E::r:mf^:--.'):M^c^: zmttt^^' 7 .A i \C^:'-'--^. ;v*>.-^ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GIFT OF Neil C.Needham ELUMENTS OF GENERAL HISTORY, ANCZSN V AND IVSODEBN. BY ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER, F. R. S. E P»ol"esscr of History ia the University of Kdiuburgh, WITH A CONTINUATION, TERMINATING AT THE DEMISE OF RING GEORGE III., 1,820. BY REV. EDWARD NAPES, D. D. Professor of Modern History iu the University of Oxford TO WHICH AKE ADDED, A SUCCINCT HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES ; WITH ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS BY AN AMERICAN GENTLEMAN. SUPPLYING IMPORTANT OMISSIONS. BJIINGING DOWN THE NARRATIOll OF EVENTS TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PRESENT YEAR. AND CORRECTING MANY PASSAGES RELATING TO THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY. \1hrTH AN IMPROVED TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY; A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY; AND QUESTIONS ON EACH SECTION. ADAPTED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES, BY AN EXPERIENCED TEACHER. S TEREOT YPED BY T. H. CARTER & CO. BOSTOW^ (toncovtf, N» fJ^, •RINTED AND PUBLISHED BY MANAHAN, HOAG & CQ. 1827. k DISTRICT OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE, to wit t District Clerk s office. BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the sixth day of November, A. D 1,824, and in the forty-ninth year of the Independence of the Uniied' State* «f America, ISAAC HILL, of the said District, has deposited in tliis office the title of a book, the right whereof lie claims as proprietor, in the words fol- lowing, to wit : — " Elements of General History, ancient and modern. By Alexander Fra- ■er Tytler, F. R S. E. Professor of History in the University of Edinburgh. With a continuation, terminating at the demise of King George III., 1,8^0. By Rev. Edward Nares, D. D. Professor of Modern History in the Univer- sity of Oxford. To which are added, a succinct History of the United States; with additions and alterations, by an American gentleman. Supply- ing important omissions, bringing down the narration of events to the begin- ning of the present year, and correcting many passages relating to the history of this country. With an improved Table of Chronology ; a comparative view of Ancient and Modern Geography ; and Questions on each seotion. Adapted for the use of Schools and Academies, by an experienced Teacher." In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" Jind also an act, entitled, " An act supplementa- ry to an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits there- of to the arts of designing, engraving, and etchii g historical av;d other prints." WILLIAM CLAGGETT, Clerk of the District of J\i'ew- Hampshire. A true copy of Record. ^g. Attest WILLIAM CLAGGETT, Clerk. ^^ D (J25'< 1 IS ^7 ADVERTISEMENT. — Q(®^— • In preparing this edition, the original text of Tytler and Nares has been carefully revised and corrected. Part IV., M'bich contains the History of South America, New Spain, and the West Indies, has been added. These countries are scarcely noticed in former editions ; but they have acquired a rank and importance which make their history equally important to the plan of this work, and equally interesting, with that of most countries in Europe. Additions have also been made to many chapters in Part III., by which the history is continued to the commencement of 1,824. The Questions for Examination in the edition of 1,823, have been corrected, and new Questions are added, adapted to the additions made to the text. The publisher has been at considerable expense in obtaining these improvements, but he trusts that they make this edition decidedly superior to any that has been hitherto published. i^^/"" PREFACE. —*»•••««— THE folloTvini^ work contains the Outliues of a Course of Lectures on General liisi j.-y, dclivereJ for m>iny years in tho University of Kdia- burTrh, and received witli a portion of the public approbation amply SnlficifUt to cnmpensati- the la'onrs of the author. He began to compose th :Sfc Elements principally with the view of furnish in|^ an aid to stiidenti atkiidins; his Lee; :^ t ; hut soon conctived, that, by g-iving' a little more amplitude to their composition, he nii^jht render the work of more general Utility. As now given io the public, be would willingly flatter iiimsell that it may be not only se.rviceabK- to ycith, in furnishing a regular plan for the prosecution of this important study, but useful even to those wlio have acquired a competent knowledge of general history from the peru- sal of the works of detached historians, and who wish to methodize that knowledge, or even to refresh their memory on material facts and the •rder of events. "^ In the composition of these Elements the author has endeavoured to unite with the detail of facts, so much of reflection as to aid the mind in the formation of rati.v..al views of the causes and consequences of events, as well as of the policy of the actors ; but he has anxiously guairded against thut speculative refinement which has sometimes entered into works of this nature. Such works profess to exhibit the philoeophy or (he spirit of history, but are more adapted to display the writt-r's ingenuity as a theorist, or talents as a rhetorician, than to instruct the reader in the more useful knowledge of historical facts. As the progress of the human miu'l forms a capital object in the study of history, the state of the arts and sciences, the religion, laws, govern- ment, and manners of nations, are material parts, even in an elementary work of this nature. The history o; literature is a most important arti- cle in this study. Tlie author ha^ theief.^rt endeavoured to give to each of these topics its due share of attention ; and in that view they are sepa- rately treated, in distinct section's, at parti<;ular periods of time. ALEX. FRASER TITLER. Edinburgh, ^pril 1801. CONTENTS. — «»»«9«44*- INTRODUCTION. Ativantages arising from the Study of History, and moro particularly from prosecuting it according to a regular Plan - - - - 11 Plak of the course ' • 13' PART FIRST ANCIENT HISTORY. Sect. 1. Earliest authentic Accounts of the History of the World 17 Soct. 2. Considerations on the Nature of the First Governments, and on the Laws, Customs, Arts, and Sciences of the first Ages 18 Sect. 3. Of the Egyptians 29 Sect. 4. Of the Phoenicians -------22 Sect. 5. The History of Greece ib. Sect. 6. Reflections on the first and rudest Periods of the Grecian History 23 Sect. 7. Early period of Grecian History. Argonautic Expedition. Wars of Thebes and Troy - . - - - 24 Sect. 8. Establishment of the Greek Colonies - - • 25 Sect. 9. The Republic of Sparta ...... 26 Sect. 10. The Republic r.f Athens 28 Sect. 11. Of the state of the Persian Empire, and its History down to the War with Greece --.... 29 Sect. 12. The War between Greece and Persia - » - - 31 Sect. 13. Age of Peric les ----..,. 33 Sect. 14. The Republic of Thebes -*.-.. 35 Sect. 1.5. Philip of Macedon •-•.... Jb, Sect. 16. Alexander the Great '-•■>■--- 36 Sect. 17. Successors of Alexander •-.... 33 Sect. 18. Fall and conquest of Greece ... . , . gQ Sect. 19. Political Reflections arising from the History of the States of Greece ----».... 40 Sect. 20. State of the Arts in Greece •«•... 41 Sect. 21. Of the Greek Poeis 43 Sect. 22. Of the Greek Historians ••>«... 45 Sect. 23. Of the Greek Philogophara 47 Sect. 24. The HiBtory of Rome 49 Rcflectious on the Government and State of Eome under tht Kingii .>...•.... 01 A2 « C0^fTENT3. Page. Sect. 25. Rome under the Consuls • .*...- 53 Sect. 26. The LawofVolero 56 Sect. 27. The Decemvirate .».-.. ..57 Sect. 28. Increase of popular Power ---.-. 53 Sect. 29. Conquest of Italy by the Romans . - - • . 59 Sect. 30. History of Carthage 60 Sect. 31. History of SicUy -61 Sect. 32. The Punic Wars 62 Sect. 33. The Gracchi, and the Corruption of the Commonwealth 64 Sect. 34. Progress of the Civil Wars. Second Triumvirate, and fall of the Republic -' 67 Sect. 35. Considerations on such particulars as mark the Genius and national Character of the Romans ... - 70 System of Roman Education ..---. ib. Sect. 36. Of the Progress of Literature among the Romans • 71 Sect. 37. State of Philosophy among the Romans ... 75 Sect. 38. Of the Public and Private Manners of the Romans - - 76 Sect. 3.9. Of the Art of War among the Romans ... 77 Beet. 40. Reflections arising from a View of the Roman History during the Commonwealth ...... 79 Beet. 41. Rome under the Emperors ...... 81 Sect. 42. The same subject continued ..... 84 Sect. 43. Age of the Antoniues, &c. ...... 87 Sect. 44. State of the Roman Empire at the time of Constantine. His Successors ...-..-- 90 Sect. 45. Progress of the Christian Religion from its Institution to the Extinction of Paganism in the Reign of Theodoeius - 93 Sect. 46. Extinction of the Roman Empire in the West - - 95 Sect. 47. Of the Origin, Manners, and Character of the Gothic Nations before their establisluuenl in the Roman Empire - 97 Sect. 48. Of the Manners, Laws, and Government of the Gothic Na- tions after their establishment in the Roman Empire 99 Sect. 49. Method of studying Ancient History - - - - 108 PART SECOND. MODERN HISTORY. Sect. 1. Of Arabia and the Empire of the Saracens - - 106 Sect. 2. Monarchy of the Franks ... - - lUQ Sect. 3. Reflections on the State of France during the Merovingian race of its Kings - - 109 Sect. 4. Charlemagne. The new Empire of the West - - 112 Sect. 5. Manners, Governments, and Customs of the Age of Char- lemagne ......... 113 Sect. 6. Retrospective View of the Affairs of the Church before the Age of Charlemagne ...... 115 Sect. 7. Empire of the West under the Successors of Charlemagne 116 Sect. 8. Empire of the East during the Eighth and Ninth Centuries 118 Sect. 9. State of the Church in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries ' 119 Sect. 10. Of the Saracens in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries - 120 Sect. 11. Empire of tb« West and Italy in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries ......--- 121 Beet 12 Histoiy of Britain from its earliest Period down to the Nor- man Conquest ....... 123 Mta 18 Ofta«Ginr«rnnMnt)iLaws,andManiMrs9f the AD£lo-&ax(HM IS^* CONTENTS. 7 Page. fleet. 14. State of Europe. during the Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Centuries - - -- ... - . 128 Sect. 15. History of England in the Eleventh, Twelfth, and part of the Thirteenth Centuries 131 Sect. 16. State of Germany and Italy in the Thirteenth Century 134 Sect. 17. The Crusades or Holy Wars 135 Sect. 18. Of Chivalry and Romance 138 Sect. 19. State of Europe in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries 140 Sect. 20. Revolution in Switzerland - - - . . . 141 Sect. 21. State of Europe continued in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and part of the Fifteenth Centuries .... 142 Sect. 22. History of England in the Thirteenth Century - - 143 Sect. 23. History of Scotland from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Century 144 Sect. 24. History of England in the Fourteenth Century - - 146 Sect. 25. England and France in the Fifteenth Century. State of Manners 147 Sect. 26. Decline and Fall of the Greek Empire . - , 149 Sect. 27. Government and Policy of the TurTkish Empire - • 150 Sect. 28. France and Italy in the End of the Fifteenth Century 151 Sect. 29. History of Spain in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries 152 Sect. 30. France, Spain, and Italy, in the End of the Fifteenth and Be- ginning of the Sixteenth Century .... 158 Sect. 31. History of England from tke Middle of the Fifteenth to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century. Civil Wars of York and Lancaster • - - -- - . . 154 Sect. 32. History of Scotland from the Middle of the Fourteenth Cen- tury to the End of the Reign of James V. - - 1.56 Sect. 33. Of the Ancient Constitution of the Scottish Government 159 Sect. 34. A view of the Progress of Literature and ^ience in Europe from the Revival of Letters to the End of the Fifteenth Century ... 160 Sect. 35. View of the Progress of Commerce in Europe before the Portuguese Discoveries 163 Sect. 36. Discoveries of the Portuguese in the Fifteent^i Century, and their efiects on tlie Commerce of Europe ... 165 Sect. 37. Germany and France in the Reigns of Charl«^s V. and Fran- cis I. - - - - - - ,- - - 167 Sect. 38. Observations on the Constitution of the German Empire 170 Sect. 39. Of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland, and the Revolution in Denmark and Sweden . •*. . . n\ Sect. 40. Of the Reformation in England under Henry VIII. and his Successors ........ 174 Sect. 41. Of the Discovery and Conquest of America by the Spaniards 175 Sect. 42. Possessions of the other European Nations in America 177 Sect. 43. Of the State of the Fine Arts in Europe, in the Age of Leo X. 180 Sect. 44. Of the Ottoman Power in the Sixteenth Century - - 182 Sect. 45. State of Persia, and the other Asiatic Kingdoms, in the Six- teenth and Seventeenth Centuries .... 183 Sect. 46. History of India 184 Sect. 47. Ancient State of India ; Manners, Laws, Arts, and Sciences, and Religion, of the Hindoos . . - - , 186 Sect. 48. Of China and Japan ....... lyQ Sect. 49. Of the Antiquity of the Empire of China. State of the Arts #nd Sciences, Manners, Government, Laws - - 189 Sect. 50. Mr. Bailly's Theory of the Origin of the Sciences among the Nations of Asia . - .- - . . . J98 Sect. 51. Reignof Philip II. of Spaia. Revolution of the Netherlands, and Estsblishment of the Republic oft Holland - 194 Beet. .52. Of the Constitution a«d GovernmcDt of the United Provinces 19$ Sect. 53. R«ign of Philip II. continued * & ^ .< . I97 8 COISfTENTS. Fagt. Sect. 54. State of France in the End of the Sixteenth Century, under Henry II., Francia II., Charles IX., Honry III., and Henry IV. 197 Sect. 55. History of England and Scotland in the Reigns of Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots 199 Sect. 56. History of Great Britain in the Reigns of James I. and Charles I. 203 Sect. -57. The Commonwealth of England 207 Sect. .^)8. Reigns of Charles II. and James II. - - - . 209 Sect. 50. On the British Constitution 211 Sect. 60. Of the Public Revenue of Great Britain •. - • 214 Sect. 61. History of France under LcwiK XIII. .... 216 Sect 62. Spain under Philip III. and Philip IV. Constitution of Por- tugal and Spain - - - - - - - - 217 Sect. 63. Affairs of Germany from the Abdication of Charles V. to the Peaae of Westphalia ...... 218 Sect. 64. France under Lewis XIV. 219 Sect. 65. Of the Constitution of France under the Monarchy - 223 Sett. 66. Of Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy, and Charles XII., King of Sweden 224 Sect. 67. A View of Ihe Progress of Science and Literature in Europe, from ihe End of the Fifteenth to the End of the Sixteenth Century - . 237 APPENDIX. THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS. Sect. 1. A General View of the History of Mankind in the Primeval Ages 231 Sect. 2. Summary View of Jewish History .... 232 Sect. 3. The Antiquity of the Scriptures 233 Sect. 4. The Subject of the Books, and Characters of the Writers 235 Sect. 5. Of the Antediluvian World 240 Sect. 6. First Ages after the Deluge ...... 241 Sect. 7. Of the Jews ib Sect. 8. The History of the Hebrews during the Government of the Judges 244 Sect. 9. Retrospect of the Government of the Hebrews - - 245 Sect. 10. Regal Government of the Hebrews .... 246 Sect. 11. Restoration of the Jews to their Liberty and Country - 249 Sect. 12. The State of Learning and Commerce among the Jews 252 Conclusion ,.,-.--...* 253 PART THIRD. MODERN HISTORY. Ccdb 1. France, from the death of Lewis XJV^ 1,715, to the Peace of Vienna, 1,738 -< SW CONTENTS. 9 Page. Sect. 9. Ensland, from the Accession of the House of Hanover, 1,714, to tlie end of tho Reign of George ide First, 1,727 2ii2 Sect. 3. Austria, (and Germanv,) from tho Peace of Kastadt, 1,714, to the Peace i^fAix-la-Cliapelle, 1,748 - - - 868 Sect. 4. En_l;'nd. from U\v Accession of George 11. to the Throne, 1.727, io his death, 1,760 - 273 Sect. -5. State of Eurorie at the Conclusion of the Peace of Aix-la- Chapelle. 1.74:5 278 Sect. 6. Of the yeven Years' W^ar, 1,755— l,7fi2 . - - 2rfl Sect. 7. From the Accession of CK'ur^e III., I,7'.i0,to the Commence- ment of ttie Disputes with America, 1,71)1 " " r ^'^^ Sect. 8. DisDutes between Great Brham and her American Colonies, l',7(i4— 1,7«3 291 Sect. 9. France, from the Peace of Paris, 1,7G3, to tho Opening of the Assemhly of the States General, 1,78'J - - - 297 Sect. 10. Austria, from the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, to the death of Maria Tiieresa, 1,7G;^— 1,780 - - - 307 Sect. 11. Reigns of Joseph II.. Leopold II , &c., from 1,765 to 1^800 309 Sect. 12. France, from the OpeniiiV of the Assembly of the States General, 1,78'», to the deaths of the King and Queen, 1,793 316 Sect. 13. Great Britain, from tlie conclusion of the American War, 1,783, to the Peace of Amiens, 1,802 - - - - 322 Sect. 14. France, from the death of the King and Queen, and Over- throw of the Girondist or Brissotine Party, 1,793, to the Establishment of the Directory, 1,795 - - - 333 Sect. 15. France, ficm the Establishment of the i'irectory, 1,795, to the Peace of Amiens ------- 337 Sect. 16. France, from the Peace of Amiens to the Treaty of Tilsit, 1,807 347 Sect. 17. Spain and Portugal, from 1,788 to 1,814 - - - 353 Sect. 18. France, from the Peace of Tilsit, to the Abdication of Na- poleon, 1,814 ...--. - . 359 Sect. 19. Poland, from the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century, to the Treaty of Vienna, 1,815 . . - - 363 Sect. 20. Great Britain, from the Peace of Amiens, 1,802, to the death of George III., 1,820 - - 369 Sect. 21. France, from the Entrance of the Allies into Paris, March, 1,814, to the final Evacuation of it by the Foreign Troops, 1,818 375 Sect. 22. Northern States of Europe, from the Close of the Seven- teenth Century 379 Sect. 23. Southern States of Europe, from the Close of the Seventeenth Century 387 Sect. 24. Of India, or Hindoostan ..--.. 391 State of Arts, Sciences, Religion, Laws, Government, «fee. - •• 398 Botany ... 402 Electricity --.-...... 405 Mineralogy and Geology - - • - - - .- 407 Geography '- - - - - . .- 409 Discoveries and Inventions ... . , 419 Relio-ion - - 420 History, Polite Literature, Fine Arts, &c. .- 422 Treaty of Vienna, 1,815 .... 433 2 1 19 CONTENTS. i PART FOURTH. THE UNITED STATES. ■j Pag* I Sect. 1. Discovery of America .-.--,. 434 J Sect. 2. Discoveries by tlie English. Settlement of Virginia. • 427 i Sect. 3. Settlement of Massachusetts, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New- ' Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, North and South Carolina, 1 New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Georgia ........ 431 Sect. 4. War with France, and Conquest of Canada. Disputes with Great Britain, and War of the Revolution ... 438 Sect. 5. Establishment of the State and National Governments. Wars with Tripoli asd the Indians, &c. .... 44$ Sect. 6. War with Great Britain, &c. -.--*. 451 A Tfible of Chronology * * 4«l CtiHFARATlVE VIEW OF AkCIEKT AND MoDERK GEOGRAPHY ' 4t>9 INTRODUCTION. -'•^•••4«-' 1. THE value of any science is to be estimated accordin* to its tenden- cy to promote improvement, either in private virtue, or in those qualities which render man extensively useful in society. Some objects ol' pursuit have a secondary utility ; in furnishing rational amusement, which, re- lievin* the mind at intervals from the fatigue of serious occupation, in- vigorates and prepares it for fresh exertion. It is the pt rfectiou of any science, to unite these advantages, to promote the advancement of public and private virtue, and to supply such a degree of amusement, as to super- sede the necessity of recurring to frivolous pursuits for the sake of relaxa- tion. Under this description falls the science of history. 2. History, says Dionysius of Halicarnassus, is ■■ philosophy teaching by examples." The superior efficacy of example to precept is universally ackuowledgea All the laws of morality and rules oi conduct are veri- fied by experience, and are constantly submitted to its test and examina- tion. History, which adds to our own experience an immense trt;asure of the experience of others, furnishes innumerable proofs, by which we may verify all the precepts of morality and of prudence. 3. History, beside its general advantages, has a distinct species of util- ity to diderent men, according to their several ranks in society, and occu- pations in life. 4. In this country it is an indispensable duty of every man of liberal birth, to be acquainted, in a certain degree, with the science of- politics ; and history is the school of politics. It opens to us the springs of human affairs ; the causes of the rise, grandeur, revolutions, and fail of empires ; it points out the reciprocal influence of government and of national man- ners ; it dissipates prejudices, nourishes the love of our country, and di- rects to the best means of its improvt ment ; it illustrates equally the bless- ings of political union, and the miseries of faction ; the danger, on one hand, of anarchy, and, on the other, the debasing influence of despotic power. 5. It is necessary that the study of history should be prosecuted accord- ing to a regular plan ; for this science, more perhaps than any other, is liable to perversion from its proper use. With some it is no better than an idle amusement ; with others it is the food of vanity ; with a third class it fosters the prejudices of party, and leads to political bigotry. It is dangerous for those who, even with the best intentions, seek for histori- cal knowlehone out at once with sur- prising lustre. — A connected view is presented of the progress of literature in Europe, fro.u its revival down to this period. — in the same age the ad- vancement of navigation, and the course to India by the Cape of Good Hope, explored by the Portuguese, affect the commerce of all the Europe- an 1 iugdoms. The age of v. harles V. unites in one connected view the affairs of Ger- many, of Spain, of 1 rauce, of England, and of Italy. The discovery of the new world, the relormation m Germany and England, and the splen- dour of the line arts under the pontificate of Leo X., render this period ©ne of tlie most interesting in the annals of mankind. The paciiication of Europe, by the treaty of Catteau Cambresis, allows us for a while to turn our attention to the state of Asia. A short sketch is given of the modern history of I'ersia, and the state of the other kingdoms of vsia, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; the history of India • the manners, laws, arts, and sciences, and religion of the Hindoos ; the history of China and Japan; the antiquity of the Chinese empire, its manners, laws, government, and attainments in the arts and sciences. Returning to Europe, the attention is directed to the state of the conti- nental kingdoms in the age of Philip II. Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England, present a various and animated picture. England under Elizabeth. The progress of the reformation in Scot- Jand. — Xlie distracted reign of Mary, queen of Scots. — Tfae hiatotj of 1« PLAN OF THE COURSE. Britain pursued without interruption down to the revolution, and hereclos* ed by a »ketch <;f tbt- progress of the English constitution, and an exam- ination of its natiuv .it this period, when it became fixed and detenriiiH d. The history of the southern continental kingfdoins is brought down to the end of the n ijii of Louis XIV. ; of the northern, to the conclusion oi the reigns of Chailes XII. of Sweden, and of Peter the great, czar of JVius- cory. We finish this view of universal history, by a survey of the state of the arts and sciences, and of the progress of literature in Europe, during the •Ixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Thf chronolos^y observed in this View of Universal History is that of arehbi'hop Ushtr^ which is founded on tht Hehrexi- text of the Sacred Writ- ings. 4 short Table of Chronology is subjoined to these headt,for the Kue Qj 'he itudtnt. PART FIRST. ANCIENT HISTORY. SECTION I. EARLIEST AUTHENTIC ACCOUNTS OF THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. It is a difficult task to delineate the state of mankind in the ear- liest ages of the world. We want information sutficient to give us positive ideas on the subject ; but as man advances in civilization, an,l in proportion as history becomes useful and important, its cer tainty increases, and its materials ara more abundant. Various notions have been formed with respect to the population of the antediluvian world and its physical appearance ; but as these are rather matters of theory than of fact, they scarcely fail with- in the province of history ; and they are of the less consequence, because we are certain that tha state of those antediluvian ages could have had no material intiuence on the times which succeeded (hem. The books of Moses afford the earliest authentic history of the ages immsdiately foUowing the deluge. About 15U years afccr that event, Nimrod (the Belus of profane historians) buiit Babylon and Assur built Nineveh, which became the capital of the Assyrian empire. • Ninas the son of Beius, and his queen Semiramis, are said to have raised the empire of Assyria to a higher degree of splendour. From the death of Ninias the son of Ninus, down to the revolt ol the Medes under Sardanapalus, a period of 800 years, there is a chasm in the history of Assyria and Babylon. Thio is to be supplied onlv from conjecture. The earliest periods of the Egyptian history are equally uncer- tain with those of the Assvdan. Menes is supposed the first king of Egypt ; probably the Misraim of the Holy Scriptures, the grandson of iNoah, or, as otiiers conjecture, tbe Oziris of Egypt, the inventor of arts, and the civiiizer of a great part of the eastern worlA After Menes or Oziris, E^ypt appears to have been divided into four dynasties, Thebes. Thin, Memphis, and Tanis ; ard the people to have attained a c^'usiderable degree of civiUz^t"'^' but a period of barbarism .sncceeded under the shepherd-kiiv=5 subsisting for the space of »oaie centuries, down to the age of -sesostris (1650 A. C), who iHuted the separate principalities Into one kingdom, regulated its policy with admirable skill, and disuoguisbed hjmself equally by his foreign conquests, and by his dotnestic administration. B2 3 , l»' ANCIENT HISTORY. SECTION II. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE NATURE OF THE FIRST GOVERN- MENTS, AND ON THE LAWS, CUSTOMS, ARTS, AND SCIENCES OF THE EARLY AGES. ^ 1. The earliest government is the patriarchal, which subsists in the rudest periods ofsociety. This has an easy progress to the monarchical. The first monarchies must have been very weak, and their terri- tory extremely limited. The idea of security precedes that of conquest. In torming our notions of the extent of the first monar- chies, we are deceived by the word king, which according to modem ideas, is connected with an extent of -territory, and a proportional power. The kings in scripture are no more than the chiefs of tribes. There were five Kings in the vale of Sodom. Joshua defeated in his wars thirty-one kings, and Adonizedec threescore and ten. When families grew into nations, the transition from patriarchal to regal government, was easy; the kingly office, probably passed by descent from father to son, and the sovereign ruled bis tribe or na- tion, as the patriarch his family, by the right of birth. The first ideas of conquest must have proceeded from a people in fte state of shepherds, ^vho, necessarily changing their, pastures, would probably make incursions on the appropriated territory of their neighbours. Such were the Arabian or rhoenician invaders, who, under the name of shepherd-kings, conquered Egypt. But kingdoms so founded could have little duration. Laws and good policy, essential to the stability of kingdoms, are the fruit of intellec- tual refinement, and arise only in a state of society considerably ad- vanced in civilization. The progress from barbarism to civilization is slow, because every step in the progress is the result of necessity, after the experience of an error, or the strong feeling of a want. § 2. Origin of Laws. Certain political writers have supposed tfiat in the infancy of society penal laAvs must have been extremely mild. We presume the contrary to have been rather the case, as the more barbarous the people, the stronger must be the bonds to restrain them : and history confirms the supposition in the ancient laws of the Jews, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. Among the earliest laws of all states are those regarding marriage ; for the institution of marriage is coeval with the formation ofsociety. The first sovereigns of all states are said to ha?e instituted marriage ; and the earliest laws provided encouragements to matrimony. Among the ancient nations the husband purchased his wife by money, or personal services. Among the Assyrian* the marriageable women were put up at auction, and "the price obtained for the more beautiful w«s assigned as a dowry to ttio more homely. The laws *f succession are next in oid^^r to those of marriage. The father had tbe absolute power in the I'.ivision of his estate* But primogeniture ws. The Mexicans communicated intelligence to a distance by paiiiling. Other nations used an abridged mode of painting, or hi- eroglyphics. Before wiUing the Egyptians used hieroglyphics for transmitting and recording knowledge : after writing, they employ- ed it for veiling or concealing knowledge from the vuigar. § 4. Methods for recording Historical Facts, and publishing Laws. Poetry and song were the tirst vehicles of history, and the earliest mode of promulgating laws. The songs of the bards, record a great deal of ancient history ; and the laws of many of the ancient nations were composed in verse. Stones, rude and sculptured, tumuli and mounds of earth, are the monuments of history among a barbarous people; and columns, tri- umphal arciies, coins, and medals, among a more refined. These likewise illustrate the progress of manners and of the arts. § 5. Religious Listitutions. Among the earliest institutions of all cations, are those which regard religious worship. The sentiment of rehgion is deeply rooted in the human mind. An uninstructed savage will infer the existence of a God, and his attributes, from the general order and mechanism of nature ; and even the temporary irregularities of nature lead to religious venei-ation of the unknown power which conducts it. Before conceiving the idea of a Being utterly imperceptible to his senses, a savage would naturally seek that Being in the most striking objects of sense to which he owed his most apparent benefits. Tii8 sun, extending his beneficial influence over all nature, was aniong the earliest oojects of worship. The fire presented a symbol of the sua. The other celestial bodies naturally attracted their share of veneration.* The symbolical mode of writing led to many peculiarities of the idolatrous worship of the ancient nations. Animals, symbolical of the attrioules of deity, oecame gods themselves. The same God, repie- sented by different animais, was supposed to have changed himself into different forms. The gratitude and veneration for men whose lives had been eminently useful, joined to the belief of the souPs im- mortcdity, led to the apotheosis ot heroes. Many excellent reflections on itlolatry and polytheism are found in the book called I'fie Wisdotn (f .joloinon. TuL priesthood was anciently exercised by the chief or monarch} • It is a theory, supported by many facts, that in the beginning, aH reli- gious truth was made known to man by direct levelation. In succeed- ing ages, intellectual perception was gradually clouded by the sensual and gross nature of man, until his mind could not contemplate Deity, but through the veil of His works. Thus the heavenly were perhaps, at first "Worshipped as representative of their maker, but gradually became objects of direct adoration, and finally every element was peopled with deities ; and mountains, foregta, streams, aad aaimala, were coasecr&ted and wor- «luppe JO ANCIENT HISTORY. but as an empire became extensive, the monarch exercised this office by his delegates : vuid hence an atitiitionai source of veneration for the priesthood. The priests were the framers and the administrators oi the laws. § 6. Arts and Scietices of Hic Ancient J\/'atio7is. The nseful arts are the offspring of necessity; the sciences are the fruit of ease and leisure. The construction of huts, of weapons of war, and of hnnt- ing, are the earUest arts. Agriculture is not practised till the tribe becomes stationary, and property is (letiiied and secured. The sciences arise in a cultivated society, where individuals enjoy that leisure which invites to study and speculation. The priests maintained in that condition by the monarch were ihe evirliest cul- tivators of science. The Egyptian science w:is contined to the priests. Ast^-onomy, which is among the earliest of the sciences, owed its origin probably to superstition. Medicine was among tlie early sciences. All rude nations have a pharmacy of their own, equal in general to their wants. Luxury, creating new and more complex diseases, requires a profounder knowledge of medicine, and of the animal economy. SECTION 111. OF THE EGYPTIANS. 1. A GREAT portion of the knowledge and attainments of the ancient nations, and by consequence of those of the modems, is to be traced to Egypt. The Egyptians instructed the Greeks ; the Greeks perform- ed the same office to the Romans ; and the latter have transmitted much of that knowledge to the world, of which we are in possession at this day.* 2. The antiquity of this empire, though we give no credit to the chronicles of Manetho, must be allowed to be very great. The Mo- saic writings represent Egypt, about 430 years after the flood, as a flourishing and well regulated kingdom. The nature of the country itself affords a presumption of the great antiquity of the empire, and its early civilization. From the feriiiizing effects of the waters of the Nile, it is probable that agricuiture would be more early prac- tised there, than in regions less favoured by nature. The periodical inundations of the Nile are perhaps owing to the vapours of the Mediterranean condensed on the mountains of Ethiopia. 3. The government of Egypt was a hereditary monarchy. The powers of the monarch were limited by constitutional laws; yet in many respects his authoritv was extremely despotical. The func- tions of the sovereign were partly civil and partly religious.— -The king had the chief regulation of all that regarded tlie worship of the gods; and the priests, considered as his deputies, filled all the of- fices of state. They were both the legislators and the civil judges ; they imposed and levied the taxes, and regulated weights and meas- ures. The great national tribunal was composed of thirty judges, chosen from the three principal departments of the empire. The administration of justice was defrayed by the sovereign, and, as par- ties were their own advocates, was no burden upon the people, The penal laws of Egypt were uncommonly severe. Female cha»- * F«r tk« supposed or%in of Egyptian •cience, se* Part II. S«ct. ^. ANCIENT HISTORY. 91 tity waa most rigidly protected. Funeral rites were not conferred till after a scrutiny into the life of the deceased, and by a judicial decree approving his character. The characters even of the sove- reigns were subjected to tliis inquiry. There was an extraordinary regulation in Egypt regarding the borrowing of money. The borrower gave in pledge the body of his fataer, and it was deprived of funeral rites if he failed to re- deem it. Population was encouraged by law ; and every man was bound to maintain and educate the children born to him of his slaves. 4. The manners of the Egyptians were vei'y early formed. They had a singular attachment to ancient usages ; a dislike to innovation; a jealousy and abhorrence of strangers. 5. They preceded most of the ancient nations in the knowledge of the useful arts, and in the cultivation of the sciences. Architecture was early brought to great perfection. Their buildings, the pyra- mids, obelisks, kc.^ have, from the mildness of the climate, suffered little injury from time. Pliny describes the contrivance for trans- porting tha obelisks. The whole country abounds with the remains of ancient magnificence. Thebes, in Upper Egypt, was one of the most splendid cities in the world. The pyramids arc sypposed by some writers to have been erected about 900 years A. C. They were probably the sepulchral monu- ments of the sovereigns. The Egyptians believed that death did not separate the soul from the body ; and hence their extreme care to preserve the body entire, by embalming, concealing it in caves and catacombs, and guarding it by such stupendous structures. Mr. Bruce supposes the pyramids to be rocks hewn into a pyramidal form, and encrusted, where necessary, with mason-work.* The remains of art in Egypt, though venerable for their great an- tiquity, are extremely deficient in beauty and elegance. The Egyp- tians, were ignorant of the construction of an arcn. The remains of painting and sculpture evince but a slender proficiency in those arts. 6. The Egyptians possessed considerable knowledge of geometiy, mechanics, and astronomy. They had divided the zodiac into twelve signs ; they calculated eclipses ; and seem to have had an idea of the motion of the earth. 7. The morality taught by the priests was pure and refined j but it had little innuence on the manners of the people. 8. So likewise the theology and secret doctrines of the priests were rational and sublime ; but the worship of the people Was de- based by the most absurd and contemptible superstition. 9. Notwithstanding the early civilization and the great attainments of this people, their national character was extremely low and des- picable among the contemporary nations of antiquity. The reason of this is, they were a people who chose to sequester themselves from the rest of mankind ; they were not known to other nations by their conquests ; they had little connexion with them by commerce ; and they had an antipathy to the persons and manners of strangers. 10. There were likewise many circumstances of their own man-- ners which tended to degrade them in the opinion of other nations. All professions were hereditary in Egypt, and the rank of each was scrupulously settled; the objects of the religious worship were dif^ ferent in different parts of the kingdom, a fertile source of division * Recoat travellers have almpst demonstrated this supposition* « ANCIENT HISTORY. and controversy ; their peculiar superstitions were of the most ab- surd and debasing nature ; and the manners of the people were ex- k-enaely loose and profligate. SECTION IV. OF THE PH(ENICIANS. 1. The Phoenicians were among the most early civilized nations ©f the east. We are indebted to them for the invention of wiiling, and for the tii-st attempts at commercial navigation. The fragments of iSanchoniatho are the most ancient monuments of writing after the boolis of Moses. Sanchoniatho was contemporary with J oshua, about 1440 A. C. and 500 before the cities of Attica were united by Theseus. 2. Tlie Phoenicians, (the Canaanites of scripture), were a com- mercial people in the days of Abraham. In the time of the Hebrew judges they bad begun to colonize. Their first settlements were Cyprus and Rhodes ; thence thev passed into Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain ; and formed establishments likewise on the western coast of Africa. The" Sidonians carried on an exteusive commerce at th« Ume of the Trojan war. SECTION V. THE HISTORY OF GREECE. 1. Greece being indebted for the first rudiments of civilization to the I.gyptiiit^s and Phoenicians, its history improperly introduced by an accoiiut of those uicre ancient nations. ii. The early an'.Kibiiies of this country are disguised by fafcle; but from the time when it becomes important, it has been treated of by eminent wriiers. 3. The ancient inhabitants of Greece, the Pelasgi, Hiantes, Lele- ges, were extremely barharous ; but a dawning of civilization arose under the Titaii**, a Phoenician or Lgyptian colony, who settle J in the country about the time of IVioses. Tlie Titans gave the Greeks the first idcns of religion, an I introduced the worsnip of their own gods, haturn, Jupiter, Ceres, &,c. Succeeding ages ccnJbunded those Titans themselves wiih the gods, and hence sprung numberless fables. 4.* Inachus, the last of the Titans, foundecl the kingdom v{ Argos, 1856 A. C. ; and Egialtes, one of his sons, the kingdoni of Sicyon. 5. In the following centui-y happened the deluge of Cgyges, Pi 96 A. C. Then followed a period of barbarism for above £00 years. 6. Cecrops, the leader of another colony from Egypt, landed in Attica, 1 582 A. C. ; and, connecting himself with the last king, suc- ceeded, on his death, to the sovereignty. He built twelve cities, and was eminent, both as a lawgiver and politician. 7. The Grecian history derives some authenticity at this period from the Chronicle of Paros,^ presented among the Arundelian mai:- bles at Oxj^tord. The authority of this chronicle has Bi^nx[Uf sli'nea of liitc, and many argum^ nts adduced presumptive of its being a fbriv, ry ; but, on a review of the whole controversy, we judge the ar- guments for its authenticity to preponderate. It fixes the dates of tbe ANCIENT HISTORY. 23 most remarkable events in the history of Greece, from the time of Cecrops down to the age of Alexander the great. 8. Cranaus succeeded Cecrops, in whose time happened two re- markable events recorded in the Chronicle of Paros : the judgment of the areopagus between Mars and Neptune, two princes of Thessa- ly ; and the deluge of Deucalion. The court of areopagus, at Athens, was instituted by Cecrops. The number of its judges varied at differ- ent periods, fi'om nine to tifty-one. The deluge of Deucalion, magni- fied and disguised by the poets, was probably only a partial inundation, 9. Amphyction, the contemporary of Cranaus, if the founder of the amphyctionic council, must have possessed extensive views of policy. This council, from a league of"+svelve cities, became a representative assembly of the states of Greece, and had the most admirable political effects in uniting the nation, and giving it a com- nson interest. 10. Cadmus, about 1519. A. C, introduced alphabetic writing into Greece, from Phoenicia. 'I'he alphabet then had only sixteen letters ; and the mode of writing (termed homtrophedon)^ was alternately from right to left and left to right. From this period the Greeks made rapid advances in civilization. SECTION VI. REFLECTIONS ON THE FIRST AND RUDEST PERIODS OF THE GRECIAN HISTORY. 1. The country of Greece presents a large, irregular peninsula, intersected by many chains of mountains, separating its different districts, and opposing natural impediments to general intercourse, and therefore to rapid civilization. The extreme barbarism of the Pelasgi, who are said to have been cannibals, and ignorant of the use of tire, has its parallel in modem barbarous nations. There were many circumstances that retarded the progress of the Greeks to refinement. The introduction of a national religion was best fit- ted to remove those obstacles. Receiving this new system of theolo- gy from strangers, and entertaining at first very confused ideas of it, they wovdd naturally blend its doctrines and worship with the notions of religion which they formerly possessed ; and hence we observe only partial coincidences of the Grecian with the Egyptian and Phoenician mythologies. It has been a vain and wearisome labour of modern mythological writers, to attempt to trace all the fables of anti- quity, and the various systems of pagan theology, up to one common source. The difficulty of this is best shown, by comparing the differ- ent and most contradictory solutions of the same fable given by differ- ent mythologists ; as, for example, lord Bacon and the abbe Banier. Some authors, with much indiscretion, have attempted to deduce all the Pagan mythologies from the holy scriptures. Such researches are unprofitable, sometimes mischievous. 2. Superstition, in the early periods, was a predominant charac- teristic of the Greeks. To this age, and to this character of the people, we refer the origin of the Grecian oracles, and the institu- tion of the public games in honour of the gods. The desire of penetrating into futurity, and the superstition com- mon to rude nations, gave rise to the oracles of Delphi, Dodonn. &,c, The resort of strangers to these oracles on particular occasional, led to the celebration of a festival, and to public games. S4 ANCIENT HISTORY. The four solemn games of the Greeks, particularly termed iepot. were the Olympic, the Pythian, the Nemean, and the Isthmian.; They consisted principally in contests of skiil in all the athletic ex-« ercises, and the prizes were chiefly honorary marks of distioction. ' Archbishop Potter, in his Archmiogm Grosca, fully details their par- ticular nature. These games had excellent political effects, in pro- i moling national union, indiifusing the love of glory, and training the '• youth to martial exercises. Tliey cherished at once a heroical and ! superstitious spirit, which led to the formation of extraordinary and hazardous enterprises. SECTION VIL ; I EARLY PERIOD OF THE GRECIAN HISTORY. THE ARGO- ■ JVAUTIC EXPEDITION. WARS OF THEBES AND OF TROY. : 1. The history ol Greece, for a period of 300 years preceding the Trojan war, is intermixed with fables; but contains, at the same'! time, many facts entitled to credit, as authentic. Erectheus, or Erich-*^ thonius, either a Greek who had visited Egypt, or the leader of a ' new Egyptian colony, cultivated the plains of Eleusis, and instituted i the Eleusinian mysteries, in imitation of the Egyptian games of Isis. ; Thesemysteries were of a religious and moral nature, conveying the doctrines of the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, and a .' fiiture state of reward and punishment. Cicero speaks of them >. with high encomium. But the ceremonies connected with them ; seem to be childish and ridiculous. 2. Theseus laid the foundation of the grandeur of Attica, by unit- , ing its twelve cities, and giving them a common constitution, 1257 ^ A. C. 3. The first great enterprise of the Greeks was the Argonautic ^ expedition, 1263 A. C. (Usher), and 937 A. C. (sir 1. iVewton). . This is supposed to have been both a military and a mercantile ad- ' venture, and was singularly bold for the times in which it was under- i taken. The object was, to open the commerce of the Euxine sea, ! and to secure some estabiishmcnls on its coasts. The astronomer ] Chiron directed the plan of the voyage, and iormed, for the use of the mariners, a scheme of the constellations, fixing with accuracy ', the solstitial and equinoctial points. Sir Isaac Newton has lounded his emendation of the ancient chronology on a calculation of the ; regular procession of the equinoxes from this period to tlie present, * as well as on an estimate of the medium length of human genera- . tions. \ 4. The strife of the military art at this time in Greece may be ; estimated from an account of the sieges of Thebes and Troy. In these enterprises the arts of attack and defence were very rude ; and imperfect. The siege was entirely of the nature of blockade, and i therefore necessarily of long duration. A dispute for the divided sovereignty of Thebes between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices^ '■ gave rise to the war, which was terminated by single combat, in | which both were killed. j 5. The sons of the commanders slain in this war renewed the | quarrel of their fathers, and occasioned the war of the Epigonoi, a : •ubject en which Homer is said to have written a poem, now lost, •qual to the Iliad and Odyssey. ANCIENT HISTORY. Sft 6. The detail of the war of Troj rests chiefly on the authority of Homer, and ougat not, in spite of modern scepticism, to be refus- ed, ia its principal iacts, the credit of a true history. After a block- ade of ten years Troy was taiten, either by storm or surprise, 1 184 A. C, and being set on lire in the night, was burnt to tlie ground, not a vestige of its ruins existing at the present day. The empire fell from tnat moment. The Greeks settled a colony near tlie spot, and the rest of the kingdom was occupied by the Lydians. 7. Military expeditions at this time were carried on only in the spring and summer. In a tedious siege the winter w;is a season of armistice. The science of militai'y tactics was then utterly unknown, every battle being a multitude of single com!>at5. The soldier had no pay but his share of the booty, divided by the chiefs. Tne weapons of war were the sword, the bow, the javelin, the club, the hatchet, and the sling. A helmet of brass, an enormous shield, a CBirass, and buskins, were the weapons of defence. SECTION VIII. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GREEK COLONIES. 1. About eighty years after the taking of Troy, beganlhe war of the Heraclidse. Hercules, the son ot Amphitryon, sovereign of Mycenae, was banished from his country with all his family, while tlie crown was possessed by a usurper. His descendants, after the • period of a century, retanied to Peloponnesus, and subduing all their enemies, took possession of the states ol' Mycenae, Argos, and Lacedaemon. 2. A long period of civil war and bloodshed succeeded, and Greece, divided among a number of petty tyrants, suffered equally the mis- eries of oppression and anarchy. Codrus, king of Athens, showed a singular example of patriotism, m devoting himself to death for his country; yet the Athenians, weary of monarchy, determined to make the experiment of a popu- lar constitution. Medon, the son of Codrus. was elected chief magis- trrite, with the title of archon. This is tne commencement of th/ej Athenian republic, about 1068 A. C. d. It was at this time that the Greeks began to colonize. The oppression which they sutiered at home forced many of them to abandon their country, and seek refuge in other lauds. A large body of iEoiians from Pel'Jponnesus founded twelve cities in the Lesser Asia, of which Smyrna was the most considerable. A troop of lonim exiles built Lphesus, Colophon, Clazoraene, and other towns; giving to their new settlements the name of their native country, ionia. The Dorians sent off colonies to Italy and Sicily, founding, m the former, Tarentum and Locri, and in the latter, Syracuse and Arigentum. The mother country considered its colonies as emai>- cipated children. These speedily attained to eminence and splen- dour, rivalling and surpassing their parent states : and the example of their prosperity, which was attributed to the freedom of their governments, incited the states of Greece, oppressed by a number of petty despots, to put an end to the regal government, and try the experiment of a pooular constitution. Athens and Thebes gave the first examples, whic ■ vere soon followed by all the rest 4. Tliese infant republics demandfid new law* ; and it was nece» 26 ANCIENT HISTORY. «ary that some enlightened citizen should arise, who had discernment to perceive what system of legislation was most adapted to the char- acter oJ' his native state ; who had abilities to compile such a system, and sufficient authority with his countrymen to recommend and en- force it. Such men were the Spartan Lycurgus and the Athenian Solon. SEJTION IX. THE REPUBLIC OF SPARTA. 1. The origin of this political system has given rise to much inge nious disquisiiion among the moderns, and affords a remarkable in- stance of the passion for systematizing. It is a prevailing propensity with modem philosopheis to reduce every thing to general princi- ples. Man, say they, is always the same animal, and, when placed in similar situations, will always exhibit a similar appearance. His manners, his improvements, the government and laws under which he lives, arise necessarily from the situation in which we find him ; and all is the result of a few general laws of nature, which operate universally on the human species. But in the ardour of this passion for generalizing, these philosophers often forget, that it is the knowl- edge of facts wtiich can alone lead to the discovery of general laws: a knowledge not limited to the history of a single age or nation, but extended to that of the whole species in every age and climate. Antecedently to such knowledge, all historical system is mere ro- mance. 2. Of this nature is a late theory of the constitution of Sparta, first started by Mr. Browne, in his Essay on Civil Liberty ; and from him adopted by later writere. It thus accounts for the origin of the Spar- tiin constitution.* " The army of the Heraclidse, when they came to recover the dominion of their ancestoi-s, was composed of Dorians from Thessaly, the most barbarous of ail the Greek tribes. The Achaeans, the ancient inhiibitants of Laconia, were compelled to seek new habitations, while the barbarians of Thessaly took possession of their coimtry. Of all the nations which are the subject of historical record, this people bore the nearest resemblance to the rude Ameri- cans. An American tribe where a chief presides, where the council of the aged deliberate, and the assembly of the people gives their voice, is on the eve of such a political establishment as the Spartaa constitution."' The Dorians or Tbessalitms settled in Lacedsmon, manifested, it is said, the same manners with all other nations in a barbarous state. Lycurgus did no more than arrest them in that state, by forming their usages into laws. He checked them at once in the first stage of their improvement. " He put forth a bold hand to that spring which is in society, and stopt its motion." 3. This theory, however ingenious, is confuted by facts. All an- cient authors agree, tliat Lycurgus operated a total change on the Spartan manners, and on the constitution of his counti'y ; while the moderns have discovered that he made no change on either. The most striking features of the mannprs and constitution of Sparta had not the smallest resemblance to those of any rude nations with which we are acquainted. The communion of slaves and of many other species of property, the right of the state in the children of all the • Lofan'i Philosophy of History, &c. ANCIENT HISTORY. »7 eitizeas, their common education, the public tables, the equal divi sioQ of lands, the oiith of goveroinent between the kings and people, have no parallel in the history of any biirbarous nation. 4. The real history of Sparta and its constitution is therefore not to be found in modern tlieory, but in the writings of the Greek hi*, torians, and these are our sole authorities worthy of credit. After the return of the Heraciidae, Sparta was divided between the two sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes, and Frocies, who jointly reigned; and this double monarcliy, transmitlod to the descendant* of each, continued in the separate branches for near 900 years. A radical principle of disunion, and consequent anarchy, made the w;mt of constitutional laws be severely felt. Lycurgus, brother of Foly- dectes, one of the kings of Sparta, a man distinguished ahke by his abilities and virtues, Was invested, by the concurring voice of the sovereigns and people, with the important duty of reforming and new- modelling the constitution of his country, 884 A. C. 5. Lycurgus instituted a senate, elective, of twenty-eight mem- bers ; whose office was to preserve a just balance between the pow- er of the kings and that of the people. Nothing could come before the assembly of the people which had not received tie previous con- sent of the senate ; and, on the other hand, no judgment of the sen- ate was effectual without the simction of the people. The kings pre sided in the senate ; they were the generals of the republic : but they could plan no enterprise without the consent of a council of the citizens. 6. Lycurgus bent his attention most particularly to the regulation of manners ; and one great principle pervaded his whole system : Luxury is the bane of society. He divided the territory ot the republic into 39,000 equal portions, among the whole of its free citizens. He substituted iron money for gold and silver, prohibited the prac- tice of conwnerce, abolished all useless arts, and allowed even those necessary to life to be practised only by the slaves. The whole citizens made their principal repast at the public ta- bles. The meals were coarse and parsimonious ; the conversation was fitted to improve the youth in virtue, and cultivate the patriotic spirit. The Spartan education rejected all embellishments of the under- standing. It nourished only the severer virtues. It taught the du- ties of religion, obedience to the laws, respect for parents, reverence for old age, indexible honour, undaunted courage, contempt of dan- ger and of death ; above all, the love of glory and of their country. 7. But the general excellence of the institutions of Lycurgus wag impaired by many blemishes. The manners oi the Lacedaemonian women were shamefully loose. They frequented the baths, and fought naked in the patestra promiscuously with the men. Theft was a part of Spartan education. The youth were taught to subdue the feelings of humanity ; the slaves were treated with tlie most bar- barous rigour, and often massacred lor spoit. The institutions oi Lycurgus had no other end than to form a nation of soldiers. 8. A faulty part of the constitution of Sparta was the otfice of the ephori : magistrates elected by the people, whose power, though in some respects subordinate, was in others paramouDt to that of tbe kings £ma senate. 88 AUCIEWT HISTORY. SECTION X THE REPUBLIC OF ATHENS. 1. On the abolition of the regal office at Athens, the change of the constitution was more nominal than real. The archonship was, during three centuries, a perpetual and hereditary magistracy. In 754 A. C. this othce became decennial. In b48 the archons were annually elected, and were nine in number, with equal authorily. Under all these changes the state was convulsed, and tiie condition ot the people miserable. 2. Draco, elevated to the archonship 624 A. C, projected a reform in the constitution of his counti-y, and thought to repress disordei"s by the extreme severity of penal laws. But his talents were unequal to the task he had undertaken. 3. Solon, an illustrioas Athenitm, of the race of Codrus, attained the dignity of archon 594 A. C, and was entrusted with the care of framing lor his country a new form of government, and a new sys- tem of laws. He possessed extensive knowledge, but wanted tliat intrej^idity of mind which is necessary to the character of a great statesman. His . The manners of the Athenians formed the most striking con- trast to those of the Lacedaemonians. At Athens the arts were in the highest esteem. The Lacetiatmonlans despised the arts, and all who cultivated them. At Athens peace was the natural state of the republic, and the rehned enjoyment of life the aim of all its subjects. Sparta was entirely a military establishment ; and her subjects, when unengaged in war, were totally unoccupied. Luxury was the char- acter ot the Athenian, as frugality of the Spartan. Thev were equally jealous of their liberty, and equally brave in war. The courage of the Spartans sprang from constitutional ferocity, that of the Athenian from the principle of honour. 11. The Spartan government had acquired sohdity, while all the rest of Greece was torn by domestic dissensions. Athens, a prey to faction and civil disorder, surrendered her iibertiesto Pisistratus, 550 A. C. ; who, after various turns of fortune, established himself firm- ly in the sovereignty, exercised a splendid and munificent dominion, coiUjjietely gaineii the aflections of tlie people, and transmitted a peaceable crown to his sons Hippias and iTipparclius, 12. Hermodias and Aristog-iton uudei-took to restore the democra- cy ; and succeeded in the attempt. Hipparchus was put to death ; and Hippias, dethroned, solicited a foreign aid to replace him in the sovereigtity. Dariu>, the son of Hystaspes, meditjited at this time the conquest of Greece. Hippias took advantage of the views of an enemy against his native country, and Greece was now involved in a war with Persia. SECTION XL OF THE STATE OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, AND ITS HISTOR f DOWN TO THE WAR WITH GREECE. \. The first empire of the Assyrians ended under Sardanapalus, and three monarchies arose upon its ruins, Nineveh, Babylon, and the kingdom of the Medes. 2. The history of Babylon and of Nineveh is very imperfectly known. The Medes, hitherto independent tribes, were united under a mouaicby by Dejoces. His son Piiraoites coDquered Persia, b^rt ».^w C 2 3ft ANCIENT HISTORY. himself vanquished by Nabuchodonosor 1., king ofAssyria, and put to death. NaDuchodonosor [1. led the Jews into captivity, took Je- rusalem and Tyre, and subdued Egypt. 3. The history of Cyrus is involved in great uncertainty ; nor is ft possible to reconcile or apply to one man the different accounts given of him by Herodotus, Ctesias, and Xenophon. Succeeding his lather Cambyses in the throne of Persia, and his uncle Cyaxares in the sovereignty of the Medes, he united these empires, vanquish- ed the Babylonians and Lydians, subjected the greatest part of the Lesser Asia, and made himself master of Syria and Arabia. 4. He was succeeded by his son Cambyses, distinguished only as a tyrant and a madman. 5. After the death of Cambyses, Darius, the son of Hystaspes. was elected sovereign of Persia, a prince of great enterprise and ambition. Unfortunate in a rash expedition against the Scythians, he projected and achieved the conquest of India. Inflated with suc- cess, lie now meditated an invasion of Greece, and cordially entered into the views of Hippias, who sought by his means to regain the •overeignty of Athens. 6. Govemmenl^ Manners, Larvs, 6,-c. of the Ancient Persians. The government of Persia was an absolute monarchy ; the will of the sov- ereign being subject to no control, and his person revered as sacred: yet the education bestowed by those monarchs on their children was calculated to inspire every valuable quality of a sovereign. The ancient Persians in general bestowed the utmost attention on the education of youth. Children at the age of five were committed to the care of the magi, for the improvement of their mind and morals. They were trained at the same time to every manly exercise The sacred books of the Zemlavesia promised to every worthy parent the imputed merit and reward of all the good actions of his chil- dren. 7. Luxurious as they were in after times, the early Persians were distinguished for their temperance, bravery, and virtuous simplicity of manners. They were all trained to the use of arms, and display- ed great intrepidity in war. The custom of the women following their armies to the field, erroneotisly attributed to effeminacy, was a remnant of barbarous manners. 8. The kingdom of Persia was divided into several provinces^ each under a govemof or satnip, who was accountable to the sovereign for tt»e whole of his conduct. The prince, at stated times, visited his provinces in person, correcting all abuses, easing the burdens ©f the oppressed, and encouraging agriculture and the practice of the useful arts. The laws of Persia were mild and equitable, and the utmost purity was observed in the administration of justice. 9. The religion of the ancient Persians is of great antiquity. It is conjectured that there were two^Zoroasters ; the first, the founder of this ancient religion, and of whom are recorded miracles and prophecies ; the second, a reformer of that religion, contemporary with Darius the son of Hystaspes. The Zendavesta^ or sacred book, compiled by the former, was improved and purified by the latter. It has been lately translated into French by M. Anquetil, and appears to contain, amidst a mass of absurdity, some sublime truths, and ex- cellent precepts of morality. The theology of the Zendavesia is founded on the doctrine of two opposite principles, a good and an evil, Ormusd and Ahriman, eternal beings, who divide between them the goTenuneut of the ooiverse, and whose warfare most eadura tiU ANCIENT HISTORY. Si the end of 12,000 years, when Uie good will finally prevail over the evil. A seuiiratioii will ensue of llie votaries of eaci : the yj^t shall be H(imitted to the iiBjnediale enjoyment of Paradise ; the wickeil, after a limited puriricaiion hy fire, shail ultimately be allowed to par- take in the blessings of eterniiy. Orma»d is to be adored through the medium of his greatest works, the sun, moon, and stars. Tne fire, the symbol of tlia sua, the air, the earth, the water, have tlieir «ubor(Unate worslii^. The morality ol the Ztmlavesla is best known from its abri'lg- ment, the Sadder^ complied about three centuries ago by the modem Guebres. it inculcates a chastened species of epicurism ; allowing a free indulgence of the passions, while consistent with the w^lfire of society. It prohibits equally intemperance and asciitic mortilica- tion. it recommends, as precepts of religion, the cultivation of the earth, the planting of fruit-trees, the destruction of noxious anim;ds, the bringing water to a barren land. 10. Such were the ancient Persians. But their character had un- dergone a great change bet'ore the period of the war with Greece. At tnis time they were a degenerate and corrupted people. Athens had recently thrown off the yoke of the Pisi?tratidag, and highly val- ued her new liberty. Sparta, in the ardour of patriotism, torgot all jealousy of her rival state, and cordially united in the detence of their common country. The Persians, in this contest, had no other advantage than that of numbers, an unequal match tor superior hero- ism ;md military skill. SECTION XII. THE WAR BETWEEN GREECE AND PERSIA. 1 . The ambition of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, heightened by the passion of revenge, gave rise to the project oi that monarch for the Invasion of Greece. The Athenians had aided the people of Ionia in an attempt to throw off the yoke of Persia, ?ind burnt and ravaged Sardis, the capital of Lydia. Darius speedily reduced the lonians to submission, and then turned his arms against the Greeks, their allies; the exile Hippias eagerly prom}>ting tne expedition. 2. Aftei'an insolent demand of submission, which the Greeks scorn- fully refused, Darius began a hostile attack both by sea and laud. The tirst Persian fleet was wrecked in doubling the promontory of Athos; a second, of 600 sail, ravaged the Grecian islands; while an immense army landing in Eubcea, poured down with impetuosity on Attica. The Athenians met them on the plain of Marathon, and, headed by Miltiades, defeated them with prodigious slaughter, 490 A. C. The loss of the Persians in this battle was 6,300, and that ot the Athenians 190.^ 3. The merit of Miltiades, signally dispkiyed in this great battle, was repaid by his country with the most shocking ingratitude. Ac- cused of treason for an unsuccessful attack on the isle of Paros, hi* sentence of death was commuted into a tine of fifty talents ; which being unable to pay he was thrown into prison, and there died of hit wounds. 4. The glory of ungrateful Athens was yet nobly sustained in th« Persian war by Themistocles and Aristides. Darius dying was suc- ceeded by bi9 soQ Xei:xee,tb€ heir of hia father's aiabiiioD, but not of 32 ANCIENT HISTORY. his abilities. He armed, as is said, tive millions of men, for tihe con* que?i of Greece; 1,200 ships of Avar, and 3^000 ships of burden. Landing in Thessaly he proceeded, by rapid marches, to Thermop- ylae, a narrow deiile on the Sinus Maliacus. The Athenians and Spartans, aided only by the Thespians, Plataeans, and Eguietes, de- termined to withstand the invader. Leonidas, king of Sparta, was ehosen to defend this important pass with 6,000 men. Xerxes, after a weak attempt to corrupt him, imperiously summoned him to lay down his arms. Let him come, said Leonidas, and take tliem. For two days the Persians in vain strove to force their way, and were repeat- edly repulsed with great slaughter. An unguarded trt;ck being at length discovered, the defence of the pass became a fruitless attempt on the part of the Greeks. Leonidas, tbreseeing certain destruction, commanded all to retire but 300 of his countrymen. His motive was to give the Persians a just idea of the spirit of that fie wj:)om they had to encounter. He, with his brave Spartans, were al! cut orTlo a man, 480 A. C. A monument, erected on tV.e spot, bore this n^tjle inscription, written by Siaioiiides : O stranger I ttll it at iMcedcemon^ tfutt we died here in obedience to her laocs. 5. The Persians poured down upon Attica. The inhabitants of Athens, after conveying their women and children to the islands for security, betook themselves to their tleet, abaiidoning the city, which the Persians pillaged and bnrnt. The fleet of the Greeks, consisting of 380 sail, was attacked in the stn its of Sal .r.ii* by that of the Per- sians, amounting to 1.200 ships. Xerxes himceif beifeld from an em- inence on the coast tne tot.d discomfiture of his squadron. He then tied with precipitation across the Hellespont. A second overthrow awaited his army by hind : for Mardouius, at the head of 300,000 Persians, was totally defeated at Piatoea by the combined army of the Athenians and Laceda-nionians, 479 A. C. On the same day the Greeks engaged and destroyed the remains of the^ Persian fleet at Mycale. Prom that day the ambitious schemes of Xerxes were at an end ; and his inglorious lite was goon aft ^r terminated by assassina- tion. He wa.s succeeded in the tlu'one of Persia by his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, 464 A. C. 6. At this time tiie national character of the Greeks was at its highest elevation. Tiie conimon danger had annihilated all partial jcaiousies between tfe states, and given tliem union as a nation. But with the cessation of danger those jealousies recommended. Sparta meanly opposed the rebuilding of deserted Athens. Atbens, rising again into splendour, saw with pleasure tiie depopulation of Sparta by an earth- quake, and hesitated to give her aid ia that juncture of calamity against a rebellion of her »ilavei. 7. Cimon, the son of MilUades, after expelling the Persians trom Thrace, attacked and destroyed their fleet on the coast ot Pam.phyiia, and, landing his troo]56, gained a sijnal victory over their army the same day. Supplanted in the public favour by the arts ol his rival Pericles, he suflered a temporary exile, to return only with higher popularity, and to signalize himself slill more in the service of his ungrateful country. He attacked and totaUy destroyed the Persian fleet of 300 sail, and, landing in Cilicia, completed his triumph, by defeating 300,000 Persians under Megabyzes, 460 A. C. Artaxerxes now had the prudence to sue for peace, which was granted by the Greeks, on terms most honourable to the nation. They^stipulated for the freedom of ail the Grecian cities ot Asia, and that the fleets ot ?er8ia should not approach their coasts from the £uxine to the «- ANGIEISTT HIST(5RY. 3S afeme Tboundary of Pamphylia. The last fifty years were the period of the highest glory of the Greeks ; and they owed their prosperity entirely to their union. The peace with Persia, dissolving that con nexion, brought back the jealousies between the predominant stateSi the intestine disordei'S of each, and the national weakness. 8. The martial and the patriotic spirit began visibly to decline in Athens. An acquaintance with Asia, and an importation of hr-^r wealth, introduced a relish for Asiatic manners and luxuries. With the Athenians, however, this luxurious spirit was under the guidance of taste and genius. It led to the cultivation of the finer aits ; and the age of Pericles, though the national glory was in its wane, is the aera of the highest internal splendour and magnificence of Greece. SECTION XIll. AGE OF PERICLES. 1. Repiiblics, equally with monarchies, are generally regulated biy a single will : only, in the former there is a more frequent change of masters. Pericles ruled Athens with little less than arbitrary 9-way ; and Athens pretended at this time to the command of Greece. She held the allied states in the most absolute subjection, and lavished their subsidies, bestowed for the national defence, in magnificent buildings, games, and festivals, for her own citizens. The tributary states loudly complained, bnt durst not call this domineering republic to account ; and the war of Peloponnesus, dividing the nation into two great parties, bound the less cities to the strictest subordination on the predominant powers. 2. The state of Corinth had been included in the last treaty be- tween Athens and Sparta. The Corinthians waging war with the people of Corcyra, an ancient colony of their own, both parties so- licited the aid of Athens, which took part with the latter: a measure which the Corinthians complained of, not only as an infraction of the treaty with Sparta, but as a breach of a general rule of the national policy, that no foreign power should interfere in the disputes between » colony and its parent state. War was proclaimed on this ground between Athens and Lacedasmon, each supported by its respective allies. The detail of the war, which continued for twenty-eight yepjs, with various and alternate success, is to be ibund in Tnucyd- ides. Pericles died before its termination ; a splendid ornament of his country, but a corrupter of its manners. Alcibiades ran a similar career, with equal talents, equal ambition, and still less purity ot moral principle. In the interval of a truce with Sparta he inconsid- erately projected the conquest of Sicily ; and, failing in the attempt, was, on bis return to Athens, condemned to death lor treason. He hesitated not to wreak his vengeance against his country, by selling his services, first to Sparta, and afterwards to Persia. Finally, he purchased his peace with his country, by betraying the power which protected him^ and returned to Athens the idlol of a populace fi9 versatile as worthless. 3. A fatal defeat of the Athenian fleet at ^Egos Potaraos, by Ly- sander, reduced .\thens to the last extremity ; and the Lacedaemonians blockaded the city by land and sea. The war was ended by the absolute submission of the Athenians, who agreed to demolish their port, to limit their fleet to twelve ships, and undertake for the future 5 34 ANCIENT HISTORY. no military enterprise, but iinder command of the LacedsBmonkuaa, 405 A. C. 4. To the same Lysander, who terminated the Peloponnesian war so gloriously for Lacedaemon, history ascribes the fii-st great breach ©f the constitution of his country, by the introduction of gold into that republic. Lysander, after the reduction of Athens, abolished the popular government in that state, and substituted in its place thirty tyrants, whose power was absolute. The most eminent of the citizens tied from their country ; but a band of patriots, headed by Thrasybulus, attacked, vanquished, and expelled the usurpers, and once more re-established the democracy, 5. One event, which happenedat this time, reflected more disgrace on the Athenian name than their national humiiiation : this was the per- secution and death of Socrates, a philosopher who was himself the f)attem of every virtue which he taught. T'he sophists, whose futile ogic he derided and exposed, represented him as an enemy to the raiigion of his country, because, without regard to the popular su- perstitions, he led the n)ind to the knowledge of a Supreme Being, • the creator and ruler of the universe, and to the belief of a future state of retribution. He made his defence with the manly fortitude of conscious innocence ; but in vain : his judges were his personal ene- mies, and he was condemned to die by poison, 397 A. C. (See Sec- tion XXIII, § 5.) 6. On the death of Darius Nothus, his eldest son Artaxenses Mne- mon succeeded to the empire of Persia. His younger brother Cyrus formed the project of dethroning him, and with the aid of 13,000 Greeks engaged him near Babylon, but was defeated and slain ; a just reward of his most culpable enterprise. The remainder of the Grecian army, to the amount of 10,000, under the command of Xen« •phon, made a most amazing retreat, traversing a hostile country of 1,600 miles in extent, from Babylon to the banks of the Euxine Xen- ophon has beautifully written the history of this expedition : but has painted the character of Cyrus in too Mattering colours, and without the smallest censure of his criminal am,bition. 7. The Greek cities of Asia had taken part with Cjrus. Sparta was engaged to defend her countrymen, and consequently was in volved in a war with Pei-sia. Had Athens added her strength, the Greeks might have once more defied the power of Asia; but jealousy kept the states divided, and even hostile to each other; and the gold ©f Artaxerxes excited a general league in Greece against Lacedae- mon. Agesilaus, king of Sparta, sustained for a time the honour of his country, and won some important battles in Asia; but others were lost in Greece ; and a naval defeat near Cnidos utterly destroyed the Lacedaemonian fleet. Finally, to escape total destruction, the Spartans sued fbr peace, and obtained it by the sacrifice to Persia of all the Asiatic colonies, 387 A. C. Artaxerxes further demanded, and obtain- ed for his allies the Athenians, the islands of Scyros, Lenmos, and Im- bros : a disgraceful treaty; a mortifying picture of the humiliation of the Greeks. ANCIENT HISTORY. » SECTION XIV. THE REPUBLIC OF THEBES. 1. While Athens and Sparta were thus visibly tending to decline, (the Tneban repuolic tmerged from obscurity, and rose for a time to a degree of splendo'ur eclipsing all its coDtemporary slaces. Tiie repuoiic was divided by fiction, one party supporting its ancient de- mocracy, and the other aimxng at the estabiisiimeiii of an oligarchy. Tlie latter courted the aid of the Spartaiis, who embraced that occa- sion to take possession of the citadel. Four hundred of the exiled Thehans lied for protection to Athens. Among tnese was Felopidas, who planned and accomplished tiie deliverance of his countiy. Dis- guising liimself and twelve of his friends as peasants, he entered Thebes in tne evening, and joining a patriotic party of the citizens, they surprised the heads of the usurpation amid the tumult of a feast, and put them all to death. Epaminondas, the friend of i^elopidas, shared with him in the glory ot this enterprise ; and attackuig, with the aid of 5,000 Athenians, the Lacedaemoaian garrison, drove thena entirely out of the The ban territory. 2. A war necessariiy eiisued between Thebes and Sparta, in which the former had the aid of Athens. ; This, however, was but for asf^i- son. Tliebes singly opposed the power of Sparta, and the league of Greece: hut' Epaminondas and Peiopidas were her generals. The latter, amidst a career of glory, perished in an expedition against the tyrant of Fherasa. Epaminondas, triumphant at Leuctra and Man- tinea, fell in that last engagement, and with him expired the glory of his country, 363 A. C. Athens and Sparta were humbled at the battle of Mantinea. Thebes was victorious ; bul siie was undone by the death of Epaminondas. Ah parties were tired ot ttie war ; and Artaxerxes, more powerful among those infatuated states than in his own domia ions, dictated the terms of the treaty, it was stipulated that each power should retain what it possessed ; and ttiat the less states, now tiree from the yoke of tiie greater, should remain so. SECTION XV. PHILIP OF MACEDON. 1. Greece was now in the most abject situation. The spirit of patriotism appeared utterly extinct, and military glory at an end. Athens seemed to have lost all ambition ; the pleasures of luxury had entirely supplanted heroic virtue ; poeis, musicians, sculptors, and comedians, were now the only great men of Aliica. Sparta, no less changed from the simplicity of its ancient manners, and its power abridged by the new independency of the states of Feiopouuc.-sus, was in no capacity to attempt a recovery of its former greahiess. la this situation PMhp of Macedon, formed the ambitious project of bring- ing under his dominion the whole of Greece. 2. He had mounted the throne of Macedon by popular choice, iu violation of the natural right of the nearer heir's to the crown ; and he secured his power by the success of his arras against the lilyriaos, PsBonians, and Athenians, who espoused the interest of his competitors. UnitiDg to great military talents the most coosummate artitice aud ad- 36 ANCIENT HISTORY. dress, he had his pensionaries in all the states of Greece, who direct- ed to his advantage every public measure. The miserable policy of these states, embroiled in perpetual quarrels, co-operated with his designs. A sacrilegious attempt of the Fhocians to plunder the ten> pie of Delphos excite^ the sacred toar, in which almost' all the repub- lics took a part Phiiip's aid being courted by the Thebans and Thessalians, he began hostilities by invading Phocis, the key to the territory of Attica, ^schinesj the orator, bribed to his interest, at- tempted to quiet the alarms oi the Athenians, by ascribing to Phiiip a design only of punishing sacrilege, and vindicating the cause of Apollo. Demosthenes, wilh true patriotism, exposed the artful de- signs of the invader, and with the most animated eloquence roused his countrymen to a vigorous effort for the preservation ot their nat- ■ral libeTties. But the event was unsuccessful able research, and is not free from obscurity. It is probable that the kings had the sole right of naming the senators, that the consuls suc- ceeded them in this right, and afterwards, when these magistrates found too much occupation from the frequent wars in which the state was engaged, that privilege devolved on the censors. The senators were at tirst always chosen from the body of the patricians, but after- wards the plebeians acquired an equal title to that dignity. In the early periods of the republic the people could not be assemUed but by the senate's authority ; nor were the plebisdta {decrees of the peo- vle) of any weight till confirmed by their decree. Hence the early constitution of the republic was rather aristocratical than democrat- ical. Fiom this extensive power of the senate the tirst diminution was made by the creation of the tribunes of the people ; and other retrenchments successively took place, till the people acquired at length the predominant power in the state. Yet the senate, even after every usurpation on their authority, continued to have, in many points, a supremacy. They regulated all matters regarding religion ; had tiie custody of the public treasure ; superintended the conduct of all magistrates ; gave audience to ambassadors ; decided on the fate of vanquished nations ; disposed of the governments of the provinces ; and took cognizance, by appeal, in all crimes against the state. In great emergencies they appointed a dictator, with absolute authority. 21. At the period of the abolition of the regal government the ter- ritory of the nomans was extremely limited. The only use which they made of their victories was to naturalize the inhabitants of some of the conquered states, and so increase their population. Thus, their strength being always superior to their enterprise, they laid a solid foundation for the future extension of their empire. 22. In the accounts given by historians of the strength of the ar- mies, both of the Romans in those early times, and of the neighbour- ing states, their enemies, we have every reason to believe there is much exaggeration. The tenitories from which those armies were furnished were incapable of supplying them. 23. In the continual wars in wnich the republic was engaged the Romans were most commonly the aggressors. The causes of this seem to have been the ambition of the consuls to distinguish their short administration by some splendid enterprise, and the wish of the senate to give the people occupation, to prevent intestine disquiets. 21. The regal government subsisted 244 years, and in that time only seven kings reigned, several of whom died a violent death. These circumstances throw doubt on the authenticity of this period of the Roman history. It is allowed that there were no historians for the five first centuries after the building of Rome. The first is Fabius Pictor. who lived during the second Punic war. Livy says that almost all the ancient records were destroyed when Rome was taken by the Gauls. SECTION XXV. ROME U^NDER THE CONSULS. 1. The regal government being abolished, it was agreed to commit the supreme authority to two magistrates, who should be annually elected by the people from the patrician order. To these they gave the names of consuks ; " a modest title, (says Vertot). which gave to E 2 64 ANCIENT HISTORY. wnderstand that they were rather the counsellors of the republic than its sovereigns ; and that the only point which they ought to have in view was its preservation and giory." But, in fact, their authority differed scarcely in any thing from that of the kings. They had the supreme administration of justice, the disposal of the public money, the power of convoking the senate and assembling the peo- ple, raising armies^ naming all the officers, and the right of making peace and war. The only difference was, that their authority was limited to a year. 2. The first consuls were Brutus and Collatinus (the husband of Lucretia). Tarquin was at this time in Etruria, where he got two of the most powerful cities, Veii and Tarquinii, to espouse his cause. He had likewise his partisans at Rome, and a plot was formed to open the gates to receive him. It was detected, and Brutus had the mortification to find his two soas in the number of the conspira- tors. He condemned them to be beheaded in his presence. Exuit patrein ut considem ageret ; orbusque vivere., qvam ftiblicu: xindicivs deesse maluit. Val. Max. He ceased to be a father^ that he might execute the duties of a consul ; and chose to live cJiddless rather than to neglect the public punishment of a crime. 3. The consul Valerius, successful in an engagement with the ex- iled Tarquin, was the first Roman who enjoyed the splendid reward of a triumph. Arrogant from his recent honours, his popularity be- gan to decline ; and, in a view of recovering it, he proposed the law, termed from him the Valerian, which " permitted any citizen who had been condemned to death by a magistrate, or even to banish- ment or scourging, to appeal to the people, and required their con- sent previously to the execution of the sentence."" This law gave the first blow to the aristocracy in the constitution of the Roman re- public. 4. For thirteen years after the expulsion of Tarquin, the Romans were involved in continual wars on his account. Of these the most remarkable was the war with the Etrurians, under Porsena ; a war fertile in exploits of romantic heroism. 5. Soon after this period began those domestic disorders, which ©ontinued long to embroil the republic. Great complaints hud arisen among the poorer classes of the citizens, both on account oi the ine- quality of property, from the partial distribution of the conquered lands, which the higher ranks generally contrived to engross to them- selves, and from the harsh policy by which it was in the power of creditors to reduce to a state of slavery their insolvent debtoi¥. As there was no legal restraint on usury, the poor, when once reduced to the necessity of contracting debts, Avere left entirely at the mercy of their creditors. These grievances, felt in comnjon by a large pro- portion of the citizens, excited mucn discontent, which, from com- plaints long disregarded, grew at length into a spirit of determined resistance. The wars required new levies, and the plebeians posi- tively refused to enrol thei^ names, unless the senate should put an end to their oppression, by decreeing at once an abolition of aii the debts due by the poor to the rich. The emergency was critical, as the enemy was at the gates of Rome. The consuls found iheir au- thority of no avail ; for the Valerian law had given any citizen con- demned by them a right of appeal to the people. An extrdiordinary measure was necessary, and a dictator was created for tlie first lime ; a magistrate who, for the period of six montlis, was invested with rfjsohite and unlimited authority. Lartias» aomiaate(i to this high ANCIENT HISTORY. W office, armed the twenty-four lictors with axes, summoned the whole people to the comitia, and calling over the names, under the penalty of death to any citizen who should dare to murmur, enrolled all such as he judged most tit for the service of their country. This expedi- ent became hem.eforward a frequent and certain resource in all sea- sons of pubUc danger. 6. The death of Tarquin removed one check against the tyranny of the higher over the lower orders; for the latter had hitherto kept aUve a salutary apprehension, that, in case of extreme oppression, they would be under the necessity of calling back their king. Wlfe» this fear was at an end, the domineering spirit of the patricians, ex- ceeding every bound botli of good policy and humanity, drove the people at length to deeds of mutiny and rebeUion. An alarai frot» the enemy gave full weight to their power, and made the chirf magis- trates of the state solemnly engage their honour to procure a re- dress of their grievances, as soon as the public danger was at an end. The promise, either from a failure of will or of power, vv.is not ful- filled, and this violation of faith drove the people at length to ex- tremities. Bound by their military oath not to desert tiieirstamiards, they carried them along with them ; and the whole army, in military array, withdrew ii'om Rome, and deliberately encamped on the Mens Sac^r, at three miles distance from the city; and here they were soon joined by the greater part ot the people. This resolute procedm^e had its desired effect. The senate deputed ten persoas, the most re- spectable of their order, with plenary pov/ers; and these, seeing no medium of compromise, granted to the people all their demmids. The debts were solemnly abolished ; and, for the security of their privileges in future, they were allo'-ed the right of choosing magis- trates of their own order, who should have the power of opposing with effect every measure which they fhould judge prejudicinl to their interests. These were the trUnm-ts of the people, chosen annu- ally ; at first five in number, and after- /ards increased to ten. With- out guards or tribunal, and naving no seat in the senate-house, they had yet the power, by a single veto, to suspend or annul the decrees of the senate and the sentences of the consuls. Their persons were declared sacredj but their authority r "as confined to the limits of a mile from the city. The tribunes demanded and obtained two magis- tKites to assist them, who were termed aadiles, from the charge com- mitted to them of the buildings of the city. 7. From this aera (260 years from the foundation of Rome) we date the commencement of the populai- constitution of the Roman repub- lic: a change operated by the unwise policy of the patricians them- selves, who, by yielding to just compiamts, and humanely redressing flagrant abuses, might have easily anticipated every ground of dis- satisfaction. The first wish of the people was not power, but relief from tyranny and oppression ; and if this had been readily granted them by abolishing tne debts, or at least by repressing enormous usji-y, and putting an end to the inhuman right of corporal punish- ment and the bondage of debtors, the people would have cheerfully reimned to order and submission, and tne Roman constitution would have long remained aristocratical, as we have seen it was at the com- mencement of tlie consular government. But the plebeians having now obtained magistrates of their own order with those high powers, We shall see it become the object of those magistrates to incre;ise their authority by continual demands and bold encroachments. Tae people, regarding them as the chujnpions of tkeir rights, are delight* 56 ANCIENT HISTORY. ed to find themselves gradually approaching to a level with the higher order ; and, no longer bounding their desires to ease and se- curity, are soon equally influenced by ambition as their superiors. While this people, borne down by injustice, seek no more than the redress of real grievances, we sympathize with their feelings, and applaud their spirited exertions. But when they had at length com- passed the end which they wished, obtained ease and security, nay, power which they had neither sought nor expected ; when we see them, after this, increasing in their demands, assuming that arrogance which they justly blamed in their superiors, goaded on by the am- bition of their leaders to tyrannize in their turn ; we view with proper discrimination the love of Ubcrty and its extreme hcentious- ness ; and treat with just detestation the authors of those pernicious measures, which embroiled the state in endless faction, and paved the way for the total loss of that liberty, of which this ceiuded people knew not the value when they actually possessed it. SECTION XX\1. THE LAW OF VOLERO. 1. The disorders of the ; ommonwealth, appeased by the creation of the ti'ibunei), were but for a time suspended. It was necessary that the popular magistrates should make an experiment of their powers. In an assembly of the people one of the consuls, interrupt- ed by a tribune, rashly said, that if the tribunes had called that assem- bly, he would not have interrupted them. This was a concession on the part of the consuls, that the tribunes had the power of assem- bling the comitia, which, from that moment, they assumed as their acknowledged rignt. It was a consequence of this right, that the affairs of the commonwealth should be agitated in those meetings, equally as in the assemblies held in virtue of a consular summons, or senatorial decree, and thus there were, in a manner, two disUnct legislative powers established in the republic. 2. The trial of Corioleums for inconsiderately proposing the aboli- tion of the tribunate, an offence interpreted to be treason against the state, threw an additional weight into the scale of the people. The proposal of an agrarian law, for the division of the lancls acquired by recent conquests, resumed at intervals, though never canied into execution, inflamed the passions of the rival orders. 3. Publius Volero, formerly a centurion, and a man distinguished for his military services, had, in the new levies, been ranked as a common soldier. Complaining of this unmerited degradation, he re- fused his services in that capacity ; and the consuls having con- demned him to corporal punishment, he appealed from their sen- tence to the people. The contest lasted till tlie annual term of elec- tions, when Volero himself was chosen a tribune of the people. He had an ample revenge, by procuring the enactment of a most impor- tant law. The comitia by centuries and by curiae could be called only in virtue of a decree of the senate, after consulting the auspices ; and in those comitia the tribunes had hitherto been elected, and the most important public aflairs discussed. It was decreed by tlie law of Volero, that the election of the tribunes should be made, and the chief public business henceforward discussed, in the comitia held by ■^ibes. which were uafettered by any of tkose restraints. From this ANCIENT HISTORY. 57 period the supreme authority in the Roman republic may be consid- ered as having passed completely from the higher order into the hands of the people. The Roman constitution was now plainly a democracy, 471 A. C. SECTION XXVIl. THE DECEMVIRATE. 1. The Romans had, till this period, no body of civil laws. — Under the regal government the kings alone administered justice ; the consuls succeeded them in this high prerogative, and thus possessed without control the absolute command of the fortunes and civil rights of all the citizens. To remedy this great defect, Tereutillus, a tri- bune, proposed the nomination of ten commissioners, to frame and digest a code of laws for the explanation and security of the rights of all orders of the state. A measure so equitable ougbt to have met with no opposition. It was, however, strenuously opposed by the patricians, who, by a fruitless contest, only exposed their own weak- ness. The decemviri were chosen ; but the election being made in the comitia by centuries, the consul Appius Claudius, with his col- leaguCj were at the head of this important commission. The laws were framed, those celebrated statutes known by the name of the 1 Twelve Tables, which are the basis of the great structure of the j Roman jurisprudence, 451 A. C. 2. An acquaintance with these ancient laws is therefore of impor- tance. Even in the most flourishing flmes of the republic they con- tinued to be of the highest authority. They have the encomium of Cicero himself; and we learn from him, that to commit these laws to memory was an essential part of a liberal education. From the twelve tables the jurisconsulti composed a system of judicial forms, for the regulation of the difl'erent tribunals. The number of the laws was likewise from time to time increased by the senatuscansulta and plebiscita. 3. The decemvirs were invested with all the powers of govern- ment, for the consulate had ceased on their creation. Each decem- vir by turn presided for a day, and had the sovereign authority, with its insignia, the fasces. The nine others ofiiciated solely as judges in the determination of lawsuits, and the correction of abuses. An abuse, however, of the most tiagrant nature, comtnitted by the chief of their own number, was destined speedily to bring their office to its termination, 4. Appius Claudius, inflamed by lawless passion for the young Virginia, the betrothed spouse of Icilius, formerly a tribune of the people, employed a profligate dependant to claim the maiden as his own property, on the false pretence of her being the daughter of one of his female slaves. The claim was made to the decemvir himself in judgment, who pronounced an infamous decree, which tore from her family this helpless victim, and put her into the hands of his own minion. Her father, to save the honour of his child, plunged a dagger into her breast ; and the people, witnesses of this shocking scene, would have massacred Appius on the spot, if he had not found means to escape amidst the tumult. Their vengeance, however, was satiated by the instant abolition of this hated magis- tracy, and by the death of Appius, who chose by his own hand t« 58 ANCIENT HISTORY. prevent the stroke of the executioner. The decemvirate had sub- sisted for three years. The consuls were now restored, together with the tribunes of the people, 449 A. C. SECTION XXVIII. INCREASE OF THE POPULAR POWER. 1 . The scale of the people was daily acquiring weight, at the ex- pense of that of the highest order. Two barriers, however, still separated the patricians and plebeians : one^ a law which prevented their intermarriage, and the other, the constitutional limitation of all the higher offices to the order of the patricians. It was only neces- sary to remove these restrictions, and the patricians and plebeians were on a footing of perlect equality. The first, alter a long ]mt fruitless contest, was at length agreed to by the senate ; and this concession had its usual effect of stimulating the people to inflexible pei-severance in their struggle for the latter. On an emergence of war the customary device was practised, of refusing to enter the rolls, unless upon the immediate enactment of a law, which should admit their capacity of holding all the offices of the repubUc. The senate sought a palliative, by the creation of six military tribunes in lieu of the consuls, three of whom should be patricians, and three Elebeians. This measure satisfied the people for a time : the consuls, owever, were soon restored. 2. The disorders of the republic, pnd frequent wars, had inter- rupted the regular sui'vey of the citizens. This was remedied by the creation of a new magistracy. Two officers, under the title of censors, were appointed (437 A. C), whose duty was not only to make the cejistis every live years, out to inspect the morals, and regulate the duties of all the citizens : an office of dignity equal to its importance, exercised, in the latter limes of the republic, onljr by consular persons, and afterwards annexed to the supreme functions of the emperors. 3. The dissensions between the orders continued, with little varia- tion either in their causes or effects. The people generally, as the last resource, refused to enrol themselves, till overawed by the supreme authority of a dictator. To obviate the frequent necessity of this measure, which enforced at best an unwilling and compelled obedience, the senate had recourse to a wise expedient ; this was, to give a regular pay to the troops. To defray this expense a mod- enite tax was imposed in proportion to the fortunes of the citizens. From this period the Roman system of war assumed a new aspect. The senate always found soldiers at command ; the army wtis undci' it?; control ; the enterprises of the republic were more extensive, and its successes more signal and important. Veil, the proud rival ©f Rome, and its equal in extent and population, was taken by Camil- lus, after a siege of ten years, A. U. C. 396. The art of war was improved, as it now became a profession, instead of an occasional occupation. The Romans were, from this circumstance, an over- matcn for all their neighbours. Their dominion, hitherto confined to the territory of a few miles, was now rapidly extended. It was impossible but that the detached states of Italy must have given way betbre a people who were always in arms, and, by a pei-^everance alike resolute and judicious, were equal to every attempt in which Ihey engaged. ANCIENT HISTORY. 5« 4. The taking of Veii was succeeded by a war with the Gauls. This people, a branch of the great nation of the Celtse, had opened to themselves a passage through the Alps at tour ditterent periods, and were at this time established in tne .country between those mountains and the Appenines. Lnder the command of Brennus they laid siege to the Eti-uscan Clusium; and the people, of no warlike turn themselves, solicited the aid of the Romans. The circumstan- ces recorded of this war with the Gauls throw over it a cloud of feble and romance. The furmidable power of Rome is said to have been, in a single campaign, so utterly exhausted, that the Gauls en- tered the city without resistance, and burnt it to the ground, 385 A. C. Though thus overpowered, the Romans, in a singie engagement, retrieve all their losses, and m one day's time thei'e is not a Gaul left remaining withhi the Koman territoiy. To the burning of the city by the Gauls, the Roman writers attri- bute the ioss of all the records and monuments of their early history. 5. It is singular, that most of the Roman revolutions should have owed their origin to women.? From this cause we hiye seen spring the abolition of the i-egal ofiice and the decemvirate. Frcm this cause arose the change of the constitution, by which the plebeians became capable of holding the highest oflices of the commonweal ih. The younger daughter ol Fabius Ambuslus, married to a plebeian, envious of the honours of her elder sister, ihe wife of a patrician, stimulated her father to rouse the lower order to a resolute purpose of asserting their equal right with the patricians to all the ofhces and digniiies of the state. After much turbulence and contest the final issue was the admission of the plebeians, first to the consulate, and afterwards to the censorship, the praetoiiship, and priesthood (A. U. C. 454, and A. C. 30U) . a change beneficial in the main, as consoli- dating the strength of the republic, and cutting ofi" the principal source of intestine disorder. The factions of the state had hitherto confined the growth of its power, its splendour, and prosperity ; for no state can at once be prosperous and anarchical. vVe shall now mark the rapid elevation of the Roman name and empire. SECTION XXIX. CONQUEST OF ITALY BY THE ROMANS. 1. The war with the Samnites now began, and was of long contin- uance ; but its successful termination was speedily followed by the reduction of all the states of Italy. In the course of this important war the Tarentines, the allies of the Samnites, sought the aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epirns. one of the greatest generals of nis age. Fyrr- hus landed in Italy witn 30,000 men and a train of elephants, 280 A. C. He was at first successful, but no longer so than till a short ex {)erience reconciled the Romans to a new mode of war. Sensible at ength of the difficulties of his enterprise, and dreading a fatal issue^ he embraced an invitation from the Sicilians to aid them in a war with Carthage. On this pretext, which at least was not dishor.ioura- ble, Pyrrhus withdrew his troops firom Italy. In this interval the Romans reduced to extremity the Samnites, the Tarentines, and the other allied states. Pyrrhus returned, and made a last effort near Beneventum. He was totally defeated, lost 26,000 men, and aban- doning at once all further views to Italy, returned with precipitation 60 ANCIENT HISTORY. to his own dominions, 274 A. C. The hostile states submitted to the victorious power; and Rome, 480 years from the foundation of the city, was now mistress of ail Italy. 2. The policy observed by the Romans, with respect to the con- quered nations, was wise and judicious. They removed to Rome all the leading men of the principal conquered cities, admitting them into the ancient urban and rustic tribes, and thus soothing the pride of the vanquished, by giving them an apparent share in their own do- mestic government; while, in arranging the constitution of the cities, they tilled their magistracies with illustrious Romans, whose abilities and indue nee were fitted to maintain those new provinces .in alle- giance to the Roman government. 3. Sicily had long bees considered the granary of Italy. The Carthaginians at this time possessed considerable settlements in the island, and were ambitious of acquiring its entire dominion. An ob- vious poUcy led the Romans to dispute with them this important ac- quisition, and gave rise to the Punic wars. This leads, by a natural connexion, to a short view of the history of Carthage and of Sicily. SECTION XXX. HISTORY OF CARTHAGE. 1 . Carthagf, according to the most probable accounts, was founded by a colony of Tyrians, about seventy years before the building of Rome. Tae colony had the same language, the same or nearly similar laws and constitution, the same national character, with the parent state. The city of Carthage was, at the period of the Punic wars, one of the nwsl splendid in the world, and had under its domin- ion 3U0of the smaller cities of Africa bordering on the Mediterranean sea. 2. The constitution of the republic is celebrated by Aristotle as one of the most perfect of the governments of antiquity ; but we know little more than its general nature from ancient writers. Two magistrates, named suffctes^ annually chosen, seem to have possessed powers akin to those of the Roman consuls ; and the Carthaginian senate to those of the senate of Rome ; with this remarkable differ- ence, that, in the former, unanimity of opinion was requisite in all measures of importance. A divided senate transmitted the business to the assembly of the people. A tribunal of 104 judges took cog- nizance of military operations, and of the conduct of their generals. A superior council of hve seems to have controled the decisions of the larger tribunal. Two peculiarities of the Carthaginian policy have been censured by Aristotle. One pecuharity was, that the same person might hold several employments or oflices in the state ; the other that the poor were debarred from all othces of trust or import- ance. But the former of these is frequently both expedient and necessary, and the latter seems agreeable to the soundest policy ; for in offices of trust poverty offei's too powerful an incitement to devia- tion from duty. 3. The first settlements made by the Carthaginians were entirely in thft way of commerce. Trading to the coast of Spain for gold, they built Carthagena and Gades : and coasting along the western shore of Africa, they had estabhshments for the same purpose as far a-s thtt 25th degree of north latitude. The Periplus of Hanno aflfordu ANCIENT HISTORY. 61 a proof of ardent enterprise an J policy. Desirous of extending a limited territory they armed against the Mauritanians, Numidians, and all the neighbouring nations; employing mercenary troops, which they levied, not only in Africa, but in Spain, the two Gauls, and Greece. 4. The annals of the Carthaginian state are little known till their . wars with the Romans. The first of their wars mentioned in history is that with the Greek colonies of Sicily. Darius courted their alii ance when he meditated the conquest of Greece ; and Xerxes re newed that treaty when he followed out the designs of his father. SECTION XXXI. HISTORY OF SICILY. 1. The early periods of the history of Sicily are as little known as those of Carthage. The PhiEnicians had sent colonies to Sicily be lore the Trojan war. The Greeks, in alter times, made considerable settlements in the island. The Corinthians founded Syracuse, which became the most illustrious of the Greek cities of Sicily ; and from Syracuse arose afterwards Agrigentum, Acra, Casmene, Camarenej and several other Sicilian towns. 2. The government of Syracuse was monarchical, and might have long remained so, if all its sovereigns had inherited the abilities and virtues of Gelon. But his successors, exercising the worst of tyran- ny, compelled their subjects at length to abolish the regal govern- ment ; and their example was speedily followed by aU the Grecian states of Sicily. 3. The monarchy of Syracuse, however, was revived about sixty years after in the pei'son of Dionysius, a man of obscure origin, but of signal ability. Twice expelled for a tyrannical exercise ol domin ■ ion, he as often found means to overpower his enemies, and re-estab- li-ih him-«lf in the throne. At his death the crown passed, without opposition, to bis son, Dionysius the younger, a weak and capricious tyrant, whom his subjects judging unworthy to reign, dethroned and banished, 357 A. C. The crown was conferred on Dion, his brother- in-law, whose amiable character rendt^red him the delight of his people. But after a short reign this prince ieil a victim to treason. Aided by the distractions of Syracuse consequent on this event, Dio- nysius remounted the throne ten years after his expulsion ; but bis tyrannical disposition, heightened by^'liis misfortunes, became at length so intolerable, that he was expehed a second time, and banished to Corinth, where he ended his days in poverty and obscurity. The author of this revolution was the iiiustrious Timoleon, to whose abilities and virtues his country owed equally its liberty and its subsequent happiness and prosperity, 343 A. C. The signal opposition of national character between the Romans and the Carthaginians may be easily explained, when we attend to the effects of a commercial life on the genius and manners of a nation. The vices of a commercial people are selfislmess, cunning, avarice, with an absence of every heroic and patriotic virtue. The favoura- ble effects of commerce are industry, frugality, general courtesy at manners, improvement in the useful arts. Atteudine to these conaer' F ^t ANCIENT HISTORY. qenceiof the prevalence of the commercial spirit, we shall see ta^ principal features of the Carthaginian character opposed to tn« noman. SECTION XXXII. THE PUNIC WARS. 1. The triumph which Ihe Romans had obtained over Pyrrhui seemed to give assurance of success in any enterprise in which they should engage. The Mam<'rtiaes, a people of Campania, obtained aid I'rom the Romans in an unjustifiable attempt which they made to seize Messina, a Sicilian town allied to Syracuse. The Syracusans, at first assisted by the Carthaginians, opposed this invasion ; but the former, more alnrmed by the ambitious encroachments of the Car- thaginians on Sicily, soon repented of this rash alliance, and joined the Romans in the purpose cf expelling the Carthaginians entirely from the island. In fact the bicilians seem to have had only the des- perate choice of final submission either to Rome or Carthage. They chose the former, as the alternative least dishonourable. The Romans had ever been their friends, the Carthaginians their enemies. 2. Agrigentum, possessed by the Carthaginians, was taken, after a long siege, by tne joint forces of Rome and Syracuse. A Roman fleet, tbe tirst which they ever had, was equipped in a few weeks, and gained a complete victory over that of Carthage, at this time the greatest maritime power in the world, 260 A. C. These successes were followed by the reduction of Corsica and Sardinia. In a second naval engagement the Romans took from the Carthaginians sixty of their ships of war, and now resolutely prepared for the invasion of Africa. The consul Regulus commanded the expedition. He ad- vanced to the gates of Carthage ; and such was the general conster- nation that the enemy proposed a capitulation. Inspirited, however, by a timely aid of Greek troops under Xantippus, the Carthaginians inad«; a desperate effort, and, defeating the Roman army, made Hegu- lus their prisoner. But, repeatedly defeated iu Sicily, they were at length seriously desirous of a peace ; and the Roman general was lent with their ambassadors to Rome to aid the negotiation, under a soleian oath to return to Carthage as a prisoner, if the treaty should fail. It was rejected at the urgent desire oi Regulus, who thus sac- rificed his life to what he judged the interest of his country. 3. Lilyboeum, the strongest of the Sicilian towns belonging to Curtlioge, was taken after a siege of nine years. After some alter- nate mccesses two naval battles won by the Rcnans terminated the war, md Carthage at last obtained a peace on the humiliating terms ol'abvndoning to the Romans all her possessions in Sicily, the pay- ment of 3,200 talents of silver, the restitution of all prisoners without ransoTi, and a solemn engagement never to make war against Syra- cuse or her allies. The island of Sicily was now declared a Roman proviace, though Syracuse maintained its independent government, A. U C. 511,and A. C. 241. 4. The peace between Rome and Carthage was of twenty-three yean' duration. The latter power was recruiting its strength, and med'^ated to revenge its losses and disgrace. The second Punic war began on the part of the Carthaginians, who besieged Saguntum, a fiity of Spain, in alliance with Uie Romana The youug HamiibaJ ANCIENT HISTOKX. 63 took Saguntum after a siege of seven months , u» ?«?spe*"ate inhabi tants setting lire to the town, and perishing anv.d'S' the flames. Han- nibal now formed the bold design of carrying the war into Italy. He provided against every difficulty, gained to liis interest a part of the Gallic tribes, passed the Pyrenees, and finally the Alps,* in a toil- some march of five months and a half from bis leaving Carthagena; and arrived in Italy with :£(),000 foot and G,000 hoi-se. 5. In the first engagement the Romans were defeated. They also lost two other important battles at Trebia, and the lake Thrasyme- nus. In the latter of these the consul Flamiaius was killed, and hi* army cut to pieces. Hannibal advanced to Cannas in Apulia, where tlie Romans oppos?d him with thoir whole force. A memorable defeat ensued, in which 40,000 Romans were left dead upon the field, and amdug these the consul ii^milius, and almost the whole body of the ki)ights. If Hannibal had taken advantage of this great victory, by iii--lantly ailackiag Rom?, the fate of the republic was inevitable ; but he delijerai.e J, and the occasion was lost. The Romans concentrated all tbeir strength. Even the ■^liives armed in the common cause, and victory once more attended the standards of the repabiic. Fiiiiip, king of Macedon, joined his forces to the Carthaginians, but, defeated by Levinus, speedily withdrew his as- sistance. Hannibal retreated before tne brave Marcellus. Syracuse had now taken part with Carthage, and thus paved the way for the loss of its own liberty. Marcsllus besieged the city, which was long defended by the inventive genius of Archimedes; but was taken in the third year by escalade in the night. This event put an end to the kingdom of Syracuse, Avhich now became a part of the Roman province of Sicily, A. U. C. 542, A.C. 212. 6. While the war in Italy was prosperously conducted by the great Fabius, who, by constantly avoiding a general engagement, found the true method of weakening his enemy, the younger Scipio accomplished the entire reduction of Spain. Asdrubal was sent into Itt^ly to the aid of his brother Hannibal, but was defeated by the consul Claudius, and slain in battle. Scipio, triumphant in Spain, passed over into Africa, and carried havoc and devastation to the gates of Carthage. Alarmed for the fate of their enipire the Car thaginians h;istiiy recalled Hannibal from Italy. The battle oi Zena decided the fate of the war, by the utter defeat of the Cartha ginians. They entreated a peace^ which the Romans gave on these conditions : that the Carthaginians should abandon Spain, Sicily, anJ all the islands; surrender all their prisoners, give up the wuole of their fleet except ten gallies, pay 10,000 talents, and, in future, undertake no war without consent of the Romans, A. U. C. 552, A. C. 202. 7. Every thing now concurred to swell the pride of the conquer* , ors, and to extend their dominion. A war with Philip of Macedon was terminated by his deteat ; and his son Demetrius was sent to Rome as a hostage for the payment of a heavy tribute imposed on the vanquished. A war with Antiochus, king of Syria, ended in his ceding to the Romans the whole of the Lesser Asia. But these splendid conquests, while they enlarged the empire, were fatal to its * The passagre of Hannibal over the Alps has been lately illustrated, in a most learned and ing'enious essay, by Mr. Whitaker (the celebrated historian of Manchester, and vindicator of Queen Mary), who has, with great acuteness, traced every step of the Carthaginian general, from kis crossing the Rhone to his final arrival ia Italy. 64 ANCIENT HISTORY. nrtuea, and subversive of the pure and venerable simplicity of smcit^nt tirncs. 8. Tiie third Punic war began A. U. C. 605, A. C. 149, and ended ID the ruin of Carthage. An unsuccessful war with the Numidians had reduced the Cartliaginians to great weakness, and the Romans meanly laid hold of that opporlunity to invade Africa. Conscious of their utter inability to resist this formidable pcwer, the Carthaginians offered every submission, and consented even to acknowledge them- selves the subjects of Rome. The Romans demanded 300 hostages, for the strict peribrmance of every condition that should be enjoined by the senate. The hostages were given, and the condition requir- «d was, that Carthage itself shouki be. razed to its foundation. Les- Sair gave courage to this miserable people, and they determined to ie in the defence of their native city. But the noble effort was in vain. Carthage was taken by stonn, its mhabitants massacred, and the city burnt to the ground, A. U. C. 607, A. C, 146. 9. The same year was signalized by the entire reduction of Greece under the dominion of the Romans. This was the aera of tiie dawn of luxury and taste at Rome, the natural fruit of foreign wealth, and an acquaintance with foreign manners, in the unequal distribution of this imported wealth, tlie vices to which it gave rise, the corruption and venality of which it became the instrument, we iee the remoter causes of those fatal disorders to which the republic •wed its dissolution. SECTION XXXIIl. THE GRACCHI, AND THE CORRUPTION OF THE COMMON- WEALTH. 1. At this period arose Tiberius and Caiiis Gracchus, two noble youths, whose zeal to reform the growing corruptions of the state, precipitated them at length into measures destructive of all govern- ment and social order. Tiberius, the elder of the brothers, urged the people to assert by force the revival of an ancient law, for limits ing property in land, and thus abridging the overgrown estates of the patricians. A tumult was the consequence, in which Tiberius, with 300 of his friends, were killed in the forum. This fatal example did not deter his brother, Caius Gracchus, from pursuing a similar career of zeal or of ambition. After some successful experiments of his pow- er, while in the office of tribune, he directed his scrutiny into the cor- ruptions of the senate, and prevailed in depriving that body of its con- stitutional control over all the inferior magistrates of (he state. ¥.m- ploying, like his brother, the dangerous engine of tumultuary force, he fell a victim to it himself, with 3,000 of his partisans, who were slaughtered in the streets of Rome. The tumults attending the se- dition of the Gracchi were the prelude to those civil disorders which now followed in quick succession to the end of the commonwealth. 2. The circumstances attending the war with Jugurtha gave deci- sive proof of the corniption of the Roman manners. Jugurtha, grandson of Masinissa, sought to usurp the crown of Numidia by destroying his cousins, Hiempsal and Adherbal, the sons of the last king. He murdered the elder of the brothers; and the younger applying for aid to Rome, Jugurtha bribed the senate, who declared him innocent of all culpable act or design, and decreed to him the ANCIENT HISTORY. 66 sovereignty oF half the kingdom. This operated only fts an incentive to his criminal ambition. He declared open war against his cousin, besieged him in his capital of Cirta. and linally put him to death. To. avert a threatened war Jugurtha went in person to Knmo, pleaded his own cause in the senate, and once more by bribery secured his acquittal from all charge of criminality. A perseverance, how.'ver, in a similar train of conduct tinally drew on him the Vi'n- geance of the Romans ; and being betrayed i.ito their hands by his own father-in-law, he was brought in chains to Rome, to grace the triumph of the consul Marius, confined to a dungeon, and starved to death, A. U. C. 651, A. C. 103. 3. The ambition of the allied states of Italy to attain the rights of citizenship produced the social war, which ended in a conces- sion of those rights to such of the confederates as should retura f>eaceably to their allegiance. This war with the allies was a pre- ude to that which followed between Rome and her own citizens. Sylla and Marius, rivals, and thence enemies, were at this time the leaders of the republic. Sylla, com nanding in a war against Mithri- datas, was superseded, and recalled from Asia. He refused to obey the mandate, and found his army well disposed to support him. "Let us march to Rome," said they, with one voice; "lead us on to avenge the cause of oppressed liberty." Sylla accordingly led them on, and they entered Rome sword in hand. Marius and his partizaos fled with precipitation from the city, and Sylla ruled for a while triumphant. But the faction of his rival soon recovered strength. Marius returning to Italy, and joining his forces to those of Cinna, his zealous pirtizan, laid siege to Rome, and, while Sylla was engaged in the Mithridatic war, compelled the city to absolute sub:nission. After a horrible massacre of all whom they esteemed their enemies, Mariu? and Cinna proclaimed them-^elves consuls, without the formaUty of an election; but Marius died a few days after in a tit of debauch. 4. After a victorious campaign in Asia, Sylla returned to Italy, and, joined by Cethegus, Verres, and the young Pompey, gave battle to the party of his enemies, and entirely defeated them. His entry into Rome was signalized by a dreadful massacre, and a proscription, wliich hai for its object the extermination of every enemy whom he had in Italy. Elected dictator for an unlimited period, he was now without a rival in authority, and absolute master of the government, which, of course, was no longer a republic* In the exercise of his dojiinion he deserved more praise than in the means of acquiring it. He restored the senate to its judicial authority, regulated the election to all the important offices of state, and enacted m my excellent laws against oppression and the abuse of power. Finally, he gave demonstration, if not of a pure conscience^ at least of a magnanimous intrepidity of character, by voluntarily resigning all command, retiring to the condition of a Srivate citizen, and offering publicly to give an account of his cbtt- uct. He died within a short time after his resignation. He was certainly a man of great strength of mind, and had some of the qual- ities of a heroic character; but he lived in evil times, when it was impossible at once to be great and to be virtuous, 5. The death of Sylla renewed the civil war. Lepidus, a man oi no abilities, aspired to succeed him in power ; and Pompey, with superior talents, cherished the same ambition. While the fatter was employed in the reduction of the revolted provinces of Asia, the F2 9 66 ANCIENT HISTORY. conspiracy of Catiline threatened the entire destruction of Rome. It was extinguished by the provident zeal and active patriotism of the consul Cicero. Catiline and his chief accomplices were attacked in the field, and defeated by Antonius. The traitor made a desperate defence, and died a better death than his crimes had merited. 6. Julius Cassar no'.v rose into public notice. Sylla dreaded his abilities and ambition, and had numbered him among the proscribed. '*• There is many a Marius," said ha, •' in the person of that young man." He had learned prudence from the danger of his situation, and tacitly courted popularity^ without that show of enterprise which gives alarm to a rival. VVhile Fompey and Crassus contended for the command of the republic, Caesar, who knew that, by attach- ing himself to either rival, he infallibly made the other his enemy, showed the reach of his talents by reconciling them, and thus acquiring the friendship of both. From favour to their mutual friend they agreed to a partition of power; and thus was formed the first triumvirate. Caesar was elected consul. He increased his popularity by a division of lands among t'ne poorer citizens, and strengthened his interest with Pompey by giving him his daughter in marriage. He had the command of four legions, and the government of trans- alpine Gaul and lUyria. 7. The military glory of the republic, and the reputation of Caesar, were nobly sustained in Gaul. In the first year of his govern- ment he subdued the Helvetii, who, leaving their own country, had attempted to settle themselves in the better regions of the Roman Krovince. He totally defeated the Germans under Ariovistus, who ad attempted a similar invasion. The Belgae, the Nervii, the Celtic Gauls, the Suevi, Menapii, and other warlike nations, were all successively brought under subjection. In the fourth year of his government he transported his army into Britain. Landing at Deal, he was opposed by the natives with equal courage and military skill. He gained, however, several advantages, and, binding the Britons to submission, withdrew into Gaul on the approach^ of winter. He returned in the following; summer with a greater force, and, prose- cuting his victories, reduced a considera!)le portion of the island under the Rom m dominion, A. C. 54. But the pressure of affairs in Italy suspended for a time the progress of the Roman arms in Brifain. 8. Caesar dreaded the abilities of Cicero, who had opposed hhji in his views of ambition. By the machinations of his partizans, while he was absent in Gaul, he procured the banishment of Cicero, and the confiscation of his estates, on the pretence of illegal meas- ures pursued in the suppression of the consjiiracy of Catiline. During an exile of sixteen months in Greece, Cicero gave way to a despondency of mind utterly unworthy of the philosopher. Pom- pey had abandoned him, and this ungrateful desertion bore most heavily upon his mind. In the wane of his reputation Pompey soon became desirous to prop his own sinking fortunes by tne abilities of Cicero, and eagerly promoted his recal from exile. The death of Crassus, in an expedition against the Parthians, now dissolved the triumvirate ; and Caesar and Pompey, whose union had no other bond than interest, began each to conceive separately the view of undivid- ed dominion. ANCIENT HISTORY. 67 SECTION XXXIV. FROGRESS OF THE CIVIE WARS. SECOND TRIUMVIRATE. FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. 1. The ambition of Caesar and of Poinpey had now evidently the fftme object ; and it seemed to be the only question, in those degen- erate times, to which of these aspiring leaders the republic should surrender its liberties. The term of Ca?sar's government was near expiring. To secure himself against a deprivation of power, he procured a proposal to be made in the senate by one of his partizans, which wore the appearance of great moderation, namely, that C'djsar and Pompey should either both continue in their govern- ments, or both be deprived of them, as they were equally capable of endangering the public liberty by an abuse of power. The mo- tion passed, and Caesar immediately offered to resign, on condition that his rival should do so ; but Pompey rejected the accommodation. The term of his government had yet several years'" duration, Jiiid he suspected the proposal to be a snare laid for him by Caesar. He resolved to maintain his right by force of arms, and a civil war was the necessary consequence. The consuls and a great part of the senate were the friends of Pompey. Ca?sar had on his side a victo- rious army, consisting of ten legions, and the bod)^ of the Roman cit- izens, whom he had won by his liberality. Mark Antony and Cas- sius, at that time tribunes of the people, left Rome, and repaired to Caesar's camp. 2. The senate, apprehensive of his designs, pronounced a decree, branding with the crime of parricide any commander who should dare to pass the Rubicon (the boundary between Italy and the Gauls) with a single cohort, without their penni'isicn. Caejsar infringed the prohibition, and marched straight to Rome. — Pem|>ey, to whom the senate committed the deferxe of the state, had no army. He quitted Rome, followed by the consuls and a pai-t of the senate, and endeavoured hastiiv to levy troops over all Italy and Greece ; while Caesar triumphantly entered the city amidst the acclamations of the people, seized the public treasury, and possessed himself of the supreme authority without opposition. Having se- cured the capital of the empire, he set out to take the field ag.Just her enemies. The lieutenants of Pompey had possession of Spain, Caesar marched thither, and subdued the whole country in tlie space of forty days. He returned victorious to Rome, whete, in his absence, he had been nominated dictator. In the succeeding elec- tion of magistrates he was chosen consul, and was thus invested, by a double title, with the right of acting in the name of the republic. Pompey had by this time raised a numerous army, and Caesar was anxious to bring him to a decisive engagement. The two armies met in Illyria, and the first conflict was of doubtful issue. Caesar led his army into Macedonia, where he found a large reinforcement. He gave battle to Pompey in the field of Pharsalia, and entirely defeated him. Fifteen tnousand of Pompey's army were slain, and 24,000 surrendered themselves prisoners to the victor, A. U. C. 705, A. C. 49. 3 The fate of Pompey was miserable in the extreme. Witli his mh Cornelia, the coioeiuiion of his misfortunes, he fled to Egypt in 68 ANCIENT HISTORY. a single ship, trusting to the protection of Ptolemy, whose father had owed to him his settlement on the throne. But the miMisiei-s of this young prince, dreading the power ot Caesar, baseiy courted liis favour by the murder of his rival. Pompey was brought ashore in a small boat by the guards of the king ; and a Roman centurion,^ who had fought under his banners, stabbed him, even in the siglit of Cornelia_, and cutting off his head, threw the body naked on the sands. Caesar pursued Pompey to Alexandria^ where the head of that unhappy man, presented as a grateful oftering, gave bin the first intelligence of his fate. He wept, and turned with horror from the sight. He caused every honour to be paid to his memory, and from that time showed the utmost benclicence to the partizans of his unibrtunate rival. 4. The sovereignty of Egypt vvas in dispute between Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra. The latter, though married to her brother, and joint heir by her father's will, was ambitious of undivided author- ity ; and Caesar, captivated by her charms, decided the contest in favour of the beauteous queen. A war ensued, in which Ptolemy was killed, and Egypt subdued by the Roman arms. In this war the famous library of Alexandria was burnt to ashes, A. C. 48. A revolt of the Asiatic provinces, under Phamaces, the son of Mithridates, was signally chastised ; and the report was conveyed by Caesar to the Roman senate in three words. Feni, vidi^ vici. The conqueror returned to Rome, which needed liis presence ; for Italy was divid- ed, and the partizans of Pompey were yet extremely tbrmidable. His two sons, with Cato and Scipio, were in arms in Africa. Cassar pursued them thither, and proceeding with caution till secure of his advantage, defeated them in a decisive engagement at Thapsus. bcipio perished in his passage to Spain. Cato, shutting himself up in Utica, meditated a brave resistance ; but seeing no hope of suc- cess, he finally determined not to survive the liberties of his country, and fell deliberately by his own hand. Mauritania was now added to the number of the Roman provinces ; and Caesar returned to Rome, absolute master of the empire. 5. From that moment his attention was directed solely to the prosperity and happiness of the Roman people. He remembered no longer that there had been opposite parlies ; beneficent alike to the friends of Pompey as to his own. He laboured to reform every species of abuse or grievance. He introduced order into every de- partment of the state, defining the separate rights of all its magistrates, and extending his care to the regulation of its most distant provinces. The reformation of the kalendar, the draining of the marshes of Italy, the navigation of the Tiber, the emnellishment of Rome, the complete survey and delineation of the empire, aiteniately em- ployed his liberal and capacious mind. Returning from the final overthrow of Pompey's party in Spain, he was hailed the father o. his country, was created consul for ten years, and perpetual diC* tator. His person Wfis declared sacred, his title henceforth iinperatory A. U. C. 709, A. C. 45. 6. The Roman republic had thus finally resigned its liberties, by its own acts. They were not extinguished, as Montesquieu^ has well remarked, by the ambition of a Pompey or of a Caesar, if the sentiments of Caesar and Pompey bad been the same with those of Cato, others would have had the same ambitious thoughts; and, since the commonwealth was fated to fall, there never would have been wanting a hand to dra|; it to destruction. Yet Caesar bad by ANCIENT HISTORY. 69 force subdued his country ; and therefore was a usurper. If it had been possible to restore the liberties of the republic, and with these its happiness, by the suppression of his usurpation, the attempt would nave merited the praise at least of good design. Perhaps so thought his murderers ; and thus, however weak their policy, how- ever base and treacherous their act, they will ever find apologists. They expected an impossible issue, as the event demonstrated. "t. A conspiracy was formed by sixty of the senators, at the head of whom were Brutus and Cassius; the former a man beloved of Cajsar, who had saved his Ufe, and heaped upon him numberless beaents. It was rumoured that the dictator wished to add to his numerous titles that of king, and that the ides of March was fixed on for investing him with tlie diadem. On that day, when taking his seat in the senate-house, he was suddenly assailed by the con- spirators. He defended himself for some time against their daggers, till, seeing Brutus among the number, he faintly exclaimed, " And you, too, my son !" and covering his face with his robe, resigned nimself to his fate. He fell, pierced by twenty-three wounds, A. U. C. 711, and A. C. 43. 8. The Roman people were struck with horror at the deed. They loved Caesar, master as he was of their lives and liberties. Mark Antony and Lepidus, ambitious of succeeding to the power of the dictator, resolved to pave the way by avenging his death. Caesar, by his testamt;nt, had bequeathed a great part of his fortune to the people ; and they were penetrated with gratitude to his memory. A public harangue by Antony over the bleeding body, ex- posed In the forum, intiaraed them with the utmost indignation against his murderers, who must have met with instant destruction if they had not escaped with precipitation from the city. Antony profited by these dispositions ; and the avenger of Caesar, of course the favourite of the people, was in the immediate prospect of attain- mg a similar height of dominion. In this, however, he found a for- midable competitor in Octavius, the grand-nephew and the adopted heir of Caesar, who, at this critical moment, arrived in Rome. Availing himself of these titles, Octavius gained the senate to his inter- est, and divided with Antony the favour of the peo{)le. The rivals soon perceived that it was their wisest plan to unite their interests ; and they admitted Lepidus into their association, whose power, as governor of Gaul, and immense riches, gave him a title to a share of authority. Thus was formed the second triumvirate, the effects of whose union were beyond measure dreadful to the republic. The triumviri divided among themselves the provinces, and cement- ed their union by a deliberate sacrifice made by each of his best friends to the vengeance of his associates. Antony consigned to death his uncle Lucius ; Lepidus his brother Paulus ; and Octavius his guardian Toranius and his friend Cicero. In this horrible pro- scription 3<)0 senators and 3,000 knights were put to death. 9. Octavius and Antony now marched against the conspirators, whn had a tbrmidable army in the field in Thrace, commanded by Brutus and Caasius. An engagement ensued at Philippi, which decided the fate of the empire. Antony obtained the victory, for Octavius had no military talents. He was destitute even of personal bravery, and his conduct after the victory was stained with that cruelty which IS ever the attendant of cowardice. Brutus and Cassius escaped the vengeance of their enemies by a voluntary death. Antony now sought a recompense for his troops by the plunder of the east. 70 ANCIENT HISTORY. While in Cilicia, he summoned Cleopatra to answer for her conduct in dethroning an intant brother, and in openly favouring the party of Brutus and Cassius. The queen came to T arsus, and made a com- plete conquest of the triumvir. Immersed in luxury, and intoxicated with love, he forgot glory, ambition, fame, and every thing, for Cleopatra. Octavius saw this phrensy with delight, as the prepara- tive of his rival's ruin. He had nothing to dread from Lepidus, whose insignificant character first drew on him the contempt of his partizans; and whose folly, in attempting an invasion of the province of his colleague, was punished by his deposition and banishment. 10. Antony had in his madness lavished the provinces of the em- pire in gifts to his paramour and her children. The Roman people were justly indignant at these enormiti;^s; and the divorce of his wife Octavia, the sister of his colleague, was at length the signal of declared hostility between them. An immense armament, chiefly naval, came at length to a decisive contiict near Actium, on the coast of Epirus. Cleopatra, who attended her lover, deserted him with her galleys in the heat of the engagement; and such was the infatuation of Antony, that he abandoned his fleet, and followed her. After a contest of some hours, they yielded to the squadron of Octavius, A. U. C. 723, A. C. 31. The victor pursued the fugitives to Egypt; and the base Cleopatra proffered terms to Octavius, including the surrender of her kingdom, and the abandonment of Antony After an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, Antony anticipated his fate by falling on his sword. Cleopatra soon after, either from remoi-se, or more probably from mortifled ambition, as she found it was Octa- vius's design to lead her in chains to Rome to grace his triumph, had courage to follow the example of her lover, and put herself to death by the •poison of an asp. Ocfavius returned to Rome sole master of the Roman empire, A. U. C. 727, A. C. 27. sp:ction XXXV. CONSIDERATIONS OF SUCH PARTICULARS AS MARK THE GENIUS AND NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS. SYSTEM OF ROMAN EDUCATIOxN. \. A VIRTUOUS but rigid severity of manners was the characteristic of the Romans under their kings, and in the first ages of the repub- lic. The private life of the citizens, frugal, temperate, and labori- ous, had its influence on their public character. The {patria potesios) paternal authority gave to every head of a family a sovereign author- ity over all the members that composed it ; and this power, lelt as a right of nature, was never abused. Plutarch has remarked, as a defect in the Roman laws, that they did not prescribe, as those ot' Laceda^- mon, a system and rules for the education of youth. But tlie truth is, the manners of the people supplied this want. The utmost at- tention was bestowed in the early formation of the mind and charac- ter. The excellent author of the dialogue De Oratoribus [cmiceming orators) presents a valuable picture of the Roman education in the early ages of the commonwealth, contrasted with the less virtuous practice of the more refined ages. The Roman matrons did not abandon their infants to mercenary nurses. They regarded the careful nurture of their oflspring, the rudiments of tlieir education, ANCIENT HISTORY. 7* and the necessary occupations of tneir household, a«? the highest points of female merit. Next to the care bestowed in the instilment of virtuous morals, a remarkable degree of attention seems to have been given to the language of children, and to the atiainment of a cori'ectness and purity of expression. Cicero mforms us that the Gracchi, the sons of Cornelia, were educated, non tarn in gronnio quain in senrioiie mati'is, in the speech niwe than in the boscrn of' their mother That urbanity which characterized the Roman citizens showed itself particularly in their speech and gesture. 2. The attention to the language of the youth had another source. It was by eloquence, mope than by any other talent, that the young Roman could rise to the highest otfices and dignities of the state. The studia forensia [Jorendc studies) were, theretore, a principal ob- ject of the "koman education. Plutarch inlorms us, that among the sports of the children at Rome, one was pleading causes before a mock tribunal, and accusing and defending a criminal in the usual forms of judicial procedure. 13. The exercises of the body were likewise particularly attended to ; whatever might harden the temperament, and confer strength and agility. These exercises were daily practised by the youth, under the eye of their elders, in the CampYis Martius. 4. At seventeen the youth assumed the manly robe. He was consigned to the care of a master of rhetoric, whom he attended constantly to the forum, or to the courts of justice ; for, to be an accomplished gentleman, it was necessary for a Roman to be an ac- complished orator. The pains bestowed on the attainment of this character, and the best instructions for its acquisition, we learn from the writings of Cicero, (c^uintilian, and the younger Pliny. SECTION XXXVI. OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AxMONG THE ROMANS. 1. Before the intercourse with Greece, which took place after the Punic wars, the Roman people was utterly rude and illiterate. As among all nations the first appearance of the literary spirit is shown in poetical composition, the Roman warrior had probably, like the Indian or the Celtic, his war songs, which celebrated his triumphs in battle. Religion likewise employs the earliest poetry of most nations; and if a people subsist by agriculture, a plentiful harvest is celebrated in the rustic song of the husbandman. The versus fescennini {fescennine verses), mentioned by Livy, wereproba- bly ol the nature of a poetical dialogue, or alternate verses sung by the labourers, in a strain of coarse merriment and raillery. This shows a dawning of the drama. 2. About the 39Uth year of Rome, on occasion of a pestilence, ludiones ^drolls or stage dancers) were brought from Etruria, qu* ad tihicinis inodos saltantes, haud indecoros motus more Tusco dabant ■; who danced to the tunes of a musician, and, in tlie Tuscan fashion, exhi' bited motions tluit were not ungraceful. Livy tells us that the Roman youth imitated these performances, and added to them rude and joc- ular verses, probably the fescennine dialogues. The regular drama was introduced at Rome from Greece by Livius Andronicus, A. U- C 72 ANCIENT HISTORY. 514. The earliest Roman plays were therefore, we may pre«um«| translatious from the Greek. Et post punica bella quietus quaerere coepit, Quid Sophocles, et Thespis, et 5^schylus utile ferrent. Hor. Epist. Lib. II, i. And being at peace after the Punic wars, the Romans began to inquire what advantages might be derived from the writings of feophocles, Thtspis, atnd ^schylus. 3. Of the early Roman drama, Ennius was a great ornament, and from his time the art made rapid advancement. The comedies of Plautus, the contemporary of Ennius, with great strength and spirit of dialogue, display a considerahie knowledge of human nature, and are read at this day witli pleasure. 4. Caeciiius improved so much on the comedy of Plautus, that he is mentioned by Cicero as perhaps the best of the Roman comic writers. Of his compositicns we have no remains. His patronage fostered the rising genius of Terence, whose lii-st comedy, the Ai- dria, was performed A. U. C. 587. The merit of the comedies of Terence lies in that nature and simplicity which are observable in the structure of his fables, and in the delineation of his characters. They are deficient, however, in comic energy ; and are not calcu- lated to excite ludicrous emotions. They are chiefly borrowed from the Greek of Menander and Apoilodorus. 5. 'Phe Roman comedy wrs of four ditferent species : the cotnedia togata or prwtexiata, the coiaedia tabernana^ the attellante, and the tmmi. The first admitted serious scenes and personages, nnd was of the nature of the modern sentimental comedy. 'Ine second was a representation ot orthnary lite and manners. The ottellamt were pieces where the dialogue was not committed to wriiing, but the subject of the scene was prescribed, and the dialogue filled up by the talents of the actors, 'i'he mimi were pieces of comedy ot the lowest species ; farces, or entertainments ot butioonery ; though sometimes admitting the serious, and even the pailietic. 6. The Roman tragedy kept pace in its advancement with the comedy. The best of the Roman tragic poets were Actius and Pacuyius, of whom we liave no remains. The tragedies published under the name of Seneca am genorady esteemed the work of dif- ferent hands. They are none ot them of superlative merit. 7. Velleius Patercnhis remarks, that the aera of tlie perfection of Roman literature was the age ot Cicero, conjprehending all the literary men of the preceding times whom Cicero might have seen, and all those of the succeeding who might have seen liim. Cicero, Quintilian, and Pliny celebrate, in high terms, the writings ot the elder Cato, whose principal works were histoiical, and have entirely perished. We have his fragments, de Re Rustix^a {on agriculture)^ in which he was imitated by v arro, one of the earliest of the good writers among the Romans, and a man oi universal erudition. Of the variety of his talents we may judge, not only from the splendid culogium of Cicero, but from the chcumstance of Pliny having re- course to his authority in every book of his Natural History. 8. Sallust, in order of time, comes next to V arro. This write* introduced an inportant improvement ca history, as treated by the Greek historians, by applying (as Diouysius ot Halicamassus says) ANCIENT HISTORY. 73 the science of philosophy to the study of facts. Sallust is therefore to be considered as the fatlier of philosophic history ; a species of writing which has been so successfully cultivated in modern times. He is an admirable writer for the matter of his compositions, which evince great judgment and knowledge of human nature, but by no means commendable for his style and manner of writing. He affects singularity of expression, an antiquated phraseology, and a petulant brevity and sententiousness, which has nothing of the dignity of the historical style. 9. Caesar has much more purity of style, and m-ore correctness and simplicity of expression ; but his Commentaries, wanting that amplitude of diction and fulness of illustration which is essential to history, are rather of the nature of annals. 10. In all the requisites of a historian, Livy stands unrivalled among the Romans; possessing consummate jiidgment in the selec- tion of facts, perspicuity of arrangement, sagacious relic «tion, sound views of policy, with the most copious, pure, and eloquent expres- sion. It has been objected, that his speeches derogate from the truth of history : but this was a prevalent taste with the ancient tvriters ; and as those speeches are always known to be the compo- sition of the historian, the reader is not misled. As to the style of Livy, though ia general excellent, we sometimes perceive in it, and most commonly in the speeches, an afi'ectation cf the pointed sen- tences (the vibrantes sente.ntiol(x) and obscurity of the declaimers, which evinces the pernicioxis influence acquired by those teachers at Rome since the time of Cicero and Sallust. 11. In the decline of Roman literature Tacitus is a historian of no common merit. He successfully cultivated the method pointed out by Sallust, of applying philosophy to history. In this he dis- plays great knowledge of human nature, and penetrates, with sin- gular acuteness, into the secret springs of policy, and the motives ot" actions. But his fault is, that he is too much of a politician, drawing his characters after the model of his own mind ; ever as- signing actions and events to preconceived scheme and design, and allowing too Httle for the operation of accidental causes, which often have the greatest influence on human affairs. Tacitus, in his style, professedly imitated that of Sallust; adopting all the ancient phra- seology, as well as the new idioms introduced into the Roman lan- guage by that writer. To his brevity and abruptness he added most of the faults of the declaiming school. His expression, therefore, tliough extremely forcible, is often enigmatically obscure ; the worst property that style can possess. 12. Among the eminent Roman poets (after the dramatic) Lucre- tius deserves first to be noticed. He has great inequality, being at some times verbose, rugged, and perplexed, and at others displaying all the elegance as well as the fire oi poetrj'. This may be in great part attributed to his subject. Philosophical disquisition is unsuitable to poetry. It demands a dry precision of thought and expression, rejecting all excursive fancy and ornament of diction. That luxuri- ance of imagery, which is the soul of poetry, is raving and imper- tinence when applied to philosophy. 13. Catullus, the contemporary of Lucretius, is the earliest of the Roman lyric poets. His Epigrams are pointed and satirical, but too licentious; his Idylla tender, natural, and picturesque. He flourished in the age of Julius Cassar. 14. In the succeeding age of Augustus, poetry attained to its high G 10 Hi ANCIENT HISTORY. est elevation among the Romans. Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Tibiil* lu8, were all contemporaries. Virgil is allowed the same rank among the Roman poets, as Homer among the Greek. If Homer excel Virgil in the sublime, the latter surpasses the former in the tender and elegant. The transcendent merits *( Homer are sullied by oc- casional defects. Virgil is the model of a correct taste. The dif- ference of manner in the Bucolics, the Georgics, and the -Sjieid, shows that Virgil was capable of excelling in various departments of poetry ; and such is the opinion of Martial, who affirms that he could have surpassed Horace in lyric poetry, and Varius in tragedy. 15. Horace excels as a lyric poet, a satirist, and a critic. In his odes there is more variety than in those of either Anacreon or Pindar. He can alternately display the sublimity of the latter, and the jocose vein of the former. His Satires have that characteristic slyness and obliquity of censure, associated with humour and pleas- antry, which strongly distinguish them from the stem and cutting sarcasm of Juvenal. As a critic, his rules are taken chiefly from Aristotle; but they contain the elements of a just taste in poetical composition, and therefore do not admit of variation. The Satires of Juvenal, compared with those of Horace, are deficient in face- tiousness and urbanity ; but they are superior in acuteness of thought, and in manly vigor of sentiment. 16. In variety of talent, without supreme excellence, and in ease and elegance of numbers, no Roman poet has exceeded Ovid. In his Metamorphoses, particularly, with great fancy, we have speci- mens of the patlietic, the descriptive, the eloquent, and even the sublime. His Elegies have more of nature and of real passion, than those of either Tibullus or Propertius. His amatory verses have much tenderness, but are too frequently loose, and even grossly licentious. 17. There is nothing more elegant than the compositions of Ti- bullus, nothing more delicate than the turn of his expression ; but it is not the language of passion. The sentiments are tender, but their power of affecting the heart is weakened by the visible care and solicitude of the poet for relined phraseology and polished num- bers ; nor is there either much fancy or variety of thought. A sin- gle elegy exhibits the sentiments of the whole. 18. Martial is the last of the Roman poets who can be mentioned with high approbation. His Epigrams, independent of their art and ingenuity, are valuable, as throwing light upon the Roman manners. He possesses, above every other poet, a naivete of expression, which is chiefly ©bservable in his serious epigrams. He is well char- acterized by the younger Pliny. Ingoii/mis, accr, et qui in scribendn et satis haberet etfellis, nee candons minus. Epist. 3. 21. His writings are ingenimis and acute ; they possess humour and satire, and no less candour. 19. Luxuriance of ornament, and the fondness for points, and bril- liancy of thought and expression, are certain indications of the de- cline of good taste. These characters strongly mark the Latin poets of the succeeding ages. Lucan has some scattered examples of genuine poetic imagery, and Persius some happy strokes of ani- mated satire ; but they scarcely compensate the affected obscurity of one, and the bombast of the other. The succeeding poets, Statius, BiliuB Italicus, and Valerius Flaccus, in their attempts at the most difficult of all species of poetry, the epic, have only more signally displayed the interiority of their genitts, fmd the manifest decay of the art. ANCIENT fflSTORY. 7« SECTION XXXV 11. STATE OF PHILOSOPHY AMONG THE ROMANS. 1. Tjie Romans, in the earlier periods of the republic, had little leiBure to bestow on the cultivation of the sciences, and had no idea of philosophical speculation. It was not till the end of the sixth century from the building of the city, and in the interval between the war with Perseus and the third Punic war, that philosophy made its tirst appearance at Rome. A few learned Acnaeans, banished from their country, had settled in various parts of Italy, and apply- ing themselves to the cultivation of literature and the education of^youth, diffused a taste for those studios hitherto unknown to the Romans. The elder citizens regarded those pursuits with an unfa- vourable eye. Jealous of the introduction of foreign manners with foreign studies, the senate banished the Greek philosophers from Rome. But an Athenian embassy, arriving soon after, brought thitiierCarneadesandCi'itolaus, who revived the taste for the Greek philosophy, and left behind them many able disciples, who publicly taught their doctrines. 2. It was natural that those systems should be most generally adopted which were most suitable to the national character. While the manners of the Romans had a tincture of ancient severity, the stoical system prevailed. Scipio, Laelius, and the younger Cato rank among its chief partisans. 3. The philosophy of Aristotle was little known in Rome till the age of Cicero. At that time Cratippus and Tyrannion taught his system wifh great reputation. Yet Cicero complains that the peri- patetic philosophy was little understood at Rome ; and therefore, he sent his son to study its doctrines in the schools of Athens. 4. Lucullus, whose stay in Greece g#e him an opportunity of being acquainted with all the different sects, disseminated, on his return to Rome, a very general taste for philosophy. His patronage of learned men, and his liberality in allowing his library to be open for the public use, contributed greatly to tne promotion of litera- ture. 5. The Old and New Academy had each its partisans. , Of the foniier, which may be termed the Stoico-Platonic, the most illus- trious disciples were Marcus Brutus and Terentius Varro. To the philosophical talents of Brutus, and the universal erudition of Varro, the writings of Cicero bear ample testimony. Cicero himself must be deemed the most eminent of all the Roman philosophers. He is classed among the principal supporters of the New Academy ; though it seems to have been his purpose to elucidate the Greek philosophy in general, rather than to rank himself among the disci- ples of any particular sect 6. The cultivation of physics, or natural philosophy, seems to have been little attended to either by the Greeks or Romans. Un- less agriculture should be classed under this description, we know of no Roman authoi-s, except Varro and the elder r liny, who seem to have bestowed much attention on the operations of nature. The works of Varro have perished, except a few fragments. The Nat- ural History of Pliny is a most valuable store-house of the knowl- edge of the. ancients in physics, economics, and the arts and sciencer •» ANCIENT HISTORY It is to be regretted that the style is unsuitable to the matter, being too frequently florid, declamatory, and obscure. 7. The philosophy of Epicurus was unknown in the early ages ©f the Roman commonwealth. It was introduced with luxury, and kept pace in its advancement with the corruption of manners. Cin- neas Laving discoursed on the tenets of Epicurus at the table of Pynhus, Fabricius exclaimed, "May the enemies of Rome ever entertain such principles f Yet tlit^se principles were, in a short time from that period, too current among the citizens of Rome. SECTION XXXVIII. OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE MANNERS OF THE ROMANS. 1. The manners of the Romans in the early ages of the republic were so different from those of the latter times, that one should be led to suppose some very extraordinary causes to have co-operated to produce so remarkable a change ; yet the transition is easy to be accounted for. A spirit of temperance, of frugality, and probity, is the characteristic ot every infant establishment. A virtuous simpli- city of manners, and a rigour of military discipline, paved the way ■for the extension of the Roman arms, and for their prodigious con- quests. These conquest introduced wealth, luxury, and corruption, 2. In the early times of the republic the patricians, when in the country, forgot the distinction of ranks, and laboured in the cultiva- tion of their fields, like the meanest plebeians. We have the exam- ples of Cincinnatus, Curius, the elder Cato, and Scipio Africanufc. The town was visited only every ninth day, which was the market day. In those times of A^irtuous simplicity, says Sallust, Domi mili- ticeqiie honi mores colSantur. Duaha artibus, audacia in bello^ ubi pax foenerat^ ctquitate^ seque remqite publicam curabant. Good manners were cultivated both in peace an^^zjar. By two means^ valour in war, and tquity in peace, thly supported themselves and the commmm.ealth. But when the Romans had extended their dominion, in consequence of this very discipline and these manners, they imported with the wealth of the conquered nations their tastes, their mannti-s, and their vices. 3. The Romans had no natural taste in the fine arts. On the con- quest of Greece an immense field opened at once to their eyes, and the master-pieces of art poured in upon them in abundance. But they could not appreciate their excellences. The Roman luxury, as far as the arts were concerned, was in general displayed in an awkward, heavy, and tasteless magnificence. 4. The public and private life of the Romans will be best eluci- dated by a short account of the manner in which the day was pass- ed at Rome, both, by the higher and lower rai^s of the people. By a part of the citizens the morning hours were spent in visiting the temples, by others in attending the levees of the great. The clientes (clients) waited on their patroni (patrons) ; the patricians yisited one another, or paid their compliments to tne leaders of the repubhc. Popularity was always the first object of ambition at Rome, as paving the way to all advancement From the levee they proceedeq to the forum, either to assist in the public business, or for amusement There the time was spent till noon, which was the hour of dinner apftong the Romans. This was chiefly a very Ught repsgt, of which it was not customary to invite any ^\ies\s. to |)artaie. ANCIENT HISTORY. *■* After dinner the youth repaired to the Campus Martius, where they occupied themselves in athletic exercises and sports till sunset. The elder class retired for an hour to repose, and then passed the aftei* noon in their porticoes, galleries or libraries, where they enjoyed the conversation of their friends, or heard recitations of literary works : others repaired to the theatres, or to tlie shows of the circus and amphitheatre. 5. Combats of gladiators were introduced for the first time about the 400th year of the city. These and combats with wild beasts soon became a favourite amusement among the Romans. The spirit of luxuiy, which in general is not unfavourable to humanity, showed its progress among the Romans by an increasing ferocity and inhumanity \ of the public spectacles. Theatrical entertainments were in high request. (Sect. XXXVI, § 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.) The taste for pantomime came to such a height, that tlie art was taught in public schools, and the nobility and people were divided into parties in favour of the rival performers; an abuse which called at length for the interposi- tion of theiaws. 6. From the porticoes, or from the theatre and amphitheatre, it was customary to go to the baths, of which there were many for the use of the public. The rich had baths in their own houses, vying with each other in this as in every other article of luxury or magnificence From the bath they went immediately to supper, generally about the ninth or tenth hour, counting from sunrise. At table they reclined on couches. The luxury of the Roman suppers far exceeded every thing known among the modems. An antecanium of pickles and spices was presented to prepare and sharpen the appetite. Cook- ery became a science. The number and costliness of the dishes were incredible. The entertainment was heightened by every thing gratifying to the senses; by male and female dancers, musicians, pantomimes, and even shows of gladiators. 7. in the end of the republic pleasure and amusement were the darling object of all ranks of the citizens :rfH)ey sought no more than punein et circenses {bread and games in the circus). SECTION XXXIX. OF THE ART OF WAR AMONG TPIE ROMANS. 1. From the prodigious success which attended the arms of the Romans, and the dominion which they acquired over the greater part of the known world, it seems a nat-ural inference that they must nave excelled all the contemporary nations in the military art. Vege- tiu.s expressly assigns their extensive conquests to that cause alone. It is the discipline of an army that makes a multitude act as one man. It likewise increases the courage of troops ; for each individual con- fides in the steady co-operation of his fellows. 2. From the constant practice of athletic exercises, the Romans were inured from infancy to hardiness and fitigue, and bred to that species of life, which a soldier leads in the most active campaign in the field. 3. The levies were made annually, by the tribes called out, and divided into their respective number of centuries; each century pre- senting by rotation, as many soldiers as there were legions intended to be raised; and the tribunes of the several legions taking their turn G2 78 ANCIENT HISTORY. by rotation in the selection of the men presented by the centuries. (Sect. XXIV, § 16.) The number of soldiers in the legion was vari- ous at different periods, from 3,000 to 10,000 and 11,000. 4. Among the ancient . nations there were usually two different arrangements of the troops in order of battle. One the phalanx, or close arrangement in a rectangular form, intersected only by freat divisions ; a disposition commonly used by the Greeks, and y most of the barbarous nations. The other the quincunx or chequer, consisting of small companies or platoons, disposed in three straight lines, with alternate spaces between the companies equal to the space occupied by each company. In the first line were the fuxstati, in the second the principes^ and in the third the triarii. On the tlanks of the first line were the cavalry, in detached companies ; and in front of the line were the velites^ or light-afmed troops, who usually began with a skirmishing attack, and then were withdrawn, to make way for the mut to death in the 15lh year of his reign, and the 63d of his age. SECTION XLll. 1. The son of Agrippina assumed the title of Nero Claudius. He had enjoyed the beneht of a good education under the philosopher Seneca, but reaped from bis instructions no other fruit than a pedan- tic affectation of taste and learning, with no real pretension to either. While controled by his tutor Seneca, and by Bnrrhus, captain of the praetorian guards, a man of worth and ability, Nero maintained for a short time a decency of public conduct ; but the restraint was intolerable, and nature soon broke out. His real character was a compound of every thing that is base and inhuman. In the murder of his mother Agrippina he revenged the crime which she had committed in raising him to the throne ; he rewarded the fidelity of Burrhus, by poisoning him ; and as a last kindness to his tutor Seneca, he allowed him to choose the mode of his death. It was bis ^rling amusement to exhibit ou the stage and ampliitheatre as au ANCIENT HISTORY. 85 actor, musician, or gladiatoi At length, become the object of universal hatred and contempt, a rebellion of his subjects, hefided by Vindex, an illustrious Gaul, hurled this monster from the throne. He had noi courage to attempt resistance ; and a slave, at his own request, despatched him with a dagger. Nero perished in the 30th year of his age, after a reign of tburteen years, A. 1). 69. 2. Galoa, the successor of Nero, was of an ancient and ilbi^trions family. He was in tlie 73d year of ids age when the senate, ratify- ing the choice of tiie praetorian bands, proclaimed him emperor. But an impolitic rigour of discipline soon disgusted the army ; the avarice ot his disposition, grudging the populace their fivourite g vM\'s and spectacles, deprived him o/ their alfeclions; and some i'liquitous prosecutions and confiscations excited general discontent an 1 .mutiny. Galba, adopted and designed for his successor the able an 1 virtuous Piso; a measure which excited the jealousy of Otho, hi? t<)rmer fivourite, and led him to form the daring plan of raising himself to the throne by the destruction of both. He found the pPcetorians apt to his purpose. They proclaimed him emperor, and j)re-ented lum, as a grateful offering, the heads of Galba and riso, who were slain in quelling the insurrection. Galba had reigned poven months. Major privato visits^ diun privatusfnit^ et ouinium con- sensu capax imperii^ nm inipe russet. Tacitus. He ujrpeared to be greater tluni a private //ut7i, zcliik he zuas in a private station ; and by the consent 'f all was capable r>f governing., if he fuid iwt governed. 3. Otho had a formidable rival in Vitellius, who hal been pro- f-!aimed emperor by his army in Germany. It is hard to say which of' the competitors was, in [joint of abi;ities, the more despicable, or in character the more iof imous. A decisive battle was fought at Ikdriacum, near Mantua, where Otho was defeated, and in a tit of despair ended his lite by his own hand, after a reign of three months, A. i). 70. • 4. The reign of Vitellius was of eight months' duration. He is sai 1 to have proposed Nero for his model, and it was just that he -should resemlile him in his ftte. Vespasian had obtained from Nero the charge of the war- against the Jews, which he had conducted with ability and success, and was proclaimed emperor by his troops in the east. A great part of Italy submitted to Vespasian's generals; and V'itellius meanly capitulated to save his life, by a resignation of liie empire. The people, indignant at his dastardly spirit, compelled him to an effort of resistance ; but the attempt was fruitless. Priscus, one of the generals of Vc'^pasian, took possession of Rome ; and Vitellius was massacred, and his body tiung into the Tiiier. 5. Vespasian, though of mean desccm, was worthy of the empire, and reigned with high popularity for ten years. He possessed great clemency of" disposition. His manners were affable and engaging, and his mode of life was characterized by simplicity and frugality. He respectetl the ancient forms of tiie constitution, restored the sen- ate to its deliberative rights, and acted by its authority in the admin- istration of all public alfiii's. The only blemish in his character was a tincture of avarice, and even that is greatly extenuated bv the laudable and patriotic use which he made of his revenues. tJnder his ivign, and by the arms of his son Titus, was terminated the war against the Jews. They had been brought under the yoke of Rome by Pompey, who took Jerusalem. Tiiey were governed for some f the sovereign wijs contemptible. His concubine and some of his cuief otiicers prevented their own destruction by assas- sinaiiug the tyrant, in the o2d year of his age, and 13th of his reign, A. D. 193. 4. Ihe praetorian guards gave the empire to PubUiis Helvius Pertinax, a man of mean birth, who had risen to esteem by his vir- tues and military talents. He applied himself with zeal to the cor- rection of abuses; but the austerity of his government deprived him of the afiecdons of a corrupted people, fie had disappointed the army of a promised reward, and, after a reign of eighty-six days, was murdered in the imperial palace by the same hands which had placed him on the throne. 5. The empire was now put up to auction by the praetorians, and was purchased by Didius Julianus ; while Pescenius Niger in Asia, Clodius Albinus in l>ritain, and Septimius Severus in lilyria, were each chosen emperor by the troops which they commanded. Se- verus marched to iiome, and, on his approach, the praitcrians aban- doned Didius, who n;ui fouled to pay the stipulated price for his ele- vation: and the senale formally deposed to put him to death. Seve- rus being now master of Rome, prepared to reduce the provinces which had acknowledged the sovereignty of Niger and Albinus. These two rivals were successively subdued. JSigerwas slain in battle, and Albinus fell by bis own hands. The adniini'^tration of Se- verus was wise and equitable, I>ut tinctured with despotic rigour. it was his purpose to erect the hlmc ol' absolute monarchy, and ail his institutions operated witl\ able policy to that end. He i osses^ed eminent military talents. He gloriousiy boasted, that, having re- ceived the empire oppressed wiih foreign and domestic wars, he left it in profound, universal, and honourable peace. He carried with him into Britain ids two sons, Caracalla and Geta, whose unpronds- ing dispositions clouded Iiis latter days. In ibis war the Caledoninns under Fingal are said to have defeated, on the banks of the Carron, Caracul, the son of the king of the world. Severus died at York, in the 66th year of his age, aftor a reign of eighteen years, A. D. 21 1. 6. The mutual hatred of Caracalla and Geta was increased by their association in the empire ; and the former, \\ ith brutal iidiu- manity, caused his brother to be openly murdered in the arms of bis mother. His reign, which was of six years' duration, and one con- tioued series of atrocities, was at length terminated by assassination, A.D. 217. 7. Those disorders in the empire which began with Commodus continued for about a century, till the accession of Diocletian. That interval was filled by the reigns o( Helio^abalus, Alexar-def^eyerus, ANCIENT HISTORY. tO Maximin. Gordian, Decius, Gallus, Valerianus, Galiienus, Claudius, Aurelianus, Tacitus, Probus, and Carus ; a period of vviiich the an- nals furnish neither amusement nor usetul information. The .«ingle exception is the reign of Alexander Severus, a mild, beneficent, and enliglitened prince, whose character shines the more from the con- trast of those who preceded and followed him. 8. Diocletian began his reign A. D. 281, and introduced a new system of administration, dividing the empire into four governments, under as many princes. Maximian shared with him the title of Augustus, and Galerius and Constantius were declared Caesars. Each had his separate department or province, all nominally supreme, but in reaUty under the direction of the superior talents and authority of Diocletian : an unwise policy, which depended for its efficacy on individual ability alone. Diocletian and Maximian, trusting to the continuance of that order in the empire which their vigour had established, retired from sovereignty, and left the government in the hands of the Caesars; but Constantius died soon atter in Britain, and his son Constantine was proclaimed emperor at York, though Gale- rius did not acknowledge his title. Maximian, however, having once more resumed the purple, bestowed on Constantine his daughter in marriage, and thus invested him with a double title to empire. On the death of Maximian and Galerius, Constantine had no other com- petitor but Maxentius, the son of the tbrmer, and the contest between them was decided by the sword. Maxentius fell in battle, and Con- stantine remained sole master of the empire. 9. The administration of\Constantine \vas, in the beginning of his reign, 'sTnild, equitable, and politic." Though zealously attached to the christian faith,:he made no violent innovations on the religion of the state. He introduced order and economy into the civil govern- ment, and repressed every species of oppression and corruption. But his natural temper was severe and cruel, and the latter part of liis reign was as much detbrmed by intolerant zeal and sanguinai'y rigour, as the former had been remarkable for equity and benignity. From this unfavourable change of character he lost the affections of his subjects; and, from a feeling probably of reciprocal disgust, he removed the seat of the Kom.an empire to Byzantium, now termed Constantinople. The court followed the sovereign; the opulent proprietors were attended by th^ur sh.ves and retainers. Rome was in a tew years greatly depopulated, and the new capital swelled at once to enormous magnitude. It was characterized by eastern splendour, luxury, and volu])taou^ne.ss; and the cities of Greece were despoiled for its embellishments. Of the internal pohcy of the empire we shall treat in the next section. In an expedition against the Persians, Constantine died at Nicomedia, in the 30th year of his reign, and 63d of his age, A. D. 337. In the time of Constantine the Goths had made several irruptions on the empire, and, though repulsed and beaten, began gradually to encroach oi^ the provinces. H2 12 vemed, with great ability, both the eastern and western empire, he character of Theodosius, deservedly sumamed the great, was worthy of the best ages of the Roman state. He successmliy repell- ed the encroachments of the barbarians, and secured, by wholesome laws, the prosperity of his people. He died, after a reign of eighteen years, assigning to his sons, Arcadius ,and Honorius, the eeparate sovereignties of east and west, A. D/395. ANCIENT HISTOIIY. 03 SECTION XLV. PROGRESS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, FROM ITS INSTI TUTION TO THE EXTINCTION OF PAGANISM IN THk, REIGN OF THEOUOSIUS. 1. The reign of Thcodosius-was signalized by the downfal of the pagan superstition, and the full establishment of the christian religion in me Roman empire. This great revolution of opinions is highly worthy. of attention, and natur.illy induces a retrospect to the condi- tion of the christian church from its institution down to this period. it has been frequently remarked (because it is an obvious truth), that at the time of our Saviour's birth a divine revelation seemed to be more peculiarly needed ; and that, from a concuirence of circum- stances, the state of the world was then uncommonly favourable for the extensive dissemination of the doctrines which it conveyed. The union of so many nations under one power, and the extension of civ- ilization, were favourable to the progress of a religion which pre- scribed universal charity and benevolence. ^The gross superstitions of paganism, and its tendency to corrupt mstead of purifying the morals, contributed to explode its influence with every thinking mind. Even tlie prevalent philosophy of the times, epicurism, more easily / understood than tlie refinements of the Platonists, and more grateful than the severities of the Stoics, tended to degrade human nature to the IjvcI of the brute creation. The christian religion, thus neces- sary for the reformation of the world, found its chief partisans in those who were the friends of virtue, and its enemies among the votaries of vice. 2. The persecution which the christians suffered from the Romans has been deemed an exception to that spirit of toleration which they showed to the religions of other nations ; but they were toler- ant only to those whose theologies were not hostile to their own. Tiie religion of the Romans was interwoven with their political con- stitution. The zeal of the christians, aimhig at the suppression of ali idolatry, was naturally regarded as dangerous to the state ; and hence they were the oiject of hatred and persecution. In the first century the christian chuirii sufiered deeply under Nero and Domitian; yet those persecutions had no tendency to check the progress of its doctrines. 3. It is matter of quotation what was the form of the primitive churcli, and the n-iiure of its government; and on this head much diiiarence of opii/ion obtains, not otily between the catholics and prot- estants, but between the ditferent classes of the latter, as the Luther- ans and Caivinists. It is moreover an 0[nnion, that our Saviour and his apostles, coiiliMing tneir precepts to the pure doctrines of religion, h.ive lefc all chritini societies to regidate tiieir frame and govern ment in the. maauer best suited to the ci\ il constitutions of the coun- tries in vvliich tlicy are established. 4. j 111 the seooiul century' tiie books of the New Testament were aoUetted into a volume by the eider fiithei's of the church, and re- ceived as ii CLuioii of fiitti. The Old Testiiment had been translat ed from the H.n^rew into Greek, by order of Ptolemy Fhiladelphus, \2)j4 yeai"s before Christ,' The early church sufiered much from an iibsurd endeavour of the more learned of its votaries to reconcile its 54 ANCIENT HISTORY. doctrine? to the tenets of the pagan philosophers : hence the sects of the Gnostics and Ammonians, and the Platonising christians. In the second century the Greek churches began to form provincial associ- ations, and to establish general rules of government and discipline. Assemblies were held, termed synodoi and concilia, over which a me- tropolitan presided. A short time after arose the superior order of patriarch, presiding over a large district of the christian world ; and a subordination taking place even amon^ these, the bishop of Rome was acknowledged the chief of the patriarchs. Persecution still at- tended the early church, even under those excellent princes, Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines ; and, in the reign of Severus, all the prov- inces of the empire were stained with the blood of the martyrs. 5. The third century was more favourable to the progress of Chris- tianity and the tranquillity of its disciples. \In those times it suflered less fi-om the civil arm than from the pens of the pagan philosopers. Porphyry, Phiiostratus, &,c. ; but these attacks called forth the zeal and talents of many able defenders, as Origen, Dionysius, and Cy- prian. A part of the Gauls, Germany, and Britain, received the light of the gospel in this century. 6. In the fourth century the christian church was alternately per- secuted and cherished by the Roman emperors. Among its oppres- sors we rank Diocletian, Galerius, and Julian; among its favourei's, Constantine and his sons, Valentinian, Valens, Gratian, and the excel- lent Theodosius, in whose reign the pagan superstition came to its final period. 7. From the age of Numa to the reign of Gratian the Romans preserved the regular succession of the several sacerdotal colleges, the pontiffs, augui-s, vestals, Jiamines, salii, &c., whose authority, though weaKened in the latter ages, was still protected by the laws, Even the christian emperoi"s held, like their pa^an predecessors, the office of pontifex maxwms. Gratian was the hrst who refused that ancient dignity as a profanation. In the time of Theodosius the cause of Christianity and of paganism was solemnly debated in the Roman senate between Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, the champion of the former, and Symmachus, the defender of the latter. The cause of Christianity was triumphant, and the senate issued its de- cree for the abolition of paganism, whose downfal in the capital was soon followed by its extinction in the provinces. Theodosius, with able policy, permitted no persecution of the ancitnt religion, which perished with more rapidity, because its fall was gentle and un- resisted. 8. But the christian church exhibited a superstition in seme re- spects little less irrational than polytheism, in the worship of saints and relics ; and many novel tenets, unfounded in the precepts of our Saviour and his apostles, were manifestly borrowed from the pagan schools. The doctrines of the Platonic philosophy seem to have led to the notions of an intermediate state of purit^Ciition, ce- libacy of the priests, ascetic mortifications, penances, and monastic seclusion. ANCIENT HISTORY 95 SECTION XLVI. EXTINCTION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST. 1. In the reigns of Arcadius and Honorius, the sons and successors of Theodosius, the barbarian nations established themselves in ihe frontier provinces both of the east and west. Theodosius had com- mitted the government to Ruhnus and Stilicho during the nonage of his sons ; and their fatal dissensions gave every advantage to the enemies of -the empire. The Huns, actually invited by Rulinus, overspread Armenia, Cappadocia, and riyria. The Goths, under Alaric, ravaged to the bordere of Italy, and laid waste Achaia to the Peloponnesus. Stilicho, an able general, made a noble stand against these invaders ; but his plans were frustrated by the machinations of his rivals, and the weakness of Arcadius, who purchased an ignominious peace, by ceding to Aiaric the v, hole of Greece. 2. Alaric, now styled king of the Visigoths, prepared to add Italy to his new dominions. He piissed the Alps, and was carrying all before him, when, amused by the politic StiUcho with the prospect of a new cession of territory, he wsis attacked unawares, and det'ealed by that general, then commanding the armies of Honorius. The emperor triumphantly celebrated, on that occasion, the eternal defeat of the Gothic nation ; an eternity bounded by the lapse of a few months. In this interval, a torrent of the Goths breaking down upon Germany forced the nations wliom they dispossessed, the Suevi, Aiani, and Vandals, to precipitate themselves upon Italy. They joined tlieirarms to those of Alaric, who, tnus reinforced, determined to overwhelm Rome. The policy of Stilicho made him change his purpose, on the promise of 4,000 pounds weight of gold ; a promise repeatedly broken by Honorius, and its violation tinaily revenged* by Alaric, by the sack and plunder of the city,iA. D. 410. With gene- rous magnanimity he spared the lives of the vanquished, and, with singular Liberality of spirit, was anxious to preserve every ancient edilice from destruction. 3. Alaric, preparing now for the conquest of Sicily and Africa, died at this jera of his highest glory; and Honoi'ius, instead of prolit- ing by this event to recover his lost provinces, made a treaty with his successor Ataulfus, gave him in marriage his sister Placidia, and secured his friendship ny ceding to him a portion of Spain, while a great part of what remained had before been occupied by the Van- dais. He allowed soon after to the Burgundians a just title to their conquests in Gaul. Thus the western empire was passing by de- grees from the dominion of its ancient masters. 4. The mean and dissolute Arcadius died in the year 408, leaving the eastern empire to his infant son Tneodosius II. Theodosius was a weak prince, and his sister Pulcheria governed the empire, with prudence and ability, for the space of forty years. Honorius died iu the year 423. The laws of Arcadius and Honorius are, with a few exceptions, remarkable for their wisdom and equity ; which is a singular circumstance, considering the personal character of those princes, and evinces at least that tney employed some able minislei-s. 5. The Vandals, under Genscric, subdued the Roman province in Africa. The Huns, in the east, extended their conquests from the borders of Cmaa to the iSaitic sea. Under Attiia they laid waste 96 ANCIENT HISTORY. Moesia and Thrace ; and Theodosius, after a mean attempt to mur- der the barbarian general, ingloriously submitted to pay him an an- nual tribute. It was in this crisis of universal decay that the Britona implored the Romans t-: detend them against the Picts and Scots, but received for answer, that they hud nothing to bestow on them t»-t compassion. The Britons, in despair, sought aid from the Saxons and Angles, who seized, as their property-, the country vvliich they were invited to protect, and founded, in the tifth and sixth centuries, the kingdoms of the Saxon heptarcliy. (See Part II, Sect. XIJ, 6 5.) 6. Altila, with an army of 500,0(ib men, threatened the total de- struction of the empire. He was ably opposed by .'Etius, general of Valentinian III., now emperor of the west. Valeniinian was shut up in Rome by the arms ot the barbarian, and at length compelled to purch;ise a peace. On the death of Attila his dominions Avei'e dis- membered by his sons, whose dissensions gave temporary relief to the falling empire of l-icme. 7. After \ aienlinian III. M'e have in the west a succession of princes, or rather names, for the events of their reigns merit no detail. In the reign of Romulus, suniamed Augustulus, the son of Orestes, the empire of the west came to a final period. Odoacer, prince ot the Heruli, subdued Italy, and spared the lite of Augustuhis, on condition of his resigning the throne, A. D. 476. From the build- ing of Rome to the extinction of the western empire, A. D. 476, is a period ofll224 years.". 8. We may reduce to one ultimate cause the various circum- stances that produced the decline and fall of this once magniticent fabric. \The ruin of the Roman empire was the inevitable conse- quence of its greatness. The extension of its dominion relaxed the vigour of its frame ; the vices of the conquered nations infected the victorious legions, and Ibreign luxuries corrupted their command- ers ; selfish interest supplanted tlie patriotic anection ; the martial spii'it was purposely debased by the emperors, who dreaded its effects on their own power ; and the whole mass, thus weakened and enervated, leli an easy prey to the torrent of barbarians which overwhelmed it. 9. The Ileruiian dominion in Italy was of short duration. Theo- doric, prince of the Ostrogoths (afterwards deservedly surnamed the ffirut), obtained pernnsfion of Zeno, emperor of the east, to at- tempt the recovery of ll;dy, and a promise of its sovereignty as tlie reward of his success. 'I'he wb.ole nation of the Ostrogoths attend- ed the standard of Theodoric, who was victorious in repeated en- gagements, and at length co:i:pelled Odoacer to surrender all Italy to the conqueror. The Romans iiad tasted happiness under the govern- ment of Odoacer; but their happiness was increased under tt)e do- minion of Theodoric, who possessed every talent and virtue of a sov- ereign. His equity and clemency rendered him a blessing to his subjects. He allied himself with all the surrounding nations, tlie Franks, Visigotl.s, Burgundians, and Vandals. He left a peaceable sceptre to his grandson Atbalaric, during whose infancy his mother Amalasonte governed with such admirable wisdom and mo-;i-5?,ri;js. Tins groat general overwhelmed tiie Vandal sovereignty of iiVica, and n^xovered ttiat province to the emj^ire. He wrested I i:y from its Gothic sovereign, and once more restored it for a short timv to the dominion of its ancient masters. 11. Italy was recovered to the Goths by the heroic H^otilaj who besieged and took tne city of Rome, but forebore to destroy it at the request of Belisarius. The fortunes of Beiisarins were now in the wane. He was compelled to evacuate Italy, and, on his return to Constantinople, Alls long services were repaid with disgrace. He was superseded in the command of the armissby the eunuch Narses, who defeated Totila in a decisive engagement, in which the Gothic prince was slain. Narses governed Italy with great ability for thir- teen years, when he was ungratefiilly recalled by Justin 11. the suc- cessor of Justinian. He invited the Lombards to avenge his injuries ; and this new tribe of invaders overran and conquered the country, (A. D. 568. ' SECTION XLVII. OF THE ORIGIN, MANNERS, AND CHARACTER OF TIIE GOTHIC NATIONS, BEFORE THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1. The history and manners of the Gothic nations are curious objects of inquiry, from their iniluence on the constitutions and na- tional character oi most of the modern kingdoms of Europe. As the present inhabitant? of these kingdoms are a mixed race, compounded of the Goths and of the nations \vuom they subdued, the laws, man- ners, and institutions of the modern kingdoms are the result of this conjunction ; and in so far as these are difierent from the usages prev- alent before this intermixture, they are, in all probability, to be traced from the ancient manners and institutions of those northern tribes. We purpose to consider the original character of the Gothic nations, and the change of their manners on their establish- ment in the Roman empire. 2. The Scandinavian chronicles attribute to the ancient inhabitants of that country an Asiatic origin, and inform us that the Goths were a colony of Scythians, who migrated thiiher from the banks of the Black sea and the Caspian : but these chronicles do not fix the period of this migration, which some later writers suppose to have been 1,000 years, and others only 70, before the christian aera. Odin, the chief deity of the Scandinavians, was the god of the Scythians. Sigga, a Scythian prince, is said to have undertaken a distant exped-w tion, and, after he had subdued several of the Sarmatian tribes, to have penetrated into the northern parts of Germany, and thence into Scandinavia. He assumed the honours of divinity, and the title ^f Odin, his national god. He conquered Denmark, Swedci, and 1 - l^ SB ANCIENT HISTORY. Norway, and gave wise and salutary laws to the nations which he had subdued by his arms. 3. The agreement in manners between the Scythians and the ancient Scandinavian nations, corroborates the accounts given in the northern Chronicles of tlie identity of their origin. The descrijitiop of the manners of the Germans by Tacitus (though this people was' probably not of Scythian, but of Celtic origin) may, in many partic- ulars, be applied to the ancient nations of Scandinavia ; and the same description coincides remarkably with the account given by Herodotus of the manners of the Scythians. Their life was spent in hunting, pasturage, and predatory war. Their dress, their weap- ons, their food, their respect for their women, their religious wor- .ship, were the same. They despised learning, and had no other records for many ages than the songs of their bards. < 4. The theology of the Scandiijavians was most intimately con- nected with their manners. They held three great principles or fundamental doctrines of religion: "To serve the Supreme Being « ith prayer and sacritice ; to do no wrong or unjust action ; and to be intrepid in tight." These principles are the key to the Edda^ or sacred book of the Scandinavians, which, though it contains the sub- stance of a very ancient religion, is not a work of high antiquity, being complied in the thirteenth centui-y by Snorro Sturleson, supreme judge of Iceland. Odin, characterized as the terrible and severe god, the father of carnage, the avenger, is the principal deity of the Scandinavians; from whose union with Frea, the heavenly mother, sprung various subordinate divinities ; as Thor, who per- petually wars against Loke and his evil giants, who envy the power of Odin, and seek to destroy his works. Among the interior deities are the virgins of the Valhalla, whose othce is to minister to the he- roes in paradise. The favourites of Odin are all who die in battle, or^ what is equally meritorious, by their own hand. The timid wretch, who allows himself to perish by disease or age, is unworthy of the joys of paradise. These joys are, fighting, ceaseless slaughter, and drinking beer out of the skulls of their enemies, with a renovation of life, to furnish a perpetuity of the same pleiisures. 5. As the Scandinavians believed this world to be the work of some superior intelligences, so they held all nature to be constantly under the regulation of an almighty will and power, and subject to a fixed and unalterable destiny. These notions had a wonderful effect on the national manners, and on the conduct of individuals. The Scandinavian placed his sole delight in war : he entertained an absolute contempt of danger and of death, and his glory was estimat- ed by the number which he had slain in battle. The death-song of Regner Lodbrok^ who comforts himself in his last agonies by lecount- ing all the acts of carnage which he had committed in his life-time, is a faithful picture of the Scandinavian character. 6. We have remarked the great similarity of the manners of the Scandinavians and the ancient Germans. These nations seem, how- ever, to have had a different origin. The Germans, as well as the Gauls, were branches of that great original nation termed Cdtce, who inhabited most of the countries of Europe south of the Baltic, before they were invaded by the northern tribes from Scandinavia. The , Celtae were all of the druidical religion, a system different from the behef and worship of the Scandinavians, but founded nearly on the Scime principles; and the Goths, in their progress, intermixing with the Germans, could not fail to adopt, in part, the notions of a kindred ANCIENT HISTORY. • 99 f-eligion. Druidism acknowledged a god who delighted in blood shed, taught the immortality of the soul, and inculcated the contempt of danger and of death. Tacitus remarks that the ancient Germans r^ad neither temples nor idols. The open air was the temple of the ^divinity, and a consecrated grove the appropriated place for prayer and sacrifice^ whicii none but the priests were allowed to enter. The chief sacritices were human victims, most probably the prison ers taken in war. The druids heightened the sanctity of their char- acter by concealing the mysteries of their worship. They had the highest influence over the minds of the people, and thus found it easy to conjoin a civil authority with the sacerdotal ; a policy which in the end led to the destruction of the druidical system ; for the Romans ibund no other way of securing their conquests over any oi the Celtic nations, but by exterminating the druids. 7. Whatever diiference of manners there may have been among the various nations or tribes of Gothic origin, the great features ol their character appear to have been the same. Nature, education, and prevailing habits, all concurred to form them for an intrepid and conquering people. Their bodily frame was invigorated by the climate which they inhabited ; they were inured to danger and fatigue ; war was their habitual occupation ; they believed in an un- alterable destiny, and were Uiught by their religion that a heroic sacrifice of life gave certain assurance of eternal happiness. How could a race of men so characterized fail to be the conquerors of th« world? SECTION XLVIII. OF THE MANNERS, LAWS, AND GOVERNMENT OF THB GOTHIC NATIONS, AFTER THEIR ESTABLISHMENT IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 1. It has been erroneously supposed that the same ferocity of manners, which distinguished the Goths in their original seats, at- tended their successors in their new establishments in the provinces of the Roman empire. Modern authors have given a currency to this false supposition. Voltaire, in describing the middle ages, paints the Goths in all the characters of horror ; as " a troop of hungry wolves, foxes, and tigers, driving before them the scattered timid herds, and involving all in ruin and desolation." The accounts of historians most worthy of credit will dissipate this injurious preju- dice, and show those northern nations in a more favourable point of view, as not unworthy to be the successors of the Romans. 2. Before their settlement in the southern provinces of Europe, the Goths were no longer idolaters, but christians; and their mo- rality was suitable to the religion which they professed. Salvianus, bishop of Marseilles, in the hfth century, draws a parallel between the manners of the Goths and of the Romans, highly to the credit of the former. Grotius, in his publication of Procopius and Jornandes, remarks, as a strong testimony to their honourable character as a nation, that no province once subdued by the Goths ever voluntarily withdrew itself from their government. 3. It is not possible to produce a more beautiful picture of an excellent administration than that of the Gothic monarchy in Italy under Theodoric the great. Though master of the country hv 100 AXaENT HISTORY. ©onquefi' yet he was regarded by his sul>jects with the affection of a native overeign. He retained the Roman iawsJ and, as nearly as possiL », the ancient political regulations. In supplying all civil offices ot iate he preferred the native Romans. It wa§ his care to preserve very monument cf the ancient grandeur of the empire, and to em ellish the cities by new works of beauty and utility. In the imposilon and levying of taxes he showed the most humane in- dulgence on every occasicn of scarcity or calamity. His laws were dictated by the most enlightened prudence and benevolence, and framed on thit principle wiiich he nobly inculcated in bis instructions to the Roman senate, " Bcnigni principis est, non tarn delicto velle jyw nire, qiMiU toi 'ere.'"' It is the duty of a benign prince to be disposed to prevent rather than to punish tfftmes. The historians of the times delight in recc untiug the examples of his munificence and humanity. Partial a^s he 5vas to the Arian heresy, many even of the catholic fathers have done the most ample justice to his merits, acknowledging that, under hii rei^n, the church enjoyed a high measure of pros- Serity. Such was Theodoric the grciit, who is justly tenned by Si- onius Apoliiraris, RonuxncR deem coluinenque gentis [the glory and the support ^tHtions. The laws of the Franks and Lombiirds are remarkable tor their wisdom and judicious policy. 7. The government of the Goths, Vier their settlement in the Roman provinces, was monarchical R was at firet elective, and afterwards became hereditary, i'le sovereign on his deiith-bed appointed his successor, with ^•''e advice or consent of his gnmdecs. Illegitimacy did not disquai^iy ffom succession or nomination to the throne. 8. The dukes and counts were the chief officers under the Gothic government. The duke {dux exercitus) was the commander in chief of the troops of the province ; the count {comes) was tiie highest civil magistivite. But these offices freqvently intermixed their func- tions, the count being empowered, on su.l en emergencies, to assume a military command, aiul the duke, on some occasions, warranted to exercise judicial authority. In general, however, their departments were distinct. Ofcomites there uere various orders, with distinct offi- cial powers; as, comes, cubicali, chamberlain, comes stoiu/i, constable. &.C. These various olHcers were the proceres or grandees of the kingdom, by whose advice the sovereign conducted himself in important mat- ters of government, or in the nomination of his successor; but we do not find that they had a voice in the framing uf laws, or in the im- position of taxes; and the prince himself had the sole nomination to ail oliices of government, magistracies, and dignities. 12 JOi ANCIENT HISTORY. SECTION XLIX. METHOD OF STUDYING ANCIENT HISTORY. 1. A GENERAL and concise view of ancient history may be acquired hj the perusal of a very few books ; as that part of the Cours (F Etude of the Abbe Condillac which regards the history of the nations of antiquity ; the Elements of General History by the Abbe Millot, part 1st; the Epitome of Turselline, with the notes of L'Agneau, part 1st; or the excellent Compendium Historice Universalis, by professor Offerhaus of Groningen. The two first of these works have the merit of uniting a spirit of reflection with a judicious selection of events. The notes of L'Agneau to the Epitome of Turselline con- tain a great store of geographical and biographical information. The work of Offerhaus is peculiarly valuable, as uniting sacred with profane history, and containing most ample references to the ancient authore. The Discours siir VHistoire Universelle, by the bishop of Meaux, is a work of high merit, but is not adapted to convey in- formation to the uninstructed. It is more useful to those vvho have already studied history in detail, for uniting in the mind the great current of events, and recalling to the memory their order and con- nexion. But the student who wishes to derive the most complete advan- tage from history, must not confine himself to such general or com- pendious views ; he must resort to the original historians of ancient times, »nd to the modern writers who have treated with amplitiide of particuVir periods. It may be useful to such students to print out the ordtr in which those historians may be most profitably perused. 2. Next to the >4storical books of the Old Testament, the most ancient history worthy of perusal is that of Herodotus, which com- prehends the annals of Lj^ja, Ionia, Lycia, Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Macedonia, during abovt-230 years preceding 479 A. C. Book 1. History of Lydia fr(^ Gyges to Croesus. Ancient Ionia. Manners of the Persians, Babylotians, &c. History of Cyrus the Elder. B. 2. History of Egypt, and Manners t^ the Egyptians. B. 3. History of Cambyses. Persian Monarchy under Darius Hystaspes, B. 4. History of fecythia. B. 5. Persian Embas^y to Macedon. Athens, Lacedaamon, Corinth, at the same period. B. 6. Kings of Lncedaemoh War of Persia against Greece, to the battle of Marathon. B. 7. The same War, to the battle of Thermopylae. B. 8. The Naval Battle of Salami*. B. 9. The Defeat and Expulsion of the Persians from Greece. (The merits of Herodotus are shortly characterized in Sect. XXII, §1.) 3. A more particular account of the periods treated by Herodotus may be found in Justin, lib. 1, 2, 3. and 7 ; in the Cyropedia of Xeno- fhon ; in the Lives of Aristides, Tnemistocles, Cimon, Miltiades, and axisanias, written by Plutarch and Cornehns Nepos; and in the lives of Anaximander, Zeno, Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Demogri* tttV) by Diogenes Laertius. ANCIENT HISTORY. lOS 4. The Grecian history is taken up by Thucydides from the period where Herodotus ends, and is continued for seventy years, to the twenty-first of the Peloponnesian war. (This work characterized. Sect. XXlI, § 2.) This period is more amply illustrated by perusing the 11th and 12th books of Diodorus Siculus; the Lives of Alcibia des, Chabrias, Thrasybuius, and Lysias, by Plutarch and Nepos ; the 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th books of Justin; and the 14th and 15th chapters of the 1st book of Orosius. 5. Next to Thucydides the student ought to peruse the 1st and 2d books of Xenophon's History of Greece, whicli comprehends the narrative of the Peloponnesian war, with the contemporary history of the Medes and Persians ; then the expedition of Cyrus {Aiabasis), and the continuation of the history to its conclusion with the battle of Mantinea. (Xenophon characterized, Sect. XXII, ^ 3.) For illustiat- ing this period we have the Lives of Lysander, Agesilaus, Artaxerxes, Conon, and Datames, by Plutarch and Wepos ; tlie 4th, 5tli, and !)th books of Justin ; and the 13th and 16th boc^s of Diodoi-us Sicuiiis. 6. After Xenophon let the student read the 15th and 16'lh books of Diodorus, which contam the history of Greece and Persia, tVom the battle of Mantinea to the reign of Alexander the great. (Diodorus characterized, Sect. XXII, § 5.) To complete this period let him read the Lives of Dion, Iphicrates, Timotheus, Piiocion, and Timo- leon, by Nepos. 7. For the history of Alexander the great we have the admirable works of Arrian and Quintus Curtius. (Annan ciiaracterized, Sect. XXII, § 8.) Curtius possesses great judgment in the selection of facts, with much elegance and perspicuity of diction. He is a good moralist and a good patriot; but his passion for embellishment derogates from the purity of history, and renders his authority sus- picious. 8. For the continuation of the history of Greece from the death of Alexander, we have the 18th, 19th, and 20th books of Diodorus ; the history of Justin from the 13th book to the end; and the Lives of the principal personages written by Plutarch. The history of Justin is a judicious abridgment of a much larger work by Trogus Pompeius, which is lost. Justin excels in the delineation of charac ters, and in purity of style. 9. I have mentioned the Lives of Plutjirch and Cornelius Nepoa as the best supplement to the account of particular periods of ancien* history. It is the highest praise of Plutarch that his writings are admirable for their moi^ality, and furnish instructive lessons of active virtue. He makes us familiarly acquainted with the great men of antiquity, and chiefly delights in painting their private character and manners. The short Lives written by Nepos show great judgment, and a happy selection of such facts as display the genius and charac ter of his heroes. They are written with purity and elegance. 10. For the Roman history in its early periods we have the An- tiquities of Dionysius of Haiicarnassus, which bring down the his- tory of Rome to 412 A. U. C. They are chiefly valuable, as illus trating the manners and customs, the rites civil and religious, and the Ia^vs of the Roman state. But the writer is too apt to frame hypoth- eses, and to give views instead of narratives. We expect these in the modem writers who treat of ancient times, but cannot tolerate them in the sources of history. 11. The work of Livy is far more valuable than that of Dio aysius. It is a perfect model of history ')oth as to matter and compo- 104 ANCIENT HISTORY. sition. (Characterized, Sect. XXX VI, § 10.) Of 132 books only 35 remain, and those are interrupted by a consideroble cli peruse •.vith advantage the Lives of flanni- bal, Scipio Africanus, Flaminius, Paulus iEmilius, the eider Cato, the Gracchi, Marius, Sylla, the younger Cato, Sertorius, LucuUus, Julius Caisar, Cicero, Pofnpey, and Biutus, by Plutarch. 14. Sallust's histories of the Jugurthine war and of the conspiracy of Catiline come next in order, (baliust characterized. Sect. XXXVI, § 8.) Then follow the Commentaries of ^Caesar, remarkable for j)erspicuity of narration, and a happy unioc of brevity with elegant «impiicuy of style. (Sect. XXXIV, ^9.) The epitomes of Florus and of Veieius Paterculus may be perused 'vith advantage at this period of the course. The latter is a modei for abridgment of history, in the opinion of the president Henault. 15. For the- history of Rome under the first emperors we have Suetonius and Tacitus ; and for tZie subsequent reigns, the series of the minor historians, termed Histor'vp. Augusta Scnptores {^■Ucritcrs rf migiust history)^ and the Byzantine writers. Suetonius gives us a series of detached characters, illustrated by an artful selection of facts and anecdotes, rather than a regular history. His work is chielJv valuable as descriptive of Roman manners. His genius has too much of the caustic humour of a satirist. Tacitus, with greater powers ^d deeper penetration, has drawn a picture of the times in stern iml gloomy colours. (Sect XXXV I, § 11.) From neither of these his- ANCIENT HISTORY. I0& tDrians will the ingenuous mind of youth receive moral improvement, or pleasing and benevolent impressions ; yet we cannot deny their hign utility to the student of politics. 16. If we except Herodian, v.ho wrote with taste and judgment, H is doubtful whether any of the subsequent writers of the Romaa history deserve a minute perusal. It is therefore advisable for the student to derive his knowledge of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire from modern authors, resorting to the original writers only for occasional information on detached points of importance. For this purpose, the General History by Dr. Howel is a work of great utility, being written entirely on the basis of the ' original historians, whose narrative he generally translates, referring constantly to his authorities in the margin. In this work tne studeirt will find a valuable mass of historical information. 17. The reader having thus founded his knowledge of general his- tory on the original writers, will now peruse with great advantage the modem histories of ancient Greece and Rome by Mitford, Gillies, Gast, Hooke, Gibbon, and Furgusson ; and will lind himself qualified to form a just estimate of their merits, on which it is presumptuous to decide without such preparatory knowledge. 18. The greatest magazine of historical information which haa ever been collected mto one body, is the English Universal History ; a most useful work, from the amplitude of its matter, its general accuracy, and constant reference to the original authors. V/e may occasionally consult it with great advantage on points where deep research is necessary ; but we cannot read it with pleasure as a con- tinued work, from its tedious details and harshness of style, its abrupt transitions, and the injudicious arrangement of many oi its parts. 19. Geography and chronology have been justly termed the lights of history. We cannot peruse with advantage the historical annals of any country without a competent knowledge of its geographical situation, and even of its particular topography. In reading the de- scription of any event the mind necessarily forms a picture of the scene of action ; and it is surely better to draw the picture with truth from nature and reality, than falsely from imagination. Many actions and events are hkewise intimately connected with the geography and local circumstances of a country, and are uniateiligible without s^ knowledge of them. 20. The use of chronological tables is very great, both for the purpose of uniting in one view the contemporary events in different nations, which often have an influence on one another, and for re- calling to the niemory the order and series of events, and renewing the impressions of tha oljects of former study. It is extremely use- ful, after perusing the history of a nation in detail or that of a certain a^e or period, to run over briefly the principal occurrences in a table of chronology. The most perfect works of this kind are the chro- nological tables of Dr. t*layfair, which unite history and biography: the tables of Dr. Blair; or the older tables by Taiient.* END OF PART FIRST. • A list of the best translations of the principal books above mentiooieii. Herodotus, translated by Beloe, 4 vols. 8vo. Xenophon's Cycropedia by Cooper, 8vo. Xenophon's Anabasis, by Spelman, 2 vols. 8vo. Xenophon's History of Greece, by South, 4t9. 14 PART SECOND. MODERN HISTORY. SECTION I. OF ARABIA, AND THE EMPIRE OF THE SARACENS. 1. The fall of the westom empire of the Romans, and the final sub jugation of Italj by the Lombards, is the aera from which we date the commencement of Modern History. The eastern empire of the Romans continued to exist for many ages after this period, still magnificent, though in a state of compar- ative weakness and degeneracy. Towards the end of the sixth cen- tury a new dominion arose in the east, which was destined to produce a wonderful change on a great portion of the globe. Ttie Arabians, at this time a rude nation, living chiefly in indepen- dent tribes, who traced their descent from the patriarch Abraham, professed a mixed religion, compounded of Judaism and idolatry. Mecca, their holy city, rose to eminence from the donations of pil- grims to its temple, in which was deposited a black stone, an object of high veneration. Mahomet wa.s born at Mecca, A. D. 571. Of mean descent, and no education, but of great natural talents, he sought to raise himself to celebrity, by feigning a divine mission to propagate a new religion for the salvation of mankind. He retired to the des- ert, and pretended to hold conterences with the angel Gabriel, who delivered to him, from time to time, portions of a .sacred book or Co- ran^ containing revelations of the will of the Supreme Being, and of the doctrines which he required his prophet to communicate to the world. 2. This religion, while it adopted in part the moralit]^ of Christian- ity, retained many of the rites of .Judaism, and some of the Ar;iiiian euperstitious, as the pilgrimage to Mecca ; but owed to a certain spirit Plutarch, by Langhorne, 6 vols. 8vo., or 6 vols. 12mo. W'rangham's edition. Thucydides, by Smith, 2 vols. 8vo. Dionysius Halicarnassus, by Spelman, 4 vols. 4to, Polybius, by Hampton, 4 vols. 8vo. Livy, by Baker, 6 vols. Bvo. Sallust, by Murphy, 8to. ; by Stuart, 2 vols, 4to. ; by Rose, 8vp. Tacitus, by Murphy, 8 vols, 8vo. ; Irish edition, 4 vols. Bvo Suetonius, by Thompson, 8vo. Diodorus Siculus, by Booth, I'olio. Arrian, by Rook, 2 vols. 8vo. Q. Curtius, by Di*by, 2 vols. 12ttio. Justia, by TumbuU, 12ax». kditob. MODERN HISTORY. lOf of Asiatic voluptuousness its chief recommendation to its votaries. Tlie Goran taught the belief of one God, whose will and power were constantly exerted towards the happiness of his creatures ; that the duty of man was to love his neighbours, assist the poor, protect the injured, to be humane to inferior animals, and to pray seven times a day. The pious mussulman was allowed to have four wives, and a^ " maiay concubines as he ciiose ; and the pleasures of love were prom- ised as the supreme joys of paradise. To revive the impression of these laws, w-iich God had engraven originally in the hearts of men, he had sent from time to time his prophets upon earth, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mahomat ; the last the greatest, to whom all the world should owe its conversion to the true religion. By produciiig the Coran in detached parcels, Mahomet had it in his pow- er to solve all objections by new revelations 3. Dissen-iions and popular tumults between the believers and infi- dels caused the banisament of Mahomet from Mecca. His flight, called tne hegyra^ A D. 622, is the aera of his^iory. He retired to Medina, and was joined fey the brave Omar. He propagated his doc- trines with great success, and marched with his Ibllowers in arms, and took the city of Mecca. In a few yeai"S he subdued all Arabia; and then attacking Syria, took several of the Roman cities. In the midst of his victories he died at the age of sixty-one, A. D. 632. He had nominated Ali, his son-in-law, his successoi'; but Abubeker, his father- in-law, secured the succession by gaining the army to his interest. 4. Abubeker united and publisned the books of the Coran, and prosecuted the conquests of Mahomet. He defeated the army of He- raciius, took Jerusalem, and subjected all the country between Mount Libanus and the Mediterranean. On his death Omar was elected to the caliphate, and in one canipaign deprived the Greek enipire of Syria, Phoanicia, Mesopotamia, and Chaldaea. In the next campaign he subdued to tlie mussulman dominion and religion, the whole em- Eire of Persia. His generals at the same time conquered Egypt, ibya, and Numidia. 5. Otaian, the successor of Omar, added to the dominion of the caliphs Bactriana, and part of Tartary, and ravaged Rhodes and the Greek islands. His successor was Ali, the son-in-law of Mahomet^ a name to this day revered by the Mahometans. He transferred the seat of the caliphate from Mecca to Couffa, whence it was afterwards removed to Bagdat. His reign was glorious, but only of five years' duration. In the space of half a century from the beginning of the conquests of Mahomet, the Saracens raised an empire more extensive than what remained of the Roman. Nineteen caliphs of the race of Omar {0/nniiades) reigned in succession, after which began the dy- nasty of the Massid(z^ descended by the male line from Mahomet, Almanzos, second caliph of this race, removed the seat of empire to Bagdat. and introduced learning and the culture of the sciences, which nis successors continued to promote v/ith equal zeal and liber- ality. Haroun Alraschid, who flourished in the beginning of the ninth century, is celebrated as a second Augustus. The sciences chiefly cultivated by the Arabians were, medicine, geometry, and astronomy They improved the oriental poetry, by adding regularity to its fancy and iuxuriancy of unagery. 1109 MODERN HISTORY. SECTION II. MONARCHY OF THE FRANKS. 1. The Franks were originally those tribes of Germans who inhab- ited the districts lying on the Lower Rhine and Weser, and v^ho, in the time of Tacitus, passed under the names of Chauci, Cherusci, Catti, Sicambri, &.c. They assumed or received the appellation of Franks, or freemen, from their temporary union to resist the domin- ion of the Romans. Legendary chronicles record a Pharamond and a Meroveus; the latter the head of the fii*st race of the kings of !• 'ranee, termed the Merovingian ; but the authentic history of the Franks commences only wiih his grandson Clovis, who began his reign in the year 48L In the twentieth year of his age Clovis achieved the conquest of Gaul, by the di-fiat of Syagrius the Roman governor; and marrying Clotilda, daughter of C!ii;p.?ric king of Burgundy, soon add ^A that province to his dominions, by dethroning his father-in-law He Wiis cojiverted by Clotilda ; and the Franks, till then idolaters, be- came christians, af;er their sovereign's example. The Visigoths, professing Ariini'Sin, were masters at this time of Aquitaine, the coun- try between the Rhone and Loire. The intemperate zeal of Ciovis prompted the estir; ation of those heretics, who retreated across the Pyren j-^s into 'jpain; and the provinces of Aquitaine became part of the Kingdom ot'tiie Pranks. They did not long retain it, for Ihe- odoric tile great d feared Ciovis iu tile battle of Aries, and added Aquitaine to his do nniions. Ciovis died A. D. bl\. 2. His four sons divided tlie moiarcliy, and were perpetually at war witti one anoiner. A se-'ies of weak and wicked princes succeed- ed, and Gaul for some ages was characterized under its Frank sover- eigns by more than ancient barbarism. On the death of Dagobert II, A. D. 638, who ielt two infant sons, the government, during their mi- nority, fell into the hands of their chief orhccrs, termed mayors of the palace; and these ambiiious men founded a new power, which for some generations held the Frank sovereigns in absolute subjection, and left them little more than the title of king. Austrasia and Neus- tria, the two great divisions of the Frank monarchy, were nominally governed by Fhierrr, but in reality by Pepin Heristel, mayor of the alace, who, restricting his sovereign to a small domain, ruled France or thirty years with great vvisdotn and good policy. His son, Charles Martel, succeeded to his power, and under a similar title governed for twenty-six years with equal ability and success. He w<\s victorious over all his domestic foes. His arms kcrpt in awe the surrounding nations, and he delivered France from the ravages of the Saracens, whom he entirely defeated between Tours and Poictiers, A. D. 732 3. Charles Martel bequeathed tiie government of France, as anun disputed inheritance, to his two sons, Pepin le brefand Carloman, who governed, under the «ame ti*le of mayor, one Austrasia, and the other Neustria and Burgnnuy. On the resignation of Carloman, Pepin succeeded to the sole admiiisti-ation. Ambitious of adding the title of king to tlie power which he already enjoyed, he proposed the question to pope Zachary, whether he or his sovereign Childeric was most worthy of the throne ? Zachary, who had his interest in view, decided that Pepin had a riglit to add tlie title of king to the office ; a«d Childeric was coniined to a monastery fur life. With I MODERN HISTORY. 109 i tm endod the first or Merovingian race of the kings of France, A D. 751. 4. Fepin recompenseil the service done him by the pope, by turn- ing his arms against the Lombards. He deprived them of the exar- chate of Ravenna, and made a donation of that and other considerable territories to the holy see, which were the lir.-it, as is alleged, of itf temporal possessions. Conscious of his defective title, it was the principal object of Pepin le href to conciliate the atfections of the people whom he governed. The legislative power among the Franks was vested in the people assembled in their diuinps de Mars. Under the Merovingian race the regal authority had sunk to nothing, while the power of the nobles had attained to an inordinate extent. Fepin found it his best policy, to acknowledge and ratify those rights, which he could not Avithout danger have invaded ; and thus, under the char- acter of guardian of llie powers of all the orders of the state, he exalt- ed the regal office to its proper elevation, and founded it on the se- curest basis. On his death-bed he called a council of the grandees, and obtained their consent to a division of his kingdom between his two sons, Charles and Carloman. He died A. I). 768, at the age of fifty-three, after a reign of seventeen years from the death of Chil- deric 111, and an administration of twenty-seven from the death of Charles iMartel. SECTION 111. REFLECTIONS ON THE STATE OF FRANCE DURING THE ! iMEROVINGIAN RACE OF ITS KINGS. ORIGIN OF THE i FEUDAL SYSTEM. : \. The manners of the Franks were similar to those of tlie other ; Germanic nations described by Tacitus. Though under the command " of a chief or king, their government was extremely democratical, and they acknowledged no other than a military subordination. The legis- ; lative authority resided in the general assembly, or cluunps de Jl'htrs, j held annu;rily on the 1st day of March ; a council in which the king t had but a single suffrage, equally with the meanest soldier. But, \ when in arms against the enemy, his power was absolute in enforcing military discipline. , 2. After the establishment of the Franks in Gaul some changes took t place from their new situation. They reduced the Gauls to absolute \ subjection ; yet they lett many in possession of their lands, because the \ new country was too large for it-s conquerors. They left them like- wise the use of their existing laws, \vhich were those of the Roman code, while they themselves were governed by the salique -And npiui' ■■ ruin laws, ancient institutions in observance among the r ranks litforc "■ they left their original seats in Germany. Hence arose that extraor i dinary diversity of local laws and usages in the kingdom of France I which continued down to modern times, and gave occasion to number \ less inconveniences. • | 3. The ancient Germans had the highest veneration for the priests j or druids. It was natural that the Franks, after their conversion to j Christianity, should have the same reverence for their bishops, to ■ whom accordingly they allowed the first rank in the national as- : sembly. These bishops were generally chosen from among the na- ; tive Gauls; for, having adopted from this nation their new religiorv ] k was natural that their priests should be chosen from the same peo- | K ; 110 MODERN HISTORY. pie. The influence of the clergy contrilmted much to ameliorate the condition of the conquered Gauls, and to hum.inize their conquer- ors ; and in a short space of time the two nations were thoroughly in- corporated. 4. At this period a new system of policy is visible among this unit ed people, which by degrees extended itself over most of the nations of Europe. This is the feudal system. By this expression is properly iiieant that tenure or condition on which the proprietors of land held their possessions, viz., an obligation to perform military service, whenever required by the chief or overlord to whom they owed al- legiance. Aany modern writers attribute tlie origin of this institution or poli- cy to tne kings of the Franks, who, after the conquest of Gaul, ire supposed to have divided the lauds among their followers, on this condition of military service. But this notion is attended witli insur- mountable diihculties. For, in the tirst place, it proceeds on this false supposition, that the conquered lands belonged in property to the king, and that he had the rit^'ht of bestowing them in gifts, or dividing them among his followers; whereas it is a certain Tact, that among the Franks the partition of conquered lands was made by lot, as was the division even of the spoil or booty taken in battle; and that the king's share, though doubtless a larger portion than that of his captains, was likewise assigned him by lot. secondly, if we should suppose the king to have made those gitts to his captains out of his own domain, the creation of a very few benejicia {benejices) would have rendered him a poorer man than his subjects. We must therefore have recourse to another supposition for the origin of the tiefs ; and we shall find that it is to be traced to a source much more remote thao the con- quest of Gaul by the Franks. 5. Among all barbarous nations, with whom war is the chief occu- pation, we remark a strict sul)ordination of the members oi a tribe to their chief or leader. It was observed by Cajsar as peculiarly strong among the Gaulish nations, and as subsisting not only between the soldiers and their commander, but between the inferior towns or vil- lages, and the canton or province to which they belonged. In peace every man cultivated his land, free of all taxation, and subject to no other burden but that of mililiiry service, when required by his chief Wiien the province was at war, each vihage, though taxed to furnish only a certain nunjber of soldiers, was bound to send, on the day ap- pointed for a general muster, all its males capable of bearing arms; and from these its rated number was selected by the chief of the prov- ince. Tliis dientela [vassaluge) subsisted among the Franks as well as among the G-auls. It subsisted among the Romans, who, to check tide inroads of the barbarian nations, and lo secure their distant con- quests, were obliged to maintain fixed gai'risons on their Ircntiers. To each otficer in those garrisons it was customary to assign a por- tion of land as the pledge and pay of his service. These gitts were termed benejicia., and their proprietors beneficiani. Flin. Ep. lib. 10, ep. 32. The benejicia were at tirsT granted only for life. Alexander Severus allowed ihem to descend to heirs, on the like condition of military service. 6. When Gaul was overrun by the Franks, a great part of the lands was possessed on this tenure by the Roman soldiery, as the rest vviis by the native Gauls. The conquerors, accustomed to the same poli- fcV, won\A nUurally adopt it in the partition of their new conquests; each man, on receiving his share, becoming bound to miUtary service, MODERN HISTORY. Ill as a condition necessarily annexed tp territorial property. With respect to those Gauls who retained their possessions, no other change was necessary but to exact the same obligation ot" military vassalage to their new conquerors, which they had rendered to their former masters the emperors, and, before the Roman conquest, to their native chiefs. Thus no other change took place but tliat of the overlord. The system was the same which had prevailed for ages. 7. But fhpse bmefida^ or fiefs, were personal grants, revocable by the sovereioii or overlord, and reverting to him on the death of the vassal. The weakness of the Frank kings of the Merovingian race emboldened the possessors of tiefs to aspire at independence and security of property. In a convention held at Andeli in 587, to treat of peace between Gohtran and Childebert II., the nobles obliged these princes to renounce the right of revoking their benetices, which henceforward passed by inheritance to their eldest male issue. 8. It was a necessary consequence of a fief becoming perpetual and hereditary, that it should be capable of subinfeudation ; and that the vassal himself, holding his land of the sovereign by the tenure of military service, should be enabled to create a train of inferior vas- sals, by giving to them portions of his estate to be held on the same condition, of following his standard in battle, rendering him homage as their lord, and paying, as the symbol of their subjection, a small annual present, either of money or the fruits of their lands. Thus, in a little time, the whole territory in the feudal kingdoms was either held immediately and in capite of the sovereign himsell', or mediately by inferior vassals of the tenanls in capite. 9. It was natural in those disorderly times, when the authority of government and the obligf.tion of general laws were extremely weak, that the superior or overlord should acquire a ci\il and criminal jurisdiction over his vassals. The coniites^ to whom, as the chief magistrates of police, the administration of justice belonged of right, paid little attention to the duties of their oflice, and shamefully abused their powers. The inferior classes naturally chose, instead of seek- ing justice through this corrupted channel, to submit their lawsuits to the arbitration of their overlord ; and this jurisdiction, conferred at first by the acquiescence of parties, came at length to be regarded as founded on strict right. Hence arose a perpetual contest of jurisdic- tion between the greater barons in their own territories and the es- tablished judicatories ; a natural cause of that extreme anarchy and disorder which prevailed in France during the greater part of the BIcrovingian period, and sunk the regal authority to the lowest pitch of abasement. In a government of which every part was at variance with the rest, it was not surprising that a new power should arise, which, in able hands, should be capable of bringing the whole under subjection. 10. The mayor of the palace, or first officer of the household, gradually usurped, under a series of weak princes, the whole powers of the sovereign. This office, from a personal dignity, be- came hereditary in the family of Pepin Heristel. His grandson, Pepin le brtf, removed from the throne those phantoms of the Me- rovingian race, assumed the title of king, by the authority of a pa- fal decree, and reigned for seventeen years with dignity and success, le was the founder of the second race of the trench monarchs known by the name of the Carlovingian. See Kelt's Element* ot' General Knowledge, vol. I. 112 MODERN HISTORY. SECTION IV. CHARLEMAGNE. THE NEW EMPIRE OF THE WEST. 1. Pepin le bref^ with the consent of bis nobles, divided, on bis death-bed, the kingdom of France between Jiis sons, Charles and Carloman, A. D. 768. The latter died a ^^w years alter bis father, and Charles succeeded to the undivided sovereignty. In the course of a reign of forty-live yeai-s Charlcituigne (for so be was de- servedly styled) extended tiie limits of his empire beyond the Dan- ube; subdued' Dacia, Dahnutia, and Istria ; conquered and subjected all the barbarous tiil)es to the banks of the Vistula ; made himself mas- ter of a great portion of Italy ; and successfully encountered the arms •f the y.iracens, the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Saxons. His war with the Saxons was of thirty years' duration, and their final conquest was not achieved without an inhuman waste of blood. At the reqiiest of the pope, and to discbarge the obbgation of bis fither Pepin to the holj see, Charlemagne dispossessed Desiderius king of the Lombards of all bis doininions, though allied to him by marriage ; and put a final period to the Lombard dominion in Italy, A. D. 774. 2. He made I'.is entry into Rome at the festival of Easter, was there crowned king of France and of the Lombards, and was, bv pope Adrian I, invested with the right of ratifying the election of the pop?s. Irene, empress of the east, sought to ally herself with Charlemagne, by the mairiage of her son Constantine to bis daugh- ter; but her subsequent inhuman conduct, in putting Constantine to death, gave ground to suspect the sincerity of her desire for that alliance. 3. In the last visit of Charlemagne to Italy he was consecrated emperor of the west by the hands of pope Leo III. It is probable that if he bad chosen Rome for bis resklence and seat of government, and at his death bail transmitted to bis successor an undivided domhi- ion, the great but f ulen empire of the Avcst might have once more been restored to lustre and respect. But Charlemagne had no fixed capital, and divided, eren in his lifetime, his dominions among his children, A. D. 806. 4. Tiie economy of government and the domestic administration of Charlemagne merit attention. Pepin Ic brcf had introduced the system of annual assend)lies or parUaments, held at first in March, and afterwards in May, where the chief estates of clergy and nobles were called to deliberate on the public atfaii-s and the wants of the people. Charlemagne apoiiit^-d these assemblies to be held twice in the year, in spring and in autumn, in the latter assembly all affaii's were prepared and digested ; in the former was transacted the busi- ness of legislation ; and of this assembly he made the people a party, by admitting from each province or district twelve deputies or rep- resentatives. The assembly now consisted of three estates, each of which formed a separate chamber, and discussed apart the concerns of its own order. They afterwards united to communicate their resolutions, or to deliberate on their common interests. The sove- reign wtis never present, unless when called to ratify the decrees of the assembly, 5. Charlemagne divided the empire into provinces, and the prov- inces into districts, each comprehending a certaw nijpiber of coun- MODERIS HISTORY. no ties. The districts were governed by royal envoys, chosen from the clergy and nobles, and bound to an exact visitation of their territories every three montlis. These envoys held annual conventions, at which were present the higher clergy and barons, to discuss the affairs of the district, examine the conduct of its magistrates, and redi'ess the grievances of individuals. At the general assembl}', or c/iainp lie Alai, the ro} al envoys made their I'eport to the S()^ ereigu and states; and thus the public attention was constantly directed lo all the concerns of the empire. 6. The private character of Charlemagne was most amiable and respectable. His secretary, Eginhart, has pahited his domestic life in beautiful and simple colours. The economy of his family is char acteristic of an age of great simplicity ; for his daughters were as- siduously employed in spinning and housewifery, and the sons were trained by their father in the practice of all manly exercises. Thii illustrious man died A. D. 814, in the seventy-second year of his age. Contemporary with him was Ilaroun Alraschid, cali])h of the Sara tens, equally celebrated for his conquests, excellent policy, and the wisdom and humanity of his government. 7. Of all the lawful sons of Charlemagne, Lewis the dcbonmiire was the only one who survived him, and who therefore succeeded without dispute to all the imperial dominions, except Italy, which the emperor had settled on Bernard, his grandson by Fejiin, his second son. SECTION V. MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, AND CUSTOMS OF THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 1. In establishing the provincial conventions under the royal envoys, Charlemagne did not entirely abolish the authority of the ancient chief magistrates, the dukes and counts. They continued to command the troops of the province, and to make the levies iu stated numbers from each district. Cavalry were not numerous in the imperial armies, twelve farms being taxed lo furnish only one horseman with his armour and accoutrements. The proA ince sup- plied six months' provisions to its complement of men, and the king maintaiued them during the rest of the campaign. 2. The engines for the attack and delence of towns were, as in former times, the r;im, the balista, catapulta, testudo, Lc. Charle- magne had his ships of war stationed in the moutlit of all the larger rivers. He bestowed great attention on commerce. The merchants of Italy and the south of France traded to the Levant, and exchanged the commodities of Europe and Asia. Venice and Genoa were rising into commercial opulence; and the manufactures of wool, glass, and iron, were successfully cultivated in many of the principal towns hi the south of Europe. 3. The value of money was nearly the same as in the Roman empire in the age of Constantine the great. The numerary livre, in the age of Charlemagne, was supposed to be a pound of silver, in value about 31. sterling of Enghsh money. At present the livre is worth 10 l-2d. English. Hence we ought to be cautious in Ibrming #ur estimate of ancient money from its Dame. From the waat of Id 1 1 4 MODERN HISTORY . (his caution have arisen the most erroneous ideas of the commerce, riches, and strength of the ancient kingdoms. 4. The capitalaria {statute-books) of Cliarlemagne, compiled into a body A. D. 827, were recovered from oblivion in 1531 and 1545. They present many circumstances illustrative of the manners of the times. Unless in great cities there were no inns : the laws obliged every man to give accommodation to travellers. The chief towns were built of wood. The state of the mechanic arts was very low in Europe. The Saracens had made more progress in them. Paint ing atnd sculpture were only preserved (com absolute extinction by the existing remains of ancient art. Charlemagne appears to have been anxious for the improvement of music ; and the Italians are said to have instructed his French pertormers in the art of playing on the organ. Architecture was studied and successfully cultivated in that style termed the Gothic, which admits of great beauty, elegance, and magnitkence. The composition of Mosaic appears to have been an invention of those a^es. 5. The knowledge ot letters was extremely low, and confined to a few of the ecclesiastics. Charlemagne gave the utmost encourage- ment to literature and the sciences, inviting into his dominions of France, men eminent in those departments trom Italy, and from the Britannic isles, which, in those dark ages, preserved more of the light of learning than any of the western kingdoms. '"''A'eque eniin silenda Urns Britannue^ Scotice, et Hiberniue^ quxe studio liberalium artium eo tempore anteceltebant reliquis occidentalibus regnis ; et cura prcesertitn monackonun^ qui liierarum gloriwn^ ulihi aid languentem aut depressain^ in iis regionibus impigre suscitabatit atque tuebantur.'''' Murat. Antiq. Ital. Diss. 43. ^^ l must not omit tlie praise aue to England^ Scotland,, and IrelandL, which at tJuxt time excelled the other western kingdoms in the study of the liberal arts : and especially to tlie moihks^ by wliose care and diligence the honour of literature, whicli in other countries was either languishing or depressed, was revived and protected in thescP The scarcity of books ia those times, and the nature of their sulyects, as legends, lives of the saints, &,c., evince the narrow diffusion of literature, 6. The pecuniary fines for homicide, the ordeal or judgment of God, and judicial combat, were striking peculiarities in the laws and manners of the northern nations, and particularly of the Franks. By this warlike, barbarous people, revenge was esteemed honourable and meritorious. The high-spirited warrior chastised or vindicated with his own hand the injuries which he had received or inflicted. The magistrate interfered, not to punish, but to reconcile, and was sjitistied }f he could persuade the aggressor to pay, and the injured party to accept, the moderate tine which was imposed as the price of blood, and of whicli the measure was estimated according to the rank, the sex, and the country of the person slain. But increasing civilization abolished those barbarous distinctions. We have ret.iarked the equal severity of the laws of the Visigoths, in the crimes of murder and robbery; and even among the Franks, in the age of Charlemagne, deliberate murder was punished with death. 7. By their ancient laws, a party accused of any crime was al- lowed to produce compurgators, or a certain number of witnesses, -according to the measure of the offence ; and if these declared upon oatii their belief of his innocence, it was held a suilicient excul pation. Seventy-two compurgators were required to acquit a mur- derer or an incendiary. The flagrant perjuries occasiened by this MODERN HISTORY. 115 absurd practice probably gave rise to the trial by ordeal, which was termed, as it was believed to be, the judgment of God. The crimi- nal was ordered, at the option of the judge, to prove his innocence or guilt, by the ordeal of cold Avater, of boiling water, or red hot iron. He was tied hand and foot, and thrown into a pool, to sink or swim ; he was made to fetch a ring from the bottom of a vessel of boiling water, or to walk barefooted everburning ploughshares. His- tory recortls examples of those wonderful experiments having been made without injury or pain. 8. Another peculiarity of the laws and manners of the northern nations was judicial combat. Both in civil suits and in the trial of crimes, the party destitute of legal proofs might challenge his antag- onist to mortal combat, and rest the cause upon its issue. This san- guinary and most iniquitous custom, which may be traced to this day in the practice of duelling, had the authority of law in the court of the constable and marshal, even in the last century, in France and England. SECTION VI. RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH BEFORE THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE. 1. The Arian and Pelagian heresies divided the christian church for many ages. In the fourth century, Arius, a presbyter of Alexan- dria, maintained the separate and inferior nature of the second per- son of the trinity, regarding Christ as the noblest of created beings, through whose agency the Creator had formed the universe, liis doctrine was condemned in the council of Nice, held by Constantine A. D. .325, who afterwards became a convert to it. For many cen- turies it had an extensive influence, and produced the sects of the Eunomians, Semi-Arians, Eusebians, &c. 2. In the beginning of the tifth century Pelagius and Caslcstius, the former a native of Britain, the latter of Ireland, denied the doc- trine of original sin, and the necessity of divine grace to enlighten the understanding, and purify the heart ; and maintained the suffi- ciency of man's natural powers for the attainment of the highest degrees of piety and virtue. These tenets were ably combated by Su Augustine, and condemned by an ecclesiastical council, but have ever continued to find many supporters. 3. The most obstinate source oi" controversy in those ages was the worship of images ; a practice whicii was at tirst opposed by the clergy, but was afterwards, from interested motives, countenanced and vindicated by them. It was, however, long a subject of division in the church. The emperor Leo the Isaurian, A. D. 727, attempted to suppress this idolatry, by the destruction of every statute and pic- ture lound in the churches, and by punishment of their worshippers; but this intemperate zeal rather increased than repressed the super- stition. His son Constantine Copronymus, with wiser policy, pro- cured its condemnation by the church. 4. From the doctrines of the Platonic and Stoic philosophy, which recommended the purification of the soul, by redeeming it from its subjection to the senses, arose the system ot penances, mor- tification, religious sequestration, and monachism. After Constantine had put an end to the persecution of the christians, many conceived 116 MODERN HISTORY. it a duty to procure for themselves voluntary grieyances and suffer- ings. They retired into caves and hermitages, and there practised' the most rigorous mortifications of the flesh, by tasting, scourging, vigils, &c. This phrensy first showed itself in Egypt in the fourth century, whence it spread over all the east, a great part of Africa, and within the limits of the bishopric of Rome. In the time of The- odosius these devotees began to torm communities or cccnobia^ each associate binding himself by oath to observe the rules of his order. St. Benedict introduced monachism into Italy, under the reign of Totila ; and his order, the Benedictine, soon became extremely nu- merous and opulent. Many rich donations were made by the devout and charitable, who believed that they profited by the prayers of the monks. Benedict sent colonies into biciiy and France, whence they soon spread over all Europe. 5. In the east, the monacki solitarii (solitary monks) were first incor- porated into coenobia by St. Basil, bishop of Ca>-sarea, in the middle of the fourth cenUiry ; and some time before that period the first monas- teries for women were founded in Egypt by the sister of St. Facomo. From these, in the following age, sprung a variety of orders, under different rules. The rule of the canons regular was framed after the model of the apostolic life. To cliastity, obedience, and poverty, the mendicants added the obligation of begging amis. The military reli- gious orders were unknown till the age of the holy wars. (Sect. XVII, § 3.) The monastic fraternities owed their reputation chieHy to the little literary knowledge which, in those ages of ignorance, they ex- clusively possessed. (For the origin of monachism, see Varieties of Literature.) 6. In the fifth century arose a set of fanatics termed stylitcs, or pil- lar-saints, who passed their lives on the tops of pillars of various height. Simeon of Syria lived thirty-seven years, and died on a pillar sixty feet high. This phrensy prevailed in the east for many centuries. (For a curious account of the fanaticism of the Hindoos, see Tennant's Indian Recreations.) 7. Auricular confession, which had been abolished in the east in the fourth century, began to be in use in the west in the age of Char- lemagne, and has ever since prevailed in the Romish church. The canonization of saints was, for near twelve centui'ies, practised by ev- ery bishop. Rope Alexander III, one of the most vicix^us of men, bl|t claimed and assumed this right, as the exclusive privilege of the successor of St. Peter. 8. The conquests of Charlemagne spread Christianity in the north of Europe; but all beyond the limits of his conquests was idolatrous. Britain and Ireland had received the light of Christianity at an earlier period ; but it was al'terwards extinguished, and again revived under the Saxon heptarchy. SECTION VII. EMPIRE or THE WEST UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF CHAR- LEMAGNE. 1. Thb empire of Charlemagne, raised and supported solely by his abilities, fell to pieces under his weak posterity. Lewis {le debonnaire). the only survivor of his lawful sons, was consecrated emperor and V>f>g 01 tiie Franks at Aix la Chapelle, A. D. 816. Among the first MODERN HIST(JRY. 117 acts of his reign was the partition of his dominions among his children. To Pepin, his second son, he gave A ranee, and Spain, but were repelled from the last by the good conduct and courage of jts Mahometan rulers. In 845 they entered the Elbe, plundered Hamburgh, and penetrated far into Germany. Eric, king of Denmark, who commanded these Normans, sent once more a fleet into the Seine, which advanced to Paris. Its inhabitants lied, and the 118 MODERN HISTORY. city was burnt. Another fleet, with little resistance, pillaged Bour- deaiix. To avert the arms of these ravagers, Charles the bald bribed them ivrth money, and his successor, Charles the gross, yielded them a part of his Flemish dominions. These were only incentives to fresh depredation. Paris was attacked a second time, but gallantly defended by count Odo or Eudes, and the venerable bishop Gosiin. A truce was a second time concluded ; but the barbarians only chang- ed the scene of their attack : they besieged Sens, and plundered Burgundy. An assembly of the states held at Meniz deposed the unworthy Charles, and conferred the crown on the more deserving Eudes : who, during a reign often years, bravely withstood the Nor- mans. A great part of the states of f 'ranee, however, ret\ised his title to the crown, and gave their allegiance to Charles surnamcd the simple. 5. Rollo, the Norman, in 912, compelled the king of France to yield him a large portion of the territory of Neustrin, and to give him his daughter in marriage. The new kingdom was now called Normandy, of which Rouen was the capital. SECTION VIII. EMPIRE OF THE EAST DURING THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 1. While the new empire of the west was thus rapidly tending to dissolution, the empire of Constantinople still retained a vestige of its ancient grandeur. It had lost its African and Syrian dependencies, and was plundered by the Saracens on the eastern frontier, and rav- aged on the north and west by the Abari and Bulgarians. The capi- tal, though splendid and refined, was a constant scene cf rebellions and conspiracies ; and the imperial family itself exhibited a series of the most horrid crimes and atrocities. One emperor was put to death in revenge of murder and incest ; another was poisoned by his queen ; a third was assassinated in the I ath by his own domestics ; a fourth tore out the eyes of his biother ; the empress Irene, respecta- ble for her talents, was infimious for the murder of her only son. Of such complexion was that series of princes who swayed the scep- tre of the east nearly 200 years. 2. In the latter part of this period a most violent controversy was maintained respecting the worship of images, which were alternately destroyed and replaced according to the humour of the sovereign. The female sex was their most zealous suppoi-ter. This was not the only subject of division in the christian church ; the doctrines of Man- iches were then extremely prevalent, and the sword was firequent- ly employed to support and propagate their tenets. 3. The misfortunes of the empire were increased by an invasion of the Russians from Uie Palus IMoeotis and Euxine. In the reign of Leo, named the philosopher, the Turks, a new race of barbarians, of Scythian or Tartarian breed, began to make effectual inroads on its territories. About the same time its domestic calamities were aggra- vated by the separation of the Greek from the Latin church, of which we shall treat under the following section. MODERN HISTORY. 1 1 9 SECTION IX STATE OF THE CHURCH IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 1. The popes had begun to acquire a temporal authority under Pepin le bref and Charlemagne, irom the donations of lernu-ry mide by those princes, atid tlity were now gradually extei din^ a spriritua! jurisdiction over all l!ie christian kingdoms. Nicholas I. prociain:^"d lo the whole world his paramount judgment in appeal from tlie sentences ot all spiritual judicatories; his power of as- sembUng councils tA the church, and of regulating it by the canons of those councils ; the right of exercising his authority by legates in al! the kingdoms of Europe, and the control of the pope over all princes and governors. Literary imposture gave its support to these pretences Certain spurious epistles were written in tiie name of Isidorus, with the design of proving the justice of the claims of the pope; and the tbrgery of those epistles was not completely exposed til! the sixteenth century. Among the prerogatives of the popes was the reguLitiun ol the marriages of all the crowned heads, by the exirtnic extension of the pruhibitions of the canon law, with which they alone had the power of dispensing. 2. One extraordinary event (if true) afforded, in the ninth cen- tury, a ludicrous interruption to the boasted succession of regular bisiiops from the days ol St. Peter, the election of a female pope, wiio is said to have ably governed the church for three years, till detected by the birth of a child. Till the reformation by Luther this event was not regarded by the catholics as incredible, nor dis- gvacei'ul to the church : since that time its truth or ialsehood has been the subject of keen controversy between the protestants and catholics ; and the evidence for its falsehood seems to preponderate. 3. The church was thus gradually extending its induence, and its head arrogating the control over sovereign princes, wlio, by a singular iulerchiinge of character, seem, in those ages, to have fixed their cluef attention on spiritual concerns. Kings, dukes, and counts, neglectiiig their temporal duties, shut themselves up in clois- ters, and spent tiieir lives in prayers and penances. Ecclesiastics were employed in all the departments of secular government; and they alone conducted all puLiic measures and state negotiations, winch of course they directed to the great objects of advancing the interests of the ciiurch, and establishing the paramount authority oi tlie holy see. 4. At this period, however, when the popedom seemed to have attained its highest ascendancy, it sulfered a severe wound in that remarkable schism which separated the patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople, or the Greek and Latin churches. The Roman pon- tiff had hitherto claimed the right of nominating the patriarch of Cunstantinople. The emperor Michael III. denied this ri^ht, and de- posing the pope's patriarcn, Ignatius, appointed the celebrated Photius in his stead. Pope Nicholas 1. resented this affront with a high spirit and deposed and excommunicated Pnotms, A. 1). 863, who, in his turn, pronounced a similar sentence against the pope. The church was divided, each i>atriarch being supported by many bishops and tbeir dependent clergy. The Greek and Latin bisxiops had long .20 MODERN HISTORY. differed in many points of practice and discipline, as the celibacy of tlie. cierg^, the shaving of their beards, &c. ; but in reality the prime source ol division was the ambition of the rival pontiffs, and the jeal- ousy of ^be Greek emperors, unwilling to admit the control of Rome, and obstinately asserting every prerogative which they con- ceived to be annexed to the capital of the Roman empire. As nei- ther party would yield in its pretensions, the division ot the Greek and LatiLi churches became iVom thi< time permanent. 5. Amid those ambitious contests for ecclesiastical power and pre- eminence, the christian religion itself was disgraced, both by the practice and b}^ the principles of its teachers. Worldly ambition, gross voluptuousness^ and grosser ignorance, cimracterized ail ranks of the clergy ; and tne open saie of benefices placed them often in the hands of the hasest and most protligate of men. Yet the charac- ter of Rhotius forms an illusirious exception. Though bred a states- man and a soldier, and in boih these respects of great reputation, he attained, fey his singular abilities, learning, and worth, the highest •lignity of the cliurch. His Bibliothcca is a monument of the most various knowledge, erudition, and critical judgment. SECTION X. OF THE SARACENS IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES. 1. In the beginning of the eighth century the Saracens subverted fhe monarchy of the Visigoths in Spain, and easily overnm the coun- try. They had lately founded in Africa the empire of Morocco, which was governed by Muza, viceroy of the caliph Valid Almanzor. Muza sent his general Tarii)b into Spain, who, in one memorable battle, fought A. D. 713, stripped the Gothic king Rodrigo of his croAvn and life. The conquerors, satisfied with the sovereignty of fhe country, left the vanquished Goths in possession of their proper- ty, laws, and religion. Abdallah the Moor married the widow of ilodrigo, and the two nations formed a perfect union. One small part of the rocky country of Asturia alone adliered to its christian prince, Pelagius, who maintained his little sovereignty, and transmit- ted it inviol-.ite to his successors. 2. The Moors pushed their conquests beyond the Pyrenees ; but division arishig among their emirs, and civil wars ensuing, Lewis Ic dcbonnairc took advantage of the turbulent state of the country, and in\aded and seized Barcelona. The Mi^orish sovereignty in the north of Spain was weakened by throwing off its dependence on the caliphs; and in tliis juncture the christian sovereignty of the Asturias, under Alpbonso the chaste, began to make vigorous en- croacliments on the territory of the Moors. Navaire and Arragon, roused by this example, chose each a christiiui king, and boldly as- serted their liberty and independence. 3. While the Moors of Spain were thus losing ground in the north, they were highly flourishing in the southern parts of the kingdom. Abdalrahman, the last heir of the family of the Ommiades (the A- r-'Sidaj now enjoying the caliphate), was recognized as the tcne representative of the ancient line by the southern Moors. He fixed the seat of his government at Cordova, which, for two centuries from that time, was the capital of a splcndi'.l monarchy. Tbis period, froni the middle of the eighth to the middle of the tenth century, MODERN HISTORY. lg|' IS the most brilliant aera of Arabian magnificence. Whilst Haroun Alraschid made Bagdat illustrious by the splendour of the arts and sciences, the Moore of Cordova vied with their brethern of Asia in the same honotarable pursuits, and vvere undoubtedly at this period the most enhghtened of the states of Europe. Under a series of able princes" they gained the highest reputation, both in arts and arms, of all the nations of the west. 4. The Saracens were at this time extending their conquests in almost every quarter of the world. The Mabometau religion was professed over a great part of India, and all along the eastern and Mediterranean coast of^ Africa. The African Saracens invaded Sicily, and projected the conquest of Italy. They actually loid siege to Rome, which was nobly defended by pope Leo IV'. They were repulsed, their ships were dispersed by a storm, and their army was cut to pieces, A. D. 8 18. 5. The Saracens might have raised an immense empiie, if they had acknowledged only one head ; but their states were always dis- united. Egypt, Morocco, Spain, and India, had all their separate sovereigns, vvlio continued to respect the caliph of Bagdat as the successor of the prophet, but acknowledged no temporal subjection to his government. SECTION XI. EMPIRE OF THE WEST AND ITALY IN THE TENTH AND ELEVENTH CENTURIES. 1. The empire founded by Charlemagne now subsisted only in name. Arnold, a bastard son of Carloman, possessed Germany. Italy was divided between Guy duke of Spolctto and Berengarius duke of Priuli, who had received these duchies from Charles the baid. France, though claimed by Arnold, was governed by Eudes. Thus the empire in reality consisted only of a part of Germany, while France, Spain, Italy, Burgundy, and the countries between the Maes and Rhine, were all subject to aifferent powers. The emper- ors were at this time elected by the bishops and grandees, all of whom claimed a voice. In this manner Lewis the son of Arnold, the last of the blood of Charlemagne, was chosen emperor after the death of his father. On his demise Otho duke of Saxony, by his credit with his brother grandees, conferred tlie empire on Conrad duke of Franconia, at whose death Henry surnamed the fowler, son of the same duke Otho, was elected emperor, A. D. 918. 2. Henry I. (the fowler), a prince of great abilities, introduced order and good government into the empire. He united the gran- dees, and curbed their usurpations ; built, embellished, and fortified the cities ; and enforced with great rigour the execution of the laws in the repression of all enormities. He had been consecrated by his own bishops, and maintained no correspondence with the see of Rome. 3. His son Otho (the great), A. D. 938, again united Italy to the empire, and kept the popedom in complete subjection. He made Denmark tributary to the imperial crown, annexed the crown of B<)- hemia to his own dominions, and seemed to aim at a paramoual authority over all the sovereigns of Europe. 122 MODERN HISTORY. 4. Otho owed his ascendancy in Italy to the disorders of the pa- pacy. Formosus, twice excommunicated by pope John VIIl., had arrired at the triple crown. On his death iiis rival, pope Stephen VII., caused his body to be dug out ot the grave, and, after trial for his crimes, condemned it to be flung into the Tiber. The friends oi Formosus had interest to procure the deposition of Stephen, who was strangled in prison. They sought and found his body, and buried it. A succeeding pope, Sergius III., again dug up this ill-fated carcase, and threw it into the Tiber. Two infamous women, Marozia and Theodora, managed for many years the popedom, and filled the chair of St. Peter with their own gallants, or their adulterous off- spring. Such was the state of the holy see, when Berengarius duke of Priuli disputed the sovereignty of Italy with Hugh of Aries. The Italian states and pope John Xll., who took part agr.inst Beren- garius, invited Otho to compose the disorders of the country. He entered Italy, defeated Berengarius, and was consecrated emperor by the pope, with the titles of Caesar and Augustus : in return for which honours he confii-med the donations made to the holy see by his predecessors, Pepin, Charlemagne, and Lewis the debonnaire, A. D. 962. 5. But John XII. was false to his new ally. He made his peace with Berengarius, and both turned their arms against the empeior. Otho flew back to Rome, and revenged himself by the trial aiid deposition of the pope ; but he had scarcely left the city, wiien John, by the aid of his party, displaced his rival Leo VllI. Oliio once more returned, and took exemplary vengeance on his enemies, by hanging one half of the senate. Calling together the late ran council, he created a new pope, and obtained from the assembled bishops a solemn acknowledgment of the absolute right of the em- fioror to elect to the papacy, to give the investiture of the crown of taly, and to nominate to all vacant bishoprics ; concessions observed no longer than while the emperor was present to enforce thenj. 6. Such was the state of liome and Italy under Otho the great ; and it continued to be much the same under his successors for a cen- tury. The emperors asserted their sovereignty over Italy and the popedom, though with a constant resistance on the part of the Romans, and a general repugnance of the pope, when once establish- ed. In those ages of ecclesiastical profligacy it was not unusual to Eut up the popedom to sale. Benedict \ lil. and John XIX., two rothers, pubhcly bought the chair of St. Peter, one after the other ; and, to keep it in their family, it was purchased afterwards by their friends for Benedict IX., a child of twelve years of age. Three popes, each pretending regular election and equal right, agreed fii-st to divide the revenues between them, and afterwards sold all their shares to a fourth. ' 7. The emperor Henry III., a prince of great ability, strenuously vindicated his right to supply the pontitical chair, and created three ^lucceesive popes without opposition. I MODERN HISTORY. 136 SECTION Xll. HISTORY OF BRITAIN FROM ITS EARLIEST PERIOD DOWN TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 1 . The history of Britain has been postponed to this time, that il mav be considered in one connected view Irom its earliest period to the end of the Anglo-Saxon government. We strive not to pierce through that mist of obscurity which veils the original population of the British isles; remarking only, as a mat- ter of high probability, that they derived their tirst inhabitants from the Celtai of Gaul. Their authentic history commences with the first Roman invasion ; and we learn from Caesar and Tacitus, that the country was nt that period in a state very remote trom barbarism. It was divided into a number of small independent sovereignties, each rince having a regular army and a iixed revenue. The manners, anguage, and religion of the people, were the same as those of the (Jaliic Celts. The religion was the druidical system, whose in- fluence pervaded evei'y department of the government, and, by its power over the minds of the people, supplied the imperfection of laws. 2. Julius Caesar, after the conquest of Gaul, turned his eyes towards Britain. He landed on the southern coast of the island, 65 A. C. ; and meeting with most obstinate resistance, though on the wliole gaining some advantage, he found himself obliged, after a short campaign, to withdraw tor the winter into Gaul. He returned in the following summer with a great increase of force, an army of 2b',U00 foot, a competent body of horse, and a fleet of 800 sail. The indjpendent chiefs of the Britons united their threes under Cassibe- lanus king of the Trinobantes, and encountering the legions with great resolution, displayed all the ability of practised warriors. But t!ie contest was vain. Caesar advanced into the country, burnt Veru- lamiuni, the capital of Cassibelanus, and, after forcing the Britons into articles of submission, returned to Gaul. 3-. The domestic disorders of Italy gave tranquillity to the Britons for near a century ; but, in the reign of Claudius, the conquest of the is! ;!id was determined. The emperor landed in Britain and com- pelled the submission of the south-eastern provinces. Ostorius Scapula defeated Caractacus, who was sent prisoner to Rome. Suetonius Paulinus, the general of Nero, destroyed Mona (Anglesey, or as others think, Idan), the centre of the druidical superstition. The Iceni (inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk), under their queen Boadicea, attacked several of the Roman settlements. London, with its Roman garrison, weis burnt to ashes. But a decisive battle ensued, in which 80,000 of the Britons fell in the field, A. D. 61. Thirty years after, in the reign of Titus, the reduction of the island was completed by' the Roman general, Julius Agricola. He secured the Roman prov- ince against invasion from the Caledonituis, by walls and garrisons ; and reconciled the southern inhabitants to the government of their conquerors, by the introduction of Roman arts and improvements. Under Severus the Roman province was extended far into the north of Scotland. 4. With the decline of the Roman power in the west, th« southern Britoas recovered their liberty, but it was only te become 124 MODERN HISTORY. the object of incessant predatory invasion from their brethren of the north. The Romaixs, after rebuil'ling the wail of Severus, tinally bid adieu to Britain, A. D. 448. The Picts and Caledonians now broke dovvn upon the south, ravaging and desolating the country, without a purpose of conquest, and merely, as it appears, for the supply of their temporary wants. After repeated application for aid trom Rome without success, the Britons meanly solicited the Saxons for succour and protection. 5. The Saxons received the embassy with great satisfaction. Brit- ain had been long known to them in their piratical voyages to its coasts. They landed to the amount of 1,600, under the command o( Hengist and Horsa, A. D. 450 ; and joining the South Britons, soon compelled the Scots to retire to their mountains. They next turned their thoughts to the entire reduction of the Britons, and received large reinforcements of their countrymen. After an obstinate contest »f near 150 years, they reduced the whole of England under the Sax- on government. Seven distinct provinces became as many indepen- dent kingdoms. 6. The liistory of the Saxon heptarchy is uninteresting, from its obscurity and conf;i!?ion. It is sufficient to mark the duration of the several kingdoms, till t.heir union under Egbert. Kent began in 456, and lasted, under seventeen princes, till 827, when it was subdued by the West Saxons. Under Etheibert, one of its kings, the Saxons were converted to Christianity by the monk Augustine. Northumber- land began in 697, and lasted, under twenty-three kings, till 792. East Anglia began in 675, and ended in 793. Mercia subsisted from 582 to 827. Essex had Iburteen princes, from 527 to 747. Sussex had five kings before its reduction under the dominion of the West Saxons, about 600. Wessex (the country of the West Saxons) began in 519, and had not subsistea above eighty years, when Cadwalia, king of Wessex, conquered Sussex, and annexed it to his dominions. As there was no tixed rule of succession, it was the policy of the Sax- on princes to put to death all the rivals of their intended successor. From this cause, and from the passion lor celibacy, the royal families were nearly extinguished in the kingdoms of the heptarchy ; and Eg- bert, prince of the West Saxons, I'emained the sole surviving descendant of the Saxon conquerors of Britain. This circumstance, so favourable to his ambition, prompted him to attempt the conquest of the heptar- chy ; and he succeeded in the enterprise. By his victorious arms and judicious policy all the separate states were united into one great kingdom, A. D. 827, near 400 years after the first arrival of the Sax- ons in Britain, 7. England, thus united, was far froni enjoying tranquillity. The piratical Normans or Danes had for fifty years desolated her coasts, and continued, for some centuries atler this period, to be a perpetual scourge to the country. Under Alfred (the great), grandson of Eg- bert, the kingdom was from this cause reduced to extreme wretched- ness. The heroic Alfred in one year defeated the Danes in eight bat- tles; but a new irruption of their countrymen forced him to solicit a peace, which th«se pirates constantly interrupted by new hostilities. Alfred was compelled to seek his safety for many months in an obscure quarter of the counti7, till the disorders of the Danish army otfered a fair opportunity of attacking them, which he improved to the entire defeat oi his enemies. He might have destroyed them all, but chose rather to spare and to incorporate them with his English su'^>ject3. This clemency did not restrain their countrymen from attempting a MODERN HISTORY. 126 new invasion. They were again defeated with immense loss; and the extreme severity which it was necessary to exercise against the vanquished, had tlie eflect of suspending the 'Danish depredations lor several wars. 8. Alfred, whether considered in his public or private character, deserves to be reckoned among the best and greatest of princes. He united tlie most enterprising and heroic spirit with consummate pru- dence and moderation, the utmost vigour of authority with the most engaging gentleness of manner, the most exemplary justice with the greatest lenity, the talents of the statesman and the man of letters with the intrepid resolution and conduct of the general. He found the kingdom in the most miserable condition to which anarchy, do- mestic barbarism, and tpreign hostility, could reduce it: he brougUt it to a pitch of eminence suipassing, in many respects, the situation of its contemporary nations. 9. Alfred divided l-Lngland into counties, with their subdivisions of hundreds and tithings. The tithing or decennary consisted of t'ln families, over which presided a tithing-mnn or borg-hoider ; and t^n ot these composed the hundred. Every house-holder was answerable for his family, and the tithing-man for all within his tithing. In the decision of ditfcrences the tithing-man had the assistance of the rest of his decennary. An appeal lay from the decennary to the court of the hundred, which was assembled every four weeks ; and the cause was tried by a jury of twelve freeholders, sworn to do impartial jus- tice. An annual meeting of the hundred was held for the regulati'-in of the pohce of the district. The county-court, superior to that of the hundred, and consisting of ail the freeholders, met twice a year, after Michaelmas and Easter, to determine appeals from the hundreds, and settle disputes between the inhabitants of different hundreds. The ultimate appeal from all these courts lay to (he king in council; and the frequency of these appeals prompted Alfred to extreme cir- cumspection in the appointment of his judges. He composed for the regulation of these courts, and of his kingdom, a body of laws, the basis of the common law of England. lU. Alfred gave every encouragement to the cultivation of letters, as the best means of eradicating barbarism. He invited, from every quarter of Europe, the learned to reside in his dominions, established schools, and is said to have founded the university of Oxibrd. He was himself a most accomplished scholar for the age in which he lived, as appears from the works which he composed : poetical apo- logues, (he translation of the histories of Bode and Orosius ; and of Bo- etliius on the consolation of philosophy. In every view of his char- acter we must regard Alfred the great as one of the best and w isest men that ever occmiied the regal seat. He died at the age of tifty- three, A. D. 901, alter a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a halt: / 11. The admirable institutions of Alfred were partially and feebly enforced under his successoi-s ; and England, still a prey to the rava- ges of the Danes and intestine disorder, relapsed into confusion and barbarism. The reigns of Edward the elder, the son of Alfred, and of his successors, Aihelstan, Edmund, and Edred, were tumultuous and anarchical. The clergy began to extend their authority over the throne, and a series of succeeding princes were the obsequious slaves of their tyranny and ambition. In the reign of E'hflred, A. D. 981^ the Danes seriously projected the conquest of England ; and led by Sweyn king of Denmark, and Olaus king ctf Norway, made a more L2 126 MODERN HISTORY. formidable descent, won several important battles, and were restrain* ed from the destruction of Lonaon only by a dastardly submission, and a promise of tribute to be paid by the inglorious Ethelred. The English nobility were ashamed of their prince, and, seeing no other relief to the kingdom, made a tender of the crown to the Danish monarch. On the death of Sweyn, Ethelred attempted to regain his kingdom, but found in Canute, the son of Sweyn, a prince determined to support his claims. On the death of Ethelred, his son Edmund Ironside gallantly but ineffectually opposed Canute. At length a partition of the kingdom was made between Canute and Edmund, which, after a few months, the Danes annulled by the murder of Edmund, thus securing to their monarch Canute the throne of all Endand, A. D. 1,017. Edmund left two children, Edgar Atheling, and Margaret, afterwards wife to Malcolm Canmore, king of Scot- land. 12. Canute, the most powerful monarch of his time, sovereign of Denmark, Norway, and England, swayed, for seventeen years, the sceptre of England with a tirm and vigorous hand. He was severe in the beginning of his reign, while his government was insecure ; but mild and equitable when possessed of a settled dominion. He left, A. D. 1.036, three sons, Sweyn, who was crowned king of Nor- way, Harold, who succeeded to the throne of England, and Hardi- canute, sovereign of Denmark. Harold, a merciless tyrant, died in the fourth year of his reign, and was succeeded by Hardicanute, who, after a violent administration of two years, died in a tit of de- bauch. The English seized this opportunity of shaking off the Danish yoke, and conferred the crown on Edward, a younger son of Ethelred, rejecting the preferable I'ight of Edgar Athehng, the son of Edmund, who, unfortunately for his pretensions, was, at this time abroad in Hungary. Edward, surnamed the confessor, A. D. 1,041, reigned weakly and ingloriously for twenty-five years. The rebel- lious attempts of Godwin, earl of Wessex, aimed at nothing less than a usurpation of the crown; and on his death, his son Harold, cherish- ing secretly the same views of ambition, had the address to sectire to his interest a very formidable party in the kingdom. Edward, to de- feat these views, bequeathed the crown to William duke of Nonnan- dy, a prince whose great abilities and personal prowess had rendered his name illustrious over Europe. 13. On the death of Edward the confessor, 1,066, the usurper Harold took possession of the throne, which the intrepid Norman determined immediately to reclaim as his inheritance of ri^ht. He made the most formidable preparations, aided, in this age ot roman- tic enterprise, by many of the sovereign princes, and a vast body of the nobility, from the different contineut.il kingdoms. A Norwegian fleet of 300 sail entered the Humber (a river on the eastern coast of England). The troops were disembarked, and, after one success- ful engagement, were defeated by the English army in the interest of Harold. William landed his army on the coast of Sussex, to the amount of 60,000 ; and the English, under Harold, flushed with their recent success, hastily advanced to meet him, being imprudently re- solved to venture all on one decisive battle. Thu total rout and dis- comfiture of the English army in the field of Hastings, on the 14th day of October, 1 ,066, and the death of Harold, after some fruitless attem^ of further resistance, put Wiiliana duke of Normandy in f«i9CS^0D of the throoe oi Ln^iand. MODERN HISTORY, 127 SECTION XIII. OF THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, AND MANNERS OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 1. The government, laws, and manners of the Anglo-Saxons have become a subject of inquiry to modern vvritei's, as being supposed to have had influence in the formation of the British constitution. The government of the Saxons was the same as that of all the an- cient Germanic nations, and they naturally retained, in their new settlement in Britain, a policy similar to their accustomed usages. Their subordination was chieily military, the king having no more authority than what belonged to the general, or military leader. There was no strict rule of succession to the throne ; for though the king was generally chosen from the family of the last prince, yet the choice usually fell on the pei-son of the best capacity for govern ment. In some instances the destination of the last sovereign regu- lated the choice. We know very little of the nature of the Anglo- Saxon government, or of the distinct rights of the sovereign and people. 2. One institution common to all the kingdoms of the heptarchy was the wittenagemot, or assembly of the wise men, whose consent was requisite for enacting laws, and ratitying the chief acts of public ad- ministration. The bishops and abbots formed a part of this assem- bly ; also the aldermen, or earls, and governors of counties. The wites, or wise men, are discriminated from the prelates and nobility, and have by some been supposed to have been the representatives of the commons. But we hear nothing of election or representation in those periods, and we must therefore presume that they were merely landholders, or men of considerable estate, who, from their weight and consequence in the country, were held entitled, without any election, to take a share in the public deliberations. 3. The Anglo-Saxon government was extremely aristocratical ; the regal authority being very limited, the rights of the people little known or regarded, and the nobility posses::ing much uncontrolled and lawless rule over their dependents. The otiices of government were hereditary in their families, and they commanded the whole military force of their respective provinces. So strict was the dien- tcla between these nobles and their vassals, that the murder of a vas- sal was compensated by a tine paid to his lord. 4. There were three ranks of the people, the nobles, the free, and the slaves. The nobles were either the king's thanes, who held their lands directly from the sovereign, or less thanes, who held lands from the former. One law of Athelstan declared, that a merchant who had made three voyages on his own account was entitled to the dignity of thane ; another decreed the same rank to a ceorle, or hus- bandman, who was able to purchase live hides of land, and had a chapel, a kitchen, a hall, and a bell. The ceorles, or freemen of the lower rank, occupied the farms of the thanes, for which they paid rent ; and they were removable at the pleasure of their lord. The slaves or villains were either employed in domestic purposes, or in cultivating the lands, A master was hned for the murder of his slave ; and if he mutilated him, the slave recovered his freedom. 5. Under this aristocratical govermu^ut there were some traces ti 128 MODERN HISTORY. the ancient Germanic democracy. The courts of the decennary, the hundred, and the county, were a considerable restraint on the pow- er of the nobles, in the county-courts the freeholders met twice a year .o determine appeals by the majority ol" suffrages. The alderman presided in those courts, but had no vote : he received a third of the fines, the remaining two-thirds devolving to the king, which was a great part of t!ie royal revenue. Pecuniary tines w^ere the ordinary atonement for every species of crime, and the modes of proof were the ordeal by tire or water, or by compurgators. (Part 11., Sect. V., § 7.) 6. As to the military force,- the expense of defending the state lay equally on all the land, every five hides or ploughs being taxed to furnish a soldier. Tiiere were 243,600 hides in England, conse- quently the ordinary military force coni^isted of 48,720 men. 7. The king's re\'enue, besides the tines imposed by the courts, consisted partly of his demesnes or property-iands, which were ex- tensive, and partly in imposts on boroughs and sea-ports. The Dane- gelt was a tax imposed by the s.terity and happiness; but from one fatal source these pleasing prospects were all destroyed. Thomas Becket was raised by Henry from ob- scurity to the office of chancellor of England. On the vacancy of the see of Canterbury the king, desirous of his aid in the correction of ecclesiastical abuses, conferred the primacy on his favourite ; and the arrogant Becket availed himself of that autnority to abase the prerog- ative of his sovereign, and exalt the spiritual power above the crown It was disputed, whether a priest could be tried for a murder, and pun ished by the civil court. It was detennined in the affirmative by the council of Clarendon, against the opinion of Becket. Pope Alexander III. annulled the decree of the council; and Becket, wno took part with the pope, was deprived by Henry of all his dignities and estates. He avenged himself by the excommunication of the king's ministers and Henry, in return, prohibited all intercourse with the see of Rome At length both parties found it their interest to come to a good under- standing. Becket was restored to favour, and reinstated in his primacy, when the increasing insolence of his demeanour drew from the king lome hasty expressions of indignation, which his servants interpreted 132 MODERN HISTORY. into a sentence of proscription, and, trusting that the deed would be grateful to their master, murdered the prelate while in the act of celebrating vespers at the altar. For tiiis shocking action Henry expressed the regret which he sincerely felt, and the pope indulgent- ly granted his pardon, on the assurance of his dutiful obedience to the holy church. 5. The most important event of the reign of Henry II. was the conquest of Ireland. The Irish, an early civilized people, and among the tirst of the nations of the west who embraced the christian reli- gion, were, by frequent invasions of the Danes, and their owm domes- tic commotions, replunged into barbarism tor many ages. In the twelfth century the kingdom consisted of five separate sovereignties, Ulster, Leinster, Munster, Meath, and Connaught; but these vvei'e subdivided among an infinite number of petty chiefs, owing a very weak allegiance to their respective sovereigns. Dermot Macmor- rogh, expelled from his kingdom of Leinster for a rape on the daugh- ter of the king of Meath, sought protection from Henry, and engaged to become his leudatory, if he should recover his kingdom by the aid of the English. Henry empowered his subjects to invade Ireland, and, while Strongbow earl of Pembroke and his followers were lay- ing waste the country, landed in the island in 1,172, and received the submission of many of the independent chiefs. Roderick O'Connor, prince of Connatight, whom the Irish elected, nominal sovereign of all the provinces, resisted lor throe years the arms of Henry, but finally acknowledged his dominion by a solemn embassy to the king at Windsor. The terms of the submission were, an annual tribute of every tenth hide of land, to be applied for the support of government, and an obligation of allegiance to the crown of England; on which conditions the Irish should retain their possessions, and Roderick liis kingdom ; except the territory of the Pale, or that part which the English barons had subdued before the arrival of Henry. 6. Henry divided Ireland into counties, appointed sheriffs in each, and introduced the laws of Engl;ind into the territory of the Pale. The rest of the kingdom was regulated by their ancient laws, till the reign of Edward I., when, at the request of the nation, the English laws were extended to the whole kingdom. In the first Irish parlia- ment, which was held in the same reign, sir John Wogan presided as deputy of the sovereign. From that time there was little intercourse between the two kingdoms lor some centuries ; nor was the island considered as fully subdued till the reign of Elizabeth and of her suc- cessor James I. 7. The latter part of the reign of Henry U. was clouded by domes- tic misfortunes. His children, Henry, Richard, Geoflrey, and John, instigated by their unnatural mother, rose in rebellion, and, with the aid of Louis Vll., king of France, prepared to dethrone their father. While opposing them with spirit on the continent, his kingdom was invaded by the Scots under William (the lion). He hasteneJback to England, defeated the Scots, and made their king his prisoner. Two of his sons, Henry and Geoffrey, expiated their offences by an early death ; but Richard, once reconciled, was again seduced from his al- legiance, and, in league with the king of France, plundered his fa- ther's continental dominions. Tlie spirit of Henry was unequal to hi3 domestic misfortunes, and he died of a broken heart in the 58th year of his age, 1,'189, an omament to the English throne, and a prince sur- passing all his contemporaries in the valuable qualities of a sovereign. BIODERN HISTORY. 133 To him England, owed her first permanent improvement in arts, in laws, in government, and in civil liberty. 8. Richard I. (coeur de lion) immediately on his accession embark- ed for the Holy Land, on a crusade agaiast the infidejs, after plunder- ing his subjects of an immense sum of money to defray the charges of the enterprise. Forming a league with i-*hilip Augustus of France, the two monarchs joined iheir forces, and a(;ling for some time in concert, were successful in the taking of Acraor Ptolemais; but Phil- ip, jeiloas of his rivaFs glory, soon returned to France, while Richard had the honour of defeating the heroic Saladin in the battle of Asca- loii, with prodigious slaughter of his enemies. He prepared now for the siege of Jerusalem; but, tinding nis army wasted with famine !ind latigue, he was compelled to end tue war by a truce with Saladin, in which lie obtaineJi a free passage to the Holy Land tor every chris- tian pilgrim. Wrecked in his voyage honieward, and travelling in disguise through Germany, Richard whs seized, and detained in pris- on, by command of the emperor Henry VL The king of France un- generously opposed his release, as did his unnatural .brother .tohn, from seliish ambition ; but he was at length ransomed by his subjects for the sum of 150,000 merks, and, after an absence of nine years, re- turned to his dominions. His traitorous brother was pardoned after some submission ; and Richard employed the short residue of his reign in a spirited revenge against his rival Pbiiip. A truce, howevr er, was concluded by the mediation of Rome ; and Richard was soon after killed, while storming tiie castle of one of his rebellious vassal^ in the Limosin. He died in the tenth year of his reign, and forty- second of his age, 1,199. 9. John (lack-land) succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, bat ibund a competitor in his nephew Arthur, the son of Ge^jffrey, supported by Philip of France. vVar was of course renev\- ed «ith that country. Arthur, with fatal confidence, throwing him- self into the hands of his uncle, was removed by poison or the sword : a deed which, juined to the known tyranny of his character, rendered John the detestation of his subjects. He was stripped by Philip oi his continental dominions, and he made the pope his enemy by an ava- ricious attack on the treasures of the church. After an ineffectual menace of vengeance. Innocent III. pronounced a sentence of interdict against the kingdom, which put a stop to all the ordinauc :s of religion, to baptism, and the burial of the dead. He next excommunicated John, and absolved his sui^jects from their allegiance ; and he tinaiiy depo.sed him, and made a gift of the kingdom to Philip. John, intimi- d.ited into submission, declared himself the pope's vassal, swore alle- giance on his knees to the papal legate, and agreed to hold his king- dom tributary to the holy see. On these conditions, which ensurv^d the universal hatred and contempt of his people, he made his peace with the church. It was natural that his subjects, thus trampled upon "and sold, should vindicate their rights. The barons of the king- dom assembled, and, binding themselves by oatli to a union of mea^>- ures, resolutely demanded irom the king a ratification of a charter of privileges granted by Henry I. John appealed to the pope, who, iu support of his vassal, prohibited the confederacy of the barons as re- bellious. The barons were only the more resolute in their pvrpose, and the sword was their last resource. At length John was compelled to yielcj to their demands, and signed at Runymede, on the 19th day of June,^ l^-l^i that solemn charter, which is the fcundatioD aud bulwark of English liberty, Mugna Charta {tJie great dicerierj. 134 MODERN HISTORY. 10. By this great charter, l,the freedom of election to benefices was secured to the clergy ; 2, the tines to the overlord on the suc- cession of vassals were regulated; 3, no aids or subsidies were allow- ed to be levied from the subject, without the consent of the great council, unless in a few special cases ; 4, the crown shall not seize the lands of a baron for a debt, while lie has personal property sufficient to discharge it; 5, all the privileges granted by the king to his vassals shall be communicated by them td their inferior vassals; 6, one weight and one measure shall be used throughout the king- dom; 7, all men shall pass from and return to the realm at their f>leasure ; 8, all cities and boroughs shall preserve their ancient iberties ; 9, the estate of every freeman shall be regulated by his will, and, if he die intestate, by the law; 10, the king's court shall be fitiitionary, and open to all ; 1 1 , every freeman shall be tined only in proportion to his offence, and no tine shall be imposed to his utter ruin; 12, no peasant shall, by a tine, be deprived of his instruments of husbandry ; 13, no person shall be tried on suspicion alone, but on the evidence of lawful witnesses; 14, no person shall be tried or punished unless by the judgment of his peers and the law of the land. 1 1. John gr;>nted at the same time the Charta de Foresta {the char- ier concerning foresls)^ which abolished the royal privilege of killing game over all the kingdom, and restored to the lawful proprietoi-s their woods and forests, which they were now allowed to enclose nnd use at their pleasure. As compulsion alone had extorted these concessions, John was determined to disregard them, and a foreign force was brought into the kingdom to reduce the barons to submis- sion. The barons applied for aid to France, and Philip sent his son Lewis to England wiih an army ; and such was the people's hatred of their sovereign, that they swore allegiance to this foreigner. At this critical period John died at Newark, in 1,216, and an instant change ensued. His son Henry IH., a boy of nine years of age, was crowned at Bristol ; and his uncle, the earl of Pembroke, was appoint- ed protector of the realm. The disaffected barons returned to their allegiance ; the people hailed their sovereign ; and Lewis with his army, alter an ineffectual straggle, made peace with the protector, and evacuated the kingdom. SECTION XVI. STATE OF GERMANY AND ITALY IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. 1. Fredkrick II., son of Henry VI., was elected emperor on the resignation of Otho IV^, in 1,212. At this perioil Naples, Sicily, and Lombardy, were all appanages of the empire ; and the contentions between the imperial and papal powers divided the states of Italy into factions, known by the name of Guelphs and Ghibellines; the former maintaining the supremacy of the pope, the latter that of the emperor. The opposition of Frederick to four successive popes was avenged by excommunication and deposition ; yet he kept posses- sion of his throne, and vindicated his authority with great spirit. Frequent attempts were made against his lite, by assassination and poison, which he openly attributed to papal resentment. On his #2ath, in 1,250, the splendour of the empire was for many years ob- ^ MODERN HISTORY. 136 scared. It was a prey to incessant factions and civil war, the fruit of contested claims of sovereignty. Yet the popes gained nothing by- its disorders, for the troubles of Italy were equally hostile to their ambition. We have seen the turbulent state of England. France was equally weak and anarchical ; and Spain was ravaged by the contests of the Moors and christians. Yet, distracted as appears the situation of Europe, one great project gave a species of union to this discordant mass, of which we now proceed to give an account. SECTION XVII. THE CRUSADES, OR HOLY WARS. 1. The Turks or Turcomans, a race of Tartars from the regions of Mount Taurus and Imaus, invaiied the dominions of Moscovy in the eleventh century, and came down upon the banks of the Caspian. The caliphs employed Turkish mercenaries, and they acquired the reputation of able soldiers in the wars that took place on occasion of the contested caliphate. The caliphs of Bagdat, the Abassids, were deprivetl of Syria, Egypt, and AlVica, by their rival caliplis of the race of Omar; ami the Turks stripped of their do- minions Ijoth the Abassidas and Ommiades. Bagdat was taken by the Turks, and the empire of the caiiplis overthrown in 1,055 ; and these princes, from temporal monarchs, became now the supreme pontiflfe of the Mahometan faith, as the popes of the christian. At the time ol" the tirst crusade, in the end ot the eleventh century, Arabia was governed by a Turkish sultan, as were Persia and the greater por- tion of Lesser Asia. — The eastrrn empire was tlius abridged of its Asiatic territory, and had lost a great part of its dominions in Europe. It retained, however, Greece, Mactdoijit, Thrace, andlilyria; and Constantinople itself was populous, opulent, and luxurious. Palestine was in the possession of the Turks ; and its capital Jerusalem, falleu from its ancient cf^nsequence and splendour, was yet held in re spect by its conquerors as a holy city, and constantly attracted the re sort of Mahometans to the mosque of Omar, as of christian pilgrims to the sepulchre of our Saviour. 2. Peter the hermit, a native of Amiens^ on his return from this pilgrimage, complained in loud terms of the grievances which the christiiiu-; suft'ered from the Turks; and Urban II. pitched on this enthusiast as a tit person to commence the execution of a grand de- sign which the popes had long entertained, of arming all Christen- dom, and extermin:iting the inlldels froui the Holy Land. The project was opened in two general councils held at Placentia and Clermont. The French possessa.1 more ardour th, ,i the Italians; and an im mense multitude of ambitious and disorderly nobles, with all their dependents, eager for enterprise and plunder, aid assured of eternal salvation, immediately took the cross. Peter tht' hermit led 80,000 under his banners, and ihey began their march towards the east in 1,095. Their progress was marked by rapine and hostility in eveiy christian country through which they passed ; and the army of the hermit, on its arrival at Constantinople, was wasted down to 20,000. The emperor Alexius Comnenus, to whom the crusaders behaved with the most provoking insolence and folly, conducted himself with admirable moderation and good sense. He hastened to get rid of this disorderly multitude, by furnishing them with every aid which 136 MODERIS HISTORY. • they required, and cheerfully lent his ships to transport them acrpss the Bospiiorus. The sultan Solyman met them in the plain of JNicea, and destroyed tha army of the hermit. A new host in the mean time arrived at Constantinople, led by more illustrious com- manders ; by Godfrey of Bouillon duke of Brabant, Raymond count of Thoulouse, Robert of Normandy, son of William king of Eng- land, Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, the conqueror of Sicily, and other princes of high reputation. To these, who amounted to some hundred thousands, Alexius manifested the same prudent con- duct, to accelerate their departure. The Turks, overpowered by ftumoers, were twice defeated; and the crusaders, pursuing their suc- cesses, penetrated at length to Jerusalem, which after a siege of six weeks, they took by storm, and with savage fury massacred the whole of its Mahometan and Jewish inhabitants, A. D. 1.099. Godfrey was hailed king of Jerusalem, but was obUged soon after to cede his kiogdom to the pope's legate. The crusaders divided Syria and Palestine, and formed four separate states, which weakened their power. The Turks began to recover strength ; and the christians «f Asia soon found it necessary to solicit aid from Europe. 3. The second crusade set out from the west in 1,146, to the amount of 200,U0U French, Germans, and Italians, led by Hugh, brother of Philip 1. of France. These met with the same fate which attended the army of Peter the hermit. The garrison of Jerusalem was at this time so weak, that it became necessary to embody and arm the monks for its defence ; and hence arose the military orders of the knights templars and hospitallers, and soon after the Teutonic, from the German pilgrims. Meantime pope Eugenius III. employed St. Bernard to preach a new crusade in France, which was headed by its sovereign Lewis Vll., (the young), who, in conjunction with Conrad III., emperor of Germany, mus- tered jointly 300,000 men. The Germans were extirpated by the sultan of Iconium; the French were totally defeated near Laodicea; and the two monarchs, after much disaster, returned with shame to their dominioas. 4. The illustrious Saladin, nephew of the sultan of Egypt, formed the design of recovering Palestine from the christians; and besieging Jerusalem, he took the city, and made prisoner its sovereign, Guy of Lusignan. I'ope Clement III., alarmed at the successes of the infidels," begem to slir up a new crusade iVom France, England, and Germany ; and the armies of each coimtry were headed by their respective sovereigns, Philip Augustus, Richard I., and Ffederick Barbarossa. In this thinl crusade the emperor Jrederick died in Asia, and his aru\y, l>y repeated defeats, mouldered to nothing. The English and French were more successful : they besieged and l,ook Ptolemais ; but Richard and Piuiip quarrelled from jealousy of each others glory^ and the French monarch returned in disgust to his country. Rictiard nobly sustained the contest with Sahidin, whom he deteated near Ascalon ; but his army was reduced by 1am- ine and fatigjie. He concluded a treaty, at least not dishonourable, with his enemy, and was forced at length to escape from Palestine with a single ship. (See Sect. XV., ^ 8.) Saladin, revered even by the christians, died in 1,195. 5. A fourth crusade was fitted out in 1,202, under Baldwin count of Flanders, of which the object was not the extirpation of the inli- dels, but the destruction of the empire of the east. Constantinople, embroiled by civil war and revolution from disputed claims to the MODERN HISTORY. 137 sovereignty, was besieged and taken by the crusaders ; and Baldwin, their chiefi was elected emperor, to be within a few months dethron- ed and murdered. The imperial dominions were shared among the princii)al leaders ; and the Venetians, who had lent their ships for the expedition, got the isle 'M^Candia (anciently Crete) for their reward. Alexius, of the imperial family of tlie Commeni, founded a new sove- reignty in Asia, which he termed the empire of Trebizond. The ob- ject of a fifth crusade was to lay waste Egypt, in revenge for an attack oil Palestine, by its sultan Saphadin. Partial success and ulti mate ruin was the issue of this expedition, as of all the preceding. 6. At this period, 1,227, a great revolution took place in Asia. Gengi^kan with his Tartars broke down from the north upon Persia and Syria, and massacred indiscriminately Turks, Jews, and Chris- tians, who opposed them. The christian knights, templars, hospital- lers, and Teutonic, made a desperate but ineffectual resistance ; and Palestine must have been abandoned to these invaders, if its late had not been for a while retarded by the last crusade under Lewis IX. of France. This prince, summoned by Heaven, as he believed, after four years' preparation, set out for the Holy Land, with his queen, his three brothers, and all the knights of France. His arnjy began their enterprise by an attack on Egypt, where, after some consider- able successes, they were at length utterly defeated ; and the French monarch, with two of his brothers, fell into the hands of the enemy. He purchased his libcrtj- at an immense ransom, and, return- ing to France, reigned prosperously and wisely for thirteen years. But the same phrensy again assailing him, he embarked on a crusade against the Moors in Africa, nhcre he and4iis amiy were destroyed by a pestilence, 1,270. it is computed that, in the whole of the crusades to Palestine, two millions of Europeans were buried in the ea.st. 7. Effects of the crusades. One consequence of the holy wars is supposed to have been ihe improvement of European manners; but the times immediately succeeding tlse crusades exhibit no such actual improvement. Two centuries of barbarism and darkness elapsed between the termination of those enterprises and the tall of the Greek empire in 1,453, the asra of the revival of letters, and the commencement of civilization. A certain consequence of the cru- sades was the change of territorial propeity in all the feudal king- doms, the sale of the estates of the nobles, and their division among a number of smaller proprietors. Hence the feudal aristocracy was weakened, and the lower classes began to acquire weight, and a spirit of independence. The towns hitherto bound by a sort ot vassal- age to the nobles, began to purchase their immunity, acquired the right of electing their own magistrates, and were governed by their own municipal laws. The church in some respects gained, and in others lost by those enterprises. The popes gained a more extend- ed jurisdiction ; but the tatal issue of those expeditions opened the eyes of the world to the selfish and interested motives which had prompted them, and weakened the sway of superstition. Many of the religious orders acquired an increase of we;dth ; but this was bal» anced by the taxes imposed on the clergy. The coin was altered and debased in most of the kingdoms ol Europe, from the scarcity of specie. The Jews were supposed to have hoarded and concealed it, and hence they became the victims of general pei-secutiop. The most substantial gainers by the crusades were the Italian states of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice, from the increased tnvde to the Levant M2 18 138 MODERN HISTORY. for the supply of those immense armies. Venice, as we have seen, took an active concern, and obtained her share of the conquered territory. The age of the crusades brought chivalry to its perfection and gave rise to romantic fiction. See Kett'a Elements of General Knowledge, vol. t SECTION XVIIl. OF CHIVALRY AND ROxMANCE. 1. Chivalry arose naturally from the condition of society in those ages in which it prevailed. Among the Germanic nations the profes- sion of arms was esteemed the sole employment that deserved the name of manly or honourable. The initiation of the youth to this pro- fession was attended with peculiar solemnity and appropriate cere- monies. The chief of the tribe bestowed the sword and armour on his vassal, as a symbol of their devotion to his service. In the prog- ress of the feudal system these vassals, in imitation of their chief, as- sumed the power of conferring arms on their sub-vassals, with a similar form of mysterious and pompous ceremonial. The candidate for knighthood underwent his preparatory fasts and vigils, and re- ceived on his knees the accolUulc and benediction of his chief Arm- ed and caparisened, he sallied forth in quest of adventure, which, whether just or not in its purpose, was ever esteemed honourable in proportion as it was perilous. 2. The esteem of the female sex is characteristic of the Gothic manners. In those ages of barbarism the castles of the greater bar- ons were the courts of sovereigns in miniature. The society of the ladies, who found only in such fortresses a security from outrage, pol- ished the manners ; and to protect the chastity and honour of the fair, was the best employ and the highest merit of an accomplished knight. Romantic exploit therefore had always a tincture of gallantry. It hath teen through all ages ever seen, That with the praise of arms and chivalry The prize of beauty still hath joined been, And that for reasons special privity : For either doth on other much rely ; For he, me seems, most fit the fair to serve, That can her best defend from villany ; And she most fit his service doth deserve That fairest is, and from her faith will never swerve. Spensek's Fairy Queen. 3. To the passion for adventure and romantic love was added a kigh regard for morality and religion ; but as the latter were ever jiubordinate to the former, we may presume more in favour of the Tefinement than of the purity of the knights. It was the pride of a knight to redress wrongs and injuries ; but in that honourable employ- ment he made small account of those which he committed. It was easy > expiate the greatest offences by a penance or a pilgrimage, which furnished only a new opportunity for adventurous exploit. 4. Chivalry, whether it began with the Moors or Nonnans, attain- ed its perfection at the period of the crusades, which presented a no- MODERN HISTORY. 139 ble object of adventure, and a boundless field for military glory. Few indeed returned from those desperate enterprises ; but those had a high reward in the admiration of their countrymen. The bards and romancers sung their praises, and recorded their exploits, with a thousand circumstances of fabulous embellLshment. 5. The earliest of the old romances f so termed from the Romance language, a mixture of the Frank and Latin, in which they were written) appeared about the middle of the twelfth century, the period of the second crusade. But those more ancient compositions did not record contem{>orary events, whosf known truth would have preclud- ed all liberty of fiction or exaggeration. Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the author who assumed the name of archbishop Turpin, had free scope to their fancy, by celebrating the deeds of Arthur and the knights of the round table, and the exploits of Charlemagne and his twelve peers. From the fruitful stock of those first romances sprung a numerous offspring equally wild and extravagant. 6. Philosophers have analyzed the pleasure arising from works of fiction, and have endeavoured, by various hypotlieses, to account for the interest which we take in the description of an event or scene which is known to be utterly impossible. 'I'he fact oniy be simply explained as ibUows. Every narration is in some degree attended with a dramatic deception. We enter for the time into the situation of the persons concerned ; and, adopting their passions and feelings, we lose ail sense of the absurdity of tiieir cause, while we see the agents themselves hold it for reasonable and adequate. The most in- credulous sceptic may sympathize strongly with the feelings of Ham- let at the sight of his father's spectre. 7. Thus powerfully affected as we are by sympathy, even against the conviction of our reason, ho^v much greater must have been the effect of such works of the imaj^ination in those days, when popular superstition gave full credit to the reahty, or eit least the possibility, of all tnat they describeil ! And hence we nr;-;t censure, as both un- necessary and improbable, the theory of Dr. iiurd, which accounts for all the wiidness of the old romances, on the supposition that their fictions were entirely allegorical ; which explains the giants and sav- ages into the oppressive feudal lords and their barbarous dependents; as M. Mallet construes the serpents and dragons which guarded the enchanted castles, into their winding walls, tosses, and battlements. It were sufricient to say, that many of those old romances are inex- plicable by allegory. They \^re received by the popular belief as truths ; and even their contrivers believed in the pos^ribility of the scenes and actions which they described. In latter ages, and in the wane of superstition, yet while it stiil retained a powerful influence, the poets adopted allegory as a vehicle of moral instruction : and to this period belong those political romances which bear an allegorical explanation ; as the Fairy (^ueeu of Spenser, the Orlando of Ariosto, and the Gierusalemine Liberata of Tasso. 8. In more modem times the taste for romantic composition declin- ed with popular credulity ; and the fastidiousness of philosophy affect- ed to treat all supernatural fiction with coqtempf. But it was at length perceived that this refinement nad cut of!" a source of very high mental enjoyment. The public taste now took a new turn ; and this moral revolution is at present lending to its extreme. We are ,gone back to the nursery to listen to tales of hobgobhns ; a change which Mre may safely prognosticate can be of no duration. 140 MODERN HISTORY. SECTION XIX. STATE OF EUROPE IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH CENTURIES. 1. Constantinople, taken in 1,202 by the crusaders, was possessed only for a short time by its conquerors. It was governed by French emperors for the space of-sixty years, and was retaken by the Greeks in 1,261, under Michael Palaeoiogns, who, by imprisoning and putting out the eyes of his pupil Theodore Lascaris, secured to him- self the sovereignty. 2. In the beginning of the thirteenth century Germany was governed by Frederick II., who paid homage to the pope for the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which was possessed by his son Con- rad, and afterwards by his brother Manfred, who usurped the crown in violation of the right ot^his >\8phew Conradin. Pope Clement IV., jealous of the dominion of the imperial family, gave the investiture of Naples and Sicily to Charles of Anjou, brother of Lewis IX. of France, who defeated and put to death his competitors. The Sicil- ians revenged this act of UNurpation and cruelty by the murder, in one night, of every Frenchman in the island. 'Fhis shocking massa- cre, ternfed the Sicilian vespers^ happened on Easter Sunday, 1,282. It was followed by every evil that comes in the train of civil war and revolution. 3. The beginning of the thirteenth century had been signalized by a new species of crusade. The Aibigenses, inhabitants of Alby in the Fays de Vaud, were bold enough to dispute many of the tenets of the catholic church, judging them contrary to the doctrines oi scripture. Innocent III. established a holy commission at Thouionse, with power to try and punish those heretics. The count of Thou louse opposed this persecution, and was, lor the punislniicnt of his ofi'encc, compelled by the pope to assist in a crusade against his own vassals. Simon de Monlbrt was the leader of this pious enterprise, which was marked by the most atrocious cruelties. The benefits of the holy commission were judged by the popes to be so great, that it became from that time a permanent establishment, known by the name of the inguisitian. 4. The rise of the house of Ausfltta may be dated from 1,274, when Rodolphus of Ilapsbourg, a Swiss barou, was elected emperor of Germany. He owed his elevation to the jealousies of the elec- toral princes, who could not agr^e in the choice of any one of them- selves. The king of Bohemia, to whom Kodolphus had been stew- ard of the household, could ill brook the supremacy of his former de- pendent ; and refusing him the customary homage for bis Germanic possessions, Rodolphus stripped him of Austria, which has ever since remained in the family of its conqueror. 5. The Italian states of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, were at this time flourishhig and opulent, while most of the kingdoms of Europe (if we except England under Edward I.,) were exhausted, feeble, and disorderly. A dawning of civil liberty began to appear in France under Philip IV. (/e belV who summoned the third estate to the national assemblies, whicn had hitherto consisted of the nobility and clergy, 1,303. Philip established perpetual courts of judicature in France, under the name of parliaments. Over tiiese the parliament MODERN HISTORY. 141 of Paris possessed a jurisdiction by appeal ; but it was not till later times that it assuaied any authority in matters of State. 6. The parliament of England had before this era begun to assume its present constitution. The commons, or the representatives of counties and boroughs, were first called to pailiament by Henry III. Before that time this assembly consisted only of the greater barons and clergy. B combined to assert their freedom ; and a small army of 400 or 500 hien defeated an immense host of the Austrians in the pass of Morgate, 1,315. The rest of the cantons by degrees joined the association. With invincible persever- ance the united cantons won and secured tlicir dear-bought liberty, after sixty pitched battles with their enemies. 2. Constitution of Switzerland, t The thirteen cantons were united by a solemn treaty, which stipulated the proportional succours to be furnished by each in the case of foreign hostility, and the measures to be followed for securing the union of the states, and accommodat- ing domestic differences. With respect to its internal government and ecoaoni^j each canton was independent. Of some the constitution 142 MODERN HISTORY. was monarchical, and of others republican. All matters touching * the general league were transacted either by letters sent to Zurich, ' and thence officially circulated to all the cantons, or by conferences. The general diet, where two deputies attended from each canton, was >, neld once a year, the first deputy of Zurich presiding. The catnolic -' and protestant cantons likewise held their separate diets on occasional : emergencies. '' 3. The Swiss, when at peace, employed their troops for hire in ) foreign service, judging it a wise policy to keep alive the military \ spirit of the nation ; and the armies thus employed have been equally ; distinguished for their courage and fidelity. The industry and I economy of the Swiss are proverbial ; and their country supports an abundant population, frqm the zealous promotion of agriculture and manufactures. SECTION XXL STATE OF EUROPE IN THE THIRTEENTH, FOURTEENTH, AND PART OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. 1. The rival claims of superiority between the popes and em- perore still continued. • Henry VII., the successor of Albei't, vindicat- ed his right by the sword, triumphantly fought his way to Rome, where he was solemnly crowned, and imposed a tribute on all the states of Italy. His sudden death was suspected to be the consequence of papal resentment. "In his time the seat of the popedom was trans- ferred by Clement V. from Rome to Avignon, 1,309, where it re- mained till 1,377. The factions of Italy were the cause of this re- moval. Lewis of Bavaria, the successor of Henry, deposed and ex- communicated by^John XXII., revenged himself by deposing the pope. This pontiff, who had originally been a cobbler, surpassed most of his predecesisors in pride nnd tyranny. He kept his seat on the papal chair, and left at his death an in.mense treasure accumu- lated by the sale of benefices ; while his rival the emperor died in indigence. 2. His successor in the empire, Charles IV., published, in 1,355, the imperial constitution, termed the golden bidl^ the fundamental law of the Germanic body, which reduced the number of electors to seven, and settled on them all the hereditary offices of state. The electors exemplified their new rights by deposing his son Wenceslaus for incapacity, 1,400. Three separate factions of the French and Italian cardinals having elected three separate popes, the/emperor Sigismund judged this division of the church to be a fat opportunity for his interference to reconcile all differences, and establish his own supremacy. He summoned a general council at Constance in 1,414, and ended the dispute by degrading all the three pontiffs, and naming a fourth, Martin Colonna. This division of the paoacy is termed the great schism of the zicest. 3. The spiritual business of the council of Constance Was no less important than its temporal. 'John Huss, a disciple of Wicklilf, was tried for hei'esy, in denying the hierarchy, and satirizing the im- moralities of the popes and bishops. He did not deny the charge, and, refusing to confess his errors, was burnt alive. A similar fate was the portion of his friend and disciple, /Jerom of Prague, wb© MODERN HISTORY. 143 displayed at his execution the eloquence of an apostle, and the con- stancy of a martyr, 1,416. Sigismund felt the consequence of these horrible proceedings ; for the Boiiemians opposed his succession to their vacant crown, and it cost him a war of sixteen years to attain it. 4. Whatever was the imperial power at this time, it derived but small consequence from its actual revenues. The wealth of the Germanic states was exclusively possessed by their separate sove- reigns, and the emperor had little more than what he drew from Bohemia and Hungary. The sovereignty of Italy was an empty title. The interest of the emperor in that country furnished only a source of faction to its priticei=, and embroiled the states in perpetual quarrels. A series of conspiracies and civil tumults form the annals of the principal cities for above 200 years. Naples and Sicily were ruined by the weak and disorderly government of the two Joannas. A passion which the younger of these conceived for a soldier of the name of Sforza raised him to the sovereignty of Milan ; and her adoption, first of Alphonzo of Arragon, and afterwards of Lewis ol Anjou, laid the foundation of those contests between Spain and France for the sovereignty of the two Sicilies, which afterwards agitated all Europe. ff)^ SECTION XXII. HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY, 1. On (he death of John, his son Henry III. succeeded to the crown of England at nine years of age. ' He was a prince of ami- able dispositions, but of weak understanding. His preference ot foreign fixvonritcs disgusted his nobles ; and the want of economy in his government, and op})ressive exactions, deprived him of the affection of his people. Montfort earl of Leicester, son of the leader of the crusade against the Albigenses, and brother-in-law of the king, con- ceived a plan for usurping the government. He formed a league with the barons, on the pretext of reforming abuses, and compelled Henry to delegate all the regal power into the hands of twenty-four of their number. These divided among themselves the offices of government, and new-modelled the parliament, by summoning a cer- tain number of knights chosen from each county. This measure was fatal to their own power ; for these knights or representatives of the people, indignant at Leicester's usurpation, determined to restore the royal authority ; and calk?d on prince Edward, a youth of intrepid spirit, to avenge his father's wrongs and save the king- dom. ^ 2. Leicester raised a formidable force, and defeated the royal army at Lewes, in Sussex, 1,264, and made both the king and prince Edward his prisoners. He now compelled the impotent Henry to ratify his authority by a solemn treaty. He assumed the character of regent, and calledi a parliament, summoning two knights from each of the counties, and deputies from the principal boroughs, the first regular plan of the English house of commons. This assembly exercising its just rights, and asserting with firmness the re-establish- ment of tne ancient goveniment of the kingdom, Leicester judged it prudent to release the prince from his confinement. Edward wa» no sooner at liberty than he took the field against the usurper, who was defeated and slain in the battle of Evesham, on the 4th day of 144 MODERN HISTORY. August, 1,265. Henry was now restorrd to his throne hy the urms of Jiis gallant son, who, after establishing doine:^iic tiv-jni'iiiiity, eni- barked in the last crusade with Lewis IX., and sign;',!ized his provvei« by m?)ny valorous expioiis in Palestine. He had the honour of con- cUidiiig an a.lvaiitageoi.'.s truce for ten years witii tiie suitan of Luby- lon. and was on Lis return to England when he received intt-lligence of nis accession to the crown by the death of his father, ],v^72. 3. Edward i. projected tiie conquest of Wales in the beginning of his reign. ^I he Weish, the descendants of the ancient riritons who had escaped the Roman and Saxon conquests, preserved tlieir lilif'rty, hiws, manners, and language. Their prince, Lewellyn, refcseil his custoniary hotnage to the king of England. Edward in- vaded Wales, and, surrounding the army of the prince, who retreated to the mountains, cut oft' all his supplies, and compelled him to an unquaiilied submission. The terms demanded were, the surrender of a part of the country, a large sum of money, and an obligation of perpetual fealty to the crown of England. The Welsh infringed this treaty, and Edward marched his army into the heart of the country, where the troops of Lewellyn made a most desperate but in- eiTectual resistance, hi a decisive engagement, in 1,'283, the prince was slain. His brother I)avjd, betrayed into the hands of the con- queror, was inhumanly executed on a gibbet ; and Wales, complete- ly subdued, was annexed to the crown of England. With a policy equally absurd and cruel, Edward ordered the Welsh bards to be put to death wherever found; therebv ensuring the perpetuation of their heroic songs, and increasing the abhorrence of tlie vanquished people for their barbarous conqueror. 4. The conquest ot Wales inflamed the ambition of Edward, and inspired him with the design of extending his dominion to the ex- tremity of the island. The designs of tlii« enterprising monarch on the kingdom of Scolland invite our attention to that quarter. SECTION XXIII. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE ELEVENTH TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. I. Thk history of Scotland before the reign of Malcolm III., sur- named Canmore, is obscure and fabulous. 'Inis prince succeeded to the throne in 1,057 by the defeat of Macbeth, the murderer of his father Duncan. Fi^pousing the cause of Edgar Atheling, heir of the Saxon kings of England, whose sister he married, he thus provoked a war with W^ilham the conqueror, which was equally prejudicial to both kingdoms. In an expedition ol Malcolm into England it is alleged, that, after concluding a truce, he was compelled by William to do homage for his kingdom. The truth is, that this homage was done for the territories in Cumberland and Northumberland won by the Scots, and held in vassalage of the English crown ; though this homage was afterwards absurdly made the pretext of a claim of feudal sovereignty over all Scotland. In a reign of twenty-seven years Malcolm supported a spirited contest with England, both under WilUam I. and his son Rufus ; and to the virtues of his queen Mar- garet, his kingdom, in its domestic poUcy, owed a degree of civiliza- tion remarkable m those ages of barbarism. MODERN HISTORY. 146 S. Alexander I., his son and successor, defended, wi(h equal spirit and good policy, the independence of his kingdom; and his son David 1., celebrated even by the democratic Buchanan as an honour to his country and to monarchy, won from Stephen, apd annexed to his crown, the whole earldom of Northuniberland. In those reigns we hear of no claim of the feudal subjection of Scotland to the crown of England; though the accidental fortune of war afterwards furnished a ground for it. William 1., (the lion), taken prisoner at Alnwick l)y Henry 11., was compelled, as the price of his release, to do homage for his whole kingdom ; an obligation which his succes- sor Richard voluntarily discharged, deeming it to have been unjustly extorted. 3. On the death of Alexander 111. without male issue, in 1 ,285, Bruce and Baliol, descendants of David I. by the female line, were competitors for the crown, and the pretensions of each were support- ed by a formidable party in the kingdom. Edward I. of England, chosen umpire of the contest, arrogated to himself, in that character, the feudal sovereignty of the kingdom, compelling all the barons to swear allegiance to him, and taking actual possession of the country by his troops-a(" He then adjudged the crown to Baliol, on the express condition of his swearing fealty to him as lord paramount. Baliol, however, soon after renouncing his allegiance, the indignant Edward invaded Scotland with an immense force, and compelled the weak prince to abdicate the throne, and resign the kingdom into his hands. 4. William Wallace, one of the greatest heroes whom history re- cords, restored the fallen honours of his country. Joined by a few patriots, his tirst successes in attacking the English garrisons brought numbers to his patriotic standard. Iheir successes were signal and conspicuous. Victory followed upon victory. While Edward was engaged on the continent, his troops were utterly defeated in a des- perate engagement at Stirling, and tbrced to evacuate the kingdom. Wallace, the deliverer of his country, now assumed the title of gov- ernor of Scotland under Baliol, who was Edward's prisoner; a dis- tinction which was followed by the envy and disaifection of many ol the nobles, and the consequent diminution of his army. The Scots were defeated at Falkirk. Edward returned with a vast accession ot force. After a fruitless resistance the Scottish barons finally obtained Eeace by a capitulation, from which the brave Wallace was excepted y name. A fugitive for some time, he was betrayed into the hands ot Edward, who put him to death, with every circumstance of cruelty that barbarous revenge could dictate, 1,304. 5. Scotland found a second champion and deliverer in Robert Bruce, the grandson of the competitor with Baliol; who, deeply re- senting the humiliation of his country^ once more set up the standard of war, and gave defiance to the English monarch, to whom bis father and grandfather had meanly sworn allegiance. Under this fn trepid leader the spirit of the nation was roused at once. The Eng- lish were attacked in every quarter, and once more entirely driven out of the kingdom. Robert Bruce was crovraed king at Scone, 1,3U6. Edward was advancing with an immense army, and died at Carlisle on the 7th day of July, 1,307. He enjoined it with his last breath to his son, Edward II., to prosecute the war with the Scots te the entire reduction of the country. N 19 i4« MODERN HISTORY. SECTION XXIV. HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 1. In the reign of Edward I. we observe the constitution of Eng- land gradually advancing. The commons had been admitted to par- liament In the latter period of his faiher Henry 111. A statute was f)a«sed by Edward, which declared, that no tax or impost should be evied without the consent of lords and commons. Edward ratified the Magna Charta no less than eleven times in the course of his reign ; and henceforward this fundamental law began to be regarded as sa- cred and unalterable. 2. Edward II. was in chardcter the very opposite of his father ; weak, indolent, and capricious ; but of humane and benevolent affec- tions. He disgusted his nobles by his attachment to mean and unde- serving favourites, whom he raised to the highest dignities of the state, and honoured with his exclusive confidence. Piers Gaveston, a vicious and trifling minion, whom the king appointed regent when on a journey to Paris to marry Isabella, daughter of Philip the fair, djigusted the barons to such a pitch, that they compelled the king to delegate all the authority of government to certain commissioners, and to abandon his favourite to their resentment. He was doomed to perpetual imprisonment, and, on attempt to escape, was seized and beheaded. 3. Edward, in obedience to his father's will, invaded Scotland with an army of 100,000 men. King Robert Bruce met this immense force with 30,000 men at Bannockburn, and defeated them with pro- digious slaughter. This important victoi-y secured the independence of Scotland. Edward escaped by sea to his own dominions. Anew favourite, Spenser, supplied the place of Gaveston; but his undeser\'- ed elevation and overoearing character completed the disaffection of the nobles to their sovereign. The queen^ a vicious adulteress, join- ed the malcontents, and, passing over to France, obtained from her brother Charles IV. an army to invade England, and dethrone her husband. Her enterprise was successful. Speuser and his father were betrayed into the hands of their enemies, and perished on a scaffold. The king was taken prisoner, tried by parliament, and sol- emnly deposed ; and being coutined to prison, was soon after put to death in a manner shocking to humanity, 1,327. 4. Edward 111., crowned at fourteen years of age, could not submit to the regency of a mother stained with the foulest of crimes. His father's death was revenged by the perpetual imprisonment of Isabel- la, and the public extcution of her paramour Mortimer. Bent on the conquest of Scotland, Edward marched to the north with a prodigious annv, vanquished the Scots in the battle of Halidoun-hill, and placed on the throne Edward Baliol, his vassal and tributary. But the king- dom was as repugnant £3 ever to the rule of England, and a favoura- ble opportunity was taken for the renewal of hostilities, on the depart- ure of Edward for a foreign enterprise, which gave full scope to his aimbition. 5. On the death of Charles IV. without male issue, the crown of France was claimed by Edward III. of England, in rignt of his moth- er, the sister of Charles, whUe, in the mean time, the throne was oc- •upied by the male heir, Philip of Valois. Edward fitted out ao ixor MODERN HISTORY. 147 mense afmament by sea and land, and, obtaining a signal victory over the French fleet, landed on the coast of Normandy, and with his son, the black prince, ran a career of the most glorious exploits. Philip, with 100,000 men, met the English with 30,000, and was entirely de- feated in the field of Cressy, August 26, 1,348. Calais was taken by the English, and remained in their possession 210 years. The En- glish are said to have first used artillery in the battle of Cressy. Fire arms were then but a recent invention (1,340), and have much con- tributed to lessen both the slaughter and the frequency of wars. Mr. Hume well observes that war is now reduced nearly to a matter c4 calculation. A nation knows its power, and, when overmatched, either yields to its enemies, or secures itself by alliance. 6. The Scots in the mean time invaded Engrand, and were defeated in the battle of Durham by Philippa, the heroic queen of Edward III. ; and their sovereign David 11. was led prisoner to London. A truce concluded between Edward and Philip was dissolved by the death of the latter. Philip was succeeded by his son John, who took the field with 60,000 men against the black prince, and was defeated by him with a far inferior number in the signal battle of Poictiers, September 19. 1,356. John king of France was led in triumph to London, the fellow-prisoner of David king of Scotland. But England derived from those victories nothing but honour. The French continued the war with great \ igour during the captivity of their sovereign, who died in London in 1,364. 'They obtained a peace by the cession to the English of Poitou, St. Onge, Perigord and other provinces ; and Ed- ward consented to renounce his claim to the crown of France. The death of the black prince, a most heroic and virtuous man, plunged the nation in grief, and broke the spirits of his father, who did not long survive him. 7. Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, in 1,377, at the age of eleven. Charles VI. soon after became king of France at the age of twelve. Both kingdoms sufiered from the distractions attending a regal minority. In England the contests for power between the king's uncles, Lancaster, York, and Gloucester, embroiled all public measures ; and the consequent disorders required a stronger hand to compose them than that of the weak and facile Richard. Taking advantage of the king''s absence, then engaged in quelling an insur- rection in Ireland, Henry of Lancaster rose in open rebellion, and compelled Richard, at his return, to resign the crown. The parlia- ment confirmed his deposition, and he was soon after privately assas- sinated. Thus began the contentions between the houses of York and Lancaster. SECTION XXV. ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. STATE OF MANNERS. I. Henry IV. ascended the throne on the deposition of Richard II., 1,399 ; and had immediately to combat a rebellion raised by the eari of Northumberland, for placing Mortimer, the heir of the house of York, on the throne. The Scots and Welsh took part with the rebels, but their united forces were defeated at Shrewsbury, and their lead- er, young Percy (Hotspur), killed on the field. A second rebeUion 148 MODERN HISTORY. headed by the archbishop of York, was quelled by the capital punish- ment of its author. The secular arm was rigorously extended against the followers of Wickliff, and this reign saw the first detestable examples of religious persecution. The life of Henry was imbitter- «d by the youthful disorders of his son the prince of Wales, who afterwards nobly redeemed hig character. Henry; IV. died in 1,413, at the age of forty-six. 2. Henry V. took advantage of the disorders of France, from the temporary insanity of its sovereign Charles VI., and the factious itruggles for power between the dukes of Burgundy and Orleans, to invade the kingdom with a large army, which a contagious dis- temper wasted down to a fifth of its numbers ; yet with this handful of resolute and hardy troops, he defeated the French army of 60,000, under the constable D' Albert, in the famous battle of Agincourt, in which 10,000 of the enemy were slain, and 14,000 made prisoners, October 24, 1,415. Returning to England to recruit his forces, he kinded again with an army of 25,000, and fought his way to Paris. The insane monarch, with his court, fled to Troye, and Henry pur- suing, terminated the war by a treaty with the queen-mother of the duke of Burgundy, by which it was agreed that he should marry the daughter of Charles VI., and receive the kingdom of France as her dowry, which, till the death of her father, he should govern as regent. 3. Mean time the return of Henry to England gave the dauphin hopes of the recovery of his kingdom. He was victorious in an engagement with the English under the duke of Clarence ; but his success was of no longer duration than the absence of the English sovereign, who was himself hastening to the period of his triumphs. Seized with a mortal distemper, Henry died in the 34th year of his age, 1,422, one of the most heroic princes that ever swayed the sceptre of England. His brother, the duke of Bedford, was declared regent of France, and Henry VI., an infant nine months old, was pro- claimed king at Paris and at London, 1,422. 4. Charles VII. recovered France by slow degrees. With the aid ©f a young female enthusiast, the maid of Orleans, whom the credu- lity of the age supposed to be inspired by Heaven, he gained several important advantages over the English, which the latter inhumanly revenged, by burning this heroine as a sorceress. Her death was of equal advantage to the French as her life had been. The govern- ment of the English was universally detested. After a struggle of many years, they were at length, in 1,450, deprived of all that they had ever possessed in France, except Calais and Guignes. Charles, when he had restored his kingdom to peace, governed it with admi- rable wisdom and moderation. 5. The state of England and of France, the two most polished kingdoms in Europe, furnishes a good criterion of the condition of society in those ages of which we have been treating. Even in the large cities the houses were roofed with thatch, and had no chimnies. Glass windows were extremely rare, and the floors were covered with straw. In England wine was sold only in the shopfs of the apothecaries. Paper made from linen rags was first manufactured in the beginning of the fifteenth century ; and the use of linen for shirts was at that time a very rare piece of luxury. Yet even before that age the progress of luxury had excited a se- rious alarm, for the parliament under Edward III. found it necessary to prohibit the use of gold and silver in apparel to all wh^ i'^e1t his domicioDs to bis sod Mahomet U., N2 -:- 160 ' MODERN HISTORY. eumamed the great, who resumed the project for the destruction of Ccnsi;ntinople ; but its fall was a second time retarded by the neces- sity ui which the Turks were unexpectedly placed, of defending tiieir own dominions against a powerful invader. 5. Scanderbeg (John Castriot) prince of Albania, whose territories had been seized by Amurat II., was educated by the sultan as his own child, and when of age, intrusted with the command of an army, which he employed in wresting from Amurat his paternal kingdom, 1 ,443. By great talents and military skill he maintained his independent sovereignty against the whole force of the Turkish empire. 6. Mahomet II., son of the philosophic Amurat, a youth of twen- ty-one years of age, resumed the plan of extinguishing the empire of the Greeks, and making Constantinople the capital of the Otto- man power. Its indolent inhabitants made but a feeble preparation for defence, and the powers of Europe looked on with supine indif- ierence. The Turks assailed the city both by land and sea ; and, battering down its walls with their cannon, entered sword in hand, and massacred all who opposed them. The emperor Constantine was slain ; the city surrendered ; and thus was finally extinguished the eastern empire of the Romans, A. D. 1,453, which, from the building of its capital by Constantine the great, had subsisted 1,123 Tears. The imperial edifices were preserved from destruction. The churches were converted into mosques; but the exercise of their religion was allowed to all the christians. From that time the Greek christians have regularly chosen their own patriarch, whom the sultan instals ; though his authority continues to be disputed by the Latin patriarch, who is chosen by the pope. Mahomet the great liberally patronized the arts and sciences ; and, to compensate for the migration of those learned Greeks, who, on the fall of the empire, spread themselves over the countries of Europe, invited both artists and men of letters to his capital from other kingdoms. /" 7. The taking of Constantinople was followed by the conquest of Greece and Epirus. Italy might probably have met a similar fate, but by means of their fleet the Venetians opposed the arms of Mahomet with considerable success, and even attacked him in Greece. I'he contending powers soon after put an end to hostilities by a treaty. Mahomet the great died at the age of fifty-one, 1,481. SECTION XXVIl. GOVERNMENT AND POLICY OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE. 1. The government of Turkey is an absolute monarchy, the whole legislative and executive authority of the state centering in the sultan, whose power is subject to no constitutional control. It is, however, Umited in some degree by religious opinion ; the precepts ©fthe Coran inculcating certain duties on the sovereign, which it would be held an impiety to transgress. It is yet more strongly limit- ed by the fear of deposiiion and assassination. Lndsr these restraints the prince can seldom venture on an extreme abuse of power. 2. The spirit of the people is fitted for a subjection bordering on flJavery. Concubinage being agreeable to the law of Mahomet, the grand seignior, the viziers, are born of female slaves : and there ie tcarcely a sul^ject of the empire of ingenuous blood by both parent*. ODERN HISTORY. 151 It is a fundamental maxim of the Turkish policy, that all the officers of state should be such as the sultan can entirely command, and at any time destroy, wichout danger to himself. J^. 3. Tne grand vizier is usually entrusted with the whole functions of government, and of course subjected to the sole responsibility for all public measures. Subordinate to him are six viziei'S of the bench, who are his counsel and asse?sors in cases of law, of which h" is supreme judge. The power of the grand vizier is absolut*. over all the subjects of the empire ; but he cannot put to dealb a beglf r- beg or a bashaw without the imperial signature ; nor punish a imi- zary, unless through the medium of his military commanoer. The beglerbegs are the governors of several provinces, the b ashaws of a single province. AH dignities in the Tukish empire are personal, and dependent on the sovereign's pleasui'e. . ^ 4. The revenues of the grand seignior arise from taxes and cus- toms laid on the subject, annual tributes paid by the Tarta s, stilted gifts from the governors of the provinces, and, above all, tb" -^onhs- cations of estates, from the viziers and bashaws downwan^" to the lowest subjects of the empire. The certain and tixed revr"«ies of the sovereign are small in comparison of those which are a> luirary. His absolute power enables him to execute great projects at a small expense. SECTION XXVIII. FRANCE AND ITALY IN THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 1. Scarcely any vestige of the ancient feudal government notv remained in France. The only subsisting fiefs were Burgundy and Brittany. Charles the bold, duke of Burgundy, who sought to in- crease his territories by the conquest of Switzerland and Lorraine, was defeated by the Swiss, and killed in battle. He left no son, and Lewis XI. of France took possession of Burgundy as a male fief, 1,447. The duke's daughter married Maximilian, son of the empe- ror Frederick III., who, by this marriage, acquired the sovereignty of the Netherlands. / 2. The acquisition of Burgundy and of Provence, which was be- queathed to France by the count de la Marche, increased very great- ly the power of the crown. Lewis XL, an odious compound of vice, cruelty, and superstition, and a tyrant to his people, was the author of many wise and excellent regulations of public policy. The bar- barity of the pubhc executions in his reign is beyond all belief; yet the wisdom of his laws, the encouragement which he gave to com- merce, the restraints which he imposed on the oppressions of the nobility, and the attention which he bestowed in regulating the courts of justice, must ever be mentioned to his honour. 3. The count de la Marche, beside the bequest of Provence to Lewis XL, left him his empty title of sovereign of the Two Sicilies. Lewis was satisfied with the substantial gift; but his son Charles Vlll. Wcis dazzled with the shadow. In the beginning of his reign he projected the conquest of Naples, and embarked in the enterprise with the most improvident precipitancy. 4. The dismemhered state of Italy was favourable to bis view9- 152 MODERN HISTORY. The popedom, during the transference of its seat to Avignon, had lost many of its territories. Mantua, Modena, and Ferrara, had their independent sovereigns. Piedmont belonged to the duke of Savoy ; Genoa and Milan to the family of Sforza. Florence, under the Medi- ci, had attained a very high pitch of splendour. Cosmo, the founder of that family, employed a vast fortune, acquired by commerce, in the improvement of his country, in acts of public munificence, and in the cultivation of the sciences and elegant arts. His higa reputation obtained for himself and his posterity the chief authority in his native state. Peter de Medici, his great §r mdson, ruled in Florence at the period of the expedition of Charles Vill. into Italy. 5. The papacy w;is enjoyed at this time by Alexander VL, a mon- ster of wickedness. The pope and the duke of Milan, who had invited Charles to this enterprise, immediately betrayed him, and joined the interest of the king of iS^apies. Charles, after besieging the pope in Ro.ne, and forcing him to submission, devoutly kissed hi; ket. He now marched against JSaples, while its timed prince Alpho .:o fled to Sicily, and his son to the isle of Ischia, after absolving Ins subjects from their allegiance. Charles entered Naples in triumph, and was hailed emperor and Augustus: but he lost his new kingdom iu almost as short a time as he had gaineil it. A league was termed against France between the pope^ t|ie emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand of Ar- ragon, Isabella of Castile, and the Venetians ; and on the return of Charles to France, the troops which he had left to guard his conquest were entirely driven out of Italy. 6. It has been remarked that, from the decisive effect of this con- federacy against Charles VIII., the sovereigns of Europe derived a useful lesson of policy, and first adopted the idea of preserving a bal- ance of power, by that tacit league which is understood to be always subsisting, for the prevention of the inordinate aggrandizement of any particular state. 7. Charles VIll. died at the age of twenty-eight, 1,498 ; and, leav- ing no children, the duke of Orleans succeeded to the throne of France by the title of Lewis XII. SECTION XXIX. HISTORY OF SPAIN IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES. J. We go back a little to the middle of the fourteenth century, to trace the history of Spain. Peter of Castile, sumamed the cruel, for no other reason but that he employed severe means to supjport his just rights, had to contend against a bastard brother, Henry of Trans- tamarre, who, with the aid of a French banditti, called Malandrins, led by bertrand du Guesclin, strove to dispossess him of his kingdom. Peter was aided by Edward the black prince, then sovereign of Gui* cnne, who defeated Transtamarre, and took Bertrand prisoner; but, on the return of the prince to England, Peter was attacked by his former enemies, and entirely defeated. Unable to restrain his rage in the first view with Transtamarre, the latter put him to death with his own hand, 1,368 ; and thus this usurper secured for himself and his posterity the throne of Castile. 2. The weakness and debauchery of one of his descendants, Heu- 17 IV. of Caatile, occasioned a rerolutioa ia the kingdom. The ma^ MODERN HISTORY. 153 jBrity of the nation rose in rebellion , the assembly of the nobles sol- eDUiIy deposed their king, and, on the alleged ground of his daughter Joanna being a bastard, compelled him to settle the crown on his sis« ter Isabella. They next brought about a marriage between Isabella and Ferdinand of Arragon, which united the monarchies of Arragon and Castile. After a ruinous civil war the revolution was at length completed by the death of the deposed sovereign, 1,474, and the re- tirement of his daughter Joanna to a monastery, 1,479. 3. At the accession of Ferdinand and Isabella to the thrones of Ar- ragon and Castile, Spain was in a state of gi'eat disorder, from the lawless depredations of the nobles and their vassals. It was the first object of the new sovereigns to repress these enormities, by subject ins the offenders to the utmost rigour of law, enforced by the sword. Tne holy brotherhood was instituted for the discovery and punishment of crimes; and the inquisition (Sect. XIX, 6 3), under the pretext of extirpating heresy and impiety, afforded the most detestable exam- ples of sanguinary persecution. 4. The 5loorish kingdom of Granada, a most splendid monarchy, but at that time weakened by faction, and a prey to civil war, offered a tempting object to the ambition of Ferdinand and Isabella. Alboa- cen was at war with his nephew Aboabdeli, who wanted to dethrone him ; and Ferdinand aided Aboabdeli, in tne view of ruining both ; for no sooner was the latter in possession of the crovrn by the death of Alboacen, than Ferdinand invaded his ally with the whole force ot Arragon and Castile. Granada was besieged in 1,491, and, after a blockade of eight months, surrendered to the victor. Aboabdeli, by a mean capitulation, saved his life, and purchased a retreat for his countrymen to a mountainous part of the kingdom, where they were suffered to enjoy unmolested their laws and their rehgion. Thus ended the dominion of the Mooi-s in Spain, which had subsisted for 800 years. 5. Ferdinand, from that period, took the title of king of Spain. In 1,492 he expelled all the Jews from his dominions, on the absurd ground, that they kept in their hands the commerce of the kingdom; and Spain thus lost above 150,000 of the most industrious of her in- habitants. The exiles spread themselves over the other kingdoms of Europe, and were often the victims of a persecution equally inhuman. It would appear that Spain has felt, even to the present times, the ef- fects of this folly, in the slow progress of the arts, and that deplora- ble inactivity which is the characteristic of her people. Even the discovery ot the new world, which happened at this very period, and which stimulated the spirit of enterprise and industry in all the neigh- bouring kingdoms, produced but a feeble impression on that nation, which might in a great degree have monopolized its benefits. Of that great discovery we shall afterwards treat in a separate sectioa. SECTION XXX. FRANCE, SPAIN, AND ITALY, IN THE END OF THE FIF- TEENTH AND BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 1. Lewis XII., eagerly bent on vindicating his right to Naples, courted the interest of pope Alexander VI., who promised his aid oa condition that his natural son, Caesar Borgia, should receive from Lewis the duchy of Valentinois, with the king of Navarre's sister m 20 154 MODERN HISTORY. marriage. Lewis crossed the Alps, and in the space of a few days was master of Milan and Genoa. Sforza duke oi Milan became his prisoner for life. Afraid of the power of Ferdinand of Spain, Lewis joined with him in the conquest of Naples, and agreed to divide with him the conquered dominions, the pope making no scruple to sanction the partition. But the compromise was of no duration; for Alexander VI., and Ferdinand, judging it a better policy to share Italy between themselves, united their interest to deprive Lewis of his new territories. The Spaniards, under Gonsalvo de Cordova, defeated the French, under the duke de ISemours and the chevalier Bayard ; and Lewis irrecoverably lost his share of the kingdom of Naples. 2. History relates with horror the crimes of pope Alexander VI, and his son Caesar Borgia ; their murders, robberies, profanations, incests. They compassed their ends in attaining every object of their ambition, but with the universal abhorrence of mankind, and linaliy met with an ample retribution for their crimes. The pope died by poison, prepared, as was alleged, by himself for an enemy ; and Borgia, stripped of all his possessions by pope Julius II., and sent prisoner to Spain by Gonsalvo de Cordova, perished in miserable obscurity. 3. Julius II., the successor of Alexander, projected the formidable .league of C;imi)ray, 1,508, with the emperor, the kings of France and Spain, the duke of Savoy, and king of Hungary, for the destruc- tion of Venice, and the division of her territories among the confed- erates. They accomplished in part their design, and Venice was on tlie verge of annihilation, when the pope changed his politics. Having made the French subservient to his views of plundering the Venetians, he now formed a new league with the Venetians, Ger- mans, and Spaniards, to expel the French from Italy, and appropriate ai! their conquests. The Swiss ^nd the English co-operated in this design. The French made a brave resistance under their generals Bayard and Giiston de Foix, but were finally overpowered. Lewis was compelled to evacuate Italy ; Ferdinand, with the aid of Henry VIll. of England, stripped him of'Navarre, and forced him to pur- chase a peace. He died in 1,615. Though unfortunate in his milita- ry enterprises, from the superior abilities of his rivals pope Julius and Ferdinand, yet he was justly esteemed by his subjects for the virisdom and equity of iiis government SECTION XXXI. HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. CIVIL WARS OF YORK AND LANCASTER. 1 . We have seen France recovered from the English in the early part of the reign of Henry VI., by the talents and proweas of Charles VIII. During the minority of Henry, who was a prince of no capa- city, England was embroiled by the factious contention for po>yer between his uncles, the duke of Gloucester and the cardinal ot Win- chester. The latter, to promote his own views of ambition, married Henry to Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Regner the titular king ot Naples, a woman of great mental endowments and singular heroism MODERN HISTORY. 1&6 <>f character, but whose severity in the persecution of her enemies alienated a great part of the nobles from their allegiance, and in- creased the partisans of a rival claimant of the crown. 2. This was Richard duke of York, descended by his mother from Lionel, second son of Edward 111^ and elder brother to John of Gaunt, Ihe progenitor of Henry VI. The white rose distinguished the fac- tion of York, and the red rose that of Lancaster. The party of YoiSv gained much strength from the incapacity of Henry, who was subject to periodical madness ; and Richard was appointed lieutenant and protector of the kingdom. The authority of Henry was now annihilated; but Margaret roused her husband, in an interval of sanity, to assert his right; and the nation was divided in arms be- tween the rival parties. In the battle of St. Albans 5,000 of the Lancastrians were slain, and the king was taken prisoner by the duke of York, on the 22d day of May, 1,455. Yet the parliament, while it confirmed the authority of the protector, maintained its allegiance to the king. 3. The spirit of the queen reanimated the royal party ; and the Lancastrians gained such advantage, that the duke of York fled to Ireland, while his cause was secretiy maintained in England by Guv earl of Warwick. In the battle of Northampton the party of York again prevailed, and Henry once more was ])rought prisoner to Lon- don ; while his dauntless queen still nobly exerted herself to retrieve his fortunes. York now claimed the crown in open parliament, but prevailed only to have his right of succession ascertained on Henry's death, to the exclusion of the royal issue. 4. In the next battle the duke of York was slain, and his party de- feated ; but his successor Edward, supported by Warwick, avenged this disaster by a signal victory near Touton, in Yorkshire, in which 40,000 of the Lancastrians were slain. York ivas proclaimed king by the title of Edward IV., while Margaret, with her dethroned husband and infant son, tied into Flanders. 5. Edward, who owed his crown to Warwick, was ungrateful to his benefactor; and the imprudence and injustice of his conduct forced that nobleman at length to take part with the faction of I^n- caster. The consequence was, that, after some struggles, Edward was deposed, and Henry VI. once more restored to the throne by the hands of Warwick, now known by the epithet of the king-maker. But this change was of no duration. The party of York ultimately prevailed. The Lancastrians were defeated in the battle of Bamet, and the brave Warwick was slain in the engagement, 1,472. 6. The intrepid Margaret, whose spirit was superior to every change of fortune, prepared to strike a last blow for the crown of England in the battle of Tewksbury. The event was fatal to her hopes : victory declared for Edwardf. Margaret was sent prisoner to the tower of London ; and the prince her son, a youth of high spirit, when brought into the presence of his conqueror, having nobly dared to justify his enterprise to the face of his rival, was barbarously mur- dered by the dukes of Gloucester and Clarence, Henry VI. was soon after privately put to death in the Tower. The heroic Margaret, ransomed oy Lewis XL, died in France, 1,482. 7. Edward IV., thus secured on the throne by the death of all his competitors, abandoned himself without reserve to the indulgence of a vicious and tyrannical nature. He put to death, on the most frivo- lous pretence, his brother Clarence, rreparing to gratify his subject* J a war with France, he died suddenly in the forty-second year ot* 156 MODERN ffiSTOKY. his age, poisoned, as was suspected, by his brother Richard duke of Gloucester, 1,483. 8. Edward left two sons, the elder, Edward V,, a boy of thirteen years of age. Richard duke of Gloucester, named protector in the minority of his nephew, hired, by means of Buckinghnm, a mob of the dregs of the popuhice to declare their wish for his assum.ption of the crown. H<^ yielded, wiih ritlected reluctance, to this voice of the nation, and was proclaimed king by the title of Richard II!., 1,483. Edvyard V., after a reign of two mcnths, with his brother the duke of lork, were, by command of the usurper, smothered while asleep, and privately buried in the Tower. 9. These atrocious crinies found an avenger in Henry earl of Richmond, the surviving heir of the house of Lancaster, who, aided by Charles V'lII. of France, landed in England, and revived the spirits of a party almost extinguished in the kingdom. He gave battle to Richard in the field of liosworth, and entirely defeated the army of the usurper, who was slain while fighting with the most desperate courage, August 22, 1,485. The crown which he wore in the engage- ment was immediately placed on the head of the conqueror. This auspicious day put an end to the civil wars of York and Lancaster. Henry MI. united the rights of both families by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV. 10. The reign of Henry Vll. was of twenty-four years' dgration; and under his wise and poiilic go\ ernment the kingdom recovered all the wounds which it had sustained in those unhappy contests. Industry, good order, and perfect subordination, were the fruit of the excellent laws passed in this reign ; though the temper of the sove- reign was despotic, and his avarice, in the latter part of his reign, prompted to the most oppressive exactions. . 11. The government of Henry was disturbed by two very singular enterprises; the attempt of Lambert Simnel, the son of a baker, to counterfeit the person of the earl of VVarAvick, son of the duke of Clarence; and the similar attempt of Perkin VVarbeck, son of a Flemish Jew, to counterfeit the duke of York, who had been smother- ed in the Tower by Richard HI. Both imposFors found consideral'le support, but were finally deleated. Simnel, after being crowned king of England and Ireland at Dublin, ended his days in a menial office of Henry's household. Perkin supported his cause by force of arms for five years, and was aided by a great proportion of the English nobility. Overpowered at length he surrendered to Henry, who condemned him to perpetual imprisonment ; but his ambitious spirit meditated a new insurrection, and he was put to death as a traitor. Henry VII. died in 1,509, in the tiiiy-third year of his age, and the twenty-fourth of his reign. SECTION XXXII. HISTORY OF SCOTLAND FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF JAMES V. 1. In no country of Europe had the feudal aristocracy attained td a greater height than in Scotland. The power of the greater barons, while it rendered them independeut^ and (^ten the riralf MODERJN HISTORY .37 of their sovereign, was a perpetual source of turbulence and dis- order in the kingdom. It was therefore a constant poUcy of the Scottish kings to humble the nobles, and break their factious com- biuations. Robert I. attempted to retrench the vast territorial pos- sessions of his barons, by requiring every landholder to produce llie titles of his estate ; but was resolutely answered, that the sword was their charter of possession. 2. On the death of Robert in 1,329, and during the minority of his son David, Edward Baliol, the son of John formerly king oi' Scotland, "with the aid of Edward III. of England, and ol many oi the fictions barons, invaded the kingdom, and was crowned at Scone, while tiie young David was conveyed for security to France. The m;n\!i dependence of BaUol on the English monarch deprived hini of the affections of the people. Robert, the steward of Scotland, R;>iv dolph, and Douglas, supported the Brucian interest, and, assisted l;y the French, restored David to his throne. This prince was destined to sustain many reverses of fortune ^ for, in a subsequent invasion oj the English territory by the Scots, he was taken prisoner in the bat- tle of Durham, and conveyed to London. He remained eleven years in captivity, and witnessed a similar fate of a brother monarch. John king of France, taken prisoner by the black prince in the battip of Poictiers. David was ransomed by his suDjects, and restored to his kingdom in 1,357 ; and ended a turbulent reign in 1,370-1. Tlie crown passed at nis demise to his nephew Robert, the high steward of Scotland, in virtue of a destination made by Robert L 3. The reign of Robert II., which was of twenty years' duration, was spent in a series of hostilities between the Scots and English, productive of no material consequence to either kingdom. I'he weak and indolent disposition of his successor Robert 111., who found himself unequal to the contest with his factious nobles, prnmj)te.) him to resign the government to his brother, the duke of Albaviy. This ambitious man formed the design of usurping the throne by tiie murder of his nephews, the sons of Robert. The elder, Roths ly, n prince of high spirit, was imprisoned on pretence of treasonable de- signs, and starved to death. The younger, James, escaped a similar fate which was intended for him; but on his passage to France, whither he was sent for safety by his father, he was taken by an Eng- lish ship of war, and brought prisoner to London. The weak Roller*- sunk under these misfortunes, and died, 1,405, after a reign of tifteen years. 4. James I., a prince of great natural endowments, profited by a captivity of eighteen years at the court of England, in adorning his mind with every valuable accomplishment. At his return to liis kingdom, which in his absence had been weakly governed by the regent Albany, and suffered under all the disorders of anarchy^ he bent his whole attention to the improvement and civilization ol his people, by the enactment of many excellent laws, enforced with a resolute authority. The factions of the nobles, their dangerous com- binations, and their domineering tyranny over their dependents, the great sources of the people ""s miseries, were firmly restramed, and most severely punished. But these wholesome innovations, while they procured to James the affections of the nation at large, excited the odium of the nobility, and gave 'birth to a conspiracy, headed by the earl of Atliole. the king's uncle, which teitninated in the murder of this excellent prince, in the 44tl> year of his age, A. D. 1,437. O IbS MODERJV HISTORY. 5. His son James II. inherited a considerable portion of the talents of his father; and, in the like purpose of restraining the inordinate power of his nobles, pursued the same maxims of government, which an impetuous temper prompted him, in some instances, to carry to the most blaraeable excess. The earl of Douglas, trusting to a pow- erful vassalage, had assumed an authority above the laws, and a state and splendour rival to those of his sovereign. He was seized, and beheaded without accusation or trial. His successor imprudently running the same career, and boldly justifying, in a conference, his rebellious practices, was put to death by the king's own hand. Thus were the tactions of the nobles quelled by^ a barbarous rigour oi* authority. To his people James was beneficent and humane, and his laws contributed materially to their civilization and prosperity. He was killed, in the 3Uth year of his age, by the bursting of a can- non, in besieging the castle of Roxburgh, A. D. 1 ,460. 6. His son James III., without the talents of his predecessors, affected to tread in the same stejis. To humble his nobles he be- stowed his confidence on mean iavourites, an insult which the for- mer avenged by rebellion. His brothers Albany and Mar, aided by Edward IV. of England, attempted a revolution in the kingdom, winch was frustrated only by the death of Edward. In a second re- bellion the confederate nobles forced the prince of Rothsay, eldest son of James, to appear in arms against his father. In an engagement near Bannockburn the rebels were successful, and the king was slain in the 35th near of his age, 1,488. 7. James IV., a great and most accomplished prince, whose talents were equalled by his virtues, while his measures of government were dictated by a true spirit of patriotism, won by a well-placed confi- dence the affe^Jiens of his nobility. In his marriage with Margaret, the daughter of Henry VII. of England, both sovereigns wisely sought a bond ot" amity between the kingdoms ; but this purpose was frustrated in the succeeding reign of Henry VIII. The high spirit of the rival raonarchs was easily inflamed by trifling causes of offence ; and France, then at war with England, courted the aid ol" her an- cient ally. James invaded England with a powerful army, which he wished to lead lo immediate action ; but the prudent delays of Surrey, the English general, wasted and weakened his force. In the fatul battle ot Flodden the Scots were defeated with prodigious slaughter. The gallant James perished in the fight, and with him almost the whole of the Scottish nobles, A. D. 1,513. 8. Under the long minority of his son James V., an infant at the time of his fathers death, the kingdom was feebly ruled by his uncle Albany. The aristocracy began \o resume its ancient spirit of inde- pendence, which was ill-brooked by a prince of a proud and un- controlable mind, who felt the keenest jealousy of a high preroga- tive. With a systematic policy he employed the church to abuse the mobility, conferring all the offices of state on able ecclesiastics. The cardinal Beaton co-operated with great zeal in the designs of his master, and under him ruled the kingdom. 9. Henry VIIl., embroiled with the papacy, sought an alliance •with the king of Scots ; but the ecclesiastical counsellors of the lat- ter defeated this beneficial purpose. A war was thus provoked, and James was reluctantly compelled to court those nobles whom it had hitherto been his darling object to humiliate. They now determined OQ a disgraceful revenge. In an attack on the Scottish border the Engiish were repelled, and an opportunity offered to the Scots of MODERIN HISTORY. 159 CTitting off their retreat. The king gave his orders to that end, but his barons obstinately refused to advance beyond the frontier. One measure more was wanting to drive their sovereign to despair. In a subsequent engagement with the English 10,U00 of the Scots deliber- ately surrendered themselves prisoners to 500 of the enemy. The high spirit of James sunk under his contending passions, and he died of a broken heart in the 33d year of his age, A. D. 1,542, a few days after the birth of a daughter, yet more unfortunate than her father, Mary queen of Scots. SECTION XXXIII. OF THE ANCIENT CONSTITUTION OF THE SCOTTISH GOVERN- MENT. ? 1. We have seen that it was a constant policy of the Scottish kings **to abase the power of their nobles ; and that the struggle for power * was the source of much misery and bloodshed. .'But this policy was necessary, from the dangerous ambition and lawless tyranny of those nobles, who frequently aimed at overturning the throne, and exercis- ed the severest oppression on ail their dependents. The interests, therefore, of the people, no less than the security of the prince, de- manded the repression of this overweening and destructive power. The aristocracy was, however, preserved, no less by its own strength than by the concurrence of circumstances, and chiefly by the violent and unhappy fate of the sovereigns. Meantime, though the meas- ures which the kin^s pursued were not successful,. jj,et their conse- quences wer€ benehcial. They restrained, if they did not destroy, the spirit of feudal oppression, and gave birth to order, wise laws, and a more tranquil administration of government. 2. The legislative power, though nominally resident in the parlia- ment, was virtually in the king, who, by his inliuence, entirely con- troled its proceedings. The parliament consisted of three estates, the nobles, the dignilied clergy, and the less barons, who were the representatives of the towns and shires. The disposal of benefices, gave the crown the entire command of the churchmen, who were equal to the nobles in number; and at least a majority of the com- mons were the dependents of the sovereign. A committee, termed the lords of the articles, prepared every measure that was to come before the parliament. By the mode of its election this committee was in efliect nominated by the king. It is to the credit of the Scot tish princes, that there are few instances of their abusing an authority so extensive as that which they constitutionally enjoyed. 3. The king had anciently the supreme jurisdiction in all causes, civil and criminal, which he generally exercised through the medium of his privy council ; but hi 1,425 James 1. instituted the court of ses- sions, consisting of the chancellor and certain judges chosen from the three estates. This court was new-modelled by James V., and its jurisdiction hmited to civil causes, the cognizance of crimes being committed to the justiciary. The chancellor was the highest officer of the crown, and president of the parliament. To the chamberlain belonged the care of the finances and the public police ; to the high steward the charge of the king's household ; the constable regulated all matters of military arrangement; and the marshal was the king's tieuteuant, and master of the horse. 160 MODERN HISTORY. 4. The revenue of the sovereign consisted of his domain, which Was extensive, of the feudal casualties and forfeitures, the profits of the wardships of his vassals, the rents of vacant benefices, the pecu- niary fines for offences, and the aids or presents occasionally given by the subject ; a revenue at all times sufficient for the purposes of government, and the support of the dignity of the crown. 5. The political principles which regulated the conduct of the Scots toward other nations were obvious and simple. It had ever been an object of ambition to England to acquire the sovereignty of Scotland, which was constantly on its guard against this design of its more potent neighbour. It was the wisest policy for Scotland to attach itself to France, the natural enemy of England ; an alliance reciprocally court- ed from similar motives. In those days this attachment was justly deemed patriotic ; while the Scots, who were the partisans of Eng- land, were with equal justice regarded as traitors to their country. In the period of which we now treat, it was a settled policy of the English sovereigns to have a secret faction in their pay in Scotland, for the purpose of dividing and thus enslaving the nation ; and to this source all the subsequent disorders of the latter kingdom are to be attributed. SECTION XXXIV. A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE IN EUROPE, FROM THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS TO THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 1 . The first restorers of learning in Europe were the Arabians. who, in the course of their Asiatic conquests, becoming acquaintea with some of the ancient Greek authors, discovered and justly appre- ciated the knowledge and improvement to be derived from them. The caliphs procured from the eastern emperors copies of the an- cient manuscripts, and had them carefully translated into Arabic ; es- teeming principally those which treated of mathematics, physics, and metaphysics. They disseminated their knowledge in the course of their conquests, and founded schools and colleges in all the countries which they subdued. 2. The western kingdoms of Europe became first acquainted with the learning of the ancients through the medium of those Arabian translations. Charlemagne caused Latin translations to be made from the Arabian, and founded, after the example of the caliphs, the uni- versities of Bononia, Pavia, Osnaburg, and Paris. Alfred wth a simi- lar spirit, and by similar means, introduced a taste for literature in England ; but the subsequent disorders of the kingdom replunged it into barbari>m. The Normans, however, brought from the continent Bome tincture of ancient learning, which was kept alive in the monas- teries, where the monks were meritoriously employed in transcrib- ing a few of the ancient authors, along with the legendary lives of the saints. 3. In this dawn of literature in England appeared Henry of Hunting- ton and Geoffrey of Monmouth, names distinguished in the earliest annals of poetry and romance ; John of Salisbury, a moralist ; Wil- liam of Malmesbury, annalist of the history of England before the reign of Stephen ; Giraldus Cambrensis, known in the fields of histo- MODERN HISTORY, IW ry, theology, and poetry; Joseph of Exeter, author of two Latin epic poems on the Trojan war, and the war of Antioch, or the cnisade, which are read with pleasure even in the present day. 4. But this era of a good taste in letters was of short duration. The taste for classical composition and historical information yielded to the barbarous subtleties of scholastic divinity taught by Lombard and Abelard, and to the abstruse doctrines of the Roman law, which began to engage the general attention from the recent discovery of the pandects at Amalphi, 1,137. The amusements of the vulgar in those periods were metrical and prose romances, unintelligible prophecies, and fables of giants and enchanters. Ob- In the middle of the thirteenth century appeared a distinguish- "^d genius, Roger Bacon, an English friar, whose comprehensive mind was filled with all the stores of ancient learning; who possessed a discriminating judgment to separate the precious ore from the dross, and a power of invention fitted to advance in every science which was the object of his study. He saw the insufficiency of the school phi- losophy, and first recommended the prosecution of knowledge by ex- periment and the observation of nature. He made discoveries of importance in astronomy, optics, chemistry, medicine, and mechanics. He reformed the kalendar, discovered the construction of telescopic glasses forgotten after his time, and revived by Galileo, and has left a ?lain intimation of his knowledge of the composition of gun-powder, et this superior genius believed in the possibility of discovering an elixir for the prolongation of life, in the transmutation of metals into gold, and in judicial astrology. 6. A general taste prevailed for poetical composition in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The troubadours of Provence wrote son- nets, madrigals, and satirical ballads ; and excelled in extempore dia- logues on the subject of love, which they treated in a metaphysical and Platonic strain. They contended for the prize of poetry at sol- emn meetings, where princes, nobles, and the most illustrious ladies attended to decide between the rival bards ; and some oi those prin- ces, as Richard 1. of Engla,nd, Frederick 1. emperor of Germany, are celebrated as troubadours of eminence. Many fragments yet remain of their compositions. 7. The transference of the papal seat to Avignon, in the fourteenth century, familiarized the Italian poets with the songs of the trouba- dours, and gave a tincture of the Pi^ovencal style to their compo- sitions, which is very observable in the poetry of Petrarch and of Dante. The Divina Comedia of Dante first introduced the machine- ry of angels and devils in the room of the pagan mythology, and is a work containing many examples of the terrible sublime. The »S'on- nets and Canzoni of Petrarch are highly tender and pathetic, though vitiated with a quaintness and conceit, which is a prevalent feature of the Italian poetry. The Decamerone of Boccacio, a work of the same age, is a master-piece for invention, ingenious narrative, and acquaintance with human nature. These authors have tixed the standard of the ItaUan language. 8. Contemporary with them, and of rival merit, was the English Chaucer, who displays all the talents of Boccacio, through the me- dium of excellent poetry. The works of Chaucer discover an exten- sive knowledge of the sciences, an acquaintance both with ancient and modern learning, particularly the literature of France and Italy, and, above all, a most acute discernment oi life and manners. 9. Of similar character are the poems of Gower, but of a gravef 2 21 162 MODERN HISTORY. cast, and a more chastened morality. Equal to these eminent men in every species of literary merit was the accomplished James I. of Scotland, of which his remaining writings bear convincing testimony. The doubtful Rowley of Bristol is said to have adorned the fifteenth century. 10. Spain at this period began to emerge from ignorance and bar- barism, and to produce a few of those works which are enumerated with approbation in the whimsical but judicious criticism of Cervan- tes. (Don Quixote, b, l,c. 6.) 11. Though poetry attained in those age.s a considerahle degree of splendour, yet there was little advancement in general literature and science. History was disgraced by the intermixture of miracle and fable ; yet we find much curious information in the writings of Matthew of Westminster, of Walsingham, Everard, Duysburg, and the Chronicles of Froissart and Monstrelet. Philip de Comuiines happily describes the reigns of Lewis XI. and Charles Vlll. of France. Villani and Flatina are valuable recorders of the afl'airs of Italy. 1 2. A taste for classical learning in flie fifteenth century led to the discovery of many of the ancient authors. Poggio discovered the writings of Quintilian and several of the compositions of Cicero, which stimulated to farther research, and to the recovery of many valuable remains of Greek and Roman literature. But this taste was not generally diffused. France and Etjgland were extremely barba- rous. The library at Oxford contained only 600 volumes, and thei'e were but four classics in the royal library at Paris. But a brighter period was approaching. On the fall of the eastern empire, in the end of the fiiiteenth century, the dispersion of the Greeks diffused a taste for polite literature over all the west of Europe. A succession of popes, endowed with a liberal and enlightened spirit, gave every encouragement to learning and the sciences , and, above all, the noble discovery of the/art of printing contributed to their rapid ad- vancement and dissemination, and gave a certain assurance of the perpetuation of every valuable art, and the progressive improvement of human knowledge. 13. The rise of dramatic composition among the moderns is to be traced to the absurd and ludicrous representation, in the churches, of the scripture histories, called in England mysteries, miracles, and moralities. These were first exhibited in the twelfth century, and continued to the sixteenth, when they were prohibited by law in England. Of these we have amusing specimens in Warton's His- tory of English Poetry. Profane dramas were substituted in t})eir place ; and a mixture of the sacred and profane appears to have been known in France as early as 1,300. In Spain the farcical mys- teries keep their ground to the present day, and no re^^uiar compo- sition for the stage was known till the end of the sixteenth century. The Italians are allowed by their own writers to have borrowed their theatre from the French and English. See Kelt's Elements of General Knowledge, vol. L MODERN HISTORY. 165 SECTION XXXV. VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF COMMERCE IN EUROPE BEFORE THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 1. Before we give an account of the discoveries of the Portu- guese in the tifteeuth century, in exploring a new route to India, we stiail present a short view ot the progress of commerce in Europe down to that period. The boldest naval enterprise of the ancients was the Periplus ol Hanno, who sailed from Carthage to the coast of Guinea, within four or tive degrees of the equator, A. C. 570. The ancients did not know that Africa was almost circumnavigable. They had a very limited knowledge of the habitable earth. They believed that both the torrid and frigid zones were uninhabitable ; and they were very imperfectly acquainted with a great part of Europe, Asia, and Af- rica. Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Poland, and the greater part ol Russia, were unknown to them. In Ptolemy's description of the globe, the 63d degree of latitude is the limit of the earth to the north, and the equator to the south. 2. Britain was circumnavigated in the time of Domitian. The Romans frequented it for the purposes of commerce j and Tacitus mentions London as a celebrated resort of merchants. The com- merce of the ancients was, however, chietiy contined to the Mediter- ranean. In the flourishing periods of the eastei-n empire the mer- chandise of India was, imported from Alexandria; but, alter the con- quest of Egypt by the Arabians, it was carried up the Indus, and thence by land lo the Oxus, which then ran directly into the Caspian sea; thence it was brought up the Wolga, and again carried overland to the Don, whence it descended into the Euxine. 3. After ihe fall of the western empire commerce was long at a stand in Europe. When Attila was ravaging Italy the \ eneti took refuge in the small islands at the northern extremity of the Adriatic, and there founded Venice, A. D. 452, which began very early to equip small fleets, and trade to the coasts of Egypt and the Levant, for spices and other merchandise of Arabia and India. Genoa, Flor- ence, and Pisa, imitated this example, and began to acquire consider- able wealth ; but Venice retained her superiority over these rival states, and gained considerable territory on the opposite coast of lUyr- icum and Dalmatia. 4. The maritime cities of Italy profited by the crusades, in furnish- ing the armies with supphes, and bringing home the produce of the east. The Italian merchants established manufactures similar to those of Constantinople. Rogero king of Sicily brought ailisans from Athens, and established a silk manufacture at Palermo in 1,130. The sugar cane was planted in Sicily in the tvyelfth century, and thence carried to Madeira, and tinaily made its' way to the West Indies. 5. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Italians were the only commercial people of Europe. Venice set the tirst example of a national bank in 1,157, which has maintained its credit to ihe present times. The oniy trade of FVance, Spain, and Germany, at this time, was carried on at stated fiirs and marKets, to which traders resorted ifrom aU quarters, paying a tax to the sovereigns or the iordi t64 MODERN HISTORY. of the territory. The more enterprising bought a privilege of ex- emption, by paying at once a large sum, and were thence called free traders. 6. In the middle ages the Italian merchants, usually called Lom- bards, were the factors of all the European nations, and were en- ticed, by privileges granted by the sovereigns, to settle in France, Spain, Germany, and England. They were not only traders in com- modities, but bankers, or money dealers. In this last business they found a severe restraint from the canon law prohibiting the taking of interest ; and hence, from the necessary privacy of their bargains, there were no bounds to exorbitant usury. The Jews, too, who were the chief dealers in money, brought disrepute on the trade of banking, and frequently suffered, on that account, the most intoler- able persecution and confiscation of their fortunes. To guard against these injuries they invented bills of exchange. 7. The Lombard merchants excited a spirit of commerce, and gave birth to manufactures, which were generally encouraged by uie sovereigns in the different kingdoms of Europe. Among tlie chief encouragements was the institution of corporations or monop- olies, the earliest of which are traced up to the eleventh century ; a policy beneficial, and perhaps necessary, where the spirit of indus- try is low, and manuiactures are in their infancy ; but of hurtful con- sequence where trade and manuiactures are flourishing. 8. Commerce began to spread toward the north of Europe about the end of the twelfth ceniury. The sea-ports on the Baltic traded with France and Britain, and with the Mediterranean by the staple of the isle of Oleron, near the mouth of the Garonne, then possessed by the English. The commercial laws of Oleron and VVisbuy (on the Baltic) regulated for many ages the trade of Europe. To pro- tect their trade from piracy, Lubec, Hamburgh, and most of the north- ern sea-ports, joined in a confederacy, under certain general regula- tions, termed the league of the hanse-tawns ; a union so beneficial in its nature, and so formidable in point of strength, that its alliance was courted by the predominant powers of Europe. 9. For the trade of the hanse-towns with the southern kingdoms, Bruges, on the coast of Flanders, was Ibund a convenient entrepot, and thither the Mediterranean merchants brought the commodities of India and the Levant to exchange with the produce and manufac- tures of the north. The Flemings now began to encourage trade and manufactures, which thence spread to the Brabanters : but their growth being checked by the impolitic sovereigns of those prov- inces, they found a more favourable field in England, which was des- tined to derive from them the great source of its national opulence. 10. The Britons had very early seen the importance of commerce. Bede relates that London was frequented by ioreigners for the pur pose of trade in 614 ; and William of Malmesbury speaks of it", ir 1,041, as a most populous and wealthy city. The cinque ports Dover, Hastings, Hytne, Romney, and Sandwich, obtained in that age their privileges and immunities, on c«ndition of furnishing each five ships of war. These ports are now eight in number, and send their members to parliament. 11. The wooUen manufacture of England was considerable in the twelfth century. Henry II. incorporated the weavers of London, and gave them various privileges. By a law passed in his reign, all cloth made of foreign wool w;is condemned to be burnt. Scotland «t this time seems to have posts^ssed a coosJderable source of weaithf MODERN HISTORY. 165 as is evident from the payment of the ransom of William the lion, which was 10,000 merks, equal to 100,0001. sterling of present money. The English found it difficuU to raise double that sum for the ransom of Richard 1., and the Scots contributed a proportion of it. The English sovereigns at tirst di'ew a considerable revenue from the custom on wool exported to be manufactured abroad ; but becom- ing soon sensible of the benefit of encouraging its home manufacture, they invited, for that purpose, the foreign artisans and merchants to reside in England, and gave them valuable immunities. Edward III. was peculiarly attentive to trade and manufactures, as appears by the laws passed in his reign ; and he was bountiful in the encouragement of foreign artisans. The succeeding reigns were not so favourable. During the civil wars of York and Lanc;ister the spirit of trade and manufactures greatly declined ; nor did they begin to revive and flourish till the accession of Henry VII. In that interval of their de- cay in England commerce and the arts were encouraged in Scotland by James I. and his successors, as much as the comparatively rude and turbulent state of the kingdom would permit. The herring fish- ery then began to be vigorously promoted ; and the duties laid on the exportation of woollen cloth show that this manufacture was tlien considerable among the Scots. Glasgow began to acquire wealth by the fisheries in 1,420, but had little or no foreign trade till after the discovery of America and the West Indies. 12. Henry VII. gave the most liberal encouragement to trade and manufactures, particularly the woollen, by inviting foreign artisans, and establishing them at Leeds, Wakefield, HaUtax, and other places. The navigation acts were passed in his reign, and commercial treaties formed with the continental kingdoms for the protection of the merchant-shipping. Such was the state of commerce at the time when the Portuguese made those great discoveries which open- ed a new route to India^ and gave a circulation to their wealth over most of the nations of Europe. SECTION XXXVI. DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE COMMERCE OF EUROPE. 1. The polarity of the magnet had been known in Europe m early as the thirteenth century ; but the compass was not used in sailing till the middle of the fourteenth ; and another century had elapsed from that period, while yet the European mariners scarcely ventured out of the sight of their coasts. The eastern ocean was little known ; and the Atlantic was supposed to be a boundless ex- panse of sea, extending probably to the eastern shores of Asia. In the belief that the torrid zone was uninhabitable, a promontory on the African coast, in the 2b»th degree of north latitude, was termed Cape Non, as forming an impassable limit. 2. In the beginning of the fifteenth century John king of Por- tugal sent a few vessels to explore the Afiican coast; and these doubling Cape Non proceeded to Cape Boyador, within two de- grees of the northern tropic. Prince Henry, the son of John, equip- ped a single ship, which, being driven out to sea, landed on the island 166 MODERN HISTORY. of Porto Santo. This inv.oluntary experiment emboldened the mariners to abandon their timid mode of coasting, and Jaunch into the open sea. In 1,420 the Portuguese discovered Madeira, where they established a colony, and planted the Cyprus vine, and the sugar cane. 3. The spirit of enterorise being thus awakened, prince Henry obtained from Eugene IV. a bull granting to the Portuguese the property of all the countries which they might discover between Cape IN on and India. Under John II. of Portugal the Cape Verd islands were discovered and colonized; and the fleets, advancing to the coast of Guinea, brought home gold dust, gums, and ivory. Hav- ing passed the equator, the Portuguese entered a new hemisphere, and boldly proceeded to the extremity of the continent. In 1,479 a fleet under Vasco de Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and, sailing onwards beyond the mouths of the Arabian and Persian gulfs, arrived at Calicut, on the Malabar coast, after a voyage of 1,500 leagues, performed in thirteen months. 4. De Gama entered into an alliance with the rajah of Calicut, a tributary of the Mogul empire, and returned to Lisbon with speci- mens of the wealth and produce of the country. A succeeding fleet formed settlements, and, vanquishing the opposition of the native princes, soon achieved the conquest of all the coast of Malabar. The city of Goa, taken by storm, became the residence of a Portu- - guese viceroy and the capital of their Indian settlements. 5. The Venetians, who had hitherto engrossed the Indian trade by Alexandria, now lost it for ever. After, an ineflectual project of cutting through the isthmus of Suez, they attempted to intercept the Portuguese by their fleets stationed at the mouth of the Red sea and Persian gulf, but wer* every where encountered by a superior force. The Portuguese made settlements in both the gulfs, and vigorously prosecuted their conquests on the Indian coast and sea. The rich island of Ceylon, the kingdoms of Pegu, Siam, and Malac- ca, were speedily subduea, and a settlement established in Bengal. They proceeded onward to China, hitherto scarcely known to the Lu- ropeans but by the account of a single Venetian traveller, Marco Paolo, in the thirteenth century ; and they obtained the emperor's permis- sion to form a settlement at Macao, thus opening a commerce with that immense empire, and the neighbouring islands of Japan. In the space of flfty years the Portuguese were masters of the whole trade of the Indian ocean, and sovereigns of a large extent of Asiatic territory. 6. These discoveries produced a wonderful effect on the com- merce of Europe. The produce of the spice islands was computed to be worth annually 200,000 ducats to Lisbon. The Venetians, after every effort to destroy the trade of the Portuguese, offered to become sole purchasers, of all the spice brought to IiTurope, but were refused. Commercial industry was roused in every quarter, and manufactures made a rapid progress. Lyons, Tours, Abbeville, Mar- seilles, Bordeaux, acquired immense wealth. Antwerp and Amster- dam became the great marts of the north. The former owed its splendour to the decUne of Bruges, which was ruined by civil com- motions ; and the Portuguese made Antwerp their entrepot for the supply of the northern kingdoms. It continued highly flourishing till the revolt of the Netherlands, in the end of the sixteenth centurv, when it was taken by the Spaniards, and its port desti'oyed by block- ing up the Scheld. 7. The trade of Holland rose on the fall of Antwerp. Amsterdam MODERN HISTORY. 167 became considerable after the decline of the hanseatic confederacy in 1,428, but rose into splendour and high commercial opulence from the destruction of Antwerp. The United Provinces, dependent on industry alone for their support, became a model of commercial ac- tivity to all nations. 8. Britain felt the effect of that general stimulus which the Por- tuguese discoveries gave to the trade of Europe ; but other causes had a more sensible operation to that end in England. The reforma- tion, by suppressing the convents, and restoring many thousands to society, and the cutting off the papal exactions, which drained the kingdom of Its wealth, the politic laws passed hi the reign of Henry VllT., and the active patriotism of Elizabeth, were vigorous incentives to national industry. 9. From the time of Henry VIII. to the present, the commerce and manufactures of England have Ijeen uniformly progressive. The rental of England in lands and houses did not then exceed five millions per annum ; it is now above eighteen millions. The unman- ufactured wool of one years growth is supposed to be worth two millions; when manufactured, as it now is, by British hands, it is worth eight millions. Above a million and a half of hands are em- ployed in that manufacture alone ; half a million are employed in the manufactures of iron, steel, copper, brass, lead ; the linen man- ufactures of Lngland, Scotland, and Ireland, occupy nearly a million; and a number not much interior is employed in the fisheries. It is presumable, on the whole, that nearly a fourth of the population of the united kingdoms is actually employed in commerce and manufactures. 10. Tiie vast increase of the national wealth of Britain appears chieliy, 1, from the incre.ise of population, which is supposed to be nearly five to one (at least in the large cities) since the reign of Elizajjeth ; 2, from the great addition made to the cultivated lands of the kingdom, and the high improvement of agriculture since that period, whence more than quadruple the quantity of food is produced ; 3, from the increase of the commercial shipping, at least sixfold within the same time ; 4, from the comparative low rate of interest, which is demonstrative of the increase of wealth. The consequences of the diffusion of the commercial spirit are most im- portant to the national weiiare. From general industry arises afflu- ence, joined to a spirit of independence ; and on this spirit rests the freedom of the British constitution, and all the blessings which are enjoyed under its protection. SECTION XXXVII. GERMANY AND FRANCE IN THE REIGNS OF CHARLES V, AND FRANCIS I. 1. We resume the detail of the history of Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century, previously remarking, that the Germanic empire continued for above fifty years in a state of languid tranquilli- ty, froni the time of Albert 11., the successor of Sigismund, during the long reign of Frederick III., whose son Maximilian acquired, by his marriage with Marj-, duchess of Burgundy, the sovereignty of the Netherlands. Maximilian was elected Emperor in 1,493; imd, by establishing a perpetual peace between the separate Germanic states, kid the foundation of the subsequent grandeur of the empire. 168 MODERN HISTORY. 2. Philip archduke of Austria, son of Maximilian, married Jane, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella; and of that marriage the eldest son was Charles V^., who succeeded to the throne of Spain in 1,516, and, on the death of his grandfather M-iximiiian, preferred his claim to the vacant imperi.i! throne. He had for his competitor Francis I. of France, who had distinguished himself by the conquest of the Mil- anese, and the adjustment of the contending interests of the Italian states. The Germrm electors, afraid of the exorbitant power both of Charles and of Francii, would have ri'jected both, and conferred the impei'ial crown on Frederick duke of Saxony ; but this extraordinary man declined the proffered dignity, and his council determined the election in favour of Charles ot Austria, 1,519. 3. Charles V^. and Francis I. were now declared enemies, and their mutual claims on each other's dominions were the subject of perpet- ual hostility. The emperor claimed Artois as part of the Nether- lands. Francis prepnreil to make good his right to the Two Sicilies. Charles had to defend Milan, and to support his title to Navarre, which hid been wrested from France by his grandfather Ferdinand. Henry Ylll. of Eiigland was courted by the rival monarchs, as the weight of England was sufficient to turn the scale, where the power o{ each was nearly balanced. 4. The lirst hostile attack was made by Francis on the kingdom of Navarre, which he won and lost in the course of a few montlis. The emperor attacked Picardy, and his troops at the same time drove the French out of the Milanese. On the death of Leo X., Charles placed cardinal Adrian on the papal throne, 1,521 ; and by the promise of elevating Wolsey, the minister of Henry V'ill., to that dignity, on the death of Adrian, gained the alliance of the English monarch in his war against France. 5. At this critical time Francis imprudently quarrelled with his best general, the constable of Bourbon, who, in revenge, deserted the emperor, and was by him invested with the chief command of his armies.. The imperial generals were far superior inabilities to their opponents. The French were defeated at Biagrassa, and Charles was carrying every thing before him in Italy, when Francis entered the Milanese, and retook the capital ; but, in the subsequent battle of Pavia, his troops were entirely defeated, and the French monarch became the constable of Bourbon's prisoner, 1,525. 6. The emperor made no advantage of his good fortune. By the treaty of Madrid, Francis regained his liberty, on yielding to Charles the duchy of Burgundy, and the superiority of Flanders and Artois. He gave his two sons as hostages for the fulfilment of these conditions ; but the states refused to ratify them, and the failure was compromised for a sum of money. 7. On the renewal of the war, Henry VIll. took part with France, and Charles lost an opportunity of obtaining the sovereignty of Italy. The papal army in tne French interest was defeated by the consta* ble of Bourbon, and the pope hhnself made prisoner ; but Bourbon was killed in the siege of Rome, and Charles allowed the pope to purchase his release. 8. After the conclusion of the peace of Cambray, 1,529. Charles visited Italy, and received the imperial diadem from pope Clement VII. The Turks having invaded Hungary, the emperor marched against them in person, and compelled the sultan Solyman, with an armv of 300,000 men, to evacuate the country. He soon after em- liarked for Africa, to replace the dethroned Mulej Hassan in the MODERN HIS'l'OR^. 168 sovereignty of Tunis and Algiers, which had been usurped by Hay- radin Barbarossa ; and he achieved the enterprise with honour. Hig reputation at this period exceeded that of all the sovereigns of Eu- rope, for political ability, real power, and the extent and opulence of his dominionB. 9. Francis was glad to ally himself even with the Turks to cope with the imperialists, and Barbarossa invaded Italy ; but the troops of Charles prevented the co-operation. of the French, and separately- defeated and dispersed the allied powers, while another army of the imperialists ravaged Champagne and PicarJy. 10. In the interval of a truce, which was concluded at Nice, for ten years between the rival mouarchs, Charles passed through France to the Netherlands, and was entertained by Francis with the most magnificent hospitality. He had promised to grant to the French king his favourite desire, the investiture of Milan ; but failing to keep his word, the war was renewed with double animosity. The French and Turkish fleets attacked Nice, but were dispersed by the Ge- noese admiral, Andrea Doria. In Italy the French wei-e victori- • ous in the battle of Cerizoles, but drew no benefit from this partial advantage. The imperialists, on the whole, had a decided superior- ity, and France must have been undone, if the disorders of Germany, from the contending interests of the catholics and protestants, had not forced the emperor to conclude the treaty of Crepi with Francis, 1,544.. At the same time Francis purchased a peace with Henry VIU., who had again taken part with his rival. Francis died soon after, in 1,547 ; a prince of great spirit and abilities, and of a gener- ous and noble mind, unfortunate only from the necessity of strug- gling against a power which overmatched him both in policy and in resources. 1 1 . A short time before this period, was founded the order of the Jesuits by Ignatius Loyola, 1,535. The principle of the order was implicit obedience and submission to the pope. The brethren were not confined to their cloisters, but allowed to mix with the world ; and thus, by gaining the confidence of princes and statesmen, they were enabled to direct the policy of nations to the great end of estab- lishing the supreme authority of the holy see. The wealth which they accumulated, the extent of their power, and the supposed con- sequences of their intrigues to the peace of nations, excited at length a general hostility to their order ; and the institution has recently been abolished in all the kingdoms of Europe. 12. If Charles V. aimed at universal empire, he was ever at a dis tance from the object of his wishes. The formidable confederacy of the protestants to preserve their liberties and their religion, gave him perpetual disquiet in Germany. He never could form his do- minions into a well connected body, from the separate national inter- ests of the Spaniards, Flemish, and Germans; and even the imperial states were divided by their jealousies, political and religious. The hostilities of foreign powers gave him continual annoyance. He found in Henry II., the successor of Francis, an antagonist as formidable as his father. His cares and difliculties increased as he advanced in life, and at length entirely broke the vigour of his mind. In a state of melancholy despondency he retired trom the world at the age of fifty- six, resigning first the kingdom of Spain to his son Philip II., 1,556, and afterwards the imperial crown in favour of his brother Ferdinand, who was elected emperor on the 24th day of February, 1,558. P 22- 170 MODERN HISTORY. SECTION XXXVIII. OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 1. Previously to the reign of Maximilian I., the Germanic empire was subject to all the disorders ol" the feudal governments. The general diets of the state were tumultuous and indecisive, and their constant wars with one another kept the whole in anarchy and bar- barism. VVenceslaus, in 1,383, endeavoured to remedy those evils by the enactment of a general peace : but no effectual measures were taken for securing it. Albert II. attempted to accomplish the same end, and had some success. He divided Germany into six circles, each regulated by its own diet ; but the jealousies-of the states prompted them constimtly to hostilities, which there was no superior power sutficient to restrain. 2. At length Maximilian I. procured, in 1,500, that solemn enact- ment which established a perpetual peace among (he Germanic states, under the cogent penalty of the aggressor being treated as a common enemy. He established the imperial chamber for the settle- ment of all differences. The empire was divided anew into ten cir- cles, each circle sending its representatives to the imperial chamber, and bound to enforce the public laws through its own territory. A j^gency was appointed to subsist in the intervals of the diet, composed of twenty members, over whom the emperor presided. 3. These regulations, however wise, would probably have failed of their end, if the influence of the house of Austria, which has for three centuries continued to occupy the imperial throne, had not enforced obedience to them. The ambition and policy of Charles V. would have been dangerous to the freedom of the German prin- ces, if the new system of preserving a balance of power in Europe had not made these princes find allies and protectors sufficient to traverse the emperor^s schemes of absolute dominion. He altauied, however, an authority far beyond that of any of his predecessors. The succeeding emperors imiuitcd his policy ; but, as they did not possess equal talents, they found yet stronger obstacles to their en- croachments on the freedom of the states. 4. The Germanic liberties were settled for the last time by the treaty of Westphalia, in 1,648, which fixed the emperor's preroga- tives, and the privileges of the states. The constitution oi the em- pire is not framed for the ordinary ends of government, the prosper- ity and happiness of the people. It regards not the rights of the subjects, but only the independence of the several princes ; and its sole object is to maintain each in the enjoyment of his sovereignty, and prevent usurpations and enci'oachments on one another's terri tories. It has no relation to the particular government of the states, each of which has its own laws and constitution, some more free, and •thers more despotic. 5. The general diet has the power of enacting the public laws of the empire. It consists of three colleges, the electors, the princes, and the free cities. All such public laws, and all general measures, ai« the subject of the separate deliberation of the electoral college and (hat of the priucee. Wheo jointly approved by them, the resoiv> MODERN HISTORY. 171 tion is canvassed by the college of the free cities, and, if agreed to, becomes a plaeitum of the empire. If approved finally by the em- peror, it is a conditsum^ or general law. It disapproved, the resolu- tion is of no effect. Moreover, the emperor must be the proposer of all general laws. Still farther, n« complaint or request can be made by any of the princes to the diet without the approbation of the elector archbishop of Mentz, who may refuse it at his pleasure. These constitutional defects are the more hurtful in their conse- quences, from the separate and often contending interests of the prin- ces, who have all the rights of sovereignty, the power of contracting foreign alliances, and are frequently possessed of foreign dominions of far greater value than their imperial territories. 6. The Germanic constitution hasj however, in some respects, iti advantages. The particular diets ot each circle tend to unite those princes in all matters of national concern, whatever may be the dis- cordance of their individual interests. The regulations made in those diets compensate the want of a general legislative power. Be side the circular diets, the electors, the princes, the free cities, the catholics, and the protestants, hold their particular diets, when their common interests require it; and these powers balance one another. Considered, theretore, solely in the light of a league of several inde- g?ndent princes and states, associating tor their common benefit, the ermanic constitution has many advantages; in promoting general harmony, securing the rights of its nr>embers, and preventing the weak from being oppressed by the strong. SECTION XXXIX. or THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY AND SWITZERLAND, AND THE REVOLUT'^ON IN DENMARK AND SWEDEN. 1. The age of Charles V. is the era of the reformation of reli- gion, of the discovery of the ne^v worlauiards built a few vessels under the walls of their city, and soon evinced their superiority to their feeble foe on both elements. The monarch was taken prisoner by the officers of Cortez, and was stretched naked on burning coals, because he refus- ed to discover his treasures. Soon after a conspiracy against the Spaniards was discovered, and the wretched Guatimozin, wilhall the princes of his blood, were executed on a gibbet. This was the last blow to the power of the Mexicans; and Cortez was now absolute master of the whole empire, \,b'£5. 6. In the year 1,531 Diego D'Almagro and Francis Pizarro, with 250 foot, 60 horse, and. 12 small pieces of cannon, landed in Fern, a large and tlourishing empire, governed by an ancient race of mon- archs named Incas. The Inca Atabahpa receiving the Spaniards with reverence, they immediately required him to embrace the christian feith, and surrender all ins dominions to the emi)eror Charles V., who had obtained a gift of them from the pope. The proposal being mi*- understood, or received with hesitation, Pizarro seized the monarch as his prisoner, whila his troops massacred 5,000 of the Peruvians ou the spot. The empire was now plundered Oi prodigious treasures in gold aiid precious tit jues ; and Atabdipa, being suspected of concea)* MODERN HISTORY. 177 iilg a part from his insatiable invaders, was solemnly tried as a crimi- nal, and strangled at a stake. 7. The courage of the Spaniards surpassed even their inhumanity. D'Almagro marched 500 leagues, through continual opposition, to Cusco, and penetrated across the Cordilleras into Chili, two degrees beyond the southern tropic. He was slain in a civil war between him and his associate Francis Pizarro, who was soon after assassinated by the party of his rival. A few years after the Spaniards discover- ed the inexhaustible silver mines of Fotosi, which they compelled the Peruvians to work for their advantage. They are now wrought by the negroes of Africa. The native Peruvians, who are a weakly race of men, were soon almost exterminated by cruelty and intoler- able labour. The humane bishop of Chiapa remonstrated with suc- cess to Charles V. on this subject ; and the residue of this miserable people have been since treated with more indulgence. 8. The Spanish acquisitions in America belong to the crown, and not to the state: they are the absolute property of the sovereign, and regulated solely by his will. They consist of three provinces, Mexico, Peru, and Terra Firma; and are governed by three vice- roys, who exercise supreme civil and military authority over their respective provinces. There are eleven courts of audience for the administration of justice, with whose judicial proceedings the vice- roys cannot interlere ; and their judgments are subject to appeal to the royal council of the Indies, whose jurisdiction extends to every department, ecclesiastical, civil, military, and commercial. A tribu- nal in Spain, called Casa de la Contratacion, regulates the departure of the fleets, and t-heir destination and equipment, under the control of the council of the Indies. 9. The gold and silver of Spanish America, though the exclusive property of the crown of Spain, has, by means of war, marriages of princes, and extension of commerce, come mto general circulation, and has greatly increased the quantity of specie, and diminished the value of money over all Europe. SECTION XLIl. POSSESSIONS OF THE OTHER EUROPEAN NATIONS IN AMER- ICA. THE UNITED STATES. 1. The example of the Spaniards excited a desire in the other nations of Europe to participate with them in the riches of the new world. The French, in 1,557, attempted to form a settlement on the coast of Brazil, where the Portuguese had already established themselves from the beginning of the century. The colony was divided by faction, and was soon utterly di^stroyed by the Portu- guese. It is one of the richest of the Arn»irican settlements, both from the produce of its soil, and its mines of gold and precious stones. 2. The Spaniards were in possession of Florida when the French attempted to colonize it in 1,564, without success. The French established a settlement in Acadie in 1,604, and founded Quebec in Canada in 1,608. But these settlements were perpetually subject to attack from the English, in 1,629 the Frencli had not a loot of territory in America. Canada has been repeatedly taken by the T3 178 MODERN HISTORY. English, and restored, by different treaties, to the French ; bat since the peace of 1,763 it has been a British settlement. The French drew their greatest advantages from the islands of St Domingo, Guadalonpe, and Martinico. From their continental possessions of Louisiana, and the settlements on the Mississippi, which they have DOW lost, they never derived any solid benefit. 3. The Dutch have no settlement on the continent of America, but Surinam, a part of Guiana ; and, in the West-Indies, the islands of Curnvssoa and SL Eustatius. The Danes possess the inconsidera- ble islands of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz. 4. The British have extensive settlements on the continent of America, and in the West-India islands. England derived her right to her settlements in North America from the first discovery of the country by Sebastian Cabot in 1,407, the year before the discovery of the continent of South America by Columbus ; but no attempts were made by the English to colonize any part of the country till nearly a century afterward. This remarkable neglect is in some measure accounted for by the frugal maxims of Henry VII., and the unpropitious circumstances of the reigns of Henry VIII., of Edward VI., and ot the bigoted Mary : reigns peculiarly adverse to the extension of industry, trade, and navigation. 5. In 1,585 sir Walter Raleigh undertook to settle a colony in Vir- ginia, so named in honour of his queen ; but his attempts were fruit- " less. Two colonies, destined for settlement, were successively sent over to the Virginian territory ; but the first was reduced to great dis- tress, and taken back to England by sir Francis Drake ; the second, left unsupported, couid never afterward be found. 6. In 1,606 king James granted a patent for settling two planta-. tions on the main coasts ot North America. Dividing that portion of the country, which stretches from the thirty-fourth to the Ibrty- fifth degree of iatituiie, into two districts nearly equal, he granted the soulheni, called the first colony, to the London company, and the northern, called the second, to the Plymouth company. On the reception of this patent several persons of distinction in the Eng- lish nation undertook to settle the southern colony; and in 1,607 the fiiht permanent colony was settled in Virginia. 7. The hn-st settlement in the northern district was made at Ply- mouth in 1 ,620, by a number of puritans, who, having a few years before left England, to liberate themselves from the oppressions of the episcopal hienircby, had found a temporary asylum in Holland. In 1,629 the patent of Massachu-setts was confirmed by king Charles 1. ; and in the following year a large body of English non-conformists settled that territory. The settlement of Connecticut was begun in 1,636 by emigrants from Massachusetts. The settlement of Provi- dence, in Rhode Island, was begun the same year by Roger Wil- liams, a clergyman, who, for his refusal to submit to the control of the government of Massachusetts, in religious matters, had been ex- *iled from that colony. New York, originally settled by the Dutch, and by them called New Netherlands, was taken from them by the English in 1,664, at which time it was subjected to the British crown, and settled by Engiish colonists. New Jei'sey was settled in 1,667, principally by quakers from England. The charter of Pennsylvania was given in 1,681 by king Charles II. to William Penn ; and a set- tlement was begun the same year by a colony consisting principallr of quakers. 1 he patent of Maryland was given by king Charles 1. (o lord Baltimore m 1,632; and two years alterward the colony WM MODERN HISTORY. 17» gettled by a body of Roman catholics from England. The charter of Carolina was granted by Charles II. to the earl of Clarendon and several associates in 1,663; and that colony was soon after settled by the English. In 1,729 the province was divided into two distinct governments, one of which was called North, and the other South Carolina. The charter of Georgia was given in 1,732 by king George II. to a number of persons in England, who, from motives ol gatriotism and humanity, projected a settlement in that wild territory. y tliis measure it was intended, to obtain, first, possession of an exten- sive tract of country ; to strengthen the province of Carolina ; to rescue a great number of people in Great Britiin and Ireland from the miseries of poverty ; to open an asylum for persecuted protes- tants in different parts of Europe ; and to attempt the conversion and civilization of the natives. Lfnder the guidance of general Ogle, thorpe a coloiiy was settled here m 1,733. Nova Scotia was settled in the reign ofJames I. The Floridas were ceded by Spain to Great Britain at the peace of 1,763; but they were reduced by the arms of his catholic majesty during the American war, and guaranteed to the cro^vn of Spain by the definitive treaty of 1,703. 8. All the British colonies in North America were subject to the government of Great Britain from the time of their settlement im- til the year 1,775. Opposition to certain measures of the British parliament, the tendency of which, was to claim for the king and parliament of Great Britain, a right to tax colonies, that did not send representatives to parliament, and were therefore hostiie to rights and liberties, that had oeen enjoyed and exercised by the colonies from their origin, having induced the government to send troops to Amer ica to enforce submission to their laws, hostilities commenced in April, 1,775. In 1,776 the American congress declared the United States independent. In September 1,783, a definitive treaty of peace was concluded, by which his Britannic majesty acknowledged the United States of America to be free, sovereign, and independent states. In 1,789 the government of these states was organized, con- formably to the federal constitution ; and George Washington, who had been commander in chief of the revolutionary army, was inaugu- rated the first president. 9. The British colonies in America, and the United States, are greatly inferiqjr to the Spanish American colonies in natural riches, as they produce neither silver nw gold, nor cochineal ; yet they are in general of fertile soil, and considerably improved by industry. They afford a profitable market for European manufactures. Canaaa furnishes for exportation wheat, flour, flax-seed, lumber, fish, potash, oil, ginseng, furs, pelts, and various other commodities. The pro- duce of the West India islands (Jamaica, Barbadoes, St. Christopher's, Antigua, the Granadas, and other islands), in sugar, coffee, cocoa, rum, molasses, cotton, and other articles, is of very great value to the mother country. The northern states in the federal union fur- nish masts, ship timber, lumber, potash, furs, pelts, fish, beef, pork, butter, cheese, rye, and maize ; the middle states, flour, maize, flax-seed, peas, deer skins, and other pelts ; and the southern states, rice, flour, indigo, cotton, tobacco, pork, live oak, tar, pitch, aad turpeotioe. 180 MODERN HISTORY. SECTION XLIII. «r THE STATE OF THE FINE ARTS IN EUROPE IN THE AGE OF LEO X. 1. In epumerating those grent objects which characterized the end of the fit'teenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, we remarked the high advancement to wbdch the line arts attained in Europe in the age of Leo X. The strong bent which the human mind seems to take, in certain periods, to one class of pursuits in preference to all others, as in tlie age of Leo X., to the hne arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, may be partly explained from moral causes; sucli as the peaceful state of a country, the genius or taste, and the liberal encouragement of its sovereigns, the general emulation that arises where one or two artists are of confessed emi- nence, and the aid which men derive from the studies and works of one another. These causes have doubtless great influence, but do not seem entirely sufficient to account for the fact. The operation of such causes must be slow and gradual. In the case of the fine arts, the transition from obscurity to splendour was rapid and instan- taneous. From the contemptible mediocrity in which they had re- mained for ages, they rose at one step to the highest pitch of excel- lence. 2. The arts of painting and sculpture were buried in the west un- der the ruins of the Roman empire. They gradually declined in the latter ages, as we may perceive by the series of the coins of the lower empire. The Ostrogoths, instead of destroying, sought to preserve the monriments of taste and genius. They were even t!ie inventors of some of the arts dependent on design, as the composition of Mosaic. But, in the middle ages, those arts were at a very low ebb in Europe. They began, however, to revive a little about the end of the thirteenth century. Cimabue, a Florentine, from the sight of the paintings of some GJreek artists in one of the churches, began to attempt similar performances, and soon excelled his models. His scholars were Ghiotto, Gaddi, Tassi Cavillini, and Stephano Fio- rentino ; and they formed an academy at Florence in 1,350. 3. The works of those early pointers, vvilh some tldelity of imita- tion, had not a spark of grace or elegance ; and such continued to be the state of the art till toward the end of the fifteenth century, when it arose at once to the summit of perlection. Raphael painted at first in the hard manner of his master Perugino ; but soon deserted it, and struck at once into the noble, elegant, and graceful ; in short, the imitation of the antique This change was the result of genius alone. The ancient sculptures were familiar to the early painters, but they had looked on them with cold indifference. They were new surveyed by other eyes. Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Leo- nardo da Vinci, were animated by the same genius that formed the Grecian Appelles, Zeuxis, Glycon, Fhidi;is, and Praxiteles. 4. Nor was Italy alone thus distinguished. Germany, Flanders, and Switzerland, produced in the same age artists of consummate merit. Before the notice of these we shall brictiy characterize the schools of Italy. 5. Urst m order is the school of Fl«rence, of ivhich the most em- ineot master was Michael Angelo, bom in 1,474. His works ai« MODERN HISTORY. 181 characterized by a profound knowledge of the anatomy of the human figure, perhaps chiefly formed on the contemplation of the ancient sculptures. His paintings exhibit the grand, the sublime, and terri- ble ; but he drew not from the antique its i^imple grace and beauty. 6. The Roman school was founded by Raphael d'Urbino, born in 1,483. This great painter united almost every excellence of the art. In invention, grace, m.tjestic simplicity, forcible expression of the passions, he stands unrivalled, and Ikr beyond all competition. He has borrowed liberally, but without servility, from the antique. 7. Of the school of Lomhardy, or the V enetian, the most eminent artists were Titian, Giorgione, Corregio, and Parmeggi;mo. Titian is most eminent in portrait, and in tne painting of female beauty. Such is the truth ot his colouring, that his figures are nature itself. It was the testimony of Michael Angelo to the merits of Titian, tiial, if he had studied at Rome or Florence, amidst the master-pieces of antiquity, he would have eclipsed all the painters in the world. Ti- tian lived to the age of a hundred. Giorgione, with similar merit-, was cut off ill the nower of his youth. Correggio was superior in colouring, and in the knowledge of light and shade, to all who hnve preceded or followed him. This knowledge was the result of stuJy. In other painters those effects are frequently accidental, as we ol;- serve that they are not unit'nnn. Parmeggiano imitated the graceful manner of Raphael, but carried it to a degree of affectation. 8. Such were the three original Italian schools. The character o the Florentine is grandeur and sublimity, vvith great excellence o design, but a want of grace, of skill in colouring, and effect of lieSit and shade. The character of the Roman is equal excellence of de- sign, a grandeur tempered with moderation and simplicity, a high degree of grace and elegance, and a superior knowledge, though not an excellence, in colouring. The character of the Venetian is the perfection of colouring, and the utmost force of light and shade, with an inferiority in every other particular. 9. To the school of Raphael succeeded the second Roman school, or that of the Caraccis, three brothers, of whom Annibal was the most famous. His scholars were, Guercino, Albano, Lanfranc, Dom- enichino, and Guido. Of these eminent painters the tirst and last were the best. The elegant contours of Guercino, and the strength s\yeetness, and majesty of Guido, are the admiration of ah true judges of painting. 10. In the same age the Flemish school, though of a quite differ- ent character, and inferior to the Italian, shone with great lustre. Oil painting was invented by the Flemings in the fifteenth century ; and, in that age, Heemskirk, Frans Floris, Quintin Matsys, and the German Albert Ourer, v/ere deservedly distinguished. Of the Flem- ish school, Rubens, though a painter of a much later age, is the chief ornament. His figures, though too corpulent, are drawn with great truth and nature. He possesses inexhaustible invention, and great skill in the expression of the passions. Switzerland produced Hans Holbein, a painter of great eminence in portrait, and remarka- ble for truth of colouring. From his residence at the court of Henry VIII. there are more specimens of his works in Britain than of any other foreign painter. Holland had likewise its painteis, whose chief merit was the faithful representation of vulgar nature, and perfect knowledge of the mechanism of the art, the power of colours, and the effect of light and shade. U. With th>e art of painting, sculpture and architectyr* were like- Q 182 MODERN HISTORY. wise revived in the same age, and brought almost to perfection. The universal genius of Michael Angelo shone equally conspicuous in all the three departments. His statue of Bacchus was judged by Raphael to be the work of Phidias or Praxiteles. The Grecian ar- chitecture was first revived by the Florentines in the fourteenth cen- tury ; and the cathedral of Pisa was constructed partly from the ma- terials of an ancient Greek temple. The art arrived at perfection in the age of Leo X., when the church of St. Peter's at Rome, under the direction of Bramante, San Guilo, Raphael, and Michael Angelo, exhibited the noblest specimen of architecture in the world. 12. The invention ol the art of engraving on copper by Tomaso Finiguerra, a goldsmith of Florence, is dated about 1,4G0. From Ita- ly it travelled into Flanders, where it was first practised by Martin Schoen of Antwerp. His scholar was the celebrated Albert Durer, who engraved excellently both on copper and on wood. Etching on copper by meansof aquafortis, which gives more ease than the stroke of the graver, was discovered by Parmeggiano, who executed in that manner his own beautiful designs. No art underwent, in its early stages, so rapid an improvement as that of engraving. In the course of 150 years from its invention it attained nearly to its perfection; for there has been little proportional improvement in the last century, since the days of Audran, Poilly, and Edelinck. 13. The art of engraving in mezzotinto is of much later date than the ordinary mode ol engraving on copper. It was the invention of prince Rupert about 1,650. It is characterized by a softness equal to that of tne pencil, and a happy blending of light and shade, and is therefore peculiarly adapted to portrait, where those requisites are most essential. 14. The age of Leo X. was likewise an era of very high literary splendour; but of the distinguished writers of that period we shall afterwards treat, in a connected view of the progress of literature and the sciences during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. SECTION XLIV. or THE OTTOMAN POWER IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 1. From the period ol' the taking of Constantinople, in the middle of the fifteenth century, the Turks were a great and conquering people. In the sixteenth century, Selim I., after he had subdued Syria and Mesopotamia, undertook the conquest of Egypt, then gov- erned by the Mamelukes, a race of Circassians, who had seized the country in 1,250, and put an end to the government of the Arabian princes, the posterity oi Saladin. The conquest of Egypt by Selim made little change in the tbrm of its governnjont. It professes to own the sovereignty of the Turks, but is in reality still governed by the Mameluke beys. 2. Solyman (the magnificent) son of Selim, was, like his prede- cessors, a great conqueror. The island of Rhodes, possessed by the knights of St. John, was a darling object of his ambition. These knights had expelled the Saracens from the island in 1,310. Soly- man attacked Rhodes with 140,000 men and 400 ships. The Rho- dian knights, aided by the English, Italians, and Spaniards, made a noble defence ; but, after a siege of many months, were forced to oapitulate and evacuate tlie island, io 1.522. Since that time Rhodes MODERN HISTORY. 183 has been the property ot" the Turks. The commercial laws of the ancient Rhodians were adopted by the Romans, and at this day are the foundation of the maritime jurisprudence of ail the nations of Europe<. 3. Solyman subdued the greater part of Hungary, 31oldavia, and VValachia; and took from the Persians Georgia and Bagdat. His sou Selim II. took Cyprus from the Venetians in 1,571. They ap- phed to the pope for aid, who, together with Philip 11. of Spain, enter- ed into a triple alliance against the Ottoman power. An armament o( 250 ships ot war, commanded by Philip's natural brother, Don John of Austria, was opposed to 250 Turkish galhes in the gulf of Le- panto, near Corinth ; and the Turks were defeated, with the loss of 150 ships and 15,000 men, 1,571. This great victory was soon after followed by the taking of Tunis by the same commander. 4. But these successes were of little consequence. The Otto- min power continued extremely formidable. Lnder Amurath 11. the Turks made encroachments on Hungary, and subdued a part of Per- sia. Mahomet HI., tliough a barbarian in liis private character, sup- ported the dignity of the empire, and extended its dominions. The Ottoman power declined from his lime, and yielded to tliat of the Persians under Schah-Abbas the great, who wrested from the Turks a Lirge part of their late-acquired dciuiaioos. SECTION XLV. STATE OE PERSIA AND OTHER ASIATIC KINGDOMS IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 1. The great empire of Persia, in the end of the fifteenth century, underwent a revolution on account of religion. Haydar or Sophi, a religious enthusiast, established a new sect of Mahometans, which held Ali to be the successor of Mahomet instead of Omar, and abol- ished the pilgrimages to iMfjcca. The Persians eagerly embraced a doctrine which distinguished them from their enemies the Turks; and Ismael, the sou of Sophi, following the example of Mahomet, enforced his opinions by the sword. He subdued all Persia and Ar- menia, and left this vast em{)h"e to his descendants. 2. Schah-Abbas, surnamed the great, was the great-grandson ot Ismael Soi)hi. He ruled his empire with despotic sway, but with most able policy. He regaineci the provinces which had been taken by tlis^ Turks, and drove the Portuguese from their settlement of Ormuz. He rebuilt the fallen cities of Persia, and contributed greatly to the introduction of arts and civilization. His son Schan- Sesi reigned weakly and untbrtunately. In his time Schah-Gean, the great Mogul, deprived Persia of Candahar; and the Turks took Bag- dat in 1,6.38. From that period the Persian monarchy gradually de- cUned. Its sovereigns became the most despicable slaves to their own ministers; and a revolution in the beginning of the eighteenth century put an end to the dynasty of the Sophis, and gave the throne to the Afghan princes, a race of Tartars. 3 The government of Persia is almost as despotic as that of Tur- key. The sovereign draws a small yearly tax from every subject, and receives likewise stated gifts on particular occasions. The crown is hereditary, with the exclusion of females ; but the sons of 184 MODERN HISTORY. H daughter succeed in their course. There is no other rank in Per- sia than that annexed to office, which is held during the monarch's pleasure. The national religion is the Mahometan, as reformed by iSophi. The sect ol the Guebres preserve the reUgion of Zoroaster, as contained in the Zendavesta and Sadder, and keep aUve the sacred fire. ^Part I., Sect. XI.) 4. The poetry of the Persians displays great fancy and luxuriance of imagery. I'he epic poet Firdousi is said to rival the various merits ol' Homer and Ariosto ; and the writings of badi and Haiiez, both in prose and poetry, are admired by all vvho are conversant in oriental literature. 5. Tartary. From this vast tract of country sprang those con- querors who produced all the great revolutions in Asia. Tartary is no more tJian a vast desert, inhabited by wandering tribes, who follow Uie life of the ancient Scytluans. The Turks, a race of Tartai"s, overwhelmed the empire of the caliphs. Mahmoud, a Tartar, con- quered Persia and great part of India in the tenth century. The Tartar Gengiscan subdued India, China, Persia, and Asiatic Russia, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, liatoucan, one of his sons, ravag«l to the frontiers of Germany. Tamerlane, the scourge of tfie Turks, and tiie conqueror of a great part of Asia, was of the race of Gengiscan. Babar, great-grandson of Tamerlane, subdued all the country between Samarcand and Agra in the empire of tlie Mogul. The aescendauts of those conijuercrs reign in India, Persia, uiid China. 6. Tliibet. The southern part of Tartary, called Thibet, exhibits the phenomenon of a kingdom governed by a human being called the Dalai Lama, or Great Lama, whose divinity is acknowledged not oniy by his own subjects, but over China and a part of India. This supposed god is a young man, whom liie priests educate and train to Iiis iunction, and in wiiose name they in reality govern the kingdom. SECTION XLVI. HISTORY OF INDIA. 1. The earliest accounts of this great tr.ict of civilized country- are those of Herodotus, who lived about a century before Alexander the great ; and it is remarkable that the character given of the people by that early writer, corresponds perfectly with that cf the modern Hindoos, lie had probably taken bis accounts from Scylax of Cari- andria. whom Darius Hystaspes had sent to explore the countiy. But till the age of Alexander, the Greeks had no particular knowl- edge of that extraordinary people. Alexander penetiated into the Panwb, where his troops refusing to proceed, he embarked on the Hydaspas, which runs into the Indus, and thence pursued his course for above 1,000 miles to the ocean. The narrative given by Arrian of this expedition was biken from the verbal accounts of Alexander's officers ; and its particulars agree yet more remarkably than those of Herodotus with the modern manners of the Hindoos. 2. India was visited by Seleucus, to whose share it fell in the par- tition of Alexander's empire; and Antiochus the great, 200 yeaw MODERN HIS'iORY. 186 afterward, made a short expedition thither. It is probable too that some small intercourse subsisted between the Greek empire of I3ao triana and India ; but, till the fifteenth century, no European power thought of forming any establishment in that country. Froni the age ot Alexander down to the period of the Portuguese discoveries there had constantly been some commercial intercourse between Europe and India, both by sea and across the desert. 3. The Mahometans, as early as A. D. 1,000, had begun to estab- lish an empire in India. Mahmoud, a Tartar, conquered a great part of the country, and established his capital at Ghazna, near the sources of the Indus, extirpating, wherever he came, the Hindoo religion, and establishing the Mahometan in its stead. Mohammed Gori, in 1,194, penetrated to Benares; and one of his successors fixed the seat of his empire at Delhy, which has continued to be the capital of tlie Mogul princes. The sovereignty founded by Mah- moud was overwhelmed in 1,222 by Gengiscan, as was his empire in the following century by Tamerlane, whose posterity are at this day on the throne of the Mogul empire. 4. The Mogul empire was, even in the beginning of the 18th cen- tury, the most powerful and liourishing of all the Asiatic monarchies. The emperor Aurengzebe, the son of Schah-Gean though a mon- ster of cruelly, and a most despotic tyrant, enjoyed a life prolonged to a hundred yeai-s, crowned with uninterrupted prosperity and suc- cess. Ha extended his empire over the whole peninsula of India within the Gtuiges. 5. Tlie dominion of the Mogul is not absolute over all the coun- tries which compose his empire. Tamerlane allowed the petty Srinces, rajahs or nabobs, to retain their territories, of which their escendants are at this day in possession. They pay a tribute to the great Mogul, as an acknowledgment of his sovereignty, and ob- serve the treaties agreed to by their ancestors; but they are in other respects independent princes. 6. Bengal became a part of the Mogul's empire by conquest in the end of the sixteenth century, and was commonly governed by a son of the great Mogul, who had under him several inferior nabobs, the former princes of the country. Such was its condition when the British East India company, between 1,751 and 1,760, conquered and obtained possession of that kingdom, together with Bahar and part of Orissa, a large, populous, and most nourishing country, con- taining above ten millions of inhabitants, and producing an immense revenue; and these territories have since that period received a con- siderable addition. The East India company has the benefit of the whole commerce of the Mogul empire, with Arabia, Persia, and Thibet, as well as with the kingdoms of Azem, Aracan, Pegu, Siam, Malacca, China, and many of the oriental islands. The fixed establishments of the British in the country of Indostaa have afforded opportunity of obtaining much instructive knowledge relative to the ancient state of that country, of which we shaU give a short sketch in the following section. Q2 24 186 MODERN UiSrvr-.^. SECTION XLVIl ANCIENT STATE OF INDIA. MANNERS, LAWS, ARTS, SCIENCES, AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS. 1. The remains of the ancient knowledge of the Hindoos have been preserved by a hereditary priesthood, in the Sanscrit language, long since extinct, and only known to a tew of the Bramins. The zeal of some learned Europeans has ktely opened that source of in- formation, whence we derive the most interesting particulars of this extraordinary people, perhaps the tirst cultivatoi-s of the sciences, and the instructers of all the nations of antiquity. We shall briefly notice their singular division ii to casts, their civil policy, laws, prog- ress in the arts and sciences, and religion. 2. The whole body of the people was divided into four orders, or casts. The highest cast, that of the Bramins, was devoted to rehgion and the cultivation of the sciences ; to the second belonged the pres- ervation of the sttite ; they were its sovereigns and its magistrates in peace, and its soldiers in war ; the third were the husbandmen and merchants; and the fourth the artisans, labourers, and servants. These are inseparable distinctions, and descend from generation to generation. Moreover, the individuals of each class follow invariably the professions of their forefathers. Every man, from his birth, ksiows the function allotted to him, and fulfils with ease and satisfac- tion the duty which he cannot avoid. Hence arises that permanence of manners and institutions which so singularly characterizes this ancient nation. 3. This classification is an artificial arrangement, which could have originated only from the mind of a legislator among a polished peo- ple, completely obedient to government. It is therefore a prooi' of the highly civilized state of the Hindoo nation in the most remote peritAls of antiquity. 4. The civil policy of the Hindoos is another proof of their ancient civiiization. At the time of Alexander the great, India was divided into large and powerful kingdoms, governed by sovereigns whose do- minion was not absolute, but controlled by the superior authority of the Bramins. A system of feudalism has ever prevailed in India. The rights to land flow from the sovereign, to whom a certain duty is payable by the classof the husbandmen, who transmit their posses- sions to their cniidren under the same tenure. Strabo and Diodorus remarked three classes of officers among the Indians : one class whose department was the regulation of agriculture, tanks, highways; another which superintended the police of the cities ; a third which regulated the military department. The same policy prevails at this day under the Hindoo princes. 5. The jurisprudence of Hindostan is an additional proof of great antiquity and civilization. The Ayen-Akbery, and still more the compilation of Hindoo laws from the ancient Sanscrit records, made by order of Mr, Hastings, contain the jurisprudence of a refined and rommercial people, among whom law had been a study and profea- sjf>n 6. Many monuments exist in India of the advanced state of the us&. f ii and eieg«nt arts in the remotest periods of antiquity. The an- ciettt pagr^ad, of vast extent and magnificence, whether c«t is the MODERN HISTORY. 187 solid rock, as in Elephanta and Salsette, or in the open air, as at Chilarabrum and Seringham ; the sumptuous residences of the Bra- mins ; and the ancient hill fortresses, constructed with prodigious strength and solidity, evince a great advancement in the arts. The resort of the most polished nations of antiquity to India for cotton cloths, fine linen, and works in metal and ivory, proves these manu factures to have been superior to all known at that time in Europe. ■ 7. The late translations from the Sanscrit of several ingtjnious compositions of high antiquity, as the dramatic piece Sacontaia, the liilnpadesa^ a series of moral apologues and fables, the Alaluibarat, an epic poem, composed above 2,00U years before the Christian era, all concur in proof of a similar advancement in iiterature. We have reason to believe from such works as are of a philosophical nature, that th^re is scarcely a tenet of the Greek philosophy which has not been antecedently the subjoci of discussion among the Bramins of India. 8. The numeral ciphers first introduced into Europe by the Ara- bians were, as those authors confess, borrowed from the Indians. Above a century ago, the French mathematicians evinced, by tha evidence of a Siamese manuscript, containing tables for calculating the places of the heavenly bodies, the astonishing advancement made by this ancient people in the science of astronomy. A set of astronomical tables obtained lately from the Bramias by M. Geftiii goes back to an era termed Calyoug/mm, commencing 3,1U2 years belbre the birth of Christ. These tables are used by the modex'n Bramins, who are quite ignorant of the principles on which they have been constructed. M. Bailly has proved that they are the same as those employed by the moderns, with which the Greeks and Cnaldeans were utterly unacquainted. 9. Lastly, from tlie religious opinions and worship of the Hindoos we must draw the same conclusion as from all the preceding facts. One uniform system of superstition pervades every religion of India, which is supported by the most sagacious policy, and by every thing tirat can excite the veneration of its votaries, 'ihe Bramins, elevat- ed above every class ot men, and exclusively acquainted with the mysteries of that religion, which it is held impious for any other class to attempt to penetrate ; the implicit reliance on the authority of these Bramins ; the ceremonies of their worship, adapted to im- press the imagination and to aflect the ptissions ; all concurred to forti- fy this potent superstition, and to give its priests a supreme ascen- dancy over the minds of the people. But those priests, enlightened as they were, rejected that false theology. Their writings demon- strate that they entertained rational and elevated conceptions with regard to the Supreme Being, and the support of the universe. 10. On the whole, there is a high probability that India was the great school from which the most early polished nations of Europe derived their knowledge of arts, sciences, and literature. Persons who want more particular intbrmation respecting India are referred to Maurice's Indian Antiquities, and Tennant's Indian Recreations. 188 MODERN HISTORY SECTION XLVIU. or CHINA AND JAPAN. 1. As we proceed eastward in the survey of the Asiatic continent, the great empire of China next solicits our attention. In the end of the tenth century, China, Persia, and the greater part of India were ruled by the Tartar descendants of Gengiscan. The Tartar family of Yven, who conqtiered China, made no change in its laws and sys- tem of government, which had been permanent from time immemo- rial. Of this family there reigned nine successive monarchs, without any attempt by the Chines'^ to throw off the Tartar yoke. The odious and contemptible character of the last of these sovereigns at length excited a rebellion, which, in 1,357, drove the Tartars from the throne ; and the Chinese, for 276 years, obeyed their native princes. The Tartars, taking advantage of an insurrection in one of the provinces, invaded China in 1,641, and made an easy conquest The emperor shut himself up in his palace, and, after putting to death all his family, finished the scene by hanging himself Ihe sa?.ie Tartars occupy the throne of China at this day, and observe tlie same wise policy of maintaining inviolate the Chinese laws, poli- cy, and manners. 01 these we shall give a brief account in the sub- sequent section. 2. The empire of Japan was discovered by the Portuguese about the middle of the sixteenth century. The open and unsuspicious character of this industrious and polished people led them to en- courage the resort of foreigners to their ports ; and the Spaniards, after they had obtained the sovereignty of Portugal, carried on a most beneficial trade to the coasts of Japan. The emperor zeal- ously promoted this intercourse, till the insatiable ambition of the Spaniards gave him alarming conviction of its danger. Under the pretence of converting the Japanese from idolatry, a vast number of priests was sent into the country ; and one half of the people were speedily set at mortal variance with the other. It now be- came necessary to prohibit this work of conversion by an imperial edict However a free trade was allowed till 1,637, when a con- spiracy of the Spaniards for dethroning the emperor and seizing the government was discovered. An edict was issued for the expulsion of all the Spaniards and Portuguese, who resisted till they were overpowered by force of arms. Since that period all the European nations have been excluded from the ports of Japan. The Dutch only, who had been the discoverers of the conspiracy of the Span- iards, are allowed the privilege of landing on one of the small islands, for the purposes of trade, alter making oath that they are not of the Portuguese rehgion. MODEIiN HISTORY. 189 SECTION XLiy OF THE ANTIQUITY OF THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. STATE OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, MANNERS, GOVERNMENT, LAWS. 1 . The antiquity of this vast empire, and the state of its govern ment, laws, manners, and altaiuments in the arts and sciences, have furnished an ample lield of controversy. Voltaire, Ilaynal, and other writeis have ^iven to the Chinese empire an immense antiquity, and a character ot such high civilization and knowledge of the sciences and arts at a very remote period, as to be utterly irreconcilable to the state and progress of man as described in tlie books of Moses. On the other hand, it is probable that the desire of invaUdating those opinions has induced other writers of ability to go to an opposite ex- treme ; to undervalue this singular people, and to give too little weight to any accounts which we have received either of the dura- tion of their empire, of the economy of their government and police, or of their attainments in the arts and sciences. Amidst this contra- riety of sentiments we shall endeavour to form such opinion as a^' peal's most consonant to the truth. 2. The panegyrists of the Chinese assert that their empire has subsisted above 4,000 years, without any material alteration in its iaws, manners, language, Cr CVC!: Jlti^hhr.: cf iire»s: in evidence of which they appeal to a series of eclipses, marking contemporary events, alt accurately calculated, for 2,165 years before the birth of Christ. As it is easy to calculate eclipses backwards from the pres- ent day to any given period of time, it is thus possible to give to a history, fictitious from beginning to end, its chronology of real eclipses. This proof therefore amounts to nothing, unless it were likewise proved that all those eclipses were actually recorded at the time when they happened ; but this neither has been nor can be done ; for it is an allowed fact, that there are no regular historical records beyond the third century before the christian era. The present Chinese are utterly ignorant o^' the motions of the celestial bodies, and cannot calculate eclipses. The series mentioned has therefore in all probabiUty been calculated by some of the Jesuits, to ingratiate themselves with the emperors, and flatter the national vanity. The Jesuits have presided in the tribunal of mathematics for above 2'JO years. 3. But if the authentic annals of this empire go back even to the third century before Christ, and record at that time a high state of civilization, we must allow tnat the Chinese are an ancient and early polished people, and that they have possessed a singular constancy in their government, laws, and manners. Sir William Jones, no bigoted encomiast of this people, allows their great antiquity and early civilization, and, with much apparent probability, traces their origin from the Hindoos. He appeals to the ancient Sanscript records, which mention a migration of certain of the military class termed Chinas., from India to the countries east from Bengal. The stationa- ry condition of the arts and sciences in China proves that they have not originated with that people : and many peculiarities of the man- ners, institutions, and popular religion ol the Chinese, have a near affinity to those of the Hiadoos. 190 MODERN HISTORY. 4. The government of China is that of an absolute monarchy. The patriarchal system pervades the whole, and binds all the mem- bers of this vast empire in the strictest subordination. Every father is absolute in his family, and may inflict any punishment short of death up6n his cliildren. The mandarin of the district is absolute, with the power of life and death over all its members; but a capital sentence cannot be inflicted without the emperor's approbation. The emperor's power is absolute over all the mandarins, and every subject of the empire. To reconcile the people to this despotic authority, the sovereign alone is entitled to relieve the wants of the poor, and to compe.isate public calamities, as well as the misfortunes of individuals. He is therefore regarded as the father of his people, and even adored as a benevolent divinity. 5. Another circ jmstimce which conciliates the people to their government ig, that all honoirs in China are conferred according to mj-rit, and that chiefly literary. The civil mandarins, who are the migistrates and judges, are appointed to office according to their measure of knowledge and mental endowments. No office or rank is hereditary, l)ut niay be aspired to by the meanest of the people. The penal laws of China are remarkably severe ; but their execu- tion may be remitted by the emperor. The judicial tribunals are regulated by a body of written laws of great antiquity, and founded on the basis of universal justice and equity. The emperor's opinion rifely differs from the sentences of those courts. One tribunal judges of the qualitications of the mandarins ; another regulates the morals of the peoiii;^, hirJ the ii;tiionai mtitiners ; a third is the tribu- nal of censors, which reviews the laws, the conduct of the magis- trates and judges, and even that of the emperor himself These tri- bunals are tilled by an equal number of Chinese and Tartars. 6. It has been observed that the sciences have been stationary in this empire for many ages. They are at this day extremely low, though far beyond the attainments of a barbarous people. The language of China seems to oppose the prosecution of sjieculaiive rcstjarches. It has no regular inflections, and can with difficulty express abstract ideas. iVe have remarked the ignorance of the Cliinese in mathematics and astronomy. Of physics they have no acquaintance beyond the knowledge of apparent facts. Tney never ascend to principles, nor form theories. Their knowledge of medi- cine is extremely limited, and is blended with the most contemptible superstition. Of arjatomy they know next to nothing ; and in sur- gery they have never ventured to amputate a limb, nor to reduce a fracture. 7. The state of the useful and elegant arts has been equally sta- tionary as that of the sciences. Many ages ago they had attained a certain point of advancement, which they have never exceeded. The Chinese are s;iid to have manufactured glass for 2,000 years ; yet at this day it is inferior in transparency to the European, and is not u«ed in their windows. They are reported to have known gun- {)owder from time immemorial ; but they never employed it in artil- ery or tire-arms till they were taught by the Europeans. They are said to have invented printing in the age of Julius Caesar, yet they know not the use of moveable types, and print from blocks of wood. When first shown the use of the compass in sailing, they afliTrmed that they were well acquainted with it, but found no occasion to em- ploy it. The art of painting in China is mere mechanical imitation, without grace, expression, or even accuracy of proportions. Of the MODERN HISTORY, 191 niles of perspective they have not the smallest idea. In sculpture, a? in the figures of thtir idols, the Chinese artists seem to delight in distortion and deformity. Tlieir music is not regulated by any prin- ciples of science. They have no semitones, and their instruments are imperfect and untunable. The Chinese architecture has variety, lightness, and sometimes elegance ; but hiis no grandeur, nor sym- metrical beauty. 8. In some of the arts the Chinese have attained great excellence. In China agriculture is carried to the highest pitch of improvement. There is not a spot of waste land in the whole empire, nor any lan^ which is not highly cultivated. The emperor himself is the cliiet of the husbandmen, and annually holds the plough with his own hands. From the high state of agriculture, and the modes ol economizing food, is supported the astonishing population of 333^ millions, or 26U inhabitants to every square mile of the empire. The gardening of tlie Chinese, and their admirable eml>ellishniont of rural nature, have of late been the obj'ct of imitation in Lurope, bdt with far inferior success. The manul'acture of porcelain i? an original invention of this people ; and the Europeans, though ex- celling them in the form and ornament^of the utensils, have never been able to attain the excollence of the material. 9. The morals of the Chinese have furnisiied a subject both of praise and censure. The books of Confucius are said to contain nn admirable system of morality. But the principles of n)orals have their foundation in human nature, and must, in theory, be every where the same. The moral virtues of a people are not to be esti- mated from the books of their philosophers, ft is probable that the manners of the superior classes are in China, as elsewhere, much influenced by education and example. The morals of the lower classes, are said to be extremely loose, and their practices most dis- honest. They are regulated by no principle but seliish interest, and restrained only by the fear of punishment. 10. The religion of the Chinese is dillerent in the different ranks of society. There is no religion of the state. The emperor and the higher mandarins profess the belief of one Supreme Being, Changti, whom they worship by prayer and thanksgiving, without any mixture of idolatrous practices. They respect the lama of Thibet as the high-priest or prophet of this religion. A prevalent sect is that ofTao-sse, who believe in the power of magic, the agency of spirits, and liie divination of future events. A third is the sect of To, derived from India, whose priests are the Bonzes, and whose fundamental doctrine is, that all things rose out of nothing, and must finally return to nothing; that all animals are first to undergo a series of transmigrations ; and that as man's chief happiness is to approach as near as possible to a state of annihilation in this life, absolute idle ness is more laudable than occupation of any kind. A variety of hideous idols is worshipped by this sect. 11. The Chinese have their sacred books entitled ^in^s ; as the Yking^ Chouking. &.C. ; which, among some good moral precepts, con- tain much mystery, childish superstition, and absurdity. These are chiefly resorted to for the divining of future events, which seems the ultimatwn of research among the Chinese philosophers. The obser- vation of the heavenly bodies is made for that purpose alone. The changes of weather, the performance or omission of certain cere- monies, the occurrence of certain events in particular times and places, are all believed to have tiieir influence on futurity, and are 192 MODERN HISTORY. therefore carefully observed and recorded. The rules by which those omens are intrrpreted are .said to have been prescribed by the great Confucius, the father of the Chinese philosophy, 500 years be- fore the christian era. 12. We conchide, on the whole, that the Chinese are a very re- markable people ; that their government, laws, pohcy, and knowl- edge of the arts and sciences, exhibit unquestionable proofs of great antiquity and early civilization; that the extraordinary measure of duration assigned to their empire by some modern writers rests on no solid proofs ; that their government, laws, manners, arts, and scientific attainments, are not deserving of that superlative- praise which has been bestowed on them. SECTION L. M. BAILLY'S THEORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE SCIENCES AMONG THE NATIONS OF INDIA. 1. The striking resem!)lance in many points of character between the Chinese and the ancient Egyptians, has led to the conjecture, either that they were originally the same people, one being a col- ony of the other, or have had, at some remote period, such inter- course, either by conquest or by commerce, as to occasion a recipio- cal communicationof manners and the knowledge of arts and sciences. M. de Mairan has remarked the following points of similarity. The Egyptians and the Chinese had the same permanence of manners, and abhorrence of innovations; they wore alike remarkable for the respect entertained by children to their parents; they were equally averse to war; they had the same general superficial knowledge oV the arts and sciences, without the al.ility to make great attainments ; they both, in the most ancient times, u-^ed hieroglyphics ; the Egyp- tians had a solemn festival, called the fea^'' of (bA lights; the Chint se have theycas^ of the lanterns : the features of the Chinese are said to resemble the ancient Egyptian statues ; certain characters engraven on an Egyptian bust of Isis were found to belong to the Chinese lan- guage. 2. M. Bailly has taken a wider range of observation, and from a review of the manners, customs, opinions, and attainments of the Indians, Persians, Chinese, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, has discovered many circumstances of similarity between all those nations, equally remarkable as the foregoing. He has thence fbrmed the singular hypothesis, that the knowledge common to all those nations has been derived from the same original source, a most ancient and highly cultivated people of Asia, of which e\ ery trace is now extinct. If we find, says he, in the scattered huts of peasants, fragments interspersed ©f sculptured columns, we conclude ibr certain that they are not the work of the rude peasants who reared those huts, but that they are the remains of a magnificent building, the Avork of able architects, though we discover no other traces of the existence of that building, and cannot ascertain its precise situation. 3. The sciences and arts of the Chinese have been stationary for 2,000 years. The people seem never to have availed themselves of the Ughts of their ancestors. They are like the inhabitants of a OBuntry recently discovered by a polished people, who have taught MODERN HISTORY. them some of their arts, and left their instruments among them. The knowledge which they possess, seems to have been imported, and not of original growth, for it has never been progressive. 4. The Chaldeans were an enlightened people at the commence- ment of the Babylonish empire, 2,(XK), years before the Christian era. They were astronomers, and understood the revolutions of the ce- lestial bodies. The Chaldeans were probably the remains of this ancient people. The Bramins of India believe in the unity of God, and the immortality of the soul ; but with these sublime tenets they intermix childish absurdities. They derived the former from wise iustructers ; the latter were the fruit of their own ignorance. The Sanscrit, a copious and elegant language, and the vehicle of all the Indian knowledge and philosophy, has been a dead tongue for thou- sands of years, and is mtelligible only to a few of the Bramins. It was probably the language of that great ancient people. 5. The coincidence or similarity of customs concurs to establish the belief of an original nation. The custom of libation was com- mon to the Tartars and Chinese, and to the Greeks and Romans. All the Asiatic nations had festivals of the nature of the Roman satur- nalia. The tradition of the deluge is diffused among all those nations. The tradition of the giants attacking heaven is equally general. The doctrine of the metempsychosis was common to the Egyptians, Greeks, Indians, Persians, Tartarians, and Chinese. The religion of all those nations is founded on the profound but erroneous doctrine of the two principles, a universal soul pervading all nature, and inert matter on which it acts. A conformity in a true doctrine is no proof of mutual communication or concert; but it is ingeniously re- marked, that a conformity in a false doctrine comes very near to such a proof 6. The Egyptians, Chaldeans, Indians, Persians, and Chinese, all placed tlieir temples fronting the east, to receive the first rays of the sun. Hence the worship of the sun has been the religion of the an- cient people from which these are descended. All these nations had a cycle, or period of sixty years, for regulating their chronology. They all divided the circle into 360 degrees ; the zodiac into twelve signs ; and the week into seven days. The Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians designed the seven days of the week by the names of the seven planets ranged in the same order. The long measures of the ancient nations had all one common origin. 7. These singular coincidences, says M. Bailly, can be explained only upon three suppositions : 1, that there was a free communica- tion between all those ancient nations ; 2, that those circumstances of coincidence are so founded in human nature, that the most un- connected nations could not fail to hit upon them ; or, 3, that they have been all derived from a common source. He rejects the two former suppositions, as contrary, in his opinion, to fact, and adopts the last. 8. The pi'ecise situation of this great ancient people, M. Bailly does not pretend to fix with certainty ; but offers probable reasons for conjecturing that it was about the 49th or 50th degree of north lati- tude, in the southern regions of Siberia. Many of the European and Asiatic nations attribute their origin to that quarter, which thence appears to have been extremely populous. Nitre, a production from animal substances, is more abundant there than in any other region. The observations of the rising of the stars, collected by Ptolemy, must have been made in a climate where the longest day R 25 194 MODERN HISTORY . was sixteen hours, which corresponds to the latitude of 50 degrees. No European nation in that latitude understood astronomy in those early periods. The veneration of the Indians and Chinese for the Lama of Thibet is a proof that the religion of those nations original ed in that quarter. 9. But does that region exhibit any traces of having been ever inhabited by a polished people ? Here the theory of M. Bailly seems to be least supported by proof He observes, that ancient mines have been discovered in those parts of Silperia, which have been wrought to great extent in a period beyond all record or tradition; that ancient sepulchres have been found, in which there were orna- ments of gold of skilful workmanship ; but the facts specified are so few as to warrant no positive inference. 10. This theory is an amusing specimen of the author's ingenu- ity ; but it has not the force to draw our assent to his conclusions. We have noticed it as specifying many curious facts relative to the manners and attainments of the ancient nations, and as furnishing strong evidence of the common origin of manldnd. The nations above mentioned, though many of them remote from one another, were all connected, as links ot a chain, by proximity ; whence it is easy to conceive that knowledge should diverge from a centre to a very distant circumference. M. Bailly has given no reasonable ground for fixing that centre in the position wliich he has assigned to it. SECTION LI. REIGjN OF PHILIP II. OF SPAIN. REVOLUTION OF THE NETHERLANDS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HOLLAND. 1. After a short survey of the Asiatic kingdoms, we return to the history of Europe in the sixteenth century. In the time of Philip II., the successor of Charles V., the balance of povver in Europe was sustained by Spain, France, England, and Germany, all at this time highly flourishing and respectable, either from the talents of their sovereigns, or their internal strength. Eliz- abeth, Henry 11., and Philip II., were all acute and able poHticians; though the policy of Philip partook more of selfish craft, and had less of the manly and heroic, than that of either of his rival mon- archs. Philip was at this time sovereign of Spain, the Two Sicilies, Milan, and the Netherlands. He had likewise, for a kw years, the power of England at his command, by his marriage with Mary, the elder sister and predecessor of Elizabeth. 2. Pope Paul IV., jealous of the power of Philip, formed an alli- ance with Henry U. of France to deprive the Spaniards of Milan and the Two Sicilies. Philip, with the aid of the English, defeated the French at St. Quintin in ricardy, and hoped from this signal vic- tory, to force the allies into a peace ; but the duke of Guise recov ered the spirits of the French, by the taking of Calais Hvcm the Eng- lish, which they had now possessed for two hundred years. Anoth- er great victory, however, obtained by Philip near Gravelines, brought on the treaty of Catteau-Cambrosis in 1 ,559, by which the- jf rench surrendered to Spain no less thau eighty-nine fortified towns in the Low Countries and in Italy. MODERN HISTORY. 195 3. Philip, now at ease from foreign disturbances, began to be dis- quieted on the score of religion. An intolerant bigot by nature, he resolved to extirpate every species of heresy from his dominions. The Netherlands, an assemblage of separate states, were all subject to Philip, under various titles; and he had conferred the government of Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and Utrecht, on William, prince of Orange, a count of the German empire. The Lutheran and Calvin- istic opinions had made great progress in those quarters ; and Philip, determining to repress tnem, established the inquisition with plenaiy f)OWers, created new bishops, and prepared to abrogate the ancient aws, and give the provinces a new political institution. These inno- vations created alarm and tumult ; jmd the duke of Alva was sent into Flanders to enforce implicit submission. 4. The inquisition began its bloody work, and many of the prin- cipal nobility of the provinces were its victims. The minds of the people were completely alienated, and a chief was only wanting to give union to their measures. The prince of Orange, who was under sentence of the inquisition, found no difficulty to raise an army ; and having easily retluced some of the most important garrisons, he was proclaimed stadtholder of Holland and Zealand in 1,570. Eighteen thousand persons perished by the hands of the executioner in the course of the duke ot Alva's government, which was of five years" duration. His place was supplied by Requesens, a man of hu- manity, but bound to obey his inhuman master, who, on the death of Requesens, sent his own brother don John of Austria, to endeavour to regain the revolted states ; but the attempt was fruitless. The whole seventeen provinces had suffered alike from the tyranny of their sovereign ; but particular jealousies prevented a general union, and only seven of them asserted their independence, by a solemn treaty formed at Utrecht, on the 23d of January, 1,579; by which it was agreed that they should defend their liberties as one united republic ; that they should jointly determine in matters of peace and war, establish a general legislative authority, and maintain a liberty of conscience in matters of religion. These seven united provinces are, Guelderland, Holland, Zealand, Friesland, Utrecht, Overyssel, and Groningen. William prince of Orange was declared their chief magistrate, general, and admiral, by the title of Stadtholder. 5. Philip vented his indignation by a proscription of the prince of Orange, oflering 25,000 crowns for his head ; and he compassed his revenge ; for this illustrious man was cut off by an assassin in 1,584. His son Maurice was elected stadtholder in his room, and sustained his important otfice with great courage and ability. With a slender aid from Elizabeth of England, who delighted to traverse the plans of Philip, this infant commonwealth accomplished and secured its inde- pendence, which it maintained till its recent subjugation. 6. The other ten provinces, whose discontents were expressed only by murmur and complaint, were soothed by a new charter from Philip confirming their privileges; while at the same time he took every possible measure to prevent any attempt on their part to throw off the yoke. 196 MODERN HISTORY. SECTION LIl. 9F THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED PROVLNCES. 1. The treaty of confederation of the Seven United Provinces, framed in 1,579, and solemnly renewed in 1,583, is declared to be, by its nature, indissoluble. Each province thereby pre^rved its own laws, magistrates, sovereignty, and independence. They lorm, however, one body politic, having renounced the right of making separate aUijuices or treaties, and established a general council, with power of assembling the states, and regulating the common affairs of the republic. The assembly of the states-general was oiiginally held only twice a year, but became afterwards a perpetual council. 2. In all mattere which regard not the genei'nl interest of the na- tion, each of the states or provinces is in itself a republic, governed by its own laws and magistrates, and possessing a supreme legislative authority. The deputies from each of the towns form the council of the province, in which is vested its separate government ; and these deputies are regulated by the instructions of their constituents. The votes of the majority of deputies decide in the provincial council in all matters whicii regard not the general interest of the nation. 3. The great council of the states-general always met in assembly at the Hague, and is composed of the deputies from the seven prov- inces, of which Holland sends three, Zealand and Utrecht two, and the others one ; each deputy being regulated by the council of his province. A majority of voices is here decisive, unless in the great questions of peace, war, and alliance, in which unanimity is requisite. The disadvantage of this constitution is the delay and dilliculty in the execution of public measures. All the towns and all the nobles of a province must deliberate and instruct their deputy, before the .states-general can take the matter under consideration. This great delect is partly corrected by the power and influence of the stadt- holder. 4. The stadtholder is commander in chief of the sea and land forces, and disposes of all the military employments. He presides over all the courts of justice, and has the power of pardoning crimes. He appoints the magistrates of the towns, trom a list made by them- selves ; receives and names ambassadors, and is charged with the ex- ecution of the laws. He is supreme arbiter in all differences between the provinces, cities, or other members of the state. 5. William, the tirst stadtholder, did not abuse these high powers ; nor did his successors, Maurice and Heniy-Frederick. But under William II. the states became jealous of an exorbitant authority in their chief magistrate, and on his death the office was for some time abolished. In that interval the republic was almost annihilated by the arms of Lewis XIV^ ; and, sensible of their error, they restored the office of stadtholder in the person of William HI., who retrieved the fortunes and honour of his country. In gratitude for his services, the dignity was made hereditary in his family, a solecism in the gov- ernment of a republic. On the death of William without issue, the otfice was once more abolished for twenty years, when it was again restored, declared hereditary in the family of Orange, and descendi- ble even to the issue of a daughter. The only restrictions are^, that MODERN HISTORY. 197 the succeedbg prince shall be of the protestant religion, and neither king nor elector of tl\e German empire. SECTION LIII. REIGN ON PHILIP II. CONTINUED. 1 . The loss of the Netherlands was in some degree compensated to Philip 11. by the acquisition of the kingdom of rortagal. Muley Mahomet, king of Fez and Morocco, dethroned by his uncle Muley Moluc, solicited the aid of don Sebastian king of Portugal to regain his throne. Sebastian landed with an army in Africa, but was de- feated by the Moors and slain ; and the contending Moorish princes perished in the same engagement. Sebastian was succeeded by his grand-uncle don Henry, who died after a reign of two years. The competitors for the crown were don Antonio prior of Crato, and Philip II., paternal and maternal uncles of the last sovereign. Philip defeated bis rival in a decisive engagement at sea, and, without fur- ther opposition, took possession of the throne of Portugal, 1,580. 2. Elizabeth of England had warmly espoused the cause of the revolted Netherlands, and her admiral sir Francis Drake had taken some of the Spanish settlements in America. To avenge these in- juries, the invincible armada, of 150 ships of war, 27,000 men, and 3,000 pieces of cannon, was equipped by Philip for the invasion of England. The English fleet, of 108 ships, attacked them in the night, and burnt and destroyed a great part of the squadron. A storm, which drove them on the rocks and sands of Zealand, com- pleted their discomfiture, and only 50 shattered vessels, with 6,000 men returned to Spain, 1,588. 3. The restless spirit of Philip II. was engaged at the same time in the reduction of the Netherlands, tl»e project for tlie invasion of England, and the dismembering of the kingdom of France. The last scheme was as ineffectual as the two former. It was defeated at once by the conversion of Henry IV. to the catholic religion. The policy of Philip had nothing in it great or generous. His restless ambition was fitted to embroil Europe ; but he had not the judgment to turn the distresses which he occasioned to his own advantage. In his own kingdoms, as in his domestic life, he was a gloomy and in- human tyrant. Yet, from tbe variety and magnitude of his designs, the power by which th.ey were supported, and the splendour of his dominion, the character of Spain was high and respectable in the scale of the nations of Eurone. SECTION LIV. STATE OF FRANCE IN THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CEN TURY ; UNDER HENRY II., FRANCIS II., CHARLES IX., HENRY III., AND HENRY IV- 1. The reformed religion had made the greater progress id France from the impolitic persecution which it sustained from Uenry II., the son and successor of Francis I., who, though he aided the proteetants of Germany in resisting the despotism of Charles Vjj ihowed iK> mercy to their brethren in his own kiogdonx /] 198 MODERN HISTORY. 2. On the death of Henry II. the conspiracy of Amboise was plan- ned by the prince of Conde, for the destruction of the duke of Guise, who ruled the kingdom under Francis II., and to whose intolerance and cruelty the protestants attributed all their calamities. Guise owed his ascendancy chiefly to the marriage of his niece, Mary queen of Scots with the young monarch ; and the detection of this conspiracy, the massacre of its principal leaders, and the barbarous punishment of all who partook in it, while they confirmed his power, served only to increase the rancour of the contending parties. 3. Francis 11. died after a reign of one year, 1,560, and was suc- ceeded by his brother Charles IX., a boy of ten years of age. The queen-mother, Catharine de Medicis, who had no other principle but the love of power, was equally jealous of the influence of the Condes and the Guises. An ecclesiastical assembly, held by her de- sire at Poissy, gave toleration to the protestants to exercise their worship through all France, without the walls of the towas. The zeal or the imprudence of the duke of Guise infringed this ordinance, and both parties flew to arms. The admiral Coligni commandQd the troops of the protestants, who were aided by 1U,000 Germans from the Palatinate. Philip of Spain, to increase the disorders, sent an army to the aid of the catholics. 4. The horrors of civil war were aggravated by murders and assassinations. The duke of Guise was the victim of the frantic zeal of an enthusiast. After many desperate engagements, with various success, a treacherous peace was agreed to by the catholics.; and Coligni, with the chiefs of the protestant party, were invited to court, and received by the queen-mother and her son with the most extraordinary marks of favour: among the rest Henry of Navarre, to whom the young monarch had given his sister in marriaae. Such were the preparatives to the infernal massacre of St. Bartholomew. On the night of the 23d of August, 1,572, at the ringing of the matin bell, the catholics made a general massacre of all the protestants throughout the kingdom ol France. Charles IX., a monster of cruelty assisted in the murder of his own subjects. 5. Amid those horrors Henry duke of Aiijou, brother of Charles IX., was elected king of Poland ; but had scarcely taken possession of his throne, when he was called to that of France by the death of its execrable sovereign, 1,574. The weakness of the new mon- arch, Henry III., was unht to compose the disordei-s of the kingdom. Equally bigoted and profligate, he became the scorn of his subjects, and the dupe of the contending factions. 6. The protestant party was no.v supported by the prince of Conde and young Henry of Navarre, descended from Robert of Bourbon, a younger son of Lewis IX. The duke of Alencon, the king's brother, had likewise joined their party. The catholics, to accumulate their strength, formed a bond of union, termed tlie league^ nominally for defiance of the state and its religion, but in reality for usurping all the powers of government, and suppressing the protes- tant faith. Of this dangerous association Henry III., with the weakest policy, declared himself the head, and thus the avowed enemy of one naif of his subjects. He s;iw his error when too late, and, dreading the designs of the duke of Guise, and his brother the cardinal of Lorraine, whose authority had superseded his own, he basely rid himself of his fears by procuring their assassination. This vicious and eootemptible tyrant, after a reign of fifteen y ears^ was assassinated MODERN HISTORY. 195 by Jaques Clement, a jacobin monk, from the frenzy of fanaticism, 1,589. 7. The next heir of the crown was Henry of Navarre, who had been educated a protestant by his mother, the daughter of Henry d'Albert kingof JNavarre. At the age of sixteen he had been declared head of the parly of the Huguenots ; his uncle the prince of Conde and the admiral Coligni acting as his lieutenants. His first military enterprises were unsuccessful, hiviled to Paris, at the peace ot 1,57^, to marry the sister of Charles IX., he narrowly escaped from the massacre of St. Bartholomew, but remained three years a prison- er. On the death of Charlps he again took the field against the army of the league, which he defeated in the battle of Coutras, 1,587, and still more signally in that of Arques, 1,589. After the death of Henry ill., he won the celtbratud battle of Ivry ; and, being acknowledged sovereign of France by all but the party of the league, than in possession of Paris, he laid siege to the city, which must have capitulated if Philip 11. had not sent succours. Religion was the sole cause of the disunion of France, and the only obstacle to the acknowledgment of Henry''s title by the greater part of his sub jects. By the earnest pei'suasion of Rosni (duke of Suily), a protes tant, Henry was prevailed on to declare himself a catholic He ab jured at St. Denis, and was crowned king at Chartres, 1,694. H**- soon after took possession of Paris ; but it took him several years both of war and negotiation, before he gained the whole of his king dom, exhausted as it was, and ruined by ci\ il discord. 8. The subsequent life of this excellent prince was devoted to the reparation of those misfortunes. After forcing Philip 11. to conclude the advantageous peace of Vervins, 1,598, his whole attention was bestowed on the improvement of Ids kingdom, by reforming its laws, regulating its finances, encouraging agriculture and manufiictures, enlarging and embellishing the cities, and finally by successfully reconciling the partisans of the contending religions. In all his bene- ficial schemes, he found an able assistant in his minister the duke of Sully, who has beautifully depicted the lite and character of his mas- ter. In his memoirs we see not only the great designs, but the pri- vate virtues, the engaging and amiable manners of this illustrious man, who, while he was the arbiter of the contending powers ol Europe, was the indulgent father of a happy people. 9. The period of the splendour and happiness of France was ot short duration. Henry IV., worthy to he immortal, was assassinated at the age of fifty-seven. May 4, 1,610, by Ravaillac, an insane fanat- ic. At the tiiTie of his dea*ti, he meditated the great project of a perpetual peace between the states of Europe, a design highly char- acteristic of the benevolent mind of its author. But the weaknesses ol mankind, and the impossibility of reasoning with nations as with wise individuals, must certainly have rendered this design impracticable at that period. SECTION LV^ HISTORY OF ENGLAND AND OF SCOTLAND IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH AND MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 1. Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VTII., by Anna BuUen, succeeded to the throne on the death of her sister Mary, 1,658 j and Enflan expedi: !:! v^as to dissolve the parliament, but he found tiieir successt is eyua^ vio- S9 27 aid MODERN HISTORY. lent. After various fruitless attempts to conciliate their favour to his measures, a dissolution of this parliament ensued, the last which Charles assembled. 6. But ihe great cause of dissatisfaction remained. The duke of York Wis at the bottom of all the measures of government. A con- spiracy M as formed by Shaftesbury, Russel, Sydney, and the duke of Monuiouth, natural son of the king, on the pretence of vindicating the national liberties. It was discovered by one of the associates, and Kussel and Sydney sulfered capital punishment. The detection of this coo?oiracy strengthened the authority of the sovereign. The duke of i : i'k was restored to his office of high admiral, and tacitly ackuowied^ed as the successor to the crown. Charles II. died on the 6th of February, 1,685, ifi the 55th year of his age, and the 25th of his reign. 7. Tlie ci'.ike of York succeeded to the throne by the title of James II. His reign was short and inglorious. He was the instru- ment of his own misfortunes, and ran headlong to destruction. The catholics at this time were not the hundredth part of the nation, yet James was weak enough to make the desperate attempt of sub- stituting the popish faith in room of the protestant. Discarding the nobility from his councus, he was directed solely by Romish priests. In the vt:y outset of his reign he expressed his contempt of the au- thority o; parli-ciment, and a tirm purpose to exercise an unlimited despotism. 8. Tne duke of Monmouth, having excited a new rebellion, was defeated, made prisoner, and beheaded ; and the most inhuman rigour was exercised in the punishment of all his partisans. The paniament was io general submissive to the king''s will, which for a while met with no opponuion nor control. A declaration was pub- lished, establishing full iiberiy of conscience in matters of religion ; and several bishops, wiio refused to publish it in their diocesses, were committed to prison. A catholic president was appointed to one of the coJeges at Oxford. An ambassador was sent to the pope, and a papal nuncio received in London. The catholics openly boast- ed that theirs would soon be the religion of the state. 6. James iiad ihree children; Mary, the wife of the stadtholder WuLam prince of Orange ; Anne, married to prince George of Dei> niaikj and James, an infant. The stadtholder had considered his right to the crown of England as certain before the birth of this infant, and, after that event, projected still to gain it by arms or in- trigue ; the infatuaticn of the king and the general discontent of the people giving him ttie most flattering invitation. James was inform- ed of tnose views of his son-in-law, but would give them no credit, tiii actually apprized of his landing with an army, November loth, J, 688. to. Ttie principal nobility and officers immediately joined the .standard of the prince of Orange; and James was at once abandoned by his peopl:, ministers, favourites, and his own children. Leaving London in -^i.-^guise, he was discovered and brought back by the pop- ulace ; but the prince of Orange \visely favoured his escape, and he jound means a few days after, to convey himself to France. 1 1. Tlje tijfone being declared vacant, it was proposed in a con- vention-parliament, that the crown shouiJ be settled on the princess M .ry and aei' isstse, her husband governing as regent, whom failing, on the princess Anae. Tne stadtholder dechuing the office of regent, ib'was finally resolved to ewifer the crown on the prioce aod prh^ MODERN HISTORY. 211 cess of Orange, the former to have the sole administration of the government. 1 2. To this settlement was added a declaration fixing the rights of the subject and the royal prerogative. Of this the most important articles are the following. The king cannot suspend the laws, nor their execution ; he cannot levy money without consent of parlia- ment; the subjects have right to petition the crown; a standing army cannot be kept up in time of peace but by consent of parlia- ment ; elections and parliamentary debate must be free, and parlia- ments must be frequently assembled, &,c. Such was the final settle- ment of the British government at the great era of the revolution. At this period, when the constitution became fixed and detei'mined, we' finish the sketch of the history of our own coun?ry. SECTION LIX. ON THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 1. The rudiments of the constitution of England may be traced as far back as the Norman conquest. William distributed a great pro- portion of the lands among his Norman followers, subjecting these, as well as the Anglo-Saxons who retained their property to the feu- dal tenures, and thus extinguishing at once the ancient liberties of the people. England was divided into 60,215 military fiefs, all held of the crown, under the obligation of the vassaPs taking arms for his sovereign whenever required. In the continental kingdoms of Europe, as in France, the feudal system arose by slow degrees, nor was there of consequence the same union of the fabric as in England. The feudal lords were independent of one another, ever at variance from their mutual pretensions, and often owning but a very slender allegiance to the crown. Their vassals suffered frona oppression, and of^ten struggled for their freedom ; but those efforts being partial produced no consequence favourable to the liberty of the nation. In England all were oppressed by the enormous weight of the crown ; it was a common grievance, and produced at times a violent effort for the general liberties of the people. 2. The forest-laws imposed by tbe conqueror (Sect. XV., § 2, 11.) were a grievance felt by the whole nation, as rendering every man's property precarious, and subject to the arbitrary encroachments of the crown. It was no wonder that the barons and their vassals should cordially unite to rid themselves of so intolerable a hardship. Henry I. found it necessary to conciliate his subjects, by mitigating the most rigorous of the feudal laws. A greater advance was made under Henry II., by the institution of the trial by jury. But John impru- dently resisting this natural progress toward a rational freedom, was soon compelled into those important concessions, the Churta de Foresta and Magna Charta. From that time the constitution of England was that of a limited monarchy, whatever we may judge of the actual government, which was often most arbitrary and despotical. 3. The next memorable era in the progress of the English consti- tution was the reign of that weak prince Henry III., when the par- liament received a new form, by the admission of the representatives of the people, the deputies of the counties and boroughs. (Sect. XXII., ^ 2.) His successor Edward I. acknowledged their authority in obtaining all his subsidies, and ratified a new law, which declareu, 218 MODERN HISTORY. that no tax should be levied without the consent of Iorerial generals, and carried the protestant banners trium- phantly through Germany. The emperor was completely humbled, and the elector Palatine was on the eve of restoration to his domin- ions, when the heroic Gustavus was slain in the battle of Lutzeix, 1,632. The war was successfully prosecuted by the Swedish gener- als, while cardinal Richeheu harassed the house of Austria both in Qermany and Spain. 3. la the aucceeding reign of Ferdinand III^ the protestants of MODERN HISTORY. 219 Germany found the most active support both from the Swedes and the French. The emperor was Ibrced to conclude the pe^ice of Westphalia in 1,648 ; and these powers dictated the terms. By this celebrated treaty all disputes were settled between the contending princes of the empire, and also between the contending religions ; the Swedes were indemnitied for the charges of the war, and ac- quired Pomerania, Stettin, Wismar, and other provinces, and their sovereign the dignity of prince of the empire ; its chief posse3- sions were restored to the Falatme family ; the king of France was made landgrave of Alsace ; and an equal establishment of the three religions was decreed. This salutary peace laid the foundation of the future greatness and prosperity of the German empire. SECTION LXIV. FRANCE UNDER LEWIS XIV. 1. On the death of Lewis XIII. in 1,633, his son Lewis XIV. suc- ceeded to the throne in the hfth year of his age. Europe, as we have seen, was in a most turbiilent state ; and France, under the ad- ministration of Riche-jieu, acted a conspicuous part in exciting those genei'al commotions. The queen mother Aime of Austria, appointed regent by the states, c^xise for h»r minister the cardinal iVlazarin, an Italian, and from that ciicumst; e odious to the people. The Span- iards, taking advantage of t)' king''s minority and the popular dis- contents, made an attack on Champagne ; but were defeated in a series of engagements by the great Conde. The marshal de Tu- renne shared with him the palm of glory. The peace of Westpha- lia composed those differences. 2. At this very time the commotions of the Fronde broke out in Puis. The jealousy of Mazarin's power, felt by the nobility, the unpopularity of his measures, the disorder of the finances, and the Oppression of new taxes, inflamed the naffon ; and the intrigues of the coadjutor, afterwards cardinal de Retz, blew the flame into a civil war. The parliament of Paris took part with the rebels, who were headed by the prince of Conti, the dukes of Longueville and Bouillon, and the chief nobility. The queen and the Royal family removed to St. Germain's, and the ministerial party besieged Paris. Turenne, who at tirst supported them, was gained over by the rebels. The women, who are always concerned in the disturbances of France, acted a conspicuous part in those of the Fronde. A short pacitication ensued ; but the imprudent violence of Mazarin soon re- newed the disorders. At length the parliament of Paris assumed the right of banishing this unpopular minister, who retired to the imperial dominions ; but his influence continued to regulate the measures of state. 3. A change ensued on the king's coming of age, 1,652. De Retz and Orleans, the chief promoters of the rebeflion, were ban- ished, and Mazarin resumed nis station as minister. Conde had joined the Spaniards in an attack on the French Netherlands, but was overmatched by Turenne, who revenged this insult by the taking of Dunkirk and several fortiiied towns under the Spanish govern- ment. By convention with Cromwell, Dunkirk had been ceded to ihe pngUsh, !md afterwards sold to France by Churles II., as has been veJated. 220 MODERN HISTORY. 4. The war with Spain ended in 1 ,659, by the peace of the Py- renees. Many cessions were made on both sides, but France kept Roussiilon and part of Artois. It was stipulated that Lewis XI v. should marry the inianta, daughter of Philip IV^, but should renounce all right which might thence open to the crown of Spain. 5. The treaty of the Pyrenees gave peace to the south of Europe. The wars in the north between Sweden, Poland, and Denmark, which arose after the abdication of Christina of Sweden, were termi- nated in the year following by the treaty of Oliva. Christina, a sin- gular, but not a graat woman, held the sceptre of Sweden for twen- ty-two years after the death of her father, Gustavus Adolphus. At length, tired of the cares of government, and affecting a passion for hterature and philosophy, she resigned the crown to her cousin, Charles X., in 1,654. Soon after this event Casimer king of Poland was induced by age and sickness to abdicate the throne, alter an hon- ourable reign. 6. Mazarin died in 1,661, and Lewis XIV. entered on a vigorous and splendid career. The finances, which from the time of Henry IV. had been in extreme disorder, were admirably regulated by Colbert ; and the commerce and manufactures of the kingdom, wisely en- couraged by government, were soon in the most flourishing situation. The canal of Languedoc joined the bay of Biscay and the Med- iterranean ; the principal sea-ports were enlarged and fortified ; and the internal police of the kingdom was regularly and strictly enforc- ed. At the same time the arms of France aided England against the Dutch, Germany against the Tuiks, and Portugal against Spain. 7. On the death of Philip IV ., Lewis, pretending that Spain had failed in payment of the dowry of his queen, besieged and took Lisle, with several other fortified towns of Flanders ; and in the next cam- paign made himself master of Franche-Comte. Lewis marched with his armies, but the glory of these conquests was owing to Turenne and Vauban. The triple alliance formed by England, Holland, and Sweden, checked this career, and brought about the treaty of Aix- b-Chapelle, 1,668, by which Lewis, though he retained Flanders, restored Franche-Comte, and confirmed tlie peace of the Pyrenees. 8. The strength and prosperity of the kingdom continued to increase under the able administration of Colbert and Louvois. The civil factions of Holland between the stadlholder and the party of the De VVits, templed Lewis to undertake the conquest of that coun- try. England, Germany, and Sweden, favoured his views. He overran the provinces of Utrecht, Overyssel, and Guelderland, and advanced almost to the gates of Amsterdam, when the Dutch inun- dated the country by letting in the sea, and the French were forced to retreat. 9. The confederate powers now became jealous of the ascendan- cy of France ; and the prince of Orange had sufficient influence with England, and both branches of the house of Austria, to obtain their alliance in aid of the republic. The arms of Lewis, however, continued to be successful, and the peace concluded at Nimeguen, in 1,678, was much to the honour of France. Franche-Comte was assured as a part of her dominions, and Spain allowed her right by conquest to a great proportion of the Netherlands. 10. Notwithstanding the peace, Lewis, with the most culpable insincerity, seized Strasburg, and secretly assisted the Hungarians and Turks in their attack on the imperial dominions. Vienna must have fallen into the hands of the Turks, if it had not been seasonably *^ MODERN HISTORY. 22^. Believed by the victorious arms of John Sobieskl king of Poland in 1,683. 11. One of the weakest and most impolitic measures of Lewis XIV., was the revocation of the ed^t of Nantes, granted by Henry IV. for the toleration of the proteWants. While their worship was suppressed, their churches demolished, and their ministers banished, the protestant laity were forbidden, under the most rigorous penal- ties, to quit the kingdom, 1,685. France, however, by this measure, lost above 500,00U of her most industrious and useful subjects; and the name of Lewis XIV. was execrated over a great part of Europe. Not long after tliis time a similar excess of intolerant bigotry pre- cipitated James 11. from the throne of Britain, and forced him to seek an asylum from the monarch of France. 12. William prince of Orange, the inveterate enemy of Lewis, brought about the league of Augsburg, 1,686; and the war w«s renewed with France by Germany, Spain, England, and Holland. The French arms were still successful. Lvixembiirg defeated William in the battles of Steenkirk and Nerwindcn; iNcaiiles was victorious in Spain; and an army of R»0,000 French ravaged the Palatinate, and took many of the most iniporiant towns on (he Rhine. T*his was the crises of the glory of Lewis, whose fortunes were to sustain the most mortifying reverse. 13. Those various and most extensive mililnry enterprises, how ever flattering to the pride of the monarch, had heen attended with enormous expense, and no solid advantage to tlie nation. The finances had fallen into disorder after the dcaih of Colbert, and a peace was absolutely necessary. By the treaty cf Ry^v^•ick, concluded in 1,697, Lewis restored to Spain all the cont|vie>ts made in the two last Weirs, several towns to the emperor, the duchy of Lorrai;ie to its duke, and acknowiedged the right of Wiiiiam to the crown of Eng- land. 14. The succession of the kingdom of Spain, on l!ie expectecj death of Charles II., without issue, was now the dject of political intrigue. The emperor and the king of France had the only natural righi of succession ; but William 111., of England, from the dread of such an increase of power to either, proposed a treaty of partition of the Spanish dominions, at home and abroad, between the elector of Bavaria, the dauphin, and the emperor's second son. Charles II. chose rather to make his own destination, and appointed by will that the duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, should inherit Spain; on whose death without issue, it should devolve on the archduke Charles,' youngest son of the emperor. 15. On the death of Charles the duke of Anjou succeeded to the throne of Spain, in virliio of this settlement. The emperor, the king of England, and the Dutch, proposed to separate from his crown tlie Spanish dominions in Italy. In this enterprise prince Eugene, son of the count de Soissons, commanded the imperial troops, an illustrious renegade from irance, of great prowess and military skill. 16. James II. of England died in 1,701 at St. Germain's, and Lewis gave mortal offence to the government of thru country by acknowl- edging the title of his son. On the death of king ^\ iliiam in the year following war was declared by Lngiand, Holland, i.nd the em- pire, against France and Spain. Lewis Xlv . was now in tiie decline of lite. He had lost tho ablest of his ministers and his greatest gei>- erals. The finances ol the kingdom were exhausted. The armies T2 222 MODERN HISTORY* of his enemies were commanded by Eugene and the duke of Marl- borough, the ablest generals of the age, and supported by the treas- ures of the united powers. Savoy and Portugal joined this formidable confederacy, to overvvlielm botl^ branches of the house of Bourbon and place the emperor's son ohtoc throne of Spain. 17. Marlborough took Venlo, Ruremonde, and Liege. Eugene and Marlborough defeated Tallard and Marsin, with the elector of Bavaria, in the signal battle of Blenheim, 1,704, England and Hol- land attacked Spain by sea and land. Catalonia and Valencia were subdued in six weeks. Gibralter was taken by the English, and has ever since remained in their possession, hi the battle of Rami- lies, Marlborough defeated Vilieroy, and left 20,000 dead on the held. The contest, at first doubtful in Italy, ended alike disastrously for the house of Bourbon. The archduke Charles was in the mean time proclaimed king at Madrid ; and Philip V. had serious thoughts of abandoning Spain, and establishing his dominion in America. But the successes of the duke of Berwick, natural son of James II., recov- ered for a while his desponding spirit, and even prompted his grand- father Lewis to avenge himself on England, by aiding the bold but desperate enterprise of establishing the pretended Jam.es on the throne of Britain. 18. But France and Spain were daily losing ground. The pope had acknowledged the tide of the archduke Charles; the English seized the Mediterranean islands ; and Lewis, fallen from all his proud pretensions, humbly entreated a peace, which was refused, unless on the condition of dethroning his grandson with his own arms. He maintained for a while this unequal contest, and was at length forced to propose terms equally humiliating ; the cession of all his con- quests in the Netherlands and on the Rhine ; the acknowledgment of the archduke's title to the crown of Spain ; and a promise to give no aid to his grandson. But these terms were refused, and the inhuman condition still insisted on, that he should assist in dethroning his grandson. A last exertion was made in Spain under the duke of Vendome, at the head of a prodigious army ; and the victory ob- tained by the French at Vllla-vitiosa restored Philip V. to the throne of Spain. His competitor, tne archduke, soon after became em- peror, on the death of his elder brother. 19. The intrigues of the cabinet of queen Anne, and the coming in of a tory mini-tcy, changed the politics of Europe. It was re- solved to make peace with i^'rance and Spain, and the treaty was concluded at Utrecht in 1,713. It was stipulated that Philip king of Spain should renounce ail eventual right to the crown of France, and tiis brother to the crown of Spain. The Dutch obtained an ex- tension of frontier, and the emperor a great part of Spanish Flanders. The English gained from Spam, Gibraltar and Minorca, and I'rom France, Acadia, Newfoundland, and Hudson's Bay, with the demolition of the harbor of Dunkirk. In the following year, a peace was con- ciudt d at Rastadt between France and the empire. 20. 1 ne conclusion of this peace, after an honourable war, was ■the most nemorable event in the reign of queen Anne, if we except the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland, in 1 ,706, which was brought about by the negotiation of commissioners mutually chosen, to secure the rights of each kingdom in the best manner for their niutual benefi*. It was stipulated that both sbould be represent- ed by one pariiam^nt (Sect. LIX., § 8), that they should have the some ja-rvileges with respect to commerce, and that «ach kingdom MODERN HISTORY. \ should retain its own laws and established religion. The succession to the crown was limited to the house of Hanover. Queen Anne died on the 30th of July, 1,714. Lewis XIV. died on the 1st of September, 1,713, in the 78th year of his age. He was a prince of great vigour of mind, of good talents, though unimproved by educa- tion, of dignified yet amiable mannei"s. His greatest lault was inor- dinate ambition, to which he sacrificed the real interests of his people. It was his highest honour, that he discerned and recompensed every species of merit. France was in his time equally illustrious by the great military talents of her generals, and by the splendour of liter- ature and of the ails and sciences. SECTION LXV. OF THE CONSTITUTION OF FRANCE UNDER THE MONAR- CHY. 1. It is necessary for understanding the history of France, that we should have some acquaintance with its former monarchical con- stitution : we shall therefore briefly trace the progress of the gov- ernment under the different races of its sovereigns. The regal pre- rogative was extremely hmited under the Merovingian princes. (Sect. II., III.) The general assembly of the nation had the right of electing the sovereign, and the power of legislation. Under the Carlovingian race the authority acquired by Pepin and Charlemagne sunk to nothing in the hands of their weak posterity ; and though the crown had ceased to be elective, the regal dignity was a mere shadow. The power of the state had passed into the hands of a turbulent aristocracy, ever at variance among themselves, and uniting only to abase the crown and to oppress the people. 2. Under the third or Capetian race the crown acquired more weight, and many of the sovereigns exerted a proper spirit in re- straining the power of the nobles, and hi punisiiing their lawless outrages. To balance the weight of the aristocracy Philip the fair introduced the third estate to the national assemblies, which for above four centuries had consisted only of the nobles and clergy. The chief power of the state began now to shift to the scale of fhe monarch. The national assembly interfered rather to ratify than to decree ; and in the fifteenth century the right of legislation was under- stood to reside wholly in the crown. The right of taxation seemed to follow of course. The assemblies or states-general were now rarely convened, and from the reign of Lewis Xlll. were discontinued. 3. But another power gradually rose in the state, which in some measure supplied the function of the assemblies in limiting the royal prerogative. The parliaments were originally the chief courts of justice in the territory where they were established. The parlia- ment of Paris naturally claimed a higher respect and dignity than the parliaments of the provinces ; and, acquiring a right of appeal from their decrees, was considered as the paramount jurisdiction, and the depository of the laws of the kingdom. The sovereigns of France, on first assuming the powers of legislation and taxation, prol duced their edicts to be registered in the court of the parliament of Paris, and frequently consulted with its members on momentous afiairs of state, as in questions of peace, war, or alliance. Thus the m MODERN HISTORY. nation began to regard the parliament of Paris as a body which shared the powers of government with the monarch. In the latter reigns the parliament availed itself of that general opinion, and made a bSld stand in opposing any arbitrary stretches of the king's author- ity, by refusing to verify and register his edicts. 4. But as this power of the parliament was in reality a usurpation, it was constantly *a subject of dispute. The members of this court were in no sense the representatives of the people, nor vested with any portion of the constitutional authority of the national assemblies. They were in the king's nomination, removable by him at pleasure, and even subject to entire annihilation as a body at his command. Even without so violent a remedy, the sovereign could at any time frustrate their opposition to his will, by personally appearing in the hall of parliament, and commanding his edict to be registered. 5. Yet a power thus easily defeasible had its advantages to the state, and operated as a considerable restraint on the royal authority. Considering itself iis the guardian of the public liberty, it remonstrat- ed against all arbitrary encroachments of the crown, and by giving alarm to the nation, furnished an opposition sufficiently powerful to obtain its ends. The provincial parliaments, though they likewise registered the royal edicts, never assumed any similar authority. They were only the chief courts of civil judicature. 6. The king of France was therefore to be considered as an ab- solute monarch, whose authority was in some degree limited by the consuetudinary regulations of the state, and could not easily become entirely despotic and tyrannical. The crown was hereditary, but could not descend to a female, nor to a natural son. The royal rev- enue was partly fixed and partly arbitrary. The fixed revenue cnnv prehended the royal domains, the duties on wines and salt, the land tax, capitation tax, and gift of the clergy ; the other arose from all other taxes which the monarch thought tit to impose, and from the sale of offices. Most of these duties were leased out to the farmers- general. 7. The Gallican church, though catholic, and acknowledging the spiritual authority of the pope, had greatly abridged his ancient prerogatives within the kingdom. The assembly of the church declared, in 1,682, that no temporal sovereign could be deposed by the pope, nor subjects absolved from their allegiance : it decreed the subjection of the pope to the councils of the church, and denied his infallibility when in opposition to the canons of those councils. The {)ope had no power to levy money in France without the royal icense. In short, the ecclesiastical authority was in all repctc ="^^ ordinate to the civil. ^ SECTION LXVl. OF PETER THE GREAT, CZAR OF MUSCOVY, AND CHARLES XII., KING OF SWEDEN. 1. Two most illustrious men adorned the north of Europe in the latter part of the age of Lewis XIV., Peter the great of Muscovy, and Charles XII. of Sweden. Russia is said to have received the light of Christianity in the . tenth century, but its history is utterly unknown till the middle of MODERN HISTORY. 225 the fifteenth. At that period John Basilowitz redeemed the enopire from its subjection to the Tartars, and extended its limits. His suc- cessors maintained a considerable splendour as sovereigns ; but their dominions were uncultivated, and their subjects barbarians. Alexis Michaelowitz, father of Peter the great, was the tirst who pubUshed a code of lavvs. At the end of the sixteenth century Siberia was added to the empire, which till that time had been bounded by the hmits of Europe. 2. Peter, the youngest son of the emperor Alexis, became mas- ter of the empire in 1,689, by setting aside a weak elder brother, and banishing a factious sister, who had seized the government. He was uneducated, and his youth had been spent in debauchery ; but his new situation immediately displayed his talents, and gave birth to the wisest plans for the improvement of a barbarous people. The anny and navy demanded his tirst attention. He began by breaking the turbulent "militia of the Strelitzes, and by degrees formed a regu- lar army of 12,000 men on the strictest model of discipline. He em- ployed some Dutchmen to build a small tleet, and made the first ex- periment of his arms in taking Azof from the Turks in 1,696. 3. Having §i;iined the little instruction which he possessed from foreigners, Peter resolved to travel in search of knowledge. Ap- pointing Le Fort, an able Genevese, his ambassador, he travelled as a private person in his suite through Germany to Holland, and studied the art of ship-building, by working in the docks with his own hands. Thence he passed to England, and in a similar manner acquired the knowledge of every art fitted for the improvement of his kingdom. The relative sciences were cultivated with the same ardour and success ; and in sixteen months he returned to Moscow to reduce those important acquirements into practice. 4. Regiments were raised and trained to exercise on the German model ; the finances arranged and systematized ; the church re- formed by new canons and regulations; the partriarchate abolish- ed ; and a much abused civil and criminal jurisdiction taken from the clergy. It was necessary to carry this relbrm even to the abo- lition of the national dress, and the suppression of ancient usages and habits of life, innovations reluctantly submitted to, but enforced by absolute power. 5. While this great genius was thus employed in new-modelling and polishing a barbarous empire, a competitor arose to dispute with him the sovereignty of the north, and to divide the admiration of Europe. Charles XII. succeeded to the throne of Sweden in 1,695, at fifteen years of age ; a prince whose singular heroism of character and extraordinary achievements have ranked him with the greatest conquerors of antiquity. The situation of his kingdom speedily brought his genius into display. Russia, Poland, and Denmark, joined in a league to seize and divide his dominions. The attack was begun by the Danes on Holstein, while the king of Poland invaded Livonia, and the czar, Ingria. Charles immediately landed an army on Zealand, at the gates of Copenhagen, and in six weeks forced the king to purchase the safety of his capital and kingdom, by laying down his arms, and making full indemnity to the duke of Holstein. He now hastened into Ingria, and at the battle of Nart^a defeated 60,000 of the Russians, and took 30,000 prisoners. Such was the first campaign of Charles XII., then a boy of seventeen. 6. Poland was destined to receive a more humiUaling chastise- ment. Charles reduced Courland and Lithuania, penetrated into the 29 226 MODERN HISTORY. heart of the kingdom, and subdued the capitals of Warsaw and Cra- cow. He then assembled the states, declared king Augustas de- posed, and signified his pleasure that Stanislaus, his own dependant, sliould be elected sovereign of Poland. The factions of the king- dom aided this revolution, and the will of Charles was complied with. The deposed king retired to his electoral dominions of Saxony. 7. A negotiation begun with the czar was abruptly terminated by Charles, who declared (hat he would negotiate only at Moscow. Entering the Russian dominions with 45,000 men, he was in the way of executing his threat, when he was induced, by a treaciierous promise of aid from the Cossacks, to march through the Ukraine in the depth of winter. His army was wasted by fatigue and famine, when he was encountered by the czar at Pultowa; and the fate of Russia, Sweden, and Poland, hung upon that battle. Charles was entirely defeated : 9,000 Swedes fell in the field, and 14,000 were taken prisoners, 1,709. Augustus was restored to the throne of Poland, and the czar took possession of Finland and Livonia. 8. With the wreck of his army, reduced to 1,800 men, Charles retreated into the Turkish dominions, and formed a camp near Ben- der. He endeavoured to prevail upon the grand seignior to arm against the czar, and succeeded after a long negotiation. Two hun- dred thousand Turks took the field, and the czar's army, far inferior in number, was surrounded, and, after ineffectual resistance, forced to capitulate to the grand vizier. The news of this capitulation de- stroyed all the hopes of Charles ; and his subsequent conduct seems the result of frenzy. The grand seignior having intimated his de- sire tiiat the Swedes should quit his territories, Charles fortified his camp, and declared that he would defend it to the last extremity. After every means ineftectuallv tried to make him alter this resolu- tion, he was attacked by the Turkish army, and taken fighting sword in hand amidst a massacre of his troops. 9. In the mean time the czar and the king of Denmark were rav- aging Sweden. Charles returned in disguise with two of his officers, to his own dominions, and immediately conceived the design of wresting Norway from Denmark. Faihng in the outset of this enter- prise, he was persuaded by Gortz, his prime minister, to attempt to dethrone George II., to seize a part of his continental dominions, and to place the pretender James on the throne of England. This project was concerted between Gortz and Alberoni, prime minister of Philip V. The czar joined in the scheme, and made peace with Sweden ; but an unforeseen event broke all their measures. In be- sieging the Norwegian fortress of Frederickshall, Charles was killed by a cannon-ball, on the 1 1th of ])ecember, 1,718. 10. Sweden gained by the death of Charles a reformation of her government, and a salutary limitation of the arbitrary power of the sovereign. His sister Ulrica succeeded to the throne, and raised to it her husband, Frederick landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. The states made peace with all the hostile powers. The czar was now engaged in a war with Persia, in the view of obtaining the command and commerce of the Caspian. This object he accomplished, and gained, by cession from the sophi, three provinces of the P^^rsian empire. Peter the great died .lanuary 28, 1,725, and was succeeded by the czarina Catherine, formely a Livonian captive, who possessed merit equal to her elevated station. His only son, Alexis Petrowitz, had been condemned to lose his life for treason, and the mode of his MODERN HISTORY. 22T death, which immediately followed his condemnation, is unknown. Russia owes to Peter the great all those beneficial improvements which have raised her, within the period of a century, from barba- fism and obscurity, to the highest rank among tiie powers of Europe. SECTION LXVIL A VIEW OF THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE IN EUROPE, FROM 'J^HE END OF THE FIFTEENTH TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 1. We have seen how much literature and the sciences were in- debted to the art of priming for their advancement and dissemination toward the end of the tilteenth century. (Sect. XXXIV., ^ 12.) From that period classical learning, criticism, poetry, and history, made a rapid progress in most of the kingdoms ol" Europe. Philos- ophy did not keep pace with literature. The dogmas of Aristotle l)aredicted abundant products of the earth for seven years, and aiter- ward a dreadful famine for seven years. He was released from pris- on, and appointed to conduct the affaii-s of Egypt under Pharaoh. 5. In consequence of the famine with which Canaan was afflicted (as it had been foretold), Jacob and his family removed into Egypt, 1,702 A. C. Joseph assigned them a residence in the land of Goshen, a fertile country fit for pasturage, situated between the Nile and the Red Sea. In this happy country the descendants of Jacob increased and flourished, and became so numerous and prosperous that at length the envy and feai-s of the Egyptians began to be excited against them. To check their pros])erity rigorous measures were pursued by the rulers of Egypt. Their lives were imbittered by Iiard servite, and all their male children were ordered to be drowned at their birth. 6. Till the time of their residence in the land o( Goshen, the He- brews had led a pastoral life, and had not been subject to any regular form of government. Children were obedient to their parents, and servants to their masters. Religion appeared in its most simple and amiable form. One God, the Creator and Governor of the world, was worshipped without images, and without an estahhshed priest- hood. Equal purity in faith and worship, in principle and practice. f)revailed among the people. But in proportion as wealth ana uxury increased, the reUgion of the Hebrews became more sensual. Like all eastern nations they were prone to the worship of the heav enly bodies. Priestcraft employed images, and the delusive artifices of superstition to attract the devotion of the people. JEWISH HISTORY. 243 7. The history of the Hebrews, during the patrirrchal ages, is related in the first book of Moses, with simplicily, minuteness, and j apparent fidelity. There we read a description of ancient customs , and manners in the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and - Jacob. The story of Joseph and his brethren has been always admired for the simplicity of the language, and the affecting cir- ' cumstances which it exhibits. As the numerous facts and incidents ; in the early periods of the history of the Hebrews are familiar to ' every reader, and are besides of little importance in the political annals of the nation, it seems superfluous to enter into a detail of j them. We shall therefore next present a compendious view of the ^ history of the Hebrews from the period of their departure out of ; Egypt, 1,487 A. C. j 8. After much oppression and suffering, God raised up a deliverer i of his chosen people, who rescued them from a state ot cruel servi- ; tude, and brought them out of the land of bondage. This deliverer i was Moses, the most distinguished pei-sonage of ancient times, born 1,567 A. C. In consequence of Pharaoh''s inhuman decree, Moses i was exposed by his mother on the banks of the Tsile, and was found by the king's daughter, who compassionately adopted him, and thus saved his life. Before their departure from Egypt, and in their long and tedious journey of forty years through the wilderness, many extraordinary and supernatural events are recorded in the Bible, and ascribed to the mii-acuious interposition of the Lord in behalf of his people. During their wanderings in the desert, they received from their illustrious guide, with many other signal proofe of divine favour, a system of rehgion and laws, under the sanction of God. 9. The Mosaic code, though the most ancient that has been trans mitted to posterity, contains the best maxims of legislative wisdom. It is an admirable summary of our various duties to God and man ; and it enforces the observance of those duties by the powerful mo- tives of gratitude, hope, and fear. It directs our adoration to one God, the author of all blessings ; commands us to reverence his holy name ; and denounces dreadlul vengeance against those who shall transfer to idols, or to the creature, that worship which is due only to the Creator. To prevent the neglect of those sacred obligations, it ordains a Sabbath every week, to be set apart for rest, and for pious meditation on the works and the beneficence of God. Four of the statutes of the Mosaic code comprehend the principles of universal jurisprudence. 1. Thou, shult not kill. 2. Tlwu skalt not commit udul- to-y. 3. Thou shalt not steal. 4. Tlwu shalt not hear false ■fitness. They have formed the basis of criminal law in all civilized nations, And are essential to the good order of society. They conclude with an admonition against avarice, the incentive to the commission of all ofiences. 10. While Moses lived in Egypt he must have remarked the bane- ful effects of the abuse of unUmited power entrusted to priests. He therefore wisely separated the sacerdotal jurisdiction from the civif. The ministers of rehgion were not allowed to interfere in secular affairs. Their duties were confined to the worship of God ; and their civil authority extended no farther than to take cognizance of such offences or trespasses as were immediately connected with re- ligious worship. The care and direction of all secular concerns were committed to the elders of the people, who administered justice un- der the control of a. supreme magistrate, emphatically styled a judge. In the judge was vested all power civil and military. It ap« 244 JEWISH HISTORY. pears however that the high priest at length invaded the military prerogative ot" the juJge. 11. Sensible of the ignorance and perverseness of the people under his care, Moses omitted no precepts nor instructions which he tiiought might tend to inform their minds, to regulate their con- duct, to correct their vicious propensities, and to promote their wel- fare and security. He prescribed rules for their diet, for the preser- vation of their health, and for the treatment and cure ot those diseases to which they were most liable. Having conducted tiie Israelites through many dangers and diiriculties within sight of the promised laad, and appointed Joshua his successor, Moses died in 1,447 A. C. SECTION VI 11. THE HISTORY OF TIIE HEBREWS DURING THE GOVERNMENT OF THE JUDGf:S. 1. This period is extremely turbulent and sanguinary; a periolaced their sole confidence in the goodness and mercy of God. Neither promises nor threats could induce them to abandon their duty, and worship the idols of the heathens. ' 2. After they had been in captivity 70 years, Cyrus, king of Persia, having conquered Babylon, set them at liberty, and issued a decree, by which they were permitted to return to their own country, and to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, 643 A. C. He restored to them all the sacred utensils which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away trom the temple. He laid down a plan of the new temple, and ordered that the expense of erecting it should be paid out of the royal treasury. All who desired it were allowed to remain in their present places of residence, and to contribute as much as they pleas- ed to the holy editice. It may be proper to observe in this place, that the Israelites who returned from the captivity of Babylon were then and ever after- ward called JetM, because the tribe of Judah was the most power- ful of all the tribes of Israel, and indeed almost the only one which was considerable after their i-estoration to their liberty and country. 3. Many of the Israelites chose to remain at Babylon. Those who returned to Palestine began the work of the temple with alac- rity and vigour. Its progress suffered a temporary obstruction through the intrigues of their enemies, and the caprice of Cyrus's immediate successors. But in the beginning of the reign of Darius the decree of Cyrus in favour of the Jews was ratified, and many new clauses were added for their effectual assistance and securilv A particular charge was given to the governors of Syria and Sam., ria, not only to prevent any further obstruction of the work, but also to furnish supplies out of tbe tribute of those provinces tor carrying it on with greater expedition ; and it was declared that all persons who should act contrary to these instructions would be punished with death. - 4. Darius continued to manifest bis favour for the Jews, during the remainder of his long reign. Their privileges were contirmed to them by his son Xerxes, Their interest was still greater with 3^ 250 JEWISH HISTORY. Artaxerxes, the Ahasuerus of scripture, through the influence of his queen Esther, a Jewess, and also through the services of her uncle Mordecai, who had discovered and frustrated a conspiracy against the king's life. Fronri Artaxerxes, Ezra obtained very liberal donations, to be applied to the senice of the temple ; and full powers to gov- ern the Jews as the divine will should direct. The like commission was also granted to Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and reformed many abuses both civil and religious. After these two we find no more governors of Judea, which prol)- ably became s'jbject to the governor of Syria, from w hom the high- priests might immediately derive their authority. In this prosperous state were the Jews about 420 years before the christian era. 5. From this time we may ascribe most of the misfortunes which befel the Jewish nation to men who aspired at the sacerdotal dignity tbrough ambition and avarice more than zeal for religion. For whole centuries the office of high-priest was the chief object of men's ambidoii. The candidates purchased the office from the Syrian gov- ernors, ;ind retained it by means of money. Hence they oppressed the people with taxes that they might fulfil their pecuniary engage- ments. There was no energy among this degraded people, no dig- nity among the great, no foresight, no thought of pursuing proper measures against foreign invasion. 6. About 328 A. C. Alexander the great besieged Tyre, and was incensed against the Jews, because they had refused to supply his army with provisions during the siege. After the capture of Tyre he marched to Jerusalem with the intention of punishing the Jews for their disobedience of his orders, iaddua the high-priest was ordered in a dream to meet'the threatening conqueror in his pontifi- cai robes, at the head of all the priests in their proper haliits, and attended by the rest of the people dressed in white garments. Alexander was struck with tiiis religious pomp, and approaching the high-priest with awful respect, embraced him with a religious kind of veuenition. He told his attendants, who expressed surprise at his submissive behaviour, that he did not pay this profound respect to the higii-priest, but to the God whose minister he was. Alexander then went to Jerusalem, and offered sacrifice in the temple to the God of the Jews. Upon his departure he granted to the Jews the freedom of their country, laws, and religion, and exempted them from paying tribute every seventh year. During his whole reign they enjoyed great tranquillity ; but with him expired the prosperous state of their countiT- Judea was successively invaded and subduec^ by the Syrians and Egyptians, and the people were reduced to bon- dage. 7. The Jews kept their sabbath so rigidly that they would not fight on that day, nor even defend themselves although attacked by an enemy. Ptolemy king of Egypt, having invaded Judea, took ad- vantage of this religious impediment. He entered Jerusalem on the sabbath-day without resistance, and carried away to Egypt a hundred thousand captives, 316 A. C. After thfs time the Jews became the victims of foreign and domes- tic wars, and of horrid massacres. 8. About 198 A. C. Antiochus the great, king of Syria, took Jerusalem, plundered the temple, sold 40,000 Jews to the neigh- bouring nations, and estabUshed paganism throughout J udea. 1 he sacrifices ceased, and there scarcely existed any external signs of religion. JEWISH HISTORY. 251 Thi3 persecution roused the resentment and provoked the resist- ance of a priest named Muttathias, and las five sons surnumed Mac- cabeus. They all retired into the wilderness, and were soon joined by a great number of Jews who wished lo avoid idolatry and religious persecution. An army was raised, of which the command was given to the eldest son of Mattathias, named Judas Maccabeus. The deliverance of the Jews from the tyranny and oppression of the Greeks, by tlie uncommon talents, bravery, and patriotism of Jud;is Maccabeus, is an achievement as glorious perhaps as any per- formed by the most illustrious heroes of Greece and Rome. Having gained many signal victories, and delivered his country from bondage and idolatry, he was at last slain in battle, 157 A. C. 9. The brothers of Judas, pui-sning their advantages with perse- verance and exertion, established the independence of their country, and changed its republican government to a vigorous and flourishing monarchy. 10. John Hyrcanus, son of Simon Maccabeus, uniting in bis person the oilices of high-priest and generalissimo of the army, and possess- ing all the talents requisite for the pontifical, the military, and the regal offices, vanquished the enemies of his country, and firmly estab- lished his govenunent. His sons assumed the title as well as (he power of Idngs ; and the high-priesthood remained in his family though not in the person of the monarch. The descendants of Hyr- canus are distinguished, in the history of the Jewish nation, by the appellation of the Asinonean dynasty^ which continued about 126 years. 11. The unlucky dissensions of this family terminated ultimately in the conquest of Judea and the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey the great, and the subjection of the Jewish nation to the Romans, 69 A. C. 12. After this event the Jewish monarchy was re-established by the favour and under the protection of the Romans, who placed Herod the great, the son of Antipater, on the throne of David. This prince demolished the old temple of Jerusalem, and rebuilt it in a very magnificent manner. He reigned with great splendour, but wkh singular despotism and tyranny. He possessed great abili- ties, but was cruel and unjust both in his public and private transac- tions. His public life exhibits a continued scene of battles, massa- cres, and violence. He died in the fii^t year of the birth of Christ, or the fourth of the vulgar era. The reign of Herod was distinguished by a memorable event, which has proved more important in its consequences than any that has occurred since the creation of the world, ili.e birth of Jesus Christy the author of the christian religion. 13. Soon after the death of Herod, Judea was in reality reduced to a Roman province, and the governors were appointed by the emperors of Rome. In this condition it remained till the final ex- tinction of the Jewish nation in the year of Christ 75, or of the vul- gar era 72. The rapine and cruelty of Florus, governor of Judea, caused a rebellion of the Jews, in which 150,000 persons are said to have perisiied, 69 of Christ, or A. D. 60. The violent and sanguinary factions among the Jews destroyed in- credible numbers of people of all ranks. 14. At length the Jewish nation was extinguished by the Romans, and Us metropolis reduced to ashes by Titus the Roman general. 252 JEWISH HISTORY. The last siege of Jerusalem was attended with scenes of carnage, famine, disease, and desperation, far more horrible than any to be found in the annals of human wickedness and misery. During the calamitous progress of the siege, Titii? displayed many instancies of humanity toward the sufferings of the besioged, and of his soli-citude for the preservation of the city and temple; but in vain. Their doom was predestinated by the irrevocable degree of the Almighty. The magnificent temple of the Jews perished in the general wreck of the nation, and not one stone was left upon another, 75 of Christ, or A. D. 72. According to a moderate calculation the number of persons who perished by violent deaths during the last war in Judea amounted to more than one million four hundred thousand, besides many who died of grief and famine. Since that time the descendants of those who survived the dissolu- tion of the Jewish nation have been wandering about the world, the objects of hatred and contempt rather than of kindness and com- miseration. In all countries where they have been permitted to reside, they have been excluded from the participation of certain political privileges which the people of those countries enjoy. SECTION XII. THE STATE OF LEARNING AND COMMERCE AMONG TPffi JEWS. 1. Of all the interesting prospects which history opens to our view, the progressive advancement of the human mind, in the im- provement of its faculties, is the most agreeable, and the most worthy of our attention and regard. The brilliant and destructive; exploits of conquerors may dazzle for a while; but the silent laboujs of the student and the artist, of the architect and the husbandman, which embellish the earth and convert it into a paradise, confer per- manent benefits on mankind, and promote their prosperity and h;i}j- puiess. The arts and sciences distinguish the civilized man from the savage ; and the investigatioa of ti)eir origin and progress would constitute the noblest attribute of history. How unfortunate it is, that the ancient historians have almost neglected so interesting and pleasing a subject. All the knowledge which we can obtain concern- ing the origin and progress of learning must be gleaned from uncon- nected fragments and scattered notices, laboriously collected from a multifarious and confused mass of tiivial particulai-s. 2. The period of the scriptural history includes the whole space of time from the creation of the world to the subversion of the Babylonian monarchy, or about 3,457 years. During this long suc- cession of ages a great variety of political, civil, and religious in- stitutions had been invented ; the human mind had been much im- proved in some countries ; agriculture had been skilfully practised ; the surface of the earth had been adorned with large cities and stately edifices. Of these interesting subjects, lew particulars have been faithfully transmitted to posterity, except such as relate to Jew- ish laws and institutions, some scattered lunts respecting ancient commerce, and some excellent specimens of writing in the Prophets and Psalms. In those venerable monuments of antiquity, the sacred writings, we trace the Israelites from the patriarchal ages, through the turbulent times of barbaric ignorance, to a considerable degrte JEWISH HISTORY. 253 of civilization and refinement. Of their civil and religious institu- tions we have a clear and explicit account ; of their knowledge of the arts and sciences we possess little information. Ttie Jews do not seem to have been a scientific or philosophica! nation in any period of their history. They appear to have been sufiicientiy skilful in the arts of necessity and conveniency ; but not to have made much proficiency in those of liixurj^ and ornament. Some admirable speci- mens of literature are presented in the scriptures, especially in the writings of the Prophets, and in the Psalms. In the historical books we observe plainness ot style and conciseness of narrative, and un- common pei-spicuity in the didactical pieces. The writings of the prophets are chiefly poetical, very different, and all originals. Most of them display sublime sentiments, expressed with energy of diction, and decorated with oriental imagery. 3, In the patriarchal ages commerce vv.is so far known and exer- cised that gold and silver were used as the medium by which it was regulated. In the tumultuous times which succeeded the patriarchal we obtain very little information concerning the state of con.merce. We have no reason to think that commerce was ever in a llouiishing state among the Jews. In times of remote antiquity the mechanic arts and various kinds of manufactures had made con;e exceedingly uninteresting to enter into, in a work like the present, and they are ea.sily to be found elsewhere ; but such an instance of public infatuation, illusion, and credulity, was only to be matched by the Mississippi scheme, projected by Law, during the regency in France, which had a similar efiect, and which was most probably the model from which Sir John Blunt, the projector of the South Sea scheme, took the hint. The French system has been sup- posed to have had something more substantial in it, with respect to ' the exclusive trade to Louisiana. But the South Sea scheme had certainly commercial advar. ages attached to it. The two schemes, it must be admitted, supply the most useful lesson to all wise states, not to tamper with the public credit, or countenance such suspicious projects ; tor though both these adventures set out with very plau- sible pretences of public benetit, and a certainty of relieving, rather than distressing, the credit of the nation, their course and progress soon became such as to excite the most lively apprehensions in all considerate minds, of the consequences which actually ensued ; es- pecially in England. 15. The politics of Europe were in a very perplexed state, to- wards the close of the reign of George L, owing to two treaties, of which some account has been given in another place, but which were very important to the English nation. These were the trea- ties of Vienna and Hanover, the former of which took place in April, and the latter in September, 1 725. By the former, the em- peror and Spain were supposed secrfedy to have hound themselves to procure the restitution of Gibraltar and Port Mahon, to the latter power ; to aid the pretender, and to further the interests of the Os- tend East India Company, which had given umbrage to England, Holland, and France. By the latter treaty, England was able to secure on her side, aga..ist the projects of Austria and Spain, the kings of Prussia and Sweden, and the states of Holland ; but as this aid was very slowly and reluctantly promised, and, in one instance, soon abandoned, the state of aSairs would have been very alarming, but for the. encouragement given by parliament, which was so effec- tual, that though considerable preparations for war took place on the part of almost ^ the nation? concerned, articles of peace, through 268 MODERN HISTORV. the mediation of France, were agreed upon in May, 1,727, and ac- cepted by tlie imperial court and Spain ; by these the charter of the Ostend company was suspended lor a certain period, and the siege of Gibraltar, which had actually commenced, and been carried on for four months, raised and abandoned. 16. George 1. died at Osnaburgh, on his way to his electoral do- minions, J une 11,1 ,727, with the reputation of an honest and generous prince. He was brave in the field, and wise in council; having had many arduous negotiations on his hands, which he commonly con- ducted to a favourable issue ; not often, however, without large sub- sidies. His own measures were generally defi3nsive and preventa- tive. He was fortunate in the state of things, at the period of Queen Anne's death, and in the removal of Lewis XIV., and Charles XII. of Sweden, both of whom were personally uuliiendiy to him, and cer- tainly had projects on foot lor the restoration of the Stuart family. King George constantly manifested a disposition to govern according to the laws and constitution of the kingdom.. And it lias been observ- ed'to his credit, that the nation not only improved in wealth and credit during his reign, but enjoyed a greater degree of tranquillity at home, and a longer duration of peace abroad, than during any period since the time of Queen Elizabeth. At (he time of his death he was in the sixty-eighth year of his age. SECTION III. AUSTRIA (AND GERMANY) FROM THE PEACE OF RASTADT, 1,714, TO THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CIIAPELLE, 1,748. I.The afuiirs of Austria, as incidentally connected with those of France, Spain, England, Italy, and Prussia, i'rom the year 1,713 to 1,738, have been already treated of in the preceding sections. It may be necessary, however, to take a brief view of matters, from the commencement of the reign of Charles VI., to the death of that mon- arch ; which event, cis we shall have to show, greatly disturbed the whole of Europe, and occasioned the war which was terminated by llie peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1,748. 2. Charles VI., who had borne a conspicuous part in the succession war, as a competitor for the Spanish throne, (Part 11. Sect. LXIV.) became emperor in the year 1,711, on the'demise of his elder brother, Joseph I. Though he had declined becoming a party to the treaty of Utrecht, in 1,713, it was not long before he perceived his error, being left alone to support an expensive war. In the fol- lowing year, therefore, he received the proposals made to him by the court of Versailles, consented to the opening of conferences, in the month of November, 1,713, and, in the March following, 1,714, signed the treaty of Rastadt, by which he obtained possession of the Spanish Netherlands, (except the barrier towns ceded to Holland,) Naples, Sardinia, Milan, Frieburg, and Kehl. 3. But he was very soon disturbed in a part of these acquisitions, by the restlessness and jealousy of Spain, already noticed. Great de- signs were formed against his Italian territories ; Sardinia actually taken from him, in 1,717 ; Sicily, in 1,718, and further encroachments projected, but for the timely interposition of the English, under suimiral Byng, in the Mediterranean, (Sect. II. § 9, 11.) who sooq MODERN HISTORY. 269 brought matters to a favourable issue for Austria, with infinite credit to himself, both as an officer and a negotiator. 4. Spain had eagerly caught at the opportunity which presented itself of making these attacks upon Austria, while the latter power was engaged in war with Turkey, in aid ol' llie Venetians. Tlie Turks, (instigated, it has been said, by the Spanish minister, to engage the attention of Austria,) in violation of the treaty of Car- lowitz, had taken the Morea from the Venetians, before Austria came to their aid, in the year 1,716; nor, though from that time so powerfully assisted, were they able to recover that peninsula. Charles VI., however, was not long at variance witii the Porte upon ihi-; occasion. As early as the year 1,718, through the extraordinary skill and valour of prince Eugene, the Austrian commander, things were brought to an issue, and a peace concluded, through the me- diation of England and Holland, at Passarowitz, by which the Turks were allowed to retain the Morea, on ceding to the Venetians some lioiitier towns in Albania and Dalmatia, while Austria obtained Bel- grade, the Bannat of Temeswar and Wallachia, as I'ar as the Aluta : she was also able to establish a free commerce in all the harbours of the Black Sea,t.nd of the Danube, :is well as with the Persians. The early termination of this war, together with the successes of the English on the shores of Sicily, checked the operations of the Span- iards, and disposed them to agree to the terms of the quadruple al- liance. ■ Spain and Austria, however, were not effectually reconciled till the year 1,725, at which period the emperor was induced to re- nounce his pretensions upon Spain and the Indies. 5. Charles VI. was for a long time deeply occupied in endeavour- ing to preserve his own dominions from such difficulties as Spain had been involved in, at the beginning of this century, owing to the dis- puted succession to the Spanish throne, on the demise of Charles II., and in which he had himself been so greatly concerned. He propos- ed, for tills end, by a " Pragmatic Sanction," to make it a law, that ii" he should, at the time oi his death, have either sons or daugh- ters, the hereditary dominions and crowns belonging to the house oi Austria, should remain united. In failure of such issue, male or fe- ^niale, the daughters ol' his deceased brother, Joseph, were to succeed ; "and if they died without heirs, tiie inheritance was to pass to his sis- ters, and their descendants. When this act was proposed, at the diet of Ratisbon, it was violently resisted by the electors of Saxony and Bavaria, as well as the elector Palatine, but by the treaty of Vien nn, 1,731, as well as by previous negotiations at the different courts of Europe, almost every power, except France, was brought to consent to the proposed regulations ; England and Holland, in particular, having been gained over by the emperor''s agreement to suppress the new East India Company which lie had endeavoured to establish at Ostend. The guarantee of France was not obtained till six years after, in recompense of the transfer of the duchies of Lorraine and Bar to the latter power, on the demise of Stanislaus, king of Poland, who obtained the government of those countries by the treaty ol 1,738. 6. Charles VI. had scarcely succeeded in his great object of the 5ragmatic sanction, before he was engaged in a fresh war with the "■urks, in virtue of a treaty concluded with Russia, who had com- menced hostilities against the Porte, in 1,736. The war on the f)art of Austria, however, was of very short duration. She had est the support of her iamous general, prince Eugene ; and her Z2 270 MODERN HISTORY. armies, on the present occasion, appear to have been ill conducted. Jealousies and disagreements amongst the superior officers, and a great want of resources, baffled all their operations. In 1,739, the emperor was compelled to submit to the terms of the treaty of Belgrade, which was highly advantageous to Turkey. Austria surrendered Servia, with the fortresses of Belgrade and Szabatch ; and Austrian Wallachia, with the fortress of Orsova. By the treaty of Belgrade, the Porte also obtained advantages over Russia ; but it is now Known, that this convention was very artfully conducted by Hn agent of the French court, who was instructed not only to prevent the dismemberment of Turkey, by the combined forces of Austria and Russia, but to resist the aggrandizement of the former, and separate her, if possible, from her northern ally. 7. In the year immediately following that in which the treaty of Belgrade had restored harmony between the two courts of Vienna and Constantinople, so much to the advantage of the latter, Charles VI. died, the last heir-male of the Austrian line of princes. Notwith- standing all the care he had taken to secure to his daughter the entire hereditary dominions of his family ; and though almost the whole of Eurojje had guaranteed the indivisibility of his dominions, according to his wishes, he was no sooner dead than numerous claims were set up, and a war kindled, which may be said to have, in its progress, involved every European state. The archduchess, Maria Theresa, consort of Francis, duke of Tuscany, according to the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, (which, however, had been ill drawn up,) succeeded, on the death of her father, to the following kingdoms, states, and territories : Hungary and Bohemia, Silesia and Austrian Suabia, Upper and Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Burgau, Brisgau, the Low-Countries, Friuli, Tyrol, the MantuaUj and the Duchies of Milan, Parma, and Placenti^ 8. Unfortunately for the archduchess, Charles VI. had left his army in a bad condition, his finances embarrassed, and, at the time cif his death, a scarcity almost approaching to famine, prevailed in many parts of his dominions. All these circumstances cotnbined, were calculated to raise up competitors for different portions of his estates. Nor were they at all tardy in advancing their claims. The elector of Bavaria pretended to be the proper heir to the kingdom' of Bohemia. Augustus II., elector of Saxony and king of Poland, having married the eldest daughter of Joseph I., elder brother of Charles VI., claimed the whole Austrian succession. The king of Spain did the same, though upon a more remote title, and entirely through females. The king of Sardinia made pretensions to the duchy of Milan, and Frederic II., of Prussia, to the province of Sile- sia. 9. Many of these several claimants had formally agreed to the terms of the pragmatic sanction, and even at first professed the most favourable dispositions towards the archduchess, who had taken quiet possession of all that had descended to her ; but the times, and the peculiar circumstances of the empire, encouraged them to break through their engagements ; not, however, altogether without some pretence of honour and justice ; as was the case with France. The king of France had, as well as the kings of Poland and Spain, pre- tended to have derived a right from two princesses, married to Lew- is XIIl. and XIV., to the whole succession ; but choosing, rather thao to depend upon these titles, to take thfe part of the elector of Bava- ria, he insisted that, in his guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction, by the MODERN HISTORY. 271 claase " sine prc^udicio tertii,'''' he was fairly left at liberty to espouse any claims that should appear to him more just than those of the archduchess, queen of Hungary. This clause had, indeed, been in- troduced into some of the acts of guarantee, though not into all. 10. The most forward and active of the queen's opponents was a prince little known till then, Frederic king of Prussia, at that time about twenty-eight years of age. He had succeeded, through the prudence of his father, to an army and a treasury of no inconsidei^ able importance ; both of which he had himself also found time to improve. His movements were suilden, and quite unexpected bv the court of Vienna ; and he soon made known what his demands were, proposing that if they should be granted, he would support Austria against other enemies, and assist the queen in placing her husband on the imperial throne. He pretended, indeed, at first, to be only desirous of^ occupying Silesia, as a friend to the queen ; but the mask was soon laid aside, and his lixed determination to become master of Lower Silesia rendered visible to all the world. 11. The queen would consent to the surrender of no part of her inheritance, though possibly bar refusal in this instance, occasioned the alliance soon afterwards formed between the court of Versailles and Frederic, from which she suffered so much. England, it is said, counselled submission in the point of Silesia, foreseeing the conse- quences ; but worse consequences, perhaps, were to be apprehend- ed, had she complied. It would, in all likelihood, have disposed others to urge their claims with greater importunity. 12. Aided by France and Saxony, the elector of Bavaria, towards the middle of the year 1,741, acquired possession of the kingdom of Bohemia, and was proclaimed king, and inaugurated with great solemnity; and, on the 12th of February, 1,742, he had the imperial dignity conferred on him by the diet of Frankfort, under the title of Charles VII., having been chosen, however, when some of the elec- tors were disqualified from voting. 13. Never was there a greater prospect of a total dismemberment of the Austrian dominions than at this time. Different parts were regularly assigned to the several claimants, and nothing left for the daughter of Charles VI. but the kingdom of Hungary, the province ef Lower Austria, the Belgian states, and the duchies of Cfarinthia, Styria, and Carniola. Precautions had even been taken to prevent her deriving any aid from Russia, by exciting Sweden to declare wai against the latter power. But the spirit of this surprising woman was not to be broken by the powerful combination against her. She had, at the very commence me^of her reign, in a singular and ex traordinary manner, and with consummate wisdom, particularly by taking the ancient oath of king Andrew II., attached to her interests the brave Hungarians. Repairing to them with her inftmt son, she threw herself entirely upon their protection, and, in the most puidic manner, addressing them in the Latin language, at a special assembly of the states, presented her ctiild to them in terms the most pathetic. Supported by their valour, and with the help of English and Dutch money, she baffled all her enemies, and finally dissipated the storm that so rudely threatened her. It was not, indeed, until Walpole was removed from the English ministry that the queen receiveci any ac- tive assistance from the king of England ; but afterwards, both in Flanders and Italy, he was a powerful ally. She also derived some succours from the king of Sardinia, not, however, very creditably purchased with regard to Genoa. 272 MODERN HISTORY. 1 4. Had the numerous powers first aimed against Maria Theresa, or intimidated into a state of" neutrality, agreed amongst themselves, it would have been impossible for the queen to have withstood their attacks ; but, fortunately for her, many stood so directly in a state of rivalship towards each other, and France was such an object of sus picion and alarm to almost all the other confederates, that (heir very first movements produced jealousies and divisions amongst them ; and, what is very remarkable, the earliest who showed a disposition to treat with the queen was (he king of Prussia, in consequence of (he successes of the elector of Jiavaria in Bohemia. 16. The interference of Eiigland, in behalf of the queen, did at first, indeed, only exasperate France, and the other allies of Charles VII.. and excite them to a more vigorous opposition. But the death of tqe emperor, in the year 1,745, who had derived no happiness, but, indeed, a great deal of misery, from his short exaltation, and his son's prudent and wise abandonment of such high dignities, in order to secure his quiet possession of his paternal- dominions, left the queen at liberty to procure for her husband, Francis, grand duke of Tuscany, the imperial crown ; his election to which took place in the month of September of the same year; the queen agreeing to admit the young elector of Bavaria to the full possession of his he- reditary dominions, and to acknowledge his father, Charles VII., to have been duly invested with the imperial dignity. After some sigtial successes, the queen's great adversary, the king of Prussia, also came into her terms, having agreed, in a treaty concluded at Dresden, to acknowledge the validity of Francis's election, on being put in possession of Silesia and the county of Glatz, the chief object for which he had been contending. The elector Palatine was like- wise included in this treaty. 16. The French continued the war in the Netherlands, as well as in Italy, and with considerable success ; but the queen being a guod deal disembarrassed by the peace she had been able to con- clude with Prussia, had it soon in her power to recover all that the French and Spaniards had acquired in Italy, while the French conquests in Flandei-s and Holland led to the re-establishment ol the stadtholdership, and thereby baffled all their hopes of future a:lvantages in those parts. The interference of the empress of Russia, subsidized by England, and, above all, (he pecuUar situation of the king of France, whose finances were almost exhausted, and w!io had suffered severe losses by sea, tended to bring matters to an issue. A congress was opened at Aix-la-Chapelle, which, though rather slow in its operations, at last^rminated in a peace, concluded October 7, 1,748, exactly a hundred years after the famous treaty of Westphalia, which served for a basis of the negotiations entered into upon this occasion. By this convention, as in most other instances of the same nature, there was so general a restitution of conquests, as plainly to mark the folly and injustice of having continued the war so long. During this contest, in the year 1,743, died the cardinal de Fleury, first minister of France, at the very advanced age of ninety. He did not assume the reins of government till he was seventy- three. He had many virtues, but was much more admired by his countrymen for his integrity and difeinterestedness, than for energy of character, or public spirit. 17. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle bringing us, as nearly as can be, to the middle of the eighteenth century, it may be well to take a MODERN HISTORY. 273 view of Europe at this particular period, and as connected with this celebrated treaty ; but this must be reserved for a future section. SECTION IV. ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE II. TO THE THRONE, 1,727, TO HIS DEATH, 1,760. 1. The accession of George II., who came to the throne 1,727, in the 44lh year of liis age, and in a time of profound peace, was not at- tended with such changes as many had expected. Even the minis- ter himself, sir Roljert VValpole, is said to have been surprised at the reception he met wiih from his majesty, on the demise of the late king, and at the continuance of the power in his hands. But this is now known to have been owing to tlie wise and prudent care of queen Caroline, who, at this moment, was lound to possess an influ ence over her royal consort, which had been by many little suspect ed, but which her extreme good sense, and discreet conduct, seemed fully to justify. The wbigs might justly be considered as the truest tViends of the house of Hanover and the protestant church ; and their continuance in power at the commencement of a new reign, though very grating to the adverse party, seemed to be extremely favoural)le to tiie quiet of the nation. 2. The good-wiiJ which had sprung up, and been encouraged dur- ing the regency, between the rival courts of Versailles and London, was not materially disturbed during the whole administration oi VValpole, and his pacific contemporary, cardinal Fleury ; the queen being also friendly to peace. But as it is not easy for any peaceable government long to escape the encroachments of other states, Spain, apparently presuming on the forbearance or apathy of the British ministry, committed great depredations, for a series of years, upon the trade of England with America and the West-Indies, committing many acts of most atrocious cruelty, in addition to their other deecU of insult and plunder. Some steps were at length taken to remetly these evils, but the conduct of Spain was so generally resented by the nation, as to render even the convention, by which the disputes were referred to arbitration, extremely unpopular. It being thought, by many of all descriptions, not only that the grievances complainetl of had been too long submitted to and endured, and the measures hitherto taken to redress them been too tame and submissive, but that nothing less than a war could restore the lost consequence of the state, or bring such offenders to reason. 3. The Spaniards, indeed, had defended their conduct in many memorials, pretending that the English were the aggressors, in car- rying on a contraband and unlawful trade with their colonies ; but had this been capable of proof to the extent the Spaniards pretend- ed, which was certainly not the case, there is no doubt but that they sunered themselves to be hurried into most unjustifiable excesses in their measures of reprisal, and exceedingly ill-treated both the mer- chants and sailors of England. They insisted upon a general right of search, on the open seas, and condemned the ships and cargoes, upon such frivolous pretences as could not fail to be extremely in- jurious and oppressive, and quite contrary to existirtg treaties. In one instance, a whole fleet of English merchant-ships, at the island of 35 274 MODERN HISTORY. Tortugas, was attacked by Spaniards, as if the two nations had been at open war. 4. It would be scarcely possible, perhaps, to justify entirely the extraordinary forbearance of the British government, for nearly twenty years, during which not only these indignities had been con- tinually repeated, but express engagements, and promises to redress and abstain from such aggressions in future, notoriously violated. This had been remarkably the case with respect to the stipulations of the treaty of Seville, concluded in the year 1,729. There were very warm debates in parliament on the subject, and the ministry were hard pressed to defend themselves from the charge of supine- ness, gross indifference to the sufferings of the merchants, and the honour of the crown, and, in some instances, even of criminal conniv- ance. And, indeed, their opponents obtained, at length, this triumph over them, that the very convention which was to be the prelimina- ry of a perfect adjustment of differences, and a surety tor the indem- niiicafion of the merchants for all their losses, was, like every pre- ce most mercile&j tyrant, a blunderer in political economy, and, if not _ ' quite an atheist, very lax in his piinciples of religion. 4. Holland lost much by the peace, and gained nothing. Some, | indeed, doubted whether she did not greatly endanger her indepen- J dence, by consenting to iii«'i%c me stadtholuership hereditary In the 1 house of Urange, and that in favour of the female as well as male heirs of the family : but others conceived that this approach to mo- ^ narchical government greatly strengthened the republic ; and Sf^Would indeed seem that it had declined much in power and consequence, from the very period when that othce was abolished, in the preced- ' iug century. One precaution was adopted with regard Jo the female heirs to the Stadtlioldership : they were precluded from marrying any ^ king, or elector of the empire ; a precaution which tliere were, in the history of Europe, suthcient reasons to justify. 5. Spain obtained, for two branches of her royal family, the king- \ dora of Naples, and the duchies of Parma, Piacentia, and Guastalla • the latter to revert to Austria, that is, Parma atid Guastalla, frnd Pla- i centia to Sardinia, should the new duke, don Philip, die without issue, ; or succeetl to either of the kingdoms of Spain or Naples. But the ' power of Spain was not mucii increased, either by land or sea. On the latter, indeed, the English had an overwhelming superiority; < and, on land, though her arukies were brave, they were generally ill : conducted, and her government too bad to render her respectable ' in the eyes of Europe. Ferdinand VI., indeed, the successor of Philip, who came to the throne just before the conclusion of the : treaty, applied himself, with no small degree of credit, to retrieve j the character of the nation. 6. Austria, by seeking an alliance with Russm, had introduced the ' latter power into the southern states of Europe, and given her consid- ' erable weight and consequence, as a counterbalance to her great ; rival, France. Scarcely known at the commencement of the century, , the movement impressed uuon this mighty empire by the extraot- i dinary genius and vigour of Peter the first, had carried her forward, i with a rapid progression ; so that, by the middle of the century, she 1 might justly be regarded as amongst the most considerable powers ol Europe. Her armies were, perhaps, more than semi-barbarous; but they were brave, indefatigable, hurdy, and supported by the reii i S80 MODERN HISTORr. gious jprinciple of predestination; the foundation of a desperate kind of hardihood, seldom to be resisted. Her internal resources were not ai all considerable, but they were daily improving. When Peter the tirst came to the crown, her revenues amounted to six millions of roubles; in 1,748 they vvei-e nearly quadrupled. Thus rapidly advancing, wilh one arm reaching to the Baltic, and the other to the Black sen, it was very obvious to discern that when, by good management, her gigantic body should be duly invigorated, she had tvery chance of becoming a most formidable power. Already had she shown herself such, to a great degree, in the influ- ence she had acquired in Sweden, Denmark, and Poland ; in her commercial treaties with England, her alliance with Austria, and her wars with the Turks. Her resources and means of improvement were gieai ; rivers not only navigable during the summer, but during the winter nUo, affording, by means of sledges, every opportunity of a quick and easy transport of all sorts of commercial goods ; the greater part of her southern provinces fertile, and requiring little culture ; mines of gold, iron, and copper; great quantities of timber, pitch, tar, and iieinp. She had not y^t learned to manutacture her own productioi'.s, or to export them in her own ships, and conse- quently to make the most of them : but she was in the way to learn si:ch arts, and when once attained, she had the fairest prospects of acquiring a decided superiority, not only in the Baltic, and White Jitii. but oa «h^ Mi"ch °f? ^"d (^abiiiLin. 7. Turkey, at the middle of the eighteenth centory, w«g ccmpar- atively a gainer by the wars in which she had .been engaged. She had tyj^en the Morea from the Venetians, recovered from Austria Belgrade, Servia, and some provinces of Transylvania and Wallachia, and had hitherto baffled the attcmpls of Russia, to get absolute pos- •ession of the Crimea, and of the mouths of the Danube. 8. France obtained little in point of extent by the treaty of Aix- la-Chapello, but that little was of extreme importance. The posses- sion of Lorraine, ui addition to Alsace, and several strong torts on the Rhine, strengthened and comj.leted, in the most perfect manner, hef eastern frontier, and placed her in a most commanding attitude with regard* to the (Terman states. During the administration of cardinal Fleury, which lasted till the year 1,743, her marine had been de- plorably neglected, w bile the English had been able to enrich them- selves at the expense of tlie French, particularly by intercepting many valuable convoys, and capturing many ships of her reduced navy. 9. An author of reputation has proposed to throw the different European states, at the conclusion of the peace of 1,748, into the four toUowing classes : — 1. Those that having armies, fleets, money, and territorial resour- ces, could make war without foreign alliances. Such were England and France. 2. Those that with considerable and powerful armies, were de- pendent on foreign resources. Austria, Prussia, and Russia. 3. Those that could not engage in war, but in league with other states, subtiidized by them, and always regarded in the light of sec- ondary powers by the large ones. Portugal, Sardinia, Sweden, Denmark. 4. Such as were interested in maintaining themselves in the same condition, and free from the encroachment of others. Switzerland, Genoa, Venice, and the German states. Holland, Spain, and Naples, being omitted in the aboye account MODERN HISTORY. 2ll might reasonably be thrown into a fifth class, as countries generally 80 connected Avitn England, France, and Austria, as to be constantly involved in every war affecting either of those countries. SECTION VI. 4 OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1,775—1,762. j 1. Though for some short time after the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1,748, England and France seemed to enjoy, in no common degree, the blessings of peace, and to be upon a foot- '. ing of perfect amity with each other, yet it would appear that the j seeds of a future vvar were sown in the very circumstances of that ; convention. England was left in possession of such a preponderating ' force at sea, while the French marine, through the parsimony or in- attention of cardinal Fleury, had fallen into so low a state of depres- \ sion, that it is not to be wondered that all v>lio were interested about ; the latter, should have their minds filled with jealousy and resentment. ; This was soon manifested, not only by the vigorous attempts made at j this time to restore the marine of France, but in the projects formed for dispossessing the English of (Iteir principal settlements in the East : .Indies and America ; a blow which might have been far more fatal to j the English nation, than any leagues or confederacies in favour of the \ pretender. To secin-e the co-operation and support of Spain in these | designs, France had endeavoured, in the year ],763, to draw the lat- '. ter into a family compact, which, though afterwards brought abotit, ' was at this time successfully frustrated, by the extraordinary care ; and vigilance of the British minister at Madrid. 2. The peace established in Europe in 1,748, can scarcely be said I to have ever been effectually extended to Asia and America. The . conquests on each side uuleed had been relinquished and surrendered 1 by that treaty, but in a most negligent manner with respect to limits and boundaries ; and in each of those distant settlements, France at { that time happened to have able and enterprising servants, who thought they saw, in their respective governments, such means of i aggrandizing themselves and their country, and of thwarting the i British interest, as were not to be overlooked or neglected. In the ■ East Indies very extraordinary attempts were made to reduce the '■ wliole peninsula of India Proper, in short, the whole Mogul empire, j under the dominion of France, by an artful interference in the ap- ■ pointment of the governors ot kingdoms and provinces, the Souhahr dars^ .Yabobs^ and liajahx. The power ol' the mogul had been ijegevoeiy— ' bly shaken by Kouii-Khan, in 1,738, from which time the viceroys ■ and other subordinate goveniors had slighted his authority, and, in' < a greater or less degree, become independent. The interference of i the French was calculated to throw things into confusion, by dispos- i sessing those who were adverse to tjiem of their governments and j territories, and thus compelling them, as it were, to seek succour from ^ the English ; which ultimately brougiit the two rival nations of Eu- roj)e into a state of hostihty, not as avowed principals, but as the ! auxiliaries of the different native princes or nabobs. In no long course of time, tilings took a turn entirely in tiivour of the English und their allies; the French were baffled in all their projects, every - place they possessed taken from them, a suspension of arms agreed upon, in 1,754, and the French governor, Dupleix, the ambitious an4 Aa 2 36 e 282 MODERN HISTORY. enterprising author and fomenter of all the troubles, but who had been ill-supported by his government at home, recalled from India. 3. It was at this period that the celebrated Mr. Clive, afterwards lord Clive, first distinguished himselt, who had not only discernment enough to see through and detect all the artifices and designs of Dujileix, but, though not brought up to the military profession, soon displayed such skiiland courage in conducting the operations of the army, as speedily established his fame, and laid the foundationtfor his future elevation and glory. 4. In America, the boundaries of the ceded provinces not ha^'in* been justly defined in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the French baa formed a design of connecting, by a chain of torts, their two distant colonies of Canada and Louisiana, and to confine the English entirely within that tract of country which lies between the, Alleghany and Apalachian mountains and the sea. No part of this design could be carried on without manifest encroachment on territories previously, either by agreement, settlement, or impUcation, appropriated to others ! Where the boundaries were not precisely defined, all that was not English or French, belonged to the native tribes, and the only "Jolicy that the European colonists had to observe, was to conciliate he friendship, or resist the attacks of these ferocious neighbours. But the scheme the French had in agitation threatened to be extremely injurious to the English colonists ; giving them, in case of war, a fron- tier of fifteen hundred miles to defend, not merely against a race of savages, as heretofore, but against savages supported by disciplined troops, and conducted by French officers. 5. It was not possible for England long to contemplate these ag- gressions and projects without interfering; but her means of resisting them were not equal to those by which the French were enabled to carry them into execution. The English colonies were notoriously divided by distinct views and interests ; had many disagreements and differences among themselves, which seemed, for some time at least, totally to prevent their acting in concert, however necessary to their best iuterests. The French depended on no such precarious support, but were united both in their object and operations. Hos- tilities, however, did not actually commence till the year 1,755, frona which period the contest in North America was carried on with various success, between the French and English, severally assisted by different tribes of Indians ; in the course of which, it is more than probable, that sad acts of cruelty may have been perpetrated, and both nations have been to blame in some particulars ; but it is cer- tainly remarkable, that each party stands charged exclusively with such atrocities by the historians of the adverse side ; and while the English writers attribute the whole war to the intrigues and en- croachmeats of the French, the latter as confidently ascribe it to the cupidity and aggressions of the English. It is very certain, however, that, before the war actually commenced, the French court made Such strong but insincere professions of amity, and a desire of peace, as to deceive its own minister at the court of St. James's, M. de Mirepoix. who felt himself so ill-treated in being made the tool of guch duplicity and dissimulation, as to cause him to repair to Paris, to remonatrate with the administration who had so cajoled him. It is necessary to mention these things, where historical truth is the great obtect in view. 6. At the commencement of this contest between France and Englano, the former seems to have been most successful on Umd : MODERN HISTORT. 283 but the latter, and to a much greater degree, at sea. Before the end of ths tiret year of the war, do less than tnree hundred French merchant vessels, some of them extremely rich, with eight thousand sailors, being brought into the English ports ; and while the rate of insurance in. the latter country continued as usual, in Fi'ance it quickly rose to 3U per cent., a pretty strong indication of the com- parative inferiority of the latter, as far as regarded her marine, and the safety of her navigation. 7. But it was soon found expedient by one, if not by both parties, to divert the attention from colonial to continental objects ; a meas- ure which, as in a former i.jstance, the French writers ascribe entirely to England, and the English writers as confidently to France ; but it is sufficiently clear that the latter tirst entertained views upon the electorate of Hanover, which gave that turn to the war in gen- eral. Considering what had passed in the preceding struggle upon the continent, nothing could be more strange than the conduct of the different states of Europe on this particular occasion. Instead of receiving assistance from the empress queen, whose cause England had so long and so magnanimously supported, and who was bound by treaty to contribute her aid in case of attack, Maria Theresa evaded the applications made to her by the court of St. James's, (perhaps in rather too high and peremptory a tone,) on the pretence that the war between France and England had begun in America f and she apphed herself with peculiar assiduity to recover, through the aid of Russia, the provinces of Silesia and Glatz, which had beec ceded to the Prussian monarch, 8. It has been conjectured that her imperial majesty had been greatly offended at the preliminaries of peace, in 1,748, having been signed by England without her approbation, and that she was capable of carrying her resentment so far as voluntarily to throw herself into the arms of France, without further consideration ; while the French king, whose strange course of life had been too openly ridiculed by the king of Prussia, foolishly suffered himself to be cajoled into an alliance with Austria, after three hundred years of warfare, against his former active and powerful ally ; thereby break ing through the wise system of Richelieu, and helping to raise the very power, of whose greatness France had the most reason to be jealous ; but Maria Theresa, and her minister, prince Kaunitz, to produce this great change in the pciicy of France, had stoojped t« flatter and concihate the king's mistress, the marchioness of Pom- padour. 9. Fortunately for England, however, the conduct of these two courts quickly determined the king of Prussia to form an alliance with the elector of Hanover; to stitle and forget all former diifer- ences and animosities, and peremptorily to resist the entrance of for- eign troops into Germany ; a measure which, though first directed against Russia, subsidized by England, equally applied to France. An alliance between the kings of Great Britain and Prussia had long been contemplated by some of the ablest statesmen of the former country, as the most natural and wisest connexion that could be formed to counteract the projects and piiwer of France. Hitherto strong personal jealousies and ill-will on the part of the two sove- reigns had prevented any such union, and now it was brought about by accident; much more, however, to the adviuitage of Prussia than of Great Britain, It had been proposed in England, to subsi.iize Russia, but the aegotiations of the former with the king of Pruasiat 284 MODERN HISTORY. whom the czarina personally disliked, produced a close but unex- pected union of Russia, Austria, and France ; not so much against England, perhaps, as against Prussia, nor yet so much against the kingdom of Frussia as against (he king himself. 10. Such was the commencement of whnt has been tem^ the seven years' war. It seemed soon to be forgotten that it wasVirigin- ally a maritime or colonial war. The whole vengeance of France and Austria, in 1,757, was directed against the king of Prussia, and electorate of Hanover. The Prussian monarch, relying on his well- organized army and abundant treasury, despised the powerful com- bination against him, and commenced the war in a most imposing, though precipitate manner, by dispossessing, at the very outset, the king of Poland, elector of Saxony,' in alliance with Austria, ot his capital, of his whole army, and of his electoral dominions, in a way little creditab4e to his characier, notwithstanding the strong political motives alleged in his subsef]uent manifestoes. The situation of France, by this sudden manoeuvre, was certainly rendered most ex- traordinary. At the commencement of the former war, she had done her utmost to dethrone Augustus, king of Poland, in favour of Stanislaus, whose daughter had married the French king ; and she had now just as strong and tirgent a reason to assist in restoring Au- gustus to his hereditary dominions, (he daughter of the latter being marrieirlt ''•^d renewed activl'j .vas wasted in fruitless attempts on the coast of France, which cost the nation much mone> , T".^, °! l[ turned out contributed little or no hing to her glory and advantage ; the demolition of the works at Ciu-^rburg, and capture of Belle Isle, 1,7G1, which was of use afterwards, as an exchange for Minorca, being all she had to boast of. To her great and indefatigable ally, the king of Prussia, those expedition* to the French coast could be of no use, except in diverting a p.rt at least of the French forces, which might otherwise have t2en opposed to him ; but they had scarcely this effect, and though tha^ great minister, Mr. Pitt, after- wards lord Chatham, appears to h.ive been the chief promoter of these measures, in opposition to many members of the British cabinet, the policy of them, even had they been more euccessjful, has been pretty generally questioned. Her soldiers, many thought, were principally wanting in Germanv, the grand theatre of military opera- tions, to strengthen and give effect to the judicious and bold measures of prince Ferdinand, who, being, by the advice, it is said, of the Prussian moTiarch, on the retirement of the duke of Cumberland, after the convention spoken of, placed at the head of the allied army, had succeeded in compelling the French to evacuate Hanover, Brunsw ick, and Bremen. England indeed had been liberal in her subsidies, even to a degree that some thought unwise and extrava- gant, and she had been successful in America, Asia, Africa, and gen- erally on the ocean. The French navy indeed, was almost annihilat- ed ; and her colonies, both in the east and west, had fallen a prey to the English armies ; even Canada, the source and focus, as it were, oi the transatlantic disputes between England and France, was complete- ly subdued by the armies under the command of Wolfe, Townshend, Monckton, Murray, and Amherst, who displayed such zeal, valour, and abilities, in the capture of the towns of Quebec and Montreal, as have never been exceeded. 14. Though prince Ferdinand had driven the French back, it wai 806 MODERN HISTORY. doubted whether the forces under his command would be sufficient to maintain these advantages; apprehensions, indeed, were entertain- ed, that he mieht be reduced to form another convention as humiliat- ing as that of Closter-seven. But the genius and valour of this great prince surmounted the difficulties in which he seemed to be f laced, by most judiciously, and with no small art, compelling the rench to come to an engagement, under circumstances peculiarly tavourable to the allied army ; ;md the battle of Minden, which tooK place August 1, l,759j though thesubject afterwards of much jealousy a[nongstthe allies, effectually relieved the electorate of Hanover, and the greater part of Westphaha, from the presence of the French. 15. It was at this period, August 10, 1,759, that t'erdinand V'l., of Spain, died, and was succeeded by his brother, don Carlos, king of the two Sicilies, under the title of Charles III., in consequence^ of whicii succession, and according to the terms of the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, don Philip should have surrendered the duchies of Parm.i, Placentia, and Guiistalla to Austria and Sardinia, and remov- ed to Naples, (see Sect. V. § 5;) but as Charles III. had never acced- ed to tbat treaty, he left the crown of the two Sicilies to his tliird son, Ferdinaml, and don Philip agreed, and was allowed by Austria, to retain the three duchies ; the courts of France and Spain having managed to quiet the alarms of Sardinia, in regard to the reversion of Placentia. 16. The removal of don Carlos to Spain, at a time when so many advantages had bpfj^ ^^'^ J --— i;,e tronct) by the English, at sea anri in America, justly alarmed the new monarch for his own colonies and settlements in those parts ; and these apprehensions soon became •a reason for his entering into a fauiily compact with France, which bad been attempted before, but fruslraled by the care and vigilance of the British minister. It was in fact entirely arranged and conr eluded in the month of August j 1,761, and extended to all the Bour- bcn princes ; it was a treaty of mutual and reciprocal naturalization, and equality of rights, to the subjects of all the Bourbon states, France, iipain, the tij'o Sicilies, Farma, and Placentia, with a general gu:trantee of each other's dominions, under all possible circumstances except one, which was, that Spain should be excused from interiering in any quarrels of France, arising out of the treaty of Westphalia, unless some maritime power should take part in such disputes, or France be invaded. 17. 'l"he above clause in the treaty was judged to be so evidently aimed at England, as to justify an "immediate declaration of war against Spain on tlie part of the former, which accordingly took place early in the year 1 ,7G2 ; nor was Spain backward in following the ex;miple against England, in resentment, as it was alleged, of the supercilious and arbitrary manner, in which the latter had interfered with regard to the family compact. 18. The first fi-uiis of this extraordinary confederacy were a gross attempt upon the independency of Portugal, as an ally of England, by France and Spain; an attempt the most appalling to Portugal, had not her brave and honourablt; sovereign resolved rather to per- ish than to submit to the terms dictated to him by the combined mon- archs. England was in every way bound to give aid and support to her ancient and faithful ally, on so trying an occasion ; and, fortunately, her help came so opportunely and so promptly, as to enable the king of Portugal to repel the Spaniards, who had not only passed the frontiers, but actually taken several towns. Thus was that monarch MODERN HISTORY. 287 and his dominions saved from the effects of as wicked and arbitrary a design as was ever entertained against an independent or neutral f)otentatG, and that on the sole ground of his connexion with Eng- and at the moment ; to whose resentment he would of course have been exposed, had he tamely submitted to the tyrannical demands of France and Spain. In either case, he seemed to be threatened with Fuin and destruction, had things taken a different turn, from what actually came to pass. 19. The hostilities into which Great Britak|was driven by this unprovoked attack upon Portugal, as well f^by the threatening aspect and spirit of ttie family compact^ whijii seemed to undo all that had been accomplished by the succession war, Avere in every Instance crowned with success ; so that in both hemispheres, her arms may be said to have been victorious, and her triumph complete ; and Spain had great cause to rue her short concern in the war, into which she had been cajoled by France, and which operated as fully to the disappointment of the latter power. In the mean while, the king of Prussia, who had been brought to the very verge of ruin, according to his own statement and confession, was most unexpect- edly relieved by surpri-fing changes in the Russian councils, through the demise of Elizabeth, and accession of Peter III., whose reign in- deed was too short to enable him to render any real assistance to the king of Prussia, in the field, which might have been expected from the enthusiastic admiration with which his actions were beheld by the Russian monarch. But this weak, though benign prince, in consequence of his too extensive plans of reform, and a difference with his empress, was soon removecl; and though his successor and consort, Catherine the second, did not by any means pay the same court to Frederic, yet her opposition to him was very slight, and soon terminated by a treaty of peace, in which she was followed by Sweden. 20. All these things evidently tended towards a general peace, if England, who had certainly been the most successful of all the pow- ers concerned, could be brought to consent to be stopped in her career of victory and triumph. A change of ministry had, however, laid the foundation for such measures. Mr. Pitt, who was for the continuance of the war, on some private information, as it has been thought, of the progress and terms of the family compact, had re- signed soon after the demise of the king, George II. ; and lord Bute, wno owed his place and power as minister, much more to the per- sonal good-will and attachment of the new king, than to the voice and favour of the people, foreseeing that it might be difficult for him to raise either money or men tor the prosecution of the war, (bounties for recruits, in particular, having risen to an unexampled height,) and having against him many important individuals of both parties, entered freely into negotiations with Franc<^, which were brought to an issue by the peace of Paris, (or Fontainebleau,) 1,763. 21. This treaty was not popular in England, though, undnjubtedlv, she reaped the benefit of many remarkable concessions, particularly in America, where she acquired, not only the whole province of Canada, but part of Louisiana ; the junction of which two distant French settlements, to the embarrassment, and possibly, total sui>jec tion of the English colonies, had been the express occasion of'the war ; but by many persons it was thought, and perhaps with great reason, that England had surrendered too much, considering the high situation in which she stood, and the advantages that might 288 MODERN HISTORY. have been reaped by a little longer continuance of the war ; and in what she both surrendered and retained, an ill and impolitic selec- tion, it was alleged, had been made of posts and settlements. The treaty of Hubertsburg, by which the war was terminated between Austria and Prussia in the same year, 1,763, restored matters, in re- gard to those two powers, exactly to their former state, after skven most destructive and expensive campaigns ! Nothing of territory was lost and nothing gained by either party. England, undoubtedly, was left in the higlAt state of prosperity at the conclusion of these two treaties. Her mR^ unimpared, or rather augmented at the ex- pense of the navy of ib'ance ; her commerce extending from one extremity of the globe to the other, with an accession of important settlements ceded to her by France in Asia, Alrica, and America. SECTION VII. FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. 1,760, TO THE COM- MENCEMENT OF THE DISPUTES WITH AMERICA, 1,764. 1. Though a new enemy, for a very short time, was added to the list of those who were contending with England and her allies, when George the second died, by the accession of Spain to the family compact^ and continental confederacy, in 1,761, yet the seven years' war, through the exhaustion of the allies of Austria, par- ticularly the Saxons, Poles, z.vA French, may be said to have Leen drawing to a conclusion, wben George 111. ascended the throne of Great Britain, on the demise of his grandfather, October 25, 1,760. For the termination of that warj see Sect. V I. 2. Much notice was taken of a passage in the king's first speech to his parliament, in which he expressed the glcrj' he ielt in having been born and educated in Britain ; and though some have pretended to see in it, a reflection on his royal predecessors, yet it was surely wise in the first sovereign of the house of Hanover, who stood clear of foreign manners, and foreign partialities, so to bespeak the love and attachment of his subjects. It is true, indeed, that England had prospered in no common degree from the first accession of that illustrious family, but it cannot be denied, that a distaste of foreign manners, as well as a jealousy of foreign partialities, had occasioPiaiiy interrupted the proceedings of government, and were at all e\ents calculated to keep up, in the minds of the disafTccted, a remembrance of the breach that had been made in the succession to the throne. Fourteen years having passed since any attempt had been made to restore the Stuart fimiily, and the condition of that family having become such, as to render any further endeavoui-s to that effect, ex- tremely improbable, nothing more seemed wanting to remove all remaining prejudices against the Brunswick line of princes, than that the sovereign should be a native of the land he ruled. 3. In addition to this tie upon his subjects, every thing seemed to conspire, as far as regarded the character, manners, and disposition of the young king, to secure to him the attachment of his people ; and to give hopes of a quiet and ^ranquil reign. One of the very first acts of which was calculated to impress the idea of his being a true friend to the liberty of the subject, by rendering the judges independent of the crown. His majesty was married, soon after his aocession, to the princess Charlotte oi Mecklenburgh Strelitz, with MODERN HISTORY. 989 whom he was crowned at Westminster, on the 22d day of Septem- her, i,76l. 4. However promising the appearances both of external and in- ternal tranquillity might be, at the commencement of the new reign, it was not long before the nation became agitated by party disputes and diiierences, of no small importance. In 1,762, a ques- tion arose, which though it led to very distres^ig tumults, terrainat ed in the relief of the subject from an arbitn«l»i oc>?s, ejteeedu.gl^ repugnant to the spirit of the constitution,^BPlhe great^^hartor oV British liberty. General warrants, and thejfetire of private papers without sufficient necessity, the legality of m*ich had been disputed, in the case of Mr. Wilkes, member for Ailesbury, during which that gentlemen displayed considerable fortitude, though certainly with great failure of respect towards the crown, were declared to be illegal by a solemn decree of parliament, 1,765, nor has any attempt been since made to reinvest the government with so dangerous and formidable a power. The question of general warrants, however, was not the only one in which Mr. Wilkes appeared as the champion of the people's liberties. Being elected for Midon this authority, by establishing any other tax of a similar kind, yet the colonists -neve prepared, as much as ever, to dispute the principle, as far as it regarded taxation ; and their courage and confidence at this time stood high, in consequence of the importance which had been given to them in the last war, and their emancipation from all dread of the French and Spaniards, by the cession of Canada and the Floridas. In the colony of Virginia the right of taxation was voted to rest entirely iu the kuig, or his representative, and the general assembly of the colony. This was, undoubtedly, the usual course of things ; and in this way subsidies to a considerable amount had been granted to the crown. This prece- dent was soon followed by others of the legislative bodies, and adopted in the general congress of New York, 1,705. 7. It was not pretended that the Americans paid no taxes ; but a distinction was now set up, which there had been no occasion to insist upon before. To external taxation, through the operation o|' MODERN HISTORY. 293 laws of trade and navigation, enacted in the mother country, they were willing to yield submission ; they had constantly done so, nor were they now disposed to resist such enactments; but all inter- nal duties for raising a revenue, or supporting establishments, were held to be very differently circumstanced. Taxes of this nature were considered as being, in the very language of parliament itself, gifts^ and grants. None, therefore, it was urged, could give the money of America but the people of America themselves. If they chose to make such grants, they might I'eceive a legislative sanction, as in England ; but legislation and taxation were distinct things. Tax- ation, according to the spirit of the English constitution, implying consent, direct or by representation, could not otherwise be rendered either legal or just. Local circumstances would render the repre- sentation of America, in the British parliament, impracticable , and a supposed virtual representation was no less than mockery. The representatives of England, in taxing others, taxed themselves also ; but this could not be the case in regard to American imposts. 8. Such were some of the strongest reasons urged against the measure in general; but, as the right of taxation had not beeh ex- pressly given up by any part in England, but rather insisted upon in the declaratory act, no concession short of this seemed likely to do good. The stamp-act h.ad caused an irritation, which no qtmlijied repeal could allay : internal taxation was not only resisted as an encroachment on established rights and usages, but, in resentment of such wrongs, attempts were made to hinder the further operation even of exter- nal taxation. Non-importation, and non-consumption agreements were soon entered into, and associations formed to methodise and consolidate the opposition to government. A resolution had been passed when lord North was minister, promising to desist from all taxation, except commercial imposts, whenever any one of the colonial assemblies should vote a reasonable sum, as a revenue, to be appropriated by parliament; but this had no good effect. 9. In so embarrassed a state of things, it is not very surprising that the ministry at home should have entertained wrong measures, and miscalculated the effects of the plans they were pursuing. The truth of history tends to show that, however they might be embarrassed by an active opposition in parliament, that opposition fairly forewarned them of the consequences of their meditated pro ceedings, which came to ptiss exactly i« they had been foretold. But after this demand had once provoked the question of right, and that question had divided the people of both countries into two strong parties, things soon fell into that state, in which it became impossible to restore aftairs to their original condition, either by perseverance or concession. Every effort of coercion was resented as an illegal encroachment; every conciliatory proposition received as a proof of alarm and timidity, and as a pledge of victory and success to fu ture opposition. « 10. It has been questioned whether independence was not in the view of the Americans from the very fhst stirring of the question, or even previously ; but had this been the case, they would have been more prepared ; their addresses to the king and parliament, on various occasions, after the commencement of the dispute, must have been fallacious to the highest pitch of dissimulation, if they bad de- termined against all compromise from tht very beginning ; but, in- deed, the retnonsJtanc(^s and complaints of Genera! VVnsiuu;;'!'!), on Ihe ill stale of his araiy, and total want of many essential requisite*, 6 b 2 «4 MODERN HISTORY. on first taking the command, seem clearly to prove that they were driven to assert their independence by the course of things; a large portion of their fellow-subjects and countrymen on both sides of the Atlantic, judged them to be oppressed, and. thus gave a character to their opposition which could not very creditably be forfeited. Upon the Avhole it may be considered probable that some of the most prominent and active leaders of the revolution had very early con- ceived the design of establishing the independence of their country ; but that the mass of the people in the colonies, had no such inten- tion until after their first successes. 11. Hostilities did not actually commence till the year 1,775, ten years from the first passing of the stamp-act. In a short time after the passing of that act, it was repealed, as has been stated ; but in 1,767 the project of taxing America was revived by Mr. Chailes Townshend, and from that period to tlie commencement of the war, both countries were in a state of the greatest agitation. Debates ran high at home, and in America their gravest proceedings were ac- companied with such threats of defiance, and such indignant resent- ment of all innovations, as almost necessarily to bring them under the strong hand of power. But government underrated their means of resistance; when brought into a state of union, by the congress, their force was no longer to be despised ; all temporizing expedients were at an end, a circumstance ill understood by the ministry at home, who lost much time in endeavouring to retrieve matters, by fruitless attempts, sometimes in the way of conciliation, and at others, of inefficient resistance. Thus, when in 1,770 many com- mercial duties were taken ofif, which the mother country had an un- doubted right to impose, the concession was ill received, in conse- quence of the single exception of tea, which was continued in order to assert the rights and supremacy of Great Britain ; but this was done in a manner too imperious, and without sufficient force to subdue the resentment it was calculated to excite, at such a moment. At the very breaking out of the war, ministers appear to have been by far too confident of speedily suppressing so formidable an insurrec- tion ; an insurrection which had ]iad time allowed it to organize itself^ and which bad drawn upon it the attention of the whole civ- ilized world. 12. The war may be said to have actually commenced only on the 14th of April, 1,775, though some English regiments had been sent to Boston so early as the year 1,768. In an affair at Lexington, amounting to no moi^e than a skirmish, the English were completely worsted, a circumstance calculated to give spirits to the Americans, at a most awful and momentous period. General Washington, who had distinguished himself in the war against the French, and bore a most irreproachable character, was appointed to take the command of the American army ; a post of the utmost responsibihty, and re- quiring^alents, temper, ana discretion, of no common description. 13. The sword being drawn, and no hopes remaining of an amica- ble adjustment of differences between the crown and its transatlantic subjects, now in a state of open revolt ; and the success of the first hostilities having animated the military aixiour of the Amt ricans, they proceeded, by a solemn declaration of the general congress at Philadelphia, July 4, 1,776, to declare the thirteen provinces inde- pendent ; by which act America may be said to have been divided from the mother country, 294 years alter the discovery.of that coun- try by Columbus ; 166 irom the first »ettlement of Virginia; and lb$ MODERN HISTORY. 596 from the settlement of Plymouth in Massachusetts Bay. The Amer ican Congress exercised its important functions with great energy and dignity, and the campaign of 1,776 turned out favourably for the Americans, and highly to the credit ol" their very able and brave comaiander. 1 4. Whether it were ^wing to the low opinion entertained by the government at hon>e, of the resistance likely to be offered by the Americans, or to a dislike of the cause in which they were engaged on the part of the British commanders, it is exceedingly certain, mat the English army did not obtain the advantages it was supposed it might have done, or proceed as if it were able speedily to crush the rebellion that had been raised. The American troops vvere every day improving, and every day deriving encouragement, ehher from unexpected successes, or the inactivity of the armies opposed to them. On the other hand, the English were either indulging in pleasure, when they should have been in action, or disheartened by sudden surprises or repulses, which redounded greatly to the credit of their less disciplined, and less organized opponents. In a short time, however, the war became more complicated, and opened a scene, which not only involved the continent of Europe in the con- flict of the day, but probably led' to changes and convulsions, as ex- traordinary and as extensive as ever the world experienced. 15. In the month of November, 1,776, the celebrated Dr. Franklin and Silas Deane had been despatched by congress, to solicit, at the court of Versailles, the aid anfl assistance of French troops. Accord- ing to the former course of things, nothing could be more strange than such an application, at such a court ; an application from rebel- lious subjects, from the assertors of republican independence, to a court celebrated for the most refined despotism, and ruling a people, heretofore the grossest admirers and flatierers of regal power; an application from persons of the simplest habits; frugal, temperate, industrious, and little advanced in civilization, to a court immersed in pleasure, gay, and dissipated^ profligate and corrupt, civilized to the highest pitch of courtly rehnenient, of polished manners, and of splendid luxury : lastly, an application from a people who had car- ried their dissent from the church of Rome farther than any protes- tants in Europe, to a court still subject to the papal see, a cherished branch of the catholic church. 16. Extraordinary, however, in all respects, as this American mis- sion seems to have been, it met with a cordial and favourable recep- tion. Even the queen of France was fotmd to espouse the cause of the revolted subjects of Great Britain, little foreseeing the handle she was giving to many keen observers 6f her own courtly extrava- gance ana thoughtless dissipation. The die was soon cast ; a fortnal treaty was entered into, acknowledging the independency of Amer- ica ; succour and support to a large e^ztent promised, and oificers ap- pointed to conduct the French forces, likely, il would seem, above all others, to imbibe the spirit of freedom, which animated the Americans, and to espouse their cause ui)on principle. They were all noble, indeed ; but in America they vvere sure to be taught how vain were such distinctions, if not supported by public opinion, 17. The English government was not formerly apprised of this unexpected alliance, till the year 1,778, when it received a very curious and insulting notification of it from the French ambassador. If does not appear that the aid thus obtained by the American mis- sion, was altogether grateful to the Americans themselves, though H S36 MODERN HlSTORr. had the full effect of raiding up new and powerful enemies against the mother country, and involving Europe in their cause ; lor, throudi the French intiuence, in the year 1,779, Spain joined the confederacy against England, and, in 1,780, Holland. In the mean while commissioners had been sent from England to America, to treat for peace, but the Americans, in;-istiig on the previous ac- knowledgment of their independency, rendered their attempts fruit- less. 18 Whatever loss of fame, reputation, and territory Great Britain incurred in America, her arms never shone with greater lustre than on some occasions in which she was engaged during this war, with the confederate powers of Europe ; in Asia particularly, she was acquiring an empire ten times greater in wealth and population, than all she had to lose in the west : but of all her achievements at this period, none, periiaps, was so conspicuous, none so glorious, as the defence of Gibraltar under General Elliot, afterwards lord Heath- iieid, against the combined forces of Spain and France. The prepa- rations made to recover that important fortress for Spain, exceeded everything before known. Ihe ultimate success of the attempt was calculated upon as so certain, that some of the French princes of the blood, repaired to the Spanish camp merely to witness lis sur- render. But the heroism of the troops in garrison baffled all their designs, and the timely arrival of the British fleet completed the triumph, in October, 1,782. The siege (begun in 1,779) was entire- ly abandoned, with the loss of all the Spanish floating batteries, and the defeat of the combined fleets ol F'rance and Spain, by lord Howe. This action took place on the 20th of October ; in the following month provisional articles of peace were signed at Paris, by British and American commissioners, and early in the ensuing year a treaty concluded at Versailles, between Great Britain, France, and Spain, to which, in February, Holland also acceded. 19. Towards the close of the war, many important discussions in parliament took place on the American affairs, in which it was found, that those who had most espoused her cause, on the question of iiUernal taxation, and most objected to the measures of administra- tion in the conduct of the war, differed, at the last, from each other, on the question of American independence; a difference rendered peculiarly memorable, as being the subject of the last speech and aoiJearance in parliament of that illustrious statesman, the earl of Cfhatham. On April 7, 1,778, though labouring under a severe tit of illness, he appeared in his place, in the house of lords, and delivered a most animated and energetic speech, in which he strongly protest- ed against the surrender of the sovereignty of Great Britain over her colonies ; soon after, rising to reply to the Duke of Richmond, he fell back on the seat in a fainting lit, and in a few days expired, at his seat in Kent In four years from this event. Great Britain was compelled, to yield upon this great point, and, by the peace of V'er- sailles, ralitied and concluded beptember 3, 1,783, the thirteen United oloiiies of'jli)ierica were admitted to be " /ree, Sovereign, and indepen' dent SiaUt ^ MODERN HISTORY. 297 SECTION IX. FRANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF PARIS, 1,7C3, TO THE OPENING OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATES GENERAL, 1,789. 1. For thfe affairs of France, from the death of Lewis XIV"., to the peace of Vienna, 1,738, (see Sect. I.) In the year of 1,740^ owing to the death of the emperor, Charles VI., Europe was again agitated, and France, in espousing the cause of the elector of Bava- ria, against the house of Austria, became involved in the war, which was terminated by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1,748, (see Sect III.) From the conclusion of the above treaty, to the commence- ment of tlie seven years' war, she enjoyed a state of external peace and tranquillity. B'jt though this short interval of repose from war, was applied to the improvement of the kingdom, in no common de gree, both in the capital and provinces, by the establishment of schools and hospitals, the erection of public edifices, the building of bridges, digging canals, and repairing roads; in the cultivation and improvement of many arts, the extension of commerce, and encour- agement of manuftctures; uf.>iik,of porcelain, and tapestry, in par- ticular; yet amidst all these improvements she enjoyed little of inter- nal tranquiility. K*?Ji^iQUS disputes ^a-eatly occupied the attentiyu of all ranks of persons, and involved the clergy, tl:G col'rt, tiie par- liaments, and the people, in incessant contests, exceedingly disgrace- ful, and, considering the temper of the times, the advancement of human knowledge, and the progress of ideas, extremely injudicious. 2. During the reign of Lewis XIV., a tierce contention had arisen between the Jesuits and Jansenists, on certain obscure points in theology, wliich, after much fruitless argument, much raillery and abuse on both sides, through the influence of the Jesuits with the king, were referred to the decision of the Roman pontitf. One hun- dred and one propositions, out of one hundred and three, which were said to favour the Jausenists, in a book written by the Fere Quesnel, were, in the year 1,713, decl-.ued by the holy oilice to be heretical, and consequently condemned in form.* The interposition of his ho- liness had httle effect, in regard to the restoration of peace and tran- quillity. The public instrument, by which the sentence was passed on the Jansenist party, (in the language of Rome commonly called the bull " Unigenitiis^'" from the hrst word with which it begins,) became the signal for fresh animosities, murmurs, and complaints. The people, the parliament, many prelates, and others of the clergy, violently exclaimed against it, ;is an infringement of the rights of the Gailican church, contrary to the laws, and a violation of the freedom of opinion in matters of religion. But the king, acting under the same influence as had induced liim to forward the appeal, ordered it to be received, and in a short time afterwards died. The regent duke of Orleans found means to keep things tolerably quiet during * The kind's confessor, the P. le Tellier, happened to have told the king that this book contained ynore than a hundred censurable propositions. To save the credit of cne confessor, the pope condemned a hundred and one, and stated the above reason for what he had done, in express tertna, to the French ambassador at Rome. 298 MODERN HISTORY. his administration of affairs, nor did the flame burst out again fill the year 1,750, when, through the bigotry of the then archbishop of Paris, the clergy were encouraged to refuse extreme unction to all who should not produce . contiessional notes, signed by persons wh© adhered to the bull. 3. It is easy to guess the confusion and deep distress, indeed, which so singular and intolerant a measure was likely to produce. The cause of the recusants and people in general, was, upon this occasion, strongly supported by the parliament of Paris, and other parliaments; and as in the preceding struggles the Jansenists had been thrown into prison, in this the magistrates made no scruple of committing ail who refused to administer the sacrament to pei-sons in their last moments. The Jesuits had again recourse to the king. 4. The common course of proceeding, in all disputes and con- tentions between the king and his parUamentS, had hitherto borne the stamp of the most perfect despotism. However bold, or how- ever respectful the remonstrances might be on the part of the lat- ter, they were not allowed to have the least effect against the de- termination of the court. If these judicial bodies became too re- I'ractory, banishment ensued of course, and not the slightest regard was pjiid to any arguments they might allege, nor any resistance they might offer, in support of the liberties ot their fellow suLjects. 5. Things came to the usual crisis on the present occasif»u. All the chambers of parliament refused to register the letters patent by which they were commanded to suspend the prosecutions relative to the refusal of the sacraments. In the year 1,763, they were banished, and much inconvenience arose from the interruption of business, and suspension of justice ; while the clergy, attached to the bull, made great boast of the victory they had obtained, and endeavoured continuallj' to strengthen themselves more and more against their adversaries. The king often wavered, but was as often brought back by the interposilion of the pope and obstinate perseverance of the Jesuits; in 1,754, however, seizing the opportu- nity of the birth of a second son to the dauphin, (the- duke of Ber- ry, afterwards Lewis XVI.,) he recalled tiie parliament, but with- out effecting peace. The members had been received at Paris with loud acclamations, and every demonstration of joy ; their conduct had rendered them popular to an extraordinary degree, so that when commtmded afresh to register the king's edicts, they again refused. This iiold act of disobedience subjected them to the last extremity of kingly authority. The sovereign repaired himself to the hall of parliament, JNovember, 1,756, and in a bed of justice (the term by which such assemblies were peculiarly desig- nated,) finally ordered them to register the edicts in his name, which they could no longer, as the constitution then stood, refuse. Many, however, resigned their appointments, and much discontent prevailed amongst the people. It should be observed, that by this time the depositaries of the laws and advocates had begun to depart from their usual routine of technic;d formalities, and, animated by the ex- amples set them, to enter largely uito the general questions of law and liberty, rights and obligations, duty and privilege ; they began, in short, systematically to take the part of the oppressed ; they were prepared, not only to remonstrate, but to argue, debate, and openly to protest against the violation of the rights of the people. 6. The tiand of a fanatic, in the year 1,757, appeared to have tbe effect of altering the king's mind once more. As bis majesty MODERN HISTORY. 899 WM stepping into his carriage, he was stabbed by an assassin of the name of Damiens^ his object being, according to his own confes- sion, not to kill, but to alarm his majesty, with a view of producing some change in the king's sentiments, that might dispose him to en- join the administration of the sacraments to dying persons, without the confessional notes insisted upon ; but little reliance is to be placed on "any declarations of this nature. In this instance they seemed not to agree with the conduct of the assassin. That Lewis acted as he did soon allerwards, with regard to the points in dispute, in conse- quence of this attempt on his life, is by no means certain ; but in a short time matters were accommodated with the parliament, and the archbishop of Paris, the chief fomenter of the disturbances on the part of the clergy, banished. 7. It may not be unreasonable, perhaps, to date the commence ment of the revolution that broke out nearly thirty years after- wards, from this period. Scarcely any thing could have contributed more to encourage the revolutionary principles already at work, than disputes which indicated such inveterate superstition and big- otry ; such determined opposition to all freedom of thought ; such sophistry and intrigue ; such submission to the court of Rome; such contempt of the public opinion, as expressed, for want of any better constituted organ, in the remonstrances of the French parliament ; such a disposition on the part of the court and clergy to uphold the arbitrary po\yers of the sovereign, and this at a moment when the private life of the monarch himself was in the highest degree profli- gate and abandoned, and the wiiole system of government a system of venality, favouritism, and public plunder. These imprudent and unwise proceedings, at such a time, gave a handle to the philosophei's, or literati, of the day, to take the reform of matters into their own hands, and by supplying them with such ample materials for the exercise of their wits, as well as their courage, laid the foundation for a revolution which (so extensive were the abuses of government) almost necessarily threw every thing into confusion, and in the end far outstepped the bounds of all sober and discreet reform. Bred up by the Jesuits themselves, and instructed in all the branches o^ wtridly and polite knowledge, they were amply prepared to expose the weakness or wickedness of their masters, when ^nce the veil that shrouded their deceptions was by any accident removed. They stood ready to avail themselves of any circumstances that might tend to render manifest the pnde and obstinacy, hypocrisy and deceit, of an overbearing sect, who by their influence with the king, might at any time trample upon the liberties of the people. 8. These philosophers, (for so they have been with too little dis- crimination called,) thus raised in the estimation of an oppressed people into the rank of champions of public freedom, were unfortu- nately, but probably through the artful designs of their instructers, little acquainted with the true principles of religion, however fa- miliar they might be with its abuses. In directing their attacks, therefore, against the Jesuits, they were rather anxious that their shafts should reach all the regular clergy, or monastic orders in general; nor were they at all careful how much religion itself might suffer in the overthrow of its ministers. The enemies of the Jesuits in China, Portugal, Spain, and America, had been the Dominicans and Cordeliers. It was the aim of the philosophers, in crushing the Jesuits, to crush their rivals also ; they were there- fore as severe against the Domioicans as against the Jesuits: the 300 MODERN HISTORY. parliament only attacked the latter. However attached Lewis XV. might be to the Jesuits, as the defenders of the catholic religion, and kingly authority, he appears to have entertained a jealousy of them, as censors of his immoi'al course of life, and as more at- tached to his son the dauphin than, to himself He therelbre be- came inciiSerent to the attacks making upon them ; while his mis- tress, tlie marchioness of Pompadour, and his minister, the duke de Choiseul, in order to keep the king wholly in their own power, were ready to take part against the dauphin, the queen, the royal family, and the Jesuits themselves, of whom they were, for the reasons above -stated, justly suspicious. Tlie duke de Choiseul himself, in- deed, is said to have given the following account of his enmity to the order ; that being on un embassy at Rome, the general of the order frankly told him, that he knexv, before he came, every thing that he had said about the society at t'aris, and so convinced him that what he said was true, that he could not doubt but that, through some means or other, they were able to learn all that passed, not only in the cabinets of princes, but the mterior of private houses, and that so dangerous a society ought not to subsist. It is proper to state this, in order to exonerate the duke from any suspicion of having sacrified them to the philosophers, wliose irreligious princi- ples he is known h.tterly not to have approved. 9. hi the year 1,759 the Jesuits had betu expelled from Portugal, In a charge of countenanchig an attack op the king's life.) Under uiese circumitances, it is not surprising that the enemies of tlie order at Paris should attempt to fix bn them the charge of the late ;ittoie to expect that such chan^^es should be allowed to proceed . witiiout great opposition. It was soon discovered that hotli France ! and Prussia were prepared to support the Dutch against him, and though the empress of Russia had endeavoured to deter the latter from aiding the Hollanders, tiie project was laid aside, and Joseph, instead of his views on the Scheid, resumed some of his former de- ' mands. In th« end, however, every thing was compromised by ; money, trirouj^h the mediatioti of the French king, or rather in con- i formity ^o the dictates of the French minister. 8. Another object which the emperor attempted almost at the ' same time, but equally without eflect, was the exchange of the ' Netlierland^ for Bavaria, lie had targht his mother to covet the '•■ latter country, and its acquisition would undoubtedly have render- ■ ed his dominiuns more compact, and given him a continued line of ] territory, fiom the frontier of Turkey to the Mediterranean sea, • while it niight have relieved him from the charge of a more distant • portion of his dominions, held by a vei7 uncertain and troublesome tenurOk Joseph had calculated upon overcoming all the ditlicul- • ties that might arise fr^" foreign powers; had secured the consent of Russia, and even negotiated the proposed exchange with the elector of Bavaria, f wlio, if it took place, was to be made king of Austrasia or Burgundy.) But Frederic 11., at the age of seventy- four, again interposed : and, by forming with the several princes and states of the empire what was called the Germanic union, for main- taining the integrity and indivisibility of the Germanic body in gen- eral, eft'ectually prevented the exchange so much desired. I'he principal parties to the union, which was settled and confirmed, Juiy 1,785, were, besides the king of Prussia, the electors of Hanover^ Saxony, and Mentz, the margrave of Anspach, and the duke ot Deux Fonts. The whole scheme, indeed, was found to be so im- practicable, that the emperor and elector judged it prudent to deny tliat any conventioil to that effect had taken place between them. 9. In 1,788, Joseph incurred considerable disgrace, by his attacks upon Turkey. He had prrjected, in conjunction wilh the empress of Russia, whom he had dattered by a visit to the Crimea, the total dismemberment of that empire ; but blunder upon blunder defeated his purposes, and he retired from the contest blamed by all parties. In 1,789, however, hostilities were renewed, and in the battle of Rimnik, which took place in the month of September, the combined forces of Russia and Austria gained an important victory over the Turks, under the command of the grand vizir r. The capture of Belgrade soon after, by the army of Lo«don, completed their triumphs ; but their success occasioned jealousies, which effectually interrupted the career of victory. England, Holland, and Prussia, began to be alarmed at the increasing power of Russia and Austria; and, by fomenting the troubles in the iNetherlands, drew the atten- tion of J oseph from his intended encroachments on Turkey. MODKRIS HISTORY. 515 10. In no part of his dominions were his attempts at reformation worse received, or worse managed, than in the Netherlands. Di- vided into many provinces, and each province governed by distinct laws, customs, and regulations ; some secured by charter, in the enjoyment of important privileges and immunities, nothing could possibly have been thought of more vexatious than that of redu- cing them all under one system of administration, commencing with the sudden and violent abolition of many convents, and the sup- pression of many institutions, forms, and ceremonies, by long usage become little less than sacred in the eyes of tiie people. The courts of law, the universities and schools, were subjected to sim- ilar changes, nor did the imperial decrees spare any order of men, or any public establishment, however respectable in other respects, from undergoing this severe ordeal, and revolutionary process. Nothing could exceed the consternation and disgust with which these new regulations were received by all ranks of persons, from the. lowest to the highest ; for even the governors-general sided with the refractory party, and were averse from carrying into executionr a system so exceedingly repugnant to the teelings of the people in general, but especially of the principal pei'sons among'=it the cler- gy, laity, and magistrates. Riots and disturbances took place, as might have been expected, in many parts, and France was appHed to for assistance, as guarantee of their liberties. The whole au- thority of government seemed to be vested in the minister plenipo- tentiary of the emperor, count Belgioso, who had to contend alone against the formidable opposition that had sprung up ; for not only the governors-general, as has been before intimated, were on the side of the pervple, but even the imperial minister, prince Kaunitz, who greatly disapproved the violent proceedin|;9 of his master. 1 1. Joseph at first assumed an appearance oi rigour and intlexibili- ty,- in the pursuit of his new measures, little suitable to the actual situation of afilairs. He had not foreseen so formidable a resistance, and when it occurred, he depended too much on his means for sup- pressing it ; embarrassed as he was at the time by the war with Fiukey. After much threatening, therefore, and strong marks of displeasure against the Bclgic states, he found it advisable.to com- promise matters, for a time at least: or rather to offer to rWlinqui^h all the objectionable parts of his new system ; to re-establish the ancient constitution, confirm the celebrated charter, called La joy- aise E/iuHb- ited in his last moments the fortitude, rc?ignation, and composure of a true christian, yet it is tndy melancholy to think that his whole reign was passed in rendering himself and othei's wretched. He expired on the 20th of February, 1,790,; in the forty-ninth year of his age ; and leaving no issue, was succeeded in his hereditary do- minions by his brother Leopold, who was also chosen emperor before the end of the year in which his brother died. 13. The reign of the emperor Leopold II. was very short, and far from a happy one. His brother had left his dominions in a wretched state of discontent and confusion ; diminished, in some mo-t important instances, and pretty generally exposed to the attacks of formidable and designing enemies. Leopold had been able to do some good amongst his Tuscan subjects before he ascended the royal and imperial thrones, but his genius and talents were judged to be unequal to the government of a mighty empire. He soon fave satisfaction however, to the aching minds of his new subjects, y restoring to many their ancient privileges, and revoking the in- udicious and irritating innovations ol his deceased brother. Nor did le manage his foreign negotiations ill, which, had they failed, might have involved him in inextricable diflicuUies. By flattering the Eng- lish, and appearing to enter into their views in regard to Turkey and the Netherlands, he deterred the king of Prussia from prosecut- ing his designs upon Gallicia, which he wished to procure for Po- land, in exchange for Dantzic and Thorn. Afterwards, by fomenting that monarch's resentment. against England, who appeared to have abandoned him, he managed to form a union with the very court which at the commencement of his reign had manifested the great- est symptoms of rivalry and opposition. This accommodation with the king of Prussia greatly facilitated his accession to the imperial crown, which was conferred upon him, October 9, 1,790. 14. By very firm, but conciliatory behaviour towards the Hun- garians, who seem to have imbibed at this time many of the demo- cratic principles of the French, he not only effectually ingratiated himself with the leading persons of the kingdom, but regained the affections of the people at large, which had been sadly alienated through his brother's unwise interference with their most favourite customs and established rights. 15. Leopold did not so easily settle his disputes with the Nether- lands. The mediation of England, Holland, and Prussia, had been offered, but he rather inclined to rely on his own strength, and hia cooaexions with France, which were every hour becoming mor« fc MODERN HISTORY. 315 uncertain and precarious. He had recourse therefore to force, and succeeded indeed in re-establishing the imperial authority, but total- g* detached from any cordial returns of loyalty on the part of the glgiiuis, which became but too apparent, when his subsequent dis- putes with the revolutionary government of France exposed those parts of the Austrian dominions to fresh troubles and disturbances. 16. The situation of the emperor Leopold, it must be granted, was very embarrassing in the first years of the French revolution. The constraint put upon the royal family of France, to which he stood so nearly allied, and the threats denounced so openly against the queen his sister^ in particular, must have greatly afiected his private feelings, while many of the German states, whose rights, ecclesiastical and territorial, guarantied by the peace of West- Ehalia, had been invaded in Alsace, Franche Compte, and Lorraine, y the decree of the national assembly, for abolishing the feudal privileges, publicly called upon him to interpose in their behalf, as head ot the empire ; as he stood bound to do indeed by his capitula- tion with the diet, on receiving the imperial crown. In regard to the royal family of France, his first plans, in conjunction with the king of Prussia, were clearly injudicious, and injurious to the cause he took in hand. The French revolutionists were not in a state to be intimidated by angry manifestoes or threats of foreign interfe- rence. The emperor himself, indeed, did often appear cautious of embroiling his country in a war with France, but was at length prob- ably provoked into it, by the violence of the Jacobinical faction at Paris, rather than persuaded by the representations of the emigrant princes, or royal family at Paris, as was so strongly alleged. Beyond the alliance with Prussia, however, concluded on the 19th of Febru- ary, 1,792, the emperor Leopold can scarcely be said to have had any share in the war with France ; for, on the 27 th of that very month, he was seized with an illness, which in three days terminated his life, at the early age of forty-four, leaving his dominions in a state of more serious danger than when he began his reign. 17. The emperor Leopold was succeeded in his hereditary states by his eldest son Francis^: born in 1,768, who became emperor in " the July following his father's death, and still reigns. This mon- arch had to begin those hostilities with France which his predeces- sor seems to have contemplated with considerable distrust, and he became a party to the too hasty proceedings of his Prussian ally and the duke of Brunswick, who increased the irritation and pro- voked the resistance of the French, by menaces extremely impo- litic, considering the actual state of things. They endeavoured, in- deed, to throw the blame on the emigrant princes, who, it was alleged, had misled them by false representations of the good dispo- sition of the people in the interior of France. They expected to find a large majority ready to co-operate with them in the overthrow of the ruling faction. 18. The emperor soon found himself in a very awkward situa- tion. Instead of invading France with any effect, he had the mor- tification to see his own dominions invaded by the French, under a general (Duraourier), who had boasted that he would subdue the Austrian Netherlands before the end of the year ; an engage- ment which he in a great measure fulfilled, through the disaffection of the Belgians, who were ready enough to throw off the Austrian yoke, heedless that they were in the way of having another imme- «Iiatelji' imposed upon theiu still more galling and vexatious. In the 316 MODERN HISTORY month of November, 1,792. all subjection to the imperial authority was openly renounced in tne very capital of the Netherlands, and the French allowed to enter the city in triumph. While these things were going on in Flanders, Germany itself was invaded by the French general, Custine, Mentz taken, and heavy contributions levied in the towns of Worms and Frankibrt. 19. Early in the year 1,793, the Austrians under general Clair- fait and the prince of Saxe Coburg, obtained advantages over the French, at Aix-la-Chapelle, which were followed by the capture of the towns of Valenciennes and Conde, in conjunction with the British army under the command of the duke of York. A separa tion of the two armies afterwards took place, which was attended with unpleasant circumstances, and seems to have happened very contrary to the desire and wishes of the Austrian commanders. The troops under the duke laid siege to Dunkirk, but were unsuc- cessful in their attempts against the place, being obliged to abandon the undertaking witti the loss of the greatest part of their artillery and stores. 2(J. In the year 1,794, the allied armies again acted in conjunction against the !• ranch under general Fichegru, the emperor himself having joined the camp, but the overwhelming power of the French baffled all their atteni]|)ts to defend the Netherlands, which fell en- tirely into the hands o< the enemy. 2l". The share whirh the emperor Francis II. had in the final dismemberment of Poland, 1,795, will be shewn in the history of that unhappy country. The king of Prussia having gained great advantages by this transaction, declined any longer assisting the allies against France, and in open violation of his engagements with Eng- land, made a peace with the French government, April 5, 1,795, to the great disgust of the confederates. 22. The contests between the armies of Germany and France, in the years 1,796, 1,797, were carried on with the greatest vigour, skill, and bnivery, on the Rhine, in Suabia, in the Tyrol, and in Italy. In 1,796, the archduke Charles, brother of the emperor, acquired great glory by checking the progress of the two celebrat- ed French generals, Jourdan and Moreau : and, though compelled to retire before Buonaparte, in 1,797, and to subscribe to the peace of Campo-Formio, as w ill be related elsewhere, his credit with the army remained undiminished, and his reputation as a general unim- paired. On the renewal of the war in 1,799, at the instigation of the Neapolitan court, the Austrians were assisted by the Russians, and at the close of the eighteenth century, the tide of affairs seemed to be turning greatly against the French, when a new revolution in the fluctuating government of that disturbed people, suddenly chang- ed the lace of things, as will be shewn in our continuation of the history of France. SECTION XII. FRANCE, FROM THE OPENING OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATES-GENERAL, 1,789, TO THE DEATHS OF THE KING AND QUEEN, 1,793. 1. The states-general met. May 5, 1,789. The king's speech has been much admired, as the address of an upright, humaoe, an4 MODERN HISTORY. 31 , pfttriotic prince, to a respectable assemblage of his subjects, by whose political and legislative exertions he hoped to improve the state of the nation. The nobles and clergy had expressed a willing- ness to forego their pecuniary privileges, but there were other grounds upon which they seemed likely to he at variance with the third estate. The latter were for obliterating all traces of distinc- tion in their legislative capacity; while the Ibrmer were so impru- dent as to take some steps, not only indicative of an invincible attach- ment to such distinctions, but bearing an air of arrogance and deh- ance in them, ill suited to the times. The very costume adopted on the occasion was calculated to render the representatives of the commonalty almost ridiculous in the eyes of their countrymen. The nobles and clergy were distinguished by robes peculiarly rich and brilliant; but the whole of the third estate were directed to appear in the common and antiquated black di^ess of the members of the iaw, though of various callings and prolessions. As soon, how- ever, as the commons had verihed their powers and were prepared to act, without waiting for the concurrence of the ot'ier two order*, it was proposed by aJM. Le Grand, and seconded by the Abbe Sieyos, to call their meeting the '• .National Assembly,"' as forming a national representation one and indivisible. This was eagerly adopted !iv a majority of the members, but objected to by the king ; at length, however, some of the clergy and nobles having joined the third estate, the king himself condescended to approve and sanction the union, a matter of great triumph to the popular party, and which, in facL made them the arbiters of the destiny of France. 2. On the 11th of July, 1,789, the king thought it necessary to dismiss M. Necker; many tumults and insurrections were the con- sequence of this unpopular proceeding ; the Bastile state prison, Oiice crowded with the victims of arbitrary power, but at 'his mo- ment, and under the mild reign of Lewis XVI., almost empty, was besieged by the mob, taken, and razed to the ground. After many tumults of this kind, the king judged it expedient to comply wiih the wishes of his people, and to recall the discarded misu^ter; he was also induced by circumstances, to yield to another demand of more importance, namely, the dismissal of all his troops Irom the environs of Paris and Versailles. In the meanwhile, the marquis de la Fayette, who had been engaged in America, and there imbibed a spirit of hberty, was tixed upon to take the command of the nevr miiitia or city guard. Alarmed at the appearance of things at this period, many nobles, and even one of the king's brothers, left the kingdom. This had imdoubtedly a bad effect ; it not only left the king more exposed to the violence of faction, but seemed to betoken a disregard of the liberties of their country, and a settled purpose of invoking foreign aid. 3. The national assembly soon divided itself into two parties; the aristocrats.^ or «>uch as not only favoured royalty, but to a cer- tain extent, the privileged orders, nobles, and clergy; and the democrats^ or advocates of freedom ; the sworn enemies of all op- pressive and distinct privileges; they were also distinguished into royalists and patriots. Among the former we may reckon the mod- erates, whose speeches in the assembly are justly to be admired, for their extreme good sense and rational politics. Of the nobles, it should be observed, that the most obnoxious were those who bad purchased their nobility, amotmting to many thousancusH 'l with singular attention, and a large display of legal and parliameatary knowledge. The law members of both houses were never perhaps so divided in their opinions; but the numerous precedents cited by Mr. Pitt seemed clearly to decide the question as follows : that though legislative processes are abated by prorogation or dissolution, it is not so with regard to judicial proceedings. It appeared to be a nice and curious question, and, as affecting the responsibility of ministers, its decision may be regarded as singularly important. 8. Though in the i ourse of the proceedings and prosecution of the various charges against Mr. Hastings, the eloquence of the Jnanagers exceeded all that could have been expected, yet never perhaps were so great talents employed with less success ; a trial of such seeming importance, so strangely protracted ; or a case of impeachment brought to an issue so little answerable to the expec- tations that had been excited. It would be impossible to deny that /lagr.mt and enormous abuses had been committed in India during the period in question, yof, the verj length of the trial made it ap- pear to most persons in the light of a persecvtion^ and that oi" an iii- vlividual to whom the company and the nation stood highly indet>ted for many eminent services. As it ended in the acquittal of Mr. Has- tings, that gentleman m^y be presumed innocent. One good, how- ever, seems to have arisen from the investigation ; all succeeding governors-general have certainly been more circumspect and correct m their proceedings. 9. In tJie course of the year 1,787, great disturbances having taken place in the united provinces, fomented by the French, and threatening the dissolution of the sladl'iolderate, an alliance was formed between the courts of St. James's and Berlin, to protect the rights ot' the prince of Orange, and resist the interference ol' the Frenclj* Prepai-ations for war took place, but tbe Prussian army decided matters without any active co-operalion on the part of Great Britain. The,alarniing state of things in France, appeared to deter the court of \ ersaides from rendering that assistance to the malecontents of Holland, which tlie latter had been taught to expect 10. During the cession of 1,783, the attention of the house of commons was first called to the horrible circumstances attending tlie African slave-trade. It is quite surprising that such a trafiic should have been so long carried on, witliout exciting the resent- ment of every sensible mind, and disgusting the feelings of a civil- ized people ; unfbrtunatelT, when tiist noticed, it was found to be 10 deeply interwoven with the interests of our settlements in the West Indies, and to depend so much on foreign states, as well as our own, as to render it almost necessary to proceed slowly and cautiously, though it was impossible not to be horror-struck with the information laid before the house, particularly in regard to what was called the middle-passage, or transportation of the uiihap- py Africans, from their native shores to the several islands. As it would be inconsistent with the nature of such a work as the present, to enter into the detail of the proceedings upon this very interesting aubject, which took up a long lime, and can scarcely now be said t©- MODERN HISTORY. 325 be terminated, it may be sufficient to note, that, after continual re- newals ot^ the subject in the two houses of parliament, yet, owing to many uutovvard circumstances, it was ,not hnally abolished till the year 1,806, nor has it even yet been in the power of any ministry, or any of our diplomatists, effectually to prevent the trade, as car- ried on by foreign states, though every person of humane feelings must devoutly wish and desire that it should be so. It must, how- fever, always redound to the credit of our own country, tliat the voice of compassion and mercy was tirst heard amongst us, and that the tirst arm stretched out to save and to rescue a large proportion of our fellow-creatures from the most alject slavery and cruel tor- tures that ever were inflicted, was the arm of a Briton. 11. The parliament being prorogued on the 1 lib of July, 1,788, to the 20th of November, was compelled to meet on the day ap pointed, by circumstances of a most distressing kind. His majesty, probably through excess of business, to which he was known to devote more time and labour than could well be consistent with his health, was seized with an illness which totally incapacitated him from discharging the f inctions of his high and exalted station. It must appear strange, that by the kuvs and constitution of the realm, so little provision had been made for a catastrophe by no means out of the line of probability, tliat it becama a question into what hands the suspended executive bad devolved, and this led, as might be expected, to very warm and important debates in parlia- ment. Though the prince of Wales, being of full age, did not person- ally claim the regency as matter of right, his party did. The min- ister, Mr. Pitt, contended that it belonged to parliament to supply the deficiency ; and this question being stated, it was judged expe- dient to debate it, and settle it by vote. The decision upon tnis occasion was entirely in favour of the power of parliament to appoint the regent, none doubting, however, that the heir apparent was the tit object of such appuintment. Other questions were agitated at the same time, of equal' ianportance ; particularly how far restrictions could be imposed by parliament, in regard to the ex- ercise of prerogatives, the whde of which were reasonably enough supposed to be essential to the government of the country This question also was decided in favour of the minister, who had proposed restrictions, with an understanding, however, that they could only apply to a temporary suspension of the kingly power. In this case also, the care of t.ie king s person wiis assigned not to the regent, but to the queen. One great difficulty remained alter all the discussions upon the regency. It was doubted how the lord chancellor could be empowered to put the great seal to a commission tor opening the sessions of parliament, so as to restore " the eflicacy of legislation ;" it was decided that he might be directed to do it in the name of the king, by authority of the two houses. 12. Fortunately for the public, this first illness of his majesty was of so short duration, as to render unnecessary all the changes that had been contemplated. Early in the year 1,789, the lord chancellor was able to aiinounce to the liouses of parliament, the perfect recovery of the king. Nothing could exceed the transports of joy with which this intelUgeuce was received throughout the whole kingdom. A national tnanksgiving was appointed, and his majesty went himself in great ^tate to St. PauFs, to ofcr up his grateful devotions on the event. The illuminatioas on the occasion were so general, that it is probable, from the accounts give» of Ee 326 MODERN HISTORY. them, that scarcely a cottage in the most remote parts of the island was without its show of loyalty and aflection. The appearance of the metropolis, in particular, was most extraordinary, and notwiili- standing the immense concourse of people that continued almost the whole night in tlie streets, and the crowded thiong ol' carriages and horses, so strong a disposition was sliown by all rauliS and descriptions of persons to conduct things peaceably, that fewer accidents occurred than were ever known before in similar cases. 13. It should be noted, as a matter of general history, that had not his mijesty recovered so opportunely, difticulties of an extraor- dinary nature might have ensued, from the different proceedings of the two legislatures of Great Biitain and Ireland. While in Die former it was decided that the prince could not assume the regency, as matter of right, and that the parliament had a power to impose restrictions, in Ireland, his right appeared to be acknowledged by the two houses agreeing to address him, to take upon him immediately the government of that kingdom, during the king's incapacity, and with the usual powers of royalty. 14. In the year 1,789, the proceedings in France began to occupy the attention of Europe, and of England in particular. A struggle for freedom seemed to be so congenial to the spirit of the people of the latter country, that it is not to be wondered that the commencement of so extraordinary a revolution should excite the strongest sensa- tions. Unfortunately the abuses in the French government were so many, and some of tl^em so entirely contrary to every principle of reason and equity, that it soon became apparent that nothing less than a nidical change, and revolution of every existing institution and establishment, would satisfy the disturbed minds of that voiatile Eeople ; minds unhappily prepared not merely to resist oppression, ut to throw off every restraint of religion and morality. Such an example, therefore, required to be watched and guarded against, in a country whose free constitution supplied its own means of refor- mation in every case of necessitjr, and nhere tumultuary proceedings could only lead to ends the most fatal and deplorable. Mr. Pitt seemed aware of this, and though his measures of precaution were supposed occasionally to press too hardly on the hberty of the sub- ject, it must be admitted that a very improper intercourse was at times carried on between the several popular associations in England and Ireland, and the national assembly of France. The object of the latter, in its replies to the addresses presented to it, being, accord- ing to all reasonable interpretation of the terms used, to invite and encourage the discontented of all countries to follow their example, which was every day becoming more violent and anarchical. This was not all ; emissaries were employed to propagate their principles in other countries, many of whom came to England, and met with an encouragement not to be overlooked by a government properly sensible of the dangers to be incurred by any adoption of such sentiments and principles, in a country so very differently situ- ated from that of France. England had long ago done for herself what France was now attempting ; and though no such changes and revolutions can be expected to take place without some violence, yet England had passed through this ordeal, and accomplished her point a whole century before France began to assert her liberties. \T was uttle less than an bsult to every true Englishman, therefore, to attempt to stir him up to such violent proceedings as had already been «ouQteaaDeed auad saDCtioued by the Frencb revolutionists ; but ^"MODERN HISTORY. 327 that such attempts were making, could not but be too obvions. On the 19th of November, liTO^, the national assembly passed a decree, that they would grant fraternity and assistance to all who might wish to recover their liberty. This was two months after they had pro- claimed the eternal abolition of royalty, and imprisoned tiie king; after they had declared hereditary nobility to be incompatible with a free state ; and thus, by implication, declared that England and most of the other states of Europe were not free. It was afterwards proved, by their own acknowledgment, that before any declaration of war more than a million sterling had been sent to England from tha national treasury of France, lor purposes strictly revolutionary No country was free from these political disturbers ; even general Washington, as president of the United States of America, was obliged to publish letters patent, to withdraw his countenance from the accredited French ministers in that country, who had grossly insulted him as head of tlie executive government. 15. In the year 1,790, an unpleasant dispute arose between the courts of St. iames's and Madrid, which had nearly involved the two countries in a war. It related to a settlement on the north western coast of America, which had been attempted by some sub jects of Great Britain, at Nootka Sound, for the carrying on a fur trade with China. The Spaniards, conceiving this to be an invasion of their rights, under a claim to these distant regions the most ex travagant and absurd, with great precipitation attacked the English settled there, took the tort which had been erected with the consent of the Indiana, and seized upon the vessels. It was not possible t<> pass over so great an outrage ; but by the vigorous and timely prep arations made to procure reparation, and the little hqpe ot assist- ance to be derived from France, in case things should come to ex tremities, the Spanish court was brougijt to terms before the expira tion of the year; and not only every point in dispute ceded to tha English, but many advantages granted with regard to the navigation of the Pacitic ocean. 16. In the course of the same year, the British court interfered successfully to restore peace between Austria and Turkey, and was further instrumental, though not without some hindrances, in reducing the revolted Netherlands to the dominion and authority of the tormer power. Her attempts to mediate between Russia and the Porte, were by no means so successful, and had nearly, in deed, involved the nation in war, for an object of very little im- portance in the eyes of the public at large, though the minister seemed to think otherwise. In consequence, however, of the op- position he met with, he was induced to forego the plan he had in view, of preventing Russia g 4ting possession of the town of Ocza- kow, and a peace was concluded with that power at Yassi, January, 1,792. 17. Towards the close of the same year, after the king of France and his family were in a state of conhnement, many attempts were made by the national assembly to ascertain the views of England with regard to the confederacy formed against her, and the question of peace or war seemed nearly brought to an issue, before the horrible execution of the king, in the month of January, 1,793. That event being followed by the dismissal of the French minister at London, appeared so totally to dissolve all friendly communications between the two countries, as to induce the French government, by a decree of tlie assembly, February 3, 1,793, to declare war against the kinj^ 328 MODERN HISTORY. of Great Britain and the stadtholder of Holland ;'^'vci which decree, there was evidently an attempt in the very wording of it to separate the people of the two countries from their respective sovereigns. 18. J3y this time, indeed, the encroaching disposition of the French revolutionists was manifested in their annexation of Savoy to France for ever, as soon as they had gained any advantages over it; and in their conduct in the Netherlands, by declaring the navi- gation of the Scheld free, contrary to all subsisting treaties with the Dutch. The same spirit was apparent in their refusal to ex- empt Alsace and Lorraine irom the operation of the decrees for the abolition of feudal rights, and in their forcible seizure of Avignon and the comtat Venaissin, which had belonged to the Roman see for many centuries. It is true, the indiscreet manifestoes of the combined armies were sufficient to stimukite a people, already in a high degree of irritation, to acts of severe reprisal, in all cases of success ; but it was very manifest that they had already violated their own principle of not acting on a system of aggrandizement, of which they made such boast at the beginning of the revolution. Their glaring abandonment of this principle, and the injury done to the Dutch by opening the Scheld, were the ostensible grounds of the war on the part of England. The declaration of France, in some degree, saved the minister from the responsibility of having actually commenced hostilities, however, in the opinion of opposi- tion, he might be said to have provoked them ; but it sliould still ha observed, that there was a treaty subsisting between the two countries^ affirming that the recal or dismission of public ministers should be considered tantamount to a declaration of war. If so, and the treaty was not invalidated by the change of things at Paris, as many assertea, the first declaration of war proceeded from the English government, who, on the suspension of the kingly authority, had recalled lord Gower from Paiis, (many other courts, however, having done the same,) and on the death of the king, abruptly dismissed the French minister, M. Chauvelin, from England. 19. The exact objects of the hostile interference of England were never formally explained in parliament, though in the king's declaration they were regarded as too notorious ; every thing con- duced to render it apparent, that they had in view as much to op- pose the propagation of anarchical principles, as the violence of territorial aggressions; that previously to the declaration of war on either part, the English goveniraent had shown a disposition not to interfere with the internal affairs of France, seems manifest from many circumstances. 20. It is not necessary to enter into the details of the war that tobk place after England joined the confederacy. The extraor- dinary progress and success of the Fre^ich appertains to the history of that country, and may therefore be found elsewhere. Though the British troop fought with their accustomed bravery, and ob- tained in their hrst campaign some signal advantages, yet, owing in some measure to the want of harmony and cordiality between the confederates, but still more to the overwhelming force of France, now risen en masse, they ultimately met with great reverses,, and were compelled to abandon the country they had undertaken to defend; but though unsuccessful by land, on the ocean England maintained her wonted superiority. Many of the French West In- dia islands fell into her power in the summer of 1,794, and a most decisive victory was gained by lord Howe, over the Brest fleet, on MODERN HISTORY. 529 the 1st of June. The island of Corsica also was subdued, and by the anti-galiican party, with the celebrated Paschal Paoli at their head, erected into a monarchy, the kingly power and prerogatives being freely conferred on his majesty George 111. In the month of October, however, 1,796, the French party recovered the ascenden- cy, and the island being evacuated by the English, was re-annexed to France. 21. At the conclusion of the year 1,794, though France had on the continent made surprising acquisitions, the spirits of the English were far from being shaken, and the utmost efforts were cheerfully m:ulo for continuing the contest on the ocean ; and in all the colonies of the enemy, the advantages were clearly on the side of the British, during the years 1,795, 1,796, ane, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Naples, France, Spain, Holland, Austria, Portugal, Venice, and Tuscany, (for by some steps or other they all seemed disposed to adopt the spirit of it,) might hav« been expected to amount to a formal recognition of its principle, as a proper law of nations ; the dispute, however, upon this oe in such a work as the present. 4. Early in the year 1,796, general Buonaparte obtained (being then twenty-six years of age,) the chief command of the army of Italy, as it was called. His eagerness to commence operations drv.w upon him some remonstrances. It was suggested to him that m^tny things were wanting in his army necessary to the campaign. " I h;»ve enough," said he, " if 1 conquer, and too many if I should he braten." The Austrian army in those parts was commanded by general Beaulieu, an officer peculiarly active and enterprising. Gfieral Buonaparte took the command of the French army on the 30th of March, and between the 12lh and 15th of April, beat the Au:*trian troops in three distinct engagements, at Montenotte, Mil- lesimo (or Monte lezino,) and Dego. In the space of four days, it has been computed, that the Austrian army was diminished to the amount of 15,000 men, being separated at the same time from their Piedmontese allies. After the battle of Dego, Buonaparte advanced rapidly into Piedmont, nor did he stop till he had arrived at the very gates of Turin. There he agreed to an armistice solicited by the kmg, who was ignominiously compelled to submit to his occu- pying with French troops all the principal fortresses of his coun- try. Happy to be allowed to retain the capital, he was also obliged to cede Savoy, Nice, Tende, and Beuil. From Turin, Buona- parte pursued his course into Lombardy, and by the celebrated MODERN HISTORY. 339 fcatlle of Lodi, on the 10th of May, obtained complete possession of the Milanese. 5. Unwilling to enter immediately into the narrow parts of Italy m this stage of his proceedings, he satisfied himself with threaten- ing the pope and the king of Naples, till he brought them to terms of peace ; the former surrendering to the French republic, Bologna, Ferrara, and the coasts of the Adriatic, from the mouths of the Po, to Ancona ; and the latter consenting to contribute largely to the maintenance of the French army, and to close his ports against the enemies of France. The dukes of Parma and Modena, made submission in time to save their countries. The grand duke of Tuscany had previously acknowledged the French republic, but was bidden very peremptorily to exclude the English from the port of Leghorn. The subn)ission of all these princes and states to the overwhelming force ol the army under the command of Buo- naparte, was but part of the victory he obtained over them. In every step he took, he was careful, by new laws, treaties, and po- litical arrangements, to '•'' revolutionize?'^ the countries over which he obtained an ascendency by arms, and to incorporate them with the French republic. Savoy, Nice, and the Milanese, were thus brought under his dominion, and ultimately erected into distinct, though subordinate republics. 6. It was at the vei-y commencement of the military career of this extraordinary man, that he adopted a system of plunder, which, for a long time, engaged the attention of the whole civilized world. In all the treaties concluded with the Italian princes, he stipulated that French artists should be admitted into their public galleries, museums, and palaces, to select as many as they might choose, of the choicest performances of the celebrated painters and sculptore of all ages, and cause them to be conveyed to Paris. French sentiment has dwelt upon the circumstance of the immortal Raphael, Titian, and Domenichino, having thys had it in their power, and in such critical moments, to pay the ransom of their native countries, over- looking the sad violation of sentiment occasioned by the removal of these precious pledges of their stupendous talents from the hands which had so long preserved them, and from places of which they had been so justly regarded as the choicest and most valuable ornaments. 7. The siege of Mantua was attended with many severe conflicts. On the reduction of that important place, Buonaparte is stated to have thus addressed his soldiers : " The capture of Mantua termi- nates a campaign which has justly entitled you to the everlasting gratitude of your country. You have triumphed over the enemy in three pitched battles, and seventy inferior engagements ; you have taken a hundred thousand prisoners, fifty field-pieces, two thousand battering cannons. The country you have subdued has nourished, maintained, and paid the army during the whole campaign, and you have remitted thirty millions to the minister of finance, in aid of the public treasury. You have enriched the museum at Paris, with more than three hundred of the choicest and most valuable works of art, both of ancient and modern Italy, and which it had taken thirty ages to produce." 8. Though we know from subsequent accounts of French victo- ries, that they are not always to be depended upon, yet there can be no doubt, that the above address does pretty fairly describe the extraordinary rapidity and extent of Buonaparte^s tirst operatioM 340 MODERN HISTORY. in the field. The years 1,796 and 1,797, were indeed marked by 6uch stirprising instances of this nature, that they deserve a place in history, though the prudence and good generalship of such pre- cipitate steps has been reasonably questioned. Mantua capitulated on the 2d of February, 1,797, and Buonaparte pursued his course in the direction of the Austrian capital, leaving Italy behind him, with a view of penetrating to Vienna. Though obliged to fight his way, he succeeded, March 2, 1,797, in taking possession of Gradis- ca, which laid open to him the provinces ot Goritz, Carniola, and Carintbia. 9. The Austrian grand army was commanded by the emperor's brother, the archduke Charles, an able general, a great favourite with the soldiers, and who had combated the French on the Rhine with signal succe-s. He was not, however, strong enough to await the approach of the French, who soon reached Leoben, only thirty miles from Vienna, where great constemalion was excited, and the imperial family compelled to retire. As both armies, however, were brought into a very criticid position, negotiations were en- tered into ut this place, an aimistice concluded on the 8th of April, and preliminaries of peace signed on the 15th of the same month, 1,797. 10. Before we notice the celebrated treaty of Campo-Formio, by which the peace was settled and contirmed, it may be lit to con- sider the state of those countries which Buonaparte had left behind on his march upon V ienna. He had made peace on his own terms (most advantageous ones for France) with Parma, Modena, Rome, and Naples. He had overrun Savoy, obtained possession of tke Milanese, and reduced Mantua. He had erected Genoa inte the Ligurian republic, and the Milanese he converted into the Cisalpine republic, after having first given it the name of Transpadane, in reference to the river Po, and in contradistinction to the Cispadane republic, consisting of Modena, Bologna, Reggio, and Ferrara, con- federated in 1,796. He had passed Venice on his way to Trieste, of which he took possession on the 3d of April, 1,797. The Venetians had afforded an asylum to Lewis XVIII., and wavered greatly in taking part either with the Austrians or the French, not being able to calculate upon the issue of the contest. They had also fallen into domestic broils and dissensions, which gave the Fsench command- er the opportunity he always sought, of introducing a French army to allay their differences. The consequences were, that they im- mediately seized upon the fleet, the Ionian islands, and, in fact, all the Venetian states, which enabled Buonaparte greatly to improve the peace he was making with the Austrians. Albania and the Ioni- an islands he kept to himself; to the Cisalpine republic he assigned the western dependencies of Venice, reserving for Austria, -the capi- tal, Istria, Dalmatia, and the island of the Adriatic, in exchange for the Netherlands and the duchy of Luxemburg. He had profess- ed to enter upon the Venetian states, merely to rescue them from the hands of Austria, but by this extraordinary manoeuvre, he not only delivered them over to the very power from whom he under- took to save them, but he obtained from Austria the very object for the sake of which her English allies had refused to make peace in 1,796. Such appears to have been the chief foundation of the cele- brated treaty of Campo-Formio, concluded between the emperor and the French republic, October, 17, 1,797. U- Previously to the conclusion of the treaty of Campo^Fonnio, MODERN HISTORY. 341 tiie alliea had lost three of their confederates, the dukes of Wir- temburg and Bavaria, and the Margrave of Baden, all of whom had found it necessary to purchase peace of the directory by heavy contributions. Such great advantages in its external relations were, however, far from contributing to the internal tranquillity of the republic. The tii'st live directors, as might naturally have been expected, were by no means accordant in their views, or of equal talents and abilities; and provision seemed to have been made for tresh revolutions, by the continual recurrence of new elections, both in the legislative assemblies and directory. One of the live directors was annuall}' to go out, and one third of each of the le- gislative bodies to be renewed. The lirst event of this kind, as might be expected, revived all the jealousies of rival parties, and produced an explosion almost as violent as any that had yet occur- red ; the explosion of the 18th of Fructidor, as marked in the short- lived republican calendar. Le Tourneur quitted the directory by lot, and was succeeded by Burthelemi, who soon apj>eared inclined to join Carnot against Keubel, Barras, and Larevilliere-Lepaux. The three latter were for assuming a despotic power; their oppo- nents were divided, some inclined to the lestoiation of royalty, otiiers to the emancipation of the councils from the sway of the directors, Heubel and his two associates ; but as they formed a mi- nority, and their enemies were prompt in their measures of revenge, and had moreover the command of tlie military, it was not long be- fore the latter obtained the victory they sought. On the 4th of September, 1,797, the legislative assemblies were surrounded with troops, and at the instance of the three ruling directoi's, two of their colleagues, (Carnot and Bartheiemi) several members of the two councils, many public ministers, and many men of letters, declared guilty of anti-republican measures and principles, arrcsled and in)pri- soned ; and, on the 5th, sentenced to deportation to the unhealthy and remote settlement of Guiana, in South America. The authors, editors, directors, and proprietors, of no less tiian forty-two public journals were included in the sentence. Some of tiie proscribed members found means to escape ; but those who were conveyed to Guiana, suffered dreadfully from the voyage; many died from the unwholesomeness of the place, some found means to return to Lurope, particularly general Pichegru and the ex-director, Barlhelemi, who were conveyed to England from the Dutch settlement of Surinam. 12. Buonaparte returned to i^iris not long after these disturban- ces, and was received with peculiar honours. The people began to look up to him for deliverance from the tyranny of three direct- ors; and the latter were as eager to remove him from the metropo- lis. In the midst of the honours paid to him, on account of his vic- tories in Italy and Germany, Barras, with great emphasis, nominat- ed him as the hero destined to place the tri-coloured flag on the tower o[ London. Troops were actually assembled on the coasts of Flanders and Normandy for the purpose ; but Buonaparte him- selfi seeing the impracticabUlity of such an attempt, meditated a more distant expedition. 13. In the course of the year 1,798, the system, 1:)egar}. so suc- cessfully in Flanders and Holland, of revolutio.iizing the countries into which the French armies should penetrate, was carried to a great extent. WatchtuI to seize upon every opportunity afforded them by internal dissensions, the French this year obtained posses- npD of liome, Switzerland, the Fays de Vaud, the Grisons, aod Ff2 342 MODERN HISTORY. Geneva, under circumstances peculiarly distressing to the existing governments, and commonly attended with heavy exactions, and ihe plunder of their churches, palaces, and museums. The pope was driven from Rome, partly by his own subjects, and partly through an overweening confidence in his own power and intlu- ence. The Roman republic was proclaimed February 15, 1,798; and the finances being found in a bad state, the Vatican and other public buildings stripped of their contents. The Pays de V^aud, whither the French had been invited, to protect them against the aristocratic despotism of the Bernese, was formed into the Lemariy and Swit2ierland, after many cruel sacrifices, into the Helvetic re- public, or rather into three republics, for that was ultimately the arrangement adopted ; provisional governments being in all places appointed, conformably, in a great degree, to the principles of the French constitution. No remonstrances on the part of the free can- tons could save them from the directorial decrees. An address to this efJ'ect, peculiarly pathetic and eloquent, from the cantons of Schwitz, Uri, Appenzel, Glaris, Zug, and Underwalden, had no effect whatever in preserving them from a change of constitution, forced upon them by democratic France. The degenerate Romans had appeared to pride themselves upon emulating their heroic an- cestors, in re-establishing the republic, under the auspices of Gallio invaders. But the brave Swiss resisted to the utmost the rude dis- turbers of their ancient freedom. The modern republicans of Rome chanted a Te Deum, to hallow their deliverance. The Swiss sung their antiquated songs of patriotism and freedom, till the most dire necessity compelled them to surrender their established constitution to the dictates of a French directory. 14. On the 6th of May, Buonaparte lef\ Paris for Toulon, to take the command of an expedition, the real object of which has scarce- ly been ascertained to this day, though it appears most probable, that he designed to join Tippoo Saib in India, and to subvert the British empire there. He was accompanied by many artists, natu- ralists, and antiquarians, and a large proportion of the army which had served under him in Italy. Malta lying in his way to Egypt, he failed not to take possesision of it, partly by force, and partly by intrigue, subjecting that island and its dependeacies, Gozu and Cumj- no, to the Irench republic, June 12, 1,798. Its conquest had for some time previously been meditated, but it had lately been put under the protection of the emperor of Russia, Paul I. : it was treated by the French as ill as other places, notwithstanding the utmost assurances to the contrary. 1 he knights were driven from the island, many of the people compelled to join the French army, and new laws imposed under the authority of the directory. In the month of July, this year, 1798, a triumphant entry into Paris, of all the works of art collected in the several places subdued by the French arms, took place amid the acclamations of the people. The Frenc-h fleet had narrowly escaped at Malta the pursuit of an Eng- lish one, under the command of Nelson ; and after the subduction of the island, it was able to proceed, still undiscovered, to Egypt, where the English had already been to look for them in vain. On the 2d of July, Buonaparte took possession of Alexandria, mooring his fleet in the bay of Aboukir. In less than three weeks from his landing, and after a severe action with the Mamelukes, called the battle of the pyramids, Cairo, and the whole of the Delta fell into \m power j but his triumph was k^eeoed by the loss of his fleet, on MODERN HISTORY. 343 the Ist of August, which, being attacked in the bay by Nelson, was ainjost totally destroyed or taken, the French admiral Bru. js bting killed and his ship burnt ; four ships only, (wo of ihem frigaiei^, \v<'re all that escaped.. When Buonaparte lel'l Toulon, his fleet consisted of 400 sail, including thirteen ships of the line, and it was rather increased than otherwise by his enterprise at Maha. 15. The victory of Nelson gave a new turu to the war against the French. On his quitting Egypt, he carried his lleet to Naples^ where the utmost joy was manifested by the court at the blow which had been given to the French preponderance. The queen invoked the Austrians to renew the war against France ; and the expedition to Egypt and attack upon Malta having excited the czar, and even the grand seignior, to resist aggressions so unpi'Ovoked ana alarming, Francis II. was not insensible to the call made upon him. England was not backward to encourage and aid such movements, in every part of Europe. The king of Sardinia, and the grand duke of Tus- cany showed themselves willing to join the new confederacy ; but the king of Prussia was not to be prevailed on to abandon his neu- trality. 16. The Neapolitan court, which had been the foremost to ex- cite this new war, were the first sufferers from it. Having invaded the territories of the church, and even obtained possession of Rome, they were suddenly driven back by the French, the capital taken, and the royal family compelled to retire to Palermo, in Sicily. Na- ples was not taken possession of without a formidable insurrection of that extraordinary portion of its population, the Lazzuroni, with whom the king, whose amusements were often unbecoming his high rank, happened to be popular. This resistance provoked reprisals exceedingly distressing to the inhabitants, and almost ruinous to the city; the tumult, however, was at length appeased, and the kingdom of Naples converted into the Fartlienopean^ or Neapolitan republic. 17. The king of Sardinia, and the grand duke of Tuscany were also made to pay dear for the renewal of hostilities, both being de- prived of their dominions, as allies of the Neapolitans, and com* lelied to abandon their capitals. The aged pope, who had indeed, y many unwise provocations, irritated the French, a refugee in the Tuscan territories, unwilling to accompany the deposed princes in their retreat from Florence, and too contidently relying on the reverence that would be paid to his years and station, was actually arrested in his monastic retirement, and conveyed to Valence, in Dauphiny, a prisoner, where he died broken hearted, August 29, 1,799. On the establishment of the consular government, his body was honourably interred, and a monument erected over him. 18. But the directory, in the midst of these arbitrary seizures of states and kingdoms, acted with too little foresight, as to the eflects of the formidable confederacy of Russid and Austria. The French armies were widely separated, and many of the oiost successful generals, through a pernicious jealousy, disgraced and removed from their command. This disheartened the soidiers; and reverses were preparing for them, both in Germany and Italy. The Russian army, under Souvaroff, entered the latter country eariy in the spiing of the year 1,799, and on the iBilj of April was at Verona. The character and manners of this northern general, made a great im- pression both upon the allied armies, and upon the inhabitants of the couutries he invaded. The French, under the celebrated Moreaa, I 344 MODERN HISTORY. \ were obliged to fall back, leaving the Milanese exposed to the com- j bined forces. Alter various actions, Milan was invested ; and, after i a nineteen days' siege, taken May 24. Turin, Aiessandria, Mantua, ] and Tortona, were reduced in the months of June and July ; and j in most of these places, as well as in other parts of Italy, Tuscany, .' Naples, and Rome, great indignation was manifested against tlie , Frencu, of whose tyranny they had all tasted, and of whose friend- ship they were already become weary. In a short time the French ; retained, of all their conquests in those parts, only Genoa and Savoy. ■ 19. VViiile these things were going on, the councils at Paris be- 'j gan to distrust the govenimont of the directors, and to ask why i Buonaparte was at such a distance. Inquiries of this kind were ; often put to his hroiner Lucien, who had a seat in the council of ] five hundred. A party was formed against the most obnoxious of the directors, and three found it necessary to retire. Another revo- i luiion in the government was evidently preparing. Buonaparte's absence and object seemed equally mysterious. It was supposed that he meant to opf^n the old channel of trade between the East Indies and the Mediterranean. After the destruction of his tleet, : as though banished Irom France, he appeared eager to establish a ] colony in Egypt, which, perliaps, was originally in his view, in ; carrying lliifi.er all that the arts and sciences of Europe could con- tribute of utility or beauty. Alibis works were superintended by persons of known celebrity for talent and knowledge of every de- i scription; but he vyas turned from this object by the jealousy of ; the Turks, who, alter the battle of Aboukir, (or of the Nile, as it ] is generally called in England,) were ready enough to join the | English in attacking the French, confined, as it were, within their , territories. Buonaparte, to be beforehand with them, marctied into 1 Syria, where the pacha of Acre, a man of most ferocious character, ' commanded. He succeeded in taking many fortresses, and for ' three months maintained a war in the very heart of the country, i but his artillery having been intercepted by the English, who had j also been admitted into Acre, his attempts upon the latter place were frustrated, and, being threatened on all sides, he resolved to return to Egypt; there he received lettei-s to inform him of the < reverses in Italy, and the disorders at Paris, and to press his return ; ' but the Turks had landed at \ljoukir, and taken possession of the ; fort, and it was judged necessary for his fame, that he should not j quit Egypt without beating them. He hastened to attack them, I and succeeded ; but not without many severe conliictSj and an eight ^ days' siege of the fortress of Ai>oukir. Soon after this success, he embarked clandestinely for France, leaving the army under the com- ; mand of general Kleber, (who complained greatly of being so duped ^ and abandoned,) and in a very extraordinary manner escaped all the ' English ships cruising in the Mediterranean. j 20. Buonaparte arrived just in time to take advantage of the ; vere declared grand elector, constable, arch-cJumcelbr, and arch-tnus- xirer, of the empire ; and the dignity of mareschai was conferred on the most distinguished of his generals, But, in order to give more Stability to his throne, or intimidate his enemies, under pretence of a Cr g 350 MODERN HISTORY. royalist conspiracy, he had many eminent persons brought to' trial among others, the two celebrated generals, Picbegru and Moreau. The former was, soon after, found dead in his prison, under circum stances implying httle less than a most deliberate murder; the latter, an equal object of dread and alarm, and whose death was probably contemplated, was permitted, however, to retire to North America. It is scarcely credible, though it certainly appears upon record, that the French minister at Berlin was directed to move the king of Prus- sia to deliver up (he unfbrtuniite Lewis XVIIl., then at Warsaw, and to send him to France, to answer for the concern he was stated to have had in this conspiracy. 15. Having obtained the imperial dignity in France, Napoleon ap- peared dissatisfied to be only president of a republic with regard to his Cisalpine conquests. Means were found to induce the constituted authorities of the new Italian republic to ofier to him the crown of Italy, an offer he was quite prepared to accept, as though the whole of that devoted country had been already subdued. On the 26th of May, 1,805, he repaired to Milan, and taking the famous iron crown from the altar of the cathedral, placed it on his own head, denouncing vengeance agninst all who should dispute his right to it. Having done this„he appointed the son of the empress Josephine, Beauhar- nois, to be his viceroy, and agreed, that upon his death the two crowns should be separated. Soon after he seized upon Genoa, dis- possessed the doge and senators of their power, and decreed, that henceforth the territories of the Ligurian republic, as it was called, should be annexed to France. Tbese rapacious^proceedings at length provoked a fresh confederacy against him, so that before the year was passed, not only England, but Russia, Prussia, and Austria, were in arms to resist his encroachments. Sweden had joined the confed- eracy, but retired in disgust. Such, however, was the dread of the power or vengeance of France, that several of the German princes, particularly the elector of Bavaria, sided with Napoleon, in opposi- tion to the emperor Francis. 16. By sea, the power of the French and Spaniards combined failed of gaining any advantages over the allies. On the 21st of October, 1,805, in the battle of '1 rafalgar, a complete victory was obtained by the British fleet, under lord Nelson, who perished in the action. There was a disparity ki the number of ships, in favour of the French and Spaniards, of tliirty-three to twenty-seven. On the continent, the course of the war was very diflerent. The king of Prussia was dilatory in his proceedings, and even treacherous. Sweden had withdrawn. The emperor Francis employed an inefficient com- mander, if not worse, (general Mack,) and the Russians, who^ were more in earnest, were baffled by the unsteady proceedings of tiieir allies, and distressed by want of provisions, sickness, and fatigue After the battle of Austeriitz, in December, the emperor of Austria, whose capibil had been in the hands of the enemy, solicited peace, submitting to surrender what had been allotted to him of the Venetian territories, together with the princij^alities of Lucca and Piom.bino ; and to acknowledge Buonaparte as king of Italy. Bavaria acqui.'-ed a part of the Brisgaw and I'yrol. Such were the terms of the peace of Fresburgh, October, 1,804. 17. The succession of some of the German states from the empe- ror of Austria, had, in the mean time, produced changes that require to be noticed. Tlie elnctors of Bavaria and VVirtemburgh were elevaied to the raok of kings of their respective countries ; and MODERN HISTORY. 351 Eugene Beauharnois, viceroy of Itiily, son of the French empress Josephine, obtained in marriage the daughter of the new king of Kavaria, though she had been previously betrothed to the prince of Baden. 18. The court of Naples, during this war, through the injudi- cious, but natural, resentment of the aueen, sister to the late un- fortunate queen of France, had the misfortune to incur the high dis- {)leasure of Napoleon, by admitting a British and Russian army to and on its territories. The French despot lost no time in pronounc- ing sentence on the rebellious neutnd. He quickly made it known tiiat the Bourbon dynasty had ceased to reign at Naples. The royal family was compelled to retire to Palermo, and in a short time after, Napoleon conferred the Neapolitan crown on his brother Joseph, much to the discontent, however, of the people, who for some time gave him great disturbance. Joseph was proclaimed king, March 30, 1,806. 19. The emperor of the French had another kingdom in view for his brother Lewis, constable of France. Holland had submitted to several forms of government, Avithout obtaining that order and tran- quillity which was supposed to be in the contemplation of those who directed her affairs. It was suggested that a monarchy would remedy all the disorders to which she was exposed; and it was hint- ed, too plainly to be misunderstood, that it would be agreeable to the emperor, if the leading persons of the state, not the community at large, would give countenance to such a change. So ^reat was the infatuation, or timi- peared to be dictated entirely by the despot of France. Prussia^ abandoned by her Russian ally, suffered dreadfully. The king ol Sweden refused to become a parly to this memorable convention, and manifested a determination to resist, to the utmost, the en- croachments of the French ; but he had little judgment or prudence to direct him ; and he had not the means to contend against such an adversary as Buonaparte. After many inefl'ectual attempts to save Stralsund, and keep his army in Pomerania, he was at length Compelled to retire, with the loss both of Stralsund and the isle of Rugen. SECTION XVII. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL FROM 1,788 TO 1,814. 1. These two countries are by nature so connected, that though their interests are, and generally have been, very different, and the people little disposed lo frienclly associations, yet, with regard to the affairs of Europe, they have vei^ commonly been involved in the same troubles, and never long permitted to enjoy tranquillity, while the leading powei'sof the continent have been engaged in war. This has been already sufficiently manifested in liie history of these two contiguous kingdoms, during the former part of the eighteenth century, but has been rendered stiil more conspicuous by the events of the subsequent years. 2. Charles I\'. of Spain, came to the crown in December, 1,788, when the French revolution was just beginning ; and it was not till some few years after, and in the midst of the reign of tec^r, that his kingdom became involved in the disturbances of that great catas- trophe. The Spaniards, in the year 1,793, offended with the vio- lence offered to the royal family of France, had invaded the latter country, and taken the town of Bellg-arde, little foreseeing the speedy and severe reprisals to which they were exposing them- selves. Early in the year 1,794, the French, under general I)ugon>- niier, invaded Spain, and succeeded, not only in beating the Spanish army, but in securing the occupation of many places of importance. These successes were not only available to the restoration of peace with Spain, but procured for the French, by the treaty of 1,795, the Spanish portion of tlie valuable island ot St. Domingo, in the West Indies, and, iu 1,796, an alliance with the Spanish monarch against England, — an alliance fatal to Spain in many respects; her fleet be- ing beaten by tho English in battle, oft' the ca{)e of St. Vincent, the isl.ind of Trinidad taken from her, and ret:ar.«d by Great Britain at the peace of Amiens, and her commerce crippled and impeded in ail parts of the world. 3. Though she sought, by a large subsidy to France, to be per- Gg2 45 354 MODERN HISTORY. mitted to remain neuter, after the renewal of the war in 1,803, yet she was not long allowed to be at peace. Id 1,804, the English, su9- picious of her close connexion with France, seized upon some of her treasure ships, coming froni South America, with a suddenness judg- ed by many to be not strictly justitiable ; and, in 1,805, war was form- ally dpcksred against Great Britain. I3ut in this new war she was agiiin doomed to suffer misfortune, her fleet being totally beaten by lord Nelson, on the 1st of October, 1,805, in the celebrated battle off cape Trahdgar. (See Sect. XVI., § 16.) 4. During the year 1,8U6, S^ain appeared disposed to break with France, had any misfortune befallen the latter power; but her suc- cesses in Prussia seem to have intimidated Spain, and to have in- duced her, in 1,807, through the manoeuvres of Godoy, the Spanish minister, who had a view to the principality of Al^arves, to enter into H regular treaty with France, for the partition ot Portugal. 5. Hitherto the latter country, since the elevation of Buonaparte to the chief m.agistracy, had been suffered to remain neuter. Ihe reigning queen having been declared insane, the power had devolved to the prince of Brazil, crown prince, in 1,799, who, in virtue of his purchased neutrality, had been able to keep his commercial relations with England, unmolested by the French, till the treaty just mention- ed between the latter power and Spain. 6. France was not long in availing herself of the permission she had obtained to march an army through Spain, for the subjugation of Portugal. Having made demands on the regent of Portugal, with which he could not, in honour, comply, it was declared that the house of Braganza had ceased to reign ; and, shortly afterwards, the French army, under general Junot, passed the frontiers. In these extremi- ties, instigated by the English, flie royal family determined to embark for America. They set sail on the 21st of November, 1,807 ; and, on the 30ih, Junot, with his army entered Lisbon. 7. The state of Spain, at this period, was undoubtedly such as to encourage the most ambitious views of the French empe.or. Nothing could exceed the weakness of the court of Madrid, or the confusion of the national affairs. At the very moment of the parti- tion treaty, the hereditary prince, Ferdinand, who had refused t(? marry the minister's sister-in-law, on the suggestion of the court, was arrested, imprisoned, and threatened with a criminal prosecution, for having secretly sought a matrimonial alliance with Buonaparte's family. This was followed by disturbances, and the imprisonment of the obnoxious minister, Godoy, duke of Alcudia, and, since the convention of 1,795, generally called the "prince of peace.'' Charles IV., harassed and distressed by tliese tumults, was induced, on the 19th of March, 1,808, to resign his crown in favour of his son, now become Ferdinand VII. ; but he soon after tvards revoked his abdication, as forced upon him, and extorted by the dread of personal violence. Nothing could be more directly calculated to promote the views of Buonaparte than these divisions, whose con- stant policy it was, in all cases of premeditated conquest, to promote dissension, in order to be called in as an arbitrator or mediator, which was the case in this instance. After Buonaparte had beea baffled in his hopes of compelling the king and queen to emigrate, through the resistance of the people of Spain to such a measure, the wnole royal family were invited to repair to Bayonue, to confer on the state of affairs ; an invitation the most insidious, but which had hs effect. On the 14th of April Buonaparte arrived there \ Foe MODERN HISTORY. 355 dinand on the 20th, and on the 1st of May, Charles IV. and his queen, after the favourite, Godoy, had been released, on their application to Buonaparte. 8, The transactions at Bayonne sxceeded almost every thing to be met with in any preceding history. The pereons invited were exactly those vfhom Buonaparte would have been glad to have seen driven into his toils : in this case they were weak enough to go thither of their own accord. Haying the two kiugs completely in his power, and beyond the frontier of Spain, he compelled Ch;u !es to resume his authority, on purpose that he might resign it into the hands of the French, proposing, on the terms of nn equivalent else- where, a similar act of renunciation on t'ne part of Ferdinand; which the latter indignantly refusing, was at once declared to be excluded from all he had, and all he might have haii, and even threatened with the loss of libei'ty. This so intimidated the degrad- ed prince, that at length he unconditionally resigned his royal digni- ty, first into the hands of his father, and through him, into those of Buonaparte, who soon obtained, though in a manner the most extra- ordinary, the consent of most of the principal personages of the state, as well as of the constituted authorities, to the appointment of his brother Joseph, then king of Naples, to the vacant Spanish throne, and to render it hereditary in the family of the usurper. In the mean while, Ferdinand was sent to Valancey, and afterwards to Foi>- tainebleau, as a prisoner, and Charles and his queen to Compiegne : their joint abdication of the Spanish crown was publicly announced at Madrid on the :^Oth of May, to the great disgust of the Spanish people in general, who soon resolved to be revenged for the horrid indignities they were made to undergo. 9. In the course of t.'ie very month in which all the transactions at Bayonne took place, and .Joseph Buonaparte entered the capital of Spain as king, the national resentment was manifested by a gen- eral rising, and insurrection in all the principal provinces ; but it was first in Andalusia that any thing like an organized government was formed for the conduct of the war, on the part of the patriots ; there, a provincial junto, or council ©f miisfi-tnites, inhabitants, and constituted authorities, was formed, at Seville, which led to other conventions of the same nature, in places least molested by the French, and in all of these Ferdinand Vil. was proclaimed king, and war openly denounced against the French, accompanied with proclamations and manifestoes, highly creditable to the good sense, spirit, ardour, and patriotism of the Spanish nation, and expressed in terms very different from the language to wiiich the French ty- rant had been accustomed. Joseph Buonaparte entered Spain on the 9th of July, 1,8U8, escorted by four thousand Italian troops, and followed by upwards of one hundred carriages, conveying his suite and the members of the junta assembled at Bayonne, to assist at his inauguration. He was iU received, or rather sullerdy treated by the Inhabitants, on his passage to the capital. Joseph entered Madrid on the 20th of July ; at which very time the Spaniards obtained an important victory over a PYench army marching upon Cadiz, which were compelled to capitulate to the amount of fourteen thousand men, while the French fleet at Cadiz was seized by the vigilance and activity of don Thomas Morla. These successes on the part of the Spaniards, compelled the new king to retire from the capital to Burgos, after pluDderiog the treasury and securing the crown jewels. 366 Modern history. 10. In the mean while, it was soon discovered that the aid of other powers would be wanted, in order to rescue the kingdom and peninsula from the grasp of Napoleon. Application was accordingly made to the court of London, to the Swedes, and to the Portuguese and Austrians. The former paid a ready and willing attention to the call ; and the whole British nation evinced, in an eKtraordinary manner, the utmost desire to render effectual assistance to Spain, wJiose cause seemed to be justly interesting to every friend of treedom. 11. While tliese things wei'e passing in Spain, a similar spirit had arisen in Portugal, against the tyranny and usurpations of the Fiench ; and the ariival of a British army, in the month of August, under sir Arthur Wellesiey, (afterwards duke of Wellington,) gave timely effect to these patriotic movements. The relief of Portugal was sooner accomplisiied than proved to be the case afterwards with Spain. On the 21st of August a decisive battle took place at Vimiera, between the French and combined armies of English and I'ortuguese ; in which the former were so entirely beaten as to be obliged to evacuate the country ; and which they were enabled to do, by a convention concluded at Ciiitra, under circumstances consid- ered far too favourable, by Euiope in general, and which was re- sented by the people of f^ngland. 12. Ttie evacuation of Portugal, however, at all events, set an army free for the use of Spain, which, at the latter end of the month ol" October, to the amount of twenty thousand men, entered that country, under tlie command of sir John Moore; the emperor Napoleon having quitted Paris just about the same time, to take the command of the French army there. Unfortunately, the stale of Spain at the moment of this tii-st attempt on the part of England, to give aid to the patiiots, was such as greatly to embarrass the British commander : he had been tiiughl (or rather, the government at home had been so) to expect a strenuous co-operation on the part of the Spaniards; in which he was exceedingly disappointed, while he continually received advice of tbe augmentation of tlie French forces, lo an amount far exceeding all his calculations : nor did he consider even his own army so well-appointed as to enable him to contend, in the heart of the kingdom, whither he was directed to proceed, with any fair probability of success. He was evitlently dispirited with the prospect before him ; and though a perfectly brave otficer, Mt himseii so ill-supported by the Spaniards, at least. by those who directed the public affairs, (^ii not even deceived ana betrayed.) and so embarrassed by want of money and other supplies, as to be compelled to retire. 1 he retreat of his army, though un- happily disgraced by many irregularities and disorders amongst the soldiery, was conducted, in the face of the enemy, (iiuonaparle him- self being sometimes present,) with singular courage and dexterity, till they reached Corunna, where, at last, the transports not being arrived, an action with the pursuing army took place, which terminated in favour of the English, though with the loss of the gal- lant, but unfortunate, commander, whose death was greatly lamented. After this action, on the arrival of the transports, the English troops embarked without molestation, and on the 1 8th of January, 1,809, set sail for England. 13. Before sir John Moore finally determined upon retiring, he had learned that Buonaparte had recovered possession of the capi- tal, which, after the departure of Joseph, the patriots had endeav- oured to fortify and deiend ; but it was eurrendered to the enemy MODERN HISTORY. ' 357 early in the month of December, 1 ,808, by the temporary governor, Don Thomas Morla. Spain was far from being siibtlued at the close of the year 1,808, though the aspect of things was alarming, and the French extremely confident of success. Joseph re-entered Madrid, in great pomp, in January, 1,809. In the mean time, Napo- leon had decreed that tlie inquisition should be abolished, many mon- asteries suppressed, and the feudal privileges abrogated. 14. After the .iffair of Corunna, the French' army under general Soult, (duke of Dalmaliii,) invaded Portugal again, and was able to get possession of Oporto; while another army, under general N'ictor, threatened Lisbon. It was at this moment that fiesh troops arrived from England, under the command of sir Arthur Wellesley, who quickly recovered Oporto, and then turning against Victor, once more relieved Portugal from the presence of the French, la June he entered Spain, and by the 20th of July was in a situation to threaten Madrid ; on the 27th and 28tb, at Talavera del Reyna, he was attacked by the French under Josoph Buonaparte, assisted by four marshals ; but was able, in conjunction with the Spaniards, after a very hard fought battle, to repel them with great loss. Tjiough this victory was not attended with any immediate advan- tiiges, and would appear to have been rather rashly hazarded, the British general, for his great skill and conduct during the action, was raised to the peerage by the title of viscount Wellington of Talavera. 15. Though a central junta had been appointed in 1,808, to give consistency and strength to the proceedings of the patriots, tliey *vere still ill-prepared cither to contend against the enemy alone, or conjointly with the British. In the battle of Talavera, and after-'*; wards, their movements had rather euiharrassed than assisted the operations. of the latter. It would have been well if the Spaniards, from the first, could have been prevailed upon to appoint lord Wel- lington generalissimo of. all the forces acting against the French. The latter, however, were much harassed by a sort of desultory war, carried on by guerilla parties, who intercepted their supplies, and without attempting any regular engagement, (for which, indeed, tliey were unfit,) were continually attacking tliem in the way of ambuscade and surprise ; for which their superior knowledge of the country evidently gave tliem great advantages. 16. It is not to be wondered that the extraordinary situation of Spain should occasion great embarrassment in the management of the war. In the place of the supreme central junta of 1,808, a regency had been appointed, and the cortes assembled, but without suthcient effect. The Spanish armies acted without system, and tl)e nation at large manifested a jealousy of their English allies, which prevented such a co-operation as might have brought the whole under one command, to the evident advantage of the cause, in which they must have been, though with different degrees of zeal and judgment, equally interested. This distrust on the part of the Spaniards ex- posed them also, it is to be feared, to treatment tar from conciliatory on the part of the English. The war rvhich was renewed between France and Austria, in 1,809, drew the attention of Napoleon in some degree from Spain : but those differences being soon adjusted, early in the year 1,810, powerful reinforcements were sent from France to the Peninsula, to reconquer Portugal, and " drive the Eng- lish into the sea." What has been said of Spain is by no means ap- plicable to Portugal- in the latter country, not only a better epLrit 358 MODERN HISTORY. was manifePted, but the army being placed under British command, and regularly organized, by general lord Beresford, was sood render- ed capable of affording very effectual aid and assistance. 17. During the whole of the years 1,810 and 1,811, the contend- ing armies were occupied in striving to gain advantages Qj?er each other, which called fortli all the skill and judgment appertiiining to the science of war. The detail, however, of the several actions which took place, of the investment and capture of the strong holde of the two portions of the Peninsula, do not belong to such a work as the present It was not till the summer of 1,812, and after the victory gained by lord Wellington over the French under marshal Alarmont, in the battle of Salamanca, that the total expulsion of the French, and overthrow of the throne of .Joseph, became a matter of little doubt. The battle of Salamanca may be said to have opened the gates of Madrid once more to the patriots and allied army, and restored the Spanish crown to Ferdinand. The battle was fought on the 22d of July. On the 30th, lord Wellington entered Valladolid. the enemy retiring before him; and on the 12th of August, Madrid surrendered to the British arms. Joseph and bis suite having pre- viously quitted it. Lord Wellington was received in the capital with the acclamations justly due to the liberator of Spain ; but had the Spaniards themselves used the exertions they might have dhne, (Napoleon being at this time engaged in Russia,) the Peninsula might probably nave been sooner delivered from the French, after the recovery of the capital, than prpved to be the case. 18. The latter made a stand at ^lir/^os, which was invested by the English, but after a siege of more than a month, abandoned with considerable loss ; the British force? being once more obliged to re- tire as far as Ciudad Rodrigo, on the frontiers of Portugal. The Spaniards, howeve:', at length appeared to be roused to a proper sense of their situation, and wisely conhded to lord Wellington the termination of this protracted war. In December, 1,812, he was appointed generalissimo, and distinguished by extraordinary powers. 19. It seemed now to be practicable to end, by a decisive ac- tion, the contest for the possession of Spain ; and lord Weliington lost no time in seeking the opportunity. He took the field in ihe middle of the month of May, 1,813, and on the 21st of June, brought the enemy to action on the plains of Vittoria. Never was a vic- tory more decisive than the one obtained at this time by the com- bined British, Portuguese, and' Spanish armies. Joseph and his troops were compelled to quit the tield with such extreme precipi- tation, as to leave behind them fifty pieces of artillery, two thousand carriages of different descriptions, stores, provisions, and an immense booty, consisting chiefly of the plunder of Madrid, fortunately rescued upon this occasion from the usurper, who was present, and very narrowly escaped. 20. After the battle of Vittoria, and the fall of the strong towns ©f St. Sebastian and Pampeluua, the British, Portuguese, and Span- ish troops crossed the Bidassoa, and entered France. Early in March, the city of Bordeaux freely opened her gates to general Beresford, in the name of Lewis XVIU.^t the same time admitting the king's nephew, the duke of Angouleme. On the 10th of April, the British stormed the French entrenchments near Thoulouse. On the 12th, general Soult filed out of the town, under the muzzles of the British guns. On the 13th, news arrived of the abdication of Buonaparte, and the entrance of the allied sovereigns into Paris. MODERN HISTORY. 359 It is conjectured that the French commander knew of these things before, but in the hope of gaining some advantage over the invaders of France, concealed it. 21. Before the allies reached Paris, Napoleon had released Fer- dinand VII., whose return to Spain was, however, rendered very unacceptable to many who had espoused his cause in his absence, particularly the members of the regency and existing cortes, with whose proceedings, in regard to the new constitution proposed for his acceptance, he expressed himself extremely displeased; they had previously refused to acknowledge a treaty concluded by Ferdi- nand with Buonaparte. He threw himself also into the hands of those who were fiiends to the ancient system, which, with extreme bigotry, he endeavoured to re-establish in its worst forms. From that time to the present the nation has been kept in a state of con- siderable ferment and confusion. By a revolution in March, 1,820, the cortes were restored, and the free constitution of 1,812 pro- claimed and sworn to by tne king. The inquisition also was finally abolished: but the effects of these last movements remain to be proved. 22. The old king, Charles IV., died at Rome, in 1,819. The bat- tle of Vittoria, which relieved Spain from the presence of the French armies, restored Portugal to her former independence. On the 20th of March, 1,816, the queen, Maria Isabella, died ; and was succeeded by the present king, John VI., who had been regent since 1,799, the seat of government being still at Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. SECTION XVIII. FRANCE, FROM THE PEACE OF TILSIT, TO THE ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON 1,814. 1. The treaty of Tilsit left Napoleon at liberty to pursue his career of vengeance and usurpation in other countries. He obtained by it such an influence over Russia, Austria, and Prussia, as to induce them to break with England, without any other reason; and as soon as he had thus disposed of matters in those quarters, he turned liis views to the Spanish peninsula, where a Bourbon dynasty still ex- isted. In three months after the signing of tiie treaty of Tilsit, he concluded the famous partition-treaty witli Spain, already spoken of, in virtue of" which, French troops were to be allowed to pass into Portugal, for the sacrifice of that ancient kingdom ; and afterwards, no doubt, in the views and designs of the French emperor, of Spain itself. 2. Of his subsequent invasion and occupation of both coimtries, and of the wa^ for several years carried rn, before he couid be compelled to renounce his usr.rped dominion in Spain, an account is given in the preceding section. On the 17th of December, l,o07, in the same spirit of resentment against Great Britain, which had dictated the celebrated decree of L'crlin^ declnred the British isles to be in a st;ite of blockade, the French emperor issued another decree, at Alilaji, (in cons?qur'nce of the British retaliatory orders of co;;ucil, November 21 st,) by which every ship whict. should submit to be visited by the English, or consent to any pecuniary 360 MODERN HISTOUY. exactions whatsoever, should be hable to confiscation as a lawful prize; but his vengeance tell hardest upon Portugal, whose com- mercial and political relations with England so exasperated him, ' that, in an audience given to the foreign ministers at Fontainebleau, ' he openly declared, that if the regent of Portugal did not within ' two months conform to the contineiitiil system, and totally renounce his connexions with England, the house of Braganza should cease to ' reign. Such ^^as the haughty language of this extraordinary man, j in the face of Europe, after the convention at Tilsit ! ■ 3. In a few days after this denunciation of the Portuguese dy- ' nasty, the regent closed his ports against English ships of all descrip- ' tions, but not in time to stop the French armies, who pressed so j closely upon him, tliat on the 29th of November, (see the preceding .! section,) he was obliged to quit his European dominions for Rio Ja- I neiro, in the Brazils, and on the very next day Lisbon was occupied j by French troops under general Junot. 4. The short-lived kingdom of Etruria was brought to an end ,; about this time ; and the qusen-regent, late duchess of Parma, with the king, her son, ooliged to depart for Spain, her native country. ] 5. hi Mirch, 1 ,808, a decree was passed in France, ordaining the renewal of titles of honour, princes, dukes, counts, &.c., and cre- ating a new order of hereditary nobility, as essential to an heredi- tary monarch. About the same time, Joseph Buonaparte was re- moved from Naples, and made king of Spain; and Joachim Murat, grand duke of Berg, married to the sister of Napoleon, was declared king of Naples. 6. The kingdoms of Naples and Italy being thus entirely in th.? hands of Buonaparte, in order to prevent their communication from being interrupted by any hostile power, he seized upon the pope's temporalities, for which Pius V'l. ventured to excommunicate him. He had the audacity to remind the pope, in thus despoiling him that the kingdom of Christ was not of this world ; though the only reason alleged for what he had done, was, that Pius had refused to declare war against England ; a friendly power, and one from which the pope declared he had never received the smallest injury. 7. On the 9th of April, 1,809, war was renewed with .\ustria, nnd so rapid was the progress of the French, that after three severe actions at Abensberg, Eckmuld, and Ratisbon, Vienna »vas compelled \ to capitulate on the 12th of May. The Austii»tant source not only of internal commotions, cabal, and intrigue, but the occasion generally, upon every vacancy, of foreign interference. At no era did Poland sufiler more, perhaps, from this combination of evils, than towards the commencement of the eighteenth century ; nor has she ever since been able to re- cover her independence. The arbitrary, though nnt unprovoked, proceedings of Charles XII. of Sweden,"in 1,704, when he deposed Augustus, and insisted upon placing Stanislaus on the throne, in despite of Austria and Russia, plainly showed how little power a divided country possesses against the encroachments of an ambitious neigh- bour, and how naturally the interference of one such neighbour exposes the invaded country to similar measures on the part of others ; for Augustus himself had been previously forced upon the Poles by Russia. From the above period to the present day Poland has been exposed to a continual recurrence of such events; and to promote the views of a combination of foreign potentates, kept in a state of internal disunion and distraction, constantly favourable to their ambitious designs. 364 MODERN HISTORY. 2. Augustus, elector of Saxony, who was deposed in 1 ,704, and compeiled formally to abdicate the throne by the treaty of Alt- Ranstadt, in 1,706, was restored by the assistance of Russia, after the battle of Fultawa in 1,709, and reigned for the space of twenty- fqur years, dying in ],lijo. (Sect. 1.) His reign was far from being an happy one : he offended the Poles by the introduction of Saxou troops, and by re^iiding too much away from them in his electoral dominions : he lived in the midst of factions and conspiracies, being continually at war with the dissidents or anti-catJiolics^ wliile he totally failed in his endeavours to render himself absolute, or the crown he- reditary in his family. 3. The war which arose upon the death of Augustus, has been already noticed. Had the Poles been wise enough to remedy that great defect in their constitution, which rendered the crown elec- live, they could not have done better, perhaps, than to have made It heretfitary in the person and family of Stanislaus Lescinsky, the principal competitor of the house of Saxony, he being a Pole by oirth, and very amiable in his private character: but they were no longer their own masters; and they were divided amongst them- selves to such a degree as to render the interposition of some foreign power almost necessary to determine their choice. Upon this oc- casion the emperor of Germany, whose niece the young elector of Sasony had married, assisted by the Russians, overcame the French induence which had been exerted in favour of Stanislaus, and, by effectually removing the latter, procured the election to fall on the son of the late king. Augustus III.* 4. This king of Poland, oh the death of the emperor Charles VI., 1,740, laid claim to the whole Austrian succession ; and not altogether wittiout reason, had not the Pragmatic Sanction stood in his way, his wife being the eldest daughter of the emperor Joseph, elder brother of Charles VI.; the object of the Pragmatic Sanction, being to secure the inheritance to the females, in default of male issue;- and on the demise of Charles VI., his daughter becoming his immedi- ate heir and representative, it certainly appeared hard that the daughter of the elder brother, who had been emperor, should be so entirely excluded. The hope of succeeding to some part, at least, of the late emperor's hereditary dominions, induced the king of Po- land to enter into a confederacy with Bavaria, Prussia, and France, against the house of Austria; but he derived no advantage from the alliance : he afterwards changed sides, and at the commencement of the seven years' war, cts has been before shown, (Sect. VI.) suffered enost severely for having espoused the case of the empress queen, and entertained views against Prussia, wliich the wary sovereign of the latter country found means to detect, and cruelly to revenge. 5. It was not likely that a king who owed his election so entirely to the interference of foreign powers, should acquire any thing like independence, or authority at home or abroad. During the ."eign of Augustus 111. great feuds and animosities prevailed among tho. Magnats, while the king himsell' was entirely subject, to the influence of Russia ; a circumstance so resented by his subjects as to induce them to avail themselves of the privilege of the Ldberwa Veto^ to dissolve all the diets he convoked, and thus leave the king- dom almost without any government. Augustus III. died in the year 1,763, at a period when the Russian sceptre had passed into bands well fitted to promote, in every way possible, (just or unjust.) its aggrandizement and splendour. Catherine II. is supposed to nave MODERN HISTORY. 366 had her eyes upon Poland before the demise of Augustus, and to have been prepared not only to set aside the son of the latter, but to advance to the vacant throne some creature of her own ; she paid no attention therefore to the solicitations of the house of Saxony, and w?s very shortly relieved, indeed, from all competition in that quarter, by the early death of the new elector. In conjunction with Pcussia siie succeeded, but not without a spirited opposition on the part of a few Polish patriots, in bestowing the crown of Poland on count Po- niatowski, one of her favourites, and a Pole by birth ; a man of talent, and amiable in his disposition, but likely to continue, as well as his predecessor, entirely under her control. 6. Nothing could be a greater mockery than the care which the czarina and the king of Prussia pretended to take of the liberties of Poiand, at the very moment that they were forcing upon the nation a king of their own choice and nomination. So far from tryhig to amend their faulty constitution, and eradicate the seeds of future animosities, they particularly entered into an agreement to prevent the king rendering the crown hereditary in his family, or becoming absolute ; that is, in fact, independc.tiL or powerful ; for this was their great object. And when it was to be submitted to the diet to ap- prove their nominee, and declare count Poniatowski king, a Rus- sian army was sent to Warsaw, to support Wxe freedom of the election. The choice of the diet of course was soon decided to be in favour of the Russian favourite, who became king accordingly, September 7, 1,764, under the name and title ol" Stanislaus Augustus. 7. From this period, the three neighbouring powers, Russia, Prussia, and Austria, the two former, howi^er, most particularly, may be said to have been interested in the internal dissensions of that unhappy kingdom, which afforded them plausible grounds of interference, and which they could therefore have no sincere incli- nation to allay or adjust till they had effectually gained their own ends : the object of Russia probably was to maintain her own power and ascendancy over the whole country ; but Prussia meditated a p;^rti- tion, which might put her into possession of Polish or Western Prus- sia, a district of much importance in every point of view. 8. Whatever may have been originally the distinct views o( the several parties, it is very certain that they derived peculiar advan- tages from the extremely unsettled state of the country, which was at this time torn to pieces bv the contests and disputes between the catholics and dissidents^ or dissenters from the established religion : the latter, who since the middle of the sixteenth century had ac- qui\ed many privileges, were supported by several different foreign powers; those of the Greek churcli by Russia, and the proteslants of all persuasions by Prussia, Denmark, and Great Britain, all of whom were called upon to interpose as guarantees of the famous treaty of Oliva, 1,660. The diet, instigated by the court of Rome and heads of the church, judged it right to uphold the established faith, and Stanislaus, though his principles were more tolerant and liberal, appeared to take the same side, behig jealous also of the too great power of Russia, of which he could not fail to be continually reminded, not only by the open favour shown to the dissidents by Catherine, but by the insolent superiority assumed by her general, conmianding in Poland, prince Repnin, and the extremely arbitrary and sanguinary manner in wiiich the empress sought to maintain her preponderance. 9. la the mean while confederacies were forming in all parts of Hh2 5i6 MODERN HISTORY. the kingdom to restore, if possible, the independence of their coun'.ry, (such at least was the object of the cotholics,) or to pro- cure for the protestants ail the rigtits and privileges to which they laid claim, and of some of which they had been unjustly deprived. Tlie latter, under prince Radzivil, supported by Russian troops, compelled the diet of Warsaw, in the year 1,767, to accede to their demands ; this hastened the grand confederacy of the catho- lics at Bar, in Fodolia, in 1,768^ whose object was to throw off the Russian yoke, with the aid ot Turkey, who had been induced by France to declare war against the Russians in that very year, upon the occasion of the latter having passed their frontier in pursuing a Polish party, and committed considerable depredations, 10. Though the confederate catholics had clearly the good of their country in view, yet sucIj was the influence of Russia, tiiat the king and senate were compelled by Catherine to declare war against the Porte, and so far to counteract, as much as possible, the efforts that were making to accomplish their own independence. In Austria, indeed, during this stage of the business, the coniiede-' nites at Bar had a friend in Maria Theresa, who espoused the claims of the Saxon' family, and who sent them both arms and money, to enable them to check, if possible, the domineering pro- ceedings of the czarina, of wiiich indeed slie had good cause to be jealous. But the time was approaching in which, noiwithstaniliag the most striking and formal declarations to the contrary, Polaiid was to become a prey to her three more powerful neighbours, and when ail other feelings were to give way to that of duly apportion- ing and dividing the spiyls of that unhappy country. 11. It seems now to be pretty generally agreed, that the plan of dismembering this unfortunate kingdom originated with the king of Prussia, or his brother, prince Henry ; and that it was ouing lo particular circumstances that they were able to Ijring the two otJR^T parties so readily to acquiesce in their measures of partition, liad Frederick himself been more rapacious, it would probably not have been so easily accomplished, but, in order to gain what he must coveted, for his own stiare, he appeared willing to allow the oilier two parlitioning power's to acquire rather mors than fell to his iot, both in extent of territory and amount of population. In admitting Austria to any share at all, he made no scruple to assert that his principal motive was, that she should bear her part in the blame that must attach to so arbitrary and rapacious an act 12. Though the Polish king and nation were compelled to ac- quiesce in these proceedings of the three powers, they did not do so without remonstrating in terms the most striking and dignitied ; accompanying their remonstrances and manifestoes with an open appeal to the several states which had guarantied the integrity of Poland ; but all in vain. They obtained no assistance Irom foreign states, no abatement of their demands on the part of the par- titioning powers, and were at length obliged, by a solemn diet, to sanction this gross dismemberment of their country. In two seve- ral discussions of the case, however, in the senate, and assembly of Nuncios, the minority on the division was most numerous and respectable. In the former, the question was carried by a major- ity of six only, in the latter by one. The motive alleged by the partitioning powers, lor this extraordinary proceeding was, that they were anxious to ainend the constitution, to preserve the liberties of Poiand, and to appease the disorders which had for so long a MODERN HISTORY. 387 space of time disturbed the country, but they fulfilled none of these pretended purposes. They did nothing to amend the constitution, but imposed a new one upon them, fraught with those very imperfections, of which they might for ever continue to take ad- vantage. They perpetuated tne elective n)onarchy, abridged more than ever the authority of the king, and continued the Hbe- rum veto, a sort of tribunilial privilege, exceedirigly inimical to the peace of the country. So far from upholding, they trampled upon their liberties in every way they could, and promoted the dis- orders they pretended to remove, by encouraging, rather than checking, the licentious conduct of their soldiery. In fact, a greater act of atrocity, or a more barefaced mockery of national feelings, never perhaps took place, or was even attempted, than in the dismemberment of the kingdom of Poland. Austria and Prus- sia did, indeed, make an attempt to vindicate their claims to the countries they took possession of; but Russia scarcely judged it necessary to make any declaration to that effect. The archives of Prussia and Hungary were ransacked, and titles revived and in sisted upon, which, to say the least, had been in abeyance lor many centuries. How far this measure may justly be said to have afi'ected the balance of power in Europe, is a distinct case. For a long series of years, iinot of ages, Poland had been so ill governed, or so weak, as fo have had little intluence on that balance, though her situation seemed to point her out, and still appears to do so, as capable of ma- terially intfuencing or counteracting the operations of her many pow- erful and ambitious neighboui-s, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Turkey. The worst consequence, however, arising Irom the confeiieracy against Poland, seems to liave been the countenance thereby given to the partitioning system in general. \o. It was in the year 1,773 that the division was finally agreed to,, and settled, and even sanctioned by the Polish diet. Of some- what more than thirteen thousand square German leagues of terri- tory, the partitioning powers took a good third, taking at the same time no measures to lessen the evils arising from the defective con- stitution of Poland, in the portion allotted to the natives, it must be acknowledged, that they bestowed great pains on the improve- ment of their respective shares ; but no benehls of *his nature, con- ierred on particular parts of the country, could compensate lor the unfeeling depredations committed upon the whole. 14. Tne following has been given as a fair represenlation of the parts allotted to the several powers, by the delegates appointed to adjust the respective claims. Other accounts, indeed, are extant, which it would be ditficult to attempt to reconcile with the one we are about to give ; a veiy exact statement, however, may not be necessary. I'he Russian allotment consisted of Polish Livonia, parts of the palatinytes of Witepsk, Polotsk, and Minsk, and the whole palatinate of Micislaw, containing a population of 1,500,000 souls. The king of Prussia obtained the district called Royal, or Western Prussia, excepting the towns of Dantzic and Thorn, with a population of 860,000 souls. Austria gained a large territory in the south of Poland, comprising Red Russia, Gallicia, and parts of .he palatinates of Cracow, Sandomir, Lublin, Bezk, Volhynia, and Podolia, containing a population of 2,500,000 souls, and the valuable salt-woks of Vielitzka, which prodticed an annual revenue of X90,000. This district was annexed to the Austrian teriitories, under the an- cient appellation of the kingdoms of Gallicia and Lodomeria, Sucb 368 MODERN HISTORY. \ were the re&ults of what is now distinguished by the name of the j FIRST partition of Poland. j 15. The hi tie assistance Poland received to ward off the disgrace I and misery of this first partition, the extraordinary apathy with ) which it seemed to be beheld by the other powers of Europe, letl i little hopes of her regeneration, or escape from the toils into which she had fallen ; nor indeed has she ever escaped from them, or ; recovered the smallest degree of independence. After the tirst partition, the object she had most to dread was some accidental disunion of the partitioning powers, who would be sure to wreak their vengeance upon her; and an event of this very nature seems to have been the cause of what has been called the second parti- tion, in 1,7J.3. Russia and Austria, in the years 1,787 and 1,788, by j too close an alliance, having given umbrage to the king of Prus-sia, i he insisted that the constitution lormed for Poland, in 1,773, was ' void, and oiTered to assist the Poles in framing a new one, which ' was completed under his auspices. May 3, 1,791. Had this consti- j tution been able to keep its ground, Poland, so much of it at least i as remained to the natives, might have recovered some degree of j credit and iVeedom; it was in a great measure the work of real j f>atriots, enlightened and moderate reformers ; it abolished the j tbsriun veto, and the elective monarchy, except in the case of the ': extinction of some hereditary dynasty; it rendered the person of j the king inviolable, but gave him responsible ministers ; it pro\id- 1. cd a representative senate, not much difTering from tlie Lngiish 'i house of commons. Unhappily, this good ^vork found enemies 1 amongst the ancient nobles, who did not like to give up their pre- tensions to royalty, and who had recourse to the old and ruinous ; expedient of inviiing foreign help, always at h;md to avail itself of the internal commotions of that devoted country. Russia was called in, by the confederates of Targovitz, and a renewal of losses and calamities ensued of course. The king of Prussia, so far I'rom ' supporting the new constitution, the diet, or the king, as he seem- 1 ed absolutely bound to do, by his own acts, eagerly seized upon the | towns of Dantzic and Tlioni, which had been specially excepted ■ in the last partition, joined the czarina, in her efforts against the i patriots, under tb? brave Kosciusko, and finally succeeded in pre- ! vailing over a cou\itry, which, from the enthusiasm and spirit dis- ! played on this occasion in her defence, deserved a better fate. By | the second partition, in 1,793, Russia is said to have acquired 4,U00 \ German square miles of territory, in Volhynia, Lithuania, Podolra, ^ aud the Ukraine ; and Prussia, besides the towns of Dantzic and i Thorn, 1,000 square miles in south Prussia, with all the Hanseaiic " towns. A i/imi and last partition soon Ibllowed, in the year 1.795, ! between Russia, Prussia, and Austria, which may be said to have ' put an end to the kingdom and republic of Poland ; Stanislaus, its unhappy monarch, being removed to Russia, where he soon after ■;, died, February 12, 1,798. In this last partition, Cracow was given ' to Austria, and VVarsaw to Prussia. From the resistance of the j natives, who gained greater advantages in many engagements than 3 could have been expected from the nature of their force, the slaugh- ter accompanying tnese latter revolutions was dreadful, and on the part of the Russians attended with circumstances of cruelty too j much resembling what had taken place in 1,772. i 16. It would be dilTicuit to describe the state of Poland, from ] the period of the last parhtim, in li,795, to the treaty of Vienna, in MODERN HISTORY. 3C9 1,815. The injuries the natives had experienced at the hands of the three partitioning powers very naturally disposed them to hc- cept any offers from the enemies of their oppressors; and, as Buo- naparte had frequent opportunities of making such ofl'ers, it is not tooe wondered that he should have obtained tlieir assistance, and subjected them, more or less, to his government and control ; liut as he was only at times in opposition to, and as often allied with one or other of the three powers, Russia, Austria, or Prussia, he was never able to propose their entire emancipation, even if he had desired it. Thus continually deceived and mortified, they derived no advantage fi-om the aid they gave to France, if we except that ten- dency towards the recovery of a separate existence, (for it can scarcely be called more,) the creation of the grand duchy of War- saw, in 1,807, which, by the treaty of Tilsit, and with the consent of Buonaparte, was consigned to the king of Saxony ; the emperor of Russia at the same time acquiring much of Poland from Prussia. In 1,812, the kingdom was declared by the diet of Warsaw to be re- established; and by the treaty of Vienna, in 1,815, beirtg formally delivered up by the king of Saxony, it became annexed to Russia. and was declared to be, " irrevocably attached to it by its constitution, to be possessed by his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, his heirs and successors in perpetuity." The part assigned to Prussia took the name of the grand duchy of Posen. The salt-mines of Vielitzka vyere confirmed to the emperor of Austria, and such dis- tricts as had been acquired by the treaty of Vienna, in 1,809. The town of Cracow was declared to be for ever a free, independent, aod strictly neutral city, under the protection of Austria, Russia, and Prussia. The navigation of the rivers and canals, in all parts of an- cient Poland, (as it existed in the year 1,772,) was by particular treaties, between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, declared to be tree, so as not to be interdicted to any inhabitant of tiie Polish provinces, belonging to either of the three powers. SECTION XX. GREAT BRITAIN, FROM THE PEACE OF AMIENS, 1,802, TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE III., 1,820. 1 . Before one year had passed from the conclusion of the peace of Amiens, circumstances took place which too plainly indicated a strong probability of the renewal of hostilities, and so early as the month of May, 1803, letters of marque and reprisal were again is- sued against the French, by the British government, apparently with the full consent of the people at large, notwithstanding the enthusiastic joy which had been expressed on the termination of the war in the year preceding. It was upon this occasion that the first consul had recourse to a measure, singular in its nature, and which exposed many persons and families to great inconvenience. He forcibly detained all the English who happened to be in Franco, not only for purposes of business, but of pleasure or curiosity ; nor, with very few exceptions, were any of them able to return to their native country, for the long space of ten or eleven years. Piepa- rations also were made for the invasion of England, which only ex- eited a stronger disposition, on the part of the latter countrv. to pre^ 47 370 MODERN HISTORY. pare agaiast such attempts, in a way well calculated to destroy at once ail tlie enemy's hopes and prospects of success; in Ireland, ] indeed, a new conspiracy was set on loot, which was supposed to i rest on some promised support from France ; but this was denieil by ; tha conspirators themselves, and the disturbance soon quelled, with- • out spreading, in fact, beyond the capital. 2. Though the king of Great Britain had declared, that, with j regard to his electoral states, he should remain neuter, Buonaparte i did not neglect such an opportunity of wounding his feelings, by \ the speedy occupation of Hanover, under circumstances peculiarly aggravating to the people. Early in the month of June, 1,803, the j Hanoverian troops were made to lay down their arms, and engage ■ not to serve against tlie Frf^nch without a previous exchange. 3. Holland was still too much under subjection to France, to be 1 permitted to remain at peace ; letters of marque were, therefore, | also issued against the Batavian republic, on its refusal to agree to a i perfect neutrality. 4. In 1,804, a change of ministry in England brought Mr. Pitt ; again into power, at a moment when the affairs of the continent^ ' and the increased power of the iirst consul, who, in the course ot ^ the same month, assumed the imperial dignity, demanded all his s attention. Before the conclusion of the year, the aid which Spain t was compelled to render to the French, together with certain ap- ; pearances of hostile preparations in her ports, eiuposed her to an \ attack on the part ot Great Britain, which soon drew from her a , declaration of war, very fatal to her interests, though scarcely to j be avoided, considering the circumstances in which she had been ■ placed by the extraordinary proceedings and demands of the British ; government, which was supposed to have violated the strict rules i of justice, if not of international law, by arbitrarily and prematurely | seizing her treasure-skips, on their passage to her ports, in an action {>erfectty unforeseen and unexpected, and in which many Uves were i ost. 6. But if the character of the British nation or government suf- ^ fered in any respect trom errors or mistakes in the commencement j of the war, its naval power and credit were nighly advanced he- { fore a year had passed, by the splendid victory obtained over the ', Spanish and French fleets combined, ofl' cape Trafalgar, in Octo- \ ber, 1,805; a victory not achieved, however, without a correspon- ; dent loss, as has been before stated, in the death of the very cele- ■', brated lord Nelson, commander of the British squadron, who fell early in the action, and whose body, being afterwards brought to ^ England, was buried with very unusual honours in the centre of i St. t'aut'? cathedral. 6. In 1,806 died Mr. Pitt; a minister whose extraordinary talents i and integrity of life attached to him many friends and adherents, . by whom he was ably supported through a very arduous contest ; \ a contest which, though some thought it might have been avoided, i others ;is contidently regarded as entirely just and necessary, and ; a tmiely security against the propagation of revolutionary princi- I f)les, more threatening and dangerous than any aggressions purely .; lostile. It is always easy to say, such and such events would not have happened, had a different course from the one actually adopted [ been pursued ; but this is at best mere matter of surmise. It is im- j possible now to speak decisively of what might or might not have j been the conBequences of a longer forbearance from war ; it is ck- j MODERN HISTORY 37 tremely certain that many untoward circumstances prevented the accomplishment of all that Mr. Pitt had in view, and that the }.c>\\er ot' the French emperor, instead of being checked, was advancing with rapid strides to a pitch of uncontrollable and extended domin- ion, when the former was seized with that illness which terminated his life, in the forty-seventh year of his age. On his death, a new administration was formed, including his great parliamentary oppo- nent, Mr. Fox, who survived him for the short space of only seven months. It is highly creditable to the character of the British nation to record, that these two eminent statesmen, who had been tor a long time so much opposed to each other, but whose abilities and sinceri- ty in an opposite line of politics appear to have been duly acknowl- edged and appreciated by all parties at the period of their deaths, were buried at the public expense, in Westminister Abbey, so near to each other, that one stone might have covered the remains of both. 7. During the short time that Mr. Fox was a member of adminis- tration, fresh attempts were made to terminate the war, by negotia- tion, but in vain. 1 hough the E'rench emperor would have agreed to many cessions of importance, both to Great Britain and her ally, the emperor of Russia, it was I'ound impossible to detach from his influence and usurped authority some of the most important parts of Europe, particularly Holland, Switzerland, Italy, and Ger- many. 8 The system so generally adopted by the tyrant of France, of converting to his own use the resources of all other counti'ies, which could in any manner be rendered subservient to his purpose, led the administration which succeeded that in which Mr. Fox had a share, to set on foot an expedition v*hich has been judged by many incapable of justification on any principles of political expe- diency, and which was unfortunately attended with more iiital con sequences than were at first perhaps contemplated. Upon what in- formation the ministry proceeded did not fully appear at the time, but it was alleged that they had reason to know that tlie French ruler designed to occupy Holstein, and convert to the purposes of an in- vasion of the British dominions the Danish marine. 9. It was determined, in order to prevent such an accession to the naval power of France, to obtain possession of the tleet on which the enemy had thus fixed his view, and though it might perhaps have been both hoped and expected by the British government, that the Danes would be brought peaceably to surrender into their hands for a time a fleet thus devoted to the ruin of a friendly power, yet the result turned out to be far otherwise. The Danes resisted the demand, and though quite unable effectually to defend against the forces opposed to them either their fleet or their capital, did not capitulate till about two thousand persons had lost their lives, and many houses been burut in a manner that threatened the entire de struction of the city. The end, it is true, was accomplished, ol" get- ting into the power of the English all the Danish ships of war. (eigh- teen ships of the line and fifteen frigates,) and naval stores ; but it is to be feared that it will be long before the irritation caused by this sudden and unexpected attack on a brave people, not at war with England, will be allayed or forgotten. 10. In vindication of the suspicions of the British ministry, it was asserted that the Danish marine and ai-senals were found in a state which left no doubt of the intrigues and agency of th^ Erench, aC' 372 MODERN HISTORY. cording to the judgment of the officers and seamen employed in the expedition. The general designs of France seem, indeed, to have been decisively manifested, in the measures they now openly pur- supi], ahout the same time, of appropriating to themselves the fleet of i^ortugal, and for similar purposes, but which, fortunately without so melancholy a catastrophe, was rescued from the grasp of the French ruler, by its timely removal, under the protection of a Briii:or- i tion to the value of the cargo. These embanassments to trade in ■ general could not fail to excite great uneasiness in all parts of the ] world ; but the commencement of them is justly to be imputed to the : extraordinary decree, issued by the French ruler at Berlin, (the basis ^ of the " continental system,") November, 1,806, an account of which : is given in Sect. XVI. : unfortunately the impossibility of satisfactorily ' exempting other states from the eft'ect of these prohibitory and : regulating decrees, on the part of the two rival countries, involved ; Bbgland in a very unpleasant dispute with the United States ot .: America. j 13. Of the part England took in the affairs of Spain and Portugal, ; from 1 ,808 to 1,814, an account is to be found elsewhere. (See Sect. ; XVII.) It may be sufficient to say, that, during the whole contest, : the emancipation of those two ancient kingdoms from tbe'^ower of ^ the French seemed to be contemplated by the whole mass of BrjUish ,' subjects as their own cause. The people of Great Britain and Ire- i land, on the first application for assistance from Spain, appeared ] ready to rise in a body. They hailed the dawn of liberty on the i continent with the most enthusiastic feelings. The deputies from the MODERN HISTORY. 373 supreme junta of Seville, did not arrive in England, on their mission to the British government, till the 24th ol" July, l,u08 ; but i«.i;^ be- fore that, other deputies from the principality of Asturias Lad been received in London, with the most cordial tokens of esteem and friendship. They were splendidly entertained by the City of Lon- don, the Bank, and other public bodit^>, as well as by individual!': of the highest distinction. Subscriptions were opened in Londi^i, Liver- pool, Bristol, Glasgow, Edinburgh, iJublin, Cork, Waierlord, and many other places, for supporting the cause of Spain ; and several miiitary corps, militia, and volunteers, ofiered their services. Go'\ erri- ment supplied them immediately with three hundred thousand pouiids in dollars, live thousand muskets, thirty thousand pikes, and an im- mense quantity of powder and balls, w ith proniises of more effectual aid, whicli were ultimately amply fuUilied. The spirit thus dispi;;y- ed by the British public, on the first certain intelligence received of the anti-gallican insurrection in Spain, may he said to have continueci unab;;ted till, through the matchless skill and valour of the confee-*-- rate armies under the duke of Wellington, the French were iinaliv driven from the peninsula in 1,814, as I'elated in our account of .'^^.ain. 14. His majesty George IIL, having, in the month of Goto! rr, 1,809, entered upon the 50th year of bis reign, the event wascr-ir- biated throughout (he nation in a very striking manner, by servics of tiianksgiving in all the churches and cliapeis, with suitable dis- courses, illuminations, feasts, and other testimonies of joy, but parti- ctilarly by liberal benefactions to the poor. In the month ol'Novon-- her ill the following year, his majesty, much troubled and afflicted by the long illness and death of his daughter the princess Amelia, bad an alarming return of his former complaint, which terminated iu a second suspension of his regal functions, and frcm which he never fo sullicienlly recovered as to be abie to transact any business of state. (On the i^Oth of December^ his royal highne?s the pritice of Wales v\as appointed regent, subjiect for a period to restrictions similar !o those which had been proposed in 1,788-9. This plan was violently opposed, as unconstitutional and impolitic, but finally carried in Feb- ruary, 1,811. The bill was completed and presented to his royal highness, who did not hesitate to accept the trust, though not without remonstrating against the limitations and restrictions imposed on him.. Early in 1,812, however, these restrictions were to cease. Great changes in administration had been contemplated, and many negotia- tions were carried on to this effect, but, without accomf lishiu^ that union and coalition of parties, which the regent fimseil seemed to desire. Not being disposed to withhold his confidence therelore from those who had so long served his royal father, most of them, on (he termination of (be restrictions, were continued in their places. A most melancholy catastrophoj which occurred in the month of May, 1,812, deprived the nation of the services of Mr. Percival, who was assassinated in tlie lobby of the house of commons, by a pei'son of" the name of Bellingham, in revenge, as he himself stated, of a pri- vate injury ; a denial of justice, as he called it, on the part of govern- ment. It seemed to be accidental that the premier happened to be the individual first presented to his notice on (hat fatal day. [The paragraphs 15 and 16 of Dr. Nares' work, giving a vfry short account of the differences betoveen the English and Americiii governments in 1,812, 13, 14, and 15, are omitted. For a more par- ticular, and we trust more impartial account of the war between 1 i 374 MODERN HISTORY. Great Britain and the United States, the reader is referred to Section VI. of Part Fourth, near the close of this volume.] 17. The year 1,814, will ever be memorable in the English histo- ry, for the very extraordinary influence of foreigners of the highest distinction, from the opposite shore, on the downfal of Buonaparte, and the conclusion of a war, which had agitated the whole of Eu- rope. The list of visitors invited to the grand civic feast given by . the corporation of London, and all of whom were present, but a very few, whom illness kept away, may convey some idea of the splendid scenes that took place in diflerent parts of the kingdom in honour of these illustrious guests. It was on the 18th of June, that the dinner was given to the following very exalted person- ages : The Prince Regent ; the Emperor of Russia ; his sister, the Grand Duchess of Oldenburgh, (afterwards Queen of Wirtemburg ;) the King of Prussia; the Royal Dukes of England : the Prince Royal of Prussia ; Prince William of Prussia, son of the king ; Prince Freder- ick^ nephew of the king; Prince Henry, brother of the kin?; Prince William^ brother of the king ; Prince Augustus, the king's cousin ; the Prlnce of Orange ; the Prince Royal of \Virtemburg ; the Prince Royal of Bavaria ; the Prince of Oldenburg ; the Prince of Cobourg ; Prince Charles of Mecklenburgh; DuiiE of Saxe Weimar; Prince Gagarina; Prince Czeretorinke ; Prince Radzivil ; Marshal Prince Blucher ; Prince Hardenburg ; Prince Metternich ; Prince Lichten- stein ; Prince and Princess Volkouske; his highness the Duke of Orleans. These illustrious foreigners were entertained, at great cost and ex- pense, during their stay, both by the court and public bodies: tiie prince regent accompanied them on a visit to the university of Ox- ford ; and to Portsmouth, where they had an opportunity of witness- ing a naval review. 18. In May, 1,816, the heiress to the British crown, princess Char- lotte, only child of the regent, was married to his serene highness Leopold George Frederic, prince of Cobourg., This marriage was contemplated by the nation as an object of the highest hopes ; and for several months the amiable and exemplary conduct of her royal highness cheered the people with the brightest prospects of future good ; but a veir sudden and unexpected disappointment took place in the month of November, 1817; the princess was delivered of a still-bom male infant, and survived her delivery only a few hours. Nothing could exceed the concern manitiested by the public on this melancholy and distressing occasion. In the month of November, in the following year, her majesty queen Charlotte died at Kew, after a long and painful illness ; and on the 29th of January, 1820, was followed by her royal consort king George III.) His majesty died at the castle of Windsor, at a very advanced age, and in the sixtieth year of his reign ; greatly beloved by his subjects, and universally respected for his many amiable and royal virtues. MODERN HISTORY. 375 SECTION XXI. FRANCE, FROM THE ENTRANCE OF THE ALLIES INTO PAR- IS, MARCH, 1,814, TO THE FINAL EVACUATION OF IT BY THE FOREIGN TROOPS, 1,818. 1. Soon alter Buonaparte departed for Elba, Louis XVIII. was freely recalled to the throne of his ancestors ; he had been resident ia many places since his first emigration, and been driven trom almost all, by the approach of republican troops, the dread of republican "vengeance in those who afforded him a refuge, and not unseldom the fear of poison or assassination. England, at length, aftbrded him the asylum he sought in vain elsewhere: there he lived secure against French armies, French intluence, and, as far as Englishmen could protect him, the poisonous drtig, or the sword of the assassin. When the way was opened tor him to return to his native country, and re- ceive the crown and the throne, which his people now offered him. but whicl) had been so insulted and abused, it was characteristic ol Englishmen to rejoice at his restoration, and at the great change pre^ pared for him, from a state of banishment, outlawry, and dependence, to the recovery of one of the most brilliant thrones of Europe, and from which his unhappy brother had fallen in a way to excite the sympathy of every feeling and generous mind : his departure from England to France was accompanied with the acclamations and sin- cere gratulations of all ranks of people the prince regent personally escorted him not only to London, but from London to Dover; and took leave of him, in sight of the French coast, in a manner the most affecting and impressive. White flags were exhibited on almost all the churches, near which he had to pass, and nothing could ex- ceed the joy expressed upon the overthrow of Buonaparte, and the restoration of the Bourbons, both in England and France. 2. In the latter country, however, it may be naturally supposed, the joy could not be general, nor much of what was expressed out- wardly, sincere : Louis XVIIl. returned to France, not as it was when he lett it, but revolutionized; it had undergone great changes, and a large proportion of the population was deeply interested in those changes ; yet many, who returned with him, were quite as deeply int(;rested, in absolutely reversing what had passed, restoring what had been abolished, reclaiming what bad been alienated, if not even punishing and degrading those who had psviicipated in or been ben- efited by such revolutions. 3. In the mean while the exiled emperor was not quiet; he was too near to the French coast to be kept in ignorance of what was Eassing, and of the sentiments entertained towards him, by those who ad participated in his many glorious and triumphant achievements, and who could ill brook the degradation to which they might be doomed by the restoration of the Bourbons ; the army, in particular, to whom indeed he had behaved not only ill, but cruelly, in his re- treat from Russia and Leipzig, had yet been raised by him to such a pitch of glory and pre-eminence, as might reasonably account for its feeling both disgust and resentment, at having been compelled to sub- mit to the intrusion of strangers into their counti^ and metropolis ; strangers, whom they had previously been able not only to defy ai^ resist, but in some instances, to triumph over in their own capitals. 376 MODERN HISTORY. 4. The situation of the king of France, therefore, on his return to his dominions, however acceptable to the greater part of Eui'ope, couki scarcely be such as he might himself wish or desire : it was inipo^^^ible for him to return to tbe ancient state of tbings; and he innst have foreseen how dithcult it would be to render any new con slitutinn agreeable or suitable to all parties. The senate, indeed, h;',d prepared a new constitution before his arrival; one which bore n c-'insiderable analogy to that of England ; the legislative power be- ing pl;!ced ii) the hands of the king, the senate, and the representa- ti\ !>s of the nation at large ; and the amount, nature, and distribution ;, though with a limitation as to numbers, which were not to ex- coed 200; religious freedom, and the liberty of the press, were duly ^Kni.led for : this constitution was to be presented to him, to be ac- ce;>ted previously to Ids inauguration ; but on his arrival at Paris, he did uot choose to find himself, further than to promise his people juch a consiilulion as they would have no reason to disapprove : his fjist care was, to arrange matters with the (oreign potentates who (H cupied his capital, so as to be able, as speedily as possible, to get rid of their numerous armies ; whose presence could not fail to be a sni jf'Ct of uneasiness to his own armies, as well as to the people in general : to the credit of the troops themselves, under such extraor- dinary circumstances, it should be observed, that nothing could ex- rr>-?(\ the order and tbrbearance with which they conducted them- selves, as victors, in a capital, which, in the way of simple retribu- (ioi<, stood fairly exposed to plunder, exaction, and devastation. 5. Though it was soon settled to refer to a convention at Vienna the hnal ailjustment of matters, and arrangement of peace ; yet trance was quickly made to understand, that her boundaries must be greatly contracted, and that the independence of most of the newly annexed states and territories must be freely acknowledged ; to these terms both the king and his minister, prince Talleyrand, plainly saw the necessity of yielding, though the pride of the French was likely to be wounded by it. G. On the 4th "of June, the king presented to the senate and legis- lative body'liis own new constitution, waichdiffered in several points from tlr.it submitted to him on his arrival ; it reserved to himself the right of proposuig laws, and the assembly could only request to be peiiniltecl to discuss particular points; instead of an hereditary senate, peers, chosen by the king tor life were to compose that body, vvilliout limitation of numbers ; the popular representatives were to consist of 262, not under 40 years ol age : they were to be convoked every year, and were to have the power of impeaching the minis- ters for treason or extortion ; the khig was to appoint the judges, and trial by jury was to be continued : the press was placed under a cen- sorship, and an order was given lor closing the theatres and shops on the sabbath ; an order not only extremely unpopular at the time, but, as it would seem, ineffectual. In nominating the senate, some of Buonaparte's courtiere and marshals were included, particularly Talleyrand, who became minister for foreign atfaii-s. 7. The king, who from the first commencement of the revolution had displayed a disposition to favour the rights of the people, more than others of his family, or the chiefs of the emigrants, was little likely of himseli' to deviate from the principles of the cpnetitutjon, MODERN HISTORY. 377 or to disturb unnecessarily the existing state of things, in which so many interests were involved, but he was supposed to have around him persons still bigotted to the ancient system, and anxious to re- cover all that tliey liad forfeited by the course of the revolution. Tliese things, together with the dissatisfied state of the army, paved the way for the return of Buonaparte. 8. The probability of such an event seems to have been strangely overlooked by th^se who were most interested in preventing it : the popularity of the deposed emperor had been miscalculated. On the '4st of March, 1,815, he landed once more on the shores of France, with only 1,1-10 attendants; an attempt which many judged to be altogether hopeless, yei, (o the utter surprise of those who thought so, his progress towards Paris, though not unmolested, aflbrded him every hour, from the defection of the troops sent against him, stronger hopes of recovering his authority. On the 20th of March the king was persuaded to retire from Paris; and on the evening of that very day Buonaparte entered it, being hailed by the populace, which had so lately sduted the return of the Bourbons in the same manner, with the loudest acclamations. 9. He was soon convinced, hovvever, that he was not returned to his ancient power, and that lie, quite as much as Louis XV'III., would nnv he expected to gratify the people with a free constitution; he speedily therefore, issued some popular decrees, establishing the iVoedom of the press; abolishing the slave-trade; and regulating the taxes which weighed most heavily on the people ; he also conde- scended to offer to thfim the plan of a constittitioii, very different from the system of despotism upon whicli he had bel'ore acted, and con taiaing matiy excellent regulations: he had, however, but little time to spare for legislative measures. A mauitesto of expulsion and ex- termination had been issued against him by the congress at Vienna, signed by the plenipotentiaries of Austria, Frauce, Great Britain. Russia, Prus'-ia, .Sweden, Spain, and Portugal, and it was indispensably necessary tor him lo prepare tor war. To tiiis manifesto on the part of the allied powers, Hunnaparte was not slow in dictating and present ing to Europe a countear to hare been more arbitrary than his disposition. 23. His son Gustavns IV. bein^ only fourteen years old at the time of his father's death, the duke ot Suderm;!iiia, l.rother of the deceas- ed king, became regent for a short time. No monarch in Kurope manifested a greater zeal in the cause of ihe French myal family, or disgust at the arbiti-ary proceedings of liuona^jarte, than Gustavus IV'., but he was little able to give etfect to his wi.^bes; liis judgment being weak, and his Ibrces inadequate to contend uith ihe rrenoh, especially after the latter, by the treaty of TiUit, (see Sect. XV 1.) had found means to detach and conciliate the emperor Aiexandei'. After this disastrous treaty, Gustavus became not only the object of French resentment, but of Russian rapaciiy. He was peremiitoriiy forbidden to admit the English into his ports, and Finland was quickly wrested from him. The Danes also attacked him. In this diiemma, England would have assisted him if she could have tnisled him, lu:t, ill truth, his rashness Hnd incapacity were become too apparent to justify any such coiitideiice. A revolution was almost necessaiy, nor was it long before a conspiracy was formed, which, in the year 1,809, succeeded so far as to induce him to abdicate His uncU , the duke of Sudermania, being appointed protector, and Vf^ry soon afterv\ards king, by the title of Charles Xill., the states currying their resents ment against Gustavus iV. so far, as to exclude his posterity also Aom the throne. 24. Charles XIII. submitted to new restrictions on the kingly au- thority, and having no issue, left it to the nation to ni^minale an heir to the crown. Their first choice fell upon the prince of Augusten- burg, a Danish subject, but his death happening soon afterwards, not without suspicion of foul play, liernadotle, one of Buonaparte's g* n- erals, was, in a very extraordinary manner, nominated in Lis io( ni by the king, and approved by the states. As crown prince of ISweoen, tempted by the oifer of I^orway, he joined the contederacy against Buonaparte in 1.813, and was present at the battle of Leipzig, (fcce Sect. XX.) On the death of Charles XIII., 1,818, he succeeded to the crown, and still reigns, having, by tlie treaty of Vienna, 1,815, obtained Norway, and the is];ind of Guadaloiipe. 25. The history oi' Denmark during the eighteenth century, and beginning of the nineteenth, is very uninteresting, in a poli;ical p( iiit of view. Incapable of taking any leading or conspicuous part in the affairs of Europe, all that we know concerning her relates rather to other countries, as Rii.'-'?i;i, Sweden, Prussia, Fi'ance, and E.ngiand; in whose friendships and hostilities she has been ccmpelled, I y circum stances, to take a part, litlie advantageous, if not entirely delrimcnlal, t^o her own interests. 26. Five kings have occupied the throne since the close of the seventp^^'ith century, f>ut it will be ncjcessMrv to say very little of ihp^. Frederic IV., who came to ihe crown in l,by9, died in :,730, and was succeeded by Christian VI. ; a monarch who paid great at- tention to the welfare of his subjects, in hghtening the taxes, and en- couraging trade and manufactures. He reigned sixteen years, and was succeeded by his son Frederic V'., in the yeai 1,746. Frederic trod in the footsteps of his father, by promoting knowledge, encour- aging the manufactures, and extending the cf n.iricrce of his country. Hie had nearly been embroiled with Russia during the six months' Kk 49 386 MODERN HISTORY. reign of the unfortunate Peter 111., who, the moment he became em- peror, resolved to revenge on the court ol' Denmark the injuries which had been committed on his ancestors of the house of Hulstein Gottorp. In these attempts he was to be nssisted by the king of Prussia. The king of Denmark prepared to resist the attacks willi which he was threatened, but the dti position and death of the em- peror fortunately relieved him from all apprehensions, and he was able to compromise matters with Catherine II., by a treaty thnt was not to take effect till the grand duke Paul came of age. By tiiis con- vention, the empress ceded to Denmark, in tlie name of her son, tlie duchy of Sleswick, and so much of llolstein as appertained to the Gottorp branch of tliat family, in exchange for the provinces of Ol- denburg .and Dahnenhorst. 27. Fredei'ic V. died in 1,7G6, and was succeeded by his son Chris- tian VII., who, in 1,7G8, miirried the princess Caroline Matilda of England, sister to his majesty king George III. The principal event hi this reign was one which involved the unhappy queen in inextric- able diihcuities, and probably hastened her death ; but which Seems still to be enveloped in considerable njystery. A German physician of the court, (yiruensee,) who had risen from rather a low station in life to be tirst minister, having rendered himself extremely obnoxious by a most extensive reform in all the pul.lic oihces oi state, civil and luiUtary, and which, had they succeedotl, might have done him great credit as a statesman, was accused of intriguing with the young queen, and by the violence oC his enemies, headed and encouraged by Juliana Maria, the queen-dowager, and her son prince Frederic, brought most ignomiuiously to the scaftbid. The untortunate queen Caroline, wiiose hfe was probably saved only by the spirited inter- position of the Bi'ilisli minister, quilled Denmark after the execution of Slruensee and his coadjutor Lrandt, and having retired to Zell in Germany, painfully separated fiom iier children, there ended her days. May ID, 1,775, in the tweniy-fourth year of iier age. 28. During the latter part of his life, Cli|ustian VIL, whose under- standing had always been weak, fell into a state of mental derange- ment, and the government was carried on by the queen-dowager and prince Frederic, as co-regents, w ilh the aid of Barnstcff, an able and patriotic minister. In 1,773, the cession of Ducal Holstein to Den- mark by Russia took place, according to the treaty above spoken of: this was a very important acquisilion, as giving her the command of the whole Cinibrian peninsula, and enabhng her, by forming a canal from Kiel, to connect the Baltic with the German ocean. In tlie conlinental uars of 1,788, 179:3, Denmark remained neuter, but by jouiing the armed neutrality hi 1,800, she excited the suspicions asid resentment of Great Britain, and, bt-iug supposed to favour not only Russia but France, became involved in a contest, which was attended with losses and vexatious the most melancholy and deplorable. (See Sect. XX. § 9.) 29. Christian VII. died in 1,788, and was succeeded hj his son Frederic VI., the present monarch, who had, a few years bet0i at the beginning of the eighteenth century was in- volved in disputes between the protestants and catholics, which were attended with very unpleasant circumstances. These differences, however, were brought to an end by a convention in 1,717, which established an equality of religious rights. Things remained very quiet in most of the cantons from this time to the French revolution^, with the exception of the towns of Geneva and Berne, and a few other places, wnere a disposition was manifested to limit and restrain the aristocratical governments, but which only led at that time to such judicious reforms, as were sufficient to appease the ardour of the people. These disputes, however, may be held to have contributed to the evils which befel the country afterwards. Though the states endeavoured to preserve their neutrality during the progress of the French revolution, it was not possible, while revolutionary principles were afloat, to keep the country so free from internal disputes and commotions, or so united, as to deter the French from interfering. Geneva had already been cajoled out of her independence, but the first decisive occasion aflibrded to the French of taking an active part in the afl'airs of Swisserland, arose out of the disputes, in 1,798, rel- ative to the Pajs de Vaud; the gentry and citizens of which, not thiriking themselves sufficiently favoured by the riders of Berne and Fribourg, began to be clamorous for a change. The peasantr}- of Basle also, instigated by an emissary of the French directory, de- manded a new constitution. These disputes opened the way for the introduction of French troops, first under the orders of the directory, and afterwards undt r Buonaparte, as has been shown in our account of France ; and from that period to the conclusion of the war in 1,815, Switzerland can scarcely be said to have known a year of repose. 3. Of the condition of Venice during the eighteenth century, much may be collected from the foregoing sections. She lost the Morea in 1,7 1 8, but acquired in exchange some towns in Albania anrl Dalmatia. Some ecclesiastical reforms took place in tho middle of the last cen- tury, at which period many convents wore suppressed, ami the Jesuits expelled. Venice endeavoured to remuiu neuter during the first 388 MODERN HISTORY. movements of the French revolution, but was soon drawn into tlie voitex when Buonaparte assumed the command of the French army. By the treaty of Campo Formio, 1,797, (see Sect. XV.) her doom was sealed, and this celebrated republic entirely overthrown. 4. In Rome, since tlie close of the eighteenth century, there has been a succession of many popes, though the last two have filled the papal chair longer than might be expected, in a sovereignty where the election is generally made Irom persons advanced in years. Lit- tle more than the " magni nominis umbra''' remained to the popes at the beginning of the eighteenth century, of that temporal power which at one time or niher had shaken every throne in Europe. The clergy of Fraace in particular had effectually asserted that kings and princes, in temporal concerns, were independent of the ecclesi- astical authority. Clement XL, who was of the family of the Albani, and assumed the tiura in the year 1,700, opposed the erection of Prussia into a kingdom ; an extraordinary measure of interposition, and which had so little weight as almost to expose his court to ridi- cule, lie espoused the French interests in the contest concerning tlie Spanish succession, though in 1,708 he was compelled, by the vigorous proceedings of the emperor, to acknowledge Charles III. king of Spain. From this pope the famous bull unigeniius was ex- torted by the Jesuits, to the great disturbance of Frartce, and the whole Romish church; and the consequences of which, indeed, may be traced even in the present state and circumstances of Europe. 5. Pope Clement XI. died in 1,721, and was succeeded by the car- dinal Michael Angelo Conti, who took the name of Innocent XIII., but being far advanced in years, lived a very short time, dying on the 3d of March, 1,724, and on the 29th of May following, cardinal Ursini, Benedict XIII., was chosen his successor. During his papacy, Com- machio, which had been lost to the Roman see in the time of Clem- ent XI., was recovered; Benedict was zealous lor the honour of the bull uiiigenitus, and in conjunction with cardinal Fleury, succeeded io procuring the cardinal de Noailles, one of the most respectable and zealous opposers of it in France, to subscribe it. He had a di-^posi- tion to unite the Roman, Greek, Lutheran, and reformed churche.s, but could not succeed. He died 1,730, more admired for his virtues and talents, thati praised for his wisdom in the management of affairs. 6. Benedict XIII. was succeeded by Clement XII., Laurence Corsi- ni, a Florentine, whose public acts were of little importance. He iiad disputes with the king of Sardinia, the republic of Venice, with the en^pire and Spain ; but much of his pontificate was passed in tranquillity. He died on the Gth of February, 1,710. He made con- iriderable and valuable additions to the Vatican library. On his death, a struggle arose between the Albani and Corsini families, and the conclave was much agitated. The former prevailed, and suc- ceeded in elevating cardinal Prosper Lambertini to the papal chair, who took the title of Benedict XIV. His government of the church was extremely mild, and he was regarded as no favourer of the Jesuits, who, during his pontificate, fell into disrepute in Portugal, the lirst symptom oitheir decline and fall. This pope was a man of most amiable manners, a great writer, and possessed of considerable learning. He corrected several abuses, particularly such as had arisen out of the privileges of asylum. He carefully endeavoured to Iteep clear of disputes and contests, thinking the times unfavourable to thepapal authority. He died in the year 1,758. 7 The cardinal Rezzonico succeeded Benedict XIV,, jm4 took the MODERN HISTORY. 389 title of Clement XIII. His pontificate is memorable for being the »ra ot the expulsion of the order of Jesuits, (in some instances nn- cler circumstances of very unjustifiable precipitation,) from Portugal, trance. Spam, Naples, Sicily, Parma, Venice, and Corsica, notwith- standing the utmost eflbrts of the pope to uphold them ; many of them were actually landed from Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Sicilv on the pope's territorie-s as tlioush it belonged to him to maintain titem when abandoned by the catholic sovereigns. The Done re- monstratefl, but with little effect. The French seized upon Avignon and the Nenpohtans upon Benevento, to induce him to abandon the' on er, but he would not. Clement XIII. died suddenly, on Februai-v Z, l,-o9, and was succeeded by the celeorated Ganganelli who in comp.iment to his predecessor and patron, took the title of Cle-nent AlV. ihis enlightened pontiiT was sensible of the decline of the papal authority, and ot the prudence of conciliating, if not of humouring the sovereigns o< Europe, against whom, he was accus- tomed to observe, the Alps and tiip Pyrenees were not sulTicient pro- n^wTc' tl 7T '" consequence of this leaning towards the temporal punces, that he secured t.neir concirrence to his being made pope his ireedom of thought and manners being otherwise obnoxious to the court of Rome. 1 he conclave, by which he was elected was tumultuous; but at length the cardii.a"! de Bernis succeeded in pro- ainng h.m to be chosen pope, May, 1,769. It is well known hat this accomplished pontiff -n the ye.r 1,773, after much deliberation, suppressed the order ot Jesuits; and, dying in the next year, si S cions were raised that be had been poisoned, but, on open ng his body ,n the presence of the French and Spanish ministers, enemies to the Jesuits, dt was pronounced otherwise. Thero is litdo dnnht comiet i"J^;^."^^1' "^ ''""' ,"V'^^; ^•-''"'•^^' ^'^ "ep'he tdt'e'n compelled to take ; it procured tor hnn, indeed, the restitution of Avignon and Benevento, which had been taken from bis predecessor- but in consenting to the di-^soiution of an order so essential to'the papal dominion he must, in a!} probability, have yielded to the power ot irresistible circumstance.. He was of an amiable disposition' much given to literature, indefatigable in business, and hidilv re- 2's'interestld'''^'^" "''^'""'' ^''"" ''"'' ■•'"'^''' '" ^'"'^ manners, and very nii ^f% '" % -''''"'■ '^^^^- /^"^''''^ Br^^chi, a descendant of the noble family of Cesena „,,, ch.osen to fill the chair vacated by the death oi Ganganelli. 1 he new pope took the title of Pius VI He IS said to have heea eleded contrary to the wishes and intentions of most of the members of the conclave, a circumstance not unlikely to happen amidst such a contrariety of interests, and the complicJfPd torms of proceeding. As he had thus risen to supreme power he acted afterwards more independently of the cardinals, than any of his predecessors. ' -^ 9. He had taken the name of Pius VI., in acknowledged defiance of a preva.hng superstition, expressed in the following%erses, and applied to Alexander V I. particularly, if not to others. " Sextus Tarquinius, Sextus Nero, sextus et iste Semper sub sextis, perdita Roma fuit." tie is known to have, in his troubles, reflected on this ratber sin- gular arcunastance, with sorrow and dismay. Certniulv no p.^fe had greater mdignities to sustain, nor could any have greater cause to Kk2 390 MODERN HISTORY. apply to themselves the ominous presages conveyed in the lines just cite 1 ; for in the year 1,798 his government was overthrown, and Rome lost. The French took possession of it and proclaimed the restoration of the Roman republic. 10. The pope's troubles beg;m in t,796, when he was compelled to cede to Buonaparte the cities of Bologna, Lrbino, Ferrara, and Ancona, to pay twenty-one millions of francs, and dehver to the French commissioners, sent for the purposes, pictures, busts, statues, and vases, to a large amount. He afterwards endeavoured to raise an army to recover what he had lost; but he had ibriued a very wrong estimate of the po\ver of his opponent. He was soon com- pelled, February 12, 1,797, to sue for peace, and submit to furtiier sacrifices at the uiil of Buonaparte, whom he had certainly very in- cautiously provoked. By the peace of Tolontino, he renounced all right to Avignon and the Vanais.-iu, Bologna, Ferrara, and tl^e Romag- na. On the entrance of the French in 1,798, the Vatican and Quir- inal palaces, and private mansion^ of the obnoxious amongst tiie nobility, were stripped of ali their ornaments and riches. The peo- ple who had invited the French, landed themselves free, but had ver)' little cause to thank their deUverers. The pope was forcibly removed from Rome, at the age of eiglity, and, l)y order of tlie French directory, tnuisferred from place to pfice, as the course of events dictated, from Rome to Florence, from Florence to Briancon, ■juil i'rum Briancon to \'alence. Another removal to Dijon is said to huvc been in contemplation, had not the decline of his health become too visible to render it necessary. He died at the latter place on the 'i9th of August, 1,799, in the eig'dy-second year of his age, and Iwenly-lburtli of his ponuticate. 11. Pius \'l. was correct in his manners, and a patron of genius, particularly of the fine arts. He spent much money on buildings, nolwiihslanding the distressed stale of the hnances, and devoted large sums to the draining of the Pontine marshes, in which almost im- practicable undertakiiig, he partly succeeded. He endeavoured to correct the abuses of sanctuary, which liad I)ecn carried so far as to give irnp\initj' to hired assassins, rnucii to the disgrace of those who [.rotected them. It deserves to be recorded of Idm, that he display- ed great magnaniniily, as well as pious resisinalion, when dragged from his dominions ; and though he fell severely the wrongs that had been committed against him by the French and the infatuated Ro« marts, he die.l tranquilly and serenely. 12. It is remarkable that he had scairely been dead a month, when Rome was delivered from the hands of its oppressors, and given up to the British, whose fleet, under conamodore Trowbridge, iiad block- ed up the port of Civita Vecchia. Tiiose who had lavoured the re- publican cause were permitted to retire^ nnd the French garrison marched out with the honours of war. 13. In the month of March, 1,800, a conclave of cardinals, under the protection of the emperor and other catholic powers, met at Venice to elect a successor to Pius V'l., and was not long in fixing upon the cardinal Chiaremonte, bishop of Tivoli, the present pope Fins VII. In a few weeks afier his election, he set out for his new ik)miniL)ns, and arrived at Rome on the 9th of July. In the month of September, 1,801, he had the satisfaction of concluding a concor- datum with the French republic, by which, undor the auspices of l>uonaparte, then first consul, the Roman catholic religion was re- QStabiished there. Not only heresy, but infidelity and atheism, had MODERN HISTORY. 331 been so openly encouraged and avowed by tiie French revolutionists, thai Pius appears to have thought no concessions too great to ac- complisii this end; for the terms ol" the agreement undoubtedly sub- jected the Gallican church eatirely to the civil goveruinent, canoni- cal institution being almost the ouly privilege reserved to the pope, and every possible encouragc'ment being, at tbe same lime, given to the protestanl churches, Lutheran and Calvinistic. 13. It was very soon discovered, that the new head of the Roman church, was to be made to bovv as iow to the aulhurity of Buonaparte as iiis predecessor. In 1,SU4 Pius VII. was smnaoned to Paris to otiiciate at the coronation of4he French emperor; and though in the year following he decUaed ultending a similar cereuioiiy at Milan, as has been already shown, il seems only to have exposed him to greater sacrifices. In 1,808 he was deprived of Urbino, Ancona, M.icerata, and Canierino, and soon after his temporal sovereignty was formally dissolved, and the pajial territories annexed to France. Rome was declared to be a free and imperial city ; tlie court of in- quisition, the temporal jurisdiction of tiie clergy, the rigfit of asylum, and other privileges were abolished, and the title of king of Rome ap- propriated to the heir of the Frencii empire. Pius was conveyed hrst to Grenoble, afterwards to Savona, and hually, in 1,812, to Fon- tainebleau, where, for reasons unknoivn, he was unce more acknowl- edged as a sovereign, till the advance of the .liiies upon Paris, at last. procured him his liberty; and in 1,814 he was reinstated; he made his solemn entrance hito Rome on the 24th of May; and in 1,815, by the arrangements of the congress of \ ienna, his foiiVited estates were re-annexed to the papal dominions. ! lis restunvlion of the order of Jesuits and of the court of inqul-ition, on his I'eturn, occa- sioned some concern to the greater part of Europe ; but ids holiness has generally had the credit of being a man of sense, prudence, and moderation. SECTION XXIV. OF INDIA, OR HINDOOSTAX. 1. India or Hindoostan haying largely engaged the attention oi Europe since the close of the seventeenth centnry, may deserve some distinct notice, thougli little is to be added to what has already been related in form -r sec;ions, of tlie pohtical events ^nd trins;;c- tions wiiich have occurred in. that remote region of the globe, during the period alluded to. 2. The celebrated Aurungzebe, w!io occupied the throne of Del- hi, at the commencement of the eighteenth centnrv, lived to the year 1,707. In him the spirit of the great Timor, "from whom he was the eleventh in descent, seemed to revive. He was brave, but cruel. He attained to a great age, being nearly a hundred 5 ■ ai old when he died, having succeeded in rendering almost the wholt of the peninsula subject to his sway, from the tentii to the thirty-tlfth degree of latitude, and nearly as much in longitu<)e. 3. But if Aurcngzebe thus raised in his own person the credit of the mogul throne, its glory also perit^hed with him. A sad scene of confusion ensued upon his death. He had himself, indeed, waded to the throne through tlie blood of his own kindred. After deposing his father, two of his biothers were slain in contending lor the crowo. m MODERN HISTORY. But such was the nature, generally, of the political revolutions of those countries, that had not this been the case, the life of Aurungze- be himself might probably have been sacrificed to similar views and' purposes. ' He is said to have bitterly repented of his misdoings be- ibie he died. 4. No sooner, however, was he dead, than the most violent con- tests arose between his own sons, two of whom, Azem and Kaum Buksh, perished in their opposition to their elder brother, who be- came emperor, under the title of Bahader Shah. The throne, in- deed, was such an ofject of contention, that, in the small space of eleven years, live princes, who attained to the throne, and six, who wci-e candidates for it, successively fell victims to the lusts and pas- sions of their semi-barbarous competitors. It was in the reign of Feroksere, w!io was deposed in 1,717, that the English East India Company obtained the f imous tirman or grant, by which their goods of export and import were exempted from duties, and which has been regarded as their commercial charter in India; no other European companies being similar!;, indulged. 5. hi the time of Mahmud or Muhammed Shah, who came to the throne in the year 1,718, and who was engaged in disputes with some of his most powerful neighbours and dependents, the celebrated usurper of the Persian throne, Nadir Shan, encouraged, or even in- , vited, as it has been said, by some of the (hscontented piiuces, particu- larly the subahdar of the i)eckan, invaded the dominions of the Mo- gul, and with such success, as in the year 1,739, to seize upon Delhi, the capital, with all its treasures, and conipei the unhappy sultan, to surrender, .with the utmost iunoniiuy, his crown and sceptre. He was, indeed, afterwards restored, but with the loss of all his domin- ions west of the Indus, togethfir with jewels and treasures to an in- calculable amount ; some indiscreet insult, offered to the Persians, having been the alleged provocation for deiivering the city up to plunder, and the inhabitants to the sword, with every ciuelty and in- dignity attendant upon such misfortunes. This miserable capital afterwards imderwent a second visitation of the same description, from one of the followers of Nadir Shah, Abdallah, who had, indeed, been forced into his service, but found means to take- advantage of his nraster's victories, by seizing upon the territories west of tiie In- dus, ceded to Nadir by the unlbrtunate mogid, and erecting a sove- reignty for himself at Candahar. Nadir Siiah was assassinated in his tent, in 1,747. 6. By the invasion of the Persians, the power and glory of the moguls may be said to have been brought to an end. From that peiiod the sulxirdinate states, princes, and viceroys, began to as; ire to a degree of independence, and to acquire a consequence betore unknown ; the mogul himself becoming a mere nominal sovereign. Those who were must raised at this time by the depression of the sultanic authority, appear to have been — The Nizam or Subahdar, of the Deckan ; the Nabot of Arcot, or the Carnatic ; the Subahdar of Bengal ; the Nabob of Oude ; the Rajahpoote Princes of Agimere ; the Mahrattas ; the Seiks; the Rohillas, and the Jats. The disputes and differences that took place between these several power's, alter they hiid shaken off' the yoke of the mogul, opened the door for the interference of the European settlers, towards the middle of the eighteenth century. (See Sect. VI. § 2.) The French first, and afterwards the English, contrived to take advantage of the MODERN HISTORY. 393 rival claims set up by the diflerent native powers, and bv rendering them assistance against each other, and it is to be feared greatly fo- menting their quarrels, soon became acquainted with the manifest superiority of their own tactics, and the inlluonce this must give them in such contests. The French went farther, and first hit upon the expedient of training the natives in the European manner, and in- corporating them with their own annies ; these were called Sepoys. 7. It was not long before the French and English, who had at first only taken the field as auxiliaries, became opposed to each other as principals; in which conflicts the English succeeded beyond all ex- pectation, and instead of being driven out of the peninsula themselves, which was evidently in the view of the French under Dupleix, in the year 1,751 and 1,752, found means to establish themselves there, through the victories of Ciivc, to the exclusion of all other European nations, except for piu'poses purely commercial. 8. Clive has justly been regarded as the founder of the British empire in India ; he was the first to procure for the company grants of territory and assignments of revenue, which totally changed the character of our connexions with that country, and rendered the na- tive princes, even the mogul himself, subservient to our purposes. The English had received great provocation from the subahuar of Bengal, in an attack upon Calcutta, and Clive was selected by admiral VVatsun to recover from Sourajud Dowlah the town and fort, which had been surrende-red to him. At the battle of Plassey, 1,757, he not only succeeded in the recovery of Calcutta, but in the deposition of the subahdar, and having appointed his general in his room, ob- tained a grant of all the eftects and lactones of the French in Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, and money contributions to the immense amount of £2,750,000 sterling, exclusive of private gratuities. 9. It would have been well if these advantages could have been acquired with less la«s of credit to the nation than was actually the case ; but there was too much in these first steps towards a territorial establishment, to teed the ambition and cupidity of those intrusted with the management of affairs, to render it probable that they would keep clear of abuses. The opport\inities that occurred of intermed- dling with the native powers, were eagerly seized upon as occasions for enriching the servants of the company, (drawn from home in ex J)ectation of making rapid fortunes,) at the expense of the company itself, whose aftairs were in danger, not only of becoming more em- barrassed by the extraordinary expenses of such irterference, but by the alienation of the minds of the natives, under circumstances little short of the most determined plunder and persecution. In the man agemeut of the new-acquired territories and inland trade, it is no longer to be doubted that the natives suffered in everv possible man ner, from the most unreasonable monopolies, exorbitant duties im- posed on articles of general consumption, iibuses in regard to leases, and fiscal oppressions; so that the British name became dishonoured, and it was tound to be absolutely expedient that some change should take place in the administration of alTairs so remote from the seat of all rule and direction, and which, from simply commercial, were now clearly become political and military. 10. The charter of the company being subject to periodical re- newals, aflbrded opportunities for the interference of the legislature, nor was the company itself backward, under any^ pressure of pecu- niary embarra^ments, to apply to government for assistance. On one of these pccasions, the great change that had taken place in the 50 394 MODERI'^' HISTORY. state of things in India, induced the government at home to claim for the crown all revenues arising from any new acquisitions made by military force, and in order to repress the inordinate proceedings of the company's servants, of which the natives, the public at home, and the company itself, had but too much reason to complain, gov- ernment also insisted upon taking into its own hands' the political jurisdiction of India. 1 1. These claims and regulations were first proposed in parliament, November, 1,772, and may be said to have laid the foundation for that enlarged system of administration and control which has prevail- ed since, though under different modifications, from lord North's bill in 1,773 to Wr. Fill's in 1,784. By this latter bill, a board of control, composed of certain commissioners of the rank of privy counsellors, nas established, the members of which were to be appointed by, the king, and removable at his pleasure. This board was authorized to check, superintend, and control the civil and military government and revenue of the company ; a high tribunal also, for the trial of Indian delinquents, was prop:S -d at the same time. The manage- ment of their commercial concerns was left in the hands of the crra- pany ; the poUtical and civil authority only transferred to the crown. In 1,786, son>e alterations were made in the bill; the ofllices of com- mander-in-chief and governor-general were for the future to be unit- ed in the same pei'son, and a power given to the governor-general to decide in opposition to the majority of the council. The presidencies of Madras and Bombay had been previously, by lord North's bill, placed under the superin tendency of the governor and council of Bengal, but by this bill that point also was confirmed. 12. When this bill was passed, it appeared from the preamble, to be decidedly the opiiiion of^ parliament, of government, as well as of the court of directors, whose orders had tor some time breathed the same spirit, that " to pursue schemes of conquest and extension of duiiiinion in India, were measures repugnant^o the wish, the honour, and the poJioy of the nation." It had previously been resolved by the house, '• lliat the maintenance of an inviolable character for moderation, good failh, and scrupulous regard to treaty, ought to have been the simple gromuls on which the British government should have endeavoured lo establish an influence superior to other Europeans, over the minds of the native powers in India; and that the danger atul discredit arising from tlie forfeiture of this pre-eminence, could not be compensated by the temporary success of any plan of violence and i^j.l^-lice."' 13. 8uch v^as the tenor of the resolutions of the house of commons in 1,782, recognised as the principle of the bill of 1,784, and farther conlirmed by an act passed in i ,71)3. In all we perceive an evident aliusioa to those mal-practices of the company's servants, which will for ever, it is to be feared, rem .in on record, to tarnish the lustre of our tii-st victories and territorial acquisitions in India, and to detract from the reputation of persons, whose names might otherwise have justly stood high on tiie iisl of those, from whose pre-eminent talents and abilities, ihe nation has derived both glory and advantage. 14. The En",Ush system of jurisprudence had been extended to India by lord North's bill of 1,773, but under disadvantages extreme- ly embarras,sing. The ditfereuce of manners, habits, customs; the diihculty, if noi impossil-ility, of mingliiig two codes, so very dissimi- lar as those of Britain ai.d liindoostan; the forms and technicalities of the Engilsh law, totally uakaovvn to the native courts; the ap- MODERN HISTORY. 395 parent injustice of suhjectin^ a people to lows to which they were no parties, and to which, ot course, they had given no sanction: these, and other ditlicuhies have heen acknowledged by tliose who have had to administer the laws under the new system, in hidia, as having prevented tliose happy eflects taking place, which might otherwise have been expected from the introduction of the l-ngii^^h jurisprudence. Since the passing of Mr. Pitt's bill, however, much benefit haS certainly been derived from the residence and superin- tendence of noblemen of the highest rank and ahilitie:*, as governors- general, and of judges the most enlightened, to pre^-ide in the hidian courts. The lirst relbrnis that were attempted under tht- new sysiem, though not so successtul as might he wished, proceeded from these two most amiable and highly respected person;! ges, the marquis Cornwaiiis, and sir V>'illiam Jones. 15. From the conduct of lord Corn wal lis, and his successors lord Teignmoulh, and lord Moniington, now marquis Wellesley, il is ex- tremely evident that tlie sj'stem of neutrality and forbeanmce pre- scribed by the resolutions of parliament, and preamble of the act of l,78il, would have been scrupulously adhered to had it been possiliJe, consistently with the security of our settlements; but towaifl> li.e close of the eigliteenth centuiy, the English uero compelled to de- fend themselves from the most'tbrmidable designs of the celebrated Hyder Ally and his son Tippoo Saib, who unquestionably bad il in view to exterminate the British, and probably ail other Europeans, from the peninsula of hidia. 16. The result of these confhcts, which took place in Mysore, and the Carnadc, was the total overthrow of a IMahemedan dynasty of only two sovereigns, commencing with a mere ad\enlurer of oust singular character, who having waded through crinifs to hi? ot j<'Ct, succeeded in placing himself and his son on one of the most briiii-nt thrones of the east, and in a condition to give very considerable trouble to the English government there. 17. Hyder Ally, the father of 'i'ippoo, was horn in 1,722, and di^d in 1,782. Tippoo was born in 1,763, and lost his life in the celebrat- ed assault of the capital of his new dominions, Seriiigapatam, in \\19d. They were very different men, havhig been difurently educated. The former had strong natural powers, which compensated for iiis want cf acquired knowledge; the latter was vain of his scanty pro- ficiency in I'ersian literature, and a lew other attainments, to a degree of absurdity ; fmcying himself the greatest philosopher of the age, the wisest, bravest,, and handsomest of men. ilydsr was tolerant in religious concerns to a degree of inditierence ; Tippoo, a bigoted mussulman, to the utmost pitch of intolerance and persecution. The ^ormer meddled little with religion. The latter contemplated changes in Islamism, as in every thing else, having, as a prehminary, substi- tuted a new era in his coins, dating from the birth instead of the flight of Mahomet. Both father and son were devoid of principle, but the former was much the greatest man. 18. It was owing to the vigilance and prompt measures of lord Vv'^ellesley, that Tippoo was so opportunely overthrown; though his proceedings were weak, they were carried on with much duplicity and deceit, and upon principles of alliance which in other circimi- stances might have become very alarming. Under the most positive V and repeated assurances of peace and amity, he had intrigued wiXb "^•■ance, Turkey, the king of Candahar, (a descendant of the cele- braix^ Aflghan cuief Abdallah,) the P^izana of the Deckan, and the 396 MODERN HISTORY. Mahratfas, for the express object of forming a strong confederacy t« extirpate the English ; in his negotiations with the courts of Canda- har and C'onstantinopie, indeed, he had declared vengeance agaii;St the infidels generally, whence it has been reasonably concluded that his schemes of destruction embraced all the European powers, the French not excepted, had his projects but been successful. Fortu- nately, lord Wellesley delected all his plots, and when it l)ecan!e impossible to treat farther with him on any fair grounds, by the most decisive measures, and raj>id movements, effectually avert- ed the blow that had been decideilly aimed at the British empire in India. 19. On the fall of Seringapatam, the Mjsorean dominions were, by allotments to the allies, the British, the JN'izam, and the Mahralta-', nearly reduced to the limits by which they were bounded beft-re tiie xisurpation of Hyder, and, a surviving representative of the lliudDO dynasty, a child only live years old, placed on the throne, uiin an acknowledged dependency on the British government. The de- scendants of Tip[>oo being, however, liberally provided for, and settled in the Carnalic, disturbances in the northern and north-western arts of the peninsula, among the Mahratta chieftains, occupied \he aitention of the English army, in the early part of the present cen- tury, when a fresh opportunity was afforded of triumphing over tlie intrigues of the French, who headed the adverse forces, and endeav- oured to procure for that government a cession of the districts in- trusted to their care; but the issue of the contest was entirely in favour of the British. From tliis time the ascendancy of the Brilish in the peninsula has continued so decidedly established, as to render it needless to say any thing of the other European settlements. 20. The acquisition of terriloiy in India, together with the new system of government and control, by rendering it necessary for jx r- sons of learning and talent to resi le there, have had the effect of im- proving our knowledge of those remote countries, and opened to u« a field of inquiry and research, peculiarly interesting and curious. Among those who may be considered as having most particularly contributed to tiiese ends, we may reckon Mr. VVilkius and sir William Jones: the former by having first, with any real success, pursued lue study of the Sanscrit language, the root of all the vernacular diaUci-: of the peninsula, and thereby opened to the contem{)latioii of liie historian, the antiquarian, the philosopher, and the poet, whatever is interesting in the literature of all the nations east of the Indus; and the latter, by instl ^ting the first philosophical society in those parts, and inviting the learned, in all quarters of the globe, to propose que- ries in every branch of Asiatic history, natural and civil, on the phi- losophy, mathematics, antiquities, and polite literature of Asia, and on eastern arts, both liberal and mechanic, as guides to the investiga- tions of the persons re.sident in ti)e peninsula, qualified to pursue such inquiries on the spot, and communicate to the world in general the results of their discovciies. 21. To this learned society, first established in Bengal, under the presidency of sir William Jones, we are indebted for all those curious papers preserved in the several volumes of the Asiatic Researches and the Indian Annual Register, and which have so largely contrib- uted to enlarge the boundaries of oriental literature. To the names already mentioned, as having taken the lead in this curious branch of science, we may add those of our countrymen, Halhed,Vansitt;'-.i Shore, (lord Teignmouth, the second president, on the death -"^ ^'^ MODERN HISTORY 397 William, 1,794,^ Davie, Colebrook,Wilford,Rennell, Hunter, Bcntley, Marsden, Orme, Carey, Buchanan, Baiiovv, Harrington, Edmoiibtoiie, Kirkpatrick, i^c. 22. At the commencement of the present century, it became ob- vious to the marquis of Wellesle}', then governor-general, that the state of the British empire in India absolutely required, that the per- sons sent out to discharge the important functions oi magistrates, judges^ ambassadors, and governors of provinces, should have som» bettei means of qualifying themselves for sucn high stations and complicated duties, than were then in existence. His lordship's view of these matters, as recorded in the minute of council, dated August 18, 1 800, is highly deserving of consideration, and his plan for iorming ana en- dowing a college for these purposes at Calcutta, reflect the highest credit on his wisdom and discernment, though the latter has not been carried into execution in the way his lordshiii proposed, for want of funds. The East India College, since established in Hertfordshire, may be considered as entirely owing to the adoption by the company of the enlightened principles contained in the minute alluded to. A system of oriental education is now effectually established, which, though on a much more contracted scale, and in a great measure con- tined to England, bids fair, it is to be hoped, to accomplish most of the ends contemplated by his lordship in his original design of Ibunding a college at Fort \V^illiam, in Bengal, namely, " to perpetuate the im- mense advantages derived to the company from their possessions in India, and to establish the British empire in India on the solid founda- tions of ability, integrity, virtue, and religion." 23. Of the studies to be pursued, according to lord Wellosley's plan, a competent notion may be formed from the following list of professorships and lectures : — Arabic, Persian, Sanscrit, Hindostanee, Bengal, TeJinga, Mahvatta, Tamula, and Canara, languages ; Mahom- edan law -Hindoo law ; Ethics, civil jurisprndence, and the law of nations ; English law ; political economy, commercial institutions and interests of the East India Conipany, geography and mathematics ; modern languages of Europe; Greek, Latm, and English classics j general history, ancient and modern ; the histoiy and antiquities ot Hindoostan and the Deckan ; natural history ; botany, chemistiy, and astronomy. 24. Though the company saw reason to withhold its countenance from the original institution, the studies above chalked out have been, in a great measure, adopted in the Hertfordshire college, and its gen- eral success hitherto has been pronounced answerable to the expecta- tions of those who were most solicitous in effecting its establishment. The education of the young men, destined to fill the civil offices in India, is how therefore partly European and partly Asiatic; for so much of the collegiate establishment in India may be said to remain, tliat there the students, who have been taught in England tlie elements of Asiatic languages, are enabled to advance to perfection, and to be- come masters of the several dialects prevailing through the peninsula. Though the original plan of the noble founder of the college of Fort William has not yet been adopted by the East India Company, yet to apply the words of one of the most distinguished of our orientalists, *' Good has been done, which cannot be undone ; sources of useful knowledge, moral instruction, and political utility, have been opened to the natives of India, which can never be closed." In 1,814, an ecclesiastical establishment, under the immediate auspices of govern- ment, was formed for India;, the right reverend Dr. Thomai Fansbaw Li 1 398 MODERN HISTORY. Middlelon being consecrated at the archiepiscopal palace, at Lambetii^ the first bishop of Calcutta. It must surprise the English reader to be told, that the population of the British empire in India has been lately estimated at 90,000,000 ! STATE OF ARTS, SCIENCES, RELIGION, LAWS, GOVERN- MENT, &c. 1. The historical events of the eighteenth century have, we must confess, been found to be of such magnitude and importance, as to occupy rather too large a space in a work professing to be merely elementary ; but we should be compelled in a still greater degree to exceed the liniits assigned to us, if we were to attempt to enter into the details of the very extraordinary progress that has taken place during the same period, in arts, sciences, and literature ; some changes, indeed, have occurred, and more been contemplated, in religion, laws, and government, but in regard to the former, almost all things have become new : we have new arts and new sciences ; and in literature, such an overtlowing of books upon every subject that could possibly occupy or interest the mind of man, that the most diligent compiler of catalogues would fail in endeavouring barely to enumerate them. 2. ft is somewhat extiaordinary, indeed, that this great and rapid advancement of knov.ledge has after all been confined to only a small portion of the globe. The great continent of Africa, though better known than in past times, has made no advances in civilization. Asia, though many parts have been diligently explored during the last centu- ry, and a large portion of it actually occupied by Europeans, remains, as to the natives, in its original state. The vast empire of China has made no progress at all. Japan has effectually shut the door against all improvement. South An;erica, indeed, though labouring under difficulties unfriendly to the progress of knowledge, is yet reported to be making no inconsiderable advances, particularly in Mexico, where both the arts and sciences are cultivated with credit and effect; In North America, also, the arts and sciences and literature may certainly be said to be in a progressive state, but under circumstances of rather slow and partial improvement.* 3. Civilized Europe is the only part of the world that can claim the credit of almost ail that has been done towards the advancement of Knowledge since the commencement of the eighteenth century, and only a few parts after all of civilized Europe itself. Turkey has stood still, as well as her Grecian dependencies, till very lately. Spain, Portugal, and even the greater part of Italy, have labour^u wider dif- ficulties and restrictions exceedingly inimical to their 3avaftcement, and which have greatly arrested their prepress in the career of letters and philosophy. The north and north-eastern parts of Europe have produced many learned men, have been diligently explored, and ma- terials at least collected for great improvements ; other parts are also upon the advance : but England, France^ and Germany^ are undoubt- [• The writer must be under a mistake. Is it not acknowledged through- out Europe, that the United States of North America are not only farther advanced, but faster advancing, in the discoveries of science, and that their progress ia KUrature it aMr« rapid^ thaa any other aalion of the new MODERN HISTORY. 399 edly the principal countries to which we must look for the most strik- ing progress in every branch of human knowledge. In these three countries, in particular, discoveries have now certainly been made, and principles established, which can never be lost again, and which must, as far as they may extend, be constantly operating to the lasting im- provement 01 the world at large. 4. It would be quite unnccessarj^ to go back to the origin, or former state, either of the arts or sciences, now known and cultivated in Eu- rope. It is pretty generally understood, that, comparatively with the pge of the world, they hure been only very recently submitted to such juocesses as bid fair to bring thorn to the h'ghest stale of perfection. One art hri helped another, and new sciences been brought to light, that have greatly promoted the advancement of those before under- stood and cultivated. Galvanism has assisted electricity ; and gal- \: nism and electricity' together been exceedingly serviceable to chemistrj' ; chemistrv- to niineralcgy, and so forth : new sj'stems and srrangemcnts, and new nomenclatures, have contributed greatly to rende^ every step thnt has been taken more accurate and certain, and to place eveij object of attention or inquiiy more exactly in the rank and order it sivpuld occup}' in the general circle of arts and sciences ; but the thing of most importance of all, in regard to the improvements tiiat have taken place since the beginning or middle of the eighteenth century, is, that every thing has been conducted exactly upon those principles, which the great lord Bacon so strongly recommended, and has, therefore, been found conducive to all those great ends, the neg- lect of v.hich, in his own and preceding ages, he so much deplored : e^rry tiling has had a tendency to augment the powers, dimin!.«h the pains, or increase the happiness of mankind. 5. Amongst the sciences so cultivated and advanced, since the sev- enteenth centurj', as justly to he regarded as new, we may rank chem- idry, botany, eheiricity. galvanism^ mineralogy, geology, and in many respects, geography : eveiy one of these sciences has been placed on so very different a footing, by the recent manner of treating them, and by nev/ discoveries, that it is better, perhaps, at once to consider ihem as new sciences, than to advert to former systems, founded on totally er- roneous principles, and which have been, on that account, very rea- sonably exploded. 6. Chemistry, however, even in the cotirse of the period before us, has undeig;one very essentia! changes ; it is now not only a very diifer cut science from the chemistry that prevailed antecedent to the eigh- trenth century ; but the eighteenth centurj'^ itself has witnessed a re- markable revolution in its leading principles : some, indeed, of the niost important changes approach nearer to the nineteenth than the seventeentn century, if they do not actually belong to the former ; at all eVents, it was not till towards the close of the eighteenth centuiy that chemical experiments had been pushed so far as to displace tw-* of the elements of the old philosophy, and totally supersede the pre- vailing theory of heat, light, and combustion ; a theory which ^v^s itself not much more than half a century old. Stahl, the celebrated disciple of Becher, born in 1,660, but who lived to 1,734, has the credit of being the author of the phlogistic system, which began to be attack- ed late in the last century, and seems now to be totally exploded. Whether the rival theoiy will ultimately maintain its ground in all points, may, perhaps, appear still doubtful to some : the French claim to be the authors of the new theoiy ; but though the experiments they very ably conducted were highty conducive to the establishment of it) 400 MODERN HISTORY. the way seems to have been more opened to them by others than they are willing to acknowledge, particularly by English observers. The phlogistic system vyas a plausible theory in certain respects, but in others totaily indefensible ; and, perhaps, a better proof of the utility of repeated experiments could not be produced, than that which as- certained, that, instead of the extrication of a particular substance by combustion, something was undoubtedly added to, or imbibed by, the combustible body, in order to the separation of its parts ; that, in foot, in the actual process of combustion, affinity produces a double decom- position, and that a certain portion of the atmosphere entering into union with the combustible body produces all those appearances, wLich, under the former system had been attributed to the ex- •/ication of an unknown principle of iiJlammability, denominated phlogiston. 7. The very curious experiments, made to confirm and establish the latter system, have been of tiie greatest importance in regard to other matters, particularly to that branch of the new chemistry which haa been denominated \he pneumatic system. The discoveries in this line of experiment, which has the air for its subject, exceed, perhaps, all others in importance and interest : the analysis of the common atmos- phere has opened to our view a series of physical operations constant- ly going on, the most wonderful and delicate that can possibly be con- ceived : the respiration of animals is of this description. The atmos- phere is now known to be a most curious compound of two sorts of air, or gases, (as they have been named of late,) the one capable of suvtporling life and tlame, the other destructive of both : in combus-r tion, calcination of metals, and respiration, the process is the same, — a decomposition oi" the atmosphere : the pure part is imbibed, and the impure part left subject to further contamination, by what is given out by the combustible, calcining, or respiring bodies during the ope- ration ; for, as it was before said, the decomposition in all instances is a double one ; the prop(>rtion of the two parts of the atmosphere has been ascertained to be in a hundred, twenty-two of pure or -mial, and seventy-eight of impure or azotic gas. •'f. The discovery of tne vital air is acknowledged by M. Lavdisier to have been common to himself with two other eminent chemists, Dr. i'nestly and the celebrated Scheele. Dr. Priestly discovered it in 1,774, Scheele in 1,777, M. Lavoisier in 1,775 : the fomier seems un- dou'otedly to have the best claim to the discovery. M. Lavoisier, at first, called it " highly respirable air ;" afterwards, as entirely essen- tial to the support of life, " vital air:" Dr. Priestly, who lived and died an advocate for the phlogistic system, " dephlogisticated air :" and Scheele called it " empyreal air." It at last obtained another name, from its being supposed to be the cause of acidity, viz. " oxy- gen gas." 9. Who i? justly to be accounted the father of the pneumatic chem- istry, it would, perhaps, be hazardous to say : Dr. Black of Edinburgh h.as had the credit of being so, from his experiments on the carbonic acid. It has been claimed for Dr. Priestley, Scheele, and M, Lavoi- sier : the discoveries in this line certainly constitute a grand era in chemistry. Tl>e ipany various kinds of gases that have been now discovered ; the very curious experiments made to ascertain their properties ; the instruments invented to render such experiments cer- tain ; the new compounds that have been detected by their means, and their operation and effects in almost every branch of physics, it would far exceed our limits to describe ; but it is impossible not to MODERN HISTORY. 401 .notice the extraordinary discovery of the decomposition of water, which belongs entirely to pneumatic chemistry. 10. Till within less than half a century ago, water was esteemed to be so certainly an elementary principle, that but few ever dreamed of its being otherwise ; and it was almost by accident that it was at last found to be a compound. In the course of certain pneumatic experi- ments, it was -ascertained by Mr. Cavendish, that n-ater was produced by a combination of two particular gases : both analysis and synthesis wei'e resorted to, to render this curious discovery more certain, and it was at length ascertained, not only that those two gases were constant- ly produced in certain proportions from the decomposition of water, but that water was as constantly the result of a judicious mixture of those two gases : the gases thus constituting the proper principles of water, were the vital and inflammable airs of the first chemical nomen- clature of modern days, better known now by the names of oxygen gas and hydrogen gas ; the latter evidently so called from its im- portaiice, as a constituent base or radical of water ; we owe the dis- covery of it to our countryman, Mr. Cavendish. The prt)portion be- tween the two gases in these curious experiments has been found to be eighty-five of oxygen to fifteen of hydrogen ; both oxygen and hydro- gen being combustible, their combination for experimental purposes is brought about hj inflammation, through the means of the electric spark. 11. Having given this short account of the leading discoveries in pneumatic chemistiy ; discoveries which have opened to us total!}' neiv views, of certain physical operations of the first importance, and greatly extended our knowledge of chemical substances and their prop- erties, simple and compound, visible and invisible, confineable and unconlineable : we shall be compelled to be much more brief in what further relates to modem chemistry. 12. Of late years almost all the substances in nature have been ex- amined ; and probably almost all the combinations of them exhausted : new metals to a large amount, new earths, and new acids have been discovered ; the fixed alkalis decomposed, and their nature ascertain- ed ; the whole range of chemical athnities and attractions nicely ar- ranged and determined, as far as experiment can reach ; and mr-y elastic aeriform fluids brought to light, distinguished irom each other by their difterent bases, which were totally unknown before to natural philosophers, under tiie forms in which they are noAv obtained ; and which have been thought desen'ing of being tonned into, ^ fourth class or kingdom, amongst the productions of nature : the proper distinction of these elastic fluids, or gases, as they have been denominated, (after a term adopted by Vanhdmont, sigiiitying a spirit or incoerciblc vapour,) being that of some base, saturated with the cause of heat or expansion, called in the new nomenclature caloric ; by means of some of these gases, so combined with caloric, a power has been obtained of fusing the most refractory substances in nature. 13. To render the nice and delicate experiments necessary in this new branch of chemical science more accurate, numerous instruments have been invented, o{yery curious construction ; such as the eudiom- eter, to measure the purity of any given portion of air ; the gazometer, A) measure the quantities, Vr. ol gases; the calorimeter, for measures of heat ; to which we maj ddd various descriptions of thermometers and /J?/ro7ne?ers, particularly the differential thermometer, invented by Mr. I^eslie, of Edinburgh, and its accojnpaniments ; the pyroscope, or measure of radiant heat ; the photometer, to ascertain the intensity LI 2 51 402 MODERN HISTORY. of light ; very curious and delicate balances, some that arc said to be capable of ascertaining a weight down to the seven millionth part, deserve to be mentioned, as extraordinary instances of skilful work- manship ; many diffprent sorts of hygrometers also have been con- structed, particularly one by the same ingenious experimentalist already mentioned, Mr. Leslie, calculated to render more correct the examination of all processes dependant upon evaporation ; but it l^'ould be endless to attempt to describe the many instruments and con- trivances rendered necessary by the extreme delicacy and minuteness of modem chemical and pneumato-chemical experiments ; it is suffi- cient to state, in a history of the progress of arts and sciences, that in ail instances, invention appears to have kept pace with experiment ; and that the world has been almost as much enriched by the new-in- vented means of discovery, as by the discoveries to which they have conduced ; while th'i skill and judgment requisite to construct the expensive and complicated instruments indispensably necessary for ascertaining the analysis and synthesis of Iwdies, with such exquisite precision, as to quantity and proportion, have conspired greatly to advance the several arts connected with such machinery, as well as to quicken the intelligence and ingenuity of the artists themselves ; in tl»is line, perhaps, nobody has acquiiea greater celebrity than the late Mr. Ramsden, the maker of the balance of the Royal Society, whose extraordinary powers have been alluded to above. 14. Amortg those who have principally distinguished themselves in the improvement and advancement of chemical science, since the commencement of the eighteenth century, we may justly mention the names of Stahl, Fourcroy, Macquer, Lavoisier, Guytonmorveau, Berthollet, Klaproth, Vauquelin, Chaptal, Gay-Lussac, KiiTian, Tcn- nant, Wollaston, Priestley, Cavendish, Black, Invine, Crawford, Leslie, Hall, Thompson, Brande, and Davy. To the last of whom, our illustrious countryman, we stand indebted for some of the most remarkable discoveries, and most laborious analyses of compound substances, which have taken place under the new system ; nor has he been deficient in applying his scientific attainments to practical purposes, in his elements ot chemical agriculture, and above all,- the safety-lamp, whereby he may possibly, in combating the fatal effect? ol the fire demp in coal mines, have contributed to preserve the lives of thousands and thousands of his fellow creatures ; this discovery was the fruit of many most laborious, difficult, and even dangerous ex- periments. 13. When we consider the many uses of chemistry, and the im- mense advantages to be derived from every improvement of it in a variety of manufactures, in medicine, in metallui^y, in the arts of dying, painting, brewing, distilling, tanning, making glass, enamels, porcelain, and many others, we may easily conceive that the progress and advancement of this one branch of science alone, during die last and present century, must have contributed largely to the improve- ment of many things, on which all the comforts and conveniences, the happiness, the security, the well-being, the prosperity, and even the Kves of men, depend- BOTANY J. BoTAirr is another of the sciences, which, (torn the charge* It baa undeigone} and the great progress it has mad« Bin«e the MODERN HISTORY. 4(53 aommencement of the eighteenth century, may justly be regarded as new. 2. Already were the names of Ray, Rivinus, and Touniefort, well known to the lovers of this interesting study, foi-ming as it were a new era in the history of botany, and imparting a lustre to the close of the seventeenth century, for which it will ever be memorable. Their at- tempts at arrangement may be justly considered as the commencement of a career which was destined to acquire its full degree of develope- ment during the eighteenth century, under the happy auspices of the most celebrated botanist the world ever saw ; the great and illustrious Linna'us. 3. This extraordinary man was bom at Rashult, in the province of Smaland, in Sweden, on the 24th of May, 1,707, and before he was twenty-one years of age, had made himself so thoroughly acquainted with the study of plants, as well as with the merits and defects of his predecessors in that line, as to conceive the idea of remodelling the vyhole fabric of systematic botany, and of placing it on a new founda tion, namely, the sexvaUty of vegetables. This liold and enterprising undertaking he not only projected, but accomplished with a rapidity and success that excited the wonder and astonishment both of hit friends and enemies. 4. His first work was pul)lished in 1,730, being a brief exposition of the new principle on which his system was to bo founded ; and thu method may be said to have been completed in l,7a7, when be pub lished his Genera Plontarum, which contained a description and ar rangement of nearly one thousand genera, comprising upwards of eight thousand species, and constituting what has been since known by the name of tlie sexval system. 5. At first it was either opposed as a fanciful innovation, or received v;ith doubt and distrust ; but its fame soon began to spread, and to bear down before it all opposition, til! it ultimately met with the almost universal reception of botanists in ever}' country in Europe. 6. In 1,742, Linnaeus was chosen professor of botany at Upsal, and in 1,753 he published his S] ecies Planiarnin. His authority was now supreme, and the impulse he communicated to the study of vegetables unprecedented in the annals of botany ; hence the various voyages that were undertaken by his immediate disciples, Kalm, Lgepling, Hasselquist, and others, or which have been since undertaken by their successors, aided by the niunificence of princes, or the zeal of private individuals, as well as the various societies that ^^ere sooner or later instituted, with a view to the ad\ancement of botanical knowledge ; amongst which the Linnsean society of London, founded in 1,788, stands pre-eminent, under the presidency of sir James Edward Smith, one of the most distinguished of the followers of Linnaeus, and the pos- sessor of his herbarium, library, and manuscripts. 7. The acquisitions thus made to the mass of botanical knowledge, are altogether astonishing. Botanists are now said to be acquainted with upwards of forty thousand species of plants ; and still there are regions of the earth unexplored, and flowers without a name, (" et sunt sine nomine Jiores.''^) 8. We cannot, however, refuse to acknowledge that Ijotany has also derived the most important advantages from such cultivators of the science as cannot be ranked amongst the disciples of Linnaeus, though they have equally contributed to the advancement of the knowledge of plants, at least in the department of the ptiK^y of their natural affini lies ; the grand and ultimate end of botany, which Linnaeus himself 404 MODERN HISTORY. knew well how to appreciate, and even to improve, as may be seen lb h;s prelections pubiisiied by Giseke, and in his Fragments of a Natu- ral Method. But it v.as left for the illustrious Jussieu, the most ac- complished botanist of the present age, to give to that method the comparative perfection which it has actually obtained, and to erect the noble surierstructure of his Genera Planiarum ; a work exhibiting the most phiiosophicai arrangement of plants, as well as the most coorpiete view of their natural affinities, that Avas ever presented to the covitemplalionof man. 9. This work wiis published at Paris in 1,789, and the natural method of Jussieu, which may be regarded as having at all times stood in opposition to the arti/irial method of Linnseus, seems now to be advancing to a more direct rivalship than ever. Even in the works of such botanists as profess to be the disciples of Linnaus, there seems to be a leaning to the method of Jussieu ; but whether the natural method of the latter will be suffered ultimately to prevail, or the artificial meihod of the former, time only can show. 10. Great, however, as the progress of systematic botany has un- doubtedly been, during the course of the last and beginning of the present century, the progress of physiological botany has perhaps been still greater. In proof of this, it will be sufficient to mention the names of Hales, Bonnet, Du Hamel, Hedwig, Spallanzani, Gaertner, Knight, Keith, and Mirbel ; each of whom has distinguished himself in the tieldof phytological investigation, and eminently contributed to the advancement of the science. Above all, we must not fail to men- tion the name of Priestley, as being the first who introduced into the study of phytology the aid of pneumatic chemistry, which, under the happy auspices of Ingenhouz, Scnebipr, Saussure, Ellis, and Davy, and lastly of Gay-Lussac and Kenard, has done m.ore, to elucidate the phenomena of vegetation, than all other means of investigation, and has furnished as the foundation of the physiology of plants a body of the most curious and undoubted facts. 11. Before we dismiss this part of our subject, it is not unfit that we should notice the extraordinaiy progress that has been made at the same time in distinct branches of the science, as well as in the appli- cation of the arts of diawing, engraving, and colouring, for the pur- poses of illustration, and for exhibiting to the eye, at all times, in all places, and at all seasons, the beautiful and interesting productions of the vegetable kingdom, in such perfection, as, in some degree, to su- persede the necessity of living specimens ; sometimes so rare and in- accessible as to be out of the reach of the most scientific. There is no branch of knowledge which has furnished more splendid and elabo- rate works of this nature, than that of botany, or in which the arts have been carried to a greater degree of perfection and delicacy ; and as a study so elegant and agreealjle cannot well be rendered too general, it is pleasing to observe, that through the improvements that have thus taken place, and the f'cilities afforded to such publications, not k month passes in this kingdom without large additions being made to the general stock of botanical knowledge, in works of singular beauty and correctness ; though far from costly, considering the pains bestow- ed upon them. 12. The lovers of botany stand greatly indebted also, to those learned persons who have made it lbn»r particular busine.ss to collect, examine, and describe the plants of countries and districts, and to supply thsni with distinct Floret, ljt>