MODERN HISTORY, 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 TIME OF LUTHER 
 
 FALL OF NAPOLEON. 
 
 FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. 
 
 BY 
 
 john'lord, a.m., 
 
 LECTURER ON HISTORY. 
 
 \^ 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 THOMAS, COWPERTIIWAIT & CO. 
 
 New York, Geo. F. Cooledge it Dro. : — Boston, Plullips, Sampson <fc Co ; B. B. Mussey 
 
 it Co. ; W. J. Reynolds & Co. :— Baltimore, Cushjng <fc Bro. :— Charleston, S. C, 
 
 McCarter At Allen : — Louisville, Ky , Morton &. Griswold ; Beckwith & 
 
 Morton: — St. Louis, Fisher &. Bennet; Win. D. SkiUman ; Amos 
 
 Shultz: — Cincinnati, J. F. Dcsilver: — Nashville, Wm. T. Berry; 
 
 Chas. W. Smith : — Memphis, C. C. Cleaves : — Lexington, 
 
 C. S. Bodley & Co. : — Macon, Geo., J. M. Boardman. 
 
i 
 
 ?&k 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by 
 
 JOHN LOUD, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 
 
 STEREOTYPED AT ME 
 BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In preparing this History, I make no claim to original 
 and profound investigations; but the arrangement, the 
 style, and the sentiments, are my own. I have simply 
 attempted to condense the great and varied subjects which 
 are presented, so as to furnish a connected narrative of 
 what is most vital in the history of the last three hundred 
 years, avoiding both minute details and elaborate dis- 
 quisitions. It has been my aim to write a book, which 
 should be neither a chronological table nor a philosophical 
 treatise, but a work adapted to the wants of young peo- 
 ple in the various stages of education, and which, it is 
 hoped, will also prove interesting to those of maturer age, 
 who have not the leisure to read extensive works, and yet 
 who wish to understand the connection of great events 
 since the Protestant Reformation. Those characters, 
 institutions, reforms, and agitations, which have had the 
 greatest influence in advancing society, only have been 
 described, and these not to the extent which will satisfy 
 the learned or the curious. Dates and names, battles and 
 sieges, have not been disregarded ; but more attention has 
 been given to those ideas and to those men by whose 
 influence and agency great changes have taken place. 
 
 a 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In a work so limited, and yet so varied, marginal refer- 
 ences to original authorities have not been deemed neces- 
 sary ; but a list of standard and accessible authors is 
 furnished, at the close of each chapter, which the young 
 student, seeking more minute information, can easily 
 consult. A continuation of this History to the present 
 time might seem desirable ; but it would be difficult to 
 condense the complicated events of the last thirty years 
 into less than another volume. Instead of an unsatisfac- 
 tory compend, especially of subjects concerning which 
 there are great differences of opinion, and considerable 
 warmth of feeling, useful tables of important events are 
 furnished in the Appendix. I have only to add, that if 
 I have succeeded in remedying, in some measure, the 
 defects of those dry compendiums, which are used for 
 want of living histories; if I have combined what is 
 instructive with what is entertaining ; and especially if 
 I shall impress the common mind, even to a feeble 
 degree, with those great moral truths which history 
 ought to teach, I shall feel that my agreeable labor is 
 not without its reward. 
 
 J. L. 
 
 i 
 
 Boston, October, 1849. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF EUROPEAN SOCIETY IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH 
 CENTURIES, 
 (pp. 1-9.) 
 Revival of the Arts — Influence of Feudalism — Effects of Scholasticism — 
 Ecclesiastical Corruptions — Papal Infallibility — The sale of Indul- 
 gences — The Corruptions of the Church — Necessity for Reform. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS ASSOCIATES, 
 (pp. 10—29.) 
 The Early Life of Luther — Luther's Early Religious Struggles — The 
 Ninety-Five Propositions — Erasmus — Melancthon — Leo X. — The 
 Leipsic Disputation — Principles of the Leipsic Disputation — The 
 Rights of Private Judgment — Luther's Elements of Greatness — Ex- 
 communication of Luther — The Diet of Worms — Imprisonment at 
 Wartburg — Carlstadt — Thomas Munzer Ulric — Zwingle — Contro- 
 versy between Luther and Zwingle — Diet of Augsburg — League of 
 Smalcalde — Death and Character of Luther. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 (pp. 30—44.) 
 Charles V. — Spain and France in the Fifteenth Century — Wars between 
 Charles and Francis. — Diet of Spires — Hostilities between Charles 
 and Francis — African War — Council of Trent — Treachery of Mau- 
 rice — Captivity of the Landgrave of Hesse — Heroism of Maurice — 
 Misfortunes of Charles — Treaty of Passau — Character of Charles. 
 
VUl CONTENTS. 
 
 < CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HENRY VIII. 
 (pp. 45—59.) 
 Rise of Absolute Monarchy — Henry VIII. — Rise of Cardinal Wolsey — 
 Magnificence of Henry VIII. — Anne Boleyn — Queen Catharine — 
 Disgrace and Death of Wolsey — More — Cranmer — Cromwell — Quar- 
 rel with the Pope ■ — Suppression of Monasteries — Execution of Anne 
 Boleyn — Anne of Cleves — Catharine Howard — Last Days of Henry — 
 Death of Henry. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EDWARD VI. AND MARY, 
 (pp. 60—68.) 
 \ War with Scotland — Rebellions and Discontents — Rivalry of the great 
 Nobles — Religious Reforms — Execution of Northumberland — Mar- 
 riage of the Queen — Religious Persecution — Character of Mary — Ac- 
 cession of Elizabeth. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ELIZABETH, 
 (pp. 69-81.) 
 Mary, Queen of Scots — John Knox — Marriage of Mary — Darnley — 
 Bothwell — Civil War in Scotland — Captivity of Queen Mary — Execu- 
 tion of Mary — Military Preparations of Philip II. — Spanish Armada — 
 Irish Rebellion — The Earl of Essex — Character of Elizabeth — Im- 
 provements made in the Reign of Elizabeth — Reflections. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FRANCIS II., CHARLES IX., HENRY III., AND HENRY IV. 
 (pp. 82—90.) 
 Catharine de Medicis — Civil War in France — Massacre of St. Bartholo- 
 mew — Henry III. — Henry IV. — Edict of Nantes — Improvements 
 during the Reign of Henry IV. — Peace Scheme of Henry IV. — Dcat v 
 of Henry rV. — Prance at the Death of Henry IV. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PHILIP II. AND THE AUSTRIAN PRINCES OF SPAIN, 
 (pp. 91-96.) 
 \ Bigotry of Philip II. — Revolt of the Netherlands — Revolt of the Moris- 
 coes — Causes of the Decline of the Spanish Monarchy — The Increase 
 of Gold and Silver — Decline of the Spanish Monarchy. 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE JESUITS, AND THE PAPAL POWER IN THE SEVENTEENTH 
 CENTURY, 
 (pp. 97—107.) 
 The Roman Power in the Seventeenth Century — Rise of the Jesuits — 
 Rapid Spread of the Jesuits — Extraordinary Virtues of the older Jesu- 
 its — The Constitution of the Jesuits — Degeneracy of the Jesuits — 
 Evils in the Jesuit System — The Popes in the Seventeenth Century — 
 Nepotism of the Popes — Rome in the Seventeenth Century. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THIRTY YEARS' "WAR. 
 (pp. 108—119.) 
 Political Troubles after the Death of Luther — Diet of Augsburg — Com- 
 mencement of the Thirty Years' War — The Emperor Frederic — Count 
 Wallenstein — Character of Wallenstein — Gustavus Adolphus — Loss 
 of Magdeburg — Wallenstein reinstated in Power — Death of Gusta- 
 vus Adolphus — Assassination of Wallenstein — Treaty of Westphalia. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ADMINISTRATIONS OF CARDINALS RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. 
 (pp. 120—132.) 
 Regency of Mary de Medicis — Rise of Cardinal de Richelieu — Suppres- 
 sion of the Huguenots — The Depression of the great Nobles — Power 
 of Richelieu — Character of Richelieu — Effects of Richelieu's Policy 
 
 — Richelieu's Policy — Cardinal de Retz — Prince of Conde — Power 
 of Mazarin — Death of Mazarin. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. 
 (pp. 133—180.) 
 Accession of James I. — The Genius of the Reign of James — Conspiracy 
 of Sir Walter Raleigh — Gunpowder Plot — Persecution of the Catho- 
 lics — Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset — Greatness and Fall of Somerset 
 
 — Duke of Buckingham — Lord Bacon — Trial and Execution of Ra- 
 leigh — Encroachments of James — Quarrel between James and Parlia- 
 ment — Death of James — The Struggle of Classes — Rise of Popular 
 Power — Quarrel between the King and the Commons — The Counsel- 
 lors of Charles — Death of Buckingham — Petition of Right — Earl of 
 Strafford — John Hampden — Insurrection in Scotland — Long Parlia- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 ment — Rebellion of Ireland — Flight of the King from London — Rise 
 of the Puritans — Original Difficulties and Differences — Persecution 
 during the Reign of Elizabeth — Archbishops Grindal and Whitgift — 
 Persecution under James — Puritans in Exile — Troubles in Scotland — 
 Peculiarities of Puritanism in England — Conflicts among the Puritans 
 — Character of the Puritans — John Hampden — Oliver Cromwell — 
 The King at Oxford — Cromwell after the Battle of Marston Moor — 
 Enthusiasm of the Independents — Battle of Naseby — Success of the 
 Parliamentary Army — Seizure of the King — Triumph of the Inde- 
 pendents — Cromwell invades Scotland — Seizure of the King a second 
 Time —Trial of the King. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PROTECTORATE OF OLIVER CROMWELL, 
 (pp. 181—191.) 
 Storming of Drogheda and Wexford — Battle of "Worcester — Policy of 
 Cromwell — The Rump Parliament — Dispersion of the Parliament — 
 Cromwell assumes the Protectorship — The Dutch War — Cromwell 
 rules without a Parliament — The Protectorate — Regal Government 
 restored. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE REIGN OF CHARLES II. 
 (pp. 192—210.) 
 The Restoration — Great Public Rejoicings — Reaction to Revolutionary 
 Principles — Excellences in Charles's Government — Failure of the 
 Puritan Experiment — Repeal of the Triennial Bill — Secret Alliance 
 with Louis XIV. — Venality and Sycophancy of Parliament — Restric- 
 tions on the Press — Habeas Corpus Act — Titus Oates — Oates's Reve- 
 lations — Penal Laws against Catholics — Persecution of Dissenters — 
 Execution of Russell and Sydney — Manners and Customs of England 
 — Milton — Dryden — Condition of the People of England. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE REIGN OF JAMES II. 
 (pp. 211—233.) 
 Accession of James H. — Monmouth lands in England — Battle of Sedge- 
 moor — Death of Monmouth — Brutality of Jeffreys — Persecution of 
 the Dissenters — George Fox — Persecution of the Quakers — Despotic 
 Power of James — Favor extended to Catholics — High Commission 
 Court — Quarrel with the Universities — Magdalen College — Prosecu- 
 tion of the Seven Bishops — Tyranny and infatuation of James — Or- 
 ganized Opposition — William, Prince of Orange — Critical condition 
 of James — Invasion of England by William — Flight of the King — 
 Consummation of the E-evolution — Declaration of Right. 
 
CONTENTS. x i 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LOUIS XIV. 
 (pp. 234—251.) 
 The Power and Resources of Louis — His Habits and Pleasures — His 
 Military Ambition — William, Prince of Orange — Second Invasion of 
 Holland— Dutch War — Madame de Montespan — Madame de Mainte- 
 non — League of Augsburg — Opposing Armies and Generals — War 
 of the Spanish Succession — Duke of Marlborough — Battle of Blen- 
 heim — Exertions and Necessities of Louis — Treaty of Utrecht — Last 
 Days of Louis — His Character. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY, 
 (pp. 252—270.) 
 Irish Rebellion — King James in Ireland — Freedom of the Press — Act 
 of Settlement— Death of William HI. — Character of William— Sir 
 Isaac Newton and John Locke — Anne — The Duke of Marlborough — 
 Character of Marlborough — Whigs and Tories — Dr. Henry Sacheve- 
 rell — Union of Scotland and England — Duke of Hamilton — Wits of 
 Queen Anne's Reign — Swift — Pope — Bolingbroke — Gay — Prior — 
 Writers of the Age of Queen Anne. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PETER THE GREAT, AND RUSSIA, 
 (pp. 271—289.) 
 Early History of Russia — The Tartar Conquest — Accession of Peter the 
 Great — Peter's Reforms — His War with Charles XII. — Charles XII. 
 —Building of St. Petersburg — New War with Sweden — War with 
 the Turks — Peter makes a second Tour — Elevation of Catharine — 
 Early History of Sweden — Introduction of Christianity — Gustavus 
 Vasa — Early Days of Charles XII. — Charles's Heroism — His Mis- 
 fortunes — His Return to Sweden — His Death. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 GEORGE I., AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 
 
 (pp. 290—309.) 
 Accession of George I. — Sir Robert Walpole— The Pretender — Inva- 
 sion of Scotland — The South Sea Bubble — The South Sea Company 
 — Opposition of Walpole — Mania for Speculation — Bursting of the 
 South Sea Bubble — Enlightened policy of Walpole — East India 
 
XU CONTENTS. 
 
 Company — Resignation of Townsend — Unpopularity of Walpole — 
 Decline of his power -4- John Wesley — Early life of Wesley — White - 
 field — Institution of Wesley — Itinerancy — Great influence and pow- 
 er of Wesley. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE COLONIZATION OF AMERICA AND THE EAST INDIES, 
 (pp. 310—341.) 
 Commercial Enterprise — Spanish Conquests and Settlements — Portu- 
 guese Discoveries — Portuguese Settlements — Early English Enter- 
 prise — Sir Walter Raleigh — London Company incorporated — Hard- 
 ships of the Virginia Colony — New Charter of the London Company 
 
 — Rapid Colonization — Indian Warfare — Governor Harvey — Arbi- 
 trary Policy of Charles II. — Settlement of New England — Arrival of 
 the Mayflower — Settlement of New Hampshire — Constitution of the 
 Colony — Doctrines of the Puritans — Pequod War — Union of the 
 New England Colonies — William Penn — Settlement of New York — 
 Conquest of New Netherlands — Discovery of the St. Lawrence — 
 Jesuit Missionaries — Prosperity of the English Colonies — French 
 Encroachments — European Settlements in the East — French Settle- 
 ments in India — La Bourdonnais and Dupleix — Clive's Victories — 
 Conquest of India. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE EEIGN OF GEOEGE II. 
 (pp. 342—359.) 
 The Pelhams — The Pretender Charles Edward Stuart — Surrender of 
 Edinburgh — Success of the Pretender — The Retreat of the Pretender 
 
 — Battle of Culloden — Latter Days of the Pretender — Maria Theresa 
 
 — Capture of Louisburg — Great Colonial Contest — Character of the 
 Duke of Newcastle — Unpopularity of the Pelhams — Rise of William 
 Pitt — Brilliant Military Successes — Military Successes in America — 
 Victories of Clive in India — Resignation of Pitt — Peace of Paris. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Loins xv. 
 
 (pp. 360—379.) 
 
 Regency of the Duke of Orleans — John Law — Mississippi Company — 
 
 Popular Delusion — Fatal Effects of the Delusion — Administration 
 
 of Cardinal Fleury — Cornelius Jansen — St. Cyran — Arnauld — Le 
 
 Maitre — The Labors of the Port Royalists — Principles of Jansenism 
 
 — Functions of the Parliament — The Bull Unigenitus — Madame de 
 Pompadour — The Jesuits — Exposure of the Jesuits — Their Expul- 
 sion from France — Suppression in Spain — Pope Clement XTV. — 
 Death of Ganganelli — Death of Louis XV. 
 
CONTENTS. xiil 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 FREDERIC THE GREAT, 
 (pp. 380—390.) 
 Frederic William — Accession of Frederic the Great — The Seven Years' 
 War — Battle of Rosbach — Battle of Lcuthen — Fall of Dresden — 
 Reverses of Frederic — Continued Disasters — Exhaustion of Prussia 
 by the War — Death of Frederic — Character of Frederic. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MARIA THERESA AND CATHARINE II. 
 (pp. 391—401.) 
 The Germanic Constitution — The Hungarian War— The Emperor Jo- 
 seph—Accession of Maria Theresa — She institutes Reforms — Suc- 
 cessors of Peter the Great — Murder of Peter in. — Assassination of 
 Ivan — Death of Catharine — Her Character. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CALAMITIES OF POLAND. 
 
 (pp. 402—408.) 
 
 The Crown of Poland made elective — Election of Henry, Duke of Anjou 
 
 — Sobieski assists the Emperor Leopold — The Liberum Veto — The 
 Fall of Poland. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE DECLINE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 
 (pp. 409—415.) 
 Saracenic Empire —Rise of the Turks — Turkish Conquerors — Progress 
 of the Turks — Decline of Turkish Power — Turkish Institutions — 
 Turkish Character. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 REIGN OF GEORGE III. TO ADMINISTRATION OF "WILLIAM PITT. 
 ( pp. 416—431. ) 
 Military Successes in America — Prosecution of Wilkes — Churchill — 
 Grafton's Administration — Popularity of Wilkes — Taxation of the 
 Colonies — Indignation of the Colonies — Functions of the Parliament 
 
 — The Stamp Act — Lord Chatham — Administration of Lord North 
 
 Irish Discontents — Protestant Association — Lord George Gordon's 
 Riots — Parliamentary Reforms. 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 4 CHAPTER XXVIE. 
 
 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 
 (pp. 432—449.) 
 Causes of the Revolution — Riots and Disturbances — Duty on Tea — 
 Port of Boston closed — Meeting of Congress — ■ Speech of Burke — 
 Battle of Bunker Hill — Death of Montgomery — Declaration of Ameri- 
 can Independence — Commissioners sent to France — = Capture of Bur- 
 goyne — Moral Effects of Burgoyne's Capture — Arrival of La Fayette 
 — Evacuation of Philadelphia — The Treason of Arnold — Surrender 
 of Lord Cornwallis — Resignation of Lord North. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM PITT, 
 (pp. 450—470.) 
 William Pitt — Early Life of Pitt — Policy of Pitt — Difficulties -with 
 Ireland — The United Irishmen — Union of England and Ireland — 
 Condition of Ireland — Parliamentary Reform — Warren Hastings — 
 War with Hyder Ah — Robbery of the Princesses of Oude — Prosecu- 
 tion of Hastings — Edmund Burke— Charles James Fox — Richard 
 Brinsley Sheridan — Bill for the Regulation of India — War -with Tip- 
 poo Saib — Conquest of India — Consequences of the Conquest — War 
 with France — Policy of Pitt. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 
 (pp. 471—495.) 
 Causes of the French Revolution — Helvetius — Voltaire — Rousseau — 
 Diderot — General Influence of the Philosophers — Sufferings of the 
 People — Degradation of the People — Derangement of Finances — 
 Maurepas — Turgot — Malesherbes — Necker — '.Calonne — States Gen- 
 eral — The Tiers Etat — Commotions — Rule of the People — National 
 Federation — Flight of the King — The Girondists and the Jacobins — 
 The National Convention — Marat — Danton — Robespierre — General 
 War — Reign of Terror — Death of Robespierre — New Constitution — 
 The Directory. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, 
 (pp. 496—526.) 
 Character of Napoleon — Early Days of Napoleon — Early Services to the 
 Republic — The Italian Campaign — Battle of St. Vincent — Conquest 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 of Venice by Napoleon — Invasion of Egypt — Siege of Acre — Re- 
 verses of the French — Napoleon First Consul — Immense Military 
 Preparations — The Reforms of Napoleon — The Code Napoleon — 
 Meditated Invasion of England — Battle of Austerlitz — Battle of Jena 
 
 — Napoleon aggrandizes France — Aggrandizement of Napoleon's 
 Family — The Peninsular War — War in Spain — Invasion of Russia 
 
 — Battle of Smolensko — Retreat of the French — Battles of Lutzen 
 and Bautzen — Battle of Leipsic — The Allied Powers invade France 
 
 — Peace of Paris — Napoleon escapes from Elba — Battle of Waterloo 
 
 — Reflections on Napoleon's Fall. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 EUROPE ON THE FALL OF NAPOLEON, 
 (pp. 527—532.) 
 Remarkable Men of Genius — Condition of Germany — Condition of 
 other Powers — The United States of America. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Chronological Table, from the Fall of Napoleon, 533 
 
 Prime Ministers of England, from the Accession of Henry VIII., . . 538 
 Table of the Monarchs of Europe, during the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, 
 
 and Eighteenth Centuries, 541 
 
 Genealogical Table of the Royal Family of England 543 
 
 Genealogical Table of the Boiirbons, 544 
 
MODERN HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 STATE OF EUROPEAN SOCIETY IN THE FIFTEENTH AND 
 SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 The period at which this History commences, — the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, — when compared with the ages which 
 had preceded it, since the fall of the Roman empire, was one 
 of unprecedented brilliancy and activity. It was a period very 
 fruitful in great men and great events, and, though stormy and 
 turbulent, was favorable to experiments and reforms. The na- 
 tions of Europe seem to have been suddenly aroused from a 
 state of torpor and rest, and to have put forth new energies in 
 every department of life. The material and the political, the 
 moral and the social condition of society was subject to powerful 
 agitations, and passed through important changes. 
 
 Great discoveries and inventions had been made. The use of 
 movable types, first ascribed to a German, of Mentz, by the 
 name of Gutenberg, in 1441, and to Peter Schoeffer, in 1444, 
 changed the whole system of book-making, and vastly increased 
 the circulation of the Scriptures, the Greek and Latin classics, and 
 all other valuable works, which, by the industry of the monkish 
 copyist, had been preserved from the ravages of time and bar- 
 barism. Gunpowder, whose explosive power had been perceived 
 by Roger Bacon as early as 1280, though it was not used on the 
 field of battle until 1346, had completely changed the art of war, 
 and had greatly contributed to undermine the feudal system. 
 1 
 
2 REVIVAL OF THE ARTS. [CHAP. I. 
 
 The polarity of the magnet, also discovered in the middle ages, 
 and not practically applied to the mariner's compass until 1403, 
 had led to the greatest event of the fifteenth century — the dis- 
 covery of America by Christopher Columbus, in 1492. The 
 impulse given to commerce by this and other discoveries of 
 unknown continents and oceans, by the Portuguese, the Span- 
 iards, the Dutch, the English, and the French, cannot be here 
 enlarged on. America revealed to the astonished European her 
 riches in gold and silver ; and Indian spices, and silks, and 
 drugs, were imported, through new channels, into all the coun- 
 tries inhabited by the Teutonic races. Mercantile wealth, with 
 all its refinements, acquired new importance in the eyes of 
 the nations. The world opened towards the east and the west. 
 The horizon of knowledge ' extended. Popular delusions were 
 dispelled. Liberality of mind was acquired. The material pros- 
 perity of the western nations was increased. Tastes became 
 more refined, and social intercourse more cheerful. 
 
 Art, in all its departments, was every where revived at this 
 epoch. Houses became more comfortable, and churches more 
 splendid. The utensils of husbandry and of cookery were im- 
 proved. Linen and woollen manufactures supplanted the coarser 
 fabrics of the dark ages. Music became more elaborate, and 
 the present system of notation was adopted. The genius of 
 the sculptor again gave life and beauty to a marble block, and 
 painting was carried to greater perfection than by the ancient 
 Greeks and Romans. Florence, Venice, Milan, and Rome be- 
 came seats of various schools of this beautiful art, of which 
 Michael Angelo, Correggio, the Carracci, and Raphael were the 
 most celebrated masters, all of whom were distinguished for pe- 
 culiar excellences, never since surpassed, or even equalled. 
 The Flemish artists were scarcely behind the Italian ; and 
 Rubens, of Antwerp, may well rank with Correggio and Titian. 
 To Raphael, however, the world has, as yet, furnished no par- 
 allel. 
 
 The political and social structure of society changed. The 
 crusades, long before, had given a shock to the political impor- 
 tance of the feudal aristocracy, and reviving commerce and art 
 had shaken the system to its foundations. The Fiendish weav- 
 
CHAP. I.] INFLUENCE OF FEUDALISM. 3 
 
 ers had arisen, and a mercantile class had clamored for new 
 privileges. In the struggle of classes, and in the misfortunes of 
 nobles, monarchs had perceived the advantages they might gain, 
 and fortunate circumstances enabled them to raise absolute 
 thrones, and restore a central power, always so necessary to the 
 cause of civilization. Feudalism had answered many useful 
 ends in the dark ages. It had secured a reciprocity of duties 
 between a lord and his vassal ; it had restored loyalty, truth, 
 and fidelity among semi-barbarians ; it had favored the culti- 
 vation of the soil ; it had raised up a hardy rural population ; it 
 had promoted chivalry, and had introduced into Europe the mod- 
 ern gentleman ; it had ennobled friendship, and spread the graces 
 of urbanity and gentleness among rough and turbulent warriors. 
 But it had, also, like all human institutions, become corrupt, and 
 failed to answer the ends for which it was instituted. It had 
 become an oppressive social despotism ; it had widened the dis- 
 tinction between the noble and ignoble classes ; it had produced 
 selfishness and arrogance among the nobles, and a mean and 
 cringing sycophancy among the people ; it had perpetuated 
 privileges, among the aristocracy, exceedingly unjust, and ruin- 
 ous to the general welfare of society. It therefore fell before the 
 advancing spirit of the age, and monarchies and republics were 
 erected on its ruins. The people, as well as monarchs, had 
 learned the secret of their power. They learned that, by com- 
 bining their power, they could successfully resist their enemies. 
 The principle of association was learned. Combinations of 
 masses took place. Free cities were multiplied. A population 
 of artificers, and small merchants, and free farmers arose. 
 They discussed their privileges, and asserted their independence. 
 Political liberty was born, and its invaluable blessings were con- 
 ceived, if they were not realized. 
 
 And the intellectual state of Europe received an impulse as 
 marked and beneficent as the physical and social. The scho- 
 lastic philosophy, with its dry and technical logic, its abstruse 
 formulas, and its subtile refinements, ceased to satisfy the wants 
 of the human mind, now craving light and absolute knowledge 
 in all departments of science and philosophy. Like feudal- 
 ism, it had once been useful ; but, like that institution, it had 
 
4 EFFECTS OF SCHOLASTICISM. [CHAP. I. 
 
 also become corrupted, and an object of sarcasm and mockery. 
 It had trained the European mind for the discoveries of the six- 
 teenth century ; it had* raised up an inquisitive spirit, and had led 
 to profound reflections on the existence of God, on his attributes 
 and will, on the nature of the soul, on the faculties of the mind, 
 and on the practical duties of life. But this philosophy be- 
 came pedantic and cold ; covered, as with a funereal shade, the 
 higher pursuits of life ; and diverted attention from what was 
 practical and useful. That earnest spirit, which raised up Lu- 
 ther and Bacon, demanded, of the great masters of thought, 
 something which the people could understand, and something 
 which would do them good. 
 
 In poetry, the insipid and immoral songs of the Provencal 
 bards gave place to the immortal productions of the great creators 
 of the European languages. Dante led the way in Italy, and 
 gave to the world the " Divine Comedy " — a masterpiece of 
 human genius, which raised him to the rank of Homer and Virgil. 
 Petrarch followed in his steps, and, if not as profound or original 
 as Dante, yet is unequalled as an " enthusiastic songster of 
 ideal love." He also gave a great impulse to civilization by his 
 labors in collecting and collating manuscripts. Boccaccio also 
 lent his aid in the revival of literature, and wrote a series of 
 witty, though objectionable stories, from which the English 
 Chaucer borrowed the notion of his " Canterbmy Tales." Chau- 
 cer is the father of English poetry, and kindled a love of literature 
 among his isolated countrymen ; and was one of the few men 
 who, in the evening of his days, looked upon the world without 
 austerity, and expressed himself with all the vivacity of youthful 
 feeling. 
 
 Such were some of the leading events and circumstances 
 which gave a new life to European society, and created a desire 
 for better days. All of these causes of improvement acted and 
 reacted on each other in various ways, and prepared the way for 
 new and great developments of action and passion. These new 
 energies were, however, unfortunately checked by a combination 
 of evils which had arisen in the dark ages, and which required to 
 be subverted before any great progress could be reasonably ex- 
 pected. These evils were most remarkable in the church itself, 
 
CHAP. I.] ECCLESIASTICAL CORRUPTIONS. 5 
 
 and almost extinguished the light which Christ and his apostles 
 had kindled. The church looked with an evil eye on many of the 
 greatest improvements and agitations of the age, and attempted 
 to suppress the spirit of insurrection which had arisen against the 
 abuses and follies of past ages. Great ideas were ridiculed, and 
 daring spirits were crushed. There were many good men in 
 the church who saw and who lamented prevailing corruptions, 
 but their voice was overwhelmed by the clamors of interested par- 
 tisans, or silenced by the authority of the popes. The character 
 of the popes themselves was not what was expected of the heads 
 of the visible church, or what was frequently exhibited in those 
 ignorant and superstitious times, when the papacy fulfilled, in the 
 opinion of many enlightened Protestants, a benevolent mission. 
 None had the disinterestedness of Gregory I., or the talents of 
 Gregory VII. There had been a time when the great central 
 spiritual monarchy of Rome had been exercised for the peace and 
 tranquillity of Europe, when it was uniformly opposed to slavery 
 and war, and when it was a mild and paternal government, which 
 protected innocence and weakness, while it punished injustice and 
 crime. The time was, when popes had been elevated for their 
 piety and learning, and when they lived as saints and died as 
 martyrs. But that time had passed. The Roman church did not 
 keep up with the spirit or the wants of the age, and moreover did 
 not reform itself from vices which had been overlooked in ages 
 of ignorance and superstition. In the fifteenth century, many 
 great abuses scandalized a body of men who should have been 
 the lights of the world ; and the sacred pontiffs themselves set 
 examples of unusual depravity. Julius II. marched at the head 
 of armies. Alexander VI. secured his election by bribery, and 
 reigned by extortion. He poisoned his own cardinals, and be- 
 stowed on his son Caesar Borgia — an incarnated demon — the 
 highest dignities and rewards. It was common for the popes to 
 sell the highest offices in the church for money, to place boys on 
 episcopal thrones, to absolve the most heinous and scandalous 
 crimes for gold, to encourage the massacre of heretics, and to 
 disgrace themselves by infamous vices. And a general laxity of 
 morals existed among all orders of the clergy. They were igno- 
 rant, debauched, and ambitious. The monks were exceedingly 
 1* 
 
6 PAPAL INFALLIBILITY. [CHAP. I. 
 
 numerous ; had ceased to be men of prayer and contemplation, 
 as in the days of Benedict and Bernard ; and might be seen fre- 
 quenting places of demoralizing excitement, devoted to pleasure, 
 and enriched by inglorious gains. 
 
 But the evils which the church encouraged were more danger- 
 ous than the vices of its members. These evils were inherent in 
 the papal system, and were hard to be subverted. There were 
 corruptions of doctrine, and corruptions in the government and 
 customs of the church. 
 
 There generally prevailed, throughout Christendom, the belief 
 in papal infallibility, which notion subverted the doctrines of the 
 Bible, and placed its truths, at least, on a level with the authority 
 of the schoolmen. It favored the various usurpations of the 
 popes, and strengthened the bonds of spiritual despotism. 
 
 The popes also claimed a control over secular princes, as well 
 as the supremacy of the church. Hildebrand was content with 
 riveting the chains of universal spiritual authority, the evil and 
 absurdity of which cannot well be exaggerated ; but his more 
 ambitious successors sought to reduce the kings of the earth to 
 perfect vassalage, and, when in danger of having their monstrous 
 usurpations torn from them, were ready to fill the world with 
 discord and war. 
 
 But the worldly popes of the fifteenth century also aspired to 
 be temporal princes. They established the most elegant court 
 in Europe ; they supported large armies ; they sought to restore 
 the splendor of imperial Rome ; they became ambitious of found- 
 ing great families ; they enriched their nephews and relations at 
 the sacrifice of the best interests of their church ; they affected 
 great state and dignity ; they built gorgeous palaces ; they orna- 
 mented their capital with pictures and statues. 
 
 The territories of Rome were, however, small. The lawful 
 revenues of the popes were insufficient to gratify their extrava- 
 gance and pomp. But money, nevertheless, they must have. In 
 order to raise it, they resorted to extortion and corruption. They 
 imposed taxes on Christendom, direct and indirect. These were 
 felt as an intolerable burden ; but such was the superstition of 
 the times, that they were successfully raised. But even these 
 were insufficient to gratify papal avarice and rapacity. They 
 
CHAP. I.] THE SALE OF INDULGENCES. 7 
 
 then resorted, in their necessities, to the meanest acts, imposed on 
 the simplicity of their subjects, and finally adopted the most 
 infamous custom which ever disgraced the world. 
 
 They pardoned sins for money — granted sales of indulgences 
 for crime. A regular scale for absolution was graded. A proc- 
 lamation was made every fifty, and finally every twenty-five 
 years, of a year of jubilee, when plenary remission of all sin was 
 promised to those who should make a pilgrimage to Rome. And 
 so great was the influx of strangers, and consequently of wealth, 
 to Rome, that, on one occasion, it was collected into piles by 
 rakes. It is computed that two hundred thousand deluded per- 
 sons visited the city in a single month. But the vast sums 
 they brought to Rome, and the still greater sums which were 
 obtained by the sale of indulgences, and by various taxations, 
 were all squandered in ornamenting the city, and in supporting a 
 luxurious court, profligate cardinals, and superfluous ministers 
 of a corrupted religion. Then was erected the splendid church 
 of St. Peter, more after the style of Grecian temples, than after 
 the model of the Gothic cathedrals of York and Cologne. Glorious 
 was that monument of reviving art ; wonderful was its lofty 
 dome; but the vast sums required to build it opened the eyes 
 of Christendom to the extravagance and presumption of the 
 popes ; and this splendid trophy of their glory also became the 
 emblem of their broken power. Their palaces and temples 
 made an imposing show, but detracted from their real strength, 
 which consisted in the affections of their spiritual subjects. Their 
 outward grandeur, like the mechanical agencies which kings em- 
 ploy, was but a poor substitute for the invisible power of love, : — 
 in all ages, and among all people, " that cheap defence '.' which 
 supports thrones and kingdoms. 
 
 Another great evil was, the prevalence of an idolatrous spirit. 
 In the churches and chapels, and even in private families, were 
 innumerable images of saints, pictures of the Virgin, relics, cru- 
 cifixes, &c, designed at first to kindle a spirit of devotion among 
 the rude and uneducated, but gradually becoming objects of real 
 adoration. Intercessions were supposed to be made by the Virgin 
 Mary, and by favorite saints, more efficacious with Deity than the 
 penitence and prayers of the erring and sinful themselves. The 
 
8 THE CORRUPTIONS OF THE CHURCH. [CHAP. I. 
 
 influence of this veneration for martyrs and saints was degrading 
 to the mind, and became a very lucrative source of profit to the 
 priests, who peddled the bones and relics of saints as they did 
 indulgences, and who invented innumerable lies to attest the gen- 
 uineness and antiquity of the objects they sold, all of which were 
 parts of the great system of fraud and avarice which the church 
 permitted. 
 
 Again ; the public worship of God was in a language the people 
 could not understand, but rendered impressive by the gorgeous 
 dresses of the priests, and the magnificence of the altar, and the 
 images and vessels of silver and gold, reflecting their splendor, 
 by the light Of wax candles, on the sombre pillars, roofs, and 
 windows of the Gothic church, and the effect heightened by 
 exciting music, and other appeals to the taste or imagination, 
 rather than to the reason and the heart. The sermons of the 
 clergy were frivolous, and ill adapted to the spiritual wants of 
 the people. " Men went to the Vatican," says the learned and 
 philosophical Ranke, " not to pray, but to contemplate the Belvi- 
 dere Apollo. They disgraced the most solemn festivals by open 
 profanations. The clergy, in their services, sought the means 
 of exciting laughter. One would mock the cuckoo, and another 
 recite indecent stories about St. Peter." Luther, when he visited 
 Italy, was extremely shocked at the infidel spirit which prevailed 
 among the clergy, who were hostile to the circulation of the 
 Scriptures, and who encouraged persecutions and inquisitions. 
 This was the age when the dreadful tribunal of the Inquisition 
 flourished, although its chief enormities were perpetrated in Spain 
 and Portugal. It never had an existence in England, and but 
 little influence in France and Germany. But if the Church did 
 not resort, in all countries, to that dread tribunal which subjected 
 youth, beauty, and innocence to the inquisitorial vengeance of 
 narrow-minded Dominican monks, still she was hostile to free 
 inquiry, and to all efforts made to emancipate the reason of men. 
 
 The spirit of religious persecution, which inflamed the Roman 
 Church to punish all dissenters from the doctrine and abuses she 
 promulgated, can never be questioned. The Waldenses and 
 Albigenses had suffered, in darker times, almost incredible hard- 
 ships and miseries — had been almost annihilated by the dreadful 
 
CHAP. I.] NECESSITY FOR REFORM. 9 
 
 crusade which was carried on against them, so that two hundred 
 thousand had perished for supposed heresy. But reference is not 
 now made to this wholesale massacre, but to those instances of 
 individual persecution which showed the extreme jealousy and 
 hatred of Rome of all new opinions. John Huss and Jerome 
 of Prague were publicly burned for attempting to reform the 
 church, and even Savonarola, who did not deny the authority of 
 the popes, was condemned to the flames for denouncing the vices 
 of his age, rather than the evils of the church. 
 
 These multiplied evils, which checked the spirit of improve- 
 ment, called loudly for reform. Councils were assembled for the 
 purpose ; but councils supported, rather than diminished, the evils 
 of which even princes complained. The reform was not destined 
 to come from dignitaries in the church or state ; not from bishops, 
 nor philosophers, nor kings, but from an obscure teacher of 
 divinity in a German university, whom the genius of a reviving 
 and awakened age had summoned into the field of revolutionary 
 warfare. It was reserved for Martin Luther to commence the 
 fh'st successful rebellion against the despotism of Rome, and to 
 give the greatest impulse to freedom of thought, and a general 
 spirit of reform, which ten centuries had seen. 
 
 The most prominent event in modern times is unquestionably 
 the Protestant Reformation, and it was by far the most momen- 
 tous in its results. It gave rise, directly or indirectly, to the great 
 wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as well as to 
 those rival sects which agitated the theological world. It is con- 
 nected with the enterprises of great monarchs, with the struggle 
 of the Huguenots and Puritans, with the diffusion of knowledge, 
 and with the progress of civil and religious liberty in Europe. 
 An event, therefore, of such interest and magnitude, may well be 
 adopted as a starting point in modern history, and will, accord- 
 ingly, be the first subject of especial notice. History is ever most 
 impressive and philosophical when great changes and revolutions 
 are traced to the agency of great spiritual ideas. Moreover, 
 modern history is so complicated, that it is difficult to unravel it, 
 except by tracing the agency of great causes, rather than by 
 detailing the fortunes of kings and nobles. 
 
10 THE EARLY LIFE OF LUTHER. [CHAP. II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 MARTIN LUTHER AND HIS ASSOCIATES. 
 
 Martin Luther was bom the 10th of November, 1483, at Eis- 
 leben, in Saxony. His father was a miner, of Mansfield, and his 
 ancestors were peasants, who lived near the summit of the Thu- 
 ringian Forest. His early years were spent at Mansfield, in ex- 
 treme poverty, and he earned his bread by singing hymns before 
 the houses of the village. At the age of fifteen, he went to 
 Eisenach, to a high school, and at eighteen entered the university 
 of Erfurt, where he made considerable progress in the sciences 
 then usually taught, which, however, were confined chiefly to the 
 scholastic philosophy. He did not know either Greek or Hebrew, 
 but read the Bible in Latin. In 1505, he took his degree of 
 bachelor of arts, and, shortly after, his religious struggles com- 
 menced. He had witnessed a fearful tempest, which alarmed 
 him, while on a visit at his father's house, and he was also much 
 depressed by the death of an intimate friend. In that age, the 
 serious and the melancholy generally sought monastic retreats, 
 and Luther, thirsty after divine knowledge, and anxious to save 
 his soul, resolved to forsake the world, and become a monk. He 
 entered an Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, soon after obtaining 
 his first degree. But the duties and studies of monastic life did 
 not give his troubled soul the repose he sought. He submitted to 
 all the irksome labors which the monks imposed ; he studied the 
 fathers and the schoolmen ; he practised the most painful austeri- 
 ties, and fastings, and self-lacerations : still he was troubled with 
 religious fears. His brethren encouraged his good works, but his 
 perplexities and doubts remained. In this state of mind, he was 
 found by Staupitz, vicar-general of the order, who was visiting Er- 
 furt, in his tour of inspection, with a view to correct the bad morals 
 of the monasteries. He sympathized with Luther in his religious 
 feelings, treated him with great kindness, and recommended the 
 reading of the Scriptures, and also the works of St. Augustine, 
 
CHAP. II.] THE EARLY LIFE OF LUTHER. 11 
 
 whose theological views he himself had embraced. Although St. 
 Augustine was a great oracle in the Roman church, still, his 
 doctrines pertaining to personal salvation differed in spirit from 
 those which were encouraged by the Roman Catholic divines 
 generally, who attached less importance to justification by faith 
 than did the venerated bishop of Hyppo. In that age of abuses, 
 great importance was attached, by the church, to austerities, 
 penance, and absolutions for money. But Luther, deeply imbued 
 with the spirit of Augustine, at length found light, and repose, 
 and joy, in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. This 
 became more and more the idea of his life, especially at this time. 
 The firmness of his convictions on this point became extraordi- 
 nary, and his spiritual gladness now equalled his former de- 
 pression and anxiety. He was soon to find a sphere for the 
 development of his views. 
 
 Luther was consecrated as a priest in 1507, and in 1508 he 
 was invited by Frederic, Elector of Saxony, to become a professor 
 in the new university which he had established at Wittemberg. 
 He was now twenty-five years of age, and the fact, that he should 
 have been selected, at that early age, to teach dialectics, is a 
 strong argument in favor of his attainments and genius. 
 
 He now began to apply himself to the study of the Greek and 
 Hebrew, and delivered lectures on biblical theology ; and his novel 
 method, and great enthusiasm, attracted a crowd of students. 
 But his sermons were more striking even than his lectures, and 
 he was invited, by the council of Wittemberg, to be the preacher 
 for the city. His eloquence, his learning, and his zeal, now 
 attracted considerable attention, and the elector himself visited 
 Wittemberg to hear him preach. 
 
 In 1512, he was sent on an embassy to Rome, and, while in 
 Italy, obtained useful knowledge of the actual state of the 
 hierarchy, and of morals and religion. Julius II., a warlike 
 pontiff, sat on the throne of St. Peter ; and the " Eternal City " 
 was the scene of folly, dissipation, and clerical extortion. Luther 
 returned to Germany completely disgusted with eveiy thing he 
 had seen — the levity and frivolity of the clergy, and the igno- 
 rance and vices of the people. He was too earnest in his religious 
 views and feelings to take much interest in the works of art, or 
 
12 luther's early religious struggles. [chap. ii. 
 
 the pleasures, which occupied the attention of the Italians ; and the 
 impression of the general iniquity and corruption of Rome never 
 passed away, and probably gave a new direction to his thoughts. 
 
 On his return, in 1512, he was made doctor of divinity, then a 
 great distinction, and renewed his lectures in the university with 
 great ardor. ; He gave a new impulse to the studies, and a new 
 form to the opinions of both professors and students. Lupinus 
 and Carlstadt, his colleagues, were converts to his views. All 
 within his sphere were controlled by his commanding genius, 
 and extraordinary force of character. He commenced war upon 
 the schoolmen, and was peculiarly hostile to Thomas Aquinas, 
 whom he accused of Pelagianism. He also attacked Aristotle, 
 the great idol of the schools, and overwhelmed scholasticism with 
 sarcasm and mockery. 
 
 Such was the state of things when the preachers of indulgences, 
 whom Leo X. had encouraged, in order to raise money for St. 
 Peter's Church, arrived in the country round the Elbe. They 
 had already spread over Germany, Switzerland, and France. 
 Their luxury and extravagance were only equalled by their pre- 
 sumption and insolence. All sorts of crime were pardoned by 
 these people for money. Among the most remarkable of these 
 religious swindlers and pedlers was Tetzel. He was a friar of 
 the Dominicans, apostolical commissioner, inquisitor, and bachelor 
 of theology. He united profligate morals with great pretensions 
 to sanctity ; was somewhat eloquent, so far as a sonorous voice 
 was concerned, and was very bold and haughty, as vulgar men, 
 raised to eminence and power, are apt to be. But his peculiarity 
 consisted in the audacity of his pretensions, and his readiness 
 in inventing stories to please the people, ever captivated by 
 rhetoric and anecdote. " Indulgences," said he, " are the most 
 precious and sublime of God's gifts." " I would not exchange - 
 my privileges for those of St. Peter in heaven ; for I have saved 
 more souls, with my indulgences, than he, with his sermons." 
 " There is no sin so great that the indulgence cannot remit it : 
 even repentance is not necessary : indulgences save not the 
 living alone, — they save the dead." " The very moment that the 
 money clinks against the bottom of this chest, the soul escapes 
 from purgatory, and flies to heaven." " And do you know why 
 
CHAP. II.] THE NINETY-FIVE PROPOSITIONS. 13 
 
 our Lord distributes so rich a grace ? The dilapidated Church of 
 St. Peter and St. Paul is to be restored, which contains the bodies 
 of those holy apostles, and which are now trodden, dishonored, 
 and polluted." 
 
 Tetzel found but few sufficiently enlightened to resist him, and 
 he obtained great sums from the credulous people. This abom- 
 ination excited Luther's intensest detestation ; and he accordingly 
 wrote ninety-five propositions, and nailed them, in 1517, to the gates 
 of the church, in which he denounced the traffic in indulgences, 
 and traced the doctrine of absolution to the usurped power of the 
 pope. He denied the value of his absolution, and maintained 
 that the divine favor would only be granted on the condition of 
 repentance and faith. 
 
 In these celebrated propositions, he struck at the root of scho- 
 lastic absurdities, and also of papal pretensions. The spirit 
 which they breathed was bold, intrepid, and magnanimous. They 
 electrified Germany, and gave a shock to the whole papal edifice. 
 They had both a religious and a political bearing ; religious, in 
 reference to the grounds of justification, and political, in opening 
 men's eyes to the unjust and ruinous extortions of Rome. 
 
 Among those who perceived with great clearness the political 
 tendency of these propositions, and rejoiced in it, was the elector 
 of Saxony himself, the most powerful prince of the empire, 
 who had long been vexed, in view of the vast sums which had 
 been drained from his subjects. He also lamented the corruptions 
 of the church, and probably sympathized with the theological 
 opinions of Luther. He accordingly protected the bold professor, 
 although he did not openly encourage him, or form an alliance 
 with him. He let things take their course. Well did Frederic 
 deserve the epithet of Wise. 
 
 There was another great man who rejoiced in the appearance 
 of Luther's theses ; and this was Erasmus, the greatest scholar of 
 his age, the autocrat of letters, and, at that time, living in Basle. 
 He was born in Rotterdam, in 1467, of poor parents, but early 
 attracted notice for his attainments, and early emancipated him- 
 self from the trammels of scholasticism, which he hated and 
 despised as cordially as Luther himself. He also attacked, with 
 elegant sarcasm, the absurdities of his age, both in literature and 
 2 
 
14 ERASMUS — B1ELANCTH0N. [CHAP. II. 
 
 morals. He denounced the sins and follies of the monks, and 
 spoke of the necessity of reform. But his distinguishing excel- 
 lence was his literary talent and taste. He was a great Greek 
 scholar, and published a critical edition of the Testament, which 
 he accompanied with a Latin translation. In this, he rendered 
 great service to the reformers, especially to Luther. His fasci- 
 nating style and extensive erudition gave him great literary fame. 
 But he was timid, conservative, and vain ; and sought to be pop- 
 ular, except among the monks, whom he uniformly ridiculed. 
 One doctor hated him so cordially, that he had his picture hung 
 up in his study, that he might spit in his face as often as he 
 pleased. So far as Luther opposed monkery and despotism, his 
 sympathies were with him. But he did not desire a radical 
 reformation, as Luther did, and always shunned danger and 
 obloquy. He dreaded an insurrection among the people, and 
 any thing which looked either revolutionary or fanatical. Luther, 
 therefore, much as he was gratified by his favor at first, soon 
 learned to distrust him ; and finally these two great men were 
 unfriendly to each other. 
 
 Melancthon was too prominent an actor in the great drama 
 about to be performed, to be omitted in this sketch of great men 
 who were on the side of reform. He was born in 1497, and was, 
 therefore, fourteen years younger than Luther. He was educated 
 under the auspices of the celebrated Greek scholar Beuchlin, 
 who was also a relative. At twelve, he was sent to the university 
 of Heidelberg ; at fourteen, was made bachelor of arts ; and at 
 seventeen, doctor of philosophy. He began to lecture publicly 
 at the age of seventeen ; and, for his extraordinary attainments, 
 was invited to Wittemberg, as professor of ancient languages, at 
 the age of twenty-one. He arrived there in 1518, and immedi- 
 ately fell under the influence of Luther, who, however, acknowl- 
 edged his classical attainments. He was considered a prodigy ; 
 was remarkably young looking, and so boyish, that the grave 
 professors conceived but little hope of him at first. But, when he 
 delivered his inaugural oration in Latin, all were astonished ; and 
 their prejudices were removed. Luther himself was enthusiastic 
 in his praises, and a friendship commenced between them, which 
 was never weakened by a quarrel. The mildness and gentle- 
 
CHAP. II.] MELANCTHON LEO X. 15 
 
 ness of Philip Melancthon strongly contrasted with the boldness, 
 energy, and tumultuous passions of Luther. The former was the 
 more learned and elegant ; the latter was the superior genius — a 
 genius for commanding men, and guiding great enterprises. 
 
 But there was another great personage, who now viewed the 
 movement of Luther with any thing but indifference ; and this was 
 Leo X., the reigning pope when the theses were published. He 
 belonged to the illustrious family of the Medici, and was chosen 
 cardinal at the age of thirteen. He was the most elegant and 
 accomplished of all the popes, patronized art and literature, and 
 ornamented his capital with palaces, churches, and statues. But, 
 with his sympathy for intellectual excellence, he was prodigal, 
 luxurious, and worldly. Indeed, his spirit was almost infidel. He 
 was more ambitious for temporal than spiritual power ; and, when 
 he commenced his reign, the papal possessions were more exten- 
 sive and flourishing, than at any previous period. His leading 
 error was, his recklessness in the imposition of taxes, even on the 
 clergy themselves, by which he lost their confidence and regard. 
 With a very fine mind, he was, nevertheless, quite unfitted for his 
 station and his times. 
 
 Thus far, he had allowed the outcry which Luther had raised 
 against indulgences to take its course, and even disregarded 
 the theses, which he supposed originated in a monkish squabble 
 Butthe Emperor Maximilian was alarmed, and wrote to the pope an 
 account of Luther's differences with Tetzel. Frederic of Saxony 
 had also written to his holiness, to palliate the conduct of Luther. 
 
 When such powerful princes became interested, Leo was 
 startled. He summoned Luther to Rome, to be tried by Prierias. 
 Luther, not daring to refuse, and not willing to obey, wrote to his 
 friend Spalatin to use his influence with the elector to have his 
 cause tried in Germany ; and the pope, willing to please Frederic, 
 appointed De Vio, his legate, to investigate the matter. Luther 
 accordingly set out for Augsburg, in obedience to the summons of 
 De Vio, although dissuaded by many of his friends. He had 
 several interviews with the legate, by whom he was treated with 
 courtesy and urbanity, and by whom he was dissuaded from his 
 present courses. But all the persuasion and argument of the car- 
 dinal legate were without effect on the mind of Luther, whose 
 
16 THE LEIPSIC DISPUTATION. [CHAP. II. 
 
 convictions were not to be put aside by either kindness or craft. 
 De Vio had hoped that he could induce Luther to retract ; but, 
 when he found him fixed in his resolutions, he changed his tone, 
 and resorted to threats. Luther then made up his mind to leave 
 Augsburg ; and, appealing to the decision of the sovereign pontiff, 
 whose authority he had not yet openly defied, he fled from the 
 city, and returned to Wittemberg, being countenanced by the 
 elector, to whom he also addressed letters. His life was safe so 
 long as Frederic protected him. 
 
 The next event in the progress of Luther was the Leipsic dis- 
 putation, June, 1519. The pope seemed willing to make one more 
 effort to convince Luther, before he proceeded to more violent 
 courses. There was then at his court a noble Saxon, Charles 
 Miltitz, whose talents and insinuating address secured him the high 
 office of chamberlain to the pope. He accordingly was sent into 
 his native country, with the dignity of legate, to remove the diffi- 
 culties which De Vio had attempted. He tried persuasion and 
 flattery, and treated the reformer with great civility. But Luther 
 still persisted in refusing to retract, and the matter was referred to 
 the elector archbishop of Treves. 
 
 While the controversy was pending, Dr. Eck, of the univer- 
 sity of Ingolstadt, a man of great scholastic ingenuity and attain- 
 ment, and proud of the prizes of eight universities, challenged the 
 professors of Wittemberg to a public controversy on Grace and 
 Free Will. He regarded a disputation with the eye of a practised 
 fencer, and sought the means of extending his fame over North 
 Germany. Leipsic was the appointed arena, and thither resorted 
 the noble and the learned of Saxony. Eck was among the 
 first who arrived, and, soon after, came Carlstadt, Luther, and 
 Melancthon. 
 
 The place for the combat was a hall in the royal palace of 
 Duke George, cousin to the elector Frederic, which was ar- 
 ranged and ornamented with great care, and which was honored 
 by the presence of the duke, and of the chief divines and nobles of 
 Northern Germany. Carlstadt opened the debate, which did not 
 excite much interest until Luther's turn came, the antagonist whom 
 Eck was most desirous to meet, and whose rising fame he hoped 
 to crush by a brilliant victory. Ranke thus describes Luther's 
 
CHAP. II.] PRINCIPLES OF THE LEIPSIC DISPUTATION. 17 
 
 person at this time. " He was of the middle size, and so thin as 
 to be mere skin and bone. He possessed neither the thundering 
 voice, nor the ready memory, nor the skill and dexterity, of his 
 distinguished antagonist. But he stood in the prime of manhood 
 and in the fulness of his strength. His voice was melodious and 
 clear ; he was perfectly versed in the Bible, and its aptest sen- 
 tences presented themselves unbidden to his mind ; above all, he 
 inspired an irresistible conviction that he sought the truth. He 
 was always cheerful at home, and a joyous, jocose companion at 
 table ; he even, on this grave occasion, ascended the platform with 
 a nosegay in his hand ; but, when there, he displayed the intrepid 
 and self-forgetting earnestness arising from the depth of a convic- 
 tion, until how, unfathomed, even by himself. He drew forth new 
 thoughts, and placed them in the fire of the battle, with a determina- 
 tion that knew no fear and no personal regard. His features bore 
 the traces of the storms that had passed over his soul, and of the 
 courage with which he was prepared to encounter those which yet 
 awaited him. His whole aspect evinced profound thought, joyous- 
 ness of temper, and confidence in the future. The battle imme- 
 diately commenced on the question of the authority of the papacy, 
 which, at once intelligible and important, riveted universal atten- 
 tion." Eck, with great erudition and masterly logic, supported 
 the claim of the pope, from the decrees of councils, the opinions 
 of scholastics, and even from those celebrated words of Christ to 
 Peter — "Thou art Peter, and on this rock will I build my 
 church, 1 ' &c. Luther took higher and bolder ground, denied the 
 infallibility of councils, and appealed to Scripture as the ultimate 
 authority. Eck had probably the advantage over his antagonist, 
 so far as dialectics were concerned, being a more able disputant ; 
 but Luther set at defiance mere scholastic logic, and appealed to 
 an authority which dialectics could not reach. The victoiy was 
 claimed by both parties ; but the result was, that Luther no longer 
 acknowledged the authority of the Roman church, and acknowl- 
 edged none but the Scriptures. 
 
 The Leipsic disputation was the grand intellectual contest of the 
 Reformation, and developed its great idea — the only great prin- 
 ciple, around which all sects and parties among the Protestants 
 rally. This is the idea, that the Scriptures are the only ultimate 
 2* 
 
18 THE EIGHTS OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT. [CHAP. II. 
 
 grounds of authority in religion, and that, moreover, every man 
 has a right to interpret them for himself. The rights of private 
 judgment — that religion is a matter between the individual soul 
 and God, and that every man is answerable to his own conscience 
 alone how he interprets Scripture — these constitute the great 
 Protestant platform. Different sects have different views respect- 
 ing justification, but all profess to trace them to the Scriptures. 
 Luther's views were similar to those of St. Augustine — that " man 
 could be justified by faith alone," which was his great theological 
 doctrine — a doctrine adopted by many who never left the com- 
 munion of the Church of Rome, before and since his day, and a 
 doctrine which characterized the early reformers, Zwingle, Cal- 
 vin, Knox, Cranmer, and the Puritans generally. It is as absurd 
 to say that Luther's animating principle in religion was not this 
 doctrine, as it is unphilosophical to make the reformation consist 
 merely in its recognition. After Luther's convictions were settled 
 on this point, and he had generally and openly declared them, the 
 main contest of his life was against the papacy, which he viewed 
 as the predicted Antichrist — the " scarlet mother of abominations." 
 It is not the object of the writer of this Histoiy to defend or oppose 
 Luther's views, or argue any cause whatever, but simply to place 
 facts in their true light, which is, to state them candidly. 
 
 Although the Leipsic controversy brought out the great principle 
 of the Reformation, Luther's views, both respecting the true doc- 
 trines and polity of the church, were not, on all points, yet devel- 
 oped, and were only gradually unfolded, as he gained knowledge 
 and light It was no trifling matter, even to deny the supremacy 
 of the Roman church in matters of faith. He was thus placed in 
 the position of Huss and Jerome, and other reformers, who had 
 been destroyed, with scarcely an exception. He thus was brought 
 in direct conflict with the pope, with the great dignitaries of the 
 church, with the universities, and with the whole scholastic litera- 
 ture. He had to expect the violent opposition and vengeance of 
 the pope, of the monks, of the great ecclesiastical dignitaries, of 
 the most distinguished scholars, and of those secular princes who 
 were friendly to Rome. He had none to protect him but a prince 
 of the empire, powerful, indeed, and wise, but old and wavering. 
 There were but few to uphold and defend him — the satirical 
 
chap, ii.] luther's elements of greatness. 19 
 
 Erasmus, who was called a second Lucian, the feeble Staupitz, 
 the fanatical Carlstadt, and the inexperienced Melancthon. The 
 worldly-minded, the learned, the powerful, and the conservative 
 classes were his natural enemies. But he had reason and Scripture 
 on his side, and he appealed to their great and final verdict. He 
 had singular faith in the power of truth, and the gracious protec- 
 tion of God Almighty. Reposing on the greatness of his cause, 
 and the providence of the omnipotent Protector, he was ready to 
 defy all the arts, and theories, and malice of man. His weapon 
 was truth. For truth he fought, and for truth he was ready to die. 
 The sophistries of the schools he despised ; they had distorted and 
 mystified the truth. And he knew them well, for he had been 
 trained in the severest dialectics of his time, and, though he de- 
 spised them, he knew how to use them. The simple word of God, 
 directed to the reason and conscience of men, seemed alone worthy 
 of his regard. 
 
 But, beside Scripture and unperverted reason, he had another 
 element of power. He was master of the sympathies and pas- 
 sions of the people. His father was a toiling miner. His grand- 
 father was a peasant. He had been trained to penury ; he had 
 associated with the poor ; he was a man of the people ; he was 
 their natural friend. He saw and lamented their burdens, and 
 rose up for their deliverance. And the people distinguished their 
 true friend, from their false friends. They saw the sincerity, 
 earnestness, and labors of the new apostle of liberty, and believed 
 in him, and made an idol of him. They would protect him, v and 
 honor him, and obey him, and believe what he taught them, for he 
 was their friend, whom God had raised up to take off their bur- 
 dens, and point a way to heaven, without the intercession of 
 priests, or indulgences, or penance. Their friend was to expose 
 the corruptions of the clergy, and to give battle to the great arch 
 enemy who built St. Peter's Church from their hard-earned pit- 
 tances. A spirit from heaven enlightened those to whom Luther 
 preached, and they rallied around his standard, and swore never 
 to separate, until the great enemies of the poor and the oppressed 
 were rendered powerless. And their sympathies were needed, and 
 best services, too ; for the great man of the age — the incarnated 
 spirit of liberty — was in danger. 
 
20 EXCOMMUNICATION OF LUTHER. [CHAP. II. 
 
 The pope, hitherto mild, persuasive, and undecided, now arose in 
 the majesty of his mighty name, and, as the successor of St. Peter, 
 hurled those weapons which had been thunderbolts in the hands 
 of the Gregories and the Innocents. From his papal throne, and 
 with all the solemnity of God's appointed vicegerent, he de- 
 nounced the daring monk of Wittemberg, and sentenced him 
 to the wrath of God, and to the penalty of eternal fire. Luther 
 was excommunicated by a papal bull, and his writings were 
 condemned as heretical and damnable. 
 
 This was a dreadful sentence. Few had ever resisted it suc- 
 cessfully, even monarchs themselves. Excommunication was 
 still a fearful weapon, and used only in desperate circumstances. 
 It was used only as the last resort ; for frequency would de- 
 stroy its power. In the middle ages, this weapon was omnipo- 
 tent ; and the middle ages had but just passed away. No one 
 could stand before that awful anathema which consigned him to 
 the wrath of incensed and implacable Deity. Much as some pro- 
 fessed to despise the sentence, still, when inflicted, it could not 
 be borne, especially if accompanied with an interdict. Children 
 were left unburied. The churches were closed. The rites of 
 religion were suspended. A funereal shade was spread over 
 society. The fears of hell haunted every imagination. No 
 reason was strong enough to resist the sentence. No arm was 
 sufficiently powerful to remove the curse. It hung over a guilty 
 land. It doomed the unhappy offender, who was cursed, wherever 
 he went, and in whatever work he was engaged. 
 
 But Luther was strong enough to resist it, and to despise it. 
 He saw it was an imposition, which only barbarous and ignorant 
 ages had permitted. Moreover, he perceived that there was now 
 no alternative but victory or death ; that, in the great contest in 
 which he was engaged, retreat was infamy. Nor did he wish to 
 retreat. He was fighting for oppressed humanity, and death 
 even, in such a cause, was glory. He understood fully the nature 
 and the consequence of the struggle. He perceived the greatness 
 of the odds against him, in a worldly point of view. No man 
 but a Luther would have been equal to it ; no man, before him, 
 ever had successfully rebelled against the pope. It is only in view 
 of this circumstance, that his intrepidity can be appreciated. 
 
CHAP. II.] THE DIET OF WORMS. 21 
 
 What did the Saxon monk do, when the papal bull was pub- 
 lished ? He assembled the professors and students of the univer- 
 sity, declared his solemn protest against the pope as Antichrist, 
 and marched in procession to the gates of the Castle of Wittem- 
 berg, and there made a bonfire, and cast into it the bull which 
 condemned him, the canon law, and some writings of the school- 
 men, and then reentered the city, breathing defiance against the 
 whole power of the pope, glowing in the consciousness that the 
 battle had commenced, to last as long as life, and perfectly secure 
 that the victory would finally be on the side of truth. This was 
 in 1520, on the 10th of December. 
 
 The attention of the whole nation was necessarily drawn to this 
 open resistance ; and the sympathy of the free thinking, the 
 earnest, and the religious, was expressed for him. Never was 
 popular interest more absorbing, in respect to his opinions, his 
 fortunes, and his fate. The spirit of innovation became conta- 
 gious, and pervaded the German mind. It demanded the serious 
 attention of the emperor himself. 
 
 A great Diet of the empire was convened at Worms, and 
 thither Luther was summoned by the temporal power. He had 
 a safe-conduct, which even so powerful a prince as Charles V. 
 durst not violate. In April, 1521, the reformer appeared before 
 the collected dignitaries of the German empire, both spiritual and 
 temporal, and was called upon to recant his opinions as heretical in 
 the eyes of the church, and dangerous to the peace of the empire. 
 Before the most august assembly in the world, without a trace 
 of embarrassment, he made his defence, and refused to recant. 
 " Unless," said he, " my errors can be demonstrated by texts from 
 Scripture, I will not and cannot recant ; for it is not safe for a 
 man to go against his conscience. Here I am. I can do no 
 otherwise. God help me ! Amen." 
 
 This declaration satisfied his friends, though it did not satisfy the 
 members of the diet. Luther was permitted to retire. He had 
 gained the confidence of the nation. From that time, he was its 
 idol, and the acknowledged leader of the greatest insurrection of 
 human intelligence which modern times have seen. The great 
 principles of the reformation were declared. The great hero of 
 the Reformation had planted his cause upon a rock. And yet his 
 
22 IMPRISONMENT AT WARTBURG. [CHAP. II. 
 
 labors had but just commenced. Henceforth, his life was toil and 
 vexation. New difficulties continually arose. New questions 
 had to be continually settled. Luther, by his letters, was every 
 where. He commenced the translation of the Scriptures ; he wrote 
 endless controversial tracts ; his correspondence was unparalleled ; 
 his efforts as a preacher were prodigious. But he was equal to it 
 all ; was wonderfully adapted to his age and circumstances. 
 
 About this time commenced his voluntary imprisonment at 
 Wartburg, among the Thuringian forests : he being probably con- 
 ducted thither by the orders of the elector of Saxony. Here he 
 was out of sight, but not out of mind ; and his retirement, under 
 the disguise of a knight, gave him leisure for literary labor. In 
 the old Castle of Wartburg, a great part of the Scriptures was 
 translated into that beautiful and simple version, which is still the 
 standard of the German language. 
 
 While Luther was translating the Scriptures, in his retreat, 
 Wittemberg was the scene of new commotions, pregnant with 
 great results. There were many of the more zealous converts to 
 the reformed doctrines, headed by Carlstadt, dean of the faculty 
 of theology, who were not content with the progress which had 
 been made, and who desired more sweeping and radical changes. 
 Such a party ever exists in all reforms; for there are some per- 
 sons who are always inclined to ultra and extravagant courses. 
 Carlstadt was a type of such men. He was learned, sincere, and 
 amiable, but did not know where to stop ; and the experiment was 
 now to be tried, whether it was possible to introduce a necessary 
 reform, without annihilating also all the results of the labors of 
 preceding generations. Carlstadfs mind was not well balanced; 
 and to him the reformation was only a half measure, and a use- 
 less movement, unless all the external observances of religion and 
 the whole economy of the church were destroyed. He abolished, 
 or desired to abolish, all priestly garments, all fasts and holydays, 
 all pictures in the churches, and all emblematical ceremonies of 
 every kind. He insisted upon closing all places of public amuse- 
 ment, the abolition of all religious communities, and the division of 
 their possessions among the poor. He maintained that there was 
 no need of learning, or of academic studies, and even went into 
 the houses of the peasantry to seek explanation of difficult passages 
 
CHAP. II.] CARLSTADT. 23 
 
 of Scripture. For such innovations, the age was certainly not 
 prepared, even had they been founded on reason ; and the conser- 
 vative mind of Luther was shocked at extravagances which served 
 to disgust the whole Christian world, and jeopardize the cause in 
 which he had embarked. So, against the entreaties of the elec- 
 tor, and in spite of the ban of the empire, he returned to Wittem- 
 berg, a small city, it was true, but a place to which had congre- 
 gated the flower of the German youth. He resolved to oppose 
 the movements of Carlstadt, even though opposition should de- 
 stroy his influence. Especially did he declare against all violent 
 measures to which the ultra reformers were inclined, knowing full 
 well, that, if his cause were sullied with violence or fanaticism, all 
 Christendom would unite to suppress it. His sermons are, at this 
 time, (1522,) pervaded with a profound and conservative spirit, and 
 also a spirit of conciliation and love, calculated to calm passions, 
 and carry conviction to excited minds. His moderate counsels 
 prevailed, the tumults were hushed, and order was restored. 
 Carlstadt was silenced for a time ; but a mind like his could not 
 rest, especially on points where he had truth on his side. One of 
 these was, in reference to the presence of Christ's body in the 
 Eucharist, which Carlstadt totally denied. He taught " that the 
 Lord's supper was purely symbolic, and was simply a pledge to 
 believers of their redemption." But Luther saw, in every attempt 
 to exhibit the symbolical import of the supper, only the danger of 
 weakening the authority of Scripture, which was his stronghold, 
 and became exceedingly tenacious on that point ; carried Ms 
 views to the extreme of literal interpretation, and never could 
 emancipate himself from the doctrines of Rome respecting the 
 eucharist. Carlstadt, finding himself persecuted at Wittemberg, 
 left the city, and, as soon as he was released from the presence 
 of Luther, began to revive his former zeal against images also, 
 and was the promoter of great disturbances. He at last sought 
 refuge in Strasburg, and sacrificed fame, and friends, and bread to 
 his honest convictions. 
 
 But, nevertheless, the views of Carlstadt found advocates, and 
 his extravagances were copied with still greater zeal. Many pre- 
 tended to special divine illumination — the great central principle 
 of all fanaticism. Among these was Thomas Miinzer, of Zwick- 
 
24 THOMAS MXJNZER. [CHAP. II. 
 
 au, mystical, ignorant, and conceited, but sincere and simple- 
 hearted. " Luther," said he, " has liberated men's consciences 
 from the papal yoke, but has not led them in spirit towards God." 
 Considering himself as called upon by a special revelation to 
 bring men into greater spiritual liberty, he went about inflaming 
 the popular mind, and raising discontents, and even inciting to a 
 revolt. Religion now became mingled with politics, and social 
 and political evils were violently resisted, under the garb of reli- 
 gion. An insurrection at last arose in the districts of the Black 
 Forest, (1524,) near the sources of the Danube, and spread from 
 Suabia to the Rhine provinces, until it became exceedingly for- 
 midable. Then commenced what is called the " peasants' war," 
 which was only ended by the slaughter of fifty thousand people. As 
 the causes of this war, after all, were chiefly political, the details 
 belong to our chapter on political history. For this insurrection 
 of the peasantry, however, Luther expressed great detestation ; 
 although he availed himself of it to lecture the princes of Ger- 
 many on their duties as civil rulers. 
 
 The peasant war was scarcely ended, when Luther married 
 Catharine Bora ; and, as she was a nun, and he was a monk, the 
 marriage gave universal scandal. But this marriage, which proved 
 happy, was. the signal of new reforms. Luther now emancipated 
 himself from his monastic fetters, and lifted up his voice against 
 the whole monastic system. Eight years had elapsed since he 
 preached against indulgences. During these eight years, reform 
 had been gradual, and had now advanced to the extreme limit it 
 ever reached during the life of the reformer. 
 
 But, in another quarter, it sprang up with new force, and was 
 carried to an extent not favored in Germany. It was in Switzer- 
 land that the greatest approximation was made to the forms, if 
 not to the spirit, of primitive Christianity. 
 
 The great hero of this Swiss movement was Ulric Zwingle, the 
 most interesting of all the reformers. He was born in 1484, and 
 educated amid the mountains of his picturesque country, and, like 
 Erasmus, Reuchlin, Luther, and Melancthon, had no aristocratic 
 claims, except to the nobility of nature. But, though poor, he 
 was well educated, and was a master of the scholastic philosophy, 
 and of all the learning of his age. Like Luther, he was passion- 
 
CHAP. II.] ULRIC ZWINGLE. 25 
 
 ately fond of music, and played the lute, the harp, the violin, the 
 flute, and the dulcimer. There was no more joyous spirit in all 
 Switzerland than his. Every one loved his society, and honored his 
 attainments, and admired his genius. Like Luther and Erasmus, 
 he was disgusted with scholasticism, and regretted the time he had 
 devoted to its study. He was. ordained in 1506, by the bishop 
 of Constance, and was settled in Zurich in 1518. At first, his 
 life did not differ from that which the clergy generally led, being 
 one of dissipation and pleasure. But he was studious, and be- 
 came well acquainted with the fathers, and with the original 
 Greek. Only gradually did light dawn upon him, and this in 
 consequence of his study of the Scriptures, not in consequence 
 of Luther's preaching. He had no tempests to withstand, such as 
 shook the soul of the Saxon monk. Nor had he ever devoted 
 himself with the same ardor to the established church. Nor was 
 he so much interested on doctrinal points of faith. But he saw 
 with equal clearness the corruptions of the church, and preached 
 with equal zeal against indulgences and the usurpations of the 
 popes. The reformation of morals was the great aim of his life. 
 His preaching was practical and simple, and his doctrine was, 
 that " religion consisted in trust in God, loving God, and inno- 
 cence of life." Moreover, he took a deep interest in the politi- 
 cal relations of his country, and was an enthusiast hi liberty as 
 well as in religion. To him the town of Zurich was indebted 
 for its emancipation from the episcopal government of Constance, 
 and also for a reformation in all the externals of the church. He 
 inspired the citizens with that positive spirit of Protestantism, 
 which afterwards characterized Calvin and the Puritans. He was 
 too radical a reformer to suit Luther, although he sympathized 
 with most of his theological opinions. 
 
 On one point, however, they differed ; and this difference led to 
 an acrimonious contest, quite disgraceful to Luther, and the greatest 
 blot on his character, inasmuch as it developed, to an extraordinary 
 degree, both obstinacy and dogmatism, and showed that he could 
 not bear contradiction or opposition. The quarrel arose from a 
 difference of views respecting the Lord's supper, Luther main- 
 taining not exactly the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantia- 
 tion, but something approximating to it — even the omnipresence of 
 3 
 
26 CONTROVERSY BETWEEN LUTHER AND ZWINGLE. [CHAP. II. 
 
 Christ's body in the sacred elements. He relinquished the doc- 
 trine of the continually repeated miracle, but substituted a uni- 
 versal miracle, wrought once for all. In his tenacity to the opin- 
 ions of the schoolmen on this point, we see his conservative spirit ; 
 for he did not deny tradition, unless it was expressly contradicted 
 by Scripture. He would have maintained the whole structure of 
 the Latin church, had it not been disfigured by modern additions, 
 plainly at variance with the Scriptures ; and so profoundly was he 
 attached to the traditions of the church, and to the whole church 
 establishment, that he only emancipated himself by violent inward 
 storms. But Zwingle had not this lively conception of the uni- 
 versal church, and was more radical in his sympathies. He took 
 Carlstadt's view of the supper, that it was merely symbolic. Still 
 he shrunk from a rupture with Luther, which, however, was una- 
 voidable, considering Luther's views of the subject and his cast of 
 mind. Luther rejected all offers of conciliation, and, as he con- 
 sidered it essential to salvation to believe in the real presence of 
 Christ in the sacrament, he refused to acknowledge Zwingle as a 
 brother. 
 
 Zwingle, nevertheless, continued his reforms, and sought to 
 restore, what he conceived to be, the earliest forms in which 
 Christianity had manifested itself. He designed to restore a wor- 
 ship purely spiritual. He rejected all rites and ceremonies, not 
 expressly enjoined in the Bible. Luther insisted in retaining all 
 that was not expressly forbidden. And this was the main point of 
 distinction between them and their adherents. 
 
 But Zwingle contemplated political, as well as religious, changes, 
 and, as early as 1527, two years before his conference with Lu- 
 ther at Marburg, had projected a league of all the reformers 
 against the political authorities which opposed their progress. He 
 combated the abuses of the state, as well as of the church. This 
 opposition created great enemies against him among the cantons, 
 with their different governments and alliances. He also secured 
 enthusiastic friends, and, in all the cantons, there was a strong 
 democratic party opposed to the existing oligarchies, which party, 
 in Berne and Basle, St. Gall, Zurich, Appenzell, Schaffhausen, and 
 Glarus, obtained the ascendency. This led to tumults and violence, 
 and finally to civil war between the different cantons, those which 
 
 / 
 
CHAP. II.] DIET OF AUGSBURG. 27 
 
 adhered to the old faith being assisted by Austria. Lucerne, 
 Uri, Schwytz, Zug, Unterwalden took the lead against the re- 
 formed cantons, the foremost of which was Zurich, where Zwingle 
 lived. Zurich was attacked. Zwingle, from impulses of patriot- 
 ism and courage, issued forth from his house, and joined the 
 standard of his countrymen, not as a chaplain, but as an armed 
 warrior. This was his mistake. " They who take the sword shall 
 perish with the sword." The intrepid and enlightened reformer 
 was slain in 1531, and, with his death, expired the hopes of his 
 party. The restoration of the Roman Catholic religion immedi- 
 ately commenced in Switzerland. 
 
 Luther, more wise than Zwingle, inasmuch as he abstained 
 from politics, continued his labors in Germany. And they were 
 immense. The burdens of his country rested on his shoulders. 
 He was the dictator of the reformed party, and his word was 
 received as law. Moreover, the party continually increased, and, 
 from the support it received from some of the most powerful of 
 the German princes, it became formidable, even in a political 
 point of view. Nearly one half of Germany embraced the 
 reformed faith. 
 
 The illustrious Charles V. had now, for some time, been em- 
 peror, and, in the prosecution of his conquests, found it necessary 
 to Secure the support of united Germany, especially sinee Ger- 
 many was now invaded by the Turks. In order to secure this sup- 
 port, he found it necessary to make concessions in religion to his 
 Protestant subjects. At the diet of Augsburg, (1530,) where there 
 was the most brilliant assemblage of princes which had been for 
 a long time seen in Germany, the celebrated confession of the 
 faith of the Protestants was read. It was written by Melancthon, 
 in both Latin and German, on the basis of the articles of Torgau, 
 which Luther had prepared. The style was Melancthon's ; the 
 matter was Luther's. It was comprised in twenty-eight articles, 
 of which twenty-one pertained to the faith of the Protestants — 
 the name they assumed at the second diet of Spires, in 1529 — and 
 the remaining seven recounted the errors and abuses of Rome. 
 It was subscribed by the Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Bran- 
 denburg, the Duke of Lunenburg, the Landgrave of Hesse, the 
 
28 LEAGUE OF SMALCALDE. [CHAP. II. 
 
 Prince of Anhalt, and the deputies of the imperial cities Nurem- 
 berg and Reutlingqp. But the Catholics had the ascendency in 
 the diet, and the " Confession of Augsburg " was condemned. 
 But the emperor did not venture on any decisive measures for the 
 extirpation of the " heresy." He threatened and published edicts, 
 but his menaces had but little force. Nevertheless, the Protestant 
 princes assembled, first at Smalcalde, and afterwards at Frankfort, 
 for an alliance of mutual defence, — the first effective union of 
 free princes and states against their oppressors in modern Europe, 
 — and laid the foundation of liberty of conscience. Hostilities, how- 
 ever, did not commence, since the emperor was desirous of uniting 
 Germany against the Turks ; and he therefore recalled his edicts 
 of Worms and Augsburg against the Protestants, and made im- 
 portant concessions, and promised them undisturbed enjoyment of 
 their religion. This was a great triumph to the Protestants, and 
 as great a shock to the Papal power. 
 
 The Confession of Augsburg and the League of Smalcalde form 
 an important era of Protestantism, since, by these, the reformed 
 faith received its definite form, and was moreover guaranteed. 
 The work for which Luther had been raised up was now', in the 
 main, accomplished. His great message had been delivered and 
 heard. 
 
 After the confirmation of his cause, his life was perplexed and 
 anxious. He had not anticipated those civil commotions which he 
 now saw, sooner or later, were inevitable. With the increase of 
 his party was the decline of spirituality. Political considerations, 
 also, with many, were more prominent than moral. Religion and 
 politics were mingled together, not soon to be separated in the 
 progress of reform. Moreover, the reformers differed upon many 
 points among themselves. There was a lamentable want of har- 
 mony between the Germans and the Swiss. Luther had quarrelled 
 with nearly eveiy prominent person with whom he had been asso- 
 ciated, except Melancthon, who yielded to him implicit obedience. 
 But, above all, the Anabaptist disorders, which he detested, and 
 which distracted the whole bishopric of Minister, oppressed and 
 mortified him. Worn out with cares, labors, and vexations, which 
 ever have disturbed the peace and alloyed the happiness of great 
 
CHAP. II.] DEATH AND CHARACTER OF LUTHER. 29 
 
 heroes, and from which no greatness is exempt, he died at Eisle- 
 ben, in 1545, while on a visit to his native place in order to recon- 
 cile dissensions between the counts of .Mansfield. 
 
 Luther's name is still reverenced in Germany, and, throughout 
 all Protestant countries, he is regarded as the greatest man con- 
 nected with the history of the church since the apostolic age. 
 Others have been greater geniuses, others more learned, others 
 more devout, and others more amiable and interesting ; but none 
 ever evinced greater intrepidity, or combined greater qualities of 
 mind and heart. He had his faults : he was irritable, dogmatic, 
 and abusive in his controversial writings. He had no toleration 
 for those who differed from him — the fault of the age. But he 
 was genial, joyous, friendly, and disinterested. His labors were 
 gigantic ; his sincerity unimpeached ; his piety enlightened ; his 
 zeal unquenchable. Circumstances and the new ideas of his age, 
 favored him, but he made himself master of those circumstances 
 and ideas, and, what is more, worked out ideas of his own, which 
 were in harmony with Christianity. The Reformation would have 
 happened had there been no Luther, though at a less favorable 
 time ; but, of all the men of his age that the Reformation could 
 least spare, Martin Luther stands preeminent. As the greatest of 
 reformers, his name will be ever honored. 
 
 References. — The attention of the student is directed only to the 
 most prominent and valuable -works which treat of Luther and the Prot- 
 estant reformation. All the works are too nunerous, even to be deci- 
 mated. Allusion is made to those merely which are accessible and 
 useful. Among them may be mentioned, as most important, Ranke's 
 History of the Reformation ; D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation; 
 Michelet's Life of Luther; Audin's Life of Luther, a Catholic work, 
 written with great spirit, but not much liberality ; Stebbing's History of 
 the Reformation ; a Life of Luther, by Rev. Dr. Sears, a new work, writ- 
 ten with great correctness and ability ; Guizot's Lectures on Civilization ; 
 Plank's Essay on the Consequences of the Reformation. 
 
 3* 
 
30 CHARLES V. [CHAP. III. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 
 
 When Luther appeared upon the stage, the great monarchies 
 of Europe had just arisen upon the ruins of those Feudal states 
 which survived the wreck of Charlemagne's empire. 
 
 The Emperor of Germany, of all the monarchs of Europe, had 
 the greatest claim to the antiquity and dignity of his throne. As 
 hereditary sovereign of Austria, Styria, Carinthia, and the Tyrol, he 
 had absolute authority in his feudal provinces ; while, as an elected 
 emperor, he had an indirect influence over Saxony, the Palatinate, 
 the three archbishoprics of Treves, Mentz, and Cologne, and 
 some Burgundian territories. 
 
 But the most powerful monarchy, at this time, was probably 
 that of France ; and its capital was the largest city in Europe, and 
 the resort of the learned and elegant from all parts of Christendom. 
 All strangers extolled the splendor of the court, the wealth of 
 the nobles, and the fame of the university. The power of the 
 monarch was nearly absolute, and a considerable standing army, 
 even then, was ready to obey his commands. 
 
 Spain, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, was ruled by 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, who, by their marriage, had united the 
 crowns of Castile and Arragon. The conquest of Granada and the 
 discoveiy of America had added greatly to the political importance 
 of Spain, and laid the foundation of its future greatness under 
 Philip II. 
 
 England, from its insular position, had not so much influence 
 in European politics as the other powers to which allusion has 
 been made, but it was, nevertheless, a nourishing and united 
 kingdom. Henry VII., the founder of the house of Tudor, sat on 
 the throne, and was successful in suppressing the power of the 
 feudal nobility, and in increasing the royal authority. Kings, in the 
 
CHAP. III.] SPAIN AND FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 31 
 
 fifteenth century, were the best protectors of the people, and aided 
 them in their struggles against their feudal oppressors. England, 
 however, had made but little advance in commerce or manufac- 
 tures, and the people were still rude and ignorant. The clergy, 
 as in other countries, were the most intelligent and wealthy por- 
 tion of the population, and, consequently, the most influential, 
 although disgraced by many vices. 
 
 Italy then, as now, was divided into many independent states, 
 and distracted by civil and religious dissensions. The duchy of 
 Milan was ruled by Ludovico Moro, son of the celebrated Francis 
 Sforza. Naples, called a kingdom, had just been conquered by 
 the French. Florence was under the sway of the Medici. Ven- 
 ice, whose commercial importance had begun to decline, was 
 controlled by an oligarchy of nobles. The chair of St. Peter was 
 filled by pope Alexander VI., a pontiff who has obtained an infa- 
 mous immortality by the vices of debauchery, cruelty, and treach- 
 ery. The papacy was probably in its most corrupt state, and 
 those who had the control of its immense patronage, disregarded 
 the loud call for reformation which was raised in every corner of 
 Christendom. The popes were intent upon securing temporal as 
 well as spiritual power, and levied oppressive taxes on both their 
 spiritual and temporal subjects. 
 
 The great northern kingdoms of Europe, which are now so 
 considerable, — Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, — did not, 
 at the beginning of the sixteenth century, attract much attention. 
 They were plunged in barbarism and despotism, and the light of 
 science or religion rarely penetrated into the interior. The mon- 
 archs were sensual and cruel, the nobles profligate and rapacious, 
 the clergy ignorant and corrupt, and the people degraded, and yet 
 insensible to their degradation, with no aspirations for freedom, 
 and no appreciation of the benefits of civilization. Such heroes as 
 Peter and Gustavus Adolphus had not yet appeared. Nor were 
 these northern nations destined to be immediately benefited by the 
 impulse which the reformation gave, with the exception of Sweden, 
 then the most powerful of these kingdoms. 
 
 The Greek empire became extinct when Constantinople was 
 taken by the Turks, in 1453. On its ruins, the Ottoman power 
 was raised. At the close of the fifteenth century, the Turkish 
 
32 CHARLES V. [CHAP. III. 
 
 arms were very powerful, and Europe again trembled before the 
 Moslems. Greece and the whole of Western Asia were obedient 
 to the sultan. But his power did not reach its culminating point 
 until a century afterwards. 
 
 Such were the various states of Europe when the Reformation 
 broke out. Maximilian was emperor of Germany, and Charles V. 
 had just inherited, from his father, Philip the Fair, who had mar- 
 ried a daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the kingdom of Spain, 
 in addition to the dominion of the Netherlands. 
 
 By the death of Maximilian, in 1519, the youthful sovereign of 
 Spain and the Netherlands came into possession of the Austrian 
 dominions ; and the electors, shortly after, chose him emperor of 
 Germany. 
 
 He was born at Ghent, A. D. 1500, and was educated with 
 great care. He early displayed his love of government, and, at 
 fifteen, was present at the deliberations of the cabinet. But he 
 had no taste for learning, and gave but few marks of that genius 
 which he afterwards evinced. He was much attached to his 
 Flemish subjects, and, during the first year of his reign, gave great 
 offence to the grandees of Spain and the nobles of Germany by 
 his marked partiality for those men who had been his early com- 
 panions. 
 
 It is difficult to trace, in the career of Charles V., any powerful 
 motives of conduct, separate from the. desire of aggrandizement. 
 The interests of the church, with which he was identified, and the 
 true welfare of his subjects, were, at different times, sacrificed to his 
 ambition. Had there been no powerful monarchs on the other 
 thrones of Europe, his dreams of power might possibly have been 
 realized. But at this period there happened to be a constellation 
 of princes. 
 
 The greatest of these, and the chief rival through life of 
 Charles, was Francis I. of France. He had even anticipated an 
 election to the imperial crown, which would have made him more 
 powerful than even Charles himself. The electors feared both, 
 and chose Frederic of Saxony ; but he declined the dangerous 
 post. Charles, as Archduke of Austria, had such great and 
 obvious claims, that they could not be disregarded. He was there- 
 fore the fortunate candidate. But his election was a great disap- 
 
CHAP. III.] WARS BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS. 33 
 
 pointment to Francis, and he could not conceal his mortification. 
 Peace could not long subsist between two envious and ambitious 
 princes. Francis was nearly of the same age as Charles, had 
 inherited nearly despotic power, was free from financial embarrass- 
 ments, and ruled over an united and loyal people. He was therefore 
 no contemptible match for Charles. In addition, he strengthened 
 himself by alliances with the Swiss and Venetians. Charles 
 sought the favor of the pope and Henry VIII. of England. The 
 real causes of war were mutual jealousies, and passion for military 
 glory. The assigned causes were, that Charles did not respect 
 the claims of Francis as king of Naples ; and, on the other hand, 
 that Francis had seized the duchy of Milan, which was a fief of 
 the empire, and also retained the duchy of Burgundy, the patri- 
 monial inheritance of the emperor. 
 
 The political history of Europe, for nearly half a century, is a 
 record of the wars between these powerful princes, of their mutual 
 disasters, disappointments, and successes. Other contests were 
 involved in these, and there were also some which arose from 
 causes independent of mutual jealousy, such as the revolt of the 
 Spanish grandees, of the peasants in Germany, and of the inva- 
 sion of the empire by the Turks. During the reign of Charles, 
 was also the division of the princes of Germany, on grounds of 
 religion — the foundation of the contest which, after the death of 
 Charles, convulsed Germany for thirty years. But the Thirty 
 Years' War was a religious war — was one of the political conse- 
 quences of the Reformation. The wars between Charles and 
 Francis were purely wars of military ambition. Charles had 
 greater territories and larger armies ; but Francis had more money, 
 and more absolute control over his forces. Charles's power was 
 checked in Spain by the free spirit of the Cortes, and in Ger- 
 many by the independence of the princes, and by the embarrass- 
 ing questions which arose out of the Reformation. 
 
 It would be tedious to read the various wars between Charles 
 and his rival. Each of them gained, at different times, great 
 successes, and each experienced, in turn, the most humiliating 
 reverses. Francis was even taken prisoner at the battle of Pavia, 
 in 1525, and confined in a fortress at Madrid, until he promised to 
 the victors the complete dismemberment of France — an extorted 
 
34 WARS BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 promise he never meant to keep. No sooner had he recovered 
 his liberty, than he violated all his oaths, and Europe was again 
 the scene of fresh nostilities. The passion of revenge was now 
 added to that of ambition, and, as the pope had favored the cause 
 of Francis, the generals of Charles invaded Italy. Rome was 
 taken and sacked by the constable Bourbon, a French noble 
 whom Francis had slighted, and cruelties and outrages were per- 
 petrated by the imperial forces which never disgraced Alaric or 
 Attila. 
 
 Charles affected to be filled with grief in view of the victories 
 of his generals, and pretended that they acted without his orders. 
 He employed every artifice to deceive indignant Christendom, and 
 appointed prayers and processions throughout Spain for the re- 
 covery of the pope's liberty, which one stroke of his pen could 
 have secured. Thus it was, that the most Catholic and bigoted 
 prince in Europe seized the pope's person, and sacked his city, at 
 the very time when Luther was prosecuting his reform. And 
 this fact shows how much more powerfully the emperor was influ- 
 enced by political, than by religious considerations. It also shows 
 the providence of God in permitting the only men, who could 
 have arrested the reformation, to spend their strength in battling 
 each other, rather than the heresy which they deplored. Had 
 Charles been less powerful and ambitious, he probably would have 
 contented himself in punishing heretics, and in uniting with his 
 natural ally, the pope, in suppressing every insurrection which had 
 for its object the rights of conscience and the enjoyment of popu- 
 lar liberty. 
 
 The war was continued for two years longer between Francis 
 and Charles, with great acrimony, but with various success, both 
 parties being, at one time, strengthened by alliances, and then 
 again weakened by desertions. At last, both parties were ex- 
 hausted, and were willing to accede to terms which they had 
 previously rejected with disdain. Francis was the most weakened 
 and disheartened, but Charles was the most perplexed. The 
 troubles growing out of the Reformation demanded his attention, 
 and the Turks, at this period a powerful nation, were about in- 
 vading Austria. The Spaniards murmured at the unusual length 
 of the war, and money was with difficulty obtained. 
 
CHAP. III.] DIET OF SPIRES. 35 
 
 Hence the peace of Cambray, August 5, 1529 ; which was very- 
 advantageous to Charles, in consequence of the impulsive charac- 
 ter of Francis, and his impatience to recover his children, whom 
 he had surrendered to Charles in order to recover his liberty. He 
 agreed to pay two millions of crowns for the ransom of his sons, 
 and renounce his pretensions in the Low Countries and Italy. He, 
 moreover, lost reputation, and the confidence of Europe, by the 
 abandonment of his allies. Charles remained the arbiter of Italy, 
 and was attentive to the interests of all who adhered to him. 
 With less chivalry than his rival, he had infinitely more honor. 
 Cold, sagacious, selfish, and ambitious, he was, however, just, and 
 kept his word. He combined qualities we often see in selfish 
 men — a sort of legal and technical regard to the letter of the law, 
 with the constant violation of its spirit. A Shylock might not 
 enter a false charge upon his books, while he would adhere to a 
 most extortionate bargain. 
 
 Charles, after the treaty of Cambray was signed, visited Italy 
 with all the pomp of a conqueror. At Genoa, he honored Doria 
 with many marks of distinction, and bestowed upon the republic 
 new privileges. He settled all his difficulties with Milan, Venice, 
 and Florence, and reestablished the authority of the Medici. He 
 was then crowned by the pope, whom he had trampled on, as King 
 of Lombardy and Emperor of the Romans, and hastened into 
 Germany, which imperatively required his presence, both on 
 account of dissensions among the princes, which the reformation 
 caused, and the invasion of Austria by three hundred thousand 
 Turks. He resolved to recover the old prerogatives of the em- 
 peror of Germany, and crush those opinions which were under- 
 mining his authority, as well as the power of Rome, with which 
 his own was identified. 
 
 A Diet of the empire was accordingly summoned at Spires, in 
 order to take into consideration the state of religion, the main 
 cause of all the disturbances in Germany. It met on the 15th of 
 March, 1529, and the greatest address was required to prevent 
 a civil war. All that Charles could obtain from the assembled 
 princes was, the promise to prevent any further innovations. A 
 decree to that effect was passed, against which, however, the 
 followers of Luther protested, the most powerful of whom were 
 
36 HOSTILITIES BETWEEN CHARLES AND FRANCIS. [CHAP. III. 
 
 the Elector of Saxony, the Marquis of Brandenburg, the Landgrave 
 of Hesse, the Duk^ of Lunenburg, the Prince of Anhalt, and the 
 deputies of fourteen imperial cities. This protest gave to them 
 the name of Protestants — a name ever since retained. Soon 
 after, the diet assembled at Augsburg, when the articles of faith 
 among the Protestants were read, — known as the Confession of 
 Augsburg, — which, however, the emperor opposed. In conse- 
 quence of his decree, the Protestant princes entered into a league 
 at Smalcalde, (December 22, 1530,) to support one another, and 
 defend their religion. Circumstances continually occurred to 
 convince Charles, that the extirpation of heresy by the sword was 
 impossible in Germany, and moreover, he saw it was for his 
 interest — to which his eye was peculiarly open — to unite all the 
 German provinces in a vigorous confederation. Accordingly, 
 after many difficulties, and with great reluctance, terms of pacifi- 
 cation were agreed upon at Nuremburg, (1531,) and ratified in 
 the diet at Ratisbon, shortly after, by which it was agreed that no 
 person should be molested in his religion, and that the Protestants, 
 on their part, should assist the emperor in resisting the invasion 
 of the Turks. The Germans, with their customary good faith, 
 furnished all the assistance they promised, and one of the best 
 armies ever raised in Germany, amounting to ninety thousand 
 foot, and thirty thousand horse, took the field, commanded by 
 the emperor in person. But the campaign ended without any 
 memorable event, both parties having erred from excessive 
 caution. 
 
 Francis soon availed himself of the difficulties and dangers of 
 his rival, formed an alliance with the Turks, put forth his old 
 claims, courted the favor of the German Protestants, and renewed 
 hostilities. He marched towards Italy, and took possession of 
 the dominions of the duke of Savoy, whom the emperor, at this 
 juncture, was unable to assist, on account of his African expe- 
 dition against the pirate Barbarossa. This noted corsair had 
 built up a great power in Tunis and Algiers, and committed 
 shameful ravages on all Christian nations. Charles landed in 
 Africa with thirty thousand men, took the fortress of Goletta, de- 
 feated the pirate's army, captured his capital, and restored the 
 exiled Moorish king to his throne. In the midst of these victories, 
 
CHAP. III.] AFRICAN WAR. 37 
 
 Francis invaded Savoy. Charles was terribly indignant, and 
 loaded his rival with such violent invectives that Francis challenged 
 him to single combat. The challenge was accepted, but the duel 
 was never fought. Charles, in his turn, invaded France, with a 
 large army, for that age — forty thousand foot and ten thousand 
 horse ; but the expedition was unfortunate. Francis acted on the 
 defensive with admirable skill, and was fortunate in his general, 
 Montmorency, who seemed possessed with the spirit of a Fabius. 
 The emperor, at last, was compelled to return ingloriously, having 
 lost half of his army without having gained a single important ad- 
 vantage. The joy of Francis, however, was embittered by the death 
 of the dauphin, attributed by some to the infamous Catharine de 
 Medici, wife of the Duke of Orleans, in order to secure the crown 
 to her husband. War did not end with the retreat of Charles, but 
 was continued, with great personal animosity, until mutual exhaus- 
 tion led to a truce for ten years, concluded at Nice, in 1538. Both 
 parties had exerted their utmost strength, and neither had obtained 
 any signal advantage. Notwithstanding their open and secret 
 enmity, they had an interview shortly after the truce, in which 
 both vied with each other in expressions of esteem and friendship, 
 and in the exhibition of chivalrous courtesies — a miserable mock- 
 ery, as shown by the violation of the terms of the truce, and the 
 renewal of hostilities in 1541. 
 
 These were, doutless, facilitated by Charles's unfortunate expe- 
 dition against Algiers in 1541, by which he gained nothing but 
 disgrace. His army was wasted by famine and disease, and a 
 tempest destroyed his fleet. All the complicated miseries which 
 war produces were endured by his unfortunate troops, but a small 
 portion of whom ever returned. Francis, taking advantage of 
 these misfortunes, made immense military preparations, formed a 
 league with the Sultan Solyman, and brought five armies into the 
 field. He assumed the offensive, and invaded the Netherlands, 
 but obtained no laurels. Charles formed a league with Henry 
 VIII., and the war raged, with various success, without either 
 party obtaining any signal advantage, for three years, when a 
 peace was concluded at Crespy, in 1544. Charles, being in the 
 heart of France with an invading army, had the apparent advantage ; 
 but the difficulty of retreating out of France in case of disaster, 
 4 
 
38 COUNCIL OF TRENT. [CHAP. III. 
 
 and the troubles in Germany, forced him to suspend his militaiy 
 operations. The £ope, also, was offended because he had con- 
 ceded so much to the Protestants, and the Turks pressed him on 
 the side of Hungary. Moreover, he was afflicted with the gout, 
 which indisposed him for complicated enterprises. In view of 
 these things, he made peace with Francis, formed a strong alliance 
 with the pope, and resolved to extirpate the Protestant religion, 
 which was the cause of so many insurrections in Germany. 
 
 In the mean time, the pope resolved to assemble the famous 
 Council of Trent, the legality of which the Protestants denied. It 
 met in December, 1545, and was the last general council which 
 the popes ever assembled. It met with a view of healing the 
 dissensions of the church, and confirming the authority of the 
 pope. The princes of Europe hoped that important reforms would 
 have been made ; but nothing of consequence was done, and the 
 attention of the divines was directed to dogmas rather than morals. 
 The great number of Italian bishops enabled the pope to have every 
 thing his own way, in spite of the remonstrance of the German, 
 Spanish, and French prelates, and the ambassadors of the differ- 
 ent monarchs, who also had seats in the council. The decrees of 
 this council, respecting articles of faith, are considered as a final 
 authority by the Roman church. It denounced the reform of 
 Luther, and confirmed the various ecclesiastical usurpations which 
 had rendered the reformation necessary. It lasted twenty-two 
 years, at different intervals, during the pontificate of five popes. 
 The Jesuits, just rising into notice, had considerable influence in the 
 council, in consequence of the learning and ability of their repre- 
 sentatives, and especially of Laynez, the general of the order. 
 The Dominicans and Franciscans manifested their accustomed 
 animosities and rivalries, and questions were continually proposed 
 and agitated, which divided the assembly. The French bishops, 
 headed by the Cardinal of Lorraine, were opposed to the high pre- 
 tensions of the Italians, especially of Cardinal Morone, the papal 
 legate ; but, by artifice and management, the more strenuous 
 adherents of the pope attained their ends. 
 
 About the time the council assembled, died three distinguished 
 persons — Henry VIII. of England, Francis I., and Luther. 
 Charles V. was freed from his great rival, and from the only 
 
CHAP. III.] TREACHERY OF MAURICE. 39 
 
 private person in his dominions he had reason to fear. He now, 
 in good earnest, turned his attention to the internal state of his 
 empire, and resolved to crush the Reformation, and, by force, if 
 it were necessary. He commenced by endeavoring to amuse and 
 deceive the Protestants, and evinced that profound dissimulation, 
 which was one of his characteristics. He formed a strict alliance 
 with the pope, made a truce with Solyman, and won over to his 
 side Maurice and other German princes. His military prepara- 
 tions and his intrigues alarmed the Protestants, and they prepared 
 themselves for resistance. Religious zeal seconded their military 
 ardor. One of the largest armies, which had been raised in Eu- 
 rope for a century, took the fields and Charles, shut up in Ratis- 
 bon, was in no condition to fight. Unfortunately for the Protes- 
 tants, they negotiated instead of acting. The emperor was in 
 their power, but he was one of those few persons who remained 
 haughty and inflexible in the midst of calamities. He pronounced 
 the ban of the empire against the Protestant princes, who were no 
 match for a man who had spent his life in the field : they acted 
 without concert, and committed many errors. Their forces de- 
 creased, while those of the emperor increased by large additions 
 from Italy and Flanders. Instead of decisive action, the Protes- 
 tants dallied and procrastinated, unwilling to make peace, and 
 unwilling to face their sovereign. Their army melted away, and 
 nothing of importance was effected. 
 
 Maurice, cousin to the Elector of Saxony, with a baseness to which 
 histoiy scarcely affords a parallel, deserted his allies, and joined 
 the emperor, purely from ambitious motives, and invaded the terri- 
 tories of his kinsman with twelve thousand men. The confederates 
 made overtures of peace, which being rejected, they separated, 
 and most of them submitted to the emperor. He treated them 
 with haughtiness and rigor, imposed on them most humiliating 
 terms, forced them to renounce the league of Smalcalde, to give 
 up their military stores, to admit garrisons into their cities, and to 
 pay large contributions in money. 
 
 The Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse, however, 
 held out ; and such was the condition of the emperor, that he could 
 not immediately attack them. But the death of Francis gave him 
 leisure to invade Saxony, and the elector was defeated at the battle 
 
40 CAPTIVITY OF THE LANDGKAVE OF HESSE. [CHAP. III. 
 
 of Mulhausen, (1547,) and taken prisoner. The captive prince 
 approached the victor without sullenness or pride. " The fortune 
 of war," said he, " has made me your prisoner, most gracious 
 emperor, and I hope to be treated " Here Charles inter- 
 rupted him — " And am I, at last, acknowledged to be emperor ? 
 Charles of Ghent was the only title you lately allowed me. You 
 shall be treated as you deserve." At these words he turned his 
 back upon him with a haughty air. 
 
 The unfortunate prince was closely guarded by Spanish soldiers, 
 and brought to a trial before a court martial, at which presided the 
 infamous Duke of Alva, afterwards celebrated for his cruelties in 
 Holland. He was convicted of treason and rebellion, and sen- 
 tenced to death — a sentence which no court martial had a right 
 to inflict on the first prince of the empire. He was treated with 
 ignominious harshness, which he bore with great magnanimity, but 
 finally made a treaty with the emperor, by which, for the preserva- 
 tion of his life, he relinquished his kingdom to Maurice. 
 
 The landgrave was not strong enough to resist the power of 
 Cbarles, after all his enemies were subdued, and he made his sub- 
 mission, though Charles extorted the most rigorous conditions, he 
 being required to surrender his person, abandon the league of 
 Smalcalde, implore pardon on his knees, demolish his fortifications, 
 and pay an enormous fine. In short, it was an unconditional sub- 
 mission. Beside infinite mortifications, he was detained a prisoner, 
 which, on Charles's part, was but injury added to insult — an act 
 of fraud and injustice which inspired the prince, and the Protes- 
 tants, generally, with unbounded indignation. The Elector of Bran- 
 denburg and Maurice in vain solicited for his liberty, and showed 
 the infamy to which he would be exposed if he detained the land- 
 grave a prisoner. But the emperor listened to their remonstrances 
 with the most provoking coolness, and showed very plainly that he 
 was resolved to crush all rebellion, suppress Protestantism, and raise 
 up an absolute throne in Germany, to the subversion of its ancient 
 constitution. 
 
 To all appearances, his triumph was complete. His great rival 
 was dead ; his enemies were subdued and humiliated ; Luther's 
 voice was hushed ; and immense contributions filled the imperial 
 treasury. He now began to realize the dreams of his life. He 
 
CHAP. III.] HEROISM OF MAURICE. 41 
 
 was unquestionably, at that time, the most absolute and powerful 
 prince Europe has ever seen since Charlemagne, with the exception 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 But what an impressive moral does the histoiy of human great- 
 ness convey ! The hour of triumph is often but the harbinger of 
 defeat and shame. " Pride goeth before destruction." Charles 
 V., with all his policy and experience, overreached himself. The 
 failure of his ambitious projects and the restoration of Protestant- 
 ism, were brought about by instruments the least anticipated. 
 
 The cause of Protestantism and the liberties of Germany were 
 endangered by the treachery of Maurice, who received, as his 
 reward, the great electorate of Saxony. He had climbed to the 
 summit of glory and power. Who would suppose that this traitor 
 prince would desert the emperor, who had so splendidly rewarded 
 his services, and return to the rescue of those princes whom he 
 had so basely betrayed ? But who can thread the labyrinth of an 
 intriguing and selfish heart ? Who can calculate the movements 
 of an unprincipled and restless politician ? Maurice, at length, 
 awoke to the perception of the real condition of his country. He 
 saw its liberties being overturned by the most ambitious man 
 whom ten centuries had produced. He saw the cause, which 
 his convictions told him was the true one, in danger of being 
 wrecked. He was, moreover, wounded by the pride, coldness, and 
 undisguised selfishness of the emperor. He was indignant that 
 the landgrave, his father-in-law, should be retained a prisoner, 
 against all the laws of honor and of justice. He resolved to come 
 to the rescue of his countiy. He formed his plans with the great- 
 est coolness, and exercised a power of dissimulation that has no 
 parallel in history. But his address was even greater than his 
 hypocrisy. He gained the confidence of the Protestants, without 
 losing that of the emperor. He even obtained the command of 
 an army which Charles sent to reduce the rebellious city of Mag- 
 deburg, and, while he was besieging the city, he was negotiating 
 with the generals who defended it for a general union against the 
 emperor. Magdeburg surrendered in 1551. Its chieftains were 
 secretly assured that the terms of capitulation should not be ob- 
 served. His next point was, to keep the army together until his 
 schemes were ripened, and then to arrest the emperor, whose 
 4* 
 
42 MISFORTUNES OF CHARLES. [CHAP. III. 
 
 thoughts now centred on the council of Trent. So he proposed 
 sending ProtestanJ divines to the council, but delayed, their depart- 
 ure by endless negotiations about the terms of a safe conduct. 
 He, moreover, formed a secret treaty with Henry II., the successor 
 of Francis, whose animosity against Charles was as intense as was 
 that of his father. When his preparations were completed^ he 
 joined his army in Thuringia, and took the field against the empe- 
 ror, who had no suspicion of his designs, and who blindly trusted 
 to him, deeming it impossible that a man, whom he had so honored 
 and rewarded, could turn against him. March 18, 1552, Maurice 
 published his manifesto, justifying his conduct ; and his reasons 
 were, to secure the Protestant religion, to maintain the constitution 
 of the empire, and deliver the Landgrave of Hesse from bondage. 
 He was powerfully supported by the French king, and, with a 
 rapidly increasing army, marched towards Inspruck, where the 
 emperor was quartered. The emperor was thunderstruck when 
 he heard the tidings of his desertion, and was in no condition to 
 resist him. He endeavored to gain time by negotiations, but these 
 were without effect. Maurice, at the head of a large army, ad- 
 vanced rapidly into Upper Germany. Castles and cities surren- 
 dered as he advanced, and so rapid was his progress, that he came 
 near taking the emperor captive. Charles was obliged to fly, in 
 the middle of the night, and to travel on a litter by torchlight, 
 amid the passes of the Alps. He scarcely left Inspruck before 
 Maurice entered it — but too late to gain the prize he sought. 
 The emperor rallied his armies, and a vigorous war was carried 
 on between the contending parties, to the advantage of the Protes- 
 tants. The emperor, after a while, was obliged to make peace 
 with them, for his Spanish subjects were disgusted with the war, 
 his funds were exhausted, his forces dispersed, and his territories 
 threatened by the French. On the 2d of August, 1552, was 
 concluded the peace of Passau, which secured the return of the 
 landgrave to his dominions, the freedom of religion to the Protes- 
 tants, and the preservation of the German constitution. The san- 
 guine hopes of the emperor were dispelled, and all his ambitious 
 schemes defeated, and he left to meditate, in the intervals of the 
 pains which he suffered from the gout, on the instability of ali 
 greatness, and the vanity of human life. Maurice was now 
 
CHAP. III.] TREATY OF PASSAU. 43 
 
 extolled as extravagantly as he had been before denounced, and 
 his treachery justified, even by grave divines. But what is most 
 singular in the whole affair, was, that the French king, while per- 
 secuting Protestants at home, should protect them abroad. But 
 this conduct may confirm, in a signal manner, the great truth of 
 history, that God regulates the caprice of human passions, and 
 makes them subservient to the accomplishment of his own pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The labors and perplexities of Charles V. were not diminished 
 by the treaty of Passau. He continued his hostilities against the 
 French and against the Turks. He was obliged to raise the siege 
 of Metz, which was gallantly defended by the Duke of Guise. 
 To his calamities in France, were added others in Italy. Siena 
 revolted against his government, and Naples was threatened by the 
 Turks. The imperialists were unsuccessful in Italy and in Hun- 
 gary, and the Archduke Ferdinand was obliged to abandon Tran- 
 sylvania. But war was earned on in the Low Countries with 
 considerable vigor, 
 
 Charles, whose only passion was the aggrandizement of his 
 house, now projected a marriage of his son, Philip, with Mary, 
 queen of England. The queen, dazzled by the prospect of mar- 
 rying the heir of the greatest monarch in Europe, and eager to 
 secure his powerful aid to reestablish Catholicism in England, 
 listened to his proposal, although it was disliked by the nation. In 
 spite of the remonstrance of the house of commons, the marriage 
 treaty was concluded, and the marriage celebrated, (1554.) 
 
 Soon after, Charles formed the extraordinary resolution of re- 
 signing his dominions to his son, and of retiring to a quiet retreat. 
 Diocletian is the only instance of a prince, capable of holding the 
 reins of government, who had adopted a similar course. All 
 Europe was astonished at the resolution of Charles, and all histo- 
 rians of the period have moralized on the event. But it ceases to 
 be mysterious, when we remember that Charles was no nearer 
 the accomplishment of the ends which animated his existence, 
 than he was thirty years before ; that he was disgusted and 
 wearied with the world ; that he suffered severely from the gout, 
 which, at times, incapacitated him for the government of his 
 extensive dominions. It was never his habit to intrust others with 
 
44 CHARACTER OF CHARLES V. [CHAP. III. 
 
 duties and labors which he could perform himself, and he felt that 
 his empire needed a more powerful protector than his infirmities 
 permitted him to De. He was grown prematurely old ; he felt 
 his declining health ; longed for repose, and sought religious con- 
 solation. Of all his vast possessions, he only reserved an annual 
 pension of one hundred thousand crowns ; resigning Spain and the 
 Low Countries into the hands of Philip, and the empire of Ger- 
 many to his brother Ferdinand, who had already been elected as 
 King of the Romans. He then set out for his retreat in Spain, 
 which was the monastery of St. Justus, near Placentia, situated in 
 a lovely vale, surrounded with lofty trees, watered by a small 
 brook, and rendered attractive by the fertility of the soil, and the 
 delightful temperature of the climate. Here he spent his last 
 days in agricultural improvements and religious exercises, appa- 
 rently regardless of that noisy world which he had deserted for- 
 ever, and indifferent to those political storms which his restless 
 ambition had raised. Here his grandeur and his worldly hopes 
 were buried in preparing himself for the future world. He lived 
 with great simplicity, for two years after his retreat, and died 
 (1558,) from the effects of the gout, which, added to his great 
 labors, had shattered his constitution. He was not what the world 
 would call a great genius, like Napoleon ; but he was a man of 
 great sagacity, untiring industry, and respectable attainments. 
 He was cautious,, cold, and selfish ; had but little faith in human 
 virtue ; and was a slave, in his latter days, to superstition. He 
 was neither affable nor courteous, but was sincere in his attach- 
 ments, and munificent in rewarding his generals and friends. He 
 was not envious nor cruel, but inordinately ambitious, and intent 
 on aggrandizing his family. This was his characteristic defect, 
 and this, in a man so prominent and so favored by circumstances, 
 was enough to keep Europe in a turmoil for nearly half a cen- 
 tury. 
 
 References. — Robertson's History of Charles V. Ranke's History of 
 the Reformation. Kohlrausch's History of Germany. Russell's Modern 
 Europe. The above-mentioned authors are easily accessible, and are all 
 that are necessary for the student. Robertson's History is a classic, and 
 an immortal work. 
 
CHAP. IV.] RISE OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY. 45 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HENRY VIII. 
 
 The history of Europe in the sixteenth century is peculiarly 
 the history of the wars of kings, and of their efforts to establish 
 themselves and their families on absolute thrones. The monoto- 
 nous, and almost exclusive, record of royal pleasures and pursuits 
 shows in how little consideration the people were held. They 
 struggled, and toiled, and murmured as they do now. They 
 probably had the same joys and sorrows as in our times. But, in 
 these times, they have considerable influence on the government, 
 the religion, the literature, and the social life of nations. In the 
 sixteenth century, this influence was not so apparent ; but power 
 of all kinds seemed to emanate from kings and nobles ; at least 
 from wealthy and cultivated classes. When this is the case, 
 when kings give a law to society, history is not unphilosophical 
 which recognizes chiefly their enterprises and ideas. 
 
 The rise of absolute monarchy on the ruins of feudal states is 
 one of the chief features of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 There was every where a strong tendency to centralization. 
 Provinces, before independent, were controlled by a central 
 government. Standing armies took the place of feudal armies. 
 Kings took away from nobles the right to coin money, administer 
 justice, and impose taxes. The power of the crown became 
 supreme and unlimited. 
 
 But some monarchs were more independent than others, in pro- 
 portion as the power of nobles was suppressed, or, as the cities 
 sided with the central government, or, as provinces were con- 
 nected and bound together. The power of Charles V. was some- 
 what limited, in Spain, by the free spirit of the Cortes, and, in Ger- 
 many, by the independence of the princes of the empire. But, in 
 France and England, the king was more absolute, although he 
 did not rule over so great extent of territory as did the emperor 
 of Germany ; and this is one reason why Francis I. proved so 
 strong an antagonist to his more powerful rival. 
 
46 HENRY VIII. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 The history of France, during the reign of this monarch, is also 
 the histoiy of Charles V., since they were both engaged in the 
 same wars ; which wars have already been alluded to. Both of 
 these monarchs failed in the objects of their existence. If Charles 
 did not realize his dream of universal empire, neither did Francis 
 leave his kingdom, at his death, in a more prosperous state than 
 he found it. 
 
 Francis I. was succeeded by his son Henry II., a warlike prince, 
 but destitute of prudence, and under the control of women. His 
 policy, however, was substantially that of his father, and he con- 
 tinued hostilities against the emperor of Germany, till his resigna- 
 tion. He was a bitter persecutor of the Protestants, and the seeds 
 of subsequent civil wars were sown by his zeal. He was removed 
 from his throne prematurely, being killed at a tournament, in 
 1559, soon after the death of Charles V. Tournaments ceased 
 with his death. 
 
 The reign of Henry VIII., the other great contemporary of 
 Charles V., merits a larger notice, not only because his reign was 
 the commencement of a new era in England, but, also, because the 
 affairs, which engaged his attention, are not much connected with 
 continental history. 
 
 He ascended the throne in the year 1509, in his eighteenth 
 year, without opposition, and amid the universal joy of the nation ; 
 for his manners were easy and frank, his disposition was cheerful, 
 and his person was handsome. He had made respectable literary 
 attainments, and he gave promise of considerable abilities. He 
 was married, soon after his accession, to Catharine, daughter of 
 the King of Spain, and the first years of his reign were happy, 
 both to himself and to his subjects. He had a well-filled treasury, 
 which his father had amassed with great care, a devoted people, 
 and an obedient parliament. All circumstances seemed to con- 
 spire to strengthen his power, and to make him the arbiter of 
 Europe. 
 
 But this state did not last long. The young king was resolved 
 to make war on France, but was diverted from his aim by troubles 
 in Scotland, growing out of his own rapacity — a trait which ever 
 peculiarly distinguished him. These troubles resulted in a war 
 with the Scots, who were defeated at the memorable battle of 
 
CHAP. IV.] EISE OF CARDINAL WOLSEY. 47 
 
 Flodden Field, which Sir Walter Scott, in his Marmion, has im- 
 mortalized. The Scotch commanders, Lenox and Argyle, both 
 perished, as well as the valiant King James himself. There is 
 scarcely an illustrious Scotch family who had not an ancestor slain 
 on that fatal day, September 9, 1513. But the victory was dearly 
 bought, and Surrey, the English general, afterwards Duke of Nor- 
 folk, was unable to pursue his advantages. 
 
 About this time, the celebrated Cardinal Wolsey began to act a 
 conspicuous part in English affairs. His father was a butcher of 
 Ipswich ; but was able to give his son a good education. He 
 studied at Oxford, was soon distinguished for his attainments, and 
 became tutor to the sons of the Marquis of Dorset. The marquis 
 gave him the rich living of Limington ; but the young parson, with 
 his restless ambition, and love of excitement and pleasure, was 
 soon wearied of a country life. He left his parish to become do- 
 mestic chaplain to the treasurer of Calais. This post introduced 
 him to Fox, bishop of Winchester, who shared with the Earl of 
 Surrey the highest favors of royalty. The minister and diplomatist, 
 finding in the young man learning, tact, vivacity, and talent for 
 business, introduced him to the king, hoping that he would prove 
 an agreeable companion for Henry, and a useful tool for himself. 
 But those who are able to manage other people's business, gen- 
 erally are able to manage their own. The tool of Fox looked 
 after his own interest chiefly. He supplanted his master in the 
 royal favor, and soon acquired more favor and influence at court 
 than any of the ministers or favorites. Though twenty years older 
 than Hemy, he adapted himself to all his tastes, flattered his vanity 
 and passions, and became his bosom friend. He gossiped with 
 him about Thomas Aquinas, the Indies, and affairs of gallantry. 
 He was a great refiner of sensual pleasures, had a passion for 
 magnificence and display, and a real genius for court entertain- 
 ments. He could eat and drink with the gayest courtiers, sing 
 merry songs, and join in the dance. He was blunt and frank in 
 his manners ; but these only concealed craft and cunning. " It is 
 art to conceal art," and Wolsey was a master of all the tricks of 
 dissimulation. He rose rapidly after he had once gained the heart 
 of the king. He became successively dean of York, papal legate, 
 cardinal, bishop of Lincoln, archbishop of York, and lord chancellor. 
 
48 MAGNIFICENCE OF HENRY VIII. [cHAP. IV. 
 
 He also obtained the administration and the temporalities of the 
 rich abbey of St. Albans, and of the bishoprics of Bath and Wells, 
 Durham and Winchester. By these gifts, his revenues almost 
 equalled those of the crown ; and he squandered them in a style of 
 unparalleled extravagance. He dressed in purple and gold, sup- 
 ported a train of eight hundred persons, and built Hampton Court. 
 He was the channel through which the royal favors flowed. But 
 he made a good chancellor, dispensed justice, repressed the power 
 of the nobles, encouraged and rewarded literary men, and endowed 
 colleges. He was the most magnificent and the most powerful 
 subject that England has ever seen. Even nobles were proud to 
 join his train of dependants. There was nothing sordid or vulgar, 
 however, in all his ostentation. Henry took pleasure in his pomp, 
 for it was a reflection of the greatness of his own majesty. 
 
 The first years of the reign of Henry VIII., after the battle of 
 Flodden Field, were spent in pleasure, and in great public displays 
 of magnificence, which charmed the people, and made him a 
 popular idol. Among these, the interview of the king with Fran- 
 cis I. is the most noted, on the 4th of June, 1520; the most gor- 
 geous pageant of the sixteenth centuiy, designed by Wolsey, who 
 had a genius for such things. The monarchs met in a beautiful 
 valley, where jousts and tournaments were held, and where was 
 exhibited all the magnificence which the united resources of 
 France and England could command. The interview was sought 
 by Francis to win, through Wolsey, the favor of the king, and to 
 counterbalance the advantages which it was supposed Charles V. 
 had gained on a previous visit to the king at Dover. 
 
 The getting up of the " Field of the Cloth of Gold " created 
 some murmurs among the English nobility, many of whom were 
 injured by the expensive tastes of Wolsey. Among these was the 
 Duke of Buckingham, hereditary high constable of England, and 
 connected with the royal house of the Plantagenets. Henry, from 
 motives of jealousy, both on account of his birth and fortune, had 
 long singled him out as his victim. He was, also, obnoxious to 
 Wolsey, since he would not flatter his pride, and he had, moreover, 
 insulted him. It is very easy for a king to find a pretence for 
 committing a crime ; and Buckingham was arrested, tried, and ex- 
 ecuted, for making traitorous prophecies. His real crime was in 
 
CHAP. IV.] ANNE BOLEYN. 49 
 
 being more powerful than it suited the policy of the king. With 
 the death of Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, in 1521, commenced 
 the bloody cruelty of Henry VIII. 
 
 Soon after the death of Buckingham, the king made himself 
 notorious for his theological writings against Luther, whose doc- 
 trines he detested. He ever had a taste for theological disputa- 
 tion, and a love of the schoolmen. His tracts against Luther, 
 very respectable for talent and learning, though disgraced by 
 coarse and vulgar vituperation, secured for him the favor of the 
 pope, who bestowed upon him the title of " Defender of the 
 Faith;" and a strong alliance existed between them until the 
 divorce of Queen Catharine. 
 
 The difficulties and delays, attending this act of cruelty and 
 injustice, constitute no small part of the domestic history of Eng- 
 land during the reign of Henry VIII. Any event, which furnishes 
 subjects of universal gossip and discussion, is ever worthy of his- 
 torical notice, inasmuch as it shows prevailing opinions and tastes. 
 
 Queen Catharine, daughter of Ferdinand, King of Spain, was 
 eight years older than her husband, whom she married in the first 
 year of his reign. She had been previously married to his brother 
 Arthur, who died of the plague in 1502. For several years after 
 her marriage with Henry VIII., her domestic happiness was a 
 subject of remark; and the emperor, Charles V., congratulated her 
 on her brilliant fortune. She was beautiful, sincere, accomplished, 
 religious, and disinterested, and every way calculated to secure, as 
 she had won, the king's affections. 
 
 But among her maids of honor there was one peculiarly ac- 
 complished and fascinating, to whom the king transferred his 
 affections with unwonted vehemence. This was Anne Boleyn, 
 daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, who, from his great wealth, mar- 
 ried Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the first duke of Norfolk. 
 This noble alliance brought Sir Thomas Boleyn into close connec- 
 tion with royalty, and led to the appointment of his daughter to 
 the high post which she held at the court of Queen Catharine. It 
 is probable that the king suppressed his passion for some time ; and 
 it would have been longer concealed, even from its object, had not 
 his jealousy been excited by her attachment to Percy, son of the 
 Earl of Northumberland. The king at last made known his pas» 
 5 
 
50 QUEEN CATHARINE. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 sion ; but the daughter of the Howards was too proud, or too politic, 
 or too high principled, to listen to his overtures. It was only as 
 queen of England, that she would return the passion of her royal 
 lover. Moreover, she resolved to be revenged on the all-powerful 
 cardinal, for assisting in her separation from Percy, whom she 
 loved with romantic attachment. The king waited four years, but 
 Anne remained inflexibly virtuous. He then meditated the divorce 
 from Catharine, as the only way to accomplish the object which 
 now seemed to animate his existence. He confided the matter 
 to his favorite minister ; but Wolsey was thunderstruck at the 
 disclosure, and remained with him four hours on his knees, to 
 dissuade him from a step which he justly regarded as madness. 
 Here Wolsey appears as an honest man and a true friend ; but 
 royal infatuation knows neither wisdom, justice, nor humanity. 
 Wolsey, as a man of the world, here made a blunder, and departed 
 from the policy he had hitherto pursued — that of flattering the 
 humors of his absolute master. Wolsey, however, recommended 
 the king to consult the divines ; for Henry pretended that, after 
 nearly twenty years of married life, he had conscientious scruples 
 about the lawfulness of his marriage. The learned English doc- 
 tors were afraid to pronounce their opinions, and suggested a refer- 
 ence to the fathers. But the king was not content with their 
 authority ; he appealed to the pope, and to the decisions of half of 
 the universities of Europe. It seems very singular that a sovereign 
 so unprincipled, unscrupulous, and passionate, and yet so absolute 
 and powerful as was Henry, should have wasted his time and money 
 in seeking countenance to an act on which he was fully deter- 
 mined, and which countenance he never could reasonably hope 
 to secure. But his character was made up of contradictions. 
 His caprice, violence, and want of good faith, were strangely 
 blended with superstition and reverence for the authority of the 
 church. His temper urged him to the most rigorous measure of 
 injustice ; and his injustice produced no shame, although he was 
 restrained somewhat by the opinions of the very men whom he 
 did net hesitate to murder. 
 
 Qv m Catharine^ besides being a virtuous and excellent woman, 
 was Nyerfully allied, and was a zealous Catholic. Her repudia- 
 tion erefore, could not take place without offending the very 
 
CHAP. IV.] DISGKACE AND DEATH OF WOLSEY. 51 
 
 persons whose favor the king was most anxious to conciliate, 
 especially the Emperor Charles, her nephew, and the pope, and 
 all the high dignitaries and adherents of the church. Even 
 Wolsey could not in honor favor the divorce, although it was his 
 policy to do so. In consequence of his intrigues, and the scandal 
 and offence so outrageous an act as the divorce of Catharine must 
 necessarily produce throughout the civilized world, Henry long 
 delayed to bring the matter to a crisis, being afraid of a war with 
 Charles V., and of the anathemas of the pope. Moreover, he 
 hoped to gain him over, for the pope had sent Cardinal Campeggio 
 to London, to hold, with his legate Wolsey, a court to hear the 
 case. But it was the farthest from his intention to grant the 
 divorce, , for the pope was more afraid of Charles V. than he 
 was of Henry VIII. 
 
 The court settled nothing, and the king's wrath now turned 
 towards Wolsey, whom he suspected of secretly thwarting his 
 measures. The accomplished courtier, so long accustomed to the 
 smiles and favors of royalty, could not bear his disgrace with dig- 
 nity. The proudest man in England became, all at once, the 
 meanest. He wept, he cringed, he lost his spirits ; he surrendered 
 his palace, his treasures, his honors, and his offices, into the hands 
 of him who gave them to him, without a single expostulation ; 
 wrote most abject letters to " his most gracious, most merciful, and 
 most pious sovereign lord ; " and died of a broken heart on his way 
 to a prison and the scaffold. " Had I but served my God as dili- 
 gently as I have served the king, he would not have given me 
 over in my gray hairs " — these were the words of the dying 
 cardinal ; his sad confessions on experiencing the vanity of human 
 life. But the vindictive prince suffered no word of sorrow or 
 regret to escape him, when he heard of the death of his prime 
 minister, and his intimate friend for twenty years. 
 
 Shortly after the disgrace of Wolsey, which happened nearly 
 a year before his death, (1529,) three remarkable men began to 
 figure in English politics and history. These were Sir Thomas 
 More, Thomas Cranmer, and Thomas Cromwell. More T '"as the 
 most accomplished, most learned, and most enlightened >f the 
 three. He was a Catholic, but veiy exemplary in his t? and 
 charitable in his views. In moral elevation of chara : and 
 
52 MORE CEANMEE CEOMWELL. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 beautiful serenity of soul, the annals of the great men of his 
 country furnish no superior. His extensive erudition and moral 
 integrity alone secured him the official station which Wolsey held 
 as lord chancellor. He was always the intimate friend of the lung ; 
 and his conversation, so enlivened by wit, and so rich and varied in 
 matter, caused his society to be universally sought. He discharged 
 his duties with singular conscientiousness and ability ; and no one 
 ever had cause to complain that justice was not rendered him. 
 
 Cranmer' s elevation was owing to a fortunate circumstance, not- 
 withstanding his exalted merit. He happened to say, while tutor 
 to a gentleman of the name of Cressy, in the hearing of Dr. Gar- 
 diner, then secretaiy to Henry, that the proper way to settle the 
 difficulty about the divorce was, to appeal to learned men, who 
 would settle the matter on the sole authority of the Bible, without 
 reference to the pope. This remark was reported to the king, and 
 Cranmer was sent to reside with the father of Anne Boleyn, and 
 was employed in writing a treatise to support his opinion. His 
 ability led to further honors, until, on the death of Warham, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, he was appointed to the vacant see, the first 
 office in dignity and importance in the kingdom, and from which 
 no king, however absolute, could eject him, except by the loss of 
 life. We shall see that, in all matters of religion, Cranmer was 
 the ruling spirit in England until the accession of Mary. 
 
 Cromwell's origin was even more obscure than that of Wolsey's ; 
 but he received his education at one of the universities. We first 
 hear of him as a clerk in an English factory at Antwerp, then as a 
 soldier in the army of Constable Bourbon when he sacked Rome, 
 then as a clerk in a mercantile house in Venice, and then again 
 as a lawyer in England, where he attracted the attention of Wol- 
 sey, who made him his solicitor, and employed him in the disso- 
 lution of monasteries. He then became a member of the house of 
 commons, where his address and business talents were conspicuous. 
 He was well received at court, and confirmed in the stewardship 
 of the monasteries, after the disgrace of his master. His office 
 brought him often into personal conference with the king ; and, at 
 one of these, he recommended him to deny the authority of the 
 pope altogether, and declare himself supreme head of the church. 
 The boldness of this advice was congenial to the temper of the 
 
CHAP. IV.] QUARREL WITH THE POPE. 53 
 
 king, worried by the opposition of Rome to his intended divorce, 
 and Cromwell became a member of the privy council. His 
 fortune was thus made by his seasonable advice. All who opposed 
 the king were sure to fall, and all who favored him were sure 
 to rise, as must ever be the case in an absolute monarchy, where 
 the king is the centre and the fountain of all honor and dignity. 
 
 With such ministers as Cranmer and Cromwell, the measures 
 of Henry were now prompt and bold. Queen Catharine was soon 
 disposed of ; she was divorced and disgraced, and Anne Boleyn 
 was elevated to her throne, (1533.) The anathemas of the pope 
 and the outcry of all Europe followed. Sir Thomas More 
 resigned his seals, and retired to poverty and solitude. But he 
 was not permitted to enjoy his retirement long. Refusing to take 
 the oath of supremacy to Henrys as head of the church as well as 
 of the state, he was executed, with other illustrious Catholics. 
 The execution of More was the most cruet and uncalled-for act 
 of the whole reign, and entailed on its author the execrations of 
 all the learned and virtuous men in Europe, most of whom appre- 
 ciated the transcendent excellences of the murdered chancellor, 
 the author of the Utopia, and the Boethius of his age. 
 
 The fulminations of the pope only excited Henry to more 
 decided opposition. The parliament, controlled by Cromwell, 
 acknowledged him as the supreme head of the Church of England, 
 and the separation from Rome was final and irrevocable. The 
 first fruits of the tenths were annexed to the crown, and the bishops 
 took a new oath of supremacy. 
 
 The independence of the Church of England, effected in 1535, 
 was followed by important consequences, and was the first step 
 to the reformation, afterwards perfected by Edward VI. But as 
 the first acts of the reformation were prompted by political con- 
 siderations, the reformers in England, during the reign of Henry 
 VIII., should be considered chiefly in a political point of view. 
 The separation from Rome, during the reign of this prince, was 
 not followed by the abolition of the Roman Catholic worship, 
 nor any of the rites and ceremonies of that church. Nor was 
 religious toleration secured. Every thing was subservient to the 
 royal conscience, and a secular, instead of an ecclesiastical pope, 
 still reigned in England. 
 
 5* 
 
54 ABOLITION OF MONASTERIES. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 Henry soon found that his new position, as head of the English 
 Church, imposed new duties and cares : he therefore established a 
 separate department for the conduct of ecclesiastical affairs, over 
 which he placed the unscrupulous, but energetic Cromwell — a fit 
 minister to such a monarch. A layman, who hated the clergy, 
 and who looked solely to the pecuniary interests of his master, 
 was thus placed over the highest prelates of the church. But 
 Cromwell, in consulting the pecuniary interests of the king, also 
 had an eye to the political interests of the kingdom. He was a 
 sagacious and practical man of the world, and was disgusted with 
 the vices of the clergy, and especially with the custom of sending 
 money to Rome, in the shape of annates and taxes. This evil 
 he remedied, which tended greatly to enrich the country, for the 
 popes at this time were peculiarly extortionate. He then turned 
 his attention to the reform of the whole monastic institution, but 
 with an eye also to its entire destruction. Cromwell hated the 
 monks. They were lazy, ignorant, and debauched. They were 
 a great burden on the people, and were as insolent and proud as 
 they were idle and profligate. The country swarmed with them. 
 The roads, taverns, and the houses of the credulous were infested 
 with them. Cranmer, who sympathized with the German reform- 
 ers, hated them on religious grounds, and readily cooperated with 
 Cromwell ; while the king, whose extortion and rapacity knew no 
 bounds, listened, with glistening eye, to the suggestions of his two 
 favorite ministers. The nation was suddenly astounded with the 
 intelligence that parliament had passed a bill, giving to the king 
 and his heirs all the monastic establishments in the kingdom, which 
 did not exceed two hundred pounds a year. Three hundred and 
 eighty thus fell at a blow, whereby the king was enriched by 
 thirty-two thousand pounds a year, and one hundred thousand 
 pounds ready money — an immense sum in that age. By this 
 spoliation, perhaps called for, but exceeding unjust and harsh, and 
 in violation of all the rights of property, thousands were reduced 
 to beggary and misery, while there was scarcely an eminent man 
 in the kingdom who did not come in for a share of the plunder. 
 Vast grants of lands were bestowed by the king on his favorites 
 and courtiers, in order to appease the nation ; and thus the founda- 
 tions of many of the great estates of the English nobility were 
 
CHAP. IV.] SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES. 55 
 
 laid. The spoliations, however, led to many serious riots and 
 insurrections, especially in Lincolnshire. At one place there were 
 forty thousand rebels under arms ; but they were easily suppressed. 
 
 The rapacious king was not satisfied with the plunder he had 
 secured, and, in 1539, the final suppression of all the monasteries 
 in England was decreed. Then followed the seizure of all the 
 church property in England connected with monasteries — shrines, 
 relics, gold and silver vessels of immense value and rarity, lands, 
 and churches. Canterbury, Bath, Merton, Stratford, Bury St. 
 Edmonds, Glastonbury, and St. Albans, suffered most, and those 
 beautiful monuments of Gothic architecture were levelled with the 
 dust. Their destruction deprived the people of many physical 
 accommodations, for they had been hospitals and caravansaries, as 
 well as " cages of unclean birds." Neither the church nor the 
 universities profited much from the confiscation of so much prop- 
 erty, and only six new bishoprics were formed, and only fourteen 
 abbeys were converted into cathedrals and collegiate churches. 
 The king and the nobles were the only gainers by the spoil ; the 
 people obtained no advantage in that age, although they have in 
 succeeding ages. 
 
 After renouncing the pope's supremacy, and suppressing the 
 monasteries, where were collected the treasures of the middle ages, 
 one would naturally suppose that the king would have gone farther, 
 and changed the religion of his people. But Henry hated Luther 
 and his doctrines, and did not hate the pope, or the religion of 
 which he was the sovereign pontiff. He loved gold and new 
 wives better than the interests of the Catholic church. Reform 
 proceeded no farther in his reign ; while, on the other hand, he 
 caused a decree to pass both houses of his timid, complying par- 
 liament, by which the doctrines of transubstantiation, the com- 
 munion of one kind, the celibacy of the clergy, masses, and auric- 
 ular confession, were established ; and any departure from, or denial 
 of, these subjected the offender to the punishment of death. 
 
 But Henry had new domestic difficulties long before the sup- 
 pression of monasteries — the great political act of Thomas Crom- 
 well. His new wife, Anne Boleyn, was suspected of the crime of 
 inconstancy, and at the very time when she had reached the 
 summit of power, and the gratification of all worldly wishes. She 
 
56 EXECUTION OF ANNE BOLEYN. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 had been veiy vain, and fond of display and of ornaments ; but 
 the latter years oi* her life were marked by her munificence, and 
 attachment to the reform doctrines. But her power ceased almost 
 as soon as she became queen. She could win, but she could not 
 retain, the affections of her royal husband. His passion subsided 
 into languor, and ended in disgust. The beauty of Anne Boleyn 
 was soon forgotten when Jane Seymour, her maid of honor, 
 attracted the attention of Henry. To make this lady his wife now 
 became the object of his life, and this could only be effected by 
 the divorce of his queen, who gave occasion for scandal by the 
 levity and freedom of her manners. Henry believed every insin- 
 uation against her, because he wished to believe her guilty. There 
 was but a step between the belief of guilt and the resolution to 
 destroy her. She was committed to the Tower, impeached, brought 
 to trial, condemned without evidence, and executed without re- 
 morse. Even Cranmer, whom she had honored and befriended, 
 dared not defend her, although he must. have believed in her inno- 
 cence. He knew the temper of the master whom he served too well 
 to risk much in her defence. She was the first woman who had been 
 beheaded in the annals of England. Not one of the Plantagenet 
 kings ever murdered a woman. But the age of chivalry was past, 
 and the sentiments it encouraged found no response in the bosom 
 of such a sensual and vindictive monarch as was Henry VIII. 
 
 The very day after the execution of that accomplished lady, for 
 whose sake the king had squandered the treasures of his kingdom, 
 and had kept Christendom in a ferment, he married Jane Seymour, 
 " the fairest, discreetest, and most meritorious of all his wives," as 
 the historians say, yet a woman who did not hesitate to steal the 
 affections of Henry and receive his addresses, while his queen was 
 devoted to her husband. But Anne Boleyn had done so before 
 her, and suffered a natural retribution. 
 
 Jane Seymour lived only eighteen months after her marriage, 
 and died two days after giving birth to a son, afterwards Edward 
 VI. She was one of those passive women who make neither 
 friends nor enemies. She indulged in no wit or repartee, like her 
 brilliant but less beautiful predecessor, and she passed her regal 
 life without uttering a sentence or a sentiment which has been 
 deemed worthy of preservation. 
 
CHAP. IV.] ANNE OF CLEVES CATHARINE HOWARD. 57 
 
 She had been dead about a month, when the king looked round 
 for another wife, and besought Francis I. to send the most beauti- 
 ful ladies of his kingdom to Calais, that he might there inspect 
 them, and select one according to his taste. But this Oriental 
 notion was not indulged by the French king, who had more taste 
 and delicacy ; and Henry remained without a wife for more than 
 two years, the princesses of Europe not being very eager to 
 put themselves in the power of this royal Bluebeard. At last, at 
 the suggestion of Cromwell, he was affianced to Anne, daughter 
 of the Duke of Cleves, whose home was on the banks of the 
 Rhine, in the city of Dusseldorf. 
 
 The king no sooner set his eyes on her than he was disappointed 
 and disgusted, and gave vent to his feelings before Cromwell, 
 calling her a " great Flanders mare." Nevertheless, he consum- 
 mated his marriage, although his disgust constantly increased. 
 This mistake of Cromwell was fatal to his ambitious hopes. The 
 king vented on him all the displeasure which had been gathering 
 in his embittered soul. Cromwell's doom was sealed. He had 
 offended an absolute monarch. He was accused of heresy and 
 treason, — the common accusations in that age against men devoted 
 to destruction, — tried by a servile board of judges, condemned, and 
 judicially murdered, in 1540. In his misfortunes, he showed no 
 more fortitude than Wolsey. The atmosphere of a court is fatal 
 to all moral elevation. 
 
 But, before his execution, Anne of Cleves, a virtuous and 
 worthy woman, was divorced, and Catharine Howard, grand- 
 daughter of the victor of Flodden Field, became queen of Eng- 
 land. The king now fancied that his domestic felicity was com- 
 plete ; but, soon after hi& marriage, it was discovered that his wife 
 had formerly led a dissolute life, and had been unfaithful also to 
 her royal master. When the proofs of her incontinence were 
 presented to him, he burst into a flood of tears ; but soon his natu- 
 ural ferocity returned, and his guilty wife expiated her crime by 
 death on the scaffold, in 1542. 
 
 Henry's sixth and last wife was Catharine Parr, relict of Lord 
 Latimer, a woman of great sagacity, prudence, and good sense. 
 She favored the reformers, but had sufficient address to keep hei 
 opinions from the king, who would have executed her, had he 
 
58 LAST DAYS OF HENRY. [CHAP. IV. 
 
 suspected her real views. She survived her husband, who died 
 four years after her marriage, in 1547. 
 
 The last years of any tyrant are always melancholy, and those 
 of Henry were embittered by jealousies and domestic troubles. 
 His finances were deranged, his treasuiy exhausted, and his sub- 
 jects discontented. He was often at war with the Scots, and 
 different continental powers. He added religious persecution to 
 his other bad traits, and executed, for their opinions, some of the 
 best people in the kingdom. His father had left him the richest 
 sovereign of Europe^ and he had seized the abbey lands, and 
 extorted heavy sums from his oppressed people ; and yet he was 
 poor. All his wishes were apparently gratified ; and yet he was 
 the most miserable man in his dominions. He exhausted all the 
 sources of pleasure, and nothing remained but satiety and disgust. 
 His mind and his body were alike diseased. His inordinate glut- 
 tony made him most inconveniently corpulent, and produced ulcers 
 and the gout. It was dangerous to approach this " corrupt mass 
 of dying tyranny." It was impossible to please him, and the 
 least contradiction drove him into fits of madness and frenzy. 
 
 In his latter days, he ordered, in a fit of jealousy, the execution 
 of the Duke of Norfolk, the first nobleman of the kingdom, who 
 had given offence to the Earl of Hertford, uncle to the young 
 prince of Wales, and the founder of the greatness of the Sey- 
 mours. But the tyrant died before the sentence was carried into 
 effect, much to the joy of the good people of England, whom he 
 had robbed and massacred. Several thousands perished by the axe 
 of the executioner during his disgraceful reign, and some of them 
 were the lights of the age, and the glory of their country. 
 
 Tyrannical as was Henry VIII., still he ever ruled by the laws. 
 He did not abolish parliament, or retrench its privileges. The 
 parliament authorized all his taxes, and gave sanction to all his 
 violent measures. The parliament was his supple instrument ; 
 still, had the parliament resisted his will, doubtless he would have 
 dissolved it, as did the Stuart princes. But it was not, in his reign, 
 prepared for resistance, and the king had every thing after his 
 own way. 
 
 By nature, he was amiable, generous, and munificent. But his 
 temper was spoiled by self-indulgence and incessant flattery. 
 
CHAP. IV.] DEATH OF HENRY VIII. 59 
 
 The moroseness he exhibited in his latter days was partly the 
 effect of physical disease, brought about, indeed, by intemperance 
 and gluttony. He was faithful to his wives, so long as he lived 
 with them ; and, while he doted on them, listened to their advice. 
 But few of his advisers dared tell him the truth ; and Cranmer 
 himself can never be exculpated from flattering his perverted 
 conscience. No one had the courage to tell him he was dying 
 but one of the nobles of the court. He died, in great agony, June, 
 1547, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, and the fifty-sixth of 
 his age, and was buried, with great pomp, in St. George Chapel, 
 Windsor Castle. 
 
 References. — The best English histories of the reign of Henry Yin, 
 are the standard ones of Hume and Lrngard. The Pictorial History, in 
 spite of its pictures, is also excellent. Burnet should be consulted in 
 reference to ecclesiastical matters, and Hallam, in reference to the consti- 
 tution. See also the lives of Wolsey, Sir Thomas More, and Cranmer. 
 The lives of Henry's queens have been best narrated by Agnes Strickland, 
 
60 WAR WITH SCOTLAND. [CHAP. V. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 EDWARD VI. AND MARY. 
 
 Heney VIII. was succeeded by his son, Edward VI., a boy of 
 nine years of age, learned, pious, and precocious. Still he was 
 a boy ; and, as such, was a king but in name. The history of his 
 reign is the history of the acts of his ministers. 
 
 The late king left a will, appointing sixteen persons, mostly 
 members of his council, to be guardians of his son, and rulers of 
 the nation during his minority. The Earl of Hertford, being 
 uncle of the king, was unanimously named protector. 
 
 The first thing the council did was to look after themselves, 
 that is, to give themselves titles and revenues. Hertford became 
 Duke of Somerset ; Essex, Marquis of Northampton ; Lisle, Earl 
 of Warwick ; the Chancellor Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. 
 At the head of these nobles was Somerset. He was a Protestant, 
 and therefore prosecuted those reforms which Cranmer had before 
 projected. Cranmer, as member of the council, archbishop of 
 Canterbury, and friend of Somerset, had ample scope to prose- 
 cute his measures. 
 
 The history of this reign is not important in a political point of 
 view, and relates chiefly to the completion of the reformation, and 
 to the squabbles and jealousies of the great lords who formed the 
 council of regency. 
 
 The most important event, of a political character, was a war 
 with Scotland, growing out of the attempts of the late king to 
 unite both nations under one government. In consequence, Scot- 
 land was invaded by the Duke of Somerset, at the head of eighteen 
 thousand men. A great battle was fought, in which ten thousand 
 of the Scots were slain. But the protector was compelled to 
 return to England, without following up the fruits of victory, in 
 consequence of cabals at court. His brother, Lord Seymour, a 
 man of reckless ambition, had married the queen dowager, and 
 openly aspired to the government of the kingdom. He endeav- 
 
CHAP. V.] REBELLIONS AND DISCONTENTS. 61 
 
 ored to seduce the youthful king, and he had provided arms for 
 ten thousand men. 
 
 The protector sought to win his brother from his treasonable 
 designs by kindness and favors ; but, all his measures proving 
 ineffectual, he was arrested, tried, and executed, for high 
 treason. 
 
 But Somerset had a more dangerous enemy than his brother ; 
 and this was the Earl of Warwick, who obtained great popularity 
 by his suppression of a dangerous insurrection, the greatest the 
 country had witnessed since Jack Cade's rebellion, one hundred 
 years before. The discontent of the people appears to have 
 arisen from their actual suffering. Coin had depreciated, 
 without a corresponding rise of wages, and labor was cheap, 
 because tillage lands were converted to pasturage. The popular 
 discontent was aggravated by the changes which the reformers 
 introduced, and which the peasantry were the last to appreciate. 
 The priests and ejected monks increased the discontent, until it 
 broke out into a flame. 
 
 The protector made himself unpopular with the council by a 
 law which he caused to be passed against enclosures ; and, as he 
 lost influence, his great rival, Warwick, gained power. Somerset, 
 at last, was obliged to resign his protectorship ; and Warwick, who 
 had suppressed the rebellion, formed the chief of a new council 
 of regency. He was a man of greater talents than Somerset, and 
 equal ambition, and more fitted for stormy times. 
 
 As soon as his power was established, and the country was at 
 peace, and he had gained friends, he began to execute those 
 projects of ambition which he had long formed. The earldom of 
 Northumberland having reverted to the crown, Warwick aspired 
 to the extinct title and the estates, and procured for himself a 
 grant of the same, with the title of duke. But there still remained 
 a bar to his elevation ; and this was the opposition of the Duke of 
 Somerset, who, though disgraced and unpopular, was still power- 
 ful. It is unfortunate to be in the way of a great man's career, 
 and Somerset paid the penalty of his opposition — the common 
 fate of unsuccessful rivals in unsettled times. He was accused of 
 treason, condemned, and executed, (1552.) 
 
 Northumberland, as the new dictator, seemed to have attained 
 6 
 
62 RIVALRY OF THE GREAT NOBLES. [cHAP. V. 
 
 the highest elevation to which a subject could aspire. In rank, 
 power, and property, he was second only to the royal family ; 
 but his ambition knew no bounds, and he began his intrigues to 
 induce the young king, whose health was rapidly failing, and who 
 was zealously attached to Protestantism, to set aside the succession 
 of his sister Mary to the throne, really in view of the danger to 
 which the reformers would be subjected, but under pretence of 
 her declared ^legitimacy, which would also set aside the claims 
 of the Princess Elizabeth. Mary, Queen of Scots, was to be set 
 aside on the ground of the will of the late king, and the succession 
 would therefore devolve on the Lady Jane Grey, granddaughter 
 of the Duke of Suffolk and of the French queen, whom he hoped 
 to unite in marriage with his son. This was a deeply-laid scheme, 
 and came near being successful, since Edward listened to it with 
 pleasure. Northumberland then sought to gain over the judges 
 and other persons of distinction, and succeeded by bribery and 
 intimidation. At this juncture, the young king died, possessed of 
 all the accomplishments which could grace a youth of sixteen, 
 but still a tool in the hands of his ministers. 
 
 Such were the political movements of this reign — memorable 
 for the rivalries of the great nobles. But it is chiefly distin- 
 guished for the changes which were made in the church estab- 
 lishment, and the introduction of the principles of the continental 
 reformers. No changes of importance were ever made beyond 
 what Cranmer and his associates effected. Indeed, all that an abso- 
 lute monarch could do, was done, and done with prudence, sagacity, 
 and moderation. The people quietly — except in some rural dis- 
 tricts — acquiesced in the change. Most of the clergy took the 
 new oath of allegiance to Edward VI., as supreme head of the 
 church ; and very few suffered from religious persecution. There 
 is no period in English history when such important changes were 
 made, with so little bloodshed. Cranmer always watched the tem- 
 per of the nation, and did nothing without great caution. Still a 
 great change was effected — no less than a complete change from 
 Romanism to Protestantism. But it was not so radical a reform as 
 the Puritans subsequently desired, since the hierarchy and a 
 liturgy, and clerical badges and dresses, were retained. It was 
 the fortune of Cranmer, during the six years of Edward's reign, 
 
CHAP. V.] RELIGIOUS REFORMS. 63 
 
 to effect the two great objects of which the English church has ever 
 since been proud — the removal of Roman abuses, and the estab- 
 lishment of the creed of Luther and Calvin ; and this without 
 sweeping away the union of church and state, which, indeed, was 
 more intimate than before the reformation. The papal power was 
 completely subverted. Nothing more remained to be done by 
 Cranmer. He had compiled the Book of Common Prayer, abol- 
 ished the old Latin service, the worship of images, the ceremony 
 of the mass, and auricular confessions. He turned the altars into 
 communion tables, set up the singing of psalms in the service, 
 caused the communion to be administered in both kinds to the 
 laity, added the litany to the ritual, prepared a book of homilies 
 for the clergy, invited learned men to settle in England, and 
 magnificently endowed schools and universities. 
 
 The Reformation is divested of much interest, since it was the 
 work of authority, rather than the result of popular convictions. 
 But Cranmer won immortal honor for his skilful management, and 
 for making no more changes than he could sustain. A large part 
 of the English nation still regard his works as perfect, and are 
 sincerely and enthusiastically attached to the form which he gave 
 to his church. 
 
 The hopes of his party were suddenly dispelled by the death 
 of the amiable prince whom he controlled, 6th of July, 1553. 
 The succession to the throne fell to the Princess Mary, or, as 
 princesses were then called, the Lady Mary ; nor could all the 
 arts of Northumberland exclude her from the enjoyment of her 
 rights. This ambitious nobleman contrived to keep the death of 
 Edward VI. a secret two days, and secure from the Mayor and 
 Alderman of London a promise to respect the will of the late 
 king. In consequence, the Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed 
 Queen of England. " So far was she from any desire of this 
 advancement, that she began to act her part of royalty with 
 many tears, thus plainly showing to those who had access to her, 
 that she was forced by her relations and friends to this high, but- 
 dangerous post." She was accomplished, beautiful, and amiable, 
 devoted to her young husband, and very fond of Plato, whom she 
 read in the original. 
 
 But Mary's friends exerted themselves, and her cause — the 
 
64 EXECUTION OF NORTHUMBERLAND. [CHAP. V. 
 
 cause of legitimacy, rather than that of Catholicism — gained 
 ground. Northumberland was unequal to this crisis, and he was 
 very feebly sustained. His forces were suppressed, his schemes 
 failed, and his hopes fled. From rebellion, to the scaffold, there is 
 but a step ; and this great nobleman suffered the fate of Somerset, 
 his former rival. His execution confirms one of the most striking 
 facts in the history of absolute monarchies, when the idea of 
 legitimacy is firmly impressed on the national mind ; and that is, 
 that no subject, or confederacy of subjects, however powerful, 
 stand much chance in resisting the claims or the will of a legiti- 
 mate prince. A nod or a word, from such a king, can consign 
 the greatest noble to hopeless impotence. And he can do this 
 from the mighty and mysterious force of ideas alone. Neither 
 king nor parliament can ever resist the omnipotence of popular 
 ideas. When ideas establish despots on their thrones, they are 
 safe. When ideas demand their dethronement, no forces can 
 long sustain them. The age of Queen Mary was the period of 
 the most unchecked absolutism in England. Mary was appa- 
 rently a powerless woman when Lady Jane Grey was pro- 
 claimed queen by the party of Northumberland, and still she had 
 but to signify her intentions to claim her rights, and the nation 
 was prostrate at her feet. The Protestant party dreaded her 
 accession ; but loyalty was a stronger principle than even Protes- 
 tantism, and she was soon firmly established in the absolute throne 
 of Henry VIII. 
 
 Then almost immediately followed a total change in the admin- 
 istration, which affected both the political and religious state of 
 the country. Those who had languished in confinement, on 
 account of their religion, obtained their liberty, and were elevated 
 to power. Gardiner, Bonner, and other Catholic bishops, were 
 restored to their sees, while Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, 
 Coverdale, and other eminent Protestants, were imprisoned. All 
 the statutes of Edward VI. pertaining to religion were repealed, 
 and the queen sent assurances to the pope of her allegiance to his 
 see. Cardinal Pole, descended from the royal family of Eng- 
 land, and a man of great probity, moderation, and worth, was 
 sent as legate of the pope. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, was 
 made lord chancellor, and became the prime minister. He and 
 
CHAP. V.] MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEX. 65 
 
 his associates recommended violent councils ; and a reign, unpar- 
 alleled in England for religious persecution, commenced. 
 
 Soon after the queen's accession, she married Philip, son of 
 the Emperor Charles, and heir of the Spanish monarchy. This 
 marriage, brought about by the intrigues of the emperor, and 
 favored by the Catholic party, was quite acceptable to Mary, 
 whose issue would inherit the thrones of Spain and England. 
 But ambitious matches are seldom happy, especially when the 
 wife is much older than the husband, as was the fact in this 
 instance. Mary, however, was attached to Philip, although he 
 treated her with great indifference. 
 
 This Spanish match, the most brilliant of that age, failed, how- 
 ever, to satisfy the English, who had no notion of becoming the 
 subjects of the King of Spain. In consequence of this disaffec- 
 tion, a rebellion broke out, in which Sir Thomas Wyatt was the 
 most conspicuous, and in which the Duke of Suffolk, and even the 
 Lady Jane and her husband, were implicated, though unjustly. 
 The rebellion was easily suppressed, and the leaders sent to the 
 Tower. Then followed one of the most melancholy executions of 
 this reign — that of the Lady Jane Grey, who had been reprieved 
 three months before. The queen urged the plea of self-defence, 
 and the safety of the realm — the same that Queen Elizabeth, in 
 after times, made in reference to the Queen of the Scots. Her 
 unfortunate fate excited great popular compassion, and she suf- 
 fered with a martyr's constancy, and also her husband — two 
 illustrious victims, sacrificed in consequence of the ambition of 
 their relatives, and the jealousy of the queen. The Duke of 
 Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, was also executed, and deserved 
 his fate, according to the ideas of his age. The Princess Eliz- 
 abeth expected also to be sacrificed, both because she was a 
 Protestant and the next heiress to the throne. But she carefully 
 avoided giving any offence, and managed with such consummate 
 prudence, that she was preserved for the future glory and welfare 
 of the realm. 
 
 The year 1555 opened gloomily for the Protestants. The 
 prisons were all crowded with the victims of religious persecu- 
 tion, and bigoted inquisitors had only to prepare their fagots 
 and stakes. Nine thousand ministers were ejected from their 
 6* 
 
66 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. [CHAP. V. 
 
 livings, and such as escaped further persecution fled to the con- 
 tinent. No fewer than two hundred and eighty-eight persons, among 
 whom were five bishops, twenty-one clergymen, fifty-five women, 
 and four children, were burned for religious opinions, besides many 
 thousands who suffered various other forms of persecution. The 
 constancy of Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper has immortalized their 
 names on the list of illustrious martyrs ; but the greatest of all 
 the victims was Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbuiy. The most 
 artful and insinuating promises were held out to him, to induce 
 Kim to retract. Life and dignities were promised him, if he 
 would consent to betray his cause. In an evil hour, he yielded to 
 the temptation, and consented to sell his soul. Timid, heart- 
 broken, and old, the love of life and the fear of death were 
 stronger than the voice of conscience and his duty to his God. 
 But, when he found he was mocked, he came to himself, and suf- 
 fered patiently and heroically. His death was glorious, as his life 
 was useful ; and the sincerity of his repentance redeemed his 
 memory from shame. Cranmer may be considered as the great 
 author of the English Reformation, and one of the most worthy 
 and enlightened men of his age ; but he was timid, politic, and 
 time-serving. The Reformation produced no perfect characters 
 in any country. Some great defect blemished the lives of all the 
 illustrious men who have justly earned imperishable glory. But 
 the character of such men as Cranmer, and Ridley, and Latimer, 
 present an interesting contrast to those of Gardiner and Bonner. 
 The former did show, however, some lenity in the latter years of 
 this reign of Mary ; but the latter, the Bishop of London, gloated 
 to the last in the blood which he caused to be shed. He even 
 whipped the Protestant prisoners with his own hands, and once 
 pulled out the beard of an heretical weaver, and held his finger in 
 the flame of a candle, till the veins shrunk and burnt, that he 
 might realize what the pain of burning was. So blind and cruel 
 is religious intolerance. 
 
 But Providence ordered that the religious persecution, which is 
 attributed to Mary, but which,, in strict justice, should be ascribed 
 to her counsellors and ministers, should prepare the way for a 
 popular and a spiritual movement in the subsequent reign. The 
 fires of Smithfield, and the cruelties of the pillory and the prison, 
 
CHAP. V.] CHARACTER OF MARY. 67 
 
 opened the eyes of the nation to the spirit of the old religion, and 
 also caused the flight of many distinguished men to Frankfort and 
 Geneva, where they learned the principles of both religious and 
 civil liberty. " The blood of martyrs proved the seed of the 
 church " — a sublime truth, revealed to Cranmer and Ridley amid 
 the fires which consumed their venerable bodies; and not to them 
 merely, but to all who witnessed their serenity, and heard their 
 shouts of triumph when this mortal passed to immortality. Her- 
 etics increased with the progress of persecution, and firm conviction 
 took the place of a blind confession of dogmas. " It was not," 
 says Milman, " until Christ was lain in his rock-hewn sepulchre, that 
 the history of Christianity commenced." We might add, it was 
 not until the fires of Smithfield were lighted, that great spiritual 
 ideas took hold of the popular mind, and the intense religious 
 earnestness appeared which has so often characterized the English 
 nation. The progress which man makes is generally seen through 
 disaster, suffering, and sorrow. This is one of the fundamental 
 truths which history teaches. 
 
 The last years of the reign of Mary were miserable to herself, 
 and disastrous to the nation. Her royal husband did not return 
 her warm affections, and left England forever. She embarked 
 in a ruinous war with France, and gained nothing but disgrace. 
 Her health failed, and her disposition became gloomy. She con- 
 tinued, to the last, most intolerant in her religious opinions, and 
 thought more of restoring Romanism, than of promoting the inter- 
 ests of her kingdom. Her heart was bruised and broken, and her 
 life was a succession of sorrows. It is fashionable to call this 
 unfortunate queen the " bloody Mary," and not allow her a single 
 virtue ; but she was affectionate, sincere, high-minded, and shrunk 
 from the dissimulation and intrigue which characterized "• the virgin 
 queen " — the name given to her masculine but energetic suc- 
 cessor. Mary was capable of the warmest friendship ; was atten- 
 tive and considerate to her servants, charitable to the poor, and 
 sympathetic with the unfortunate, when not blinded by her religious 
 prejudices. She had many accomplishments, and a very severe 
 taste, and was not addicted to oaths, as was Queen Elizabeth and 
 her royal father. She was, however, a bigoted Catholic ; and how 
 could partisan historians see or acknowledge her merits ? 
 
68 ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH. [CHAP. V. 
 
 But her reign was disastrous, and the nation hailed with enthu- 
 siasm the accession of Elizabeth, on the 17th of November, 1558. 
 With her reign commences a new epoch, even in the history of 
 Europe. Who does not talk of the Elizabethan era, when Protes- 
 tantism was established in England, when illustrious poets and phi- 
 losophers adorned the literature of the country, when commerce 
 and arts received a great impulse, when the colonies in North 
 America were settled, and when a constellation of great statesmen 
 raised England to a pitch of glory not before attained ? 
 
 References. — See Hume's, and Lingard's, and other standard Histo- 
 ries of England ; Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England ; 
 Burnet's History of the Reformation ; Life of Cranmer ; Fox's Book of 
 Martyrs. These works contain all the easily-accessible information re- 
 specting the reigns of Edward and Mary, which is important. 
 
CHAP. VI.] MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ELIZABETH. 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII., by Anne Boleyn, was in 
 her twenty-sixth year when she ascended the throne. She was 
 crowned the 15th of June, 1559, and soon assembled her parlia- 
 ment and selected her ministers. After establishing her own 
 legitimacy, she set about settling the affairs of the church, but 
 only restored the Protestant religion as Cranmer had left it. In- 
 deed, she ever retained a fondness for ceremonial, and abhorred a 
 reform spirit among the people. She insisted on her supremacy, 
 as head of the church, and on conformity with her royal conscience. 
 But she was not severe on the Catholics, and even the gluttonous 
 and vindictive Bonner was permitted to end his days in peace. 
 
 As soon as the Protestant religion was established, the queen 
 turned her attention towards Scotland, from which much trouble 
 was expected. 
 
 Scotland was then governed by Mary, daughter of James V., 
 and had succeeded her father while a mere infant, eight days after 
 her birth, (1542.) In 1558, she married the dauphin, afterwards 
 King of France, by which marriage she was Queen of France as 
 well as of Scotland. 
 
 According to every canonical law of the Roman church, the 
 claim of Mary Stuart to the English throne was preferable to that 
 of her cousin Elizabeth. Her uncles, the Guises, represented 
 that Anne Boleyn's marriage had never been lawful, and that Eliza- 
 beth was therefore illegitimate. In an evil hour, she and her hus- 
 band quartered the arms of England with their own, and assumed 
 the titles of King and Queen of Scotland and England. And 
 Elizabeth's indignation was further excited by the insult which the 
 pope had inflicted, in declaring her birth illegitimate. She, there- 
 fore, resolved to gratify, at once, both her ambition and her ven- 
 geance, encouraged by her ministers, who wished to advance the 
 Protestant interest in the kingdom. Accordingly, Elizabeth, with 
 
70 JOHN KNOX. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 consummate art, undermined the authority of Mary in Scotland, 
 now distracted hy religious as well as civil commotions. Mary 
 was a Catholic, and had a perfect abhorrence and disgust of the 
 opinions and customs of the reformers, especially of John Knox, 
 whose influence in Scotland was almost druidical. The Catholics 
 resolved to punish with fire and sword, while the Protestants were 
 equally intent on defending themselves with the sword. And it so 
 happened that some of the most powerful of the nobility were 
 arrayed on the side of Protestantism. But the Scotch reformers 
 were animated with a zeal unknown to Cranmer and his associates. 
 The leaders had been trained at Geneva, under the guidance of 
 Calvin, and had imbibed his opinions, and were, therefore, resolved 
 to cany the work of reform after the model of the Genevan 
 church. Accordingly, those pictures, and statues, and ornaments, 
 and painted glass, and cathedrals, which Cranmer spared, were 
 furiously destroyed by the Scotch reformers, who considered them 
 as parts of an idolatrous worship. The antipathy to bishops and 
 clerical vestments was equally strong, and a sweeping reform was 
 carried on under the dictatorship of Knox. Elizabeth had no more 
 sympathy with this bold, but uncouth, reformer and his movements, 
 than had Maiy herself, and never could forgive him for his book, 
 written at Geneva, aimed against female government, called the 
 " First Blast of a Trumpet against the monstrous Regiment of 
 Women." But Knox cared not for either the English or the Scot- 
 tish queens, and zealously and fearlessly prosecuted his work, and 
 gained over to his side the moral strength of the kingdom. Of 
 course, a Catholic queen resolved to suppress his doctrines ; but 
 nearly the whole Scottish nobility rallied around his standard, 
 marching with the Bible in one hand, and the sword in the other. 
 The queen brought in troops from France to support her insulted 
 and tottering government, which only increased the zeal of the 
 Protestant party, headed by the Earls of Argyle, Arran, Morton, 
 and Glencairn, and James Stuart, Prior of St. Andrews, who styled 
 themselves " Lords of the Congregation." A civil war now raged 
 in Scotland, between the queen regent, who wished to suppress the 
 national independence, and extinguish the Protestant religion, and 
 the Protestants, who comprised a great part of the nation, and who 
 were resolved on the utter extirpation of Romanism and the limi- 
 
CHAP. VI.] MARRIAGE OF MARY DARNLEY. 71 
 
 tation of the regal power. The Lords of the Congregation implored 
 the, aid of England, which Elizabeth was ready to grant, both 
 from political and religious motives. The Protestant cause was in 
 the ascendant, when the queen regent died, in 1560. The same 
 year died Francis II. of France ; and Mary, now a widow, resolved 
 to return to her own kingdom. She landed at Leith, August, 1561, 
 and was received with the grandest demonstration of joy. For a 
 time, affairs were tolerably tranquil, Mary having intrusted the 
 great Protestant nobles with power. She was greatly annoyed, 
 however, by Knox, who did not treat her with the respect due to 
 a queen, and who called her Jezebel ; but the reformer escaped 
 punishment on account of his great power. 
 
 In 1565, Mary married her cousin, Lord Darnley, son of the Earl 
 of Lennox, — a match exceedingly distasteful to Elizabeth, who was 
 ever jealous of Mary, especially in matrimonial matters, since 
 the Scottish queen had not renounced her pretensions to the throne 
 of her grandfather, Henry VII. The character of Elizabeth now 
 appears in its worst light ; and meanness and jealousy took the 
 place of that magnanimity which her admirers have ascribed to 
 her. She fomented disturbances in Scotland, and incited the 
 queen's natural brother, the Prior of St. Andrews, now Earl of 
 Murray, to rebellion, with the expectation of obtaining the govern- 
 ment of the country. He formed a conspiracy to seize the per- 
 sons of Mary and her husband. The plot was discovered, and 
 Murray fled to England ; but it was still unremittingly pursued, till 
 at length it was accomplished. 
 
 Darnley, the consort of Mary, was a man of low tastes, profli- 
 gate habits, and shallow understanding. Such a man could not 
 long retain the affections of the most accomplished woman of her 
 age, accustomed to flattery, and bent on pursuing her own pleasure, 
 at any cost. Disgust and coldness therefore took place. Darnley, 
 enraged at this increasing coldness, was taught to believe that he 
 was supplanted in the queen's affections by an Italian favorite, the 
 musician Kizzio, whom Maiy had made her secretary. He there- 
 fore signed a bond, with certain lords, for the murder of the Italian, 
 who seems to have been a man of no character. One evening, as 
 the queen was at supper, in her private apartment, with the countess 
 of Argyle and Bizzio, the Earl of Morton, with one hundred and 
 
72 BOTHWELL CIVIL WAR IN SCOTLAND. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 sixty men, took possession of the palace of Holyrood, while Darn- 
 ley himself showed the way to a band of ruffians to the royal 
 presence. Rizzio was barbarously murdered in the presence of 
 the queen, who endeavored to protect him. 
 
 Darnley, in thus perpetrating this shocking murder, was but the 
 tool of some of the great lords, who wished to make him hateful 
 to the queen, and to the nation, and thus prepare the way for his 
 own execution. And they succeeded. A plot was contrived for 
 the murder of Damley, of which Murray was probably the author. 
 Shortly after, the house, in which he slept, was blown up by 
 gunpowder, in the middle of the night. 
 
 The public voice imputed to the Earl of Bothwell, a great favor- 
 ite of the queen, the murder of Darnley. Nor did the queen herself 
 escape suspicion. " But no inquiry or research," says Scott, " has 
 ever been able to bring us either to that clear opinion upon the 
 guilt of Mary which is expressed by many authors, or guide us to 
 that triumphant conclusion in favor of her innocence of all acces- 
 sion, direct or tacit, to the death of her husband, which others 
 have maintained with the same obstinacy." But whatever doubt 
 exists as to the queen's guilt, there is none respecting her minis- 
 ters — Maitland, Huntley, Morton, and Argyle. Still they offered a 
 reward of two thousand pounds for the discovery of the murderers. 
 The public voice accused Bothwell as the principal : and yet the 
 ministers associated with him, and the queen, entirely exculpated 
 him. He was brought to a trial, on the formal accusation of the 
 Earl of Lennox, in the city of Edinburgh, which he was permitted 
 to obtain possession of. In a place guarded by his own followers, 
 it was not safe for any witnesses to appear against him, and he 
 was therefore acquitted, though the whole nation believed him 
 guilty. 
 
 Maiy was rash enough to marry, shortly after, the man whom 
 public opinion pronounced to be the murderer of her husband ; and 
 Murray, her brother, was so ambitious and treacherous, as to favor 
 the marriage, with the hope that the unpopularity of the act would 
 lead to the destruction of the queen, and place him at the helm of 
 state. No sooner was Mary married to Bothwell, than Murray and 
 other lords threw off the mask, pretended to be terribly indignant, 
 took up arms against the queen, with the view of making her 
 
CHAP. VI.] CAPTIVITY OF QUEEN MARY. 73 
 
 prisoner, and with the pretence of delivering her from her husband. 
 Bothwell escaped to Norway, and the queen surrendered herself, 
 at Carberry Hill, to the insurgent army, the chiefs of which in- 
 stantly assumed the reins of government, and confined the queen 
 in the castle of Lochleven, and treated her with excessive harsh- 
 ness. Shortly after, (1567,) she resigned her crown to her infant 
 son, and Murray, the prime mover of so many disturbances, be- 
 came regent of the kingdom. Murray was a zealous Protestant, 
 and had the support of Knox in all his measures, and the counte- 
 nance of the English ministry. Abating his intrigue and ambition, 
 he was a most estimable man, and deserved the affections of the 
 nation, which he retained until his death. M'Crie, in his Life of 
 Knox, represents him as a model of Christian virtue and integrity, 
 and every way worthy of the place he held in the affections of his 
 party. 
 
 The unfortunate queen suffered great unkindness in her lonely 
 confinement, and Knox, with the more zealous of his party, 
 clamored for her death, as an adulteress and a murderer. She 
 succeeded in escaping from her prison, raised an army, marched 
 against the regent, was defeated at the battle of Langside, fled to 
 England, and became, May, 1568, the prisoner-guest of her 
 envious rival. Elizabeth obtained the object of her desires. But 
 the captivity of Mary, confined in Tutbury Castle, against all the 
 laws of hospitality and justice, gave rise to incessant disturbances, 
 both in England and Scotland, until her execution, in 1587. And 
 these form no inconsiderable part of the history of England for 
 seventeen years. Scotland was the scene of anarchy, growing 
 out of the contentions and jealousies of rival chieftains, who 
 stooped to every crime that appeared to facilitate their objects. 
 In 1570, the regent Murray was assassinated. He was succeeded 
 by his enemy, the Earl of Lennox, who, in his turn, was shot by 
 an assassin. The Earl of Mar succeeded him, but lived only a 
 year. Morton became regent, the reward of his many crimes ; 
 but retribution at last overtook him, being executed when James 
 assumed the sovereignty. 
 
 Meanwhile, the unfortunate Mary pined in hopeless captivity. 
 It was natural for her to seek release, and also for her friends to 
 help her. Among her friends was the Duke of Norfolk, the first 
 7 
 
74 EXECUTION OF MARY. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 nobleman in England, and a zealous Catholic. He aspired to 
 her hand ; but Elizabeth chose to consider his courtship as a trea- 
 sonable act, and Norfolk was arrested. On being afterwards 
 released, he plotted for the liberation of Maiy, and his intrigues 
 brought him to the block. The unfortunate captive, wearied and 
 impatient, naturally sought the assistance of foreign powers. She 
 had her agents in Rome, France, Spain, and the Low Countries. 
 The Catholics in England espoused her cause, and a conspiracy 
 was formed to deliver her, assassinate Elizabeth, and restore the 
 Catholic religion. From the fact that Mary was privy to that part 
 of it which concerned her own deliverance, she was brought to 
 trial as a criminal, found guilty by a court incompetent to sit on 
 her case, and executed without remorse, 8th February, 1587. 
 
 Few persons have excited more commiseration than this unfor- 
 tunate queen, both on account of her exalted rank, and her 
 splendid intellectual accomplishments. Whatever obloquy she 
 merited for her acts as queen of Scotland, no one can blame her 
 ibr meditating escape from the power of her zealous but more 
 fortunate rival ; and her execution is the greatest blot in the charac- 
 ter of the queen of England, at this time in the zenith of her glory. 
 
 Next to the troubles with Scotland growing out of the inter- 
 ference of Elizabeth, the great political events of the reign were 
 the long and protracted war with Spain, and the Irish rebellion. 
 Both of these events were important. 
 
 Spain was at this time governed by Philip II., son of the em- 
 peror Charles, one of the most bigoted Catholics of the age, and 
 allied with Catharine de Medicis of France for the entire sup- 
 pression of Protestantism. She incited her son Charles IX. to the 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, and he resolved to establish the 
 inquisition in Flanders. This measure provoked an insurrection, 
 to suppress which the Duke of Alva, one of the most celebrated of 
 the generals of Charles V., was sent into the Netherlands with a 
 large army, and almost unlimited powers. The cruelties of Alva 
 were unparalleled. In six years, eighteen thousand persons perished 
 by the hands of the executioner, and Alva counted on the entire 
 suppression of Protestantism by the mere force of armies. He 
 could count the physical resources of the people, but he could not 
 estimate the degree of their resistance when animated by the 
 
CHAP. VI.] MILITARY PREPARATIONS OF PHILIP II. 75 
 
 spirit of liberty or religion. Providence, too, takes care of those 
 who strive to take care of themselves. A great leader appeared 
 among the suffering Hollanders, almost driven to despair — the 
 celebrated William of Nassau, Prince of Orange. He appeared 
 as the champion of the oppressed and insulted people ; they rallied 
 around his standard, fought with desperate bravery, opened the 
 dikes upon their cultivated fields, expelled their invaders, and laid 
 the foundation of their liberties. But they could not have with- 
 stood the gigantic power of the Spanish monarchy, then in the 
 fulness of its strength, and the most powerful in Europe, had it not 
 been for aid rendered by Elizabeth. She compassionated their 
 sufferings, and had respect for their cause. She entered into an 
 alliance, defensive and offensive, and the Netherlands became the 
 great theatre of war, even after they had thrown off the Spanish 
 yoke. Although the United Provinces in the end obtained their 
 liberty, they suffered incredible hardships, and lost some of the 
 finest of their cities, Antwerp among the rest, long the rival of 
 Amsterdam, and the scene of Rubens's labors. 
 
 The assistance which Elizabeth rendered to the Hollanders, of 
 course, provoked the resentment of Philip II. ; and this was in- 
 creased by the legalized piracies of Sir Francis Drake, in the 
 West Indies, and on the coasts of South America. This com- 
 mander, in time of peace, insisted on a right to visit those ports 
 which the Spaniards had closed, which, by the law of nations, is 
 piracy. Philip, according to all political maxims, was forced to 
 declare war with England, and he made immense preparations to 
 subdue it. But the preparations of Elizabeth to resist the power- 
 ful monarch were also great, and Drake performed brilliant ex- 
 ploits on the sea, among other things, destroying one hundred 
 ships in the Bay of Cadiz, and taking immense spoil. The prep- 
 arations of the Spanish monarch were made on such a gigantic 
 scale, that Elizabeth summoned a great council of war to meet the 
 emergency, at which the all-accomplished Sir Walter Raleigh 
 took a leading part. His advice was to meet the Spaniards on 
 the sea. Although the royal navy consisted, at this time, of only 
 thirty-six sail, such vigorous measures were prosecuted, that one 
 hundred and ninety-one ships were "collected, manned by seven- 
 teen thousand four hundred seamen. The merchants of London 
 
76 SPANISH ARMADA. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 granted thirty ships and ten thousand men, and all England was 
 aroused to meet tlje expected danger. Never was patriotism more 
 signally evinced, never were more decisive proofs given of the 
 popularity of a sovereign. Indeed, Elizabeth was always popular 
 with the nation; and with all her ceremony, and state, and rude- 
 ness to the commons, and with all their apparent servility, she 
 never violated the laws, or irritated the people by oppressive 
 exactions. Many acts of the Tudor princes seem to indicate the 
 reign of despotism in England, but this despotism was never 
 grievous, and had all the benignity of a paternal government. 
 Capricious and arbitrary as Elizabeth was, in regard to some un- 
 fortunate individuals who provoked her hatred or her jealousy, 
 still she ever sedulously guarded the interests of the nation, and 
 listened to the counsel of patriotic and able ministers. When 
 England was threatened with a Spanish invasion, there was not a 
 corner of the land which did not rise to protect a beloved sov- 
 ereign ; nor was there a single spot, where a landing might be 
 effected, around which an army of twenty thousand could not 
 be rallied in forty-eight hours. 
 
 But Philip, nevertheless, expected the complete conquest of 
 England ; and, as his " Invincible Armada " of one hundred and 
 thirty ships, left the mouth of the Tagus, commanded by Medina 
 Sidonia, and manned by the noblest troops of Spain, he fancied 
 his hour of triumph was at hand. But his hopes proved dreams, 
 like most of the ambitious designs of men. The armada met with 
 nothing but misfortunes, both from battle and from storms. Only 
 fifty ships returned to Spain. An immense booty was divided 
 among the English sailors, and Elizabeth sent, in her turn, a large 
 fleet to Spain, the following year, (1589,) under the command of 
 Drake, which, after burning a few towns, returned ingloriously to 
 England, with a loss of ten thousand men. The war was con- 
 tinued with various success till 1598, when a peace was negotiated. 
 The same year, died Philip II., and Lord Burleigh, who, for forty 
 years, directed the councils of Elizabeth, and to whose voice she 
 ever listened, even when opposed by such favorites as Leicester 
 and Essex. Burleigh was not a great genius, but was a man 
 admirably adapted to his station and his times, — was cool, 
 sagacious, politic, and pacific, skilful in the details of business. 
 
CHAP. VI.J IRISH REBELLION. 77 
 
 competent to advise, but not aspiring to command. He was 
 splendidly rewarded for his services, and left behind him three 
 hundred distinct landed estates. 
 
 Meanwhile the attention of the queen was directed to the affairs 
 of Ireland, which had been conquered by Henry IL in the year 
 1 170, but over which only an imperfect sovereignty had been 
 exercised. The Irish princes and nobles, divided among them- 
 selves, paid the exterior marks of obedience, but kept the country 
 in a constant state of insurrection. 
 
 The impolitic and romantic projects of the English princes for 
 subduing France, prevented a due attention to Ireland, ever mis- 
 erably governed. Elizabeth was the first of the English sov- 
 ereigns to perceive the political importance of this island, and the 
 necessity for the establishment of law and order. Besides furnish- 
 ing governors of great capacity, she founded the university of 
 Dublin, and attempted to civilize the half-barbarous people. Un- 
 fortunately, she also sought to make them Protestants, against 
 their will, which laid the foundation of many subsequent troubles, 
 not yet removed. A spirit of discontent pervaded the country, 
 and the people were ready for rebellion. Hugh O'Neale, the 
 head of a powerful clan, and who had been raised to the dignity 
 of Earl of Tyrone, yet attached to the barbarous license in which 
 he had been early trained, fomented the popular discontents, and 
 excited a dangerous rebellion. Hostilities, of the most sanguinary 
 character, commenced. The queen sent over her favorite, the 
 Earl of Essex, with an army of twenty thousand men, to crush 
 the rebellion. He was a brave commander, but was totally unac- 
 quainted with the country and the people he was expected to sub- 
 due, and was, consequently, unsuccessful. But his successor, Lord 
 Mountjoy, succeeded in restoring the queen's authority, though at 
 the cost of four millions and a half, an immense sum in that age, 
 while poor Ireland was devastated with fire and sword, and suffered 
 every aggravation of accumulated calamities. 
 
 Meanwhile, Essex, who had returned to England against the 
 queen's orders, was treated with coldness, deprived of his employ- 
 ments, and sentenced to be confined. This was more than the 
 haughty favorite could bear, accustomed as he had been to royal 
 favor. At first, he acquiesced in his punishment, with every mark 
 
78 THE EARL OF ESSEX. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 of penitence, and Elizabeth was beginning to relax in her severity, 
 for she never intgnded to ruin him ; but he soon gave vent to his 
 violent temper, indulged in great liberties of speech, and threw off 
 all appearance of duty and respect. He even engaged in trea- 
 sonable designs, encouraged Roman Catholics at his house, and 
 corresponded with James VI. of Scotland about his succession. 
 His proceedings were discovered, and he was summoned before 
 the privy council. Instead of obedience, he armed himself and 
 his followers, and, in conjunction with some discontented nobles, 
 and about three hundred gentlemen, attempted to excite an insur- 
 rection in London, where he was very popular with the citizens. 
 He was captured and committed to the Tower, with the Earl of 
 Southampton. These rash but brave noblemen were tried by their 
 peers, and condemned as guilty of high treason. In this trial, 
 the celebrated Bacon appeared against his old patron, and likened 
 him to the Duke of Guise. The great lawyer Coke, who was 
 attorney-general, compared him to Catiline. 
 
 Essex disdained to sue the queen for a pardon, and was pri- 
 vately beheaded in the Tower. He merited his fate, if the offence 
 of which he was guilty deserved such a punishment. It is impos- 
 sible not to be interested in the fate of a man so brave, high-spir- 
 ited, and generous, the, idol of the people, and the victor in so 
 many enterprises. Some historians maintain that Elizabeth re- 
 lented, and would have saved her favorite, had he only implored 
 her clemency ; but this statement is denied by others ; nor have we 
 any evidence to believe that Essex, caught with arms against the 
 sovereign who had honored him, could have averted his fate. 
 
 Elizabeth may have wept for the death of the nobleman she 
 had loved. It is certain that, after his death, she never regained 
 her spirits, and that a deep melancholy was visible in her counte- 
 nance. All her actions showed a deeply-settled inward grief, and 
 that she longed for death, having tasted the unsubstantial nature 
 of human greatness. She survived the execution of Essex two 
 years, but lived long enough to see the neglect into which she was 
 every day falling, and to feel that, in spite of all her glory and 
 power, she was not exempted from drinking the cup of bitterness. 
 
 Whatever unamiable qualities she evinced as a woman, in spite 
 of her vanity, and jealousy, and imperious temper, her reign was 
 
CHAP. VI.] CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH. 79 
 
 one of the most glorious in the annals of her country. The policy 
 of Burleigh was the policy of Sir Robert Walpole — that of peace, 
 and a desire to increase the resources of the kingdom. Her taxes 
 were never oppressive, and were raised without murmur ; the 
 people were loyal and contented; the Protestant religion was 
 established on a firm foundation ; and a constellation of great men 
 shed around her throne the bright rays of immortal genius. 
 
 The most unhappy peculiarity of her reign was the persecution 
 of the Non-conformists, which, if not sanguinary, was irritating and 
 severe. For some time after the accession of Elizabeth, the Puri- 
 tans were permitted to indulge in their peculiarities, without being 
 excluded from the established church ; but when Elizabeth felt 
 herself secure, then they were obliged to conform, or suffered im- 
 prisonment, fines, and other punishments. The original difficulty 
 was their repugnance to the surplice, and to some few forms of 
 worship, which gradually extended to an opposition to the order of 
 bishops ; to the temporal dignities of the church ; to the various 
 titles of the hierarchy ; to the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts ; to 
 the promiscuous access of all persons to the communion table ; to 
 the liturgy ; to the observance of holydays ; to the cathedral wor- 
 ship ; to the use of organs ; to the presentation of living by patrons ; 
 and finally, to some of the doctrines of the established church. 
 The separation of the Puritans from the Episcopal church, took 
 place in 1566 ; and, from that time to the death of Elizabeth, they 
 enjoyed no peace, although they sought redress in the most 
 respectful manner, and raised no opposition to the royal authority. 
 Thousands were ejected from their livings, and otherwise punished, 
 for not conforming to the royal conscience. But persecution and 
 penal laws fanned a fanatical spirit, which, in the reign of Charles, 
 burst out into a destructive flame, and spread devastation and ruin 
 through all parts of the kingdom. 
 
 If the queen and her ministers did not understand the principles 
 of religious toleration, they pursued a much more enlightened policy 
 in regard to all financial and political subjects, than during any 
 former reign. The commercial importance of England received 
 a new impulse. The reign of Henry VIII. was a reign of spolia- 
 tion. The king was enriched beyond all former precedent, but 
 his riches did not keep pace with his spendthrift habits. The 
 
80 IMPROVEMENTS MADE IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CHAP. VI. 
 
 rental of the abbey lands which Henry seized amounted, a century 
 after his death, to 4 six million pounds. The lands of the abbey of 
 St. Alban's alone rented for two hundred thousand pounds. The 
 king debased the coin, confiscated chapels and colleges, as well as 
 monasteries, and raised money by embargoes, monopolies, and 
 compulsory loans. 
 
 But Elizabeth, instead of contracting debts, paid off the old 
 ones, restored the coin to its purity, and was content with an 
 annual revenue of five hundred thousand pounds, even at a time 
 when the rebellion in Ireland cost her four hundred thousand 
 pounds. Her frugality equalled the rapacity of her father, and 
 she was extravagant only in dress, and on great occasions of pub- 
 lic rejoicings. But her economy was a small matter compared 
 with the wise laws which were passed respecting the trade of the 
 country, by which commercial industry began to characterize the 
 people. Improvements in navigation followed, and also maritime 
 discoveries and colonial settlements. Sir Francis Drake circum- 
 navigated the globe, and the East India Company was formed. 
 Under the auspices of Sir Walter Raleigh, Virginia was discovered 
 and colonized. Unfortunately, also, the African slave trade com- 
 menced — a traffic which has been productive of more human 
 misery, and led to more disastrous political evils, than can be 
 traced to any other event in the history of modern times. 
 
 During this reign, the houses of the people became more com- 
 fortable ; chimneys began to be used ; pewter dishes took the place 
 of wooden trenchers, and wheat was substituted for rye and bar- 
 ley ; linen and woollen cloth was manufactured ; salads, cabbages, 
 gooseberries, apricots, pippins, currants, cherries, plums, carna- 
 tions, and the damask rose were cultivated, for the first time. But 
 the great glory of this reign was the revival of literature and 
 science. Raleigh, " the soldier, the sailor, the scholar, the philoso- 
 pher, the poet, the orator, the historian, the courtier," then adorned 
 the court, and the prince of poets, the immortal Shakspeare, then 
 wrote those plays, which, for moral wisdom and knowledge of the 
 human soul, appear to us almost to be dictated by the voice of 
 inspiration. The prince of philosophers too, the great miner and 
 sapper of the false systems of the middle ages, Francis Bacon, 
 then commenced his career, and Spenser dedicated to Elizabeth 
 
CHAP. VI.] REFLECTIONS. 81 
 
 his " Fairy Queen," one of the most truly poetical compositions 
 that genius ever produced. The age produced also great divines ; 
 but these did not occupy so prominent a place in the nation's eye 
 as during the succeeding reigns. 
 
 While the virgin queen was exercising so benign an influence 
 on the English nation, great events, though not disconnected with 
 English politics, were taking place on the continent. The most 
 remarkable of these was the persecution of the Huguenots. The 
 rise and fortunes of this sect, during the reigns of Henry II., 
 Francis II., Charles IX., Henry III., and Henry IV., now demand 
 our attention. If a newspaper had, in that age, been conducted 
 upon the principles it now is, the sufferings of the Huguenots 
 would always be noticed. It is our province to describe just what 
 a modern newspaper would have alluded to, had it been printed 
 three hundred years ago. It would not have been filled With 
 genealogies of kings, but with descriptions of great popular move- 
 ments. And this is history. 
 
 References. — For the history of this reign, see Hume, Lingard, 
 and Hallam ; Miss Strickland's Queens of England ; Life of Mary, Queen 
 of Scots; M'Crie's Life of Knox; Robertson's History of Scotland; 
 Macaulay's Essay on Nares's Life of Burleigh ; Life of Sir Walter 
 Raleigh; Neale's History of the Puritans. Kenilworth may also be 
 profitably read. 
 
82 CATHAKINE DE MEDICIS. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 FRANCIS II., CHARLES IX., HENRY III., AND HENRY IV. 
 
 The history of France, from the death of Francis I. to the 
 accession of Henry IV. is virtually the history of religious conten- 
 tions and persecutions, and of those civil wars which grew out of 
 them. The Huguenotic contest, then, is a great historical subject, 
 and will be presented in connection with the history of France, 
 until the death of Henry IV., the greatest of the French monarchs, 
 and long the illustrious head of the Protestant party. 
 
 The reform doctrines first began to spread in France during the 
 reign of Francis I. As early as 1523, he became a persecutor, 
 and burned many at the stake, among whom the descendants of the 
 Waldenses were the most numerous. In 1540, sentence was pro- 
 nounced against them by the parliament of Aix. Their doctrines 
 were the same in substance as those of the Swiss reformers. 
 
 While this persecution was raging, John Calvin fled from 
 France to Ferrara, from which city he proceeded to Geneva. 
 This was in the year 1536, when his theological career com- 
 menced by the publication of his Institutes, which were dedicated 
 to Francis I., one of the most masterly theological works ever 
 written, although compended from the writings of Augustine. The 
 Institutes of Calvin, the great text-book of the Swiss and French 
 reformers, were distasteful to the French king, and he gave fresh 
 order for the persecution of the Protestants. Notwithstanding the 
 hostility of Francis, the new doctrines spread, and were embraced 
 by some of the most distinguished of the French nobility. The 
 violence of persecution was not much arrested during the reign of 
 Henry II., and, through the influence of the Cardinal of Lorraine, 
 the inquisition was established in the kingdom. 
 
 The wife of Henry II. was the celebrated Catharine de Medicis ; 
 and she was bitterly opposed to the reform doctrines, and incited 
 her husband to the most cruel atrocities. Francis II. continued 
 the persecution, and his mother, Catharine, became virtually the 
 ruler of the nation. 
 
CHAP. VII.] CIVIL WAR IN FRANCE. 83 
 
 The power of the queen mother was much increased when 
 Francis II. died, and when his brother, Charles IX., a boy of nine 
 years of age, succeeded to the French crown. She exercised 
 her power by the most unsparing religious persecution recorded in 
 the history of modern Europe. There had been some hope that 
 Protestantism would be established in France ; but it did not suc- 
 ceed, owing to the violence of the persecution. It made, however, 
 a desperate struggle before it was overcome. 
 
 At the head of the Catholic party were the queen regent, the 
 Cardinal of Lorraine, the Duke of Guise, his brother, and the Con- 
 stable Montmorency. They had the support of the priesthood, of 
 the Spaniards, and a great majority of the nation. 
 
 The Protestants were headed by the King of Navarre, father of 
 Henry IV., the Prince of Conde, his brother, and Admiral Coligny ; 
 and they had the sympathy of the university, the parliaments, and 
 the Protestants of Germany and England. 
 
 Between these parties a struggle lasted for forty years, with 
 various success. Persecution provoked resistance, but resistance 
 did not lead to liberty. Civil war in France did not secure the 
 object sought. Still the Protestants had hope, and, as they could 
 always assemble a large army, they maintained their ground. 
 Their conduct was not marked by the religious earnestness which 
 characterized the Puritans, or by the same strength of religious 
 principle. Moreover, political motives were mingled with religious. 
 The contest was a struggle for the ascendency of rival chiefs, as 
 well as for the establishment of reformed doctrines. The Bour- 
 bons hated the Guises, and the Guises resolved to destroy the 
 Bourbons. In the course of their rivalry and warfare, the Duke 
 of Guise was assassinated, and the King of Navarre, as well as 
 the Prince of Conde, were killed. 
 
 Charles IX. was fourteen years of age when the young king of 
 Navarre,— at that time sixteen years of age, — and his cousin, the 
 Prince of Conde, became the acknowledged heads of the Prot- 
 estant party. Their education was learned in the camp and 
 the field of battle. 
 
 Charles IX., under the influence of his hateful mother, finding 
 that civil war only destroyed the resources of the country, without 
 weakening the Protestants, made peace, but formed a plan for 
 
84 MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 their extermination by treachery. In order to cover his designs, 
 he gave his sister^ Margaret de Valois, in marriage to the King of 
 Navarre, first prince of the blood, then nineteen years of age. 
 Admiral Coligny was invited to Paris, and treated with distin- 
 guished courtesy. 
 
 It was during the festivities which succeeded the marriage of the 
 King of Navarre that Coligny was murdered, and the signal for the 
 horrid slaughter of St. Bartholomew was given. At midnight, 
 August 23, 1572, the great bell at the Hotel de Ville began to 
 toll ; torches were placed in the windows, chains were drawn 
 across the streets, and armed bodies collected around the hotels. 
 The doors of the houses were broken open, and neither age, con- 
 dition, nor sex was spared, of such as were not distinguished by 
 a white cross in the hat. The massacre at Paris was followed by 
 one equally brutal in the provinces. Seventy thousand people 
 were slain in cold blood. The King of Navarre and the Prince of 
 Conde only escaped in consequence of their relationship with 
 the king, and by renouncing the Protestant religion. 
 
 Most of the European courts expressed their detestation of this 
 foulest crime in the history of religious bigotry ; but the pope 
 went in grand procession to his cathedral, and ordered a Te Deum 
 to be sung in commemoration of an event which steeped his cause 
 in infamy to the end of time. 
 
 The Protestants, though nearly exterminated, again rallied, and 
 the King of Navarre and his cousin the Prince of Conde escaped, 
 renounced the religion which had been forced on them by fear of 
 death, and prosecuted a bloody civil war, with the firm resolution 
 of never abandoning it until religious liberty was guarantied. 
 
 Meanwhile, Charles IX. died, as it was supposed, by poison. 
 His last hours were wretched, and his remorse for the massacre 
 of St. Bartholomew filled his soul with agony. He beheld spec- 
 tres, and dreamed horrid dreams ; his imagination constantly saw 
 heaps of livid bodies, and his ears were assailed with imaginary 
 groans. He became melancholy and ferocious, while his kingdom 
 became the prey of factions and insurrections. But he was a 
 timid and irresolute king, and was but the tool of his infamous 
 mother, the grand patroness of assassins, against whom, on his 
 death bed, he cautioned the king of Navarre. 
 
CHAP. VII.] HENRY III. HENRY IV. 85 
 
 He was succeeded by his brother, the King of Poland, under the 
 title of Henry III. The persecutions of the Huguenots were 
 renewed, and the old scenes of treachery, assassination, and war 
 were acted over again. The cause of religion was lost sight of in 
 the labyrinth of contentions, jealousies, and plots. Intrigues and 
 factions were endless. Nearly all the leaders, on both sides, per- 
 ished by the sword or the dagger. The Prince of Conde,the Duke 
 of Guise, and his brother, the Cardinal of Lorraine, were assassi- 
 nated. Shortly after, died the chief mover of all the troubles, 
 Catharine de Medicis, a woman of talents and persuasive elo- 
 quence, but of most unprincipled ambition, perfidious, cruel, and 
 dissolute. She encouraged the licentiousness of the court, and 
 even the worst vices of her sons, that she might make them sub- 
 servient to her designs. All her passions were subordinate to her 
 calculations of policy, and every womanly virtue was suppressed 
 by the desire of wielding a government which she usurped. 
 
 Henry III. soon followed her to the grave, being, in turn, assas- 
 sinated by a religious fanatic. His death (1589) secured the 
 throne to the king of Navarre, who took the title of Henry IV. 
 
 Henry IV., the first of the Bourbon line, was descended from 
 Robert, the sixth son of St. Louis, who had married the daughter 
 and heiress of John of Burgundy and Agnes of Bourbon. He 
 was thirty-six years of age when he became king, and had passed 
 through great experiences and many sorrows. Thus far he had 
 contended for Protestant opinions, and was the acknowledged 
 leader of the Protestant party in France. But a life of contention 
 and bloodshed, and the new career opened to him as king of 
 France, cooled his religious ardor, and he did not hesitate to 
 accept the condition which the French nobles imposed, before they 
 would take the oaths of allegiance. This was, that he should abjure 
 Protestantism. " My kingdom," said he, " is well worth a mass." 
 It will be ever laid to his reproach, by the Protestants, that he 
 renounced his religion for worldly elevation. Nor is it easy to 
 exculpate him on the highest principles of moral integrity. But 
 there were many palliations for his conduct, which it is not now 
 easy to appreciate. It is well known that the illustrious Sully, his 
 prime minister, and, through life, a zealous Protestant, approved 
 of his course. It was certainly clear that, without becoming a 
 8 
 
86 EDICT OF NANTES. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 Catholic, he never could peaceably enjoy his crown, and France 
 would be rent, for another generation, by those civil wars which 
 none lamented more than Henry himself. Besides, four fifths of 
 the population were Catholics, and the Protestants could not rea- 
 sonably expect to gain the ascendency. All they could expect 
 was religious toleration, and this Henry was willing to grant. It 
 should also be considered that the king, though he professed the 
 reform doctrines, was never what may be called a religious man, 
 being devoted to pleasure, and to schemes of ambition. It is true 
 he understood and consulted the interests of his kingdom, and 
 strove to make his subjects happy. Herein consists his excel- 
 lence. As a magnanimous, liberal-minded, and enterprising man, 
 he surpassed all the French kings. But it is ridiculous to call him 
 a religious man, or even strongly fixed in his religious opinions. 
 " Do you," said the king to a great Protestant divine, " believe 
 that a man may be saved by the Catholic religion ? " " Undoubt- 
 edly," replied the clergyman, "if his life and heart be holy." 
 " Then," said the king, " prudence dictates that I embrace the 
 Catholic religion, and not yours ; for, in that case, according to 
 both Catholics and Protestants, I may be saved ; but, if I embrace 
 your religion, I shall not be saved, according to the Catholics." 
 
 But the king's conversion to Catholicism did not immediately 
 result in the tranquillity of the distracted country. The Catholics 
 would not believe in his sincerity, and many battles had to be 
 fought before he was in peaceable enjoyment of his throne. But 
 there is nothing so hateful as civil war, especially to the inhabit- 
 ants of great cities ; and Paris, at last, and the chief places in 
 the kingdom, acknowledged his sway. The king of Spain, the 
 great Catholic, prelates, and .the pope, finally perceived how hope- 
 less was the struggle against a man of great military experience, 
 with a devoted army and an enthusiastic capital on his side. 
 
 The peace of Verviens, in 1598, left the king without foreign 
 or domestic enemies. From that period to his death, his life was 
 devoted to the welfare of his country. 
 
 His first act was the celebrated Edict of Nantes, by which the 
 Huguenots had quiet and undisturbed residence, the free exercise 
 of their religion, and public worship, except in the court, the 
 army, and within five leagues of Paris. They were eligible to all 
 
CHAP. VII.] IMPROVEMENTS DURING THE REIGN OF HENRY IV. 87 
 
 offices, civil and military; and all public prosecutions, on account 
 of religion, were dropped. This edict also promulgated a general 
 amnesty for political offences, and restored property and titles, as 
 before the war; but the Protestants were prohibited from printing 
 controversial books, and were compelled to pay tithes to the 
 established clergy. 
 
 Henry IV., considering the obstacles with which he had to con- 
 tend, was the greatest general of the age ; but it is his efforts in 
 civilization which entitle him to his epithet of Great. 
 
 The first thing which demanded his attention, as a civil ruler, 
 was the settlement of the finances — ever the leading cause of 
 troubles with the French government. These were intrusted to 
 the care of Rosny, afterward Duke of Sully, the most able and 
 upright of all French financiers — a man of remarkable probity 
 and elevation of sentiment. He ever continued to be the minister 
 and the confidant of the king, and maintained his position without 
 subserviency or flattery, almost the only man on the records of 
 history who could tell, with impunity, wholesome truths to an abso- 
 lute monarch. So wise were his financial arrangements, that a 
 debt of three hundred million of livres was paid off in eight years. 
 In five years, the taxes were reduced one half, the crown lands 
 redeemed, the arsenals stored, the fortifications rebuilt, churches 
 erected, canals dug, and improvements made in every part of the 
 kingdom. On the death of the king, he had in his treasury nearly 
 fifty millions of livres. Under the direction of this able minister, 
 the laws were enforced, robbery and vagrancy were nearly 
 stopped, and agriculture received a great impulse. But economy 
 was the order of the day. The king himself set an illustrious 
 example, and even dressed in gray cloth, with a doublet of taffeta, 
 without embroidery, dispensed with all superfluity at his table, 
 and dismissed all useless servants. 
 
 The management and economy of the king enabled him to 
 make great improvements, besides settling the deranged finances 
 of the kingdom. He built innumerable churches, bridges, con- 
 vents, hospitals, fortresses, and ships. Some of the finest palaces 
 which adorn Paris were erected by him. He was also the patron 
 of learning, the benefits of which he appreciated. He himself 
 was well acquainted with the writings of the ancients. He was 
 
88 PEACE SCHEME OF HENRY IV. [CHAP. VII. 
 
 particularly fond of the society of the learned, with whom he 
 conversed with freedom and affability. He increased the libraries, 
 opened public schools, and invited distinguished foreigners to 
 Paris, and rewarded them with stipends. Lipsius, Scaliger, and 
 De Thou, were the ornaments of his court. 
 
 And his tender regard to the happiness and welfare of his sub- 
 jects was as marked as his generous appreciation of literature and 
 science. It was his ambition to be the father of his people ; and 
 his memorable saying, " Yes, I will so manage matters that the 
 poorest peasant in my kingdom may eat meat each day in the 
 week, and, moreover, be enabled to put a fowl in the pot on a 
 Sunday," has alone embalmed his memory in the affections of 
 the French nation, who, of all their monarchs, are most partial 
 to Henry IV. 
 
 But this excellent king was also a philanthropist, and cherished 
 the most enlightened views as to those subjects on which rests the 
 happiness of nations. Though a warrior, the preservation of a 
 lasting peace was the great idea of his life. He was even vision- 
 ary in his projects to do good ; for he imagined it was possible to 
 convince monarchs that they ought to prefer purity, peace, and 
 benevolence, to ambition and war. Hence, he proposed to estab- 
 lish a Congress of Nations, chosen from the various states of 
 Europe, to whom all international difficulties should be referred, 
 with power to settle them — a very desirable object, the most so 
 conceivable ; for war is the greatest of all national calamities and 
 crimes. The scheme of the enlightened Hemy, however, did not 
 attract much attention ; and, even had it been encouraged, would 
 have been set aside in the next generation. What would such 
 men as Frederic the Great, or Marlborough, or Louis XIV., or Na- 
 poleon have cared for such an object ? But Henry, in his scheme, 
 also had in view the regulation of such forces as the European 
 monarchs should sustain, and this arose from his desire to preserve 
 the " Balance of Power " — the great object of European poli- 
 ticians in these latter times. 
 
 But Henry was not permitted, by Providence, to prosecute his 
 benevolent designs. He was assassinated by a man whom he had 
 never injured — by the most unscrupulous of all misguided men — 
 a religious bigot. The Jesuit Ravaillac, in a mood, as it is to be 
 
CHAP. VII.] DEATH OF HENKY IV. 89 
 
 hoped, bordering on madness, perpetrated the foul deed. But 
 Henry only suffered the fate of nearly all the distinguished actors 
 in those civil and religious contentions which desolated France for 
 forty years. He died in 1610, at the age of fifty-seven, having 
 reigned twenty-one years, nine of which were spent in uninter- 
 rupted warfare. 
 
 By his death the kingdom was thrown into deep and undissem- 
 bled mourning. Many fell speechless in the streets when the intel- 
 ligence of his assassination was known ; others died from excess 
 of grief. All felt that they had lost more than a father, and 
 nothing was anticipated but storms and commotions. 
 
 He left no children by his wife, Margaret de Valois, who proved 
 inconstant, and from whom he was separated. By his second 
 wife, Mary de Medicis, he had three children, the oldest of whom 
 was a child when he ascended the throne, by the title of Louis XIII. 
 His daughter, Henrietta, married Charles I. of England. 
 
 Though great advances were made in France during this reign, 
 it was still far from that state of civilization which it attained a 
 century afterwards. It contained about fifteen million of inhabit- 
 ants, and Paris about one hundred and fifty thousand. The nobles 
 were numerous and powerful, and engrossed the wealth of the 
 nation. The people were not exactly slaves, but were reduced to 
 great dependence, were uneducated, degraded, and enjoyed but 
 few political or social privileges. They were oppressed by the 
 government, by the nobles, and by the clergy. 
 
 The highest official dignitary was the constable, the second 
 the keeper of the seals, the third the chamberlain, then the six 
 or eight marshals, then the secretary of state, then gentlemen 
 of the household, and military commanders. The king was 
 nearly absolute. The parliament was a judicial tribunal, which 
 did not enact laws, but which registered the edicts of the king. 
 
 Commerce and manufactures were extremely limited, and far 
 from flourishing ; and the arts were in an infant state. Archi- 
 tecture, the only art in which half-civilized nations have excelled, 
 was the most advanced, and was displayed in the churches and 
 royal palaces. Paris was crowded with uncomfortable houses, and 
 the narrow streets were favorable to tumult as well as pestilence. 
 Tapestry was the most common and the most expensive of the 
 : 8* 
 
90 FRANCE AT THE DEATH OF HENRY IV. [cHAP. VII. 
 
 arts, and the hangings, in a single room, often reached a sum 
 which would be e5qual, in these times, to one hundred thousand 
 dollars. The floors of the palaces were spread with Turkey car- 
 pets. Chairs were used only in kings' palaces, and carriages were 
 but just introduced, and were clumsy and awkward. Mules were 
 chiefly used in travelling, the horses being reserved for war. 
 Dress, especially of females, was gorgeous and extravagant ; false 
 hair, masks, trailed petticoats, and cork heels ten inches high, 
 were some of the peculiarities. The French then, as now, were 
 fond of the pleasures of the table, and the hour for dinner was 
 eleven o'clock. Morals were extremely low, and gaming was a 
 universal passion, in which Henry IV. himself extravagantly 
 indulged. The advice of Catharine de Medicis to her son 
 Charles IX. showed her knowledge of the French character, even 
 as it exists now : " Twice a week give public assemblies, for the 
 specific secret of the French government is, to keep the people 
 always cheerful ; for they are so restless you must occupy them, 
 during peace, either with business or amusement, or else they will 
 involve you in trouble." 
 
 Such was France, at the death of Henry IV., 1610, one of the 
 largest and most powerful of the European kingdoms, though far 
 from the greatness it was destined afterwards to attain. 
 
 A more powerful monarchy, at this period, was Spain. As this 
 kingdom was then in the zenith of its power and glory, we will 
 take a brief survey of it during the reign of Philip II., the suc- 
 cessor of Charles V., a person to whom we have often referred. 
 With his reign are closely connected the struggles of the Hol- 
 landers to secure their civil and religious independence. The Low 
 Countries were provinces of Spain, and therefore to be considered 
 in connection with Spanish history. 
 
 References. — For a knowledge of France during the reign of Henry IV., 
 see James's History of Henry IV. ; James's Life of Conde ; History of the 
 Huguenots. Rankin's and Crowe's Histories of France are the best in 
 English, but far inferior to Sismondi's, Millot's, and Lacretelle's. Sully's 
 Memoirs throw considerable light on this period, and Dumas's Margaret 
 de Valois may be read with profit. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] BIGOTRY OF PHILIP II. 91 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PHILIP II. AND THE AUSTRIAN PRINCES OF SPAIN. 
 
 Spain cannot be said to have been a powerful state until the 
 reign of Ferdinand and Isabella ; when the crowns of Castile and 
 Arragon were united, and when the discoveries of Columbus added 
 a new world to their extensive territories. Nor, during the reign 
 of Ferdinand and Isabella, was the power of the crown as abso- 
 lute as during the sway of the Austrian princes. The nobles 
 were animated by a bold and free spirit, and the clergy dared to 
 resist the encroachments of royalty, and even the usurpations of 
 Rome. Charles V. succeeded in suppressing the power of the 
 nobles, and all insurrections of the people, and laid the foundation 
 for the power of his gloomy son, Philip II. With Philip commenced 
 the grandeur of the Spanish monarchy. By him, also, were sown 
 the seeds of its subsequent decay. Under him, the inquisition 
 was disgraced by ten thousand enormities, Holland was overran 
 by the Duke of Alva, and America conquered by Cortes and 
 Pizarro. It was he who built the gorgeous palaces of Spain, and 
 who, with his Invincible Armada, meditated the conquest of Eng- 
 land. The wealth of the Indies flowed into the royal treasury, and 
 also enriched all orders and classes. Silver and gold became as 
 plenty at Madrid as in old times at Jerusalem under the reign of 
 Solomon. But Philip was a different prince from Solomon. His 
 talents and attainments were respectable, but he had a jealous and 
 selfish disposition, and exerted all the energies of his mind, and 
 all the resources of his kingdom, to crush the Protestant religion, 
 and the liberties of Europe. 
 
 Among the first acts of his reign was the effort to extinguish 
 Protestantism in the Netherlands, an assemblage of seigniories, 
 under various titles, subject to his authority. The opinions of 
 Luther and Calvin made great progress in this country, and Philip, 
 in order to repress them, created new bishops, and established the 
 Inquisition. The people protested, and these protests were con- 
 sidered as rebellious. 
 
92 REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 At the head of /he nobility was William, the Prince of Orange, 
 on whom Philip had conferred the government of Holland, Zea- 
 land, Friesland, and Utrecht, provinces of the Netherlands. He 
 was a haughty but resolute and courageous character, and had 
 adopted the opinions of Calvin, for which he lost the confidence 
 of Philip. In the prospect of destruction, he embraced the reso- 
 lution of delivering his country from the yoke of a merciless and 
 bigoted master. Having reduced the most important garrisons of 
 Holland and Zealand, he was proclaimed stadtholder, and openly 
 threw off his allegiance to Spain. Hostilities, of course, com- 
 menced. Alva, the general of Philip, took the old city of Haer- 
 lem, and put fifteen hundred to the sword, among whom were all 
 the magistrates, and all the Protestant clergy. 
 
 Don John, Archduke of Austria, and the brother of Philip, suc- 
 ceeded the Duke of Alva, during whose administration the seven 
 United Provinces formed themselves into a confederation, and chose 
 the Prince of Orange to be the general of their armies, admiral 
 of their fleets, and chief magistrate, by the title of stadtholder. 
 But William was soon after assassinated by a wretch who had been 
 bribed by the exasperated Philip, and Maurice, his son, received 
 his title, dignities, and power. His military talents, as the antago- 
 nist of the Duke of Parma, lieutenant to Philip, in the Netherlands, 
 secured him a high place in the estimation of warriors. To pro- 
 tect this prince and the infant republic of Holland, Queen Eliza- 
 beth sent four thousand men under the Earl of Leicester, her 
 favorite ; and, with this assistance, the Hollanders maintained their 
 ground against the most powerful monarch in Europe, as has been 
 already mentioned in the chapter on Elizabeth. 
 
 After the loss of the Netherlands, the next great event of his 
 reign was the acquisition of Portugal, to which he laid claim on 
 the death of Don Henry, in 1581. There were several other 
 claimants, but Philip, with an army of twenty thousand, was 
 stronger than any of the others. He gained a decisive victory 
 over Don Antonio, uncle to the last monarch, and was crowned at 
 Lisbon without opposition. 
 
 The revolt of the Moriscoes occupies a prominent place in the 
 annals of this reign. They were Christianized Moors, but, at 
 heart, Mohammedans. A decree had been published that their 
 
CHAP. VIII.] REVOLT OF THE MOEISCOES. 93 
 
 children should frequent the Christian church, that the Arabic should 
 no longer be used in writing, that both men and women should 
 wear the Spanish costume, that they no longer should receive Mo- 
 hammedan names, or marry without permission. The Moriscoes 
 contended that no particular dress involved religious opinions, that 
 the women used the veil according to their notions of modesty, 
 that the use of their own language was no sin, and that baths were 
 used, not from religious motives, but for the sake of cleanliness. 
 These expostulations were, however, without effect. Nothing 
 could move the bigoted king. So revolt followed cruelty and 
 oppression. Great excesses were committed by both parties, 
 and most horrible barbarities were exhibited. The atrocious 
 nature of civil war is ever the same, and presents nearly the same 
 undeviating picture of misery and crime. But in this war there 
 was something fiendish. A clergyman was roasted over a brazier, 
 and the women, wearied with his protracted death, despatched him 
 with their needles and knives. The rebels ridiculed the sacrifice 
 of the mass by slaughtering a pig on the high altar of a church. 
 These insults were retaliated with that cruelty which Spanish 
 bigotry and malice know so well how to inflict. Thousands of 
 defenceless women and children were murdered in violation of the 
 most solemn treaties. The whole Moorish population was finally 
 exterminated, and Granada, with its beautiful mountains and 
 fertile valleys, was made a desert. No less than six hundred 
 thousand were driven to Africa — an act of great impolicy, since 
 the Moriscoes were the most ingenious and industrious part of the 
 population ; and their exile contributed to undermine that national 
 prosperity in which, at that day, every Spaniard gloried. But 
 destruction ever succeeds pride ; infatuation and blindness are the 
 attendants of despotism. 
 
 The destruction of the Spanish Armada, and the losses which 
 the Spaniards suffered from Sir Francis Drake and Admiral Haw- 
 kins, have already been mentioned. But the pride of Philip was 
 mortified, rather than that his power was diminished. His am- 
 bition received a check, and he found it impossible to conquer 
 England. His finances, too, became deranged ; still he remained 
 the absolute master of the richest kingdom in the world. 
 
 The decline of the Spanish monarchy dates from his death, 
 
94 CAUSES OF DECLINE OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 which took place in his magnificent palace of the Escurial, at 
 Madrid, in 1598. 4 Under his son Philip III., degeneracy became 
 very marked, and future ruin could be predicted. 
 
 The principal cause of the decline of prosperity was the great 
 increase of the clergy, and the extent of their wealth. In the 
 Spanish dominions, which included Spain, Naples, Milan, Parma, 
 Sicily, Sardinia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the Indies, there 
 were fifty-four archbishops, six hundred and eighty-four bishops, 
 seven thousand hospitals, one hundred thousand abbeys and nun- 
 neries, six hundred thousand monks, and three hundred and ten 
 thousand secular priests — a priest to every ten families. Almost 
 every village had a monastery. The diocese of Seville had four- 
 teen thousand priests, nearly the present number of all the clergy 
 of the establishment in England. The cathedral of Seville gave 
 support and occupation to one hundred priests. 
 
 And this numerous clergy usurped the power" and dignities of 
 the state. They also encouraged that frightful inquisition, the 
 very name of which conjures up the most horrid images of death 
 and torture. This institution, committed to the care of Dominican 
 monks, was instituted to put down heresy ; that is, eveiy thing in 
 poetry, philosophy, or religion, which was distasteful to the despots 
 of the human mind. The inquisitors had power to apprehend 
 people even suspected of heresy, and, on the testimony of two 
 witnesses, could condemn them to torture, imprisonment, and 
 death. Resistance was vain ; complaint was ruin. Arrests took 
 place suddenly and secretly. Nor had the prisoner a knowledge 
 of his accusers, or of the crimes of which he was accused. The 
 most delicate maidens, as well as men of hoary hairs and known 
 integrity, were subjected to every outrage that human nature could 
 bear, or satanic ingenuity inflict. Should the jailer take compas- 
 sion, and bestow a few crumbs of bread or drops of water, he 
 would be punished as the greatest of traitors. Even nobles were 
 not exempted from the supervision of this court, which was estab- 
 lished in every village and town in Portugal and Spain, and which, 
 in the single city of Toledo, condemned, in one year, seventeen 
 thousand people. This institution was tolerated by the king, since 
 he knew veiy well that there ever exists an intimate union be- 
 tween absolutism in religion and absolutism in government. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] THE INCREASE OF GOLD AND SILVER. 95 
 
 Besides the spiritual despotism which the clergy of Spain exer- 
 cised vover a deluded people, but a people naturally of fine elements 
 of character, the sudden increase of gold and silver led to luxury, 
 idleness, and degeneracy. Money being abundant, in consequence 
 of the gold and silver mines of America, the people neglected the 
 cultivation of those things which money could procure. Then 
 followed a great rise in the prices of all kinds of provision and 
 clothing. Houses, lands, and manufactures also soon rose in 
 value. Hence money was delusive, since, with ten times the 
 increase of specie, there was a corresponding decrease in those 
 necessaries of life which gold and silver would purchase. Sil- 
 ver and gold are only the medium of trade, not the basis of 
 wealth. The real prosperity of a country depends upon the 
 amount of productive industry. If diamonds were as numerous 
 as crystals, they would be worth no more than crystals. The 
 sudden influx of the precious metals into Spain doubtless gave a 
 temporary wealth to the kingdom ; but when habits of industry 
 were lost, and the culture of the soil was neglected, the gold and 
 silver of the Spaniards were exchanged for the productive industry 
 of other nations. The Dutch and the English, whose manufac- 
 tures and commerce were in a healthy state, became enriched at 
 their expense. With the loss of substantial wealth, that is, in- 
 dustry and economy, the Spaniards lost elevation of sentiment, 
 became cold and proud, followed frivolous pleasures and amuse- 
 ments, and acquired habits which were ruinous. Plays, panto- 
 mimes, and bull-fights now amused the lazy and pleasure-seeking 
 nation, while the profligacy of the court had no parallel in Europe, 
 with the exception of that of France. The countiy became 
 exhausted by war. The finances were deranged, and province 
 after province rebelled. Every where were military reverses, 
 and a decrease of population. Taxes, in the mean while, in- 
 creased, and a burdened people lamented in vain their misfortune 
 and decline. The reign of Philip IV. was the most disastrous in 
 the annals of the country. The Catalan insurrection, the loss of 
 Jamaica, the Low Countries, and Portugal, were the results of 
 his misrule and imbecility. So rapidly did Spain degenerate, that, 
 upon the close of the Austrian dynasty, with all the natural advan- 
 tages of the countiy, the best harbors and sea-coast in Europe, the 
 
96 DECLINE OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY. [CHAP. VIII. 
 
 richest soil, and the finest climate, and with the possession of the 
 Indies also, the people were the poorest, the most ignorant, and 
 the most helpless in Europe. The death of Charles II., a miser- 
 able, afflicted, superstitious, priest-ridden monarch, left Spain 
 without a king, and the vacant throne became the prize of any 
 monarch in Europe who could raise and send across the Pyre- 
 nees the largest army. It fell into the power of Louis XIV., and 
 the Bourbon princes have ever since in vain attempted the 
 restoration of the broken monarchy to its former glory. But, alas, 
 Spain has, since the spoliation of the Mexicans and Peruvians, only 
 a melancholy history — a history of crime, bigotry, anarchy, and 
 poverty. The Spaniards committed awful crimes in their lust 
 for gold and silver. " They had their request," but God, in his 
 retributive justice, " sent leanness into their souls." 
 
 For the history of Spain during the Austrian princes, see a history in 
 Lardner's Encyclopedia ; Watson's Life of Philip II. ; James's Foreign 
 Statesmen ; Schiller's Revolt of the Netherlands ; Russell's Modern 
 Europe ; Prescott's Conquest of Mexico and Peru. 
 
CHAP. IX.] THE ROMAN POWER IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 97 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE JESUITS, AND THE PAPAL POWER IN THE SEVEN 
 TEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 During the period we have just been considering, the most 
 marked peculiarity was, the struggle between Protestantism and 
 Romanism. It is true that objects of personal ambition also 
 occupied the minds of princes, and many great events occurred, 
 which were not connected with the struggles for religious liberty 
 and light. But the great feature of the age was the insurrection 
 of human intelligence. There was a spirit of innovation, which 
 nothing could suppress, and this was directed, in the main, to mat- 
 ters of religion. The conflict was not between church and state, 
 but between two great factions in each. " No man asked whether 
 another belonged to the same countiy as himself, but whether he 
 belonged to the same sect." Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Knox, 
 Cranmer, and Bacon were the great pioneers in this march of 
 innovation. They wished to explode the ideas of the middle 
 ages, in philosophy and in religion. They made war upon the 
 Roman Catholic Church, as the great supporter and defender of 
 old ideas. They renounced her authority. She summoned her 
 friends and vassals, rallied all her forces, and, with desperate 
 energy, resolved to put down the spirit of reform. The struggles 
 of the Protestants in England, Germany, France, and the Nether- 
 lands, alike manifested the same spirit, were produced by the 
 same causes, and brought forth the same results. The insurrection 
 was not suppressed. 
 
 The hostile movements of Rome, for a while, were carried on 
 by armies, massacres, assassinations, and inquisitions. The duke 
 of Alva's cruelties in the Netherlands, St. Bartholomew's massa- 
 cre in France, inquisitorial tortures in Spain, and Smithfield burn- 
 ings in England, illustrate this assertion. But more subtle and 
 artful agents were required, especially since violence had failed. 
 Men of simple lives, of undoubted piety, of earnest zeal, and sin- 
 9 
 
98 RISE OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 gular disinterestedness to their cause, arose, and did what the sword 
 and the stake could not do, — revived Catholicism, and caused a 
 reaction to Protestantism itself. These men were Jesuits, the most 
 faithful, intrepid, and successful soldiers that ever enlisted under 
 the banners of Rome. The rise and fortunes of this order of 
 monks form one of the most important and interesting chapters in 
 the history of the human race. Their victories, and the spirit which 
 achieved them, are well worth our notice. In considering them, 
 it must be -borne in mind, that the Jesuits have exhibited traits so 
 dissimilar and contradictory, that it is difficult to form a just judg- 
 ment. While they were achieving their victories, they appeared 
 in a totally different light from what distinguished them when they 
 reposed on their laurels. In short, the earlier and the latter 
 Jesuits were entirely different in their moral and social aspects, 
 although they had the same external organization. The principles 
 of their system were always the same. The men who defended 
 them, at first, were marked by great virtues, but afterwards were 
 deformed by equally as great vices. It was in the early days of 
 Jesuitism that the events we have recorded took place. Hence our 
 notice, at present, will be confined to the Jesuits when they were 
 worthy of respect, and, in some things, even of admiration. Their 
 courage, fidelity, zeal, learning, and intrepidity for half a century, 
 have not been exaggerated. 
 
 The founder of the order was Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish gen- 
 tleman of noble birth, who first appeared as a soldier at the siege 
 of Pampeluna, where he was wounded, about the time that Luther 
 was writing his theses, and disputing about indulgences. He 
 amused himself, on his sick bed, by reading the lives of the saints. 
 His enthusiastic mind was affected, and he resolved to pass from 
 worldly to spiritual knighthood. He became a saint, after the 
 notions of the age ; that is, he fasted, wore sackcloth, lived on roots 
 and herbs, practised austerities, retired to lonely places, and spent 
 his time in contemplation and prayer. The people were attracted 
 by his sanctity, and followed him in crowds. His heart burned to 
 convert heretics ; and, to prepare himself for his mission, he went 
 to the universities, and devoted himself to study. There he made 
 some distinguished converts, all of whom afterwards became 
 famous. In his narrow cell, at Paris, he induced Francis Xavier, 
 
CHAP. IX.] RAPID SPREAD OF THE JESUIT ORDER. 99 
 
 Faber, Laynez, Bobadilla, and Rodriguez to embrace his views, 
 and to form themselves into an association, for the conversion of 
 the world. On the summit of Mount Montmartre, these six young 
 men, on one star-lit night, took the usual monastic vows oi poverty, 
 chastity, and ooedience, and solemnly devoted themselves to their 
 new mission. 
 
 They then went to Rome, to induce the pope to constitute them 
 a new missionary order. But they were ridiculed as fanatics. 
 Moreover, for several centuries, there had been great opposition in 
 Rome against the institution of new monastic orders. It was 
 thought that there were orders enough ; that the old should be 
 reformed, not new ones created. Even St. Dominic and St. 
 Francis had great difficulty in getting their orders instituted. But 
 Loyola and his companions made extraordinary offers. They pro- 
 fessed their willingness to go wherever the pope should send them, 
 among Turks, heathens, or heretics, instantly, without condition, or 
 reward. 
 
 How could the pope refuse to license them ? His empire was 
 in danger ; Luther was in the midst of his victories ; the power 
 of ideas and truth was shaking to its centre the pontifical throne ; 
 all the old orders had become degenerate and inefficient, and the 
 pope did not know where to look for efficient support. The vener- 
 able Benedictines were revelling in the wealth of their splendid 
 abbeys, while the Dominicans and the Franciscans had become 
 itinerant vagabonds, peddling relics and indulgences, and forgetful 
 of those stern duties and virtues which originally characterized 
 them. All the monks were inexhaustible subjects of sarcasm and 
 mockery. They even made scholasticism ridiculous, and the papal 
 dogmas contemptible. Erasmus laughed at them, and Luther 
 mocked them. They were sensual, lazy, ignorant, and corrupt. 
 The pope did not want such soldiers. But the followers of Loyola 
 were full of ardor, talent, and zeal ; willing to do any thing for a 
 sinking cause ; able to do any thing, so far as human will can 
 avail. And they did not disappoint the pope. Great additions 
 were made. They increased with marvellous rapidity. The 
 zealous, devout, and energetic, throughout all ranks in the Catholic 
 church, joined them. They spread into all lands. They became 
 the confessors of kings, the teachers of youth, the most popular 
 
100 RAPID SPREAD OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 preachers, the most successful missionaries. In sixteen years after 
 the scene of Montfciartre, Loyola had established his society in the 
 affections and confidence of Catholic Europe, against the voice of 
 universities, the fears of monarchs, and the jealousy of the other 
 monastic orders. In sixteen years, from the condition of a ridi- 
 culed fanatic, whose voice, however, would have been disregarded 
 a century earlier or later, he became one of the most powerful 
 dignitaries of the church, influencing the councils of the Vatican, 
 moving the minds of kings, controlling the souls of a numerous 
 fraternity, and making his power felt, even in the courts of Japan 
 and China. Before he died, his spiritual sons had planted their 
 missionaiy stations amid Peruvian mines, amid the marts of the 
 African slave trade, in the islands of the Indian Ocean, and in the 
 cities of Japan and China. Nay, his followers had secured the 
 most important chairs in the universities of Europe, and had be- 
 come confessors to the most powerful monarchs, teachers in the 
 best schools of Christendom, and preachers in its principal pulpits. 
 They had become an organization, instinct with life, endued with 
 energy and will, and forming a body which could outwatch Argus 
 with his hundred eyes, and outwork Briareus with his hundred 
 arms. It had forty thousand eyes open upon every cabinet and 
 private family in Europe, and forty thousand arms extended over 
 the necks of both sovereigns and people. It had become a mighty 
 power in the world, inseparably connected with the education and 
 the religion of the age, the prime mover of all political affairs, the 
 grand prop of absolute monarchies, the last hope of the papal 
 hierarchy. 
 
 The sudden growth and enormous resources of the " Society of 
 Jesus " impress us with feelings of amazement and awe. We 
 almost attribute them to the agency of mysterious powers, and 
 forget the operations of natural causes. The history of society 
 shows that no body of men ever obtained a wide-spread ascen- 
 dency, except by the exercise of remarkable qualities of mind and 
 heart. And this is the reason why the Jesuits prospered. When 
 Catholic Europe saw young men, born to fortune and honors, vol- 
 untarily surrendering their rank and goods, devoting themselves 
 to religious duties, spending their days in hospitals and schools, 
 wandering, as missionaries, into the most unknown and dangerous 
 
en 
 
 CHAP. IX.] EXTRAORDINARY VIRTUES OF THE OLDER JESUITS. 101 
 
 parts of the world, exciting the young to study, making great 
 attainments in all departments of literature and science, and 
 shedding a light, wherever they went, by their genius and disin- 
 terestedness, it was natural that they would be received as preach- 
 ers, teachers, and confessors. That they were characterized, dur- 
 ing the first fifty years, by such excellences, has never been 
 denied. The Jesuit missionaiy called forth the praises of Baxter, 
 and the panegyric of Leibnitz. He went forth, without fear, to 
 
 counter the most dreaded dangers. Martyrdom was nothing to 
 him, for he knew that the altar, which might stream with his blood, 
 would, in after times, be a cherished monument of his fame, and 
 an impressive emblem of the power of his religion. Francis 
 Xavier, one of the first converts of Loyola, a Spaniard of rank, 
 traversed a tract of more than twice the circumference of the 
 globe, preaching, disputing, and baptizing, until seventy thousand 
 converts attested the fruits of his mission. In perils, fastings, and 
 fatigues, was the life of this remarkable man passed, to convert 
 the heathen world ; and his labors have never been equalled, as a 
 missionaiy, except by the apostle Paul. But China and Japan 
 were not the only scenes of the enterprises of Jesuit missionaries. 
 As early as 1634, they penetrated into Canada, and, shortly after, 
 to the sources of the Mississippi and the prairies of Illinois. " My 
 companion," said the fearless Marquette, " is an envoy of France, 
 to discover new countries ; but I am an ambassador of God, to 
 enlighten them with the gospel." But of all the missions of the 
 Jesuits, those in Paraguay were the most successful. They there 
 gathered together, in reductions, or villages, three hundred thou- 
 sand Indians, and these were bound together by a common interest, 
 were controlled by a paternal authority, taught useful arts, and 
 trained to enjoy the blessings of civilization. On the distant banks 
 of the La Plata, while the Spanish colonists were hunting the 
 Mexicans and Peruvians with bloodhounds, or the English slave 
 traders were consigning to eternal bondage the unhappy Africans, 
 the Jesuits were realizing the ideal paradise of More — a Utopia, 
 where no murders or robberies were committed, and where the 
 blessed flowers of peace and harmony bloomed in a garden of 
 almost primeval loveliness. 
 
 In that age, the Jesuit excelled in any work to which he devoted 
 9* 
 
102 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 his attention. He was not only an intrepid missionary, but a mosi 
 successful teacherl Into the work of education he entered heart 
 and soul. He taught gratuitously, without any crabbed harshness, 
 and with a view to gain the heart. He entered into the feelings 
 of his pupils, and taught them to subdue their tempers, and avoid 
 quarrels and oaths. He excited them to enthusiasm, perceived their 
 merits, and rewarded the successful with presents and favors. 
 Hence the schools of the Jesuits were the best in Europe, and 
 were highly praised even by the Protestants. The Jesuits were 
 even more popular as preachers than they were as teachers ; and 
 they were equally prized as confessors. They were so successful 
 and so respected, that they soon obtained an ascendency in Europe. 
 Veneration secured wealth, and their establishments gradually 
 became magnificently endowed. But all their influence was 
 directed to one single end — to the building up of the power of 
 the popes, whose obedient servants they were. Can we wonder 
 that Catholicism should revive ? 
 
 Again, their constitution was wonderful, and admirably adapted 
 to the ends they had in view. Their vows were indeed substan- 
 tially the same as those of other monks, but there was among them 
 a more practical spirit of obedience. All the members were con- 
 trolled by a single will — all were passive instruments in the hands 
 of the general of the order. He appointed presidents of colleges 
 and of religious houses ; admitted, dismissed, dispensed, and pun- 
 ished at his pleasure. His power was irresponsible, and for life. 
 From his will there was no appeal. There were among them 
 many gradations in rank, but each gradation was a gradation in 
 slavery. The Jesuit was bound to obey even., his own servant, if 
 required by a superior. Obedience was the soul of the institution, 
 absolute, unconditional, and unreserved — even the submission of 
 the will, to the entire abnegation of self. The Jesuit gloried in 
 being made a puppet, a piece of machinery, like a soldier, if 
 the loss of his intellectual independence would advance the inter- 
 ests of his order. The esprit de corps was perfectly wonderful ; 
 and this spirit was one secret of the disinterestedness of the body. 
 " Ad majorem Dei gloriam" was the motto emblazoned on their 
 standards, and written on their hearts ; but this glory of God was 
 synonymous with the ascendency of their association. 
 
CHAP. IX.] DEGENERACY OF THE JESUITS. 103 
 
 The unconditional obedience to a single will, which is the 
 genius of Jesuitism, while it signally advanced the interests of the 
 body, and of the pope, to whom they were devoted, still led to the 
 most detestable and resistless spiritual despotism ever exercised by 
 man. The Jesuit, especially when obscure and humble, was a 
 tool, rather than an intriguer. He was bound hand and foot by 
 the orders of his superiors, and they alone were responsible for his 
 actions. 
 
 We can easily see how the extraordinary virtues and attain- 
 ments of the early Jesuits, and the wonderful mechanism of their 
 system, would promote the growth of the order and the interests of 
 Rome, before the suspicions of good people would be aroused. 
 It was a long time after their piety had passed to fraud, their 
 simplicity to cunning, their poverty to wealth, their humility to 
 pride, and their indifference to the world to cabals, intrigues, and 
 crimes, before the change was felt. And, moreover, it was more 
 than a centuiy before the fruits of the system were fully reaped. 
 With all the excellences of their schools and missions, dangerous 
 notions and customs were taught in them, which gradually de- 
 stroyed their efficacy. A bad system often works well for a while, 
 but always carries the seeds of decay and ruin. It was so with 
 the institution of Loyola, in spite of the enthusiasm and sincerity 
 of the early members, and the masterly wisdom displayed by the 
 founders. In after times, evils were perceived, which had, at 
 first, escaped the eye. It was seen that the system of education, 
 though specious, and, in many respects, excellent, was calculated 
 to narrow the mind, while it filled it with knowledge. Young men, 
 in their colleges, were taught blindly to follow a rigid mechanical 
 code ; they were closely watched ; all books were taken from 
 them of a liberal tendency ; mutilated editions of such as could 
 not be denied only were allowed ; truths of great importance were 
 concealed or glossed over ; exploded errors were revived, and 
 studies recommended which had no reference to the discussion of 
 abstract questions on government or religion. And the boys 
 were made spies on each other, their spirits were broken, and 
 their tastes perverted. The Jesuits sought to guard the avenues 
 to thought, not to open them, were jealous of all independence of 
 mind, and never sought to go beyond their age, or base any 
 movement on ideal standards. 
 
104 EVILS IN THE JESUIT SYSTEM. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 Again, as preachers, though popular and eloquent, they devoted 
 their talents to convert men to the Roman church rather than to 
 God. They were bigoted sectarians ; strove to make men 
 Catholics rather than Christians. As missionaries, they were con- 
 tent with a mere nominal conversion. They gave men the 
 crucifix, but not the Bible, and even permitted their converts to 
 retain many of their ancient superstitions and prejudices. And 
 thus they usurped the authority of native rulers, and sought to 
 impose on China and Japan their despotic yoke. They greatly 
 enriched themselves in consequence of the credulity of the natives, 
 whom they flattered, and wielded an unlawful power. And this 
 is one reason why they were expelled, and why they made no 
 permanent conquests among the millions they converted in Japan. 
 They wished not only to subjugate the European, but the Asiatic 
 mind. Europe did not present a field sufficiently extensive for 
 their cupidity and ambition. 
 
 Finally, as confessors, they were peculiarly indulgent to those 
 who sought absolution, provided their submission was complete. 
 Then it was seen what an easy thing it was to bear the yoke of 
 Christ. The offender was told that sin consisted in wilfulness, 
 and wilfulness in the perfect knowledge of the nature of sin, 
 according to which doctrine blindness and passion were sufficient 
 exculpations.! They invented the doctrine of mental reservation, 
 on which Pascal was so severe. Perjury was allowable, if the 
 perjured were inwardly determined not to swear. A man might 
 fight a duel, if in danger of being stigmatized as a coward ; he 
 might betray his friend, if he could thus benefit his party. 
 The Jesuits invented a system of casuistry which confused all 
 established ideas of moral obligation. They tolerated, and some 
 of them justified, crimes, if the same could be made subservient to 
 the apparent interests of the church. Their principle was to do 
 evil that good might come. Above all, they conformed to the 
 inclinations of the great, especially to those of absolute princes, on 
 whom they imposed no painful penance, or austere devotion. 
 Their sympathies always were with absolutism, in all its forms, 
 and they were the chosen and trusted agents of the despots of 
 mankind, until even the eyes of Europe were open to their vast 
 ambition, which sought to erect an independent empire within the 
 
CHAP. IX.] THE POPES IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 105 
 
 limits of despotism itself. But the corruptions of the Jesuits, their 
 system of casuistry, their lax morality, their disgraceful intrigues, 
 their unprincipled rapacity, do not belong to the age we have now 
 been considering. These fruits of a bad system had not then 
 been matured ; and the infancy of the society was as beautiful as 
 its latter days were disgraceful and fearful. In a future chapter, 
 we shall glance at the decline and fall of this celebrated institution 
 — the best adapted to its proposed ends of any system ever de- 
 vised by the craft and wisdom of man. 
 
 The great patrons of the Jesuits — the popes and their empire 
 in the sixteenth century, after the death of Luther — demand 
 some notice. The Catholic church, in this century, was remark- 
 able for the reformation it attempted within its own body, and 
 for the zeal, and ability, and virtue, which marked the character 
 of many of the popes themselves. , Had it not been for this counter 
 reformation, Protestantism would have obtained a great ascendency 
 in Europe. But the Protestants were divided among themselves, 
 while the Catholics were united, and animated with singular zeal. 
 They put forth their utmost energies to reconquer what they had 
 lost. They did not succeed in this, but they secured the ascend- 
 ency, on the whole, of the Catholic cause in Europe. For this 
 ascendency the popes are indebted to the Jesuits. 
 
 At the close of the sixteenth century, the popes possessed a 
 well-situated, rich, and beautiful province. All writers celebrated 
 its fertility. Scarcely a foot of land remained uncultivated. Corn 
 was exported, and the ports were filled with ships. The people 
 were courageous, and had great talents for business. The middle 
 classes were peaceful and contented, but the nobles, who held in 
 their hands the municipal authority, were turbulent, rapacious, and 
 indifferent to intellectual culture. The popes were generally 
 virtuous characters, and munificent patrons of genius. Gregory 
 XIII. kept a list of men in every country who were likely to acquit 
 themselves as bishops, and exhibited the greatest caution in ap- 
 pointing them. Sixtus V., whose father was an humble gardener, 
 encouraged agriculture and manufactures, husbanded the resources 
 of the state, and filled Rome with statues. He raised the obelisk 
 in front of St. Peter's, and completed the dome of the Cathedral. 
 Clement VIII. celebrated the mass himself, and scrupulously 
 
106 NEPOTISM OF THE POPES. [CHAP. IX. 
 
 devoted himself to religious duties. He was careless of the 
 pleasures which formerly characterized the popes, and admitted 
 every day twelve poor persons to dine with him. Paul V. had 
 equal talents and greater authority, but was bigoted and cold. 
 Gregory XIV. had all the severity of an ancient monk. The only 
 religious peculiarity of the popes, at the latter end of the sixteenth 
 century, which we unhesitatingly condemn, was, their religious in- 
 tolerance. But they saw that their empire would pass away, unless 
 they made vigorous and desperate measures to retain it. During 
 this period, the great victories of the Jesuits, the establishment of 
 their colleges, and the splendid endowments of their churches took 
 place. Gregory XV. built, at his own cost, the celebrated church 
 of St. Ignatius, at Rome, and instituted the Propaganda, a mis- 
 sionary institution, under the control of the Jesuits. 
 
 The popes, whether good or bad, did not relinquish their nep- 
 otism in this century, in consequence of which great families 
 arose with every pope, and supplanted the old aristocracy. The 
 Barberini family, in one pontificate, amassed one hundred and 
 five millions of scudi — as great a fortune as that left by Mazarin. 
 But they, enriched under Urban VII., had to flee from Rome 
 under Innocent X. Jealousy and contention divided and distracted 
 all the noble families, who vied with each other in titles and 
 pomp, ceremony and pride. The ladies of the Savelli family 
 never quitted their palace walls, except in closely veiled carriages. 
 The Visconti decorated their walls with the portraits of the popes 
 of their line. The Gaetana dwelt with pride on the memory of 
 Boniface VIII. The Colonna and Orsini boasted that for cen- 
 turies no peace had been concluded in Christendom, in which 
 they had not been expressly included. But these old fami- 
 lies had become gradually impoverished, and yielded, in wealth 
 and power, though not in pride and dignity, to the Cesarini, Bor- 
 gesi, Aldobrandini, Ludovisi, Giustiniani, Chigi, and the Barberini. 
 All these families, from which popes had sprung, had splendid 
 palaces, villas, pictures, libraries, and statues ; and they contrib- 
 uted to make Rome the centre of attraction for the elegant and 
 the literary throughout Europe. It was still the moral and social 
 centre of Christendom. It was a place to which all strangers 
 resorted, and from which all intrigues sprung. It was the scene 
 
CHAP. IX.] EOME IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 107 
 
 of pleasure, gayety, and grandeur. And the splendid fabric, 
 which was erected in the " ages of faith," in spite of all the ca- 
 lamities and ravages of time, remained still beautiful and attrac- 
 tive. Since the first secession, in the sixteenth century, Rome has 
 lost none of her adherents, and those, who remained faithful, have 
 become the more enthusiastic in their idolatry. 
 
 .References. — Ranke's History of the Popes. Father Bouhour's Life 
 of Ignatius Loyola. A Life of Xavier, by the same author. Stephens's 
 Essay on Loyola. Charlevoix's History of Paraguay. Pascal's Provincial 
 Letters. Macaulay"s Review of Ranke's History of the Popes. Bancroft's 
 chapter, in the History of the United States, on the colonization of 
 Canada. " Secreta Monita." Histoire des Jesuites. " Spiritual Exer- 
 cises." Dr. Williams's Essay. History of Jesuit Missions. The works, 
 on the Jesuits are very numerous ; but those which are most accessible 
 are of a violent partisan character. Eugene Sue, in his "Wandering 
 Jew," has given false, but strong, impressions. Infidel writers have gen- 
 erally been the most bitter, with the exception of English and Scotch 
 authors, in the seventeenth century. The gx-eat work of Ranke is the 
 most impartial with which the author is acquainted. Ranke's histories; 
 should never be neglected, of which admirable translations have beea 
 made. 
 
108 POLITICAL TROUBLES AFTER THE DEATH OF LUTHER. [CHAP. X. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 
 
 The contests which arose from the discussion of religious ideas 
 did not close with the sixteenth century. They were, on the other 
 hand, continued with still greater acrimony. Protestantism had 
 been suppressed in France, but not in Holland or Germany. In 
 England, the struggle was to continue, not between the Catholics 
 and Protestants, but between different parties among the Protes- 
 tants themselves. In Germany, a long and devastating war of 
 thirty years was to be carried on before even religious liberty 
 could be guaranteed. 
 
 This struggle is the most prominent event of the seventeenth 
 century before the English Revolution, and was attended with the 
 most important religious and political consequences. The event 
 itself was one of the chief political consequences of the Reforma- 
 tion. Indeed, all the events of this period either originated in, or 
 became mixed up with, questions of religion. 
 
 From the very first agitation of the reform doctrines, the house 
 of Austria devoted against their adherents the whole of its im- 
 mense political power. Charles V. resolved to suppress Protes- 
 tantism, and would have perhaps succeeded, had it not been for 
 the various wars which distracted his attention, and for the decided 
 stand which the Protestant princes of Germany took respecting 
 Luther and his doctrines. As early as 1530, was formed the 
 league of Smalcalde, headed by the elector of Saxony, the most 
 powerful of the German princes, next to the archduke of Austria. 
 The princes who formed this league, resolved to secure to their 
 subjects the free exercise of their religion, in spite of all opposi- 
 tion from the Catholic powers. But hostilities did not commence 
 until after, Luther had breathed his last. The Catholics gained a 
 great victory at the battle of Miihlberg, when the Elector of Sax- 
 ony was taken prisoner. With the treaty of Smalcalde, the free- 
 dom of Germany seemed prostrate forever, and the power of 
 
CHAP. X.] DIET OF AUGSBURG. 109 
 
 Austria reached its meridian. But the cause of liberty revived 
 under Maurice of Saxony, once its formidable enemy. All the 
 fruits of victoiy were lost again in the congress of Passau, and the 
 diet of Augsburg, when an equitable peace seemed guaranteed to 
 the Protestants. 
 
 The diet of Augsburg, 1555, the year of the resignation of 
 Charles V., divided Germany into two great political and religious 
 parties, and recognized the independence of each. The Protes- 
 tants were no longer looked upon as rebels, but as men who had a 
 right to worship God as they pleased. Still, in reality, all that the 
 Lutherans gained was toleration, not equality. The concessions 
 of the Catholics were made to necessity, not to justice. Hence, 
 the treaty of Augsburg proved only a truce, not a lasting peace. 
 The boundaries of both parties were marked out by the sword, and 
 by the sword only were they to be preserved. 
 
 For a while, however, peace was preserved, and might have 
 continued longer, had it not been for the dissensions of Protestants 
 among themselves, caused by the followers of Calvin and Luther. 
 The Lutherans would not include the Calvinists in their com* 
 munion, and the Calvinists would not accede to the Lutheran 
 church. During these dissensions, the Jesuits sowed tares, and the 
 Protestants lost the chance of establishing their perfect equality 
 with the Catholics. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the bitterness and jealousy which existed 
 between sects and parties, still the peace of Germany, in a political 
 sense, was preserved during the reign of Ferdinand, the founder 
 of the German branch of the house of Austria, and who suc- 
 ceeded his brother Charles V. On his death, in 1564, his son Max- 
 imilian II., was chosen emperor, and during his reign, and until 
 his death, in 1576, Germany enjoyed tranquillity. His successor 
 was his son Rodolph, a weak prince, and incapable of uniting the 
 various territories which were hereditary in his family — Austria, 
 Hungary, Transylvania, Bohemia, Moravia, and Styria. There 
 were troubles in each of these provinces, and one after another 
 revolted, until Rodolph was left with but the empty title of empe- 
 ror. But these provinces acknowledged the sway of his brother 
 Matthias, who had delivered them from the Turks, and had granted 
 the Protestants liberty of conscience. The emperor was weak 
 10 
 
110 COMMENCEMENT OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. L CHAP - x - 
 
 enough to confirm his brother in his usurpation. In 1612, he 
 died, and Matthias mounted the imperial throne. 
 
 It was during the reign of this prince, that the Thirty Years' WaT 
 commenced. In proportion as the reformed religion gained 
 ground in Hungary and Bohemia, — two provinces very difficult to 
 rule, — the Protestant princes of the empire became desirous of 
 securing and extending their privileges. Their demands were 
 refused, and they entered into a new confederacy, called the 
 Evangelical Union. This association was opposed by another, 
 called the Catholic League. The former was supported by 
 Holland, England, and Henry IV. of France. The humiliation 
 of Austria was the great object of Henry in supporting the Prot- 
 estant princes of Germany, and he assembled an army of forty 
 thousand men, which he designed to head himself. But, just as 
 his preparations were completed, he was assassinated, and his 
 death and the dissensions in the Austrian family prevented the 
 war breaking out with the fury which afterwards characterized it. 
 
 The Emperor Matthias died in 1618, and was succeeded by 
 his cousin Ferdinand, Duke of Styria, who was an inveterate 
 enemy to the Protestant cause. His first care was to suppress 
 the insurrection of the Protestants, which, just before his accession, 
 had broken out in Bohemia, under the celebrated Count Mansfelt. 
 The Bohemians renounced allegiance to Ferdinand II., and chose 
 Frederic V., elector palatine, for their king. Frederic unwisely 
 accepted the crown, which confirmed the quarrel between Ferdi- 
 nand and the Bohemians. Frederic was seconded by all the 
 Protestant princes, except the Elector of Saxony, by two thousand 
 four hundred English volunteers, and by eight thousand troops 
 from the United Provinces. But Ferdinand, assisted by the king 
 of Spain and all the Catholic princes, was more than a match for 
 Frederic, who wasted his time and strength in vain displays of 
 sovereignty. Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, commanded the forces 
 of the Catholics, who, with twenty-five thousand troops from the 
 Low Countries, invaded Bohemia. The Bohemian forces did not 
 amount to thirty thousand, but they intrenched themselves near 
 Prague, where they were attacked (1620) and routed, with im- 
 mense slaughter. The battle of Prague decided the fate of 
 Bohemia, put Frederic in possession of all his dominions, and 
 
CHAP. X.] THE EMPEROR FREDERIC. Ill 
 
 invested him with an authority equal to what any of his predeces- 
 sors had enjoyed. All his wishes were gratified, and, had he 
 been wise, he might have maintained his ascendency in Germany. 
 But he was blinded by his success, and, from a rebellion in Bohe- 
 mia, the war extended through Germany, and afterwards through- 
 out Europe. 
 
 The emperor had regained his dominions by the victorious arms 
 of Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria. To compensate him, without 
 detriment to himself, he resolved to bestow upon him the domin- 
 ions of the Count Palatine of the Rhine, who had injudiciously 
 accepted the crown of Bohemia. Frederic must be totally ruined. 
 He was put under the ban of the empire, and his territories were 
 devastated by the Spanish general Spinola, with an army of 
 twenty-five thousand men. 
 
 Apparently there was no hope for Frederic, or the Protestant 
 cause. The only Protestant princes capable of arresting the 
 Austrian encroachments were the Electors of Saxony and Bran- 
 denburg. But the former, John George, preferred the aggrandize- 
 ment of his house to the emancipation of his country, and tamely 
 witnessed the victories of the emperor, without raising an arm for 
 the relief of the Protestants, of whom he was the acknowledged 
 head. George William of Brandenburg was still more shamefully 
 fettered by the fear of Austria, and of losing his dominions ; and 
 he, too, cautiously avoided committing himself to either party. 
 
 But while these two great princes ingloriously abandoned Fred- 
 eric to his fate, a single soldier of fortune, whose only treasure 
 was his sword, Ernest Count Mansfield, dared, in the Bohemian 
 town of Pilsin, to defy the whole power of Austria. Undismayed 
 by the reverses of the elector palatine, he succeeded in enlisting 
 an army of twenty thousand men. With such an army, the cause 
 of Frederic was not irretrievably lost. New prospects began to 
 open, and his misfortunes raised up unexpected friends. James of 
 England opened his treasures, and Christian of Denmark offered 
 his powerful support. Mansfield was also joined by the Margrave 
 of Baden. The courage of the count palatine revived, and he 
 labored assiduously to arouse his Protestant brethren. Meanwhile, 
 the generals of the emperor were on the alert, and the rising 
 hopes of Frederic were dissipated by the victories of Tilly. The 
 
112 COUNT WALLENSTEIN. [CHAP. X. 
 
 count palatine was again driven from his hereditary dominions, 
 and sought refuge ki Holland. 
 
 But, though the emperor was successful, his finances were 
 exhausted, and he was disagreeably dependent on Bavaria. Un- 
 der his circumstances, nothing was more welcome than the 
 proposal of Wallenstein, an experienced officer, and the richest 
 nobleman in Bohemia. 
 
 He offered, at his own expense, and that of his friends, to raise, 
 clothe, and maintain an army for the emperor, if he were allowed 
 to augment it to fifty thousand men. His project was ridiculed 
 as visionary ; but the offer was too valuable to be rejected. In a 
 few months, he had collected an army of thirty thousand. His 
 reputation, the prospect of promotion, and the hope of plunder, 
 attracted adventurers from all parts of Germany. Knowing that 
 so large a body could not be held together without great resources, 
 and having none of his own, he marched his troops into the most 
 fertile territories, which had not yet suffered from the war, where 
 they subsisted by contributions and plunder, as obnoxious to their 
 friends as they were to their enemies. Nothing shows the weak- 
 ness of the imperial power, with all its apparent strength, and the 
 barbarous notions and customs of the country, more than this grant 
 to Wallenstein. And, with all his heroism and success, he cannot 
 now be viewed in any other light than as a licensed robber. He 
 was virtually at the head of a troop of banditti, who fought for the 
 sake of plunder, and who would join any side which would present 
 the greatest hopes of gain. The genius of Schiller, both in his 
 dramas and histories, has immortalized the name of this unprinci- 
 pled hero, and has excited a strange interest in his person, his 
 family, and his fortunes. He is represented as " born to com- 
 mand. His acute eye distinguished at a glance, from among the 
 multitude, such as were competent, and he assigned to each his 
 proper place. His praise, from being rarely bestowed, animated 
 and brought into full operation every faculty ; while his steady, 
 reserved, and earnest demeanor secured obedience and discipline. 
 His very appearance excited awe and reverence ; his figure was 
 proud, lofty, and warlike, while his bright, piercing eye expressed 
 profundity of thought, combined with gravity and mystery. His 
 favorite study was that of the stars, and his most intimate friend 
 
CHAP. X.] CHARACTER OF WALLENSTEIN. 113 
 
 was an Italian astrologer. He had a fondness for pomp and 
 extravagance. He maintained sixty pages ; his ante-chamber was 
 guarded by fifty life-guards, and his table never consisted of less 
 than one hundred covers. Six barons and as many knights were 
 in constant attendance on his person. He never smiled, and the 
 coldness of his temperament was proof against sensual seductions. 
 Ever occupied with grand schemes, he despised those amuse- 
 ments in which so many waste their lives. Terror was the talis- 
 man with which he worked : extreme in his punishments as in his 
 rewards, he knew how to keep alive the zeal of his followers, 
 while no general of ancient or modern times could boast of being 
 obeyed with equal alacrity. Submission to his will was more 
 prized by him than bravery, and he kept up the obedience of his 
 troops by capricious orders. He was a man of large stature, thin, 
 of a sallow complexion, with short, red hair, and small, sparkling 
 eyes. A gloomy and forbidding seriousness sat upon his brow, and 
 his munificent presents alone retained the trembling crowd of his 
 dependants." 
 
 Such was this enterprising nobleman, to whom the emperor Fer- 
 dinand committed so great authority. And the success of Wallen- 
 stein apparently justified the course of the emperor. The greater 
 his extortions, and the greater his rewards, the greater was the con- 
 course to his standard. Such is human nature. It is said that, in 
 seven years, Wallenstein exacted not less than sixty millions of 
 dollars from one half of Germany — an incredible sum, when the 
 expenditure of the government of England, at this time, was less than 
 two million pounds a year. His armies flourished, while the states 
 through which they passed were ruined. What cared he for the 
 curses of the people, or the complaints of princes, so long as his 
 army adored him ? It was his object to humble all the princes of 
 the empire, and make himself so necessary to the emperor that he 
 would gradually sink to become his tool. He already was created 
 Duke of Friedland, and generalissimo of the imperial armies. 
 Nor had his victorious career met with any severe check, but 
 uninterrupted success seemed to promise the realization of his 
 vast ambition. Germany lay bleeding at his feet, helpless and 
 indignant. 
 
 But the greatness and the insolence of Wallenstein raised up 
 10* 
 
114 GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. [CHAP. X. 
 
 enemies against him in all parts of the empire. Fear and jeal- 
 ousy increased the opposition, even in the ranks of the Catholics. 
 His dismissal was demanded by the whole college of electors, 
 and even by Spain. Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, felt himself 
 eclipsed by the successful general, and was at the head of the 
 cabals against him. 
 
 The emperor felt, at this crisis, as Ganganelli did when com- 
 pelled to disband the Jesuits, that he was parting with the man 
 to whom he owed all his supremacy. Long was he undecided 
 whether or not he would make the sacrifice. But all Germany 
 was clamorous, and the disgrace of Wallenstein was ordained. 
 
 Would the ambitious chieftain, at the head of one hundred 
 thousand devoted soldiers, regard the commands of the emperor ? 
 He made up his mind to obey, looking to the future for revenge, 
 and feeling that he could afford to wait for it. Seni had read in 
 the stars that glorious prospects still awaited him. Wallenstein 
 retired to his estates in Bohemia, but maintained the pomp and 
 splendor of a prince of the empire. 
 
 Scarcely had he retired from the command of the army before 
 his services were again demanded. One hero produces another. 
 A Wellington is ever found to oppose a Napoleon. Providence 
 raised up a friend to Germany, in its distress, in the person 
 of Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden. It was not for per- 
 sonal aggrandizement that he lent his powerful arm to the 
 Protestant princes, who, thus far, had vainly struggled against 
 Maximilian, Tilly, and Wallenstein. Zeal for Protestantism, 
 added to strong provocations, induced him to land in Germany 
 with fifteen thousand men — a small body to oppose the victorious 
 troops of the emperor, but they were brave and highly disciplined, 
 and devoted to their royal master. He himself was indisputably 
 the greatest general of the age, and had the full confidence of 
 the Protestant princes, who were ready to rally the moment he 
 obtained any signal advantage. Henceforth, Gustavus Adolphus 
 was the hero of the war. He was more than a hero ; he was a 
 Christian, regardful of the morals of his soldiers, and devoted to 
 the interests of spiritual religion. He was frugal, yet generous ; 
 serene in the greatest danger; and magnanimous beyond all 
 precedent in the history of kings. On the 20th of May, 1630, 
 
CHAP. X.] LOSS OF MAGDEBURG. 115 
 
 taking his daughter Christiana in his arms, then only four years of 
 age, he presented her to the states as their future sovereign, and 
 made his farewell address. " Not lightly, not wantonly," said he, 
 " am I about to involve myself and you in this new and dangerous 
 war. God is my witness that I do not fight to gratify my own 
 ambition ; but the emperor has wronged me, has supported my 
 enemies, persecuted my friends, trampled my religion in the dust, 
 and even stretched forth his revengeful arm against my crown. 
 The oppressed states of Germany call loudly for aid, which, by 
 God's help, we will give them. 
 
 " I am fully sensible of the dangers to which my life will be 
 exposed. I have never yet shrunk from them, nor is it likely that 
 I shall always escape them. Hitherto, Providence has protected 
 me ; but I shall at last fall in defence of my country and my faith. 
 I commend you to the protection of Heaven. Be just, conscien- 
 tious, and upright, and we shall meet again in eternity. For the 
 prosperity of all my subjects, I offer my warmest prayer to 
 Heaven ; and bid you all a sincere — it may be an eternal — 
 farewell." 
 
 He had scarcely landed in Germany before his victorious career 
 began. France concluded a treaty with him, and he advanced 
 against Tilly, who now headed the imperial armies. 
 
 The tardiness of the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg in 
 rendering assistance caused the loss of Magdeburg, the most 
 important fortress of the Protestants. It was taken by assault, 
 even while Gustavus was advancing to its relief. No pen can 
 paint, and no imagination can conceive, the horrors which were 
 perpetrated by the imperial soldiers in the sack of that unfortunate 
 place. Neither childhood nor helpless age — neither youth, beauty, 
 sex, nor rank could disarm the fury of the conquerors. No situa- 
 tion or retreat was sacred. In a single church fifty-three women 
 were beheaded. The Croats amused themselves with throwing 
 children into the flames. Pappenheim's Walloons stabbed infants 
 at the breast. The city was reduced to ashes, and thirty thousand 
 of the inhabitants were slain. 
 
 But the loss of this important city was soon compensated by the 
 battle of Leipsic, 1630, which the King of Sweden gained over 
 the imperial forces, and in which the Elector of Saxony at last 
 
116 WALLENSTEIN REINSTATED IN POWER. [CHAP. X. 
 
 rendered valuable aid. The rout of Tilly, hitherto victorious, was 
 complete, and he himself escaped only by chance. Saxony was 
 freed from the enemy, while Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, and 
 Hungary, were stripped of their defenders. Ferdinand was no 
 longer secure in his capital ; the freedom of Germany was secured. 
 Gustavus was eveiy where hailed as a deliverer, and admiration 
 for his genius was only equalled by the admiration of his virtues. 
 He rapidly regained all that the Protestants had lost, and the fruits 
 of twelve years of war were snatched away from the emperor. 
 Tilly was soon after killed, and all things indicated the complete 
 triumph of the Protestants. 
 
 It was now the turn of Ferdinand to tremble. The only person 
 who could save him was dismissed and disgraced. Tilly was 
 dead. Munich and Prague were in the hands of the Protestants, 
 while the king of Sweden traversed Germany as a conqueror, law- 
 giver, and judge. No fortress was inaccessible; no river checked 
 his victorious career. The Swedish standards were planted in Ba- 
 varia, Bohemia, the Palatinate, Saxony, and along the banks of 
 the Rhine. Meanwhile the Turks were preparing to attack 
 Hungary, and a dangerous insurrection threatened his own capital. 
 None came to his assistance in the hour of peril. On all sides, 
 he was surrounded by hostile armies, while his own forces were 
 dispirited and treacherous. 
 
 From such a hopeless state he was rescued by the man whom 
 he had injured, but not until he had himself to beg his assistance. 
 Wallenstein was in retirement, and secretly rejoiced in the victories 
 of the Swedish king, knowing full well that the emperor would 
 soon be compelled to summon him again to command his armies. 
 Now he could dictate his terms. Now he could humiliate his 
 sovereign, and at the same time obtain all the power his ambition 
 craved. He declined entering his service unless he had the un- 
 limited command of all the armies of Austria and Spain. No 
 commission in the army was to be granted by the emperor, without 
 his own approval. He demanded the ordinary pay, and an impe- 
 rial hereditary estate. In short, he demanded sovereign authority ; 
 and with such humiliating terms the emperor, in his necessities, 
 was obliged to comply. 
 
 No sooner did he raise his standard, than it was resorted to by 
 
CHAP. X.] DEATH OF GTJSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 117 
 
 the unprincipled, the rapacious, and the needy from all parts of 
 the empire. But Wallenstein now resolved to pursue, exclusively, 
 his own selfish interests, and directed all his aims to independent 
 sovereignty. When his forces were united with those of Maxi- 
 milian, he found himself at. the head of sixty thousand men. 
 Then really commenced the severity of the contest, for Wallenstein 
 was now stronger than Gustavus. Nevertheless, the heroic Swede 
 offered to give his rival battle at Nuremburg, which was declined. 
 He then attacked his camp, but was repulsed with loss. At last, 
 the two generals met on the plains of Lutzen, in Saxony, 1632. 
 During the whole course of the war, two such generals had not 
 been pitted against each other, nor had so much been staked on 
 the chance of a battle. Victoiy declared for the troops of Gus- 
 tavus, but the heroic leader himself was killed, in the fulness of 
 his glory. It was his fortune to die with an untarnished fame. 
 " By an untimely death," says Schiller, " his protecting genius 
 rescued him from the inevitable fate of man — that of forgetting 
 moderation in the intoxication of success, and justice in the pleni- 
 tude of power. It may be doubted whether, had he lived longer, 
 he would still have deserved the tears which Germany shed over 
 his grave, or maintained his title to the admiration with which pos- 
 terity regards him, — as the first and only just conqueror that the 
 world has produced. But it was no longer the benefactor of Ger- 
 many who fell at Lutzen; the beneficent part of his career Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus had already terminated ; and now the greatest 
 service which he could render to the liberties of Germany was — 
 to die. The all-engrossing power of an individual was at an end ; 
 the equivocal assistance of an over-powerful protector gave place 
 to a more noble self-exertion on the part of the estates ; and those 
 who formerly were the mere instruments of his aggrandizement, 
 now began to work for themselves. The ambition of the Swedish 
 monarch aspired, unquestionably, to establish a power within Ger- 
 many inconsistent with the liberties of the estates. His aim was 
 the imperial crown ; and this dignity, supported by his power, 
 would be liable to more abuse than had ever been feared from the 
 house of Austria. His sudden disappearance secured the liberties 
 of Germany, and saved his own reputation, while it probably 
 spared him the mortification of seeing his own allies in arms 
 
118 ASSASSINATION OF WALLENSTEIN. [CHAP. X. 
 
 against him, and all the fruits of his victories torn from him by a 
 disadvantageous peace." 
 
 After the battle of Lutzen we almost lose sight of Wallenstein ; 
 and no victories were commensurate with his reputation and abili- 
 ties. He continued inactive in Bohemia, while all Europe was 
 awaiting the exploits which should efface the remembrance of his 
 defeat. He exhausted the imperial provinces by enormous contri- 
 butions, and his whole conduct seems singular and treacherous. 
 His enemies at the imperial court now renewed their intrigues, 
 and his conduct was reviewed with the most malicious criticism. 
 But he possessed too great power to be openly assailed by the em- 
 peror, and measures were concerted to remove him by treacheiy. 
 Wallenstein obtained notice of the designs against him, and now, 
 too late, resolved on an open revolt. But he was betrayed, and 
 his own generals, on whom he counted, deserted him, so soon as 
 the emperor dared to deprive him of his command. But he was 
 only removed by assassination, and just at the moment when he 
 deemed himself secure against the whole power of the emperor. 
 No man, however great, can stand before an authority which is 
 universally deemed legitimate, however reduced and weakened 
 that authority may be. In times of anarchy and revolution, there 
 is confusion in men's minds respecting the persons in whom legiti- 
 mate authority should be lodged, and this is the only reason why 
 rebellion is ever successful. 
 
 The death of Wallenstein, in 1634, did not terminate the war. 
 It raged eleven years longer, with various success, and involved the 
 other European powers. France was then governed by Cardinal 
 Richelieu, who, notwithstanding his Catholicism, lent assistance to 
 the Protestants, with a view of reducing the power of Austria. 
 Indeed, the war had destroyed the sentiments which produced it, 
 and political motives became stronger than religious. Oxenstein 
 and Richelieu became the master spirits of the contest, and, in the 
 recesses of their cabinets, regulated the campaigns of their gen- 
 erals. Battles were lost and won on both sides, and innumerable 
 intrigues were plotted by interested statesmen. After all par- 
 ties had exhausted their resources, and Germany was deluged 
 with the blood of Spaniards, Hollanders, Frenchmen, Swedes, 
 besides that of her own sons, the peace of Westphalia was con- 
 
CHAP. X.] TREATY OF WESTPHALIA. 119 
 
 eluded, (1648,) — the most important treaty in the history of Eu- 
 rope. All the princes and states of the empire were reestablished 
 in the lands, rights, and prerogatives which they enjoyed before 
 the troubles in Bohemia, in 1619. The religious liberties of the 
 Lutherans and Calvinists were guaranteed, and it was stipulated 
 that the Imperial Chamber should consist of twenty-four Protestant 
 members and twenty-six Catholic, and that the emperor should 
 receive six Protestants into the Aulic Council, the highest judicial 
 tribunal in the empire. This peace is the foundation of the whole 
 system of modern European politics, of all modern treaties, of 
 that which is called the freedom of Germany, and of a sort of 
 balance of power among all the countries of Western Europe. 
 Dearly was it purchased, by the perfect exhaustion of national 
 energies, and the demoralizing sentiments which one of the longest 
 and bloodiest wars in human history inevitably introduced. 
 
 References. — Schiller's History of the Thirty Years' "War. Russell's 
 Modern Europe. Coleridge's Translation of Wallenstein. Kohlrausch's 
 History of Germany. See also a history of Germany in Dr. Lardner's 
 Cyclopedia. History of Sweden. Plank on the Political Consequences 
 of the Reformation. The History of Schiller, however, is a classic, and is 
 exceedingly interesting and beautiful. 
 
120 REGENCY OF MARY DE MEDICIS. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ADMINISTRATIONS OF CARDINALS RICHELIEU AND MAZARIN. 
 
 While Germany was rent with civil commotions, and the power 
 of the emperors was limited by the stand taken against it by the 
 Protestant princes, France was ruled with an iron hand, and a foun- 
 dation was laid for the despotism of Louis XIV. The energetic 
 genius of Cardinal Richelieu, during the whole period of the thirty 
 years' war, affected the councils of all the different courts of Eu- 
 rope. He was indisputably the greatest statesman of his age and 
 nation. To him France is chiefly indebted for the ascendency 
 she enjoyed hi the seventeenth century. Had Henry IV. lived to 
 the age of Louis XIV., France would probably have been perma- 
 nently greater, although the power of the king might not have 
 been so absolute. 
 
 When Henry IV. died, he left his kingdom to his son Louis 
 XIII., a child nine years of age. The first thing to be done was 
 the appointment of a regent. The Parliament of Paris, in whom 
 this right seems to have been vested, nominated the queen mother, 
 Mary de Medicis, and the young king, in a bed of justice, — 
 the greatest of the royal prerogatives, — confirmed his mother 
 in the regency. Her regency was any thing but favorable to the 
 interests of the kingdom. The policy of the late king was disre- 
 garded, and a new course of measures was adopted. Sully, 
 through whose counsels the reign of Henry IV. had been so benefi- 
 cent, was dismissed. The queen regent had no sympathy with 
 his views. Neither the corrupt court nor the powerful aristocracy 
 cared any thing for the interests of the people, for the improve- 
 ment of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, for the regu- 
 lation of the finances, or for increasing the productive industry of 
 the country, on which its material prosperity ever depends. The 
 greedy courtiers obtained from a lavish queen the treasures which 
 the wise care of Henry had amassed, and which he thoughtlessly 
 bestowed in order to secure their fidelity. The foreign policy also 
 
CHAP. XI.] RISE OF CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU. 121 
 
 was changed, and a strong alliance was made with the pope, with 
 Spain, and with the Jesuits. 
 
 On the retirement of the able and incorruptible Sully, favorites 
 of no talent or worth arose to power. Concini, an Italian, con- 
 trolled the queen regent, and through him all her favors flowed. 
 He was succeeded by Luynes, a mere falconer, who made him- 
 self agreeable to the young king, and usurped the power of Con- 
 cini, when the king attained his majority. He became constable 
 of France, the highest officer in the realm, and surpassed all the 
 old nobility in arrogance and cupidity. His mismanagement and 
 selfishness led to an insurrection of some of the great nobles, 
 among whom were Conde and D'Epernon. 
 
 While the kingdom was thus convulsed with civil war, and in 
 every way mismanaged, Richelieu, Bishop of Lucon, appeared 
 upon the stage. He was a man of high birth, was made doctor 
 of the Sorbonne at the age of twenty-two, and, before he was 
 twenty-five, a bishop. During the ascendency of Mancini, he 
 attracted the attention of the queen, and was selected as secretary 
 of state. Soon after the death of Luynes, he obtained a cardi- 
 nal's hat, and a seat in the council. The moment he spoke, his 
 genius predominated, and the monarch, with all his pride, bowed 
 to the ascendency of intellect, and yielded, with a good grace, to 
 a man whom it was impolitic to resist. 
 
 From that moment, in 1622, the reins of empire were in the 
 hands of a master, and the king himself, were it not for the splen- 
 dor- of his court, would have disappeared from the eye, both of 
 statesmen and historians. The reign of anarchy, for a quarter 
 of a century, at least, was over, and the way was prepared for the 
 aggrandizement of the French monarchy. When Richelieu came 
 into power, universal disorder prevailed. The finances were 
 deranged, the Huguenots were troublesome, and the nobles were 
 rebellious. Such was the internal state of France, — weakened, 
 distracted, and anarchical. She had lost her position among the 
 great powers, and Austria threatened to overturn the political rela- 
 tions of all the states of Europe. Austria, in the early part of 
 the seventeenth century, was, unquestionably, the leading power 
 in Christendom, and her ascendency boded no good to the liberties 
 which men were beginning to assert. 
 11 
 
122 SUPPRESSION OF THE HUGUENOTS. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 Three great objects animated the genius of Richelieu, and in 
 the attainment of these he was successful. These were, the sup- 
 pression of the Huguenots, as a powerful party, the humiliation 
 of the great barons, and the reduction of the power of Austria. 
 For these objects he perseveringly contended for twenty years ; 
 and his struggles and intrigues to secure these ends constitute the 
 history of France during the reign of Louis XIII. And they 
 affected not only France, but the whole continent. His policy 
 was to preserve peace with England and Spain, — the hereditary 
 enemies of France, — with Sweden, and with the Protestants of 
 Germany, even while he suppressed their religion within his own 
 realm. It was the true policy of England to prevent the ruin of 
 the Huguenots in France, as before she had aided the Protestants 
 in Holland. But, unfortunately, England was then ruled by James 
 and Charles, and they were controlled by profligate ministers, who 
 were the tools of the crafty cardinal. A feeble assistance was 
 rendered by James, but it availed nothing. 
 
 Inorder to annihilate the political power of the Huguenots, — for 
 Richelieu cared more for this than for their religious opinions, — 
 it was necessary that he should possess himself of the city of La Ro- 
 che He, on the Bay of Biscay, a strong fortress, which had resisted, 
 during the reign of Charles IX., the whole power of the Catholics, 
 and which continued to be the stronghold of the Huguenots. Here 
 they could always retire and be safe, in times of danger. It was 
 strongly fortified by sea, as well as by land ; and only a vigorous 
 blockade could exclude provisions and military stores from the 
 people. But England was mistress of the ocean, and supplies 
 from her would always relieve the besieged. 
 
 After ineffectual but vigorous attempts to take the city by land, 
 Richelieu determined to shut up its harbor, first by stakes, and 
 then by a boom. Both of these measures failed. But the mili- 
 tary genius of the cardinal was equal to his talents as a statesman. 
 He remembered what Alexander did at the siege of Tyre. So, 
 with a volume of Quintus Curtius in his hand, he projected and 
 finished a mole, half a mile in length, across a gulf, into which 
 the tide flowed. In some places, it was eight hundred and forty 
 feet below the surface of the water, and sixty feet in breadth. At 
 first, the besieged laughed at an attempt so gigantic and difficult. 
 
CHAP. XI.] THE DEPRESSION OF THE GREAT NOBLES. 123 
 
 But the work steadily progressed, and the city was finally cut ofF 
 from communication with the sea. The besieged, wasted by 
 famine, surrendered ; the fortifications were destroyed, the town 
 lost its independence, and the power of the Huguenots was broken 
 forever. But no vengeance was taken on the heroic citizens, and 
 they were even permitted to enjoy their religion. Fifteen thou- 
 sand, however, perished at this memorable siege. 
 
 The next object of Richelieu was the humiliation of Austria. 
 But the detail of his military operations would be complicated and 
 tedious, since no grand and decisive battles were fought by his 
 generals, and no able commanders appeared. Turenne and Conde 
 belonged to the next age. The military operations consisted in 
 frontier skirmishes, idle sieges, and fitful expeditions, in which, 
 however, the cardinal had the advantage, and by which he gained, 
 since he could better afford to pay for them. War is always ruin- 
 ously expensive, and that party generally is successful which can 
 the longer furnish resources. It is a proof that religious bigotry 
 did not mainly influence him, since he supported the Protestant 
 party. All motives of a religious kind were absorbed in his pre- 
 vailing passion to aggrandize the French monarchy. Had it not 
 been for the intrigues and forces of Richelieu, the peace of West- 
 phalia might not have been secured, and Austria might again have- 
 overturned the " Balance of Power." 
 
 The third great aim of the minister, and the one which he most 
 systematically pursued to the close of his life, was the depression 
 of the nobles, whose power was dangerously exercised. They had 
 almost feudal privileges, were enormously wealthy, numerous, 
 corrupt, and dissolute. His efforts to suppress their power raised 
 up numerous conspiracies. 
 
 Among the earliest was one supported by the queen mother and 
 Gaston, Duke of Orleans, brother to the king, and presumptive heir 
 to the throne. Connected with this conspiracy were the Dukes of 
 Bourbon and Vendome, the Prince de Chalais, and several others of 
 the highest rank. It was intended to assassinate the cardinal and 
 seize the reins of government. But he got timely notice of the 
 plot, informed the king, and guarded himself. The conspira- 
 tors were too formidable to be punished in a body ; so he dissem- 
 bled, and resolved to cut them off in detail. He moreover threat- 
 
124 SUPPRESSION OF GREAT NOBLES. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 ened the king with resignation, and frightened him by predicting a 
 civil war. In consequence, the king gave orders to arrest his 
 brothers, the Dukes of Bourbon and Vendome, while the Prince of 
 Chalais was executed. The Duke of Orleans, on the confession 
 of Chalais, fled from the kingdom. The queen mother was 
 arrested, Bassompierre was imprisoned in the Bastile, and the Duke 
 of Guise sent on a pilgrimage to Rome. The powerful D'Eper- 
 non sued for pardon. 
 
 Still Richelieu was not satisfied. He resolved to humble the 
 parliament, because it had opposed an ordinance of the king de- 
 claring the partisans of the Duke of Orleans guilty of treason. It 
 had rightly argued that such a condemnation could not be issued 
 without a trial. " But," said the artful minister to the weak-minded 
 king, " to refuse to verify a declaration which you yourself an- 
 nounced to the members of parliament, is to doubt your authority." 
 An extraordinary council was convened, and the parliament, which 
 was simply a court of judges, was summoned to the royal presence. 
 They went in solemn procession, carrying with them the record 
 which showed their refusal to register the edict. The king received 
 them with stately pomp. They were required to kneel in his 
 presence, and their decree was taken from the record and torn in 
 pieces before their eyes, and the leading members were suspended 
 and banished. 
 
 The Court of Aids, by whom the money edicts were registered, 
 also showed opposition. The members left the court when the 
 next edict was to be registered. But they were suspended, until 
 they humbly came to terms. 
 
 " All the malcontents, the queen, the prince, the nobles, the par- 
 liament, and the Court of Aids hoped for the support of the people, 
 and all were disappointed." And this is the reason why they failed 
 and Richelieu triumphed. There never have been, among the 
 French, disinterestedness and union in the cause of liberty, which 
 never can be gained without perseverance and self-sacrifice. 
 
 The next usurpation of Richelieu was the erection of a new 
 tribunal for trying state criminals, in which no record of its pro- 
 ceedings should be preserved, and the members of which should 
 be selected by himself. This court was worse than that of the 
 Star Chamber. 
 
CHAP. XI.] ■ POWER OF EICHELIEU. 125 
 
 Richelieu showed a still more culpable disregard of the forms 
 of justice in the trial of Marshal Marrillac, charged with crimes in 
 the conduct of the army. He was brought before a commission, 
 and not before his peers, condemned, and executed. 
 
 In view of this judicial murder, the nobles, generally, were 
 filled with indignation and alarm. They now saw that the minister 
 aimed at the complete humiliation of their order, and therefore 
 made another effort to resist the cardinal. At the head of this 
 conspiracy was the Duke of Montmorency, admiral and constable 
 of France, one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom. He 
 was governor of Provence, and deeply resented the insult offered 
 to his rank in the condemnation of Marrillac. He moreover felt 
 indignant that the king's brother should be driven into exile by the 
 hostility of a priest. He therefore joined his forces with those of 
 the Duke of Orleans, was defeated, tried, and executed for rebel- 
 lion, against the entreaty and intercession of the most powerful 
 families. 
 
 The cardinal minister was now triumphant over all his enemies. 
 He had destroyed the political power of the Huguenots, extended 
 the boundary of France, and decimated the nobles. He now 
 turned his attention to the internal administration of the kingdom. 
 He created a national navy, protected commerce and industry, 
 rewarded genius, and formed the French Academy. He attained 
 a greater pitch of greatness than any subject ever before or since 
 enjoyed in his country, greater even than was possessed by Wol- 
 sey. Wolsey, powerful as he was, lived, like a Turkish vizier, in 
 constant fear of his capricious master. But Richelieu controlled 
 the king himself. Louis XIII. feared him, and felt that he could 
 not reign without him. He did not love the cardinal, and was 
 often tempted to dismiss him, but could never summon sufficient 
 resolution. Richelieu was more powerful than the queen mother, 
 the brothers of the king, the royal mistresses, or even all united, 
 since he obtained an ascendency over all, doomed the queen 
 mother to languish in exile at Cologne, and compelled the duke 
 of Orleans to succumb to him. He was chief of three of the 
 principal monastic orders, and possessed enormous wealth. He 
 erected a palace as grand as Hampton Court, and appeared in 
 public with great pomp and ceremony. 
 11* 
 
126 CHARACTER OF RICHELIEU. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 But an end came to his greatness. In 1642, a mortal malady 
 wasted him away ; he summoned to his death bed his royal master ; 
 recommended Mazarin as his successor ; and died like a man who 
 knew no remorse, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, and the 
 eighteenth of his reign as minister. He was eloquent, but his 
 words served only to disguise his sentiments; he was direct and 
 frank in his speech, and yet a perfect master of the art of dissimu- 
 lation ; he could not be imposed upon, and yet was passionately 
 fond of flattery, which he liked in such large doses that it seemed 
 hyperbolical ; he was not learned, yet appreciated learning in 
 others, and magnificently rewarded it ; he was fond of pleasure, 
 and easily fascinated by women, and yet was cold, politic, impla- 
 cable, and cruel. But he was a great statesman, and aimed to 
 suppress anarchy and preserve law. In view of his labors to 
 preserve order, we may almost excuse his severity. " Placed," 
 says Montresor, as quoted by Miss Pardoe, " at an equal distance 
 between Louis IX., whose aim was to abolish feudality, and the 
 national convention, whose attempt was to crush aristocracy, he 
 appeared, like them, to have received a mission of blood from 
 heaven. The high nobility, repulsed under Louis XI. and Fran- 
 cis I., almost entirely succumbed under Richelieu, preparing, by its 
 overthrow, the calm, unitarian, and despotic reign of Louis XIV., 
 who looked around him in vain for a great noble, and found only 
 courtiers. The great rebellion, which, for nearly two centuries, 
 agitated France, almost entirely disappeared under the ministry 
 of the cardinal. The Guises, who had touched with their hand 
 the sceptre of Henry III., the Condes, who had placed their foot 
 on the steps of the throne of Hemy IV., and Gaston, who had 
 tried upon his brow the crown of Louis XIII., — all returned, at 
 the voice of the minister, if not into nothingness, at least into 
 impotency. All who struggled against the iron will, enclosed in 
 that feeble body, were broken like glass. And all the struggle 
 which Richelieu sustained, he did not sustain for his own sake, but 
 for that of France. All the enemies, against whom he contended, 
 were not his enemies merely, but those of the kingdom. If he 
 clung tenaciously by the side of a king, whom he compelled to live 
 a melancholy, unhappy, and isolated life, whom he deprived suc- 
 cessively of his friends, of his mistresses, and of his family, as a 
 
CHAP. XI.] EFFECTS OF RICHELIEU'S POLICY. 127 
 
 tree is stripped of its leaves, of its branches, and of its bark, it 
 was because friends, mistresses, and family exhausted the sap of 
 the expiring royalty, which had need of all its egotism to prevent it 
 from perishing. For it was not intestinal struggles merely, — there 
 was also foreign war, which had connected itself fatally with them. 
 All those great nobles whom he decimated, all those princes of 
 the blood whom he exiled, were inviting foreigners to France ; 
 and these foreigners, answering eagerly to the summons, were 
 entering the country on three different sides, — the English by 
 Guienne, the Spaniards by Roussillon, and the Austrians by Artois. 
 
 "He repulsed the English by driving them to the Isle of Re, and 
 by besieging La Rochelle ; the Spaniards, by creating beside them 
 the new kingdom of Portugal ; and the imperialists, by detaching 
 Bavaria from its alliance, by suspending their treaty with Den- 
 mark, and by sowing dissensions in the Catholic league. His 
 measures were cruel, but not uncalled for. Chalais fell, but he 
 had conspired with Lorraine and Spain ; Montmorency fell, but he 
 had entered France with arms in his hand ; Cinq-Mars fell, but 
 he had invited foreigners into the kingdom. Born a simple priest, 
 he became not only a great statesman, but a great general. And 
 when La Rochelle fell before those measures to which Schomberg 
 and Bassompierre were compelled to bow, he said to the king, 
 ' Sire, I am no prophet, but I assure your majesty that if you will 
 condescend to act as I advise you, you will pacificate Italy in the 
 month of May, subjugate Languedoc in the month of July, and be 
 on your return in the month of August.' And each of these 
 prophecies he accomplished in its time and place, and in such 
 wise that, from that moment, Louis XIII. vowed to follow forever 
 the counsels of a man by which he had so well profited. Finally, 
 he died, as Montesquieu asserts, after having made the monarch 
 enact the secondary character in the monarchy, but the first in 
 Europe ; after having abased the king, but after having made his 
 reign illustrious ; and after having mowed down rebellion so close 
 to the soil, that the descendants of those who had composed the 
 league could only form the Fronde, as, after the reign of Napo- 
 leon, the successors of the La Vendee of '93 could only execute 
 the Vendee of '32." 
 
 Louis XIII. did not long survive this greatest of ministers. 
 
128 eichelietj's folicy. [chap. xi. 
 
 Naturally weak, he was still weaker by disease. He was reduced 
 to skin and bone. 4 In this state, he called a council, nominated 
 his queen, Anne of Austria, regent, during the minority of his son 
 Louis XIV., then four years of age, and shortly after died, 
 in 1643. 
 
 Mazarin, the new minister, followed out the policy of Richelieu. 
 The war with Austria and Spain was continued, which was closed, 
 on the Spanish side, by the victory of Rocroi, in 1643, obtained 
 by the Prince of Conde, and in which battle twenty-three thousand 
 Frenchmen completely routed twenty-six thousand Spaniards, 
 killing eight thousand, and taking six thousand prisoners — • one of 
 the bloodiest battles ever fought. The great Conde here obtained 
 those laurels which subsequent disgrace could never take away. 
 The war on the side of Germany was closed, in 1648, by the 
 peace of Westphalia. Turenne first appeared in the latter cam- 
 paign of this long war, but gained no signal victory. 
 
 . Cardinal Mazarin, a subtle and intriguing Italian, while he 
 pursued the policy of Richelieu, had not his genius or success. 
 He, was soon involved in domestic troubles. The aristocracy 
 rebelled. Had they been united, they would have succeeded ; but 
 their rivalries, jealousies, and squabbles divided their strength and 
 distracted their councils. Their cause was lost, and Mazarin 
 triumphed, more from their divisions than from his own strength. 
 
 He first had to oppose a clique of young nobles, full of arro- 
 gance and self-conceit, but scions of the greatest families. They 
 hoped to recover the ancient ascendency of their houses. The 
 chief of these were the Dukes of Beaufort, Epernon, and Guise. 
 They made use, as their tool, of Madame Chevreuse, the confi- 
 dential friend of the queen regent. And she demanded of the 
 minister that posts of honor and power should be given to her 
 friends, which would secure that independence which Richelieu 
 had spent his life in restraining. Mazarin tried to amuse her, but, 
 she being inexorable, he was obliged to break with her, and a 
 conspiracy was the result, which, however, was easily suppressed. 
 
 But a more formidable enemy appeared in the person of De 
 Retz, coadjutor archbishop of Paris, and afterwards cardinal, a 
 man of boundless intrigue, unconquerable ambition, and restless 
 discontent. To detail his plots and intrigues, would be to describe 
 
CHAP. XI.] CARDINAL DE EETZ. 129 
 
 a labyrinth. He succeeded, however, in keeping the country 
 in perpetual turmoil, now inflaming the minds of the people, 
 then exciting insurrections among the nobles, and then, again, 
 encouraging the parliaments in resistance. He never appeared 
 as an actor, but every movement was directed by his genius. 
 He did not escape suspicion, but committed no overt acts by which 
 he could be punished. He and the celebrated Duchess de Longue- 
 ville, a woman who had as great a talent for intrigue as himself, 
 were the life and soul of the Fronde — - a civil war which ended 
 only in the reestablishment of the monarchy on a firmer founda- 
 tion. As the Fronde had been commenced by a troop of urchins, 
 who, at the same time, amused themselves with slings, the wits 
 of the court called the insurgents frondeurs, or slingers, insinu- 
 ating that their force was trifling, and their aim mischief. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Frondeurs kept France in a state of anarchy 
 for six years, and they were headed by some of the most powerful 
 nobles, and even supported by the Parliament of Paris. The 
 people, too, were on the side of the rebels, since they were ground 
 down by taxation, and hoped to gain a relief from their troubles. 
 But the rebels took the side of the oppressed only for their private 
 advantage, and the parliament itself lacked the perseverance and 
 intrepidity necessary to secure its liberty. The civil war of the 
 Fronde, though headed by discontented nobles, and animated by 
 the intrigues of a turbulent ecclesiastic, was really the contest 
 between the parliament and the arbitrary power of the govern- 
 ment. And the insurrection would have been fearful and suc- 
 cessful, had the people been firm, or the nobles faithful to the 
 cause they defended. But the English Revolution, then in 
 progress, and in which a king had been executed, shocked the 
 lovers of constitutional liberty in France, and reacted then, even 
 as the French Revolution afterwards reacted on the English mind. 
 Moreover, the excesses which the people perpetrated at Paris, 
 alai'med the parliament and the nobles who were allied with it, while 
 it urged on the ministers to desperate courses. The prince of 
 Conde, whose victories had given him an immortality, dallied with 
 both parties, as his interests served. Allied with the court, he 
 could overpower the insurgents ; but allied with the insurgents, he 
 could control the court. Sometimes he sided with the minister,. 
 
130 PRINCE OF COND12. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 and sometimes with the insurgents, but in neither case unless he 
 exercised a power arftl enjoyed a remuneration dangerous in any 
 government. Both parties were jealous of him, both feared him, 
 both hated him,' both insulted him, and both courted him. At one 
 time, he headed the royal troops, to attack Paris, which was gen- 
 erally in the hands of the people and of parliament ; and then, at 
 another, he fought like a -tiger to defend himself in Paris against 
 the royal troops. He had no sympathy with either the parliament 
 or the people, while he fought for them ; and he venerated the 
 throne, while he rebelled against it. His name was Louis de 
 Bourbon, and he was a prince of the blood. He contended 
 against the crown only to wrest from it the ancient power of the 
 great nobles; and to gain this object, he thought to make the 
 parliament and the Parisian mob his tools. The parliament, 
 sincerely devoted to liberty, thought to make the nobles its tools, 
 and only leagued with them to secure their services. The crafty 
 Mazarin quietly beheld these dissensions, and was sure of ultimate 
 success, even though at one time banished to Cologne. And, like 
 a reed, .he was ever ready to bend to difficulties he could not con- 
 trol. But he stooped to conquer. He at last got the Prince of 
 Conde, his brother the Prince of Conti, and the Duke of Longue- 
 ville, in his power. When the Duke of Orleans heard of it, he 
 said, " He has taken a good haul in the net ; he has taken a lion, 
 a fox, and a monkey." But the princes escaped from the net, 
 and, leagued with Turenne, Bouillon, La Rochefoucault, and other 
 great nobles, reached Paris, and were received with acclamations 
 of joy by the misguided people. Then, again, they obtained the 
 ascendant. But the ascendency was no sooner gained than the 
 victors quarrelled with themselves, and with the parliament, for 
 whose cause they professed to contend. It was in then- power, 
 when united, to have deprived the queen regent of her authority, 
 and to have established constitutional liberty in France. But they 
 would not unite. There was no spirit of disinterestedness, nor of 
 patriotism, nor public virtue, without which liberty is impossible, 
 even though there were forces enough to batter down Mount Atlas. 
 Conde, the victor, suffered himself to be again bribed by the 
 court. He would not persevere in his alliance with either nobles 
 or the parliament. He did not unite with the nobles because he 
 
CHAP. XI.] POWER OF MAZARIN. 131 
 
 felt that he was a prince. He did not continue with the parlia- 
 ment, because he had no sympathy with freedom. The cause 
 of the nobles was lost for want of mutual confidence ; that of 
 the parliament for lack of the spirit of perseverance. The par- 
 liament, at length, grew weary of war and of popular commo- 
 tions, and submitted to the court. All parties hated and distrusted 
 each other, more than they did the iron despotism of Mazarin. 
 The power of insurgent nobles declined. De Retz, the arch 
 intriguer, was driven from Paris. The Duchess de Longueville 
 sought refuge in the vale of Port Royal ; and, in the Jansenist 
 doctrines, sought that happiness which earthly grandeur could not 
 secure. Conde quitted Paris to join the Spanish armies. The rest 
 of the rebellious nobles made humble submission. The people 
 found they had nothing to gain from any dominant party, and 
 resigned themselves to another long period of political and social 
 slavery. The magistrates abandoned, in despair and disgust, their 
 high claims to political rights, while the young king, on his bed 
 of justice, decreed that parliament should no more presume to 
 discuss or meddle with state affairs. The submissive parliament 
 registered, without a murmur, the edict which gave a finishing 
 stroke to its liberties. The Fronde war was a complete failure, 
 because all parties usurped powers which did not belong to 
 them, and were jealous of the rights of each other. The nobles 
 wished to control the king, and the magistracy put itself forward 
 to represent the commons, when the states general alone was the 
 ancient and true representative of the nation, and the body to 
 which it should have appealed. The Fronde rebellion was a 
 failure, because it did not consult constitutional forms, because it 
 formed unnatural alliances, and because it did not throw itself 
 upon the force of immortal principles, but sought to support itself 
 by mere physical strength rather than by moral power, which 
 alone is the secret and the glory of all great internal changes. 
 
 The return of Cardinal Mazarin to power, as the minister of 
 Louis XIV., was the era of his grandeur. His first care was to 
 restore the public finances ; his second was to secure his personal 
 aggrandizement. He obtained all the power which Richelieu had 
 enjoyed, and i-eproved the king, and such a king as Louis XIV., as 
 he would a schoolboy. He enriched and elevated his relatives ; 
 
132 DEATH OF MAZARIN. [CHAP. XI. 
 
 married them into the first families of France ; and amassed a 
 fortune of two hundifed millions of livres, the largest perhaps that 
 any subject has secured in modern times. He even aspired to the 
 popedom ; but this greatest of all human dignities he was not 
 permitted to obtain. A fatal malady seized him, and the phy- 
 sicians told him he had not two months to live. Some days after, 
 he was seen in his dressing-gown, among his pictures, of which 
 he was extravagantly fond, and exclaimed, " Must I quit all these ? 
 Look at that Correggio, this Venus of Titian, this incomparable 
 deluge of Carracci. Farewell, dear pictures, that I have loved so 
 dearly, and that have cost me so much." 
 
 The minister lingered awhile, and amused his last hours with 
 cards. He expired in 1661 ; and no minister after him was in- 
 trusted with such great power. He died unlamented, even by his 
 sovereign, whose throne he had preserved, and whose fortune he 
 had repaired. He had great talents of conversation, was witty, 
 artful, and polite. He completed the work which Eichelieu began; 
 and, at his death, his master was the most absolute monarch that 
 ever reigned in France. 
 
 References. — Louis XIV. et son Siecle. Miss Pardoe's History of 
 Louis XIV. Voltaire's and James's Lives of Louis XIV. Memoirs of 
 Cardinal Richelieu. Memoirs of Mazarin. Memoires de Mademoiselle de 
 Montpensier. Memoires du Due de Saint Simon. Life of Cardinal de 
 Retz, in which the Fronde war is well traced. Memoir of the Duchess de 
 Longueville. Lacretelle's History of France. Rankin's History of France. 
 Sismondi's History of France. Crowe's History, in Lardner's Cyclopedia. 
 Bowring's History of the Huguenots. James's Life of the Prince of Conde. 
 The above works are the most accessible to the American student. 
 
CHAP. XII.] ACCESSION OF JAMES I. 133 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I. 
 
 While the Protestants in Germany were struggling for religious 
 liberty, and the Parliaments of France for political privileges, 
 there was a contest going on in England for the attainment of the 
 same great ends. With the accession of James I. a new era 
 commences in English history, marked by the growing im- 
 portance of the House of Commons, and their struggles for 
 civil and religious liberty. The Commons had not been entirely 
 silent during the long reign of Elizabeth, but members of them 
 occasionally dared to assert those rights of which Englishmen 
 are proud. The queen was particularly sensitive to any thing 
 which pertained to her prerogative, and generally sent to the 
 Tower any man who boldly expressed his opinion on subjects 
 which she deemed that she and her ministers alone had the right 
 to discuss. These forbidden subjects were those which pertained' 
 to the management of religion, to her particular courts, and to her 
 succession to the crown. She never made an attack on what she 
 conceived to be the constitution, but only zealously defended 
 what she considered as her own rights. And she was ever 
 sufficiently wise to yield a point to the commons, after she had 
 asserted her power, so that concession, on her part, had all the 
 appearance of bestowing a favor. She never pushed matters to 
 extremity, but gave way in good time. And in this policy she 
 showed great wisdom ; so that, in spite of all her crimes and 
 caprices, she ever retained the affections of the English people. 
 
 The son of her rival, Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, ascended the 
 throne, (1603,) under the title of James I., and was the first of 
 the Stuart kings. He had been king of Scotland under the title of 
 James VI., and had there many difficulties to contend with, chiefly 
 in consequence of the turbulence of the nobles, and the bigotry 
 of the reformers. He was eager to take possession of his English 
 inheritance, but was so poor that he could not begin his journey 
 12 
 
134 THE GENIUS OF THE REIGN OF JAMES. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 until Cecil sent him the money. He was crowned, with great 
 ceremony, in Westminster Abbey, on the 25th of June. 
 
 The first acts of his reign were unpopular ; and it was subse- 
 quently disgraced by a continual succession of political blunders. 
 To detail these, or to mention all the acts of this king, or the 
 events of his inglorious reign would fill a volume larger than this 
 History. Moreover, from this period, modern histoiy becomes very 
 complicated and voluminous, and all that can be attempted in this 
 work is, an allusion to the principal events. 
 { The genius of this reign is the contest between royal prerogative 
 and popular freedom. The proceedings in parliament were charac- 
 terized by a spirit of boldness and resistance never before manifested, 
 while the speeches and acts of the king were marked by an obsti- 
 nate and stupid pertinacity to those privileges which absolute kings 
 extorted from their subjects in former ages of despotism and dark- 
 ness. The boldness of the Commons and the bigotry of the king 
 led to incessant disagreement and discontent ; and, finally, under 
 Charles L, to open rupture, revolution, and strife. 
 
 The progress of this insurrection and contest furnishes one of 
 the most important and instructive chapters in the histoiy of society, 
 '-and the young student cannot make himself too familiar with de- 
 tails, of which our limits forbid a description. 
 
 The great Puritan contest here begins, destined not to be closed 
 until after two revolutions, and nearly a century of anxiety, suffer- 
 ing, and strife. Providence raised up, during the whole of the 
 Stuart dynasty, great patriots and statesmen, who had an eye to 
 perceive the true interests and rights of the people, and a heart 
 and a hand to defend them. No period and no nation have ever 
 been more fertile in great men than England was from the acces- 
 sion of James I. to the abdication of James II., a period of eighty- 
 five years. Shakspeare, Raleigh, Coke, Bacon, Cecil, Selden, 
 Pym, Went worth, Hollis, Leigh ton, Taylor, Baxter, Howe, Crom- 
 well, Hampden, Blake, Vane, Milton, Clarendon, Burnet, Shaftes- 
 bury, are some of the luminaries which have shed a light down 
 to our own times, and will continue to shine through all future 
 ages. They were not all contemporaneous, but they all took part, 
 more or less, on one side or the other, in the great contest of 
 the seventeenth centuiy. Whether statesmen, warriors, poets, or 
 
CHAP. XII.] CONSPIRACY OF SIR "WALTER RALEIGH. 135 
 
 divines, they alike made their age an epoch, and their little island 
 the moral centre of the world. 
 
 But we must first allude to some of the events of the reign of 
 James I., before the struggle between prerogative and liberty 
 attracted the attention of Europe. 
 
 One of the first was the conspiracy against the king, in which 
 Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Ealeigh were engaged. We lament 
 that so great a favorite with all readers as Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 so universal a genius, a man so learned, accomplished, and brave, 
 should have even been suspected of a treasonable project, and 
 without the excuse of some traitors, that they wished to deliver 
 their country from tyranny. But there is no perfection in man. 
 Sir Walter was restless and ambitious, and had an eye mainly to 
 his own advantage. His wit, gallantry, and chivalry were doubt- 
 less very pleasing qualities in a courtier, but are not the best quali- 
 ties of a patriot. He was disappointed because he could not keep 
 pace with Cecil in the favor of his sovereign, and because the 
 king took away the monopolies he had enjoyed. Hence, in con- 
 junction with other disappointed politicians, he was accused of an 
 attempt to seize the king's person, to change the ministry, and to 
 place the Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne. Against Raleigh 
 appeared no less a person than the great Coke, who prosecuted 
 him with such vehemence that Raleigh was found guilty, and 
 condemned to death. But the proofs of his guilt are not so clear 
 as the evidence of his ambition ; and much must be attributed to 
 party animosity. Though condemned, he was not executed ; but 
 lived to write many more books, and make many more voyages, 
 to the great delight both of the cultivated and the adventurous. 
 That there was a plot to seize the king is clear, and the conspira- 
 tors were detected and executed. Raleigh was suspected of this, 
 and perhaps was privy to it ; but the proofs of his crime were not 
 apparent, except to the judges, and to the attorney-general, Coke, 
 who compared the different plots to Samson's foxes, joined in the 
 tails, though their heads were separated. 
 
 The most memorable event at this time in the domestic history 
 of the kingdom was the Gunpowder Plot, planned by Catesby and 
 other disappointed and desperate Catholics for the murder of the 
 king, and the destruction of both houses of parliament. Knowing 
 
136 GUNPOWDER PLOT. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 the sympathies of James for their religion, the Catholics had ex- 
 pected toleration, at least. But when persecution continued against 
 them, some reckless and unprincipled men united in a design to 
 blow up the parliament. Percy, a relation of the Earl of North- 
 umberland, was concerned in the plot, and many of the other con- 
 spirators were men of good families and fortunes, but were implaca- 
 ble bigots. They hired a cellar, under the parliament house, which 
 had been used for coals ; and there they deposited thirty-one barrels 
 of gunpowder, waiting several months for a favorable time to perpe- 
 trate one of the most horrid crimes ever projected. It was resolved 
 that Guy Fawkes, one of the number, should set fire to the train. 
 They were all ready, and the 5th of November, 1605, was at 
 hand, the day to which parliament was prorogued ; but Percy 
 was anxious to save his kinsman from the impending ruin, Sir 
 Everard Digby wished to warn some of his friends, and Tresham 
 was resolved to give his brother-in-law, Lord Mounteagle, a cau- 
 tion. It seems that this peer received a letter so peculiar, that he 
 carried it to Cecil, who showed it to the king, and the king de- 
 tected or suspected a plot. The result was, that the cellar was 
 explored by the lord chamberlain, and Guy Fawkes himself was 
 found, with all the materials for striking a light, near the vault in 
 which the coal and the gunpowder were deposited. He was seized, 
 interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned ; but the wretch would not 
 reveal the names of his associates, although he gloried in the 
 crime he was about to commit, and alleged, as his excuse, that 
 violent diseases required desperate remedies, the maxim of the 
 Jesuits. But most of the conspirators revealed their guilt by flight. 
 They might have escaped, had they fled from the kingdom ; but 
 they hastened only into the country to collect their friends, and 
 head an insurrection, which, of course, was easily suppressed. 
 The leaders in this plot were captured and executed, and richly 
 deserved their fate, although it was clear that they were infatuated. 
 But in all crime there is infatuation. It was suspected that the 
 Jesuits were at the bottom of the conspiracy ; and the whole Catho- 
 lic population suffered reproach from the blindness and folly of a 
 few bigots, from whom no sect or party ever yet has been free. 
 But there is no evidence that any of the Catholic clergy were even 
 privy to the intended crime, which was known only to the absolute 
 
CHAP. XII.] PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 137 
 
 plotters. Some Jesuits were indeed suspected, arrested, tortured, 
 and executed ; but no evidence of guilt was brought against them 
 sufficient to convict them. But their acquittal was impossible in 
 such a state of national alarm and horror. Nothing ever made a 
 more lasting and profound impression on the English mind than 
 this intended crime ; and it strengthened the prejudices against the 
 Catholics even more than the persecutions under Queen Mary. 
 Had the crime been consummated, it would only have proved a 
 blunder. It would have shocked and irritated the nation beyond 
 all self-control ; and it is probable that the whole Catholic popula- 
 tion would have been assassinated, or hunted out, as victims for 
 the scaffold, in eveiy corner of England. It proved, however, a 
 great misfortune, and the severest blow Catholicism ever received 
 in England. Thus God overrules all human wickedness. There 
 was one person who suffered, in consequence of the excited sus- 
 picions of the nation, whose fate we cannot but compassionate ; 
 and this person was the Earl of Northumberland, who was sen- 
 tenced to pay a fine of thirty thousand pounds, to be deprived of 
 all his offices, and to be imprisoned in the Tower for life, and 
 simply because he was the head of the Catholic party, and a pro- 
 moter of toleration. Indeed, penal statutes against the Catholics 
 were fearfully multiplied. No Catholic was permitted to appear 
 at court, or live in London, or within ten miles of it, or remove, on 
 any occasion, more than five miles from his home, without especial 
 license. No Catholic recusant was permitted to practise surgery, 
 physic, or law ; to act as judge, clerk, or officer of any court or 
 corporation ; or perform the office of administrator, executor, or 
 guardian. Every Catholic, who refused to have his child baptized 
 by a Protestant, was obliged to pay, for each omission, one hun- 
 dred pounds. Every person keeping a Catholic servant, was com- 
 pelled to pay ten pounds a month to government. Moreover, every 
 recusant was outlawed ; his house might be broken open ; his 
 books and furniture destroyed ; and his horses and arms taken from 
 him. Such was the severe treatment with which the Catholics, 
 even those who were good citizens, were treated by our fathers in 
 England ; and this persecution was defended by some of the 
 greatest jurists, divines, and statesmen which England has pro- 
 12* 
 
138 ROBERT CARR, EARL OF SOMERSET. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 duced. And yet some maintain that there has been no progress 
 in society, except in material civilization ! 
 
 One of the peculiarities of the reign of James was, the ascen- 
 dency which favorites obtained over him, so often the mark of a 
 weak and vacillating mind. Henry VIII. and Elizabeth had their 
 favorites ; but they were ministers of the royal will. Moreover, 
 they, like Wolsey, Cromwell, Burleigh, and Essex, were great 
 men, and worthy of the trust reposed in them. But James, with 
 all his kingcraft and statecraft, with all his ostentation and boasts of 
 knowledge and of sagacity, reposed his confidence in such a man 
 as Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. It is true he also had great men 
 to serve him ; Cecil was his secretary, Bacon was his chancellor, 
 and Coke was his chief justice. But Carr and Villiers rose above 
 them all in dignity and honor, and were the companions and confi- 
 dential agents of their royal master. 
 
 Robert Carr was a Scottish gentleman, poor and cunning, who 
 had early been taught that personal beauty, gay dress, and lively 
 manners, would make his fortune at court. He first attracted the 
 attention of the king at a tilting match, at which he was the esquire 
 to Lord Dingwall. In presenting his lord's shield to the king, 
 his horse fell and threw him at James's feet. His leg was broken, 
 but his fortune was made. James, struck with his beauty and 
 youth, and moved by the accident, sent his own surgeon to him, 
 visited him himself, and even taught him Latin, seeing that the 
 scholastic part of his education had been neglected. Indeed, James 
 would have made a much better schoolmaster than king ; and his 
 pedantry and conceit were beyond all bounds, so that Bacon styled 
 him, either in irony or sycophancy, " the Solomon of the age." 
 Carr now became the pet of the learned monarch. He was 
 knighted, rich presents were bestowed on him, all bowed down to 
 him as they would have done to a royal mistress ; and Cecil and 
 Suffolk vied with each other in their attempts to secure the favor 
 of his friends. He gradually eclipsed every great noble at court, 
 was created Viscount Rochester, received the Order of the Garter, 
 and, when Cecil, then Earl of Salisbury, died, received the post of 
 the Earl of Suffolk as lord chamberlain, he taking Cecil's place 
 as treasurer. Rochester, in effect, became prime minister, as Cecil 
 had been. He was then created Earl of Somerset, in order that 
 
CHAP. XII.] GREATNESS AND FALL OF SOMERSET. 139 
 
 he might marry the Countess of Essex, the most beautiful and 
 fascinating woman at the English court. She was daughter of the 
 Earl of Suffolk, and granddaughter of the old Duke of Norfolk, 
 executed in 1572, and, consequently, belonged to the first family 
 in the realm. She was married to Essex at the age of thirteen, 
 but treated him with contempt and coldness, being already enam- 
 ored of the handsome favorite. That she might marry Carr she 
 obtained a divorce from her husband on the most frivolous grounds, 
 and through the favor of the king, who would do any thing for the 
 man he delighted to honor. She succeeded in obtaining her end, 
 and caused the ruin of all who opposed her wishes. But she proved 
 a beautiful demon, a fascinating fury, as might be expected from 
 such an unprincipled woman, although ennobled by " the blood of 
 all the Howards." Her reign lasted, however, only during the 
 ascendency of her husband. For a time, " glorious days were 
 succeeded by as glorious nights, when masks and dancings had 
 a continual motion, and when banquetings rapt up the spirit of 
 the sacred king, and kept it from descending to earthly things." 
 But whatever royal favor stamps, royal favor, like fashion, leaves. 
 Carr was supplanted by Villiers, and his doom was sealed. For 
 the murder of his old friend Sir Thomas Overbury, who died in 
 the Tower, as it was then supposed by poison, he and his countess 
 were tried, found guilty, and disgraced. But he was not executed, 
 and, after a few years' imprisonment, retired to the country, with 
 his lady, to reproach and hate each other. Their only child, the 
 Lady Anna Carr, a woman of great honor and virtue, married the 
 first duke of Bedford, and was the mother of Lord Russell who 
 died on the scaffold, a martyr to liberty, in the reign of Charles II. 
 The origin of the noble families of England is curious. Some few 
 are descended from successful Norman chieftains, who came over 
 with William the Conqueror, and whose merit was in their sword. 
 Others are the descendants of those who, as courtiers, statesmen, 
 or warriors, obtained great position, power, and wealth, during 
 former reigns. Many owe their greatness to the fact that they are 
 the offspring of the illegitimate children of kings, or the descend- 
 ants of the ignoble minions of kings. Some few are enrolled in 
 the peerage on account of their great wealth ; and a still smaller 
 number for the eminent services they have rendered their country, 
 
140 DUKE OP BUCKINGHAM. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 like Wellington, Brougham, or Ellenborough. A vast majority 
 can boast only the merit or the successful baseness of their an- 
 cestors. But all of them are interlinked by marriages, and there- 
 fore share together the glory or the shame of their progenitors, 
 so far as glory and shame can be transmitted from father to son, 
 independently of all individual virtue or vice. 
 
 Carr was succeeded in the royal favor by Villiers, and he, 
 more fortunate, ever retained the ascendency over the mind and 
 heart of James, as well as of his son Charles I. George Villiers 
 owed his fortune, not to his birth or talents, but to his fine clothes, 
 his Parisian manners, smooth face, tall figure, and bland smiles. 
 He became cup-bearer, then knight, then gentleman of the privy 
 council, then earl, then marquis, and finally duke of Buckingham, 
 lord high admiral, warden of the Cinque Ports, high steward of 
 Westminster, constable of Windsor Castle, and chief justice in 
 eyre of the parks and forests. " The doting and gloating king " 
 had taught Somerset Latin ; he attempted to teach Buckingham 
 divinity, and called him ever by the name of " Steenie." And 
 never was there such a mixture of finery, effeminacy, insolence, 
 and sycophancy in any royal minion before or since. Beau 
 Brummell never equalled him in dress, Wolsey in magnificence, 
 Mazarin in peculation, Walpole in corruption, Jeffries in inso- 
 lence, or Norfolk in pride. He was the constant companion of the 
 king, to whose vices he pandered, and through him the royal favor 
 flowed. But no rewards, or favors, or greatness satisfied him ; 
 not so much because he was ambitious, as because, like a spoiled 
 child, he did not appreciate the magnitude of the gifts which 
 were bestowed on him. Nor did he ever know his place ; but 
 made love to the queen of France herself, when he was sent on 
 an embassy. He trampled on the constitution, subverted the laws, 
 ground down the people by taxes, and taught the king to disre- 
 gard the affections of his subjects, and to view them as his slaves. 
 But such a triumph of iniquity could not be endured ; and Bucking- 
 ham was finally assassinated, after he had gained an elevation higher 
 than any English subject ever before attained, except Wolsey, 
 and without the exercise of any qualities which entitled him to a 
 higher position than a master of ceremonies at a fashionable ball. 
 It is easy to conceive that such a minion should arrive at power 
 
CHAP. XII.] LORD BACON. 141 
 
 under such a monarch as James ; but how can we understand that 
 such a man as Lord Bacon, the chancellor, the philosopher, the 
 statesman, the man of learning, genius, and wisdom, should have 
 bowed down to the dust, in vile subserviency, to this infamous 
 favorite of the king. Surely, what lessons of the frailty of human 
 nature does the reign of James teach us ! The most melancholy 
 instance of all the singular cases of human inconsistency, at 
 this time, is the conduct of the great Bacon himself, who reached 
 the zenith of his power during this reign. It is not the receiving 
 of a bribe, while exercising the highest judicial authority in the 
 land, on which alone his shame rests, but his insolent conduct to 
 his inferiors, his acquiescence in wrong, his base and unmanly 
 sycophancy, his ingratitude to his friends and patrons, his intense 
 selfishness and unscrupulous ambition while climbing to power, 
 and, above all, his willingness to be the tool of a despot who 
 trampled on the rights and liberties which God had given him to 
 guard ; and this in an age of light, of awakened intelligence, 
 when even his crabbed rival Coke was seeking to explode the 
 abuses of the Dark Ages. But " the difference between the soaring 
 angel and the creeping snake, was but a type of the difference 
 between Bacon the philosopher and Bacon the attorney-general, 
 Bacon seeking for truth and Bacon seeking for the Seals." As 
 the author of the Novum Organum, as the pioneer of modern 
 science, as the calm and patient investigator of nature's laws, as 
 the miner and sapper of the old false systems of philosophy which 
 enslaved the human mind, as the writer for future generations, 
 he has received, as he has deserved, all the glory which ad- 
 miring and grateful millions can bestow, of his own nation, and 
 of all nations. No name in British annals is more illustrious than 
 his, and none which is shaded with more lasting shame. Pope 
 alone would have given him an immortality as the " wisest, 
 brightest, meanest of mankind." The only defence for the 
 political baseness of Bacon — and this is insufficient - — is, that all 
 were base around him. The years when he was in power are 
 among the darkest and most disgraceful in English history. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the reign of favorites ; but this was 
 but a small part of the evils of the times. Every thing abroad 
 and at home was mismanaged. Patents of monopolies were 
 
142 TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF RALEIGH. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 multiplied ; the most grievous exactions were made ; indefensible 
 executions were ordered ; the laws were perverted ; justice was 
 sold ; and an ignominious war was closed by a still more igno- 
 minious peace. The execution of Raleigh was a disgrace to the 
 king, the court, and the nation, because the manner of it was so 
 cowardly and cruel. He had been convicted, in the early part of 
 the reign, of treason, and committed to the Towner. There he 
 languished twelve years, amusing himself by writing a universal 
 history, and in seeking the elixir of life ; for, in the mysteries of 
 chemistry, and in the mazes of historical lore, as in the intrigues 
 of courts, and dangers of camps, he was equally at home. 
 
 He was released from his prison in order to take command of 
 an adventurous expedition to Guiana in quest of gold. In a 
 former voyage he had visited the banks of the Oronoco in quest 
 of the city of Manoa, where precious stones and gold existed in 
 exhaustless treasures. That El Dorado he could not find ; but 
 now, in prison, he proposed to Secretary Winwood an expedition 
 to secure what he had before sought in vain. The king wavered 
 a while between his cupidity and fear ; for, while he longed for 
 gold, as the traveller does for water on the desert of Sahara, he 
 was afraid of giving offence to the Spanish ambassador. But his 
 cupidity was the stronger feeling, and Raleigh was sent with 
 fourteen ships to the coasts of South America. The expedition 
 was in every respect unfortunate to Raleigh and to the king. 
 The gallant commander lost his private fortune and a promising 
 son, the Spaniards attacked his armament, his troops mutinied 
 and deserted, and he returned to England, with a sullied fame, to 
 meet a disappointed sovereign and implacable enemies. In such 
 times, failure is tantamount to crime, and Raleigh was tried for 
 offences he never committed. The most glaring injustice, harsh- 
 ness, and sophistry were resorted to, even by Bacon ; but still 
 Raleigh triumphantly defended himself. But no innocence or 
 eloquence could save him ; and he was executed on the sentence 
 which had been pronounced against him for treason fifteen years 
 before. To such meanness and cowardice did his enemies resort 
 to rid the world of a universal genius, whose crime — if crime 
 he ever committed — had long been consigned to oblivion. 
 
 But we cannot longer dwell on the lives of eminent individuals 
 
CHAP. XII.] ENCROACHMENTS OF JAMES. 143 
 
 during the reign of James. However interesting may be the 
 details of their fortunes, their histoiy dwindles into insignificance 
 when compared with the great public injuries which an infatuated 
 monarch inflicted. Not cruel in his temper, not stained by per- 
 sonal crimes, quite learned in Greek and Latin, but weak and igno- 
 rant of his duties as a king, he was inclined to trespass on the rights 
 of his subjects. As has been already remarked, the genius of his reign 
 was the contest between prerogative and liberty. The Commons did 
 not acquiesce in his measures, or yield to his wishes, as they did 
 during the reign of Elizabeth. He had a notion that the duty of 
 a king was to command, and that of the subject was to obey, in 
 all things ; that kings ruled by divine right, and were raised by the 
 Almighty above all law. But such notions were not approved by 
 a parliament which swarmed with Puritans, and who were not 
 careful to conceal their views from the king. They insisted on 
 their privileges as tenaciously as the king insisted on his prerogative, 
 and often came into collision with him. And they instituted an 
 inquiry into monopolies, and attacked the monstrous abuses of 
 purveyance, and the incidents of feudal tenure, by which, among 
 other things, the king became guardian to wards, and received the 
 profits of their estates during their minority. These feudal 
 claims, by which the king, in part, received his revenue, were 
 every year becoming less valuable to the crown, and more offen- 
 sive to the people. The king, at length, was willing to compound, 
 and make a bargain with the Commons, by which he was to 
 receive two hundred thousand pounds a year, instead of the privi- 
 leges of wardship, and other feudal rights. But his necessities 
 required additional grants, which the Commons were unwilling 
 to bestow; and the king then resorted to the sale of monopolies, 
 and even peerages, sent the more turbulent of the Commons to 
 prison, and frequently dissolved parliament. He was resolved 
 to tax the people if supplies were not granted him, while the 
 Commons maintained that no taxation could be allowed without 
 their consent. Moreover, the Commons refused to grant such 
 supplies as the king fancied he needed, unless certain grievances 
 were redressed, among which was the High Commission Court, an 
 arbitrary tribunal, which fined and imprisoned without appeal. 
 But James, though pressed for money, stood firm to his notions 
 
144 QUAHREL BETWEEN JAMES AND PARLIAMENT. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 of prerogative, and supplied his most urgent necessities by illegal 
 means. People were dragged to the Star Chamber, on ail kinds 
 of accusations, that they might be sentenced to pay enormous 
 fines ; new privileges and monopolies were invented, and new 
 dignities created. Baronets, who are hereditary knights, were 
 instituted, and baronetcies were sold for one thousand pounds each. 
 
 But the monopolies which the king granted, in order to raise 
 money, did not inflame the Commons so much as the projected 
 marriage between the prince of Wales and the infanta of Spain. 
 James flattered himself that this Spanish match, to arrange which 
 he had sent Buckingham to the court of Madrid, would procure 
 the restitution of the Palatinate to the elector, who had been driven 
 from his throne. But the Commons thought differently. They, 
 as well as the people generally, were indignant in view of the 
 inactivity of the government in not sending aid to the distressed 
 Protestants of Germany ; and the loss of the Palatinate was re- 
 garded as a national calamity. They saw no good which would 
 accrue from an alliance with the enemies and persecutors of these 
 Protestants ; but, on the other hand, much evil. As the constitu- 
 tional guardians, therefore, of the public welfare and liberty, they 
 framed a remonstrance to the king, representing the overgrown 
 power of Austria as dangerous to the ; liberties of Europe, and 
 entreated his majesty to take up arms against Spain, which was 
 allied with Austria, and by whose wealth Austrian armies were 
 supported. 
 
 James was inflamed with indignation at this remonstrance, 
 which militated against all his maxims of government ; and he 
 forthwith wrote a letter to the speaker of the House of Commons, 
 commanding him to admonish the members " not to presume to 
 meddle with matters of state which were beyond their capacity, and 
 especially not to touch on his son's marriage." The Commons, not 
 dismayed, and conscious of strength, sent up a new remonstrance, 
 in which they affirmed that they zoere entitled to interpose with 
 their counsel in all matters of state, and that entire freedom of 
 speech was their ancient and undoubted right, transmitted from 
 their ancestors. The king, in reply, told the Commons, that " their 
 remonstrance was more like a denunciation of war, than an address 
 of dutiful subjects, and that their pretension to inquire into state 
 
CHAP. XII.] DEATH OF JAMES I. 145 
 
 affairs was a plenipotence to which none of their ancestors, even 
 during the weakest reigns, had ever dared to aspire." He farther 
 insinuated that their privileges were derived from royal favor. On 
 this, the Commons framed another protest, — that the liberties, fran- 
 chises, privileges, and jurisdictions of parliament are the ancient 
 and undoubted birthright of Englishmen, and that eveiy member 
 has the right of freedom of speech. This protest they entered 
 upon their journals, upon which James lost all temper, ordered the 
 clerk to bring him the journals, erased the protestation with his 
 own hand, in presence of the judges and the council, and then 
 dissolved the parliament. 
 
 Nothing else of note occurred in this reign, except the pros- 
 ecution of the Spanish match, which was so odious to the 
 nation that Buckingham, to preserve his popularity, broke off the 
 negotiations, and by a system of treachery and duplicity as 
 hateful as were his original efforts to promote the match. War 
 with Spain was the result of the insult offered to the infanta and 
 the court. An alliance was now made with France, and Prince 
 Charles married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. The 
 Commons then granted abundant supplies for war, to recover the 
 Palatinate ; and liberty of conscience was granted by the monarch, 
 on the demands of Richelieu, to the Catholics — so long and 
 peTseveringly oppressed. 
 
 Shortly after, (March 27, 1625,) King James died at Theobalds, 
 his favorite palace, from a disease produced by anxiety, gluttony, 
 and sweet wines, after a reign in England of twenty-two years ; 
 and his son, Charles I., before the breath was out of his body, was 
 proclaimed king in his stead. 
 
 The course pursued by James I. was adopted by his son ; and, as 
 their reigns were memorable for the same struggle, we shall con- 
 sider them together until revolution gave the victory to the ad- 
 vocates of freedom. 
 
 Charles I. was twenty-five years of age when he began his 
 reign. In a moral and social point of view he was a more re- 
 spectable man than his father, but had the same absurd notions of 
 the royal prerogative, the same contempt of the people, the same 
 dislike of constitutional liberty, and the same resolution of main- 
 taining the absolute power of the crown, at any cost. He was, 
 13 
 
'146 THE STRUGGLE OF CLASSES. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 moreover, perplexed by the same embarrassments, was involved 
 in debt, had great necessities, and was dependent on the House of 
 Commons for aid to prosecute his wars and support the dignity of 
 the crown. But he did not consider the changing circumstances 
 and spirit of the age, and the hostile and turbulent nature of his 
 people. He increased, rather than diminished, the odious monopo- 
 lies which irritated the nation during the reign of his father ; he 
 clung to all the old feudal privileges ; he retained the detestable 
 and frivolous Buckingham as his chief minister ; and, when Buck- 
 ingham was assassinated, he chose others even more tyrannical and 
 unscrupulous ; he insisted on taxing the people without their con- 
 sent, threw contempt on parliament, and drove the nation to rebel- 
 lion. In all his political acts he was infatuated, after making every 
 allowance for the imperfections of human nature. A wiser man 
 would have seen the rising storm, and might possibly have averted 
 it. But Charles never dreamed of it, until it burst in all its fury 
 on his devoted head, and consigned him to the martyr's grave. 
 We pity his fate, but lament still more his blindness. And so 
 great was this blindness, that it almost seems as if Providence had 
 marked him out to be a victim on the altar of human progress. 
 
 With the reign of Charles commences unquestionably the most 
 exciting period of English history, and a period to which historians 
 have given more attention than to any other great historical era, 
 the French Revolution alone excepted. The attempt to describe 
 the leading events in this exciting age and reign would be, in this 
 connection, absurd ; and yet some notice of them cannot be 
 avoided. 
 
 For more than ten centuries, great struggles have been going 
 on in society between the dominant orders and sects. The victo- 
 ries gained by the oppress'ed millions, over their different masters, 
 constitute what is called the Progress of Society. Defenders of 
 the people have occasionally arisen from orders to which they did 
 not belong. When, then, any great order defended the cause of 
 the people against the tyranny and selfishness of another order, 
 then the people have advanced a step in civil and social freedom. 
 
 When Feudalism weighed fearfully upon the people, " the clergy 
 sought, on their behalf, a little reason, justice, and humanity, and 
 the poor man had no other asylum than the churches, no other 
 
CHAP. XII.] RISE OF POPULAR POWER. 147 
 
 protectors than the priests ; and, as the priests offered food to the 
 moral nature of man, they acquired a great ascendency, and the 
 preponderance passed from the nobles to the clergy." By the aid 
 of the church, royalty also rose above feudalism, and aided the 
 popular cause. 
 
 The church, having gained the ascendency, sought then to 
 enslave the kings of the earth. But royalty, borrowing help from 
 humiliated nobles and from the people, became the dominant 
 power in Europe. 
 
 In these struggles between nobles and the clergy, and between 
 the clergy and kings, the people had acquired political importance. 
 They had obtained a knowledge of their rights and of their 
 strength ; and they were determined to maintain them. They 
 liked not the tyranny of either nobles, priests, or kings ; but they 
 bent all their energies to suppress the power of the latter, since 
 the two former had been already humiliated. 
 
 The struggle of the people against royalty is preeminently the 
 genius of the English Revolution. It is to be doubted whether any 
 king could have resisted the storm of popular fury which hurled 
 Charles from his throne. But no king could have managed worse 
 than he ; no king could be more unfortunately and unpropitiously 
 placed ; and his own imprudence and folly hastened the catas- 
 trophe. 
 
 The House of Commons, which had acquired great strength, 
 spirit, and popularity during the reign of James, fully perceived 
 the difficulties and necessities of Charles, but made no adequate 
 or generous effort to relieve him from them. Some of the more 
 turbulent rejoiced in them. They knew that kings, like other men, 
 were selfish, and that it was not natural for people to part with their 
 privileges and power without a struggle, even though this power 
 was injurious to the interests of society. In the Middle Ages, 
 barons, bishops, and popes had fought desperately in the struggle 
 of classes ; and it was only from their necessities that either kings 
 or people had obtained what they demanded. King Charles, no 
 more than Pope Boniface VIII., would surrender, as a boon to man, 
 without compulsion, his supposed omnipotence. 
 
 The king ascended his throne burdened by the debts of his 
 father, and by an expensive war, which the Commons incited, but 
 
148 QUARREL BETWEEN THE KING AND THE COMMONS. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 would not pay for. 4 They granted him, to meet his difficulties 
 and maintain his honor, the paltry sum of one hundred and 
 forty thousand pounds, and the duties of tonnage and poundage, 
 not for life, as was customaiy, but for a year. Nothing could be 
 more provoking to a young king. Of course, the money was soon 
 spent, and the king wanted more, and had a right to expect more. 
 But, if the Commons granted what the king required, he would be 
 made independent of them, and he would rule tyrannically, as the 
 kings of England did before him. So they resolved not to grant 
 necessary supplies to carry on the government, unless the king 
 would part with the prerogatives of an absolute prince, and those 
 old feudal privileges which were an abomination in the eyes of 
 the people. Charles was not the man to make such a bargain. 
 Few kings, in his age, would have seen its necessity. But neces- 
 sity there was. Civil war was inevitable, without a compromise, 
 provided both parties were resolved on maintaining their ground. 
 But Charles fancied that the Commons could be browbeaten and 
 intimidated into submission ; and, moreover, in case he was brought 
 into collision with his subjects, he fancied that he was stronger than 
 they, and could put down the spirit of resistance. In both of 
 these suppositions he was wrong. The Commons were firm, and 
 were stronger than he was, because they had the sympathy of the 
 people. They believed conscientiously, especially the Puritans, 
 that he was wrong ; that God gave him no divine right to enslave 
 them, and that they were entitled, by the eternal principles of jus- 
 tice, and by the spirit of the constitution, to civil and religious 
 liberty, in the highest sense of that term. They believed that their 
 rights were inalienable and absolute ; that, among them, they 
 could not be taxed without their own consent ; and that their consti- 
 tutional guardians, the Commons, should be unrestricted in debate. 
 These notions of the people were ideas. On ideas all govern- 
 ments rest. No throne could stand a day unless the people felt 
 they owed it their allegiance. When the main support of the 
 throne of Charles was withdrawn, the support of popular ideas, 
 and this support given to the House of Commons, at issue with the 
 sovereign, what could he do ? What could Louis XVI. do one 
 hundred and fifty years afterwards ? What could Louis Philippe 
 do in our times ? A king, without the loyalty of the people, is 
 
CHAP. XII.] THE COUNSELLORS OF CHARLES. 149 
 
 a phantom, a mockery, and a delusion, unless he have physical force 
 to sustain him ; and even then armies will rebel, if they feel they 
 are not bound to obey, and if it is not for their interest to obey. 
 
 Now Charles had neither loyalty nor force to hold him on his 
 throne. The agitations of an age of unprecedented boldness in 
 speculations destroyed the former ; the House of Commons would 
 not grant supplies to secure the latter. And they would not grant 
 supplies, because they loved themselves and the cause of the 
 people better than they loved their king. In short, it was only by 
 his concessions that they would supply his necessities. He would 
 not make the concessions, and the contest soon ended in an appeal 
 to arms. 
 
 But Charles was not without friends, and some of his advisers 
 were men of sagacity and talent. It is true they did not fully 
 appreciate the weakness of the king, or the strength of his ene- 
 mies ; but they saw his distress, and tried to remove it. They, very 
 naturally in such an age, recommended violent courses — to grant 
 new monopolies, to extort fines, to exercise all his feudal privileges, 
 to pawn the crown jewels, even, in order to raise money ; for 
 money, at all events, he must have. They advised him to arrest 
 turbulent and incendiary members of the Commons, to prorogue 
 and dissolve parliaments, to raise forced loans, to impose new 
 duties, to shut up ports, to levy fresh taxes, and to raise armies 
 friendly to his cause. In short, they recommended unconstitutional 
 measures — measures which both they and the king knew to be 
 unconstitutional, but which they justified on the ground of neces- 
 sity. And the king, in his perplexity, did what his ministers 
 advised. But every person who was sent to the Tower, every new 
 tax, every sentence of the Star Chamber, every seizure of prop- 
 erty, every arbitrary command, every violation of the liberties of 
 the people, raised up new enemies to the king, and inflamed the 
 people with new discontents. 
 
 At first the Commons felt that they could obtain what they 
 wanted — a redress of grievances, if the king's favorite adviser 
 and minister were removed. Besides, they all hated Buckingham, 
 — peers, commons, and people, — and all sought his downfall. He 
 had no friends among the people, as Essex had in the time of 
 Elizabeth. His extravagance, pomp, and insolence disgusted all 
 13* 
 
150 DEATH OF BUCKINGHAM PETITION OF RIGHT. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 orders ; and his reign seemed to be an insult to the nation. Even 
 the people regarded him as an upstart, setting himself above the 
 old nobility, and enriching himself by royal domains, worth two 
 hundred eighty-four thousand three hundred and ninety-five pounds. 
 So the Commons violently attacked his administration, and im- 
 peached him. But he was shielded by the king, and even appointed 
 to command an expedition to relieve La Kochelle, then besieged 
 by Richelieu. But he was stabbed by a religious fanatic, by the 
 name of Felton, as he was about to embark at Portsmouth. His 
 body was removed to London, and he was buried with great state 
 in Westminster Abbey, much lamented by the king, who lost his 
 early friend, one of the worst ministers, but not the worst man, 
 which that age despised, (1628.) 
 
 Meanwhile the indignant Commons persevered with their work. 
 They passed what is called the " Petition of Right," — a string 
 of resolutions which asserted that no freeman ought to be detained 
 in prison, without being brought to trial, and that no taxes could 
 be lawfully levied, without consent of the Commons — the two 
 great pillars of the English constitution, yet truths involved in 
 political difficulty, especially in cases of rebellion. The personal 
 liberty of the subject is a great point indeed ; and the act of 
 habeas corpus, passed in later times, is a great step in popular 
 freedom ; but, if never to be suspended, no government could 
 guard against conspiracy in revolutionary times. 
 
 The Petition of Right, however, obtained the king's assent, 
 though unwillingly, grudgingly, and insincerely given ; and the 
 Commons, gratified for once, voted to the king supplies. 
 
 But Charles had no notion of keeping his word, and soon 
 resorted to unconstitutional measures, as before. But he felt the 
 need of able counsellors. His " dear Steenie " was dead, and he 
 knew not in whom to repose confidence. 
 
 The demon of despotism raised up an agent in the person of 
 Thomas Wentworth, a man of wealth, talents, energy, and indom- 
 itable courage ; a man who had, in the early part of his career, 
 defended the cause of liberty ; who had even suffered imprison- 
 ment sooner than contribute to an unlawful loan, and in whom the 
 hopes of the liberal party were placed. But he was bribed. His 
 patriotism was not equal to his ambition. Seduced by a peerage, 
 
CHAP. XII.] EARL OF STRAFFORD. 151 
 
 and by the love of power, he went over to the side of the king, 
 and defended his arbitrary rule as zealously as he had before 
 advocated the cause of constitutional liberty. He was created 
 Viscount Wentworth, and afterwards earl of Strafford — the most 
 prominent man of the royalist party, and the greatest traitor to 
 the cause of liberty which England had ever known. His pic- 
 ture, as painted by Vandyke, and hung up in the princely hall 
 of his descendant, Earl Fitzwilliam, is a faithful portrait of 
 what history represents him — a cold, dark, repulsive, unscrupu- 
 lous tyrant, with an eye capable of reading the secrets of the soul, 
 a brow lowering with care and thought, and a lip compressed with 
 determination, and twisted into contempt of mankind. If Went- 
 worth did not love his countrymen, he loved to rule over them ; 
 and he gained his end, and continued the prime minister of abso- 
 lutism until an insulted nation rose in their might, and placed his 
 head upon the block. 
 
 Under the rule of this minister, whom every one feared, the 
 Puritans every where fled, preferring the deserts of America, with 
 freedom, to the fair lands of England, with liberty trodden under 
 foot. The reigns of both James and Charles are memorable for the 
 resistance and despair of this intrepid and religious sect, in which 
 were enrolled some of the finest minds and most intelligent patriots 
 of the country. Pym, Cromwell, Hazelrig, and even Hampden, 
 are said to have actually embarked ; but Providence detained them 
 in England, they having a mission of blood to perform there. In 
 another chapter, the Puritans, their struggles, and principles, will 
 be more fully presented ; and we therefore, in this connection, 
 abstain from further notice. It may, however, be remarked, that 
 they were the most inflexible enemies of the king, and were de- 
 termined to give him and his minister no rest until all their ends 
 were gained. They hated Archbishop Laud even more intense- 
 ly than they hated Wentworth ; and Laud, if possible, was a 
 greater foe to religious and civil liberty. Strafford and Laud are 
 generally coupled together in the description of the abuses of 
 arbitrary power. The churchman, however, was honest and 
 sincere, only his views were narrow and his temper irritable. 
 His vices were those of the bigot — such as disgraced St. Domi- 
 nic or Torquemada, but faults which he deemed excellences. 
 
152 JOHN HAMPDEN. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 He was an enthusiast in high churchism and toryism ; and his 
 zeal in defence of royal prerogative and the divine rights of 
 bishops has won for him the panegyrics of his friends, as well 
 as the curses of his enemies. For Strafford, too, there is admira- 
 tion, but only for his talents, his courage, his strength — the 
 qualities which one might see in Milton's Satan, or in Carlyle's 
 picture gallery of heroes. 
 
 While the king and his minister were raising forced loans and 
 contributions, sending members of the House of Commons to the 
 Tower, fining, imprisoning, and mutilating the Puritans, a new 
 imposition called out the energies of a great patriot and a great 
 man, John Hampden — a fit antagonist of the haughty Went- 
 worth. This new exaction was a tax called ship money. 
 
 It was devised by Chief Justice Finch and Attorney-General 
 Ney, two subordinate, but unscrupulous tools of despotism, and 
 designed to extort money from the inland counties, as well as from 
 the cities, for furnishing ships — a demand that Elizabeth did not 
 make, in all her power, even when threatened by the Spanish 
 Armada. Clarendon even admits that this tax was not for the 
 support of the navy, " but for a spring and magazine which 
 should have no bottom, and for an everlasting supply on all 
 occasions." And this the nation completely understood, and 
 resolved desperately to resist. 
 
 Hampden, though a wealthy man, refused to pay the share 
 assessed on him, which was only twenty shillings, deeming it an 
 illegal tax. He was proceeded against by the crown lawyers. 
 Hampden appealed to a decision of the judges in regard to the 
 legality of the tax, and the king permitted the question to be 
 settled by the laws. The trial lasted thirteen days, but ended in 
 the condemnation of Hampden, who had shown great moderation, 
 as well as courage, and had won the favor of the people. It was 
 shortly after this that Hampden, as some historians assert, resolved 
 to leave England with his cousin Oliver Cromwell. But the king 
 prevented the ships, in which they and other emigrants had em- 
 barked, from sailing. Hampden was reserved for new trials and 
 new labors. 
 
 About a month after Hampden's condemnation, an insurrection 
 broke out in Scotland, which hastened the crisis of revolution. It 
 
CHAP. XII.] INSURRECTION IN SCOTLAND. 153 
 
 was produced by the attempt of Archbishop Laud to impose the 
 English liturgy on the Scottish nation, and supplant Presbyterian- 
 ism by Episcopacy. The revolutions in Scotland, from the time 
 of Knox, had been popular ; not produced by great men, but by 
 the diffusion of great ideas. The people believed in the spiritual 
 independence of their church, and not in the supremacy of a king. 
 The instant, therefore, that the Episcopal worship was introduced, 
 by authority, in the cathedral of Edinburgh, there was an insur- 
 rection, which rapidly spread through all parts of the country. 
 An immense multitude came to Edinburgh to protest against the 
 innovation, and crowded all the houses, streets, and halls of the 
 city. The king ordered the petitioners home, without answer- 
 ing their complaints. They obeyed the injunction, but soon 
 returned in greater numbers. An organization of resistance was 
 made, and a provisional government appointed. All classes 
 joined the insurgents, who, menaced, but united, at last bound 
 themselves, by a solemn league and covenant, not to separate until 
 their rights and liberties were secured. A vast majority of all the 
 population of Scotland — gentlemen, clergy, citizens, and laborers, 
 men, women, and children — assembled in the church, and swore 
 fealty to the covenant. Force, of course, was necessary to reduce 
 the rebels, and civil war commenced in Scotland. But war in- 
 creased the necessities of the king, and he was compelled to make 
 peace with the insurgent army. 
 
 Eleven years had now elapsed since the dissolution of the last 
 parliament, during which the king had attempted to rule without 
 one, and had resorted to all the expedients that the ingenuity of 
 the crown lawyers could suggest, in order to extort money. Im- 
 posts fallen into desuetude, monopolies abandoned by Elizabeth, 
 royal forests extended beyond the limits they had in feudal times, 
 fines past all endurance, confiscations without end, imprisonments, 
 tortures, and executions, — all marked these eleven years. The 
 sum for fines alone, in this period, amounted to more than two 
 hundred thousand pounds. The forest of Rockingham was en- 
 larged from six to sixty miles in circuit, and the earl of Salisbury 
 was fined twenty thousand pounds for encroaching upon it. Indi- 
 viduals and companies had monopolies of salt, soap, coals, iron, 
 wine, leather, starch, feathers, tobacco, beer, distilled liquors, 
 
154 LONG PARLIAMENT. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 herrings, butter, potash, linen cloth, rags, hops, gunpowder, and 
 divers other articles, which, of course, deranged the whole trade 
 of the country. Prynne was fined ten thousand pounds, and had 
 his ears cut off, and his nose slit, for writing an offensive book ; 
 and his sufferings were not greater than what divers others experi- 
 enced for vindicating the cause of truth and liberty. 
 
 At last, the king's necessities compelled him to summon 
 another parliament. He had exhausted every expedient to raise 
 money. His army clamored for pay ; and he was overburdened 
 with debts. 
 
 On the 13th of April, 1640, the new parliament met. It knew 
 its strength, and was determined now, more than ever, to exercise 
 it. It immediately took the power into its own hands, and from 
 remonstrances and petitions it proceeded to actual hostilities ; from 
 the denunciation of injustice and illegality, it proceeded to trample 
 on the constitution itself. It is true that the members were irri- 
 tated and threatened, and some of their number had been seized 
 and imprisoned. It is true that the king continued his courses, 
 and was resolved on enforcing his measures by violence. The 
 struggle became one of desperation on both sides — a struggle for 
 ascendency — and not for rights. 
 
 One of the first acts of the House of Commons was the impeach- 
 ment of Strafford. He had been just summoned from Ireland, 
 where, as lord lieutenant, he had exercised almost regal power 
 and regal audacity ; he had been summoned by his perplexed and 
 desponding master to assist him by his counsels. Reluctantly he 
 obeyed, foreseeing the storm. He had scarcely arrived in London 
 when the intrepid Pym accused him of high treason. The Lords 
 accepted the accusation, and the imperious minister was committed 
 to the Tower. 
 
 The impeachment of Laud soon followed ; but he was too sin- 
 cere in his tyranny to understand why he should be committed. 
 Nor was he feared, as Strafford was, against whom the vengeance 
 of the parliament was especially directed. A secret committee, 
 invested with immense powers, was commissioned to scrutinize his 
 whole life, and his destruction was resolved upon. On the 22d of 
 March his trial began, and lasted seventeen days, during which 
 time, unaided, he defended himself against thirteen accusers, with 
 
CHAP. XII.] EEBELLION OF IRELAND. 155 
 
 consummate ability. Indeed, he had studied his charges and 
 despised his adversaries. Under ordinary circumstances, he 
 would have been acquitted, for there was not sufficient evidence 
 to convict him of high treason ; but an unscrupulous and infuri- 
 ated body of men were thirsting for his blood, and it was proposed 
 to convict him by bill of attainder ; that is, by act of parliament, 
 on its own paramount authority, with or without the law. The 
 bill passed, in spite of justice, in spite of the eloquence of the 
 attainted earl. He was condemned, and remanded to the 
 Tower. 
 
 Had the king been strong he would have saved his minister ; 
 had he been magnanimous, he would have stood by Mm to the last. 
 But he had neither the power to save him, nor the will to make 
 adequate sacrifices. He feebly interposed, but finally yielded, and 
 gave his consent to the execution of the main agent of all his 
 aggressions on the constitution he had sworn to maintain. Straf- 
 ford deserved his fate, although the manner of his execution was 
 not according to law. 
 
 A few months after the execution of Strafford, an event occurred 
 which proved exceedingly unfortunate to the royal cause ; and this 
 was the rebellion of Ireland, and the massacre of the Protestant 
 population, caused, primarily, by the oppressive government of 
 England, and the harsh and severe measures of the late lord 
 lieutenant. In the course of a few weeks, the English and Scottish 
 colonies seemed almost uprooted ; one of the most frightful 
 butcheries was committed that ever occurred. The Protestants 
 exaggerated their loss ; but it is probable that at least fifty thou- 
 sand were massacred. The local government of Dublin was 
 paralyzed. The English nation was filled with deadly and im- 
 placable hostility, not against the Irish merely, but against the 
 Catholics every where. It was supposed that there was a general 
 conspiracy among the Catholics to destroy the whole nation ; and 
 it was whispered that the queen herself had aided the revolted 
 Irish. The most vigorous measures were adopted to raise money 
 and troops for Ireland. The Commons took occasion of the 
 general spirit of discontent and insurrection to prepare a grand 
 remonstrance on the evils of the kingdom, which were traced to 
 a " coalition of Papists, Arminian bishops and clergymen, and 
 
156 FLIGHT OF THE KING FROM LONDON. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 evil courtiers and tounsellors." The Commons recited all the 
 evils of the last sixteen years, and declared the necessity of taking 
 away the root of them, which was the arbitrary power of the sov- 
 ereign. The king, in reply, told the Commons that their remon- 
 strance was unparliamentary ; that he could not understand what 
 they meant by a wicked party ; that bishops were entitled to their 
 votes in parliament ; and that, as to the removal of evil counsellors, 
 they must name whom they were. The remonstrance was printed 
 and circulated by the Commons, which was of more effect than an 
 army could have been. 
 
 Thus were affairs rapidly reaching a crisis, when the attempt to 
 seize five of the most refractory and able members of parliament 
 consummated it. The members were Hollis, Hazelrig, Pym, 
 Hampden, and Strode ; and they were accused of high treason. 
 This movement of the king was one of the greatest blunders and 
 one of the most unconstitutional acts he ever committed. The 
 Commons refused to surrender their members ; and then the king 
 went down to the house, with an armed force, to seize them. But 
 Pym and others got intelligence of the design of Charles, and had 
 time to withdraw before he arrived. " The baffled tyrant returned 
 to Whitehall with his company of bravoes," while the city of Lon- 
 don sheltered Hampden and his friends. The shops were shut, 
 the streets were filled with crowds, and the greatest excitement 
 prevailed. The friends of Charles, who were inclined to constitu- 
 tional measures, were filled with shame. It was now feared that 
 the king would not respect his word or the constitution, and, with 
 all his promises, was still bent on tyrannical courses. All classes, 
 but bigoted royalists, now felt that something must be done 
 promptly, or that their liberties would be subverted. 
 
 Then it was, and not till then, that the Commons openly defied 
 him, while the king remained in his palace, humbled, dismayed, 
 and bewildered, " feeling," says Clarendon, " the trouble and 
 agony which usually attend generous minds upon their having 
 committed errors ; " or, as Macaulay says, " the despicable repent- 
 ance which attends the bungling villain, who, having attempted to 
 commit a crime, finds that he has only committed a folly." 
 
 In a few days, the king fled from Whitehall, which he was never 
 destined to see again till he was led through it to the scaffold. He 
 
CHAP. XII.] EISE OF THE PURITANS. 157 
 
 went into the country to raise forces to control the parliament, and 
 the parliament made vigorous measures to put itself and the king- 
 dom in a state of resistance. On the 23d of April, the king, with 
 three hundred horse, advanced to Hull, and were refused admis- 
 sion by the governor. This was tantamount to a declaration of 
 war. It was so considered. Thirty-two Lords, and sixty members 
 of the Commons departed for York to join the king. The parlia- 
 ment decreed an army, and civil war began. 
 
 Before this can be traced we must consider the Puritans, which 
 is necessary in order fully to appreciate the Revolution The 
 reign of Charles I. was now virtually ended, and that of the Par- 
 liament and Cromwell had begun. 
 
 Dissensions among the Protestants themselves did not occur until 
 the reign of Elizabeth, and were first caused by difficulties about 
 a clerical dress, which again led to the advocacy of simpler forms 
 of worship, stricter rules of life, more definite forms of faith, and 
 more democratic principles of government, both ecclesiastical and 
 civil. The first promoters of these opinions were the foreign 
 divines who came from Geneva, at the invitation of Cranmer, of 
 whom Peter Martyr, Martin Bucer, John a Lasco, were the most 
 distinguished. Some Englishmen, also, who had been travelling 
 on the continent, brought with them the doctrines of Calvin. 
 Among these was Hooper, who, on being nominated to the bish- 
 opric of Gloucester, refused to submit to the appointed form of 
 consecration and admission. He objected to what he called the 
 Aarqnical habits — the square cap, tippet, and surplice, worn by 
 bishops. But dissent became more marked and determined when 
 the exiles returned to England, on the accession of Elizabeth, and 
 who were for advancing the reformation according to their own 
 standard. The queen and her advisers, generally, were content 
 with King Edward's liturgy ; but the majority of the exiles 
 desired the simpler services of Geneva. The new bishops, most 
 of whom had been their companions abroad, endeavored to soften 
 them for the present, declaring that they would use all their influ- 
 ence at court to secure them indulgence. The queen herself con- 
 nived at non-conformity, until her government was established, 
 14 
 
158 ORIGINAL DIFFICULTIES AND DIFFERENCES. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 but then firmly declared that she had fixed her standard, and 
 insisted on her subjects conforming to it. The bishops, seeing 
 this, changed their conduct, explained away then* promises, and 
 became severe towards their dissenting brethren. 
 
 The standard of the queen was the Thirty-Nine Articles. She 
 admitted that the Scriptures were the sole rule of faith, but declared 
 that individuals must interpret Scripture as expounded in the arti- 
 cles and formularies of the English church, in violation of the 
 great principle of Protestantism, which even the Puritans them- 
 selves did not fully recognize — the right and the duty of every 
 individual to interpret Scripture himself, whether his interpretation 
 interfered with the Established Church or not. 
 
 The first dissenters did not claim this right, but only urged that 
 certain points, about which they felt scruples, should be left as 
 matters indifferent. On all essential points, they, as well as 
 the strictest conformists, believed in the necessity of a uniformity 
 of public worship, and of using the sword of the magistrate in 
 defence of then doctrines. The standard of conformity, accord- 
 ing to the bishops, was the queen's supremacy and the laws of the 
 land ; according to the Puritans, the decrees of provincial and 
 national synods. 
 
 At first, many of the Puritans overcame their scruples so far as 
 to comply with the required oath and accept livings in the Estab- 
 lishment. But they indulged in many irregularities, which, during 
 the first year of the reign of Elizabeth, were winked at by the 
 authorities. " Some performed," says an old author, " divine ser- 
 vice in the chancel, others in the body of the church ; some in 
 a seat made in the church ; some in a pulpit, with their faces to 
 the people ; some keeping precisely to the order of the book ; 
 some intermix psalms in metre ; some say with a surplice, and 
 others without one. The table stands in the body of the church 
 in some places, in others it stands in the chancel ; in some places 
 the table stands altarwise, distant from the wall a yard, in others 
 in the middle of the chancel, north and south. Some administer 
 the communion with surplice and cap, some with a surplice alone, 
 others with none ; some with chalice, others with a communion 
 cup, others with a common cup ; some with unleavened bread, and 
 some with leavened ; some receive kneeling, others standing, 
 
CHAP. XII.] PERSECUTION DP/KING THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. 159 
 
 others sitting ; some baptize in a font, some in a basin ; some sign 
 with the sign of the cross, other sign not ; some minister with a 
 surplice, others without ; some with a square cap, others with a 
 round cap ; some with a button cap, and some with a hat ; some 
 in scholar's clothes, some in common clothes." 
 
 These differences in public worship, which, by many, were con- 
 sidered as indifferent matters, and by others were unduly magni- 
 fied, seem to have constituted the chief peculiarity of the early 
 Puritans. In regard to the queen's supremacy, the union of church 
 and state, the necessity of supporting religion by law, and articles 
 of theological belief, there was no disagreement. Most of the 
 non-conformists were men of learning and piety, and among the 
 ornaments of the church. 
 
 The metropolitan bishop, at this time, was Parker, a great 
 stickler for the forms of the church, and veiy intolerant in all his 
 opinions. He and others of the bishops had been appointed as 
 commissioners to investigate the causes of dissent, and to suspend 
 all who refused to conform to the rubric of the church. Hence 
 arose the famous Court of the Ecclesiastical Commission, so much 
 abused during the reigns of James and Charles. 
 
 Under the direction of Parker, great numbers were suspended 
 from their livings for non-conformity, and sent to wander in a state 
 of destitution. Among these were some of the most learned men 
 in the church. They had no means of defence or livelihood, and 
 resorted to the press in order to vindicate their opinions. For this 
 they were even more harshly dealt with ; an order was issued 
 from the Star Chamber, that no person should print a book against 
 the queen's injunctions, upon the penalty of fines and imprison- 
 ment ; and authority was given to church-wardens to search all 
 suspected places where books might be concealed. Great multi- 
 tudes suffered in consequence of these tyrannical laws. 
 
 But the non-conformists were further molested. They were 
 forbidden to assemble together to read the Scriptures and pray, 
 but were required to attend regularly the churches of the Estab- 
 lishment, on penalty of heavy fines for neglect. 
 
 At length, worried, disgusted, and irritated, they resolved upon 
 setting up the Genevan service, and upon withdrawing entirely 
 from the Church of England. The separation, once made, (1566,) 
 
160 ARCHBISHOPS GEINDAL AND "WHITGIFT. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 became wider and wider, and the Puritans soon after opposed the 
 claims of bishops as a superior order of the clergy. They were 
 opposed to the temporal dignities annexed to the episcopal office ; 
 to the titles and office of archdeacons, deans, and chapters ; to the 
 jurisdiction of spiritual courts ; to the promiscuous access of all 
 persons to the communion ; to the liturgy ; to the prohibition in 
 the public service of prayer by the clergyman himself ; to the use 
 of godfathers and godmothers ; to the custom of confirmation ; to 
 the cathedral worship and organs ; to pluralities and non-residency ; 
 to the observance of Lent and of the holy days ; and to the ap- 
 pointment of ministers by the crown, bishops, or lay patrons, instead 
 of election by the people. 
 
 The schism was now complete, and had grown out of such small 
 differences as refusing to bow at the name of Jesus, and to use 
 the cross in baptism. 
 
 In our times, the Puritans would have been permitted to worship 
 God in their own way, but they were not thus allowed in the time 
 of Elizabeth. Religious toleration was not then understood or 
 practised ; and it was the fault of the age, since the Puritans them- 
 selves, when they obtained the power, persecuted with great 
 severity the Quakers and the Catholics. But, during the whole 
 reign of Elizabeth, especially the life of Archbishop Parker, they 
 were in a minority, and suffered — as minorities ever have suffered 
 — all the miseries which unreasonable majorities could inflict. 
 
 Archbishop Grindal, who succeeded Parker in 1575, recom- 
 mended milder measures to the queen ; but she had no charity 
 for those who denied the supremacy of her royal conscience. 
 
 Grindal was succeeded, in 1583, by Dr. Whitgift, the antagonist 
 of the learned Dr. Cartwright, and he proved a ruler of the church 
 according to her majesty's mind. He commenced a most violent 
 crusade against the non-conformists, and was so harsh, cruel, and 
 unreasonable, that Cecil — Lord Burleigh — was obliged to remon- 
 strate, being much more enlightened than the prelate. " I have 
 read over," said he, " your twenty-four articles, and I find them 
 so curiously penned, that I think that the Spanish Inquisition used 
 not so many questions to entrap the priests." Nevertheless, 
 fines, imprisonment, and the gibbet continued to do their work, 
 in the vain attempt to put down opinions, till within four or five 
 
CHAP. XII.] PERSECUTION UNDER JAMES. 161 
 
 years of the queen's death, when there was a cessation of perse- 
 cution. 
 
 But the Scottish Solomon, as James was called, renewed the 
 severity which Elizabeth found it wise to remit. Hitherto, the 
 Puritans had been chiefly Presbyterians ; but now the Independents 
 arose, who carried their views still further, even to wildness and 
 radicalism. They were stricter Calvinists, and inclined to repub- 
 lican views of civil government. Consequently, they were still 
 more odious than were the Presbyterians to an arbitrary govern- 
 ment. They were now persecuted for their doctrines of faith, 
 as well as for their forms of worship. The Church of Eng- 
 land retained the thirty-nine articles ; but many of her leading 
 clergy sympathized with the views of Arminius, and among 
 them was the primate himself. So strictly were Arminian doc- 
 trines cherished, that no person under a dean was permitted to 
 discourse on predestination, election, reprobation, efficacy, or uni- 
 versality of God's grace. And the king himself would hear no 
 doctrines preached, except those he had condemned at the synod 
 of Dort. But this act was aimed against the Puritans, who, of 
 all parties, were fond of preaching on what was called " the Five 
 Points of Calvinism." But they paid dearly for their independ- 
 ence. James absolutely detested them, regarded them as a sect 
 insufferable in a well-governed commonwealth, and punished them 
 with the greatest severity. Their theological doctrines, their 
 notions of church government, and, above all, their spirit of demo- 
 cratic liberty, were odious and repulsive. Archbishop Bancroft, 
 who succeeded Whitgift in 1604, went beyond all his predecessors 
 in bigotiy, but had not their commanding intellects. His measures 
 were so injudicious, so vexatious, so annoying, so severe, and so 
 cruel, that the Puritans became, if possible, still more estranged. 
 With the popular discontents, and with the progress of persecution, 
 their numbers increased, both in Scotland and England. With 
 the increase of Puritanism was also a corresponding change in the 
 Church of England, since ceremony and forms increased almost 
 to a revival of Catholicism. And this reaction towards Rome, 
 favored by the court, incensed still more the Puritans, and led to 
 language unnecessarily violent and abusive on their side. Their 
 controversial tracts were pervaded with a spirit of bitterness and 
 14* 
 
162 PURITANS IN EXILE. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 treason which, in the, opinion of James, fully justified the impris- 
 onments, fines, and mutilations which his minister inflicted. 
 The Puritans, in despair, fled to Holland, and from thence to New 
 England, to estahlish, amid its barren hills and desolate forests, 
 that worship which alone they thought would be acceptable to 
 God. Persecution elevated them, and none can deny that they 
 were characterized by moral virtues and a spirit of liberty which 
 no people ever before or since exhibited. Almost their only fault 
 was intolerance respecting the opinions and pleasures of many 
 good people who did not join their ranks. 
 
 James's death did not remit their sufferings ; but, by this time, 
 they had so multiplied that they became a party too formidable to 
 be crushed. The High Commission Court and the Star Chamber 
 still filled the prisons and pillories with victims ; but every sentence 
 of these courts fanned the flame of discontent, and hastened the 
 catastrophe which was rapidly approaching. The volcano, over 
 whose fearful brink the royal family and the haughty hierarchy 
 were standing, was now sending forth those frightful noises which 
 indicated approaching convulsions. 
 
 During the yeaTs that Charles dispensed with the parliaments, 
 when Laud was both minister and archbishop, the persecution 
 reached its height, and also popular discontent. During this 
 period, the greatest emigration was made to New England, and 
 even Hampden and Cromwell contemplated joining their brethren 
 in America. Arianism and Popery advanced with Puritanism, 
 and all parties prepared for the approaching contest. The advo- 
 cates of royal usurpation became more unreasonable, the friends 
 of popular liberty became more violent. Those who had the 
 power, exercised it without reflection. The history of the times 
 is simply this — despotism striving to put Puritanism and liberty 
 beneath its feet, and Puritanism aiming to subvert the crown. 
 
 But the greatest commotions were in Scotland, where the people 
 were generally Presbyterians ; and it was the zeal of Archbishop 
 Laud in suppressing these, and attempting to change the religion 
 of the land, which precipitated the ruin of Charles I. 
 
 Ever since the time of Knox, Scotland had been the scene of 
 violent religious animosities. In that country, the reformation, 
 from the first, had been a popular movement. It was so impetu- 
 
CHAP. XII.] TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND. 163 
 
 ous, and decided under the guidance of the uncompromising Knox, 
 that even before the dethronement of Mary, it was complete. In 
 the year 1592, through the influence of Andrew Melville, the 
 Presbyterian government was fairly established, and King James 
 is said to have thus expressed himself: "I praise God that I was 
 born in the time of the light of the gospel, and in such a place as 
 to be king of the purest kirk in the world." The Church of Scot- 
 land, however, had severe struggles from the period of its institu- 
 tion, 1560, to the year 1584, when the papal influence was finally 
 destroyed by the expulsion of the earl of Arran from the councils 
 of the young king. Nor did these struggles end even there. 
 James, perceiving that Episcopacy was much more consonant with 
 monarchy than Presbyterianism, attempted to remodel the Scottish 
 church on the English basis, which attempt resulted in discontent 
 and rebellion. James, however, succeeded in reducing to contempt 
 the general assemblies of the Presbyterian church, and in confirm- 
 ing Archbishop Spotswood in the chief administration of eccle- 
 siastical affairs, which, it must be confessed, were regulated with 
 great prudence and moderation. 
 
 When Charles came to the throne, he complained of the laxity 
 of the Scotch primate, and sent him a set of rules by which 
 he was to regulate his conduct. Charles also added new dignities 
 to his see, and ordained that he, as primate, should take prece- 
 dence over all the temporal lords, which irritated the proud Scotch 
 nobility. He moreover contemplated the recovery of tithes and 
 church lands for the benefit of the Episcopal government, and the 
 imposition of a liturgy on the Scotch nation, a great majority of 
 whom were Presbyterians. This was the darling scheme of Laud, 
 who believed that there could scarcely be salvation out of his 
 church, and which church he strove to make as much like the 
 Catholic as possible, and yet maintain independence of the pope. 
 But nothing was absolutely done towards changing the religion of 
 Scotland until Charles came down to Edinburgh (1633) to be 
 crowned, when a liturgy was prepared for the Scotch nation, sub- 
 jected to the revision of Laud, but which was not submitted to, 
 or seen by, the General Assembly, or any convocation of ministers 
 in Scotland. Nothing could be more ill timed or ill judged than 
 this conflict with the religious prejudices of a people zealously 
 
164 TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 attached to their own forms of worship. The clergy united with 
 the aristocracy, and both with the people, in denouncing the con- 
 duct of the king and his ministers as tyrannical and unjust. The 
 canons, especially, which Laud had prepared, were, in the eyes 
 of the Scotch, puerile and superstitious _; they could not conceive 
 why a Protestant prelate should make so much account of the 
 position of the font or of the communion table, turned into an 
 altar. Indeed, his liturgy was not much other than an English 
 translation of the Roman Missal, and excited the detestation of all 
 classes. Yet it was resolved to introduce it into the churches, and 
 the day was fixed for its introduction, which was Easter Sunday, 
 1637. But such a ferment was produced, that the experiment was 
 put off to Sunday, 23d of July. On that day, the archbishops and 
 bishops, lords of session, and magistrates were all present, by com- 
 mand, in the Church of St. Giles. But no sooner had the dean 
 opened the service book, and begun to read out of it, than the 
 people, who had assembled in great crowds, began to fill the 
 church with uproar. The bishop of Edinburgh, who was to 
 preach, stepped into the pulpit, and attempted to appease the 
 tumultuous people. But this increased the tumult, when an old 
 woman, seizing a stool, hurled it at the bishop's head. Sticks, 
 stones, and dirt followed the stool, with loud cries of " Down with 
 the priest of Baal ! " "A pape, a pape ! " " Antichrist ! " " Pull 
 him down ! " This was the beginning of the insurrection, which 
 spread from city to village, until all Scotland was in arms, and 
 Episcopacy, as an established religion, was subverted. In Febru- 
 ary, 1638, the covenant was drawn up in Edinburgh, and was sub- 
 scribed to by all classes, in all parts of Scotland; and, in Novem- 
 ber, the General Assembly met in Glasgow, the first that had been 
 called for twenty years, and Presbyterianism was reestablished in 
 the kingdom, if not legally, yet in reality. 
 
 From the day on which the Convocation opened, until the 
 conquest of the country by Cromwell, the Kirk reigned supreme, 
 there being no power in the government, or in the country, able 
 or disposed to resist or question its authority. This was the golden 
 age of Presbyterianism, when the clergy enjoyed autocratic power 
 — a sort of Druidical ascendency over the minds and consciences 
 of the people, in affairs temporal as well as spiritual. 
 
CHAP. XII.] PECULIARITIES OF PURITANISM IN ENGLAND. 165 
 
 Puritanism did not pervade the English, as it did the Scotch 
 mind, although it soon obtained an ascendency. Most of the great 
 political chieftains who controlled the House of Commons, and 
 who clamored for the death of Strafford and Laud, were Puritans. 
 But they were not all Presbyterians. In England, after the flight 
 of the king from Whitehall, the Independents attracted notice, 
 and eventually seized the reins of government. Cromwell was an 
 Independent. 
 
 The difference between these two sects was chiefly in their views 
 about government, civil and ecclesiastical. Both Presbyterians 
 and Independents were rigid Calvinists, practised a severe morality, 
 were opposed to gay amusements, disliked organs and ceremonies, 
 strictly observed the Sabbath, and attached great importance to 
 the close observance of the Mosaic ritual. The Presbyterians were 
 not behind the Episcopalians in hatred of sects and a free press. 
 They had their model of worship, and declared it to be of divine 
 origin. They looked upon schism as the parent of licentiousness, 
 insisted on entire uniformity, maintained the divine right of the 
 clergy to the management of ecclesiastical affairs, and claimed 
 the sword of the magistrate to punish schismatics and heretics. 
 They believed in the union of church and state, but would give 
 the clergy the ascendency they possessed in the Middle Ages. 
 They did not desire the entire prostration of royal authority, but 
 only aimed to limit and curtail it. 
 
 The Independents wished a total disruption of church and state, 
 and disliked synods almost as much as they did bishops. They 
 believed that every congregation was a distinct church, and had 
 a right to elect the pastor. They preferred the greatest variety 
 of sects to the ascendency of any one, by means of the civil sword. 
 They rejected all spiritual courts, and claimed the right of each 
 church to reject, punish, or receive members. In politics, they 
 wished a total overthrow of the government — monarchy, aristoc- 
 racy, and prelacy ; and were averse to any peace which did not 
 secure complete toleration of opinions, and the complete subversion 
 of the established order of things. 
 
 Between the Presbyterians and the Independents, therefore, there 
 could not be any lasting sympathy or alliance. They only united 
 to crush the common foe ; and, when Charles was beheaded, and 
 
166 CONFLICTS AMONG THE PURITANS. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 Cromwell installed iji power, they turned their arms against each 
 other. 
 
 The great religious, contest, after the rise of Cromwell, was not 
 between the Puritans and the Episcopalians, but between the 
 different sects of Puritans themselves. At first, the Independents 
 harmonized with the Presbyterians. Their theological and ethical 
 opinions were the same, and both cordially hated and despised the 
 government of the Stuarts. But when the Presbyterians obtained 
 the ascendency, the Independents were grieved and enraged to 
 discover that religious toleration was stigmatized as the parent of 
 all heresy and schism. While in power, the Presbyterians shackled 
 the press, and their intolerance brought out John Milton's famous 
 tract on the liberty of unlicensed printing — one of the most masterly 
 arguments which the advocates of freedom have ever made. The 
 idea that any dominant religious sect should be incorporated with 
 the political power, was the fatal error of Presbyterianism, and 
 raised up enemies against it, after the royal power was suppressed. 
 Cromwell was persuaded that the cause of religious liberty would 
 be lost unless Presbyterianism, as well as Episcopacy, was discon- 
 nected with the state ; and hence one great reason of his assuming 
 the dictatorship. And he granted a more extended toleration than 
 had before been known in England, although it was not perfect. 
 The Catholics and the Quakers were not partakers of the boon 
 which he gave to his country ; so hard is it for men to learn the 
 rights of others, when they have power in their own hands. 
 . The Restoration was a victory over both the Independents and 
 the general swarm of sectaries which an age of unparalleled 
 religious excitement had produced. It is difficult to conceive of 
 the intensity of the passions which inflamed all parties of religious 
 disputants. But if the Puritan contest developed fanatical zeal, 
 it also brought out the highest qualities of mind and heart which 
 any age has witnessed. With all the faults and weaknesses of the 
 Puritans, there never lived a better class of men, — men of more 
 elevated piety, more enlarged views, or greater disinterestedness, 
 patriotism, and moral worth. They made sacrifices which our age 
 can scarcely appreciate, and had difficulties to contend with which 
 were unparalleled in the history of reform. They made blunders 
 which approximated to crimes, but they made them in their inex- 
 
CHAP. XII.] CHARACTER OF THE PURITANS. 167 
 
 perience and zeal to promote the cause of religion and liberty. 
 They were conscientious men — men who acted from the fear of 
 God, and with a view to promote the highest welfare of future 
 generations. They launched their bark boldly upon an unknown 
 sea, and heroically endured its dangers and sufferings, with a view 
 of conferring immortal blessings on their children and country. 
 More prudent men would have avoided the perils of an unknown 
 navigation ; but, by such men, a great experiment for humanity 
 would not have been tried. It may have failed, but the world has 
 learned immortal wisdom from the failure. But the Puritans were 
 not mere adventurers or martyrs. They have done something of 
 lasting benefit to mankind, and they have done this by the power 
 of faith, and by loyalty to their consciences, perverted as they 
 were in some respects. The Puritans were not agreeable com- 
 panions to the idle, luxurious, or frivolous ; they were rigid even 
 to austerity; their expressions degenerated into cant, and they 
 were hostile to many innocent amusements. But these were pecu- 
 liarities which furnished subjects of ridicule merely, and did not 
 disgrace or degrade them. These were a small offset to their 
 moral wisdom, their firm endurance, their elevation of sentiment, 
 their love of liberty, and their fear of God. Such are the men 
 whom Providence ordains to give impulse to society, and effect 
 great and useful reforms. 
 
 We now return to consider the changes which they attempted 
 in government. The civil war, of which Cromwell was the hero, 
 now claims our attention. 
 
 The refusal of the governor of Hull to admit the king was vir- 
 tually the declaration of war, for which both parties had vigorously 
 prepared. 
 
 The standard of the king was first raised in Nottingham, while 
 the head-quarters of the parliamentarians were in London. The 
 first action of any note was the battle of Edge Hill, (October 23, 
 1642,) but was undecisive. Indeed, both parties hesitated to plunge 
 into' desperate war, at least until, by skirmishings and military 
 manoeuvres, they were better prepared for it. 
 
 The forces of the belligerents, at this period, were nearly equal, 
 
168 JOHN HAMPDEN. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 but the parliamentarians had the ablest leaders. It was the mis- 
 fortune of the king to have no man of commanding talents, as his 
 counsellor, after the arrest of Strafford. Hyde, afterwards lord 
 chancellor, and Earl of Clarendon, was the ablest of the royalist 
 party. Falkland and Culpeper were also eminent men ; but neither 
 of them was the equal of Pym or Hampden. , 
 
 The latter was doubtless the ablest man in England at this time, 
 and the only one who could have saved it from the evils which 
 afterwards afflicted it. On him the hopes and affections of the 
 nation centred. He was great in council and great in debate. 
 He was the acknowledged leader of the House of Commons. He 
 was eloquent, honest, unwearied, sagacious, and prudent. " Never 
 had a man inspired a nation with greater confidence : the more 
 moderate had faith in his wisdom ; the more violent in his devoted 
 patriotism ; the more honest in his uprightness ; the more intriguing 
 in his talents." He spared neither his fortune nor his person, as 
 soon as hostilities were inevitable. He subscribed two thousand 
 pounds to the public cause, took a colonel's commission, and raised 
 a regiment of infantry, so well known during the war for its green 
 uniform, and the celebrated motto of its intrepid leader, — " Ves- 
 tigia nulla retrorsum.'''' He possessed the talents of a great 
 statesman and a great general, and all the united qualities requisite 
 for the crisis in which he appeared — " the valor and energy of 
 Cromwell, the discernment and eloquence of Vane, the humanity 
 and moderation of Manchester, the stern integrity of Hale, the 
 ardent public spirit of Sydney. Others could conquer ; he alone 
 could reconcile. A heart as bold as his brought up the cuirassiers 
 who turned the tide of battle on Marston Moor. As skilful an eye 
 as his watched the Scottish army descending from the heights over 
 Dunbar. But it was when, to the sullen tyranny of Laud and 
 Charles, had succeeded the fierce conflict of sects and factions, 
 ambitious of ascendency, and burning for revenge ; it was when 
 the vices and ignorance, which the old tyranny had generated, 
 threatened the new freedom with destruction, that England missed 
 that sobriety, that self-command, that perfect soundness of judg- 
 ment, that perfect rectitude of intention, to which the history of 
 revolutions furnishes no parallel, or furnishes a parallel in Wash- 
 ington alone." * 
 
 * Macaulay. 
 
CHAP. XII.] OLIVER CROMWELL. 169 
 
 This great man was removed by Providence from the scene of 
 violence and faction at an early period of the contest. He was 
 mortally wounded in one of those skirmishes in which the detach- 
 ments of both armies had thus far engaged, and which made 
 the campaigns of 1642-3 so undecided, so tedious, and so irri- 
 tating — campaigns in which the generals of both armies reaped 
 no laurels, and which created the necessity for a greater genius 
 than had thus far appeared. That genius was Oliver Cromwell. 
 At the battle of Edge Hill he was only captain of a troop of horse ; 
 and at the death of his cousin Hampden, he was only colonel. 
 He was indeed a member of the Long Parliament, as was Hamp- 
 den, and had secured the attention of the members in spite of his 
 slovenly appearance and his incoherent, though earnest speeches. 
 Under his rough and clownish exterior, his talents were not per- 
 ceived, except by two or three penetrating intellects ; but they 
 were shortly to appear, and to be developed, not in the House of 
 Commons, but on the field of battle. The rise of Oliver Crom- 
 well can scarcely be dated until the death of John Hampden ; nor 
 were the eyes of the nation fixed on him, as their deliverer, until 
 some time after. The Earl of Essex was still the commander of 
 the forces, while the Earl of Bedford, Lord Manchester, Lord 
 Fairfax, Skippen, Sir William Waller, Leslie, and others held high 
 posts. Cromwell was still a subordinate ; but genius breaks through 
 all obstacles, and overleaps all boundaries. The time had not yet 
 come for the exercise of his great military talents. The period of 
 negotiation had not fully passed, and the king, at his head-quarters 
 at Oxford, " that seat of pure, unspotted loyalty," still hoped to 
 amuse the parliament, gain time, and finally overwhelm its forces. 
 Prince Rupert — brave, ardent, reckless, unprincipled — still ravaged 
 the country without reaping any permanent advantage. The par- 
 liament was perplexed and the people were disappointed. On the 
 whole, the king's forces were in the ascendant, and were augment- 
 ing; while plots and insurrections were constantly revealing to 
 the parliamentarians the dangers which threatened them. Had 
 not an able leader, at this crisis, appeared among the insurgents, 
 or had an able general been given to Charles, it is probable that 
 the king would have secured his ends ; for popular, enthusiasm, 
 15 
 
170 THE KING AT OXFORD. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 without the organization which a master spirit alone can form, 
 soon burns itself out. 
 
 The state of the contending parties, from the battle of Edge 
 Hill, for nearly two years, was very singular and very complicated. 
 The king remained at Oxford, distracted by opposing cpunsels, 
 and perplexed by various difficulties. The head-quarters of his 
 enemies, at London, were no less the seat of intrigues and party 
 animosities. The Presbyterians were the most powerful, and were 
 nearly as distrustful of the Independents as they were of the king, 
 and feared a victory over the king nearly as much as they did a 
 defeat by him, and the dissensions among the various sects and 
 leaders were no secret in the royalist camp, and doubtless encour- 
 aged Charles in his endless intrigues and dissimulations. But he 
 was not equal to decisive measures, and without them, in revolution- 
 ary times, any party must be ruined. While he was meditating 
 and scheming, he heard the news of an alliance between Scotland 
 and the parliament, in which the Presbyterian interest was in the 
 ascendency. This was the first great blow he received since the 
 commencement of the war, and the united forces of his enemies 
 now resolved upon more vigorous measures. 
 
 At the opening of the campaign, the parliament had five armies 
 — that of the Scots, of twenty-one thousand ; that of Essex, ten 
 thousand five hundred ; that of Waller, five thousand one hundred ; 
 that of Manchester, fourteen thousand ; and that of Fairfax, five 
 thousand five hundred — in all, about fifty-six thousand men, of 
 whom the committee of the two kingdoms had the entire disposal. 
 In May, Essex and Waller invested Oxford, while Fairfax, Manches- 
 ter, and the Scots met under the walls of York. Thus these two 
 great royalist cities were attacked at once by all the forces of par- 
 liament. Charles, invested by a stronger force, and being deprived 
 of the assistance of the princes, Rupert and Maurice, his nephews, 
 who were absent on their marauding expeditions, ecaped from Ox- 
 ford, and proceeded towards Exeter. In the mean time, he ordered 
 Prince Rupert to advance to the relief of York, which was defended 
 by the marquis of Newcastle. The united royalist army now 
 amounted to twenty-six thousand men, with a numerous and well- 
 appointed cavalry ; and this great force obliged the armies of the 
 parliament to raise the siege of York. Had Rupert been con- 
 
CHAP. XII.] CROMWELL AFTER THE BATTLE. 171 
 
 tented with this success, and intrenched himself in the strongest 
 city of the north of England, he and Newcastle might have main- 
 tained their ground ; but Rupert, against the advice of Newcastle, 
 resolved on an engagement with the parliamentary generals, who 
 had retreated to Marston Moor, on the banks of the Ouse, five miles 
 from the city. 
 
 The next day after the relief of York was fought the famous 
 battle of Marston Moor, (July 2, 1644,) the bloodiest in the war, 
 which resulted in the entire discomfiture of the royalist forces, and 
 the ruin of the royal interests at the north. York was captured 
 in a few days. Rupert retreated to Lancashire to recruit his 
 army, and Newcastle, disgusted with Rupert, and with the turn 
 affairs had taken, withdrew beyond seas. The Scots soon stormed 
 the town of Newcastle, and the whole north of England fell into 
 the hands of the victors. 
 
 This great battle was decided by the ability of Cromwell, now 
 lieutenant-general in the army of the parliament. He had distin- 
 guished himself in all subordinate stations, in the field of battle, 
 in raising forces, and in councils of war, for which he had been 
 promoted to serve as second under the Earl of Manchester. But 
 his remarkable military genius was not apparent to the parliament 
 until the battle of Marston Moor, and on him the eyes of the nation 
 now began to be centred. He was now forty-five years of age, 
 in the vigor of his manhood, burning with religious enthusiasm, 
 and eager to deliver his country from the tyranny of Charles I., 
 and of all kings. He was an Independent and a radical, opposed 
 to the Episcopalians, to the Presbyterians, to the Scots, to all mod- 
 erate men, to all moderate measures, to all jurisdiction in mat- 
 ters of religion, and to all authority in political affairs, which did 
 not directly emanate from the people, who were called upon to 
 regulate themselves by their individual reason. He was the idol 
 of the Independent party, which now began to gain the ascendency 
 in that stormy crisis. For three years, the Presbyterians had 
 been in the ascendant, but had not realized the hopes or expecta- 
 tions of the enthusiastic advocates of freedom. By turns imperi- 
 ous and wavering, fanatical and moderate, they sought to curtail 
 and humble the king, not to ruin him ; to depress Episcopacy, but 
 to establish another religion by the sword of the magistrate. Their 
 
172 ENTHUSIASM OF THE INDEPENDENTS. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 leaders were timid, insincere, and disunited ; few among them 
 had definite views respecting the future government of the realm ; 
 and they gradually lost the confidence of the nation. But the 
 Independents reposed fearlessly on the greatness and grandeur of 
 their abstract principles, and pronounced, without a scruple, those 
 potent words which kindled a popular enthusiasm — equality of 
 rights, the just distribution of properly, and the removal of all 
 abuses. Above all, they were enthusiasts in religion, as well as 
 in liberty, and devoutly attached to the doctrines of Calvin. They 
 abominated all pleasures and pursuits which diverted their minds 
 from the contemplation Of God, or the reality of a future state. 
 Cromwell himself lived in the ecstasy of religious excitement. 
 His language was the language of the Bible, and its solemn truths 
 were not dogmas, but convictions to his ardent mind. In the ardor 
 of his zeal and the frenzy of his hopes, he fondly fancied that the 
 people of England were to rise in simultaneous confederation, 
 shake off all the old shackles of priests and kings, and be governed 
 in all their actions, by the principles of the Bible. A sort of 
 Jewish theocracy was to be restored on earth, and he was to be 
 the organ of the divine will, as was Joshua of old, when he led 
 the Israelites against the pagan inhabitants of the promised land. 
 Up to this time, no inconsistencies disgraced him. His prayers 
 and his exhortations were in accordance with his actions, and the 
 most scrutinizing malignity could attribute nothing to him but sin- 
 cerity and ardor in the cause which he had so warmly espoused. 
 As magistrate, as member of parliament, as farmer, or as general, 
 he slighted no religious duties, and was devoted to the apparent 
 interests of England. Such a man, so fervent, enthusiastic, honest, 
 patriotic, and able, of course was pointed out as a future leader, 
 especially when his great military talents were observed at Marston 
 Moor. -From the memorable 2d of July, he became the most 
 marked and influential man in England. Hampden had offered 
 up his life as a martyr, and Pym, the great lawyer and statesman, 
 had died from exhaustion. Essex had won no victory commensu- 
 rate with the public expectations, and Waller lost his army by 
 desertions and indecisive measures. Both Essex and Manchester, 
 with their large estates, their aristocratic connections, and their 
 Presbyterian sympathies, were afraid of treating the king too well. 
 
CHAP. XII.] BATTLE OF NASEBY. 173 
 
 The battle of Newbury, which shortly after was gained by the par- 
 liamentarians, was without decisive results, in consequence of the 
 indecision of Manchester. The parliament and the nation looked 
 for another leader, who would pursue his advantages, and adopt 
 more vigorous measures. At this point, the Presbyterians would 
 have made peace with the king, who still continued his insincere 
 negotiations ; but it was too late. The Independents had gained 
 the ascendency, and their voice was for war — no more dallying, 
 no more treaties, no more half measures, but uncompromising 
 war. It Was plain that either the king or the Independents must 
 be the absolute rulers of England. 
 
 Then was passed (April 3, 1645) the famous Self-Denying Ordi- 
 nance, by which all members of parliament were excluded from 
 command in the army, an act designed to get rid of Essex and 
 Manchester, and prepare the way for the elevation of Cromwell. 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed to the supreme command, and 
 Cromwell was despatched into the inland counties to raise recruits. 
 But it was soon obvious that the army could do nothing without 
 him, although it was remodelled and reenforced ; and even Fairfax 
 and his officers petitioned parliament that Cromwell might be ap- 
 pointed lieutenant-general again, and commander-in-chief of the 
 horse ; which request was granted, and Cromwell rejoined the 
 army, of which he was its hope and idol. 
 
 He joined it in time to win the most decisive battle of the war, 
 the battle of Naseby, June 14, 1645. The forces of both armies 
 were nearly balanced, and the royalists were commanded by the 
 king in person, assisted by his ablest generals. But the rout of the 
 king's forces was complete, his fortunes were prostrated, and he 
 was driven, with the remnants of his army, from one part of the 
 kingdom to the other, while the victorious parliamentarians were 
 filled with exultation and joy. Cromwell, however, was modest 
 and composed, and ascribed the victory to the God of battles, 
 whose servant, he fancied, he preeminently was. 
 
 The parliamentary army continued its successes. Montrose 
 gained the battle of Alvord ; Bridgewater surrendered to Fairfax ; 
 Glasgow and Edinburgh surrendered to Montrose ; Prince Rupert 
 was driven from Bristol, and, as the king thought, most disgrace- 
 fully ; which misfortune gave new joy to the parliament, and caused 
 15* 
 
174 SUCCESS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY ARMY. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 new thanksgivings from Cromwell, who gained the victory. From 
 Bristol, the army turned southward, and encountered what royalist 
 force there was in that quarter, stormed Bridgewater, drove the 
 royalist generals into Cornwall, took Winchester, battered down 
 Basing House, rich in provisions, ammunition, and silver plate, and 
 completely prostrated all the hopes of the king in the south of 
 England. Charles fled from Oxford, secretly, to join the Scottish 
 army. 
 
 By the 24th of June, 1646, all the garrisons of England and 
 Wales, except those in the north, were in the hands of the parlia- 
 ment. In July, the parliament sent their final propositions to the 
 king at Newcastle, which were extremely humiliating, and which 
 he rejected. Negotiations were then entered into between the 
 parliament and the Scots, which were long protracted, but which 
 finally ended in an agreement, by the Scots, to surrender the king 
 to the parliament, for the payment of their dues. They accord- 
 ingly marched home with an instalment of two hundred thousand 
 pounds, and the king was given up, not to the Independents, but 
 to the Commissioners of parliament, in which body the Presbyterian 
 interest predominated. 
 
 At this juncture, (January, 1647,) Cromwell, rather than the king, 
 was in danger of losing his head. The Presbyterians, who did not 
 wish to abolish royalty v but establish uniformity with their mode of 
 worship, began to be extremely jealous of the Independents, who 
 were bent on more complete toleration of opinions, and who aimed 
 at a total overthrow of many of the old institutions of the country. 
 So soon as the king was humbled, and in their hands, it was pro- 
 posed to disband the army which had gloriously finished the war, 
 and which was chiefly composed of the Independents, and to create 
 a new one on a Presbyterian model. The excuse was, that the 
 contest was ended, while, indeed, the royalists were rather dis- 
 persed and humbled, than subdued. It was voted that, in the 
 reduced army, no one should have, except Fairfax, a higher rank 
 than colonel, a measure aimed directly at Cromwell, now both 
 feared and distrusted by the Presbyterians. But the army refused 
 to be disbanded without payment of its arrears, and, moreover, 
 marched upon London, in spite of the vote of the parliament that 
 it should not come within twenty-five miles. Several irritating 
 
CHAP. XII.] SEIZURE OF THE KING. 17.5 
 
 resolutions were passed by the parliament, which only had the 
 effect of uniting the army more strongly together, in resistance 
 against parliament, as well as against the king. The Lords and 
 Commons then voted that the king should be brought nearer Lon- 
 don, and new negotiations opened with him, which were prevented 
 from being carried into effect by the seizure of the king at Holmby 
 House, by Cornet Joyce, with a strong party of horse belonging to 
 Walley's regiment, probably at the instigation of Cromwell and 
 Ireton. His majesty was now in the hands of the army, his 
 worst enemy, and, though treated with respect and deference, was 
 really guarded closely, and watched by the Independent generals. 
 The same day, Cromwell left London in haste, and joined the 
 army, knowing full well that he was in imminent danger of arrest. 
 He was cordially received, and forthwith the army resolved not to 
 disband until all the national grievances were redressed, thus setting 
 itself up virtually against all the constituted authorities. Fairfax, 
 Cromwell, Ireton, and Hammond, with other high officers, then 
 waited on the king, and protested that they had nothing to do with 
 the seizure of his person, and even invited him to return to Holmby 
 House. But the king never liked the Presbyterians, and was 
 willing to remain with the army instead, especially since he was 
 permitted to have Episcopal chaplains, and to see whomsoever he 
 pleased. 
 
 The generals of the army were not content with- the seizure of 
 his majesty's person, but now caused eleven of the most obnoxious 
 of the Presbyterian leaders of parliament to be accused, upon 
 which they hid themselves, while the army advanced towards 
 London. The parliament, at first, made a show of resistance, but 
 soon abandoned its course, and now voted that the army should 
 be treated with more respect and care. It was evident now to all 
 persons where the seat of power rested. 
 
 In the mean time, the king was removed from Newmarket to 
 Kingston, from Hatfield to Woburn Abbey, and thence to Windsor 
 Castle, which was the scene of new intrigues and negotiations on 
 his part, and on the part of parliament, and even on the part of 
 Cromwell. This was the last chance the king had. Had he cor- 
 dially sided now with either the Presbyterians or the Independents, 
 his subsequent misfortunes might have been averted. But he 
 
176 TRIUMPH OF THE INDEPENDENTS. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 hated both parties, and trifled with both, and hoped to conquer 
 both. He was unable to see the crisis of his affairs, Or to adapt 
 himself to it. He was incapable of fair dealing, with any party. 
 His duplicity and dissimulation were fully made known to Crom- 
 well and Ireton by a letter of the king to his wife, which they inter- 
 cepted ; and they made up their minds to more decided courses. 
 The king was more closely guarded ; the army marched to the 
 immediate vicinity of London ; a committee of safety was named, 
 and parliament was intimidated into the passing of a resolution, by 
 which the city of London and the Tower were intrusted to Fairfax 
 and Cromwell. The Presbyterian party was forever depressed, 
 its leading members fled to France, and the army had every thing 
 after its own way. Parliament still was ostensibly the supreme 
 power in the land ; but it was entirely controlled by the Independ- 
 ent leaders and generals. 
 
 The victorious Independents then made their celebrated pro- 
 posals to the king, as the Presbyterians had done before them ; 
 only the conditions which the former imposed were more liberal, 
 and would have granted to the king powers almost as great as are 
 now exercised by the sovereign. But he would not accept them, 
 and continued to play his game of kingcraft. 
 
 Shortly after, the king contrived to escape from Windsor to the 
 Isle of Wight, with the connivance of Cromwell. At Carisbrook 
 Castle, where he quartered himself, he was more closely guarded 
 than before. Seeing this, he renewed his negotiations with the 
 Scots, and attempted to escape. But escape was impossible. He 
 was now in the hands of men who aimed at his life. A strong party 
 in the army, called the Levellers, openly advocated his execu- 
 tion, and the establishment of a republic ; and parliament itself 
 resolved to have no further treaty with ,him. His only hope was 
 now from the Scots, and they prepared to rescue him. 
 
 Although the government of the country was now virtually in 
 the hands of the Independents and of the army, the state of affairs 
 was extremely critical, and none other than Cromwell could have 
 extricated the dominant party from the difficulties. In one quarter 
 was an imprisoned and intriguing king in league with the Scots, 
 while the royalist party was waiting for the first reverse to rise tip 
 again with new strength in various parts of the land. Indeed, 
 
CHAP. XII.] CROMWELL INVADES SCOTLAND. 177 
 
 there were several insurrections, which required all the vigor 
 of Cromwell to suppress. The city of London, which held the 
 purse-strings, was at heart Presbyterian, and was extremely dissatis- 
 fied with the course affairs were taking. Then, again, there was 
 a large, headstrong, levelling, mutineer party in the army, which 
 clamored for violent courses, which at that time would have ruined 
 every thing. Finally, the. Scotch parliament had voted to raise a 
 force of forty thousand men, to invade England and rescue the 
 king. Cromwell, before he could settle the peace of the countiy, 
 must overcome all these difficulties. Who, but he, could have 
 triumphed over so many obstacles, and such apparent anarchy ? 
 
 The first thing Cromwell did was to restore order in England ; 
 and therefore he obtained leave to march against the rebels, who 
 had arisen in various parts of the country. Scarcely were these sub- 
 dued, before he heard of the advance of the Scottish army, under 
 the Duke of Hamilton. A second civil war now commenced, and 
 all parties witnessed the result with fearful anxiety. 
 
 The army of Hamilton was not as large as he had hoped. Still 
 he had fifteen thousand men, and crossed the borders, while Crom- 
 well was besieging Pembroke, in a distant part of the kingdom. 
 But Pembroke soon surrendered ; and Cromwell advanced, by 
 rapid marches, against the Scottish army, more than twice as 
 large as his own. The hostile forces met in Lancashire. Hamil- 
 ton was successively defeated at Preston, Wigam, and Warrington. 
 Hamilton was taken prisoner at Uttoxeter, August 25, 1648, and 
 his invading army was completely annihilated. 
 
 Cromwell then resolved to invade, in his turn, Scotland itself, 
 and, by a series of military actions, to give to the army a still 
 greater ascendency. He was welcomed at Edinburgh by the Duke 
 of Argyle, the head of an opposing faction, and was styled " the 
 Preserver of Scotland." That country was indeed rent with most 
 unhappy divisions, which Lieutenant-General Cromwell remedied 
 in the best way he could ; and then he rapidly retraced his steps, 
 to compose greater difficulties at home. In his absence, the 
 Presbyterians had rallied, and were again negotiating with the 
 king on the Isle of Wight, while Cromwell was openly denounced 
 in the House of Lords as ambitious, treacherous, and perfidious. 
 Fairfax, his superior in command, but inferior in influence, was 
 
178 SEIZURE OE THE KING A SECOND TIME. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 subduing the rebel royalists, who made a firm resistance at Col- 
 chester, and all the various parties were sending their remonstrances 
 to parliament. 
 
 Among these was a remarkable one from the regiments of 
 Ireton, Ingoldsby, Fleetwood, Whalley, and Overton, which im- 
 puted to parliament the neglect of the affairs of the realm, called 
 upon it to proclaim the sovereignty of the people and the election 
 of a supreme magistrate, and threatened to take matters into their 
 own hands. This was in November, 1646 ; but, long before this, 
 a republican government was contemplated, although the leaders 
 of the army had not joined in with the hue and cry which the 
 fanatical Levellers had made. 
 
 In the midst of the storm which the petition from the army had 
 raised, the news arrived that the king had been seized a second 
 time, and had been carried a prisoner to Hurst Castle, on the 
 coast opposite the island, where he was closely confined by com- 
 mand of the army. Parliament was justly indignant, and the 
 debate relative to peace was resumed with redoubled earnestness. 
 It is probable that, at this crisis, so irritated was parliament against 
 the army, peace would have been made with the king, and the 
 Independent party suppressed, had not most decisive measures 
 been taken by the army. A rupture between the parliament 
 and the army was inevitable. But Cromwell and the army 
 chiefs had resolved upon their courses. The mighty stream of 
 revolution could no longer be checked. Twenty thousand men 
 had vowed that parliament should be purged. On the morning of 
 December 6, Colonel Pride and Colonel Rich, with troops, sur- 
 rounded the House of Commons ; and, as the members were going 
 into the house, the most obnoxious were seized and sent to prison, 
 among whom were Primrose, who had lost his ears in his contest 
 against the crown, Waller, Harley, Walker, and various other 
 men, who had distinguished themselves as advocates of constitu- 
 tional liberty. None now remained in the House of Commons but 
 some forty Independents, who were the tools of the army, and 
 who voted to Cromwell their hearty thanks. " The minority had 
 now become a majority," — which is not unusual in revolutionary 
 times, — and proceeded to the work, in good earnest, which it had 
 long contemplated. 
 
CHAP. XII.] TRIAL OF THE KING. 179 
 
 This was the trial of the king, whose apartments at Whitehall 
 were now occupied by his victorious general, and whose treasures 
 were now lavished on his triumphant soldiers. 
 
 On the 17th of December, 1648, in the middle of the night, the 
 drawbridge of the Castle of Hurst was lowered, and a troop of 
 horse entered the yard. Two days after, the king was removed to 
 Windsor. On the 23d, the Commons voted that he should be 
 brought to trial. On the 20th of January, Charles Stuart, King of 
 England, was brought before the members of the House of Com- 
 mons, in Westminster Hall, and placed at the bar, to be tried by 
 this self-constituted body for his life. In the indictment, he was 
 charged with being a tyrant, traitor, and murderer. To such an 
 indictment, and before such a body, the dignified but unfortunate 
 successor of William the Conqueror demurred. He refused to 
 acknowledge the jurisdiction of the court. But the solemn mock- 
 ery of the trial proceeded nevertheless, and on the 27th, sentence 
 of death was pronounced upon the prisoner — that prisoner the 
 King of England, a few years before the absolute ruler of the 
 state. On January 30, the bloody sentence was executed, and 
 the soul of the murdered king ascended to that God who pardons 
 those who put their trust in him, in spite of all their mistakes, 
 errors, and delusions. The career of Charles I. is the most melan- 
 choly in English history. That he was tyrannical, that he disre- 
 garded the laws by which he swore to rule, that he was narrow 
 and bigoted, that he was deceitful in his promises, that he was 
 bent on overturning the liberties of England, and did not compre- 
 hend the wants and circumstances of his times, can scarcely be 
 questioned. But that he was sincere in his religion, upright in his 
 private life, of respectable talents, and good intentions, must also 
 be admitted. His execution, or rather his martyrdom, made a 
 deep and melancholy impression in all Christian countries, and 
 was the great blunder which the republicans made — a blunder 
 which Hampden would have avoided. His death, however, re- 
 moved from England a most dangerous intriguer, and, for a while, 
 cemented the power of Cromwell and his party, who now had 
 undisputed ascendency in the government of the realm. Charles's 
 exactions and tyranny provoked the resistance of parliament, and 
 the indignation of the people, then intensely excited in discussing 
 
180 TRIAL OF THE KING. [CHAP. XII. 
 
 the abstract principles of civil and religious liberty. The resist- 
 ance of parliament cheated the necessity of an army, and the 
 indignation of the people filled it with enthusiasts. The army, 
 flushed with success, forgot its relations and duties, and usurped 
 the government it had destroyed ; and a military dictatorship, 
 the almost inevitable result of revolution, though under the name 
 of a republic, succeeded to the despotism of the Stuart kings. 
 This republic, therefore, next claims attention. 
 
 References. — The standard Histories of England. Guizot's History 
 of the English Revolution. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. Eors- 
 ter's Life of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth. Neal's History of the 
 Puritans. Macaulay's Essays. Lives of Bacon, Raleigh, Strafford, 
 Laud, Hampden, and Cromwell. These works furnish all the common 
 information. Few American students have the opportunity to investi- 
 gate Thurlow's State Papers, or Rushworth, Whitelocke, Dugdale, or 
 Mrs. Hutchinson. 
 
CHAP. XIII.] THE PROTECTORATE. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PROTECTORATE OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 On the day of the king's execution, January 30, 1649, the 
 House of Commons — being but the shadow of a House of Com- 
 mons, yet ostensibly the supreme authority in England — passed 
 an act prohibiting the proclamation of the Prince of Wales, or any 
 other person, to be king of England. On the 6th of February, 
 the House of Peers was decreed useless and dangerous, and was 
 also dispensed with. On the next day, royalty was formally 
 abolished. The supreme executive power was vested in a council 
 of state of forty members, the president of which was Bradshaw, 
 the relative and friend of Milton, who employed his immortal genius 
 in advocating the new government. The army remained under the 
 command of Fairfax and Cromwell ; the navy was controlled by 
 a board of admiralty, headed by Sir Harry Vane. A greater tolera- 
 tion of religion was proclaimed than had ever been known before, 
 much to the annoyance of the Presbyterians, who were additionally 
 vexed that the state was separated entirely from the church. 
 
 The Independents pursued their victory with considerable mod- 
 eration, and only Duke Hamilton, and Lords Holland and Capel, 
 were executed for treason, while a few others were shut up in the 
 Tower. Never was so mighty a revolution accomplished with so 
 little bloodshed. But it required all the wisdom and vigor of Fair- 
 fax and Cromwell to repress the ultra radical spirit which had 
 crept into several detachments of the army, and to baffle the 
 movements which the Scots were making in favor of Charles 
 Stuart, who had already been proclaimed king by the parliament 
 of Scotland, and in Ireland by the Marquis of Ormond. 
 
 The insurrection in Ireland first required the notice of the new 
 English government. Cromwell accepted the conduct of the war, 
 and the office of lord lieutenant. Dublin and Derry were the only 
 places which held out for the parliament. All other parts of the 
 country were in a state of insurrection. On the 15th of August, 
 16 
 
182 STORMING OF DROGHEDA AND WEXFORD. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Cromwell and his son-in-law, Ireton, landed near Dublin with an 
 army of six thousand foot and three thousand horse only ; but it 
 was an army of Ironsides and Titans. In six months, the com- 
 plete reconquest of the country was effected. The policy of the 
 conqueror was severe and questionable ; but it was successful. 
 In the hope of bringing the war to a speedy termination, Cromwell 
 proceeded in such a way as to bring terror to his name, and curses 
 on his memory. Drogheda and Wexford were not only taken by 
 storm, but nearly the whole garrison, of more than five thousand 
 men, were barbarously put to the sword. The Irish quailed before 
 such a victor, and town after town hastened to make peace. 
 Cromwell's excuse for his undeniable cruelties was, the necessity 
 of the case, of which we may reasonably suppose him to be a 
 judge. Scotland was in array, and English affairs, scarcely set- 
 tled, demanded his presence in London. An imperfect conquest, 
 on the principles of Rousseau's philanthropy, did not suit the taste 
 or the notions of Cromwell. If he had consumed a few more 
 months than he actually employed, either in treaty-making with a 
 deceitful though oppressed people, or in battles on the principles 
 of the military science then in vogue, the cause of Independency 
 would have been lost ; and that cause, associated with that of 
 liberty, in the eyes of Cromwell, was of more value than the whole 
 Irish nation, or any other nation. Cromwell was a devotee to a 
 cause. Principles, with him, were every thing; men were nothing 
 in comparison. To advance the principles for which he fought, 
 he scrupled to use no means or instruments. In this he may have 
 erred. But this policy was the secret of his success. We cannot 
 justify his cruelties in war, because it is hard to justify the war 
 itself. But if we acknowledge its necessity, we should remember 
 that such a master of war as was Cromwell knew his circum- 
 stances better than we do or can know. To his immortal glory it 
 can be said that he never inflicted cruelty when he deemed it un- 
 necessary ; that he never fought for the love of fighting ; and that 
 he stopped fighting when the cause for which he fought was won. 
 And this is more than can be said of most conquerors, even of 
 those imbued with sentimental horror of bloodshed. Our world is 
 full of cant. Cromwell's language sometimes sounds like it, espe- 
 cially when he speaks of the " hand of the Lord " in " these mighty 
 changes," who " breaketh the enemies of his church in pieces.'* 
 
CHAP. XIII.] BATTLE OF WORCESTER. 183 
 
 When the conquest of Ireland was completed, Cromwell has- 
 tened to London to receive the thanks of parliament and the accla- 
 mations of the people ; and then he hurried to Scotland to do battle 
 with the Scots, who had made a treaty with the king, and were 
 resolved to establish Presbyterianism and royalty. Cromwell now 
 superseded Fairfax, and was created captain-general of the forces 
 of the commonwealth. Cromwell passed the borders, reached Edin- 
 burgh without molestation, and then advanced on the Scotch army 
 of twenty-seven thousand men, under Lesley, at Dunbar, where 
 was fought a most desperate battle, but which Cromwell gained with 
 marvellous intrepidity and skill. Three thousand men were killed, 
 and ten thousand taken prisoners, and the hopes of the Scots 
 blasted. The lord-general made a halt, and the whole army sang 
 the one hundred and seventeenth psalm, and then advanced upon 
 the capital, which opened its gates. Glasgow followed the exam- 
 ple ; the whole south of Scotland submitted ; while the king fled 
 towards the Highlands, but soon rallied, and even took the bold 
 resolution of marching into England, while Cromwell was besieg- 
 ing Perth. Charles reached Worcester before he was overtaken, 
 established himself with sixteen thousand men, but was attacked 
 by Cromwell, was defeated, and with difficulty fled. He reached 
 France, however, and quietly rested until he was brought back by 
 General Monk. 
 
 With the battle of Worcester, September 3, 1651, which Crom- 
 well called his " crowning mercy," ended his military life. From 
 that day to the time when he became protector, the most noticeable 
 point in his history is his conduct towards the parliament. And 
 this conduct is the most objectionable part of his life and char- 
 acter ; for in this he violated the very principles he originally pro- 
 fessed, and committed the same usurpations which he condemned 
 in Charles I. Here he was not true to himself or his cause. 
 Here he laid himself open to the censure of all posterity ; and 
 although he had great excuses, and his course has many pallia- 
 tions, still it would seem a mockery of all moral distinctions not to 
 condemn in him what we would condemn in another, or what 
 Cromwell himself condemned in the murdered king. It is true he 
 did not, at once, turn usurper, not until circumstances seemed to 
 warrant the usurpation — the utter impossibility of governing Eng- 
 
184 POLICY OF CROMWELL. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 land, except by exercising the rights and privileges of an absolute 
 monarch. On the principles of expediency, he has been vindicated, 
 and will be vindicated, so long as his cause is advocated by parti- 
 san historians, or expediency itself is advocated as a rule of life. 
 
 After the battle of Worcester, Cromwell lost, in a measure, his 
 democratic sympathies, and naturally, in view of the great excesses 
 of the party with which he had been identified. That he desired 
 the public good we cannot reasonably doubt ; and he adapted him- 
 self to those circumstances which seemed to advance it, and which 
 a spirit of wild democratic license assuredly did not. So far as 
 it contributed to overturn the throne of the Stuarts, and the whole 
 system of public abuses, civil and ecclesiastical, Cromwell favored 
 it. But no further. When it seemed subversive of law and order, 
 the grand ends of all civil governments, then he opposed it. 
 And in this he showed that he was much more conservative in 
 his spirit than has often been supposed; and, in this conserva- 
 tism he resembled Luther and other great reformers, who were 
 not unreflecting incendiaries, as is sometimes thought — men who 
 destroy, but do not reconstruct. Luther, at heart, was a conserva- 
 tive, and never sought a change to which he was not led by strong 
 inward tempests — forced to make it by the voice of his conscience, 
 which he ever obeyed, and loyalty to which so remarkably char- 
 acterized the early reformers, and no class of men more than 
 the Puritans. Cromwell abhorred the government of Charles, 
 because it was not a government which respected justice, and 
 which set at defiance the higher laws of God. It was not because 
 Charles violated the constitution, it was because he violated truth 
 and equity, and the nation's good, that he opposed him. Cromwell 
 usurped his prerogatives, and violated the English constitution ; but 
 he did not transgress those great primal principles of truth, for 
 which constitutions are made. He looked beyond constitutions to 
 abstract laws of justice ; and it never can be laid to his charge 
 that he slighted these, or proved a weak or wicked ruler. He 
 quarrelled with parliament, because the parliament wished to per- 
 petuate its existence unlawfully and meanly, and was moreover 
 unwilling and unable to cope with many difficulties which con- 
 stantly arose. It may be supposed that Cromwell may thus have 
 thought : " I will not support the parliament, for it will not main- 
 
CHAP. XIII.] THE KUMP PARLIAMENT. 185 
 
 tain law ; it will not legislate wisely or beneficently ; it seeks its 
 own, not the nation's good. And therefore I take away its exist- 
 ence, and ride myself; for I have the fear of God before my 
 eyes, and am determined to rule by his laws, and to advance his 
 glory." Deluded he was ; blinded by ambition he may have been ; 
 but he sought to elevate his country ; and his efforts in her behalf 
 are appreciated and praised by the very men who are most severe 
 on his undoubted usurpation. 
 
 Shortly after the Long Parliament was purged, at the instigation 
 of Cromwell, and had become the Rump Parliament, as it was 
 derisively called, it appointed a committee to take into considera- 
 tion the time when their powers should cease. But the battle of 
 Worcester was fought before any thing was done, except to deter- 
 mine that future parliaments should consist of four hundred mem- 
 bers, and that the existing members should be returned, in the 
 next parliament, for the places they then represented. At length, 
 in December, 1651, it was decided, through the urgent entreaties 
 of Cromwell, but only by a small majority, that the present parlia- 
 ment should cease in November, 1654. Thus it was obvious to 
 Cromwell that the parliament, reduced as it was, and composed of 
 Independents, was jealous of him, and also was aiming to per- 
 petuate its own existence, against all the principles of a representa- 
 tive government. Such are men, so greedy of power themselves, 
 so censorious in regard to the violation of justice by others, so 
 blind to the violation of justice by themselves. Cromwell was not 
 the man to permit the usurpation of power by a body of forty or 
 sixty Independents, however willing he was to assume it himself. 
 Beside, the Rump Parliament was inefficient, and did not consult 
 the interests of the country. There was general complaint. But 
 none complained more bitterly than Cromwell himself. Meeting 
 Whitelock, who then held the great seal, he said that the " army 
 was beginning to have a strange distaste against them ; that their 
 pride, and ambition, and self-seeking ; their engrossing all places 
 of honor and profit to themselves and their friends ; their daily 
 breaking into new and violent parties ; their delays of business, 
 and design to perpetuate themselves, and continue the power in 
 their own hands ; their meddling in private matters between party 
 and party ; their injustice and partiality ; the scandalous lives of 
 16* 
 
186 DISPERSION OF THE PARLIAMENT. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 some of them, do g*ive too much ground for people to open their 
 mouths against them ; and unless there be some power to check 
 them, it will be impossible to prevent our ruin." These things 
 Whitelock admitted, but did not see how they could be removed, 
 since both he and Cromwell held their commissions from this same 
 parliament, Which was the supreme authority. But Cromwell 
 thought there was nothing to hope, and eveiy thing to fear, from 
 such a body of men ; that they would destroy what the Lord had 
 done. " We all forget God," said he, " and God will forget us. 
 He will give us up to confusion, and these men will help it on, if 
 left to themselves." Then he asked the great lawyer and chan- 
 cellor, " What if a man should take upon himself to be king ? " — 
 evidently having in view the regal power. But Whitelock pre- 
 sented such powerful reasons against it, that Cromwell gave up the 
 idea, though he was resolved to destroy the parliament. He then 
 held repeated conferences with the officers of the army, who sym- 
 pathized with him, and who supported him. At last, while parlia- 
 ment was about to pass an obnoxious bill, Cromwell hurried to the 
 House, taking with him a file of musketeers, having resolved what 
 he would do. These he left in the lobby, and, taking his seat, 
 listened a while to the discussion, and then rose, and addressed 
 the House. Waxing warm, he told them, in violent language, 
 " that they were deniers of justice, were oppressive, profane men, 
 were planning to bring in Presbyterians, and would lose no time 
 in destroying the cause they had deserted." Sir Harry Vane and 
 Sir Peter Wentworth rose to remonstrate, but Cromwell, leaving his 
 seat, walked up and down the floor, with his hat on, reproached 
 the different members, who again remonstrated. But Cromwell, 
 raising his voice, exclaimed, " You are no parliament. Get you 
 gone. Give way to honester men." Then, stamping with his 
 feet, the door opened, and the musketeers entered, and the mem- 
 bers were dispersed, after giving vent to their feelings in the lan- 
 guage of reproach. Most of them wore swords, but none offered 
 resistance to the man they feared, and tamely departed. 
 
 Thus was the constitution utterly subverted, and parliament, as 
 well as the throne, destroyed. Cromwell published, the next day, 
 a vindication of his conduct, setting forth the incapacity, selfish- 
 ness, and corruption of the parliament, in which were some of the 
 
CHAP. XIII.] CROMWELL ASSUMES THE PROTECTORSHIP. 187 
 
 best men England ever had, including Sir Harry Vane, Alger- 
 non Sydney, and Sir Peter Wentworth. 
 
 His next step was to order the continuance of all the courts of 
 justice, as before, and summon a new parliament, the members of 
 which were nominated by himself and his council of officers. The 
 army, with Cromwell at the head, was now the supreme authority. 
 
 The new parliament, composed of one hundred and twenty 
 persons, assembled on the 4th of July, when Cromwell explained 
 the reason of his conduct, and set forth the mercies of the Lord 
 to England. This parliament was not constitutional, since it was 
 not elected by the people of England, but by Cromwell, and there- 
 fore would be likely to be his tool. But had the elections been 
 left free, the Presbyterians would have been returned as the largest 
 party, and they would have ruined the cause which Cromwell and 
 the Independents sought to support. In revolutions, there cannot 
 be pursued half measures. Revolutions are the contest between 
 parties. The strongest party gains the ascendency, and keeps it 
 if it can — never by old, constituted laws. In the English Revolu- 
 tion the Independents gained this ascendency by their valor, enthu- 
 siasm, and wisdom. And their great representative ruled in their 
 name. 
 
 The new members of parliament reappointed the old Council of 
 State, at the head of which was Cromwell, abolished the High Court 
 of Chancery, nominated commissioners to preside in courts of jus- 
 tice, and proceeded to other sweeping changes, which alarmed their 
 great nominator, who induced them to dissolve themselves and sur- 
 render their trust into his hands, under the title of Lord Protector of 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland. On the 16th of December, he was 
 installed in his great office, with considerable pomp, in the Court 
 of Chancery, and the new constitution was read, which invested 
 him with all the powers of a king. It, however, ordained that he 
 should rule with the aid of a parliament, which should have all 
 the functions and powers of the old parliaments, should be assem- 
 bled within five months, should last three years, and should consist 
 of four hundred and sixty members. It provided for the main- 
 tenance of the army and navy, of which the protector was the 
 head, and decided that the great officers of state should be chosen 
 by approbation of parliament. Religious toleration was proclaimed, 
 and provision made for the support of the clergy. 
 
188 THE DUTCH WAR. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Thus was the constitution of the nation changed, and a republic 
 substituted for a monarchy, at the head of which was the ablest 
 man of his age. And there was need of all his abilities. Eng- 
 land then was engaged in war with the Dutch, and the internal 
 state of the nation demanded the attention of a vigorous mind and 
 a still more vigorous arm. 
 
 The Dutch war was prosecuted with great vigor, and was 
 signalized by the naval victories of Blake, Dean, and Monk over 
 the celebrated Van Tromp and De Ruyter, the Dutch admirals. 
 The war was caused by the commercial jealousies of the two na- 
 tions, and by the unwillingness of the Prince of Orange, who had 
 married a daughter of Charles I., to acknowledge the ambassador 
 of the new English republic. But the superiority which the Eng- 
 lish sailors evinced, soon taught the Dutch how dangerous it was 
 to provoke a nation which should be its ally on all grounds of 
 national policy, and peace was therefore honorably secured after 
 a most successful war. 
 
 The war being ended, the protector had more leisure to attend 
 to business at home. Sir Matthew Hale was made chief justice, and 
 Thurloe, secretary of state ; disorganizes were punished ; an insur- 
 rection in Scotland was quelled by General Monk ; and order and 
 law were restored. 
 
 Meanwhile, the new parliament, the first which had been freely 
 elected for fourteen years, soon manifested a spirit of opposition 
 to Cromwell, deferred to vote him supplies, and annoyed him all in 
 its power. Still he permitted the members to discuss trifling subjects 
 and waste their time for five months ; but, at the earliest time the 
 new constitution would allow, he summoned them to the Painted 
 Chamber, made them a long speech, reminded them of their neg- 
 lect in attending to the interests of the nation, while disputing 
 about abstract questions, even while it was beset with dangers and 
 difficulties, and then dissolved them, (January 22, 1656.) 
 
 For the next eighteen months, he ruled without a parliament, 
 and found no difficulty in raising supplies, and supporting his now 
 unlimited power. During this time, he suppressed a dangerous 
 insurrection in England itself, and carried on a successful and 
 brilliant war against Spain, a power which he hated with all the 
 capacity of hatred of which his nation has shown itself occasionally 
 so capable. In the naval war with Spain, Blake was again the hero ; 
 
CHAP. XIII.] CROMWELL RULES WITHOUT A PARLIAMENT. 189 
 
 and he succeeded in wresting from her the rich island of Jamaica, 
 a possession which England has ever since greatly valued. 
 
 Encouraged by his successes, Cromwell now called a third parlia- 
 ment, which he opened the 17th of September, 1656, after ejecting 
 one hundred of the members, on account of their political senti- 
 ments. The new House voted for the prosecution of the Spanish 
 war, granted ample supplies, and offered to Cromwell the title of 
 king. But his council violently opposed it, and Cromwell found it 
 expedient to relinquish this object of his heart. But his protector- 
 ate was continued to him, and he was empowered to nominate 
 his successor. 
 
 In a short time, however, the spirit of the new parliament was 
 manifested, not only by violent opposition to the protector, but 
 in acts which would, if carried out, have subverted the government 
 again, and have plunged England in anarchy. It was plain that the 
 protector could not rule with a real representation of the nation. 
 So he dissolved it ; and thus ended the last effort of Cromwell to 
 rule with a parliament ; or, as his advocates say, to restore the 
 constitution of his country. It was plain that there was too much 
 party animosity and party ambition to permit the protector, 
 shackled by the law, to cany out his designs of order and good 
 government. Self-preservation compelled him to be suspicious 
 and despotic, and also to prohibit the exercise of the Catholic 
 worship, and to curtail the religious rights of the Quakers, Socini- 
 ans, and Jews. The continual plottings and political disaffections 
 of these parties forced him to rule on a system to which he was 
 not at first inclined. England was not yet prepared for the civil 
 and religious liberty at which the advocates of revolution had at 
 first aimed. 
 
 So Cromwell now resolved to rule alone. And he ruled well. 
 His armies were victorious on the continent, and England was 
 respected abroad, and prospered at home. The most able and 
 upright men were appointed to office. The chairs of the univer- 
 sities were filled with illustrious scholars, and the bench adorned 
 with learned and honest judges. He defended the great interests 
 of Protestantism on the Continent, and formed alliances which 
 contributed to the political and commercial greatness of his coun- 
 try. He generously assisted the persecuted Protestants in the 
 valleys of Piedmont, and refused to make treaties with hostile 
 
190 THE PROTECTORATE. [CHAP. XIII. 
 
 powers unless tha religious liberties of the Protestants were re- 
 spected. He lived at Hampton Court, the old palace of Cardinal 
 Wolsey, in simple and sober dignity ; nor was debauchery or riot 
 seen at his court. He lived simply and unostentatiously, and to the 
 last preserved the form, and perhaps the spirit, of his early piety. 
 He surrounded himself with learned men, and patronized poets 
 and scholars. Milton was his familiar guest, and the youthful 
 Dryden was not excluded from his table. An outward morality, 
 at least, was generally observed, and the strictest discipline was 
 kept at his court. 
 
 Had Cromwell's life been prolonged to threescore and ten, the 
 history of England might have been different for the next two 
 hundred years. But such was not his fortune. Providence 
 removed him from the scene of his conflicts and his heroism not 
 long after the dissolution of his last parliament. The death of a 
 favorite daughter preyed upon his mind, and the cares of govern- 
 ment undermined his constitution. He died on the 3d of Septem- 
 ber, 1658, the anniversary of his great battles of Worcester and 
 Dunbar, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
 Two or three nights before he died, he was heard to ejaculate 
 the following prayer, in the anticipation of his speedy departure: 
 " Lord, though I am a miserable and wretched creature, I am in 
 covenant with thee, through thy grace ; and I may, I will come to 
 thee, for thy people. Thou hast made me, though very unworthy, 
 a mean instrument to do them good, and Thee service ; and many 
 of them have set too high value upon me, though others wish 
 and would be glad of my death. Lord, however Thou disposest 
 of me, continue and go on to do good to them. Give them 
 consistency of judgment, one heart, and mutual love ; and, with 
 the work of reformation, go on to deliver them, and make the 
 name of Christ glorious in the world. Teach those who look too 
 much on thy instrument to depend more upon Thyself. Pardon 
 such as desire to trample upon the dust of a poor worm, for 
 they are Thy people too. And pardon the folly of this short 
 prayer, even for Jesus Christ's sake. And give me a good night, 
 if it be Thy pleasure. Amen." 
 
 Thus closed the career of Oliver Cromwell, the most remark- 
 able man in the list of England's heroes. His motives and his 
 honesty have often been impeached, and sometimes by the most 
 
CHAP. XIII.] REGAL GOVERNMENT RESTORED. 191 
 
 excellent and discriminating, but oftener by heated partisans, who 
 had no sympathy with his reforms or opinions. His genius, how- 
 ever, has never been questioned, nor his extraordinary talent, for 
 governing a nation in the most eventful period of its history. 
 And there is a large class, and that class an increasing one, not 
 confined to Independents or republicans, who look upon him 
 as one habitually governed by a stern sense of duty, as a man 
 who feared God and regarded justice, as a man sincerely devoted 
 to the best interests of his country , and deserving of the highest 
 praises of all enlightened critics. No man has ever been more ex- 
 travagantly eulogized, or been the subject of more unsparing abuse 
 and more cordial detestation. Some are incapable of viewing him 
 in any other light than as a profound hypocrite and ambitious 
 despot, while others see in him nothing but the saint and unspotted 
 ruler. He had his defects ; for human nature, in all instances, is 
 weak ; but in spite of these, and of many and great inconsistences, 
 from which no sophistry can clear him, his great and varied 
 excellences will ever entitle him to the rank accorded to him by 
 such writers as Vaughan and Carlyle. 
 
 With the death of Cromwell virtually ended the republic. 
 " Puritanism without its king, is kingless, anarchic, falls into dislo- 
 cation, staggers, and plunges into even deeper anarchy." His 
 son Richard, according to his will, was proclaimed protector in his 
 stead. But his reign was short. Petitions poured in from every 
 quarter for the restoration of parliament. It was restored, and 
 also with it royalty itself. General Monk advanced with his army 
 from Scotland, and quartered in London. In May, 1660, Charles 
 II. was proclaimed king at the gates of Westminster Hall. The 
 experiment of a republic had been tried, and failed. Puritanism 
 veiled its face. It was no longer the spirit of the nation. A great 
 reaction commenced. Royalty, with new but disguised despotism, 
 resumed its sway. 
 
 References. — Carlyle's, Dr. Vaughan's, and D'Aubignfe's Life of 
 Cromwell. Neal's History of the Puritans. Macaulay's History of 
 England. Godwin's Commonwealth. The common histories of Eng- 
 land. Milton's prose writings may be profitably read in this connection, 
 and the various reviews and essays which have of late been written on 
 the character of Cromwell. 
 
192 THE RESTORATION. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE REIGN OF CHARLES II. 
 
 Few events in English history have ever been hailed with 
 greater popular enthusiasm than the restoration of Charles II. 
 On the 25th of May, 1660, he landed near Dover, with his two 
 brothers, the Dukes of York and Gloucester. On the 29th of May, 
 he made his triumphal entry into London. It was his birthday : 
 he was thirty years of age, and in the full maturity of manly 
 beauty, while his gracious manners and captivating speech made 
 him the favorite of the people, as well as of the old nobility. The 
 season was full of charms, and the spirits of all classes were 
 buoyant with hope. Every thing conspired to give a glow to the 
 popular enthusiasm. A long line of illustrious monarchs was 
 restored. The hateful fires of religious fanaticism were apparently 
 extinguished. An accomplished sovereign, disciplined in the school 
 of adversity, of brilliant talents, amiable temper, fascinating 
 manners, and singular experiences, had returned to the throne of 
 his ancestors, and had sworn to rule by the laws, to forget old 
 offences, and promote liberty of conscience. No longer should 
 there be a government of soldiers, nor the rule of a man hostile to 
 those pleasures and opinions which had ever been dear to the 
 English people. With the return of the exiled prince, should also 
 return joy, peace, and prosperity. For seventeen years, there 
 had been violent political and social animosities, war, tyranny, 
 social restraints, and religious fanaticism. But order and law 
 were now to be reestablished, and the reign of cant and hypocrisy 
 was now to end. Justice and mercy were to meet together in the 
 person of a king who was represented to have all the virtues and 
 none of the vices of his station and his times. So people reasoned 
 and felt, of all classes and conditions. And why should they not 
 rejoice in the restoration of such blessings ? The ways were 
 strewn with flowers, the bells sent forth a merry peal, the streets 
 were hung with tapestries ; while aldermen with their heavy 
 
CHAP. XIV.] GREAT PUBLIC REJOICINGS. 193 
 
 chains, nobles in their robes of pomp, ladies with their silks and 
 satins, and waving handkerchiefs, filling all the balconies and win- 
 dows ; musicians, dancers, and exulting crowds, — all welcomed 
 the return of Charles. Never was there so great a jubilee in 
 London ; and never did monarch receive such addresses of flat- 
 tery and loyalty. " Dread monarch," said the Earl of Manches- 
 ter, in the House of Lords, " I offer no flattering titles. You 
 are the desire of three kingdoms, the strength and stay of the 
 tribes of the people." " Most royal sovereign," said one of the 
 deputations, " the hearts of all are filled with veneration for you, 
 confidence in you, longings for you. All degrees, and ages, and 
 sexes, high, low, rich and poor, men, women, and children, join 
 in sending up to Heaven one prayer, ' Long live King Charles II. ; ' 
 so that the English air is not susceptible of any other sound ; 
 bells, bonfires, peals of ordnance, shouts, and acclamations of 
 the people bear no other moral ; nor can his majesty conceive 
 with what joy, what cheerfulness, what lettings out of the soul, 
 what expressions of transported minds, a stupendous concourse 
 of people attended the proclamation of their most potent, most 
 mighty, and most undoubted king." Such was the adulatory lan- 
 guage addressed by the English people to the son of the king they 
 had murdered, and to a man noted for every frivolity and vice that 
 could degrade a sovereign. What are we to think of that public 
 joy, and public sycophancy, after so many years of hard fighting 
 for civil and religious liberty ? For what were the battles of 
 Naseby and Worcester ? For what the Solemn League and Cove- 
 nant ? For what the trial and execution of Charles I. ? For what 
 the elevation of Cromwell ? Alas ! for what were all the experi- 
 ments and sufferings of twenty years, the breaking up of old 
 and mighty customs, and twenty years of blood, usurpation, and 
 change ? What were the benefits of the Revolution ? Or, had it 
 no benefits ? How happened it that a whole nation should simul- 
 taneously rise and expel their monarch from a throne which his 
 ancestors had enjoyed for six hundred years, and then, in so short 
 a time, have elevated to this old throne ^ which was supposed to 
 be subverted forever, the son of their insulted, humiliated, and 
 murdered king ? and this without bloodshed, with every demon- 
 stration of national rejoicings, and with every external mark of 
 17 
 
194 REACTION TO REVOLUTIONARY PRINCIPLES. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 repentance for their ^ast conduct. Charles, too, was restored with- 
 out any of those limitations by which the nation sought to curtail 
 the power of his father. The nation surrendered to him more 
 absolute power than the most ambitious kings, since the reign of 
 John, had ever claimed, — more than he ever dared to expect. 
 How shall we explain these things ? And what is the moral which 
 they teach ? 
 
 One fact is obvious, — that a great reaction had taken place in 
 the national mind as to revolutionary principles. It is evident that a 
 great disgust for the government of Cromwell had succeeded the 
 antipathy to the royal government of Charles. All classes as 
 ardently desired the restoration, as they had before favOred the 
 rebellion. Even the old parliamentarians hailed the return of 
 Charles, notwithstanding it was admitted that the protectorate was 
 a vigorous administration ; that law and order were enforced ; that 
 religious liberty was proclaimed ; that the rights of conscience 
 were respected ; that literature and science were encouraged ; that 
 the morals of the people were purified ; that the ordinances of 
 religion were observed ; that vice and folly were discouraged ; that 
 justice was ably administered ; that peace and plenty were en- 
 joyed ; that prosperity attended the English arms abroad ; and that 
 the nation was as much respected abroad as it was prosperous at 
 home. These things were admitted by the very people who 
 rejoiced in the restoration. And yet, in spite of all these substan- 
 tial blessings, the reign of Cromwell was odious. Why was this ? 
 
 It can only be explained on the supposition that there were 
 unendurable evils connected with the administration of Cromwell, 
 which more than balanced the benefits he conferred ; or, that 
 expectations were held out by Charles of national benefits greater 
 than those conferred by the republic ; or, that the nation had so 
 retrograded in elevation of sentiment as to be unable to appreciate 
 the excellences of Cromwell's administration. 
 
 There is much to support all of these suppositions. In regard 
 to the evils connected with the republic, it is certain that a large 
 standing army was supported, and was necessary to uphold the 
 government of the protector, in order to give to it efficiency and 
 character. This army was expensive, and the people felt the 
 burden. They always complain under taxation, whether necessary 
 
CHAP. XIV.] EXCELLENCES IN CHARLES'S GOVERNMENT. 195 
 
 or not. Taxes ever make any government unpopular, and made 
 the administration of Cromwell especially so. And the army 
 showed the existence of a military despotism, which, however im- 
 peratively called for, or rendered unavoidable by revolution, was 
 still a hateful fact. The English never have liked the principle 
 of a military despotism. And it was a bitter reflection to feel that 
 so much blood and treasure had been expended to get rid of the 
 arbitrary rule of the Stuarts, only to introduce a still more expen- 
 sive and arbitrary government, under the name of a republic. 
 Moreover, the eyes of the people were opened to the moral cor- 
 ruptions incident to the support of a large army, without which the 
 power of Cromwell would have been unsubstantial. He may 
 originally have desired to establish his power on a civil basis, 
 rather than a military one ; but his desires were not realized. The 
 parliaments which he assembled were unpractical and disorderly. 
 He was forced to rule without them. But the nation could not 
 forget this great insult to their liberties, and to those privileges 
 which had ever been dear to them. The preponderance of the 
 civil power has, for several centuries, characterized the govern- 
 ment ; and no blessings were sufficiently great to balance the evil, 
 in the eye of an Englishman, of the preponderance of a military 
 government, neither the excellence of Cromwell's life, nor the 
 glory and greatness to which he raised the nation. 
 
 Again, much was expected of Charles II., and there was much 
 in his character and early administration to produce content. His 
 manners were agreeable. He had no personal antipathies or 
 jealousies. He selected, at first, the wisest and best of all parties 
 to be his counsellors and ministers. He seemed to forget old 
 offences. He was fond of pleasure ; was good-natured and affa- 
 ble. He summoned a free parliament. His interests were made 
 to appear identical with those of the people. He promised to rule 
 by the laws. He did not openly infringe on the constitution. And 
 he restored, what has ever been so dear to the great body of the 
 nation, the Episcopal Church in all its beauty and grandeur, while 
 he did not recommence the persecution of Puritans until some time 
 had elapsed from his restoration. Above all, he disbanded the 
 army, which was always distasteful to the people, — odious, oner- 
 ous, and oppressive. The civil power again triumphed over that 
 
196 FAILURE OF THE PURITAN EXPERIMENT. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 4 
 
 of the military, and circumstances existed which rendered the sub- 
 version of liberty very difficult. Many adverse events transpired 
 during his unfortunate and disgraceful reign ; but these, in the 
 early part of it, had not, of course, been anticipated. 
 
 There is also force in the third supposition, that the nation 
 had retrograded in moral elevation. All writers speak of a strong 
 reaction to the religious fervor of the early revolutionists. The 
 moral influence of the army had proved destructive to the habits and 
 sentiments of the people. A strong love of pleasure and demoral- 
 izing amusements existed, when Charles was recalled. A general 
 laxity of morals was lamented by the wisest and best of the nation. 
 The religious convictions of enthusiasts survived their sympathies. 
 Hypocrisy and cant succeeded fervor and honesty. Infidelity 
 lurked in many a bosom in which devotional ardor had once warmly 
 burned. Distrust of all philanthropy and all human virtue was as 
 marked, as faith in the same previously had been. The ordi- 
 nances of religion became irksome, and it was remembered with 
 bitterness that the Puritans, in the days of their ascendency, had 
 cruelly proscribed the most favorite pleasures and time-honored 
 festivals of old England. But the love of them returned with re- 
 doubled vigor. May-poles, wrestling-matches, bear-baitings, puppet- 
 shows, bowls, horse-racing, betting, rope-dancing, romping under 
 the mistletoe on Christmas, eating boars 1 heads, attending the thea- 
 tres, health-drinking, — all these old-fashioned ways, in which the 
 English sought merriment, were restored. The evil was chiefly 
 in the excess to which these pleasures were carried ; and every 
 thing, which bore any resemblance to the Puritans, was ridiculed 
 and despised. The nation, as a nation, did not love Puritanism, or 
 any thing pertaining to it, after the deep religious excitement had 
 passed away. The people were ashamed of prayer-meetings, of 
 speaking through their noses, of wearing their hair straight, of 
 having their garments cut primly, of calling their children by the 
 name of Moses, Joshua, Jeremiah, Obadiah, &c. ; and, in short, 
 of all customs and opinions peculiar to the Extreme Puritans. So 
 general was the disgust of Puritanism, so eager were all to indulge 
 in the pleasures that had been forbidden under the reign of Crom- 
 well, so sick were they of the very name of republicanism, that 
 Puritanism may be said to have proved, in England, a signal 
 failure. 
 
CHAP. XIV.] REPEAL OF THE TRIENNIAL BILL. 197 
 
 Such were some of the reasons of popular acclamation on the 
 restoration of Charles II., and which we cannot consider entirely 
 without force. A state of mind existed in England as favorable 
 to the encroachments of royalty, as, twenty years before, it had 
 been unfavorable. 
 
 Charles was not a high-minded, or honest, or patriotic king ; and 
 therefore we might naturally expect the growth of absolutism dur- 
 ing his reign. The progress of absolutism is, indeed, one of its 
 features. This, for a time, demands our notice. 
 
 On the restoration of Charles II., his subjects made no particular 
 stipulations respecting their liberties, which were incautiously 
 intrusted to his hands. But, at first, he did not seem inclined to 
 grasp at greater powers than what the constitution allowed him. 
 He had the right to appoint the great officers of state, the privi- 
 lege of veto on legislative enactments, the control of the army and 
 navy, the regulation of all foreign intercourse, and the right of 
 making peace and war. But the constitution did not allow him to 
 rule without a parliament, or to raise taxes without its consent. 
 The parliament might grant or withhold supplies at pleasure, and 
 all money bills originated and were discussed in the House of 
 Commons alone. These were the great principles of the English 
 constitution, which Charles swore to maintain. 
 
 The first form in which the encroaching temper of the king 
 was manifested was, in causing the Triennial Bill to be repealed. 
 This was indeed done by the parliament, but through the royal 
 influence. This bill was not that a parliament should be assembled 
 every three years, but that the interval between one session and 
 another should not exceed that period. But this wise law, which 
 had passed by acclamation during the reign of Charles I., and for 
 which even Clarendon had voted, was regarded by Charles II. as 
 subversive of the liberty of his crown ; and a supple, degenerate, 
 and sycophantic parliament gratified his wishes. 
 
 About the same time was passed the Corporation Act, which 
 enjoined all magistrates, and persons of trust in corporations, to 
 swear that they believed it unlawful, under any pretence whatever, 
 to take arms against the king. The Presbyterians refused to take 
 this oath ; and they were therefore excluded from offices of dignity 
 and trust. The act bore hard upon all bodies of Dissenters and 
 17* 
 
198 SECRET ALLIANCE WITH LOUIS XIV. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Roman Catholics, tlje former of whom were most cruelly perse- 
 cuted in this reign. 
 
 The next most noticeable effort of Charles to extend his power, 
 independently of the law, was his secret alliance with Louis XIV. 
 This was not known to the nation, and even but to few of his min- 
 isters, and was the most disgraceful act of his reign. For the mis- 
 erable stipend of two hundred thousand pounds a year, he was 
 ready to compromise the interests of the kingdom, and make him- 
 self the slave of the most ambitious sovereign in Europe. He 
 became a pensioner of France, and yet did not feel his disgrace. 
 Clarendon, attached as he was to monarchy, and to the house of 
 Stuart, could not join him in his base intrigues ; and therefore 
 lost, as was to be expected, the royal favor. He had been the 
 companion and counsellor of Charles in the days of his exile ; he 
 had attempted to enkindle in his mind the desire of great deeds 
 and virtues ; he had faithfully served him as chancellor and 
 prime minister ; he was impartial and incorruptible ; he was as 
 much attached to Episcopacy, as he was to monarchy ; he had 
 even advised Charles to rule without a parliament ; and yet he was 
 disgraced because he would not comply with all the wishes of his 
 unscrupulous master. But Clarendon was, nevertheless, unpopu- 
 lar-with the nation. He had advised Charles to sell Dunkirk, the 
 proudest trophy of the Revolution, and had built for himself a 
 splendid palace, on the site of the present Clarendon Hotel, in 
 Albermarle Street, which the people called Dunkirk House. He 
 was proud, ostentatious, and dictatorial, and was bitterly hostile to 
 all democratic influences. He was too good for one party, and not 
 good enough for the other, and therefore fell to the ground ; but 
 he retired, if not with dignity, at least with safety. He retreated 
 to the Continent, and there wrote his celebrated history of the 
 Great Rebellion, a partial and bitter history, yet a valuable 
 record of the great events of the age of revolution which he had 
 witnessed and detested. 
 
 Charles received the bribe of two hundred thousand pounds from 
 the French king, with the hope of being made independent of his 
 parliament, and with the condition of assisting Louis XIV. in his 
 aggressive wars on the liberties of Europe, especially those of 
 Holland. He was, at heart, an absolutist, and rejoiced in the 
 
CHAP. XIV.] VENALITY AND SYCOPHANCY OF PARLIAMENT. 199 
 
 victories of the " Grand Monarch." But this supply was scarcely 
 sufficient even for his pleasures, much less to support the ordinary 
 pomp of a monarchy, and the civil and military powers of the state. 
 So he had to resort to other means. 
 
 It happened, fortunately for his encroachments, but unfortunate- 
 ly for the nation, that the English parliament, at that period, was 
 more corrupt, venal, base, and sycophantic than at any period 
 under the Tudor kings, or at any subsequent period under the 
 Hanoverian princes. The House of Commons made no indignant 
 resistance ; it sent up but few spirited remonstrances ; but tamely 
 acquiesced in the measures of Charles and his ministers. Its 
 members were bought and sold with unblushing facility, and even 
 were corrupted by the agents of the French king. One member 
 received six thousand pounds for his vote. Twenty-nine of the 
 members received from five hundred to twelve hundred pounds a 
 year. Charles I. attempted to rule by opposition to the parlia- 
 ment ; Charles II. by corrupting it. Hence it was nearly silent in 
 view of his arbitrary spirit, his repeated encroachments, and his 
 worthless public character. 
 
 Among his worst acts was his shutting up the Exchequer, where 
 the bankers and merchants had been in the habit of depositing 
 money on the security of the funds, receiving a large interest of 
 from eight to ten per cent. By closing the Exchequer, the bank- 
 ers, unable to draw out their money, stopped payment ; and a 
 universal panic was the consequence, during which many great 
 failures happened. By this base violation of the public faith, 
 Charles obtained one million three hundred thousand pounds. But 
 it undermined his popularity more than any of his acts, since he 
 touched the pockets of the people. The odium, however, fell 
 chiefly on his ministers, especially those who received the name 
 of the Cabal, from the fact that the initials of their names spelt 
 that odious term of reproach, not unmerited in their case. 
 
 These five ministers were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, 
 Ashley, and Lauderdale ; and they were the great instruments of 
 his tyranny. None of them had the talents or audacity of Straf- 
 ford, or the narrowness and bigotry of Laud ; but their counsels 
 were injurious to the nation. 
 
 Clifford and Arlington were tolerably respectable, but indifferent 
 
200 RESTRICTIONS ON THE PRESS. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 to the glory and shame of their country; while Buckingham, Ash- 
 ley, and Lauderdale were profligate, unprincipled, and dishonest to 
 a great degree. They aided Charles to corrupt the parliament 
 and deceive the nation. They removed all restraints on his will, 
 and pandered to his depraved tastes. It was by their suggestion 
 that the king shut up the Exchequer. They also favored restric- 
 tions on the press. 
 
 These restrictions were another abomination in the reign of 
 Charles, but one ever peculiar to a despotic government. No 
 book could be printed out of London, York, or the Universities. 
 But these were not made wholly with a view of shackling the 
 mind, but to prevent those libels and lampoons which made the 
 government ridiculous in the eyes of the people. 
 
 Nothing caused more popular indignation, during this reign, than 
 the Forfeiture of the Corporation of the City of London. The 
 power of the democracy resided, at this time, with the corpora- 
 tions, and as long as they were actuated by the spirit of liberty, 
 there was no prospect of obtaining a parliament entirely subser- 
 vient to the king. It was determined to take away their charters ; 
 and the infamous Judge Jeffreys was found a most subservient tool 
 of royalty in undermining the liberties of the country. The cor- 
 poration of London, however, received back its charter, after 
 having yielded to the king the right of conferring the appointments 
 of mayor, recorder, and sheriffs. 
 
 Among other infringements on the constitution was the fining 
 of jurors when they refused to act according to the direction of 
 the judges. Juries were constantly intimidated, and their privi- 
 leges were abridged. A new parliament, moreover, was not con- 
 voked after three years had elapsed from the dissolution of the 
 old one, which infringement was the more reprehensible, since the 
 king had nothing to fear from the new House of Commons, the 
 members of which vied with each other in a base compliancy with 
 the royal will. 
 
 But their sycophancy was nothing compared with what the 
 bishops and clergy of the Established Church generally evinced. 
 Absolute non-resistance was inculcated from the pulpits, and the 
 doctrine ridiculed that power emanated from the people. The 
 divine rights of kings, and the divine ordination of absolute power, 
 
CHAP. XIV.] HABEAS CORPUS ACT. 201 
 
 were the themes of divines, while Oxford proclaimed doctrines 
 worthy of Mariana and the Jesuits. 
 
 Thus various influences contributed to make Charles II. absolute in 
 England — the Courts of Justice, the Parliaments, the Universities, 
 and the Church of England. Had he been as ambitious as he was 
 fond of pleasure, as capable of ruling as he was capable of telling 
 stories at the dinner table, he would, like Louis XIV., have reared 
 an absolute throne in England. But he was too easy, too careless, 
 too fond of pleasure to concentrate his thoughts on devising means 
 to enslave his subjects. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that all his subjects were in- 
 different to his encroachments, in spite of the great reaction which 
 had succeeded to liberal sentiments. Before he died, the spirit of 
 resistance was beginning to be seen, and some checks to royal 
 power were imposed by parliament itself. The Habeas Corpus 
 Act, the most important since the declaration of Magna Charta, 
 was passed, and through the influence of one of his former minis- 
 ters, Ashley, now become Earl of Shaftesbury, who took the 
 popular side, after having served all sides, but always with a 
 view of advancing his own interests, a man of great versatility of 
 genius, of great sagacity, and of varied learning. Had Charles 
 continued much longer on the throne, it cannot be doubted that the 
 nation would have been finally aroused to resist his spirit of en- 
 croachment, for the principles of liberty had not been proclaimed 
 in vain. 
 
 Charles II. was a tyrant, and one of the worst kings that ever 
 sat on the English throne. His leading defect was want of ear- 
 nestness of character, which made him indifferent to the welfare of 
 his country. England, during his reign, was reduced to compara- 
 tive insignificance in the eyes of foreigners, and was neither 
 feared nor respected. Her king was neither a powerful friend 
 nor an implacable enemy, and left the Continental Powers to pur- 
 sue their own ends unmolested and unrebuked. Most of the ad- 
 ministrations of the English kings are interlinked with the whole 
 system of European politics. But the reign of Charles is chiefly 
 interesting in' relation to the domestic history of England. This 
 history is chiefly the cabals of ministers, the intrigues of the 
 court, the pleasures and follies of the king, the attacks he made 
 
202 TITUS OATES. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 on the constitution*without any direct warfare with his parliament, 
 and the system of religious persecution, which was most intolerant. 
 
 The king was at heart a Catholic ; and yet the persecution of 
 the Catholics is one of the most signal events of the times. We 
 can scarcely conceive, in this age, of the spirit of distrust and fear 
 which pervaded the national mind in reference to the Catholics. 
 Every calumny was believed. Every trifling offence was ex- 
 aggerated, and by nearly all classes in the community, by the 
 Episcopalians, as well as by the Presbyterians and the Independents. 
 
 The most memorable of all the delusions and slanders of the 
 times was produced by the perjuries of an unprincipled wretch 
 called Titus Oates, who took advantage of the general infatuation 
 to advance his individual interests. Like an artful politician, he 
 had only to appeal to a dominant passion or prejudice, and he was 
 sure of making his fortune. Like a cunning, popular orator, he 
 had only to inflame the passions of the people, and he would pass 
 as a genius and a prophet. Few are so abstractedly and coldly 
 intellectual as not to be mainly governed by their tastes or passions. 
 Even men of strong intellect have frequently strong prejudices ; 
 and one has only to make himself master of these, in order to lead 
 those who are infinitely their superiors. There is no proof that all 
 who persecuted the Catholics in Charles's time were either weak 
 or ignorant. But there is evidence of unbounded animosity, a 
 traditional hatred, not much diminished since the Gunpowder Plot 
 of Guy Fawkes. The whole nation was ready to believe any 
 thing against the Catholics, and especially against their church, 
 which was supposed to be persecuting and diabolical in all its prin- 
 ciples and in all its practice. In this state of the popular mind, 
 Oates made his hideous revelations. 
 
 He was a broken-down clergyman of the Established Church, 
 and had lost caste for disgraceful irregularities. But he professed 
 to hate the Catholics, and such a virtue secured him friends. 
 Among these was the Rev. Dr. Tonge, a man veiy weak, very 
 credulous, and full of fears respecting the intrigues of the Catholics, 
 but honest in his fears. Oates went to this clergyman, and a plan 
 was concerted between them, by which Oates should' get a knowl- 
 edge of the supposed intrigues of the Church of Rome. He pro- 
 fessed himself a Catholic, went to the Continent, and entered a 
 
CHAP. XIV.] OATES's REVELATIONS. 203 
 
 Catholic seminary, but was soon discharged for his scandalous irregu- 
 larities. But he had been a Catholic long enough for his purposes. 
 He returned to London, and revealed his pretended discoveries, 
 among which he declared that the Jesuits had undertaken to restore 
 the Catholic religion in England by force ; that they were resolved 
 to take the king's life, and had actually offered a bribe of fifteen 
 thousand pounds to the queen's physician ; that they had planned to 
 burn London, and to set fire to all the shipping in the Thames ; that 
 they were plotting to make a general massacre of the Protestants ; 
 that a French army was about to invade England ; and that all 
 the horrors of St. Bartholomew were to be again acted over! 
 Ridiculous as were these assertions, they were believed, and without 
 a particle of evidence ; so great was the national infatuation. The 
 king and the Duke of York both pronounced the whole matter a 
 forgery, and laughed at the credulity of the people, but had not suffi- 
 cient generosity to prevent the triumph of the libellers. But Oates's 
 testimony was not enough to convict any one, the law requiring 
 two witnesses. But, in such a corrupt age, false witnesses could 
 easily be procured. An infamous wretch, by the name of Bed- 
 loe, was bribed, a man who had been imprisoned in Newgate for 
 swindling. Others equally unscrupulous were soon added to 
 the list of informers, and no calumnies, however gross and absurd, 
 prevented the people from believing them. 
 
 It happened that a man, by the name of Coleman, was suspected 
 of intrigues. His papers were searched, and some passages in 
 them, unfortunately, seemed to confirm the statements of Gates. 
 To impartial eyes, these papers simply indicated a desire and a 
 hope that the Catholic religion would be reestablished, in view of 
 the predilections of Charles and James, and the general posture of 
 affairs, just as some enthusiastic Jesuit missionary in the valley of 
 the Mississippi may be supposed to write to his superior that Amer- 
 ica is on the eve of conversion to Catholicism. 
 
 But the general ferment was still more increased by the disap- 
 pearance of an eminent justice of the peace, who had taken the 
 depositions of Oates against Coleman. Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey 
 was found dead, and with every mark of violence, in a field near 
 London, and was probably murdered by some fanatical persons in 
 the communion of the Church of Rome. But if so, the murder 
 
204 PENAL LAWS AGAINST CATHOLICS. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 was a great blunder. It was worse than a crime. The whole 
 community were mad with rage and fear. The old penal laws 
 were strictly enforced against the Catholics. The jails were filled 
 with victims. London wore the appearance of a besieged city. 
 The houses of the Catholics were every where searched, and two 
 thousand of them imprisoned. Posts were planted in the streets, 
 that chains might be thrown across them on the first alarm. The 
 military, the train bands, and the volunteers were called out. 
 Forty thousand men were kept under guard during the night. 
 Numerous patrols paraded the streets. The gates of the Palace 
 were closed, and the guards of the city were doubled, Oates was 
 pronounced to be the savior of his country, lodged at Whitehall, 
 and pensioned with twelve hundred pounds a year. 
 
 Then flowed more innocent blood than had been shed for a long 
 period. Catholics who were noble, and Catholics who were obscure, 
 were alike judicially murdered ; and the courts of justice, instead 
 of being places of refuge, were disgraced by the foulest abomi- 
 nations. Every day new witnesses were produced of crimes 
 which never happened, and new victims were offered up to appease 
 the wrath of a prejudiced people. Among these victims of popu- 
 lar frenzy was the Earl of Stafford, a venerable and venerated 
 nobleman of sixty-nine years of age, against whom sufficient evi- 
 dence was not found to convict him ; and whose only crime was in 
 being at the head of the Catholic party. Yet he was found guilty 
 by the House of Peers, fifty-five out of eighty-six having voted 
 for his execution. He died on the scaffold, but with the greatest 
 serenity, forgiving his persecutors, and compassionating their delu- 
 sions. A future generation, during the reign of George IV., 
 however, reversed his attainder, and did justice to his memory, 
 and restored his descendants to their rank and fortune. 
 
 If no other illustrious victims suffered, persecution was never- 
 theless directed into other channels. Parliament passed an act 
 that no person should sit in either House, unless he had previously 
 taken the oath of allegiance and supremacy, and subscribed to the 
 declaration that the worship of the Church of Rome was idolatrous. 
 Catholics were disabled from prosecuting a suit in any court of law, 
 from receiving any legacy, and from acting as executors or ad- 
 ministrators of estates. This horrid bill, which outlawed the whole 
 
CHAP. XIV.] PERSECUTION OF DISSENTERS. 205 
 
 Catholic population, had repeatedly miscarried, but, under influ- 
 ence of the panic which Oates and his confederates created, was 
 now triumphantly passed. Charles himself gave his royal assent, 
 because he was afraid to stem the torrent of popular infatuation. 
 And the English nation permitted one hundred and thirty years to 
 elapse before the civil disabilities of the Catholics were removed, 
 and then only by the most strenuous exertions of such a statesman 
 as Sir Robert Peel. 
 
 It is some satisfaction to know that justice at last overtook the 
 chief authors of this diabolical infatuation. During the reign of 
 James II., Oates and others were punished as they deserved. 
 Oates's credit gradually passed away. He was fined, imprisoned, 
 and whipped at the pillory until life itself had nearly fled. He 
 died unlamented and detested, leaving behind him, to all posterity, 
 an infamous notoriety. 
 
 But the sufferings of the Catholics, during this reign, were more 
 than exceeded by the sufferings of Dissenters, who were cruelly 
 persecuted. All the various sects of the Protestants were odious and 
 ridiculous in the eyes of the king. They were regarded as hostile 
 in their sympathies, and treasonable in their designs. They were 
 fined, imprisoned, mutilated, and whipped. An Act of Uniformity 
 was passed, which restored the old penal laws of Elizabeth, and 
 which subjected all to their penalty who did not use the Book of 
 Common Prayer, and adhere strictly to the ritual of the Church of 
 England. The oligarchical power of the bishops was restored, and 
 two thousand ministers were driven from their livings, and com- 
 pelled to seek a precarious support. Many other acts of flagrant 
 injustice were passed by a subservient parliament, and cruelly car- 
 ried into execution by unfeeling judges. But the religious perse- 
 cution of dissenters was not consummated until the reign of James, 
 under whose favor or direction the inhuman Jeffreys inflicted the 
 most atrocious crimes which have ever been committed under the 
 sanction of the law. But these will be more appropriately noticed 
 under the reign of James II. Charles was not so cruel in his tem- 
 per, or bigoted in his sentiments, as his brother James. He was 
 rather a Gallio than a persecutor. He would permit any thing, 
 rather than suffer himself to be interrupted in his pleasures. He 
 was governed by his favorites and his women. He had not suffi- 
 18 
 
206 EXECUTION OF RUSSELL AND SYDNEY. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 cient moral elevation to be earnest in any thing, even to be a 
 bigot in religion. He vacillated between the infidelity of Hobbes 
 and the superstitions of Rome. He lived a scoffer, and died a 
 Catholic. His temper was easy, but so easy as not to prevent the 
 persecution and ruin of his best supporters, when they had become 
 odious to the nation. If he was incapable of enmity, he was also 
 incapable of friendship. If he hated ho one with long-continued 
 malignity, it was only because it was too much trouble to hate 
 perseveringly. But he loved with no more constancy than he 
 hated. He had no patriotism, and no appreciation of moral excel- 
 lence. He would rather see half of the merchants of London 
 ruined, and half of the Dissenters immured in gloomy prisons, than 
 lose two hours of inglorious dalliance with one of his numerous 
 concubines. A more contemptible prince never sat on the Eng- 
 lish throne, or one whose whole reign was disgraced by a more 
 constant succession of political blunders and social crimes. And 
 yet he never fully lost his popularity, nor was his reign felt to be 
 as burdensome as was that of the protector, Cromwell, thus show- 
 ing how little the moral excellence of rulers is ordinarily appre- 
 ciated or valued by a wilful or blinded generation. We love not 
 the rebukers of our sins, or the opposers of our pleasures. We 
 love those who prophesy smooth things, and " cry peace, when 
 there is no peace." Such is man in his weakness and his degen- 
 eracy ; and only an omnipotent power can change this ordinary 
 temper of the devotees to pleasure and inglorious gains. 
 
 Among the saddest events during the reign of Charles, were the 
 executions of Lord Russell and Algernon Sydney. They were 
 concerned, with a few other great men, in a conspiracy, which had 
 for its object the restoration of greater liberty. They contem- 
 plated an insurrection, known by the name of the Rye House 
 Plot; but it was discovered, and Russell and Sydney became mar- 
 tyrs. The former was the son of the Earl of Bedford, and the 
 latter was the brother of the Earl of Leicester. Russell was a 
 devoted Churchman, of pure morals, and greatly beloved by the 
 people. Sydney was a strenuous republican, and was opposed to 
 any particular form of church government. He thought that 
 religion should be like a divine philosophy in the mind, and had 
 great veneration for the doctrines of Plato. Nothing could save 
 
CHAP. XIV.] MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF ENGLAND. 207 
 
 these illustrious men. The Duke of York and Jeffreys declared 
 
 r^i that, if they were not executed, there would be no safety for them- 
 
 M selves. They both suffered with great intrepidity, and the friends 
 
 . of, liberty have ever since cherished their memoiy with peculiar 
 
 fondness. 
 
 Mr. Macaulay, in his recent History, has presented the manners 
 and customs of England during the disgraceful reign of Charles II. 
 It is impossible, in this brief survey, to allude to all those customs ; 
 but we direct particularly the attention of readers to them, as 
 described in his third chapter, from which it would appear, that a 
 most manifest and most glorious progress has been made since that 
 period in all the arts of civilization, both useful and ornamental. 
 In those times, travelling was difficult and slow, from the badness 
 of the roads and the imperfections of the carriages. Highway- 
 men were secreted along the thoroughfares, and, in mounted 
 troops, defied the law, and distressed the whole travelling com- 
 munity. The transmission of letters by post was tardy and unfre- 
 ; quent, and the scandal of coffee-houses supplied the greatest want 
 and the greatest luxury of modern times, the newspaper. There 
 j was great scarcity of books in the country places, and the only 
 press in England north of the Trent seems to have been at York. 
 4to Literature was but feebly cultivated by country squires or country 
 parsons, and female education was disgracefully neglected. Few 
 rich men had libraries as large or valuable as are now common to 
 shopkeepers and mechanics ; while the literary stores of a lady 
 of the manor were confined chiefly to the prayer-book and the 
 receipt-book. And those works which were produced or read were 
 disgraced by licentious ribaldry, which had succeeded religious 
 austerity. The drama was the only depaiiment of literature which 
 compensated authors, and this was scandalous in the extreme. 
 We cannot turn over the pages of one of the popular dramatists 
 of the age without being shocked by the most culpable indecency. 
 Even Dryden was no exception to the rule ; and his poetry, some 
 of which is the most beautiful in the language, can hardly be put 
 into the hands of the young without danger of corrupting them. 
 Poets and all literary men lived by the bounty of the rich and 
 great, and prospered only as they pandered to depraved passions. 
 Many, of great intellectual excellence, died from want and mortifi- 
 
208 MILTON DRYDEN. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 cation ; so that tha poverty and distress of literary men became 
 proverbial, and all worldly-wise people shunned contact with them 
 as expensive and degrading. They were hunted from cocklofts to 
 cellars by the minions of the law, and the foulest jails were often 
 their only resting-place. The restoration of Charles proved un- 
 fortunate to one great and immortal genius, whom no temptations 
 could assail, and no rewards could bribe. He " possessed his soul 
 in patience," and " soared above the Aonian mount," amid general 
 levity and profligacy. Had he written for a pure, classic, and 
 learned age, he could not have written with greater moral beauty. 
 But he lived when no moral excellence was appreciated, and his 
 claims on the gratitude of the world are beyond all estimation, 
 when we remember that he wrote with the full consciousness, like 
 the great Bacon, that his works would only be valued or read by 
 future generations. Milton was, indeed, unmolested ; but he was 
 sadly neglected in his blindness and in his greatness. But, like all 
 the great teachers of the world, he was sustained by something 
 higher than earthly applause, and labored, like an immortal artist, 
 from the love which his labor excited, — labored to realize the 
 work of art which his imagination had conceived, as well as to 
 propagate ideas and sentiments which should tend to elevate man- 
 kind. Dryden was his contemporary, but obtained a greater 
 homage, not because he was more worthy, but because he adapted 
 his genius to the taste of a frivolous and corrupt people. He after- 
 wards wrote more unexceptionably, composed lyrics instead of 
 fai'ces, and satires instead of plays. In his latter days, he could 
 afford to write in a purer style ; and, as he became independent, 
 he reared the superstructure of his glorious fame. But Dryden 
 spent the best parts of his life as a panderer to the vices of 
 the town, and was an idol chiefly, in Wills's Coffee House, of 
 lampooners, and idlers, and scandal-mongers. Nor were there 
 many people, in the church or in the. state, sufficiently influential 
 and noble to stem the torrent. The city clergy were the most 
 respectable, and the pulpits of London were occupied with twelve 
 men who afterwards became bishops, and who are among the 
 great ornaments of the sacred literature of their country. Sher- 
 lock, Tillotson, Wake, Collier, Burnet, Stillingfleet, Patrick, Fowl- 
 er, Sharp, Tennison, and Beveridge made the Established Church 
 
CHAP. XIV.] CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 209 
 
 respected in the town ; but the countiy clergy, as a whole, were 
 ignorant and depressed. Not one living in fifty enabled the 
 incumbent to bring up a family comfortably or respectably. The 
 clergyman was disdained even by the county attorney, was hardly 
 tolerated at the table of his patron, and could scarcely marry be- 
 yond the rank of a cook or housekeeper. And his poverty and 
 bondage continued so long that, in the times of Swift, the parson 
 was a byword and a jest among the various servants in the house- 
 holds of the great. Still there were eminent, clergymen amid 
 the general depression of their order, both in and out of the Estab- 
 lished Church. Besides the London preachers were many con- 
 nected with the Universities and Cathedrals ; and there were some 
 distinguished Dissenters, among whom Baxter, Howe, and Alleine, 
 if there were no others, would alone have made the name of Puri- 
 tan respectable. 
 
 The saddest fact, in connection with the internal history of 
 England, at this time, was the condition of the people. They had 
 small wages, and many privations. They had no social rank, and 
 were disgraced by many vices. They were ignorant and brutal. 
 The wages of laborers only averaged four shillings a week, while 
 those of mechanics were not equal to what some ordinarily earn, 
 in this countiy and in these times, in a single day. Both peasants 
 and artisans were not only ill paid, but ill used, and they died, 
 miserably and prematurely, from famine and disease. Nor did 
 sympathy exist for the misfortunes of the poor. There were no insti- 
 tutions of public philanthropy. Jails were unvisited by the minis- 
 ters of mercy, and the abodes of poverty were left by a careless 
 generation to be dens of infamy and crime. Such was England 
 two hundred years ago ; and there is no delusion more unwarranted 
 by sober facts than that which supposes that those former times 
 were better than our own, in any thing which abridges the labors or 
 alleviates the miseries of mankind. " It is now the fashion to place 
 the golden age of England in times when noblemen were destitute 
 of comforts the want of which would be intolerable to a modern 
 footman ; when farmers and shopkeepers breakfasted on loaves the 
 veiy sight of which would raise a riot in a modern workhouse ; 
 when men died faster in the purest countiy air than they now die 
 in the most pestilential lanes of our towns ; and when men died 
 18* 
 
210 CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. [CHAP. XIV. 
 
 faster in the lanes 4>f our towns than they now die on the coast of 
 Guinea. But we too shall, in our turn, be outstripped, and, in our 
 turn, envied. There is constant improvement, as there also is 
 constant discontent; and future generations may talk of the reign 
 of Queen Victoria as a time when England was truly merry Eng- 
 land, when all classes were bound together by brotherly sympa- 
 thy, when the rich did not grind the faces of the poor, and when 
 the poor did not envy the splendor of the rich." 
 
 References. — Of all the works which' have yet appeared, respecting 
 this interesting epoch, the new History of Macaulay is the most brilliant 
 and instructive. Indeed, the student scarcely needs any other history, in 
 spite of Macaulay's Whig doctrines. He may sacrifice something to effect ; 
 and he may give ns pictures, instead of philosophy ; but, nevertheless, his 
 book has transcendent merit, and will be read, by all classes, so long as 
 English history is prized. Mackintosh's fragment, on the same period, is 
 more philosophical, and possesses very great merits. Lingard's History is 
 very valuable on this reign, and should be consulted. Hume, also, will 
 never cease to please. Burnet is a prejudiced historian, but his work is 
 an authority. The lives of Milton, Dryden, and Clarendon should also be 
 read in this connection. Hallam has but treated the constitutional history 
 of these times. See also Temple's Works ; the Life of William Lord 
 Russell ; Rapin's History. Pepys, Dalrymple, Rymeri Feeder a, the Com- 
 mons' Journal, and the Howard State Trials are not easily accessible, 
 and not necessary, except to the historian. 
 
CHAP. XV.] ACCESSION OF JAMES II. 211 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 REIGN OF JAMES II. 
 
 Charles II. died on the 6th of February, 1685, and his broth- 
 er, the Duke of York, ascended his throne, without opposition, under 
 the title of James II. As is usual with princes, on their accession, 
 .he made many promises of ruling by the laws, and of defending 
 the liberties of the nation. And he commenced his administration 
 under good auspices. The country was at peace, he was not 
 unpopular, and all classes and parties readily acquiesced in his 
 government. 
 
 He retained all the great officers who had served under his 
 brother that he could trust ; and Rochester became prime minister, 
 Sunderland kept possession of the Seals, and Godolphin was made 
 lord chamberlain. He did not dismiss Halifax, Ormond, or Guild- 
 ford, although he disliked and distrusted them, but abridged their 
 powers, and mortified them by neglect. 
 
 The Commons voted him one million two hundred thousand 
 pounds, and the Scottish parliament added twenty-five thousand 
 pounds more, and the Customs for life. But this sum he did not 
 deem sufficient for his wants, and therefore, like his brother, ap- 
 plied for aid to Louis XIV., and consented to become his pensioner 
 and vassal, and for the paltry sum of two hundred thousand 
 pounds. James received the money with tears of gratitude, hoping 
 by this infamous pension to rule the nation without a parliament. 
 It was not, of course, known to the nation, or even to his ministers, 
 generally. 
 
 He was scarcely crowned before England was invaded by the 
 Duke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II., and Scotland by the 
 Duke of Argyle, with a view of ejecting James from the throne. 
 
 Both these noblemen were exiles in Holland, and both were 
 justly obnoxious to the government for their treasonable intentions 
 and acts. Argyle was loath to engage in an enterprise so desperate 
 as the conquest of England ; but he was an enthusiast, was at the 
 
212 MONMOUTH LANDS IN ENGLAND. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 head of the most powerful of the Scottish clans, the Campbells, 
 and he hoped for a general rising throughout Scotland, to put 
 down what was regarded as idolatry, and to strike a blow for 
 liberty and the Kirk. 
 
 Having concerted his measures with Monmouth, he set sail from 
 Holland, the 2d of May, 1685, in spite of all the efforts of the 
 English minister, and landed at Kirkwald, one of the Orkney 
 Islands. .But his objects were well known, and the whole militia 
 of the land were put under arms to resist him. He, however, 
 collected a force of two thousand five hundred Highlanders, and 
 marched towards Glasgow; but he was miserably betrayed and 
 deserted. His forces were dispersed, and he himself was seized 
 while attempting to escape in disguise, brought to Edinburgh, 
 and beheaded. His followers were treated with great harshness, 
 but the rebellion was completely suppressed. 
 
 Monmouth had agreed to sail in six days from the departure 
 of Argyle ; but he lingered at Brussels, loath to part from a beau- 
 tiful mistress, the Lady Henrietta Wentworth. It was a month 
 before he set sail from the Texel, with about eighty officers and 
 one hundred and fifty followers — a small force to overturn the 
 throne. But he relied on his popularity with the people, and on 
 a false and exaggerated account of the unpopularity of James. 
 He landed at Lyme, in Dorsetshire, about the middle of June, and 
 forthwith issued a flaming proclamation, inviting all to join his 
 standard, as a deliverer from the cruel despotism of a Catholic 
 prince, whom he accused of every crime — of the burning of 
 London, of the Popish Plot, of the condemnation of Russell and 
 Sydney, of poisoning the late king, and of infringements on the 
 constitution. In this declaration, falsehood was mingled with truth, 
 but well adapted to inflame the passions of the people. He was 
 supported by many who firmly believed that his mother, Lucy 
 Walters, was the lawful wife of Charles II. He, of course, 
 claimed the English throne, but professed to waive his rights until 
 they should be settled by a parliament. The adventurer grossly 
 misunderstood the temper of the people, and the extent to which 
 his claims were recognized. He was unprovided with money, with 
 generals, and with troops. He collected a few regiments from the 
 common people, and advanced to Somersetshire. At Taunton his 
 
CHAP. XV.] BATTLE OF SEDGEMOOR. 213 
 
 reception was flattering. All classes welcomed him as a deliverer 
 from Heaven, and the poor rent the air with acclamations and 
 shouts. His path was strewed with flowers, and the windows were 
 crowded with ladies, who waived their handkerchiefs, and even 
 waited upon him with a large deputation. Twenty-six lovely 
 maidens presented the handsome son of Charles II. with standards 
 and a Bible, which he kissed, and promised to defend. 
 
 But all this enthusiasm was soon to end. The Duke of 
 Albermarle — the old General Monk, who restored Charles II. — 
 advanced against him with the militia of the country, and Mon- 
 mouth was supported only by the vulgar, the weak, and the 
 credulous-. Not a single nobleman joined his standard, and but 
 few of the gentry. He made innumerable blunders. He lost 
 time by vain attempts to drill the peasants and farmers who 
 followed his fortunes. He slowly advanced to the west of 
 England, where he hoped to be joined by the body of the people. 
 But all men of station and influence stood aloof. Discouraged 
 and dismayed, he reached Wells, and pushed forward to capture 
 Bristol, then the second city in the kingdom. He was again 
 disappointed. He was forced, from unexpected calamities, to 
 abandon the enterprise. He then turned his eye to Wilts ; but 
 when he arrived at the borders of the county, he found that none 
 of the bodies on which he had calculated had made their appear- 
 ance. At Phillips Norton was a slight skirmish, which ended 
 favorably to Monmouth, in which the young Duke of Grafton, 
 natural son of Charles II., distinguished himself against his half 
 brother ; but Monmouth was discouraged, and fell back to Bridge- 
 water. Meanwhile the royal army approached, and encamped at 
 Sedgemoor. Here was fought a decisive battle, which was fatal 
 to the rebels, "the last deserving the name of battle, that has 
 been fought on English ground." Monmouth, when all was 
 lost, fled from the field, and hastened to the British Channel, 
 hoping to gain the Continent. He was found near the New 
 Forest, hidden in a ditch, exhausted by hunger and fatigue. 
 He was sent, under a strong guard, to Kingwood ; and all that was 
 left him was, to prepare to meet the death of a rebel. But he 
 clung to life, so justly forfeited, with singular tenacity. He 
 abjectly and meanly sued for pardon from that inexorable tyrant, 
 
214 DEATH OF MONMOUTH. [CHAT. XV. 
 
 who never forgot or forgave the slightest resistance from a friend, 
 when even that resistance was lawful, much less rebellion from a 
 man he both hated and despised. He was transferred to London, 
 lodged in the Tower, and executed in a bungling manner by 
 "Jack Ketch" — the name given for several centuries to the pub- 
 lic executioner. He was buried under St. Peter's Chapel, in the 
 Tower, where reposed the headless bodies of so many noted saints 
 and political martyrs — the great Somerset, and the still greater 
 Northumberland, the two Earls of Essex, and the fourth Duke of 
 Norfolk, and other great men who figured in the reigns of the 
 Plantagenets and the Tudors. 
 
 Monmouth's rebellion was completely suppressed, and a most 
 signal vengeance was inflicted on all who were concerned in it. 
 No mercy was shown, on the part of government, to any party 
 or person. 
 
 Of the agents of James in punishing all concerned in the 
 rebellion, there were two, preeminently, whose names are con- 
 signed to an infamous immortality. The records of English 
 history contain no two names so loathsome and hateful as Colonel 
 Kirke and Judge Jeffreys. 
 
 The former was left, by Feversham, in command of the royal 
 forces at Bridgewater, after the battle of Sedgemoor. He had 
 already gained an unenviable notoriety, as governor of Tangier, 
 where he displayed the worst vices of a tyrant and a sensualist ; 
 and his regiment had imitated him in his disgraceful brutality. But 
 this leader and these troops were now let loose on the people of 
 Somersetshire. One hundred captives were put to death during 
 the week which succeeded the battle. His irregular butcheries, 
 however, were not according to the taste of the king. A more 
 systematic slaughter, under the sanctions of the law, was devised, 
 and Jeffreys was sent into the Western Circuit, to try the numer- 
 ous persons who were immured in the jails of the western counties. 
 
 Sir George Jeffreys, Chief Justice of the Court of the King's 
 Bench, was not deficient in talent, but was constitutionally the 
 victim of violent passions. He first attracted notice as an insolent 
 barrister at the Old Bailey Court, who had a rare tact in cross- 
 examining criminals and browbeating witnesses. According to 
 Macaulay, " impudence and ferocity sat upon his brow, while all 
 
CHAP. XV.] BRUTALITY OF JEFFREYS. 215 
 
 tenderness for the feelings of others, all self-respect, all sense of 
 the becoming, were obliterated from his mind. He acquired a 
 boundless command of the rhetoric in which the vulgar express 
 hatred and contempt. The profusion of his maledictions could 
 hardly be rivalled in the Fish Market or Bear Garden. His yell 
 of fury sounded, as one who often heard it said, like the thunder 
 of the judgment day. He early became common Serjeant, and 
 then recorder of London. As soon as he obtained all the city 
 could give, he made haste to sell his forehead of brass and his 
 tongue of venom to the court." He was just the man whom Charles 
 II. wanted as a tool. He was made chief justice of the highest 
 court of criminal law in the realm, and discharged its duties en- 
 tirely to the satisfaction of a king resolved on the subjection of the 
 English nation. His violence, at all times, was frightful ; but when 
 he was drunk, it was terrific : and he was generally intoxicated. 
 His first exploit was the judicial murder of Algernon Sydney. 
 On the death of Charles, he obtained from James a peerage, and 
 a seat in the Cabinet, a signal mark of royal approbation. In 
 prospect of yet greater honors, he was ready to do whatever James 
 required. James wished the most summary vengeance inflicted 
 on the rebels, and Jeffreys, with his tiger ferocity, was ready to 
 execute his will. 
 
 Nothing is more memorable than those " bloody assizes " which 
 he held in those counties through which Monmouth had passed. 
 Nothing is remembered with more execration. Nothing ever 
 equalled the brutal cruelty of the judge. His fury seemed to be 
 directed with peculiar violence upon the Dissenters. " Show me," 
 said he, "a Presbyterian, and I will show thee a lying knave. 
 Presbyterianism has all manner of villany in it. There is not one 
 of those lying, snivelling, canting Presbyterians, but, one way or 
 another, has had a hand in the rebellion." He sentenced nearly 
 all who were accused, to be hanged or burned ; and the excess of 
 his barbarities called forth pity and indignation even from devoted 
 loyalists. He boasted that he had hanged more traitors than all 
 his predecessors together since the Conquest. On a single 
 circuit, he hanged three hundred and fifty ; some of these were 
 people of great worth, and many of them were innocent ; while 
 many whom he spared from an ignominious death, were sentenced 
 
216 PERSECUTION OF THE DISSENTERS. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 to the most cruel punishments — to the lash of the pillory, to im- 
 prisonment in the foulest jails, to mutilation, to banishment, and to 
 heavy fines. 
 
 King James watched the conduct of the inhuman Jeffreys 
 with delight, and rewarded him with the Great Seal. The Old 
 Bailey lawyer had now climbed to the greatest height to which a 
 subject could aspire. He was Lord Chancellor of England — the 
 confidential friend and agent of the king, and his unscrupulous 
 instrument in imposing the yoke of bondage on an insulted nation. 
 
 At this period, the condition of the Puritans was deplorable. 
 At no previous time was persecution more inveterate, not even 
 under the administration of Laud and Strafford. The persecution 
 commenced soon after the restoration of Charles II., and increased 
 in malignity until the elevation of Jeffreys to the chancellorship. 
 The sufferings of no class of sectaries bore any proportion to theirs. 
 They found it difficult to meet together for prayer or exhortation, 
 even in the smallest assemblies. Their ministers were introduced 
 in disguise. Their houses were searched. They were fined, im- 
 prisoned, and banished. Among the ministers who were deprived 
 of their livings, were Gilpin, Bates, Howe, Owen, Baxter, Calamy, 
 Poole, Charnock, and Flavel, who still, after a lapse of one 
 hundred and fifty years, enjoy a wide-spread reputation as stan- 
 dard writers on theological subjects. These great lights of the 
 seventeenth century were doomed to privation and poverty, with 
 thousands of their brethren, most of whom had been educated at 
 the Universities, and were among the best men in the kingdom. 
 All the Stuart kings hated the Dissenters, but none hated them more 
 than Charles II. and James II. Under their sanction, complying 
 parliaments passed repeated acts of injustice and cruelty. The laws 
 which were enacted during Queen Elizabeth's reign were reenacted 
 and enforced. The Act of Uniformity, in one day, ejected two 
 thousand ministers from their parishes, because they refused to 
 conform to the standard of the Established Church. The Con- 
 venticle Act ordained that if any person, above sixteen years 
 of age, should be present at any religious meeting, in any 
 other manner than allowed by the Church of England, he 
 should suffer three months' imprisonment, or pay a fine of five 
 pounds ; that six months' imprisonment and ten pounds fine should 
 
CHAP. XV.] PERSECUTION OF THE DISSENTERS. 217 
 
 be inflicted as a penalty for the second offence, and banishment 
 for the third. Married women, taken at "conventicles," were 
 sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment. It is calculated that 
 twenty-five thousand Dissenters were immured in gloomy prisons, 
 and that four thousand of the sect of the Quakers died during their 
 imprisonment in consequence of the filth and malaria of the jails, 
 added to cruel treatment. 
 
 Among the illustrious men who suffered most unjustly, was 
 Richard Baxter, the glory of the Presbyterian party. He 
 was minister at Kidderminster, where he was content to labor 
 in an humble sphere, having refused a bishopric. He had 
 written one hundred and forty-five distinct treatises, in two 
 hundred volumes, which were characterized for learning and 
 talent. But neither his age, nor piety, nor commanding virtues 
 could screen him from the cruelties of Jeffreys ; and, in fifteen 
 years, he was five times imprisoned. His sufferings drew tears 
 from Sir Matthew Hale, with whose friendship he had been hon- 
 ored. " But he who had enjoyed the confidence of the best of 
 judges, was cruelly insulted by the worst." When he wished to 
 plead his cause, the drunken chief justice replied, " O Richard, 
 Richard, thou art an old fellow and an old knave. Thou hast writ- 
 ten books enough to load a cart, every one of which is as full of 
 sedition as an egg is full of meat. I know that thou hast a mighty 
 party, and I see a great many of the brotherhood in corners, and 
 a doctor of divinity at your elbow ; but, by the grace of God, I 
 will crush you all." 
 
 Entirely a different man was John Bunyan, not so influential 
 or learned, but equally worthy. He belonged to the sect of the 
 Baptists, and stands at the head of all unlettered men of genius — 
 the most successful writer of allegory that any age has seen. 
 The Pilgrim's Progress is the most popular religious work ever 
 published, full of genius and beauty, and a complete exhibition of 
 the Calvinistic theology, and the experiences of the Christian life. 
 This book shows, the triumph of genius over learning, and the 
 people's appreciation of exalted merit. Its author, an illiterate 
 tinker, a travelling preacher, who spent the best part of his life 
 between the houses of the poor and the county jails, the object 
 of reproach and ignominy, now, however, takes a proud place, in 
 19 
 
218 GEORGE FOX. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 the world's estimation, with the master minds of all nations — with 
 Dante, Shakspeare, and Milton. He has arisen above the preju- 
 dices of the great and fashionable ; and the learned and aristocratic 
 Southey has sought to be the biographer of his sorrows and the 
 expounder of his visions. The proud bishops who disdained him, 
 the haughty judges who condemned him, are now chiefly known 
 as his persecutors, while he continues to be more honored and 
 extolled with every succeeding generation. 
 
 Another illustrious victim of religious persecution in that age, 
 illustrious in our eyes, but ignoble in the eyes of his contempora- 
 ries, was George Fox, the founder of the sect of the Quakers. He, 
 like Bunyan, was of humble birth and imperfect education. Like 
 him, he derived his knowledge from communion with his own soul — 
 from inward experiences — from religious contemplations. He was 
 a man of vigorous intellect, and capable of intense intellectual 
 action. His first studies were the mysteries of theology — the 
 great questions respecting duty and destiny ; and these agitated his 
 earnest mind almost to despair. In his anxiety, he sought conso- 
 lation from the clergy, but they did not remove the burdens of his 
 soul. Like an old Syriac monk, he sought the fields and unfre- 
 quented solitudes, where he gave loose to his imagination, and 
 where celestial beings came to comfort him. He despised alike 
 the reasonings of philosophers, the dogmas of divines, and the 
 disputes of wrangling sectarians. He rose above all their preju- 
 dices, and sought light and truth from original sources. His peace 
 was based on the conviction that God's Holy Spirit spoke directly 
 to his soul ; and this was above reason, above authority, a surer 
 guide than any outward or written revelation. While this divine 
 voice was above the Scriptures, it never conflicted with them, for 
 they were revealed also to inspired men. Hence the Scriptures 
 were not to be disdained, but were to be a guide, and literally to 
 be obeyed. He would not swear, or fight, to save his life, nor to 
 save a world, because he was directly commanded to abstain from 
 sweai-ing and fighting. He abhorred all principles of expediency, 
 and would do right, or what the inspired voice within him assured 
 him to be right, regardless of all consequences and all tribulations. 
 He believed in the power of justice to protect itself, and reposed on 
 the moral dignity of virtue. Love, to his mind, was an omnipotent 
 
CHAP. XV.] PERSECUTION OF THE QUAKERS. 219 
 
 weapon. He disdained force to accomplish important ends, and 
 sought no control over government, except by intelligence. He 
 believed that ideas and truth alone were at the basis of all great 
 and permanent revolutions ; these he was ever ready to de- 
 clare ; these were sure to produce, in the end, all needed reforms ; 
 these would be revealed to the earnest inquirer. He disliked all 
 forms and pompous ceremonials in the worship of God, for they 
 seemed useless and idolatrous. God was a Spirit, and to be wor- 
 shipped in spirit and in truth. And set singing was to be dispensed 
 with, like set forms of prayer, and only edifying as prompted by 
 the Spirit. He even objected to splendid places for the worship of 
 God, and dispensed with steeples, and bells, and organs. The 
 sacraments, too, were needless, being mere symbols, or shadows 
 of better things, not obligatory, but to be put on the same footing 
 as those Jewish ceremonies which the Savior abrogated. The 
 mind of Fox discarded all aids to devotion, all titles of honor, all 
 distinctions which arose in pride and egotism. Hypocrisy he ab- 
 horred with his whole soul. It was the vice of the Pharisees, on 
 whom Christ denounced the severest judgments. He, too, would 
 denounce it with the most unsparing severity, whenever he fancied 
 he detected it in rulers, or in venerated dignitaries of the church, 
 or in the customs of conventional life. He sought simplicity and 
 sincerity in all their forms. Truth alone should be his polar star, and 
 this would be revealed by the " inner light," the peculiar genius of his 
 whole system, which, if it led to many new views of duty and 
 holiness, yet was the cause of many delusions, and the parent of 
 conceit and spiritual pride — the grand peculiarity of fanaticism 
 in all ages and countries. What so fruitful a source of error as 
 the notion of special divine illumination ? 
 
 No wonder that Fox and his followers were persecuted, for they 
 set at nought the wisdom of the world and the customs and laws 
 of ages. They shocked all conservative minds ; all rulers and 
 dignitaries ; all men attached to systems ; all syllogistic reasoners 
 and dialectical theologians; all fashionable and worldly people ; 
 all sects and parties attached to creeds and forms. Neither their 
 inoffensive lives, nor their doctrine of non-resistance, nor their ele- 
 vated spiritualism could screen them from the wrath of judges, 
 bishops, and legislators. They were imprisoned, fined, whipped, 
 
220 DESPOTIC POWER OF JAMES. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 and lacerated without mercy. But they endured their afflictions 
 with patience, and never lost their faith in truth, or their trust in 
 God. Generally, they belonged to the humbler classes, although 
 some men illustrious for birth and wealth joined their persecuted 
 ranks, the most influential of whom was William Penn, who lived 
 to be their intercessor and protector, and the glorious founder and 
 legislator of one of the most flourishing and virtuous colonies that, 
 in those days of tribulation, settled in the wilderness of North 
 America ; a colony of men who were true to their enlightened 
 principles, and who were saved from the murderous tomahawk of 
 the Indian, when all other settlements were scenes of cruelty and 
 vengeance. 
 
 James had now suppressed rebellion ; he had filled the Dissenters 
 with fear ; and he met with no resistance from his parliaments. 
 The judges and the bishops were ready to cooperate with his min- 
 isters in imposing a despotic yoke. All officers of the crown were 
 dismissed the moment they dissented from his policy, or protested 
 against his acts. Even judges were removed to make way for the 
 most unscrupulous of tools. 
 
 His power, to all appearance, was consolidated ; and he now 
 began, without disguise, to advance the two great objects which 
 were dearest to his heart — the restoration of the Catholic religion, 
 and the imposition of a despotic yoke. He wished to be, like 
 Louis XIV., a despotic and absolute prince ; and, to secure this 
 end, he was ready to violate the constitution of his country. The 
 three inglorious years of his reign were a succession of encroach- 
 ments and usurpations. 
 
 Indeed, among his first acts was the collection of the revenue 
 without an act of parliament. To cover this stretch of arbitrary 
 power, the court procured addresses from public bodies, in which 
 the king was thanked for the royal care he extended to the customs 
 and excise. 
 
 In order to protect the Catholics, who had been persecuted under 
 the last reign, he was obliged to show regard to other persecuted 
 bodies. So he issued a warrant, releasing from confinement all 
 who were imprisoned for conscience' sake. Had he simply desired 
 universal toleration, this act would merit our highest praises ; but 
 ,it was soon evident that he wished to elevate the Catholics at the 
 
CHAP. XV.] FAVOR EXTENDED TO CATHOLICS. 221 
 
 expense of all the rest. James was a sincere but bigoted devotee 
 to the Church of Rome, and all things were deemed lawful, if he 
 could but advance the interests of a party, to which nearly 
 the whole nation was bitterly opposed. Roman Catholics were 
 proscribed by the laws. The Test Act excluded from civil and 
 military office all who dissented from the Established Church. The 
 laws were unjust, but still they were the laws which James had 
 sworn to obey. Had he scrupulously observed them, and kept his 
 faith, there can be no doubt that they would, in good time, have 
 been modified. 
 
 But James would not wait for constitutional measures. He 
 resolved to elevate Catholics to the highest offices of both the state 
 and the church, and this in defiance of the laws and of the wishes 
 of a great majority of the nation. He accordingly gave commis- 
 sions to Catholics to serve as officers in the army ; he made Catho- 
 lics his confidential advisers ; he introduced Jesuits into London ; 
 he received a Papal nuncio, and he offered the livings of the Church 
 of England to needy Catholic adventurers. He sought, by threats 
 and artifices, to secure the repeal of the Test Act, by which 
 Catholics were excluded from office. Halifax, the ablest of his 
 ministers, remonstrated, and he was turned out of his employ- 
 ments. But he formed the soul and the centre of an opposition, 
 which finally drove the king from his throne. He united with 
 Devonshire and other Whig nobles, and their influence was suffi- 
 cient to defeat many cherished objects of the king. When oppo- 
 sition appeared, however, in parliament, it was prorogued or 
 dissolved, and the old courses of the Stuart kings were resorted to. 
 
 Among his various acts of infringement, which gave great scan- 
 dal, even in those degenerate times, was the abuse of the dis- 
 pensing power — a prerogative he had inherited, but which had 
 never been strictly defined. By means of this, he intended to 
 admit Catholics to all offices in the realm. He began by grant- 
 ing to the whole Roman Catholic body a dispensation from all 
 the statutes which imposed penalties and tests. A general indul- 
 gence was proclaimed, and the courts of law were compelled to 
 acknowledge that the right of dispensing had not been infringed. 
 Four of the judges refused to accede to what was plainly illegal. 
 They were dismissed ; for, at that time, even judges held office 
 19* 
 
222 HIGH COMMISSION COURT. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 during the pleasure of the king, and not, as in these times, for life. 
 They had not the independence which has ever been so requisite 
 for the bench. Nor would all his counsellors and ministers accede 
 to his design, and those who were refractory were turned out. As 
 soon as a servile bench of judges recognized this outrage on the 
 constitution, four Catholic noblemen were admitted as privy coun- 
 sellors, and some clergymen, converted to Romanism, were per- 
 mitted to hold their livings. James even bestowed the deaneiy 
 of Christ Church, one of the highest dignities in the University of 
 Oxford, on a notorious Catholic, and threatened to do at Cambridge 
 what had been done at Oxford. The bishopric of Oxford was 
 bestowed upon Parker, who was more Catholic than Protestant, 
 and that of Chester was given to a sycophant of no character. 
 James made no secret of his intentions to restore the Catholic 
 religion, and systematically labored to destroy the Established 
 Church. In order to effect this, he created a tribunal, which not 
 materially differed from the celebrated High Commission Court of 
 Elizabeth, and to break up which was one great object of the rev- 
 olutionists who brought Charles I. to the block — the most odious 
 court ever established by royal despotism in England. The mem- 
 bers of this High Commission Court, which James instituted to try 
 all ecclesiastical cases, were, with one or two exceptions, noto- 
 riously the most venal and tyrannical of all his agents — Jeffreys, 
 the Chancellor ; Crewe, Bishop of Durham ; Sprat, Bishop of Roch- 
 ester ; the Earl of Rochester, Lord Treasurer ; Sunderland, the 
 Lord President ; and Herbert, Chief Justice of the King's Bench. 
 This court summoned Compton, the Bishop of London, to its tri- 
 bunal, because he had not suspended Dr. Sharp, one of the clergy 
 of London, when requested to do so by the king — a man who had 
 committed no crime, but simply discharged his duty with fidelity. 
 The bishop was suspended from his spiritual functions, and the 
 charge of his diocese was committed to two of his judges. But this 
 court, not content with depriving numerous clergymen of their 
 spiritual functions, because they would not betray their own church, 
 went so far as to sit in judgment on the two greatest corporations 
 in the land, — the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, — 
 institutions which had ever befriended the Stuart kings in their 
 crimes and misfortunes. James was infatuated enough to quarrel 
 
CHAP. XV.] QUARREL WITH THE UNIVERSITIES. 223 
 
 with these great bodies, because they would not approve of his 
 measures to overturn the church with which they were con- 
 nected, and which it was their duty and interest to uphold. 
 The king had commanded Cambridge to bestow the degree 
 of master of arts on a Benedictine monk, which was against 
 the laws of the University and of parliament. The University 
 refused to act against the law, and, in consequence, the vice- 
 chancellor and the senate, which consisted of doctors and 
 masters, were summoned to the Court of High Commission. The 
 vice-chancellor, Pechell, was deprived of his office and emolu- 
 ments, which were of the nature of freehold property. But this 
 was not the worst act of the infatuated monarch. He insisted on 
 imposing a Roman Catholic in the presidential chair of Magdalen 
 College, one of the richest and most venerable of the University 
 of Oxford, against even the friendly remonstrances of his best 
 friends, even of his Catholic counsellors, and not only against the 
 advice of his friends, but against all the laws of the land and of 
 the rights of the University ; for the proposed president, Farmer, 
 was a Catholic, and was not a fellow of the college, and therefore 
 especially disqualified. He was also a man of depraved morals. 
 The fellows refused to elect Farmer, and chose John Hough 
 instead. They were accordingly cited to the infamous court of 
 which Jeffreys was the presiding and controlling genius. Their 
 election was set aside, but Farmer was not confirmed, being too 
 vile even for Jeffreys to sustain. 
 
 The king was exceedingly enraged at the opposition he received 
 from the University. He resolved to visit it. On his arrival, he 
 summoned the fellows of Magdalen College, and commanded them 
 to obey him in the matter of a president. They still held out in 
 opposition, and the king, mortified and enraged, quitted Oxford to 
 resort to bolder measures. A special commission was instituted. 
 Hough was forcibly ejected, and the Bishop of Oxford installed, 
 against the voice of all the fellows but two. But the blinded king 
 was not yet content. The fellows were expelled from the Univer- 
 sity by a royal edict, and the high commissioner pronounced the 
 ejected fellows incapable of ever holding any church preferment. 
 
 But these severities were blunders, and produced a different 
 effect from what was anticipated. The nation was indignant ; the 
 
224 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 Universities lost all reverence ; the clergy, in a body, were alien- 
 ated ; and the whole aristocracy were filled with defiance. 
 
 But the king, nevertheless, for a time, prevailed against all 
 opposition ; and, now that the fellows of Magdalen College were 
 expelled, he turned it into a Popish seminary, admitted in one 
 day twelve Roman Catholics as fellows, and appointed a Roman 
 Catholic bishop to preside over them. This last insult was felt to 
 the extremities of the kingdom ; and bitter resentment took the 
 place of former loyalty. James was now regarded, by his old 
 friends even, as a tyrant, and as a man destined to destruction. 
 And, indeed, he seemed like one completely infatuated, bent on 
 the ruin of that church which even James I. and the other Stuart 
 kings regarded as the surest and firmest pillar of the throne. 
 
 The bishops of the English Church had in times past, as well 
 as the Universities, inculcated the doctrine of passive obedience ; 
 and oppression must be very grievous indeed which would induce 
 them to oppose the royal will. But James had completely alien- 
 ated them, and they, reluctantly, at last, threw themselves into the 
 ranks of opposition. Had they remained true to him, he might 
 still have held his sceptre ; but it was impossible that any body of 
 men could longer bear his injustice and tyranny. 
 
 From motives as impossible to fathom, as it is difficult to account 
 for the actions of a madman, he ordered that the Declaration of 
 Indulgence, an unconstitutional act, should be read publicly 
 from all the pulpits in the kingdom. The London clergy, 
 the most respectable and influential in the realm, made up their 
 minds to disregard the order, and the bishops sustained them in 
 their refusal. The archbishop and six bishops accordingly signed 
 a petition to the king, which embodied the views of the London 
 clergy. It was presented to the tyrant, by the prelates in a body, 
 at his palace. He chose to consider it as a treasonable and 
 libellous act — as nothing short of rebellion. The conduct of the 
 prelates was generally and enthusiastically approved by the nation, 
 and especially by the Dissenters, who now united with the mem- 
 bers of the Established Church. James had recently courted the 
 Dissenters, not wishing to oppose too many enemies at a time. 
 He had conferred on them many indulgences, and had elevated 
 some of them to high positions, with the hope that they would 
 
CHAP. XV.] PROSECUTION OF THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 225 
 
 unite with him in breaking down the Establishment. But, while 
 some of the more fanatical were gained over, the great body were 
 not so easily deceived. They knew well enough that, after 
 crushing the Church of England, he would crush them. And 
 they hated Catholicism and tyranny more than they did Episco- 
 pacy, in spite of their many persecutions. Some of the more 
 eminent of the Dissenters took a noble stand, and their conduct was 
 fully appreciated by the Established clergy. For the first time, 
 since the accession of Elizabeth, the Dissenters and the Episcopa- 
 lians treated each other with that courtesy and forbearance which 
 enlightened charity demands. The fear of a common enemy 
 united them. But time, also, had, at length, removed many of 
 their mutual asperities. 
 
 Nothing could exceed the vexation of James when he found 
 that not only the clergy had disobeyed his orders, but that the 
 Seven Bishops were sustained by the nation. When this was dis- 
 covered, he should have yielded, as Elizabeth would have done. 
 But he was a Stuart. He was a bigoted, and self-willed, and in- 
 fatuated monarch, marked out most clearly by Providence for 
 destruction. He resolved to prosecute the bishops for a libel, and 
 their trial and acquittal are among the most interesting events of 
 an inglorious reign. They were tried at the Court of the King's 
 Bench. The most eminent lawyers in the realm were employed 
 as their counsel, and all the arts of tyranny were resorted to by the 
 servile judges who tried them. But the jury rendered a verdict 
 of acquittal, and never, within man's memory, were such shouts 
 and tears of joy manifested by the people. Even the soldiers, 
 whom the king had ordered to Hounslow Heath to overawe Lon- 
 don, partook of the enthusiasm and triumph of the people. All 
 classes were united in expressions of joy that the tyrant for once 
 was baffled. The king was indeed signally defeated ; but his 
 defeat did not teach him wisdom. It only made him the more 
 resolved to crush the liberties of the Church, and the liberties of the 
 nation. But it also arrayed against him all classes and all parties 
 of Protestants, who now began to form alliances, and devise 
 measures to hurl him from his throne. Even the very courts 
 which James had instituted to crush liberty proved refractory. 
 Sprat, the servile Bishop of Rochester, sent him his resignation as 
 
226 TYRANNY AND INFATUATION OF JAMES. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 one of the LorcL Commissioners. The very meanness of his 
 spirit and laxity of his principles made his defection peculiarly 
 alarming, and the unblushing Jeffreys now began to tremble. 
 The Court of High Commission shrunk from a conflict with the 
 Established Church, especially when its odious character was 
 loudly denounced by all classes in the kingdom — even by some 
 of the agents of tyranny itself. The most unscrupulous slaves 
 of power showed signs of uneasiness. 
 
 But James resolved to persevere. The sanction of a parlia- 
 ment was necessary to his system, but the sanction of a free 
 parliament it was impossible to obtain. He resolved to bring 
 together, by corruption and intimidation, by violent exertions of 
 prerogative, by fraudulent distortions of law, an assembly which 
 might call itself a parliament, and might be willing to register any 
 edict he proposed. And, accordingly, every placeman, from the 
 highest to the lowest, was made to understand that he must support 
 the throne or lose his office. He set himself vigorously to pack a 
 parliament. A committee of seven privy counsellors sat at 
 Whitehall for the purpose of regulating the municipal corporations. 
 Father Petre was made a privy councillor. Committees, after the 
 model of the one at Whitehall, were established in all parts of the 
 realm. The lord lieutenants received written orders to go down to 
 their respective counties, and superintend the work of corruption 
 and fraud. But half of them refused to perform the ignominious 
 work, and were immediately dismissed from their posts, which 
 were posts of great honor and consideration. Among these were 
 the great Earls of Oxford, Shrewsbury, Dorset, Pembroke, 
 Rutland, Bridgewater, Thanet, Northampton, Abingdon, and 
 Gainsborough, whose families were of high antiquity, wealth, and 
 political influence. Nor could those nobles, who consented to con- 
 form to the wishes and orders of the king, make any progress in their 
 counties, on account of the general opposition of the gentry. The 
 county squires, as a body, stood out in fierce resistance. They 
 refused to send up any men to parliament who would vote away 
 the liberties and interests of the nation. The justices and deputy 
 lieutenants declared that they would sustain, at all hazard, the 
 Protestant religion. And these persons were not odious repub- 
 licans, but zealous royalists, now firmly united and resolved to 
 oppose unlawful acts, though commanded by the king. 
 
CHAP. XV.] ORGANIZED OPPOSITION. 227 
 
 James and his ministers next resolved to take away the power 
 of the municipal corporations. The boroughs were required to 
 surrender their charters. But a great majority firmly refused to 
 part with their privileges. They were prosecuted and intimidated, 
 but still they held out. Oxford, by a vote of eighty to two, voted 
 to defend its franchises. Other towns did the same. Meanwhile, 
 all the public departments were subjected to a strict inquisition ; 
 and all, who would not support the policy of the king, were turned 
 out of office, and among them were some who had been heretofore 
 the zealous servants of the crown. 
 
 It was now full time for the organization of a powerful confedera- 
 cy against the king. It was obvious, to men of all parties, and all 
 ranks, that he meditated the complete subversion of English liberties. 
 The fundamental laws of the kingdom had been systematically 
 violated. The power of dispensing with acts of parliament had 
 been strained, so that the king had usurped nearly all legislative 
 authority. The courts of justice had been filled with unscrupulous 
 judges, who were ready to obey all the king's injunctions, whether 
 legal or illegal. Roman Catholics had been elevated to places of 
 dignity in the Established Church. An infamous and tyrannical 
 Court of High Commission had been created ; persons, who could 
 not legally set foot in England, had been placed at the head of col- 
 leges, and had taken their seat at the royal council-board. Lord 
 lieutenants of counties, and other servants of the crown, had been 
 dismissed for refusing to obey illegal commands ; the franchises of 
 almost every borough had been invaded ; the courts of justice were 
 venal and corrupt ; an army of Irish Catholics, whom the nation 
 abhorred, had been brought over to England ; even the sacred right 
 of petition was disregarded, and respectful petitioners were treated 
 as criminals ; and a free parliament was prevented from assembling. 
 
 Under such circumstances, and in view of these unquestioned 
 facts, a great eonspiracy was set on foot to dethrone the king and 
 overturn the hateful dynasty. 
 
 Among the conspirators were some of the English nobles, the 
 chief of whom was the Earl of Devonshire, and one of the 
 leaders of the Whig party. Shrewsbury and Danby also joined 
 them, the latter nobleman having been one of the most zealous 
 advocates of the doctrine of passive obedience which many of the 
 
228 WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 4, 
 
 High Churchmen and Tories had defended in the reign of Charles II. 
 It was under his administration, as prime minister, that a law had 
 been proposed to parliament to exclude all persons from office who 
 refused to take an oath, declaring that they thought resistance in 
 all cases unlawful. Compton, the Bishop of London, who had 
 been insolently treated by the court, joined the conspirators, whose 
 designs were communicated to the Prince of Orange by Edward 
 Russell and Henry Sydney, brothers of those two great political 
 martyrs who had been executed in the last reign. The Prince of 
 Orange, who had married a daughter of James II., agreed to 
 invade England with a well-appointed army. 
 
 William of Orange was doubtless the greatest statesman and 
 warrior of his age, and one of the ablest men who ever wore a 
 crown. He was at the head of the great Protestant party in Eu- 
 rope, and was the inveterate foe of Louis XIV. When a youth, 
 his country had been invaded by Louis, and desolated and aban- 
 doned to pillage and cruelty. It was amid unexampled calamities, 
 when the population were every where flying before triumphant 
 armies, and the dikes of Holland had been opened for the ravages 
 of the sea in order to avoid the more cruel ravages of war, that 
 William was called to be at the head of affairs. He had scarcely 
 emerged from boyhood ; but his boyhood was passed in scenes of 
 danger and trial, and his extraordinary talents were most preco- 
 ciously developed. His tastes were warlike ; but he was a war- 
 rior who fought, not for the love of fighting, not for military glory, 
 but to rescue his country from a degrading yoke, and to secure 
 the liberties of Europe from the encroachments of a most ambi- 
 tious monarch. Zeal for those liberties was the animating princi- 
 ple of his existence ; and this led him to oppose so perseveringly 
 the policy and enterprises of the French king, even to the disad- 
 vantage of his native countiy and the country which adopted him. 
 
 William was ambitious, and did not disdain the overtures which 
 the discontented nobles of England made to him. Besides, his 
 wife, the Princess Mary, was presumptive heir to the crown before 
 the birth of the Prince of Wales. The eyes of the English nation 
 had long been fixed upon him as their deliverer from the tyranny 
 of James. He was a sincere Protestant, a bold and enterprising 
 genius, and a consummate statesman. But he delayed taking any 
 
CHAP. XV.] CRITICAL CONDITION OF JAMES. 229 
 
 decisive measures until affairs were ripe for his projects — until the 
 misgovernment and encroachments of James drove the nation to 
 the borders of frenzy. He then obtained the consent of the 
 States General for the meditated invasion of England, and made 
 immense preparations, which, however, were carefully concealed 
 from the spies and agents of James. They did not escape, how- 
 ever, the scrutinizing and jealous eye of Louis XIV., who remon- 
 strated with James on his blindness and self-confidence, and offered 
 to lend him assistance. But the infatuated monarch would not 
 believe his danger, and rejected the proffered aid of Louis with a 
 spirit which ill accorded with his former servility and dependence. 
 Nor was he aroused to a sense of his danger until the Declaration 
 of William appeared, setting forth the tyrannical acts of James, 
 and supposed to be written by Bishop Burnet, the intimate friend 
 of the Prince of Orange. Then he made haste to fit out a fleet ; 
 and thirty ships of the line were put under the command of Lord 
 Dartmouth. An army of forty thousand men — the largest that 
 any king of England had ever commanded — was also sent to the 
 seaboard ; a force more than sufficient to repel a Dutch invasion. 
 
 At the same time, the king made great concessions. He abol- 
 ished the Court of High Commission. He restored the charter 
 of the city of London. He permitted the Bishop of Winchester, 
 as visitor of Magdalen College, to make any reforms he pleased. 
 He would not, however, part with an iota of his dispensing power, 
 and still hoped to rout William, and change the religion of his 
 country. But all his concessions were too late. Whigs and Tories, 
 Dissenters and Churchmen, were ready to welcome their Dutch 
 deliverer. Nor had James any friends on whom he could rely. 
 His prime minister, Sunderland, was in treaty with the conspira- 
 tors, and waiting to betray him. Churchill, who held one of the 
 highest commissions in the army, and who was under great obli- 
 gations to the king, was ready to join the standard of William. 
 Jeffreys, the lord chancellor, was indeed true in his allegiance, but 
 his crimes were past all forgiveness by the nation ; and even had 
 he rebelled, — and he was base enough to do so, — his services 
 would have been spurned by William and all his adherents. 
 
 On the 29th of October, 1688, the armament of William put 
 to sea ; but the ships had scarcely gained half the distance to Eng- 
 20 
 
230 INVASION OF ENGLAND BY "WILLIAM. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 4 
 
 land, when they were dispersed and driven back to Holland by a 
 violent tempest. The hopes of James revived ; but they were soon 
 dissipated. The fleet of William, on the 1st of November, again 
 put to sea. It was composed of more than six hundred vessels, 
 five hundred of which were men of war, and they were favored 
 by auspicious gales. The same winds which favored the Dutch 
 ships retarded the fleet of Dartmouth. On the 5th of November, 
 the troops of William disembarked at Brixam, near Torbay in 
 Devonshire, without opposition. On the 6th, he advanced to New- 
 ton Abbot, and, on the 9th, reached Exeter. He was cordially 
 received, and magnificently entertained. He and his lieutenant- 
 general, Marshal Schomberg, one of the greatest commanders in 
 Europe, entered Exeter together in the grand military procession, 
 which was like a Roman triumph. Near him also was Bentinck, 
 his intimate friend and counsellor, the founder of a great ducal 
 family. The procession marched to the splendid Cathedral, the 
 Te Deum was sung, and Burnet preached a sermon. 
 
 Thus far all things had been favorable, and William was fairly 
 established on English ground. Still his affairs were precarious, 
 and James's condition not utterly hopeless or desperate. In spite 
 of the unpopularity of the king, his numerous encroachments, and 
 his disaffected army, the enterprise of William was hazardous. 
 He was an invader, and the slightest repulse would have been 
 dangerous to his interests. James was yet a king, and had the 
 control of the army, the navy, and the treasury. He was a legiti- 
 mate king, whose claims were undisputed. And he was the father 
 of a son, and that son, notwithstanding the efforts of the Protestants 
 to represent him as a false heir, was indeed the Prince of Wales. 
 William had no claim to the throne so long as that prince was 
 living. Nor had the nobles and gentry flocked to his standard as 
 he had anticipated. It was nearly a week before a single person 
 of rank or consequence joined him. Devonshire was in Derby- 
 shire, and Churchill had still the confidence of his sovereign. 
 The forces of the king were greatly superior to his own. And 
 James had it in his power to make concessions which would have 
 satisfied a great part of the nation. 
 
 But William had not miscalculated. He had profoundly studied 
 the character of James, and the temper of the English. He knew 
 
CHAP. XV.] FLIGHT OF THE KING. 231 
 
 that a fatal blindness and obstinacy had been sent upon him, and 
 that he never would relinquish his darling scheme of changing 
 the religion of the nation ; and he knew that the nation would 
 never acquiesce in that change ; that Popery was hateful in their 
 sight. He also trusted to his own good sword, and to fortunate 
 circumstances. 
 
 And he was not long doomed to suspense, which is generally so 
 difficult to bear. In a few days, Lord Cornbury, colonel of a regi- 
 ment, and son of the Earl of Clarendon, and therefore a relative 
 of James himself, deserted. Soon several disaffected nobles joined 
 him in Exeter. Churchill soon followed, the first general officer 
 that ever in England abandoned his colors. The Earl of Bath, 
 who commanded at Plymouth, placed himself, in a few days, at 
 the prince's disposal, with the fortress which he was intrusted to 
 guard. His army swelled in numbers and importance. Devon- 
 shire raised the standard of rebellion at Chatsworth. London was 
 in a ferment. James was with his army at Salisbury, but gave the 
 order to retreat, not daring to face the greatest captain in Europe. 
 Soon after, he sent away the queen and the Prince of Wales to 
 France, and made preparations for his own ignominious flight — 
 the very thing his enemies desired, for his life was in no danger, 
 and his affairs even then might have been compromised, in spite 
 of the rapid defection of his friends, and the advance of William, 
 with daily augmenting forces, upon London. On the 11th of 
 December, the king fled from London, with the intention of em- 
 barking at Sheerness, and was detained by the fishermen of the 
 coast ; but, by an order from the Lords, was set at liberty, and 
 returned to the capital. William, nearly at the same time, reached 
 London, and took up his quarters at St. James's Palace. It is need- 
 less to add, that the population of the city were friendly to his 
 cause, and that he was now virtually the king of England. It is 
 a satisfaction also to add, that the most infamous instrument of 
 royal tyranny was seized in the act of flight, at Wapping, in the 
 mean disguise of a sailor. He was discovered by the horrible 
 fierceness of his countenance. Jeffreys was committed to the 
 Tower ; and the Tower screened him from a worse calamity, for 
 the mob would have torn him in pieces. Catholic priests were 
 also arrested, and their chapels and houses destroyed. 
 
232 CONSUMMATION OF THE REVOLUTION. [CHAP. XV. 
 
 Meanwhile parliament assembled and deliberated on the state 
 of affairs. Many propositions were made and rejected. The king 
 fled a second time, and the throne was declared vacant. But the 
 crown was not immediately offered to the Prince of Orange', although 
 addresses were made to him as a national benefactor. Many were 
 in favor of a regency. Another party was for placing the Princess 
 Mary on the throne, and giving to William, during her life, the 
 title of king, and such a share of the administration as she chose 
 to give him. 
 
 But William had risked every thing for a throne, and nothing 
 less than the crown of England would now content him. He gave 
 the convention to understand that, much as he esteemed his wife, 
 he would never accept a subordinate and precarious place in her 
 government ; " that he would not submit to be tied to the apron- 
 strings of the best of wives ; " that, unless he were offered the 
 crown for life, he should return to Holland. 
 
 It was accordingly settled by parliament that he should hold the 
 regal dignity conjointly with his wife, but that the whole power 
 of the government should be placed in his hands. And the Prin- 
 cess Mary willingly acceded, being devoted to her husband, and 
 unambitious for herself. 
 
 Thus was consummated the English Revolution of 1688, blood- 
 less, but glorious. A tyrant was ejected from an absolute throne, 
 and a noble and magnanimous prince reigned in his stead, after 
 having taken an oath to observe the laws of the realm — an oath 
 which he never violated. Of all revolutions, this proved the most 
 beneficent. It closed the long struggle of one hundred and fifty 
 years. Royal prerogative bowed before the will of the people, 
 and true religious and civil liberty commenced its reign. The 
 Prince of Orange was called to the throne by the voice of the 
 nation, as set forth in an instrument known as the Declaration of 
 Right. This celebrated act of settlement recapitulated the crimes 
 and errors of James, and merely asserted the ancient rights and 
 liberties of England — that the dispensing power had no legal ex- 
 istence ; that no money could be raised without grant -of parlia- 
 ment ; and that no army could be kept up in time of peace without 
 its consent ; and it also asserted the right of petition, the right of 
 electors to choose their representatives freely, the right of parlia- 
 
CHAP. XV.] DECLARATION OF EIGHT. 233 
 
 ment to freedom of debate, and the right of the nation to a pure and 
 merciful administration of justice. No new rights were put forth, 
 but simply the old ones were reestablished. William accepted the 
 crown on the conditions proposed, and swore to rule by the laws. 
 " Not a single flower of the crown," says Macaulay, " was touched. 
 Not a single new right was given to the people. The Declaration 
 of Right, although it made nothing law which was not law before, 
 contained the germ of the law which gave religious freedom to the 
 Dissenters ; of the law which secured the independence of judges ; 
 of the law which limited the duration of parliaments ; of the law 
 which placed the liberty of the press under the protection of juries ; 
 of the law which abolished the sacramental test ; of the law which 
 relieved the Roman Catholics from civil disabilities ; of the law 
 which reformed the representative system ; of every good law which 
 has been passed during one hundred and sixty years ; of eveiy 
 good law which may hereafter, in the course of ages, be found 
 necessary to promote the public weal, and satisfy the demands of 
 public opinion." 
 
 References. — Macaulay's, Hume's, Hallam's, and Lingard's Histo- 
 ries of England. Mackintosh's Causes of the Revolution of 1688. Fox's 
 History of the Reign of James — a beautiful fragment. Burnet's History 
 of his Own Times. Neal's History of the Puritans. Life and Times of 
 Richard Baxter. Southey's Life of Bunyan. Memoir of George Fox, by 
 Marsh. Life of AVilliam Penn. Chapters on religion, science, and the 
 condition of the people, in the Pictorial History of England. Russell's 
 Modern Europe. Woolrych's Life of Judge Jeffreys. 
 
 20* 
 
234 Louis xiv. [chap. xvi. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LOUIS XIV. 
 
 We turn now from English affairs to contemplate the reign of 
 Louis XIV. — a man who filled a very large space in the history 
 of Europe during the seventeenth century. Indeed, his reign 
 forms an epoch of itself, not so much from any impulse he gave to 
 liberty or civilization, but because, for more than half a century, 
 he was the central mover of European politics. His reign com- 
 memorates the triumph, in France, of despotic principles, the 
 complete suppression of popular interests, and almost the absorp- 
 tion of national interests in his own personal aggrandizement. It 
 commemorates the ascendency of fashion, and the great refinement 
 of material life. The camp and the court of Louis XIV. in- 
 gulphed all that is interesting in the history of France during the 
 greater part of the seventeenth century. He reigned seventy-two 
 years, and, in his various wars, a million of men are supposed to 
 have fallen victims to his vain-glorious ambition. His palaces 
 consumed the treasures which his wars spared. He was viewed 
 as a sun of glory and power, in the light of which all other lights 
 were dim. Philosophers, poets, prelates, generals, and statesmen, 
 during his reign, were regarded only as his satellites. He was the 
 central orb around which every other light revolved, and to con- 
 tribute to his glory all were supposed to be born. He was, most 
 emphatically, the state. He was France. A man, therefore, 
 who, in the eye of contemporaries, was so grand, so rich, so pow- 
 erful, and so absolute, claims a special notice. It is the province 
 of history to record great influences, whether they come from the 
 people, from great popular ideas, from literature and science, or 
 from a single man. The lives of individuals are comparatively 
 insignificant in the histoiy of the United States ; but the lives of 
 such men as Caesar, Cromwell, and Napoleon, furnish veiy great 
 subjects for the pen of the philosophical historian, since great 
 controlling influences emanated from them, rather than from the 
 people whom they ruled. 
 
CHAP. XVI.] HIS POWER AND RESOURCES. 235 
 
 Louis XIV. was not a great general, like Henry IV., nor a great 
 statesman, like William III., nor a philosopher, like Frederic the 
 Great, nor a universal genius, like Napoleon ; but his reign filled 
 the eyes of contemporaries, and circumstances combined to make 
 him the absolute master of a great empire. Moreover, he had 
 sufficient talent and ambition to make use of fortunate opportu- 
 nities, and of the resources of his kingdom, for his own aggran- 
 dizement. But France, nevertheless, was sacrificed. The French 
 Revolution was as much the effect of his vanity and egotism, as 
 his own power was the fruit of the policy of Cardinals Richelieu 
 and Mazarin. By their labors in the cause of absolutism, he came 
 in possession of armies and treasures. But armies and treasures 
 were expended in objects of vain ambition, for the gratification of 
 selfish pleasures, for expensive pageants, and for gorgeous palaces. 
 These finally embarrassed the nation, and ground it down to the 
 earth by the load of taxation, and maddened it by the prospect of 
 ruin, by the poverty and degradation of the people, and, at the same 
 time, by the extravagance and insolence of an overbearing aristoc- 
 racy. The aristocracy formed the glory and pride of the throne, 
 and both nobles and the throne fell, and great was the fall thereof. 
 
 Our notice of Louis XIV. begins, not with his birth, but at the 
 time when he resolved to be his own prime minister, on the death 
 of Cardinal Mazarin, (1661.) 
 
 Louis XIV. was then twenty-three years of age — frank, beauti- 
 ful, imperious, and ambitious. His education had been neglected, 
 but his pride and selfishness had been stimulated. During his 
 minority, he had been straitened for money by the avaricious 
 cardinal ; but avaricious for his youthful master, since, at his 
 death, besides his private fortune, which amounted to two 
 hundred millions of livres, he left fifteen millions of livres, 
 not specified in his will, which, of course, the king seized, and 
 thus became the richest monarch of Europe. He was married, 
 shortly before the death of Mazarin, to the Infanta Maria Theresa, 
 daughter of Philip IV., King of Spain. But, long before his mar- 
 riage, he had become attached to Mary de Mancini, niece of Maza- 
 rin, who returned his love with passionate ardor. She afterwards 
 married Prince Colonna, a Roman noble, and lived a most aban- 
 doned life. 
 
236 HABITS AXD PLEASURES OF LOUIS. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 The enormous wealth left by Cardinal Mazaria was, doubtless, 
 one motive which induced Louis XIY., though only a young man 
 of twentv-three, to be his own prime minister. Henceforth, to 
 his death, all his ministers made their regular reports to him, and 
 none were permitted to go beyond the limits which he prescribed 
 to them. 
 
 He accepted, at first, the ministers whom the dying cardinal 
 had recommended. The most prominent of these were Le Tellier, 
 De Lionne, and Fouquet. The last was intrusted with the public 
 chest, who found the means to supply the dissipated young mon- 
 arch with all the money he desired for the indulgence of his 
 expensive tastes and ruinous pleasures. 
 
 The thoughts and time of the king, from the death of Mazarin, 
 for six or seven years, were chiefly occupied with his pleasures. 
 It was then that the court of France was so debauched, splendid, 
 and far-famed. It was during this time that the king was ruled 
 by La Valliere, one of the most noted of all his favorites, a woman 
 of considerable beauty and taste, and not so unprincipled as royal 
 favorites generally have been. She was created a duchess, and 
 her children were legitimatized, and also became dukes and 
 princes. Of these the king was very fond, and his love for them 
 survived the love for their unfortunate mother, who, though beau- 
 tiful and affectionate, was not sufficiently intellectual to retain the 
 affections with which she inspired the most selfish monarch of his 
 age. She was supplanted in the king's affections by Madame de 
 Montespan, an imperious beaut}-, whose extravagances and follies 
 shocked and astonished even the most licentious court in Europe ; 
 and La Valliere, broken-hearted, disconsolate, and mortified, 
 sought the shelter of a Carmelite convent, in which she dragged 
 out thirty-six melancholy and dreary years, amid the most rigor- 
 ous severities of self-inflicted penance, in the anxious hope of that 
 heavenly mansion where her sins would be no longer remembered, 
 and where the weary would be at rest. 
 
 It was during these years of extravagance and pleasure that 
 Versailles attracted the admiring gaze of Christendom, the most 
 gorgeous palace which the world has seen since the fall of Baby- 
 lon. Amid its gardens and groves, its parks and marble halls, 
 did the modern Nebuchadnezzar revel in a pomp and grandeur 
 
CHAP. XVI.] HIS MILITARY AMBITION. 237 
 
 unparalleled in the history of Europe, surrounded by eminent 
 prelates, poets, philosophers, and statesmen, and all that rank and 
 beauty had ennobled throughout his vast dominions. Intoxicated 
 by their united flatteries, by all the incense which sycophancy, 
 carried to a science, could burn before him, he almost fancied 
 himself a deity, and gave no bounds to his self-indulgence, his 
 vanity, and his pride. Every thing was subordinate to his pleasure 
 and his egotism — an egotism alike regardless of the tears of dis- 
 carded favorites, and the groans ofhis overburdened subjects. 
 
 But Louis, at last, palled with pleasure, was aroused from 
 the festivities of Versailles by dreams of military ambition. He 
 knew nothing of war, of its dangers, its reverses, or of its ruinous 
 expenses; but he fancied it would be a beautiful sport for a 
 wealthy and absolute monarch to engage in the costly game. He 
 cast his eves on Holland, a state extremely weak in land forces, 
 and resolved to add it to the great kingdom over which he ruled. 
 
 The only power capable of rendering effectual assistance to 
 Holland, when menaced by Louis XIV., was England; but Eng- 
 land was ruled by Charles II., and all he cared for were his 
 pleasures and independence from parliamentary control. The 
 French king easily induced him to break his alliance with the 
 Dutch by a timely bribe, while, at the same time, he insured the 
 neutrality of Spain, by inflaming the hereditary prejudices of the 
 Spanish court against the Low Countries. 
 
 War, therefore, without even a decent pretence, and without 
 provocation, was declared against Holland, with a view of annex- 
 ing the Low Countries to France. 
 
 Before the Dutch were able to prepare for resistance, Louis XI \ . 
 appeared on the banks of the Rhine with an army of one hundred 
 and twenty thousand, marshalled by such able generals as Luxem- 
 bourg Conde, and Turenne. The king commanded in person, and 
 with all the pomp of an ancient Persian monarch, surrounded with 
 women and nobles. Without any adequate force to resist him, his 
 march could not but be triumphant. He crossed the Rhine, — an 
 exploit much celebrated, by his flatterers, though nothing at all ex- 
 traordinary, — and, in the course of a few weeks, nearly all the 
 United Provinces had surrendered to the royal victor. The reduc- 
 tion of Holland and Zealand alone was necessary to crown his en- 
 
238 "WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 terprise with complete, success. But he wasted time in vain parade 
 at Utrecht, where he held his court, and where his splendid army 
 revelled in pleasure and pomp. Amsterdam alone, amid the gen- 
 eral despondency and consternation which the French inundation 
 produced, was true to herself, and to the liberties of Holland ; and 
 this was chiefly by means of the gallant efforts of the Prince of 
 Orange. 
 
 At this time, (1672,) he was twenty-two years of age, and had 
 received an excellent education, and shown considerable military 
 abilities. In consequence of his precocity of talent, his unquestioned 
 patriotism, and the great services which his family had rendered to 
 the state, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces of the 
 republic, and was encouraged to aspire to the office of stadtholder, 
 the highest in the commonwealth. And his power was much in- 
 creased after the massacre of the De Witts — the innocent victims 
 of popular jealousy, who, though patriotic and illustrious, inclined 
 to a different policy than what the Orange party advocated. 
 William advised the States to reject with scorn the humiliating 
 terms of peace which Louis XIV. offered, and to make any sacri- 
 fice in defence of their veiy last ditch. The heroic spirit which 
 animated his bosom he communicated to his countrymen, on the 
 borders of despair, and in the prospect of national ruin ; and so 
 great was the popular enthusiasm, that preparations were made for 
 fifty thousand families to fly to the Dutch possessions in the East 
 Indies, and establish there a new empire, in case the)'' were over- 
 whelmed by their triumphant enemy. 
 
 Never, in the history of war, were such energies put forth as 
 by the Hollanders in the hour of their extremity. They opened 
 their dikes, and overflowed their villages and their farms. They 
 rallied around the standard of their heroic leader, who, with 
 twenty-two thousand men, kept the vast armies of. Conde and 
 Turenne at bay. Providence, too, assisted men who were willing 
 to help themselves. The fleets of their enemies were dispersed 
 by storms, and their armies were driven back by the timely 
 inundation. 
 
 The heroism of William called forth universal admiration. 
 Louis attempted to bribe him, and offered him the sovereignty of 
 Holland, which offer he unhesitatingly rejected. He had seen the 
 
CHAP. XVI.] SECOND INVASION OF HOLLAND. 239 
 
 lowest point in the depression of his country, and was confident 
 of ultimate success. 
 
 The resistance of Holland was unexpected, and Louis, wearied 
 with the campaign, retired to Versailles, to be fed with the incense 
 of his flatterers, and to publish the manifestoes of his glory and 
 success. 
 
 The states of Europe, jealous of the encroachments of Louis, 
 at last resolved to come to the assistance of the struggling republic 
 of Holland. Charles II. ingloriously sided with the great despot 
 of Europe ; but the Emperor of Germany, the Elector of Bran- 
 denburg, and the King of Spain declared war against France. 
 Moreover, the Dutch gained some signal naval battles. The cele- 
 brated admirals De Ruyter and Van Tromp redeemed the ancient 
 glories of the Dutch flag. The French were nearly driven out of 
 Holland ; and Charles II., in spite of his secret treaties with Louis, 
 was compelled to make peace with the little state which had 
 hitherto defied him in the plenitude of his power. 
 
 But the ambitious King of France was determined not to be 
 baffled in his scheme, since he had all the mighty resources of 
 his kingdom at his entire disposal, and was burning with the 
 passion of military aggrandizement. So he recommenced prepa- 
 rations for the conquest of Holland on a greater scale than ever, 
 and assembled four immense armies. Conde led one against 
 Flanders, and fought a bloody but indecisive battle with the Prince 
 of Orange, in which twelve thousand men were killed on each side. 
 Turenne commanded another on the side of Germany, and pos- 
 sessed himself of the Palatinate, gained several brilliant successes, 
 but disgraced them by needless cruelties. Manheim, and numerous 
 towns and villages, were burnt, and the country laid waste and 
 desolate. The elector was so overcome with indignation, that he 
 challenged the French general to single combat, which the great 
 marshal declined. 
 
 Louis himself headed a third army, and invaded Franche Comte, 
 which he subdued in six weeks. The fourth army was sent to the 
 frontiers of Roussillon, but effected nothing of importance. 
 
 This great war was prosecuted for four years longer, in which 
 the contending parties obtained various success. The only 
 decisive effect of the contest was to reduce the strength of all the 
 
240 DUTCH WAR. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 contending powers. Some great battles were fought, but Holland 
 still held out with inferior forces. Louis lost the great Turenne, 
 who was killed on the eve of a battle with the celebrated Monte- 
 cuculi, who commanded the German armies ; but, in a succeeding 
 campaign, this loss was compensated by the surrender of Valen- 
 ciennes, by the victories of Luxembourg over the Prince of Orange, 
 and by another treaty of peace with Charles II. 
 
 At last, all the contending parties were exhausted, and Louis was 
 willing to make terms of peace. He had not reduced Holland, 
 but, on account of his vast resources, he had obtained considerable 
 advantages. The treaty of Nimeguen, in 1678, secured to him 
 Franche Comte, which he had twice conquered, and several 
 important cities and fortresses in Flanders. He considerably 
 extended his dominions, in spite of a powerful confederacy, and 
 only retreated from the field of triumph to meditate more gigantic 
 enterprises. 
 
 For nine years, Europe enjoyed a respite from the horrors of 
 war, during which Louis XIV. acted like a universal monarch. 
 During these nine years, he indulged in his passion of palace build- 
 ing, and surrounded himself with every pleasure which could 
 intoxicate a mind on which, already, had been exhausted all the 
 arts of flattery, and all the resources of wealth. 
 
 The man to whom Louis was most indebted for the means to 
 prosecute his victories and build his palaces, was Colbert, minister 
 of finance, who succeeded Fouquet. France was indebted to this 
 able and patriotic minister for her richest manufactures of silks, 
 laces, tapestries, and carpets, and for various internal improvements. 
 He founded the Gobelin tapestries ; erected the Royal Library, the 
 colonnade of the Louvre, the Royal Observatory, the Hotel of the 
 Invalids, and the palaces of the Tuileries, Vincennes, Meudon, 
 and Versailles. He encouraged all forms of industry, and pro- 
 tected the Huguenots. But his great services were not fully 
 appreciated by the king, and he was obnoxious to the nobility, who 
 envied his eminence, and to the people, because he desired the 
 prosperity of France more than the gratification of their pleasures. 
 He was succeeded by Louvois, who long retained a great ascend- 
 ency by obsequious attention to all the king's wishes. 
 
 At this period, the reigning favorite at court was Madame de 
 
CHAP. XVI.] MADAME MONTESPAN. 241 
 
 Montespan — the most infamous and unprincipled, but most witty and 
 brilliant of all the king's mistresses, and the haughtiest woman of 
 her age. Her tastes were expensive, and her habits extravagant and 
 luxurious. On her the sovereign showered diamonds and rubies. 
 He could refuse her nothing. She received so much from him, that 
 she could afford to endow a convent — the mere building of which 
 cost one million eight hundred thousand livres. Her children were 
 legitimatized, and declared princes of the blood. Through her 
 the royal favors flowed. Ambassadors, ministers, and even 
 prelates, paid their court to her. On her the reproofs of Bossuet 
 fell without effect. Secure in her ascendency over the mind of 
 Louis, she triumphed over his court, and insulted the nation. But, 
 at last, he grew weary of her, although she remained at court 
 eighteen years, and she was dismissed from Versailles, on a pen- 
 sion of a sum equal to six hundred thousand dollars a year. She 
 lived twenty-two years after her exile from court, and in great 
 splendor, sometimes hoping to regain the ascendency she had 
 once enjoyed, and at others in those rigorous penances which 
 her church inflicts as the expiation for sin. To the last, however, 
 she was haughty and imperious, and kept up the vain etiquette of 
 a court. Her husband, whom she had abandoned, and to whom, 
 after her disgrace, she sought to be reconciled, never would hear 
 her name mentioned ; and the king, whom, for nearly twenty 
 years, she had enthralled, heard of her death with indifference, 
 as he was starting for a hunting excursion. " Ah, indeed," said 
 Louis XIV., " so the marchioness is dead ! I should have thought 
 that she would have lasted longer. Are you ready, M. de la 
 Rochefoucauld ? I have no doubt that, after this last shower, the 
 scent will lie well for the dogs. Let us be off at once." 
 
 As the Marchioness de Montespan lost her power over the royal 
 egotist, Madame de Maintenon gained hers. She was the wife 
 of the poet Scarron, and was first known to the king as the 
 governess of the children of Montespan. She was an estimable 
 woman on the whole, very intellectual, very proper, very artful, and 
 very ambitious. No person ever had so great an influence over 
 Louis XIV. as she ; and hers was the ascendency of a strong mind 
 over a weak one. She endeavored to make peace at court, and 
 to dissuade the king from those vices to which he had so long been 
 21 
 
242 MADAME DE MAINTENON. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 addicted. And shg partially reclaimed him, although, while her 
 counsels were still regarded, Louis was enslaved by Madame de 
 Fontanges — a luxurious beauty, whom he made a duchess, and on 
 whom he squandered the revenues of a province. But her reign 
 was short. Mere physical charms must soon yield to the superior 
 power of intellect and wit, and, after her death, the reign of 
 Madame de Maintenon was complete. As the king could not live 
 without her, and as she refused to follow the footsteps of her pred- 
 ecessors, the king made her his wife. And she was worthy of 
 his choice; and her influence was, on the whole, good, although 
 she befriended the Jesuits, and prompted the king to many acts 
 of religious intolerance. It was chiefly through her influence, 
 added to that of the Jesuits, that the king revoked the edict of 
 Nantes, and its revocation was attended by great sufferings and 
 privations among the persecuted Huguenots. He had, on ascending 
 the throne, in 1643, confirmed the privileges of the Protestants; 
 but, gradually, he worried them by exactions and restraints, and, 
 finally, in 1685, by the revocation of the edict which Henry IV. 
 had passed, he withdrew his protection, and subjected them to a 
 more bitter persecution than at any preceding period. All the 
 Protestant ministers were banished, or sent to the galleys, and the 
 children of Protestants were taken from their parents, and com- 
 mitted to the care of their nearest Catholic relations, or such 
 persons as judges appointed. All the terrors of military execution, 
 all the artifices of priestcraft, were put forth to make converts ; 
 and such as relapsed were subjected to cruel torments. A 
 twentieth part of them were executed, and the remainder hunted 
 from place to place. By these cruelties, France was deprived of 
 nearly six hundred thousand of the best people in the land — 
 a great misfortune, since they contributed, in their dispersion and 
 exile, to enrich, by their agriculture and manufactures, the coun- 
 tries to which they fled. 
 
 From this period of his reign to his death, Louis XIV. was a 
 religious bigot, and the interests of the Roman Church, next to the 
 triumph of absolutism, became the great desire of his life. He 
 was punctual and rigid in the outward ceremonials of his religion ; 
 and professed to regret the follies and vices of his early life. 
 Through the influence of his confessor, the Jesuit La Chaise, and 
 
CHAP. XVI.] LEAGUE OF AUGSBURG. 243 
 
 his wife, Madame de Maintenon, he sent away Montespan from his 
 court, and discouraged those gayeties for which it had once been 
 distinguished. But he was always fond of ceremony of all kinds, 
 and the etiquette of his court was most irksome and oppressive, 
 and wearied Madame de Maintenon herself, and caused her to ex- 
 claim, in a letter to her brother, " Save those who fill the highest 
 stations, I know of none more unfortunate than those who envy 
 them." 
 
 The favorite minister of the king at this time was Louvois, a 
 very able but extremely prodigal man, who plunged Louis XIV. 
 into innumerable expenses, and encouraged his taste both for 
 palaces and war. It was probably through his intrigues, in order 
 to make himself necessary to the king, that a general war again 
 broke out in Europe. 
 
 In 1687 was formed the famous League of Augsburg, by which 
 the leading princes of Europe united in a great confederacy to 
 suppress the power and encroachments of the French king. Lou- 
 vois intrigued to secure the election of the Cardinal de Furstem- 
 berg to the archbishopric of Cologne, in opposition to the interests 
 of Bavaria, the natural ally of France, conscious that, by so doing, 
 he must provoke hostilities. But this act was only the occasion, 
 not the cause, of war. Louis had enraged the Protestant world by 
 his persecution of the Huguenots. He had insulted even the pope 
 himself by sending an ambassador to Rome, with guards and 
 armed attendants equal to an army, in order to enforce some 
 privileges which it was not for the interest or the dignity of the 
 pope to grant ; he had encouraged the invasion of Germany by 
 the Turks ; he had seized Strasburg, the capital of Alsace ; he 
 bombarded Genoa, because they sold powder to the Algerines, and 
 compelled the doge to visit him as a suppliant ; he laid siege to 
 some cities which belonged to Spain ; and he prepared to annex 
 the Low Countries to his dominions. Indeed, he treated all other 
 powers as if he were the absolute monarch of Europe, and fear and 
 jealousy united them against them. Germany, Spain, and Holland, 
 and afterwards England, Denmark, Sweden, and Savoy, cooperated 
 together to crush the common enemy of European liberties. 
 
 Louis made enormous exertions to resist this powerful confed- 
 eracy. Four hundred thousand men were sent into the field, 
 
244 OPPOSING ARMIES AND GENERALS. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 divided into four armies. Two of these were sent into Flanders, 
 one into Catalonia, and one into Germany, which laid waste the 
 Palatinate with fire and sword. Louvois gave the order, and Louis 
 sanctioned it, which was executed with such unsparing cruelty that 
 all Europe was filled with indignation and defiance. 
 
 The forces of Louis were immense, but those of the allies were 
 greater. The Spaniards, Dutch, and English, had an army of 
 fifty thousand men in Flanders, eleven thousand of whom were 
 commanded by the Earl of Marlborough. The Germans sent 
 three more armies into the field ; one commanded by the Elector 
 of Bavaria, on the Upper Rhine ; another by the Duke of Lor- 
 raine, on the Middle Rhine ; and a third by the Elector of Bran- 
 denburg, on the Lower Rhine ; and these, in the first campaign, 
 obtained signal successes. The next year, the Duke of Savoy 
 joined the allies, whose army was commanded by Victor Amadeus ; 
 but he was beaten by Marshal Catinat, one of the most distin- 
 guished of the French generals. Luxembourg also was successful 
 in Flanders, and gained the great battle of Charleroi over the 
 Germans and Dutch. The combined fleet of the English and 
 Dutch was also defeated by the French at the battle of Beachy 
 Head. In the next campaign, Prince Eugene and the Duke of 
 Schomberg distinguished themselves in checking the victorious 
 career of Catinat ; but nothing of importance was effected. The 
 following spring, William III. and Louis XIV., the two great heads 
 of the contending parties, took the field themselves ; and Louis, 
 with the aid of Luxembourg, took Namur, in spite of the efforts of 
 William to succor it. Some other successes were gained by the 
 French, and Louis retired to Versailles to celebrate the victories 
 of his generals. The next campaign witnessed another splendid 
 victory over William and the allies, by Luxembourg, at Neerwin- 
 clen, when twelve thousand men were killed ; and also another, 
 by Catinat, at Marsaglia, in Italy, over the Duke of Savoy. The 
 military glory of Louis was now at its height ; but, in the cam- 
 paign of 1694-95, he met with great reverses. Luxembourg, the 
 greatest of his generals, died. The allies retook Huy and Na- 
 mur, and the French king, exhausted by the long war, was forced 
 to make peace. The treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, secured the 
 tranquillity of Europe for four years — long enough only for the 
 
CHAP. XVI.] WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 245 
 
 contending parties to recover their energies, and prepare for 
 a more desperate contest. Louis XIV., however, now acted on 
 the defensive. The allied powers were resolved on his complete 
 humiliation. 
 
 War broke out again in 1701, and in consequence of the acces- 
 sion of Philip V., grandson of Louis XIV., to the throne of Spain. 
 This great war of the Spanish Succession, during which Marlbor- 
 ough so greatly distinguished himself, claims a few explanatory 
 remarks. 
 
 Charles II., King of Spain, and the last of the line of the Aus- 
 trian princes, being without an heir, and about to die, selected as 
 his successor Leopold of Bavaria, a boy five years of age, whose 
 grandmother was Maria Theresa. But there were also two other 
 claimants — the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., whose 
 claim rested in being the grandson of Maria Theresa, daughter of 
 Philip IV., and sister of Charles II., and the Emperor of Germany, 
 whose mother was the daughter of Philip III. The various Euro- 
 pean states looked with extreme jealousy on the claims of the 
 Emperor of Germany and the Duke of Anjou, because they 
 feared that the balance of power would be seriously disturbed if 
 either an Austrian or a Bourbon prince became King of Spain. 
 They, therefore, generally supported the claims of the Bavarian 
 prince, especially England and Holland. 
 
 But the Prince of Bavaria suddenly died, as it was supposed by 
 poison, and Louis XIV. so successfully intrigued, that his grandson 
 was nominated by the Spanish monarch as heir to his throne. 
 This incensed Leopold II. of Germany, and especially William III., 
 who was resolved that the house of Bourbon should be no further 
 aggrandized. 
 
 On the accession of the Duke of Anjou to the Spanish throne, 
 in 1701, a grand alliance was formed, headed by the Emperor of 
 Germany and the King of England, to dethrone him. Louis XIV. 
 long hesitated between his ambition and the interests of his king- 
 dom ; but ambition triumphed. He well knew that he could only 
 secure a crown to his grandson by a desperate contest with indig- 
 nant Europe. Austria, Holland, Savoy, and England were arrayed 
 against France. And this war of the Spanish Succession was the 
 longest, the bloodiest, and the most disastrous war in which Louis 
 21* 
 
246 DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 was ever engaged. 4 It commenced the last year of the reign of 
 William III., and lasted thirteen years. 
 
 The great hero of this war was doubtless the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, although Prince Eugene gained with him as imperishable 
 glories as war can bestow. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, 
 cannot be said to be one of those geniuses who have impressed 
 their minds on nations and centuries ; but he was a man who gave 
 great lustre to the British name, and who attained to a higher pitch 
 of military fame than any general whom England has produced 
 since Oliver Cromwell, with the exception of Wellington. 
 
 He was born in 1650, of respectable parents, and was page of 
 honor to the Duke of York, afterwards James II. While a mere 
 boy, his bent of mind was discernible, and he solicited and ob- 
 tained from the duke an ensign's commission, and rapidly passed 
 through the military grades of lieutenant, captain, major, and 
 colonel. During the infamous alliance between Louis XIV. and 
 Charles II., he served under Marshal Turenne, and learned from 
 him the art of war. But he also distinguished himself as a diplo- 
 matic agent of Charles II., in his intrigues with Holland and 
 France. Before the accession of James II., he was created a 
 Scottish peer, by the title of Baron Churchill. He followed his 
 royal patron in his various peregrinations, and, when he succeeded 
 to the English throne, he was raised to an English peerage. But 
 Marlborough deserted his patron on the landing of William III., 
 and was made a member of his Privy Council, and lord of the 
 bed-chamber. Two days before the coronation of William, he was 
 made Earl of Marlborough ; but was not intrusted with as high 
 military command as his genius and services merited, William 
 being apparently jealous of his fame. On the accession of Anne, 
 hie was sent to the Continent with the supreme command of the 
 English armies in the war with Louis about the Spanish Succession. 
 His services in the campaign of 1702 secured a dukedom, and 
 deservedly, for he contended against great obstacles — against the 
 obstinacy and stupidity of the Dutch deputies ; against the timidity 
 of the English government at home ; and against the veteran 
 armies of Louis, led on by the celebrated Villars. But neither the 
 campaigns of 1702 or 1703 were marked by any decisive battles. 
 In 1704 was fought the celebrated battle of Blenheim, by which 
 
CHAP. XVI.] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. 247 
 
 the French power was crippled, and the hopes of Louis pros- 
 trated. 
 
 The campaign of 1703 closed disastrously for the allies. Eu- 
 rope was never in greater peril. Bavaria united with France and 
 Spain to crush Austria. The Austrians had only twenty thousand 
 men, while the Bavarians had forty-five thousand men in the centre 
 of Germany, and Marshal Tallard was posted, with forty-five 
 thousand men, on the Upper Rhine. Marshal Villeroy opposed 
 Marlborough in the Netherlands. 
 
 But Marlborough conceived the bold project of marching his 
 troops to the banks of the Danube, and there uniting with the Im- 
 perialists under Prince Eugene, to cut off the forces of the enemy 
 before they could unite. So he left the Dutch to defend themselves 
 against Villeroy, rapidly ascended the Rhine, before any of the 
 enemy dreamed of his designs. From Mentz, he proceeded with 
 forty thousand men to Heidelberg, and from Heidelberg to Dona- 
 worth, on the Danube, where his troops, which had effected a junc- 
 tion with the Austrians and Prussians, successfully engaged the 
 Bavarians. But the Bavarians and the French also succeeded in 
 uniting their forces ; and both parties prepared for a desperate 
 conflict. There were about eighty thousand men on each side. 
 The French and Bavarians were strongly intrenched at the village 
 of Blenheim ; and Marlborough, against the advice of most of his 
 generals, resolved to attack their fortified camp before it was reen- 
 forced by a large detachment of troops which Villeroy had sent. 
 " I know the danger," said Marlborough ; " but a battle is abso- 
 lutely necessary." He was victorious. Forty thousand of the 
 enemy were killed or taken prisoners ; Tallard himself was taken, 
 and every trophy was secured which marks a decisive victory. 
 By this great victory, the Emperor of Austria was relieved from 
 his fears, the Hungarians were overawed, Bavaria fell under the 
 sway of the emperor, and the armies of Louis were dejected and 
 discouraged. Marlborough marched back again to Holland with- 
 out interruption, was made a prince of the empire, and received 
 pensions and lands from the English government, which made him 
 one of the richest and greatest of the English nobility. The palace 
 of Blenheim was built, and he received the praises and plaudits of 
 the civilized world. 
 
248 EXERTIONS AND NECESSITIES OF LOUIS. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 The French were hardly able to cope with Marlborough during 
 the next campaign, but rallied in 1706, during which year the 
 great battle of Ramillies was fought, and won by Marlborough. 
 The conquest of Brabant, and the greater part of Spanish Flan- 
 ders, resulted from this victory ; and Louis, crippled and humili- 
 ated, made overtures of peace. Though equitable, they were 
 rejected ; the allies having resolved that no peace should be made 
 with the house of Bourbon while a prince of that house continued 
 to sit upon the throne of Spain. Louis appealed now, in his dis- 
 tress, to the national honor, sent his plate to the mint, and resolved, 
 in his turn, to contend, to the last extremity, with his enemies, 
 whom success had intoxicated. 
 
 The English, not content with opposing Louis in the Netherlands 
 and in Germany, sent their armies into Spain, also, who, united 
 with the Austrians, overran the country, and nearly completed its 
 conquest. One of the most gallant and memorable exploits of the 
 war was the siege and capture of Barcelona by the Earl of 
 Peterborough, the city having made one of the noblest and most 
 desperate defences since the siege of Numantia. 
 
 The exertions of Louis were equal to his necessities ; and, in 
 1707, he was able to send large armies into the field. None of 
 his generals were able to resist the Duke of Marlborough, who 
 gained new victories, and took important cities ; but, in Spain, the 
 English met with reverses. In 1708, Louis again offered terms 
 of peace, which were again rejected. His country was impov- 
 erished, his resources were exhausted, and a famine carried away 
 his subjects. He agreed to yield the whole Spanish monarchy to 
 the house of Austria, without any equivalent ; to cede to the 
 emperor his conquests on the Rhine, and to the Dutch the great 
 cities which Marlborough had taken ; to acknowledge the Elector 
 of Brandenburg as King of Prussia, and Anne as Queen of Eng- 
 land ; to remove the Pretender from his dominions ; to acknowl- 
 edge the succession of the house of Hanover ; to restore every 
 thing required by the Duke of Savoy ; and agree to the cessions 
 made to the King of Portugal. 
 
 And yet these conditions, so honorable and advantageous to the 
 allies, were rejected, chiefly through the influence of Marlborough, 
 Eugene, and the pensionary Heinsius, who acted from entirely 
 
CHAP. XVI.] TREATY OF UTRECHT. 249 
 
 selfish motives. Louis was not permitted to cherish the most remote 
 hope of peace .without surrendering the strongest cities of his 
 dominions as pledges for the entire evacuation of the Spanish mon- 
 archy by his grandson. This he would not agree to. He threw 
 himself, in his distress, upon the loyalty of his people. Their pride 
 and honor were excited; and, in spite of all their misfortunes, they 
 prepared to make new efforts. Again were the French defeated at 
 the great battle of Malplaquet, when twelve thousand men con- 
 tended on each side ; and again did Louis sue for peace. Again 
 were his overtures rejected, and again did he rally his exhausted 
 nation. Some victories in Spain were obtained over the confed- 
 erates ; but the allies gradually were hemming him around, and 
 the king-hunt was nearly up, when unexpected dissensions among 
 the allies relieved him of his enemies. 
 
 These dissensions were the struggles between the Whigs and 
 Tories in England ; the former maintaining that no peace should 
 be made; the latter, that the war had been carried far enough, 
 and was prolonged only to gratify the ambition of Marlborough. 
 The great general, in consequence, lost popularity ; and the 
 Tories succeeded in securing a peace, just as Louis was on the 
 verge of ruin. Another campaign, had the allies been united, 
 would probably have enabled Marlborough to penetrate to Paris. 
 That was his aim ; that was the aim of his party. But the nation 
 was weary of war, and at last made peace with Louis. By the 
 treaty of Utrecht, (1713,) Philip V. resumed the throne of Spain, 
 but was compelled to yield his rights to the crown of France in 
 case of the death of a sickly infant, the great-grandson of Louis 
 XIV., who was heir apparent to the throne ; but, in other respects, 
 the terms were not more favorable than what Louis had offered in 
 1706, and very inadequate to the expenses of the war. The allies 
 should have yielded to the overtures of Louis before, or should 
 have persevered. But party spirit, and division in the English 
 cabinet and parliament, prevented the consummation which the 
 Whigs desired, and Louis was saved from further humiliation and 
 losses. 
 
 But his power was broken. He was no longer the autocrat of 
 Europe, but a miserable old man, who had lived to see irreparable 
 calamities inflicted on his nation, and calamities in consequence 
 
250 LAST DAYS OF LOUIS. [CHAP. XVI. 
 
 of his ambition. Hj^ latter years were melancholy. He survived 
 his son and his grandson. He saw himself an object of reproach, 
 of ridicule, and of compassion. He sought the religious consola- 
 tion of his church, but was the victim of miserable superstition, and 
 a tool of the Jesuits. He was ruled by his wife, the widow of the 
 poet Scarron, whom his children refused to honor. His last days 
 were imbittered by disappointments and mortifications, disasters in 
 war, and domestic afflictions. No man ever, for a while, enjoyed 
 a prouder preeminence. No man ever drank deeper of the bitter 
 cup of disappointed ambition and alienated affections. No man 
 ever more fully realized the vanity of this world. None of the 
 courtiers, by whom he was surrounded, he could trust, and all his 
 experiences led to a disbelief in human virtue. He saw, with 
 shame, that his palaces, his wars, and his pleasures, had consumed 
 the resources of the nation, and had sowed the seeds of a fearful 
 revolution. He lost his spirits ; his temper became soured ; mis- 
 trust and suspicion preyed upon his mind. His love of pomp 
 survived all his other weaknesses, and his court, to the last, was 
 most rigid in its wearisome formalities. But the pageantry of 
 Versailles was a poor antidote to the sorrows which bowed his 
 head to the ground, except on those great public occasions when 
 his pride triumphed over his grief. Every day, in his last years, 
 something occurred to wound his vanity, and alienate him from 
 all the world but Madame de Maintenon, the only being whom he 
 fully trusted, and who did not deceive him. Indeed, the humiliated 
 monarch was an object of pity as well as of reproach, and his 
 death was a relief to himself, as well as to his family. He died 
 in 1715, two years after the peace of Utrecht, not much regretted 
 by the nation. 
 
 Louis XIV. cannot be numbered among the monsters of the 
 human race who have worn the purple of royalty. His chief and 
 worst vice was egotism, which was born with him, which was 
 cultivated by all the influences of his education, and by all the 
 circumstances of his position. This absorbing egotism made him 
 insensible to the miseries he inflicted, and cherished in his soul the 
 notion that France was created for him alone. His mistresses, 
 his friends, his wives, his children, his court, and the whole nation, 
 were viewed only as the instruments of his pride and pleasure. 
 
CHAP. XVI.] HIS CHARACTER. 251 
 
 All his crimes and blunders proceeded from his extraordinary 
 selfishness. If we could look on him without this moral taint, 
 which corrupted and disgraced him, we should see an indulgent 
 father and a generous friend. He attended zealously to the duties 
 of his station, and sought not to shake off his responsibilities. He 
 loved pleasure, but, in its pursuit, he did not forget the affaire of 
 the realm. He rewarded literature, and appreciated merit. He 
 honored the institutions of religion, and, in his latter days, was 
 devoted to its duties, so far as he understood them. He has been 
 foolishly panegyrized, and as foolishly censured. Still his reign 
 was baneful, on the whole, especially to the interests of enlightened 
 Christianity and to popular liberty. He was a bigoted Catholic, 
 and sought to erect, on the ruins of states and empires, an absolute 
 and universal throne. He failed ; and instead of bequeathing to 
 his successors the power which he enjoyed, he left them vast debts, 
 a distracted empire, and a discontented people. He bequeathed 
 to France the revolution which hurled her monarch from his 
 throne, but which was overruled for her ultimate good. 
 
 Preferences. — Louis XIV. et son Siecle. Voltaire's and Miss Par- 
 doe's Histories of the Reign of Louis XIV. James's Life of Louis XIV. 
 Memoires du Due de St. Simon. The Abbe MiLLot's History. D'Anque- 
 til's Louis XIV., sa Cour, et le Regent. Sismondi's History of France, 
 Crowe's and Rankin's Histories of France. Lord Mahon's War of the 
 Spanish Succession. Temple's Memoirs. Coxe's Life of Marlborough, 
 Memoirs of Madame de Maintenon. Madame de Sevigne's Letters. Rus- 
 sell's Modern Europe. The late history by Miss Pardoe is one of the 
 most interesting ever written. It may have too much gossip for what is 
 called the " dignity of history; " but that fault, if fault it be, has been 
 made by Macaulay also, and has been condemned, not unfrequently, by 
 those most incapable of appreciating philosophical history. 
 
252 WILLIAM AND MARY. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 WILLIAM AND MARY. 
 
 From Louis XIV. we turn to consider the reign of his illustrious 
 rival, William III., King of England, who enjoyed the throne 
 conjointly with Mary, daughter of James II. 
 
 The early life and struggles of this heroic prince have been 
 already alluded to, in the two previous chapters, and will not be 
 further discussed. On the 12th day of February, 1689, he arrived 
 at Whitehall, the favorite palace of the Stuart kings, and, on the 
 11th of April, he and Mary were crowned in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Their reign is chiefly memorable for the war with Louis XIV., 
 the rebellion in Ireland, fomented by the intrigues of James II., 
 and for the discussion of several great questions pertaining to the 
 liberties and the prosperity of the English nation, questions in rela- 
 tion to the civil list, the Place Bill, the Triennial Bill, the liberty 
 of the press, a standing army, the responsibility of ministers, the 
 veto of the crown, the administration of Ireland, the East India 
 Company, the Bank of England, and the funded debt. These 
 topics make the domestic history of the country, especially in a 
 constitutional point of view, extremely important. 
 
 The great struggle with Louis XIV. has already received all the 
 notice which the limits of this work will allow, in which it was 
 made to appear that, if Louis XIV. was the greater king, William 
 III. was the greater man ; and, although his military enterprises 
 were, in one sense, unsuccessful, since he did not triumph in 
 splendid victories, still he opposed successfully what would have 
 been, without his heroism, an overwhelming torrent of invasion 
 and conquest, in consequence of vastly superior forces. The 
 French king was eventually humbled, and the liberties of conti- 
 nental Europe were preserved. 
 
 Under the wise, tolerant, and liberal administration of William, 
 the British empire was preserved from disunion, and invaluable 
 liberties and privileges were guaranteed. 
 
CHAP. XVII.] IRISH REBELLION. : 253 
 
 Scarcely was he seated on the throne, which his wife inherited 
 from the proud descendants of the Norman Conqueror, when a 
 rebellion in Ireland broke out, and demanded his presence in that 
 distracted and unfortunate country. 
 
 The Irish people, being Roman Catholics, had sympathized with 
 James II. in all his troubles, and were resolved to defend his cause 
 against a Calvinistic king. In a short time after his establishment 
 at St. Germain's, through the bounty of the French king, he began 
 to intrigue with the disaffected Irish chieftains. The most noted 
 of these was Tyrconnel, who contrived to deprive the Protestants 
 of Lord Mountjoy, their most trusted and able leader, by sending 
 him on a mission to James II., by whose influence he was con- 
 fined, on his arrival at Paris, in the Bastile. Tyrconnel then pro- 
 ceeded to disarm the Protestants, and recruit the Catholic army, 
 which was raised in two months to a force of forty thousand men, 
 burning to revenge their past injuries, and recover their ancient 
 possessions and privileges. James II. was invited by the army to 
 take possession of his throne. He accepted the invitation, and, 
 early in 1689, made his triumphal entry into Dublin, and was 
 received with a pomp and homage equal to his dignity. But James 
 did not go to Ireland merely to enjoy the homage and plaudits of 
 the Irish people, but to defend the last foothold which he retained 
 as King of England, trusting that success in Ireland would event- 
 ually restore to him the throne of his ancestors. And he was 
 cordially, but not powerfully, supported by the French king, who 
 was at war with England, and who justly regarded Ireland as the 
 most assailable part of the British empire. 
 
 The Irish parliament, in the interest of James, passed an act of 
 attainder against all Protestants who had assisted William, among 
 whom were two archbishops, one duke, seventeen earls, eighteen 
 barons, and eighty-three clergymen. By another act, Ireland was 
 made independent of England. The Protestants were eveiy where 
 despoiled and insulted. 
 
 But James was unequal to the task he had assumed, incapable 
 either of preserving Ireland or retaking England. He was irres- 
 olute and undecided. He could not manage an Irish House of 
 Commons any better than he could an English one. He debased 
 the coin, and resorted to irritating measures to raise money. 
 22 
 
254 KING JAMES IN IRELAND. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 At last he conchfded to subdue the Protestants in Ulster, and 
 advanced to lay siege to Londonderry, upon which depended the 
 fate of the north of Ireland. It was bravely defended by the 
 inhabitants, and finally relieved by the troops sent over from Eng- 
 land under the command of Kirke — the same who inflicted the 
 cruelties in the west of England under James II. But William 
 wanted able officers, and he took them indiscriminately from all 
 parties. Nine thousand people miserably perished by famine and 
 disease in the town, before the siege was raised, one of the most 
 memorable in the annals of war. 
 
 Ulster was now safe, and the discomfiture of James was rapidly 
 effected. Old Marshal Schomberg was sent into Ireland with 
 sixteen thousand veteran troops, and, shortly after, William him- 
 self (June 14, 1690) landed at Carrickfergus, near Belfast, with 
 additional men, who swelled the Protestant army to forty thousand. 
 
 The contending forces advanced to the Conflict, and on the 1st 
 of July was fought the battle of the Boyne, in which Schomberg 
 was killed, but which resulted in the defeat of the troops of 
 James II. The discomfited king fled to Dublin, but quitted it as 
 soon as he had entered it, and embarked hastily at Waterford for 
 France, leaving the Earl of Tyrconnel to contend with vastly 
 superior forces, and to make the best terms in his power. 
 
 The country was speedily subdued, and all the important cities 
 and fortresses, one after the other, surrendered to the king. Lim- 
 erick held out the longest, and made an obstinate resistance, but 
 finally yielded to the conqueror ; and with its surrender termi- 
 nated the final efforts of the old Irish inhabitants to regain the 
 freedom which they had lost. Four thousand persons were out- 
 lawed, and their possessions confiscated. Indeed, at different times, 
 the whole country has been confiscated, with the exception of the 
 possessions of a few families of English blood. In the reign of 
 James I., the whole province of Ulster, containing three millions 
 of acres, was divided among the new inhabitants. At the restora- 
 tion, eight millions of acres, and, after the surrender of Limerick, 
 one million more of acres, were confiscated. During the reign of 
 William and Mary, the Catholic Irish were treated with extreme 
 rigor, and Ireland became a field for place-hunters. All important 
 or lucrative offices in the church, the state, and the army, were 
 
CHAP. XVII.] FREEDOM OF THE PRESS. 255 
 
 filled with the needy dependants of the great Whig families. 
 Injustice to the nation was constantly exercised, and penal laws 
 were imposed by the English parliament, and in reference to mat- 
 ters which before came under the jurisdiction of the Irish parlia- 
 ment. But, with all these rigorous measures, Ireland was still 
 ruled with more mildness than at any previous period in its his- 
 tory, and no great disturbance again occurred until the reign of 
 George III. 
 
 But the reign of William III., however beneficial to the liberties 
 of England and of Europe, was far from peaceful. Apart from 
 his great struggle with the French king, his comfort and his com- 
 posure of mind were continually disturbed by domestic embarrass- 
 ments, arising from the jealousies between the Whigs and Tories, 
 the intrigues of statesmen with the exiled family, and discussions 
 in parliament in reference to those great questions which attended 
 the settlement of the constitution. A bill was passed, called the 
 Place Bill, excluding all officers of the crown from the House of 
 Commons, which showed the jealousy of the people respecting 
 royal encroachments. A law also was passed, called the Triennial 
 Bill, which limited the duration of parliament to three years, but 
 which, in a subsequent reign, was repealed, and one substituted 
 which extended the duration of a parliament to seven years. An 
 important bill was also passed which regulated trials in case of 
 treason, in which the prisoner was furnished with a copy of the 
 indictment, with the names and residences of jurors, with the privi- 
 lege of peremptory challenge, and with full defence of counsel. 
 This bill guaranteed new privileges and rights to prisoners. 
 
 The great question pertaining to the Liberty of the Press was 
 discussed at this time — one of the most vital questions which 
 affect the stability of government on the one side, and the liberties 
 of the people on the other. So desirable have all governments 
 deemed the control of the press by themselves, that parliament, 
 when it abolished the Star Chamber, in the reign of Charles I., still 
 assumed its powers respecting the licensing of books. Various 
 modifications were, from time to time, made in the laws pertaining 
 to licensing books, until, in the reign of William, the liberty of 
 the press was established nearly upon its present basis. 
 
 William, in general, was in favor of those movements which 
 
256 ACT OF SETTLEMENT DEATH OF WILLIAM III. [cHAP. XVII. 
 
 proved beneficial in*after times, or which the wisdom of a subse- 
 quent age saw fit to adopt. Among these was the union of Eng- 
 land and Scotland, which he recommended. Under his auspices, 
 the affairs of the East India Company were considered and new 
 charters granted ; the Bank of England was erected ; benevolent 
 action for the suppression of vice and for the amelioration of the 
 condition of the poor took place ; the coinage was adjusted ; and 
 financial experiments were made. 
 
 The crown, on the whole, lost power during this reign, which 
 was transferred to the House of Commons. The Commons ac- 
 quired the complete control of the purse, which is considered para- 
 mount to all other authority. Prior to the Revolution, the supply 
 for the public service was placed at the disposal of the sovereign, 
 but the definite sum of seven hundred thousand pounds, yearly, 
 was placed at the disposal of William, to defray the expense of 
 the civil list and his other expenses, while the other contingent 
 expenses of government, including those for the support of the 
 army and navy, were annually appropriated by the Commons. 
 
 The most important legislative act of this reign was the Act of 
 Settlement, March 12, 1701, which provided that England should 
 be freed from the obligation of engaging in any war for the 
 defence of the foreign dominions of the king ; that all succeeding 
 kings must be of the communion of the Church of England; that 
 no succeeding king should go out of the British dominions without 
 consent of parliament ; that no person in office, or pensioner, 
 should be a member of the Commons ; that the religious liberties 
 of the people should be further secured ; that the judges should hold 
 office during good behavior, and have their salaries ascertained ; 
 and that the succession to the throne should be confined to Prot- 
 estant princes. 
 
 King William reigned in England thirteen years, with much 
 ability, and sagacity, and prudence, and never attempted to sub- 
 vert the constitution, for which his memory is dear to the English 
 people. But most of his time, as king, was occupied in directing 
 warlike operations on the Continent, and in which he showed 
 a great jealousy of the genius of Marlborough, whose merits he 
 nevertheless finally admitted. He died March 8, 1702, and was 
 buried in the sepulchre of the kings of England. 
 
CHAP. XVII.] CHARACTER OF WILLIAM. 257 
 
 Notwithstanding the animosity of different parties against Wil- 
 liam III., public opinion now generally awards to him, considering 
 the difficulties with which he had to contend, the first place among 
 the English kings. He had many enemies and many defects. 
 The Jacobites hated him because " he upset their theory of the 
 divine rights of kings; the High Churchmen because he was in- 
 different to the forms of church government ; the Tories because 
 he favored the Whigs; and the Republicans because he did not 
 again try the hopeless experiment of a republic." He was not a 
 popular idol, in spite of his great services and great qualities, 
 because he was cold, reserved, and unyielding ; because he dis- 
 dained to flatter, and loved his native better than his adopted 
 country. But his faults were chiefly offences against good man- 
 ners, and against the pi'ejudices of the nation. He distrusted 
 human nature, and disdained human sympathy. He was am- 
 bitious, and his ambition was allied with selfishness. He per- 
 mitted the slaughter of the De Witts, and never gave Marlborough 
 a command worthy of his talents. He had no taste for literature, 
 wit, or the fine arts. His favorite tastes were hunting, gardening, 
 and upholstery. That he was, however, capable of friendship, 
 is attested by his long and devoted attachment to Bentinck, whom 
 he created Earl of Portland, and splendidly rewarded with rich 
 and extensive manors in every part of the land. His reserve and 
 coldness may in part be traced to his profound knowledge of 
 mankind, whom he feared to trust. But if he was not beloved 
 by the nation, he secured their eternal respect by being the first 
 to solve- the problem of constitutional monarchy, and by success- 
 fully ruling, at a very critical period, the Dutch, the English, the 
 Scotch, and the Irish, who had all separate interests and jealousies ; 
 by yielding, when in possession of great power, to restraints he did 
 not like ; and by undermining the intrigues and power of So 
 mighty an enemy of European liberties as Louis XIV. His 
 heroism shone brilliantly in defeat and disaster, and his courage 
 and exertion never flagged when all Europe desponded, and 
 when he himself labored under all the pains and lassitude of 
 protracted disease. He died serenely, but hiding from his attend- 
 ants, as he did all his days, the profoundest impressions which 
 agitated his earnest and heroic soul. 
 22* 
 
258 SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND JOHN LOCKE. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 Among the grear* men whom he encouraged and rewarded, 
 may be mentioned the historian Burnet, whom he made Bishop of 
 Salisbury, and Tillotson and Tennison, whom he elevated to 
 archiepiscopal thrones. Dr. South and Dr. Bentley also adorned 
 this age of eminent divines. The great poets of the period were 
 Prior, Dryden, Swift, and Pope, who, however, are numbered 
 more frequently among the wits of the reign of Anne. Robert 
 Boyle distinguished himself for experiments in natural science, and 
 zeal for Christian knowledge ; and Christopher Wren for his 
 genius in architectural art. But the two great lights of this reign 
 were, doubtless, Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke, to whom the 
 realm of natural and intellectual philosophy is more indebted than 
 to any other men of genius from the time of Bacon. The discov- 
 eries of Newton are scarcely without a parallel, and he is generally 
 regarded as the greatest mathematical intellect that England has 
 produced. To him the world is indebted for the binomial theorem, 
 discovered at the age of twenty-two ; for the invention of fluxions ; 
 for the demonstration of the law of gravitation ; and for the dis- 
 covery of the different refrangibility of rays of light. His treatise 
 on Optics and his Principia, in which he brought to light the new 
 theoiy of the universe, place him at the head of modern philoso- 
 phers — on a high vantage ground, to which none have been 
 elevated, of his age, with the exception of Leibnitz and Galileo. 
 But his greatest glory was his modesty, and the splendid tribute he 
 rendered to the truths of Christianity, whose importance and 
 sublime beauty he was ever mosLproud to acknowledge in an age 
 of levity and indifference. 
 
 John Locke is a name which almost exclusively belongs to the 
 reign of William III., and he will also ever be honorably men- 
 tioned in the constellation of the very great geniuses and Christians 
 of the world. His treatises on Religious Toleration are the most 
 masterly ever written, while his Essay on the Human Understand- 
 ing is a great system of truth, as complete, original, and logical, 
 in the department of mental science, as was the system of Calvin 
 in the realm of theology. Locke's Essay has had its enemies and 
 detractors, and, while many eminent men have dissented from it, 
 it nevertheless remains, one of the most enduring and proudest 
 monuments of the immortal and ever-expanding intellect of man. 
 
CHAP. XVII.] ANNE. 259 
 
 On the death of William III., (1702,) the Princess Anne, daughter 
 of James II., peaceably ascended the throne. She was thirty-seven 
 years of age, a woman of great weaknesses, and possessing but 
 few interesting qualities. Nevertheless, her reign is radiant with 
 the glory of military successes, and adorned with eveiy grace of 
 fancy, wit, and style in literature. The personal talent and exclu- 
 sive ambition of William suppressed the national genius ; but the 
 incapacity of Anne gave scope for the commanding abilities of 
 Marlborough in the field, and Godolphin in the cabinet. 
 
 The memorable events connected with her reign of twelve 
 years, were, the war of the Spanish succession, in which Marlbo- 
 rough humbled the pride of Louis XIV. ; the struggles of the 
 Whigs and Tories ; the union of Scotland with England ; the dis- 
 cussion and settlement of great questions pertaining to the consti- 
 tution, and the security of the Protestant religion ; and the impulse 
 which literature received from the constellation of learned men 
 who were patronized by the government, and who filled an unusual 
 place in public estimation. 
 
 In a political point of view, this reign is but the continuation of 
 the reign of William, since the -same objects were pursued, the 
 same policy was adopted, and the same great characters were 
 intrusted with power. The animating object of William's life 
 was the suppression of the power of Louis XIV. ; and this object 
 was never lost sight of by the English government under the 
 reign of Anne. 
 
 Hence the great political event of the reign was the war of the 
 Spanish succession, which, however, pertains to the reign of Louis 
 as well as to that of Anne. It was during this war that the great 
 battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet attested the genius 
 of the greatest military commander that England had ever sent 
 into the field. It was this war which exhausted the energies and 
 resources of all the contending states of Europe, and created a 
 necessity for many years of slumbering repose. It was this war 
 which completed the humiliation of a monarch who aspired to the 
 sovereignty of Europe, which preserved the balance of power, and 
 secured the liberties of Europe. Yet it was a war which laid the 
 foundation of the national debt, inflamed the English mind with 
 a mad passion for military glory, which demoralized the nation, 
 
260 THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH. [cHAP. XVII. 
 
 and fostered those international jealousies and enmities which are 
 still a subject of reproach to the two most powerful states of 
 Europe. This war made England a more prominent actor on 
 the arena of European strife, and perhaps contributed to her po- 
 litical aggrandizement. The greatness of the British empire 
 begins to date from this period, although this greatness is more 
 to be traced to colonial possessions, manufactures, and commercial 
 wealth, than to the victories of Marlborough. 
 
 It will ever remain an open question whether or not it was wise 
 in the English nation to continue so long the struggle with Louis 
 XIV. In a financial and material point of view, the war proved 
 disastrous. But it is difficult to measure the real greatness of a 
 country, and solid and enduring blessings, by pounds, shillings, and 
 pence. All such calculations, however statistically startling, are 
 erroneous and deceptive. The real strength of nations consists in 
 loyalty, patriotism, and public spirit ; and no sacrifices can be too 
 great to secure these unbought blessings — " this cheap defence." 
 If the victories of Marlborough secured these, gave dignity to the 
 British name, and an honorable and lofty self-respect to the Eng- 
 lish people, they were not dearly purchased. But the settlement 
 of these questions cannot be easily made. 
 
 As to the remarkable genius of the great man who infused 
 courage into the English mind, there can be no question. Marl- 
 borough, in spite of his many faults, his selfishness and parsimony, 
 his ambition and duplicity, will ever enjoy an enviable fame. He 
 was not so great a moral hero as William, nor did he contend against 
 such superior forces as the royal hero. But he was a great hero, 
 nevertheless. His glory was reached by no sudden indulgence of 
 fortune, by, no fortunate movements, by no accidental circum- 
 stances. His fame was progressive. He never made a great 
 mistake ; he never lost the soundness of his judgment. No suc- 
 cess unduly elated him, and no reverses discouraged him. He 
 never forgot the interests of the nation in his own personal annoy- 
 ances or enmities. He was magnanimously indulgent to those 
 Dutch deputies who thwarted his measures, criticized his plans, 
 and lectured him on the art of war. The glory of his country was 
 the prevailing desire of his soul. He was as great in diplomacy 
 and statesmanship as on the field of Blenheim. He ever sacri- 
 
CHAP. XVII.] CHARACTER OF MARLBOROUGH. 261 
 
 ficed his feelings as a victorious general to his duty as a subject. 
 His sagacity was only equalled by his prudence and patience, and 
 these contributed, as well as his personal bravery, to his splendid 
 successes, which secured for him magnificent rewards — palaces 
 and parks, peerages, and a nation's gratitude and praise. 
 
 But there is a limit to all human glory. Marlborough was under* 
 mined by his political enemies, and he himself lost the confidence 
 of the queen whom he had served, partly by his own impe- 
 rious conduct, and partly from the overbearing insolence of his 
 wife. From the height of popular favor, he descended to the 
 depth of popular hatred. He was held up, by the sarcasm of the 
 writers whom he despised, to derision and obloquy ; was accused 
 of insolence, cruelty, ambition, extortion, and avarice, discharged 
 from his high offices, and obliged to seek safety by exile. He 
 never regained the confidence of the nation, although, when he 
 died, parliament decreed him a splendid funeral, and a grave in 
 Westminster Abbey. 
 
 In private life, he was amiable and kind ; was patient under con- 
 tradiction, and placid in manners ; had great self-possession, and 
 extraordinary dignity. His person was beautiful, and his address 
 commanding. He was feared as a general, but loved as a man. 
 He never lost his affections for his home, and loved to idolatry his 
 imperious wife, his equal, if not superior, in the knowledge of 
 human nature. These qualities as a man, a general, and a 
 statesman, in spite of his defects, have immortalized his name, 
 and he will, for a long time to come, be called, and called with 
 justice, the great Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 Scarcely less than he, was Lord Godolphin, the able prime 
 minister of Anne, with whom Marlborough was united by family 
 ties, by friendship, by official relations, and by interest. He was 
 a Tory by profession, but a Whig in his policy. He rose with 
 Marlborough, and fell with him, being an unflinching advocate for 
 the prosecution of the war to the utmost limits, for which his 
 o-overnment was distasteful to the Tories. His life was not 
 stainless; but, in an age of corruption, he _ ably administered the 
 treasury department, and had control of unbounded wealth, 
 without becoming rich — the highest praise which can ever be 
 awarded to a minister of finance. It was only -through the 
 
262 "WHIGS AND TORIES. [cHAP. XVII. 
 
 cooperation of this sagacious and far-sighted statesman that Marl- 
 borough himself was enabled to prosecute his brilliant military 
 career. 
 
 It was during his administration that party animosity was at its 
 height — the great struggle which has been going on, in England, 
 for nearly two hundred years, between the Whigs and Tories. 
 These names originated in the reign of Charles II., and were terms 
 of reproach. The court party reproached their antagonists with 
 their affinity to the fanatical conventicle rs in Scotland, who were 
 known by the name of the Whigs ; and the country party pretended 
 to find a resemblance between the courtiers and the Popish banditti 
 of Ireland, to whom the appellation of Tory was affixed. The 
 High Church party and the advocates of absolutism belonged to 
 the Tories ; the more liberal party and the advocates of constitu- 
 tional reform, to the Whigs. The former were conservative, the 
 latter professed a sympathy with improvements. But the leaders 
 of both parties were among the greatest nobles in the realm, and 
 probably cared less for any great innovation than they did for 
 themselves. These two great parties, in the progress of society, 
 have changed their views, and the opinions once held by the 
 Whigs were afterwards adopted by the Tories. On the whole, 
 the Whigs were in advance in liberality of mind, and in enlightened 
 plans of government. But both parties, in England, have ever 
 been aristocratic, and both have felt nearly an equal disgust of 
 popular influences. Charles and James sympathized with the 
 Tories more than with the Whigs ; but William III. was supported 
 by the Whigs, who had the ascendency in his reign. Queen 
 Anne was a Tory, as was to be expected from a princess of the 
 house of Stuart ; but, in the early part of her reign, was obliged 
 to yield to the supremacy of the Whigs. The advocates for war 
 were Whigs, and those who desired peace were Tories. The 
 Whigs looked to the future glory of the country ; the Tories, to the 
 expenses which war created. The Tories at last got the ascendency, 
 and expelled Godolphin, Marlborough, and Sunderland from power. 
 
 Of the Toiy leaders, Harley, (Earl of Oxford,) St. John, (Lord 
 Bolingbroke,) the Duke of Buckingham, and the Duke of Ormond, 
 the Earl of Rochester, and Lord Dartmouth, were the most 
 prominent ; but this Tory party was itself divided, in consequence 
 
CHAP. XVII.] DR. HENRY SACHEVERELL. 263 
 
 of jealousies between the chiefs, the intrigues of Harley, and the 
 measureless ambition of Bolingbroke. Under the ascendency of 
 the Tories the treaty of Utrecht was made, now generally con- 
 demned by historians of both Whig and Tory politics. It was 
 disproportioned to the success of the war, although it secured the 
 ends of the grand alliance. 
 
 One of the causes which led to the overthrow of the Whigs 
 was the impeachment and trial of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, an 
 event which excited intense interest at the time, and, though insig- 
 nificant in itself, touched some vital principles of the constitution. 
 
 This divine was a man of mean capacity, and of little reputation 
 for learning or virtue. He had been, during the reign of William, 
 an outrageous Whig ; but, finding his services disregarded, he 
 became a violent Tory. By a sort of plausible effrontery and 
 scurrilous rhetoric, he obtained the applause of the people, and the 
 valuable living of St. Saviour, Southwark. The audacity of his 
 railings against the late king and the revolution at last attracted 
 the notice of government ; and for two sermons which he printed, 
 and in which he inculcated, without measure, the doctrine of passive 
 obedience, consigned Dissenters to eternal damnation, and abused 
 the great principle of religious toleration, he was formally im- 
 peached. All England was excited by the trial. The queen 
 herself privately attended, to encourage a man who was persecuted 
 for his loyalty, and persecuted for defending his church. The 
 finest orators and lawyers of the day put forth all their energies. 
 Bishop Atterbury wrote for Sacheverell his defence, which was 
 endorsed by a conclave of High Church divines. The result of the 
 trial was the condemnation of the doctor, and with it the fall of his 
 adversaries. He was suspended for three years, but his defeat 
 was a triumph. He was received, in college halls and private 
 mansions, with the pomp of a sovereign and the reverence of a 
 saint. His sentence made his enemies unpopular. The great 
 body of the English nation, wedded to High Church principles, 
 took sides in his favor. But the arguments of his accusers 
 developed some great principles — led to the assertion of the 
 doctrines of toleration ; for, if passive obedience to the rulers of 
 the state and church were obligatory, then all Dissenters might be 
 curbed and suppressed. The Whig managers of the trial, by 
 
264 UNION OF SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 opposing the bigoted 4 Churchmen, aided the cause of dissent, justi- 
 fied the revolution, and upheld the conquest by William III. And 
 their speeches are upon record, that they asserted the great 
 principles of civil and religious liberty, in the face of all the 
 authority, dignity, and wisdom of the realm. It is true they lost 
 as a party, on account of the bigotry of the times ; but they 
 furnished another pillar to uphold the constitution, and ad- 
 duced new and powerful arguments in support of constitutional 
 liberty. The country gained, if they, as a party, lost ; and though 
 Sacheverell was lauded by his church, his conviction was a 
 triumph to the friends of freedom. Good resulted in many other 
 ways. Political leaders learned moral wisdom ; they saw the 
 folly of persecuting men for libels, when such men had the sym- 
 pathy of the people ; that such persecutions were undignified, and 
 that, while they gained their end, they lost more by victory than 
 by defeat. The trial of Sacheverell, while it brought to view 
 more clearly some great constitutional truths, also more effectually 
 advanced the liberty of the press ; for, surely, restriction on the 
 press is a worse evil, than the violence and vituperation of 
 occasional libels. 
 
 The great domestic event of this reign was doubtless the 
 union of Scotland and England ; a consummation of lasting peace 
 between the two countries, which William III. had proposed. 
 Nothing could be more beneficent for both the countries ; and the 
 only wonder is, that it was not done before, when James II. 
 ascended the English throne ; and nothing then, perhaps, prevented 
 it, but the bitter jealousy which had so long existed between these 
 countries ; a jealousy, dislike, and prejudice which have hardly 
 yet passed away. 
 
 Scotland, until the reign of James II., was theoretically and 
 practically independent of England, but was not so fortunately 
 placed, as the latter country, for the development of energies. 
 The country was smaller, more barren, and less cultivated. The 
 people were less civilized, and had less influence on the political 
 welfare of the state. The aristocracy were more powerful, and 
 were more jealous of royal authority. There were constant 
 feuds and jealousies between dominant classes, which checked the 
 growth in political importance, wealth, and civilization. But the 
 
CHAP. XVII.] DUKE OF HAMILTON. 265 
 
 people were more generally imbued with the ultra principles of' 
 the Reformation, were more religious, and cherished a peculiar 
 attachment to the Presbyterian form of church government, and 
 a peculiar hatred of every thing which resembled Roman 
 Catholicism. They were, moreover, distinguished for patriotism, 
 and had great jealousy of English influences. 
 
 James II. was the legitimate King of Scotland, as well as of 
 England ; but he soon acquired a greater love for England, than 
 he retained for his native country ; and England being the 
 greater country, the interests of Scotland were frequently 
 sacrificed to those of England. 
 
 Queen Anne, as the daughter of James II., was also the legiti- 
 mate sovereign of Scotland ; and, on her decease, the Scotch were 
 not bound to acknowledge the Elector of Hanover as their legiti- 
 mate king. 
 
 Many ardent and patriotic Scotchmen, including the Duke of 
 Hamilton and Fletcher of Saltoun, deemed it a favorable time to 
 assert, on the death of Queen Anne, their national independence, 
 since the English government was neither just nor generous to the 
 lesser country. 
 
 Under these circumstances, there were many obstacles to a 
 permanent union, and it was more bitterly opposed in Scotland 
 than in England. The more patriotic desired complete independ 
 ence. Many were jealous of the superior prosperity of England 
 The people in the Highlands and the north of Scotland were Jaco 
 binical in their principles, and were attached to the Stuart dynasty 
 The Presbyterians feared the influence of English Episcopacy 
 and Scottish peers deprecated a servile dependence on the parlia^ 
 ment of England. 
 
 But the English government, on the whole, much as it hated 
 Scotch Presbyterianism and Scotch influence, desired a union, in 
 order to secure the peaceful succession of the house of Hanover ; 
 for the north of Scotland was favorable to the Stuarts, and without 
 a union, English liberties would be endangered by Jacobinical 
 intrigues. English statesmen felt this, and used every measure to 
 secure this end. 
 
 The Scotch were overreached. Force, bribery, and corruption 
 were resorted to. The Duke of Hamilton proved a traitor, and the 
 23 
 
266 UNION OF SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 union was effected -f a union exceedingly important to the peace of 
 both countries, but especially desirable to England. Important con- 
 cessions were made by the English, to which they were driven 
 only by fear. They might have ruled Scotland as they did Ire- 
 land, but for the intrepidity and firmness of the Scotch, who, 
 while negotiations were pending, passed the famous Act of Security, 
 by which the Scottish parliament decreed the succession in Scot- 
 land, on the death of the queen, open and elective ; the independ- 
 ence and power of parliaments ; freedom in trade and commerce ; 
 and the liberty of Scotland to engage or not in the English conti- 
 nental wars. The English parliament retaliated, indeed, by an act 
 restricting the trade of Scotland, and declaring Scotchmen aliens 
 throughout the English dominions. But the conflicts between the 
 Whigs and Tories induced government to repeal the act ; and the 
 commissioners for the union secured their end. 
 
 It was agreed, in the famous treaty they at last effected, that 
 the two kingdoms of England and Scotland be united into one, by 
 the name of Great Britain. 
 
 That the succession to the United Kingdom shall remain to the 
 Princess Sophia, Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of 
 her body, being Protestants ; and that all Papists, and persons 
 marrying Papists, shall be excluded from, and be forever incapable 
 of inheriting, the crown of Great Britain ; 
 
 That the whole people of. Great Britain shall be represented by 
 one parliament, in which sixteen peers and forty-five commoners, 
 chosen for Scotland, should sit and vote ; 
 
 That the subjects of the United Kingdom shall enjoy an entire 
 freedom and intercourse of trade and navigation, and reciprocal 
 communication of all other rights, privileges, and advantages be- 
 longing to the subjects of either kingdom ; 
 
 That the laws, in regard to public rights and civil government, 
 shall be the same in both countries, but that no alteration shall be 
 made in the laws respecting private rights, unless for the evident 
 utility of the subjects residing in Scotland ; 
 
 That the Court of Session, and all other courts of judicature 
 in Scotland, remain as before the union, subject, however, to 
 such regulations as may be made by the parliament of Great 
 Britain. 
 
CHAP. XVII.] WITS OF QUEEN ANNE'S KEIGN. 267 
 
 Beside these permanent regulations, a sum of three hundred 
 and ninety-eight thousand pounds was granted to Scotland, as an 
 equivalent to the augmentation of the customs and excise. 
 
 By this treaty, the Scotch became identified with the English 
 in interest. They lost their independence, but they gained secu- 
 rity and peace ; and rose in wealth and consequence. The nation, 
 moreover, was burdened by the growth of the national debt. The 
 advantage was mutual, but England gained the greater advantage 
 by shifting a portion of her burdens on Scotland, by securing the 
 hardy people of that noble country to fight her battles, and by 
 converting a nation of enemies into a nation of friends. 
 
 We come now to glance at those illustrious men who adorned 
 the literature of England in this brilliant age, celebrated for polit- 
 ical as well as literary writings. 
 
 Of these, Addison, Swift, Bolingbroke, Bentley, Warburton, 
 Arbuthnot, Gay, Pope, Tickell, Halifax, Parnell, Rowe, Prior, 
 Congreve, Steele, and Berkeley, were the most distinguished. 
 Dryden belonged to the preceding age ; to the period of license 
 and gayety — the greatest but most immoral of all the great poets 
 of England, from the time of Milton to that of Pope. 
 
 The wits of Queen Anne's reign were political writers as well 
 as poets, and their services were sought for and paid by the great 
 statesmen of the times, chiefly of the Tory party. Marlborough 
 neglected the poets, and they contributed to undermine his power. 
 
 Of these wits the most distinguished and respectable was Addison, 
 born 1672. He was well educated, and distinguished himself at 
 Oxford, and was a fellow of Magdalen College. His early verses, 
 which would now be pronounced very inferior, however attracted 
 the notice of Dryden, then the great autocrat of letters, and the oracle 
 of the literary clubs. At the age of twenty-seven, Addison was pro- 
 vided with a pension from the Whig government, and sent off" on 
 his travels. He was afterwards made secretary to Lord Halifax, 
 and elected a member of the House of Commons, but was never 
 able to make a speech. He, however, made up for his failure as an 
 orator by his power as a writer, being a perfect master of elegant 
 satire. He was also charming in private conversation, and his 
 society was much sought by eminent statesmen, scholars, and 
 noblemen. In 1708, he became secretary for Ireland, and, while 
 
268 SWIFT. [chap. XVII. 
 
 he resided at Dublin, wrote those delightful papers on which his 
 fame chiefly rests. Not as the author of Rosamond, nor of Latin 
 verses, nor of the treatise on Medals, nor of Letters from Italy, nor 
 of the tragedy of Cato, would he now be known to us. His glory 
 is derived from the Tatler and Spectator — an entirely new spe- 
 cies of writing in his age, original, simple, and beautiful, but 
 chiefly marked for polished and elegant satire against the follies 
 and bad taste of his age. Moreover, his numbers of the Spectator 
 are distinguished for elevation of sentiment, and moral purity, 
 without harshness, and without misanthropy. He wrote three 
 sevenths of that immortal production, and on every variety of 
 subject, without any attempt to be eloquent or intense, without 
 pedantry and without affectation. The success of the work was 
 immense, and every one who could afford it, had it served on the 
 breakfast table with the tea and toast. It was the general subject 
 of conversation in all polite circles, and did much to improve the 
 taste and reform the morals of the age. There was nothing which 
 he so severely ridiculed as the show of learning without the reality, 
 coxcombry in conversation, extravagance in dress, female flirts 
 and butterflies, gay and fashionable women, and all false modesty 
 and affectation. But he blamed without bitterness, and reformed 
 without exhortation, while he exalted what was simple, and painted 
 in most beautiful colors the virtues of contentment, simplicity, 
 sincerity, and cheerfulness. 
 
 His latter days were imbittered by party animosity, and the 
 malignant stings of literary rivals. Nor was he happy in his 
 domestic life, having married a proud countess, who did not appre- 
 ciate his genius. He also became addicted to intemperate habits. 
 Still he was ever honored and respected, and, when he died, was 
 buried in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 Next to Addison in fame, and superior in genius, was Swift, born 
 in Ireland, in 1677, educated at Dublin, and patronized by Lord 
 Temple. He was a bitter and zealous Tory, and was rewarded, 
 finally, with the deanery of St. Patrick's. He was very useful to 
 his party by his political writings ; but his fame rests chiefly on his 
 poetry, and his Gulliver's Travels, marked and disgraced by his 
 savage sarcasm on woman, and his vilification of human nature. He 
 was a great master of venomous satire. He spared neither friends 
 
CHAP. XVII.] POPE- — BOLINGBEOKE GAY PRIOR. 269 
 
 nor enemies. He was ambitious, misanthropic and selfish. His 
 treatment of woman was disgraceful and heartless in the extreme. 
 But he was witty, learned, and natural. He was never known to 
 laugh, while he convulsed the circles into which he was thrown. 
 He was rough to his servants, insolent to inferiors, and sycophantic 
 to men of rank. His distinguishing power was his unsparing and 
 unscrupulous sarcasm ; and his invective was as dreadful as the 
 personal ridicule of Voltaire. As a poet he was respectable, and 
 as a writer he was original. He was indifferent to literary fame, 
 and never attempted any higher style of composition than that in 
 which he could excel. His last days were miserable, and he 
 lingered a long while in hopeless and melancholy idiocy. 
 
 Pope properly belongs to a succeeding age, though his first 
 writings attracted considerable attention during the life of Addison, 
 who first raised him from obscurity. He is the greatest, after 
 Diyden, of all the second class poets of his country. His Rape 
 of the Lock, the most original of his poems, established his 
 fame. But his greatest works were the translations of the Iliad 
 and Odyssey, the Dunciad, and his Essay on Man. He was 
 well paid for his labors, and lived in a beautiful villa at Twick- 
 enham, the friend of Bolingbroke, and the greatest literary 
 star of his age. But he was bitter and satirical, irritable, parsimo- 
 nious, and vain. As a versifier, he has never been equalled. He 
 died in 1744, in the Romish faith, beloved but by few, and disliked 
 by the world generally. 
 
 Bolingbroke was not a poet, but a man of vast genius, a great 
 statesman, and a great writer on history and political philosophy, 
 a man of' most fascinating manners and conversation, brilliant, 
 witty, and learned, but unprincipled and intriguing, the great 
 leader of the Toiy party. Gay, as a poet, was respectable, but 
 poor, unfortunate, a hanger on of great people, and miserably paid 
 for his sycophancy. His fame rests on his Fables and his Beg- 
 gar's Opera. Prior first made himself distinguished by his satire 
 called A City Mouse and a Country Mouse, aimed against Dryden. 
 He was well rewarded by government, and was sent as minister to 
 Paris. Like most of the wits of his time, he was convivial, and 
 not always particular in the choice of his associates. Humor was 
 the natural turn of his mind. Steele was editor of the Spectator, 
 23* 
 
270 WRITERS OF THE AGE OF QUEEN ANNE. [CHAP. XVII. 
 
 and wrote some excellent papers, although vastly inferior to Addi- 
 son's. He is the father of the periodical essay, was a man of 
 fashion and pleasure, and had great experience in the follies and 
 vanities of the world. It is doubtful whether the writings of the 
 great men who adorned the age of Anne will ever regain the 
 ascendency they once enjoyed, since they have all been surpassed 
 in succeeding times. They had not the fire, enthusiasm, or genius 
 which satisfies the wants of the present generation. As poets, 
 they had no, greatness of fancy ; and as philosophers, they were 
 cold and superficial. Nor did they write for the people, but for 
 the great, with whom they sought to associate, by whose praises 
 they were consoled, and by whose bread they were sustained. 
 They wrote for a class, and that class alone, that chiefly seeks to 
 avoid ridicule and abstain from absurdity, that never attempts the 
 sublime, and never sinks to the ridiculous ; a class keen of ob- 
 servation, fond of the satirical, and indifferent to all institutions and 
 enterprises which have for their object the elevation of the masses, 
 or the triumph of the abstract principles of truth and justice. 
 
 References. — Lord Mahon's History of England, which commences 
 Avith the peace of Utrecht, is one of the most useful and interesting works 
 which have lately appeared. Smollett's continuation of Hume should be 
 consulted, although the author was greater as a novelist than as an histo- 
 rian. Burnet's history on this period is a standard. Hallam should be 
 read in reference to all constitutional questions. Coxe's Life of Marlbo- 
 rough throws great light on the period, and is very valuable. Macaulay's 
 work will, of course, be read. See, also, Bolingbroke's Letters, and the 
 Duke of Berwick's Memoirs. A chapter in the Pictorial History is very 
 good as to literary history and the progress of the arts and sciences. See, 
 also, Johnson's Lives of the Poets ; Nichols's Life of Addison ; Scott's 
 Life of Swift ; Macaulay's Essay on Addison ; and the Spectator and 
 Tatler. 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] EARLY HISTORY OF RUSSIA. 271 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 PETER THE GREAT, AND RUSSIA. 
 
 While Louis XIV. was prosecuting his schemes of aggrandize- 
 ment, and William III. was opposing those schemes ; while Villeroy, 
 Villars, Marlborough, and Eugene were contending, at the head of 
 great armies, for their respective masters; a new power was 
 arising at the north, destined soon to become prominent among 
 the great empires of the world. The political importance of 
 Russia was not appreciated at the close of the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, until the great resources of the country were brought to the 
 view of Europe by the extraordinary genius of Peter the Great. 
 
 The histoiy of Russia, before the reign of this great prince, has 
 not excited -much interest, and is not particularly eventful or 
 important. The Russians are descended from the ancient Sclavonic 
 race, supposed to be much inferior to the Germanic or Teutonic 
 tribes, to whom most of the civilized nations of Europe trace their 
 origin. 
 
 The first great event in Russian history is the nominal conver- 
 sion of a powerful king to Christianity, in the tenth century, named 
 Vladimir, whose reign was a mixture of cruelty, licentiousness, and 
 heroism. Seeing the necessity of some generally recognized 
 religion, he sent ten of his most distinguished men into all the 
 various countries then known, to examine their religious systems. 
 Being semi-barbarians, they were disposed to recommend that form 
 which had the most imposing ceremonial, and appealed most forci- 
 bly to the senses. The commissioners came to Mecca, but soon 
 left with contempt, since Mohammedanism then made too great 
 demands upon the powers of self-control, and prohibited the use 
 of many things to which the barbarians were attached. They 
 were no better pleased with the Manichean philosophy, which then 
 extensively prevailed in the East ; for this involved the settlement 
 of abstract ideas, for which barbarians had no relish. They dis- 
 liked Roman Catholicism, on account of the arrogant claims of the 
 
272 THE TARTAR CONQUEST. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 pope. Judaism was spurned, because it had no country, and its 
 professors were scattered over the face of the earth. But the 
 lofty minarets of St. Sophia, and the extravagant magnificence of 
 the Greek worship, filled the commissioners with admiration ; 
 and they easily induced Vladimir to adopt the forms of the 
 Greek Church ; which has ever since been the established religion 
 of Russia. But Christianity, in its corrupted form, failed to destroy, 
 and scarcely alleviated, the traits of barbarous life. Old super- 
 stitions and vices prevailed ; nor were the Russian territories on an 
 equality with the Gothic kingdoms of Europe, in manners, arts, 
 learning, laws, or piety. 
 
 When Genghis Khan, with his Tartar hordes, overran the world, 
 Russia was subdued, and Tartar princes took possession of the 
 throne of the ancient czars. But the Russian princes, in the 
 thirteenth century, recovered their ancient power. Alexander 
 Nevsky performed exploits of great brilliancy ; gained important 
 victories over Danes, Swedes, Lithuanians, and Teutonic knights ; 
 and greatly enlarged the boundaries of his kingdom. In the four- 
 teenth century, Moscow became a powerful city, to which was 
 transferred the seat of government, which before was Novgorod. 
 Under the successor of Ivan Kalita, the manners, laws, and insti- 
 tutions of the Russians became fixed, and the absolute power of 
 the czars was established. Underlvan III., who ascended the Mus- 
 covite throne in 1462, the Tartar rule was exterminated, and the 
 various provinces and principalities, of which Russia was com- 
 posed, were brought under a central government. The Kremlin, 
 with its mighty towers and imposing minarets, arose in all the 
 grandeur of Eastern art and barbaric strength. The mines of the 
 country were worked, the roads cleared of banditti, and a code of 
 laws established. The veil which concealed Russia from the rest 
 of Europe was rent. An army of three hundred thousand men 
 was enlisted, Siberia was discovered, the printing press introduced, 
 and civilization commenced. But the czar was, nevertheless, a 
 brutal tyrant and an abandoned libertine, who massacred his son, 
 executed his nobles, and destroyed his cities. 
 
 His successors were disgraced by every crime which degrades 
 humanity ; and the whole population remained in rudeness and 
 barbarism, superstition and ignorance. The clergy wielded enor- 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] ACCESSION OF PETEE THE GREAT. 273 
 
 mous power ; which, however, was rendered subservient to the 
 interests of absolutism. 
 
 Such was Russia, when Peter, the son of Alexis Michaelovitz, 
 ascended the throne, in 1682 — a boy, ten years of age. He 
 early exhibited great sagacity and talent, but was addicted to gross 
 pleasures. These, strangely, did not enervate him, or prevent him 
 from making considerable attainments. But he was most distin- 
 guished for a military spirit, which was treated with contempt by 
 the Regent Sophia, daughter of Alexis by a first marriage. As 
 soon, however, as her eyes were open to his varied studies and 
 his ambitious spirit, she became jealous, and attempted to secure 
 his assassination. In this she failed, and the youthful sovereign 
 reigned supreme in Moscow, at the age of seventeen. 
 
 No sooner did he assume the reins of empire, than his genius 
 blazed forth with singular brilliancy, and the rapid development 
 of his powers was a subject of universal wonder. Full of courage 
 and energy, he found nothing too arduous for him to undertake ; 
 and he soon conceived the vast project of changing the whole 
 system of his government, and reforming the manners of his 
 subjects. 
 
 He first directed his attention to the art of war, and resolved to 
 increase the military strength of his empire. With the aid of Le 
 Fort, a Swiss adventurer, and Gordon, a Scotch officer, he insti- 
 tuted, gradually, a standing army of twenty thousand men, offi- 
 cered, armed, and disciplined after the European model ; cut off 
 the long beards of the soldiers, took away their robes, and changed 
 their Asiatic dress. 
 
 He then conceived the idea of a navy, which may be traced to 
 his love of sailing in a boat, which he had learned to navigate 
 himself. He studied assiduously the art of ship-building, and 
 soon laid the foundation of a navy. 
 
 His enterprising and innovating spirit created, as it was to be 
 expected, considerable disaffection among the partisans of the old 
 regime — the old officers of the army, and the nobles, stripped of 
 many of their privileges. A rebellion was the consequence ; 
 which, however, was soon suppressed, and the conspirators were 
 executed with unsparing cruelty. 
 
 He then came to the singular resolution of visiting, foreign 
 
274 peter's reforms. [chap, xviii. 
 
 countries, in order t6 acquire useful information, both in respect to 
 the arts of government and the arts of civilization. Many amus- 
 ing incidents are recorded of him in his travels. He journeyed 
 incognito ; clambered up the sides of ships, ascended the rigging, 
 and descended into the hold ; he hired himself out as a workman 
 in Holland, lived on the wretched stipend which he earned as a 
 ship-carpenter, and mastered all the details of ship-building. From 
 Holland he went to England, where he was received with great 
 honor by William III. ; studied the state of manufactures and 
 trades, and sought to gain knowledge on all common subjects. 
 From England he went to Austria, intending to go afterwards 
 to Italy; but he was compelled to return home, on account of 
 a rebellion of the old military guard, called the Strelitz, who 
 were peculiarly disaffected. But he easily suppressed the discon- 
 tents, and punished the old soldiers with unsparing rigor. He even 
 executed thirty with his own hands. 
 
 He then turned himself, in good earnest, to the work of reform. 
 His passions were military, and he longed to conquer kingdoms 
 and cities. But he saw no probability of success, unless he could 
 first civilize his subjects, and teach the soldiers the great improve- 
 ments in the art of war. In order to conquer, he resolved first to 
 reform his nation. His desires were selfish, but happened to be 
 directed into channels which benefited his country. Like Napo- 
 leon, his ruling passion was that of the aggrandizement of himself 
 and nation. But Providence designed that his passions should be 
 made subservient to the welfare of his race. It is to his glory 
 that he had enlargement of mind sufficient to perceive the true 
 sources of national prosperity. To secure this, therefore, became 
 the aim of his life. He became a reformer ; but a reformer, like 
 Hildebrand, of the despotic school. 
 
 The first object of all despots is the improvement of the military 
 force. To effect this, he abolished the old privileges of the 
 soldiers, disbanded them, and drafted them into the new regi- 
 ments, which he had organized on the European plan. 
 
 He found more difficulty in changing the dress of the people, 
 who, generally, wore the long Asiatic robe, and the Tartar beard ; 
 and such was the opposition made by the people, that he was 
 obliged to compromise the matter, and compelled all who would 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] HIS WAR WITH CHARLES XII. 275 
 
 wear beards and robes to pay a heavy tax, except priests and peas- 
 ants ; having granted the indulgence to priests on account of the 
 ceremonial of their worship, and to peasants in order to render 
 their costume ignominious. 
 
 His next important measure was the toleration of all religions, and 
 all sects, with the exception of the Jesuits, whom he hated and 
 feared. He caused the Bible to be translated into the Sclavonic 
 language ; founded a school for the marine, and also institutions 
 for the encouragement of literature and art. He abolished the old 
 and odious laws of marriage, by which women had no liberty in 
 the choice of husbands. He suppressed all useless monasteries ; 
 taxed the clergy as well as the laity ; humiliated the patriarch, and 
 assumed many of his powers. He improved the administration of 
 justice, mitigated laws in relation to woman, and raised her social 
 rank. He established post-offices, boards of trade, a vigorous 
 police, hospitals and almshouses. He humbled the nobility, and 
 abolished many of their privileges ; for which the people honored 
 him, and looked upon him as their benefactor. 
 
 Having organized his army, and effected social reforms, he 
 turned his attention to war and national aggrandizement. 
 
 His first war was with Sweden, then the most powerful of the 
 northern states, and ruled by Charles XII., who, at the age of 
 eighteen, had just ascended the throne. The cause of the war 
 was the desire of aggrandizement on the part of the czar ; the 
 pretence was, the restitution of some lands which Sweden had 
 obtained from Denmark and Poland. Taking advantage of the 
 defenceless state of Sweden, — attacked, at that time, by Denmark 
 on the one side, and by Poland on the other, — Peter invaded the 
 territories of Charles with an army of sixty thousand men, and laid 
 siege to Narva. The Swedish forces were only eight thousand ; 
 but they were veterans, and they were headed by a hero. Not- 
 withstanding the great disproportion between the contending parties, 
 the Russians were defeated, although attacked in their intrench- 
 ments, and all the artillery fell into the hands of the Swedes. The 
 victory at Narva settled the fame of Charles, but intoxicated his 
 mind, and led to a presumptuous self-confidence ; while the defeat 
 of Peter did not discourage him, but braced him to make still 
 greater exertions — one of the numerous instances, so often seen 
 
276 CHARLES XII. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 in human life, whefe defeat is better than victoiy. But the 
 czar was conscious of his strength, and also of his weakness. 
 He knew he had unlimited resources, but that his troops were 
 inexperienced ; and he made up his mind for disasters at the 
 beginning, in the hope of victory in the end. " I know very 
 well," said he, " that the Swedes will have the advantage 
 over us for a considerable time ; but they will teach us, at 
 length, to beat them." The Swede, on the other hand, was 
 intoxicated with victory, and acquired that fatal presumption 
 which finally proved disastrous to himself and to his country. He 
 despised his adversary ; while Peter, without overrating his victo- 
 rious enemy, was led to put forth new energies, and develop the 
 great resources of his nation. He was sure of final success ; and 
 he who can be sustained by the consciousness of ultimate triumph, 
 can ever afford to wait. It is the spirit which sustains the martyr. 
 It constitutes the distinguishing element of enthusiasm and exalted 
 heroism. 
 
 But Peter not only made new military preparations, but prose- 
 cuted his schemes of internal improvement, and projected, after 
 his unfortunate defeat at Narva, the union, by a canal, of the 
 Baltic and Caspian Seas. About this time, he introduced into 
 Russia flocks of Saxony sheep, erected linen and paper manufac- 
 tories, built hospitals, and invited skilful mechanics, of all trades, 
 to settle in his kingdom. But Charles thought only of war and 
 glory, and did not reconstruct or reproduce. He pursued his mil- 
 itary career by invading Poland, then ruled by the Elector of Sax- 
 ony ; while Peter turned his attention to the organization of new 
 armies, melting bells into cannon, constructing fleets, and attending 
 to all the complicated cares of a mighty nation with the most 
 minute assiduity. He drew plans of fortresses, projected military 
 reforms, and inspired his soldiers with his own enthusiasm. And 
 his energy and perseverance were soon rewarded. He captured 
 Marienburgh, a strong city on the confines of Livonia and Ingria ; 
 and among the captives was a young peasant girl, who eventually 
 became the Empress Catharine, and to whose counsels Peter was 
 much indebted for his great success. 
 
 She was the daughter of a poor woman of Livonia ; lost 
 her mother at the age of three years ; and, at that early age, 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] BUILDING OF ST. PETERSBURG. 277 
 
 attracted the notice of the parish clerk, a Lutheran clergyman ; 
 was brought up with his own daughters, and married a young ser- 
 geant of the army, who was killed in the capture of the city. She 
 interested the Russian general, by her intense grief and great 
 beauty ; was taken into his family, and, soon after, won the 
 favor of Prince MenzikofF, the prime minister of the czar; 
 became mistress of his palace ; there beheld Peter himself, 
 captivated him, and was married to him, — at first privately, 
 and afterwards publicly. Her rise, from so obscure a position, 
 in a distant country town, to be the wife of the absolute monarch 
 of an empire of sixty-three millions of people, is the most ex- 
 traordinary in the history of the world. When she enslaved the 
 czar by the power of her charms, she was only seventeen years 
 of age ; two years after the foundations of St. Petersburg were 
 laid. 
 
 The building of this great northern capital was as extraordinary 
 as the other great acts of this monarch. Amid the marshes, at 
 the mouth of the Neva, a rival city to the ancient metropolis of 
 the empire arose in five months. But one hundred thousand 
 people perished during the first year, in consequence of the sever- 
 ity of their labors, and the pestilential air of the place. The new 
 city was an object of as great disgust to the nobles of Russia and 
 the inhabitants of the older cities, as it was the delight and pride 
 of the czar, who made it the capital of his vast dominions. And 
 the city was scarcely built, before its great commercial advantages 
 were appreciated ; and vessels from all parts of the world, freighted 
 with the various treasures of its different kingdoms and coun- 
 tries, appeared in the harbor of Cronstadt. 
 
 Charles XII. looked with contempt on the Herculean labors of 
 his rival to civilize and enrich his country, and remarked " that the 
 czar might amuse himself as he saw fit in building a city, but that 
 he should soon take it from him, and set fire to his wooden house ; " 
 a bombastic boast, which, like most boasting, came most signally 
 to nought. 
 
 Indeed, success now turned in favor of Peter, whose forces had 
 been constantly increasing, while those of Charles had been de- 
 creasing. City after city fell into the hands of Peter, and whole 
 24 
 
278 NEW WAR WITH SWEDEN. [CHAP. XVJII. 
 
 provinces were conquered from Sweden. Soon all Ingria was 
 added to the empire of the czar, the government of which 
 was intrusted to Menzikoff, a man of extraordinary abilities, 
 raised from obscurity, as a seller of pies in the streets of Moscow, 
 to be a prince of the empire. His elevation was a great mortifi- 
 cation to the old and proud nobility. But Peter not only endeav- 
 ored to reward and appropriate merit, but to humble the old 
 aristocracy, who were averse to his improvements. And Peter 
 was as cold and haughty to them, as he was free and companion- 
 able with his meanest soldiers. All great despots are indifferent 
 to grades of rank, when their own elevation is above envy or the 
 reach of ambition. The reward of merit by the czar, if it alien- 
 ated the affections of his nobles, increased the veneration and 
 enthusiasm of the people, who are, after all, the great permanent 
 foundation on which absolute power rests ; illustrated by the em- 
 pire of the popes, as well as the despotism of Napoleon. 
 
 While Peter contended, with various success, with the armies 
 of Sweden, he succeeded in embroiling Sweden in a war with 
 Poland, and in diverting Charles from the invasion of Russia. 
 Had Charles, at first, and perseveringly, concentrated all his 
 strength in an invasion of Russia, he might have changed the 
 politics of Europe. But he was induced to invade Poland, and 
 soon drove the luxurious and cowardly monarch from his capital 
 and throne, and then turned towards Russia, to play the part of 
 Alexander. But he did not find a Darius in the czar, who was 
 ready to meet him, at the head of immense armies. 
 
 The Russian forces amounted to one hundred thousand men ; 
 the Swedish to eighty thousand, and they were veterans. Peter 
 did not venture to risk the fate of his empire, by a pitched battle, 
 with such an army of victorious troops. So he attempted a strata- 
 gem, and succeeded. He decoyed the Swedes into a barren and 
 wasted territory ; and Charles, instead of marching to Moscow, as 
 he ought to have done, followed his expected prey where he could 
 get no provisions for his men, or forage for his horses. Exhausted 
 by fatigue and famine, his troops drooped in the pursuit, and even 
 suffered themselves to be diverted into still more barren sections. 
 Under these circumstances, they were defeated in a disastrous 
 battle. Charles, struck with madness, refused to retreat. Disasters 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] WAR WITH THE TURKS. 279 
 
 multiplied. The victorious Russians hung upon his rear. The 
 Cossacks cut off his stragglers. The army of eighty thousand 
 melted away to twenty-five thousand. Still the infatuated Swede 
 dreamed of victoiy, and expected to see the troops of his enemy 
 desert. The winter set in with its northern severity, and reduced 
 still further his famished troops. He lost time by marches and 
 counter-marches, without guides, and in the midst of a hostile 
 population. At last he reached Pultowa, a village on the banks 
 of the Vorskla. Peter hastened to meet him, with an army of 
 sixty thousand, and one of the bloodiest battles in the history of 
 war was fought. The Swedes performed miracles of valor. But 
 valor could do nothing against overwhelming strength. A disas- 
 trous defeat was the result, and Charles, with a few regiments, 
 escaped to Turkey. 
 
 Had the battle of Pultowa been decided differently ; had Charles 
 conquered instead of Peter, or had Peter lost his life, the empire 
 of Russia would probably have been replunged into its original 
 barbarism, and the balance of power, in Europe, been changed. 
 
 But Providence, which ordained the civilization of Russia, also 
 ordained that the triumphant czar should not be unduly aggran- 
 dized, and should himself learn lessons of humility. The Turks, 
 in consequence of the intrigues of Charles, and their hereditary 
 jealousy, made war upon Peter, and advanced against him with 
 an army of two hundred and fifty thousand men. His own army 
 was composed of only forty thousand. He was also indiscreet, 
 and soon found himself in the condition of Charles at Pultowa. 
 On the banks of the Pruth, in Moldavia, he was surrounded by the 
 whole Turkish force, and famine or surrender seemed inevitable. 
 It was in this desperate and deplorable condition that he was 
 rescued by the Czarina Catharine, by whose address a treaty 
 was made with his victorious enemy, and Peter was allowed 
 to retire with his army. Charles XII. was indignant beyond 
 measure with the Turkish general, for granting such easy condi- 
 tions, when he had the czar in his power ; and to his reproaches 
 the vizier of the sultan replied, " I have a right to make peace or 
 war ; and our law commands us to grant peace to our enemies, 
 when they implore our clemency." Charles replied with an 
 insult ; and, though a fugitive in the Turkish camp, he threw 
 
280 PETER MAKES A SECOND TOUR. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 himself on a sofa, contemptuously cast his eye on all present, 
 stretched out his leg, and entangled his spur in the vizier's robe ; 
 which insult the magnanimous Turk affected to consider an acci- 
 dent. 
 
 After the defeat of Peter on the banks of the Pruth, he devoted 
 himself with renewed energy to the improvement of his country. 
 He embellished St. Petersburg, his new capital, with palaces, 
 churches, and arsenals. He increased his army and navy, strength- 
 ened himself by new victories, and became gradually master of 
 both sides of the Gulf of Finland, by which his vast empire was 
 protected from invasion. 
 
 He now reached the exalted height to which he had long aspired. 
 He assumed the title of emperor, and his title was universally 
 acknowledged. He then meditated a second tour of Europe, with 
 a view to study the political constitutions of the various states. 
 Thirteen years had elapsed, since, as a young enthusiast, he had 
 visited Amsterdam and London. He now travelled, a second 
 time, with the additional glory of a great name, and in the full 
 maturity of his mind. He visited Hamburg, Stockholm, Lubec, 
 Amsterdam, and Paris. At this latter place he was much noticed. 
 Wherever he went, his course was a triumphal procession. But 
 he disdained flattery, and was wearied with pompous ceremonies. 
 He could not be flattered out of his simplicity, or the zeal of 
 acquiring useful knowledge. He visited all the works of art, and 
 was particularly struck with the Gobelin tapestries and the tomb 
 of Richelieu. " Great man," said he, apostrophizing his image, 
 " I would give half of my kingdom to learn of thee how to govern 
 the other half." His residence in Paris inspired all classes with 
 profound respect ; and from Paris he went to Berlin. There he 
 found sympathy with Frederic I. of Prussia, whose tastes and 
 character somewhat resembled his own ; and from him he learned 
 many useful notions in the art of government. But he was sud- 
 denly recalled from Berlin by the bad conduct of his son Alexis, 
 who was the heir to his throne. He was tried, condemned, dis- 
 graced, humiliated, and disinherited. He probably would have 
 been executed by his hard and rigorous father, had he not died in 
 prison. He was hostile to his father's plans of reform, and inde- 
 cently expressed a wish for his death. The conduct of Peter 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] ELEVATION OF CATHAEINE. 281 
 
 towards him is generally considered harsh and unfeeling ; but it 
 has many palliations, if the good of his subjects and the peace of 
 the realm are more to be desired than the life of an ignominious 
 prince. 
 
 Peter prosecuted his wars and his reforms. The treaty of 
 Neustadt secured to Russia, after twenty years of unbroken war, 
 a vast increase of territory, and placed her at the head of the 
 northern powers. The emperor also enriched his country by 
 opening new branches of trade, constructing canals, rewarding 
 industry, suppressing gambling and mendicity, introducing iron 
 and steel manufacture, building cities, and establishing a vigorous 
 police. 
 
 After having settled the finances and trade of his empire, sub- 
 dued his enemies at home and abroad, and compelled all the nobles 
 and clergy to swear fealty to the person whom he should select 
 as his successor, he appointed his wife, Catharine ; and she was 
 solemnly crowned empress in 1724, he himself, at her inaugura- 
 tion, walking on foot, as captain of her guard. He could not 
 have made a better choice, as she was, in all substantial respects, 
 worthy of the exalted position to which she was raised. 
 
 In about a year after, he died, leaving behind him his principles 
 and a mighty name. Other kings have been greater generals ; 
 but few have derived from war greater success. Some have com- 
 manded larger armies ; but he created those which he commanded. 
 Many have destroyed ; but he reconstructed. He was a despot, 
 but ruled for the benefit of his country. He was disgraced by 
 violent passions, his cruelty was sanguinary, and his tastes were 
 brutal ; but his passions did not destroy his judgment, nor his appe- 
 tites make him luxurious. He was incessantly active and vigilant, 
 his prejudices were few, and his views tolerant and enlightened. 
 He was only cruel when his authority was impeached. His best 
 portraiture is in his acts. He found a country semi-barbarous, 
 convulsed by disorders, a prey to petty tyrannies, weak from dis- 
 union, and trembling before powerful neighbors. He left it a first- 
 class power, freed in a measure from its barbarous customs, im- 
 proved in social life, in arts, in science, and, perhaps, in morals. 
 He left a large and disciplined army, a considerable navy, and 
 numerous institutions for the civilization of the people. He left 
 24* 
 
282 EARLY HISTORY OF SWEDEN. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 more — the moral effect of a great example, of a man in the pos- 
 session of unbounded riches and power, making great personal 
 sacrifices to improve himself in the art of governing for the wel- 
 fare of the millions over whom he was called to rule. These 
 virtues and these acts have justly won for him the title of Peter 
 the Great — a title which the world has bestowed upon but few of 
 the great heroes of ancient or modern times. 
 
 The reign of Charles XII. is intimately connected with that of 
 Peter the Great ; these monarchs being contemporaries and rivals, 
 both reigning in northern countries of great extent and comparative 
 barbarism. The reign of Peter was not so exclusively military 
 as that of Charles, with whom war was a passion and a profes- 
 sion. The interest attached to Charles arises more from his 
 eccentricities and brilliant military qualities, than from any 
 extraordinary greatness of mind or heart. ; He was barbarous 
 in his manners, and savage in his resentments ; a stranger 
 to the pleasures of society, obstinate, revengeful, unsympa- 
 thetic, and indifferent to friendship and hatred. But he was 
 brave, temperate, generous, intrepid in danger, and firm in 
 misfortune. 
 
 Before his singular career can be presented, attention must be 
 directed to the country over which he reigned, and which will be 
 noticed in connection with Denmark ; these two countries form- 
 ing a greater part of the ancient Scandinavia, from which our 
 Teutonic ancestors migrated, the land of Odin, and Frea, and 
 Thor, those half-fabulous deities, concerning whom there are still 
 divided opinions ; some supposing that they were heroes, and oth- 
 ers, impersonations of virtues, or elements and wonders of nature. 
 The mythology of Greece does not more fully abound with gods 
 and goddesses, than that of the old Scandinavia with rude 
 deities, — dwarfs, and elfs, and mountain spirits. It was in these 
 northern regions that the Normans acquired their wild enthusiasm, 
 their supernatural daring, and their magnificent superstitions. It 
 was from these regions that the Saxons brought their love of lib- 
 erty, their spirit of enterprise, and their restless passion for the 
 sea. The ancient Scandinavians were heroic, adventurous, and 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 283 
 
 chivalrous robbers, holding their women in great respect, and pro- 
 foundly reverential in their notions of a supreme power. They 
 were poor in silver, in gold, in the fruits of the earth, in luxuries, 
 and in palaces, but rich in poetic sentiments and in religious ideas. 
 Their chief vices were those of gluttony and intemperance, and 
 their great pleasures were those of hunting and gambling. 
 
 Fabulous as are most of their legends as to descent, still Scan- 
 dinavia was probably peopled with hardy races before authentic 
 history commences. Under different names, and at different 
 times, they invaded the Roman empire. In the fifth century, 
 they had settled in its desolated provinces — the Saxons in Eng- 
 land, the Goths in Spain and Italy, the Vandals in Africa, the 
 Burgundians in France, and the Lombards in Italy. 
 
 Among the most celebrated of these northern Teutonic nations 
 were the pirates who invaded England and France, under the 
 name of Northmen. They came from Denmark, and some of 
 their chieftains won a great name in their generation, such as 
 Harold, Canute, Sweyn, and Rollo. 
 
 Christianity was probably planted in Sweden about the middle 
 of the ninth century. St. Anscar, a Westphalian monk, was the 
 first successful missionaiy, and he was made Archbishop of Ham- 
 burg, and primate of the north. 
 
 The early history of the Swedes and Danes resembles that of 
 England under the Saxon princes, and they were disgraced by the 
 same great national vices. During the Middle Ages, no great 
 character appeared worthy of especial notice. Some of the more 
 powerful kings, such as Valdemar I. and II., and Canute VI., had 
 quarrels with the Emperors of Germany, and invaded some prov- 
 inces of their empire. Some of these princes were warriors, some 
 cruel tyrants, none very powerful, and all characterized by the 
 vices of their age — treachery, hypocrisy, murder, drunkenness, 
 and brutal revenge. 
 
 The most powerful of these kings was Christian I., who founded 
 the dynasty of Oldenburgh, and who united under his sway the 
 kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. He reigned from 
 1448 to 1481 ; and in his family the crown of Sweden remained 
 until the revolution effected by Gustavus Vasa, in 1525, and by 
 which revolution Sweden was made independent of Denmark. 
 
284 GUSTAVUS VASA. [CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 Gustavus Vasa was a nobleman descended from the ancient 
 kings of Sweden, ana who, from the oppression to which his coun- 
 try was subjected by Christian and the Archbishop of Upsal, was 
 forced to seek refuge amid the forests of Dalecarlia. When Stock- 
 holm was pillaged and her noblest citizens massacred by the cruel 
 tyrant of the country, Gustavus headed an insurrection, defeated 
 the king's forces, and was made king himself' by the States Gen- 
 eral. He, perceiving that the Catholic clergy were opposed to the 
 liberties and the great interests of his country, seized their for- 
 tresses and lands, became a convert to the doctrine of the reform- 
 ers, and introduced Lutheranism into the kingdom, which has ever 
 since been the established religion of Sweden. He was despotic 
 in his government, but ruled for the good of his subjects, and was 
 distinguished for many noble qualities. 
 
 The celebrated Gustavus Adolphus was his descendant, and was 
 more absolute and powerful than even Gustavus Vasa. But he is 
 chiefly memorable as the great hero of the Thirty Years' War, and 
 as the greatest general of his age. Under his sway, Sweden was 
 the most powerful of the northern kingdoms. 
 
 He was succeeded by his daughter Christina, a woman of 
 most extraordinary qualities ; a woman of genius, of taste, and of 
 culture ; a woman who, at twenty-seven, became wearied of the 
 world, and of the enjoyment of unlimited power, and who changed 
 her religion, retired from her country, and abdicated her throne, 
 that she might, unmolested, enjoy the elegant pleasures of Rome, 
 and be solaced by the literature, religion, and art of that splendid 
 capital. It was in the society of men of genius that she spent 
 most of her time, and was the life of the most intellectual circle 
 which then existed in Europe. 
 
 She was succeeded by her cousin, who was elected King of 
 Sweden, by the title of Charles Gustavus X., and he was suc- 
 ceeded by Charles XL, the father of Charles XII. 
 
 Charles XII. was fifteen years of age when he came to the 
 throne, in the year 1697, and found his country strong in resources, 
 and his army the best disciplined in Europe. His territories were 
 one third larger than those of France when ruled by Louis XIV., 
 though not so thickly populated. 
 
 The young monarch, at first, gave but few indications of the 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] EARLY DAYS OF CHARLES XII. 285 
 
 remarkable qualities which afterwards distinguished him. He was 
 idle, dissipated, haughty, and luxurious. When he came to the 
 council chamber, he was absent and indifferent, and generally sat 
 with both legs thrown across the table. 
 
 But his lethargy and indifference did not last long. Three 
 great monarchs had conspired to ruin him, and dismember his 
 kingdom. These were the Czar Peter, Frederic IV. of Denmark, 
 and Frederic Augustus, King of Poland, and also Elector of 
 Saxony ; and their hostile armies were on the point of invading 
 his country. 
 
 The greatness of the danger brought to light his great qualities. 
 He vigorously prepared for war. His whole character changed. 
 Quintus Curtius became his text-book, and Alexander his model. 
 He spent no time in sports or magnificence. He clothed himself 
 like a common soldier, whose hardships he resolved henceforth to 
 share. He forswore the society and the influence of woman. 
 He relinquished wine and all the pleasures of the table. Love of 
 glory became his passion, and continued through life ; and this 
 ever afterwards made him insensible to reproach, danger, toil, 
 fear, hunger, and pain. Never was a more complete change 
 effected in a man's moral character ; and never was an improved 
 moral character consecrated to a worse end. He was not devoted 
 to the true interests of his country, but to a selfish, base, and vain 
 passion for military fame. 
 
 But his conduct, at first, called forth universal admiration. His 
 glorious and successful defence against enemies apparently over- 
 whelming gave him a great military reputation, and secured for 
 him the sympathies of Christendom. Had he died when he had 
 repelled the Russian, the Danish, and the Polish armies, he would 
 have secured as honorable an immortality as that of Gustavus 
 Adolphus. But he was not permitted to die prematurely, as was 
 his great ancestor. He lived long enough to become intoxicated 
 with success, to make great political blunders, and to suffer the 
 most fatal and mortifying misfortunes. 
 
 The commencement of his military career was beautifully 
 heroic. " Gentlemen," said the young monarch of eighteen to his 
 counsellors, when he meditated desperate resistance, " I am re- 
 solved never to begin an unjust war, and never to finish a just one, 
 but with the destruction of my enemies." 
 
286 Charles's heroism. [chap, xviii. 
 
 In six weeks he finished, after he had begun, the Danish war, 
 having completely humbled his enemy, and succored his brother- 
 in-law, the Duke of Holstein. 
 
 His conflict with Peter has been presented, when with twenty 
 thousand men he attacked and defeated eighty thousand Russians 
 in their intrenchments, took one hundred and fifty pieces of can- 
 non, and killed eighteen thousand men. The victory of Narva 
 astonished all Europe, and was the most brilliant which had then 
 been gained in the annals of modern warfare. 
 
 Charles was equally successful against Frederic Augustus. He 
 routed his Saxon troops, and then resolved to dethrone him, as 
 King of Poland. And he succeeded so far as to induce the Polish 
 Diet to proclaim the throne vacant. Augustus was obliged to fly, 
 and Stanislaus Leczinski was chosen king in his stead, at the 
 nomination of the Swedish conqueror. The country was sub- 
 jugated, and Frederic Augustus became a fugitive. 
 
 But Charles was not satisfied with expelling him from Poland. 
 He resolved to attack him also in Saxony itself. Saxony was then, 
 next to Austria, the most powerful of the German states. Never- 
 theless, Saxony could not arrest the victorious career of Charles. 
 The Saxons fled as he approached. He penetrated to the heart of 
 the electorate, and the unfortunate Frederic Augustus was obliged 
 to sue for peace, which was only granted on the most humiliating 
 terms ; which were, that the elector should acknowledge Stanislaus 
 as king of Poland ; that he should break all his treaties with 
 Russia, and should deliver to the King of Sweden all the men who 
 had deserted from his army. The humbled elector sought a 
 personal interview with Charles, after he had signed the conditions 
 of peace, with the hope of securing better terms. He found 
 Charles in his jack boots, with a piece of black taffeta round his 
 neck for a cravat, and clothed in a coarse blue coat with brass 
 buttons. His conversation turned wholly on his jack boots ; and 
 this trifling subject was the only one on which he would deign to 
 converse with one of the most accomplished monarchs of his age. 
 
 Charles had now humbled and defeated all his enemies. He 
 should now have returned to Sweden, and have cultivated the arts 
 of peace. But peace and civilization were far from his thoughts. 
 The subjugation of all the northern powers became the dream of 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] HIS MISFORTUNES. 287 
 
 his life. He invaded Russia, resolved on driving Peter from his 
 throne. 
 
 He was eminently successful in defensive war, and eminently 
 unsuccessful in aggressive war. Providence benevolently but 
 singularly comes to the aid of all his children in distress and 
 despair. Men are gloriously strong in defending their rights ; but 
 weak, in all their strength, when they assail the rights of others. 
 So signal is this fact, that it blazes upon all the pages of history, 
 and is illustrated in common life as well as in the affairs of 
 nations. 
 
 When Charles turned as an assailant of the rights of his 
 enemies, his unfortunate reverses commenced. At the head of 
 forty-three thousand veterans, loaded with the spoils of Poland and 
 Saxony, he commenced his march towards Russia. He had 
 another army in Poland of twenty thousand, and another in Fin- 
 land of fifteen thousand. With these he expected to dethrone the 
 czar. 
 
 His mistakes and infatuation have been noticed, and his final 
 defeat at Pultowa, a village at the eastern extremity of the Ukraine. 
 This battle was more decisive than that of Narva ; for in the latter 
 the career of Peter was only arrested, but in the former the 
 strength of Charles was annihilated. And so would have been his 
 hopes, had he been an ordinary man. But he was a madman, 
 and still dreamed of victory, with only eighteen hundred men to 
 follow his fortunes into Turkey, which country he succeeded in 
 reaching. 
 
 His conduct in Turkey was infamous and extraordinary. No 
 reasonings can explain it. It was both ridiculous and provoking. 
 At first, he employed himself in fomenting quarrels, and devising 
 schemes to embark the sultan in his cause. Vizier after vizier 
 was flattered and assailed. He rejected every overture for his 
 peaceable return. He lingered five years in endless intrigues and 
 negotiations, in order to realize the great dream of his life — - the 
 dethronement of the czar. He lived recklessly on the bounty of 
 the sultan, taking no hints that even imperial hospitality might be 
 abused and exhausted. At last, his inflexible obstinacy and dan- 
 gerous intrigues so disgusted his generous host, that he was urged 
 to return, with the offer of a suitable escort, and a large sum of 
 
288 Charles's return to sweden. [chap, xviii. 
 
 money. He accented and spent the twelve hundred purses, and 
 still refused to return. The displeasure of the Sultan Achmet was 
 now fairly excited. It was resolved upon by the Porte that he 
 should be removed by force, since he would not be persuaded. 
 But Charles resisted the troops of the sultan who were ordered to 
 remove him. With sixty servants he desperately defended him- 
 self against an army of janizaries, and killed twenty of them with 
 his own hand ; and it was not until completely overwhelmed and 
 prostrated that he hurled his sword into the air. He was now a 
 prisoner of war, and not a guest ; but still he was treated with the 
 courtesy and dignity due to a king, and conducted in a chariot 
 covered with gold and scarlet to Adrianople. From thence he 
 was removed to Demotica, where he renewed his intrigues, and 
 zealously kept his bed, under pretence of sickness, for ten months. 
 
 While he remained in captivity, Frederic Augustus recovered 
 the crown of Poland, King Stanislaus was taken by the Turks, and 
 Peter completed his conquest of Ingria, Livonia, and Finland, 
 provinces belonging to Sweden. The King of Prussia also in- 
 vaded Pomerania, and Frederic IV. of Denmark claimed Bremen, 
 Holstein, and Scania. The Swedes were divested of all their 
 conquests, and one hundred and fifty thousand of them became 
 prisoners in foreign lands. 
 
 Such were the reverses of a man who had resolved to play 
 the part of Alexander, but who, sO long as he contented himself 
 with defending his country against superior forces, was successful, 
 and won a fame so great, that his misfortunes could never reduce 
 him to contempt. 
 
 When all was lost, he signified to the Turkish vizier his desire 
 to return to Sweden. The vizier neglected no means to rid his 
 master of so troublesome a person. Charles returned to his coun- 
 try impoverished, but not discouraged. The charm of his name 
 was broken. His soldiers were as brave and devoted as ever, but 
 his resources were exhausted. He succeeded, however, in raising 
 thirty-five thousand men, in order to continue his desperate game 
 of conquest, not of defence. Europe beheld the extraordinary 
 spectacle of this infatuated hero passing, in the depth of a northern 
 winter, over the frozen hills and ice-bound rocks of Norway, with 
 his devoted army, in order to conquer that hyperborean region. 
 
CHAP. XVIII.] HIS DEATH. 289 
 
 So inured was he to cold and fatigue, that he slept in the open air, 
 on a bed of straw, covered only with his cloak, while his soldiers 
 dropped down dead at their posts from cold. In the month of 
 December, 1718, he commenced the siege of Fredericshall, a 
 place of great strength and importance, but, having exposed him- 
 self unnecessarily, was killed by a ball from the fortress. Many, 
 however, suppose that he was assassinated by his own officers, 
 who were wearied with endless war, from which they saw nothing 
 but disaster to their exhausted country. 
 
 His death was considered as a signal for the general cessation 
 of arms ; but Sweden never recovered from the mad enterprises 
 of Charles XII. It has never since been a first class power. The 
 national finances were disordered, the population decimated, and 
 the provinces dismembered. Peter the Great gained what his 
 rival lost. We cannot but compassionate a nation that has the 
 misfortune to be ruled by such an absolute and infatuated monarch 
 as was Charles XII. He did nothing for the civilization of his 
 subjects, or to ameliorate the evils he caused. He was, like 
 Alaric or Attila, a scourge of the Almighty, sent on earth for some 
 mysterious purpose, to desolate and to destroy. But he died un- 
 lamented and unhonored. No great warrior in modern times has 
 received so little sympathy from historians, since he was not 
 exalted by any great moral qualities of affection or generosity, 
 and unscrupulously saqrificex^both friends and enemies to gratify 
 a selfish and a depraved passion.. 
 
 References. — Voltaire's History of Russia, a very attractive book, on 
 account of its lively style. Voltaire's Life of Charles XII., also, is 
 equally fascinating. There are tolerable histories of both Russia and 
 Sweden in Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia ; also in the Family Library. 
 See, also, a History of Russia and Sweden in the Universal History. 
 Russell's Modern Europe. 
 
 25 
 
290 ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 GEORGE I., AND THE ADMINISTRATION OF SIR ROBERT 
 WALPOLE. 
 
 Queen Anne died in 1714, soon after the famous treaty of 
 Utrecht was made, and by which the war of the Spanish Succes- 
 sion was closed. She was succeeded by George L, Elector of 
 Hanover. He was grandson of Elizabeth, only daughter of James 
 I., who had married Frederic, the King of Bohemia. He was 
 fifty-four years of age when he ascended the English throne, and 
 imperfectly understood the language of the nation whom he was 
 called upon to govern. 
 
 George I. was not a sovereign who materially affected the in- 
 terests or destiny of England ; nor was he one of those interesting 
 characters that historians love to delineate. It is generally admit- 
 ted that he was respectable, prudent, judicious, and moral ; amiable 
 in his temper, sincere in his intercourse, and simple in his habits, — 
 qualities which command respect, but not those which dazzle the 
 people. It is supposed that he tolerably understood the English 
 Constitution, and was willing to be fettered by the restraints which 
 the parliaments imposed. He supported the Whigs, — the domi- 
 nant party of the time, — and sympathized with liberal principles, 
 so far as a monarch can be supposed to advance the interests of 
 the people, and the power of a class ever hostile to the prerogatives 
 of royalty. He acquiesced in the rule of his ministers — just 
 what was expected of him, and just what was wanted of him ; 
 and became — what every King of England, when popular, has 
 since been — the gilded puppet of a powerful aristocracy. His 
 social and constitutional influence was not, indeed, annihilated ; he 
 had the choiee of ministers, and collected around his throne the 
 great and proud, who looked to him as the fountain of all honor 
 and dignity. But, still, from the accession of the house of Han- 
 over, the political history of England is a history of the acts of 
 parliaments, and of those ministers who represented the dominant 
 
CHAP. XIX.] SIR EOBERT WALPOLE. 291 
 
 parties of the nation. Few nobles were as great as some under 
 the Tudor and Stuart princes ; but the power of the aristocracy, 
 as a class, was increased. From the time of George I. to Queen 
 Victoria, the ascendency of the parliaments has been most marked ; 
 composed chiefly of nobles, great landed proprietors, and gigantic 
 commercial monopolists. The people have not been, indeed, 
 unheard or unrepresented ; but, literally speaking, have had but a 
 feeble influence, compared with the aristocracy. Parliaments and 
 ministers, therefore, may be not unjustly said to be the repre- 
 sentatives of the aristocracy — of the wise, the mighty, and the 
 noble. 
 
 When power passes from kings to nobles, then the acts of nobles 
 constitute the genius of political history, as fully as the acts of 
 kings constitute history when kings are absolute, and the acts of 
 the people constitute history where the people are all-powerful. 
 
 A notice, therefore, of that great minister who headed the Whig 
 party of aristocrats, and who, as their organ, swayed the councils 
 of England for nearly forty years, demands our attention. His 
 political career commenced during the reign of Anne, and con- 
 tinued during the reign of George I., and part of the reign of 
 George II. George I., as a man or as a king, dwindled into insig- 
 nificance, when compared with his prime minister, Sir Robert 
 Walpole. And he is great, chiefly, as the representative of the 
 Whigs ; that is, of the dominant party of rich and great men who 
 sat in parliament ; a party of politicians who professed more lib- 
 eral principles than the Tories, but who were equally aristocratic 
 in the social sympathies, and powerful from aristocratic connec- 
 tions. What did the great Dukes of Devonshire or Bedford care 
 for the poor people, who, politically, composed no part of the 
 nation ? But they were Whigs, and King George himself was a 
 Whig. 
 
 Sir Robert belonged to an ancient, wealthy, and honorable 
 family ; was born 1676, and received his first degree at King's 
 College, Cambridge, in 1700. He entered parliament almost 
 immediately after, became an active member, sat on several com- 
 mittees, and soon distinguished himself for his industry and ability. 
 He was not eloquent, but acquired considerable skill as a debater. 
 In 1705, Lord Godolphin, the prime minister of Anne, made him 
 
292 THE PRETENDER. [cHAP. XIX. 
 
 one of the council to Prince George of Denmark ; in 1706, Marl- 
 borough selected him as secretary of war ; in 1709, he was made 
 treasurer of the navy ; and in 1710, he was the acknowledged 
 leader of the House of Commons. He lost office, however, when 
 the Whigs lost power, in 1710 ; was subjected to cruel political 
 persecution, and even impeached, and imprisoned in the Tower. 
 This period is memorable for the intense bitterness and severe 
 conflicts between the Whigs and Tories ; not so much on account 
 of difference of opinion on great political principles, as the struggle 
 for the possession of place and power. 
 
 On the accession of George I., Walpole became paymaster of 
 the forces, one of the most lucrative offices in the kingdom. Town- 
 send was made secretary of state. The other great official digni- 
 taries were the Lords Cowper, Marlborough,Wharton, Sunderland, 
 Devonshire, Oxford, and Somerset ; but Townsend and Walpole 
 were the most influential. They impeached their great political 
 enemies, Ormond and Bolingbroke, the most distinguished leaders 
 of the Tory party. Bolingbroke, in genius and learning, had no 
 equal in parliament, and was a rival of Walpole at Eton. 
 
 The first event of importance, under the new ministry, was the 
 invasion of Great Britain by the Pretender — the Prince James 
 Frederic Edward Stuart, only son of James II. His early days 
 were spent at St. Germain's, the palace which the dethroned mon- 
 arch enjoyed by the hospitality of Louis XIV. He was educated 
 under influences entirely unfavorable to the recovery of his natural 
 inheritance, and was a devotee to the pope and the interests of 
 absolutism. But he had his adherents, who were called Jacobites, 
 and who were chiefly to be found in the Highlands of Scotland. 
 In 1705, an unsuccessful effort had been made to regain the throne 
 of his father, but the disasters attending it prevented him from 
 making any renewed effort until the death of Anne. 
 
 When she died, many discontented Tories fanned the spirit of 
 rebellion ; and Bishop Atterbury, a distinguished divine, advocated 
 the claims of the Pretender. Scotland was ripe for revolt. Alarm- 
 ing riots took place in England. William III. was burned in effigy 
 at Smithfield. The Oxford students pulled down a Presbyterian 
 meeting-house, and the sprig of oak was publicly displayed on the 
 29th of May. The Earl of Mar hurried into Scotland to fan the 
 
CHAP. XIX.] INVASION OF SCOTLAND. 293 
 
 spirit of insurrection ; while the gifted, brilliant, and banished 
 Bolingbroke joined the standard of the chevalier. The venerable 
 and popular Duke of Ormond also assisted him with his counsels. 
 
 Advised by these great nobles, assisted by the King of France, 
 and flattered by the Jacobite faction, the Pretender made prepara- 
 tions to recover his rights. His prospects were apparently better 
 than were those of William, when he landed in England. The 
 Earl of Mar was at the head of ten thousand men ; but the chev- 
 alier was no general, and was unequal to his circumstances. When 
 he landed in Scotland, he surrendered himself to melancholy and 
 inaction. His sadness and pusillanimity dispirited his devoted band 
 of followers. He retreated before inferior forces, and finally fled 
 from the country which he had invaded. The French king was 
 obliged to desert his cause, and the Pretender retreated to Italy, 
 and died at the advanced age of seventy-nine, after witnessing the 
 defeat of his son, Charles Edward, whose romantic career and 
 misfortunes cannot now be mentioned. By the flight of the Pre- 
 tender from Scotland, in 1715, the insurrection was easily sup- 
 pressed, and the country was not molested by the intrigues of the 
 Stuart princes for thirty years. 
 
 The year which followed the invasion of Scotland was signalized 
 by the passage of a great bill in parliament, which is one of the 
 most important events in parliamentary histoiy. In 1716, the 
 famous Septennial Act, which prolonged parliament from three to 
 seven years, was passed. So many evils, practically, resulted 
 from frequent elections, that the Whigs resolved to make a change ; 
 and the change contributed greatly to the tranquillity of the coun- 
 try, and the establishment of the House of Brunswick. The 
 duration of the English parliament has ever since, constitutionally, 
 been extended to seven years, but the average duration of parlia- 
 ments has been six years — the term of office of the senators of 
 the United States. 
 
 After the passage of the Septennial Act, the efforts of Walpole 
 were directed to a reduction of the national debt. He was then 
 secretary of the treasury. But before he could complete his 
 financial reforms, he was driven from office by the cabals of his 
 colleagues, and the influence of the king's German favorites and 
 mistresses. The Earl of Sunderland, who had married a daughter 
 25* 
 
294 THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 of the Duke of Marlborough, was at the head of the cabal party, 
 and was much endeared to the Whigs by his steady attachment to 
 their principles. He had expected, and probably deserved, to be 
 placed at the head of the administration. When disappointed, he 
 bent all his energies to undermine Townsend and Walpole, and 
 succeeded for a while. But Walpole's opposition to the new 
 administration was so powerful, that it did not last long. Sunder- 
 land had persuaded the king to renounce his constitutional prerog- 
 ative of creating peers ; and a bill, called the Peerage Bill, was 
 proposed, which limited the House of Lords to its actual existing 
 number, the tendency of which was to increase the power and 
 rank of the existing peers, and to raise an eternal bar to the 
 aspirations of all commoners to the peerage, and thus widen the 
 gulf between the aristocracy and the people. Walpole pre- 
 sented these consequences so forcibly, and showed so clearly 
 that the proposed bill would diminish the consequence of the 
 landed gentry, and prove a grave to honorable merit, that the 
 Commons were alarmed, and rejected the bill by a large and 
 triumphant majority of two hundred and sixty-nine to one hundred 
 and seventy-seven. 
 
 The defeat of this bill, and the great financial embarrassments 
 of the country, led to the restoration of Walpole to office. His 
 genius was eminently financial, and his talents were precisely 
 those which have ever since been required of a minister — those 
 which characterized Sir Robert Peel and William Pitt. The great 
 problem of any government is, how to raise money for its great 
 necessities ; and the more complicated the relations of society are, 
 the more difficult becomes the problem. 
 
 At that period, the English nation were intoxicated and led 
 astray by one of those great commercial delusions which so often 
 take place in all civilized countries. No mania ever was more 
 marked, more universal, and more fatal than that of the South Sea 
 Company. The bubble had turned the heads of politicians, mer- 
 chants, and farmers ; all classes, who had money to invest, took 
 stock in the South Sea Company. The delusion, however, passed 
 away ; England was left on the brink of bankruptcy, and a master 
 financier was demanded by the nation, to extricate it from the effects 
 of folly and madness. All eyes looked to Sir Robert Walpole, and 
 
CHAP. XIX.] THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY. 295 
 
 he did all that financial skill could do, to repair the evils which 
 speculation and gambling had caused. 
 
 The desire for sudden wealth is one of the most common 
 passions of our nature, and has given rise to more delusions 
 than religious fanaticism, or passion for military glory. The 
 South Sea bubble was kindred to that of John Law, who was the 
 author of the Mississippi Scheme, which nearly ruined France in 
 the reign of Louis XV., and which was encouraged by the Duke 
 of Orleans, as a means of paying off the national debt. 
 
 The wars of England had created a national debt, under the 
 administration of Godolphin and Marlborough ; but which was not so 
 large but that hopes were entertained of redeeming it. Walpole 
 proposed to pay it off by a sinking fund ; but this idea, not very 
 popular, was abandoned. It was then the custom for government 
 to borrow of corporations, rather than of bankers, because the 
 science of brokerage was not then understood, and because no 
 individuals were sufficiently rich to aid materially an embarrassed 
 administration. As a remuneration, companies were indulged with 
 certain commercial advantages. As these advantages enabled 
 companies to become rich, the nation always found it easy to bor- 
 row. During the war of the Spanish Succession, the prime min- 
 ister, Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, in order to raise money, 
 projected the South Sea Company. This was in 1710, and the 
 public debt was ten million pounds sterling, thought at that time to 
 be insupportable. The interest on that debt was six per cent. In 
 order to liquidate the debt, Oxford made the duties on wines, to- 
 bacco, India goods, silks, and a few other articles, permanent. 
 And, to allure the public creditor, great advantages were given to 
 the new company, and money was borrowed of it at five per cent. 
 This gain of one per cent., by money borrowed from the com- 
 pany, was to constitute a sinking fund to pay the debt. 
 
 But the necessities of the nation increased so rapidly, that a 
 leading politician of the day, Sir John Blount, proposed that the 
 South Sea Company should become the sole national creditor, and 
 should loan to the government new sums, at an interest of four per 
 cent. New monopolies were to be given to the company ; and it, 
 on the other hand, offered to give a bonus of three million pounds 
 to the government. The Bank of England, jealous of the propo- 
 
296 OPPOSITION OF WALPOLE. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 sal, offered five millions. The directors of the company then bid 
 seven millions for a charter, nearly enough to pay off tVe whole 
 redeemable debt of the nation ; which, however, could not be 
 redeemed, so long as there were, in addition, irredeemable annui- 
 ties to the amount of eight hundred thousand pounds yearly. It 
 became, therefore, an object of the government to get rid, in the first 
 place, of these irredeemable annuities ; and this could be effected, 
 if the national creditor could be induced to accept of shares in the 
 South Sea Company, instead of his irredeemable annuities, or, as 
 they are now variously called, consols, stocks, and national funds. 
 The capital was not desired ; only the interest on capital. So many 
 monopolies and advantages were granted to the company, that the 
 stock rose, and the national creditor was willing to part with his 
 annuities for stock in the company. The offer was, therefore, ac- 
 cepted, and the government got rid of irredeemable annuities, and 
 obtained seven millions besides, but became debtor to the company. 
 A company which could apparently afford to pay so large a bonus 
 to government for its charter, and loan such large sums as the 
 nation needed, in addition, at four per cent., was supposed to be 
 making most enormous profits. Its stock rose rapidly in value. 
 The national creditor hastened to get rid of irredeemable annui- 
 ties — a national stock which paid five per cent. — in order to buy 
 shares which might pay ten per cent. 
 
 Walpole, then paymaster of the forces, opposed the scheme of 
 Blount with all his might, showed that the acceptance of the 
 company's proposal would countenance stockjobbing, would di- 
 vert industry from its customary channels, and would hold out a 
 dangerous lure to the unsuspecting to part with real for imaginary 
 property. He showed the misery and confusion which existed in 
 France from the adoption of similar measures, and proved that 
 the whole success of the scheme must depend on the rise of the 
 company's stock ; that, if there were no rise, the company could 
 not afford the bonus, and would fail, and the obligation of the na- 
 tion remain as before. But his reasonings were of no avail. All 
 classes were infatuated. All people speculated in the South Sea 
 stock. And, for a while, all people rejoiced ; for, as long as the 
 stock continued to rise, all people were gainers. 
 
 And the stock rose rapidly. It soon reached three hundred per 
 
CHAP. XIX.] MANIA FOE. SPECULATION. 297 
 
 cent, above the original par value, and this in consequence of the 
 promise of great dividends. All hastened to buy such lucrative 
 property. The public creditor willingly gave up three hundred 
 pounds of irredeemable stock for one hundred pounds of the com- 
 pany's stock. 
 
 And this would have been well, had there been a moral cer- 
 tainty of the stockholder receiving a dividend of twenty per cent. 
 But there was not this certainty, nor even a chance of it. Still, 
 in consequence of the great dividends promised, even as high as 
 fifty per cent., the stock gradually rose to one thousand per cent. 
 Such was the general mania. And such was the extent of it, that 
 thirty-seven millions of pounds sterling were subscribed on the 
 company's books. 
 
 And the rage for speculation extended to all other kinds of 
 property ; and all sorts of companies were formed, some of the 
 shares of which were at a premium of two thousand per cent. 
 There were companies formed for fisheries, companies for making 
 salt, for making oil, for smelting metals, for improving the breed 
 of horses, for the planting of madder, for building ships against 
 pirates, for the importation of jackasses, for fattening hogs, for 
 wheels of perpetual motion, for insuring masters against losses 
 from servants. There was one company for carrying on an 
 undertaking of great advantage, but no one knew for what. The 
 subscriber, by paying two guineas as a deposit, was to have one 
 hundred pounds per annum for every hundred subscribed. It 
 was declared, that, in a month, the particulars were to be laid 
 open,, and the remainder of the subscription money was then to 
 be paid. Notwithstanding this barefaced, swindling scheme, two 
 thousand pounds were received one morning as a deposit. The 
 next day, the proprietor was not to be found. 
 
 Now, in order to stop these absurd speculations, and yet to mo- 
 nopolize all the gambling in the kingdom, the directors of the 
 South Sea Company obtained an act from parliament, empowering 
 them to prosecute all the various bubble companies that were pro- 
 jected. In a few days, all these bubbles burst. None were 
 found to be buyers. Stock fell to nothing. 
 
 But the South Sea Company made a blunder. The moral effect 
 of the bursting of so many bubbles was to (jpen the eyes of the 
 
298 BURSTING OF THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 4 
 
 nation to the greatest bubble of all. The credit of the South Sea 
 Company declined. Stocks fell from one thousand per cent, to 
 two hundred in a few days. All wanted to sell, nobody to buy. 
 Bankers and merchants failed, and nobles and country gentlemen 
 became impoverished. 
 
 In this general distress, Walpole was summoned to power, in 
 order to extricate the nation, on the eve of bankruptcy. He 
 proposed a plan, which was adopted, and which saved the credit 
 of the nation. He ingrafted nine millions of the South Sea stock 
 into the Bank of England, and nine millions more into the East 
 India Company ; and government gave up the seven millions of 
 bonus which the company had promised. 
 
 By this assistance, the company was able to fulfil its engage- 
 ments, although all who purchased stock when it had arisen be- 
 yond one hundred per cent, of its original value, lost money. It 
 is strange that the stock, after all, remained at a premium of one 
 hundred per cent. ; of course, the original proprietors gained one 
 hundred per cent., and those who paid one hundred per cent, pre- 
 mium lost nothing. But these constituted a small fraction of the 
 people who had speculated, and who paid from one hundred to 
 nine hundred per cent, premium. Government, too, gained by 
 reducing interest on irredeemable bonds from five to four percent., 
 although it lost the promised bonus of seven millions. 
 
 The South Sea bubble did not destroy the rage for speculation, 
 although it taught many useful truths — that national prosperity is 
 not advanced by stockjobbing ; that financiers, however great 
 their genius, generally overreach themselves ; that great dividends 
 are connected with great risk ; that circumstances beyond 
 human control will defeat the best-laid plan ; that it is better 
 to repose upon the operation of the ordinaiy laws of trade ; and 
 that nothing but strict integrity and industry will succeed in the 
 end. From the time of Sir Robert Walpole, money has seldom 
 been worth, in England, over five per cent., and larger dividends 
 on vested property have generally been succeeded by heavy losses, 
 however plausible the promises and clear the statements of stock- 
 jobbers and speculators. 
 
 After the explosion of the South Sea Company, Walpole became 
 possessed of almost lyilimited power. And one of the first objects 
 
CHAP. XIX.] ENLIGHTENED POLICY OF WALPOLE. 299 
 
 to which he directed attention, after settling the finances, was the 
 removal of petty restrictions on commerce. He abolished the ex- 
 port duties on one hundred and six articles of British manufacture, 
 and allowed thirty-eight articles of raw material to be imported 
 duty free. This regulation was made to facilitate trade with the 
 colonies, and prevent them from manufacturing ; and this regula- 
 tion accomplished the end desired. Both England and the colonies 
 were enriched. It was doubtless the true policy of British states- 
 men then, as now, to advance the commercial, manufacturing, and 
 agricultural interests of Great Britain, rather than meddle with for- 
 eign wars, or seek glory on the field of battle. The principles 
 of Sir Robert Walpole were essentially pacific ; and under his 
 administration, England made a great advance in substantial pros- 
 perity. In this policy he surpassed all the statesmen who preceded 
 or succeeded him, and this constituted his glory and originality. 
 
 But liberal and enlightened as was the general course of Wal- 
 pole, he still made blunders, and showed occasional illiberality. 
 He caused a fine of one hundred thousand pounds to be inflicted 
 on the Catholics, on the plea that they were a disaffected body. 
 He persecuted Bishop Atterbury, and permitted Bolingbroke, with 
 his restless spirit of intrigue, to return to his country, and to be 
 reinstated in his property and titles. He flattered the Duchess of 
 Kendall, the mistress of the king, and stooped to all the arts of 
 corruption and bribery. There never was a period of greater 
 political corruption than during the administration of this minister. 
 Sycophancy, meanness, and hypocrisy were resorted to by the 
 statesmen of the age, who generally sought their own interests 
 rather than the welfare of the nation. There were, however, 
 exceptions. Townsend, the great rival and coadjutor of Walpole, 
 retired from office with an unsullied fame for integrity and disin- 
 terestedness ; and Walpole, while he bribed others, did not enrich 
 himself. 
 
 King George I. died on the 11th of June, 1727, suddenly, by 
 apoplexy, and was succeeded by his son George II., a man who 
 resembled his father in disposition and character, and was superior 
 to him in knowledge of the English constitution, though both were 
 inclined to steer the British bark by the Hanoverian rudder. Like 
 his father, he was reserved, phlegmatic, cautious, sincere, fond of 
 
300 EAST INDIA COMPANY. [CHAP. XIa. 
 
 4 L 
 
 business, economical, and attached to Whig principles. He was 
 fortunate in his wife, Queen Caroline, one of the most excellent 
 women of the age, learned, religious, charitable, and sensible ; 
 the patroness of divines and scholars ; fond of discussion on 
 metaphysical subjects, and a correspondent of the distinguished 
 Leibnitz. 
 
 The new king disliked Walpole, but could not do without him, 
 and therefore continued him in office. Indeed, the king had the 
 sense to perceive that England was to be governed only by the 
 man in whom the nation had confidence. 
 
 In 1730, Walpole rechartered the East India Company, the 
 most gigantic monopoly in the history of nations. As early as 
 1599, an association had been formed in England for trade to the 
 East Indies. This association was made in consequence of the 
 Dutch and Portuguese settlements and enterprises, which aroused 
 the commercial jealousy of England. The capital was sixty-eight 
 thousand pounds. In 1600, Queen Elizabeth gave the company a 
 royal charter. By this charter, the company obtained the right of 
 purchasing land, without limit, in India, and the monopoly of the 
 trade for fifteen years. But the company contended with many ob- 
 stacles. The first voyage was made by four ships and one pinnace, 
 having on board twenty-eight thousand pounds in bullion, and seven 
 thousand pounds in merchandise, such as tin, cutlery, and glass. 
 
 During the civil wars, the company's affairs were embarrassed, 
 owing to the unsettled state of England. On the accession of 
 Charles II., the company obtained a new charter, which not only 
 confirmed the old privileges, but gave it the power of making 
 peace and war with the native princes of India. The capital stock 
 was increased to one million five hundred thousand pounds. 
 
 Much opposition was made by Bolingbroke and the Tories to 
 the recharter of this institution ; but the ministry carried their 
 point, and a new charter was granted on the condition of the com- 
 pany paying to government two hundred thousand pounds, and 
 reducing the interest of the government debts one per cent, per 
 annum. By this time, the company, although it had not greatly 
 enlarged its jurisdiction in India, had accumulated great wealth. 
 Its powers and possessions will be more fully treated when the 
 victories of Clive shall be presented. 
 
CHAP. XIX.] RESIGNATION OF TOWNSEND. 301 
 
 About this time, the Duke of Newcastle came into the cabinet, 
 whose future administration will form the subject of a separate 
 chapter. 
 
 In 1730 also occurred the disagreement between Walpole and 
 Lord Townsend, which ended in the resignation of the latter, a 
 man whose impetuous and frank temper ill fitted him to work with 
 so cautious and non-committal a statesman as his powerful rival. 
 He passed the evening of his days in rural pursuits and agricul- 
 tural experiments, keeping open house, devoting himself to his 
 family and friends, never hankering after the power he had lost, 
 never even revisiting London, and finding his richest solace in lit- 
 erature and simple agricultural pleasures — the pattern of a lofty 
 and cultivated nobleman. 
 
 The resignation of Townsend enabled Walpole to take more 
 part in foreign negotiations ; and he exerted his talents, like Fleury 
 in France, to preserve the peace of Europe. The peace policy 
 of Walpole entitles him to the gratitude of his country. More 
 than any other man of his age, he apprehended the true glory and 
 interests of nations. Had Walpole paid as much attention to the 
 intellectual improvement of his countrymen, as he did to the re- 
 finements of material life and to physical progress, he would have 
 merited still higher praises. But he despised learning, and neg- 
 lected literary men. And they turned against him and his admin- 
 istration, and, by their sarcasm and invective, did much to under- 
 mine his power. Pope, Swift, and Gay might have lent him 
 powerful aid by their satirical pen ; but he passed them by with 
 contemptuous indifference, and they gave to Bolingbroke what they 
 withheld from Walpole. 
 
 Next to the pacific policy of the minister, the most notice- 
 able peculiarity of his administration was his zeal to improve the 
 finances. He opposed speculations, and sought a permanent 
 revenue from fixed principles. He regarded the national debt as 
 a great burden, and strove to abolish it ; and, when that was found 
 to be impracticable, sought to prevent its further accumulation. 
 He was not, indeed, always true to his policy ; but he pursued it, 
 on the whole, consistently. He favored the agricultural interests, 
 and was inclined to raise the necessary revenue by a tax on articles 
 used, rather than by direct taxation on property or income, or arti- 
 26 
 
302 UNPOPULARITY OF WALPOLE. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 4 
 
 cles imported. Hence he is the father of the excise scheme — a 
 scheme still adopted in England, but which would be intolerable 
 in this country. In this scheme, his grand object was to ease the 
 landed proprietor, and to prevent smuggling, by making smuggling 
 no object. But the opposition to the Excise Bill was so great that 
 Sir Robert abandoned it ; and this relinquishment of his favorite 
 scheme is one of the most striking peculiarities of his administra- 
 tion. He never pushed matters to extremity. He ever yielded 
 to popular clamor. He perceived that an armed force would be 
 necessary in order to collect the excise, and preferred to yield his 
 cherished measures to run the danger of incurring greater evils 
 than financial embarrassments. His spirit of conciliation, often 
 exercised in the plenitude of power, prolonged his reign. This 
 policy was the result of immense experience and practical knowl- 
 edge of human nature, of which he was a great master. 
 
 But Sir Robert was not allowed to pursue to the end his pacific, 
 any more than his financial policy. The clamors of interested 
 merchants, the violence of party spirit, and the dreams of heroic 
 grandeur on the part of politicians, overcame the repugnance of 
 the minister, and plunged England in a disastrous Spanish war ; 
 and a war soon succeeded by that of the Austrian Succession, in 
 which Maria Theresa was the injured, and Frederic the Great the 
 offending party. But this war, which was carried on chiefly 
 during the subsequent administration, will be hereafter alluded to. 
 
 Although Walpole was opposed by some of the ablest men in 
 England — by Pulteney, Sir William Windham, and the Lords 
 Chesterfield, Carteret, and Bolingbroke, his power was almost 
 absolute from 1730 to 1740. His most powerful assistance was 
 derived from Mr. Yorke, afterwards the Lord Chancellor Hard- 
 wicke, one of the greatest lawyers that England has produced. 
 
 In 1740, his power began to decline, and rapidly waned. He 
 lost a powerful friend and protector by the death of Queen Caro- 
 line, whose intercessions with the king were ever listened to with 
 respectful consideration. But he had almost insurmountable 
 obstacles to contend with — the distrust of the king, the bitter 
 hatred of the Prince of Wales, the violent opposition of the lead- 
 ing statesmen in parliament, and universal envy. Moreover, he 
 had grown careless and secure. He fancied that no one could 
 
CHAP. XIX.] DECLINE OF HIS POWER. ' 303 
 
 rule England but himself. But hatred, opposition, envy, and un- 
 successful military operations, forced him from his place. No 
 shipwrecked pilot ever clung to the rudder of a sinking ship with 
 more desperate tenacity than did this once powerful minister to 
 the helm of state. And he did not relinquish it until he was 
 driven from it by the desertion of all his friends, and the general 
 clamor of the people. The king, however, appreciated the value 
 of his services, and created him Earl of Oxford, a dignity which 
 had been offered him before, but which, with self-controlling 
 policy, he had unhesitatingly declined. Like Sir Robert Peel in 
 later times, he did not wish to be buried in the House of Lords. 
 
 His retirement (1742) amid the beeches and oaks of his country 
 seat was irksome and insipid. He had no taste for history, or 
 science, or elegant literature, or quiet pleasures. His tumultuous 
 public life had engendered other tastes. " I wish," said he to a 
 friend, " I took as much delight in reading as you do. It would 
 alleviate my tedious hours." But the fallen minister, though 
 uneasy and restless, was not bitter or severe. He retained his 
 good humor to the last, and to the last discharged all the rites 
 of an elegant hospitality. Said his enemy, Pope, — 
 
 " Seen him I have, but in his happier hour 
 Of social pleasure — ill exchanged for power ; 
 Seen him, uncumbered by the venal tribe, 
 Smile without art, and win without a bribe." 
 
 He had the habit of " laughing the heart's laugh," which it is 
 only in the power of noble natures to exercise. His manners 
 were winning, his conversation frank, and his ordinary intercourse 
 divested of vanity and pomp. He had many warm personal 
 friends, and did not enrich himself, as Marlborough did, while he 
 enriched those who served him. He kept a public table at Stough- 
 ton, to which all gentlemen in the country had free access. He was 
 fond of hunting and country sports, and had more taste for pictures 
 than for books. He was not what would be called a man of 
 genius or erudition, but had a sound judgment, great sagacity, 
 wonderful self-command, and undoubted patriotism. As a wise 
 and successful ruler, he will long be held in respect, though he 
 will never secure veneration. 
 
304 JOHN WESLEY. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 It was during the latter years of the administration of Walpole, 
 that England was electrified by the preaching of Whitefield and 
 Wesley, and the sect of the Methodists arose, which has exercised a 
 powerful influence on the morals, religion, and social life of England. 
 
 John Wesley, who may rank with Augustine, Pelagius, Calvin, 
 Arminius, or Jansen, as the founder of a sect, was demanded by 
 the age in which he lived. Never, since the Reformation, was the 
 state of religion so cold in England. The Established Church had 
 triumphed over all her enemies. Puritanism had ceased to be- 
 come offensive, and had even become respectable. The age of 
 fox-hunting parsons had commenced, and the clergy were the 
 dependants of great families, easy in their manners, and fond of 
 the pleasures of the table. They were not expected to be very 
 great scholars, or very grave companions. If they read the 
 service with propriety, did not scandalize their cause by gross 
 indulgences, and did not meddle with the two exciting subjects of 
 all ages, — politics and religion, — they were sure of peace and 
 plenty. But their churches were comparatively deserted, and in- 
 fidel opinions had been long undermining respect for the institu- 
 tions and ministers of religion. Swearing and drunkenness were 
 fashionable vices among the higher classes, while low pleasures 
 and lamentable ignorance characterized the people. The dissent- 
 ing sects were more religious, but were formal and cold. Their 
 ministers preached, too often, a mere technical divinity, or a lax 
 system of ethics. The Independents were inclined to a frigid Ar- 
 minianism, and the Presbyterians were passing through the change 
 from ultra Calvinism to Arianism and Socinianism. 
 
 The reformation was not destined to come from Dissenters, but 
 from the bosom of the Established Church, a reformation which 
 bore the same relation to Protestantism as that effected by St. 
 Francis bore to Roman Catholicism in the thirteenth century ; a 
 reformation among the poorer classes, who did not wish to be 
 separated from the Church Establishment. 
 
 John Wesley belonged to a good family, his father being a 
 respectable clergyman in a market town. He was born in 1703, 
 was educated at Oxford, and for the church. At the age of 
 twenty, he received orders from the Bishop of Oxford, and was, 
 shortly after, chosen fellow of Lincoln College, and then Greek 
 lecturer. 
 
CHAP. XIX.] EARLY LIFE OF WESLEY. 305 
 
 While at Oxford, he and his brother Charles, who was also a 
 fellow and a fine scholar, excited the ridicule of the University for 
 the strictness of their lives, and their methodical way of living, 
 which caused their companions to give them the name of Method- 
 ists. Two other young men joined them — James Hervey, author 
 of the Meditations, and George Whitefield. The fraternity at 
 length numbered fifteen young men, the members of which met 
 frequently for religious purposes, visited prisons and the sick, 
 fasted zealously on Wednesdays and Fridays, and bound themselves 
 by rules, which, in many respects, resembled those which Ignatius 
 Loyola imposed on his followers. The Imitation of Christ, by A 
 Kempis, and Taylor's Holy Living, were their grand text-books, 
 both of which were studied ' for their devotional spirit. But the 
 Holy Living was the favorite book of Wesley, who did not fully ap- 
 prove of the rigid asceticism of the venerable mystic of the Middle 
 Ages. The writings of William Law, also, had great influence 
 on the mind of Wesley ; but his religious views were not matured 
 until after his return from Georgia, where he had labored as a mis- 
 sionary, under the auspices of Oglethorpe. The Moravians, whom 
 he met with both in America and Germany, completed the work 
 which Taylor had begun ; and from their beautiful establishments 
 he also learned many principles of that wonderful system of gov- 
 ernment which he so successfully introduced among his followers. 
 
 Wesley continued his labors with earnestness ; but these were 
 also attended with some extravagances, which Dr. Potter, the 
 worthy Bishop of London, and other Churchmen, could not under- 
 stand. And though he preached with great popular acceptance, 
 and gained wonderful eclat, though he was much noticed in society, 
 and even dined with the king at Hampton Court, and with the 
 Prince of Wales at St. James's, still the churches were gradually 
 shut against him. When Whitefield returned from Georgia, hav- 
 ing succeeded Wesley as a missionary in that colony, and finding 
 so much opposition from the dignitaries of the Church, although 
 neither he nor Wesley had seceded from the Church ; and, above 
 all, excited by the popular favor he received, — for the churches 
 would not hold half who flocked to hear him preach, — he resolved 
 to address the people in the open air. The excitement he pro- 
 duced was unparalleled. Near Bristol, he sometimes assembled 
 26* 
 
306 WHITEFIELD. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 4 
 
 as many as twenty thousand. But they were chiefly the colliers, 
 drawn forth from their subterranean working places. But his 
 eloquence had equal fascination for the people of London and the 
 vicinity. In Moorfields, on Kennington Common, and on Black- 
 heath, he sometimes drew a crowd of forty thousand people, all 
 of whom could hear his voice. He could draw tears from Hume, 
 and money from Dr. Franklin. He could convulse a congregation 
 with terror, and then inspire them with the brightest hopes. He 
 was a greater artist than Bossuet or Bourdaloue. He never lost 
 his self-possession, or hesitated for appropriate language. But his 
 great power was in his thorough earnestness, and almost inspired 
 enthusiasm. No one doubted his sincerity, and all were impressed 
 with the spirituality and reality of the great truths which he pre- 
 sented. And wonderful results followed from his preaching, and 
 from that of his brethren. A great religious revival spread over 
 England, especially among the middle and lower classes, the 
 effects of which last to this day. 
 
 Whitefield was not so learned, or intellectual as Wesley. He 
 was not so great a genius. But he had more eloquence, and more 
 warmth of disposition. Wesley was a system maker, a metaphy- 
 sician, a logician. He was also profoundly versed in the knowl- 
 edge of human nature, and curiously adapted his system to the 
 wants and circumstances of that class of people over whom he had 
 the greatest power. Both Wesley and Whitefield were demanded 
 by their times, and only such men as they were could have suc- 
 ceeded. They were reproached for their extravagances, and for 
 a zeal which was confounded with fanaticism ; but, had they been 
 more proper, more prudent, more yielding to the prejudices of the 
 great, they would not have effected so much good for their coun- 
 try. So with Luther. Had he possessed a severer taste, had he 
 been more of a gentleman, or more of a philosopher, or even more 
 humble, he would not so signally have succeeded. Germany, and 
 the circumstances of the age, required a rough, practical, bold, 
 impetuous reformer to lead a movement against dignitaries and 
 venerable corruptions. England, in the eighteenth century, 
 needed a man to arouse the common people to a sense of their 
 spiritual condition ; a man who would not be trammelled by his 
 church ; who would not be governed by the principles of expedi- 
 
CHAP. XIX.] INSTITUTION OF WESLEY. 307 
 
 ency ; who would trust in God, and labor under peculiar discour- 
 agement and self-denial. 
 
 Wesley was like Luther in another respect. He quarrelled with 
 those who would not conform to all his views, whether they had 
 been friends or foes. He had been attracted by the Moravians. 
 Their simplicity, fervor, and sedateness had won his regard. But 
 when the Moravians maintained that there was delusion in those 
 ravings which Wesley considered as the work of grace, when 
 they asserted that sin would remain with even regenerated man 
 until death, and that it was in vain to expect the purification of the 
 soul by works of self-denial, Wesley opposed them, and slandered 
 them. He also entered the lists against his friend and fellow- 
 laborer, Whitefield. The latter did not agree with him respecting 
 perfection, nor election, nor predestination ; and, when this disa- 
 greement had become fixed, an alienation took place, succeeded 
 by actual bitterness and hostility. Wesley, however, in his latter 
 days, manifested greater charity and liberality, and was a model 
 of patience and gentleness. He became finally reconciled to 
 Whitefield, and the union continued until the death of the latter, at 
 Newburyport, in 1770. 
 
 The greatness of Wesley consisted in devising that wonderful 
 church polity which still governs the powerful and numerous sect 
 which he founded. It is from the system of the Methodists, rather 
 than from their theological opinions, that their society spread so 
 rapidly over Great Britain and America, and which numbered 
 at his death, seventy-one thousand persons in England, and forty- 
 eight thousand in this country. 
 
 And yet his institution was not wholly a matter of calculation, 
 but was gradually developed as circumstances arose. When con- 
 tributions were made towards building a meeting-house in Bristol, 
 it was observed that most of the brethren were poor, and could 
 afford but little. Then said one of the number, " Put eleven of 
 the poorest with me, and if they give any thing, it is well. I will 
 call on each of them weekly, and if they give nothing, I will give 
 for them as well as for myself." This suggested the idea of a 
 system of supervision. In the course of the weekly calls, the 
 persons who had undertaken for a class discovered some irregu- 
 larities among those for whose contributions they were responsible, 
 
308 ITINERANCY. [CHAP. XIX. 
 
 and reported them^o Wesley. He saw, at once, the advantage 
 to be derived from such an arrangement. It was what he had 
 long desired. He called together the leaders, and desired that 
 each should make a particular inquiry into the behavior of all 
 under their respective supervision. They did so. The custom 
 was embraced by the whole body, and became' fundamental. But 
 it was soon found to be inconvenient to visit each person separately 
 in his own house weekly, and then it was determined that all the 
 members of the class should assemble together weekly, when 
 quarrels could be made up, and where they might be mutually 
 profited by each other's prayers and exhortations. Thus the 
 system of classes and class-leaders arose, which bears the same 
 relation to the society at large that town meetings do to the state 
 or general government in the American democracy — which, as it 
 is known, constitute the genius of our political institutions. 
 
 Itinerancy also forms another great feature of Methodism ; and 
 this resulted from accident. But it is the prerogative and pecu- 
 liarity of genius to take advantage of accidents and circumstances. 
 It cannot create them. Wesley had no church ; but, being an 
 ordained clergyman of the Establishment, and a fellow of a college 
 beside, he had the right to preach in any pulpit, and in any dio- 
 cese. But the pulpits were closed against him, in consequence of 
 his peculiarities ; so he preached wherever he could collect a con- 
 gregation. Itinerancy and popularity gave him notoriety, and flat- 
 tered ambition, of which he was not wholly divested. He and 
 his brethren wandered into every section of England, from the 
 Northumbrian moorlands to the innermost depths of the Cornish 
 mines, in the most tumultuous cities and in the most unfrequented 
 hamlets. 
 
 As he was the father of the sect, all appointments were made 
 by him, and, as he deserved respect and influence, the same be- 
 came unbounded. When power was vested to an unlimited extent 
 in his hands, and when the society had become numerous and 
 scattered over a great extent of territory, he divided England into 
 circuits, and each circuit had a certain number of ministers ap- 
 pointed to it. But he held out no worldly rewards as lures. The 
 conditions which he imposed were hard. The clergy were to labor 
 with patience and assiduity on a mean pittance, with no hope of 
 
CHAP. XIX.] GREAT INFLUENCE AND POWER OF WESLEY. 309 
 
 wealth or ease. Rewards were to be given them by no earthly- 
 judge. The only recompense for toil and hunger was that of the 
 original apostles — the approval of their consciences and the favor 
 of Heaven. 
 
 To prevent the overbearing intolerance and despotism of the 
 people, the chapels were not owned by the congregation, nor even 
 vested in trustees, but placed at the absolute disposal of Mr. Wes- 
 ley and the conference. 
 
 If the rule of Wesley was not in accordance with democratic 
 principles, still its perpetuation in the most zealous of democratic 
 communities, and its escape, thus far, from the ordinary fate of all 
 human institutions, — that of corruption and decay, — shows its re- 
 markable wisdom, and also the great virtue of those who have 
 administered the affairs of the society. It effected, especially in 
 England, — what the Established Church and the various form of 
 Dissenters could not do, — the religious renovation of the lower 
 classes ; it met their wants ; it stimulated their enthusiasm. And 
 while Methodism promoted union and piety among the people, espe- 
 cially those who were ignorant and poor, it did not undermine their 
 loyalty or attachment to the political institutions of the country. 
 Other Dissenters were often hostile to the government, and have 
 been impatient under the evils which have afflicted England ; but 
 the Methodists, taught subordination to superiors and rulers, and 
 have ever been patient, peaceful, and quiet. 
 
 References. — Lord Mahon's History should be particularly read ; also 
 Coxe's Memoirs of Walpole. Consult Smollett's and Tindall's History 
 of England, and Belsham's History of George II. Smyth's Lectures are 
 very valuable on this period of English history. See, also, Bolingbroke's 
 State of Parties ; Burke's Appeal from the Old to the New Whigs ; Lord 
 Chesterfield's Characters ; and Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates. Remi- 
 niscences by Horace Walpole. For additional information respecting the 
 South Sea scheme, see Anderson's and Macpherson's Histories of Com- 
 merce, and Smyth's Lectures. The lives of the Pretenders have been 
 well written by Bay and Jesse. Tytler's History of Scotland should 
 be consulted; arid Waverley may be read with profit. The rise of the 
 Methodists, the great event of the reign of George I., has been generally 
 neglected. Lord Mahon has, however, written a valuable chapter. See 
 also Wesley's Letters and Diary, and a Life, by Southey and Moore. 
 
310 COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE COLONIZATION OF AMERICA AND THE EAST INDIES. 
 
 During the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, the English 
 colonies in America, and the East India Company's settlements, 
 began to attract the attention of ministers, and became of consid- 
 erable political importance. It is, therefore, time to consider the 
 histoiy of colonization, both in the East and West, and not only 
 by the English, but by the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Dutch, 
 and the French. 
 
 The first settlements in the new world by Europeans, and their 
 conquests in the unknown regions of the old, were made chiefly 
 in view of commercial advantages. The love of money, that root 
 of all evil, was overruled by Providence in the discoveiy of new 
 worlds, and the diffusion of European civilization in countries 
 inhabited by savages, or worn-out Oriental races. But the mere 
 ignoble love of gain was not the only motive which incited the 
 Europeans to navigate unknown oceans and colonize new conti- 
 nents. There was also another, and this was the spirit of enter- 
 prise, which magically aroused the European mind in the fifteenth 
 and sixteenth centuries. Marco Polo, when he visited the East ; 
 the Portuguese, when they doubled the Cape of Good Hope ; Co- 
 lumbus, when he discovered America ; and Magellan, when he 
 entered the South Sea, were moved by curiosity and love of sci- 
 ence, more than by love of gold. But the vast wealth, which the 
 newly-discovered countries revealed, stimulated, in the breasts of 
 the excited Europeans, the powerful passions of ambition and 
 avarice ; and the needy and grasping monarchs of Spain, Portu- 
 gal, Holland, France, and England patronized adventurers to the 
 new El Dorado, and furnished them with ships and stores, in the 
 hope of receiving a share of the profits of their expedition. And 
 they were not disappointed. Although many disasters happened 
 to the early navigators, still country after country was added to 
 the possessions of European kings, and vast sums of gold and 
 
CHAP. XX.] SPANISH CONQUESTS AND SETTLEMENTS. 311 
 
 silver were melted into European coin. No conquests were ever 
 more sudden and brilliant than those of Cortez and Pizarro, nor 
 did wealth ever before so suddenly enrich the civilized world. But 
 sudden and unlawful gains produced their natural fruit. All the 
 worst evils which flow from extravagance, extortion, and pride pre- 
 vailed in the old world and the new ; and those advantages and 
 possessions, which had been gained by enterprise, were turned into 
 a curse, for no wealth can balance the vices of avarice, injustice, 
 and cruelty. 
 
 The most important of all the early settlements of America 
 were made by the Spaniards. Their conquests were the most 
 brilliant, and proved the most worthless. The spirit which led 
 to their conquests and colonization was essentially that of avarice 
 and ambition. It must, however, be admitted that religious zeal, 
 in some instances, was the animating principle of the adventurers 
 and of those what patronized them. 
 
 The first colony was established in Hispaniola, or, as it was 
 afterwards called, St. Domingo, a short time after the discovery 
 of America by Columbus. The mines of the island were, at that 
 period, very productive, and the aggressive Spaniards soon com- 
 pelled the unhappy natives to labor in them, under their governor, 
 Juan Ponce de Leon. But Hispaniola was not sufficiently large or 
 productive to satisfy the cupidity of the governor, and Porto Rico 
 was conquered and enslaved. Cuba also, in a few years, 'was 
 added to the dominions of Spain. 
 
 At length, the Spaniards, who had explored the coasts of the 
 Main land, prepared to invade and conquer the populous territories 
 of Montezuma, Emperor of Mexico. The people whom he gov- 
 erned had attained a considerable degree of civilization, having a 
 regular government, a system of laws, .and an established priest- 
 hood. They were not ignorant of the means of recording great 
 events, and possessed considerable skill in many useful and orna- 
 mental arts. They were rich in gold and silver, and their cities 
 were ornamented with palaces and gardens. But their riches 
 were irresistible objects of desire to the European adventurers, 
 and, therefore, proved their misfortune. The story of their con- 
 quest by Fernando Cortez need not here be told ; familiarized as 
 are all readers and students with the exquisite and artistic narra- 
 
312 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 if 
 
 tive of the great American historian, whose work and whose fame 
 can only perish with the language itself. 
 
 About ten years after the conquest of Mexico, Pizarro landed 
 in Peru, which country was soon added to the dominions of Philip 
 II. And the government of that country was even more oppres- 
 sive and unjust than that of Mexico. All Indians between the 
 ages of fifteen and fifty were compelled to work in the mines ; and 
 so dreadful was the forced labor, that four out of five of those 
 who worked in them were supposed to perish annually. There 
 was no limit to Spanish rapacity and cruelty, and it was exercised 
 over all the other countries which were subdued — Chili, Florida, 
 and the West India Islands. 
 
 Enormous and unparalleled quantities of the precious metals 
 were sent to Spain from the countries of the new world. But, 
 from the first discovery of Peru and Mexico, the mother countiy 
 declined in wealth and political importance. With the increase 
 of gold, the price of labor and of provision, and of all articles of 
 manufacturing industry, also increased, and nearly in the same 
 ratio. The Spaniards were insensible to this truth, and, instead 
 of cultivating the soil or engaging in manufactures, were contented 
 with the gold which came from the colonies. This, for a while, 
 enriched them ; but it was soon scattered over all Christendom, and 
 was exchanged for the necessities of life. Industry and art de- 
 clined, and those countries alone were the gainers which produced 
 those articles which Spain was obliged to purchase. 
 
 Portugal soon rivalled Spain in the extent and richness of colo- 
 nial possessions. Brazil was discovered in 1501, and, in about 
 half a century after, was colonized. The native Brazilians, infe- 
 rior in civilization to the Mexicans and Peruvians, were still less 
 able than they to resist the arms of the Europeans. They were 
 gradually subdued, and their beautiful and fertile country came 
 into possession of the victors. But the Portuguese also extended 
 their empire in the East, as well as in the West. After the discovery 
 of a passage round the Cape of Good Hope, by Vasco de Gama, 
 the early navigators sought simply to be enriched by commerce 
 with the Indies. They found powerful rivals in the Saracens, 
 who had heretofore monopolized the trade. In order to secure 
 their commerce, and also to protect themselves against their rivals 
 
CHAP. XX.] POKTUGUESE SETTLEMENTS. 313 
 
 and enemies, the Portuguese, under the guidance of Albuquerque, 
 procured a grant of land in India, from one of the native princes. 
 Soon after, Goa was reduced, and became the seat of govern- 
 ment ; and territorial acquisition commenced, which, having been 
 continued nearly three centuries by the various European powers, 
 is still progressive. In about sixty years, the Portuguese had 
 established a great empire in the East, which included the coasts 
 and islands of the Persian Gulf, the whole Malabar and Coroman- 
 del coasts, the city of Malacca, and numerous islands of the In- 
 dian Ocean. They had effected a settlement in China, obtained a 
 free trade with the empire of Japan, and received tribute from 
 the rich Islands of Ceylon, Java, and Sumatra. 
 
 The same moral effects happened to Portugal, from the posses- 
 sion of the Indies, that the conquests of Cortez and Pizarro pro- 
 duced on Spain. Goa was the most depraved spot in the world ; 
 and the vices which wealth engendered, wherever the Europeans 
 formed a settlement, can now scarcely be believed. When Portu- 
 gal fell under the dominion of Philip II., the ruin of her settle- 
 ments commenced. They were supplanted by the Dutch, who 
 were more moral, more united and enterprising, though they pro- 
 voked, by their arrogance and injustice, the hostility of the Eastern 
 princes. 
 
 The conquests and settlements of the Dutch rapidly succeeded 
 those of the Portuguese. In 1595, Cornelius Houtman sailed, 
 with a well-provided fleet, for the land of gems and spices. A 
 company was soon incorporated, in Holland, for managing the 
 Indian trade. Settlements were first made in the Moluccas Islands, 
 which soon extended to the possession of the Island of Java, and 
 to the complete monopoly of the spice trade. The Dutch then 
 gained possession of the Island of Ceylon, which they retained 
 until it was wrested from them by the English. But their empire 
 was- only maintained at a vast expense of blood and treasure ; 
 nor were they any exception to the other European colonists and 
 adventurers, in the indulgence of all those vices which degrade 
 our nature. 
 
 Neither the French nor the English made any important con- • 
 quests in the East, when compared with those of the Portuguese 
 and Dutch. Nor did their acquisitions in America equal those of 
 27 
 
314 EARLY ENGLISH ENTERPRISE. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 the Spaniards. But they were more important in their ultimate 
 results. 
 
 English enterprise was manifested shortly after the first voyage 
 of Columbus. Henry VII. was sufficiently enlightened, envious, 
 and avaricious, to listen to the proposals of a Venetian, resident in 
 Bristol, by the name of Cabot ; and, in 1495, he commissioned 
 him to sail under the banner of England, to take possession of any 
 new countries he might discover. Accordingly, in about two years 
 after, Cabot, with his second son, Sebastian, embarked at Bristol, 
 in one of the king's ships, attended by four smaller vessels, 
 equipped by the merchants of that enterprising city. 
 
 Impressed with the idea of Columbus, and other early navigators, 
 that the West India Islands were not far from the Indian continent, 
 he concluded that, if he steered in a more northerly direction, he 
 should reach India by a shorter course than that pursued by the 
 great discoverer. Accordingly, sailing in that course, he discov- 
 ered Newfoundland and Prince Edwards', and, soon after, the coast 
 of North America, along which he sailed, from Labrador to Vir- 
 ginia. But, disappointed in not finding a westerly passage to 
 India, he returned to England, without attempting, either by settle- 
 ment or conquest, to gain a footing on the great continent which 
 the English were the second to visit, of all the European nations. 
 
 England was prevented, by various circumstances, from deriving 
 immediate advantage from the discoveiy. The unsettled state of 
 the country ; the distractions arising from the civil wars, and after- 
 wards from the Reformation ; the poverty of the people, and the 
 sordid nature of the king, — were unfavorable to settlements which 
 promised no immediate advantage ; and it was not until the reign 
 of Elizabeth that any deliberate plans were made for the coloniza- 
 tion of North America. The voyages of Frobisher and Drake 
 had aroused a spirit of adventure, if they had not gratified the 
 thirst for gold. 
 
 Among those who felt an intense interest in the new world, was 
 Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a man of enlarged views and intrepid 
 boldness. He secured from Elizabeth (1578) a liberal patent, 
 and sailed, with a considerable body of adventurers, for the new 
 world. But he took a too northerly direction, and his largest ves- 
 sel was shipwrecked on the coast of Cape Breton. The enterprise, 
 
CHAP. XX.] SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 315 
 
 from various causes, completely failed, and the intrepid navigator 
 lost his life. 
 
 The spirit of the times raised up, however, a greater genius, and 
 a more accomplished adventurer, and no less a personage than 
 Sir Walter Raleigh, — the favorite of the queen ; the greatest 
 scholar and the most elegant courtier of the age ; a soldier, a phi- 
 losopher, and a statesman. He obtained a patent, substantially the 
 same as that which had been bestowed on Gilbert. In 1584, Ra- 
 leigh despatched two small exploring vessels, under the command 
 of Amadar and Barlow, which seasonably arrived off the coast of 
 North Carolina. From the favorable report of the country and 
 the people, a larger fleet, of seven ships, was despatched to Amer- 
 ica, commanded by Sir Richard Grenville. But he was diverted 
 from his course by the prevailing passion for predatory enterprise, 
 and hence only landed one hundred and eight men at Roanoke, 
 (1585.) The government of this feeble band was intrusted to 
 Captain Lane. But the passion for gold led to a misunderstanding 
 with the natives. The colony became enfeebled and reduced, and 
 the adventurers returned to England, (1586,) bringing with them 
 some knowledge of the country, and also that singular weed, which 
 rapidly enslaved the courtiers of Queen Elizabeth, and which soon 
 became one of the great staple commodities in the trade of the 
 civilized world. Modern science has proved it to be a poison, and 
 modern philanthropy has lifted up its warning voice against the use 
 of it. But when have men, in their degeneracy, been governed 
 by their reason ? What logic can break the power of habit, or 
 counteract the seductive influences of those excitements which fill 
 the mind with visionary hopes, and lull a tumultuous spirit into the 
 repose of pleasant dreams and oblivious joys ? Sir Walter Raleigh, 
 to his shame or his misfortune, was among the first to patronize a 
 custom which has proved more injurious to civilized nations than 
 even the use of opium itself, because it is more universal and 
 more insidious. 
 
 But smoking was simply an amusement with him. He soon 
 turned his thoughts to the reestablishment of his colony. Even 
 before the return of the company under Lane, Sir Richard Gren- 
 ville had visited the Roanoke, with the necessary stores. But he 
 arrived too late ; the colony was abandoned. 
 
316 LONDON COMPANY INCOEPOEATED. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 But nothing could abate the zeal of the most enterprising genius 
 of the age. In 1587, he despatched three more ships, under the 
 command of Captain White, who founded the city of Raleigh. 
 But no better success attended the new band of colonists. White 
 sailed for England, to secure new supplies ; and, when he returned, 
 he found no traces of the colony he had planted ; and no subse- 
 quent ingenuity or labor has been able to discover the slightest 
 vestige. 
 
 The patience of Raleigh was not wasted ; but new objects occu- 
 pied his mind, and he parted with his patent, which made him the 
 proprietary of a great part of the Southern States. Nor were 
 there any new attempts at colonization until 1606, in the reign of 
 James. 
 
 Through the influence of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, a man of great 
 wealth ; Sir John Popham, lord chief justice of England ; Richard 
 Hakluyt, the historian ; Bartholomew Gosnold, the navigator, and 
 John Smith, the enthusiastic adventurer, — King James I. granted 
 a royal charter to two rival companies, for the colonization of 
 America. The first was composed of noblemen, gentlemen, and 
 merchants, in and about London, who had an exclusive right to 
 occupy regions from thirty-four to thirty-eight degrees of north 
 latitude. The other company, composed of gentlemen and mer- 
 chants in the west of England, had assigned to them the territory 
 between forty-one and forty-five degrees. But only the first com- 
 pany succeeded. 
 
 The territory, appropriated to the London or southern colony, 
 preserved the name which had been bestowed upon it during the 
 reign of Elizabeth, — Virginia. The colonists were authorized to 
 transport, free of the custom-house, for the term of seven years, 
 what arms and provisions they required ; and their children were 
 permitted to enjoy the same privileges and liberties, in the Amer- 
 ican settlements, that Englishmen had at home. They had the 
 right to search for mines, to coin money, and, for twenty-one 
 years, to impose duties, on vessels trading to their harbors, for the 
 benefit of the colony. But, after this period, the duty was to be 
 taken for the king, who also preserved a control over both the 
 councils established for the government of the colony, — the one 
 in England itself, and the other in Virginia ; a control inconsistent 
 
CHAP. XX.] HARDSHIPS OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 317 
 
 with those liberties which the colonists subsequently asserted and 
 secured. 
 
 The London Company promptly applied themselves to the settle- 
 ment of their territories ; and, on the 19th of December, 1606, a 
 squadron of three small vessels set sail for the new world; and, 
 on May 13, 1607, a company of one hundred and five men, 
 without families, disembarked at Jamestown. This was the first 
 permanent settlement in America by the English. But great 
 misfortunes afflicted them. Before September, one half of the 
 colonists had perished, and the other half were suffering from fam- 
 ine, dissension, and fear. The president, Wingfield, attempted to 
 embezzle the public stores, and escape to the West Indies. He 
 was supplanted in his command by Ratcliffe, a man without ca- 
 pacity. But a deliverer was raised up in the person of Captain 
 John Smith, who extricated the suffering and discontented band 
 from the evils which impended. He had been a traveller and a 
 warrior ; had visited France, Italy, and Egypt ; fought in Holland 
 and Hungary ; was taken a prisoner of war in Wallachia, and sent 
 as a slave to Constantinople. Removed to a fortress in the Crimea, 
 and subjected to the hardest tasks, he yet contrived to escape, and, 
 after many perils, reached his native country. But greater hard- 
 ships and dangers awaited him in the new world, to which he was 
 impelled by his adventurous curiosity. He was surprised and taken 
 by a party of hostile Indians, when on a tour of exploration, and 
 would have been murdered, had it not been for his remarkable 
 presence of mind and singular sagacity, united with the inter- 
 cession of the famous Pocahontas, daughter of a great Indian 
 chief, from whom some of the best families in Virginia are de- 
 scended. It would be pleasant to detail the romantic incidents of 
 this brief captivity ; but our limits forbid. Smith, when he returned 
 to Jamestown, found his company reduced to forty men ; and they 
 were discouraged and disheartened. Moreover, they were a differ- 
 ent class of men from those who colonized New England. They 
 were gentlemen adventurers connected with aristocratic families, 
 were greedy for gold, and had; neither the fortitude nor the habits 
 requisite for success. They were not accustomed to labor, at 
 least with the axe and plough. Smith earnestly wrote to the 
 council of the company in England, to send carpenters, husband- 
 27* 
 
318 NEW CHARTER OF THE LONDON COMPANY. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 men, gardeners, fishermen, and blacksmiths, instead of " vagabond 
 gentlemen and goldsmiths." But he had to organize a colony 
 with such materials as avarice or adventurous curiosity had sent to 
 America. And, in spite of dissensions and natural indolence, he 
 succeeded in placing it on a firm foundation ; surveyed the Chesa- 
 peake Bay to the Susquehannah, and explored the inlets of the 
 majestic Potomac. But he was not permitted to complete the 
 work which he had so beneficently begun. His administration 
 was unacceptable to the company in England, who cared very 
 little for the welfare of the infant colony, and only sought a profit- 
 able investment of their capital. They were disappointed that 
 mines of gold and silver had not been discovered, and that they 
 themselves had not become enriched. Even the substantial wel- 
 fare of the colony displeased them ; for this diverted attention from 
 the pursuit of mineral wealth. 
 
 The original patentees, therefore, sought to strengthen them- 
 selves by new associates and a new charter. And a new charter 
 was accordingly granted to twenty-one peers, ninety-eight knights, 
 and a great number of doctors, esquires, gentlemen, and mer- 
 chants. The bounds of the colony were enlarged, the council 
 and offices in Virginia abolished, and the company in Eng- 
 land empowered to nominate all officers in the colony. Lord 
 Delaware was appointed governor and captain-general of the 
 company, and a squadron of nine ships, with five hundred emi- 
 grants were sent to Virginia. But these emigrants consisted, for the 
 most part, of profligate young men, whom their aristocratic friends 
 sent away to screen themselves from shame ; broken down gentle- 
 men, too lazy to work ; and infamous dependants on powerful 
 families. They threw the whole colony into confusion, and pro- 
 voked, by their aggression and folly, the animosities of the 
 Indians, whom Smith had appeased. The settlement at James- 
 town was abandoned to famine and confusion, and would have 
 been deserted had it not been for the timely arrival of Lord Dela- 
 ware, with ample supplies and new recruits. His administration 
 was wise and efficient, and he succeeded in restoring order, if he 
 did not secure the wealth which was anticipated. 
 
 In 1612, the company obtained a third patent, by which all the 
 islands within three hundred leagues of the Virginia shore were 
 
CHAP. XX.] RAPID COLONIZATION. 319 
 
 granted to the patentees, and by which a portion of the power 
 heretofore vested in the council was transferred to the whole com- 
 pany. The political rights of the colonists remained the same, 
 but they acquired gradually peace and tranquillity. Tobacco was 
 extensively cultivated, and proved a more fruitful source of wealth 
 than mines of silver or gold. 
 
 The jealousy of arbitrary power, and impatience of liberty, 
 among the new settlers, induced the Governor of Virginia, in 1619, 
 to reinstate them in the full possession of the rights of Englishmen ; 
 and he accordingly convoked a Provincial Assembly, the first ever 
 held in America, which consisted of the governor, the council, and 
 a number of burgesses, elected by the eleven existing boroughs 
 of the colony. The deliberation and laws of this infant legisla- 
 ture were transmitted to England for approval ; and so wise and 
 judicious were these, that the company, soon after, approved and 
 ratified the platform of what gradually ripened into the American 
 representative system. 
 
 The guarantee of political rights led to a rapid colonization. 
 " Men were now willing to regard Virginia as their home. They 
 fell to building houses and planting corn." Women were induced 
 to leave the parent country to become the wives of adventurous 
 planters ; and, during the space of three years, thirty-five hundred 
 persons, of both sexes, found their way to Virginia. In the year 
 1620, a Dutch ship, from the coast of Guinea, arrived in James 
 River, and landed twenty negroes for sale ; and, as they were 
 found more capable of enduring fatigue, in a southern climate, than 
 the Europeans, they were continually imported, until a large pro- 
 portion of the inhabitants of Virginia was composed of slaves. 
 Thus was introduced, at this early period, that lasting system of 
 injustice and cruelty which has proved already an immeasurable 
 misfortune to the country, as well as a disgrace to the institutions 
 of republican liberty, but which is lamented, in many instances, by 
 no class with more sincerity than by those who live by the produce 
 of slave labor itself. 
 
 The succeeding year, which witnessed the importation of ne- 
 groes, beheld the cultivation of cotton, that great staple of southern 
 produce. 
 
 In 1622, the long-suppressed enmity of the Indians broke out in 
 
320 INDIAN WARFARE. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 a savage attempt to murder the whole colony. A plot had been 
 formed by which all the English settlements were to be attacked 
 on the same day, and at the same hour. The conspiracy was 
 betrayed by a friendly Indian, but not in time to prevent a fearful 
 massacre of three hundred and forty-seven persons, among whom 
 were some of the wealthiest and most respectable inhabitants. 
 Then followed all the evils of an Indian war, and the settlements 
 were reduced from eighty to eight plantations ; and it was not 
 until after a protracted struggle that the colonists regained their 
 prosperity. 
 
 Scarcely had hostilities with the Indians commenced, before 
 dissensions among the company in England led to a quarrel with 
 the king, and a final abrogation of their charter. The company 
 was too large and too democratic. The members were dissatisfied 
 that so little gain had been derived from the colony ; and moreover 
 they made their courts or convocations, when they assembled to 
 discuss colonial matters, the scene of angry political debate. 
 There was a court party and a country party, each inflamed 
 with violent political animosities. The country party was the 
 stronger, and soon excited the jealousy of the arbitrary monarch, 
 who looked upon their meetings " as but a seminary to a seditious 
 parliament." A royal board of commissioners were appointed to 
 examine the affairs of the company, who reported unfavorably ; 
 and the king therefore ordered the company to surrender its 
 charter. The company refused to obey an arbitrary mandate ; 
 but upon its refusal, the king ordered a writ of quo warranto to 
 be issued, and the Court of the King's Bench decided, of course, 
 in favor of the crown. The company was accordingly dissolved. 
 But the dissolution, though arbitrary, operated beneficially on the 
 colony. Of all cramping institutions, a sovereign company of 
 merchants is the most so, since they seek simply commercial gain, 
 without any reference to the political, moral, or social improve- 
 ment of the people whom they seek to control. 
 
 Before King James had completed his scheme for the govern- 
 ment of the colony, he died ; and Charles I. pursued the same 
 arbitrary policy which his father contemplated. He instituted a 
 government which combined the unlimited prerogative of an abso- 
 lute prince with the narrow and selfish maxims of a mercantile 
 
CHAP. XX.] GOVERNOR HARVEY. 321 
 
 corporation. He monopolized the profits of its trade, and em- 
 powered the new governor, whom he appointed, to exercise his 
 authority with the most undisguised usurpation of those rights 
 which the colonists had heretofore enjoyed. Harvey's disposition 
 was congenial with the rapacious and cruel system which he pur- 
 sued, and he acted more like the satrap of an Eastern prince 
 than the representative of a' constitutional monarch. The colonists 
 remonstrated and complained ; but their appeals to the mercy and 
 justice of the king were disregarded, and Harvey continued his 
 course of insolence and tyranny until that famous parliament was 
 assembled which rebelled against the folly and government of 
 Charles. In 1641, a new and upright governor, Sir William 
 Berkeley, was sent to Virginia, and the old provincial liberties 
 were restored. In the contest between the king and parliament, 
 Virginia espoused the royal cause. When the parliament had 
 triumphed over the king, Virginia was made to feel the force of 
 republican displeasure, and oppressive restrictions were placed 
 upon the trade of the colony, which were the more provoking in 
 view of the indulgence which the New England colonies received 
 from the protector. A revolt ensued, and Sir William Berkeley 
 was forced from his retirement, and made to assume the govern- 
 ment of the rebellious province. Cromwell, fortunately for Vir- 
 ginia, but unfortunately for the world, died before the rebellion 
 could be suppressed ; and when Charles II. was restored, Virginia 
 joyfully returned to her allegiance. The supremacy of the Church 
 of England was established by law, stipends were allowed to her 
 ministers, and no clergymen were permitted to exercise their 
 functions but such as held to the supremacy of the Church of 
 England. 
 
 But Charles II. was as incapable as his father of pursuing 
 a generous and just policy to the colonies ; and parliament itself 
 looked upon the colonies as a source of profit to the nation, rather 
 than as a part of the nation. No. sooner was Charles seated on 
 the throne, than parliament imposed a duty of five per cent, on all 
 merchandise exported from, or imported into, any of the domin- 
 ions belonging to the crown ; and the famous Navigation Act was 
 passed, which ordained that no commodities should be imported 
 into any of the British settlements but in vessels built in England 
 
322 ARBITRARY POLICY OF CHARLES II. [CHAP. XX, 
 
 4 
 
 or in her colonies ; and that no sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, indigo, 
 and some other articles produced in the colonies, should be shipped 
 from them to any other country but England. As a compensa- 
 tion, the colonies were permitted the exclusive cultivation of 
 tobacco. The parliament, soon after, in 1663, passed additional 
 restrictions ; and, advancing, step by step, gradually subjected the 
 colonies to a most oppressive dependence on the mother country, 
 and even went so far as to regulate the trade of the several 
 colonies with each other. This system of monopoly and exclusion, 
 of course, produced indignation and disgust, and sowed the seeds 
 of ultimate rebellion. Indian hostilities were added to provincial 
 discontent, and even the horrors of civil war disturbed the prosperity 
 of the colony. An ambitious and unprincipled adventurer, by the 
 name of Bacon, succeeded in fomenting dissension, and in success- 
 fully resisting the power of the governor. Providence arrested the 
 career of the rebel in the moment of his triumph ; and his sickness 
 and death fortunately dissipated the tempest which threatened to 
 be fatal to the peace and welfare of Virginia. Berkeley, on the 
 suppression of the rebellion, punished the offenders with a severity 
 which ill accorded with his lenient and pacific character. His 
 course did not please the government in England, and he was 
 superseded by Colonel Jeffries. But he died before his successor 
 arrived. A succession of governors administered the colony as 
 their disposition prompted, some of whom wore wise and able, and 
 others tyrannical and rapacious. 
 
 The English revolution of 1688 produced also a change in the 
 administration of the colony. Its dependence on the personal 
 character of the sovereign was abolished, and its chartered liberties 
 were protected. The king continued to appoint the royal gov- 
 ernor, and the parliament continued to oppress the trade of the 
 colonists ; but they, on the whole, enjoyed the rights of freemen, 
 and rapidly advanced in wealth and prosperity. On the accession 
 of William and Mary, the colony contained fifty thousand inhab- 
 itants and forty-eight parishes ; and, in 1676, the customs on 
 tobacco alone were collected in England to the amount of one 
 hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds. The people generally 
 belonged to the Episcopal Church, and the clergy each received, 
 in every parish, a house and glebe, together with sixteen thousand 
 
CHAP. XX.] SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND. 323 
 
 pounds of tobacco. The people were characterized for hospitality 
 and urbanity, but were reproached for the indolence which a 
 residence in scattered villages, a hot climate, and negro slavery 
 must almost inevitably lead to. Literature, that solace of the 
 refined and luxurious in the European world, was but imperfectly 
 cultivated ; nor was religion, in its stern and lofty developments, 
 the animating principle of life, as in the New England settlements. 
 But the people of Virginia were richer, more cultivated, and more 
 aristocratic than the Puritans, more refined in manners, and more 
 pleasing as companions. 
 
 The settlements in New England were made by a very different 
 class of men from those who colonized Virginia. They were not 
 adventurers in quest of gain ; they were not broken-down gentle- 
 men of aristocratic connections ; they were not the profligate and 
 dissolute members of powerful families. They were Puritans ; 
 they belonged to the middle ranks of society ; they were men of 
 stern and lofty virtue, of invincible energy, and hard and iron 
 wills ; they detested both the civil and religious despotism of their 
 times, and desired, above all worldly consideration, the liberty of 
 worshipping God according to the dictates of their consciences. 
 They were chiefly Independents and Calvinists, among whom 
 religion was a life, and not a dogma. They sought savage wilds, 
 not for gain, not for ease, not for aggrandizement, but for liberty 
 of conscience ; and, for the sake of that inestimable privilege, 
 they were ready to forego all the comforts and elegances of civil- 
 ized life, and cheerfully meet all the dangers and make all the sac- 
 rifices which a residence among savage Indians, and in a cold and 
 inhospitable climate, necessarily incurred. 
 
 The efforts at colonization attempted by the company in the 
 west of England, to which allusion has been made, signally failed. 
 God did not design that New England should be settled by a band 
 of commercial adventurers. A colony was permanently planted 
 at Plymouth, within the limits of the corporation, of forty per- 
 sons', to whom James had granted enormous powers, and a belt 
 of country from the fortieth to the forty-eighth degree of north 
 latitude in width, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific in length. 
 f - On the 5th of August, 1620, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, 
 freighted with the first Puritan colony, set sail from Southampton. 
 
324 ARRIVAL OF THE MAYFLOWER. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 It composed a band of religious and devoted men, with their wives 
 and children, who had previously sought shelter in Holland for the 
 enjoyment of their religious opinions. The smaller vessel, after 
 a trial on the Atlantic, was found incompetent to the voyage, and 
 was abandoned. The more timid were allowed to disembark at 
 old Plymouth. One hundred and one resolute souls again set sail 
 in the Mayflower, for the unknown wilderness, with all its count- 
 less dangers and miseries. No common worldly interest could 
 have sustained their souls. The first adventurers embarked for 
 Virginia, without women or children ; but the Puritans made 
 preparation for a permanent residence. Providence, against their 
 design, guided their little vessel to the desolate shores of the most 
 barren part of Massachusetts. On the 9th of November, it was 
 safely moored in the harbor of Cape Cod. On the 11th, the colo- 
 nists solemnly bound themselves into a body politic, and chose John 
 Carver for their governor. On the 1 lth of December, (0. S.,) after 
 protracted perils and sufferings, this little company landed on Plym- 
 outh Rock. • Before the opening spring, more than half the colony 
 had perished from privation, fatigue, and suffering, among whom 
 was the governor himself. In the autumn, their numbers were 
 recruited ; but all the miseries of famine remained. They lived 
 together as a community ; but, for three or four months together, 
 they had no corn whatever. In the spring of 1623, each family 
 planted for itself, and land was assigned to each person in perpetual 
 fee. The needy and defenceless colonists were fortunately pre- 
 served from the hostility of the natives, since a famine had swept 
 away the more dangerous of their savage neighbors ; nor did hos- 
 tilities commence for several years. God protected the Pilgrims, in 
 their weakness, from the murderous tomahawk, and from the perils 
 of the wilderness. They suffered, but they existed. Their numbers 
 slowly increased, but they were all Puritans, — were just the men 
 to colonize the land, and lay the foundation of a great empire. 
 From the beginning, a strict democracy existed, and all enjoyed 
 ample exemption from the trammels of arbitrary power. No 
 king took cognizance of their existence, or imposed upon them a 
 despotic governor. They appointed their own rulers, and those 
 rulers governed in the fear of God. Township independence 
 existed from the first ; and this is the nursery and the genius of 
 
CHAP. XX.] SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 325 
 
 American institutions. The Plymouth colony was a self-constituted 
 democracy ; but it was composed of Englishmen, who loved their 
 native land, and, while they sought unrestrained freedom, did not 
 disdain dependence on the mother country, and a proper connection 
 with the English government. They could not obtain a royal 
 charter from the king; but the Grand Council of Plymouth — 
 a new company, to which James had given the privileges of the 
 old one — granted all the privileges which the colonists desired. 
 They were too insignificant to attract much attention from the 
 government, or excite the jealousy of a great corporation. 
 
 Unobtrusive and unfettered, the colony slowly spread. But 
 wherever it spread, it took root. It was a tree which Providence 
 planted for all generations. It was established upon a rock. It 
 was a branch of the true church, which was destined to defy 
 storms and changes, because its strength was in the Lord. 
 
 But all parts of New England were not, at first, settled by Puri- 
 tan Pilgrims, or from motives of religion merely. The council of 
 Plymouth issued grants of domains to various adventurers, who 
 were animated by the spirit of gain. John Mason received a 
 patent for what is now the state of New Hampshire. Portsmouth 
 and Dover had an existence as early as 1623. Gorges obtained a 
 grant of the whole district between the Piscataqua and the Kenne- 
 bec. Saco, in 1636, contained one hundred and fifty people. But 
 the settlements in New Hampshire and Maine, having disappointed 
 the expectations of the patentees in regard to emolument and profit, 
 were not very flourishing. 
 
 In the mean time, a new company of Puritans was formed for 
 the settlement of the country around Boston. The company ob- 
 tained a royal charter, (1629,) which constituted them a body pol- 
 itic, by the name of the Governor and Company of the Massachu- 
 setts Bay. It conferred on the colonists the rights of English 
 subjects, although it did not technically concede freedom of reli- 
 gious worship, or the privilege of self-government. The main body 
 of the colonists settled in Salem. They were a band of devout 
 and lofty characters ; Calvinists in their religious creed, and repub- 
 licans in their political opinions. Strict independency was the 
 basis and the genius of their church. It was self-constituted, and 
 all its officers were elected by the members. 
 28 
 
326 CONSTITUTION OF THE COLONY. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 The charter of the company had been granted to a corporation 
 consisting chiefly of merchants resident in London, and was more 
 liberal than could have been expected from so bigoted and zealous 
 a king as Charles I. If it did not directly concede the rights of 
 conscience, it seemed to be silent respecting them ; and the colonists 
 were left to the unrestricted enjoyment of their religious and civil 
 liberties. The intolerance and rigor of Archbishop Laud caused 
 this new colony to be rapidly settled ; and, as many distinguished 
 men desired to emigrate, they sought and secured, from the com- 
 } pany in England, a transfer of all the powers of government to 
 the actual settlers in America. By this singular transaction, the 
 municipal rights and privileges of the colonists were established on 
 a firm foundation. 
 
 In 1630, not far from fifteen hundred persons, with Winthrop as 
 their leader and governor, emigrated to the new world, and settled 
 first in Charlestown, and afterwards in Boston. In accordance 
 with the charter which gave them such unexpected privileges, 
 a General Court was assembled, to settle the government. But 
 the privilege of the elective franchise was given only to the mem- 
 bers of the church, and each church was formed after the model of 
 the one in Salem. It cannot be said that a strict democracy was 
 established, since church membership was the condition of the full 
 enjoyment of political rights. But if the constitution was some- 
 what aristocratic and exclusive, aristocracy was not based on wealth 
 or intellect. The Calvinists of Massachusetts recognized a gov- 
 ernment of the elect, — a sort of theocracy, in which only the 
 religious, or those who professed to be so, and were admitted to be 
 so, had a right to rule. This was the notion of Cromwell himself, 
 the great idol and representative of the Independents, who fancied 
 that the government of England should be intrusted only to those who 
 were capable of saving England, and were worthy to rule England. 
 As his party constituted, in his eyes, this elect body, and was, in 
 reality, the best party, — composed of men who feared God, and 
 were willing to be ruled by his laws, — therefore his party, as he 
 supposed, had a right to overturn thrones, and establish a new 
 theocracy on earth. 
 
 This notion was a delusion in England, and proved fatal to all 
 those who were blinded by it. Not so in America. Amid the 
 
CHAP. XX.] DOCTRINES OF THE PUEITANS. 327 
 
 unbroken forests of New England, a colony of men was planted 
 who generally recognized the principles of Cromwell ; and one of 
 the best governments the world has seen controlled the turbulent, 
 rewarded the upright, and protected the rights and property of all 
 classes with almost paternal fidelity and justice. The colony, how- 
 ever, — ■ such is the weakness of man, such the degeneracy of his 
 nature, — was doomed to dissension. Bigotry, from which no 
 communities or individuals are fully free, drove some of the best 
 men from the limits of the colony. Roger Williams, a minister in 
 Salem, and one of the most worthy and enlightened men of his 
 age, sought shelter from the persecution of his brethren amid the 
 wilds on Narragansett Bay. In June, 1636, the lawgiver of Rhode 
 Island, with five companions, embarked in an Indian canoe, and, 
 sailing down the river, landed near a spring, on a sheltered spot, 
 which he called Providence. He was gradually joined by others, 
 who sympathized with his tolerant spirit and enlightened views, and 
 the colony of Rhode Island became an asylum for the persecuted 
 for many years. And there were many such. The Puritans were 
 too earnest to live in harmony with those who differed from them 
 on great religious questions ; and a difference of views must have 
 been expected among men so intellectual, so acute, and so fearless 
 in speculation. How could dissenters from prevailing opinions 
 fail to arise ? — mystics, fanatics, and heretics ? The idea of 
 special divine illumination — ever the prevailing source of fanati- 
 cism, in all ages and countries — led astray some ; and the desire 
 for greater spiritual liberty animated others. Anne Hutchinson 
 adopted substantially the doctrine of George Fox, that the spirit of 
 God illuminates believers, independently of his written word ; and 
 she communicated her views to many others, who became, like 
 her, arrogant and conceited, in spite of their many excellent qual- 
 ities. Harry Vane, the governor, was among the number. But 
 there was no reasoning with fanatics, who fancied themselves 
 especially inspired ; and, as they disturbed the peace of the col- 
 ony, the leaders were expelled. Vane himself returned to England, 
 to mingle in scenes more congenial with his excellent but excitable 
 temper. In England, this illustrious friend of Milton greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself for his efforts in the cause of liberty, and ever 
 remained its consistent advocate ; opposing equally the tyranny of 
 
328 PEQUOD WAR. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 the king, and the encroachments of those who overturned his 
 throne. 
 
 Connecticut, though assigned to a company in England, was 
 early colonized by a detachment of Pilgrims from Massachusetts. 
 In 1635, settlements were made at Hartford, Windsor, and Weth- 
 ersfield. The following year, the excellent and illustrious Hooker 
 led a company of one hundred persons through the forests to the 
 delightful banks of the Connecticut, whose rich alluvial soil prom- 
 ised an easier support than the hard and stony land in the vicinity 
 of Boston. They were scarcely settled before the Pequod war 
 commenced, which involved all the colonies in a desperate and 
 bloody contest with the Indians. But the Pequods were no match 
 for Europeans, especially without firearms ; and, in 1637, the 
 tribe was nearly annihilated. The energy and severity exercised 
 by the colonists, fighting for their homes, struck awe in the minds 
 of the savages ; and it was long before they had the courage to 
 rally a second time. The Puritans had the spirit of Cromwell, 
 and never hesitated to act with intrepid boldness and courage, 
 when the necessity was laid upon them. They were no advocates 
 of half measures. Their subsequent security and growth are, in 
 no slight degree, to be traced to these rigorous measures, — meas- 
 ures which, in these times, are sometimes denounced as too severe, 
 but the wisdom of which can scarcely be questioned when the 
 results are considered. All the great masters of war, and of war 
 with barbarians, have pursued a policy of unmitigated severity ; 
 and when a temporizing or timid course has been adopted with 
 men incapable of being governed by reason, and animated by sav- 
 age passions, that course has failed. 
 
 After the various colonies were well established in New Eng- 
 land, and more than twenty thousand had emigrated from the 
 mother country, they were no longer regarded with benevolent 
 interest by the king or his ministers. The Grand Council of 
 Plymouth surrendered its charter to the king, and a writ of quo 
 warranto was issued against the Massachusetts colony. But the 
 Puritans refused to surrender their charter, and prepared for resist- 
 ance against the malignant scheme of Strafford and Laud. Before 
 they could be carried into execution, the struggle between the king 
 and the Long Parliament had commenced. The less resistance 
 
CHAP. XX.] UNION OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. 329 
 
 was forgotten in the greater. The colonies escaped the vengeance 
 of a bigoted government. When the parliament triumphed, they 
 were especially favored, and gradually acquired wealth and power. 
 The different colonies formed a confederation to protect themselves 
 against the Dutch and French on the one side, and the Indians on 
 the other. And this happily continued for half a century, and 
 was productive of very important results. But the several colonies 
 continued to make laws for their own people, to repress anarchy, 
 and favor the cause of religion and unity. They did not always 
 exhibit a liberal and enlightened policy. They destroyed \witches ; 
 persecuted the Baptists and Quakers, and excluded them from 
 their settlements. But, with the exception of religious persecu- 
 tion, their legislation was wise, and their general conduct was vir- 
 tuous. They encouraged schools, and founded the University of 
 Cambridge. They preserved the various peculiarities of Puritan- 
 ism in regard to amusements, to the observance of the Sabbath, 
 and to antipathy to any thing which reminded them of Rome, or 
 even of the Church of England. But Puritanism was not an 
 odious crust, a form, a dogma. It was a life, a reality ; and 
 was not unfavorable to the development of the most beautiful 
 virtues of charity and benevolence, in a certain sphere. It was 
 not a mere traditional Puritanism, which clings with disgusting 
 tenacity to a form, when the spirit of love has departed ; but it 
 was a harmonious development of living virtues, which sympa- 
 thized with education, with freedom, and with progress; which 
 united men together by the bond of Christian love, and incited 
 them to deeds of active benevolence and intrepid moral heroism. 
 Nor did the Puritan Pilgrims persecute those who did not harmo- 
 nize with them in order to punish them, but simply to protect them- 
 selves, and to preserve in their midst, and in their original purity, 
 those institutions and those rights, for the possession of which they 
 left their beloved native land for a savage wilderness, with its 
 countless perils and miseries. But their hardships and afflictions 
 were not of long continuance. With energy, industry, frugality, 
 and love, they soon obtained security, comfort, and health. And 
 it is no vain and idle imagination which assigns to those years, 
 which succeeded the successful planting of the colony, the period 
 28* 
 
330 WILLIAM PENN. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 of the greatest happiness and virtue which New England has ever 
 enjoyed. 
 
 Equally fortunate with the Puritans were those interesting 
 people who settled Pennsylvania. If the Quakers were persecuted 
 in the mother country and in New England, they found a shelter 
 on the banks of the Delaware. There they obtained and enjoyed 
 that freedom of religious worship which had been denied to the 
 great founder of the sect, and which had even been withheld 
 from them by men who had struggled with tiVm for the attain- 
 ment of this exalted privilege. 
 
 In 1677, the Quakers obtained a charter which recognized the 
 principle of democratic equality in the settlements in West Jer- 
 sey ; and in 1680, William Penn received from the king, who 
 was indebted to his father, a grant of an extensive territory, 
 which was called Pennsylvania, of which he was constituted abso- 
 lute proprietary. He also received a liberal charter, and gave his 
 people privileges and a code of laws which exceeded in liberality 
 any that had as yet been bestowed on any community. In 1682, 
 he landed at Newcastle, and, soon after, at his new city on the 
 banks of the Delaware, under the shelter of a large, spreading 
 elm, made his immortal treaty with the Indians. He proclaimed 
 to the Indian, heretofore deemed a foe never to be appeased, 
 the principles of love which animated Fox, and which " Mary 
 Fisher had borne to the Grand Turk." " We meet," said the 
 lawgiver, "on the broad pathway of good faith and good will. No 
 advantage shall be taken on either side, but all shall be openness 
 and love. I will not call you children, for parents sometimes 
 chide their children too severely ; nor brothers only, for brothers 
 differ. The friendship between me and you I will not compare to 
 a chain, for that the rains might rust, or the falling tree might 
 break. We are the same as if one man's body were to be divided 
 into two parts ; we are all one flesh and blood." 
 
 Such were the sublime doctrines which the illustrious founder 
 of Pennsylvania declared to the Indians, and which he made the 
 basis of his government, and the rule of his intercourse with his 
 own people and with savage tribes. These doctrines were already 
 instilled into the minds of the settlers, and they also found a response 
 in the souls of the Indians. The sons of the wilderness lona; 
 
CHAP. XX.] SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 331 
 
 cherished the recollection of the covenant, and never forgot its 
 principles. While all the other settlements of the Europeans were 
 suffering from the hostility of the red man, Pennsylvania alone 
 enjoyed repose. " Not a drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by 
 an Indian." 
 
 William Penn, although the absolute proprietor of a tract of 
 country which was nearly equal in extent to England, sought no 
 revenue and no arbitrary power. He gave to the settlers the right 
 to choose their own magistrates, from the highest to the lowest, 
 and only reserved to himself the power to veto the bills of the 
 council — the privilege which our democracies still allow to their 
 governors. 
 
 Such a colony as he instituted could not but prosper. Its rising 
 glories were proclaimed in every country of Europe, and the 
 needy and distressed of all countries sought this realized Utopia. 
 In two years after Philadelphia was settled, it contained six hun- 
 dred houses. Peace was uninterrupted, and the settlement spread 
 more rapidly than in any other part of North America. 
 
 New Jersey, Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, 
 were all colonized by the English, shortly after the settlement of 
 Virginia and New England, either by emigration from England, or 
 from the other colonies. But there was nothing in their early history 
 sufficiently marked to warrant a more extended sketch. In general, 
 the Southern States were colonized by men who had not the religious 
 elevation of the Puritans, nor the living charity of the Quakers. 
 But their characters improved by encountering the evils to which 
 they were subjected, and they became gradually imbued with those 
 principles which in after times secured independence and union. 
 
 The settlement of New York, however, merits a passing notice, 
 since it was colonized by emigrants from Holland, which was by 
 far the most flourishing commercial state of Europe in the seven- 
 teenth century. The Hudson River had been discovered (1609) 
 by an Englishman, whose name it bears, but who was in the ser- 
 vice of the Dutch East India Company. The right of possession 
 of the country around it was therefore claimed by the United 
 Provinces, and an association of Dutch merchants fitted out a ship 
 to trade with the Indians. In 1614, a rude fort was erected on 
 Manhattan Island, and, the next year, the settlement at Albany 
 
332 CONQUEST OF NEW NETHERLANDS. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 commenced, chiefly with a view of trading with the Indians. In 
 1623, New Amsterdam, now New York, was built for the purpose 
 of colonization, and extensive territories were appropriated by the 
 Dutch for the rising colony. This appropriation involved them in 
 constant contention with the English, as well as with the Indians ; 
 nor was there the enjoyment of political privileges by the people, 
 as in the New England colonies. The settlements resembled 
 lordships in the Netherlands, and every one who planted a colony 
 of fifty souls, possessed the absolute property of the lands he 
 colonized, and became Patroon, or Lord of the Manor. Very little 
 attention was given to education, and the colonists were not per- 
 mitted to make cotton, woollen, or linen cloth, for fear of injury to 
 the monopolists of the Dutch manufactures. The province had no 
 popular freedom, and no public spirit. The poor were numerous, 
 and the people were disinclined to make proper provision for their 
 own protection. 
 
 But the colony of the New Netherlands was not destined to 
 remain under the government of the Dutch West India Company. 
 It was conquered by the English in 1664, and the conquerors 
 promised security to the customs, the religion, the institutions, and 
 the possessions of the Dutch ; and this promise was observed. In 
 1673, the colony was reconquered, but finally, in 1674, was ceded 
 to the English, and the brother of Charles II. resumed his pos- 
 session and government of New York, and delegated his power 
 to Colonel Nichols, who ruled with wisdom and humanity. But the 
 old Dutch Governor Stuyvesant remained in the city over which 
 he had so honorably presided, and prolonged the empire of Dutch 
 manners, if not of Dutch arms. The banks of the Hudson con- 
 tinued also to be peopled by the countrymen of the original colo- 
 nists, who long preserved the language, customs, and religion of 
 Holland. New York, nevertheless, was a royal province, and the 
 administration was frequently intrusted to rapacious, unprincipled, 
 and arbitrary governors. 
 
 Thus were the various states which border on the Atlantic Ocean 
 colonized, in which English laws, institutions, and language were 
 destined to be perpetuated. In 1688, the various colonies, of which 
 there were twelve, contained about two hundred thousand inhabit- 
 ants ; and all of these were Protestants ; all cherished the principles 
 
CHAP. XX.] DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 333 
 
 of civil and religious liberty, and sought, by industry, frugality, 
 and patience, to secure independence and prosperity. From that 
 period to this, no nation has grown more rapidly ; no one has ever 
 developed more surprising energies ; no one has ever enjoyed 
 greater social, political, and religious privileges. 
 
 But the shores of North America were not colonized merely by 
 the English. On the banks of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi, 
 another body of colonists arrived, and introduced customs and 
 institutions equally foreign to those of the English and Spaniards. 
 The French settlements in Canada and Louisiana are now to be 
 considered. 
 
 Within seven years from the discovery of the continent, the 
 fisheries of Newfoundland were known to French adventurers. 
 The St. Lawrence was explored in 1506, and plans of colonization 
 were formed in 1518. In 1534, James Carrier, a native of St. 
 Malo, sailed up the River St. Lawrence ; but the severity of the 
 climate in winter prevented an immediate settlement. It was not 
 until 1603 that any permanent colonization was commenced. 
 Quebec was then selected by Samuel Champlain, the father of the 
 French settlements in Canada, as the site for a fort. In 1604, a 
 charter was given, by Henry IV., to an eminent Calvinist, De 
 Monts, which gave him the sovereignty of Acadia, a tract em- 
 braced between the fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude. 
 The Huguenot emigrants were to enjoy their religion, the monopoly 
 of the fur trade, and the exclusive control of the soil. They 
 arrived at Nova Scotia the same year, and settled in Port Royal. 
 
 In 1608, Quebec was settled by Champlain, who aimed at the 
 glory of founding a state ; and in 1627 he succeeded in establish- 
 ing the authority of the French on the banks of the St. Lawrence. 
 But Champlain was also a zealous Catholic, and esteemed the 
 salvation of a soul more than the conquest of a kingdom. He 
 therefore selected Franciscan monks to effect the conversion of 
 the Indians. But they were soon supplanted by the Jesuits, who, 
 patronized by the government in France, soon made the new 
 world the scene of their strange activity. 
 
 At no period and in no country were Jesuit missionaries more 
 untiring laborers than amid the forests of North America. With 
 the crucifix in their hands, they wandered about with savage tribes, 
 
334 JESUIT MISSIONARIES. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 and by unparalleled labors of charity and benevolence, sought to 
 convert them to the Christianity of Rome. As early as 1635, a 
 college and a hospital were founded, by munificent patrons in 
 France, for the benefit of all the tribes of red men from the 
 waters of Lake Superior to the shores of the Kennebec. In 1641, 
 Montreal, intended as a general rendezvous for converted Indians, 
 was occupied, and soon became the most important station in 
 Canada, next to the fortress of Quebec. Before Eliot had preached 
 to the Indians around Boston, the intrepid missionaries of the Jesuits 
 had explored the shores of Lake Superior, had penetrated to the 
 Falls of St. Mary's, and had visited the Chippeways, the Hurons, 
 the Iroquois, and the Mohawks. Soon after, they approached the 
 Dutch settlements on the Hudson, explored the sources of the 
 Mississippi, examined its various tributary streams, and floated 
 down its mighty waters to its mouth. The missionaries claimed 
 the territories on the Gulf of Mexico for the king of France, and 
 in 1684, Louisiana was colonized by Frenchmen. The indefati- 
 gable La Salle, after having explored the Mississippi, from the 
 Falls of St. Anthony to the sea, was assassinated by one of his 
 envious followers, but not until he had earned the immortal fame 
 of being the father of western colonization. 
 
 Thus were the North American settlements effected. In 1688, 
 England possessed those colonies which border on the Atlantic 
 Ocean, from Maine to Georgia. The French possessed Nova 
 Scotia, Canada, Louisiana, and claimed the countries bordering on 
 the Mississippi and its branches, from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake 
 Superior, and also the territories around the great lakes. 
 
 A mutual jealousy, as was to be expected, sprung up between 
 France and England respecting their colonial possessions. Both 
 kingdoms aimed at the sovereignty of North America. The 
 French were entitled, perhaps, by right of discovery, to the greater 
 extent of territory ; but their colonies were very unequal to those 
 of the English in respect to numbers, and still more so in moral 
 elevation and intellectual culture. 
 
 But Louis XIV., then in the height of his power, meditated 
 the complete subjection of the English settlements. The French 
 allied themselves with the Indians, and savage wars were the re- 
 sult. The Mohawks and other tribes, encouraged by the French, 
 
CHAP. XX.] PROSPERITY OF THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 335 
 
 committed fearful massacres at Deerfield and Haverhill, and the 
 English settlers were kept in a state of constant alarm and fear. 
 By the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, the colonists obtained peace and 
 considerable accession of territory. In 1720, John Law proposed 
 his celebrated financial scheme to the prince regent of France, 
 and the Mississippi Company was chartered, and Louisiana colo- 
 nized. Much profit was expected to be derived from this company. 
 It will be seen, hi another chapter, how miserably it failed. It 
 was based on wrong foundations, and the project of deriving wealth 
 from the colonies came to nought .; nor did it result in a rapid 
 colonization. 
 
 Meanwhile the English colonies advanced in wealth, numbers, 
 and political importance, and attracted the notice of the English 
 government. Sir Robert Walpole, in 1711, was solicited to tax 
 the colonies ; but he nobly rejected the proposal. He encouraged 
 trade to the utmost latitude, and tribute was only levied by means 
 of consumption of British manufactures. But restrictions were 
 subsequently imposed on colonial enterprise, which led to collisions 
 between the colonies and the mother country. The Southern 
 colonies were more favored than the Northern, but all of them were 
 regarded with the view of promoting the peculiar interests of 
 Great Britain. Other subjects of dispute also arose ; but, never- 
 theless, the colonies, especially those of New England, made rapid 
 strides. There was a general diffusion of knowledge, the laws 
 were well observed, and the ministers of religion were an honor 
 to their sacred calling. The earth was subdued, and replenished 
 with a hardy and religious set of men. Sentiments of patriotism 
 and independence were ardently cherished. The people were 
 trained to protect themselves ; and, in their town meetings, learned 
 to discuss political questions, and to understand political rights. 
 Some ecclesiastical controversies disturbed the peace of parishes 
 and communities, but did not retard the general prosperity. Some 
 great lights also appeared. David Brainard performed labors of 
 disinterestedness and enlightened piety, which have never been 
 surpassed, and never equalled, even in zeal and activity, except 
 by those of the earlier Jesuits. Jonathan Edwards stamped his 
 genius on the whole character of New England theology, and 
 won the highest honor as a metaphysician, even from European 
 
336 FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 admirers. His treatise on the Freedom of the Will has secured 
 the praises of philosophers and divines of all sects and parties, 
 from Hume to Chalmers, and can " never be attentively perused 
 without a sentiment of admiration at the strength and stretch of 
 the human understanding." Benjamin Franklin also had arisen : 
 he had not, at this early epoch, distinguished himself for philo- 
 sophical discoveries ; but he had attracted attention as the editor 
 of a newspaper, in which he fearlessly defended freedom of speech 
 and the great rights of the people. But greater than Franklin, 
 greater than any hero which modern history has commemorated, 
 was that young Virginia planter, who was then watching, with 
 great solicitude, the interests and glory of his country, and 
 preparing himself for the great conflicts which have given him 
 immortality. 
 
 The growth of the colonies, and their great importance in the 
 eyes of the Europeans, had now provoked the jealousy of the two 
 leading powers of Europe, and the colonial struggle between 
 England and France began. 
 
 The French claimed the right of erecting a chain of fortresses 
 along the Ohio and the Mississippi, with a view to connect Canada 
 with Louisiana, and thus obtain a monopoly of the fur trade with 
 the Indians, and secure the possession of the finest part of the 
 American continent. But these designs were displeasing to the 
 English colonists, who had already extended their settlements far 
 into the interior. The English ministry was also indignant in 
 view of these movements, by which the colonies were completely 
 surrounded by military posts. England protested ; but the French 
 artfully protracted negotiations until the fortifications were com- 
 pleted. 
 
 It was to protest against the erection of these fortresses that 
 George Washington, then twenty-three years of age, was sent by 
 the colony of Virginia to the banks of the Ohio. That journey 
 through the trackless wilderness, attended but by one person, in no 
 slight degree marked him out, and prepared him for his subse- 
 quently great career. 
 
 While the disputes about the forts were carried on between the 
 cabinets of France and England, the French prosecuted their 
 encroachments in America with great boldness, which doubtless 
 
CHAP. XX.] EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN THE EAST. 337 
 
 hastened the rupture between the two countries. Orders were 
 sent to the colonies to drive the French from their usurpations in 
 Nova Scotia, and from their fortified posts upon the Ohio. Then 
 commenced that great war, which resulted in the loss of the French 
 possessions in America. But this war was also allied with the 
 contests which grew out of the Austrian Succession, and therefore 
 will be presented in a separate chapter on the Pelham administra- 
 tion, during which the Seven Years' War, in the latter years of 
 the reign of George II., commenced. 
 
 But the colonial jealousy between England and France existed 
 not merely in view of the North American colonies, but also those 
 in the East Indies ; and these must be alluded to in order to form a 
 general idea of European colonization, and of the causes which 
 led to the mercantile importance of Great Britain, as well as to 
 the great wars which desolated the various European nations. 
 
 From the difficulties in the American colonies, we turn to 
 those, therefore, which existed in the opposite quarter of the 
 globe. Even to those old countries had European armies pen- 
 etrated ; even there European cupidity and enterprise were exer- 
 cised. 
 
 As late as 1742, the territories of the English in India scarcely 
 extended beyond the precincts of the towns in which were located 
 the East India Company's servants. The first English settlement 
 of importance was on the Island of Java ; but, in 1658, a grant of 
 land was obtained on the Coromandel coast, near Madras, where 
 was erected the strong fortress of St. George. In 1668, the Island 
 of Bombay was ceded by the crown of Portugal to Charles II., 
 and appointed the capital of the British settlements in India. In 
 1698, the English had a settlement on the Hooghly, which after- 
 wards became the metropolis of British power. 
 
 But the Dutch, and Portuguese, and French had also colonies 
 in India for purposes of trade. Louis XIV. established a com- 
 pany, in imitation of the English, which sought a settlement on 
 the Hooghly. The French company also had built a fort on 
 the coast of the Carnatic, about eighty miles south of Madras, 
 called Pondicherry, and had colonized two fertile islands in the 
 Indian Ocean, which they called the Isle of France and the Isle 
 of Bourbon. The possessions of the French were controlled by 
 29 
 
338 FKENCH SETTLEMENTS IN INDIA. [CHAP. XX. 
 
 4 
 
 two presidencies, one on the Isle of France, and the other at 
 Pondicheny. 
 
 When the war broke out between England and France, in 1744, 
 these two French presidencies were ruled by two men of superior 
 genius, — La Bourdonnais and Dupleix, — both of them men of 
 great experience in Indian affairs, and both devoted to the interests 
 of the company, so far as their own personal ambition would 
 permit. When Commodore Burnet, with an English squadron, 
 was sent into the Indian seas, La Bourdonnais succeeded in fitting 
 out an expedition to oppose it, and even contemplated the capture 
 of Madras. No decisive action was fought at sea ; but the French 
 governor succeeded in taking Madras. This success displeased 
 the Nabob of the Carnatic, and he sent a letter to Dupleix, and 
 complained of the aggression of his countrymen in attacking a 
 place under his protection. Dupleix, envious of the fame of La 
 Bourdonnais, and not pleased with the terms of capitulation, as 
 being too favorable to the English, claimed the right of annulling 
 the conquest, since Madras, when taken, would fall under his own 
 presidency. 
 
 The contentions between these two Frenchmen prevented La 
 Bourdonnais from following up the advantage of his victory, and 
 he failed in his attempts to engage the English fleet, and, in 
 consequence, returned to France, and died from the effects of an 
 unjust imprisonment in the Bastile. 
 
 Dupleix, after the departure of La Bourdonnais, brought the 
 principal inhabitants of Madras to Pondicheny. But some of 
 them contrived to escape. Among them was the celebrated Clive, 
 then a clerk in a mercantile house. He entered as an ensign into 
 the company's service, and soon found occasion to distinguish 
 himself. 
 
 But Dupleix, master of Madras, now formed the scheme of 
 founding an Indian empire, and of expelling the English from the 
 Carnatic. And India was in a state to favor his enterprises. The 
 empire of the Great Mogul, whose capital was Delhi, was tottering 
 from decay. It had been, in the sixteenth century, the most pow- 
 erful empire in the world. The magnificence of his palaces 
 astonished even Europeans accustomed to the splendor of Paris 
 and Versailles. His viceroys ruled over provinces larger and 
 
CHAP. XX.] LA BOURDONNAIS AND DUPLEIX. 339 
 
 richer than either France or England. And even the lieutenants 
 of these viceroys frequently aspired to independence. 
 
 The Nabob of Arcot was one of these latter princes. He hated 
 the French, and befriended the English. On the death of the 
 Viceroy of Deccan, to whom he was subject, in 1748, Dupleix 
 conceived his gigantic scheme of conquest. To the throne of this 
 viceroy there were several claimants, two of whom applied to the 
 French for assistance. This was what the Frenchman desired, 
 and he allied himself with the pretenders. With the assistance of 
 the French, Mirzappa Juy obtained the viceroyalty. Dupleix was 
 splendidly rewarded, and was intrusted with the command of 
 seven thousand Indian cavalry, and received a present of two 
 hundred thousand pounds. 
 
 The only place on the Carnatic which remained in possession 
 of the rightful viceroy was Trichinopoly, and this was soon in- 
 vested by the French and Indian forces. 
 
 To raise this siege, and turn the tide of French conquest, be- 
 came the object of Clive, then twenty-five years of age. He 
 represented to his superior the importance of this post, and also of 
 striking a decisive blow. He suggested the plan of an attack on 
 Arcot itself, the residence of the nabob. His project was ap- 
 proved, and he was placed at the head of a force of three hundred 
 sepoys and two hundred Englishmen.! The city was taken by 
 surprise, and its capture induced the nabob to relinquish the siege 
 of Trichinopoly in order to retake his capital. But Clive so 
 intrenched his followers, that they successfully defended the place, 
 after exhibiting prodigies of valor. The fortune of war turned to 
 the side of the gallant Englishman, and Dupleix, who was no gen- 
 eral, retreated before the victors. Clive obtained the command 
 of Fort St. David, an important fortress near Madras, and soon 
 controlled the Carnatic. 
 
 About this time, the settlements on the Hooghly were plundered 
 by Suraj-w Dowlah, Viceroy of Bengal. Bengal was the most 
 fertile and populous province of the empire of the Great Mogul. 
 It was watered by the Ganges, the sacred river of India, and its 
 cities were surprisingly rich. Its capital was Mooshedabad, a city 
 nearly as large as London ; and here the young viceroy lived in 
 luxury and effeminacy, and indulged in every species of cruelty 
 
340 clive's victories. [chap. xx. 
 
 4 
 
 and folly. He hated the English of Calcutta, and longed to 
 plunder them. He accordingly seized the infant city, and shut up 
 one hundred and forty of the colonists in a dungeon of the fort, a 
 room twenty feet by fourteen, with only two small windows ; and, 
 in a few hours, one hundred and seventeen of the English died. 
 The horrors of that night have been splendidly painted by Macau- 
 lay in his essay on Clive, and the place of torment, called the 
 Black Hole of Calcutta, is synonymous with suffering and misery. 
 Clive resolved to avenge this insult to his countrymen. An expe- 
 dition was fitted out at Madras to punish the inhuman nabob, 
 consisting of nine hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred sepoys. 
 It was a small force, but proved sufficient. Calcutta was recovered, 
 and the army of the nabob was routed. Clive intrigued with the 
 enemies of the despot in his own city ; and, by means of unparal- 
 leled treachery, dissimulation, art, and violence, Suraj-w Dowlah 
 was deposed, and Meer Jafner, one of the conspirators, was made 
 nabob in his place. In return for the services of Clive, the new 
 viceroy splendidly rewarded him. A hundred boats conveyed the 
 treasures of Bengal down the river to Calcutta. Clive himself, 
 who had walked between heaps of gold and silver, crowned with 
 diamonds and rubies, condescended to receive a present of three 
 hundred thousand pounds. His moderation has been commended 
 by his biographers in not asking for a million. 
 
 The elevation of Meer Jafner was, of course, displeasing to the 
 imbecile Emperor of India, and a large army was sent to dethrone 
 him. The nabob appealed, in his necessity, to his allies, the Eng- 
 lish, and, with the powerful assistance of the Europeans, the forces 
 of the successor of the great Aurungzebe were signally routed. 
 But the great sums he was obliged to bestow on his allies, and the 
 encroaching spirit which they manifested, changed his friendship 
 into enmity. He plotted with the Dutch and the French to over- 
 turn the power of the English. Clive divined his object, and 
 Meer Jafner was deposed in his turn. The Viceroy of Bengal was 
 but the tool of his English protectors, and British power was 
 firmly planted in the centre of India. Calcutta became the capital 
 of a great empire, and the East India Company, a mere assem- 
 blage of merchants and stockjobbers, by their system of perfidy, 
 craft, and violence, became the rulers and disposers of provinces 
 
CHAP. XX.] CONQUEST OF INDIA. 341 
 
 which Alexander had coveted in vain. The servants of this 
 company made their fortunes, and untold wealth was transported 
 to England. Clive obtained a fortune of forty thousand pounds a 
 year, an Irish peerage, and a seat in the House of Commons. He 
 became an object of popular idolatry, courted by ministers, and 
 extolled by Pitt. He was several times appointed governor-gen- 
 eral of the country he had conquered, and to him England is 
 indebted for the foundation of her power in India. But his fame 
 and fortune finally excited the jealousy of his countrymen, and he 
 was made to bear the sins of the company which he had enriched. 
 The malignity with which he was pursued, and the disease which 
 he acquired in India, operated unfortunately on a temper naturally 
 irritable ; his reason became overpowered, and he died, in 1774, 
 by his own hand. 
 
 The subsequent career of Hastings, and final conquest of India, 
 form part of the political history of England itself, during those 
 administrations which yet remain to be described. The coloniza- 
 tion of America and the East Indies now became involved with 
 the politics of rival statesmen ; and its histoiy can only be appre- 
 ciated by considering those acts and principles which marked the 
 career of the Newcastles and the Pitts. The administration of 
 the Pelhams, therefore, next claims attention. 
 
 References. — The best histories pertaining to the conquests of the 
 Spaniards are undoubtedly those of Mr. Prescott. Irving's Columbus 
 should also be consulted. For the early history of the North American 
 colonies, the attention of students is directed to Grahame's and Bancroft's 
 Histories of the United States. In regard to India, see Elphinstone's, 
 Gleig's, Ormes's, and Mills's Histories of India; Malcolm's Life of Clive; 
 and Macaulay's Essay on Clive. For the contemporaneous history of 
 Great Britain, the best works are those of Tyndal, Smollett, Lord Ma- 
 hon, and Belsham; Russell's Modern Europe; the Pictorial History of 
 England; and the continuation of Mackintosh, in Lardner's Cabinet 
 Cyclopedia. 
 
 29* 
 
342 THE PELHAMS. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE REIGN OF GEORGE II. 
 
 The English nation acquiesced in the government of Sir Robert 
 Walpole for nearly thirty years — the longest administration in 
 the annals of the country. And he was equal to the task, ruling, 
 on the whole, beneficently, promoting peace, regulating the finances, 
 and encouraging those great branches of industry which lie at 
 the foundation of English wealth and power. But the intrigues 
 of rival politicians, and the natural desire of change, which all 
 parties feel after a long repose, plunged the nation into war, and 
 forced the able minister to retire. The opposition, headed by the 
 Prince of Wales, supported by such able statesmen as Bolingbroke, 
 Carteret, Chesterfield, Pulteney, Windham, and Pitt, and sustained 
 by the writings of those great literary geniuses whom Walpole 
 disdained and neglected, compelled George II., at last, to part with 
 a man who had conquered his narrow prejudices. 
 
 But the Tories did not come into power on the retirement of 
 Walpole. His old confederates remained at the head of affairs, 
 and Carteret, afterwards Lord Grenville, the most brilliant man 
 of his age, became the leading minister. But even he, so great 
 in debate, and so distinguished for varied attainments, did not long 
 retain his place. None of the abuses which existed under the 
 former administration were removed ; • and moreover the war, 
 which the nation had clamored for, had proved disastrous. He 
 also had to bear the consequences of Walpole's temporizing pol- 
 icy, which could no longer be averted. 
 
 The new ministry was headed by Henry Pelham, as first lord 
 of the treasury and chancellor of the . exchequer, and by the 
 Duke of Newcastle, as principal secretary of state. These two 
 men formed, also, a coalition with the leading members of both 
 houses of parliament, Tories as well as Whigs ; and, for the first 
 time since the accession of the Stuarts, there was no opposition. 
 This great coalition was called the " Broad Bottom," and compre- 
 
CHAP. XXI.] THE PRETENDER CHARLES EDWARD STUART. 343 
 
 hended the Duke of Bedford, the Earls of Chesterfield and Har- 
 rington, Lords Lyttleton and Hardwicke, Sir Henry Cotton, Mr. 
 Doddington, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Murray. The three latter 
 statesmen were not then formidable. 
 
 The Pelhams were descended from one of the oldest, proudest, 
 and richest families in England, and had an immense parliament- 
 ary influence from their aristocratic connections, their wealth, and 
 their experience. They were not remarkable for genius so much 
 as for sagacity, tact, and intrigue. They were extremely ambi- 
 tious, and fond of place and power. They ruled England as the 
 representatives of the aristocracy — the last administration which 
 was able to defy the national will. After their fall, the people had 
 a greater voice in the appointment of ministers. Pitt and Fox 
 were commoners in a different sense from what Walpole was, and 
 represented that class which has ever since ruled England, — not 
 nobles, not the democracy, but a class between them, composed 
 of the gentry, landed proprietors, lawyers, merchants, manufac- 
 turers, men of leisure, and their dependants. 
 
 The administration of the Pelhams is chiefly memorable for the 
 Scotch rebellion of 1745, and for the great European war which 
 grew out of colonial and commercial ambition, and the encroach- 
 ments of Frederic the Great. 
 
 The Scotch rebellion was produced by the attempts of the young 
 Pretender, Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart, to regain 
 the throne of his ancestors. His adventures have the interest of 
 romance, and have generally excited popular sympathy. He was 
 born at Rome in 1720 ; served, at the age of fifteen, under the 
 Duke of Berwick, in Spain, and, at the age of twenty, received 
 overtures from some discontented people of Scotland to head an 
 insurrection. There was, at this time, great public distress, and 
 George II. was exceedingly unpopular. The Jacobites were 
 powerful, and thousands wished for a change, including many 
 persons of rank and influence. 
 
 With only seven followers, in a small vessel, he landed on one 
 of the Western Islands, 18th of July, 1745. Even had the prom- 
 ises which had been made to him by France, or by people in 
 Scotland, been fulfilled, his enterprise would have been most 
 hazardous. But, without money, men, or arms, his hopes were 
 
344 SURRENDER OF EDINBURGH. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 desperate. Still he cherished that presumptuous self-confidence 
 which so often passes for bravery, and succeeded better than 
 could have been anticipated. Several chieftains of the Highland 
 clans joined his standard, and he had the faculty of gaining the 
 hearts of his followers. At Borrodaile occurred his first interview 
 with the chivalrous Donald Cameron of Lochiel, who was per- 
 fectly persuaded of the desperate character of his enterprise, but 
 nevertheless aided it with generous self-devotion. 
 
 The standard of Charles Edward was raised at Glenfinnan, on 
 the 19th of August, and a little band of seven hundred adven- 
 turers and enthusiastic Highlanders resolved on the conquest of 
 England ! Never was devotion to an unfortunate cause more 
 romantic and sincere. Never were energies more generously 
 made, or more miserably directed. But the first gush of enthusi- 
 asm and bravery was attended with success, and the Pretender 
 soon found himself at the head of fifteen hundred men, and on 
 his way to Edinburgh, marching among people friendly to his 
 cause, whom he endeared by every attention and gentlemanly 
 artifice. The simple people of the north of Scotland were won 
 by his smiles and courtesy, and were astonished at the exertions 
 which the young prince made, and the fatigues he was able to 
 endure. 
 
 On the 15th of September, Charles had reached Linlithgow, 
 only sixteen miles from Edinburgh, where he was magnificently 
 entertained in the ancient and favorite palace of the kings of Scot- 
 land. Two days after, he made his triumphal entry into the 
 capital of his ancestors, the place being unprepared for resistance. 
 Colonel Gardiner, with his troop of dragoons, was faithful to his 
 trust, and the magistrates of Edinburgh did all in their power to 
 prevent the surrender of the city. But the great body of the 
 citizens preferred to trust to the clemency of Charles, than run 
 the risk of defence. 
 
 Thus, without military stores, or pecuniary resources, or pow- 
 erful friends, simply by the power of persuasion, the Pretender, in 
 the short space of two months from his landing in Scotland, quietly 
 took possession of the most powerful city of the north. The 
 Jacobites put no restraint to their idolatrous homage, and the ladies 
 welcomed the young and handsome chevalier with extravagant 
 
CHAP. XXI.] SUCCESS OF THE PRETENDER. 345 
 
 adulation. Even the Whigs pitied him, and permitted him to 
 enjoy his brief hour of victory. 
 
 At Edinburgh, Charles received considerable reenforcement, 
 and took from the castle one thousand stand of arms. He gave 
 his followers but little time for repose, and soon advanced against 
 the royal army commanded by Sir John Cope. The two armies 
 met at Preston, and were of nearly equal force. The attack was 
 made by the invader, and was impetuous and unlooked for. Noth- 
 ing could stand before the enthusiasm and valor of the Highlanders, 
 and in five minutes the rout commenced, and a great slaughter 
 of the regular army occurred. Among those who fell was the 
 distinguished Colonel Gardiner, an old veteran, who refused to fly. 
 
 Charles followed up his victory with moderation, and soon was 
 master of all Scotland. He indulged his taste for festivities, at 
 Holy rood, for a while, and neglected no means to conciliate the 
 Scotch. He flattered their prejudices, gave balls and banquets, 
 made love to their most beautiful women, and denied no one ac- 
 cess to his presence. Poets sang his praises, and women extolled 
 his heroism and beauty. The light, the gay, the romantic, and 
 the adventurous were on his side ; but the substantial and wealthy 
 classes were against him, for they knew he must be conquered hi 
 the end. 
 
 Still his success had been remarkable, and for it he was indebted 
 to the Highlanders, who did not wish to make him king of Eng- 
 land, but only king of Scotland. But Charles deceived them. He 
 wanted the sceptre of George II. ; and when he commenced his 
 march into England, their spirits flagged, and his cause became 
 hopeless. There was one class of men who were inflexibly hostile 
 to him — the Presbyterian ministers. They looked upon him, 
 from the first, with coldness and harshness, and distrusted both his 
 religion and sincerity. On them all his arts, and flattery, and 
 graces were lost ; and they represented the substantial part of the 
 Scottish nation. It is extremely doubtful whether Charles could 
 ever have held Edinburgh, even if English armies had not been 
 sent against him. 
 
 But Charles had played a desperate game from the beginning, 
 for the small chance of winning a splendid prize. He, therefore, 
 after resting his troops, and collecting all the force he could, turned 
 
346 THE RETREAT OF THE PRETENDER. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 his face to England at the head of five thousand men, well armed 
 and well clothed, but discontented and dispirited. They had never 
 contemplated the invasion of England, but only the recovery of 
 the ancient independence of Scotland. 
 
 On the 8th of November, the Pretender set foot upon English 
 soil, and entered Carlisle in triumph. But his forces, instead of 
 increasing, diminished, and no popular enthusiasm supported the 
 courage of his troops. But he advanced towards the south, and 
 reached Derby unmolested on the 4th of December. There he 
 learned that the royal army, headed by the Duke of Cumberland, 
 with twelve thousand veterans, was advancing rapidly against him. 
 
 His followers clamored to return, and refused to advance another 
 step. They now fully perceived that success was not only hope- 
 less, but that victory would be of no advantage to them ; that they 
 would be sacrificed by a man who only aimed at the conquest 
 of England. 
 
 Charles was well aware of the desperate nature of the contest, 
 but had no desire to retreat. His situation was not worse than 
 what it had been when he landed on the Hebrides. Having pene- 
 trated to within one hundred and twenty miles of London, against 
 the expectations of every one, why should he not persevere ? 
 Some unlooked-for success, some lucky incidents, might restore 
 him to the throne of his grandfather. Besides, a French army of 
 ten thousand was about to land in England. The Duke of Norfolk, 
 the first nobleman in the country, was ready to declare in his favor. 
 London was in commotion. A chance remained. 
 
 But his followers thought only of their homes, and Charles was 
 obliged to yield to an irresistible necessity. Like Richard Coeur 
 de Lion after the surrender of Acre, he was compelled to return, 
 without realizing the fruit of bravery and success. Like the lion- 
 hearted king, pensive and sad, sullen and miserable, he gave the 
 order to retreat. His spirits, hitherto buoyant and gladsome, now 
 fell, and despondency and despair succeeded vivacity and hope. 
 He abandoned himself to grief and vexation, lingered behind his 
 retreating army, and was reckless of his men and of their welfare. 
 And well he may have been depressed. The motto of Hampden, 
 " Vestigia nulla retrorsum" had also governed him. But others 
 would not be animated by it, and he was ruined. 
 
CHAP. XXI.] BATTLE OF CULL0DEN. 347 
 
 But his miserable and dejected army succeeded in reaching 
 their native soil, although pursued by the cavalry of two powerful 
 armies, in the midst of a hostile population, and amid great sufferings 
 from hunger and fatigue. On the 26th of December, he entered 
 Glasgow, levied a contribution on the people, and prepared him- 
 self for his final battle. He retreated to the Highlands, and spent 
 the winter in recruiting his troops, and in taking fortresses. On 
 the 15th of April, 1746, he drew up his army on the moor of 
 Culloden, near Inverness, with the desperate resolution of attacking, 
 with vastly inferior forces, the Duke of Cumberland, intrenched 
 nine miles distant. The design was foolish and unfortunate. 
 It was early discovered; and the fresh troops of the royal duke 
 attacked the dispirited, scattered, and wearied followers of Charles 
 Edward before they could form themselves in battle array. They 
 defended themselves with valor. But what is valor against over- 
 whelming force ? The army of Charles was totally routed, and 
 his hopes were blasted forever. 
 
 The most horrid barbarities and cruelties were inflicted by the 
 victors. The wounded were left to die. The castles of rebel 
 chieftains were razed to the ground. Herds and flocks were 
 driven away, and the people left to perish with hunger. Some of 
 the captives were sent to Barbadoes, others were imprisoned, and 
 many were shot, A reward of thirty thousand pounds was placed 
 on the head of the Pretender ; but he nevertheless escaped. After 
 wandering a while as a fugitive, disguised, wearied, and miserable, 
 hunted from fortress to fortress, and from island to island, he suc- 
 ceeded, by means of the unparalleled loyalty and fidelity of his 
 few Highland followers, in securing a vessel, and in escaping to 
 France. His adventures among the Western Islands, especially those 
 which happened while wandering, in the disguise of a female ser- 
 vant, with Flora Macdonald, are highly romantic and wonderful. 
 Equally wonderful is the fact that, of the many to whom his secret 
 was intrusted, not one was disposed to betray him, even in view 
 of so splendid a bribe as thirty thousand pounds. But this fact, 
 though surprising, is not inconceivable. Had Washington been 
 unfortunate in his contest with the mother country, and had he 
 wandered as a fugitive amid the mountains of Vermont, would not 
 many Americans have shielded him, even in view of a reward 
 of one hundred thousand pounds ? 
 
348 LATTER DAYS OF THE PRETENDER. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 The latter days of the Pretender were spent in Rome and Flor- 
 ence. He married a Polish princess, and assumed the title of 
 Duke of Albany. He never relinquished the hope of securing the 
 English crown, and always retained his politeness and grace of 
 manner. But he became an object of pity, not merely from his 
 poverty and misfortunes, but also from the vice of intemperance, 
 which he acquired in Scotland. He died of apoplexy, in 1788, 
 and left no legitimate issue. The last male heir of the house of 
 Stuart was the Cardinal of York, who died in 1807, and who was 
 buried in St. Peter's Cathedral ; over whose mortal remains was 
 erected a marble monument, by Canova, through the munificence 
 of George IV., to whom the cardinal had left the crown jewels 
 which James II. had carried with him to France. This monument 
 bears the names of James III., Charles III., and Henry EX., kings 
 of England ; titles never admitted by the English. With the battle 
 of Culloden expired the hopes of the Catholics and Jacobites to 
 restore Catholicism and the Stuarts. 
 
 The great European war, which was begun by Sir Robert Wal- 
 pole, not long before his retirement, was another great event which 
 happened during the administration of the Pelhams, and with which 
 their administration was connected. The Spanish war was fol- 
 lowed by the war of the Austrian Succession. 
 
 Maria Theresa, Queen of Bohemia, ascended the oldest and 
 proudest throne of Europe, — that of Germany, — amid a host of 
 claimants. The Elector of Bavaria laid claim to her hereditary 
 dominions in Bohemia ; the King of Sardinia made pretension to 
 the duchy of Milan ; while the Kings of Poland, Spain, France, 
 and Prussia disputed with her her rights to the whole Austrian 
 succession. Never were acts of gross injustice meditated with 
 greater audacity. Just as the young and beautiful princess ascended 
 the throne of Charlemagne, amid embarrassments and perplexities, 
 
 — such as an exhausted treasury, a small army, a general scarcity, 
 threatened hostilities with the Turks, and absolute war with France, 
 
 — the new king of Prussia, Frederic, surnamed the Great, availing 
 himself of her distresses, seized one of the finest provinces of her 
 empire. The first notice which the queen had of the seizure of 
 Silesia, was an insulting speech from the Prussian ambassador. 
 " I come," said he, " with safety for the house of Austria on the 
 
CHAP. XXI.] MARIA THERESA. ' 349 
 
 one hand, and the imperial crown for your royal highness on the 
 other. The troops of my master are at the service of the queen, 
 and cannot fail of being acceptable, at a time when she is in want 
 of both. And as the king, my master, from the situation of his 
 dominions, will be exposed fo great danger from this alliance with 
 the Queen of Hungary, it is hoped that, as an indemnification, the 
 queen will not offer him less than the whole duchy of Silesia." 
 
 The queen, of course, was indignant in view of this cool piece 
 of villany, and prepared to resist. War with all the continental 
 powers was the result. France joined the coalition to deprive the 
 queen of her empire. Two French armies invaded Germany. 
 The Elector of Bavaria marched, with a hostile army, to within 
 eight miles of Vienna. The King of Prussia made himself mas- 
 ter of Silesia. Abandoned by all her allies, — without an army, 
 or ministers, or money, — the queen fled to Hungary, her heredi- 
 tary dominions, and threw herself on the generosity of her sub- 
 jects. She invoked the states of the Diet, and, clad in deep 
 mourning, with the crown of St. Stephen on her head, and a cim- 
 eter at her side, she traversed the hall in which her nobles were 
 assembled, and addressed them, in the immortal language of Rome, 
 respecting her wrongs and her distresses. Her faithful subjects 
 responded to her call ; and youth, beauty, and rank, in distress, 
 obtained their natural triumph. " A thousand swords leaped from 
 their scabbards," and the old hall rung with the cry,/' We 
 will die for our queen, Maria Theresa." Tears started from the 
 eyes of the queen, whom misfortunes and insult could not bend 
 and called forth, even more than her words, the enthusiasm of her 
 subjects. 
 
 It was in defence of this injured and noble queen that the Eng- 
 lish parliament voted supplies and raised armies. This was the 
 war which characterized the Pelham administration, and to which 
 Walpole was opposed. But it will be further presented, when allu- 
 sion is made to Frederic the Great. 
 
 France no sooner formed an alliance with Prussia, against Aus- 
 tria, than the " balance of power " seemed to be disturbed. To 
 restore this balance, and preserve Austria, was the aim of Eng- 
 land. To the desire to preserve this power may be traced most 
 of the wars of the eighteenth century. The idea of a balance of 
 30 
 
350 CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG. [cHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 power was the leading principle which animated all the diplomatic 
 transactions of Europe for more than a century. 
 
 By the treaty of Breslau, (1742,) Maria Theresa yielded up to 
 Frederic the province of Silesia, and Europe might have remained 
 at peace. But as England and France were both involved in the 
 contest, their old spirit of rivalry returned ; and, from auxiliaries, 
 they became principals in the war, and soon renewed it. The 
 theatre of strife was changed from Germany to Holland, and the 
 arms of France were triumphant. The Duke of Cumberland was 
 routed by Marshal Saxe at the great battle of Fontenoy ; and this 
 battle restored peace, for a while, to Germany. The Grand Duke 
 of Tuscany, husband of Maria Theresa, was elected Emperor of 
 Germany, and assumed the title of Francis I. 
 
 But it was easier to restore tranquillity to Germany, than peace 
 between England and France ; both powers panting for military 
 glory, and burning with mutual jealousy. The peace of Aix la 
 Chapelle, in 1748, was a truce rather than a treaty ; and France 
 and England soon found occasion to plunge into new hostilities. 
 
 During the war of the Austrian Succession, hostilities had not 
 been confined to the continent of Europe. As colonial jealousy 
 was one of the animating principles of two of the leading powers 
 in the contest, the warfare extended to the colonies themselves. 
 A body of French, from Cape Breton, surprised the little English 
 garrison of Causian, destroyed the fort and fishery, and removed 
 eighty men, as prisoners of war, to Louisburg — the strongest 
 fortress, next to Quebec, in French America. These men were 
 afterwards sent to Boston, on parole, and, while there, communi- 
 cated to Governor Shirley the state of the fortress in which they 
 had been confined. Shirley resolved to capture it, and the legis- 
 lature of Massachusetts voted supplies for the expedition. All the 
 New England colonies sent volunteers ; and the united forces, of 
 about four thousand men were put under the command of William 
 Pepperell, a merchant at Kittery Point, near Portsmouth. The 
 principal part of the forces was composed of fishermen ; but they 
 were Yankees. Amid the fogs of April, this little army, rich in 
 expedients, set sail to take a fortress which five hundred men could 
 defend against five thousand. But they were successful, aided by 
 an English fleet ; and, after a siege of three months, Louisburg 
 
CHAP. XXI.] GREAT COLONIAL CONTEST. 351 
 
 surrendered, (1745) — justly deemed the greatest achievement of 
 the whole war. 
 
 But the French did not relinquish their hopes of gaining an 
 ascendency on the American continent, and prosecuted their labors 
 of erecting on the Ohio their chain of fortifications, to connect 
 Canada with Louisiana. The erection of these forts was no small 
 cause of the breaking out of fresh hostilities. When the contest 
 was renewed between Maria Theresa and Frederic the Great, and 
 the famous Seven Years' War began, the English resolved to con- 
 quer all the French possessions in America. 
 
 Without waiting, however, for directions from England, Gov- 
 ernor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, raised a regiment of troops, of which 
 George Washington was made lieutenant-colonel, and with which 
 he marched across the wilderness to attack Fort Du Quesne, now 
 Pittsburg, at the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela 
 Rivers. 
 
 That unsuccessful expedition was the commencement of the 
 great colonial contest in which Canada was conquered. Early in 
 1755, General Braddock was sent to America to commence offen- 
 sive operations. The colonies cooperated, and three expeditions 
 were planned ; one to attack Fort Du Quesne, a second to attack 
 Fort Niagara, and a third to attack Crown Point. The first was 
 to be composed of British troops, under Braddock, the second of 
 American, under Governor Shirley, and the third of militia of the 
 northern colonies. 
 
 The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was a memorable 
 failure. Braddock was a brave man, but unfitted for his work, 
 Hyde Park having hitherto been the only field of his military 
 operations. Moreover, with that presumption and audacity which 
 then characterized his countrymen, he affected sovereign contempt 
 for his American associates, and would listen to no advice. Un- 
 acquainted with Indian warfare, and ignorant of the country, he 
 yet pressed towards the interior, until, within ten miles of Fort Du 
 Quesne, he was surprised by a body of French and Indians, and 
 taken in an ambuscade. Instant retreat might still have saved 
 him ; but he was too proud not to fight according to rule ; and he 
 fell mortally wounded. Washington was the only mounted officer 
 that escaped being killed or wounded. By his prudent and skilful 
 
352 CHARACTEE OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. [CHAP. ZXI. 
 
 4 
 
 management, he saved half of his men, who formed after the 
 the battle, and effected a retreat. 
 
 The other two expeditions also failed, chiefly through want of 
 union between the provincial governor and the provincial assem- 
 blies, and also from the moral effects of the defeat of Braddock. 
 Moreover, the colonies perfectly understood that they were fight- 
 ing, not for liberty, but for the glory and ambition of the mother 
 country, and therefore did not exhibit the ardor they evinced in 
 the revolutionary struggle. 
 
 But the failure of these expeditions contributed to make the 
 ministry of the Duke of Newcastle unpopular. Other mistakes 
 were also made in the old world. The conduct of Admiral Byng 
 in the Mediterranean excited popular clamor. The repeated dis- 
 appointments and miscarriages, the delay of armaments, the 
 neglect of opportunities, the absurd disposition of fleets, were 
 numbered among the misfortunes which resulted from a weak and 
 incapable ministry. Stronger men were demanded by the indig- 
 nant voice- of the nation, and the Duke of Newcastle, first 
 lord of the treasury, since the death of his brother, was obliged 
 to call Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge —the two most popular commoners 
 of England — into the cabinet. But the new administration did 
 not work harmoniously. It was an. emblem of that image which 
 Nebuchadnezzar beheld in a vision, with a head of gold, and legs 
 of iron, and feet of clay. Pitt and Legge were obliged by their 
 colleague to resign. But their removal incensed the whole nation, 
 and so great was the clamor, that the king was compelled to rein- 
 state the popular idols — the only men capable of managing affairs 
 at that crisis. Pitt became secretary of state, and Legge chancel- 
 lor of the exchequer. The Duke of Newcastle, after being at the 
 head of administration ten years, was, reluctantly, compelled to 
 resign. The Duke of Devonshire became nominally the premier, 
 but Pitt was the ruling spirit in the cabinet. 
 
 The character of the Duke of Newcastle is thus sketched by 
 Horace Walpole : " He had no pride, but infinite self-love. Jeal- 
 ousy was the great source of all his faults. There was no 
 expense to which he was addicted but generosity. His houses, 
 gardens, table, and equipage, swallowed immense sums, and the 
 sums he owed were only exceeded by those he wasted. He loved 
 
CHAP. XXI.] UNPOPULARITY OF THE PELHAMS. 353 
 
 business immoderately, but was always doing it ; he never did it. 
 His speeches were copious in words, but empty and unmeaning ; 
 his professions extravagant, and his curiosity insatiable. He was 
 a secretary of state without intelligence, a duke without money, a 
 man of infinite intrigue without secrecy, and a minister hated by 
 all parties, without being turned out by either." " All able men," 
 adds Macaulay, " ridiculed him as a dunce, a driveller, a child who 
 never knew his own mind an hour together ; and yet he over- 
 reached them all." 
 
 The Pelham administration cannot, on the whole, be called 
 fortunate, nor, on the other hand, a disgraceful one. The Pel- 
 hams " showed themselves," says Smyth, " friendly to the princi- 
 ples of mild government. With all their faults, they were tolerant, 
 peaceful, prudent ; they had the merit of respecting public opin- 
 ion ; and though they were not fitted to advance the prosperity of 
 their country by any exertions of political genius, they were not 
 blind to such opportunities as fairly presented themselves. But 
 they were not fitted for the stormy times in which they lived, and 
 quietly yielded to the genius of a man whom they did not like, and 
 whom the king absolutely hated. George II., against his will, 
 was obliged to intrust the helm of state to the only man in the 
 nation capable of holding it. 
 
 The administration of William Pitt is emphatically the history 
 of the civilized world, during a period of almost universal war. 
 It was for his talents as a war minister that he was placed at the 
 head of the government, and his policy, like that of his greater 
 son, in a still more stormy epoch, was essentially warlike. In the 
 eyes of his contemporaries, his administration was brilliant and 
 successful, and he undoubtedly raised England to a high pitch 
 of military glory ; but glory, alas ! most dearly purchased, since . 
 it led to the imposition of taxes beyond a parallel, and the vast | | 
 increase of the national debt. 
 
 He was born in 1708, of good family, his grandfather having 
 been governor of Madras, and the purchaser of the celebrated 
 diamond which bears his name, and which was sold to the regent 
 of France for one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds. Wil- 
 liam Pitt was sent to Oxford at the age of seventeen, and at 
 twenty-seven, became a member of parliament. From the first 
 30* 
 
354 RISE OF WILLIAM PITT. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 he was heard with attention, and, when years and experience had 
 given him wisdom and power, his eloquence was overwhelming. 
 No one ever equalled him in brilliant invective and scorching 
 sarcasm. He had not the skill of Fox in debate, nor was he a 
 great reasoner, like Murray ; he did not talk philosophy, like 
 Burke, nor was he master of details, like his son ; but he had an 
 air of sincerity, a vehemence of feeling, an intense enthusiasm, 
 and a moral elevation of sentiment, which bore every thing away 
 before him. 
 
 When Walpole was driven from power, Pitt exerted his elo- 
 quence in behalf of the Pelham government. Being personally 
 obnoxious to the king, he obtained no office. But he was not a 
 man to be amused by promises long, and, as he would not render 
 his indispensable services without a reward, he was made pay- 
 master of the forces — a lucrative office, but one which did not give 
 him a seat in the cabinet. This office he retained for eight years, 
 which were years of peace. But when the horizon was over- 
 clouded by the death of Henry Pelham, in 1754, and difficulties 
 arose between France and England respecting North America 
 and the East Indies ; when disasters in war tarnished the glory of 
 the British arms, and the Duke of Newcastle showed his inca- 
 pacity to meet the national crisis, Pitt commenced a furious oppo- 
 sition. Of course he was dismissed from office. But the Duke 
 of Newcastle could not do without him, and the king was obliged 
 to call him into the cabinet as secretary of state, in 1756. But 
 the administration did not work. The king opposed the views of 
 Pitt, and he was compelled to resign. Then followed disasters 
 and mistakes. The resignation of the Duke of Newcastle became 
 an imperative necessity. Despondency and gloom hung over the 
 nation, and he was left without efficient aid in the House of Com- 
 mons. Nothing was left to the king but to call in the aid of the 
 man he hated ; and Pitt, as well as Legge, were again reinstated, 
 the Duke of Devonshire remaining nominally at the head of the 
 administration. 
 
 But this administration only lasted five months, during which 
 Admiral Byng was executed, and the Seven Years 1 War, of which 
 Frederic of Prussia was the hero, fairly commenced. In 1757, 
 Pitt and his colleague were again dismissed. But never was 
 
CHAP. XXI.J BRILLIANT MILITARY SUCCESSES. 355 
 
 popular resentment more fierce and terrible. Again was the king 
 obliged to bend to the " great commoner." An arrangement was 
 made, and a coalition formed. Pitt became secretary of state, and 
 virtual premier, but the Duke of Newcastle came in as first lord 
 of the treasury. But Pitt selected the cabinet. His brother-in- 
 law, Lord Temple, was made keeper of the privy seal, and Lord 
 Grenville was made treasurer of the navy; Fox became pay- 
 master of the forces ; the Duke of Bedford received the lord lieu- 
 tenancy of Ireland ; Hardwicke, the greatest lawyer of his age, 
 became lord chancellor; Legge, the ablest financier, was made 
 chancellor of the exchequer. Murray, a little while before, had 
 been elevated to the bench, as Lord Mansfield. There was 
 scarcely an eminent man in the House of Commons who was not 
 made a member of the administration. All the talent of the 
 nation was laid at the feet of Pitt, and he had the supreme direc- 
 tion of the army and of foreign affairs. 
 
 Then truly commenced the brilliant career of Pitt. He imme- 
 diately prosecuted hostilities with great boldness, and on a gigan- 
 tic scale. Immense armies were raised and sent to all parts of 
 the world. 
 
 But nothing raised the reputation of Pitt so highly as military 
 operations in America. He planned, immediately on his assump- 
 tion of supreme power as virtual dictator of England, three great 
 expeditions — one against Louisburg, a second against Ticonderoga, 
 and a third against Fort Du Quesne. Two of these were attended 
 with triumphant success, (1758.) 
 
 Louisburg, which had been surrendered to France by the treaty 
 of Aix la Chapelle, was reduced by General Amherst, though 
 only with a force of fourteen thousand men. 
 
 General Forbes marched, with eight thousand men, against Fort 
 Du Quesne ; but it was abandoned by the enemy before he 
 reached it. 
 
 Ticonderoga was not, however, taken, although the expedition 
 was conducted by General Abercrombie, with a force of sixteen 
 thousand men. 
 
 Thus the largest military force ever known at one time in 
 America was employed nearly a century ago, by William Pitt, 
 composed of fifty thousand men, of whom twenty-two thousand 
 were regular troops. 
 
356 MILITARY SUCCESSES IN AMERICA. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 The campaign of 1759 was attended with greater results than 
 even that of the preceding year. General Amherst succeeded Ab- 
 ercrombie, and the plan for the reduction of Canada was intrusted 
 to him for execution. Three great expeditions were projected : 
 one was to be commanded by General Wolfe, who had distin- 
 guished himself at the siege of Louisburg, and who had orders 
 from the war secretary to ascend the St. Lawrence, escorted by 
 the fleet, and lay siege to Quebec. The second army, of twelve 
 thousand men, under General Amherst, was ordered to reduce 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point, cross Lake Champlain, and pro- 
 ceed along the River Richelieu to the banks of the St. Lawrence, 
 join General Wolfe, and assist in the reduction of Quebec. The 
 third army was sent to Fort Niagara, the most important post in 
 French America, since it commanded the lakes, and overawed 
 the whole country of the Six Nations. After the reduction of this 
 fort, the army was ordered down the St. Lawrence to besiege 
 Montreal. 
 
 That this project was magnificent, and showed the comprehen- 
 sive military genius of Pitt, cannot be doubted. But that it was 
 easy of execution may well be questioned, when it is remembered 
 that the navigation of the St. Lawrence was difficult and danger- 
 ous ; that the fortifications and strength of Quebec were unrivalled 
 in the new world ; that the French troops between Montreal and 
 Quebec numbered nine thousand men, besides Indians, commanded, 
 too, by so great a general as Montcalm. Still all of these expe- 
 ditions were successful. Quebec and Niagara were taken, and 
 Crown Point and Ticonderoga were abandoned. 
 
 The most difficult part of the enterprise was the capture of 
 Quebec, which was one of the most brilliant military exploits ever 
 performed, and which raised the English general to the very 
 summit of military fame. He was disappointed in the expected 
 cooperation of General Amherst, and he had to take one of the 
 strongest forfresses in the world, defended by troops superior in 
 number to his own. He succeeded in climbing the almost per- 
 pendicular rock on which the fortress was built, and in overcoming 
 a superior force. Wolfe died in the attack, but lived long enough 
 to hear of the flight of the enemy. Nothing could exceed the 
 tumultuous joy in England with which the news of the fall of 
 
CHAP. XXI.] VICTORIES OF CLIVE IN INDIA. 357 
 
 Quebec was received ; nothing could surpass the interest with 
 which the distant expedition was viewed ; and the depression of the 
 French was equal to the enthusiasm of the English. Wolfe gained 
 an immortal name, and a monument was erected to him in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral. But Pitt reaped the solid and substantial advan- 
 tages which resulted from the conquest of Canada, which soon 
 followed the reduction of Quebec. He became the nation's idol, 
 and was left to prosecute the various wars in which England was 
 engaged, in his own way. 
 
 While the English armies, under the direction of Pitt, were 
 wresting from the French nearly all their possessions in America, 
 Clive was adding a new continent to the great empire of Great 
 Britain. India was conquered, and the British power firmly planted 
 in the East. Moreover, the English allies on the continent — the 
 Prussians — obtained great victories, which will be alluded to in 
 the chapter on Frederic the Great. On all sides the English were 
 triumphant, and were intoxicated with joy. The stocks rose, and 
 the bells rang almost an incessant peal for victories. 
 
 In the midst of these public rejoicings, King George II. died. 
 He was a sovereign who never secured the affections of the nation, 
 whose interests he sacrificed to those of his German electorate. 
 " He had neither the qualities which make libertinism attractive, 
 nor the qualities which make dulness respectable. He had been 
 a bad son, and he made a worse father. Not one magnanimous 
 action is recorded of him, but many meannesses. But his judg- 
 ment was sound, his habits economical, and his spirit bold. These 
 qualities prevented him from being despised, if they did not make 
 him honored." 
 
 His grandson, George III., entered upon his long reign, October, 
 1760, in the twenty-third year of his age, and was universally 
 admitted to be the most powerful monarch hi Christendom — or, 
 rather, the monarch of the most powerful kingdom. He, or, rather, 
 his ministers, resolved to prosecute the war with vigor, and parlia- 
 ment voted liberal supplies. The object of Pitt was the humiliation 
 of both France and Austria, and also the protection of Prussia, 
 struggling against almost overwhelming forces. He secured his 
 object by administering to the nation those draughts of flattery and 
 military glory which intoxicated the people. 
 
358 RESIGNATION OF PITT. [CHAP. XXI. 
 
 4 
 
 However sincere the motives and brilliant the genius of the 
 minister, it was impossible that a practical nation should not awake 
 from the delusion which he so powerfully contributed to produce. 
 People at last inquired " why England was to become a party in 
 a dispute between two German powers, and why were the best 
 English regiments fighting on the Maine ? " What was it to the 
 busy shopkeeper of London that the Tower guns were discharged, 
 and the streets illuminated, if he were to be additionally taxed ? 
 Statesmen began to calculate the enormous sums which had been 
 wasted in an expensive war, where nothing had been gained but 
 glory. Besides, jealousies and enmities sprung up against Pitt. 
 Some were offended by his haughtiness, and others were estranged 
 by his withering invective. And his enemies were numerous and 
 powerful. Even the cabinet ministers, who were his friends, 
 turned against him. He wished to declare war against Spain, 
 while the nation was bleeding at every pore. But the cabinet 
 could not be persuaded of the necessity of the war, and Pitt, of 
 course, resigned. But it was inevitable, and took place under his 
 successor. Pitt left the helm of state with honor. He received a 
 pension of three thousand pounds a year, and his wife was made 
 a baroness. 
 
 The Earl of Bute succeeded him as premier, and was the first 
 Tory minister since the accession of the house of Hanover. His 
 watchword was prerogative. The sovereign should no longer be 
 a gilded puppet, but a real king — an impossible thing in England. 
 But his schemes pleased the king, and Oxford University, and Dr. 
 Johnson ; while his administration was assailed with a host of libels 
 from Wilkes, Churchill, and other kindred firebrands. 
 
 His main act was the peace he secured to Europe. The Whigs 
 railed at it then, and rail at it now ; and Macaulay falls in with the 
 lamentation of his party, and regrets that no better terms should 
 have been made. But what can satisfy the ambition of England ? 
 The peace of Paris, in 1763, stipulated that Canada, with the 
 Island of St. John, and Cape Breton, and all that part of Louisi- 
 ana which lies east of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, should 
 be ceded to Great Britain, and that the fortifications of Dunkirk 
 should be destroyed ; that Spain should relinquish her claim to fish 
 on the Banks of Newfoundland, should permit the English to cut 
 
CHAP. XXI.] PEACE OF PARIS.. . 359 
 
 mahogany on the shores of Honduras Bay, and cede Florida and 
 Minorca to Great Britain. In return for these things, the French 
 were permitted to fish on the Banks of Newfoundland, and the 
 Islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, Belleisle, and St. Lucia were 
 restored to them, and Cuba was restored to Spain. 
 
 The peace of Paris, in 1763, constitutes an epoch ; and we 
 hence turn to survey the condition of France since the death of 
 Louis XIV., and also other continental powers. 
 
 References. — Archdeacon Coxe's History of the Pelham Administra- 
 tion. Thackeray's Life of Lord Chatham. Macaulay's Essay on Chatham. 
 Horace Walpole's Reminiscences. Smyth's Lectures on Modern History. 
 Jesse's Memoirs of the Pretenders. Graham's History of the United 
 States, an exceedingly valuable work, but not sufficiently known. Lord 
 Mahon's, Smollett's, Tyndal's, and Belsham's, are the standard histories 
 of England, at this period ; also, the continuation of Mackintosh, and the 
 Pictorial History, are valuable. See also the Marchmont Papers, Pay's 
 History of the Rebellion, Horace "Walpole's Memoirs of George II., Lord 
 Waldegrave's Memoirs, and Doddington's Diary. 
 
360 REGENCY OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 LOUIS XV. 
 
 The reign of Louis XV. was one of the longest on record, 
 extending from 1715 to 1774 — the greater part of the eighteenth 
 century. But he was a child, only five years of age, on the death 
 of his great grandfather, Louis XIV. ; and, even after he came to 
 his majority, he was ruled by his ministers and his mistresses. He 
 was not, like Louis XIV., the life and the centre of all great move- 
 ments in his country. He was an automaton, a pageant ; not 
 because the constitution imposed checks on his power, but because 
 he was weak and vacillating. He, therefore, performing no great 
 part in history, is only to be alluded to, and attention should be 
 mainly directed to his ministers. 
 
 During the minority of the king, the reins of government were 
 held by the Duke of Orleans, as regent, and who, in case of the 
 king's death, would be the next king, being grand-nephew of Louis 
 XIV. The administration of the Duke of Orleans is nearly con 
 temporaneous with that of Sir Robert Walpole. The most press- 
 ing subject which demanded the attention of the regent, was that 
 of the finances. The late king had left a debt of one thousand 
 millions of livres — an enormous sum in that age. To get rid of 
 this burden, the Duke of St. Simon proposed a bankruptcy. 
 " This," said he, " would fall chiefly on the commercial and mon- 
 eyed classes, who were not to be feared or pitied ; and would, 
 moreover, be not only a relief to the state, but a salutary warning 
 to the ignoble classes not to lend their money." This speech illus- 
 trates the feelings and opinions of the aristocratic class in France, 
 at that time. But the minister of finance would not run the risk 
 of incurring the popular odium which such a measure would have 
 produced, and he proposed calling together the States General. 
 The regent duke, however, would not hear of that measure, and 
 yet did not feel inclined to follow fully the advice of St. Simon. 
 He therefore compromised the matter, and resolved to rob the 
 
CHAP. XXII.] JOHN LAW. 361 
 
 national creditor. He established a commission to verify the bills 
 of the public creditors, and, if their accounts did not prove satis- 1 
 factory, to cancel them entirely. Three hundred and fifty millions 
 of livres — equal, probably, to three hundred millions of dollars in 
 this age — were thus swept away. But it was resolved not only 
 to refuse to pay just debts, but to make people repay the gains 
 which they had made. Those who had loaned money to the state, 
 or had farmed the revenues, were flung into prison, and threatened 
 with confiscation of their goods, and even death, — treated as Jews 
 were treated in the Dark Ages, — unless they redeemed themselves 
 by purchasing a pardon. Never before did men suffer such a 
 penalty for having befriended an embarrassed state. To this 
 injustice and cruelty the magistracy winked. But, in addition to 
 this, the coin was debased to such an extent, that seventy-two mil- 
 lions of livres were thus added to the treasury. Yet even these 
 gains were not enough to satisfy a profligate government. There 
 still continued a constant pressure. The national debt had increased 
 even to fifteen hundred millions of livres, or seventy millions ster- 
 ling — equivalent to what would now be equal to at least one thou- 
 sand millions of dollars. 
 
 To get rid of this debt, the regent listened to the schemes of the 
 celebrated John Law, a Scotch adventurer and financier, who had 
 established a bank, had grown rich, and was reputed to be a won- 
 derful political economist. 
 
 Law proposed, in substance, to increase the paper currency of 
 the country, and thus supersede the necessity for the use of the 
 precious metals. 
 
 The regent, moreover, having great faith in Law's abilities, and 
 in his wealth, converted his private bank into a royal one — made 
 it, in short, the Bank of France. This bank was then allied with 
 the two great commercial companies of the time — the East India 
 and the Mississippi. Great privileges were bestowed on each. 
 The latter had the exclusive monopoly of the trade with Louisiana, 
 and all the countries on the Mississippi River, and also of the fur 
 trade in Canada. Louisiana was then supposed to be rich in gold 
 mines, and great delusions arose from the popular notion. 
 
 The capital of this gigantic corporation was fixed at one hundred 
 millions ; and Law, who was made director-general, aimed to make 
 31 
 
362 MISSISSIPPI COMPANY. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 the notes of the company preferable to specie, which, however, 
 could lawfully be demanded for the notes. So it was settled that 
 the shares of the company could only be purchased by the paper 
 of the bank. As extravagant hopes of gain were cherished 
 respecting the company, its shares were in great demand. And, 
 as only Law's bank bills could purchase the shares, the gold and 
 silver of the realm flowed into Law's bank. Law and the regent 
 had, therefore, the fabrication of both shares and bank bills to an 
 indefinite amount. 
 
 The national creditor was also paid in the notes of the bank ; 
 and, as unbounded confidence existed, both in the genius of Law 
 and in the profits of the Mississippi Company, — as the shares were 
 constantly in demand, and were rising in value, — the creditor was 
 satisfied. In a short time, one half of the national debt was trans- 
 ferred. Government owed the bank, and not the individuals and 
 corporations from whom loans had been originally obtained. These 
 individuals, instead of government scrip, had shares in the Missis- 
 sippi Company. 
 
 And all would have been well, had the company's shares been 
 valuable, or had they retained their credit, or even had but a small 
 part of the national debt been transferred. But the people did not 
 know the real issues of the bank, and so long as new shares could 
 be created and sold to pay the interest, the company's credit was 
 good. For a while the delusion lasted. Law was regarded as a 
 great national benefactor. His house was thronged with dukes 
 and princes. He became controller- general of the finances — 
 virtually prime minister. His fame extended far and wide. Hon- 
 ors were showered upon him from every quarter. He was elected 
 a member of the French Academy. His schemes seemed to rain 
 upon Paris a golden shower. He had freed the state from embar- 
 rassments, and he had, apparently, made every body rich, and no 
 one poor. He was a deity, as beneficent as he was powerful. He 
 became himself the richest man in Europe. Every body was 
 intoxicated. The golden age had come. Paris was crowded with 
 strangers from all parts of the world. Five hundred thousand 
 strangers expended their fortunes, in hope of making greater ones. 
 Twelve hundred new coaches were set up in the city. Lodgings 
 could scarcely be had for money. The highest price was paid fo 
 
CHAP. XXII.] POPULAR DELUSION. 363 
 
 provisions. Widow ladies, clergymen, and noblemen deserted 
 London to speculate in stocks at Paris. Nothing was seen but 
 new equipages, new houses, new apparel, new furniture. Nothing 
 was felt but universal exhilaration. Every man seemed to have 
 made his fortune. The stocks rose every day. The higher they 
 rose, the more new stock was created. At last, the shares of the 
 company rose from one hundred to twelve hundred per cent., and 
 three hundred millions were created, which were worth, in 1719„ 
 three thousand six hundred millions of livres — one hundred and 
 eighty times the amount of all the gold and silver in Europe at 
 that time. 
 
 In this public delusion, the directors were wise enough to con- 
 vert their shares into silver and gold. A great part of the current 
 coin in the kingdom was locked up in the houses or banks of a 
 few stockjobbers and speculators. 
 
 But the scarcity of gold and silver was felt, people's eyes were 
 opened, and the bubble burst, but not until half of the national 
 debt had been paid off by this swindling transaction. 
 
 The nation was furious. A panic spread among all classes ; 
 the bank had no money with which to redeem its notes \ the 
 shares fell almost to nothing ; and universal bankruptcy took place. 
 Those who, a few days before, fancied themselves rich, now 
 found themselves poor. Property of all kinds fell to less than its 
 original value. Houses, horses, carriages, upholstery, every thing, 
 declined in price. All were sellers, and few were purchasers. 
 
 But popular execration and vengeance pursued the financier 
 who had deceived the nation. He was forced to fly from Paris. 
 His whole property was confiscated, and he was reduced to indi- 
 gence and contempt. When his scheme was first suggested to the 
 regent, he was worth three millions of livres. He had better 
 remained a private banker. 
 
 The bursting of the Mississippi bubble, of course, inflamed the 
 nation against the government, and the Duke of Orleans was exe- 
 crated, for his agency in the business had all the appearance of a 
 fraud. But he was probably deluded with others, and hoped to 
 free the country from its burdens. The great blunder was in the 
 over-issue of notes when there was no money to redeem them. 
 
 Nor could any management have prevented the catastrophe. 
 
364 FATAL EFFECTS OF THE DELUSION. [cHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 " It was not possible that the shares of the company should advance 
 so greatly, and the public not perceive that they had advanced 
 beyond their value ; it was not possible, that, while paper money 
 so vastly increased in quantity, the numerical prices of all other 
 things should not increase also, and that foreigners who sold their 
 manufactures to the French should not turn their paper into gold, 
 and carry it out of the kingdom ; it was not possible that the dis- 
 appearance of the coin should not create alarm, notwithstanding 
 the edicts of the regent, and the reasonings of Law ; it was not 
 possible that annuitants should not discover that their old incomes 
 were now insufficient and less valuable, as the medium in which 
 they were paid was less valuable ; it was not possible that the small 
 part of society which may be called the sober and reasoning part, 
 should not be so struck with the sudden fortunes and extravagant 
 enthusiasm which prevailed, as not to doubt of the solidity of a 
 system, unphilosophical in itself, and which, after all, had to depend 
 on the profits of a commercial company, the good faith of the 
 regent, and the skill of Law ; it was impossible, on these and other 
 accounts, but that gold and silver should be at last preferred to 
 paper notes, of whatever description or promise. These were 
 inevitable consequences. Hence the failure of the scheme of 
 Law, and the ruin of all who embarked in it, owing to a change 
 in public opinion as to the probable success of the scheme, and, 
 secondly, the over-issue of money." 
 
 By this great folly, four hundred thousand families were ruined, 
 or greatly reduced; but the government got rid of about eight 
 hundred millions of debts. The sufferings of the people, with 
 such a government, did not, however, create great solicitude ; the 
 same old course of folly and extravagance was pursued by the 
 court. 
 
 Nor was there a change for the better when Louis XV. attained 
 his majority. His vices and follies exceeded all that had ever 
 been displayed before. The support of his mistresses alone was 
 enough to embarrass the nation. Their waste and extravagance 
 almost exceeded belief. Who has not heard of the disgraceful 
 and disgusting iniquities of Pompadour and Du Bariy ? 
 
 The regency of the Duke of Orleans occupied the first eight 
 years of the reign of Louis XV. The prime minister of the regent 
 
CHAP. XXII.] ADMINISTRATION OF CARDINAL FLEURY. 365 
 
 was Dubois, at first his tutor, and afterwards Archbishop of Cam- 
 bray. He was rewarded with a cardinal's hat for the service he 
 rendered to the Jesuits in their quarrel with the Jansenists, but was 
 a man of unprincipled character ; a fit minister to a prince who 
 pretended to be too intellectual to worship God, and who copied 
 Henry IV. only in his licentiousness. 
 
 The first minister of Louis XV., after he assumed himself the 
 reins of government, was the Duke of Bourbon, lineal heir of the 
 house of Conde, and first prince of the blood. But he was a man 
 of no character, and his short administration was signalized by no 
 important event. 
 
 Cardinal Fleury succeeded the Duke of Bourbon as prime min- 
 ister. He had been preceptor of the king, and was superior to all 
 the intrigues of the court ; a man of great timidity, but also a man 
 of great probity, gentleness, and benignity. Fortunately, he was 
 intrusted with power at a period of great domestic tranquillity, and 
 his administration was, like that of Walpole, pacific. He project- 
 ed, however, no schemes of useful reform, and made no improve- 
 ments in laws or finance. But he ruled despotically, and with 
 good intentions, from 1726 to 1743. 
 
 The most considerable subject of interest connected with his 
 peaceful administration, was the quarrel between the Jesuits and 
 the Jansenists. Fleury took the side of the former, although he 
 was never an active partisan .; and he was induced to support the 
 Jesuits for the sake of securing the cardinal's hat — the highest 
 honor, next to that of the tiara, which, could be conferred on an 
 ecclesiastic. The Jesuits upheld the crumbling power of the popes, 
 and the popes rewarded the advocates of that body of men, who 
 were their ablest supporters. 
 
 The Jansenist controversy is too important to be passed over 
 with a mere allusion. It was the great event in the history of 
 Catholic Europe during the eighteenth century. It involved prin- 
 ciples of great theological, and even political interest. 
 
 The Jansenist controversy grew out of the long-disputed ques- 
 tions pertaining to grace and free will — questions which were 
 agitated with great spirit and acrimony in the seventeenth century, 
 as they had previously been centuries before by Augustine and 
 Pelagius. The Jesuits had never agreed with the great oracle of 
 31* 
 
366 CORNELIUS JANSEN. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 the Western church in his views on certain points, and it was their 
 aim to show the absolute freedom of the human will — that it had 
 a self-determining power, a perfect liberty to act or not to act. 
 Molina, a Spanish Jesuit, had been a great defender of this ancient 
 Pelagianism, and his views were opposed by the Dominicans, 
 and the controversy was carried into all the universities of Europe. 
 The Council of Trent was too wise to meddle with this difficult 
 question ; but angry theologians would not let it rest, and it was 
 discussed with peculiar fervor in the Catholic University of Lou- 
 vaine. Among the doctors who there distinguished themselves in 
 reviving the great contest of the fifth and sixth centuries, were 
 Cornelius Jansen of Holland, and Jean de Verger of Gascony. 
 Both these doctors hated the Jesuits, and lamented the danger- 
 ous doctrines which they defended, and advocated the views of 
 Augustine and the Calvinists. Jansen became professor of divinity 
 in the university, and then Bishop of Ypres. After an uninter- 
 rupted study of twenty years, he produced his celebrated book, 
 called Augustinus, in which he set forth the servitude of the will, 
 and the necessity of divine grace to break the bondage, which, 
 however, he maintained, like Calvin, is imparted only to a few, 
 and in pursuance of a decree existing in the divine mind before 
 the creation of our species. But Jansen died before the book was 
 finished, and two years elapsed before it was published, but, when 
 published, it was the signal for a contest which distracted Europe 
 for seventy years. 
 
 While Jansen was preparing this work, his early companion and 
 friend, De Verger, a man of family and rank, had become abbot 
 of the monastery of St. Cyran in Paris, and had formed, in the 
 centre of that gay city, a learned and ascetic hermitage. This 
 was during the reign of Louis XIII. His reputation, as a scholar 
 and a saint, attracted the attention of Bichelieu, and his services 
 were solicited by that able minister. But neither rewards, nor 
 flatteries, nor applause had power over the mind of St. Cyran, 
 as he was now called. The cardinal hated and feared a man 
 whom he could not bribe or win, and soon found means to quarrel 
 with him, and sent him to the gloomy fortress of Vincennes. But 
 there, in his prison, he devoted himself, with renewed ardor, to his 
 studies and duties, subduing his appetites and passions by an ascet- 
 
CHAP. XXII.] ST. CYRAN ARNAULD LE MAITRE. 367 
 
 icism which even his church did not require, and devoting all his 
 thoughts and words to the service of God. Like Calvin and 
 Augustine, he had so profound a conception of the necessity of an 
 inward change, that he made grace precede repentance. A man 
 so serene in trial, so humble in spirit, so natural and childlike in 
 ordinary life, and yet so distinguished for talents and erudition, 
 could not help exciting admiration, and making illustrious prose- 
 lytes. Among them was Arnauld D'Antilly, the intimate friend 
 of Richelieu and Anne of Austria; Le Maitre, the most eloquent 
 lawyer and advocate in France ; and Angelique Arnauld, the 
 abbess of Port Royal. This last was one of the most distinguished 
 ladies of her age, noble by birth, and still more noble by her beau- 
 tiful qualities of mind and heart. She had been made abbess of 
 her Cistercian convent at the age of eleven years, and at that 
 time was gay, social, and light-hearted. The preaching of a 
 Capuchin friar had turned her thoughts to the future world, and 
 she closed the gates of her beautiful abbey, in the vale of Chev- 
 reuse, against all strangers, and devoted herself to the ascetic 
 duties which her church and age accounted most meritorious. She 
 soon after made the acquaintance of St. Cyran, and he imbued 
 her mind with the principles of the Augustinian theology. When 
 imprisoned at Vincennes, he was still the spiritual father of Port 
 Royal. Amid this famous retreat were collected the greatest 
 scholars and the greatest saints of the seventeenth century — 
 Antoine Le Maitre, De Lericourt, Le Maitre de Saci, Antoine 
 Arnauld, and Pascal himself. Le Maitre de Saci gave to the 
 world the best translation of the Bible in French ; Arnauld wrote 
 one hundred volumes of controversy, and, among them, a noted 
 satire on the Jesuits, which did them infinite harm ; while Pascal, 
 besides his wonderful mathematical attainments, and his various 
 meditative works, is immortalized for his Provincial Letters, writ- 
 ten in the purest French, and with matchless power and beauty. 
 This work, directed against the Jesuits, is an inimitable model of 
 elegant irony, and the most effective sarcasm probably ever elab- 
 orated by man. In the vale of Port Royal also dwelt Tillemont, 
 the great ecclesiastical historian ; Fontaine and Racine, who were 
 controlled by the spirit of Arnauld, as well as the Prince of Conti, 
 and the Duke of Liancourt. There resided, under the name of 
 
368 THE LABORS OF THE PORT ROYALISTS. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 *, 
 
 Le Merrier, and in the humble occupation of a gardener, one of 
 the proudest nobles of the French court ; and there, too, dwelt the 
 celebrated Duchess of Longueville, sister of the Prince of Conde, 
 the life of the Fronde, the idol of the Parisian mob, and the once 
 gay patroness of the proudest festivities. 
 
 But it is the labors of these saints, scholars, and nobles to 
 repress the dangerous influence of the Jesuits for which they were 
 most distinguished. The Jansenists of Port Royal did not deny the 
 authority of the pope, nor the great institutions of the papacy. 
 They sought chiefly, in their controversy with the Jesuits, to 
 enforce the doctrines of Augustine respecting justification. But 
 their efforts were not agreeable to the popes, nor to the doctors of 
 the Sorbonne, who had no sympathy with their religious life, and 
 detested their bold spirit of inquiry. The doctors of the Sorbonne, 
 accordingly, extracted from the book of Jansen five propositions 
 which they deemed heretical, and urged the pope to condemn 
 them. The Port Royalists admitted that these five propositions 
 were indefensible if they were declared heretical by the sovereign 
 pontiff, but denied that they were actually to be found in the book 
 of Jansen. They did not quarrel with the pope on grounds of 
 faith. They recognized his infallibility in matters of religion, but 
 not in matters of fact. The pope, not wishing to push things to 
 extremity, which never was the policy of Rome, pretended to be 
 satisfied. But the Jesuits would not let him rest, and insisted 
 on the condemnation of the Jansenist opinions. The case was 
 brought before a great council of French bishops and doctors, and 
 Arnauld, the great champion of the Jansenists, was voted guilty 
 of heresy for denying that the five propositions which the pope 
 condemned were actually in the book of Jansen. The pope, 
 moreover, was induced to issue a formula of an oath, to which all 
 who wished to enjoy any office in the church were obliged to 
 subscribe, and which affirmed that the five condemned propositions 
 were actually to be found in Jansen's book. This act of the pope 
 was justly regarded by the Jansenists as intolerably despotic, and 
 many of the most respectable of the French clergy sided with 
 them in opinion. All France now became interested in the con- 
 troversy, and it soon led to great commotions. The Jansenists 
 then contended that the pope might err in questions of fact, and 
 
CHAP. XXII.] PRINCIPLES OF JANSENISM. 369 
 
 that, therefore, they were not under an obligation to subscribe to 
 the required oath. The Jesuits, on the other hand, maintained 
 the pope's infallibility in matters of fact, as well as in doctrine ; 
 and, as they had the most powerful adherents, the Jansenists Were 
 bitterly persecuted. But, as twenty-two bishops were found to 
 take their side, the matter was hushed up for a while. For ten 
 years more, the Port Royalists had peace and protection, chiefly 
 through the great influence of the Duchess of Longueville ; but, 
 on her death, persecution returned. Arnauld was obliged to fly 
 to the Netherlands, and the beautiful abbey of Port Royal was 
 despoiled of its lands and privileges. Louis XIV. had ever hated 
 its inmates, being ruled by Madame de Maintenon, who, in turn, 
 was a tool of the Jesuits, 
 
 But the demolition of the abbey, the spoliation of its lands, 
 and the dispersion of those who sought its retreat, did not stop the 
 controversy. Pascal continued it^ and wrote his Provincial Letters, 
 which had a wonderful effect in making the Jesuits both ridiculous 
 and hateful. That book was the severest blow this body of am- 
 bitious and artful casuists ever received. 
 
 Nor was the Jansenist controversy merely a discussion of grace 
 and free will. The principles of Jansenism, when carried out, 
 tended to secure independence to the national church, and to free 
 the consciences of men from the horrible power of their spiritual 
 confessors. Jansenism was a timid protest against spiritual tyr- 
 anny, a mild land of Puritanism, which found sympathy with 
 many people in France. The Parliament of Paris caught the 
 spirit of freedom, and protected the Jansenists and those who 
 sympathized with them. It so happened that a certain bishop 
 published a charge to his clergy which was strongly imbued with 
 the independent doctrines of the Jansenists. He was tried and 
 condemned by a provincial council, and banished by the govern- 
 ment. The Parliament of Paris, as the guardian of the law, took 
 up the quarrel, and Cardinal Fleury was obliged to resort to a Bed 
 of Justice in order to secure the registry of a decree. A Bed of 
 Justice was the personal appearance of the sovereign in the 
 supreme judicial tribunal of the nation, and his command to the 
 members of it to obey his injunctions was the last resort of abso- 
 lute power. The parliament, of course, obeyed, but protested the 
 
370 FUNCTIONS OF THE PARLIAMENT. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 next day, and drew up resolutions which declared the temporal 
 power to be independent of the spiritual. It then proceeded to 
 Meudon, one of the royal palaces, to lay its remonstrance before 
 the king ; and Louis XV., indignant and astonished, refused to see 
 the members. The original controversy was forgotten, and the 
 cause of the parliament, which was the cause of liberty, became 
 the cause of the nation. The resistance of the parliament was 
 technically unsuccessful, yet, nevertheless, sowed the seeds of 
 popular discontent, and contributed to that great insurrection 
 which finally overturned the throne. 
 
 It may be asked how the Parliament of Paris became a judicial 
 tribunal, rather than a legislative assembly, as in England. When 
 the Justinian code was introduced into French jurisprudence, in 
 the latter part of the Middle Ages, the old feudal and clerical 
 judges — the barons and bishops — were incapable of expounding 
 it, and a new class of men arose — the lawyers, whose exclusive 
 business it was to study the laws. Being best acquainted with 
 them, they entered upon the functions of judges, and the secular 
 and clerical lords yielded to their opinions. The great barons, 
 however, still continued to sit in the judicial tribunals, although 
 ignorant of the new jurisprudence ; and their decisions were 
 directed by the opinions of the lawyers who had obtained a seat 
 in their body, as is the case at present in the English House of 
 Lords when it sits as a judicial body. The necessity of providing 
 some permanent repository for the royal edicts, induced the kings 
 of France to enroll them in the journals of the courts of parlia- 
 ment, being the highest judicial tribunal ; and the members of these 
 courts gradually availed themselves of this custom to dispute the 
 legality of any edict which had not been thus registered. As 
 the influence of the States General declined, the power of the 
 parliament increased. The encroachments of the papacy first 
 engaged its attention, and then the management of the finances by 
 the ministers of Francis I. called forth remonstrances. During 
 the war of the Fronde, the parliament absolutely refused to regis- 
 ter the royal decrees. But Louis XIV. was sufficiently powerful 
 to suppress the spirit of independence, and accordingly entered 
 the court, during the first years of his reign, with a whip in his 
 hand, and compelled it to register his edicts. Nor did any 
 
3 
 
 CHAP. XXII.] THE BULL UNIGENITUS. ^71 
 
 murmur afterwards escape the body, until, at the close of his reign, 
 the members opposed the bull Unigenitus — that which con- 
 demned the Jansenists — as an infringement of the liberties of the 
 Gallican Church. And no sooner had the great monarch died, 
 than, contrary to his will, they vested the regency in the hands of 
 the Duke of Orleans. Then freedom of expostulation respecting 
 the ruinous schemes of Law induced him to banish them, and 
 they only obtained their recall by degrading concessions. Their 
 next opposition was during the administration of Fleury. The 
 minister of finance made an attempt to inquire into the wealth of 
 the clergy, which raised the jealousy of the order ; and the clergy, 
 in order to divert the attention of the court, revived the opposition 
 of the parliament to the bull Unigenitus. It was resolved by 
 the clergy to demand confessional notes from dying persons, and 
 that these notes should be signed by priests adhering to the bull, 
 before extreme unction should be given. The Archbishop of 
 Paris, at the head of the French clergy, was opposed by the par- 
 liament, and this high judicial court imprisoned such of the clergy 
 as refused to administer the sacraments. The king, under the 
 guidance of Fleury, forbade the parliament to take cognizance of 
 ecclesiastical proceedings, and to suspend its prosecutions. In- 
 stead of acquiescing, the parliament presented new remonstrances, 
 and the members refused to attend to any other functions, and 
 resolved that they could not obey this injunction without violating 
 their consciences. They cited the Bishop of Orleans before their 
 tribunal, and ordered all his writings, which denied the jurisdiction 
 of the court, to be publicly burnt by the executioner. By aid 
 of the military, the parliament enforced the administration of the 
 sacraments, and became so interested in the controversy as to 
 neglect other official duties. The king, indignant, again banished 
 the members, with the exception of four, whom he imprisoned. 
 And, in order not to impede the administration of justice, the king 
 established another tribunal for the prosecution of civil suits. But 
 the lawyers, sympathizing with the parliament, refused to plead 
 before the new court. This resolute conduct, and other evils 
 happening at the time, induced the king to yield, in order to con- 
 ciliate the people, and the parliament was recalled. This was 
 a popular triumph, and the archbishop was banished in his turn. 
 
372 MADAME DE POMPADOUR. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 Shortly after, Cardinal Fleury died, and a new policy was adopted. 
 The quarrel of the parliament and the clergy was forgotten in a 
 still greater quarrel between the king and the Jesuits. 
 
 The policy of Fleury, like that of Walpole, was pacific ; and 
 yet, like him, he was forced into a war against his own convictions. 
 And success attended the arms of France, in the colonial struggle 
 with England, until Pitt took the helm of state. 
 
 Until the death of Fleury, in 1743, who administered affairs 
 with wisdom, moderation, and incorruptible integrity, he was be- 
 loved, if he was not venerated. But after this event, a great 
 change took place in his character and measures, and the reign 
 of mistresses commenced, and to an extent unparalleled in the 
 history of Europe. Louis XIV. bestowed the revenue of the state 
 on unworthy favorites, yet never allowed them to govern the 
 nation ; but Louis XV. intrusted the most important state matters 
 to their direction, and the profoundest state secrets to their 
 keeping. 
 
 Among these mistresses, Madame de Pompadour was the most 
 noted ; a woman of talent, but abominably unprincipled. Ambi- 
 tion was her master-passion, and her boudoir was the council cham- 
 ber of the royal ministers. Most of the great men of France 
 paid court to her, and to neglect her was social ruin. Even Vol- 
 taire praised her beauty, and Montesquieu flattered her intellect. 
 And her extravagance was equal to her audacity. She insisted on 
 drawing bills on the treasury without specifying the service. The 
 comptroller-general was in despair, and the state was involved in 
 inextricable embarrassments. 
 
 It was through her influence that the Duke de Choiseul was 
 made the successor of Fleury. He was not deficient in talent ; 
 but his administration proved unfortunate. Under his rule, Louis 
 lost the Canadas, and France plunged into a contest with Frederic 
 the Great. The Seven Years' War, which occurred during his 
 administration, had made the age an epoch ; but as this is to be 
 considered in the chapter on Frederic III., no notice of it will 
 be taken in this connection. 
 
 The most memorable event which arose out of the policy and 
 conduct of Choiseul was the fall of the Jesuits. 
 
 Their arts and influence had obtained from the pope the bull 
 
CHAP. XXII.] THE JESUITS. 373 
 
 Unigenitus, designed to suppress their enemies, the Jansenists ; 
 and the king, governed by Fleury, had taken their side. 
 
 But they were so unwise as to quarrel with the powerful mistress 
 of Louis XV. They despised her, and defied her hatred. Indeed, 
 the Jesuits had climbed to so great a height that they were scornful 
 of popular clamor, and even of regal distrust. But there is no 
 man, and no body of men, who can venture to provoke enmity 
 with impunity ; and destruction often comes from a source the 
 least suspected, and apparently the least to be feared. Who could 
 have supposed that the ruin of this powerful body, which had 
 reigned so proudly in Christendom for a century; which had 
 imposed its Briareus's arms on the necks of princes ; which had 
 its confessors in the courts of the most absolute monarchs ; which, 
 with its hundred eyes, had penetrated the secrets of all the cab- 
 inets of Europe ; and which had succeeded in suppressing in so 
 many places every insurrection of human intelligence, in spite of 
 the fears of kings, the jealousy of the other monastic orders, and 
 the inveterate animosity of philosophers and statesmen, — would 
 receive a fatal wound from the hands of a woman, who scandal- 
 ized by her vices even the depraved court of an enervated prince ? 
 But so it was. Madame de Pompadour hated the Jesuits because 
 they attempted to undermine her influence with the king. And 
 she incited the prime minister, whom she had raised by her arts 
 to power, to unite with Pombal in Portugal, in order to effect their 
 ruin. 
 
 In no country was the power of the Jesuits more irresistible 
 than in Portugal. There their ascendency was complete. But 
 the prime minister of Joseph I., the Marquis of Pombal, a man 
 of great energy, had been insulted by a lady of the highest rank, 
 and he swore revenge. An opportunity was soon afforded. The 
 king happened to be fired at and wounded in his palace by some 
 unknown enemy. The blow was aimed at the objects of the minis- 
 ter's vengeance — the Marchioness of Tavora, her husband, her 
 family, and her friends the Jesuits. And royal vengeance fol- 
 lowed, not merely on an illustrious family, but on those persons 
 whom this family befriended. The Jesuits were expelled in the 
 most summary manner from the kingdom. The Duke de Choiseul 
 and Madame Pompadour hailed their misfortunes with delight, and 
 32 
 
374 EXPOSURE OF THE JESUITS. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 watched their opportunity for revenge. This was afforded by the 
 failure of La Valette, the head of the Jesuits at Martinique. It 
 must be borne in mind that the Jesuits had embarked in commer- 
 cial enterprises, while they were officiating as missionaries. La 
 Valette aimed to monopolize, for his order, the trade with the 
 West Indies, which commercial ambition excited the jealousy of 
 mercantile classes in France, and they threw difficulties in his 
 way. And it so happened that some of his most valuable ships 
 were taken and plundered by the English cruisers, which calamity, 
 happening at a time of embarrassment, caused his bills to be pro- 
 tested, and his bankers to stop payment. They, indignant, accused 
 the Jesuits, as a body, of peculation and fraud, and demanded 
 repayment from the order. Had the Jesuits been wise, they 
 would have satisfied the ruined bankers. But who is wise on the 
 brink of destruction ? " Quern deus vult perdere,prius dementat.' 1 '' 
 The Jesuits refused to sacrifice La Valette to the interests of their 
 order, which course would have been in accordance with their 
 general policy. The matter was carried before the Parliament of 
 Paris, and the whole nation was interested in its result. It was 
 decided by this supreme judicial tribunal, that the Jesuits were 
 responsible for the debts of La Valette. But the commercial 
 injury was weak in comparison with the moral. In the course of 
 legal proceedings, the books and rule of the Jesuits were demand- 
 ed — that mysterious rule which had never been exposed to the 
 public eye, and which had been so carefully guarded. When this 
 rule was produced, all minor questions vanished ; mistresses, 
 bankruptcies, politics, finances, wars, — all became insignificant, 
 compared with those questions which affected the position and 
 welfare of the society. Pascal became a popular idol, and " Tar- 
 tuffe grew pale before Escobar." The reports of the trial lay on 
 every toilet table, and persons of both sexes, and of all ages 
 and conditions, read with avidity the writings of the casuists. 
 Nothing was talked about but " probability," " surrender of con- 
 science," and " mental reservations." Philosophers grew jealous 
 of the absorbing interest with which every thing pertaining to the 
 regime of the Jesuits was read, and of the growing popularity of 
 the Jansenists, who had exposed it. " What," said Voltaire, " will 
 it profit us to be delivered from the foxes, if we are to be given 
 
CHAP. XXII.] THEIR EXPULSION FROM FRANCE. 375 
 
 up to the wolves ? " But the philosopher had been among the first 
 to raise the cry of alarm against the Jesuits, and it was no easy 
 thing to allay the storm. 
 
 The Jesuits, in their distress, had only one friend sufficiently 
 powerful to protect them, and he was the king. He had been 
 their best friend, and he still wished to come to their rescue. He 
 had been taught to honor them, and he had learned to fear them. 
 He stood in fear of assassination, and dreaded a rupture with so 
 powerful and unscrupulous a body. And his resistance to the 
 prosecution would have been insurmountable, had it not been for 
 the capriciousness of his temper, which more than balanced his 
 superstitious fears. His minister and his mistress circumvented 
 him. They represented that, as the parliament and the nation 
 were both aroused against the Jesuits, his resistance would neces- 
 sarily provoke a new Fronde. Nothing he dreaded so much as 
 civil war. The wavering monarch, placed in the painful necessity 
 of choosing, as he supposed, between a war and the ruin of his 
 best friends, yielded to the solicitations of his artful advisers. But 
 he yielded with a moderation winch did him honor. He would 
 not consent to the expulsion of the Jesuits until efforts had been 
 made to secure their reform. He accordingly caused letters to be 
 written to Rome, demanding an immediate attention to the subject. 
 Choiseul himself prepared the scheme of reformation. But the 
 Jesuits would not hear of any retrenchment of their power or 
 privileges. " Let us remain as we are, or let us exist no longer," 
 was their reply. The parliament, the people, the minister, and 
 the mistress renewed their clamors. The parliament decreed that 
 the constitution of the society was an encroachment on the royal 
 authority, and the king was obliged to yield. The members of 
 the society were ' forbidden to wear the habit of the society, or to 
 enjoy any clerical office or dignity. Their colleges- were closed, 
 their order was dissolved, and they were expelled from the king- 
 dom with rigor and severity, in spite of the wishes of the king, 
 and many entreaties and tears from the zealous advocates of 
 Catholicism, and even of religious education. 
 
 But the Jesuits were too powerful, even in their misfortunes, to 
 be persecuted without the effort to annihilate them. Having 
 secured their expulsion from France and Portugal, Choiseul and 
 
376 SUPPRESSION IN SPAIN. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 .4 
 
 Pombal turned their attention to Spain, and so successfully in- 
 trigued, so artfully wrought on the jealousy and fears of Charles 
 III., that this weak prince followed the example of Joseph I. and 
 Louis XV. But the king and his minister D'Aranda, however, 
 prosecuted their investigations with the utmost secrecy — did not 
 even tell their allies of their movements. Of course, the Jesuits 
 feared nothing from the king of Spain. But when his measures 
 were completed, an edict was suddenly declared, decreeing the 
 suppression of the order in the land of Inquisitions. The decree 
 came like a thunderbolt, but was instantly executed. " On the 
 same day, 2d April, 1767, and at the same hour, in Spain, in 
 Africa, in Asia, in America^ and in all the islands belonging to the 
 Spanish monarchy, the alcaldes of the towns opened their de- 
 spatches from Madrid, by which they were ordered, on pain of the 
 severest penalties, immediately to enter the establishments of the 
 Jesuits, to seize their persons, expel them from their convents, 
 and transport them, within twenty-four hours, to such places as 
 were designated. Nor were the Jesuits permitted to carry away 
 their money or their papers. Only a purse, a breviary, and some 
 apparel were given them." 
 
 The government feared a popular insurrection from an excite- 
 ment so sudden, and a persecution so dreadful, and therefore 
 issued express prohibition to all the ecclesiastical authorities to pre- 
 vent any allusion to the event from the pulpit. All classes were 
 required to maintain absolute silence, and any controversy, or 
 criticism, or remark was regarded as high treason. Such is des- 
 potism. Such is religious persecution, when fear, as well as hatred, 
 prompts to injustice and cruelty. 
 
 The Jesuits, in their misfortunes, managed with consummate 
 craft. Their policy was to appear in the light of victims of per- 
 secution. There was to them no medium between reigning as 
 despots or dying as martyrs. Mediocrity would have degraded 
 them. Bicci, the general of the order, would not permit them to 
 land in Italy, to which country they were sent by the king of Spain. 
 Six thousand priests, in misery and poverty, were sent adrift upon 
 the Mediterranean, and after six months of vicissitude, suffering, 
 and despair, they found a miserable refuge on the Island of Corsica. 
 
 Soon after, the pope, their most powerful protector, died. A 
 
CHAP. XXII.] POPE CLEMENT XIV. 377 
 
 successor was to be appointed. But France, Spain, and Portugal, 
 bent on the complete suppression of the Jesuits, resolved that no 
 pope should be elected who would not favor their end. A cardinal 
 was found, — Ganganelli, — who promised the ambassadors that, 
 if elected pope, he would abolish the order. They, accordingly, 
 intrigued to secure his election. The Jesuits, also, strained every 
 nerve, and put forth marvellous talent and art, to secure a pope 
 who would protect them. But the ambassadors of the allied powers 
 overreached even the Jesuits. Ganganelli was the plainest, and, 
 apparently, the most unambitious of men. His father had been a 
 peasant ; but, by the force of talent and learning, he had arisen, 
 from the condition of his father, to be a Roman cardinal. Under 
 the garb of a saint, he aspired to the tiara. There was only one 
 condition of success ; and that was, to destroy the best supporters 
 of that fearful absolutism which had so long enslaved the world. 
 The sacrifice was tremendous ; but it was made, and he became a 
 pope. Then commenced in his soul the awful struggle. Should 
 he fulfil his pledge, and jeopardize his cause and throne, and be 
 branded, by the zealots of his church, with- eternal infamy ? or 
 should he break his word, and array against himself, with awful 
 enmity, the great monarchs of Europe, and perhaps lose the alle- 
 giance of their subjects to him as the supreme head of the Catho- 
 lic Church ? The decision was the hardest which mortal man had 
 ever been required to make. Whatever course he pursued was 
 full of danger and disgrace. Poor Ganganelli ! he had better 
 remained a cowherd, a simple priest, a bishop, a cardinal, — any 
 thing, — rather than to have been made a pope! But such was 
 his ambition, and he was obliged to reap its penalty. Long did 
 the afflicted pontiff delay to fulfil his pledge ; long did he practise 
 all the arts of dissimulation, of which he was such a master. He 
 delayed, he nattered, he entreated, he coaxed. But the monarchs 
 called peremptorily for the fulfilment of his pledge, and all Europe 
 now understood the nature of the contest. It was between the 
 Jesuits and the monarchs of Europe. Ganganelli was compelled 
 to give his decision. His health declined, his spirits forsook him, 
 his natural gayety fled. He courted solitude, he wept, he prayed. 
 But he must, nevertheless, decide. The Jesuits threatened assas- 
 sination, and exposed, with bitter eloquence, the ruin of his church, 
 32* 
 
375 DEATH OF GA>~GA>"ELLI. [CHAP. XXII. 
 
 4 
 
 if he yielded her privileges to kings. And kings threatened 
 secession from Rome, deposition — ten thousand calamities. His 
 agony became insupportable ; but delay was no longer possible. 
 He decided to suppress the order of the Jesuits ; and sixty-nine 
 colleges were closed, their missions were broken up, their churches 
 were given to their rivals, and twenty -two thousand priests were 
 left without organization, wealth, or power. 
 
 Their revenge was not an idle threat. One day, the pope, on 
 arising from table, felt an internal shock, followed by great cold. 
 Gradually he lost his voice and strength. His blood became cor- 
 rupted ; and his moral system gave way with the physical. He 
 knew that he was doomed — that he was poisoned — that he must 
 die. The fear of hell was now added to his other torments. 
 u Compulsus.feci, compuhus.feci ! " — " O, mercy, mercy, I have 
 been compelled ! " he cried, and died — died by that slow but sure 
 poison, such as old Alexander YI. knew so well how to administer 
 to his victims when he sought their wealth. Pope Clement XIY. 
 inflicted, it was supposed, a mortal wound upon his church and 
 upon her best friends. He, indeed, reaped the penalty of ambition ; 
 but the cause which he represented did not perish, nor will it lose 
 vitality so long as the principle of evil on earth is destined to con- 
 tend with the principle of good. On the restoration of the Bour- 
 bons, the order of the Jesuits was restored; and their naming 
 sword, with its double edge, was again felt in every corner of the 
 world. 
 
 The Jesuits, on their expulsion, found shelter in Prussia, and 
 protection from the royal infidel who had been the friend of Vol- 
 taire. A schism between the crowned heads of Europe and infi- 
 del philosophers had taken place. Frederic, who had sympathized 
 with their bitter mockery, at last perceived the tendency of their 
 writings ; that men who assailed obedience to divine laws would 
 not long respect the institutions and governments which mankind had 
 recognized. He perceived, too, the natural union of absolutism 
 in the church with absolutism in the state, and came to the rescue 
 of the great, unchanged, unchangeable, and ever-consistent advo- 
 cates of despotism. The frivolous Choiseul, the extravagant Pom- 
 padour, and the debauched Sardanapalus of his age, did not perceive 
 the truth which the King of Prussia recognized in his latter days. 
 
CHAP. XXII.] DEATH OF LOUIS XT. 379 
 
 Nor would it have availed any thing, if they had been gifted with 
 the clear insight of Frederic the Great. The stream, on whose 
 curious banks the great and the noble of France had been amusing 
 themselves, soon swelled into an overwhelming torrent. That de- 
 vastating torrent was the French Revolution, whose awful swell 
 was first perceived during the latter years of Louis XV. He him- 
 self caught glimpses of the future ; but, with the egotism of a 
 Bourbon, he remarked " that the throne would last during his 
 time." Soon after this heartless speech was made, he was stricken 
 with the small-pox, and died 1774, after a long and inglorious reign. 
 He was deserted in his last hours, and his disgusting and loathsome 
 remains were huddled into then last abode by the workmen of his 
 palace. 
 
 Before the reign of Louis XVI. can be described, it is necessary 
 to glance at the career of Frederic the Great, and the condition 
 of the various European states, at a period contemporary with the 
 Seven Years' War — the great war of the eighteenth century, 
 before the breaking out of the French Revolution. 
 
 References. — For a general view of the reign of Louis XV., see the 
 histories of Lacretelle, Voltaire, and Crowe. The scheme of Law is best 
 explained in Smyth's Lectures, and Anderson's History of Commerce. 
 The struggles between the king and the Parliament of Paris are tolerably 
 described in the History of Adolphus. For a view of the Jansenist Con- 
 troversy, see Du Pin's Ecclesiastical History, Ranke's History of the 
 Popes, Pascal's Provincial Letters, and Stephens's article in the Edinburgh 
 Review, on the Port Royalists. The fall of the Jesuits has been admirably 
 treated by Quinet. James has written a good sketch of the lives of Fleury 
 and Choiseul. For the manners of the court of Louis XV., the numerous 
 memoirs and letters, -which were written during the period, must be con- 
 sulted ; the most amusing of which, and, in a certain sense, instructive, 
 are too infamous to be named. 
 
380 FREDERIC WILLIAM. [CHAP. XXIIT. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 FREDERIC THE GREAT. 
 
 Frederic II. of Prussia has won a name which will be immor- 
 tal on Moloch's catalogue of military heroes. His singular char- 
 acter extorts our admiration, while it calls forth our aversion ; 
 admiration for his great abilities, sagacity, and self-reliance, and 
 disgust for his cruelties, his malice, his suspicions, and his tricks. 
 He had no faith in virtue or disinterestedness, and trusted only to 
 mechanical agencies — to the power of armies — to the principle 
 of fear. He was not indifferent to literature, or the improvement 
 of his nation ; but war was alike his absorbing passion and his 
 highest glory. Peter the Great was half a barbarian, and Charles 
 XII. half a madman ; but Frederic was neither barbarous in his 
 tastes, nor wild in his schemes. Louis XIV. plunged his nation in 
 war from puerile egotism, and William III. fought for the great 
 cause of religious and civil liberty ; but Frederic, from the excite- 
 ment which war produced, and the restless ambition of plundering 
 what was not his own. 
 
 He was born in the royal palace of Berlin, in 1712 — ten years 
 after Prussia had become a kingdom, and in the lifetime of 
 his grandfather, Frederic I. The fortunes of his family were 
 made by his great-grandfather, called the Great Elector, of the 
 house of Hohenzollern. He could not make Brandenburg a fertile 
 province ; so he turned it into a military state. He was wise, be- 
 nignant, and universally beloved. But few of his amiable quali- 
 ties were inherited by his great-grandson. Frederic II. resembled 
 more his whimsical and tyrannical father, Frederic William, who 
 beat his children without a cause, and sent his subjects to prison 
 from mere caprice. When his ambassador, in London, was allowed 
 only one thousand pounds a year, he gave a bounty of thirteen 
 hundred pounds to a tall Irishman, to join his famous body-guard, 
 a regiment of men who were each over six feet high. He would 
 kick women in the streets, abuse clergymen for looking on the 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] ACCESSION OF FREDERIC THE GREAT. 381 
 
 soldiers, and insult his son's tutor for teaching him Latin. But, 
 abating his coarseness, his brutality, and his cruelty, he was a 
 Christian, after a certain model. He had respect for the institu- 
 tions of religion, denounced all amusements as sinful, and read a 
 sermon aloud, every afternoon, to his family. His son perceived 
 his inconsistencies, and grew up an infidel. There was no sym- 
 pathy between father and son, and the father even hated the heir 
 of his house and throne. The young prince was kept on bread 
 and water ; his most moderate wishes were disregarded ; he was 
 surrounded with spies ; he was cruelly beaten and imprisoned, and 
 abused as a monster and a heathen. The cruel treatment which 
 the prince received induced him to fly ; his flight was discovered ; 
 he was brought back to Berlin, condemned to death as a deserter, 
 and only saved from the fate of a malefactor by the intercession 
 of half of the crowned heads of Europe. A hollow reconciliation 
 was effected ; and the prince was permitted, at last, to retire to one 
 of the royal palaces, where he amused himself with books, bil- 
 liards, balls, and banquets. He opened a correspondence with 
 Voltaire, and became an ardent admirer of his opinions. 
 
 In 1740, the old king died, and Frederic II. mounted an abso- 
 lute throne. He found a well filled treasury, and a splendidly 
 disciplined army. His customary pleasures were abandoned, and 
 dreams of glory filled his ambitious soul. 
 
 Scarcely was he seated on his throne before military aggran- 
 dizement became the animating principle of his life. 
 
 His first war was the conquest of Silesia, one of the richest 
 provinces of the Austrian empire. It belonged to Maria Theresa, 
 Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, daughter of the late emperor of 
 Germany, whose succession was guaranteed by virtue of the 
 Pragmatic Sanction — a law which the Emperor Charles passed 
 respecting his daughter's claim, and which claim was recognized 
 by the old king of Prussia, and ratified by all the leading powers 
 of Europe. Without a declaration of war, without complaints, 
 without a cause, scarcely without a pretext, from the mere lust of 
 dominion, Frederic commenced hostilities, in the depth of winter, 
 when invasion was unexpected, and when the garrisons were 
 defenceless. Without a battle, one of the oldest provinces of 
 Austria was seized, and the royal robber returned in triumph to 
 his capital. 
 
382 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 4 
 
 Such an outrage and crime astonished and alarmed the whole 
 civilized world, and Europe armed itself to revenge and assist the 
 unfortunate queen, whose empire was threatened with complete 
 dismemberment. Frederic was alarmed, and a hollow peace was 
 made. But, in two years, the war again broke out. To recover 
 Silesia and to humble Frederic was the aim of Maria Theresa. 
 She succeeded in securing the cooperation of Russia, France, 
 Sweden, and Saxony. No one doubted of the ruin of the house 
 of Brandenburg. Six hundred thousand men were arrayed to 
 crush an upstart monarchy, and an unprincipled king, who had 
 trampled on all the laws of nations and all the principles of justice. 
 
 The resistance of Frederic to these immense forces constitutes 
 the celebrated Seven Years' 1 War — the most gigantic war which 
 Europe had seen, from the Reformation to the French Revolution. 
 This contest began during the latter years of George II., and was 
 connected with the colonial wars of Great Britain and France, 
 during which Wolfe was killed and the Canadas were gained. 
 This war called out all the energies of the elder Pitt, and placed 
 Great Britain on the exalted height which it has since retained. 
 
 Frederic was not so blinded as not to perceive the extent of his 
 dangers ; and his successful resistance to the armies which his 
 own offensive war had raised up against him, has given him his 
 claims to the epithet of Great. Although he provoked the war, 
 his successful defence of his country placed him on the very high- 
 est pinnacle of military fame. He would gladly have been 
 relieved from the contest ; but it was inevitable ; and when the 
 tempest burst upon his head, he showed all the qualities of exalted 
 heroism. 
 
 , Great and overwhelming odds were arrayed against him. But 
 he himself had some great advantages. He was absolute master 
 of his army, of his treasury, and of his territories. The lives and 
 property of his subjects were at his disposal ; his subjects were 
 brave and loyal ; he was popular with the people, and was sustained 
 by the enthusiasm of the nation ; his army was well disciplined ; 
 he had no sea-coast to defend, and he could concentrate all his 
 forces upon any point he pleased, in a short time. 
 
 His only hope was in energetic measures. He therefore invaded 
 Saxony, at once, with sixty thousand men. His aim was to seize 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] BATTLE OF EOSSBACH. 383 
 
 the state papers at Dresden, which contained the proofs of the 
 confederation. These were found and published, which showed 
 that now, at least, he acted on the defensive. 
 
 The campaign of 1756 commenced, and the first great battle 
 was won by the Prussians. By the victory of Lowisitz, Frederic 
 was in a better condition to contend with Austria. By this he got 
 possession of Saxony. 
 
 The campaign of 1757 was commenced under great solicitude. 
 Five hundred thousand men were arrayed against two hundred 
 thousand. Near Prague, Frederic obtained a victory, but lost 
 twelve thousand men. He then invested Prague. General Daun, 
 with a superior army, advanced to its relief. Another bloody battie 
 was fought, and lost by the Prussian king. This seemed to be a 
 fatal stroke. At the outset, as it were, of the war, he had received 
 a check. The soldiers' confidence was weakened. Malevolent 
 sarcasm pointed out mistakes. The siege of Prague was raised, 
 and Bohemia was abandoned. A French army, at the same time, 
 invaded Germany ; and Frederic heard also of the death of his 
 mother — the only person whom he loved. His spirits fell, and he 
 became haggard and miserable. 
 
 The only thing for him to do now was, to protect Saxony, and 
 secure that conquest — no very easy task. His dominions were 
 now assailed by a French, a Swedish, and a Russian army. His 
 capital was in the hands of the Croatians, and he was opposed by 
 superior Austrian forces. No wonder that he was oppressed with 
 melancholy, and saw only the ruin of his house. On one thing, 
 however, he was resolved — never to be taken alive. So he pro- 
 vided himself with poison, which he ever carried about his person. 
 
 The heroic career of Frederic dates from this hour of misfor- 
 tune and trial. Indeed, the heroism of all great men commences 
 in perplexity, difficulty, and danger. Success is glorious; but 
 success is obtained only through struggle. Frederic's career is a 
 splendid example of that heroism which rises above danger, and 
 extricates a man from difficulties when his cause is desperate. 
 
 The King of Prussia first marched against the French. The two 
 armies met at Rossbach. The number of the French was double 
 that of the Prussians ; but the Prussians were better disciplined, and 
 were commanded by an abler general. The French, however 
 
384 BATTLE OF LETJTHEN. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 4 
 
 felt secure of victoiy ; but they were defeated : seven thousand 
 men were taken prisoners, together with their guns, ammunition, 
 parrots, hair powder, and pomatum. The victoiy of Rossbach 
 won for Frederic a great name, and diffused universal joy among 
 the English and Prussians. 
 
 After a brief rest, he turned his face towards Silesia, which had 
 again fallen into the hands of the Austrians. It was for this prov- 
 ince that he provoked the hostilities of Europe ; and pride, as well 
 as interest, induced him to bend all his energies to regain it. Prince 
 Charles of Lorraine commanded the forces of Maria Theresa, 
 which numbered eighty thousand men. Frederic could only array 
 against him an army of thirty thousand. And yet, in spite of the 
 disparity of forces, and his desperate condition, he resolved to 
 attack the enemy. His generals remonstrated ; but the hero gave 
 full permission to all to retire, if they pleased. None were found 
 to shun the danger. Frederic, like Napoleon, had the talent of 
 exciting the enthusiasm of his troops. He both encouraged and 
 threatened them. He declared that any cavalry regiment which 
 did not, on being ordered, burst impetuously on the foe, should, 
 after the battle, be dismounted, and converted into a garrison regi- 
 ment. But he had no reason to complain. On the 5th of Decem- 
 ber, the day of the ever-memorable battle of Leuthen, he selected an 
 officer with fifty men as his body-guard. " I shall," said he, " ex- 
 pose myself much to-day ; you are not to leave me for an instant ; 
 if I fall, cover me quickly with a mantle, place me in a wagon, 
 and tell the fact to no one. The battle cannot be avoided, and 
 must be won." And he obtained a glorious victory. The Austrian 
 general abandoned a strong position, because he deemed it beneath 
 his dignity to contend with an inferior force in a. fortified camp. 
 His imprudence lost him the battle. According to Napoleon, it 
 was a masterpiece on the part of the victor, and placed him in the 
 first rank of generals. Twenty thousand Austrians were either 
 killed or taken. Breslau opened its gates to the Prussians, and 
 Silesia was reconquered. The king's fame filled the world. Pic- 
 tures of him were hung in almost every house. The enthusiasm 
 of Germany was not surpassed by that of England. London was 
 illuminated ; the gay scions of aristocracy proposed to the Prussian 
 king to leave their country and join his army ; an annual subsidy 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] FALL OF DRESDEN. 385 
 
 of seven hundred thousand pounds was granted by government. 
 The battle of Leuthen was the most brilliant in Prussian annals ; 
 but the battle of Rossbach, over the French, was attended by 
 greater moral results. It showed, for the first time for several 
 centuries, that the Germans were really a great people, and were 
 a match for the French, hitherto deemed invincible. 
 
 Early in the spring of 1758, Frederic was ready for a new 
 campaign, which was soon signalized by a great victory over the 
 Russians, at Zorndorff. It was as brilliant and decisive as the bat- 
 tles of Rossbach and Leuthen. A force of thirty-two thousand 
 men defeated an army of fifty-two thousand. Twenty-two thou- 
 sand Russians lay dead on the field. This victory placed Frederic 
 at the zenith of military fame. In less than a year, he had de- 
 feated three great armies ; in less than a year, and when nearly 
 driven to despair, — when his cause seemed hopeless, and his ene- 
 mies were rejoicing in their strength, — he successively triumphed 
 over the French, the Austrians, and the Russians ; the three most 
 powerful nations on the continent of Europe. And his moderation 
 after victory was as marked as his self-reliance after defeat. At 
 this period, he stood out, to the wondering and admiring eyes of 
 the world, as the greatest hero and general of modern times. But, 
 after this, his career was more checkered, and he was still in dan- 
 ger of being overwhelmed by his powerful enemies. 
 
 The remainder of the campaign of 1758 was spent in driving 
 the Austrians from Silesia, and in capturing Dresden. No capital 
 in Europe has suffered more in war than this elegant and polished 
 city. It has been often besieged and taken, but the victors have 
 always spared its famous picture gallery — the finest collection of 
 the works of the old masters, probably, in existence. 
 
 • But Frederic was now assailed by a new enemy, Pope Benedict 
 XIV. Pie sent a consecrated sword, a hat of crimson velvet, and 
 a dove of pearls, — " the mystic symbol of the divine Comforter," 
 — to Marshal Daun, the ablest of the Austrian generals, and the 
 conqueror at Kolin and Hochkirchen. It was the rarest of the 
 papal gifts, and had been only bestowed, in the course of six cen- 
 turies, on Godfrey of Bouillon, by Urban II., when he took Jeru- 
 salem ; on Alva, after his massacres in Holland ; and on Sobiesky, 
 after his deliverance of Vienna, when besieged by the Turks. It 
 33 
 
386 REVERSES OF FREDERIC. [cHAP. XXIII. 
 
 4 
 
 had never been conferred, except for the defence of the " Holy- 
 Catholic Church." But this greatest of papal gifts made no im- 
 pression on the age which read Montesquieu and Voltaire. A flood 
 of satirical pamphlets inundated Christendom, and the world 
 laughed at the impotent weapons which had once been thunder- 
 bolts in the hands of Hildebrand or Innocent III. 
 
 The fourth year of the war proved disastrous to Frederic. He 
 did not lose military reputation, but he lost his cities and armies. 
 The forces of his enemies were nearly overwhelming. The Aus- 
 trians invaded Saxony, and menaced Silesia, while the Russians 
 gained a victory over the Prussians at Kunersdorf, and killed 
 eighteen thousand men. The Russians did not improve this 
 great victory over Frederic, which nearly drove him to despair. 
 But he rallied, and was again defeated in three disastrous battles. 
 In his distress, he fed his troops on potatoes and rye bread, took 
 from the peasant his last horse, debased his coin, and left his civil 
 functionaries unpaid. 
 
 The campaign of 1760 was, at first, unfavorable to the Prus- 
 sians. Frederic had only ninety thousand men, and his enemies 
 had two hundred thousand, in the field. He was therefore obliged 
 to maintain the defensive. But still disasters thickened. General 
 Loudon obtained a great victory over his general, Fouque, in Sile- 
 sia. Instead of being discouraged by this new defeat, he formed 
 the extraordinary resolution of wresting Dresden from the hands 
 of the Austrians. But he pretended to retreat from Saxony, and 
 advance to Silesia, General Daun was deceived, and decoyed 
 from Saxony in pursuit of him. As soon as Frederic had retired 
 a considerable distance from Dresden, he returned, and bombarded 
 it. But he did not succeed in taking it, and was forced to retreat 
 to Silesia. It was there his good fortune to gain a victory over 
 the Austrians, and prevent their junction with the Russians. At 
 Torgau, he again defeated an army of sixty-four thousand of the 
 enemy, with a force of only forty-four thousand. This closed the 
 campaign, and the position of the parties was nearly the same as 
 at the commencement of it. The heart of Frederic was now 
 ulcerated with bitterness in view of the perseverance of his ene- 
 mies, who were resolved to crush him. He should, however, 
 have remembered that he had provoked their implacable resent- 
 ment, by the commission of a great crime. 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] CONTINUED DISASTERS. 387 
 
 Although Frederic, by rare heroism, had maintained his ground, 
 still his resources were now nearly exhausted, and he began to 
 look around, in vain, for a new supply of men, horses, and pro- 
 visions. The circle which his enemies had drawn around him 
 was obviously becoming smaller. In a little while, to all appear- 
 ance, he would be crushed by overwhelming forces. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the campaign in 1761 was opened ; 
 but no event of importance occurred until nearly the close of the 
 year. On the whole, it was disastrous to Prussia. Half of Silesia 
 was taken by the Austrians, and the Russian generals were suc- 
 cessful in Pomerania. And a still greater misfortune happened to 
 Frederic in consequence of the resignation of Pitt, who had ever 
 been his firmest ally, and had granted him large subsidies, when 
 he was most in need of them. On the retirement of the English 
 minister, these subsidies were withdrawn, and' the party which had 
 thwarted William III., which had persecuted Marlborough, and 
 had given up the Catalans, came into power — the Tories. "It 
 was indifferent to them whether the house of Hohenstaufen or 
 Hohenzollern should be dominant in Germany." But Pitt and the 
 Whigs argued that no sacrifice would be too great to preserve the 
 balance of power. The defection of England, however, filled the 
 mind of Frederic with implacable hatred, and he never could bear 
 to hear even the name of England mentioned. The defection of 
 this great ally made his affairs desperate ; and no one, taking a dis- 
 passionate view of the contending parties, could doubt but that the 
 ruin of the Prussian king was inevitable. Maria Theresa was so con- 
 fident of success, that she disbanded twenty thousand of her troops. 
 
 But Providence had ordered otherwise. A great and unex- 
 pected change came over the fortunes of Frederic. His heroism 
 was now to be rewarded — not the vulgar heroism which makes a 
 sudden effort, and gains a single battle, but that well-sustained 
 heroism which strives in the midst of defeat, and continues to hope 
 when even noble hearts are sinking in despair. On the 5th of Janua- 
 ry, 1762, Elizabeth, the empress of Russia, died ; and her successor, 
 Peter III., who was an admirer of Frederic, and even a personal 
 friend, returned the Prussian prisoners, withdrew his troops from 
 the Prussian territories, dressed himself in a Prussian uniform, and 
 wore the black eagle of Prussia on his breast. He even sent 
 fifteen thousand troops to reenforce the army of Frederic. 
 
388 EXHAUSTION OF PRUSSIA BY THE WAR. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 4 
 
 England and France had long been wearied of this war, and 
 formed a separate treaty for themselves. Prussia and Austria were 
 therefore left to combat each other. If Austria, assisted by France 
 and Russia, could not regain Silesia and ruin Prussia, it certainly 
 was not strong enough to conquer Frederic single-handed. The 
 proud Maria Theresa. Was compelled to make peace with that 
 heroic but unprincipled robber, who had seized one of the finest 
 provinces of the Austrian empire. In February, the treaty of 
 Hubertsburg was signed, by which Frederic retained his spoil. 
 He, in comparison with the other belligerent parties was the gainer. 
 But no acquisition of territory could compensate for those seven 
 years of toil, expense, and death. After six years, he entered his 
 capital in triumph ; but he beheld every where the melancholy 
 marks of devastation and suffering. The fields were unfilled, 
 houses had been sacked, population had declined, and famine and 
 disease had spread a funereal shade over the dwellings of the poor. 
 He had escaped death, but one sixth of the whole male popula- 
 tion of Prussia had been killed, and untold millions of property 
 had been destroyed. In some districts, no laborers but women 
 were seen in the fields, and fifteen thousand houses had been 
 burnt in his own capital. 
 
 It is very remarkable that no national debt was incurred by the 
 king of Prussia, in spite of all his necessities. He always, in the 
 worst of times, had a year's revenue in advance ; and, at the 
 close of the war, to show the world that he was not then impov- 
 erished, he built a splendid palace at Potsdam, which nearly 
 equalled the magnificence of Versailles. 
 
 But he also did all in his power to alleviate the distress which 
 his wars had caused. Silesia received three millions of thalers, 
 and Pomerania two millions. Fourteen thousand houses were 
 rebuilt; treasury notes, which had depreciated, were redeemed; 
 officers who had distinguished themselves were rewarded ; and the 
 widows and children of those who had fallen were pensioned. 
 
 The possession of Silesia did not, indeed, compensate for the 
 Seven Years' War ; but the struggles which the brave Prussians 
 made for their national independence, when assailed on all sides 
 by powerful enemies, were not made in vain. Had they not been 
 made, worse evils would have happened. Prussia would not have 
 held her place in the scale of nations, and the people would have 
 
CHAP. XXIII.] DEATH OF FREDERIC. 389 
 
 fallen in self-respect. It was wrong in Frederic to seize the pos- 
 session of another. In so doing, he was in no respect better than 
 a robber; and he paid a penalty for his crime. But he also fought 
 in self-defence. This defence was honorable and glorious, and 
 this entitles him to the name of Great. 
 
 After the peace of Hubertsburg, in 1763, Prussia, for a time, 
 enjoyed repose, and the king devoted himself to the improvement 
 of his country. But the army received his greatest consideration, 
 and a peace establishment of one hundred and sixty thousand men 
 was maintained ; an immense force for so small a kingdom, but 
 deemed necessary in such unsettled times. Frederic amused 
 himself in building palaces, in writing books, and corresponding 
 with literary friends. But schemes of ambition were, after all, 
 paramount in his mind. 
 
 The Seven Years' War had scarcely closed before the partition 
 of Poland was effected, the greatest political crime of that age, 
 for which the king of Prussia was chiefly responsible. 
 
 The Bavarian war was the next great political event of impor- 
 tance which occurred during the reign of Frederic. The emperor 
 of Germany formed a project for the dismemberment of the electo- 
 rate of Bavaria. The liberties of the Germanic body were in 
 danger, and Frederic came to the rescue. On this occasion, he 
 was the opposer of lawless ambition. In 1778, he took the field 
 with a powerful army ; but no action ensued. The Austrian court 
 found it expedient to abandon the design, and the peace of Teschen 
 prevented another fearful contest. The two last public acts of 
 Frederic were the establishment, in 1785, of the Germanic Union 
 for preserving the constitution of the empire, and a treaty of amity 
 and commerce, in 1786, with the United States of America, which 
 was a model of liberal policy respecting the rights of independent 
 nations, both in peace and war. 
 
 He died on the 17th of August, 1786, in the seventy-fifth year 
 of his age, and the forty-seventh of his reign. On the whole, he 
 was one of the most remarkable men of his age, and had a great 
 influence on the condition of his country. 
 
 His distinguishing peculiarity was his admiration of, and devo- 
 tion to, the military profession, which he unduly exalted. An 
 ensign in his army ranked higher than a counsellor of legation, 
 33* 
 
390 CHARACTER OF FREDERIC. [CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 or a professor of philosophy. His ordinary mode of life was sim- 
 ple and unostentatious, and his favorite residence was the palace 
 of Sans Souci, at Potsdam. He was veiy fond of music, and of 
 the society of literary men ; but he mortified them by his patron- 
 izing arrogance, and worried them by his practical jokes. His 
 favorite literary companions were infidel philosophers, and Voltaire 
 received from him marks of the highest distinction. But the king 
 of letters could not live with the despot who solicited his society, 
 and an implacable hatred succeeded familiarity and friendship. 
 The king had considerable literary reputation, and was the author 
 of several works. He was much admired by his soldiers, and 
 permitted in them uncommon familiarity. He was ever free from 
 repulsive formality and bolstered dignity. He was industrious, 
 frugal, and vigilant. Nothing escaped his eye, and he attended 
 to the details of his administration. He was probably the most 
 indefatigable sovereign that ever existed, but displayed more 
 personal ability than enlarged wisdom. 
 
 But able and successful as he was as a ruler, he was one of those 
 men for whom it is impossible to entertain a profound respect. 
 He was cruel, selfish, and parsimonious. He was prodigal of the 
 blood of his subjects, and ungenerous in his treatment of those 
 who had sacrificed eveiy thing for his sake. He ruled by fear 
 rather than by love. He introduced into every department the 
 precision of a rigid military discipline, and had no faith in any 
 power but that of mechanical agencies. He quarrelled with his 
 best friends, and seemed to enjoy the miseries he inflicted. He 
 was contemptuous of woman, and disdainful of Christianity. His 
 egotism was not redeemed by politeness or affability, and he made 
 no efforts to disguise his unmitigated selfishness and heartless in- 
 justice. He had no loftiness of character, and no appreciation of 
 elevation of sentiment in others. He worshipped only himself, 
 and rewarded those only who advanced his ambitious designs. 
 
 References. — The Posthumous "Works of Frederic II. Gillies's View 
 of the Reign of Frederic II. Thiebault's Memoires de Frederic le Grand. 
 Voltaire's Idee du Roi de Prusse. Life of Baron Trenck. Macaulay's 
 Essay on the Life and Times of Frederic the Great. Coxe's House of 
 Austria. Tower's, Johnson's, and Campbell's Life of Frederic the Great. 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] THE GERMANIC CONSTITUTION. 391 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 MARIA THERESA AND CATHARINE II. 
 
 , Contemporaneous with Frederic the Great were Maria Theresa 
 and Catharine II. - — two sovereigns who claim an especial notice, 
 as representing two mighty empires. The part which Maria 
 Theresa took in the Seven Years' War has been often alluded to, 
 and it is not necessary to recapitulate the causes or events of that 
 war. She and Catharine II. were also implicated with Frederic in 
 the partition of Poland. The misfortunes of that unhappy country 
 will be separately considered. In alluding to Maria Theresa, we 
 cannot but review the history of that great empire over which she 
 ruled, the most powerful of the German states. The power of 
 Austria, at different times since the death of the Emperor Charles 
 V., threatened the liberties of Europe ; and, to prevent her ascen- 
 dency, the kings of France, England, and Prussia have expended 
 the treasure and wasted the blood of their subjects. 
 
 By the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, at the close of the Thirty 
 Years' War, the constitution of Germany was established upon a 
 firm basis. The religious differences between the Catholics and 
 the Protestants were settled, and religious toleration secured in all 
 the states of the empire. It was settled that no decree of the 
 Diet was to pass without a majority of suffrages, and that the 
 Imperial Chamber and the Aulic Council should be composed of a 
 due proportion of Catholics and Protestants. The former was 
 instituted by the Emperor Maximilian I., in 1495, at the Diet of 
 Worms, and was a judicial tribunal, and the highest court of 
 appeal. It consisted of seventeen judges nominated by the empe- 
 ror, and took cognizance of Austrian affairs chiefly. The Aulic 
 Council was also judicial, and was composed of eighteen persons, 
 and attended chiefly to business connected with the empire. The 
 members of these two great judicial tribunals were Catholics ; and 
 there were also frequent disputes between them as to their respective 
 jurisdictions. It was ordained by the treaty of Westphalia that a 
 
392 THE GEKMANIC CONSTITUTION. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 4 
 
 perfect equality should be observed in the appointment of the 
 members of these two important courts ; but, in fact, twenty-four 
 Protestants and twenty-six Catholics were appointed to the Imperial 
 Chamber. The various states had the right of presenting mem- 
 bers, according to political importance. The Aulic Council was 
 composed of six Protestants and twelve Catholics, and was a 
 tribunal to settle difficulties between the various states of which 
 Germany was composed. 
 
 These states were nearly independent of each other, but united 
 under one common head. Each state had its own peculiar gov- 
 ernment, which was generally monarchical, and regulated its 
 own coinage, police, and administration of justice. Each king- 
 dom, electorate, principality, and imperial city, which were included 
 in the states of Germany, had the right to make war, form alli- 
 ances, conclude peace, and send ambassadors to foreign courts. 
 
 The Diet of the empire consisted of representatives of each 
 of the states, appointed by the princes themselves, and took 
 cognizance of matters of common interest, such as regulations 
 respecting commerce, the license of books, and the military force 
 which each state was required to furnish. 
 
 The emperor had power, in some respects, over all these states ; 
 but it was chiefly confined to his hereditary dominions. He could 
 not exercise any despotic control over the various princes of the 
 empire ; but, as hereditary sovereign of Austria, Styria, Moravia, 
 Bohemia, Hungary, and the Tyrol, he was the most powerful 
 prince in Europe until the aggrandizement of Louis XIV. 
 
 Ferdinand III. was emperor of Germany at the peace of West- 
 phalia ; but he did not long survive it. He died in 1657, and his 
 son Leopold succeeded him as sovereign of all the Austrian do- 
 minions. He had not completed his eighteenth year, but never- 
 theless was, five months after, elected Emperor of Germany by 
 the Electoral Diet. 
 
 Great events occurred during the reign of Leopold I. — the 
 Turkish war, the invasion of the Netherlands by Louis XIV., the 
 heroic struggles of the Prince of Orange, the French invasion of 
 the Palatinate, the accession of a Bourbon prince to the throne 
 of Spain, the discontents of Hungary, and the victories of Marl- 
 borough and Eugene. Most of these have been already alluded 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] THE HUNGARIAN WAR. 393 
 
 to, especially in the chapter on Louis XIV., and, therefore, will 
 not be further discussed. 
 
 The most important event connected with Austrian affairs, as 
 distinct from those of France, England, and Holland, was the Hun- 
 garian war. Hungaiy was not a province of Austria, but was a 
 distinct state. In 1526, the crowns of the two kingdoms were 
 united, like those of England and Hanover under George I. But 
 the Hungarians were always impatient of the rule of the Emperor 
 of Germany, and, in the space of a century, arose five times in 
 defence of their liberties. 
 
 In 1667, one of these insurrections took place, occasioned by 
 the aggressive policy and government of Leopold. The Hunga- 
 rians conspired to secure their liberties, but in vain. So soon 
 as the emperor was aware of the conspiracy of his Hungarian 
 subjects, he adopted vigorous measures, quartered thirty 
 thousand additional troops in Hungary, loaded the people with 
 taxes, occupied the principal fortresses, banished the chiefs, and 
 changed the constitution of the country. He also attempted to 
 suppress Protestantism, and committed all the excesses of a mili- 
 tary despotism. These accumulated oppressions drove a brave 
 but turbulent people to despair, and both Catholics and Protestants 
 united for their common safety. The insurgents were assisted by 
 the Prince of Transylvania, and were supplied with money and 
 provisions by the French. They also found a noble defender in 
 Emeric Tekeli, a young Hungarian noble, who hated Austria as 
 intensely as Hannibal hated Rome, and who, at the head of twenty 
 thousand men, defended his country against the emperor. More- 
 over, he successfully intrigued with the Turks, who invaded Hun- 
 gary with two hundred thousand men, and advanced to lay siege 
 to Vienna. This immense army was defeated by John Sobieski, 
 to whom Leopold appealed in his necessities, and the Turks were 
 driven out of Hungary. Tekeli was gradually insulated from 
 those who had formed the great support of his cause, and, in 
 consequence of jealousies which Leopold had fomented between 
 him and the Turks, was arrested and sent in chains to Constanti- 
 nople. New victories followed the imperial army, and Leopold 
 succeeded in making the crown of Hungary, hitherto elective, 
 hereditary in his family. He instituted in the conquered country 
 
394 THE EMPEROR JOSEPH. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 4 
 
 a horrible inquisitorial tribunal, and perpetrated cruelties which 
 scarcely find a parallel in the proscriptions of Marius and Sylla. 
 His son Joseph, at the age of ten, was crowned king of Hungary 
 with great magnificence, and with the usual solemnities. 
 
 When the Hungarian difficulties were settled, Leopold had more 
 leisure to prosecute his war with the Turks, in which he gained 
 signal successes. The Ottoman Porte was humbled and crippled, 
 and a great source of discontent to the Christian powers of Europe 
 was removed. By the peace of Carlovitz, (1697,) Leopold secured 
 Hungary and Sclavonia, which had been so long occupied by the 
 Turks, and consolidated his empire by the acquisition of Transyl- 
 vania. 
 
 Leopold I. lived only to witness the splendid victories of Marl- 
 borough and Eugene, by which the power of his great rival, Louis, 
 was effectually reduced. He died in 1705, having reigned forty-six 
 years ; the longest reign in the Austrian annals, except that of 
 Frederic III. 
 
 He was a man of great private virtues ; pure in his morals, 
 faithful to his wife, a good father, and a kind master. He was 
 minute in his devotions, unbounded in his charities, and cultivated 
 in his taste. But he was reserved, cold, and phlegmatic. His 
 jealousy of Sobieski was unworthy of his station, and his severities 
 in Hungary made him the object of execration. He was narrow, 
 bigoted, and selfish. But he lived in an age of great activity, and 
 his reign forms an era in the military and civil institutions of his 
 country. The artillery had been gradually lightened, and received 
 most of the improvements which at present are continued. Bay- 
 onets had been added to muskets, and the use of pikes abandoned. 
 Armies were increased from twenty or thirty thousand men to one 
 hundred thousand, more systematically formed. A police was 
 established in the cities, and these were lighted and paved. Juris- 
 prudence was improved, and numerous grievances were redressed. 
 
 Leopold was succeeded by his eldest son, Joseph, who had an 
 energetic and aspiring mind. His reign is memorable for the con- 
 tinuation of the great War of the Spanish Succession, signalized by 
 the victories of Marlborough and Eugene, the humiliation of the 
 French, and the career of Charles XII. of Sweden. He also 
 restored Bohemia to its electoral rights, rewarded the elector pala- 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] ACCESSION OF MARIA THEEESA. 395 
 
 tine with the honors and territories wrested from his family by the 
 Thirty Years' War, and confirmed the house of Hanover ha the 
 possession of the ninth electorate. He had nearly restored tran- 
 quillity to his country, when he died (1711) of the small-pox — 
 a victim to the ignorance of his physicians. He was a lover and 
 patron of the arts, and spoke several languages with elegance and 
 fluency. But he had the usual faults of absolute princes; was 
 prodigal in his expenditures, irascible in his temper, fond of 
 pageants and pleasure, and enslaved by women. 
 
 He was succeeded by his brother, the Archduke Charles, under 
 the title of Charles VI. Soon after his accession, the tranquillity 
 of Europe was established by the peace of Utrecht, and Austria 
 once more became the preponderating power in Europe. But 
 Charles VI. was not capable of appreciating the greatness of his 
 position, or the true sources of national power. He, however., 
 devoted himself zealously to the affairs of his empire, and effected 
 some useful reforms. As he had no male issue, he had drawn up 
 a solemn law, called the Pragmatic Sanction, according to which 
 he transferred to his daughter, Maria Theresa, his vast hereditaiy 
 possessions. He found great difficulty in securing the assent of 
 the European powers to this law ; but, after a while, he effected 
 his object. On his death, (1740,) Maria Theresa succeeded to all 
 the dominions of the house of Austria. 
 
 No princess ever ascended a throne under circumstances of 
 greater peril, or in a situation which demanded greater energy and 
 fortitude. Her army had dwindled to thirty thousand ; her treas- 
 ury contained only one hundred thousand florins ; a general scar- 
 city of provisions distressed the people, and the vintage was cut 
 off by the frost. 
 
 Under all these embarrassing circumstances, the Elector of Ba- 
 varia laid claim to her territory, and Frederic II. marched into 
 Silesia. It has been already stated that England sympathized with 
 her troubles, and lent a generous aid. Her appeal to her Hunga- 
 rian subjects, and the enthusiasm they manifested in her cause, 
 have also been described. The boldness of Frederic and the distress 
 of Maria Theresa drew upon them the eyes of all Europe. Hos- 
 tilities were prosecuted four years, which resulted in the acquisition 
 of Silesia by the King of Prussia. The peace of Dresden ( 1745) 
 
396 MARIA THERESA INSTITUTES REFORMS. [cHAP. XXIV. 
 
 gave a respite to Germany, and Frederic and Maria Theresa 
 prepared for new conflicts. 
 
 The Seven Years' War has been briefly described, in connection 
 with the- reign of Frederic, and need not be further discussed. The 
 war was only closed by the exhaustion of all the parties engaged 
 in it. 
 
 In 1736, Maria Theresa was married to Francis Stephen, Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany, and he was elected (1745) Emperor of Ger- 
 many, under the title of Francis I. He died soon after the peace 
 of Hubertsburg was signed, and his son Joseph succeeded to 
 the throne of the empire, and was co-regent, as his father had 
 been, with Maria Theresa. But the empress queen continued to 
 be the real, as she was the legitimate, sovereign of Austria, and 
 took an active part in all the affairs of Europe. 
 
 When the tranquillity of her kingdom was restored, she founded 
 various colleges, reformed the public schools, promoted agriculture, 
 and instituted many beneficial regulations for the prosperity of her 
 subjects. She reformed the church, diminished the number of 
 superfluous clergy, suppressed the Inquisition and the Jesuits, and 
 formed a system of military economy which surpassed the boasted 
 arrangements of Frederic II. " She combined private economy 
 with public liberality, dignity with condescension, elevation of soul 
 with humility of spirit, and the virtues of domestic life with the 
 splendid qualities which grace a throne." Her death, in 1780, 
 was felt as a general loss to the people, who adored her ; and her 
 reign is considered as one of the most illustrious in Austrian 
 annals. 
 
 Her reign was, however, sullied by the partition of Poland, in 
 which she was concerned with Frederic the Great and Catharine 
 II. Before this is treated, we will consider the reign of the Rus- 
 sian empress. 
 
 The reign of Catharine II., like that of Maria Theresa, is inter- 
 linked with that of Frederic. But some remarks concerning her 
 predecessors, after the death of Peter the Great, are first neces- 
 sary. 
 
 Catharine, the wife of Peter, was crowned empress before his 
 
CHAP. XXIV J SUCCESSORS OF PETER THE GREAT. 397 
 
 death. The first years of her reign were agreeable to the people, 
 because she diminished the taxes, and introduced a mild policy in 
 the government of her subjects. She intrusted to Prince Menzi- 
 koff an important share in the government of the realm. 
 
 But Catharine, who, during the reign of Peter I., had displayed 
 so much enterprise and intrepidity, very soon disdained business, 
 and abandoned herself to luxury and pleasure. She died in 1727, 
 and Peter II. ascended her throne, chiefly in consequence of the 
 intrigues of Menzikoff, who, like Richelieu, wished to make the 
 emperor his puppet. 
 
 Peter II. was only thirteen years of age when he became em- 
 peror. He was the son of Alexis, and, consequently, grandson of 
 Peter I. His youth did not permit him to assume the reins of 
 government, and every thing was committed to the care of Menzi- 
 koff, who reigned, for a time, with absolute power. But he, at 
 last, incurred the displeasure of his youthful master, and was exiled 
 to Siberia. But Peter II. did not long survive the disgrace of his 
 minister. He died of the small-pox, in 1730. 
 
 He was succeeded by Anne, Duchess of Holstein, and eldest 
 daughter of Catharine I. But she lived but a few months after her 
 accession to the throne, and the Princess Elizabeth succeeded her. 
 
 The Empress Elizabeth resembled her mother, the beautiful 
 Catharine, but was voluptuous and weak. She abandoned herself 
 to puerile amusements and degrading follies. And she was as 
 superstitious as she was debauched. She would continue whole 
 hours on her knees before an image, to which she spoke, and 
 which she ever consulted ; and then would turn from bigotry to 
 infamous sensuality. She hated Frederic II., and assisted Maria 
 Theresa in her struggles. Russia gained no advantage from the 
 Seven Years' War, except that of accustoming the Russians to the 
 tactics of modern warfare. She died in 1762, and was succeeded 
 by the Grand Duke Peter Fredorowitz, son of the Duke of Holstein 
 and Anne, daughter of Peter I. He assumed the title of Peter III. 
 
 Peter III. was a weak prince, but disposed to be beneficent. One 
 of his first acts was to recall the numerous exiles whom the jeal- 
 ousy of Elizabeth had consigned to the deserts of Siberia. Among 
 them was Biren, the haughty lover and barbarous minister of 
 the Empress Anne, and Marshal Munich, a veteran of eighty-two 
 34 
 
398 MURDER OF PETER III. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 years of age. Peter also abolished the Inquisition, established by 
 Alexis Michaelowitz, and promoted commerce, the arts, and sci- 
 ences. He attempted to imitate the king of Prussia, for whom he 
 had an extravagant admiration. He set at liberty the Prussian 
 prisoners, and made peace with Frederic II. He had a great 
 respect for Germany, but despised the countiy over which he was 
 called to reign. But his partiality for the Germans, and his 
 numerous reforms, alienated the affections of his subjects, and he 
 was not sufficiently able to curb the spirit of discontent. He imitated 
 his immediate predecessors in the vices of drunkenness and sensu- 
 ality, and was guilty of great imprudences. He reigned but a few 
 months, being dethroned and murdered. His wife, the Empress 
 Catharine, was the chief of the conspirators ; and she was urged 
 to the bloody act by her own desperate circumstances. • She was 
 obnoxious to her husband, who probably would have destroyed her, 
 had his life been prolonged. She, in view of his hostility, and 
 prompted by an infernal ambition, sought to dethrone her husband. 
 She was assisted by some of the most powerful nobles, and gained 
 over most of the regiments of the imperial guard. The Arch- 
 bishop of Novgorod and the clergy were friendly to her, because 
 they detested the reforms which Peter had attempted to make. 
 Catharine became mistress of St. Petersburg, and caused herself 
 to be crowned Empress of Russia, in one of the principal churches. 
 Peter had timely notice of the revolt, but not the energy to sup- 
 press it. He listened to the entreaties of women, rather than to 
 the counsels of those veteran generals who still supported his 
 throne. He was timid, irresolute, and vacillating. He was 
 doomed. He was a weak and infatuated prince, and nothing could 
 save him. He surrendered himself into the hands of Catharine, 
 abdicated his empire, and, shortly after, died of poison. His wife 
 seated herself, without further opposition, on his throne ; and the 
 principal nobles of the empire, the army, and the clergy, took the 
 oath of allegiance, and the monarchs of Europe acknowledged 
 her as the absolute sovereign of Russia. In 1763, she was firmly 
 established in the power which had been before wielded by Cath- 
 arine I. She had dethroned an imbecile prince, whom she ab- 
 horred ; but the revolution was accomplished without bloodshed, 
 and resulted in the prosperity of Russia. 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] ASSASSINATION OF IVAN. 399 
 
 Catharine was a woman of great moral defects ; but she had 
 many excellences to counterbalance them ; and her rule was, on the 
 whole, able and beneficent. She was no sooner established in 
 the power which she had usurped, than she directed attention to 
 the affairs of her empire, and sought to remedy the great evils 
 which existed. She devoted herself to business, advanced com- 
 merce and the arts, regulated the finances, improved the jurispru- 
 dence of the realm, patronized all works of internal improvement, 
 rewarded eminent merit, encouraged education, and exercised a 
 liberal and enlightened policy in her intercourse with foreign 
 powers. After engaging in business with her ministers, she would 
 converse with scholars and philosophers. With some she studied 
 politics, and with others literature. She tolerated all religions, 
 abolished odious courts, and enacted mild laws. She held out 
 great inducements for foreigners to settle in Russia, and founded 
 colleges and hospitals in all parts of her empire. 
 
 Beneficent as her reforms were, she nevertheless committed 
 some great political crimes. One of these was the assassination 
 of the dethroned Ivan, the great-grandson of the Czar Ivan Alex- 
 ejewitsch, who was brother of Peter the Great. On the death of 
 the Empress Anne, in 1731, he had been proclaimed emperor ; 
 but when Elizabeth was placed upon the throne, the infant was 
 confined in the fortress of Schlussenburg. Here he was so closely 
 guarded and confined, that he was never allowed access to the 
 open air or the light of day. On the accession of Catharine, he 
 was twenty-three years of age, and was extremely ignorant and 
 weak. But a conspiracy was formed to liberate him, and place 
 him on the throne. The attempt proved abortive, and the prince 
 perished by the sword of his jailers, who were splendidly rewarded 
 for their infamous services. 
 
 Her scheme of foreign aggrandizement, and especially her 
 interference in the affairs of Poland, caused the Ottoman Porte to 
 declare war against her, which war proved disastrous to Turkey, 
 and contributed to aggrandize the empire of Russia. The Turks 
 lost several battles on the Pruth, Dniester, and Danube ; the prov- 
 inces of Wallachia, and Moldavia, and Bessarabia submitted to the 
 Russian arms ; while a great naval victory, in the Mediterranean, 
 was gained by Alexis Orloff, whose share in the late revolution 
 had raised him from the rank of a simple soldier to that of a 
 
400 DEATH OF CATHARINE. [CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 general of the empire, and a favorite of the empress. The naval 
 defeat of the Turkstat Tschesme, by Orloff and Elphinstone, was 
 one of the most signal of that age, and greatly weakened the 
 power of Turkey. The war was not terminated until 1774, when 
 the Turks were compelled to make peace, by the conditions of 
 which, Russia obtained a large accession of territory, a great sum 
 of money, the free navigation of the Black Sea, and a passage 
 through the Dardanelles. 
 
 In 1772 occurred the partition of Poland between Austria, Prus- 
 sia, and Russia. Catharine and Frederic II. were the chief authors 
 of this great political crime, which will be treated in the notice on 
 Poland. 
 
 The reign of Catharine was not signalized by any other great 
 political events which affected materially the interests of Europe, 
 except the continuation of the war with the Turks, which broke 
 out again in 1778, and which was concluded in 1792, by the treaty 
 of Jassy. In this war, Prince Potemkin, the favorite and prime 
 minister of Catharine, greatly distinguished himself; also General 
 Suwarrow, afterwards noted for his Polish campaigns. In this 
 war Russia lost two hundred thousand men, and the Turks three 
 hundred and thirty thousand, besides expending two hundred and 
 fifty millions of piasters. The most important political conse- 
 quence was the aggrandizement of Russia, whose dominion was 
 established on the Black Sea. 
 
 Catharine, having acquired, either by arms or intrigues, almost 
 half of Poland, the Crimea, and. a part of the frontiers of Turkey, 
 then turned her arms against Persia. But she died before she 
 could realize her dreams of conquest. At her death, she was the 
 most powerful sovereign that ever reigned in Russia. She was 
 succeeded by her son, Paul I., (1796,) and her remains were de- 
 posited by the side of her murdered husband, while his chief mur- 
 derers, Alexis Orloff and Prince Baratinski, were ordered to stand, 
 at her funeral, on each side of his coffin as chief mourners. 
 
 Catharine, though a woman of great energy and talent, was 
 ruled by favorites ; the most distinguished of whom were Gregory 
 Orloff and Prince Potemkin. The former was a man of brutal 
 manners and surprising audacity ; the latter was more civilized, 
 but was a man disgraced, like Orloff, by every vice. His mem- 
 ory, however, is still cherished in Russia on account of his military 
 
CHAP. XXIV.] HER CHARACTER. 401 
 
 successes. He received more honors and rewards from his sov- 
 ereign than is recorded of any favorite and minister of modern 
 times. His power was equal to what Richelieu enjoyed, and his 
 fortune was nearly as great as Mazarin's. He was knight of the 
 principal orders of Prussia, Sweden, Poland, and Russia, field- 
 marshal, commander-in-chief of the Russian armies, high admiral 
 of the fleets, great hetman of the Cossacks, and chamberlain of 
 the empress. He received from her a fortune of fifty millions of 
 roubles ; equal to nearly twenty-five millions of dollars. The 
 OrlofFs received also about seventeen millions in lands, and palaces, 
 and money, with forty-five thousand peasants. 
 
 Catharine had two passions which never left her but with her 
 last breath — the love of the other sex, which degenerated into 
 the most unbounded licentiousness, and the love of glory, which 
 sunk into vanity. She expended ninety millions of roubles on her 
 favorites, the number of which is almost incredible ; and she was 
 induced to engage in wars, which increased the burdens of her 
 subjects. 
 
 With the exception of these two passions, her character is inter- 
 esting and commanding. Her reign was splendid, and her court 
 magnificent. Her institutions and monuments were to Russia what 
 the magnificence of Louis XIV. was to France. She was active 
 and regular in her habits ; was never hurried away by anger, and 
 was never a prey to dejection ; caprice and ill humor were never 
 perceived in her conduct ; she was humorous, gay, and affable ; 
 she appreciated literature, and encouraged good institutions ; and, 
 with all her faults, obtained the love and reverence of her subjects. 
 She had not the virtues of Maria Theresa, but had, perhaps, greater 
 energy of character. Her foulest act was her part in the dis- 
 memberment of Poland, which now claims a notice. 
 
 References. — For the reign of Maria Theresa, see Archdeacon Coxe's 
 Memoirs of the House of Austria, which is the most interesting and 
 complete. See also Putter's Constitution of the Germanic Empire ; 
 Kolhrausch's History of Germany; Heeren's Modern History; Smyth's 
 Lectures ; also a history of Germany, in Dr. Lardner's Cyclopaedia. For 
 a life of Catharine, see Castina's Life, translated by Hunter; Tooke's 
 life of Catharine II. ; Segur's Vie de Catharine II. ; Coxe's Travels ; Hee- 
 ren's and Russell's Modern History. 
 34* 
 
402 CALAMITIES OF POLAND. [CHAP. XXV. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CALAMITIES OF POLAND. 
 
 No kingdom in Europe has been subjected to so many misfor- 
 tunes and changes, considering its former greatness, as the Polish 
 monarchy. Most of the European states have retained their 
 ancient limits, for several centuries, without material changes, 
 but Poland has been conquered, dismembered, and plundered. Its 
 ancient constitution has been completely subverted, and its exten- 
 sive provinces are now annexed to the territories of Russia, Aus- 
 tria, and Prussia. The greatness of the national calamities has 
 excited the sympathy of Christian nations, and its unfortunate fate 
 is generally lamented. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, Poland was a greater state than Russia, 
 and was the most powerful of the northern kingdoms of Europe. 
 The Poles, as a nation, are not, however, of very ancient date. 
 Prior to the ninth century, they were split up into numerous tribes, 
 independent of each other, and governed by their respective 
 chieftains. Christianity was introduced in the tenth century, and 
 the earliest records of the people were preserved by the monks. 
 We know but little, with certainty, until the time of Piast, who 
 united the various states, and whose descendants reigned until 
 1386, when the dynasty of the Jagellons commenced, and continued 
 till 1572. Under the princes of this line, the government was 
 arbitrary and oppressive. War was the great business and amuse- 
 ment of the princes, and success in it brought the highest honors. 
 The kings were, however, weak, cruel, and capricious, ignorant, 
 fierce, and indolent. The records of their reigns are the records 
 of drunkenness, extortion, cruelty, lust, and violence — the com- 
 mon history of all barbarous kings. There were some of the 
 Polish princes who were benignant and merciful, but the great 
 majority of them, like the Merovingian and Carlovingian princes 
 of the Dark Ages, were unfit to reign, were the slaves of super- 
 stition, and the tools of designing priests. There is a melancholy 
 
CHAP. XXV.] THE CROWN OF POLAND MADE ELECTIVE. 403 
 
 gloom hanging over the annals of the Middle Ages, especially in 
 reference to kings. And yet their reigns, though stained by 
 revolting crimes, generally were to be preferred to the anarchy of 
 an interregnum, or the overgrown power of nobles. 
 
 The brightest period in the history of Poland was during the 
 reigns of the Jagellon princes, especially when Casimir I. held the 
 sceptre of empire. During his reign, Lithuania, which then com- 
 prised Hungary, Bohemia, and Silesia, was added to his kingdom. 
 The university of Cracow was founded, and Poland was the great 
 resort of the Jews, to whom were committed the trade and com- 
 merce of the land. But the rigors of the feudal system, and the 
 vast preponderance of the aristocracy, proved unfortunate for the 
 prosperity of the kingdom. What in England was the foundation 
 of constitutional liberty, proved in Poland to be subversive of all 
 order and good government. In England, the representative of 
 the nation was made an instrument in the hands of the king of 
 humbling the great nobility. Absolutism was established upon the 
 ruins of feudalism. But, in Poland, the Diet of the nation con- 
 trolled the king, and, as the representatives of the nobility alone, 
 perpetuated the worst evils of the feudal system. 
 
 When Sigismund II., the last male heir of the house of Jagel- 
 lon, died, in 1572, the nobles were sufficiently powerful to make 
 the crown elective. From this period we date the decline of 
 Poland. The Reformation, so beneficent in its effects, did not 
 spread to this Sclavonic country ; and the barbarism of the Mid- 
 dle Ages received no check. On the death of Sigismund, the 
 nobles would not permit the new sovereign to be elected by the 
 Diet, but only by the whole body of the nobility. The plain of 
 Praga was the place selected for the election ; and, at the time 
 appointed, such a vast number of nobles arrived, that the plain, of 
 twelve miles in circumference, was scarcely large enough to con- 
 tain them and their retinues. There never was such a sight seen 
 since the crusaders were marshalled on the field of Chalcedon, 
 for all the nobles were gorgeously apparelled, and decked with 
 ermine, gold, and jewels. The Polish horseman frequently invests 
 half his fortune in his horse and dress. In the centre of the field 
 was the tent of the late king, capable of accommodating eight 
 thousand men. The candidates for the crown were Ernest, 
 
404 ELECTION OF HENRY, DUKE OF ANJOU. [CHAP. XXV. 
 
 Arch-duke of Austria ; the Czar of Russia ; a Swedish prince ; 
 and Henry of Vatois, Duke of Anjou, and brother of Charles IX., 
 king of France. 
 
 The first candidate was rejected because the house of Austria 
 was odious to the Polish nobles ; the second, on account of his 
 arrogance ; and the third, because he was not powerful enough to 
 bring advantage to the republic. The choice fell on the Duke of 
 Anjou ; and he, for the title of a king, agreed to the ignominious 
 conditions which the Poles proposed, viz., that he should not 
 attempt to influence the election of his successors, or assume the 
 title of heir of the monarchy, or declare war without the consent 
 of the Diet, or impose taxes of any description, or have power to 
 appoint his ambassadors, or any foreigner to a benefice in the 
 church ; that he should convoke the Diet every two years ; and 
 that he should not marry without its permission. He also was 
 required to furnish four thousand French troops, in case of war ; to 
 apply annually, for the sole benefit of the Polish state, a consid- 
 erable part of his hereditary revenues ; to pay the debts of the 
 crown ; and to educate, at his own expense, at Paris or Cracow, 
 one hundred Polish nobles. He had scarcely been crowned 
 when his brother died, and he was called to the throne of France. 
 But he found it difficult to escape from his kingdom, the govern- 
 ment of which he found to be burdensome and vexatious. No 
 criminal ever longed to escape from a prison, more than this 
 prince to break the fetters which bound him to his imperious 
 subjects. He resolved to run away ; concealed his intentions with 
 great address ; gave a great ball at his palace ; and in the midst 
 of the festivities, set out with full speed towards Silesia. He was 
 pursued, but reached the territories of the emperor of Germany 
 before he was overtaken. He reached Paris in safety, and was 
 soon after crowned as king of France. 
 
 He was succeeded by Stephen, Duke of Transylvania ; and he, 
 again, by Sigismund, Prince of Sweden. The two sons of Sigis- 
 mund, successively, were elected kings of Poland, the last of 
 whom, John II., was embroiled in constant war. It was during 
 his disastrous reign that John Sobieski, with ten thousand Poles, 
 defeated eighty thousand Cossacks, the hereditary enemies of 
 Poland. On the death of Michael, who had succeeded John II., 
 
CHAP. XXV.] SOBIESKI ASSISTS THE EMPEROR LEOPOLD. 405 
 
 Sobieski was elected king, and he assumed the title of John III. 
 He was a native noble, and was chosen for his military talents 
 and successes. Indeed, Poland needed a strong arm to defend her. 
 Her decline had already commenced, and Sobieski himself could 
 not avert the ruin which impended. For some time, Poland en- 
 joyed cessation from war, and the energies of the monarch were 
 directed to repair the evils which had disgraced his country. But 
 before he could prosecute successfully any useful reforms, the war 
 between the Turks and the eastern powers of Europe broke out, 
 and Vienna was besieged by an overwhelming army of two hun- 
 dred thousand Mohammedans. The city was bravely defended, 
 but its capture seemed inevitable. The emperor of Germany, 
 Leopold, in his despair, implored the aid of Sobieski. He was 
 invested with the command of the allied armies of Austrians, Ba- 
 varians, Saxons, and Poles, amounting to seventy thousand men. 
 With this force he advanced to relieve Vienna. He did not hesi- 
 tate to attack the vast forces encamped beneath the walls of the 
 Austrian capital, and obtained one of the most signal victories in 
 the history of war. Immense treasures fell into his hands, and 
 Vienna and Christendom were saved. 
 
 But the mean-spirited emperor treated his deliverer with arro- 
 gance and chilling coldness. No gratitude was exhibited or felt. 
 But the pope sent him the rarest of his gifts — " the dove of 
 pearls." Sobieski, in spite of the ingratitude of Leopold, pursued 
 his victories over the Turks ; and, like Charles Martel, ten centu- 
 ries before, freed Europe from the danger of a Mohammedan 
 yoke. But he saved a serpent, when about to be crushed, which 
 turned and stung him for his kindness. The dismemberment of 
 his country soon followed the deliverance of Vienna. 
 
 He was succeeded, in 1696, by Frederic Augustus, Elector of 
 Saxony, whose reign was a constant succession of disasters. 
 During his reign, Poland was invaded and conquered by Charles 
 XII. of Sweden. He was succeeded by his son, Frederic Augus- 
 tus II., the most beautiful, extravagant, luxurious, and licentious 
 monarch of his age. But he was a man of elegant tastes, and he 
 filled Dresden with pictures and works of art, which are still 
 the admiration of travellers. His reign, as king of Poland, was 
 exceedingly disastrous. Muscovite and Prussian armies traversed 
 
406 THE LIBERUM VETO. [CHAP. XXV. 
 
 the plains of Poland at pleasure, and extorted whatever they 
 pleased. Faction was opposed by faction in the field and in the 
 Diet. The national assembly was dissolved by the veto, the 
 laws were disregarded, and brute force prevailed on every side. 
 The miserable peasants in vain besought the protection of their 
 brutal yet powerless lords. Bands of robbers infested the roads, 
 and hunger invaded the cottages. The country rapidly declined 
 in wealth, population, and public spirit. 
 
 Under the reign of Stanislaus II., who succeeded Frederic 
 < Augustus II., in 1764, the ambassadors of Prussia, Austria, 
 and Russia, informed the miserable king that, in order to pre- 
 vent further bloodshed, and restore peace to Poland, the three 
 powers had determined to insist upon their claims to some of the 
 provinces of the kingdom. This barefaced and iniquitous scheme 
 for the dismemberment of Poland originated with Frederic the 
 Great. So soon as the close of the Seven Years' War allowed 
 him repose, he turned his eyes to Poland, with a view of seizing 
 one of her richest provinces. Territories inhabited by four million 
 eight hundred thousand people, were divided between Frederic, 
 Maria Theresa, and Catharine II. There were no scruples of 
 conscience in the breast of Frederic, or of Catharine, a woman 
 of masculine energy, but disgraceful morals. The conscience of 
 Maria Theresa, however, long resisted. " The fear of hell," said 
 she, " restrains me from seizing another's possessions ; " but 
 sophistiy was brought to bear upon her mind, and the lust of 
 dominion asserted its powerful sway. This crime was regarded 
 with detestation by the other powers of Europe ; but they were 
 too much occupied with their own troubles to interfere, except by 
 expostulation. England was disturbed by difficulties in the colo- 
 nies, and France was distracted by revolution aiy tumults. 
 
 Stanislaus, robbed of one third of his dominions, now directed 
 his attention to those reforms which had been so long imperatively 
 needed. He intrusted to the celebrated Zamoyski the task of 
 revising the constitution. The patriotic chancellor recommended 
 the abolition of the " liberum veto," a fatal privilege, by which any 
 one of the armed equestrians, who assembled on the plain of Praga 
 to elect a king, or deliberate on state affairs, had power to nullify 
 the most important acts, and even to dissolve the assembly. A 
 
CHAP. XXV.] THE FALL OF POLAND. 407 
 
 single word, pronounced in the vehemence of domestic strife, or 
 by the influence of external corruption, could plunge the nation 
 into a lethargic sleep. And faction went so far as often to lead to 
 the dissolution of the assembly. The treasury, the army, the 
 civil authority then fell into a state of anarchy. Zamoyski also 
 recommended the emancipation of serfs, the encouragement of 
 commerce, the elevation of the trading classes, and the abolition 
 of the fatal custom of electing a king. But the Polish nobles, 
 infatuated and doomed, opposed these wholesome reforms. They 
 even had the madness to invoke the aid of the Empress Catharine 
 to protect them in their ancient privileges. She sent an army into 
 Poland, and great disturbances resulted. 
 
 Too late, at last, the nobles perceived their folly, and adopted 
 some of the proposed reforms. But these reforms gave a new 
 pretence to the allied powers for a second dismemberment. An 
 army of one hundred thousand men invaded Poland, to effect a 
 new partition. The unhappy country, without fortified towns 
 or mountains, abandoned by all the world, distracted by divisions, 
 and destitute of fortresses and military stores, was crushed by the 
 power of gigantic enemies. There were patriotism and bravery 
 left, but no union or organized strength. The patriots made a 
 desperate struggle under Kosciusko, a Lithuanian noble, but were 
 forced to yield to inevitable necessity. Warsaw for a time held 
 out against fifty thousand men ; but the Polish hero was defeated 
 in a decisive engagement, and unfortunately taken prisoner. His 
 countrymen still rallied, and another bloody battle was fought at 
 Praga, opposite Warsaw, on the other side of the Vistula, and ten 
 thousand were slain ; Praga was reduced to a heap of ruins ; 
 and twelve thousand citizens were slaughtered in cold blood. 
 Warsaw soon after surrendered, Stanislaus was sent as a captive 
 to Russia, and the final partition of the kingdom was made. 
 
 " Sarmatia fell," but not " unwept," or " without a crime." 
 " She fell," says Alison, " a victim of her own dissensions, of the 
 chimera of equality falsely pursued, and the rigor of aristocracy 
 unceasingly maintained. The eldest born of the European family 
 was the first to perish, because she had thwarted all the ends of 
 the social union ; because she united the turbulence of demo- 
 cratic to the exclusion of aristocratic societies ; because she had 
 
408 THE FALL OF POLAND. [CHAP. XXV. 
 
 the vacillation of a republic without its energy, and the oppression 
 of a monarchy without its stability. The Poles obstinately refused 
 to march with other nations in the only road to civilization ; they 
 had valor, but it could not enforce obedience to the laws ; it could 
 not preserve domestic tranquillity ; it could not restrain the vio- 
 lence of petty feuds and intestine commotions ; it could not pre- 
 serve the proud nobles from unbounded dissipation and corruption ; 
 it could not prevent foreign powers from interfering in the affairs 
 of the kingdom ; it could not dissolve the union of these powers 
 with discontented parties at home ; it could not inspire the slowly- 
 moving machine of government with vigor, when the humblest 
 partisan, corrupted with foreign money, could arrest it with a word ; 
 it could not avert the entrance of foreign armies to support the 
 factious and rebellious ; it could not uphold, in a divided country, 
 the national independence against the combined effects of foreign 
 and domestic treason ; finally, it could not effect impossibilities, 
 nor turn aside the destroying sword which had so long impended 
 over it." 
 
 But this great crime was attended with retribution. Prussia, in 
 her efforts to destroy Poland, paralyzed her armies on the Rhine. 
 Suwarrow entered Warsaw when its spires were reddened by the 
 fires of Praga ; but the sack of the fallen capital was forgotten 
 in the conflagration of Moscow. The remains of the soldiers of 
 Kosciusko sought a refuge in republican France, and served with 
 distinction, in the armies of Napoleon, against the powers that had 
 dismembered their country. 
 
 The ruin of Poland, as an independent state, was not fully ac- 
 complished until the year 1832, when it was incorporated into the 
 great empire of Russia. But the history of the late revolution, 
 with all its melancholy results, cannot be well presented in this 
 connection. 
 
 References. — Fletcher's History of Poland. Rulhiere's Histoire de 
 l'Anarchie dePologne. Coyer's Vie de Sobieski. Parthenay's History of 
 Augustus II. Hordynski's History of the late Polish Revolution. Also 
 see Lives of Frederic II., Maria Theresa, and Catharine II. ; contempora- 
 neous histories of Prussia, Russia, and Austria ; Alison's History of 
 Europe ; Smyth's Lectures ; Russell's Modern Europe ; Heeren's Modern 
 History. 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] SARACENIC EMPIRE. 409 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE DECLINE OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. 
 
 While the great monarchies of Western Europe were strug- 
 gling for preeminence, and were developing resources greater 
 than had ever before been exhibited since the fall of the Roman 
 empire, that great power which had alarmed and astonished Chris- 
 tendom in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, began to show 
 the signs of weakness and decay. Nothing, in the history of 
 society, is more marvellous than the rise of Mohammedan king- 
 doms. The victories of the Saracens and Turks were rapid and 
 complete ; and in the tenth century, they were the most successful 
 warriors on the globe, and threatened to subvert the world'. They 
 had planted the standard of the Prophet on the walls of Eastern 
 capitals, and had extended their conquests to India on the east, and 
 to Spain on the west. Powerful Mohammedan states had arisen 
 in Asia, Africa, and Europe, and the Crusaders alone arrested the 
 progress of these triumphant armies. The enthusiasm which the 
 doctrines of Mohammed had kindled, cannot easily be explained; 
 but it was fresh, impetuous, and self-sacrificing. Successive armies 
 of Mohammedan invaders overwhelmed the ancient realms of 
 civilization, and reduced the people whom they conquered and 
 converted to a despotic yoke. But success enervated the victorious 
 conquerors of the East, the empire of the Caliphs was broken 
 up, and great changes took place even in those lands where the 
 doctrines of the Koran prevailed. Mohammed perpetuated a reli- 
 gion, but not an empire. Different Saracenic chieftains revolted 
 from the " Father of the Faithful," and established separate king- 
 doms, or viceroyalties, nearly independent of the acknowledged 
 successors of Mohammed. The Saracenic empire was early 
 dismembered, and the sultans of Egypt, Spain, and Syria con- 
 tested for preeminence. 
 
 But a new power arose on the ruins of the Saracen empire, and 
 became the enthusiastic defenders of the religion of Islam. The 
 35 
 
410 RISE OF THE TURKS. . [CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 Turks were an obscure tribe of barbarians when Bagdad was the 
 seat of a powerful monarchy. Their origin has been traced to 
 the wilds of Scythia ; but they early deserted their native forests 
 in search of more fruitful regions. When Apulia and Sicily were 
 subdued by the Norman pirates, a swarm of these Scythian shep- 
 herds settled in Armenia, probably in the ninth century, and, by 
 their valor and simplicity, soon became a powerful tribe. Not 
 long after they were settled in their new abode, the Sultan of 
 Persia invoked their aid to assist him in his wars against the Ca- 
 liph of Babylon, his great rival. The Turks complied with his 
 request, and their arms were successful. The sultan then refused 
 to part with such useful auxiliaries, and moreover, fearing their 
 strength, designed to employ them in his wars against the Hindoos, 
 and to shut them up in the centre of his dominions. The Turk- 
 mans rebelled, withdrew into a mountainous part of the country, 
 became robbers, and devastated the adjacent countries. The band 
 of robbers gradually swelled into a powerful army, gained a great 
 victory over the troops of the Sultan Mohammed, and placed 
 their chieftain upon the Persian throne, (1038.) According to 
 Gibbon, the new monarch was chosen by lot, and Seljuk had the 
 fortune to win the prize of conquest, and became the founder 
 of the dynasty of the Shepherd kings. During the reign of his 
 grandson Togrul, the ancient Persian princes were expelled, and 
 the Turks embraced the religion of the conquered. In 1055, the 
 Turkish sultan delivered the Caliph of Bagdad from the arms 
 of the Caliph of Egypt, who disputed with him the title of Co?n- 
 mander of the Faithful. For this service he was magnificently 
 rewarded by the grateful successor of the Prophet, who, at that 
 time, banqueted in his palace at Bagdad — a venerable phantom 
 of power. The victorious sultan was publicly commissioned as 
 lieutenant of the caliph, and he was virtually seated on the throne 
 of the Abbassides. Shortly after, the Turkish conqueror invaded 
 the falling empire of the Greeks, and its Asiatic provinces were 
 irretrievably lost. In the latter part of the eleventh century, the 
 Turkish power was established in Asia Minor, and Jerusalem itself 
 had fallen into the hands of the sultan. He exacted two pieces 
 of gold from the Christian pilgrim, and treated him, moreover, 
 with greater cruelty than the Saracens had ever exercised. The 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] TURKISH CONQUERORS. 411 
 
 extortion and oppression of the Turkish, masters of the Sacred City- 
 led to the Crusades and the final possession of Western Asia by 
 the followers of the Prophet. The Turkish power constantly 
 increased with the decline of the Saracenic and Greek empires; 
 but the Seljukian dynasty, like that of Abbassides at Bagdad, at 
 last run out, and Othman, a soldier of fortune, became sultan of 
 the Turks. He is regarded as the founder of the Ottoman empire ; 
 and under his reign, from 1299 to 1326, the Moslems made rapid 
 strides in the progress of aggrandizement. 
 
 Orkham, his son, instituted the force of the Janizaries, completed 
 the conquest of Bithynia, and laid the foundation of Turkish power 
 in Europe. Under his successor, Amurath I., Adrianople became 
 the capital of the Ottoman empire, and the rival of Constantinople. 
 Bajazet succeeded Amurath, and his conquests extended from the 
 Euphrates to the Danube. In 1396, he defeated, at Nicopolis, a 
 confederate army of one hundred thousand Christians ; and, in the 
 intoxication of victory, declared that he would feed his horse with 
 a bushel of oats on the altar of St. Peter, at Rome. Had it not 
 been for the victories of Tamerlane, Constantinople, which con- 
 tained within its walls the feeble fragments of a great empire, would 
 also have fallen into his hands. He was unsuccessful in his war 
 with the great conqueror of Asia, and was defeated at the battle 
 of Angora, (1402,) and taken captive, and carried to Samarcand, 
 by Tamerlane, in an iron cage. 
 
 The great Bajazet died in captivity, and Mohammed I. succeeded 
 to his throne. He restored, on a firmer basis, the fabric of the 
 Ottoman monarchy, and devoted himself to the arts of peace. 
 His successor, Amurath II., continued hostilities with the Greeks, 
 and laid siege to Constantinople. But this magnificent city, the 
 last monument of Roman greatness, resisted the Turkish arms 
 only for a while. In 1453, it fell before an irresistible force of 
 three hundred thousand men, supported by a fleet of three hun- 
 dred sail. The Emperor Constantine succeeded in maintaining a 
 siege of fifty-three days ; and the religion and empire of the 
 Christians were trodden to the dust by the Moslem conquerors. 
 The city was sacked, the people were enslaved, and the Church 
 of St. Sophia was despoiled of the oblations of ages, and converted 
 into a Mohammedan mosque. One hundred and twenty thousand 
 
412 PROGRESS OF THE TURKS. [CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 manuscripts perished^ in the sack of Constantinople, and the 
 palaces and treasure of the Greeks were transferred to semi- 
 barbarians. 
 
 From that time, the Byzantine capital became the seat of the 
 Ottoman empire ; and, for more than two centuries, Turkish armies 
 excited the fears and disturbed the peace of the world. They 
 gradually subdued and annexed Macedonia, the Peloponnesus, 
 Epirus, Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, Armenia, Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, 
 India, Tunis, Algiers, Media, Mesopotamia, and a part of Hungary, 
 to the dominions of the sultan. In the sixteenth century, the Otto- 
 man empire was the most powerful in the world. Nor should we 
 be surprised, in view of the great success of the Turks, when we 
 remember their singular bravery, their absorbing ambition, their 
 almost incredible obedience to the commands of the sultan, and 
 the unity which pervaded the national councils. They also fought 
 to extend their religion, to which they were blind devotees. After 
 the capture of Constantinople, a succession of great princes sat on 
 the most absolute throne known in modern times ; men disgraced 
 by many crimes, but still singularly adapted to extend their dominion. 
 
 The progress of the Turks justly alarmed the Emperor Charles 
 V., and he exerted all his energies to unite the German princes 
 against them, but unsuccessfully. The Sultan Solyman, called the 
 Magnificent, maintained his supremacy over Transylvania, Walla- 
 chia, and Moldavia, ravaged Hungary, wrested Rhodes from the 
 Knights of St. John, conquered the whole of Arabia, and attacked 
 the Portuguese dominion in India. He raised the Turkish empire 
 to the highest pitch of its greatness, and died while besieging 
 Sigeth, as he was completing the conquest of Hungary. His 
 empire was one vast camp, and his decrees were dated from the 
 imperial stirrup. The iron sceptre which he and his successors 
 wielded was imbrued in blood ; and discipline alone was the poli- 
 tics of his soldiers, and rapine their resources. 
 
 Selim II. succeeded Solyman, and set the ruinous example of 
 not going himself to the wars, and of carrying them on by his 
 lieutenants. His son, Murad III., penetrated into Russia and 
 Poland, and made war on the Emperor of Germany. Mohammed 
 III., who died in 1604, murdered all his brothers, nineteen in num- 
 ber, and executed his own son. It was usual, when an emperor 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] DECLINE OF TURKISH POWER. 413 
 
 mounted the throne, for him to put to death his brothers and 
 nephews. Indeed, the characters of the sultans were marked by- 
 unusual ferocity and jealousy, and they were unscrupulous in the 
 means they took to advance their power. The world has never 
 seen more suspicious tyrants ; and it ever must excite our wonder 
 that they were so unhesitatingly obeyed. But they were, however, 
 sometimes dethroned by the Janizaries, who constituted a sort of 
 imperial guard. Osman IL, fearing their power, and disgusted with 
 their degeneracy, resolved to destroy them, as dangerous to the state. 
 But his design was discovered, and he himself lost his life, (1622.) 
 Several monsters of tyranny and iniquity succeeded him, whose 
 reigns were disgraced by every excess of debauchery and cruelty. 
 Their subjects, however, had not, as yet, lost vigor, temperance, 
 and ambition, and still continued to furnish troops unexampled 
 for discipline and bravery, and bent on conquest and dominion. 
 
 The Turkish power received no great checks until the reign of 
 Mohammed IV., during which Sobieski defeated an immense 
 army, which had laid siege to Vienna. By the peace of Carlo- 
 vitz, in 1699, Transylvania was ceded to the Emperor of Ger- 
 many, and a barrier was raised against Mohammedan invasion. 
 
 The Russians, from the time of Peter the Great, looked with 
 great jealousy on the power of the sultan, and several wars were 
 the result. No Russian sovereign desired the humiliation of the 
 Porte more than Catharine II. A bloody contest ensued, signalized 
 by the victories of Gallitzin, Suwarrow, Romanzoff, and Orloff, 
 by which Turkey became a second class power, no longer feared 
 by the European states. 
 
 From the peace of Carlovitz, the decline of the Ottoman empire 
 has been gradual, but marked, owing to the indifference of the 
 Turks to all modern improvements, f and a sluggish, conservative 
 policy, hostile to progress, and sceptical of civilization. The 
 Turks have ever been bigoted Mohammedans, and hostile to Eu- 
 ropean influences. The Oriental dress has been preserved in Con- 
 stantinople, and all the manners and customs of the people are 
 similar to what they were in Asia several centuries ago. 
 
 One of the peculiarities of the Turkish government, in the most 
 flourishing period of its history, was the institution of the Janiza- 
 ries — a guard of soldiers, to whom was intrusted the guardianship 
 35* 
 
414 TURKISH INSTITUTIONS. [CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 of the sultan, and the* protection of his capital. When warlike 
 and able princes were seated on the throne, this institution proved 
 a great support to the government ; but when the reins were held 
 by effeminate princes, the Janizaries, like the Prsetorian Guards of 
 Rome, acquired an undue ascendency, and even deposed the mon- 
 archs whom they were bound to obey. They were insolent, extor- 
 tionate, and extravagant, and became a great burden to the state. 
 At first they were brave and resolute ; but they gradually lost their 
 skill and their courage, were uniformly beaten in the later wars 
 with the Russians, and retained nothing of the soldier but the 
 name. Mahmoud II., in our own time, succeeded in dissolving 
 this dangerous body, and in introducing European tactics into his 
 army. 
 
 The Turkish institutions have reference chiefly to the military 
 character of the nation. All Mussulmans, in the eye of the law, are 
 soldiers, to whom the extension of the empire and the propagation 
 of their faith were the avowed objects of warfare. They may be 
 regarded, wherever they have conquered, as military colonists, 
 exercising great tyranny, and treating all vanquished subjects with 
 contempt. The government has ever been a pure despotism, and 
 both the executive and legislative authorities have been vested in 
 the sultan. He is the sole fountain of honor ; for, in Turkey, 
 birth confers no privilege. His actions are regarded as prescribed 
 by an inevitable fate, and his subjects suffer with resignation. The 
 evils of despotism are aggravated by the ignorance and effeminacy 
 of those to whom power is intrusted, although the grand vizier, 
 who is the prime minister of the empire, is generally a man of 
 great experience and talent. All the laws of the country are 
 founded upon the precepts of the Koran, the example of Moham- 
 med, the precepts of the four first caliphs, and the decision of 
 learned doctors upon disputed cases. Justice is administered 
 promptly, but without much regard to equity or mercy ; and the 
 course of the grand vizier is generally marked with blood. The 
 character of the people partakes of the nature of their govern- 
 ment, religion, and climate. They are arrogant, ignorant, and 
 austere ; passing from devotion to obscenity ; fastidiously abste- 
 mious in some things, and grossly sensual in others. They have 
 cherished the virtues of hospitality, and are fond of conversation ; 
 
CHAP. XXVI.] TURKISH CHARACTER. 415 
 
 but their domestic life is spent in voluptuous idleness, and is dull 
 and insipid compared with that of Europeans. But the Turks have 
 degenerated. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they were 
 simple, brave, and religious. They founded an immense empire 
 on the ruins of Asiatic monarchies, and filled the world with the 
 terror of their arms. For two hundred years their power has been 
 retrograding, and there is much reason now to believe that a total 
 eclipse of their glory is soon to take place. 
 
 References. — See Knolle's History of Turkey. Eton's Survey of the 
 Turkish Empire. Upham's History of the Ottoman Empire. Encyclo- 
 paedia Britannica. Heeren's Modern History. Madden's Travels in 
 Turkey. Russell's Modern Europe. Life of Catharine H. 
 
416 MILITARY SUCCESSES IN AMERICA. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 REIGN OF J GEORGE III. TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF 
 WILLIAM PITT. 
 
 Great subjects were discussed in England, and great events 
 happened in America, during the latter years of the reigns of Fred- 
 eric II., Catharine II., and Maria Theresa. These now demand 
 attention. 
 
 George III. ascended the throne of Great Britain at a period of 
 unparalleled prosperity, when the English arms were victorious 
 in all parts of the world, and when commerce and the arts had 
 greatly enriched his country and strengthened its political impor- 
 tance. By the peace of Paris, (1763,) the dominions of George 
 III. were enlarged, and the country over which he reigned was 
 the most powerful in Europe. 
 
 Mr. George Grenville succeeded the Earl of Bute as the prime 
 minister of the king, and he was chiefly assisted by the Earls of 
 Egremont and Halifax. His administration was signalized by the 
 prosecution of Wilkes, and by schemes for the taxation of the 
 American colonies. 
 
 Mr. Wilkes was a member of parliament, but a man of ruined 
 fortunes and profligate morals. As his circumstances were des- 
 perate, he applied to the ministry for some post of emolument ; but 
 his application was rejected. Failure enraged him, and he swore 
 revenge, and resolved to libel the ministers, under the pretext of 
 exercising the liberty of the press. He was editor of the North 
 Briton, a periodical publication of some talent, but more bitterness. 
 In the forty-fifth number, he assailed the king, charging him with 
 a direct falsehood. The charge should have been dismissed with 
 contempt ; for it was against the dignity of the government to 
 refute an infamous slander. But, in an evil hour, it was thought 
 expedient to vindicate the honor of the sovereign ; and a warrant 
 was therefore issued against the editor, publisher, and printer of 
 the publication. The officers of the law entered Wilkes's house 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] PROSECUTION OF "WILKES. 417 
 
 late one evening, seized his papers, and committed him to the 
 Tower. He sued out a writ of habeas corpus, in consequence of 
 which he was brought up to Westminster Hall. Being a member 
 of parliament, and a man of considerable abilities and influence, 
 his case attracted attention. The judges decided that his arrest 
 was illegal, since a member of parliament could not be imprisoned 
 except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. He had not 
 committed any of these crimes, for a libel had only a tendency to 
 disturb the peace. Still, had he been a private person, his im- 
 prisonment would have been legal ; but being unconstitutional, he 
 was discharged. Lord Chief Justice Pratt gained great popularity 
 by his charge in favor of the liberation of Wilkes, and ever nobly 
 defended constitutional liberty. He is better known as Lord Cam- 
 den, the able lord chancellor and statesman during a succeeding 
 administration, and one of the greatest lawyers England has 
 produced, ranking with Lord Hardwicke, Lord Ellenborough, and 
 Lord Eldon. 
 
 After the discharge of Wilkes, the attorney-general was then 
 ordered to commence a state prosecution, and he was arraigned 
 at the bar of the House of Commons. It was voted, by a great 
 majority, that the forty-fifth number of the North Briton was a 
 scandalous and seditious libel, and tending to excite traitorous 
 insurrections. It was further voted that the paper should be 
 burned by the common hangman. Wilkes then complained to the 
 House of a breach of privilege, which complaint, being regular, 
 was considered. But the Commons decided that the privilege of 
 parliament does not extend to a libel, which resolution was against 
 the decision of the Court of Common Pleas, and the precedents upon 
 record in their own journals. However scandalous and vulgar the 
 vituperation of Wilkes, and especially disgraceful in a member of 
 parliament, still his prosecution was an attack on the constitution. 
 Wilkes was convicted on what is called a general loarrant, which, 
 if often resorted to, would be fatal to the liberties of the people. 
 Many, who strongly disliked the libeller, still defended him in this 
 instance, among whom were Pitt, Beckford, Legge, Yorke, and 
 Sir George Saville. But party spirit and detestation of Wilkes 
 triumphed over the constitution, and the liberties of members of 
 parliament were abridged even by themselves. But Wilkes was 
 
418 CHURCHILL. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 not discouraged, and immediately brought an action, in Westmin- 
 ster Hall, against the Earl of Halifax, the secretary of state, for 
 seizing his papers, and, after a hearing of fifteen hours, before 
 Lord Chief Justice Pratt and a special jury, obtained a verdict in 
 his favor of one thousand pounds damages and costs. 
 
 While the Commons were prosecuting Wilkes for a libel, the 
 Lords also continued the prosecution. Wilkes, in conjunction with 
 Potter, a dissipated son of Archbishop Potter, during some of their 
 bacchanalian revels, had written a blasphemous and obscene poem, 
 after the model of Pope's Essay on Man, called An Essay on 
 Woman. The satire was not published, but a few copies of it were 
 printed privately for the authors. Lord Sandwich had contrived 
 to secure a copy of it, and read it before the House ; and the Lords, 
 indignant and disgusted, voted an address to the king to institute a 
 prosecution against the author. The Lords, by so doing, departed 
 from the dignity of their order, and their ordinary functions, and 
 their persecution served to strengthen, instead of weaken, the 
 cause of Wilkes. 
 
 Associated with him, in his writings and his revels, was the 
 poet Churchill, a clergyman of the Establishment, but as open 
 a contemner of decency as Wilkes himself. For some years, his 
 poetry had proved as bad as his sermons, his time being spent in 
 low dissipation. An ill-natured criticism on his writings called 
 forth his energies, and he started, all at once, a giant in numbers, 
 with all the fire of Dryden and all the harmony of Pope. Imagi- 
 nation, wit, strength, and sense, were crowded into his compo- 
 sitions ; but he was careless of both matter and manner, and wrote 
 just what came in his way. "This bacchanalian priest," says 
 Horace Walpole, " now mouthing patriotism, and now venting 
 libertinism, the scourge of bad men, and scarce better than the 
 worst, debauching wives, and protecting his gown by the weight 
 of his fist, engaged with Wilkes in his war on the Scots, and set 
 himself up as the Hercules that was to cleanse the state and 
 punish its oppressors. And true it is, the storm that saved us 
 was raised in taverns and night-cellars ; so much more effectual 
 were the orgies of Churchill and Wilkes than the dagger of Cato 
 and Brutus. Earl Temple joined them in mischief and dissipa- 
 tion, and whispered where they might find torches, though he 
 
chap, xxvn.] grafton's administration. 419 
 
 took care never to be seen to light one himself. This triumvirate 
 has even made me reflect that nations are most commonly saved by 
 the worst men in them. The virtuous are too scrupulous to go 
 the lengths which are necessary to rouse the people against their 
 tyrants." 
 
 The ferment created by the prosecution of Wilkes led to the 
 resignation of Mr. Grenville, in 1765, and the Marquis of Rock- 
 ingham succeeded him as head of the administration. He con- 
 tinued, however, the prosecution. He retained his place hut a 
 few months, and was succeeded by the Duke of Grafton, the 
 object of such virulent invective in the Letters of Junius, a work 
 without elevation of sentiment, without any appeal to generous 
 principle, without recognition of the eternal laws of justice, and 
 without truthfulness, and yet a work which produced a great sen- 
 sation, and is to this day regarded as a masterpiece of savage 
 and unscrupulous sarcasm- The Duke of Grafton had the same 
 views as his predecessor respecting Wilkes, who had the audacity, 
 notwithstanding the sentence of outlawry which had been passed 
 against him, to return from Paris, to which he had, for a time, 
 retired, and to appear publicly at Guildhall, and offer himself 
 as a candidate for the city of London. He was contemptuously 
 rejected, but succeeded in being elected as member for Middlesex 
 county. 
 
 Mr. Wilkes, however, recognizing the outlawry that had been 
 passed against him, surrendered himself to the jurisdiction of the 
 Court of the King's Bench, which was then presided over by Lord 
 Mansfield. This great lawyer and jurist confirmed the verdicts 
 against him, and sentenced him to pay a fine of one thousand 
 pounds, to suffer two years' imprisonment, and to find security for 
 good behavior for seven years. This sentence was odious and 
 severe, and the more unjustifiable in view of the arbitrary and 
 unprecedented alteration of the records on the very night pre- 
 ceding the trial. 
 
 The multitude, enraged, rescued their idol from the officers of 
 the law, as they were conducting him to prison, and carried him 
 with triumph through the city ; but, through his entreaties, they 
 were prevailed upon to abstain from further acts of outrage. Mr. 
 Wilkes again surrendered himself, and was confined in prison. 
 
420 POPULARITY OF "WILKES. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 When the Commons met, Wilkes was again expelled, in order to 
 satisfy the vengeance of the court. But the electors of Middlesex 
 again returned him to parliament, and the Commons voted that, 
 being once expelled, he was incapable of sitting, even if elected, 
 in the same parliament. The electors of Middlesex, equally de- 
 termined with the Commons, chose him, for a third time, their 
 representative ; and the election, for the third time, was declared 
 void by the commons. In order to terminate the contest, Colonel 
 Lutterell, a member of the House, vacated his seat, and offered 
 himself a candidate for Middlesex. He received two hundred and 
 ninety-six votes, and Wilkes twelve hundred and forty-three, but 
 Lutterell was declared duly elected by the Commons, and took 
 his seat for Middlesex. 
 
 This decision threw the whole nation into a ferment, and was 
 plainly an outrage on the freedom of elections ; and it was so 
 considered by some of the most eminent men in England, even 
 by those who despised the character of Wilkes. Lord Chatham, 
 from his seat, declared " that the laws were despised, trampled 
 upon, destroyed ; those laws which had been made T}y the stern 
 virtues of our ancestors, those iron barons of old, to whose spirit 
 in the hour of contest, and to whose fortitude in the triumph of 
 victory, the silken barons of this day owe all their honors and 
 security." 
 
 Mr. Wilkes subsequently triumphed ; the Commons grew weaiy 
 of a contest which brought no advantage and much ignominy, 
 and the prosecution was dropped ; but not until the subject of it 
 had been made Lord Mayor of London. From 1768 to 1772, he 
 was the sole unrivalled political idol of the people, who lavished 
 on him all in their power to bestow. They subscribed twenty 
 thousand pounds for the payment of his debts, besides gifts 
 of plate, wine, and household goods. Every wall bore his name, 
 and every window his picture. In china, bronze, or marble, he 
 stood upon the chimney-pieces of half the houses in London, and 
 he swung from the sign-board of every village, and every great 
 road in the environs of the metropolis. In 1770 he was dis- 
 charged from his imprisonment, in 1771 was permitted to take 
 his seat, and elected mayor. From 1776, his popularity declined, 
 and he became involved in pecuniary difficulties. He, however, 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] TAXATION OF THE COLONIES. 421 
 
 emerged from them, and enjoyed a quiet office until his death, 
 (1797.) He was a patriot from accident, and not from principle, 
 and corrupt in his morals ; but he was a gentleman of elegant 
 manners and cultivated taste. He was the most popular political 
 character ever known in England ; and his name, at one time, 
 was sufficient to blow up the flames of sedition, and excite the lower 
 orders to acts of violence bordering on madness. 
 
 During his prosecution, important events occurred, of greater 
 moment to the world. The disputes about the taxation of America 
 led to the establishment of a new republic, whose extent and gran- 
 deur have never been equalled, and whose future greatness cannot 
 well be exaggerated. 
 
 These disputes commenced during the administration of George 
 Grenville. The proposal to tax the American colonies had been 
 before proposed to Sir Robert Walpole, but this prudent and saga- 
 cious minister dared not run the risk. Mr. Grenville was not, 
 however, daunted by the difficulties and dangers which the more 
 able Walpole regarded. In order to lighten the burden which 
 resulted from the ruinous wars of Pitt, the minister proposed to 
 raise a revenue from the colonies. The project pleased the house, 
 and the Stamp Duties were imposed. It is true that the tax was a 
 light one, and was so regarded by Mr. Grenville ; but he intended 
 it as a precedent ; he was resolved to raise a revenue from the 
 colonies sufficiently great to lighten the public burden. He 
 regarded the colonists as subjects of the King of Great Britain, in 
 every sense of the word; and, since they received protection 
 from the government, they were bound to contribute to its 
 support. 
 
 But the colonists, now scattered along the coast from Maine to 
 Georgia, took other views. They maintained that, though subject 
 in some degree to English legislation, they could not be taxed, any 
 more than other subjects of Great Britain, without their consent. 
 They were willing to be ruled in accordance with those royal 
 charters which had, at different times, been given them. They 
 were even willing to assist the mother country, which they loved 
 and revered, and with which were connected their brightest and 
 most cherished associations, in expelling its enemies from adjoining 
 territories, and to fight battles in its defence. They were willing 
 36 
 
422 INDIGNATION OF THE COLONIES. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 to receive the literature, the religion, the fashions, and the opinions 
 of their brethren in England. But they looked upon the soil 
 which they cultivated in the wilderness with so many difficulties, 
 hardships, and dangers, as their own, and believed that they were 
 bound to raise taxes only to defend the soil, and promote good 
 government, religion, and morality in their midst. But they could 
 not understand why they were bound to pay taxes to support Eng- 
 glish wars on the continent of Europe. It was for their children, 
 and for the sacred privilege of religious liberty, that they had 
 originally left the mother country. It was only for themselves and 
 their children that they felt bound to labor. They sought no 
 political influence in England. They did not wish to control elec- 
 tions, or regulate the finances, or interfere with the projects of 
 military aggrandizement. They were not represented in the 
 English parliament, and they composed, politically speaking, no 
 part of the English nation. Great, therefore, was their indigna- 
 tion, when they learned that the English government was inter- 
 fering with their chartered rights, and designed to raise a revenue 
 from them to lighten taxes at home, merely to support the govern- 
 ment in foolish wars. If they could be taxed, without their con- 
 sent, in any thing, they could be taxed without limit ; and they 
 would be in danger of becoming mere slaves of the mother 
 country, and be bound to labor for English aggrandizement. On 
 one point they insisted with peculiar earnestness — that taxation, 
 in a free country, without a representation of interests in parlia- 
 ment, was an outrage. It was on account of this arbitrary taxa- 
 tion that Charles I. lost his crown, and the second revolution was 
 effected, which placed the house of Hanover on the throne. The 
 colonies felt that, if the subjects of the king at home were justified 
 in resisting unlawful taxes, they surely, on another continent, and 
 without a representation, had a right to do so also ; that, if they 
 were to be taxed without their consent, they would be in a worse 
 condition than even the people of Ireland; would be in the condi- 
 tion of a conquered people, without the protection which even a 
 conquered country enjoyed. Hence they remonstrated, and pre- 
 pared themselves for resistance. 
 
 The English government was so blinded as not to perceive or 
 feel the force of the reasoning of the colonists, and obstinately 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] THE STAMP ACT. 423 
 
 resolved fo resort to measures which, with a free and spirited 
 people, must necessarily lead to violence and strife. The House 
 of Commons would not even hear '. the reports of the colonial 
 agents, but proceeded, with strange infatuation and obstinate big- 
 otry, to impose the Stamp Act, (1765.) There were some, how- 
 ever, who perceived its folly and injustice. General Conway pro- 
 tested against the assumed right of the government, and Colonel 
 Barre, a speaker of great eminence, exclaimed, in reply to the 
 speech of Charles Townshend, who styled the colonies " children 
 planted by our care, and nourished by our indulgence," — " They 
 planted by your care ! — No ! your oppressions planted them in 
 America ; they fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated wil- 
 derness, exposed to all the hardships to which human nature is 
 liable ! They nourished by your indulgence ! — No ! they grew 
 by your neglect ; your care of them was displayed in sending 
 persons to govern them who were the deputies of deputies of 
 ministers — men whose behavior, on many occasions, has caused 
 the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them ; men who 
 have been promoted to the highest seats of justice in a foreign 
 country, in order to escape being brought to the bar of a court of 
 justice in their own." Mr. Pitt opposed the fatal policy of Grenville 
 with singular eloquence ; by arguments which went beyond acts 
 of parliament ; by an appeal to the natural reason ; and by recog- 
 nition of the great, inalienable principles of liberty. He maintained 
 that the House had no right to lay an internal tax upon America, 
 that country not being represented. Burke, too, then a new 
 speaker, raised his voice against the folly and injustice of taxing 
 the colonies; but it was in vain. The commons were bent on 
 imposing the Stamp Act. 
 
 But the passage of this act created great disturbances in Amer- 
 ica, and was every where regarded as the beginning of great 
 calamities. Throughout the colonies there was a general combi- 
 nation to resist the stamp duty ; and it was resolved to purchase 
 no English manufactures, and to prevent the adoption of stamped 
 paper. 
 
 Such violent and unexpected opposition embarrassed the English 
 ministry ; which, in addition to the difficulties attending the prose- 
 cution of Wilkes, led to the retirement of Grenville, who was 
 
424 LORD CHATHAM. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham. During his short 
 administration, the Stamp Act was repealed, although the Commons 
 still insisted on their right to tax America. The joy which this 
 repeal created in the colonies was unbounded ; and the speech of 
 Pitt, who proposed the repeal, and defended it with unprecedented 
 eloquence, was every where read with enthusiasm, and served to 
 strengthen the conviction, among the leading men in the colonies, 
 that their cause was right. Lord Rockingham did not long remain 
 at the head of the government, and was succeeded by the Duke 
 of Grafton ; although Mr. Pitt, recently created Earl of Chatham, 
 was virtually the prime minister. Lord Rockingham retired from 
 office with a high character for pure and disinterested patriotism, 
 and without securing place, pension, or reversion, to himself or to 
 any of his adherents. 
 
 The elevation of Lord Chatham to the peerage destroyed his 
 popularity and weakened his power. No man ever made a greater 
 mistake than he did in consenting to an apparent elevation. He 
 had long been known and designated as the Great Commoner. 
 The people were proud of him, and, as a commoner, he could 
 have ruled the nation, in spite of all opposition. No other man 
 could have averted the national calamities. But, as a peer, he no 
 longer belonged to the people, and the people lost confidence in 
 him, and abandoned him. What he gained in dignity he lost in 
 power and popularity. The people now compared him with Lord 
 Bath, and he became the object of universal calumny. 
 
 And Chatham felt the change which had taken place in the 
 nation. He had ever loved and courted popularity, and that was 
 the source of his power. He now lost his spirits, and interested 
 himself but little in public affairs. He relapsed into a state of 
 indolence and apathy. He remained only the shadow of a 
 mighty name ; and, sequestered in the groves of his family resi- 
 dence, ceased to be mentioned by the public. He became 
 melancholy, nervous, and unfit for business. Nor could he be 
 induced to attend a cabinet council, even on the most pressing 
 occasions. He pretended to be ill, and would not hold confer- 
 ence with his colleagues. Nor did he have the influence with the 
 king which he had a right to expect. Being no longer beloved by 
 the people, he was no longer feared by the king. He was like 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] ADBIINISTRATION OF LORD NORTH. 425 
 
 Samson when deprived of his locks — without strength ; for his 
 strength lay in the confidence and affections of the nation. He 
 opposed his colleagues in their resolution to impose new taxes on 
 America, but his counsels were disregarded. 
 
 These taxes were in the shape of duties on glass, paper, lead, 
 and painters' colors, from which no considerable revenue could be 
 gained, and much discontent would inevitably result. When the 
 news of this new taxation reached the colonies, it destroyed all the 
 cheerfulness which the repeal of the Stamp Act had caused. Sul- 
 lenness and gloom returned. Trust in parliament was diminished. 
 New combinations of opposition were organized, and the news- 
 papers teemed with invective. 
 
 In the midst of these disturbances, Lord Chatham resigned the 
 Privy Seal, the office he had selected, and retired from the admin- 
 istration, (1768.) 
 
 In 1770, the Duke of Grafton also resigned his office as first 
 lord of the treasury, chiefly in consequence of the increasing 
 difficulties with America ; and Lord North, who had been two 
 years chancellor of the exchequer, took his place. He was an 
 amiable and accomplished nobleman, and had many personal 
 friends, and few personal enemies ; but he was unfit to manage 
 the helm of state in the approaching storm. 
 
 It was his misfortune to be minister in the most unsettled and 
 revolutionary times, and to misunderstand not merely the spirit of 
 the age, but the character and circumstances of the American 
 colonies. George III., with singular obstinacy and blindness, sus- 
 tained the minister against all opposition ; and under his adminis- 
 tration the American war was carried on, which ended so disas- 
 trously to the mother country. 
 
 As this great and eventful war will be the subject of the next 
 chapter, the remaining events of interest, connected with the 
 domestic history of England, will be first presented. 
 
 The most important of these were the discontents of the Irish. 
 
 As early as 1762, associations of the peasantry were formed 
 with a view to political reforms and changes, and these popular 
 demonstrations of the discontented have ever since marked the 
 history of the Irish nation — ever poor, ever oppressed, ever on the 
 eve of rebellion. 
 
 36* 
 
426 FUNCTIONS OF THE PARLIAMENT. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 The first circumstance, however, after the accession of George 
 III., which claims particular notice, was the passing of the Octen- 
 nial Bill, in 1788. The Irish parliament, unlike the English, con- 
 tinued in existence during the life of the sovereign. In 1761, an 
 attempt had been made by the patriotic party to limit its duration, 
 and to place it upon the same footing as the parliament of Eng- 
 land ; but this did not succeed. Lord Townshend, at this period, 
 was lord lieutenant, and it was the great object of his government 
 to break the power of the Irish aristocracy, and to take out of their 
 hands the distribution of pensions and places, which hitherto had, 
 from motives of policy, been allowed them. He succeeded in his 
 object, though by unjustifiable means, and the British government 
 became the source of all honor and emolument. During his 
 administration, some disturbances broke out in Ulster, in conse- 
 quence of the system which then prevailed of letting land on fines. 
 As a great majority of the peasantry and small farmers were 
 unable to pay these fines, and were consequently deprived of their 
 farms, they became desperate, and committed violent outrages on 
 those who had taken their lands. Government was obliged to 
 resort to military force, and many distressed people were driven 
 to America for subsistence. To Ireland there appeared no chance 
 of breaking the thraldom which England in other respects also 
 exercised, when the American war broke out. This immediately 
 changed the language and current of the British government in 
 reference to Ireland ; proposals were made favorable to Irish com- 
 merce ; and some penal statutes against Catholics were annulled. 
 Still the patriots of Ireland aimed at much greater privileges than 
 had as yet been granted, and the means to secure these were 
 apparent. England had drawn from Ireland nearly all the regular 
 forces, in order to send them to America, and the sea-coast of 
 Ireland was exposed to invasion. In consequence of the defence- 
 less state of the country, the inhabitants of the town of Belfast, in 
 1779, entered into armed associations to defend themselves in 
 case of necessity. This gave rise to a system of volunteers, 
 which soon was extended over the island. The Irish now began 
 to feel their strength ; and even Lord North admitted, in the 
 House of Commons, the necessity of granting to them still 
 greater privileges, and carried a bill through parliament, which 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] IRISH DISCONTENTS. 427 
 
 removed some grievous commercial restrictions, But the Irish 
 looked to greater objects, and especially since Lord North, in order 
 to carry his bill, represented it as a boon resumable at pleasure, 
 rather than as a right to which the Irish were properly entitled. 
 This bill, therefore, instead of quieting the patriots, led to a desire 
 for an independent parliament of their own. A union was formed 
 of volunteers to secure this end, not composed of the ignorant 
 peasantiy, but of all classes, at the head of which was the Duke 
 of Leinster himself. In 1781, this association of volunteers had 
 a force of fifty thousand disciplined men ; and it moreover formed 
 committees of correspondence, which naturally alarmed the British 
 government. 
 
 These and other disturbances, added to the disasters in Amer- 
 ica, induced the House Of Commons to pass censure on Lord 
 North and his colleague, as incapable of managing the helm of 
 state. The king, therefore, was compelled to dismiss his minis- 
 ters, whose administration had proved the most disastrous in Brit- 
 ish annals. Lord North, however, had uncommon difficulties to 
 contend with, and might have governed the nation with honor in 
 ordinary times. He resigned in 1782, four years after the death 
 of Chatham, and the Marquis of Rockingham, a second time, was 
 placed at the head of the government. Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke 
 also obtained places, and the Whigs were once more triumphant. 
 
 The attention of the new ministry was imperatively demanded 
 by the discontents in Ireland, and important concessions were 
 made. Mr. Grattan moved an address to the king, which was 
 unanimously carried in both Houses, in which it was declared that 
 " the crown of Ireland was inseparably annexed to the crown of 
 Great Britain ; but that the kingdom of Ireland was a distinct 
 kingdom, with a parliament of her own, the sole legislature there- 
 of; that in this right they conceived the very essence of their 
 liberty to exist ; that in behalf of all the people of Ireland, they 
 claimed this as their birthright, and could not relinquish it but 
 with their lives ; that they had a high veneration for the British 
 character ; and that, in sharing the freedom of England, it was 
 their determination to share also her fate, and to stand and fall with 
 the British nation." The new lord lieutenant, the Duke of Port- 
 land, assured the Irish parliament that the British legislature had 
 
428 PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 resolved to remove the cause of discontent, and a law was actually 
 passed which placed the Irish parliament on the same footing as 
 that of England. Acts were also passed for the right of habeas 
 corpus, and for the independence of the judges. 
 
 The volunteers, having accomplished the objects which they 
 originally contemplated, did not, however, disband, but now 
 directed their efforts to a reform in parliament. But the House 
 of Commons rejected the proposition offered by Mr. Flood, and 
 the convention, appointed by the volunteers, indefinitely adjourned 
 without persevering, as it should have done. The volunteer sys- 
 tem soon after declined. 
 
 The cause of parliamentary reform, though no longer supported 
 by the volunteers in their associate character, was not deserted by 
 the people, or by their advocates in parliament. Among these ad- 
 vocates was William Pitt himself. But in 1783, he became prime 
 minister, and changed his opinions. 
 
 But before the administration of Pitt can be presented, an event 
 in the domestic history of England must be alluded to, which took 
 place during the administration of Lord North. This was the 
 Protestant Association, headed by Lord George Gordon, and the 
 riots to which it led. 
 
 In 1788, parliament had passed an act relieving Roman Catho- 
 lics from some of the heavy penalties inflicted on them in the 
 preceding century. It relieved bishops, priests, and schoolmasters 
 from prosecution and imprisonment, gave security to the rights 
 of inheritance, and permission to purchase lands on fee simple. 
 This act of toleration was generally opposed in England ; but 
 the fanatical spirit of Presbyterianism in Scotland was excited in 
 view of this reasonable indulgence, to a large body of men, of the 
 rights of conscience and civil liberty. On the bare rumor of the 
 intended indulgence, great tumults took place in Edinburgh and 
 Glasgow ; the Roman Catholic chapel was destroyed, and the houses 
 of the principal Catholics were attacked and plundered. Nor did 
 the magistracy check or punish these disorders with any spirit, but 
 secretly favored the rioters. Encouraged by the indifference of 
 the magistrates, the fanatics formed themselves into a society called 
 the Protestant Association, to oppose any remission of the present 
 unjust laws ; and of. this association Lord George Gordon was 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] LORD GEORGE GORDON'S RIOTS. 429 
 
 chosen president. He was the son of the Duke of Gordon, be- 
 longing to one of the most ancient of the Scottish nobility, but a 
 man, in the highest degree wild and fanatical. He was also 
 member of parliament, and opposed the views of the most enlight- 
 ened statesmen of his time, and with an extravagance which led 
 to the belief that he was insane. He calumniated the king, defied 
 the parliament, and boasted of the number of his adherents. He 
 pretended that he had, in Scotland, one hundred and sixty thousand 
 men at his command, who would cut off the king's head, if he did 
 not keep his coronation oath. The enthusiasm of the Scotch soon 
 spread to the English ; and, throughout the country, associations 
 were affiliated with the parent societies in London and Edinburgh, 
 of both of which Lord Gordon was president. At Coachmakers' 
 Hall he assembled his adherents ; and, in an incendiary harangue, 
 inflamed the minds of an immense audience in regard to the 
 Church of Rome, with the usual invectives respecting its idolatry 
 and corruption. He urged them to violent courses, as the only 
 way to stop the torrent of Catholicism which was desolating the 
 land. Soon after, this association assembled at St. George's Fields, 
 to the astonishing number of fifty thousand people, marshalled in 
 separate bands, with blue cockades ; and this immense rabble pro- 
 ceeded through the city of London to the House of Parliament, 
 preceded by a man carrying a petition signed by twelve hundred 
 thousand names. The rabble took possession of the lobby of the 
 house, making the old palace ring with their passionate cries of 
 " No popery ! no popery ! " This mob was harangued by Lord 
 Gordon himself, in the lobby of the house, while the matter was 
 discussed among the members. The military were drawn out, and 
 the mob was dispersed for a time, but soon assembled again, and 
 became still more alarming. Houses were plundered, churches 
 were entered, and the city set on fire in thirty-six different places. 
 The people were obliged to chalk on their houses " No popery," and 
 pay contributions to prevent their being sacked. The prisons were 
 emptied of both felons and debtors. Lord Mansfield's splendid 
 residence was destroyed, together with his pictures, furniture, and 
 invaluable law library. Martial law was finally proclaimed — the 
 last resort in cases of rebellion, and never resorted to but in 
 extreme cases ; and the military did what magistrates could not 
 
430 PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS. [CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 do — restored order and law. Had not the city been decreed to 
 be in a state of rebellion, the rioters would have taken the bank, 
 which they had already attacked. Five hundred persons were 
 killed in the riot, and Lord George Gordon was committed to the 
 Tower. He, however, escaped conviction, through the extraordi- 
 nary talents of his counsel, Mr. Erskine and Mr. Kenyon ; but 
 one hundred others were capitally convicted. This disgraceful 
 riot opened the eyes of the people to the horrors of popular insur- 
 rection, and perhaps prevented a revolution in England, when 
 other questions, of more practical importance, agitated the nation. 
 
 But no reform of importance took place until the administration 
 of William Pitt. Mr. Burke attempted to secure some economical 
 retrenchments, which were strongly opposed. But what was a 
 retrenchment of two hundred thousand pounds a year, when com- 
 pared with the vast expenditures of the British armies in America 
 and in India ? But though the reforms which Burke projected were 
 not radical or important, they contributed to raise his popularity 
 with the people, who were more annoyed by the useless offices 
 connected with the king's household, than by the expenditure of 
 millions in war. At first, his scheme received considerable atten- 
 tion, and the members listened to his propositions so long as they 
 were abstract and general. But when he proceeded to specific 
 reforms, they no longer regarded his voice, and he was obliged to 
 abandon his task as hopeless. William Pitt made his first speech 
 in the debate which Burke had excited, and argued in favor of 
 retrenchment with the eloquence of his father, but with more 
 method and clearness. The bill was lost, but Burke finally suc- 
 ceeded in carrying his measures ; and the offices of the master of 
 the hariers, the master of the staghounds, the clerk of the green 
 cloth, and some other unimportant sinecures, were abolished. 
 
 The first attempt at that great representative reform which 
 afterwards convulsed the nation, was made by William Pitt. He 
 brought forward two resolutions, to prevent bribery at elections, 
 and secure a more equitable representation. But he did not suc- 
 ceed ; and Pitt himself, when his cause was advocated by men of 
 a different spirit, — men inflamed by revolutionary principles, — 
 changed his course, and opposed parliamentary reform with more 
 ardor than he had at first advocated it. But parliamentary reform 
 
CHAP. XXVII.] REFORM QUESTIONS. 431 
 
 did not become an object of absorbing interest until the times of 
 Henry Brougham and Lord John Russell. 
 
 No other great events were sufficiently prominent to be here 
 alluded to, until the ministry of William Pitt. The American 
 Revolution first demands attention. ' . 
 
 References. — Belsham's History of the Reign of George III. Wal- 
 pole's Memoir of the same reign. Holt's Private and Domestic Life of 
 George IH. Lord Brougham's Statesmen of the Reign of George III. 
 Smyth's Lectures. Thackeray's Life of the Earl of Chatham. Corre- 
 spondence of the Earl of Chatham. Annual Register, from 1765 to 1775. 
 Debret's Parliamentary Debates. Stephens' Life of Home Tooke. Camp- 
 bell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors. Macaulay's Essay on Chatham. 
 Burke's Thoughts on the Present Discontents. 
 
432 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 
 
 The American Revolution, if contemplated in view of its ulti- 
 mate as well as immediate consequences, is doubtless the greatest 
 event of modern times. Its importance was not fully appreciated 
 when it took place, but still excited a great interest throughout the 
 civilized world. It was the main subject which engrossed the 
 attention and called out the energies of British statesmen, during 
 the administration of Lord North. In America, of course, all 
 other subjects were trivial in comparison with it. The contest is 
 memorable for the struggles of heroes, for the development of 
 unknown energies, for the establishment of a new western empire, 
 for the triumph of the cause of liberty, and for the moral effects 
 which resulted, even in other countries, from the examples of 
 patriots who preferred the glory and honor of their country to 
 their own aggrandizement. 
 
 The causes of the struggle have been already alluded to in the 
 selfishness and folly of British statesmen, who sought to relieve the 
 burdens of the English people by taxing the colonies. The colo- 
 nies were doubtless regarded by the British parliament without 
 proper affection or consideration ; somewhat in the light of a 
 conquered nation, from which England might derive mercantile 
 advantage. The colonies were not ruled in a spirit of conciliation, 
 nor were the American people fully appreciated. Some, perhaps, 
 like Chatham and Burke, may have' known the virtues and the 
 power of the colonial population, and may have had some glimpse 
 of the glory and greatness to which America was destined. But 
 they composed but a small minority of the nation, and their advice 
 and remonstrances were generally disregarded. 
 
 Serious disturbances did not take place until Lord North com- 
 menced his unfortunate administration, (1770.) Although the 
 colonies were then resolved not to submit, to unlawful taxation, 
 and to an oppressive government, independence was not contem- 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 433 
 
 plated. Conciliatory measures, if they had been at that time 
 adopted, probably would have deferred the Revolution. But the 
 contest must have occurred, at a later date ; for nothing, in the 
 ordinary course of events, could have prevented the ultimate inde- 
 pendence of the colonies. Their rapid growth, the extent of the 
 country in which settlements were made, its distance from England, 
 the spirit of liberty which animated the people, their general impa- 
 tience, under foreign restraint, and the splendid prospects of future 
 greatness which were open to their eyes, must have led to a rup- 
 ture with the mother country at no distant time. 
 
 The colonies, at the commencement of their difficulties, may 
 have exaggerated their means of resistance, but not their future 
 greatness. All of them, from New Hampshire to Georgia, were 
 animated by a spirit of liberty which no misfortunes- could crush. 
 A large majority of the people were willing to incur the dangers 
 incident to revolution, not for themselves merely, but for the sake 
 of their posterity, and for the sacred cause of liberty. They felt 
 that their cause was just, and that Providence would protect and 
 aid them in their defence. 
 
 A minute detail of the events of the American Revolution, of 
 course, cannot be expected in a history like this. Only the more 
 prominent events can be alluded to. The student is supposed to 
 be familiar with the details of the conflict, which are to be read in 
 the works of numerous American authors. 
 
 Lord North, at the commencement of his administration, repealed 
 the obnoxious duties which had been imposed in 1767, but still 
 retained the duty on tea, with a view chiefly to assert the suprem- 
 acy of Great Britain, and her right to tax the colonies. This 
 course of the minister cannot be regarded in any other light than 
 that of the blindest infatuation. 
 
 The imposition of the port duties, by Grenville, had fomented 
 innumerable disturbances, and had led to universal discussion as 
 to the nature and extent of parliamentary power. A distinction, 
 at first, had been admitted between internaland external taxes; 
 but it was soon asserted that Great Britain had no right to tax the 
 colonies, either internally or externally. It was stated that the 
 colonies had received charters, under the great seal, which had 
 given them all the rights and privileges of Englishmen at home, 
 37 
 
434 RIOTS AND DISTURBANCES. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 and therefore that they could not be taxed, except by their own 
 consent ; that this consent had never been asked or granted ; that 
 they were unrepresented in the imperial parliament ; and that the 
 taxes which had been imposed by their own respective legislatures 
 were, in many instances, greater than what were paid by the 
 people of England — taxes too, incurred, to a great degree, to pre- 
 serve the jurisdiction of Great Britain on the American continent. 
 The colonies were every where exceedingly indignant with the 
 course the mother country had pursued with reference to them. 
 Patrick Henry, a Virginian, supported the cause of liberty with un- 
 rivalled eloquence and power, as did John Adams, Josiah Quincy, Jr., 
 James Otis, and other patriots in Massachusetts. Riots took place 
 in Boston, Newport, and New York, and assemblies of citizens 
 in various parts expressed an indignant and revolutionary spirit. 
 
 The residence of the military at Boston was, moreover, the 
 occasion of perpetual tumult. The people abused the soldiers, 
 vilified them in newspapers, and insulted them in the streets. 
 Mutual animosity was the result. Rancor and insults produced a 
 riot, and the troops fired upon the people. So great was the dis- 
 turbances, that the governor was reluctantly obliged to remove the 
 military from the town. The General Court was then removed to 
 Cambridge, but refused to enter upon business unless it were con- 
 vened in Boston. Fresh disturbances followed. The governor 
 quarrelled with the legislature, and a complete anarchy began to 
 prevail. The public mind was inflamed by effigies, paintings, 
 and incendiary articles in the newspapers. The parliament was 
 represented as corrupt, the ministry as venal, the king as a tyrant, 
 and England itself as a rotten, old, aristocratic structure, crumbling 
 to pieces. The tide was so overwhelming in favor of resistance, 
 that even moderate men were borne along in the current ; and 
 those who kept aloof from the excitement were stigmatized as 
 timid and selfish, and the enemies of their country. The courts 
 of justice were virtually silenced, since juries disregarded the 
 charges of the judges. Libels were unnoticed, and the rioters 
 were unpunished. Smuggling was carried on to a great extent, 
 and revenue officers were insulted in the discharge of their duties. 
 Obnoxious persons were tarred and feathered, and exposed to 
 public derision and scorn. In Providence, they burnt the revenue 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] DUTY ON TEA. 435 
 
 cutter, and committees were formed in the principal towns who 
 fanned the flame of sedition. The committee in Boston, in 1773, 
 framed a celebrated document, called the Bill of Rights, in which 
 the authority of parliament to legislate for the colonies, in any re- 
 spect, was denied, and in which the salaries decreed by the crown 
 to the governor and judges were considered as a systematic attempt 
 to enslave the land. 
 
 The public discontents were further inflamed by the informa- 
 tion which Dr. Franklin, then in London, afforded the colonies, 
 and the advice he gave them to persevere, assuring them that, if 
 they were firm, they had nothing to apprehend. Moreover, he 
 got into his possession a copy of the letters of Governor Hutchin- 
 sOn to the ministry, which he transmitted to the colonies, and 
 which by them were made public. These letters were considered 
 by the legislature of Massachusetts as unjust and libellous, and his 
 recall was demanded. Resolutions, of an offensive character to 
 the English, were every where passed, and all things indicated an 
 approaching storm. The crisis was at hand. The outrage, in 
 Boston harbor, of throwing overboard three hundred and forty-two 
 chests of tea, which the East India Company had sent to America, 
 consummated the difficulties, and induced the government to 
 resort to more coercive measures. 
 
 It was in the power of Lord North to terminate the difficulties 
 with the colonies when the East India Company urged him to 
 repeal the duty of threepence per pound on tea, and offered to 
 pay sixpence per pound in lieu of it, as export duty, if permitted 
 to import it into the colonies duty free. The company was in- 
 duced to make this proposition in view of the great accumulation 
 of tea in England ; but the government, more solicitous about the 
 right than the revenue, would not consent. The colonists were 
 equally determined to resist taxation, not on account of immediate 
 burdens, but upon principle, and therefore resolved to prevent the 
 landing of the tea. A multitude rushed to the wharf, and twenty 
 persons, disguised as Indians, went on board the ships laden with 
 it, staved the chests, and threw their contents into the sea. In 
 New York and Philadelphia, as no persons could be found who 
 would venture to receive the tea sent to those ports, the ships 
 laden with it returned to England. 
 
436 PORT OF BOSTON CLOSED. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 The ministers of the 4 crown were especially indignant with the 
 province of Massachusetts, which had always been foremost in 
 resistance, and the scene of the greatest disorders, and therefore 
 resolved to block up the port of Boston. Accordingly, in 1774, 
 they introduced a bill to discontinue the lading and shipping of 
 goods, wares, and merchandise at Boston, and to remove the cus- 
 tom-house to Salem. The bill received the general approbation 
 of the House, and passed by a great majority. 
 
 No measure could possibly have been more impolitic. A large 
 force should have been immediately sent to the colonies, to coerce 
 them, before they had time to organize sufficient force to resist 
 the mother country, or conciliatory measures should have been 
 adopted. But the House was angry and infatuated, and the voice 
 of wisdom was disregarded. 
 
 Soon after, Lord North introduced another bill for the better 
 government of the provinces, which went to subvert the charter 
 of the colony, and to violate all the principles of liberty and 
 justice. By this bill, the nomination of counsellors, judges, sheriffs, 
 and magistrates of all kinds, was vested in the crown ; and these 
 were also removable at pleasure. The ministers, in advocating the 
 bill, urged the ground of necessity, the universal spirit of disaf- 
 fection, which bordered on actual rebellion. The bill was carried, 
 by a majority of two hundred and thirty-nine against sixty-four 
 voices, May 2, 1774. 
 
 The next step of the minister was to bring in a bill which pi'o- 
 vided that, in case any person was indicted in Massachusetts for a 
 capital offence, and that, if it should appear that a fair trial could 
 not be had in the province, the prisoner might be sent to any 
 other colony, or even to Great Britain itself, to be tried. This 
 was insult added to injury, and met with vigorous resistance even in 
 parliament itself. But it nevertheless passed through both Houses. 
 
 When intelligence arrived concerning it, and of the other bills, 
 a fire was kindled in the colonies not easily to be extinguished. 
 There was scarcely a place which did not convene its assembly. 
 Popular orators, in the public halls and in the churches, every 
 where inflamed the people by incendiary discourses ; organizations 
 were made to abstain from all commerce with the mother country ; 
 and measures were adopted to assemble a General Congress, to 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] MEETING OF CONGRESS. 437 
 
 take into consideration the state of the country. People began to 
 talk of defending their rights by the sword. Every where was 
 heard the sound of the drum and the fife. All were fired by the 
 spirit of liberty. Associations were formed for the purchase of 
 arms and ammunition. Addresses were printed and circulated 
 calling on the people to arm themselves, and resist unlawful en- 
 croachment. All proceedings in the courts of justice were sus- 
 pended. Jurors refused to take their oaths ; the reign of law 
 ceased, and that of violence commenced. Governor Gage, who 
 had succeeded Hutchinson, fortified Boston Neck, and cut off" the 
 communication of the town with the country. 
 
 In the mean time, the Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, 
 in which all the colonies were represented but Georgia. Congress 
 passed resolutions approving the course of Massachusetts, and also 
 a bill called a Declaration of Rights. It sent an address to the 
 king, framed with great ability, in which it discussed the rights of 
 the colonies, complained of the mismanagement of ministers, and 
 besought a redress of the public evils. 
 
 But this congress was considered by the government of Great 
 Britain as an illegal body, and its petition was disregarded. But 
 the ministers no longer regarded the difficulties as trifling, and 
 sought to remedy them^ though not in the right way. The more 
 profound of the English statesmen fully perceived the danger 
 and importance of the crisis, and many of them took the side of 
 liberty. Dean Tucker, who foresaw a long war, with all its 
 expenses, urged, in a masterly treatise, the necessity of giving the 
 Americans, at once, the liberty they sought. Others, who over- 
 rated the importance of the colonies in a mercantile view, wished 
 to retain them, but to adopt conciliatory measures. Lord Chat- 
 ham put forth all the eloquence of which he was such a master, 
 to arouse the ministers. He besought them to withdraw the troops 
 from Boston. He showed the folly of metaphysical refinements 
 about the right of taxation when a continent was in arms. He 
 spoke of the means of enforcing thraldom as inefficient and ridic- 
 ulous. Lord Camden sustained Chatham in the House of Lords, 
 and declared, not as a philosopher, but as a constitutional lawyer, 
 that England had no right to tax America. Mr. Burke moved a 
 conciliatory measure in the House of Commons, fraught with 
 37* 
 
438 SPEECH OF BURKE. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 wisdom and knowledge. " My hold of the colonies," said this 
 great oracle of moral wisdom, " is the close affection which grows 
 from the common names, from the kindred blood, from similar 
 privileges, and from equal protection. These are the ties which, 
 though light as air, are as strong as links of iron. Let the colo- 
 nies always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your 
 government ; they will cling and grapple with you, and no power 
 under heaven will be able to tear them from their allegiance. 
 But let it once be understood that your government may be one 
 thing, and their privileges another, then the cement is gone, and 
 every thing hastens to dissolution. It is the love of the people, 
 it is their attachment to your government from the sense in the 
 deep stake they have in such glorious institutions, which gives 
 you your army and navy, and infuses into both that liberal obe- 
 dience without which your army Would be but a base rabble, and 
 your navy nothing but rotten timber." But this elevated and sub- 
 lime wisdom was regarded as a philosophical abstraction, as a vain 
 and impractical view of political affairs, well enough for a writer 
 on the " sublime and beautiful," but absurd in a British statesman. 
 Colonel Barre and Fox supported Burke ; but their eloquence had 
 not much effect on the Commons, and the ministry; was supported 
 in their measures. The colonies were declared to be in a state 
 of rebellion, and measures were adopted to crush them. 
 
 To declare the colonies in a state of rebellion was, in fact, to 
 declare war. And this was perfectly understood by the popular 
 leaders who fanned the spirit of resistance. All ideas of recon- 
 ciliation now became chimerical. Necessity stimulated the timid, 
 and vengeance excited the bold. It was felt that the people were 
 now to choose between liberty and slavery, and slavery was, of 
 course, regarded as worse than death. " We must look back," 
 said the popular orators, " no more ! We must conquer or die ! 
 We are placed between altars smoking with the most grateful 
 incense of glory and gratitude on the one part, and blocks and 
 dungeons on the other. Let each, then, rise and gird himself for 
 the conflict. The dearest interests of the world command it ; our 
 most holy religion requires it. Let us banish fear, and remember 
 that fortune smiles only on the brave." 
 
 Such was the general state of feeling ; and there only needed a 
 
CHAP. XXVin.] BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 439 
 
 spark to kindle a conflagration. That spark was kindled at Lex- 
 ington. General Gage, the governor, having learned that military 
 stores and arms were deposited at Concord, resolved to seize them. 
 His design was suspected, and the people prepared to resist his 
 orders. The alarm bells were rung, and the cannons were fired. 
 The provincial militia assembled, and the English retreated to 
 Lexington. That village witnessed the commencement of a long 
 and sanguinary war. The tide of revolution could no longer be 
 repressed.- The. colonies were now resolved to achieve their 
 independence. 
 
 The Continental Congress met on the 10th of May, 1775, 
 shortly after the first blood had been shed at Lexington, and 
 immediately proceeded to raise an army , establish ' a paper cur- 
 rency, and to dissolve the compact between Great Britain and the 
 Massachusetts colony. John Hancock was chosen president of 
 the assembly, and George Washington commander-in-chief of the 
 continental army. He accepted the appointment with a modesty 
 only equalled by his merit, and soon after departed for the seat 
 of war. For his associates, Congress appointed Artemas Ward, 
 Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam as major-generals, 
 and Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William 
 Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathanael 
 Greene as brigadiers. Horatio Gates received the appointment 
 of adjutant-general, with the rank of brigadier. 
 
 On the 17th of June was fought the battle of Bunker Hill, 
 Which proved the bravery of the Americans, and which was 
 followed by great moral results. But the Americans unfortunately 
 lost, in this battle, Dr. Warren, who had espoused the cause of 
 revolution with the same spirit that Hampden did in England, and 
 Whom he resembled in genius, patriotism, and character. He 
 had been chosen major-general four days before his death, but 
 fought at Bunker Hill as a simple volunteer. On the 2d of July, 
 Washington took command of the army, and established his head- 
 quarters at Cambridge. The American army amounted to seven- 
 teen thousand men, of whom twenty-five hundred were unfit for duty. 
 They were assembled on the spur of the occasion, and had but 
 few tents and stores, no clothing, no military chest, and no general 
 organization. They were collected from the various provinces, 
 and were governed by their own militia laws. Of this material 
 
440 DEATH OF MONTGOMERY. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 he constructed the first continental army, and under innumerable 
 vexations and difficulties. No man was ever placed in a more 
 embarrassing situation. His troops were raw and undisciplined ; 
 and the members of the Continental Congress, from whom he 
 received his commission, were not united among themselves. He 
 had all the responsibility of the war, and yet had not sufficient 
 means to prosecute it with the vigor which the colonies probably 
 anticipated. His success, in the end, was glorious and unequiv- 
 ocal ; but none other than he could have secured it, and not he, 
 even, unless he had been sustained by a loftiness of character 
 almost preternatural. 
 
 The English forces, at this time, were centred in Boston under 
 the command of General Gage, and were greatly inferior in point 
 of numbers to the American troops who surrounded them. But 
 the troops of Gage were regulars and veterans, and were among 
 the best in the English army. He was recalled in order to give 
 information to the government in reference to the battle of Bunker 
 Hill, and was succeeded in October by General Howe. 
 
 The first campaign of the war was signalized by the invasion 
 of Canada by the American troops, with the hope of wresting 
 that province from the English, which was not only disaffected, 
 but which was defended by an inconsiderable force. General 
 Montgomery, with an army of three thousand, advanced to Mont- 
 real, which surrendered. The fortresses of Crown Point and 
 Ticonderoga had already been taken by Colonel Ethan Allen. 
 But the person who most distinguished himself in this unfortunate 
 expedition was Colonel Benedict Arnold, who, with a detachment 
 of one thousand men, penetrated through the forests, swamps, and 
 mountains of Maine, beyond the sources of the Kennebec, and, in 
 six weeks from his departure at Boston, arrived on the plains of 
 Canada, opposite Quebec. He there effected a junction with the 
 troops of Montgomery, and made an assault on the strongest 
 fortress in America, defended by sixteen hundred men. The 
 attack was unsuccessful, and Montgomery was killed. Arnold 
 did not retire from the province, but remained encamped upon the 
 Heights of Abraham. This enterprise, though a failure, was not 
 without great moral results, since it showed to the English gov- 
 ernment the singular bravery and intrepidity of the nation it had 
 undertaken to coerce. 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 441 
 
 The ministry then resolved upon vigorous measures, and, find- 
 ing a difficulty in raising men, applied to the Landgrave of Hesse 
 for seventeen thousand mercenaries. These, added to twenty-five 
 thousand men enlisted in England, and the troops already sent to 
 America, constituted a force of fifty-five thousand men — deemed 
 amply sufficient to reduce the rebellious colonies. But these were 
 not sent to America until the next year. 
 
 In the mean time, General Howe was encamped in Boston with 
 a force, including seamen, of eleven thousand men, and General 
 Washington, with an army of twenty-eight thousand, including 
 militia, was determined to attack him. In February, 1776, he 
 took possession of Dorchester Heights, which command the har- 
 bor. General Howe found it expedient to evacuate Boston, and 
 sailed for Halifax with his army, and Washington repaired to 
 Philadelphia to deliberate with Congress. 
 
 But Howe retired from Boston only to occupy New York ; and 
 when his arrangements were completed, he landed at Staten 
 Island, waiting for the arrival of his brother, Lord Howe, with the 
 expected reenforcements. By the middle of August they had all 
 arrived, and his united forces amounted to twenty-four thousand 
 men. Washington's army, though it nominally numbered twenty 
 thousand five hundred, still was composed of only about eleven 
 thousand effective men, and these imperfectly provided with arms 
 and ammunition. Nevertheless, Washington gave battle to the 
 English; but the result was disastrous to the Americans, owing 
 to the disproportion of the forces engaged. General Howe took 
 possession of Long Island, the Americans evacuated NewYork, and, 
 shortly after, the city fell into the hands of the English. Washing- 
 ton, with his diminished army, posted himself at Haerlem Heights. 
 
 But before the victory of Howe on Long Island was obtained, 
 Congress had declared the Independence of the American States, 
 (4th July, 1776.) This Declaration of Independence took the 
 English nation by surprise, and firmly united it against the colo- 
 nies. It was received by the Americans, in every section of the 
 country, with unbounded enthusiasm. Reconciliation was now 
 impossible, and both countries were arrayed against each other 
 in fierce antagonism. 
 
 The remainder of the -campaign of 1776 was occupied by 
 
442 COMMISSIONERS SENT TO FRANCE. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 the belligerents in skirmishing, engagements, marchings and 
 count ermarchings, irf the states of New York and New Jersey. 
 The latter state was overrun by the English army, and success, 
 on either side, was indecisive. Forts Washington and Lee were 
 captured. General Lee was taken prisoner. The capture of 
 Lee, however, was not so great a calamity as it, at first, seemed ; 
 for, though a man of genius and military experience, his am- 
 bition, vanity, and love of glory would probably have led to an 
 opposition to his superior officer, and to Congress itself. To 
 compensate for the disasters in New Jersey, Washington, invested 
 with new and extraordinary power by Congress, gained the battles 
 of Princeton and Trenton, which were not only brilliant victories, 
 but were attended by great moral effects, and showed the diffi- 
 culty of subduing a people determined to be free. " Every one 
 applauded the firmness, the prudence, and the bravery of Wash- 
 ington. All declared him to be the savior of his country ; all pro- 
 claimed him equal to the most renowned commanders of antiquity, 
 and especially distinguished him by the name of the American 
 Fabius." 
 
 The greatness of Washington was seen, not so much by his 
 victories at Princeton and Trenton, or by his masterly retreat 
 before superior forces, as by his admirable prudence and patience 
 during the succeeding winter. He had, for several months, a force 
 which scarcely exceeded fifteen hundred men, and these suffered 
 all manner of hardships and privations. After the first gush of 
 enthusiasm had passed, it was found exceedingly difficult to enlist 
 men, and still more difficult to pay those who had enlisted. Con- 
 gress, composed of great men, and of undoubted patriotism, on 
 the whole, harmonized with the commander-in-chief, whom, for 
 six months, it invested Avith almost dictatorial power ; still there 
 were some of its members who did not fully appreciate the char- 
 acter or condition of Washington, and threw great difficulties in 
 his way. 
 
 Congress about this time sent commissioners to France to solicit 
 money and arms. These commissioners were Dr. Franklin, Silas 
 Deane, and Arthur Lee. They were not immediately successful ; 
 for the French king, doubtful of the result of the struggle, did not 
 wish to incur prematurely the hostility of Great Britain ; but they 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] CAPTURE OF BURGOYNE. 443 
 
 induced many to join the American cause, and, among others, 
 the young Marquis de La Fayette, who arrived in America in the 
 spring of 1777, and proved a most efficient general, and secured 
 the confidence and love of the nation he assisted. 
 
 The campaign of 1777 was marked by the evacuation of the 
 Jerseys by the English, by the battles of Bennington and Brandy- 
 wine, by the capture of Philadelphia, and the surrender of 
 Burgoyne. Success, on the whole, was in favor of the Americans. 
 They suffered a check at Brandywine, and lost the most consid- 
 erable city in the Union at that time. But these disasters were 
 more than compensated by the victory at Bennington and the 
 capture of Burgoyne. 
 
 This indeed was the great event of the campaign. Burgoyne 
 was a member of parliament, and superseded General Carleton 
 in the command of the northern army — an injudicious appoint- 
 ment, but made by the minister in order to cany his measures 
 more easily through the House of Commons. The troops under 
 his command amounted to over seven thousand veterans, besides a 
 corps of artillery. He set out from St. John's, the 16th of June, 
 and advanced to Ticonderoga, which he invested. The American 
 forces, under General Schuyler, destined to oppose this royal army, 
 and to defend Ticonderoga, were altogether insufficient, being not 
 over five thousand men. The fortress was therefore abandoned, 
 and the British general advanced to the Hudson, hoping to open a 
 communication between it and Lake Champlain, and thus com- 
 pletely surround New England, and isolate it from the rest of the 
 country. But the delays attending the march of the English army 
 through the forests enabled the Americans to rally. The defeat 
 of Colonel Baum at Bennington, by Colonel Stark, added to the 
 embarrassments of Burgoyne, who now was straitened for pro- 
 visions ; nevertheless, he continued his march, hoping to reach 
 Albany unmolested. But the Americans, commanded by General 
 Gates, who had superseded Schuyler, were strongly intrenched at 
 the principal passes on his route, and had fortified the high grounds. 
 The army of Burgoyne was moreover attacked by the Americans 
 at Stillwater, and he was forced to retreat to Saratoga. His 
 army was now reduced to five thousand men ; he had only three 
 days' provisions ; all the passes were filled by the enemy, and he 
 
444 MORAL EFFECTS OF BURGOYNE'S CAPTURE. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 was completely surrounded by fifteen thousand men. Under these 
 circumstances, he was forced to surrender. His troops laid down 
 their arms, but were allowed to embark at Boston for Europe. 
 The Americans, by this victory, acquired forty-two pieces of brass 
 artillery, four thousand six hundred muskets, and an immense 
 quantity of military stores. This surrender of Burgoyne was the 
 greatest disaster which the British troops had thus far experienced, 
 and raised the spirits of the Americans to the highest pitch. 
 Indeed, this surrender decided the fate of the war, for it proved 
 the impossibility of conquering the Americans. It showed that 
 they fought under infinitely greater advantages, since it was in 
 their power always to decline a battle, and to choose their ground. 
 It showed that the country presented difficulties which were insur- 
 mountable. It mattered but little that cities were taken, when the 
 great body of the people resided in the country, and were willing 
 to make sacrifices, and were commanded by such generals as 
 Washington, Gates, Greene, Putnam, and Lee. The English min- 
 istry ought to have seen the nature of the contest ; but a strange 
 infatuation blinded the nation. There were some, however, whom 
 no national pride could blind. Lord Chatham was one of these 
 men. " No man," said this veteran statesman, " thinks more 
 highly of the virtues and valor of British troops than I do. I know 
 that they can achieve any thing except impossibilities. But the 
 conquest of America is an impossibility." 
 
 There was one nation in Europe who viewed the contest with 
 different eyes. This nation was France, then on the eve of revo- 
 lution itself, and burning with enthusiastic love of the principles 
 on which American independence was declared. The French 
 government may not have admired the American cause, but it 
 hated England so intensely, that it was resolved to acknowledge 
 the independence of America, and aid the country with its forces. 
 
 In the early part of the war, the American Congress had sent 
 commissioners to France, in order to obtain assistance. In conse- 
 quence of their representations, La Fayette, then a young man of 
 nineteen years of age, freighted a ship at his own expense, and 
 joined the American standard. Congress, in consideration of his 
 illustrious rank and singular enthusiasm, gave him a commission 
 of major-general. And gloriously did he fulfil the great expecta- 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] ARRIVAL OF LA FAYETTE. 445 
 
 tions which were formed of him ; richly did he deserve the grati- 
 tude and praise of all the friends of liberty. 
 
 La Fayette embarked in the American cause as a volunteer. 
 The court of France, in the early period of the contest, did not 
 think it expedient openly to countenance the revolution. But, 
 after the surrender of Burgoyne, and it was evident that the United 
 States would succeed in securing their independence, then it was 
 acknowledged, and substantial aid was rendered, 
 
 The winter which succeeded the surrender of Burgoyne is mem- 
 orable for the sufferings of the American army encamped at Val- 
 ley Forge, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. The army was 
 miserably supplied with provisions and clothing, and strong discon- 
 tent appeared in various quarters. Out of eleven thousand eight 
 hundred men, nearly three thousand were barefooted and otherwise 
 naked. But the sufferings of the army were not the only causes 
 of solicitude to the commander-in-chief, on whom chiefly rested 
 the responsibility of the war. The officers were discontented, 
 and were not prepared, any more than the privates, to make 
 permanent sacrifices. They were obliged to break in upon 
 their private property, and were without any prospect of future 
 relief. Washington was willing to make any sacrifices himself, 
 and refused any payment for his own expenses ; but, while he 
 exhibited the rarest magnanimity, he did not expect it from others, 
 and urged Congress to provide for the future pay of the officers, 
 when the war should close. He looked upon human nature as it 
 was, not as he wished it to be, and recognized the principles of 
 self-interest as well as those of patriotism. It was his firm con- 
 viction that a long and lasting war could not, even in those times, 
 be sustained by the principle of patriotism alone, but required, 
 in addition, the prospect of interest, or some reward. The members 
 of Congress did not all agree with him in his views, and expected 
 that officers would make greater sacrifices than private citizens ; 
 but, after a while, the plan of half-pay for life, as Washington 
 proposed, was adopted by a small majority, though afterwards 
 changed to half-pay for seven years. There was also a prejudice 
 in many minds against a standing army, besides the jealousies and 
 antipathies which existed between different sections of the Union. 
 But Washington, with his rare practical good sense, combated 
 38 
 
446 EVACUATION OF PHILADELPHIA. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 these, as well as the fears of the timid and the schemes of the 
 selfish. The history of the Revolution impresses us with the 
 greatness and bravery of the American nation ; and every Amer- 
 ican should feel proud of his ancestors for the efforts they made, 
 under so many discouragements, to secure their liberties ; but it 
 would be a mistake to suppose that nothing but exalted heroism was 
 exhibited. Human nature showed its degeneracy in the camp and 
 on the field of battle, among heroes and among patriots. The 
 perfection of character, so far as man is ever perfect, was exhib- 
 ited indeed, by Washington, but by Washington alone. 
 
 The army remained at Valley Forge till June, 1778. In the 
 mean time, Lord North made another ineffectual effort to procure 
 reconciliation. But he was too late. His offers might have been 
 accepted at the commencement of the contest ; but nothing short 
 of complete independence would now satisfy the Americans, and 
 this North was not willing to concede. Accordingly, new meas- 
 ures of coercion were resorted to by the minister, although the 
 British forces in America were upwards of thirty-three thousand. 
 
 On the 18th of June, Sir Henry Clinton, who had succeeded 
 Sir William Howe in command of the British forces, evacuated 
 Philadelphia, the possession of which had proved of no service to 
 the English, except as winter quarters for the troops. It was his 
 object to proceed to New York, for which place he marched with 
 his army, having sent his heavy baggage by water. The Ameri- 
 cans, with superior forces, hung upon his rear, and sought an 
 engagement. An indecisive one occurred at Monmouth, during 
 which General Lee disregarded the orders of his superior in com- 
 mand, and was suspended for twelve months. There never was 
 perfect harmony between Washington and Lee ; and the aid of the 
 latter, though a brave and experienced officer, was easily dis- 
 pensed with. 
 
 No action of importance occurred during this campaign, and it 
 was chiefly signalized by the arrival of the Count d'Estaing, with 
 twelve ships of the line and four frigates, to assist the Americans. 
 But, in consequence of disagreements and mistakes, this large 
 armament failed to engage the English naval forces. 
 
 The campaign of 1779 was not more decisive than that of the 
 preceding year. Military operations were chiefly confined to the 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] THE TREASON OF ARNOLD. 447 
 
 southern sections of the country, in which the English generally 
 gained the advantage, having superior forces. They overran the 
 country, inflamed the hostility of the Indians, and destroyed con- 
 siderable property. But they gained no important victory, and it 
 was obvious to all parties that conquest was impossible. 
 
 The campaign of 1780 is memorable for the desertion of Gen- 
 eral Arnold. Though not attended by important political results, 
 it produced an intense excitement. He was intrusted with the 
 care of the fortress of West Point, which commanded the Hudson 
 River ; but, dissatisfied, extravagant, and unprincipled, he thought 
 to mend his broken fortunes by surrendering it to the British, who 
 occupied New York. His treason was discovered when his schemes 
 were on the point of being accomplished ; but he contrived to 
 escape, and was made a brigadier-general in the service of the 
 enemy. Public execration loaded his name with ignominy, and 
 posterity has not reversed the verdict of his indignant countrymen. 
 His disgrace and ruin were primarily caused by his extravagance 
 and his mortified pride. Washington fully understood his want of 
 moral principle, but continued to intrust him with power, in view 
 of the great services he had rendered his country, and his unques- 
 tioned bravery and military talents. After his defection, the 
 American commander-in-chief was never known to intrust an 
 important office to a man in whose virtue he had not implicit faith. 
 The fate of Major Andre, who negotiated the treason with Arnold, 
 and who was taken as a spy, was much lamented by the English. 
 Neither his family, nor rank, nor accomplishments, nor virtues, 
 nor the intercession of Sir Henry Clinton, could save him from 
 military execution, according to the established laws of war. 
 Washington has been blamed for not exercising more forbearance 
 in the case of so illustrious a prisoner ; but the American general 
 never departed from the rigid justice which he deemed it his duty 
 to pursue. 
 
 During this year, the American currency had singularly depre- 
 ciated, so that forty dollars were worth only one in specie — a fact 
 which shows the embarrassments of the country, and the difficulty 
 of supporting the army. But the prospects of ultimate success 
 enabled Congress, at length, to negotiate loans, and the army was 
 kept together. 
 
448 SURRENDER OF LORD CORNWALLIS. [CHAP. XXVIII. 
 
 The gi'eat event in the campaign of 1781 was the surrender of 
 Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, which decided the fate of the war. 
 Lord Cornwallis, who was an able commander, had been success- 
 ful at the south, although vigorously and skilfully opposed by 
 General La Fayette. But he had at last to contend with the 
 main body of the American army, and French forces in addition, 
 so that the combined armies amounted to over twelve thousand 
 men. He was compelled to surrender to superior forces ; and 
 seven ' thousand prisoners, with all their baggage and stores, fell 
 into the hands of the victors, 19th of October, 1781. This great 
 event diffused universal joy throughout America, and a correspond- 
 ing depression among the English people. 
 
 After this capitulation, the conviction was general that the war 
 would soon be terminated. General La Fayette obtained leave to 
 return to France, and the recruiting service languished. The war, 
 nevertheless, was continued until 1783 ; without, however, being 
 signalized by any great events. On the 30th of November, 1782, 
 preliminary articles of peace were signed at Paris, by which Great 
 Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States, and 
 by which the whole country south of the lakes and east of the 
 Mississippi was ceded to them, and the right of fishing on the 
 Banks of Newfoundland. 
 
 On the 25th of November, 1783, the British troops evacuated 
 New York ; and, shortly after, the American army was disbanded. 
 The 4th of December, Washington made his farewell address to 
 his officers ; and, on the 23d of December, he resigned his com- 
 mission into the hands of the body from which he received it, and 
 retired to private life ; having discharged the great trust reposed 
 in him in a manner which secured the gratitude of his country, 
 and which will probably win the plaudits of all future generations. 
 
 The results of the Revolutionary War can only be described by 
 enumerating the progressive steps of American aggrandizement 
 from that time to this, and by speculating on the future destinies 
 of the Anglo-Saxon race on the American continent. The suc- 
 cess which attended this long war is in part to be traced to the 
 talents and matchless wisdom and integrity of the commander-in- 
 chief ; to the intrepid courage and virtues of the armies he direct- 
 ed ; to the self-confidence and inexperience of the English generals ; 
 
CHAP. XXVIII.] RESIGNATION OF LORD NORTH. 449 
 
 to the difficulties necessarily attending the conquest of forests, 
 and swamps, and scattered towns ; to the assistance of the French 
 nation ; and, above all, to the superintending providence of God, 
 who designed to rescue the sons of the Pilgrims from foreign 
 oppression, and, in spite of their many faults, to make them a 
 great and glorious nation, in which religious and civil liberty should 
 be perpetuated, and all men left free to pursue their own means of 
 happiness, and develop the inexhaustible resources of a great and 
 boundless empire. 
 
 The English nation acquiesced in an event which all felt to be 
 inevitable ; but Lord North was compelled to resign, and a change 
 of measures was pursued. It is now time to contemplate English 
 affairs, until the French Revolution. 
 
 References. — The books -written on the American Revolution are very 
 numerous, an index to which may be seen in Botta's History, as well as in 
 the writings of those who have treated of this great event. Sparks's Life 
 and Correspondence of Washington is doubtless the most valuable work 
 which has yet appeared since Marshall wrote the Life of Washington. 
 Guizot's Essay on Washington is exceedingly able ; nor do I know any 
 author who has so profoundly analyzed the character and greatness 
 of the American hero. Botta's History of the Revolution is a pop- 
 ular but superficial and overlauded book. Mr. Hale's History of the 
 United States is admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is designed, 
 and is the best compendium of American history;. Stedman is the standard 
 authority in England. Belsham, in his History of George HI., has writ- 
 ten candidly and with spirit. Smyth, in his lectures on Modern History, 
 has discussed the Revolution with great ability. See also the works of 
 Ramsay, Winterbotham, Allen, and Gordon. The lives of the prominent 
 American generals, statesmen, and orators, should also be read in connec- 
 tion ; especially of Lee, Greene, Franklin; Adams, and Henry, which are 
 best described in Sparks's American Biography. 
 38* 
 
450 WILLIAM PITT. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 4 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM PITT. 
 
 We come now to consider the most eventful administration, in 
 many important respects, in British annals. The greatness of 
 military operations, the magnitude of reforms, and the great num- 
 ber of illustrious statesmen and men of genius, make the period, 
 when Pitt managed the helm of state, full of interest and grandeur. 
 
 William Pitt, second son of the first Earl of Chatham, entered 
 public life at a very early age, and was prime minister of George 
 III. at a period of life when most men are just completing a pro- 
 fessional education. He was a person of extraordinary precocity. 
 He entered Cambridge University at the age of fourteen, and at 
 that period was a finished Greek and Latin scholar. He spent no 
 idle hours, and evinced but little pleasure in the sports common 
 to boys of his age. He was as successful in mastering mathe- 
 matics as the languages, and was an admirer of the profoundest 
 treatises of intellectual philosophy. He excelled in every branch 
 of knowledge to which he directed his attention. In 1780, at 
 the age of twenty-one, he became a resident in Lincoln's Inn, 
 entered parliament the succeeding spring, and immediately as- 
 sumed an active part. His first speech astonished all who heard 
 him, notwithstanding that great expectations were formed con- 
 cerning his power. He was made chancellor of the exchequer at 
 the age of twenty-three, and at a time when it required a finance 
 minister of the greatest experience. Nor would the Commons 
 have acquiesced in his appointment to so important a post, in so 
 critical a state of the nation, had not great confidence existed as to 
 his abilities. From his first appearance, Pitt took a commanding 
 position as a parliamentary orator ; nor, as such, has he ever, on 
 the whole, been surpassed. His peculiar talents fitted him for the 
 highest post in the gift of his sovereign, and the circumstances of 
 the times, in addition, were such as were calculated to develop all 
 the energies and talents he possessed. He was not the most 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] EARLY LIFE OF PITT. 451 
 
 commanding intellect of his age, but he was, unquestionably, the 
 greatest orator that England has produced, and exercised, to the 
 close of his career, in spite of the opposition of such men as 
 Burke, Fox, and Sheridan, an overwhelming parliamentary influ- 
 ence. He was a prodigy ; as great in debate, and in executive 
 power, as Napoleon was in the field, Bacon in philosophy, or 
 Shakspeare in poetry. It is difficult for us to conceive how a 
 young man, just emerging from college halls, should be able to 
 answer the difficult questions of veteran statesmen who had been 
 all their lives opposing the principles he advanced, and to assume 
 at once the powers with which his father was intrusted only at a 
 mature period of life. Pitt was almost beyond envy, and the 
 proud nobles and princely capitalists of the richest, proudest, and 
 most conservative country in the world, surrendered to him the 
 guardianship of their liberties with no more fear or distrust than 
 the hereditary bondmen of Turkey or Russia would have shown in 
 hailing the accession of a new emperor. He was born to com- 
 mand, one of nature's despots, and he assumed the reins of govern- 
 ment with a perfect consciousness of his abilities to rule. 
 
 He was only twenty-four years of age when he began to reign ; 
 for, as prime minister of George III., he was, during his continu- 
 ance in office, the absolute ruler of the British empire. He had, 
 virtually, the nomination of his colleagues, and, through them, the 
 direction of all executive affairs. He was controlled by the legis- 
 lature only, and parliament was subservient to his will. What a 
 proud position for a young man to occupy ! A commoner, with 
 a limited fortune, to give laws to a vast empire, and to have a 
 proud nobility obedient to his will ; and all this by the force of 
 talents alone — talents which extorted admiration and respect. 
 He selected Lord Thurlow as chancellor, Lord Gower as presi- 
 dent of the council, the Duke of Richmond as lord privy seal, 
 Lords Carmarthen and Sydney as secretaries of state, and Lord 
 Howe as first lord of the admiralty. These were his chief asso- 
 ciates in resisting a powerful opposition, and in regulating the affairs 
 of a vast empire — the concerns of India, the national debt, the 
 necessary taxation, domestic tranquillity, and intercourse with 
 foreign powers. But he deserved the confidence of his sovereign 
 and of the nation, and they sustained him in his extraordinary 
 embarrassments and difficulties. 
 
452 POLICY OF PITT. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 The policy of the administration is not here to be discussed ; but 
 it was the one pursued 1 , in the main, by his father, and one which 
 gratified the national pride. The time has not yet come for us to 
 decide, with certainty, on the wisdom of his course. He was the 
 advocate of measures which had for their object national aggran- 
 dizement. He was the strenuous defender of war, and he would 
 oppose Napoleon and all the world to secure preeminence to 
 Great Britain. He believed that glory was better than money ; he 
 thought that an overwhelming debt was a less evil than national 
 disgrace ; he exaggerated the resources and strength of his coun- 
 try, and believed that it was destined to give laws to the world - r 
 he underrated the abilities of other nations to make great advances 
 in mechanical skill and manufacturing enterprise ; he supposed 
 that English manufactures would be purchased forever by the rest 
 of the world, and therefore that England, in spite of the debt, 
 would make all nations contribute to her glory and wealth. It was 
 to him a matter of indifference how heavily the people were taxed 
 to pay the interest on a fictitious debt, provided that, by their 
 commerce and manufactures, they could find abundant means to 
 pay this interest. And so long as England could find a market for 
 her wares, the nation would not suffer from taxation. His error 
 was in supposing that England, forever, would manufacture for 
 the world ; that English skill was superior to the skill of all other 
 nations ; that there was a superiority in the very nature of an 
 Englishman which would enable him, in any country, or under 
 any circumstances, to overcome all competitors and rivals. Such 
 views were grateful to his nation ; and he, by continually flatter- 
 ing the national vanity, and ringing the changes on glory and 
 patriotism, induced it to follow courses which may one day result 
 in overwhelming calamities. Self-exaggeration is as fatal to a 
 nation as it is to an individual, and constitutes that pride which 
 precedes destruction. But the mere debt of England, being owed 
 to herself, and not to another nation, is not so alarming as it is 
 sometimes supposed. The worst consequence, in a commercial 
 point of view, is national bankruptcy ; but if England becomes 
 bankrupt, her factories, her palaces, her warehouses, and her ships 
 remain. These are not destroyed. Substantial wealth does not 
 fly from the island, but merely passes from the hands of capitalists 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] DIFFICULTIES WITH IRELAND. 453 
 
 to the people. The policy of Pitt has merely enriched the few at 
 the expense of the many — has confirmed the power of the aris- 
 tocracy. When manufacturers can no longer compete with those 
 of other countries, upon such unequal terms as are rendered neces- 
 sary in consequence of unparalleled taxation to support the public 
 creditors, then the public creditors must suffer rather than the 
 manufacturer himself. The manufacturer must live. This class 
 composes a great part of the nation. The people must be fed, 
 and they will be fed ; and they can be fed as cheaply as in any 
 country, were it not for taxes. The policy of Pitt, during the 
 period of commercial prosperity, tended, indeed, to strengthen the 
 power of the aristocracy — that class to which he belonged, and 
 to which the House of Commons, who sustained him, belonged. 
 But it was suicidal, as is the policy of all selfish men ; and 
 ultimately must tend to revolutionary measures, even though 
 those measures may not be carried by massacres and blazing 
 thrones. 
 
 But we must hasten to consider the leading events which char- 
 acterized the administration of William Pitt. These were the 
 troubles in Ireland, parliamentary reforms, the aggrandizement of 
 the East India Company, the trial of Hastings, debates on the slave 
 trade, and the war with France in consequence of the French 
 Revolution. 
 
 The difficulties with Ireland did not become alarming until the 
 French Revolution had created a spirit of discontent and agitation 
 in all parts of Great Britain. Soon after his accession to power, 
 Mr. Flood, a distinguished member of the Irish House of Com- 
 mons, brought in a bill of parliamentary reform, which, after a long 
 debate, was negatived. Though his measui'e was defeated in the 
 House, its advocates out of doors were not cast down, but took 
 measures to form a national congress, for the amelioration of the 
 evils which existed. A large delegation of the people actually 
 met at Dublin, and petitioned parliament for the redress of griev- 
 ances. Mr. Pitt considered the matter with proper attention, and 
 labored to free the commerce of Ireland from the restraints under 
 which it labored. But, in so doing, he excited the jealousy of 
 British merchants and manufacturers, and they induced him to 
 remodel his propositions for the relief of Ireland, which were 
 
454 THE UNITED IRISHMEN. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 then adopted. Tranquillity was restored until the year 1791, 
 when there appeared'at Belfast the plan of an association, under 
 the name of the United Irishmen, whose object was a radical 
 reform of all the evils which had existed in Ireland since its con- 
 nection with England. This association soon extended throughout 
 the island, and numbered an immense body of both Protestants 
 and Catholics, who were disaffected with the government. In 
 consequence of the disaffections, especially among the Catholics, 
 the English ministiy made many concessions, and the legislature 
 allowed Catholics to practice law, to intermarry with Protestants, 
 and to obtain an unrestrained education. But parliament also 
 took measures to prevent the assembling of any convention of 
 the people, and augmented the militia in case of disturbance. 
 But disturbances took place, and the United Irishmen began to 
 contemplate an entire separation from England, and other treason- 
 able designs. In consequence of these commotions, the Habeas 
 Corpus Act was suspended, and a military government was enforced 
 with all its rigor. The United Irish pretended to submit, but laid 
 still deeper schemes, and extended their affiliations. In May, 
 1797, the number of men enrolled by the union in Ulster alone 
 was one hundred thousand, and their organization was perfect. 
 The French government was aware of the union, which gradually 
 numbered five hundred thousand men, and promised it assistance. 
 The Irish, however, relied chiefly upon themselves, and prepared 
 to resist the English government, which was resolved on pursuing 
 the most vigorous measures. A large military force was sent to 
 Ireland, and several ringleaders of the contemplated insurrection 
 were arrested. 
 
 But the timely discovery of the conspiracy prevented one of 
 the most bloody contests which ever happened in Ireland. Never- 
 theless, the insurrection broke out in some places, and in the 
 county of Wexford was really formidable. The rebels num- 
 bered twenty thousand men. They got possession of Wexford, 
 and committed great barbarities ; but they were finally sub- 
 dued by Lord Comwallis. Had the French cooperated, as they 
 had promised, with a force of fifteen thousand, it is not im- 
 probable that Ireland would have been wrested from England. 
 But the French had as much as they could do, at this time, to 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] UNION OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND. 455 
 
 take care of themselves ; and Ireland was again subjected to 
 greater oppressions than before. 
 
 The Irish parliament had hitherto been a mere body of perpetual 
 dictators. By the Octennial Bill, this oligarchy was disbanded, 
 and the House of Commons wore something of the appearance 
 of a constitutional assembly, and there were found in it some men 
 of integrity and sagacity. Ireland also had her advocates in the 
 British senate ; but whenever the people or the parliament gained 
 a victory over the viceroy, some accident or blunder deprived the 
 nation of reaping the fruits. The Commons became again cor- 
 rupted, and the independence which Ireland obtained ceased to 
 have a value. The corrupted Commons basely surrendered all 
 that had been obtained. In vain the eloquence of Curran and 
 Grattan. The Irish nation, without public virtue, a prey to fac- 
 tion, and a scene of corruption, became at last powerless and 
 politically helpless. The rebellion of 1798 was a mere peasants' 
 war, without intelligence to guide, or experience to counsel. 
 It therefore miserably failed, but did not fail until fifty thousand 
 rebels and twenty thousand royalists had perished. 
 
 In June, 1800, the union of Ireland and England was effected, 
 on the same basis as that between England and Scotland in the time 
 of Anne. It was warmly opposed by some of the more patriotic 
 of the Irish statesmen, and only carried by corruption and bribery. 
 By this union, foreign legislation took the place of the guidance of 
 those best qualified to know the national grievances ; the Irish 
 members became, in the British senate, merely the tools of the 
 administration. Absenteeism was nearly doubled, and the national 
 importance nearly annihilated in a political point of view. But, 
 on the other hand, an oligarchial tyranny was broken, and the 
 bond of union which bound the countries was strengthened, and 
 the nation subsided into a greater state of tranquillity. Twenty- 
 eight peers and one hundred commoners were admitted into the 
 English parliament. 
 
 Notwithstanding the suppression of the rebellion of 1798, only 
 five years elapsed before another one was contemplated — the 
 result of republican principles, and of national grievances. The 
 leaders were Robert Emmet and Thomas Russell. But their 
 treasonable designs were miserably supported by their country- 
 
456 CONDITION OF IRELAND. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 men, and they were able to make but a feeble effort, which imme- 
 diately failed. The*e men were arrested, tried, and executed. 
 The speech of Emmet, before his execution, has been much 
 admired for its spirit of patriotism and pensive eloquence. His 
 grand mistake consisted in overrating the strength of demo- 
 cratic influences, and in supposing that, by violent measures, he 
 could overturn a strong military government. The Irish were not 
 prepared for freedom, still less republican freedom. There was 
 not sufficient concert, or patriotism, or intelligence, to secure pop- 
 ular liberty, and the antipathy between the Catholic and Protestant 
 population was too deeply seated and too malignant to hope, 
 reasonably, for a lasting union. 
 
 All the measures which have been adopted for the independence 
 and elevation of Ireland have failed, and the country is still in as 
 lamentable a state as ever. It presents a grand enigma and mys- 
 tery to the politician. All the skill of statesmen is baffled in 
 devising means for the tranquillity and improvement of that un- 
 happy and unfortunate country. The more privileges the people 
 gain, and the greater assistance they receive, the more unreason- 
 able appear to be their demands, and the more extravagant their 
 expectations. Still, there are great and shameful evils, which 
 ought to be remedied. There are nearly five millions of acres of 
 waste land in the country, capable of the highest cultivation. The 
 soil is inexhaustibly rich, the climate is most delightful, and the 
 natural advantages for agriculture and commerce unprecedented. 
 Still the Irish remain oppressed and poor ; enslaved by their priests, 
 and ground down to the earth by exacting landlords and a hostile 
 government. There is no real union between England and Ire- 
 land, no sympathy between the different classes, and an implacable 
 animosity between the Protestant and Catholic population. The 
 northern and Protestant part of the island is the most flourishing ; 
 but Ireland, in any light it may be viewed, is the most miserable 
 country, with all the gifts of nature, the worst governed, and 
 the most afflicted, in Christendom ; and no human sagacity or 
 wisdom has yet been able to devise a remedy for the innu- 
 merable evils which prevail. The permanent causes of the 
 degradation of the Irish peasantry, in their own country, have 
 been variously attributed to the Roman Catholic priesthood, to the 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 457 
 
 tyranny of the government, to the system by which the lands are 
 leased and cultivated, and to the natural elements of the Irish 
 character. These, united, may have produced the effects which 
 all philanthropists deplore ; but no one cause, in particular, can 
 account for so fine a nation sinking into such poverty and wretch- 
 edness, especially when it is considered tha the same idle and 
 miserable peasantry, when transplanted to America, exhibit very 
 different dispositions and tastes, and develop traits of character 
 which command respect and secure prosperity. 
 
 The first plan for parliamentary reform was brought forward 
 by Pitt in 1782, before he was prime minister, in consequence of 
 a large number of the House representing no important interests, 
 and dependent on the minister. But his motion , was successfully 
 opposed. In May, 1783, he brought in another bill to add one 
 hundred members to the House of Commons, and to abolish a 
 proportionate number of the small and obnoxious boroughs. This 
 plan, though supported by Fox, was negatived by a great majority. 
 In 1785, he made a third attempt to secure a reform of parlia- 
 ment, and again faded ; and with this last attempt ended all his 
 efforts for this object. So persuaded was he of the impractica- 
 bility of the measure, that he even uniformly* opposed the object 
 when attempted by others. Moreover, he changed his opinions 
 when he perceived the full connection and bearing of the subject 
 with other agitating questions. He was desirous of a reform, if it 
 could be obtained without mischief;, but when it became a demo- 
 cratic measure, he opposed it with all his might. Indeed, he 
 avowed that he preferred to have parliament remain as it vras, 
 forever, rather than risk any prospects of reform when the country 
 was so deeply agitated by revolutionary discussions. Mr. Pitt 
 perfectly understood that those persons who were most eager for 
 parliamentary reform, desired the overthrow of the existing institu- 
 tions of the land, or, at least, such as were inconsistent with the 
 hereditary succession to the throne, hereditary titles, and the whole 
 system of entailed estates. Mr. Pitt, as he grew older, more 
 powerful, and more experienced, became more aristocratic and 
 conservative; feared to touch any of the old supports of the 
 constitution for fear of producing a revolution — an evil which, 
 of all evils, he most abhorred. Mr. Burke, though opposed to the 
 39 
 
458 WARREN HASTINGS. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 minister, here defended him, and made an eloquent speech against 
 revolutionary measures. Nor can we wonder at the change of 
 opinion, which Mr. Pitt and others admitted, when it is considered 
 that the advocates of parliamentary reform also were asso- 
 ciated with men of infidel and dangerous principles. Thomas 
 Paine was one of the apostles of liberty in that age, and his 
 writings had a very great and very pernicious influence on the 
 people at large. It is very singular, but nevertheless true, that 
 some of the most useful reforms have been projected by men of 
 infidel principles, and infidelity and revolutionary excess have 
 generally been closely connected. 
 
 But the reform question did not deeply agitate the people of 
 England until a much later period. One of the most exciting 
 events, in the domestic history of England during the administra- 
 tion of Pitt, was the trial of Hastings and the difficulties which 
 grew out of the aggrandizement of the East India Company. 
 
 In the chapter on colonization, allusion was made to Indian 
 affairs until the close of the administration of Lord Clive. War- 
 ren Hastings continued the encroachments and conquests which 
 Clive had so successfully begun. He went to India in 1750, at 
 the age of seventeen, as a clerk in the service of the company. 
 It was then merely a commercial corporation. His talents and 
 sagacity insured his prosperity. He gradually was promoted, 
 and, in 1772, was appointed head of the government in Bengal. 
 But the governor was not then, as he now is, nearly absolute, and 
 he had only one vote in the council which represented the company 
 at Calcutta. He was therefore frequently overruled, and his power 
 was crippled. But he contrived to make important changes, and 
 abolished the office of the minister to whom was delegated the collec- 
 tion of the revenue and the general regulation of internal affairs — 
 an office which had been always held by a native. Hastings trans- 
 ferred the internal administration to the servants of the company, 
 and in various other ways improved the finances of the company, the 
 members of which were indifferent, comparatively, to the condition 
 of the people of India, provided that they themselves were enriched. 
 To enrich the company and extend its possessions, even at the ex- 
 pense of justice and humanity, became the object of the governor- 
 general. He succeeded ; but success brought upon him the impre- 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] WAK WITH HYDER ALL 459 
 
 cations of the natives and the indignant rebukes of his own country- 
 men. In less than two years after he had assumed the government, 
 he added four hundred thousand pounds to the annual income of 
 the company, besides nearly a million in ready money. But the 
 administration of Hastings cannot be detailed. We can only 
 notice that part of it which led to his trial in England. 
 
 The great event which marked his government was the war 
 with Hyder Ali, the Mohammedan sovereign of Mysore. The 
 province of Bengal and the Carnatic had been, for some time, 
 under the protection of the English. Adjoining the Carnatic, in 
 the centre of the peninsula, were the dominions of Hyder Ali. 
 Had Hastings been governor of Madras, he would have concil- 
 iated him, or vigorously encountered him as an enemy. But the 
 authorities at Madras had done neither. They provoked him to 
 hostilities, and, with an army of ninety thousand men, he invaded 
 the Carnatic. The British empire was on the verge of ruin. 
 Hyder Ali was every where triumphant, and only a few fortified 
 places remained to the English. 
 
 Hastings, when he heard of the calamity, instantly adopted the 
 most vigorous measures. He settled his difficulties with the Mah- 
 rattas ; he suspended the incapable governor of Fort George, and 
 sent Sir Eyre Coote to oppose the great Mohammedan prince who 
 threatened to subvert the English power in India. 
 
 But Hastings had not the money which was necessaiy to carry 
 on an expensive war with the most formidable enemy the English 
 ever encountered in the East. He therefore resolved to plunder 
 the richest and most sacred city of India — Benares. It was the 
 seat of Indian learning and devotion, and contained five hundred 
 thousand people. Its temple, as seen from the Gangqs, was the 
 most imposing in the Eastern world, while its bazaars were filled 
 with the most valuable and rare of Indian commodities ; with the 
 muslins of Bengal, the shawls of Cashmere, the sabres of Oude, 
 and the silks of its own looms. 
 
 This rich capital was governed by a prince nominally subject to 
 the Great Mogul, but who was dependent on the Nabob of Oude, 
 a large province north of the Ganges, near the Himmaleh Moun- 
 tains. Benares and its territories, being oppressed by the Nabob 
 of Oude, sought the protection of the British. Their protection 
 
460 ROBBERY OF THE PRINCESSES OF OUDE. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 was, of course, readily extended ; but it was fatal to the independ- 
 ence of Benares. ■'The alliance with the English was like the 
 protection Rome extended to Greece when threatened by Asia, 
 and which ended in the subjection of both Greece and Asia. The 
 Rajah of Benares became the vassal of the company, and there- 
 fore was obliged to furnish money for the protection he enjoyed. 
 
 But the tribute which the Rajah of Benares paid did not satisfy 
 Hastings. He exacted still greater sums, which led to an insur- 
 rection and ultimate conquest. The fair domains of Cheyte Sing, 
 the lord of Benares, were added to the dominions of the company, 
 together with an increased revenue of two hundred thousand 
 pounds a year. The treasure of the rajah amounted to two hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand pounds, and this was divided as prize 
 money among the English. 
 
 The rapacious governor-general did not obtain the treasure 
 which he expected to find at Benares, and then resolved to rob the 
 Princesses of Oude, who had been left with immense treasures on 
 the death of Suraj-w Dowlah, the nabob vizier of the Grand Mogul. 
 The only pretext which Hastings could find was, that the insur- 
 rection at Benares had produced disturbances at Oude, and which 
 disturbances were imputed to the princesses. Great barbarities 
 were inflicted in order to secure these treasures ; but the robbers 
 were successful, and immense sums flowed into the treasury of the 
 company. By these iniquities, the governor found means to con- 
 duct the war on the Carnatic successfully, and a treaty was con- 
 cluded with Tippoo, the son of Hyder Ali, by which the company 
 reigned without a rival on the great Indian peninsula. 
 
 When peace was restored to India, and the company's servants 
 had accumulated immense fortunes, Hastings returned to England. 
 But the iniquities he had practised excited great indignation among 
 those statesmen who regarded justice and humanity as better sup- 
 ports to a government than violence and rapine. 
 
 Foremost among these patriots was Edmund Burke. He had 
 long been a member of the select committee to investigate Indian 
 affairs, and he had bestowed great attention to them, and fully 
 understood the course which Hastings had pursued. 
 
 Through his influence, an inquiry into the conduct of the late 
 gevernor-general was instituted, and he was accordingly impeached 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] PROSECUTION OF HASTINGS. 461 
 
 at the bar of the House of Lords, Mr. Pitt permitted matters to 
 take their natural course ; but the king, the Lord Chancellor 
 Thurlow, the ministers generally, and the directors of the East 
 India Company espoused his cause. They regarded him as a 
 very great man, whose rule had been glorious to the nation, in 
 spite of the mistakes and cruelties which marked his government. 
 He had added an empire to the British crown, educed order out 
 of anarchy, and organized a system of administration which, in its 
 essential features, has remained to this time. He enriched the 
 company, while he did not enrich himself; for he easily might 
 have accumulated a fortune of three millions of pounds. And he 
 moreover contrived, in spite of his extortions and conquests, to 
 secure the respect of the native population, whose national and 
 religious prejudices he endeavored not to shock. " These things 
 inspired good will. At the same time, his constant success, and 
 the manner in which he extricated himself from every difficulty, 
 made him an object of superstitious admiration ; and the more 
 than regal splendor which he sometimes displayed, dazzled a 
 people who have much in common with children. Even now, 
 after the lapse of more than fifty years, the natives of India still 
 talk of him as the greatest of the English, and nurses sing children 
 to sleep with a gingling ballad about the fleet horses and richly- 
 caparisoned elephants of Sahib Warren Hostein." 
 
 But neither the admiration of the people of the East for the 
 splendid abilities of Hastings, nor the gratitude of a company of 
 merchants, nor the powerful friends he had in the English parlia- 
 ment, could screen him from the malignant hatred of Francis, or 
 the purer indignation of Burke. The zeal which the latter evinced 
 in his prosecution has never been equalled, and all his energies, 
 for years, were devoted to the exposure of a person whom he 
 regarded as " a delinquent of the first magnitude." "He had just 
 as lively an idea of the insurrection at Benares as of Lord George 
 Gordon's riots, and of the execution of Nuncomac as of the exe- 
 cution of Dr. Dodd." Burke was assisted in his vehement 
 prosecution by Charles James Fox, the greatest debater ever 
 known in the House of Commons, but a man vastly inferior to 
 himself in moral elevation, in general knowledge, in power of 
 fancy, and in profound wisdom. 
 39* 
 
462 EDMUND BURKE. [CHAP. XXTX. 
 
 The trial was at Westminster Hall, the hall which had witnessed 
 the inauguration of thirty kings, and the trials of accused nobles 
 since the time of William Rufus. And he was a culprit not 
 unworthy of that great tribunal before which he was summoned — 
 " a tribunal which had pronounced sentence on Strafford, and pardon 
 on Somers " — the tribunal before which royalty itself had been 
 called to account. Hastings had ruled, with absolute sway, a 
 country which was more populous and more extensive than any 
 of the kingdoms of Europe, and had gained a fame which was 
 bounded only by the unknown countries of the globe. He was 
 defended by three men who subsequently became the three highest 
 judges of the land, and he was encouraged by the appearance and 
 sympathetic smiles of the highest nobles of the realm. 
 
 But greater than all were the mighty statesmen who conducted 
 the prosecution. First among them in character and genius was 
 Edmund Burke, who, from the time that he first spoke in the 
 House of Commons, in 1766, had been a prominent member, and 
 had, at length, secured greater fame than any of his contempora- 
 ries, Pitt alone excepted, not merely as an orator, but as an 
 enlightened statesman, a philosopher, and a philanthropist. He 
 excelled all the great men with whom he was associated, in the 
 variety of his powers ; he was a poet even while a boy ; a pene- 
 trating philosopher, critic, and historian before the age of thirty ; 
 a statesman of unrivalled moral wisdom ; an orator whose speeches 
 have been read with increasing admiration in every succeeding 
 age ; a judge of the fine arts to whose opinions Reynolds submit- 
 ted ; and a writer on various subjects, in which he displayed not 
 only vast knowledge, but which he treated in a style of matchless 
 beauty and force. All the great men of his age — Johnson, Rey- 
 nolds, Goldsmith, Garrick, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Windham, North, 
 Thurlow, Parr — scholars, critics, divines, and statesmen — bore 
 testimony to his commanding genius and his singular moral worth, 
 to his hatred of vice, and his passionate love of virtue. ; But 
 these great and varied excellences, which secured him the venera- 
 tion of the finest minds in Europe, were not fully appreciated by 
 his own nation, which was astonished rather than governed by his 
 prophetic wisdom. But Burke was remarkable, not merely for his 
 knowledge, eloquence, and genius, but also for an unblemished 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] CHARLES JAMES FOX. 463 
 
 private life, for the habitual exercise of all those virtues, and the 
 free expression of all those noble sentiments which only have 
 marked exalted Christian characters. In his political principles, he 
 was a conservative, and preferred to base his views on history and 
 experience, rather than to try experiments, especially when these 
 were advocated by men whose moral character or infidel senti- 
 ments excited his distrust or aversion. He did not shut his eyes 
 to abuse, but aimed to mend deliberately and cautiously. His 
 admonition to his country respecting America corresponded with 
 his general sentiments. "Talk not of your abstract rights of 
 government ; I hate the very sound of them ; follow experience 
 and common sense." He believed that love was better than force, 
 and that the strength of any government consisted in the affections 
 of the people. And these he ever strove to retain, and for these 
 he was willing to relinquish momentary gain and selfish aggran- 
 dizement. He advocated concession to the Irish legislature ; 
 justice and security to the people of India ; liberty of conscience 
 to Dissenters ; relief to small debtors; the suppression of general 
 warrants ; the extension of the power of juries ; freedom of the 
 press ; retrenchment in the public expenditures ; the removal of 
 commercial restrictions ; and the abolition of the slave trade. He 
 had a great contempt for " mechanical politicians," and " pedler 
 principles." And he lived long enough to see the fulfilment of 
 his political prophecies, and the horrors of that dreadful revolution 
 which he had predicted and disliked, not because the principles 
 which the French apostles of liberty advocated, were not abstract- 
 edly true, but because they were connected with excesses, and 
 an infidel recklessness in the violation of established social rights, 
 which alarmed and disgusted him. He died in 1797, in the 
 sixty-eighth year of his age, beloved and honored by the good and 
 great in all Christian countries. 
 
 Next to Burke, among the prosecutors of Hastings, for great- 
 ness and popularity, was Charles James Fox ; inferior to Burke 
 in knowledge, imagination, and moral power, but superior in all 
 the arts of debate, the most logical and accomplished forensic 
 orator which that age' of orators produced. His father, Lord 
 Holland, had been the rival of the great Chatham, and he himself 
 was opposed, nearly the whole of his public life, to the younger 
 
464 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 Pitt. His political principles were like those of Burke until the 
 French Revolution, vhose principles he at first admired. He was 
 emphatically the man of the people, easy of access, social in his 
 habits, free in his intercourse, without reserve or haughtiness, gen- 
 erous, magnanimous, and conciliatory. He was unsurpassed for 
 logical acuteness, and for bursts of overpowering passion. He 
 reached high political station, although his habits were such as 
 destroyed, in many respects, the respect of those great men with 
 whom he was associated. 
 
 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, another of the public accusers of 
 Hastings, was a different man from either Burke or Fox. He 
 was born in Ireland, but was educated at Harrow, and first distin- ' 
 guished himself by writing plays. In 1776, on the retirement of 
 Garrick, he became manager of Drury Lane Theatre ; and shortly 
 after appeared the School for Scandal, which placed him on 
 the summit of dramatic fame. In 1780, he entered parliament, 
 and, when Hastings was impeached, was in the height of his repu- 
 tation, both as a writer and orator. His power consisted in 
 brilliant declamation and sparkling wit, and his speech in relation 
 to the Princesses of Oude produced an impression almost without a 
 parallel in ancient or modern times. Mr. Burke's admiration was 
 sincere and unbounded, but Fox thought it too florid and rhetorical. 
 His fame now rests on his dramas. But his life was the ship- 
 wreck of genius, in consequence of his extravagance, his reckless- 
 ness in incurring debts, and his dissipated habits, which disorgan- 
 ized his moral character and undermined the friendships which 
 his brilliant talents at first secured to him. 
 
 But in spite of the indignation which these illustrious orators 
 excited against Hastings, he was nevertheless acquitted, after a 
 trial which lasted eight years, in consequence of the change of 
 public opinion ; and, above all, in view of the great services which 
 he had really rendered to his country. The expenses of the trial 
 nearly ruined him ; but the East India Company granted him an 
 annual income of four thousand pounds, which he spent in orna- 
 menting and enriching Daylesford, the seat which had once 
 belonged to his family, and which he purchased after his return 
 from India. 
 
 Although Warren Hastings was eventually acquitted by the 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] BILL FOR THE REGULATION OF INDIA. 465 
 
 House of Lords, still his long and protracted trial brought to light 
 many evils connected with the government of India ; and, in 1784, 
 acts were passed which gave the nation a more direct control over 
 the East India Company — the most gigantic monopoly the world 
 has ever seen. That a company of merchants in Leadenhall 
 Street should exercise an unlimited power over< an empire larger 
 than the whole of Europe with the exception of Russia, and sacri- 
 fice the interests of humanity to base pecuniary considerations, at 
 length aroused the English nation. Accordingly, Mr. Pitt brought 
 in a bill, which passed both Houses, which provided that the affairs 
 of the company should be partly managed by a Board of Control, 
 partly by the Court of Directors, and partly by a general meeting 
 of the stockholders of the company. The Board of Control was 
 intrusted to five privy counsellors, one of whom was secretary of 
 state. It was afterwards composed of a president, such members 
 of the privy council as the king should select, and a secretary. 
 This board superintends and regulates all civil, military, and reve- 
 nue officers, and political negotiations, and all general despatches. 
 The Board of Directors, composed of twenty-four men, six of 
 whom are annually elected, has the nomination of the governor- 
 general, and the appointment of all civil and military officers. 
 These two boards operate as a check against each other. 
 
 The first governor-general, by the new constitution, was Lord 
 Cornwallis, a nobleman of great military experience and elevated 
 moral worth ; a man who was intrusted with great power, even 
 after his misfortunes in America, and a man who richly deserved 
 the confidence reposed in him. Still, he never was fortunate. He 
 made blunders in India as well as in America. He did not fully 
 understand the institutions of India, or the genius of the people. 
 He was soon called to embark in the contests which divided the 
 different native princes, and with the usual result. The simple 
 principle of English territorial acquisition is, in defending the 
 cause of the feebler party. The stronger party was then conquered, 
 and became a province of the East India Company, while the 
 weaker remained under English protection, until, by oppression, 
 injustice, and rapacity on the part of the protectors, it was driven 
 to rebellion, and then subdued. 
 
 When Lord Cornwallis was sent to India, in 1786, the East 
 
466 WAR WITH TIPPOO SAIB. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 India Company had obtained possession of Bengal, a part of Bahar, 
 the Benares district <*f Allahabad, part of Orissa, the Circars, 
 Bombay, and the Jaghire of the Carnatic — a district of one hun- 
 dred miles along the coast. The other great Indian powers, 
 unconquered by the English, were the Mahrattas, who occupied 
 the centre of India, from Delhi to the Krishna, and from the Bay 
 of Bengal to the Arabian Sea ; also, Golconda, the western parts 
 of the Carnatic, Mysore, Oude, and the country of the Sikhs. 
 Of the potentates who ruled over these extensive provinces, the 
 Sultan of Mysore, Tippoo Saib, was the most powerful, although 
 the Mahrattas country was the largest. 
 
 The hostility of Tippoo, who inherited his father's prejudices 
 against the English, excited the suspicions of Lord Cornwallis, 
 and a desperate war was the result, in which the sultan showed 
 the most daring courage. In 1792, the English general invested 
 the formidable fortress of Seringapatam, with sixteen thousand 
 Europeans and thirty thousand sepoys, and with the usual success. 
 Tippoo, after the loss of this strong fort, and of twenty-three 
 thousand of his troops, made peace with Lord Cornwallis, by the 
 payment of four millions of pounds, and the surrender of half his 
 dominions. Lord Cornwallis, after the close of this war, returned 
 home, and was succeeded by Sir John Shore ; and he by Marquis 
 Wellesley, ( 1798,) under whose administration the war with Tip- 
 poo was renewed, in consequence of the intrigues of the sultan 
 with the French at Pondicherry, to regain his dominions. The 
 Sultan of Mysore was again defeated, and slain ; the dynasty of 
 Hyder Ali ceased to Teign, and the East India Company took pos- 
 session of the whole southern peninsula. A subsequent war with 
 the Mahratta powers completely established the British supremacy 
 in India. Delhi, the capital of the Great Mogul, fell into the hands 
 of the English, and the emperor himself became a stipendiary of 
 a company of merchants. The conquest of the eountry of the 
 Mahrattas was indeed successful, but was attended by vast ex- 
 penses, which entailed a debt on the company of about nineteen 
 millions of pounds. The brilliant successes of Wellesley, how- 
 ever, were not appreciated by the Board of Directors, who wanted 
 dividends rather than glory, and he was recalled. 
 
 There were no new conquests until 1817, under the government 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] CONQUEST OF INDIA. 467 
 
 of the Earl of Moira, afterwards Marquis of Hastings. He made 
 war on the Pindarries, who were bands of freebooters in Central 
 India. They were assisted by several native powers, which in- 
 duced the governor-general to demand considerable cessions of 
 territory. In 1819, the British effected a settlement at Singapore, 
 by which a lucrative commerce was secured to Great Britain. 
 
 Lord Hastings was succeeded by the Earl of Amherst, under 
 whose administration the Burmese war commenced, and by which 
 immense territories, between Bengal and China, were added to the 
 British empire, (1826.) 
 
 On the overthrow of the Mogul empire, the kingdoms of the 
 Affghans and Sikhs, in the northern part of India, arose in impor- 
 tance — kingdoms formerly subject to Persia. The war with these 
 kingdoms will undoubtedly result in their complete subjection, with 
 all their dependent provinces. 
 
 In 1833, the charter of the East India Company expired, and a 
 total change of system was the result. The company was de- 
 prived of its exclusive right of trade, the commerce with India 
 and China was freely opened to all the world, and the possessions 
 and rights of the company were ceded to the nation for an annual 
 annuity of six hundred and thirty thousand pounds. The political 
 government of India, however, was continued to the company 
 until 1853. 
 
 Thus has England come in possession of one of the oldest and 
 most powerful of the Oriental empires, containing a population of 
 one hundred and eighty millions of people, speaking various lan- 
 guages, and wedded irrecoverably to different social and religious 
 institutions. The conquest of India is complete, and there is not 
 a valuable office in the whole country which is not held by an 
 Englishman. The native and hereditary princes of provinces, 
 separately larger and more populous than Great Britain itself, are 
 divested of all but the shadow of power, and receive stipends from 
 the East India Company. The Emperor of Delhi, the Nabobs of 
 Bengal and the Carnatic, the Rajahs of Tanjore and Benares, and 
 the Princes of the house of Tippoo, and other princes, receive, 
 indeed, an annual support of over a million sterling ; but their 
 power has passed away. An empire two thousand miles from east 
 to west, and eighteen hundred from north to south, and containing 
 
468 CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONQUEST. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 more square miles than a territory larger than all the States be- 
 tween the Mississippi atid the Atlantic Ocean, has fallen into the 
 hands of the Anglo-Saxon race. It is true that a considerable 
 part of Hindostan is nominally held by subsidiary allies, under the 
 protection of the British government ; but the moment that these 
 dependent princes cease to be useful, this protection will be with- 
 drawn. There can be no reasonable doubt that the English rule is 
 beneficent in many important respects. Order and law are better 
 observed than formerly under the Mohammedan dynasty ; but no 
 compensation is sufficient, in the eyes of the venerable Brahmin, for 
 interference in the laws and religion of the country. India has 
 been robbed by the armies of European merchants, and is only 
 held in bondage by an overwhelming military force, which must 
 be felt as burdensome and expensive when the plundered country 
 shall no longer satisfy the avarice of commercial corporations. 
 But that day may be remote. Calcutta now rivals in splendor and 
 population the old capital of the Great Mogul. The palace of the 
 governor-general is larger than Windsor Castle or Buckingham 
 Palace ; the stupendous fortifications of Fort William rival the 
 fortress of Gibraltar ; the Anglo-Indian army amounts to two 
 hundred thousand men ; while the provinces of India are taxed, 
 directly or indirectly, to an amount exceeding eighteen millions of 
 pounds per annum. It is idle to speculate on the destinies of 
 India, or the duration of the English power. The future is ever 
 full of gloom, when scarcely any thing is noticeable but injustice 
 and oppression on the part of rulers, and poverty and degradation 
 among the governed. It is too much to suppose that one hundred 
 and eighty millions of the human race can be permanently gov- 
 erned by a power on the opposite side of the globe, and where 
 there never can exist any union or sympathy between the nation 
 that rules and the nations that are ruled, in any religious, social, or 
 political institution ; and when all that is dear to the heart of man, 
 and all that is consecrated by the traditions of ages, are made to 
 subserve the interests of a mercantile state. 
 
 But it is time to hasten to the consideration of the remaining 
 subjects connected with the administration of William Pitt. 
 
 The agitations of moral reformers are among the most prominent 
 and interesting. The efforts of benevolent statesmen and philan- 
 
CHAP. XXIX.] "WAR WITH FRANCE. 469 
 
 thropists to abolish the slave trade produced a great excitement 
 throughout Christendom, and were followed by great results. 
 
 In 1787, William Wilberforce, who represented the great county 
 of York, brought forward, in the House of Commons, a motion for 
 the abolition of the slave trade. The first public movements to 
 put a stop to this infamous traffic were made by the Quakers in 
 the Southern States of America, who presented petitions for that 
 purpose to their respective legislatures. Their brethren in Eng- 
 land followed their example, and presented similar petitions to the 
 House of Commons. A society was formed, and a considerable 
 sum was raised to collect information relative to the traffic, and to 
 support the expense of application to parliament. A great resist- 
 ance was expected and made, chiefly by merchants and planters. 
 Mr. Wilberforce interested himself greatly in this investigation, 
 and in May brought the matter before parliament, and supported 
 his motion with overwhelming arguments and eloquence. Mr. 
 Fox, Mr. Burke, Mr. William Smith, and Mr. Whitbread sup- 
 ported Mr. Wilberforce. Mr. Pitt defended the cause of abolition 
 with great eloquence and power ; but the House was not then 
 in favor of immediate abolition, nor was it carried until Mr. Fox 
 and his friends came into power. 
 
 The war with France, in consequence of the progress of the 
 revolution, is too great a subject to be treated except in a chapter 
 by itself. Mr. Pitt abstained from all warlike demonstrations until 
 the internal tranquillity of England itself was affected by the propa- 
 gation of revolutionary principles. But when, added to these, it 
 was feared that the French were resolved to extend their empire, 
 and overturn the balance of power, and encroach on the liberties 
 of England, then Pitt, sustained by an overwhelming majority in 
 parliament, declared war upon France, (1793.) The advocates 
 of the French Revolution, however, take different views, and 
 attribute the rise and career of Napoleon to the jealousy and 
 encroachments of England herself, as well as of Austria and 
 Prussia. Whether the general European war might not have been 
 averted, is a point which merits inquiry, and on which British 
 statesmen are not yet agreed. But the connection of England 
 with this great war will be presented in the following chapter. 
 
 Mr, Pitt continued to manage the helm of state until 1806 ; but 
 40 
 
470 POLICY OF PITT. [CHAP. XXIX. 
 
 all his energies were directed to the prosecution of the war, and 
 no other events of importance took place during his administration. 
 
 His genius most signally was displayed in his financial skill in 
 extricating his nation from the great embarrassments which 
 resulted from the American war, and in providing the means to 
 prosecute still more expensive campaigns against Napoleon and 
 his generals. He also had unrivalled talent in managing the 
 House of Commons against one of the most powerful oppositions 
 ever known, and in a period of great public excitements. He 
 was always ready in debate, and always retained the confidence 
 of the nation. He is probably the greatest of the English states- 
 men, so far as talents are concerned, and so far as he represented 
 the ideas and sentiments of his age. But it is a question which 
 will long perplex philosophers whether he was the wisest of that 
 great constellation of geniuses who enlightened his brilliant age. 
 To him may be ascribed the great increase of the national debt. 
 If taxes are the greatest calamity which can afflict a nation, then 
 Pitt has entailed a burden of miseiy which will call forth eternal 
 curses on his name, in spite of all the brilliancy of his splendid 
 administration. But if the glory and welfare of nations consist in 
 other things — in independence, patriotism, and rational liberty : 
 if it was desirable, above all material considerations, to check the 
 current of revolutionary excess, and oppose the career of a man 
 who aimed to bring all the kings and nations of Europe under 
 the yoke of an absolute military despotism, and rear a universal 
 empire on the ruins of ancient monarchies and states, — then Pitt 
 and his government should be contemplated in a different light. 
 
 That mighty contest which developed the energies of this great 
 statesman, as well as the genius of a still more remarkable man, 
 therefore claims our attention. 
 
 References. — Tomline's Life of Pitt. Belsham's History of George 
 ILT. Prior's and Bissett's Lives of Burke. Moore's Life of Sheridan. 
 TTalpole's Life of Fox. Life of Wilberforce, by his sons. Annual Regis- 
 ter, from 1783 to 1806. Macaulay's Essay onTVarren Hastings. Elphin- 
 stone's and Martin's Histories of India. Mill's British India. Russell's 
 Modern Europe. Correspondence of Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke. Camp- 
 bell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors. Boswell's Life of Johnson. Burke's 
 Works. Schlosser's Modern History. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 471 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 
 
 If the American war was the greatest event in modern times, 
 in view of ultimate results, the French Revolution may be consid- 
 ered the most exciting and interesting to the eye of contemporaries. 
 The wars which grew out of the Revolution in France were con- 
 ducted on a scale of much greater magnitude, and embroiled all 
 the nations of Europe. A greater expenditure of energies took 
 place than from any contest in the annals of civilized nations. Nor 
 has any contest ever before developed so great military genius. 
 Napoleon stands at the head of his profession, by general consent ; 
 and it is probable that his fame will increase, rather than diminish, 
 with advancing generations. 
 
 It is impossible to describe, in a few pages, the great and varied 
 events connected with the French Revolution, or even allude to all 
 the prominent ones. The causes of this great movement are even 
 more interesting than the developments. 
 
 The question is often asked, could Louis XVI. have prevented 
 the catastrophe which overturned his throne ? He might, perhaps, 
 have delayed it ; but it was an inevitable event, and would have 
 happened, sooner or later. There were evils in the government 
 of France, and in the condition of the people, so overwhelming 
 and melancholy, that they would have produced an outbreak. 
 Had Richelieu never been minister ; had the Fronde never taken 
 place ; had Louis XIV. and XV. never reigned ; had there been 
 no such women as disgraced the court of France in the eighteenth 
 century ; had there been no tyrannical kings, no oppressive nobles, 
 no grievous taxes, no national embarrassments, no luxurious courts, 
 no infidel writings, and no discontented people, — then Louis XVI. 
 might have reigned at Versailles, as Louis XV. had done before 
 him. But the accumulated grievances of two centuries called 
 imperatively for redress, and nothing short of a revolution could 
 have removed them. 
 
472 HELVETIUS VOLTAIRE. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Now, what were those evils and those circumstances which, of 
 necessity, produced tlje most violent revolutionary storm in the 
 annals of the world ? The causes of the French revolution may 
 be generalized under five heads : First, the influence of the writ- 
 ings of infidel philosophers ; second, the diffusion of the ideas of 
 popular rights ; third, the burdens of the people, which made 
 these abstract ideas of right a mockery ; fourth, the absurd infat- 
 uation of the court and nobles ; fifth, the derangement of the 
 finances, which clogged the wheels of government, and led to the 
 assembling of the States General. There were also other causes ; 
 but the above mentioned are the most prominent. 
 
 Of those philosophers whose writings contributed to produce 
 this revolution, there were four who exerted a remarkable influ- 
 ence. These were Helvetius, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Diderot. 
 
 Helvetius was a man of station and wealth, and published, in 
 1758, a book, in which he carried out the principles of Condillac 
 and of other philosphers of the sensational, or, as it is sometimes 
 called, the sensuous school. He boldly advocated a system of 
 undisguised selfishness. He maintained that man owed his supe- 
 riority over the lower animals to the superior organization of the 
 body. Proceeding from this point, he asserted, further, that every 
 faculty and emotion are derived from sensation ; that all minds are 
 originally equal ; that pleasure is the only good, and self-interest 
 the only ground of morality. The materialism of Helvetius was 
 the mere revival of pagan Epicurianism ; but it was popular, and 
 his work, called De V Esprit, made a great sensation. It was 
 congenial with the taste of a court and a generation that tolerated 
 Madame de Pompadour. But the Parliament of Paris condemned 
 it, and pronounced it derogatory to human nature, inasmuch as it 
 confined our faculties to animal sensibility, and destroyed the 
 distinctions between virtue and vice. 
 
 His fame was eclipsed by the brilliant career of Voltaire, who 
 exercised a greater influence on his age than any other man. He 
 is the great apostle of French infidelity, and the great oracle of the 
 superficial thinkers of his nation and age. He was born in 1694, 
 and early appeared upon the stage. He was a favorite at Ver- 
 sailles, and a companion of Frederic the Great — as great an 
 egotist as he, though his egotism was displayed in a different way. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] ROUSSEAU. 473 
 
 He was an aristocrat, made for courts, and not for the people, 
 with whom he had no sympathy, although the tendency of his 
 writings was democratic. In all his satirical sallies, he professed 
 to respect authority. But he was never in earnest, was sceptical, 
 insincere, and superficial. It would not be rendering him justice 
 to deny that he had great genius. But his genius was to please, 
 to amuse a vainglorious people, to turn every thing into ridicule, 
 to pull down, and substitute nothing instead. He was a modern 
 Lucian, and his satirical mockery destroyed reverence for God 
 and truth. He despised and defied the future, and the future has 
 rendered a verdict which can never be reversed — that he was 
 vain, selfish, shallow, and cold, without faith in any spiritual 
 influence to change the world. But he had a keen perception 
 of what was false, with all his superficial criticism, a perception 
 of what is now called humbug ; and it cannot be denied that, in a 
 certain sense, he had a love of truth, but not of truth in its highest 
 development, not of the positive, the affirmative, the real. Nega- 
 tion and denial suited him better, and suited the age in which 
 he lived better ; hence he was a " representative man," was 
 an exponent of his age, and led the age. He hated the Jesuits, 
 but chiefly because they advocated a blind authority ; and he 
 strove to crush Christianity, because its professors so often were 
 a disgrace to it, while its best members were martyrs and victims. 
 Voltaire did not, like Helvetius, propose any new system of 
 philosophy, but strove to make all systems absurd. He set the 
 ball of Atheism in motion, and others followed in a bolder track ; 
 pushed out, not his piinciples, for he had none, but his spirit, into 
 the extreme of mockery and negation. And such a course 
 unsettled the popular faith, both in religion and laws, and made 
 men indifferent to the future, and to their moral obligations. 
 
 Quite a different man was Rousseau. He was not a mocker, or 
 a leveller, or a satirist, or an atheist. He resembled Voltaire 
 only in one respect - — in egotism. He was not so learned as 
 Voltaire, did not write so much, was not so highly honored or 
 esteemed. But he had more genius, and exercised a greater 
 influence on posterity. His influence was more subtle and more 
 dangerous, for he led astray people of generous impulses and 
 enthusiastic dispositions, with but little intelligence or experience. 
 40* 
 
474 DIDEROT. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 He abounded in extravagant admiration of unsophisticated nature, 
 professed to love the simple and earnest, affected extraordinary 
 friendship and sympathy, and was most enthusiastic in his rhapso- 
 dies of sentimental love. Voltaire had no cant, but Rousseau was 
 full of it. Voltaire was the father of Danton, but Rousseau of 
 Robespierre, that sentimental murderer who, as a judge, was too 
 conscientious to hang a criminal, but sufficiently unscrupulous to 
 destroy a king. The absurdities of Rousseau can be detected in 
 the ravings of the ultra Transcendentalists, in the extravagance of 
 Fourierism, in the mock philanthropy of such apostles of light as 
 Eugene Sue and Louis Blanc. The whole mental and physical 
 constitution of Rousseau was diseased, and his actions were 
 strangely inconsistent with his sentiments. He gave the kiss of 
 friendship, and it proved the token of treachery ; he expatiated on 
 simplicity and earnestness in most bewitching language, but was 
 a hypocrite, seducer, and liar. He was always breathing the 
 raptures of affection, yet never succeeded in keeping a friend ; he 
 was always denouncing the selfishness and vanity of the world, 
 and yet was miserable without its rewards and praises ; no man 
 was more dependent on society, yet no man ever professed to 
 hold it in deeper contempt ; no man ever had a prouder spirit, yet 
 no man ever affected a more abject humility. He dilated, with 
 apparent rapture, on disinterested love, and yet left his own 
 children to cold neglect and poverty. He poisoned the weak and 
 the susceptible by pouring out streams of passion in eloquent and 
 exciting language, under the pretence of unburdening his own 
 soul and revealing his own sorrows. He was always talking about 
 philanthropy and generosity, and yet seldom bestowed a charity. 
 No man was ever more eloquent in paradox, or sublime in 
 absurdity. He spent his life in gilding what is corrupt, and 
 glossing over what is impure. The great moral effect of his 
 writings was to make men commit crimes under the name of 
 patriotism, and permit them to indulge in selfish passion under the 
 name of love. 
 
 But more powerful than either of these false prophets and 
 guides, in immediate influence, was Diderot ; and with him the 
 whole school of bold and avowed infidels, who united open athe- 
 ism with a fierce democracy. The Encyclopedists professed 
 to know eveiy thing, to explain every thing, and to teach every 
 
CHAP. XXX.] GENERAL INFLUENCE OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 475 
 
 thing", they discovered that there was no God, and taught that 
 truth was a delusion, and virtue but a name. They were learned 
 in mathematical, statistical, and physical science, but threw con- 
 tempt on elevated moral wisdom, on the lessons of experience, 
 and the eternal truths of divine revelation. They advocated 
 changes, experiments, fomentations, and impracticable reforms. 
 They preached a gospel of social rights, inflamed the people with 
 disgust of their condition, and with the belief that wisdom and 
 virtue resided, in the greatest perfection, with congregated masses. 
 
 They incessantly boasted of the greatness of philosophy, and 
 the obsolete character of Christianity. They believed that suc- 
 cessive developments of human nature, without the aid of influences 
 foreign to itself, would gradually raise society to a state of per- 
 fection. What they could not explain by their logical formularies, 
 they utterly discarded. They denied the reality of a God in 
 heaven, and talked about the divinity of man on earth, especially 
 when associated masses of the ignorant and brutal asserted what 
 they conceived to be their rights. They made truth to reside, in 
 its greatest lustre, with passionate majorities; and virtue, in its 
 purest radiance, with felons and vagabonds, if affiliated into a 
 great association. They flattered the people that they were wiser 
 and better than any classes above them, that rulers were tyrants, 
 the clergy were hypocrites, the oracles of former days mere fools 
 and liars. To sum up, in few words, the French Encyclopedists, 
 " they made Nature, in her outward manifestations, to be the 
 foundation of all great researches, man to be but a mass of organi- 
 zation, mind the development of our sensations, morality to con- 
 sist in self-interest, and God to be but the diseased fiction of an 
 unenlightened age. The whole intellect, being concentrated on 
 the outward and material, gave rise, perhaps, to some improve- 
 ments in physical science ; but religion was disowned, morality de- 
 graded, and man made to be but the feeble link in the great chain 
 of events by which Nature is inevitably accomplishing her blind 
 designs." From such influences, what could we expect but 
 infidelity, madness, anarchy, and crimes? 
 
 The second cause of the French revolution was the diffusion of 
 the ideas of democratic liberty. Rousseau was a republican in 
 his politics, as he was a sentimentalist in religion. Thomas 
 
476 SUFFEKINGS OF THE PEOPLE. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Paine's Age of Reason had a great influence on the French mind, 
 as it also had on the English and American. Moreover, the apostles 
 of liberty in France were much excited in view of the success of 
 the American Revolution, and fancied that the words " popular 
 liberty," " sovereignty of the people," the " rights of man," " lib- 
 erty and equality," meant the same in America as they did when 
 pronounced by a Parisian mob. The French people were unduly 
 flattered, and made to believe, by the demagogues, that they were 
 philosophers, and that they were as fit for liberty as the American 
 nation itself. Moreover, it must be confessed that the people had 
 really made considerable advances, and discovered that there was 
 no right or justice in the oppressions under which they groaned. 
 The exhortations of popular leaders and the example of American 
 patriots prepared the people to make a desperate effort to shake 
 off their fetters. What were rights, in the abstract, if they were 
 to be ground down to the dust ? What a mockery was the watch- 
 word of liberty and equality, if they were obliged to submit to a 
 despotism which they knew to be, in the highest degree, oppressive 
 and tyrannical ? 
 
 Hence the real and physical evils which the people of France 
 endured, had no small effect in producing the revolution. Abstract 
 ideas prepared the way, and sustained the souls of the oppressed ; 
 but the absolute burdens which they bore aroused them to resistance. 
 
 These evils were so great, that general discontent prevailed 
 among the middle and lower classes through the kingdom. The 
 agricultural population was fettered by game laws and odious priv- 
 ileges to the aristocracy. " Game of the most destructive kind, 
 such as wild boars and herds of deer, were permitted to go at 
 large through spacious districts, in order that the nobles might 
 hunt as in a savage wilderness. Numerous edicts prohibited 
 weeding, lest young partridges should be disturbed, and mowing 
 of hay even, lest their eggs should be destroyed. Complaints 
 for the infraction of these edicts were carried before courts where 
 every species of oppression and fraud prevailed. Fines were 
 imposed at every change of property and at every sale. The 
 people were compelled to grind their corn at their landlord's mill, 
 to press their grapes in his press, and bake their bread in his oven." 
 In consequence of these feudal laws and customs, the people were 
 
CHAP. XXX.] DEGRADATION OF THE PEOPLE. 477 
 
 very poor, their houses dark and comfortless, their dress ragged 
 and miserable, their food coarse and scanty. Not half of the 
 enormous taxes which they paid reached the royal treasury, or 
 even the pockets of the great proprietors. Officers were indefi- 
 nitely multiplied. The governing classes looked upon the people 
 only to be robbed. Their cry was unheard in the courts of jus- 
 tice, while the tear of sorrow was unnoticed amid the pageantry 
 of the great, whose extravagance, insolence, and pride were only 
 surpassed by the misery and degradation of those unfortunate 
 beings on whose toils they lived. Justice was bought and sold 
 like any other commodity, and the decisions of judges were in- 
 fluenced by the magnitude of the bribes which were offered them. 
 Besides feudal taxes, the clergy imposed additional burdens, 
 and swarmed wherever there was plunder to be obtained. The 
 people were so extravagantly taxed that it was no object to be 
 frugal or industrious. Every thing beyond the merest necessaries 
 of life was seized by various tax-gatherers. In England, severe 
 as is taxation, three fourths of the produce of the land go to the 
 farmer, while in France only one twelfth went to the poor peasant. 
 Two thirds of his earnings went to the king. Nor was there any 
 appeal from this excessive taxation, which ground down the middle 
 and lower classes, while the clergy and the nobles were entirely 
 exempted themselves. Nor did the rich proprietor live upon his 
 estates. He was a non-resident, and squandered in the cities the 
 money which was extorted from his dependents. He took no 
 interest in the condition of the peasantry, with whom> he was not 
 united by any common ties. Added to this oppression, the land- 
 lord was cruel, haughty, and selfish ; and he irritated by his inso- 
 lence as well as oppressed by his injustice. All situations in the 
 army, the navy, the church, the court, the bench, and in diplo- 
 macy were exclusively filled by the aristocracy, of whom there 
 were one hundred and fifty thousand people — a class insolent, 
 haughty, effeminate, untaxed ; who disdained useful employments, 
 who sought to live by the labor of others, and who regarded those 
 by whose toils they were enabled to lead lives of dissipation and 
 pleasure, as ignoble minions, who were unworthy of a better des- 
 tiny, and unfit to enjoy those rights which God designed should 
 be possessed by the whole human race. 
 
478 DERANGEMENT OF FINANCES. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 The privileges and pursuits of the aristocratic class, from the 
 king to a lieutenant ill his army, were another cause of revolution. 
 Louis XV. squandered twenty million pounds sterling in pleasures 
 too ignominious to be even named in the public accounts, and en- 
 joyed almost absolute power. He could send any one in his domin- 
 ions to rot in an ignominious prison, without a hearing or a trial. 
 The odious lettre de cachet could consign the most powerful noble to 
 a dungeon, and all were sent to prison who were offensive to govern- 
 ment. The king's mistresses sometimes had the power of sending 
 their enemies to prison without consulting the king. The lives 
 and property of the people were at his absolute disposal, and he 
 did not scruple to exercise his power with thoughtless, and some- 
 times inhuman cruelty. 
 
 But these evils would have ended only in disaffection, and hatred, 
 and unsuccessful resistance, had not the royal finances been 
 deranged. So long as the king and his ministers could obtain 
 money, there was no immediate danger of revolution. So long 
 as he could pay the army, it would, if decently treated, support an 
 absolute throne. 
 
 But the king at last found it difficult to raise a sufficient revenue 
 for his pleasures and his wars. The annual deficit was one 
 hundred and ninety million of francs a year. The greater the 
 deficit, the greater was the taxation, which, of course, increased 
 the popular discontent. 
 
 Such was the state of things when Louis XVI. ascended the 
 throne of Hugh Capet, ( 1774,) in his twentieth year, having mar- 
 ried, four years before, Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria The- 
 resa, empress of Austria. He was grandson of Louis XV., who 
 bequeathed to him a debt of four thousand millions of livres. 
 
 The new king was amiable and moral, and would have ruled 
 France in peaceful times, but was unequal to a revolutionary crisis. 
 .." Of all the monarchs," says Alison, " of the Capetian line, he 
 was the least able to stem, and yet the least likely to provoke, a 
 revolution. The people were tired of the arbitrary powers of 
 their monarch, and he was disposed to abandon them ; they were 
 provoked at the expensive corruptions of the court, and he was 
 both innocent in his manners, and ^inexpensive in his habits ; they 
 demanded reformation in the administration of affairs, and he 
 
CHAP. XXX.] MAUREPAS TURCOT MALESHERBES. 479 
 
 placed his chief glory in yielding to the public voice. His reign, 
 from his accession to the throne to the meeting of the States Gen- 
 eral, was nothing but a series of ameliorations, without calming 
 the public effervescence. He had the misfortune to wish sincerely 
 for the public good, without possessing the firmness necessary to 
 secure it ; and with truth it may be said that reforms were more 
 fatal to him than the continuance of abuses would have been to 
 another sovereign." 
 
 He made choice of Maurepas as his prime minister, an old 
 courtier without talent, and who was far from comprehending the 
 spirit of the nation or the genius of the times. He accustomed 
 the king to half measures, and pursued a temporizing policy, ill 
 adapted to revolutionary times. The discontents of the people 
 induced the king to dismiss him, and Turgot, for whom the people 
 clamored, became prime minister. He was an honest man, and 
 contemplated important reforms, even to the abolition of feudal 
 privileges and the odious lettres de cachet, which were of course 
 opposed by the old nobility, and were not particularly agreeable 
 to the sovereign himself. 
 
 Malesherbes, a lawyer who adopted the views of Turgot, suc- 
 ceeded him, and, had he been permitted, would have restored the 
 rights of the people, and suppressed the lettres de cachet, reenacted 
 the Edict of Nantes, and secured the liberty of the press. But 
 he was not equal to the crisis, with all his integrity and just views, 
 and Necker became financial minister. 
 
 He was a native of Geneva, a successful banker, and a man 
 who had won the confidence of the nation. He found means to 
 restore the finances, and to defray the expenses of the American 
 war. But he was equally opposed by the nobles, who wanted no 
 radical reform, and he was not a man of sufficient talent to stem 
 the current of revolution. Financial skill was certainly desirable, 
 but no financiering could save the French nation on the eve of 
 bankruptcy, with such vast expenditures as then were deemed 
 necessary. The nobles indeed admitted the extent of the evils 
 which existed, and descanted, on their hunting parties, in a strain 
 of mock philanthropy, but would submit to no sacrifices them- 
 selves, and Necker was compelled to resign. 
 
 M. de Calonne took his place ; a man of ready invention, 
 
480 NECKER CALONNE. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 unscrupulous, witty, and brilliant. Self-confident and full of 
 promises, he succeeded in imparting a gleam of sunshine, and 
 pursued a plan directly the opposite to that adopted by Necker. 
 He encouraged the extravagance of the court, derided the future, 
 and warded off* pressing debts by contracting new ones. He 
 pleased all classes by his captivating manners, brilliant conversa- 
 tion, and elegant dress. The king, furnished with what money he 
 wanted, forgot the burdens of the people, and the minister went 
 on recklessly contracting new loans, and studiously concealing 
 from the public the extent of the annual deficit. 
 
 But such a policy could not long be adopted successfully, and the 
 people were overwhelmed with amazement when it finally appeared 
 that, since the retirement of Necker in 1781, Calonne had added 
 sixteen hundred and forty-six millions of francs to the public debt. 
 National bankruptcy stared every body in the face. It was neces- 
 sary that an extraordinary movement should be made ; and Ca- 
 lonne recommended the assembling of the Notables, a body com- 
 posed chiefly of the nobility, clergy, and magistracy, with the 
 hope that these aristocrats would consent to their own taxation. 
 
 He was miserably mistaken. The Notables met, (1787,) the 
 first time since the reign of Henry IV., and demanded the dismis- 
 sal of the minister, who was succeeded by Brienne, Archbishop 
 of Toulouse. 
 
 He was a weak man, and owed his elevation to his influence 
 with women. He won the queen by his pleasing conversation, 
 but had no solid acquirements. Occupying one of the highest 
 positions in his church, he yet threw himself into the arms of 
 atheistical philosophers. A man so inconsistent and so light was 
 not fit for his place. 
 
 However, the Notables agreed to what they had refused to 
 Calonne. They consented to a land tax, to the- stamp duty, to 
 provincial assemblies, and to the suppression of the gratuitous 
 service of vassals. These were papular measures, but were insuf- 
 ficient. Brienne was under the necessity of proposing the impo- 
 sition of new taxes. But the Parliament of Paris refused to regis- 
 ter the edict. A struggle between the king and the parliament 
 resulted : and the king, in order to secure the registration of new 
 taxes, resorted to the bed of justice — the last stretch of his royal 
 power. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] STATES GENERAL. 481 
 
 During one of the meetings of the parliament, when the abuses 
 and prodigality of the court were denounced, a member, punning 
 upon the word etats, (statements,) exclaimed, " It is not statements 
 but States General that we want." 
 
 From that moment, nothing was thought of or talked about 
 but the assembling of the States General ; to which the minister, 
 from his increasing embarrassments, consented. Moreover, the 
 court hoped, in view of the continued opposition of the parliament, 
 that the Tiers Etat would defend the throne against the legal aris- 
 tocracy. 
 
 All classes formed great and extravagant expectations from the 
 assembling of the States General, and all were doomed to disap- 
 pointment, but none more than those who had most vehemently 
 and enthusiastically called for its convocation. 
 
 The Archbishop of Toulouse soon after retired, unable to stem 
 the revolutionary current. But he contrived to make his own for- 
 tune, by securing benefices to the amount of eight hundred thou- 
 sand francs, the archbishopric of Sens, and a cardinal's hat. At 
 his recommendation Necker was recalled. 
 
 On Necker's return, he found only two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand francs in the royal treasury ; but the funds immediately rose 
 thirty per cent., and he was able to secure the loans necessary to 
 cany on the government, rich capitalists fearing that absolute 
 ruin would result unless they came to his assistance. 
 
 Then followed discussions in reference to the Tiers Etat, as to 
 what the third estate really represented, and as to the number of 
 deputies who should be called to the assembly of the States Gen- 
 eral. " The Tiers Etat," said the Abbe Sieyes, in an able pam- 
 phlet, " is the French nation, minus the noblesse and the clergy." 
 
 It was at last decided that the assembly should be at least one 
 thousand, and that the number of deputies should equal the repre- 
 sentatives of the nobles and clergy. The elections were carelessly 
 conducted, and all persons, decently dressed, were allowed to vote. 
 Upwards of three millions of electors determined the choice of 
 deputies. Necker conceded too much, and opened the flood-gates 
 of revolution. He had no conception of the storm which was to 
 overwhelm the throne. 
 
 On the 4th of May, 1789, that famous Assembly, which it was 
 41 
 
482 THE TIERS ETAT. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 hoped would restore prosperity to France, met with great pomp in 
 the cathedral church of Notre Dame, and the Bishop of Nanci 
 delivered the sermon, and, the next day, the assembly was opened 
 in the hall prepared for the occasion. The king was seated on a 
 magnificent throne, the nobles and the clergy on both sides of the 
 hall, and the third estate at the farther end. Louis XVI. pro- 
 nounced a speech full of disinterested sentiments, and Necker 
 read a report in reference to the state of the finances. 
 
 The next day, the deputies of the Tiers Etat were directed to 
 the place allotted to them, which was the common hall. The 
 nobles and clergy repaired to a separate hall. It was their inten- 
 tion, especially in view of the great number of the deputies, to 
 deliberate in distinct halls. But the deputies insisted upon the 
 three orders deliberating together in the same room. Angry dis- 
 cussions and conferences took place. But there was not sufficient 
 union between the nobles and the clergy, or sufficient energy on 
 the part of the court. There happened also to be some bold and 
 revolutionary spirits among the deputies, and they finally resolved, 
 by a majority of four hundred and ninety-one to ninety, to assume 
 the title of National Assembly, and invited the members of the 
 other chamber to join them. They erected themselves into a sov- 
 ereign power, like the Long Parliament of Charles I., disregarding 
 both the throne and the nobility. 
 
 Some of the most resolute of the nobles urged the king to adopt 
 vigorous measures against the usurpation of the third estate ; but 
 he was timid and irresolute. 
 
 The man who had, at that time, the greatest influence in the 
 National Assembly was Mirabeau, a man of noble birth, but who 
 had warmly espoused the popular side. He was disagreeable in 
 his features, licentious in his habits, and a bankrupt in reputation, 
 but a man of commanding air, of great abilities, and unrivalled 
 eloquence. His picture has been best painted by Carlyle, both in 
 his essays and his history of the revolution. 
 
 The National Assembly contained many great men, who would 
 never have been heard of in quiet times ; some of great virtues 
 and abilities, and others of the most violent revolutionary princi- 
 ples. There were also some of the nobility, who joined them, not 
 anticipating the evils which were to come. Among them were the 
 
CHAP. XXX.] COMMOTIONS. 483 
 
 Dukes of Orleans, Rochefoucault, and Liancourt, Count Lally 
 Tollendal, the two brothers Lameth, Clermont Tonnerre, and the 
 -Marquis de La Fayette, all of whom were guillotined or exiled 
 during the revolution. 
 
 The discussions in the Assembly did not equal the tumults of 
 the people. All classes were intoxicated with excitement, and 
 believed that a new era was to take place on earth ; that all the 
 evils which afflicted society were to be removed, and a state of 
 unbounded liberty, plenty, and prosperity, was about to take place. 
 
 In the midst of the popular ferments, the regiment of guards, 
 comprising three thousand six hundred men, revolted ; immense 
 bodies of workmen assembled together, and gave vent to the most 
 inflammatory language ; the Hotel of the Invalids was captured ; 
 fifty thousand pikes were forged and distributed among the people ; 
 the Bastile was stormed ; and military massacres commenced. 
 Soon after, the tricolored cockade was adopted, the French guards 
 were suppressed by the Assembly, the king and his family were 
 brought to Paris by a mob, and the Club of the Jacobins was 
 established. Before the year 1789 was ended, the National As- 
 sembly was the supreme power in France, and the king had 
 become a shadow and a mockery ; or, rather, it should be said that 
 there was no authority in France but what emanated from the peo- 
 ple, and no power remained to suppress popular excesses and 
 insurrections. The Assembly published proclamations against acts 
 of violence ; but it was committed in a contest with the crown and 
 aristocracy, and espoused the popular side. A famine, added to 
 other horrors, set in at Paris ; and the farmers, fearing that their 
 grain would be seized, no longer brought it to market. Manufac- 
 tures of all kinds were suspended, and the public property was 
 confiscated to supply the immediate wants of a starving and infu- 
 riated people. A state was rapidly hastening to universal violence, 
 crime, misery, and despair. 
 
 The year 1790 opened gloomily, and no one could tell when the 
 agitating spirit would cease, or how far it would be carried, for the 
 mob of Paris was rapidly engrossing the power of the state. One 
 of the first measures of the Assembly was to divest the provinces 
 of France of their ancient privileges, since they were jealous of 
 the sovereignty exercised by the Assembly, and to divide the king- 
 
484 RULE OF THE PEOPLE. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 dom into eighty-four new departments, nearly equal in extent and 
 population. A criminal tribunal was established for each depart- 
 ment, and a civil court for each of the districts into which the 
 department was divided. The various officers and magistrates 
 were elected by the people, and the qualification for voting was a 
 contribution to the amount of three days' labor. By this great 
 step, the whole civil force in the kingdom was placed at the dispo- 
 sal of the lower classes. They had the nomination of the munici- 
 pality, and the control of the military, and the appointment of 
 judges, deputies, and officers of the National Guard. Forty-eight 
 thousand communes, or municipalities, exercised all the rights of 
 sovereignty, and hardly any appointment was left to the crown. 
 A complete democratic constitution was made, which subverted the 
 ancient divisions of the kingdom, and all those prejudices and 
 interests which had been nursed for centuries. The great exten- 
 sion of the electoral franchise introduced into the Assembly a class 
 of men who were prepared to make the most impracticable 
 changes, and commit the most violent excesses. 
 
 The next great object of the Assembly was the regulation of the 
 finances. Further taxation was impossible, and the public neces- 
 sities were great. The revenue had almost failed, and the national 
 debt had alarmingly increased, — twelve hundred millions in less 
 than three years. The capitalists would advance nothing, and 
 voluntary contributions had produced but a momentary relief. 
 Under these circumstances, the spoliation of the church was 
 resolved, and Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun, was the first to pro- 
 pose the confiscation of the property of his order. The tempta- 
 tion was irresistible to an infidel and revolutionary assembly ; for 
 the church owned 1 nearly one half of the whole landed property 
 of the kingdom. Several thousand millions of francs were confis- 
 cated, and the revenues of the clergy reduced to one fifth of their 
 former amount. 
 
 This violent measure led to another. There was no money to 
 pay for the great estates which the Assembly wished to sell. The 
 municipalities of the large cities became the purchasers, and gave 
 promissory notes to the public creditors until payment should be 
 made ; supposing that individuals would buy in small portions. 
 Sales not being effected by the municipalities, as was expected, 
 
CHAP. XXX.] NATIONAL FEDERATION. 485 
 
 and payment becoming due, recourse was had to government bills. 
 Thus arose the system of Assignats, which were issued to a great 
 amount on the security of the church lands, and which resulted in 
 a paper circulation, and the establishment of a vast body of small 
 landholders, whose property sprung out of the revolution, and 
 whose interests were identified with it. The relief, however great, 
 was momentary. New issues were made at every crisis, until 
 the overissue alarmed the reflecting portion of the community, 
 and assignats depreciated to a mere nominal value. At the close 
 of the year, the credit of the nation was destroyed, and the pre- 
 cious metals were withdrawn, in a great measure, from circulation. 
 
 Soon after, the assembly abolished all titles of nobility, changed 
 the whole judicial system, declared its right to make peace and 
 war, and established the National Guard, by which three hundred 
 thousand men were enrolled in support of revolutionary measures. 
 
 On the 14th of July, the anniversary of the capture of the Bas- 
 tile, was the celebrated National Federation, when four hundred 
 thousand persons repaired to the Champ de Mars, to witness the 
 king, his ministers, the assembly, and the public functionaries, 
 take the oath to the new constitution ; the greatest mockery of the 
 whole revolution, although a scene of unparalleled splendor. 
 
 Towards the close of the year, an extensive emigration of the 
 nobles took place ; a great blunder on their part, since their estates 
 were immediately confiscated, and since the forces left to support 
 the throne were much diminished. The departure of so many 
 distinguished persons, however, displeased the Assembly, and pro- 
 posals were made to prevent it. But Mirabeau, who, until this 
 time, had supported the popular side, now joined the throne, and 
 endeavored to save it. His popularity was on the decline, 1 when a 
 natural death relieved him from a probable execution. He had 
 contributed to raise the storm, but he had not the power to allay it. 
 He exerted his splendid abilities to arrest the revolution, whose 
 consequences, at last, he plainly perceived. But in vain. His 
 death, however, was felt as a public calamity, and all Paris assem- 
 bled to see his remains deposited, with extraordinary pomp, in the 
 Pantheon, by the side of Des Cartes. Had he lived, he might 
 possibly have saved the lives of the king and queen, but he could 
 not have prevented the revolution. 
 41* 
 
486 FLIGHT OF THE KING. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Soon after, the royal family, perceiving, too late, that they were 
 mere prisoners in th€ Tuileries, undertook to escape, and fly to 
 Coblentz, where the great body of emigrants resided. The unfor- 
 tunate king contrived to reach Varennes, was recognized, and 
 brought back to Paris. But the National Assembly made a blun- 
 der in not permitting him to escape ; for it had only to declare the 
 throne vacant by his desertion, and proceed to institute a republi- 
 can government. The crime of regicide might have been avoided, 
 and further revolutionary excesses prevented. But his return 
 increased the popular ferments, and the clubs demanded his head. 
 He was suspended from his functions, and a guard placed over 
 his person. 
 
 On the 29th of September, 1791, the Constituent Assembly 
 dissolved itself; having, during the three years of its existence, 
 enacted thirteen hundred and nine laws and decrees relative to 
 the general administration of the state. It is impossible, even 
 now, to settle the question whether it did good or ill, on the whole ; 
 but it certainly removed many great and glaring evils, and enact- 
 ed many wise laws. It abolished torture, the lettres de cachet, 
 the most oppressive duties, the privileges of the nobility, and feudal 
 burdens. It established a uniform system of jurisprudence, the 
 National Guards, and an equal system of finance. " It opened the 
 army to men of merit, and divided the landed property of the 
 aristocracy among the laboring classes ; which, though a violation 
 of the rights of property, enabled the nation to bear the burdens 
 which were subsequently imposed, and to prosper under the evils 
 connected with national bankruptcy, depreciated assignats, the 
 Reign of Terror, the conscription of Napoleon, and the subjuga- 
 tion of Europe. 1 ' 
 
 The Legislative Assembly, composed of inexperienced men, 
 — country attorneys and clerks for the most part, among whom 
 there were not fifty persons possessed of one hundred pounds 
 a year, — took the place of the Constituent Assembly, and opened 
 its sittings on the 1st of October. 
 
 In the first assembly there was a large party attached to royal 
 and aristocratical interests, and many men of great experience 
 and talents. But in the second nearly all were in favor of revolu- 
 tionary principles. They only differed in regard to the extent to 
 which revolution should be carried. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] THE GIRONDISTS AND THE JACOBINS. 487 
 
 The members of the right were called the Feuillants, from the 
 club which formed the centre of their power, and were friends of 
 the constitution, or the limited monarchy which the Constituent 
 Assembly had established. The national guard, the magistrates, 
 and all the constituted authorities, were the supporters of this party. 
 
 The Girondists, comprehending the more respectable of the 
 republicans, and wishing to found the state on the model of 
 antiquity, formed a second party, among whom were numbered 
 the ablest men in the assembly. Brissot, Vergniaud, Condorcet, 
 Guadet, and Isnard, were among the leading members. 
 
 There was also a third party, headed by Chabot, Bazin, and 
 Merlin, which was supported by the clubs of the Jacobins and the 
 Cordeliers. The great oracles of the Jacobins were Robespierre, 
 Varennes, and Collot d'Herbois ; while the leaders of the Corde- 
 liers were Danton and Desmoulins. Robespierre was excluded, 
 as were others of the last assembly, from the new one, by a sort 
 of self-denying ordinance which he himself had proposed. His 
 influence, at that time, was immense, from the extravagance of his 
 opinions, the vehemence of his language, and the reputation he 
 had acquired for integrity. 
 
 Between these three parties there were violent contentions, and 
 the struggle for ascendency soon commenced, to end in the com- 
 plete triumph of the Jacobinical revolutionists. 
 
 In the mean time, the restrictions imposed on the king, who 
 still enjoyed the shadow of authority, the extent of popular excesses, 
 and the diffusion of revolutionary principles, induced the leading 
 monarchs of Europe to confederate together, in order to suppress 
 disturbances in France. In July, the Emperor Leopold appealed 
 to the sovereigns of Europe to unite for the deliverance of Louis 
 XVI. Austria collected her troops, the emigrants at Coblentz 
 made warlike demonstrations, and preparations were made for a 
 contest, which, before it was finished, proved the most bloody and 
 extensive which has desolated the world since the fall of the 
 Roman empire. 
 
 The Constituent Assembly rejected with disdain the dictation 
 of the various European powers ; and the new ministry, of which 
 Dumourier and Roland were the most prominent members, pre- 
 pared for war. All classes in France were anxious for it, and it 
 
4S8 THE NATIONAL CONVENTION. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 was soon declared. On the 25th of July, the Duke of Brunswick, 
 with an army of oneiiundred and forty-eight thousand Prussians, 
 Austrians, and Hessians, entered the French territory. The spirit 
 of resistance animated all classes, and the ardor of the multitude 
 was without a parallel. The manifesto of the allied powers indi- 
 cated the dispositions of the court and emigrants. Revolt against 
 the throne now seemed necessary, in order to secure the liberty of 
 the people, who now had no choice between victory and death. 
 On the 25th of July, the Marseillais arrived in Paris, and aug- 
 mented the strength and confidence of the insurgents. Popular 
 commotions increased, and the clubs became unmanageable. On 
 the 10th of August, the tocsin sounded, the generale beat in every 
 quarter of Paris, and that famous insurrection took place which 
 overturned the throne. The Hotel de Ville was seized by the 
 insurgents, the Tuileries was stormed, and the Swiss guards were 
 massacred. The last chance for the king to regain his power was 
 lost, and Paris was in the hands of an infuriated mob. 
 
 The confinement of the king in the Temple, the departure of 
 the foreign ambassadors, the flight of emigrants, the confiscation 
 of their estates, the massacres in the prisons, the sack of palaces, 
 the fall and flight of La Fayette, and the dissolution of the Legis- 
 lative Assembly, rapidly succeeded. 
 
 On the 21st of September, the National Convention was opened, 
 and was composed of the most violent advocates of revolution. 
 It was ruled by those popular orators who had the greatest influ- 
 ence in the clubs. The most influential of these leaders were 
 Danton, Marat, and Robespierre. Danton was the hero of the 
 late insurrection ; was a lawyer, a man of brutal courage, the 
 slave of sensual passions, and the idol of the Parisian mob. He 
 was made minister of justice, and was the author of the subse- 
 quent massacres in the prisons. But, with all his ferocity, he was 
 lenient to individuals, and recommended humanity after the period 
 of danger had passed. 
 
 Marat was a journalist, president of the Jacobin Club, a member 
 of the convention, and a violent advocate of revolutionary ex- 
 cesses. His bloody career was prematurely cut off by the hand 
 of a heroine, Charlotte Corday, who offered up her own life to rid 
 the country of the greatest monster which the annals of crime 
 have consigned to an infamous immortality. 
 
CHAP. XXX.] MARAT DANTON ROBESPIERRE. 489 
 
 Robespierre was a sentimentalist, and concealed, under the 
 mask of patriotism and • philanthropy, an insatiable ambition, in- 
 ordinate vanity, and implacable revenge. He was above the 
 passion of money, and, when he had at his disposal the lives and 
 fortunes of his countrymen, lived upon a few francs a day. It is 
 the fashion to deny to him any extraordinary talent ; but that he 
 was a man of domineering will, of invincible courage, and austere 
 enthusiasm appears from nearly all the actions of his hateful 
 career. 
 
 It was in the midst of the awful massacre in the prisons, where 
 more than five thousand perished to appease the infatuated 
 vengeance of the Parisian mob, that the National Convention 
 commenced its sittings. 
 
 Its first measure was, to abolish the monarchy, and proclaim 
 a republic ; the next, to issue new assignats. The two preceding 
 assemblies had authorized the fabrication of twenty-seven hundred 
 millions of francs, and the Convention added millions more on 
 the security of the national domains. On the 7th of November, 
 the trial of the king was decreed; and, on the 11th of December, 
 his examination commenced. On his appearance at the bar of 
 the Convention, the president, Barrere, said, " Louis, the French 
 nation accuses you ; you- are about to hear the charges that are 
 to be preferred. Louis, be seated." 
 
 The charges consisted of the whole crimes of the revolution, to 
 which he replied with dignity, simplicity, and directness. ' He was 
 defended, in the mock trial, by Deseze, Trochet, and Malesherbes ; 
 but his blood was demanded, and the assembly unanimously pro- 
 nounced the condemnation of their king. That seven hundred men, 
 with all the natural differences of opinion, could be found to do this, 
 shows the excess of revolutionary madness. On the 20th of Jan- 
 uary, Santerre appeared in the royal prison, and read the sentence 
 of death ; and only three days were allowed the king to prepare for 
 the last hour of anguish. On the 24th of January, he mounted 
 the scaffold erected between the garden of the Tuileries and the 
 Champs Elysees, and the fatal axe separated his head from his 
 body. His remains were buried in the ancient cemetery of the 
 xMadeleine, over which Napoleon commenced, after the battle of 
 Jena, a splendid temple of glory, but which was not finished until 
 
490 GENERAL WAK. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 the restoration of the Bourbons, who converted it into the beautiful 
 church which bears the name of the ancient cemetery. The spot 
 where Louis XVI. offered up his life, in expiation of the crimes of 
 his ancestors, is now marked by the colossal obelisk of red granite, 
 which the French government, in 1831, brought from Egypt, a 
 monument which has witnessed the march of Cambyses, and may 
 survive the glory of the French nation itself. 
 
 The martyrdom of Louis XVI. was the signal for a general war. 
 All the powers of Europe united to suppress the power and the 
 principles of the French revolutionists. The Convention, after 
 declaring war against England, Holland, Spain, Austria, Prussia, 
 Portugal, the Two Sicilies, the Roman States, Sardinia, and Pied- 
 mont, — all of which had combined together, — ordered a levy 
 of three hundred thousand men, instituted a military tribunal, and 
 imposed a forced loan on the rich of one thousand millions, and 
 prepared to defend the principles of liberty and the soil of France. 
 The enthusiasm of the French was unparalleled, and the energies 
 put forth were most remarkable. Patriotism and military ardor 
 were combined, and measures such as only extraordinary necessi- 
 ties require were unhesitatingly adopted. 
 
 A Committee of Public Safety was appointed, and the dictator- 
 ship of Danton, Marat, and Robespierre commenced, marked by 
 great horrors and barbarities, but signalized by wonderful successes 
 in war, and by exertions which, under common circumstances, 
 would be scarcely credited. 
 
 This committee was composed of twenty-five persons at first, 
 and twelve afterwards ; but Robespierre and Marat were the 
 leading members. The committee assigned to ruling Jacobins the 
 different departments of the government. St. Just was intrusted 
 with the duty of denouncing its enemies ; Couthon for bringing for- 
 ward its general measures ; Billaud Varennes and Collot d'Her- 
 bois with the management of departments ; Carnot was made 
 minister of war ; and Robespierre general dictator. This com- 
 mittee, though required to report to the Convention, as the supreme 
 authority, had really all the power of government. " It named and 
 dismissed generals, judges, and juries ; brought forward all public 
 measures in the Convention ; ruled provinces and armies ; controlled 
 the Revolutionary Tribunal ; and made requisitions of men and 
 
CHAP. XXX.] REIGN OF TERROR. 491 
 
 money ; and appointed revolutionary committees, which sprung up 
 in every part of the kingdom to the frightful number of fifty thou- 
 sand. It was the object of the Committee of Public Safety to 
 destroy all who opposed the spirit of the most violent revolutionaiy 
 measures. Marat declared that two hundred and sixty thousand 
 heads must fall before freedom was secure ; the revolutionary 
 committees discovered that seven hundred thousand persons must 
 be sacrificed." 
 
 Then commenced the Reign of Terror, when all the prisons of 
 France were filled with victims, who were generally the most 
 worthy people in the community, and whose only crime was in 
 being obnoxious to the reigning powers. Those who were sus- 
 pected fled, if possible, but were generally unable to carry away 
 their property. Millions of property was confiscated ; the prisons 
 were crowded with the rich, the elegant, and the cultivated classes ; 
 thousands were guillotined ; and universal anarchy and fear 
 reigned without a parallel. Deputies, even those who had been 
 most instrumental in bringing on the Revolution, were sacrificed 
 by the triumphant Jacobins. Women and retired citizens were 
 not permitted to escape their fear and vengeance. Marie Antoi- 
 nette, and the Princess Elizabeth, and Madame Roland, were 
 among the first victims. Then followed the executions of Bailly, 
 Mayor of Paris ; Barnave, one of the most eloquent and upright 
 members of the Constituent Assembly ; Dupont Dutertre, one of 
 the ministers of Louis XVI. ; Lavoisier, the chemist ; Condorcet, 
 the philosopher; General Custine ; and General Houchard ; all 
 of whom had been the allies of the present dominant party. The 
 Duke of Orleans, called Egalite, who had supported the revolt of 
 the 10th of August, and had voted for the execution of the king, 
 shared the fate of Louis XVI. He was the father of Louis Philippe, 
 and, of all the victims of the revolution, died the least lamented. 
 
 The " Decemvirs " had now destroyed the most illustrious advo- 
 cates of constitutional monarchy and of republican liberty. The 
 slaughter of their old friends now followed. The first victim was 
 Danton himself, who had used his influence to put a stop to the 
 bloody executions which then disgraced the country, and had 
 recognized the existence of a God and the rights of humanity. 
 For such sentiments he was denounced and executed, together with 
 
492 DEATH OF ROBESPIERRE. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 Camille, Desmoulins, and Lacroix, who perished because they 
 were less wicked th^n their associates. Finally, the anarchists 
 themselves fell before the storm which they had raised, and 
 Hebert, Gobet, Clootz, and Vincent died amid the shouts of general 
 execration. The Committee of Public Safety had now all things 
 in their own way, and, in their iron hands, order resumed its sway 
 from the influence of terror. " The history of the world has no 
 parallel to the horrors of that long night of suffering, because it has 
 no parallel to the guilt which preceded it ; tyranny never assumed 
 so hideous a form, because licentiousness never required so severe 
 a punishment." 
 
 The Committee of Public Safety, now confident of its strength, 
 decreed the disbanding of the revolutionary army, raised to over- 
 awe the capital, and the dissolution of all the popular societies 
 which did not depend on the Jacobin Club, and devoted all their 
 energies to establish their power. But death was the means which 
 they took to secure it, and two hundred thousand victims filled the 
 prisons of France. 
 
 At last, fear united the members of the Convention, and they 
 resolved to free the country of the great tyrant who aimed at the 
 suppression of all power but his own. " Do not flatter your- 
 selves," said Tallien to the Girondists, " that he will spare you, 
 for you have committed an unpardonable offence in being free- 
 men." " Do you still live ? " said he to the Jacobins ; " in a few 
 days, he will have your heads, if you do not take his." All par- 
 ties in the assembly resolved to overthrow their common enemy. 
 Robespierre, the chief actor of the bloody tragedy, Dumas, the 
 president of the Revolutionary Tribunal, Henriot, the commander 
 of the National Guard, Couthon and St. Just, the tools of the 
 tyrant, were denounced, condemned, and executed. The last 
 hours of Robespierre were horrible beyond description. When 
 he was led to execution, the blood flowed from his broken jaw, 
 his face was deadly pale, and he uttered yells of agony, which 
 filled all hearts with terror. But one woman, nevertheless, pene- 
 trated the crowd which surrounded him, exclaiming, " Murderer 
 of my kindred ! your agony fills me with joy ; descend to hell, 
 covered with the curses of every mother in France." 
 
 Thus terminated the Reign of Terror, during which, nearly 
 
CHAP. XXX.] NEW CONSTITUTION. 493 
 
 nineteen thousand persons were guillotined ; and among these 
 were over two thousand nobles and one thousand priests, besides 
 eleven millions of other persons, by war or the axe, in other parts 
 of France. 
 
 But vigorous measures had been adopted to carry on the war 
 against united Christendom. No less than two hundred and eighty 
 thousand men were in the field, on the part of the allies, from 
 Basle to Dunkirk. TouJon and Lyons had raised the standard 
 of. revolt, Mayence gave the invaders a passage into the heart 
 of the kingdom, while sixty thousand insurgents in La Vendee 
 threatened to encamp under the walls of Paris. But under the 
 exertions of the Committee, and especially of Carnot, the min- 
 ister of war, still greater numbers were placed under arms, 
 France was turned into an immense workshop of military prepa- 
 rations, and the whole property of the state, by means of confis- 
 cations and assignats, put at the disposal of the government. The 
 immense debts of the government were paid in paper money, 
 while conscription filled the ranks with all the youth of the state. 
 Added to all this force which the government had at its disposal, 
 it must be remembered that the army was burning with enthusi- 
 astic dreams of liberty, and of patriotism, and of glory. No 
 wonder that such a nation of soldiers and enthusiasts should have 
 been able to resist the armies of united Christendom. 
 
 On the death of Robespierre, (July, 1794,) a great reaction 
 succeeded the Reign of Terror. His old associates and tools were 
 executed or transported, the club of the Jacobins was closed, the 
 Revolutionary Tribunals were suppressed, the rebellious foubourgs 
 were subdued, the National Guard was reorganized, and a new 
 constitution was formed. 
 
 The constitution of 1798, framed under different influences, 
 established the legislative power among two councils, — that of the 
 Five Hundred, and that of the Ancients* The former was in- 
 trusted with the power of originating laws ; the latter had the power 
 to reject or pass them. The executive power was intrusted to five 
 persons, called Directors, who were nominated by the Council of 
 Five Hundred, and approved by that of the Ancients. Each 
 individual was to be president by rotation during three months, 
 and a new director was to be chosen every year. The Directory 
 42 
 
494 THE DIRECTORY. [CHAP. XXX. 
 
 had the entire disposal of the army, the finances, the appointment 
 of public functionaries^ and the management of public negotiations. 
 
 But there were found powerful enemies to the new constitution. 
 Paris was again agitated. The National Guard took part with the 
 disaffected, and the Convention, threatened and perplexed, sum- 
 moned to its aid a body of five thousand regular troops. The 
 National Guard mustered in great strength, to the number of thirty 
 thousand men, and resolved to overawe the Convention, which 
 was likened to the Long Parliament in the times of Cromwell. The 
 Convention intrusted Barras with its defence, and he demanded, 
 as_ his second in command, a young officer of artillery who had 
 distinguished himself at the siege of Toulon. By his advice, a 
 powerful train of artillery was brought to Paris by a lieutenant 
 called Murat. On the 4th of October, 1795, the whole neigh- 
 borhood of the Tuileries resembled an intrenched camp. The 
 commander of the Convention then waited the attack of the insur- 
 gents, and the action soon commenced. Thirty thousand men 
 surrounded the little army of six thousand, who defended the Con- 
 vention and the cause of order and law. Victory inclined to the 
 regular troops, who had the assistance of artillery, and, above all, 
 who were animated by the spirit of their intrepid leader — Napo- 
 leon Bonaparte. The insurgents were not a rabble, but the flower 
 of French citizens ; but they were forced to yield to superior 
 military skill, and the reign of the military commenced. 
 
 Thus closed what is technically called the French Revolution ; 
 the most awful political hurricane in the annals of modern civil- 
 ized nations. It closed, nominally, with the accession of the 
 Directory to power, but really with the accession of Napoleon ; 
 for, shortly after, his victories filled the eyes of the French nation, 
 and astonished the whole world. 
 
 It is impossible to pronounce on the effects of this great Revo- 
 lution, since a sufficient time has not yet elapsed for us to form 
 healthy judgments. We are accustomed to associate with some 
 of the actors every thing that is vile and monstrous in human nature. 
 But unmitigated monsters rarely appear on earth. The same men 
 who excite our detestation, had they lived in quiet times might 
 have been respected. Even Robespierre might have retained an 
 honorable name to his death, as an upright judge. But the French 
 
CHAP. XXX.] REFLECTIONS. 495 
 
 mind was deranged. New ideas had turned the brains of enthu- 
 siasts. The triumph of the abstract principles of justice seemed 
 more desirable than the preservation of human life. The sense 
 of injury and wrong was too vivid to allow heated partisans to 
 make allowances for the common infirmities of man. The enthu- 
 siasts in liberty could not see in Louis XVI. any thing but the em- 
 blem of tyranny in the worst form. They fancied that they could 
 regenerate society by their gospel of social rights, and they over- 
 valued the Virtues of the people. But, above all, they over-esti- 
 mated themselves, and placed too light a value on the imperishable 
 principles of revealed religion ; a religion which enjoins patience 
 and humility, as well as encourages the spirit of liberty and prog- 
 ress. But whatever may have been their blunders and crimes, 
 and however marked the providence of God in overruling them 
 for the ultimate good of Europe, still, all contemplative men be- 
 hold in the Revolution the retributive justice of the Almighty, in 
 humiliating a proud family of princes, and punishing a vain and 
 oppressive nobility for the evils they had inflicted on society. 
 
 References. -Alison's History of the French Revolution, marked by 
 his English prejudices, heavy in style, and inaccurate in many of his facts, 
 yet lofty, temperate, and profound. Thiers's History is more lively, and 
 takes different views. Carlyle's work is extremely able, but the most 
 difficult to read of all his works, in consequence of his affected and 
 abominable style. Lamartine's History of the Girondists is sentimental, 
 but pleasing and instructive. Mignet's History is also a standard. Lacre- 
 telle's Histoire de France, and the Memoirs of Mirabeau, Necker, and Robes- 
 pierre should be read. Carlyle's Essays on Mirabeau and Danton are 
 extremely able. Burke's Reflections should be read by all who wish to 
 have the most vivid conception of the horrors of the awful event which he 
 deprecated. The Annual Register should, be consulted. For a general 
 list of authors who have written on this period, see Alison's index of 
 writers, prefixed to his great work, but which are too numerous to be 
 mentioned here. 
 

 496 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 
 
 Mr. Alison has found it necessary to devote ten large octavo 
 volumes to the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte ; nor can the 
 varied events connected with his brilliant career be satisfactorily- 
 described in fewer volumes. The limits of this work will not, how- 
 ever, permit a notice extending beyond a few pages. Who, then, 
 even among those for whom this History is especially designed, 
 will be satisfied with our brief review ? But only a brief allusion 
 to very great events can be made ; for it is preposterous to attempt 
 to condense the life of the greatest actor on the stage of real 
 tragedy in a single chapter. And yet there is a uniformity in 
 nearly all of the scenes in which he appears. The history of 
 war is ever the same — the exhibition of excited passions, of rest- 
 less ambition, of dazzling spectacles of strife, pomp, and glory. 
 Pillage, oppression, misery, crime, despair, ruin, and death — 
 such are the evils necessarily attendant on all war, even glorious 
 war, when men fight for their homes, for their altars, or for great 
 ideas. The details of war are exciting, but painful. We are 
 most powerfully reminded of our, degeneracy, of our misfortunes, 
 of the Great Destroyer. The " Angel Death " appears before us, 
 in grim terrors, punishing men for crimes. But while war is so 
 awful, and attended with all the evils of which we can conceive, 
 or which it is the doom of man to suffer, yet warriors are not 
 necessarily the enemies of mankind. They are the instruments 
 of the Almighty to scourge a wicked world, or to bring, out of 
 disaster and suffering, great and permanent blessings to the 
 human race. 
 
 Napoleon is contemplated by historians in both those lights. 
 The English look upon him, generally, as an ambitious usurper, 
 who aimed to erect a universal empire upon universal ruin ; as an 
 Alexander, a Caesar, an Attila, a Charles XII. The French nation 
 regard him almost as a deity, as a messenger of good, as a great 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON. 497 
 
 conqueror, who fought for light and freedom. But he was not the 
 worst or the best of warriors. His extraordinary and astonishing 
 energies were called into exercise by the circumstances of the 
 times ; and he, taking advantage of both ideas and circumstances, 
 attempted to rear a majestic throne, and advance the glory of the 
 country, of which he made himself the absolute ruler. His 
 nature was not sanguinary, or cruel, or revengeful; but few con- 
 querors have ever committed crimes on a greater scale, or were 
 more unscrupulous in using any means, lawful or unlawful, to 
 accomplish a great end. Napoleon had enlightened views, and 
 wished to advance the real interests of the French nation, but not 
 until he had climbed to the summit of power, and realized all 
 those dreams which a most inordinate ambition had excited. He 
 doubtless rescued his country from the dangers which menaced it 
 from foreign invasion ; but his conquests and his designs led to 
 still greater combinations, and these, demanding for their support 
 the united energies of Christendom, deluged the world with blood. 
 Napoleon, to an extraordinary degree, realized the objects to which 
 he had aspired ; but these were not long enjoyed, and he was 
 hurled from his throne of grandeur and of victory, to impress the 
 world, which he mocked and despised, of the vanity of military 
 glory and the dear-earned trophies of the battle field. No man 
 was ever permitted by Providence to accomplish so much mis- 
 chief, and yet never mortal had more admirers than he, and never 
 were the opinions of the wise more divided in regard to the effects 
 of his wars. A painful and sad recital may be made of the deso- 
 lations he caused, so that Alaric, in comparison, would seem but a 
 common robber, while, at the same time, a glorious eulogium 
 might be justly made of the many benefits he conferred upon 
 mankind. The good and the evil are ever combined in all great 
 characters ; but the evil and the good are combined in him in such 
 vast proportions, that he seems either a monster of iniquity, or an 
 object of endless admiration. There are some characters which 
 the eye of the mind can survey at once, as the natural eye can 
 take in the proportions of a small but singular edifice ; but Napo- 
 leon was a genius and an actor of such wonderful greatness and 
 majesty, both from his natural talents and the great events which 
 he controlled, that he rises before us, when we contemplate him, 
 42* 
 
498 EAKLY DAYS OF NAPOLEON. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 like some vast pyramid or some majestic cathedral, which the eye 
 can survey only in details. Our age is not sufficiently removed 
 from the times in which he lived, we are' too near the object of 
 vision, to pronounce upon the general effect of his character, and 
 only prejudiced or vain persons would attempt to do so. He must 
 remain for generations simply an object of awe, of wonder, of 
 dread, of admiration, of hatred, or of love. 
 
 Nor can we condense the events of his life any more than we 
 can analyze his character and motives. We do not yet know 
 their relative importance. In the progress of ages, some of them 
 will stand out more beautiful and more remarkable, and some will 
 be entirely lost sight of. Thousands of books will waste away as 
 completely as if they were burned, like the Alexandrian library ; 
 and a future age may know no more of the details of Napoleon's 
 battles than we now know of Alexander's marches. But the main 
 facts can never be lost; something will remain, enough to " point 
 a moral or adorn a tale." The object of all historical knowledge 
 is moral wisdom, and this we may learn from narratives as brief 
 as the stories of Joseph and Daniel, or the accounts which Tacitus 
 has left us of the lives of the Roman tyrants. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica, the 15th of August, 
 1769, of respectable parents, and was early sent to a royal mili- 
 tary school at Brienne. He was not distinguished for any attain- 
 ments, except in mathematics ; he was studious, reserved, and 
 cold ; he also exhibited an inflexible will, the great distinguishing 
 quality of his mind. At the age of fourteen, in view of superior 
 attainments, he was removed to the military school at Paris, and, 
 at the age of seventeen, received his commission as second lieuten- 
 ant in a regiment of artillery. 
 
 When the Revolution broke out, Toulon, one of the arsenals of 
 France, took a more decided part in favor of the king and the 
 constitution than either Marseilles or Lyons, and invited the 
 support of the English and Spanish squadrons. The Committee 
 of Public Safety resolved to subdue the city ; and Napoleon, even 
 at that time a brigadier-general, with the command of the artillery 
 at the siege, recommended a course which led to the capture of 
 that important place. 
 
 For his distinguished services and talents, he was appointed sec- 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] EARLY SERVICES TO THE REPUBLIC. 499 
 
 ond in command, by the National Convention, when that body was 
 threatened and overawed by the rebellious National Guard. He 
 saved the state and defended the constitutional authorities, for 
 which service he was appointed second in command of the great 
 army of the interior, and then general-in-chief in the place of 
 Barras, who found his new office as director incompatible with the 
 duties of a general. 
 
 The other directors who now enjoyed the supreme command 
 were Reubel, Lareveillere-Lepeaux, Le Tourneur, and Carnot. 
 Sieyes, a man of great genius, had been elected, but had declined. 
 Among these five men, Carnot was the only man of genius, and 
 it was through his exertions that France, under the Committee of 
 Public Safety, had been saved from the torrent of invasion. But 
 Barras, though inferior to Carnot in genius, had even greater influ- 
 ence, and it was through his favor that Napoleon received his 
 appointments. That a young man of twenty-five should have the 
 command of the army of the interior, is as remarkable as the vic- 
 tories which subsequently showed that his elevation was not the 
 work of chance, but of a providential hand. 
 
 The acknowledged favorite of Barras was a young widow, by 
 birth a Creole of the West Indies, whose husband, a general in 
 the army of the Rhine, had been guillotined during the Reign of 
 Terror. Her name was Josephine Beauharnais ; and, as a woman 
 of sense, of warm affections, and of rare accomplishments, she 
 won the heart of Napoleon, and was married to him, March 9, 
 1796. Her dowry was the command of the army of Italy, which, 
 through her influence, the young general received. 
 
 Then commenced his brilliant military career. United with 
 Josephine, whom he loved, he rose in rank and power. 
 
 The army which Napoleon commanded was composed of forty- 
 two thousand men, while the forces of the Italian states numbered 
 one hundred and sixty thousand, and could with ease be increased 
 to three hundred thousand. But Italian soldiers had never been 
 able to contend with either Austrian or French, and Napoleon felt 
 sure of victory. His soldiers were young men, inured to danger 
 and toil ; and among his officers were Berthier, Massena, Marmont, 
 Augereau, Serrurier, Joubert, Lannes, and Murat. They were 
 not then all generals, but they became marshals of France. 
 
500 THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 The campaign of 1796, in Italy, was successful beyond prece- 
 dent in the history of war ; and the battles of Montenotte, Millesi- 
 lno, and Dego, the passage of the bridge of Lodi, the siege of 
 Mantua, and the victories at Castiglione, Caldiero, Areola, Rivoli, 
 and Mantua, extended the fame of Napoleon throughout the world. 
 The Austrian armies were every where defeated, and Italy was 
 subjected to the rule of the French. " With the French invasion 
 commenced tyranny under the name of liberty, rapine Under the 
 name of generosity, the stripping of churches, the robbing of hos- 
 pitals, the levelling of the palaces of the great, and the destruction 
 of the cottages of the poor ; all that military license has of most 
 terrible, all that despotic authority has of most oppressive." 
 
 While Napoleon was subduing Italy, the French under Moreau 
 were contending, on the Rhine, with the Austrians under the Arch- 
 duke Charles. Several great battles were fought, and masterly 
 retreats were made, but without decisive results. 
 
 It is surprising that England, France, and the other contending 
 powers, were able at this time to commence the contest, much 
 more so to continue it for more than twenty years. The French 
 Directory, on its accession to power, found the finances in a state of 
 inextricable confusion. Assignats had fallen to almost nothing, and 
 taxes were collected with such difficulty, that there were arrears to 
 the amount of fifteen hundred millions of francs. The armies were 
 destitute and ill paid, the artillery without horses, and the infantry de- 
 pressed by suffering and defeat. In England, the government of Pitt 
 was violently assailed for carrying on a war against a country which 
 sought simply to revolutionize her own institutions, and which all 
 the armies of Europe had thus far failed to subdue. Mr. Fox, 
 and others in the opposition, urged the folly of continuing a con- 
 test which had already added one hundred millions of pounds to 
 the national debt, and at a time when French armies were prepar- 
 ing to invade Italy ; but Pitt argued that the French must be nearly 
 exhausted by their great exertions, and would soon be unable to con 
 tinue the warfare. The nation, generally, took this latter view of 
 the case, and parliament voted immense supplies. 
 
 The year 1797 opened gloomily for England. The French had 
 gained immense successes. Napoleon had subdued Italy, Hoche 
 had suppressed the rebellion in La Vendee, Austria was preparing 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] BATTLE OF ST. VINCENT. 501 
 
 to defend her last barriers in the passes of the Alps, Holland was 
 virtually incorporated with Republican France, Spain had also 
 joined its forces, and the whole continent was arrayed against 
 Great Britain. England had interfered in a contest in which she 
 was not concerned, and was forced to reap the penalty. The 
 funds fell from ninety-eight to fifty-one, and petitions for a change 
 of ministers were sent to the king from almost every city of note 
 in the kingdom. The Bank of England stopped payment in 
 specie, and the countiy was overburdened by taxation. Never- 
 theless, parliament voted new supplies, and made immense prepa- 
 rations, especially for the increase of the navy. One hundred and 
 twenty-four ships of the line, one hundred and eighty frigates, and 
 one hundred and eighty-four sloops, were put in commission, and 
 sent to the various quarters of the globe. 
 
 Soon after occurred the memorable mutiny in the English fleet, 
 which produced the utmost alarm ; but it was finally suppressed 
 by the vigorous measures which the government adopted, and the 
 happy union of firmness and humanity, justice and concession, 
 which Mr. Pitt exercised. The mutiny was entirely disconnected 
 with France, and resulted from the real grievances which existed 
 in the navy ; grievances which, to the glory of Pitt, were candidly 
 considered and promptly redressed.. The temporary disgrace 
 which resulted to the navy by this mutiny was soon, however, 
 wiped away by the battle of St. Vincent, in which Admiral Jarvis, 
 seconded by Nelson and Collingwood, with fifteen ships of the 
 line and six frigates, defeated a Spanish fleet of twenty-seven 
 ships of the line and twelve frigates. This important naval vic- 
 tory delivered England from all fears of invasion, and inspired 
 courage into the hearts of the nation, groaning under the heavy 
 taxes which the war increased. Before the season closed, the 
 Dutch fleet, of fifteen ships of the line and eleven frigates, was 
 defeated by an English one, under Admiral Duncan, consisting 
 of sixteen ships of the line and three frigates. The battles of 
 Camperdown and St. Vincent, in which the genius of Nelson was 
 signally exhibited, were among the most important fought at sea 
 during the war, and diffused unexampled joy throughout Great 
 Britain. The victors were well rewarded. Jarvis became Earl 
 St. Vincent, Admiral Duncan became a viscount, and Commo- 
 
502 CONQUEST OP VENICE BY NAPOLEON. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 dore Nelson became a baronet. Soon after the bonfires and 
 illuminations for these victories were ended, Mr. Burke died ; 
 urging, as his end approached, the ministry to persevere in the 
 great struggle to which the nation was committed. 
 
 While the English were victorious on the water, the French 
 obtained new triumphs on the land. In twenty days after the 
 opening of the campaign of 1797, Napoleon had driven the Arch- 
 duke Charles, with an army equal to his own, over the Julian 
 Alps, and occupied Carniola, Carinthia, Trieste, Fiume, and the 
 Italian Tyrol, while a force of forty-five thousand men, flushed 
 with victory, was on the northern declivity of the Alps, within 
 fifty leagues of Vienna. In the midst of these successes, an insur- 
 rection broke out in the Venetian territories ; and, as Napoleon 
 was not supported, as he expected, by the armies of the Rhine, 
 and partly in consequence of the jealousy of the Directory, he 
 resolved to forego all thoughts of dictating peace under the walls 
 of Vienna, and contented himself with making as advantageous 
 terms as possible with the Austrian government. Napoleon 
 accomplished his object, and directed his attention to the subju- 
 gation of Venice, no longer the " Queen of the Adriatic, throned 
 on her hundred isles," but degenerate, weakened, and divided. 
 Napoleon acted, in his treaty with Austria, with great injustice to 
 Venice, and also encouraged the insurrection of the people in her 
 territories. And when the Venetian government attempted to 
 suppress rebellion in its own provinces, Napoleon affected great 
 indignation, and soon found means to break off all negotiations. 
 The Venetian senate made every effort to avert the storm, but in 
 vain. Napoleon declared war against Venice, and her fall . soon 
 after resulted. The French seized all the treasure they could find, 
 and obliged the ruined capital to furnish heavy contributions, and 
 surrender its choicest works of art. Soon after, the youthful con- 
 queror established himself in the beautiful chateau of Montebello, 
 near Milan, and there dictated peace to the assembled ambassa- 
 dors of Germany, Rome, Genoa, Venice, Naples, Piedmont, and 
 the Swiss republic. The treaty of Campo Formio exhibited both 
 the strength and the perfidy of Napoleon, especially in reference 
 to Venice, which was disgracefully despoiled to pay the expenses 
 of the Italian wars. Among other things, the splendid bronze 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] INVASION OF EGYPT. 503 
 
 horses, which, for six hundred years, had stood over the portico of 
 the church of St. Mark, to commemorate the capture of Constan- 
 tinople by the Venetian crusaders, and which had originally been 
 brought from Corinth to Rome by ancient conquerors, were 
 removed to Paris to decorate the Tuileries. 
 
 Napoleon's journey from Italy to Paris, after Venice, with its 
 beautiful provinces, was surrendered to Austria, was a triumphal 
 procession. The enthusiasm of the Parisians was boundless; the 
 public curiosity to see him indescribable. But he lived in a quiet 
 manner, and assumed the. dress of a member of the Institute, being 
 lately elected. Great fetes were given to his honor, and his 
 victories were magnified. 
 
 But he was not content with repose or adulation. His ambitious 
 soul panted for new conquests, and he conceived the scheme of 
 his Egyptian invasion, veiled indeed from the eyes of the world 
 by a pretended attack on England herself. He was invested, 
 with great pomp, by the Directory, with the command of the army 
 of England, but easily induced the government to sanction the 
 invasion of Egypt. It is not probable that Napoleon seriously 
 contemplated the conquest of England, knowing the difficulty of 
 supporting and recruiting his army, even if he succeeded in land- 
 ing his forces. He probably designed to divert the attention of the 
 English from his projected enterprise. 
 
 When all was ready, Napoleon (9th May) embarked at Toulon 
 in a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, fourteen frigates, seventy- 
 two brigs, and four hundred transports, containing thirty-sLx thou- 
 sand soldiers and ten thousand sailors. He was joined by 
 reinforcements at Genoa, Ajaccio, Civita Castellana, and on the 
 10th of June arrived at Malta, which capitulated without firing a 
 shot ; proceeded on his voyage, succeeded in escaping the squadron 
 of Nelson and Collingwood, and on the 1st of July reached Alex- 
 andria. He was vigorously opposed by the Mamelukes, who were 
 the actual rulers of the country, but advanced in spite of them to 
 Cairo, and marched along the banks of the Nile. Near the Pyra- 
 mids, a great battle took place, and the Mamelukes were signally 
 defeated, and the fate of Egypt was sealed. 
 
 But Nelson got intelligence of Napoleon's movements, and 
 resolved to " gain a peerage, or a grave in Westminster Abbey." 
 
504 SIEGE OF ACRE. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Then succeeded the battle of the Nile, and the victory of Nelson ; 
 one of the most brilliant but bloody actions in the history of naval 
 warfare. Nelson lost an arm, but gained a peerage and magnifi- 
 cent presents. The battle was a mortal stroke to the French 
 army, and made the conquest of Egypt useless. Napoleon found 
 his army exiled, and himself destined to hopeless struggles with 
 Oriental powers. But he made gigantic efforts, in order to 
 secure the means of support, to prosecute scientific researches, 
 and to complete the conquest of the country. He crossed the 
 desert which separates Africa from Asia, with his army, which 
 did not exceed sixteen thousand men, invaded Syria, stormed 
 Jaffa, massacred its garrison, since he could not afford to support 
 the prisoners, — a most barbarous measure, and not to be excused 
 even in view of the policy of the act, — and then advanced to 
 Acre. Its memorable siege in the time of the Crusades should 
 have deterred Napoleon from the attempt to subdue it with his 
 little army in the midst of a hostile population. But he made the 
 attack. The fortress, succored by Sir Sidney Smith, successfully 
 resisted the impetuosity of his troops, and they were compelled to 
 retire with the loss of three thousand men. His discomfited army 
 retreated to Egypt, and suffered all the accumulated miseries 
 which fatigue, heat, thirst, plague, and famine could inflict 
 He, however, amidst all these calamities, added to discontents 
 among the troops, won the great battle of Aboukir, and immedi- 
 ately after, leaving the army under the command of Kleber, 
 returned to Alexandria, and secretly set sail for France, accom- 
 panied by Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Marmont, and other generals. 
 He succeeded in escaping the English cruisers, and, on the 8th 
 of October, 1799, landed in France. 
 
 Napoleon, had he not been arrested at Acre by Sir Sidney 
 Smith, probably would have conquered Asia Minor, and established 
 an Oriental empire ; but such a conquest would not have been 
 permanent. More brilliant victories were in reserve for him than 
 conquering troops of half-civilized Turks and Arabs. 
 
 During the absence of Napoleon in Egypt, the French Direc- 
 tory became unpopular, and the national finances more embar- 
 rassed than ever. But Switzerland was invaded and conquered ; 
 an outrage which showed the ambitious designs of the government 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] REVERSES OF THE FRENCH. 505 
 
 more than any previous attack which it had made on the liberties 
 of Europe. The Papal States were next seized, the venerable 
 pontiff was subjected to cruel indignities, and the treasures and 
 monuments of Rome were again despoiled. " The Vatican was 
 stripped to its naked walls, and the immortal frescoes of Raphael 
 and Michael Angelo alone remained in solitary beauty amidst the 
 general desolation." The King of Sardinia was driven from his 
 dominions, and Naples yielded to the tricolored flag. Immense 
 military contributions were levied in all these unfortunate states, 
 and all that was beautiful in art was transported to Paris. 
 
 In the mean time, the spirits of the English were revived by the 
 victories of Nelson, and greater preparations than ever were made 
 to resist the general, who now plainly aimed at the conquest of 
 Europe. England, Austria, and Russia combined against France, 
 and her armies met with reverses in Italy and on the Rhine. Su- 
 warrow, with a large army of Russians united with Austrians, 
 gained considerable success, and General Moreau was obliged to 
 retreat before him. Serrurier surrendered with seven thousand 
 men, and Suwarrow entered Milan in triumph, with sixty thousand 
 troops. Turin shared the fate of Milan, and Piedmont and Lom- 
 bardy were overrun by the allies. The republicans were expelled 
 from Naples. Mantua fell, and Suwarrow marched with his con- 
 quering legions into Switzerland. 
 
 These disasters happened while Napoleon was in Egypt ; and 
 his return to France was hailed with universal joy. His victories 
 in Egypt had prepared the way for a most enthusiastic reception, 
 and for his assumption of the sovereign power. All the generals 
 then in Paris paid their court to him, and his saloon, in his humble 
 dwelling in the Rue Chantereine, resembled the court of a mon- 
 arch. Lannes, Murat, Berthier, Jourdan, Augereau, Macdonald, 
 Bournonville, Leclerc, Lefebvre, and Marbot, afterwards so illus- 
 trious as the marshals of the emperor, offered him the military 
 dictatorship, while Sieyes, Talleyrand, and Regnier, the great 
 civil leaders, concurred to place him at the head of affairs. He 
 himself withdrew from the gaze of the people, affected great 
 simplicity, and associated chiefly with men distinguished for 
 literary and scientific attainments. But he secretly intrigued with 
 Sieyes and with his generals. Three of the Directory sent in 
 43 
 
506 NAPOLEON FIRST CONSUL. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 their resignations, and Napoleon assumed the reins of government, 
 under the title of £irst Consul, and was associated with Sieves 
 and Roger Ducos. The legislative branches of the government 
 resisted, but the Council of Five Hundred was powerless before 
 the bayonets of the military. A new revolution was effected, and 
 despotic power in the hands of a military chieftain commenced. 
 He, however, signalized himself by the clemency he showed in 
 the moment of victory, and the principles of humanity, even in 
 the government of a military despot, triumphed over the principles 
 of cruelty. Napoleon chose able men to assist him in the govern- 
 ment. Talleyrand was made minister of foreign affairs. Fouche 
 retained his portfolio of police, and the celebrated La Place was 
 made minister of the interior. On the 24th of December, 1799, 
 the new constitution was proclaimed ; and, shortly after, Sieyes 
 and Roger Ducos withdrew from the consulate, and gave place to 
 Cambaceres and Lebrun, who were in the interests of Napoleon. 
 
 The first step of the first consul was to offer peace to Great 
 Britain ; and he wrote a letter to the king, couched in his peculiar 
 style of mock philanthropy and benevolence, in which he spoke of 
 peace as the first necessity and truest glory of nations ! Lord 
 Grenville, minister of foreign affairs, replied in a long letter, in 
 which he laid upon France the blame of the war, in consequence 
 of her revolutionary principles and aggressive spirit, and refused 
 to make peace while the causes of difficulty remained ; in other 
 words, until the Bourbon dynasty was restored. The Commons 
 supported the government by a large majority, and all parties 
 prepared for a still more desperate conflict. Napoleon was obliged 
 to fight, and probably desired to fight, feeling that his power and 
 the greatness of his country would depend upon the victories he 
 might gain ; that so long as the eclat of his government con- 
 tinued, his government would be strong. Mr. Pitt was probably 
 right in his opinion that no peace could be lasting with a revolu- 
 tionary power, and that every successive peace would only pave 
 the way for fresh aggressions. Napoleon could only fulfil what he 
 called his destiny, by continual agitation ; and this was well under- 
 stood by himself and by his enemies. The contest had become 
 one of life and death; and both parties resolved that no peace 
 should be made until one or the other was effectually conquered. 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] IMMENSE MILITARY PREPARATIONS. 507 
 
 The land forces of Great Britain, at the commencement of the 
 year 1800, amounted to one hundred and sixty-eight thousand 
 men, exclusive of eighty thousand militia, while one hundred and 
 twenty thousand seamen and marines were voted. The ships in 
 commission were no less than five hundred, including one hundred 
 and twenty -four of the line. The charter of the Bank of England 
 was renewed, and the union with Ireland effected. The various 
 German states made still greater exertions, and < agreed to raise a 
 contingent force of three hundred thousand men. They were 
 greatly assisted in this measure by subsidies from Great Britain. 
 Austria, alone, had in the field at this time a force of two hundred 
 thousand men, half of whom belonged to the army of Italy under 
 Melas. 
 
 To make head against the united forces of England and Austria, 
 with a defeated army, an exhausted treasury, and a disunited 
 people, was the difficult task of Napoleon. His first object was 
 to improve the finances ; his second, to tranquillize La Vendee ; 
 his third, to detach Russia from the allies ; his fourth, to raise 
 armies equal to the crisis ; and all these measures he rapidly 
 accomplished. One hundred and twenty thousand men were 
 raised by conscription, without any exemption from either rank or 
 fortune, and two hundred and fifty thousand men were ready to 
 commence hostilities. The first consul suppressed the liberty of 
 the press, fixed his residence in the Tuileries, and established the 
 usages and ceremonial of a court. He revoked the sentence of 
 banishment on illustrious individuals, established a secret police, 
 and constructed the gallery of the Louvre. 
 
 Hostilities commenced in Germany, and General Moreau was 
 successful over General Kray at the battles of Engen, Moes- 
 kirch, and Biberach. General Massena fought with great cour- 
 age in the Maritime Alps, but was obliged to retreat before 
 superior forces, and shut himself up in Genoa, which endured 
 a dreadful siege, but' was finally compelled to surrender. The 
 victor, Melas, then set out to meet Napoleon himself, who was 
 invading Italy, and had just effected his wonderful passage over 
 the Alps by the Great St. Bernard, one of the most wonderful 
 feats in the annals of war; for his artillery and baggage had to be 
 transported over one of the highest and most difficult passes of the 
 
508 THE REFORMS OF NAPOLEON. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Alps. The passes of the St. Gothard and Mount Cenis were also 
 effected by the wingsjof the army. The first action was at Monte- 
 bello, which ended in favor of the French ; and this was soon 
 followed by a decisive and brilliant victory at Marengo, (June 14,) 
 one of the most obstinately contested during the war, and which 
 was attended with greater results than perhaps any battle that had 
 yet occurred in modern warfare. Moreau also gained a great 
 victory over the Austrians at Hohenlinden, and Macdonald per- 
 formed great exploits amid the mountains of the Italian Tyrol. 
 The treaty of Luneville, (February 9, 1801,) in consequence of 
 the victorious career of Napoleon, ceded to France the possession 
 of Belgium, and the whole left bank of the Rhine. Lombardy was 
 erected into an independent state, Venice was restored to Austria, 
 and the independence of the Batavian, Helvetic, Cisalpine, and Ligu- 
 rian republics was guaranteed. This peace excited unbounded joy 
 at Paris, and was the first considerable pause in the continental strife. 
 Napoleon returned to his capital to reconstruct society, which was 
 entirely disorganized. It was his object to restore the institutions 
 of religion, law, commerce, and education. He did not attempt 
 to give constitutional freedom. This was impracticable ; but he 
 did desire to bring order out of confusion. One night, going to 
 the theatre, he narrowly escaped death by the explosion of an 
 " infernal machine." He attributed the design of assassination to 
 the Jacobins, and forthwith transported one hundred and thirty of 
 them, more as a statesman than as a judge. He was determined to 
 break up that obnoxious party, and the design against his life 
 furnished the pretence. Shortly after, he instituted the Legion 
 of Honor, an order of merit which was designed to restore 
 gradually the gradation in the ranks of society. He was violently 
 opposed, but he carried his measures through the Council of State ; 
 and this institution, which at length numbered two thousand per- 
 sons, civil and military, became both popular and useful. He 
 then restored the external institution of religion, and ten arch- 
 bishops and fifty bishops administered the affairs of the Gallican 
 Church. The restoration of the Sunday, with its customary 
 observances, was hailed by the peasantry with undisguised delight, 
 and was a pleasing sight to the nations of Europe. He then con- 
 templated the complete restoration of all the unalienated national 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] : THE CODE NAPOLEON. 509 
 
 property to the original proprietors, but was forced to abandon the 
 design. A general amnesty was also proclaimed to emigrants, 
 by which one hundred thousand people returned, not to enjoy their 
 possessions, but to recover a part of them, and breathe the air of 
 their native land. At last, he resolved to make himself first 
 consul for life, and seat his family on a monarchical throne. He 
 was opposed by the Council of State ; but he appealed to the peo- 
 ple, and three million three hundred and sixty-eight thousand two 
 hundred and nine, out of three million five hundred and fifty-seven 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-five electors, voted for his 
 elevation. 
 
 The "Code Napoleon'''' then occupied his attention, indisputably 
 the greatest monument of his reign, and the most beneficial event 
 of his age. All classes and parties have praised the wisdom of 
 this great compilation, which produced more salutary changes 
 than had been effected by all the early revolutionists. Amid these 
 great undertakings of the consul, the internal prosperity of France 
 was constantly increasing, and education, art, and science received 
 an immense impulse. Every thing seemed to smile upon Napo- 
 leon, and all appeared reconciled to the great power which he 
 exercised. 
 
 But there were some of his generals who were attached to 
 republican principles, and viewed with ill-suppressed jealousy the 
 rapid strides he was making to imperial power. Moreau, the 
 victor at Hohenlinden, was at the head of these, and, in conjunc- 
 tion with Fouche, who had been turned out of his office on account 
 of the immense power which it gave him, formed a conspiracy 
 of republicans and royalists to overturn the consular throne. But 
 Fouche revealed the plot to Napoleon, who restored him to power, 
 and Generals Moreau and Pichegru, the Duke d'Enghien, and 
 other illustrious persons we're arrested. The duke himself was 
 innocent of the conspiracy, but was sacrificed to the jealousy of 
 Napoleon, who wished to remove from the eyes of the people 
 this illustrious scion of the Bourbon family, the only member of it 
 he feared. This act was one of the most cruel and unjustifiable, 
 and therefore impolitic, which Napoleon ever committed. " It was 
 worse than a crime," said Talleyrand ; " it was a blunder." His 
 murder again lighted the flames of continental war, and from it 
 43* 
 
510 MEDITATED INVASION OF ENGLAND. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 may be dated the commencement of that train of events which 
 ultimately hurled Napoleon from the imperial throne. 
 
 That possession was what his heart now coveted, and he there- 
 fore seized what he desired, and what he had power to retain. 
 On the 18th of May, 1804, Napoleon was declared Emperor of 
 the French, and an overwhelming majority of the electoral votes 
 of France confirmed him in his usurpation of the throne of Hugh 
 Capet. 
 
 His first step, as emperor, was the creation of eighteen mar- 
 shals, all memorable in the annals of military glory — Berthier, 
 Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, 
 Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, Bessieres, Kellermann, 
 Lefebvre, Perignon, and Serrurier. The individual lives of these 
 military heroes cannot here be alluded to. 
 
 Early in the year 1805, the great powers of England, Austria, 
 and Russia entered into a coalition to reduce France to its ancient 
 limits, and humble the despot who had usurped the throne. Enor- 
 mous preparations were made by all the belligerent states, and 
 four hundred thousand men were furnished by the allies for active 
 service ; a force not, however, much larger than Napoleon raised 
 to prosecute his scheme of universal dominion. 
 
 Among other designs, he meditated the invasion of England 
 itself, and assembled for that purpose one of the most splendid 
 armies which had been collected since the days of the Roman 
 legions. It amounted to one hundred and fourteen thousand men, 
 four hundred and thirty-two pieces of cannon, and fourteen thou- 
 sand six hundred and fifty-four horses. Ample transports were 
 provided to convey this immense army to the shores of England. 
 But the English government took corresponding means of defence, 
 having fathomed the designs of the enemy, who had succeeded 
 in securing the cooperation of Spain. This great design of Napo- 
 leon was defeated by the vigilance of the English, and the number 
 of British ships which defended the coasts — the "wooden walls 11 
 which preserved England from a most imminent and dreaded 
 danger. 
 
 Frustrated in the attempt to invade Great Britain, Napoleon 
 instantly conceived the plan of the campaign of Austerlitz, and 
 without delay gave orders for the march of his different armies to 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] BATTLE OF AUSTEKXITZ. 511 
 
 the banks of the Danube. The army of England on the shores 
 of the Channel, the forces in Holland, and the troops in Hanover 
 were formed into seven corps, under the command of as many 
 marshals, comprising altogether one hundred and ninety thousand 
 men, while the troops of his allies in Italy and Germany amounted 
 to nearly seventy thousand more. Eighty thousand new con- 
 scripts were also raised, and all of these were designed for the 
 approaching conflict with the Austrians. 
 
 But before the different armies could meet together in Germany, 
 Nelson had gained the great and ever-memorable victory of Traf- 
 algar, (October 23,) on the coast of Spain, by which the naval 
 power of France and Spain was so crippled and weakened, that 
 England remained, during the continuance of the war, sovereign 
 mistress of the ocean. Nothing could exceed the transports of 
 exultation which pervaded the British empire on the news of this 
 great naval victory — perhaps the greatest in the annals of war. 
 And all that national gratitude could prompt was done in honor 
 of Nelson. The remains of the fallen victor were buried in St. 
 Paul's Cathedral, over which a magnificent monument was erected. 
 His brother, who inherited his title, was made an earl, with a grant 
 of six, thousand pounds a year, and an estate worth one hundred 
 thousand pounds. Admiral Collingwood, the second in command, 
 was raised to the peerage, with a grant of two thousand pounds 
 yearly. But the thoughts of the nation were directed to the 
 departed hero, and countless and weeping multitudes followed him 
 to the grave ; and his memory has ever since been consecrated in 
 the hearts of his countrymen, who regard him, and with justice, 
 as the greatest naval commander whom any nation or age has 
 produced. 
 
 Early in October, the forces of Napoleon were marshalled 
 on the plains of Germany, and the Austrians, under the Arch- 
 duke Charles, acted on the defensive. Napoleon advanced 
 rapidly on Vienna, seized the bridge which led from it to the 
 northern provinces of the empire, passed through the city, and 
 established his head-quarters at Shoenbrunn. On the 1st of 
 December was fought the celebrated battle of Austerlitz, the most 
 glorious of all Napoleon's battles, and in which his military genius 
 shone with the greatest lustre, and which decided the campaign. 
 
512 BATTLE OF JENA. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Negotiations with Austria, dictated by the irresistible power of 
 the French emperor, were soon concluded at Presburg, (27th 
 December,) by which that ancient state was completely humbled. 
 The dethronement of the King of Naples followed, and the power 
 of Napoleon was consolidated on the continent of Europe. 
 
 The defeat of Austerlitz was a great blow to the allied powers, 
 and the health and spirits of Pitt sunk under the disastrous intel- 
 ligence. A devouring fever seized his brain, and delirium 
 quenched the fire of his genius. He died on the 23d of January, 
 1806, at the age of forty-seven, with the exclamation, "Alas, 
 my country ! " after having nobly guided the British bark in the 
 most stormy times his nation had witnessed since the age of 
 Cromwell. He was buried with great pomp in Westminster Ab- 
 bey, and died in debt, after having the control, for so many years, 
 of the treasury of England. Mr. Fox did not long survive his 
 more illustrious rival, but departed from the scene of conflict and 
 of glory the 13th of September. 
 
 The humiliation of Prussia succeeded that of Austria. The 
 battle of Jena, the 14th of October, prostrated, in a single day, the 
 strength of the Prussian monarchy, and did what the united armies 
 of Austria, Eussia, and France could not accomplish by the 
 Seven Years' War. Napoleon followed up his victories by bold 
 and decisive measures, invested Magdeburg, which was soon aban- 
 doned, entered Berlin in triumph, and levied enormous contribu- 
 tions on the kingdom, to the amount of one hundred and fifty-nine 
 millions of francs. In less than seven weeks, three hundred and 
 fifty standards, four thousand pieces of cannon, and eighty thou- 
 sand prisoners were taken ; while only fifteen thousand, out of 
 one hundred and twenty thousand men, were able to follow the 
 standards of the conquered king to the banks of the Vistula. 
 Alarm, as well as despondency, now seized all the nations of 
 Europe. All the coalitions which had been made to suppress a 
 revolutionary state had failed, and the proudest monarchs of 
 Christendom were suppliant at the feet of Napoleon. 
 
 The unfortunate Frederic William sued for peace ; but such 
 hard conditions were imposed by the haughty conqueror at Berlin, 
 that the King of Prussia prepared for further resistance, especially 
 in view of the fact that the Russians were coming to his assistance. 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] NAPOLEON AGGRANDIZES FRANCE. 513 
 
 At Berlin, Napoleon issued his celebrated decrees against British 
 commerce, which, however, nourished in spite of them. 
 
 Napoleon then advanced into Poland to meet the Russian armies, 
 and at Eylau, on the 8th of February, 1807, was fought a bloody 
 battle, in which fifty thousand men perished. It was indecisive, 
 but had the effect of checking the progress of the French armies. 
 But Napoleon ordered new conscriptions, and made unusual exer- 
 tions, so that he soon had two hundred and eighty thousand men 
 between the Vistula and Memel. New successes attended the 
 French armies, which resulted in a peace with Russia, at Tilsit, 
 on the river Niemen, at which place Napoleon had a personal 
 interview with the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia. 
 By this treaty, (7th July,) Poland was erected into a separate prin- 
 cipality, and the general changes which Napoleon had made in 
 Europe were ratified by the two monarchs. Soon after, Napo- 
 leon, having subdued resistance on the continent of Europe, 
 returned to his capital. He was now at the height of his fame 
 and power, but on an elevation so high that his head became 
 giddy. Moreover, his elevation, at the expense of Italy, Belgium, 
 Switzerland, Austria, Prussia, Saxony, and Russia, to say nothing 
 of inferior powers, excited the envy and the hatred of all over 
 whom he had triumphed, and prepared the way for new intrigues 
 and coalitions. 
 
 Napoleon, after the peace of Tilsit, devoted all his energies to 
 the preservation of his power and to the improvement of his 
 country, and expected of his numerous subjects the most implicit 
 obedience to his will. He looked upon himself as having received 
 a commission from Heaven to rule and to reign as absolute mon- 
 arch of a vast empire, as a being upon whom the fate of France 
 depended. The watchwords " liberty," " equality," " fraternity," 
 " the public welfare," were heard no more, and gave place to oth- 
 ers which equally flattered the feelings of the French people — 
 " the interests of the empire," " the splendor of the imperial 
 throne." From him emanated all glory and power, and the whole 
 structure of the state, executive, judicial, and legislative, depended 
 upon his will. Freedom, in the eyes of the people, was succeeded 
 by glory, and the eclat of victory was more highly prized than any 
 fictitious liberty. The Code Napoleon rapidly progressed ; schools 
 
514 AGGRANDIZEMENT OF NAPOLEON'S FAMILY. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 of science were improved ; arts, manufactures, and agriculture re- 
 vived. Great momfments were reared to gratify the national pride 
 and perpetuate the glory of conquests. The dignity of the imperial 
 throne was splendidly maintained, and the utmost duties of eti- 
 quette were observed. He encouraged amusements, festivities, 
 and fetes; and Talma, the actor, as well as artists and scholars, 
 received his personal regard. But his reforms and his policy had 
 reference chiefly to the conversion of France into a nation of 
 soldiers; and his system of conscription secured him vast and 
 disciplined armies, not animated, as were the soldiers of the 
 revolution, by the spirit of liberty, but transformed into mechan- 
 ical forces. The time was to come, in spite of the military 
 enthusiasm of his veteran soldiers, when it was to be proved 
 that the throne of absolutism is better sustained by love than by 
 mechanism. 
 
 Napoleon had already elevated his two brothers, Louis and 
 Joseph, to the thrones of Holland and Naples. He now sought to 
 make his brother Joseph the King of Spain. He availed himself 
 of a quarrel between King Charles and his son ; acted as media- 
 tor, in the same sense that Hastings and Clive acted as mediators 
 in the quarrels of Indian princes ; and prepared to seize, not to 
 humble, one of the oldest and proudest monarchies of Europe. 
 
 The details of that long war on the Spanish peninsula, which 
 resulted from the appointment of Joseph Bonaparte to the throne 
 of Spain, have been most admirably traced by Napier, in the best 
 military history that has been written in modern times. The great 
 hero of that war was Wellington ; and, though he fought under 
 the greatest disadvantages and against superior forces, — though 
 unparalleled sufferings and miseries ensued among all the bel- 
 ligerent forces, — still he succeeded in turning the tide of French 
 conquest. 
 
 Spain did not fall without a struggle. The Spanish Juntas 
 adopted all the means of defence in their power; and the 
 immortal defence of Saragossa, the capital of Arragon, should 
 have taught the imperial robber that the Spanish spirit, though 
 degenerate, was not yet extinguished. 
 
 It became almost the universal wish of the English to afford the 
 Spaniards eveiy possible assistance in their honorable struggle, 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] THE PENINSULAR WAE. 515 
 
 and Sir Arthur Wellesley, the conqueror of the Mahrattas, landed 
 in Portugal in August, 1808. He was immediately opposed by 
 Marshal Junot. Napoleon could not be spared to defend in person 
 the throne of his brother, but his most illustrious marshals were 
 sent into the field ; and, shortly after, the battle of Corunna was 
 fought, at which Sir John Moore, one of the bravest of generals, 
 was killed in the moment of victory. 
 
 Long and disastrous was that Peninsular war. Before it could 
 be closed, Napoleon was called to make new exertions. Austria 
 had again declared war, and the forces which she raised were 
 gigantic. Five hundred and fifty thousand men, in different 
 armies, were put under the command of the Archduke Charles. 
 Napoleon advanced against him, and was again successful, at 
 Abensberg and at Echmuhl. Again he occupied Vienna ; but 
 its fall did not discourage the Austrians, who, soon after, were 
 marshalled against the French at Wagram, which dreadful battle 
 made Napoleon once more the conqueror of Austria. On the 
 14th of November, 1809, he returned to Paris, and soon after 
 made the grand mistake of his life. 
 
 He resolved to divorce Josephine, whom he loved and respected ; 
 a woman fully worthy of his love, and of the exalted position to 
 which she was raised. But she had no children, and Napoleon 
 wanted an heir to the universal empire which he sought to erect 
 on the ruins of the ancient monarchies of Europe. The dream 
 of Charlemagne and of Charles V. was his, also — the revival of 
 the great Western Empire. Moreover, Napoleon sought a domes- 
 tic alliance with the proud family of the German emperor. He 
 sought, by this, to gratify his pride and strengthen his throne. He 
 perhaps also contemplated, with the Emperor of Austria for his 
 father and ally, the easy conquest of Russia. Alexander so sup- 
 posed. " His next task," said he, " will be to drive me back to 
 my forests." 
 
 The Empress Josephine heard of the intentions of Napoleon 
 with indescribable anguish, but submitted to his will ; thus sacri- 
 ficing her happiness to what she was made to believe would 
 advance the welfare of her country and the interests of that 
 heartless conqueror whom she nevertheless loved with unparal- 
 leled devotion. On the 11th of March, 1810, the espousals of 
 
516 WAR IN SPAIN. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 Bonaparte and Maria Louisa were celebrated at Vienna, the per- 
 son of Napoleon being represented by his favorite Berthier. A 
 few days afterwards she set out for France ; and her marriage, in 
 a domestic point of view, was happy. Josephine had the advan- 
 tage over her in art and grace, but she was superior in the charms 
 of simplicity and modesty. " It is singular," says Sir Walter 
 Scott, " that the artificial character should have belonged to the 
 daughter of a West India planter ; that, marked by nature and 
 simplicity, to a princess of the proudest court in Europe." 
 
 Meanwhile, the war in Spain was prosecuted, and Napoleon 
 was master of its richest and most powerful provinces. Seventy- 
 five thousand men in Andalusia, under S'oult ; fifty thousand under 
 Marmont, in Leon ; sixty thousand under Bessieres, at Valladolid 
 and Biscay ; forty-five thousand under Macdonald, at Gerona, to 
 guard Catalonia ; thirty thousand under Suchet, twenty thousand 
 under Joseph and Jourdan, fifteen thousand under Regnier, besides 
 many more thousand troops in the various garrisons, — ■■ in all over 
 three hundred thousand men, — held Spain in military subjection. 
 Against these immense forces, marshalled under the greatest gen- 
 erals of France, Spain and her allies could oppose only about 
 ninety thousand men, for the most part ill disciplined and equipped. 
 
 The vital point of resistance was to be found shut up within the 
 walls of Cadiz, which made a successful defence. But Tortosa, 
 Tarragona, Saguntum, and Valentia, after making most desperate 
 resistance, fell. But Wellington gained, on the other hand, the 
 great battle of Albuera, one of the bloodiest ever fought, and 
 which had a great effect in raising the spirits of his army and of 
 the Spaniards. The tide of French conquest was arrested, and 
 the English learned from their enemies those arts of war which 
 had hitherto made Napoleon triumphant. 
 
 In the next campaign of 1812, new successes were obtained by 
 Wellington, and against almost overwhelming difficulties. He 
 renewed the siege of Badajoz, and carried this frontier fortress, 
 which enabled him now to act on the offensive, and to enter the 
 Spanish territories. The fall of Ciudad Rodrigo was attended 
 with the same important consequences. Wellington now aimed 
 to reduce the French force on the Peninsula, although vastly supe- 
 rior to his own. He had only sixty thousand men ; but, with this 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] INVASION OF RUSSIA. 517 
 
 force, he invaded Spain, defended by three hundred thousand. 
 Salamanca was the first place of consequence which fell : Mar- 
 mont was totally defeated. Wellington advanced to Madrid, which 
 he entered the 12th of August, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the 
 Spanish population. Soult was obliged to raise the siege of Cadiz, 
 abandon Andalusia, and hasten to meet the great English general, 
 who had turned the tide of French aggression. Wellington was 
 compelled, of course, to retire before the immense forces which 
 were marching against him, and fell back to Salamanca, and 
 afterwards to Ciudad Rodrigo. The campaign, on the part of the 
 English, is memorable in the annals of successful war, and the 
 French power was effectually weakened, if it was not destroyed. 
 
 In the midst of these successes, Napoleon prepared for his disas- 
 trous invasion of Russia ; the most gigantic and most unfortunate 
 expedition in the whole history of war. 
 
 Napoleon was probably induced to invade Russia in order to 
 keep up the succession of victories. He felt that, to be secure, 
 he must advance ; that, the moment he sought repose, his throne 
 would begin to totter ; that nothing Would sustain the enthusiasm of 
 his countrymen but new triumphs, commensurate with his greatness 
 and fame. Some, however, dissuaded him from the undertaking, 
 not only because it was plainly aggressive and unnecessary, but 
 because it was impolitic. Three hundred thousand men were fight- 
 ing in Spain to establish his family on the throne of the Bourbons, 
 and the rest of Europe was watching his course, with the inten- 
 tion of assailing him so soon as he should meet with misfortunes. 
 
 But neither danger nor difficulty deterred Napoleon from the 
 commission of a gigantic crimfe, for which no reasonable apology 
 could be given, and which admits of no palliation. He made, 
 however, a fearful mistake, and his rapid downfall was the result. 
 Providence permitted him to humble the powers of Europe, but 
 did not design that he should be permanently aggrandized by their 
 misfortunes. 
 
 The forces of all the countries he had subdued were marshalled 
 with the French in this dreadful expedition, and nothing but enthu- 
 siasm was excited in all the dominions of the empire. The army 
 of invasion amounted to above five hundred thousand men, only 
 two hundred thousand of whom were native French. To oppose 
 44 
 
518 BATTLE OF SMOLENSKO. [cHAP. XXXI. 
 
 this enormous force, the Russians collected about three hundred 
 thousand men ; btft Napoleon felt secure of victory. 
 
 On the banks of the Niemen he reviewed the principal corps 
 of his army, collected from so many countries, and for the support 
 of which they were obliged to contribute. On the 24th of June, 
 he and his hosts crossed the river ; and never, probably, in the 
 history of man, was exhibited a more splendid and imposing 
 scene. 
 
 The Russians retreated as the allied armies advanced ; and, on 
 the 28th of June, Napoleon was at Wilna, where he foolishly 
 remained seventeen days — the greatest military blunder of his 
 life. The Emperor Alexander hastened to Moscow, collected his 
 armaments, and issued proclamations to his subjects, which excited 
 them to the highest degree of enthusiasm to defend their altars 
 and their firesides. 
 
 Both armies approached Smolensko about the 16th of July, and 
 there was fought the first great battle of the campaign. The 
 town was taken, and the Russians retreated towards Moscow. 
 But before this first conflict began, a considerable part of the army 
 had perished from sickness and fatigue. At Borodino, another 
 bloody battle was fought, in which more men were killed and 
 wounded than in any battle which histoiy records. Napoleon, in 
 this battle, did not exhibit his usual sagacity or energy, being, 
 perhaps, overwhelmed with anxiety and fatigue. His dispirited 
 and broken army continued the march to Moscow, which was 
 reached the 14th of September. The Sacred City of the Russians 
 was abandoned by the army, and three hundred thousand of the 
 inhabitants took to flight. Napoleon had scarcely entered the 
 deserted capital, and taken quarters in the ancient palace of the 
 czars, before the city was discovered to be on fire in several places ; 
 and even the Kremlin itself was soon enveloped in flames. Who 
 could have believed that the Russians would have burnt their 
 capital ? Such an event surely never entered into a Frenchman's 
 head. The consternation and horrors of that awful conflagration 
 can never be described, or even conceived. Pillage and murder 
 could scarcely add to the universal wretchedness. Execration, 
 indignation, and vengeance filled the breasts of both the conquerors 
 and the conquered. But who were the conquerors r Alas ! those 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] RETREAT OF THE FRENCH. 519 
 
 only, who witnessed the complicated miseries and awful destruc- 
 tion of the retreating army, have answered. 
 
 The retreat , was the saddest tragedy ever acted by man, but 
 rendered inevitable after the burning of Moscow, for Napoleon 
 could not have advanced to St. Petersburg. For some time, he 
 lingered in the vicinity of Moscow, hoping for the submission of 
 Russia. Alexander was too wise to treat for peace, and Napoleon 
 and his diminished army, loaded, however, with the spoil of 
 Moscow, commenced his retreat, in a hostile and desolate country, 
 harassed by the increasing troops of the enemy. Soon, however, 
 heavy frosts commenced, unusual even in Russia, and the roads 
 were strewed by thousands who perished from fatigue and cold. 
 The retreat became a rout ; for order, amid general destruction and 
 despair, could no longer be preserved. The Cossacks, too, hung 
 upon the rear of the retreating army, and cut off thousands whom 
 the elements had spared. In less than a week, thirty thousand 
 horses died, and famished troops preyed upon their remains. The 
 efforts of Napoleon proved in vain to procure provisions for the 
 men, or forage for the horses. Disasters thickened, and all aban- 
 doned themselves to despair. Of all the awful scenes which 
 appalled the heart, the passage of the Beresina was the most 
 dreadful. When the ice was dissolved in the following spring, 
 twelve thousand dead bodies were found upon the shore. The 
 shattered remnants of the Grand Army, after unparalleled suffer- 
 ing, at length reached the bank of the Niemen. Not more than 
 twenty thousand of the vast host with which Napoleon passed 
 Smolensko left the Russian territory. Their course might be 
 traced by the bones which afterwards whitened the soil. But 
 before the Polish territories were reached, Napoleon had deserted 
 his army, and bore to Paris himself the first intelligence of his 
 great disaster. One hundred and twenty-five thousand of his 
 troops had died in battle, one hundred and ninety thousand had 
 been taken prisoners, and one hundred and thirty-two thousand 
 had died of cold, fatigue and famine. Only eighty thousand had 
 escaped, of whom twenty-five thousand were Austrians and 
 eighteen thousand were Prussians. The annals of the world 
 furnish no example of so complete an overthrow of so vast an 
 armament, or so terrible a retribution to a vain-glorious nation. 
 
520 BATTLES OF LUTZEN AND BAUTZEN. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 This calamity proved the chief cause of Napoleon's overthrow. 
 Had he retained hjs forces to fight on the defensive, he would 
 have been too strong for his enemies ; but, by his Russian cam- 
 paign, he lost a great part of his veteran troops, and the veneration 
 of his countiymen. 
 
 His failure was immediately followed by the resurrection of 
 Germany. Both Austria and Prussia threw off" the ignominious 
 yoke he had imposed, and united with Russia to secure their 
 ancient liberties. The enthusiasm of the Prussians was unbounded, 
 and immense preparations were made by all the allied powers for 
 a new campaign. Napoleon exerted all the energies, which had 
 ever distinguished him, to rally his exhausted countrymen, and a 
 large numerical force was again raised. But the troops were 
 chiefly conscripts, young men, unable to endure the fatigue which 
 his former soldiers sustained, and no longer inspired with their 
 sentiments and ideas. 
 
 The campaign of 1813 was opened in Germany, signalized 
 by the battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, in which the French had 
 the advantage. Saxony still remained true to Napoleon, and he 
 established his head-quarters in Dresden. The allies retreated, 
 but only to prepare for more vigorous operations. England nobly 
 assisted, and immense supplies wei'e sent to the mouth of the 
 Elbe, and distributed immediately through Germany. While 
 these preparations were going on, the battle of Vittoria, in Spain, 
 was fought, which gave a death blow to French power in the 
 Peninsula, and placed Wellington in the front rank of generals. 
 Napoleon was now more than ever compelled to act on the defen- 
 sive, which does not suit the genius of the French character, and 
 he resolved to make the Elbe the base of his defensive operations. 
 His armies, along this line, amounted to the prodigious number of 
 four hundred thousand men ; and Dresden, the head-quarters of 
 Napoleon, presented a scene of unparalleled gayety and splendor, 
 of licentiousness, extravagance, and folly. But Napoleon was 
 opposed by equally powerful forces, under Marshal Blucher, the 
 Prussian general, a veteran seventy years of age, and Prince 
 Schwartzenberg, who commanded the Austrians. But these im- 
 mense armies composed not one half of the forces arrayed in 
 desperate antagonism. Nine hundred thousand men in arms 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] BATTLE OF LEIPSIC. 521 
 
 encircled the French empire, which was defended by seven hun- 
 dred thousand. 
 
 The allied forces marched upon Dresden, and a dreadful battle 
 was fought, on the 27th of August, beneath its walls, which resulted 
 in the retreat of the allies, and in the death of General Moreau, 
 who fought against his old commander. But Napoleon was una- 
 ble to remain long in that elegant capital, having exhausted his 
 provisions and forage, and was obliged to retreat. On the 15th 
 of October was fought the celebrated battle of Leipsic, in which 
 a greater number of men were engaged than in any previous bat- 
 tle during the war, ©r probably in the history of Europe — two 
 hundred and thirty thousand against one hundred and sixty thou- 
 sand. The triumph of the allies was complete. Napoleon was 
 overpowered by the overwhelming coalition of his enemies. He 
 had nothing to do, after his great discomfiture, but to retreat to 
 France, and place the kingdom in the best defence in his power. 
 Misfortunes thickened in every quarter ; and, at the close of the 
 campaign, France retained but a few fortresses beyond the Rhine. 
 The contest in Germany was over, and French domination in that 
 country was at an end. Out of four hundred thousand men, only 
 eighty thousand recrossed the Rhine. So great were the conse- 
 quences of the battle of Leipsic, in which the genius of Napoleon 
 was exhibited as in former times, but which availed nothing against 
 vastly superior forces. A grand alliance of all the powers of 
 Europe was now arrayed against Napoleon — from the rock of 
 Gibraltar to .the shores of Archangel ; from the banks of the 
 Scheldt to the margin of the Bosphorus ; the mightiest confedera- 
 tion ever known, but indispensably necessary. The greatness of 
 Napoleon is seen in his indomitable will in resisting this confed- 
 eration, when his allies had deserted him, and when his own sub- 
 jects were no longer inclined to rally around his standard. He 
 still held out, even when over a million of men, from the dif- 
 ferent states that he had humbled, were rapidly hemming him 
 round and advancing to his capital. Only three hundred and 
 fifty thousand men nominally remained to defend his frontiers, 
 while his real effective army amounted to little over one hundred 
 thousand men. A million of his soldiers in eighteen months had 
 perished, and where was he to look for recruits ? 
 44* 
 
522 THE ALLIED POWERS INVADE FRANCE. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 On the 31st of December, 1814, fourteen hundred and seven 
 years after the Suev^, Vandals, and Burgundians crossed the Rhine 
 and entered without opposition the defenceless provinces of Gaul, 
 the united Prussians, Austrians, and Russians crossed the same 
 river, and invaded the territories of the modern Caesar. They 
 rapidly advanced towards Paris, and Napoleon went forth from his 
 capital to meet them. His cause, however, was now desperate ; 
 but he made great exertions, and displayed consummate abilities, 
 so that the forces of his enemies were for a time kept at bay. 
 Battles were fought and won by both sides, without decisive 
 results. Slowly, but surely, the allied armies advanced, and 
 gradually surrounded him. By the 30th of March, they were 
 encamped on the heights of Montmartre ; and Paris, defenceless 
 and miserable, surrendered to the conquerors. They now refused 
 to treat with Napoleon, who, a month before, at the conference of 
 Chatillon, might have retained his throne, if he had consented to 
 reign over the territories of France as they were before the Revo- 
 lution. Napoleon retired to Fontainebleau ; and, on the 4th of 
 April, he consented to abdicate the throne he no longer could 
 defend. His wife returned to her father's protection, and nearly 
 every person of note or consideration abandoned him. On the 
 11th, he formally abdicated, and the house of Bourbon was re- 
 stored. He himself retired to the Island of Elba, but was allowed 
 two million five hundred thousand francs a year, the title of em- 
 peror, and four hundred soldiers as his body guard. His farewell 
 address to the soldiers of his old guard, at Fontainebleau, was pa- 
 thetic and eloquent. They retained their attachment amid general 
 desertion and baseness. 
 
 Josephine did not long survive the fall of the hero she had loved, 
 and with whose fortunes her own were mysteriously united. She 
 died on the 28th, and her last hours were soothed by the presence 
 of the Emperor Alexander, who promised to take her children 
 under his protection. Of all the great monarchs of his age, 
 he was the most extensively beloved and the most profoundly 
 respected. 
 
 The allies showed great magnanimity and moderation after their 
 victory. The monarchy of France was established nearly as it 
 was before the Revolution, and the capital was not rifled of any of 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] PEACE OF PARIS. 523 
 
 its monuments, curiosities, or treasures — not even of those which 
 Napoleon had brought from Italy. Nor was there a military con- 
 tribution imposed upon the people. The allies did not make war 
 to destroy the kingdom of France, but to dethrone a monarch who 
 had proved himself to be the enemy of mankind. The peace of 
 Paris was signed by the plenipotentiaries of France, Great Britain, 
 Russia, Prussia, and Austria, on the 30th of April ; and Christen- 
 dom, at last, indulged the hope that the awful conflict had ended. 
 The Revolution and its offspring Napoleon were apparently sup- 
 pressed, after more than three millions of men had perished in the 
 struggle on the part of France and of her allies alone. 
 
 Great changes had taken place in the sentiments of all classes, 
 since the commencement of the contest, twenty years before, and 
 its close excited universal joy. In England, the enthusiasm was 
 unparalleled, and not easy to be conceived. The nation, in its 
 gratitude to Wellington, voted him four hundred thousand pounds, 
 and the highest military triumphs. It also conferred rewards and 
 honors on his principal generals ; for his successful operations in 
 Spain were no slight cause of the overthrow of Napoleon. 
 
 But scarcely were these rejoicings terminated, before Napoleon 
 escaped from Elba, and again overturned the throne of the Bour- 
 bons. The impolitic generosity and almost inconceivable rashness 
 of the allies had enabled Napoleon to carry on extensive intrigues 
 in Paris, and to collect a respectable force on the island of which 
 he was constituted the sovereign ; while the unpopularity and im- 
 politic measures of the restored dynasty singularly favored any 
 scheme which Napoleon might have formed. The disbanding of 
 an immense military force, the humiliation of those veterans who 
 still associated with the eagles of Napoleon the glory of France, 
 the derangement of the finances, and the discontents of so many 
 people thrown out of employment, naturally prepared the way for 
 the return of the hero of Marengo and Austerlitz. 
 
 On the 26th of February, he gave a brilliant ball to the princi- 
 pal people of the island, and embarked the same evening, with 
 eleven hundred troops, to regain the sceptre which had been 
 wrested from him only by the united powers of Europe. On the 
 1st of March, his vessels cast anchor in the Gulf of St. Juan, on 
 the coast of Provence ; and Napoleon immediately commenced 
 
524 napoleon's return to France, [chap. xxxi. 
 
 his march, having unfurled the tricolored flag. As he anticipated, 
 he was welcomed by tke people, and the old cry of " Vive VErn- 
 perear " saluted his ears. 
 
 The court of the Bourbons made vigorous preparations of resist- 
 ance, and the armies of France were intrusted to those marshals 
 who owed their elevation to Napoleon. Soult, Ney, Augereau, 
 Massena, Oudinot, all protested devotion to Louis XVIII. ; and 
 Ney promised the king speedily to return to Paris with Napoleon 
 in an iron cage. But Ney was among the first to desert the cause 
 of law and legitimacy, and threw himself into the arms of the 
 emperor. He could not withstand the arts and the eloquence of 
 that great hero for whose cause he had so long fought. The de- 
 fection of the whole army rapidly followed. The king was obliged 
 to fly, and Napoleon took possession of his throne, amid the uni- 
 versal transports of the imperial party in France. 
 
 The intelligence of his restoration filled Europe with consterna- 
 tion, rage, and disappointment, and greater preparations were 
 made than ever to subdue a man who respected neither treaties nor 
 the interests of his country. The unparalleled sum of one hun- 
 dred and ten millions of pounds sterling was decreed by the British 
 senate for various purposes, and all the continental powers made 
 proportionate exertions. The genius of Napoleon never blazed 
 so brightly as in preparing for his last desperate conflict with 
 united Christendom ; and, considering the exhaustion of his coun- 
 try, the forces which he collected were astonishing. Before the 
 beginning of June, two hundred and twenty thousand veteran sol- 
 diers were completely armed and equipped ; a great proof of the 
 enthusiastic ardor which the people felt for Napoleon to the last. 
 
 The Duke of Wellington had eighty thousand effective men 
 under his command, and Marshal Blucher one hundred and ten 
 thousand. These forces were to unite, and march to Paris through 
 Belgium. It was arranged that the Austrians and Russians should 
 invade France first, by Befort and Huningen, in order to attract 
 the enemy's principal forces to that quarter. 
 
 Napoleon's plan was to collect all his forces into one mass, and 
 boldly to place them between the English and Prussians, and 
 attack them separately. He had under his command one hundred 
 and twenty thousand veteran troops, and therefore, not unreason- 
 
CHAP. XXXI.] BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 525 
 
 ably, expected to combat successfully the one hundred and 
 ninety thousand of the enemy. He forgot, however, that he had 
 to oppose Wellington and Blucher. 
 
 On the 18th of June was performed the last sad act of the great 
 tragedy which had for twenty years convulsed Europe with blood 
 and tears. All the combatants on that eventful day understood 
 the nature of the contest, and the importance of the battle. At 
 Waterloo, Napoleon staked his last throw in the desperate game 
 he had hazarded, and lost it ; and was ruined, irrevocably and 
 forever. 
 
 Little signified his rapid flight, his attempt to defend Paris, or 
 his readiness to abdicate in favor of his son. The allied powers 
 again, on the 7th of July, entered Paris, and the Bourbon dynasty 
 was restored. 
 
 Napoleon retired to Rochefort, hoping to escape his enemies 
 and reach America. It was impossible. He then resolved to 
 throw himself upon the generosity of the English. He was 
 removed to St. Helena, where he no longer stood a chance to 
 become the scourge of the nations. And there, on that lonely 
 island, in the middle of the ocean, guarded most effectually by 
 his enemies, his schemes of conquest ended. He supported his 
 hopeless captivity with tolerable equanimity, showing no signs of 
 remorse for the injuries he had inflicted, but meditating profoundly 
 on the mistakes he had committed, and conjecturing vainly on the 
 course he might have adopted for the preservation of his power. 
 
 How idle were all his conjectures and meditations ! Plis fall 
 was decreed in the councils of Heaven, and no mortal strength 
 could have prevented his overthrow. His mission of blood was 
 ended ; and his nation, after its bitter humiliation, was again to 
 enjoy repose. But he did not live in vain. He lived as a messen- 
 ger of divine vengeance to chastise the objects of divine indigna- 
 tion. He lived to show to the world what a splendid prize human 
 energy could win ; and yet to show how vain, after all, was mili- 
 tary glory, and how worthless is the enjoyment of any victory 
 purchased by the sufferings of mankind. He lived to point the 
 melancholy moral, that war, for its own sake, is a delusion, a 
 mockery, and a snare, and that the greater the elevation to which 
 unlawful ambition can raise a man, the greater will be his 
 
526 REFLECTIONS ON NAPOLEON'S FALL. [CHAP. XXXI. 
 
 subsequent humiliation : that " pride goeth before destruction, and 
 a haughty spirit before a fall." 
 
 The allied sovereigns of Europe insisted on the restoration of 
 the works of art which Napoleon had pillaged. " The bronzed 
 horses, brought from Corinth to Rome, again resumed their old 
 station in the front of the Church of St. Mark ; the Transfiguration 
 was restored to the Vatican ; the Apollo and the Laocoon again 
 adorned St. Peter's ; the Venus was enshrined with new beauty 
 a t Florence ; and the Descent from the Cross was replaced in the 
 Cathedral of Antwerp." By the treaty which restored peace to 
 Europe for a generation, the old dominions of Austria, Prussia, 
 Russia, Spain, Holland, and Italy were restored, and the Bourbons 
 again reigned over the ancient provinces of France. Popular 
 liberty on the continent of Europe was entombed, and the dreams 
 of revolutionists were unrealized ; but suffering proved a beneficial 
 ordeal, and prepared the nations of Europe to appreciate, more 
 than ever, the benefits and blessings of peace. 
 
 References. — The most complete work, on the whole, though full of 
 faults, and very heavy and prosaic, is Alison's History of the French 
 Revolution. Scott's Life of Napoleon was too hastily written, an d has many 
 mistakes. No English author has done full justice to Napoleon. Thiers's 
 Histories are invaluable. Napier's History of the Peninsula War is 
 masterly. Wellington's Despatches are indispensable only to a student. 
 Botta's History of Italy under Napoleon. Dodsley's Annual Register. 
 Labaume's Russian Campaign. Southey's Peninsular War. Liborne's 
 Waterloo Campaign. Southey's Life of Nelson. Sherer's Life of the 
 Duke of Wellington. GifFord's Life of Pitt. Moore's Life of Sir John 
 Moore. James's Naval History. Memoirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes. 
 Berthier's Histoire de l'Expedition d'Egypte. Schlosser's Modern History. 
 The above works are the most accessible, but form but a small part of 
 those which have appeared concerning the French Revolution and the 
 career of Napoleon. For a complete list of original authorities, see the 
 preface of Alison, and the references of Thiers. 
 
CHAP. XXXII. COMPLEXITY OF MODERN HISTORY. 527 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 EUROPE ON THE FALL OF NAPOLEON. 
 
 It would be interesting to trace the history of the civilized world 
 since the fall of Napoleon; but any attempt to bring within the 
 limits of a history like this a notice of the great events which 
 have happened for thirty-five years, would be impossible. And 
 even a notice as extended as that which has been presented of the 
 events of three hundred years would be unsatisfactory to all minds. 
 The common reader is familiar with the transactions of the 
 present generation, and reflections on them would be sure to excite 
 the prejudices of various parties and sects. A chronological table 
 of the events which have transpired since the downfall of Napoleon 
 is all that can be attempted. The author contemplates a continu- 
 ation of this History, which will present more details, collected 
 from original authorities. The history of the different American 
 States, since the Revolution ; the administration of the various 
 presidents ; the late war with Great Britain ; the Seminole and 
 Mexican wars ; the important questions discussed by Congress ; the 
 contemporary history of Great Britain under George IV., William 
 IV., and Victoria ; the conquests in India and China ; the agitations 
 of Ireland ; the great questions of Reform, Catholic Emancipation, 
 Education, and Free Trade ; the French wars in Africa ; the Turk- 
 ish war ; the independence of the Viceroy of Egypt ; the progress 
 of Russian territorial aggrandizement ; the fall of Poland ; the 
 Spanish rebellion ; the independence of the South American states ; 
 the Dutch and Belgic war ; the two last French revolutions ; the 
 great progress made in arts and sciences, and the various attempts 
 in different nations to secure liberty ; — these, and other great sub- 
 jects, can only be properly discussed in a separate work, and even 
 then cannot be handled by any one, however extraordinary his 
 talents or attainments, without incurring the imputation of great 
 audacity, which only the wants of the public can excuse. 
 
 In concluding the present History, a very brief notice of the 
 
528 REMARKABLE MEN OF GENIUS. [CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 state of the civilized world at the fall of Napoleon may be, perhaps, 
 required. 4 
 
 England suffered less than any other of the great powers from 
 the French Revolution. A great burden was, indeed, entailed on 
 future generations ; but the increase of the national debt was not 
 felt so long as English manufactures were purchased, to a great 
 extent, by the Continental States. Six hundred million pounds 
 were added to the national debt ; but England, internally, was 
 never more flourishing than during this long war of a quarter of a 
 century. And not only was glory shed around the British throne 
 by the victories of Nelson and Wellington, and the effectual assist- 
 ance which England rendered to the continental powers, and with- 
 out which the liberties of Europe would have been subverted, but, 
 during the reign of George III., a splendid constellation of men of 
 genius, in literature and science, illuminated the world. Dr. John- 
 son made moral reflections on human life which will ever instruct 
 mankind ; Burke uttered prophetic oracles which even his age was 
 not prepared to appreciate ; and his rivals thundered in the senate 
 with an eloquence and power not surpassed by the orators of 
 antiquity ; Gibbon wrote a history which such men as Guizot and 
 Milman pronounced wonderful both for art and learning ; Hume, 
 Reid, and Stewart, carried metaphysical inquiry to its utmost depth ; 
 Gray, Burns, Goldsmith, Coleridge, Southey, and Wordsworth, 
 were not unworthy successors of Dryden and Pope ; Adam Smith 
 called into existence the science of political enonomy, and nearly 
 brought it to perfection in a single lifetime ; Reynolds and West 
 adorned the galleries with pictures which would not have disgraced 
 the land of artists ; while scholars, too numerous to mention, aston- 
 ished the world by the extent of their erudition ; and divines, in 
 language which rivalled the eloquence of Chrysostom or Bossuet, 
 declared to an awakened generation the duties and destinies of 
 man. 
 
 France, the rival of England, was not probably permanently 
 injured by the Revolution ; for, if millions of lives were sacrificed, 
 and millions of property were swept away, still important civil 
 and social privileges were given to the great mass of the people, 
 and odious feudal laws and customs were broken forever. All 
 the glory which war can give, was obtained ; and France, for 
 
CHAP. XXXII.] CONDITION OF GERMANY. 529 
 
 twenty years, was feared and respected. Popular liberty was not 
 secured ; but advances- were made towards it, and great moral 
 truths were impressed upon the nation, — to be again disregarded, 
 but not to be forgotten. The territorial limits of France were not 
 permanently enlarged, and the conquests of Napoleon were restored 
 to the original rulers. The restoration of the former political 
 system was insisted upon by the Holy Alliance, and the Bourbon 
 kings, in regaining their throne, again possessed all that their an- 
 cestors had enjoyed but the possession of the hearts of the people. 
 The allied powers may have restored despotism and legitimacy for 
 a while ; they could not eradicate the great ideas of the Revolu- 
 tion, and these were destined once more to overturn their thrones. 
 The reigns of Louis XVIII. , Charles X., and Louis Philippe were 
 but different acts of the long tragedy which was opened by the 
 convocation of the States General, and which is not probably 
 closed by the election of Prince Louis Napoleon to the presidency 
 of the French republic. The ideas which animated La Fayette 
 and Moreau, and which Robespierre and Napoleon at one time 
 professed, still live, in spite of all the horrors of the Reign of 
 Terror, and all the streams of blood which flowed at Leipsic and 
 Waterloo. Notwithstanding the suicidal doctrines of Socialists 
 and of the various schools of infidel philosophers, and in view of 
 all the evils which papal despotism, and democratic license, and 
 military passions have inflicted, and will continue to inflict, still 
 the immortal principles of liberty are safe Under the protection of 
 that Providence which has hitherto advanced the nations of Europe 
 from the barbarism and paganism of ancient Teutonic tribes. 
 
 Germany suffered the most, and apparently reaped the least, 
 from the storms which revolutionary discussion had raised. Aus- 
 tria and Prussia were invaded, pillaged, and humiliated. Their 
 cities were sacked, their fields were devastated, and the blood of 
 their sons was poured out like water. But sacrifice and suffering 
 developed extraordinary virtues and energies, united the various 
 states, and gave nationality to a great confederation. The struggles 
 of the Germans were honorable and gigantic, and proved to the 
 world the impossibility of the conquest of states, however afflicted, 
 when they are resolved to defend their rights. The career of 
 Napoleon demonstrated the impossibility of a universal empire in 
 45 
 
530 CONDITION OF OTHER POWERS. [CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 Europe, and least of all, an empire erected over the prostrated 
 thrones and discomfited armies of Germany. The Germans 
 learned the necessity and the duty of union, and proved the 
 strength of their sincere love for their native soil and their vener- 
 able institutions. The Germans, though poor in gold and silver, 
 showed that they were rich in patriotic ardor, and in all those 
 glorious sentiments which ennoble a great and progressive nation. 
 After twenty years 1 contention, and infinite sacrifices and humilia- 
 tions, the different princes of Germany recovered their ancient 
 territorial possessions, and were seated, more firmly than before, 
 on the thrones which legitimacy had consecrated. 
 
 Absolute monarchy was restored also to Spain ; but the imbecile 
 Bourbons, the tools of priests and courtiers, revived the ancient 
 principles of absolutism and bigotry, without any of those virtues 
 which make absolutism respectable or bigotry endurable. But in 
 the breasts of Spanish peasants the fires of liberty burned, which 
 all the terrors of priestly rule, and all the evils of priestly corrup- 
 tion, could not quench. They, thus far, have been unfortunate ; 
 but no person who has studied the elements of the Spanish char- 
 acter, or has faith in the providence of God, can doubt that the 
 day of deliverance will, sooner or later, come, unless he has the 
 misfortune to despair of any permanent triumph of liberty in our 
 degenerate world. 
 
 In the northern kingdoms of Europe, no radical change took 
 place ; and Italy, the land of artists, so rich in splendid recollec- 
 tions, so poor in all those blessings which we are taught to value, 
 returned to the dominion of Austria, and to the rule of despotic 
 priests. Italy, disunited, abandoned, and enslaved, has made gen- v 
 erous efforts to secure what is enjoyed in more favored nations, 
 but hitherto in vain. So slow is the progress of society ! so hard 
 are the struggles to which man is doomed ! so long continued are 
 the efforts of any people to secure important privileges ! 
 
 Greece made, however, a more successful effort, and the fetters 
 of the Turkish sultan were shaken off. The Ottoman Porte 
 looked, with its accustomed indifference, on the struggles of the 
 Christians, and took no active part in the war until absolutely 
 forced. But it looked with the indifference of decrepit age, rather 
 than with the philosophical calmness of mature strength, and 
 
CHAP. XXXII.] THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 531 
 
 exerted all the remaining energies it possessed to prevent the 
 absorption of the state in the vast and increasing empire of the 
 czars. Russia, of all the great powers which embarked in the 
 contest to which we have alluded, arose the strongest from defeat 
 and disaster. The rapid aggrandizement of Russia immediately- 
 succeeded the fall of Napoleon. 
 
 The spiritual empire of the Popes was again restored, and the 
 Jesuits, with new powers and privileges, were sent into all the 
 nations of the earth to uphold the absolutism of their great head. 
 Again they have triumphed when their cause seemed hopeless ; 
 nor is it easy to predict the fall of their empire. So long as the 
 principle of Evil shall contend with the principle of Good, the 
 popes will probably rejoice and weep at alternate victories and 
 defeats. 
 
 The United States of America were too far removed from the 
 scene of conflict to be much affected by the fall of thrones. More- 
 over, it was against the wise policy of the government to interfere 
 with foreign quarrels. But the American nation beheld the conflict 
 with any feelings but those of indifference, and, while its enlightened 
 people speculated on the chances of war, they still devoted them- 
 selves with ardor to the improvement of their institutions, to agricul- 
 ture, and manufacturing interests. Merchants, for a while, made 
 their fortunes by being the masters of the carrying trade of the world, 
 and the nation was quietly enriched. The wise administrations of 
 Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, much as they con- 
 flicted, in some respects, with each other, resulted in the growth 
 of commerce, manufactures, agriculture, and the arts; while insti- 
 tutions of literature and religion took a deep hold of the affections 
 of the people. The country increased and spread with unparal- 
 leled rapidity on all sides, and the prosperity of America was the 
 envy and the admiration of the European world. The encroach- 
 ments of Great Britain, and difficulties which had never been 
 settled, led to a war between the two countries, which, though 
 lamented at the time, is now viewed, by all parties, as resulting in 
 the ultimate advancement of the United States in power and 
 wealth, as well as in the respect of foreign nations. Great ques- 
 tions connected with the rapid growth of the country, unfortunately, 
 at different times, have produced acrimonious feelings between 
 
532 THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XXXII. 
 
 different partisans ; but the agitation of these has not cheeked the 
 growth of American institutions, or weakened those sentiments of 
 patriotism and mutual love, which, in all countries and ages, have 
 constituted the glory and defence of nations. The greatness of 
 American destinies is now a favorite theme with popular orators. 
 Nor is it a vain subject of speculation. Our banner of Liberty 
 will doubtless, at no distant day, wave over all the fortresses which 
 may be erected on the central mountains of North America, or 
 on the shores of its far distant oceans ; but all national aggran- 
 dizement will be in vain without regard to those sacred principles 
 of law, religion, and morality, for which, in disaster and sorrow, 
 both Puritan Settler and Revolutionary Hero contended. The 
 believer in Progress, as affected by influences independent of 
 man, as coming from the benevolent Providence which thus far 
 has shielded us, cannot otherwise than hope for a still loftier 
 national elevation than has been yet attained, with all the aid of 
 circumstances, and all the energies of heroes. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 
 
 PROM THE 
 
 FALL OF NAPOLEON. 
 
 1815. — Battle of Waterloo, (June 18.) Napoleon embarks for St. He- 
 lena, (August 7.) Final Treaty at Paris between the Allied Powers, 
 (November 20.) Inauguration of the King of Holland. First Steam 
 Vessels on the Thames. 
 
 1816. — Great Agricultural distress in Great Britain. Brazil declared a 
 Kingdom. Consolidation of the Exchequers of England and Ireland. 
 Marriage of the Princess Charlotte with Prince Leopold. 
 
 1817. — Disorders in Spain. Renewal of the Bill for the suspension of 
 the Habeas Corpus Act. Inauguration of President Monroe. Death 
 of the Princess Charlotte. Death of Curran. 
 
 1818. — Entire "Withdrawal of Foreign Forces from France. Seminole 
 War. Great Discussions in Parliament on the Slave Trade. Death 
 of Warren Hastings, of Lord Ellenborough, and of Sir Philip Francis. 
 
 1819. — Great depression of Trade and Manufactures in Great Britain. 
 Great Reform meetings in Manchester, Leeds, and other large 
 Towns. Lord John Russell's Motion for a Reform in Parliament. 
 Organized bands of robbers in Spain. Settlement of the Pindarric 
 War in India. Assassination of Kotzebue. 
 
 1820. — Death of George HI., (January 23.) Lord Brougham's Plan of 
 Popular Education. Proceedings against Queen Caroline. Rebellion 
 in Spain. Trial of Sir Francis Burdett. Election of Sir Humphrey 
 Davy as President of the Royal Society. Ministry in France of the 
 Due de Richelieu. Death of Grattan ; of the Duke of Kent. 
 
 1821. — Second Inauguration of President Monroe. Revolution in Naples 
 and Piedmont. Insurrections in Spain. Independence of Colombia, 
 and fall of Spanish Power in Mexico and Peru. Disturbances in 
 Ireland. War on the Morea. Formal occupation of the Floridas by 
 the United States. Extinction of the Mamelukes. Revolt in Walla- 
 chia and Moldavia. Death of Queen Caroline ; of Napoleon. 
 45* 
 
534 APPENDIX. 
 
 1822. — Mr. Canning's Bill for the admission of Catholic Peers to the 
 House of Lords. Dfsturbances in Ireland. Sir James Mackintosh's 
 Motion for a reform of Cr imin al Law. Mr. Canning succeeds the 
 Marquis of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh) as Secretary of State for 
 Foreign Affairs. Lord Amherst appointed Governor- General of India. 
 Fall of the administration of the Due de Richelieu. Congress of 
 Vienna. War in Greece. Insurrection of the Janizaries. The Per- 
 sian War. Settlement of the Canadian Boundary. Suicide of the 
 Marquis of Londonderry. 
 
 1823. — Great Agricultural Distress in Great Britain. Debates on Cath- 
 olic Emancipation, and on the Slave Trade. French Invasion of 
 Spain. Captain Franklin's Voyage to the Polar Seas. Death of 
 Pius VLL 
 
 1824. — General Prosperity in England. Capture of Ipsara by the Turks. 
 Visit of La Fayette to the United States. Leaders of the Carbonari 
 suppressed in Italy by the Austrian Government. Bepeal of duties 
 between Great Britain and Ireland. Burmese War, and Capture of 
 Rangoon. Censorship of the Press in France. Death of Louis XVLTL, 
 (September 16.) 
 
 1825. — Inauguration of President Adams. Independence of Brazil ac- 
 knowledged by Portugal. Coronation of Charles X. Siege of Mis- 
 solonghi. Inundations in the Netherlands. Death of the Emperor 
 Alexander, (December 1.) 
 
 1826. — Bolivar chosen President of Peru for Life. Independence of 
 Hayti acknowledged by France. Riots in Lancashire. Surrender 
 of the fortress of St. Juan d'Ulloa to the Mexicans. Great Debates 
 in Parliament on the Slave Trade. Death of Ex-President Adams ; 
 of Jefferson. Coronation of the Emperor Nicholas. 
 
 1827. — Death of the Earl of Liverpool, and dissolution of the Ministry. 
 Mr. Canning appointed First Lord of the Treasury ; dies four months 
 after ; succeeded by Lord Goderich. National Guard disbanded in 
 France. Defeat of the Greek army before Athens. Battle of Nav- 
 arino. Foundation of the University of London. Death of the 
 Duke of York ; of La Place ; of Mitford, the Historian ; of Eich- 
 horn ; of Pestalozzi ; of Beethoven ; of King Frederic Augustus of 
 Saxony. 
 
 1828. — Dissolution of Lord Goderich's Ministry, and new one formed 
 under the Duke of Wellington, Mr. Peel, and the Earl of Aberdeen. 
 Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. New Corn Law. Riots 
 in Ireland. Mr. O'Connell represents the County of Clare. New 
 and Liberal ministry in France. Final departure of the French 
 Armies from Spain. War between Naples and Tripoli. War between 
 Russia and Turkey. Independence of Greece. Death of Ypsilanti. 
 
 1829. — Inauguration of President Jackson. Passage of the Catholic 
 Emancipation Bill. New and Ultra-Royalist ministry in France, 
 
APPENDIX. 535 
 
 under Polignac. Victories of Count Diebitsch against the Turks. 
 Surrender of Adrianople. Civil War in Mexico. Don Miguel 
 acknowledged as King of Portugal by Spain. Burning of York 
 Cathedral. Treaty between the United States and Brazil. Civil 
 "War in Chili. Death of Judge Washington. 
 
 1830. — Great discussions in Congress on the Tariff. Reform Agitations 
 in England. Death of George IV., (June 26.) New Whig Ministry 
 under Earl Grey and Lord John Russell. Opening of the Liverpool 
 Railroad. Revolution in France, and Louis Philippe declared King. 
 Fall of Algiers. Belgium erected into an independent Kingdom. 
 Riots and Insurrections in Germany. Plots of the Carlists in Spain. 
 Murder of Joseph White. Death of Pope Leo XII. ; of the King 
 of Naples ; of Sir Thomas Lawrence ; of the Grand Duke of Baden. 
 
 1831. — Dissolution of the Cabinet at Washington. Great discussions on 
 the Reform Bill. Agitations in Ireland. Leopold made King of 
 Belgium. Insurrection in Switzerland. Revolution in Poland. 
 Treaty between the United States and Turkey. Coronation of 
 William IV. Appearance of the Cholera in England. Its great 
 ravages on the Continent. Death of Bolivar ; of Robert Hall ; of 
 Mrs. Siddons ; of William Roscoe ; of James Monroe. 
 
 1832. — Veto of President Jackson of the Bill to recharter the United 
 States Bank. Discontents in South Carolina, in consequence of the 
 Tariff. War with the Indians. Bristol and Birmingham Riots. 
 Final passage of the Reform Bill. Abolition of the Slave Trade in 
 Brazil. Death of Casimir Perier, Prime Minister of France, who is 
 succeeded by Marshal Soult. Death of Sir Walter Scott ; of Sir 
 James Mackintosh ; of Spurzheim ; of Cuvier ; of Goethe ; of Cham- 
 pollion ; of Adam Clarke; of Andrew Bell ; of Anna Maria porter ; 
 of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 
 
 1833. — Second Inauguration of Andrew Jackson. Mr. Clay's Tariff 
 Bill. President Jackson's war with the United States Bank. Re- 
 charter of the Bank of England and of the East India Company. 
 Fortifications of Paris commenced. Santa Anna inaugurated Presi- 
 dent of Mexico. Bill passed to abolish slavery in the British Colo- 
 nies. Trial of Avery. Death of the King of Spam ; of Mr. Wilber- 
 force ; of Hannah More ; of Caspar Hauser; of Lord Grenville ; of 
 Dr. Schleiermacher. 
 
 1834. — Discussions on the Corn Laws. Destruction of the two Houses 
 of Parliament. Change of Ministry in France. Congress of Vienna. 
 Donna Maria acknowledged Queen of Portugal. Opening of the 
 Boston and Worcester Railroad. Resignation of Earl Grey, suc- 
 ceeded by Lord Melbourne, who is again shortly succeeded by Sir 
 Robert Peel. Irish Coercion Bill. Death of La Fayette ; of William 
 Wirt ; of Dr. Porter ; of General Huntingdon ; of Coleridge ; of 
 Rev. Edward Erving. 
 
536 APPENDIX. 
 
 1835. — New Ministry of Viscount Melbourne. French expedition to 
 Algiers. Otho majje King of Greece. Suppression of the Jesuits in 
 Spain. Remarkable eruption of Vesuvius. Revolt in Spain. Great 
 fire in New York. Death of the Emperor of Austria ; of Chief 
 Justice Marshall ; of Nathan Dane ; of McCrie ; of William Cob- 
 bett. 
 
 1836. — Settlement of the disputes between France and the United 
 States. Resignation of M. Thiers, who is succeeded, as Prime Min- 
 ister of France, by Count Mole. Military operations against Abd-el- 
 Kader. Massacre of the Carlist Prisoners at Barcelona. Isturitz 
 made Prime Minister of Spain. Prince Louis Napoleon attempts an 
 insurrection at Strasburg. Commutation of Tithes in England. 
 Bill for the Registration of Births and Marriages. Passage of the 
 Irish Municipal Corporation Bill. Agitations in Canada. War be- 
 tween Texas and Mexico. Burning of the Patent Office at Wash- 
 ington. Death of Aaron Burr ; of the Abbe Sieyes ; of Lord Stow- 
 ell ; of Godwin. 
 
 1837- — Inauguration of President Van Buren. Death of William IV., 
 (June 20.) Insurrection in Canada. Suspension of cash payments 
 by the Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, and by the banks 
 in New York. Acknowledgment of the Independence of Texas. 
 Treaty with the Indians. Great failures in New York. Great Prot- 
 estant Meeting in Dublin. Change of Ministry in Spain. Death of 
 Gustavus Adolphus IV. of Sweden ; of M. de Pradt ; of Abiel 
 Holmes ; of Dr. Griffin ; of Charles Botta; of Lovejoy. 
 
 1838. — War with the Seminoles. General Scott takes command of the 
 New York Militia on the Frontiers. Affair of the Caroline. Lord 
 Durham Governor-General of Canada. Coronation of Queen Vic- 
 toria ; of the Emperor Ferdinand. Violence of Civil War in Spain. 
 Circassian War. Revolution in Peru and Bolivia. Peace between 
 Russia and Turkey. Great Chartist meetings in England. Emanci- 
 pation of the West India Negro Apprentices. Death of Lord Eldon ; 
 of Talleyrand ; of Noah Worcester ; of Dr. Bowditch ; of Zachary 
 Macaulay. 
 
 1839. — Disputes between Maine and New Brunswick. Resignation of 
 the Melbourne Ministry, and the failure of Sir Robert Peel to con- 
 struct a new one. Birmingham Riots. Chartist Convention. Resig- 
 nation of Count Mole, who is succeeded, as Prime Minister, by Mar- 
 shal Soult, and Guizot. Capture of the fortress of St. Juan d'Ulloa 
 by the French. Treaty of Peace between France and Mexico. Aff- 
 ghan War. War between Turkey and Mohammed Ali. Invasion 
 of Syria. Death of Lady Hester Stanhope ; of Governor Hayne ; of 
 Dr. Bancroft ; of Stephen Van Rensselaer ; of Zerah Colburn ; of 
 Samuel Ward. 
 
 1840. — Marriage of Queen Victoria. Penny Postage in England. Affghan 
 
APPENDIX. 537 
 
 War. Difficulties in China respecting the Opium Trade. Blockade 
 of Canton. Ministry of M. Thiers. Arrival of Napoleon's Remains 
 from St. Helena. Abdication of the King of Holland. Continued 
 Civil "War in Spain. Burning of the Lexington. Ministry of Espar- 
 tero. Death of Frederic William III. of Prussia ; of Lord Camden ; 
 of Dr. Olinthus Gregory ; of Blumenbach ; of Dr. Follen ; of Dr. 
 Kirkland ; of John Lowell ; of Judge Mellen ; of Dr. Emmons ; of 
 Prof. Davis. 
 
 1841. — Inauguration of President Harrison; his Death; succeeded by 
 John Tyler. Trial of McLeod. Repeal of the Sub-Treasury. Veto, 
 by the President, of the Bill to establish a Bank. Resignation of the 
 Melbourne Ministry, succeeded by that of Sir Robert Peel. War in 
 Scinde. Espartero sole Regent of Spain. Revolution in Mexico. 
 Treaty betAveen Turkey and Egypt. Treaty between the United 
 States and Portugal. Death of Chantrey; of Dr. Marsh; of Dr. 
 Oliver ; of Dr. Ripley ; of Blanco White ; of William Ladd. 
 
 1842. — Great Debates in Parliament on the Corn Laws. New Tariff of 
 Sir Robert Peel. Affghan War. Treaty of Peace between England 
 and China. Treaty between England and the United States respect- 
 ing the North-eastern Boundary Question. Chartist Petitions. In- 
 come Tax. Accident on the Paris and Versailles Railroad. Death 
 of the Duke of Orleans; of Lord Hill ; of Dr. Channing ; of Dr. Ar- 
 nold ; of Jeremiah Smith. 
 
 1843. — Activity of the Anti Corn Law League. Repeal Agitation in 
 Ireland. Monster Meetings. Establishment of the Free Presbyterian 
 Church in Scotland. War in Scinde. Sir James Graham's Factory 
 Bill. Repudiation of State Debts. Death of Southey; of Dr. 
 Ware; of Allston ; of Legare; of Dr. Richards ; of Noah Webster. 
 
 1844. — Corn Law Agitations in Great Britain. Passage of the Sugar 
 Duties Bill ; of the Dissenters' Chapel Bill. State Trials in Ireland. 
 Opening of the Royal Exchange. Sir Charles Napier's victories in 
 India. Louis Philippe's visit to England. War between France and 
 Morocco. Disturbances on the Livingston and Rensselaer Manors. 
 Insurrection in Mexico. Death of Secretary Upshur. 
 
 1845. — Installation of President Polk. Treaty between the United States 
 and China. Great Fire in New York. Municipal disabilities re- 
 moved from the Jews by Parliament. War in Algeria. Abdication 
 of Don Carlos. Termination of the War in Scinde. Revolution in 
 Mexico. War in the Punjaub. 
 
 1846. — War between the United States and Mexico. Battle of Monterey. 
 New Tariff Bill. Passage of the Corn Bill in England, and Repeal 
 of Duties. Free Trade policy of Sir Robert Peel. Settlement of 
 the Oregon Question. Distress in Ireland by the failure of the Po- 
 tato Crop. Resignation of Sir Robert Peel ; succeeded by Lord John 
 Russell. Marriage of the Queen of Spain ; and of her sister, the 
 
538 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Infanta, to the Due de Montpensier. Escape of Prince Louis Napo- 
 leon from Ham. •'Death of Pope Gregory XVI., and elevation of 
 Pius IX. Death of Louis Napoleon, Ex-King of Holland. 
 
 1847. — Splendid military successes of Generals Scott and Taylor in Mex- 
 ico. Pall of Mexico. Ravages of the Potato Disease. Awful Dis- 
 tress in Ireland. Guizot succeeds Soult as President of the Council. 
 Frequent changes of Ministry in Spain. Civil War in Switzerland. 
 Grant of a Constitution to Prussia. Liberal Measures of Pius IX. 
 Death of the King of Denmark ; of Dr. Chalmers ; of Silas Wright. 
 
 1848. — French Revolution, and Fall of Louis Philippe. Abdication of 
 the King of Bavaria. Tumults in Vienna and Berlin. Riots in 
 Rome. Chartist demonstrations in London. Election of the Na- 
 tional Assembly in France. General fermentation throughout Eu- 
 rope. Distress of Ireland. Oregon Territorial Bill. Free Soil 
 Convention in Buffalo. Death of John Quincy Adams. Election 
 of General Taylor for President of the United States. 
 
 PRIME MINISTERS OF ENGLAND 
 
 SINCE THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII. 
 
 KING HENRY VIII. 
 
 1509. Bishop Fisher, and Earl of 
 Surrey. 
 
 1513. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. 
 
 1529. Sir Thomas More, and Cran- 
 mer. 
 
 1532. Lord Audley, (Chancellor,) 
 Archbishop Cranmer. 
 
 1538. Lord Cromwell, (Earl of Es- 
 sex.) 
 
 1540. Duke of Norfolk, Earl of 
 Surrey, and Bishop Gar- 
 diner. 
 
 1544. Lord Wriothesley, Earl of 
 Hertford. 
 
 KING EDWARD VI. 
 The Earl of Hertford, contin- 
 ued. 
 
 1552. John, Duke of Northumber- 
 
 land. 
 
 QUEEN MARY. 
 
 1553. Bishop Gardiner. 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 1558. Sir Nicholas Bacon, and Six 
 William Cecil, (afterwards 
 Lord Burleigh.) 
 
 1564. Earl of Leicester, (a favorite.) 
 
 1588. Earl of Essex. 
 
 1601. Lord Buckhurst. 
 
 JAMES I. 
 
 Lord Buckhurst, (Earl of 
 Dorset.) 
 1608. Earls of Salisbury, Suffolk, 
 and Northampton. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 539 
 
 1612. Sir Robert Carr (Earl of Som- 
 erset.) 
 
 1615. Sir George Villiers (Duke of 
 Buckingham.) 
 
 CHARLES- I. 
 
 Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 1628. Earl of Portland, Archbishop 
 
 Laud. 
 1640. Archbishop Laud, Earl of 
 Strafford, Lord Cottington. 
 
 1640. Earl of Essex. 
 
 1641. Lord Falkland, Lord Digby. 
 
 Civil "War, and Oliver Crom- 
 well. 
 
 CHARLES II. 
 1660. Earl of Clarendon. 
 1667. Dukes of Buckingham and 
 
 Lauderdale. 
 1667. Lord Ashley, Lord Arlington, 
 
 Lord Clifford. 
 
 1673. Lord Arlington, Lord Ashley 
 
 (Earl of Shaftesbury,) and 
 Sir Thomas Osborne. 
 
 1674. Sir Thomas Osborne. 
 
 1677. Earl of Essex, Duke of Or- 
 mond, Marquis of Halifax, 
 Sir William Temple. 
 
 1682. Duke of York and his friends. 
 
 „ JAMES II. 
 
 1685. Earls of Sunderland andTyr- 
 connell, Lord Jeffreys. 
 
 1687. Lord Jeffreys, Lord Arundel, 
 
 Earl of Middleton. 
 
 WILLIAM III. 
 
 1688. Lord Somers, Lord Godol- 
 
 phin, Earl of Danby (Duke 
 
 of Leeds.) 
 1695. Earl of Sunderland. 
 1697. Charles Montague (Earl of 
 
 Halifax,) Earl of Pem- 
 
 broke, Viscount Lonsdale, 
 Earl of Oxford. 
 
 QUEEN ANNE. 
 
 1705. Lord Godolphin, R. Harley, 
 Lord Pembroke, Duke of 
 Buckingham.Duke of Marl- 
 borough. 
 
 1707. Earl Godolphin, Lord Cow- 
 per, Dukes of Marlborough 
 and Newcastle. 
 
 1710. R. Harley (Earl of Oxford.) 
 
 1710. Earl of Rochester, Lord Dart- 
 mouth, Henry St. John 
 (Lord Bolingbroke,) Lord 
 Harcourt. 
 
 1714. Duke of Shrewsbury. 
 
 GEORGE I. 
 
 1714. Lord Cowper, Duke of 
 
 Shrewsbury, Marquis of 
 Wharton, Earl of Oxford, 
 Duke of Marlborough, Vis- 
 count Townshend. 
 
 1715. Robert Walpole, Esq. 
 
 1717. Earl Stanhope. 
 
 1718. Earl of Sunderland. 
 
 1721. Sir Robert Walpole (Earl of 
 Orford.) 
 
 GEORGE II. 
 
 1742. Lord Carteret, Lord Wilming- 
 
 ton, Lord Bath, Mr. San- 
 dys, &c. 
 
 1743. Hon. Henry Pelham, Lord 
 
 Carteret, Earl of Har- 
 rington, Duke of Newcas- 
 tle, &c. 
 
 1746. Mr. Pelham, Earl of Chester- 
 field, Duke of Bedford, &c. 
 
 1754. Duke of Newcastle, Sir Thos. 
 Robinson, Henry Fox, &c. 
 
 1756. Duke of Devonshire, Mr. 
 William Pitt, Earl Temple, 
 Hon. H. B. Legge, &c. 
 
540 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (Dismissed in April, 1757 ; 
 restored in June the same 
 year.) 
 1757. William Pitt, Mr. Legge, Earl 
 Temple, Duke of Newcas- 
 tle, &c. 
 
 GEORGE III. 
 
 1761. Earl of Bute, Earl of Egre- 
 
 mont, Duke of Bedford, &c. 
 
 1762. Earl of Bute, Hon. George 
 
 Grenville, Sir P. Dash- 
 wood, &c. 
 
 1763. Hon. George Grenville, Earl 
 
 of Halifax, Earl of Sand- 
 wich, &c. 
 
 1765. Marquis of Rockingham.Duke 
 
 of Grafton, Earl of Shel- 
 burne, &c. 
 
 1766. Duke of Grafton, Hon. Chas. 
 
 Townshend, Earl of Chat- 
 ham, &c. 
 
 1767. Duke of Grafton, Lord North, 
 
 &c. 
 1770. Lord North, Lord Halifax, &c. 
 1779. Lord North, Lord Dartmouth, 
 
 Lord Stormont, &c. 
 1782. Marquis of Rockingham,Chas. 
 
 James Pox, &c. 
 
 1782. Earl of Shelburne, William 
 
 Pitt, &c. 
 
 1783. Duke of Portland, Lord 
 
 North, Mr. Fox, &c. 
 1783. Mr. Pitt, Lord Gower, Lord 
 
 Thurlow, &c. 
 1786. Mr. Pitt, Lord Camden, Mar- 
 quis of Stafford, &c. 
 1790. Mr. Pitt, Lord Grenville, 
 
 Duke of Leeds. 
 1795. Mr. Pitt, Duke of Portland, 
 
 Mr. Dundas, &c. 
 1801. Rt. Hon. Henry Addington, 
 
 Duke of Portland, &c. 
 1804. Mr. Pitt, Lord Melville, Geo. 
 
 Canning, &c. 
 
 1806. Lord Grenville, Earl Spencer, 
 
 Mr. Fox, &c. 
 
 1807. Duke of Portland, Mr. Can- 
 
 ning, Earl Camden, &c. 
 1809. Mr. Perceval, Earl of Liver- 
 pool, Marquis Wellesley, 
 &c. 
 
 REGENCY OP THE PRINCE OF 
 WALES. 
 Mr. Perceval, Earl of Liver- 
 pool, &e. 
 1812. Earl of Liverpool, Viscount 
 Castlereagh, Viscount Sid- 
 mouth, &c. 
 
 GEORGE IV. 
 Earl of Liverpool, &c. 
 1827- Rt. Hon. George Canning, 
 Lord Goderich, Lord Lynd- 
 hurst, &c. 
 
 1827. Viscount Goderich, Duke of 
 
 Portland, Mr. Huskisson, 
 &c. 
 
 1828. Duke of Wellington, Rt. Hon. 
 
 Robert Peel, Viscount Mel- 
 ville, &c. 
 1828. Duke of Wellington, Earl of 
 Aberdeen, Sir G. Murray, 
 &c. 
 
 WILLIAM IV. 
 Duke of Wellington, &c. 
 
 1830. Earl Grey, Viscount Althorpe, 
 Melbourne, Goderich, and 
 Palmerston, &c. 
 (Earl Grey resigns May 9, 
 but resumes office May 18.) 
 
 1834:. Viscount Melbourne,Viscount 
 Althorpe, Lord John Rus- 
 sell, Lord Palmerston, &c. 
 
 1834. Viscount Melbourne's Ad- 
 ministration dissolved. The 
 Duke of Wellington takes 
 the helm of state provis- 
 ionally, waiting the return 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 541 
 
 of Sir Robert Peel from 
 Italy. 
 
 1834. Sir Robert Peel, Duke of 
 
 "Wellington, Lord Lynd- 
 hurst, &c. 
 
 1835. Viscount Melbourne and his 
 
 colleagues return to office. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 Viscount Melbourne, and the 
 same Cabinet. 
 
 1839. Viscount Melbourne resigns, 
 May 7. 
 Sir Robert Peel fails to form 
 an administration. Lord 
 Melbourne and friends re- 
 instated. 
 
 1841. Sir Robert Peel, Duke of 
 Wellington, Earl of Aber- 
 deen. 
 
 1846. Lord John Russell, &c. 
 
 TABLE OF THE MONARCHS OF EUROPE 
 
 DURING THE SIXTEENTH, SEVENTEENTH, EIGHTEENTH, AND NINE- 
 TEENTH CENTURIES. 
 
 1509, 
 1547. 
 1553. 
 1558. 
 1603. 
 1625. 
 1653. 
 1660. 
 1685. 
 1688. 
 1702. 
 1714. 
 1727. 
 1760. 
 1811. 
 
 1820. 
 1830. 
 1837. 
 
 1515, 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 Edward VI. 
 Mary. 
 Elizabeth. 
 James I. 
 Charles I. 
 Cromwell. 
 Charles LT. 
 James II. 
 William & Mary. 
 Anne. 
 George I. 
 George II. 
 George HI. 
 Prince of Wales, 
 
 (Regent.) 
 George IV. 
 William IV. 
 Victoria. 
 
 FRANCE. 
 Francis I. 
 
 1547. 
 1559. 
 1560. 
 1574. 
 1589. 
 1610. 
 1643. 
 1715. 
 1774. 
 1789. 
 1792. 
 1795. 
 1799. 
 1802. 
 
 1804. 
 1815. 
 1825. 
 1830. 
 
 1493. 
 1519. 
 
 46 
 
 Henry II. 
 Prancis II. 
 Charles IX. 
 Henry III. 
 Henry IV. 
 Louis XIII. 
 Louis XIV. 
 Louis XV. 
 Louis XVI. 
 Revolution. 
 Republic. 
 Directory. 
 Consuls. 
 Napoleon 
 Consul. 
 Napoleon Emp'r. 
 Louis XVHI. 
 Charles X. 
 Louis Philippe. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 Maximilian. 
 Charles V. 
 
 First 
 
 1558. Ferdinand I. 
 1564. Maximilian H. 
 1576. RodolphH. 
 1612. Matthias. 
 161.9. Ferdinand n. 
 1637. Ferdinand HI. 
 1658. Leopold I. 
 1705. Joseph I. 
 1711. Charles VI. 
 1742. Charles VH. 
 1745. Francis & Maria 
 
 Theresa. 
 1765. Joseph H. 
 1790. Leopold H. 
 1792. Francis H. 
 
 EMPERORS OF AUS- 
 TRIA. 
 
 1804. Francis. 
 1835. Ferdinand I. 
 
 SPAIN. 
 1516. Charles I. 
 1556. Philip H. 
 
542 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 1598. Philip m. 
 1621. Philip IV. 
 1665. Charles II. 
 1700. Philip V. 
 
 1724. Louis. 
 
 1725. Philip V. 
 1746. Ferdinand VI. 
 1759. Charles HI. 
 1788. Charles IV- 
 1808. Ferdinand VII. 
 1808. Jos. Bonaparte. 
 1814. Ferdinand VII. 
 1820. Revolution. 
 1833. Isabella II. 
 
 1523. 
 1560, 
 1568, 
 1592, 
 1599, 
 1611. 
 1632, 
 1654, 
 1660, 
 1697, 
 1718, 
 1751, 
 
 1771, 
 1792, 
 1809, 
 1810. 
 
 1513. 
 1523. 
 1534. 
 1559. 
 1588. 
 1648. 
 1670. 
 1699. 
 1730. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 Gustavus II.. 
 Erick XVI. 
 John in. 
 Sigismund. 
 Charles LX. 
 Gust. Adolphus. 
 Christina. 
 Charles X. 
 Charles XI. 
 Charles XII. 
 Ulrica Leonora. 
 Adolphus Fred- 
 eric. 
 Gustavus HJ. 
 Gtistavus IV. 
 Charles XIII. 
 Bernadotte. 
 
 DENB1ARK. 
 
 Christian LT. 
 Frederic I. 
 Christian III. 
 Frederic II. 
 Christian IV. 
 Frederic III. 
 Christian V. 
 Frederic IV. 
 Christian VL 
 
 1746. Frederic V. 
 1766. Christian VII. 
 1784. Regency. 
 1808. Frederic VI. 
 1839. Christian VEIL 
 
 1696. 
 1725. 
 1727. 
 1730. 
 1741. 
 1761. 
 1762. 
 1796. 
 1801. 
 1825. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Peter the Great. 
 Catharine I. 
 Peter II. 
 Ivan. 
 Elizabeth. 
 Peter in. 
 Catharine II. 
 Paul I. 
 Alexander. 
 Nicholas. 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 1700. Frederic. 
 1713. Frederic Win. 
 1740. Frederic II. 
 1786. Frederic Wm. II. 
 1796. Fred. Wm. HE. 
 1840. Fred. Wm. IV. 
 
 1512. 
 1520. 
 1566. 
 1574. 
 1595. 
 1604. 
 1617. 
 1618. 
 1622. 
 1623. 
 1640. 
 1655. 
 1687. 
 1691. 
 1695. 
 1703. 
 
 Selim. 
 Solyman. 
 Selim II. 
 Amurath III. 
 Mohammed III. 
 Achmet I. 
 Mustapha I. 
 Othman II. 
 Mustapha II. 
 Amurath IV. 
 Lbrahim. 
 Mohammed IV. 
 Solyman II. 
 Achmet II. 
 Mustapha III. 
 Achmet III. 
 
 1730. Mohammed V. 
 1757. Achmet IV. 
 1789. Selim HI. 
 
 1807. Mustapha IV. 
 
 1808. Mohammed VI. 
 1819. Abdul Medjid. 
 
 1513. 
 1522. 
 1523. 
 1534. 
 1550. 
 1555. 
 1555. 
 1559. 
 1566. 
 1572. 
 1585. 
 1590. 
 1590. 
 1591. 
 1592. 
 1605. 
 1623. 
 1644. 
 1655. 
 1667. 
 1670. 
 1676. 
 1689. 
 1691. 
 1700. 
 1721. 
 1724. 
 1730. 
 1740. 
 1758. 
 1769. 
 1775. 
 1800. 
 1823. 
 1831. 
 1847. 
 
 POPES. 
 LeoX. 
 Adrian VI. 
 Clement VII. 
 Paul III. 
 Julius III. 
 Marcellus LTI. 
 Paul IV. 
 Pius rv. 
 Pius V. 
 Gregory XIII. 
 Sixtus V. 
 Gregory XTV. 
 Gregory XV. 
 Innocent IX. 
 Clement VOL 
 Leo XI. 
 "Urban VLTI. 
 Innocent X. 
 Alexander VII. 
 Clement IX. 
 Clement X. 
 Innocent XL 
 Alexander VIII. 
 Innocent XII. 
 Clement XL 
 Innocent XIII. 
 Benedict XIII. 
 Clement XII. 
 Benedict XIV. 
 Clement XIII. 
 Clement XIV. 
 Pius VI. 
 Pius VII. 
 Leo XII. 
 Gregory XVI. 
 Pius IX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 543 
 
 H^BS' 
 
 $9 
 
 g*?* 
 
 o3 S 3 S- 
 
 Swell" 
 
 [•oo|- 
 
 
 3 ag> 
 iTs'g.- 
 
 ?Q 
 
 
 11" 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 Is 3 
 
 -g 
 
 O 
 H 
 g 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 !> 
 
 > 
 td 
 t- 1 
 H 
 
 O 
 ^l 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 > 
 
 S 
 
 o 
 
 td 
 
 W 
 
 i— i 
 
 H 
 3 
 
544 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 O 
 M 
 
 £> 
 
 O 
 
 m 
 
 w 
 ffl 
 
 O 
 
 H 
 
 PQ 
 <1 
 E-< 
 
 <! 
 o 
 
 I — ' 
 
 o 
 
 w 
 
 w 
 
Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: j^y _ 2002 
 
 PreservationTechnologies 
 
 A WOHLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
 
 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
 (724) 779-2111 
 
LIBRARY 0F 
 
 CONGRESS 
 
 °°09 474 228