others and made no attempt to force his own religious opinions on those who disagreed with him. 338. Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland. 1 A sham repub- lic like the Commonwealth of 1 649-1 653 could satisfy only the merest fragment of the English nation ; but behind it stood the Dangers to terrible army, and England was weary of warfare ; the republic, there were, therefore, no uprisings. But outside the kingdom the dangers were many and serious : especially threatening was the situation in Ireland and Scotland and the attitude of the Dutch. On the death of Charles I, the crown, according to royalist ideas, went to the Prince of Wales, who was now spoken of as Charles II. The young prince was in exile among the Dutch when he began his "reign," but he had partisans in Ireland and was actually accepted by the Scotch as king the next year. If he were allowed to establish himself as king of Ireland and Scot- land, it would be only a question of time as to when he would come with armies behind him to claim the English crown. To prevent this Cromwell was sent to Ireland with a strong force, and by the terrible massacres of Drogheda 2 and Wex- 1 Gardiner, 562-563. 2 Inncs, II, 86-93. WAR WITH THE DUTCH. 1652-1653 365 ford and by the devastation of Munster he struck terror into the hearts of the Irish and crushed the revolt Cromwell in which had now lasted for eight years. Leaving Ireland - the pacification of the country to his lieutenants, he returned to England and prepared to begin operations against the Scotch (1650). At Dunbar 1 he met his old comrade David Leslie who had commanded the Scotch auxiliaries at Marston Moor. Leslie did not wish to fight Cromwell, but the The battle preachers of the kirk forced a battle. The Scotch of D ™bar. army was carefully purged of all who were suspected of being lukewarm in religious matters, until "only ministers' sons, clerks, and such other sanctified creatures, who hardly ever saw or heard of any sword but that of the spirit" remained to fight. In the battle the next morning the English saints completely defeated the sanctified Scotchmen. Leslie lost half of his army. The spirit of the Scotch was not crushed. They crowned the profligate Charles, raised another army, and in the cam- paign that followed carried the war into England. £v , <■ t-, 1 1 t f Cromwell's Down the west coast of England the royalist army victory at marched with Cromwell in hot pursuit. At Wor- Worcester, cester the Scotch forces were completely destroyed. Leslie was taken prisoner, but Charles escaped and wandered off to France. Worcester was Cromwell's last and greatest victory, his "crowning mercy," as he called it. The indepen- dence of Scotland was lost: for nine years it was ruled by England. 339. War with the Dutch. 1652-1653. The following year war broke out with the Dutch. This was a war for com- mercial supremacy. The Dutch had built up a commerce of vast dimensions and of this the English insisted on Quarrel with having a large share. The Dutch were not eager the Dutch - to accept the English terms, and in a moment of irritation the Rump parliament passed a Navigation Act which came to be important for more than a century. This act provided (1) that European goods should be brought to England in English 1 Times, II , 101-106. 366 THE AGE OF CROMWELL (or English colonial) ships, or in ships of the country produc- Navigation ing the goods : that is, Spanish goods should be Acts - brought to London or Bristol in English or Spanish ships; only Dutch goods could be brought in Dutch ships; (2) goods from America, Asia, and Africa could come in English ships only; (3) the English fisheries were to be reserved to English ships. This cut deeply into Dutch commerce, as the act applied to the English colonies as well as to Britain. And the inevitable result was war. Parliament had no naval commander worthy of the name, but one was discovered in Robert Blake, who had been ap- pointed general of the sea in 1649. Admiral Blake probably did more than any other man in history to make England su- Admiral preme on the ocean. Like Oliver Cromwell he Robert Blake. ^ad n0 experience in the particular line of warfare in which he was to excel ; but he possessed genius for naval warfare and ranks with the greatest captains of English history. The war was fought chiefly in the Channel and continued for a little more than a year. It will be seen that Dutch vessels coming from the south or west are compelled to sail up the Channel or make the long and dangerous journey around Brit- ain. The Dutch fought to keep the Channel open, the English Defeat of to keep it closed. After a series of engagements the Dutch. ^ e D u txh navy was almost entirely ruined and when peace came the Dutch agreed to recognize the supremacy of England in British waters by saluting the English flag. But what was more important, after June, 1653, England was the mistress of the seas. 340. The Rump Parliament Dissolved. 1653. While Blake was destroying the commercial supremacy of the Dutch, Cromwell was carrying on a conflict with the Rump. This peculiar group had become more and more ridiculous in the eyes of Englishmen. It was only the merest fragment of a parlia- The Rump ment chosen thirteen years before under vastly dissolved. different conditions ; and the feeling was general that it ought to yield to a new parliament. Among those who THE LITTLE PARLIAMENT 367 insisted that the Rump should retire was Cromwell. Vane favored holding elections in the counties and boroughs that were not represented ; but he wished the members already holding seats to continue indefinitely as members. The idea of a parliament having life members did not appeal to Crom- well. On April 20, 1653, while parliament was considering Vane's plan, Cromwell, who was present, suddenly arose, scolded the house in somewhat undignified language, and or- dered the members out of the room. "Come, come, sir; I will put an end to your prating." His soldiers began to file in and the members departed. 1 The Independent army had thus put an end to the Independent parliament that it had created by Pride's purge. The council of state had also been dissolved, and for some months England did not even have the pretense of constitutional government. 341. The Little Parliament; the Instrument of Govern- ment. 1653. The Protectorate. Cromwell was now the self- appointed dictator of the commonwealth, his Cromwell as power resting on the army. He felt, however, the dictator, need of some sort of a parliament, but did not dare to trust the English electorate. Finally a sham parliament was formed consisting of one hundred and forty members appointed by Cromwell himself from lists of nominees made out by the In- dependent clergymen of the commonwealth. 2 A small council of state made up chiefly of army officers was chosen to assist the dictator. But the government of soldiers and saints also failed. In December this Little Parliament was induced to surrender its authority into the hands of the die- The Little tator and adjourn. One of the officers of the army, Parliament. General Lambert, now came forward with a written constitu- tion, the Instrument of Government, which Crom- The Instru _ well accepted and tried to put into effect without ment of Gov- consulting the English people. The instrument consolidated all the three British kingdoms and established a 1 Cheyney, No. 305; Kendall, No. 85; Robinson, No. 143. 2 Gardiner, 566-568. 368 THE AGE OF CROMWELL republic with a parliament of one house and a president called the Protector of the Commonwealth. 1 Between protectorate and kingship the difference was very slight. Cromwell held this presidency for life ; he lived in Whitehall palace and also had the use of the other royal palaces ; his household was elaborate and extensive ; he had a large and splendid guard. It was Cromwell's hope and purpose to establish the govern- ment of the commonwealth on a secure and satisfactory basis ; but in this he failed. Parliament met twice during the period of the Protectorate ; but the members very soon quarreled with the Protector and Cromwell dismissed them. 342. Cromwell's Religious Policy. Oliver Cromwell in- sisted on two things that parliament was loath to grant : con- trol of the army and a large measure of toleration in religious matters. The Instrument granted freedom of worship to all forms of Puritanism, but not to Anglicans or Catholics. Ex- cept that they were regularly fined as of old for refusing to attend Protestant worship, the Catholics found little to com- plain of while Cromwell ruled. The Tews, too, The English F , ■ , church under were now openly tolerated : they were even al- the common- lowed to build synagogues. In the English church wealth. ,. ^ . . i , " mi i an extraordinary situation ruled. I he houses of worship were still standing, and it was the will of the govern- ment that these should be used. Many pulpits were vacant, however, and to get these supplied with preachers of the proper sort, Cromwell's government appointed a commission of " triers" who were to examine candidates. The triers were not to in- vestigate into the beliefs of the future pastors any further than to determine whether they were of the Puritan type ; the im- portant thing was to make sure that they were godly men and able to preach. Men of all shades of belief came to be preach- The "sects" m § m ^ e cnurc hes that Laud had guarded so jeal- in control of ously : Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, e pu pi s. ant j men o £ other sects, — even Anglicans were left undisturbed in their pulpits for a time. But in 1655 1 Gardiner, 568-570. WAR WITH SPAIN: THE FRENCH ALLIANCE 369 it was ordained that no Anglican clergyman was to continue preaching in an English church. For three years the sec- tarians were in complete possession ; all general church gov- ernment virtually disappeared. 343. War with Spain: the French Alliance. 1655-1656. Though Oliver Cromwell's domestic policy may be regarded as a failure, in his dealings with foreign nations he Blake in was eminently successful. He sent Admiral Blake the Medi- into the Mediterranean waters to teach the Bar- bary pirates of Tunis and Algiers a long needed lesson, a task that the Admiral carried out in his usual thorough fashion. For the Dutch as commercial rivals and recent enemies, Crom- well could have no par- ticular friendship ; but he managed to maintain peaceful relations with the Dutch Republic throughout his adminis- tration. At first he was inclined to seek an alli- ance with the Span- iards ; but his terms in- cluded freedom for the English merchants to trade in Spanish America and freedom of worship for all Englishmen in Spanish dominions. However, as the Spaniards objected to having "their master's two eyes put out," the negotiations led to open war. Cromwell now trans- ferred his attentions to France, the government of which was less intolerant. For a generation longer the foreign policy of England meant what it did in Cromwell's day : an alliance Cromwell and the Dutch. Admiral Robert Blake 37° THE AGE OF CROMWELL with France but strained relations with Spain and the Dutch Republic. In the war with Spain Blake won great victories; at one time he captured the Spanish treasure fleet with gold and silver from the American Indies, and brought the great hoard to Eng- land where it was greatly needed. He also discovered the im- portance of Gibraltar, which the English seized half a century later. But the most important event of the war was an expe- dition to the West Indies sent for the purpose of seizing the rich island of San Domingo. The fleet was corn- seizes manded by Admiral Penn, the father of the founder Jamaica. f Pennsylvania. In its main purpose the ven- ture failed ; but the admiral succeeded in taking Jamaica, an island which at the time was considered as of doubtful value, but after some years of development became an important part of the British Empire and the center of a lucrative sugar industry. 344. Cromwell and the Colonies. With respect to the colonies Cromwell believed in as little interference as possible ; English b ut tn ^ s ^ oes n °t mean that tne empire was neg- coionial lected. In Cromwell's day there were a few Eng- pos ;ssions. j.^ s t a tions in India and on the Guinea coast in western Africa, which were important centers for the trade in tropical products. In the development of the East Indian trade and stations Cromwell showed considerable interest. But actual colonies existed in North America only. In the West Indies, besides Jamaica, England had Barbados and several other islands in the Antilles group ; on the mainland she had Virginia and Maryland and the five colonies of New Eng- land. There was also a settlement on the Bermudas. In 1652 during the war with the Dutch, the commonwealth parliament „ ,. appointed a board of commissioners to control these Parliamentary rr interference new settlements. As New England was intensely in colonial Puritan, this board saw no reason for much inter- affairs. ference there, though it did make an unsuccessful effort to deprive Massachusetts of its royal charter. To the SUMMARY 371 two southern colonies a frigate was sent, and the governments of both Virginia and Maryland were placed in the hands of Puritan officials. The material growth of the English colonies during the Crom- wellian period was very great. Cavaliers who found the Puri- tan regime distasteful emigrated to Virginia by Colonial thousands. In the twenty years following the growth- execution of King Charles, the population of Virginia increased from 15,000 to 40,000. After the second civil war large num- bers of the prisoners of war were shipped to Barbados. The battle of Worcester added about a thousand to the population of New England. Jamaica grew very slowly at first ; but Cromwell took a great interest in the island, and the rapidly growing population of the Antilles gave a surplus that could be used in its development. 345. The Rule of Cromwell. 1 Cromwell gave England a strong and efficient government ; but it was not according to the taste of his subjects. He had violated too many English traditions to gain popularity for himself and his rule, and his government grew more hated every day. The Cromwell and royalists looked upon him as a mere upstart and the nation - usurper. The republicans regarded him as a monarch in dis- guise, as a traitor to the principles of Puritanism. The peers were eager to resume their place in the government. Scotland and Ireland disliked being incorporated with England. Out of these discordant elements nothing permanent and satisfactory could be shaped; and the scheme that was to have been only temporary seemed about to become permanent. In February, 1658, Cromwell dismissed his last parliament, the session of which had degenerated into a quarrel. Seven months later the great Protector died. 2 346. Summary. The first civil war was a long conflict between the royalists and the parliamentarians, and for a time it looked as if the king would win. Then came the league with Scotland and the organization of the New Model army 1 Bates and Coman, 337-339 (Thornbury). 2 Kendall, No. 89; Gardiner, 574. 372 THE AGE OF CROMWELL with Oliver Cromwell as chief ; and on the fields of Marston The civil Moor and Naseby the cause of personal monarchy wars. was decisively defeated. The second civil war was fought within the parliamentarian party as a conflict between the Presbyterians and the Independents. The Presbyterians wished to restore monarchy and reorganize the Church on a Presbyterian basis, as had been promised in the Solemn League and Covenant; the Independents, on the other hand, wanted no state church and were coming to hold republican ideas in The com- government. A commonwealth was established monweaith. a f ter tne execution of the king, and all the British Isles were united into one state ; but these changes proved temporary only. There were, however, certain permanent re- sults. Puritanism broke up into sects, nearly all of which have Development been permanent and have grown strong in the New of churches. World. English Presbyterianism built a platform for itself in the Westminster Confession. England humbled the naval power of the Netherlands as it once had ruined that of Spain, and from the time of Cromwell Britain has been the Growth of mistress of the seas. And finally, the British em- empire. pj re was strengthened by the acquisition of Ja- maica and by renewed emigration to the American colonies. REFERENCES Preparations for civil war. — Cross, History of England 486-490; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, ii, 357-369; Oman, History of England, 380-386; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 555-558. The New Model army. — Fletcher, I, ii, 400-403; Harrison, Cromwell, 79-88; Innes, History of England, 433-437; Morley, Oliver Cromwell, 163-175. The crisis of 1646-1647. — Cross, 499-505; Firth, Cromwell, c. ix; Fletcher, I, ii, 411-426; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 550-556; Harrison, c. vi; Morley, 209-232; Oman, 396-399. The trial and execution of Charles I. — Beard, Introduction to the Eng- lish Historians, 373-380 (Gardiner); Firth, c. xi; Fletcher, I, ii, 431-436; Innes, 438-444; Morley, 262-273; Ransome, 583-585. The church during the civil war. — Firth, c. viii. The rule of the Rump. — Fletcher, I, ii, 452-462; Innes, 450-454; Mor- REFERENCES 373 ley, 277-285; Oman, 406-410; Ransome, 586-588, 594-598; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 462-466. Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland. — Firth, cc. xiii-xiv; P'letcher, I, ii, 443-451; Harrison, cc. viii-ix; Innes, 445-449; Morley, 286-317; Ransome, 588-592. Cromwell and the Rump (1653). — Beard, 381-390 (Morley); Firth, c. xv ; Morley, 329-341. The protectorate. — Cross, 516-523; Firth, c. xvi; Gardiner, 568-574; Harrison, c. xi; Innes, 454-462; Oman, 412-416; Ransome, 599-608. Cromwell's foreign policy. — Firth, c. xviii; Fletcher, I, ii, 475-484; Harrison, c. xiii; Morley, 434-448. Cromwell's colonial policy. — Firth, c. xix. Oliver Cromwell. — Firth, c. xxii; Morley, 426-435. CHAPTER XVII THE STUART RESTORATION 347. The End of the Commonwealth. 1658-1659. 1 With the death of Cromwell the republic perished. The rule of the great Oliver had, indeed, been that of a monarch ; but he seems honestly to have sought some form of a commonwealth that would secure political rights and civil liberties, and at the same Richard time prove strong and efficient. At his death he Cromwell. designated his son Richard as his successor; but the new protector was , weak and incompetent ; after a few months of trouble with the army and the extreme republicans, he was forced to resign (May, 1659). 348. The Restoration of the Stuart Dynasty. 2 For nearly a year the political condition in England was scarcely better than anarchy. Fragments of the Long Parliament tried at The anarchy, intervals to carry on the government, but suffered 1559. constant interference from the officers of Crom- well's New Model army. The army, however, was divided : General Lambert in England still believed in the possibility of republican rule ; while General Monk, to whom Cromwell had given the command of the forces in Scotland, had become con- vinced that his interference was necessary to end the anarchy. Whether he had already concluded in the autumn of 1659 that the Stuart dynasty must be restored may be doubted ; but he General soon realized that no other course was possible. Monk. j n December he began to move his army south- ward ; in January he crossed the border and proceeded toward London. For a time civil war seemed probable, but Lam- bert's resistance melted away. At Westminster Monk found 1 Robinson, No. 144. 2 Cheyney, No. 307. 374 CHARLES II 375 the Rump Parliament in session ; he gave it recognition but forced it to readmit the Presbyterian members who had been ex- cluded by Pride's purge. Soon afterward the Long Parliament came to an end. Before disbanding, the Long Parliament ordered the electionof a new body, which is known as the Convention Parlia- ment, from The the fact that Convention • . , Parliament, it was not summoned by the king. A few days after the meeting of this body, it received a message from Charles Stuart known as the Declaration of Breda; in this he promised to forgive the past, to over- look religious differences, to pay Cromwell's soldiers in full, and to leave all in peaceful enjoyment of their prop- TheDeciara- erty. These promises were, however, to be subject tl0n of Breda - to the pleasure of parliament and were carried out in part only. The Convention received the Declaration with enthusiasm and on the same day resolved that " according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this kingdom the government is and ought to be by King, Lords, and Commons." On the 25th of May Charles landed at Dover; four days later he was in London. 1 349. Charles II. 2 Charles entered London on his thirtieth birthday. For nearly ten years he had traveled abroad, de- pendent on his friends in France or on his relatives in Holland 1 Cheyney, No. 310; Innes, II, 113-115; Kendall, No. 90. 2 Robinson, No. 145; Tuell and Hatch, No. 53 (Green); Cheyney, No. 311. General Monk 376 THE STUART RESTORATION for shelter and subsistence. He had, therefore, learned a lesson which his father had never learned : that a king, if he wishes to live in comfort, must regard, to some extent at least, the wishes of his subjects. Therefore there was no danger .of an immedi- ate repetition of the difficulties of his father's reign ; for no matter what happened, the second Charles was Charles II. . ri .. . „ _, determined not to resume his travels. But England soon learned that good government was not to be expected from a man like Charles II: the dark, handsome man who landed in the spring of 1660 was able and intelligent ; but he was also lazy, extrava- gant, and pleasure-lov- ing. To a large section of the English people the new king was a bit- ter disappointment. 350. Clarendon. Charles' first confiden- tial minister was Claren- don, his lord chancellor, who for seven years di- rected the policies of England. Edward Hyde, created earl of Clarendon not long after the restoration, was a lawyer of considerable abilities, and a Edward Hyde man °^ sterling character. 1 He was devoted to Charles, whom he had followed into exile. But he possessed no real genius for statesmanship ; no marked originality appears in his policies. His purpose was to restore not only the dynasty but the entire historic constitution 1 Review sees. 316, 319. Charles II After a portrait by Sir Peter Lely. earl of Clarendon THE RESTORATION SETTLEMENT 377 including the church. As the innovations of Charles I and Laud were not parts of the traditional scheme of government, they were given no consideration. LT n fortunately, Clarendon was unable to realize the vast changes that had come over England during the generation that had just passed. In his devotion to the past he was also blind to the value of some of Cromwell's constitutional changes, such as the union of the islands into one state, the reform of the franchise, and the improve- ments in parliamentary rep- resentation: Clarendon wanted everything to be just as it had been before the civil war. 351. The Restoration Settlement. Meanwhile, the Convention proceeded to carry out the provisions of Charles' Declaration. It was a moderate body, largely composed of Presbyterians, and in many respects it legislated wisely. The army, with the exception of two regiments, was paid and disbanded. An Act of Indemnity w r as The Act of passed extending pardon to all the political offend- Indemm ty- ers of the past ; but to this a long list of exceptions was added comprising the judges who had tried and condemned Charles I and a few others. Some of these suffered death ; l p ro bi em of some were imprisoned; and others sought refuge forfeited beyond the seas. The question of the forfeited lands was a difficult one ; but the actual possessor was usually 1 Innes, II, 115-116; Robinson, No. 146. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon After a painting by Gerard Soest. 378 THE STUART RESTORATION left in possession, and a few only of the dispossessed royalists regained control of the estates that they had lost during the revolution. The Convention also abolished feudalism by doing away with the old feudal rights and dues. As in this way the king lost a considerable amount of revenue, the Convention granted him an additional income in the form of a tax on beer. It was believed that from the sources available the royal income would amount to about £1,200,000; but this amount the king was never able to collect. To obtain additional revenues Charles II would be compelled to call parliament. 1 352. The Restoration of the Church: the Clarendon Code. 2 On the church question the Convention reached no conclusion. In December Charles dissolved the Convention and ordered new elections. The electors in their eagerness to show their loyalty chose new members of an extreme loyalistic type. Few Presbyterians kept their seats. The new so-called The Cavalier Cavalier Parliament 3 was intensely Anglican. Parliament. During the previous twenty years there had been much confusion in the English church ; its organization had fallen to pieces ; its membership had largely passed over to the "sects." As these bodies all dissented from Anglican practices and beliefs, their followers came to be known as Dissenters; as they refused to conform to the Prayer Book in church worship, they were also called Non-conformists. By a series of acts called the Clarendon Code, though Clar- endon probably did not wholly approve of the measures, the Cavalier Parliament restored the Anglican church to power and deprived the dissenters of the freedom of worship that Charles had promised and also to a large extent of political rights. The restoration had in large measure been accomplished by the The Corpora- Presbyterians ; but now these very men were tion Act. 1661. mac i e ineligible to the municipal offices, for by the Corporation Act only such persons as partook of the communion in the Anglican church were allowed to share in municipal 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 191. 2 Gardiner, 583-586, 588, 590. 3 Masterman, 134-136. THE RESTORATION IN THE COLONIES 379 government. It was also found that among the priests who officiated in the churches there were many who deviated in preaching and ceremonial from the Anglican The Act f standards. By an Act of Uniformity these were Uniformity, given the choice between conforming and resigning. 1662 * About 2000 resigned their livings rather than conform. But these non-conformists continued to preach in homes and else- where. Parliament, therefore, passed the Con- xheConven- venticle Act which limited the attendance at such tide Act. services to five in addition to the members of the household where the meetings were held. The strength of the dissenters lay in the towns, and there this act was enforced with difficulty. A law called the Five Mile Act The Five Mile was accordingly passed which forbade a non- Act - 1665 - conformist preacher to settle nearer than five miles to any corporate town ; he was also forbidden to make teaching or preaching his profession. 1 It was hoped that the lack of teachers and spiritual advisers would in time drive all the dissenters back into the Anglican churches. 353. The Restoration in the Colonies. One result of the Clarendon Code was to furnish large additions to the colonial population. Persecution was endured for some years ; 2 but it soon became wearisome, and an exodus of dis- Migration of satisfied Englishmen, in some respects comparable the dlssent ers. to the great Puritan migration, began, this time chiefly to new settlements. It will be remembered that during the common- wealth period England's possessions in the New World consisted of three groups : islands in the West Indies, the southern col- onies of Maryland and Virginia, and New England. 3 Of these New England alone had shown much sympathy with the Revolution. In the other colonies the restoration merely meant a speedy return to the old regime. During the twenty years of the rebellion and the republic, New England had displayed a spirit of independence that the government could not overlook. A confederation had been 1 Kendall, No. 92. 2 Cheyney, No. 313. 3 Review sec. 344. 380 THE STUART RESTORATION formed (1643) 5 money had been coined; laws had been made and enforced against certain forms of dissent that were un- known to English legislation. Cromwell had New England 7 . during the interfered very little in the affairs of New England ; common- consequently, these colonies had come to look on wealth period. . the tie that bound them to the mother country as an exceedingly frail one. But as soon as the news of the restoration reached the New World, the American Puritans began to consider the question of recognizing the new mon- arch. In time all the colonies professed their loyalty, though Massachusetts showed some reluctance. In return for their obedience Charles granted liberal charters to Connecticut and Rhode Island ; but the colony of New Haven, as a punishment for harboring regicides, lost its identity and was merged with Connecticut. 354. Colonial Expansion. New settlements were also formed. To a group of his friends, the chief of whom were Clarendon, Albemarle (Monk), Shaftesbury, and Governor Berkeley of Virginia, the king gave a large tract of land south of The Virginia, which in the king's honor was called Carolmas. Carolina. More important territorial additions were made in the north. Between New England and the South lay the Dutch colony of New Netherland ; it was necessary for the safety of the English settlements that this territory should be acquired. Accordingly, while England and the Netherlands New York. were still nominally at peace, Charles sent Colonel 1664. Nicholls with a fleet to seize the region (1664). 1 The proprietorship was given to the king's brother, James, duke of York, in whose honor the colony was named New York. Later a part of the duke's grant lying between the Hudson and the Delaware River was formed into the colony of New Jersey. New Jersey. Toward the close of the reign the king's great Pennsylvania, friend William Penn received a large grant on the west side of the Delaware, which was erected into the colony of Pennsylvania (1681). By the close of the reign 1 Cheyney, No. 315. COMMERCIAL EXPANSION 381 of Charles II, all the original Thirteen Colonies had been founded with the single exception of Georgia. It is to be noted that the great period of interest in the col- onies is contemporary with the legislation against dissent. It is an interesting fact that the proprietary charter of Carolina (which was given by a government that supported the Clar- endon Code) provided for religious toleration. In a few years dissenters came in large numbers to Carolina, to Dissent in the New York, and to the new settlements in New new colonies. Jersey. The Quaker exodus to the banks of the Delaware is well known. The governmental policy of enforcing uniform- ity in England while allowing toleration in the colonies proved to be a short-sighted one : it not only drove a dissatisfied element to America, but it also conveyed the idea that Eng- lish laws were for England only. Thus this policy came to be one of the leading causes of the American revolt a century later. 355. Commercial Expansion. The interest that the Stuart government showed in the colonies was closely allied with an interest in commerce An increased trade would bring in a larger customs revenue and consequently increase the income of the crown and reduce the king's dependence on parliament. The field of English commerce was extended by the new colonial foundations and by the acquisition of Tangier and Interest j n the island of Bombay which came to England as trade and the dowry of the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, who became queen of England in 1662. The govern- ment also strove to bring the English trade into English hands. At this time the commercial rivals of the English were the Dutch : Dutch merchant vessels sailed all the seas and carried merchandise to and from all the world's great ports. To deprive Holland of her monopoly so far as the English trade was concerned, Cromwell's government had secured the passage of a Navigation Act, which provided that Navigation merchandise coming to England must be brought Acts - in English ships or in the ships of the country that pro- 382 THE STUART RESTORATION duced the merchandise. There were some exceptions to this, but in general it resulted in limiting the Dutch trade with Eng- land. This law was re-enacted in the beginning of the new reign, and another was added requiring certain colonial pro- ducts to be taken to England before they might be shipped to a foreign country. 1 These acts, for which Clarendon was largely responsible, were of great importance to the English merchants and ship owners. The English shippers were now reasonably sure of a certain amount of trade, as the Dutch could no longer under- bid them. There came thus a demand for ships, a demand which was felt in the various lines of industry Effect of , .111 • 1 1 . these acts that provided the necessary materials and equip- on English ment. As England came to have a practical commerce. . monopoly of the colonial trade, English manu- factures grew, since the colonial produce consisted largely of raw materials. Later England was tempted to make this condition permanent by placing unreasonable restrictions on colonial manufactures. 356. Foreign Policy of Charles and Clarendon. Two facts determined the foreign policy of the reign : the ambition for a larger commerce and the hostility toward Roman Cathol- icism. During the first half of the reign the former principle was the controlling one ; not till the court began to show a suspicious inclination to favor Catholicism did the subject of Hostility religion become of importance in the framing of toward the foreign policies. In his attitude toward foreign powers Clarendon mainly followed up the ideas of Cromwell, — hostility to the Dutch as commercial rivals, and friendship for France. This policy was agreeable to Charles, who disliked the Dutch for keeping his relatives of the Orange family out of power, and looked with especial favor on the ideas and methods of Louis XIV of France. 357. The Cabal; the Triple Alliance. This policy brought on a war with the Dutch in which England was only 1 Inncs, Industrial Development, 170-174; review sec. 33Q. THE SECRET TREATY OF DOVER. 1670 383 moderately successful. 1 The disasters of this war added to Clarendon's growing unpopularity proved too much Fall of for the chancellor, and the faithful minister was Clarendon, forced to surrender his office and go into exile. 2 Three years later we find the king consulting not one chief counselor but a group of five called the Cabal, of which Anthony Ashley Cooper, the earl of Shaftesbury, was the most The Cabal conspicuous member. With the Cabal the re- ligious question becomes the important factor in foreign policy. Charles was favorable to the cause of toleration which he wished to extend to his Roman Catholic subjects; his queen was a Catholic; his brother James professed Catholicism and later married as his second wife an Italian princess, who came to England with the hope of doing something for those of her own faith. The Anglicans of the Cavalier Parliament began to suspect the court of treachery toward the Risinghost u- English church. At the same time the English ity toward nation was transferring its friendship from Catholic France to Protestant Holland. Europe was beginning to realize that its greatest enemy was Louis XIV, whose ambitions in- volved the extension of French authority over all the territory west of the Rhine. During the Dutch war France The Triple had not shown the expected friendship ; and the ^^ nce - treaty with the Dutch was followed by the Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and Holland against Louis XIV (1668). 358. The Secret Treaty of Dover. 1670. The Triple Alliance was not according to Charles' ideas. He was at this time planning to transform the kingdom into an absolute monarchy and to introduce a modified form of The treaty of the Catholic church. To accomplish this purpose Dover with , . trance. lbiu. he needed the assistance of Louis and made an agreement with him, the Secret Treaty of Dover, according to which, in return for French money and soldiers, he was to assist in the partition of the Netherlands. Two years later Louis invaded the Netherlands ; but the Dutch flooded their 1 Kendall, No. 94; Innes, II, 126-129. 2 Gardiner, 593-594- 384 THE STUART RESTORATION country and checked his advance. William of Orange, Charles' William of own nephew, was placed in charge of the govern- Orange. ment. A little later the new Dutch leader suc- ceeded in detaching England from the French alliance. 359. Anti-Catholic Movements : the Test Act. 1673. In breaking up this alliance, William of Orange was assisted by a strong anti-Catholic movement that had arisen in England. The same year that saw the beginning of the last Dutch war The Deciara- a ^ so saw an e ^ or ^ on the king's part to suspend the tion of Clarendon Code by a royal Declaration of In- u gence. diligence. Early in the next year parliament met and forced him to withdraw the. declaration. This was followed by the famous Test Act which applied the principle of the Corporation Act to the offices of the state. It provided that no person should hold office under the crown who did not par- „,, „, take of the communion according to the rites of The Test Act. . to the English church. This forced the Catholics out of the high offices, which was the intent of the act. 1 James resigned his position as high admiral ; two members of the Cabal were forced to surrender their ministerial offices. For a century and a half this peculiar law remained on the statute books of England. 360. Danby's Administration. 1673-1678. Whigs and Tories. 2 The Test Act broke up the Cabal. For the next five years the earl of Danby held the reins of gov- ernment. Danby was a politician of low prin- ciples, always servile to the king. In his domestic policies he adopted the ideas of Clarendon : a strong kingship and church uniformity ; but in foreign affairs he preferred the friendship of Holland to that of France. During the years of Danby's administration, the great historic parties of modern England saw their origin. The Cabal had stood with Charles for toleration ; Danby enforced the ideas of the Clarendon Code. Accordingly, the Anglicans of the Laud- ian type gathered around the chief minister ; while the more 1 Bates and Coman, 341-344 (Doyle). 2 Masterman, 1 sQ-144. DANBY'S ADMINISTRATION. 1673-1078 385 liberal Anglicans, the so-called low churchmen, who did not insist so strongly on uniformity of worship, fol- lowed the lead of Shaftesbury, who had been one of Charles II's chief advis- ers during the period of the Cabal. To this group the dissenters naturally at- tached themselves. As an opposition party, Shaftes- bury's followers soon came into collision with the royal prerogative, and conse- quently attracted a power- ful element in the house of lords who desired to trans- fer the political power from the crown to the aristocracy. In time this group came to be known as The Whigs. Whigs, while those who accepted the ideas of Clarendon and Danby were nicknamed Tories. The Whigs favored Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury After a painting by Sir Peter Lely. the dissenters, the mercantile interests, and the pretentions of the nobility in opposition to the royal prerogative. The Tories, on the other hand, insisted on the rights of Thg Tories the crown and of the Anglican church ; they had little interest in commerce but guarded jealously all the rights and privileges of the landlord class. Soon the matter of foreign policy came to be confused with the religious issue. Secretly Charles continued to favor France. But Danby leaned toward a Dutch alliance and arranged the marriage of the princess Mary of York, who after her father James was next in succession to the English throne, to William of Orange, Louis' great enemy. Disgusted with the new situa- 386 THE STUART RESTORATION tion, Louis revealed his secret intrigues with the English gov- ernment. As the king can do no wrong, the chief minister was End of the made to suffer. Danby was driven from power Cavalier and threatened with impeachment. To save his minister Charles dissolved parliament ; after having enjoyed legislative power for a period of seventeen years, the Cavalier Parliament, once so intensely loyal to the king, found itself dismissed because of opposition to the crown and the government. 361. The Popish Plot; the Exclusion Bill. 1678. 1 The situation was further intensified by the revelation of an alleged plot on the part of the Jesuits to assassinate Charles and place the Catholic James on the throne. During the winter months of 1678 and 1679 a number of innocent Catholics were tried The "Popish for complicity in imaginary plots and convicted. plot -" Charles, who knew the actual plans of the Catholics, might have saved the victims by speaking the proper word ; but to do so would have amounted to a confession of conspiring against the Anglican church. While the panic and the perse- cution were still on, a new parliament was elected. Shaftesbury and the Whigs with an excellent organization and large cam- The Habeas paign funds easily carried the day. When parlia- Corpus Act. ment met, two leading measures were presented : a habeas corpus bill 2 and an exclusion bill. The former made it possible for every one charged with a crime to obtain a speedy trial, and was intended to make it more difficult for the crown to keep its political enemies in prison ; it became a law and is The Exclu- one of the most important safeguards of personal sion Bill. liberty. The exclusion bill was aimed at the Duke of York. As James was an avowed Catholic, the bill was intended to deprive him of his right to the English throne. To save the crown to his brother, Charles dissolved parliament. The following two years saw two successive parliaments in both of which the commons were dominated by Shaftesbury and loudly demanded "exclusion." The lords, however, followed 1 Gardiner, 615-61S, 620. 2 Masterman, 137-138. THE DRIFT TOWARD ABSOLUTISM IN EUROPE 387 the lead of the moderate Lord Halifax who stood for hereditary rights. The nation soon began to feel that Shaftesbury's party had gone too far in its opposition to the king and Prince James. The Whigs had not only wished to exclude James but some of them would also have excluded James' daughter Mary. After he had dissolved the legislature in 1681, Charles Secondperiod was done with parliaments and parliamentary elec- of Stuart tions. The remaining four years of his reign he J^^; devoted to a deliberate attempt to build up a despotism, a system in which constitutional organs could be made to carry out the commands of the absolute monarchy 362. The Drift toward Absolutism in Europe. During the restoration period the most important person in Europe was Louis XIV, the king of France. Louis governed his king- dom by means of a vast organization of officials The govern- appointed by and responsible to himself or his mentrf^ administrative chiefs; and this bureaucratic ab- solutism was the cherished ideal of the European monarchs. As we have seen, Charles II had hopes of being able to develop a similar system in England. Events in northern Europe encouraged this hope. In 1661, Charles' cousin, the king of Denmark, became an absolute monarch; and twenty years later, during the second period of Stuart despotism in England, a similar revolution established despotism in Absolutism Sweden. In the Swedish movement especially, in Europe - the influence of the French example is evident. But the sway of Louis and France extended to social relations as well as to governmental affairs. His wonderful court at Versailles was the capital of the social world. European monarchs imitated not only its magnificence but its immorality. Charles II was a worthy imitator of the Grand Monarch, and for frivolity and low ideals the English court of this period probably had no equal in Europe. The influence of the court naturally Influen ce of spread to the aristocratic classes, among whom ^F^nch indifference to religion and morality seems to have been the rule. At the same time it must not be supposed that 3 88 THE STUART RESTORATION this state of mind was general throughout English society. The middle classes retained much of their old time moral vigor; Puritanism, though no longer a controlling factor, was still a powerful leaven. 363. Social Changes. Certain fundamental changes were passing over English society in the second half of the seven- teenth century which tended to foster a healthier view of life. Changes in Comforts were becoming more general ; the habits habits of hfe. f \[f e were undergoing important changes, espe- cially in the matter of food and drink ; information as to the Coffee-Room in Cheshire Cheese Inn rest of the world was becoming more general and more accessible. Chocolate was coming into the country from Mexico by way of southern Europe. The increased trade with Asia resulted in the importation of coffee and tea. These beverages, especially coffee, soon came to be popularly used in place of the more Coffee highly stimulating drinks of the earlier centuries, houses. a j e anc j wme- As the result of the use of these new beverages, an institution known as the coffee house 1 appeared. 1 Cheyney, Nos. 319-320; Gardiner, 630. LITERATURE OF THE RESTORATION 389 This was a place where men could meet to drink coffee and talk over the affairs of the day, — politics, literature, or what- ever the chief matter of interest might be. The first coffee house was opened in the year 1652, and the institution soon multiplied rapidly. Its importance to English life lies in the fact that it facilitated the forming of public opinion. 364. Newspapers. Another institution akin to this was the newspaper. A newspaper in the modern sense did not exist ; but there were certain publications that did attempt to relate some of the news of the day. This was done under great diffi- culties, as the government did not favor these ventures. News- papers were first published in the reign of Tames I, 1 1 , 1 • , l Newspapers, at least as early as 162 1. In the early period of the civil war, they became more numerous and appeared with greater regularity ; but government opposition was soon awak- ened, and in 1662 stringent license laws were passed to regulate the new institution and prevent the publication of certain classes of political news. For some time the London Gazette was the only approved newspaper ; but the polit- The London ical excitement occasioned by the rise of the Whig Gazette - and Tory parties produced a demand for such organs and the number of newspapers increased. 365. Literature of the Restoration. 1 In literature, too, we have an illustration of the two-fold character of the time. The court delighted in comedy and literature of Butler's the lighter forms. In the same spirit Butler wrote Hudlbras - his famous satire on the Puritans, the poem Hudibras. But the time also saw the great work of Milton, the famous allegory of Bunyan, and the strongest verse of Dryden. Milton was a writer of the older Puritan type, but Bunyan belonged to his own time ; in his work we have the expression of the new non- conformist spirit, a spirit that has never departed from English society. John Milton reached manhood about the time of the out- break of the Puritan revolt ; but he took no part in its earlier 1 Gardiner, 596-598. 3QO THE STUART RESTORATION Milton. phase. During the years of the Puritan migration to New England, he was passing the time quietly at his father's home ; these years saw the production of some of his best poetry, such as Comns and Lycidas. During the civil war he was largely engaged in controversial writing. After the execu- tion of the king he was ap- pointed Latin secretary to the newly organized council of state; but after five years of service he became totally blind. Milton also served the Puritan cause and the commonwealth as a pamphleteer, especially in a series of brief writings in which he defended the principles of republicanism in church and state. He opposed the restoration of the Stuarts, believing that a republic was still possible ; it is said that he barely escaped prosecution when the restoration had become a fact. The earlier years of the new reign saw John Milton deep in thought Paradise on theological questions, the result of which was Lost. Paradise Lost, perhaps the most stately literary product of the English language. Toward the close of his life he wrote the story of the blind Hebrew giant in Samson Agonistes. He died in 1674, at a time when the forces hostile to Puritanism seemed to be victorious all along the line. While Milton was composing his great epic, John Bunyan Bunyan: was putting in order the materials for his great Pilgrim's allegory, Pilgrim's Progress. Bunyan was a tinker by profession ; for a time he had been a soldier in the parliamentary army ; during the last years of Cromwell's John Milton LITERATURE OF THE RESTORATION 391 rule he had been identified with the Baptist congregation at Bedford which he finally served as minister. But the Claren- don Code, particularly the Conventicle Act, interfered with his activities as a preacher, and he was committed to prison where he spent twelve years. Bunyan's work differed from Milton's in every way. His theme is the religious experience John Bunyan's Meeting House, South London of the non-conformist ; his story is told in the simplest English prose. But it is to be remembered that the author saw the world through the bars of the prison and that what he saw par- ticularly was the sinfulness of restoration society. From one point of view Pilgrim's Progress is an illustration Bunyan's view of life in the later Stuart period ; but Bunyan's of llfe - picture is incomplete in that it fails to show the better and more agreeable side. Another phase of the Restoration mind is illustrated in the career of the poet Dryden. John Dryden was originally a Puritan and an admirer of Cromwell. He joined, however, in the enthusiasm of the restoration and became in time the great literary exponent of the Tory party. Dryden 392 THE STUART RESTORATION Van Dyck. His poem Absalom and Achitophel l is an attack on the pur- poses and methods of 'Shaftesbury and the Whigs. In the next reign Dryden be- came a convert to the Roman Catholic faith. 366. The Fine Arts. 2 In the fine arts England made little progress during the seventeenth century. The paintings that we have from this period are chiefly the works of foreign artists, n ota b 1 y Van Dyck, whose paintings of Charles I and the va- rious members of his family are widely known. Architecture may be counted an exception : Sir Chris- topher Wren was an Christopher accomplished builder, though not an original de- Wren, signer, his style being copied from the Italian. The most notable product of his art is the Cathedral of Saint Paul's, which he rebuilt. The style is of the Renaissance order which prevailed in the public edifices of the age. 367. Scientific Progress : the Royal Society. 3 Somewhat greater progress was made in science. The century opens with Sir Francis Bacon, the jurist and philosopher, and closes with the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Contemporary with Bacon was the eminent physician William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood. About the middle of the century 1 Kendall, No. 96; Innes, II, 151-153 2 Gardiner, 631-632. 3 Ibid., 598. John Dryden After a portrait by Kneller. SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS: THE ROYAL SOCIETY 393 a few devotees of science began to hold occasional meetings to view and hear the results of scientific investigations. This body grew into the Royal Society, the purpose of The Royal which was to study the laws of mathematics, Societ y- the physical forces of the universe, and the laws and forms of the visible world. The society was christened in 1662 and three years later began to publish its transactions, which extend in continuous series to the present day. 1 IK mj If m :£S ; : : Choir of St. Paul's, London From a photograph by W. H. Dudley. The most famous of all the members of the Royal Society was Isaac Newton, who was admitted to membership in 1671. Six years before, it is said, he had observed the _ J ' Isaac Newton. fall of an apple and had been started on a line of thought that led to the statement of the law of gravitation; but it was other discoveries in mathematics and physics that gained him a place in the Royal Society. It was during the reign of Charles II that Isaac Newton did his most enduring work in the sciences ; in the next reign he was drawn into the 394 THE STUART RESTORATION stream of politics and for some time proved very useful as a member of parliament and as a government official. Progress along intellectual lines was scarcely possible during the war of religious and political opinions that consumed so much energy during the first half of the seventeenth century. In this respect, too, the return of the Stuarts brought a restora- tion. The reign of Charles II was one of great intellectual activity, and the king by his patronage did much to give it wider and freer fields. 368. Summary. The men who were in control during the Restoration period impress us as being, for the most part, a merry, somewhat dissipated, and not very serious company; still, they achieved much that has been of lasting importance. The English monarchy and the Stuart dynasty Restoration. to . . . . ~ L . were restored ; the reigning king, George V, is a descendant of a sister of Charles I. The English constitution, was restored; but the great reforms of the Long Parliament before 1642 were accepted and made a part of the constitution. The Anglican church was restored and the dissenters were largely deprived of political rights by the Corporation and Test Acts, which remained on the statute books for about one Scientific hundred and fifty years. There was a revival progress. f interest in scientific problems, and research was encouraged and stimulated. The British empire took on Territorial new growth : new settlements were formed in expansion. America and the English gained their first terri- torial foothold in India. The reign also determined an im- portant matter of foreign policy : England tore away from France and was drawn toward its old commercial rival, the Netherlands. And out of the strife over matters of religion Political and foreign policy, there arose two great political parties. parties, the Whigs and the Tories, the descendants of which are still in opposition to each other : the Whigs as the Liberals ; and the Tories as the Conservatives, or, as they are called just now, the Unionists. SUMMARY 395 Isaac Newton 396 THE STUART RESTORATION REFERENCES The end of the commonwealth. — Fletcher, Introductory History of Eng- land, I, ii, 496-507; Innes, History of England, 463-466; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 609-612. The restoration settlement. — Cross, History of England, 529-540; Fletcher, II, i, 16-26; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 578-590; Innes, 467-471; Oman, History of England, 420-426; Ransome, 613-620; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 471-478. Whigs and Tories. — Fletcher, II, i, 37-52; Gardiner, 615-622; Innes, 478-485; Ransome, 634-640; Tout, 484-488. Progress of the restoration period. — Cheyney, Short History of Eng- land, 490-498; Cross, c. xxxv; Fletcher, II, i, 1-16; Gardiner, 59 6 ~599) 628-634. CHAPTER XVIII THE WHIG REVOLUTION 369. The Earl of Shaftesbury. The troubles of Charles II during the last ten years of his reign were largely due to the activities of the earl of Shaftesbury. Anthony Ashley Cooper had begun his career as a royalist but soon turned parliamen- tarian and remained loyal to the republic until he saw that the restoration of the Stuarts was inevitable. For twelve years he was the king's friend and trusted adviser. In 1673, Founder of the however, he joined the opposition and founded the Whig party - Whig party. This was Shaftesbury's greatest achievement. He tried to use this new party to pass the Exclusion Bill and to secure the throne to James Crofts, better known as Monmouth, the alleged illegitimate son of Charles II. For his activities in this direction he incurred the wrath of the king and was made the subject of Dryden's famous satire, Absalom and Achitophel, 1 in which Monmouth plays the part of the rebel- lious son and Shaftesbury that of the wicked counselor. Charles attempted to have action brought against Shaftes- bury in the courts ; but in this he failed, for London, where the earl resided, was strongly Whig, and no grand jury could be found that would bring charges against the Whig chief. 2 Charles then proceeded to transform the government of the City; but this move led to no better results, for the wily in- triguer managed to escape to Holland where he character of died a few months later (1683). Shaftesbury Shaftesbury, was a man of unquestioned abilities ; on the subject of religious and personal freedom he held broad views and doubtless held them honestly; but his actions were too often dictated by ambition and his methods frequently had a suspicious look. 1 See II Samuel, cc. xvi-xvii; see sec. 365- 2 Gardiner, 622-624. 397 398 THE WHIG REVOLUTION 370. Execution of the Whig Leaders. 1 1683. Charles was now thoroughly aroused and it became evident that the lazy monarch was possessed of remarkable abilities as a politi- Whig cian. In the year of Shaftesbury's flight some of conspiracies. t h e "Whig leaders were found to be plotting against the king's life; while a number of important lords, among whom were Monmouth, Lord Russell, and Algernon Sidney, were conspiring to create a situation that would force the king to call a parliament. Monmouth was forgiven, several of the other leaders were executed. Lord Russell had been a consistent opponent of the king's brother James, having fought him because of his Catholic faith ; such a man was not to be permitted to escape. A packed jury found him guilty of trea- Algernon son. Algernon Sidney had always been an oppo- Sidney. nent of monarchy ; so intense were his beliefs that he could not even approve the rule of Cromwell. He was convicted because of his republican opinions. As only one witness could be produced against him, an unpublished manu- script in which the accused defended his republican faith was permitted to serve as the second witness. 371. The Despotism of Charles II. 2 The despotism of Charles I had been founded on the authority of the privy coun- cil ; that of Cromwell found its support in the Protector's control of a friendly army. Charles II had no army worth mentioning, nor had his privy council any effective power, since the Long Parliament had abolished its courts. But Charles II Charles discovered an effective instrument in the and the regular courts of the kingdom, the judges of which courts. were a pp } n t ec i by himself and carefully selected from among lawyers who were willing to stretch the law in the king's favor. The best known of these was-the notorious Jef- freys, who knew no law but the royal will and pun- Jeffreys. ■ . ished offenses against the government with greal brutality. It was Jeffreys who presided over the court thai 1 Gardiner, 625-626. 2 Review sees. 193-194; 302, 341. THE NEW COLONIAL POLICY. 1683-1688 399 tried Algernon Sidney ; on many other occasions, too, did he earn the gratitude of the tyrannical king. 372. The Remodeling of the Borough Corporations. 1682-1684. To punish London for supporting Shaftesbury a suit was brought against the corporation of the City ordering it to show by what right {quo warranto) it was exercising the right of municipal government. Jeffreys and his associates on the king's bench did what was expected of them : they found a pretext for depriving the City of its charter, and the right of self-government was lost. Similar suits were soon r\ yuo war- brought against a number of boroughs with royal ranto pro- charters where Whiggism was in control. As the ceedings - courts were then constituted, it was not difficult to convict the corporations of illegal acts ; the charters were accordingly de- clared forfeited ; new ones were drawn up ; and new corporations were organized with Tories in control of the membership. As the municipal corporations ordinarily elected members of parlia- ment from the boroughs, the king hoped in this way to secure a Tory parliament, if he should ever be compelled to summon one. 373. The New Colonial Policy. 1683-1688. It was in the year 1683 that the hand of Stuart despotism lay most heavily upon the English people : this was the year of the exe- cution of the Whig leaders and the remodeling of most of the borough corporations. In the following years the new political methods were extended to the colonies. The New England colonies were practically self-governing republics ; and the control of the king over the proprietary colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Carolinas was not great. From the view-point of the king and his council the system was not an ideal one : Charles II was doubtless right in holding that the colonies could be rendered more profitable to the royal treasury and could be more easily defended against the Indians, if they were under the control of one governor instead of a dozen. The king determined that New England at least should be subjected to a more effective royal control. In 1684 a quo warranto suit was brought against Massachusetts. A colony 4 oo THE WHIG REVOLUTION that had coined its own money, organized a colonial federation, and had even declared war could scarcely plead that it had been constantly loyal and obedient ; the result was that Massa- chusetts lost her charter. Two years later King James sent Sir Edmund Andros to Boston as governor of all the New Eng- Sir Edmund land colonies and New York and New Jersey. It Andros. seems to have been the king's plan also to attack the rights of the proprietors Penn and Baltimore and to unite all the American colonies into a great vice-royalty under a single governor who was to carry out the king's ideas without the aid of an as- sembly chosen by the colonists. But this plan was never realized, for in -1688 the revolution came and the Stuarts were deposed. 374. The Death of Charles. During the last year of his life, Charles II seriously considered calling another parliament. There was a law that not more than three years should pass between parliaments ; but Charles felt strong enough to ignore it. The matter of finance, however, was a pressing one. The king had a regular income, but it was too small for a spendthrift Charles as a ^ e the "merry monarch." Louis XIV sent re- pensioner of mittances from time to time, but the amount was insufficient. Charles, however, did not live to call another parliament: in February, 1685, he fell ill and died. He had then governed England nearly twenty-five years, and most of the time he had ruled intelligently. On his deathbed he was reconciled to the Roman Catholic church, which he had secretly favored all through his reign. A priest was summoned ; Death of tne k- m 8 confessed his sins, of which he had many, Charles II. and received the sacrament. When this was done and the attendants readmitted, his humor returned to the dying man; "he had been a most unconscionable time a-dying, but he hoped they would excuse it." 1 375. James II. 1685-1688. The king's brother, the duke of York, now ascended the throne as James II. 2 Of all the 1 Bates and Coman, 344; Cheyney, Nos. 321-322; Gardiner, 627; Innes, II, 145- 146 (character of Charles II). 2 Cheyney, No. 323; Gardiner, 634-635. JAMES II. 1685-1688 401 Stuarts, James II is the least attractive. He is described as a tall, angular prince with a pockmarked face Personality of that also showed traces of a dissolute life. Most J ames IL of the Stuarts were handsome, clever, and stiff-necked ; of these characteristics James had inherited only the last, but this in a meas- ure greater than was due him. Many of his dynasty had also been afflicted with impossible purposes, the attainment of which they made a matter of conscience; that of James was to re- store Roman Catholi- cism in England, and in the effort he ruined the Stuart dynasty for all time. A few months before the Restoration while he was still in exile, James had secretly married Anne Hyde, the daugh- ter of Clarendon. Anne Hyde became the mother of several children, two of whom, Mary and Anne, lived to become queens of Eng- Anne R dg land. In 1673, two years after the death of Anne Hyde, Prince James, who had become a Romanist not long before, married Mary Beatrice, a young Italian Mary princess, whose ruling passion was an enthusiasm Beatnce - for the Roman faith. To bring a princess of this type to Eng- land in the year of the Test Act was indiscreet to say the least ; but James was not famous for discretion. On the death of Charles, King James and Queen Mary were accepted by the James II After the original picture painted for Secretary Pepys by O. Kneller. 402 THE WHIG REVOLUTION English people with a great show of loyalty, though not with enthusiasm. Soon after the accession two revolts broke out, one in Scotland and the other in southwestern England in Revolts in favor of the impossible Monmouth. Both were favor of promptly crushed and punished with unusual se- Monmouth. ver } ty# i Jeffreys was sent into the southwest to bring Monmouth's partisans to trial, and so ruthlessly did he punish the misguided peasants that the sessions of his court have become known as the "Bloody Assizes." 2 On the whole, however, these rebellions intensified the loyalty of the English people and even brought some popularity to the throne. If King James had not undertaken to undermine the Anglican church, he doubtless would have been permitted to rule Eng- land in peace till the end of his days. 376. The Appointment of Catholic Officials. 3 King James made the usual promises to rule according to law and to main- tain the church of England ; but after a few months his real Violation of purpose began to become evident. The uprising the Test Act. f ^g,- g ave h} m a p re text for enlarging the army and an opportunity to appoint several officers who were Catho- lics. This was in direct violation of the Test Act, which still had the force of law. James informed parliament of what he had done, and expressed his determination to keep these officers ; when the commons protested against such disregard for the law, the king adjourned parliament. The king's quarrel with the commons over the annulment of the Test Act came only a few weeks after Louis XIV had re- Persecution of v °ked the Edict of Nantes and withdrawn all pro- the Huguenots tection from the French Protestants. Soon reports came to England of how the Huguenots were made to suffer for their faith, and English Protestants of every party and faction began to fear that a king like James, who deliber- ately ignored the law, might place their own faith in similar danger. James II paid little heed to public sentiment, but began nevertheless to feel the desirability of giving his appoint- i Cheyney, Nos. 326-327. 2 Gardiner, 637-638. 3 Masterman, 145-146. THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION. 1686 403 ments a legal sanction. He held that, as the statutes were made in the king's name, he was above the laws and could " dispense" with them in individual instances. He sounded the judges of the king's bench on this doctrine The ki and rinding four of them hostile to his views, he "dispenses" deprived these of their offices and appointed new W1 * e aw ' judges on whom he could depend for a favorable decision. Before this packed bench a case was brought charging one Hales, a Romanist, with holding an office under the crown in violation of the Test Act. Hales pleaded that he had a dispen- sation from the king, and the court held that this was legal and sufficient. 377. Appointment of Catholics to Offices in the Church. If the king could appoint Catholic officers in the army, he could also, as head of the Anglican church, place Catholics in impor- tant church offices. That this would be a viola- catholics tion of propriety and good faith meant nothing to appointed to James II. A secret Romanist was made bishop of churchoffices - Oxford. The master of University College at Oxford became a convert to Catholicism and was soon actively engaged in making converts of others ; but he was allowed to retain his position. When the deanship of Christ Church College fell vacant, the office was given to a Romanist. The following year the twenty-five fellows of Magdalen College were deprived of their fellowships and expelled for refusing to elect a Catholic to the presidentship of their college. Romanists were appointed to their places. Thus three important Oxford colleges were on the way to become Romanized. 378. The Ecclesiastical Commission. 1 1686. These were days of great sorrow and perplexity for the Anglicans. During the period of Puritan rule, churchmen had come to _„ 1686. believe strongly in the divine right of kings and they had long taught that the deeds of the Lord's anointed should be above criticism. Still, there were some who pro- tested against the appointment of Catholics to office in a Prot- 1 Gardiner, 639. 404 THE WHIG REVOLUTION estant church. These objectors the king determined to silence. A new high ^ e accordingly organized an Ecclesiastical Corn- commission mission, much like the high commission court 1 that had been abolished by the^Long Parliament, only its authority was not to extend to laymen. Jeffreys, who had once boasted that he could "smell a Presbyterian forty miles," was one of its leading spirits. The first case to come before the commission was that of Compton, the bishop of London, who had refused to punish a priest for criticising the king's appointments. Bishop Compton was suspended. It was this same commission that expelled the fellows of Magda- len College. The commission also had occasion to discipline the authorities of the University of Cambridge for refusing to give a degree to a Benedictine monk. Among those who ap- peared before Jeffreys and his associates on that occasion was Isaac Newton, who was professor of mathematics. "Sin no more," was the warning of the notorious judge, "lest a worse thing happen unto you." 379. The First Declaration of Indulgence. 2 1687. Re- alizing that he had made enemies of the Tory churchmen, James now turned for moral support to the dissenters who Declaration of were largely Whigs. In April, 1687, he issued his Indulgence. fi rst Declaration of Indulgence by which he sus- pended all the laws against Catholicism and dissent and granted freedom of worship to all. The old recusancy laws dating from Elizabeth's time and the Conventicle Act with the other laws of the Clarendon Code were thus swept away. There was much iniquity in these laws ; but if the king could set aside bad laws, he could also annul any other law. Moreover, his hands were not clean and his purposes scarcely honest. As the declara- tion was issued only a few days before the king's interference at Magdalen College, it soon became clear to most men that his professions of tolerance had a purpose behind them. The Anglicans, at least, were not to share in this new freedom. There were many strong partisans of the Stuarts among the 1 Review sees. 282, 306. 2 Gardiner, 640-641. THE FIRST DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE. 1687 405 .cMSSJS wlV !■ IJH| IK, % 1 406 THE WHIG REVOLUTION dissenters, the most notable of whom was the famous Quaker chief, William Penn. These were in favor of ac- Stuart / . . ,.!../, partisans cepting the royal gift, and, their influence was among the strong with many, especially with Quakers and Baptists. But the great majority, the Presbyte- rians in particular, refused to accept a privilege that was denied them by the laws of the land. 380. The Second Declaration: the Protest of the Seven Bishops. 1688. A year later (April, 1688), James II issued a second Declaration of Indulgence in which he reaffirmed the earlier grant ; he also ordered that this document should be read in all the Anglican churches. The church rebelled ; only The Seven Bishops on Their Way to the Tower From a Dutch print dated 1689. a very few priests obeyed the mandate. Seven bishops led by the archbishop of Canterbury drew up a petition to the king Trial of requesting him to excuse the priests from reading the seven the declaration. 1 Startled and angry the king bishops. replied: "This is rebellion. ... I will have my declaration published." Legal action was brought against the 1 Cheyney, No. 330; Gardiner, 642-643; Kendall, No. 98. STUART TYRANNY IN SCOTLAND 407 bishops, the charge being that they had libeled the king ; but the jury refused to convict. 1 381. Stuart Tyranny in Scotland. By midsummer, 1688, James II had alienated almost the entire English nation ; even the Catholics, most of whom longed for peace rather than for power, hesitated to follow a king who showed so little discre- tion. In Scotland the situation was, if possible, even worse. Like the English the Scots had rejoiced in the res- The situation toration of the Stuart dynasty ; but when the new in Scotland, government insisted on ruling the national church through bishops, the Presbyterians resisted. In 1638 they had signed a pledge, the National Covenant, to maintain Presbyterianism, and on this act, which they regarded as a part of the national constitution, they based their right to resist. In 1679, when England was in a ferment over the exclusion bill, actual civil war broke out between the extreme Covenanters of the south- west, to whom bishops were an abomination, and the support- ers of the king, who found bishops acceptable, civil war. James, then duke of York, came to Scotland to 1679 - put down the uprising. With the assistance of " Bloody " Claver- house, a famous and capable soldier who led the royalist forces, and "Bloody" Mackenzie, a learned and active lawyer, who prosecuted the rebels in the courts, he made considerable head- way. Torture and the gallows were freely employed. The Cov- enanters replied with a threat to assassinate any one who should interfere with their rights or their persons. Such was the situation early in 1685 when Charles died. When James became king the work of repression was carried on even more vigorously. A few months after his accession the Scotch parliament enacted that persons who at- The "killing tended conventicles "were to be henceforth pun- tnne -" ished by death." The first two years of James' reign are known in Scotland as the "killing time." In 1687, soon after he had entered upon his new policy of toleration in England, James II asked the Scotch parliament 1 Bates and Coman, 345; Innes, II, 158-162; Kendall, No. 99. 408 THE WHIG REVOLUTION for an act of toleration in favor of his " innocent subjects, those of the Roman Catholic religion." When this was refused, he dismissed parliament and published a Declaration of Indul- gence for Scotland, which extended freedom of worship to all Efforts to ^ut the extreme Covenanters. Otherwise, too, promote the king showed that he was determined to pro- o icism. mote hi s own f a ith : as in England, he was purging the privy council of Protestant members and appointing Catho- lics in their stead. Mass was said in Holyrood chapel. The result was a truce between the Covenanters and the Episco- palians : they had now the common problem of how best to meet the aggressions of Romanism, which they feared and hated even more than they hated each other. 382. The Succession: the Birth of a Prince. 1688. The hopes of the English and Scotch Protestants were centered about the king's oldest daughter, Mary, who was heiress presumptive to the crowns of Britain. Mary had been educated as a Prot- estant and had remained true to her faith. At the age of fif- teen she had been given in marriage to her cousin, William William of of Orange, the chief executive of the Dutch Re- Orange, public. Mary had all the virtues that belonged to the higher type of womanhood, all except strength and in- dependent spirit : she was completely under the domination of her strong-souled husband. The leaders of the opposition to James II did not enjoy the thought of having the stern and silent Dutchman as their regent ; but the king was becoming impossible, and they were not sure that they could allow him to reign in peace very many years longer. In the spring of 1688, the fear spread that Mary might never become the queen of England. It was reported that the king had visited a holy well in Wales and had been assured that a son would be born to him and that the child would live. On June 10, the boy was born, to the great joy of King James, who The birth had now an heir whom he could bring up in the of a prince. Catholic faith, but to the great disgust of the English people, who had been "waiting for better days," but THE INVASION OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE. 1688 409 now saw that their next ruler, too, was likely to be of the re- ligion that England had repudiated. It was also rumored that the little prince had died, and that a spurious infant had been provided by the Jesuits to take his place. The story found wide credence : even the Princess Anne had her doubts. To her sister Mary in Holland, who was also interested, she wrote : "I shall never now be satisfied whether the child be true or false, maybe 'tis our brother . . . where one believes it a crowd do not." 383. The Invasion of William of Orange. 1 November, 1688. Before the close of the month came the trial of the seven bishops, and a few hours after their acquittal, a messenger set out secretly for Holland with an invitation to William of Orange to " Come as the husband of the heiress of Great Britain. Come and demand a free Parliament and security for Protestantism." The invitation was signed by six men of promi- An invitation nence, all of whom had personal grievances against sent to the Stuarts. Russell and Sidney had kinsmen to 1 iam ' avenge; Bishop Compton had been deprived of his see. Most of the men who signed were Whigs, but Danby and Compton were Tories. William of Orange had long been deep in the secrets of the dissatisfied Englishmen ; still, he responded to the invitation with some reluctance. James II was his uncle and father-in- law ; the situation was indeed embarrassing. But danger was threatening from France, and while William cared little for the English crown, he was anxious to have the wealth, William's fear the army, and the navy of England at his disposal of France - in the war that the ambitious and restless Louis XIV was sure to bring upon Europe. He spent the summer and autumn in preparing a great fleet for a pretended invasion of Denmark which was just then under French influence, but in reality for an invasion of England. Louis XIV warned James of his son- in-law's intentions and offered him the use of his fleet ; but the dense monarch was sure that his daughter would forbid the 1 Cheyney, No. 331; Gardiner, 643-646. 41 o THE WHIG REVOLUTION invasion and declined the assistance. In disgust Louis turned , . „,„ his attentions once more to the Rhine frontier, Louis XIV . attacks and soon the war of the Palatinate was in full the Rhine blast. The European fear of Louis XIV was an country. . important asset in William's diplomacy : it was chiefly this that secured for him the friendly neutrality of the leading Catholic powers, Austria and Spain, and even the papacy, while he left his own land to dethrone a Catholic monarch. In November the Prince of Orange finally set sail. So large was his fleet that it required seven hours to pass a given point. Invasion Easterly winds drove the armament down the of England. Channel, and the landing was made at Torbay. Slowly the Dutch army proceeded toward London. On Salis- bury Plain King James had a large force, but it lacked in loyalty : the soldiers who had cheered the acquittal of the seven bishops now deserted to the enemy. 1 Even the Princess Anne The English fled to the camp of the invader. The government desert James. was panic-stricken. King James deserted the nation : just before Christmas he succeeded, to William's great relief, in making his escape to France, whither the queen and the little prince had preceded him a few days earlier. 384. The Revolution Settlement. 2 When the new year arrived, England was facing a strange situation politically : there was no parliament in existence and the king had left the land. The problem was how to provide a government that would have at least the appearance of legality. After con- sulting the chief men of the nation, William de- The second .,,,., , Convention cided to refer the matter to the electorate, and F^Jl iament * ordered an election for members of a convention 1689. parliament. This body, which contained men of the most diverse opinions from extreme republicans to Stuart partisans, finally passed four great measures which together constitute the Revolution Settlement. i. After long discussion as to how James II could best be i Kendall, No. ioo. 2 Masterman, 148-151. THE REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT 411 disposed of, it was agreed that when he fled from the land he virtually abdicated the throne, and that the kingship was ac- cordingly vacant. William and Mary were then William and declared to be the joint sovereigns of the nation. 1 Mary joint This was a most unusual arrangement, but it ru ers ' seemed the only way out of a complex situation. William refused to act as regent for his wife as queen, and Mary was too dutiful a wife to accept a title that she could not share with her husband. It was agreed that the executive authority should be laid in William's hands ; but till her death five years later, Queen Mary directed the government of the kingdom the greater part of the time, as King William was frequently absent from England, usually in the Netherlands of which he con- tinued as chief executive. 2. Before William and Mary were formally tendered the sovereignty, parliament adopted a Declaration of Right, in which an attempt was made to justify the revolution. Later this Declaration with certain additions relating to the succession was reenacted as the Bill of Rights. 2 This famous The Bill of and important document is made up of three chief Ri s nts - parts. In the first place it contains a list of the principal sins that James II had committed against the nation. This is followed by a statement of the "ancient rights and liberties" of England, among which are mentioned the right of parliament to control taxation, the army, and its own proceedings, and the right of Protestant subjects to bear arms. Excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel punishments are forbidden. Finally the Bill of Rights provides for the succession and enacts that no Roman Catholic shall ever inherit the throne of England. It also enacts that any person who shall become a Catholic or marry a Catholic, "shall be excluded and be forever incapable to inherit, possess, or enjoy the crown and government of" England and Ireland. The English king must remain a Prot- estant or lose his throne. A century later, when the Americans 1 Gardiner, 646-647. 2 Cheyney, No. 332; Robinson, No. 149; Tuell and Hatch, No. 57. 4 i2 THE WHIG REVOLUTION were forming new governments for the states and the nation, the form and the phraseology of the Bill of Rights came to have great importance, and "bills of rights" are still prefixed to most American constitutions. 3. In March, 1689, there was a mutiny in the army, which called attention to the fact that the paragraph in the Petition of Right (1628) relating to martial law made it difficult to main- tain discipline in the army. A Mutiny Act was therefore The Mutiny passed which authorized the enforcement of mar- Act - tial law in the army. To make sure that there would be a session of parliament the following winter, the duration of this act was limited to six months. Since then it has been reenacted annually and for a time it proved an effec- tive means of compelling the government to have parliamentary sessions every year. 4. When the temptation came to the dissenters in the form of the Declaration of Indulgence published by James II, their leaders received assurance from prominent Anglican church- men that if they refused to yield, relief should come in due time through an act of parliament. In 1689 this promise was re- deemed by the passage of the Toleration Act which granted The Tolera- freedom of worship to all Christians except Catho- tion Act. lies and Unitarians. 1 The act, however, did not excuse the dissenters from the obligation of paying the usual church dues to the Anglican church ; nor did it con- vey any political rights : the Corporation Act and the Test Act remained in force, and public offices were legally open to such persons only as partook of the communion in Anglican churches. 385. The Revolution in Scotland. The English revolution had a close parallel in Scotland. On the request of more than The Scotch a hundred prominent Scotchmen, William called a "Claim of convention parliament for the northern kingdom. Right." Thig bod y met in jy[ arc ] lj l6 g 9j adopted a Claim of Right in imitation of the English Declaration, and offered 1 Cheyney, Nos. 333, 34°- THE REBELLION IN IRELAND. 1689-1692 413 the sovereignty to William and Mary. Episcopacy was abol- ished, and the following year Presbyterian church government was reestablished, but in a moderate form. For more than a century the church had fought for the control of the state, and the state for the control of the church ; this warfare was now past. Many Scotchmen refused to accept William and clung to the fugitive James. Claverhouse raised the standard of the Stuart dynasty in the Highlands, but at Killi- Stuart up _ krankie, in the first battle with the Whig soldiers, risings in the the great leader fell. 1 As no new chief came for- 1 s hlands - ward to lead the movement, the Highlanders lost interest and the revolt melted away. 386. The Rebellion in Ireland. 2 1689-1692. It was only natural that troubles in Great Britain should call forth rebellion in Ireland. Less than three months after his precipitate flight from England, King James appeared in Ireland, King James where he was loyally received by the native Irish- in Ireland - men. In Ulster, however, the Scotch-Irishmen 3 prepared to resist him : they stood for William of Orange, and have since been known as Orangemen. At Londonderry they endured a long and terrible siege that told heavily on the resources and patience of the Stuart king. William III sent an army into Ire- land in 1689 and the next year he took the field himself, to the great anxiety of gentle Queen Mary, who thought with horror on the possibility that her husband might meet her father on the field of battle. Her fears were groundless. Battle of On the banks of the Boyne, not far from Drogheda, the Boyne. the Irish suffered a crushing defeat. It is told that when the disappointed king reached Dublin the same evening he remarked to an Irish lady: "Your countrymen run well, Madam." To which the lady replied: "I congratu- late your Majesty on having won the race." James II scarcely paused until he was once more on French soil. The Irish continued the struggle and it took two years of 1 Bates and Coman, 346-350 (Aytoun, Killikrankie) . 2 Cheyney, No. 335; Gardiner, 654-657. 3 Review sec. 273. 4 i4 THE WHIG REVOLUTION fighting to put down the uprising. Peace was finally secured Treaty of ^y the treaty of Limerick, which promised the Limerick. Irish Catholics the same freedom in religious mat- 1692 " ters that they had enjoyed in the time of Charles II, when the recusancy laws were not enforced. But the treaty was never carried out. The Protestants in the Irish parlia- ment annulled its provisions, and to the peasants of Ireland the " Glorious Revolution" brought nothing but misery. 387. The Revolution in the Colonies. The revolutionary movement also extended to the American colonies. When the news came of the change of rulers in the mother country, the colonists promptly took action and deposed the governors that James II had given them. The men of Boston seized their The rising viceroy, Sir Edmund Andros, and threw him into in Boston. prison. William Penn, as a Stuart partisan, had some difficulties with the new rulers, but he was ultimately restored to his rights. Although the new government favored a closer union and a more effective royal control of the colonies, it was thought best to reestablish conditions as they were just before Charles II had begun his attack on the colonial charters. William III decided, however, that inasmuch as Massachusetts had lost her charter by due process of law, it should not be restored. A new document was drawn up in' 1691, which was A new charter ^ ess nDera -l in its provisions than the earlier one, for Massa- as it reserved to the English government the right to appoint the governor and to veto legislation by the colonial assembly. 388. The Results of the Revolution. The Revolution of 1688 was one of the most important events in English history. It closed two mighty conflicts that for several generations had hindered the English nation from developing into Toleration. „ fe , ..-.■■, a first-class power : the struggle over religion and the fight for political freedom. The Puritan did not win su- End of theory premacy, but he found toleration and with this he of divine right. was reasonably satisfied. The theory of divine right disappeared from English politics, for the facts were against THE RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTION 415 it : it was impossible to hold that William III ruled by any other title than that given by parliament, and the same was true of the Hanoverian dynasty that ascended the throne some years later in accordance with the Act of Settlement. While parliament thus became the supreme power in the Supremacy of state, the king remained a mighty factor in the P arli ament. government, for as yet parliament had no effective organs through which to control the administration : but such an organ was developed in the next century, when circumstances threw the executive power into the hands of the king's cabinet. Further expansion of the British Empire was also made possible by the consequences of the revolution. The foreign policy of Cromwell and the Stuarts was now definitely reversed ; a close alliance was entered into with the Dutch Republic against Louis XIV and France. So long as there had been alliance or friendly understanding between Eng- New foreign land and France, the British Empire was hindered P° llc y- in its growth in the two most promising regions of the colonial world: India and America. In America the French claims north and west of the Alleghany Mountains limited English settlements to a narrow strip along the Atlantic between Canada and Florida. But after 1688 the West was no longer the terri- tory of a friendly power, and in due time the English crossed the mountain barriers and carried their flag to the Mississippi River. REFERENCES The revolution of 1688. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 404-416 (Macaulay); Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 62-76; Innes, History of England, 495-504; Jenks, Parliamentary England, c. ii; Oman, History of England, 445-447; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 649-665; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 490-495. The revolution settlement. — Andrews, History of England, 404-412; Beard, 417-422 (Macaulay); Fletcher, II, i, 77-86; Innes, 505-509; Ransome, 667-672; Tout, 496-498. The revolution in Scotland and Ireland. — Fletcher, II, i, 240-247; Innes, 509-517; Oman, 448-453; Ransome, 672-681; Tout, 498-502. CHAPTER XIX THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE 389. William III. 1 William III was the last great king of England. Since his day England has had rulers of moderate Personality of ability only ; in one or two instances the royal William in. capacity for government has been of a very limited nature. William of Orange was a dark, sad-faced man with striking though not handsome features : " his eyes are fire ; his nose aquiline, his cheeks hol- low, the mouth large with irregular and ex- traordinarily long teeth and a pointed chin . . . the length of the face is out of proportion with his stature." His personality suggested the eagle and there was much of the eagle's nature in his make-up. Physically he was weak — he was almost an in- valid ; but he possessed a powerful intellect and a strong, stern, and pa- tient will. He was a fair general and a remarkable diplomat : all the forces that were opposed to the ambitions of France looked to William III as their leader. » Tuell and Hatch, No. 58 (Macaulay). 416 William III THE JACOBITES 417 390. The Jacobites. A ruler of such a type could not be popular with Englishmen. That he was lacking in flesh and blood was bad enough ; what was worse, he was a Un ularit foreigner who looked at the world from the Dutch of the new point of view; he brought Dutchmen to England regime - and placed them in desirable offices ; and his policy of foreign warfare was very expensive. Very soon a party grew up that favored a restoration of the Stuarts, James II if that was un- avoidable, but preferably the young prince James of whom ex- cellent reports were being circulated. The Stuart following was known as the Jacobite party and was quite strong, espe- cially among the Scotch Highlanders, who looked upon William as the representative of the English influence which was very hateful to them. For a time Jacobitism was a real danger, though in the end it accomplished nothing. The difficulty was that while the Stuart partisans in England were willing to send money to the exiled family and to drink Jacobitism. 4 i 8 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE toasts to the "King over the Water," they were chiefly coun- The"Kinc tr y g ent lemen who shrank from the thought of over the rebellion and contented themselves with passive water. resistance. Many of the leading men of the time, even high government officials, were in correspondence with James and his son, but very few cared to come out openly for another Stuart restoration. 391. The War of the Palatinate. 1689-1697., King Wil- liam lived for a single purpose, to secure the independence of Policy of his native Netherlands by crippling France. For William in. thirty years he served as the head of the Dutch Republic, and these years were almost one continuous conflict with Louis XIV, now on the battle field, now on the field of diplomacy. It w?s the ambition of Louis to extend France eastward, at least as far as the Rhine, which the French were in the habit of regarding as their "natural boundary." Along French the upper course of the Rhine, King Louis was aggressions. making considerable progress ; and if the plan were to be completely realized, it would deprive the Dutch of much territory, as the Rhine ran through the United Netherlands. In opposition to Louis William organized a great league com- prising England, Holland, Spain, the Empire, and several lesser The lea ue powers. The war of the Palatinate, or of the league against of Augsburg, as it is sometimes called, began in Loms XIV. i6§9 and contmuec j eight years. There was fight- ing all along the eastern border of France ; but England was chiefly interested in the warfare in the Channel and in the The War Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium). Louis of the had built up a strong navy, stronger than the Palatinate. comb i ne d fleets of England and Holland. The French were planning to invade England ; but in 1692 Admiral Russell met the French in the Bay of La Hogue and won a decisive victory. For six days the English fought or pursued the French, taking many ships and destroying them. This was the greatest naval victory that England had won since the destruction of the Invincible REFORM OF THE COINAGE 419 Armada. Great Britain was saved from invasion. Louis now lost interest in his fleet and pursued the war on land, where his victories, though frequent, were barren of results. 392. The National Debt; the Bank of England. 1 When the war closed in 1697, neither side could boast any advantage. There were, however, certain lasting consequences. D ecline of For one thing the cause of James II, who was the Stuart active on the French side, became more desperate than ever. England could not take a king from a family that was living on the bounty of Louis XIV. The war also produced a national debt. Earlier all wars had been fought and financed by the king ; if his regular income was not sufficient to meet the expense, he got subsidies from parliament, or he borrowed money from the goldsmiths and other money lenders. But in 1692 parliament began to borrow money. Two The national years later, parliament chartered the Bank of debt 1692 - England. This institution was first suggested by William Paterson, a canny Scotchman with a taste for ventures in finance. It was Paterson's idea that it would be more con- venient to borrow money in large sums from a bank than in small sums from a large number of lenders. A bank would also be a safer place in which to deposit cash than the shops of the goldsmiths. In return for its service to the govern- The Bank of ment, the Bank of England was permitted to issue England, bank notes which passed as currency. Paterson's bank grew to be the most important bank in the world. 393. Reform of the Coinage. A serious financial problem of the time was how to strike a coin that would retain its nominal value. In those days the edges of all coins were Isaac Newton smooth and "clipping," that is paring the coin as official in down, was a common offense. After a shilling had been clipped a few times, it no longer passed for full value. In 1696, two years after the Bank of England was chartered, Isaac Newton was given an office in the mint, and he remained connected with that service till his death thirty years later. 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 194-198. 4 20 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE Newton hit upon the simple expedient of striking coins with a milled edge. When it was found that a clipped coin would no longer be accepted, the practice ceased. 394. Wealth and Industry. The medieval belief that gold and silver are the only real wealth was still held in England when the eighteenth century began. It was commonly known as the "mercantile theory." The mercantilists taught that Principles of England should try to sell as much as possible mercantilism, abroad and buy very little in return ; the difference would then come into the country in cash and the "balance of trade" would be favorable. It was thought that this could be accomplished by legislation and other efforts along four separate lines. i. All English goods should be carried in English ships manned by English crews. There would then be employment The English ^ or tne nat ive sailors and the money paid out for merchant transportation would remain in England. The navigation acts were planned to develop the Eng- lish merchant marine. A new instalment of the navigation acts came in 1696. The victory at La Hogue was also an important event in the history of the merchant marine, as it crippled the only power that could prey effectively on English commerce. 2. Enough grain must be raised so that it would become un- necessary to buy abroad. This meant that agriculture must be Development given special attention. In the second half of the of agriculture, seventeenth century much farm land was reclaimed by extensive draining in the Fenlands near the Wash ; in this work Dutch engineers were employed. Later in English his- tory agriculture was "protected" by the so-called corn laws, which forbade the importation of grain until English grain should have reached a fixed price. 3. Exports should be encouraged and imports discouraged. There was therefore much opposition to such trading corn- Emphasis on panies as the East India Company which dealt export trade. j n i m p rts only, as the Orientals bought almost no English products. But as a large part of these imports were THE SPANISH SUCCESSION 421 again sold to other European countries, the company was able to meet the criticism successfully. 4. It was necessary to provide work for all, especially in the industries. Parliament had from time to time passed laws to encourage trade ; but the great industrial growth Encourage- in the days of William and Anne was a natural merit of one. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in ustry ' (1685), nearly half a million Huguenots emigrated from France to Protestant lands, a large number settling in England. Many of the Huguenots were men of wealth ; others were skilled artisans in some of the finer trades ; they brought Huguenot capital, business ability, skilled workmanship, and merchants and new methods and industries into English commer- cial and industrial life. The Huguenots were hatters and weavers ; they were expert jewelers and clock makers ; they were skilled in the manufacture of fine glass. On the whole they were well received in England, for they did not, as a rule, come into competition with the native manufacturers : the Huguenot weavers were interested in silk, linen, and cotton rather than wool. In a comparatively short time the output of English manufactures increased twenty-fold. 395. The Spanish Succession. 1 When peace was made at Ryswick in 1697, it was not so much to close the war that was going on, as to get some time to prepare for another war that seemed sure to come. Charles II, the degenerate king of Spain, whose death had seemed imminent for a number of years, was nearing the close of life. He had no children and the question was what would become of the Spanish inheritance. The Spanish This was indeed vast : it comprised the kingdom mnentance - of Spain with the Balearic Islands ; the kingdom of Naples and Sicily and the duchy of Milan in Italy ; the Spanish Nether- lands ; Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America ; and the Philippine Islands. There were two claimants The finally : Louis XIV claimed the entire inheritance claimants - for the Dauphin, whose mother was a sister of Charles II ; 1 Cheyney, No. 33S. 422 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE Leopold of Austria, the emperor, whose mother was an aunt of the Spanish king, claimed the monarchy for his son, the Archduke Charles. William III had no interest in the Spanish lands, but he was anxious to prevent the union of the French and Spanish crowns. He also wished to avoid another war, for which he was at the moment ill prepared : the Tories, who now were a peace party, had come into power and were actively cutting down the expenses of the nation by reducing the English army. William then proposed to Louis that they should settle the matter for the Spaniards, and the two monarchs calmly pro- The partition ceeded to dispose of territories to which neither treaties. nac i any right. Two " partition treaties" were secretly drawn up, but both failed. Shortly before his death, Charles II disposed of his many crowns by a will, according to which Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, was ap- pointed heir to the kingdom of Spain and all its dependencies, on the condition, however, that the kingdoms of France and Spain should never have a common ruler. 1 If Philip should ever accept the French crown, he would have to abdicate the The will of Spanish kingship. Louis accepted the terms of Charles II. tne w [\\ an( j promptly proceeded to act as if he and not his grandson were the heir : to secure their frontier, the Dutch had been allowed by the treaty of Ryswick to hold cer- tain fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands ; these Louis now seized and the Dutch were driven out. 396. The Act of Settlement. 2 1701. The second parti- tion treaty was signed in February, 1700, and in June the The succession question of the British succession began to take in England. on a ii ve iy interest. William and Mary had no children ; according to the Bill of Rights the crown was there- fore to go to the Princess Anne, and it was generally expected that William, the young son of this princess, and the only one of her many children who survived infancy, would eventually ascend the English throne. But in 1700 Prince William died, 1 Robinson, No. 156. 2 Gardiner, 672-674; Masterman, 152-153. QUEEN ANNE. 1702-1714 • 423 and it seemed likely to many that young Prince James Stuart, who was now thirteeen years old, would some day prove a powerful candidate for the crowns of Britain. But the "Old Pretender," as he came to be called, was the guest of Louis XIV, with whom England was likely soon to be at war, and he seemed as firm a Catholic as his father. To prevent his accession, a Tory parliament in 1701 passed the Act of Settlement, which provided that, in case both Anne The Act f and William III should die without heirs, the Settlement, crowns of England and Ireland should pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover and to her heirs "being Protes- tant." The electress was the granddaughter of James I, and sister of Prince Rupert who fought so gallantly for Charles I. There were more than fifty men and women of Stuart blood who stood nearer the throne than did Sophia ; but they The Electress were all professed Roman Catholics, and parlia- Sophia of ment was determined that England should have a anover * Protestant ruler ; there was, however, no enthusiasm for the stately electress who was finally chosen. All sovereigns of Eng- land since Queen Anne have held their crowns by virtue of this Act of Settlement. 397. Preparations for War. England saw with fear the vast increase of power that had come to the Bourbon dynasty ; but the Tories were reluctant to go to war. William, however, saw that a conflict was unavoidable, and proceeded to organize another "grand alliance," this time in support The " Grand of the Austrian candidate. In September, three Alliance -" months after the Act of Settlement had become a law, James II died ; an entirely new situation was now created, for Louis XIV promptly proclaimed Prince James king of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Thus began the reign of James III, a pretense that he kept up for sixty-four years. The proclamation was deeply resented in England ; and the nation rallied to William's support. 398. Queen Anne. 1702-1714. A few months later Wil- liam was thrown from a horse and suffered such severe injuries 424 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE Queen Anne. that after an illness of two weeks he died (March, 1702). He Death of was succeeded by the Princess Anne, 1 who bore the William in. crown f r twelve years. Queen Anne was almost wholly wanting in the qualities that distinguish a ruler : she had no personal charms and no talents of any sort, least of all those that are necessary to the diplo- mat or the politician. England in her day was governed by favorite ministers. From her husband she could expect no assis- tance : Prince George realized that he had no abilities of the sort re- quired, and he had a well founded suspicion that the nation was also aware of it. Queen Anne was devoted to the English church ; and as the churchmen were chiefly Tories, her lean- ings were in the same direction, and whenever possible she selected Tories as her chief ad- visers. 2 399. The Duke and Duchess of Marlbor- ough. William's death on the eve of a tremendous war, the greatest that Europe had known for centuries, was a great loss to the enemies of France. The Duke of But William's preparations were complete ; he had Marlborough. even se i ec t e d the general who was to lead the forces of the allies : John Churchill 3 was the greatest military Queen Anne From an engraving published 1815. Bates and Coman, 352 (Pope). Cheyney, No. 337. Tuell and Hatch, No. 59. THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 425 genius of his age; he was also a statesman of the higher class. Churchill had been high in the favor of James II; but in 1688 he had deserted to William, who had rewarded him with the title of earl. He was not always faithful to the Dutch king, but Wil- liam realized his useful- ness and forgave him. To Anne he was always loyal, and soon after the opening of her reign she created him duke of Marlborough. During the first half of the new reign he was virtually the ruler of England : the management of the great war and the con- trol of foreign affairs were in his hands. Marlborough was nec- essarily absent with the army most of the time ; but he had two efficient agents in London, his friend Sidney Godolphin, the lord treas- urer, and his wife, Sarah Jennings Churchill. The Duchess Sarah was a talented woman of great beauty with a domineering disposition and an ungovernable temper. She had been a childhood companion of the queen, The Duchess and while Anne was still a princess her influence of Mari- with her royal mistress was unbounded. When oroug Anne became queen, Sarah's power began to wane; but her influence remained great for some years yet. In her earlier years Anne had needed a guide ; now she needed a sympathetic friend and comforter : she was in constant ill health ; her do- mestic bereavements had been many ; her dull but good-natured John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough From a portrait by Sir G. Kneller. 426 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE husband died in 1708 ; and the claims of her brother gave her an uneasy conscience. Such a friend she found in Abigail Hill, later Mrs. Masham, a cousin of the imperious Mrs. Masham. -», Sarah, but of a totally dmerent character. Mrs. Masham shared the sorrows of the tearful queen, and inciden- tally shared her political secrets and helped her to make up her mind in important state affairs, especially in making appoint- ments to office. 400. The War of the Spanish Succession. 1702-1713. The war of the Spanish succession began almost immediately Queen Anne's after Queen Anne's accession and continued almost War - to the close of the reign. The English forces fought chiefly in the Spanish Netherlands, where Marlborough won a series of brilliant though not very decisive victories. Only once did he fight a campaign elsewhere : in 1704 he made a dash up the Rhine into Bavaria and annihilated a French army at Blen- heim. 1 A few days earlier an English fleet seized the rock of Gibraltar, which England still retains. A feeble attempt was made to fight the French in America ; and Acadia, renamed Nova Scotia, was added to the British possessions. 401. The Treaty of Utrecht. 2 1713. The long war closed with the treaty of Utrecht in 17 13. On the whole the allies were victorious. Philip, the Bourbon prince, retained the Spanish throne, but was forced to surrender some of the more unimportant possessions of his crown, those in the Nether- Losses of lands and in Italy, most of which were transferred the Spanish to his rival Charles, who was now emperor. Eng- land received territorial and commercial compensa- tion. Spain surrendered Gibraltar and Minorca, and England has from that time been a power in the Mediterranean. France Territorial acknowledged the English rights to Acadia, New- gains of foundland, and the great fur-bearing regions about Hudson Bay. Spain further allowed England a monopoly of the slave importation into America for a period 1 Bates and Coman, 353-355 (Southey, Blenheim). 2 Gardiner, 696-698; Innes, II, 179-184 (Swift's view of the war). UNION OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 1707 427 of thirty years: this was the famous Assiento. A company was organized to carry on the slave trade, in which many prominent Englishmen, including the queen, be- came stockholders. Spain also agreed to allow a single ship to trade each year at the Isthmus of Panama. This provision the English evaded by dispatching a whole fleet to the Isthmus but sending only one ship into port : this ship would make a series of trips between the fleet and the harbor, until all the cargoes were disposed of. The treaty also permitted the Dutch to close the river Scheldt. Higher up closing of this stream in the Spanish Netherlands was the the Scheldt - great city of Antwerp which in those days threatened to rival London as a commercial center. The closing of the Scheldt ruined Antwerp, and London rapidly advanced toward the commercial supremacy that she still holds. 402. The Union of England and Scotland. 1 1707. A most important event in the reign of Anne was the union of England and Scotland into a single kingdom of Great Britain. Since the accession of James I in 1603, the two countries had been governed by a common king but were other- t • ' 1 ■ * t? , . „ The "personal wise distinct monarchies. A personal union union " of is, however, usually an unsatisfactory arrange- En s land and ment. The king's foreign policy is dictated chiefly by the interests of the stronger kingdom ; and in the eyes of the nations the weaker state sinks in importance. The Stuarts resided at Westminster and governed Scotland through a deputy called a royal commissioner. This was a form of absentee rule that the Scotch did not enjoy. Scotland had never been a wealthy country. Only the riches of the soil had been developed, and the soil was poor. The civil wars that had raged in the seventeenth cen- Economic tury had ruined agriculture in many of the valleys, situation in and poverty was everywhere. In 1689 the religious conflict ceased, and the energy that had been given over to strife now sought employment in commerce. But the laws of 1 Gardiner, 685; Innes, II, 171-175. 428 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE England stood in the way. English merchants had a monopoly of the colonial trade. In the Orient the East India Company was well established. Nor could Scotch merchants trade to advantage in England because of English tariff systems. But, on the other hand, when the larger kingdom went to war, Scot- land was forced to assist. In 1696 a number of merchants under the lead of William Paterson organized a Scotch East India Company. It was a The Darien part of their plan to locate a Scotch colony at venture. Darien on the Isthmus of Panama. In 1698 a colony was sent out, but the tropical climate and Spanish arms proved too much for the northerners and the venture was a failure. As the colony was unauthorized and located on Spanish territory, William III and the English government could render no assistance. The colony was ruined, the nation was discouraged, and William III (Wilful Willie), who had never been popular in Scotland, was now disliked more than ever. When the English parliament passed the Act of Settlement (1701) and fixed the succession on Sophia, no effort was made to secure joint action by the northern kingdom. Scotch pride felt the slight very keenly. The parliament in Edinburgh accepted Anne as queen ; but soon after passed an The Scotch . , - « . , . , . , 1 ., x1 Act of Act of Security which provided that on the queen s Security. death the Scotch parliament should elect as her successor a Protestant member of the Stuart dynasty, but that this should not be the heir to the English crown, unless England should have already guaranteed the independence of Scotland and her parliament and the security of her colonies, trade, and religion. The war compelled Queen Anne to accept this act, and in 1704, just before the great victory at Blenheim, it became a law. England replied with an act that forbade the sale of Scotch English cattle and other products in England, unless the retaliation. northern kingdom should accept the Act of Set- tlement ; but this law was not to go into force before Christ- THE PENAL LAWS IN IRELAND 429 mas, 1705. Meanwhile, both nations appointed commissioners to discuss plans for the union of the kingdoms. An agreement was finally reached, and in 1707 the kingdom of Great Britain came into legal existence. The English commissioners insisted on a "legislative union," a single parliament for the two kingdoms. The Scotch were forced to yield but in return they were given all The legislative the rights of trade enjoyed by Englishmen any- umon - 1707 - where in the world ; trade between the two countries was also made free. Each of the kingdoms retained its own church and its own system of law ; also its own set of officials to carry out the laws. In these respects the union was incomplete ; but in this way the separate nationalities were preserved ; the Scotch- man did not become an Englishman. It was hard for Scotland to accept the union. Andrew Fletcher, the author of the Act of Security, a Scotch republican and an intense patriot, fought the proposal with all his The " end of eloquence. Most of the nobility, however, sup- ana uidsang." ported the union, and it was accepted by fair majorities. Out- side parliament the feeling was intensely hostile. The English parliament passed the act with little debate. When the docu- ment was ratified and the union complete, the chancellor of Scotland is said to have remarked that here was the "end of an auld sang." 403. The Penal Laws in Ireland. 1 The same year that brought peace and union to Great Britain, added strength to England, and economic freedom and prosperity to Scotland, marks the beginnings of a condition in Ireland that The situation was but slightly better than slavery. The treaty m Ireland - of Limerick was never carried out. The Anglican Protestants in Ireland were determined to stamp out rebellion and planned to do it by repression. This was attempted in a series of acts passed by the Dublin parliament and agreed to by the privy council in London. For some of these laws the great war was responsible, since it had been the experience of Britain that 1 Cheyney, Nos. 343-344; Gardiner, 686-687; Kendall, in. 430 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE whenever England had serious difficulties the Irish would be sure to rise in rebellion. i. The Catholics were deprived of all political rights. First of all an oath of allegiance was prescribed for all office holders „ , ,. which no Catholic could take, as it contained a The Catholics are deprived denial of Catholic doctrine. The Irish parliament of political thus became an exclusively Protestant body. Eleven years later (1704), a similar oath was framed for those who wished to vote at parliamentary elec- tions ; and after that year no Catholic Irishman could vote : five-sixths of the populace was disfranchised. It was also enacted that only those could hold office who took the sacrament in the Anglican church. This closed all the offices to the dissenters as well. 2. More Catholic land was confiscated. Although the Irish leaders believed that their lands were secured by the Confiscation treaty of Limerick, the government proceeded of land. to the third great confiscation. 1 More than a million acres were seized. Only one-seventh of the land re- mained to the Catholics, though they constituted more than three-fourths of the entire population. 3. The Irish Catholics were deprived of the ordinary civil rights. A series of laws called the Penal Laws were enacted, The loss of some of which were in force for nearly a century, civil rights. These made it extremely difficult for any Roman Catholic to acquire and hold land ; he could not lease it for more than thirty-one years, and if a Protestant could prove that his profits exceeded one-third of the rent he could take it from him. The eldest son of a Catholic could get possession of his father's land by becoming a Protestant ; and in the same way a dissatisfied wife could get one-third of her husband's property and separate maintenance. No Catholic might teach in any school or act as the guardian of a child; and if a child professed Protestantism it had to be surrendered immediately to a Protestant guardian. Fire-arms no Catholic 1 Review sec. 273; the second confiscation was in Cromwell's time. THE "AGE OF ANNE" 431 was permitted to have; and if a Protestant offered him five ) pounds for his horse he was forced to sell it. The penal laws were never strictly enforced ; the Protestants were too few and the native Irish too numerous. But they did not fail to emphasize the misery of a people „ . Emigration, that had been robbed of its land. Many of the Irish sought new homes in the colonies and thus began the stream of migration that has given so many millions of Irish and Scotch-Irish to the American republic. 404. The Age of Anne in Literature. 1 The "Age of Anne" is a famous period in the history of English Literature. The early years of the eighteenth century produced no great dramas like those of the Elizabethan Age 2 and no epic poems like those of the Restoration. 3 It was, indeed, not wholly wanting in poetry, for Addison wrote readable poems and Pope's Rape of 1 the Lock was written during Anne's reign. But An age of the "Age of Anne" was emphatically an age of prose in prose, not deep or thoughtful but delightfully clear and clever, and full of human interest. The period also had its more profound thinkers, but they were not numerous. Four men stand out prominently among the writers of this age: Swift, Defoe, Addison, and Berkeley the philosopher. The literary interest of the period centers in London. Here was the seat of government ; and in this period politics and literature were closely associated. Nearly all the Political writers of the time were fierce partisans and were pamphleteers, often employed as political pamphleteers. Addison, Swift, and Defoe all served in this capacity. A successful political pam- phleteer must have wide knowledge of current events, a thorough knowledge of human nature, especially of its weak- nesses, critical insight, and a lucid style. These writers possessed all these qualities, Swift in greater measure than Addison and Defoe. Jonathan Swift was an Angli- can priest born in Dublin but of English parentage. He was a strange, eccentric man, whose life was a bitter disappointment 1 Gardiner, 692-695. 2 Review sec. 270. 3 Review sec. 365. 432 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE and closed in tragedy. For a time Swift was a Whig ; but in 1 710 he entered the service of the Tories who had just come to power. He had hoped that his efforts would be rewarded with a bishopric but he received only a deanery in Dublin. Daniel Defoe * was a dissenter and consequently a Whig. His productivity was enormous. During Anne's reign he was chiefly interested in politics. After the Whigs had come into undisputed control with George I, he found time for other work and produced Robinson Crusoe (17 19), a story that is often regarded as the first English novel. Robinson Crusoe is, however, not exactly of that type ; the real novel- came about twenty years later with the writings of Richardson and Fielding. Another type of literature that belongs to the age is the periodical essay. This is remembered in connection with the Addison and Tattler and the Spectator of Addison and Steele. Steele. The Tattler began in 1709 and the Spectator two years later. They may have been suggested by Defoe's Review, a periodical that this versatile writer planned while in prison in 1704. Joseph Addison rose higher than his contemporaries: he was secretary to the regency that governed England between Anne's death and the coming of George I. Later he served as secretary of state, and thus filled one of the highest offices in the government. Of the men who were busied with the deeper problems of the world, Sir Isaac Newton and George Berkeley were the most prominent. Most of Newton's scientific work has Isaac Newton. r . . . . already been referred to. During the reigns 01 William and Anne he was largely engaged in public duties as member of parliament and master of the mint. Berkeley, like Dean Swift, was an Irish clergyman ; but he was more successful in life and finally got the reward that Swift longed George for. Berkeley was early attracted to scientific and Berkeley. philosophic problems and wrote a number of im- portant works. He is also to be remembered for his interest in 1 Cheyney, No. 341. 2 Review sec. 367. THE LAST YEARS OF ANNE 433 the American colonies. He planned to found an Anglican uni- versity in the New World, an institution that was also to look after the spiritual welfare of the Indians. With the aid of Dean Swift he secured promises of financial assistance from the gov- ernment. He emigrated to New England and spent six years at Newport, Rhode Island. The promised assistance failed to come and the broken-hearted philosopher returned to England. His farm and his library he left to Yale College (1734). 405. The Last Years of Anne. 1 Harley and Bolingbroke. In the spring of 17 14 the queen's health failed rapidly, and the problem of the succession took on renewed interest. The Tories were in power ; but many of their leaders were Jacobites, and it was doubted whether they would try to carry out the Act of Settlement which their own party had passed. In 1710 the Whigs had been definitely defeated at the elections : two new men, both moderate Tories, now came into control of the government : Robert Harley and Henry St. John, Robert better known as Lord Bolingbroke. Harley was Harle y- a cousin of Mrs. Masham, whose influence he used to undermine the power of Marlborough and Godolphin. After Godolphin's dismissal, Harley became chief of Queen Anne's government, and remained as such for four years, till within a few days of the queen's death. Most of this time he held the impor- tant office of lord treasurer. Bolingbroke was a Lord younger, more brilliant, and more energetic man ; Boungbroke. he was an effective orator and an astute politician ; but he was restless, unreliable, and treacherous. It was he who negotiated the treaty of Utrecht. Bolingbroke was Harley's chief lieu- tenant, but he was also his chief rival. Though in a minority in the commons, the Whigs still con- trolled the house of lords. To secure a majority of his party in this body, Harley and his aids induced the p ack j ng t h e queen to create twelve new peers. In December, house of lords 171 1, these new lords, one of whom was the insig- W1 nificant Mr. Masham, took their seats, and Tory control was 1 Masterman, 157-158. 434 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE complete in all the departments of the government. It is worth remembering that this precedent for packing the house of lords was set by the Tories. In 1832 and again in 191 1 they had occasion to regret it ; for their opponents were able to Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke force legislation through a hostile house of lords by threatening to do what Harley and Bolingbroke had taught them to do. It was quite generally known that the elector George suspected the Tories of Jacobite sympathies and that he was already in alliance with the Whigs. The death of Anne would then mean the downfall of Harley's ministry. Harley was perplexed, for he did not know whether the Catholic James would be accept- able to the nation. Bolingbroke was for immediate action and SUMMARY 435 forced the dismissal of his hesitating chief. For a few days he was at the head of the government and probably in- j aC obite tended to restore the Stuarts; but the queen died be- schemes, fore his plan was completed, and four days later, the electress Sophia having departed life a few weeks earlier, the privy council pro- claimed her son, George I, king of Great Britain (August 5, 1714). 406. Summary. The period from the revolution of 1688 to the treaty of Utrecht was one of almost continuous warfare between England and France. In the great international problems of the time England had no direct interest ; still, the outcome of the two wars had important results R esu j ts of for the English nation and the British Empire, the war with England maintained her position as the greatest 0U1S naval power. Important additions were made to her empire both in America and in Europe. The war also emphasized the need of a closer union on the island of Great Britain and indirectly led to the union of 1707. It ruined the cause of the Stuart dynasty, for King James was a pensioner of the great enemy, Louis XIV. For the same reason the Tories felt com- pelled to pass the Act of Settlement, which provides that Prot- estant kings only shall rule in England. The Tory leaders were, however, not entirely faithful to this Act and the result was that on the death of Queen Anne power passed into the hands of the Whigs. The age was also a notable Progress of one in the economic and in the literary history of the age - England : it was the age of Paterson and the Bank of England ; of reforms in the coinage ; of new forms of industry brought in by the fugitive Huguenots; and it was the age of Addison, Defoe, Swift, and Steele. REFERENCES Commerce and finance. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 87-92; Innes, History of England, 534-540; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 688-691; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 524-526. The Spanish succession. — Innes, 526-530; Ransome, 700-702; Tout, 507-508. 436 THE LONG DUEL WITH FRANCE The Panama venture. — Fletcher, IT i, 248-250; Lang, Short History of Scotland, c. xxviii. The Union of England and Scotland. — Brown, Short History of Scot- land, 509-522; Cross, History of England, 660-662; Fletcher, II, i, 251-256; Innes, 555-560; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 124-129; Lang c. xxix; Ran- some, 714-718; Tout, 521-523. The last years of Queen Anne's reign: Utrecht and the succes- sion. — Fletcher, II, i, 140-148; Innes, 566-570; Oman, History of England, 476-480; Ransome, 725-730. The "Penal laws" in Ireland. — Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xxiii; Lawless, Ireland, cc. xlv-xlvi. CHAPTER XX THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 407. The Early Hanoverians. 1 George I waited more than a month before he set out for England. When he finally did arrive in his new kingdom, there was much display and much official rejoicing : the masses, however, showed little enthusiasm for the new king. George I, the "wee German lairdie" that the Scotch Jacobites sang about, was a middle- ... George I. aged prince of moderate abilities and few personal attractions, who brought little to England but a set of Han- overian favorites, uncouth personal manners, and a dense ignorance of British affairs. He came to enjoy the new king- ship, and apparently he succeeded in his purpose. As gov- ernment is at best a bothersome affair, George I determined to have as little to do with it as possible. George II, who suc- ceeded his father in 1727, was a slight improvement as a ruler, but scarcely as a human being. The two Georges disliked each other most cordially and with good reason. In order to appear as unlike his sluggish father as possible, the younger George strove to become English and made con- stant, though not always discriminating, use of the English language. But he, too, was coarse, vulgar, rude in manners, and uneducated. Believing himself something of a military genius, he showed great interest in the army ; he was also anxious to have a larger share in the government of the kingdom ; but here his ministers balked him, and he was compelled to be satisfied with remaining a showy figurehead. 408. The Jacobite Rising. 1715. It was not many months before the Hanoverians had become extremely unpopular. It 1 Cheyney, Nos. 345-346. 437 438 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS seemed to many of the Jacobites that the time was surely ripe for a revolt in favor of the Pretender James. King George had The rising in been in England only a year when Jacobite par- the Highlands, tisans raised the standard of the Stuarts in the Highlands; a little later there was a rising in the northern counties of England. The Jacobite forces in Scotland were at first reasonably successful ; in November they fought an inde- cisive battle with the forces of the government at Sheriffmuir, where one half of each army defeated the opposing Sheriffmuir. ,-,,-,■ , e -^ i \ i half of the enemy s lorces. .But the next day the Jacobites in England were crushed at Preston not far from the border. Early in January the Pretender landed in Scotland, but he was too late in coming. Winter made operations dim- cult, and the religious questions came up continuously. The somewhat shy, silent man was not the sort of a leader that the Xhe Highlanders had expected ; James soon realized Pretender. that his cause was lost. In February he secretly left his Highland army and embarked for France. The rising melted away. 409. Whigs and Whiggism. 1 For half a century the first two Georges bore the English crown. During this period the actual rulers of the kingdom were the chiefs of the Whig party, The Whig of whom Sir Robert Walpole was the most notable, doctrine. The cardinal doctrine of Whiggism was that parliament and not the king should be the controlling force and ultimate ruler of the nation. With the earlier Hanoverians on the throne, this doctrine came to be a political fact : George I and his son made no attempt to oppose the will of parliament. The Whig The Whig leaders were chiefly peers or members of leaders. noble families ; their aim seems to have been to center as much power and influence as possible in the house of lords. The peers were great landowners and were influential with their tenants, some of whom had a right to vote ; they also controlled a large number of English boroughs ; conse- quently they were able to get their younger sons, their friends, 1 Masterman, 159-160. CABINET GOVERNMENT 439 or their faithful henchmen elected to membership in the house of commons. Practically, therefore, Whiggism in the eight- eenth century meant the rule of the nation by a limited number of aristocratic families. 410. Cabinet Government. 1 It was while monarchy was weak and the Whig leaders all powerful that England developed her modern system of government, which is called the cabinet system. This form of government is one of the most important contributions that England has made to the science of politics ; it has been widely copied and in some form has been accepted by nearly all the states of Europe. Under cabinet rule the actual control of the governmental policies is in the hands of a group of the more important ministers (now . • 7 . , x , • „ The cabinet, about twenty in number), who act as a unit on all matters of real importance. The chief of the cabinet is the prime minister. The king appoints the prime minister, but in this he exercises little choice ; for custom demands that he shall select the recognized leader (if such there be) of the party that has the majority in the house of commons. The prime minister selects his colleagues; he chooses them from among the chiefs of his own party ; and to each The prime one he assigns some important office or depart- ^nister- ment, such as the exchequer (finance), the admiralty (navy), the foreign office, or some other department. All the members of the cabinet must be members of parliament, in the deliberations of which they take a leading part. They are also members of the privy council, and every formal meeting of the cabinet at which any action is taken is regarded as a meeting of the privy council. The cabinet system was of long and slow growth. During the early years of the Restoration period, a small group of officials under the leadership of Clarendon acted D eve i opment in a measure as a cabinet council : the king con- of the cabinet suited them as a group. After the fall of Clarendon councU - the five members of the Cabal formed a similar body, though it 1 Masterman, 161-167, 227-229; Tuell and Hatch, Nos. 71-72. 44-0 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS ;.■■'■■ ; mmM PP^ J, If; j -^" r if I* lil li ! . ! L 1 f No. io Downing Street The official residence of the prime minister. The English cabinet meets in this building. had no recognized head. The king was still in control; he could ask the advice of these ministers singly or as a body, or he might refuse to consult them. After the rise of parties the kings very soon found it necessary to select all their more important ministers from the same party : the Whig Junto was ROBERT WALPOLE 441 such a group of four able and influential ministers on whom William III for some time depended for assistance and counsel (1693-1694). This was, therefore, a nearer approach to a modern cabinet ; but William III was his own prime minister. As he was a foreigner and wholly unacquainted with English methods and politics, George I was compelled to leave all the affairs of government to his ministers. These were all Whigs and the more prominent of them formed a cabinet council in which the business of the state was discussed and outlined. In this council the king should have presided ; but he knew no English and there seems to have been only one prominent Whig politician in England at the time who was able to converse with the king in German. It was, therefore, only natural that he should prefer to remain absent. For some years there was no recognized chief in the cabinet; but finally, in 1721, Robert Walpole assumed the leadership and retained it r ttt 1 f , r Robert Wal- for twenty-one years. Walpole was the first po ie, the first English prime minister: he directed the general English prime r .1,-1,. minister, course 01 government, presided in the cabinet, secured the appointment or dismissal of his colleagues, and presented and defended the measures of the government in the house of commons. He distinctly disclaimed the title of prime minister, doubtless because the term was already in current use and meant the chief adviser of the French king, who was an absolute monarch, which George I was not. 411. Robert Walpole. 1 Robert Walpole was a country gentleman from Norfolk. This county was one of the more strenuously Puritan districts in the century before, but the Walpoles do not appear to have inherited the character of Puritan spirit. Robert Walpole was good natured Wal P° le - and amiable ; but like his king he was coarse and rude in speech and manners. His most important characteristic was common sense ; he had no ideals and no dreams ; he was never stubborn and always knew when it was advisable to yield to the opposi- tion. When he became prime minister he had already served 1 Cheyney, No. 352. 442 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS a long apprenticeship in public life ; for nearly twenty years he had spent most of his time in public office. 412. The "South Sea Bubble." 1 Walpole's opportunity came with the failure of the South Sea Company in 1 721. It will be remembered that by the treaty of Utrecht England was allowed certain commercial privileges in Spanish America. The South The South Sea Sea Com- Company. pany was organized to carry on trade in these new fields. It was believed that the venture would be very profitable, and the stock of the company was soon in great demand. The price per share rose to many times the original value. The company also arranged with the government to look after the details of the na- tional debt : it was to pay all the claims against the national exchequer and would settle with the government later. When a debtor came to the South Sea offices with a bill against the state, the company tried to induce him, and often successfully, to accept payment in the stock of the enterprise instead of in cash. In this way a large amount of stock was disposed of. In 1 72 1 the scheme suddenly collapsed. The king's ministry Collapse of fell with it, for it was responsible for the deal by the bubble. which so many of the national debtors had been induced to invest in worthless stock and thus had been de- 1 Gardiner, 71 1-7 13. Sir Robert Walpole From an engraving by Trotter. WALPOLE'S POLITICAL METHODS 443 frauded of their dues. Many of the ministers had also specu- lated heavily in the stocks of the company. Walpole had pub- licly opposed the company, though he, too, had bought heavily while the prices were low and sold when the price was high. He had a well deserved reputation as a financier and was accordingly called in to save what was possible from the wreck- age. In this he was fairly successful ; something, at least, he was able to save for the shareholders. At the same time he made secure his own position and that of his party. 413. Walpole's Political Methods. 1 Walpole was an able though not a remarkable statesman ; he possessed the sort of abilities that the time required, and he was careful not to antag- onize the king. In his dealings with parliament he employed bribery to an astonishing extent, morals in the Political morals in the eighteenth century were ei ghteenth . century, low ; there was much corruption in public office ; honesty seems to have been exceptional. 2 Members of parlia- ment received no salaries ; but there were many members, often younger sons of noble families, whose income was slight or insufficient for their supposed needs, and these found it diffi- cult to resist the tempter who offered money or favors for a vote or influence. Walpole reduced bribery to a Bribery in system: he knew whom it was necessary to buy Walpole's day. and how much to offer ; when his administration was investi- gated soon after his fall from power, the officers who controlled the secret service funds of the government refused to testify. At one time he is said to have pointed out a group of members in parliament with the remark that "all these men have their price." In Walpole's general policy there were two chief purposes: to secure and strengthen the position of the new dynasty and to promote economic prosperity in the nation. Policies of This was a policy that also promised the greatest Wal P° le - profit to the Whigs. It was commerce that Walpole was most anxious to promote, and commerce would be of direct benefit 1 Gardiner, 713-716; Innes, II, 199-201. 2 Kendall, No. 103. 444 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS to the mercantile classes in the cities, who were strongly Whig. On the Hanoverian dynasty the Whigs depended for their con- trol of politics ; should the dynasty fall and the Stuarts return, the Tories would return to power. 414. Walpole's Foreign Policy. The prime minister saw clearly that what England needed most of all was a long period Foreign of peace, both at home and with her neighbors, policy. During the one hundred and eleven years of Stuart rule, the nation had enjoyed almost no real rest : it was a period of much foreign warfare and still more discontent and turmoil at home, even civil war and revolution. After the coming of the Hanoverians, England had nearly thirty years of compara- tive peace. Many of the Whig leaders wished to continue the policy of William III, which meant constant interference in European affairs. But Walpole, whose motto was "let sleep- ing dogs lie," 1 successfully resisted them until 1739. He devoted all his energies to the maintenance of the treaty of Utrecht and the promotion of peace in Europe. In these efforts he had the assistance of the chief minister in France, the aged Cardinal Cardinal Fleury, who also believed in European Fleury. peace. Louis XIV had died in 171 5 ; his successor Louis XV was a child, and the new king's uncle, Philip of Orleans, the Regent of France, was induced to join England, the Netherlands, and Austria in an alliance to maintain the settlement at Utrecht. For some time after the great war, Spain was the disturbing element in Europe : in the treaty Ambitions of she had lost some of her most valued possessions, Spam. which she was eager to win back ; and her king, Philip V, though he had agreed that Spain and France should not be united, could not forget that he was a grandson of the great Louis, while the little Louis XV was a great-grandson. An aggressive English prime minister could easily have brought on another great war. Walpole kept up a small standing army, though not a very efficient one ; to the navy he paid so little attention that the ships soon became unseaworthy. Wal- 1 Innes, II, 194-199. WALPOLE'S DOMESTIC POLICY 445 pole kept the clogs of war quiet a long time, but when trouble with Spain finally became unavoidable, the nation w T as utterly unprepared to meet the enemy. 415. Walpole's Domestic Policy. There were two danger- ous elements in England that the prime minister was also anxious not to stir up : the Anglican churchmen and the dis- senters. Lord Shaftesbury, the founder of the Whig party, was a believer in toleration, and the Whigs in the main con- tinued faithful to this principle. Some of the Waipole and leaders were even willing to repeal the laws, the the dissenters. Test Act and the rest, that kept the dissenters from holding office. 1 Many dissenters, whose principles were somewhat elastic, had tried to avoid these laws by an occasional visit to an Anglican church, w T here they heard the service through and partook of the communion : this was called "occa- "Occasional sional conformity." This practice exasperated the conf ormity." Tories, and toward the close of Queen Anne's reign they succeeded in passing a measure to forbid it. Eight years later (1719) the Whigs repealed the Occasional Conformity Act, and dissenters could now enter office by occasionally taking the "test." But the Test Act was still law, and a large section of the Whig party refused to allow its repeal. At the same time it was impossible to close the offices entirely to the dissenters. In 1727 Waipole induced parliament to pass the Indemnity Act by which dissenters who had held office in indemnity defiance of law were granted a full pardon. This acts * strange law was reenacted annually for one hundred years. The churchmen hated and feared the dissenters ; and the favors that the Whigs showed to their opponents drove the Anglican clergy almost to a man into the Tory party. Many of the priests even became Jacobites. The govern- T aC0D i tism ment consequently found considerable difficulty among the in filling the higher offices in the church, especially c urc men * the bishoprics, w r ith suitable men, that is churchmen with Whig principles. The Whigs believed firmly in the spoils system; 1 Review sees. 352, 359. 446 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS and furthermore, a Tory bishop meant another Tory member of the house of lords. Occasionally Walpole was able to find "Political candidates of unquestioned excellence, such as the bishops." philosopher George Berkeley ; but on the whole the Whig bishops of the eighteenth century were a real grievance to the church : many of them were incapable and lacking in spiritual interest. With the Tory priests, whose spiritual shepherds they were supposed to be, they were frequently on hostile terms. It is not strange that the English church in the eighteenth century suffered a marked decline. 416. Scotland. Toward Scotland Walpole pursued a policy of conciliation. The union was extremely unpopular north of the border, especially was there great dissatisfaction with The grievances the new forms of taxation, which to the Scotch of the Scotch. a pp earec [ like the impositions of a foreign govern- ment. Scotland had, indeed, forty-five members in the house of commons ; but these were all in the pay of the govern- ment, or rather of Walpole, and felt compelled to consent to Walpole's financial measures. The government of Great Britain derived most of its revenues from three forms of taxes : customs, excise, and stamped paper. The customs taxes were • . old and well established and levied chiefly on im- Taxation. ' . . J ported goods. The excise was introduced at the Restoration, and was a tax levied on certain articles manu- factured in the country. Then as now alcoholic liquors were a favorite subject of this tax. Stamped paper had to be used for nearly every form of legal document and could be purchased from government officials only. The chief grievance was a tax on malt, which in 1723 was rendered still more odious by a tax of sixpence on every barrel of ale. The new levy produced a ter- rific outcry in the Lowland cities ; in Edinburgh the feeling rose to the point of rioting. 1 The brewers of Edin- The excise. , , , - , , , , burgh agreed to brew no more ale, and they kept up the strike for a week ; they resumed brewing only when ordered to do so by the courts. The tax remained, but it did 1 Tnnes, II, 201-206. SCOTLAND 447 not prove very profitable north of the border, for the Scotch dis- covered that whisky made an effective substitute for beer and ale, and the producing of malt liquors decreased. After the Jacobite rising of 1715, the Whigs took up the problem of how to prevent future troubles in the Highlands. 1 A Highland Cottage The many revolts in that restless region had been due, not so much to the Stuart partisanship, as to rivalries and Difficulties jealousies among the various tribes and clans, in the In the southwestern Highlands, occupying the isles lg and peninsulas of Argyle, lived the powerful clan Campbell. Between the Campbells and the neighboring clans to the north and northeast there were feuds and enmities centuries old. The Campbells were uncompromising Presbyte- The rians and Whigs like their Lowland neighbors to Cam P bells - the south ; consequently, they were firm partisans of the Han- overian dynasty. The hostility of the other clans naturally drove these into the Jacobite camp. The important thing was to allay this feeling of hostility. Walpole sent a force of Eng- 1 Kendall, No. 112. 448 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS lish soldiers into the Highlands to build roads, bridges, and forts, internal The work began in 1725 and continued for eleven improvements. vears ; in all forty bridges were built. The pur- pose of these roads was to make it possible for the king's armies to move more swiftly through this rugged country in times of rebellion. They served, however, a higher purpose : the roads made it easier for the Highlanders to reach the Low- lands and dispose of their surplus products. Improved facil- ities for travel helped to develop new interests and brought a wider knowledge of the world. As a result the intensity of clan feeling began to subside, and the Highlands in time became as peaceful as any other part of Britain. 417. Colonial Growth. The treaty of Utrecht had added large areas to the British Empire : Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson Bay country were the regions acquired in Britain in the the New World. Each of these had its peculiar New World. value : Newfoundland in its fisheries ; the Hudson Bay country in its furs ; Nova Scotia chiefly as a protection for New England. The truly valuable parts of the British Empire in North America were, however, the twelve colonies along the Atlantic coast. The first half of the eighteenth century was a period of great importance in the history of these colonies. Before 1700 they were still almost exclusively English ; after that year two new nationalities came in great numbers : the Germans and the Irish. The coming of the Germans can be traced to the devas- tation of the Rhenish Palatinate by the armies of Louis XIV German immi- in 1689; thousands of homeless Germans drifted gration. down the Rhine and across to England, whence the greater number were sent on to the colonies. But the move- ment did not cease with the war. The migration continued, and by 1727 the stream had grown to great strength; it con- tinued for several decades. Many of these Germans settled among the foothills and in the valleys of the Appalachian range, especially in Pennsylvania, though they were also nu- merous in New York, Maryland, and Virginia. COLONIAL GROWTH 449 Some years after the beginning of the German migration, about 1 71 5, the Scotch-Irish began to leave Ulster for the American colonies. The toleration that the Prot- Scotch-Irish estant dissenters enjoyed in England was not ex- emigration, tended to Ireland ; and the Ulstermen were also annoyed by the restrictions on the Irish trade. 1 During the reign of George II the Scotch-Irish immigration was keeping pace with the German. Like the Germans the Ulstermen settled in the mountain valleys, only farther inland and with a tendency to drift farther south- ward. In the years 1727-1728 there were failures of crops in Ire- land with famine as the result. Thousands of Catholic Irish now joined their Presbyterian neighbors in the New World. 2 The last of the thirteen seaboard colonies was founded during the age of Walpole. An English officer, James Oglethorpe, had become interested in the English debtor class Founding of and proposed to settle a colony of them in America. Geor s ia - 1733 - The government received the proposal favorably. Between the Carolinas and Florida there was a wide stretch of unoccu- pied territory which the English claimed and wished to have settled ; farther inland lived the great Cherokee Indian nation, and the English government was interested in efforts to divert the Cherokee trade from Spanish to English merchants. The government of Robert Walpole helped to finance the new col- ony, which was named Georgia in honor of George II. Early in 1733 the founder appeared in America with his colonists and founded the settlement of Savannah. The movement across the ocean to the new lands was espe- cially strong during the third and fourth decades of the century, the period of Walpole's ministry. In less than half The growth a century (1 700-1 740), the population of the in colonial colonies increased from 250,000 to 1,000,000. It popu is to be remembered that a large part of this population was not enthusiastic for English law or the Hanoverian kings. It is also to be noted that the movement forced the frontier farther west and southwest toward the settlements of France and 1 Innes, II, 190-194. 2 Review sec. 403. 450 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS Spain. It seemed to many Englishmen that the colonists ought to be taxed as were all the other subjects of the king. Walpole, however, thought differently ; his experience with the Scotch had probably taught him that taxation by distant authority was difficult to enforce. 418. Opposition to Walpole. 1 Bolingbroke. Walpole had not been long in control before a group began to form in parlia- ment in opposition to his regime. This opposition was wholly factious ; it stood for no principle of government : opposition to the prime minister was the only bond that united the members of the group, and they opposed almost every measure that he pro- posed, whether good or bad. Walpole had no desire for strong men in his cabinet ; if an able and independent man by accident got into a ministerial office, he was sure to be dismissed before many years. The parliamentary opposition was made up to some extent of Tories, but chiefly of Whig politicians whom Wal- pole had forced out of office, and of young ambitious members, who yearned for official appointments, but felt that the door of opportunity was closed as long as the prime minister was in Puiteney and charge. The leader of the opposing Whigs was Wil- Bohngbroke. ]j am p u lteney, a brilliant orator whom Walpole had compelled to leave the ministry. But the intellectual chief of these " Patriots," as they called themselves, was Lord Bolingbroke. After the accession of the Hanoverians, Bolingbroke found it unsafe to remain in England, and early in 1715 he fled to the Continent and joined the Pretender, whom he served for a few months as secretary of state. 2 Realizing that the cause of the Stuarts was not likely to succeed, he lost interest in his new sovereign and made plans to return to England. Soon after his flight he had been attainted by parliament ; but in 1723, two years after the beginning of Walpole's rule, he was pardoned, though not restored to his seat in the house of lords. Two years "The later he joined with Pulteney in the publication of Craftsman." y^ g Craftsman, a comic newspaper, the purpose of which was to fight Walpole and hold him up to ridicule. 1 Gardiner, 720-722, 728-729. 2 Review sec. 405. OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE. BOLINGBROKE 451 The House of Commons in 1742 Robert Walpole is addressing the house. From a contemporary drawing by Gravelot. 452 THE RULE OF THE WHIGS 419. Walpole and George II. Two years later George I died (1727). Since any one who enjoyed the confidence of the father would necessarily incur the hostility of the son, it was believed that Walpole's power had come to a close. Steps had actually been taken to displace him ; but George II soon found that Walpole was indispensable and restored him almost imme- diately to his office. At court the most influential person was Queen Queen Caroline, a woman of great tact and excel- Carolme. } ent sense m practical affairs. Little King George, who expressed the greatest contempt for any man who was ruled by his wife, was completely under the queen's control. Queen Caroline was a firm friend and supporter of Walpole. After her death (1737) his position at once became less stable. Two years earlier, the opposition to the prime minister had _. received a notable addition in William Pitt, a young William Pitt . . joins the man of twenty-six, who sat as the representative opposition. Q £ o^ s arurrij a borough that was no longer in- habited. Pitt with five or six others of about the same age formed a group that Walpole called the "Boys;" all these joined Pulteney and his "Patriots." 420. The Fall of Walpole. The Spanish War. In the year of the queen's death, London merchants complained to parliament that the coast guards of Spain were unduly officious in their search for smugglers in the waters of the West Indies. Trouble with According to the treaty of Utrecht England could Spanish coast send a single ship to Panama every year ; but the Spanish colonists were eager for English goods, and the British merchants paid little attention to the treaty. Wal- pole realized that English smugglers had no rights in foreign waters and hoped to satisfy Spain ; but the British nation was tired of monotonous peace and called for revenge. There was at the time an English sea captain by the name of Jenkins who asserted that some years earlier, when returning from the Eng- Captain lish colony of Jamaica, he had been caught by a Jenkins' ear. Spanish coast guard and had suffered the loss of an ear. This ear he carried about wrapped in cotton. Whether THE AGE OF WALPOLE 453 Captain Jenkins ever lost his ear or not is uncertain ; but when he told his story in the house of commons, English passions were roused and Walpole was compelled to declare war against Spain. The War of Jenkins' Ear began in 1739 ; it soon became con- fused with a greater conflict, the War of the Austrian Succession, and is almost lost sight of as a separate war. Eng- Th w f land had a few successes but none of decided im- the Austrian portance. When peace was finally made, England succession - failed to get what she went to war for. The enemies of Wal- pole, who had forced him to undertake a war that he did not believe in, now blamed him for the failure to crush Spain in a few naval expeditions. In 1742 Walpole finally Fall of Wai- resigned and the leadership of the cabinet passed pole - 1742 - into the hands of the learned Lord Carteret, who had been able to speak German with George I. 421. The Age of Walpole. While Walpole ruled in Eng- land, the nation fought no great war : no new territories were added to the Empire ; the British parliament passed no great statutes ; and nothing was accomplished along the line of social improvement. The period is none the less of great importance ; it was an age of constant growth in many fields of life. The American colonies increased immensely in population and one new colony was founded. The idea that the union was desir- able penetrated the Highlands. Wealth was accumulating in the English towns. Perhaps the most important development was the formation of the modern cabinet. The power of the sovereign passed to the prime minister and his colleagues in the cabinet ; but Walpole realized that no cabinet p rogress in could exist without the support of the commons the age of and he resigned when he had lost that support. a P° e - The power was, therefore, virtually transferred to the house of commons. This transfer of power to the representatives of the nation was Robert Walpole's great achievement. 454 THE RULE 0F THE WHIGS REFERENCES The rising of 1715. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 522-528; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 257-262; Innes, History of England, 571-575; Oman, History of England, 486-490; Tout, Advanced His- tory of Great Britain, 539-541. ' The South Sea bubble. — Cross, History of England, 686-688; Innes, 578-581; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 140-144; Oman, 491-492. Beginnings of the cabinet system. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 594-607 (Bagehot); Innes, 581-585; Jenks, 92-97, 114-119. Political methods of Walpole and the Whigs. — Beard, 466-477 (Morley); Fletcher, II, i, 154-157; Jenks, 144-154; Tout, 546-550. Policies of Robert Walpole. — Fletcher, II, i, 170-174; Innes, 586-591. Progress in the Scotch Highlands. — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 557-565. CHAPTER XXI THE AGE OF PITT 422. The New Age. About 1740 a new age began in the history of England and of Europe. The men of peace were passing from power: Robert Walpole fell in 1742; Cardinal Fleury the following year. The devotees of war- Passing of the fare were coming into control of important govern- men of peace, ments : Frederick the Great became king of Prussia in 1740; Maria Theresa inherited the Austrian lands the same year; while by nature the great Hapsburg queen did not love war as Frederick did, circumstances made her a constant Frederick II disturber of European peace. In England William and Maria Pitt was rising to influence. Pitt never went out eresa - with an army ; but in the management of a great war he has, perhaps, had no superior. In 1740 a great series of wars began which with intermissions of unstable peace continued till 1815. 423. The Austrian Succession. The problem in 1740 was whether a woman could inherit the possessions of the Hapsburg dynasty. These possessions were a group of states, The Austrian kingdoms, and duchies, of each of which the Aus- inheritance, trian monarch was the direct ruler. He was also emperor. Maria Theresa was the heiress of Charles VI. It was clear that she could not hold the German imperial title (she desired that for her husband) ; but the rulers of Europe had agreed to sup- port her claim to all the various states controlled by the Austrian dynasty. This arrangement was upset by Frederick of Prussia who seized Silesia, one of the Hapsburg possessions to Frederick's which the Prussian kings had an old but somewhat seizure of doubtful claim. Soon France joined Prussia in the war against her old Austrian enemy. George II was a parti- 455 456 THE AGE OF PITT san of the Austrian queen ; and after France attacked her George had the English nation with him : it was Maria There- sa's father whom William III and Marlborough had planned to place on the Spanish throne forty years before. Another factor in the situation was Spain, with which England at the time was righting the tedious and uninteresting war of Jenkins' Ear. Since the peace of Utrecht the rulers of Spain and France were The Bourbon Dotn °* tne Bourbon family. In 1733 the two family kings entered into what was called the Bourbon compact. family compact, a secret treaty of alliance which in some degree bound the two nations to united action in case of a European war. The compact was renewed after ten years, and again in 1759. The great powers of western Europe were thus grouped into two hostile camps : Spain, France, and Prus- sia against England, Austria, and the Netherlands. 424. England and the War of the Austrian Succession. George II had at last an opportunity to distinguish himself in warfare. Some personal bravery "dapper King George" actu- ally possessed ; but of generalship he was absolutely innocent. England did not enter the war at its beginning : but Hanover was fighting on the side of Maria Theresa, and George hastened George II in to the electorate. At Dettingen he was present Hanover. m a battle against the French, and his soldiers won the day. The war continued to 1748 when it was ended by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. English armies fought chiefly in the Netherlands but had little success ; on the sea, however, England was still winning victories. Admiral Anson repeated the great exploit of Francis Drake in the days of Elizabeth : x Admiral Anson w ^ tn a sma ll ^ eet °f seven badly equipped and circumnavi- poorly manned vessels he rounded Cape Horn, took some valuable Spanish prizes in the Pacific Ocean and returned to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope in 1744, after an absence of nearly four years. Admiral Vernon had some slight successes nearer home : in his fleet served Lawrence Washington, the older 1 Review sec. 265. THE RISING OF '45 457 brother of George Washington, and in honor of his commander he named his residence Mt. Vernon. When the war closed Maria Theresa was allowed to keep most of her possessions; but the loss of Silesia to "that wicked man" Frederick and of certain Italian districts to Spain gave Austria a pretext for another war which came eight years later. England received nothing for her outlay and her troubles. 425. The Rising of '45. 1 Soon after England had officially entered the war, the exiled Stuarts began to plan for a rising in their favor. "King" James III, whose capital The << young was now in Rome, had little faith in the venture Pretender " in and did not sanction the activities of his son Charles Edward, the "Young Pretender." With a few followers Prince Charles landed in the western Highlands and called upon the clans to rally about the old standard. The chiefs responded with some reluctance ; but a considerable force was collected nevertheless. 2 Prince Charles proclaimed his father king and marched upon the old capital. Edinburgh had gained much in an economic sense by the Union with England ; but this did not compensate for the loss of prestige that it had once enjoyed as a national capital ; and the old city rejoiced in the presence of the prince. The government sent a small army against the Pretender which he met and crushed at Preston- _ Prestonpans. pans not far from Edinburgh. With a consider- able force the prince now proceeded to invade England and came as far as Derby in the center of the kingdom. But here he found large forces to meet him and a retreat became neces- sary. This continued into the northern part of Scotland and closed with the defeat of Culloden Moor (1746). 3 The defeat at The Pretender, after wandering about in the High- Culloden lands for some time, finally escaped to the Conti- nent. No later effort was made to revive the Stuart cause; 1 Review sec. 408. 2 Bates and Coman, 358-360 (Lady Nairn); Innes, II, 208-210. 3 Bates and Coman, 360-361 (Burns, Culloden). 458 THE AGE OF PITT the son of James III, Cardinal York, or Henry IX, as he claimed The last of to be, was glad in the last years of his life to accept the Stuarts. a p ens i n from George III. 426. The Rule of the Pelhams. After the fall of Walpole, Lord Carteret conducted the government for two years ; but he was forced to retire and the English administration fell into Pelham as tne contr °l °f tne Pelhams. Henry Pelham became prime prime minister in 1744 and served as such till his death ten years later. He was a minister of the Walpole type ; l like his great predecessor he was an advocate of peace and struggled hard against renewal of warfare after the treaty of 1748. Like Walpole, too, he understood and practiced the art of corrupting members of parliament. In this work he had able assistance from his more famous brother The Duke of Thomas, duke of Newcastle. Newcastle had Newcastle. served in Walpole's cabinet and was prominent in the English ministry for more than forty years. He was an able and crafty politician, but as a statesman he was a failure. He is said to have been suprised to learn that New England was not an island. Newcastle was always running about, but he accomplished very little. His wealth was large, and he spent it freely to maintain his position in the government and to secure favorable action on the measures of the cabinet in parliament. 427. The "Diplomatic Revolution. ,, Scarcely had the War of the Austrian Succession closed before the rulers of Europe began to prepare for a new war. The eight years that followed the treaty of Aix la Chapelle witnessed a "diplomatic revolu- The French- tion : " the two rival dynasties, the Hapsburg and Austrian the Bourbon, those of Austria and France, which had fought each other for generations, now unex- pectedly formed an alliance. This was the work of Maria Theresa, who was anxious to detach France and Spain from her enemy, Frederick II of Prussia, and in this way to form a new combination of European powers. France, on her side, real- 1 Innes, II, 215-219 WAR IN INDIA 459 ized that the time was near when she would have to try con- clusions with England in the colonial field. In North America, in the West Indies, and in India the possessions of England and France lay almost side by side. The Austrian proposals were accepted and the alliance was sealed by the marriage of the Dauphin Louis to Maria Theresa's daughter, Marie Antoinette. 428. War in India. In India the early power of Portugal had been destroyed ; but neither the Dutch, the English, nor the French, who competed for commercial supremacy Europeans in the Orient, had been able to make much head- in India ' way. In 1720, however, there came to India a man whose mind was constantly developing large plans and who possessed unu- sual abilities as a leader and organizer, the Frenchman Joseph Dupleix. Dupleix was sent out as an official of the Dupleix French East India Company and in time rose to become governor-general of the company's possessions in India. He was in the East for thirty-four years and with the feeble resources that a niggardly administration in Paris placed at his disposal he brought the power of France in India to a point where it completely overshadowed that of the English rivals. The English East India Company was operating chiefly at three points : Bombay high up on the western coast of Hindu- stan ; Madras on the southeastern coast in a region called the Carnatic ; and at the mouth of the Ganges in the The English Bengal country. The region of greatest activity EasUndia was the Coromandel coast about Madras. Pondi- cherri, the capital of the French empire in India, is only about ninety miles distant from Madras. But the influence of Pon- dicherri extended farther inland than that of Madras, for the French understood the art of conciliating and interesting the natives as the English did not. During the War of the Austrian Succession the French seized Madras (1746) and English power in southern India seemed doomed; but in the treaty of Aix la Chapelle French suc- Madras was restored to the English in return for cessesin n * a ' Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, which had been taken by 4 6o THE AGE OF PITT the New England colonists in 1745. The treaty was followed by some years of peace in Europe but none in India. Dupleix employed these years in strengthening his alliance with the native princes; and in 1751 it looked as if European influence in the Orient was to center at Pondicherri. But in that year a man came into prominence in southern India who in many respects was greater than Dupleix. Robert Clive had this advantage over his rival : he was a great soldier, which Dupleix was not. Dupleix's father had sent him to sea to cure him of his lazy and dreamy habits : Clive was sent to India because in his youthful way- wardness he made life a misery for his neighbors in England. He held an important clerkship at Madras but soon found his way into the East India Company's army. In 1751 the Eng- lish took the offensive : Clive seized the important city of Arcot which lies between Madras and Pondicherri and held it Clive seizes against a large native army assisted by the French. Arcot. 1751. F rom that day French prestige in the East began to wane'. Three years later Dupleix was recalled : the French company was anxious for peace so that trade might revive, while Dupleix was using the company's energies in the exten- sion of French influence. After his departure Clive was easily the most important European in the Orient. 429. The "French and Indian War" in America. In America as in India the rival nations were preparing for new troubles. The Alleghany valleys were filling up ; l pioneer settlers always feel the need of much room ; and the tide of settlement would soon be forced across the mountains to the The American valleys and prairies beyond. The strong Iroquois problem. confederation in central New York stopped the westward movement at that point and the seat of the earliest trouble was therefore to the south, where the headwaters of the Potomac and Monongahela Rivers interlace. Both the English and the French claimed the upper Ohio valley. The French, however, were the first to take military possession of the region ; 1 Review sec. 417. THE "FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR" IN AMERICA 461 in 1753 they built a chain of forts from Lake Erie to the forks of the Ohio, the present site of Pittsburg. Washington's fa- m B&fLv' -*** 1 toB : &^WS$D!t: ' "111 >>v|viSSIil' ? ; ■ m Ok ■ , <■■■. # ."wife sU^y^ -m9M9 '■'?*&*/■■'. i#P v- ' ..-. ■; '/.'.' '.-''*'■ ■-■*>. . S A- ' ^ 1 -^m ' V: ' ^. 1 ^3 """ ^ # jPf -~ '% : p{ jk s&J v >-.-- : :M^mK^. |; ^j *> ■ 1 ' Robert, Lord Clive After a painting by N. Dance. mous journey to the French commander of these forts was in the autumn of that year. He was sent out by the Washington's governor of Virginia to demand that the French journey to . , , , , , 11 r j the Ohio. withdraw, a demand that was naturally relused. The next year war broke out between Virginia and Canada. 462 THE AGE OF PITT The Americans were defeated. In 1755 Newcastle, who was now at the head of the English administration, sent out General Braddock's Braddock with two regiments to drive out the defeat. French and incidentally to teach the American frontiersmen how to fight. Braddock was ambushed and his army destroyed. Several other expeditions were planned for the same summer, but all failed except one against the French forts on the border of Nova Scotia. This colony had been an English possession since the treaty of Utrecht : but its inhabitants were principally French, and England feared that the colony might be lost again. To secure the possession brutal measures were taken. A few weeks after Braddock's defeat the French inhabitants were gathered together, placed on board English ships and scattered through the Atlantic settlements and Louisiana. The deportation of the Acadians is the sub- ject of Longfellow's celebrated poem Evangeline. English settlers took the places of the exiled French, and Nova Scotia became a thoroughly English colony. 430. England and the Seven Years' War. A year after the English disaster in western Pennsylvania, Frederick II broke the peace in Germany and was soon engaged in a desper- ate conflict with the Austrian queen and her French ally. Eng- land became involved in this war on the side of the Prussian king. She was now engaged in three separate wars against Three wars France : in India the English and French East with France. India Companies had been fighting for supremacy since 1751 ; in America the English colonists were striving to conquer Canada and secure the West ; in Europe the rulers of Prussia and Austria were fighting over German territory. These wars called into prominence three great builders of empire : Robert Clive, George Washington, and William Pitt. In Europe as in America the war began with disaster for the Disasters in English. In 1 756 the French seized the island Europe. f Minorca, which England had held since the treaty of Utrecht. The English power in the Mediterranean WILLIAM PITT 463 was thus destroyed. The nation was aroused. It was a time when England needed real statesmanship in the government ; but the administration was in the hands of the impossible Newcastle, whose mouthpiece and chief reliance in the house of commons was a brilliant but corrupt politician, Henry Fox. But after the loss of Minorca the protest of the English people grew so loud and threatening that Newcastle was terrified. Fox deserted him, and the ministry resigned. 431. William Pitt. 1 England called for William Pitt, and George II found it necessary to heed the call. William Pitt was the greatest parliamentary orator of the age. He was known to be absolutely honest and incorruptible and was al- most the only public man of real prominence who had such a reputation. The king, however, had long refused to admit Pitt to the cabinet. As one of the leaders of the opposition in parliament, Pitt had occasionally fought measures character of that were dear to the king's heart ; and there had wmiam Pitt - been times when George II felt (and perhaps with reason) that the keen sarcasm of the mighty orator was intended for himself and not for his ministers. Pitt's great administrative abilities were known to himself only : "I know that I can save this nation and that nobody else can" is a remark credited to Pitt in 1756. But the king could not feel friendly toward Pitt, and dismissed him. It was not long, however, before George II was compelled to recall Pitt to the cabinet. An alliance was formed between Pitt and Newcastle and the two entered the gov- pittandNew- ernment together. To this combination William castle in the Pitt contributed his splendid abilities ; Newcastle, governmen ■ his control of the Whigs in parliament. Pitt's mind produced plans and measures ; Newcastle secured their adoption by parliament. The two men hated and despised each other, but neither could do without the other. Newcastle was to be the nominal chief ; Pitt, one of the secretaries of state. As such he had control of foreign affairs to a large extent and was given a free hand in the management of the war. 1 Cheyney, Nos. 368-369; Tuell and Hatch, No. 62. 464 THE AGE OF PITT 432. Pitt's Measures and Appointments. The English government now began to show unusual energy. Pitt was domineering and hard to please ; he could not work well with Pitt's plans other men and he was much afflicted with gout ; and measures. |- )ut ne was confident and vigorous and knew how to inspire the nation with his own assurance that victory would come. He planned campaigns and sought out the best possible men to carry them through. It had been Whig custom to give offices as rewards to favorites and followers ; this custom ceased when Pitt came into power : his appointments were made on the basis of merit. He held a large view of the field of war; while King George looked on the warfare chiefly as an effort to defend and secure his beloved Hanover, Pitt regarded the struggle as one for supremacy in North America, the Orient, and on the Ocean. He sent soldiers and money into Germany Military and that France might be kept busy in those quarters ; naval leaders. and Frederick the Great kept the French forces exceedingly busy, while Clive, Amherst, Wolfe, Hawke, Rod- ney, and Boscawen seized the French colonies and destroyed the French fleet. After a few months the results of Pitt's labors began to ap- pear. The years 1758 and 1759 are the most glorious in the Victories of history of English warfare. The series of English 1758 and 1759. victories had really begun the year before (June 23, 1 757) j when Clive gained the fateful battle of Plassey just a week before Pitt took charge of the war ; but the news of this did not reach England for many months. Pitt's victories were gained chiefly in America and on the ocean. 433. u The Year of Victories." Pitt's plans were especially busied with Canada. He planned four campaigns : one against The war in Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, a French strong- America. JjqJqI wn ich was a constant menace to the colonies of Nova Scotia and New England ; another against the French forts on Lake Champlain that closed the route northward from New York to Montreal along the valley of the Hudson River and Lake Champlain ; a third in the direction of Fort Duquesne to secure "THE YEAR OF VICTORIES" 465 control of the upper Ohio valley ; finally an attack on Quebec. By adopting a conciliatory attitude toward the colonial authori- ties, he secured their cooperation in all these movements. Louisbourg fell in July before a combined land and naval attack directed by General Amherst and Admiral Boscawen. The following month Fort Frontenac was seized and the English gained control of Lake Ontario. In November George Wash- ington raised the British flag over the ruins of Fort Duquesne and the gate of the West swung open ; the place victories in was named Pittsburg in honor of the great minis- America - ter. New victories came with the following spring. Guade- loupe, an important island in the West Indies, was seized in May. Two months later, Fort Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point fell into English hands and the way was open to Montreal and Quebec. In August Admiral Boscawen encoun- tered the French Mediterranean fleet which was on its way northward to join the Atlantic fleet at Brest in an attack on England. The battle was fought at Lagos near Battle of the southern extremity of Portugal : the French La s° s - fleet was almost ruined. In September, James Wolfe, who had spent the summer in trying to reduce the fortress of Quebec, succeeded in forcing his able opponent, the Marquis Mont- calm, to come out and fight him on the Plains of Abraham. Both generals fell, but the English were victorious. Quebec and The next year General Amherst completed the Canada - conquest of Canada (1760). 1 The "year of victories" closed with Admiral Hawke's defeat of the French fleet at Quiberon Bay. The French maintained two great naval stations, one at Toulon on the Quiberon Mediterranean and one at Brest on the Atlantic. Bay - The Toulon fleet was ruined at Lagos Bay ; the Brest fleet was blockaded by an English fleet under Admiral Hawke, the great- est naval commander of the time. The autumn was stormy and Hawke had been compelled to return to England. The French admiral left the harbor but unexpectedly encountered 1 Cheyney, No. 363; Gardiner, 753-756; Kendall, No. 118. 466 THE AGE OF PITT Hawke's fleet which had just returned. In the battle that followed the French ships were scattered or destroyed. France still had powerful forces that she could use against Frederick of Prussia ; but against the island kingdom she was helpless. 434. Victories in India. 1 The successes in America had their parallel in India. Clive followed up the victory at Arcot with further expeditions until English influence was dominant in southern India. His success became even more wonderful when it is recalled that his forces were composed largely of native Sepoys and a small number of Englishmen recruited chiefly from the lowest classes in London. Nominally India Decline of was an em pi re ruled by a Mohammedan dynasty the Mogul of Turanian origin. The emperor, usually known mpire * as the Great Mogul, resided at Delhi. The va- rious regions or provinces were governed by viceroys (subah- dars) and governors (nawabs or nabobs) appointed by the emperor, or by native Hindu kings (rajahs). With the open- ing of the eighteenth century the Mogul empire began to decay, 2 and the various kings, viceroys, and governors ruled their separate states almost as sovereigns. It was this chaotic state of affairs that made it possible for the English and French to combine conquest with trade and commerce. From the Carnatic Clive turned his attention to Bengal. The Englishmen had a trading post at Calcutta, and the French Clive in were at Chandernagore not far distant. Both Bengal. p a ^ tribute to the nabob of the region for the privilege of trade. The new viceroy was Surajah Dowlah who came into power in 1756. Surajah Dowlah hated the English and planned to oust the East India Company. Pretexts for an attack were soon formed. He seized the company's post and while graciously promising the prisoners their lives, had The Black them confined, 146 in number, in a single room less Hole - than twenty feet square, since known as the Black Hole of Calcutta. When the door was opened the following morning, only twenty-three were still alive. 3 1 Gardiner, 758-764. 2 Robinson, No. 166. 3 Cheyney, No. 357, VICTORIES IN INDIA 467 British Territory Sphere of French Influence in the time of Dupleix ( about 17 50 ) '•-'■■'■ 1 Portuguese Territory 468 THE AGE OF PITT When the news came to Madras, Clive at once determined to lead an expedition against the cruel viceroy. With 900 British soldiers and 1500 Sepoys he landed in Bengal just be- fore the close of the year, reestablished the factory of the com- pany, and a little later drove the French out of Chandernagore. In June, almost a year after the tragedy of the Black Hole, Clive's little army met a native host of more than 50,000 at The battle Plassey and put the Bengalese to flight. 1 A of Plassey. native prince who was willing to serve as the 75 ' company's tool was made nabob of Bengal. The influence of the East India Company spread rapidly up the great valley of the Ganges, and Calcutta became the center of British power in India. The French made an effort to recover the Carnatic but without success. In 1760 they were completely defeated at Wandewash. Wandewash. A few months later Pondicherri 1760. surrendered. French power in India was a thing of the past. In 1761 the East India Company had no serious rival in the great Hindu peninsula. When peace was made, England restored Pondicherri, Chandernagore, and various other points, and these have since belonged to France. But the French possessions in India are mere trading posts ; in area they comprise less than 200 square miles. 435. War with Spain. Meanwhile a new war had broken out. In 1759 Charles III ascended the throne of Spain: he was more energetic and aggressive than his predecessor and promptly renewed the Bourbon compact with France. William Pitt realized that war with Spain was coming and was eager to strike the first blow. But in England, too, there was a new king: George II died in 1760, and his successor, George III, was anxious to secure a general peace. For a year Pitt labored vainly with the king urging him to secure the advan- Resignation tages of an early declaration of war ; but George re- ofPitt. fused. In 1761 Pitt suddenly resigned ; 2 his office was given to Lord Bute, a Scotchman who had long been a 1 Robinson, No. 166; Kendall, No. 177. 2 Cheyney, No. 367; Innes, 231-233. SUMMARY 469 close friend of George III. Three months later (January, 1762) the war broke out. In this war which continued to the close of the year, the English were uniformly successful. Two expeditions were at once sent out : one against Havana and the other against Manila in the Philippine Islands. Havana fell during the summer ; Manila was taken in the Havana and autumn. When peace was made, Havana was Manila - exchanged for Florida, while Manila was restored to Spain. 436. The Peace of Paris. 1763. In the treaty of Paris, February, 1763, England received great additions to her em- pire. Her supremacy in India was secured, and her boundaries in America were advanced to the Mississippi River. The island of Minorca was restored to her, and thus England con- tinued to be a power in the Mediterranean. England also received several small islands in the West Indies Territorial and a foothold in West Africa (Senegal). France additions, withdrew entirely from the mainland of North America : Can- ada and nearly all of the territory east of the Mississippi River were added to England ; Louisiana was transferred to Spain ; France was allowed to keep the Miquelon Islands near the south coast of Newfoundland, and these are still a French possession. But great as the territorial acquisitions of England were, there were Englishmen who felt that too many of Pitt's conquests were being restored. William Pitt fought the UnpopuIarity treaty in the house of commons ; and not until of the treaty Newcastle, through his old accomplice Henry Fox, had made extensive purchases of parliamentary votes, was the treaty sure of ratification. 437. Summary. After nearly thirty years of peace in the "age of Walpole" came a period of more than twenty years of almost continual warfare. During these years England fought six separate wars. 1. The first war with Spain was a period of a failure : in the treaty nothing was said about the S1X wars * English grievances against the Spanish coast guards. 2. The War of the Austrian Succession was a draw : it brought no ad- vantage either to England or to her old enemy France. 3. The 470 THE AGE OF PITT war in India between the French and the English East India Companies resulted in victory for the English flag : the king of England is to-day the emperor of India. 4. The French and Indian War in America was won by the colonials : England took possession of Canada and the West to the Missi sippi River. 5. The Seven Years' War brought no advantages to Eng- land, except such as came from the destruction of the rival French fleet. 6. The second war with Spain added Florida to the British Empire. Many great men contributed to the Achievements English successes : Clive, Washington, Wolfe, of William Hawke, and others ; but more than to any one else Pitt the honors must be given to William Pitt, the " Great Commoner" who organized victory in the British foreign office. REFERENCES The Jacobite rising of "45." — Brown, Short History of Scotland, 536- 550; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 264-277; Innes, History of England, 597-601; Lang, Short History of Scotland, c. xxxiii; Oman, History of England, 504-510; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 773-782; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 555-559. William Pitt and the conquest or Canada. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 452-465 (Mahon); Fletcher, II, i, 198-214; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 749-756; Green, William Pitt, 139-145; Harri- son, Chatham, 94-113; Innes, 622-629; Oman, 524-529; Ransome, 792-797; Tout, 564-569; Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 182-196. The English and the French in India. — Beard, 443-451 (Lyall); Gardiner, 758-762; Innes, 602-608, 629-635; Oman, 529-531; Ransome, 797- 800; Tout, 561-564; Woodward, 196-203. CHAPTER XXII THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 438. George III. George III was the grandson of George II. At the time of his accession he was twenty-two years old and for nearly sixty years he bore the crown of England. Prince George was a most excellent and proper youth p ersona i and was in this respect such a contrast to his royal characteristics ancestors that he promised to be a popular king. ° eorge There was also the fact that he was born in England and took pride in his British nationality. The year after his ac- cession he married a German princess, Charlotte, who had all the domestic vir- tues that her royal husband appre- M ciated so highly but 0^ very few of the "'*&• qualities needed in a queen. George III was a man of the best intentions : he strove manfully to be a model king ; but the task was too much for him. Like his Hanoverian ancestors he was firm and resolute when he chose to be ; but his resolution was not always founded on good sense. His intellect was not strong, his thoughts were often vague, his speech was rambling and stut- 47i ~s$\ ^y George III After a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. 472 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES tering. Several times the strain of administration proved too great for his mind and attacks of insanity came upon him ; during the last dozen years of his life he was hopelessly insane. 439. A " Patriot King." l His father Frederick, the Prince of Wales, had died nine years before, and George had received His political most of his education from his mother, who came training. from a little absolute monarchy in Germany. Her training of the young prince centered about the repeated admo- nition, "George, be a king." George took the advice to heart and resolved to be a real king, such a king as William III had been. Between his father and his grandfather there had been constant hostility. The opposition to Walpole had centered about the Prince of Wales : at his residence the followers of Bolingbroke and Pulteney had frequently gathered to plan A follower of measures and determine on action. 2 Bolingbroke's Bohngbroke. ideas were the accepted political philosophy of this group, and George III tried to realize it in his own govern- ment. The "patriot king" should be above party, he should be free to select his ministers, and they should be responsible to him. This was the idea of Bolingbroke and George III ; the king should govern according to the constitution, but mon- Opposition to arcn y should have greater initiative and discre- te cabinet tion. It was not the purpose of King George to establish an absolute regime like that of France or to imitate the personal monarchy of the Stuarts : he wished to regain the power that had passed from the king to the cabinet and especially to the prime minister. George III realized perfectly that no experiment with strong government according to Bolingbroke's ideas could be made while the nation was at war. Until peace was made he had to George III ^e satisfied to leave the actual power in the hands and William of William Pitt ; the king therefore was anxious for peace. An early peace, however, was not a part of Pitt's plan. England was roused ; her enemies were beaten ; her navy was in an excellent condition ; and William Pitt held 1 Masterman, 168-169; Innes, II, 239-244. 2 Review sec. 418. THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN 1763 473 that peace should not be made until all the enemies of Britain were thoroughly defeated. King George was anxious to retain Pitt in his cabinet; Pitt had been a "Patriot" Whig and had expressed his belief in Bolingbroke's political theory ; perhaps he could be useful in carrying out the new plans. But the great statesman opposed the plan to end the war and found it convenient to resign. 440. The Political Situation in 1763. 1 The year 1763 saw the king free to begin his experiment with a stronger kingship. In many respects the times were favorable for such p act i onal dif _ a move. The king was popular. The cabinet ferences in the was friendly. The party which had robbed the lg party * monarchy of its ancient rights and powers was split up into factions. One of these, a group led by the duke of Bedford, was always for sale as a group. Another faction was led by the marquis of Rockingham who, though a highly respected peer, lacked the qualities of statesmanship. A small number of members rallied around William Pitt who was temperamentally unable to work with strong minds and consequently could not build up a strong following. A fourth faction looked for leader- ship to Grenville, Pitt's brother-in-law, a narrow politician with good intentions but a sluggish and prosy mind. George III did not enter upon any opposition to the Whigs, nor did he try to reorganize the remnants of the old Tory party ; he proceeded to build up a following of his own, The "King's the "King's Friends." The chief members of this Friends -" party were Whigs ; but circumstances forced them in the direc- tion of Toryism, for it was impossible to accept the ideas of George III without taking Tory ground. In securing the sup- port of these men, the most dubious methods were used ; bribery in all its forms was resorted to : titles, honors, and p ij t i cal decorations were awarded ; offices were given w r hen methods of it was found necessary ; and when these considera- e mg " tions were ineffective, the appeal was made in cold cash. In his political methods, George III, w T hose honor in private life 1 Gardiner, 767-768; Masterman, 169-170. 474 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES was unimpeachable, was a devoted follower of Walpole and Newcastle. 441. George Grenville : the Imperial Problem. After the treaty of Paris the ministry was reorganized with George Gren- George ville as prime minister. Grenville had no abilities Grenville. as a statesman, and for the task before him he was entirely incapable. This was nothing less than to form a new constitution for the British Empire. The British possessions were as diverse as they were extensive. Some of the colonies, like Virginia and Barbados, were a century and a half old ; other settlements, like Nova Scotia, were comparatively Problem of ' ' r imperial new. New England was English; Canada was organization French; the West Indies were tropical; the col- and defense. : onies along the Atlantic coast were temperate in climate. The territories of the two great trading corporations, the Hudson Bay Company, which operated in regions border- ing on the Arctic, and the East India Company which dealt in tropical products, were also under the English flag. The problem was how to find a form of organization or to create some organ of authority that would bring all these possessions into proper relations with the home government, one that would be efficient and satisfactory, and that would not prove too expensive. So far as history can determine, there was no statesman or politician in England in the earlier years of George Ill's reign who had the wisdom and the energy neces- sary to solve the problem. 442. Grenville 's American Policy. The Stamp Act. 1 Grenville's policy grew out of a conviction that the old duel with France would be resumed, that sooner or later the French king would attempt to regain his lost possessions. It was therefore necessary to strengthen the military forces in America, where France had lost the most, and if possible to win the old TheProclama- allies of the French, the Indians, to the English tion Line. s j ( j e< ^ j me ca n e d the Proclamation Line was accordingly run along the Allegheny watershed and settlement 1 Gardiner, 770-773. THE TOWNSHEND ACT 475 to the west of this line was forbidden. It seems not to have been Grenville's plan to close the West permanently, — only until satisfactory arrangements could be made with the neigh- boring Indian tribes for a part of their land in return for compen- sation. It was also thought undesirable to plant settlements very far into the interior, as the distance and the mountains would make protection difficult. The act that drew the Proclamation Line was unpopular in America, but still more so was Grenville's belief that the col- onies ought to share in. the expense of maintaining Colonial an army in the West. It was estimated in London defense - that twenty regiments would be necessary, for the frontier was long and the settled area extensive. But just after an expensive war this would occasion an outlay that would be keenly felt by the English tax- payers. It was therefore determined to force the Americans to share in the expense and the measure adopted was The Stamp Act. a tax on stamped paper. This 17651766 « form of tax was new in America and proved so unpopular and so utterly impossible of enforcement that Grenville and his cabinet An English Revenue felt compelled to resign. Rockingham suc- TAMP ceeded Grenville as prime minister and the new cabinet induced parliament to repeal the act : l but of any constructive statesmanship Rockingham was incapable ; and when the king dismissed him a few months later, the problem of how to maintain an army in America was as far from settle- ment as ever. 443. The Townshend Act. In his search for a prime min- ister who would form a ministry without reference to party, the king finally determined on William Pitt, who was The ministry created earl of Chatham and placed in charge, of Lord But Chatham, too, proved unequal to the occasion. His health was frail ; the American question was beyond him ; 1 Cheyney, No. 381. 476 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES he lost interest in the government ; and the nation drifted along practically without a prime minister. Finally Charles Townshend, 1 who held the important office of chancellor of the exchequer, or minister of finance, brought out and Townshend's succeeded in getting parliament to pass a series P lan - of measures for the taxation of America by means of a tariff or import duty on various articles that were in general use, such as glass, paper, tea, painter's colors, and red and white lead. The quarrel broke out afresh and led to much rioting in the colonies ; but in their opposition to these measures the Americans were at a disadvantage, as they had earlier admitted the right of the English government to levy taxes on imports. The agitation gradually subsided, and in 1768 it seemed as if quiet might be restored. 444. American Resistance. The " Boston Tea Party." Now followed a series of events that served to inflame the pas- sions on both sides of the ocean and make war inevitable. In 1768, the English revenue officers seized a sloop bearing the good The sloop name of Liberty and belonging to the merchant " Liberty" John Hancock of Boston, which was strongly sus- pected of smuggling. The result was to revive the belligerent spirit in Boston. In 1770 the passions were further stirred by a riot in Boston usually known as the The "Boston "Boston Massacre." The following month parlia- Massacre." ment repealed the Townshend Acts, but voted to 1770 retain a light tax on tea. It was probably not the protests of the Americans that led to the repeal, but the complaints of the English merchants who found that the Americans were importing very little British merchandise. As a revenue measure the tax had proved a failure. The reten- tion of the tea tax produced much ill feeling in America. Burning of the Important too, was the burning of an English "Gaspee." revenue schooner, the Gaspee, by angry Rhode Islanders who felt that the craft had not been sufficiently lenient in its enforcement of the revenue laws. As 1 Innes, II, 248-252 THE COERCIVE ACTS. LORD NORTH 477 in this case the English flag was violated, the effect on public opinion in England can be imagined. The next year an attack on the property of the East India Company by citizens of Boston practically ruined the cause of the colonies in England. The victories of Plassey and Wandewash had been won by the East India Company, whose real function was commerce, not war and conquest. As war is expensive, the company was soon in a bad way financially, and it became necessary for the government to take a hand in the management of its affairs. In 1773 parliament passed an act which assured of deprived the company in a measure of its authority chea P er in India but in return gave it a trading privilege which it was hoped would help to create profits and dividends. Formerly all the India tea that was shipped to America first had to be shipped to and pay import duty in England. Now it was provided that shipments to the colonies might be made direct. As the tax in England was thus avoided, the company could afford to cheapen its price to the Americans. But the colonists were suspicious and saw in this The Boston scheme only an attempt to induce them to buy "Tea Party." taxed tea, for the tax of 1770 was still in force. When the tea ships came to Boston, a number of men in disguise boarded them and threw the tea to the amount of $90,000 in value into the bay. 445. The Coercive Acts. Lord North. This was too much for the Whigs, whose belief in the sacred rights of property was a treasured principle. Even Chatham, who had disapproved of Townshend's plans, felt called upon to protest. "The violence committed upon the tea cargo is certainly criminal," he wrote when the news of the riot reached him. As the East India Company naturally wanted the damage repaired, parlia- ment demanded that reparation should come from Massachu- setts. A series of four measures were rushed The Boston through the houses : one was the Boston Port Bill, Port Bm - which closed the port of Boston and allowed no ship to load or 478 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES unload in the harbor until satisfaction should be rendered for the tea ; another in part revoked the charter of Massachusetts Massachusetts and gave extensive powers to the charter , in * er - governor, who was appointed by the king ; a third provided that English officials accused of crime committed in any colony while carrying out instructions from _ " the English TheTranspor- & tationActand government the Billeting sno uld be Act. tried in England; finally, by a fourth act the military authorities were em- powered to seize and use public buildings for barrack purposes. A The Quebec fifth meas- Act - u r e , the Quebec Act, extended the boundaries of Que- bec westward to the Ohio and the Missis- sippi ; but this measure seems not to have been directed against the col- onies. Its purpose was to bring all the French settlements into one province and place them under one governor. Lord North was prime minister and the chief sponsor for these coercive laws. He had entered the cabinet as premier in 1770 l d N th an< ^ remame d in this position for eleven years. Lord North was a prime minister after the king's own heart : he made no pretense at controlling the government, but took the king's orders gracefully and obediently and tried Lord North From a portrait by N. Dance. CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 479 to carry them out as the king wished. He did not always find the king's ideas wise ; but that was no reason for objecting and resigning, for, as long as the king wished him to head the govern- ment, he felt that it was his duty to remain at the helm. Lord North's plans to force America into obedience were not accepted without opposition ; this opposition, however, did not neces- sarily grow out of sympathy for the colonists, opposition The Old Whigs felt that the crown was too active to the coercive in the government ; and such leaders as Rocking- ham, Chatham, and Shelburne fought the coercive acts chiefly because they were in opposition to a government that was not truly Whig, and felt that they must object to every important proposal that came from Lord North and his royal master. 446. The American Revolt. These five "intolerable acts" were passed in the early months of 1774. The twelve months that followed were a critical year for the colonial cause. The Americans had to advance or to retreat ; no other choice was possible. The majority was unwilling to retreat. British England proceeded to execute the coercive acts soldiers in and sent soldiers to Boston, which was the center of the rebellion. The colonists on their, side began to organize military companies and provide munitions of war. The result was the American Revolution. 447. Causes of the American Revolution. 1 The causes that led to the secession of the American colonies from the British Empire have been variously stated : as a rule emphasis has been placed on the unwise policy of taxation that England adopted after the treaty of Paris and on the en- Parliamentary forcement of old laws that governed and restricted taxatlon - colonial commerce and manufactures. Of these laws there were two chief classes : the Navigation Acts that appeared first in the time of Cromwell and practically forced all Navigation the colonial commerce into English channels; 2 acts and and the Trade Acts which forbade the colonies to follow certain lines of manufacture that would bring them 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 61. 2 Review sees. 339, 394. 480 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES into competition with the mother country. No doubt these laws and especially the Navigation Acts had their importance ; it seems, however, that the causes lay far deeper in English history and in the American mind. i. The Absence of Loyalty. There was a lack of active loyalty to England. To many of the Americans England had been an arbitrary and unkind mother : to the greater number she had never been a mother. The majority of Americans of Circumstances English blood were the descendants of ancestors of the Puritan who had left their homes because the conditions created by the English government had made life unbearable. It was the men whom James had threatened to harry out of the land, and whom Charles and Laud had tried to force into conformity with Anglican standards, who laid the foundations of New England. 1 Later the Puritans were re- enforced by dissenters who fled from the requirements of the Dissent in Clarendon Code in the reign of Charles II. 2 America. Massachusetts was never cheerfully obedient to the home government. The colony planned resistance in 1634 ; grudgingly accepted Charles II in 1660 ; fought Andros in 1688 ; and was never reconciled to the settlement dictated by William III in 1691. 3 In the middle and southern colonies the situation was dif- ferent — here the difficulty lay in the fact that the population Diversity of flowed from so many diverse sources. Many population in na tions contributed to the population of these the middle l L and southern colonies : the Netherlands, the German Rhineland, colonies. Ireland, Sweden, and England. 4 What loyalty there was here was likely to be of a passive sort, for the Ger- man, the Dutchman, and the Swede could hardly have de- veloped any strong love for England. Along the western The men of frontier were the Germans and the Scotch-Irish the frontier. w j 10 occupied the valleys that ran from southern New York to western Carolina ; of these the latter, whom 1 Review sees. 286, 307-308. 3 Review sees. 308, 353, 387. 2 Review sees. 353-354. 4 Review sees. 354, 417. CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 481 English intolerance had forced to leave Ireland, could hardly have been grateful to the English crown. 1 The fact, that so large a part of the colonial population was of non-English origin, is one of great importance. In 1700 the colonies had a population of about 250,000, with the English as' the controlling race: in 1740 the number had ' grown to 1,000,000 ; when the revolution broke out in 1775, it was at least 3,000,000. It is clear that this tremendous increase must be explained largely by immigration, chiefly from Germany and Ireland. 2. The Colonies and English Law. There was a general lack of respect for English law. The laws against dissent were not enforced in America. James I did not excuse the Pilgrims from the demands of Anglicanism, but promised to " connive." After the Restoration violators of the Clarendon Code were welcomed in Clarendon's own colony, and not always Charles II showed an interest in the welfare of the enforced in the colonies. Quakers in Massachusetts that he did not display in England. This situation led to a general disregard for English law in the colonies, and to a feeling that ordinarily such law did not apply in America. In part this may explain the easy way in which the Navigation Acts were violated and the apparent respectability of smuggling. At the same time, Britain was careless in the enforcement of the statutes in the colonies, and this led to a belief that they were not intended to be enforced. 3. Individualism. An important factor was the individual- ism of pioneer life. In the new settlements civilization had to be built from the bottom up. The colonists were thrown on their own resources ; and as a result self-dependence and in- dependence were developed to a high point in the pioneer spirit. This also led to the growth of a provincial feeling, to an emphasis on the locality. This development could not be The pioneer modified to any great extent by any interest in s P int - the wider world, for not much European news came to the 1 Review sec. 417. 482 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES colonial farmstead, and the larger movements of which the Amer- icans learned were very imperfectly understood. This set of facts applies particularly to the frontier. George Washington spent much of his time in the years before the Revolution as a surveyor on the frontier. Thomas Jefferson was a product of the Virginia frontier. 4. Opposition to Parliamentary Authority. Important, too, is the great change that came in the English constitution after 1689. We have seen that during the eighteenth century the powers of government passed to a large extent from the king and the privy council to the cabinet and parliament. 1 This process was imperfectly understood in America; hence, when Changes in parliament undertook to exercise its newer con- the English stitutional powers in the colonies, its acts were constitution . . • not understood looked upon as usurpation. The colonies had their in America. charters from the king and claimed to be subject to no other power. They had been accustomed to treat with the privy council and the secretaries of state ; but these were the king's council and the king's officials. The right of parliament to legislate for the colonies is denied in the Decla- ration of Independence. "He [George III] has combined with others [parliament] to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation." It was generally agreed, however, that parliament could pass laws to regulate commerce ; and such statutes had been enacted for more than a century. 5. Growth of American Nationalism. It is scarcely correct to say that there was an American nation in 1760 or 1775 ; too much was wanting, — elements that time alone could provide. The passion of nationality, the consciousness of being a single The national- people, memories of a glorious past, jealousy of and izing process. even hatred for neighboring peoples, the colonists could not yet have. The nationalizing process was, however, •at work ; a nation was forming. The colonies were distinct 1 Review sec. 410. CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 483 from their neighbors, and separated from Britain by the ocean. They had a common language, English, and their institutions were fundamentally English. Their political system was republican and unlike both the aristocratic regime in Britain and the absolutism of the Continent. They had Common common enemies : Frenchmen, Spaniards, and instl tutions. Indians. They had what is the most important element in nationalism, a common history, having fought together on the northern and western frontiers in the great wars that began with the accession of William III. In religious matters there was much freedom and variety ; but the prevailing form of religion was Protestantism of the Reformed or Calvinistic type. And among the A caivinistic Protestants the Puritan sects, religious bodies of type of dissenters or non-conformists, as they would be reiglon - called in England, were far stronger than the Anglicans. The dissenters were exceedingly active in colonial politics. The New England pastors were the leaders in their j> ii t i C al towns and communities. But where English activity of bishops ruled the dissenters counted for nothing in political life. The rumor came to New England just before the Revolution that the Anglican church was planning to place bishops in America, and it caused no little uneasiness. Thus far there had been no bishops in America ; the colonies were regarded as part of the diocese of London and the Anglican parishes were supervised by commissaries sent out by the bishop of London. 6. Colonial Ambitions of Self-rule. Ultimate separation from the mother country was inevitable : the only questions were the time and the manner. When the Revolution began Colonial England had a population of scarcely more than P°P ulatlon - 6,000,000; Scotland had 1,000,000. America had about 3,000,- 000, or half as many people as England, with tremendous possibilities for increase. The colonial system of government was unsuited to the new conditions. The mercantile system of economics which insisted that England must sell more to the 484 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES colonies than she bought from them had a cramping effect on colonial growth. Separation was openly advocated Hampering effects of in the colonies long before it came. The Swedish the colonial botanist Kalm, who traveled in America in 1748 system. and the following years, predicted secession of the colonists before thirty years should pass. The prediction was fulfilled almost to the year. 448. Attempts at Conciliation. The coercive acts became effective in the summer of 1774. Delegates from the colonies met in Continental Congress in the following autumn. War Chatham's came in the succeeding spring, though not before plan - several attempts had been made at reconciliation. On February 1 Chatham came forward with a plan : he proposed that Parliament should repeal all laws that the colonies disliked, surrender the right of taxation, and withdraw the English troops from Boston. In return the colonies were to recognize definitely the supremacy of parliament and make voluntary contributions to the imperial treasury. 1 The lords rejected the plan. Three Lord North's weeks later Lord North proposed a plan which was plan. ' evidently the king's own. In this the theoretical right of parliament to levy taxes was insisted upon, but it was not to be exercised so long as the colonies made voluntary con- tributions. It was passed by parliament but was of no effect. Burke's ^he next mon th (March) Edmund Burke 2 deliv- Conciliation ered his famous conciliation speech and proposed peec ' a return to the laws and conditions in force in 1763. 3 The commons rejected his motion. All these plans had their weaknesses, those of North and Chatham in that they ignored the deep-seated repugnance in Failure of the c °l° n i es to any external legislative authority, plans for Burke's plan was weak in that it ignored certain vital facts : the British Empire was far larger and more complex than before 1763; it had to be organized and administered. Burke, however, had no plans of government to 1 Kendall, No. 119; Robinson, No. 168. 3 Cheyney, No. 384 2 Bates and Coman, 365 (Goldsmith, Burke). BURGOYNE'S SURRENDER 485 offer. But before the news of Burke's interest in the colonial problem had reached America, a battle had been _ . Lexington, fought and blood had been shed at Lexington. 449. The Declaration of Independence. After a year of fighting and maneuvering confined chiefly to New Eng- land and neighboring parts, the English were compelled to evacuate Boston, and for a few months, the colonies were wholly free from Brit- ish soldiery and British rulers. During these months the sentiment for Separation de- Sentiment for V el Oped rap- independence, idly : the experience of free- dom, the fears for the future, the need of foreign assistance were considera- tions that determined the Americans to declare their independence. It was thoroughly understood that England would not withdraw without a struggle ; and while the Declaration of Independence was being de- bated in Philadelphia, an English fleet appeared in New York harbor. 450. Burgoyne's Surrender. For the next few years the conflict raged principally in the Middle Colonies, in the vicini- ties of New York and Philadelphia and in the Burgoyne's territory between these cities. It was a part of expedition. 1777 the British plan to cut the colonies in twain along the Hudson River route, and General Burgoyne was sent to invade New York by way of Lake Champlain. But the expedi- tion was singularly mismanaged at all points and resulted in Edmund Burke After a painting by Joshua Reynolds 486 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES the surrender at Saratoga (1777)- 1 General Burgoyne returned to England and became a vigorous opponent of King George. 451. War with France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Burgoyne's surrender gave a new turn to the conflict: it now blazed up into a general European war. France had shown an interest in the quarrel a decade earlier when the strife over taxation was on : and when the war broke out the French The war with government had secretly assisted the revolution- France. 1778. j sts w ith money and with arms. 2 It was generally understood, however, that France would not openly assist the Americans unless they should first declare their purpose to be independence and not merely relief from obnoxious legislation. The Declaration of Independence and the victory over Bur- goyne a year later decided France, which now entered the war as an active ally of the United States. 3 The following year (1779), Spain, which was still bound to France by the Bourbon family compact, declared war on Eng- The war with land, though no alliance was entered into with Spain. 1779. America. , Jamaica, Minorca, Gibraltar, and Florida represented successive losses to England which Spain was anxious to retrieve. 4 She may also have had designs on the Illinois country which lay conveniently across the Mississippi War with from her new colony, Louisiana. The next year, the Dutch. (1780), Holland was also drawn into the fight against England. In the same year the Baltic states under the leadership of Frederick II and Catherine II formed the League of Armed Neutrality, the object of which was to destroy the League of commercial supremacy of England. Thus in 1780 Armed Neu- England had to face the active hostility or pas- ra 1 y ' ' sive unfriendliness of practically the entire con- tinent of Europe. 452. English Reverses. For such a war England was poorly prepared. The navy was not in the best condition and there was no William Pitt in the cabinet. Most of the English com- 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 63. 3 Gardiner, 787. 2 Robinson, No. 173. 4 Review sees. 400-401, 436. MOVEMENT FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT IN IRELAND 487 manders were mediocre men ; only two showed real merit : George Eliott, a Scotchman who commanded at Eliott and Gibraltar, and Admiral Rodney, who was reluc- Rodne y- tantly given command in the navy. The year 1780 was a dark year in England ; but it was still darker in America, where patriotism was growing weary of the interminable Reverses of war. This was the year of Gates' defeat at Camden the year 1780 and of the treason of Arnold. The next year brought the sur- render of Yorktown and the end of the American phase of the war ; 1 but in Europe the conflict raged as before. Soon after the fall of Yorktown, the Spaniards took Minorca, while a French fleet in the West Indies seized all the British islands there except Jamaica and Barbados. In India, too, there were troubles : Hyder Ali, an able native warrior, was attacking the British posts in southern India from the interior, while a French fleet was threatening the coast. When 1781 closed, it looked as if the British Empire was doomed. 453. The Movement for Self-government in Ireland. 2 At the same time, serious danger threatened in Ireland. For some time there had been much agitation in Ireland for the repeal of all laws that made Ireland dependent on Agitation in England. In 1778, when France declared war Ireland - against England, the Protestants of the Irish parliament found it advisable to repeal the Irish Test Act and some of the more iniquitous of the Penal Laws. 3 Later in the same year, the Irish leaders began to organize military bands, "the volunteers," ostensibly for the defense of the island. Before the close of the next year the volunteers numbered nearly 50,000 ; The by the close of 1781 the number had risen to 80,000. "Volunteers." During the same years, a strong party in the Irish parliament, led by the eloquent Henry Grattan, clamored for legislative independence. England dared not refuse; and in May, 1782, the English parliament passed the Act of Repeal by which Poynings' Law 4 and the Sixth of George I, an act affirming 1 Gardiner, 792-793. 3 Review sec. 403. 2 Ibid., 795-796. 4 Review sec. 226. 488 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES the right of the English parliament to legislate in Irish affairs, were both repealed. Ireland was now free to legislate without interference from Westminster. 454. English Victories. The Battle of " The Saints." The Act of Repeal was passed in the gloomiest hour of the war. Not Battle of The long afterwards came the cheering news that Rod- Saints. 1782. ne y nac i d ea it the allied enemies a stunning blow in the West Indies. De Grasse, the French admiral whose fleet had assisted at the investment of Yorktown, was now planning to seize Jamaica. But Rodney's fleet was in the West Indies, and in April the two forces met at "The Saints" a group of little islands near Guadaloupe. Rodney won the victory; he crippled the French fleet and took De Grasse prisoner. Ja- maica was saved to Britain. In the autumn the English were still more cheered to learn that the attack of the allies on Gib- raltar had been a complete failure. During the same year Hastings in (1782), Warren Hastings, the governor general of India. India, succeeded in pacifying the interior tribes that were on the war-path. Hyder Ali died and his successor made peace with the English. 455. Results of the American War. The American War was formally closed by the treaties of Paris and Versailles in Septem- Peace of her, 1783. The English successes of the year before Paris. 1783. a nd the disposition of the Americans to make a sepa- rate peace convinced the Bourbon allies that it was not expedient to continue the war. The results of the American Revolution were far-reaching both for Europe and for America. 1. It ruined the party of " King's Friends" and discredited the political purposes of George III. During the first ten years George ill's °^ n * s re ig n tne king had tried six prime ministers, political plans In 1 7 70 he finally found the tool he sought for in iscre ite . L orc j North whom he kept in nominal control for twelve years. George III now had an opportunity to try out his political plans. The result was the most disastrous war that England had ever fought. 2. It practically ruined the Whig party. Lord North re- RESULTS OF THE AMERICAN WAR 489 signed in 1782, and the king had no choice but to recall the oppo- sition Whigs to power with Lord Rockingham as whig party prime minister. But the Whigs did not have the en- ruined- tire confidence of the nation. Their attitude during the war had not been wholly patriotic : they had tried to embarrass the government in every possible manner ; one of their leaders, Charles James Fox, the son of Henry Fox who had served under Newcastle, even sat in the house of commons wearing the colors of the American uniform, buff and blue. There were two fac- tions in the party, the followers of Rockingham, now known as the Old W^higs who still emphasized the authority of parliament, and the New Whigs, or Chathamites, who believed in strength- ening the authority of the central government. The Whigs were very unfortunate in their leaders. Chatham died in 1778 * and the leadership of his faction fell to Lord Shelburne, a capable but peculiar politician, who seemed to be suspicious of all with whom he came in contact and in return whig factions was regarded with universal distrust. Rocking- and leaders - ham had not grown wiser with the years ; and soon after he became prime minister for the second time he died (1782). Shelburne who succeeded him could not hold his party together. Edmund Burke was a great orator and thinker, but not a prac- tical statesman. The most brilliant of all the Whigs was Charles James Fox, who had entered the house of commons at the age of nineteen, but had already acquired a reputation for irregular living that clung to him to the close of his career. Fox was hostile to Shelburne and formed an alliance with his old political enemy, Lord North, to overthrow Shelburne and force themselves into the ministry as secretaries of state. The The move succeeded and for nearly a year the "in- "infamous famous coalition" controlled the government. But the nation was disgusted at the sight of a ministry that stood for nothing but spoils, and applauded George when by distinctly unconstitutional methods he overthrew the Fox-North cabinet and gave the premiership to the younger William Pitt. 1 Gardiner, 787. 490 THE REVOLT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES 3. It restored almost complete independence to the Irish Kingdom. The Act of Repeal was followed by the Act of Re- Legislative nunciation in 1783, by which England renounced independence all rights that she might still have to control Ire- land. From that year to the close of the century, the bond uniting Ireland to Great Britain was a personal union only. 4. It seriously impaired the British Empire. England lost her oldest and her most highly developed colonies, the " thir- Losses to teen" in America. To Spain she was obliged to the British surrender Minorca and Florida. To France she mpire ' ceded two important posts in West Africa ; other- wise France derived nothing from the war but a bankrupt treasury. REFERENCES George III. — Fletcher, Introductory History of England, II, i, 282-287; Green, William Pitt, 162-165; Innes, History of England, 636-637; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 178-184; Oman, History of England, 532-534; Ran- some, Advanced History of England, 804-806; Rosebery, Pitt, 10-14; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 570-573. Causes or the American Revolution: general account. — Fletcher, II, i, 289-298; Innes, 658-661; Jenks, 230-234; Ransome, 821-823; Wood- ward, Expansion of the British Empire, 209-221. Grenville and the Stamp Act. — Green, 219-265; Harrison, Chatham, 158-168; Innes, 641-647; Jenks, 201-216; Oman, 539-542; Ransome, 811- 814. The Townshend Acts and the tea tax. — Innes, 650-652; Jenks, 218- 220; Tout, 577-580. The American Revolution. — Fletcher, II, i, 300-319; Gardiner, 782- 794; Harrison, c. xii; Innes, 661-671; Oman, 545-553; Ransome, 823-833; Tout, 581-584; Woodward, 222-228. Chatham. — Green, c. x; Harrison, c. i. Legislative independence for Ireland. — Johnston and Spencer, Ire- land's Story, 261-268; Lawless, Ireland, c. 1. The Fox-North coalition. — Innes, 683-687; Jenks, 260-274. CHAPTER XXIII THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 456. The Age of Common Sense. The eighteenth century was an age of great changes in almost every field of English life. The change in the nature of the government that ChanRes m came with the cabinet system has already been English noted ; but vast forces of change were also at work society - in the fields of intellect, of religion, and of industrial life. In some fields the development was gradual and slow : its full sig- nificance was not realized until the following century was well under way. But even at the time it was realized, though not always clearly, that English society was being completely transformed. The eighteenth century was preeminently an age of reason and common sense. The consuming religious strife that had endured for nearly two hundred years, first be- „ . Rationalism, tween Catholic and Protestant, then between An- glican and Puritan, finally ceased with the Toleration Act of 1689. This age of religious interest and conflict was followed by a long period of indifference to religious matters, which was particularly noticeable among the more cultivated classes. The details of religious belief were held to be unimportant. Reve- lation in the Scriptural sense was questioned. God had given mankind the gift of reason, and reason was a surer guide to truth than faith. The important thing was to test everything in the light of common sense. This emphasis on thought and reason was not peculiar to England : it was common to the in- tellectual classes - of all western Europe ; the eighteenth century was the "Age of Enlightenment.'' It was the Age of En- period of Voltaire and the Encyclopedists in France, "ghtenment. of the "Illumination" in Germany, and of the "enlightened 491 492 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY despots," who strove to reform governments and rule their people in a rational way. The rational or sensible man, it was held, would not yield to impulse or feeling. The ideal life should be calm and never The rationalis- boisterous. Humanity had a right to enjoyment, tic temper. but t his snou icl not be noisy. To be ill was ac- counted an unpardonable weakness, at least during Walpole's time. Queen Caroline, 1 the consort of George II, long bore a serious illness in secret ; and when it was finally discovered, the unfortunate queen was already doomed. This may serve to illustrate the practical results of this glorification of common sense ; but it had other results, serious as well as ridiculous. Break-down Both public and private morals broke down ; brib- of morals. er y was a crvm g ev ii • among the so-called higher classes the Puritan view of the ten commandments as a code to be rigorously kept and enforced had almost entirely disappeared. 457. The Literature of the Eighteenth Century. This effort to be sensible and rational appears especially in the liter- ature of the age. The masterpieces of the eighteenth century poetry were didactic : they aimed to give instruction, to give pleasure to reason, not to stir up the reader's emotions. Typi- cal of the period is Pope's Essay on Alan which was written in 1733. Of the same spirit, though some- what less didactic, is The Seasons by James Thomson, who was Pope's contemporary. A decade later Edward Young was Thomson writing his Night Thoughts, and in 1749 Thomas Young, and Gray published his famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. There is much excellent poetry in all these poems; but for the most part they are thoughts cast in poetic forms. Sometimes the lines read like proverbs: it was Young who first told us that " Procrastina- tion is the thief of time." The prose of the period is more important than the poetry. The eighteenth century produced two forms of literature both of which have become permanent : the magazine and the 1 Innes, II, 206-207. ENGLISH POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY 493 novel. The Gentleman's Magazine, the first really successful periodical, began in 1731. The novel came nine The magazine years later. The first novelist was Samuel Richard- and the novel - son, a London printer, who was a rather dull stylist, but a keen observer of human activities. A better writer was Henry Fielding, whose earliest novels were apparently Richardson suggested by those of Richardson. The novel and Fieldin g- proved to be immensely popular. Thomson, Pope, Richardson, Young, Fielding, and Gray be- long to the earlier half of the century, to the period of Walpole and Newcastle. The writers of the second half of the eighteenth century struck a truer note : their writings are less didactic and fall more completely within the province of literary art. This period forms the transition to the greater literary age of the nineteenth century which was ushered in by such ttt 1 1 i t^ ™i • , Dr - Johnson, writers as Wordsworth and Byron. The period began with Dr. Johnson, whose ideals do not differ much from those of the school of Pope. But he is followed by Cowper in whom the religious spirit was strong; by the Cowper Gold _ genial Goldsmith, who is described as a literary smith, and vagabond ; and by Sheridan, the famous drama- en an ' tist and parliamentary orator. But its greatest representative was the peasant Robert Burns, who from his farmstead in south- western Scotland sent forth a" series of genial, ,. . . . . . . , Robert Burns. realistic, and yet intensely lyrical poems, that remain to this day the joy and the pride of the Scotch people. 458. English Political Philosophy. The rule of common sense is also seen in the political thought of the period. Unlike the thinkers who laid the intellectual foundation of the French Revolution, the English political theorists were chiefly inter- ested in justifying the changes that time had made necessary. At the end of the preceding century, the philoso- pher John Locke had justified the Revolution of 1688 by supposing that, when government originated, the king and the people entered into some kind of a contract ; and that, since James II had failed to carry out his part of the contract, 494 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY parliament, as the representative of the nation, was justified in giving the kingship to William and Mary. The explanation was simple and sensible ; it was one that the mind grasped readily. The only difficulty is that no such contract was ever formed. The theory of contract was held very, generally in the eighteenth century, and seems to have been the theory on which most Americans justified their repudiation of George III. Three great ideas dominated English politics in the eigh- teenth century : (i) toleration, (2) the rights of personal liberty, and (3) the sacredness of property. 1 These were Whig ideas Whig prin- that took form during the conflict between the cipies. Stuarts and parliament in the seventeenth century. Charles I had levied unauthorized taxes and had imprisoned men who refused to pay them : these forms of tyranny Personal had been resisted. John Locke found a justifi- hberty. cation for this resistance in his political philosophy. Mankind, he thought, had a right to personal freedom and the possession of property before governments were formed. Per- haps the best statement of the early Whig view is in the Declara- tion of Independence, where Thomas Jefferson enumerates "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as " unalienable rights," to secure which " governments are instituted among men." The leaders of the Whig party were wealthy men, lords who owned vast estates, and merchants who had large interests in „„ . , , the financial world. To such men property natu- Whig leaders. ^ . rally had a sacred character. So much importance was attached to property rights, vested rights as they were called, that it was almost impossible to effect any necessary social reform. If a merchant was engaged in the slave trade, any interference with that traffic was likely to interfere with his Sacredness income, his vested rights, and efforts in that direc- of property. t i on were promptly blocked. When the horrors of the slave ships were brought to light, the house of commons passed a bill to make conditions more tolerable for the Negroes ; but the house of lords ruined the bill by amending it. Prop- 1 Kendall, No. 106. RELIGIOUS THOUGHT: DEISM AND RATIONALISM 495 erty, it was held, belonged absolutely to the owner : it could not even be taken in the form of taxes, unless the nation through its representatives consented. According to Whig ideas ' taxa- tion without representation was tyranny.' By personal liberty the Whigs did not mean political rights, such as the right to vote and hold office ; these were reserved for the influential classes. They meant that the law should molest no one unless there was an apparent cause to justify it ; and that when an Englishman was arrested he was entitled to a speedy trial. This was to prevent the men in power from keeping in prison political opponents, whose only crime was opposition to the policies of the government. The Habeas Corpus Act, which secures a prompt trial, the Habeas English nation owes chiefly to the work of Lord Cor P us Act - Shaftesbury, the founder of the Whig party. These ideas were certainly rational ; but at times the emphasis that was placed on liberty and property made it difficult to give government the necessary strength. 459. Religious Thought: Deism and Rationalism. The English thinkers of the eighteenth century, though many of them were indifferent to the Anglican form of religion, were agreed that for the multitude the church was a useful institution which the state ought to maintain. But if honest men felt unable to conform to the established worship, they iii! 1 1 • 1 • i • 1 ' Toleration, should be tolerated in their own worship. Toler- ation, however, was not regarded as a natural right, but as a privilege that it was expedient for the state to allow. The privilege took the form of a license which was issued to dissent- ing congregations that applied for it. 1 Religious bodies that the government regarded as dangerous to itself, such as Catholic organizations, were not tolerated. The form of belief that was most common among the more advanced thinkers of the time was deism. The _ . Deism. deist held that what was believed by the churches to be religious truth was probably error and, even if true, of 1 Review sec. 384 (3). 49 6 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Rationalism. very slight importance. Only a few large truths like the ex- istence of God and the immortality of the soul were of any real consequence. There was another group of thinkers who did not reject revelation so completely as did the deists but still went far in their emphasis on reason : these were called rationalists. There were many rationalists in the English pulpits. They were zealous for the cer- emonies of the church, but in their preaching there was very little religious fervor. As reason demanded that religion should be prac- tical, the rationalistic pastors preached ser- mons that they thought might prove „ . , instructive spirituality in for every- the Anglican ^ay ljf e< church. _ But lec- tures on industry and proper tillage of the soil could do very little to improve the spiritual condition of the con- gregation ; and the average Anglican church in the first half of the eighteenth century was dull, prosy, and unspiritual. 460. John Wesley and Methodism; the Evangelicals. Anglicanism seems to have touched its lowest point during the decade 1 730-1 740. This was the period of Walpole and his assistant Newcastle, of bribery and corruption, 1 of coarse morals and artificial literature. But even at this time there was much spiritual energy in the nation. During this decade a young 1 Review sec. 413. th> \ -^ M lis. 1 •" ttX&%9hi IL, W ) "■ --- v . y- : \ "^ir t ■*•» TjgfrSgSiry; NIPh|i - .:«: tf *|'/.-: : > '5 ^ % The Sleeping Congregation From a painting by Hogarth, 1736. JOHN WESLEY AND METHODISM; EVANGELICALS 497 .:/«?:•: .- :■■'.:-■■,■".■';:■. John Wesley After a picture by S. Harding. Oxford theologian was going through a remarkable religious de- velopment. When his ideas had matured he began situation to preach them, and the result was Methodism. 1 1730-1740. John Wesley was born at Epworth in the northern part of Lincolnshire, where his father was rector. As a young man he went to Oxford, where he studied theology and was ordained to the Anglican priesthood. 1 Cheyney, Nos. 355-356; Kendall, No. 113. John Wesley. He 498 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY served for a brief period as missionary in the infant colony of Georgia, but was not successful; and in 1737 he returned to England. Two years later he took up the task of infusing new life into the Anglican church. This work he continued till his death fifty-one years later (1791). If greatness is to be meas- ured by achievement, John Wesley ranks with the foremost men of his century. It was not the purpose of Wesley and his associates to organ- ize a new church; their intent was -to create a society within the established church to supplement its work. Attitude of _. . . . . , . . . the Methodists They therefore held their services at such times as toward the would not bring them into conflict with the Angli- church. . • can services. But the church was unwilling to rec- ognize such a society, and although Wesley himself never left the Anglican communion, his followers were finally forced to withdraw from the established church and organize under the provisions of the Toleration Act. So long as they remained within the established church, they were subject to discipline by its officials ; but as dissenters they had certain rights and were more secure against persecution. The new movement was met with opposition and ridicule. In its insistence on conversion, in its enthusiastic and emotional Opposition to meetings, and in its informal order of worship, Methodism. Methodism differed radically from the Anglican church. Zealous bishops (of whom there were a few) fought the movement, while the skeptics ridiculed it. "I have been at one opera, Mr. Wesley's," wrote Horace Walpole in 1766. He describes Wesley as a "lean, elderly man, fresh colored, . . . wondrous clean, but as evidently an actor as Garrick." But in spite of the mobs and persecution the movement grew apace. The advance of Methodism was checked somewhat by a kin- dred movement, the Evangelical, which succeeded in maintain- The Evangel- ing itself within the bounds of the Anglican church, ical movement, This movement, which also strove after personal holiness, for some time ran parallel to the Wesleyan ; but the THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 499 Evangelicals refused to follow the Methodists out of the estab- lished church. 461. Religious Poetry: Hymns. It is a noteworthy fact that the eighteenth century, the age of cultivated paganism, was also the great age of English hymnology. To- Handel. ward the close of Queen Anne's reign George Fred- erick Handel came to England from Hanover and for nearly fifty years England was his home. He became the musical interpreter of the English religious spirit. In his days Isaac Watts and Philip Doddridge, two dissenting clergy- N on _ con f orm _ men, were writing hymns that are still widely used, ist writers Later in the century another non-conformist min- ° ymns - ister, Edward Perronet, wrote Old Coronation, one of the most famous of all English hymns. Charles Wesley became the poet of the movement of which his brother was the preacher. The Evangelicals produced the poet Cowper and his associate John Newton, who began his career as a sailor and slave trader and closed it as poet and minister in the Anglican Evangelical church. Augustus Toplady was an Anglican of the h y mn writers, older school. He hated Methodism and wrote fiercely against the Wesleys. His learned writings are forgotten, but his hymn, "Rock of Ages," is known wherever English is spoken and sung. 462. The Industrial Revolution. 1 The eighteenth century further witnessed a profound change in the economic life of the nation. This first appeared in industry and is Economic known as the industrial revolution : old methods chan g es - of manufacture were discarded ; the machine appeared in industry ; and the word factory, which earlier had meant a trad- ing post, assumed its modern meaning. The industrial revolu- tion was promptly followed by a revolution in agriculture which completely transformed the appearance of rural England. These two movements began about the middle of the eighteenth century and were moving swiftly forward during the period of the American war. They continued till a third of the nine- teenth century was past. 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 69. 500 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY In 1700 England was still an agricultural nation. London was a comparatively large city, but it had no competitors. 1 About five millions made up the population of England- and England in Wales, of whom only one-fifth lived in cities. A 170 °- century later, the population was nearly doubled, while the urban population had trebled. The increase was greatest during the second half-rrf the century and followed closely the changes in industry and agriculture. Between these two lines of activity, farming and handiwork, there had always been a close connection. 2 England had for Domestic centuries held an important position in the pro- manufactures, duction of wool and woolen cloth. 3 In this pro- eduction the farmers had some part : in their houses much of the wool was combed, spun, and woven. In this way the family was able to increase its income quite materially. There was also a class of laborers who gave most of their time and strength to the woolen trades ; but these usually had a plot of land by the cultivation of which they were able to keep down expenses. ; 463. Spinning Machines and Power Looms. 4 The indus- trial revolution was the result of a series of inventions which completely destroyed the domestic form of manufacturing. As young and old were now busy spinning cotton as well as wool, more thread was produced than the weavers could use. The fly- This was remedied in 1732 by Kay's invention of shuttle loom, ^e fly-shuttle, a loom that greatly increased the capacity of the weaver. .The demand was now for more thread. This was supplied by three new inventions that were perfected Hargreaves' between 1764 and 1779. First came the spinning spinning jenny, a machine invented by James Hargreaves, jenny. ^ w j 1 j c j 1 ^ e operator was enabled to work eight spindles instead of one. The machine was still further improved and made ten times as efficient as when first put to use. The spindle was an ancient device, as old as civilization itself, so that Hargreaves did not discover any new principle of spinning. 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 60. 3 Kendall.. No. no. * Cheyney, No. 370. 4 Gardiner, 81.1-816. SPINNING MACHINES AND POWER LOOMS 501 But Richard Arkwright found that better and stronger thread could be produced by passing the cotton fibers be- Arkwright's tween rollers. 1 As Arkwright's spinning machine water frame - could be operated by water power, it soon came to be known as the "water frame.". Ten years later, Samuel Crompton combined the methods of the spindle and the series of rollers in The Spinning Jenny a contrivance that has since been called the "mule." Cromp- ton 's mule spun a finer thread than was possible Crompton's with the spinning jenny or the water frame. These mule - three inventors of spinning devices, Ha^reaves, Arkwright, and Crompton, were all natives of Lancashire, which was and still remains the center of the cotton industry in England. These inventions soon supplied more cotton thread than could be woven into cloth even after the fly-shuttle looms had become common. But in 1785 this difficulty was Cartwright's removed by the invention of the power loom by P° wer loom - Edmund Cartwright, a Kentish clergyman with a genius for mechanics. As~both spinning and weaving could now be done by machinery, the output of cotton cloth increased enormously. 1 Cheyney, No. 373. 502 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY The only difficulty now was how to obtain a sufficient supply Whitney's of cotton. Seven years after the appearance of cotton gin. trie p 0we r loom, an American inventor, Eli Whit- ney, built the first cotton gin, a machine by which the growth of cotton was promoted in the American South, and the supply was soon equal to the demands of Lancashire. 464. The Factory System: the Steam Engine. The ap- plication of power to the textile industries had far-reaching re- sults. The new machines were set up in factories, where a large number of people could labor under the same roof. Spin- ning and weaving ceased in the cottages of the laborers: the old domestic industry came to an end, and the poorer classes in the country lost an important part of their in- come. In the factories much of the work was such as did not require strength or skill, and the manufacturers very soon began to employ women and children in large numbers. The new factories were naturally built where water power was most available, along the swift streams which flowed down from the Pennine Range through Lancashire and tlie West Riding of Yorkshire. Into these sections a constant stream of working- men flowed, and soon these hitherto unpromising regions could The manufac- boast large and growing cities. With this conges- turing centers. t j on f population came a new type of social prob- lems : for factory labor meant low wages, long hours, extensive employment of children, and unsanitary homes. 1 Water power was after a time replaced by steam power ; but the textile factories remained in the northern counties, for in these districts were extensive coal fields as well as rapid streams. Even before Hargreaves had invented his spinning jenny, James Watt's steam Watt, a Scotch mechanic, had succeeded in build- engine. m g a p rac tical steam engine, 2 though it was some time before the new machine could be used for anything but pumping. During the last decade of the century, steam, as motive power to turn the factory wheels, was rapidly being in- troduced. Cartwright applied steam to his power loom in 1789. 1 Cheyney, No. 372. 2 Ibid., No. 374; Gardiner, 816-817. COMMERCE AND TRANSPORTATION. ADAM SMITH 503 465. Coal and Iron. The coal fields of England lie in a broad belt extending diagonally across the country from South Wales to Durham and Northumberland. Along with the coal, iron is found in great quantities. Iron has been mined in England since the Mineral metal came resources, into use on the island; but for a long time only such deposits as were found near forests could be mined with profit, as charcoal was the only fuel that would give suf- ficient heat for smelting. But when, about the middle of the eighteenth century, methods were perfected for using ordi- nary coal in the smelting furnaces, the mining in- dustry began to develop rapidly, and iron manu- factures came to be of great importance. 466. Commerce and Transportation. Adam Smith. The new interest in cotton and wool, in coal and iron, in steam and water power, in mines and factories could not fail to stimulate com- merce. As the producing centers were frequently distant from the sea, the problem of transportation was often a difficult one. This was solved in part by the earl of Bridge water, Canals and who built a famous canal between his Lancashire roads - coal fields and the sea. His engineer was James Brindley, who later constructed numerous canals in northwestern England. 1 1 Cheyney, No. 371. James Watt 504 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Roads were also built and improved, though it was not until after Macadam began to build " macadamized" roads of crushed rock in the first quarter of the nineteenth century that Eng- land really had good highways. The increased volume of manufactured goods forced English- men to look for larger markets abroad. It was also found that the ideas of the mercantilists x no longer fitted the economic situation. The nation began to see that Europe would not continue to buy largely of English products unless England bought European goods in return. The old idea that a nation New economic should fear the prosperity of its neighbors was also theories. found to be wrong ; for unless a country is pros- perous it cannot afford to buy English products. Consequently, the old restrictions that hampered foreign trade were gradually removed. This movement for wider and freer trade found favor in the government itself, where the younger Pitt was the ruling force. A treaty was made with France, by which the two countries agreed to lower their tariff duties on each other's products. But the ideas that Pitt strove to enact into law were „ . , those of a great Scotch thinker, Adam Smith, who Adam Smith. . f . ' ' in 1776 published a famous work on the Wealth of Nations, which in time revolutionized English thought on economic subjects. 467. The Agricultural Revolution. It will be remembered that in the medieval manor the plowland was divided into acre and half-acre strips, and that the strips allotted to each farmer were usually scattered over the fields. 2 During the Tudor period much of this land had been enclosed ; 3 but in 1700 there still remained large areas of land that were laid out and farmed in the old way. Intelligent landowners were beginning to see, however, that the system was wasteful and unproductive ; and several prominent leaders were preaching the merits of a "new The "new agriculture." Among these was Charles Towns- agriculture." hendj the g ran dfather of the author of the Towns- hend Acts, who was known as "Turnip Townshend," because of 1 Review sec. 394. 2 Review sec. 13. 3 Review sees. 153, 232. THE AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION 505 his successful experiments with turnip culture. The new agri- culture implied new crops ; more attention to grain, especially wheat ; better implements ; more thorough tillage ; and a more careful selection of live stock. * Before farming could be improved, however, the old system of strips and open fields would have to be swept away. The holdings could, as a rule, be distributed and en- iii c t i 1 Enclosures, closed only by consent of parliament ; but that body believed in greater profits from land and readily granted permission. The process of enclosing followed closely the new development of industry : during the first half of the eighteenth century only about one hundred enclosure acts were passed ; but .during the second half, the period of the great inventions that revolutionized manufacturing, parliament passed nearly 3000 such acts. When the century closed, the larger part of rural England was laid off into compact farms and pastures surrounded by fences, hedges, and ditches. The results of the agricultural revolution were great and far- reaching. Scientific methods could now be employed in farm- ing ; a greater variety of crops were raised ; and the soil was made to yield larger returns. The wealth of Eng- Better land was increased and on the whole the entire * anmn g- nation was benefited. But there were also evil results : a large part of the rural population was forced off the land. The officials w T ho laid out the new farms no doubt tried to do justice to all who had any legal right to any part of the land ; but many had only a few acres and they had practically no choice but to sell to their wealthier neighbors ; some were lease-holders, whose rights expired with the lease ; many others had never had any right to the land which they tilled : they were "squatters" who had built huts somewhere on the commons where they could live until the community or the owner ordered them to leave. All these classes now had to seek new occupations. Many became hired laborers on the new r farms; but the greater Dispossession number packed up their belongings and traveled into and distress - the north where the new factories were calling for cheap labor. 5 o6 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 468. General Results of the Revolutions in Agriculture and Industry. These two movements were well under way by 1750; but they were especially evident during the years of the great revolutions in America and France ; the process continued for about half a century. When it was completed England was to a great extent transformed. 1. There had been a great decrease in the number of farms and farmers ; the farms were larger, some of them very large, and the small farmer had practically disappeared. 2. There had appeared a new industrial institution, the factory ; the old system of home manufacture, the combination of a little agriculture with a little weaving or spinning, had also disappeared. 3. Population had shifted from the country to the city, Shifting of from the agricultural south to the industrial north, population. where there were cotton mills, woolen mills, and iron works. 4. Great social problems had appeared resulting from dis- social tress among the dispossessed farmers, the massing problems. f c heap labor in the factory towns, and the em- ployment of women and children in the textile mills. 5. The products of England, both agricultural and indus- Increase in trial, were increasing at a rapid rate ; commerce was amount of forced to keep pace with this growth, and new products. economic methods and ideas became current ; the prophet of the newer economic thought was Adam Smith. 469. Poor Laws and Pauperism. The enclosing of land was almost invariably followed by distress and greater poverty among the poor. The rise of the factory system had similar results. The wealth of the nation grew immensely, but the new profits went to a small class of wealthy farmers and rich em- ployers. To relieve the distress caused by the Tudor enclosures, the government of Queen Elizabeth had devised a system of poor relief, which England followed for more than two centuries. The poor laws gave the justices of POOR LAWS AND PAUPERISM 507 >> >> z X) X! < i u W § H 3 .5 a <: 3 g a ri « oq Ph en c*U p « S C PL, | Ph 1— 1 ft O £ Ph £ al -V u- d 8 O c 3C2 s W ft. 2 & w ^ s< ftQ 508 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY the peace authority to fix wages in their localities, to force the lazy to work, and to assist the sick and the aged. For a century or more these laws were effective and beneficial ; but the changes in industry and agriculture that have been outlined above changed a benevolent scheme into a vicious system. Prices were rising, and the "high cost of living" became a stern fact. The justices of the peace were unwilling or unable to raise wages to a sufficiently high figure. In 1795 the justices of Berk- shire, feeling that relief must be given, decided to give help Extension of to the healthy laborer as well as to the aged and out-door rehef . i nnriTL The scheme was based on the cost of bread : if a man's wages were insufficient to buy the necessary food for his family, the officials of the parish were to provide the difference. The Berkshire plan was widely adopted and soon hundreds of thousands were deriving some support from the poor rates. The evils of the system promptly appeared. If the parish would provide the difference between his earnings and the cost of living, the laborer saw no reason why he should work more than was absolutely necessary. Similarly, the employer reasoned that there was no longer any need to pay high wages ; he might as well contribute to the support of his workmen when he paid Spread of his taxes. The result was that England with all pauperism. her wea lth, " the workshop of the world," sank into pauperism : a generation after the kind-hearted justices of Berkshire had begun to extend such general relief, one-sixth of the population of England looked to the poor rates and the parish officials for daily bread. 470. Colonial Growth: India, Australia, and Canada. 1 The loss of the thirteen American colonies was keenly felt ; but the greater part of the British Empire remained intact, and its area was constantly increasing. The expansion was Expansion most evident in northern India. In 1772, Warren in India. Hastings was appointed' governor of Bengal, and the next year he was made governor-general of all the East 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 201-202. COLONIAL GROWTH : INDIA, AUSTRALIA, CANADA 509 India Company's possessions. During his long administration of a dozen years, British authority was extended far up the Ganges valley and British influence spread into central India. Hastings' methods were harsh, at times almost criminal. On his return to England he was impeached but after a long trial acquitted. It was during this same period that England came into pos- session of Australia. 1 In 1770 the great English navigator, Captain James Cook, explored Captain Cook : the coasts of Australia. New Zealand and south- eastern Australia. He took possession of the country for the British crown and named it New South Wales. No attempt was made to settle Australia before 1788, when a penal colony was established on Botany Bay. Convicts are poor colonists, and the de- velopment of Australia was slow at first ; but after the discovery of gold the population began to in- crease rapidly, and Australia is to-day one of the great self- governing colonies of the empire. The American Revolution had important results for the development of Canada. A large element in the thirteen col- onies had remained loyal to the English king, and xhe" Loyal- after the treaty of 1783 many of these " Tories" found it necessary to seek homes elsewhere. A large number migrated to Nova Scotia ; others settled in New 1 Cheyney, No. 364. Captain Cook From a portrait by N. Dance. ists " in Canada. 5i° THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Brunswick, which now became a separate colony ; but the greater number crossed the Niagara River and founded the new colony of Ontario (1784). These settlements determined the future of Canada : they gave the country an element that was intensely English and loyal to the empire, and which in time was to wrest the control of Canada from the French in Quebec. 471. William Pitt and the New Tory Party. The decade that followed the close of the Revolution also wit- nessed a great change in the position of English political parties. In his earlier years The younger William Pitt Pltt - was a Whig; but his ideas as to the rights and powers of kingship and his conflict with the Whig leaders, notably with Fox, gradually forced him to take Tory ground. The Whigs believed that when the cabi- net is no longer supported by a majority in, the house of commons it should resign or call a new election. When Pitt became prime minister (1783) at the age of twenty-five, the house of commons was controlled by the " coalition," the followings of Fox and Lord North, who were acting together against the king. They expected to make short work of the youthful minister and voted down his measures time after time ; but Pitt did not resign, nor did he call an election before three months were past. Meanwhile, he had gathered a strong fol- lowing of his own during the conflict, and in the election the "coalition" was overwhelmed. Pitt's party developed into William Pitt, the Younger From a portrait by J. Hoppner. WILLIAM PITT AND THE NEW TORY PARTY 511 a new Tory party, though the name was not used for more than a decade. The new Tories kept control of the The new house of commons for about half a century. Pitt Tory P art y- also transformed the house of lords into a Tory body ; this he accomplished by inducing the king to grant a large number of peerages, care being taken to confer the honors on men who could be depended upon to support the plans of the prime minister. William Pitt was not the sort of a Tory who believed that all changes are evil : he saw the need of reform in many lines and hoped to accomplish much for the betterment of English society. He wished to reform the representation in parlia- Reform policy ment ; * to abolish the slave trade; to establish of William free trade between England and Ireland; and he 1 ' had many other great causes at heart, but in the end he accom- plished very little for domestic reform. Unlike his great father, \he was a lover of peace and chiefly interested in the many domestic problems of the kingdom ; but, like the elder Pitt, he was called upon to lead Europe in a great war, the greatest series of wars in all history : the wars against the French Republic and the Emperor Napoleon. REFERENCES England in 'the eighteenth century. — Cross, History of England, c. xliv; Walker, Essentials in English History, c. xxxi; Wrong, History of the British Nation, c. xix. English literature in the eighteenth century. — Innes, History of England, 702-706; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 636-639. Methodism and the Evangelicals. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 478-491 (Lecky); Cheyney, Short History of England, 551-555; Oman, History of England, 514-517; Ransome, Advanced History of E"n gland, 761-764; Tout, 632-634. The agricultural revolution. — Innes, 695-697; Tout, 630-632. The industrial revolution. — Beard, 505-519 (Cunningham); Brown, Short History of Scotland, 565-572; Cheyney, 578-582; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 813-818; Innes, 697-702; Ransome, 850-853; Tout, 626- 630. ! ' Cheyney, Nos. 392-394; Kendall, No. 105; Tuell and Hatch, No. 64. 5 i2 THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Australia. — Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 262-266. Canada. — Woodward, 249-264. Reform projects of William Pitt. — Cross, 813-819; Fletcher, Intro- ductory History of England, II, i, c. ix; Gardiner, 806-812; Jenks, Parlia- mentary England, 274-304; Oman, 558-565; Rosebery, Pitt; Tout, 589-592. CHAPTER XXIV THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 472. The French Revolution. 1 In the spring of 1789 a revolutionary movement broke out in France, which in a few years developed into a great international struggle involving nearly all the nations of Europe. The French Revolution had its center at the capital, but the movement was general all over the land, for local despots were to be found every- c auses of where. The common man had good reason to the French complain : the French peasant was still in a meas- ure afflicted with the burdens of villeinage which the English farmers had thrown off in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 2 The masses had to bear the expenses of an extravagant govern- ment, while a comparatively small number of nobles and high officials in the church enjoyed the official honors and privi- leges. The French thinkers of the age had long agitated for social reforms ; yet it is not likely that their demands would have been heeded very soon ; for Louis XVI, w . ,„„ r t, r L ° U1S XVL in whose hands the fullness of power was supposed to rest, was a helpless and incapable, though well-meaning king. But the last war with England, the War of American Independence, had pushed the royal treasury far in the direction of bankruptcy ; 3 and the king was forced to call the Estates General, a body that roughly corresponded to the The Estates English parliament. This body had not met for General - one hundred and seventy-five years. In many ways the history of the sessions of the Estates General and the assemblies that succeeded it resembled that of the Long Parliament in England. In both cases many enduring reforms were enacted; 1 Gardiner, 820-821. 2 Robinson, Nos. 169-170. 3 Ibid., No. 178. 513 514 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE and in both cases the legislative body went farther than the Outcome of times would permit. In France as in England the Revolu- the movement led to the trial and execution of the king and to the establishment of a republic. In both cases the revolution produced a dictator. And in both cases the movement ended with a restoration of the old dynasty and in part of the old system. There are, of course, also certain notable differences : the French had suffered longer and more keenly than the English and were more united in their demands. As England was an island kingdom and therefore almost inaccessible to foreign armies, and as the rest of Europe was at the time engaged in the Thirty Years' War, England was allowed to finish her civil conflict without interference from abroad ; while in France the revolu- tionists had to face and fight the combined armies of the Euro- pean despots, who trembled lest the French movement should extend to their own monarchies. And the leadership of this reactionary alliance was forced upon England and upon the reluctant prime minister, William Pitt. 473. England and the Revolution. The course of the Revolution in France at first produced much satisfaction in Attitude of England. Cowper and Wordsworth watched the the English progress of events with much enthusiasm ; Cole- ridge 'expressed the same feeling in fervid poetry : "When France in wrath her giant limbs upreared, And with that oath, which smote air, earth, and sea, Stamped her strong foot, and said she would be free, Bear witness for me, how I hoped and feared." But when news came of changes by violent instead of strictly legal means, the early enthusiasm began to cool. The first important political result of the Revolution in England appeared in the Whig party, which was split in twain and practically ruined. Fox was enthusiastic for the uprising of the French ; Attitude of and when he heard of the destruction of the Bastille Fox# he proclaimed it "the greatest event . . . that ever happened in the world ; " and not only the greatest but the best. THE OUTBREAK OF WAR WITH FRANCE. 1793 515 But his old friend Edmund Burke was cool and suspicious from the first. Burke believed that institutions, whether social or political, that had grown up through a long period Edmund of time must have certain merits of their own Burke on the and should not be tampered with. When he Revolution - learned that the French were beginning to remodel their con- stitution, his coolness developed into deep resentment and anger. In 1790 he published his Reflections on the French Revolution, 1 which became the storehouse from which all who opposed the French movement drew their chief arguments. In the Reflections Burke condemned the new revolutionary prin- ciples of Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality, and showed how, in pretended obedience to these principles, the revolutionists had committed great wrongs and even crimes. The same year he broke with his old friend Fox ; and under Burke's leadership the more conservative Whigs drifted into an alliance with Pitt's new Tory party into which they were Split in the after a time wholly absorbed. The Whigs were Whig party, left in a sad plight : it was said that all the Whig members of parliament could find room in a single coach, though Fox insisted that they needed at least two. 474. The Outbreak of War with France. 1793. 2 Wil- liam Pitt had been mildly favorable to the Revolution in its earlier stages ; but he, too, soon developed a strong ' -rx- 1. , Policy of Pitt, aversion to the movement. His policy was, how- ever, to maintain the peace and to leave the French to settle their affairs and difficulties without interference from England. But every day violence grew more common and pronounced across the Channel ; and every day the hatred of conservative England for revolutionary methods grew more intense. 3 Still, the movement had gone on for nearly four years Causes of before actual war broke out between England and the war with France. Three events forced this outcome: (1) in France * November, 1792, the French Convention, which had suc- 1 Cheyney, No. 395; Gardiner, 822-823; Kendall, No. 123. 2 Gardiner, 824-825. 3 Kendall, No. 124. 5 i6 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE ceeded the Estates General, invited all Europe to join in the Revolution and offered to assist any people that wished to overthrow what the French called despotism ; (2) French armies had seized the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium) and were threat- ening to invade and annex the Dutch Republic ; (3) in January' 1793, the French government executed the king, Louis XVI; London put on mourning, while Paris rejoiced. Both sides realized that war between the two countries was unavoidable. England might not feel called upon to avenge the Bourbon dynasty, or even to punish the French for inciting dissatisfied Britons to revolt ; but she could not allow France to annex her old commercial rival, the Dutch Republic. France realized the situation and on February 1, 1793, the new Republic declared war on England. 475. The Reign of Terror and the English Reaction. 1 Soon after midsummer of the same year, conditions at Paris The Reign drifted into what is known as the Reign of Terror : of Terror in the men in control of the Republic strove to destroy the enemies of the new system by the use of the guillotine. For nearly a year this terrible period lasted. The same years, 1 793-1 794, a strange panic seized and held the gov- erning classes in England. Burke's Reflections called forth a number of animated replies, some of which attained a wide circulation ; an abusive pamphlet by Thomas Paine called the Rights of Man sold to the extent of more than a million copies in The panic in a short time. In 1792 the government issued a England. proclamation against such "seditious writings" and parliament was induced to pass several acts directed against harmless political clubs and even against men who agitated for reasonable and much needed reforms. In applying these and other laws that might cover the offenses, the British courts often went to an indefensible extreme. A Scotch Political trials. , lawyer, Thomas Muir, was sentenced to trans- portation for fourteen years for agitating in favor of universal suffrage and annual elections for members of parliament. There 1 Gardiner, 826-830. WILLIAM PITT AND THE EUROPEAN COALITIONS 517 were several other convictions for like offenses; but in 1794, when the Terror was past in France, the panic subsided in England and English juries began to refuse to convict political offenders. 476. William Pitt and the European Coalitions. In 1793 France was at war with Prussia, Austria, the Dutch Republic, and England. Other nations took up arms against the Revolu- The Bank of England From an engraving of 1827 by Thomas H. Shepherd. tion later on. It was Pitt's plan to organize the enemies of France into great alliances or coalitions, after the ex- Pitt's system ample of William III in his wars with Louis XIV. 1 of coalitions. England had no large standing army ; and William Pitt there- fore had to depend on the forces of the Continental states to fight the French on land. It was to be England's task to fight the Re- public on the ocean, to destroy the French navy, and to ruin the enemy's trade. England also sent soldiers to the Continent, but for some years these expeditions were of lesser importance. England further agreed to furnish her allies with the neces- sary funds to equip their armies. For a number of years this 1 Review sec. 391. 51 8 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE practice of giving financial assistance to Prussia, Austria, and other states was continued ; the war, as a result, Subsidies. . came to be very expensive to the English. Pitt did not believe that France could keep up the fight very long, and proposed to carry on the war with borrowed money. But after the national debt had been enormously increased, England had to resort to new forms of taxation among which New taxes. . . . was a tax on incomes which was levied in 1798. The income tax was very unpopular and after a time was wholly dropped ; later it was revived, however, and it is still an im- portant source of national revenue. Pitt's plans were not wholly successful. The British fleet won a series of brilliant victories, but in the fighting on land most of the battles were won by the French. The Republic crushed her enemies the one after the other. England alone refused to yield. Except for a brief year of peace, the war continued till France was overwhelmed on the field of Waterloo in 1815. 477. The Battles of St. Vincent and Camperdown. 1 1797. Early in 1795 the French conquered the Dutch and transformed their country into a dependent state to be called the Batavian France an- Republic. The following year Spain renewed her nexes the old alliance with France. The French govern- Netherlands. m ^ t ^^ ^^ the commana i Q f t h ree fleets I those of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. It was planned to use these in an attack on England and in an invasion of Ireland, where a strong revolutionary movement was being organized. 2 But the Spaniards never came into the Channel. Admiral Jarvis, who commanded the English navy in the Mediterranean, came upon the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent on the coast of Portugal and annihilated a large part Commodore of it. One of his captains was Commodore Nel- Neison. son, 3 and in this battle the great admiral first showed his wonderful abilities in naval warfare. Later in the same year, the Dutch fleet was defeated at Camperdown on 1 Gardiner, 835-837. 2 Ibid., 831-834. 3 Bates and Coman, 366-373. THE BATTLE OF THE NILE. 1798 519 the coast of Holland. Nine of the fifteen ships engaged were taken by the English. The French had intended to use this fleet in their projected descent upon Ireland ; that danger was now past. For the time being all plans looking toward the invasion of England also had to be given up. 478. The Battle of the Nile. 1798. In 1795, Napoleon Bonaparte first appears prominently in the history of France ; and the next year he be- gan his wonderful mili- tary career with his first campaign in Italy. After the defeat on the sea of the allies of France, Na- poleon planned to strike England in Napoleon's the Orient. 1 Oriental plans. Apparently he hoped to get a secure foothold in Egypt and Syria, and from these regions he may have planned to bring assistance to the rebels in India who were striving to oust the East India Company. With a large fleet he sailed to Egypt in the summer of 1708. But 4rTno ' y 1798. Nelson, who had been watching the French outside Toulon, sailed in search of Napoleon and found his fleet at anchor in a bay on the Egyptian coast not far from Alexandria. The battle began in the evening and was fought all night. The Battle of English fleet was badly damaged; but every one the Nlle- of the French ships was destroyed or finally taken by the 1 Robinson, No. 199; Gardiner, 837-838. Napoleon From the painting by Paul Delaroche. 520 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE English. With the loss of his fleet Napoleon was cut off from France ; and his Oriental projects, whatever they may have been, became impossible. 479. The Battle of Copenhagen. 1801. Napoleon now decided to strike at England through her commerce. The English success at sea had ruined the carrying trade of France and her allies, and the commerce of the Continental states was carried on in the ships of a few neutral nations, chiefly Denmark, Sweden, and the United States. England had for a long time insisted, however, that goods destined for a hostile port could be seized even when carried by a neutral ship. She therefore claimed and exercised the right of searching neutral cargoes for Difficulties goods intended for France or any of her allies. of neutral American ships were seized and searched even on the high seas. Still worse was the position of the Baltic states: to reach the ports of France and Spain their merchant vessels had to pass down the Channel where British war ships were constantly on guard. A somewhat similar situation had existed twenty years earlier during the American Revolution, and the Baltic states had met League of ^ with an alliance called the "League of Armed Armed Neutrality." l On the suggestion of Napoleon, Russia took steps to revive this alliance, and all British ships in Russian harbors were seized (1800). As the greater part of the supplies needed for the British navy came from the Baltic lands, England could not afford to lose the trade in those quarters. Early in 1801 an English fleet was sent into the Baltic to break up the "League." Admiral Parker was in charge of the expedition with Nelson as second _ , in command. The fleet attacked and bombarded The bom- bardment of Copenhagen. 2 The Danes returned such an effec- Copenhagen. t j ve f| re t j iat Admiral Parker, who was several miles away, thought it best to retire. But when Nelson's attention was called to the admiral's signals, he placed the glass before his blind eye and assured his men that he saw 1 Review sec. 451. 2 Gardiner, 844-845. THE REVOLT OF IRELAND 521 no signals. The Danes were finally forced to yield : Russia made peace with England, and the League disbanded. By 1 801, England had overcome and crippled the fleets of all the other maritime powers in Europe. The fleet of Spain had been defeated at St. Vincent; the Dutch navy had Naval been cut to pieces at Camperdown. The French victories. Mediterranean fleet had been ruined in the Nile. And finally the Danish navy had been crippled at Copenhagen. In three of these four battles it was the genius of Lord Nelson that won the victory. 480. The Revolt of Ireland. While England was sweeping her enemies off the sea, her supremacy in the British Isles was being seriously endangered by a revolutionary movement in Ireland. In 1783, the Irish parliament had been given com- plete legislative independence ; but the new freedom brought no profit to the island, for the Dublin parliament refused to pass certain very necessary reform laws. It was not a repre- sentative body and was deeply tainted with corruption. Many of the old notorious penal laws were still on the Irish statute books, and neither Catholic nor Presby- dis content. terian was allowed to share in the government. An Anglican minority was in complete control. During the decade before the war with France a number of secret societies came into existence in Ireland, among which were the Orangemen. Orangemen of Ulster, who were anti-Catholic, and the United Irishmen, 1 an organization that hoped to unite the men of all churches in a fight for Irish freedom and an Irish republic. The French Revolution stimulated these United movements. William Pitt believed in generous Inshmen - treatment of the Irish : he favored allowing free trade between the two islands and planned to give full political rights to the Irish Catholics. 2 But his plans were thwarted : the English parliament would not listen to the suggestion of Pitt's Irish free trade, and George III would not consider P° hc y- giving political rights to his Catholic subjects. Beginning with 1 Innes, II, 257-260. - Ibid., II, 261-266. 522 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE 1795, there was much rioting in Ireland; and in 1798 active rebellion broke out. The government was well in- formed, however, as to the plans of the revolu- tionists; the uprising was soon crushed and the principal leaders were executed. 481. The Union of Great Britain and Ireland. 1801. Wil- liam Pitt now determined to unite the British Isles into one kingdom. Great Britain and Ireland already had a common The plan for king » ^ut ^^ tt a ^ so wante( i a single parliament, a legislative His plan was to transform the parliament at union. Westminster into a British parliament by adding a certain number of Irish lords and representatives. In return for the surrender of Irish nationality he offered to give freedom of trade to the island and political rights to the Catholics; he was even willing to give his financial support to the Irish Catholic clergy. His scheme had to be carried through both parliaments. It was readily accepted at Westminster ; but How the union the Dublin parliament offered difficulties. A consid- was carried, erable number of Irish members had to be heavily bribed before they would consent to surrender Irish nationality. 1 The measure was finally passed, however, and the union became a fact on January 1, 1801. Ireland was given thirty- two seats in the English house of lords and one hundred and one in the house of commons. 2 Pitt's intentions were good, but his methods in this particular transaction were anything but clean. And after the union had been formed, the prime minister was unable to redeem his promise to the Catholics. George III remained obdurate : it had been George III represented to him, that whereas he had sworn and the to support the Anglican church, he would break his oath if he allowed the Catholics to share in the government, for this would reduce the power of the Anglican church ; moreover the king could not think of giving financial aid to the Catholic clergy. Under the circumstances there was nothing for Pitt to do but to resign his office. When he returned 1 Gardiner, 842. 2 Cheyney, No. 396; Masterman, 182-184. THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR. 1805 523 to power three years later, King George first made him promise never again to bring up the matter of Catholic emancipation during the king's lifetime. 482. The Peace of Amiens and the Renewal of War. After Pitt had resigned, the English and French governments began to negotiate for peace and a treaty was Treaty of signed at Amiens in 1802. In this treaty England Amiens - 1802 - surrendered practically everything that she had fought for so long. Napoleon was now in full control of the French Repub- lic as First Consul ; and England soon realized that the imperial ambitions of the mighty Corsican could not be bound by treaties. After a year of peace, fighting was renewed. The following year (1804) William Pitt once more Pitt's second became the chief of the English government. On mmistr y- the same day Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French. 483. The Battle of Trafalgar. 1805. 1 The Emperor Na- poleon now began to plan an invasion of England and col- lected a large force in northern France apparently „ in r Napoleon's for such an undertaking. The fleets of France plans to and Spain had been rebuilt ; and Napoleon ordered ™™de England, them to proceed to the English Channel in united force. Accordingly the French Mediterranean fleet sailed for the Atlantic. Lord Nelson, who commanded the British naval forces in the Mediterranean, sailed in pursuit and once more ruined Napoleon's plans. Later in the year he fell in with the combined fleets at Cape Trafalgar on the south- „, , , ^ to Trafalgar, western coast of Spain. " England expects every man to do his duty" was the 'signal that he had flashed to his captains. 2 The signal was heeded. The enemies' ships were nearly all taken or destroyed. But when the battle was over the great admiral was no more. When the news Death of of the victory reached England, there was little Lord Nelson - rejoicing ; for the nation felt that Trafalgar had been dearly bought. 3 - 1 Gardiner, 851-854. 2 Cheyney, No. 400. 3 Ibid., No. 401. 524 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE Q /D r E '°~~° w ' s ' oN Santisima, Trinidad DBacentaure tVUleneuves Flagship/ m—~~Z^ *~i ft ^ (Victory (NelsonSFlagslup) u „(/) RedoutableU (f\ z N Sta.Anna . - A Q. N COLLING ^oT^S ^VIS^OH <^ Wind N.N.W. 00 £ mo o » British Ships O French » ^ Spanish •> Q(D /rJPrincipe de Asturias UT( GravincbsFlagsTup) Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October, 1805 Lord Nelson's work was done. Neither France nor her allies were able to put another fleet upon the ocean. The few hostile ships that remained at Antwerp, Brest, and Cadiz were gradually gathered in by the English captains. With the battle of Trafal- gar the naval phase of the great war practically came to a close. 484. Austerlitz. The Death of Pitt. Earlier in the year William Pitt had succeeded in organizing Austria, Russia, Napoleon in England, and other enemies of Napoleon into a new coalition against France. When Napoleon realized that his plans for an invasion of Great Britain could not be carried out, he marched his army swiftly Germany and Austria. AUSTERLITZ. THE DEATH OF PITT 525 through Germany into Austria where the coalition had massed its forces. Six weeks after the battle of Trafalgar, he crushed the combined armies of Russia and Austria on the field of Austerlitz. To the men of the time Aus- terlitz loomed much larger than Trafalgar. William Pitt had 1805. Lord Nelson After the painting by Charles Lucy, "Nelson in the cabin of the Victory. always been in frail health ; the news of Austerlitz found him ill in body, and his spirit could not endure the L1 T T , ,. , . . r , Death of Pitt. blow. In January he died, despairing of the future of his country. 1 He did not understand that Nelson's last victory had secured the safety of England. 1 Gardiner, 854-855; Kendall, No. 127 (Scott). 526 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE After his death the government of England came into the hands of a group of men most of whom were of mediocre abili- Canning and ties. The ablest were George Canning, a brilliant Castiereagh. orator and writer, who was for some time the sec- retary for foreign affairs, and Lord Castiereagh, who served first in the war office and later in the foreign office. Both were uncompromising opponents of Napoleon and both were Tories, though on some questions it was believed that Canning held broader and more liberal views than Castiereagh. 485. The Continental System. 1 In the two years follow- ing his victory at Austerlitz, Napoleon overwhelmed the forces The treaty of of Prussia and Russia. The Tsar thought it ad- Tilsit, visable to make peace with France and the two em- perors met at Tilsit (1807) where they agreed to divide the world between them, Napoleon to take the West and Tsar Alexander to have free hands in the Orient. Once more France was at peace with all Europe except with England. But England could not be conquered and would not make peace. Napoleon now reverted to his earlier plan of striking at Eng- Napoleon plans land through her commerce. There were two commercial neutral fleets in Europe that he intended to use in warfare. ^ attack . those f Denmark and Portugal. When England learned of Napoleon's plans, the government sent a fleet and an army to Denmark to seize the Danish navy. Copenhagen was once more bombarded and the Second bom- x . . bardment of Danes were compelled to surrender their ships. Copenhagen. j n ^g case Q f Portugal more peaceful methods were employed. Since the days of Charles II there had been a friendly understanding between England and England and Portugal. The prince regent was induced to leave Portugal. Lisbon and take his fleet and his family to Brazil, which was a Portuguese colony. Napoleon believed that if the Continent could be induced to discontinue all trade with Great Britain, starvation would force 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 204-205; Robinson, Nos. 207-20S. THE WAR WITH AMERICA 527 the island kingdom to accept his terms of peace. He therefore adopted a policy that is known as the Continental system. By a series of " Decrees" he practically forbade The his allies to trade with England ; what products Napoleonic they needed they should buy from other Continen- ecrees - tal states or produce within their own borders. All English or English colonial goods should be destroyed wherever they were found. England replied to these decrees with a series of " Orders in Council," which virtually closed every European port from which the English merchant flag was excluded. The English No neutral ship could safely enter any such harbor " Orders in unless it had first touched at a British port. And ounc if a trading vessel did enter a British port, it was regarded by the French as a lawful prize which might be seized anywhere. The Continental system failed in its purpose to ruin English commerce, but it had other important results. (1) It caused much distress and dissatisfaction in the states allied to France. Tropical products like coffee, tea, and sugar had Results of become necessities in the Continental households ; the commer- and a system of government that deprived the people of these could not fail to become intensely unpopular. (2) It forced Napoleon into new wars of conquest ; for unless every nation on the Continent could be made obedient to the "decrees," English wares would find their way into European ports, and Napoleon's commercial warfare would end in defeat. (3) It was one of the causes that brought on the War of 181 2 with America. 486. The War with America. 1 The nation that suffered most from this commercial warfare was the United States. The Americans had no part in the Napoleonic wars and as a consequence a large share of the world's trade came causes of the into their hands. The contention of the English American War government that the English captains had a right to search neutral ships was a great irritation to the American 1 Gardiner, 872-873. 52i THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE traders; but when the Napoleonic " decrees" and the English "orders" were issued, serious trouble came to the American merchant marine. President Jefferson believed that Europe EUROPE ABOUT L812 Scale of Miles ES3 The Napoleonic Empire f '". ' Vassal states of Napoleon 1=1 Stale allied wuth Napoleon I Mr £'S/; "~" 4k - fine £ •Brfstfen? -^ jtmiens V MaTnr[ WTOt \" Austerliv . y i f^l^^^^^^ ^ ml?--'* .. .1ft ~> I >5? / vitori s . s i r > s ^ii\ii 'Toulon ■ .\?.v ■ W«\ {HdrcelonsJ _^> — " -• * 'Say '/en 1^ Lon£ilu4e West from Longitude East from Greenwich 10° was so dependent on the American shipping that a suspension The American * tra de would soon bring the contending parties embargo. to terms. He accordingly induced Congress to 1807 ' pass an Embargo Act which forbade American ships to leave American ports. The embargo was ruinous to American commerce; and, though it worked great hardship THE WAR WITH AMERICA 529 both in England and on the Continent, it made no impres- sion on the European situation. After a year the The Non _ embargo was lifted ; but the repeal was followed intercourse by a Non-intercourse Act, by which trade with England and France was forbidden. Another source of irritation was the English practice of searching American ships for English deserters. Service in the English navy was hard ; the wages were low ; the Search and fare was bad; and the treatment of offenders was im P re ssment. often cruel, flogging being a common form of punishment. Just after the battle of St. Vincent there were two serious mu- tinies in the navy. 1 Conditions were somewhat improved after 1797, but the naval service remained hard and burdensome. Consequently, there were frequent desertions. The constant increase in the British naval forces as the war progressed cre- ated a demand for sailors which was hard to supply. It was often difficult to tell an English deserter from an American sailor ; and frequently American citizens were seized on the barest suspicion and forced into the British service. If the sailor was of British birth, American citizenship was no protec- tion ; for it was held in England that allegiance to the crown could not be legally renounced: "once an Englishman, always an Englishman." The Continental system did not wholly stop European com- merce. So great was the need of English and American prod- ucts in France that Napoleon found it advisable Licensed and to permit a licensed importation to a certain ex- unlicensed tent. There was also much unlicensed and irregu- lar trade ; this was hazardous, but where the venture succeeded it was also profitable. It is not likely that the interference with American trade and the impressment of American seamen would have brought on war : the New England New E ng i an d shipowners, who suffered most from English ag- opposed to gression, were strongly opposed to war. The war of 181 2 was brought on by a party in Congress led by Henry 1 Gardiner, 836. 530 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE Clay and composed chiefly of Southern and Western members, who thought the moment a favorable one for the annexation of Canada. England did not desire war with America. When Castle- reagh understood that the war party was in the saddle in Wash- Orders in ington, he withdrew the orders in council and thus council removed the chief grievance. But two days later withdrawn. ^j une ig) and before any Rews q£ England > s in _ tentions had reached America, Congress declared war against Great Britain. In the war of 1812, neither side gained any great credit. The United States was poorly prepared, and England had first American naval of all to watch Napoleon, whose armies were now victories. j n R uss i a . On the sea the American navy won a series of brilliant victories in a number of duels between single ships ; and in the battle of Lake Erie Commodore Perry took an entire squadron of British ships. On land, however, honors were more even. In 1813 the war degenerated into a series of raids. Gradually the Americans came to realize the folly of carrying on the contest, especially after the overthrow of Na- The treaty of poleon, and an effort was made to secure peace. Ghent. 1814. After long negotiations a treaty was signed at Ghent in December, 1814. ' In the treaty no mention was made of search and impressment ; but now that the Great War was over there was no need to discuss those questions : England was dismissing instead of impressing seamen. Since the treaty of Ghent there has been a century of unbroken peace between England and America. 487. The Downfall of Napoleon. The treaty of Tilsit marks the highest point of Napoleon's career; the following year (1808) the decline began. In that year he dethroned the The Spanish incompetent Spanish king and gave the throne to war of his own brother Joseph. The Spaniards objected to the change of dynasty and rose in revolt every- where. This uprising Napoleon was unable to quell. The English government sent prompt aid to the Spanish rebels, THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON 531 and for five years English armies were operating in Spain. 1 Among the British generals were Sir John Moore 2 and Arthur Wellesley, better known as the Duke of Wellington, who finally succeeded in driving the French out of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington From an engraving by R. Scanlan. the Spanish peninsula. In 18 10 Russia, wearied of the commer- cial warfare, opened her ports to the world's trade. Napoleon in Napoleon at once began to prepare for an invasion Russia - 1812 - of Russia. In 181 2 he advanced to Moscow and entered the 1 Gardiner, 862-870. - Bates and Coman, 377-378 (Wolfe, Burial of Sir John Moore). 532 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE city; but only a fragment of his vast army returned to the west. Bad food, illness, snow, and severe cold had done what Russian soldiers could not do. Prussia now rose in revolt (1813). Austria declared war on Napoleon later in the year. The genius of the great Corsican The Battle of an< ^ tne va ^ or °f tne French were as great as ever ; the Nations. but Napoleon's resources were now almost ex- hausted. At Leipsic, in the Battle of the Nations, his new army was crushed ; his capital was seized ; he was forced to abdicate and was allowed to retire to Elba, 1 a little island of less than one hundred square miles in area. It proved The return too small to interest the mighty Napoleon ; in less from Elba. than a year he was again in France. The Euro-, pean powers at once prepared to drive him from Europe. The final campaign was fought in Belgium where the allies had two armies, one commanded by Wellington and composed chiefly Waterloo. of English and Hanoverian troops, and a Prussian June 18, 1815. arm y under Blucher. The last battle was fought at Waterloo, 2 where Wellington was the victor. Napoleon was exiled to the rock of St. Helena. 3 Meanwhile the rulers and diplomats of Europe had gathered at Vienna to reconstruct the map of Europe. In this so-called " congress" England was represented by Castlereagh ; Welling- ton joined him later. It was the purpose of the congress to restore as far as possible the conditions that prevailed before 1789. In this, however, the reactionary diplomats were not Results of wholly successful. The French Revolution had the French given the old absolutistic regime a blow from which it never recovered. The movement had swept away feudal privileges, inefficient institutions, and much worn- out governmental machinery, and these could not be restored. On the other hand,' the Revolution had built up a new govern- mental regime for France based on popular consent ; and to a large extent the new constitutional system and guarantees were 1 Robinson, No. 218. 3 Cheyney, No. 404. 2 Bates and Coman, 379-380 (Byron). SUMMARY 533 allowed to remain. During the Great War the principles of the Revolution found their way into almost every part of western Europe, where they took root and produced a harvest of important changes in due time. Especially was this true of the countries that had for a time come under the direct or in- direct control of Napoleon. 1 488. Colonial Expansion. 2 One of the results of the Great War was the annexation of certain very important colonial possessions to the British Empire. From the Growth of the French England took the island of Mauritius. British Em P*re. Trinidad and Tobago, two islands in the West Indies, were taken from Spain. Cape Colony at the southern extremity of Africa and what is now called British Guiana in South America were taken from the Dutch. The large and valuable island of Ceylon became a British possession in 1795. Malta in the Mediterranean Sea was seized by Napoleon when on the way to Egypt ; two years later it was occupied by the English and was never returned. During the war there had , ,. . India, been much trouble in India ; in the end, however, the English were victorious everywhere and large territories in Southern India and in the Ganges Valley were added to the dominions of the East India Company. 3 489. Summary. The French Revolution began in 1789, but England was not drawn into the struggle before 1793. During the first four years of the war, England and the allied states had but slight success; but in 1797 began a series of naval victories that swept the power of France and her allies from the ocean. The series includes the battles of St. Vincent, Camper- down, the Nile, Copenhagen, Trafalgar, and many lesser en- gagements. Unable to overcome England in any other way, Napoleon sought to ruin the country by crushing its trade. The commercial warfare lasted for several years but failed in its purpose. In 1808 Spain rose against Napoleon and the 1 On the larger European aspects of the French Revolution see Robinson, Western Europe, cc. xxxv-xxxviii, especially 567-574, 599-600, 622. 2 Gardiner, 844, 858-859. 3 Cheyney, No. 450. 534 THE GREAT WAR WITH FRANCE "Wars of Liberation" began. In these England had a large part ; it was Wellington who drove the French out of Spain and it was Wellington who finally defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. The chief results of these wars for English history were three : (i) they left England without a rival on the ocean; (2) the Results of the British Empire was widely extended at the expense Great War. Q f tne ther colonizing powers ; (3) the war con- sumed all the energies of the nation to the neglect of domestic matters, and when peace finally came, England had the prob- lems of a generation to solve. REFERENCES The French Revolution. — Cross, History of England, 812-828; Innes, History of England, 712-717; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 854- 861; Rosebery, Pitt, c. vi; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 593-597. Ireland at the close of the eighteenth century. — Fletcher, Intro- ductory History of England, II, ii, 91-105; Jenks, Parliamentary England, 248- 255; Ransome, 876-878; Rosebery, 172-188. The union with Ireland. — Fletcher, II, ii, 105-109; Innes, 738-742; Jenks, 308-317; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xxvi; Lawless, Ireland, c. liv; Ransome, 878-880; Rosebery, 188-200. Trafalgar. — Fletcher, II, ii, 61-67; Innes, 746-749. Pitt. — Rosebery, c. xv. The Continental System. — Fletcher, II, ii, 234-242; Innes, 749-753. The Waterloo campaign. — Cross, 862-865; Fletcher, II, ii, 297-315; Innes, 767-774; Morris, Wellington, c. ix; Ransome, 906-910. Colonial growth during the Great War. — Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 296-301. CHAPTER XXV SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS 490. The Nineteenth Century. The nineteenth century was a period of vast changes in the social, political, and industrial arrangements of the United Kingdom. In general these changes have grown out of a purpose to give the masses a The growth of larger share in the government of the kingdom, in dem <>cracy. the rewards and wages of industry, and in the social benefits of the age. The keynote of the nineteenth century is democracy. The process of change has not been continuous, nor has it wholly been the work of the reforming elements of the nation. At times the interest in foreign affairs and in the problems of the empire has diverted the attention from domestic ills ; but the agitation for reform has never been quieted, and the process still goes on. Of the many elements that have contributed to the recon- struction of English society, the industrial revolution was doubtless the greatest. The changes in themeth- The revolution ods of manufacturing, the increase in production in industry and and commerce, and the shifting of the population a s ncuture - to the northern counties of England have been sketched in an earlier chapter. 1 The revolution in industry and agriculture went on for half a century or more, but no legal adjustment came before the close of the period. The old laws were applied to the new conditions, and the result was that much hardship had to be endured. For this failure to recognize the new con- ditions in legislation, the French Revolution and The p rench the consequent wars were largely responsible : the Revolution and excesses committed by the government of the new * e reactlon republic shocked the ruling classes in England and produced a 1 Review sscs. 462-468. 535 536 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS violent reaction even among men of liberal minds. 1 The Eng- lishmen who were invested with authority steeled themselves against all changes that might seem to favor the laboring mul- titudes. The only important reform during the twenty-two years of war with the French was the abolition of the slave trade (1807). 491. Distress and Discontent. 2 But after the Congress of Vienna had brought peace and quiet to the distracted nations Peace followed of Europe, the distressed condition of English by distress. society was brought home to English minds. The men who had been sure that peace would bring happiness and prosperity were keenly disappointed to find that misery seemed to be even more widely felt, and that in many quarters there was actual starvation. In country and in town the conditions were very much the same. Large meetings were held which sometimes ended in riots. Laborers who were out of work and could get no employment went about smashing machines. Loud protests came to the government from every part of the Governmental realm. The ministry, which was Tory of the sort repression. t h at WO rships the past and all existing institutions, replied with repression. 3 Every movement that threatened the cozy quiet of the ruling classes was put down with unusual severity. The causes of this general discontent were various, but they may be grouped under three heads. (1) The long war had on Causes of the the whole been beneficial to agriculture and indus- distress. tr y^ f or ^ e government had spent a vast amount of money every year in purchasing provisions and other supplies for the army and the navy. When the war ended, there was no longer any demand from this direction, and many workmen suddenly found themselves out of employment. The soldiers and sailors who were now dismissed were another disturbing factor in the labor market. (2) The crop of 1816 was a failure, and in the summer of that year food products sold at a higher price than perhaps ever before in English history. (3) But the 1 Review sec. 475. 2 Gardiner, 876-879. 3 Cheyney, No. 408. THE PROBLEMS OF THE PEACE 537 greatest cause was the abuses that had grown up with the new factory system ; these could be removed by legislation only. 492. The Problems of the Peace. In 181 5 and the follow- ing decade, there were four well defined types of grievances that the government was called upon to correct. 1. Religious Disabilities. Of the population of the United Kingdom there were large classes that had not yet been given full political rights. The Anglican in England and Ireland and the Presbyterian in Scotland possessed the usual catholics and privileges of citizenship ; but Catholic and Protes- Protestant tant dissenters could not sit in parliament or lssenters - hold any office. The disability was caused by such early laws as the Test and Corporation Acts and by the requirement of oaths that had religious significance. This problem was largely an Irish one. Though Irish Catholics could vote, conditions forced them to choose Protestant representatives to parliament. English dissenters were allowed to hold office in violation of law ; but the offense demanded forgiveness in the form of an annual indemity act. 1 2. The Landlord Evil. Most of the land had come into the possession of landlords to whom the tenants paid stipulated rent. In Ireland this created much trouble : the landlord Absentee as a rule did not live on his estates, but managed landlor ds. them through agents ; and these were not always forgetful of their own advantage. In England the situation was more tol- erable, for there-absentee landlords were fewer and the English farmers had certain rights that the Irish tenants did not have. 3. Factory Conditions. The new system of industry led to a multitude of evils. The workday was long, often fifteen hours, with the shortest possible intermission for Hours of meals; wages were low; conditions of employment laboi. were unsanitary. Women were hired to work long hours at difficult tasks. Children, usually orphans and . . , ' . ./. .... Child labor, other inmates 01 supposedly charitable institutions, worked from five or six in the morning till seven and sometimes 1 Review, sec. 415. 538 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS nine at night in the textile mills. The evil was a crying one, but twenty years passed before any serious attempt was made to remedy factory conditions by legislation. This problem was chiefly confined to England. 4. The Parliamentary Situation. So long as Parliament was controlled by the lords and men of wealth, there was small The " unre- no P e f° r improvement ; and the reformers soon formed came to realize this fact. The lords to a large parliament." extent controlled both houses of parliament. They composed the membership of the upper house and were often able to dictate the election of members to the house of commons. As landlords they were influential with their tenants, who some- times had the right to vote ; but more effective was their control of "rotten boroughs" and "pocket boroughs." A rotten borough was one that had practically ceased to exist, though the old site, even if entirely uninhabited, had a right to " Rotten be represented by two members in parliament as of boroughs." \^ Rich lords or wealthy business men were often eager to buy such deserted plots in order to secure a seat in parliament for themselves or their relatives. Most famous of all the rotten boroughs was Old Sarum, the site of which was owned by the Pitt family. There was not a single building in the borough; and the five voters, who elected the representatives to parliament, had to hold their elections in a tent. A pocket borough was an unimportant town that had in some way come into the control of a neighboring magnate whose " Pocket nominees the voters would be sure to elect. Many boroughs." f these had at one time been important boroughs; but they had declined in size and prosperity, and the inhabitants had found it profitable to let others exercise their parliamentary rights. Some of them, however, had been deliberately created as pocket boroughs. Queen Elizabeth was particularly free about creating such boroughs. In Cornwall, where the influ- ence of the crown was great, she found a number of unimpor- tant villages to which she gave the privilege of representation in parliament. A certain district in Cornwall, which now sends THE AGITATION FOR REFORM 539 a single member to the house of commons, elected eighteen members before the reform of 1832. The matter of the franchise was also in great need of read- justment. There was no common rule governing the right to vote for borough members. In some boroughs they were chosen by a small group of men called the borough cor- The need f poration ; this was a continuous body, as it franchise filled its own vacancies. In other places the right re orm ' to vote was associated with the possession of certain parcels of land. In one borough the voter had to prove his right to "a small quantity of salt water arising out of a pit." In 1832 this pit had long been dry, but the ancient right remained. 493. The Agitation for Reform. Even before 181 5 reforms in all these directions had been urged, though without success. From the Tories, who had long been in control of the, govern- ment, little could be expected. The Whigs were somewhat more responsive to popular demands ; but their The Whig party was weak and divided. Some of the Whig reformers- chiefs had looked with favor on the French Revolution and had consequently lost their influence among the ruling classes. After the restoration of peace, the demand for changes grew more insistent. Earl Grey and Lord John Russell, two aristo- cratic Whig leaders, had long urged parliamentary reform. George Canning agitated for Catholic emancipation. Soon the ranks of the reformers were recruited from a rising " „ ,. , . The Radicals, generation of radicals of a more aggressive type. William Cobbett, an able though somewhat erratic journalist, stood for reforms of every sort, though he realized fully that all efforts were useless so long as parliament remained unreformed. Henry Brougham, who was probably the leading democrat of his day, urged reforms in education. James Mackintosh, a Scotch philosopher, who had once written a strong reply to Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution, argued for changes in the frightful criminal code, which decreed the death penalty for more than two hundred offenses, including such petty crimes as stealing a loaf of bread or shooting a hare in a private hunt- 54Q SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS ing park. 1 The poet Shelley stated the radicals in a sonnet, England in iSiq: views of the extreme An old, mad, blind, despised and dying king, — Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow Through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring, — Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know, But leechlike to their fainting country cling, Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow, — A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field, — A Senate, — Time's worst statute unrepealed, Are graves from which a glorious phantom may Burst to illumine our tempestuous day." George IV. 494. Divisions in the Tory Party died and was succeeded by his unworthy son George IV. But as the new king had already governed the country for nine years as regent for his insane father, and as he retained the earlier ministers, no change of policy could be looked for. The leading spirit in the government was neither the king nor the prime minister, but Lord Castle- reagh, who was secretary for foreign affairs. 3 It was Castle- reagh who had planned the military operation during the later years of the Napoleonic War. i Cheyney, No. 411; Gardiner, 885. 2 Gardiner, 882-884. In 1820 George III Castlereagh. Robert Stewart, Lord Castlereagh He had been an im- 3 Review sec. 484. CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION 54i portant figure in the Congress of Vienna and felt bound to support its principles of settlement. As the purpose of this Congress was to restore as far as possible the conditions that existed before the French Revolution, Castlereagh fell under a strong suspicion of being a reactionary. From a cabi- net dominated by a man of this type, the reformers could expect no progressive measures. Castlereagh's rival was George Canning, who headed the moderate wing of the Tory party. After Castlereagh's death in 1822, Canning sue- _ ° . Canning, ceeded him in the foreign office. From that moment the period of reform may be said to date; for Canning was pledged to at least one reform, the removal of Catholic disa- bilities. He accomplished nothing, however, except to keep the agitation alive. 495. Catholic Emancipation. 1 Matters came to a climax in 1828, when the Duke of Wellington was prime minister. Early in that year the Test and Corporation Acts 2 were Repea i f t h e finally repealed and all citizens were made eligible Test and Cor- to office. But the declaration against transub- por stantiation was still in the oath administered to members of parliament, so that no Catholic could take a seat in Daniel that body. Daniel O'Connell, an Irish orator of O'Connell. great fame and power, decided in spite of this fact to become a 1 Cheyney, Nos. 413-414; Gardiner, 895-898. 2 Review sees. 352, 359. George Canning From an engraving, published 1816. 542 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS candidate for a seat in the house of commons. At a special election in southwestern Ireland he defeated one of the chiefs of the Tory party. 1 That a legally elected and fully qualified citizen should be denied his seat because he refused to violate his conscience by taking the prescribed oath, created much stir in the land. So determined were the Irish Catholics, that Wellington ' yieidson Wellington the Catholic feared that question. . civil war would be the outcome. The gov- ernment agreed that the bar should be removed. A re- lief bill introduced by Rob- ert Peel became a law in 1829. O'Connell sought a second election and was al- lowed to take his seat. 496. Parliamentary Re- form. 1832. 2 The reform- ers next centered their attention upon parliamentary reform. A violent agitation arose which was doubtless given strength and momentum by The July movements on the Continent. In 1830 the "July Revolution in Revolution" broke out in Paris and spread to the neighboring lands. The purpose of the revolution- ists was to overthrow the absolutism that had been reestab- lished by the Congress of Vienna, and in places they were successful. In England the movement took the form of an insistent demand for reform of the house of commons. 3 To- ward the close of the year, Earl Grey, who had urged parlia- Daniel O'Connell From a painting by T. Carrick. 1 Kendall, No. 128. 3 Gardiner, 2 Masterman, 196-200; Tuell and Hatch, No. 67. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 1832 543 mentary reform for a quarter of a century, suggested that such a measure be passed. But Wellington refused Agitation for to tamper with the historic constitution and was parliamentary forced to resign. 1 William IV, who had succeeded his brother a few months before, called on Earl Grey to head a new ministry. 2 There were still four leading groups in the politics of Britain: extreme Tories, "Canningite" Tories, Whigs, and Radicals. Earl Grey selected The Grey his cabinet minis * r y- from among the Whigs and the Canningites ; he also had the support of the Radicals. Out of this alli- ance grew the Liberal party which has controlled the nation and the empire most of the time since 1830. A few months later the government had a bill ready for the reconstruction of parliament. It was intro- duced into the house of commons by The First Lord John Rus- Reform Bill, sell who had also been a persistent advo- cate of parliamentary re- form. 3 But the first test vote showed that the house was almost evenly divided on the subject, and the bill was dropped. 4 In the hope of securing a favorable house, the Grey ministry dissolved parliament and ordered new elections. 5 After an exciting campaign, in which the reform bill was the sole issue, Lord John Russell From a photograph by May all 1 Cheyney, No. 416; Kendall, No. 129. 2 Gardiner, 900-901. 3 Cheyney, No. 417. 4 Cheyney, Nos. 41 5 Kendall, No. 130. 421. 544 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS the Whigs and their allies came back to Westminster in a strong The Second majority. Another bill was prepared and passed Reform Bill. through the house of commons but it was rejected by the lords. 1 The excitement in the country was intense and for some weeks riot and destruction of property prevailed. A third bill was rushed through the house, but once more the peers threat- ened to throw it out or to change it so as to make it harmless The Third as a reform measure. When the attitude of the Reform Bill, peers became evident, Grey and his colleagues re- signed. The king asked Wellington to form another cabinet, but as he now proposed to grant a measure of reform, the Tory chiefs refused to serve under him. The king then recalled Earl Grey and promised to create a sufficient number of Whig lords to overcome the hostile majority. On learning this the upper house yielded, and the third bill became a law. 2 By the provisions of the act fifty-six English boroughs lost all their representation in parliament ; thirty lost one member Provisions of each ; one lost two out of four members. The seats the act. ^at th e boroughs lost were distributed among the larger counties and the more important towns. 3 In the boroughs every man who occupied a house for which he paid £10 in yearly rent, or whose own house would rent for that sum, was allowed to vote. In the country the forty-shilling freeholders remained voters as before ; 4 but the franchise was also given to certain classes of tenant farmers who paid rent of from £10 to £50. Those who rented for a short time were included in the £50 class. In general the right to vote was given to the business men of the cities and to the more important farmers. The working- men were not given the ballot : very few of them paid as much as £10 in house rent. The measure was a moderate one and was soon found inadequate. Two later reforms have given the United Kingdom substantially equal electoral districts and what comes very near being universal male suffrage. 1 Gardiner, 902-903. 3 Cheyney, No. 420. 2 Ibid., 903-905. 4 Review sec. 178. BOROUGH GOVERNMENT AND POSTAL REFORM 545 497. The Reformed Parliament. In the election that fol- lowed the passage of the reform bill, the Liberal groups won an overwhelming victory, and the great majority of the new mem- bers were eager for social reforms. For some years Abolition of the work went on. One of the first measures to slaver y- pass was an act abolishing slavery in all the British domin- ions. 1 A large sum of money was set aside to compensate the owners for the loss of their property, and the freedmen were to continue working for their masters as apprentices for twelve years longer. An appropriation was made to promote educa- tion, the first grant of the kind in the history of parliament. Quakers were admitted to parliament on affirmation instead of oath. Of more immediate importance was a factory act, 2 which regulated the number of hours that children Factory acts, might labor in the mills : children under thirteen 1833 - years were limited to nine hours ; older children were allowed to work twelve hours. No child under the age of nine was to be employed in a factory. The poor law was changed in such a way as to encourage the paupers to work : relief was not wholly abolished, but workhouses were built, The new and assistance was to be given only to inmates of poor law - these establishments. 3 In many cases the new law worked much hardship, but it was probably an improvement on the older methods of dealing with poverty. 4 498. Borough Government and Postal Reform. After two years of strenuous reforming the nation seemed to tire of the changes, and an effort was made to place the Conservatives in power under the leadership of the moderate and practical statesman, Robert Peel. The movement failed, however; the Liberals formed an alliance with O'Connell and his Irish follow- ing, and Peel was forced to resign. The reformers Municipal returned to their work and began by providing a government, more rational form of government for the boroughs. The old 1 Gardiner, 910-91 i. 4 Review sec. 469. 2 Cheyney, Nos. 422-424; Innes, Industrial Development, 296-307. 3 Gardiner, 911; Innes, Industrial Development, 262-264. 546 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS self-perpetuating corporations were abolished and a governing council was created which was to be chosen by the taxpayers. The same decade saw an important reform in the postal serv- ice. 1 The charge for carrying letters was high and varied with the distance. This proved a great hardship for the poor. The charge was paid by the one who received the letter : this Rowland Hill ^ to constant efforts to evade the law by smug- and the gling, placing private marks on the envelope, and postal reform. the Uke Row i and H ill, an officer in the postal service, showed that the rates were far above the cost of carrying the letters, and that the distance had little to do with the cost. He therefore urged the government to adopt a low rate and have the cost paid by the sender, which could be done by af- fixing a government stamp. After a few years of agitation the reform was carried through, and the United Kingdom had a uniform penny postage (1839). Since that time Rowland Hill's ideas have been accepted throughout the world. 2 499. The Progress of the Industrial Revolution. During all these years the changes that are associated with the indus- trial revolution were going forward at a steadily increasing rate. It is estimated that there were about 3000 power looms in Growth of operation in Great Britain in 181 5; twenty years manufacturing. i a ter, during the decade of the factory acts and the new poor law, the number had risen to 100,000. A large number of these were used in the manufacture of cotton ; during this same period the importation of cotton increased four fold. A number of new inventions were also put to use, but these were chiefly in the form of improvements on the great spinning and weaving machines of the eighteenth century. 3 Among the more important was an improvement on the power loom which made it possible to weave cloth of varied, and often intricate designs. The agitation for laws to regulate factory labor and to im- prove the living conditions in the factory districts did not 1 Cheyney, No. 425. 2 Gardiner, 918-920. 3 Review sec. 463. THE PROGRESS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 547 cease with the passing of the factory act of 1833. It was urged by the reformers that the employment of children industrial should be forbidden ; that the hours for men and reforms - women should be made shorter ; and that something should be done to provide the workingmen's families with better homes. 1 Houses of Parliament, London The building was begun in 1840 and completed in 1852. It covers eight acres and contains 1100 rooms. In 1842, when Robert Peel was prime minister, a commission was appointed to investigate labor conditions in the coal mines. The investigation revealed a state of affairs that was but little better than slavery : it was found that women and children bore heavy burdens deep under ground for twelve hours a day. 2 At the same time the attention of the public was once more directed to the question of child labor in the fac- Mrs Brown- tories : in 1844 Mrs. Browning gave voice to the ing and Lord public feeling on this matter in her poem The a es ury ' Cry of the Children. The leader of the forces that fought for reforms along these lines was Lord Ashley, earl of Shaftesbury : 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 307-311. 2 Kendall, No. 134. 548 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS his efforts were chiefly directed toward securing a ten-hour day in industry. The agitation bore fruit : during the forties a The ten-hour series of acts were passed which materially reduced da y- the evils of labor in mines and factories. The employment of children was still more narrowly limited, and in 1847 the bill for a ten-hour day was passed. 500. The Movement for Public Health. 1 One of the prob- lems of the factory towns in northern England was how to provide homes for the rapidly growing laboring population. Many houses were built in these towns, but they Sanitation. , ., . 1 . 1 • 1 1 were built with a view to secure a high rent at the lowest cost to the owner. They were often located in districts where there were no water-works, no sewers or drains, and no provision for the disposal of garbage. It was not long before the factory towns were reeking with filth. The effects of this condition appeared in an abnormally high death rate : in Glas- gow forty out of every thousand died in 1843 ; at present the death rate in England is less than fifteen per thousand. In the older towns like London, the situation was better, but there was much room for improvement. In the campaign for public health the name of Edwin Chad- wick is the most prominent. His service consisted in getting Edwin the facts of the situation in the cities before the Chadwkk. English people. To lower the death rate he urged improved water-works and better drains. In his efforts to secure these improvements he was ably supported by Lord Shaftesbury. In 1844 a commission was appointed by parlia- ment to study the question of the " health of towns." The report of this body confirmed the statements of Chadwick and Shaftesbury. The outcome was a measure providing a general board of health with powers to organize local boards of health. Boards of Later the cities took up the question and many Eng- heaith. lish municipalities have undertaken to provide not only pure water and proper drainage, but also houses built with a view to preserve and promote health and rented to the poor at 1 Gardiner, 922-923. THE STEAMSHIP AND THE RAILWAY 549 -ji^M^m^^ "Puffing Billy" Stephenson's first locomotive. the lowest possible rate. The " housing question " still remains, however, one of the more important in British municipal life. 501. The Steamship and the Railway. 1 The greatest achievements of the indus- trial revolution during the first half of the nineteenth century lay in the fields of transit and transportation. In 1812 the first English steamship was The launched on the steamship. Clyde River ; two years later George Stephenson built the first railway locomotive. Ocean traffic by steam dates from 18 19, when an American steamship, the Savannah, came across the Atlantic to Liverpool. The Savannah, however, did not depend wholly on steam; not till 1838 did ocean travel by steam alone become a real fact : in that year the Sirius and the Great Western crossed the Atlantic in eighteen and fifteen days respectively. George Stephenson's first locomotive, George " Puffing Bil- Stephenson. ly," as the noisy machine was called, did not prove a success; but in 1816 he succeeded in building an engine that was able to haul cars of coal. In 1825 the locomotive was first used in passenger traffic; but the speed attained, eight miles per hour, did not promise 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 239-243. The Rocket : 55© SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS much for the future of the steam railway. Soon after this a The railway was built between Manchester and Liver- locomotive, p^^ anc [ Stephenson succeeded in inducing the promotors to arrange for a locomotive contest before finally de- termining what power should be used on the new road. He won the contest with the " Rocket," a locomotive that reached a speed of thirty-five miles in an hour (1829). The railway was opened the next year and many other important lines were built during the following decade. 502. Queen Victoria. 1 In 1837 William IV died and the crown passed to his niece, the Princess Victoria, a young girl Victoria. of ei g nteen years. 2 Queen Victoria took her do- mestic and social duties very seriously; she had, therefore, not always the necessary time for governmental affairs, and as a result the office of the prime minister grew to great importance. Victoria's long reign of more than sixty- 1 Cheyney, No. 426. 2 The genealogy of the Hanoverian dynasty. James I, 1603-1625 Elizabeth Sophia = Ernest Augustus, I elector ol Hanover George I, 1714-1727 George II, 1727-1760 I Frederick, prince of Wales George III 1 760-1820 George IV, Frederick William IV, Edward, Ernest. Two other 1820-1830 duke of York, 1830-1837 duke of Kent, duke of Cumberland, sons and four died l82 7 died 1820 later king of Han- daughters I over, died 1851 Albert of = Victoria Saxe-Coburg | 1837-1901 Edward VII Eight other 1901-1910 children Albert, George V, Three other died 1892 1910- • children QUEEN VICTORIA 551 552 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS Victorian prime ministers. three years, the longest in English history, saw a series of re- markable men in charge of the queen's government. Four of these played large and brilliant parts : Robert Peel, Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, and William Ewart Glad- stone. The queen did not allow the cabinet to control the government absolutely : she tried to keep informed at all times and claimed a right to share in the adoption of govern- mental policies ; how- ever, in such matters she usually found it necessary to defer to the opinions of the min- isters in charge. 1 Queen Victoria mar- ried Albert, a prince from one of the lesser German states. 2 Prince Albert was never Prince popular with the English people : he was some- Albert, what stiff and reserved and had none of those genial graces that Englishmen love to see in royalty. No place was made for him in the government, and for a long time he had no legal title; but the queen was finally able to persuade parliament to give him the title of Prince Consort. Though he was the queen's husband, the ruling powers in England did not intend that he should be anything more than mere consort. This, however, did not prevent him from becoming a real force 1 Masterman, 190-195. 2 Bates and Coman, 388-392; Cheyney, No. 427. Oueen Victoria THE VICTORIAN AGE IN LITERATURE 553 in the government of the kingdom. He was naturally the queen's confidential adviser, and his counsel car- Prince Albert's ried great weight with the cabinet as well as with place in the the queen. After twenty years of married life the government, prince died, 1 and for forty years longer Queen Victoria strug- gled single-handed with parties and ministers. It was the peculiar duty and privilege of Albert and Victoria to reestablish monarchy in the affections of the English people. The Hanoverian line of kings had not been famous The either for intelligence or for virtue. The queen's Hanoverians, grandfather, George III, had, indeed, lived a most proper private life ; but his narrowness and stubbornness combined with a feeble intellect made him anything but an ideal ruler. Her uncle, George IV, had disgusted the nation; and her other uncle, William IV, while in many ways an improvement on his impossible brother, was erratic and was believed by many to be slightly unbalanced. But Queen Victoria, as wife and mother and mistress of a home, illustrated what Private life was noblest and best in the English character. 2 of Victoria - Early in the queen's reign it was" freely predicted that the British Isles would before long become a republic. To-day monarchy is firmly intrenched in the English political system. Even radicals admit the value of a dynasty in a nation like England and in a government like that of the United Kingdom. Albert and Victoria redeemed monarchy. 503. The Victorian Age in Literature. The same genera- tion that gave England her queen also produced a series of great literary artists and thinkers, whose writings have made the Victorian age a notable period in the literary history of the world. The decade from 1800 to 1810, the year of Victoria's i-i -i it 1 i-i r * ,r i ™ Literature. birth, is honored by the birth of Alfred lennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, John Ruskin, and George Eliot. None of these writers w r as more than ten years older than the queen herself ; George Eliot was a few months 1 Bates and Coman, 392-394 (Tennyson). 2 Ibid., 395-396 (Tennyson). 554 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS younger. In other lines, too, this wonderful decade was pro- ductive of genius, for it counts the scientist Charles Darwin and the statesman William Ewart Gladstone. John Stuart Mill, the economist, and Thomas Carlyle, though a few years older, also belong to this group. These men and women achieved greatness in their own various lines ; but they also have their places in the social and Literature and political movements of the age. Most of them the movement received their earlier impressions during the period of reform agitation that preceded "the parliamentary reform act of 1832. In. the subsequent struggle for social reconstruction, especially when the enthusiasm for reform rose once more during the forties, these men and women through their writings and otherwise proved a tremendous force in the shaping of public opinion. It cannot be estimated how much strength the democratic movement gained from Thackeray's powerful satires, the Book of Snobs, for instance. Mention has already been made of Mrs. Browning's Cry of the Children, which to this day has remained an effective argument for a certain type of industrial legislation. In the same way the demand for aid and justice to the poor found a literary voice in Charles Dickens, whose novels ring with protest against the many abuses in the social life of the time. 1 He exposed the miseries of the newly established workhouses and the degrading influence of the prison for debt ; he attacked the antiquated system of education and the slow and stupid methods of the courts ; he brought to light the dreadful poverty of the London slums. In most of the other writers of the age the same spirit is present, though the purpose is not so evident in their works. To the earlier generation of nineteenth century writers, whose work was done chiefly before 1832, the reform movement Writers of owes very little, though an exception may be made the age of of Thomas Hood, whose Song of the Shirt doubtless was effective in creating sympathy for the women in the sweat shops. Scott died in 1832 ; Byron and Shelley 1 Oliver Twist, Little Dorrill, Nicholas Nicklcby, Bleak House, and other novels. SUMMARY 555 had preceded him nearly ten years earlier ; Southey and Words- worth survived Scott, but their important work was done before 1832. At some period in life nearly all these men had been sympathetic toward revolution. But they were not reformers ; their writings did not deal with the problems of their own time. Shelley may be regarded as an exception, but his work had little influence. Moreover, the reaction drove several of them into the conservative camp : Scott, Southey, and Wordsworth died as confirmed Tories of the older type. 504. Summary. The "forty years of peace" that followed the treaties drawn up at Vienna in 181 5 may be grouped into three periods. (1) The first dozen years (1815- Twelve years 1827) were a period of much discontent, great com- of a g itati <> n - mercial and industrial development, and almost continuous agitation for domestic reforms. During these years the Tories were in power and were led successively by Castlereagh, Can- ning, and Wellington. In parliament the opposition to the Tories looked to Earl Grey, Lord John Russell, and Henry Brougham for leadership ; while outside parliament the multi- tude listened chiefly to William Cobbett, who preached reform in his Weekly Political Register. (2) This period was followed by a decade of reform legislation : political rights a decade of were restored to the Catholics and the Protestant reforms - dissenters ; parliament was reformed ; factory laws were enacted ; a new poor law was placed on the statute books ; the boroughs were reorganized ; slavery was abolished in the colonies ; and other far-reaching changes were given legal sanc- tion. This decade also saw the first practical steam railway and the first successful attempts to cross the ocean in ships that were propelled by steam power only. In politics the period saw the beginnings of the Liberal party which was The Liberal being formed out of three separate political groups : P art y- the Whigs, the Radicals, and the Canningite Tories. (3) After 1838 the fervor of the reformers cooled somewhat.. Many important laws affecting English social life were, indeed, enacted : something was done to improve the conditions in 556 SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORMS mines and factories, to shorten the hours of labor, and to pro- Changing mote the public health ; but, on the whole, the interests. statesmen who controlled the government during the earlier decades of Queen Victoria's reign were not intensely concerned with domestic problems. REFERENCES The first years of peace: distress and discontent. — Cross, History of England, 867-871; Innes, History of England, 778-780; Jenks, Parlia- mentary England, 324-342; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 913-919. O'CONNELL AND CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. — CroSS, 879-882; Jenks, 343- 354; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xxvii; Lawless, Ireland, c. lv; Morris, Wellington, 333-340; Ransome, 930-934. The unreformed parliament. — Beard, Introduction to the English His- torians, 538-548 (Walpole); Cross, 909-914. The parliamentary reform of 1832. — Beard, 549-565 (Walpole); Innes, 790-794; Jenks, 356-378; Morris, 342-351; Ransome, 939-944. Progress of the industrial revolution. — Edwards, Story of Wales, c. xxvi; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 905-909; Innes, 801-808. Intellectual movements. — Cross, 895-901; Gardiner, 887-890, 940-943; Innes, 808-812. Reform legislation. — Innes, 815-819; Ransome, 944-948. Reform of the borough government. — Masterman, History of the British Constitution, c. xxvi. Queen Victoria and " the constitution alizing of the monarchy." — Masterman, c. xviii. CHAPTER XXVI PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE. 1837-1867 505. Problems of the Early Victorian Period. The first thirty years of Queen Victoria's reign were occupied chiefly with problems that concerned the United Kingdom in the larger sense, the British Empire, and the position of England among the nations of the world. After a few years of legislation for social betterment a reaction set in and the enthusiasm for reform yielded to a deepening interest in affairs abroad. The earlier decades of the Victorian era witnessed a series of vast movements in Europe and in the world at large : the revolu- tionary risings of 1848 ; the Crimean War; the Sepoy rebellion against the East India Company ; the unification of Italy ; the civil war in the United States ; and the pre- world liminary conflicts that led to the formation of the P roblems - German Empire. In some of these movements England played a large and leading part ; in every case she was an interested and attentive observer. 506. Four Victorian Statesmen. Of the English states- men of the period four were preeminent: Peel, Derby, Russell, and Palmerston. The first two represented the Tory tradition with the difference that Derby, who had come over Derby, Peel, from the Whigs, was developing toward Conserv- and Russe11 - atism, while Peel, who had sprung from the middle class and was essentially a man of affairs, had no fear of changes that seemed to promote social justice, and was gradually advancing toward Liberalism. Russell, while a man of moderate abilities, had an excellent record and was one of the more important chiefs of the Whig element in the newly formed Liberal party. The chief pilot of the period, however, was Lord Palmerston. 557 558 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE Palmerston was an Irish peer, though of English blood : he Lord found a seat in the house of commons at an early Palmerston. a g e anc j remained in that body almost continuously for nearly sixty years. For the larger part of this period he also had a seat in the cabi- net and was twice prime minister. He was originally a Tory of the Canningite faction ; but during the agi- tation for parliamentary re- form he deserted the Tory party and became identified with the Whigs. Palmer- ston's interest lay in foreign affairs, and in the conduct of the foreign office he showed such an aggressive and domineering spirit that the peace of Europe was often despaired of. His ideas of foreign policy were often totally different from those of the queen ; but this did not disturb Palmerston : he went ahead with his plans and notified the sovereign after Palmerston he had taken action. A minister who employed and the queen. suc j 1 high-handed methods and showed so little re- spect for the crowned heads of Europe could not fail to be a sore trial to the queen. But the interests of England were carefully watched when Palmerston was in the foreign office, and his methods and policy had the approval of the great majority of Englishmen. 507. The Dominion of Canada. 1 During this period England entered into new relations with Canada. The two chief regions of this colony, Upper and Lower Canada, had 1 Gardiner, 915-916; Innes, Industrial Development, 210-21 1; Masterman, 237-241. Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston From an engraving, after the original from life by C. Silvy. THE DOMINION OF CANADA 559 long shown signs of unrest. The older colony, Lower Canada (Quebec), was French : the upper colony (Ontario) Canadian was English. Each viewed the other with distrust : dlffi cuities. both were dissatisfied with their own situation. The trouble Parliament Buildings, Ottawa finally came to the point of rebellion, and the government felt that the Canadian demands could no longer be ignored. Lord Melbourne, who had succeeded Earl Grey as prime min- ister in 1834, sent Lord Durham to Canada with Lord Durham large powers to rectify the situation. The commis- in Canada - sioner was a man of exceptional abilities, though in his methods he was inclined to be arbitrary. Lord Durham was soon re- called, but his ideas as to Canadian affairs prevailed : the two Canadas were given a joint legislature with extensive control over the affairs of the colony. But the differences in race, religion, and language continued to make trouble, and the plan 560 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE was not successful. In 1867 a new form of government was devised : the two maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were joined to the colonies of Ontario and Quebec in a federation which was called the Dominion of Canada. 1 The Canadian system of government is a combination of English and American elements. The federal idea is American ; The Canadian but the executive with its cabinet or privy council federation. responsible to the Dominion parliament is planned on English lines. In the distribution of powers between the provinces and the Dominion an important innovation was introduced : the powers granted to the provinces are enumerated and defined; all remaining powers belong to the Dominion government. The nominal executive is the English sovereign represented at Ottawa by a governor-general ; but the actual ruler of the Dominion is the prime minister of Canada. The governor-general appoints the prime minister, but he is always careful to select the leader of the political party that is strongest in the Canadian house of commons. 508. Australia. 2 While Canada was being transformed into a self-governing dominion, an important group of colonies was developing on the edge of the Southern Ocean. The history of the Australian settlements begins with a penal colony at Botany Bay in 1788. 3 Other colonies of the same type were founded New South later. For several decades the settlement of New Wales. South Wales struggled along without making much progress. Very few emigrants came to settle on the island and the only colonists of a desirable sort were soldiers whose term of service had expired. But in the thirties a new type of settlers began to arrive, and colonies multiplied. Self-government of the usual British colonial type began to be extended to the Australian settlements in 1842. The development of this vast Other Austra- island is closely associated with the reign of Queen lian colonies. Victoria, as the names of the two colonies Victoria and Queensland sufficiently testify. 1 See also sec. 551. 3 Review sec. 470. 2 Innes, Industrial Development, 211-212. THE AGITATION FOR FREE TRADE 561 The principal industry of the Australian colonies in their earlier day was agriculture; but it was soon discovered that live stock and especially sheep could be raised to wool and good advantage. Australia is still one of the great gold - wool-producing regions of the world. But in 1849 the dis- covery of immense gold fields in the southeastern part of the island drew the attention of the entire world to this continent, and an era of rapid growth set in. A Wool Train in Australia 509. The Agitation for Free Trade. 1 About the middle of the nineteenth century certain very important changes came into the agriculture, industry, and public finance of the kingdom by the adoption of "free trade." Since the early days of English commerce it had been the policy of the government to prevent foreign merchants from competing successfully with English merchants in the English markets by placing a tax on imported products. For some time, however, it had been The free trade held by many students of economic problems that movement- such "protective" taxes were of little advantage to English commerce and that they probably were a hindrance. The movement for free trade dates from the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Adam Smith held that free trade was desirable, though perhaps not practical as conditions were in 1 Innes, Industrial Development, 274-293. 562 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE his day. William Pitt took a step in the direction of free trade when he made his commercial treaty with France and agreed to lower the tariff on French products. 1 Another step was taken about forty years later when William Huskisson was president of the board of trade (1822-1827) : Huskisson secured a lower Thackeray's Free-Trade Cartoon Drawn for "The Anti-Corn Law Circular" of July 23, 1839. The cartoon shows a soldier, a policeman, and a beadle repelling two foreigners who are bringing wheat to feed the starving families of the English workingmen. tariff on a number of imported articles. There was, however, The Anti-Corn- no organized movement against protective tariffs Law League, before 1S38, when certain manufacturers in Lan- cashire organized the Anti-Corn-Law League to secure the removal of the tax on imported wheat. 510. The Corn Laws. 2 To protect the interests of the English farmer parliament had at various times passed laws The English forbidding the importation of foreign wheat until com laws. English wheat should reach a certain price. In 181 5 the price limit was fixed at ten shillings (nearly $2.50) 1 Review sec. 466. 2 Bates and Coman, 407-408; Cheyney, No. 430; Gardiner, 924, 930-931; Kendall, Nos. 135-136. THE AGITATION FOR FREE TRADE 563 per bushel. Later the law was modified in the hope of keeping the price at about $1.80 per bushel. When crops were good these laws made little difference, as the large supply would force prices down ; but when the harvest was light they worked hardship among the poor. As it would sometimes take from five to ten days' wages of a common laborer to pay for a bushel of wheat, the price of bread was relatively high. The iniquity of this had long been seen. The leading spirits in the Anti-Corn-Law League were two prominent manufac- turers in Lancashire, the economist Richard Cobden 1 Cobden and and the noted orator John Bright. These men Bri s ht - argued that without sufficient food the laborer could not be an efficient workman ; and with prices as they were he could not afford to buy what he and his family really needed in the form of nour- ishment. They also argued that the corn laws interfered with the growth of com- merce, as they prevented the foreign customers of England from exchanging their wheat for British goods. In 1 84 1 the Tories de- feated the Liberals in a gen- eral election and Robert Peel became prime minister. Robert Peel was born in Lancashire and was the son of a wealthy cotton spinner ; it was therefore natural that the arguments of Cobden and his associates should ap- Peel becomes peal strongly to him. He became convinced that a free trader - there ought to be freedom of trade in raw materials and manu- 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 70. Sir Robert Peel After a portrait by John Linnel. 564 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE factured articles as well as in wheat. Peel carried his first re- ductions of the tariff in 1842, when he succeeded in lowering the rates on a large number of articles. Further changes in the •same direction were made three years later. Peel was also con- vinced that the corn laws ought to be repealed ; but his party was dominated by the English landowners ; and in his first at- tempt to remove the duty from wheat he failed, because neither his cabinet nor his party was willing to support him (1845). 511. The Irish Famine. 1845-1849. It was a terrible calamity that befell Ireland the same year which converted Peel to the policy of free trade in farm products. The repeated confiscations of Irish land which had followed the rebellions and uprisings of the century from Elizabeth to William III had The landlord resulted in a system of landlordism with almost evils in the entire nation reduced to a state of tenantry. 1 Most of the landlords lived in England. Ordi- narily they cared for nothing but the profits from the soil and they rarely did anything to improve their farms ; at the same time, whatever improvements the tenants made were claimed by the landlord as belonging to the land. There was nothing to induce the tenant to farm for results beyond a mere living : he might be evicted as soon as the farm was found in good condition, or the landlord might attempt to increase the rent, if by the tenant's care and effort the soil was found to yield larger and better crops. Naturally, therefore, the Irish farmer tried to find the crop that would produce the greatest return in food for the least _. amount of labor. This he found in the potato. 2 The potato. . . ^ The soil of Ireland is well adapted to the growth of this plant, and a field of moderate size would ordinarily yield abundant food for the year to come. The necessary labor in the potato patch was slight ; the farmer could leave the growing crop to the attention of his family, while he sought employment elsewhere. Some grain was also raised on the island, but most of this was sold in England. 1 Review sees. 273, 403. 3 Review sec. 26.3. THE IRISH FAMINE. 1845-1849 565 In 1845 a disease came upon the potato and the food supply of the people failed. The "potato rot," as the blight was called, was general throughout western Europe; 1 but The potato rot. only in Ireland, where the population depended 1845 - so much on the potato plant, did it cause much suffering. The disease reappeared the next year and the misery continued. Several years of famine caused inexpressible suffering ; and with the famine came pestilence to complete the work. Thou- sands perished, while in other thousands died hope and ambition and joy of living. 2 In 1844 the population of the island was about 9,000,000. At present it is less than half that number. It is estimated that at least 300,000 people died of disease and D ecline of starvation during the years of famine ; since then population the population has been reduced yearly by emi- gration, chiefly to the United States. During the second half of the nineteenth century four million Irishmen came to the American shores. The English people made a great effort to bring relief to the starving island. Parliament voted a large sum of money, and this was increased by voluntary subscriptions in which America joined. Food was rushed to the Irish ports. But what Ireland needed was cheap grain, and with the corn laws still in force the importation of cheap grain was impossible. After having twice failed to induce his cabinet to consent to changes in these laws, Robert Peel resigned his office as prime minister; but as Lord John Russell, the leader of the Whigs, was unable to form a ministry, Peel soon returned to the helm. The following year his measure passed the house of commons, though most of the Tories voted against it. The tax on imported wheat was reduced to a nominal sum. Repeal of the The price of wheat went down immediately ; at corn laws * present English wheat sells for about sixty cents per bushel. The Irish were not helped very much by the repeal ; they had no money with which to buy bread at any price. But the 1 Cheyney, Nos. 432-433. 2 Kendall, No. 137. 566 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE English workingman now had cheaper bread, and certain forms of agitation among the laboring classes quieted down. 512. Disraeli and the Conservative Party. 1 The repeal of the corn laws split the Tory party. The more liberal section, which had come to doubt the wisdom of trying to build up any trade or industry by legislative favors, followed Peel out of the party and for a time formed a distinct parliamentary group known as the Peelites. Among the Peelites was William Ewart Gladstone, who later rose to a unique position in the Liberal party and in the British nation. Gladstone. „ , L \ _. . Gladstone entered politics in 1833 as a member for a pocket borough that had survived the reform of the year before. At the time he was a Tory of the sterner type. But like his great chief, Robert Peel, his opinions developed in the direction of Liberalism and he closed his career in that political faith. The more conservative wing, which believed strongly in the duty of the government to protect English agriculture against competition from abroad, found a leader in a . brilliant young novelist of Jewish blood, Benjamin Disraeli. Unlike Gladstone, Disraeli had entered parliament as a radical ; but he soon found it expedient to make terms with the Tories, with whom he agreed to the extent of being an opponent of Whiggism. Disraeli was a political adventurer : he had no interest in the landlord class, and his new political associates had little faith in him. But the "Protectionists" had no leader who could meet successfully in debate such men as Peel, Gladstone, Cobden, and Bright ; Disraeli, who was a talented speaker, was easily the first on his side in debate. Disraeli never wholly shed his early radicalism, and under his leadership the remnant of the Tory party was organized as The Conserv- the Conservative party. He gave the party a new ative party. political creed and program which emphasized the importance of the British Empire and promised a certain measure of social reform. 1 Cheyney, No. 438. THE CHARTIST MOVEMENT 567 But Disraeli and the Protectionists fought a losing battle. They had prophesied low prices, bankruptcies, and other dire results from the repeal of the corn laws ; these, continued ' however, failed to appear. A wave of prosperity prosperity had set in which the new legislation was unable m ngan ' to retard. In 1848 and 1849 the gold fields of California and Australia were discovered, and the sudden increase of the world's supply of gold doubtless helped to stimulate English trade. With the removal of the tariff on wheat went the whole system of protective tariffs. Other ministers followed the example of Robert Peel, and for more than a decade Free trade the work of reduction and readjustment continued. acce P*ed. In 1849 the old navigation acts were also abolished. 1 Three years later a resolution that the policy of free trade should be "firmly maintained and prudently extended" carried by a vote of 468 to 53. The Conservatives quietly dropped the matter of protection. For half a century England has remained a free trade country. Duties are still levied on certain articles like tobacco and spirits, but they are for the purpose of raising revenue for the government, not for protecting English agri- culture or manufactures. 513. The Chartist Movement. 2 Robert Peel's ministry did not long survive the repeal of the corn laws. The following month the Protectionists joined the Whigs and drove the Peelites from office. Lord John Russell became prime minister and Lord Palmerston was again made foreign secretary. For the next twenty years the attention of the people and the government was chiefly directed toward foreign j • > 1 rr • mi i i • . i Palmerston. and imperial affairs. Inrougnout this period Palmerston was the leading figure in English politics and one of the most prominent statesmen in Europe. In February, 1848, a revolution broke out in Paris, which, like the July Revolution of 1830, soon spread to the The Revoiu- neighboring nations, and in a few months nearly tion of 1848> all western and central Europe was in revolt. There was no 1 Review sees. 339, 355. 2 Bates and Coman, 397-398; Gardiner, 923-924. 568 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE outbreak in England, but a demonstration in favor of what was known as Chartism made the ruling classes very uneasy for a time. The object of the Chartist movement was to give the laboring classes a share in the government. The working- man could not vote, nor could he hope to be chosen member of parliament ; if a man of moderate means were elected, he could scarcely afford to take his seat, as the members were not paid. Chartism began to appear about 1839; its leaders were chiefly men of the trade-union type, and the organization was not efficiently managed. The program of the Chartists, "the People's Charter," comprised six points. 1 (1) Universal suffrage; this would give the laboring classes the ballot and would make them a power at the elections. (2) Vote by secret ballot; the custom was for the voter to write his name in the poll-book opposite the name of the candidate for whom he voted ; with a secret ballot the laborer and the tenant could vote with greater security, as their ballot could then no longer be inspected. (3) Abolition of the property qualification for membership in parliament ; this would open parliament to the candidates of the laboring classes. (4) Compensation for members ; this would make it possible for workingmen to serve if elected. (5) Equal electoral districts. (6) Annual parliaments. It was announced in the spring of 1848 that 250,000 men were planning to march upon Westminster on April 10 to present to parliament a monster petition embodying these The Chartist six demands. It was reported that 5,500,000 had petition. signed the document. The government took great precautions to prevent trouble on the day assigned. Soldiers were stationed about at important points and nearly 200,000 special constables were called into service. The Chartists abandoned the procession that they had planned, but they presented their petition as announced. 2 It was found to contain nearly 2,000,000 names, some of which, however, were fictitious. Much ridicule was heaped on the 1 Cheyney, No. 428. - Ibid., No. 429. THE CRIMEAN WAR. 1854-1856 569 movement when it was learned that the petition fell short of the number of signatures announced ; but thinking men soon began to realize that the Chartists were a numerous body and that their demands could not long remain unheeded. Soon after 1848 conditions among the workingmen began to improve. Free trade brought cheaper bread. The labor unions began- to feel that they ought to let politics alone. The Chartist agitation died down, and the movement was rated as a failure. Still, it is an important fact that all the demands of the People's Charter have been granted with outcome of a single exception. There is no longer a demand the Chartist for annual parliamentary elections ; members of movemen ■ the house of commons have come to be more heedful of the wishes of the men who elect them than they were in 1848, and the need for short terms is no longer felt. 514. The Crimean War. 1 1854-1856. The Revolution of 1848 was not generally successful; but it brought two new men into prominence : Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, a nephew of the Emperor Napoleon, who had great ambi- Louis tions for his dynasty in France ; and Cavour, the Napoleon chief minister of the king of Sardinia-Piedmont, who dreamed of a united Italy. Louis Napoleon was elected president of France in 1848. Three years later he threw the constitution of the Second Republic overboard and proceeded to make himself emperor of the French. Lord Palmerston, who was foreign secretary for the third time, privately expressed his approval of Napoleon's act. The nation and the cabinet became very indignant when this was learned, and the bluster- ing minister was forced to resign. In 1854 the new emperor found opportunity to interfere in a quarrel between Russia and Turkey into which England and later Sardinia-Piedmont were also drawn. The aim of the allied powers was to keep Russia from seizing any The war in Turkish territory. But when the Russians had the Cnmea been forced out of Turkey, the war was unnecessarily carried 1 Gardiner, 944-948. 57° PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE over into Russian territory on the Crimean peninsula, where- the Russians had their celebrated stronghold Sevastopol. 1 To this fortress the allied forces laid siege; but poor preparations had been made ; the necessary supplies had not been provided; disease broke out in the camp; and the death rate in the hospitals was appalling. The government finally sent Florence Nightingale, Florence an English Nightingale. nurse of train _ ing and experience, out to the East to take charge of the hospital service. Un- der her efficient manage- ment conditions at once began to improve and the death rate was materially reduced. With Florence Nightingale's mission to the English hospitals in Turkey began the modern movement for sanitation in military camps, which has done so much to lessen the terrors of warfare. The news of the suffering in the British camps roused the entire kingdom and public sentiment drove the government Paimerston's irom office. To her great distress the queen was first ministry, finally forced to give Palmerston the reins of government. In spite of his seventy years the vigorous minister assumed the duty and energetically pursued the war to a successful issue. 515. The Sepoy Mutiny. 2 1857. The Crimean War closed in 1856. The next year England was brought face to face 1 Kendall, No. 140; Tennyson, Charge of the Light Brigade. 2 Gardiner, 952-955; Kendall, No. 143. Florence Nightingale ""Lahore rJ \ ''Z^L^s^-^, , -,®Simla y ' : - J} L !$£& liaradtt Hyderahaji, R AJPUTJNA a^M, , Gwalior Th^-^lRann i CUTl ><7~:Frr^ *& fA> 3 Baroda gUND] yndore Narbado^ 3#4 s E A 2wl Port.) gNa^jmry r J SAM'S lm ^> D 0^1 Nioi* S - GOLDSCHM'UT & HAMPEl THE SEPOY MUTINY. 1857 57i with an uprising in India which threatened destruction to British supremacy in the East. It is difficult to characterize the government of India in the first half of the nineteenth century : it was a matter of partnership between the English government and The govem- the East India Company. In 1784 William Pitt ment of India, had contrived a scheme of administration according to which The Old East India House, London The headquarters of the East India Company. Charles Lamb served as a clerk in this house. Drawing by Herbert Raillon based on an old print. the East India Company was allowed to select the officials of the Indian service ; but the crown reserved the right to veto certain appointments. The act furthermore established a "Board of Control" of six members appointed by the crown to which the governor-general of India was to be responsible. But the board had its offices in England, while the governor- general resided in distant Calcutta; consequently the scheme did not provide a very effective control. In Pitt's day only a relatively small part of India had been annexed ; but the governors-general were constantly adding 572 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE new territories to the company's dominions, and naturally the native princes who were still independent began to fear lest their own sovereignty should be lost. A conspiracy was formed, and a successful effort was made to sow disloyalty among the Sepoy regiments that were stationed in the Ganges The Sepoy valley. It was represented to them that their rebellion. new cartridges were greased with tallow from the cow, a holy beast among the Hindus. It was necessary to tear off a part of the paper covering with the teeth ; in this way the soldiers would be partaking of what was forbidden and would lose their caste or station in Hindu 1857. society. "The mutiny began in May, 1857, and soon the entire Ganges valley was aflame. 1 But the British soldiery with the aid of the Sikhs of Punjab, who had no End of the religious scruples in the matter of tallow, were mutiny. soon able to quell the uprising, and the autumn months saw a return to peaceful submission. The chief result of the mutiny was a complete change in the system of Indian government. 2 As a governing corporation the East India Company came to an end. The government India annexed of India was transferred to the crown to be ad- to the crown, ministered by a special cabinet member in West- minster, the secretary of state for India, assisted by a council of experts. In India the governor-general was replaced by a viceroy. Since 1877 India has been officially called an empire, the king of England holding the title of emperor. Recently an The Indian effort has been made to give the empire a fuller Empire. meaning to the Hindu mind by removing the seat of government to the ancient capital Delhi, where the Great Moguls ruled when the English first came to India. 516. The Last Years of Palmerston. The ten years follow- ing the India mutiny were quiet years in English politics. In 1858 the Conservatives came to power, but in a few months they were overthrown and the Liberals again took control. Palmerston was made prime minister for the second time with 1 Cheyney, No. 435. 2 Ibid., No. 436. THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 573 Lord John Russell in the foreign office and Gladstone as chan- cellor of the exchequer. Of the three Gladstone alone showed much energy; he wished to carry out a number of important reforms, but his chief vetoed his innovations. Palmerston was seventy-five years old when he took office for the last time, and he was no longer so aggressive and quarrelsome as he had once been. His colleague, Lord John Russell, was a younger man and had once been counted among the reformers ; but Russell had never favored making very radical changes in the social or political constitution of the kingdom. Even the foreign office shared in the dull quiet of English politics. 517. The American Civil War. 1 This strange lack of energy is shown clearly in the relations with America during the Civil War, especially in the affairs of the Trent and the Alabama. In the Trent affair Palmerston was The Trent disposed to display some vigor ; but on the advice affair - of the dying prince consort, whose last counsel urged peace with the daughter nation, the American government was given an opportunity to explain and make suitable amends. The case of the Alabama illustrates the listless fashion in which the two old chiefs conducted her Majesty's government. Russell and Palmerston knew that a ship, "No. 200," was _, ., . F ' , The Alabama, in process of building at Birkenhead ; but they had no information as to the intended use of the vessel, simply because they sought none. When the British authorities finally decided to detain the vessel, it was already on the high seas. After the war the American government presented claims for the depredations committed by the Alabama, and in 1872 an international arbitration court decided that Palmerston and Russell had not been sufficiently watchful in the matter and awarded the American claimants the sum of $15,500,000. In the earlier stages of the Civil War the cause of the American Union had few friends among the governing classes in England. It was quite generally believed that the South differed so 1 Cheyney, No. 439: Gardiner, 958-960; Kendall, No. 145. 574 PALMERSTON AND THE EMPIRE much from the North that it was entitled to a separate Attitude of national existence. The only prominent English- the English man who did effective service in the cause of toward the the Union was John Bright, whose chief argu- Americanwar. ment was t h at t ^ e f orces of the North were right- ing the battles of democracy. The war caused much suffering in England, especially among the weavers and spinners of Sentiment in Lancashire, whose employment was lost because Lancashire. cotton could no longer be imported so freely as before. But the English workingman had come to see that one of the great issues involved was slavery, and he set his face against any effort on the part of his government to assist the South. It is believed that the English cabinet in the autumn of 1862 was ready to intervene in behalf of the Confederacy; but before action was taken came the news that Lincoln pro- posed to emancipate the slaves on the following New Year's Day. Lincoln's proclamation stayed the hand of Palmerston, for the English nation now refused to enlist on the side of the South. 518. Summary. The first thirty years of the reign of Queen Victoria are properly called the age of Palmerston. During most of this period he was a member of the government, first as foreign secretary, then for a few years in the home office, and finally as prime minister. He was easily the most popular man in England, but was at the same time exceedingly unpopular in the Continental capitals. Palmerston's per- sonality is reflected in nearly all the great events of the time. Except for the repeal of the corn laws there was little domestic legislation of an important character during this period. The interest of the time was chiefly in the development of the Imperial British Empire. During the age of Palmerston growth. ^e government of British America was reorganized and the foundations laid for the Dominion of Canada. New commonwealths were being founded in Australia. The crown took over the administration of India, and the East India Company as a governing body passed out of history. In the SUMMARY 575 closing years of Palmerston's career, England was stronger and more prosperous than ever before. A number of English and Irish problems were, however, pressing for solution. These Lord Palmerston left to his great successor as chief of the Liberal party, William E. Gladstone. REFERENCES Canada. — Lee, Queen Victoria, 82-86; Masterman, History of the British Constitution, 237-241; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 955-9 575 Wood- ward, Expansion of the British Empire, 254-259. Australia. — Innes, History of England, 838-841; Woodward, 266-271. Peel and the free trade movement.— Innes, 822-826; Lee, 165-172; Ransome, 969-972; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 662-666. Chartism. — Ransome, 957~95 8 > 974~975- The Crimean War. — Cross, History of England, 959-965; Innes, 857- 862; Lee, cc. xix-xxi; Ransome, 981-992. The Sepoy Mutiny. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 638- 644 (Hunter); Cross, 969-974; Innes, 864-872; Ransome, 993-996; Wood- ward, 324-328. England and the American Civil War. — Innes, 881-882; Ransome, 999-1000. CHAPTER XXVII GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 519. The Second Reform Act. 1 Palmerston died in 1865, and his place at the head of the government fell to Earl Russell, who now became prime minister for the second time. The Russell's Chartist agitation of twenty years before was at second last to bring fruit. 2 Russell was not enthusiastic for further parliamentary reform, but Gladstone, who as chancellor of the exchequer was second in command, practically forced his chief to act. A moderate reform measure was introduced into the house of commons, but it pleased neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives, and the ministry, realizing the situation, resigned. The Conservatives now assumed control of the government with Lord Derby as prime minister and Benjamin Disraeli as The third chancellor of the exchequer. Twice before these Derby-Disraeli two men had held these same offices, but for brief periods only. Lord Derby had originally been a Whig and had fought with Grey and Russell for the great reform of 1832. He was, however, of a conservative temper, and the reform activities of his party soon drove him over into the Tory camp. Derby was not in favor of parliamentary reform at this time, but his younger colleague realized that the Conservatives would have to meet the demand or leave office, and in 1867 Disraeli set about to contrive a measure which proved acceptable and became a law the same year. The Reform Act of 1867, 3 the Conservative "leap in the dark," as Lord Derby called it, went farther in the direction of 1 Cheyney, No. 441; Gardiner, 961-962; Masterman, 201-202. 2 Review sec. 513. 3 Review sec. 496. 576 DISRAELI AND GLADSTONE 577 radicalism than the Liberals had proposed to go. Eleven boroughs were wholly deprived of representation The Second in parliament, and thirty-five lost one member Reform Act. 1867 each. More important, however, was the exten- sion of the suffrage. In the boroughs every man who occupied his own or a rented house was allowed to vote ; Household this was called " household suffrage." 1 The vote suffra s e - was also given to lodge: s who paid £10 in annual rent. In the counties the franchise was extended to all who owned or rented for life a parcel of land that would yield £5 in rent to the owner ; short-time ten- ants who paid a yearly rent of £12 were also allowed to vote. Thus the right to vote was given to the workingmen of the cities ; but the country laborer was not yet enfranchised. 520. Disraeli and Glad- stone. A few months after ,10 , . 1 j Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield the Conservatives had taken their "leap in the dark," Lord Derby resigned his high ofhce and Disraeli became prime minister. From R et i rem ent that time on till Disraeli's death in 1881, English of Lord political, history is a long duel between the keen, er y ' conservative leader and his great progressive opponent, Wil- liam E. Gladstone. 2 Disraeli's interest, like that of Palmer- ston before the years had weakened him, lay Di srae ii' s almost wholly in foreign affairs : he was drawn interest in especially toward the Orient, the land that had been so closely associated with the history of his own 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 73. 2 Cheyney, No. 437; Tuell and Hatch, No. 68. GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND race. 1 But he was not permitted to choose his line of action at this particular time. A few months after his elevation to the premiership Gladstone forced the Irish question into par- liamentary politics. As the majority of the house of commons was against him, Disraeli ordered new elections under the law of 1867. The Liberals were victorious and the Conservatives left the cabinet (1868). 521. Gladstone's Reform Ministry. The queen promptly sent for Gladstone and gave the gov- ernment into his hands. Gladstone was one of the most remarkable men of his century : 2 four times he was called to the Gladstone. office of prime minister ; and until his resignation in 1894 he retained the undisputed lead- ership of the Liberal party. He did not have the quick vis- ion of genius ; but he was highly tal- ented and presented his plans and meas- ures with wonderful power. Gladstone was interested chiefly in domestic problems and legislation. During his first ministry the English school system was organized ; the English universities were opened to Catholics and dissenting Protestants ; an act providing for a secret ballot was passed ; the central courts were reorganized 1 Review sec. 512. - Review sees. 512, 516. William Ewart Gladstone GLADSTONE'S REFORM MINISTRY 579 along modern lines ; and the old practice of buying offices in the army was abolished. 1 The education act was of singular importance : it gave England a system of public schools supported by the govern- ment and managed by school boards elected by _. .. ,. Education, taxpayers. Religion according to the Anglican standards was to be taught in these schools, but the children of Catholics and non-conformists were not to be compelled to receive such instruction. The fact remains, however, that taxpayers who are not Anglicans have to contribute to Anglican instruction ; and this question of public education still remains unsettled. The new organization of the courts was supple- mented by important changes in the methods of judicial trial. Under the new English system, men charged reforms - with crime are brought to trial without unnecessary delay ; the long, tedious trials extending sometimes through weeks and months which are still common in America are almost unknown in England. In forbidding the sale of offices in the army, the government ended a scandalous prac- p urcriase of tice but did not accomplish a real reform. The commissions army is still officered from the aristocratic classes. in e army " There is, however, a strong movement looking toward a more democratic practice by allowing promotion from the ranks. The Reform Act of 1867 did not alter the methods of voting. It was still customary to record the vote of every man in the poll-book, where every one could see how he had The Ballot cast his ballot. Under such conditions the right Act l872# to vote was of little service to the newly enfranchised farmer or workingman : his landlord or his employer would often force him by threats or otherwise to vote for his own candidate. Independent voting could easily be punished by the loss of work or by the refusal to renew a lease. To remedy this condition the Liberals in 1872 supplemented the reform measure with a Ballot Act 2 which provided for a secret ballot at parlia- mentary elections. 1 Gardiner, 964-965. 2 Masterman, 203-204. 580 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 522. The Problem of Ireland. The greatest problem that Gladstone had to face was how to bring peace and contentment to the people of Ireland. It was a vote on this question that had made him prime minister ; and the Irish problem followed him to the end of his long career. The Irish question was a complicated one, but three distinct problems were prominent. (1) There was the old problem of The Irish the land and the rights of the tenants who were problems. working the land. (2) There was the problem of the Anglican church in Ireland : for three hundred years the Irish Catholics had been compelled to support a Protestant church to which only a fraction of the population counted them- selves as belonging. (3) Since the days of Catholic emancipa- tion a new problem had arisen in a demand for the repeal of the Act of Union * and a separate government for Ireland. This is known as the demand for "home rule." Gladstone did not at this time believe that Ireland should be given a separate parliament ; but he felt that the Irish had a real grievance in being denied higher education in their own country. There was no Irish university; Trinity College in Dublin was an Anglican institution which no Catholic Irishman could well attend. 523. The Repeal Movement and the Fenians. Soon after his admission to parliament, Daniel O'Connell 2 began to agitate for the repeal of the act of 1801 which had united The repeal the parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. As movement. tne English government suspected that this was merely a step toward complete independence for Ireland, the movement was vigorously opposed and the leaders were prose- cuted. For a time the great orator had a formidable following ; Young but as he believed in "moral force" and legal Ireland. means only, the more aggressive Irishmen soon began to leave him. These organized a new party called "Young Ireland," which favored radical and even violent measures. 1 Review sec. 481. 2 Review sec. 495. LAND ACT OF 1870 AND THE UNIVERSITY BILL 581 The great famine and the consequent emigration to America called the attention once more to the evils of the landlord system and for a time the repeal agitation languished. But in 1858 the demand for a free Ireland became the chief purpose of a wide-spread secret society, the Fenian Brother- hood. The Fenians were strong and numerous in Ireland, but stronger still among the Irish Americans. The American Civil War prevented activities in Ireland for some years; but when that war was over, the Fenians began to plan for an uprising in Ireland and for an invasion of Canada by Irish Americans. The English government was well informed, 1 how- ever, as to the plans of the brotherhood, and the movement failed. 524. The Disestablishment of the Irish Church. The Fenian uprising, with the trials and executions that followed in its wake, made a deep impression on the English mind. There was no sentiment for Irish home rule in England, nor did any one feel prepared to suggest a solution for the Irish land problem ; but many Englishmen were con- Disestablish- vinced that to force the Irish Catholics to maintain ment of the t^ , , Miii Irish Prot - Protestant churches was an evil that ought to be estant Church. remedied at once. Gladstone brought the matter 1869 - up in the house of commons and carried a resolution in favor of disestablishing the Anglican church in Ireland (1868). It was this resolution that led to the downfall of the Disraeli ministry. The next year Gladstone introduced a bill for the disestablishment of the Protestant church in Ireland. It met with bitter opposition from the Conservatives, but after a long fight it became a law (1869). The Anglican church in Ireland was allowed to retain all its church buildings and ample provision was made for the support of the clergy. But it was no longer to be a state church ; it could collect no more tithes from reluctant Irishmen ; and its bishops lost their seats in the house of lords. 525. The Land Act of 1870 and the University Bill. One of the three great problems had now been solved. The Gladstone 1 Review sec. 480. 582 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND ministry next undertook to settle the question of the land, The Land Act but with slight success. The Irish Land Act of of 1870. 1870 provided that when a tenant left his farm he could demand payment for the improvements that he had made upon it. It also enabled a tenant, who had faithfully paid the rent as agreed, to collect damages if his landlord dis- missed him for any other reason. The act further provided that, if the landlord should be forced to sell his land, it should be sold to the tenants, if they wished to buy their farms. The The principle government arranged to lend money to the ten- of land ants who might wish to buy under these circum- purc ase. stances. Thus the correct principle, that of land purchase by government assistance, had been found and stated, but it was applied in special cases only. Several thousand tenants were enabled to buy their farms under the provisions of this law, but on the whole Gladstone's Land Act was a failure. During the following three years the Liberal cabinet was busied with domestic problems of a more general nature : education, the ballot, the courts, the purchase of commissions in the army and the like. 1 In 1873 Gladstone returned to the Irish question, this time to the subject of higher education. The University He planned to establish an Irish University which Bill. 1873. was to De p en to students of all creeds, but in which disputed subjects such as philosophy, theology, and history, were not to be taught. The bill was rejected. Of the three Irish grievances that he recognized as legitimate Gladstone had redressed one ; he had also indicated the proper principle for the solution of the land question, but the problem itself had not been touched. 526. The Irish Land League. After five years of Liberalism Gladstone's and reform England began to tire of Gladstone, foreign policy. jjj s f ore ign policy was also on the whole unsatis- factory to the nation: it was not "aggressive" enough to suit the average Englishman. The prime minister looked at foreign 1 See sec. 521. THE IRISH LAND LEAGUE 583 politics from an unusual point of view : with him the question was not what would bring profit to England, but what seemed just and equitable toward the peoples concerned. It was dur- ing his first ministry that the Alabama claims were settled (1872) ; the outcome of the arbitration was very distasteful to the English voter. 1 In the elections of 1874 the Conservatives won a decisive victory and Disraeli became prime minister once more. Dis- raeli was a theoretical believer in social reform; he had once written that "the social happiness of the millions should be the first object of a statesman," and that "the rights of labor were as sacred as those of property." But the Conservative party had no important legislative program to offer, and Disraeli proposed to direct the attention of the English people toward colonial expansion and foreign politics. 2 In the Irish question he showed little interest. Ireland, however, was not at peace. All through the six years of Conservative rule there was much unrest on the island. This culminated in the formation of the Land Michael League, which was organized in 1879 by Michael Davltt - Davitt, who had once been a leader among the Fenians. The purpose of the League was to make war on the English land- lords and their partisans in Ireland. Its program consisted of three chief demands, the so-called three F's : fair rent, fixed hold, and free sale. By "fair rent" the leaders The " three of the Land League meant a rent that was not F ' s> " fixed exclusively by the owner of the land, as the landlords had a habit of raising the rent to a point that the tenants regarded as unreasonable; a fair rent would consequently imply a reduction of rents. By "fixed hold" the League meant that a tenant should not be deprived of his farm so long as he paid the specified rent. But if a farmer wished to surrender his farm, it was held that he should be allowed to sell his interest in the land, or his right to remain upon it, to another tenant : this was called "free sale." 1 Review sec. 517. 2 See sees. 540-541, 552-553- 584 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND For more than a year the Land Leaguers and their followers terrorized the island. They would allow the farmers to pay Methods of on ^ wnat the tenants considered a fair rent, the Land Those who paid what the landlords demanded were persecuted in a variety of ways : their cattle were maimed ; their crops were destroyed ; threatening letters were sent to them ; shots were fired through their windows. Landlords and their agents were especially made to feel the displeasure of the League. A certain agent, Captain Boycott, found life in Ireland exceedingly hard : since his day the word "boycott" has come to stand for the sort of treatment that the League meted out to the unfortunate captain and to others of his kind. 527. The Home Rule Party. Just before the close of Gladstone's first ministry there was organized a new political The Nation- party with self-government for Ireland as its alist party. chief tenet. Though officially this body is known as the Nationalist party, its members are generally called "Home Rulers." The Home Rule party was not taken seriously at first; but in 1875 a young man from County Wicklow, Charles Stewart Parnell, entered parliament and took his place among the Home Rulers. Parnell was a cold, silent, and reserved man who showed little promise as a par- Charles Uamentary leader; but it was not long before he Stewart . became a chief among the Irish members, and under his leadership the Nationalist group became a terror to English politicians. It was the purpose of Parnell and his followers to block legislative business until the house of commons should be willing to take up the question of "re- peal." They made endless speeches on the most trivial sub- Tactics of the jects, raised objections whenever possible, and Home Rulers. usua n v voted "no" on all proposed legislation. The discipline of the party was perfect ; Parnell was in com- plete control. When Disraeli left the cabinet in 1880, the Home Rule party counted sixty votes in the house of commons. Several of the leading members, including Parnell, were Prot- THE LAND ACT OF 1881 585 estants. The money required to carry on the Home Rule campaign was largely collected among the Irishmen of the United States. 528. The Land Act of 1881. The election of 1880 was not fought on the Irish question : it was Disraeli's "spirited foreign policy" and his apparent love for petty but expensive wars that the electors were asked to approve or condemn. But when Gladstone as the result of the election returned to leader- ship in the government, it was the Irish situation that gave most concern. The " agrarian crimes," as the "Agrarian persecution of landlords, agents, and obedient cnmes -" tenants was called, were exceedingly numerous in the autumn of 1880. More than 2500 such crimes were committed in that year, and the government held the Land League responsible for these. The landlords on their side evicted more than 10,000 tenants who had refused to pay the stipulated rent or had otherwise offended the owners of their farms. The new government recognized the fact that the tenants had a real grievance ; but Gladstone insisted that crime must be suppressed before legislation could be undertaken. The titular head of the government in Ireland is the Lord Lieutenant, who is the personal representative of the king and resides in Dublin. But the most important official is the The Chief Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, who . is Secretary secretary only in name. It is to the chief secre- tary that the kingdom and parliament look for the solution of Irish problems. W. E. Forster, the new chief, secretary, asked parliament to pass an act for the preservation of the peace, which virtually permitted the lord lieutenant to imprison any one whom he regarded as an enemy to the peace The " Crimes of the island. The bill was passed and Parnell Act " with several of the other leaders was thrown into prison and detained for several months without trial. This act was accompanied by another Land Act which virtually granted everything that the Land League had con- tended for. The new law provided for a land court which 586 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND was empowered to fix rents, to value improvements, and to watch over the rights of the tenant farmers. The Land Act The Land Act of 1 88 1 was an important forward step, but it of 1881. ^id not p rov i(i e a fi na i settlement, for the land- lords still owned the land. 529. Failure of Gladstone's Irish Policy. Gladstone soon began to feel that his policy of repression was a failure. Parnell was released from prison on the understanding that he would support the measures of the govern- ment. Gladstone on his part promised conciliation and further legislation to remedy conditions in Ire- land. Forster, disgusted with this change of policy, resigned his office, and the prime minister sent Lord Frederick Cavendish to Ireland as chief secretary. The Phcenix One day, while Park tragedy. the new secre _ tary was walking through Phcenix Park, Dublin, he fell in with Thomas Burke, another government offi- cial, who was deeply hated in Ireland. Suddenly a band of revolutionists surrounded the two men and slew them both. The tragedy filled the entire kingdom with horror. Conciliation was stricken from the Liberal program and coer- cion took its place. The alliance between Gladstone and Parnell was broken, and the solution of the remaining Irish problems was made exceedingly difficult. The prime minister turned his attention to other questions. Charles Stewart Parnell After the painting by Sydney P. Hall. SETTLEMENT OF THE IRISH LAND PROBLEM 587 530. The Third Parliamentary Reform Act. 1 1884-1885. The reform act of 1867 had enfranchised the workingmen in the boroughs but it had left the country laborers still without the ballot. 2 There was an insistent demand for a new franchise law that should remedy this defect, and Gladstone determined to yield to this demand. In 1884 the government passed a reform bill through the lower house, but the lords Franchise rejected it on the plea that if the franchise were to reform - lg 84. be extended, there ought also to be a new distribution of par- liamentary seats. Gladstone adopted the suggestion, and on his promise to take up the matter of parliamentary reform the lords accepted his measure. The promised bill was passed the following year. It was drawn up by the leaders of both politi- cal parties and was therefore not a partisan measure. The reform acts of 1884 and 1885 took a long step toward political democracy. About two millions, chiefly laborers in the country districts, were given the right to vote. Parliamentary At the same time England was divided as nearly reform - 18 85. as might be into equal parliamentary districts, each sending one member to the house of commons. A large number of small boroughs were deprived of their right to a separate represen- tation, and the larger cities received a corresponding increase in membership. The reluctance of the house of lords to ex- tend the franchise led to severe criticism of that Agitation body and to an organized movement to deprive against the the peers of their seats in the upper chamber. ouse ° or s ' This movement has recently gained considerable strength, and the question of "ending or mending" the house of lords is a political one at the present time. 3 531. The Settlement of the Irish Land Problem. The Home Rule party was much displeased with Gladstone's atti- tude toward Irish questions, and soon after the passage of the third reform act, Parnell threw the strength of his following to the Conservative side and the Liberals were outvoted. Lord Salisbury, who had served under Disraeli, now became prime 1 Masterman, 202-203. 2 Review sec. 519. 3 Cheyney, No. 446. 588 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND minister as the head of a Conservative government. He de- Lord cided not to continue repression in Ireland and to Salisbury. attempt a solution of the land problem. Accord- ingly his party passed a Land Purchase Act, the first in a series of five such laws. The government set aside a sum of about The First $25,000,000 from which the Irish farmers might Land Purchase borrow what they needed to purchase the land that they tilled. The purchase price was to be repaid in forty-nine annual instalments. Several thousand tenants took advantage of this act and bought their farms. Two years later, when Lord Salisbury was prime minister for the second time he chose his nephew, Arthur James Balfour, Arthur James to be chief secretary for Ireland. Balfour was a Balfour. brilliant scholar who has also proved a sagacious political leader. In parliament he fought the Home Rulers on all points ; in Ireland he was a close student of every phase of Irish affairs. On his recommendation the policy of land pur- Later land chase was continued. In 1888 a second act was purchase acts. p asse d anc [ three years later a third act of this kind. By the act of 1891 the sum of $170,000,000 was set aside as a loan fund from which those who wished to buy their farms might borrow. The terms were the same as under the act of 1885. Since 1891 two other land purchasing acts have been passed, the last in 1903 when Balfour was prime minister. These laws have made it possible for every Irish farmer to be his own land- lord. They have all been enacted by the Conservative party; but the principle followed was first stated in Gladstone's Land Act of 1870. The land purchase acts have proved a success, and the Irish land question has passed out of English politics. 532. The First Home Rule Bill. 1886. The demand for Home Rule remained, and to this demand the Conservatives would not listen. Lord Salisbury^ first ministry was conse- quently short-lived. Soon after the passage of the first land purchase act the Irish members joined the Liberals for the moment, and Gladstone returned to the premiership. THE FIRST HOME RULE BILL. 1886 5S9 Gladstone had by this time become convinced that a sepa- rate parliament for Ireland was the only solution of the Irish problem. He formed an alliance with the Par- Gladstone and nellites and prepared a bill for the creation of a home rule, government at Dublin. The lord lieutenant or viceroy was to remain at the head as formerly, and the English parliament was to continue legislating for Ireland in all matters affecting the empire ; but in this parliament Ireland was no longer to be represented. 1 The bill caused a serious split in the Liberal party : ninety-three members of the house of commons led by Joseph Thesplitin Chamberlain, the Liberal Lord Harting- party ' ton, and John Bright re- fused to vote for the Home Rule Bill, and the measure was defeated. The seceders organized themselves into T ^ a new party called the Lib- Joseph Chamberlain . J eral Unionist. This group maintained a separate organization for some time, though for the most part it gave loyal support to the measures of the Conservatives. Finally, however, the Liberal Unionists were merged with the Conservatives into a new organization, the Unionist party. Joseph Chamberlain w T as a manufacturer from Birmingham and was classed as a radical. Lord Hartington represented the old Whig element in the Liberal party. Between the two there was not agreement on all measures ; but they were united in opposition to anything that looked like a dissolution of the 1 Cheyney, No. 447; Tuell and Hatch, No. 74. 59© GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND British Empire. The radicals in the Liberal party did not re Joseph gret to lose Lord Hartington and his following o Chamberlain, aristocratic Whigs ; but the loss of Joseph Chamber lain was a hard blow. Many of them had been looking forwan to a time when he should succeed the aged Gladstone as chie. of the Liberal forces, and they found it hard to think of him as allied with the Tories. 533. The Second Home Rule Bill. A defeated cabinet may either resign or call a new election, " appeal to the coun- try," 1 as it is called in England. Gladstone chose the latter course, but his party was overwhelmingly defeated. The United Kingdom was clearly opposed to home rule for Ireland. Six years later, however, another election was fought on the same issue, though the Liberals also emphasized other ques- tions. In this election Gladstone and the Home Rulers were victorious. The new parliament on a motion by Asquith. . H. H. Asquith voted a lack of confidence in the Conservative government. Lord Salisbury resigned, and the " Grand Old Man," who was now eighty-two years old, became prime minister for the fourth time. Among the members of his cabinet were Lord Rosebery, who took the foreign office ; Gladstone's Asquith, who took charge of the home depart- fourth ment ; and John Morley, an English man of letters, who was made chief secretary for Ireland. A new bill for the government of Ireland was prepared and promptly introduced. It differed from the earlier plan chiefly The Second m tnat ^ provided for an Irish membership of Home Rule eighty in the English parliament, who were, how- ever, to have the right to speak and vote on Irish questions only. After a long and bitter debate the bill passed the house of commons by a small majority ; but when it came to the house of lords, it was rejected by the decisive vote of 419 to 41 (1893). 534. The Passing of Gladstone. The next year Gladstone retired from public life and Lord Rosebery succeeded him as 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 72. THE UNIONISTS IN CONTROL 591 prime minister and leader of the Liberal party. Since 1832 Gladstone had been almost continuously a mem- Lord ber of the house of commons. Since 1852 he had R osebery. served in every Liberal cabinet. For nearly thirty years he had been the most prominent figure in English politics and one of the most eminent of the world's statesmen. At the time of his retirement, however, he was not popular in England : his countrymen resented his efforts to secure home rule for Ireland. But during the last four years of his life the dislike Death of wore away, and England once more began to real- Gladst <> n e. ize the greatness of the man. When he died (in 1898) lords and princes bore his body to the tomb, and the entire world joined in doing honor to his memory. 535. The Unionists in Control. After the failure of the first home rule bill, the Conservatives came into control of the government and this control they managed to keep almost con- tinuously for twenty years (1 886-1 906) ; only during the years 1892-1895, the period of the Gladstone-Rosebery government, did the Liberals have control of the house of commons. The alliance with the Liberal Unionists added greatly to the Con- servative strength both in numbers and in ability ; but the support was not without its price. To please the radical Chamberlain his new associates passed two important reform measures : a new Education Act, which created free public schools for England and Wales ; and a County Councils Act, which provided a new form of county government. For nearly five centuries the local government had been in The county the hands of the local justices of the peace meeting coun e ils - in quarter sessions. On the whole the management of county affairs had been honest, economical, and efficient ; but the sys- tem was not democratic, as the justices were selected by the central government, not by the voters of the counties. The pupose of the new law was to give the people a voice in the control of county affairs. The quarter sessions were deprived of \:heir administrative powers * and these were transferred to 1 Review sec. 179. 592 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND a new body, the county council, most of the members of which were chosen directly by the voters of the county. These bodies were patterned after the councils that were governing the boroughs. Some of the larger counties were divided and each section was made a separate administrative county. All of what is usually called London outside of the old City of London, a densely populated area composed of nearly thirty separate boroughs, has also been formed into a county with a government of the council type. In 1894 the Liberals extended this system of local govern- The parish m e n t to the council. parishes, areas that correspond roughly to the American towns or townships, by providing parish meetings and parish councils. The parish meet- ing is an assembly of the citizens of the parish some- what like the American town meeting ; the parish council has general over- sight of the business of the parish. Thus by the close of the century, the govern- ment of England, both local and central, had been made essen- tially democratic. 536. The Close of the Victorian Era. Soon after the open- ing of the new century, January 22, 1901, Queen Victoria died; and the prince of Wales mounted the throne of the United Kingdom as Edward VII. For more than sixty- three years Victoria had borne the English crown. In 1887 the fiftieth anniversary of her reign was celebrated amid great rejoicing and much display. Ten years later the queen's diamond jubilee gave occasion for even more pomp and •v n- JJ>w ' B^jL' Hy 'J' Mi -fljfffflllB ^Nk, '*-*•** m ... .y m Edward VII The jubilees. SUMMARY 593 deeper expressions of loyalty. These jubilees naturally led to elaborate surveys of the progress that the, kingdom had made during her reign, and the results of these were very impressive. The nineteenth century is the age of steam and electricity; of the steamship and the railway ; of the telegraph ]y[ aterial and the telephone ; of the electric car and the progress of automobile. The scientific discoveries and the * e reign# mechanical inventions of the century affected profoundly the conditions of life. During the queen's reign the population of England doubled ; while the wealth of the kingdom grew to more than three times what it was in 1837. The British Empire had grown till it comprised one-fourth of the world's land area, and had brought more than 400,000,000 people, at least one-fifth of the population of the globe, under the authority of the British crown. British trade had increased sixfold, and the English merchant marine carried English products to every port in the world. Every other field of life had felt the same impulse of progress. 537. Summary. During the generation that followed the passage of the second parliamentary reform bill (1867-1901), the political life of the United Kingdom saw many important changes. A public school system was founded. Workingmen were given the right to vote. Balloting was made secret. The government of the counties and parishes was reorganized according to democratic principles. Many other Domestic important reforms were enacted. The question le s isla tion. of first importance, however, was the Irish problem in its three phases : the church, the land, and home rule. Gladstone settled the first of these by the act of 1869 disestablishing the Irish church. His successor as prime minister, Benjamin The Irish Disraeli, showed little interest in the Irish ques- church - tion ; his indifference, however, indirectly added strength to two important movements : the Irish founded a Land League to force the settlement of the land question ; they had also organized a Home Rule party to work for the repeal of the Act of Union. When the Liberals came into power again in 594 GLADSTONE AND THE PROBLEM OF IRELAND 1880, Gladstone granted the demands of the Land League. The Irish land The Conservatives under the leadership of Lord problem. Salisbury and Arthur James Balfour found a final settlement for the Irish land question by the passage of a series of land purchase acts, which have enabled many thousands of Irish peasants to buy the farms that they tilled. In 1886 Glad- stone proposed to solve the Irish ques- Home rule tion once for Ireland. f or aU by granting home rule. The measure proposed was defeated, however, as was also a second measure which the house of commons passed in 1893. In 1894 Gladstone re- tired, and two years later the Conservative, or Unionist, party again came into con- trol of the English government. Not till nearly twenty years later, was a serious effort made to give home rule to Ireland. Arthur James Balfour REFERENCES The parliamentary reform of 1867. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 572-581 (Walpole); Masterman, History of the British Constitution, 201-202. The first Gladstone ministry. — Innes, History of England, 894-900; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 1008-1014; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 676-679. REFERENCES 595 Th£ Land League. — Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, 325-326; Ransome, 1023-1025. The Home Rule movement. — Masterman, 185-187; Ransome, 1022- 1023, 1030-1032, 1038. The parliamentary reform of 1 884-1 885. — Beard, 582-593 (Morley). The Irish Land Acts. — Johnston and Spencer, c. xxx. The county councils. — Masterman, c. xxv. The nineteenth century. — Cross, History of England, 1039-1063; Tout, 695-708; Wrong, History of the British Nation, c. xxii. CHAPTER XXVIII THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 538. England in Africa. During the last half century Eng- land has made important additions to her territories over the seas, notably in Africa. In the Dark Continent English ex- pansion has been from three directions : from Egypt southward English expan- into the Soudan ; from British East Africa north- sion in Africa. we stward to the head waters of the Nile ; and from Cape Colony northward into the valley of the Zambezi River and beyond. England has thus come into possession of a broad and almost continuous strip of territory extending from the mouth of the Nile to the Cape of Good Hope. The two political parties have both shared in this expansion ; but the greater credit belongs to the Unionists. Many a venturesome Briton has found great wealth in these regions ; but the history of England in Africa also illustrates the more serious phase of empire building, for much of this territory was purchased by the war with the Boers, the most expensive single war in Eng- lish history. 539. Cape Colony and the Boer Republics. The Dutch founded a settlement at the Cape of Good Hope in the days of The Dutch at Cromwell and held the colony till 1796 when it the Cape. was se i zec j by the English. Ten years later it became definitely a British possession. Cape Colony had already a considerable population composed chiefly of Dutch farmers or Boers; the number was soon materially increased by English immigration. The slow-moving Boer did not like the more aggressive Englishman and there was friction in the colony from the very beginning of English rule. The Boers had enslaved the native blacks in large numbers; but in 1834 596 THE ANNEXATION OF TRANSVAAL 597 slavery was abolished in all British dominions, and many of the Boers felt that they could endure the British rule no longer. They determined to seek another land where they could enjoy freedom and keep slaves. Beginning the next year, these dis- satisfied Dutch migrated in large numbers to the northeast beyond the borders of Cape Colony and founded The " trek" the republic of Natal. But the English followed t0 NataL them, and in 1841, after a stubborn resistance on the part of the Boers, Natal was annexed to the British crown. The Boer migration was now directed to the country beyond the Orange River. This region was also claimed as British territory but in 1853 the claim was surrendered The Orange and the Boers organized a second republic, the Free state - Orange River Free State. During the conflict between the government of the Cape and the Dutch settlers in the Orange River country, a number of Boers traveled still farther to the north across the Vaal River to a region nearly The Transvaal one thousand miles from Cape Town. Here they Re P UDli c built up the South African or Transvaal Republic. Thus all the four states that make up the South African Union were founded by the Dutch. 540. The Annexation of Transvaal. For twenty years the English government showed little interest in the Boer republics. But during Disraeli's second ministry a danger appeared on the borders of Natal that the British authorities at the Cape could not afford to ignore. Along the east fron- The Boers and tier of the Boer republics lived the Zulus, a very the Zulus - capable and aggressive people of the Kaffir stock. The Zulu chiefs wished to extend their territories, and in so doing they came into conflict with the white settlers. It was Disraeli's plan to organize a federation in South Africa on the Canadian plan, and as a preliminary step Transvaal was annexed (1877). This act saved the Boer states from destruction, but it dis- pleased both the Boers and the Zulus. Two years later the English made war on the Zulus. At first the natives were vic- torious ; but after a time they were overcome and Zululand 598 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE was virtually made a British possession. Some years later it was formally annexed and joined to Natal. 541. The Transvaal Revolt. The Boers protested loudly against the annexation of their country, but so long as there was still danger from the Zulus, they thought it wiser not to fight. They also hoped much from Gladstone, who succeeded Disraeli as prime minister in 1880. But the Liberal ministry War in South was slow in declaring its intentions, and in 1881 Africa. thg Boers of the Transvaal rose in revolt. The Boers were a strong and courageous people, excellent marksmen and virile fighters. From the first, victory was on their side. At Majuba Hill they inflicted a severe defeat on the English arms. The numbers engaged in this famous battle were small : but the outcome revealed the startling fact that the Boer rifle- man was far superior to the British soldier. The war practi- cally ended with this battle : Gladstone felt that the Disraeli government had not dealt justly with the Boers, and he decided to come to terms with them. England recognized the independ- ence of the Transvaal Republic, but with the important pro- viso that in making treaties the republic was to consult the English government. This assertion of suzerainty on the part of England was the cause of much trouble in the next decade. 542. England in Egypt. The English interest in South Africa arose from the fact that Cape Town was an extremely The Suez convenient half-way station on the long route to Canal. 1869. Xndia. In 1869 the distance to India was made several thousand miles shorter by the opening of the Suez Canal. This gave the English foreign office a new interest in the Orient which became still keener when Disraeli was made prime minister in 1874. The Suez Canal was built by a stock company in which the khedive, or king, of Egypt was heavily interested. The government of Egypt was carried on very extravagantly, however, and the khedive's treasury was fre- quently on the verge of bankruptcy. In 1875 he sold his shares in the Canal to the English government for about $20,000,000. But this did little to help the finances of Egypt, and the English THE LOSS OF THE SOUDAN 599 and French bondholders, who were interested in§the Egyptian debt, began to make appeals to their respective governments. The outcome was that in 1879 the khedive was joint adminis- forced to take several English and French officials tratlon of Egypt by into his cabinet ; these men virtually controlled France and the Egyptian government. The plan seemed to En s land - work satisfactorily, and Gladstone, when he took office again the following year, decided to let the arrangement stand. The situation in Egypt was peculiar. The country was a kingdom, but it was tributary to the sultan of Turkey, whose control, however, had become very ineffective. The actual rulers were England and France, whose representatives in the cabinet " administered" the country. The condition produced much dissatisfaction and led to an uprising in 1881. Arabi Pasha's The leader, Arabi Pasha, probably aimed at Egyp- revolt - tian independence. The following year an English army put down the rebellion ; Arabi Pasha was exiled to Ceylon ; and the European officials remained in charge. The same year France withdrew from Egypt, and since 1882 England has oc- cupied the Nile valley alone. A representative of the English government resides in Egypt. His function is to give the khe- dive "advice" and to insist that his advice be taken. The advice is supported by the presence of a British England in army. England has "advised" many reforms and E syP t - much has been done to improve conditions in the Nile valley : on the whole Egypt has profited much from English control. 543. The Loss of the Soudan. To the south of Egypt and extending far westward along the southern border of the Sahara lies a vast, mysterious region called the Soudan. A large part of the Soudan had been annexed to Egypt ; but the Egyptian government was bad ; the officials plundered the half-civilized natives ; and there was much unrest Revolt of the on the Upper Nile. In 1882, the year of Arabi Soudanese: Pasha's rebellion, a Mohammedan fanatic, who called himself the Mahdi, or Messiah, raised the standard of re- volt and preached a holy war against the alien oppressors. The 600 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE next year an Egyptian army was cut to pieces by the Mahdi's forces ; for the Soudanese (the Fuzzy- Wuzzies of Kipling's poem) proved to be very capable soldiers. It was Gladstone's plan to surrender the Soudan to the Mahdi. There were, however, Egyptian garrisons in the country which were hard pressed by the Mahdi's troops ; it =SSsiy Majuba Hill was the first duty of the government to rescue these. General General Charles George Gordon, popularly known as "Chi- Gordonin nese " Gordon, was sent to Khartoum, the capital t e ou an. ^ ^ Soudan, presumably to arrange terms with the Mahdi. Gordon had seen much service in half-civilized lands and had been governor of the Soudan only a few years before. But like the Mahdi he was something of a religious fanatic, and he decided to stay in the Soudan till he could end the rebellion. His mission failed ; he was shut up in Khar- toum by the rebels. After some delay a force was sent out to relieve him. It reached Khartoum in January, 1885 ; but two CECIL RHODES; DEVELOPMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA 60 1 days earlier Gordon had been slain by the Soudanese. Eleven thousand soldiers and inhabitants of Khartoum were put to the sword on the same day. The British force retired, and for the next ten years the na- tives were left in control of the Soudan. 544. Cecil Rhodes and the Development of South Africa. The year follow- ing the disaster at Khar- toum, the attention of the English public was once more diverted to South Africa: in 1886 gold was discovered in the southern border of the Transvaal. Diamo nds „ (] Gold and had been diamond fields found for in South Africa, nearly twenty years in the northern part of Cape Colony, and a strong tide of immigration had flowed into that section. But after gold had been found in the hill ranges of the Rand, the stream of European adventurers was turned toward the Trans- vaal Republic. In the gold fields there grew up a large and important town, Johannesburg, inhabited almost . , ^ ' J ° . . Johannesburg, exclusively by a floating population of aliens who had come to seek their fortune in the gold fields. These aliens the Boers called "Outlanders." Among the immigrants who found their way to South Africa in the decade of the seventies came Cecil Rhodes, a young Englishman who soon rose to be a leader of the „ .. _. . to . Cecil Rhodes. British elements in those regions. Cecil Rhodes was a keen, far-sighted, and resourceful man, who loved to plan and carry out large undertakings. After a time he found General Charles George Gordon 602 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE his way into the Kimberley diamond fields, where he amassed a great fortune. Later he invested heavily in the gold fields of the Rand'. But Cecil Rhodes was also interested in the vast interior country lying to the north of the Boer republics. In The South l88 9 ne or g a nized the South African Company, African the purpose of which was to develop the territories north and south of the Zambezi River. The com- pany was also given extensive administrative powers over the Governor's Palace, Khartoum regions in which it was to operate. The South African Com- pany brought a large interior province under the British flag : this has been called Rhodesia in honor of Cecil Rhodes. The presence of the English in Rhode- sia caused much irritation in the Boer settlement, as it prevented further expansion of the Transvaal Republic to the north and the west. 545. The Imperialism of Joseph Chamberlain. In 1895 the Liberal party lost its control of the administration and the Unionists took charge of the "British government. Lord Salis- bury was once more made prime minister and he selected Joseph Chamberlain for the office of colonial secretary. THE IMPERIALISM OF JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN 603 Chamberlain was still a radical ; but on two important sub- jects his political beliefs appealed to a large ele- ment in the Unionist party: (1) he held that the chamberlain time had come to abandon free trade and return in * he colomal office. to some form of a protective tariff; 1 (2) he em- phasized the importance and value of the British Em- pire. So long as England was the only "workshop of the world," her products found markets everywhere; but since the days of Cob- den and Peel Germany and the United States had be- come great chamberlain's manufacturing theory of j protection, nations and were competing for the mar- kets of the world. But more than 350,000,000 people live under the British flag outside the British Isles, and Cham- berlain held that England should strive to secure the colonial markets for British products. If England were to lay a tax on imported goods, he believed it would be wise to establish a a " preferen- lower rate on products coming to England from tial tanff -" the colonies. This would direct the colonial trade to the mother country, and the empire would be bound together by ties of economic advantage. Chamberlain also held that the empire ought to be made a definite political unit. This he hoped to accomplish by some form of "imperial federation." 2 He dreamed of an imperial t Review sees. 510-512. 2 Cheyney, No 453; Kendall, No. 147. Cecil Rhodes 604 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE parliament to be made up of representatives from the United imperial Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South federation. Africa, and perhaps from other important colo- nies. This idea did not originate with Joseph Cham- berlain, but he became most prominently identified with it. Imperialism, the belief that the colonies are desira- ble and even necessary to England, is widely held in Great Britain. 1 It has even „. ,. found a literary Kipling. J exponent i n Rudyard Kipling, whose tales and poems deal largely with England over the seas and with the greatness of the British Empire. 2 546. The Reconquest of the Soudan. 1898. Joseph Chamberlain also believed to the empire it was possible. Accordingly the new minis- try resolved to reconquer the Soudan. In 1896 a force under the command of Gen- eral Kitchener began to move up the Nile valley. The advance was slow, for Kitchener built a railroad as he went forward, so as to be sure of 1 Cheyney, Nos. 454-457; Tuell and Hatch, No. 80. 2 Typical poems are Fuzzy-Wuzzy, The Sons of the Widow, Gunga Din, The Native Born, The Young British Soldier, Pagett, M.P., Mandalay, and Recessional. in adding wherever Kitchener in the Soudan. The Suez Canal THE BOERS AND THE OUTLANDERS 6o5 supplies for the campaign. In 1898 he reached the vicinity of Khartoum and defeated the successor of the Omdurman. Mahdi in a battle near Omdurman on the oppo- 1898 - site side of the Nile. This defeat virtually ended the native control of the Soudan. Lord Kitchener was sent out by the Egyptian gov- ernment, but his forces were composed of English and Egyptian soldiers. The flags of England and Egypt were both raised over the reconquered strongholds. Officially the Joint Soudan is held occupation of jointly by the the Soudan - two countries; but the power of the khedive in Central Africa is scarcely more than a pretense : the Soudan is governed by British officials and is prop- erly counted as belonging to the British Empire. 1 547. The Boers and the Outlanders. The Boers were displeased with the advance of Cecil Rhodes and his trading company into Rhodesia ; but the invasion of the Rand by the European fortune-hunters gave them even more concern. They made no attempt to make the gold fields attractive to the Outlanders and hoped to make their stay as brief as possible. The Outlanders, however, objected to the treat- The griev _ ment accorded to them : they were heavily taxed ances of the and were forced to do military service, while the right to become naturalized citizens was denied . them. As 1 Kendall, Nos. 149-150. Lord Kitchener of Khartoum 606 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE the majority were British subjects, they naturally turned to the British government for support. Cecil Rhodes, who was prime minister of Cape Colony, sympathized with the Out- landers, and Joseph Chamberlain watched events at Johan- nesburg with a rising interest. The English intervention government finally took up the cause of the in behalf of dissatisfied class and asked that the Outlanders the aliens. . . be allowed to become citizens of the Transvaal. The Boers refused : the Outlanders were becoming so numer- ous that they would probably outvote the Boers at the elec- tions ; their next step doubtless would be to invite annexation to the British crown, and the Boers would again become sub- ject to a government that they had once fled to escape. In the closing days of 1895 an English force under the com- mand of Dr. Leander Jameson, one of Cecil Rhodes' officials in Rhodesia, crossed the Transvaal frontier and proceeded toward The Jameson Johannesburg. The purpose of the " Jameson raid. 1895. ra id " was to bring aid and comfort to the Out- landers and perhaps to start a revolution in the Transvaal. Not far from Johannesburg the invading force was surrounded by Boer soldiers and forced to surrender. President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic turned the offenders over to the British authorities for punishment. Dr. Jameson and twelve others were tried in London and given light sentences. Several of the leaders of the Outlanders, including a brother of Cecil Rhodes, were seized by the Boers and heavily punished. The Boers in Cape Colony forced Rhodes to resign his office as prime minister. A parliamentary committee was appointed to look into the circumstances of the raid. The committee found that Cecil Rhodes had guilty knowledge of the move- ment. He was censured but not brought to trial. The result of the Jameson raid was to produce even more bitterness in the Transvaal. The lot of the Outlander was not The Boers pre- made easier. The Boers had long been purchas- pare to fight. m g SU ppii es f or a war that they felt must come : during the years 1896-1898 the preparations were going on THE BOER WAR. 1899-1902 607 at a rapid rate. By 1899 the Transvaal Republic had a splendid army of the New Model type : 1 every soldier was a trained horseman, an accurate marksman, and a fanatical enemy of the British. 548. The Boer War. 1899- 1902. 2 In October, 1899, in the early springtime of the southern hemisphere, the Boers were ready to strike. The Orange Free State joined its forces to those of the Transvaal and the combined Boer armies poured across the frontier into Cape Colony and Natal. The British were not prepared for the struggle, and for several . . r • 1 1 ti • 11 1 Boer victories, months victory was with the Boers in all the important engagements. The fiercest fighting was in Natal in the neighborhood of Ladysmith, where the Dutch farmers shut up a British army and for a time defeated every effort to bring relief and raise the siege. England was deeply dis- tressed ; but the war had to be fought to a finish and a large army numbering 450,000 men was finally collected in South Africa. Never before had England called so many men into the field. A large part of this vast army was contributed by the self-governing colonies. Lord Roberts of T / ii 1 1 1 , 1 • 1 m. • • * r 1 Lord Roberts Kandahar, who had proved his abilities in Afghan- and Lord istan, 3 was placed in command. With him was Kitchener in T , T _ . , r -rri i i -i • South Africa. Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, who had just con- quered the Soudan. The Boer generals Delarey, De Wet, and Botha, were second to none in bravery : but they could not equal Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener in generalship. The war was now carried into Boer territory. Lord Roberts in- vaded the Orange Free State and seized its capital. The ad- vance then continued into the Transvaal to Johannesburg and Pretoria. The two republics were deprived of their Annexation independence and their territories were added to of the Boer the British Empire. The Boers kept up a desper- re P ublics - ate guerilla warfare for nearly two years longer. But the cause of Dutch freedom in South Africa was lost; and June 1, 1902, the Boer chiefs made peace with England and the war ended. 1 See sec. 331. 2 Gardiner, 976-978. 3 See sec. 553. 608 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 549. The Commonwealth of Australia. 1901. * During the Boer war the second self-governing British colony came into being. To the close of the nineteenth century, the colonies of Australia, of which there were finally six, remained politically distinct. For a long time there was no real need of a union. But with the spread of settlement and the development of com- 1 Review sec. 508. THE COMMONWEALTH OE AUSTRALIA. 1901 609 merce and industry, problems began to appear that clearly could not be solved by the action of a single colony. The movem The navigation of rivers that ran through more for Australian than one colony had to be regulated. Still more federation - important was the regulation of rates and traffic on intercolo- nial railways. It was evident that in undertaking to reclaim arid lands by irrigation a colony could not always act alone. The University, Sydney, Australia It was also felt that on many subjects such as tariffs, labor disputes, old age pensions, factory control, and alien races, there should be uniform legislation throughout the southern continent. The movement for a colonial union was constantly gaining in strength and after ten years of negotiations an act was passed creating the Commonwealth of Australia, the act to become effective on the first day of the new century. The Australian Commonwealth is a federal union like Canada, with the important difference that the states retain all the powers not expressly handed over to the Chara f common parliament. In this respect it resembles the Common- the American system. The use of such terms as wealth * states, senate, and house of representatives also recalls the constitution of the United States. 610 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE 550. The Dominion of New Zealand. 1907. Southeast of Australia and more than one thousand miles distant lie the twin islands of New Zealand. This colony did not join the new Commonwealth, and in 1907 it was allowed to organize a third self-governing colony, the Dominion of New Zealand. New Zealand is famous throughout the world for its experi- ments with certain forms of state socialism. The government Socialistic engages in a variety of activities that are usually experiments in left to private business : it owns and operates ew ea an . ra ^ wa y Sj telegraph and telephone lines, and coal mines ; it writes fire insurance and has a system of postal savings banks ; it finds work for the unemployed ; it pensions the aged. Women have the right to vote. New Zealand is in many ways the most democratic state in the world. 551. The Union of South Africa. 1909. While Mr. Cham- berlain continued at the head of the colonial ofhce, the two Boer states were governed as crown colonies. But in 1905 South African tne Liberals returned to power and a new policy policy of the was adopted. The Liberal party had never been 1 era party. en thusiastic for the Boer war ; and a faction, sometimes called the " Little Englanders," had bitterly opposed it. In 1906 self-government was restored to the people of the Transvaal and the following year the Orange Free State was granted similar rights. A few months later a movement look- ing toward the union of all the South African colonies was set on foot. This bore fruit in 1909 when the British parliament authorized the formation of the Union of South Africa. This Union is composed of the four provinces, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal ; it is not a The Union of federation, however, but rather a single unified South Africa. s t a te. The provinces exist chiefly for convenience in carrying out the laws of the Union. The Union has a parliament that meets in Cape Town and an executive govern- ment located in Pretoria. The chief executive is a governor- general appointed by the crown ; but the actual chief is the prime minister. Lord Gladstone, the oldest son of the great THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANADA 611 premier, was sent out as the first governor-general. His prime minister was General Louis Botha, one of the heroes of the Boer War. In the South African Union the two languages, Dutch and English, have been placed on equal footing. The Dutch ele- ment in the population, however, seems to be the The Dutch more aggressive, and is likely to become the element in controlling force. Rhodesia has refused to join e mon * the Union because of the apparent ascendancy of the Boers. England has large plans for the economic development of her African possessions. One of the most important projects is a railway, the Cape to Cairo line, which is to be built from Alexandria to Cape Town ; a large part of this The Cape to has already been constructed. Under the sure Cairo Railwa y- protection of the British flag, the missionary, the engineer, and the physician are transforming life in the Dark Continent. The resources of the country have been brought to light. Mines have been opened. Plantations have been laid out. The telegraph and the telephone have been introduced. Progress in Roads and bridges have been built. Arid lands Bntlsh Al «ca. have been irrigated. The slave traffic has been outlawed. Schools and churches have been founded and built. Only the beginnings have been made, however, but thus far England has been very successful in her civilizing work. 552. The Development of Canada. 1 When Canada was organized as a dominion (1867), it did not include all the territories of British America. To the far northwest lay a vast wilderness that belonged to the Hudson Bay The expansion Company and was thought to be valuable for its of Canada - furs only. In 1869 Canada purchased this territory, and the following year a part of it was admitted to the Dominion as the Province of Manitoba. British Columbia was admitted in 187 1, and Prince Edward Island, an old colony The Canadian on the Atlantic seaboard, joined the Dominion two Northwest- years later. Large areas of the wilderness that once belonged 1 Review sec. 507. 6 12 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE to the Hudson Bay Company have been found to be extremely valuable for farm land purposes. In recent years emigrants from the United States have gone north by the thousand to settle in the new provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Canadian The development of these regions has been made railways. possible by the building of two great railways : the Canadian Pacific, which was built across the American con- WlNNIPEG IN 1870 tinent during the eighties, and the Grand Trunk Pacific, which runs farther to the north and is still in the process of construc- tion. Canada now comprises nine provinces and includes nearly all the British possessions on the continent of North America. 553. Disraeli and the Near East. Nearly all the recent developments along colonial and imperial lines can be traced back to the second ministry of Benjamin Disraeli (1874-1880). Disraeli's Two important achievements have secured a high foreign and place for Disraeli in the history of English politics : > oma po icy. ^ reorganized the Tories into a Conservative party which was to watch over the interests of the people as well DISRAELI AND THE NEAR EAST 613 as over the rights of the land, the church, and the sovereign; he revived the interest of the English people in their terri- tories over the sea and taught them that with a large colonial empire England could play a larger part as a world power. He began to carry out his imperial policy by securing control of the Suez Canal (1875). He sought to bind India more closely to the British crown by reviving the Empire of India Winnipeg in 191 2 and proclaiming Victoria Empress of India (1877). He took a hand in the settlement of the Balkan question at the time of the last Russo-Turkish War. He annexed the Transvaal (1877) and thought favorably of a federal union for South Africa. He found a new field for English energies in Egypt (1879). But Disraeli is best known for the interest that he showed in the group of countries at the east end of the Mediterranean Sea which is commonly called the Near East. The Asiatic policy of England was determined largely ' by a fear that Russia may have designs on her possessions in India. Russia has a powerful fleet in the Black Sea which 6 14 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE may some day sail out past Constantinople and seize the Suez The fear of Canal. To prevent this England was determined Russia in the to keep the Bosporus a closed strait by leaving both shores in the hands of the Turk. In 1876 troubles broke out in Turkey which led to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. The Turks were defeated and made peace with Russia. But Disraeli (now Lord Beaconsfield) insisted that the Balkan question concerned all Europe and should be dealt with by a congress of the European powers. Accord- The Congress ingly such a congress met at Berlin under the of Berlin. presidency of Bismarck, England being represented by Disraeli and Lord Salisbury. The congress secured more favorable terms for Turkey. For the friendly assistance of England the Turks paid with the important island of Cyprus. 554. India. England also feared that India might be invaded from the northwest by way of Afghanistan. The Russian frontier in Turkestan is now less than one hundred miles distant from the northern border of British India. It is England and therefore a part of English policy to keep Russian Afghanistan, influence out of Afghanistan. To accomplish this Disraeli in 1878 sent an army against the Afghans. The country was overrun, but when Gladstone came to power he withdrew the British forces. Afghanistan is still independent but under British protection. The greater part of India has now been annexed to the British crown. A number of independent states still remain, but they are independent in name only. To the west of India Expansion the Disraeli government extended British author- in India. j t y over tne w iiderness of Beloochistan in 1876; toward the east the British flag was planted in Burma in Salisbury's first ministry (1885). To the divided nations of India England has brought peace, order, and great material improvement. 1 Much, however, remains to be done. The masses are still densely ignorant and miserably poor. Among the educated classes, especially among those who have come 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 79. SUMMARY 615 into actual contact with western civilization, there is much discontent. There is some agitation among the Hindus for an independent and self-governing Indian empire; but the differences in race, language, religion, and social standing are so great and so dividing that British authority is not likely to be successfully disputed for some generations to come. 555. Summary. The closing decades of the nineteenth century witnessed a revival of interest in the colonial posses- sions of the United Kingdom. It appeared in a mild form in Disraeli's second ministry and was called a "spirited <•• Tjjr^, 1 . 1 -i Imperialism. foreign policy. Iwenty years later it had grown into a passion and was called " imperialism." Imperial- ism has become an article of faith with the Unionist party, and many Liberals too have imperialistic leanings. The greatest exponent of the idea was Joseph Chamberlain. Imperialism has led to action in many fields, but its greatest achievements have been in Africa. In Africa large areas have been added to the British Empire. Egypt was occupied in 1882. Three years later a British trading company entered Nigeria in West Africa. Growth of The British East Africa Company began to the British operate from Zanzibar and Mombasa westward m P ire - and northwestward later in the same decade. Rhodesia appeared on the map in the early nineties. General Kitchener conquered the Soudan in 1898. The Boer War added the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In Asia British author- ity was extended over the larger part of India and over the neighboring territories of Burma and Beloochistan. In Aus- tralia and America there has been continued progress, but the growth has been wholly along peaceful and material lines. During the last half century four " colonial nations" have been organized within the Empire : Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. In the management The "colonial of their internal affairs these are practically natlons -" independent, but they have no foreign office. They are bound to England by strong sentimental and commercial ties ; and 616 THE UNIONISTS AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE it has recently been proposed to bind them even more closely to the mother country by some form of imperial federation. REFERENCES England in Africa. — Innes, History of England, 841-844, 908-913; Lee, Queen Victoria, 572-574; Woodward, Expansion of the British Empire, 280- 293, 301-308. England and Egypt. — Innes, 915-917; Lee, 465-469; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 681-684. Imperialism and the new protectionism. — Beard, Introduction to the English Historians, 624-636 (Hobson: imperialism); Innes, 949-951 (protec- tion). The reconquest or the Soudan. — Innes, 940-942; Tout, 692-694. The Boer republics. — Innes, 930-934; Tout, 724-725; Woodward, 293-295- The Boer War. — Cross, History of England, 1029-1035; Innes, 934-939; Lee, 523-528; Tout, 726-727. The Commonwealth of Australia. — Beard, 645-662 (Bryce); Master- man, History of the British Constitution, 241-243; Woodward, 271-274; Wrong, History of the British Nation, 569-574. New Zealand. — Woodward, 275-279. England in Asia. — Innes, 910-915; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 1016-1019; Woodward, 308-311. CHAPTER XXIX ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 556. The Problem of the Unemployed. When the Reformed Parliament in 1833 began to enact its great series of industrial reforms, England was still the workshop of the world. Every year her output of manufactured products increased in amount and value ; every year her foreign commerce showed greater totals. Where there was so much work to be done, it would seem that it ought not to be difficult to secure employment. There was, however, a tendency among factory owners to employ cheap labor : much of the lighter work was done by children ; and women were sometimes engaged industrial in tasks that were better suited to the strength of P roblems - men. Hours were long, and the employer showed little interest in the welfare of the laborer. In those days it was believed that, if the conditions under which men and women labored were improved, all would be well. With shorter hours, with the elimination of child labor, and with proper restrictions on the labor of women, able-bodied men would surely find suitable work, and with employment would come prosperity and con- tentment. When the nineteenth century came to a close, however, England was greatly disturbed by the presence of hundreds of thousands of men who were temporarily or per- Causes of manently out of work. For this there were unemployment, several reasons. In the century that closed with 191 1, the population of Great Britain increased more than threefold ; but the demand for labor did not show a corresponding increase. Since the American Civil War the United States had developed into an industrial nation and was now competing with England 617 6i8 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY in the markets of the world. A little later Germany had begun to develop in the same direction. Consequently there was not the demand for English wares that there once had been ; nor is it likely that England will again possess the monopoly of the world's trade that she once held. It was also coming to be understood that the working classes as a rule were unable to provide for the future : the rise in London and Westminster wages had not kept pace with the cost of living; and elderly workingmen were frequently without means and without employment. Illness often deprives a laborer of his income for a time, and an accident may render him permanently unable to work at the trade that he is best prepared to follow. Poverty and These and other causes had brought millions to the verge of actual want. Charitable men and women were doing much to relieve the distress, and organizations like the Salvation Army were working faithfully in the more impoverished sections of the larger cities. But thinking men of all parties had begun to feel that measures for relief. COUNTY MAP OF ENGLAND and WALE S Scale of Mies THE POLITICAL SITUATION 619 there could be no real improvement before the entire nation was willing to bring systematic relief. 557. The Political Situation. While the Boer War was still in progress, the Unionist government had dissolved par- liament (1900) and appealed to the country. In the " khaki" elections the patriotic British voters rallied about the candi- dates who were favorable to the government, and the Unionists were returned to the house of commons in over- Attitude of whelming majority. Joseph Chamberlain was a the Uni o ni sts. power in the Unionist party, and he sympathized actively with the cause of social reform ; but most of the leaders of his party were more anxious to safeguard the rights of property than to vote funds for the relief of the poor. A. J. Balfour, who succeeded Lord Salisbury as prime minister in 1903, made a feeble move in the direction of reform with three bills that were planned to relieve the distress. Two of these failed outright and the third was amended to such an extent that it became wholly valueless. Nor could much be hoped from the Liberal party. Glad- stone's great following was thoroughly demoralized. The Liberals were not yet in agreement as to Irish Demoralized home rule ; but the Boer War had proved an state of the even greater source of discord. The radicals * era par y ' were bitterly opposed to what they termed "Mr. Chamber- lain's War;" the leaders among these "Little Englanders," as the Unionists termed them, were John Morley and David Lloyd George, a brilliant lawyer and debater who rose to great prominence as member of the cabinet a few The " Little years later. On the other hand there was an Engenders." important group of Liberals who believed in the extension of British territory and influence, and who loyally supported the government in the prosecution of the war in South Africa. Among the leaders of this faction were H. H. Asquith and Sir Edward Grey. There was, however, no member The Liberal of either house who seemed able to harmonize Im P enahsts - these factions and give the Liberal party effective leadership. 620 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY The Cabinet Room At No. 10 Downing Street. THE LABOR PARTY 621 The Unionist cabinet was not popular in the years following the Boer War ; it was continued in power simply because the opposition party seemed impossible. But when the Balfour ministry failed to carry its program of reform, the opportunity came once more to the Liberals. The party chiefs agreed to accept the facts and forget the past ; they also agreed to take no decided stand on the Irish question, but to make a fight for social betterment. Sir Henr Henry Campbell-Bannerman, a Scotch member Campbeii- of parliament of considerable ability and long Bannerman - parliamentary experience, was made leader of the party, and the Unionists were attacked 'with vigor both in and out of parliament. As nearly all the bye-elections, or special elections to fill vacancies in the house of commons, were now going against the Unionists, Balfour soon found that . 1905. his great strength was being materially reduced. Toward the close of 1905 he resigned. King Edward promptly summoned Campbell-Bannerman to take office as prime minister ; and with some changes the cabinet that he organized in 1905 is still (1914) in control of the government. 558. The Labor Party. A general election was held the next year in which the Liberals won a sweeping victory. Since 1832 no political party had returned to parliament The Lib ' eral with so great a majority. Out of 670 members victory of the Unionists elected only 156. The Irish Home Rulers counted 83. But when parliament met, a new party made its appearance in the house of commons, a Labor party which had elected twenty-nine members and The Labor could count on the votes of at least twenty other P art y- labor members who were classed as Liberals. The new party was an organization of labor unions for political action. Since the days of Chartism the unions had been relatively harmless bodies down to 1889, when the work- ingmen won several important strikes. The most The dock important of these was the great dock strike, which stnke of 1889 - seriously tied up the shipping of London. This strike was 622 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY led by John Burns, a strong and resourceful labor leader, who was later given a seat in the Liberal cabinet. After the suc- cesses of 1889 the unions became more aggressive, but the outcome also led to a reaction among the employing classes. It was argued in many quarters that labor organizations were in reality corporations which might be held responsible for damages to property caused by strikes. In 1901 a suit was heard in the house of lords which came to be of great impor- tance : the employes of the Taff Vale Railway Company had The Taff called a strike and the company had brought Vale decision. su j t against the unions to recover damages. The law lords decided that the unions were corporations and could be held responsible as the Taff Vale Company had contended. The Taff Vale decision caused much uneasiness among the unions. They could still call strikes, but a strike, even if successful, would endanger their funds. Finally the leaders decided to organize a separate political party with a view to securing legislation favorable to organized labor. The party fought its first campaign in 1906, when it contested fifty par- liamentary districts. It has since extended its organization into other districts and has shown considerable strength, especially in the manufacturing centers. 559. The Reforms of the Liberal Government. 1906-1909. One of the earliest measures to be accepted by the new parlia- ment was a Trade Disputes Bill, which was intended to secure The Trade the l aDor unions against suits for damages in Disputes Bill, cases of strikes. As the Unionists had tried to 1906 pass a similar measure, the bill did not meet with much opposition. Parliament also passed two bills of great importance to the working classes in general : these were a Workingmen's Com- ™ ^r , . pensation Act and an Old Age Pensions Law. It The Working- ** 6 men's Com- frequently happens in mines, factories, and other pensation Act. industrial plants, that workers meet with accidents 1906. . that result in serious injuries, in dangerous dis- eases, and even in death. The Workingmen's Compensation THE OPPOSITION OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS 623 Act makes the employer liable to pay compensation in such cases to the injured worker or to his family. This measure had also been a part of Balfour's program and met with little opposition. The Old Age Pensions Act became a law in 1908. The bill provided that a pension should be paid to all persons above the age of seventy, whose "yearly means as calcu- old-age pen- lated under this act do not exceed thirty-one S10ns - 1908 - pounds ten shillings" (about $153). Half a million men and women were thus made eligible to pensions. The amount paid varies from one shilling to five shillings per week according to the income of the recipient. The Unionists criticised the measure very freely, but only a few voted against it. The house of lords accepted it with great reluctance. 560. The Opposition of the House of Lords. Parliament passed several other bills looking toward social betterment. A Provision of Meals Act authorized the local school authorities to provide meals for hungry school children attending the elementary schools. A Trade Boards Act sought to remove the worst evils of sweat shop labor by establishing other Liberal trade boards with authority to fix minimum wages reforms - and to enforce the demand for sanitary conditions in the shops. A House and Town Planning Act enabled the local authorities to remove unsightly and unsanitary buildings and replace them with structures built according to modern de- mands and ideas. Some of the more important proposals of the government failed to become laws, however : they were rejected by the house of lords, where at least four-fifths of the membership belong to the Unionist party. In 1902 the Unionists had secured the passage of an educa- tion bill which gave great offense to the non-conformists. The act permitted the local authorities to levy taxes r i r * , The Noncon- tor the support of private church schools, nearly formists and all of which were Anglican foundations. In the the Education election of 1906 about 200 non-conformists were returned to the house of commons as Liberals, and they 624 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY demanded such a modification of the education law as should relieve them of paying taxes to support Anglican schools. The house responded and sent three successive bills to the house of lords, but all were rejected. In 1906 the cabinet turned its attention to the matter of intemperance. A licensing bill was passed, the purpose of Failure of which was to reduce the number of dramshops in the Licensing the kingdom : it was proposed to abolish 30,000 Bill of these, but to make the process a gradual one extending over fourteen years. Both the great parties were pledged to the principle of this reform ; but when the bill reached the house of lords it was promptly rejected. A third important measure that the lords threw out was the plural voting bill. An English voter may cast a ballot in every parliamen- Plural voting. tary district where he has property interests. The fact that all districts do not vote on the same day, the elec- tion extending over nearly two weeks, makes it possible for wealthy men to vote in many places; it is said that in 191 1 there were men who voted seventeen times. As most of the wealthy men are Unionists, that party benefits most from plural voting. 661. The Lloyd George Budget. 1909. The disagree- ment between the two houses threatened to become serious in 1909, when Lloyd George pre- sented the budget of that year. A budget is a The budget. r , . 8 , , / ,, 6 , . careful estimate 01 the probable expenses 01 the government for the year to come, with a plan of taxation which the chancellor of the exchequer believes will yield suf- David Lloyd George THE ELECTION OF 1910 625 ficient revenue to meet these expenses. Lloyd George proposed to make use of different forms of taxation ; but what interested the nation most was his plan for taxing the land : he proposed to confiscate a part of the "unearned increment." The In many places land had risen greatly in value "unearned through no effort of owner or tenant, but because increment - important improvements had been made on neighboring prop- erties ; this increase is called the unearned increment. It was Lloyd George's plan to have all the land valued every ten years, and if any lot, farm, or estate was found to have increased in value during the decade, the state was to take one-fifth of this increase. The new budget met bitter and determined opposition in the house of commons, and the lords were encouraged to refuse their assent. It had long been held in England 11 11 , The lords that the commons should control the matter of and the taxation ; but the Unionists professed to believe Lloyd Geor s e that this proposal was more than a money bill. The lords, however, did not dare to reject the bill outright, but resolved that it should not pass before it had been referred to the people at a general election. 562. The Election of 1910. H. H. Asquith, who had become prime minister in 1908, accepted the challenge and called new elections. In the campaign that followed the voters had four great issues before them. (1) Most prominent The issues was the question whether the lords should be of 191 °- allowed to interfere with money bills. (2) The electors were also asked to approve or disapprove the new budget. (3) As an alternative the Unionists proposed a protective tariff, which, they argued, would revive industry, bring employment to the workingmen, and provide money for old age pensions. (4) There was also much discussion whether the Liberal policy of social reform should be continued. A fifth issue was the question of Irish home rule, but this issue was not made prominent. The result of the election was a disappointment to both parties ; neither was given a majority. The Liberals elected 626 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 274 members and the Unionists 272. Ireland returned 82 Home Rulers, and the Labor party increased its membership to 41. It became evident that no party could remain long in power without the support* of the Irish members. An The Election of 1906 The Election or January, 1910 The strength of the Liberal and Unionist parties before and after the first election of iqio. The blackened portions indicate the districts carried by the Unionists. Courtesy of Review of Reviews. understanding was reached among the three groups that The anti- opposed the Unionists, and for some years Asquith Unionist • was the chief of a political alliance rather than of a party. 1 In his management of this alliance he displayed remarkable abilities as a political leader. The election settled the dispute over the budget; the lords sub- mitted and the bill became a law. 563. The Parliament Act of 19 ll. 2 The experience of the Asquith parliament had convinced a large part of the nation that the house of lords now represented, not the kingdom as a whole, but a party and a class. There arose, therefore, an insistent demand for legislation that would "curb" the power of the lords. The feeling that the upper house ought to be 1 Tuell and Hatch, No. 82. 2 Ibid., No. 77. THE PARLIAMENT ACT OF 1911 627 representative of all classes, creeds, parties, and interests was shared by the Unionists as well as by the Liberals ; The Asquith but as to plans and methods there was hopeless P r °P° sal s. disagreement. The Asquith ministry decided to begin by reducing the power of the upper chamber and pre- pared a bill comprising three chief points. (1) The house of lords was to be definitely deprived of all power over money bills. (2) The lords were to be allowed to delay legislation by rejecting a bill twice ; but a bill passed three times by the house of com- mons in three different sessions of the same parlia- ment was to become a law, if the commons insisted, no matter what action was taken in the upper house. (3) The maximum life of a parliament was to be re- duced from seven to five years. H. H. Asquith George V. Before the debate on the Asquith proposals had fairly begun, King Edward died and was succeeded by his son George V. The events connected with the succession and the feeling that the new king ought not to be plunged immediately into a controversy over the constitution naturally delayed action, and the discussion in parliament was not resumed before the following autumn. The house of lords now presented a plan for which Lord Lansdowne, the Unionist leader in the upper house, was the sponsor. Lord Lansdowne proposed that when the houses disagreed the question should 628 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY be settled in a joint session ; and if the matter was one of un- usual importance, it should be referred to the people. The Liberals could not accept a proposal for a joint session in which they would probably be outvoted in every case, and the prime minister dis- solved parliament. In the election that followed the parties returned to the house of commons with al- most the same strength that they had held since the elec- tion earlier in the year. The election was fought on " Curbing the the single issue lords." f "curbing the lords." After their de- feat the lords reluctantly allowed the Asquith bill to become a law, though not before the prime minister had informed the Unionist leaders that the king would be asked, if necessary, to create a sufficient number of Liberal peers to produce a majority for the measure. 564. National Insurance. The government now proceeded with an elaborate scheme for the insurance of workingmen against unemployment caused by sickness or accident. It was proposed to create a large insurance fund, nearly half of which was to be contributed by the workingmen and the remainder by the employers and the government. Insurance against sickness Compulsory was *-° be compulsory for all workingmen whose yearly income was less than $130. Others with higher incomes were permitted to share in the plan if they wished. In certain trades insurance was to be compul- sory without reference to income. The Unionists did not take George V insurance 1911. NATIONAL INSURANCE 629 kindly to the insurance bill but offered little active opposition. There was much criticism at first among the workingmen, many of whom did not enjoy the idea of having to contribute to the insurance fund. It is likely, however, that the national insur- ance act will prove to be a measure of great importance. The movement for social betterment through compensation, pensions, and insurance was not new in England. For some time the kingdom had had a law granting conipensation to laborers who might be injured in certain forms of employment ; this law, however, had proved of little value. Nor was it a specifically English movement. Thirty years Social earlier (1883-1884) the German Empire had begun insurance in , . . Germany, to experiment with national insurance against accident and illness ; old-age insurance came a few years later. Since then nearly all the nations of Europe have followed the example of Germany ; but in no country has the principle of state assistance been applied more extensively than in Great Britain. In Germany the funds for pensions and insurance benefits are contributed almost wholly by the employers and the workingmen ; while in England the state contributes all the money for old-age pensions and a considerable part of the fund for insurance against sickness and invalidity. 565. The Payment of Members of Parliament. The members of the house of commons were originally paid by the counties or boroughs that they represented; but during the Stuart period so many capable men seemed willing to serve in parliament without remuneration that the practice of paying members died out. During the past half-century, however, many of the less wealthy representatives have been paid out of the campaign funds of the parties to which they belonged. The Irish members were supported largely by the contributions of Irish Americans. The laborites were paid out of the funds of the unions. Finally one Osborne, a railway em- The Osborne ploye in London, brought suit against a labor union J ud s ment - to prevent it fro/n using its funds for political purposes. The case was taken to the house of lords, and the law lords sustained 630 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Osborne's contention (1909). This was a severe blow to the Payment of l aDor party, as its representatives could not afford members. to serve in parliament without financial aid in some form. To break the force of the Osborne judg- ment, parliament passed a bill for the payment of members, the salary being fixed at £400 per year (191 1). 566. Disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Wales. After the passage of the Parliament Act, the government laid three important measures before parliament : one to give home rule to Ireland ; a second to disestablish the Anglican church in Wales ; and a third to abolish plural voting. The first bill to pass under the provisions of the Parliament Act was the Welsh Disestablishment Bill. The case of Wales was in many ways parallel to that of Ireland half a century earlier : in both Welsh dis- countries the Anglicans were a minority only ; establishment. k ut ^ e n0 n-Anglicans were taxed for the support of the established church as well. There was this difference, however : the Welshmen were not Catholics but noncon- formist Protestants ; and there was no separate Welsh church : ecclesiastically Wales was a part of the province of Canterbury. The attack on the church in Wales was therefore regarded by many as an attack on the church of England. Lloyd George, as a Welshman and Baptist, was keenly interested in this measure. By the terms of the bill the Welsh bishops were to lose their seats in the house of lords ; the Anglican church in Wales and Monmouthshire was no longer to be supported by the state or to be dependent on the government ; the church was also to forfeit some of its older endowments, which the Liberals held had been given to the Welsh people rather than to the church and which they proposed to use to promote education and for other public purposes. In May, 1914, the bill passed the house of commons for the third time, and in September it received the royal sanction. Owing to the European war, however, it was thought best not to insist on its immediate enforcement, and a law was passed suspending its application for one year. THE THIRD HOME RULE BILL 631 567. The Third Home Rule Bill. A week after the passage of the Welsh Disestablishment Bill the second great measure passed the commons for the third time and was sent to the upper house. It had long been evident that the Liberal party would soon be forced to deal with the problem of a sep- arate government for Ireland. The Asquith bill provided for an Irish parliament composed of a senate appointed by the government and a lower house elected by the people. This parliament was to be entrusted with a limited Asquith > s field of legislation covering affairs that were wholly Home Rule Irish. In certain other respects, too, the authority x ' of the new legislature was limited : for one thing, it was for- bidden to establish or give favor to any form of religious worship. Matters of wider importance, such as military and naval forces, peace and war, diplomacy and the commerce of the kingdom, were reserved to the parliament at Westminster, in which Ireland was to have a representation of 42 members with power to vote on imperial questions only. The announcement that Ireland was to be given home rule was not favorably received by the Protestants of Ulster. Under the leadership of Sir Edward Carson they prepared to resist, expressing their determination to remain direct The opposition subjects of the English king. A covenant was in Ulster - drawn up and signed by thousands, the signers pledging them- selves to resist the new government. An army of volunteers was organized and drilled by former officers of the English army. In 1 9 14 the Irish Nationalists, too, began to arm and drill, and for a time it looked as if the passage of the bill would be a signal for civil war. The province of Ulster comprises nine counties, of which the four northeastern are populated chiefly by descendants of the Scotch and English immigrants who settled the Ulster planta- tion in the days of James I. Four-fifths of the The province population of the province lives in these counties, of Ulster - which are overwhelmingly Protestant. Two other counties are almost evenly divided between the two religions, though the 632 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Catholics may be slightly more numerous. The remaining three are strongly Catholic. Asquith was willing to exclude the four Protestant counties from the restored Ireland for six years, but this did not wholly satisfy the JJlstermen : some demanded that the six counties of the plantation be excluded, while others wished to exclude the entire province. European troubles, however, forestalled the threatened uprising, and the bill received the royal signature ; though in this case, too, it was thought wiser to suspend the enforcement of the act for a year. 568. The Triple Alliance. The movement for social and constitutional changes was suddenly checked in 19 14 by the outbreak of the great European war of that year. This was a terrific struggle between two groups of allied powers, Germany and Austria on one side and the so-called Triple Entente with its allies on the other. In 1879 the emperors of Germany and Austro-Hungary formed a close defensive alliance 1883 which was joined by the king of Italy in 1883. This was the Triple Alliance, which was renewed from time to time, and for thirty years was a powerful factor in European diplomacy. The motives that led to the formation of this Germany and alliance were fear and jealousy of France and France. Russia. Germany feared that France would seek an early opportunity to take revenge for the humiliating defeat of her armies in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-187 1) and the consequent loss of Alsace and Lorraine. Italy was led to join the alliance by a feeling of resentment toward France : in 1 88 1 the French had seized Tunis which Italy had hoped to acquire as a colonial dominion. The fear of Russia dates from the Congress of Berlin at the close of the war between Russia and Turkey (1877-1878). In this congress Germany sided The Balkan with Austria against Russia, and the Russians have problem. since felt that they were robbed of the fruits of victory. Austria has hoped to extend her territories from Bosnia southward to the ^gean Sea. But the Balkan Penin- sula is inhabited chiefly by peoples of Slavic race, and Russia as the greatest Slavic power regards herself as the natural THE DUAL ALLIANCE AND THE TRIPLE ENTENTE 633 protector of the Balkan states. Germany has long been in- terested in the commercial possibilities of the Turkish Empire, — in markets, in railway building, and in the investment of German capital. This interest is not regarded with favor by the Russians. The Germans, therefore, look upon Russia as an obstacle to their ambitions in the Near East. 569. The Dual Alliance and the Triple Entente. The professed purpose of the Triple Alliance was to preserve the peace of Europe. The Alliance, and especially Germany, also stood for what is known as " armed peace," which "Armed means maintaining an army so strong that one's P eace -" neighbors will not dare to make an attack. France and Russia naturally regarded the Triple Alliance as a threat, and some years later (1891) proceeded to form a Dual The Dual Alliance for their own protection. Thus nearly Alliance, all the great powers of Europe were enrolled in one of these two hostile groups. England alone remained out- side and alone, though for some time her statesmen, fearing that Russia had designs on India, were inclined to give their favor to Germany. But before the nineteenth century closed, a keen commercial rivalry had arisen between England and Germany, which to a large extent had destroyed the old feeling of friendship. After the war with France, Germany entered upon a Rivalry of period of wonderful industrial development, and England and soon her factories were producing not only suf- erman y- ficient for the needs of the empire in many lines, but a surplus, which her merchants sought to sell in the markets of the world. To a large extent these markets were controlled by English traders, and Germany found it difficult to dispose of her wares. She succeeded to some extent, however, with the result that a keen feeling of resentment arose in both England and Germany. The Germans were displeased because they felt that they were not getting their full share of the world's trade; the English were irritated because they saw that a considerable part of their commerce had slipped away to the Germans and that even 634 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY more might be lost in the future. Germany also found in England the chief obstacle to her ambitions of colonial expansion in various parts of the world, notably in Africa. The German Empire had also become the leading military power of Europe. Her army was the best drilled and equipped Military m a ^ tne wor ^ 5 m tne ear ly years of the present ambitions century she also displayed an ambition to have o ermany. a powerful navy. It has long been a commonplace that England is "mistress of the seas ;" but to remain mistress she has long felt it necessary to maintain a fleet equal in strength and efficiency to any two other navies, or one that is at least sixty per cent more efficient than the fleet of her strongest rival. The activities of the Germans in building and buying warships now forced the English to strengthen a naval establishment that was already large and expensive. If Germany built five "dreadnoughts," England had to build eight. The result was that the anti-German feeling was intensified. This resentment soon developed into a fear of German aggression that found expression in various ways. Lord Roberts, the victor of the Boer War, led a movement looking toward the creation of a large standing army and the adoption of some form of compulsory military service. On the diplo- matic side an understanding was reached with France, which, while not a formal alliance, served to notify the world that the sympathies of England were now with France rather than with The Anglo- Germany. Two years earlier (1902) England had Japanese entered into a defensive alliance with Japan, the purpose of which was to safeguard the interests of the British Empire in the Far East. This alliance made it somewhat difficult to approach Russia, for in 1904, the year of the new understanding with France, Russia suffered a humiliat- ing defeat in her great war with Japan. Notwithstanding this The Triple fact, however, Sir Edward Grey was able to come Entente. to terms with the Russian foreign office, and the new group of friendly powers, England, France, and Russia, came to be known as the Triple Entente. THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR. 1914 635 570. The Great European War. 1914. For a time it seemed as if this grouping of the powers into the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente had created a balance of power in Europe and would actually secure a lasting peace. But in June, 1914, an event occurred which was to prove the inef- fectiveness of European diplomacy and the dangers of armed peace. The heir apparent to the Austro-Hun- The crime garian monarchy was assassinated while at Sera- of Sera i evo - jevo, the capital of Bosnia. The Austrians believed that the crime could be traced to an organization with its headquarters in Servia, the purpose of which was to work for a Greater Servia. They demanded the suppression of this movement and the punishment of various Servians whom they declared to be in- volved in it, but the promises of Servia were not wholly satis- factory to Austria, who immediately declared war. Europe at Germany supported Austria, but Italy at first war - 1914 - remained neutral, as she considered herself bound to assist her allies only when engaged in a defensive war. Russia, as the protector of the Slavs, gave active support to Servia. France, as a member of the Dual Alliance, was drawn into the war on the Russian side. The English government appeared at first to be undecided how far to take sides in the conflict ; but when the Germans invaded France by way of Belgium, whose neu- trality was guaranteed by international treaty and was of great importance for English interests in the North Sea, the United Kingdom decided to join her forces to those of the Dual Alliance. A month after the crime of Serajevo eight European nations were engaged in the most terrible conflict of all history : England, France, Russia, Belgium, Servia, and Montenegro were at war with Germany and Austria. In the Far East Japan soon de- prived the Germans of their foothold in China ; in the Near East Turkey joined Germany and Austria in an attack upon Russia; while Italy finally went to war with Austria for the Italian-speak- ing lands in the Alps and on the Adriatic. The conflict also in- volved the colonies and possessions of European powers in all parts of the world. On the British side the war was imperial 636 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY in character, as appeared from the enlistment of large contingents of troops from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and India. 571. Problems of Modern England. The keynote of Brit- ish politics in the twentieth century has been social reform. Summary Since tne victory of the Liberals in 1906, parliament of social has striven to enact a series of laws looking toward the betterment of social conditions. Among the bills passed the laws providing for workingmen's compensa- tion, old age pensions, and compulsory insurance for the very poor may be counted as the most important. Of great significance, too, is the budget of 19 10, not only because it announced a new principle of taxation, but because it led to the Constitutional passage of the Parliament Act of 191 1, by which problems. t j ie p 0wer f the house of lords to block legislation was taken away. Since 191 1 the energies of the house of commons have been given chiefly to constitutional problems with the Irish question in the foreground. There remain, however, a large number of social and political questions that future parliaments will have to consider. Since Industrial 1 83 2, the government of England has developed democracy. rapidly toward democracy, or government by the people. In industry, however, there is no democracy : the control of the factory, the mine, or other business is in the hands of the owner, whether this be a single capitalist, a firm, or a . corporation. It is the purpose of the Socialist party, the Labor party in England, to make in- dustry democratic by placing the control in the hands of the workmen directly interested or in society itself. Whether this purpose is practical or even possible remains to be seen. Of the highest importance is the problem of education. Government by the people is possible only where education is general and all classes enjoy the benefits of intel- lectual training. The statesmen of England have long realized that the problem of elementary schools is one that lies at the very roots of national life. The English' schools, however, are not in a satisfactory condition. The problem is PROBLEMS OF MODERN ENGLAND 637 still complicated by the ancient rights and the modern claims of the established church ; and an immediate solution is not likely to be found. Closely associated with the movement for better elementary instruction is the growing interest in child welfare. There was a time when it was feared that the kingdom would _..„. i r 1 -ill Child welfare. become overpopulated ; that fear has yielded to another : that the population may soon begin to decline. Fam- ilies are smaller now than they were a century ago. It has come to be understood that if England is to keep her high place in the world, the children must be cared for and enabled to grow up into healthy and intelligent men and women. The law enabling school authorities to provide meals for underfed school children is a move in this direction ; but there is a growing demand for further legislation along this line. A movement that has recently attracted much attention is that of " Feminism," the purpose of which is to secure for women the same opportunities as those enjoyed by men . . n and also the same rewards for equal work. As the first point in their program, the Feminists demand that women shall be allowed to vote in parliamentary elections ; they have for some time possessed the right to vote in local elections. Various organizations have been working toward this end ; but a certain group known as the " Militants " has been especially strenuous in the demand for "votes for women." For several years the Militants even carried on a sort of warfare against the government for its failure to press a suffrage bill. When the European war broke out, the leaders declared a truce, but the conflict is likely to break out again when the peace of Europe is restored. The granting of home rule to Ireland is likely to give impetus to a movement for a federated kingdom for which Sir Edward Grey is the chief sponsor. There is a strong British nationalistic current in Wales, and the Scotch federatlon - members of parliament have recently been at work on a home rule bill for Scotland. England, however, does not seem to 638 ENGLAND IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY have been converted to the principle of federation. The house of lords offers another constitutional problem. There seems to be a wide-spread feeling that the possession of an inherited peerage ought not to be the only qualification for a seat in the upper house. The Liberal chiefs are pledged to a further reform of the house of lords, but no plan acceptable to the nation has thus far been proposed. Chamberlain's twin theories of imperialism and protection are among the older ideas that have not yet been realized. It imperial would seem that the British Empire really stands federation. j n neec j f a m0 re effective form of organization ; but Chamberlain's proposal has not fourid genuine favor in the great colonial nations, and the cause of imperial federation has made but little recent progress. The Unionist party is committed to protection ; but the details of a new tariff will be difficult to work out, for the party is divided on the question A protective of a tax on wheat and other food products. The tariff. English farmer will have nothing to do with a tariff that does not tax foreign wheat, while the Lancashire workingman is not likely to support a scheme that will probably raise the price of bread. Although the demand for social and constitutional legislation has been prominent in English politics during the present cen- tury, it has not been the only great interest. The English people have shown a real concern for the welfare of the British Empire and have insisted that the prestige of Great Britain as a world- England and power must be maintained. It was this interest the empire. that dictated the terms of the alliance with Japan and induced the Liberal cabinet to. enter the Triple Entente with autocratic Russia. The movement for a closer organiza- tion of the empire has sprung from the same interest. The opposition of the Unionists to home rule for Ireland was largely based on the feeling that to establish an Irish parliament would mean to loosen the bonds that hold the empire together. Al- though England justifies her entry into the European conflict as an effort to maintain the neutrality of Belgium, it cannot be GOLDSCHM'DT It HAMPEL PROBLEMS OF MODERN ENGLAND 639 doubted that fear for the future of the empire was a leading motive. 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Source Book of English History. 2 vols. Cambridge, 191 2- 1914. University Press. $2.20. Jacobs, Joseph. The J eivs of Angevin England. London, 1893. 4s. Jenks, Edward. Edward Plantagenet. New York, 1912. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Jenks, Edward. Parliamentary England. New York, 1903. (Putnams.) $1.50. Jessopp, A. The Coming of the Friars. New York. Putnams. $1.25. Johnston, Charles, and Carita Spencer. Ireland's Story. Boston, 1905. Houghton. $1.40. Kendall, Elizabeth K. Source Book of English History. New York, 1908. Macmillan. $.80. Kingsford, C. L. Henry V. New York, 190 1. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Lang, Andrew. A Short History of Scotland. New York, 1912. Dodd, Mead & Co. $2.00. Larson, Laurence M. Canute the Great. New York, 191 2. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Lawless, E. The Story of Ireland. New York, 1888. Putnams. $1.50. Lee, Sidney. Queen Victoria. New York, 1903. Macmillan. $2.25. Maccunn, Florence. Alary Stuart. New York, 1907. Dutton. $2.00. Mackinder, H. S. Britain and the British Seas. New York, 1902. Appleton. $2.00. Masterman, J. H. B. A History of the British Constitution. London, 1912. Macmillan. $.80. Maxwell, H. E. Robert the Bruce. New York, 1897. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Morley, John. Oliver Cromwell. New York, 1901. Century. $3.50. BIBLIOGRAPHY 643 Morris, W. O'Connor. Wellington. New York, 1904. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Ober, F. A. Sir Waller Raleigh. New York, 1909. Harper. $1.00. Ogg, F. A. Social Progress in Contemporary Europe. Chautauqua, N. Y., 191 2. Macmillan. $1.50. Oman, C. W. C. A History of England. New York, 1907. Holt. $1.50. Plummer, C. The Life and Times of Alfred the Great. Oxford, 1902. $1.75. Pollard, A. F. Henry VIII. London, 1905. Longmans. $2.60. Pollard, A. F. Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation. New York, 1904. Putnams. $1.35. Ransome, C. An Advanced History of England. London, 1906. Macmillan. $2.25. Robinson, J. H. An Introduction to the History of Western Europe. Boston, 1903. Ginn. Robinson, J. H. Readings in European History. Boston, [1906]. Ginn. (Abridged Edition.) $1.50. Rosebery, Lord. Pit!. New York, 1891. Macmillan. (Twelve English Statesmen.) $.75. Seebohm, F. The Oxford Reformers. London, 191 1. Longmans. $4.00. Sergeant, Lewis. John Wyclif. New York, 1893. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Stenton, F. M. William the Conqueror. New ' York, 1908. Putnams. (Heroes.) $1.50. Tappan, Miss E. M. In the Days of Alfred the Great. Boston, 1900. Lothrop. $1.00. Taunton, E. L. Thomas Wolscy. London, 1901. Lane. $3.75. Tout, T. F. An Advanced History of Great Britain. London, 1906. Long- mans. $1.50. Tout, T. F. Edward the First. New York, 1893. Macmillan. (Twelve English Statesmen.) $.75. Trevelyan, G. M. England in the Age of Wyclif e. New York, 1899. Long- mans. $2.00. Tuell, Harriet E., and R. W. Hatch. Selected Readings in English History. Boston, [1913]. Ginn. $1.40. Walker, A. P. Essentials in English History. New York, 1905. American Book Co. (Text book.) $1.50. Woodward, W. H. A Short History of the Expansion of the British Empire. Cambridge, 1907. University Press. $1.00. Wrong, G. M. The British Nation. New York, 19 12. Appleton. (Text book.) $1.40. INDEX Absalom and Achitophel, 392, 397 Absolutism in Europe, 387 Acadia, 426 Acts, see Statutes Addison, Joseph, 431, 432, 435 Admiralty, 439 Afghanistan, 607, 614 Africa, England in, 596 ff.; progress in, 611 Agincourt, battle of, 188-189, 195 Agricola, 6, 8 Agriculture, medieval, 11-15, 504; development of, 420; revolution in, 504-506, 535 Aix la Chapelle, treaty of, 456, 458- 459 "Alabama," the, 573 Albert, prince consort, 552-553 Alberta, 612 Alcuin, 22 Alexander III, king of Scotland, 136, 139 Alfred, and the Danes, 29-30; as law-giver and statesman, 30, 77; interest of, in literature, 30-31, 38; death of, 31; character of, 31-32 Alien officials, opposition to, n 2-1 13 Allen, William, 285, 318 America, European interest in, 295 ff.; early settlements in, 306-307, 338; colonial expansion in, 340, 379, 380-381, 394, 415; migration to, in the eighteenth century, 431, 448-449, 480-481, 483; problems of organization and defense of, 460-461, 474 ff.; resistance of, to England, 476 ff.; revolt of, 479 ff.; second war with, 527 ff.; civil war in, 573-574; industrial development in, 617 American Revolution, outbreak of, 479; causes of, 479-484; course of, 485 ff.; results of, 488-490 Amherst, General, 464, 465 Amiens, mise of, 115 Amiens, peace of, 523 Andros, Sir Edmund, 400, 414 Angevin empire, 77—78 Anglo- Japanese alliance, 634, 638 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 31, 124 Anglo-Saxons, invasions of, 9-10; civilization of, 10-14, 20; literature of, 13, 30-31, 123-124; church of, 15 ff., 64; political system of, 37- 39, 71; nobility of, destroyed, 54 Anglo-Scandinavian empire, 43-44 Annates, 231, 243 Anne, queen of England, 409-410, 422, 423, 424-425, 433-435 Anne Boleyn, 237, 243, 245, 251, 265, 272 Anne of Cleves, 252 Anne Hyde, wife of James, duke of York, 401 Anselm, 69-70, 81, 109 Anson, Admiral, 456 Anti-Corn-Law League, 562-563 Aquitaine, 78, 114, 153, 155; see Gascony Arabi Pasha, revolt of, 599 Architecture, early English, 129; of the Restoration, 392 Arcot, 460, 466 Arkwright, Richard, 501 Armada, defeat of the, 287-291, 313 Armagnacs, 188 Armies, medieval, 163-164 Arminianism, 329, 331 Arthur, son of Henry VII, 220, 237 Ashington, battle of, 43 Asquith, H. H., political leader, 590, 619; introduces bill to abolish the lords' veto, 627-628; proposes to give Ireland home rule, 631-632 Assiento, the, 427 Assizes, 77, 90, 92 Association, the, 286 Augsburg, League of, 418 645 646 INDEX Austerlitz, battle of, 525, 526 Australia, settled and organized, 509, 560, 574; resources of, 561, 566; Commonwealth of, 608-609, 615 Austria, 635 Austrian Succession, war of the, 453, 455-458, 469 Avignon, popes of, 152, 165, 166, 229 Avranches, conference of, 88 Babington's plot, 286 Bacon, Francis, 300, 303, 322 Bstcon, Nicholas, 275 /(/Bacon, Roger, 118, 128, 131 Balance of power, theory of the, 225, 234 Balfour, A. J., 588, 594, 619, 623 Balkans, problem of the, 621, 632-633 Ball, John, 174 Balliol College, 128 Balliol, John, 13-8-140 Baltimore, Lord, see Calvert Bank of England, 419, 435 Bannockburn, battle of, 144-145 Baptist movement, the, 358, 368 Barbados, the, 370, 474, 487 Barons' War, 115-116, 133 Bate's case, 320 Becket, Thomas, chancellor and arch- bishop, 80-81; quarrels with Henry II, 83-85, 86; murder of, 84; shrine of, 178, 230 Bede, 21-22 Bedford, duke of, Whig leader, 473 Bedford, John, duke of, 189-190 Belgium, 516, 532, 635, 638 Beloochistan, 614, 615 Benedictine Rule, 18, 39-40 Benefit of clergy, 82, 85 Benevolences, 210-211, 218-219 Bengal, 459, 466 Beowulf, 20 Berkeley, George, 431-433, 446 Berlin, congress of, 614, 632 Bertha, queen of Kent, 15 Bible, the, 250; authorized version of, 318; Douai, 318 Billeting, 327 Bills of attainder, 199 Bilney, Thomas, 232-233, 250 Bishops' wars, the, 343, 345-346, 349, 352 Black Death, the, 153, 169, 177 Black Hole, tragedy of the, 466 Blake, Robert, 366, 369-370 Blenheim, battle of, 426, 428 Bliicher, General, 532 Boccaccio, 177 Boers, the, 596-597, 605 ff. Boer wars, 598, 607, 619 Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy 3i Bolingbroke, see St. John Bombay, 381, 459 Boniface VIII, 141, 229 Boniface of Savoy, 120 Bonner, Bishop, 262, 264 Boroughs, Old English, 35; Norman, 61; government of, in later middle ages, 162; corporations of, re- formed, 545-546 Boscawen, Admiral, 464, 465 Boston, 341, 400, 479, 485 "Boston Massacre," 476 "Boston Tea Party," 477 Bosworth, battle of, 212, 215 Botha, General, 607, 611 Bothwell, earl of, 282 Bourbon family compact, 456, 468 Bouvines, battle of, 103 Boycott, Captain, 584 Boyne, battle of; 413 Bracton, Henry, 121, 131 Braddock, General, 462 Bretigny, treaty of, 153, 202 Bridgewater, earl of, 503 Bright, John, 563, 566, 574, 589 Brindley, James, 503 British Columbia, 611 British East African Company, 615 British Empire, beginnings of, 291, 307, 308; growth of, 370, 372, 380- 381, 394, 426-427, 469, 508-510, 533, 574, 596 ff.; war for, 639 "British idea," 132-133 British Isles, 1, 5, 16 Britons, 5, 8, 16 Bronze age, 4 Brooke, Lord, 340 Brougham, Henry, 539, 555 Browne, Robert, 312-313, 334 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 547, 553-554 Browning, Robert, 553 Bruce, Robert, claimant to the Scotch crown, 138-139 Bruce, Robert, king of Scotland, 143-146 INDEX 647 Brut, Layamon's, 124 Buckingham, see Villiers Budget of iqio, 624-626, 638 Bunyan, John, 389, 39°~39i Burgoyne, General, 485-486 Burgundy 188-190, 192, 193, 220 Burke, Edmund, 484-485, 489, 515, 539 Burke, Thomas, 586 Burleigh, sec Cecil Burma, 614, 615 Burns, John, 622 Burns, Robert, 493 Bute, Lord, 468-469 Butler, poet of the Restoration, 389 Byron, Lord, 554 Cabal, the, 383-384, 439~44o Cabinet government, 439-441, 453 Cabot, John, 207, 208, 222-223, 2 99 Cadiz, expedition to, 324 Cadmon, 20-21 Caesar, Julius, 5-6 Calais, 151, 152, 160, 188, 195, 270 Calcutta, 466, 468 Calvert family, 340, 400 Calvin, John, 267, 275, 278, 309, 329 Cambridge, University of, 127-128; center of Puritanism, 334, 339-340 Camden, battle of, 487 Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 621 Campbells, Scotch clan, 447 Campeggio, Cardinal, 238 Camperdown, battle of, 518-519 Campion, English Jesuit, 285 Canada, 415, 474, 604; war for, 461- 462, 465, 470; development of, 509-510, 611-612; Dominion of, 558-560, 615 Canning, George, 526, 539, 541, 555 Canterbury Tales, 178-179 Cape Colony, 533, 596-597, 601, 606-607 Cape to Cairo railway, 611 Carlyle, Thomas, 554 Carolina, 381, 399, 449, 480 Caroline, Queen, 452, 492 Carson, Sir Edward, 631 Carteret, Lord, 453, 458 Cartwright, Edmund, 501-502 Cart wright, Thomas, 3 1 1-3 1 2, 3 1 3, 334 Cashel, council of, 88 Castlereagh, Lord, 526, 530, 532, 540, 555 Castles, Norman, 53-54 Cathedral chapters, 70, 99, 277 Catherine of Aragon, 220, 237, 238, 243, 245, 249 Catherine of Braganza, 381 Catholic emancipation, 537, 539, 540- 542 Cavaliers, the, 354-355, 37i Cavendish, Frederick, 586 Caxton, William, 205, 213, 227 Cecil, William, 274, 300, 303, 334 Celibacy of the clergy, 64, 276 Celtic church, 16-17 x Celtic missionaries, 14-16 % Celts, 4-5, 8 Ceylon, 533 Chadwick, Edwin, 548 Chamberlain, Joseph, radical leader, 589; Unionist leader, 590, 591, 619; imperialistic policies of, 602- 604, 606, 615, 638 Chandernagore, 466, 468 Channel, battle in the, 288-289, 292 Charles I, marriage of, 322-324; military ventures of, 324-325; quarrels with parliament, 325-331, 349; financial methods of, 326- 327, 333, 335-337, 348; religious policy of, 328-329, 331; colonial policy of, 330-331; government of, 332-^7,3, 339; has difficulties with the Scotch, 341 ff., 352; at war with parliament, 350-351, 356; character of, 352;' defeated at Naseby, 360; last years of, 361- 363; trial and execution of, 362-363 Charles II, claims the British crowns, 364; escapes to France, 365; re- turns to England, 375; favors Catholicism, 382-383, 386; for- eign policy of, 382, 383-385; des- potic methods of , 398-399; colonial policy of, 399, 414; death of, 400 Charles II, king of Spain, 421-422 Charles V, emperor, 238, 241 Charles V, king of France, 155-156 Charles VI, emperor, 422, 455 Charles VII, king of France, 191, 193 Charles Edward, the Young Pre- tender, 457 Charlotte, Queen, 471 Chartism, 567-569, 576, 622 Chatham, sec Pitt Chaucer, Geoffrey, 176-179, 187, 227 648 INDEX Chief secretary for Ireland, 585 Children, labor of, 537-538, 545, 547-548, 617; welfare of, 623, 637 Chippenham, treaty of, 29-30, 38 Chocolate, introduced, 388 Christian IV, king of Denmark, 323, 325 Christianity, British, 14-17; Roman, 8, 15, 17-18 Church, the, in Norman times, 62, 69-70, 73-74; reform movements in, 62-65; elections, 65, 70, 105; courts of, 64-65, 83; national move- ment in, 117; in the later middle ages, 172-173, 203; on the eve of the Protestant revolt, 229-232; in 1534, 245-246; settlement of, in Elizabeth's reign, 276-279, 308; attacked by the Puritans, 311 fif.; during the Commonwealth period, 368-369; restoration of, 378-379; under James II, 403; in the eigh- teenth century, 445-446, 495 fT.; disestablished in Ireland, 581; dis- established in Wales, 630 Churchill, John, 424-425, 426, 433, 456; Sarah Jennings, 425 Civil War, first, 350 ff.; second, 354, 362 Clarendon, see Hyde Clarendon Code, 378-379, 384, 391, 404, 480-481 Claverhouse, "Bloody," 407, 413 Clement VII, 237-238 Clergy, submission of the, 242 Clive, Robert, 460, 462, 464-466, 468, 47o /Cluny, reform movement of, 39 Cnut, 41-45, 46, 51, 7i, 77, 136 Cobbett, William, 539, 555 Cobden, Richard, 563, 566 Coffee, introduced, 388 Coffee houses, 388 Coinage, reform of the, 419 Coke, Sir Edward, 107, 325-327, 328, 343 Coleridge, English poet, 514 Colet, John, 206, 227 College system, 127-128 Colonies, see Africa, America, Aus- tralia, British Empire, Canada, Egypt, India, New England, New Zealand Columbus, Christopher, 222, 295 Commerce, in early Britain, 3-4; medieval ideas of, 158-159; expan- sion of, 158, 160, 186, 207-210, 222, 234, 295, 381-382, 504, 529 Common law, 1 20-1 21 Common pleas, court of, 123 Commons, house of, origin of, 116- 117; development of, 164-165; controlled by the aristocracy, 201, 438-439; power transferred to, 453; reforms of, 542-544, 57^- 577, 587 "Common sense," age of, 491 Commonwealth, the, 363-367, 374 Compromise of 1106, 69-70, 99 Compton, Bishop, 404, 409 Compurgation, 37-38 Confession, 230, 276 Congregationalism, 312, 313, 358 Connecticut, colony of, 333, 340, 380 Conservative party, 394, 566-567, 572, 576, 581, 588, 590 Constance, council of, 203 Constantine, Roman general, 8 Constitutions of Clarendon, 83-84 Continental congress, 484 Continental system, 526-527, 529, 531, 533 Contract theory of government, 493- 494 Cook, Captain, 509 Copenhagen, bombardments of, 520- 521, 526, 533 Copyholders, 201-202 Corn laws, 420, 426, 562, 565 Cotton gin, invention of the, 502 Council of the North, 344 Council of state, 363 Courtenay, Edward, 265 Courts, of the church, 65; manorial, 57-58; circuit, 89; great central, 123; of quarter sessions, 202-203, 59i Covenanters, 407-408 Coverdale, Miles, 318 Cowper, English poet, 493, 499, 514 Craftsman, the, 450 Cranmer, Thomas, influenced by Bilney, 232, 234; archbishop, 239, 242-243, 246; place of, in the Reformation movement, 251, 259, 262, 271, 276, 279; author of the Prayer Book, 260-261, 264, 277; execution of, 267-268 INDEX 649 Crecy, battle of , 151, 153, 157, 167 Crimean War, the, 557, 569-570 Criminous clerks, 81-83, 84 Crofts, James, 397-398, 402 Crompton, Samuel, 501 Cromwell, Oliver, Puritan leader, 326, 344, 347; is active in the Civil War, 356, 358-360, 372; purges parliament, 362; ends the second Civil War, 362; dominates the Commonwealth, 363-364; is vic- torious in Ireland, Scotland, and England, 364-365; dissolves the Rump, 366; protector of the Com- monwealth, 365 ff.; policies of, 368-370, 380; rule of, 371, 374, 377 Cromwell, Richard, 374 Cromwell, Thomas, 239, 246, 249, 251, 256 Crusades, the, 68, 94-96 Cry oj the. Children, 547, 554 Culloden Moor, battle of, 457 Cumberland, annexed to England, 67 Curia regis, 58-59, 89, 96, 123, 217 Cynewulf,-23, 27 Danby, earl of, 384-386, 409 Danegeld, 41, 46, 92 Danelaw, 34-35, 39, 40, 43, 51 Danes in England, 25-35, 38, 42-43, 51, 52, 112, 136 Darien venture, 428 Darnley, Henry, 282 Darwin, Charles, 554 Davis, John, 299-300, 303 Davitt, Michael, 583 Decameron, the, 177 Declaration of Breda, 375, 377 Declaration of Independence, 482, 485, 486, 494 _ Declarations of indulgence, 384, 404, 406, 408 Decrees, Napoleonic, 527-528 Defoe, Daniel, 431-432, 435 Deism, 495-496 Delarey, General, 607 Derby, Lord, 557, 576-577 Dettingen, battle of, 456 De Wet, General, 607 Dickens, Charles, 553-554 Diplomatic revolution, 458 Dispensations, 230 Disraeli, Benjamin, Conservative leader, 566-567, 584, 587; inter- ested in the Orient, 577-578, 612- 614; not interested in Ireland, 583, 590; prime minister, 598; pur- chases Suez Canal shares, 598- 599, 613 Dissenters, robbed of political rights, 378-379, 394; in America, 379, 381, 480, 483; and the Whig party, 404, 445 "Divine right," of kings, 314-316; of bishops, 316 Dock strike of 1889, 621-622 Doddridge, Philip, 499 Domesday survey, the, 60 Dover, secret treaty of, 383 Dowlah, Surajah, 466 Drake, Sir Francis, 288-289, 296-297, 303, 456 Drogheda, massacre of, 364-365, 413 Dryden, John, 391-392, 397 Dual Alliance, 633 Dudley, John, 261-263 Dunbar, battle of, 365 Dupleix, Joseph, 459-460 Durham, Lord, 559 Ealdorman, 37 East Anglia, n, 32, 34, 40, 43; Danes in, 25-27, 29; Flemish weavers in, 208 Eastern Association, 359-360 East India Company, founded, 299- 300; trade of, 330, 420-421, 428;' conquests of, 459-460, 466-468, 477, 5331 governmental organization of, 571-572; loses control, 572-574 East India Company, French, 459-460 East India Company, Scotch, 428 Ecclesiastical commission, 403-404 Ecclesiastical Polity, 300, 314 Edgar the Peaceful, 34, 37, 39 Edgar, son of Edmund Ironside, 46, 71 Edict of Nantes, revoked, 421 Edmund Ironside, 43 Edmund, king of East Anglia, 27, 103 Edmund, son of Henry III, 114, 120 Edward I, as prince, 116-117, 131; legislation of, 122; character of, 132; foreign policy of, 132-133, J 55 -I 56; subjugates Wales, 133- 135; and the Scotch succession, 139; has difficulties with France and Pope Boniface, 140-141, 229; 650 INDEX conquers Scotland, 141-142; death of, 144; mention of, 160, 167, 217 Edward II, 136, 144-146, 182 Edward III, accession of, 146; claims the French crown, 1 48-151; per- sonality and character of, 149- 150; at war with France, 151- 155, 163-164; last days of, 155, 156, 193 Edward IV, 198, 210-211, 212, 215, 216, 253 Edward V, 211 Edward VI, 251, 253, 256, 259, 262, 265, 271, 277 Edward VII, 592, 621, 627 Edward the Black Prince, 133, 155 Edward the Confessor, 44~45> 46, 51, 52 Edwin of Northumbria, 16 Egbert, 27-29 Egypt, England in, 596, 598-599, 613 Eighteenth century, morals of, 492; literature of, 492-493; political philosophy of, 493-495; religious thought of, 495-499 Eleanor of Aquitaine, 78, 98, 114 Eleanor of Provence, 113, 129 Eleanor of Spain, 159 Elections of 1910, 625, 627 Eliot, George, 487, 553 Eliot, Sir John, 326-327, 329-33°, 34i, 343 Elizabeth, as princess, 245, 263, 265; personality of, 272-274; ministers of, 274-275; policies of, 275 ff.; and Mary Stuart, 283-284; deposed by the pope, 284; plots against, 286; last years of, 303-309; men- tion of, 280, 291, 309, 331, 335 Elizabeth, age of, 293 ff.; society of, 293-295; seamen of, 295-300; science and literature of, 300-305 Elizabeth of York, 212 Embargo Act, American, 528-529 Emma of Normandy, 44 Enclosures, 170, 258-259, 505 Enlightenment, age of, 491 Episcopal elections, 99, 277-278 Erasmus, 227, 234 Etaples, treaty of, 219 Ethelbert, king of Kent, 15 Ethelfled, Lady of the Mercians, $$ Ethelred II, 38, 41-44 Eton College, 203, 213 European War of 19 14, 635 Evangelical movement, 498-499 Evesham, battle of, 117, 130 Exchequer, the, 60-61, 123, 217, 439 Excise, 378, 446 Exclusion Bills, 386-387, 397 Factory system, 502; problems of, 537-538 Faery Quecne, 301 Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 360, 362 Falkirk, battle of, 142 Falkland, Lord, 347, 349, 352 Feminism, 637 Fenians, 581 Ferdinand of Aragon, 220, 237 Feudalism, Norman-English, 56, 76, 91; abolished, 378 Fielding, English novelist, 432, 493 Fisher, Bishop, 245, 270 Fitzgeralds, 305-306 Five Boroughs, 34 Five knights' case, 326-327 Flanders, towns of, 61; English trade with, 148-149, 159, 208, 221; and the Hundred Years' War, T49, 151, 152 Flemish weavers in England, 157-159, 334 Fletcher, Andrew, 429 Fleury, Cardinal, 444, 455 Flint, early trade in, 4 Flodden, battle of, 225-227 Florida, 341, 449, 469-470, 486, 490 Forced loans, 320 Forster, W. E., 585-586 "Forty-five," rising of the, 457-458 Forty-shilling freeholders, 201 Forty-two Articles, 262, 279 Fox, Charles James, 489, 514-515 Fox, George, 358 Fox, Henry, 463, 469 France, disputed succession to throne of, 147; at war with England, 151 ff., 188 ff., 270, 324-325, 418-419, 423 ff., 456 ff., 486 ff., 517 ff.; state of, in 1415, 188; in India, 459, 466- 468; in the West, 460-461 Franchise problems, 539, 544, 587, 593 Frederick, elector of the Palatinate, 321-322, 323 Frederick, prince of Wales, 472 Frederick II, king of Prussia, 455, 458, 464, 466, 486 INDEX 651 Free trade, 561-562, 564, 567 French and Indian War, 460-470 French Revolution, 515 ff. Friars, in England, in, 128-129 Frobisher, Sir Martin, 299, 303 Gardiner, Stephen, 239, 256, 262, 264-265, 267 Gascony, 98, 148, 151, 153, 195 "Gaspee," burning of the, 476 Gates, General, 486 Gaul, 5, 6, 8 Gentleman's Magazine, 493 Geoffrey Plantagenet, 75 Geographical discoveries in the fif- teenth century, 222-224 George I, 432, 437, 441, 453 George II, 437, 449, 452, 455-456, 463, 468, 492 George III, accession of, 468; per- sonal characteristics of, 471; polit- ical ideas and methods of, 472-473, 488; and the Irish Catholics, 521- 522; death of, 540 George IV, 540, 553 George V, 394, 627 George, David Lloyd, 619, 624-625, 630 Georgia, 381, 449 German emigration to America, 448- 449, 480^ Germany, industrial development of, 618; social insurance in, 629; forms Triple Alliance, 633; fears and am- bitions of, 632-633; declares war, 635 Ghent, treaty of, 530 Gibraltar, 370, 426, 486 Gilbert, Sir •Humphrey, 298 Gilds, 161-162, 210 Gladstone, W. E., political leader and statesman^ 552, 566, 573, 575; prime minister, 554, 584, 588, 590; reform policies of, 576-579; char- acter of, 578; and Irish problem, 580 ff.; foreign policy of , 582-583; failure of Irish policy of, 586; car- ries parliamentary reform, 587; and Home Rule, 589-590; retirement and death of, 590-591 Gladstone, Lord, 610-61 1 Gloucester, Humphrey, duke of, 189- 190, 204, 227 Godolphin, Sidney, 425, 433 Godwin, 44-45, 52 Goldsmith, Oliver, 493 Gordon, Charles George, 600-601 Gosnold, navigator, 307 Grand Alliance, 423 Grand Remonstrance, 348-349 Grattan, Henry, 487 Gray, Thomas, 492-493 Great Britain, 1-5 Great Charter, provisions of the, 104-108, 112, 121; importance of, 108-109; later history of, 109, 327- 328 Great Council, 58 Great Protestation, 322, 326 Great Revolt of 1381, 173-175 Great Schism, 172-173 "Great Western," the, 549 Greek, study of, 205-206, 213 Greeks in Britain, 5 Gregory the Great, 15, 31 Gregory VII, 64-65, 276 Grenville, George, 473-475 Grenville, Richard, 296, 303 Grey, Earl, 539, 542-543, 559 Grey, Sir Edward, 619, 634, 637 Grocyn, reformer, 206, 227 Grosseteste, Robert, 118-119, 131, \^^ 166 Guadeloupe, 465 Guthrum, Danish king, 29 Hadrian IV, 86 Hadrian's wall, 8 Hales' case, 403 Halifax, Lord, 387 Hampden, John, 336-337, 342, 347 Hampton Court conference, 316-317 Handel, George Frederick, 499 Hanoverian dynasty, 437 ff., 471, 553 Hanseatic League, 61, 207-208 Hargreaves, James, 500-502 Harley, Robert, 433-434 Harold, king of England, 45-48 Harold, king of Norway, 46-47 Hartington, Lord, 589-590 Harvey, William, 392 Hastings, battle of, 47, 51-52 Hastings, John, 138 Hastings, Warren, 488, 508-509 Hawke, Admiral, 464-466, 470 Hawkins, Sir John, 289, 296, 303 Hengist, 10, 14 Henrietta Maria, 324, 350 652 INDEX Henry I, 68-71, 77, 89, 121, 123 Henry II, personality of, 77; domin- ions of, 77-78; English policy of, 78-80; quarrels with Becket, 80- 85; annexes Ireland, 78, 85-88, 133; makes peace with the church, 88; judicial reforms of, 88-91, 120, 123; revives English militia, 91- 92; financial system of, 92, 96; last years of, 92-93 Henry III, reign of, 105, 109 ff., 127- 129; and the immigrant nobles, 113; and Louis IX, 114; and the barons, 117; and the church, 166 Henry IV, exiled, 179; becomes king of England, 181-182, 186; diffi- culties of, 182, 187, 198; allies himself with the church, 184-185; death of, 185 Henry V, accession of, 185; char- acter of, 187; renews French war, 188; death of, 189 Henry VI, 189, 193-195, 198, 203, 218 Henry VII, seizes the English throne, 211-212; character of, 214-215; government of, 216-220; foreign policy of, 220-222; commercial policy of, 221-222, 234; death of, 223; mention of, 227, 262, 293 Henry VIII, accession of, 223, 295; character of, 223-224; at war with Scotland, 225-227, 252-253; and the church, 232, 233, 234, 236; wishes to have his marriage to Catherine annulled, 237-239; and the Reformation Parliament, 240 ff., 265, 270, 271, 277; appeals to the universities, 241; suppresses the monasteries, 246-249; later marriages of, 243, 251, 252; death of, 253; achievements of, 253-254; will of, 257, 262, 272, 307 Hereward, 50 High Commission, court of, 313-314, 335, 337, 348, 404 Highlands, Jacobite risings in, 438, 457; progress of, 447~448 Hildebrand, see Gregory VII Hill, Rowland, 546 Holy Grail, as theme in literature, 126-127 Holy orders, 81-82 Home rule movement, see Gladstone, Ireland Hood, Thomas, 554 Hooker, English theologian, 300, 303, 3i4, 316 Hooper, John, 309 Housecarles, the, 49 Household suffrage, 577 Housing questions, 548-549 Howard, Admiral, 289, 303 Howard, Lord, earl of Surrey, 225 Hubert Walter, 96, 98-99 Hitdibras, 389 Hudson Bay Company, 474, 611-612 Hudson Bay region, 426, 448 Hugh of Lusignan, 97, 113 Huguenots in England, 421 Humanists, 206-207, 228 Humphrey, see Gloucester Hundreds, Old English, 35-37, 58 Hundred Years' War, 146 ff., 157- 159, 165, 173, 188-195 Huskisson, William, 562 Huss, John, 176 Hyde, Edward, leader of the parlia- mentarians, 347; partisan of King Charles, 349, 352; made earl of Clarendon, 376; policies of, 376- 377, 382, 384; in exile, 383 Hyder Ali, 487-488 Impeachment, 173 Imperial federation, 603-604, 615, 638 _ Imperialism, 603, 613, 615, 619 Impositions, 320 Impressment, 529-530 Independency, 312-313, 358, India, early trade with, 299-300, 370; territorial expansion in, 380, 394, 469-470, 508-509, 533, 614; struggle for, 459-460, 466, 487; gov- ernment of, 466, 477, 571-572, 613; mutiny in, 571-572; fears for, 613- 614 Indulgence, sale of, 229, 231 Industrial revolution, 499-504, 506, 535, 546 Industry, recent development of, 1617; problems of, 617-618, 636 Infamous coalition," the, 510 nnocent III, 100-102, 103, 108, 276 Instrument of Government, 367-368 Interdict, 101 Investiture strife, 65, 69-70 Iona, 15 INDEX 653 Ireland, Christianity in, 14-15; an- nexed by Henry II, 85-88, no; civilization of, 86; English colony in, 88, 252; becomes a kingdom, 252; rebellions in, 305, 356-357, 413-414, 521-522; penal laws in, 429-431; emigration from, 431, 565; movement for self-government in, 487-488; famine in, 564-565; problems of, 580-582, 593; move- ment for home rule in, 580, 584, 588-589, 590, 594, 631-632, 636, 638; civil war threatened in, 631 Ironsides, the, 359 Isabella, wife of Edward II, 146 Isabella, wife of John, 97, 113 Isabella of Castile, 220, 237, 262 Italy, 635 Itinerant justices, 89-90, no Jacobite movement, 417-418, 433- 434, 439, 445, 592-593 Jacqueline, 190 Jamaica, 370, 372, 486 James I, king of Scotland, 283; plants colony in Ulster, 306, 631; king of England, 307; political ideas of, 314-317; difficulties of, with Puri- tans and parliament, 316-317, 319; financial plans of, 320; foreign policy of, 320-323; colonial policy of, 33o, 338, 481; death of, 323 James II, duke of York, 380, 383-384; favors Catholicism, 386, 398, 401, 402-403, 408; colonial policy of, 400, 414; marriages of, 401; dispenses with law, 402-406, 412; opposition to, 408-409; in exile, 410, 417, 419; in Ireland, 413; death of, 423 James IV, king of Scotland, 221, 225- 227, 252 James, the Old Pretender, 423-424, 438, 457-458 Jameson, Dr. Leander, 606 Jamestown, 299, 330 Jane Grey, Lady, 262-263, 272, 307 Japan, 634, 635, 638 Jarvis, Admiral, 518 f Jefferson, Thomas, 482, 494, 508, 528- '< 529 Jeffreys, English judge, 398-399, 402 Jenkins, Captain, 453 Jesuits in England, 278, 285-286, 3i3, 386 Jews in England, 62, 368 Joan of Arc, 190-193 Johannesburg, 601, 605-606 John, character of, 97; loses Nor- mandy, 97-98; quarrels with the church, 98-102; submits to Inno- cent III, 102-103; quarrels with /the barons, 103-104; death of; 108; / mention of, 94, 109, no, 116, 328 /John of Gaunt, 174, 177, 179-181, 211 Johnson, Dr., 493 Jubilees, Queen Victoria's, 592-593 Judicial system, Old English, 35-38; Norman, 57-58; Angevin, 89-91, 123; reform of, 579 July Revolution, 542, 567 Junto, Whig, 440-441 Jury, 90-91, 108, 123 Justices of the peace, 202-203 Kalm, Swedish botanist, 484 Katherine, wife of Henry V, 189 Kay, English inventor, 500 Kenneth Mac Alpine, 136 Kent, 10, 15, 37 Khartoum, 600-601 Killiekrankie, battle of, 413 Kimberley, diamond fields of, 601-602 King's Bench, court of, 123 "King's friends," 473, 488 Kipling, poet of imperialism, 604 Kitchener, Lord, 604-605, 607 Knox, John, 258, 281 Kruger, President, 606 Ladysmith, 607 Labor party, 621-622, 636 Lagos, battle of, 465 La Hogue, battle of, 418-419 Lake Erie, battle of, 530 Lambert, General, 367, 374 Lancastrian party, the, 197, 208, 211 Land League, 582-585, 593 Lanfranc, 62, 69, 81, 276 Langland, William, 176, 187 Langside, battle of, 283 Langton, Stephen, 100, 104-105, 117, 118 Lansdowne, Lord, 627-628 Latimer, Hugh, 232, 259, 267 Laud, William, opponent of Puritan- ism, 316, 329, 333-335, 368; char- acter of, S33; archbishop, 335, 339, 352; member of the privy council, 654 INDEX 338; plans attack on New England, 340-341; and the Scotch, 341-342; arrest of, 347^ Layamon, English poet, 124 League of Armed Neutrality, 486, 520-521 Leipsic, battle of, 532 Leo X, 229 Leofric, 44, 46, 52 Leslie, David, 365 Leslie, General, 343 Levant Company, 320 Lewes, battle of, 116, 130 Lexington, battle of, 485 Liberal party, formation of, 394, 543, 555; reform policies of, 578-579, 592, 621 ff.; split in, 589, 619 Liberal Unionists, 589, 591 "Liberties," 107 Liberty, the sloop, 476 Libraries, growth of, 204 Licensing bill, 624 Limerick, treaty of, 414, 429-430 Limoges, massacre of, 155 Linacre, English reformer, 206, 227 Lincoln, President, 574 "Little Englanders," 610, 619 Livery and maintenance, 216 Llewellyn, 133-135 Locke, John. 493-494 Locomotive, 549 _ 55° Lollards, 175-176, 184-185 London Company, 330, 338 Londonderry, siege of, 413 London Gazette, 389 Long bow, 167 Lords, house of, in the middle ages, 199-200; packed 433; agitation against the, 587; opposed to Lib- eral legislation, 624 ff.; deprived of its veto, 626-628 Lothian, 51, 136, 137, 138 Louis XIV, 382-383, 387, 400, 402, 409-410, 418-419, 420, 423, 435, 448 Louis XVI, 459, 513, 516 Louisbourg, 459, 464-465 Louisiana, 486 Luther, Martin, 229, 232, 233, 236, 29S Macadam, English engineer, 503 Mackenzie, "Bloody," 407 Mackintosh, James, 539 Madras, 459-460 Magazine, first, 492-493 Magdalen College, 403, 404 Mahdi, the, 599-600 Majuba Hill, battle of, 598 Manorial system, 55-56 Mansfeld, Count, 325 March, Welsh, 67, 133-134, 146, 182, 197 Margaret of Anjou, 193, 195, 197-198, 218 Margaret of Burgundy, 215 Margaret, the Maid of Norway, 115 Margaret Tudor, 219, 221, 225 Maria Theresa, 455-459 Marian exiles, 309, 318 Marlborough, sec Churchill Marston Moor, battle of, 359, 372 Martyr, Peter, 271 Mary II, 385, 387, 408-409, 411-412 Mary Beatrice, 401 Mary of Guise, 253 Mary Stuart, early life of, 253, 258; candidate for the English crown, 272, 279 ff.; queen of Scotland, 279-282; marriages of, 258, 279, 282; prisoner in England, 282 ff., 291; executed, 286, 298, 363 Mary Tudor, accession of, 232, 262, 263; personality of, 263-264; re- ligious policy of , 264-267; marriage of, 264-265; persecutes Protes- tants, 267-268; failure of plans of, 268-269; last days of, 270, 272, 276 Maryland, 340, 370-371, 379. 399, 448 Masham, Mrs. ; 426, 433 Massachusetts, 338, 340, 346, 380, 414, 478 Matilda, daughter of Henry I, 72 Matthew Paris, 114, 125, 131 Melbourne, Lord, 559 Melville, Andrew, 312 Mercantilism, 420, 483, 504 Merchant adventurers, 208-209 Merchants of the staple, 160, 209 Mercia, 10-n, 23, 27, 31, 33, 46 Merton College, 128 Methodism, 497-498, 499 Middle English language, 124-125 Mill, J. S., 554 Millenary Petition, 316 Milton, John, 311, 358, 363 Minorca, 426, 462, 486, 490 Mogul, the Great, 466 INDEX 655 Monasteries, Old English, 18-20; de- cline of the, 39; suppression of, 246-249 Monk, General, 374-375, 380 Monmouth, see Crofts Monopolies, 305, 325, 335 Montcalm, Marquis of, 465 Montfort, Simon de, 114-117, 130- 131, 1 33 Moore, Sir John, 531 More, Thomas, 227-228, 232, 239, 245, 270 Morley, John, 590, 619 Mortimer, Roger, 146-147 Mortimers, the, 133, 182, 184, 188, 195, 201, 208 Mortmain, see statutes Muir, Thomas, 516 Mule, Crompton's, 501 Napoleon Bonaparte, 519 ff.; Oriental plans of, 519-520; first consul and emperor, 523, 525; victorious at Austerlitz, 525; Continental system of, 526-527, 533; downfall of, 530-532; sent into exile, 532 Napoleon III, 569 Naseby, battle of, 360, 372 Natal, 597, 607, 610 National debt, 419 National Covenant, 342, 407 National insurance, 628-629 Nationalism of the thirteenth century, 112 ff. Nationalist party, 584, 593, 621, 626 Navy, English, 30, 634 Nelson, Lord, 518-521, 523 Netherlands, commerce of the, 301, 305, 381; wars with the, 365-366, 370, 382, 486, 518; intrigues against the, 383-384; in alliance with Eng- land 413, 444; war in the, 418, 426, 456, 532 Nevilles, 182, 200-201, 208 New Brunswick, 509-510, 560 Newcastle, Duke of, 458, 463, 473, 489, 493, 496 New England, Puritan migration to, 334-335, 339-340, 370, 379; colo- nies of, 339, 352, 448; spirit of inde- pendence in, 379-380; reorganized, 399; leads the American revolt, 478 ff.; opposed to War of 1812, 529 Newfoundland, 426, 448 New Haven, 380 New Jersey, 380-381, 400 New Model, 351, 359-363, 3^4, 37*- 372 New Netherland, 338-339, 341, 380 New South Wales, 509, 560 Newspapers, 389 Newton, Isaac, 393-394, 404, 419- 420, 432 Newton, John, 499 New York, 338, 380, 381, 399, 448, 480, 485 New Zealand, 604, 610, 615, 636 Nicholls, Colonel, 380 Nigeria, 615 Nightingale, Florence, 570 Nile, battle of the, 519-520, 521, 533 Nobility, -titles of, 200 Non-conformists, see Dissenters Non-intercourse Act, American, 529 Norham, award of, 139 Normandy, 42, 45, 52, 68, 97-98, 188 Normans, 37,44, 51-53,57,75-76, 112 North, Lord, 478-479, 484, 488-489 Northmen, the, 25-30, 32, 40, 45 Northumberland, see Dudley Northumbria, 10-11, 16, 23, 32, 46 Northwest passage, search for the, 299 Norway, 25, 43, 44 Nova Scotia, 426, 448, 462, 474, 510, 560 Novel, 493 Noy, Attorney-general, 351 "Occasional conformity," 445 O'Connell, Daniel, 541-542, 545, 580 O'Donnell, Irish chief, 306 Off a, 23, 27 Offa's Dyke, 23 Oglethorpe, James, 449 Olaf, king of Norway, 43 Old age pensions, 622-623, 636 Omdurman, battle of, 605 O'Neill, Irish chief, 305-306 Ontario, 510, 560 Orange Free State, 597, 607, 610, 615 Orangemen, 413, 521 Ordeal, 38, 91 Orders in council, 527, 530 Orleans, relief of, 189 Orm, English poet, 124-125 Ormulum, 124 Orosius' History, 31 6 5 6 INDEX Osborne judgment, the, 629-630 Outlanders, 601, 605-606 Oxford, Provisions of, 115 Oxford reformers, 227-228 Oxford, University of, 127-128 Paine, Thomas, 516 Palatinate, War of the, 418-419 Pale, English, 305 Palmerston, Lord, prime minister, 552, 570, 572-574; interested in for- eign affairs, 558, 567, 569; last years of, 572-575; death of, 576 Pamphleteering, political, 431 Panama, 427, 452 Paris, treaties of, 469, 488 Parish system, 18; councils, 592 Parker, Matthew, 274, 276-277, 334 Parliament, origin of, 11 5-1 16; de Montfort's, 116; Model, 140; Good, 173; development of powers of, 164-166; in the fifteenth century, 198-199; Reformation, 239 ff., 267; and James I, 319 ff.; and Charles 1, 325 ff-; Short, 345-346; Long, 347 ff., 352, 375, 394, 513-514; makes war on Charles I, 354 ff.; purged by Cromwell, 362; Rump, 362 ff., 375; Little, 367; under the protectorate, 368-371; Conven- tion, 375; Cavalier, 378 ff., 383, 386; second Convention, 410; su- premacy of, recognized, 415; bor- rows money, 419; of Great Britain, 429; of the United Kingdom, 552; the unreformed, 538-539; reforms of, 542-544, 576-577, 587, 626-627, 636; payment of members of, 629- 630 Parnell, Charles Stewart, 584, 586 Parsons, English Jesuit, 285-286 Paterson, William, 419, 428, 455 "Patriot" Whigs, 450, 452, 473 Paul IV, 268, 270 Pauperism, 506-508 Peel, Robert, 542, 547, 552, 557,565" 567 Pelham, Henry, 458 Penal laws in Ireland, 429-431, 487 Penance, 230 Penn, Admiral, 370 Penn, William, 370, 380, 400, 406, 414 Pennine Range, importance of the, 2, 3, IO Pennsylvania, 370, 380, 448 Percy family, 182, 208 Perronet, Edward, 499 Perry, Commodore, 530 Peterhouse College, 128 Peter's pence, 231, 243 Petrarch, 179 Philip II, marries Mary Tudor, 264- 265; leader of the Catholic reaction, 278, 282, 286, 296; plotting against Elizabeth, 286; attacks England, 287 ff.; mention of, 279, 281, 291, 295, 297, 299, 322 Philip V, king of Spain, 422, 426, 441 Philip Augustus, 95-97, 102, 103, 108, 114 Philip the Fair, 149-150, 158 Philip the Good, 190-193 Philippa of Hainault, 152 Phoenicians in Britain, 5 Phcenix Park tragedy, 586 Picts, the, 9, 136 Piers Ploughman, 176-177 Pilgrimage of Grace, 248 Pilgrimages, 230 Pilgrims, the, 334, 481 Pilgrim's Progress, 390-391 Pinkie Cleugh, battle of, 258 Pitt, William, the Elder, in opposition to Walpole, 452; character of, 463; measures of, 464 ff.; resigns office, 468, 473; opposes treaty of Paris, 469; prime minister, 475-476; atti- tude of, toward the American prob- lem, 477, 479, 484; death of, 489 Pitt, William, the Younger, prime minister, 489; believes in freer trade, 504, 562; Tory principles of, 510-51 1 ; policies of, 511; and the French War, 514, 518, 521; Irish policy of, 521-522; resigns and returns to office, 522-523; death of, 525 Pittsburg, 465 Pius V, 282, 284 Plains of Abraham, battle of the, 465 Plassey, battle of, 464, 468 Plural voting, 624 Plymouth colony, 317, 338-339 "Pocket boroughs," 5$8 Poitiers, battle of, 153, 157, 168, 195 Pole, Reginald, 266-267, 270, 274, 276 Pondicherri, 459, 460, 468 Poor laws, 506-508, 545, 555 INDEX 657 Poor priests, 172 Pope, Alexander, 431, 492-493 Popham, Sir John, 307 Popish Plot, 386 Postal reform, 546 Potato, introduced, 295; failure of, in Ireland, 564-565 Power looms, 501, 546 Poynings' Law, 252, 487 Praemunire, see Statutes Prayer Book, 260, 265, 277-278, S33 Preferential tariff, 603 Presbyterianism, 291, 31 1-3 14, 331, 357-358. 362, 368, 372 Preston, battle of, 438 Prestonpans, battle of, 457 Pretenders, Yorkist, 215-216 Pride's purge, 362, 375 Prime minister, 439, 441 Prince Edward's Island, 611 Printing, 204-205 Privy council, 217-218, 322 ff., 344, 439 Proclamation Line, 474-475 Prologue, Chaucer's, 178 Protection, 420, 566-567, 603, 638 Protestant revolt, eve of, 228-229; in Germany, 229, 232-233, 236, 238, 251; beginnings of, in England, 232-234; in northern Europe, 240; progress of, in England, 241-249, 256, 259-262; reaction against, 264 ff.; final success of, 277-279, 309, 3i9 Provisors, system of, 1 19-120; see Statutes "Puffing Billy," 549 Pulteney, William, '450, 452 Puritanism, characteristics of, 310- 311; growth of, 314; platform of, 331; ideals of, 339-340; intellec- tual center of, 334-335; break-up of, 358, 372 Puritan party, 309 ff., 325-326,331, 334-335 Pym, John, 326, 346-347, 349~35o, 357 Pytheas, 5 Quakers, 358, 381, 481, 545 Quarter sessions, 202-203, 217, 591- 592 Quebec, 465 'Quiberon Bay, battle of, 465 Radicals, 539, 543, 555 Ragnar Lodbrok, 27 Railways, 549^55° Raleigh, Sir Walter, 295-296, 298, 303, 306 Rand, the, 601-602, 605 Rationalism, 491-492, 496 Re, expedition to, 325, 326, 328 Recusancy laws, 275, 313, 404, 414 Reflections on the French Revolution, 5i5-5i6, 539 Reform bills, see Statutes Reginald, archbishop-elect, 99-100 Reign of Terror, 516-517 Renaissance, the, 178-179, 187, 203 ff., 213-214, 227-228, 234 Restoration, of the Stuart dynasty, 374; settlement of, 377-378; of the church, 378, 394; in the col- onies, 379; social changes of, 388, 391; literature of, 389-392, 431; scientific progress of, 392-394 Review, Defoe's, 432 Revolution of 1399, 181 Revolution of 1688, in England, 409- 412; in Scotland, 412-413; in Ire- land, 413-414; in the colonies, 414; results of the, 414-415 Revolution of 1848, 557, 567 Rhode Island, 380 Rhodes, Cecil, 601-602, 605-606 Rhodesia, 602, 605, 611, 615 Rich, Edmund, 120 Richard I, 93-97, 104, 124, 126, 135 Richard II, 157, 173, 175-176, 179-182 Richard III, 211-213, 215-216 Richard, brother of Henry III, 114 Richard, son of Edward IV, 216 Richard of York, 195 Richardson, Samuel, 432, 493 Ridley, Nicholas, 232, 259, 267 Rights of Man, 516 Ripon,, treaty of, 346 Roanoke colony, 298-299 Robert, duke of Normandy, 67-69 Roberts, Lord, 607 Robinson Crusoe, 432 "Rocket," the, 550 Rockingham, Lord, 473, 475, 479, 489 Rodney, Admiral, 464, 487-488 Romans in Britain, 5-8 Rosebery, Lord, 590-591 Roses, Wars of the, 195-198, 200, 204 "Rotten boroughs," 538 6 5 8 INDEX Royal Society, the, 392-393 Runes, 13 Rupert, Prince, 355, 359, 423 Ruskin, John, 553 Russell, Admiral, 418 Russell, Lord, 398 Russell, Lord John, 539, 543, 545, 555, 557, 565, 567, 572-573 Russo-Turkish War, 613-614, 632 Ryswick, treaty of, 421-422 St. Augustine, 15-18, 276 St. Bernard, 74 St. Columba, 15 St. Dunstan, 39, 40 St. John, Henry, 433-434, 450, 472 St. Patrick, 14 Saints, the, battle of, 488 St. Vincent, battle of, 518, 521, 529, 533 Salisbury, Lord, 587-588, 594, 614, 619 Sanitation, 548-549, 555 Saratoga, 485-486 Saskatchewan, 612 "Savannah," the, 549 Sawtre, William, 185 Saye, Lord, 333, 336, 340 Science, medieval, 128 Scotch-Irish in x<\merica, the, 431, 449, 480 Scotland, geography and make-up of, 2, 136-137; missionaries in, 14; Vikings in, 25, 44; vassal state of England, 133, 135; in the thirteenth century, 136-139; at war with England, 142-143, 225-227, 252, 258; allied to France, 147; opposes Charles I, 341 ff., 357; conquered by Cromwell, 365; rebels against Charles II, 407-408; revolution in, 412-413; union of, to England, 427-428; in the eighteenth century, 438, 446-448, 457-458; nationalistic movement in, 637 Scott, Sir Walter, 554-555 Scrooby congregation, the, 317 Selden, John, 326, 343, 347, 358 Selling, William, 205-206, 227 Seminary priests, 285 Separatism, 312-313 Sepoys, 466; mutiny of the, 557, 572 Serajevo, crime of, 635 Serfs, see Villeins Sevastopol, 570 Seven bishops, trial of the, 406-407 Seven Years' War, 462 ff., 470 Seymour, Edward, 258-261 Seymour, Jane, 251 Shaftesbury, earl of, 380, 383-386, 392, 397-398 Shaftesbury, earl of, reformer, 547- 548 Shakespeare, William, 300-303 Shelburne, earl of, 479, 489 Shelley, English poet, 540, 554~555 Sheridan, R. B., 493 Sheriff, 37 Sheriffmuir, battle of, 438 Ship money, 336-337, 348, 352 Shires, 37; courts of the, 58, 89, 202 Shrewsbury, battle of, 182 Sidney, Algernon, 398-399 Simnel, Lambert, 215 "Sirius," the, 548 Slave trade, 494, 536 Slavery, abolition of, 545, 555 Sluys, battle of, 151, 157, 164, 185 Smith, Adam, 504, 561 Smith, John, 307 Socialism, see Labor party Solemn League and Covenant, 356- 357, 361 Solway Moss, battle of, 253 Sophia of Hanover, 423, 428 Soudan, 596, 599, 604-605 South African Company, 602 Southey, Robert, 555 "South Sea Bubble," 442-443 Spain, wars with, 287 ff., 324-325, 369, 426, 452-453, 450, 468-469, 486, 518 ff.; succession in, 421-422; English armies in, 531 Spanish Succession, war of the, 426 Speaker, the, 173 Spectator, the, 432 Spenser, Edmund, 300, 303, 306 Spinning jenny, 500 Stamford Bridge, battle of, 47 Staple towns, 160 Star Chamber, court of the, 217, 337, 348 Statute law, 121 Statutes, of Westminster, 122; of Mortmain, 122-123; of Provisors, 166; of Praemunire, 166, 240-242; of Laborers, 169-170, 176; for the burning of heretics, 184; statutory INDEX 659 Submission of the Clergy 242 Act of Appeals, 243; of A ™ al ^' 243; of Supremacy, 244, 2 4 6 , 2 49> 277 of Succession 245; S« Arti- cle Act, 250, 260; Acts of Uniform- ity 260 277-278,379; Petition of Right, 327-328, 332, 343; Naviga- tion Acts, 365, 381-382,420,479, a8i- Act of Indemnity, 377; cor- poration Act, 3/8, 384, 394, 412, c 4 i: Conventicle, 379, 404, ** ve Mile, 379; Test, 384, 394, 412, 445, S4 i ; Habeas Corpus, 386, To era tion, 412, 49i, 495, 498;. Bill ol Sts 4 1-412,42^; Mutiny, 412; Cllim ol Right (Scotch), 4x2; Ac of Settlement, 422, 428, 433, OI Security (Scotch), 428-429; In- demnity Acts, 445; Sta ^ P r te! A7 c- Townshend Acts, 476, Coer cive' 477; Boston Port Bill, 477; Buleting 7 'Act, 47 8; Quebec Act 478; Trade Acts, 479', Act ? f . Ke Deal 487-488; of Renunciation, HI- Act of Union, 522, Factory Ss, 545, 546-548, Educauon Acts, 579, 591,623-624,636^37, Ballot Act, 579J Land Acts, 5»2, <8<-<;86, 588; Crimes Act 5»5, Land Purchase, 588, 593; County Councils, 591-593; Trades Disputes, 6,2- Workingmen's Compensation, 622-623; Old Age Pensions, 622- 62V Trade Boards, 623; Provision of Meals, 623; Town Planning, 623; Education 623-624, 636-637; ™" liament, of 1911,-626-627, 636, Na- tional Insurance, 628-629 Steam engine, the, 50° Steam ships, 549, 555 Steele, English author, 432, 435 Stephen, 71-74, 80 Stephenson, George, 549 Stirling, 142, U5 . Stone age in Britain, 3~4 Strafford, see Wentworth Strongbow, Richard of C are 86 Stuart dynasty, 218; absolutism of Z 332, 338, 345-346; restoration of 374 ff.; in exile, 409 h. Suez Canal, 598, 613-614 Sweyn Forkbeard, 41-42, 5 1 Swift, Dean, 43 I_ 433, 435 Tacitus, 6 Taff Vale decision, 622 Tattler, the, 432 Taxation, papal, 119, 23 1 Tea, introduced, 388 Tennyson, 553 , r Tewksbury, battle of, 198 Thackeray, W. M., 553 Theodore of Tarsus, 17-18, 21 Thirty-nine Articles, 262, 278-279, Thirty Years' War, 321-323, 340~34i, 35° Thomson, James, 492-493 Tilsit, treaty of, 526, 530 Tin, early trade in, 3, 8 Tobacco, introduction of, 295 Toplady, Augustus, 499 Tory party, rise of, 385, 389, 394, 399, favorable to the Stuarts, 435", re- organized by William Pitt, 510-5"; reactionary policy of, 536; divi- sions in, 54° ff- Towns, medieval, 3 5, 209-210 Townshend, Charles, agriculturist, Townshend, Charles, minister, 476- 477 ,„ Trafalgar, 523-524,633 Transvaal Republic, 597"598, 601, 606-608, 610 Trent affair, 573 Trent, council of 268 Tribute, the papal, 102 165-166, 171 Triple Alliance (earha), ^383 Triple Alliance (later), 632-633, 635 Triple Entente, 632, 634-635, &3» Troves, treaty of, 189 Tudor dynasty, early history of, 198, T11 212; task of, 214; policies and methods of, 215-220; achievements Tunnage and poundage, 162-163, 219, 320, 328-329, 335, 348, 356 Tvler, Wat, i74-*75 a Tynd ale > William, 232-233, 250, 3*a Ulster, 306, 344, 4*3, 449, 521, 631 6^2 Unemployment, 617-618 Union of South Africa, 597, 604, 610 Unionist party, 589, 59*, 594, 596, 615 ff. 66o INDEX United Irishmen, 521 Universities, 127-128 University Bill, 582 Utopia, 227-228, 239 Utrecht, treaty of, 426, 433, 442 , 444, 452, 456, 462 Van Dyck, Dutch painter, 392 Vane, Sir Henry (the elder), 3^3 Vane, Sir Henry (the younger), 340 357, 358, 367 Vernon, Admiral, 456-457 Versailles, treaty of, 488 Victoria, reign of, 550 ff . ; prime minis- ters of, 552; marriage of, 552-553; private life of, 553; jubilees of, 592- 593; death of, 592 Victorian age, the, 553-555 Vienna, congress of, 532, 536, 540 Vikings, in Britain, 23, 25-30, 39-43 45, 5i Villeinage, 55-57, 167, 186 Villeins, 167-168, 174 Villiers, George, 320-323, 325, 327-328 Virginia, 298, 306-307, 330, 448, 461- 462, 474, 482 Vision of Piers Ploughman, 176-177 Wakefield, battle of, 197 Wales, 3, 5, 31, 67-68, 133-155, 156, 630, 637 Wallace, William, 142 Wallingford, treaty of, 72, 78 Walpole, Horace, 498 Walpole, Robert, 438, 443; charac- ter and methods of, 441-443, 458, 473; first prime minister, 441; for- eign policy of, 444-445; domestic policy of, 445; Scotch policy of, 446-448; colonial policy of, 450- opposition to, 450, 472; fall of' 452-453, 455 Walsingham, secretary to Elizabeth 286 Wandewash, battle of, 468 Warbeck, Perkin, 216, 220-221 Warwick, duke of, 200-201 Washington, George, 457, 461-462, 465, 470, 482 Washington, Lawrence, 456-457 Water frame, 501 Waterloo, battle of, 518, 532, 534 Watt, James, 502 Watts, Isaac, 499 Wealth of Nations, 504 Wellington, Duke of, 531-532 534 542-544, 555 Wentworth, Thomas, in opposition 327-328; policies of, 343-345; exe- cuted, 347-348 Wesley, Charles, 499 Wesley, John, 496-498 Wessex, n, 24, 27, 29, 31; expansion of, 31-34, 37; Danes in, 40, 42, 51 West Indies, 295, 370, 379, 474 , 4 g 8 , 533 Westminster Assembly, 357-358; Con- cession, 358 Westphalia, treaty of, 363 Wexford, massacre of, 364-365 Whig party, rise of, 385, 389, 394; in opposition, 386, 398; rule of, 437 ff.; composition of, 438; divisions in' 473, 488-489; principles of, 494; favorable to reform, 539-540 Whitby, council of, 16-17 Whitney, Eli, 502 William I, duke of Normandy, 45 • conquers England, 46-48, 51; poli- cies of, 52-54, 62, 64; financial system of, 60-62; character of 65-66; death of, 66-67 William II, 67-69 William III, marries Mary of York, 385, 408; invades England, 409- 410; king of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 411-413; personality of, 416; unpopularity of, 417, 428; foreign policy of, 422-423, 444, 45 6;' death of, 423 William IV, 543, 55o 7 553 William the Lion, 135 William (II) of Orange 350 William, Prince, 422 Wishart, George, 258 Witenagemot, 38 Wolfe, James, 464-465, 470 Wolsey, character of, 223; diplomacy of, 225-227, 234, 295; and the new learning, 228, 234; fall of, 238-239, 253 Wool, manufacture of, 157-158, 208 334, 500 Worcester, battle of, 365 371 Wordsworth William, 493, 514, 555 Workingmen's compensation, 622-623, 626 Wren, Christopher, 392 INDEX 66 1 ^ycliffe, John, 171-172, I75> 178, Young, Edward, 492-493 184-186, 229 Young Ireland, 580 York, Cardinal, 458 Zanzibar, 615 Yorkist party, 195 ff., 208, 211, 215, Zulus, 597"598 219, 265 2.2-- ^«°> > **% J"% **^ : & ^ .v ^ ,0e> % ^ ^ > A • ©O 1 4 ' A ^, vO- V -<■ '„/% : : ■ %. 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