Westminster Abbey ALLYN AND BACON'S SERIES OF SCHOOL HISTORIES A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND EEVISED EDITION BY CHARLES M. ANDREWS oi»:c ALLYN AND BACON BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO C 1 1 I \A -n ^)%. ALLYN AND BACON'S SERIES OF SCHOOL HISTORIES 12mo, cloth, numerous maps, plans, and illustrations EARLY PROGRESS. By Willis M. West. MODERN PROGRESS. By Willis M. West. HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. By Willis M. West. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Charles M. Andrews. SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Charles M. Andrews. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. By John HoUaday Latane. COPYRIGHT, 1912 AND 1921, BY CHARLES M. ANDREWS SEP 24 21 J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 0)r,!.A622982 577] CONQUEST OF THE INTERIOE. 11 Horsa. Then tradition lias it, and the tradition is probably genuine, that these Jutish chiefs and their followers, landing on the island of Thanet, quarrelled with those who had in- vited them to come, and seized the region later called Kent. Thus began the conquest. 15. The Anglo-Saxon Conquest. — Following the Jutes came the Saxons, who were to be the true founders of England. Landing on the southern shore, in 477, according to the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle (p. 34), they carved out a kingdom of their own ; and during the following twenty years groups of in- dependent Saxons fought against the Britons of the southwest, and won the region about the old Roman city Venta, the modern Winchester. In the meantime, and afterward also, came the Angles, who by 526 had occupied the east coast, forming eventually the north folk and south folk, in East Anglia. Others of the Angles gained a foothold farther north, and in 547 founded the kingdom of Bernicia, and in 588 that of Deira, covering the coast from The Wash to the Firth of Forth. Thus, before the close of the sixth century, the Teu- tonic tribes were in possession of the coast of Britain from the Firth of Forth to the Isle of Wight, and were ready to push their conquests into the interior of the island. 16. Conquest of the Interior. — To the newcomers from the densely wooded shores of the North Sea, Britain seemed a land of great fertility. It is little wonder that they soon ad- vanced to complete the conquest. Leaving the coast, they followed the river valleys and open places, and occupied the land between fen and forest, wood and dike. The resistance of the Britons was desperate,^ the conflict lasting a century and a half. In the beginning of the struggle the Britons were dis- tributed along the western coast in (1) Strathclyde (western Northumbria), (2) North Wales, and (3) Cornwall and Devon — called West Wales. In 577, after many hard-won victories. 1 One of the Celtic leaders was Arthur, famed in story as the lord of the Knights of the Round Table. 12 THE ANGLO-SAXON CONQUEST. [616 the West Saxons broke the resistance of the Britons in West Wales by occupying the valley of the Severn, thus cutting off the Britons of the southwest from those of North Wales and Strathclyde. The Angles, moving westward from the central coast, established the kingdom of Mercia, — the March-land, or border-land. In the north, under ^If rith, king of Deira and Bernicia, they attacked the Britons of Wales and the north, in 616, and defeated them in a mighty battle at Chester. This victory further destroyed the unity of the Britons by cutting off those of Wales from those of Strathclyde. As no effectual resistance could longer be made by the Britons, it vv-as uc,/ only a matter of time until the Anglo-Saxons should become the dominant race of the island. The Britons withdrew to Cornwall and the mountains of Wales, and to this day their descendants are proud of their Celtic blood. 17. Early Organization of the Tribes. — During the first two centuries of the settlement the conquerors of Britain were not single powerful tribes establishing single tribal kingdoms, but rather dozens of small tribal groups, each under its own war- chief or king. Some of them were groups of warriors, kings, and followers ; others possibly groups of kin-families, that is, families connected by ties of blood, composed of men, women, children, and slaves. But the continued warfare of a century and a half effected changes in the organization of these peoples. In nearly all the groups the king became more powerful. He was still selected as of old from a royal family which was supposed to be descended from the gods. He was awarded the largest portion of the conquered lands and the largest share of the booty. As king he was supported by his people and received maintenance from them in the form of services and products of the soil. These gifts and services became more and more definite as time went on, and came to be looked upon as special royal rights that the king could grant to others if he wished. The king was the leader of his tribe in war and a judge among his people. As war-leader he had about him his 600] COMMUNITY LIFE. 13 followers, called gesitlias, who in. time became the oldest nobil- ity of the kingdom; as judge he was accustomed to enforce justice upon the guilty and to move frequently from place to place, himself and his companions being housed and fed by his people. He occasionally summoned the chief men of the tribe as councillors, and the latter sat as a body of wise-men, advising the king. Once a year, perhaps oftener, the king gathered the adult men of the tribe in a folkmdt. The folk- mot was originally the fighting force of the tribe, because war v^^as the object for which it was summoned, and the settling ->siS- dispates, the imposing of fines, and the deciding of ques- tions of peace and war were not undertaken by it. Law mak- ing was unknown ; life was governed by the customs of the tribe, and authority lay in the hands of the king and his officials, who were his personal attendants and members of his household. 18. Community Life. — Of the local life of the tribe we know very little. The people lived generally in groups, sometimes forming a separate community or village, sometimes clustered about the farmstead of a chieftain. Their common interests were their religion, thjir amusements, and the tilling of the soil. To each family group was assigned enough land for its support, and this portion, called a hide, was not at first a fixed amount, but depended on the nature of the soil. Socially the invaders were divided into three classes : nobles, or eorls, whose superiority came from heredity or birth; freemen or ceorls, composing the greater part of the tribe ; and slaves, some brought by the invaders, others obtained by conquest on British soil. Such were the chief characteristics of Anglo-Saxon life be- fore the year 600. Gradually the small tribes began to merge into the larger. Some were entirely absorbed ; some, though retaining their separate names, were subjugated ; and others were united for purposes of conquest. Instead of many small groups, a few larger tribal peoples appear : Kentishmen, West Saxons, South Saxons, East Anglians, Mercians, and North- umbrians. (See Maps, p. 10.) CHAPTER II. THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND. 19. Introduction of Christianity by Roman Missionaries : in Kent. — The Anglo-Saxon conquerors of Britain were pagans, adhering to the worship of Woden, and Thor, and Tin, gods of i I um a photograph. St. Martin's Church at Canterbury, called the "Mother Church of England." It is built on the site of Queen Bertha's Chapel, where her husband. King JEthelbirht, is said to have been baptized. war and of the powers of nature. This fact had come to the notice of the great missionary pope, Gregory, when he was a deacon in Rome, and he sent Augustine, the prior of his own monastery, to preach the word of God to the Anglo-Saxon peoples. In 597 Augustine, with nearly forty other monks, landed on the island of Thanet in Kent. He had chosen Kent, 14 626] IN NORTHUMBRIA AND WESSEX. 15 partly because it was the best known and most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and partly because its king, iEthel- birht, had married a Frankish princess, Bertha, who was a Christian. Immediately on landing, Augustine sent a message to King ^thelbirht telling the object of his coming ; and a few days later the king, who had refused to allow the monks to come into the town, went to the place where they were, and sitting in the open air for fear of magic, listened to the preach- ing of Augustine. At its close he gave the monks full permis- sion to reside in the chief town of the Kentishmen, Canter- bury, and to win as many as they could to Christ. From that day Christianity took root in England, and soon ^thelbirht, his followers, and his people accepted the faith and were baptized. Augustine was made "archbishop of the English nation," and new workers were sent out. But outside of Kent progress was slow. Though the East Saxons and East Anglians, who at that time recognized the overlordship of Kent, outwardly accepted the faith, they did not long retain it, going back to paganism after the death of ^thelbirht in 616. 20. In Northumbria and Wessex. — About thirty years after the arrival of Augustine, Eadwine, king of ISTorthumbria, who had married a daughter of King ^Ethelbirht received Chris- tianity into his kingdom. His wife was a Christian and had brought to her new home a Christian priest, Paulinus. Through the combined efforts of the queen and Paulinus, Eadwine accepted the faith and was baptized with many of his subjects. Paulinus was made bishop of the new region, and York becariie the seat of the new faith in the north. For a few years the worldly affairs of the Northumbrian king- prospered. Eadwine extended the power of Northumbria and, as Baeda ^ says, " reduced under his dominion all the bor- •• Bseda, commonly known as the Venerable Bede, was born in 673 and spent his life in the Benedictine monastery of Jarrow, dying in 735. He was a man greatly beloved in his day, of wide learning, and influential as a teacher and flrriter. His reputation chiefly rests on his Ecclesiastical History of Enaland. 16 THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND. [632 ders of Britain, a thing that no British king had done before." Through his influence the East Anglians were persuaded " to abandon their idolatrous superstitions," and Paulinus preached the faith through Northumbria. "There was," says Bseda, From a 'photograph. Durham Cathedral. In this cathedral is the tomb of Bseda, with the inscription : ' ' Hac sunt in fossa Baedse venerabilis ossa." " such perfect peace in Britain that wheresoever the kingdom of Eadwine extended, a woman with her new-born babe might walk through the island from sea to sea without receiving any harm." But in 632 Penda, king of Mercia and champion of the old pagan faith, killed Eadwine in battle, and Paulinus was forced to return to Kent. This loss to Christianity in the north was balanced by gains 563] CELTIC MISSIONAEIES. 17 in the south, where the pope had sent missionaries to work among the West Saxons. As a result the king of the West Saxons was converted and baptized, together with his people. 21. Introduction of Christianity by Celtic Missionaries : in lona, Northumbria, and Mercia. — Owing to the defeat and death of Eadwine of Northumbria, the Eoman missionaries for the time being had to confine their work to the south ; but a new influence was to make itself felt in the north. During the From a photograph, loNA : A General View of the Church Buildings. It was here that St. Columba began his missionary work in Scotland in 563, but none of the buildings is older than the twelfth century. Roman occupation Christianity had been introduced among the Brythonic Celts, and early in the fifth century it was carried from Gaul by St. Patrick to thei Gaelic Celts of Ireland. In the years that followed the Scots, who then inhabited the northern part of Ireland, became the most zealous advocates of Christianity, and not content to work at home, sought other fields in which to spread their faith. St. Columba, sometimes called the father of the Scottish nation, went from northern Ireland in 563 to the island of lona, where 18 THE CONVERSION OE ENGLAND. [642 he established a monastery. From this seat as a centre, the Celtic monks carried Christianity throughout southwestern Scotland and founded the Christian church of Scotland. In Mercia after the over- throw of Eadwine, King Penda built up one of the most powerful tribal king- doms in the land. But Oswald, a Bernician prince, who had been converted to Christianity by the Celtic monks, defeated the Mercians and drove them out of Bci'- nicia and Deira. He then sent to lona for a missionary preacher and gave to the saintly Aidan, who came, the island of Lindisfarne as a place for a monastery. Other monks came into Northumbria and began the task of con- verting the people. Simple, humble, devoted to their work, they went out into the country places, carrying comfort into the homes of the Northum- brians and preaching the sim- ple doctrine of humility and charity. But Penda was still power- ful and the struggle between Mercia and Northumbria con- tinued for nine years. Oswald fell in 642, but his work was taken up by his brother Oswiu, who threw the weight of his influence on the side of Christianity. He defeated Penda in From a pliotoijvaph. St. Martin's Cross, Iona. This and one other cross, Maclean's, are the only survivors of 360 crosses that the island once possessed. 664] THE SYNOD OF WHITBY. 19 655, in the last great battle between paganism and Christianity, and became in consequence the most powerful king in England. 22. Conflict between the Roman and Ionian Missionaries. — Thus in the south the conversion of the English had been effected by the missionaries from Eome ; in the middle and north by those from lona. The former derived their authority from the bishop of Eome, the pope ; the latter from Columba, the bishop of lona. Both were members of Christian churches, differing from each other in certain matters of ritual, such as the way of calculating Easter and the shaving of the head in the tonsure. The Roman missionaries were fewer in number, but more powerful because they had behind them the grow- ing church of the Continent and because they had sought to convert kings and others politically influential. The Ionian missionaries were more numerous, but they had vvorked more quietly, preaching the word of God among the people. The representatives of the Eoman church had more advanced ideas of the way in which the church should be united under one head and made subject to a single authority than had the Ionian representatives, who with very rudimentary ideas of organization had built up separate churches in each tribe with scarcely more unity than the tribes themselves. As each of the two systems, the Eoman with its centre at Canterbury, the Ionian with York as its most influential city, kept extending its influence, there was bound to come a conflict. This con- flict was settled at the synod of Whitby. 23. The Synod of Whitby. — By 664 controversies between the two churches had become so frequent that King Oswiu of Northumbria called a synod in the monastery of Whitby. After elaborate arguments had been presented by Wilfrid for the Eoman party and Colman for the Ionian, Oswiu turned to Colman and said, " Is it true that Peter has received the keys of heaven, as Wilfrid says ? " Colman answered, " It is true, king." Then said Oswiu, " Can you show any such power given to your Columba?" "None." Then said the king, " Peter is the doorkeeper, and him I will not contradict, pglii^ ^ — ' — "51 1 m- WSI^BIS 1 ■■ . v^''^pj%:i| *7^wHHB i: \ f 1 L^ % ,^ _^ij^';^w:?*w r-^---:::^ LJ 1 ' ^ ^'^'•^^ nS^I '::.'.:M:^g 1 m i 1 PHH lil i . '"Si ■ ^li Bl 14^ ^^w ff ■; ;; 1 j^B^^ 1 ^^IHi Ht^i f «saJ -,.j, , ■ j ? j^^M % 1 $M ■ 'I'' ' -|. ;. HMB;^-^'" , ' ^1 Li ■ ' Jl221 From a photograph. A Portion of Whitby Abbey as it stands To-day, Whitby, Lindisfarne, and Glastonbury were the three greatest of the 260 Benedictine abbeys in England. 20 750] INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND. 21 lest when I come to the gates of the kingdom of heaven there should be none to open them, he being my adversary who is proven to have the keys." Thus a momentous decision was made by the king and assented to by his councillors. The English church became henceforth a part of the great Conti- nental church, of which the bishop of Eome was rapidly becom- ing the recognized head, or pope; and it enjoyed not only all the advantages that came from contact with the more advanced civilization of the Continent, but all the benefits that a more highly organized church system could confer. The Roman system before a century had passed became dominant in England as far north as the region about Edinburgh, and aided greatly in furthering the national unity both of England and of Scotland. 24. Organization of the Church : Theodore of Tarsus. — The church in England had as yet little organization or unity. Thus far each missionary and bishop had worked more or less by himself, and in his own way. There was need of some leader who should bind together the churches of the several kingdoms into a common whole. Such a man was found in Theodore of Tarsus, who in 669 was sent by the pope to England, where he remained for twenty-three years. " This was the first archbishop," says Bseda, " whom all the English church obeyed." Under Theodore discipline was improved and many instances of faulty management were corrected. Theodore convoked synods of bishops, at which rules were laid down to be obeyed by all the clergy. He increased the number of dioceses and made the bishops more responsible than before for the management of them. He encouraged the clergy to study, to take good care of their parishes, and to en- force the law and the discipline of the great church of which they were a part. The unity thus effected in the church pre- pared the way for unity among the different peoples and made easier the formation of an English nation. 25. Influence of the Church in England : the Monasteries. — From 600 to 750, while the tribal peoples in the petty kingdoms 22 THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND. [750 were warring against one another, the church stood as the one great uniting force seeking to place the peoples on a common footing as brethren in Christ. While the mass of the English, often only half civilized, clung to many forms of their pagan life, the church slowly and patiently sought to teach them practices that were more humane and methods of life that were more refined, and so became a factor in civilization. In the monasteries it provided peaceful centres where learn- ing, art, agriculture, and the sciences were encouraged, and where refuge was provided for those who wished to withdraw from the confusion of the world about them. The first monas- tery was established at Canterbury by King ^thelbirht. By the middle of the eighth century a score or more of monasteries existed in England. In worship and discipline, they followed the Benedictine rule.^ The monks maintained religious ser- vices, encouraged learning, and trained men in the practices of self-denial, charity, obedience, and labor. They cleared the forests, drained the marshes, built roads and bridges, and im- proved the great stretches of land granted to them. They obtained manuscripts which they copied and illustrated, and imported workmen who made glass vessels and iron utensils. In general they brought Roman art, architecture, literature, and ideas to England. The men trained in the monasteries spread widely the influence of the English church. In less than two centuries after the sending of Augustine to England, England herself was sending missionaries to the Continent. The most noted of these was Boniface, who became archbishop of Mainz. The monasteries trained scholars as well as missionaries, men who had been in- spired by Theodore of Tarsus to seek learning. By them schools were established, manuscripts collected, and works 1 St. Benedict in the sixth century applied in his own monastery at Nursia, in Italy, rules of monastic life that were so widely adopted that within two hundred years his rule was in use in many thousand monasteries in western Europe. Every Benedictine took tlie three vows, of poverty, chastity, and obedience. 750] INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH. 23 hitherto little known made accessible to both, clergy and laity. The most famous schools were at Jarrow and York. Among their learned men were Baeda, to whose history of the English church we owe the greater part of our knowledge of the early history of England, and Alcuin, librarian of the school of York, who became the teacher of Charles the Great (Charlemagne). Thus, in the tribal wars, amid the shifting of political power, the church stood as the one great influence, working for the unity and improvement of the people. CHAPTER III. THE DANES AND THE RISE OF WESSEX. 26. The Centre of Power shifts South. — During the rise of the church (Chapter II) the centre of political and military- power was constantly changing from one tribal kingdom to another. Under Oswiu and his son, Northumhria remained the most powerful kingdom, until in 685 it began to lose its prestige and Mercia again came to the front. Under King OfEa Mercia extended its power to the Thames, gaining control over the East Anglians, East Saxons, Kentishmen, and Welsh- men, (See Map, p. 29.) But at this time the greatness of a tribal kingdom depended on the personal ability of the king, and with the death of Offa in 796 the importance of Mercia passed away. The centre of power moved southward and Wessex rose to leadership. Egbert, of the royal family of Wessex, had lived for some years at the court of Charles the Great and had learned there to conquer and to rule. In 800 he returned to England and at once began his career of conquest. During the thirty-seven years of his reign he subjugated first the Kentish- men, then the South Saxons, East Saxons, and Surreymen, and later the East Anglians, South Humbrians, and the Welsh. In 823 he defeated his great Mercian rival, the successor of Offa. Thus he seems to have been the first king of all the English peoples and over-lord of many of the Celts ; but this was not strictly true. His supremacy differed in no way from that of ^thelbirht, Eadwine, Oswiu, and Offa except in its completeness. Kent, Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex, each in turn, had controlled the lesser kingdoms as long as each had possessed a man strong enough to maintain his lordship ; and 24 800] THE COMING OF THE DANES. 25 the supremacy of each kingdom disappeared as soon as a weaker man succeeded to the kingdom or a stronger man arose else- where. 27. Conditions before the Danish Invasion. — The period from 450 through Egbert's reign was one in which tribal conditions prevailed. The great divisions into Saxons, East Anglians, Mercians, and the like were essentially tribal in character. There was no national unity in England at this time, there was little united action of any kind ; peoples warred with each other, and the constant struggle for supremacy, first of Kent, then of Northumbria, Mercia, and Wessex in turn, left the land an easy prey to invaders. And the invaders were at hand — the Danes. 28. The Coming of the Danes. — The invaders of England in the eighth and ninth centuries were hardy hunters and fisher- men, neighbors and cousins of the Anglo-Saxons, bar- barians in government and manner of life. Bred of a venturesome spirit in the fiords of Scandinavia and Denmark, — those retreats which gave them the name of Vikings, or fiord- dwellers, — they were always ready to start on f reebooting ex- peditions toward the shores which lay nearest. Their success was due to their swiftness which caught their victims un- awares, whether on the water or on the land. On the water, in their long shallow boats, manned by thirty or forty warriors, they swept up the rivers ; on the land they formed as a swiftly moving army, throwing up temporary fortifications, and using horses in order to move more rapidly, outwitted the clumsy tribal levies, plundered villages and monasteries, and were gone before the slow and badly equipped men of the shires could gather to defend themselves. The Viking host was not a national body in the sense that A Viking Ship. Found at Gokstad, Norway. 26 THE RISE OF WESSEX. [800 it represented a single people coming from a single kingdom. It was rather a collection of war-bands, each under its own From a photograph, LiNDISFAKNE AbBET. The original abbey (seventh century) was famous for its connection, with the two great monks, St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert. The abbey shown in the photograph was built in tlie eleventh centuiy on the site of the old abbey, from which the monks had been driven by the Danes in 883. individual chieftain. The invasion was, in fact, the last phase of the movement known as the Wandering of the Nations, of which the migration of the Anglo-Saxons themselves had been a part. 29. The Danes as Plunderers. — The Anglo-Saxons, divided among themselves and helpless to cope with their skilful and reckless adversaries, were unable to resist the Danish advance. 871] RESISTANCE OF WESSEX. 27 In 793 the marauders attacked ISTorthumbria and destroyed the monastery of Lindisfarne ; then they pushed on toward the west, occupied Ireland, and in 802 burned the buildings at lona. These acts completel}'' crippled Northumbria. Mean- while, they invaded Kent and Wessex also, and their attacks were frequent and persistent. At first their object was merely plunder, and for half a century they burned and despoiled, re- turning home each year with their booty. But in 851 we find in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the ominous record, " This year the heathen men remained over winter at Thanet," The era of settlement had begun. 30. Settlement and Conquest. — During this second stage of the invasion large bodies of plunderers remained permanently in England and lived by ravaging. They formed a military force whose business was fighting, quite different from the native country folk who took to arms only when attacked. The Chronicle always calls the Danish force the "army," the Anglo-Saxon the " militia," or levy of able-bodied men of each shire. In successive summers the "army" pillaged Kent, East Anglia, Northumbria, and Mercia, the last three of which passed under the Danish yoke before the close of the ninth century. Thus the Daiies coming originally as adven- turers remained as settlers. A new people, kindred of the old, became tillers and ploiighers of the lands it had conquered. 31. Resistance of Wessex. — In the centre and north of England the Danes succeeded in their conquest. Wessex alone among the kingdoms was able to resist; and upon its king, JSthelred, and his brother Alfred, fell the heavy burden of saving England from becoming a Daneland. The year 870- 871 was critical in the history of the struggle, for it was in that year that the Danish army, hurling itself on Wessex, struggled stubbornly for the victory. For four months ^thel- red and Alfred fought the Danes among the hills and marshes of Berkshire. First one side, then the other, was successful, till finally, in the spring of 871, ^thelred was wounded and died. He was succeeded by his brother Alfred, who had so 28 THE RISE OF WESSEX, [871 loyally helped him and upheld the cause of Wessex during these eventful months. 32. Alfred the Great. — Alfred the Great, by common repute the noblest of the early English kings, became king of the West Saxons in their hour of greatest peril. From his boyhood he had been considered by all who knew him as the most promising of the royal princes; in battle he had shown himself resourceful in command and a braye fighter on the field. He was comely in person, aristocratic in sympathies, and superior to all the men of his time in his love of learning and desire for the improvement of his semi-barbarous people. In 871, when twenty-three years old, he succeeded to the throne of the only kingdom of England which possessed any real national life or made any pretence to an efBcient political organization. 33. Alfred and the Danes. — The first outlook was dis- couraging. With only a small force King Alfred could not dislodge the Danes from northern Wessex. So he sued for peace, and after paying a heavy tribute obtained a respite for a few years. Alfreb the Great. Engraved from an imaginary portrait in J. A. Froude's "Portraits." 900] ALFRED AND THE DANES. 29 30 THE RISE OE WESSEX. [885 The Danes, being bought off, turned aside from Wessex, but in 877 they renewed their assault. They overran the eastern portion of the kingdom, captured London and Win- chester, and occupied a fortified camp at Chippenham. Alfred built a fleet of " long ships " in 877, manned them with ex- perienced sailors from abroad, and endeavored to guard the coast from attack. But twice he was obliged to pay additional money to the Danes to withdraw. Finally, with a small band of followers, Alfred made his way to Somerset, to an island called Athelney, surrounded by marshes and rivers into which no one could enter without boats. Here he made a fort, and laid his plans for victory.^ Gradually in the spring of 878 he gathered more men about him, and when he felt that his force was strong enough, he fell upon the whole Danish army at Edington, and defeated it with great slaughter. He drove back the Danes to their retreat at Chippenham, laid siege to the place, and by threatening them with starvation, compelled them to sue for peace (878). This was the peace of Chippen- ham. 34. Alfred and Guthrum's Peace. — Guthrum, the Danish king, entered into friendly relations with Alfred, was baptized with thirty of his followers, and during the following years settled down in East Anglia as the peaceful subject of the king. In 885 Alfred seized London, and the next year made a second treaty with Guthrum.^ By this treaty the boundary between the English and Danes was defined, giving the Danes the north and east, the West Saxons the south and west. The English and the Danes on the northeast obeyed the Danelaw; the West Saxons, Mercians, Surreymen, South 1 At Athelney, in 1693, was found the famous enamelled jewel of Alfred's, bearing the inscription, "Mitred mec hehgewyrcan" ("Alfred ordered me to be made "). 2 This treaty has often been confused with that of Chippenham, 878, but as the boundary between Wessex and the Danelaw left London in Alfred's hands, the terms of that boundary must have been arranged after Alfred's capture of that city in 885. 885] EFFECTS OF THE DANISH INVASION. 31 c3 0.ro JP 02 to d ^ t*-! © o C5 SI O ^|nr, prsef atse eclypsis (TX rC^ufelv et mox sequentis Zx\6(}ttCi£r* f]bif K'xS* p'jpjiiti A Portion of the Charter (in Anglo-Saxon) given BY William the Conqueror to the City of London. Translation : William, king, greets William, bishop, and Gosfrith, portreeve, and all the burghers within London, French and English, friendly. And I make known unto you that I will that ye two be worthy of all the laws that ye were worthy of in King Edward's day, and I will that each child be his father's heir after his father's day, and I will not suffer that any man do you any wrong. God give you health. absolute in authority, a very different king from Edward the Confessor, or Harold. The administration that he established was simple and centralized. When he was absent, he placed the government temporarily in the hands of a justiciar, who was always an ecclesiastic, that the office of justiciar might not become hereditary. William had also a chancellor, or secretary, who wrote letters, issued writs, and kept the royal seals ; and a treasurer, who received the royal revenue and was the guardian of the royal hoard of jewels and coins. This hoard was located first at Winchester — Alfred's capital — and afterward at Westminster, the new abbey church of Edward the Confessor, on the Thames, outside of London. 66 THE NOEMAN CONQUEST. [1086 William had also a council, called the " great council," which in composition was probably not unlike the old Anglo-Saxon witan. It was composed of the officers already mentioned, together with others of the royal household and certain earls and bishops whom the king desired to summon. Its duties were chiefly judicial, though it also acted as an advisory body to the king. It cannot be said to have limited his authority, for it never opposed him. 72. Local Government. — William broke up the old earldoms, which had been a great danger to monarchy in Anglo-Saxon times, and reduced the office of earl to a merely honorary dignity. He gave chief power into the hands of the sheriff, whose position increased enormously in importance. The sheriff collected the revenues, summoned the shire court and after the Conquest probably presided over it, and called to war the men of the shire, except the knights who were led by their lords. Though William in substituting the sheriff for the earl strengthened the central authority, in other respects he left local institutions much as they had been before. He retained the laws of Edward the Confessor, and preserved the courts of the shire and hundred. Though under the Normans and afterward, the shire court increased in importance, the hun- dred and the hundred court still remained the centre of local administration for the average freeholder. Here he obtained justice, joined with his neighbors in making up the amount of tax allotted to the hundred, joined with them also in render- ing the required military service, went to inquests (see p. 68), joined in the chase after thieves and other criminals, and did other things necessary to keep the peace. Many of the hun- dreds had fallen into private hands, and the freeholders there served the lord and his court instead of the hundred, though the local life was much the same in either case. 73. "William's Sources of Revenue. — Like the old Anglo- Saxon kings, William received revenues from the old royal lands, to which were now added the returns from the many manors which he had confiscated. Hq had also a share of the 1086] WILLIAM'S SOURCES OF REVENUE. 67 fines and fees from the shire and hundred courts, not under private control, and from his feudal vassals he received the customary feudal payments. He received dues from all mar- kets and fairs held; for the right to grant a market or fair was a royal privilege that the merchants had to pay for. He re- ceived all the fines and fees imposed by the great council, and it was to his financial advantage that as many cases as pos- sible should be brought before the council. Consequently. [^ 9» iffliiukjrai \^tuf \fCf{ipji-,. R^..£ Teoutt?; A Portion of Domesday Book. Translation of the Latin : King William holds Windsor in demesne. King Edward held it. There are twenty liides. There is land for [ ]. On the demesne is one plough ; and there are twenty-two villeins and two bordars [cottagers] with ten ploughs. There is one serf and a fishery worth six shillings and eight pence ; and forty acres of meadow yielding fifty swine for pannage (i.e. dues for feeding the swine). Other woodland is placed in enclosure (i. e. enclosed in the king's forest) . There are besides in the vill one hundred haws less five (i.e. ninety-five enclosures probably with houses). Of these, twenty-six are exempt from gafol (payments in kind or money) . From the others come thirty shillings. pleas of the crown, that is, cases specially reserved for the king or his court, largely increased under the Normans. William was a famous hunter, and made severe forest laws, breaches of which brought in a large revenue. Most valuable of all was the money received from the old Anglo-Saxon national land-tax, Danegeld, which William renewed. That the levy 68 THE NORMAN CONQUEST. [1085 miglit be fair and systematic, he caused 9, great survey of the kingdom to be made. This, the most famous of all William's acts, resulted in the drawing up of Domesday Book, the only record of its kind and one of the most important sources of in- formation for English history. 74. Domesday Book. — In 1085 William sent out commis- sioners into the shires to get information upon which to base the levying of the tax. They were to go to each shire or county town and to summon before them the chief land- holders of the shire, the smaller landholders of the hundred, and villagers from each vill in the hundred, for the purpose of answering questions. This method of inquiry, introduced by the Normans, was called an inquest, and out of it, two cen- turies later, developed trial by jury. The commissioners asked by whom the lands were held, how many hides there were to be taxed, what lands (as, for example, some of the old crown lands) were exempt from taxation, how many villeins there were, how many cattle, how many ploughs, and the like. They made the inquiry hundred by hundred and vill by vill. When all had been finished and written down in Latin, the record was sent to the king at Westminster. The items were separated and set down not as originally by hundreds and vills, but under the names of the tenants-in-chief, who held the lands within each shire. The final form in which Domes- day Book has come down to us is not geographical, but feudal. It is a tax book, designed for the purpose of increasing the revenue of the king. But it is more. It is a witness to the con- tinued existence of the old Saxon local institutions, the shire, the hundred, and the vill, and to the presence of the new sys- tem of feudal tenures introduced by the Conqueror. 75. William and the Church. — The Anglo-Saxon church, though recognizing the superior jurisdiction of the Holy See at Rome, had been accustomed to manage its own local affairs and had preserved intact its national character. William had come to England with the blessing of the pope, and was morally bound to bring the English church more directly 1086] WILLIAM AND THE CHURCH. 69 under the authority of the papacy. He began by removing the Anglo-Saxon bishops and replacing them with others from the Continent, trained in the ways of the Eoman church and devoted to pope and king. Lanfranc was made archbishop of Canterbury, and a few years later the archbishopric of York was made subordinate to that of Canterbury. By making Lanfranc the sole head of the English church, William strengthened the ecclesiastical unity of England. Lanfranc came to England ready to organize the church and to enforce many of the reforms which Dunstan had tried to introduce. He imposed celibacy upon the clergy, sub- stituted, whenever the opportunity arose, the regular clergy (the monks) for the secular clergy (the priests), and encour- aged the coming of monastic orders into England. Wishing to make the church independent of the state, he persuaded the king to issue an ordinance requiring that hereafter bishops and archdeacons, who had hitherto sat in the shire and hundred courts, should have courts of their own and should try ecclesi- astical cases not according to local custom, but according to the canon law, that is, the church law. From this time we have church courts or "courts Christian," which tried laymen for breaches of the church law and clerics for any offences, and we see the clergy becoming a distinct order by themselves. 76. "William's Power over the Church. — But William was not willing that either church or pope should limit his own power as king of England and of Englishmen. He refused to do homage to G-regory VII. Though he continued the old Anglo- Saxon payment to Rome of a penny on every hearth (Peter's Pence), he forbade that any one in his kingdom should ac- knowledge a new pope or should receive any papal letters without his consent. He would not allow the English clergy in their convocation to decide anything unless he agreed to it, and he would not suffer the church to try publicly or to excommunicate any of his barons or officers without first refer- ring the matter to him. Thus, while he strengthened the papal authority, he kept it well under his control. 70 THE NORMAN CONQUEST. [1066 77. Results of the Norman Conquest. — In English history the Norman Conquest is equally important with that of the Anglo- Saxons. It introduced new ideas and practices in land tenure, military service, government and church organization. It established government in the hands of a powerful feudal aristocracy under the king, which held the land and drew from it their revenues ; it increased the central power of the king and his council, and it centred justice, taxation, and the mili- tary system more and more in the hands of the landowning classes. A separation began between the upper and lower classes, which was to continue for four centuries, and to effect a complete change in the condition of the mass of the people. The introduction of feudal tenures, the rise of great manorial estates, the heavy taxes which the Normans imposed, decreased the number of small, independent holdings, and brought many free villages under the control of Norman lords. More small freemen than ever were forced to perform services, to make payments to their lords, to be bound to the soil, — that is, to become what we know as villeins. For the next two or three centuries feudalism was at its height in England. At the same time the Norman Conquest was of lasting bene- fit to England. It brought the land, the people, and the church out of isolation into contact with Continental life. It intro- duced symmetry, simplicity, and consolidation into English government and law. It brought about the decline of the old tribal conditions, broke up the unity of the old kindred, led to the abolition of the blood-feuds, wergeld, and the tribal system of justice and punishment, and prepared the way for a higher order of government, law, and industry, and for greater sta- bility and strength in national affairs. ENGLAND and the FRENCH POSSESSIONS CHAPTER VII. FEUDAL ENGLAND. 78. William II. — • William the Conqueror, at his death in 1087, left Normandy to his eldest son, Robert. To his second son, William, called Rufus (the Red), he left the English crown ; and to his third son, Henry, he left a hoard of money. William Rufus, fearing an uprising of the Norman barons in favor of Robert, threw himself on the support of the English, and, with the aid of Lanfranc, obtained a legal election in 1087. In return, he promised better laws and lighter taxes. But after Lanfranc' s death in 1089, he forgot his coronation oath and gave way to his evil passions. He employed every device to obtain money, exercising mercilessly his feudal rights. He also kept vacant the see of Canterbury, and took the revenues himself for four years. Finally, in 1093, falling sick, he re- pented, and appointed as archbishop the saintly Anselm. But recovering, he again forgot his oath, and continued his evil course. The burden of his feudal exactions fell chiefly upon the holders of great estates, who were in the main of Norman stock. But at the same time his tampering with the manage- ment of the local courts, the buying and selling of justice, and the pardoning of criminals for a bribe caused great hardship among the masses of the people, the native English. The great landholders, seeking from their tenantry reimbursement for their losses, increased the popular distress. No one mourned when, in 1100, William was killed while hunting in the New Forest, which his father had created. 79. Henry I. — In order to forestall the claims of his elder brother, Robert, Henry hastened to London and demanded the crown. After some opposition, he was elected king, August 5, 71 72 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [1100 1100. Then, in order to strengthen his position, he recalled Anselm, who had fled from William Kufus in 1097. At the same time he promised to respect the laws of Edward the Confes- sor, and most impor- tant of all, issued a charter of liberties correcting the evil practices of William Kufus. In this char- ter he bound himself to respect the freedom of the church and to leave church revenues unmolested during a vacancy , to exact rea- sonable and just feudal dues; to establish peace and the laws of Edward in the king- dom; and he de- manded that his bar- ons should treat their vassals as he was treating them. In order to bind the English more closely to him, he married Edyth, whom the Normans called Matilda, daughter of Malcolm of Scotland, the youngest and last of the house of Alfred the Great. 80. Henry's Troubles with Normandy. — During the first nine years of his reign, Henry had great trouble because of Nor- mandy. His elder brother, Eobert, returned in 1100 from the First Crusade, and was welcomed by a considerable party of Norman lords, who supported his claim to the English throne. Louis VI of France aided Eobert, hoping to weaken the Nor- man house by encouraging war between its leading members. From an migraving. Henry I. 1102-1107] THE INVESTITURE STRUGGLE. . 73 Henry was aided not only by his Norman followers, but by the English as well. With a bribe of three thousand marks a year he bought off Eobert. He crossed the channel in 1104 a,nd subdued "almost all the castles and the chief men" in the land of Normandy. Finally, when Robert renewed the conflict, Henry won the battle of Tinchebrai (1106) and thus became master of Normandy. The struggle, in which the English had cooperated with their king, bound more closely Norman king and English people, and promoted that imity which was to make of two peoples one nation. 81. The Investiture Struggle. — During Henry's reign a new issue arose. The ecclesiastical lords, bishops and abbots, were great landowners, and as such were feudal vassals of the crown. For three centuries, on the Continent and in England, the great overlords had been accustomed to invest these arch- bishops and bishops with the signs of their office, that is, to confer upon them not only their feudal lands, but also the ring and the staff, emblems of their spiritual power.^ Gregory VII, one of the greatest of the popes, determined to rid the church of this interference of the secular lords. During the reign of William E.ufus, Anselm had asserted the independence of the church, when he refused to receive the pallium, the spiritual badge of his -office, from the hands of the king. Because of the quarrel that followed, Anselm fled from England in 1097. After Henry's accession he returned, and renewed the struggle over the question of investiture with the ring and the staff. From 1102 to 1107 the archbishop refused to recognize the king's right of investiture, and twice was exiled from England because he would not do homage and receive investiture for his see. But Henry was involved in war with his brother Robert, and wanted the aid of Anselm and the English people : a compromise was reached; the king gave up the right of 1 The ring was the signet or seal ring of the bishop, the staff the symbol of the bishop's authority over his flock. The archbishop received in addition from the pope iYt.e pallium, the chief badge of his authority, a band of white lamb's wool embroidered with black crosses, with two pendants attached- 74 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [1135 investiture with ring and staff, the spiritual symbols, and Anselm agreed that bishops should do homage to the king for the lands which they held, their temporal power. 82. Henry's Administrative Changes. — The government under Henry was about the same as it had been under William the Conqueror. The justiciar became, however, a permanent offi- cer, and out of the g7~eat council a small council of barons was created for (1) financial and (2) judicial purposes. 1. When dealing with finances, this body took the name of the Eay chequer, and sat twice a year, in spring and autumn. 2. When rendering justice it was called the curia regis, or king's court. This court dealt only with exceptional matters, such as dis- putes between the great lords, and such pleas of the crown as were tried before the king, for the curia regis at this time followed the king wherever he went. At times the king sent one or more of the members of this smaller council into the counties to look after the revenues, and to hear cases which specially concerned the king. 83. Stephen and Matilda. — In 1135 Henry died without a legitimate male heir to succeed him. In 1126 he had called his widowed daughter, Matilda, back to England and had secured her recognition by the barons as heir to the throne. Matilda, therefore, based her right to the throne on her descent and on the oaths sworn by the barons. Stephen of Blois, count of Boulogne, son of William the Conqueror's daughter, strenuously disputed this claim and on the death of Henry in 1135 hastened to England. There the people and the barons, reluctant to see a woman on the throne of England, accepted him as king. Stephen was informally elected at London. Matilda in despair appealed to Rome, but the pope sent a letter to Stephen confirming him in the possession of the kingdom. Thus Stephen based his title to the throne upon election and coronation, and upon the consent of the pope. In return he confirmed the good laws and customs of his uncle and of Edward the Confessor, and in a second charter prom- ised to respect the liberty of the church. 1138] WAR BETWEEN STEPHEN AND MATILDA. 75 84. War between Stephen and Matilda. — The struggle that followed between the two claimants to the throne is sometimes called the "nineteen years of anarchy." Stephen was not a strong man ; the great lords went from one side to the other as they pleased and were ready to follow the party that would offer them the greatest re- wards. Feudal an- archy broke loose. The building of cas- tles, which had begun with the Norman Con- quest, went on with great rapidity. The Anglo-Saxon Chron- icle pictures graphi- cally the misery of the land. Some men were beaten and tortured, others died of hunger ; towns were plun- dered and burnt, churches destroyed, monks and priests robbed. "The earth bare no corn . . . and it was openly said that Christ and his saints slept." Stephen did not keep his promises, discontent increased, and the cause of Matilda be- came the rallying point of the enemies of the king. Matilda's uncle, David, king of the Scots, espoused her cause and in- vaded England. He was defeated in the battle of the Stand- ard (1138), where Stephen's men drove back the Scots with great slaughter. Stephen, strengthened by this victory, strug- gled against the rapidly growing rebellion in the south, where one after another the Norman earls were rising against him. He was brave, but without resources, and his condition drove From an engraving. Stephen. 76 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [1154 him to desperation. He debased the, coinage, imported mer- cenaries, and raised up new earls to aid him. He also offended the clergy at the very moment when Matilda, arriving in Eng- land for the first time, placed herself at the head of her own cause. Stephen was defeated and captured at the battle of Lincoln in 1141, and Matilda was chosen " Lady of England " by the barons, April 7-8, 1141. They did not, however, crown her queen. But Matilda's triumph was brief. Stephen's queen raised reenforcements in Kent and effected by exchange the release of the king. Matilda had offended her followers by her haughtiness and could gain no new support. So, despairing of further success, she withdrew from the struggle and retired to the Continent. Stephen reigned for the next five years in comparative peace. 85. The Angevins. — But Matilda's cause was not lost. Henry, her son by her second husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, renewed the struggle for his mother, but met with little success. After his return to France in 1150, his power vastly increased. He was invested with Normandy by his mother in 1151, and soon after the death of his father, received Anjou, Touraine, and Maine, feudal states in France. In 1152 he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom Louis VII of France had foolishly divorced, and received as her dowry the great duchy of Acqui- taine. Thus he was the most powerful lord in France, when in 1153 he prepared to take final issue with Stephen in a strug- gle for the English crown. 86. The Treaty of "Wallingford. — Henry landed in England in June, 1153. Nearly eighteen years had passed since the struggle began and a new generation of men had arisen. Nor- mans and English were becoming fused into one people, and a strong desire for peace everywhere prevailed. Eustace, the son of Stephen, died in 1153, and for Stephen the loss of his heir changed the whole aspect of the struggle. At Wallingford negotiations were begun and a treaty was finally signed in 1154. According to its terms Stephen adopted Henry as his 1154] RESULTS OF STEPHEN'S REIGN. 77 heir, and Henry in his turn recognized the right of Stephen to reign peacefully as long as he lived. This compact was kept. Stephen remained king of England till his death in October, 1154, and Henry was crowned at London the December follow- ing. 87. Results of Stephen's Reign. — Though outwardly a time of war and chaos, the reign of Stephen was in some respects marked by a steady development. The two peoples, Normans and English, suffering the same miseries and fighting the same battles, were becoming one. The crown and the feudal barons emerged from the conflict weakened rather than strengthened; the church alone gained. Taking advantage of the disorgani- zation of the state, it sprang at once into prominence, establish- ing its independence and advancing its claims to control the election of the king and to interfere in temporal affairs. The ecclesiastical courts extended their jurisdiction, monasticism flourished, and learning increased. The beginnings of the University of Oxford can be seen. The towns, engaging in commerce and thereby growing in wealth and power, were be- coming places of refuge for the oppressed. Most important of all, the evils of an unrestrained feudalism, the rise to prominence of new and more lawless feudal lords,. and the steady descent of the villager class into a deeper serfdom taught men severe lessons and made them more eager to accept the rule of a strong king, despotic though he might be. On this account the Eng- lish welcomed the coming of Henry II. CHAPTER VIII. HENRY II. — JOHN : STRUGGLE OP MONARCHY WITH THE CHURCH AND FEUDALISM. 88. Henry II. — Henry II was more than king of England: lie was feudal lord of half of France, and was connected, by blood or marriage, with the chief princes of Europe. During the thirty-five years of his reign he spent all together but thir- teen in England ; the centre of his activity was France, where he was maintaining his feudal claims. He was a man of un- bounded activity, a clear-headed statesman and law-giver, and an ambitious ruler. It is true he was rash and intemperate, but he chose excellent councillors and was always ready to accept advice. 89. Henry restores Peace. — As soon as he was crowned Henry began to restore order and peace, as he had promised. He ordered all the illegal castles — erected without the king's per- mission — to be razed to the ground, and took steps to recover the royal estates that had been given away both by Matilda and Stephen in their attempt to gain followers. Then he turned his attention to strengthening the central government and to raising monarchy from its low estate. What England needed was a strong central power to create a common law for the land and to bring unity into its life and government. 90. Henry's Administrative Measures. — Henry's frequent ab- sences from England, settling feudal difficulties in France, made necessary such changes in administration as would enable the government to go on without him. England was compara- tively small and compact, many of the dangerous feudal lords had been slain or had died, and most of the leading men sym- pathized with Henry in his determination to establish a strong 78 1154] THE SHERIFF. 79 central goverument. The king selected laymen as his justiciars, and invested them with almost regal power. Under them the same officers existed as in the days of Henry I. The small board of barons, called the Exchequer when performing financial duties, and the hinges court (curia regis) when exercising judicial functions, continued their semi-annual meetings. But the t7'eas- urer of the Exchequer now became permanent, and under him was organized a staff of expert clerks, who did the routine work and remained at Westminster for a much longer time than did the barons. To this permanent board the sheriffs brought the revenues from each shire, which included the revenues from the royal estates, the proceeds from fines, the Danegeld when levied, and the money arising from the aids and incidental pay' ments of the feudal tenants, such as arose from inheritances, marriages, wardships, escheats, and alienations of the fief.^ 91. The Sheriff. — Under Henry II the sheriff became the most important of those ofiicials in the kingdom that had to do with local administration. He was always appointed by the king and' was generally possessed of great estates within the district that he administered, and in some instances at least 1 In addition to military service the vassal owed his lord certain aids and incidents : ] Feudal aids or payments on three special occasions, (a) when the lord was to be ransomed from captivity, (6) when his eldest son was knighted, and (c) when his eldest daughter was married for the first time. 2. There were five chief feudal incidents : (a) the relief was a payment made by the heir or new tenant on the death of the father or the former tenant; (6) wardship was the right of the lord to control the revenues of the fief during the minority (twenty-one for a male, fourteen for a female) of the heir, and this carried with it the further right to control the marriage of the heir ; (c) mar- riage was the right of the lord to control the marriage of the heiress, when there was no male heir, and at times this included the right to control the marriage of a widow ; {d) forfeiture or escheat was the right of a lord to take hack the fief if the vassal had no heir or had committed one of the grave crimes called felonies ; (e) alienation was the right of the lord to prevent alienation or the selling or giving away of a fief. Any of these rights could be sold by the lord to another if he liked or could be bought by the vassal on paying a fine. The reason why these rights existed is that the lord was dependent on his vassals for aid and support, and could not afford to let the fiefs pass in any way into other hands, particularly those of an enemy. 80 HENRY n. [1154 succeeded in making his office hereditary. As the special representative of the king and vested with great authority he became a powerful local autocrat, and because he abused his position in order to make profit for himself, he was probably the most feared and hated man in the shire. In order to place a check upon the sheriffs Henry continued his grandfather's policy of sending occasionally one or more of his barons of the king's court into the shires (p. 68). These barons (itinerant justices) were (1) to see that the sheriffs assessed the lands and collected the revenues justly, and (2) to hear such of the pleas of the crown as the king could not hear in his own court and would not allow to be settled in the local courts. Thus in matters of finance and justice the king was beginning to increase the power of the central authority. In so doing he was lessening the power obtained by the feudal lords during the anarchy of Stephen's reign. 92. Scutage. — To the same end Henry encouraged a practice that had grown up, affecting the most important of the feudal obligations, the duty of military service. William the Con- querer had required of his chief tenants a certain number of knights for the feudal army. The tenants generally got these knights by letting out a portion of the land which they held of the king to sub-vassals, on condition that the latter follow them when required in the service of the king. This sub- letting of land was called subinfeudation, and was begun soon after the Conquest. But sometimes the great vassals were not able to meet in this way their obligations to the king, and had to hire extra knights to make up the number required of them. This prac- tice of hiring soldiers led many of the knights who held land of a tenant-in-chief on condition of military service, to offer a money payment, instead of their service, to the king. The money thus paid by the knight was called scutage (shield money, from scutum, a shield).' The king favored the payment 1 Tenants-in-chief were never allowed to pay scutage. 1162] HENRY'S QUARREL WITH THE CHURCH. 81 of scutage by the knights because the feudal army could not be compelled to serve for more than forty days at a time and was always more or less unreliable. With money the king could hire paid knights, or he could use the scutage in any other way that he pleased.. 93. Effect of Scutage. — The growth of the practice soon altered the character of the knights, who henceforth ceased to be soldiers and became landholders and farmers, devoting themselves to agriculture and to the affairs of the shire and shire court. Scutage continued to be levied at intervals for another century and a half as a tax on feudal lands. It helped to break down the feudal military system and led to the rise of a new class of landholders in the shire, the landed gentry, who played a very important part in English history as Tcnights of the shire. 94. Henry's Quarrel with the Church: Thomas a Becket. — Henry was interrupted in his work of centralizing adminis- tration and justice by a famous quarrel with the church, which illustrates his determination to make the state supreme in ecclesiastical matters, also. From 1154 to 1163 he had met with no serious obstacles in the task of governing England, but in the latter year trouble arose with the church in the person of Thomas a Becket. When Henry came to the throne he had made Becket chancel- lor of England. In this position Becket had served his king loyally, even against the clergy themselves. His life had been luxurious, he had surrounded himself with courtiers, and en- tertained sumptuously. He was a minister after the king's own heart. In 1161 Henry wished to make Becket archbishop of Canterbury. Becket resisted, knowing that as archbishop he must serve not the king, but the pope, the head of the church. Henry persisted. In 1162 he forced Becket's election as arch- bishop of Canterbury, believing that he would find in him as faithful an ally as William I had found in Lanfranc. But he made a grievous mistake. No sooner had Becket taken the 82 HENRY II. [1162 oath of office than his whole life changed. He threw off pride and luxury, became humble and austere, and surrounded him- self with studious and pious ecclesiastics. He resigned his chancellorship and determined to defend at every point the entire independence of the clergy. The position of the church, due to its growth during Stephen's reign, was now one of great power, almost that of a state within a state. 95. The Constitutions of Clarendon. — The conflict between the king and the church came when Henry undertook a new reform that touched the latter's privileges. William I had given the church separate ecclesiastical courts in which clerks ^ only could be tried. No matter if a clerk had been guilty of most grievous crimes, such as murder, he could not be tried in the civil courts. Too often gviilty clerks had gone free or suffered mild punishments. This abuse Henry determined to remedy by making clerks subject to the royal courts. But Becket answered that ecclesiastics ought to be exempt from all temporal justice, that the church was independent of the state. Henry, enraged at Becket's resistance, assembled a great council at the royal hunting seat of Clarendon, near Salisbury, and forced Becket and the bishops, for the sake of peace, to assent to a " recognition of some part of the customs, liberties, and dignities o:^ his ancestors." Then a commission was ap- pointed to draw up a record of these customs. The report of this committee is now known as the Constitutions of Clarendon. The principal points were: (1) that a clerk accused of crime should first be summoned before a temporal court and there be charged with his guilt, that he should then be tried, convicted, and degraded in an ecclesiastical court, and thus having be- come a layman, should be brought back to the temporal court and be given a layman's punishment, mutilation or death ; (2) that no one should leave the kingdom without the permis- sion of the king or without taking oath not to do anything to 1 " Clerk " was the name for any ecclesiastic of this time — hishop, priest, or deacon. 1170] BECKET'S EXILE AND DEATH. 83 the injury of the king or the kingdom ; (3) that none of the king's tenants or ministers should be excommunicated or his lands placed under interdict^ without the consent of the king or his justiciar; (4) that an appeal in an ecclesiastical matter should be from the archbishop's court not to the pope, but to the king} Nearly all the clauses simply defined the relations of church and state as they had been before the days of Stephen. The quarrel between Henry and Becket was due to the fact that the former was standing for the customs of his ancestors, the latter for the new claims of the church. 96. Becket's Exile and Death, — Becket, after long considera- tion, definitely refused to accept the constitutions. Henry, exceedingly angry, called a second council and summoned the archbishop to answer certain charges concerning his feudal obligations. Becket refused to appear, and judgment was given against him. When Henry pushed the matter farther and demanded an account of certain money in his possession when chancellor, Becket fled from England in disguise and entered into voluntary exile. The pope was engaged in a con- flict with the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, and did not dare excommunicate Henry, whose daughter had married an ally of the pope. Therefore Becket fought the battle almost alone. But he fought well. He refused to institute bishops chosen since his departure, excommunicated the chief advisers of the king, encouraged Louis VII of France, with whom he had found refuge, to attack Henry's French possessions, and finally per- suaded the pope to threaten England with an interdict (1170). Henry, yielding in part, became reconciled with Becket, and 1 Interdict deprived a certain territory, either the whole or a part of a kingdom, of church services, the sacraments, and the right of burial under the auspices of the priest. The extent and character of the punishment varied greatly. 2 The constitutions declared that a consecrated church or cemetery, usually a sanctuary for a criminal, should not be used to protect goods forfeited to the king. 84 HENRY II. [1170 the latter, after six years of exile, returned to England. But he refused to abandon his aggressive policy. He suspended the bishop of Durham and the archbishop of York, who had dared to crown Henry's son in his absence (1170). The bishops fled to Henry, who was in France, and told their tale. Henry '^m^m "^^^^^ iM-MTy 3R Sf-'t f ^ V-» J*^ V jVib^^jSLa '^ i 1 J^«VS^ -^.,^^ ,J^^ 'Vv^M r /'r^ i/^ ra^'^-y^ — ^r-C ^^' ^^x3^ ^^alv \Ai^ n^^ \ iJ^^X X^ ^''' ^^^^^^S~" ^^^^qJ^ f^x- P^^wys^- - "^^J^^^MT K^ ^r^^ w- "* /^^^^ X^-t^X^vV I^^^^B^ %^ / Vi ^p^ '^^VN: \'- ' '^^Bl' ^ 1 &K. ^ ^^^^ i\ J N \ ^^^^^^^^M L tj f^ "Tl . Ti ^ W M is '. f ■ i'S 1 1 M: fFi:;>,# M C:;-;:WSI,V':::" .;--'-.-S»». S-i— »*,.i___ „..,. MI' "^"' ■■■'--- From a pJiotograph. Canterbury Cathedral, from the North. It was from this side that Becket's slayers entered the cathedral. in angry despair cried out, " Is there no one among all the cowards whom I have nourished who will rid me of this miser- able clerk ? " Unwilling to act illegally, he summoned a coun- cil, which deemed Becket deserving of death. But the matter had already been taken out of his hands. Four knights, hearing the king's words, had sought out Becket at Canterbury and there murdered him, on the steps leading from the transept to the choir of the cathedral. This act raised Becket to the place of a martyr and turned the world against 1170] EEVOLT OF THE BARONS. 85 Henry. For centuries Becket was the most popular of the English saints, and thousands of persons each year made pil- grimages to his tomb at Canterbury. With the greatest difficulty, Henry turned aside the papal excommunication. He gave large sums to charity, annulled some of the provisions of Clarendon,^ and made a pilgrimage himself to Canterbury. 97. Feudal Reaction against Henry. — The resistance of Becket was to find its counterpart in an attempt of the feudal lords to check the rapidly growing power of the king, and to recover the position they had had in the early years of Stephen's reign. The murder of Becket, which seemed to be only another act of royal despotism, deepened the anger of the English baronage, while the humiliation of the king seemed to offer a favorable opportunity for an expression of their discontent. Already aroused by the financial and judicial measures of Henry, they were still more incensed at this time by a further attack on their feudal prerogatives. In 1170, when Henry returned to England, he was greeted with so many complaints of the tyranny of the sheriffs that he deprived the majority of the barons of their positions as sheriffs and placed in their stead men of lower rank, who became regular officers of the crown. This " inquisition " of sheriffs not only reduced in importance the office itself, but it also broke down the local influence of many a wealthy lord who as sheriff had controlled his shire. 98. Revolt of the Barons. — The aggrieved barons found a leader in the king's own household. His eldest son, Henry, dissatisfied with the estates and the authority allowed him by his father, and aided by his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, headed a revolt, the signal for a great uprising of all who had a grievance against the king. French lords and English 1 Out of Henry's concessions in 1176 came what was to be known later as " benefit of clergy," the privilege by which not only the clergy, but any one able to read, could commit crime without being tried under the ordinary criminal law. This practice was very much modified after the fifteenth cen- tury, but it was not done away with entirely until the nineteenth century. 86 HENRY II. [1172 barons, headed by young Henry and the king of France, formed a menacing coalition. Even the king of Scots joined the league, and with the bishop of Durham, lord of a powerful northern bishopric, was preparing to invade England. Never did Henry's activity and generalship display itself to better advantage, and never did the support given by the Eng- lish people stand him in better stead. The weakness of the opposition lay in its lack of unity. Henry was able to meet each movement separately. Crossing to France in 1172, he forced Louis VII to a peace, and added to his other possessions there the country of Brittany. Meanwhile, his justiciars had checked the uprising in northern England so that on his re- turn he completely subdued the revolt and forced the king of the Scots to acknowledge himself the vassal of the English king. Other lords surrendered to Henry their castles, which he dismantled, and thus brought to an end the last serious feudal uprising that was to take place in England. 99. Henry's Work for Justice, the Army, and the Finances. — With the feudal uprising suppressed, Henry at once prepared to go on with his great work of improving local methods of justice and of extending the royal authority from Westminster out into the shires, thus substituting for the many feudal cus- toms a common law in England. In 1166, during his trouble with Becket, he had found time to issue an ordinance called the Assize^ of Clarendon. By this assize he had instructed his sheriffs, in every case of murder, robbery, and theft, to summon the men of the hundred and of the vills near which the crime occurred, to make inquiry of them regarding it, and to arrest the man whom the villagers accused. This was the first application of the Norman inquest to matters of justice. 1 Assize meant at first a sitting, that is, an assembly or court; then the name was given to the enactments of the court, as in this case ; then to the cases to which such enactments or ordinances applied. The modern term, the assizes, for the court held before a circuit judge in England, is simply a survival from the time when these judges heard cases provided for in these old enactments. 1176] HENRY'S WORK FOR JUSTICE. 87 and did away with the old method of calling in oath-helpers, compurgators (p. 48). The accused was then taken by the sheriff before the justice, whom the king sent from Westminster to hear pleas of the crown in the shires. In 1176 by the Assize of Northampton the king revised the Assize of Clarendon, omitting all reference to the sheriffs and enlarging and defining the powers of the justices of the king, who henceforth became the chief representatives of royal justice in the local districts. These itinerant justices, travelling on circuit through the shires, were to take cognizance of forg- ery and arson, as well as of murder and robbery, and were to make inquiry through twelve of the most lawful knights of the hundred, or if knights could not be obtained, through twelve qualified freemen of the hundred and four men from each vill, regarding the circumstances of such crimes. In the instructions to the itinerant justices there appears a new officer, — crowner, or coroner, — to be elected in the county court from among the knights of the county, whose business it was to take care of all persons guilty of offences against the king, that is, to guard the pleas of the crown, and to produce them when the justices came into the county. It would appear that sometimes the coroners themselves tried cases of this character. The appointment of the coroner was distinctly a blow at the judicial power of the sheriff. By the same assize the king went beyond the cases known as the pleas of the crown and offered to protect in the royal courts any man's freehold property when it was in danger of seizure by that man's lord. He not only instructed his jus- tices to make inquiry, through twelve qualified men, regarding such cases, but he said that any one who applied might have such a case tried in the king's courts. This extension of the king's justice weakened the feudal lord's control over the property of his free tenants ; for after this, as far as the pos- session or ownership of property went, every free tenant looked for justice not to the lord of whom he held his land, but to the king's court. 88 HENRY II. [1188 100. Assize of Arms : the Militia. — Henry also reconstructed the military system. He had already weakened the feudal army by encouraging the practice of scutage ; and as he did not like to be dependent on hired soldiers, he increased and made more efficient the old popular levies, demanding in the Assize of Arms (1181) that every freeman should be armed and ready for military service. Knights, burghers, and freeholders were to have always at the service of the king arms and armor according to their wealth.^ The itinerant justices were to summon local juries to determine the property of each free- man and to apportion the arms to be provided. Thus Henry created a new fighting force for England. In 1188 a financial step of great moment was taken. The summons for the Third Crusade had gone forth, and England endeavored to raise money by a special imposition called the Saladin tithe. Hitherto the only general tax, Danegeld, had been laid on land, but now for the first time a tax was laid on revenues and movable property. In determining the value of such property, each man was allowed to state the amount that he possessed ; but in case his word was doubted, a jury of neighbors was called in to testify. In all these particulars — judicial, military, and financial — the king was creating a uniform law for England, was extend- ing the power of his own officials, and was undermining the strength of the feudal lords. He was doing more ; he was bringing the central and local institutions more closely together, and, what is extremely important, was laying the foundation of the common law^ of England. But for the work of Henry and his justices England might have had for her law the Eoman law, as have most of the European countries to-day, or else the 1 No one except a freeman could sefve in the army. Jews were forbidden to have arms, and ecclesiastics were exempted. 2 Common laio must be distinguished ivovo. statute law, that is, laws passed by a law-making body. There was, of course, no statute law at this time. It must be distinguished also from local customs or customary law, from Roman law, and from the law of the church courts, eccle^iasticOil law. 1189] HENRY'S LAST YEARS. 89 conflicting mass of customary law of the shires, half tribal, half feudal, which had prevailed in England up to this time. By the use of the inquest, in all cases where it was possible, he was increasing the efficiency of local administration and uniting more firmly crown and people. Through the rules laid down by the justices of his court, with some help from the Roman law and much material from the customary law, he was constructing a definite, uniform system of English law, common to the whole country 101. Henry and Ireland. — In Henry's reign began the attempt of the English to conquer Ireland, and to bring the half-civilized Celtic tribes under the authority of the English king. The right to rule Ireland had been granted to Henry by Pope Hadrian IV, the only English pope, on the ground that all islands belonged to the jurisdiction of the papacy, a striking instance of the claims of the church at this time. Henry him- self went to Ireland, but accomplished little, the only result being the establishment of a claim to the island, that was not made good for four centuries. 102. Henry's Last Years. — The last years of this great king were for him a time of perplexity and sorrow, and the trouble came not from England or Ireland, but from Erance. The French kings were doing exactly what Henry was doing — building up a strong monarchy and warring against the feudal lords. The king of England was the lord of half of Erance ; and therefore the French kings were always willing to take the side of the enemies of the English king, whoever they might be. Louis VII had aided Becket, and now Philip II (Augustus) took advantage of the discontent of Henry's sons to urge them to revolt against their father. He first aided the eldest son, Henry (p. 85), and after the latter's death, conspiring with Richard and John, stirred up war in which Henry II suffered defeat. In the midst of his troubles Henry died, July, 1189. He was a great king, victor in the struggle with feudalism in his own kingdom, but when, as a feudal lord himself, he sought 90 STRUGGLE OF MONAECHY. [1189-1199 to maintain his position in the face of the rising French mon- archy he was defeated. — 103. Richard Coeur de Lion (1189-1199). — On the death of Henry II, Richard was declared king, witliout opposition, and at his coronation promised to defend the church, to maintain the rights of his people, to eradicate bad laws, and to uphold good ones. But these promises were to have no fulfilment at his hands. He was a brave man, but a bad king. His heart was in the crusade for the rescue of Jerusalem, and he gave no thought to the needs of the English. His reign of ten years was spent almost entirely out of England, either in the Holy Land, on the Third Crusade, in captivity in Germany, or in France warring against Philip Augustus. He was a warrior and knight, not a statesman or a king. Bold and impetuous, loving great deeds and romantic adventures, he was the typical crusader of his day, the knight- errant, the hero of song and story. Reckless with his own life, he was cruel in his treatment of others ; and outspoken in his hates, he made enemies who were constantly intriguing against him. It was fortunate for Richard that his father had established a firm administration, for Richard paid no attention to the government, and it is well for England that he did not, for he had none of his father's genius and could only have made matters worse, had he attempted to rule. Immediately after his coronation, Richard began to raise money for a crusade. 104. The Crusades. — Pilgrimages were a leading feature of mediaeval life. They were made to shrines and holy places, the holiest of all being the Sepulchre of Christ in Jerusalem in Palestine. The steady stream of pilgrims which had visited the Holy Land was stopped in 1076, when the Turks captured Jerusalem, the Holy City. Returning pilgrims told of their persecution by the Turks, and at the call of the pope an expedi- tion was planned to free the Holy Land. The Crusades thus started lasted in one form or another for two centuries. Feudal lords and their men, peasants, even women and children, aroused by the advance of the Turks and 1189-1199] THE CRUSADES. 91 restless within the narrow boundaries of their feudal life, eagerly seized the opportunity to go to the rescue of the Holy Land. Thousands, by land and water, journeyed to the East, passing through countries they had never heard of and coming into contact with new peoples, whose culture was far higher than their own. The effect of these expeditions was indirectly very beneficial. Though the Holy Land was eventually lost, the Turk was checked and the Eastern Empire preserved for two centuries longer. Men's ideas were broadened, their knowledge increased, trade and commerce were vastly extended, new articles of dress and food introduced, methods of navigation improved, systems of banking and credit established, and in general, manufacturing and industry gained at the expense of agriculture. To the influence of the Crusades may be traced some of the causes for the growth of towns and the rise of the in- dustrial classes. The Eirst Crusade (1095-1099) resulted in the capture of J erusalem. The Second Crusade (1147-1149) against the Turks, who were again encroaching upon the Holy Land, was from a military standpoint unsuccessful. The Third Crusade (1189- 1192), due to the capture of Jerusalem by the Turks, was led by Frederick Barbarossa, Philip Augustus, and Richard Cceur de Lion and proved to be the most famous and romantic of them all. To raise money for this expedition Richard declared offices vacant and put them up for sale to the highest bidder. He agreed, with the pope's consent, that those who desired should remain at home, provided they paid for the privilege. He sold charters to the towns, and for ten thousand marks released William the Lion of Scotland from his oath of fealty (p. 86). A Crusader. Showing the chain armor and the cross on the helmet. 92 STRUGGLE OF MONARCHY. [1199 Having raised a goodly sum of money, he embarked on the crusade, December 11, 1189. During the ensuing three years Europe rang with his exploits, while England under his justiciar was governed with a firm hand. 105. Richard's Ransom. — In 1193, on his way home from Jerusalem, which he had failed to take, Richard was captured and handed over to the emperor Henry VI, son of Frederick Barbarossa. This capture was a great event for the empferor, since Eichard had been the ally of the emperor's enemies in Sicily and Germany. In April the news of the capture reached England, and strenuous efforts were made to raise the money that the emperor demanded for the ransom of the king. The justiciar called upon every one, lay or clerical, to give a fourth part of his income for the year and a like portion of his per- sonal property. From each knight was demanded twenty shillings as the regular aid for the ransom of a lord. . Monas- teries and churches were not exempt : the Cistercians, the great sheep-raising monks, gave up a whole year's shearing of wool, and the churches surrendered all their plate and jewels. The total sum finally raised was 150,000 marks (a mark = 13s. 4(i.), an amount said to be twice as large as the whole revenue of the kingdom; and Richard was released in 1194. The news was not welcome to Philip Augustus, who informed John, Richard's brother, that "he had better look out, for the devil was loose." 106. Richard and Philip Augustus. — When Richard returned in 1194, he spent only two months in England, selling of&ces, receiving gifts, and imposing fines and taxes in order to raise money for carrying on his war with France and for making further payments on his ransom. Thus equipped, he continued his struggle with Philip Augustus, defeating him in 1194 and driving the French out of Normandy, Touraine, and Maine. The French king could make no headway against him, and was compelled to bide his time in patience. The opportunity came, when in 1199 Richard was killed on a freebooting expe- dition, and John became king of England. 1202] KING JOHN. 93 The reign of Richard is constitutionally important because it shows the strength of the system established by Henry II, which continued to work with great efficiency, even though there was no king in England. It is also significant in that it shows how the baronage and the people were learning to act unitedly against a king's oppressive financial policy. 107. King John. — John is by common repute the worst king that ever ruled in England. The favorite son of his father, who had sought to find for his son a kingdom in Ireland, he had deserted Henry at the critical moment and gone over to the side of Philip. He proved equally thankless to Richard, who had given him control over five shires in England to com- pensate him for having been left without fiefs at his father's death. -^ His character was base, his temperament sensual, and his motives of the lowest sort. He had neither the ability of his father nor the heroism of his brother, and though he was energetic and resourceful, he lacked sagacity and gave way to passionate impulses. A man of this type was no match for the patient, cautious, and persistent Philip Augustus. 108. Loss of the French Lands. — Philip was but waiting to drive the Angevins out of France. Aiding the younger Henry against Richard, Richard and John against their father, and John against Richard, he was now ready to wage bitter war with John himself, and to support the caxise of Arthur, who claimed the English throne as son of Geoffrey, John's elder brother, who had died. John, obtaining a divorce from his English wife, Isabel of Gloucester, married Isabel of Angoy.- Igme, already betrothed to the son of the Count of la Marche, his own vassal. The offended family at once appealed to Philip, who, as John's superior feudal lord in France, seized this opportunity to obtain a legal sanction for an attack on the Angevin lands. Philip summoned John to answer for his conduct before a court of feudal lords. John delayed, promised, and again delayed. In 1202 the court, in accordance with 1 From this circumstance John received the name of Lackland. 94 STRUGGLE OF MONARCHY. [15^05 feudal law, declared him guilty of felony, which meant forfeit- ure of his fiefs in France. Philip now took up the cause of Arthur, John's nephew. A war be- tween John and Arthur resulted in the capture of the latter in 1202. At this juncture Arthur disappears from his- tory, probably slain by John's own hand. The murder of Arthur gave Philip the desired oppor- tunity of .carrying out the judgment of the feudal court of 1202. He seized Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and Tou- raine, and added these fiefs to the French kingdom. Though John made a desperate effort to recover his lands, the Angevin possessions were practically lost to the English kings. ' 109. John and the Church. — John now went rapidly from bad to worse. His best councillors had died: his mother, the energetic queen Eleanor, in 1204, and Archbishop Hubert Walter in 1205. De- From an engraving. King John. 1209] ATTEMPT TO EECOVER FRENCH LANDS. 95 prived of their wise and restraining influence, John forced a quarrel with the church, with which his relations had thus far been amicable. The trouble concerned a successor to Arch- bishop Hubert Walter. John claimed the right, which cer- tainly had been exercised by his predecessors, of naming the archbishop. But the bishops of the province of Canterbury asserted that the right was theirs. In a quandary. Innocent III appointed his own candidate, Stephen Langton. Langton was an English cardinal residing at Eome, an able and learned ecclesiastic. He was consecrated in June, 1207. John refused to receive or to recognize the new archbishop, and the issue between the pope and the king was sharply de- fined. John confiscated the estates of the archbishop, and of many of the bishops who supported Langton. Innocent re- plied, placing England under an interdict. Churches were closed; the sacraments of marriage and the Eucharist were forbidden; extreme unction, burials, and baptisms were per- formed only in private. Eor five years the king remained obstinate. In 1209 Innocent excommunicated John, but the king answered by seizing the estates of the bishops who pub- lished the bull of excommunication. In 1212 Innocent de- posed John and formed a coalition, with Philip Augustus as its willing head, to undertake a crusade for the purpose of driving John out of England. Threatened by an uprising of the Welsh and Scots, and terrified by a prophecy that he would cease to be king by Ascension Day, John yielded. He gave his kingdom to the pope, and received it back as a vassal of the Holy See, on the condition that he pay one thousand marks a year, receive Langton, and reinstate all deposed , bishops. This humiliating act reconciled John with the church, but it only deepened the growing opposition of the English people and barons to the king. 110. John's Attempt to recover his French Lands. — Recon- ciled with the church, John now determined to take revenge on Philip, his greatest enemy, and, if possible, recover his 96 STRUGGLE OF MONARCHY. [1214 lands in France. He joined a league of Philip's enemies, who fought against Philip at Bouvines, July 27, 1214, one of the most important battles in the history of Prance, England, and Germany. Philip was victorious, and returned to Paris with the great task of establishing French monarchy accomplished. John, though not actually present at the battle, realized that he was hopelessly defeated, and gave up all further attempts to win back his Norman and Angevin territory. 111. John and the Barons. — England was on the verge of civil war. Hitherto the people had sided with the king against the feudal lords. But Henry II had broken up the old feudal opposition, and a new baronage had arisen, keenly alive to its rights as a class, but desiring good government for the king- dom. Monarchy was making remarkable strides, and was outgrowing feudalism. Particularly in justice and finance it was making demands that the feudal organization of society could not meet, and the feudal lords deemed the heavy exactions of Richard and John an encroachment upon their privileges. In fact, monarchy was becoming dangerously powerful; under John it seemed to be absolute and uncon- trolled. The king's personal character, his unbridled tyranny, hastened the inevitable revolt, and gave unity to the baronial cause. Even before the battle of Bouvines the barons of the north had refused to serve out of England, and had refused also to pay scutage. At a council held at St. Albans the same year (1213), the justiciar declared in the king's name that the laws of Henry I, which John had promised to observe, should be put in force. Three weeks later, the archbishop Stephen Langton, presented the very charter of Henry I as the basis of the barons' demands. The enthusiasm roused by these meetings turned to confi- dent determination after John's defeat at Bouvines the next year. Immediately the archbishop and the barons drew up the "articles of the barons," a definite statement of their de- mands, and presented it to the king. John in hot passion 1215] THE GREAT CHARTER. 97 refused to receive it. Then an army numbering over two thousand knights, called the Army of God and Holy Church, accompanied by the citizens of London, marched against him. Seeing that church, baronage, and burghers were prepared to gain their demands by force, and deserted by all save the mercenaries he had brought from France, John, angry but helpless, was obliged to yield. At Kunnymede, on the Thames, June 15, 1216, he signed Magna Carta, the great charter of English liberties. 112. The Great Charter. — Magna Carta differs from the charters of Henry I and Stephen in that it was forced by the church and the baronage from the king against his will. It contains a definite agreement on the part of the king to re- spect the independence of the church, the feudal law of the barons, and the interests of boroughs and even of villeins. It embodies all the most important practices and privileges of clergy, barons, burghers, merchants, and villeins that had been obtained in one way or another since the Norman Conquest. It bound the king to observe these privileges and to keep the laiv. Thus it checked the growth of absolute monarchy and marked the beginning of a monarchy that was limited in its power and beginning to be constitutional. But Magna Carta contains nothing new. Later ideas of taxation, trial by jury, and the like may be read into it, but they are not to be found there. Though the welfare of all classes is touched upon, yet the larger portion of the charter relates to the privileges of the feudal lords ; for, as must never be forgotten, the England of Magna Carta is feudal England, and the document itself is a feudal document. By its provisions, first of all the_.efe2icc&_waS;-.i^-^^^ and its rights and privileges were to be unimpaired. In the second place it defined in exact terms feudal customs. It regulated matters of wardship, heirship, widowhood, and marriage, and fixed the amount of feudal dues. More impor- tant still, it said that no scutage or aid should be levied save by the council of the realm, and that on three occasions only >x-'^ A" fl |)c^r,g-i' 'y-t -f r". "525*^ «»** —i:^^ 's^ .r; J=X C5- _fti "1 ^, >/-f -3C:^ &:ii^ 1215] THE GREAT CHARTER. 99 should a lord ask for aids from his vassal ; namely, when his eldest son was to be knighted, when his own person was to be ransomed from captivity, and when his eldest daughter was to be married for the first time (p. 79, note). The barons in fram- ing the charter fully respected the rights of the king, and at the same time promised their own sub-vassals the same rights that they demanded for themselves. In the third place, Magna Carta guarded the rights of the boroughs, especially London, and guaranteed to them their liberties and free customs. The Norman and Angevin kings, when in need of money, had sold to the boroughs of England charters which placed them above and outside of feudal control, and the kings knew that the rise of the cities meant the weakening of feudalism. In the fourth place. Magna Carta promised security to the merchants; protected the property of freeholders; and said that even a villein, who legally had no right to his own property, should not lose his oxen and ploughs, however heavy a fine might be imposed upon him. Lastly, Magna Carta contained certain general clauses, the most famous of all, although their importance is easily ex- aggerated. These clauses said that no freeman should be im- prisoned or exiled or lose his land save by the lawful judgment of those of his own rank or by the law of the land. This privi- lege meant that the barons were not to be judged by any one of feudal rank lower than themselves. The charter also declares that justice shall not be sold, denied, or delayed, but this great legal principle was at that time only as valuable as the barons and people were able to make it. Very important are the clauses that tell us of administration and law. These clauses affected, (1) the great council, (2) the curia regis or king's court, (3) the itinerant justices, and (4) the sheriffs and coroners. Whenever the king wished advice and council in assessing scutages or levying an unusual aid, he was to summon his greater lords to the council by a letter addressed personally 100 STRUGGLE OF MONARCHY. [121& to each one. He was to summon the lesser lords, too, but by means of a general letter sent to the sheriff. All these lords or barons were the king's tenants-in-chief, so that the body thus called was strictly a feudal council. Probably the lesser lords seldom attended^ for travelling was troublesome and expensive. The king's court or curia regis (p. 74) was breaking into two parts: one to follow the king, as he moved about; the other, which was to deal with common pleas and not with pleas of the crown, to stay at Westminster. This separation was not made complete, however, till the time of Edward I (p. 117). The work of the itinerant justices must have been very successful, for Magna Carta required them to go on circuit four times a year; two years later the time was reduced to once a year. The justices were to protect the lands of freeholders against the encroachment of the lords, as Henry II had already begun to do (p. 87), by seeing that no freeholder lost the land he held except through testimony given to the justices in a formal inquiry. Lastly, Magna Carta marks the end of the sheriff's greatness by definitely saying that neither sheriffs nor coroners should try any of the pleas of the crown. This limitation meant that hereafter both sheriff and coroner were to be of local impor- tance only. 113. John's Attempt to revoke the Charter. — John had no intention of keeping his promises. On his appeal Pope Inno- cent relieved him of his oath, excommunicated the barons and Stephen Langton, and in a special bull declared the charter illegal. John with unexpected vigor began war with the barons. He recovered the north and the centre, while the barons held London and the southeast. The latter, fearing defeat at the hands of John and his mercenaries, turned to the king of Prance and offered the crown to Louis, the son of Philip Augustus and afterward Louis VIII. Louis crossed to England in May, 1216, and supported by the barons and the city of London, began the conquest of the kingdom. John's death in October saved England from civil war and brought 1216] EESULT OF JOHN'S REIGN. 101 unexpected relief. The English, barons began at once to desert the Erench pretender and to support the legitimate heir to the throne, John's son, Henry, a lad only nine years old. On October 28 Henry was crowned at Gloucester, as Henry III, and a week later confirmed a revised text of Magna Carta. This act rendered hopeless the cause of Louis, who, after a defeat at Lincoln in April, 1217, gave up the struggle, and in November renounced all claims to the crovra. In 1217 Henry III confirmed the charter a second time, and with the second coronation in 1220 at the hand of Stephen Langton, the civil war caused by John's tyranny came to an end. The king and people were once more apparently working in harmony. 114. Result of John's Reign. — The reign of John is charac- terized by two momentous events : the loss of Normandy (see Map, p. 78) and the signing of Magna Carta. Each event had a decided influence upon the development of national unity and the constitutional government in England. The first forced the king and the barons to give up their feudal ambitions in France and to turn their attention to England. The second limited the power which the king could exercise and brought to an end the movement which threatened to make the will of the king absolute in the government of England. The barons were selfish in trying to obtain again all their old feudal privileges, but they acted for England's good in laying down the principle that the king must obey the law. From this time forward the people of England clung to the great charter because it expressed this idea. They referred to it when afterward they tried to obtain a share in government and to limit the powers which the king claimed were his own. Magna Carta is the first of many documents to which the English people have adhered with great tenacity, because they represented victories which some part of the English people have won at one time or another in their effort to share with monarchy the control of the government. CHAPTER IX. NATIONAL GROWTH AND RISE OF PARLIAMENT. 115. Henry III. — Henry III was not a national king in any sense of the word. He had a very exalted idea of his royal position, was frivolous and extravagant, loved pomp and cere- mony, and surrounded himself with selfish favorities. He was pious in a mediaeval way ; but he yielded a too ready obedience to the pope, and was too willing to sacrifice the interests of the English to the advancement of the mediaeval papacy. He spent money freely for churches, but he destroyed the good effects of his generosity by filling church offices with favorites, and using church revenues for furthering his own and the pope's Con- tinental projects. He injured the cause of national unity, for he listened only to the advice of foreigners and of those hostile to the best interests of the English people. During his long reign of fifty-six years he succeeded in turning every class against him. 116. Continental Relations. — Henry was far more interested in the Continent than in England, and was willing to use his kingdom and its wealth to make prominent his position abroad. This is shown in three ways. In the first place, he desired to recover his lost fiefs in France. To that end he undertook three Continental expeditions, with the result that in 1259 he renounced absolutely his claims to the greater part of the Angevin fiefs in France, and received in return from Louis IX (St. Louis), Guienne and Gascony. (See Map, p. 78.) These lands, situated in southwestern France, remained the only English possessions in France till the peace of Bretigny, 1360. In the second place, Henry was connected by blood or mar- riage with many of the great families in Europe. He himself 102 1227] COMING OF THE FOEEIGNERS. 103 and his brother Eichard were related by marriage to powerful feudal houses in France ; while his two sisters married respec- tively the king of Scotland and the emperor of the Holy Eoman Empire. His eldest son, Edward, married a princess of Castile. All these foreign connections were to have a most disastrous effect upon Henry's government at home. In the third place, Henry was, by virtue of John's submis- sion to the pope, a vassal of the Eoman See. This position not only increased his intimacy with Eome, but also laid England open to excessive papal exactions. 117. Henry's Minority. — From 1220 to 1227 government was in the hands of one of the strongest men of his day, the justiciar Hubert de Burgh, He ruled in the main wisely and well, and during these years the national party was in control. Hubert resisted the papal claims upon England and drove out the papal legates. He attacked the foreigners who refused to obey the law of the land as shaped by Magna Carta, and drove them, too, out of England. He compelled Henry in 1225 to confirm Magna Carta for the third time, giving the charter the final form in which it was to be embodied in the laws of the land. 118. Coming of the Foreigners. — In 1227 Henry declared himself of age, and dismissing Hubert de Burgh made the foreigner Peter des Eoches justiciar in his place. An era of foreign influence and misgovernment began. Swarms of aliens, relatives of the king or his wife, flocked to England, attracted by the prospect of preferment or wealth. Henry made his wife's uncle archbishop of Canterbury, another uncle bishop of Hereford; scores of other aliens received offices of state, positions of trust, wardships of castles, and the like. The avarice of these foreigners exceeded all bounds. They sapped the country of its wealth, abused their inferiors, and through justices and sheriffs, plundered London, oppressed the Jews, despoiled the tenantry on their estates. Henry shared in the infamous work ; he revoked old privileges that they might be bought back, sold charters, made levies on the monasteries, and enforced forest laws with exasperating rigor. The amount 104 EISE OF PAELIAMENT. [1224 of money thus raised was enormous, but it was spent outside of England, and the king's treasury was always empty. 119. Demands of the Pope. — At the same time the popes, as heads of the church and overlords of England, were compelling clergy and people to submit to grievous exactions. The mediaeval church demanded for itself universal authority, declared that kings and jjrinces held their thrones at the will of the pope, and that the temporal power was ordained of God to be subject to the spiritual. Innocent III was almost the only pope that had made good these claims, but for a century his successors asserted them. Innocent had concerned himself with temporal matters in nearly every state in Europe, and both he and his successors looked on England as especially under their control on account of John's oath of fealty. Henry had confirmed this oath, and in so doing had laid England open to papal interference. This interference took two forms: the demand for money, and the exercise of the right to fill English ecclesiastical positions with foreigners, chiefly Italians. Year by year heavier sums were demanded, taxes were levied, and church estates plundered. Against the will of the church in England Italians were forced into bishoprics and other benefices. Many of these foreigners were illiterate and ignorant, of irreligious lives and character, greedy and unscrupulous. The church became impoverished, and religious life sank to a low state of efficiency. 120. The Coming of the Friars. — While Henry was pursu- ing foreign schemes, welcoming aliens and foreign prelates to England and spending extravagantly the wealth of the king- dom, other forces were working for England's betterment. Chief of these was the work of the friars. In 1220 the Dominicans^ had come to England; in 1224 the Franciscans.^ 1 The Dominicans, or Black Friars, so called because of their black robe, were founded in 1215 by St. Dominic, a powerful preacher of southern France. Their chief aim was to combat heresy by personal preaching and appeal. 2 The Franciscans, or Gray Friars, wore gray robes. They were founded 1264] LEAKNING AND THE UNIVERSITIES. 105 The former were called the Friars Preachers, the latter the Friars Minor, or Minorites. These men applied themselves at once to the great task of raising the religious life of England. Under a vow of poverty they labored among the people of the towns, — notably London and Oxford, — preaching the Chris- tian faith, caring for the sick, and bringing hope and comfort to the poor and afflicted. Thus they stood in striking contrast to the higher clergy, who in their thirst for preferment and wealth were neglecting the spiritual needs of the masses. The friars produced Eoger Bacon ; ^ they supported the only great and worthy churchman of this period, Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, who was almost alone among the great prel- ates in his opposition to the policy of king and pope. Grosse- teste stands in English annals as the enemy of misgovernment, the upholder of national unity and independence. 121. Learning and the Universities. — Many of the friars were learned men as well as preachers, and aroused a wide- spread interest by their work as lecturers and preachers in the convents and other places. The thirteenth century was a time when important advances were made in mediaeval learning and literature. Students on the Continent were crowding to centres where great leaders were lecturing on philosophy, logic, law, medicine, and theology, and in England a beginning was made at Oxford and Cambridge. At first students gathered about a master in his private house, but in 1264 Walter of Merton founded the first college, Merton College at Oxford, and his example was followed by others, until there were four colleges at Oxford in the thirteenth century and nine in the by a noble character of the Middle Ages, St. Francis of Assisi, in Italy, as an order of Begging Friars, who were under the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The Friars were not monks, did not live in a monastery, or submit to a rule. They moved freely among the people and ministered to their wants. 1 He is thought to have invented gunpowder and the compass ; he foresaw the use of steam and speculated about reaching China by crossing the Atlantic. He lived a century too soon to influence his followers, but is winning more and more recognition from the scholars of to-day. 106 RISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1264 fourteenth. At first the college was a place for study, not for residence, and so it remained until the period of the Stuarts. Though scholarship was mediaeval in scope, literatiire was Frora a photograph,. Salisbury Cathedral. This cathedral is a splendid example of early English architecture ; there is scarcely a trace of foreign influence in the building. The spire is the loftiest and most beautiful in England. "beginning to show many changes, and in the writing of his- tory, of epic and religious poetry, and of romances a high degree of thought, imagination, and form was displayed. 1258] PROVISIONS OP OXFORD. 107 122. Cathedral Building. — An outward sign of the great religious fervor which characterized the thirteenth century in England and the Continent is seen in the great cathedrals* which were begun or remodelled in the reign of Henry III. There were many priests and monks called " the chapter," placed under a dean or prior to assist the bishop in administer- ing the affairs of the cathedral and the diocese. All these men helped in building these wonderful churches, and their homes were clustered about the cathedrals, adding to their pictur- esqueness and beauty. 123. Resistance of the Barons. — So grievous had become the king's abuses and so dominant the influence of foreigners and papacy that finally the barons determined to resist, and Simon de Montfdrt appeared as their leader. Simon had been a Cru- sader, a governor of Gascony, was intimate with Robert Grosseteste, and was as eager to reform the state as the great bishop had been to reform the church. When, therefore, in the spring of 1258, the discontent of the baronage and people reached its height, Simon de Montfort found himself forced forward as the leader of the popular cause. In April, at a meeting of the great council, or "parliament," the barons de- manded the appointment of twenty-four of the wisest men of England to advise the king, to bring about a general change in the royal officials, and to erect a government that should care for the good of the people. Henry yielded, and in June the " parliament " again met, this time at Oxford, to draw up a list of reforms. 124. Provisions of Oxford. — The "parliament" at Oxford, commonly called the Mad Parliament, was a body composed only of the barons and clergy. It began by demanding that lA form of the new Gothic architecture, called the Early English or Lancet-pointed, was introduced from France — a form lighter and more deli- cate than the heavy old Norman style. Many cathedrals begun in the Nor- man style were continued in the Early English ; hut the Cathedral of Salis- bury (1220-1260) , begun and completed, with the exception of the tower, in about forty years, is a perfect specimen of one style, the Early English ; and Wells Cathedral (1220-1244) is another beautiful example of the same style. 108 RISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1264 all aliens should leave England. The barons forced the king to agree to this demand and then brought forward their scheme for a reform in government, a kind of paper constitution, known as the Provisions of Oxford. A permanent council of bishops and nobles was chosen to govern with the king. This council was to appoint the great officers of the kingdom, and to meet three times a year in February, June, and October. This government lasted from 1258 to 1263 and met regularly three times a year, but it was nothing but an oligarchy, a gov- ernment by a few, and was too clumsy to be efficient. The king and his supporters, growing weary of the barons' control, and taking advantage of the discord in the reform party, tried to break down the government. Henry obtained a bull from the pope, releasing him from his oath ; he removed the justiciar appointed by the barons, and defied the " provi- sions " by openly violating their conditions. Civil war was imminent, but finally in 1262 they referred the matter to the arbitration of Louis IX (St. Louis) of France, whose reputation for justice all acknowledged. In January, 1264, in the award or Mise of Amiens, Louis, who had exalted ideas of the duties of subjects to their king, decided against the reformers, and at one stroke undid all that the barons had accomplished since 1258. The pope confirmed the verdict. 125. The Barons' War. — The Mise of Amiens was received in England with indignation, for all feared a return of the rule of the foreigners. The citizens of London rose in revolt, im- prisoned the king's officers, and plundered the king's houses. Simon and the young earl of Gloucester were joined by Llewellyn, the Welsh prince, and other barons. But the king was far from weak. He was aided by his son Edward, by lords from the north, and by his foreign allies from the Con- tinent. In the war that followed Henry was surprised and defeated by Simon, Gloucester, and the Londoners at Lewes in Sussex on May 14, 1264. The victory put Simon in posses- sion of the machinery of government, and gave into his hands as a hostage Prince Edward, whom the defeat at Lewes had 1265] KNIGHTS OF THE SHIRE IN PARLIAMENT. 109 changed "from a reckless youth of promise into a sober, ca- pable man." For a year Simon ruled in the king's name. 126. Simon's Government. — In June, 1264, Simon summoned a parliament composed not only of barons and clergy, but also of four knights from each shire. This assembly restored the government established by the Provisions of Oxford, with slight changes. During the months that followed, Simon's power was greatly strengthened by a threatened invasion of the Italians and others who had been driven out of England. The English of all parties responded at once to the call for an army of resistance, and so determined were they that the invaders agreed to submit all questions in dispute to a national assembly to be held in London in January, 1265. 127. Knights of the Shire in Parliament. — The London par- liament of 1265 marks a great advance in the constitutional history of England. The old council of the king had been strictly a feudal assembly. At its meetings the people were not expected to be present; as far as they can be said to have been represented, they were represented by their lords. It was an important innovation, therefore, when, during Henry Ill's reign, knights of the shire began to be sum- moned to meet with the king and his council. Originally lowest in rank of the feudal lords, they were rapidly becom- ing a middle class of important landholders in the counties. Scutage had relieved them of military service, agriculture had become their dominant interest, and the county court the scene of their chief political activity. As prominent local gentry they had already been called upon by the king to take a conspicuous part in the royal administration, since the begin- ning of Henry Ill's reign they had been intrusted with the as- sessment and collection of the taxes levied by the king and his advisers. They had also been elected by the county court to serve as coroners, and so had become royal officers, whose duty it was, in part, to guard the pleas of the crown until the itin- erant justices should come into the county, to be present always at the court which the justices held, and to hand over the roll 110 EISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1265 of the cases that had to be tried. Thus the knights were already serving as royal agents in the shires, and it is not surprising that they should be summoned, as they were a great many times between 1260 and 1295, to come to London or elsewhere, when the king and his council sat. Burgesses, too, had been accustomed to go to Westminster to appear be- fore the barons of the council sitting as the Exchequer, for the purpose of bargaining with the crown regarding the money they were to pay. The boroughs frequently sought to reduce the borough payments or to obtain new charters with additional privileges. For this purpose they would send one of the bur- gesses to London, and thus the burgesses, as well as the knights, became familiar to the royal officials. 128. The First Step in the Establishment of a House of Com- mons. • — ■ When in 1265 Simon, in the kiug's name, called an assembly to make terms with the invaders, he enlarged its membership beyond that of any royal council that had sat before. His chief supporters were among the burgesses and the knights and freeholders of the counties. After he had issued writs to the clergy and barons, as was always done in summoning a great council, he turned to his own allies and bade the sheriffs send up tivo knights from each shire, and the burgesses two of their number from each borough, who with the others were to meet with the king. The response to the sum- mons was immediate and hearty. Five earls, eighteen barons, all the bishops who were not hostile to Simon, and a great number of knights and burgesses gathered at London. It was a partisan body, for it was composed only of Simon's followers ; but it was called for a partisan purpose, to uphold Simon's cause. There is no reason to believe that Simon intended such a body to be regularly or permanently summoned, or even to be summoned a second time. ISTevertheless, this gath- ering set a precedent for the future, and in this sense, perhaps, Simon may be called the "creator of the House of Commons." 129. Simon's Defeat and Death. — The parliament of 1265 came to an agreement with the king, who swore to observe the 1274] EDWARD I. Ill Great Chaiter and the Provisions of Oxford. Simon was rec- ognized ruler of England and carried on tlie government for the king, whom he had kept prisoner since the battle of Lewes. But Prince Edward, escaping from custody, gathered his adher- ents and defeated Simon and the barons in the battle of Evesham, August 4, 1265, where Simon was slain. Thus died a man, who in spite of all his ambitions, imperiousness, and questionable methods did a great deal for England. He had checked the denationalizing policy of Henry III and taught England a good lesson. By one Englishman that lesson was well learned; for when Edward made his peace with the barons, it was Simon's principle of government that he promised to adopt. Erom 1266 to 1272 peace reigned, in the main, throughout England. Henry III, again in power, proclaimed an amnesty and confirmed the Great Charter. In 1268 Edward left England to join Louis IX, his uncle, on the last Crusade. Two adventu- rous years he spent in the East, and his fame as a Crusader spread over Europe. So well established was his place in the hearts of the English that in 1272, when Henry III died, he did not fear to delay for two years more his return to England. He was the first king in English history to reign before he was crowned. Proclaimed king in 1272, he did not arrive in his kingdom until 1274, when he was crowned. Then began the great work of one of the greatest of English kings. 130. Edward I. — Edward was first of all an English king, the first of his line to devote himself mainly to the interests of England alone. Henry II had thought as much of his French possessions as of his English kingdom ; Rich- ard had considered England as a place where he could get money for his Crusade and feudal wars ; Henry III loved foreigners and subordinated England's welfare to that of the mediaeval church ; but Edward was a national king and made England the centre of his interests. He had been trained in a stern school of experience. He had seen all the disasters of bad government, and with a great man's instinct for compromise knew how to remedy abuses without arousing 112 RISE OE PARLIAMENT. [1274 permanent opposition among his people. He had love of power, and a masterfulness which in his early years gave him a reputation for cruelty ; but he became more temperate as he grew older, and while never lacking in bravery, showed a sympathetic, even an affectionate, nature. He was chaste, devout, frugal, and dignified, always just, faithful, and perse- vering, and in his motto, pactum serva (keep troth), he cherished an ideal which, though difficult of attainment, was unusual for the times. As lawgiver, organizer, and warrior Edward left an indelible impression upon English history. Three aspects of his work stand out most conspicuously : his legal and administrative reforms during the first thirteen years of his reign ; his summoning of the first complete parlia- ment in 1295; and his relations with Scotland and France, dur- ing his later years. 131. Administrative and Legal Reforms. — Edward supple- mented the work of his ancestor, Henry II, and shaped in a legal mould the growing English constitution. He did what no English king had done before him, issued statutes,^ interfer- ing '' at countless points with the ordinary course of law between subject and subject." With him the statute law of England really begins, and no important class of the .people escaped the beneficent work of the king and his magistrates. Restriction of Feudal Privileges. — Scarcely had the king been crowned when he began a searching inquiry into the feudal conditions of England. Under Henry III the barons had been getting into their hands many feudal privileges or "fran- chises," as they were called. Edward determined to recover these privileges for the crown and in 1274 sent commissioners, much as William the Conqueror had done when he made Domes- day Book, to inquire in each and every hundred regarding these 1 Before Edward First's day lawmaking was almost unknown, for men did not have the idea of frequently changing the law. Kings and their advisers issued charters and ordinances, but not statutes. Even the great statutes of Edward I were not drawn up or issued by any lawmaking body, but by the king and his council or such members of it as he cared to consult. 1275] STATUTES OF WESTMINSTER. 113 franchises, and to write down the results of the inquiry in a permanent record. This record still exists and is called the Hundred Eolls, that is, the Rolls of the Hundreds, standing next to Domesday Book as a record of mediaeval life. Having carefully weighed the information thus gathered, Edward held a great council in 1278, and declared that if the barons could not show that their franchises had been conferred by a king, the franchises would revert to the crown. He was as good as his word, and in the years that followed the great lords lost bit by bit the privileges that in the earlier years they had so imperiously exercised. In the same year (1278) Edward dealt feudalism another blow by completing the transformation of the knight fr6m a military vassal into an agricultural landholder. He compelled every person possessing land of the value of £20 a year to assume "the degree of a knight, with its costly ceremonies, or to pay a fine." This broke up the exclusive character of feudal society by creating a new body of knights, not feudal at all, but composed of the middle class landholders, whose position depended not upon military service or noble birth, but upon landed property. Such a step marks the transition from a period in which military and feudal interests are dominant to one characterized by economic achievements. First and Second Statutes of Westminster. — Edward's legal reforms have given him the title of the " English Justinian," not very aptly indeed, for Justinian codified old laws, while Edward made new ones. But it is amazing to see how widely, even at this early date, his reforms extended. In 1275, at a parliament held at Westminster, he brought forward a great measure, known as the First Statute of Westminster. This statute sought, in the first place, to remedy abuses in the royal administration, abuses largely due to the foreigners who had held office under Henry III. In the second place, it forbade the feudal lords to abuse those privileges that were clearly within their rights. Thirdly, it guarded the rights of mer- chants and citizens. 114 EISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1285 Ten years later, in 1285, Edward took up the same subject and continued his work of remedying abuses in tlie Second Statute of Westminster, which provided for a more rigorous correction of the abuses practised by the feudal lords and of such royal officials as itinerant justices, sheriffs, and bailiffs. It regulated fees and sought to check bribery. Edward's earlier work had been largely that of a reformer of abuses among the feudal lords and in his own royal house- hold, but by 1283 he began to establish his greater claim to fame as a lawgiver. Statute of Merchants. — Credit in business had not yet come into existence, and there was no way whereby merchants could compel the payment of a debt. Foreign commerce and trade were rapidly becoming a leading source of England's wealth, and Edward knew that both would suffer if some remedy for debt were not provided. So in 1283 he promulgated a statute, known as the Statute of Merchants, which enabled a merchant to summon his debtor before the mayor of a chartered borough and to force him to sign a bill promising to pay it. If the debtor did not pay the merchant, the mayor had authority to imprison him or to seize his goods. This simple remedy proved of the greatest value and was widely employed, and it placed commerce and trade on a new footing in England. Statute of Entails. — By the interpretation of the Statute of Merchants the entire property of a wealthy lord could be seized for the debts of his eldest son. To prevent such a disaster the lords demanded at the Westminster parliament of 1285 the right to hand down their estates in unbroken succession from eldest son to eldest son, so that henceforth no heir could pledge the estate for debt. Edward was compelled to consent to this de- mand, and it was made statute law by being placed as the first chapter of the Second Statute of Westminster, noted already. Thus arose the entailed estates of England. Though popular during the two centuries following, entailed estates afterward went out of favor, and since the fifteenth century the statute, though never repealed, has been successfully evaded. 1290] THE THIRD STATUTE OF WESTMINSTER. 115 The Third Statute of Westminster: Quia Emptor es. — One of the most famous of Edward's measures dealing with the feudal lands of England was issued in 1290 and forbade subinfeuda- tion. Tenants-in-chief had been accustomed to subinfeudate ( p. 80 ) or alienate portions of their land for the purpose of obtaining knights to meet their military obligations ; but they did not want the tenants who received the land from them to subinfeudate portions of this land to others, as their tenants and the new subtenants could never agree as to which should pay the feudal dues to the tenant-in-chief. The royal courts had rather favored the practice of subinfeudation, because in a growing state it would never do to have land tied up in the hands of a few. But the barons, caring far more about their feudal dues than about the needs of the people at large, tried to stop the practice, and in the parliament of 1290 requested the king to issue a statute forbidding subinfeudation. The king consented, but caused the statute to be so worded as wholly to alter the intent of the barons' request. The Third Statute of Westminster (beginning Quia Emptores, " Because the buyers ") said that the tenant who alienated or sold the land he held of another should resign all rights over the land thus sold. This meant that if B, holding land of A, sold or subinfeudated to C, C became the tenant not of B, but of A. When the statute went into operation, the barons discovered that it worked both ways, and what affected their tenants affected also themselves as ten- ants of the king. Lands that they themselves sold reverted to the crown. This might not have affected them so seriously had they been able to avoid selling their lands, but as agriculture became less profitable, they could no longer afford to hold to- gether their great estates and often had to sell them outright. The purchasers at once became the tenants of the king. Two results followed : (1) The number of those who held directly of the king in- creased rapidly, and this increase lowered the social and po- litical importance of the tenants-in-chief as a class. (2) At the same time, as more and more land came to be held directly of 116 KISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1279 the king, the matter of buying and selling land was simplified and made easy. This condition tended to break down the whole mediaeval land system, and so hastened the destruction of feudalism. Statute of Winchester. — Thus far Edward had dealt with the merchants and the feudal landholders. But in the autumn of 1285 he turned to the people at large, and in the Statute of Winchester sought to make out. of every freeholder a soldier and an orderly citizen, ready to aid in the preservation of peace. Every man between fifteen and sixty years of age was to have armor in his house according to his property, and twice every year was to present himself at the " view of armor " held in his hundred, where two constables were to inspect the array. Three things are especially noteworthy in this statute : no man was to be excused because of ignorance of the law ; the con- stable appears for the first time in the service of the crown ; and, lastly, by a special provision, the act commanded that all who did not have armor or weapons should provide bows and arrows. Edward, like Henry II before him, knew the value of infantry and improved on the Assize of Arms (p. 88) by the addition of the bowmen. The Statute of Mortmain. — Throughout the Middle Ages the church as a landholder had occupied a privileged position. As a rule it paid no taxes and performed no material service. The church was a tenant that never died and never forfeited its lands ; therefore, it had no occasion, as had other feudal tenants, to render dues at times of marriage, to furnish profits from wardships or the care of minors, or to pay fines when a new tenant took the place of one that had died. For these reasons land so transferred was said to be given in manum mortuum, that is, into the dead hand of the patron saint. Edward and his barons were in entire accord in remedying this abuse, and in 1279 the Statute of Mortmain was issued. This law forbade men to transfer land on any condition to a monas- tery or other religious corporation. The terms of the statute, though frequently evaded, were nevertheless efficient in check- ing the growth of monasteries. 1295] THE MODEL PARLIAMENT. 117 The record of the first thirteen years of Edward's reign is a brilliant one. In his administrative and legal measures he ac- complished a work for law and justice that is not surpassed in English history till we reach the nineteenth century. As an organizer Edward was no less successful. He gave definite form to two of the greatest institutions of England : the royal courts of law and the parliament of the realm. 132. The King's Courts. — Before Edward's time the king's council, or certain members of it, sat in a double capacity, as Exchequer and as law court (p. 74). The law court had al- ready divided into two parts in John's reign : one to follow the king and to hear both pleas of the crown aud the common pleas, or disputes between the king's subjects ; the other to sit permanently in one place, at Westminster, to hear the common pleas only. But the distinction between the two courts was not very definite and had not been always observed under Henry III. Under Edward these became three separate and independent bodies : the King's Bench, which followed the king when required to do so ; the Court of Common Pleas seated at Westminster ; and the Exchequer, which attended to the financial business and later developed judicial functions in all cases which concerned debts due the crown. The king did not give up his judicial functions, for any one deeming that he had not received justice might petition the king through the chancellor. Out of this practice arose the Court of Chancery, an equity court ; while higher still, the king sat at the head of his council and acted as a supreme court. 133. The Model Parliament : Second Step in the Establishment of a House of Commons (p. 110). — In order to meet the situation created by the crisis of war with France, Scotland, and Wales in 1295, Edward had to increase his revenue and to gain the support of his people by calling a parliament of their repre- sentatives. Up to this time, notwithstanding Earl Simon's in- novation of 1265, neither knights nor burgesses were necessary to constitute a parliament. Edward fully understood that feudalism was on the wane, so, while summoning his barons as 118 RISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1295 usual, he determined also to reach out and bring into one body members of other than the feudal class, that is, members of the agricultural, clerical, and trading classes. He was in need of money and knew that the knights were wealthy and were familiar with local questions of finance and taxation and that the towns were becoming the centres of trade and industry and consequently of wealth. Therefore he summoned both knights and burgesses. He knew, too, that he must draw the clergy more closely to him if he were to retain the loyalty of the church and resist the papal claims. Therefore he attached a separate clause to the writs addressed to the bishops, bidding each bring with him certain of the lesser clergy. Thus there were present in this famous parliament two archbishops, eighteen bishops with their lesser clergy, sixty-six abbots, three heads of religious orders, nine earls, forty-one barons, sixty-three knights of the shire, and one hundred and seventy-two. citizens and burgesses, — about four hundred persons in all. Later the archdeacons, priors, proctors, and abbots ceased to attend ; but in other respects for five centuries the legal form of this great national body remained unchanged. Yet it must not be supposed that this was a modern parlia- ment. To-day we think of parliament as a lawmaking body. But all that the Model Parliament and its successors did was to grant money^ and to present petitions from the king's subjects ; but by fusing " the thousand diverse interests of shires and boroughs, clergy and laity, magnates and humble folk, into one national whole," it " made possible the existence of national legislation." 134. Conquest of Wales. — Three years after his return to England, while setting the administration of the kingdom in order, Edward engaged in a war with Llewellyn, prince of Wales, who had refused to do him homage. The Welsh clans, 1 The Model Parliament voted Edward a subsidy of one-eleventli of the goods of the nobility and the landholders and one-seventh of the goods of the burgesses. For sitting and procedure see Ilbert, Parliament, Ch. V. 1301] CONQUEST OF WALES. 119 secure in their mountains for many years, maintained their in- dependence and refused to recognize England's overlordship. In 1277 Edward led an army across the border, and after a brief campaign in North Wales, forced Llewellyn to a peace. In 1282 Llewellyn rose in revolt, but was defeated by Edward and Carnarvon Castle. From a photograph. The first Prince of Wales, Edward II, was born here in 1284. The story- goes that Edward I, to pacify the Welsh, promised them a prince born in Wales, who could not speak a word of English. He then presented his infant son to them. Here, in 1911, King George with great pomp and ceremony invested his oldest son as Prince of Wales. slain. Wales was a.nnexed to England. By the important Statute of Wales (1284), Wales was divided into four shires, organized after the English model, and a code of English law was drawn up and introduced into the land. Wales became then, as it is to-day, a part of England, though Edward wisely retained many of the old tribal and feudal divisions. In 1301 the title of Prince of Wales was given to Edward's son, though 120 RISE OF PARLIAMENT. [129S it carried with it no political power and remained from that time forward simply the chief title conferred upon the heir ap- parent of the English throne. 135. The Succession in Scotland. — The Scottish problem was neither as easily nor as quickly settled. In 1286, when the kingdom of Scotland descended to a young girl, Maid Margaret, Edward saw a chance to unite the two countries, and he arranged for the marriage of his eldest son and the little Scottish queen. Her death on the way to England threw the whole question of the Scottish succession into confusion. Claimants to the throne came forward, chief of whom were John Balliol and Kobert Bruce. The case was submitted to Edward, and, after long deliberation, the claims of Bruce were rejected, and Balliol was declared king of an undivided Scotland. He was crowned at Scone in 1292. Edward now claimed as feudal lord the right to hear appeals from the court of Balliol in Scotland. Balliol submitted, but the Scottish nobility showed Edward that they were prepared to re- sist this infringement on their national independence. This re- sistance of the Scottish feudal lords involved Edward in wai in the north at the time when a serious struggle with Erance was imminent. 136. Edward's Quarrel with France. — Trouble had arisen between the English and ]S"orman fishermen in the English Channel, and Philip IV, the Fair, of Erance took up the quarrel. A war between the two kingdoms seemed unavoidable, and each king entered into alliances with the enemies of the other. Edward turned to the time-honored enemies of France, — the Empire, Savoy, and Flanders, — while Philip allied himself with Edward's enemies at home and entered into agreements with the Scots and the Welsh. Thus in 1294 and 1295 Edward was confronted by Scotland, France, and Wales at the same time. No wonder he needed the parliament of 1295 to furnish him with revenue and to give him support. 137. Submission of Scotland. — With the money granted by parliament, Edward turned to face the threatening danger. 1296] EDWARD'S QUARREL WITH THE POPE. 121 He took up the campaign in the north, where Balliol, aided by the French, had renounced the overlordship of Edward and had sent an army to invade Eng- land. Edward led an army north- ward, defeated the Scottish army, and pushed on in- to Scotland. Bal- liol surrendered to Edward and was dealt with as a feudal vassal who had broken his contract. Ed- ward declared the kingdom for- feited. In 1296 he marched as a con- queror through the land, carried off from Scone the ancient corona- tion stone, and treated Scotland as a forfeited fief. The Scots seemed to be as thoroughly conquered as the Welsh had been ; but Edward failed to see that there was a feeling of intense in- dependence in Scotland and that the Scottish lords were en- tirely unwilling to be handed over like the tenantry of an es- tate from one feudal lord to another. 138. Edward's Quarrel with the Pope. — Edward needed money for the Scottish struggle that was now sure to come and for others that he had planned on the Continent. Parliament made The Coronation- Chair in Westminster Abbey. The Stone of Scone which Edward I brought from Scotland is seen just mider the seat. 122 RISE OP PARLIAMENT. [1206 a liberal grant, but when Edward demanded a grant from the clergy, the latter refused to vote a penny. In 1296 the pope had specially directed the clergy of both France and England to make no grant what- soever without the au- thority of the Holy See. As the pope had threat- ened to excommunicate any one who disobeyed his command, so Edward replied that he would outlaw any one who dis- obeyed the king. If the church could by excom- munication place any of the faithful beyond the pale of her protection, so the state could by out- lawry place any of its members outside the pro- tection of the law. An outlawed clerk was help- less. The king's courts would not protect him, the church courts could not. The English clergy had cause to be fright- ened ; and though as a body they refused to yield, as individuals they finally promised to pay their quota, and act- ually did pay in the end double the amount that Edward had originally demanded. The state Charing Cross, London. From a drawing in the British Museum. When Queen Eleanor died, Edward had her body brought from Lincoln to West- minster for burial. At every spot where the body rested, he had a cross erected. The popular derivation of Charing is from the French chere reine, dear queen. had become stronger than the church in England. 1297] CONFIEMATION OF THE CHAETERS. 123 139. Confirmation of the Charters. — In 1297 Edward was about ready to set out for France, but at this juncture the greater barons of England, exasperated by the continued at- tacks on their feudal privileges, refused to obey the king's command. The merchants, too, had their grievance, for in 1294, and again in 1297, Edward had seized their wool.. The continued resistance of the barons and merchants, the plead- ings of the clergy, and Edward's desire to compromise in order From a photograph. MucHENEY Cross. to carry out his plans, led the king to perform that great constitutional act known as the Confirmation of the Charters, whereby he recognized the principle that the king is bound by the law. He promised, while at Ghent in 1297, " to keep in every point without breach " the charters of liberty, affirming that all judgments contrary to them should be null and void; that the charters should be read twice a year to the people ; and that the archbishops and bishops should excommunicate all who broke them. 124 RISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1303 Through the influence of the barons and the merchants the king further declared that no aids, subsidies, or taxes on wool should be taken for the future without the common consent of the realm. This meant that after 1297 the imposition of a direct tax in England, except by consent of parliament, was contrary to law. The question of indirect taxes, such as cus- From a photograph. Stirling Castle. The most important strategic point in Scotland, captured by Edward I after a three months' siege and retaken ten years later by Robert Bruce after the battle of Bannockburn. toms duties on goods exported and imported, was not to be settled for nearly four centuries. 140. Peace with France. — Edward had planned a double expedition against Erance, himself going to Elanders and his barons to Gascony. It was the refusal of the latter that led Edward to confirm the charters while he was in Elanders. The expeditions came to nothing, for through the mediation of the pope a truce was declared in 1298. Edward married for his second wife the sister of Philip, and his son was be- trothed to Philip's daughter. In 1303 Philip got back Gui- 1307] THE SCOTTISH WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 125 enne and Edward acknowledged the full sovereignty of the French king over the duchy. 141. The Scottish War for Independence. — During Edward's absence on the Continent the Scottish nobility rose in arms. Maddened by Edward's treatment of them, by the tyranny of his officials, and by the introduction among them of foreign soldiers, the Scottish baronage of the lowlands were ready to fight for their independence. A knight of good family, Will- iam Wallace, had made himself the leader of the uprising, and in 1297 won a victory, near Stirling, over Edward's viceroy in Scotland. Wallace was neither an outlaw and freebooter, as some have said, nor yet the hero that romance has made him. He was of the lesser baronage, a rough warrior, who in this emergency found a scope for his gifts as a leader. His follow- ers increased in number until he was able to dash across the border, and to sweep Northumberland with fire and sword. Edward, who had been busy in France, now returned, gathered an army at York, and marching into Scotland, defeated Wal- lace at Falkirk, July 22, 1298 ; but the Scots would not yield, and until 1303 the struggle continued. At last, after the final treaty had been made with Philip IV of France, Edward turned on the Scots, drove all before him, and for the second time subdued the country. Wallace was betrayed in 1305, and cru- elly executed as a traitor ; Scotland was divided into shires, and provision made for representation in the English parliament. But Scotland would not stay subdued. For the third time insurrection broke out, and this time the leader was Robert Bruce. He was the grandson of the old claimant, and was crowned king of Scotland at Scone in 1306. Again Edward gathered his forces, again he pushed forward at the head of an army to the north ; but this time the hand of death was upon him. At Burgh-on-Sands, Edward died, July 17, 1307, with a last injunction to his barons to bury his heart in the Holy Land, and to his son to continue the advance against the Scots, bearing his bones in the very front of the line. Thus died one of the greatest of English kings. 126 RISE OF PAELIAMENT. [1314 142. Edward II and the Scots. — Young Edward II, the most thriftless king that ever sat on an English throne, had no heart for war. The Scottish nobility, who had thus far remained loyal to England, resenting the cowardliness of the king, joined in increasing numbers the forces of Bruce. The latter captured one Scottish stronghold after another, and finally, in 1314, advanced to the siege of Stirling. Then Graves of Scottish Kings, Iona. Macbeth is said to be buried here. From a photograph. Edward was shamed into action. Gathering an army of twenty thousand foot and three thousand horse from the northern shires, he advanced to the relief of Stirling. On the field of BannocJcburn, within sight of the walls of Stirling castle, the battle was fought, June 24, 1314, which won for the Scots their independence, and postponed union with England for four hundred years. In the most disgraceful defeat it ever suffered, 1320] STRUGGLE BETWEEN KING AND BARONS. 127 the English army was driven southward in flight, and Eobert Bruce became undisputed king of Scotland. 143. Continued Struggle between King and Barons: Edward II's Deposition. — The reign of Edward II was a long-continued struggle by the barons in council and parliament to control the bad government of the king and his favorites. Edward succeeded to the throne by the right of inheritance ; he took a very precise coronation oath promising to uphold the " laws and righteous customs " of the land ; and during his reign, parliaments of three estates — nobility, clergy, and commons — met frequently. But parliaments were new and the barons led the resistance to the king's policy. Edward, too indolent and indifferent to carry the burden of government, gave con- trol into the hands of Pierre Gaveston, a Gascon knight, whom he created earl of Cornwall and invested with honors and estates. The barons and clergy of the council, claiming to have a voice in the naming of the king's ministers, compelled Edward to banish Gaveston in 1308 ; but the king restored him the next year. Then the council, affronted by this insult, forced the king to intrust his powers to a committee of barons — Lords Ordainers — authorized to govern the kingdom for him, and to make such ordinances as should be to the honor of church and king, and to the advantage of the people. The ordinances issued by these baronial guardians, in 1310 and 1311, were little more than summaries of the barons' grievances, designed to limit the powers of the king. The king assented to the ordinances and they became statute law. But the next year Edward broke with the barons and recalled Gaveston. Then the barons, gathering their forces, seized Gaveston and put him to death (1312). The committee was reestablished with Thomas of Lancaster at the head. Edward, weary of being controlled by the barons, endeav- ored to obtain a repeal of the ordinances, but after his defeat at Bannockburu, M^hich thoroughly discredited him, he was obliged to give it up and to continue under baronial control. But Thomas of Lancaster proved a miserable ruler, and in 1320 128 RISE OF PARLIAMENT. [1330 Edward, displaying unexpected vigor, turned upon Lancaster, whom he defeated, seized, and beheaded with many others of the baronial party. From a full parliament of 1322 he ob- tained a repeal of the ordinances, as prejudicial "to the estate of the crown," and by the same parliament was issued a note- worthy declaration that henceforth any matter to be established for king, his heirs, realm, and people, must be treated, accorded, and established in a parliament of all the estates. This dec- laration was a defence of the dignity of crown and parliament against the baronial faction. ■ But Edward failed to rise to the situation offered, of govern- ing with the aid of parliament. He bega.n another rule of favorites, — the Despensers, — and from 1322 to 1326 insolence and bad government prevailed. Then the barons, led by one Eoger Mortimer, revolted against the king. They seized and hanged the Despensers, captured Edward himself in Wales, and causing a parliament to be summoned in the name of Edward's young son, the future Edward III, deposed Edward II and placed him in confinement, where he died in 1327, probably put to death by his keepers. This deposition of the king, the first of which we have certain knowledge in English history, was not a legal act, but one of violence, the forced set- . ting aside of a bad and incompetent king by those who had the power to do so. The significant fact is that this revolt of the barons had the approval of parliament. Edward III became king under the regency of Eoger Mortimer. England never sank lower than during the four years that followed. Fortunately the period was short ; in 1330 the young Edward, then eighteen years old, asserted his right to the throne, and seizing Mortimer had him tried and executed. Then the personal rule of Edward III began. CHAPTER X. END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 144. The New Age. — The reign of Edward I in England, as that of Philip IV in France, marks the beginning of the end of the Middle Ages. The new age was secular and political rather than religious and feudal. Feudalism as a political force was passing away. The great mediaeval empire founded by Charles the Great (800) and revived by Otto I (962) as the Holy Roman Empire had steadily lost in prestige and power. The great mediaeval church, the strongest and most inflxiential of all institutions during the Middle Ages, which Gregory VII and Innocent III had placed higher in authority than kings and princes, was on the eve of a great decline. The Crusades, in origin great feudal adventures, were no longer interesting the leaders of the west ; for kings in England, France, and Spain were engaged in building up strong centralized states, not in fighting Turks in the Holy Land. Eoyal aims were becoming national. Kiugs were becoming more powerful, because they were substituting their law for the old feudal customs, and were taking into their own hands control of jus- tice and finance. They founded schools of law, and in the place of feudal lords took lawyers for their advisers. In the administration of government they began to employ legal methods and forms. 145. Edward's Trouble with Scotland. — When Edward III was crowned in 1327, England was still in the midst of the war with Scotland, whose independence was recognized in a " shameful peace " made by Roger Mortimer in 1328. The death of Robert Bruce and the accession of his son David, 129 130 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1328 a child of five, to the throne, gave a chance for the successful revolt of Edward Balliol, son of the old John Balliol. Edward III gave him aid, and Balliol as king of Scotland ren- dered homage to Edward as overlord. 146. Trouble with France. — Bruce fled to France and gained Froin a photograph. York Minster. Begun in the twelfth" century and finished in the fifteenth century. It is the cathedral of the archbishop of York ("Primate of England"; the archbishop of Canterbury bears the title " Primate of all England "). It is the centre of religious influence for the north of England. the support of Philip VI, the first king of the new Valois line, who eagerly seized the opportunity of provoking Edward into a war with France. He wished to prevent if possible the union of Scotland to England and to drive the English from Guienne and Gascony in France. Edward was ready for the challenge and in this emergency made '^2^ iijevitable by laying 1332] THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 131 claim to the throne of France. In this way began the Hundred Years' War with France. It was fortunate for Edward that parliament favored the war, for since the Confirmation of the Charters, kings of Eng- land had had to depend upon that body for an important part of their revenues. For carrying on the war with France, par- liament made large grants, and in return Edward made conces- sions. 147. Third Step in the Development of the House of Commons. — Parliament had undergone some important changes since 1295, when Edward I summoned his people to meet him at Westminster. Then parliament had been composed of three estates, the clergy, the nobility, and the commons. But some- time during the ensuing half-century it had ceased to be an as- sembly of estates and had separated into two Jiouses. The clergy, as such, had ceased to attend, preferring to make their grant of money in their own convocation. The knights, sometime about 1330, had turned away from the nobles, to whom by origin they belonged, and had joined the burgesses, because they saw their interests to be identical with those of the burgesses rather than with those of the higher nobles. The knights, furthermore, were summoned by general writ addressed to the sheriff, and so, like the burgesses, were an elected body ; while the lords were summoned individually by writs addressed to them by name. Thus, by 1332 we find two houses instead of three es- tates : a House of Lords, composed of the barons and greater clergy, the latter of whom sat, not as ecclesiastics, but as spir- itual lords ; and a House of Commons, composed of the knights and the burgesses. Two important features characterize the development of the English parliament as contrasted with the parliamentary bodies of France and Spain. 1. Younger sons of barons were not noble and, if they went to parliament at all, went as knights or burgesses and sat in the House of Commons, thus prevent- ing a social distinction between the two houses. 2. The higher clergy, bishops and abbots, were present because they were land- 132 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1332 holders, holders of baronies, and not because they were clergy- men; they were but few in number and sat with the lords, whereas if all the higher clergy had come, they must have formed a separate house. The result was (1) that the House of Commons represented a larger part of the nation than did the representatives of the commons in France, and (2) that it From a photograph. Medieval Guildhall at King's Lynn, Norfolk. had but one house to oppose it in parliament instead of two, and the opposition of the House of Lords was rarely the scorn- ful opposition of a social caste toward its inferiors. These conditions were favorable to a sturdy and independent devel- opment of the House of Commons in England. 148. Industry and Trade : Towns and Gilds. — Up to this time the towns, which were the centres of trade, had aimed to keep the control of the business in their own hands, in order to prevent outsiders, or " foreigners," from getting a share of 1363] INDUSTRY AND TRADE. 133 it. Soon after the Conquest, merchant gilds had sprung up in the majority of towns, and each gild regulated, with great minuteness, trade and industry of every kind within the town. Only members of the gild could do business in the town. Trade and commerce were managed entirely by the town as such, not by individuals or by the state. In the reign of Edward III the merchant gild began to give place to the craft gilds. The chief difference between these gilds was that the merchant gild controlled all the trading interests of the town, while each craft gild dealt only with its own particular industry. Trade still remained under the control of the towns, which in the four- teenth century were the chief centres of wealth in the kingdom. The towns did business, of course, with other English towns, but they also had both import and export trade with towns abroad. As yet, however, the English had no merchant vessels, and were compelled to use foreign ships to carry on trade. The right to engage in such foreign trade was conferred on certain specially favored aliens. The merchants of Flanders and north- ern France enjoyed a monopoly of the trade, but Edward III encouraged other aliens to bring goods to England, and in 1335 granted freedom of trade to all outsiders. England was not, however, ready for so free a trade, and the policy was reversed in 1392 (p. 150). At the same time Edward sought to regulate a new export- ing business that had grown up under his grandfather. For convenience, merchants were sending the most important or staple goods, such as wool, hides, leather, and tin, to one Con- tinental city, whence they were distributed. This gathering of exports in one city, called the Staple city, had many advan- tages: the goods in transit were more easily protected against pirates, the customs duties were more conveniently levied, and the business of buying and selling was more readily car- ried on. Edward abolished the Staple city and allowed Eng- lish merchants to send their wool and other commodities where they pleased. But the plan did not work well, and after various changes, Calais in 1363 became the seat of the 134 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1346 foreign staple, and remained for about' two centuries the cen- tre of England's trade with the Continent. The increasing wealth of the towns, largely due to the ex- pansion of foreign trade, the greater revenue derived from import and export duties, and the rising credit of the king- dom, which made the negotiating of loans easier, gave Edward the money that he needed to carry on the French war. 149. The Hundred Years' War. — In this war (the causes of which have already been noted, p. 130) Edward was sup- ported in part by the old feudal army and in part by the native yeomanry of England. The lords, who composed the cavalry, threw themselves into the war as if it were but a tournament governed by the rules of chivalry. Knights were eager for adventure ; even ladies followed the armies to bestow their favors on successful warriors. But the most important part of Edward's army was national, not feudal, in character. The men of the Assize of Arms and ' the Statute of Win- chester, that is, the freemen, armed with lances, bows and arrows, and other weapons, made up the infantry. These yeomen, though often unwillingly pressed into service, formed an efficient military force, the like of which was unknown on the Continent. Great Battles of the War. — The beginning of English victory was the naval battle of Sluys (1340), which was fought be- tween the English and the French fleets of£ the Flemish coast, resulted in the destruction of the French navy, and cleared the way for the invasion of France. Edward then determined on an invasion of France, and in 1346 landed on the coast at Cherbourg. Pushing his way inland, — a dangerous venture, for without connection with the seacoast he was in constant danger of being cut off and surrounded in a hostile land by the enemy's forces, — he was brought to bay by Philip, near the little town of Crecy^ August 26, 1346. Here a famous battle was fought, in which the English archers won a victory over the feudal array of the French king. The bowmen placed in the front of the battle first shot down ruthlessly the 1355] GEEAT BATTLES OF THE WAR. 135 Genoese mercenaries of the French king, and then repelled every advance of the armed feudal cavalry. The number of French dead is said to have equalled the whole English force. In this battle the fifteen-year-old Black Prince (of Wales) — so called from the black armor he wore — won his spurs and the honor of knighthood. After Crecy, Edward ad- vanced to Calais, which sur- rendered (1347) after a year's siege and remained a posses- sion of the English kings for more than two hundred years. The first period of the war ended with the capture of Calais, but in 1355 war was renewed. Philip had died in 1350, and his son John took up the struggle. At the same time the Scots renewed the attack from the north. In the summer of 1355 Edward mercilessly devastated Lo- thian out of wrath against Scotland, while his son, the Black Prince, starting from Gascony, harried central France from Guienne to Poitiers. At the latter town the prince was confronted by a French army, larger than his own, under the command of John himself, and was com- pelled to fight for his life. But at Poitiers, as at Crecy, the English archers carried the day. King John was captured From a photograph. Effigy of the Black Prince ON HIS Tomb in CanterbojIT Cathedral. Over this tomb hangs the prince'f armor, which he wore in the French War. 136 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1360 and the French forces completely defeated. The battle was fought on September 19, 1356. The Peace of Bretigny. — The succession of English victories, the capture of King John, the ruin which had fallen on the country, forced the French to make peace with the English. At Bretigny, in 1360, a treaty was signed. According to this treaty, Edward gave up his claim to the French throne and to all lands in northern France except Calais and Ponthieu and some other towns and castles. In return he received the whole of the duchies of Gascony and Guienne, to be held by him henceforth in full sovereignty and no longer as a vassal of the French king, and in addition a ransom for the French king of three million gold crowns. Three years before, he had made peace with Scotland, had released David Bruce, and, in return for one hundred thousand marks ransom money and the towns of Berwick and Roxburgh, acknowledged Bruce's title to the crown. 150. The Position of Edward III. — In 1360 Edward was at the height of his success. Victor at Crecy, Calais, and Poitiers, the master of two kings, one of France and the other of Scotland, he had been able to dictate a peace which freed the English king from his vassalage to the king of France and which restored to the English crown lands in southern France. His reign had been a time of splendor and display. French booty and money were poured into England, and luxury in- vaded the life of the court. Edward encouraged an artificial chivalry, which, with its Order of the Garter, the Thistle, and the Golden Fleece, its Round Table and Courts of Love, gave rise to a social caste far different from the truer feudal chivalry of the Crusades. Chaucer. — Of this life Chaucer wrote in the Canterbury Tales, the first great collection of narrative poems in English. • These tales are told by thirty pilgrims, representative of the middle and upper classes of English society, who are on their way from the Tabard Inn in southern London to the tomb of the martyred Thomas a Becket at Canterbury ; and while telling 1360] CHAUCER. 137 their tales these pilgrims not only give an excellent idea of their own characters, but also show us a picture of English life at this period. From a photograph. Interior op Canterbury Cathedral. Becket was slain beyond the arch and to the left. His shrine, to which pilgrimages were made, was beyond the farthest point seen in the picture. 138 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1360 151. The Manorial System. — All land in England at this time was supposedly under a lord and was cultivated by the villagers over whom the lord had jurisdiction. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries these villagers, called villeins, were obliged to remain for life and to labor on their lord's land. Such an obli- gation was necessary at this time. Eeudal lords derived their From, a photograph. Tithe Baen at Bradfoed-on-Avon. wealth from their lands ; their lands had to be cultivated ; and inasmuch as hired labor had hardly as yet come into existence, the only persons to cultivate them were the tenants. Upon the manors the methods of cultivation were almost everywhere the same. The villagers worked in the open fields, ploughed, sowed, and harvested, much as they had done for centuries. A large portion of their time they devoted to the demesne lands, consist- ing of those strips in the great open fields that were held by the lord. They were also required to make certain payments, some of which were regularly sent in for the support of the lord. The 1349] THE BLACK DEATH. 13S amount of both labor and payment was fixed by the "custom of the manor." The extent of the manoral jurisdiction varied greatly. Sometimes it covered only one vill, often it extended more widely. There was no single rule or law in governing the relation of lord and villeins. All was determined by local cus- tom, though in general the conditions prevailing in one manor prevailed in all. 152. Changes in the Agricultural System. — The changes that mark the transition from the mediaeval system of agriculture to one more modern were just beginning to appear, and were not to be completed for two centuries. Population was increas- ing and land was growing scarce. The old wasteful methods of agriculture could not compete with the new conditions in trade and industry. The amount of money in circulation had in- creased, first in the towns and at court, and gradually in the country districts. Three results followed : (1) lords let out their own lands, the demesne lands, at a money rent to farmers, who were sometimes their own bailiffs, trying to make a profit out of agriculture ; (2) many villeins began to commute their labor service for money ; while (3) others, attracted by the new op- portunities in the towns, began to desert the manors. In order to fill their places, hired laborers, hitherto very rare, had to be obtained. Thus a new system of leased farms and paid labor began to be introduced into the agricultural organization. This important social and economic change proceeded slowly, until it received a check because of the Black Death. 153. The Black Death. — In the interval between Crecy and Poitiers a fearful plague spread over England, known as the Black Death. During the years 1348 and 1349 from a third to a half of the population perished. The fearful disease spared no class of society, but fell most heavily (1) upon the artisans in the crowded towns, where little pains was taken to keep houses and streets clean ; (2) upon the agricultural laborers in the country, whose hovels and cottages were always filthy ; and (3) upon the monks, and the parish priests. At one time in London the mortality rose to two hundred a day, while in 140 ' END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [134& certain manors of from three to four hundred population, more than a hundred and fifty were carried off. Results. — The great plague effected one important change in the situation on the manors. Before the Black Death laborers were plentiful, villeins were beginning to pay money instead of laboring for the lands they held, and the lord was hiring laborers at a daily wage to cultivate his lands. The plague cut down the supply of labor, both on the manors and in the towns. But land had to be cultivated and industry had to be carried on, consequently the demand for labor became greater than the supply. The free laborer could ask what wages he liked, either in agriculture or in trade. For the lords of manors the situa- tion was made worse by the failure of crops, the rise of prices, and the frequent desertion of the villeins, who, attracted by higher wages, rushed to the towns to fill the places made vacant by the deaths there. Then king and parliament stepped in and tried to regulate wages by legislation. Parliament was, in the main, a body of landholders, so that what it did was in its own interest, not in that of the peasantry. Statutes of Laborers. — First, in 1349, the king issued a decree addressed to the sheriffs, bidding them see that every man and woman, free and bond, return to service at the old wages. Two years later, this decree was embodied by parliament in a statute known as the Statute of Laborers, designed to keep down, by main force, the price of labor. The statute forbade hired laborers in the country and artisans in the cities to receive more than they had been customarily paid in 1346, and forbade, likewise, lords of towns and manors to pay higher wages, on penalty of a fine. Many later statutes, growing increasingly severe in their regulation of labor, were passed to deal with this difficult situation. These statutes declared that all persons named in them must work at a reasonable rate, the amount of which parliament was unwilling to fix absolutely. Not to work for a reasonable wage was an offence against the law, as was also the giving of wages that were unreasonable. A de- termined effort was made to carry out these statutes, both by 1376] THE GOOD PAELIAMENT. 141 specially appointed commissions and by the justices of the peace in the counties, and to a certain extent the effort was successful. The significance of the statutes is that England ■was beginning to deal with a new and very difficult problem, hitherto settled by the towns and manors themselves, — the problem of labor, wages, and above all of poverty. The Statutes of Laborers are the first of the " Poor Laws." 154. Losses in France : Corruption at Home. — The period from 1360 to 1377 is one of steady decline in the greatness and brilliancy of the king's reign. jSTotwithstanding the peace of Bretigny (p. 136) the war with France was renewed, and after 1370 province after province in France withdrew its allegiance from the king of England. The French king, Charles V, re- gained most of what had been lost by the peace of Bretigny, and though John of Gaunt, a younger son of Edward III, ravaged the country from Calais to Bordeaux, he did little to restore English control. Pope Gregory XI made every effort to bring about peace between France and England, but his efforts were vain. France was fighting for the old purpose of driving the English out of the country, and was succeeding. By 1375 the English held little more than the cities of Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Calais. Meanwhile, at home, administration had become very cor- rupt. The king was mentally broken and under the control of John of Gaunt. The elder son, the Black Prince, was suffering from a disease which wholly unfitted him for taking part in the government. A clique of the friends of John of Gaunt controlled affairs. They systematically robbed the nation by illegal exactions, by receiving privileges and abusing ^hem, and by raising prices and appropriating the proceeds. 155. The Good Parliament. — So empty had the treasury be- come in 1376, in consequence of the costly wars and the cor- ruption at court, that the king's privy council decided to sum- mon parliament, which had not been called since 1373. Parliament had grown steadily in power during the reign of Edward III and had established effectively its control over 142 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1377 taxation. Though called to do no more' than consent to what the king and his council proposed, the knights and burgesses could refuse their consent if necessary. They were gradually becoming accustomed to their position, and should occasion offer, were ready to remonstrate and even to assume on emergency powers of their own. In 1376 the opportunity came. Summoned for the purpose of consenting to a levy of taxes, the knights and burgesses, in an angry mood, determined before they granted a penny of supplies to get rid of the men who had mismanaged affairs and robbed the treasury. Supported by the Black Prince, who, a helpless invalid, resented the tyrannical attitude of his younger brother, John of Gaunt, they took a new and unex- pected stand. They declared that the king would have had enough money had the realm been wisely governed, and that as long as evil men were in office, no grant of theirs could bring prosperity to the kingdom. To make their protest more effective, they elected a speaker, Peter de la Mare, a knight of the shire of Hereford, and through him they formally im- peached the friends of John of Gaunt as traitors to the king, and demanded that they be deprived of their offices. John of Gaunt, anxious to appease the people, whose friend he always claimed to be, and fearing the power of the Black Prince, yielded to the demand of the Commons. The death of the Black Prince during the sitting of parliament greatly discour- aged their leaders and left them more or less at the mercy of John of Gaunt. The latter, who had yielded to their demands only to strengthen his own position, now came out in his true colors, and led a reaction against the work of the Good Parlia- ment. He brought back his favorites and threw Peter de la Mare into prison. A packed parliament of 1377 confirmed these acts. 156. State and Church : Religious Degeneration. — For three- quarters of a century parliament had been disputing the right of the pope to interfere in English affairs. In 1307 it had for- bidden the heads of religious houses to send any money to 1377] JOHN WICLIF. 143 Rome, and had protested against the way higher ecclesiastical officials abroad were forcing money from the monasteries and religious houses in England. In 1351 it passed the first Statute of Provisors, imposing severe penalties upon all who received benefices at the hands of the pope. In like manner, the right of appeal to the pope had been forbidden in 1353 by the first Statute of Proimunire. The king, however, rarely enforced these statutes, and they had to be repeated again and again. These acts were the acts of parliament, and not of the clergy ; that is, they were the acts of the state, and not of the church. At the very time when parliament was limiting the authority of the pope in England, the people were becoming thoroughly dissatisfied with the way in which the English clergy were performing their religious duties. The higher clergy, bishops and abbots, had become worldly and avaricious ; the monas- teries had absorbed great wealth ; the lesser clergy, the parish priests, were wretchedly poor and inefficient, often unable to perform their parish duties. William Langland,^ the author of The Vision of Piers Plow- man, himself perhaps a villein who had risen to the rank of the lesser clergy and had spent his life in the performance of his duties, presents a sorrowful picture of the condition of the friars and the parochial priests. The latter, he says, neglected their charges, quarrelled with the friars, and lived as wolves among their own sheep. 157. John Wiclif. — The man who led the attack upon the privileges, corruption, and wealth of the clergy was John Wiclif. He was born in Yorkshire in 1320, and went in early life to Oxford, where he was for a time master of Balliol Col- 1 The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman, ed. Skeat, 1886, Vol. I, Text C. VII, 119-129, VIII, 1-67, XVII, 241-278. A modern version of this poem is issued in the King's Classics Series. For Langland, whose tale was the wretchedness of the people, as Chaucer's was the pleasure of the aristocratic class, see Taine, pp. 100 ff., and Jusserand, Literary History of the English People, I, Bk. Ill, Ch. IV. Chaucer and Langland should be read for differ- ence in the points of view. See the quotations in Frazer, Part II, Nos. 2, 13, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26 (" A Pardoner ") , 31. 144 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1377 lege. In 1374 lie was made rector of Lutterworth, a village in Leicestershire, which became on this account the centre of a new religious agita- tion. Wiclif was the last of the mediaeval schoolmen. But he was no unpractical theorizer ; he saw the evils of the times and protested against them. Wiclif's teaching was largely destruc- tive. He denounced the claims of the pa- pacy, and as early as 1366, in a pamphlet. The Dominion of God, had declared that the state was not subordinate to the church. He next attacked the clergy for their wealth and their interest in Wiclif. Erom an engraving by Alexander Van Hgecken. worldly affairs, and declared that the church should limit itself strictly to its spiritual functions. He vigorously opposed the use by the clergy of excommunication. In 1377 his views were condemned by Gregory XI, but the condemnation was without effect in England, A great schism in the church, resulting in the election of two popes, weakened the authority of the papacy, and Wiclif, taking advantage of this fact, grew bolder. He attacked the doctrines as well as the practices of the church, and asserted the superiority of an active over an ascetic life, a claim the more striking in that the ascetic had been the ideal of the Middle Ages. He inveighed against the 1377] ACCESSION OF RICHARD II. 145 friars, whom he charged with hypocrisy and worldliness ; he inspired a body of " poor priests " to preacli to the people ; and he gave to these priests an English Bible, trans- lated by himself or his followers, probably the most complete version issued up to this time. 158. Accession of Rich- ard II.— In 1377 Ed- ward III died, and his grandson Richard, son of the Black Prince, as- cended the throne with- out opposition. The young king was a mere lad of ten, and for twelve years England was ruled by regencies. Richard came to the throne in an evil time. The French were threatening to in- vade England ; parties at court were engaged in factional quarrels and were struggling with each other for the con- trol of the government. The baronage, with the king's uncle, John of Gaunt, as their leading representative, had de- generated into a body of selfish parasites, preying on the wealth of the kingdom. The situation was one calling for statesmanship of a high order. Older ideas and institutions were giving way before Richard II. From the contemporary picture formerly in Westminster Abbey. This is the first contemporary painting of any English king. 146 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1381 new ways of thinking and living. The agricultural system was being transformed and agriculture was declining in im- portance; industry, trade, and commerce were competing with agriculture, towns were increasing in size and wealth, and money was circulating more widely than ever before ; religious unrest and heresy were prevalent, and the mediaeval church as a factor in the daily life of the people was becoming less con- spicuous and influential ; heavy and expensive wars were in- creasing taxation, while popular burdens were made weightier by bad government, corruption in high places, and extrava- gance. The times called for a strong king or a strong minister, but no such leader appeared in English history for many years. But the troubles at court and the difficult problem of Rich- ard's personal character are of but little importance when com- pared with (1) the peasant's revolt, (2) the rise of the Lollards, and (3) the growth and activities of parliament. 159. I. The Condition and Grievances of the Peasantry. — During the fourteenth century the condition of the villeins had been improving : they had begun to pay money so as to be free from labor on the lord's demesne land, and the lords had begun to lease out their home lands, or else to employ hired laborers to work them instead of the villeins, as formerly. Thus the old agricultural system was breaking down,, the growth of towns and of commerce was giving to the peasantry new means of livelihood, and a new class of society was taking shape, composed of free or hired laborers. The changing economic conditions were causing widespread restlessness and discontent. The villeins remaining on the manors were restless under the yoke of their labor services. The hired laborers hated the statutes fixing their wages and the lawyers and justices of the peace who enforced the law against them. The people in general hated the rich, whether nobles or merchants, for their indifference, and the monasteries for their tyranny and selfish- ness ; and they sided with the parish priests in their poverty. 160. The Peasant Revolt of 1381. — A single act turned the irritation of the laboring classes into a revolt. So great had 1381] THE PEASANT REVOLT. 147 become the deficit of the government that parliament adopted a new form of tax, a poll tax, or so much a head on every one over sixteen years of age. The last time this tax was levied it was made exceedingly heavy and became very unpopular. On the appearance of the tax collectors Essex and Kent gave A Reaper's Cart going Up-hill. From fourteenth century drawing in Jusserand's English Way- faring Life. The condition of the roads may be imagined from the number of men and horses required. The hill is exaggerated to fit the picture to its proper space. the first signal for the revolt, followed by Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties ; and before the year 1381 was over, a large portion of southern and southeastern England was to a greater or less extent in insurrection. Each district in town and county had its own special grievance; no one cause or set of causes can be given to explain the movement as a whole. Even the friars, teaching poverty and a common brotherhood, gave a religious sanction to the uprising. In the three populous counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cam- bridge, where the movement was earliest cliecked, the revolt had the appearance of a concerted uprising instigated by revo- lutionary agents working secretly among the people. The mob of Suffolk, consisting of villeins, hired laborers, members 148 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1S81 of the lesser clergy, tradesmen, and artisans, sacked manor- houses and monasteries, burning and plundering at will. While the insurrection was spreading in the east, a large body of men from the southeastern counties gathered under John Ball, the preacher, and Wat Tyler (the tiler), on June 12, 1381, to march on London. They were convinced that John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster and the uncle of the king, was m part responsible for the evil government, and they determined to ask redress of the young king. On June 13 they entered London and destroyed the palace of John of Gaunt, the Temple (the house of the lawyers), and other Inns where lived students of the law. Richard met them on the 14th and promised to abolish serfdom and all forms of servile labor, to pardon all the rebels, to permit the villeins to trade outside the manors in the towns, and to fix rents of lands at fourpence an acre. When this had been done, the more moderate insur- gents dispersed. But the radicals remained, and in the rioting that followed Wat Tyler was slain. The king, seizing the opportune moment when the rioters were confused by the loss of their leader, shrewdly placed himself at their head and led them away from the city. From that moment the cause of the rebels was lost. The government took a frightful revenge. Eioters were hanged without mercy ; none of the rebels was spared. John Ball was caught and hanged. Parliament compelled the king to repeal all the liberating charters and itself passed an act annulling all the concessions that had been made. The im- mediate results of the peasants' revolt were probably slight; the landlords, taking advantage of an unsuccessful uprising, probably made the lot of the villein for the moment harder than it had been before. But no legislation could stop the economic and social change that was taking place in the fourteenth century. The movement that was transforming labor services into money payments, the villein into the free laborer, and the old open fields into lands let out at lease went steadily on. 1384] RICHARD AND PARLIAMENT. 149 161. II. The Religious Revolt: the Lollards. — Popular dis- content, thus expressed on the social and economic side in the revolt of the peasants, found expression on the religious side in the rise of the Lollards. The Lollards were followers of Wiclif. They denounced the sacraments, believed in preach- ing as the chief aid in effecting conversion, denied transub- stantiation, and opposed confession and the worship of saints. Before the peasants' revolt, little had been done to check this heresy ; but after 1381, though no Lollard was ever accused of participation in the uprising, a vigorous campaign, led by the archbishop of Canterbury, was begun, and Wiclif's doctrines were condemned. The first generation of Lollards was unable to withstand these attacks of the church. As has been well said, " They were not ready to be martyrs." All who were brought to trial at this time recanted and returned to the fold ; but thousands, taught by the "poor priests" of Wiclif, continued to receive the doctrines presented to them and to believe in secret or without outward display. Wiclif died in 1384, but his death was only an incident in the movement. The revolt from the doctrines of the mediaeval church had begun ; and in the next century, men of the second generation were willing to be burned at the stake for their faith.^ The revolt of the Lollards made easier the religious reformation of the sixteenth century in England. 162. III. Richard and Parliament. — Eichard was not an in- competent king, as was Edward II, but he was inexperienced and unable to see what the country needed, and he tried to make himself an absolute king, governing without the interfer- ence of the nobles. Parliament, though meeting regularly and protesting frequently against the bad government and heavy 1 Wiclif's teaching was carried back to Bohemia by the students and others who had come to England in the train of Anne of Bohemia, Richard's first wife (1382), and had studied at Oxford. In Bohemia the new ideas bore fruit in the movement under John Hus, who was on the Continent, as was Wiclif in England, the forerunner of Luther and the Protestant Reformation. 150 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. - [1392 taxes, was not an independent body speaking for the nation. It was controlled by the barons, who used it as an instrument aiding them to obtain control of government and riddance of their enemies. Attendance on parliament was a heavy burden, and neither knights nor burgesses went to Westminster will- ingly. Even when there they had as yet but little power to check the king or to control the barons. Richard's government may be divided into three periods: 1. During the first period of his rule, particularly from 1383 to 1388, the king, freeing himself from the control of the barons, chose his own officials and entered upon a practical application of his own idea of absolute government. But in 1388 parliament, acting under the influence of the great nobles, checked the king's rule and put an end to his tyranny and extravagance. 2. With 1389, Richard, now of age, forsaking favorites and despotic methods, began to govern with moderation through his ministers and with the advice of parliament. For eight years he governed as a constitutional king. Finances were ably managed, taxation was light and fairly apportioned, and many wise statutes were passed touching (1) commerce, (2) the church, and (3) the nobles. In his commercial policy Richard encouraged aliens to trade in England, as Edward III had done. But the towns, par- ticularly London, protested against the privileges granted to aliens, inasmuch as English artisans were already working up wool into cloths at home. Therefore, in 1392, parlia- ment passed a law to discourage alien trade. But at the same time it encouraged native English industry, and made possible the control of the internal and retail trade of England by Englishmen. No less important were the statutes dealing with the church. Already parliament had declared in the Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire (p. 143) that the pope should not control the appointments of the clergy in England, and that no English- man should appeal from the king's courts to the pope. But so 1398] RICHARD AND PARLIAMENT. 161 persistent had been the efforts of the clergy to evade these statutes and so willing had the king been to neglect them, that up to this time they had never been really enforced. In 1390 a second Statute of Provisors was passed, which declared that the pope could have no control over any appointment to bene- fices whatever. In 1393 a second Statute of Praemunire de- clared that the pope could not annul any judgment of the king's court, hear any appeals from England, excommunicate bishops or "any other of the king's liege people," or send " sentences of excommunication, bulls, instruments, or any- thing else whatsoever which touched the king, against him, his crown, and his regality." In the third place, parliament sought to abolish a practice which had become widespread among the nobility, namely, the practice of maintaining bodies of retainers, often sufficient in number to form almost a petty army. This practice had be- come common after 1290, when the statute Quia Emptores for- bade subinfeudation. To supply the place of the subtenants, who by their tenure had been obliged to do military services for their lords, the dukes and earls had gathered about them men whom they hired to fight their battles. These men wore the lord's livery, and were fed at his expense; and their brawls were frequent sources of trouble. Ineffective attempts had been made to prevent this practice by Edward III, by the Good Parliament, and now by the parliament of Richard II in 1390, but the evil was to be swept away only during the wars of the next century. 3. From 1389 to 1397 Richard ruled with moderation and prudence, avoiding extravagance and war, and aiding in the passage of laws useful to the nation at large. In 1396 his first wife died, and two years after, Richard married the daughter of the king of France. While in France he observed the abso- lutism of the French king and the extravagance of the French court, and on his return he determined to put again into practice his theory of absolutism. The character of the government changed. By the parliament of 1398 at Shrewsbury, a packed 152 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1398 body, the acts of the parliaments of 1387-1388 were annulled, ordinances of the king were declared to have the force of statutes, and a duty on wool and hides was granted to the king From a photograph. Conway Castle, on the Left Bank of the Conway River IN Wales, It was built in 1284 by Edward I to help keep down the Welsh. for life. Thus Eichard became independent of parliament and practically absolute. 163. Deposition of Richard II. — This policy aroused the op- position of a party of nobles that found a leader in Henry Bolingbroke, son of the king's uncle, John of Gaunt. At first Bolingbroke had found favor with his cousin Richard. But in 1398 he had been banished by the king without apparent cause. This act, coupled with Richard's seizure of the lands 1399] DEPOSITION OF RICHAED II. 153 of John of Gaunt, after the latter's death in 1399, turned Bolingbroke, now duke of Lancaster, against the king. When, therefore, in 1399, Richard unwisely left England to drive back the Celts, who were encroaching on the English settle- ments in Ireland, Henry landed in Yorkshire and quickly gathered the malcontents about him. Eichard, returning from The Parliament which deposed Richard II. From an old manuscript of the fourteenth century, in Jusserand's English Wayfaring Life. Ireland, was captured at Conway Castle, in Wales, and realizing that the lords, the church, and the nation were against him, abdicated his throne. In the presence of parliament the act of deposition was read, and the throne was declared vacant, not because the king had governed badly, as had Edward II, but because he had tried to become an absolute monarch and so had broken the law. Absolute monarchy was contrary to law in England in 1399. When Richard had been declared deposed, Henry of Lancaster claimed the crown in a speech delivered in English instead of in French, the court language under the Angevins, and parliament recognized the claim. In so doing 154 END OF THE MIDDLE AGES. [1399 it passed by the earl of Marcli, descended through his grand- mother from the second son of Edward III, in favor of Henry IV, son of the third son.^ The victory of parliament was a step backward in favor of the old order of things instead of a step forward toward an understanding of the new conditions that were prevailing among the English people. It was the victory of the nobility and not of the nation. 164. General Survey. — The last years of the fourteenth and the first years of the fifteenth centuries bring us to a signifi- cant turning point in the history of England. The Middle Ages had passed away, but everywhere traces of mediaeval institutions and social traditions were to be seen. The most powerful men in the country were the great lords possessing retinues, fortified castles, family traditions and names, control- ling government, opposing monarchy, and warring with each other, an artificial feudal class. On the other hand, represen- tative not of the past, but of the future, were the towns, already entering upon a new commercial and artisan life, the free- holders, already the yeomanry of England, and the villeins, well advanced in their progress toward freedom. The reign of Richard and the reigns of the Lancastrian kings show these classes breaking through the crust of medisevalism and push- ing forward to greater prominence in the life and government of the nation. The factional quarrels of the nobility fore- shadowed the feudal death grapple of the Wars of the Roses ; the growth of the towns made possible a native English com- merce ; the rise of the yeomanry and the release of the villeins from bondage looked forward to a new agriculture and a new 1 Henry in his claim asserted that he had the better hereditary title, because he was descended from Edmund of Lancaster, who, according to a story current at the time, was the eldest son of Henry III. Later writers, trying to make good the title of the Lancastrians, argued that the York title, derived through the house of March, was less sound than that of Lancaster, because the earl of March was the son of the daughter of Lionel, duke of Clarence, while with the Lancastrians the male line was unbroken. But Henry IV did not make this claim in 1399. The Lancastrians' hereditary right was not dis- puted by the Yorkists until 1460. 1399] GENERAL SUEVEY. 155 system of labor and gave to the nation a new social class no longer bound to the soil and unprotected by the courts. Eng- land was in the midst of a great social and economic revolution ; but none were more ignorant of this fact than the selfish and turbulent nobility, who under Richard and the Lancas- trians were the political leaders of England. Almost the only progress that took place during this period was among the lower and less conspicuous classes of the people. CHAPTER XI. END OP FEUDALISM: THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 165. Henry IV. — Henry Bolingbroke, duke of Lancaster, claimed the throne partly by hereditary title, but still more, as he said, because " the realm was in point to be undone for default of governance and undoing of good laws." Parlia- ment in accepting him as king was undoubtedly influenced by the hereditary claim, but it was moved much more by the desire to have a king who should not play the absolute mon- arch, but should be dependent on parliament for his authority. Henry was the first jMrliamentary king in English history ; but he represented the conservative and aristocratic portion of parliament rather than the knights and burgesses, the party of the future. He was himself mediaeval in policy : an up- holder of the temporal power of the church, hostile to the Lollards, and a stanch supporter of the feudal prerogatives of the feudal lords in all that concerned their relations with their freeholders and villeins. Though his accession as king gave to parliament a great opportunity to extend its authority and influence, yet it did not aid in the least degree the emancipa- tion of the peasant or the Lollard. Progress in this particular was hardly perceptible ; neither king nor parliament did any- thing to hasten it. 166. Conspiracies against the King. — The choice of parlia- ment did not by any means find unanimous support in Eng- land, and during Henry's early years as king attempts were made to dethrone him. At the very beginning of the reign a conspiracy of Richard's kinsmen was suppressed and the conspirators executed. After Richard's death in January, 1400, his adherents turned to Edmund, earl of March (1391- 156 1403] PERSECUTION OF THE LOLLARDS. 157 1425), a youth of ten years, whom Richard had designated as his successor, and began a revolt in the north, where the Percys, of whom the earl of Northumberland was the head, ruled as practically independ- ent feudal lords. Acting in conjunction with the Welsh, who had always been de- voted to Richard, the Percys advanced southward, but were defeated at Shrews- bury on the Welsh border (1403). There Henry Percy (Hot- spur) was killed. Hotspur's father, Northumberland, again conspired, but the conspiracy was betrayed and he was slain. Through the failure of these con- spiracies Henry's position toward the end of his reign be- came more secure. 167. Persecution of the Lollards. — Henry was supported in the main by the higher clergy, whose interests he had promised to respect and who deemed him the defender of the church against the Lollards. The lower clergy were generally hostile, the friars hated the usurper and preached disloyalty to the people ; the monks aided in hatching plots and creating turbu- lence among the peasantry. The age was one of great religious doubt and uncertainty as to what to do and think. Men did not know where to look for authority, either in church or state. Henry IV. From a portrait — artist unknown — in the National Portrait Gallery, London. 158 END OF FEUDALISM. [1413 The great Christian church was divided by a schism, and for a part of the period three popes existed; men's minds were in great confusion, and those who followed the heretical teach- ings of Wiclif in- creased in number. King and arch- bishop were at one in their opinion of the Lollard heretics. Henry upheld the church in the perse- cution of them and aided the bishops to suppress them by force. The parlia- ment of 1401 passed a statute authorizing the burning of here- tics, the first law passed in England for the suppression of re- ligious opinions. Ac- cording to this statute the sheriffs, mayors, and bailiffs were to carry out the sen- tence of the ecclesias- tical courts in the case Henky v. From a portrait — artist unknown — in the National Portrait Gallery, London. The "Prince Hal" of Shakespeare ; there is no authority for Shakespeare's characteri- zation, as King Henry was a sober and dig- nified monarch. of heretics. There is nothing to show that the Lollards en- gaged in any plots against the government in this period, but in the next reign they became offenders against the state as well as against the church. 168. Henry V. — In 1413 Henry IV died, leaving the crown without opposition to the Prince of Wales, who ascended the 1418] PARLIAMENT UNDER THE LANCASTRIANS. 159 throne on May 20 as Henry V. The traditions that Prince Hal's early years were a time of rioting and dissipation are mainly the exaggerations of later writers, for the prince as king showed a sobriety and dignity of demeanor wholly at variance with the account that Shakespeare has given of him and Falstaff. He had already directed affairs during the ill- ness of his father, and had shown his military ability in the many battles that his father had been called upon to fight. He was possessed of nobility of character, considerable learn- ing, and gracious manners. His life was a brilliant one, but his ambitions were injurious to England, and his statesmanship was of a distinctly inferior type. He was a warrior, but his eyes were turned to the past rather than to the future ; he believed that it was a holy obligation to aid in religious perse- cution and to continue the war against France. 169. Persecution and Decline of the Lollards. — Under Rich- ard II the Lollards had generally recanted; under Henry IV they had become martyrs for their faith ; under Henry V they were not only heretics but revolutionists also. The chief Lollard of the time was Sir John Oldcastle, a soldier and a scholar, '' who openly encouraged the sectarian preachers on his estate and in his castle." He was condemned as a heretic and handed over to the secular power " to do him thereupon to death" (1413). Oldcastle escaped, and for four years became the supposed leader of a Lollard conspiracy against the king. He was charged with aiding the Welsh and negotiating with the Scots. Finally, in 1418, Oldcastle was captured, hanged as a traitor, and afterward his body was burned because he had been a heretic. From this time forward Lollardry became a faith only for the poorer classes. Those who were burnt were generally parish priests or lowly persons. During the Wars of the Eoses there is little evidence of activity among the Lollards. 170. Position of Parliament under the Lancastrians. — The many conspiracies under Henry IV, and the war with France under Henry V, made the reigns of the Lancastrians burden- 160 END OF FEUDALISM. [1414 some and expensive, and, dependent as they were upon parlia- ment for their title, they were increasingly dependent on it because of their constant need of money. The constitution of the kingdom was taking definite shape : the king, with wide powers; his officials, chancellor, treasurer, and secretaries or royal clerks, with functions well understood ; the council or body of the king's advisers, nineteen or twenty in number, advising the king upon every exercise of the royal power and during this period acting as a very important factor in the government of the state; lastly, parliament, meeting yearly, and endeavoring to cooperate with the king in bringing about good government, but without much success, for until the Wars of the Roses had ended the great nobles were the leaders in the council, in parliament, and in local affairs. Parliament attempted to do many things. It tried to con- trol the selection of the king's council, to audit the public accounts, to impeach bad ministers, and to pass good laws. It did control taxation and made good its demand that redress of grievances sJioxdd precede a grant of supplies. It asked that the parliamentary privileges of its members be recognized, that they should not be held responsible for what they said in parliament, and that their petitions be speedily answered by the king. In 1407 Henry IV agreed that money bills should originate in the House of Commons ; in 1414 Henry V prom- ised not to alter a petition without the consent of the House, a promise which had it always been kept would have made a petition almost the same as a bill such as we have to-day ; in 1433 it was determined that a statute to be law should be issued not by the king or by the king and the House of Lords, but by the whole parliament. On account of the interference of the nobility in the elections of knights and burgesses, im- portant statutes were passed defining who should be elected and by whom, and declaring that all local elections must be "free." Many other well-intentioned statutes were passed, which were to have an important influence as precedents at a later time. But under the Lancastrians there existed no 1420] RENEWAL OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 161 strong king or minister to enforce these laws, and they were not carried out. Parliamentary government under the Lancastrians was a failure ; the great lords who had placed the king under the law were not willing to submit to the law themselves, 171. Renewal of the Hundred Years' War. — England and France had been at war almost incessantly since 1337. The treaty of Bretigny and the truces agreed to after 1360, had not brought about permanent peace. That which Edward III, the Black Prince, and John of Gaunt had done Henry V con- tinued, and his military deeds rivaled Crecy and Poitiers. In 1414 he revived the English claims to the lost provinces in the south of France, and in 1415 demanded the crown of France itself. Both demands were, of course, rejected, and in 1415 Henry, with six thousand archers and two thousand men-at- arms, landed on the coast of Normandy. Though his force was depleted by pestilence, he resolved to march to Calais, through the enemy's country. (See Map, p. 78.) At Agin- court he was confronted by the French army, four times as large as his own. Through incredible blunders on the part of the French, Henry won a famous victory, which increased immeasurably the prestige of the English archer and decreased the value of the heavily armed feudal knight. Henry returned to England in triumph, and was received by the people with demonstrations of joy. The battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415) repaid England for the losses she had suffered since Bretigny, and increased the war fever at home. In 1417 Henry invaded France for the second time, and during the year and a half that followed became the master of all Normandy. Such unprecedented victory was possible only because of the wars between the parties in France, factional quarrels similar to the Wars of the Eoses in England. A treaty was concluded at Troyes (1420) according to which Henry was recognized as the heir of the French king, whose daughter was given to him in marriage. But the Dauphin,^ refusing thus to be deprived of his in- 1 Title of the eldest son of the kmg of France. 162 END OF FEUDALISM. [1422 heritance, defeated the English during the absence of Henry in 1421. For a third time Henry returned to France, where he succumbed to a great- er conqueror than the Dauphin. On August 31, 1422, Henry died at Vin- cennes, leaving a son but nine months old heir to the throne. He also left a war which never ought to have been begun and one that England was quite unable to carry to a successful issue. Henry V spent al- most his entire reign in an effort to prolong the life of worn-out institutions and to put in practice worn- out ideas. 172. End of the Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc. — By a curious coincidence Charles VI of France died in the same year with Henry V of England, and the young nine-months-old Henry VI, according to the terms of the treaty of Troyes (1420), became king of France, with his uncle, the duke of Bedford, as regent. His title was acknowledged in northern France, and for the first six years Bedford succeeded in maintaining and continuing the conquests. Maine was reduced and the Loire region oc- Henry VI. From a portrait — artist unknown — in Eton College, which he founded. Although the English kings since Edward III had claimed to be kings of both England and France, Henry VI was the only English king ever crowned in France with that title. 1431] END OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR. 163 cupied. In 1428 the English laid siege to Orleans. The fortunes of the Dauphin, Charles VII, who had refused to acknowledge Henry's claim, never seemed at a lower ebb than in 1428, when there took place one of the most extraordinary occurrences in his- tory. Joan of Arc, a village maid of Dom- remy, in Champagne, presented herself be- fore Charles, and de- clared that she had been divinely sent to rescue France. Ac- cepted by the king as a last hope, she suc- ceeded in raising the siege of Orleans and in turning the tide of English success. On May 17, 1429, Charles VII was crowned at E-heims. The appearance of the Maid of Orleans roused in an extraor- dinary way the patriotism of the French. Little by little the English were driven back, until scarcely more than Normandy, Picardy, and Maine were left in their hands. In 1430 the Maid, unhorsed in a sudden onset, was captured by Philip of Burgundy, who supported the cause of Henry VI. Philip sold her for ten thousand crowns to the English. After imprison- ment and an unworthy trial, she was burned as a witch at Rouen (1431). The shame of this deed belongs to the duke of Bedford and to the heartless Charles VII, who raised not Frotn a photograph. Dubois' Statue of Joan op Aec in Front OP THE CaTHEDKAL AT RhEIMS, FkANCB. 164 END OF FEUDALISM. [1442 a finger to save the heroine who had made him king of France. For twenty years Henry VI struggled to retain his hold upon his remaining French possessions, but by 1453 all that he had gained by his brilliant career of conquest was gone without hope of recovery. 173. Attempts of the Nobles to control the King. — At his father's death, in 1422, Henry VI was but an infant, and for twenty years England suffered a continuance of the factional quarrels that had been to a certain degree controlled by Henry IV and Henry V. In 1442 Henry VI took the reins of government into his own hands, but he proved to be wholly incapable of governing and ruled chiefly through favorites. The first favorite was the earl of Suffolk, who negotiated the marriage, unfortunate for England, between Henry and Margaret of Anjou. Later he was charged with the failure of the French war, impeached for treason, and murdered when he tried to escape. The duke of Somerset became the new favorite, and his chief opponent was Richard, duke of York, descended from the second and fourth sons of Edward III. Legally the house of York had a better hereditary title than the house of Lancaster, though probably the question would never have been raised had not Henry VI been a weak king, and Margaret of Anjou a headstrong partisan. 174. Popular Discontent: Cade's Rebellion. — The popular dis- content aroused by this selfish strife between the nobles is evident from what is known as Cade's rebellion. This move- ment was participated in by men of gentle rank as well as yeomen, by merchants, craftsmen, boatmen, and laborers, a few of the clergy, and local of&cials. It was purely political in character and was in the interest of those who were opposed to the existing government, notably in the interest of the duke of York, who from selfish or other motives had at this time come forward as the representative of the popular cause. More particularly it was a protest against the squandering of the king's revenues, the heavy taxes, due to the wars, the 1454] THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 165 oppression by the sheriffs, the corruption of officials, the ap- pointment of debased judges, the interference of the nobility in the elections, and the loss of France, which ruined the maritime trade and diminished the export of wool and cloths into Flanders. Under a captain of Kent, who called himself Mortimer, cousin of the duke of York, but who is better known as Jack Cade, the men of Kent rose in military fashion, as if duly summoned by the constables. They advanced to Blackheath and presented their grievances to the king. On June 18, 1450, a battle was fought at Sevenoaks, where the king's troops were defeated. Henry yielded to the rebels and dismissed certain obnoxious officials. The rebels occupied London, but eventually they were got out of the city and, receiving letters of pardon from the king, dispersed to their homes. Cade was afterward captured and executed. 175. The Wars of the Roses ^ : First Period (1450-1460). — The uprising of Cade was clearly a protest against the Lancastrian government, and in the interest of that party which was opposed to the ministers about Henry VI. Of this party the head was Richard, duke of York, who in 1424, after the death of his uncle, the earl of March, had become heir to the throne. From 1450 to 1453 the rivalry between York and Somerset continued until a series of events occurred which turned the balance in favor of York. In 1453 Guienne, the last territory in France, was lost, and in consequence Somerset was disgraced and im- prisoned. Then Henry VI became insane and a regency was necessary. And lastly, the queen, Margaret of Anjou, gave birth to a son, an event which destroyed York's claim to the throne, but made it easier for the friends of the king to accept York's leadership. In 1454 the duke of York was proclaimed by parliament the Protector of the kingdom. iTbe badge of the house of Lancaster was the red rose, that of the house of York the white rose ; hence the name, " Wars of the Roses." The wars were not continuous campaigns, but a series of bloody battles after each of which the victorious side controlled the government. 166 END OF FEUDALISM. [1460 Unfortunately the king recovered, and Queen Margaret, self- willed and headstrong, determined to drive out the duke of York, who was threatening to dominate at court where she had ruled for years. York was dismissed, Somerset released, and once more the Lancastrians were in full control. Then York determined to gain power by force. Withdrawing to the north, he gathered to himself the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, and attacked the forces of the king and Somerset at St. Albans, in 1455. The Yorkists were successful and Somerset was slain. Four years passed without actual fighting ; part of the time the king was insane and York was again declared Protector, part of the time the king governed alone. Each year the condition of the kingdom became worse, and in 1459 a trivial quarrel between the servants of the opposing factions brought on civil war. 176. The Wars of the Roses: Second Period. The Yorkists claim the Crown. — Thus far the war had been in the main a struggle of one party of the nobility to improve the government of the kingdom and to remove from the side of the kinghis bad advisers. From this time, however, it became a deliberate attempt on' the part of the Yorkists to seize the crown as their right. The latter, as in the rebellion of Jack Cade, found their support in the towns and among the yeomanry. The first battle was fought at Northampton on July 10, 1460, where the Yorkists were victorious. The king was captured, and great numbers of Lan- castrian knights and nobles were slain. The duke of York now made a formal demand for the crown, basing his claim upon his legitimate title as the eldest heir of Edward III, through his mother, Anne Mortimer, sister of that Edmund Mortimer, earl of March, whose claim was set aside when Henry IV became king. The Lancastrians had the recognition of parliament and the right of possession. As Henry VI said, " My father was king ; his father also was king ; I my- self have worn the crown forty years from my cradle ; you have all sworn fealty to me as your sovereign and your fathers have done the same to mine. How then can my right be disputed ? " The granting of York's claim meant the deposition of Henry 1467] THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 167 VI and to this extreme the lords were unwilling to go. A com* promise was reached whereby it was agreed that Henry should retain the crown for life and that Richard of York should be his heir. But Queen Margaret refused to surrender the rights of her son, and gathered about her the nobles of the north, where lay the strength of the Lancastrian party. Supported by the Percys, the Nevilles, and other border barons, she met the York- ist forces at Wakefield and won a victory in which Richard of York himself was slain, 1460. The Lancastrians displayed great ferocity, and scores of the Yorkist leaders were killed. Civil war was now in full swing. The young Edward, earl of March, now duke of York, took up his father's cause and defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross on February 2, 1461. Edward of York, though not crowned, proclaimed him- self king at a council of lords and the commons of the city. There was no recognition by parliament; Edward based his title solely on hereditary right. From now on the object of the war was to maintain the title thus proclaimed. Edward and the earl of Warwick, gathering their forces, hastened northward and, meeting the Lancastrians at Towton (March 29, 1461), fought a fierce battle on a bleak hillside during a blind- ing snowstorm. The Lancastrians were defeated with such a slaughter of the northern nobles that people said the slain numbered twenty-eight thousand men. The duel was to the death between the two great feudal parties. 177. The Wars of the Roses: Third Period (1461-1471). Struggle of Edward IV to maintain his Crown. — Edward was crowned at London on June 30, 1461, and his title was at last recognized by parliament as just. For four years he and Warwick ruled together — the one as king, the other as the real power behind the throne. Finally, Edward wearied of Warwick's control and determined to be king himself, in fact as well as in name. He thwarted Warwick's plans by a romantic marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, who was not of noble blood, and in 1467 dismissed Warwick from office. Then Warwick, around whom as "kingmaker" and "the 168 END OF FEUDALISM [1467 last of tlie barons" romance lias thrown an undeserved halo, conspired against the king. Allying with himself King Edward's younger brother, he became reconciled to the queen, Margaret of Anjou, and bound himself to aid in restoring Henry VI. Devoid of principle and loyal only to his own From a photograph. Warwick Castle. One of the oldest and stateliest feudal residences in England. There has probably been a feudal castle on the site since Saxon times, but the oldest part of the present castle, the so-called Csesar's Tower, dates from the Norman period. ambitions,^ the "kingmaker" did what many another of the nobility had done at this time — gave his services to the cause which promised the greatest reward. King Edward was taken unawares. Warwick, aided by the gold of Louis XI of France, entered England, and the king, deserted by his followers, was compelled to flee for safety to his brother-in-law, the duke of 1 Warwick was of royal blood, being cousin to the king ; he was not, how- ever, a statesman, but the leader of a faction of the great feudal nobles, and he did not ri§e above his party. 1471] EDWARD IV AS KING. 169 Burgundy, in October, 1470. Henry VI was restored. But the Lancastrian success lasted for less than six months. In March, 1471, Edward, aided in his turn by the wealth of the duke of Burgundy, returned and marching toward London met Warwick and the Lancastrians at Barnet, and won a de- cisive victory. To the lasting benefit of England, Warwick was slain, and with him other Lancastrian leaders. Important though the victory was, Edward had still to reckon with Margaret of Anjou, who had just landed at Weymouth, in England. The final engagement took place at Tewkesbury, and again Edward won the day. The young Prince of Wales, Margaret's son, was slain, it is said, by Richard, earl of Gloucester, King Edward's brother. Scarcely a Lancastrian noble survived the battle and the vengeance of the Yorkists. Even the old King Henry was put to death in the Tower, probably at the instigation of King Edward himself. A terrible fate had fallen on the Lancastrian house ; not a member remained to thwart the policy of the Yorkist king. Edward now entered upon the last period of his reign, which was in the main peaceful. 178. Edward IV as King. — The Lancastrians had been to a considerable extent dependent on parliament, so that during their reigns parliament had outwardly at least held a strong position. But the Yorkist kings owed nothing to parliament. Edward IV reigned by hereditary right, and he declared that all statutes passed under the Lancastrians were void, because the kings were not rightful kings, though he never took the posi- tion of Richard II that the king was above the law. He had an exceptional opportunity to create a strong executive and to reform the government, for he met with almost no opposition. The great lords, who had resisted Richard II and controlled the Lancastrians, no longer existed to oppose the crown ; coun- cil and parliament consequently lost the position they had had under the Lancastrians — the council became the servant of the king, and parliament meeting but seven times in twenty- five years (1460-1485), raised no voice against the royal policy. 170 END OF FEUDALISM. [1471 Many of the sessions of parliament were barren sessions, and it has been said that Edward's reign was the first since statute law began in which not a single enactment was made for in- creasing or securing the liberty of the subject. In many matters Edward made himself independent of parliament by compelling the wealthy to contribute loans or free gifts called benevolences, which with the monej?" obtained from the confiscated Lancastrian estates gave him ample finan- cial means. Yet, notwithstanding the favorable position thus given the king, Edward never became a national leader, using his powers for the benefit of England. He was stili a party head, seeking to enrich himself and to place his own and his wife's relatives in places of power. Only in matters of in- dustry and commerce did he seem to consider the welfare of the people. 179. Industry and Commerce. — Popular sympathy had been with Edward generally during the long struggle, and he in return did a great deal to promote the welfare of the burgher and commercial classes. As early as 1463 parliament had for- bidden the importation of foreign corn into England, hoping in that way to improve the condition of the farming classes. Later it had prohibited the importation of foreign manu- factured goods into England, that an interest in manufacturing might spring up at home. Parliament regulated the manu- facture of cloth and it discouraged the exportation of wool, that the weavers might not be deprived of material for their work. On the commercial side, Edward arranged treaties with Denmark, Burgundy, and the Hanse towns,^ encouraged ship- ping, built up the navy, and began the restoration of England's 1 The Hanseatic League was composed of eighty North German and Scandi- navian towns, organized about 1300 to protect trade. For three centuries the League was one of the powers of Europe, and the Hanse tlag floated over nearly every merchant ship in the northern seas. It established colonies or "factories" in foreign cities, among others in London. Edward's interest in the League is due to the fact that in 1470 it joined with the Flemish and Dutch corporations to persuade Edward's brother-in-law, the duke of Bur- gundy, to aid the king to recover his throne. 1483] USUEPATION OF RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER. 171 control of the adjoining waters, and in so doing prepared tlie way for the expansion of England's commerce and sea-power during the reign of the Tudors. To the people at large the king's attention to their industrial and commercial prosperity entirely compensated for the infrequent summons of parliament. 180. Edward's Character and Death. — Edward was a man of energy and ability and of great military sagacity, but he was vicious and cruel, idle and self-indulgent. He had no large ideas of government, and made no effort to improve adminis- tration, either central or local. There was less corruption at court than there had been, but in the country districts murders and robberies were prevalent. Edward lived a hard life, and died in 1483, at the early age of forty-one. He left three chil- dren, two boys and a girl, a prey to the factions that he himself had scarcely been able to control. The eldest of the children, a boy of thirteen, succeeded him as Edward V, with the late king's brother, Richard of Gloucester, regent during the lad's minority. 181. Usurpation of Richard of Gloucester. — As an ally of Edward IV, Richard of Gloucester had shown himself a strong military leader and a faithful associate in the war against the Lancastrians. But he lived at a time when men were cruel and unscrupulous, ready to resort to acts of vengeance in order to overthrow their enemies and to attain their ambitions, Richard with all his ability seems to have been in no way different from his brother, or from others who had been guilty of deeds of merciless brutality. He was charged with having murdered the son of Henry VI after the battle of Tewkesbury, and with having stabbed Henry himself in the Tower. Now, as regent, he filled the measure of his evil deeds by slaying the nobles who were faithful to the young king and by putting out of the way the heirs to the throne. Declaring that the mar- riage between Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville had been invalid ^ and that their children were consequently illegitimate, 1 The reasons were these : no banns had been published, the service had been performed in a profane (unconsecrated) place, a private chamber, and 172 END OF FEUDALISM. [1483 he- caused the king and the king's brother, the duke of York, to be seized and imprisoned in the Tower, Parliament pro- claimed Richard king on June 25, and on July 6 caused him to be crowned. During the summer or au- tumn of 1483. the princes^ were put to death in the Tower. History has laid the crime at the feet of Richard, and there is no good reason to doubt the truth of the verdict. But the facts were not at first known, and Eichard was able for a time to retain his hold upon the people. 182. Richard III.— Eichard was de- formed in body, but brilliant in mind. For a year -he ruled with no little wisdom, aiming evidently at strengthening his position by making friends with all classes. He concluded a truce with Scotland, entered into amicable arrangements with Burgundy and the papacy, released prisoners, and conciliated influential nobles Richard III. From a portrait — artist unknown — in the National Portrait Gallery, London. the king had already plighted his troth to Dame Eleanor Butteler, daughter of the earl of Shrewsbury. According to the idea of the time, troth-plight was deemed as binding as a legal marriage. 1 Edward V, who had been proclaimed king but had not been crowned, and his brother, the duke of York. 1485] RICHARD III. 173 by lavish grants and important offices. He continued. Edward IV's policy of forbidding foreign imports and strengthening the navy, but the only parliament that he summoned put an end, for the time being, to "benevolences" as a new and dan- gerous imposition, the exaction of which by Edward IV was not to stand as an example for the future. Nevertheless, " benev- olences" appear again in the next reign sanctioned by act of parliament. Eichard, as well as his brother, Edward IV, was a patron of literature. In 1476 Caxton^ had brought the first printing press to England, and 'under the patronage of Edward and Richard he printed many old English poems, including an edition of Chaucer. To encourage literature Richard removed the duties on books, and during his reign we have for the first time statutes enrolled in English instead of in French.^ But Richard's popularity steadily decreased and his sup- porters deserted him. Before October, 1484, a conspiracy had been formed against him, under the headship of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who, through his mother, was descended from John of Gaunt. Richard struggled to maintain his posi- tion, but misfortune after misfortune came upon him. His son died in 1484, his wife in 1485. To strengthen his posi- tion he arranged with his sister-in-law to marry his own niece, Elizabeth of York, sister of the murdered princes, but in June of this year Richmond landed at Milford Haven, and Richard knew that his cause was lost. On Bosworth Field he was defeated and slain, and Richmond was proclaimed king as Henry VII. The Wars of the Roses were over, and for Eng- land the Middle Ages had ended. 1 William Caxton was a Kentishman, who spent thirty years in Flanders as a copyist for Margaret of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV and Richard III. There he learned the art of printing, and upon his return to England, he set up the first English press at Westminster. Caxton also translated many for- eign classics into English, and did much to give England a standard of English speech. 2 The formula by which the king to-day expresses his assent or dissent from a bill is still in French : Le Boy le veult or Le Roy s'advisera. 174 END OF FEUDALISM. [1486 183. The Results of the Wars. — The Wars of the Roses had been a duel to the death between the great baronial families. In every case the victor had followed up the successful battle with vindictive cruelty, putting to death all those who fell into his hands. Those who were not killed in battle were, if cap- tured, executed without mercy. After Towton nearly fifty Lancastrians of noble rank were beheaded, and after Tewkes- bury many others of the same party suffered a like fate. In 1485 scarcely a Lancastrian of high rank was living, and even among the Yorkists many a family had lost its leading mem- bers. This meant that the factional family strife which had existed in one form or another for a century was over, and that feudalism as a political influence in England was dead. 184. Social and Economic Changes : Decline of Villeinage. — • During the time that the Wars of the Roses were completing the downfall of feudalism, bondage also was passing away. This was not due to the Black Death, the Peasants' Revolt, or the Wars of the Roses. The last-named conflict, except as it led to the ravaging and impoverishing of the country, prob- ably had but little influence upon the condition of the peas- antry. The decay of villeinage was due to the fact that the old methods of agriculture were too wasteful to exist under the new condition of industry and commerce. Even before the Wars of the Roses the old manorial system had almost completely broken down. Some of the villeins had been freed by their lords ; others had deserted the manors and had taken service in the army or navy, had attached themselves as re- tainers to the great barons, or had gone to the towns to become apprentices, to join the crews of merchant ships, or to become beggars and tramps. Still more important were the changes which had taken place upon the manors themselves. The lords, finding the old forms of cultivation Tinprofitable, had been giving up the direct control of their lands. They had been letting them out to their bailiffs or others, who paid the lord — now become a landlord — a fixed sum as rent. With this change had gone 1485] ENCLOSURES. 175 another. The villeins, ceasing to do actual work on the lords' land, paid a small amount of money instead ; the tenant who had held his land '' in villeinage, according to the custom of the manor," now gradually became a " copyholder," holding his land according to the terms written on the court roll of the manor. A copyholder was, therefore, simply a villein who had become a property owner, who knew exactly what were the terms on which he held his land, and who did little or no labor service. There still clung to him some of the incidents of villeinage,^ but one by one these all dropped away, until to-day copyhold land differs from freehold only in the way it is conveyed or transferred from one person to another. 185. Enclosures. — While the villeins themselves were ceas- ing to be bondsmen and becoming copyholders, and the tenure by which they held their lands was becoming definite and cer- tain instead of dependent on the will of the lord, an important change was taking place in the arrangement and appearance of the open fields, the ploughed lands in the villages which had hitherto been divided into great unhedged fields, each sub- divided into narrow acre strips (p. 45). About 1450 landlords had discovered that sheep raising was more profitable than agriculture. The open field system was broken up, and the narrow strips were thrown together and hedged in, or enclosed} The arable land was converted into pasture, and great numbers of the customary tenants or villeins were turned out of their tenements. This process had only just, begun in 1485, when Henry of Richmond became king, but it continued during the next century, and though attempts were made to check it on 1 The copyholder continued for many years to bear some of the marks of his villein origin, the most noteworthy of which was the portion of the vil- lein's property that the lord could take away at the villein's death, such, for example, as the best beast or its equivalent in money. 2 Even before 1450 many lords had begun to enclose their homelands for the purpose of better farming methods. In the midland and north of England, where stock-raising had always been a feature, enclosures had concerned the pasture rather than the arable land. 176 END OF FEUDALISM. [1485 1485] INCREASE OF FOREIGN TRADE. 177 account of the great discontent and misery that it caused the evicted tenants, it went on into Elizabetli's reign. 186. The Industrial Revolution : the New Towns. — Until the fifteenth century England had been a land in which agriculture was the main source of wealth, and the landowners, that is, the old feudal lords, were the most prominent people of the kingdom. But the fifteenth century saw the beginning of a great change. As agriculture ceased to be profitable, the feudal lords became land poor, and a new aristocracy arose, whose wealth lay in industrial and commercial undertakings. The growing importance of towns, trade, manufactures, and capital marks the entrance of England on her career as a commercial and industrial state. During the Middle Ages the centre of the industrial life had been the town ; and the town, not the central government, controlled all matters of trade and commerce. In consequence of the law of Richard II, which forbade aliens to buy or sell in England, the towns, under the control of the gilds, developed during the fifteenth century an exceedingly narrow and selfish system of regulating industry and trade. The Wars of the Eoses had left the craft gilds free to pursue their courses undis- turbed. The latter allowed no one to do business in the towns unless he were a member of one of the crafts, and regulated the details of the business with extraordinary minuteness and care. The severity of the regulations led to the downfall of the gilds. The old towns were outstripped by other towns in which the old gild restrictions did not exist. These new towns, such as Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Sheffield, eventually became the leading cities of the kingdom. 187. Increase of Foreign Trade. — It was foreign trade that broke down the supremacy of the old towns and contributed to the prosperity of the new. Until the middle of the four- teenth century England, as has already been said (pp. 133, 134), had furnished for export only raw materials, such as wool, wool-skins, leather, lead, and tin ; and at first the busi- ness of exporting these materials lay in the hands of strangers 178 END OF FEUDALISM. [1485 and not of Englishmen. It was an important step when Eng- lishmen, th& Merchant Staplers, began to do their own exporting of raw material, chiefly wool, to a staple town on the Conti- nent, such as Calais. It was a still more important step when, in the fifteenth century, England began to work up her own wool, instead of sending it to Flanders and elsewhere to be woven (p. 150). This home industry was bound to injure, and eventually to destroy, the business of the Staplers, because their supply of wool would thenceforth be utilized at home. In consequence of the new industry, a new body of merchants came into existence, exporting not raw wool, but manufactured cloths, and carrying their goods not to one fixed place, but " venturing " at first wherever they could find a market. These were called the Merchant Adventureis, and they boldly com- peted with foreign merchants in Holland, Spain, Venice, and other lands. At first separate towns sent out their fleets ; but later, individuals acting together in the form of stock com- panies carried on the business, until, at the end of the fifteenth century, half of the English cloths were carried in English ves- sels. The Merchant Adventurers, b}^ dealing in manufactured woollen cloths instead of raw wool, broke the power of the Merchant Staplers ; by doing their own carrying trade, they succeeded before 1500 in wresting the foreign commerce of England from the Hanseatic League in the Baltic and from the Venetians in the Mediterranean. By the reign of Henry VII they were carrying the greater part of England's exports in English vessels, and laying the foundation of England's greatness as a trading and commercial state. Thus we see that while the Wars of the Eoses effected the overthrow of the feudal nobility, they did not prevent a real progress from taking place among the other classes of the kingdom. In the downfall of villeinage, the self-reliance of the towns, the rise of manufacturing, and the growth of com- merce, we see the beginnings of a new English society. And the security which Henry VII brought to the English land after the confusion of the Wars of the Roses made permanent the advantages thus gained. CHAPTER XII, THE EARLY TUDORS : REFORMATION AND REACTION. 188. The New Age. — The accession of Henry VII marks the beginning of a new era for England. Under the Tudors a more powerful England came into being, stronger within itself and more influential in its relations to the outside world. In- stead of the narrow local life of the manors and towns, there gradually appeared the larger life of the nation. Men began to take an interest not merely in the small affairs of their own locality, but in the larger affairs of the state as a whole. A new national pride enhanced the prestige of the monarchs, because in the greatness of their kings men saw the greatness of their state also. The Tudors catered to this growing national feel- ing, and king and people acting together started England on a career of steady development both at home and abroad. 189. Henry's Claims to the Throne. — On his father's side Henry VII was the grandson of Owen Tudor, a prominent Welsh nobleman of the Lancastrian party; on his mother's side he was a great grandson of John of Gaunt, duke of Lan- caster, son of Edward III. He claimed the crown by hereditary right, a claim so unsubstantial that he found it wise to agree to a ratification of his title by parliament whereby the crown was settled on himself and his heirs. But he had other claims than this to the throne. He had conquered at Bosworth Field ; and on the field of battle Sir William Stanley had placed Richard's fallen crown on the head of Henry as the only re- maining representative of the Lancastrian line. Two months afterward he was crowned in London, at which time parliament passed the bill of ratification. In November the pope issued a 179 180 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1485 bull in his favor, and the next year he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, thus uniting the York and Lan- castrian houses. His marriage undoubted- ly greatly strength- ened his position, but he always refused to be king merely in right of his wife. But in spite of his many claims his posi- tion would have been insecure had he not been able to main- tain it. 190. Henry's Char- acter. — In character Henry represented the old and the new eras. He favored the church, chose his ministers from among the clergy, and loved ecclesiastical culture and art, as the Chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Henry VII. The first of the Tudor kings. From a portrait — artist unknown — in the National Portrait Gallery, London. attests. On the other hand he was shrewd and thrifty, sus- picious and cautious, politic and stern. He asked advice of no one, except in great emergencies of his leading ministers. He disliked war, recognized the importance of the industrial and wealth-producing middle class, and knew the value of money and the usefulness of diplomacy. He made it his chief aim to reform and strengthen the government at home, and in foreign relations to give England a place in the councils of Europe. 191. Conspiracies against Henry. — To make his position 1494] CONSPIRACIES AGAINST HENRY. 181 more secure, Henry VII had imprisoned the Yorkist heir, Ed- ward, the nephew of Edward IV, but this did not save the king from attempts on the part of the Yorkist leaders to dethrone him. In 1487 Lambert Simnel, impersonating the imprisoned heir, raised a rebellion in Ireland which was supported by the whole Yorkist party, even including Elizabeth Woodville, the From a photograph. A Portion of the Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster Abbey. queen mother and Henry's mother-in-law. But Henry, acting quickly, defeated the insurgents, and capturing Simnel, con- temptuously made him a kitchen boy in his palace. In 1492 a more dangerous conspiracy was set on foot with a remarkable imposter, Perkin Warbeck, personating the younger of the two princes slain in the Tower. Warbeck's identity was accepted by the kings of Scotland and France, and the imposter was aided by Duchess Margaret of Burgundy, whom he claimed as his aunt. Warbeck was finally captured and hanged (1499). Henry retaliated upon Margaret by for- bidding (1494) all commerce with the Netherlands, which Mar- garet controlled, and by driving the Flemish from London. 182 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1496 For the sake of trade the Flemish merchants demanded peace with England, and a new treaty was agreed upon in 1496.^ 192. Henry's Work. — During the fourteen years of struggle with the pretenders, Henry had never lost sight of the greater needs of the kingdom. 1. He strengthened the authority of the crown by extending the jurisdiction and power of the king's council and by employing parliament largely as a money- granting body. 2. He recognized the value of a well-filled treasury and sought to obtain money by means often of doubt- ful legitimacy. 3. He made England's name known abroad by favorable foreign alliances. 4. He advanced the general prosperity of the kingdom by encouraging commerce, agricul- ture, and, to a slight degree, colonization. 193. I. Government. — To understand how the Tudor kings were able to gather so much political power in their hands we must realize that the people at large under Henry VII and his son Henry VIII had little interest in the actual business of government. New learning, new religious ideas, and growing prosperity wece attracting their minds more than politics. ■ So long as the Tudors governed fairly well and brought peace and prosperity to England, the people were content to leave the control of government in their hands. In fact, the " people " as such had thus far taken very little part in government and affairs of state. Henry VII governed, as had kings before him, through two bodies, the Privy Council and parliament, but these bodies, instead of controlling or warring with the king as they had done before, now supported and carried out his policy. 1 The authority of the English king over Ireland was at its lowest point at the beginning of Henry's reign, which accounts for Ireland's share in the con- spiracies of Simnel and Warbeck. Henry punished Ireland in a manner des- tined to have a very important influence upon the relations between England and Ireland. He sent over there Sir Edward Poyning, who obtained from the Irish parliament an act known as Poyning's Law. This act provided that no Irish parliament should be summoned or act passed without the previous ap- proval of the English king. 1487] THE COURT OF STAR CHAMBER. 183 The King and the Privy Council. — Out of the large council of Norman days there had come a small or privy council. The great council was large and unwieldy and a small number of advisers was much easier for the king to use. But the Privy Council had no authority of its own to do anything ; its power was the king's power, and it always issued its orders in the king's name. The king's power or prerogative was very great, and it was exercised by many important officials, such as the chancellor, the treasurer, and the admiral, who were king's servants and took their orders only from him. About the only things that the king could not do were : (1) to levy a tax, since all tax bills must originate with the House of Commons, and (2) to issue a statute, which could be done only when king. House of Lords, and House of Commons agreed. In nearly all other respects the running of the affairs of the kingdom was in the king's hands. Among the most important powers that the king possessed was the judicial. Certain courts, such as the Court of King's Bench and the Court of Common Pleas, were national courts dealing with the common law, but others, the Court of Chan- cery, the Court of Exchequer, and the Court of Admiralty, were the king's special courts, one dispensing his justice, the second concerning his revenues, the third dealing with crimes or offences at sea. The Privy Council also was a judicial body exercising the king's power to preserve order and uphold the peace. Until this time and for many years afterward the council was an instrument of order and justice, repressing lawlessness and checking anarchy, protecting the weak against the strong, particularly against the feudal lords of the fifteenth century. The Court of Star Chamber. — In 1487 Henry VII caused par- liament to set apart a special court to exercise a part of this judicial authority of the council. This court, known as the Court of Star Chamber, from the room at Westminster where it sat, was to consider such offences of the nobility as keeping large bodies of retainers, intimidating juries, inciting to riot, 184 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1487 and the like. Many a great lord was fined by this court for keeping too large a following about him or for attempting to intimidate the lower courts.^ This court, composed in part of members of the Privy Council, sat as a separate body until after the reign of Henry VIII, when the council took back the powers granted to it and exercised them itself, sitting on certain days as a Court of Star Chamber and keeping separate records. Later the court became arbitrary and oppressive, but under the Tudors it aroused no popular dislike and performed no illegal functions. The Court of Requests. — As obtaining justice in the common law courts was slow and expensive, the king set up another court, known as the Court of Requests or Court of Poor Men's Causes. Justice was given in this court quickly and cheaply and with- out much legal red tape. It was a court of equity like the Chancery Court ; and because supported by the king's authority, it could not be interfered with by powerful men, as were the common law courts. Thus by his royal prerogative the king not only curtailed the power of the nobility by enforcing the law against them, but he stood as the protector of the common people. Such a cause was bound to make the king popular with the nation. Relations with Parliament. — In all that concerned the making of laws king and parliament acted together, and in no reigns with which we have thus far dealt were so many and so im- portant statutes passed as in those of Henry VII and his immediate successors. Under Henry VIII parliament enacted 415 public laws and sat for longer periods than ever before. This is a remarkable record. Parliament was certainly not inactive, but it displayed no independence, and the reasons for its subservience to the king may be briefly stated. 1 On a visit to the earl of Oxford, one of the most devoted adherents of the Lancastrian cause, the king found two long lines of liveried retainers drawn up to receive him. " I thank you for your good cheer, my lord," said Henry, as they parted, "hut I may not endure to have my laws broken in my sight. My attorney must speak with you." The earl was gjad to escape with a fine of £15,000. 1487] HENRY'S METHOD OF OBTAINING MONEY. 185 During the Wars of the Roses the clergy had withdrawn from political life and the old nobility had been almost exter- minated. So the Commons were left without guidance and support. The king took in part the place formerly occupied by the feudal lords as the leader and guide of the Commons. To a certain extent he was able to influence the elections and to manage the parliaments. He did this partly through his ministers, such as Wolsey and Cromwell under Henry VIII, and partly through the new monied aristocracy that filled the House of Commons with members willing to adopt the policy of the king, because he in turn favored their commercial and trading interests. The Tudor sovereigns listened with infinite patience to the expressions of popular will and rarely went counter to them. England wanted security, wealth, and in- fluence, and these could not be obtained under a nobility always quarrelling with each other and with the king, or under a king who was only the leader of a faction. England needed a strong executive, and this the Tudors gave. 194. II. Henry's Method of obtaining Money. — Though the Tudor kings acted with parliament in the making of laws, they were very independent of parliament in the matter of finances. The accumulation of wealth became almost a mania with Henry VII. He does not appear to have been a miser, for he was liberal at times and loved display ; but he valued a large treasure for the independence that it gave the crown and the strength that it gave the state. He accumulated this treas- ure in several ways : 1. On his accession parliament granted him for life the customs on wine and general merchandise, known as tonnage and poundage, and several times afte^^ward granted him subsidies of a tenth and a fifteenth. 2. He con- fiscated the lands and treasure of those who had conspired against him. 3. He engaged in royal commercial ventures that brought him in considerable profit. 4. He made forced exactions from the rich by demanding benevolences or loans, which were originally free gifts. We are told that Morton, archbishop of Canterbury, invented the device with "two 186 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1501 prongs," known as Morton's fork, instructing the commission- ers to demand loans from the thrifty because they had saved money, and from the extravagant because they had money to spend. 5. He revived old feudal dues and caused those who infringed the feudal rights of the king to be heavily fined. Little wonder that, at his death, Henry VII left to his son a hoard of gold, estimated at nearly $100,000,000 modern money. 195. III. Foreign Alliances. — Henry's reign opens a new era in England's diplomacy. The kings of France, Spain, Germany, and England were entering into leagues and com- binations unknown to the earlier period, and each was seeking to gain advantages at the expense of others and to form alli- ances which would make his position more secure. Spain, rapidly becoming the leading monarchy in Europe, wished the friendship of England and G-ermany ; so Joanna, the. daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, was married to Philip, son of Emperor Maximilian of Germany, and her sister, Catherine of Aragon, to Prince Arthur, Henry VII's oldest son (1501). ' A year later Arthur died; and Henry, in order not to lose the marriage portion and the alliance with Spain, thought of marrying his daughter-in-law himself, but finally Catherine was betrothed to his second son, afterward Henry VIII.^ Thus Germany, Spain, and England were in alliance, a mat- ter of pride to England, which was distinctly inferior, both in power and prestige, to the Continental monarchies. Scotland was brought into the alliance in 1502, when Henry's oldest daughter, Margaret, married James IV, of Scotland, whose descendants became kings of England in the seventeenth century. 196. IV. Agriculture, Commerce, and Colonization. — Henry was very careful to favor the wealth-producing classes in his kingdom, and he showed his progressive spirit by his attitude 1 The special permission of the pope was necessary for this marriage, as the church law did not permit the marriage of a man with his deceased brother's wife. 14983 AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, AND COLONIZATION. 187 toward agriculture, commerce, and industry. Regarding agri- culture, his policy was a simple one. Desiring to increase the number of small farmers, on the ground that the farmer or yeoman class was a source of strength to the state, he attempted to check the enclosure movement, which was turning arable lands into pasture. But his efforts had no effect, and the de- struction of small farms and the enclosing of lands went on for half a century longer. Through Henry's efforts England made important advances as a commercial state, beginning to carry in her own vessels the staple articles of the kingdom and to traffic freely in for- eign ports. In 1489 he gave new life to English shipping by requiring that all wine from Gascony should be imported in vessels owned by English merchants and manned by English sailors. He did all he could to encourage the Merchant Ad- venturers (p. 178) and gave them a monopoly of the privileges of Continental trade. By means of a series of very important commercial treaties he opened to the merchants of England some of the ports of the Baltic, North Sea, and Mediterranean. Through these means England was able to extend her com- merce and to develop her navy. Henry did not enter the larger field of discovery, and at the time when Portugal and Spain were sending explorers to the southern and western Atlantic he rejected the opportunity to help Columbus discover a new world. He did, however, en- courage John Cabot, a Genoese living in Bristol, at that time England's chief maritime city, and granted to him in 1496 such lands as he should discover to the west and north of England and in the Orient, together with a monopoly of the commerce of those regions. Cabot sailed in 1497, and reached the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. He made a second voyage in February, 1498, but upon his first voyage rested England's title to lands in North America. Henry did not do anything to make good the English claims, but recognized Spain's title to all lands south of 41° north latitude. English navigators confined their attention to commerce in the east and to ex- 188 THE EARLY TUDORS. [150b plorations in the northwest, and for a century England lagged behind Portugal, Spain, and France in the opening of the New World.i 197. Henry VIII. — In 1509 Henry VII died, and his son came to the throne as Henry VIII. The new king, called by the people "Bluff King Hal," was but eighteen years old, handsome, full of life and energy, and eager to have a part in every new interest. He was young when the great kings of Scotland, France, and Germany were grow- ing old, rich when other monarchs were impoverished by war, popular when the others had to main- tain themselves by standing armies. The immense treasure that his father had accumulated he spent in fetes, balls, masquerades, theat- ricals, tournaments, and the like. He was himself the life of the court. He was the most graceful cavalier, the hardiest athlete, the best tennis player, horseman, and lute player. But behind this pleasing exterior there was a strong will and a great love of power. ' y-f£^r- " r'- -^i^^W^ '' :im^^ K%-'- ■ ,,<:"::;"i/^s|/^ mm '".''*', ' ''" \^^K y- ^'o WM Henry VIII. From a portrait by Holbein, owned by the Barber-Surgeon's Company, London. 1 Henry's carefully kept records show that in 1497 John Cabot was paid £10 for finding the " new Isle." 1509] THE RENAISSANCE. 189 198. The Renaissance. — During the period preceding Henry's accession great changes were taking place in the world at large. An intellectual revival called the Eenaissance (rebirth) had begun in Italy a century and a half before.^ As a result, men were breaking away from the intellectual ng-rrowness of the J' I out a iihinoijt oph. Magdalen College, Oxford (pronounced "Mawdlen"). Wolsey, Hampden, and Addison all attended here. Middle Ages. Instead of unquestioning obedience to authority a new spirit of inqxdry arose. This new spirit affected first literature and art, then science, then religion, and finally poli- tics. It spread through different parts of Europe at different times and under many forms. The Renaissance was almost over in Italy before it began in England. The artistic side of the new life affected southern Europe, while the scientific and religious aspects wrought revolutions in northern Europe. The spirit of inquiry brought into use the compass, whereby iThe forerunners were Dante (1265-1309), Petrarch (1304-1374), and Boccaccio (1313-1375). 190 THE EAELY TUDOKS. [1509 a new world was opened to the knowledge of men. It led to the perfecting of gunpowder, which destroyed the old feudal methods of warfare and rendered useless armor and castles. It brought about the invention of printing and the printing press, whereby the new ideas and the new learning were spread widely, and printed books were substituted for the old manu- scripts which had been so laboriously copied. The question- ing spirit influenced physics and astronomy and worked momentous changes in men's views regarding religion and the church. In part it was responsible for the Protestant Refor- mation, and influenced men's thoughts regarding the power of kings and princes and methods of government. 199. The Oxford Reformers. — Early in his reign Henry had become interested in the new learning at Oxford, and had shown himself a friend and patron of the men connected with it. These were John Colet, Desiderius Erasmus, Thomas More, and others. Colet, the first of these, had spent some time in Italy and had studied Greek, not for the sake of read- ing the classics, but in order to interpret the New Testament. His chief work was the founding of a public school, entirely different from the monastic schools. The founding of St. Paul's school marked a new era in the history of education, for later public schools and grammar schools were modelled after it. While Colet was doing this great work for education, Erasmus was striking a blow at the old ecclesiastical organiza- tion and practice. He was a pupil of Colet's and a friend of More's. It was at More's house that he wrote his famous work. Praise of Folly, in which he exposed to ridicule the priests and monks of that day, with their narrow theology, their ignorance, pedantry, and superstition. He translated the New Testament from the original Greek into Latin, with an accuracy never before attained. His work was revolution- ary, in that it furnished a new text, free from the errors which were everywhere present in the authorized version, the Vulgate. The influence of Sir Thomas More was rather political than 1516] THE OXFORD REFORMERS. 191 educational or religious. In 1516 he issued A Description of the Republic of Utopia (Nowhere). The first part of this work is a treatise on the miseries of the people, the second an attack in disguise on the political and social vices of the time. In this ideal state the people chose their prince for life, they chose the royal coun- cil, they avoided war ; their welfare was the object of all govern- ment ; they possessed better homes, shorter hours of work, prop- erty in common, free- dom of speech, intel- lectual and social hap- piness. The Utopia was first written in Latin and not trans- lated into English un- til 1551. Henry VIII at first identified himself with this group of scholars, known as the "Oxford Reformers." He saw in their work nothing revolutionary ; he believed their purpose to be the purification of the church, not separation from it. He made Colet court preacher. More under-sheriff of London and afterward chancellor, and gave Erasmus a professorship at Cambridge. Both the king and the reformers were at this time devotedly attached to the Orthodox church and had no Sir Thomas More. From a portrait by Holbein in the collection of Mr. Edward Huth. When Holbein came from Basel to England he brought a letter of introduction to Sir Thomas More from Erasmus. Holbein soon became the court painter of Henry VIII. 192 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1511 sympathy wifh any one who, like Lirther in Germany, was ready to create a schism in the church by separating from it. But Henry VIII was fond of power, ready to enter on wars and to juggle with diplo- macy. In later years instead of following the teachings of the Oxford reformers and favoring peace, reform, and toleration, he be- came hard, cruel, vin- dictive, intolerant, and full of ingratitude. Thus, the first revival of learning in England came to an early and untimely end. 200. Foreign Rela- tions : Cardinal Wolsey. — Even while indulg- ing in the pleasures at court and listening to the Oxford reformers, Henry was planning to take a part in affairs abroad. Just after his accession, he had married Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, less from love than from a desire to keep up the alliance with Spain. In 1511 he had joined Spain and the Empire in the Holy League, founded by the pope to check the encroachments of Louis XII of France, who was making himself too strong in Italy. This policy of opposi- tion to France was popular in England because the people had not forgotten the days of Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. At this time a statesman arose who, though a churchman, Cardinal Wolsey. From a portrait — artist unknown — in tlie National Portrait Gallery, London. 1522] WOLSEY'S DIPLOMACY. 193 showed greater genius in matters of diplomacy than in religion — Thomas Wolsey. He took up the French war with enthu- siasm and planned an invasion of France by way of the Netherlands. The French were defeated in the " Battle of the Spurs " in 1513. This war with France naturally aroused the Scots, the time-honored allies of France. Taking advan- tage of Henry's absence on the Continent, James IV of Scot- land invaded England, but was met by an English army at Flodden Field, near the Tweed (1513). James IV was slain, and with him the bravest of the Scottish lords, the flower of Scottish chivalry. For twenty years afterward Scotland re- mained quiet within its borders. 201. Wolsey's Diplomacy. — In encouraging the hostility of England for France, Ferdinand of Spain and the Emperor Maximilian had been using Henry as a cat's-paw. Therefore Wolsey, who controlled Henry's foreign policy, determined to make a change. He secretly arranged a marriage between Henry's sister, Mary, and Louis XII of France. But Louis died and was succeeded by Francis I. In Spain and the Em- pire more important changes took place. Ferdinand was suc- ceeded by his grandson Charles, who in 1519 was elected emperor to succeed Maximilian, under the title Charles V. As king of Spain and emperor of the Holy Eoman Empire Charles became the most important sovereign in Europe. He was Henry's nephew by marriage, and he and Henry were in hearty accord with the pope in religious matters. Charles, wishing to please the pope, had condemned the German re- former, Martin Luther, at the Diet of Worms (1521). Luther had already denounced the teachings of the chnrch, burned a papal bull of excommunication directed against him, and issued certain addresses to the nobility and people of Ger- many. The Protestant movement had begun in earnest. Henry condemned the Lutheran teachings in 1522, when he wrote a vigorous pamphlet attacking Luther's doctrines and sent it to the pope, who gave him in return the title of " De- fender of the Faith." Then, too, the pope had sanctioned 194 THE EARLY TUDORS. ^1529 Henry's marriage with Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, and had thereby guaranteed the legitimacy of his one surviving child, Mary, who was betrothed to Charles V. Wolsey had other reasons for encouraging the alliance. He wanted to be pope himself. From dean of Lincoln he had risen to be archbishop of York and chancellor of England, and finally cardinal and papal legate. It seemed an easy step to the papacy itself, and to insure success, Wolsey supported the cause of the pope against Luther, and the alliance of Henry with Charles V. At home Wolsey's position was a dangerous one. He was hated by the nobility, who looked upon him as an upstart, and by the people on account of the heavy taxes which he had caused to be levied by parliament, and he had given offence everywhere by his extravagant habits and haughty demeanor. Should he fail to be made pope, only the king's favor would stand between him and utter ruin. 202. The Divorce Question : Wolsey's Fall. — At this time a new scheme took possession of Henry's mind. He wished to get rid of his wife, Catherine of Aragon. Henry had no son and feared that if his daughter Mary died, there might be a struggle for the throne. But a more potent cause lay in the king's passion for one of the maids of honor of his court, Anne Boleyn, an attractive Irish beauty of twenty. Henry's marriage with Catherine had been legalized by the former pope and it would be difficult to have this decree annulled. Henry, how- ever, appealed to the pope, who, after a long delay, authorized a special ecclesiastical court to be held in England to consider the matter. The hearing before the court was begun, but upon appeal from Queen Catherine to the pope the case was removed to Rome. This meant indefinite delay. Henry was enraged, and thinking that Wolsey was not doing his best, determined on the cardinal's downfall. Before the end of 1529 the blow fell. Wolsey, charged with acting as papal legate in England, contrary to the Statute of Praemunire (p. 143), was convicted and deprive*^ Qf ne9,rly all his honors 1531] THE SEPAEATION FROM ROME. 195 and goods. The archbisliopric of York alone was left to him. Later, charged with treason, he was summoned to London, but died on the way, at Leicester Abbey, November 29, 1530. " Ah ! Master Kingston," he said upon his deathbed to the lieutenant of the Tower, " if I had served God as diligently as I have done the king. He would not have given me over in my gray hairs." 203. The Rise and Policy of Thomas Cromwell. — Henry had failed thus far in his dealings with Rome, but now he began to listen to a new adviser, Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell was a layman of low birth, a money lender and solicitor, a cool, hard- headed business man, but a bold and original statesman, who employed in his service commoners as pliant, adroit, and exact in business as he was himself, and as unscrupulous, overbearing, and unpopular. He pointed out to the king the needlessness of papal decrees and the desirability of throwing off the papal yoke. He showed how this could be done by acts of parlia- ment, which he himself could draw up and which parliament would certainly pass. Henry was not willing to. proceed to extremes at first, but he wished to force the pope to come to a decision on the divorce question ; or, if that were impossible, he was willing to prepare the way for a final separation from Rome. In this determination Henry was influenced not only by his desire to marry Anne Boleyn, but also by his desire to check the papal drain on England's wealth and by a greedy longing for the lands of ecclesiastics and monasteries. He was determined also to increase his power over the church in England. 204. The Separation from Rome. — In 1531 the archbishop of Canterbury died, and in his place Henry appointed Thomas Cranmer, a scholar and theologian of Cambridge, and a church- man likely to be useful to the king. The next year Cromwell obtained from parliament an act abolishing the payment to the pope of annates, or first-year revenues from ecclesiastical officers. This measure was not an attack on the church, but an effort to control an abuse which tended, as the statute said, 196 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1539 "to the impoverishment of the realm." The pope remained unmoved, and the next year (1534) parliament passed another act forbidding all appeals to Eome from the archbishop's court in England, and vesting all power " to render and yield justice " in the king himself. Then Henry, without waiting longer for a decision from the pope, cut the knot of controversy by marry- ing Anne Boleyn and bade Cranmer, the new archbishop, try the case in his archiepiscopal court. The court, as was to have been expected, declared Henry's former marriage illegal, and immediately Anne Boleyn was proclaimed queen. In September, 1533, Anne gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, whom parliament the next year declared heir to the throne. Meanwhile the pope had decided the divorce question in favor of Catherine, and threatened the king with excommuni- cation if he did not take hgr back as queen. Henry therefore proceeded to destroy the authority of the pope in England by removing the English church from under the jurisdiction of Rome and by subjecting it entirely to his authority. By a series of acts parliament carried out the will of the king, finally declaring, in the famous Act of Supremacy, that the king, his heirs and successors should " be reputed the only supreme head in earth of the church of England." The separation from Rome was complete, the authority of the pope was thrown off, and the king's English church established. At its head was the king, with power to receive revenues, make appointments, and confirm all rules and ordinances adopted by the church in its convocation. The faith of the church remained unchanged. By an act of 1539, known as the Six Articles Act, which may be called the first act for religious uniformity, parliament established all the essential tenets of the church : transubstantiation, com- munion in one kind, celibacy of the clergy, vows, private masses, and auricular confession. No one could maintain any- thing contrary to the royal instructions. Even the Bible in English was condemned, and women and wage-earners reading it were on the third offence liable to be burned. What Henry 1535] THE PILGEIMAGE OF GRACE. 197 had done was to break up the unity of the church of Rome, not to reform its practice or to alter its creed, 205. Henry's Persecutions : Execution of Anne Boleyn. — These acts were received without serious protest in England; only a few spoke their minds. Against such, Henry and Cromwell proceeded without mercy. The Carthusian friars had been especially blunt in their comments on the king's marriage, so ten of their monks were hanged. Next, Sir Thomas More, finest of all the heroes of the time, and the noble John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, were summoned before a court at Lambeth, the archbishop's palace in London. On their refusing to declare the marriage with Catherine illegal and the Princess Mary illegitimate, they were thrown into prison and in 1535 were executed and their heads fastened on London Bridge. Even greater savagery was shown the next year (1536). Henry was confronted by many dangers: Ireland was in revolt, and the pope had prepared a bull of deposition, which Charles V, the nephew of Catherine, was to execute. As it happened the bull was never sent, for at this juncture Catherine died and Charles V had no good excuse for an attack upon England. But Henry felt the uncertainty of the succes- sion, as he had no male heir. He basely turned on Anne Boleyn and charged her with unfaithfulness and conspiracy. After a brutal and revolting trial, during which Henry con- tinued bis revellings, Anne Boleyn was convicted and beheaded. The very next day the king married Jane Seymour. Cranmer declared the marriage with Anne illegal and her daughter Elizabeth illegitimate, and the servile parliament passed a new act settling the succession upon the heirs of the new queen. Henry did not stop here. In 1533 parliament had ordered a search for heretics, and required that all who refiised to accept the creed of the Six Articles should be burnt. In 1535 the king sent commissioners to inquire into the condition of the monasteries, preparatory to confiscating their property. 206. The Pilgrimage of Grace. — These acts roused the nobles of the north, and led to a remarkable uprising. The " Pilgrim- 198 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1535 age of Grace " was at bottom a revolt of the northern coun- ties, where a spirit of independence and of devotion to the old forms and ceremonies still existed. The nobles of the north hated the low-born "varlet," Cromwell, and the people there resented the attack on the monasteries and the religious innovations. Several revolts broke out, notably in Lincoln- t'rom a photograph. Drtburgh Abbey, in Southern Scotland. The burial place of Sir Walter Scott. shire and Yorkshire, but the king crushed them with great ferocity. Seventy-four persons were executed, including all the abbots of the great monastic establishments of the north. This event not only weakened the supporters of the papal cause, but prepared the way for the final incorporation of the northern counties — Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmore- land, Durham, and York — into England. Henry II had prevented them from becoming a part of Scotland, but since 1534] SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES. 199 his time " the border " had been outside the regular admin- istration of the kingdom, a lawless frontier, where feudal barons were privileged and powerful, and depredations and petty wars were of frequent occurrence. Henry did not him- self incorporate the counties, but made permanent the special From a photograph. TiNTEEN Abbey, on the Wye. One of the monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII. property of the Crown. It is now the council system that had prevailed there for a century. This council, which he reorganized as the Council of the North, had extensive criminal jurisdiction in these counties. 207. Suppression of the Monasteries. — The rebellion in the north checked for the moment Henry's attacks on the monas- teries, but it probably in the end rendered the suppression of them more complete. As early as 1534 Cromwell had begun to break up the houses of the friars, declaring that they were centres of hostility to the king. The monasteries were charged with being useless organizations, houses of idleness and cor- 200 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1540 ruption, of licentious and frivolous life ; but the evidence is far from sufficient to prove a condition worse than had been the case two centuries before. The condition of the mon- asteries was not the real reason influencing Cromwell and the king to destroy them. They were deemed specially hostile to the royal policy of separation from Eome, and likely to be- come, if allowed to remain, centres of antagonism to the royal supremacy over the church. Then, too, they possessed great wealth, and immense estates of land, and to many men besides the king, land in the hands of the church was deemed unpro- ductive to the nation. Cromwell's "visitation" of 1535, conducted by cold-blooded and harsh men of Cromwell's own stamp, was neither thorough nor just. The monasteries were doomed beforehand. Their wealth was their destruction. In 1536 parliament passed an act dissolving the smaller monasteries with a yearly income of less than £200, and turned them over to the king to do with as he pleased. By this act three hundred and seventy-six houses were dissolved, two thousand monks and nuns dispossessed, and altogether some ten thousand people turned out of homes or employment. The problem of breaking up the larger monasteries remained to be faced. The Pilgrimage of Grace aided the king's cause, for Henry made it a pretext for harsh measures. In 1538 and the year that followed, so much pressure was brought to bear on the larger monastic houses that one hundred and fifty of them surrendered. Parliament, by an act of approval, gave them to the king. In 1540 one hundred more were seized and dismantled. In the course of the attack many priors and abbots, refusing to accept the king's terms, were executed ; while all together it is estimated that eight thousand religious persons were driven out and eighty thousand others deprived of their means of sup- port. Though most of the lands were given away as bribes to favorites and others whom the king wished to bind to himself, something like $75,000,000 (modern value) accrued to the king 1542] SCOTLAND, WALES, AND IRELAND. 201 from lands, plate, and other spoils. Forty thousand families are said to have profited by these gifts, and upon these founda- tions a new nobility arose, whose interest it was to support the king's policy. 208. The Fall of Cromwell. — Valuable as Cromwell was to the king, he failed to please his master in two particulars. First, he inclined toward Protestantism, an attitude which Henry did not like. Secondly, he was a failure as a foreign minister, for his conduct of foreign affairs from 1535 to 1540 had turned out badly everywhere, and though the king was to no small extent responsible for the failure, Cromwell was blamed by his master for the results.^ In 1540 he was aban- doned by the king, and the nobility, who hated him, wreaked their vengeance upon him. He was beheaded on Tower Hill, and from that time to his own death Henry reigned without a minister. 209. Relations with Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. — The long standing rivalry between England and France was greatly in- creased by the religious controversy, for Francis I supported the papal cause while Henry, with greater determination, op- posed it. Each attempted at this juncture to control Scotland. There the influence of England, due to the marriage of Henry's sister Margaret to James IV, had been checked by the later marriage of Margaret's son, James V, to Mary of Guise, daugh- ter of the duke of Guise, the most powerful enemy of Protes- tantism in France. Henry tried to bully Scotland, and in 1542 defeated James V at Solway Moss. He also demanded the betrothal of the infant Mary, daughter of James V, to his five- year-old son, Edward VI, and insisted that the Scottish prin- 1 Cromwell, favoring Protestantism, had wished the king to enter into an alliance with the German Protestant princes of the Smalkald League, a league formed in 1531 to support Protestantism against the attacks of pope and em- peror. To that end he arranged a marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves, daughter of the duke whose territory controlled the river Rhine. Anne did not please the king, and Henry divorced her on the ground that the marriage had been "extorted under compulsion by external causes." Anne took the divorce philosophically and settled down in England with a liberal pension. The Wives of Henkt VIII. (See footnote on opposite page.) 202 1542] EEVENUES AND COINAGE. 20& cess be brought up in England. But the Scots did not like Henry's methods, and even while carrying on negotiations with him were cooperating with France to thwart the designs of England. In Wales and Ireland Henry was more successful. In 1536 he had completed the svibjection of Wales, reorganized its shires, and admitted twenty-seven members from Wales into parliam'^nt. A few years later he caused parliament to place the jurisdiction there under a council known as the Council of Whales, similar to the Council for the North. Ireland had given him a great deal of trouble, for the chiefs there were constantly ready to help France or Scotland. In 1542 Henry raised Ireland to the rank of a kingdom and assumed the title "King of Ireland," though he cannot be said to have brought the island much nearer to a union with the English crown than it had been before. 210. Revenues and Coinage. — In his campaigns Henry had been constantly in need of money. He was extravagant, but this was not the only cause for the scarcity. The royal rev- enue had declined. The subsidies, which were levied upon the value of lands and movables after the ancient fashion, had not increased as the wealth of the kingdom increased from the flourishing trade and commerce, and Henry did not, in On the opposite page are portraits of Henry's six wives. No. 1, in the upper left-hand corner, is Catherine of Aragon, from a portrait (artist unknown) in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Married 1509; deserted 1531 ; died 1536. No. 2, in the upper right-hand corner, is Anne Boleyn, from a portrait (artist unknown) in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Married 1533 ; beheaded 1536. No. 3 is Jane Seymour, from a portrait by Holbein in the collection of the Duke of Bedford. Married 1536 ; died 1537. No. 4, Anne of Cleves, from a portrait (artist unknown) in St. John's College, Oxford. Married February, 1540 ; divorced July, 1540. No. 5, Catherine Howard, from a portrait (School of Holbein) in the Na- tional Portrait Gallery, London. Married 1540 ; executed 1542. No. 6, Catherine Parr, from a portrait (artist unknown) in Lambeth Pal- ace. Married 1543, survived Henry. 204 THE EAELY TUDORS. [1542 reality, receive a revenue at all proportionate to the taxing power of the kingdom. Thus, Henry had to resort to exceptional though perhaps not strictly illegal ways of raising money. He began to tamper with the coin- age, first by mixing more and more alloy with the gold and sil- ver, and later, by re- ducing the size of the coin. The effects of this debasing of the coinage were very dis- astrous to all classes. Prices rose rapidly in England, to the dis- advantage of the land- owning and agricul- tural classes, " and commerce was in- jured, because for- eigners would not take English coins. This blind and crim- inal policy also caused great distress among the laboring classes. 211. The Close of Henry's Reign. — Henry accomplished much for England, raising the kingdom to a position of international importance, striking down the last of the old nobility, and giving power to new men who came from the middle classes. Then, too, he was " the ma- jestic lord who broke the bonds of Rome." The separation of the English church from the church of Rome was of material benefit to the English state and inv^,reased the feeling of na* J^'rom a paiuting. Thomas Howard, Third Duke of Norfolk. He became Lord High Treasurer in 1522. He was the uncle of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII. 1647] THE SUCCESSION: PROTECTOR SOMERSET. 205 tional unity among the people. But the results of Henry's work were beneficial only in the future ; the immediate con- sequences of his reign were disastrous. At home he had alien- ated the English peo- ple, emptied the royal treasury, neglected the welfare of the mass of his subjects, and encouraged brib- ery and corruption among officials and ministers. Abroad he: had broken with al- most every ally. The pope, Francis I, and Charles V were hos- tile to him; by his brutal methods Scot- land had been driven into closer relations with France, and con- spiracies were foment- ing in Ireland. The favorable conditions that had accompanied his accession to the throne no longer existed, when, in 1547, Henry died and passed on the government of the kingdom to his son, Edward VI, a boy but ten years of age. 212. The Succession : Protector Somerset. — Henry had settled the succession in a will sanctioned by act of parliament. The throne was left first to Edward and his heirs ; then' to his elder sister, Mary, the daughter of Catherine of Aragon, and her heirs ; and then to Elizabeth, the daughter of Anne Boleyn. A body of executors was appointed also to govern during the Edward VI. From a portrait — School of Holbein — in the National Portrait Gallery, London. 206 1547] THE SUCCESSION: PEOTECTOR SOMERSET. 207 minority of Edward, but this provision of the will was set aside and the young king's uncle, Edward Seymour, later duke of Somerset, became Protector} As compared with Henry VIII, Somerset was a moderate and conciliatory statesman, who honestly desired to bring peace to the kingdom that had been excited and stirred by Henry's excesses. He refused to continue Henry's persecutions for heresy and treason, and made few changes in the ecclesiastical organization. In matters of doctrine he was equally tolerant. The First Book of Common Prayer, compiled in English by Cranmer, recognized the doctrine of transubstantiation, allowed prayers for the dead, authorized auricular confession, and made obligatory the practice of fasting during Lent. But on the other hand, some important modifications were made. Latin was abolished in the church service, the heresy and treason laws and the Six Articles Act were repealed, all chantries, 1 There were two families connected by marriage with the king who were rivals for royal favor — the Howards and the Seymours. The Howards were of more honorable lineage, leaders of the old nobility, and upholders of the old faith ; the Seymours were newer men and friends of the Protestant move- ment. Victory lay eventually with the Seymour family, who were fortunate in that the young king was their kinsman by blood, the son of Jane Seymour, and in having the friendship of Catherine Parr, who, like the Seymours, had Protestant sympathies. The Howards were unfortunate in that two members of their family, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, had both been beheaded at the command of the king, Henry VIII. The illustration on the opposite page is taken from an old print, bearing the legend : "A Prospect of the Inside of Westminster Hall, Shewing how the King and Queen with the Nobility and Others did sit at Dinner on the Day of the Coronation. Also the manner of the Champions performing the Ceremony of Challenge whilst the King and Others were at Dinner." Westminster Hall, originally built by William Rufus in the eleventh cen- tury, is the most famous single building in England so far as historical asso- ciations are concerned. In it Parliament has sat, many famous trials have been heard, and here the royal courts of justice were held from 1507 till 1820. It now serves as the entrance hall to the Houses of Parliament. 208 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1549 gilds, and fraternities of a religious character were dissolved, and the giving of the wine as well as the bread to the laity in the sacrament was allowed. In 1548 parliament passed an act allowing priests to marry, and another imposing penalties on priests who refused to use the Book of Common Prayer. In these changes too little attention was paid to the sentiments and sympathies of the people. It was still reform by act of parliament. In constitutional and social matters Somerset was no less liberal. He believed in the full recognition of the powers of parliament and refused to interfere in elections. He allowed freedom of speech and debate, and it is significant that the journals of the lower house begin with his period of govern- ment. He favored the cause of the people against the wealthy landlords. It is commonly said the religious innovations roused the people of England to revolt in 1548 and 1549, and it is true that worshippers familiar with the time-honored practices resented the destruction of images, the breaking of stained glass windows, and the introduction of the English prayer book. But in reality the reasons for rebellion lay deeper than this, and were of an economic, and not a religious, character. 213. Economic Unrest : Kelt's Uprising. — Since the accession of Henry VII, the enclosure movement, which we have already noticed, had taken on a new form. While the old manorial system was breaking down and trade was growing, thousands of acres were passing out of the hands of the old nobility into the hands of newer men, merchants and members of the new nobility, who Vere getting profit out of them, without regard to the condition of the people upon them. The new landlords oppressed the tenantry, evicted those who failed to pay their rents, enlarged their estates by buying up new lands, and en- closed the commons and arable fields without any considera- tion for those who tilled the soil for a living. In consequence rents rose, prices trebled, and misery increased. Wolsey and Sir Thomas More had seen the evils wrought by 1549] RELATIONS WITH SCOTLAND. 209 the new landlords and had sought to remedy them. But after Wolsey's death, Henry VIII had taken no interest in the mat- ter, and by his distribution of the monastic lands had only made the trouble worse. Somerset was fully alive to the evils, and in 1548 sent out a commission to investigate the question of enclosures and the possible restoration of agriculture. For the same purpose he endeavored to carry acts through parlia- ment. But he was opposed by the wealthy landowners, and nearly every measure failed because the leaders of that body were themselves enclosers and thwarted Somerset's plans. After the failure of parliament to act, the popular discon- tent, which had been long smouldering, became active. Start- ing in the. southwest, the rebellion spread through the southern and western counties. Hedges and palings were torn down, ditches filled up, and parks and commons laid open. Kett, a blacksmith of Norfolk, with many followers, seized Norwich and established a " commonwealth." But the insurrection was put down with great severity, and Kett was hanged. The gentry were still too strong for the commoners. 214. Relations with Scotland : Fall of Somerset. — The opposi- tion to Somerset in the Privy Council, due to his defence of the popular cause, his ambition, and eagerness for wealth and popularity, was increased by the outcome of his dealings with Scotland. He tried to force the marriage between Edward VI and Mary Queen of Scots, according to the agreement of 1543, but France sent aid to Scotland, and in 1548 Mary sailed for France and was betrothed to the Dauphin, afterward Francis II. France declared war, and Scotland, having fallen under the control of the Catholic party, was lost, for the time being, to England. Somerset was doomed ; his policy had not succeeded, and his enemies in the council determined to depose him. They charged him with a rash invasion of Scotland, with bringing on war with France, and above all, with encouraging social disturbance and insurrection. In general, they charged his government with failure, ignoring the fact that failure had 210 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1552 been due not to Somerset, but to tbe social troubles in Eng- land, for which the members of the council, the leaders in parliament, and the moneyed class generally were very largely responsible. But there were other and more legitimate charges against Somerset, He had been arbitrary and overbearing, he had seized church lands, had spent money ostentatiously in erecting Somerset House, and had given offices to personal friends and neglected the friends of his colleagues. In October, 1549, he was committed to the Tower, and his place not as Protector, but as leader in the council, was taken by his chief enemy, John Dudley, earl of Warwick, later duke of Northumberland. 215. The Second Period of the Reign of Edward VI: War- wick's Tyranny. — The moderation of Somerset now gave way to the tyranny of Warwick. "If the Protector had lashed the Catholics with whips, Warwick chastised them with scor- pions." The contrast is a striking one, for in nearly every point was Somerset's policy reversed. Warwick got rid of all Eomanists from the council. He deposed from their sees bishops of the old faith. He began a systematic persecution of Princess Mary, who adhered to the Eoman church, deprived her of the privilege of hearing private mass, and forced on her the Book of Common Prayer. With the concurrence of Arch- bishop Cranmer, he began executions for heresy. In 1552 a Second Book of Common Prayer was issued. The new prayer book was distinctly Protestant in character ; a new act of uni- formity (see p. 196) imposed severe penalties not only on priests who refused to use the new prayer book, but on people who refused to attend the service. The next year Forty-two Articles of Faith were issued, defining the doctrines of the church. In political matters Warwick aimed to be supreme. He packed the council with his adherents and packed parliament by interfering in elections and creating new boroughs. In social matters he upheld the interests of the landowners. Under his influence, parliament reversed the Protector's policy, 1553] LADY JANE GKEY. 211 dropping the agricultural commission and passing laws that encouraged rather than discouraged the enclosing of land. Warwick did nothing to alleviate the bur- dens that distressed the people. By his acts he encouraged bribery, sale of offices, and misuse of funds, and continued the de- basement of the cur- rency, which Somer- set had forbidden, in- creasing the alloy, and reducing the value of the shilling coined by Henry VIII first to ninepence and after- ward to sixpence. The coinage of Eng- land reached its low- est point under Edward VI. The miseries of the people were intense. 216. Lady Jane Grey. — Edward VI died on July 7, 1553. By the terms of Henry's will the succession was to go to the Princess Mary ; but Warwick had worked on the young king, persuading him, in the interest of Protestantism, to bequeath the crown to Lady Jane Grey, the wife of Guildford Dudley, Warwick's son. Lady Jane was the granddaughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary, who, after the death of her first husband, Louis XII, had returned to England and married Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk. By means of Lady Jane's acces- sion Warwick hoped to retain power. But the plot in favor of Lady Jane Grey failed in every particular. In the first place, Edward's will was invalid, not having been sanctioned by parliament; in the second place, Lady Jane Grey. From a portrait by de Heere in the National Portrait Gallery, London. 212 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1553 England would have no more of Warwick. The ill-fated claimant, Lady Jane, a girl of fifteen, lent herself most un- willingly to the scheme. She was proclaimed queen of Eng- land three days after Edward's death ; but her reign lasted only eleven days. The nation rallied to the support of the right- fvil heir. Warwick was seized and ex- ecuted in 1553, and disclosed the hollow- ness of his entire support of Protes- tantism by recanting on the scaffold and declaring that the Protestant cause was a sham. The tide of popular enthusi- asm which bore Mary to the throne testi- fied to the hatred which all right- minded men had con- QoEEN Mart Tudor. From a portrait by Corvus in the National Portrait Gallery, London. ceived for the heartless, time-serving policy of this basest and most unscrupulous of English ministers. 217. The Catholic Reaction, First Period : Moderation (1553). — Mary came to the throne in 1553, and began immediately to undo the work of the previous reign. She released the bishops and others imprisoned in the Tower, sent Cranmer to prison, and drove others of the Protestant clergy to the Continent. With Bishop Gardiner as her ally, she began to restore the old forms and dogmas. She set aside the prayer book of Edward VI and introduced again the Latin mass. A parliament sum- 1554] CATHOLIC REACTION. 213 moned in October, 1553, was composed of members elected un- der pressure from the crown, and consequently ready to sanction all the queen's acts. This body declared Mary legitimate, thus annulling all the acts passed during the reign of Henry VIII affecting the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, Mary's mother. It repealed at one stroke nine acts passed under Edward VI, thus restoring the church, its' doctrine and service, to the position which it had occupied at the death of Henry VIII. In these changes the English people readily acquiesced. Probably, thus far, the majority were in very general accord with the policy of the government, and greeted the return to the old forms with satisfaction. Had Mary stopped here, all might have been well ; but her own inclinations, the advice of Charles V, the urging of the pope, demanded that the work not only of Edward VI, but of Henry VIII also, be undone, and that England return to the position it had occupied before the separation from Rome. 218. Catholic Reaction, Second Period : the Spanish Mar- riage. — But before Mary could carry out the details of her policy, she had to meet the important question of her own marriage. Charles V proposed his son, Philip II, as her hus- band ; and Philip, thinking to control England for Catholicism and to gain possession of its revenues for himself, indicated his willingness to marry the queen, although she was ten years his senior. Notwithstanding the. fact that parliament asked her to choose an English husband, Mary disregarded its wishes, and dissolved that body as a rebuke for its interference. Peel- ing the need of securing her throne by putting out of the way all enemies and claimants, she caiised Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guildford Dudley, to be executed. The era of mod- eration was passed ; Princess Elizabeth herself was saved from the block only because the queen and the Catholic party dared not put her to death. In 1554 Mary married Philip, and after the marriage, sum- moned a new and more subservient parliament in order to com- 214 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1555 plete the work of reaction. This parliament forbade the marriage of priests, revived the acts punishing heretics, and then in one great act of repeal, abolished eighteen statutes of Henry VIII, thus restoring the church to its original position. It authorized entire submission to Rome, but stubbornly re- fused to restore the lands which had been taken from the mon- asteries and abbeys. The pope, glad of the return of England to the fold of the church, waived the matter of the church lands, and sent Cardinal Reginald Pole as papal legate to England. It was perhaps the happiest day of Mary's life when she and Philip, and both houses of Parliament, knelt before the legate, and received from him absolution and a complete restoration "to the communion of the holy church." 219. Catholic Reaction, Third Period: Persecutions.— The year 1554 marks the height of the reaction as far as the out- ward act of submission was concerned. Yet in reality the reaction was far from complete. The lands were not restored, parliament refused to revive the payment of annates to the pope (p. 195), and the Statutes of Praemunire remained in force, as before. Protestantism had made many converts in England and their faith could not be undone by words of sub- mission or acts of parliament. Therefore, Mary and her chan- cellor, Gardiner, in 1555, began the work of persecution for heresy. It is estimated that in all nearly three hundred per- sons were burned at the stake.^ The effect of this cruel policy was exactly the reverse of what Mary had intended it should be. The mass of the people, admiring the courage of the martyrs, viewed the persecution with increasing horror. Thousands who had been loyal to the 1 First John Rogers was sent to the stake (February, 1555) for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation ; then Bishop Hooper ; and finally, in Novem- ber, Latimer and Ridley were burnt at Oxford. The next year Cranmer, whom Mary especially hated because he had sanctioned the divorce of her mother from Henry VIII, suffered a like fate. The majority of the execu- tions were in Kent, in the neighborhood of the archbishopric of Canterbury. Because of the frequency and openness of these executions in this short reign the queen has been called " The Bloody Mary." 1557] ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH. 215 old faith were driven into a position of hostility to the govern' ment and the Roman party, and gradually southern England became Protestant. 220. Relations with France: Loss of Calais. — The discontent thus aroused found outward expression not in England, where men had resolved to wait for Mary's death, but in France, where a body of exiles had been conspiring for several years against Philip and Mary. In 1557, stirred by conspiracies and urged on by Charles V and Philip, Mary declared war against France. The one great result of the war was the loss of Calais, which was seized by the duke of Guise in the autumn of the same year. The capture of this town, England's " Staple town " on the Continent, came as a terrible shock to the Eng- lish and greatly increased Mary's unpopularity. In a military sense Calais was regarded as of vital importance to England in guarding her from invasion ; in a commercial sense it was deemed the key to the Continental trade. Little wonder that when it fell, men foresaw military and commercial ruin for England; and that Mary, in horror, cried out that after her death Calais would be found graven on her heart. In fact, however, the loss of Calais was a gain to England. It severed the last connection of the island kingdom with the Continent, and compelled Englishmen to give up plans of con- quest in France and of political interference in foreign affairs. It rendered an army less important than a navy. It completed the downfall of the Merchant Staplers, and gave a new im- petus to the Merchant Adventurers, who were already trading in all parts of the world and cared no more for Calais than for any other Continental town. With the loss of Calais, England was thrown back upon her own resources ; and how splendidly she employed those resources in developing a navy, a native commerce, and a colonial empire, the history of the ensuing century shows. 221. Accession of Elizabeth. — Mary's last days were full of misery. Deserted by her husband, deprived of the advice of her best ally, Cardinal Pole, who had been removed by the 216 THE EARLY TUDORS. [1558 pope for heresy, hated by her people, aware that her policy had failed, and that Elizabeth, who was to succeed her, would pursue a course different from her own, she nevertheless faced death with true Tudor courage. On November 17, 1558, the end came. Parliament, sitting at the time, immediately pro- claimed Elizabeth queen, and the people of London, with demonstrations of joy, welcomed her to the throne. CHAPTER XIII. THE AGE OF ELIZABETH: ENGLAND BECOMES A PROTESTANT PO'WER OP THE FIRST RANK. 222. The Queen. — Elizabeth was twenty-five years old when she became queen. She was well educated, shrewd, far sighted, and tactful, but she was lacking in sentiment, tender- ness, and affection. Trained in the new learning of the court of Henry VIII, she spoke several modern languages and had a reading knowledge of Latin and Greek. But the dangers through which she had passed in the reigns of her brother and sister had made her wary and cautious. Like her grandfather Henry VII, she was thrifty, and her economies, in contrast with the extravagances and excesses of her predecessors, in- creased her popularity with her people. To save the expense of war she used all her shrewdness and tact to keep at peace during the early years of her reign. In an age of bigotry she was without fanaticism and did not sympathize with the extreme parties of any faith. The refusal of the Roman Catholics to acknowledge her legitimacy gave her Protestant leanings, yet her persecutions of the Catholics were due not to religious hatred, but to a desire to protect the state. She understood the needs of the age and did not, like her sister Mary, endeavor to run counter to the aspirations of her own people. Her greatest weakness was indecision, and her fre- quent changes of mind were a source of great perplexity to her ministers. She held in extreme veneration the sanctity of the crowned head and she hated rebels and all rebellions, yet she loved popularity and desired to do what was best for the kingdom and the people. These two impulses often came into conflict, and we find her frequently hesitating between two courses of action. But she had strong ministers whose 217 218 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1558 firmness of purpose generally guided her safely through the many problems that beset her. i Queen Elizabeth. After an engraving by C. van de Passe. The dress is that in which she is said to have attended the thanksgiving service at St. Paul's after the defeat of the Armada. 223. Europe at Elizabeth's Accession. — The age of Elizabeth is one of the most important periods not only in English history but in the hi ?tory of Europe, also. The Eeformation 1558] EUROPE AT ELIZABETH'S ACCESSION. 219 had thrown all the states of central and western Europe into religious and political disorder. The great medigeval church was threatened with dismemberment. Martin Luther had started the revolt in Germany, Zwingli had stirred up the people living in the valley cantons of Switzerland, John Calvin, a Frenchman, had set up a model religious government at G-eneva and had given to the Protestants a creed and an organization. Calvin's teachings became the basis of the Protestant faith in France and Holland, and of Presbyterian- ism in England, Scotland, and America. The leaders of the B,oman church were alarmed at the spread of Protestantism, and as a first step toward meeting the growing heresy they determined to correct the abuses which had led to the Protestant revolt. The great Council of Trent was called for this purpose (1545-1563) and succeeded in giving new strength and courage to the Eoman church. In 1540 Ignatius Loyola founded the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, which became one of the most powerful missionary organizations that the world has ever seen. The Jesuits were zealous and devoted men who labored to turn the tide of Protestantism. They were influential educators, politicians, and statesmen, and were masters of the arts of intrigue and diplomacy. The popes, the house of Guise in France, and Philip II of Spain took the leading part in this mighty religious struggle. For forty years they endeavored to check the increase of Prot- estantism and to obtain political control of the kingdoms that had fallen into Protestant hands. For forty years Elizabeth, who at the very outset of her reign disclosed her Protestant sympathies, was under assault, at one time or another, from Eome, France, Spain, Scotland, and Ireland. The pope ex- communicated and deposed her, the Jesuits sent disguised priests into the land ; Englishmen more loyal to the old faith than to their country formed conspiracies against her; Koraan Catholic rulers, working from the Netherlands, Scotland, Ire- land, and Brittany, plotted to gain a foothold in England and 220 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1558 to bring the land under the authority of the pope. Thus Eng- land, as the leading Protestant kingdom, became the storm centre in the great religious struggle, and the success of the movement elsewhere depended in no small part on the policy that England adopted. 224. Elizabeth's Position at Home. — To meet the great danger that con- fronted her, Eliza- beth needed a full treasury and the united support of all her people. But she possessed neither. The treasury was empty and the coun- try was burdened with a debt of more than £200,000. Many of, her subjects did not believe her to be the legal heir to the throne, and her cousin, Mary Stuart, a loyal representative of the old faith, was a claimant to the William Cecil, Lord Burghley. From a portrait by Gheeraerts in the National Portrait Gallery, London. This painting shows plainly the collar of the Order of the Garter. This "most noble " order was instituted in the middle of the fourteenth century. It originally consisted of the king and twenty-five knights, but in later years the lineal descendants of George I, George II, and George III were made eligible. To-day many foreign sovereigns are members of the order. The chapel is St. George's Chapel, Windsor. throne of England and an instrument in the hands of those who wished to keep England and Scotland within the fold of the Roman church. With the Roman Catholics of the Continent aiding the Roman Catholics of England and the 1559] THE RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT. 221 Protestants in England increasing steadily in numbers, there was danger of a religious war, such as broke out in France, the Netherlands, and Germany at a later time. Such a con- flict, which would have been a terrible catastrophe for England, would surely have taken place had Elizabeth supported either of the extreme parties, Roman Catholic or Puritan. In selecting William Cecil as her secretary of state, Elizabeth showed her wisdom at the -very beginning; and in holding to him as her adviser till his death, in 1598, in creating him Lord Burghley in 1571 and lord treasurer of England the next year, she showed her appreciation of one of the greatest states- men that England has ever had. Though Elizabeth was her own minister and Burghley her agent, yet to the wise modera- tion of the latter must be attributed in large measure the suc- cess of her reign ; for he advised the queen wisely in religious matters at home, and piloted her with extraordinary skill through manifold complications abroad. 225. The Religious Settlement. — Almost the first business of the reign was the settlement of the religious question. Elizabeth at once disclosed her policy by removing the most bigoted of Mary's bishops and by appointing, as archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, known to be Protestant in his sympathies. A committee of Protestant divines was appointed to revise the Book of Common Prayer. In 1559, even against the will of the leaders of the church itself, parliament passed two great acts, the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity, and the queen, supported by Cecil, gave the royal assent. For the fourth time since the death of Henry VIII a change was effected in the organization and worship of the church. The first of these acts declared that the English church was independent of all connection with Rome ; and that the queen was the " supreme governor of the church." Elizabeth decided not to take for the moment the title of " Supreme Head," as- sumed by Henry VIII. The act also demanded that all the clergy and every person holding political office should take an oath acknowledging the queen's supremacy or incur the penalty 222 THE AGE OE ELIZABETH. [1559 of losing his office. It threatened with severe punishment all persons uniting in defence of the papal authority in England. Thus the first act concerned the government of the church. The second act dealt with the /o?-ms of worship. It provided for uniformity in the church service by requiring the iise of the Book of Common Prayer and prescribed heavy penalties in cases of refusal. It ordered all people to attend church or chapel, and enacted that the ornaments of the church and the vestments of the clergy should be those of the reign of Edward VI. The Act of Supremacy was strictly enforced. Of the bishops appointed by Mary, all but one refused to take the oath and resigned. The consciences of the lesser clergy were not so tender : only two hundred out of ninety-four hundred gave up their positions. The Act of Uniformity was at first very leni- ently executed. Many Eoman Catholics continued, to attend privately the old service and were not punished. On the other hand the new service was introduced without great difficulty; altars were removed and communion tables substituted, ' and the mural pictures of the saints were covered with whitewash. Before settling the third question, that of doctrine, Eliza- beth preferred to wait, in order to watch the effect of the steps thus far taken. Beyond a liking for moderate cere- mony, the queen had no fixed religious preferences. So long as the people accepted the service outwardly, thus giving to the English church a national character, she did not care what they really believed. What Elizabeth had already done was a compromise. The English church was a compromise church : its doctrine and ritual were closely connected with the doctrine and ritual of the Roman church; yet in rejecting transubstan- tiation, the mass, and the authority of the pope it was dis- tinctly Protestant. The Anglican faith was defined in 1563, when the Thirty-nine Articles were drawn up. 226. Foreign Relations. — At this time England was a small and thinly populated land; a second-rate power, inferior to France, Germany, and Spain in wealth, commerce, and in- 1560] FOREIGN RELATIONS. 223 fluence. Its life was largely agricultural, and its commerce was still in a measure controlled by foreign merchants. In its relations with the Continental states it was dependent upon the house of Habsburg : Henry VIII had married Catherine of Aragon, and Mary had married Philip II of Spain, each of whom was a member of the Habsburg family. Notwith- standing the diplomacy of Wolsey, England under Henry VIII was an inferior power. The monarchs of Spain, France, and Germany had always been glad of its support, but they had rarely treated its king as a sovereign of equal rank with them- selves. The traditional policy of England was enmity for France and peace with Spain. Since the time of Edward III English sovereigns had called themselves kings of France, and the two powers had quarrelled and warred over the Angevin lands in France, over the Netherlands, and over Scotland. In 1558, it is true, English sovereigns possessed no part of French terri- tory, but there was still a fear that the French might conquer the Netherlands, the seat of English trade. More important still was the rivalry between England and France for the con- trol of Scotland, at this time an obscure and insignificant state, where agriculture and feudal customs were still supreme. The Scots hated the English, and Scotland had become a mere satellite of France. James V had married a daughter of the house of Guise, and his daughter, Mary Queen of Scots, had been brought up in France, and had married the son of the French king, Henry II. When in 1559 Henry II died, her husband, Francis II, succeeded to the throne, and Mary, queen of Scotland, became also queen of France. As the Eoman Catholic party deemed Elizabeth illegitimate, they declared that Mary was queen of England, also. Elizabeth, therefore, had to defend her title against Mary Stuart, who was supported by the Roman Catholics of France and of Europe generally. The latter, by supporting Mary, hoped to overturn Elizabeth's Protestant government. The death of Francis II in 1560, and the return of Mary to Scotland the next year, simplified the 224 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1559 situation, because Mary was no longer queen of France, but it did not relieve England of the danger of a Eoman Catholic attack by way of Scotland. England's relations with Spain were in the main friendly. Since mediaeval times whatever power had controlled the Flemish cities had received England's support, for English merchants traded with the Continent by way of the Low Countries, and the cities there bought English wool. At this time Philip was lord of the Netherlands, and it was natural that England should desire friendship with Spain. Such an alliance was advantageous to Philip also, for England con- trolled the waterway from Spain to the Netherlands. Further- more, Spain was intensely jealous of France, and Philip was very unwilling to do anything to increase the power of Ihe French king. He was morbidly afraid lest France should gain control of England, and he would never have aided Mary Stuart, when queen of France, to become queen of England, also. In fact, soon after Elizabeth's accession, Philip offered to marry Elizabeth, but she refused, well knowing how unpopular Mary's marriage with Philip had been in England. Philip's jealousy for France was England's greatest security, for Cecil was able to play one power ofE against the other, to prevent a combination of the two powers against England, and to prevent England from becoming entangled in war either at home or abroad. 227. The Situation in Scotland. — Protestantism had already taken root in Scotland. In 1559 John Knox, one of the most determined of Calvin's followers, returned to Scotland from the Continent, and the Scottish reformation began in real earnest. Koused by the fiery preaching of Knox, the Scots, in a frenzy of excitement, accepted the new teaching and began to tear down and destroy altars, churches, and other monuments of the old faith. Scotland was divided into two great parties; which would Elizabeth support ? For Knox and his reforma- tion she had little liking and would never have aided the Protestant cause in Scotland on religious grounds. But for 1560] MARY STUART IN SCOTLAND, 225 political and national reasons she was forced to support a movement that she personally disliked. She did wish to drive the French from Scotland, and so to unite England and Scot- land in a common bond. Consequently, in the winter of 1559-1560 troops and ships were despatched northward, and for the first time in history Eng- lishmen and Scotsmen fought side by side against France. The fighting was successful, and in July, 1560, the treaty of Edin- burgh was signed between England and France. By its terms the French were to leave Scotland, Mary Stuart was to accede to the Scottish throne, but was to give up all claim to the throne of England, and no Frenchman was to hold important ofiice in Scotland. Had Mary Queen of Scots accepted the terms of the treaty of Edinburgh, French influence in Scotland would have come to an end then and there. But she refused to accept them, and the treaty was signed only by the Scottish lords. The agree- ment was, however, a victory for Cecil and Elizabeth, and marked an important step toward the resumption of friendly relations between England and Scotland. The work of reform in Scotland was completed in 1560, when a parliament met in Edinburgh and did for Scotland what the English parliament had done in 1559 for England. It threw off the authority of the pope, abolished the sacrament of the mass, dissolved the monasteries, and seized the monastic lands. The Protestant faith as defined by Calvin was adopted, and another bond now existed between the two countries, for henceforth England and Scotland were Protestant kingdoms. 228. Mary Stuart in Scotland. — When Mary Stuart reached Scotland, after the death of her French husband, Francis II, she came face to face with a remarkable situation. Her sub- jects had done two things for which they had no legal warrant. They had signed the treaty of Edinburgh and they had set up a new church in Scotland, Neither of these acts was lawful without the queen's consent, and this consent she refused to give. She refused to be disloyal to her creed and her church. 226 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1566 But lier position was difficult. She was confronted by men who hated her family and her creed, and deemed her but an agent of the pope for the destruction of the Protestant church in Scotland. Yet for four years she governed Scotland with remarkable shrewdness and tact, accepted the Protestant re- ligion, checking at- tempts at Catholic worship, protecting the old clergy in the possession of their lands, and demanding the right to hear mass in the royal chapel. At the same time she tried to be friendly to Elizabeth, seeking, but in vain, some recognition of herself as heir to the English throne. 229. Fall of Mary Stuart. — To further the cause which she had at heart, of bring- ing Scotland back into the fold of the church, Mary now married her cousin Henry, Lord Darnley, heir after Mary to the throne of Scot- land. Darnley was a Roman Catholic, by education at least, but a vain, vicious, empty-headed youth. This marriage to a mem- ber of the powerful house of Lennox freed Mary from the con- trol of the Protestant lords, seemed to give a new unity to the Catholic party in Scotland, and enabled her to deal Protestant- ism a series of powerful blows. Mary seemed to be on the eve of a great triumph, and the birth of a son and heir iu 1066 came Mary Queen of Scots. Erom a painting in the Bodleian Gallery, Oxford. 1567] FALL OF MARY STUART. 227 as an auspicious omen of eventual success. But already Darn- ley was involving tlie queen in ruin. Mary's refusal to grant Darnley royal privileges led to a quarrel between the royal pair and to the murder in March, 1566, of Rizzio, Mary's secretary, of whom Darnley was jealous. This brutal murder disclosed and made notorious Mary's unhappy relations with her husband. Conspiracies were already forming against Darnley, and how far Mary was privy to them is one of the great mysteries of her life. That she knew of the existence of a plot is proved, but that she was herself actually concerned in it has not been demonstrated. On February 9-10, 1567, Kirk O'Field, the house in which Darnley was staying in Edinburgh, was blown up, and Darnley was found dead in an adjoining field. The crime was committed by the earl of Bothwell, a rough border noble, to whom Mary, made desperate by the misery of her marriage and the need of protection, had turned as her friend and champion, and whom she married three months afterward. From that day Mary's cause in Scotland was lost. All hope of a restoration of the old religion was destroyed. The Catholics were divided and disheartened, while the middle classes of Scotland, indignant at what appeared to be the moral degrada- tion of their queen, turned against her. After a defeat at Carberry Hill by the Scottish lords, Mary was compelled to abdicate in favor of her infant son, Jamea VI, who was crowned at Stirling under Protestant auspices. Escaping from Lochleven Castle, she was again defeated at Langside, and then fleeing from Scotland, she sought the pro- tection of Elizabeth, who was greatly embarrassed by her arrival in England. Elizabeth did not know what to do with her. She did not wish to keep her ; she could not re- store her to her throne in Scotland; and she dared not let her find refuge on the Continent. She appointed a commis- sion to investigate her guilt, but no definite conclusion was reached. Mary remained in England virtually a prisoner for eighteen years, a constant source of danger to Elizabeth's government. 228 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1567 230. The Question of Elizabeth's Martiage. — Through all the early years of Elizabeth's reign the question of the queen's marriage was a most important one for Elizabeth and for England. Should Elizabeth give her hand to a foreigner, as her sister Mary had done, she would lose popularity in Eng- land. When Mary's husband, Philip II, had proposed marriage to her, Elizabeth was too wise to make so unpopular a choice. Her subjects wished her to marry an Eng- lishman, but there was only one Englishman for whom she cared, and that was the' earl of Leicester, accused, but probably unjustly, of having murdered his wife, Amy Rob- sart. Elizabeth knew that such an alliance was out of the ques- tion. Moreover, it was greatly to her advan- tage in diplomatic af- fairs not to decide the matter, but to be free to consider marriage proposals from those sovereigns whose aid England needed. Until Elizabeth was past forty years of age she and Cecil played one suitor off against another as policy dictated. Parliament, anxious to have the question of the succession settled, repeatedly requested the queen to marry, but for years ^BH l^^l^^^MBI^^BH H^'''^ ^^■E ■H Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. From a portrait — artist unknown — in the National Portrait Gallery, London. In the upper left-hand corner is painted the garter of the famous Order of the Garter. 1568] ENGLAND'S PROSPERITY IN 1568. 229 Elizabeth coquetted with first one suitor and then another, and to the end remained unmarried. 231. England's Prosperity in 1568. — Cecil had said at the beginning of the reign that " war is the curse and peace the blessing of God upon a nation ; a realm gaineth more by one year's peace than by ten years' war," and the first ten years of From a photograph, Kenilworth Castle. It was presented by Elizabeth to Leicester in 1563. Elizabeth's reign proved the truth of his saying. By 1568 England had safely weathered the first great crisis of Eliza- beth's reign, and for the moment at least was secure from out- side invasion. The cause of Mary Stuart was discredited in Scotland, and the queen herself was in the hands of Elizabeth, a guest in name, but a prisoner in fact. France was involved in civil and religious war, and Spain was busy with a revolt against her authority in the Netherlands. At home conditions were equally favorable. Trade and 230 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1568 commerce had suffered under Edward VI and Mary, owing to the debasement of the currency and the neglect of English shipping. But it now began to revive. Cecil had begun at once to " decry base money " and to provide for the reform of the currency. In 1560 the base coins were called in and ex- changed for standard ones. Money became better and more plentiful ; prices rose evenly and gradually, and the merchants and traders, who were no longer hampered by a debased cur- rency, began to grow rich. Industry and Commerce. — Cecil encouraged skilled artisans from other countries to come to England — Protestants driven from Flanders and France, who settled in England and estab- lished there the particular handicrafts ia which they excelled. The growth of commerce outstripped even the manufacturing industries. The English government paid special attention to shipping, and by several enactments gave trade advantages to Englishmen, inciting them to build ships and to do the carry- ing trade themselves. Lastly, Cecil strengthened the queen's navy, got fighting men ready for sea service, built fortresses, and experimented with the making of brass cannon. Thus, while encouraging the building of merchantmen and giving England a monopoly of shipping, he was laying the founda- tions of England's navy and was preparing the way for Eng- land's future greatness as mistress of the sea.s. The Poor Law: the Statute of Apprentices. — But the agri- cultural and landowning classes did not prosper as much as did the merchants and manufacturers. The reign of Elizabeth marks the completion of that movement which we have seen taking place since the reign of Richard II — the breaking up of the mediaeval system of agricultvire. The decay of the towns and the gilds had thrown trade regulation into confu- sion, while enclosures, decay of villeinage, and other causes already noted had increased poverty and vagabondage among the agricultural classes. Attempts had been made to check these evils by preventing further enclosures, by encouraging corn raising instead of sheep raising, and by regulating wages. 1568] THE POOR LAW: STATUTE OF APPRENTICES. 231 But with the rise of prices in Elizabeth's reign poverty in- creased, and the old means of relieving the poor no longer existed; for the monasteries, chantries, and other semi-reli- gious foundations that had looked after the poor in pre- ceding centuries had been swept away by Henry VIII and Edward VI. Among the earliest measures to be considered by Elizabeth's parliament, therefore, were those regulating labor and prices and relieving the poor. In 1563 two acts were passed — one concerning relief of the poor, the Poor Law, and another, com- monly called the Statute of Apprentices, concerning "artificers, laborers, servants of husbandry, and apprentices." The first required that every parish should support its own poor, and this system, confirmed in 1601, remained in force well into the nineteenth century. The second act regulated labor, wages, and apprenticeships.^ Thus in the period from 1558 to 1568 England had grown strong in wealth, industry, shipping, and commerce. The gov- ernment, prudent and patriotic, was holding the balance of power abroad, because by aiding the Dutch or the Huguenots (French Protestants) it could embarrass Spain or France ; while at home it was becoming more national, assuming new duties and exercising new powers, regulating and controlling labor and wages, providing for the poor, punishing rogues and vagabonds, and either itself or through its officials doing the work that had been performed in the Middle Ages by the locai factors, — towns, gilds, and manorial lords. A transformed and modern England was gradually appearing. 1 Under this law laborers were hired, as a rule, by the year. Every crafts- man was required to serve an apprenticeship of seven years. Then he became a journeyman, and after that a master. A laborer worked from dawn till dark, an average of twelve hours a day. A uniform rate of wages for ^„he year was established in each county by the justices of the peace, country gentlemen who had been for some time becoming more and more important in the counties on account of their judicial authority, and who were now given new prominence as administrators of the poor law and the statute of apprentices. 232 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1672 232. Roman Catholic Plots.- — But England had still to face a crisis greater even than that through which she had already- passed. After 1568 the Eoman Catholic church, Avhich had begun to regain ground in Europe by winning back converts in Spain, Italy, Erance, and southern Germany, redoubled its efforts in England to recover that land for the old faith, and to weaken the Protestant cause, of which England was the main support. The instrument of Roman Catholicism in England was Mary- Stuart, who from this time forward became the centre of plot after plot against Elizabeth and her Protestant regime. Giv- ing up expectation of aid from France, Mary Stuart depended henceforth on the pope and Philip II abroad and on the Ro- man Catholic lords at home. The pope despatched money and agents to encourage the Roman Catholic party in England, and within the realm discontented factions began to plot for the overthrow of Cecil and the establishment of a Roman Catholic party in control of the government. Mary, who was allowed at this time considerable personal freedom and a retinue of thirty friends and attendants, found ample opportunity to cooperate with the Catholic party in England. The first dangerous conspiracy is that known as the Ridolfi Plot. Ridolfi was an Italian banker, who passed back and forth between England and Italy weaving plots. This plot probably originated with the Spanish ambassador, and took the form of a contemplated invasion of England by Spanish forces. The pope, in order to strengthen the cause in Eng- land, excommunicated Elizabeth and absolved all Englishmen from their allegiance. In Scotland the friends of Mary, assisted by the Northumberland earls, were ready to cross the border. But Cecil, now Lord Burghley, became suspicious of Ridolfi and the ambassador, and gradually unravelled all the details of the conspiracy, in which Mary and the duke of Norfolk were implicated. Norfolk was arrested, tried for high treason, found guilty, and executed (1572), and Mary was saved from the same fate only because Elizabeth was unwilling to injure a crowned head. 1572] LOYALTY OF PARLIAMENT. 233 233. Loyalty of Parliament. — Whenever Elizabeth was con- fronted by a great crisis like this, she was fond of summoning parliament, in order to show to other powers how well her acts were upheld by the English nation. In 1571 she called her third parliament. This body, like its predecessors, was com- posed mainly of Protestants, partly because the queen had requested that Protestants be elected, partly because honest Roman Catholics, unable conscientiously to take the oath of supremacy, could not sit as members. Parliament passed certain acts that were intended as a reply to the great Catholic conspiracy. The first of these made it high treason to plot against the queen's life, to claim the throne during the lifetime of the queen, or even to support such a claim ; a second made it high treason for any one to bring into England, or to put into use there, any decree or bull of the pope; while a third act sanctioned the Thirty-nine Articles already adopted by convocation as containing the doctrine of the Anglican church. The fourth parliament, which met in 1572, imposed the penalty of death upon all who should attempt to seize or destroy any of the queen's fortresses or castles, or should conspire to set at liberty any one imprisoned for treason. Although these measures show that Elizabeth's parliaments were devoted to her cause and policy, yet it must be remem- bered that these parliaments did not represent the whole of England. They were composed in the main of Protestants from the south, and included no members either from the north or from Ireland. It should be noticed, furthermore, that though not yet in the modern sense a representative body, parliament was gradu- ally becoming more modern as regards the class of men who sat in it, the questions it discussed, and the powers it exercised. Instead of country squires, who had up to this time filled many seats in parliament, merchants, lawyers, and artisans were becoming members, notably from the towns. Though party organization was as yet unknown, the members were be- 234 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1580 coming more outspoken in their support of, or opposition to, governmental measures, and were gradually establishing cer- tain parliamentary rights, such as freedom from arrest, free- dom of speech, and freedom of access to the sovereign. No measure proposed by the queen could become law without their consent, and they controlled all appropriations of money. Yet, on the other hand, the powers of the queen were very great. She named the speaker, appointed new peers, created new boroughs, and by means of the right of initiative, exer- cised control of the bills to be brought before parliament. She was also the head of the government, and through her councils and great ofiicials controlled the actual administra- tion of the kingdom. 234. End of the Policy of Moderation. — After 1576 it be- came evident that the policy of holding the balance even be- tween France and Spain, and of playing off one power against another could not be maintained. In spite of the desire of Elizabeth and Burghley to avoid war abroad and to pursue a policy of moderation at home, England was gradually assum- ing a position of open hostility toward Spain and the Roman Catholic party. English sentiment was aroused by the stri;g- gle of the Dutch against Spain. In 1576 the unpaid and mutinous Spanish soldiers devastated the fairest cities of Flanders and drove the Flemish nobles over to the side of the Protestant Dutch, who were fighting under William of Orange for their freedom from Spanish control. English sympathies, which were with the Dutch, finally forced Elizabeth, hitherto lukewarm, into definite action. Desiring to keep on good terms with those who were likely to control Flanders, she ignored Burghley's advice and sent four hundred thousand crowns to aid the Flemish. Philip retaliated by aiding the rebels in Ireland, by encouraging the Catholics in England with prospects of help, and by fitting out a fleet in 1580 which seemed designed for the conquest of England. In like manner, the government was shaping its policy toward the Roman Catholic party in England. Loyal English- 1581] ELIZABETHAN SEAMEN: "THE SEA DOGS." 235 men were aroused by the labors of the Jesuits, who had already- increased the number of converts and infused new life into the Roman Catholic body. In Ireland and Scotland the Jesuits were making strenuous efforts to excite a spirit of opposition to Elizabeth's rule, and in England to organize conspiracies against the government. Conversion to Eoraan Catholicism involved necessarily the denial of the queen's .supremacy. Therefore, parliament passed laws declaring that any one who drew away any of the queen's subjects " to the Eomish re- ligion" should be adjudged a traitor. Death was the penalty for treason, and under this law a number of Roman Catholics were executed in 1581. 235. The Elizabethan Seamen : the " Sea Dogs." — The actions of the English privateers abroad were aiding the war party at home. The seamen of the southwestern coast had for years carried on a half-piratical warfare against the Spanish and Portuguese ships and even against the vessels of other nations. English sailors crossed the Atlantic, robbed the Spanish ships, and sacked the seaports of the Spanish colonies. Philip threat- ened with his vengeance all English Protestants who ventured into the Spanish seas, and such as fell into the hands of his officials were often cruelly tortured. But the tales of suffering and adventure in the Spanish West Indies only whetted the appetites of the daring navigators. They continued to rob the ''' gold ships " of the king of Spain. One of the noted leaders, John Hawkins, was the father of the English slave trade, and established a lucrative business by stealing negroes on the African coast and selling them to the Spanish colonies. Hawkins's kinsman, Francis Drake, was not a slave trader, but he was a famous freebooter on the seas. He crossed the Atlantic, passed the Straits of Magellan, swept up the west coast of the Americas, raised the English flag somewhere on the coast of the present state of California, and, with an enormous amount of booty — gold, money, and jewels — captured from the Spaniards, crossed the Pacific Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and finally reached England, 236 THE AGE OE ELIZABETH. [1584 after having completed the circuit of the globe. In 1585, when Philip threatened to attack England, Drake sailed with twenty-five vessels for the Spanish Main. He plundered the Spanish cities of the West Indies and re- turned to England with a heavy booty. The great lords of the court, and even the queen herself, shared the plunder of this and other similar ad- ventures. 236. Plots and Counterplots. — The activities of the semi- nary priests and Roman Catholic con- spirators on one side, and the raids of Haw- kins and Drake on the other, were mak- ing it evident that Elizabeth must take some definite stand. The situation was considerably simpli- fied by the failure of a Spanish and Jesuit conspiracy to secure control of the Scottish government (1582), so that danger from that quarter was removed; and by the outbreak of civil war in France in 1584, whereby fears of French attack upon England were dispelled. The secretary of state, Walsingham, in the council, was tracing with marvel- SiR John Hawkins. From a portrait owned by Miss Stuart Hawkins. He fought with such valor in the great fight against the Armada in 1588 that the Lord High Admiral knighted him during the battle. 1686] EXECUTION OF MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 237 lous ingenuity the plots that were formed against Elizabeth and was using his information for the purpose of bringing about war with Spain. Of him it was said that he heard in England what was whispered in Rome. Thus with 1584 the war party obtained the upper hand in Elizabeth's council and determined to meet the Catholic in- trigues by forming a Protestant league. In 1583 a plot to assassinate Elizabeth had been discovered, and in consequence an association of loyal Englishmen had been formed for the purpose of revenging " to the uttermost all malicious actions and attempts " against the queen. This association was legal- ized by parliament in 1585. In the same year a new act was passed against the Jesuits and the seminary priests, and there is little doubt that had the queen and Burghley not been in- clined to leniency the measures taken would have been much more severe. 237. Execution of Mary Queen of Scots. — During the four- teen years since the failure of the Ridolfi pl^t Mary Queen of Scots, very insecurely confined in an Englishman's country house, had not ceased to work by every secret means in her power for the overthrow of Elizabeth. One plot after another had failed through Walsingham's watchfulness. Finally, in 1584 the secretary had in his possession the details of the greatest of the plots in which the Scottish queen was concerned. By a shrewdly contrived plan he intercepted letters from Mary promising cooperation in a scheme for the invasion of England by Philip II. Philip had been maddened by the expedition led by Drake to the Spanish West Indies in 1585, and by England's aid of the Dutch, and he now determined to take his revenge. In June, 1586, Mary disinherited her son James in favor of Philip, who desired to conquer England not only for the sake of the Catholic cause, but to win the new inheri- tance for himself and his family. But before the expedition could be undertaken, Walsingham had charged Mary with direct complicity in the scheme whereby England was to be invaded, a native uprising promoted, and Elizabeth assassinated. 238 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1587 Under the act of 1585 (p. 237) Mary Queen of Scots was brought to trial before a special commission sitting in the great hall of Fotheringay Castle and during ten days conducted her defence with consummate ability. But the trial was a farce, for her doom was sealed beforehand. Mary's death was necessary for the peace of England and the security of the throne. On October 25, 1586, she was condemned to death. Elizabeth hesi- tated even to the last, for though she was anxious to be rid of the Scottish queen, she was unwilling to bear the blame of having executed a sovereign. After long delay, she signed the warrant, and on February 8, 1587, Mary Stuart was beheaded. Thereupon Elizabeth became angry, asserting that she had wished to pardon the Scottish queen ; and Davison, the secre- tary, who had carried out the sentence, was deprived of his office, thrown into the Tower, and compelled to pay a fine that ruined him. His treatment by Elizabeth, Burghley, and the council is not a pleasant episode in English history. Even less pleasant was the attitude of Mary's son, James VI of Scotland. It is true that he had not seen his mother since he was an infant and had no sympathy with the cause she repre- sented, but he made no attempt to interfere in her behalf and continued his friendship for Elizabeth in order to assure his succession to the English throne. 238. The Spanish Armada. — The death of Mary gave Philip an immediate claim to the English throne. He did not want that throne for himself, but wished to establish his favorite daughter, Isabella, as queen of England ; and with this end in view he hurried forward the preparation for the great Armada, which had been going on in dilatory fashion for two years. In Eng- land, as well as in Spain, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots had caused a great shock. Conspirators were discour- aged. Moderate Catholics, who had been ready to support the cause of Mary Stuart as long as she lived, would not transfer their allegiance to Philip, because in so doing they would have been disloyal to their nationality. They now stood shoulder to shoulder with the Protestants in resisting Philip's aggres- 1588] THE SPANISH AEMADA. 239 sion. The great duel was to be between mediasval, ecclesi- astical, autocratic Spain on one side, and young, national, Protestant England on the other. All other powers held aloof. Preparations for the great expedition, which had been hastened by the death of Mary Stuart, were delayed by an attack on Cadiz in the spring of 1587, when Drake sailed boldly into the harbor and inflicted on Spain damage to the The Spanish Aemada. In the form of a half-moon, pursued by the English fleet. From an engraving by John Pine, after the old tapestry hangings which were destroyed when the Houses of Parliament burned in 1834. extent of a million ducats. Philip was enraged at Drake's insolence, and even Burghley, who was still struggling to pre- serve the peace, was angry. But the English people were delighted at this " singeing of the Spanish king's beard " and made Drake a national hero. At last, in the summer of 1588, the Armada started for Eng- land, reaching the Channel in July. It presented an imposing array of one hundred and thirty-two vessels, but was in fact ponderous and unwieldy, badly equipped and provisioned, and commanded by an incompetent admiral, the duke of Medina Sidonia. Confronting it were the English ships, light in ton- nage and few in number, but manned by experienced crews 240 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1688 and led by Drake, Hawkins, Erobislier, and others, the heroes of a hundred sea-fights. The plan of the Armada was to sail to Flanders, take on board six thousand Spanish soldiers and land them on the English or the Scottish coast. But the great fleet never reached Flanders. Beset on every side by the Eng- lish vessels during its voyage up the Channel, it was finally utterly defeated in a hard fight off Gravelines and compelled An English Frigate. From a copper plate by D. T. deBrijon (1587) in the British Museum. This represents the frigate in which Sir Philip Sidney's body was carried back to England, after his death in the Netherlands, 1586. to take flight northward through the North Sea. Still further harassed by the storms of the north coast, it suffered final dis- aster in rounding Scotland and Ireland, and only fifty-three vessels ever again reached Spain. 239. Significance of the Victory. — The victory over the Armada welded England into one nation. Religious differ- ences were forgotten. Protestant and Catholic had fought against the common foe, and both realized that whatever might be their religious differences, they were first of all Eng- lishmen. Thus, out of the defeat of the Armada rose a new England, rich and prosperous, a national and Protestant king- 1583] ELIZABETH AND THE PURITANS. 241 dom, no longer in the leading strings of France and Spain, but independent and self-reliant, ready for the great future that lay before her. 240. Rise of the Puritans. — The continued conflict with Spain had helped to make England a Protestant kingdom and her church a Protestant church; yet among the Protestants were those who were not satisfied with Elizabeth's moderation and wished that " all, even the slightest vestiges of popery," might be removed. These people, at first called " Evangelics," had been obliged to flee from England during Mary's reign and to take refuge in certain cities of Germany, — Geneva, Zurich, Strasburg, Frankfort, and Basel. There they had established churches, and during the years 1554-1558 had fought out among themselves many of the issues afterward to be raised in England. When in 1554 they had submitted to Calvin the question as to whether or not the prayer book of Edward VI should be adopted, he decided against it, on the ground that the prayer book lacked the purity that was desir- able. This decision gave the victory to the more extreme or Calvinistic party among them and suggested the name Puri- tan, which was afterward given to this party in England. Thus in Geneva and Frankfort, before Elizabeth's accession, a new religious party had come into being, which not only rejected the entire tradition of the old Catholic church, but was opposed to any compromise with the old forms and doc- trines.^ 241. Elizabeth and the Puritans. — When these reformers re- turned to England, they hoped that Elizabeth and her ministers would adopt the Calvinism of the Continent. They opposed ^ For these Puritans abroad a new translation of the Bible was printed — the Genevan or " Breeches " Bible, which omitted the Apocrypha, struck out of the calendar saints' names and days, and in the explanatory notes defended the Puritan doctrines. The new Bible was smaller in size than had been the older versions, contained a text which for the first time was divided into verses, and was printed in Roman instead of black letter type. With Calvin's Institutes and Foxe's Booh of Martyrs it became the guide and consoler of the Puritans during the later days of trouble. 242 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1583 the retention in the service of ''certain vestments and cere- monies which seemed to savor of the Koman liturgy." They wished to get rid of the cap and surplice, of the use of the sign of the cross, of the ring in marriage, of the practice of kneeling at the reception of the sacrament. But Elizabeth would consider none of these changes, and in her decision was supported by the majority of the nation, which loved the old Catholic forms. The matter was settled by the Act of Uni- formity of 1559, which ordered that the vestments and rites should be those of Edward VI's time. Some of the clergy still refused, however, to observe these regulations, and it was not until Whitgift became archbishop in 1683 that serious attempts were made to compel them to do so. 242. Presbyterians and Independents. — Up to this time the reformers had been concerned chiefly with questions of wor- ship ; they had not objected to the state control of the church. But the controversy over vestments had led certain among them to ask whether the organization of the Anglican church ought not to be changed, also. Of these, Thomas Cartwright, professor of divinity at Cambridge, was the leader. He agreed with the Anglicans in desiring the church to be national, but he wished it to be separated from the control of the state. For bishops and priests he would substitute presbyters and elders, and would have every minister selected by the congregation and dependent upon it, instead of being appointed and paid by the state. Those supporting these views came to be known as Presbyterians, and in Northampton and Warwick they set up Presbyterian churches which adopted the Genevan Book of Common Prayer instead of that of Edward VI. The Presby- terians differed from the Anglicans in rejecting convocation, bishops, the Book of Common Prayer, the method of appoint- ing and paying ministers, and finally the authority of the state and the supremacy of the queen, More radical than the Presbyterians were those afterward known as Independents, who, like the Presbyterians, objected to state control of the church and state taxes for the salaries of i588] PERSECUTION OF THE EXTREME PROTESTANTS. 243 the clergy, but who went farther and rejected entirely a national church. They desired that only those who were faithful Christians should constitute a church, and that each church so constituted should be complete in itself, self-govern- ing, and independent of all higher control. The Independents were not willing, as were the Puritans, to remain within the Anglican church, hoping for a purification of its worship, or, as were the Presbyterians, hoping that the government would change the organization of the church. They were more than Non-conformists; they were Separatists. Inasmuch as they applied their theories of church government to political gov- ernment also, they are of very great importance in the later history both of England and of America. 243. Persecution of the Extreme Protestants. — Archbishop Whitgift, who came into office in 1583, applied the Act of Uni- formity with such severity as to call out a protest from Lord Burghley. Whitgift worked through the Court of High Com- mission, a special court erected for the carrying out of the church system established by the various acts of parliament. The court was specially empowered to judge and punish heresy, but until this time it had exercised its powers very leniently. After 1583 its activity became offensive to the majority of the people of England, though it must be remembered that the period was a critical one in the history of the English church. The plots of the Roman Catholics, the threatened invasion of Philip II, the dependence of the church upon the state, which was itself far from secure, rendered the attacks of the Puritans a very real menace to the ecclesiastical authorities. There were Puritan members in parliament and the Privy Council, and. Elizabeth herself had taken occasion to rebuke those bodies, coming out strongly against all " new-f angledness." In 1588 the Puritans began to issue pamphlets of a most scurrilous character, attacking the bishops and signed "Martin Mar- prelate." This violent controversy, occurring in the very year of the Armada, injured the Puritan cause and led to a reaction 244 THE AGE OE ELIZABETH. [1601 against all Non-conformists and Separatists.^ They were charged with disloyalty in that they threatened England with disunion at a very critical juncture (1586-1588), and certain measures were taken against them, which culminated in the act of parliament of 1593. This act was directed against " sedi- tious sectaries and disloyal persons," and inaugurated a new persecution, chiefly of the Separatists. Many were driven into exile and all were silenced. This persecution continued into the next reign, and among those who suffered was a congregation of Separatists in northern England, who, "hunted and persecuted on every side," fled from England in 1608, going first to Holland and finally to America. These were the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620. 244. Last Years of Elizabeth's Reign. — Elizabeth's last years ' were stormy. The war with Spain dragged on. A new insur- rection in Ireland kept that land in a state of unbroken dis- turbance ; while the persecution of the Roman Catholics, the Non-conformists, and the Separatists provoked bitterness of feeling at home. Despite the growing national sentiment there was a feeling of despondency in the air. Elizabeth herself was growing old and petulant. Her favorite, Essex, who had taken Leicester's place in her affections, was a source of continual anxiety to her ; and his disobedience, misconduct, and finally his treason, for which he was executed in 1601, caused her great grief. With parliament she came into conflict over the question of monopolies. When her diminishing in- come made it impossible for her to make gifts, she had been 1 The Conformists (Anglicans), members of the church of England, were content with the church as it then was. The Non-conformists, in the narrower use of the word, included (1) the Puritans, who desired reform in the prayer book and the ritual, and (2) the Presbyterians, who wanted a change in the organization as well. During Elizabeth's reign the Non-conformists did not wish separation from the church of England. The Separatists (Independents) objected to a national church and wished each congregation to be self-govern- ing and independent. In the second half of the seventeenth century "Non- conformist " was used to designate all who refused to conform to the Anglican church — Roman Catholics and Quakers, as well as those mentioned above. 1603] THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 245 accustomed to grant to favored persons absolute control over the sale of such commodities as salt, corn, and oil, and in 1601 parliament protested against this practice. Her submis- sion on this occasion was almost the last great act of her life. Elizabeth was out- living her time. Burghley, the last of her old advisers, had died in 1598, and the younger men, such as Essex, Robert Cecil, Ralegh, the Bacons, and others, were out of touch with her and quarrelling for posi- tion and influence. The new generation of the nation, who knew more of her persecu- tions than of her cau- tious diplomacy and wise moderation, greeted her appear- ance with less enthusi- asm than of old and called her miserly. G-radually she drew near her end, and on March 20, 1603, she died, in the seventieth year of her age and the forty-fifth of her reign. 245. The Elizabethan Age. — As we finish the long and in- volved period of Elizabeth's reign, we realize that we are face to face with a new and more modern era of English history. England had become a power of first rank, and her people had in- creased in numbers and had become prosperous. For forty years Englishmen had been building ships, and English ships were now sailing on every sea. Trade with the East Indies de- ■ ■^"^^^^■l^l Wr ^^^^^^^BralH ^^ln^'^'\ ^^^^H H i , ■'i jH^^^^^^^^^^^UH Ki^fl W/jM HBiiiM^Hi Sir Walter Ralegh. From a portrait by Zuccaro in the National Portrait Gallery. 246 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1603 veloped greatly, and to extend this trade Englisli sailors had tried to find the " Northeast " and " Northwest " passages. Chancellor sailed to the northeast into the White Sea and opened up trade with Russia. Martin Frobisher (1576) and Davis (1583) sailed far into the frozen north in the New World, and Baffin and Hudson followed them later. English fishermen were found off the banks of Newfound- land and in the whal- ing waters off the coast of Greenland. Commerce was growing, as was also the navy, and the few colonial expeditions, notably those of Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Ea- legh,'^ foreshadowed the great colonial activities of the sev- enteenth century. Agriculture received a new impulse when in 1598 parliament passed an act forbidding enclosures for pas- 1 Walter Ralegh's plan was to oppose Spain by planting colonies in America. In 1585 and in 1587 he made attempts to colonize, which, though unsuccessful, paved the way for the permanent settlement of 1607. SiK Martin Frobisher. From a portrait by Ketel in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 1603] THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 247 ture purposes. Sheep rearing consequently declined in impor- tance, tillage was encouraged, with better farming methods, and soil became more productive, and new staples like hops and potatoes were introduced. As wealth increased, so did luxury and display. The poor and the vagabonds were dealt with once more in the famous Poor Laws of 1597 and 1601, which extended the law of 1563 and brought into more systematic form all the earlier measures, throwing the care of the poor on the parishes and the execution of the laws on the justices of the peace. The acts were not suc- cessful, for they en- couraged pauperism, making it more profit- able for a workman to live on the parish than to engage in honest labor, and increasing the cost of taking care of the poor from less than a million pounds in the seventeenth cen- tury to nearly eight million at the begin- ning of the nineteenth. The system was not changed till 1834. With the prosper- ity that followed im- proved agriculture, commerce, and indus- try, conditions of liv- ing improved. For the first time the farmers' houses were provided with chimneys and windows, and windowpanes came into use with the reduction in the price of glass. Owing to the peace and the general feeling of security, houses of the William Shakespeare. From the engraving by Martin Droeshout in the first folio, published 1623. 248 THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. [1603 wealthy were built for comfort and not for defence. Carpets took the place of reeds and rushes ; rooms were cleaner and better furnished ; the quality of food improved, and pewter plates and knives came into use, though forks were not intro- duced till the next reign. Clothing became finer and more elaborate, due in part to the importations of silk that followed From a photograph. Church op the Holy Trinity, Stratford-on-Avon. Shakespeare is buried here. the growth of trade. In general, the outlook was happier, the people more contented, and a fair measure of prosperity pre- vailed throughout the kingdom. More noteworthy even than the changes in material con- ditions were the advances in intellectual and literary life. Matthew Parker was almost the first to edit historical texts relating to early English history ; Holinshed and Stow were among the first to write chronicles in English ; while Elizabeth herself was the first sovereign to begin a collectioiij in system- 1603] THE ELIZABETHAN AGE. 249 atic form, of national documents, a work which resulted a century later in the publication of Rymer's Foedera, and is represented to-day by the great Calendar of State Papers, an index to the splendid collections of official materials which England possesses for the writing of her own history. There is no better witness to the reality of the new national feeling in England than the expression which it found in poetry, prose, and the drama during the last twenty years of Elizabeth's reign. For this there had been a long preparation. In the towns the level of education had been steadily rising for two centuries, and free grammar schools, founded by the trading classes, had spread widely a knowledge of reading and writing, and made it common among the people. But no one could have anticipated the richness of the English Renaissance when it finally came. Beginning in poetry with Spenser's Fairy Queen, in drama with Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, in prose with Ascham's The Schoolmaster, Lyly's Euphues, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, and the writings of Francis Bacon, it reached its highest form in the plays of Shakespeare. There is no opportunity here to discuss the genius of these men or the growth of a national drama. The Elizabethan literature, like the deeds of Elizabethan seamen, stands as an expression of national confidence and enthusiasm, of national independence and self-reliance. CHAPTER XIV. THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. 246. England at the Opening of the Seventeenth Century. — As long as England was in danger from outside attack, the people forgot their religious and political differences and united for the defence of their land. But when the immediate danger had been removed by the victory over the Armada in 1588, they began to think about these differences and to define their religious and political views more exactly. On the religious side the Anglicans drew farther and farther away from the Presbyterians and the Independents. On the political side the members of parliament were becoming less and less will- ing to accept the subordinate position in government which they had hitherto occupied. Parliament had accepted the absolutism of the Tudors because a strong monarchy was needed to raise the kingdom to a position of political and religious independence. But England had now attained that position, and an abso- lute monarch was no longer required, as it had been in the days of Henry YII and Henry VIII. During the last years of Elizabeth's reign parliament had become restless, but as long as the queen lived the nation remained loyal to the sover- eign whose reign had brought it peace and prosperity. But neither parliament nor nation were willing to yield so submis- sively to the wishes of her successor. The middle class, mer- chants, artisans, and lawyers, representing the boroughs as the landed gentry continued to represent the counties, were coming to the front and were taking the lead in the House of Commons. This house had been and still was inferior in importance to the House of Lords, but it was beginning to assume a more independent position, and it now took up the 260 1603] JAMES I (VI OF SCOTLAND). 251 struggle with monarchy in order to obtain, if possible, a greater control in matters of government. While king and parliament were struggling over the ques- tion of government, Anglican and Puritan were in conflict over the equally important question of the faith and organiza- tion of the church. These tWo phases of the period from 1604 to 1689 were so inextricably interwoven that in treatment they cannot be separated. The High Churchmen were generally the supporters of the divine right of monarchy, while the Low Churchmen and the Dissenters were generally the upholders of the claims of parliament. The former were the conservatives in politics and religion, the latter were more radical, wishing im- portant changes in government and in the creed and organi- zation of the church. Neither of these parties knew exactly what it wanted at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but each defined its position more exactly as it went along. Had it not been for the re- ligious difficulty the quarrel about govern- ment might have been settled, but at this time men were not willing to compromise on questions of belief. James I. Erom a portrait (1621) by Paul von Somer in the National Portrait Gallery, London. 247. James I (VI of Scotland ). — The new king, James Stuart, son of Mary Queen of Scots, was the man called upon to face 252 THE STUAKTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1603 the difficult situation in 1603. His right to the throne was based not on parliamentary act, but upon heredity, as the great grandson of Henry VII. He was good natured, fond of peace, and opposed to extremes of any kind. He was learned in a way, a poet, a writer on theological and other subjects, such as the use of tobacco, which he heartily disliked, and, in his own opinion, he was an authority upon many of the troublesome questions of the time. Unfortunately he was conceited, indolent, and lacking in good judgment; and he was easily angered if any one opposed him. More serious still, he did not understand the new spirit of the English people, and had none of Elizabeth's sympathy and tact; none of her instinctive sense of what the people wanted. He was obstinate, never knew how to yield at the right time, and looked on one who diifered with him as an enemy. Still more important were his views on kingship. He believed that his right to rule came from God alone — the divine right of kings. He did not defend an absolute monarchy, but he did assert that his power came from above and that parliament had no right to limit that power. In this view he was upheld by the legal opinion of his day and by the history of kingship up to that time. 248. The Position of Parliament. — Over against the king stood parliament, many members of which held a different opin'-in. They believed that the king should be to a certain extent depend- ent on parliament. Just as James did not believe in an absolute monarchy entirely independent of parliament, so parliament did not believe that it could exercise absolute authority in govern- ment. The majority of the members wanted a division of powers, part belonging to the king, part to parliament. Unfortunately they could not agree as to where the line should be drawn ; anr though the king had law and history on his side, parliament was aided by a growing dislike of the king's power, by discus- sions taking place at the time as to how the government should be conducted, and by the increase of the Puritan party which was very democratic in many of its political views. 1604J JAMES'S ATTITUDE TOWAED NON-CONFORMISTS. 253 249. First Quarrel with Parliament. — At the very beginning James came into conflict with parliament over this and other questions. He declared, in 1604, that the privileges of parlia- ment were enjoyed only by the favor of the king, and that the members could not claim these privileges as their exclusive right. The particular privilege over which the dispute arose was the final control of the election of members in disputed cases. At once the House of Commons drew up a strongly worded Apology (June, 1604), defending the liberties of English sub- jects and denying each point made by the king. The Apology was never presented to the king, but is important because con- taining at this very early date a statement of the principles for which the House of Commons was to contend in its struggle with monarchy during the ensuing eighty-four years. " They did not ask for anything that was not in accordance with justice, and they did not demand a single privilege that was not neces- sary for the good of the nation as well as for their own dignity." In the years 1606-1610 disputes of such a kind arose that in 1610 the House of Commons endeavored to find out what was the nature of the king's authority and to reach an agreement on the points in dispute. For example, in 1609 James had raised money by levying a feudal aid (p. 79) when his son Henry was knighted. The outcry against this act was so great that parliament agreed to buy the king's feudal rights for £200,000; but the bargain fell through. Other disputes arose regarding the king's right to impose customs duties, to grant monopolies in trade, and to take for royal use a man's property, such as timber, provisions, and the like, even when he paid for what was seized. But no final agreement was reached in any of these matters. 250. James's Attitude toward Non-conformists. — Puritans and Roman Catholics looked forward with expectation to the com- ing of James, because they knew that he did not sympathize with the persecutions of Dissenters and Eoman Catholics, which had been permitted by Elizabeth. But James very soon let it be known that he proposed to uphold the established 254 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1605 church. While on his way from Scotland to London, the Puritans presented to him a petition asking for certain moder- ate changes in the service and practices of the church.^ This petition James refused and from this time forward the Puri- tans had little to expect from the king, and many left England, some of them to find their way to America. Toward the Roman Catholics, James showed himself more tolerant. He aroused the hostility and suspicion of parliament by allowing his secretary of state, Robert Cecil, Lord Burgh- ley's son, to bring to aa end the war with Spain. In August, 1604, a treaty between England and Spain was signed in Lon- don. This treaty was very unpopular, partly because of the prevailing hatred of Spain and partly because in signing it the English government seemed to be deserting the Dutch who were still fighting for independence from Spanish rule. James did not like the laws against the heretics passed under Elizabeth and in his opening speech in parliament, 1604, de- clared in favor of moderating these laws. But parliament instead of doing as the king wished made the laws more severe. It is possible that James would have executed the laws with mildness had not two or three plots at the beginning of his reign destroyed all hope of toleration. 251. Gunpowder Plot. — The most famous of these was the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This plot was a scheme to blow up the houses of parliament by means of gunpowder placed in lln answer to this petition James summoned a conference at Hampton Court where representatives of the Anglicans and Puritans held a lengthy- hut fruitless debate. One outcome of this conference was a proposal for a new translation of the Bible by the leader of the Puritan party. Forty-seven scholars were chosen from among the most learned clergymen and laymen of the day, and after nearly three years' work the separate parts were completed. In 1611 the new book was published. The language is simple and dignified, exhibiting many characteristic expressions and usages of that day, and con- taining a very large percentage of words of Saxon derivation. Probably no single book has had a greater influence upon the shaping of the English lan- guage than has the authorized version of the Bible. In 1911 was held a cele- bration of the three hundredth anniversary of its publication, and a special commemorative edition was issued reproducing the original form of the work. 1605] GUNPOWDER PLOT. 255 the cellar vaults and so to destroy the king, his sons, and the members of both houses. The government made a great deal Guy Fawkes's Lantern. The poster behind the lantern contains a picture of the conspirators (beginning at the right, John Wright, Catesby, Guy Fawkes, Percy, Thomas Winter, Christopher Wright, Robert Winter, and a servant), a description of each, and a facsimile of the letter to Lord Monteagle. It is a copy of a very rare contemporary print. The lantern was presented to Oxford University by Robert Heywood in 1641. of the plot, encouraging the general suspicion that it was part of a great Roman Catholic conspiracy. That it was so, how- ever, has never been proved, but the immediate results were all that could have been desired. The leading conspirators, of whom Guy Fawkes was the chief, were cruelly executed, and the laws against Roman Catholics were made much more severe. From this time toleration for Roman Catholics became 256 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1612 impossible, and the hatred of them felt during the century that followed may be traced to the impression that the Gunpowder Plot left on the minds of the English people. 252. Trading Companies : Settlement of Virginia. — The great- est interest of the period, so far as affairs outside of England were concerned, lay in the expansion of commerce and the beginnings of settlement in America. The promotion of com- merce was the work of trading companies instead of private individuals, such as had conducted the voyages of exploration under Elizabeth. One of the oldest of these companies was the Merchant Adventurers (p. 178), which had been incorporated in 1564. But new companies entered the field and were duly chartered by the crown. They traded with Eussia, and along the Baltic, with Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean, and else- where. Most important of these companies was the East India Company, trading with India, Persia, Arabia, and the islands in the Indian Ocean. Each company had a monopoly of its particular territory and was looked upon at this time as a public benefit, inasmuch as it not merely made money for itself, but also promoted the welfare of the state by taking out manufactured goods and bringing back coin or raw materials. By means of these companies of merchants, trade with all parts of the world increased and became a matter of so much importance to James that he extended their privileges and ap- pointed committees at home to look after trade and commerce. But not only for trade were companies organized. In 1606 two companies, the London Company and the Plymouth Com- pany, were organized - for purposes of colonization. Their charters authorized them to make settlements in North America, and the London Company started a settlement at once at Jamestown in Virginia (1607). After many struggles, the Jamestown colonists began to prosper, and to them is due the credit of having founded the first permanent English settlement in the New World. 253. The Spanish Marriage. — In 1612 Robert Cecil died, and also Prince Henry, the king's eldest and ablest son. A change 1619] THE SPANISH MARRIAGE. 257 now took place in the character and policy of the king. James was always susceptible to the influence of favorites, and in 1616 took as his favorite and ad- viser George Villiers, later duke of Buck- ingham. Behind Villiers was working a powerful pro-Spanish party, the leaders of which were the Spanish ministers. James came very much under their influence, gradually became al- ienated from the Prot- estants, and finally agreed to a marriage between his son Charles and the Spanish Infanta. Notwithstanding its unpopularity, James persisted in this mar- riage because he needed the dowry of the Infanta to help pay his debts. In 1613 Elizabeth, the daughter of James, had mar- ried Frederick of the Palatinate in Germany, who, on the death of his father, became Frederick V, the head of the Protes- tant Union of Germany. In 1619 Frederick accepted the invitation of the Bohemian Protestants to become their king. As this acceptance meant war with the emperor, who had an hereditary right to the throne of Bohemia, James would naturally be expected to support his son-in-law; but if his son should marry a Spanish princess, and Spain should sup- port the imperial cause in Germany, James would find liim- George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. From a miniature at Windsor by Isaac Oliver. 258 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1621 self in a difficult position, supporting' Protestants and Koman Catholics at the same time. As the king insisted on the Spanish marriage, Prince Charles and the duke of Buckingham went to Madrid in 1623 to com- plete the marriage treaty. The question was debated in the Spanish Council, where it was decided that the marriage could not be allowed, as it would complicate Spain's relations with the emperor in Germany. So Charles returned to England unmarried, and James, angry because of the failure of his scheme, turned from Spain and completely reversed his former policy by seeking the hand of the French princess, Henrietta Maria, for his son. 254. Further Relations with Parliament. — All this time James was hopelessly in debt. In 1614 he had been com- pelled to summon a second parliament, but as that body wished to discuss what it considered its grievances before it granted the king more money, James dismissed it at once. Prom 1611, therefore, when his first parliament had ended, to 1621, he ruled without parliament, and continued extending his expenditures and adding to his debts. So complicated had his finances and his foreign relations become by 1621 that James called a third parliament. Eng- lish parliament and people were aroused by the great Thirty Years' War in Germany, and were eager to help the Protes- tants there, who were fighting against the emperor aided by forces from Spain. When parliament convened, it began to find fault with the king for his double-faced foreign policy. James reprimanded it sharply for meddling "with anything concerning government or deep matters of state." Parliament in its turn considered this reprimand an infringement on the right of freedom of speech, and made a vigorous Protest (1621), recording in its journal a statement that freedom of speech was a privilege of parliament. Ten days afterward James sent for the journal, tore out the offending page, and then dis- solved parliament. These events aroused great excitement in England. The Protest of 1621 supplemented the Apology 1625] THE STRUGGLE WITH PARLIAMENT. 259 of 1604 (p. 253), and both anticipated tlie struggle which was to be fought out under, the successor of James, his less practical and less trustworthy son, Charles. 255. Results of James's Reign. — In 1625 James died. His policy had everywhere proved a failure. In his desire for peace and the Spanish alliance he had sacrificed E-alegh, who had led an unsuccessful expedition to Guiana, and was exe- cuted in 1618 for attacking the Spanish there. He had re- fused to help his Protestant son-in-law in Germany, and had got into trouble with parliament. Yet in the end he had married his son to a French princess, and had declared war on Spain in 1624. By his views on monarchy and his tenacious adherence to his royal prerogative, he had turned parliament against him; and yet, in the end, had been forced to yield most of the points in dispute. Parliament successfully de- fended its privileges; secured the right to discuss affairs of state ; overthrew monopolies ; and, by impeaching Sir Prancis Bacon in 1621 for receiving bribes, made good the principle that the ministers of the king ought to be held responsible for ■ their acts. It was evident that the successor of James would have to be a conciliatory and tactful man if he were to avoid a conflict with the suspicious and discontented representatives of the people. 256. Charles I. — Charles I was personally more pleasing than James, and the fact that his reign opened with war against Spain made him for the moment popular. But Charles, by descent, was not an Englishman, and he never understood the English law or the English people. Gardiner, the historian of the Stuarts, says, " Born of a Scottish father and a Danish mother, with a grandmother who was half Prench by birth and altogether Prench by breeding, with a Prench wife, with German nephews, and a Dutch son-in-law, Charles had nothing in him in touch with that national feeling, which no ruler of England can afford to despise." 257. The Struggle with Parliament. — Charles had promised parliament in 1624 that, in arranging the terms of his marriage 260 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1626 with Henrietta Maria of France, lie would not consider any proposition favoring the Roman Catholics of England. But Charles I and His Wife. From Van Voerst's engraving after a portrait by Van Dyck. he broke his promise. Parliament desired the alliance with Erance, in order to carry on war with Spain, but it did not wish to make concessions to the Catholics. So when a new parliament was summoned, trouble at once began. Charles asked for a large grant of supplies, and parliament showed its want of confidence in the king and Buckingham, by voting but a small amount of money for the war with Spain, and by set- tling upon the king the tonnage and poundage — that is, the customs duties — for one year only, instead of for life, as had been the practice hitherto. The wisdom of parliament in so acting became apparent when the expedition of Buckingham against Spain ended in inglorious failure. Parliament at once impeached Buckingham. But the 1628] THE PETITION OF RIGHT. 261 king refused to recognize their right, saying, " I must let you know that I will not allow any of my servants to be questioned among you, much less such as are of eminent place and near me." Again the question was debated as to whether or not the king's ministers were responsible to parliament. By im- peaching Buckingham, parliament maintained that they were; but the king, in his message, maintained that they were not, and immediately dissolved parliament (1626). The king's position was becoming exceedingly awkward. Charles had no money, for Parliament had been dissolved so hastily that a grant had not been made. Besides, having quar- relled with Louis XIII about the marriage treaty, he was in danger of becoming involved in war, not only with Spain, but with France also. He saw the need of desperate remedies, and between 1626 and 1628 used every device to raise money. He made illegal exactions of the customs revenues and planned a general assessment of all the people, just as if parliament had made a grant. When individuals refused to pay, he imprisoned them if rich, and if poor, impressed them in the navy or quar- tered soldiers upon them. But even these arbitrary methods failed to supply the king, and the need of money compelled him to summon a second parliament (1628). The new body was quick to seize its opportunity. Under the lead of Thomas Wentworth, afterward earl of Strafford, it at once appointed a committee of grievances, which drew up, after long debate and much difference of opinion between Lords and Commons, a declaration of the rights of the English people. 258. The Petition of Right. — At first the Commons tried to accomplish their purpose by drawing up a bill, defining the liberties of the subject, to be passed into law in the usual manner. But fearing that the king would not give his assent, because such law would bind him too much, they changed the bill to a petition — a petition of right, a remedy available to any one of the king's subjects at any time — enforcement of which in the courts was dependent on the king's word and not on the law of the land. Their object was to obtain from the 262 THE STUARTS AND PAELIAMENT. [1628 king a voluntary limiting of his prerogative in certain particu- lars, in order that the courts might in such cases interpret the law in favor of the petitioners. But to make their petition more impressive and to give it the solemnity of a bill, they caused it to be passed through the houses in the manner of a bill, and they demanded of the king that he give his consent in full parliament. This the king did, after some hesitation, on June 7, 1628. Thus the petition became a matter of per- manent record, a circumstance which rendered it much more difficult for the king to refuse to carry out what he had prom- ised. The House of Commons had now gained a great victory. The king had given his word, in the most solemn manner pos- sible, that neither he nor his officers, ministers, or the judges in his courts would henceforth do any one of the four things to which the House of Commons objected. He promised (1) not to force money from the people by demanding loans, benevolences, or other exactions against their wills ; (2) not to commit any one to prison without showing a suffi- cient cause for doing so ; (3) not to billet soldiers and mariners upon the people, by compelling the inhabitants to take them into their houses and support them there ; and (4) not to exercise military or martial law in any part of England in time of peace. 259. The Parliament of 1629. — The passage of the Petition of Right was only a temporary compromise, for the king had no intention of yielding permanently. It marks the beginning of a great struggle on the part of parliament for a further limitation of the authority of the king and the church. Yet at this date an agreement might have been reached, for the best men of the House of Commons were anxious that king and parliament should work in harmony. But even before the close of the session of 1628, the harmony was broken. The king declared that he had the right to levy tonnage and poundage, that is, customs dues (see p. 185), without the 1629] THE PERSONAL RULE OF CHARLES L 263 assent of parliament, bvt the latter, resting its case upon the word "tax" in the first clause of the Petition of Eight, as- serted that the king's levying such dues would be a breach of the law. Again on the opening of the new session in January, 1629, a further deadlock arose over the king's assertion that the bishops had authority to interpret the meaning of the Thirty-nine Articles, and that all people must accept their interpretation. The king adjourned the house, but when the speaker sought to comply, a striking scene was enacted. A group of five members led by John Eliot held the speaker by force in the chair while a series of resolutions were adopted covering the points in question as a kind of appeal to the country against the king and the bishops. Immediately after this defiant action, the king dissolved parliament, and sent the five leaders to the Tower. There, after a confinement of three years, Eliot died, a martyr to the cause of parliamentary liberty (November, 1632). 260. The Personal Rule of Charles I (1629-1640). — Charles, having discovered that he could not work with parliament, determined to get along without it. For eleven years he governed England in the way that seemed to him best. He stood alone, for Buckingham had been assassinated by a dis- contented officer named Eelton, just before parliament had assembled in 1629. His government was not all bad, as has too frequently been concluded, for it accomplished a great deal that was good for England ; but the methods were bad and illegal, and brought the work of the king and his advisers into discredit. During this period the chief advisers of the king were Wentworth and Laud, archbishop of Canterbury. Wentworth had been on the side of the House of Commons and was the real author of the Petition of Right, but he had soon found hims3lf out of touch with Eliot and the Puritans. Satisfied with the correction of the abuses named in the Petition, in 1628 he had given his support to the cause of the king. Laud, the representative of the high church party among the Angli- 264 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1633 cans, had come into favor with the king, and was guiding his ecclesiastical policy. Neither Wentworth nor Laud desired anything but the good of England ; but each was intolerant and uncompromising, and insisted that his system be applied without regard for the opposition it met on every side. The good that they did has been forgotten, and only the evil remembered. 261. The " Thorough " Policy of Wentworth and Laud. — Hav- ing been appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1632, Went- worth undertook to reform the Irish system without regard for the private interests of any one. He attempted to bring order and efficiency out of chaos and corruption. He reorgan- ized the army, suppressed pirates, enforced discipline, and encouraged manufactures and commerce. His motives were excellent, but his methods were questionable. He bullied the Irish parliament, fined juries that decided against him, abused Irish officials, and constantly interfered with the customs of the Irish tribes, particularly in the matt^ of their lands. Wentworth was a man of force and ability but without good judgment, and though for seven years he gave Ireland peace and order, he destroyed every vestige of self-government, and on his withdrawal in 1639 he left the island seething with discontent. Meanwhile in England Laud was trying to do for the church what Wentworth was attempting to do for Ireland. Having definite ideas as to what the doctrine, ritual, and organization of the church should be, he was determined to force these ideas upon others. He harried Puritans and Presbyterians and all who by word or deed differed with him. After 1633, when he was made archbishop of Canterbury, he became " thorough " in the strictest sense of the word. He deserves credit in that he restored order and decency in the churches and ennobled the ritual. But, on the other hand, he persecuted Puritan divines, and imprisoned and mutilated writers who attacked the stage, court life, and church ceremoniaL The excitement prevailing in England was intense, and Puritan emigration to America increased. 1637] THE KING'S FINANCIAL MEASUKES. 265 262. The King's Financial Measures. — Having no money by- parliamentary grant, the king was forced to employ all sorts of financial expedients to raise it. The customs dues proving in- sufficient, he resorted to three other methods of raising money. 1. He revived old feudal obligations, and compelled every freeholder having land worth £ 40 a year to become a knight, or, in case of refusal, to pay a fine. 2. He sent commission- ers to trace the boundaries of the "forests," and by enlarging these boundaries compelled all whose lands fell within the new limits to pay large amounts in order to obtain back their es- tates. 3. He sold to incorporated companies monopolies of coal, soap, starch, iron, gunpowder, tobacco, salt, and the like, thus injuring legitimate trade and increasing the cost of living. By the knighthood fines he estranged the well-to-do gentry; by enlarging the forests he ojffended the nobility and men of quality; by the sale of monopolies he made the lot of the wage-earners more burdensome.^ Finally Charles made a demand for ship-money, seeing in it "a spring and magazine that should have no bottom and an everlasting supply on all occasions." Formerly in time of war it had been customary to levy ship-money on the sea-ports ; but the king's attorney-general, Noy, suggested that the practice be revived in times of peace. In 1634 the first levies were made on London and a few other ports ; in 1635 a second levy was made, this time on the inland counties ; in 1636 a third ; and in 1637 a fourth. There was grumbling, but the majority of those assessed paid the tax. In 1636, however, John Hamp- den, a wealthy gentleman of Buckinghamshire, resisted pay- ment, and the case was tried in 1637 before the judges of the Court of the Exchequer. Seven decided for the king, five 1 The only classes not affected were the very poor and the unemployed. Both in Ireland and in England the government made exceptionally success- ful efforts to carry out the Poor Laws, and to relieve the poor from the op- pression of the rich. The Privy Council enforced the Law of Apprentices, suppressed vagrancy, gave work to the unemployed, and protected the desti- tute. During the period from 1631 to 1640 there was more poor relief in Eng- land than at any other time in English history. 266 THE STUARTS AKD PARLIAMENT. [1640 against. It was ominous that the majority for the king was only two, and that in the minds of the people the defenders of Hampden had the better of the argument. 263. The Scottish Revolt. — After such a victory for the king, parliamentary government seemed to be at an end. The Star Chamber (Privy Council, p. 183) and the High Commis- sion Court seemed more powerful than ever. Men were sum- moned before these bodies for insufficient cause and were punished often harshly and unreasonably. Each year the action of the Privy Council became more oppressive, its orders more arbitrary, and its disregard of the rights of property, the liberty of the subject, and the independence of the law courts more intolerable. England was divided into two camps: on one side were the upholders of the privileges of parliament, the common law courts, the low churchmen, and the Puritans ; on the other the upholders of the full royal prerogative, the supporters of the policy of the Privy Council, and the high churchmen. Yet in this same year (1637) a movement began in Scotland which was to lead to the destruction of the system that the king, Wentworth, and Laud had so carefully built up. When Charles tried to extend Laud's ecclesiastical regulations into Scotland, all classes of the people — noblemen, barons, gentle- men, burgesses, ministers, and commons — resisted, and in March, 1638, signed the National Covenant, thereby support- ing the reformed religion of Scotland. In an assembly held in Glasgow in November, 1639, they abolished E-piscopacy and the prayer book altogether. The king, aroused by this defiant act, called Wentworth from Ireland to help coerce Scotland, at the same time creating him earl of Strafford (1640). Strafford, knowing that Charles without army or money was in no condition to war against the Scots, advised the king to call a parliament and throw the responsibility of a decision upon its members. The king, glad to be relieved of the re- sponsibility, accepted the suggestion, and on April 13, 1640, convened the first parliament that had sat in eleven years. 1640] THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 267 But this body, led by John Pym, a Somersetshire squire, showed that the position taken by it in 1628 and 1629 was un- changed, and Pym in a firm but conciliatory speech repeated the grievances of parlia- ment. Charles, angry because parliament refused to grant sup- plies before griev- ances were redressed, dissolved it on May 5, after a session of only three weeks, and so threw away the last opportunity of friendly compromise. Two systems of govt ernment in church and state had come into conflict and the differences were seen to be irreconcilable. In Scotland the policy of " thorough " failed. A Scottish army invaded England, entered Newcastle, and nearly captured York. The king called a council of peers, but received only the advice to summon another parliament. There was nothing else for him to do. The Scottish army was in the northern counties. Strafford ha.d not succeeded in forcing money from London, or even in borrowing it of Spain or the pope. People in the counties were resisting the payment of ship-money; the apprentices and journeymen were rioting in London. Under these circumstances were elected the men who, at Westminster, on November 3> 1640, assembled in parliament. A great crisis was at hand. 264. The Long Parliament. — The members of this new as- sembly came together with a grim determination to be, as Pym John Pym. Erom Houbraken's engraving after a portrait by Janssen in South Kensington Museum. 268 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1640 said, " of another temper than they were the last parliament " ; determined not only "to sweep the house clean below, but to pull down all the cob- webs which hung in the tops and corners, that they might not breed dust and so make a foul house hereafter." They had resolved to ac- complish three things : (1) to release from prison those who had suffered from the king's arbitrary methods; (2) to punish the king's ministers and advi- sers ; (3) to strengthen the constitution so that the arbitrary, rule would be im- possible hereafter. First of all, there- fore, political prisoners were released and welcomed to Lon- don by crowds of sympathizers. Then, on November 11, Strafford was impeached and sent to the Tower, and Laud likewise was imprisoned. The charge of treason would not hold against Strafford, for his acts had not been directed against the king. The House of Commons, therefore, changed che bill of impeachment to one of attainder, which called for no trial, and gave no opportunity to the accused to de- fend himself. To his shame, Charles signed away the life of his minister, to whom he had given the promise that he " should not suffer in life, honor or fortune." King as well as parliament was rendered cowardly by terror. On May 12, .■^'« -3 ■:0/- /l-^^W^-'' ■ Thomas Wentworth, Earl or Strafford. From a copy of a lost portrait by Van Dyck. 1641] RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES. 269 1641, Strafford was executed on Tower Hill, and five years later Archbishop Laud met the same fate. Meanwhile the attack on absolute government had begun, and in six weeks the revolution against the Stuart system was for the time being complete. The royal prerogative was shorn of many of its powers. Fearing lest Charles might pro- rogue or dissolve parliament, and again attempt to rule with- out it, the House of Commons passed the Triennial Act, which ordered that no more than three years should ever elapse with- out a summons of parliament. Another act forbade the king to dissolve the existing parliament without its own consent. The king, threatened with the cutting off of his subsidies, signed each act. Parliament swept away the High Commission Court, the Councils of the North and of Wales, and took away the judi- cial powers which the Privy Council, sitting as the Court of Star Chamber, had exercised so oppressively. It made the levying of tonnage and poundage absolutely dependent on a parliamentary grant, and so settled finally the long dispute over the control of customs dues. It prohibited further tam- pering with the forest boundaries, forbade the exacting of fees for knighthood, and declared ship-money unlawful. Thus, the statute law was placed above the king, and extraordinary courts of justice were permanently forbidden. Henceforth the king must exercise his authority in accordance with the statutes and with the decisions of the common law courts. These reforms represent the greatest and most important work of the Long Parliament. In this work of adjusting the constitution the members acted with extraordinary unanimity, and step by step brought the constitution nearer the form it bears to-day. 265. Religious Differences. — But as soon as religious ques- tions were brought forward the harmony in parliament disap- peared. The conservative members — whom we may call the church party — preferred the Anglican system as it was, and were unwilling to alter the existing organization of the church. The other party, consisting of the extreme Puritans, that is to 270 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1641 say, the Presbyterians and Independents, led by Oliver Crom- well and Sir Harry Vane, were not satisfied and wished to abolish Episcopacy, that is, church gov- ernment by archbish- ops and bishops. Thus, when parlia- ment resumed its session in October, 1641, two parties were already forming in the House of Com- mons and the House of Lords: one be- lieved that further change in the consti- tution was undesir- able and that parliament should be content with what it had accomplished ; the other wished to go farther. As mu- tual distrust arose and these parties be- gan to drift farther and farther apart, the Puritans in a memorable sitting on November 8 presented for adoption a Grand Eemonstrance, an appeal to the nation against the king. 266. The Grand Remonstrance. — In this remonstrance all the members of parliament were called upon to commit themselves to the opinion of the extreme Protestants. The remonstrance demanded: first, that the king should select councillors of whom parliament could approve ; and second, and more im- portant still, that a synod of divines be called to reform the church. The church party might perhaps have accepted the first remedy, but ^t could not accept the second, because no Sir Harry Vane. From an engraving of a miniature by Flat- man in the Montagu House collection. 1641] CHARLES TRIES TO ARREST THE LEADERS. 271 Anglican would trust an assembly of Presbyterian and Inde- pendent ministers to model the church as it pleased. When, finally, the roll was called it was found that the remonstrance had been carried by the narrow margin of eleven votes. " If the remonstrance had been rejected," said Cromwell, " I would From an old evgraiiivij. Old Houses op Parliament, Westminster Hall, and Westminster Abbey. have sold all that I had and never seen England any more." For the extreme party it was a critical moment and a great victory. But it was also a deplorable victory, for it divided the nation into two camps, whose attitude toward each other became daily more hostile and irreconcilable. 267. Charles tries to arrest the Leaders. — The church party now went over to the side of the king. With every month the excitement increased and rumors went abroad that to save the crown and the church Charles was preparing to treat Pym and Hampden as Pym and Hampden had treated Strafford. That he had deliberately formed such a plan is doubtful, for it was his habit to act rather from impulse than design. Early in January he heard that the parliamentary leaders were resolved to impeach the. queen, Henrietta Maria, as the cause of all the mischief. The chivalrous instincts of the king were aroused, 272 THE STUAETS AND PARLIAMENT. [1642 but he committed at this point an irretrievable blunder, by- entering the chamber of the House of Commons, where, ac- cording to the privilege claimed by that house, the king was not to go.^ On January 4, 1642, Charles went in person, with four hundred soldiers, to seize Pym, Hampden, and three other leaders. The king's plan failed, for the leaders were warned in time, and made their escape. It is probable that he had not intended to act treacherously, but he was hopelessly in the wrong, for in vio- lating the privileges of the House, he had committed an act which not only destroyed the faith of parliament in him, but rendered compromise impossible. 268. Immediate Causes of the Civil War. — The attempt to arrest Pym and Hampden was not the immediate cause of the war that followed. That is to be found in the struggle between the king and parliament to control the militia of the kingdom. Parliament, distrusting the king, passed a militia hill in March, 1642, which took from the king the appointment of the lord- lieutenants of militia and the governors of the fortresses of the kingdom. This bill the king refused to sign, and parliament determined to enforce it without the king's consent. Two months later (May) Charles forbade the trained bands to obey parliament, and issued commissions of his own, calling out the militia. Parliament, in its turn, appointed a committee of public safety, voted to raise an army, and named the earl of Essex as leader of its troops. It sent to the king nineteen propositions as a kind of ultimatum, and in these demanded the right to control the appointment of ministers, councillors, and judges ; to manage home affairs, foreign affairs, the army and the navy, the church, justice, and, in short, all that con- cerned the government of the kingdom. But no king of that day would willingly have consented to such a curtailment of his powers, unless he had been absolutely compelled to do so. 1 To-day the king's speech at the opening of parliament is made in the House of Lords, and the members of the House of Commons, headed by their speaker, attend the king there in order to hear what he has to say. 1643] BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 273 In spite of these political difficulties an agreement might still have been reached had it not been for the religious ques- tion. The dispute regarding political supremacy became ten- fold more serious when its settlement threatened men with the loss of their religious liberties. The Puritans believed that the supremacy of the king meant the overthrow of their faith; the Anglicans believed that the supremacy of parliament meant the summoning of an assembly of divines to change the prayer book, and to reform the government of the Anglican church. No compromise between these views was possible. 269. Royalists (Cavaliers) and Parliamentarians (Roundheads). — England was divided into two opposing forces. A great majority of the House of Lords and a third of the House of Commons followed the king. Outside of parliament, the bulk of the gentry and landowners, the cathedral cities, and the university centres, like Oxford and Cambridge, were on the side of the king ; while the inhabitants of the towns, the manu- facturers, merchants, and artisans, were on the side of parlia- ment. Though exact lines cannot be drawn, we may say that socially the nobility were on one side, the freeholders and yeomanry on the other; that industrially the landowners were on one side, the commercial and trading classes on the other; and that geographically the west and north stood for the king, against the more thickly populated regions of the south and east, which supported parliament. Yet, in fact, the history of the war shows family divided against family, town against town, district against district. 270. Beginning of the War. — Parliament had the advantage in money and other resources, because it controlled the navy and the leading sea-ports, and was supported by London and the rich manufacturing towns. But when the war began, the king was at first successful, because he had on his side the cavaliers and men-at-arms, whose profession was that of fight- ing. The battle of Edgehill, fought on October 23, 1642, resulted in a defeat for the parliamentarians. Hampden was killed in June, 1643, and by September parliament was suffi- 274 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1644 ciently discouraged to turn to Scotland for aid. In the Solemn League and Covenant parliament made a bargain with the Scottish Presbyterians, by which, in return for arraed assist- ance, it promised to establish, if possible, Presbyterianism in England. But the great mass of the Independents, and Crom- well in particular, did not like this compromise with Presbyte- rianism. Cromwell advocated religious liberty, and he disliked not only the church system of the Presbyterians, but their intolerance, also. From the time that parliament entered into the Solemn League and Covenant with Scotland may be dated the beginning of a separation between the Presbyterians and Independents. The first decisive battle of the war was fought on July 2, 1644, at Marston Moor. On one side were the Scots, the parlia- mentary army under Pairfax, and the cavalry of the eastern counties under Cromwell; on the other were the royalists under Prince Rupert, son of the king's sister Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia (see p. 257). The battle was long and for a time doubtful ; but Cromwell's cavalry, the famous " Ironsides," won the day by their splendid discipline. The victory of Marston Moor gave to the parliamentarians the control of the north. 271. The New Model Army: End of the War. — A more im- portant result of the battle was the prominence it gave to Cromwell, who from now on labored to increase the efficiency of the army. During the remainder of the year 1644 and the spring of 1645 an entire change was effected in the army or- ganization. The soldiers were regularly paid, a rigorous discipline was introduced, and a high code of moral conduct was enforced. For officers Cromwell would not have politi- cians, gentlemen, or adventurers ; he demanded men who were good fighters, and who were so strongly imbued with a love for the cause as not to be ready to make terms with the king after every failure. In compliance with the " Self-deny- ing Ordinance," according to which no member of parliament was to hold command in the army, many old officers resigned 1647] THE INDEPENDENTS AND THE ARMY. 275 their positions. Sir Thomas Fairfax became commander-in- chief, with Cromwell as lieutenant-general, who, though a mem ber of parliament, was retained because his services could not be dispensed with. Thus the army was not only inspired with religious fervor and ready to fight with faith in God and its cause, but was also well disciplined and splendidly led. This fighting force was got ready none too soon, for in Scot= land there appeared for the king a new ally, who was carrying all before him. The fiery young earl of Montrose, at the head of his Highlanders, had beaten down the Presbyterian leader, Argyle, the head of the Campbells, and was winning victory after victory with lightning-like rapidity. The Scottish army was therefore needed to fight Montrose at home ; and upon the New Model Army of Cromwell fell the brunt of sustaining the war in England. On June 14, 1645, this splendid praying and fighting force won the battle of Nasehy and crushed out the last hope that the king had of ultimate success. The war con- tinued for a year longer, but ended with the surrender of Oxford to the parliamentarians on June 24, 1646. 272. The Independents and the Army. — After the church party withdrew from parliament, the Presbyterians were in the majority, and in a series of measures attempted to transform the church. They discarded the prayer book, introduced the famous Westminster Catechism, and ordered the abolition of Episcopacy and the establishment of Presbyterianism. But just as the church party had given way to the Presbyterians, so now the latter gave way to the more tolerant, but more anti- monarchical, body of Independents, who, though a minority in parliament, were the dominant factor in the army. At the close of the first civil war in June, 1646, the army was master of the situation. To the consternation of the Presby- terian leaders, it refused to disband at the command of parlia- ment, and at a meeting in aplain near Newmarket (June 4, 1647) issued a Solemn Engagement of the Army, saying that it would hold together until its demand of equal rights and common freedom for all should be granted. In August it voted that 276 THE STUAETS AND PARLIAMENT. [1647 parliament was too absolute and ought to come to an end, and at the same time it voted to impeach eleven members, who were considered responsible for the Presbyterian policy. Parliament, thoroughly frightened, yielded, and the eleven members with- drew from the House. At this juncture London rose in defence of the Presbyterian majority, and Cromwell, who had thrown in his lot with the army, occupied the city. The result was most important. As the royalists were excluded from parliament and as the army had compelled the Presbyterian leaders to with- From a photograph. Carisbeooke Castle. It was to this stronghold that Charles I fled from Hampton Court, November 11, 1647. draw likewise, the old Long Parliament was beginning to lose its character as a representative body. Though it still called itself parliament, it represented the people of England only in name. The real power lay in the hands of Cromwell and the soldiers. 273. Second Civil "War: Pride's Purge. — The leaders of the army now tried to negotiate with the king, who, since the begin- ning of 1647, had been confined first at Holenby House and later at Hampton Court. But their negotiations were prevented by 1648] SECOND CIVIL WAR: PRIDE'S PURGE. 277 the escape of the king and his flight to Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight (November 11-14, 1647). To promote dis- cord among the Puritans Charles opened negotiations with the Scots, who were dissatisfied with the behavior of the English parliament toward them. The king promised them religious concessions in return for military aid. The threatened danger of a Scottish invasion for the moment united parliament and the army against the king, and both sides prepared for war. But party lines were no longer those of the earlier period ; many who formerly fought against the king now went over to his side, fearing that the army wished to make changes in gov- ernment much more radical than those made at the beginning of the Long Parliament in 1640-1641. Popular risings in the name of the king took place in Kent and Essex; the royal- ists rose in Wales ; and in July, 1648, the Scots sent an army across the frontier to aid them. But the war was short. Fairfax, in a battle at Maidstone, June 2, 1648, put down the Kentish revolt, and by August, Cromwell, who had been sent into Wales, had not only starved into surrender the royalists in Pembroke Castle, but, hastening north, won the battle of Preston against the Scottish army. Ten days later, August 25, 1648, Fairfax ended the war by the seizure of Colchester in Essex. The second civil war had decisive results. It embittered the army against the king and made it fierce, implacable, and vin- dictive. It made the leaders resolve "if ever the Lord brought them back again in peace, to call Charles Stuart, that man of blood, to an account for the blood he had shed and the mis- chief he had done to his utmost against the Lord's cause and peo]3le in these poor nations." When parliament, in which the majority was still Presbyterian, refused to break off nego- tiations with the king at the request of the army. Colonel Pride was sent to expel the Presbyterian majority from the House of Commons. Pride carried out his orders to the letter, and "purged" the House of the one hundred and forty-three Presby- terian members, leaving the Independents in control, December 278 THE STUARTS AND PARLIAMENT. [1648 M ^ -3 'ph P 5 M a o W •> g ^ o ^ ho ^ O •S " .2 S § s ^ M -g ja w g g -g a ■« 2 S -s - -a tfl ^ »«H « (U o a w bo iJ = ^ 5J bO ^ -Si - S .a • o 11 .a .a ^ o 0) •2 > §. .2 >. -2 « 3 (u « v^al' p'^rcot BENGAL TNTJTA ^^> J\ In 1850. ) JCEYLON INDIA N ^^0 C E A N RUSSIAN EMPIRE Meeting point of British, *3usi in and Chinese Empires. ^''' S:J%a««i» TURKESTAN ^^~*^^^ CHINESE EMPIRE j:^t!?^ /KASHMifTI^ TIBET If >#^* ■~^r\-~L'.^ TONQUIN ^, (FRENCH) .^ U R M A'"^ ktta 1767-1759] SECOND PERIOD : BRITISH SUCCESSES. 333 corruption, selfistness, and inefficiency he was able and honest. He was free from class prejudice and unusually keen in his judgment of men — a true leader in whom the middle class, the moneyed class of the nation, could have confidence. He taught the people to be hopeful, btave, and self-reliant, and to svibordinate their individual interests to the interests of the country at large. 331. Second Period: A Change for the Bet- ter. — Pitt's influ- ence was felt immedi- ately and the English were successful in (1) Europe, (2) India, and (3) America. (1) A new treaty was made with Prus- sia, whereby a sub- sidy of £670,000 was to be paid to Prussia annually, for the purpose, as Pitt said, of winning America in Germany, by aiding Prussia to defeat France on the Continent. (2) In India events of even greater importance were taking place. In 1743 Robert Clive, a young Englishman, had been sent to Madras, where, for three years, his chief work had been the casting up of accounts, in the employ of the East India Company. In 1751 a war broke out between native princes, involving both French and English in India. In several battles Clive defeated the French general, Dupleix, who, in 1752, was called to France in disgrace. In 1754, while William Pitt, the Elder. From a painting by R. Brompton. 334 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1?58 Clive was in England, a native prince of the north seized Cal- cutta and thrust the captives into the garrison room of the factory there, — fa- mous thenceforth as the "Black Hole of Calcutta," — causing the death of a hun- dred and twenty-five men and women. Clive, returning in 1756, took a speedy vengeance on the des- pot, and in the battle of Plassey, June, 1757, defeated fifty thousand untrained native troops and won for the British the protectorate of Bengal. This fa- mous event gave to the East India Com- pany the control of northeastern India. Eor four years more the English continued to win territory, until by 1761 the French power in India was permanently broken. The respon- sibility for the loss rests not with the French generals, but with the scandalously inefl&cient government of Louis XV. (3) In America also success attended British arms. The campaign of 1755 had ended in the defeat and death of Brad-, dock; of three expeditions against Canada, only one — that against New Brunswick — had succeeded. But in 1758 a change took place. Pitt equipped three expeditions and placed them under the command of efficient men. Amherst, who was sent against Louisburg, captured the fortress, July 26, 1758, Robert, Lord Clive. From an engraving by A. T. Mote after the original in the Government House, Calcutta. 1760] SECOND PEKIOD: BRITISH SUCCESSES. 335 and obtained control of the island of Cape Breton. Fort Duquesne was taken the same year. And, finally, Wolfe, pushing westward from Louisburg, scaled the heights of the Plains of Abraham, before Quebec, and on September 13, 1759, won a great victory over the French commander, Montcalm.^ The surrender of Quebec followed five days later, and by 1761 all Canada had fallen into the hands of the English, leaving only New Orleans to the French. Thus Pitt's policy, expensive though it was, received full vindication. Vast sums of money had been spent to equip armies to support the colonies and to subsidize Frederick II, yet Great Britain, in the period of commercial prosperity that followed, received back ten times what she had spent. In 1760 George II died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. The new king was a young man of twenty-two, who was strongly English in sympathies and was thoroughly imbued with a determination to rule as well as reign. He was resolved that he would not be ruled, as his father and grand- father had been, by the autocratic Whig families who had con- trolled the government since 1714, but would break down the system of cabinet and party government that seemed to be limiting the freedom of the king. He proposed to restore the royal prerogative, to be his own first minister, to choose his other ministers himself, and to be the guide of his own policy. As far as the law was concerned he had a perfect right to do this ; no statute forbade it ; many statesmen were in sympathy with his views regarding government and in the main he had the support of the people at large. Cabinet and party control was not liked by a great many people in England who looked on cabinet government as only a temporary arrangement. But George III did not intend to restore the monarchy of the Stuarts, or to govern without parliament. It was his in- tention to rule with the aid of a party of his own in parlia- ' ment, one bound to him by flattery, bribery, and sentiments of 1 Special report : Wolfe and Montcalm and the victory at Quebec. 336 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. ■ [1763 loyalty. He saw no reason why he should not break down all party opposition to himself ; not a difl&cult task, because parties were very much unorganized at that time. Thus there arose the new Tories, no longer Jacobites, but Hanoverians, who up- held the king in his determination to restore once more the royal prerogative. 332. Fall of Pitt: Bute's Incompetence. — First of all George III tried to get rid of the man whose overshadowing influence was distinctly an obstacle in his path. In this attempt for- tune favored him, for in the year 1761 there was a split in the cabinet on the question of war with Spain which Pitt favored, and the latter resigned. Lord Bute, royal favorite and leader of Pitt's opponents in the cabinet, a man as much hated in England as Pitt was beloved, now directed the king's policy. In spite of all his efforts to the contrary, Bute was compelled to declare war against Spain in 1762; and a brilliant naval campaign, for which Pitt had made all the preparations, was carried on. Cuba and other islands in the West Indies were taken, Manila in the Philippine Islands was occupied; and large amounts of Spanish treasure fell into British hands. But the incompetent Bute even in the face of these victories began to negotiate for peace. He refused longer to pay subsidies to Frederick the Great, whom Pitt had aided in order to fight France on the Continent, and he seemed ready to give up anything if only a peace could be arranged. Fi- nally, on February 10, 1763, a treaty of peace was signed at Paris. 333. Peace of Paris. — The terms of this treaty revealed, with startling distinctness, the expansion that had taken place, since the treaty of Utrecht, in British interests and British territory in the world beyond the seas. Great Britain came into full control in America : she received Canada, the islands of the St. Lawrence, a confirmation of her right to Nova Scotia (Acadia), the valley of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, and in return for Cuba and Manila, which she gave back to Spain, she received Florida. She retained also four islands in 1791] THE KELIGIOUS REVIVAL: THE WESLEYS. 337 the West Indies. No less complete was the success in India, where the French were allowed by the treaty only a few trading stations. The treaty of Paris, though it was deemed unsatisfactory by the people of England at the time, marks the highest point of colonial power attained by Great Britain in the eighteenth century and made her the leading maritime state in the world. 334. The Religious Revival: the Wesleys. — With the growth of Great Britain's colonial empire went the gradual advance of the capitalist and working classes to a position of political importance in the kingdom. The middle class, whether represented or not in parliament, were listened to more attentively than ever before by those who controlled the gov- ernment. But the lower classes, who were without representa- tion in any modern sense of the term, had hardly yet begun their political career. A great emotional force was, however, at work among them. Beginning in Walpole's time (1730-1740) a religious revival aroused the dull and sodden masses from the hopeless lethargy into which they had fallen, and served as a rebuke to the in- difference and intolerance of the clergy of the church of Eng- land. Starting as a small movement among a few students at Oxford, of whom John Wesley, a wonderful preacher and or- ganizer, his brother, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield were the leaders, it soon spread to the laboring classes, — arti- sans, peasants, and miners. Whitefield preached with tre- mendous power to crowds in the open air, appealing to their sense of sin, to their fear of the dangers that threatened their souls, and to the hope of the salvation that would follow the godly life. John Wesley gathered his followers into bands and societies, and gave form to that ecclesiastical system eventually known as Methodism. Wesley refused to separate either himself or his organization from the church of England, but his followers, after his death, in 1791, broke away from the established church, and became a distinct religious body, the Methodists. The Wesley move- 338 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1763 ment is important in the history of religious faith in that it quickened the religious life of the other ecclesiastical bodies; but of even greater importance, at the time, was its influence in stirring the lower classes to a new social and political ac- tivity. It marks a turning point in the history of English democracy in that it aroused the laborer to a new realization of his own individuality and made him a part of a powerful organization. 335. Power of Public Opinion : John Wilkes. — Though public opinion was still in its infancy, it had begun to play a part in English history. It had compelled Walpole to withdraw his excise measure, had forced him into the War of Jenkins's Ear, had placed Pitt in the ministry, and, finally, had denounced the treaty of Paris. The men who were taking part in the great work of winning the Empire were feeling that they ought to have some share in governing what they had won, and were becoming discontented with the narrow, selfish, and corrupt methods of the House of Commons. This body was largely composed of men who had bought their seats, and who sold their parliamentary votes to the highest bidder ; they refused to allow their debates to be printed, and, with an exaggerated sense of their own importance, became oversensitive to criti- cism, and were only too ready to punish any one who affronted their dignity. On April 8, 1763, Lord Bute resigned, and Grenville took his place as secretary of state. The latter proved less of a tool than the king had hoped, but he made a serious mistake in his prosecution of John Wilkes. Wilkes was a member of parlia- ment, who, though of doubtful morals, had made himself popular with the common people by his attacks upon the king and the ministers. Wilkes had published in his paper, the North Briton, an article criticising the speech which the king had made at the prorogation of parliament, April 23, 1763. The government issued a general warrant for his arrest, but the Lord Chief Justice declared the warrant illegal, and there was great rejoicing among the people at large. Then the House of 1769J POLICY TOWARDS THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 339 Commons expelled him. Unprotected by his membership in parliament, he suffered persecution, imprisonment, and finally outlawry. In the eyes of the people the persecution of Wilkes by parliament was an attack upon the liberty of the subject and the freedom of the press. In 1768 the county of Middlesex elected Wilkes as its representative, but the House of Commons refused to allow him to take his seat. Three times he was re- turned amid an excitement that stirred southern England to its depths. Meetings were held in cities and counties, expressing want of confidence in parliament, and opposition to the coercive policy of the government. In 1769 " Junius '' published his scathing indictment of the administration, and his " letters " had great popularity.^ 336. Policy toward the American Colonies. — The most impor- tant problem that confronted the British ministry at this time was what policy to adopt toward the American colonies. Hitherto the government had not paid much attention to the colonies as such, for it had been more interested in trade and commerce and in the colonies as contributors to England's wealth. But for half a century, since the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the colonies had made vast strides forward in the man- agement of their own commerce and of their own government. In fact, in their method of governing themselves they were far ahead of the mother country. The treaty of 1763 had shown that England was becoming a great and world-wide empire. The question inevitably arose as to what place the colonies should have in this empire. Would it be possible to reconcile the tendency of the colonies toward self-government and the management of their own affairs with the tendency of Great Britain to establish an empiie in which the colonies should hold merely a subordinate place ? 1 The author of the "letters of Junius " still remains unknown. The gov- ernment prosecuted the editor of the paper for publishing the letters, but the case was lost. In the end, public opinion won the victory, and in the next general election, 1774, when Wilkes was for the fifth time elected, he was allowed to take bis seat. 340 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1765 If Great Britain were to hold her empire together, she must protect it ; and to do so meant a standing army and an adequate revenue. The colonies refused to furnish either money or men, and as the national debt of Great Britain had been greatly ex- tended by the war with France, it was necessary for the British government to raise a revenue, if possible, in America. Grenville proposed three measures. First, to renew and strengthen the Navigation Acts ; second, to reform the methods employed to enforce these acts and so to put an end to smug- gling and furnishing supplies to the enemy ; third, to provide for the defence of the vast territorial additions to the empire by increasing the revenue of the kingdom whereby ships and troops might be equipped. In enforcing the second of these measures Grenville, though doing what he had a legal right to do, was distinctly interfering with colonial trade, since for half a century the colonies had been trading to their own profit and were becoming independent in commerce as well as in govern- ment. They had frequently broken the Navigation Acts and during the war had freely trafficked with the French in contra- band goods. Grenville's policy was neither illegal nor arbi- trary, but it was unwise. The English statesmen in 1763 at- tempted to meet a new situation by reviving in part an old system that fitted an earlier and different condition of things. They did not realize that the colonies would not be content with new acts which curtailed their power of managing their own affairs to their own profit. 337. The Stamp Act. — It is not likely that Grenville's efforts to enforce the Navigation Acts would have led to revolt because these measures affected only the northern colonies at most, and probably could not have been permanently applied in any case. Much more serious was his proposal to interfere with the right of the colonies to tax themselves. He was driven to do this because the colonies refused to raise either money or men for the protection of the empire in America, but he tried to make the tax as light as possible. In 1765 parliament passed the Stamp Act, requiring the colonists to put government stamps 1766] THE TOWNSHEND ACTS. 341 on all legal documents. The colonists had never doubted the right of parliament to regulate trade, but they denied its right to levy an internal tax upon them. They claimed that such tax should be imposed only by their own assemblies. As the tax was to help pay the cost of the war and to supp&rt an army for the defence of America, the colonists probably would not have objected had the money been raised with their consent. As one assembly said : " The people of this colony are not, and from their remote situation cannot be, represented in the par- liament of Great Britain ; and if the principle of taxing the colonies without their consent should be adopted, the people here would be subjected to the taxation of two legislatures, a grievance unprecedented and not to be thought of without anxiety." In 1765, owing to Grenville's mismanagement of a certain bill, the king fell back on the Whigs, and gave the government into the hands of Eockingham. The Eockingham ministry decided to repeal the Stamp Act because the merchants declared that the Americans, by refusing to buy British goods, were causing a falling off of British trade. In 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed, and Eockingham would probably have gone further and have modified the trade laws, had he not in February, 1766, suffered defeat in parliament and resigned. George III then requested Pitt, whom he had made earl of Chatham in July, 1766, to organize a ministry. Pitt, with Grafton as his colleague, succeeded in this task. But the day of Pitt's greatness had passed. He had sacrificed his popu- larity among the people and had lost his influence in the House of Commons by accepting a pension and a peerage, and, owing to his increasing ill health, he no longer possessed the power to guide the policy of the ministry. Grafton became the nominal head of the government, but King George, taking advantage of the quarrels among the members of the ministry, was able to compel them to do about as he pleased. 338. The Townshend Acts. — To meet the growing needs of the government, Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Ex- 342 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1770 chequer, pledged himself to find revenue in America. Parlia- ment, at his bidding, imposed new duties on glass, paper, red and white lead, painters' colors, and tea, imported thither.^ This increased the discontent in America, without bringing Great Britain any adequate return. The attempts made by the British ministers, from Grenville to Townshend, to raise revenue actually cost more than was received in return, while Townshend's reckless tampering with the spirit of a proud and self-reliant people cost Great Britain her colonies. The question as to whether or not Great Britain had a right to tax the colonies need not be discussed here ; but certain it is that a policy which benefited nobody and which inaugurated a period of humiliation for the British people and government can only be condemned. In September, 1767, Townshend died, and Lord North took his place as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with Grafton still as head of the ministry. All the new duties except that on tea were repealed ; but the retention of the tea tax counteracted whatever good results might have followed the repeal. One tax was as bad as a hundred, for the principle involved was the same. The colonists were now taking a higher stand than be- fore, and were asserting not only that parliament could not tax them because they were unrepresented, but also that parlia- ment could not legislate for them at all, in that they were the king's colonies and were therefore compelled to submit to no other authority than that of the crown. As a matter of fact, parliament had had little to say in colonial matters until after the revolution of 1688, when it began to assume certain of the king's prerogatives ; and this assumption the colonists refused to recognize. In consequence of the discontent in the colonies and of the fierce hostility aroused at home by the ef- forts of parliament to keep Wilkes out of his seat, Grafton re- signed on January 28, 1770, and Lord North became head of 1 The tax on tea was ninepence less per pound in America than in England, but it was the principle, not the price of tea, which caused the discontent. 1775] AMERICAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 343 the ministry. He proved to be a minister after the king's own heart. 339. Ministry of Lord North. — The ministry of Lord North, which lasted from 1770 to 1782, is memorable in that it was the period of the personal rule of the king which resulted in the independence of the American colonies. Though Lord North was nominally head of the government, George III was actu- ally both prime minister and cabinet. He was the leader of the new Tory party, and he had against him all sections of the Whigs, united as never before in his reign. The administration of Lord North was a Tory administration with George III as personal head of the party. In 1770 the cabinet of Lord North voted to retain the tax on tea. The arrival of the tea ships caused rioting in South Carolina, the burning of the Gaspee in Rhode Island, and the throwing overboard of the tea chests in Boston harbor. The "Boston tea party," as it was called, roused the anger of the ministry, which now determined to punish the insolence of the colonists. Boston harbor was de- clared closed, and the charter of Massachusetts was annulled. These " Intolerable Acts " inaugurated a policy of coercion and rendered reconciliation almost impossible.^ They were the work of the king and his ministers, but were upheld by the nation, who rejected compromise as humiliating. Yet com- promise in all probability would have been successful ; for the colonists, though without loyalty to the objects and purposes of the mother country, had at no time expressed any desire to separate themselves from her. On the other hand. Great Britain in 1775 was in no condition to carry on a war in a country three thousand miles away. The ministry of Lord North possessed no definite plans for war, little ammunition, and an inadequate force of soldiers and sailors. 340. American War for Independence. — In the spring of 1775 British troops in Massachusetts were defeated in the battles 1 Many of England's most brilliant men, such as Pitt, Burke, and Charles James Fox, sympathized with the colonies. Special report : Burke's Speech on Conciliation. 344 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [17S0 of Lexington and Concord by the minute men. These events roused great excitement in America, though a majority of the colonists, representing the best men in America, still hoped for reconciliation. The colonists through their representative in the first Continental Congress petitioned the king, parlia- ment, and the people of England for redress of grievances, but in vain. On July 4, 1776, the second Continental Congress at Philadelphia issued the " Declaration of Independence," asserting that the colonies ''were and of right ought to be free and independent states." The colonists, thus formally declaring war, chose George Washington as commander-in- chief, but the war continued for a year without definite results for either side. Finally, at Saratoga, on October 17, 1777, Sir John Burgoyne, pushing down from Canada to cooperate with the British forces under Howe in New York, was com- pelled to surrender his whole force. This momentous event was the turning-point in the war. 341. France Joins America. — France, smarting under the defeats of the Seven Years' War, took advantage of this favor- able opportunity to renew the struggle, and sent Lafayette with troops to aid Washington and a fleet under D'Estaing to the West Indies in February, 1778. So menacing did the danger appear that Lord North declared he was ready to grant the colonies almost everything they wanted except indepen- dence. Parliament restored the Massachusetts charter and repealed the tax on tea. It appointed commissioners to go to America to promise amnesty to all and the suspension of all acts relating to America passed since 1763. The commission- ers actually went farther, and promised that no more British troops should be sent to America, and that the colonies should have representation in the British parliament. But it was too late. The colonial war had now become a part of the old-time struggle between Great Britain and France, and the colonists stood by their ally. In 1779 Spain joined them. In 1780 Russia, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden formed the Armed Neutrality League, for the purpose of defending 1783] THE NEW COLONIAL POLICY. 345 the rights of neutrals, that is, of those not engaged in the war. They were determined to resist the claim of Great Britain that her ships had a right to seize an enemy's goods even when on a neutral vessel. This danger of war with half of Europe had a very sobering effect on the North ministry and the king. The Whig opposition was daily growing stronger, though opinion was divided as to what was the best course to pursue. The general election of 1780 had shown that public opinion was awakening, and the new parliament proved very diflScult for the king to manage. All controversy was cut short, how- ever, by the great victory of the French and Americans at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, where Cornwallis and his army surrendered. 342. The End of the War. — On March 4, 1782, Conway brought forward his famous resolution against a further pros- ecution of the war in America; the resolution was carried and on the 20th Lord North resigned. The new ministry, made up of both sections of the Whigs, was led by Kocking- ham, and after his death in July, by Shelburne, the ally and successor of Chatham. The independence of the colonies was now assured and the period of the personal rule of King George was over. By the treaty with the United States signed at Paris, in January, 1783, Great Britain acknowledged the independence of her chief American colonies ; but she retained Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. She gave back Florida to Spain, who, possessing the Louisiana territory by cession from France in the treaty of 1763, now shut in the new republic on the south and west. 343. The New Colonial Policy. — Excepting the loss of the American colonies. Great Britain had emerged from the war with little diminution of territory ; and that little was to be in a measure made up in gains elsewhere. At the very time of the American war Captain Cook was making his famous voyages and discovering New Zealand and Australia, Puget Sound and the Columbia River, of which he took possession in the name of King George. Not since the days of Elizabeth 346 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [17S0 tad English explorers been more active than in the years from 1770 to 1815. From Puget Sound to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania), they were laying the foundation for a wide exten- sion of colonial territory. In 1788 the settlement of New South Wales began, and Australia, New Zealand, Van Dieman's Land, the New Hebrides, Fiji, and other islands became centres of new British activity in the Pacific. These new possessions were not to be treated as mere sources of supply for the mother country, though half a century was to pass before England began to see the need of a more liberal colonial policy than that which had been employed before 1783. The man who did more than any one else to show that the old, or " mercantile," system was an injury rather than a benefit to England was the economist Adam Smith. In the same year (1776) that the Americans by their Declaration of Indepen- dence were protesting against the old British colonial system Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, was demonstrating the futility of the system by an appeal to facts and figures. But English statesmen were very slow to learn the lesson, and the one remaining Continental colony, Canada, as well as the West Indian colonies, continued to suffer for the next fifty years from mismanagement by the home government. The new colonial system did not take shape till about 1849-1850. 344. Reforms at Home. — The effect of the war in America was more immediately felt at home, and reforms in government were introduced. In 1771 the practice of secret deliberation in parliament was given up, and the publication of debates was no longer followed by attempts to arrest and imprison the printer. Thenceforth, the public knew what was being said in the House of Commons. Toward the close of the American war, public opinion was aroused against the entire system of bribery and corruption, and from 1779 to 1781 public meetings were held to protest against an administration that was bringing humilia- tion upon England. In 1780 Edmund Burke, the greatest of England's orators and a loyal friend of the colonies, brought in an elaborate 1783] REFOKMS AT HOME. 347 scheme for economic reform, which was designed to do away with useless offices, and to prevent waste in every department. It failed to pass in 1780, but in 1782 was put through in a mod- ified form by the Rockingham minis- try. By this measure some forty or fifty thousand revenue offi- cers were forbidden to vote in the elec- tions ; forty or more offices, such as that of the king's turnspit, for example, were abolished ; the pen- sion list was cur- tailed ; the secret ser- vice fund was cut down ; and colonial officials were no long- er allowed to hold their positions by dep- uty or for life. In this way £72,000 were saved annually to the government, and the king's patronage was greatly re- duced. Important though this reform was, it scarcely touched the real evil of parliamentary and political corruption. The government was in the hands of an oligarchy, which governed in its own interests, with but slight regard for the welfare of the people. In 1783 a strange and unnatural combination was formed. The Tories, led by Lord North, allied themselves with the old Whigs in order to retain power and to curtail the influence of the king. The " old Whigs " were led by Charles James Fox, one of England's greatest debaters and ablest men, Edmund Burke. From I. Jones's engraving after a portrait by Eomney. 348 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1784 but a statesman passionate and impulsive, and possessed of but little foresight. Against this combination of Tories and " old Whigs" George III fought with all the resources at his com- mand; and when, in December, 1783, the House of Lords de- feated Fox's bill for the better government of India, he called for the resignation of the ministry. Within twelve hours he had placed the government in the hands of William Pitt, son of the earl of Chatham. •345. The Younger Pitt. — When but twenty years old, Pitt had made his maiden speech in defending Burke's reform bill, and now, at the age of twent^^-five, he was Prime Minister. At the outset of his ministry he won popular approval by his re- fusal to accept pensions and sinecures, and by his single-handed contest with the old leaders of parliament — Fox, Burke, and North. The struggle lasted for three months. Pitt was de- feated regularly in the House of Commons, but refused to re- sign, confident that the country would support him if only he could dissolve parliament and hold a new election. Finally, on March 24, 1784, after three months' patient waiting, Pitt was able to obtain a vote to dissolve parliament. At once new elections were ordered, and these proved overwhelmingly fa- vorable to him. The combination fell from power, and Pitt became the centre of authority and the absolute head of the government. The elections were won in the same manner and by the same use of various methods of bribery as were all elections in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries up to 1832. A public opinion had not yet come into existence as a political factor. Pitt was by nature a reformer, a lover of peace, a friend of enlightened progress. Many reform measures that he advo- cated failed to pass in his day, but they are worthy of consid- eration in that they are characteristic of the man and antici- pated many of the changes that came about during the next century. He checked smuggling, increased the revenue by distributing taxation more evenly, refused to allow favoritism in public loans, and originated a masterly scheme for the re- demption of the national debt. He concluded an advantage- 1787] PITT AND INDIA: WARREN HASTINGS. 349 ous commercial treaty with France, and sought to give Ireland equal commercial privileges with England. He brought in three measures for a reform parliament, proposing the gradual abolition of petty boroughs and the transfer of these seats to great cities like London, — measures which, like the Irish bill, were defeated in parliament. He showed himself in full sym- pathy with Clarkson and Wilberforce, who were trying to abolish the slave trade; with Whitbread, who wished to im- prove the condition of the poor ; and with others, who were at- tempting to establish a system of popular education. But his efforts were premature and he failed in all these directions. 346. Pitt and India : Warren Hastings. — Not only was Pitt able to deal with the details of domestic reform, but he had a mind broad enough to grasp also the intricate problems of em- pire. For twenty years the great question of the government of India had been before the country. In 1773 a regulating act had been passed by parliament, to check the abuses of the East India Company, which was in control of India ; and Warren Hastings had been sent out as the first governor-general under the act. In 1784 Pitt framed a measure which left commercial matters in the hands of the company, but gave political con- trol to the British government. Under this system India was governed till 1858. In 1785 Hastings, after thirteen years of efficient service, returned to England, and was immediately confronted with charges of maladministration, cruelty, and corruption in deal- ing with the native princes of India. Burke attacked Hast- ings with all the fire of his eloquence ; and Pitt, on the ground that the acts of public servants should be kept under strict scrutiny, sustained the prosecution. In 1787 Hastings was impeached and tried before the House of Lords. The malev- olence of Hastings's enemies and the oratory of Burke exag- gerated the importance of the trial at the time ; while the matchless rhetoric of Macaulay in his essay on Hastings un- vduly magnified the whole affair in the century that followed. Hastings was eventually acquitted of all the charges. 350 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1797 347. The French Revolution. — In Europe a much more vital question than the government of India was becoming prominent. In 1789 the estates-general of France had met for the first time since 1614, and at once that great revolution began which over- threw the power of the French nobility, brought about the death of King Louis XVI, and established the first republic in France. At first many persons in England, among them Fox, greeted the movement with satisfaction, believing that it would result in the overthrow of tyranny and the establishment of liberty. But Burke saw with alarm the overthrow of the old institutions, and in his Reflections on the French Revolution viewed the future with grave apprehensions. Pitt, agreeing with Burke rather than with Fox, continued his efforts to avoid war, but the policy of the French revolutionists rendered his efforts of no avail. In 1792 the leaders of the French Legislative As- sembly declared war on Europe. The events of the war that followed led to an increase of revolutionary fever in Paris, which ended in massacres in that city (September, 1792), the procla- mation of the republic (September, 1792), and the execution of the king (January, 1793). These events made it impossible for Pitt to maintain a peace policy any longer. The excitement in England, due to the attack on monarchy by the French republi- canSj was increased by the decrees passed by the National Convention, — the body which succeeded the Legislative As- sembly in France, — fiercely attacking the institutions of all monarchical countries, and threatening war for the overthrow of kingdoms and the establishment of republics wherever possi- ble. Before Pitt's ministry could take any step, the Convention itself had declared war against England (February 1, 1793). The First Coalition consisted at first of Austria and Prussia. War began in 1792, and in 1793 Great Britain and Holland entered the alliance. Holland was conquered by the French and transformed into the Batavian Republic in 1795 ; in the same year Prussia withdrew from the coalition. Austria fought on till 1797, when it signed the treaty of Campo-Formio with 1792-1815] THE EFFECT OF THE REVOLUTION. 351 France. Great Britain alone remained. Her share in the war consisted in sending money and troops to the Continent, and in employing her navy to blockade French harbors and to seize the vessels and the colonies of France and of the French allies, Spain and the Batavian Republic. Her efforts on land were largely unsuccessful. The siege of Toulon (1793), a port in the Mediterranean that Great Britain desired to make the base of further operations for the restoration of the French monarchy, was defeated by the skill of Captain Napoleon Bonaparte and the courage of the French soldiers. At sea she made a better record. Howe defeated the French fleet off Brest in 1794; Jervis crippled the Spanish fleet by a victory off Cape St. Vin- cent in 1797 ; and Duncan restored the prestige of the navy and checked a projected invasion of Ireland by the defeat of the Dutch at Camperdown, October 11, 1797. In the world beyond the seas, Great Britain captured the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon from the Batavian Republic in 1795 and 1796 ; in 1797 she took Trinidad from Spain. 348. The Eifect of the Revolution on England. — The French Revolution and the war with France checked England's progress and brought to an end Pitt's efforts at reform. There is no proof of any organized effort anywhere to propagate French revolutionary ideas in England, but the nobility and the aristo- cratic families, sustaining Burke and Pitt in parliament, sternly repressed every proposal to extend the franchise or to increase in any way the power of the people. Even Pitt himself, in 1792, refused to consider further measures for reforming par- liament. Anticipating a revolution in England, parliament twice suspended the Habeas Corpus Act, passed laws against foreigners, checked the freedom of public discussion, and pun- ished severely all who protested against the laws. An attack on George III (1795) was followed by restrictive measures for- bidding all speaking against the king, and controlling public meetings and the right of discussion. Thus under the control of the aristocratic and Tory party reaction and repression pre- vailed in England during the period from 1792 to 1815, checking 352 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1800 freedom of speech and association and postponing indefinitely all movements toward reform. 349. Union with Ireland. — Next to the war with France, no question at this time was of greater moment than that of Eng- land's relations with Ireland. Only a fourth of the Irish possessed political privileges, and the Irish parliament that governed them was not representative even of that fourth. The Protestants, who desired an increase of parliamentary in- dependence and a measure of commercial privilege, organized in 1778 the Patriotic party, and sought to conciliate the Roman Catholics. They demanded of England free trade and a free parliament. Lord North, involved in the American war, made a few commercial concessions in 1779 ; and in 1782 Eocking- ham freed the Irish parliament from the control of the English government. In 1785 Pitt came forward with a new plan, whereby he hoped " to unite the two countries on some sure basis of commercial intercourse and common interest." But the English parliament rejected his proposal. This put the Irish in a condition of mind to be deeply af- fected by the French Revolution. Some desired an alliance with France, others the entire overthrow of British control and the establishment of an Irish republic, while nearly all de- manded the reform of the Irish parliament. Pitt tried to give the Roman Catholics representation in the Irish parliament, but George III refused to sanction the measure. So the Irish determined to obtain independence by revolution. In 1796, and again in 1797, the French endeavored to help them by sending troops to their aid. In 1798 the Irish revolution had attained such proportions that a veritable reign of terror en- sued in the island. At this point Pitt came to the conclusion that the only rem- edy for Irish discontent was the parliamentary union of Ireland with Great Britain. So he obtained from the Irish parliament, by corrupt means if not by direct bribery of the members, a vote favorable to his scheme. On July 21, 1800, the Act of Union was passed and Ireland became a part of the United 1799] WAR WITH FRANCE : THE SECOND COALITION. 353 Kingdom. The Irish cross was added to the Union Jack (p. 322) ; and after January, 1801, four bishops, twenty peers, and one hundred Irish members sat in the English parliament. 350. War with France : the Second Coalition. — In 1797 Pitt entered into negotiations with France for the purpose of ending the war. But a financial crisis had just occurred in London, and the French commissioners, believing that Great Britain was exhausted, proposed to take Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, and perhaps a part of Newfoundland, — concessions that Great Britain would not for a moment listen to. So the war went on, but under new conditions. In Italy Napoleon Bonaparte, after a series of magnificent victories, had forced Austria to sign the treaty of Campo-Formio (1797). After this campaign, Bonaparte became the real di- rector of the French policy, and soon showed that his chief object was to compass the overthrow of Great Britain. To accomplish this he formed three plans of attack, any or all of which might be brought into use : (1) to invade England di- rectly ; (2) to attack her on the Continent by depriving her of Hanover; (3) to undertake an expedition in the east which would threaten her trade with the Indies. As only the last of these plans seemed practicable at that time, Bonaparte set out for Egypt in 1797, to force Great Britain to a peace by de- stroying her eastern commerce. But his elaborate undertaking ended in disaster. His fleet was annihilated by the British admiral, Horatio Nelson, in the battle of the Nile, August 1, 1798, a victory which cut off Bonaparte from France and won for England the control of the Mediterranean. .At St. John Acre, in Syria, the British general, Sydney Smith, checked the advance of Bonaparte toward the northeast and compelled him to be satisfied with establishing French control in Egypt. Meanwhile Eussia and Austria formed with Great Britain the Second Coalition and renewed the war. Bonaparte returned from Egypt in 1799, and overthrowing the French government, made himself, as First Consul, the head of the French state. In this position he was able more vigorously than ever to carry 354 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1801 on the war with the Second Coalition ; for a single head is al- ways more powerful in war and diplomacy than a board of directors or a minis- try dependent on parliament. In 1800 he overwhelmed Aus- tria in the battles of Holienlinden and Ma- rengo, and in 1801 forced her to sign the treaty of Luneville. Eussia, jealous of Austria, had already withdrawn from the coalition, so that for the second time Great Britain re- mained alone, and Bonaparte seemed powerless to injure her. She maintained her hold on Malta and the Mediterra- nean and finally won back Egypt. She checked all Bonaparte's attempts to aid the revolting Irish, and by winning the battle of Copenhagen, April 2, 1801, ob- tained the mastery of the Baltic. Bonaparte was master on the land, but Great Britain was still mistress of the sea. 351. ThePeace of Amiens. — In 1801 social and economic conditions caused a cessation of hostilities. In France Bona- parte wished to obtain peace in order to organize the govern- ment there, and to prepare for the gigantic struggle for empire that he knew was before him. Great Britain was equally willing to have peace. Her people were passing through an industrial revolution. Population and wealth were increasing, Admiral Nelson. From a painting by L. F. Abbott. 1802] NAPOLEON'S COLONIAL POLICY. 355 towns were growing, workmen were shifting their occupation from the cottage to the factories, employment was becoming uncertain, the poor were suffering, and on every hand new economic and social problems were arising. The national debt had increased to more than £500,000,000. Ireland was not yet reconciled to the Act of Union, and time was needed to improve the conditions in that island. In February, 1801, Pitt resigned, because George III had positively refused to consider any measure whereby the Roman Catholics in England might be granted political rights ; and a Whig ministry, with Addington at its head, had come into power. By an irony of fate, this commonplace and nerveless leader, a minister at the king's command, was called upon to conduct the foreign affairs of Great Britain at one of the most critical periods in the history of the war. In the peace negotiations during 1801, the Addington ministry gave way on almost every important point. Great Britain restored to France, Spain, and the Batavian Eepublic all that she had taken from them, retaining only Trinidad and Ceylon. Egypt was restored to Turkey, and Malta was promised to the former owners, the Knights of St. John; Great Britain restored all ports and islands that she held in the Adriatic and Mediterranean ; and to complete this exhibition of amia- bility, George III threw in the title of "King of France," which he and his predecessors had borne since 1340. In arranging these preliminaries Bonaparte scored a great diplomatic victory. " The only British gains after nine years of warfare, fruitful in naval triumphs, but entailing an addition of £290,000,000 to the national debt, were the islands of Trinidad and the Dutch possessions in Ceylon." The formal treaty was signed at Amiens on March 25, 1802. 352. Napoleon's Colonial Policy. — By this treaty France re- gained all her lost colonies, and Napoleon was determined to make these the basis of a new colonial empire to take the place of that which Great Britain had destroyed in the Seven Years' War. 356 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1802 As soon as the treaty was signed, Napoleon undertook to carry out his plan: (1) he reestablished the authority of France in Haiti in 1802, and made that place a base of operations in the West Indies ; (2) he prepared an expedition to 'New Orleans, called upon Spain to issue an order closing the lower Mississipjoi to vessels of the United States, and demanded the transfer of the Louisiana territory to France; (3) he sent an army to India to recover French control there (1802) ; and (4) for the purpose of claiming Australia for France, he planned to make use of a scientific expedition that had been sent to the island continent in 1800. This scheme was a grand one, even for Napoleon, and had it succeeded would have created a colonial empire for France that might have rivalled that of Great Britain. But it failed. Of the expedition to Haiti and San Domingo twenty officers and thirty thousand men died in the fever swamps of those islands. Thereupon Napoleon abandoned the expedition to New Orleans, and sold Louisiana in 1803 to the United States for $15,000,000, thus giving up his plan of a French empire in the western world. In the east he was no more successful. The attempt to annex Australia came to nothing, because British explorers had already claimed the island by right of first discovery, and were in actual possession of the coast. In India also the attempts of the French to recover their influence there were rendered ineffectual by the brilliant victories of the English under Sir Arthur Wellesley. In 1802 the English began to suspect that Napoleon was preparing to cripple Great Britain by striking at her colonies and her commerce. They watched with suspicion his attempt to exclude from France British manufactures, such as hard- ware, cotton, and woollen goods ; and they learned with great uneasiness of his various colonial enterprises. They feared that he would seize Malta in order to control the Mediterra- nean, possibly attack Turkey, regain Egypt, and, with the Cape of Good Hope in his possession, overthrow the East India Company in India. So strained had become the rela- 1805] THE TfflRD COALITION. 357 tious between France and Great Britain by May, 1803, that the Addington ministry, acknowledged by all to be too weak to cope with the situation, resigned, and Pitt was recalled as Prime Minister. On May 20 war was formally declared. 353. Renewal of War : Napoleon's Attempt to Invade England. — In Great Britain the war fever rose to the highest pitch. Volunteer regiments were equipped, coast defences com- pleted, and the navy began a running attack on French ports and seized the best of the French islands in the West Indies. Not content with these measures, the British government gave aid to conspiracies and plots against Napoleon. But all these conspiracies came to nothing, and in 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor of the French as Napoleon I. To prepare for an invasion of England, Napoleon had been massing his forces at Boulogne for nearly a year. But to cross the Channel with an army he needed possession of that strait for the full time of the passage ; and to obtain such possession he had to get a part of the British fleet out of the way. For this purpose Napoleon sent Admiral Yilleneuve to the West Indies, that the latter might draw off Nelson's squadron in pursuit. Villeneuve was then to return with all speed, leav- ing Nelson behind. Napoleon hoped that the French fleet, outnumbering the remaining British ships, would be able to guard the Channel. But the plan miscarried. Villeneuve sailed for the West Indies and Nelson followed him. But on his return, the French admiral was confronted off Cape Finis- terre by another part of the British squadron, and compelled to engage in a battle, on July 22, 1805, which seriously crip- pled him, so that he turned back and sought refuge in the harbor of Cadiz. Napoleon waited for him in vain at Boulogne and all hope of an invasion of England vanished. .354. The Third Coalition. — Meanwhile Russia and Austria, enraged at Napoleon's continued insults to them, had made an alliance with England and formed the Third Coalition. Thus not only Great Britain, mistress of the seas, but Russia and Austria, the two greatest land powers, were ranged against 358 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1812 Napoleon. But he, undaunted by his failure at Boulogne, turned with lightning rapidity on Austria and crushed her in the siege of Ulm (October 11) and the battle of Austerlitz (December 2, 1805). But fortune refused to favor him at sea. On October 21 Admiral Nelson met the Frencb and Spanish fleets off Cape Trafalgar and came off victor in one of the greatest sea-fights in history. The battle of Trafalgar destroyed forever Napoleon's hopes of winning control of the ocean, and marked a new era in the growth of the British Empire.* 355. The, Continental System. — But Napoleon was gradually winning control of the Continent : Austria in 1805, Prussia in 1806, and Russia in 1806 and 1807 fell before his military genius ; and when he made a treaty with the Czar, Alexander I, in 1807, he seemed to be master of the fortunes of western Europe. But every effort to crush Great Britain had failed ; and now, with the power of the Continent behind him, he de- termined to make one more mighty effort to destroy her. Believing that the strength of Great Britain lay in her com- merce, he determined to ruin her by excluding her goods from France and from all the other states of Europe under his control. On May 16, 1806, he issued a decree, declaring that the Brit- ish Isles were in a state of blockade, and he threatened to seize the ships of any country that traded with them. Great Brit- ain replied by threatening to seize the ships of any country that traded with France or her allies. Then in 1807 Napoleon replied by threatening to seize every neutral vessel that obeyed the British orders ; but without a navy he could not enforce his decrees, and an enormous amount of smuggling went on at every important port. In the end, this trade war injured Napoleon and France more than it did Great Britain. 356. The War of 1812. — At the same time Great Britain was putting herself in the wrong by her aggressive policy 1 Special report : The Death of Nelson at Trafalgar. 1813] THE PENINSULAR WAE. 359 toward neutrals. Her order forbidding them to trade directly with the Continent, and her claim of the right to search neutral vessels for contraband goods ^ or British deserters, roused the United States to a declaration of war (June 18, 1812). The war, conducted in part on land and in greater part on sea, ended ingloriously for Great Britain. The American sailors proved the better seamen, and a series of naval conflicts ter- minated in a great victory for Perry, who defeated the British on Lake Erie. On the land the British force captured and burned the city .of Washington ; desultory fighting went on along the Canadian frontier ; and Jackson won an important victory over the British at New Orleans. Peace was finally signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. This war, but a side issue in England's great military operations, gave a splendid impetus to American national unity. 357. The Peninsular War. — In 1808 Spain, allied with Portu- gal, rose in revolt against ISTapoleon, and Great Britain at once despatched Wellesley, recently recalled from India, to Portu- gal. In August, 1808, Wellesley landed on the coast near Lis- bon, and from 1808 to 1814 this great general, often neglected by his own government, and thwarted by the Portuguese and Spaniards whom he had come to aid, fought courageously on. Napoleon at first endeavored to conduct the campaign in per- son, but in 1809 he was called back to central Europe by an uprising in Austria. At Wagram he defeated the Austrians for the fourth time. In 1812 he began his fatal march on Moscow.^ In 1813 he struggled with wonderful genius against Prussia and Russia in the wars of liberation ; until finally he was thoroughly beaten by the Fourth Coalition at Leipzig in the Battle of the Nations, and compelled to return to I'rance. All these years Wellesley, who had been made duke of Wellington in 1809, was fighting in Spain. Supplied with troops from England by sea, he was able to engage three hun- 1 " Contraband goods " means supplies for carrying on war. 2 Special report : The Retreat from Moscow. 360 EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. [1815 dred thousand of JSTapoleon's best soldiers at a time when the emperor stood in greatest need of them. Little by little he cleared Spain" of French troops, got control of one district after another, and in 1814 crossed into France. There he joined the armies of the other allies, which, win- ning victories on French soil, com- pelled Napoleon to abdicate, April 6, 1814. 358. Congress of Vienna : Waterloo. — - Napoleon was exiled to Elba, and the Bour- bons were restored in France (1814). To settle the future of Europe, a great con- gress, the most im- portant thus far in the history of the world, was held at Vienna. While the From, a portrait painting. Arthur Welleslet, Duke of Wellington. congress was still in session. Napoleon escaped from Elba and returning to France, established his authority once more in the famous " Hundred Days." Though he promised to rule in peace, the allies would not consent to his restoration, and immediately set their armies in motion against him. At Waterloo on the frontier of Belgium, June 18, 1815, he was totally defeated by the combined forces of England, under Wellington, and of Prussia, under Bllicher. After abdicating for the second time. Napoleon was sent to the island of St. Helena, in the south Atlantic, where he died in 1821. The 1815] CONGRESS OF VIENNA: WATERLOO. 361 Congress of Vienna went on with its work; and in a great treaty of 1815 completed the rearrangement of the map of Europe. Peace had at last come to the nations, and England was released from war to enter upon a new era of growth and reform. CHAPTER XVI. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. An Era of Eeform, Dbmockacy, and Empire. 359. Condition of Great Britain. — During the twenty -three years that Great Britain had been at war, she had won an influential position in the councils of Europe, and had become the first naval power in the world. But these gains abroad had been made at the expense of prosperity, reform, and progress at home. During the war, the government had made scarcely one important attempt to improve the condition of the British people ; all its energies had been consumed in the great task of raising money to subsidize allies, to equip armies, and to build ships. Now that war was over, Great Britain had to face an enormous debt, heavy taxes, high prices, increasing pauper- ism, badly managed factories, crowded and ill-governed towns, and a thousand other conditions that were making the laborers and middle classes dissatisfied, sullen, and rebellious. 360. Industrial Changes. — Since Walpole's time great in- dustrial changes had taken place in England. Manufacturing, which had begun in the fourteenth century, had received a new stimulus at the end of the eighteenth ; but, although the number of industries had greatly increased, the methods were still primitive. Weaving had been carried on by workmen in their cottages, and spinning had been largely done by women and girls in their hours of leisure. Great impetus was given to these manufactures by the invention of Hargreave's " spin- ning-jenny " in 1764 and of the Cartwright weaving machine in 1785, and by the perfecting of the steam engine by Watt during the period from 1760 to 1790. Coal and coke came to be substituted for wood and charcoal, and improvements in the 362 1800] INDUSTRIAL CHANGES. 363 iron industry rendered that commodity more available for general use. This cheap production demanded more rapid dis- tribution, so in 1761 the first canal was built, and roads, which had been almost impassable during the eighteenth century, were constructed for the first time of layers of broken stone, a method perfected by a Scottish engineer, John Macadam. Along with these improvements in manufacturing went im- provements in agriculture. Wet lands were drained; poor lands were transformed by manuring and fertilizing; new seeds and roots were introduced ; and the breeds of animals improved in appearance, weight, and strength. The use of costly machinery Avas introduced by the great landowners. The small farmers could not compete with these improved methods and were constantly forced to sell. Wealthy mer- chants were eager to buy, for political power and social posi- tion depended on the possession of large estates. Thus by 1800 the class of small landholders had largely disappeared, some drifting to the towns, others living on the lord's estate as cottagers. 361. Results of these Changes. — The first effects of these changes were discouraging. Machinery took away the employ- ment of the home laborers, the factory system took the place of domestic industry ; and great landowners controlled the farms of England. Men and women crowded into the towns and labored in factories, mines, and great industrial establish- ments, where wages were low, hours long, and sanitary condi- tions unspeakable.^ The government did not interfere, but let 1 " The most important legislation of the century was the labor and factory- legislation. The new factory system had proved fatally cruel to women and children, who for a long time made up the greater portion of the employees. Parish authorities had the power to take children from pauper families in order to apprentice them to employers ; and destitute or dissolute parents sold their offspring into such service by written contracts. In the early years of the century, gangs of helpless little ones from six and seven years upward, secured in this way, were auctioned off, thousands at a time, to great factories, where their life was a ghastly slavery. They received no wages ; they were clothed in rags ; their food was insufficient and of the coarsest kind ; and often 364 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1819 employers and employees settle affairs among themselves. Under this system, factories and mines became death traps for the women and children who worked in them. The evil was aggravated by the abominable poor law, which made paupers of one-seventh of England's population. Crime increased ; society became brutalized. The tone of the law courts was low — judges browbeat the prisoners, lawyers bullied the witnesses, and the whole administration of law and justice savored of barbarism. It is difficult to realize the cruelty and injustice shown by men of the privileged classes for those who were without political influence, money, title, or certain employ- ment. 362. Political Unrest (i 8 1 5-1 820). — Politically as well as industrially the years immediately following the return of peace were characterized by agitation and unrest. The king, George III, an old man and at times insane, was ruling under the regency of his son, the Prince of Wales. Par- liament was representative only of the landowning and moneyed classes, and had little sympathy with the people, and for. five years the Tory government which came into power in 1815 did nothing to alleviate the distress of the masses. Under such circumstances, leaders arose who did not believe in moderation or compromise, but who desired radical changes. These men were called Eadicals, and they tried to gain their ends by agi- tation. A series of popular movements culminated in the famous gathering at St. Peter's field, Manchester, in 1819, where fifty thousand persons met to protest against the policy they had to eat standing at their work, while the machinery was in motion. They were driven to work from twelve to sixteen hours a day, often by inhuman torture ; they had no holidays, and the few hours for sleep were spent in filthy beds, from which some other relay of little workers had just been roused. Schooling or recreation there was none; and the poor little waifs — girls as well as boys — grew up, if they lived at all, amid shocking and brutal immo- rality. When one batch of such labor had been used up, another was always ready, at practically no cost ; and the employers showed a disregard for even the mei'e physical well-being of their ' white slaves,' such as no negro-driver could ever afford toward his costly black chattels." — West, Modern History. 1829] BEGINNING OF REFORM. 365 of the government. The cavalry broke up the crowd and killed half a dozen people, whence the name " Massacre of Peterloo." Parliament now passed (November, 1819) the Six Acts, — called the "Ga,g Laws," — the most important of which prohib- ited public meetings for the consideration of grievances. The government was also unfortunate in its other measures. In 181 5 it had passed the first Corn Law, which practically put a tariff on foreign corn ; and that, too, in the face of great scarcity of corn at home. The Corn Law was passed in the interest of the landowners, and it increased the distress of the poor, who could not buy corn on account of its high price. At the same time parliament removed the income tax. Each of these measures made more intense than before the hatred that the poor classes felt against the rich. 363. Beginning of Reform. — At the death of George III in 1820, his son came to the throne as George IV. A new group of men now came forward, chief among whom were Can- ning, Huskisson, Sir John Russell, and Sir Robert Peel. In 1822, when Peel became Home Secretary and Canning Foreign Secretary in the cabinet, the era of reform may be said to begin. These men were moderate Tories, who had an appreciation of the needs of the country, and they straightway went about the work of reform. In 1823 the criminal code was made more civilized by the abolition of the death penalty for about a hun- dred offences. In the same year, acting under the guidance of Huskisson, parliament reduced the customs duties on raw ma- terials, modified the Navigation Acts, cut down the interest on the national debt, and made the Corn Law less rigid. In 1824 it permitted working men to form trade unions. But most important of all was the measure granting to Roman Catholics full political rights. George IV was as bitter against this measure as his father had been, but the House of Com- mons was favorable. Por four years the question was agitated, till finally Peel brought forward a measure, which was passed on April 13, 1829, restoring to the Roman Catholics member- ship in parliament, the right to hold all military offices, and 366 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1828 nearly every civil office. Though king, House of Lords, and people at large were opposed to the measure, it became law, because civil war was threatened in Ireland, and something had to be done. This measure, a simple act of justice, effected an important political change in admitting a body of new and influential men into parliament. Already in 1828 Dissenters had been allowed to hold office in the towns and under the crown. But Unitarians and Jews were still debarred from parliament. 364. Need of Electoral and Parliamentary Reform. — The ques- tion of extending to the middle classes the right to vote had been before the country for half a century. Thus far the ob- stinacy of the aristocracy and moneyed classes, the distractions of the long war with IsTapoleon, and the excessive demands of the Radicals, who wished universal suffrage, had combined to prevent the adoption of any measure extending the franchise. But the industrial revolution, supplementing the religious re- vival of Wesley, had given new importance to the men whose industry was the chief source of British wealth and the backbone of British commerce. The American Revolution and the establishment of the republic in France had tended to make those without political rights in England discontented with their position and determined to gain for themselves a share in government. The electoral system was notoriously unfair. Parliament was made up of 658 members so distrib- uted that ten southern counties had nearly as many members as the thirty central and northern counties.^ The boroughs of iThe boroughs of Cornwall, for example, had returned for two centuries and a half forty-four members, and this number was not decreased until 1821, when Grampound was disenfranchised. Thus this under-populated county returned as many borough members, less one, as all Scotland, and more by two than the densely populated counties of Durham, Northumberland, and York. Bossiney in Cornwall was a hamlet of three cottages, possessing nine electors, eight of whom belonged to one family. Yet this hamlet sent two members to parliament. Michell had five voters ; Gatton, seven ; Old Sarum had no voters at all — yet each was represented in parliament. There were in Cornwall about one thousand voters and forty-two members; of the latter twenty were actually controlled by seven peers, twenty-one by eleven com- moners, and only one was in any sense of the word freely elected. 1828] NEED OF ELECTORAL REFORM. 367 the south had more than their fair share of representatives, while those of the active and populous north sent fewer mem- Frora a photograph. Old Slate Houses in Tintagel, Cornwall. bers to parliament than they should have done according to their population. Besides being unfairly distributed, these members were not representative. Of the entire body of members less than a third were in any sense of the word elected. The others came from " pocket boroughs," whose representatives were named by influential individuals or families; or from ''rotten boroughs," some of which were not boroughs at all, but were places almost uninhabited, where the right to return members was controlled by one or more property owners.^ For a century this condition 1 The duke of Norfolk could control eleven seats. It is generally estimated that of the 658 members of parliament, 487 were named by single individuals. Seventy members came from thirty-five boroughs with almost no electors at 368 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1830 of things had prevailed. Something had been done to check bribery and corruption; but nothing whatever had been done to extend the right to vote, to make the methods of voting uniform among the towns and counties, or to give to great and growing towns, like Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, a share in represen- tation. 365. The Fight for Electoral Reform. — On June 26, 1830, George IV died, and his brother, a popu- lar and genial sailor, with fewer preju- dices than his Han- overian predecessors had possessed, came to the throne as William IV. The question of electoral re^ form was especially helped at this time by the Revolution of 1830 in France which had overturned a king there, and by the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad which demonstrated that the north and midland regions were the all ; ninety from forty-five places with less than fifty electors ; thirty-seven from nineteen places with not more than one hundred electors. Bribery went on wholesale: electors, elected, and even whole borough corporations were bought. Sudbury offered itself for sale in public advertisement; Oxford openly sold its representatives ; men occasionally bid as at an auction for the corporation vote; holders of the pocket boroughs made it known publicly that they were open to offers. Other instances are equally notorious, where the right to name representatives was traded in by purchasers. ».*.■,■ mm vs ^^tSBBSS^iRz W ' ■f S^> ,., , . .M ■1 f\ ^_ ^, p^ff. nfs^^ -^ <4p^ .. ^, .^0^-: ' '*" r •r'^-->'*«SS2)^fe|.i^ "■■ ■ ■'■•■ . ,. . 'fc- From a portrait painting. William IV. 1831] THE FIGHT FOR ELECTORAL REFORM. 369 industrial centres of Britain and that they were unfairly represented. When parliament met, however, Wellington opposed all attempts at reform and there- by wrecked his min- istry and his party, t h e conservative Tories. At once he was overthrown by a union of discon- tented Tories with the Whigs. His place was taken by Earl Grey, a Whig and a liberal, whose ministry was com- mitted to the cause of electoral reform. In March, 1831, Lord John Russell brought in the First Reform Bill,^ but it was defeated. Then the ministry appealed to the country, and a new parliament was elected. A second bill was passed only to be rejected by the House of Lords. The excitement in the country rose to fever-heat. Even the work- ing classes, who were not benefited by the bill, joined in the agitation. Associations were formed, mass-meetings held, and From a contemporary d^'awing. The First Steam Engine. In the competition held in Manchester, 1829, for the trying out of the locomotive engines, George and Robert Stephenson easily won the award. One of the losers was John Ericsson, who later emigrated to America and was the inventor of the ironclad Moni- tor which defeated the Merrimac, 1862. ' 1 Lord Russell, in introducing the hill, asked the House to consider the amazement of a stranger who had come to observe the boasted representative institutions of England and was shown a ruined mound (Old Sarum) and was told that it sent two representatives to parliament ; and then taken to a stone wall with three niches in it (Corfe Castle) and was told that it sent two repre- sentatives to parliament ; and then to a green park (Gatton) containing no sign of human habitation, only to discover that this park had two represen- tatives in parliament ; while prosperous and flourishing cities like Manches- ter, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, some with over one hundred thousand inhabitants, had no representatives at all. 2b 370 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1832 processions planned in London, Manchester, Birmingliam, and other central and northern cities. Probably at no time in Eng- lish history had excitement been so intense or so widespread. When, in December, 1831, parliament passed a third bill, the Lords did not dare reject it, fearing civil war. But they tried to amend it. Earl Grey asked William IV to create enough new peers to carry the bill, but the king refused. Grey re- signed. Then William IV called on Wellington to form a ministry ; but the Tory party had lost its unity in the face of the popular agitation, and Wellington could do nothing. Grey returned to office and the passage of the Reform Bill was as- sured. The Lords who opposed the measure, when threatened by the king with the appointment of enough new peers to carry the bill, refrained from voting, and on June 7, 1832, the measure became law. 366. The Reform Bill of 1832. —By the Reform Act, the first measure of its kind in English history, the franchise was given to the middle classes — in the counties to all copyholders and leaseholders (farmers and tenants) of land worth £10 a year, and to tenants-at-will holding an estate worth £50 a year; and in the boroughs to all holders of houses worth £10 a year. But by placing a property qualification on the right to vote, it denied that right to the industrial, agricultural, and mining classes. The actual number of voters was increased from four hundred and thirty thousand to six hundred and fifty thousand ; that is, one in every twenty-one of the population became an elector. The voting qualification was for the first time made uniform throughout Great Britain and voting methods were vastly improved by a system of registration, by the adoption of smaller voting districts, and by the fixing of a time limit of two days within which the vote must be cast. Just as important as this extension of the franchise was the redistribution of seats in parliament. Many boroughs were de- prived of their members, or had their membership reduced. Of the seats thus gained sixty-five were given to the English, eight to the Scottish, and five to the Irish counties 5 the other A T I A k T I ^ c m A N 1835] FUETHER REFORMS. 371 seventy-eiglit seats were distributed among the midland towns, such as Manchester and Birmingham. Thus the House of Commons became, as it had never been before, an elective and representative body, though onlj of the upper and middle classes. 367. Further Reforms. — In the autumn of 1832, as was to be expected, the new voters sent up a large majority for the Whig ministers. The old Whig party, now counting the Radicals among tbeir numbers, took the name Liberals, and the Tories, realizing the great unpopularity of their party name, began to call themselves the Conservatives. This victory of the Liberals ushered in a series of remarkable reforms that began the social and administrative regeneration of England. It was not enough merely to reform the constitution of the central government, it was equally important to improve the administration of local affairs in the towns and counties. Reform of the Poor Law. — The first great reform undertaken by parliament was in the administration of the Poor Law. Bad laws and incompetent management had brought affairs into a deplorable condition and the report of a commission appointed in 1834 showed the population of England sinking lower and lower in physical and moral degradation. By the act of August, 1834, a far-reaching change was effected. Parishes were com- bined with unions in each of which was elected a board of guardians, to administer relief in efficient and economical fashion, and over all were the Poor Law Commissioners appointed by the government. Though many additional changes were to be made after 1834, the main features of the Poor Law system were established at that time, the most important of which was the taking of the administration of the law out of the hands of the justices of the peace, the local gentry, and giving it to a hoard of guardians elected by the tax payers. This was the substitiition of a democratic for an aristocratic system. Municipal Reform. — Equally important was the reform of the government of the towns and cities. Before 1835 borough customs varied everywhere, and the report of a commission dis- 372 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1833 closed sucli a chaos of misgovern ment and corruption as to arouse amazement that such a condition of things had been en- dured so long. The Municipal Corporations Act of September, 1835, created a uniform system of government for the towns. This system was based on the idea that the burgesses of a town have a right to manage their own affairs. Henceforth the towns of England, Scotland, and Ireland were democratic in character. Health Laws. — A third great measure concerned the public health of England. The first great public health act was not passed until 1848, when a general board was created. This board, acting through local boards, looked after sewage, drainage, water supply, burial grounds, and offensive and dangerous trades. The system was much changed afterward, and it was not until 1875 that the great Public Health Act of to-day was passed. It is difficult for us to realize how neglectful people had been in the earlier period of the most ordinary precautions against disease and epidemics. Eilth, pollution, and contamination everywhere abounded, but the health acts were to make Eng- land a cleaner and healthier country. 368. Other Reforms. — Many other reforms were carried out, often through the agitation of private individuals. Greatest of these, from a humanitarian point of view, was the abolition of the slave trade. In 1807 the slave trade had been done away with in the British colonies, and in 1833 the whole system, as far as Great Britain was concerned, was abolished. The government appropriated £20,000,000 to compensate slave owners for their losses, and allowed them, in the way of service, three-fourths of the slave's time for twelve years. About the same time the earl of Shaftesbury began his great work in be- half of better treatment for lunatics, of workers in mills and factories, mines and collieries, especially women and children, and of the improvement of the dwellings of the poor. A dozen important acts of parliament represent the endeavors of this great philanthropist during a period of nearly sixty years to im- prove the physical and moral condition of the people of England. 1836] OTHER RErORMS. 373 Others labored in the same cause. An attempt was made to encourage education ; prisons and asylums were improved ; whipping posts and pillories were abolished ; the postal service Queen Victoria at the Time of hek Coronation. Erom a portrait — painter unknown — in Westminster Abbey. was simplified and extended ; postage stamps were introduced in 1840, and postage was reduced to a penny (English), that is, two cents. In 1836 the stamp duty on newspapers was lowered ; in 1855 it was got rid of altogether, and in consequence 374 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1846 the circulation of newspapers increased enormously, and many- new papers were established, 369. Queen Victoria. — When William IV died in 1837, the next heir to the throne was his niece, Victoria, the eighteen year old daughter of the duke of Kent. To her long reign of nearly sixty-four years has been fitly given the name of the Victorian Era. It was a period of transition, during which G-reat Britain and the British Empire of to-day were created. That Great Britain was able to pass through this great period of her history without serious disturbance is in no small degree due to Queen Victoria. Trained and guided during her early years by the Whig minister, Lord Melbourne, and after- ward (1840-1861) aided and advised by her husband, Albert of Saxe-Coburg, the prince consort, she developed a remarkable knowledge of the principles and practices of constitutional government, and displayed a rare judgment in the exercise of the royal prerogatives. With the accession of Victoria, Han- over was separated from the crown and given to the youngest son of George III, and Great Britain withdrew more and more from Continental affairs. 370. Cabinet Government under Victoria. — The Whigs under Lord Melbourne were in power when Victoria came to the throne and in the main, the Whigs, or Liberals, remained the leading party until 1874. In 1846 the Conservative party divided on the free trade question ; the protectionist wing, or old Conservatives, were led by Derby and Disraeli, and the free trade, or liberal. Conservatives by Gladstone. This break in the Conservative ranks strengthened the Liberal party.* 1 Summary of ministers under Victoria: Peel . . Conservative Russell . . Liberal Derby . . Conservative Aberdeen . Liberal Palmerston . . Liberal Derby-Disraeli . Conservative Palmerston . . Liberal Russell . Liberal 1841-1846 1847-1852 1852 1853-1855 1855-1858 1858-1859 1859-1865 1865-1866 1837J THE CHAETIST MOVEMENT. 375 After 1841 cabinet and parliamentary government became firmly established. The queen gave up all right of appointing ministries and always selected the man who could command a majority in the House of Commons. She demanded, however, that her ministers keep her fully informed of aH that was being done, and that they should not change a measure after it had received the royal sanction. The rise of the prime minister within the cabinet gave unity to the entire cabinet, which. thenceforth was invariably selected from one party and always resigned as a whole when the majority was against it. When supported by a majority in the House of Commons, the ministry wielded practically absolute power, and the prime minister was the head of the government.^ 371. The Chartist Movement. — The Radicals deemed the re- form of 1832 only a stepping stone to universal suffrage, but the leaders of the Liberals had no intention of extending further the right to vote. When the Radicals found that the govern- ment would do nothing for them, they began a series of demon- strations, known as the Chartist movement, because those engaged in it presented their claims in the form of a charter. The movement began in 1837, when the House of Commons, by a vote of five hundred to twenty-two, refused to consider further electoral reforms. The Radicals, in alliance with the workingmen who believed that an extension of the right to vote would relieve their misery, organized meetings, and presented to parliament a great petition, which embodied their demands. This charter demanded the following six points: (1) uni- versal suffrage ; (2) secret ballot ; (3) pay for representatives ; Disraeli (1866-1868, 1875-1880) and Gladstone (1869-1874, 1880-1885), alternat- ing; Gladstone (January-July, 1886, 1892-1894), Rosebery (1894-1895), and Salisbury (1885-1886, 1886-1892, 1895-1902), alternating. 1 The last attempt of the crown to resist the will of the cabinet was in 1839, when Victoria, acting on the advice of Melbourne, refused to change the ladies of the bedchamber to suit the complexion of the new Peel ministry. There- fore Peel refused to continue in office. When, in 1841, the Whigs again suf- fered defeat and Peel formed a new ministry, the queen yielded the point and the ladies of the bedchamber were selected from Conservative families. 376 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1838 (4) abolition of property qualifications ; (5) annual elections •, and (6) better distribution of parliamentary seats throughout the country. Three times (1839, 1842, and 1848) were petitions drawn up, signed by thousands of people, and presented to parliament amid great excitement. But the Chartists did not form a society, or create an organiza- tion of any kind, and the movement came to nothing, for the great mass of the English people were not ready for the changes that the Radicals de- manded. 372. Free Trade in Wheat. — Back of the Chartist move- ment lay the discon- tent of the working classes, who saw in the protective sys- tem the reason why prices were high. " They wanted the re- peal of customs duties, notably that on corn (wheat), which made bread dear. To the same end worked a group of men composing the free trade party, led by Richard Cobden, a Manchester cotton merchant, and John Bright, and in 1838 this party won over to their cause Peel, prime minister and the head of the Conservatives. Peel yielded, believing that both the poverty in England and the famine in Ireland could be traced to the system of protection. Sir Robert Peel. From Robinson's engraving after the portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence in the National Portrait Gallery, London. 1849] PEACE AND PROSPERITY. 377 In 1842 Peel abolished all remaining export duties, and re- duced import duties on seven hundred and fifty articles con- sumed in Great Britain. He made up the loss in revenue by reestablishing the tax on all incomes of £150 and over. In the same year, turning his attention to the Corn (wheat) Laws, he forced his party to reduce the duty on wheat by an arrange- ment known as the "sliding scale" — that is, that the duty should ■ increase when the price of home wheat fell and de- crease when it rose. In 1845 the Whig, Lord John Eussell, announced his conversion to free trade in wheat, and Peel, with the aid of the Whigs, passed in 1846 a measure repealing the Corn Laws, thus giving England free trade in wheat. This was the time when Gladstone and other free traders left the Con- servative party, giving added strength to the Liberals. 373. Struggle for Home Rule in Ireland. — The third great issue of the early years of Queen Victoria's reign was that of the Irish, who wished a parliament separate from that of Great Britain. The leader of the movement was Daniel O'Connell, who thrilled his countrymen with promises of a parliament for Ireland. The movement reached its height in 1843. A " Young Ireland " party was formed, and enormous mass- meetings were held, where angry and seditious words were spoken. But O'Connell, though a demagogue, was not a law- breaker ; and when the government forbade the Irish to bear arms and ordered their meetings to disburse, he yielded, and declared that he would not lead an Irish revolt. This de- termination hurt his cause with the Irish. From that time his power over his people began to decline, and in 1846 the whole Irish movement collapsed. For nearly twenty years the Irish people remained quiet, suffering hunger and poverty, and con- stantly liable to eviction at the hands of absentee landlords. 374. Peace and Prosperity. — • In 1851 England seemed at the height of peace and prosperity. Free trade had been extended by the repeal of the Navigation Acts in 1849; material pros- perity had been promoted by a rapid increase in commerce; pauperism had been checked by the new Poor Laws ; drunken- 378 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1853 ness had been diminislied by the efforts of the total abstinence societies, the sanitary condition of the towns improved by the public health measures, and crime lessened by the establish- ment of a better police system. A spiritual awakening had followed a series of new religious movements, of which the Tractarian, or Oxford movement, was the most important. Literature took a practical turn: Macaulay defended the rule of the middle-class Whigs, in his History of England ; Grote glorified the cause of democracy, in his History of Greece; Dickens, in Pickwick Papers, and Thackeray, in Vanity Fair, portrayed vividly the life of the upper and lower classes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ; while Carlyle, in Sartor Resartus, and Tennyson, in In Memoriam, struck a new note of sincerity, duty, and justice. A great industrial exhi- bition promoted by the prince consort in 1851 seemed to in- augurate an era of peaceful commercial intercourse with all the world. But the era of peace had not yet come. In 1848 another revolution in France ended in the establishment of the second French Republic and stirred up the discontented masses in Italy, Austria, and Prussia to revolt and demand constitutions. The Continent was stirred to its very depths. Some years later came wars in Germany, Italy, and the United States, to establish or maintain national unity, a problem which Great Britain had solved peacefully for herself. 375. The Eastern Question: the Crimean War. — In 1850 the Greek and Roman Catholic churches quarrelled over the con- trol of certain sacred places in the Holy Land. The Czar, as the head of the Greek church, took up the cause of the Greek Christians, and Louis Napoleon, president of the new French Republic, championed the cause of the Roman Catholics. The Czar demanded of the Sultan the right to act as the protector of all the Greek Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain suspected that the Czar's purpose was to divide Turkey among the powers, in order that he himself might seize Con- stantinople. When, therefore, in 1853 Czar Nicholas declared 1855J THE EASTERN QUESTION: THE CRIMEAN WAR. 379 war against Turkey, sent troops into her territory, and destroyed a Turkish fleet in the Black Sea (November 4), the British people rose in wrath and indignation and demanded war against Russia. The chief reason for this demand was the belief that if Rus- sia seized Constantinople, the British route to India would be cut off, and India threatened with attack. Louis Napoleon, crowned Napoleon III, emperor of the French in 1852, also wanted the glory of a successful war to make himself more popular with his new subjects. British suspicion and hatred of Russia forced the English prime minister, Aberdeen, against his will to join with Napoleon in a declaration of war, March, 1854. Troops were despatched to the Dardanelles; and in September, 1854, the Crimean War was begun. This great duel, between Russia on one side, and England, France, Turkey, and eventually Sardinia on the other, lasted for a year. After the bloody victory of the Alma and two indecisive battles (Balaklava ^ and InJcerman), the allies settled down to the siege of Sevastopol, the great Russian fortress (December, 1854). The winter of 1854 and 1855 was one of misery, suffer- ing, and death for British and French soldiers alike, due to in- sufficient food, bad housing, epidemics, and poor hospital service.^ In England popular wrath at the inefficiency of the government drove Aberdeen from the ministry (1855). His successor, Palmerston, pushed the war with vigor, and finally, after careful preparations and many assaults, Sevastopol was taken, on September 5, 1855. The British people, having made their preparations for a continuation of the war, were loath to bring the struggle to a close ; but the other powers were tired of the conflict and believed that Russia had suffered enough. 1 Special report : The Charge of the Light Brigade. 2 It was in the Crimean War that Florence Nightingale began her work as an army nurse, which resulted in the widespread " Red Cross " movement, the improvement of hospital conditions, and the establishment of a training school for nurses. " The Angel of the Crimea," as Miss Nightingale was called, died in England, August, 1910. 380 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [185' In January, 1856, peace was agreed upon ; and in April, at the Congress of Paris, the final treaty was signed. The diplomats at Paris declared the Ottoman Empire a European power in good standing, and pledged themselves to maintain its integrity; this was really a victory for Great Britain as it prevented further encroachments upon Turkey by Russia. 376. India : the Great Mutiny. — Had the route to India really been threatened by the Czar, the war might well have been worth what it cost ; for India was rapidly becoming one of Great Britain's greatest possessions. Since the days of Wellesley (duke of Wellington) the conquest of India had gone steadily on. The marquis of Hastings extended the powers of the East India Company and brought to an end the wars with the native tribes. In 1813 the company's monopoly of the Indian trade was taken away, and in 1833, when its charter was renewed, the monopoly of trade with China was abolished. This new arrangement limited the business of the company to matters of administration and greatly improved its rule. But the governor-general, Lord Dalhousie, in 1849 unfortu- nately began to annex vassal states, forcing upon them British methods of administration and law without regard to native customs and prejudices. In consequence there was a wide- spread discontent, which needed only a direct and special grievance to break into open revolt. The introduction of a cartridge greased, as was believed, with cow's or pig's fat was interpreted as an attempt of the British to deprive the native soldiers of their caste. In using (biting) the cartridge, Mo- hammedans, to whom swine were unholy, deemed themselves defiled ; and Hindoos, to whom the cow was sacred, thought themselves guilty of sacrilege. In 1857 the Sepoy ^ regiments of Calcutta and Delhi muti- nied, and soon most of northern India was in revolt. British 1 Sepoys are natives with some regular army training. 18671 THE COLONIAL PROBLEM. 381 officers were shot, women and children massacred, and barracks and quarters destroyed. The slaughter of Cawnpore (1857) was only the worst of many tragedies. The siege of Delhi (1857), the defence and relief of Lucknow (1857), the second capture of Lucknow, and the final defeat of the rebels (June, 1858) were the chief events in a great struggle which, after the mutiny was suppressed, led parliament to abolish the East India Company, and to take India under the control of the British government. 377. Relations with China. — The East India Company had extended its trade to the country on the borders of India and in this way came into conflict with China. With increase of trade went increase of smuggling, particularly in opium, the importation of which into China was rigidly forbidden. At- tempts of Chinese officials to enforce this regulation gradually brought on the Opium War of 1839-1842. This war was dishonorable to Great Britain from any point of view, but it brought about the overthrow of China's policy of isolation. The treaty of Nanking (1842) threw open five Chinese ports to British trade and ceded Hongkong to Great Britain, and thus gave the British a foothold in China long before other nations had thought of concerning themselves with affairs in the Pacific. A second treaty (1860), after another war, opened additional ports to the British. About the same time Japan, as a result of the United States naval expedition, 1852, began to admit the commerce of a few nations to her ports, and in so doing created a new market for British goods. 378. The Colonial Problem. — At the same time the British colonies in the west and south were claiming England's attention. Canada and the West Indies, oldest of the colonies remaining to Great Britain in America, had both suffered from bad management. But now responsible government and colo- nial control of expenditures were granted to the Canadians. This new policy culminated in the creation of modern Canada by the Act of 1867, which joined all the Canadian provinces except Newfoundland into the single " Dominion of Canada," 382 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1880 with a single constitution for all. In the West Indies the emancipation of the slaves, and the introduction of free trade destroying the West Indian monopoly of British trade had aroused resentment, which in Jamaica took the form of protest in 1836 and of revolt in 1865. The colonies in Africa and the Pacific were deemed at first by British statesmen useless and expensive possessions. Australia had been employed as a convenient place for trans- porting criminals ; but when systematic colonization began, about 1830, in Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and The Cape, questions of convicts, squatters, land sales, emigrants, and the relations with natives engaged the attention of parlia- ment. Government in these distant lands was at first largely military, and when a regular civil administration was intro- duced, everything was managed from the government offices in Downing Street, London. This policy gave way, soon after 1830, to another, based on the Whig doctrine of letting the colonies alone. Statesmen began to advocate the plan of granting to the colonies respon- sible government, with the right to manage their own affairs and to conduct their own military defence. The reorganization of Canada in 1840 was in the main an application of the " let alone " policy. The introduction of representative institutions in Australia began in 1842, and was carried forward by a great constitutional act in 1850. New Zealand received attention in 1846 and again in 1851. Many British statesmen thought these measures meant eventual separation of the colonies from the mother country ; but others, with more foresight, believed that colonial self-government was not inconsistent with loyal attachment to Great Britain. This faith was to find ample justification later, when, after 1880, the idea of a union of mother country and colonies in a great federal empire began to take hold of men's thoughts and to shape the policy of the government. 379. Relations with the United States : the Trent Affair. — The Civil War in America stirred the British people deeply, and the 1861] NEW PAKTIES AND NEW ISSUES. 383 opinions and sympathies of statesmen and people were much divided. In the main, the upper classes and government offi- cials, even Gladstone, upheld the cause of the South, while the working classes and radical leaders were almost to a man in sympathy with the North. This sympathy was the more re- markable in that the Northern blockade of Southern ports brought on a cotton famine in Lancashire that caused terrible distress among the employees of the cotton mills, and affected workmen in other trades, also. Their attitude, due to abhor- rence of slavery, without doubt influenced the government to preserve strict neutrality. But through gross carelessness of the ministry England violated this neutrality in allowing the Confederate government to fit out in English ports cruisers to prey upon the commerce of the North. For this indiscretion England was compelled in a court of arbitration (1871) to pay $15,000,000 to the United States. England refused to join with Napoleon III in recognizing the Southern states, but came very near going to war in what is known as ''the Trent Affair." Captain Wilkes of the United States Navy stopped an English mail steamer, the Trent, and took off two Southerners, who were going to Europe to seek aid for the Southern cause. Great Britain, on the ground that the right to search neutral vessels in time of war had been given up by the European powers at the Congress of Paris, in 1856, demanded the surrender of the commissioners. The United States had not been represented at the Congress of Paris, but President Lincoln declared that the United States had always opposed the right of search ; Queen Victoria and the prince consort threw their influence on the side of peace ; the commissioners were surrendered and the danger was past. 380. New Parties and New Issues. — Meanwhile in England the material condition of the working classes had been im- proving; and they had not only begun to band together in trade unions and federations, but were holding congresses to discuss questions relating to themselves and their welfare. They saw that their first efforts must be directed to the great 384 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1865 task of obtaining the right to vote. As long, however, as Palmerston lived and the old Liberals were in control, little was to be expected. After Palmerston's death in 1865, a new Liberal party began to come to the front. This party, whose leader was Gladstone, adopted in part the doctrines of the Radicals and began to advocate a wider suffrage and new legislation for the improve- ment of the masses. The cry was " peace, retrenchment, and reform." With the new liberalism went a new conservatism, the chief exponent of which was Disraeli, afterward earl of Beaconsfield. The members of the new Con- servative party believed in government for the people rather than by the people. They believed in a moderate extension of the suffrage, but held that legislative power should be in the hands of educated and wealthy men. Their leading ar- ticles of political faith were a firm foreign policy, an extension of British territory in all parts of the world, and a federa- tion of all the colonies in a great British empire. This policy differed from that of the Liberals in that it entailed not peace, but war; not retrench- ment, but heavy expenditures on army and navy; not legis- lation shaped only for the United Kingdom, but legislation for the greater Britain at home and beyond the seas. From a photo graph. Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield. 1868] GLADSTONE'S FIRST REFORM MINISTRY. 385 381. The Second Reform Bill. — As both parties favored some extension of tiie franchise, the Russell-Gladstone ministry in 1866 brought in a reform bill, but it was defeated by a party of old Liberals, who opposed electoral reform. The Derby- Disraeli ministry that followed introduced another bill, because it desired to show the working classes that, after all, the Con- servatives were their best friends. This measure, after many amendments, was passed in August, 1867. This Eef orm Bill of 1867 granted a suffrage that was far from universal. In the boroughs it gave the right to vote to all householders instead of, as formerly, only to those who oc- cupied houses worth £10 a year. It also allowed all lodgers to vote who had resided for a year in the borough and occupied rooms renting for at least £10 a year unfurnished. The only change that was made in the counties was the reduction of the property qualification from £10 to £5 and the introduction of a new " occupation qualification," which allowed a man to vote who had occupied for twelve months a house that v/as valued at £12 a year. This meant that all inhabitants of boroughs could vote and that a large number of small farmers in the counties could do the same. The increase nearly doubled the number of voters and destroyed the supremacy of the middle classes. It led to a more definite organization of the older parties, to increased political activity of the socialists and the trade unions, and to the election of a few workingmen to the House of Commons. Though miners and agricultural laborers were still denied the right to vote, England, by the act of 1867, took a. long step in the direction of a popular franchise. 382. Gladstone's First Reform Ministry. — In 1868 parlia- ment was dissolved and new elections were held under the re- form act of 1867. New voters appeared, elections were contested as they never had been before, and electors scanned carefully the legislative programmes of the two parties. The new Liberals — Liberals and Radicals — won by a majority of one hundred and twenty, and Gladstone at once formed a min- istry committed to an important programme of reform. 2c 386 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1870 The first measures that were introduced concerned Ireland. In July, 1869, parliament passed a bill disestablishing the Irish state church (that is, the Anglican). In May, 1870, it passed an Irish land bill, to protect tenants from eviction as long as they paid their rents and to compel landlords to com- pensate evicted tenants for improvements made. The bill also From a photograph. Hawarden Castle, the Home of Gladstone. provided for government loans for the purchase of tenancies, the loan to be paid back to the government by the tenant in annual instalments. The most important measure resulting from the act of 1867 concerned a national control of elementary education. A bill was passed, August 9, 1870, dividing England into school districts and providing for a system of public elementary schools in the districts. It created school boards to be elected in the towns by the burgesses and in the counties by the rate- payers, and thus placed educational control on a democratic basis under a central authority. After 1§70 England had two 1871] GLADSTONE'S FIRST REFORM MINISTRY. 387 systems of elementary schools: (1) voluntary schools, aided partly by the government and partly by voluntary subscrip- tions, teaching in most cases some religious creed; and (2) public schools, which children between five and twelve were obliged to attend, supported partly by local taxation and partly by the government, and free for those unable to pay, commonly known as board schools.^ Henceforth the board schools tended to gain at the expense of the voluntary schools. A new education act regulating the control of these schools was passed in 1902 ; but an attempt in 1906 to ex- tend the non-sectarian board system was defeated largely through the opposition of the Anglicans and Roman Catholics. In higher education an important change was made. In 1871 the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were thrown open to Roman Catholics and Dissenters alike by the abolition of all religious tests. Then two important changes were made in the army. First, the system of purchasing commissions in the army was abol- ished, and promotion was made dependent not on rank, but on merit and industry. Secondly, the long term service of twenty-five years was replaced by a short term service, whereby a man after serving at least six years actively in the army was to pass into the reserve, though he was liable at any time during a succeeding six years to be called to the front. In 1871, in order to conciliate the working classes, Gladstone put through a measure incorporating trade unions and legaliz- ing strikes, but forbidding all acts of intimidation. But Glad- stone was trying to do too much, and each measure alienated some part of the British people. . A licensing act angered the liquor dealers ; the array reform aroused the Conservatives ; the elementary education act incensed the Non-conformists ; 1 In England the term " public school " is given to such great endowed schools as Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, Westminster, St. Paul'Si Charterhouse, and Shrewsbury. The public schoolin England is, therefore, a private school. 388 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1874 the Irish land laws embittered the landlords; and the trade unions act failed to satisfy the workingmen. In 1873 the ministry resigned, and when the new elections of 1874 were held, the Conservatives were victorious, with a majority of fifty. Disraeli became prime minister and Derby minister of foreign affairs. For the first time since 1841 the Conserva- From a photograph. The Suez Canal. This canal was begun in 1859 by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the Erench engineer who later began the Panama Canal. It was finished in 1869. In 1875 England became the largest stockholder through the purchase by Lord Beaconsfield of Egypt's shares. It is open to all ships of all nations on equal terms. tives controlled in the House of Commons a majority upon which they could rely. 383. Disraeli's Imperial Policy : the Indian Empire. — Glad- stone had cared but little for affairs abroad, and had rigidly kept free from all foreign entanglements. The new ministry 1877] THE CONGEESS OF BEELIN. 389 interested itself to a certain extent in legislation for the benefit of the working classes, but in the main was content with the inauguration of a brilliant foreign policy. Disraeli was interested in India, and he determined to make that possession, in a new and vivid sense, an appanage of the crown. The Suez Canal had been opened in 1869, and in order to control it, Disraeli, in 1875, purchased, for £4,000,000, the shares belonging to the Khedive of Egypt. The same year he despatched the Prince of Wales to India, ostensibly to hunt tigers, but in reality to awaken a new enthusiasm for Great Britain, and to build up a closer connection between Great Britain and India. The next year Disraeli pusheii through parliament a measure called the Royal Titles Bill conferring on the British sovereign the title of Emperor oi Empress of India. The climax of this policy came when, in a great meeting at Delhi, the old capital of the Mongols, January 1, 1877, in the presence of a great concourse of sover- eigns, Indian nobles and potentates, ambassadors and soldiers. Queen Victoria was formally proclaimed Empress of India. In dealing with India a strict regard was shown for all the native Indian customs and prejudices, and every effort was made to arouse the enthusiasm of the Indian peoples for Great Britain. Natives were employed on the same footing with Englishmen in the departments of police, finance, and justice ; local councils were created, liberty of the press was allowed, and later an Indian national congress, composed of high-caste Brahmins, was permitted to meet to propose and discuss reforms in administration. 384. The Congress of Berlin. — In 1877 Eussia declared war against Turkey because of Turkey's atrocious treatment of the Bulgarians. Public opinion in England, roused by Glad- stone's speeches, forced Disraeli to remain neutral, though he was suspicious of Eussia's designs and was ready to take up arms should Eussia seize Constantinople. Eussian successes ended the war, but unfortunately the Eussian envoy obtained 390 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1880 a treaty which practically dismembered the Ottoman Empire and left the Sultan with little territory in Europe. Imme- diately Great Britain and Austria declared that they would not accept the treaty, and demanded that it be submitted for revision to a general congress of the European powers. The Czar yielded and in June, 1878, the congress met at Berlin. There Disraeli and Salisbury carried on a diplomatic war with the Eussian representative and came of£ victorious on nearly every point. Turkey was left in possession of the main part of her territory, though Servia, Rumania, and Montenegro were declared independent, and Bulgaria, though remaining under Turkish authority, was given powers of self- government. Great Britain obtained the right to occupy Cyprus. Disraeli returned to England, " bearing peace with honor." But the treaty of Berlin really accomplished little for the solution of the Eastern question. 385. Disraeli's Fall. — In 1878 the old rivalry between Russia and Great Britain brought on a war for the control of Afghanistan. This struggle ended in the placing of. Ab- durrahman, a friend of England, on the throne as ameer of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, in South Africa the discovery of the diamond fields of Kimberly led England to annex West Griqualand in 1878 and the Transvaal the same year. But on undertaking the subjugation of the neighboring Zulus, she met with an unexpectedly stubborn resistance and not until 1879 was the war successfully completed. This imperial policy of Disraeli not only proved expensive, but savored somewhat of ostentation. It led to the neglect of home interest, to half-hearted measures of reform, and to wide- spread discontent in England. When, therefore, the general elections of 1880 were held, the Conservatives were driven from power, and the Liberals, with a parliamentary majority of one hundred, returned to office. 386. Trouble in Ireland. — In this second Gladstone minis- try appeared for the first time two members of the Radical party — Joseph Chamberlain and Sir Charles Dilke. Equally 1884] THE THIRD REFORM BILL. 391 significant was the appearance in the House of Commons of eighty Irish members, under the leadership of Charles Stewart Parnell, an able but unscrupulous champion of the Irish cause. Other leaders in Ireland organized the Irish National Land League (1879), for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, a re- form of the Irish land system. The League encouraged the employment of all legitimate methods to injure the landlords. Among them was the " boycott," used for the first time against Captain Boycott, an English agent, who had served notices on certain tenants in County Mayo. But the followers of the League did not always show self-control, and the burning of farms, mutilation of cattle, and other depredations culminated in May, 1882, in the murder of Lord Frederick Cavendish, the newly appointed secretary for Ireland. This gave a severe setback to the Irish cause. 387. The Third Reform Bill (1884). —During this excite- ment in Ireland Gladstone redeemed a former promise to extend the British franchise and to grant the counties the same privileges that had been given in 1867 to the towns. The agricultural and mining laborers were making themselves felt and were banding together to improve their condition. A measure was passed in February, 1884, giving to both towns and counties a uniform electoral privilege, so that from that time nearly every one in England has had a vote for members of parliament except domestic servants, bachelors living with their parents, certain persons who by frequent change of residence are unable to establish the voting privilege, and women. The last named can, however, vote in local elections. Aliens, infants, idiots, paupers, convicts, and persons guilty of corrupt practices at elections can not vote and, naturally, peers are not allowed to vote for members of the House of Commons. In 1885 a new and very important redistribution of seats in parliament was made, whereby England was divided into electoral districts, each returning one member. A borough with only 15,000 inhabitants voted with the county, boroughs with more inhabitants returned one or more members accord- 392 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1880 ing to size, but each member stood not for the borough, but for each electoral district of the borough. Thus for electoral purposes the distinction between the borough and the county- ceased to exist. There were a few exceptions to this rule based on historical privilege. By this act of distribution the membership in parliament was increased from 658 to 670. With the growth of population since 1885 inequalities have developed, and to-day Ireland is over-represented (1 to 44,000) and England under-represented (1 to 70,000). Some of the electoral districts are now much more thickly inhabited than others, yet each sends up but one member. The results of the act of 1884 were almost revolutionary. It changed the working of the English system of government. Parliament tended to become little more than a debating and voting body ; the cabinet initiated the great legislative measures and defined the policy of the government. Members of parliament rarely introduced bills of their own. But the cabinet soon ceased to consider itself responsible to parlia- ment only ; it looked henceforth to the country for its au- thority, and if the sentiment of the country were manifestly against it, it resigned, even though it still commanded a majority in parliament. In nearly every case after 1884 the cabinet resigned with a majority in its favor in parliament. Thus in England to-day the cabinet is the supreme executive and legislative power, and the electorate is the sovereign authority. England, despite its monarchy and nobility, is a democratic country. 388. Troubles in Afghanistan, South Africa, and Egypt. — Gladstone was not interested in affairs abroad. In 1880 he had withdrawn the British garrisons from Kabul and Kan- dahar in Afghanistan. In December of the same year the Boers struck for independence, and defeated the British forces at Langs Nek and Majuba Hill. Then the British government made treaties giving Great Britain control over foreign affairs and leaving the Boers free to manage internal affairs in their own way. 1886] DEFEAT OF HOME EULE FOR IRELAND. 393 Equally unsuccessful were Great Britain's dealings with Egypt. When the Khedive became bankrupt in 1878, a dual control by Great Britain and France was established. The disorganized condition of Egypt encouraged revolt, and the provinces of the Sudan attempted to throw olf the rule of the Khedive. At their head appeared one Mohammed Achmed, claiming to be the Mahdi, or Guide, the representative of Allah on earth. The revolt soon assumed vast proportions, and two armies sent against the Mahdi's followers in 1883 were in large part destroyed. Then the Gladstone ministry despatched General Gordon to Khartum to deal with the Mahdi, but Gordon was surrounded at Khartum by the Sudanese. Gladstone after a dangerous delay was shamed into action by public opinion, and sent a relief expedition under General Wilson, which arrived too late. Khartum had fallen, Gordon had been slain a few days before (January 26, 1885), and the Sudan was lost to the Khedive. 389. Defeat of Home Rule for Ireland. — In 1885 the elections under the new law (Third Eeform Bill) resulted in a victory for the Liberals, and Gladstone became prime minister for the third time. The presence of eighty-six Irish Home Rulers in parliament made it evident that if Gladstone were to command a majority, he must advocate measures favorable to home rule. On April 8, 1886, he brought in his first Home Eule Bill. By it he proposed to give Ireland a separate parliament, a separate ministry, and control of taxes. The two countries were to have the same king, and the British parliament was to have a certain control over Irish law-making and Irish revenues ; but other- wise Ireland was to be independent of England. The measure aroused great opposition, and was defeated in June, 1886. Unfortunately for the Liberals, this first attempt to grant home rule to Ireland led a body of able men, among them Joseph Chamberlain and John Bright, to withdraw from the Liberal party. These men formed a new group, the Liberal Unionists, so called because, while adhering to Liberal principles, they desired union with Ireland. In 1886, when new elections took 394 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1888 place, the Liberals were defeated, and Lord Salisbury became prime minister. 390. Reforms in the Irish Land System and in Local Govern- ment. — The second Salisbury ministry endeavored to conciliate Ireland by reducing rents and by appropriating money to enable tenants to buy their lands. A permanent land commission was appointed, and many tenants made application for loans from the government. This policy was followed by a marked decrease in crime and a falling off of emigration, showing that Ireland was becoming more prosperous and contented. It is noteworthy that before twenty years had passed, the population of Ireland had begun to show an increase. But the demand for home rule remained just as persistent as ever. After the passage of the Third Reform Bill, it was evident that such changes must be made in county and parish govern- ment as would accord with the new democratic tendencies in England. A representative democracy was now the basis of England's central government ; it must become the basis of England's local government, also. Four evils existed : (1) county and parish control was in the hands of the justices of the peace, the landed gentry, and was not representative government at all ; (2) local administration was exceedingly complicated and confused, for besides the county and the parish there was the poor law union, the school district, highway district, burial dis- trict, and other divisions, of which the boundaries rarely agreed ; (3) the administration was as complicated as the area, there were many local boards, with different powers, different times and methods of election, different system of voting, and different qualification of candidates ; and (4) there was a great variety of local rates or taxes, most annoying to the local ratepayer. The result was chaos in local govern- ment. The first measure introduced in 1888 by the Salisbury gov- ernment reformed the county government. The justices of the peace were deprived of all powers of administration, which were vested in county councils, composed of representatives 1893] THE SECOND HOME RULE BILL. ' 395 chosen directly by tlie taxpayers.^ A complete change was made in the method of paying local rates. In 1889 the system was extended to Scotland. In 1894 the parishes were taken in hand by the Liberal party, and a measure was passed equally important with that relating to the counties. The powers of the local squire were transferred to a parish council selected by the ratepayers which administered the affairs of the locality. Two important features of these reforms may be noted : they took the selection of the local governing boards from the hands of the crown and placed it in the hands of the ratepayers ; and they got rid of the local aristocracy or country gentlemen as far as local ad- ministration was concerned. Though further reforms are still to be made, yet in municipalities, counties, and parishes local government to-day is well organized on a democratic basis. With the exception of the hereditary House of Lords (which is likely in time to become a representative body), of the City of London (still governed according to old forms and prece- dents), and of the local justices of the peace (still possessing cer- tain judicial functions, which will probably be taken from them eventually), class rule has ceased to exist in England. 391. The Second Home Rule Bill (1893). — After the Conserv- atives had held power for six years, Lord Salisbury decided to appeal to the country in a new election. The elections resulted in a Liberal majority of forty, but a majority wholly dependent on Irish votes. Gladstone had made home rule and the im- provement of the condition of labor his chief issues before the electors, and true to his promise he presented on February 13, 1893, his second home rule measure. He demanded for Ire- laud a legislature of two houses, with power to make laws, and an executive, like a colonial governor. The home rule of this measure was somewhat less extensive than that provided for in 1886. In the House of Commons the debate continued for 1 London (except the " city ") became a county for administrative purposes and was placed under the London County Council. 396 ' THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1900 three months, and the opposition did all in its power to pre- vent the passage of the bill. The bill was finally carried by a majority of thirty-four; but the House of Lords, feeling that so small a majority, entirely made up of Irish votes, hardly represented the wishes of the British people, defeated the bill by a large majority. The Liberals were disheartened. During their three years of power they had failed to deal effectively with any of the great social problems. They had wasted time on the home rule question, and the promises of their earlier programmes had not been fulfilled. In the election of 1895 they suffered heavy defeat, and the Conservatives obtained a majority greater than at any other time in their history. Even without the Liberal Unionists, who, since 1886, had been their ardent allies, they would have had full control of the House of Commons. The Liberal party gradually went to pieces. The with- drawal of the Liberal Unionists had deprived them of some of their ablest members ; Gladstone had retired (d. 1898) ; and their Irish allies were estranged by the failure of. the home rule policy. Between 1895 and the general elections of 1900 one Liberal leader after another came to the front : Lord Kosebery, Sir William Harcourt, Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman ; but before 1900 the party itself seemed completely demoral- ized. On the other hand, the Conservative party never seemed stronger or more united, and never better able to carry out its policy with efficiency and despatch than in the year 1900. 392. Industrial and Social Reform. — The Conservative min- istry was made up of Conservatives and Liberal Unionists, and remained firmly intrenched in office for five years. The new government gave its attention to the demands of the in- dustrial and agricultural classes, and tried to bring about social reform. It concerned itself with hours of labor, but was unsuccessful i^. carrying an eight-hour law for miners. It passed an employer's liability law which increased the workingman's opportunity of enforcing claims against em- 1886] EEA OF AEBITRATION. 897 ployers; a pure food law to prevent adulteration of drugs and foods ; it tried to prevent explosions in mines, and to enable From a photograph. Houses of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada. occupiers of small dwellings to purchase their homes. It sup- plemented the land purchase act for Ireland, and created a de- partment of agriculture for that country; it extended the government's ownership of telegraphs and telephones ; and, in other ways, increased the government's control of public con- veniences. But it must not be supposed that these legislative activities were confined to the Conservatives only. All gov- ernments since 1868 had been regulating private activities and extending the authority of the state in matters relating to the welfare of the masses. 393. Era of Arbitration. — Since 1885 other European coun- tries, notably Germany and France, had been increasing their commerce and adding to their colonies. Wherever there were 398 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1903 opportunities for a market, a sphere of influence, or an addi- tion of territory, in Africa, in Asia, or in the islands of the Pacific, there such powers as Great Britain, Germany, France, and Russia were disputing, generally peacefully, for posses- sion. Germany, Austria, and Italy were united in a triple alliance, and France and Russia in a dual alliance, for mutual support and the preservation of peace. Great Britain stood alone, the rival of all, yet on peaceful terms with all. At the same time diplomacy underwent a change. Foreign relations were no longer limited to the European Continent. After 1885 foreign ministers were interested not only in ques- tions concerning dynasties and treaties, but in colonial boun- daries, spheres of influence, rights of possession, trade routes and markets, tariffs and tariff treaties. In the great majority of cases negotiation, agreement, arbitration, and compromise were substituted for wars. When Great Britain and France became involved in disputes that seemed to threaten war, com- mon sense prevailed, and the troubles were settled peacefully. In 1895 a controversy arose between Great Britain and the United States over the question of the boundary between Brit- ish Guiana and Venezuela, but Lord Salisbury consented to submit the matter to arbitration. Great Britain, Germany, and the United States referred a dispute regarding the Samoan Islands to King Oscar of Sweden, who, in 1902, rendered a de- cision which all received without demurring. In 1898 a conference was summoned at The Hague which established an international tribunal of arbitration to which cases of dispute might be referred. This tribunal had its first case in 1902, when it was called upon to settle a dispute be- tween Mexico and the United States. Again, in 1903, Great Britain, Germany, and Venezuela agreed to put into its hands a serious difficulty regarding Venezuela's indebtedness to the first two powers. An important step was taken in 1903 and 1904 when Great Britain and France by treaty agreed to refer disputes of a judicial nature, and Holland and Denmark dis- putes of any kind whatever, to this tribunal at The Hague. 1883] THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERATION. 399 In 1909 an important dispute between France and Germany- was decided by the tribunal, and in 1910 the long-standing disagreement between Great Britain and the United States re- garding the Newfoundland fisheries was brought before the court and the decision was accepted by both parties without demur. In 1900 when the Boxer uprising in China roused the atten- tion of the civilized world, the powers, with a harmony rarely if ever exhibited before, suppressed the murderous revolt ; and in the conference that followed from August, 1900, to Septem- ber, 1901, settled amicably the intricate and difficult questions involved. 394. Great Britain in Egypt. — The recovery of the Sudan in upper Egypt was begun in 1896, when General Kitchener gradually pushed southward toward Khartum. On April 8, 1898, was fought the battle of the Athara; on Septem- ber 2, that of Omdurman. By these two British victories the power of the dervishes was broken and the Sudan restored to Egypt. On January 5, 1899, was laid the corner-stone of the Gordon Memorial College at Khartum ; and a few weeks after- ward a convention was signed with Egypt, giving Great Britain control in the equatorial region south of the 22° of north lati- tude. In March the boundary between the French and British spheres of influence was defined, and the last cause of difficulty of that kind seemed to be removed. Great Britain had long ago promised to withdraw from Egypt, but had stayed despite the protests of France and Turkey. Though breaking her pledged word, she has without doubt contributed to the mate- rial and moral improvement of the people of Egypt, and the necessity of her " veiled protectorate " over Egypt has grad- ually been recognized. In an Anglo-French agreement of 1904 France accepted the existing situation, and only Turkey, whose suzerainty over Egypt was merely nominal, and the national party in Egypt, which wanted home rule for the Egyptians, remained to protest. 395. The Australian Federation. — A movement looking to the federation of the colonies in Australia began as early as 1883 400 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. [1895 But union was difficult to effect. Finally, in 1899, a federal constitution was adopted by all the colonies including Tasmania, and in July, 1900, this constitution was accepted by the British parliament, thus creating the federal commonwealth of Aus- tralia, under the crown of the United Kingdom of Great Brit- ain and Ireland. The opening of the first federal parliament at Melbourne in 1901 began a new era in this part of the British world. The most important questions in Australia concerned labor, revenue, the tariff, commerce, and industry. There was no nobility and no state church, and education was widely dis- tributed. Until 1908 Great Britain supplied naval defence, but at that time measures were taken looking to the establish- ment of a small local navy and militia. 396. The Boer War. — Equally noteworthy was the rapid ad- vance of the British in South Africa. Since the founding of the German colonies by Bismarck in 1884 and the discovery of gold in the Transvaal in 1886, British interest in the interior lands of southern Africa had vastly increased. During the years that followed, British colonists had pushed northward into the land afterward called Rhodesia. By 1896 British territory in South Africa comprised Cape Colony, Rhodesia, British Central Africa or northern Rhodesia, and Nyassalandj Telegraph lines were carried through the new territory, and a railroad, the " Cape to Cairo " line, was planned to connect in Uganda with the Egyptian road already built as far south as Khartum. This rapid advance of the British cut off the Boer states from the interior ; and, in consequence of a special ar- rangement made by Great Britain with Portugal, who possessed Mozambique, they were also cut off from the sea. By the treaty of 1884 (p. 392) the British suzerainty over the Boers had been restricted to foreign relations, but the discovery of gold brought so many immigrants into the Transvaal that Johan- nesburg became a city not of Boers but of foreigners. Discon- tent soon arose, owing to the narrow policy of the Boers, and in 1895, a conspiracy known as the " Jameson raid " was formed for the overthrow of the Boer government. This un- 1910] SOUTH AFRICAN UNION. 401 fortunate attempt greatly injured the cause of the foreigners, and threw power into the hands of the reactionary party of the Boers, whose leader was President Kruger. From 1896 to 1899 relations between Great Britain and the Transvaal be- came more and more strained, until finally, in October, 1899, Kruger issued an ultimatum, which brought on war. The Boer war lasted from October, 1899, to the summer of 1902. The British were at first repulsed, and in the battles of Stormberg (December 10), Magersfontein (December 11), and Colenso (December 15) were badly defeated. In January, 1900, Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener took the command, and during that year, notwithstanding the heroic defence of the Boers, occupied both republics and proclaimed their annexa- tion to Great Britain. Public sympathy, though divided, was largely with the Boers, and under De Wet, Botha, and Delarey they fought on, inflicting great losses, until, on May 31, 1902, a treaty of peace was signed and on June 16 the last Boer company laid down its arms. The war redounded to the glory of the Boers, who showed themselves to be brave men and skilful strategists. It showed Lord Kitchener to be not only a fighter, but a shrewd and tactful administrator. By the terms of peace the Boers lost their independence, but received concessions that were designed to transform them into loyal British subjects. The war brought all the South African states under British sovereignty and so prepared the way for their union. 397. South African Union. — Full government was granted to the conquered . Boer communities in 1905, but attempts to settle important economic problems showed the necessity of erecting a single state. Finally in 1908-1909 a constitution was drafted and was accepted by the British parliament in Sep- tember, 1909. By this constitution The Cape, the Transvaal, the Orange River colony, and Natal were merged in a single state with a single parliament possessing supreme power. It was an important event in the history of South Africa, where in 1910 the first Union parliament was opened at Cape Town. 2d 402 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY [1901 398, The Colonies in General, — The colonies and the other dependencies of Great Britain are treated in full under the government of the British Empire, § 445, page 473, Queen Victoria Late in Life. 399. Death of Queen Victoria, — On January 22, 1901, Queen Victoria died at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Her death aroused sincere and widespread grief. She had reigned nearly sixty-four years, during which time she had seen greater changes in the conditions of human life than had any other sovereign before her day. Between 1837 and 1901 the mate- rial, political, and social life of England, and of Continental Europe, also, had undergone a great transformation. During 1900] THE VICTORIAN ERA. 403 these years Victoria had won not only the love and devotion of her subjects and the respect and veneration of the outside world for her nobility of life and character, but also the admiration of statesmen for her sanity of judgment and honorable conduct in politics and diplomacy. 400. The Victorian Era. — The story of Queen Victoria's reign is the story of the greater part of the nineteenth century and of the great changes which were effected in that century From a photograph. Houses op Parliament, London. in every western state. In all the years since the accession of William III no such progress had been made in every condi- tion of life and government as from 1837 to 1901, the period when Queen Victoria reigned. During those years the British Empire was established, and British interests were extended all over the world. Population in England doubled, and in many of the colonies it increased twenty-five times. Wealth more than trebled, and trade grew to six times its former volume. In 1900 it could be said that " one square mile in every four in the world was under the British flag, and at least one person out of every five persons alive was a subject of the queen." 404 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. [1837 More noteworthy than the increase in size and numbers were the advances made in the administration of government, the dispensing of justice, and the alteration in the general condi- tion and welfare of the people as a whole. From 1832 to 1901 there was scarcely a phase of the older system that was not either reformed or transformed. The principle of repre- sentation, the membership of the House of Commons, the right to vote, the administration of the finances, the navy, the army, and the militia, the organization of the law courts and the exercise of justice, the methods of government both central and local, the policy toward education, health, the poor, the factory system, police, the postal service, and the other features of the nation's life which concern the daily experiences of a people, — all were altered for the better. Many of these im- provements we have noted already ; a few need to be stated briefly here. The greatest reform was the taking out of the hands of the privileged and propertied classes, the nobility and the local gentry, the control of administration and justice. Voting be- came free, representation fairly distributed, great officers were held as often by commoners as by peers, local affairs were con- trolled by elective officials, law was administered by trained lawyers, positions in the army and navy depended on merit and ability, and education began to pass out of the hands of reli- gious bodies. In material conditions immense progress was made. Indus- try and invention were mainly responsible for the improve- ments in production and transportation. The first railways were opened, and the first steamships built during the preced- ing reigns, but it was not until the Victorian period that they became important factors in transportation. Before 1837 Ed- inburgh was more remote from London than New York is to- day; a trip to Australia or India was a matter of months. Until the introduction of the telegraph and telephone news was slow to arrive, and information could be sent no faster than individuals could travel. Railways, steamships, telegraphs, 1837-1900] THE VICTORIAN ERA. 405 cables, and telephones all came into use during Queen Vic- toria's reign. The development of steam navigation and the great im- provements made in the mechanical uses of steam and electric- ity led to a great increase in the number and size of merchant vessels and the consequent extension of trade. The rapid growth of the steel industry, the manufacture of armor plate, the invention of quick firing guns and of machine guns, and the A Village Street, Lacock. From a photograph. introduction of scores of ingenious labor-saving devices trans- formed the building and running of war-ships and made possi- ble the modern navy. With the changes in the construction of merchant ships and men of war went great improvements in matters of navigation, and of the discipline and training of seamen. Life on board ship was transformed, flogging in the navy was abolished, and drinking greatly diminished. In industry mechanical invention cheapened the cost of pro- 406 THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. [1837-1900 duction and increased a hundred-fold the variety of articles manufactured. Though the factory system had inj urious effects upon the employees and led to serious problems in the relations between capital and labor, efforts to ameliorate the condition of the laboring classes were to a large extent successful. Ques- tions of hours of labor, housing of employees, safety appliances, wages, pensions, and the like were met and in part answered, and attempts to pro- vide technical educa- tion for the laboring classes were in a meas- ure successful. Agriculture, which had made consider- able progress in the eighteenth century, improved less than did manufactures in the Victorian period. As rapid transporta- tion brought the farm- ers of England into competition with other countries, agri- culture became less profitable, and people migrated from the rural districts to the cities. Though im- provements in farm- ing methods continued to be made, the amount of area under cultivation decreased and efforts to bring new land into use ceased. Dairy farming, on the other hand, showed a steady advance. During the early part of the nineteenth century the attitude of the government toward industry and agriculture was to let From a photograph. Edward VII. 1901] EDWAED VII. 407 men alone to run their business as they saw fit and not to in- terfere. But this policy led to so much abuse and unjust treat- ment of factory employees, workers in mines, and agricultural laborers, that about the middle of the century the government began in the face of great opposition to extend its control. At first this control took the form of factory legislation regarding , hours of labor, the employment of women and children, the condition of the buildings, and the health of the workers. Legislation for mines followed, and gradually one interest after another was taken up. Toward the end of the century efforts were made to increase the number of small farmers by allowing the use of small allotments of untilled land for poor families. This system of allotments, or small holdings for the landless poor, proved very successful. Similar government interest in the welfare of the working classes was seen in laws requiring towns to remedy conditions unfavorable to health, providing for better dwellings for the poor, and establishing in every post office — itself under government control — savings banks for people of small means. By the end of the century the earlier policy was completely reversed, and the government was taking a very active part in controlling and regulating industry and labor. 401. Edward VII. — Queen Victoria was succeeded by her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, who ascended the throne as Edward VII. In his coronation oath, he expressed his full determination to rule " as a constitutional sovereign in the strictest sense of the word " ; and " to work," he said, " as long as there is breath in my body, for the good and ameliora- tion of my people." On August 9, 1902, he was crowned King of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India, and Sovereign of the Dominions beyond the Seas. On January 1, 1903, at a durbar held in Delhi, he was formally proclaimed Emperor of India. He proved a strong and able ruler, popular with all classes of Englishmen and highly respected throughout the world for his efforts in behalf of peace. ^ 408 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1906 Though King Edward had no aptitude for diplomatic nego- tiation and no love of political intrigue, his urbanity and social tact, his fondness for entertainment and friendly conversation, and his whole-souled interest in the happiness of others and the general welfare of mankind had an appreciable effect upon England's foreign relations and often paved the way for important diplomatic agreements that in the eyes of many seemed to be parts of a definite foreign policy. 402. Foreign Relations. — The war with the Boers in South Africa had aroused among the people of Europe and America a deep feeling of bitterness and distrust toward England. But the terms of the treaty of peace of 1902, and still more the granting of responsible government to the conquered Boer states in 1906, did much to allay this animosity, and during King Edward's reign the British government entered into agreements with three foreign powers that were to be of the greatest importance. In January, 1902, an understanding (entente) was reached with Japan, according to which either power was to remain neutral in case the other were attacked. This understanding was changed to an offensive and defensive alliance in 1905. On April 8, 1904, an understanding was reached with France, which brought to an end a long series of quarrels in various parts of the world. By this understanding France was to uphold England's rights in Egypt and England was to sup- port those of France in Morocco, and thus between the two powers a position of alliance and friendship was established, known henceforth as the entente cordiale, and destined to be of momentous consequence in the history of Europe. Three years later, largely because of Germany's intrigues in Turkey and Persia, a similar understanding was reached with Russia, which settled all misunderstandings between the two countries relating to Thibet, Afghanistan, and Persia. If to these agreements be added the continuance of eminently cordial relations with Portugal and Italy, friendly powers of long stand- 1910] THE CORONATION OF GEORGE V. 409 ing, it is possible to comprehend how different a position Eng- land occupied at the end of King Edward's reign from that which she held at the beginning. Within these nine years she had recovered from the ill-will created by the Boer War and had become a leading power in European affairs. Only with Germany were her relations unfriendly. German statesmen saw in King Edward's visits and in the various alliances and agreements of the period a series of acts inimical to Germany's prestige. They believed that Great Britain was deliberately attempting to detach Italy from the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy, which had been formed in 1882 ; to build up a coalition of powers, from which Germany was to be excluded ; and to draw around Germany a circle of hostile states that would act together in order to block what Germany deemed her legitimate ambitions and to endanger her very existence as a world power. 403. The Coronation of George V. The Durbar. — On May 6, 1910, King Edward died, to the consternation and grief of his people. In his short reign of nine years he had proved himself a wise ruler and a strong constitutional king, who left England stronger than he found it. He was succeeded by his son, the Prince of Wales, who took the title of George V, and with his consort. Princess Mary, was crowned at Westminster Abbey, June 22, 1911. Six months later they sailed for India, where at the great coronation durbar ^ held at Delhi, amidst enthusiastic demonstrations of loyalty and scenes of great splendor, they were crowned emperor and empress of India. This event was noteworthy in British history. For the first time a king of England had set foot on the soil of India and for the first time a British sovereign had presided over his own imperial coronation. In the king-emperor's message to his 1 Durbar or DarMr, in Hindustani, means a court or royal council, or a solemn assemblage in which the ruler gives public audience. There have been three great Durbars, one in 1877, one in 1903, and one in 1911, the last the only one presided over by the sovereign in person. 410 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1910 Indian people announcement was made of the transfer of the seat of Indian government from Calcutta to the ancient capital, Delhi, a change not only geographical, that is, from the extreme east to the very center of the Indian Empire, but one also that marked the beginning of a new policy of increased self-govern- ment and responsibility for the Indian provinces and of greater King George V and Queen Mary at the Durbar, Delhi, India. independence for the native feudatory states. Before leaving for India King George invested the heir apparent, at Carnarvon Castle, July 13, 1911, with the title of Prince of Wales, a title that is not held of right or succession but renewed only at the sovereign's pleasure. The investiture was a brilliant spectacular display, following in all details the ancient ceremonial. 404. The Mending of the House of Lords. — Toward the end of King Edward's reign a serious constitutional difficulty arose. Of the two chief parties in parliament, the Liberals, who had 1910] THE CORONATION OF GEORGE V. 411 just been returned to power, were composed of about one fifth of the House of Lords, the Liberal members of the House of Commons, and the Labor and Irish members, while the Unionists included four fifths of the House of Lords, the Conservative members of the House of Commons, and those former Liberals, called Liberal Unionists, who opposed Irish home rule. Thus the House of Lords, being hereditary in character, was a permanently conservative body, not subject to change at the will of the electors. When the Liberals were in power, trouble was bound to arise, because the Lords were sure to vote down some of their most important measures, as was the case with the Irish Home Rule Bill in 1893. But when the conservatives were in control, no such trouble was likely to ensue, for the Lords naturally supported the Conservative program in all its parts. Therefore the Liberals declared that the House of Lords was a partisan body which did not respond to the wishes of the electo- rate and ought to be ended or mended. During the period of Liberal control after 1906 the issue was revived under more favorable conditions and in 1909 David Lloyd George introduced a budget which increased the tax on incomes and inheritances, revived the old tax on land, and im- posed a new tax on increased land values. These taxes fell most heavily on the great landholders and though the measure was passed by the House of Commons it was thrown out by the House of Lords, in order to compel parliament to dissolve and to place the issue squarely before the electors at a general election. Many conflicting influences clouded the main issues, the budget and the House of Lords, and resulted in an election that was very disappointing to the Liberals. The latter gained but two seats more than the Unionists, 275 to 273, while the Irish Nationalists had 82 members and the Laborites 40. But with the aid of the Irish votes the Liberals again passed the budget and this time the Lords accepted it and it became law. True to their program the Liberal leaders, with 412 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [19H The Stream of Parliamentary Majorities, 1832-1910. Adapted from the London Graphic. 1911] A WAVE OF REFORM MEASURES. 413 Asquith as prime minister, took up the issue of the upper house, determined to take away from that body in the future all power to reject a money bill or to reject any bill that the House of Commons persisted in passing. On May 15, 1911, the new measure introduced by the Liberal government was passed by the House of Commons and imme- diately sent up to the House of Lords. What would the peers do? Would they accept the bill curtailing their legislative powers or would they reject or amend it? Intense excitement reigned throughout the country. Wide differences of opinion existed as to the wisest policy to pursue, and a small number of Unionist peers, known as the ' Die Hards/ wished to fight to the last ditch for the defeat of the bill. But saner councils prevailed. Thirty-seven Unionist peers, opposed to the bill, but wishing to prevent the creation of 500 ' mushroom ' members of the House of Lords, voted with the Liberals and the bill was carried on August 10, by a majority of 17. It received the royal assent eight days later. By this law, officially known as the Parliament Act, the House of Lords was deprived of all power to amend or reject a money bill passed by the House of Commons, and in case it rejected any other bill, the House of Commons by passing the bill in three successive sessions, whether of the same parliament or not, could send it to the king for his assent, without regard to the attitude of the upper house. As the king never refused his assent to a bill passed by parliament, this meant that the House of Commons had become in fact the sole law-making body of the kingdom. Thus was effected the most important change in the parliamentary system of England that had taken place since 1832. 405. A Wave of Reform Measures. — The Liberal party, dependent as it was for its majority in parliament upon the votes of the Irish and Labor members, was bound to place the latter's demands at the very forefront of its legislative pro- gram. These demands included Irish home rule, a more direct 414 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1911 representation of labor in the House of Commons, and laws promoting the general welfare of the laboring masses. Along with these went a widespread agitation for an extension of the suffrage, the granting to women of the right to vote for members of parliament, the abolition of plural voting, and such a redistribution of seats as would meet the shifting of population which had been going on since 1885, when the last distribution of seats had taken place. According to total population England should have had 47 more members, Wales one more, Scotland 4 less, and Ire- land 44 less. This was an unfair situation and should be remedied. With Asquith, prime minister, Lloyd George, chancellor of the ex- chequer, Sir Edward Grey, foreign secretary, and R. McKenna, home secre- tary, the Liberal ministry went ahead with its pro- gram, certain at last that the House of Lords could not interfere to block its plans. On the very day of the passage of the Parliament Act by the House of Lords a resolution was adopted by the House of Commons, authorizing the payment of £400 ($2000) a year to each mem- ber of the house, thus enabling men of moderate means or of no means at all to stand for election, knowing that if elected they would receive payment for their services. Hitherto the expenses of labor members had been met by the labor organiza- tions. This was but preliminary to a greater measure to come. Herbert Henry Asquith. 1914] A WAVE OF REFORM MEASURES. 415 In 1912 a Franchise Electoral Reform Bill was introduced, granting the vote to every adult male who had resided in his district for six months. No sooner were the terms known to the world outside par- liament and it was seen that woman's suffrage was left out of the bill than an agitation was begun by the militant suffragettes of the most violent character. Property was attacked and destroyed, buildings were set on fire, and the ministry was harassed in every way known to woman's fertile mind. Though parliament had been favorable to the principle of woman's voting, the cabinet had been divided, and Asquith had regularly refused to bring in a special bill for the purpose, but now he agreed to accept an amendment to the Reform Bill. When, however, the speaker of the House ruled that such an amendment so altered the character of the bill as to require that it be in- troduced over again the government abandoned the measure. For a time the militant suffragettes continued their attacks, but with the outbreak of the war in 1914, they temporarily buried the hatchet, and loyally labored in behalf of their country. In the meantime the government had adopted a system of pensions payable to every man and woman over the age of seventy possessing a yearly income of less than $150 a year. The number thus benefited soon exceeded a million persons at a cost to the country of more than $50,000,000. On September 14, 1914, after long discussion, it finally passed the bill for the disestablishment of the English Church in Wales. More important still, on the same day a new Irish Home Rule Bill, after having been twice rejected by the House of Lords, was passed for the third time by the House of Commons and with the king's assent became a law. This act provided for a single Irish parliament, though leaving the six counties of Ulster outside for six years, at the end of which time they were to become subordinate to the parliament. But, owing to the war, its operation was suspended and eventually it was replaced by a new Home Rule Bill in 1920. 416 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1914 406. The Situation in Ireland. The Easter Rebellion. — After a century of agitation and two attempts by the Liberal party to meet the wishes of the Irish Nationahsts, a grant of home rule had been definitely conceded to Ireland. The new meas- ure gave to that country not responsible gov- ernment but self-govern- ment within the Empire, somewhat similar to the self-government already possessed by twenty-eight other parts of the British world, and it satisfied the Irish National party, of which John Redmond was the leader. " I say to the government," said Red- mond, in a grateful ex- pression of thanks for the Home Rule Bill, "that they may to-morrow withdraw every one of their troops from Ireland. I say that the coast of Ire- land will be defended from foreign invasion by her armed sons, and for this purpose armed Nationalist Catholics in the south will be only too glad to join arms with the armed Protestant Ulstermen in the north." ^ John Edward Redmond. ^ Redmond's words found fulfilment when on Flanders field united Irish divisions — the sixteenth (Irish) and the thirty-sixth (Ulster) — marched side by side to victory at Wytschaete ridge, June 7-10, 1917. By an irony of tragedy, Redmond's younger brother, Major William Redmond, met his death in this battle at the head of his troops. Redmond himself, em- bittered and broken-hearted because of the failure of the cause for which he had labored so long, died the following March at the age of 67. Al- together nearly 50,000 Irishmen born were killed in the war. 1914] THE EASTER REBELLION. 417 But Redmond had reckoned without adequate appreciation of two powerful forces in Ireland itself that were destined to wreck the cause of home rule, — a cause for which he had labored so long. The first was the Protestant population of Ulster county in the north, which outnumbered the Roman Catholics of Ulster by a third and largely controlled the industries and manufactures of the province, and the other the radical Irish element, hardly known outside of Ireland before the war began, divided into parties, which though differing among themselves had one common aim — complete separation from the Empire. Of these radical groups, the Sinn Feiners ^ were the most conspicuous, and in popular comment their name was given to the whole radical or independent movement. Thus there were in Ireland three irreconcilable points of view : that of the Irish Nationalists who supported home rule ; that of the Ulsterites who, convinced that under home rule their religion would be destroyed and their industries ruined, wished to remain as they were ; and that of the Sinn Feiners and other extremists who wanted an independent Irish republic. For the moment the Irish Nationalists, with more than eighty members in the House of Commons, had won in the passage of the Home Rule Bill, but hardly had the bill been introduced in 1912 when Ulster, led by Sir Edward Carson, began a revolt which lasted until the outbreak of the war. For a year the Irish question was completely overshadowed and almost forgotten. Nationalists and Ulsterites offered themselves for war service, though in relatively small numbers, and Ireland appeared to be peaceful. But a new power was already at work, which had as its motto the freedom of Ire- land. The movement culminated in two bloody events. On April 21, 1916, Sir Roger Casement was caught landing on the coast of Ireland from a disguised German cruiser and in August 1 Pronounced Shin Faners. Sinn Fein means "Ourselves," that is to say, "Ireland for the Irish." 418 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACi^, AND EMPIRE. [1918 was hanged for treason; and at the same time (April 24- May 3, 1916) a radical revolt was begun in Dublin and soon assumed the form of an armed insurrection. The post office and other buildings were seized and an Irish Republic pro- claimed. But after hard fighting and the proclamation of martial law, the rebellion was suppressed, and fifteen of the leaders executed, among them the president of the ' Republic,' Padraic Pearse. 407. The Reform Bill of 1918. — Though the outbreak of the war seemed for the moment to postpone indefinitely all prospect of electoral reform, the result as it turned out was exactly the opposite. The magnificent response which the men of Great Britain made to the call for volunteers, the life in the training camps and the trenches in France, and the democratic spirit aroused by the vast number of men in the service ended all controversy upon the subject and met all objections to the extension of the suffrage to every adult male in the British Isles. More remarkable still was the change effected by the war in the position of women. Their noble response to every demand made upon them, their work in the munition factories, the hos- pitals, and the field, their exhibition of willingness to bear every burden, no matter how heavy or disagreeable, and their ability to perform tasks commonly deemed within the power of men only led to a great revulsion of feeling in their favor. As compared with the agitation which had accompanied the passage of previous reform bills, that of 1918 aroused no excite- ment whatever. Its chief terms were decided upon in a com- mittee or conference of both houses, whose report was accepted by parliament with but few changes, and embodied in a bill known as the Representation of the People Bill. This bill became law in April, 1918. Its provisions were as simple as those of previous reform acts were complicated. Any male of the age of 21 and any female of the age of 30 (a woman had to be a tenant or owner, a local elector or the wife of a 1918] ELECTIONS OP 1918. 419 local elector), who had resided for six months in any single place, could vote. Thus, except for the age limit and the ex- clusion of women who were merely lodgers, no difference was made Between the franchise of a man and that of a woman. The total number of voters was increased from about 8,000,000 to more than 21,000,000, of whom 8,479,156 were women. Thus for the first time in her history Great Britain was converted into a genuine democracy. In the matter of the redistribution of seats which, as we have seen, had become grossly unfair, far-reaching changes were made. To establish equality of representation one seat was allowed for every 70,000 of the population in Great Britain and every 43,000 in Ireland. The membership of the House of Commons was increased from 670 to 707, and of the 37 seats thus added England received 31, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland two each. Thus except in the case of Ireland, where representa- tion in the future will depend on the settlement of the Irish question, every vote is equal to every other vote. Though " proportional representation," that is, the representation of the minority, was defeated, we can say that under the new law the House of Commons was destined to become for the first time a democratic and representative body. 408. Elections of 1918. — The Liberal ministry under As- quith continued in office until November, 1916, when the exi- gencies of war demanded the suspension of party government and the establishment of a coalition ministry, composed of Liberals and Unionists with one Labor member. This ministry remained in control until November, 1917, when owing to the hostile criticism of Lord Northcliffe, proprietor of the London Times, and other leaders of public opinion, a further reorgani- zation of a drastic character took place. Asquith gave way to Lloyd George as prime minister, and instead of a large cabinet of 23 members there was instituted a small War Cabinet or " steering committee " of five members — Lloyd George (Liberal), Curzon (Unionist leader of the House 420 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1918 of Lords), Bonar Law (Unionist leader of the House of Com- mons), Milner (Unionist), Henderson (Labor, replaced later by Barnes), with General Smuts, the South African leader, invited to attend. In addition to the cabinet was the ministry, to which nine new members were added, concerned with labor, shipping, munitions, air, national service and re- cruiting, blockade, pen- sions, reconstruction, and food, each of whom was freed from all matters of public policy and limited in his duties strictly to the business of administra- tion. Under this reorgan- ized government the war was carried to a success- ful conclusion. After the war was over, demands for a general election became insistent, chiefly on the ground that by the- addition to the electorate of so many millions of new electors, men and women, the House of Commons had ceased to be a representative body. Considerable criticism was made of the Coalition government, particularly of its failure to deal boldly with the tariff question and to put into operation the Home Rule Act, which had only been suspended until the war was over. So general was this demand for a new expression of public opinion that the govern- ment yielded, parliament was dissolved, and new elections were held on December 14, 1918. The results of these elections, though not unexpected, were David Lloyd George. 1918] • NEW CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS. 421 remarkable for the completeness of the Coalition victory. The Coalition Unionists secured 328 seats and the Coalition Liberals 133, which with the election of 11 other members favorable to the Coalition made a total Coalition vote of 472. The non- Coalition forces secured but 235, — Labor 65, Unionist 24, Asquith Liberals 35, Irish Unionists 25, Irish Sinn Feiners 73, and scattering 17. As the Sinn Feiners refused, to take their seats, the non-Coalitionists could command but 182 votes. Next to the large Coalition majority, the outstanding features of the election were the number of Labor members elected and their definite refusal to support the government, the disruption and temporary disappearance of the Liberals as a party, and the success of the Sinn Feiners, who in winning so large a number of seats from the Irish Nationalists not only showed the effect of the Easter executions upon the Irish people but also the repudiation of home rule by the Irish electors. In the Sinn Fein group was a woman, Countess Markievicz, but as she with her fellow Sinn Feiners refused to attend, the honor of being the first woman member of the House of Commons fell to the Viscountess Astor, an American by birth, who the next year, at a by-election, was returned from Plymouth. 409. New Conditions and Problems. — The first parliament under the Reform Act of 1918 met on February 4, 1919, and in the October following, the War Cabinet was retired and a new cabinet of twenty members took its place, thus marking a return to former parliamentary methods. The situation had many peculiar aspects. The government, though largely Con- servative, at least from the point of view of numbers, was led by a prime minister, Lloyd George, who was radical and im- perial, and was supported by 133 Liberal members of similar views. The opposition, always in the past provided by the party possessing the largest numbers, should have been led by the Sinn Feiners, but as they remained away, because they wished to have nothing to do with the British government, it was controlled by the Labor members, who, dependent as 422 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1920 they were on the trade unions and hmited in their outlook by devotion to class needs, were unable to rise to the demands of a great parliamentary opposition and to present a large and statesmanlike policy. In 1920 the future of party govern- ment in England was very uncertain. 410. The Irish Situation, 1920. — Since the suspension of the Home Rule Act of 1914, the Irish problem had grown increas- ingly complex. From 1916 to 1918 the movement for in- dependence gained enormously in strength and in the elections of December of the latter year the Nationalist party was swept aside and the advocates of an independent Ireland came into almost complete control. By vote of seventy per cent of Ire- land's elected representatives a republic was established, with Eamon de Valera as its president, and was accepted by a great majority of the locally elected bodies. Thus in 1919 and 1920 Sinn Fein was in control, setting up its own courts — the de- cisions of which were enforced — and exercising both executive and administrative functions. Though the British government declared that it would never allow the claim for an independent Ireland, the Sinn Feiners went ahead with their republican organization, and estab- lished both a ministry and a parliament {Dail Eireann). At the same time, unhappily, certain eleinents entered upon a species of guerilla warfare against representatives of British authority, murdering, with little attempt at concealment, policemen, constables (Royal Irish Constabulary), soldiers, and government officials, burning barracks, robbing mails, looting schoolhouses and churches, raiding private dwellings, and assaulting private individuals. Great Britain on her side sent troops into Ireland (more than 60,000), placed the country under military rule, imprisoned dozens of Irish offenders, and suppressed a score of Irish newspapers. In 1920 parliament authorized coercion by passing a law and order act (Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, August 9), the most important part of which was the substitution for the civil courts of courts mar- 1920] THE IRISH SITUATION, 1920. 423 tial conducted according to the procedure of the common law. In the same year, Lloyd George presented his solution of the problem in the form of a new Home Rule Bill, which, if passed, was designed to take the place of the suspended Asquith Act of 1914. But many, both in England and Ireland, who did not Hke the Lloyd George plan and yet believed an independent Ireland impossible, advocated a compromise on the basis of Dominion Home Rule, according to which Ireland would be given the status of a self-governing dominion, similar to that of New- foundland or New Zealand. Sir Horace Plunkett and even Asquith himself favored this solution of the problem, but Lloyd George and the Unionists, as well as De Valera and the Sinn Feiners, would have none of it. , Next to Sinn Fein the most serious obstacle to a settlement of the difficulty was Ulster, which under the guidance of Sir Edward Carson had opposed and brought to naught the Asquith Act of 1914, with its single parliament, and accepted, reluc- tantly, the plan of two parliaments embodied in the Lloyd George bill of 1920. Protestant Ulstermen rejected altogether the Sinn Fein program, and were apparently opposed to Dominion Home Rule, unless that scheme should make provision for two parlia- ments. So intense was the hostility between the Sinn Feiners and the Unionist Ulstermen that through the summer and autumn of 1920, in Londonderry and Belfast, where religious hostility was added to the political antipathy, bloody riots took place, which attained at times almost the proportions of a civil war. Sinn Feiners, claiming that these outbreaks were deliberately fostered by British officials at Dublin and that disunion in Ire- land was encouraged by the British government for political purposes, believed that Ulster, if let alone by Lloyd George and Carson, would eventually join the republicans ; but others, equally well informed, denied vehemently that the government had ever interfered in Ulster except for the purpose of keeping 424 ERA OF REFORM, DEMOCRACY, AND EMPIRE. [1.920 the peace, and were convinced that the only solution lay in the Lloyd George bill of 1920. The situation seemed almost hope- less in the autumn of 1920, though many, certain that matters could not become worse and ought not to be allowed to con- tinue any longer as they were, believed that a compromise would eventually be reached. " What the American people do not know," said Viscount Bryce, himself an Irishman, " is that the great majority of the English people desire to give Ireland the fullest measure of freedom within the empire. But it is in the divisions within Ireland herself, not in the lack of good-will on England's part, that there lies practically the only obstacle which still delays the peaceful settlement which the British democracy desires." 411. Conclusion. — Both politically and socially the year 1920 was one of ferment and change, yet the outlook was full of encouragement. Wonderful advances had been made. The war had been won, democratic government had been established, and the needs of all classes of the population had become as never before matters of vital concern to everyone interested in the future welfare of the British nation. CHAPTER XVII THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT "WAR 412. The British Empire. — Our attention has thus far been concentrated upon the British Isles and the growth of democ- racy and representative government within the mother coun- try itself. But a Greater Britain was in existence, scattered in different parts of the world, and made up of a great variety of colonies and dominions. These may be divided into groups as follows. First, possessions without self-government of any kind, such as Gibraltar, St. Helena, and islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Second, crown colonies, such as Ceylon, the Leeward Islands, etc., possessing local government but not self- government, and administered by the colonial office in London. Third, crown colonies, such as the Bahamas, Barbadoes, and Bermuda, possessing representative self-government but, since their governors and councils were appointed from London, not possessing responsible government, that is, complete control over their domestic affairs. Fourth, a protectorate, Egypt, so declared December 18, 1914 (thus bringing to an end the suzerainty of Turkey), itself almost an empire, with the Anglo- Egyptian Sudan behind it. Fifth, a dependency, India, an empire of more than 700 native states, provinces, and discricts, none of them possessing parliamentary institutions or responsible government, varying in size from great kingdoms to petty areas, in age from ancient dynasties to modern states, and in degrees of subordination to British rule from the native allied feudatories, self-administered, to the tracts directly under the control of British officials. Sixth, the great self-governing 425 426 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. , [1914 dominions, Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, under responsible governments, which had evolved from crown colonies into modern constitutional states, in nearly all respects independent of outside control. 413. The British Empire on the Eve of War. — In 1914 the territory of the British Empire covered more than a fifth of the land surface of the globe and its inhabitants numbered one fourth of the world's population. But its territories were scattered in all hemispheres and a majority of the subjects of the British king and emperor were of other than the Caucasian race. There was deep unrest among the natives of India and Egypt, and even as far as the self-governing dominions were concerned, where national and local interests were often antag- onistic to those of the mother country, there was no certainty that under the strain of disaster or war the British overseas people would rally to the mother's defense. No imperial system bound together the far-flung line of this great disjointed organization and no legal obligation held the inhabitants of colonies or dominions to the military service- of the crown. Though the British navy was the first in the world, it was in largest part a British not an imperial navy. Inasmuch as the military forces of the dominions were used for local police and revenue-collecting purposes only, there was no im- perial army, the only instrument for the military service of the empire as a whole being the expeditionary force that was main- tained at home for service abroad whenever needed. Within the United Kingdom itself conditions in the year 1914 were not indicative either of strength or unity. Ulster had been in revolt for two years on account of the threatened passage of the Home Rule Bill, and civil war seemed imminent. There were signs of insubordination in the army ; labor was discontented and restless and strikes were rampant ; finances were in disorder and controversies over industrial and economic reforms were disorganizing political and social life ; the militant suffragettes were redoubling their energies and increasing their 1878] THE CAUSES OF THE GREAT WAR. 427 attacks on property and the government. Dissension, not harmony, seemed the order of the day. It is not surprising that to the outside observer the United Kingdom should have seemed honeycombed with disloyalty and the empire ready for disruption. At this juncture, when Great Britain, to all outward appearance at least, was little prepared to face a great crisis and to meet any extraordinary strain upon her resources, she was called upon to face the most terrible war in her history. 414. The Causes of the Great War. — The beginnings of trouble in Europe may be traced to the year 1878, when at the treaty of Berlin Austria was given permission to occupy and administer the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which belonged to Turkey. Thirty years later, Austria annexed these provinces, in the face of the protests of Russia, France, and England, thus making clear her determination to extend her territory toward the southeast in the direction of the ^gean Sea. This attempt of Austria to obtain a hold upon Balkan territory was followed in 1911 by Italy's attack upon Turkey and the conquest of Tripoli, which was ceded to Italy by Turkey in October, 1912. These successful attempts of two of the leading powers of Europe to enlarge their possessions at Turkey's expense stirred up the Balkan states — Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece — to renew once more their designs against Turkey, and beginning with October, 1912, they entered upon what are known as the Balkan Wars, the first of which lasted until the treaty of London, May 30, 1913. In this war the four Balkan states formed an alliance to drive Turkey out of Europe and to divide her territory among themselves. In this they were partly successful and at the treaty of London Turkey surrendered all her European lands except Constantinople and its environs. But in the division of the spoils, partly because of jealousy and partly because of the interference of Austria and Italy, who refused to allow Serbia and Montenegro to extend their 428 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1914 territory to the Adriatic, trouble arose, and in June Bulgaria, counting on Austria's support, opened the second Balkan war in an attack upon Serbia. But she suffered defeat because Greece and Rumania joined Serbia and the Turks attacked her from the rear. By the treaty of Bucharest, August 10, 1913, Bulgaria's territory was cut down to the advantage of Serbia, Greece, and Rumania, and even Turkey, because of the insistence of Germany, recovered Adrianople. In the years 1913-1914 relations between Austria and Serbia were strained almost to the breaking point. Serbia, supported by Russia, had succeeded, by means of the large accessions of territory which she had gained, in blocking Austria's Balkan ambitions. Austria had enormous pride and it was intolerable to her statesmen that she, and her protege Bulgaria, should suffer defeat at the hands of her despised neighbor. When, therefore, on June 28, 1914, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Hapsburg thrones, was assassinated, to- gether with his wife, at Serajevo, the chief city of Bosnia, the tension reached the breaking point. Austria declared, and with truth, that the assassins, who were Serbian students hating the Hapsburg regime, had received encouragement and assistance from Serbian officials, and she insisted that if this sort of thing were allowed to go on, the very existence of Austria-Hungary would be imperiled. But as Serbia was backed by Russia, Austria would hardly have dared to punish her without definite assurances of aid from Germany. When the matter was brought to the attention of the Kaiser, by special messenger on July 5, 1914, he dis- cussed it with his chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, and assured Austria that whatever her decision might be regarding Serbia, Germany would stand behind her as an ally and friend.^ In 1 There was no ' 'imperial conference " or " crown council " held at Potsdam on July 5, as narrated in Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, pp. 84-85. Ac- cording to that story the Kaiser summoned his ambassadors, military and naval leaders, bankers, railroad directors, and prominent business men of Germany, and asked each in turn if he was ready for war. Each replied 1914] DECLARATIONS OF WAR. 429 consequence of this promise, Austria sent an ultimatum to Serbia, July 23, couched in almost insulting terms. When Serbia in reply demurred to some of the demands as impairing her position as an independent and sovereign state, Austria threw off the mask and on July 28 declared war on Serbia. 415. Declarations of War. The Neutrality of Belgium. — Events moved quickly in that summer of 1914 and the world stood aghast as one happening followed another. On July 28 Austria declared war on Serbia ; on July 29 Russia began to gather together, that is, to mobilize, her army; from the 29th to the 31st frantic efforts were made, chiefly by England, to effect a settlement, but without success ; on the 31st Germany issued two ultimatums, one to Russia, demanding that she cease her Warlike preparations within twelve hours, and one to France, asking whether or not in case of war she v/ould remain neutral. On receiving Russia's refusal, Germany immediately declared war against her, August 1, and when France declined to commit herself declared war against 'her also, August 3. Thus four of the great European powers were already com- mitted to a terrible conflict. Would the area of battle be en- larged? Italy at once announced her refusal to follow her partners in the Triple Alliance and remained neutral. What would Great Britain do ? Great Britain was under no bond to enter the war on either side and Germany had hoped that she would declare for neu- trality. In fact the German chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, had already approached Sir W. E. Goschen, the British am- bassador at Berlin, with the question, promising to respect the territory of France but not that of her colonies, if Great Britain would stand aloof. Sir Edward Grey indignantly rejected "Yes," except the bankers, who wanted a Httle more time. This story has been denied by Germans in a position to know and rests on no documentary foundation. It must be rejected as untrue. The Kaiser's decision to support Austria in energetic action against Serbia was all that Count Berchtold needed in order to carry out his policy. See the articles by Professor Fay in the American Historical Review for July and October, 1920. 430 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1914 the offer. In the end Germany herself was responsible for the final decision. Twenty-four hours before war was declared against France, Germany set in motion her troops toward the western frontier, not toward that portion bordering on France between Luxemburg and Switzerland, but toward the frontier of Luxemburg and Belgium, states whose neutrality had been guaranteed by treaties to which both Prussia and England were parties. On August 2 the troops occupied Luxemburg, and on August 3, after Belgium had absolutely refused to grant the German troops permission to pass through the state, they violated Belgium's neutrality by crossing the border. On August 4 Great Britain took her place beside France and Russia and entered the war against Germany. The decision was a momentous one, not only for Great Britain but even more for Germany, who, though the greatest military power in the world, had now arrayed against her two great military nations and an empire whose navy ranked first among the navies of the earth. No wonder German diplomats were disappointed and angry, and berated Great Britain, as the Ger- man chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, bitterly declared, for making war on a kindred nation just for a scrap of paper — the treaty of neutrality. For the sake of getting into France by the quickest route, Germany gave to Great Britain the strongest possible pretext for intervening in the great conflict, and in so doing threw down the gage of battle to the mistress of the seas. This was the first of Germany's many diplomatic blunders, based on a serious miscalculation of British strength and character; for in the end Great Britain proved to be the mightiest of all the obstacles that lay in the path of Teutonic victory. 416. The Conquest of Belgium. First Battle of the Marne. — Having made up her mind to invade Belgium, Germany began the attack by way of the northern of two lines, one of which ran from Cologne, through Aix, Liege, Namur, and Maubeuge, the other, the southern, from Coblentz, through Luxemburg 1914] THE CONQUEST OF BELGIUM. 431 to Verdun. The heroic resistance of the Belgian people, led by their high-minded and courageous king, Albert, so dis- arranged Germany's plans that eighteen days were required instead of six in which to cross the neutral state. This delay enabled the British to send across the Channel into France a small expeditionary force of 150,000 men under Gen. Sir John French (the " contemptible little army," as the Kaiser called it), and, in combination with the French under the general command of Gen. Joffre, still further to stay German progress. But, compelled to retreat, the Franco-British forces fell back, the French from the Ardennes, the British from Mons (August 20-24), fighting fiercely as they went. Taking their stand finally on a line curving deeply from Verdun toward Paris (only eighteen miles away) and beyond in a northerly direction, they began a counter-attack in the first battle of the Marne (September 6-12), one of the decisive battles of history. In a series of engagements, the most brilliant of which was the attack by Gen. Ferdinand Foch at the center along the Marne, the Germans were compelled to retreat. Thus the carefully laid plans of the German General Staff were thrown into confusion, their hope of capturing Paris at one stroke was destroyed, and belief in the invincibility of the German armies received a staggering blow. The despised Belgians and the " contemptible " British shared with the numerically larger French army in the glory of this almost miraculous success. Foiled in their effort to capture Paris, the Germans fell back on prepared positions to the center and south ; but in the north they continued their offensive by capturing Antwerp (October 8) and attempting to obtain possession of the Channel ports. They seized Zeebrugge and Ostend, but got no further, for in the frightfully bloody battle of Flanders (October-November), along a line from the coast to Ypres and Arras, Belgians, British, Canadians, and French held back three German armies and completely frustrated their attempts to break through. After 432 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR, [1914 November, battles in the open ceased, and both sides settled down for the winter in parallel lines of trenches, stretching from the coast to Switzerland for nearly six hundred miles, of which the Belgians held 18, the British and Colonials 31, and the French 543. Thus Germany not only failed in her immediate object, but, by her barbarous methods of conducting war and her atrocious treatment of Belgian towns and inhabitants, she spread such a feeling of horror among civilized peoples and so shocked the moral sense of the Western World as to make her enemies determined to defeat her at all costs. 417. Great Britain's Effort, 1914-1915.— Great Britain was not a military nation, but she had al- il^eady accomplished won- ders with her little army and had exhibited a cour- age and tenacity of pur- pose that was beyond praise. But the fighting in Flanders and notably the loss of Antwerp, which the British government tried to prevent by means of a badly planned expedition, showed such inadequate preparation that government and people began slowly to realize the magnitude of the task before them. Lord Kitchener, England's greatest soldier,^ had already been 1 Kitchener was drowned off northern Scotland, June 6, 1916, when the Hampshire, on which he had embarked for Russia, was sunk. He was suc- ceeded as war minister by Lloyd George. Kitchener of Khartum. 1914] BRITISH NAVAL SUPREMACY. 433 appointed secretary of war and immediately set about raising an army. Volunteers from every walk of life responded heroi- cally to the call to arms. Preparations were begun to make up deficiencies in guns, ammunition, and supplies of all kinds, and with feverish determination men and women turned from their daily tasks to the business of meeting in every way the needs of the soldiers at the front. From the colonies — Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and even India and the Malay States — came heartening promises of help and cooperation ; and troops began to gather at various points in response to the call of the mother country. By the spring of 1915 there were nearly 800,000 volunteers, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh, available from the United Kingdom itself, and 200,000 more from the colonies and India, either at the front in France, in training camps, or on their way overseas. The response of the colonies was a magnificent exhibition of loyalty. In the end not a single member, large or small, of the widely scattered British world failed to make some con- tribution, either in men, supplies, money, or all three together, to the common cause. 418. British Naval Supremacy. — More important even than this impressive demonstration of the unity of the British Empire was Great Britain's share in maintaining the mastery of the seas. In conjunction with the navies of France and Russia, her fleet was able to restrict the area of fighting to the soil of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It not only swept all merchant vessels from the ocean and drew around the Central Powers a blockade that barred food, raw materials, and military supplies from reaching their armies and civilian population, but it effectively bottled up the German fleet in German waters and rendered useless the great naval strength which for fifteen years Germany had done so much to develop. Furthermore, it kept the seas open for the transportation of men and supplies from all parts of the British world and guarded with sleepless vigilance the passageway of the Channel, across 434 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1914 which to France passed a continuous stream of men, equip- ment, ammunition, food for the armies, and doctors, nurses, and suppUes for medical and hospital service. It enabled France to bring colonial troops from northern Africa, and later aided the United States to transport her troops across the Atlantic. One only has to consider what the situation would have been had Germany controlled the seas to realize that Great Britain's naval supremacy was the greatest single factor in the winning of the war. 419. The Dardanelles Expedition. — Early in November, 1914, Russia, Great Britain, and France declared war upon the Ottoman Empire, which had openly protected war ves- sels of the Central Powers. Three months later, the Brit- ish and French governments resolved to take the offensive, by forcing their way through the Dardanelles and capturing Constantinople. This famous exploit, which ended in terrible failure, lasted from February to December, 1915, and was one of the outstanding features of the war, partly because of the heroism displayed by the Allied troops (French, British, Aus- tralians and New Zealanders, or " Anzacs," as they came to be called,! with troops from Senegal and India) and partly because of the terrible losses incurred. The failure was due in the beginning to bad management and poorly laid plans, and in the end to lack of reserves and sufficient shell supplies. At the opening of the attack British and French battleships bombarded for more than a month the Turkish forts at the entrance of the straits, but without other result than the loss of three of their first-class vessels. Meanwhile their troops, to the number eventually of 300,000 men, were landed on the western shore of the Gallipoli peninsula and gained at tremendous cost a precarious foothold, to which they clung for nine months. Though frequently victorious in single attacks, they were unable to drive the Turks from their intrenched strongholds on the heights, and at the close of the 1 From the initials of the Australia and New Zealand Auxiliary Corps. 1915] CLOSE OF 1915. LOSS OF ALLIED PRESTIGE. 435 year they gave up the attempt. Though the undertaking as a whole reflected but httle credit upon those who promoted it, it shed infinite glory upon the British and French navies and upon the men who for nine long months faced death from cold and heat, thirst and pest, and continuous Turkish shell-fire. 420. Close of 1915. Loss of Allied Prestige. — The year which had opened so auspiciously for the Allies closed in dis- couragement. The Dardanelles campaign was a dismal failure ; Russia, who, before May 1, had raised Allied hopes by her splendid advances toward Hungary and in Poland, was forced to give way before the Germans under the able leadership of Gens. Mackensen and Hindenburg, and withdrew from Poland and Galicia (in August and September). In September Bulgaria, encouraged by the Russian losses, joined the Central Powers, and the Allied troops, gathered at Salonica on the Mgean, were unable to advance because of the attitude of Constantine, the pro-German king of Greece and the Kaiser's brother-in-law. Germany was beginning to recover from the disasters of 1914 and to extend her control over the territories southeast and east. Also, she was preparing to build up a great state of " Middle Europe," which was to be completely under her own domination, and to receive large sections of the Balkans and of Russia. On the Western front, the Allies made little progress with trench warfare, because the German troops were too strongly established in trenches, redoubts, and other fortifications, which were often underground and were constructed in a most sub- stantial manner of timber and concrete. They had unlimited numbers of guns and supplies of ammunition. Against these continuous lines of trench fortresses, the Allies hurled them- selves in vain. Among the most severe of these battles were those of Neuve Chapelle (March 10, 1915), which cost the British 13,000 men ; and Ypres (April-May, 1915), begun by the Ger- mans and famous as the first battle in which asphyxiating 436 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1916 gas was used, but ending without success on either side. The Germans considered these onslaughts failures for the Allies, and the Allies themselves realized their own inferiority to the Ger- mans in munitions, guns, airplanes, and other weapons of war. To meet this state of unpreparedness, the British people re- doubled their efforts and Great Britain became a land of muni- tion factories, turning out in ever-increasing num- bers guns, shells, grenades, armored cars, and gas masks, which were hurried over to France in the shortest possible time. Because of a general dis- satisfaction with the con- duct of the war and a demand for a more aggres- sive policy Gen. French was replaced (as chief commander of the British armies in France) by Gen. Sir Pouglas Haig (Decem- ber, 1915). To meet a falling off in recruiting, due largely to discontent with the government policy, a limited conscription bill was passed by parliament in January, 1916. 421. Verdun, February-August, 1916. — Germany's hopes were high at the opening of 1916. Russia was helpless, the Allies were apparently inferior on the Western front, and the great state of " Middle Europe " was, outwardly at least, a reality. To anticipate an Anglo-French drive, which they knew was bound to come at the earliest possible moment, the German military leaders determined to begin a great drive of General Sir Douglas Haig. Copyright by Underwood and Underwood- 1916] THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND. 437 their own, and that too in a quarter where success would be most hkely to discourage the French and possibly put them out of the war. Their objective was the great fortress of Verdun, one of the four which France had erected to protect her Eastern front from German invasion. The attack was made on February 21, 1916, by the German army under the command of the Crown Prince Frederick Wil- liam and was accompanied by a bombardment of overwhelming fury. The advancing Germans, taking the French by surprise, were at first successful in dislodging the enemy and driving them from one stronghold after another, back toward the fortress. But the arrival of Gen. Petain with reenforcements brought the onslaught to a halt and finally forced the Germans to retire. The first phase of the battle lasted until February 29, when the German staff became aware that only at a fearful cost could victory be won. However, they could not withdraw at this juncture, for withdrawal would be more disgraceful than defeat, and it became necessary for them to take Verdun no matter what the cost should prove to be. From March 6 until April 15 they continued their assaults with criminal disregard of the lives sacrificed ; but the French had said to themselves, " They shall not pass," and pass the Germans never did, though they continued to fight with all the fury of a maddened and baffled foe. Charge followed charge, the artillery continued its withering fire of high explosives ; and mines, gas, liquid fire — every contrivance known to an ingenious and desperate foe — were used with deadly effect. But the French met fire with fire, their lines held, and before summer had gone all realized that the German sacrifices had been made in vain. The failure at Verdun was the second great German defeat of the war. The fortress itself was never taken. 422. The Battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916. — Germany's outlook in May was far less encouraging than it had been in January, for the carefully planned attempt to strike a blow at the heart of France had failed disastrously. Italy had declared 438 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1&16 war in May, 1915, during the Dardanelles campaign, and an advance upon her by Austrian troops, begun while the Verdun enterprise was under way (May-June), brought no encourage- ment, for the Italian lines held against every attempt to break them. The Russians were showing signs of recovery. The use of the submarine, which for a year or more had been effective against the merchant marine and had found its greatest victim in the unarmed Cunard steamer Lusitania, May 7, 1915, was stir- ring the neutral states to wrath, and in March Portugal declared war on Germany. The United States, outraged by the loss of American lives on the Lusitania, and further agitated by the sinking of the Sussex in the English Channel on March 24, 1916, was demanding a cessation of such ruthless methods of warfare. At this juncture the Germans, taking the gambler's chance of scoring a success, determined to risk a naval battle. On May 31, 1916, the German fleet left its base at Kiel and steamed northward in search of the British Grand Fleet, which as they knew was on one of its tours of inspection through the North Sea. On one side were Admirals von Hippen and von Scheer, with some forty dreadnaughts, cruisers, and destroyers ; on the other Admiral Jellicoe with the main British fleet and Vice Admiral Beatty with a subsidiary squadron — together totaling fifty battleships and smaller craft. The battle began in the afternoon and continued until dark- ness brought the engagement to a close. Beatty's squadron, while separated from the main fleet, closed with the enemy, but, outnumbered and outclassed, it suffered heavy damage and was obliged to retreat. On the arrival of Jellicoe's heavier vessels the Germans were forced to retire, but eluding pursuit in the mist and darkness they were able to make their way safely, though with a heavier proportional loss, back to their moorings at Kiel. The margin of advantage lay with the British. Both on land at Verdun and at sea off Jutland the Germans had failed to secure a victory. " They shall not pass " was true 1916] CONCERTED ALLIED DRIVES. 439 not only of the heights about Verdun, but also of the passes of Italy and the waters of the North Sea. 423. Concerted Allied Drives, June-November, 1916. — The remainder of the year 1916 was devoted to efforts on the part of all the Allies to bring the war to a close by concerted military attacks on all fronts at the same time. They hoped that the Central Powers, discouraged by failure in battle, weakened at home by danger of famine and by fear of internal revolutions, would be unable to withstand a combined offensive of this kind. An Allied military council met in Paris in March and adopted plans for common action in matters concerning the blockade, munitions, and the prosecution of the war. As a result of the lessons learned in 1915, the munitions situation had improved enormously. Under Lloyd George as minister of munitions. Great Britain was equaling Germany in her output and in the efficiency of her organization and was sending across the Channel a supply from her 2000 government-con- trolled factories, that surpassed each week the entire stock in the country before the war. Under the circumstances the Allies were convinced that the time had come for a general offensive, on a scale hitherto unknown, against the enemy. So vastly had the area of war widened that there were now six fronts from which an offensive could be launched — the West, Italy, Russia, Salonica, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Up to this time but little had been done either at Salonica or in Egypt, but in Mesopotamia an ill-advised advance up the Tigris had resulted in the capture by the Turks of Gen. Town- shend with a small British expeditionary force in November, 1915. The Allies were now ready to strike at all these points, in a series of offensives simultaneously directed. At first the results were encouraging. The Russians entered the Bukowina and on June 16 occupied Czernowitz, ready to force the passes of the Carpathians north of Transylvania (June- August). On August 27 Rumania, confident that Russia's success would be permanent, joined the Allies. On 440 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1916 August 9 the Italians, advancing from the Trentino front, cap- tured Gorizia and gained a foothold on the Carso plateau. In July the British and French began the battle of the Somme, and with the aid of terrific artillery fire, the use of armored motor trucks with caterpillar treads, known as " tanks," and hundreds of airplanes, which though long a part of every battle were here employed with extraordinary success, drove back the Germans for a space of about seven miles. The contest was continued in successive waves of attack through September and on the part of the French into November ; and though the territory gained was relatively small, the prolonged offensive compelled the Germans to concentrate their entire attention on the Western front and brought upon them enormous losses in killed and wounded. The casualty lists of both Germans and Austrians were beginning to assume ominous proportions, and the world was wondering how long the Central Powers could stand such losses of men. Then the tide of success turned. Gen. Mackensen attacked Rumania in September and in an extraordinarily short time over- ran the greater part of the country. Russia, already suffering from an incompetent and corrupt administration at home, did little to help, and the Allied forces at Salonica under Gen. Sarrail, upon whom Rumania counted for a diversion against Bulgaria, were not only unprepared and insufficient in numbers, but were held back by fear of Greece, who threatened attack from the rear. Rumania, isolated and dependent solely upon her own strength, collapsed, and Mackensen entered the Ru- manian capital, Bucharest, on December 6. These German successes in the southeast were somewhat offset by a French victory at Verdun (October-November), where Gen. Mangin in a furious counter-attack recovered some of the most impor- tant strategic points that the Germans, at terrific cost, had gained earlier in the year. Much as Germany might accomplish in the East, she was making no progress in the West, and it was in the West that the final victory was to be won. 1916] GERMANY'S SUBMARINE POLICY. 441 424. Germany's Submarine Policy. Entrance of the United States.^ — For the moment the AUies were disheartened. In England Asquith resigned because of bitter criticism by the Times and other newspapers under Lord Northchffe's control. " Middle Europe." As it existed, 1916-1918. The territory lightly shaded is that surrendered by Russia at Brest-Li tovsk, December, 1917- and Lloyd George, who became prime minister and minister of war, formed a coalition cabinet, with a war committee of five 1 Before 1918 war was declared against Germany by Russia, France, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Japan, Serbia, Montenegro, Portugal, Rumania, the United States, Cuba, Panama, China, Brazil, Siam, Liberia, and Greece. In 1918 Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Nica- ragua did the same. Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Santo Domingo, and Uruguay severed diplomatic relations but did not declare war. Holland, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Persia, Mexico, Paraguay, Vene- zuela, United States of Colombia, Chile, and Argentina remained neutral. 442 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1917 members (December 6). Germany, believing that the Allies were ready to consider peace, made advances in various direc- tions but without the slightest success, for the Allies had no confidence in the peace overtures of a power that was occupy- ing enemy territory and extending widely its control over the lands to the eastward in order to lay the firm foundations of a Germanized " Middle Europe." Failing to end the war by victory in battle or by peaceful negotiation, the German government listened favorably to the persuasions of the military and naval leaders who for some time had been urging the use of the submarine as a certain means of success. Bethmann-Hollweg at first favored this Pan-German policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and consequently on January 31, 1917, the government issued a note announcing that from February 1 all vessels, whether neutral or belligerent, would be sunk at sight, if found within certain prescribed areas adjoining Great Britain, France, and Italy, and in the eastern Mediterranean. By this ruthless violation of the freedom of the seas, Germany succeeded in stirring to its depths the resentment of the Amer- ican people and of uniting all classes and sections of the United States in a grim determination to end forever this menace to the peace of the world. On February 3, 1917, von Bernstorff, the German ambassador at Washington, was given his passports ; on April 2 President Wilson, in an address of great force and dignity, advised Congress to declare war; and on April 6, after both houses had adopted a declaration of war, issued a proclamation announcing that a state of war existed between the United States and the Imperial German Government. Though a peaceful people and ill-prepared for war, the Amerr icans had enormous wealth and endless resources, a large fleet, the material for an army of thirteen millions of men, and infinite courage and tenacity. The entrance of the United States into the war not only brought new vigor, new enthusiasm, and new ideals into the conflict, but also heartened the jaded 1917] UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE. 443 Allies who had for two and a half years borne the brunt of the fighting, and were weary, discouraged, and war-spent. The only doubt that lay in the Allied minds, — and it was the doubt that decided Germany in the adoption of her undersea boat policy, — was whether the United States could raise and train an army and transport it when trained across three thousand miles of a submarine-infested ocean in time to save the Allies from what Germany believed to be certain defeat. 425. The Russian Revolution. — For the moment the situa- tion looked ominous. In March, 1917, a revolution broke out in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), the Czar, Nicholas II, was com- pelled to abdicate, and a provisional government was estab- lished. At first this uprising was welcomed by the Allies and the United States as the overthrow of autocracy and the bringing of Russia into line with the democratic states of the West; but as summer came on the conditions grew steadily more dis- turbing. The provisional government of the moderate middle class gave way under pressure from the radicals, until finally the Bolsheviki, led by Lenin and Trotsky, who belonged to the extreme socialist group, seized the power and established a dictatorship of the proletariat, a minority element, working through " Soviets," or committees of workmen, soldiers, and peasants. The result was twofold : first, the Russian army at the front went to pieces and Russia ceased to be of value to the Allies as a military power; and secondly, in December, 1917, at a gathering of German and Bolshevik representatives at Brest-Litovsk, east of Warsaw, the Bolshevik government made peace with Germany and permanently retired from the war. 426. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. — While Russia was thus deserting the Allies and passing into a state of chaos and an- archy, Germany was testing her policy of frightfulness at sea. From February to July, 1917, the submarines reaped a fearful harvest of Allied and neutral merchant vessels, causing the loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of immense 444 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1917 quantities of munitions and foodstuffs. But tlie sinking of so large a number of ships could not be maintained. From a total of 4,000,000 tons lost before July, 1917, the number decreased to 2,200,000 from July to December, to 1,150,000 from January to March, 1918, and to 950,000 from April to May. This steady decrease betokened eventual failure. It was due in part to the skill with which the British and American navies patrolled the seas and protected their commerce, the successful use of nets, depth-bombs, convoys, airplanes, dirigible balloons, and ship-disguises and screens of various kinds, and in part to the serious difficulties which Germany encountered in building, refitting, and manning her undersea boats. By the end of 1917 it was everywhere conceded that the submarine policy was but another of Germany's blunders, and that her atrocious weapon had turned in her own hand. The British people were not only unbroken in health and spirit, but were more resolute and determined than ever to pursue the war to the bitter end, while across the ocean were coming .in regular succession convoyed fleets of transports carrying thou- sands of soldiers from America, undeterred by submarine and equally resolute to play their part in the war for democracy and humanity. 427. Allied Victories in the West, 1917. — Though Russia was lost, the United States was taking its place as a working and fighting partner with the Allies, and with boundless energy and unexpected rapidity was preparing itself for war. Already had the government loaned the Allied powers nearly ten billions of dollars ($9,600,000,000) and now continued its dispatch of munitions, provisions, grain, and clothing in ever-increasing quantities. Before midsummer it had sent Admiral Sims with a fleet to join the British in British waters and Gen. Pershing with a contingent of regulars to aid the Allies in France. By December there were on French soil 250,000 American soldiers. The welcome that these men received testified to the war- 1917] ALLIED VICTORIES IN THE WEST, 1917, 445 weariness of England, France, and Italy and to the Joy every- where felt at this visible evidence of America's determination to take part in the winning of the war. In the meantime the Allies were making substantial gains along the Western front. The war of attrition had been going steadily on and plans were under consideration for another smashing offensive against the German lines. In previous attacks the French and British had broken the lines at many points, creating, here and there, salients, or projecting angles, that were difficult for the Germans to defend. Consequently Gen. Hindenburg, who had been made chief of the German army staff in August, 1916, resolved to withdraw to a stronger system of trenches, which had long been in process of construction, and which, though given various names by the Germans themselves, came to be known among the Allies as the Hindenburg Line. His object was in part to straighten the line and to shorten it, getting rid of the salients, and in part to antic- ipate the Allied offensive and to compel them to attack in open ground, already waste and desolate. The Allies accepted the challenge, and believing that the withdrawal was a confession of weakness, began a concerted advance. On March 17 Gen. Haig with the British and Gen. Niveile with the French entered on their pursuit of the retreating Germans. In the battle of Arras (April-May) and in the battle of the Aisne (April 16-20) Haig and Niveile gained ground, and further fighting by the British at Ypres and Arras, and of the French at the Chemin des Dames and Laon and in October at Soissons and Verdun disclosed the Allied determination to win a decision if possible. In this succession of great battles in Flanders, at Arras, on the Aisne, and at Verdun, accompanied by terrific artillery barrages, mine explosions, the use of tanks, airplanes, and gas, and furious attacks and counter-attacks, English, Irish, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and French smashed into the German defense, occupied many square miles of terri- 446 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. . [1917. tory, and captured thousands of prisoners. But they were unable to win a positive victory or to drive the Germans beyond the Hindenburg Line. 428. Allied Victory in the East. Greece. — While the Allies were driving the Germans back upon the Hindenburg Line, encouraging signs of eventual victory were appearing in the East. At the beginning of the year, Gen. Maude, moving up the Tigris, avenged the defeat of Townshend in 1915 by capturing Bagdad (March 10, 1917) and occupying Mesopotamia. On June 12, in Greece, the Allies forced the pro-German king, Constantine, to abdicate in favor of his son, Alexander, and with Venizelos, the greatest of Greek statesmen and a friend of the Allies, as prime minister, brought Greece at last into line with the enemies of the Central Powers. With Greece friendly and united, a forward move from Salonica against Bulgaria was certain to be made in the near future. The situation in Egypt was materially simplified when the year before (November, 1916) Husein, sherif of Mecca, revolted from the Ottoman Empire, set up the independent state of Hedjaz (Arabia), and aided the British in their efforts to advance into Palestine. As a result. Gen. Allenby captured Jerusalem on December 10, 1917, and amid the rejoicings of the Christian World ended the rule of the Turks in the Holy Land. By the spring of 1918 the shadow of discouragement had begun to lift, hope was in the air, strong men were in political command — Clemenceau in France, Orlando in Italy, Lloyd George in England, where the pacifist Henderson had resigned from the War Cabinet, and in America Wilson, whose Fourteen Points, issued on January 8, 1918, became the platform of the Allies during the remainder of the war. 429. Germany's Last Effort. The Great Drives. — Germany was as blind as were the Allies to the signs of the times. Ignor- ing the manifest weakness and lukewarmness among her allies — Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey — and the un- substantial character of all her Eastern conquests, she believed 1918] GERMANY'S LAST EFFORT. 447 that the time had come to complete her work by one final effort in the West. Her leaders thought that Italy was defeated, that France was bleeding to death, that Great Britain was at the end of her resources and facing starvation, and that the United States would not be able to enter the war for another year. They resolved to strike at once and with all their might, and both Field Marshal Hindenburg and his efficient colleague. Gen. Eric Ludendorff, promised the German people that this time they would be successful. The series of battles or " drives," begun on March 21, 1918, with an attack on the British line in Picardy, was perhaps the greatest military encounter in all recorded history, because of the numbers engaged on both sides, the fury of the onsets, the stubbornness of the defense, the devices of war employed, and the issues at stake. On the 21st the Germans struck be- tween Arras and the Oise, where the British under Gen. Byng and Gen. Gough were holding the line, in a measure unprepared for the attack that was coming. Forced to give way, they re- treated in good order, contesting every inch of the ground, until, with the aid of French reenforcements, they brought the Germans to a standstill. By March 26 the drive was over, the Germans had gained a large amount of territory and captured many prisoners, but the " infiltration " plan had not been successful, the British line was intact, and Amiens, the German objective, was still beyond their reach. Again the Germans struck, this time farther north, between Arras and Ypres, and again the British gave way, fighting during three heartrending weeks with stubborn determina- tion, making the Germans pay heavily for every inch of ground they won, until in the old fighting region of Passchendaele and Messines ridges and Mt. Kemmel, the final test was made. The Germans succeeded in occupying Mt. Kemmel, but there the men of the thin British line with their backs to the wall held the day and the Germans advanced no farther. Ypres was not taken. 448 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1918 When in March the Allied leaders saw that Germany was pre- paring for a final spring, they realized that nothing should be left undone to meet it. At the opening of the drive. Gen. Pershing, with self-effacing promptness, placed the American troops that were in France at the service of the Allies, and a few days later at an Allied conference held near Amiens (March 25), while disaster threatened the Allied arms, the all- important decision was reached to place Gen. Ferdinand Foch at the head of all the Allied forces, and so to bring all the Allied movements under the command of a single head . At the same time new efforts were made to increase the re- serves. American troops were arriving each month, in constantly increasing numbers — ^more than half a million were ready in April and more than a million in July; and on April 8, England adopted an unlimited conscription act, which, though it brought on trouble with Ireland and embittered still further the relations between the two countries, showed that despite all the difficul- ties involved, England was determined to win. Germany's next great effort was against the French on the Aisne and the Oise, May 26-29, and progressed much as had the drives against the British in the north. Relentlessly and irresistibly, the French were driven back in three days of terrific fighting until the Germans stood again on the Marne at Chateau ■ H Ip^I H^^^^lk f 9f I 9^" - s^l ^^^^^^^S ,JI *«*^ ' " ^H ^^^^H^^^pi^P "^« / '^y H ^^H ^H ^^^^h^I^^^k'*^^' h ^■H ^^^^^HB^^HNb. ^~ ^1 Bw^ HpHif^^^\ M Hf^ji B^^' . "^ittk^^H General Ferdinand Foch. Copyright by Underwood and Underwood. 1918] ALLIED COUNTER-OFFENSIVE. 449 Thierry and on the Oise at Noyon, and were nearer Paris than at any time since 1914. The situation looked ominous. Could they widen their gains to include Rheims on one side and Com- piegne on the other? If they could, nothing could save Paris. But they never did. Every attempt made from June 6 to June 13 to extend their gains on the flanks failed of success, and a final onslaught on Rheims, June 18, ended in failure. At fearful cost the Germans had gained ground, but nowhere had they broken through or seriously weakened the Allied lines. It was a matter of serious import that on June 6 they had been even compelled to fall back for a short distance at Chateau Thierry, and that, too, before a body of French and Americans who drove them across the Marne. This cooperation of the Americans at a singularly opportune moment and their success- ful appearance as a fighting force at what appeared to be the high-water mark of the German offensive was an incident of first-class importance. 430. Allied Counter-Offensive. — Trusting in the ability of the American troops, which were now arriving regularly and in large numbers, not only to serve as a great reserve force but also to take their places on the firing line with the veterans of France and England, Gen. Foch, on July 18, ordered an ad- vance. With new confidence and undiminished ardor, the Franco- Americans under Gens. Mangin and Degoutte attacked the western side of the German, line from the Aisne to Chateau Thierry. Their success was immediate. The Germans fell back in retreat and on August 3 Soissons was taken. From this time the Germans, bitterly resisting along every mile of their line, were gradually forced back upon their defenses. Their reserves were gone, their munitions and supplies were diminishing, and their soldiers, broken in morale, were losing confidence in their commanding officers. Foch's offensive in the second battle of the Marne and his capture of Soissons were followed almost at once by a general movement all along the Allied line. On August 18 the British 450 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1918- and French under Gens. Rawlinson, Byng, and Debeney assailed the German line in Pieardy, Plumer struck near Ypres in Flanders, while Mangin continued his assaults on the Aisne. By September 1 the Germans were back on the Hindenburg The Allied Gounter-Offensive, July— Novembeb, 1918. Line, having lost all that they had gained since March and suffered casualties amounting to hundreds of thousands of men. On September 12 the first independent American army began a major operation of its own by sma-shing in the St. Mihiel 1918] COLLAPSE OF THE CENTRAL POWERS. 451 salient, which had been in German hands since the beginning of the war. Later in September the whole Allied line again made a concerted advance. Belgians, British, British-French, French, French-Americans, and Americans, driving hard and steadily, attacked and crossed the Hindenburg Line, the Americans playing a brilliant part in the Argonne and along the Meuse, where the extraordinarily strong defenses and the hundreds of machine-gun " nests " made progress slow and costly. The Germans fought with the courage of despair, hoping to resist defeat and capture. But they could not stem the Allied advance, and by November 1 were driven almost entirely out of Belgium and France. King Albert recovered his kingdom, the British were approaching Mons, — the starting point of their famous retreat, — while the French and Americans were forcing their way down the valley of the Meuse, threatening to cut off the German retreat. At last the Germans realized that if they were to be saved from complete disaster they must sue for peace. 431. Collapse of the Central Powers. — While Gen. Foch was directing the concerted attack along the Western front, he was watching with understanding and readiness the situation in Italy, Salonica, and the farther East. With preparations made and a well-supplied army in hand, he ordered Gen. d'Esperey to move from Salonica northward against Bulgaria. On September 14 the advance was begun and in less than two weeks the Serbians, French, British, and Greeks, who made up d'Esperey's army, had overrun Macedonia and occupied south- ern Serbia and part of Bulgaria. On September 30 the Bulga- rian government sued for peace ; on October 4 the crafty King Ferdinand abdicated and fled; and within a month all Serbia was in Allied hands, the Danube reached, and the Teuton state of " Middle Europe " had vanished in thin air. On the heels of the Balkan victory came siiccess to Italy. On October 24 Gen. Diaz struck the Austrian army along the Piave and drove it back in headlong flight. Austria collapsed, 452 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1919 November 3. At the same time Gen. Maude on the Tigris and Gen. Allenby in Palestine and Syria set their troops in motion, the one capturing Aleppo on October 26 and com- pletely disorganizing the Turkish troops, the other seizing Mosul about the same time and coming into undisputed control of the whole Mesopotamian region. In the. face of these three ad- vancing forces, in Macedonia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, Turkey signed an armistice and withdrew from the war (October 30). Germany was now without an ally. Defeated at every point on the Western front, her people frantic with fear of impending invasion and seething with the spirit of revolt, she bowed to the inevitable and on November 11, 1918, at five o'clock in the morning, accepted and signed the terms of an armistice, to begin at 11 a.m. on that day. The greatest of wars was over. 432. Treaty of Versailles, June 28, 1919. — On January 18, 1919, there gathered at Paris representatives of 27 states and five British dominions, 70 authorized delegates in all, to consider terms of peace. There they remained for nearly four months, their leaders — at first an executive steering committee, the members of which represented the United States, England, France, Italy, and Japan, and, after March 24, the " Big Four," Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Wilson, and Orlando, aided by experts — engaged in the extraordinarily difficult task of for- mulating terms of peace to meet the situation created by four years of war and the defeat of Germany. The same " Big Four," in whom all real power finally rested, also drew up the plan of a League of Nations, wherewith to create a new international organization, for the purpose of maintaining peace and pre- venting future wars and, in many important specified particulars, of promoting the general welfare of civilization. On May 7 the text of the treaty was ready for signatures. As the Kaiser, William II, had abdicated, November 28, 1918, and a democratic republic had been set up in Germany, the German delegates represented the new government. These delegates, demurring to the hard terms of the treaty, prolonged 1919] POSITION OF GREAT BRITAIN AFTER THE WAR. 453 the discussion, and it was not until June 28 and the sending of a second set of delegates that the treaty was finally signed. This act was the more humiliating for Germany in that it took place in the Hall of Mirrors of the royal palace of Versailles, where in 1871 William I of Prussia had been proclaimed G3rman Em- peror. The short-lived German Empire had had in reality but The " Big Four." Lloyd George, Orlando, Clemenceau, Wilson. two emperors : William I, who established it under the guidance of Bismarck, and William II, who lost it in aiming at world dominion. The treaty was finally ratified on July 7 by the German National Assembly sitting at Weimar.^ 433. Position of Great Britain after the "War. — By the treaty of peace Great Britain and her dominions secured im- portant accessions of territory, either in the form of actual 1 Austria made peace with the Allies, September 10, 1919 ; Bulgaria, November 27, 1919 ; Hungary, June 4, 1920 ; and Turkey, August 10, 1920. 454 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1919 additions or as " mandataries," that is, territories which they held in a sort of trusteeship. Australia received certain islands in the Pacific, south of the Equator ; New Zealand, Germany's part of Samoa ; the Union of South Africa, German Southwest Africa ; Great Britain herself, parts of Togoland and Kanierun, and, as a mandate, the greater part of German East Africa, which she renamed Tanganyika Territory. Two small prov- inces in the northwest, adjacent to the Congo, were assigned as a mandate to Belgium. During the war, when Turkey was the ally of Germany, Great Britain had abrogated all Turkish rights in Egypt, and on December 18, 1914, had declared that land a British protectorate. Shortly before, November 5, she had formally annexed Cyprus, and in 1919 by agreement brought Persia within her sphere of influence. Thus the territorial range of the empire was materially increased and, especially in Africa, to its advantage, for by the mandate of German East Africa Great Britain secured control of a section of African land that in German hands had blocked her path from Egypt southward to Cape Town and prevented her from completing her Cape to Cairo railway. More important even than accessions of territory was the effect of the war upon the Empire itself. The shock of German attack, instead of breaking the empire into pieces, had welded it together more firmly than before. The response of the colonies to the mother's call disclosed two things : first, that the loyalty to the mother land of all parts of the British world was deep-seated and unshakable ; and secondly, that the " empire " was in reality not an empire at all, but a partnership of nations, each of which had poured out its blood and treasure, not because of any binding obligation to do so, but because of pride in the connection with Britain and of devotion to the ideals and purposes that were common to all members of the British world. 434. Attitude toward Egypt and India. — The strength of the British Empire lay in its elasticity and adaptability. Freedom 1920] ATTITUDE TOWARD EGYPT AND INDIA. 455 and local self-government for all those peoples that were ready were the foundations upon which it was built, and with these principles unimpaired, there was no inclination among the great dominions to sever their connection with the mother country. The sense of a common historical past, the feeling of kinship, and the realization of strength in unity formed unbreakable bonds. That the British government was prepared to extend the privilege of self-government to any of its colonies, dependencies, or protectorates that was competent to exercise it, became evi- dent after the war. In 1919 it conferred upon Malta the right to govern itself, and in 1920, on the recommendation of the Milner commission, appointed to consider the situation in Egypt, began negotiations looking to the independence of that country and the drafting of a constitution which should define the powers of the Khedive and of a responsible native ministry and assembly. Under the new arrangement England herself was to retain such privileges as would safeguard the merchants, protect the Suez Canal, and defend Egypt against foreign aggression. Toward India its attitude was extremely sympathetic. Al- ready had Sir Edward Montagu, the colonial secretary, and Lord Chelmsford, the viceroy of India, in a remarkable report, recom- mended a form of modified home rule for that country, whereby native Indians should be associated with every branch of the Indian administration. The signal service of Indian princes and people to the empire during the war revealed a temper and loyalty so marked that in 1919 the British government deter- mined at once to extend self-government as far as it was possible and desirable to do so, with the idea of granting gradually but eventually responsible government similar to that exercised by the dominions. In 1917 commissions were issued to Indian officers who had served with distinction in the war, and in 1919 a bill was passed by parliament and became a law whereby the voters in India were increased from 33,000 to 5,179,000, and a 456 THE EMPIRE AND THE GREAT WAR. [1920 considerable measure of self-governmeut granted. The old absolute control was abolished, a new era for India opened, and that dependency took its place as an integral member of the British commonwealth of nations, and was represented in all imperial conferences, with an adequate voice in foreign policy and foreign relations. 435. New Status of the British Empire. — Great Britain had emerged from the war the strongest naval and colonial power in the world, knit together in all its parts with a strength tested by mutual suffering, loss, and bitter conflict. It was no longer an empire, but a commonwealth of nations, in which the mother country stood to the great dominions and India, not as a superior or even as a head but as a senior partner in a great cooperative system. During the war the imperial conference, which had already met six times (1887, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1909, 1911) was enlarged as an Imperial War Conference, and side, by side with the War Cabinet arose an Imperial War Cabinet for the consideration of matters concerning the empire as a whole. Upon both these boards sat representatives of the dominions and of India. Thus the unity of this widely scattered British world was preserved by two institutions common to all : first, by the hereditary kingship, approval of which was manifested during the war by expressions of loyalty to King George and after the war by demonstrations of welcome to his son, the Prince of Wales, who in 1919 and 1920 made a tour of all parts of the empire and even visited the United States ; and, secondly, by a system of conferences, the character and functions of which were still to be worked out, where either in an imperial com- mittee or imperial cabinet the common welfare of the whole British world would be preserved. Thus the British Empire entered upon a new era in its history. CHAPTER XVIII THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE 436. General Remarks. — There are different types of government prevailing among the more important territories that to-day make up what is known as the British Empire. First and most important of all is the government of the United Kingdom, which has its seat at Westminster. The form of government there is determined by law and tradition. In the United States the constitution can be amended only in. accord with the terms laid down in the written document itself; in Great Britain it can be altered at any time and in any way by parliament, which has power to repeal any act that it pleases, and to pass another that may be quite different. It can legislate for all things, great or small — disestablish the Church of England or grant Home Rule to Ireland, regulate the shipping of poultry or determine the wages of seamen. In another respect does the British constitution differ from that of the United States. The latter, intentionally and pre- cisely, separates the functions of government into three dis- tinct parts — executive, legislative, and judicial, — but in the British system no such distinction prevails. For instance, the king, who is the chief executive, has legislative duties, which though formal are so important that no bill can become law without his assent; the cabinet, which is executive in origin and continues to be executive in many of its functions, has become the chief legislative factor in parliament, since no bill can pass without its approval; the ministers of the crown, whose duties are executive and administrative, sit in parliament and are responsible to it rather than to the king ; the House of Lords, which is a legislative body, exercises very important 457 458 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.. judicial functions ; the Privy Council, an executive body, has its judicial committee, the highest court of appeal in the empire. Thus the three groups of powers, instead of being separated, are closely interwoven. As was to be expected from such a history, the British con- stitutional system is full of survivals, contradictions, and irregu- larities. The king never does most of the things that he is legally entitled to do. The prime minister and the cabinet do any number of things for which they have no legal warrant. Many ministers bearing official titles do not perform the duties suggested by these titles ; for example, the first lord of the treas- ury is rarely a lord and though nominally the ultimate head of the financial system, has in fact nothing to do with finance, and the chancellor of the exchequer, the real minister of finance, is not a chancellor and the "exchequer" of which he once was the chancellor was abolished eighty years ago. There are " boards " the members of which never sit, such as the Board of Education and the Local Government Board. Parliament has on its order book many rules which are never enforced, such as concern strangers and the publishing of debates,^ and though unable to provide room in the chamber of the House of Commons for more than 350 members has lately increased its membership to 707. In some ways most interesting of all is the survival of the old Anglo-Norman phrases used in the formal procedure of the houses. In assenting to a bill the king still uses the words Le Roy le veuU and when a bill is ready to be sent from the Commons to the Lords, the phrase is Soit bailie aux seigneurs} Privileges for which members fought and 1 Harry Furniss, the caricature artist of Punch, once said that in his day parliament was so full of red tape that a man might have a seat in the re- porter's gallery for an obscure journal that had ceased to exist for thirty years, while prominent papers were given no seat at all. ^ Should the king ever veto a bill, as is never likely to be the case, he would express his dissent in the phrase Le Roy s'avisera. Other phrases are A ceste bille avesque des amendemens les seignieurs sont assentus or A ces amendemens les communes sont assentus. Assent to a private bill is phrased Soit fait comme il est desire and to a petition of right (as in 1628, § 244) THE KING. 459 suffered in the past have, with the decHne of monarchy, lost all their, meaning ; forms of procedure which once had real significance are now mere matters of clerical routine ; and many incidents and practices continue to survive to-day for no other reason than the Britisher's love of precedent and dislike of change. Yet it is the existence of just these little peculiarities, these unexpected contradictions between theory and practice, and these differences between the outward seeming and the actual fact that gives to the study of the British constitution a great deal of its fascination and charm. 437. The King. — George V sits upon the throne of Eng- land by virtue of the Act of Settlement of 1701 (§ 309, at end), and had he no sons his daughter could succeed him at his death and exercise as queen of England all the royal powers. He became king in 1910 immediately on the death of his father, Edward VII, for Great Britain legally cannot be without a king for an instant of time, but his coronation did not follow for more than a year. Theoretically and legally he has wide powers, both at home and over the self-governing dominions, but actually he can of his own independent will perform no constitutional functions whatever — all must be done on the advice of his ministers. Constitutionally speaking, the king is so bound up with the British system of government that to abolish monarchy in England would lead to endless confusion. It would also affect the relations with the outlying dominions and dependencies, for the royal office is the only permanent feature of the British Empire. As an institution the king is therefore one of the most important and necessary parts of the British system. But as a person he stands in a different position. In that capacity he can exercise influence but not power or authority, and the ex- tent of his influence is likely to vary with his character and Soil droit fait cpmme il est desire. Assent to a money bill reads Le Roy remerQie ses bons sujets, accepts leur benevolence, et ainsi le veult. It is odd that Lords and Commons should spell " seign{i\eurs" differently. 460 THE GOVERNMENT OF .THE BRITISH EMPIRE. strength of will. Queen Victoria, by acknowledgment of all, had a very definite influence upon governmental policy ; ^ King Edward's influence, as has already been noted (§ 401), lay chiefly in the field of foreign relations ; while that of George V, owing to the faithfulness with which he has performed his recognized duties, — ceremonial and social, — and to the sym- pathetic interest which he has displayed in the work and wel- fare of all his people, has increased very much popular respect for the monarchy. 438. The Privy Council. — The Privy Council, which in origin is older than parliament, used to be the king's advisory body, acting in conjunction with him as the executive head of the government, but now its place as adviser of the crown has been acquired by the cabinet. It is composed of as many natural born or naturalized British subjects as the king de- sires to summon, and among them are always the members of the cabinet, who in order to hold office must be privy coun- cilors. The number is undefined, but at present is nearly 300, peers and commoners. In nearly all cases membership is an honor, which carries with it no duties. Except on special occa- sions, such as occur at the beginning of a reign, when all the mem- bers assemble to hear the new king's first message, the whole body never meets. Membership carries with it the title of " Right Honorable " and the privilege of invitation (with wives and unmarried daughters) to royal balls, concerts, and analogous state functions. The members, when in official attendance, 1 Several instances of this may be given. In 1851 the queen in a memo- randum to Lord Palmerston insisted that drafts of all dispatches should be submitted to her in sufficient time for her to read them and that they should not be altered after they had received her sanction. We are told that the bill disestablishing the Irish Church (1869) was probably saved by the queen's intervention, though she personally disliked it, because she believed it expressed the will of the country. We know also that in 1871, Gladstone, unable to obtain the passage of the bill abolishing purchase of commissions in the army, advised the queen to make use of her prerogative and abolish the purchase system by royal warrant. This the queen did, revoking the warrant of 1683 recognizing the practice and issuing another, doing away with it. THE KING'S MINISTERS AND DEPARTMENTS. 461 wear a very smart diplomatic costume of blue and gold, with a cocked hat, an obligation that made trouble with his party for John Burns, labor member for Battersea, when as presi- dent of the Local Government Board (1905-1914) he became a privy councilor and a member of the cabinet. 439. The King's Ministers and Departments. — The king has certain high officials of state and many subordinate officials for the performance of executive and administrative business and the carrying on of the government of the United Kingdom. They may be divided into two classes, temporary and perma- nent. In the first class are the highest officials — heads of de- partments, whose position is political and who change whenever a government is overthrown and a new government comes in. In that respect they are similar to the members of the presi- dent's cabinet in the United States. Immediately under them are parliamentary subordinates or under-secretaries, who also change with the government. In the second class are those officials whose tenure is permanent, whose interests are purely administrative, and whose lives are spent in the government offices in Whitehall and elsewhere. They are the secretaries and clerks who perform, ably and efficiently, the departmental duties assigned them and who take no part in politics or parlia- ment. The most important ministers and departments of the crown are as follows : The Lord High Chancellor. He is the oldest of all the king's ministers in service, the principal adviser of the crown, and the keeper of the great seal. By time-honored custom he has ac- quired the right to sit on the woolsack in the House of Lords and to exercise there some of the functions assigned to the speaker in the House of Commons. The Treasury. Formerly the Treasury was a deliberative board made up of the first lord, the chancellor of the exchequer, and three junior lords, who had regular meetings and kept minutes. But now the first lord has gone into politics and is 462 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE usually the prime minister, the junior lords have also gone into politics and are to-day government " whips," performing very important duties connected with the business of the House of Commons (§ 442), and onl}^ the chancellor of the exchequer is left, as a kind of second lord of the Treasury, to serve as minister of finance. The Admiralty. The Admiralty Board, unlike that of the Treasury, still sits as a deliberative body. As the Treasury, through the chancellor of the exchequer, wields the powers and functions of the old Lord High Treasurer, so the Admiralty, as a board, wields the powers and functions of the old Lord High Admiral. Remodeled in 1904, this board now consists of a first lord, four sea lords, and a civil lord. The first lord, who is always a navy man, is in reality a secretary of the navy and is held responsible by parliament for the conduct of his department, while the others serve as his ad- visers. They have administrative duties also, for the over- sight of naval affairs is distributed among the sea lords and the civil lord. The War Office. The War Office has in the past undergone many important changes, the earlier phases of which need not concern us here. In 1904, after long consideration, the office of commander-in-chief was abolished and the control of the army was intrusted to an Army Council, similar in form to the Ad- miralty Board, presided over by the secretary of state for war and consisting of six leading army officers, one of whom is the chief of staff. The secretary of state for war, though histori- cally and constitutionally very different from the first lord of the Admiralty — because he is a secretary of state, and not the head of a board — is in fact very similar in obligations and func- tions to that official — a secretary of war as the other is a secre- tary of the navy. He is usually a civilian, and Lord Kitchener was the first military officer to hold the position. The Secretariat. There are five principal secretaries of state, one each for home affairs, foreign affairs, war, the colonies, and THE KING'S MINISTERS AND DEPARTMENTS. 463 India. Legally, these five ministers perform the duties of one office — that of his majesty's principal secretary of state, — and whenever by act of parliament their duties are increased, they are rarely referred to by name, business being assigned to them collectively, apparently on the supposition that each is com- petent to do the work of any of the others. Actually, however, they constitute five distinct departments, the duties of which are well understood, and they are served by permanent staffs of secretaries, assistants, clerks, and other officials, housed each in its own quarters in Whitehall. The Foreign Office looks after foreign affairs and has control of protectorates, wherever found. The Colonial Office has in its hands the management of those parts of the Empire that are designated " crown colonies," as contrasted with dominions and protectorates. The India Office is concerned with India, and its secretary differs from the others in having an advisory council — the Council of India, consisting of from ten to four- teen salaried members, two of whom are native Indians, — which is a consultative body in all matters not requiring urgency or secrecy. Except in recommending changes in the government of India and embodying such changes in a bill to be introduced into parliament, neither the secretary nor parliament has much direct part in Indian control, such being left to the viceroy and the officials in India itself (§ 446). Lastly, we have The Home Office, under whose direction is a vast and somewhat miscellaneous body of domestic activities. The home secre- tary is the chief channel of communication between the king and his subjects of the LTnited Kingdom, he receives addresses and petitions, has charge of naturalization and extradition, man- ages the police (except those of the City of London), regulates factories, mines, collieries, inebriates, and burial grounds, inspects reformatories, industrial schools, and prisons, and even keeps watch over vivisection and cruelty to animals. Under him are not only the usual departmental officials but a great many special commissioners and inspectors also. 464 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Boards. In addition there are many boards, so called, though each is controlled by a single official ■^- its president — and never meets as a board. These are The Board of Works, which has charge of the construction and maintenance of parks, palaces, and many public buildings ; The Board of Trade, which supervises everything that concerns trade and locomotion by land and sea and under which is Trinity House, a famous and ancient institution, which looks after navigation, lighthouses, buoys, and beacons ; The Local Government Board, which has general oversight of the poor law, public health, and other local government matters ; The Board of Agriculture, which has to do with commons, allotments, drainage, forestry, horti- culture, fisheries, the muzzling of dogs, and contagious diseases among animals; and lastly, The Board of Education, which has charge of all schools that receive public aid. The Post Office. The post office is one of the most important of all the public departments, and because it brings in a large revenue to the state is under the control of the Treasury. But it is more than a source of income, it is a great administering organization as well. Its duties are carefully prescribed by statute, and the postmaster-general, who is the parliamentary head, has comparatively little discretion except in minor matters. He is in fact the acting manager of a great business, with the secretary of the department as the man in immediate charge, and he is accountable to parliament for his administration. Under his direction are the transmission of all mail matter, including the parcels post ; savings bank business, which allows deposits of a shilling and upwards and pays interest; postal orders and money orders ; postal telegraph and telephones. Through its savings department the post office has built up a very elaborate life insurance and annuity business. 440. The Cabinet. — "A certain number of these high of- ficers of state constitute the ' cabinet ' and those with others are said to constitute the ' ministry,' neither of which is known to the law." Thus wrote Maitland in 1888, and what he said THE CABINET. 465 then is largely true to-day. The cabinet is not provided for by any statute and never has received formal recognition as a part of the British constitution/ its members are not paid for their services as cabinet ministers, its meetings are irregular and unscheduled, no record is kept of its business or discus- sions, its proceedings are never published, and it has no powers that are legally defined. Yet it is the most powerful executive and legislative influence in Great Britain to-day. At its head is the prime minister, who occupies a position more dominating than that of any other of the king's subjects and is selected by the king either because of his ability to lead the political party to which he belongs, which must be the majority party in parliament, or because of the public opinion of the country at large. The prime minister selects his colleagues, though the king actually appoints them, and he can call for their resignations in the same way. His resignation has a little history of its own. Before 1832 he rarely felt obliged to resign because of an adverse vote in parliament ; after 1832 and until 1867 he would have resigned only in case the adverse vote was formal, that is to say, a test vote which showed on the part of the members of parliament a lack of confidence in him as their leader ; after 1867 and until 1906 he would have been expected to resign if any vote in parliament went against him ; and since 1906 he has resigned, even with a parliamentary majority in his favor, when it was evident that the sentiment of the country was against him. The officers of state who are always in the cabinet are the secretaries of state, the first lord of the Treasury, the lord high chancellor, the chancellor of the exchequer, the first lord of the Admiralty, and usually the lord privy seal. The prime minister 1 Official recognition of the prime minister was first given in 1906, when by royal warrant his place in processions and ceremonial functions was fixed as fourth in the list, after the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord High Chancellor, and the Archbishop of York. Consequently Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman is sometimes spoken of as the ' first ' prime minister. 466 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. himself has commonly held the office of first lord of the Treas- ury, but Gladstone was chancellor of th« exchequer and Salis- bury secretary of state for foreign affairs. As to the remain- ing members practice varies somewhat, but among them one is almost sure to find the president of the council, the presidents of the Local Government Board, Board of Trade, Board of Educa- tion, and Board of Agriculture, the attorney-general, post- master-general, and the chief secretaries for Scotland and Ireland. Altogether there may be twenty or more in the cabinet and fifty or more in the ministry. The legal standing of all these officials depends not on their position as members of the cabinet or ministry but on their membership in the Privy Coun- cil, while their salaries are paid them for their services not as cabinet ministers but as officials under government. The strength of the cabinet is to be found not only in its es- tablished position as the central feature of the government, but also in the peculiar position which it occupies in that gov- ernment. It is executive in character, in that it controls and guides the legal executive (the king and Privy Council), and- it has among its members the chiefs of the great executive de- partments. At the same time its members sit in the legislature, that is, in parliament, and are responsible to it. Herein lies the difference between the British and the American systems. The members of the president's cabinet in the United States do not sit in Congress ; but every one of the king's ministers must have a seat in one or other of the houses of parliament. Two re- sults follow : (1) these ministers are able in person to present their policies and defend the administration of their depart- ments and (2) they are able to control the party machinery and hold their followers, that is, the majority, in allegiance. 441. The House of Lords. — The House of Lords, which is commonly designated the second chamber, is composed of about 680 members, including royal princes (3), archbishops (2), dukes (19), marquesses (29), earls (121), viscounts (58), bish- ops (24), barons (377), Scottish peers (16), and Irish peers HOUSE OF COMMONS. 467 (28). There are also four judicial life peers, who sit to hear appeals from the common law courts. They are created peers for life, for their judgments are the judgments of the House of Lords sitting in its judicial capacity. At their head is the lord high chancellor, and to their number are added such hereditary peers as have held high judicial office. The lord high chancellor, who is the speaker of the House of Lords, sits on the historic woolsack, a large red cushion stuffed with wool, without arms or back, but with a central back-rest, which has no platform but rests upon the floor of the house, in front of the royal thrones. As the keeper of the great seal, an office now always held by the lord high chancellor, may be a commoner, the woolsack is technically outside the limits of the house, so that when the chancellor is a peer and wishes to take part in debate he must step forward within the precincts of the house and occupy his place as a peer. As speaker he has but few powers : he has nothing to do with debate or the main- tenance of order, the peers never address their remarks to him but to their fellows, and while his advice would be listened to with respect it need not be followed and he has no power to de- cide questions of procedure or to control in any way the con- duct of the house. 442. House of Commons. — The House of Commons con- sists of 707 members, elected, under the conditions laid down by the Reform Act of 1918, by about 21,000,000 voters, of which number more than 8,000,000 are women (§§ 407, 408). The idea that each member should represent a single electoral dis- trict, which was put in practice by the Distribution Act of 1885, has now been discarded, and by the Act of 1918 the old method of representation by boroughs and counties has again been adopted with some modifications. The House of Commons sits for five years, unless in the meantime the prime minister appeals to the country, as he is likely to do, in which case a new election would have to be held. The house must assemble every year for three reasons : first, in order to pass the Army 468 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Bill providing for the maintenance of the standing army, which technically exists only from year to year ; secondly, to renew the Ballot Act, which provides for secret ballot in parliamentary elec- tions and which, for some strange reason, remains in force for one year only ; and thirdly, to vote the annual supply to the crown. ^ The powers of parliament are threefold : 1. Supervisory, the oversight of administration as conducted by ministers and departments. This power is not much exer- cised to-day, but it is still possessed, for parliament can at any time call a minister to account. 2. Inquisitorial, the investigation, through parliamentary committees, of matters of public importance, a frequent activity that often leads to the framing and passing of bills. The re- ports of these committees, when printed, as they usually are, go into the Parliament Blue Books (so called from the color of their covers) and become very valuable sources of information. 3. Legislative, the passing of laws, the most important business with which parliament has to deal, and a function now controlled mainly by the House of Commons. The two most important persons in the House of Commons are the prime minister and the speaker. The greatly increased 1 Originally the king was expected to meet his expenses from his own resources, but in 1660 Charles II gave up all his feudal claims (§ 55) and in 1760 George III gave up nearly all the crown lands to the nation. After the latter date parliament came into control of nearly all the old hereditary revenues of the crown. In return it granted George III a fixed amount for the expenses of himself and his household, known as the ' civil list,' which in 1777 amounted to £900,000. The amount actually paid, however, came to more than this sum, for the extravagances of George III and George IV and the many public charges that were made against the civil list caused huge deficits that had to be met by parliament. Little by little the public charges were assumed by the government and the civil list reduced. Ed- ward VII received £470,000 and George V receives the same every year. Provision for other members of the royal family comes to £146,000 more. These sums seem large, yet it must be remembered that parliament made a very good bargain when it took over the crown lands in exchange for a civil list, for the income from these lands to-day amounts to more than the sum granted the king, £520,000 as over against £470,000. In addition the king receives about £87,000 from the Duchy of Lancaster and the Prince of Wales about £80,000 from the Duchy of Cornwall, the only royal lands now remaining in the hands of the crown. HOUSE OF COMMONS. 469 influence of the prime minister is due largely to the fact that governnaent business, that is, measures which the prime minister and his colleagues originate, is not only given the right of way but is allowed a far greater amount of time than is granted to bills introduced by private members. In this sense the prime minister may be said to control the legislative activity of the House of Commons. The influence of the speaker is due, in chief part, to the control which he exercises over the procedure of the House of Commons. The speaker sits in a gorgeous chair at the end of a narrow but impressive room, high ceilinged and ornate, in which twelve rows of leather-cushioned benches, rising one above another, six to a side, extend facing each other down the length of the room. The plan is that of an English chapel and is modeled after the interior of St. Stephen's Chapel, in which the house sat for 300 years, until the building was burned down in 1834. It is admirably contrived for a two-party system, the govern- ment on one side and the opposition on the other, and is spe- cially suited for comparatively small numbers and informal debate. But it is not so well adapted to conditions as they are to-day, when there are many party groups and large numbers. In considering the business of the House of Commons, one must distinguish between a parliament, a session, and a sitting. A parliament includes a number of sessions, a session, many sit- tings.^ A parliament ends with a dissolution, a session with a prorogation, a sitting with an adjournment. The first and second are acts of the king, on the advice of his ministers, the third, the act of the House of Commons itself. Bills are usually introduced by the government, but certain times in the week are set aside for any business that private members may wish to bring forward. When a bill is intro- duced it is read by a clerk and there is no debate. This con- stitutes the first reading. On a given day it is read a second * The longest session on record lasted from March, 1893, to March, 1894. 470 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. time, and then ensues considerable discussion for and against the principle involved. If the bill passes the second reading, it is taken up in the " committee of the whole house," which is merely the house without the speaker, sitting under a chair- man and governed by different rules of debate and procedure. If the bill is reported favorably out of committee, it passes to its third reading, and at this stage is likely to meet with a good deal of opposition, particularly if amendments have been added. In case the bill passes the third reading, it is sent to the House of Lords and there similarly dealt with. Should a bill originate in the House of Lords the same procedure would be followed in reverse order. When a bill has duly passed both houses, it is sent to the king for his assent, which is to-day a mere formality, sometimes given by lords commissioners who represent the crown, and sometimes by the king himself, though rarely. In either case it is given " in full parliament," that is, in the House of Lords with the Commons present. In the progress of a bill through the houses the votes after the second and third readings or in committee are usually taken by means of a division, a method peculiar to the British parlia- ment. At the end of the debate the speaker or chairman in the House of Commons, or the chancellor in the House of Lords, puts the question and tries to determine from the volume of sound whether the ayes or the noes have it, but frequently without success. If his decision is challenged a division is taken. The members file out of the chamber, passing into a lobby on the right if they wish to vote " aye," and into one on the left if they wish to vote " no." The same procedure is followed in ascertaining the opinion of either house on any measure or motion, and sometimes the divisions are very frequent,^ con- suming a great deal of time, more than does a roll call in an American legislature. After this brief view of the central government and adminis- tration, let us turn to the local system, to discover how far the 1 In 1909 the House of Commons divided 918 times. COUNTIES, DISTRICTS, AND PARISHES. 471 local governments reflect the principles at work in the larger field. 443. Municipalities. — The first of the local systems to be reformed was that of the boroughs or municipalities. In 1833, immediately after the passage of the first Reform Bill, a com- mittee was appointed to investigate the borough governments, and it reported such a bewildering variety of local constitu- tions and such a chaos of inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption that, even though it erred in stressing too much the abuses it found, it did succeed in starthng parliament into action. As a result the famous Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 was passed to remedy the situation. This act and subsequent amendments in all their essential features were embodied in the Municipal Corporations Act of 1882, and the simple rule was laid down that the burgesses, that is, the people of a borough, should have the right to manage their own affairs by means of a local body, properly elected. 444. Counties, Districts, and Parishes. — After the passage of the Act of 1882, followed closely by the Reform Act of 1884, it was evident to all that changes must be made in the govern- ment of the remaining local bodies of the kingdom, and it followed naturally that representative democracy, which had become the basis of both municipal and central government, should become the foundation of parish and county govern- ment as well. There were four great evils in local government as it existed before 1888. First, county government was in the hands of the justices of the peace, — the local gentry or country squires, — who in no way represented the people of the locality ; and parish government was in the hands of local vestries, who formed a veritable oligarchy. Secondly, the areas of local administration were very confusing. There were the counties, the old ecclesiastical parishes, the common law parishes, and the poor law parishes. There was the poor law union, made up of a group of poor law parishes, which did not coincide with the 472 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. county. There were school districts, highway districts, and burial districts, all differing in their boundaries. Thirdly, there was a chaos of organization : different authorities, such as town councils, boards of guardians, highway boards, school boards, lighting inspectors, overseers, and the like ; different dates of elections, different systems of voting, different tenures of office, different qualifications for candidates. Fourthly, there was a chaos of finance, that is, of the way in which local rates or taxes were paid. To bring order out of all this confusion was the work of two great acts of local reform, the acts of 1888 and 1894, the first reforming the government of the counties, the second of the parishes. Their object was to extend to the counties and par- ishes the self-governing powers already conferred on the bor- oughs. By the Act of 1888 the administrative duties of the justices of the peace in the counties were taken away and in- trusted to county councils, composed of members chosen di- rectly by the rate-payers. London (except the City ^) was erected into an administrative county by itself, with its own county council, a very impressive body of 154 members, which has authority over a wide area, including parts of Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey. By the Act of 1894, all parishes (towns or villages) with more than 300 inhabitants were to have a parish council, elected by all qualified inhabitants, and all parishes smaller in size, unless they specially demanded a council, were to be governed through parish meetings made up of as many of the qualified inhabitants as cared to attend. Between the county councils and the parish councils a third council was established for areas known as urban or rural sanitary districts, composed of groups of parishes. These dis- 1 The City of London, within the Bars, an area of about a square mile in extent, is the oldest institution of its kind in England, and is still governed according to its ancient forms. The County of London is 116 square miles in extent, with a radius of about 6 miles from Charing Cross. The City of London has an annual income of £250,000, the County spends £12,000,000 a year. GOVERNMENT OVERSEAS. 473 trict councils are popularly elected and have extensive authority in such matters as highways, sewers, and drains, removal of rubbish, infectious diseases, water supply, and to some extent education and the poor law. With the exception of an hereditary House of Lords and of the City of London, the British institutions of government a're everywhere on a representative and democratic basis. House of Commons, borough councils, county councils, dis- trict councils, and parish councils are all elected by universal suffrage. Class rule has been abolished, as far as the law and the constitution are concerned, and the only quarter in which privilege still lingers is the sphere of local justice, where the magistrates or justices of the peace are still occasionally men without legal training, though no longer drawn, as used to be the case, exclusively from the land -owning classes. 445. Government Overseas. — As we have already seen (§ 412) the British Empire is composed of a variety of parts : the dominions are the Dominion of Canada, the Federal Commonwealth of Australia, the Union of South Africa, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Colony of Newfoundland. Each of these is a state, so large, powerful, progressive, and wealthy as to rival other states of the world and so important as to obtain (with the exception of Newfoundland and the addition of India) independent membership in the League of Nations. Each of these states has almost complete control of its own affairs, and except for a governor-general appointed by the crown is practically supreme within its own borders. The Dominion of Canada is composed of nine provinces : Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, and Sas- katchewan. The governor-general is usually an English peer, once indeed of the royal blood, and though named by the king and sent out from England is, as executive head of the govern- ment, as free from imperial interference as if he had been born and appointed in Canada. He selects his own cabinet, which 474 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. must represent and have the support of the lower house of the Canadian parKament, and he must accept its resignation when- ever it loses the confidence of that house. There is no differ- ence, as in Great Britain, between the cabinet and the ministry, which numbers about twenty. The Dominion parliament, which sits at Ottawa, is made up of two houses — a Senate, nominated for life by the governor-general, and a House of View of Sydney, New South Wales. Commons, which is elected by popular suffrage. The members of both houses are so named or chosen as to give to each prov- ince a proportional share, though in the lower house Quebec is always to have 65 representatives. In each of the nine provinces there is a lieutenant-governor and a legislature, which is a single house in all but Quebec and Nova Scotia, in each of which there are two houses. The Commonwealth of Australia is composed of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, GOVERNMENT OVERSEAS. 475 and Tasmania. These communities differ from the corre- sponding divisions of Canada in that they are not provinces but states, possessing greater independence and authority, for in AustraUa the central government is invested with fewer executive and legislative powers than in Canada. The gov- ernors of these states are appointed directly by the crown, the laws of the states can be vetoed only by their governors and not by the federal governor-general, and each state has its own agent-general in London, in addition to the high com- missioner sent by the commonwealth. In many ways they are similar to the states of the United States, particularly in possessing under the Australian constitution all powers not expressly granted to the federal government. The latter con- sists of a governor-general appointed by the crown, a cabinet, and two houses, one, the Senate, composed of six senators from each state elected by the people, and a House of Repre- sentatives, the members of which are also elected by the peo- ple in proportion to the population of each state. There are local parliaments in each of the states, similarly elected, with extensive powers of legislation. The capital, which is not yet built, is Canberra, destined to be a city like Washington, set apart for federal uses, the corner stone of which was laid by the Prince of Wales in 1920. The Union of South Africa is composed of four provinces. Cape Colony, Natal, Transvaal, and the Orange Free State, none of which has a separate governor or legislature or exercises any legislative powers. In each province is an executive (provincial administrator) with a small executive council, both named by the governor-general, and a provincial council, which can make ordinances but not laws and, under the di- rection of the central government, can control local taxation, agriculture, and education. The provinces of South Africa have no original authority and so are less independent than those of Canada and very much less independent than those of Australia. Even within the narrow limits assigned them they 476 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. can do only what the higher authority allows them to do and their powers can be taken away from them at any time. The higher authority consists of the governor-general, appointed by the crown, who with an executive council sits at Pretoria, and a Senate and House of Assembly which sit at Cape Town. The members of the Senate are partly elected and partly nominated, — a unique feature, — while the members of the Assembly are all elected under a fairly liberal suffrage, from which all blacks are debarred except in the Cape Colony. The Dominion of New Zealand and the Colony of Newfound- land are single communities without provinces, and their gov- ernments in all essential particulars are similar to those prevailing in the other self-governing dominions. Gov- ernor, cabinet, legislative council, and representative assembly are the familiar features. New Zealand allows women to vote and admits into her House of Representatives four deputies from the Maoris, the original inhabitants of the islands. Dominion Agents in England. Each of the self-governing dominions sends to England a dominion agent or high com- missioner, whose position is almost that of a colonial ambassador. These dominion representatives at the seat of empire enter into relations with the British government and with private indi- viduals and firms, have business quarters in London that are more palatial than some of the foreign embassies, show great zeal and energy in encouraging emigration and otherwise push- ing the interests of their respective countries, and receive pre- ferred treatment at all imperial functions and ceremonies. They do a great deal to strengthen the bonds between the mother country and the dominions. 446. India. — The government of India is far too compli- cated for more than a very brief consideration here. Some features of it have already been discussed (§§ 434, 439). The representative of the king-emperor is the viceroy, who with an executive council of six and a legislative council of sixty- THE CROWN COLONIES. 477 eight, the latter partly nominated and partly elected and repre- senting both British and native interests, sits at Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital. The legislative council makes laws for the whole of British India, but it has no part in administering these laws. Administration lies in the hands of the Indian Civil Service, a body of men selected after severe competitive examinations from candidates both in the United Kingdom and in India. These men spend the best years of their lives in the Indian service, and are faithful, efficient, able men. 447. The Crown Colonies. — There are three groups of crown colonies, classed according to their forms of government (§ 398). These groups contain all overseas territories of the Empire, except dominions and protectorates. Those of the colonies that stand highest in the list and form the first group have governors appointed by the crown, a council nominated by the governor, and an assembly elected by the people. This was the form of government possessed by a majority of the British colonies in America before the Revolution, and is en- joyed to-day by Barbadoes, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, each of which has a distinguished historical past.^ In the second class are those with an appointed governor, a council, and a legislative council, either not elected at all or only partly so. In this group are Jamaica, British Guiana, Ceylon, Mauritius, Hong Kong, and Cyprus, with legislatures partly elected, and Trinidad, Tobago, Straits Settlement, and Sierra Leone, where the legislature is not elected but appointed by the gov- ernor. In the third group are colonies which are ruled by a governor or administrator only, such as Gibraltar and St. Helena. All these colonies are under the control of the Colonial Office, at the head of which is the secretary of state for the colonies. 448. Protectorates. — The greatest of the protectorates, Egypt, is apparently on the eve of receiving its independence ^ In this class should probably be placed the island of Malta, which in 1920 was given a measure of responsible government, to go into effect in 1921. For the early history of British rule in Malta, see Lowell, The Government of England, II, 413-416. 478 THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. (§ 434). For thirty-five years (1879-1914) it had been under the control first of Great Britain and France and then (1883) of Great Britain alone. In 1914 the latter power, renouncing the Turkish suzerainty, changed the veiled protectorate into an open one. But four years later, 1920, instead of annexing the kingdom to the British Empire, she proposed to give the Egyptians their independence under certain conditions,^ which when accepted would remove that country for the time being at least from among the lands under British control. The remaining protectorates are in Africa and Asia, and the most important among them are the native states of India, which manage their own affairs but cannot make war or peace. In Africa are Nigeria, Uganda, British East Africa, Nyassaland, Somaliland, etc. Some of these, such as Southern Nigeria, are almost in the second class of the crown colonies, possess- ing legislative and executive councils. Properly speaking, a protectorate is not a part of the British Empire, for in most of them the native rule is upheld, native rights are maintained, and only British subjects resident there come under the authority of the secretary of state for foreign affairs. Wei-Hai-Wei in China is not a protectorate but a portion of Chinese territory leased to Great Britain for a certain number of years. Great Britain has jurisdiction there, but China re- tains full sovereignty over the territory. 449. Conclusion. — From this brief survey of the vari- ous forms of government prevailing in the British Empire it is evident that we have been studying a very remark- able state made up in a very remarkable way. There is no political organization in the world like it, composed as it is of many parts scattered throughout the world, on island and continent, differing enormously in size, race, and degree of civilization, and representing all sorts and conditions of polit- 1 Great Britain proposes to place the control of government entirely in Egyptian hands and not share it herself with the natives, as is the plan provided for in the new Indian government act. CONCLUSION. 479 ical, social, and economic life. The British make no idle boast when they point to the success with which they have met the problems of empire and to the methods whereby they are making it possible for alien races ultimately to govern themselves. That in individual instances they have incurred hostility and aroused discontent is true, but in a far greater number of cases they have won loyalty and enthusiastic sup- port. Britain's great gift to the political science of the world is the idea of popular sovereignty through representative gov- ernment, and her great gift to the political ethics of the world is her idea of justice and liberty. Tyranny and slavery do not flourish within the bounds of the British Empire. It is the identity of these ideas in Great Britain and the United States that place these two powers in the very forefront of modern civilization. BOOKS FOR A SCHOOL LIBRARY Geography. Gardiner, Atlas of English History. Longmans. Shepherd, Historical Atlas. Holt. General Accounts. Gardiner, A Student's History of England to 1919, Longmans. Green, A Short History of the English People to 1914- Harper. Cross, A Shorter History of England and Greater Britain. Mac- millan. Constitutional. Montague, Elements of English Constitutional His- tory. Longmans. Pollard, The Evolution of Parliament. Longmans. Ilbert, Parliament. Holt. Home University Library. Economic. Tickner, A Social and Industrial History of England. Longmans. Cressy, Brief Sketch of Social and Industrial History. Mac- millan. Religions. Wakeman, Introduction to the History of the Church of Eng- land. Macmillan. Colonial. Hawke, The British Empire and Its History. Murray. Hughes, Britain and Greater Britain in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. Curry, British Colonial Policy, 1783-1915. Oxford University Press. Genealogy. George, Genealogical Tables Illustrative of Modern His- tory. Fifth edition. Clarendon Press. Source Books. Kendall, Source-Book of English History. Macmillan. Cheyney, Readings in English History. Ginn. English History Illustrated from Original Sources. Nine vol- umes. Black. English History Source-Books. Seventeen volumes. Bell. 480 INDEX. The references are to sections. Aberdeen, Prime Minister, 370, 375. Acts. See Statutes. Addington, Prime Minister, 351. Admiralty Courts, 193, 439. JElfrith, king of Deira, 16. .ffithelbirht, king of Kent, accepts Christianity, 19, 20 ; establishes first monastery in England, 25 ; power of, 26 ; laws of, 36. iEthelred, king of Wessex, and the Danes, 31, 34. .ffithelred the Redeless, king of England, power of, 53 ; and the Danes, 54 note ; heirs of, 58, 59. .ffithelstan, king of Wessex, 38. Afghanistan, wars in, 385, 388. Africa, colonies in, 287, 304, 378, 385, 388, 393, 398. Agincourt, battle of, 171, 200. Agricola, in Britain, 8 ; wall of, 8 note. Agriculture in England, effect of climate on, 5, 6 ; under Romans, 9 ; Anglo-Saxon, 12, 46-49, 51; and monasteries, 25 ; importance of, 93, 127 ; effects of manorial system on, 151, 152; effects of Black Death, 153 ; changes in, 158, 159 ; enclosures, 184, 185 ; attempts to check enclosures, 192, 196, 213; under Elizabeth, 231, 245 ; in nine- teenth century, 360, 392, 400. Aidan, at Lindisfarne, 21, 28. Aids, feudal, defined, 90 note, 92 ; payment of, to Richard I, 105 ; reg- ulated by Magna Carta, 112; by Edward I, 131 ; revived by Henry VII, 194; by James I, 249; by Charles I, 262 ; abolished by Con- vention, 283. Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 324, 327, 329. Albert, prince consort, 369, 374, 379. Albert, king of Belgium, 416; 430. Alcuin, 25. Alexander I, of Russia, 355. Alfred the Great, and the Danes, 31-35 ; character, 32, 37 ; Guth- rum's Peace, 34 ; work in Wessex, 36 ; death, 36 ; power of, 41, 42 ; house of, 68, 79. Alma, battle of the, 375. America, Cabot in, 196 ; Drake in, 235; Puritan colonies, 242, 250, 261, 276; Dutch and English in, 287 ; Charles II encourages colo- nization in, 292 ; French and Eng- lish in, 304, 315, 316, 324, 327-332 ; policy of ministry toward, 335- 339 ; war against colonies, 340— 342; other colonies in, 378, 398. See also Canada and United States. American Revolution, 340-342. Amiens, Mise of, 124, 125. Amiens, Peace of, 351. Angevins, 85-164. Angles, in Britain, 10, 15, 16; on Continent, 11. See Anglo-Saxons. Anglicans. See Church of England. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 14, 15, 29, 30, 36, 39, 52, 84. Anglo-Saxons, 7 ; conquest of Britain by, 8-18; first home, 11; organ- ization, 12 ; knowledge of Britain, 13; conquest, 15-16 ; converted to Christianity, 19-25 ; attacked by Danes, 26-37 ; institutions of, 41- 52 ; decline of power, 53-63 ; Nor- man conquest, 64-77. 481 482 INDEX. The references are to sections. Anjou, 85, 108. Annates, payment of, abolished, 204, 219. Anne, daughter of James II, 300, 301 ; becomes queen, 313-318. Anne Boleyn, 202-205, 212. Anselm, and William Rufus, 78 ; and Henry I, 79; investiture struggle, 81. Anzacs, 419. Apology of House of Commons to James I, 249, 258. Apprentices, Statute of, 231, 262 note. Aquitaine, 85. Arbitration, in Trent affair, 379 ; era of, begins, 393, 401. Architecture of Cathedrals, 122, 150, 190. Argonne, 430. Argyle, uprising of, in Scotland, 271. Armada, Spanish, 238, 239, 246. Arms, Assize of. See Assize of Arms. Army, Anglo-Saxon, 12 ; under Al- fred, 36 ; and shiremot, 44 ; of Harold, 66,. 67 ; feudal, 70, 72, 77 ; scutage, 92, 93 ; Assize of Arms, 100 ; reforms of Edward I, 131 ; in Hundred Years' War, 149, 171 ; Cromwell's, 271-273, 278 ; depend- ent on Parliament, 301 ; reorgan- ization of, 382, 400, 420, 429. Arthur, king of the Britons, 16 note. Arthur of Brittany, 108. Arthur, son of Henry VII, 195. Asquith, 404, 405, 408, 410 ; 423. Assize, defined, 99 note ; of Claren- don, 99 ; of Northampton, 99 ; of Arms, 100, 131, 149. Atbara, battle of, 394. Athelney, 33. Augsburg, league of, 300, 304. Augustine, in England, 19, 25. Austerlitz, battle of, 354. Australia, discovery of, 343 ; coloni- zation of, 378 ; federation of, 395, 398; 445. Austria, relations of, with England, 324-329, 347, 350, 354, 357, 374, 384, 393 ; in the Great War, 414 ; 415 ; 431 ; 432 note. Austrian. Succession, war of, 324- 327. Bacon, Sir Francis, impeached, 255. Bacon, Roger, inventions of, 120 note. Bseda, 20, 20 note ; writings of, 24, 25, 36. Balaklava, battle of, 375. Balkans in the Great War, 414 ; 420 ; 423; 428; 431. Ball, John, 160. Balliol, John, in Scotland, 135, 137 ; Edward, 145. Balliol College, Oxford, 157. Bank of England, 311. Bannockburn, battle of, 142, 143. Barebone Parliament, 278, 280. Barnet, battle of, 177. Barons, feudal, rise of, 87 ; restrained by Henry II, 89-92, 99, 100 ; re- volt of, 97, 98 ; and Richard I, 106 ; and John, 109-111, 114; resistance to Henry III, 123-128; and Edward I, 131, 133, 139; and Edward II, 143 ; in parliament, 147, 162; and Richard II, 162- 164 ; under Lancastrians, 170, 173 ; Yorkists, 177, 178. Barons' War, 125-129. Batavian Republic, 347, 351. Battle of the Nations, 357. Bayeux Tapestry, 67. Bayonne, 154. Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli), Earl of, 370 ; and the new Conserv- ative party, 380 ; and Second Re- form Bill, 381 ; imperial policy of, 382-383 ; Congress of BerUn, 384 ; defeat of, 385. Becket, Thomas a. Archbishop of Canterbury, 94-96. Bedford, Duke of, and Henry VI, 172. Belgium, 358 ; 415 ; 416 ; 430. Benedictine Rule, 25 note. Benefices, 156. Benefit of clergy, defined, 96 note. Benevolences, of Edward IV, 178, 182 ; Henry YH, 194. Bengal, 331, INDEX. 483 The references are to sections. Berkshire, Alfred and the Danes in, 31. Berlin, Congress of, 384 ; treaty of, a cause of Great War, 414. Bernicia, founded by Angles, 15, 16 ; Christianity in, 21. Bertha, queen of Kent, 19. Berwick, and border troubles, 149. Bible, English translation of, 157 ; Erasmus, 199 ; in English con- demned, 204 ; King James's ver- sion, 250 note. Bill of Rights, 301, 309. Birmingham, growth of, 186, 364, 365, 366. Black Death, the, 152, 153, 154. Black Hole of Calcutta, 331. Black Prince, 149, 154, 155, 158, 171. Blake, Admiral, 276, 277, 279. Blenheim, battle of, 315. Blood-feuds, 49, 77. Bloody Assizes, 296. Bliicher, 358. Board of trade, 293 ; and planta- tions, 312. Boards, of government, 439. Boccaccio, 198 note. Boers, war with, 388, 396, 397. Bohemia, 161 note, 253, 270. Bolingbroke. See Henry IV. Bolingbroke, and the Stuarts, 318, 319. Bolsheviki, 425. Bombay, 327. Bonaparte, Napoleon, 347, 350, 357 ; colonial policy of, 352 ; attempts to invade England, 353 ; continental system of, 355; Peninsular War, 357 ; abdication of, 358. Boniface, 25. Booklands, 48, 49. Book of Common Prayer, first, 212 ; second, 215, 217, 225, 242, 272, 285. Bordeaux, in Hundred Years' War, 154. Border barons, 206. Boroughs, origin, 47 ; life in, 51 ; growth under Danes, 59 ; and John, 111-112; in Simon's parlia- ment, 127, 128; in Model Parlia- ment, 133 ; in House of Commons, 147, 165, 246, 304, 364, 366; re- forms in government of, 367 ; in Reform Bill of 1866, 381 ; of 1884, 387. See Towns. Boston Tea Party, 339. Bos worth Field, battle of, 182, 189. Botha, 396. Bothwell, Earl of, and Mary Stuart, 229. Bouvines, battle of, 110, 111. Boxer uprising in China, 393. Boycott, 386. Boyne, battle of the, 307, 308. Braddock's defeat, 327. Breda, treaty of, 287, 289. Brest-Litovsk, treaty of, 425. Bretigny, peace of, 116, 149, 150, 154, 171. Bright, John, 372, 389. Bristol, 59, 196. British Empire, beginning of, 326 ; after treaty of Paris, 333, 336 ; after American War, 342 ; new policy of, 343 ; problems of, 346 ; at begin- ning of nineteenth century, 359- 360; in Victorian Era, 369-399; new development of, 378, 380, 383 ; Disraeli's policy, 385 ; Australian federation, 395 ; African develop- ment, 396-397; in general, 398, 400 ; classification of possessions, 412 ; size of, 413 ; weaknesses of, in 1914, 413 ; part in the Great War, 416; see the Great War; "man- dataries " gained, 433 ; 434 ; 435 ; government of, 436-449. British Museum, 54 note. Britons, 8 ; in Wales and Cornwall, 8 ; influence of Rome on, 9 ; de- serted by Romans, 14 ; conquered by Saxons, 15-16 ; and Christian- ity, 21 ; become English, 38. Brittany, 36, 98. Bruce, Robert I, 135 ; Robert II, 141, 142, 145 ; David, 146, 149, 150. Brythonic Celts. See Britons. Buckingham (George Villiers), Duke of, 253, 257, 258 ; assassinated, 260. 484 INDEX. The references are to sections. Bulgaria, 384; 414; 420; 431; 432 note. Burgesses. See Burroughs. Burgh-on-Sands, 141. Burghs. See Boroughs. Burghgemot, 47. Burghley (William Cecil), Lord, 224 home and foreign policy, 230-238 and extreme Protestants, 243 death, 244. Burgoyne, Sir John, in America, 340. Burgundy, 177; treaty with, 179, 182; Margaret of, 191. Burke, Edmund, 339 note ; eco- nomic reforms of, 344, 345 ; trial of Warren Hastings, 346 ; and French Revolution, 347. Bute, Lord, 332, 335. Cabinet government, beginning of, 294 ; under William III, 309 ; under George I, 320, 321 ; under George III, 331 ; under Victoria, 370 ; final development, 387 ; 439 ; 440. Cabot, John, 196. Cade, Jack, rebellion of, 174-176. Cadiz, Drake in the harbor of, 238 ; Blake, 279. Caesar, in Britain, 8. Calais, a Staple City, 148, 187 ; in the Hundred Years' War, 149, 150, 154, 171 ; loss of, 220. Calcutta, 327, 331, 376 ; 403. Calvin, 223, 240. Cambridge, Peasant Revolt at, 160 ; sides with royalists, 269 ; Univer- sity of, 121 ; Opened to Non-con- formists, 382. Campbell-Bannerman, 391. Campbells, 306 note. Camperdown, battle of, 347. Campo-Formio, treaty of, 347, 350. Canada, French and English in, 327- 332; becomes English, 333; Do- minion of, 378, 398 ; Houses of Parliament in, 392 ; local govern- ment of, 445. Canning, 363. Canterbury, A\igustine in, 19, 22 ; monastery founded at, 25 ; Arch- bishop of, consecrates kings, 42 ; Lanfranc, 75, 78; Becket, 94-96, 150 ; tomb oi. Black Prince at, 149 ; Laud, 261. Canterbury Tales, 150. Cape Colony, 396, 397. Capitalists, rise of class, 334. Carberry Hill, battle of, 229. Carisbrooke Castle, 273. Carlyle, Thomas, 374. Carnarvon Castle, 134. Carson, Sir Edward, 406, 410. Carthusians, in England, 206. Cartwright, leader of Presbyterians, 242. Casement, Sir Roger, 406. Castile, 116. Castles, feudal, in England, 84, 89, 98, 134, 139, 162, 177, 231, 273. Catherine of Aragon, 195, 200-205, 212. Cathedrals, of Canterbury, 96; of Durham, 20 ; of Salisbury, 121 ; built in the thirteenth century, 122 ; of York, 146. Catholics, Roman. See Church, Roman Catholic. Cavalier Parliament, 285, 286. Cavaliers. See Royalists. Cavendish, Lord Frederick, murder of, 386. Cawnpore, 376. Caxton, 182. Cecil, Robert, 250, 253. Cecil, William. See Burghley. Celtic missionaries in England, 21, 22. Celts, 7 ; conquest of Britain by, 8 ; conquered by Romans, 9 ; becom- ing English, 35; in Ireland, 101, 163. See Britons. " Central Powers," see Germany and Austria. Ceorls, Anglo-Saxon, 18 ; in army, 67. Ceylon, 347, 351. Chamberlain, early office of, 42. Chamberlain, Joseph, 386, 389, 402. Chancellor, office of, under William I, 71 ; under Henry II, 94 ; under Henry V, 170 ; under Henry VII, 193 ; under Charles II, 288 ; under George V, 439. INDEX. 485 The references are to sectiona. Channel Islands, 2, 350. Charing Cross, 138. Charlemagne, 25, 26, 144. Charles I, and the Spanish marriage, 253 ; marries a French princess, 253 ; accession, 256 ; struggle of, with parliament, 257-259 ; per- sonal rule of, 260-263 ; financial measures of, 262 ; and Scotland, 263 ; and Long Parhament, 264- 274; execution of Strafford, 264; attempted arrest of five members, 267; begins Civil War, 268-270; flight of, 273, execution of, 274. Charles II, proclaimed king in Scot- land, 276 ; invited to return, 283 ; character of reign of, 284 ; Cavalier Parliament, 285-286 ; and the Dutch War, 287 ; intrigues with France, 289 ; quarrels with parlia- ment over succession, 290, 291 ; colonial policy of, 292 ; commerce under, 293 ; legislation of, 294. Charles V, of France, 154 ; VI, 172 ; VII, 172. Charles V, Emperor, 201, 205, 211, 217-220. Charles II, of Spain, 314. Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, 325. Charter of Henry I, 79 ; presented to John by Barons, 111 ; see also Magna Carta; Confirmation of the charters. Chartists, 371, 372. Chateau-Thierry, 429 ; 430. Chatham, Earl of, see Pitt. Chaucer, 150, 156 note, 182. Cherbourg, 149. Chester, battle of, 16; growth of, 59. China, route to, 120 note ; trade with, 376, 377 ; Boxer uprising in, 393 ; British lease in, 448. Chippenham, Danes at, 33. Christianity, 11 ; introduced into England, 19-25 ; in Normandy, 64 ; see also Church. Church, Celtic, 21-23. Church courts, 75, 76, 87; in Con- stitutions of Clarendon, 95 ; and the Lollards, 167 ; and the divorce of Henry VIII, 202 ; at Ehzabeth's accession, 223. Church, Roman, in Kent, 19 ; in Northumbria and Wessex, 20 ; con- flict of, with Ionian church, 22-23 ; organization of, 24 ; early influence of, 25 ; under Alfred the Great, 36 ; under Dunstan, 40 ; feudal power of, 63 ; and William I, 65, 75-77 ; and Henry I, 81 ; and Stephen, 87 ; and Henry II, 94-96 ; quarrel of, with John, 109 ; in Magna Carta, 112; under Henry III, 119-122; under Edward I, 131 ; represented in parliament, 133 ; quarrel with Edward I, 138 ; decline in medi- aeval power of, 144, 158 ; under Edward III, 151 ; Wiclif and the Lollards, 157, 161 ; under Richard II, 162 ; under Henry IV, 165, 167 ; under Henry VII, 190 ; and the Renaissance, 198 ; and Henry VIII, 199, 203; English church removed from jurisdiction of, 204. Church, Roman Catholic, and Eliza- beth, 222-225 ; plots of, 232, 251 ; in Ireland, 276, 307, 349; under Charles II, 289, 290; under James II, 297-299; members of, barred from English crown, 301 ; Tolera- tion Act, 303 ; in Ireland, 307, 349 ; political emancipation of members of, 351, 363 ; members of, admitted to Oxford and Cambridge, 382. Church of England, 204-207, 211; under Edward VI, 212, 215 ; under Mary, 217-218; under Elizabeth, 225, 233, 242 ; and extreme protes- tants, 243, 246, 250 ; Laud's poHcy, 261 ; in Long Parliament, f^65-268 ; in the Convention, 283 ; estab- lished by the Cavalier Parliament, 285 ; Test Act, 290, 297 ; Declara- tion of Indulgence, 298 ; effects on, of Revolution of 1688, 299, 302- 304 ; under Anne, 313 ; dises- tablished in Wales, 405. Churchill, see Marlborough. Cistercians, come to England, 105. Civil list, 309, 344. 486 INDEX. The references are to sections. Civil War, causes of, 268 ; parties, 269 ; begins, 270 ; ends, 273. Civil War, American, 379. Civil Wars. See Stephen; Barons' War; Roses, Wars of. Clarence, Duke of, 163. Clarendon, Assize of. See Assize of Clarendon. Clarendon, Constitutions of. See Constitutions of Clarendon. Clarendon (Edward Hyde), Earl of, 285, 286, 287 ; fall of, 288. Clarendon Code, the, 285, 290. Claudius, in Britain, 8. Claverhouse. See Dundee. Clerks, 94, 95. Clemenceau, 428; 432. Climate, effect of, on English history, 5 ; on character of Anglo-Saxons, 12. Clive, in India, 331. Cluny, reforms of, 40. Cnut, king of England, 54 ; attitude of, toward England, 55 ; great earl- doms of, 56 ; government and law of, 57 ; and foreign relations, 58 ; succession to, 59. Coalitions of European powers, First, 347; Second, 350; Third, 354; Fourth, 357. Coalition Cabinet during Great War, 408. Cobden, Richard, 372. Coinage, debased by Henry VIII, 210; by Edward VI, 215; im- proved, 231, 311. Colchester, seized, 273. Colenso, 396. Colet, John, 199. Colman, Celtic monk, 23. Colonial Policy. See Colonies. Colonies, importance of English, 1, 4 ; beginning under Henry VIII, 196 ; under Elizabeth, 245 ; Virginia, 252 ; in Ireland, 276 ; in West In- dies, 279 ; War over Dutch, in Africa and America, 287 ; under Charles II, 292, 293; conflict of English and French, 304 ; encour- aged by parliament, 312 ; after treaty of Utrecht, 314; in Wal- pole's ■ ministry, 321 ; King George's War, 324 ; growth of, 326 ; rivalry with France, 327 ; Seven Years' War, 328-333 ; policy of England toward, 336-339 ; War of American, for independence, 339-342 ; new policy toward^ 343 ; French, 352 ; slavery in, abolished, 368 ; problem of, 378 ; of Germany and France, 393 ; in Australia, 395 ; in South Africa, 396-397 ; policy in general toward, 398, 400 ; in the Great War, 417 ; 419 ; 427 ; over- seas government, 445 ; of the Crown, 447. Columba, St., 21, 22. Columbus, 196. Commerce. See Trade and Com- merce. Common law, 99, 100, 193. Commons, House of, first step toward, 128 ; second step, 133 ; third, 147 ; under Richard II, 155; powers of, increased, 171 ; and taxation, 193 ; journals of, 212; citizen class in, 246 ; Apology of, 249 ; Petition of Right, 258, 259; impeachment" of Strafford by, 264 ; Charles I enters, 267; and Civil War, 269-275; position after Charles II, 294 ; under William III, 309 ; under George I, 320 ; and power of public opinion, 335; debates of, public, 344; and reform, 364-366; and party government, 370 ; and Sec- ond Reform Bill, 381 ; Irish mem- bers of, 386 ; reformed, 400, 404 ; 407 ; 442. See also Parliament. Commonwealth, period of the, 275- 278. Compurgation, 49, 50, 99. Concord, battle of, 340. Confirmation of the charters, 139, 146. Congress of Berlin, 384 ; 414. Conscription bill, 420 ; 429. Conservatives, old Whig party, 367 ; position of, under Victoria, 370, 372; new, 380; and Second Re- form Bill, 382 ; in power, 382-385, 390 ; in 1900, 392 ; later, 404. INDEX. 487 The references are to sections. Constantinople, 375. Constitution of England, taking shape, 131, 170, 248, 258 ; in Long Parliament, 264 ; CromweU's changes in, 278, 280 ; restored to monarchy, 282, 284 ; advance under Charles II, 294; in Bill of Rights, 301 ; advance under Wil- liam III, 309 ; under Walpole's ministry, 321 ; George III, 331 ; reforms in, 359-363 ; government by parties, 370 ; established, 400 ; at present, 402 ; 436-449. Constitutions of Clarendon, 95. Continent, influence of, on Britain, 3, 9, 220, 285. Convention, the; of 1659, 283, 285; of 1689, 300, 301, 309. Conway Castle, 163. Copenhagen, battle of, 350. Copyhold, 184, 366. Cork, submits to William III, 307. Corn laws, 179, 362 ; made less rigid, 363 ; repealed, 372. Cornwall, 6 ; Britons in, 8, 16 ; Gav- eston, earl of, 143 ; elections in, 364. Cornwallis, 341. Coroner, 99, 112, 127. Corporation Act, 285. Council, Privy, 155, 170, 178 ; power of, increases, 192, 193 ; and Somer- set, 214; and Charles I, 262. See also Star Chamber. Now honorary office, 438. Council of the King, 71, 73, 77 ; un- der Henry I, 82 ; under John, 112 ; development of, 123, 193. Council of the North, 206, 264. Council of Trent, 223. Council of Wales, 209, 264. Counties, administration of, re- formed, 390 ; 444. See Shires. Court of Chancery, 132, 193. Court of Common Pleas, 132, 193. Court of Exchequer, 82, 90, 127, 132, 193, 262 ; 439. Court of High Commission, 262, 264. Court of Requests, 193. Courts, Anglo-Saxon, 39, 41 ; of the shire, 44 ; of the hundred, 45, 46 ; of the burgh, 47 ; work of, 50 ; un- der Edward the Confessor, 63 ; un- der William I, 72-73, 77; church courts, 75 ; royal courts, 82, 90 ; local courts under Henry II, 91 ; Constitutions of Clarendon, 95, 99 ; in Magna Carta, 112 ; under Henry 111, 127; under Edward I, 131, 132; appeals of, to Pope, 162; under Henry VII, 193 ; reformed, 400. See also Hundred court; Shire court; Curia Regis; Star Chamber. Covenanters of Scotland, 263, 306. Craft gilds. See Gilds, craft. Cranmer, Thomas, 204, 212, 215, 217, 219 note. Crecy, battle of, 149, 150, 153, 171, 200. Crimean War, 375. Cromwell, Oliver, 265, 266, 270 ; and the army, 271-272 ; in Wales, 273 ; in Ireland and Scotland, 276, 317 ; and commerce, 277 ; Proctector, 278-280 ; place in history, 281 ; treatment of, by Convention, 283. Cromwell, Richard, 282. Cromwell, Thomas, 193 ; policj^ of, 203-207 ; fall of, 208. Crosses erected in England ; St. Martin's, at lona, 21 ; Charing, in London, 138 ; Mucheney, 139. Crown Colonies, 447. Crusade, first, 80, 104 ; second, 104 ; third, 103, 104; last, 129, 144. Cuba, 332, 333. Culloden, battle of, 325. Cumberland, 206. Curia Regis (king's court), 82, 90, 112, 132. Customs duties, 310, 321. See also Tonnage and poundage. Cuthbert, St., 21, 28. Cyprus, 384. Dalhousie, 376. Danegeld, origin of, 43 ; paid by ^thelred, 54; levied by William I, 73 ; under Henry II, 90, 100. Danelaw, 34, 57. Danes, 7 ; in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 14 ; and the rise of Wessex, 26-35 ; 488 INDEX. The references are to sections. first invasions, 27-29 ; settlement, 30 ; fighting in Wessex, 31 ; and Alfred, 33; treaty with, 34; re- sults of invasions, 35 ; under Eadgar, 39, 46, 47; continued attacks of, 53 ; conquest, 54-59 ; under Harold, 61. Dante, 198 note. Dardanelles Expedition, 419. Darnley, 229. Dauphin of France, 171 note. David of Scotland, 84. Davison, Sir Francis, 237. Declaration of Independence. See Independence, Declaration of. Declaration of Indulgence. See In- dulgence, Declaration of. Declaration of Right, 301. Defoe, Daniel, 309. Deira, founded by Angles, 15, 16; Christianity in, 21. Delhi, 376, 383, 401, 403. Democracy, in towns, 367. Denmark, 11, 28; Cnut and, 55-59 ; commercial treaty with, 179, 277 ; and arbitration, 393. Despensers, 143. Devon, Britons in, 16, 35. De Wet, 396. Dickens, Charles, 374. Diet of Worms, 201. Dilke, Sir Charles, 386. Disraeli, Benjamin. See Beacons- field, Earl of. Dissenters. See Non-conformists. Districts, reform of 1894, 444. Divine Right of Kings, doctrine of, 247, 302, 323. Domesday Book, 73, 74, 131. Dominicans, come to England, 120. Dover, secret treaty of, 289. Drake, Francis, 235, 237, 238, 279. Dryhurgh Abbey, 206. Dryden, John, 309. Dublin, 276, 307. Dudley, Guildford, and Lady Jane Grey, 216, 218. Dunbar, battle of, 276. Dundee, Claverhouse of, 306. Dunkirk, 286, 288, 289. Dunstan, 39 ; reforms of, 40, 75. Dupleix, in India, 327, 331. Duquesne, 327, 331. Durbar in Delhi, 401 ; 403. Durham, bishop of, 96, 98 ; cathedral of, 20 ; represented in parliament, 364 note. Eadgar, king of Wessex, 38-41, 45, 47, 53 ; law of, chosen by Cnut, 57. Eadmund, king of Wessex, 38. Eadred, king of Wessex, 38. Eadward the Elder, king of Wessex, 38. Eadward the Martyr, king of Eng- land, 53. Eadwine, of Mercia, 61, 66. Eadwine, Idng of Northumbria, 20, 21, 26. Ealdormen, 39, 41, 43, 44, 53. Earldoms, of Cnut, 56, 60 ; changes under Harold, 61, 62; growth in power of, 62, 65 ; and William I, 68, 70, 72. See Barons. . East Anglia, 16, 18; Christianity in, 20 ; under Mercia, 26 ; Danes in, 30, 34 ; becomes English, 38 ; gov- ernment of, 39 ; yields to Danes, 54 ; under Cnut, 56 ; and Eadwine, 61, 62. East India Company, 252, 312, 331, 346, 376, 377. Eastern Empire, the, 104. Edgar, chosen king, 68. Edgehill, battle of, 270. Edict of Nantes, revoked, 297. Edinburgh, 23 ; treaty of, 227, 228. Edington, battle of, 33. Edmund Ironside, 54, 68. Education, monasteries and, 25 ; Alfred and, 32, 36 ; effect of Danish invasion on, 35 ; Dunstan, 40 ; and the friars, 121 ; and Colet, 199 ; Pitt's reforms, 345 ; and the re- forms of the nineteenth century, 382, 400, 440. Edward the Confessor, chosen king, 59 ; rule of, 60, 63 ; succession, 65 ; compared to Wilham I, 71 ; law of, preserved, 72, 79, 83. Edward I, 112; marriage of, 116; aids father, 125 ; defeats Simon at INDEX. 489 The references are to sections. Evesham, 129 ; king, 130-141 ; character of, 130 ; reforms of, 131- 132, 139 ; parliament of, 133 ; and Wales, 134; and Scotland, 135, 137, 141 ; quarrel of, with France, 136, 140 ; quarrel of, with Pope, 138; death of, 142; Conway castle built by, 163. Edward II, birth of, in Wales, 134 ; and the Scots, 142 ; misgovernment of, 143 ; deposition of, 143. Edward III, accession of, 143 ; trouble with Scotland, 145 ; with France, 146 ; and parliament, 147, 155- 157 ; interest of, in trade and com- merce, 148 ; and Hundred Years' War, 146, 149, 154 ; position of, in 1360, 150; Poor Laws of, 153; death of, 158 ; successors to, in Wars of the Roses, 176. Edward IV, proclaimed king, 176 ; struggle to maintain crown, 177 ; as king, 178 ; interested in indus- try and commerce, 179 ; character and death of, 180. Edward V, 180; death of, 181. Edward VI, betrothed to Mary of Scotland, 209 ; reign of, under Pro- tectorship of Somerset, 212-214 ; of Warwick, 215; death of, 216. Edward VII, 401 ; foreign relations in reign of, 402. Egbert, king of Wessex, 26, 27. Egypt, France and England in, 350, 351 ; India and, 383 ; troubles in, 388 ; Great Britain in, 394 ; 423 ; after the War, 433 ; 434 ; Protec- torate, 448. Elba, Napoleon. at, 358. Eleanor, wife of Henry II, 85, 98, 109. Eleanor, wife of Edward I, 138. Elections, to parliament, freedom of, under Henry V, 170 ; under Henry VI, 174 ; under Henry VIII, 193 ; under Edward VI, 212 ; and the Apology of the House of Com- mons, 249 ; and the Bill of Rights, 301 ; in the Septennial Act, 320 ; bribery at, 335 ; reform in, 364- 366, 387, 400, 405, 407, 408, 409. Eliot, Sir John, 259. Elizabeth, birth of, 204; succession of, arranged, 212 ; treatment of, by Mary, 218 ; proclaimed queen, 221 ; character of, 222 ; difficult position of, abroad, 222, 223 ; po- sition at home, 224 ; religious set- tlement, 225 ; foreign relations, 229, 234 ; and Scotland, 227-229, 237 ; question of marriage of, 230 ; prosperity of England under, 231 ; plots against, 232, 236 ; and par- liament, 233 ; and Spanish Armada, 238, 239 ; and Puritans, 240-243 ; last years of reign of, 244 ; the age of, 245. Emma, marries Malcolm II of Scot- land, 59. Emma of Normandy, mother of Ed- ward the Confessor, 59. Enclosures, beginning of, 185 ; at- tempts to check, 196 ; and Rett's uprising, 213 ; attitude of Warwick toward, 215; in days of Elizabeth, 231, 245. Enniskillen, siege of, 307. Entails, statute of, 131. Entente cordiale, 402. Eorls, Anglo-Saxon, 18. Erasmus, Desiderius, 199. Essex, 39, 160 ; rebellions in, 273. Essex, Earl of, and Queen Elizabeth, 244 ; appointed leader of troops, 268. Eton, 382 note. Eugene, Prince, 315. Eustice, son of Stephen, 86. Evesham, battle of, 129. Exchequer, Court of. See Court of Exchequer. Excise, 310. Excise BiU, 321, 322, 335. Exclusion Bill, 291. Factory legislation, need of, 360-361 ; beginning of, 368 ; later, 392, 400. Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 270, 271, 273. Falkirk, battle of, 141. Falstaff, 168. Family institutions, of Anglo-Saxons, 12, 17-18, 45, 48, 49, 50 ; influence of Norman Conquest on, 77. 490 INDEX. The references are to sections. Fawkes, Guy, 257. Fealty, oath of, 63, 69. Ferdinand, of Spain, 195, 200. Feudalism, under Anglo-Saxons, 63 ; in Normandy, 64, 65, 67 ; land sys- tem of, introduced by William I, 69, 70-77; at its height, 77-87; under William II, 78 ; under Stephen, 87 ; struggle of monarchy with, 88-1 14 ; and Angevins, 88 ; effect of scutage on, 92, 93 ; struggle of feudal lords against Henry II, 97-98, 102 ; weakened by Henry II, 99, 100 ; relations of France and England, 108 ; John's struggle with, 111; in Magna Carta, 112; and Edward I, 131, 133 ; and Scotland, 135, 137 ; beginning of end of, 144 ; end of, 165-187 ; under Henry IV, 165; ^ead, as political influence, 183 ; is of, revived by James I, 249 ; Charles I, 262, 264 ; abol- ished, .^-83. Fief, defined, 90. Finisterre, battle of Cape, 353. Fisher, John, bishop of Rochester, 205. Five Mile Act, 285. Flanders, beginning of commerce with, 59, 65 ; and Edward I, 136, 140; trade with, 148, 174, 191, 231 ; war of, with Spain, 234, 238 ; William III in, 308, 315 ; in the Great War, 416, 417, 427, 430. Flodden Field, 200. Florida, 333, 342. Foch, General Ferdinand, in com- mand of Allied Armies, 429 ; 430. Folkland, 48, 49. Folk-laws, 48. Folkmot, 17, 41. Foreign Office, the, 439. See the Cabinet. Forests, royal, 73, 118, 262, 264. Fotheringay Castle, 237. Fox, Charles James, 344, 345, 347. France, Celts in, 8 ; commerce of England with, 59 ; Normandy, 64- 65 ; Louis VI, 80 ; and the Ange- vins, 85, 88, 90 ; and Henry II, 96, 98, 102 ; and Richard I, 103, 106 ; and John, 108, 110, 113; and Henry III, 116; and Edward I, 130, 133, 136, 140, 141; develop- ment of French monarchy, 144; and Edward III, 146 ; trade with, 148; Hundred Years' War, 149, 150, 168, 170, 171, 172; influence of, on Richard II, 162 ; and Henry VII, 195; and Henry VIII, 197, 200, 201, 209, 211 ; and Mary Queen of Scots, 214; regains Calais, 220; and EUzabeth, 223, 226-228, 231, 234; alliance of England with, 253, 255, 257 ; and England under Cromwell, 279 ; in- fluence of, on English life after the Restoration, 285 ; power of Louis XIV, 287 ; intrigues of Charles II with, 290 ; James II flees to, 300 ; war of, with England, 303 ; and William III, 305, 307 ; battle of La Hogue, 308 ; refugees of, in Eng- land, 312; Marlborough in, 313- 316 ; and War of the Austrian Suc- cession, 324 ; Charles Edward in, 325 ; colonial rivalry of, with Eng- land, 327 ; Seven Years' War, 328- 332 ; treaty of Paris, 333 ; joins American colonies, 341-342 ; treaty of, with England, 345 ; Revolution in, 347, 348 ; and Ireland, 349 ; war with, 350, 351 ; and colonies, 352 ; war renewed, 353 ; Crimean War, 375 ; and Egypt, 388 ; colonies of, 393, 394; the Entente with Eng- land, 402 ; the War, 414-416; 418- 422; 423; 427-433. Franchise, 131 ; in 1688, 302 ; reform of, in 1832, 365-366 ; in 1867, 381 ; in 1884, 387 ; in 1912, 405 ; in 1918, 407 ; extension of, demanded by Chartists, 361 ; for women, 405, 407. Francis I, of France, 201, 209, 211; II, 214, 226. Franciscans, come to England, 120. Franks, 64. Frederick Barbarossa, 96, 104, 105. Frederick the Great, 324, 328, 329, 332. Freedom of speech, 254, 301. INDEX. 491 The references are to sections. Free Trade, 370, 372, 374, 378. French and Indian War, 328-332. French, Sir John, 416; 420. French Revolution of 1789, 347, 348 ; of 1830, 364, 365 ; of 1848, 374. Friars, coining of, 120-121 ; influence of, 156, 157, 160; and Lollards, 167 ; Carthusians and Henry VIII, 205. Frobisher, Martin, 238, 245. Gaelic Celts, 8 ; in Ireland and Scot- land, 8 ; invasions of, 14 ; con- verted by St. Patrick, 21 ; and Henry II, 101. Gag laws, 362. Gardiner, Bishop, 217, 219. Garter, Order of the, 150, 224, 230. Gascony, 116, 123, 140, 146, 149, 196. Gaunt, John of, 154, 155, 158, 160, 163, 171, 189. Gaveston, Pierre, 143. Geoffrey of Anjou, 85. Geoffrey, son of Henry II, 108. Geography of England, 1-6. George I, succession of, 318-319 ; in- fluence of, 320 ; death of, 322. George II, accession, 322 ; death, 331. George III, accession of, 331 ; policy of, 331 ; dismisses Pitt, 332 ; recalls Pitt, 334; personal rule of, 338- 342; opposes Tories and "old whigs," 344 ; and French Revolu- tion, 348 ; opposes Roman Catholic emancipation, 349, 351 ; gives up title " King of France," 321 ; after 1815, 362; death of, 363. George IV, rules as regent, 362 ; as king, 363-365. George V, 403. George of Denmark, 313. George, D. Lloyd, 404; 408; 409; 410; 423; 424; 428; 432. Germany, Anglo-Saxons in, 11 ; com- merce with, 59 ; Richard's cap- tivity in, 103, 105 ; battle of Bou- vines, 110; and Edward I, 136; and Henry VII, 195 ; and Henrv VIII, 197, 200, 201; Luther in, 223; and Elizabeth, 226; and James I, 253-255; and War of Spanish Succession, 314; wars of, 374 ; and arbitration, 393 ; atti- tude toward England, 402 ; in the Great War, 413-433. Ghent, peace of, 356. Gibraltar, 315, 316, 350. Gilds, merchant, 148; craft, 186, 187, 231. Gladstone, ministries of, 370 note; leaves Conservatives, 372 ; leader of new Liberals, 380 ; attitude of, toward Civil War in America, 379 ; first reform ministry of, 381, 382 ; foreign policy of, 383 ; second min- istry of, 386 ; and Reform Bill of 1884, 387 ; and Indian affairs, 388 ; and Home Rale, 389, 391. Glastonbury Abbey, 40. Glencoe, massacre of, 306 note. Gloucester, Henry III, crowned at, 113. Godwine, Earl, 60. Gordon, General, in Khart^ ^a, 388. Gothic architecture, 122 note. Government, development of, in England, 1 ; Roman, in England, 9 ; Alfred's, 36, 38 ; Eadgar's, 39, 41 ; position of king, 42 ; of witan, 43 ; local government, 44-46 ; Cnut's, 56-57 ; of feudal system, 63 ; of William I, 70-77 ; of Henry I, 82 ; of Henry II, 89-93, 90-100 ; and Magna Carta, 112, 114; of Henry III, 123, 124 ; of Edward I, 144 ; taking shape, 170 ; influence of Henry VII on, 192 ; beginning of parliamentary, 248 ; of Cromwell, 280 ; changes in, 294, 301, 302, 321 ; by parties, 370, 387, 400, 436-449. Grand Remonstrance, the, 265, 266. Grasmere, 6. Great Britain, defined, 2, 317. Great Council, 71, 73, 77 ; under Henry I, 82; under John, 112; becomes Parliament, 123. Greece, 423; enters the War, 428; 431. Grenville, Lord, 335-337. Grey, Earl, 365. Grosseteste, Robert, bishop of Lincoln, 120, 123. 492 INDEX. The references are to sections. Guiana, 255, 393. Guise, House of, 209, 220, 223, 226. Gunpowder Plot, 251. Guthrum, peace of, 34. Habeas Corpus Act, 294 ; suspended, 348. Hadrian, in Britain, 8 ; wall of, 8. Hague Tribunal, the, 393. Haig, Sir Douglas, 420 ; 427. Hales Case, 297. Hampden, John, 262, 267, 268 ; dies, 270. Hampton Court, 250 note, 273. Hanover, separation of, from English Crown, 369. Hanoverians, title to English throne, 301, 309; succession of, 318, 320; support of, 321, 323. Hanseatic League, 179 note, 187. Harold, son of Cnut, 59. Harold, son of Godwine, as Earl, 60 ; as king, 61 ; and William of Nor- mandy, 65 ; defeat of, at Stamford Bridge, 66 ; at Hastings, 67. Harold Hardrada, 66. Harthacanute, 59. Hastings, battle of, 67. Hastings, Warren, 346. Hawkins, Sir John, 235, 238. Health laws, 367, 374. Hengist, 14. Henrietta Maria, 253, 257, 267. Henry, son of James I, 250, 253. Henry, son of Henry II, 98, 102, 108. Henry I, 78 ; crowned, 79 ; charter of, 79 ; conquers Normandy, 80 ; and chtnch, 81 ; administration of, 82 ; death of, 83. Henry II, fiefs of, 85, 130 ; accession of, 86 ; character of, 88 ; adminis- tration under, 89-93; 99-100; quarrel of, with Becket, 94-96 ; feudal reaction against, 97-98 ; and Ireland, 101 ; death of, 102, 103 ; system of, 106, 131. Henry III, accession of, 113; char- acter of, 115; marriage connec- tions of, 116; government of, 117- 119 ; and the barons, 123-129. Henry IV, as Bolingbroke, 163 ; character of, 165 ; conspiracies against, 166 ; the church under, 167 ; death of, 168. Henry V, character of, 168 ; and Lol- lards, 169 ; parliament under, 170 ; continues Hundred Years' War, 171 ; death of, 172. Henry VI, ends Hundred Years' War, 172; misrule of, 173-174; Wars of Roses, 175-176 ; restored to throne, 177; death of, 177, 181. Henry VII, parliamentary king, 182 ; character and claims of, 189-190 ; conspiracies against, 191 ; govern- ment of, 192-193 ; methods of rais- ing money, 194 ; foreign relations of, 195 ; agriculture, commerce, and colonization under, 196 ; death of, 197 ; Elizabeth compared with, 222. Henry VIII, marries Catherine of Aragon, 195 ; accession of, 197 ; and Oxford Reformers, 199 ; for- eign relations of, 200, 201 ; divorce question, 202, 203 ; separation from Rome, 204 ; persecutions of, 205, 206 ; suppression of monasteries, 207 ; fall of Cromwell, 208 ; rela- tions with Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, 209 ; revenues of, 210 ; in- fluence of, 211 ; succession of, 212. Henry VI, of Germany, 105. Hereford, bishop of, 118; knight of, 155. Hide, of land, 18, 45, 48 ; in Domes- day Book, 74. Highlanders. See Scotland. Hindenburg line, 427, 430. Hohenlinden, 350. Holbein, court painter of Henry VIII, 197, 199, 209. Holland. See Netherlands. Holy League, the, 200. Holy Roman Empire, 144. Homage, 63. Home Office, the, 439. Home Rule Question, 373, 389, 390 ; second bill for, 391 ; recent trouble over, 404, 405. Hongkong, 377. INDEX. 493 The references are to sections. Hooper, Bishop, 219 note. Horsa, 14. Hotspur, 166. House of Lords. See Lords. Hubert de Burgh, justiciar under Henry III, 117, 118. Hudson Bay Territory, 316. Huguenots, in England, 231, 297. Humber, the, 35. Humble Petition a,nd Advice, the 280. Hundred, 39; origin, 41, 42, 45; courts of, 46, 50; in Domesday Book, 74 ; in Assize of Clarendon, 99; Hundred Rolls, 131. Hundred courts, 42, 45, 46, 50 ; con- trolled by lords, 63 ; preserved un- der William I, 72, 73. Hundred Rolls, 131. Hundred Years' War, 146, 149 ; re- newed, 171 ; ended, 172. Hus, John, 161 note. Huscarls, 66, 67. Huskisson, William, 363. Hyde, Edward. See Clarendon, Earl of. Impeachment, by Sir Francis Bacon, 255 ; of Buckingham, 2'57, 258 ; of Strafford, 264 ; of Clarendon, 288 ; of Boling broke, 319 ; of Hastings, 346. Independence, Declaration of, of American Colonies, 340, 343. Independents, views of, 242 ; perse- cution of, 243 ; flight to America, 243 ; attitude of Anglicans toward, 246 ; in Long Parliament, 265 ; sep- aration from Presbyterians, 270; dominance of, in army, 272 ; in Rump Parliament, 273; in Bare- bone's Parliament, 278 ; in parlia- ment of 1654, 280 ; and Declaration of Indulgence, 298. India, trade with, 252, 277 ; colonies in, 304, 327; Seven Years' War, 331 ; and treaty of Paris, 333 ; Fox and, 344 ; Pitt and, 346 ; threatened by Napoleon, 350, 352 ; in Crimean War, 375 ; mutiny in, 376 ; Empire of, 383 ; recent administration of, [ 398; durbar, 401,403; in the War, 433,434; India office, 439 ; present administration, 446. Indulgence, Declaration of, 298. Industry, development of, in England, 1, 3, 6; under Romans, 9; under Alfred, 36 ; under Cnut, 59 ; effect of Crusades on, 104 ; growth of, in fourteenth century, 148 ; effect of Black Death on, 153 ; under Richard II, 158, 162, 164; Cade's Rebellion, 174 ; under Edward IV, 178, 179; revolution in fifteenth century, 184, 186; under Henry VII, 196 ; under Henry VIII, 210 ; and Edward VI, 213 ; under Eliza- beth, 231, 245; under Charles I, 262; growth of, in seventeenth century, 312 ; under Walpole's min- istry, 321 ; in eighteenth century 333 ; revolution in, 351, 360, 361 364, 370, 372 ; exhibition of, 374 and American. Civil War, 379 reforms in, 380, 381-383, 387, 392 condition of, in Victorian Era, 400. Inkerman, 375. Innocent III, 109, 113, 119, 144. Inquest, introduction of, by Nor- mans, 74; first application of, to matters of justice, 99, 100. Instrument of Government, 278-280. Intolerable Acts, 339. Investiture struggle, of Henry I, 81. lona, missionaries in, 21, 22; Danes in, 21 ; graves of Scottish kings at, 142. Ireland, 2 ; climate, 5 ; surface, 6 ; mineral ore, 6 note ; Celts in, 8 ; St. Patrick in, 21 ; Danes in, 29 ; and Alfred, 36 ; Henry II attempts conquest of, 101, 107; Richard II in, 163 ; at time of Henry VII, 191 note ; under Henry VIII, 205, 208, 211 ; under Elizabeth, 223 ; Span- ish and Jesuits in, 234 ; during last years of Elizabeth, 244 ; policy of " Thorough " in, 261 ; under Charles I, 262 note ; in revolt, 276 ; under Cromwell, 279 ; uprisings in, under William III, 306, 307 ; gov- ernment of, under Anne, 317; 494 INDEX. The references are to sections. Ktt'spolicy toward, 345; union of, with England, 349, 351 ; Peel's policy toward, 363 ; representation of, in parliament, 366, 387 ; Home Rule in, 373, 382, 385, 389, 391 ; reforms in land system, 390 ; other reforms for, 392, 405, 406, 410. Irish National Land League, 386. Irish Nationalist party, 404, 406, 408. Isabel of Angouleme, 108. Isabella of Spain, 195. Italy, 198-200, 315, 350, 374, 393 ; in the [Great War, 415, 422, 423, 429, 431. Itinerant justices, under Henry II, 91, 99, 100 ; in Magna Carta, 112 ; under Henry III, 127 ; under Ed- ward I, 131. Jacobites, definition of, 308 ; up- rising of (1715), 319; decline of, 323; uprising (1745), 325. James I (VI of Scotland), birth of, 229 ; succession of, 247 ; and par- liament, 249, 254; attitude to Non-conformists, 250 ; and Roman Catholics, 250, 251 ; attitude toward commerce and colonization, 252 ; foreign relations of, 253 ; results of reign, 255 ; union of Eng- land and Scotland under, 317. James II, as Duke of York, 287, 292 ; Test Act, 290 ; Exclusion Bill, 291 ; accession of, 295 ; character of, 295 ; uprisings against, 296 ; Ro- man Catholic policy of, 297, 298 ; and Revolution of 1688, 299 ; flees from England, 300 ; rising of High- landers for, 306 ; loses battle of the Boyne, 307 ; Jacobite party sup- ports, 308. James IV of Scotland, 195, 200, 209. James V of Scotland, 209, 225. James Stuart, the Old Pretender, 318, 319, 323. Jameson raid, the, 317. Jamestown, 252. Japan, 377 ; understanding with Eng- land, 402. Jarrow, monastery of, 20 note, 25. Jeffreys, Chief Justice, 296. Jellicoe, Admiral, 422. Jenkins's Ear, War of, 322, 335. Jesuits, in England, 223, 234, 236. Jews, 100 note ; under Henry III, 118; denied political rights, 363. Joan of Arc, 172. Joffre, commander of French and English forces, 416. John, King, revolts against father, 102 ; against Richard, 105 ; be- comes king, 106 ; character of, 107 ; loss of French lands by, 108 ; and the church, 109, 119 ; attempts to recover French lands, 110; and barons. 111 ; signs Magna Carta, 112; attempt to revoke Magna Carta, 113; results of reign, 114. John, of France, 149. John of Gaunt. See Gaunt, John of. Junius, letters of, 335. Jury, beginnings of, 74, 79, 100, ll2 ; developed, 294. Justiciar, of William I, 71 ; of Henry I, 82 ; of Henry II, 90, 95, 98; of Richard I, 195; of John, 111; Hubert de Burgh, 116; of Henry III, 124. Jutes, 10, 11, 12; summoned to Britain, 14 ; become English, 35. Jutland, battle of, 422. Kabul, 388. Kandahar, 388. Kenilworth, 231. Kent, seized by Jutes, 14, 18 ; Augus- tine in, 19 ; Paulinus in, 20 ; under Mercia, 26 ; Danes in, 29, 30, 34 ; becomes English, 35 ; Normans land in, 66 ; Matilda in, 84 ; Peas- ant Revolt in, 160; Cade's Rebel- lion, 174 ; Mary's executions in, 219 ; rebellions in, 273. Kett's uprising, 213. Khartum, 388, 394, 396. Killiekrankie, battle of, 306. Kimberly, 385. King, Anglo-Saxon, 12 ; in Britain, 17 ; supremacy of, 26 ; of England, 41 ; growth of power of, 42 ; lands of, 48 ; decline of, 53 ; Norman, 70, 77, 87 ; power of, increases, 90-95 ; INDEX. 495 The references are to sectiona. and the barons, 1 1 1-1 14 ; at time of Henry III, 115 ; growing power of, 144, 178, 188, 192, 193 ; doctrine of Divine Right of, 247 ; attempts to define the rights of, 249, 255, 264 ; office abolished by Rump Parliament, 275 ; restoration of, 283 ; position of, 284 ; ceases to be absolute, 294, 299, 302 ; limited by parliament, 309 ; decline of power, 320, 370 ; place in the Empire, 437 ; 439. King George's War, 324. King's Bench, Court of, 132, 193. King's peace, 42. Kitchener, Lord, in Egypt, 394, 396, 417 and note. Knight, feudal, 69, 70, 72, 92, 93 ; in militia, 100, 105, 109. Knights of the shire, origin of, 93 ; in parliament, 126, 127, 128 ; under Edward I, 131 ; in Model Parlia- ment, 133 ; join burgesses, 147, 165. Knox, John, 227. Kruger, Paul, 396. Labor party, 404, 405, 408. Lafayette, 431. La Hogue, victory of, 308. Lancastrians, 163 note, 165-182 ; and parliament, 170 ; and Tudors, 189. Land System, 37, 41 ; local, 44, 45 ; vills, 46 ; tribal, 49 ; tenure of great lords, 53 ; beginnings of feudalism, 63 ; introduced by William I, 69 ; features of feudal tenure, 70, 92 ; in Domesday Book, 74, 77 ; effect of scutage on, 93 ; under Edward I, 131 ; manorial system, 151, 152, 160, 184-185, 196, 213; question of, after Restoration, 283 ; in Ireland, 386, 390. Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 75, 78, 94. Langland, William, 156. Langton, Stephen, 109, 111, 113. Latimer, 219 note. Latin, use of, 52, 217. Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 260-264. Laws, English, 1 ; beginnings under Alfred, 36, 38; Anglo-Saxon, 43; local, 44 ; under Cnut, 57 ; under William I, 72, 73 ; Norman kings, 78, 79 ; confirmed by Stephen, 83 ; under Angevins, 89 ; under Henry II, 99, 100 ; in Magna Carta, 112 ; under Edward I, 130, 131 ; in Wales, 134; and the king, 139; process of making, 170 ; progress in, 294, 299, 301, 302. See also Statutes. Leeds, 186, 364, 365. Leicester (Robert Dudley), Earl of, 230. Leipzig, battle of, 357. Lenin, 425. Lewes, battle of, 125, 129. Lexington, battle of, 340. Liberal party, beginning of, 367 ; under Victoria, 370, 371 ; and re- peal of Corn Laws, 372, 380 ; new party, 380, 381 ; in power, 382, 385-389, 391, 404, 408. Liberal Unionists, 389, 391, 392, 404, 408. Limerick, peace of, 307, 308. Lincoln, Roman arches at, 11 ; battle of, 84; defeat of Louis at, 113; Grosseteste, bishop of, 120 ; revolts in, 206. Lincoln, Abraham, 379. Lindisfarne, monastery of, 21 ; de- stroyed by Danes, 29. Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 163. Literature, under vUfred, 36 ; under Dunstan, 40 ; Anglo-Saxon, 52 ; of thirteenth century, 121 ; Chaucer, 150; of fifteenth century, 182; Elizabethan, 245 ; of nineteenth century, 374. Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, 125. 134. Loanland, 48. Local administration, under Edgar, 39 ; shires, 44 ; hundreds, 45 ; vills, 46 ; burghs, 47 ; beginnings of feudalism, 63 ; under William I, 72, 77 ; under Henry II, 91, 100 ; in Magna Carta, 112 ; and knights of the shire, 127 ; under Edward I, 130, 131 ; reforms in, 367 ; women 496 INDEX. The. references are to sections. vote in, 387 ; recent reforms, 390, 400, 443, 444. Lollards, rise of, 158, 161 ; and Henry IV, 165 ; persecution of, 167, 169. London, 150 ; captured by Danes, 33 ; by Alfred, 34 ; yields to Danes, 54 ; under Cnut, 59 ; William I in, 68, 71 ; and Henry I, 79 ; and Ste- phen, 83 ; and John, 112, 113 ; and Henry III, 118, 120, 125; parlia- ment in, 126, 127, 129; Peasant Revolt, 160 ; Cade's RebeUion, 174 ; executions at, 205 ; parliament at, 272 ; plague and fire in, 287 ; fears Charles Edward, 325 ; represented in parliament, -346, 365 ; govern- ment of, 390. London Bridge, 205. London Company, 252. Londonderry, siege of, 307. Long Parliament, 264-278. Lords, House of, 147, 193 ; and the Commons, 246 ; in the Civil War, 269 ; abolished by Rump Parlia- ment, 275 ; under Wilham III, 309 ; under George I, 320 ; and reform, 365, 390 ; recent action concerning, 404; 441. Lords Ordainers, 143. Loudoun, Lord, 329. Louis VI, of France, 80 ; VII, 85, 96, 98, 102; VIII, 113; IX, 116, 124, 129 ; XI, 177 ; XII, 200, 201 ; XIII, 257; XIV, 287, 289, 297- 300, 305-308, 313-315, 318; XV, 331 ; XVI, 347. Louis Napoleon, 375. Louisberg, 327, 329, 331. Lucknow, siege of, 376. Luneville, treaty of, 350, Lusitania, 422. Luther, Martin, 161 note, 199, 201, 223. Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 374. Mad Parliament, 124. Magdalen College, Oxford, 198. Magersfontein, 396. Magna Carta, events leading to, 111; provisions of, 112 ; attempts to revoke, 113-114; under Henry III, 117 ; under Edward I, 129. Maine, an EngHsh fief, 85, 106, 108, 172. Majuba Hill, battle of, 388. Malcolm II of Scotland, 58, 79. Malplaquet, battle of, 315. Manchester, growth of, 186 ; repre- sentation of, 362-366. " Mandataries," 433. Manorial system, 69, note, 77 ; royal, 73; under Henry III, 118; under Edward III, 151-153; under Richard II, 159 ; breaking up of, 184, 213. Marengo, 350. Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, 195. Margaret of Anjou, 173, 177. Margaret of Scotland, 135. Maria Theresa, of Austria, 324. Marlborough (Lord Churchill), Duke of, 300, 308, 313-316. Marlowe, Christopher, 245. Marne, first battle of, 416; in 1918, 429. Marston Moor, battle of, 270. Mar's uprising, 319. " Martin Marprelate " controversy, 243. Mary, daughter of Henry VIII, 201, 202, 297 ; succession of, provided for, 212 ; perseciitions of, 215 ; ac- cession, 217 ; and the Spanish mar- riage, 218 ; persecutions of, 219 ; loss of Calais by, 220 ; death of, 221 ; compared to Elizabeth, 222. Mary, daughter of James, duke of York, 291, 299, 301, 313. Maryland, 276, 287. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, be- trothed to Edward VI, 209 ; French marriage of, 214 ; claims of, to English throne, 224, 226; return of, to Scotland, 227-228; fall of, 229 ; in England, 231 ; centre of Roman Catholic plots, 232 ; execu- tion of, 237. Matilda, 79 ; quarrel with Stephen, 83-85; "Lady of England," 84; aided by son, 85, 89. INDEX. 497 The references are to sections. Maximilian, Emperor, 195, 201. Melbourne, 369, 370, 395. Merchants, growing importance of, 111, 112, 131, 139 ; Statute of, 131 ; gilds of, 148; in Cade's Rebellion, 174; welfare of, promoted by Ed- ward IV, 179 ; and Walpole, 321. Merchant Adventurers, 187, 196, 220, 252. Merchant Gilds. See Gild, Mer- chant. Merchant Staplers, 187, 220. Mercia, founded, 16, 18 ; Penda in, 20 ; Celtic missionaries in, 21 ; su- premacy of, 26 ; Danes in, 30, 34, 46 ; becomes English, 35 ; monas- teries in, 36 ; government of, 39 ; under Cnut, 56 ; Eadwine, 61, 62. Merton College, Oxford, 121. Methodism, rise of, 334. Mexico, 393. Middle Ages, end of, 144, 164. " Middle Europe," 420, 421, 424, 431. Migrations, 10. MiUtia Bill, 268. Millenary petition, 250. Milton, John, 276. Mineral resources, 6, 6 note, 361, 368, 392, 400. Ministerial government, growth of, 170; bribery of, 211, 255; re- sponsibility of, 211, 255, 288, 294; under William III, 309 ; power increases under Hanoverians, 320, 321 ; under Victoria, 370. Minorca, 316. Mise of Amiens. See Amiens, Mise of. Missionaries, Roman, in Kent, 19 ; in Northumbria and Wessex, 20 ; Celtic, in Mercia and Northumbria, 21 ; conflict between, 22-23 ; Eng- lish, sent to continent, 25. Mississippi, 327. Model Army, 271-273. Model Parliament, 133. Monastery, of Jarrow, 20 note, 25; of lona, 21 ; of Lindisfarne, 21 ; of Whitby, 23 ; influence of, 25 ; of Canterbury, 25 ; of York, 25 ; sacked by Danes, 35 ; under Al- fred, 36: under Dunstan, 40; and land, 48 ; Lanfranc, 75 ; flourish, 87 ; and ransom of Richard I, 105 ; growth of, checked, 131, 156 ; and Henry VIII, 205-207, 213 ; encour- aged by James II, 297. Monck, General, 276, 282. Money, Anglo-Saxon, 39, 47 ; scarcity of, 51 ; Cnut's, 59 ; increase in use of, 152, 158. Monmouth, Duke of, 291, 296-297. Monopolies, 196 ; under Elizabeth, 244, 249; trade, 252, 255; under Charles I, 262 ; under William III, 312 ; East India Company, 376. Montcalm, 327, 331. Montenegro, 384. Montfort, Simon de, 123 ; and Henry III in Barons' War, 124- 125 ; government of, 126 ; parlia- ment of, 127, 133 ; defeat of, and death, 129. Montrose, Earl of, 271. More, Sir Thomas, 199, 205, 213. Mortimer, Roger, 143, 145. Mortimer's Cross, battle of, 176. Mortmain, Statute of, 131. Morton's Fork, 194. Moscow, 357. Mucheney Cross, 139 ; rectory, 304. Municipal reforms, 367, 443. Mutiny Act, 309. Nanking, treaty of, 377. Napoleon I. See Bonaparte. Naseby, battle of , 271. National debt, 311, 320; 321, 335; scheme for redeeming, 345 ; in- crease in, 351 ; cuts down interest, 363. National unity, beginnings of, under Alfred, 34, 35, 38 ; under Eadgar, 41; decline of, 62; influence , of Norman Conquest on, 77 ; and Magna Carta, 114; injured under Henry III, 115; under 'Edward I, 130, 133 ; new age of the Tudors, 189 ; Henry VIII, 211 ; Elizabeth, . 239, 246. Navigation Acts bf 1651, 277; of 1660, 1663, and 1672, 293 ; of 1696, 498 INDEX. The references are to sections. 312, 317; and the colonies, 321, 335 ; modified, 363 ; repealed, 374. Navy, English, under Alfred, 36 ; growth of, 179, 196, 220, 231, 245, 304, 333, 347, 350, 359 ; under Wal- pole, 321 ; reformed, 400 ; great feature in the War, 418 ; 426 ; 435. Nelson, Admiral, 350, 353, 354. Netherlands, 191, 200, 226, 231, 234 ; war with, 277, 279, 286, 287-290, 292, 300, 308, 312 ; and War of the Spanish Succession, 314-316 ; First Coalition, 347 ; and arbitration, 393. Neuve Chapelle, battle of, 420. New England, 287. New Forest, 78. Newfoundland, 245, 316, 350, 378, 393; 445. Newmarket meeting, 272. Newspapers, beginning of, 276, 368. New York, 287, 292, 327. New Zealand, 343, 378, 398 ; 445. Nicholas of Russia, 375. Nightingale, Florence, 375 note. Nile, battle of, 350. Nivelle, General, 427. Non-conformists, under Elizabeth, 242, 243, 246 ; under James I, 249 ; under Charles I, 265-266 ; Charles II, 285; Test Act, 290; Declara- tion of Indulgence, 298 ; Act of Toleration, 303, 309; rehgious freedom, 382. See also Presby- terians; Independents; Baptists; Quakers; Church, Roman Catholic. Norfolk, Duke of, 232, 364 note. Norman architecture, 122 note. Norman conquest, 53, 64-77. Normandy, ^thelred flees to, 54 ; commerce with, 59 ; origin of, 64 ; William, Duke of, 65 ; Robert, 78 ; Henry I's troubles with, 80 ; and Angevins, 85 ; Richard I in, 106 ; and John, 108, 114; Henry V in, 171. Normans, 7, 58 ; come in with Edward the Confessor, 60 ; under Harold, 61 ; origin, 64 ; conquer England, 65-77 ; and the Enghsh, 136. North, Lord, 338, 339, 341, 342, 344, 345, 349. Northcliffe, Lord, 408 ; 424. Northampton, Assize of. See As- size of Northampton. Northampton, battle of, 176. Northumherland, Percys in, 166; represented in parliament, 364 note. Northumbria, Celts and Angles, 16, 18 ; Christianity in, 20, 21 ; power of, 26 ; Danes in, 29, 30 ; becomes English, 38 ; government of, 39 ; under Cnut, 56 ; Scots in, 58 ; Tos- tig, 61, 62; Wallace in, 141. Norway, and England, under Cnut, 55, 58, 59. Nova Scotia, 316, 333, 342. O'Connell, Daniel, 373. Offa, king of Mercia, 26, 36. Oldcastle, Sir John, 169. Omdurman, battle of, 394. Opium War, 377. Ordeals, 50. Orlando, 428 ; 432. Orleans, siege of, 172. Oscar, of Sweden, 393. Oswiu, king of Northumbria, 21, 23, 26. Otto I, 144. Ottoman Empire, 375, 384. See also Turkey. Oudenarde, battle of, 315. Oxford, meeting at, 57 ; Mad Parlia- ment at, 123, 124; and Charles I, 269 ; surrenders, 271 ; in parlia- ment, 364 note ; beginning of Uni- versity of, 87, 121 ; friars in, 120; Wiclif at, 157, 161 note ; Magdalen College at, 198 ; Wesleys at, 334 ; no religious test, 382. Oxford movement, 374. Oxford reformers, 199. Palmerston, Lord, 370, 375, 380. Palestine, in the Great War, 428, 431. Paris, 110 ; French Revolution in, 347. Paris, treaty of, in 1763, 332, 335; in 1783, 342; in 1856, 375-379. Parishes, see Local Government. INDEX. 499 The references are to sections. Parish priests, 169. Parliament, early use of name, 123, 124; Simon's, 126, 127, 128; of Edward I, 130, 131, 133, 136-138; of Edward II, 143 ; of Edward III, 146, 147, 153 ; Good, 155 ; growth of power under Richard II, 158, 162, 163; and Lancastrians, 165, 170; and Yorkists, 176, 177, 178; and Henry VII, 189, 192-194; supports Henry VIII, 204, 205; and Somerset, 212 ; upholds Mary, 218 ; and Elizabeth, 233 ; and the Stuarts, 246-303 ; powers of, 248 ; quarrel with James I, 249, 254, 255 ; and Charles I, 257 ; Petition of Right, 258, 259; Long, 263- 278 ; war declared, 270 ; and the . army, 272 ; Rump, 272-278 ; Bare- bone's, 278 ; Cromwell's, 278-280 ; power of, after Restoration, 284 ; Cavalier, 285, 286 ; Test Act, 290 ; Whigs and Tories, 291 ; after Charles II, 294; under James II, 296; Bill of Rights, 301, 302; power of, established, 304 ; expan- sion of England under rule of, 305- 359; and William III, 305, 309; and taxation, 310; Bank of Eng- land and national debt, 311 ; and industry, 312 ; George III, 331 ; and colonies, 337-342 ; corruption in, 344 ; reforms, 345 ; Irish mem- bers, 349 ; not representative, 362 ; need of reform, 364 ; fight for re- form, 365 ; party government in, 370 ; reform of 1866, 382 ; of 1884, 387; 404, 405, 407, 408, 441, 442. See also Commons ; Lords. Parliament Act, 404. Parliamentarians, 269, 270. Parnell, Charles Stewart, 386. Party government, ,320, 321, 331, 370. " Pastoral Care " of Pope Gregory, 35, 36. Patrick, St., 27. Paulinus in Northumbria, 20. Peasants' Revolt of 1381, 158-160, 184. Peel, Sir Robert, 363, 370, 372. Penda, king of Mercia, 20, 21. Peninsular War, 357. Penn, Admiral, 279. Penn, William, 292. Pensions, old age, 405. Percys, rebellion of, 166, 176. Pershing, General, 427 ; 429. Petain, General, 421. Peterloo, massacre of, 362. Peter's Pence, 76. Petition of Right, 257-259. Petrarch, 198 note. Philip Augustus, of France, struggle of, with kings of England, 102-113. Philip of Anjou, 314, 316. Philip of Burgundy, 172. Philip IV, the Fair, of France, 136, 140, 141, 144. Philip VI, of France, 146, 149. Philip II, of Spain, marries Mary Tudor, 218 ; influence of, 220, 221 ; attitude of, in Elizabeth's reign, 223, 230, 232, 234 ; determined to invade England, 237 ; and Armada, 238-239. Philippine Islands, 332. Phoenicians, in England, 6 note. Picardy, 172. Piers Plowman, 156. Pilgrimage of Grace, 206, 207. Pilgrimages, of Middle Ages, 96, 104, 150. Pitt, William, the elder, character of, 330 ; policj' and influence of, 331 ; fall of , 332, 335 ; recall of , 334 ; and colonies, 339 note ; the younger, 344 ; character and policy of, 345 ; and India, 346 ; and French Revo- lution, 347, 348 ; and Ireland, 349 ; and France, 350, 352-353. Plassey, battle of, 331. Plymouth Company, 252. Pocket boroughs, 364, 365. Poitiers, battle of , 149, 150, 153, 171, 200. Pole, Cardinal, legate to England, 218, 221. Political organization, of Anglo- Saxons, 12 ; changed in Britain, 17 ; of Alfred, 35-38 ; of Eadgar, 39, 41 ; 42-46. 500 INDEX. The references are to sections. Poll tax, 160. Poor laws, early, 153 ; of Elizabeth, 231, 245; of Charles I, 262; of Pitt, 345 ; of nineteenth century, 361, 367 ; revision of, 374. Portugal, 196, 277, 357. Postal reform, 368. Post Office, the, 439. Poyning's Law, 191 note. Praemunire, First Statute of, 156, 162: Second, 162, 202, 219. Presbyterians, 223 ; in Scotland, 227-228, 242-243, 246, 261, 265; Solemn League and Covenant, 270 ; and Church of England, 272 ; Pride's Purge, 273, 292 ; in Conven- tion, 283 ; Declaration of Indul- gence, 298 ; in Scotland, 317. See also Non-conformisis. Press, liberty of, not established, 294, 299; established, 309; vio- lated, 335 ; encouraged, 344. Preston, battle of, 273. Prestonpans, battle of, 325. Pretender, the Old. See James Stuart: the Young. See Charles Edward Stuart. Pride's Purge, 273, 282. Prime minister, rise of, 370. See Cabinet Government. Prince of Wales, title of, 134. Printing, invention of, 182, 198. Privileges of Parliament, 170, 249, 254, 255; violated by Charles I, 267 ; defined in Bill of Rights, 301. Privy Council. See Council, Privy. Protector. See Cromwell, Oliver. Protectorate, 278-280 ; of the Empire, 448. Protest of parliament, 254, 258. Provisions of Oxford, 124, 126, 129. Provisors, First Statute of, 156, 162; Second, 162. Prussia, 316, 324, 328, 329, 331, 347, 355-358, 374. Puritans, rise of, 240 ; and Elizabeth, 241 ; struggle of, with Anglicans, 246 ; in parliament, 248 ; and James I, 250 ; and Laud, 261 ; and Charles I, 263, 265-266 ; and social life, 279 ; in Cavalier Parliament, 285. See Presbyterians; Inde- pendents; Non-conformisis. Pym, John, 263-268. Quakers, 298. Quebec, battle of, 331. Queen Anne's War, 315. Quia Emptores, Statute of, 131. Radical party, old, 362 ; demands of, 364; unite with Whigs, 367 ; and Chartists, 371 ; new party, 380 ; first members of ministry, 386. Railroad, first, 365. Ralegh, Sir Walter, 244-245, 255. Ramillies, battle of, 315. Redmond, John Edward, 406. Reform BiU, of 1832, 365-366, 371 ; of 1866, 381, 387; of 1884, 387, 388, 390. Reform, movement of, begins, 344, 345 ; checked by the French Revo- lution, 348, 359 ; real beginning of, 363 ; need of, 364 ; fight for, 365 ; Bill of 1832, 366; other reforms, 367, 368 ; second movement for, 380, 381 ; in ministry of Gladstone, 382; third bill, 387; in Ireland, local government, 390 ; in general, 400 ; 405 ; 407. Reformation, the, 161 ; in England, 188-244. Renaissance, the, 198 ; Englishi 245. Rent, growth of fixed, 184. Representation in parliament, in 1688, 302 ; in eighteenth century, 334, 345 ; in nineteenth century, 364-366, 381, 387-390 ; in colonies, 378 ; reformed, 387 ; in local gov- ernment, 390 ; fully established, 400. Revolution of i688, 299-302, 305, 310. Rheims, 172 ; attack on, 429. Richard I, Coeur de Lion, revolts against father, 102 ; character of reign, 103 ; on Second Crusade, 104 ; ransom of, 105 ; and Philip Augustus, 106 ; compared with Edward I, 130. INDEX. 501 The references are to sections. Richard II, accession of, 158 ; and peasant revolts, 160 ; misrule of, 162 ; deposition of, 163 ; results of reign, 164. Richard III, as regent, 180 ; usurpa- tion of, 181 ; career of, as king, 182 ; defeat of, at Bosworth Field, 182. Richard, brother of Henry III, 116. Richmond. See Henry VII. Ridley, Bishop, 219 note. Ridolfi Plot, 232. Rizzio, 229. Robert of Normandy, 78-80. Roberts, Lord, 396. Roches, Peter des, 118. Rochester, 205. Rockingham, ministry of, 337, 342. Rogers, John, 219 note. Rollo, the Dane, 64. Roman Catholics. See Church, Roman Catholic. Roman Empire, 8-10. Romans, in Britain, 8, 9, 13, 25 ; withdraw, 14. Rosebery, Lord, 370, 390. Roses, Wars of the, first period, 164, 170 ; second period, 176 ; third period, 177 ; end of, 182 ; results of, 183. Rossbach, battle of, 329. Roundheads. See Parliamenta.rians. Round Table, Knights of, 16 note. Roxburgh, 149. Royal Titles Bill, 383. Royalists, 269, 270 ; effects of execu- tion of Charles I upon, 276. Rugby, 382. Rumania, 384, 414 ; joins the En- tente, 423. Rump Parliament, 273, 274; exe- cutes Charles I, 274 ; establishes Commonwealth, 275 ; Protecto- rate, 278, 280 ; restored, 282. Runnymede, John at. 111. Rupert, Prince, 270. Russell, Sir John, 363, 365, 370, 372, 381. Russell, Lord William, 291, 308. Russia, 245, 252, 329, 350, 354-357, 375, 384-385, 393; in the Great War, 402, 414, 415, 420, 422, 423 ; the Russian Revolution, 425. Ryswick, treaty of, 308, 814. Sacheverell, Dr., sermon of, 316. St. Albans, Council of. 111; battle of, 175. St. Andrew, Cross of, 317. St. George, Cross of, 317. St. Helena, Napoleon at, 358. St. Mihiel, 430. St. Paul's School, 199. Saladin Tithe, 100. Salisbury, meeting at, 1086, 70, 95; cathedral of, 121, 122 note. Salisbury, Lord, 370, 389-393. Samoa, 393. Sarum, 364 note, 365. Savoy, 136, 315, 316. Saxons, in Britain, 10, 13 ; first home of, 11 ; organization of, 12 ; true founders of England, 15 ; struggle of, with Britons, 16 ; become Eng- lish, 35. Scandinavia, 28, 54 note. Schools, 199, 279, 382. Scone, Stone of, 135, 137, 141. Scotland, geographical position of, 2 ; Celts, 8 ; Romans in, 9 ; Chris- tianity in, 21, 22 ; under Cnut, 58 ; breaks away from Cnut's empire, 59 ; and Harold, 61 ; subdued by William, 68 ; invades England, 84 ; under Henry II, 98 ; and Richard I, 104 ; and John, 109 ; and Henry III, 116; and Edward I, 130, 133, 135-138, 141 ; and Edward II, 142 ; and Edward III, 145-146, 149-150 ; and Richard III, 182 ; and Henry VII, 195; and Henry VIII, 197, 200, 206, 209, 211 ; and Edward VI, 214 ; and Elizabeth, 223 ; and Mary Queen of Scots, 226-227, 229, 231-232 ; and Charles I, 262 ; and parliament, 270-273 ; declares for Charles II, 276 ; union of, with England, 279 ; Highlanders resist William III, 306 ; the union, 317 ; Jacobites in, 319, 325 ; in parlia- ment, 366 ; local government, 390. Scutage, 92, 93, 100, 111, 112, 127. 502 INDEX. The references are to sections. Secretariat, the, 439. See the Cabinet. Sedgemoor, battle of, 296. Seneschal, office of, 42. Separatists, 242-243. Septennial Act, 320. Sepoy regiments, 376. Serfs, 87, 160. Servia, 384. (Serbia), 414 ; 431. Settlement, Act of, 309, 313, 318, 323. Sevastopol, 375. Seven Years' War, 328-332, 341, 352. Seymours, struggle of, with Howards, 212. Shaftesbury, Earl of, 368. Shakespeare, 168, 245. Sheffield, 186, 364, 365. Sheriff, powers of, in Anglo-Saxon times, 44-47 ; after the Conquest, 72 ; reports to Exchequer, 90 ; position of, under Henry II, 91, 97, 99 ; in Magna Carta, 112 ; in Stat- ute of Westminster, 131 ; and par- liament, 147. Ship-money, levies of, 262-264. Shire, origin of, 39, 41 ; administra- tion of, 42, 44, 47 ; in Domesday Book, 74 ; knights of, 93 ; in par- liament, 128. Shire court, origin, 41 ; fines of, 42 powers of, 44 ; and sheriff, 72, 73 separate from church courts, 75 organization of, 99 ; knights of shire at, 127. Shrewsbury, battle of, 166 ; parlia- ment of, 162. Sicily, and Richard I, 105. Simnel, Lambert, conspiracy of, 191. Sinn Fein, 406, 408, 409, 410. Six Articles Act, 204, 205, 212. Slavery, Anglo-Saxon, 18 ; negro, 235, 345 ; trade abolished, 368 ; emancipation in West Indies, 378 ; in United States, 379. Sluys, battle of, 149. Smalkald League, 208 note. Smith, Adam, 343. Socialist party, 381. Society, Anglo-Saxon, 12, 17, 18, 41- 62 ; influence of Christianity on, 25 ; of Danes, 35, 59 ; of feudalism. 63, 77, 84; of Edward III, 160- 153; 156, 159; at close of Middle Ages, 164 ; and Puritans, 279 ; at Restoration, 285 ; changes, 304 ; at time of Walpole, 321 ; and Methodism, 334 ; in nineteenth century, 361, 367, 392, 400. Solemn Engagement of the Army, 272. Solemn League and Covenant, 270. Sol way Moss, battle of, 209. Somerset, Duke of. Protector, 212- 214. South Africa, 385, 388, 396, 397, 398, 401. See also Boers; in the Great War, 433 ; administration of, 445. South America, 316, 322. Southampton, Duke of, treasurer of Charles II, 289. South Sea Bubble, 321. South Sea Company, 316. Spain and England, 116, 144; trade with, 187; and Henry VII, 195, 196 ; and Henry VIII, 200, 201 ; and Elizabeth, 223, 226, 231-233, 237-238, 244; and James I, 250, 253-255 ; war with, 256-257 ; and Cromwell, 279; War of Spanish Succession, 314-316; war con- tinued, 322; Pitt, 332; treaty of Paris, 333 ; and American war, 341 ; Peace of Amiens, 351-352 ; Peninsular War, 357. Spanish Succession, War of, 314- 316. Spenser, Edmund, 245. Spinning-jenny, invention of, 360. Spurs, battle of, 200. Stamford Bridge, battle of, 66. Stamp tax, 310 ; Act, 337. Standard, battle of, 84. Staple city, 148, 187 ; 220. Star Chamber, 193, 263, 264, 294. Statute law, 100 note, 131 note, 170, 193 ; supremacy of, established, 299, 302. Statutes, of Westminster, 131 ; of Merchants, 131 ; of Entails, 131 ; of Quia Emptores, 131 ; of Win- chester, 131 ; of Mortmain, 131 ; of Laboreis, 153 ; Qf Provisors, 156, INDEX. 503 The references are to sections. 162 ; of Praemunire, 156, 162 ; of Liveries and Maintenance, 162 ; of Supremacy, 204 ; of Six Articles, 204; repealed, 213 ; of Supremacy (1559), 225 ; of Uniformity (1559), 225; for Relief of the Poor, 231, 245 ; of Apprentices, 231 ; petition of Right, 258 ; Corporation Act, 285; of Uniformity (1662), 285; Five Mile Act, 285; Test, 290; Habeas Corpus, 294 ; of Toleration, 303 ; Mutiny, 309 ; Bill of Rights, 309 ; Triennial Bill, 309 ; of Settle- ment, 309 ; of Union with Scotland, 317; Stamp, 337; Townshend, 338 ; of Union with Ireland, 349 ; Gag Laws, 362; Corn Law, 362; of Roman Catholic Emancipation, 363 ; parliamentary reform, 364, 381, 387 ; Municipal Corporations, 367 ; Public Health, 367 ; Educa- tion, 368, 382; Canadian, 378; Australian, 378 ; Irish Church Disestablishment, 382 ; Irish Land, 382; Army Reform, 382; indus- trial reforms, 382, 392 ; concerning local government, 390. Steam, inventions employing, 120 note, 360, 365. Stephen, King, claims of election, 83 ; war of, with Matilda, 84, 85 ; treaty of Wailingford, 86 ; results of reign, 87, 89, 91, 97. Stirling, battle of, 141 ; siege of, 142 ; castle of, 139, 142; James VI crowned at, 229. Stormberg, battle of, 396. ' Strafford (Thomas Wentworth), I Earl of, 257, 260-264. Strikes, 382. Stuarts, 246-317 ; restored, 282 ; conspiracies of, 319-326. Subinfeudation, 92, 131. Submarine warfare, 422 ; 424 ; un- restricted, 426. Sudan, 388, 394. Suez Canal, 383. Suffolk, Earl of, 173. Suffrage. See Franchise. Supremacy, Act of, 204, 226. Sweden, 393. Sweyn Fork-beard, 54. Synod of Whitby, 22. Tabard Inn, 150. Tasmania, 378, 395. Taxation, Anglo-Saxon, 42 ; Dane- geld, 43 ; under William I, 72-74, 77 ; William II, 78 ; Henry II, 90 ; scutage, 92, 93, 98 ; Saladin Tithe, 100 ; for Crusades, 106 ; in Magna' Carta, 112; under Henry III, 118; and knights of shire, 127 ; by Model Parliament, 133, 139, 146, 148; under Edward III, 155, 158, 162; poll tax, 160 ; controlled by parlia- ment, 170 ; and Cade's Rebellion, 174 ; benevolences, 178, 182 ; and Tudors, 192-194; under Henry VIII, 210; James I, 249; and Spanish war, 257 ; Petition of Right, 258-259 ; under Charles I, 262 ; after Charles II, 294, 301 ; under William III, 310 ; Walpole, 321 ; and the colonies, 337-339 ; regulated, 345, 363, 372; local, 390 ; change in, 402. Temple Court, 160. Tennyson (Alfred), Lord, 374. Test Act, 290, 297, 298, 303. Tewkesbury, 177, 181, 183. Thackeray, William Makepeace, 374. Thames, 26, 35, 38, 71, 111, 287, Thane, 36, 41, 43 ; and land, 48 ; in Harold's army, 67. Thanet, Isle of. Jutes land on, 14; Augustine in, 19 ; Danes in, 29. Theodore of Tarsus, 24, 25. Thirty-nine Articles, 225, 233, 259. Thirty Years' War, 254. Thistle, Order of, 150. " Thorough," policy of, 261. Tinchebrai, battle of, 80. Tintern Abbey, 206. Toleration, Act of, 303, 309. Tonnage and Poundage, 194, 257, 259, 262, 264. Tories, 291 ; in power, 296-297, 299 ; and William III, 308, 309 ; Anne, 313; and succession to throne, 318- 320 ; and Walpole, 322 ; new, 331, 339, 344, 351; and reform, 362, 504 INDEX. The references are to sections. 363, 365 ; take name of Conserva- tives, 367. Tostig, 61, 65, 66. Toulon, Siege of, 347. Tower of London, 177, 181, 214, 259. Towns, in Roman Britain, 9 ; built by Alfred, 36 ; under Normans, 87 ; and Crusades, 104 ; growth of gilds in, 148 ; rapid growth of, 158, 164 ; Black Death in, 153 ; and Cade's Rebellion, 174 ; and Wars of the Roses, 176 ; and industrial revolu- tion, 186 ; and foreign trade, 187 ; under Elizabeth, 231 ; poor repre- sentation of, 302 ; rapid growth of, 321 ; reform of representation, 360, 361, 367. Townshend Acts, 338. Towton, battle of, 176, 183. Tractarian movement, 374. Trade and Commerce, 1 ; geo- graphical advantages for English, 3, 4 ; in Roman times, 9 ; under Alfred, 36; Anglo-Saxon, 42, 47, 51 ; gro'wi;h of, under Danes, 59 ; under Normans, 87 ; and Crusades, 104, 131 ; advance in, 148, 158, 162, 164 ; under Edward IV, 178, 179; growth of, 184, 187; en- couraged by Henry VII, 192, 196 ; by Henry VIII, 210, 213, 220 ; by Elizabeth, 231, 245; trading com- panies, 252, 277 ; encouraged by Cromwell, 279 ; jealousy of Dutch, 287 ; under Charles II, 292, 293 ; strides in, 304, 312, 321 ; rivalry with Spain, 322 ; and prosperity, 323, 331 ; and colonies, 335 ; treaty of, with France, 345 ; threatened by France, 350, 355 ; rising importance of, 364, 374, 375, 376 ; of Germany and France, 393 ; of Victorian Era, 400. Trade unions, 363, 380, 381, 382. Trading companies, 252, 293. Trafalgar, battle of, 354. Transportation, new methods of, 400. Transvaal, the, 385, 396-397. Treasury, 439 ; first lord of, see Prime Minister; second lord of, see Exchequer. Trenches, use of, 416. Trent affair, 379. Tribal organization of Anglo-Saxons, 17, 26, 27, 41, 49; influence of Alfred on, 37 ; abolished, 77. Tribute to Danes. See Danegeld. Triennial Act, 264 ; Second, 309, 320. Triple Alliance (1882), 402; 415. Trotsky, 425. Troyes, treaty of, 171, 172. Tudors, 179, 182-244, 246. Tun. See Vill. Turkey, trade with, 252, 384, 394; a cause of the Great War, 414 ; 419 ; 428 ; 431 ; 432 note ; 433. Tweed, 68, 200. Tyburn, 283. Tyler, Wat, 160. Tyne, 8. Ulm, siege of, 354. Ulster, 405, 406, 410. Uniformity, Acts of, 215, 225, 241, 243, 285. Union, Act of, 317, 349, 351. Union Jack, 317, 349. United Kingdom, definition of, 2. United States, 352; War of 1812, 356 ; Civil War, 374 ; and Japan, 377 ; and arbitration, 393 ; enters the Great War, 424; 426; 427; 429. Universities, and friars, 121 ; follow Charles I, 269 ; strengthened by Cromwell, 279. See also Oxford; Cambridge. Utopia, 199. Utrecht, treaty of, 316, 322, 333, 336. Vagrancy, 262 note. Valera, Eamon de, 410. Vane, Sir Harry, 265. Vassals, 69 ; services of, 70, 73 ; sub- vassals, 92 ; in Magna Carta, 112. See Feudalism,. Venezuela, 393. Venice, and trade, 187. Verdun, 416 ; 421 ; 423. Versailles, Treaty of, 432 ; 433. Veto, used for last time by Anne, 313. INDEX. 505 The references are to sections. Victoria, Queen, portrait of, 368 ; accession of, 369 ; influence of, 369 ; ministries of, 370 ; and Trent affair, 379 ; Empress of India, 383 ; death of, 399. Victorian Era, 400. Vienna, Congress of, 358. Vikings, 28, 54, 63, 66. Vill, Villein, Villeinage, Anglo-Saxon, 12, 18, 45, 46 ; in 1066, 63 ; manors, 69 note ; under William I, 72 ; in Domesday Book, 74 ; and feudal- ism, 77, 87 ; and Assize of Claren- don, 99; in Magna Carta, 112; and manorial system, 151, 152, 153 ; and Langland, 156 ; in four- teenth century, 159, 160, 164 • and enclosures, 184, 185 ; decay of, 231. Villeneuve, 353. Villiers. See Buckingham, Duke of. Virginia, settlements in, 252, 287 ; and Commonwealth, 276, 277. Von Tromp, Admiral, 277. Vortigern, summons Hengist and Horsa, 14. Wagram, 357. Wakefield, battle of, 176. Wales, geographical position of, 2 ; climate of, 5 ; surface of, 6 ; min- eral ore, 6 note ; Britons in, 8, 16 ; under Mercia, 26 ; becoming Eng- lish, 38 ; invaded by Eadgar, 39 ; and Cnut, 58 ; and Harold, 61 ; and John, 109; and Edward I, 134, 136 ; and Richard II, 163 ; and Henry IV, 166; and Henry VIII, 209 ; rebellions in, 273 ; in Union, 317. Wallace, William, 141. Wallingford, treaty of, 86. Walpole, Robert, ministry of, 320, 321 ; Tory opposition to, 322 ; im- portance of, 323 ; influence of, 326; religious revival in time of, 334. Walsingham, 236, 237. Walter, Archbishop Hubert, 109. Wandering of the Nations, 10, 28. War of i8i2, 356. War, The Great, condition of British Empire, on the eve of, 413 ; causes of, 414; declaration of, 415; con- quest of Belgium, 416 ; the need of a new army, 417 ; the naval su- premacy, 418 ; the Dardanelles Expedition, 419 ; losses of the year 1915, 420 ; Verdun, 421 ; Jutland; 422; Allied drives in 1916, 423; German submarine policy, 424, 426 ; complete list of Allied powers and neutral nations, 424 note ; the Russian Revolution, 425 ; Allied victories, 1917, 427; in the east, 428; the Great Drives of 1918, 429 ; counter-offensive, 430 ; col- lapse of the Central Powers, 43 1 ; Treaty of Versailles, 432; effect upon the British Empire, 433, 434. War of Austrian Succession. See Austrian Succession, War of. War of Spanish Succession. See Spanish Succession, War of. War Office, the, 439. Warbeck, Perkin, 191. Wars of the Roses. See Roses, Wars of. Warwick, Earl of, 175-177. Warwick (John Dudley), Earl of, 214-216. Washington, George, 327, 340, 341. Waterloo, battle of, 358. Wellington (Arthur Wellesley), Duke of, 357-358, 365, 376. Wells, cathedral of, 122. Wentworth, Sir Thomas. See Straf- ford. Wergeld, 46, 49, 77. Wessex, Christianity in, 20 ; results of, 26-40 ; Danes in, 29, 46 ; resist- ance of, 31 ; Alfred, kir g of, 32-37 ; expansion of, 38 ; yields to Danes, 54 ; under Cnut, 56 ; Godwine, 60 ; Harold, 61-62, 67. West Indies, 235, 237 ; Penn in, 279 ; transportation to, 296 ; French and English in, 304 ; War of Spanish Succession, 315, 316 ; Britain re- tains islands in, 333 ; French in, 341, 352, 353 ; mismanagement in, 506 INDEX. The references are to sections. 343 ; demand attention, 378 ; col- onies in, 398. Westminster Abbey, 71, 190. Westminster catechism, 272. Westminster, Statutes of, 131. Westmoreland, 6, 206. Whigs, origin of name, 291 ; under James II, 295, 296; William III, 309; Anne, 316; George I, 319- 320; George III, 331, 337, 339; and American War, 341, 344 ; Wil- liam IV, 365, 367 ; Victoria, 369 ; become Liberals, 370', 374. Whitby, Synod of, 23. Whitehall, 273, 300. Whitgift, Archbishop, 241, 242. Wiclif, John, 157, 161, 167. Wight, Isle of, 2, 273. Wilfrid, Roman priest, 23. Wilkes, John, 335. William I (the Conqueror), 65, 66; battle of Hastings, 67 ; completes conquest of England, 68 ; govern- ment of, 70-77 ; succession of, 78 ; army of, 92 ; courts of, 95, 131. William II, 78, 81. William III (of Orange), marries Mary, 277 ; succession, 291 ; revo- lution of, 1688, 299 ; comes to Eng- land, 300 ; becomes king, 300 character of, 305 ; in Scotland, 306 in Ireland, 307 ; and France, 308 government of, 309 ; taxes under, 310 ; death of, 313. William IV, accession, 365 ; attitude to reform, 366 ; death of, 369. William the Lion, of Scotland, 98, 104. Wilson, Woodrow, 428 ; 432. Winchester, conquered by Saxons, 15 ; by Danes, 33 ; monks at, 36 ; origin, 47 ; and William I, 71 ; Statute of, 131, 149. Witan (wise-men), 17; increase in power, 41, 42, 43, 44; choose Ed- ward king, 59 ; Harold, 61 ; Wil- liam I, 68 ; becomes Great Council, 71. Wolfe, in Canada, 331. Wolsey, Cardinal Thomas, 193, 200- 202, 213, 226. Yeomen, 149, 164, 174, 176, 196, 269. York, House of, 163 note, 173, 174; and Lancastrians, 75 ; claims crown, 176 ; rules, 178-187. York, Paulinus in, 20, 22 ; monastery at, 25 ; archbishopric of, 65, 68 ; subordinate to Canterbury, 75 ; and Becket, 96 ; and Edward I, .141 ; minister of, 146 ; revolts, 206 ; Scots in, 263 ; represented in par- liament, 364 note. Yorktown, surrender of, 341. " Young Ireland," 373. Ypres, battle of, 420 ; 427 ; 429. Zwingli, 223. ^ .^0