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Jl^REAT.. Britain and
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DEPOSITED BY THE
LINONIAN AND BROTHERS LIBRARY

©erio6s of Engllsb IbietocB.

Great Britain

AND Ireland

1689-1887

EDITED BY

W.' SCOTT DALGLEISH, M.A., LL.D.,
Author of " The Great Authors of English Literature,"
" Higher-Grade English,"

T. NELSON AND SONS
London, Edinburgh, and New York
189s

6v7,4e 3

PEEFACE.

The preference now generally shown for the plan of teaching
History in periods is proof of a desire to study the subject
systematically s/hd thoroughly. This series of Histories is
intended to facilitate and encourage that method.
The Periods of English History adopted are suggested by
great Constitutional Features. They are also those of the
Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations, and of other
schemes of the same kind, namely : —
I. Medieval England, from the English Settlement to the
Dawn of the Reformation : 449-1509.
II. England op the Reformation and the Revolution :
1509-1688.
III. Great Britain and Ireland, from the Revolution to the
last Reform Acts : 1689-1887.
The prominent feature in the plan of the series is the import
ance attached to the development of the Constitution. Thus,
the First Volume deals with Feudal Monarchy (Supremacy of
the Crown), the Second with the struggle against Absolute
Monarchy (The Crown versus the Parliament), the Third with
Limited Monarchy (Supremacy of the Parliament).
The same principle is worked out in detail in each volume.
At the close of each reign there is a summary of the Constitu
tional Changes effected in the course of it, with an indication of
its general tendency from a Constitutional point of view ; while
in important reigns the leading Statutes are analysed. A very
full Summary of Constitutional Points is given at the close of
each volume.

CONTENTS.

LIMITED MONARCHY.
REIGN OF WILLIAM HI. (ORANGE) AND MARY H. (STUART).
I. Constitutional Government, .. .. .. . ..9
II. The Revolution in Scotland and in Ireland, . . . . . . 15
III. The War with France, . . . . . . . . . . 21
REIGN OF WILLL&M IU. (ORANGE).
IV. Domestic AFrAiRS, ^ . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
V. The Spanish Succession, .. .. .. .. ..32
Chief Events— Names of Note, . . . . . . . . . . 39
REIGN OF ANNE (STUART).
VI. Marlborough's Triumphs, .. .. .. 40
VII. The Scottish Union, .. .. .. .. .. .47
VIII. Supremacy of the Commons, .. .. .. .. ..52
Chief Events— Names of Note, . . . 69
REIGN OF GEORGE I. (HANOVER).
IX. The Tifteen, and Foreign Affairs, .. .. 60
X. The Rise of "Walpole, .. .. .. .. ..67
Chief Events— Names of Note, .. .. .. .. ..77

REIGN OF GEORGE U. (HANOVER).

XI. Walpole in Power,
XII. The 'Forty-Five,
XIII. The Conquest of India,
XIV. The Conquest of Canada,
Ciiief Events — Names of Note,

788593
101
108

XV. State of Society- The Eighteenth Century,

VI

CONTENTS.

REIGN OF GEORGE IH. (HANOVER).
XVI. The American Colonies,
XVII. American Independence,
XVIII. India and Ireland,
XIX. The French Revolution,
XX. The Continental Wars,
XXI. The Peninsular War,
XXII. Renewal and Close of the War,
Chief Events— Names of Note,

113121129
UO152162
171
184-186

REIGNS OF GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. (HANOVER).
XXIII. Catholic Emancipation, .. .. .. ..187
XXIV. Parliamentary and Municipal Reform, . . . . 196
Chief Events— Names of Note, .. .. .. ..206

XXV.
XXVL
XXVII.
XXVIIL XXIX. XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
xxxin. XXXIV.

REIGN OF VICTORIA (HANOVER).
Social Reform,
Free Trade,
The Russell Ministry,
The Russian War,
Wars in Asia,
Franchise Extension,
Irish Questions,
The Beaconsfield Ministry,
The Second Gladstone Ministry,
Irish Home Rule, ..
Chief Events — Names of Note,

XXXV. Progress of the Nineteenth Century,

207216222
229
237 242
253260
267274
285-287

GENEALOGICAL TREES.

Houses of Orange and Stuart, . . 26
The Spanish Succession . . 33
The Stuarts and the Hanoverians, 68

The House of Hanover (1), . . . . 76
The House of Hanover (2), . . . . 183
The Pitts and the Grenvilles, . . 186

MAPS AND PLANS.

East of Ireland— The Boyne, . . 18
Argyleshire — Glencoe, . . . . 20
The Low Countries, . . . . . . 24
Plan of Blenheim, 42
The East of Scotland, . . . . 63
The Highlands of Scotland, . . .89
Culloden Moor, . . .91

Bengal— Plassey, .. .. lOo
Canada— Quebec, .. . .103
The United States— Eastern, . . 120
Boston and Bunker's HiU, . . 122
Gibraltar  . . .129
Southern India, . . 131
The Netherlands— Camnerdown. las

CONTENTS.

Vll

The Nile and AbouMr,

. 149

Coast of Syria,

. 213

The Sound— Copenhagen,

. 153

Afghanistan, . .

. 214

Trafalgar, 

. 167

Coast of China,

. 216

North-west of Spain — Corunna,

. 164

The Punjab, 

. 220

South-west of Spain and Portugal, .

. 166

The GuU of Finland, . .

. 231

North-east of Spain, . .

. 170

The Black Sea Coasts,

232

Belgium— Waterloo 

. 173

The Crimea, .

. 233

Plan of Waterloo, 

. 174

Delhi and Oudh 

. 239

Burma,

. 191

Abyssinia,

. 262

APPENDIX.

1. The Constitution as it is,
2. Summary of Recent Events,

Summary of the Constitution,
Sovereigns of Great Britain and Ireland,
Glossary of Historical Teems,
Index,

301
302 311

ipcrloOs of Englisb Ibtstorg.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

1689-1887 A.D.

LIMITED MONARCHY.

EEIGN OF WILLIAM IH. (ORANGE) AND MARY
IL (STUART).
1689-1694.

CHAPTER I.— CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT.
1. Nature of the Revolution. — On February 13, 1689, the
Declaration of Right was formally accepted by William ^ and
Mary ,2 who were thereupon proclaimed King and Queen. This
change of Sovereigns is called by historians the Revolution —
sometimes the Bloodless Revolution — but it was not a revolution
in the ordinary sense. It did not overturn the Constitution, or
change the form of government, as was done by the great
French Revolution a hundred years later. It did not even
change the dynasty, as the accession of Henry IV. and of Edward
IV. had done ; for WiUiam was the nephew and Mary was the
daughter of the deposed King. It had this, however, in
common with these dynastic changes, that it established once
more the right of Parliament to choose the Sovereign, and
vindicated the supremacy of Parliament even over the Crown.

I u^illiam TIL, son of William of Nas
sau, Prince of Orange, and of Mary Stu
art, daughter of Charles I. Born 1650.
Married, 1677, Mary Stuart. No issue.
Reigned 13 years.

^ Mary IX., daughter of James II. and
of Anne Hyde. Born 1662. Married
William of Orange, as in preceding note.
Reigned 6 years. (See Genealogical Tree,
page 26.)

10 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William
It was, therefore, a revolution in the sense of being a return to
the point at which the Stuart Kings, with their theories of
"divine right" and "passive obedience," had departed from
the strict lines of the Constitution. It established peacefully
and permanently what the Civil War had accomplished tem
porarily and with much bloodshed — that the Sovereign derives
his or her authority from Parliament, as the representative of
the State ; and that the authority so given may in like manner
be withdrawn. In settling these points, the Revolution did
not put anything new into the Constitution : it cast out and
declared to be illegal certain theories and practices which had
been thrust into it The Declaration of Right was not a new
statute : it was of the nature of a Declaratory Act.
2. Ministerial Responsibility. — This settlement of the rela
tions between the King and the Parliament involved a corre
sponding view of ministerial responsibility. For four centuries
at least, it had been the theory of the Constitution that ministers
were responsible to Parliament. That was implied in the efforts
of successive Parliaments to remove unpopular or unfaithful min
isters—in the impeachment, for example, of Lords Latimer and
Neville in 1376, of Lord Middlesex in 1624, of Buckingham in
1626, of Strafford in 1640 and Laud in 1641, and of Danby in
1674. These proceedings, however, had always been resisted
by the Sovereigns, who had been accustomed to choose their
own ministers without consulting Parliament, and had fre
quently retained them in spite of Parliament. Now that the
supremacy of Parliament over the Crown had been recognized,
the recognition of the supremacy of Parliament over the min
isters of the Crown followed logically and necessarily. That
view was not at once acted on. For many years after the
Revolution, the Sovereign continued to choose his or her min
isters individually, and not as a body, and also to dismiss them
individually. There was as yet no Ministry or Cabinet com
posed of men belonging to the same party in the State, although
the germ of that body appeared, as we shall see, during
William's reign.
3. William's Ministers: 1689. — William, however, did not

and Mary.] CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 1 1
at once recognize the principle of ministerial responsibility, for
he chose his first ministers partly from the Whigs and partly
from the Tories. The Earl of Nottingham, a Tory who had
opposed William's accession, and the Earl of Shrewsbury, a
Whig who had supported it, were made Secretaries of State.
The Tory Danby, who had been the friend and the tool of
Charles II., was made President of the Council. The Whig
Halifax, to whom, however, James II. owed his crown, became
Lord Privy Seal. The Treasury and the Great Seal were put
into Commission — ^that is to say, each of them was intrusted to
a committee or board ; and each of the boards included both
Whigs and Tories. Charles Mordaunt, a Whig, who had accom
panied William from the Hague, was made First Lord of the
Treasury and Earl of Monmouth ; but Lord Godolphin, a Tory,
sat on the same Commission. There was probably a measure of
wisdom in the impartiality of these appointments. It might
have been dangerous for William to give offence to either party
before his throne was firmly established. On the same ground,
leniency was shown to his enemies. There was one man, how
ever, whose crimes were too black for pardon. Jefireys lay in
the Tower, to which he had been borne amid the execrations of
the mob. He had been found in a Wapping ale-house disguised
as a common sailor. A few days after his arrest he died.
4. Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy : 1689. — As it was
thought dangerous, in the excited state of the public mind, to
embroil the country in a general election, the Convention was
declared to be a Parliament on the same day on which William
and Mary accepted the throne. One of the first things done
by Parliament was to prepare a new coronation oath, the chief
points in which were that it bound the sovereign to rule accord
ing to the statutes agreed on in Parliament, and to maintain
"the Protestant reformed religion established bylaw." New
oaths of allegiance and supremacy were also framed, from
which the declaration of 1662 against opposing in arms the
King's person or his officers was omitted. Archbishop San-
croft and seven other bishops refused to take the oath of
allegiance to William (hence called Non-jurors), and were sus-

12 LIMITED MONARCHY. LWlUiam
pended from office and deprived of their revenues, though they
were allowed to retain their palaces for a time. In 1691, they
again refused the oath, and were dismissed. John Tillotson suc
ceeded Sancroft in the primacy. The example of the non-juring
bishops was followed by four hundred of the clergy, who were
consequently deprived of their livings.
5. The Mutiny Act : 1689. — In March, a Scottish regiment
was sent to Ipswich under orders for embarkation to Holland.
The appointment of Marshal Schomberg, a Dutchman, as its
colonel so enraged the officers and the men that they refused to
embark. They seized the regimental chest and four guns, and
marched northward with flying colours. They were overtaken
in Lincolnshire by Ginkel's Dutch Dragoons, and were igno
miniously marched to London. The Commons, who were jealous
of a standing army, then passed the Mutiny Act, placing the
army under martial law for one year only. The Act gave the
Commons control of the army ; and its annual renewal requires
Parliament to be called together every year.
6. The Coronation : 1689. — The coronation of the King and
Queen took place in Westminster Abbey on April 11. Arch
bishop Sancroft having been suspended, the ceremony was per
formed by Compton, Bishop of London, as his subordinate; while
William's favourite, Gilbert Burnet, newly created Bishop of
Salisbury, preached the sermon. William's popularity did not
long survive the test of personal intercourse. His mind wore
a veil of reserve in presence even of his most intimate friends.
His manner was cold and repulsive. He preferred the quietness
of Kensington to the pomp of St. James's, and he found in his
delicate health too good an excuse for escaping as often as
possible from the festivities of London. Apart from the ques
tions that affected his possession of the throne, he took little
interest in the internal politics of Great Britain ; and he prized
the British crown mainly because it would enable him to wield
more potent influence in the affairs of Europe.
7. The Toleration Act : 1689.— In May the Toleration Act
was passed, abolishing penalties for absence from the Estab
lished Church, but requiring all assemblies for relidous wor.<!bm

and Mary.] CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. 1.3
to be held with open doors. The stringent conditions of the
Act of Uniformity, the Conventicle Act, and the Five Mile
Act were relaxed ; but the relief was not extended to Roman
ists. Indeed, a Bill for the repeal of the Test Act was rejected
by Parliament ; and that Act, as well as the Corporation Act,
remained in force till 1828.
8. The Bill of Rights : 1689.- Toward the end of the year,
the Declaration of Right was confirmed and extended in stat
utory form in the Bill of Rights, which ranks with Magna
Charta, the Petition of Right, and the Habeas Corpus Act as one
of the great charters of British freedom. This Act asserted more
clearly than any earlier statute the authority of Parliament.
It declared that Parliament had absolute power over the army
and the navy, over the courts of law and the succession to the
crown, and thus was supreme in the State. The suspending
and dispensing powers used by the Stuart Kings were declared
to be illegal, as was also the Court of Ecclesiastical Commission.
Freedom of election and freedom of speech were secured to
Parliament. The succession to the crown was settled first on
the children of William and Mary, then on those of her sister
Anne, and, these failing, on the children of William by any
other wife ; but Romanists and those who married Romanists
were excluded.
9. Faction in Parliament : 1689-90. — The Convention Par
liament came to an end early in 1690. During the previous
year, the faction fight between Whigs and Tories became
keener. The Whigs, who were bent on taking vengeance on
the supporters of the late King, introduced a Corporation Bill
which would practically have annihilated the Tory party, but
the Tories were strong enough to secure its rejection by a
narrow majority. The Tories retaliated by introducing a Bill
of Indemnity, which made no exemptions, and they in turn
were defeated by a large majority. The Whigs then proposed
to amend the Bill by attaching to it a Bill of Pains and
Penalties. William, in disgust, threatened to return to Hol-
Aliroad. — In 1689, Peter the Great became sole Sovereign of Russia.

14 LIMITED MONARCHY. [WUliam
land. This brought about a truce between the belligerents,
and the Bills were dropped ; but William dissolved the Parlia
ment, and prepared for his Irish campaign.
10. The New Parliament: 1690.— In the new Parliament
the Tories had a decided majority. That did not turn out the
ministers, as it would have done a few years later ; but it led
to some changes. Halifax resigned, and Danby (now Marquis
of Caermarthen) became the leader of the Government. Tory
though it was, the new Parliament disappointed William by
granting him only one-third of the excise duties for life, and
the remainder for four years. Tories as well as Whigs saw the
necessity of compelling the King to have frequent recourse to
Parliament. In the opinion of many, four years was too long
a term to provide for, and by-and-by the present custom of
voting the supplies annually was introduced. William, on his
part, prevented the revival of the Indemnity controversy by
granting a comprehensive Act of Grace, from which he excepted
only the few surviving regicides and about thirty others.
11. Jacobite Plots: 1690-91. — William's preparations to
leave England, whether for Ireland or for the Continent, were
generally the occasion of renewed intrigues and plots against
his throne. After his arrangements for an Irish campaign had
been completed in 1690, his departure was delayed by the dis
covery of one of these plots, in which Viscount Preston, who
had been James's Secretary of State, took the chief part, and in
which the Earl of Clarendon (James's brother-in-law) and tho
Earl of Dartmouth, Admiral of the Fleet, were involved. As
frequently happened, the plot was revealed to the Government
by one of the inferior conspirators. William sought to con
ciliate his enemies by clemency ; but his policy had the opposite
effect. Preston began his intrigues again in December, and
started for France to meet the Jacobite leaders. He was, how
ever, arrested on board ship in the Thames, and the plot col
lapsed (1691). Preston was imprisoned for some time, but was
eventually pardoned, in return, it was alleged, for information
given to the Government (1695). Dartmouth was sent to the
Tower in July, and died there in October.

and Mary.] THE REVOLUTION IN SCOTLAND. 15

CHAPTER IL— THE REVOLUTION IN SCOTLAND
AND IN IRELAND.
1. The Scottish Convention; 1689. — Bloodlessly the great
change had been accomplished in England. It was not so,
however, either in Scotland or in Ireland. A Convention of
the Scottish Estates met at Edinburgh in March 1689. They
passed the Claim of Right, declaring that James VII. had for
feited the crown by his violations of the Constitution, that no
Papist should ever rule over Scotland, and that frequent Par
liaments were necessary. William and Mary were accepted
as King and Queen of Scotland ; and Commissioners, of whom
Argyle was one, were sent to London to administer to them
the coronation oath. William appointed as Secretary of State
for Scotland Viscount Melville (Robert Dundas), a man of fair
abilities, with a reputation for honesty quite singular at that
time. His chief adviser in all Scottish affairs was the famous
William Carstares, a Presbyterian clergyman, afterwards Prin
cipal of the University of Edinburgh. Sir James Dalrymple
was made President of the Court of Session and Viscount Stair ;
while his son Sir John Dalrymple (the Master of Stair) became
Lord Advocate. The Stairs, both of whom were unscrupulous
and cruel, in a short time made themselves supreme in Scot
land, and drove Melville from power.
2. Rabbling the Curates: 1689. — The cause of the Stuarts
was not allowed to expire in Scotland without a struggle.
Many Scots were loyal to the fallen house, and the Duke of
Gordon still held Edinburgh Castle for James. The common
people in the south-west showed their hatred of Episcopacy by
" rabbling " the curates — that is, by driving them out of their
houses and parishes with insult. About two hundred parish
priests, with their families, were thus treated. On the whole,
however, the Scottish people showed forbearance to those op
pressors whom the turn of events threw into their power.
3. Viscount Dundee. — When William arrived at St. James's,
Viscount Dundee (John Graham of Claverhouse) had been one

16 LIMITED MONARCHY. [WilUam
of the crowd that thronged to give him welcome. He had de
clared himself willing to acquiesce in the new order of things,
and received an assurance of protection. He went to Edin
burgh, and attended the Convention of Estates for a few days.
But he imagined that he was in danger of being murdered, and
no arguments of his friends could induce him to remain in
Edinburgh. He fled, accompanied by fifty or sixty horsemen,
troopers who had deserted to him from his own regiment. ^ In
June, Edinburgh Castle surrendered ; and then Dundee and his
troopers became the sole hope and stay of the Jacobite party.
Repairing to the Highlands, Claverhouse raised the standard of
the dethroned King. Several chiefs joined him, and he had
soon under his command six thousand men ; but they dwindled
down to less than half that number, marching off every night
by forties and fifties, laden with spoil.
4. Battle of Killiecrankie : 1689. — The army of the Conven
tion, under General Mackay, marched against the Jacobites.
It consisted of three thousand foot and some companies of
horse ; but the men were nearly all raw recruits, and entire
strangers to the Highland way of fighting. At the head of the
wild and gloomy Pass of Killiecrankie, in Perthshire, Mackay
found himself, on July 27, in front of the rebels, who occupied
the hill on the north side of the valley above the pass. The
Highlanders in dense masses rushed down from the hill. Firing
their guns once, they threw them away, and then with broad
sword and target they rushed wildly on the enemy. Mackay's
troops fired a volley which had little effect, and before they
could screw on their ba,yonets the Highlanders were among
them. A panic seized Mackay's raw levies, and they broke
and fled. Claverhouse never knew that he had won the victory.
He fell at the beginning of the action, pierced by a musket ball
which entered beneath his right arm. After this battle the
Highland army quickly dispersed, and William was master of the
whole of Scotland. Episcopacy was abolished, and the Presby
terian Church was restored and established by law (June 1690).

' See Sir Walter Scott's song, "The Bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee."

and Mary.] THE REVOLUTION IN IRELAND. 17
5. The Situation in Ireland : 1689. — The conflict in Ireland
was more prolonged ; for there James himself, surrounded by
the Celtic Irish, who looked on him as a hero, made his last
struggle for the crown. Louis XIV. of France encouraged the
expedition ; and Tyrconnel, still Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,
raised an army for James. Lord Mountjoy, leader of the
Irish Protestants, was enticed to Paris and shut up in the
Bastille. 6. The Relief of Londonderry : 1689. — James landed at
Kinsale,^ and entered Dublin in triumph (March 24, 1689).
His first great operation was the siege of Londonderry,^ the
stronghold of the Ulster Protestants. The citizens, greatly en
couraged by the Rev. George Walker, whose monument still
rises from the walls, endured the worst miseries of famine for
more than three months ; but at last three ships from England
broke the boom of fir-wood laid across the River Foyle, and
carried food to the starving garrison. The Irish army, thus
baffled, retreated without delay (July 30, 1689). On the same
day, Wolseley defeated the Irish at Newtown-Butler.
7. Battle of the Boyne : 1690. — William then sent Marshal
Schomberg to Ireland with 16,000 troops. He himself landed
at CarrickfergusS in the following June, and found an army of
40,000 men ready to support his cause. The last day of June
brought William to the northern bank of the Boyne, a few
miles above Drogheda,* with 36,000 troops. Riding by the
stream, he was fired at by an impatient artilleryman in the
opposite army ; and the second shot, rebounding from the river-
bank, grazed his right shoulder. It was thought among the
troops of James that he was dead ; but he was uninjured, and
he spent the day in maturing his plans.
The battle began next morning (July 1) by the army of
William commencing to ford the stream at three different
points. The right wing, under Schomberg's son, crossed at
Slane, in the face of some opposition from the Irish left At

1 Kinsale, 15 miles south of Cork.
2 Londondemj, in the north of Ireland, on
the FoTle. Read Macaulay's description.

3 CarrUkfergus, on Belfast Lough ;
miles north-east of Belfast.
'' Drogheda, 31 miles north of Dublin. 0

18

LIMITED MONARCHY.

(WUUam

Old Bridge the King led his veteran Dutch Guards into the
river, and in mid-stream they were subjected to a terrific fire
from the Irish guns. But the Blues, soon emerging from their
deep wading, coolly mustered

in the face of this great can
nonade ; and then they dashed
on the Irish intrenchments
and swept them clean. The
cavalry of James behaved
well. One body attacked the
Blues, whom, however, they
could not shake. Another
repulsed the third division
of forders, formed mainly of
Danes and Huguenots ; and
it was in the effort to re
cover this check that Schom
berg met his death, receiving
% a bullet in the neck. James
had already fled for Dublin ;

thence he hurried to Kinsale, and thence to France.
8. Reduction of Ireland : 1691. — The war in Ireland con
tinued for another year. After his victory at the Boyne,
William marched to Dublin, and then took Waterford, but was
obliged to abandon the siege of Limerick. When he left Ire
land in September, the chief command devolved on the Earl of
Marlborough, who captured Cork and Kinsale ; and then he,
too, returned to England. About the same time Tyrconnel re
tired to France, leaving the command of the Irish to the Duke
of Berwick (King James's natural son) and General Sarsfield,
by far the ablest of the Irish generals. The final reduction of
Ireland was effected by General Ginkell. In June (1691) he
captured Athlone. In July he defeated and slew St. Ruth, the
French general, at Aghrim,i and took Galway. In August he
besieged Limerick, where the fragments of James's army made

^ Aghriiu, 25 miles east of Galway.

and Mary.] THE REVOLUTION IN SCOTLAND. 1 9
their last stand. The siege, after lasting for five or six weeks,
ended in a capitulation (October 3). On Thomond Bridge,
over the Shannon, is still to be seen the stone on which was
signed the Pacification of Limerick, the treaty that made
William unquestioned King of Ireland. One million acres
were confiscated to the Crown, and their possessors were driven
into exile. Thousands of Irishmen crossed to France, and
many of them entered the service of Louis, forming the famous
" Irish Brigade." Thenceforth William held the crown securely.
Ginkell was made Earl of Athlone.
9. Macdonald of Glencoe : 1691. — The Scottish Highlands
were still in a restless state. The Government adopted the plan
of buying over the chieftains, and for that purpose sent a sum
of money, variously stated at £12,000 and £16,000, to the
Earl of Breadalbane (John Campbell), whose doubtful loyalty
was not supposed to disqualify him for the post of mediator.
In truth, however, Breadalbane was distrusted by the chiefs,
and many of them were unwilling to make their submission
through him. When the Government found that some of the
most powerful of them held back their allegiance, they resolved
on a different line of policy, at the instigation, it is believed,
of the Master of Stair, who had now superseded Melville as
Secretary of State. A Royal Proclamation was issued decreeing
that any chieftain who failed to take the oath of allegiance to
William before the last day of the year 1691 should incur the
penalties of treason and military execution. That brought in
all the laggards except one — Maclan Macdonald of Glencoe, a
personal foe of Breadalbane. His motive seems to have been,
not so much enmity to William, as a quarrel with Breadalbane
about the division of the money. Even he, however, repented
of his obstinacy. In the last week of December he hastened to
Fort William, 1 but found that the governor had no authority
to receive his oath, and that he must go to the Sheriff of
Argyle at Inveraray.^ A toilsome journey over snowy hills and
across swollen floods threw him a day or two late ; but he was
^ Fort William, at the foot of Ben I ^ Jwueraray, the county town of Argyle-
Nevis ; 15 miles north of Glencoe. I shire ; 35 miles south of Glencoe.

20

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[William

permitted to take the oath, and went home well pleased, and,
as he thought, safe.
10. The Massacre : 1692.— In a few weeks Captain Campbell
of Glenlyoni— a relative of Breadalbane, and a connection of
the Macdonalds by marriage —
with a troop of soldiers, entered
Glencoe, a gloomy glen of Argyle
shire, in which lay the little
settlement of the Macdonalds.
They were met with a High
land welcome, and a fortnight
went merrily by. The unsus
pecting Macdonalds left nothing
undone to please and entertain
their guests. Hunting and feast
ing filled the days and the
nights until February 13, when
the soldiers rose suddenly before
the winter dawn and began the
work of blood. The chief, his
wife, and thirty-six besides, were
butchered ; the rest fled half naked to the snowy hills, where
many died. In all, one hundred and twenty perished ; but two
of the chieftain's sons and one hundred and fifty others escaped.
The beams of the rising sun fell on a mass of smoking ruins.
11. The Blame. — The blame of this foul deed rests chiefly
with Secretary Stair and his coadjutors, the Earl of Breadal
bane and the Duke of Argyle. Stair concealed from William
the fact that Macdonald had taken the oath, and it was he who
obtained from the King the order, signed both at the beginning
and at the end, "to extirpate that set of thieves." Stair him
self wrote to the commander-in-chief in Scotland that he hoped
" the soldiers would not trouble the Government with prison
ers," adding, '- better not meddle with them than not do it to
purpose." The only excuse made for William is that he signed

' Olenlyon, a valley in Perthshire, between Loch Tay and Loch Rannoch.

and Mary.] THE WAR WITH FRANCE. 21
the order without knowing the circumstances. This excuse
would have deserved more weight if William had not allowed
the perpetrators of the atrocity to go unpunished after a Par
liamentary inquiry had brought all the circumstances to light
The whole business certainly caused great prejudice to the
government and reputation of William. The Jacobites trum
peted the massacre of Glencoe all over Europe in order to
blacken his character. Weary with the violent strifes of Scot
tish factions, and perplexed by the contradictory reports which
they poured in upon him, William was provoked to wish " that
Scotland were a thousand miles distant from England, and that
he had never been its King."

CHAPTER IIL— THE WAR WITH FRANCE.
1. War Declared : 1689. — The assistance openly given to
James by Louis of France would have made war with that
country inevitable, even if William had not already been at the
head of the League of Augsburg, formed in 1686 to check the
ambition of the French King. That league, formed at first by
Holland, Spain, Denmark, and Sweden, had now been joined
by Austria and the Empire ; while France's only ally was
Turkey. Great Britain formally declared war against France
in May 1689 ; but William's hands were then full with his
Irish war, and in the meantime the fighting was confined to the
sea. On June 30, 1690 — the day before the Battle of the
Boyne — the British and Dutch fleets, commanded by the Earl
of Torrington, were defeated by the French under Admiral
Tourville off Beachy Head, and were forced to seek shelter
in the Thames. London was seized with panic, as a French
invasion was daily expected ; but the French contented them
selves with burning Teignmouth. Torrington incurred the
wrath of William, especially as he had placed the Dutch ships
in the van, and they had suffered most severely. The earl was
afterwards tried by court-martial, and was acquitted ; but
WiUiam dismissed him from the service.

22 LIMITED MONARCHY. [WUUam
2. Changes in the Ministry : 1690.— About the same time,
further changes in the Ministry took place. The Earl of
Shrewsbury, the Whig Secretary of State, was discovered to
have been intriguing with the Jacobites, and was dismissed.
Disappointment was the beginning of his fall. He had
quarrelled with Nottingham, the Tory Secretary, and he was
no match for the superior influence and adroitness of Caermar
then. He was succeeded by Viscount Sidney.^ Lord Godol
phin had some months previously retired from the Treasury
Commission, in which he held a subordinate place. He now
returned to it as First Lord by William's desire, although
Caermarthen strongly opposed the appointment The days of
the homogeneous Ministry had not yet arrived.
3. Foreign Policy : 1691-92. — William's success in Ireland
was not only a great disappointment to James ; it also gave a
serious check to the schemes of Louis. It was less in James's
interest than in his own that the French King strove to replace
him on the British throne. William was the head of a power
ful European coalition directed against France, and his position
as King of Great Britain added enormously both to his in
fluence and to his resources. If William had been driven out
of Ireland, a counter-revolution would probably have followed
in England, where James had still many secret friends, even
among those in high places, who were playing the part of
" hedging politicians." The fall of Limerick put an end to
these hopes in the meantime. It also set William free to
pursue his own line of foreign policy. He had twice visited
the Continent in 1691. In January he had attended at the
Hague a conference of the allies, at which it was resolved to
raise an army of 222,000 men against Louis. In May he went
abroad again, and spent five months in an unimportant
campaign, in which he was assisted by Marlborough. Soon
afterwards suspicion fell on the loyalty of that astute soldier
and politician, and he was suddenly dismissed from all his
offices (January 1692).
1 Viscount Sidney, a brother of Algernon Sidney ; afterv/ards Earl of Romney.

and Mary.]

THE WAR WITH FRANCE.

23

4. La Hogue : 1692. — Louis, on his part, being well aware of
the existence of Jacobite plots in Great Britain, resolved on a
great invasion of that country. James heralded his proposed
return by the issue of a declaration of indemnity, to which
he attached, very foolishly, several hundreds of exceptions.
Queen Mary, in the absence of William on the Continent,
turned this blunder to good account. She authorized the
ministers to distribute the declaration, with comments, all over
the country, and thus produced an impression adverse to James.
Louis had in the meantime assembled at Brest a great fleet for
the invasion of England. The British fleet kept watch in the
Channel ; but Mary knew, as well as Louis, that its leading
officers were deeply tainted with disloyalty. The Queen acted
with spirit and wisdom. She wrote a letter to Admiral Russell
(himself one of the suspected traitors) in which she assured him
of her unbounded confidence in the patriotism of her sailors,
and she instructed him to read it to the captains of the fleet.
The effect was electric. Even Russell's heart was won ; and
when the hostile fleets met off La Hogue, the French ships
were scattered in all directions under the eyes of Louis aud
James, who watched them from the shore, and the projected
invasion had to be abandoned.
5. Events of the War : 1692-97.— William now devoted all
his energies to his struggle with France. Every summer saw
him on the Continent, in spite of his delicate health, engaged in
hostilities with Louis. Though he could not humble that proud
monarch, he kept him in constant check — a matter of the utmost
importance to all Europe. The chief battles of this Continental
war were Steenkirke^ (1692), Landen^ or Neerwinden (1693) —
in both of which William gained honour, though defeated in
both — and the great siege of Namur^ (1695), which ended in
the capitulation of the French. The British and Dutch mer
chant fleet on its way to Smyrna was almost completely destroyed

^ Steenkirke, between Brussels and Mons,
a few miles west of Waterloo. (See the
Map on next page.)
2 Landen, a town of Belgium, 23 miles
north-west of Liege. Keerwinden, where

the battle was fought, is 2 miles north
west of Landen.
•* Namur, a strong fortress at the junc
tion of the Sambre and the Mouse : 67
miles south-east of Brussels,

24

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[WUUam

s=ssin.ma:^me^ifgffi~i

|Y

-^-¦""

\\, Antwerp

Ghent .».

// ^

_/'7^''d;=^

J ^  -^*Hasselt /¦¦

/ 1

¦ BRUSSELS Maastricht^'

,/Oudenarde /

/ i*Louvain ff,'

/ St/lnkirk

.J;\ Waterloo ^ ~\.,

>"" / aamiUie, ^-tg "¦¦.

Fontenoy /,"
/^ ,Mons

) ( '^ "" t.^:i>^\

^_5fNamur I

'•-,. f

^^../-^^ )^I695 /

Malplaqu

^^ V^arleroi \ C

'  •-. 1709

.-¦^ ? ^.

by Admiral Tourville off Cape St. Vincent (1693). In 1694,
a great naval expedition, fitted out at Portsmouth, attacked
Brest ; but, through the treachery of Marlborough, the French
were forewarned, and of 900 men landed, 800 were slain, in
cluding General Talmash, the commander. The Treaty of
Ryswick,! in 1697, brought the war to a close. Louis gave
up most of his conquests, and acknowledged William as King
of Great Britain and Ireland.
6. The National Debt : 1693. — Out of these expensive wars
sprang the National Debt, which has since swelled to a sum
so enormous. In 1692, a large sum of money was raised by
a poll-tax. That, however, was not sufficient, and as it would
have been dangerous to increase the burden of taxation, Charles
Montague, one of the Commissioners of the Treasury, suggested
the plan of raising money by means of a loan, which would
spread the burden over several generations. The plan adopted
was that of life annuities, by means of which one million

' Ryswick, 2 miles south-east of the 1 Peace of Ryswick (December 2), St. Paul's
Hague. On Thanksgiving-day for the I Cathedral in London was first opened

and Mary.] THE WAR WITH FRANCE. 2 5
sterling was raised. The Parliamep^t was not unwilling to
furnish William with money for his Continental wars, because
there was a tacit understanding that, in return, he should give
up to the Commons the chief share in the domestic government.
7. The Bank of England : 1694. — One of the schemes
devised to meet the extraordinary expense of these foreign
wars led to the establishment of the Bank of England. A
body of merchants agreed to lend the Government £1,200,000
at 8 per cent., in return for certain trading privileges. The
scheme originated with a Scotsman named William Paterson.
It was violently opposed in Parliament, but it was defended
by IMontague, and was ultimately carried. The charter was
granted, 27th July 1694.
8. Triennial Parliaments : 1694. — In the same year was
passed the BiU for Triennial Parliaments, which made the
House of Commons more directly dependent on the country,
and thus lessened the influence of the Crown. That was well
understood by William, who had refused his assent to a similar
BiU in 1693. It was again introduced towards the end of that
year, but was negatived in the Commons. William at last
agreed to the measure, in order to conciliate the Commons and
obtain supplies. In the last week of 1694, Queen Mary died of
small-pox, and thenceforth WUliam ruled alone.

HOUSES

OP

ORANGE AND
Charles I.
= Henrietta Maria.
1

STUART.

Charles H.

James II.
= Anne Hyde.
Mary
= William II.
] of Orange.
Anne.
Mary =
I
William III.
REIGN OF WILLIAM IIL (ORANGE).
1694-1702.

CHAPTER IV.— DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.
1. The Freedom of the Press : 1695.— The death of Mary
was followed by the reconciliation of WUliam with his sister-
in-law, the Princess Anne, from whom he had been estranged
for some years. The reconciliation was brought about by
Marlborough, who, though distrusted by WUliam, had great
influence with Anne — an influence strengthened by the friend
ship of the Princess with the Countess of Marlborough. One
of the most important achievements of the session of 1695 was
the Abolition of the Censorship of the Press. The Licensing
Act of 1662 had been renewed periodically till 1679. It had
been revived in 1685, and continued with renewals for other
ten years. The time had come when it must be re-enacted
or must lapse. The proposal to renew it was negatived by the
House of Commons. This established, in theory at least, the
Freedom of the Press, and very soon the number of newspapers
increased ; but the press for many years afterwards suffered
vexatious restrictions from the operation of the law of Libel
and of the Stamp Duty — the latter of which survived till 1855,
An attempt was made in the House of Commons in 1697 to
revive the licensing of the press ; but the Bill was rejected
on the second reading.
2. Rampant Corruption : 1695. — A new charter had been
granted to the old East India Company in 1693. It became
known that the charter had been obtained by the practice of
bribery on a tremendous scale, and the House of Commons

William III.] DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 27
appointed a committee to inquire into the matter. The com
mittee reported that the governor and the deputy-governor had
distributed in bribes no less a sum than £87,402, of which
£10,000 was said to have gone to the King and £5,500 to
Caermarthen (now Duke of Leeds). When the Commons
proposed to impeach the governor (Sir William Cooke), Leeds
defended him, whereupon the Commons charged Leeds himself
with corruption, and his impeachment was prevented only by
the flight of the principal witness against him and by the
prorogation of Parliament. He retained office for other two
years, but his influence was gone. Corruption was at that
time rampant among placemen and members of Parliament.
At the beginning of the session of 1695, the Speaker of the
House of Commons (Sir John Trevor) confessed that he had
accepted a bribe of 1,000 guineas from the City of London to
advance a certain Bill, and he was expelled from the House.
3. The Treason Act : 1696. — In the following year, a most
important change was made in the procedure in cases of trial
for treason. The Act passed on that subject was the result of
a Parliamentary struggle which had extended over five years,
during which three Bills had been introduced and dropped.
The new Act ordained that the accused should be provided
with a copy of the indictment and a list of the jurors before
the trial, and should have counsel learned in the law assigned
to them, together with process to compel the attendance of
witnesses. The trial was to commence within three years
of the alleged treason, and two witnesses were to be necessary
to conviction. This Act is the foundation of the existing law
of treason, but it has been frequently amended.
4. The Assassination Plot : 1696. — Before the Treason Act
came into force, a new and serious plot against the life of
WUliam was discovered. Connected with it, there was a
design to overthrow the Government by means of a French
invasion led by the Duke of Berwick. The former was really
an Assassination Plot, and it is generally called by that name.
The aim of the latter was political only ; but, as in the case of
the Main and the Bye Plot (1603), and also of the Rye House

28 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William IU.
Plot (1683), many persons who were privy only to the political
scheme were charged with the major offence. There was great
public excitement in connection with these schemes. The Habeas
Corpus Act was suspended. A loyal association was formed to
protect WiUiam, or to avenge his death, and an Act was passed
requiring all officers, both civil and mUitary, to join it. Many
arrests were made, and eight of the chief conspirators were
executed. Sir John Fenwick was not arrested tUl June. By
that time the Treason Act was in operation, and as only
one witness against him could be found (a second one had
disappeared), no trial could take place. This was a disappoint
ment to the King, and it was awkward for the ministers,
against several of whom Fenwick had insinuated in his
confession charges of disloyalty which were well known to be
true. Among those implicated were Godolphin, the head of
the Treasury ; Shrewsbury, whom William had restored to
favour and office in 1694, and had rewarded with a dukedom ;
and Russell, who was Admiral of the Fleet. Shrewsbury
retired to the Continent. Godolphin was forced by his col
leagues to resign. They then proceeded against Fenwick by
bill of attainder, which was carried in both Houses by small
majorities, and he was executed in January 1697.
5. The Whig Junto: 1697. — As long ago as in 1693, the
Earl of Sunderland, who had once been the leading minister
of James II., had advised William to get rid of the Tories,
and to select his ministers from the Whig party only. WiHiam
was the more disposed to follow that course because he owed
his crown to the Whigs, and because the Whigs were the
supporters of his war policy. The change, however, had to be
effected gradually. Sir John Somers, a Whig, was at once
appointed Lord Chancellor. The Duke of Leeds (Danby) was
forced to resign in 1695. The new Parliament returned to
wards the end of that year was strongly Whig. When Godol
phin, the last Tory, resigned in 1697, the Ministry became

Atroad.— In 1697-98, Peter the Great of Russia visited Holland and
England, and worked in Deptford dockyard.

William IIL] DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 29
whoUy Whig. As reconstituted, with Charles Montague as
head of the Treasury and virtual Prime Minister, it became
known as "the Whig Junto." Russell, First Lord of the
Admiralty, was created Earl of Orford. The Earl of Wharton,
who had contributed largely to the Whig triumph, was made
Chief Justice in Eyre. The concluding of the Treaty of
Ryswick about this time further strengthened the position of
the Ministry.
6. First United Ministry: 1697.— The Whig Junto was the
first united or homogeneous Ministry, and to it is generally
ascribed the origin of the Cabinet in the sense now familiar.
It must not be supposed, however, that the plan of appointing
ministers in a body was definitely adopted at this time. The
ministers were still selected by the Sovereign; and in 1700
William reverted to the plan of mixed ministries. Queen Anne
followed the same course during the early years of her reign ;
but before the close of it, the principle of making the Minis
try representative of and responsible to a majority of the House
of Commons was fully recognized. (See page 53.)
7. State of Ireland : 1695-98.— Ever since the Pacification
of Limerick, the Protestant minority in Ireland had treated the
native Irish as a conquered people. The Irish Parliament of
1695 and the three following years passed the most stringent
penal laws against Roman Catholics. For example, Romanist
schoolmasters were forbidden to teach the children of more
than one famUy. All Romanists were ordered to be disarmed.
A poll-tax was imposed on Romanists, from which Protestants
were exempted. In 1697, Romanist ecclesiastics were ordered
to leave Ireland ; Protestants and Romanists were forbidden to
intermarry ; persons who, having opposed the Government in
arms, had left Ireland, were forbidden to return to it without a

Abroad. — In 1698, Peter the Great of Russia banished the Strelitzes, hav
ing first caused them to be decimated in the Great Square of Moscow. The
Strelitzes were a noble body-guard founded by Ivan the Terrible. Like the
Janissaries in Turkey and the Mamelukes in Egypt, they became turbulent
and dangerous. Their continued disloyalty led to their final extermination
in 1705.

30 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William III.
license ; the benefits of the articles of the surrender of Limerick
were limited to those who had been actually in arms against
William. Measures were taken in the following year to reduce
the Irish to poverty and misery by the extinction of the woollen
manufacture — measures to which England consented for the
sake of her own manufactures and her own capitalists. No Irish
Romanist could serve in the army, or sit in Parliament, or act
as a juryman, or lease land.
8. The Darien Scheme: 1695-99.— WUliam Paterson, the
founder of the Bank of England, was the originator of a Scot
tish Company empowered to trade to the West Indies and
Africa. The scheme was sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament
in 1695. The capital was £900,000. Of this sum £400,000
was subscribed in Scotland, then a poor country. Merchants
of London and Amsterdam took shares for the remainder. The
Isthmus of Darien was selected as a central position for com
merce both with India and with America, and a colony was
founded there in 1698.
The East India Company looked on the scheme as an in
fringement of their rights. Certain Dutch merchants also be
lieved that it would injure their interests. These parties com
bined to oppose the expedition ; and so persistent were they, that
they induced the King to set his face against it. The colony was
ruined and all the money lost (1699). The settlers, badly sup
ported by their countrymen, sank into want. Disease carried
them off by scores. The neighbouring British colonies, either
through jealousy or acting under orders from home, refused to
lend any assistance. And, to crown all, the Spaniards, claiming
the soU on which their town, New Edinburgh, was built,
harassed them with ceaseless attacks. Very few of the un
happy colonists ever saw Scotland again.
9. Causes and Effects of the Failure.— There is no doubt

Abroad.— In 1699, the Peace of Carlowitz (on the Danube) dismembered
the Turkish Empire, giving parts to Austria, Russia, Poland, and Venice.
Peter the Great had formed an alliance with Austria against Turkey in 1695.
Peter took Azov, at the mouth of the Don, in 1696, and thus gained access to
the Black Sea.

WUliam in.] DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 31
that the failure of this promising scheme was due to the jealousy
of the English and Dutch trading companies, which induced
William to withhold from the Scottish colony the privileges
he had promised. To the jealousy of the EngUsh merchants,
also, the Scots ascribed their exclusion from the East Indian
trade. The feeling of animosity thus excited between the two
nations was so keen that it threatened to plunge them into
war. WUliam, who was wise and far-seeing, was convinced
that nothing could prevent the severance of the two countries
but a complete legislative union, and he commended that to
Parliament in 1699.
10. Reduction of the Army: 1698-99.— The Treaty of
Ryswick left Great Britain burdened with a standing army of
80,000 men. William wished that army to be maintained, as
he did not trust Louis ; but both Whigs and Tories agreed that
it was extravagant as well as dangerous to give the King the
control of such an army in time of peace ; and the public
opinion of the country agreed with them. In December 1697,
the Commons voted the disbanding of the army. A month
later it was reduced to 10,000 men, and before the end of
1698 to 7,000. A further Act for disbanding the army was
passed in February 1699. William sent a message to the
Commons setting forth his desire to retain his Dutch Guards ;
but the Commons refused, advising the King to " trust to his
people." William was so angry that he had thoughts of abdi
cating. 11. The Irish Forfeitures: 1699. — Another cause of differ
ence with the Parliament arose in connection with the estates
forfeited by the Irish Jacobites. William had distributed
some of the most valuable in large portions among his foreign
favourites. The'Parliament passed an Act ordering the estates
to be sold for the public benefit ; but they allowed the grantees
to retain the rents and other revenues they had drawn from
them. The Lords disapproved of the Act ; but the Commons
circumvented them by incorporating the Bill with the Bill
granting supplies, and as the House of Lords cannot alter a
Money Bill, they had either to reject or to accept the whole ;

32 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William III.
and William advised them to accept it. That showed the
growing power of the Commons.
12. Ministerial Changes: 1699-1700.— Both the reduction
of the army and the reversal of the Irish grants weakened the
Ministry. Many Whigs joined the Tories in voting against
ministers, and they were frequently left in a minority. In
1699, Montague resigned the office of First Lord of the Treasury,
and Orford (Russell) withdrew from the Admiralty. In the
following year, William was forced to part with Lord Chancellor
Somers, the most sagacious of his advisers. He had allowed
himself to be mixed up with the doings of William Kidd, a
naval officer who had been sent to the East Indies to put down
piracy, but had himself turned pirate. Somers, along with
others, had given money to Kidd, and it was alleged that he
expected to derive profit from the expedition. He was also
attacked by the Commons in connection with the distribution
of Irish estates, and William was forced, very unwillingly, to
ask him to resign the Chancellorship (April 1700). That was
another proof of the influence of the House of Commons. In
December, William, reverting to the old plan of appointing
ministers, added to the Cabinet two leading Tories, the Earl of
Rochester and Lord Godolphin. In a new Parliament which
met in February 1701 the Tories had a majority.

CHAPTER v.— THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
1. First Partition Treaty: 1699.— While WiUiam's posi
tion at home was in this critical state, he was called on to take
part in the dispute over the succession to the Spanish crown.
The King, Charles II., was childless, and was believed to be
dying. There were three claimants for the throne : (1) Louis
the Dauphin, son of Louis XIV. of France ; (2) Joseph Fer
dinand, son of the Elector of Bavaria ; and (3) the Archduke
Charles, son of the Emperor Leopold. William's main desire
was to prevent the union of the French and Spanish crowns.
He therefore proposed a partition of the Spanish dominions.

William m.]

THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.

33

by which the crown of Spain would be given to the Bavarian
Prince, while the Dauphin and the Archduke were to be bribed
into acquiescence by receiving portions of Spanish territory.
A secret treaty to this effect was signed by William and Louis
in October 1698. Early in 1699, Ferdinand of Bavaria died,
and the treaty became useless.
2. Second Partition Treaty: 1700. — WUliam and Louis made
a second partition treaty in the spring of 1700, by which the
Archduke Charles was to have Ferdinand's portion, with the
crown of Spain, and the Dauphin was to receive the remainder.
Charles of Spain was indignant when he heard how his dominions
were being disposed of, and, in William's despite, he made a
wiU bequeathing his crown and all his possessions to Philip of
Anjou, the second son of the Dauphin. As this arrangement
would prevent the union of the French and Spanish crowns,
William thought it prudent to acquiesce in it in the meantime.
His unpopularity at home made his position very unpleasant.
He had quarrelled with the Commons over the reduction of
the army and the distribution of the Irish forfeitures, and he
was in bad odour with the Scots on account of the Darien
Abroad.— In 1700, Charles XII. of Sweden, with 20,000 men, defeated 60,000
Russians at Narva (ninety-five miles south-west gf St. Petersburg). The
war originated in a coalition ot Denmark, Saxony, Poland, and Russia
against Sweden.

I
Philip IV.

THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.
Philip III. i
Anne
= Louis XIII.
of France.
Louis XIV.

Charles
(Died 1700.)

Maria Theresa
= Louis XIV.
of France

Louis the
Dauphin.

Louis.
Duke of Burg^undy. I
Louis XV.
of France

Philip,
Duke of Anjou :
PHILIf v.
of Spain.

Margaret Theresa
= Leopold I ,
Hmperor.

A daughter
= Elector of
Bavaria.

Joseph Ferdinand,
Electoral Prince
(Died 1699 >

Maria Anne
= Ferdinand III.,
Emperor.

Leopold
= (i) Margaret Theresa ;
= (a) Princess of
Neuburg. I.

Joseph.
King- of the
Romans

Charles.
Archduke:
CHARLES III.
of Spain.

34 LIMITED MONARCHY. [WiUiam UL
Scheme. He was therefore powerless to adopt any other
policy. Charles II. died in October, and in terms of his will
the Duke of Anjou became PhiUp V. of Spain.
3. Beginning of War: 1701.— The Emperor Leopold pre
pared to vindicate the claims of his son, the Archduke Charles.
He based these claims on the ground that both Anne, the wife
of Louis XIII., and Maria Theresa, the wife of Louis XIV.,
had renounced their right to the Spanish crown on their re
spective marriages, while his (Leopold's) mother Maria had not
done so. He took up arms against the French in Italy, and
the War of the Spanish Succession began. The Dutch also
entered into the struggle, and claimed British aid. But the
aspect of affairs in England had changed. The Tories had
returned to power. Rochester and Godolphin had a majority
in the House of Commons. Lord Somers, the Earl of Portland
(Bentinck), the Earl of Orford, and Montague (now Baron
Halifax), were impeached for their share in the partition
treaties, which were condemned as having endangered Protest
antism. At this juncture the men of Kent took the unpre
cedented course of petitioning the Commons, advising them to
give up quarrelling and to vote the King the supplies he needed.
Some of the petitioners were imprisoned, but the custom of
petitioning was established ; and as quarrels ensued between
the Lords and the Commons as to the time of Somers's trial,
the impeachments were abandoned, and the Parliament was
dissolved. 4. The Act of ' Settlement : 1701.— This disturbed Parlia
ment had passed one great measure — the Act of Settlement,
rendered necessary by the death of the young Duke of Glouces
ter, only surviving son of the Princess Anne (July 1700).
The Act ordained that, after Anne, the succession should pass
to the Princess Sophia i of Hanover, and her heirs, being
Protestants of the Church of England. The same Act pro
vided that judges should be appointed for life, but that they
might be removed on an address of both Houses. An import-
^ Sophia. She was gvanddaughter of 1 who married the Elector Palatine. (See
J.ames I. , being daughter of Elizabeth, I Genealogical Tree, page 58.)

WUliam IIL] THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 35
ant safeguard to public justice was furnished in the provision
that no pardon under the Great Seal should bar an impeach
ment by the House of Commons. Two of the provisions of
this Act have since been repealed — the one in 1706, which
prohibited persons in the pay of the Crown from sitting in the
House of Commons ; the other in 1717, which prevented the
Sovereign from leaving Great Britain or Ireland without the
consent of Parliament.
5. The Grand Alliance : 1701. — WUliam had acquiesced in
the settlement of the Spanish throne without approving of it.
What was really a triumph for Louis, his lifelong rival, could
not but be unsatisfactory to him. The Emperor was already
in the field. William determined to join him, and in June
sent Marlborough to Holland with 10,000 soldiers. In Sep
tember he concluded with Germany and Holland a treaty
known as the Grand Alliance, and bent alj his energies in
preparation for a gigantic struggle. A few days after the
treaty was signed, James II. died at St. Germains. Louis im
mediately and publicly recognized his son as King of Great
Britain. No step could better have served the purposes of
William. It excited violent indignation in England, and set
the war-spirit of the people fairly on fire. The new Parliament
met in December. It contained a majority of Whigs, and at
once passed a Bill for attainting James's son — henceforth known
as the Pretender. AU persons holding ofiice in Church or in
State were required to disown his title on oath. The Commons
then voted the King 40,000 soldiers, and a large increase in
the number of sailors. As the Tories were opposed to the war,
William was forced again to turn to the Whigs, and made the
Earl of Manchester! Secretary of State.
6. Death of William : 1702. — In the very midst of his
preparations, and when his hopes were at the highest, William
Abroad. — In 1701, Frederick III., Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of
Prussia, was made King of Prussia, in return for supporting the Emperor
in the matter of the Spanish Succession.
^ Earl of Manchester, Charles Montague, must not be confounded with Charles Mon
tague. Lord Halifax.

36 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William III.
was suddenly cut off. Riding from Kensington i to Hampton
Court on February 21, 1702, he fell from his horse and broke
his collar-bone. The injury was not such as would of itself
have caused death, but, acting on a frame naturally feeble and
worn-out by long-continued asthma, it brought on a fever, of
which he died at Kensington on the 8th of March. He was in
his fifty-second year. He and Mary left no children.
7. Character of William IIL — The death of William did
not cause any feeling of deep sorrow in the nation. He had
never made any effort to secure the goodwill and favour of the
British people, and he succeeded beyond most kings in making
himself personally unpopular. That was due chiefly to the
cold reserve of his manners, and to the indifference, not to say
contempt, he showed toward the English people. He prized
the British crown chiefly because it increased his influence in
European politics. On that ground he was wise enough to
concUiate the Parliament by making concessions which, in
other circumstances, he might have withheld. For the same
reason he was willing to respect the constitutional liberties
which had cost Englishmen so much, and which men of all
parties had learned to prize. He was an able and far-seeing
statesman, and was possessed of a clear intellect, moral courage,
a strong will, and indomitable patience. He was also a brave
soldier, and a skilful though not a very fortunate general. He
valued human life cheaply, and often sacrificed it needlessly in
his battles and sieges. Probably the same feeling led him to
think little of the massacre of Glencoe.
8. The Constitution. — The limitations of the monarchy, for
which the Civil War had been fought, were firmly established
in the Bill of Rights (1689), which put in the form of a statute
the terms and conditions on which William accepted the crown,
as expressed in the Declaration of Right. The annual JIutiny
Act, on which the statutory existence of the army depends, also
furnished the country with a security that Parliament would
meet once at least every year. The Parliaments were con-
! Kensington, then a western suburb of London, now included in it.

WUliam in.] THE CONSTITUTION. 37
tinuous during William's reign. The sessions were held with
great regularity — generally from November till April or May.
Sometimes a short session w as held in summer, but the summer
recess of six months was seldom curtailed. Though Parliament
came into collision with the King on several occasions, it suc
ceeded in maintaining its independence. He twice refused his
assent to the Triennial Bill, but at last he was compelled to
give way (1694). He also refused his assent to a Bill, which
had passed both Houses, for excluding placemen from Parlia
ment (1693), and in the following session it was negatived in
the Commons. Placemen were excluded by the Act of Settle
ment (1701), but the provision was repealed in 1706. In 1700,
Parliament was adjourned, and was afterwards dissolved, in
order to prevent the presentation of an address to the Crown
for the removal of foreign councillors. They were, however,
excluded by the Act of Settlement in the following year. On
the same occasion. Lord Chancellor Somers was furiously
attacked in the Commons in connection with the Kidd case
(see page 32), and though the motion was not carried, William
was obliged to dismiss Somers. In the following year, the im
peachment of Somers and the other Whig ministers led to a
sharp quarrel between the two Houses. When the trial broke
down, and Somers and Orford were declared to have been
acquitted, the Commons were prepared to pass a remonstrance ;
but William prevented this by dissolving the Parliament (June
24, 1701).
An important point settled in connection with the charges
against the Whig ministers was the right of the people to
petition Parliament. The five men who presented the Kentish
petition (see page 34) to the House of Commons were im
prisoned till the close of the Parliament; but the right of
petitioning was not afterwards questioned.
The two great political parties — Whigs and Tories — became
clearly defined in William's reign. They corresponded with
the Country party and the Court party of the two previous
reigns. Both parties, however, now disowned the theory of
the divine right of kings. The Whigs were supported by the

38 LIMITED MONARCHY. [WilUam III.
wealthy middle class in towns, by the great landowners, and
by the Dissenters ; the Tories by the country gentry and the
country clergy.
It was still the custom of the King to appoint his ministers
individually, and to select them from both the Whigs and the
Tories. The Whig Junto of 1697 consisted whoUy of men of
one party, and is usually considered the first homogeneous
ministry ; but that was merely an experiment of William's, and
in 1700 he feU back on the old plan of composite ministries, by
recalling Godolphin and Eoch ester to office. The principle had
not yet been conceived of making the existence of a ministry
as a whole depend on its having the support of a majority of
the House of Commons. On the other hand, WiUiam's dis
missal of Somers in 1700, and of Godolphin in 1702, showed
that he recognized the impropriety of retaining in office an
individual minister of whom the House of Commons dis
approved. In addition to the Bill of Rights, several important Acts
bearing on the Constitution were passed during the reign. The
most important of these was the Act of Settlement, or the
Succession Act, of 1701. Its leading purpose was to establish
the Protestant succession to the throne, but advantage was
taken of the opportunity to supplement on several points the
Bill of Eights. The most important of these was the provision
that judges should receive fixed salaries, and should not be
removable except on conviction for some offence, or on the
address of both Houses of Parliament. Another important
measure was the Act on Trials for Treasons (1696), the leading
provisions of which (see page 27) tended to secure justice and
to obviate hardship.
WUliam was one of the first men to recognize the necessity
of an incorporating union of England and Scotland. He
recommended it to the House of Lords in 1689, and he
expressed strongly his desire for it on his deathbed.

NAMES OF NOTE.

39

CHIEF EVENTS.

1S89. War declared against France— Battle of
Killiecrankie— Relief of Londonderry— Bill of
Rights paeeed
1S90. Defeat of Torrington off Beachy Head-
Battle of the Boyne.
1691. Capitulation of Limerick.
1692. Massacre of Glencoe— Russell's victory off
La Hogue.
1693. Beginning of the National Debt.
1691. The Bank of England established— The

Triennial Act passed— Death of Queen Mary.
1696. Surrender of Namur to William.
1697. The Whig Junto- First United MiniBtry—
The Treaty of Ryswick signed.
1699. First Spanish Fartltlon Treaty.
1700. Second Spanish Partition Treaty.
1701. The Act of Settlement, or Succession Act,
passed— Impeachment of the Whig lords—
The Kentish petition— Death of James IL
1702. Death of William.

NAMES OF NOTE.

Duke of Berwick (James Fitz -James), son of James
n. and Arabella Churchill ; served in Ireland,
1689; in France, 1693.
Marquis of Caermarthen (Thomas Osborne, Earl
of Dauby), a leading Tory; virtual Prime
Miniflter, 1690: made Duke of Leeds; im
peached for bribery, and resigned, 1690.
Earl of Clarendon (Henry Hyde), took part In
Jacobite plots, 1690-91: confined in the
Tower for six months
Henry Compton, Bishop of London, crowned
William and llary, 1689.
Viscount Dundee (John Graham of Claverhouse),
Jacobite leader in Scotland; killed at Killie
crankie, 1689.
General Ginkell, defeated the Irish and French
at Aghrim, 1691 : Earl of Athlone, 1692.
Earl of Godolphin (Sydney), a Tory ; a Treasury
Commissioner, 1689; resigned. 1690; recalled
as First Lord, 1690; intrigued with the
Jacobites; driven from office by the Whigs,
1697; recalled, 1700; dismissed, 1702.
Marquis of Halifax (George Savile), a Whig;
Lord Privy Seal. 1689 ; Joined the Opposition
and resigned, 1690; died, 1695.
Earl of Manchester (Charles Montague), Secre
tary of State, 1701.
Earl of Marlborough (John ChurchiU), great
general ; deserted James IL and Joined Will
iam, 1688; Commander in Ireland, 1690;
dismissed on suspicion of treason, 1692 ; be
trayed Talmash's expedition, 1694; impli
cated in Fenwiek's plot, 1696 ; sent to Holland
as Commander-in-Chief, 1701.
Viscount Melville (Robert Dundas), Secretary of
State for Scotland, 1689.
Earl of Monmouth (Charles Mordaunt), a Whig;
accompanied William from the Hague, 1688;
First Lord of the Treasury, 16S9 ; quarrelled
with Godolpliln and retired, 1690 ; succeeded
his uncle as Earl of Peterborough, 1697.
Charles Montague, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
1695; First Lord of the Treasury in Whig
Junto, 1697-99; impeached and acquitted,
1701 ; afterwards Earl of Halifiix.
Earl of Nottingham (Daniel Finch), leader of the
Tories, who supported William, 1688 ; Secre
tary of State. 1689 ; quarrel with Admiral
Russell, 1692 : resignation, 1694.

William Paterson, Scottish financier; founder
of the Bank of England, 1694 ; took part In
Darien Expedition, 169S.
Duke of Portland (William Bentinck), favourite
of William; at the Boyne, 1690; negotiated
Treaty of Ryswick, 1697; Impeached and
acquitted, 1701.
Admiral Russell, defeated French fieet off La
Hogue, 1692; Earl of Orford, 1697; PirstLord
of the Admiralty, 1694-99; Impeached and
acquitted, 1701.
Archbishop Sancroft, refused to take the oath
of allegiance, suspended, 1689 ; head of the
Non-Jurors, again refused, and deprived of
his see, 1691 ; died, 1693.
General Sarsfield (Patrick), Jacobite general in
Ireland, 1689; at the Boyne, 1690; defeated
William at Limerick; negotiated its sur
render, 1691 ; killed at Landen, 1693.
Duke of Schomberg (Frederick Herman) Marshal
of France; Commander-in-Chief in Ireland,
1689 ; killed at the Boyne, 1690.
Earl of Shrewsbury (Charles Talbot), a Whig ;
signed the invitation to William, 1688; Sec
retary of State, 1689 ; intrigued with James
IL ; dismissed, 1690 ; implicated in the As
sassination Plot, and left England, 1696.
Sir John Somers, promoted the Revolution, 1688 ;
Attorney-General, 1692 ; Lord Chancellor,
1693; created Baron, 1697; dismissed, 1700.
Viscount Stair (Sir James Dalrymple), President
of the Court of Session, 1689; author of
"Institutes of the Law of Scotland."
Master of Stair (Sir John Dalrymple), son of the
above. Lord Advocate, 1689; Secretary of
State, 1692.
James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pre
tender), bom, 1688 ; styled " James IU."
Earl of Torrington (Arthur Herbert), Admiral of
William's fleet, 1688; defeated the French in
Bantry Bay, 1689 ; defeated by Tourville ofE
Beachy Head, 1690 ; tried by court-martial
aud acquitted, but dismissed, 1690.
Duke of Tyrconnel (Richard Talbot), Jacobite
leader in Ireland, 1689 ; died, 1691.
Rev. George Walker, leader of the citizens dur
ing the siege of Londonderry, 1689; made
Bishop of Derry ; killed at the Battle of the
Bojme, 1690.

REIGN OF ANNE (STUART).
1702-1714.

CHAPTER VI.— MARLBOROUGH'S TRIUMPHS.
1. Accession of Anne^: 1702. — William's death made no
change in the foreign poUcy of Great Britain, WUUam's place
at the head of the Grand Alliance being taken by the Earl of
Marlborough, whom Queen Anne appointed Captain-General of
all her forces. Marlborough's influence with the Queen was
unbounded. His wife had for years been Anne's bosom-friend.
In their familiar intercourse ceremony and titles were laid
aside : the Queen was " Mrs. Jlorley ; " the Countess was
" Mrs. Freeman." Anne, being a devoted friend of the Church
of England, chose her ministers from the Tory party, and made
Marlborough's friend. Lord Godolphin, First Lord of the
Treasury and Prime Minister, and the Earl of Nottingham
Secretary of State.
2. War Declared: 1702. — War was formally declared in
May. Its chief theatres were Spain and the Low Countries,
which have been well named "the battle-fields of modern
Europe." In Spain, an expedition commanded by Sir George
Rooke and the Duke of Ormond failed in an attack on Cadiz in
August ; but in October it captured and partly destroyed a fleet
of treasure-ships in Vigo Bay, and carried off four million dol
lars. In Flanders, Marlborough took Liege and Boim, and got
command of the Meuse and the Rhine, thus barring the way

^ Anne, second daughter of James II.
and Anne Hyde. Born 1665. Married
Prince George of Denmark in 1683. (He

died in 1708.) Issue, four daughters and
two sons, all of whom died before she came
to the throne. Reigned 12 years

Anne.] MARLBOROUGH'S TRIUMPHS. 41
against a French invasion. On his return to England, he
received the thanks of the House of Commons, and the Queen
made him a duke.
3. Position of Portugal : 1703. — In the following year, the
King of Portugal joined the allies, and so gave them ready
access to the heart of Spain. His alliance was confirmed by
the Methuen Treaty, under which Great Britain granted to
Portugal important commercial privileges. The Emperor pro
claimed his second son King of Spain, with the title of Charles
III. Toward the end of the year a terrific storm swept over
the British Isles, and did enormous damage. Twelve ships of
the Royal Navy were lost, with 1,500 men; and the first
Eddystone lighthouse was blown into the sea, and Henry Win-
stanley, its designer, was among those who perished in its ruins
(November 26, 27).
4. Battle of Blenheim: 1704. — Early in 1704, Marlborough
complained that he was hampered by the Tories in the Ministry,
who were half-hearted in supporting the war. He insisted on
the dismissal of Nottingham, and the addition to the Ministry
of Robert Harley and Henry St John, who, though Tories,
were his friends. In this year, he gained the first of those
brilliant victories which entitle him to rank among the
greatest soldiers of the world. The Emperor Leopold was in
an extremely critical position at Vienna. The French and
the Bavarians on the west, and the Hungarians on the east,
were gradually closing in on him. His numbers were much
inferior to theirs, and his capital was in real danger. Marl
borough then formed a bold design for his relief. It was noth
ing less than to march his whole army from Flanders across
the Rhine and into the heart of Bavaria, so as to strike in
between Vienna and the French and Bavarian army. In
Wiirtemberg he was joined by Prince Eugene; and on August
2nd they encountered the enemy, commanded by Marshal
Abroad. — In 1702, Augustus the Strong (Elector of Saxony), King of
Poland, was dethroned by Charles XII. of Sweden. Stanislaus Lesczinski
was chosen in his stead in 1704. But Augustus was restored after a civil
commotion. These changes weakened Poland, and hastened its fall.

42

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Anae.

Tallard and the Electoral Prince, at Blenheim,! on the north
bank of the Danube, and inflicted on them a crushing defeat.
Marshal Tallard, the French
general, who commanded

the right wing, made the

PLAN OF BLENHEIM.

fatal mistake of concen
trating his force in the
village of Blenheim. This
weakened his centre, and
enabled Marlborough, who
led the left, to break up
the enemy's force into two
bodies. When the British
carried the village, in the
face of a desperate resist
ance, there was nothing left to Tallard and his whole division
but to surrender. Then, but not till then, the Bavarians gave
way before Prince Eugene, who led on the right. This victory
drove the French out of Germany. Marlborough received a
gift of the royal manor of Woodstock in Oxfordshire, on which
was built Blenheim House.
5. The War in Spain: 1704-5. — The same year witnessed
one of the most important achievements of the war— the capture
of Gibraltar by Admiral Rooke and Sir Cloudesley Shovel.
Aided by a body of Hessian troops, the British, landing on the
isthmus which joins the Rock to the mainland, carried the works
by storm in spite of a heavy fire. The Spaniards and the French
made the first of many attempts to retake the place in October;
but Sir John Leake raised the siege in the following March.
Gibraltar has never since passed from British hands. In the
south of Spain, the Earl of Peterborough and Sir Cloudesley
Shovel besieged and captured Barcelona, an exploit which
established the authority of Charles III. in Catalonia and
Valencia. Charles was brought one step nearer the imperial
crown this year by the accession of his brother, Joseph I., on
the death of their father, Leopold.
1 Blenheim, a village ot West Bavaria (Germany) ; '23 miles north-west of Augsburg.

Anne.] MARLBOROUGH'S TRIUJIPHS. 43
6. Ramiilies: 1706. — In 1706, Marlborough gained the
second of the four great victories which have given glory to
his name as a soldier. He defeated the French under Marshal
Villeroi at Ramiilies, in South Brabant, and drove them out of
the Netherlands. Indeed, the tide of fortune had now turned
against the French in all quarters. They were driven out of
Italy by Prince Eugene, who defeated them in front of Turin,
and then followed them into France. A British fleet took
Majorca and Ivicja. The Earl of Galway and the allies marched
from Portugal to Madrid and occupied it ; but the advance of
the Duke of Berwick with reinforcements obliged them to with
draw. About this time Louis made overtures for peace, but
the allies doubted his sincerity.
7. Almanza: 1707 — ^Oudenarde: 1708. — At home public
attention was diverted from the war by the negotiations for
the parliamentary union of England and Scotland, referred to
in the next chapter. Further changes in the Ministry strength
ened the hands of Marlborough in the prosecution of his war
policy. When the war was resumed, the Duke of Berwick,
at the head of the French, defeated the Earl of Galway at
Almanza, and thereby virtually secured Spain for Philip V.
(1708). Part of the British fleet, returning from Gibraltar,
struck on some rocks off the SciUy Isles. Four ships were lost,
and Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel was among the drowned.
A projected invasion of Scotland by the Pretender came to
nothing. He was attacked with measles, and the French fleet
was consequently delayed. When it at last sailed to the Firth
of Forth, it was put to flight by Admiral Byng, and returned
to France. In the Netherlands the Dutch lost ground, chiefly
owing to their injudicious treatment of the inhabitants. The
Abroad. — In 1707, Charles XII. of Sweden invaded Russia. He was
defeated at Poltava (Pultowa), in the south of Russia, in 1709, and took
refuge for some time in Turkey. Returning suddenly to his kingdom, he
engaged in war with Norway, and was killed at the siege of Prederickshald,
a maritime fortress on the Skager Rack, in 1718.
In 1707, on the death of Aunmgzebe, the Great Mogul (1658-1707), the
Mogul Empire in India fell into decay, the tributary princes gradually
asserting their independence.

44 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
French saw their opportunity, and Marshal Vendome captured
Bruges and Ghent. Marlborough came to the help of his allies
and gained a splendid victory over Marshal Vendome at
Oudenarde in East Flanders (1708). The French lost 15,000
men and more than a hundred banners on this field. The victors
then crossed the French frontier and took Lille. Toward the
end of the year Minorca was captured by General Stanhope.
By this time the Ministry had become thoroughly Whig.
Harley and St. John had left it, and Robert Walpole had
joined it as Secretary at War. (See page 53.)
8. Malplaotuet : 1709. — The exhausted state of France forced
Louis to reopen negotiations for peace early in 1709. He was
willing to agree to most of the conditions ; but when he found
that he would be required to send an army to drive his grand
son (Philip V.) out of Spain, he broke up the conference, saying
that if he must use his armies he would rather do so against
his enemies than against his own children. He sent another
army into the Netherlands under Marshal Villars. Marl
borough and Prince Eugene collected their forces at Lille, on
French ground. They captured Tournay in June, and, still
marching eastward, intercepted Villars at Malplaquet, a few
miles south of Mons, in September. The battle was long and
fiercely contested, and the victory, though complete, was dis
astrous to the victors, for while the French lost 12,000 men,
the allies lost twice that number. This was the last great
event of the war. Conferences for peace were again begun in
1710 ; but after having lasted for three months, thej"^ were
broken off without any result Marlborough, who did not wish
peace, continued his aggressive policy, and captured in the
course of the year Douay, Venant, and other French frontier
towns. In Spain, General Stanhope defeated the French and
Spaniards at Almenara and Saragossa.
9. Fall of Marlborough : 1711. — The public at home evidently
thought that the war had lasted long enough. The Whio-
Ministry, discredited by its action in the case of Dr. Sacheverell
(see page 53), was driven from ofl[ice in August 1710, and
the Tories, led by Harley and St. John, came into power. In

Anne.]

MARLBOROUGH'S TRIUMPHS.

45

the new Parliament, which met in November, the Tories had a
majority. In the Queen's Speech no reference was made to
Marlborough's victories. A motion to award him the thanks
of Parliament for his brilliant services was defeated. The
sun of the great general was evidently setting amid clouds.
Nevertheless Marlborough started as usual for the Continent in
the spring to open the campaign. Villars, having fallen back
from Douay, had busied himself with the construction of lines of
defence at Arleux, which he boasted would prove the ne plus
ultra of the British advance. By sheer generalship Marlborough
forced the lines without the loss of a man, and then captured
Bouchain. This was his last triumph. His enemies resolved not only
to upset his poUcy, but also to ruin his personal reputation. In
his absence the ministers opened private negotiations for peace,
to which Louis gladly assented. Marlborough returned to
England in October to find himself utterly discredited. When
Parliament met in December he boldly defended himself in the
House of Lords, where he could still command a majority.
He was, nevertheless, accused of appropriating public money
in the shape of commissions on army contracts and on foreign
subsidies, and was dismissed from all his employments. On
similar charges, Walpole, who had been Secretary at War, and
Cardonel, who had been Marlborough's secretary, were expelled
from the House of Commons. Marlborough! remained in En
gland, chiefly at Blenheim, for a year, and then he went abroad,
where he remained till after the Queen's death.
10. Death of the Emperor Joseph: 1711. — Towards the end
of the year an event occurred which strengthened the peace
party in Great Britain. The Emperor Joseph died, and was
Abroad. — In 1711, St. Petersburg became the capital of Russia. Moscow
had been the capital up till that time. Peter the Great acquired Livonia
from Sweden during his wars with Charles XII., and thus obtained a sea
board on the Baltic.

^ Marlborough. On his return to England,
in 1714, he was coldly received at Court,
but was restored to his post of commander-

in-chief; but he held it for only one year.
He died in 1722, and was buried in West
minster Abbey.

46 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
succeeded by his brother the Archduke Charles, whom the allies
called Charles III. of Spain. This changed the whole position
of affairs. In the eyes of the British people and the British
Government the union of Spain and Austria under one sovereign
was even more objectionable than the union of Spain and France
in one family. That formed a strong reason for bringing the
war to an end as speedily as possible, and the negotiations for
peace were pressed forward. A show of carrying on the war
had to be made as a means of enforcing the British demands.
The Duke of Ormond (James Butler) was appointed commander-
in-chief in room of Marlborough, and took the field in May
1712 ; but he effected nothing of importance, and in July he
separated from Prince Eugene and the allies, the cessation of
hostilities having been proclaimed.
11. Treaty of Utrecht : 1713. — Treaties of peace were signed
at Utrecht in March 1713 by the representatives of France, Great
Britain, Holland, and the other allies. In as far as it affected
Great Britain, the Treaty of Utrecht did not secure advantages
commensurate either with the successes of Marlborough in the
field, or with the enormous expenditure the war had entailed on
the country. Its most remarkable feature was that under it
Great Britain abandoned the cause for which the war had been
undertaken — the exclusion of the Bourbons from Spain. It
was, however, provided, that the French and the Spanish crown
should never be united. Louis recognized the Protestant suc
cession in Great Britain, and agreed to e,;ipel the Pretender
from France. Great Britain retained Gibrjjtar, Minorca (taken
in 1708), the Hudson Bay Territory, Newfoundland, and Nova
Scotia. Dunkirk was to be dismantled. Hostilities continued
for some months between France and the Empire, in the course
of which France recovered Douay, Bouchain, and other frontier
towns which Marlborough had taken. At length the Emperor
made a separate treaty with France at Rastadt in 1714.

Anne.] THE SCOTTISH UNION. 47

CHAPTER VII.— THE SCOTTISH UNION.
1. Conflict of Whigs and Tories. — During the reign of Queen
Anne the strife between Whigs and Tories raged more fiercely
than ever around two great questions — the War and the Church.
The Whigs supported the war ; the Tories sought for peace.
The Whigs were Low Church ; the Tories were known as the
High Church party. The strength of the Tories lay in the
House of Commons ; that of the Whigs in the House of Lords.
There was thus mixed up with the party warfare a struggle for
supremacy between the two Houses of Parliament.
2. Conflict of Lords and Commons. — The Houses came into
collision, before the end of 1702, in connection with a measure
called the Occasional Conformity Bill, which was brought into
Parliament by the Tories, and was cordially approved by the
Queen and the High Church clergy. The Bill was levelled
against those who attended places of worship not of the Estab
lished Church, after they had taken the Test Oath and had
received public appointments. The proposal was that these
Occasional Conformists (who were mostly Whigs) should suffer
dismissal and heavy fine. Marlborough supported the BiU in
the hope of conciliating the Tories. It passed the Commons,
but was lost in the Lords. The Bill was reintroduced in 1703
and in 1704, and met on each occasion with the same fate.
Another quarrel arose in 1703 in connection with a plot for
a Jacobite invasion of Scotland which Lord Lovat alleged that
he had discovered. The Whig Lords took up the case, and
indirectly censured the Earl of Nottingham, Secretary of State,
for suppressing certain facts. The Tories in the Commons
declared that it was their business and not that of the Lords
to investigate such matters, and the consequence of the quarrel
was that no one was convicted. Still more bitter was the
conflict that arose over the Aylesbury election. The votes of
certain burgesses having been refused by the returning ofiicers,
the House of Lords on appeal confirmed a verdict declaring the
refusal illegal. The Commons resented this as an infringement

48 LIMITED MONARCHY. lAnne.
of their rights, holding that they alone could deal with elections
to their House. It is noteworthy that on this occasion the
Tories were the champions of the constitutional rights of the
House of Commons. There were angry conferences between
the Houses, and the conflict became so bitter that the Queen
thought it wise to put an end to it by a prorogation of Parlia
ment. 3. Growing Influence of the Whigs. — It was at this time
that those changes on the Ministry began to be made which
ultimately transformed it from a mixed into a Whig administra
tion. This was chiefly the result of Marlborough's influence,
who, though himself a Tory at heart, complained that the
Tories hindered the vigorous prosecution of the war, and there
fore drifted toward the Whigs. The Earl of Rochester, the
head of the High Church Tories, had been got rid of in 1703.
He had never approved of the inclusion of Whigs in Queen
Anne's first administration, and had accepted the post of
Viceroy in Ireland. Nevertheless he appeared in the House
of Lords and denounced the war policy of the ministers, and
when he was ordered to return to his post in Ireland he sent
in his resignation. The Earl of Nottingham was the next to
go. In 1704 he demanded the expulsion of the Whigs, and
when that was refused he resigned. By Marlborough's advice
Robert Harley and Henry St. John, moderate Tories who sup
ported his war policy, were added to the Ministry. In 1705,
Lord Cowper, a Whig, became Lord Chancellor. In the new
Parliament returned in that year the Whigs had a majority,
and in 1706 the Earl of Sunderland, a Whig, was made a
Secretary of State. As Godolphin, like Marlborough, was now
practically a Whig, the only Tories left in the Ministry were
Harley and St. John.
4. Literature and Politics. — It is worth remembering that
Sunderland had as his under-secretary, Joseph Addison, after
wards the great English essayist The connection of literature
with politics was a sign of the times. Daniel Defoe, the author
of " Robinson Crusoe," was one of the most powerful controversial
writers of the day. He began his career as a writer of political

Anne.] THE SCOTTISH UNION. 49
pamphlets in the reign of William, and he continued it during
the reigns of Anne and George I. The political pamphlet
served the same purpose in that age as the leading article in
a newspaper, or an article in a magazine or a quarterly review,
serves now. Sometimes they were written in verse. Addison,
who had Somers and Montague as his friends and patrons, wrote
a poetical "Address to King William," in 1695. At the request
of Godolphin and Halifax he celebrated Marlborough's victory at
Blenheim in his poem " The Campaign,'' which was intended to
popularize the war policy of the Government. That service was
rewarded with political ofiices. He held the appointment of
undersecretary for two years, in the latter of which he was
elected a member of Parliament. In 1699 he went to Ireland
as secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant. Two other literary men
who went into the service of politics were Richard Steele and
Jonathan Swift. Unfortunately such men often degraded litera
ture by selling their services to a political party or a particular
minister. Swift wrote for the Whigs in the hope of being made
a bishop. When they disappointed him, he went over to the
Tories ; but they only made him Dean of St. Patrick's. Steele
was rewarded with a commissionership in the Stamp Office.
He afterwards entered Parliament, but he was expelled from
the House of Commons in 1713 for having written a pamphlet
in which he cast doubts on the Protestantism of the Government.
5. The State of Lreland : 1702-5. — In Ireland the Govern
ment of Anne followed the repressive and intolerant policy
which William had introduced. Romanist dignitaries and
priests, both regular and secular, were expelled from the country,
and priests educated abroad were forbidden to enter it. It was
treason to impeach the Protestant succession. Catholics were
prevented from purchasing, inheriting, or bequeathing lands.
The Catholic clergy were required to be registered on pain of
banishment. It was illegal for a Catholic to serve on the
grand jury. From the extinction of the Irish woollen trade
Protestants as well as Romanists suffered. The Irish Parlia
ment took up the cause of the Protestants, and addressed the
Government of Anne, urging a complete union with England as
(898) 4

.iO LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
the only remedy for their wrongs ; but the English ministers
rejected these overtures, and the Queen returned an evasive
reply. 6. The Scottish Union Question: 1702-5. — A question of
great importance now arose — the necessity of uniting the Par
liaments of England and Scotland. This had been a favourite
project of the Whigs ever since the Revolution. WUliam had
strongly approved it, and had recommended it on his death
bed ; and it had been referred to in Queen Anne's first speech
from the throne. Soon afterwards, commissioners from the two
countries met to discuss terms and conditions ; but they were
unable to agree (1702). Subsequent events convinced the
English Government of the necessity of a union being speedily
effected, if the two countries were not to drift into war. The
Scottish Parliament was still smarting under the disasters at
Darien. A bill in favour of the Hanoverian succession had
been introduced in the Scottish Parliament in 1704 ; but it
had been rejected with scorn. An Act of Security was then
passed, providing that, if Anne died childless, the Scottish
Estates should choose a successor of the royal line and the
Protestant religion ; but that the same Sovereign should not
rule over Scotland and England, unless the independence of
Scotland and the commercial equality of the two countries were
secured. Shortly afterwards the English Parliament placed re
strictions on Scottish trade : reprisals took place. On suspicion
of having robbed a certain Scottish ship which was missing, the
crew of an English ship driven into the Firth of Forth were tried,
and Captain Green, the mate, and a gunner were hanged. The
ill feeling between the two countries grew stronger than ever,
and it became evident to all parties that an incorporating union
was essential to the maintenance of peace.
7. A Joint-Commission Appointed : 1706. — In April 1706, a
Joint-Commission, consisting of thirty-one members from each
country, and having Daniel Defoe as its secretary, met at West
minster to draw up Articles of Union. They completed their
work in July. In October the last Scottish Parliament met in
Edinburgh to discuss the Articles. The Duke of Queensberry,

Anne.] THE SCOTTISH UNION. 51
the chief promoter of the Union, was the Royal Commissioner.
The leader of the opposition was the Duke of Hamilton, whose
royal blood was perhaps excited by hopes of the crown. The
Union was undoubtedly disliked by the majority of the Scottish
people. During the sitting of the Parliament, there was great
excitement in Edinburgh and all over the country. All work
and business were at a standstill. Eager and anxious crowds
thronged the neighbourhood of the Parliament House. Strong
bodies of troops were in readiness to put down rioting if the
peace should be broken.
8. The Union Ratified : 1707. — The Scottish ParUament was
about equally divided on the subject ; but English gold freely
distributed secured majorities sufficient to carry the measure.
The Treaty of Union was ratified by the Scottish Parliament
on January 16th, 1707. It received the Queen's assent on
March 4th, and the Union took effect on May 1st. The chief
terms of the Union were : — ¦
a. That the Electress Sophia of Hanover, and her heirs, if
Protestants, should succeed to the crown of the United King
dom of Great Britain.
h. That England and Scotland should be governed by one
Parliament sitting in London, in which Scotland should be rep
resented by sixteen elective Peers and forty-five members of
the Commons.
c. That all English ports and colonies should be opened to
Scottish traders.
cl. That while the laws of public policy should be the same
for both countries, those relating to property and private rights
should be preserved unaltered, except for the good of the
Scottish people.
e. That the Court of Session and other Scottish tribunals
should remain unchanged.
/ That the Church of Scotland should be maintained, as
by law established.
9. The "Equivalent Money:" 1707.— The first united Par
liament of Great Britain, which met in London on October
23rd, 1707, passed several Acts for the purpose of making the

.52 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
Union more complete. By one of these the Scottish Privy
Council was dissolved ; by another, the election of the sixteen
Scottish Peers was regulated ; by a third, provision was made
for the payment of the " equivalent money " — a sum of
£398,000 voted as compensation for the depreciation of the
Scottish coinage, but generally regarded as a bribe. As the
Scots refused to take the money in English paper, it was sent
to Edinburgh in specie. According to the account of Defoe,
who was then in Edinburgh, the waggons bearing it had to be
guarded by dragoons to ward off the attacks of the mob, who
looked on the gold as the price for which the independence of
their country had been bartered.
10. Effects of the Union. — Though the measure was very un
popular at the time of its passing, there can be no doubt that
both countries, and Scotland especially, have reaped from it
very great benefits. From that event Scotland must date the
great material prosperity which she now enjoys. The chief
objections urged at first against the change were the loss of in
dependence and the increased load of taxation ; but these were
only seeming evils. The commerce, the wealth, and the great
ness of Scotland began to advance with rapid strides. Fishing
villages became thriving sea-ports ; Glasgow and Dundee sprang
into great and populous cities.

CHAPTER VIIL— SUPREMACY OF THE COMMONS.'
1. The Whig Triumph: 1708.— The Whigs had retained
their ascendency over the Queen chiefly by the aid of Sarah,
Duchess of Marlborough. But the Queen became weary of a
companion who tried to have the upper-hand in everything.
Abigail Hill, a cousin of Harley, had been introduced into the
palace as an attendant on the Queen's person. Through this
woman, better known as Mrs. Masham, Harley succeeded in
undermining the influence of the duchess with the Queen. At
the same time he intrigued for the expulsion of the Whigs
from the Ministry. In retaliation, the Whigs demanded

Anne.] SUPREMACY OF THE COMMONS. 53
Harley's dismissal ; and Marlborough, who was entirely de
pendent on the Whigs, had no choice but to force this step on
the unwilling Queen. With Harley, St. John resigned. The
Ministry was now entirely Whig ; but the Tories were
strengthened in the House of Commons by obtaining as vigor
ous leaders Harley and St. John, who united in denouncing
Marlborough and the war. Robert Walpole took Harley's
place in the Ministry, which was further strengthened by the
addition of Lord Somers as President of the Council. This
was a great triumph for the Whigs. In this year Prince George
of Denmark, the Queen's husband, died, and was succeeded
in the office of Lord High Admiral by the Earl of Pembroke.
2. Party Government— The Cabinet: 1708.— The Whig
Ministry of 1708 has better claims to be considered the first
Cabinet formed on strictly party lines than the " Whig Junto "
of 1697. Though the members of the " Whig Junto '' all be
longed to the same party, they were selected individually by the
Sovereign ; and their retention of office did not depend on their
having the support of a majority of the House of Commons.
In 1708, that principle, which forms the foundation of respons
ible government, had been fully recognized. The appointment
of Sunderland as Secretary of State in 1706 was, as we have
seen, forced on Queen Anne against her will. The subsequent
changes showed that the Ministry was independent of the
Sovereign, and was practically chosen by the Parliament At
the same time, it became the custom for the chief ministers
forming the Cabinet to meet together in Council, distinct from
the Privy Council. The Cabinet Council, it is well to remem
ber, has no place in the written Constitution. It is a private
and informal meeting of ministers, and no record is kept of
its proceedings.
3. Trial of Dr. Sacheverell: 1709-10. — The Whig
triumph was short-lived. Ere long, events occurred which
stirred all England into a flame in favour of the Tories. Dr.
Henry Sacheverell, rector of St Saviour's, Southwark, had
preached two sermons — one (August 15) at Derby, another
(November 5) at St. Paul's before the Lord Mayor and Alder-

54 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
men of London — in which he denounced the Revolution as an
unrighteous change, maintained the duty of punishing Dis
senters, and called on the people to defend their Church, which
was in imminent danger. The Commons voted the sermons to
be scandalous and seditious libels. The Government, against
the advice of Marlborough, resolved on the impeachment of the
author ; and the case came before the House of Lords. The
trial lasted three weeks (Feb. 27-March 23, 1710). All the
clergy and the mass of the people were for Sacheverell. The
Queen attended the trial privately, to give him encouragement.
Bishop Atterbury wrote his defence. Every day, as he drove
to and from the court, his coach was followed by cheering mobs,
whose feelings, not content with this display, found further
vent in the destruction of Nonconformist churches, and in riots
that filled the citizens with alarm. Sacheverell was found
guilty, and forbidden to preach for three years. The sermons
were burned by the hangman in front of the Royal Exchange.
4. Return of the Tories : 1710. — This very light punish
ment, inflicted by a Whig House of Lords, was regarded as an
admission of defeat. Before the end of the year, Godolphin
and Sunderland were dismissed (August), and Harley and St.
John came into office. In the new Parliament, which met
in November, the Tory Ministry had a decided majority. One
of its first measures was an Act fixing the property qualifica
tion for members of the House of Commons at £300 a-year
(1710). Marlborough was retained in his command, as the
war was still going on ; but his duchess was dismissed from
her offices at Court, her place as companion to the Queen being
taken by Mrs. Masham. About the same time an attempt was
made on Harley's life by a French adventurer, bearing the
title of Marquis de Guiscard, whose pension he had reduced.
When brought before the Council for examination on a charge
of holding treasonable correspondence with France, he stabbed
Harley with a pocket-knife, the blade of which broke on his
breast-bone. The assailant was severely wounded by St John
and other councillors, who drew their swords on him, and he
died soon afterwards in Newgate. Harley's injury was slight,

Anne.] SUPREMACY OF THE COJIMONS. 55
and the incident added greatly to his popularity. The Queen
created him Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, and he was soon
advanced to the office of First Lord of the Treasury.
5. Creation of Twelve Peers: 1711. — When Marlborough
returned from his last campaign on the Continent in 1711, two
subjects were engaging the attention of Parliament — the Oc
casional Conformity Bill, and the proposed Treaty of Peace.
Three times already had the Occasional Conformity Bill been
passed by the Commons and rejected by the Lords. (See page
¦47.) The Earl of Nottingham, though piqued against Oxford
for having excluded him from office, was anxious that the Bill
should pass. Marlborough was not a strong enough Whig to
object seriously to that Bill, and he was extremely anxious that
his war policy should be vindicated. A secret compact was
therefore made, under which Marlborough and his friends voted
for the Occasional Conformity Bill, while Nottingham and the
disaffected Tories voted against the -peace proposals of the Gov
ernment. Oxford was equal to the occasion. He first charged
Marlborough with peculation, and had him dismissed from aU
his employments. (See page 45.) He then induced the Queen
to create twelve new Peers, and thus obtained a majority in
the House of Lords.
6. The Commons Supreme : 1711. — This step marks an era
in constitutional history. The Revolution had placed the
Parliament above the King, but neither House of Parliament
could claim to be above the other. Oxford's creation of Peers
gave the supremacy once for all to the Lower House. Nothing
that the Lords could do could alter the relation of parties in
the Commons. Oxford's device was a constitutional plan,
whereby the Ministry for the time being, which had the con
fidence of the majority of the Commons, could at once alter
the relation of parties in the House of Lords. On subsequent
occasions, it has been enough for the Ministry to threaten this
measure, and the Lords have at once given way. Thus the
ascendency of the Commons was established. Thenceforth the
greatest ministers have been Commoners.
7. Patronage in the Scottish Church: 1712.— An Act of

56 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
the Scottish Parliament had in 1690 given the right to appoint
ministers to churches to the "heritors and elders" of each
parish. That Act was rescinded in 1712 by the British Parlia.
ment, which restored to lay patrons " their ancient rights " of
presenting ministers in Scotland. The Act caused much dis
content in Scotland, and made the Government very unpopular
there. Indeed, it was intended to have that effect, its chief pro
moters being Jacobites. The Patronage question continued to
trouble the Church of Scotland i for more than a century, and
led ultimately to its disruption in 1843. The Scottish Peers
and members of Parliament professed to be so disappointed
with the effects of the Union that they proposed seriously to
have it repealed. A motion for that purpose was actually
made in the House of Lords in 1713, and it was rejected by a
majority of only four votes.
8. Quarrel of Oxford and Bolingbroke : 1714. — The Treaty
of Utrecht, signed on the last day of March 1713, was a great
triumph for the Tories ; but the victory was transient. When
the terms of the treaty became known in England, they caused
intense disappointment. Oxford and St. John (now Viscount
Bolingbroke) were, besides, known to be favourable to the acces
sion of the Pretender on the death of Anne. In this project
they were joined by the Duke of Ormond, a Jacobite, who had
succeeded to Marlborough's command, and who was now made
Warden of the Cinque Ports. These schemes, which could not be
altogether concealed, brought discredit on the whole Tory party.
After the death of the Princess Sophia, in 1714, when her son
George-Louis became heir apparent, the Jacobites renewed their
intrigues. They were not without hopes of success. Bolingbroke,
who had long been Oxford's secret enemy, now drove him from
office. The cause of their quarrel was the passing of the Schism
Act, which made a bishop's license necessary before any one could
open a public or a private school. Bolingbroke carried the Act
through Parliament. Oxford disapproved of it, and resigned.

1 Church of Scotland. In 1843, the anti-
Patronage party formed the Free Church.
Lay Patronage was abolished by Act of

Parliament in 1874, and the election of
ministers was transferred to the communi
cants and adherents in each congregation.

Anne.] THE CONSTITUTION. 57
9. Death of the Queen : 1714. — Bolingbroke now expected
to have his own way in everything ; but before his plans
were complete — even before he had chosen a successor to Ox
ford — the Queen was suddenly struck down with apoplexy
(July 29). Bolingbroke and the Jacobites were taken by sur
prise. Anne was induced, by moderate men of both parties, to
appoint as Lord Treasurer the Duke of Shrewsbury, a Tory,
but a Hanoverian (July 31). She died the next day.
10. Character of Queen Anne. — Anne was not remarkable
either for talent or for learning. She was possessed of good
sense, and was simple and homely in her tastes and habits.
The weak point in her character was the facility with which
she submitted to the influence of favourites — first of the Marl-
boroughs, then of Harley and Mrs. Masham, and last of Boling
broke. Her natural kindliness of heart gained for her the
title of " the Good Queen Anne.'' Of her devotion to the
Church of England she gave practical proof in her voluntary
surrender of the first-fruits of ecclesiastical benefices (granted
to the Crown in 1559), in order that they might be employed
in augmenting small livings in the Church, under the scheme
known as Queen Anne's Bounty. The loss of all her children
saddened her life, and she died a mourning and childless widow.
11. The Constitution. — Several important constitutional points
were settled in Queen Anne's reign. One of these was the
system of government by party, controlled by the House of
Commons. Queen Anne adhered as long as she could to the
theory that it was her right to select her ministers from either
party, or from both parties ; and the Tories, led by Harley,
encouraged her in that view ; but they were finally beaten
when Harley and St. John were driven out of office in 1708.
Then the principle of government by a homogeneous Cabinet
was fully established. That settled the supremacy of the Com
mons in matters of administration.
An Act passed in 1708 made it unlawful for holders of
pensions from the Crown, or of offices created after October 25,
1705, to sit in Parliament. Holders of offices that had existed
before 1705 were required to vacate their seats, but were

58 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Anne.
eligible for re-election. An Act passed in 1710 fixed the
property qualification of members of the House of Commons
at £300 a-year at least, from lands and heritages.
Another point settled in Queen Anne's reign was the suprem
acy of the Commons over the Lords. This was done in 1711
when Harley, in order to secure a majority in the House of
Lords favourable to his foreign policy, induced the Queen to
create twelve new peers. By using, or by threatening to use,
this expedient, a powerful Ministry, supported by a majority of
the Commons, can always control the Upper House.
The Act against Occasional Conformity (1711) excluded
from Parliament those Dissenters who conformed to the Church
of England in order to take their seats, and became Noncon
formists again afterwards. It was a reactionary measure, con
trary to the Toleration Act of 1689. The Schism Act (1714),
requiring all schoolmasters to hold a bishop's license, was of
the same nature. The Act of Union with Scotland made an
important change on the Constitution, inasmuch as it incor-
l)orated the two Parliaments of England and Scotland in one,
and thus established the British or Imperial Parliament. Anne
was the last Sovereign who refused the royal assent to a Bill
which had passed through Parliament That was in 1707.

THE STUARTS AND THE HANOVERIANS.
James I.
= Anne of Denmark.
I

I ^1"

Henry CHAKLES T. ,-,, ', ,,
(Died young.) = Henrie„a Maria. = r,ederi^,"fS, Palatine
j- I  a"d King' of Bohemia.
CHARLES II. JAMES II. Marv Hi.nri».tta c 't,-
; ¦ i- —  I Ceorcfe Louis.
MAT^vri ,j; ann'eC. UmU) ^vi.uam III. '""TAgJ^Tf^^ ''
- WUbam III. (the Pretender) = Mary II. ^ ^
= Clementina.
Sobieski.

I  -^  1
Charles Edward. Henry Benedict,
the ^ ounK Pretender Cardinal of York.
(Died 1788.1 (Died 1807.)
The last of the Stuarts.

Anne.]

NAMES OF NOTE.

59

CHIEF EVENTS.

1702. Declaration of war against Spain.
1701. Marlborough's victory at Blenheim— Cap
ture of Gibraltar.
1705. Peterborough's capture of Barcelona.
1706. Marlborough's victory at Ramiilies
1707. Union of the English and Scottish ParUa-
ments.
1708. The Allies defeated by Berwick at Alman
za— Placemen excluded from Parliament—
The Ministry became Whig ; first united
Cabinet dependent on the Commons— Marl
borough's victory at Oudenarde— Capture of
Minorca.
1709. Marlborough's capture of Tournay- His

Tlctory at Malplaquet, and capture of Mons.
1710. Trial of Dr. Sacheverell— FaU of the Whig
Ministry— Property qualification of members
of the Commons settled.
1711. The dismissal of Marlborough— Act passed
against Occasional Conformity— Harley's cre
ation of twelve peers.
1712. Lay Patronage revived In the Scottish
Church.
1713. The Treaty of Utrecht concluded.
1714. The SchismAct passed —Quarrel of Boling
broke (St. John) and Oxford (Harley)— The
latter dismissed— Shrewsbury made Lord
Treasurer- Death of Queen Anne {Aug. 1).

NAMES OF NOTE.

Duke of Berwick, defeated the Allies at Almanza,
1708 ; took Barcelona, 1714,
Earl Cowper (William), a Whig; Lord Keeper,
and a Commissioner of the Scottish Union,
1705 ; first Lord Chancellor of Crreat Britain,
1707 ; resigned, 1710.
Prince Eugene of Savoy, imperial general ; with
Marlborough at Blenheim, 1704, and at Mal
plaquet, 1709; supported Marlborough in
London, 1712 ; defeated by Villars. 1713.
Lord Godolphin, Tory Lord Treasurer, 1702;
became a Whig, 1708; dismissed, 1710; in
trigued with St. Germains, 1711 ; died, 1712.
Duke of Hamilton (James Douglas), opposed the
Scottish Union, 1705 : Ambassador to France;
promoted Treaty of Utrecht, 1711-12 ; killed
in a duel, 1712.
Robert Harley, a moderate Tory; Secretary
of State, 1704 ; Intrigued with Mrs. Mash
am against Marlborough ; dismissed, 1708 ;
Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime
Minister, 1710 : wounded by Guiscard, made
Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer, 1711;
created twelve new peers, 1712 ; quarrel with
Bolingbroke, and dismissal, 1714.
Earl of Marlborough, made Command er-in-rjh1ef;
won Blenheim. 1704; made a duke; won
RamiUles, 1706; Oudenarde, 1703; Malpla
quet, 1709 ; declared himself a Whig, 1705 ;
accused of peculation, and dismissed, 1711 ;
went abroad. 1712.
Earl of Nottingham (Daniel Finch), Tory Secre
tary of State, 1702 ; demanded expulsion of
the Whigs, and resigned, 1704; Joined the
Whigs, 1710 ; carried the Occasional Con
formity Bill, and voted against the Peace,
1711 ; died. 1730.
Duke of Ormond (James Butler), sent to Cadiz
with Sir G Rooke's troops, 1702 ; Viceroy in
Ireland, 1703 ; appointed Marlborough's suc
cessor, 1711 ; to avoid impeachment, fled to
France, 1714.
Earl of Peterborough (Charles Mordaunt), sent
to command in Spain ; captured Barcelona,
1705; relieved Barcelona, 1706; diplomatic

service in Italy, 1706 ; envoy to Vienna, 1711 ;
Governor of Minorca, 1713.
Duke of Queensberry (James Douglas), Scottish
Secretary of State, 1702; Scottish Commis
sioner for the Treaty of Union, 1706; Secre
tary of State, 1709 ; died, 1711,
Earl of Rochester (Lawrence Hyde), a Tory ; Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland, 1700; resigned, 1703;
President of the Council, 1710 ; died, 1711.
Sir George Rooke, vice-admiral ; stormed Vigo,
1702; captured Gibraltar, 1T04; withdrew
from the service, 170S ; died 1709.
Dr. Henry Sacheverell, Tory divine ; preached
two sermons against the Revolution, 1709;
tried, and suspended for three years, 1710;
Rector of Holborn, 1713.
Henry St. John, Secretary for War, 1704; re
signed, 1708; Secretaryof State, 1710; made
Viscount Bolingbroke, 1712; quarrel with
Oxford, 1714 ; failure of his plans.
Sir Cloudesley Shovel, served under Rooke at
Vigo and Gibraltar, 1702-4; at siege of Ton-
Ion, 1707: drowned o£E the Scilly Isles on his
way home, 1707.
Duke of Shrewsbury (Charles Talbot), Ambassa
dor to France, 1712-13; Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland, 1713-14 ; Lord Treasurer. 1714 ;
died, 1718.
Lord Somers, Lord President of the Council, 1707 ;
retired, 1710; died, 1716.
E3,rl of Sunderland (Charles Spencer), son-in-law
of Marlborough; envoy to Vienna, 1705;
Whig Secretary of State. 1706; advised the
trial of Sacheverell, and resigned, 1710.
Marshal Tallard, French general: taken pris
oner at Blenheim, 1704.
Marshal VUlars, French general ; defeated at
Malplaquet, 1709 ; victorious over Dutch and
Austrians, 1713 ; signed Treaty of Utrecht.
Marshal Villeroi, French general, defeated at
Ramiilies, 1706.
Robert Walpole, Whig Secretary at War, 1708 :
Treasurer of the Navy, 171011; expelled
from House of Commons for corruption, 1711 ;
imprisoned, January to July 1712.

REIGN OF GEORGE I. (HANOVER).
1714-1727.

CHAPTER IX.— THE 'FIFTEEN, AND FOREIGN
AFFAIRS.
1. The New Dynasty : 1714. — The Hanoverian succession
was effected in the quietest manner possible. The Elector was
at once proclaimed King with the title of George I.i Till his
arrival in England, which took place on September 18th, the
Government was carried on by eighteen " Lords Justices,"
nominated by himself, and chosen chiefly from the "Whig party.
George's partiality for the Whigs, to whom he owed his crown,
was soon evident. He dismissed the Tory ministers, with the
exception of the Duke of Shrewsbury, whom he made Lord
Chamberlain. 2. The Whig Ministry : 1714. — As George had some inten
tion of being his own chief minister, he filled the chief posts
in the Whig Ministry with second-rate men of that party. The
Earl of Halifax (Charles Montague) was made First Lord of the
Treasury ; but the real head of the Government was Charles,
Viscount Townshend, one of the Secretaries of State, the other
being General James Stanhope, the unsuccessful successor of
Peterborough in Spain. Robert Walpole, Townshend's brother-
in-law, was Paymaster of the Forces, and he soon raised himself
by his talents in debate to be the leader of his party in the
House of Commons. Marlborough was restored to the office
^ George I. , son of the Electress Sophia, 1 thirty years shut up in a castle in Ha^jUTver.
and great-grandson of James I. Married Issue, one son and one daughter. Keiened
Sophia-Dorothea of Zell, who— '• ' '

Hallfaxi] THE 'fifteen, AXD FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Gl

of Commander-in-Chief; but his power was gone, and in the
following year an attack of paralysis made him unfit for service.
3. The Cabinet and the Prime Minister.— George was un
able to carry out his intention of being his own minister by a
difficulty he had not anticipated. He did not know English,
and none of his ministers knew German. They had to com
municate with one another in Latin that was by no means
classical. The King was too old to learn English — he was
fifty-four — and the ministers had no inclination to learn Ger
man. The consequence was that the King had to abandon the
farce of presiding at a council of ministers where he could not
understand a word of what was said. Two things followed
from this. In the first place, the Ministry became independent
of the Sovereign, and acquired greater influence. In the second
place, it became necessary that the Ministry should have a
head ; and hence the leading member of the Cabinet came
during this reign to be regarded as Prime Minister. The office
of Prime Minister, or head of the Cabinet, resembles the
Cabinet itself in not being recognized in the Constitution.
The post is usually held in conjunction with one of the regular
offices, as that of First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, or Secretary of State.
4. Impeachment of the Tory Ministers : 1715. — An Act had
been passed in 1707 providing that the Parliament in existence
at the time of Queen Anne's death should continue for six
months thereafter. Accordingly, Anne's Parliament was not
dissolved till the end of January 1715. In the new Parlia
ment, which met in March, the Whigs had a large majority.
When it met, a committee of the Commons, with Walpole as
chairman, was appointed to inquire into the conduct of the
late ministers with regard to the Treaty of Utrecht. Oxford,
Bolingbroke, and the Duke of Ormond, ^ against all of whom
there were strong suspicions of a secret correspondence with
the Pretender, were impeached for high treason. Bolingbroke ^

^ Halifax, Prfme Minister.
- Ormond, James Butler, Duke of (1665-
1747). 3 Bolingbroke became the Pretender's chief

adviser. Having quarrelled with James,
he was allowed to return to England in
1723 : but he was not permitted to enter
Parliament.

G 2 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George I.
and Ormond fled to the Continent, where they joined the
councils of the Pretender. Oxford was sent to the Tower,
where he remained for two years. As there was doubt as to
whether the charges against him amounted to treason, the case
was abandoned by the Commons, and he was released, and
retired into private life.
5. The Riot Act : 1715. — Though the Tories did not return
to power for more than a generation, there was a considerable
party in the nation favourable to them. Riots of Whig and
Tory mobs took place in several towns. The men of Stafford
shire assembled in crowds to applaud Jacobite speeches. The
Government, however, acted promptly. The Riot Act, which
had been passed in Queen Mary's time, was re-enacted and
made permanent. By this measure, any crowd of more than
twelve persons, which refused to disperse in a given time,
might be scattered by military force. In anticipation of a
Jacobite rising, the army and the navy were made ready for
war. Lord Halifax died in May, and Walpole succeeded him
as First Lord of the Treasury in October.
6. The 'Fifteen: 1715. — The alarm of the King and his
ministers was not without foundation. The Jacobites had un
doubtedly been gaining ground both in England and in Scot
land, and their hopes were raised by the personal unpopularity
of the German King. In defiance of the Treaty of Utrecht,
the Pretender was in France, busily engaged in preparing for a
descent on Scotland with the help of Louis XIV. The death
of Louis, in the midst of these preparations, was a fatal blow
to the prospects of the Pretender ; for it was evident that the
French Government would have enough to do in repairing the
shattered resources of the country. But it was too late to draw
back. Within a few days after the death of Louis, the flame
of rebellion was actually kindled both in England and in Scot
land. The Jacobites of Northumberland had been called to
arms by the Earl of Derwentwater and i\Ir. Forster, the mem
ber for the county ; but few of them had obeyed the summons.
They were aided by 1,800 Highlanders, a reinforcement from
the Earl of Mar, and were joined by a few lords of the Scottish

Walpole.] THE 'FIFTEEN, AND FOREIGN AFFAIRK.

G.3

Border. But General Wills, who commanded the Royalist
troops, forced Forster into the town of Preston in Lancashire,
and there compelled him to surrender (November 13).
7. Battle of Sheriffmuir : 1715.— The rising in Scotland
was headed by the Earl of Mar, who had gathered 10,000
clansmen around him at Braemar,^ and held all the Highlands
for James ; while the Duke of Argyle, with the Royalist army
strongly posted at Stirling, watched his movements. Having
made Perth his head-quarters, Mar advanced to Dunblane,
evidently with the intention of crossing the Forth and march
ing southward. To prevent the latter movement, Argyle re
solved to give battle to the Highland army at once, though he
could not muster more
than 4,000 men. He at
tacked Mar's army on
Sherifiinuir,^ the high
ground above Dunblane,
on November 13, the
same day on which Pres
ton was taken. The right
wing of each army was
victorious, and the left
was defeated. The vic
tory was thus indecisive,
but the practical advantage remained with Argyle, as Mar was
forced to abandon his southward march and to retire to Perth,
his ranks thinned by the desertion of the Highlanders, who
returned to their homes in large numbers.
8. The Pretender in Scotland : 1715-16.— The Chevalier de
St. George, as the Pretender was called on the Continent, being
resolved to see what his presence in the native land of the
Stuarts would do, landed at Peterhead, on the coast of Aber
deenshire, on December 22nd ; but with no money, no troops,
no warlike stores. He found his party broken and dispirited ;

^ Braemar, more correctly Castletown of
Braemar, a village in the old district of
Mar in Aberdeenshire.

^ Sheriffmuir, on the slope of the Ochil
Hills, in the south of Perthshire; 8 miles
north of Stirling.

G4 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George L
and his arrival without the aid from France which had been so
eagerly looked for, cast a deeper gloom over the Stuart cause.
At Perth he frivolously wasted many days in preparing for his
coronation, while the crown was yet to be won. Amid his
dreams of a splendour never to be realized, he heard that
Argyle was advancing ; and he retreated northward toward
Montrose, where he and Mar embarked for France, leaving the
army to its fate (February 4, 1716). The Earl of Derwent
water, Lord Kenmure, and about twenty others, suffered death.
The Earl of Nithsdale was also condemned to death, but
escaped from the Tower in women's clothes brought to him by
his heroic wife on the evening before the day fixed for his
execution. The Earl of Wintoun, Mr. Forster, and other rebel
leaders, also escaped from prison. About twenty private per
sons were executed. The estates of many were confiscated ;
and more than a thousand were banished to North America.
9. The Septennial Act : 1716. — The effect on political parties
of the failure of the rebellion was to discredit the Tories and
greatly to strengthen the Government. Nevertheless, the
Whigs were by no means sure of their hold on the country,
and they were unwilling to lose the advantage which their
majority in the House of Commons gave them. They therefore
resolved to postpone the termination of the Parliament. The
proposal that the Parliament should prolong its own existence
by a vote was denounced by the Tories as arbitrary and uncon
stitutional. But the Government pleaded the dangerous con
sequences to which a general election might lead, in the excited
state of the country. On that ground they passed the Sep
tennial Act, extending the possible duration of Parliaments to
seven years. The Parliament then sitting, which had met on
March 21, 1715, and should have expired in 1718, was not
dissolved till March 10, 1722. Very few subsequent Parlia
ments have lasted a longer period than six years.
10. Foreign Affairs: 1716. — The position of George I. re
sembled in one respect that of William III. He valued his
position as King of Great Britain as a means of strengthening
the Electorate of Hanover. In this way he embroiled Britain

Walpole.] THE FIFTEEN, AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 6-5
both with Sweden and with Spain. He had in 1716 bought
from the King of Denmark the Duchy of Bremcn,i which
Charles XII. of Sweden had claimed. The Swedish minister
intrigued with the Jacobites, but no active steps were taken
in that direction at that time. George wished a British fleet
to be sent to the Baltic, to attack not only Sweden, but also
Russia, since Peter the Great had ventured for the first time
to interfere in Western politics by sending an army into
Mecklenburg. Lord Townshend offended George by thwarting
him in these Continental schemes, and also by his supposed
encouragement of the Prince of Wales in his quarrel with his
father. The Earl of Sunderland, who was dissatisfied with his
position of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, privately advised the
King to get rid of his obdurate minister, which George, adopting
the Tory view of ministerial responsibility, summarily did by
transferring him to the Irish Viceroyalty. Lord Sunderland
joined the King in Hanover, there to continue his intrigues.
11. The Triple AUiance: 1717.— Early in 1717, a Triple
Alliance was formed by Great Britain with France and Hol
land, for the maintenance of the Hanoverian succession, and
to prevent the union of the crowns of France and Spain.
Britain was thus allied with France for the same purpose for
which she had been allied with the Empire in the reign of Anne.
But the position of afiairs in France had changed. Louis
XIV. of France had died in 1715, and had been succeeded by
his great-grandson Louis XV., a sickly boy only five years old.
Philip, Duke of Orleans, a nephew of Louis XIV., was Regent,
while the nearest heir to the throne was Philip V. of Spain.
Though Philip V. had renounced his right to the French
throne, the Regent Orleans believed or feared that he would
claim it in the event of the death of Louis XV. It was as
much in his own interest, therefore, as in that of France, that
Orleans entered into the Triple Alliance. A counter-alliance
called the Northern League was then formed by Charles of

' Bremen. Not the Free City so called,
but an old German duchy, originally
a bishopric, and now secularized, in Han'

over, on the border of Oldenburg. Ver-
den was the chief town in the Duchy of
Bremen.

(898) 5

66 LOIITED MONARCHY. [George I.
Sweden with his old enemy the Czar and with Spain. To
prepare for the war which seemed imminent, George asked the
Commons for large supplies. Walpole supported the vote in
a very half-hearted manner, and it was carried by the narrow
majority of four. Some of Lord Townshend's known adherents
having voted in the minority, the King dismissed him from the
Lord-Lieutenancy. Walpole and Pulteney resigned next day.
General Stanhope became First Lord of the Treasury and Chan
cellor of the Exchequer ; Lord Sunderland and Addison were
Secretaries of State ; and James Craggs succeeded Pulteney
as Secretary at War. The Whig party was thus split in two,
the section led by Townshend and Walpole going into opposition.
12. The Quadruple Alliance: 1718. — The arrangements of
the allied powers were disconcerted by the schemes of Giulio
Alberoni, an Italian cardinal, who had been made chief minister
of Spain three years previously. With consummate skill and
unscrupulousness he carried on intrigues in nearly all the
courts of Europe — in Italy, in Austria, in France, in Great
Britain, as well as in Sweden and Russia. The efforts of the
allies to counteract them only threatened to draw them and all
Europe into war. At that time, the British Ministry was
rearranged. Addison resigned in consequence of ill-health.
Lord Sunderland became First Lord of the Treasury. Stanhope
(now Viscount Mahon, and soon to become Earl Stanhope)
and Craggs were made Secretaries of State, the former hav
ing charge of foreign affairs ; while John Aislabie was
Chancellor of the Exchequer (March 1718). The Quadruple
Alliance was then formed, by which Germany, Britain,
France, and Holland leagued themselves against Philip of
Spain. Admiral Byng destroyed the Spanish fleet off Cape
Passaro, in the south of Sicily. In retaliation, Alberoni, the
Spanish minister, sent an expedition to invade Scotland in
favour of the Pretender; but a storm having shattered the
fleet, only two frigates reached Loch Alsh, in the south-west
of Ross-shire, having on board the IMarquis of Tullibardine,
the Earl ]Marischal, and the Earl of Seaforth. Three hundred
Spaniards were landed, and were joined by several hundred

Sunderland.] THE RISE OF WALPOLE. G7
Highlanders. Though successful in their single engagement
with the Royalist troops, the rebels saw the utter hopelessness
of their case, and dispersed during the night. Seaforth, who
was severely wounded, and two other Scottish nobles, re-em
barked and escaped to the Continent. The Spanish soldiers
surrendered next day. Soon afterwards, the death of Charles
XII. broke up the Northern League. Next year tlie French
crossed the Pyrenees, and defeated the Spaniards in several
engagements. At length Philip was forced to dismiss Alberoni
from office and to banish him from Spain (1719). Worsted
by land and by sea, he then agreed to the terms of the Quad
ruple Alliance (1720).
CHAPTER X— THE RISE OF WALPOLE.
1. Rivalry of Stanhope and Walpole : 1717-20. — Stan
hope's foreign policy was thus on the whole successful. He
had accomplished his object of humbling Spain without involv
ing the country in an expensive war. His home policy was
scarcely less successful, though he had to reckon with the oppo
sition of the discontented Whigs led by Walpole. The break
down of the impeachment of Oxford (Harley) was mainly due
to their interference. But the Ministi*y increased its popularity
by a comprehensive Act of Grace, issued in 1717, when many
political prisoners were released. It was about this time that
the Ministry was reconstituted, in order to give Stanhope the
direction of the foreign policy of the Government. In 1718,
the Occasional Conformity Act of 1711 and the Schism Act of
1714 (see pages 55, 56) — both Tory measures — were repealed
with the help of Walpole ; but when Stanhope showed an incli
nation to repeal also the Test and Corporation Acts of Charles
II. (see page 138), a threat of opposition from Walpole caused
him to desist. The great battle, however, was fought on the
Peerage Bill of 1719. That Bill was suggested by the creation
of twelve Peers by Harley in 1711, in order to obtain a majority
in the House of Lords. The power of the Whigs lay in the
House of Lords, and they were afraid that a Tory Government

68 LIMITED MONARCHY, [George I.
having a majority in the Commons might at any time join with
the Crown in overthrowing that supremacy. , The Bill therefore,
among other limitations, proposed to restrict the number of new
peerages to 6 above the existing number of 178. It was vehe
mently opposed by the Tories and by Walpole, and was de
feated in the Commons by a majority of 92. The defeat, how
ever, did not turn out the Government. That Stanhope should
have been able to retain ofiice in the face of such a vote
shows that, though the principle of responsible party govern
ment had been acknowledged, its practice had not yet been
fully established. The result further convinced Walpole and
Townshend that they could do nothing in Opposition, and in
1720 they both re-entered the Government — the former as
Paymaster of the Forces, the latter as Lord President of the
Council. Walpole had now regained the favour of the King
by having brought about a reconciliation between him and the
Prince of Wales, with whom he had quarrelled.
2. The South Sea Scheme: 1720.— The Sunderland-Stan-
hope Ministry was now the most powerful that England had
seen; but its end was not far off! Though strong against
assaults from without, it collapsed from internal decay. What
led directly to its ruin was its connection with the famous
South Sea Scheme. In 1719, the scheme of the Mississippi
Company, set on foot in Paris by Law, a Scottish banker, by
which paper money was to take the place of gold and silver,
had ruined thousands by its utter failure. In the following
year the South Sea Scheme set all England crazy. The National
Debt then amounted to .£53,000,000. The Government was
obliged to pay to all who had lent the money — that is, who had
invested money in the funds— interest at the rate of 6 per cent.
at least; which came to £3,180,000 in the year. This was a
heavy burden on a yearly revenue of £8,000,000 ; and to re
move or lessen the debt was the problem that occupied the
financiers of the day.
3. Plan of the Company.— The Bank of England and the
South Sea Company proposed plans to accomplish this object.
The latter had been established by Harley in 1711 as a means

Sunderland.] THE RISE OF \VALPOLE. 09
of funding a portion of the National Debt. The holders of
the stock were to receive interest at the rate of 6 per cent, at
the end of five years, and were to enjoy the monopoly of trade
in the South Sea — the coasts of South America. Though its
privileges were more nominal than real, the Company flourished,
and was now able to enter into competition with the Bank of
England ; and its offers were accepted by the Government.
The Company agreed to redeem the public debt in twenty-six
years, if certain additional trading privileges were granted to
it. It took over annuities amounting to £800,000 a-year,
paying the Government seven and a half millions sterling. A
large proportion of the annuitants accepted the South Sea
shares in lieu of the Government securities.
4. Collapse of the Bubble. — Stories of the treasure to be
drawn from golden islands in the Pacific found eager listeners
everywhere. The Company promised a dividend of fifty per
cent, at least, and the shares rose rapidly. Hundreds rushed
to the offices of the Company to exchange their Government
stock for shares in the scheme. Rich men and poor widows,
statesmen and errand-boys, jostling each other in the race for
gold, paid their money across the counter, and received from
the clerks pieces of paper which they fondly believed would
secure to them the possession of twenty-fold riches. The ex
citement became a mania which infected thousands. Men
paid away £1,000 for the chance of the profits which £100
might bring from the South Seas. The most ridiculous
joint-stock companies were started in imitation of the great
scheme — one for extracting silver from lead, another for
making salt water fresh, a third for importing jack-asses from
Spain. The South Sea directors, armed with an Act of Parlia
ment, crushed these rival companies; but amid the smaller
failures their own gigantic bubble bur.st. The price of its
stock fell from £1,000 in August to £175 in September. The
Abroad.— In 1720, the Emperor Charles VI. received the Two Sicilies from
the Duke of Savoy, who received in exchange Sardinia, with the title of
King Victor-Amadeiis I. His descendant, Victor Emanuel, King of Sar
dinia, became King of Italy in 186L

70 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George I,
eyes of the nation were opened, and thousands became ruined
bankrupts. 5. Retribution : 1721. — A cry for vengeance was then raised
by the sufferers — a cry directed against the Government as
well as against the directors of the Company. A Committee
of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the
conduct of ministers, several of whom, including Sunderland,
Stanhope, Aislabie, and Craggs, were accused of having ac
cepted bribes to procure the passing of the Company's Bill.
While defending himself against a virulent attack in the House
of Lords, Earl Stanhope fell down in a fit of apoplexy, and
died next day (February 5, 1721). Lord Sunderland resigned,
and died in the following year. Craggs died of small-pox ; and
his father, the Postmaster-General, committed suicide. Aislabie
was expelled from the House of Commons. Walpole took his
place as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
6. Walpole's Remedial Measures: 1721. — It now fell to
Walpole as Chancellor of the Exchequer to provide a remedy
for these gigantic evils. His splendid powers as a financier well
fitted him for the task, and he had fortunately been out of
the Ministry when the scheme was adopted. His plan was to
divide the losses, and thus to make the pressure on the nation
less. Nine millions of South Sea Stock were assigned to the
Bank of England, and nine more to the East India Company ;
while the Government gave up the greater part of their bonus of
seven and a half millions. The estates of the directors, amount
ing in value to two millions sterling, were sold, and were ap
plied in compensating the shareholders. Though the directors
had committed grave faults, and had been guilty of wholesale
bribery, no illegal acts in conducting the business of the Com
pany could be brought home to them ; and it required a retro
spective Act of Parliament to punish them The real cause of
the wide-spread misery was the frenzy of gambling speculation
Abroad.— In 1721, after the death of Charles XII. of Sweden, his king
dom was partially dismembered by Russia, Prussia, and Hanover. Sweden
then lost also her position as a Great Power in Europe. In the same year,
the Duchy of Schleswig was " inalienably " incorporated with Denmark.

Walpole.] THE RISE OF WALPOLE. 71
that seized on all classes of the community. The Company had
no doubt stimulated the madness by their delusive promises of
vast dividends, but their punishment was an act of popular
vengeance rather than of strict justice.
7. Walpole's Ministry: 1721.— Walpole was so evidently the
most powerful man in the Ministry that, in April, he added the
office of First Lord of the Treasury to that of Chancellor of
the Exchequer. Lord Townshend and John, Lord Carteret
(afterwards Earl Gran\-ille) were the Secretaries of State.
The Earl of Macclesfield was Lord Chancellor. Marlborough
was nominally at the head of the Ordnance till his death in
the following year. William Pulteney, who had been a warm
supporter of Walpole, expected a Cabinet place, but received
only a Household post, and was disappointed and soured.
8. Walpole's Character. — For over twenty years Walpole
continued to direct the Government. He was a man of little
learning, rough and boisterous in his manners and in his life ;
but he held his great power with a passionate grasp, and
preserved it, not very honestly, indeed, but with consummate
tact. He had a low estimate of human nature. Of a band
of boastful " Patriots " he said, " All these men have their
price."! He himself undoubtedly demoralized the Commons
by scattering among them places, titles, and gold. In govern
ing by corruption, however, he was simply following the evil
custom of his time. His chief talent lay in finance. To his
wise measures England owed great advances in her commerce
and her manufactures.
9. Case of Bishop Atterbury : 1722-23. — One of the first
troubles with which Walpole had to deal was a Jacobite plot.
Francis Atterbury, the restless Bishop of Rochester, who had
stood by Sacheverell (see page 53) during the crisis of his trial,
and who had refused to sign the address of the bishops to
George on his accession, intrigued for the return of the Pre
tender. The Jacobites asked aid from the Regent Orleans,
and he betrayed their intentions to the British Government.
^ Walpole's motto was, Quie(a Tion movere, I Compare Lord Melbourne's saying, "Can't
freely rendered, "Let sleeping dogs lie." | you let it alone ? ''

72 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George I.
Walpole, on receipt of this information, proceeded to take
active measures. Atterbury was sent to the Tower in August.
The new Parliament, which met in October, was strongly
Whig, and readily agreed to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act
for twelve months. In the following year, a Bill of Pains and
Penalties passed through both Houses, sentencing Atterbury to
deprivation and exile (1723). The last years of his life, spent
in France, were devoted to scheming both in favour of James
and for his own return to England.
10. Return of Bolingbroke: 1723.— The efforts of Boling
broke to get back to England put Walpole in a most unpleasant
position. At the solicitation of the King, the minister gave
his name to the reversal of the exile's forfeiture, but he insisted
on retaining the clause which excluded him from the House of
Lords. Bolingbroke took his revenge by allying himself with the
enemies of Walpole — the Jacobites, the Tories, and the discon
tented Whigs. Though he could not make speeches in Parlia
ment, he could write bitter attacks on the great minister, and
he could intrigue against him in secret. He found a most
active ally in Pulteney, who, in 1725, withdrew in disgust
from the Ministry, and threw himself vigorously into the ranks
of the Opposition, where he became the leader of "the Pa
triots," as the band of disappointed Whigs was called. In the
pages of The Craftsman, a weekly newspaper, he and Boling
broke wrote scathing denunciations of Walpole. But the min
ister was unmoved, and his power remained unshaken.
11. Wood's Halfpence and Drapier's Letters: 1723-24. —
Ireland had accepted the Hanoverian succession quite peace
ably. She had shown no sympathy with the Scottish rising of
1715, and her loyalty was rewarded with a renewal of the
Regium Donum, or annual grant to the Presbyterians, which
had been discontinued for four years. In 1719, the Irish Par
liament, in spite of the virulent opposition of the Tories and of
the Irish " Patriots " led by Dean Swift, passed a Toleration
Act exempting Dissenters from penal laws. Now, however
(1723-24), Ireland was convulsed by a question which in itself
was of trifling importance. Copper money being scarce in that

Walpole.] THE RISE OF WALPOLE. 73
country, a patent was granted to the Duchess of Kendal, a
royal mistress, and was by her sold to William Wood, an English
ironmaster, for the coinage of halfpence and farthings to the
value of £108,000. Though Wood executed his contract quite
honestly, there arose a strong prejudice against the new coins.
The popular clamour found voice in the famous " Drapier's
Letters " of Dean Swift, and the Ministry found it necessary
to annul Wood's patent, and to grant him in compensation a
pension of £3,000 for eight years.
12. Removal of Carteret : 1724. — During the turmoil. Lord
Carteret arrived in Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant. Owing to a
quarrel with Walpole, he had been obliged to resign his Secre
taryship of State, and he had accepted the Viceroyalty to break
his fall. He offered a reward for the divulgence of the name
of the author of " Drapier's Letters." He also caused Harding,
the printer of them, to be apprehended ; but the grand jury
threw out the bill, and threatened pains and penalties on any
one who should impose the hated coinage. Carteret was suc
ceeded in the Secretaryship of State by the Duke of Newcastle;
and at the same time Henry Pelham, Newcastle's brother,
joined the Ministry as Secretary at War. These men were
destined to be the successors of Walpole as autocratic ministers.
13. The Scottish Ale Tax: 1725. — Another of Walpole's
fiscal experiments caused some excitement in Scotland in the
following year. Owing to the difficulty of collecting the malt
tax, it was superseded by a tax of 3d. on every barrel of ale
sold. The brewers of Edinburgh and of Glasgow made a great
outcry against the new tax, and closed their breweries, and
several riots occurred. The Government, however, stood firm,
and the brewers gave way.
14. Ministerial Changes: 1725. — It is said that when the
Scottish disturbances arose over the ale tax, Walpole threat
ened to withdraw from the Scottish members of Parliament
the weekly allowances he made to them as long as they sup
ported his Ministry. There is nothing improbable in the story.
It was an age of corruption. A notable instance of it was the
case of Lord Chancellor Macclesfield, who was impeached for

7i LIMITED MONARCHY. [George I.
practising extortion in the discharge of his high office. He
was fined £30,000, and was sent to the Tower till the fine was
paid. The new Chancellor was Lord King. Walpole's ad
ministration had now been in existence for four years, and it
had already undergone great changes. Carteret, Carleton, INIac-
clesfield, Marlborough, Pulteney had been removed either by
estrangement or by death. Still the Ministry stood as firmly as
ever, because of the strength of its head. Indeed, one of the
charges brought against Walpole by his enemies — by Boling
broke, for example — was that under him the despotism of a
minister had taken the place of the despotism of the Crown.
About this time, the Order of the Bath, which had been in
abeyance since the coronation of Charles II. , was revived, and
Walpole and his son were both knighted.
15. Foreign Affairs: 1725-27. — Walpole's foreign policy
was successful in maintaining peace, but toward the end of
George's reign Europe at one time seemed to be drifting into
war. Austria and Spain, having settled their differences, con
cluded in 1725 a treaty against Great Britain at Vienna. In
defence. Great Britain concluded a counter-treaty at Hanover
with France and Prussia. That was a diplomatic triumph for
Walpole, because it prevented the outbreak of active hostilities.
The only serious incident was an attack on Gibraltar by the
Spaniards in 1727 ; but it signally failed.
16. Death of the King: 1727. — Before that, George I. was
dead. He crossed over to Hanover, as usual, in June, accom
panied by Townshend and the Duchess of Kendal. While
travelling in his coach toward Osnabriick, he was seized with
apoplexy, and died before he reached his destination (June 10).
He was in his sixty -eighth year. His wife, Sophia-Dorothea
of Zell, had died a few months before him. She had been im
prisoned for thirty-two years in the castle of Ahlden, in Han
over, for an alleged intrigue with a Swedish count. On her
death-bed she protested her innocence, as she had done from
the first.
17. Character of George I. — The first King of the Hanoverian
dynasty was a thorough German in his character and habits.

George L] THE CONSTITUTION. 75
In his manner he was cautious and reserved. He filled the
English court with Hanoverians, and he did not discourage
their intrigues to win fa^¦our, wealth, and power. He always
thought more of Hanoverian interests than of those of Great
Britain. He was greedy of power, and came to England with
a determination to rule personally ; but there never was a
King of England who was more of a non-entity. He showed
great partiality for the Whigs, not because he preferred their
principles, but because he believed that they were most likely
to make his throne secure.
18. The Constitution. — The outstanding constitutional event
of the reign was the peaceful settlement of the succession in
accordance with the will of Parliament. The principle was
now thoroughly recognized and acknowledged that the British
sovereign is a Parliamentary sovereign.
The most important statute of the reign was the Septennial
Act (1716). Thirty-one peers protested against it. It was
scarcely in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution to
make the Act apply to the Parliament then sitting ; but it
must be remembered that a dissolution was the thing which the
Government wished especially to avoid. The reason alleged
for the change was the disturbed state of the country following
on the Jacobite rising. The real reason was the fear that the
Whigs would be turned out of office. The offence, if offence
there was, was condoned ; for the next Parliament, returned in
1722, was even more Whig than its predecessor. An attempt
to limit the power of creating new peers in 1719 was defeated
in the House of Commons.
There were three Parliaments in George's reign. The first,
which was Anne's last Parliament, was continued, as provided
in the Act of Settlement, till January 1715. The second met
in March 1715, and lasted till March 1722, thus extending to
its utmost limit under the Septennial Act. The third lasted
from October 1722 till August 1727.
The constitution of the Cabinet as a united body, supported
by a party majority in the House of Commons, was completed
in the reign of Anne. It is evident, however, that George I.

76 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George L
would have upset it if he could. It was his intention to be
his own chief minister, and he was prevented from taking that
place only by his inability to speak or to understand English.
When occasion arose in 1716, he acted on the obsolete Tory
view of ministerial dependence by dismissing Townshend from
his Secretaryship of State, because that minister opposed his
foreign schemes. George's lack of English led to the abandon
ment by the sovereign of the custom of being present at the
private meetings of ministers. The Cabinet thus became more
independent and more powerful. It followed, almost neces
sarily, that one minister took the lead and presided at meet
ings of the Cabinet, and in due course received the title of
Prime I\Iinister — a title, not an office, which may be borne in
connection with any of the great offices in the State. From
this time, however, it was customary for the Prime Minister
to take the office of First Lord of the Treasury. The head of
the Treasury, like the House of Commons itself, owed his
supremacy to his holding the strings of the national purse.
The Occasional Conformity Act of 1711 and the Schism Act
of 1714 were both repealed in 1718.
An Act was passed in 1719, asserting the right of the Im
perial Parliament to legislate for Ireland. It remained in
force till 1782, when it was repealed to allow "Grattan's Par
liament " to meet. HOUSE OF HANOVER.
George I.
= Sophia Dorothea of Zell.
 1 

GEORGE II. Sophia Dorothea
= Wilhelmina Caroline. = Frederick William I. of Prussia.
j {The reigning House of Prussia.)
i i j  1
Fredericlc. Prince of Wales William, Anne Four other dauphtcrs.
=. Augusta of Saxe-Coburg. Duke of Cumberland. = Prince of Orange.
Georch in.
(See page 183.)

George L]

NAMES OF NOTE.

77

CHIEF EVENTS.

1714. Whig Ministry of TownBhend, Stanhope,
and Walpole.
171S. Bolingbroke and Ormond retired to France
—Oxford impeached and imprlEoned— Jaco
bite rising of Mar in Scotland ; of Forster
and Derwentwater in England— Walpole First
Lord of the Treasury.
1716. The Septennial Act passed.
1717. The Triple Alliance (Britain, France, and
Holland)— Resignation of Townshend, Wal
pole, and Pulteney— Oxford acquitted.
1718. Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts
repealed — Quadruple AUiance (Britain.
France, Holland, Austria).

1719. Failure of Spanish invasion of Scotland.
1720. The South Sea Company and Government
Stocks.
1721. Walpole as Chancellor of the Exchequer
restored public credit— Walpole Prime Min
ister.
1723. Jacobite plot — Atterbuiy banished — Re
turn of Bolingbroke.
1724. Ale riots in Scotland.
1726. Treaty of Vienna (Austria and Spain) —
Treaty of Hanover (Britain, France, and
Frussia)- Lord Chancellor Macclesfield fned
for corruption.
1727. Death of George L

NAMES OF NOTE.

John Aislabie, Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1718 ;
implicated in South Sea scheme, expelled
from the House, 1721.
Duke of Argyle (John Campbell), implicated in
massacre of Glencoe. 1692 ; fought under
Marlborough, 1706-10, Commander-in-Chief
in Scotland, 1711; frustrated Bolingbroke's
schemes, 1714 ; commanded royal troops at
Sheriffmuir, 1715.
Francis Atterbury, Dean of Carlisle, 1704; sup
ported Dr. Sacheverell. 1710, Bishop of Ro
chester, 1713; engaged in Jacobite plot,
1722, banished, became chief adviser of the
Pretender. 1723; died. 1732.
Viscount Bolingbroke (Henry St. John), fled to
France and attainted. 1715; returned, 1723;
intrigued and wrote against Walpole, 1724.
Sir George Byng, admiral, defeated Spanish
fleet oS Cape Passaro, 1718; made Viscount
Torrington, 1721.
John. Lord Carteret, Whig statesman, ambassa
dor to Sweden. 1719 ; Secretary of State,
1721 ; Lord-Llentenant of Ireland, 1724-30 ;
afterwards Earl of Granville.
Earl of Mar (John Erskine), Scottish Secretary
of State. 1710; leader of Jacobite rising,
fought at Sheriffmuir, 1715 ; escaped to
France, 1716; Imprisoned at Geneva, 1719-
20.
Dnke of Marlborough, reappointed Commander-
in-Chief. 1714; attack oT paralysis. 1716;
head of the ordnance, 1721 ; died 1722.
Duke of Newcastle (Thomas Pelham), succeeded
his wife's uncle {Duke of Newcastle), 1711 ;
created Duke, 1715; Lord Chamberlain,
1716, adhered to Sunderland and Stanhope,

1717 ; joined Townshend and Walpole, 1720;
Secretary of State, 1724.
Dnke of Ormond (James Butler), fled to France
to avoid prosecution, and attainted, 1716.
Earl of Oxford (Robert Harley), impeached and
imprisoned, 1716 ; acquitted, 1717 ; died,
1724.
Henry Pelham (younger brother of Duke of New
castle), a Lord of the Treasury, 1721; Sec
retary at War, 1724.
Earl of Peterborough. General of the Marine
Forces, 1714 ; secured the dismissal of Al
beroni, 1719.
William Pulteney (afterwards Earl of Bath),
Secretary at War, 1714 ; resigned. 1717 ;
Cofferer of the Household, 1721 ; Joined the
Opposition, 1725.
General Stanhope, Secretary of State, 1714;
First Lord of the Treasury, 1717 ; Secretary
of State, 1718 ; died. 1722.
Earl of Sunderland, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
1714; Secretary of State, 1717; First Lord
of the Treasury, 1718; forced to resign.
1721; died, 1722.
Viscount Townshend, married Walpole's sister.
1710; Secretary of State and Chief Minister,
1714; dismissed by the King, and made
Viceroy of Ireland, 1716; resigned, 1717;
re-entered the Ministry, 1720; Secretaryof
State in Walpole's Ministry, 1721.
Robert Walpole, Paymaster of the Forces, 1714 ;
First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of
the Exchequer, 1716 ; resigned, 1717 ; Pay
master of the Forces, 1120; Chancellor of the
Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury
and Prime Minister, 1721.

REIGN OF GEORGE II. (HANOVER).
1727-1760.

CHAPTER XI.— WALPOLE IN POWEE.
1. Accession of George II. :i 1727.— The new King had
reached the ripe age of forty-four when he ascended the throne.
Like his mother, with whom he had sympathized, he had been
jealously exiled from the English Court. One advantage which
he possessed over his father was that he could speak English.
George wished to make his friend Sir Spencer Compton Prime
Minister, and actually offered him the post; but Compton
had the sense to see that he was not fitted for its duties, and
accepted instead the office of Lord President of the Council,
with the title of Earl of Wilmington. By the advice of Queen
Caroline, Walpole was continued at the head of aflfairs. The
minister found in the Queen a true and stanch friend ; and as
George consulted her on all affairs of State, and generally fol
lowed her advice, Walpole's influence over him was great,
without being obtrusive. The Whigs retained the ascendency
in the new Parliament, which met in January 1728. The
strength of the Opposition lay in the discontented Whigs, led
Ireland. — In 1727, Ulster suffered severely from scarcity of food, owing, it
was said, to too large a proportion of the land being given up to pasturage.
An Act was passed requiring every proprietor to plough at least 5 per cent.
of the acreage of his land. The Presbyterians attributed the distress to the
burden of tithes.
^ George IT., son of George I. and Sophia- i Caroline of Anspach. Issue, two sons and
Dorothea. Born 1683. Married, 1705, | three daughters. Reigned 33 years.

Walpole.] WALPOLE IN POWER. 79
by Pulteney. Lord Carteret now openly joined the Opposition
in the House of Lords.
2. Quarrel of Walpole and Townshend : 1730. — The quarrel
between Walpole and Lord Townshend came to an open rupture
in the following year. Their differences on questions of foreign
policy began with the Treaty of Hanover in 1725, which
Townshend had really negotiated with great skill, though
Walpole thought he had been too hasty. The real question
at issue, however, was, which of them was to be master in the
Cabinet. Walpole, who saw that the principle of the Prime
Minister's supremacy was at stake, insisted that " the firm must
be Walpole and Townshend, not Townshend and Walpole."
The final explosion came in connection with the Pension Bill —
a private member's Bill, intended to exclude pension-holders
from Parliament. Walpole deliberately allowed the BiU to pass
in the House of Commons, in order that the odium of rejecting
it might fall on the House of Lords, where Townshend was the
leader. There was a violent altercation between the brothers-
in-law, who nearly came to blows ; and as it was impossible for
both to remain in the Ministry, Townshend had to go. Like
Carteret and Pulteney, Townshend was in fact driven from
office by Walpole's masterful spirit; but he magnanimously
withdrew from politics and retired into private life, where he
devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, to the great advantage
of the country.
3. Foreign Affairs: 1730-31. — The Treaty of Seville, con
cluded with Spain and France in 1729, was another triumph
for the pacific policy of Walpole. It was, however, a great
disappointment to the Emperor Charles VI., who, having no
son to succeed him, had in 1724 issued a Pragmatic Sanction,
or imperial decree, settling his hereditary dominions (Hungary,
Bohemia, and Austria) on his daughter Maria-Theresa. He
had joined with Spain in the Treaty of Vienna (1725), in order
to secure the support of that country to the Pragmatic Sanction.
But thereby he had offended Britain, France, and Prussia, who
formed the counter-Treaty of Hanover. Now in the Treaty
of Seville, Britain, France, and Spain, with Holland to boot,

80 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George 11.
appeared as allies, pledged to hand over the Italian duchies of
Parma and Tuscany to the young Don Carlos. The Emperor
indicated his willingness to agree to the terms of the Treaty of
Seville, if only the Powers would guarantee the Pragmatic
Sanction. This was done in the second Treaty of Vienna,
March 1731. One of the terms agreed to confirmed to the
South Sea Company the Assiento (or contract) for supplying the
Spanish colonies in America with negro slaves.
4. The Excise Bill : 1733.— The first great battle of Wal
pole's administration was fought over his Excise Bill. The
customs are duties paid by importers on certain foreign pro
ductions when landed on our shores. The excise is an inland
tax levied on articles manufactured at home, and paid generally
by the retail dealers. In order to lessen the tax on land, Wal
pole added salt to the excisable articles ; but as that did not
produce sufficient revenue, he proposed also to bring tobacco at
once, and wine afterwards, under the excise duties. As reasons
for the change, he urged the difficulty of collecting the customs,
and the increase of smuggling, which was now practised to an
incredible extent. The tobacco merchants set up a cry of ruin,
and denounced the Bill as a proposal to invade their private
houses with an army of excisemen. These cries were loudly
echoed by the Opposition. The " Patriots " professed to see in
the measure a scheme by which Walpole meant to create a host
of dependants, whose votes would carry the day in every elec
tion. When the prudent minister saw the violence of the
storm, he withdrew the Bill, content to lose his point rather
than risk his power. He, however, dismissed some members of
his Cabinet who had either given him half-hearted support or
had intrigued with the Opposition. Chief of these was the
Earl of Chesterfield.
5. Retirement of Bolingbroke : 1735.— The Opposition, exult
ing in their success, strove the next session to repeal the Sep
tennial Act ; but the attempt failed. In the new Parliament,
which met in January 1735, Walpole's majority, though slightly
reduced, was quite lartje enough to make his power secure.
Bolingbroke now felt that his game was played out. He was

walpole.] WALPOLE IN POWER. 81
neither so much feared by the Government, nor so much trusted
by the Opposition, as he would have liked. Indeed, he had
quarrelled with Pulteney. He had failed to undermine Wal
pole's power to any appreciable extent, and he had no hope of
returning to public life while Walpole was in office. He there
fore prudently retired once more to France, where he remained
till Walpole's fall.
6. European War : 1734-35. — The second Treaty of Vienna
was no more a permanent settlement than the first had been.
A dispute occurred about the succession to the Polish crown,
in which France was interested from the marriage of Louis XV.
with the daughter of ex-King Stanislaus. When France inter
fered on behalf of Stanislaus, the Emperor interfered on behalf
of his rival. Thence arose a new European war (1734), in which
France, Spain, and Sardinia attacked Austria. The result was
that the Austrians were driven out of Naples and Sicily, and that
Don Carlos, who was already Duke of Parma, became King of
the Two Sicilies with the title of Charles III. (1735). When the
Definitive Treaty of Vienna, after three years of negotiation,
was at length concluded in 1738, the Spanish Bourbons were
confirmed in their possession of the Two Sicilies, and the Prag
matic Sanction was again ratified by France. Walpole had
steadily refused to be led into the war, but his Government
took a large share in the negotiations for peace. His refusal
to take part in the war was one of the grounds on which he
was attacked by the Opposition. Sir William Wyndham
described him as neglecting the true interests of the nation,
and sacrificing her honour and credit to the love of ofiice.
7. The Porteous Mob: 1736.— In 1736 all Scotland was
agitated by the Porteous Riot, so graphically described by
Scott in "The Heart of Midlothian." The mob of Edinburgh,

Abroad. — In 1735, Don Carlos, second son of Philip V. of Spain, received
Naples from Au.stria, and became King of the Two Sicilies. This was the
beginning of the Bourbon dominion in Italy, which came to an end in 1861.
Ireland. — In 1735, the Irish Parliament passed resolutions against the
Established clergy recovering tithes except on the produce of sheep and
tillage. (898) (5

82 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IL
enraged at the execution of a smuggler named Wilson, who
had roused their admiration by helping a fellow-prisoner named
Robertson to escape, pelted the hangman and the soldiers.
Captain Porteous, commander of the City Guard, ordered his
men to fire on the crowd, and several were killed. For this he
was sentenced to death ; but a reprieve came from London, and
the rumour spread that in a few days he would receive a full
pardon. It was resolved that he should not escape. On the
night of the 17th of September, the jaU in which he lay was
broken open by a mob, and he was brought out and hanged on
a dyer's pole. The Government, on learning of this violence,
brought in a Bill to demolish the walls and take away the
charter of Edinburgh. So spirited, however, was the resistance
of the Scottish members that the measure was abandoned, and
only a fine of £2,000 was imposed on the city.
8. Death of Queen Caroline : 1737. — The death of Queen
Caroline in 1737 deprived Walpole of a warm friend and sup
porter, and was the first serious blow to his power. It did not
at once diminish his influence with the King, but it did so in
the end. He had now, however, to contend with Frederick,
Prince of Wales, who, since Bolingbroke's departure, had been
the centre if not the head of the Opposition, and who had now
openly quarrelled with his father and been expeUed from the
Court. The chief ground of quarrel was the King's refusal to
increase his income, or to give him Parliamentary security for
it. In this the King was supported by Walpole, and there
fore Walpole's enemies were the Prince's friends. Pulteney,
Carteret, Chesterfield, Wyndham, and the "Patriots" were
always welcome at Norfolk House, the Prince's residence in
St. James's Square. Walpole had also to contend against a
brilliant phalanx of literary men, among whom were Swift,
Pope, and Gay. Unlike Godolphin and Halifax, Walpole de
spised letters, and refused to accept the aid of literary men
in political controversy. He regarded with something like
scorn the young men who were attracted by the sentiment of
the Patriots and by the pungency of the Satirists. " The boys "
he called them, " each of whom had his price." He found his

Walpole.] WALPOLE IN POWER. 83
mistake by-and-by when there arose from the despised band the
stripling Pitt, before whose assaults the great minister was at
last to quail.
9. Rise of Methodism: 1739.— The Methodists arose within
the Established Church of England about this time. The name
— like many other historical names, a mere nickname at first —
had reference to the exact and methodical performance by the
persons so called of their religious duties and exercises. The
founder of the body was John Wesley, who, when a student at
Oxford, used to hold meetings for prayer in his college-rooms
(1730). Carrying into the world the same spirit of earnest
piety, he soon became a celebrated preacher. He was zealously
aided by George Whitfield, whose stirring eloquence reached
the hearts of thousands. The Methodist movement was not an
ecclesiastical but a personal reformation, and it had a powerful
influence on the lives of the lower classes especially. Its funda
mental doctrine was the necessity of personal salvation and self- ,
consecration. Whitfield was the great apostle of the movement,
but Wesley was its wise and practical organizer. Wesley de
sired to carry on his work within the Church, but he was driven
out of it by those who thought that enthusiasm was vulgar.
When he died in 1791, the Methodists ^ in all parts of the
British Empire numbered 80,000.
10. The Spanish War : 1739-41.— At last, and very much
against his will, Walpole was forced into a war with Spain ;
and all his fears as to the disastrous effect it would have on his
power were realized. The war was occasioned by the restric
tions which the Treaty of Utrecht had placed on British trade
with the Spanish colonies in South America. By that treaty
only one British ship a year was allowed to land goods at Panama.
Both the Spanish colonists and the British merchants complained
loudly of the limitation, and a great amount of smuggling was
carried on. To prevent this, the Spanish Government claimed
and used the right to search British vessels in the Spanish
Main. British sailors inflamed the minds of the people by theii
^ Methodists. In 1889, the total number I sections of the Methodist Church was esti
of members and adherents of the different | mated at 25,000,000.

84

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George II.

stories of the cruelties inflicted on them by the Spaniards. One
Captain Jenkins made a great sensation by producing to a
committee of the House of Commons one of his ears wrapped
up in wadding, which he said had been cut off by a Spanish
coastguard. The demand for war became general. Walpole
tried negotiation, but in vain, and war was proclaimed. When
he heard the London joy-bells ringing for the declaration of the
war, he was heard to mutter — " They may ring their bells now ;
they will soon be wringing their hands." The town of Porto-
bello on the Isthmus of Darien was taken ; but disasters soon
eclipsed this brief success. A great fleet and army under
Admiral Vernon and Lord Wentworth failed in an attack on
Carthagena,! chiefly through the disagreement of the leaders.
The unhealthy climate swept off the British in hundreds ; and
there arose great discontent at home. All the blame of these
failures was cast on Walpole, who had disapproved of the war,
and was supposed to be indifferent to its success.
11. Anson's Voyage round the Globe: 1741-44. — Commo
dore Anson was sent with a squadron to relieve Vernon ; but,
failing in his object, he sailed into the South Seas, plundered
Paita, a port of Chili, and, after three years' cruising, took a
Spanish treasure-ship bound for Manilla,^ laden with £300,000.
He returned to England in 1744 with a solitary ship, having
sailed round the world. The people, dazzled by the wealth he
brought more than by his great achievement, received him with
joy. He was subsequently made a peer.
12. Walpole's Fall : 1742.— The persistent attacks on Wal
pole by the Opposition, led by Pulteney and supported by
William Pitt — who had been in Parliament for six years, and
was making his great power felt — were now producing their
effect in the country. A new Parliament met in December
1741, and then the Prime Minister found that his majority
had almost disappeared. When the Committee of the whole
House took up, in the way then usual, the Chippenham election

^ Carthagena, a fortified sea-port of the
Republic of Colombia (South America).
It is on the Caribbean Sea, about 200

miles north-east of the Gulf of Darien.
2 Manilla, chief town of the Philippine
Islands, in the East Indian Archipelago.

Wilmington.! THE 'fORTY-FIVE. 8.5
petition, he was defeated by a majority of one. That showed
how completely the tide had turned, and Walpole resigned
(February 17).
CHAPTER XIL— THE 'FORTY-FIVE.
1. The New Ministry : 1742. — Hatred of Walpole and
nothing else had held the Opposition together. Now that he
was removed, it fell to pieces at once. No one of the leaders
who had been so valiant in attack was prepared to take the
place which their combined efforts had rendered vacant.
Though Walpole's supporters had dwindled, the majority of
the House of Commons was still decidedly Whig. A composite
Ministry, consisting of the old and the new Whigs, was the only
practical arrangement ; and this was carried out, under the
nominal leadership of the Earl of Wilmington (formerly Sir
Spencer Compton), with whom George had tried to displace
Walpole at the beginning of his reign. The real head of the
Ministry was Lord Carteret, who became a Secretary of State.
Newcastle retained his Secretaryship, and Lord Chancellor
Hardwicke also kept his post. Samuel Sandys was Chancellor
of the Exchequer. Pulteney sank into obscurity as Earl of
Bath. No place was found as yet for William Pitt.
2. The Place Bill : 1742. — Walpole's enemies were not yet
done with him. He also had been sent to the Ujjper House,
with the title of Earl of Orford; but he was not allowed to rest
in peace. A Committee was appointed to inquire into the acts
of the late Government, and charges of peculation and extrav
agance were formulated against Walpole. To these charges,
however, the House of Commons refused to listen. Parlia
ment contented itself with the indirect censure implied in
passing the Place BiU (1742), which reduced very considerably
the number of public offices which members of Parliament
might hold, the object being to put a check on bribery.
3. The Austrian Succession : 1742. — While Walpole was
yet in power, a new European war — the War of the Austrian
Succession — had broken out. When Charles VI. of Austria

86 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George II.
died in 1740, his daughter Maria-Theresa succeeded to his
patrimonial dominions with the title of Queen of Hungary, in
terms of the Pragmatic Sanction. (See page 79.) Scarcely had
she ascended the throne when Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria,
demanded the Austrian crown ; and he was supported by Louis
of France. At the same time Frederick II. of Prussia seized
Silesia. The British were alarmed at this union of France
with Prussia, which, under Frederick, was fast rising to be one
of the leading powers in Europe ; and their chivalry was roused
at the perilous position of a young Queen surrounded by greedy
and treacherous foes.
4. Battle of Dettingen : 1743.— In 1742, Maria-Theresa
concluded with Prussia the Treaty of Breslau, by which she
surrendered Silesia to Frederick, thus buying off his opposition,
and leaving herself free to contend with France and Bavaria.
The Elector of Bavaria had in the meantime been chosen
Emperor with the title of Charles VII. George II. was deeply
interested in the struggle as Elector of Hanover, and gave
Maria-Theresa his hearty support. In 1743, at the head of
an army consisting mainly of Hanoverians and Hessians, he
defeated the French at Dettingen on the Main — the last occa
sion on which a British sovereign was under fire.
5. Threatened Invasion: 1744. — George, with the help of
Carteret, his Foreign Secretary, then strove to bring about a
coalition of the chief German States, with Hanover at their
head, against France. The Treaty of Worms was the result,
in which Great Britain, Hanover, Austria, and Saxony were
joined by Holland and Sardinia (1743). This coalition alarmed
Frederick of Prussia, who was well aware of Austria's desire to
recover Silesia. He therefore formed with France a counter-
league at Frankfort, and declared war. Though war was not yet
formally declared between Great Britain and France, the French
Government collected at Dunkirk an army for the invasion of
England on behalf of Charles-Edward, the Young Pretender.
The Brest fleet was ready to convoy the transports containing
the soldiers, when a terrific storm scattered such of the trans
ports as had sailed, and the expedition was abandoned. Shortly

Pelham.] THE 'fORTY-FIVE. 87
afterwards war was declared between Great Britain and France
(1744). In the meantime, the influence of Newcastle in the
Cabinet had been growing, and that of Carteret had been
declining. 6. Dismissal of Carteret: 1744.— Carteret's Hanoverian
policy was vehemently denounced by Pitt. His war policy
was opposed by Walpole and his followers. When Wilmington
had died in 1743, Henry Pelham (Newcastle's brother) had
succeeded him as First Lord of the Treasury, and at the same
time had become Chancellor of the Exchequer. That was
fatal to Carteret's power. Before the end of 1744, Newcastle
was able to insist on his being dismissed, and the Ministry was
reconstituted, with Henry Pelham as Prime Minister. The
administration then formed was called the "Broad Bottom,"
comprehending as it did men of all parties — Whigs, Tories, and
even Jacobites. There was actually no Opposition left ; for
though George had declined to allow Pitt to take office, Pelham
had induced Pitt to abstain from giving him trouble.
7. Battle of Fontenoy: 1745.— In 1745, the Emperor
Charles VII. died, and Maria-Theresa's husband, Francis-
Joseph, Grand Duke of Tuscany, became Emperor as Francis I.
This was so far a triumph for British policy, but it had been
gained by the expenditure of vast sums of British money for
which there v/as no return. The Pelhams in power found
themselves constrained by circumstances to pursue the same
Hanoverian policy for adopting which they had driven Carteret
from oflice. The war still went on. In April of this year, the
French under Marshal Saxe invaded the Netherlands. A
combined force of British and Dutch — the former commanded
by the Duke of Cumberland, the King's second son — marched
against them. A battle was fought at Fontenoy,^ in Belgium,
in which the allies were defeated, the successful charge of the
British not having been supported by the Dutch. The French
then took possession of the frontier towns.
8. Jacobite Rebellion: 1745. — Great Britain, however, was
^ Fontenoy, south-east of Tournay. (See Map, page 24.)

88

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George II.

more affected by an episode of this war — the 'Forty-five — than
by the main current of events on the Continent. As an act of
retaliation, France encouraged the exiled Stuarts to make a
bold push for the British throne. The expedition of 1744 had
failed, as we have seen. A more determined effort was now to
be made. On July 2.5, 1745, Charles-Edward Stuart^ — the
" Bonnie Prince Charlie " of Jacobite song — landed from a
French brig, near Moidart^ on the coast of Inverness-shire.
He came with only seven officers — " the Seven Men of
Moidart," among whom Lord Tullibardine was prominent — to
conquer the British Islands ; but at five-and-twenty hope is
strong in the human breast. Many Highland chieftains, of
whom the most distinguished was Cameron of Lochiel, hastened
to his side ; and his standard was raised at Glenfinnan ^
(August 19). At the head of 700 clansmen, whose hearts he
had won by donning the kilt, he commenced a southward
march. 9. Charles-Edward at Holyrood : 1745. — Sir John Cope, the
Royalist leader, had incautiously moved to Inverness, and the
road was open. At Perth, Charles was proclaimed Regent for
his father, " James VIII." Thence he passed through Linlith
gow to Edinburgh, winning all hearts by his bright smiles and
charming courtesy. His little army had swelled to more than
1,000 men. The capital was unguarded, except by the dra
goons of Colonel Gardiner. The magistrates, indeed, were
loyal, and the Castle held out for the King ; but the citizens
gladly opened their gates to the young Stuart, who took up his
abode in the Palace of Holyrood (September 17).
10. Battle of Prestonpans: 1745. — The same day Cope,
having sailed southward, was landing his troops at Dunbar,
with the intention of marching on Edinburgh. Charles resolved

Ireland. — During the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland in 1745-46, Ireland
remained tranquil. The Earl of Chesterfield was Lord-Lieutenant.

^ Charhs- Edward, son of James Stuart,
the Old Pretender, and therefore grandson
of James II. He is also known as the
" Young Pretender," and the '* Chevalier
Douglas."

- Moidart, a district and loch in the
extreme south-west of the county. (See
Map, page 91.)
^ Glenfinnan, at the head of Loch Shiel,
in the east of Moidart,

FeUiam.]

THE 'FORTY-FIVE.

89

to give battle at once. Moving, therefore, with a force of 2,500
men, he had reached the brow of Carberry Hill when he saw
the Royalist army in the narrow plain next the sea. The High
landers longed to rush on the enemy from the moment that the
armies came in sight of each other, and could hardly be induced
to wait for another dawn. The great difficulty was the passage
of a deep morass which spread between the hosts. A pathway
which avoided the difficult portions of the swamp was discovered,
and in the middle of the night the Highlanders followed it, and
reached firm ground. At dawn the armies faced each other on

the same level field ; and in about six minutes more the High
landers had won the Battle of Prestonpans,^ or Gladsmuir, as
the Jacobites preferred to call it (September 21). One rush
did all. Having first discharged their pistols, the clansmen
rushed on with the claymore, caught the bayonet points in
their targets, and threw their enemies into confusion. The
Royalist army broke in two. A few dragoons galloped off to
Edinburgh, but the main body of the army fled, with Sir John
at their head, to the shelter of Berwick walls. The royal artil
lery, stores, and money-chest containing £2,500, fell into the
hands of the victors.
11. Invasion of England : 1745. — If Charles had then pressed

^ Prestonpans, eight and a half miles east of Edinburgh

90 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George II
on to London, the House of Hanover might have been driven
from England. But his ranks were thin, and six weeks passed
before he could muster 5,000 men. During these six weeks.
Royalist troops poured in from Flanders, and the Duke of
Cumberland raised an army to defend the throne. On Octo
ber 31, Charles left Holyrood for the purpose of invading
England. He had then mustered nearly 6,000 men, of whom
500 were cavalry. The siege of Carlisle occupied some days.
After its capture, the southward march was resumed in two
bodies — one under the Prince himself, the other under Lord
George Murray. No sign of an English rising greeted the in
vaders as they passed through Penrith, Kendal, and Lancaster,
on to Preston, where the first few recruits were obtained. At
Manchester, so many joined the Pretender's flag that a Man
chester regiment was organized.
12. The Halt at Derby : 1745.— Then, however, the Royalists
began to stir. Marshal Wade was marching down through
Yorkshire ; Cumberland, lying at Lichfield with 8,000 men,
blocked the southward path ; George himself covered London
with another force. Derby was reached on the 4th of Decem
ber ; but further Murray and the other officers refused to
go. There had been no English rising, no French descent.
Their little force of 5,000 men, daily dwindling, was almost
hemmed in by three armies numbering 30,000. The only way
open to them was the way back again to Scotland. Charles-
Edward yielded, sorely against his will, and the homeward
march was at once begun.
13. Skirmish at Falkirk: 1746. — With dejected hearts and
a hopeless leader, the army reached the heart of Scotland. A
slight success at Falkirk (January 17), where he defeated
General Hawley, roused the drooping heart of the Prince for a
time ; but he was still driven northward, and had to shelter
himself among the Grampians. Cumberland had already arrived
in Scotland to conduct the war. A body of Hessians, landing at
Leith, enabled him to gather a considerable force for the High
land expedition. Perth became his head-quarters. Meanwhile
Charles-Edward approached Inverness from the south-east.

FeUiam.]

THE FORTY-FIVE.

91

14. A Night March. — The Prince fixed his head-quarters at
Culloden House, and there he heard that Cumberland's army
had reached Nairn, and had given themselves up to revelry in
honour of their commander's birthday (April 15). Murray
and the Prince agreed in resolving on a night march and a sur
prise. When the march began, the darkness of the night mis
led and impeded the Highlanders, who were weak from want
of sufficient food. Two o'clock came when they were still four
miles from the foe, so that the intended surprise could not be

managed. Falling back, the rebels drew up in line of battle on
Culloden Moor.i
15. Battle of Culloden: 1746. — The Athole Brigade, the
Camerons, and the Stewarts formed the main portion of the
right wing ; the Macdonalds, angry at the loss of the post of
honour, which they considered the ancestral privilege of their
clan, mustered gloomily on the left. At eleven, the foe began
to appear in dark masses on the horizon (April 16). Cumber
land drew up his men in three lines, with cavalry on each
wing, and artillery peering out through gaps in the front line.
In the opening cannonade the royal army had greatly the ad
vantage. Impatient under the fire, Murray got leave from the
Prince to make an onset with the right and the centre. Round-
^ Culloden Moryr, or Drummossie Moor, 8 miles north-east of Inverness.

92

LIMITED JIOXARCHV.

[George IL

shot and grape could not stay the whirlwind of their attack.
Right through the regiments of the front line the Highlanders
went ; but beyond the broken array they rushed on a living
wall, which burst into a sheet of flame at their approach, and
hurled them back scorched and reeling.
Following up the effect of their volley, the royal troops
charged the exhausted rebels and swept them in pitiable rout
from the scene of their short success. So much for the right
and the centre. On the left stood the Jlacdonalds, watching
with sullen brows the carnage of their countrymen. Refusing
to fight, although their leader rushed forward in their view till
bullets pierced him with many mortal wounds, they fell back
to the fragments of the second line. Further resistance was
impossible ; the battle was over. A faithful adherent, named
O'SuUivan, seizing the bridle of the Prince's horse, forced him
to lea^e the hopeless scene. One portion of the defeated army
surrendered at Inverness; the other melted away into the glens
and corries from which its motley materials had come.
16. Wanderings and Escape : 1746. — At dawn on the 17th,
Charles-Edward was sleeping in his clothes on the floor of In-
vergarryi Castle. Eight days later he put to sea in a small
boat, which was buffeted hither and thither by storms, until he
succeeded in reaching South IT ist- It proved a place of danger.
From the keen search of two thousand men he was saved by
the devotion of Flora IMacdonald, who took him over to Skye
in the disguise of her servant. Going thence to the mainland,
he endured terrible hardships for some months. Though the
Government offered a reward of £30,000 for his person, the
Highlanders remained faithful to him in his adversity. At
last he heard that two French ships had arrived at the coast,'
and were waiting there to take him off. Travelling only in the
dark, he reached the shore in safety, and on the 20th of Sep
tember — more than five months after the Battle of Culloden, and
not quite fourteen months since he had sprung ashore at the

^ Invergarry, near Loch Oich ; 7 miles
south-west of Fort- Augustus.
2 South Uist, one of the Outer Hebrides ;

20 miles south-west of the Isle of Skye.
^ At Loch-na-Nuagh, in west ot Inver
ness-shire ; 6 miles north of Loch Moidart

Pelham.] THE CONQUEST OF INDIA. 9.3
same place with the Men of Moidart — he gladly re-embarked
for France. Running in a fog through the English cruisers, he
landed on the 29th near Morlaix.i
17. Punishment of the Rebels. — About eighty suffered death
for this rebellion, among whom were the Scottish Lords Kil
marnock, Balmerino, and Lovat. The clansmen were forbidden
to wear the Highland dress ; ^ the chieftains were deprived of
nearly all their ancient power; and the appointment of the
sheriffs — long a hereditary office — was vested in the Crown.
18. Later Days of Charles-Edward. — Charles-Edward spent
his later days at Rome, under the title of Duke of Albany.
Though the Jacobites long continued the custom of passing
their glasses over the water-decanter, as they drank to "the
King over the water," the 'Forty-five was the last effort of
the exiled family to regain the British throne. The gallant
young soldier, of whom so much has been said and sung, sank
in later life into a hopeless drunkard. He died of apoplexy in
1788 ; and nineteen years later died his brother Henry, Car
dinal of York, the last male of the royal Stuart line.
19. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle : 1748.— The war still lingered
on the Continent. In 1745, Austria captured Dresden, and
forced a peace on Frederick of Prussia, in which he acknow
ledged Francis as Emperor. Three years later the Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle was signed by the other belligerents. The
rival nations agreed to restore their conquests. The Protestant
succession in Great Britain was guaranteed, and the Pretender
and his family were excluded from France.

CHAPTER XIIL— THE CONQUEST OF INDIA.
1. Rise of William Pitt. — Ever since the retirement of Wal
pole, the man who had been most steadily coming to the front
in English politics was William Pitt, "the Great Commoner.''
^ Morlaix, a small and antique sea-port I ^ Highland dress, the liilt or fillibeg.
town in Brittany, o4 miles north-east of The privilege' of wearing this garb was
Brest. ' afterwards restored.

94 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George II.
His grandfather was that Governor of Madras who had brought
from India the celebrated Pitt diamond, which so long sparkled
on the crown of France. William left the university without
having taken a degree, and for a short time served as a cornet
in the Life Guards Blue. Having entered the House of Com
mons in 1735 as member for Old Sarum, he soon became so
troublesome to the Ministry that Walpole had him dismissed
from the army. Thenceforward he devoted himself to politics.
He gained the favour of the Prince of Wales, and consequently
lost that of the King, whom he further incensed by his anti-
Hanoverian speeches during the War of the Austrian Succes
sion. The consequence was that when the Pelhams, who came
into power in 1744, proposed to give him a place in the " Broad
Bottom " Ministry, the King obstinately refused to allow it.
2. Pitt in Oface : 1746. — Pitt was strong enough to be able
to bide his time. Lord Orford (Walpole) had died in 1745,
and Lord Granville (Carteret) had regained his influence with
the King, of whose Hanoverian policy he was the chief sup
porter. Pelham objected to this secret influence, and insisted,
as a counterpoise, that Pitt should be added to the Ministry.
When the King refused, Pelham and his followers resigned
(1746). George commissioned Granville to form an adminis
tration. Granville attempted to do so, but failed. The King
had then no choice but to allow the Pelhams to return to office
along with Pitt, at first as Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and a
few months later as Paymaster of the Forces. Two years
previously the old Duchess of Marlborough,^ the bitter enemy
of Walpole, had rewarded Pitt with a legacy of £10,000.
3. Character of Pitt— Death of the Prince of Wales: 1751.
— As a statesman, Pitt was distinguished for his hatred of
bribery, and his honest disbursement of the public money. As
an orator, he was a master of sarcasm, often in a few scorching
Abroad.— In 1747, the office of Stadtholdcr in the Netherlands, which had
been in abeyance since the death of William III. of England, was revived
in the person of William-Henry, and was made hereditary.
^ Widow of the great Dulte, whom she survived twenty -two years.

Newcastle.]

THE CONQUEST OF INDIA.

95

words withering up the arguments of his opponents. When
he took office he curbed his anti-Hanoverian prejudices, or was
discreetly silent about them ; and when the Prince of Wales
died in 1751, his opposition to the King's policy almost died
out: By the death of Prince Frederick, Prince George of
Wales, the King's grandson, a boy in his thirteenth year, be
came heir-apparent to the throne. His mother, the Princess
Dowager of Wales (Augusta of Saxe-Coburg), was appointed
by Parliament guardian of his person, and also Regent of the
kingdom in the event of the King's death during the Prince's
minority. The Earl of Bute, who had been Frederick's most
intimate friend, was now the chief adviser of his widow.
4. The New Style: 1752.— The adoption of the Gregorian
Calendar 1 in 1752, under the name of New Style, was made to
some extent a political question and turned to party purposes.
It was found necessary to correct the calendar by dropping
eleven days out of the year. There were many people in the
country who could not see the necessity of any change ; and
some were foolish enough to accuse the Ministry of having de
prived them of their wages for the days that had been dropped.
Some even raised the cry, " Give us back our eleven days."
5. Dismissal of Pitt : 1755.— When the death of Pelham
(March 1754) broke up the Ministry, his brother, the Duke
of Newcastle, succeeded him as Prime Minister. Newcastle
had difficulty in fixing on a leader in the House of Commons.
Pitt and Henry Fox had the best claims. Pitt was objection
able, partly because the King disliked him, and partly because
Newcastle feared he might be troublesome. Fox would not
take the ofiice unless he had command of the secret service

^ The correction was necessary, because
the year of the calendar had been reclconed
as 365 days 6 hours, whereas the solar year
is only 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 50
seconds. Each year had therefore been
reckoned 11 minutes too long. The error,
since the Christian era, amounted to 11
days. To make up for this excess, 11 days
were dropped out of the year 1762— Sep
tember 3rd was called September 14th. To
prevent further irregularity, it was resolved

that, as the error amounts to 3 days in 4
centuries, three out of every four century
years should not be leap years — thus, 1800,
1900 are not leap years ; 2000 is : 2100, 2200,
2300 are not leap years ; 2400 is. Pope
Gregory first made the change in Italy in
1582. Russia is the only country in Europe
which still adheres to the old style. At
the same time the first day of January was
reckoned the beginning of the year, instead
of March 25.

96 LIMITED MONARCHY, [George IL
money — that is, of the bribery fund. Newcastle therefore gave
the post to Sir Thomas Robinson, a second-rate politician who
had spent many years in the diplomatic service abroad, and who
knew nothing of home politics or of the temper of the House
of Commons. He was made a Secretary of State, while Pitt
retained his former office of Paymaster. Earl Granville, the
supporter of George's Hanoverianism, was Lord President of
the Council. Pitt and Fox combined to attack and to ridicule
Robinson, and at length forced him to resign. Fox withdrew
his stipulation as to the secret service money, and became Secre
tary of State (1755). In the meantime Pitt had quarrelled
with Newcastle. Having refused to support the payment of
subsidies to foreign states, he was required to resign.
6. The Seven Years' War: 1756. — A new European war,
known as the Seven Years' War, opened under the Newcastle
administration. Like the War of the Austrian Succession, out
of which it grew, and the War of the Spanish Succession at the
beginning of the century, its object was to establish a balance
of power in Europe — in other words, to prevent any single
state, or combination of states, from acquiring a degree of
influence that would be injurious to the other states of Europe.
The disturbing element in Europe at that time was the ambition
of Frederick of Prussia. He had already annexed Silesia, and
he had devoted the eight years following the Treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle to developing the resources and improving the govern
ment of Prussia, and to enlarging and improving his splendid
army. Great Britain's part in the strife was dictated solely by
George's solicitude for Hanover, combined with resistance to
France. Hostilities having broken out between France and
Great Britain in North America, George feared that France
would attack Hanover. The subsidy treaty with Russia of
1755 (on account of which Pitt left the Ministry) was thrown
aside, and a treaty of neutrality was made with Prussia (1756).
Prussia was also joined by Brunswick, Hesse, and of course by

Abroad — In 175B, the great earthquake at Lisbon destroyed 30,000 persons,
and laid a great part ot the city in ruina.

DevonglUre-Pltt.] THE CONQUEST OF INDIA. 97
Hanover. On the other side there was a powerful coalition,
including Austria, Russia, France, Saxony, Poland, and Sweden.
Frederick knew of the existence of a secret treaty, to which
Austria, Russia, and Saxony were parties, for the partition of
his kingdom. He therefore attacked Saxony first.
7. The Devonshire-Pitt Ministry: 1756-57.— Great Britain's
share in the actual fighting was confined almost entirely to
North America and India, where disputes had arisen as to the
boundary lines of the British and French colonies, and on other
grounds. Tn June, however, a French fleet attacked Port
Mahon in Minorca, and, after a blockade of two months, the
place was forced to surrender. Admiral Byng had been sent
out to relieve it; but, thinking his force too weak, he had
retreated to Gibraltar, and had left Minorca to its fate. These
events excited popular fury against the Ministry. It was
further weakened by the withdrawal of Henry Fox ; and then
Newcastle resigned (November). A Ministry was formed by
the Duke of Devonshire, with Pitt as Secretary of State, leader
of the Commons, and virtual Prime Minister. During this
Ministry, Byng was tried by court-martial and shot (1757).
Pitt spoke out manfully for the admiral, but could not save
him. Pitt threw himself with great energy into the prosecution
of the war in the colonies. He also attended to the national
defences. Newcastle had introduced Hanoverian and Hessian
troops to defend Great Britain — an idea which was hateful to
the people. Pitt sent the German soldiers home, and passed a
Bill for the establishment of a national militia. By this means
disaffected Highlanders were converted into loyal defenders of
the Crown.
8. The Newcastle-Pitt Ministry: 1757.— After Pitt had held
the seals for only five months, he was dismissed at the instiga
tion of the Duke of Cumberland (April). Devonshire was too
weak to go on without him. Newcastle tried to form a Ministry
without Pitt, and failed. So great a cry of indignation arose
Ireland.— In 1757, the Duke of Bedford, the Lord-Lieutenant, obtained
from the British Government a grant of £20,000 to relieve the distress in
Ireland caused by scarcity of food.
(S98) 7

98 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George II.
in the country that the King was compelled to recall the popu
lar favourite (June). Newcastle was nominal Prime Minister,
but Pitt was really the head of the Government. The strength
of his position lay in his having the commons at his back — not
the House of Commons, but the great and growing middle-class,
the tradesmen, merchants, and manufacturers, on whom tho
wealth of the country now mainly depended. It was as the
head and representative man of that class that he was called the
"Great Commoner." As Foreign Secretary, Pitt undertook the
direction of the war. Then followed that remarkable series of
successes which made Great Britain supreme in both hemispheres.
9. The Struggle in India. — On the peninsula of Hindustan
there were trading colonies of British, French, Dutch, and
Portuguese. Of these the British settlements were the chief
Dupleix, the Governor of Pondicherry, the central station of
the French, formed the gigantic project of conquering all India
for France ; and resolutely set himself, with the aid of native
princes, to uproot the British settlements. Holding Madras,
which had been lately captured by the French, he soon overran
the whole Carnatic. Though Madras had been restored to Great
Britain by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), the rivalry be
tween the British and the French in India had continued, and
soon led to open war. The contest was for the possession of the
vast Mogul Empire. The two powers were brought into colli
sion by a disputed succession in Southern India. For the office
of Nabob of Arcot there were two rivals, one of whom was
favoured by the British, and the other by the French. In
1751, Mahommed Ali, whom the British supported, took refuge,
with a few followers, in Trichinopoli, where he was besieged by
his rival Chunda Sahib and the French. It was necessary that
Trichinopoli should be relieved if the British were to maintain
their position at Madras.
10. Robert Clive— Siege of Arcot : 1751.— In this emergency
the genius of Robert Clive i first showed itself. In 1743, he had
gone to India and had entered the Civil Service. Three years

' Read .Macaulay's Essay on " Clive.'

Newca3tle-Pm.] THE CONQURST OF INDIA. 99
later, having tired of desk-work, he obtained a commission in
the army. He was now twenty-five years of age, and had the
rank of captain. He suggested to the authorities of Madras
that if an attack were made on Arcot, the capital of the
Carnatic and the chief residence of the Nabob, the siege of
Trichinopoli would be raised. The plan was approved, and
Clive himself was intrusted with the execution of it. He
marched to Arcot at the head of 500 men, of ^^ hom 200 were
British soldiers, the rest being Sepoys or native Indians. As
soon as he appeared, the garrison fled in panic, and the British
took possession of the fort without a struggle. Then followed
the event on which Clive had calculated. The bulk of the
army besieging Trichinopoli was detached to recover Arcot.
Olive's little garrison of 500 was soon besieged by an army of
10,000 men, including a small French contingent. After the
siege had lasted fifty days, a determined efibrt was made to
storm the fort. The attack was repulsed with extraordinary
valour, skill, and energy, Clive himself helping to work the
guns ; and then the enemy retired. Arcot was saved. Trich
inopoli was relieved ; and by the seizure of Fort St. David, near
Madras, the British obtained complete command of the Carnatic.
11. The Black Hole of Calcutta: 1756.— The conquest of
Bengal was dive's most remarkable achievement. Surajah-
Dowlah, the boyish Nabob of Bengal, attacked the English
settlements by the Ganges in 1756. Fort William, abandoned
by its governor and the commander of the troops in garrison,
speedily became his prey (June 19, 1756). The event which
has made the Black Hole of Calcutta tragic in the annals of
the East then occurred. One hundred and forty-six English
prisoners were packed into a chamber twenty feet square, with
only two little gratings to admit the air. Next morning
twenty-three ghastly figures staggered, or were lifted, barely
living, from the fetid den. All the rest had died. Clive
Ireland.— In 1757, the rebels, called Whiteboys (because they wore white
shirts over their clothes), first appeared in the south. As Roman Catholics,
the Whiteboys objected to the tithes levied for the Church of England clergy.
As poor men, they objected to the demands of the Roman Catholic clergy.

100

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George II.

12. Battle of Plassey:

'^ .;>'¦' 1- '"" ~' ¦,-', V r'- 1 -

hastened northward to avenge this barbarous cruelty. Having
landed at Fultah ^ in December, he captured the fortress of
Budge-budge, ten miles below Calcutta, and then forced his
way through an intervening army to that town. The fort of
Hugli^ also fell. Early in 1757, Surajah-Dowlah made a
determined attack on Calcutta with 40,000 men. Clive had
only 2,400 men, most of them Sepoys. Yet he kept the Nabob
at bay, and forced him to come to terms. Clive then turned
upon the French settlement of Chandernagore,^ which he took
in May 1757. — Meer Jaffier, the Nabob's
Vizier or Prime Minister, was
the most prominent in the band
of traitors around the Nabob.
On his aid or his opposition
hinged the success of an expedi
tion led by Clive, which left
Chandernagore on the 13th of
June 1757. When the little
army, amounting in all to only
3,000men, and containing scarcely
1,000 British troops, approached
J the village of Plassey,* Clive saw
huge masses of horse and foot, to
the number of fully 50,000 men,
encamped among the trees ! Un
dismayed by the fire of fifty cannons, the British, protected by
a wood and a steep bank, replied briskly with their field-pieces.
The action, beginning at six in the morning, was confined to
a cannonade all day (June 23). Clive, whose sleep the ni^^ht
before had been disturbed by the drums and cymbals in the
native camp, snatched an hour's rest even in the midst of the
roar of cannon. The British fire proved galling and destruc
tive to the Nabob's army, many men and some officers fallin..

cuttf'"""' '" """'' ^°""'-''»^' °' Cal- I « Chandernagore, 16 miles north-west
"t ,. „„ , of Calcutta.
- Hugh, 27 m.les north of Calcutta. I 4 p;„,,,j,^ g^ ,^5,^3 „^,,j,^ ^, Calcutta.

Newcastle-Pitt.] THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 101
under it. Towards evening, the force of Meer Jaffier began
to move toward the British lines, evidently with no hostile
intention. Clive, seeing his opportunity, hurled his whole
force upon the camp, and swept the vast mob in rout before
him. The Nabob headed the flight on a swift camel. When
Clive came to count his loss, he found that only twenty
white men and about fifty Sepoys had perished in the fight
that secured for England the Empire of India. In 1758, the
directors of the East India Company appointed Clive the first
Governor of Bengal

CHAPTER XIV.— THE CONQUEST OF CANADA.
1. Progress of the War: 1757-58.— The war in Europe
seemed at first full of blunders. At Hastenbeck,i Cumberland
was forced into a corner by the able strategy of his French
adversary, and he surrendered at Klosterseven. George felt
his son's disgrace very keenly. The Duke at once resigned all
his military offices and retired into private life, and Prince Fer
dinand of Brunswick was appointed Commander of the British
and Hanoverian forces. A blunder also marked the opening of
the war in 1758. Admiral Howe led to the coast of France a
great fleet, which spent almost the whole season in attempts on
St. Malo and the capture of a few brass cannon at Cherbourg.
Across the Atlantic, however, some French islands in the West
Indies — Guadeloupe among them — were taken. Even on the
African coast victory crowned the British arms at Goree and
the forts by the Senegal. Hanover, too, was saved by Prince
Ferdinand, who drove the French over the Rhine and defeated
them at Crefeld.^ In this year an annual subsidy of £670,000
began to be paid by the British Government to Prussia in aid
of her war expenses. Pitt had left office three years previously,
rather than agree to the payment of subsidies to foreign allies.
Now he was constrained to adopt the foreign policy which, when
^ Hastenbeck, 22 miles south - west of I " Crefeld, in Khcnish Prussia ; 12 miles
Hanover, near Hameln. Klosterseven, 70 north-west of Diisseldorf.
miles north-west of Hanover, '

102 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George II.
it was pursued by Carteret and by Pelham, he had vehemently
opposed. 2. Minden and Quiberon: 1759.— Great but costly glory
covered the year 1759. First in order of time came the Battle
of Minden,! won by Prince Ferdinand over the French, then
again threatening Hanover. From dawn to noon — July 31 —
the battle raged, British valour contributing much to the defeat
of the enemy. On the 18th of August, Admiral Boscawen
shattered the Toulon fleet in a naval action ofi" Cape Lagos, in
the south of Portugal, as it was trying to eflfect a union with
the Brest squadron under Conflans. Last of all, on November
20, came the daring feat of that night when Sir Edward
Hawke, who had been watching the Brest fleet, swooped on
Conflans at Quiberon Bay,^ and with only a dozen ships so
battered the French vessels that but a remnant of them found
refuge in the neighbouring rivers.
3. The Struggle in North America. — In North America the
French held Canada, while the British settlers possessed the
coast of the territory now called the United States. The
natural boundary between the settlements was formed by the
St. Lawrence and its lakes. But the Marquis Duquesne, who
became governor in 1752, inaugurated a vigorous system of
encroachment on the part of the French. Resolved to keep in
French hands the traffic between Canada and the Lower Missis
sippi, he lined the Ohio and the AUeghanies with fortresses,
seizing even the unfinished works at the junction of the Ohio
and the Monongahela, and erecting there a stockade called
Fort Duquesne. In 1755, a British expedition under General
Braddock had advanced to attack Fort Duquesne, but had been
routed and scattered by an ambuscade of French and Indians
near the Monongahela. The preservation of the defeated army
was due to the coolness and skill of a young Virginian colonel,
named George Washington, to be heard of again by-and-by.
The outbreak of the Seven Years' War in the following
year imbittered the strife in the colonies. When the Mar-

1 Minden, a town in Rhenish Prussia, I 2 Quiberon Bay, on the south coast of
40 miles west of Hanover. I Brittany, dep. Morbihan.

Newcastle-Pitt.] THE CONQUEST OF CANADA.

103

quis Montcalm took the command of the French army, the
British were driven southward from the shores of Lake On
tario and Lake George, and afiairs bore for them a very gloomy
aspect. i. Campaign of 1759.— Pitt had not long been at the
Foreign Office when the clouds began to rise. Fort Duquesne
was captured, and its name was changed to Pittsburg. In the
same year (1758), Louisburg and Cape Breton were taken. Pitt
himself planned the campaign of 1759. While General Amherst
was driving the French before him from the forts of Ticonderoga
and Crown Point, and General Johnson was investing Fort
Niagara, Admiral Saunders's fleet, bearing an army of 8,000

men under General James Wolfe, was on its way from England
for Quebec, toward which the other two expeditions were to con
verge. Wolfe was a young man, but Pitt had himself selected
him for this task on account of the proofs of power he had
given. Quebec stands on a peninsula formed by the St. Charles
and the St. Lawrence Rivers. The lower town is on the beach ;
the upper town is on the clifls, which there rise precipitously
to a height of two hundred feet. Montcalm occupied Quebec
and its approaches with 12,000 men.
5. Early Failure. — Arrived in the St. Lawrence, Wolfe took

104 LIMITED JIONARCHY. [George II.
post with the main division of his army on the left bank of the
Montmorency, on a height overlooking the enemy's intrench
ments. On the last day of July, he essayed to attack Mont
calm, but was driven back with heavy loss. After a delay of
six weeks, Wolfe resolved to try stratagem. Having concen
trated the whole of his army, now reduced to 5,000 men, at
Point Levi, on the right bank of the St. Lawrence, he marched
along that bank of the river to a point eight miles above
Quebec, where a portion of the fleet was stationed.
6. The Plains of Abraham: 1759. — On September 12th, under
cover of night, boats with muffled oars dropped quietly down
the stream, bearing the soldiers to a creek above Quebec ever
since known as Wolfe's Cove. Wolfe himself was in the fore
most boat, and as he sat amid his officers he relieved his excite
ment by reciting to them Gray's " Elegy." The earnestness
with which he pronounced the line, —
' ' The paths of glory lead but to the grave, ''
impressed them deeply ; and when he had finished, he said,
" Now, gentlemen, I would rather have been the author of that
poem than take Quebec to-morrow." A narrow path hidden
by trees and shrubs ran tortuously from the beach up the face
of the precipitous rock. Swinging themselves up by the
branches, holding on by tufts of grass, the agile Highlanders
clambered to the top and put to silence a French sentinel
whom they found there. Wolfe and his whole army followed
almost literally in single file. They were able to haul only
one light field-piece up the steep ascent. When day broke, on
the morning of the 13th, 4,800 British soldiers were forming
in line of battle on the Plains of Abraham overlooking Quebec.
The French were completely surprised. Hastily they were
roused from their slumbers, and hurried over the bridge of
boats across the River Charles. In his precipitation Montcalm
threw away the advantage that a superior artillery would have
given him. His men, numbering 7,500, were marshalled for
battle on a slope on the north-west of the fortress. Wolfe's
position was perilous enough. While a superior force faced him,

Newcastle-Pitt.] THE CONQUEST OF CANADA. 105
another French army was advancing from Cap Rouge to attack
him in the rear.
7. The Battle : Sept. 13th. — The French advanced with
great show and bravery. Strong parties of their skirmishers
drove in upon the British main line the light infantry which
were posted in front. Wolfe, who was on foot with his Grena
diers, near the centre of the battle, strode along the ranks
and counselled his soldiers not to fire until they saw the eyes
of the foe. The French skirmishers retired, and with loud
shouts the main body advanced. Before their sharp fire the
British soldiers fell fast. Wolfe was wounded in the wrist.
When within forty yards, the red lines poured forth one simul
taneous volley of musketry. It was decisive : the militia fled
— the French lines, shattered and reeling, wavered. Wolfe
then gave the word to advance, and as he led the way a shot
struck him. Almost immediately afterwards he received a
second wound, in the breast, and staggering he fell into the
arms of a Grenadier officer, and was borne to the rear.
Montcalm and his officers strove in vain to re-form their
lines to withstand the charge of the British. Before their ad
vancing fire, and the rush of the Highlanders with their keen
bayonets, the French soldiers broke into irretrievable flight,
and sought safety under the carmon of the ramparts. Mont
calm fell mortally wounded, and was borne into Quebec. At
that moment the Grenadier officer who knelt beside Wolfe and
supported him, called out, " See, they run ! " — " Who run ? "
asked Wolfe. — "The enemy, sir; they give way everywhere."
— "Now, God be praised; I die happy." Montcalm died the
next morning, consoled, as a soldier, by the fact that the
French flag still waved over Quebec. In the short and sharp
battle of "the Plains" the British lost 55 killed and 607
wounded ; the French 1,500 in all.
8. Conquest of Canada: 1760. — Quebec capitulated on the
18th of September. The British in their turn were besieged
in the town for several months ; but on the approach of a re
lieving fleet in May following, the siege was raised. Three
divisions of the British army then began slowly to converge

106 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George II.
on IMontreal, the only remaining stronghold of the French in
Canada — one from Quebec, another from Lake Ontario, and a
third from Lake Champlain. They all reached the island of
Montreal on the same day — the 8th of September 1760. Vau-
dreuil, the French Governor, finding himself hemmed in by
16,000 troops, at once surrendered, and signed a deed trans
ferring Canada to Great Britain.
9. The War in Europe : 1759-60.— During these years,
Frederick of Prussia had been contending against almost over
whelming difficulties with that spirit, resource, and pertinacity
that earned for him the title of Frederick the Great. In 1759,
at Kunersdorf in Brandenburg, the Russians drove him from
the field with the loss of 18,000 men. Dresden was taken by
the Austrians; while, in the passes of Bohemia, an army of
20,000 Prussians was forced to surrender to the French
Marshal Daun. In the following year, though he had to
abandon the siege of Dresden, after inflicting almost irrepar
able damage on the city, he gained two great victories. At
Liegnitz, in Silesia, he scattered the Austrians, and prevented
their junction with the Russian army. At Torgau, on the
Elbe, in Prussia, he stormed the intrenched camp of Marshal
Daun and drove its defenders across the river. All Saxony,
except Dresden, then fell into Frederick's hands.
10. British Supremacy in India : 1760. — When ill-health
compelled Olive to leave India, for England in 1760, that which
had been merely a group of commercial settlements on his
arrival there had become virtually an empire. Not long after
his departure, Colonel Eyre Coote gained a decisive victory
over the French General Lally at Wandiwash, near Arcot.
This secured Madras, and indeed the whole of the Carnatic, for
Pondicherry surrendered a few months later. Then was the

Ireland. — In 1759, three French squadrons attempted the invasion of
Ireland. The first, under De la Luc, was scattered by Boscawen. The
second, under Conflans, was defeated by Sir Edward Hawke. The third,
under Thurot, landed at Carrickfergus, and the garrison surrendered. On
the return of Conflans' squadron to France, it was captured by Commodore
Elliot, and Conflans was killed.

George II.] THE CONSTITUTION. 107
overthrow of the French in India complete, and the supremacy
of Great Britain was assured.
11. Death and Character of George II. : 1760. — On the 25th
of October 1760, George II. died suddenly of heart disease in
the seventy-seventh year of his age. His successor was his
grandson, a young man in his twenty-third year. George II.
was a German in character and in feeling. When it has been
said that he possessed a strong sense of justice and personal
courage, and that he was a good business man, clear-headed and
methodical, he has received nearly all the praise he deserves.
Lord Stanhope said of him that, " Avarice, the most unprincely
of all passions, sat enshrined in the inmost recesses of his
bosom." He resembled his father in his strong partiality for
Hanover. Indeed it was in the interest of Hanover mainly
that Great Britain was dragged into the Seven Years' War.
12. The Constitution. — The Parliaments were called and
held their sessions with great regularity in this reign. George
II. was on the whole loyal to the Constitution as it was then
established. He invaded no national right, and he did not
press the royal prerogative unduly. In the early part of his
reign he showed a disposition to choose his ministers without
reference to the will of Parliament. He wished to make Sir
Spencer Compton Prime Minister in place of Walpole; but
Queen Caroline convinced him of the absurdity of the selection.
In 1746, he refused to admit Pitt to office in the Pelham
Ministry ; but when Pelham resigned, and Granville failed
to form an administration, he gave way. Even as late as in
1757, George dismissed Pitt from office ; but the popular
clamour was so great that he had again to yield. These inci
dents showed that the principle had been fully established that
ministers hold their office from Parliament.
The chief measure affecting the Constitution passed during
the reign was the Place Bill, which restricted the number of
offices in the State which could be held in conjunction with
a seat in Pariiament (1742). In 1728, and again in 1738, the
publication of the debates in Parliament was declared to be
a breach of privilege.

108

LIMITteD MONARCH y.

[George II.

CHIEF EVENTS.

1731. Second Treaty of Vienna — Pragmatic
Sanction guaranteed by Great Britain
1733. Walpole's Excise Eill introduced and with
drawn.
1736 The Porteous Riot In Edinburgh.
1737. Death of Queen Caroline
1739. War with Spain— Right of search.
1740. War of the Austrian Succession.
1742. Resignation of Walpole— Lord Wilmington
Prime Minister— The "Place EiIl" passed.
1743. British victory at Dettingen— Henry Pel
ham Prime Minister.
1744 Failure of French expedition- War de
clared against France— The " Eroad Bot
tom" Ministry.
1745. British defeat at Fontenoy— Jacobite re
bellion—Battle of Prestonpans- March to
Derby.
1746. Battle of Falkirk— Pitt in ofQce— Battle of
1748. Treaty of Alx-la-ChapeUe. [Culloden.

1761. Clive's capture of Arcot— Death of Fred
erick Prince of Wales.
1762. Reform of the Calendar.
1754. War with the French in North America-
Death of Pelham— Newcastle Prime Minister
1765. Pitt dismissed.
1766. The Seven Years' War— Alliance of Great
Britain and Prussia— War with France— Re
signation of Newcastle — The Devonshire-
Pitt Ministry- The Black Hole of Calcutta.
1757. Execution of Bjmg- Pitt dismissed- New
castle-Pitt Ministry- Surrender of Cumber
land at Klosterseven— Clive's victory at
Plassey.
1758. Capture of Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg]-
Louisburg and Cape Breton taken.
1759. British victory at Minden-Capture of
Quebec— Victory at Quiberon.
1760. Eritish victory at Wandiwash— Death of
George IL

NAMES OF NOTE.

Viscount Bolingbroke {Henry St. John), withdrew
to France, 1736, returned to England, 1742 ;
devoted himself to philosophy and literature ;
died, 1751.
Admiral John Byng, fourth son of Lord Torring
ton, sent with a fleet to relieve Minorca,
1766, condemned and shot, 1767.
Lord Carteret, Secretary of State, 1727 ; Joined
the Opposition, 1731 ; motion to dismiss
Walpole defeated, 1741 ; Secretary of State
and virtual Prime Minister, 1742 ; not ap
pointed to succeed Wilmington, 1743 ; Earl
Granville, 1744 ; resignation, 1741 ; failed to
form a Ministry, 1746; Lord President,
1761-63 ; died, 1763.
Robert Clive (afterwards Lord Clive), a writer
in the Indian service, 1743; entered the
army, 1747; captured and defended Arcot,
1761; returned to England, 1753-55; victory
at Plassey, 1757 ; Governor of Bengal, 1758 ;
returned to England, 1760.
Sir Spencer Compton, Speaker, 1714-27 ; pro
posed as Prune Minister, 1727 ; Baron Wil
mington, 1728 ; President of the Council,
1730 , Prime Minister and Earl of Wilming
ton. 1742 ; died, 1743.
Duke of Cumberland (William Augustus), second
son of George n. , wounded at Dettingen,
1743, Commander-in-Chief of the Allies in
Flanders, defeated at Fontenoy, 1745 , sent
against Prince Charles-Edward, 1745; Com
mander-in-Chief In Scotland, 1746 ; victory
at Culloden, 1746 ; took the command in
Hanover, 1757; defeated at Hastenbeck;
capitulated at Kloaterseven, 1757: reslfrned
his appointments, and retired into private
life.
Henry Fox (afterwards Lord Holland), a Com
missioner of the Treasury, 1743; Secretary

at War, 1746; Secretary of State and leader
of the Commons, 1765; resigned, 1756; Pay
master of the Forces, 1767.
Duke of Newcastle (Thomas Pelham>, Secretary
of State, 1744; Prime Minister, 1754-S6;
again, with Pitt, 1757-62.
Henry Pelham, Secretary at War, 1724 ; Pay
master of the Forces, 1730 ; led the attack
on Walpole, 1712 ; Prime Minister, 1743 ;
died, 1764.
William Pitt (afterwards Lord Chatham), M P.
for Old Sarum, 1735; opposed Walpole,
1736 ; dismissed from the army, 1737 ; left
out of Wilmington's Ministry, 1742 ; left
out of Pelham'B Ministry by George's de
sire, 1743; bequest of £10,000 from Duch
ess of Marlborough, 1744 ; Paymaster of
the Forces, 1746 ; opposed foreign subsidies,
and was dismissed, 1755 ; Secretary of State,
with Devonshire. 1756; dismissed by the
King, 1757 ; Secretary of State, with New
castle, 1757.
William Pulteney, leader of the Opposition,
1727 , Earl of Bath, 1742 ; faUed with Gran-
ville to form a Ministry, 1746 ; died, 1764.
Samuel Sandys, attacked Walpole, 1741; Chan
cellor of the Exchequer, 1742-43 ; made a
Peer, 1744.
Lord Townshend, Secretary of State, 1727 ; re
signed, 1730; died, 1738.
Sir Robert Walpole, continued Prime Minister,
1727; resignation, 1742; Earl of Orford,
1742 ; died. 1746.
General James Wolfe, entered the army at four
teen. 1740; present at Dettingen, 1743;
at Fontenoy, 1745 ; in expedition against
Rochefort. and attraf^ted Pitt's notice, 1757 ;
at siege of Louisburg, 1758 ; commanded at
Quebec, and killed, 1759.

STATE OF SOCIETY. 109

CHAPTER XV.— STATE OF SOCIETY— THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
1. Streets and Roads. — There were numerous hackney-coaches
in London in the eighteenth century, but the sedan-chair was
the most fashionable mode of conveyance in the city. The
watermen also rowed passengers from stair to stair in their
wherries. At night the streets were badly lighted, with oil-
lamps ; and it was customary for those who walked abroad
after dark to hire link-boys to carry torches before them in
order to show the way. These boys, however, were often the
accomplices of the thieves who abounded in London. The
country roads were still infested with highwaymen. They
were often in league with the inn-keepers on the highway,
who gave them information as to the circumstances of trav
ellers. As a coach was driven along a lonely road, it might
be stopped by a smartly-dressed highwayman, well horsed and
closely masked, who would hold a pistol to the coachman's head,
and compel the passengers to yield their purses and jewelry.
2. Night-plagues of London. — Another plague of the streets
by night consisted in the rioting of gangs of dissolute young
men, who paraded the chief thoroughfares. The most notorious
belonged to a club called the Mohocks — after the Mohawk
Indians. One of their favourite amusements consisted in rolling
women down a hill in hogsheads. Another was that called
"sweating" their victim, which consisted in surrounding him
with drawn swords, and pricking him with the points till he
sank from exhaustion and loss of blood. A Royal Proclamation
was issued against them in 1712, and the Government offered a
reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehension of any one
of these ruffians.
3. Coffee-houses and Clubs.— The coffee-house was the great
resort of the day, where men gathered to discuss politics and to
collect or to diffuse gossip. Some houses had a political com
plexion, the Cocoa-Tree being the most celebrated Tory house,
and the St. James's, that most frequented by Whigs. The

110 LIMITED MONARCHY.
coffee-house thus served the same purpose as the modern club.
The latter, however, is an invention of the nineteenth century.
There were clubs, indeed, in the eighteenth century, as we
know from the Spectcttor and the Tailer ; but a club then meant
a company of men who met regularly on certain evenings in
a tavern for supper and conversation.
4. Ladies' Dress. — The most remarkable part of the ladies'
dress of the period was the hoop, a kind of cage on which the
flowered brocade of the skirt was extended to an enormous size.
Every lady also carried a fan, of which she made constant use,
furling, opening, fluttering it ceaselessly. The face was spotted
with black patches, which at one time had a political signifi
cance — Tory ladies wearing the spots on the left temple, and
Whigs on the right. In reference to this practice, Goldsmith,
in " The Citizen of the World," makes his Chinaman propose to
send home " a map of an English face patched according to the
prevailing fashion.''
5. Dress of Gentlemen. — The dress worn by gentlemen
was stiff and artificial. A huge periwig, white being most
prized, flowed with bushy curls over the shoulders, at the
beginning of the period. This gave way to powdered hair,
tied behind in an enormous queue. The coat was of claret
velvet, or sky-blue silk, heavily bordered with gold or silver
lace ; the vest of flowered silk extended its flaps half-way to
the knee ; the three-cornered hat was carried under the left
arm, as a matter of form ; knee-breeches, silk stockings, and
diamond-buckled shoes completed the costume.
6. Promenades. — The usual dinner-hour was between two
and five. After that meal the favourite promenades — St.
James's Mall, Spring Gardens (afterwards Vauxhall), and the
Mulberry Garden (where Buckingham Palace stands now) —
began to fill, and fashionable life was in full flood at about
seven. Vizards or masks of black velvet were commonly
worn ; and it was customary to speak to any one, no ceremony
of introduction being necessary.
7. Evening Parties. — At the evening parties, which were
called ridottos or routs, gambling was practised to a shameful

STATE OF SOCIETY. Ill
extent. It was indeed the great vice of the age. Gentlemen
gambled at their clubs, ladies in their boudoirs ; and it was no
uncommon thing for one to lose or to win thousands of pounds
in a single night at cards or at dice. Duels frequently resulted
from these assemblies : the usual places for deciding these
"affairs of honour" were Hyde Park Ring, and the grassy
space behind Montague House.
8. The Theatre.— The theatre began to fill at four. The
actors wore the dress of their own time, and not the costume
suitable to the parts they acted. A prominent figure in the
pit was the beau, who was ambitious of being considered a
dramatic critic. The gallery was filled with the footmen of the
persons of quality who sat in the boxes. Drury Lane was then
the principal theatre in London.
9. Church and Education. — The demeanour of people in
church contrasted strongly with the decorous behaviour now
usual. People went there to stare about them, and to greet
their friends. When the preacher concluded an eloquent pas
sage, or made an apt political allusion, a huin of approval might
be heard ; and it sometimes happened that a number of noisy
fellows debated points in theology started by the preacher so
loudly as to disturb the service. Very different, however, was
the demeanour of the large congregations that listened eagerly
to the appeals of Wesley and the thrilling eloquence of Whit
field. — Education was at a very low ebb. The only schools
were the grammar-schools of the sixteenth century. The rural
population was allowed to grow up in utter ignorance.
10. Provincial Resorts. — Bath, Epsom, and Tunbridge Wells
were the principal provincial places of resort. There all the
follies of metropolitan life were acted over again, with the
difference of rural surroundings. The constant embroilments
with France and Spain, coupled with the insecurity of travel,
prevented British subjects from visiting the Continent, except
on rare occasions.
11. Literature. — Our literary survey goes back to the Revo
lution. Dryden's best work was done before that, but he con
tinued to write till the very close of the seventeenth century,

1 1 2 LIMITED MONARCHY.
with which his life also closed. Congreve and Farquhar, whose
plays reflect the sparkling wit and loose morality of the Resto
ration, did not begin to write till the reign of William and
Mary, and their activity extended into the reign of Anne.
Almost parallel with them, though on a much loftier level, ran
the career of John Locke, the philosopher, whose powerful
pleas for " Toleration" were the first literary fruits of the Revolu
tion. The reign of Anne derived a brilliancy all its own from
the prose writings of Addison, Steele, Swift, and Defoe. Pope
and Prior were the leading poets. The literary men of the time
engaged freely in political controversy, the pamphlet being the
usual form of publication. The position of these men, however,
was painfully dependent. They looked for their reward in
appointments in Government offices, or in promotion in the
Church. They were obliged to degrade their calling by writing
dedications of fulsome praise, and by cringing to ministers of
State, and even to their valets.
Still lower was the position of the denizens of Grub Street —
a locality where the most hapless and improvident literary men
herded together, eking out a scanty livelihood by compiling
and drudging for booksellers. There was but a slight demand
for books. Even the circulating library had not yet come into
existence, a common method of reading a new book being to
read it in a bookseller's shop, standing at the counter for an
hour or more day after day.
In the time of the first two Georges, literature gradually
assumed a more independent position. Then Pope and Defoe
produced their best work. Allan Ramsay and James Thomson
heralded the natural school of poetry. The fashionable drama
came to an end with the comedies of Colley Cibber and John
Gay. The modern novel took its rise in the works of Fielding,
Richardson, and Smollett. Samuel Johnson established his repu
tation as a satirist and a moralist in the reign of George II.,
though he was still drudging for the booksellers. The modern
school of picturesque history had a sure foundation laid for it
in Hume's " History of England," and Robertson's " History of
Scotland."

REIGN OF GEORGE IIL (HANOVER).
1760-1820.

CHAPTER XVL— THE AMERICAN COLONIES.
1. Accession of George III. : 1760. — George II. was suc
ceeded by his grandson, George III.,i then in his twenty-
second year. He ascended a glorious throne, for the energy
and foresight of Pitt had made Great Britain the first nation in
the world. Like his grandfather and his great-grandfather,
George came to the throne with the full intention of being an
actual king — of ruling as well as reigning. He was in a better
position than they for doing so, as he was an Englishman by
education and by sympathy. His leanings were toward the
Tories, and he was specially jealous of the power of the great
Whig lords. His desire was to get rid of the system of party
government, and to revert to the old plan, under which the
King chose his ministers individually. In this the Tories
heartily supported him. He was shrewd enough to see, how
ever, that he could not carry out his plan in defiance of the
House of Commons ; but he did not despair of being able to
secure the House of Commons, as Walpole and the Pelhams
had done, by a free use of the Secret Service money. Though
the system of party government had been established, the
House of Commons was too corrupt to give it fair-play. Pitt
still remained in power, but it ere long became evident that
the young King was entirely under the influence of the Earl
of Bute, his former tutor.
^ George III., son of Frederick, Prince I Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Issue,
ot Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, and six sons and six daughters. Reigned sixty
grandson of George II. Married, 1761, I years.

114

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George III.

2. Disunion in the Ministry : 1761.— Holdemess, one of the
Secretaries of State, was ousted in order to give Bute a seat in
the Cabinet, and he accepted it with no friendly intention.
There were already elements of disunion there, which made
his task easy. It included Pitt and George Grenville, who,
although brothers-in-law,! had come to look on public ques
tions with very different eyes. As it has been well put, in
relation to the war, " Pitt could see nothing but the trophies ;
Grenville could see nothing but the bill." As the breach
between them widened, Bute's influence grew stronger. Henry
Legge, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was the first to resign.
Then arose the question of a new war, which led to the resig
nation of Pitt, and also of Earl Temple, Grenville's brother.
3. Resignation of Pitt : 1761. — That remarkable secret
treaty, the Family Compact,- made by the Bourbon monarchs
of France, Spain, and Naples, had, in its drift at least, become
known to Pitt. Foreseeing an inevitable war, he boldly pro
posed to strike the first blow against the colonies of Spain,
selecting Havana, Panama, and Manilla as the fittest centres
of attack. The King, influenced by Bute, refused to follow his
advice ; and then (October 6) Pitt resigned. The young King
spoke so kindly to him in the audience-chamber that Pitt's
eyes filled with tears. The statesman would receive nothing for
himself, but gladly accepted a peerage for his wife, with a
pension of £3,000 a-year for three lives. The people took
a public opportunity of showing their feeling in the matter.
Scarcely casting a look at George and his young bride, as they
went in state to dine at Guildhall on Lord ^Mayor's Day, they
overwhelmed the Great Commoner with acclamations. Bute
could find safety only by surrounding his coach with a band of
pugilists. 4. War with Spain and France : 1762-63. — As Pitt, had
foretold, Spain declared war in terms of the Family Compact.

^ Brothers-in-law. Pitt's wife was Hester
Grenville. 2 Family Compact. Louis XV of France
was great-grandson of Louis XIV- Charles

III. of Spain was grandson of Philip V.,
who was grandson of Louis XIV. Ferdi
nand of Naples was son of Charles III, of

Bute— Grenville.] THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 11,5
Scarcely had that step been taken, when Newcastle resigned,
driven from office by Bute and his followers, who, having the
ear of the King, acted without even consulting the Prime
jMinister. Bute became First Lord of the Treasury, and George
Grenville was a Secretary of State. Earl Granville and Henry
Fox were included in the Tory Ministry. The war was short,
but the British arms had many brilliant successes, owing chiefly
to the foresight of Pitt. Great Britain gained Havana and
the Philippine Islands from Spain, and stripped France of the
finest of her West India Islands. Soon both these countries
sought peace. Bute was so alarmed by the increase of the
National Debt that he yielded to their desire, and the Treaty
of Paris was concluded between Britain, France, Spain, and
Portugal in February 1763. It confirmed the cession to Britain
of Canada by France, and of Florida by Spain. Havana and
the Philippines were restored to the latter. The Seven Years'
War was closed in November by the Treaty of Hubertsburg,
which left Frederick of Prussia in possession of Silesia.
5. The Triumvirate: 1763. — Pitt denounced the Peace of
Paris as unworthy of England. Though he was beaten in the
House of Commons, both the Peace and the Ministry became
unpopular in the country. Bute was branded with the name
of favourite ; he was hissed and pelted in the streets of London.
Alarmed by the rising tide of popular dislike, he resigned (April).
The Hon. George Grenville was selected as his successor, be
cause, though a Whig, he had been a member of Bute's Ministry.
Grenville combined the ofiice of First Lord of the Treasury
with that of Chancellor of the Exchequer. With him were
associated as Secretaries of State the Earl of Halifax (George
Montague Dunk) and the Earl of Egremont. The Ministry,
which was called the " Triumvirate," was a mo.st aristocratic

Abroad. — In 1762, Catherine II. of Russia began to reign, her husband,
Peter III., having been deposed and murdered. She carried out the
aggressive policy of Peter the Great and his successor Catherine I., and
extended the influence and increased the territory of Russia on every side.
She died in 1796, after having taken an active part in the successive parti
tions of Poland.

116 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George HL
administration, Grenville being the only Cabinet minister in
the House of Commons. Henry Fox (now Lord Holland) was
Paymaster of the Forces — a post which suited him well, as it
enabled him to enrich himself.
6. Wilkes and " The North Briton:" 1763-64. — In his speech
in closing the session of Parliament (March 1763), the King
had declared the Peace of Paris to have been both honourable
and beneficial. Thereupon The North Briton, a weekly paper
edited by John Wilkes, the member for Aylesbury, in its famous
No. 45, charged the King with uttering a. lie from the throne.
Wilkes was at once arrested on a general warrant — that is, a
warrant which did not specify the names of the accused — issued
against the "authors, printers, and publishers.'' By virtue of
his privilege as a member of Parliament, he was liberated, and
obtained £1,000 damages from the Under-Secretary of State.
Chief-Justice Pratt, moreover, declared general warrants illegal.
Notwithstanding this, Wilkes was expelled from the House of
Commons (January 1764). A month later, he was convicted
in the Court of King's Bench both of libel and of having pub
lished an obscene poem ; but he escaped to France, and was
subsequently outlawed.
7. The American Stamp Act : 1764-65. — Meanwhile events
had occurred which led to the great American War. Grenville,
desirous to meet the cost of the last war, passed in 1764 an Act
imposing customs duties on the American colonies. In the
following year, he passed a Stamp Act, which imposed a charge
levied by means of a Government stamp on every contract, will,
or other legal instrument used in America. The Colonists —
most of whom were descendants of those Puritans who had
beheaded Charles I. and had reared the Commonwealth —
firmly replied, that since they had no share in the government
of the empire, no representatives in the British Parliament,
Ireland. — In 1762, the Whiteboys were suppressed, and their leader was
executed. In 1763, the rising of the Oak Boys occurred in the south of Ireland. They
wore oak leaves in their hats. Their complaint was that the burden of
maintaining the highways fell entirely on the tenants.

Eockiiiguain.] THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 117
they would pay no taxes to Great Britain and would buy no
stamped paper. At the same time they offered to vote volun
tary contributions to the imperial treasury.
8. The Rockingham Ministry: 1765.— About this time
King George's health gave way, and he began to show signs of
that mental weakness which afflicted him in his later years.
It became necessary for Parliament to provide against his pos
sible incapacity by appointing a Regent. In the Regency Bill
prepared by the Ministry, the name of the King's mother was
omitted. The House of Commons, in which the "Kins's o
friends '' — that is, the men in the King's pay — were gaining in
fiuence, ordered the name of the Princess to be inserted in the
Bill, in defiance of the ministers. A sharp quarrel ensued be
tween the King and Grenville, and the latter resigned. The
King made overtures to Pitt, but was unable to meet all Pitt's
conditions. He then induced the Marquis of Rockingham, the
head of the main section of the Whigs, to form a Ministry, in
which most of the offices were held by the Whig lords — the
Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of Portland, the Marquis of
Granby, the Earl of Winchelsea, and others (July).
9. Repeal of the Stamp Act : 1766. — Early in the follow
ing year the Rockingham Ministry carried through Parliament
a Declaratory Act, affirming the authority of the Imperial Par
liament over the Colonies in respect both of legislation and of
taxation. That was followed by the repeal of the obnoxious
Stamp Act, with the strong approval of Pitt Parliament thus
asserted its right to tax the Colonies, but admitted that that ¦
particular tax was not expedient. This was a practical triumph
for the Colonists, though the Parliament claimed a theoretical
supremacy. The House of Commons, under the direction of
this Ministry, passed a resolution declaring general warrants
Abroad.— In 1766, the French acquired the Duchy of Lothringen (Lor
raine) on the death of Stanislaus {of Poland), and, retaining Elsass (Alsace),
thus extended their territory to the Rhine. In return for resigning the
Polish crown in 1735, Stanislaus had received Lorraine, which was to pass,
at his death, to his son-in-law, Louis XV. of France. At the same time
Francis, Duke of Lorraine (who, as the husband of Maria-Theresa, had be
come Emperor in 1745), received Tuscany in exchange.

118 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
(see page 116) to be illegal. But George soon grew tired of
Rockingham and the Old Wliigs, and dismissed them from
office. 10. The Grafton-Chatham Ministry: 1766.— Though Pitt
had supported Rockingham's policy, he had steadily refused to
join his Ministry. Adhering to the doctrine on which his own
power in office had rested — that sound government must be
founded on the support of the people — he detested the custom
which practically placed the control of the House of Commons
in the hands of a few great land-owners. There were two
other sections of the Whigs, which it was equally impossible for
Pitt to join. These were the Duke of Bedford's friends, who
were the most venal of all political parties, and the Grenvilles,
his brothers-in-law, with whom he had quarrelled some years
previously. (See page 114.) Pitt now agreed to form a govern
ment along with the Duke of Grafton, a young Whig peer who
had broken off' from Bute's Ministry in 1763. Grafton was
First Lord of the Treasury. Pitt, who became Earl of Chat
ham, took the office of Lord Privy Seal, but was really Prime
Minister. Charles Townshend (grandson of Walpole's rival)
was Chancellor of the Exchequer. By-and-by, Chatham fell
into ill-health, accompanied with mental prostration, and was
hardly accessible even to his colleagues. Grafton then acted as
head of the Government.
11. New American Import Duties : 1767. — While Chatham
was thus under eclipse, Townshend, regardless of the state of
feeling in the Colonies, induced Parliament in 1767 to pass an
Act imposing import duties in America on certain articles —
tea, lead, glass, paper, and painters' colours. This produced a
fresh outburst of discontent among the Colonists. Defence as
sociations were formed, and intercolonial congresses were held.
The Government, however, held its ground, forgetful of the
fact that the peaceful relations of the mother-country and her
colonies were being put in jeopardy for the sake of a paltry
revenue of £40,000 a-year. In the midst of the controversy
Townshend died, and, after a brief interval. Lord North suc
ceeded him as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Grafton-Cbatliain.] THE AMERICAN COLONIES.

119

12. Wilkes and "Junius:" 1768-74.— At the general elec
tion of 1768, Wilkes, who had returned from France, stood for
the City of London, and was at the bottom of the poll. He
was, however, elected for Middlesex by a large majority. The
House of Commons then refused to admit him ; and though his
sentence of outlawry was reversed, he was sent to prison for
two" years. There were great riots in his favour; the mob
rallied to the cry, " Wilkes and liberty ; " pictures and busts
of him were sold everywhere. The more orderly citizens held
" public meetings." ^ The King was petitioned to dissolve the
Parliament, on the ground that the House of Commons had
ceased to represent the people. Not only the Prime Minister
(the Duke of Grafton) but also the King was assailed in the
famous " Letters of Junius "^ with a freedom of invective previ
ously unknown. For a virulent letter addressed to the King,
Woodfall, the publisher, was tried for libel, and was practically
acquitted, the verdict of the jury being, " Guilty of publishing
only " (1770). The verdict showed that the freedom of the
press had been completely established. In the following year
the House of Commons tried to prevent the publication of its
debates, but the right of the printers was vindicated, chiefly
through the efforts of Woodfall and Wilkes (1771). Four times
did the men of Middlesex return Wilkes to Parliament, and as
often did the House of Commons reject him. But in the end
he triumphed. Having been made Lord Mayor of London, he
was once more returned for Middlesex, and was allowed to take
his seat (1774).
Abroad. — In 1768, the island of Corsica was annexed to France. Corsica
previously belonged to Genoa; but the natives had rebelled against the
Genoese. The latter called in the aid of the French, and gave up their rights
to them. The French then conquered the island for themselves.

^ Public meetings. The first regularly
constituted public meeting to discuss pub
lic measures is said to have been that held
by the electors of Westminster, in West
minster Hall, on 29th August 1769, to
adopt a petition for redress of grievances.
2 Letters of Junius. They began to ap
pear in The Public Advertiser on January

21, 1769, and continued till 1772. It is
still uncertain who was the writer of them ;
but the name supported by the best evi
dence and the highest authorities is that of
Sir Philip Francis, then an official in the
War Office, and afterwards a member of
Council in Bengal. He assisted at the trial
of Warren Hastings, and died in 1818.

120

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George HI.

13. Lord North's Ministry: 1770.— Important ministerial
changes had in the meantime occurred. In 1768 Lord Chat
ham resigned the Privy Seal. He had sufficiently recovered
from his physical and mental prostration to perceive his unfit
ness for active service in the battle-field of Parliament. Two
years later, the Duke of Grafton, finding himself in a minority
in the Cabinet, resigned the post of First Lord of the Treasilry.
Even then Chatham would have returned to office if he could
have effected a coalition with the Bedford Whigs. But in that
he failed, and the King intrusted the government to Lord
North, a Tory Prime Minister, under whom chiefly the Ameri
can War was conducted (1770).

14. Boston Harbour : 1773. — All the American import duties
were withdrawn in 1770, with the exception of that on tea ;
but the resistance of the Colonies, among which Massachusetts
took the lead, continued with unabated force. There were

Ireland. — In 1772, desperate outrages were committed by e\icted tenants,
who called themselves Hearts of Steel.

North.] AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 121
serious disturbances in Boston and other towns. Nevertheless,
the Ministry insisted on sending out the taxed tea. The crisis
came in 1773, when some twenty daring spirits, dressed and
painted like Indians, boarded the tea-laden ships which lay in
Boston Harbour, and emptied the tea-chests into the sea (De
cember). The British Government then shut up the port of
Boston, removed the Custom-house to Salem, and cancelled the
charter of Massachusetts. Meanwhile, in London, the famous
Dr. Benjamin Franklin strove vainly to bring about a recon
ciliation.

CHAPTER XVIL— AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
1. The Congress of Philadelphia : 1774-75. — Representa
tives of all the Colonies, except Georgia, met in a Great Con
gress at Philadelphia in 1774. Like their forefathers of the
English Revolution, they prepared a Declaration of Rights, in
which they denied the legality of their taxation by the Parlia
ment ; they suspended trade with Britain ; and they sent an
address to the King, in which they asked that the unjust taxes
should be removed. The petition was slighted ; but wise men
shook their heads. Chatham told the Lords that it was folly
to force the taxes in the face of a continent in arms. Edmund
Burke bade the Commons beware lest they severed those ties of
similar privilege and kindred blood, which, light as air though
strong as iron, bound the Colonies to the mother-land. Charles
James Fox, Lord Holland's second son, who had entered on
political life as a follower of Lord North, but had been dismissed
from office, turned his unrivalled powers of invective against
his former chief. The ministers were deaf to these eloquent

Abroad. — In 1772, the first partition of Poland took place. One-third of
Poland was seized, and divided by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Over the
remainder the real authority was exercised by a Russian envoy resident at
Warsaw. In 1773, Holstein was finally united to the Danish crown. Catherine of
Russia, who had inherited it, ceded it to Denmark.
In 1774, Louis XVI. succeeded to the French throne. His wife was
Marie- Antoinette, daughter of Maria-Theresa of Austria.

122

LIMITED MONARCHV.

[George HI.

warnings, and refused to abate their demands by one jot.
General Gage, with 5,000 British troops, continued to occupy
Boston. 2. Outbreak of Hostilities: 1775.— After the wordy strife
had lasted for ten years, actual war began; and it continued
with varying success during eight campaigns. The first collision
took place in April at Lexington, between Boston and Concord,
where a few American riflemen attacked a detachment of Brit
ish soldiers that was marching to seize some warlike stores.
The British succeeded only partially, and were forced to retreat,
with a loss of sixty killed and many more wounded. That
was the first blood drawn in the strife.

3. Americans on Bunker's Hill : 1775. — In May the Ameri
can yeomanry, to the number of nearly 20,000, blockaded
Boston, where Gage's garrison had been augmented to 10,000
men. The American intrenchments formed a line twenty miles
long, south-west of Boston. North of Boston, and separated

Abroad, — In 1774, Russia obtained from Turkey, by the Treaty of Kuts-
chouc Kiiinardji, the Crimea, and the northern shores of the Black Sea, as
far west as the BClg ; the protection of the Greek Christians in the Turkish
dominions; and a share in the government of Moldavia and Wallachia
(now Roumania). This made Russia the most powerful State in the east
of Europe, and a rival of the Western Powers.

North.] AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 123
from Charlestown by an inlet, are two hills, the higher of which
is called Bunker's Hill, and the lower Breed Hill. As these
hills completely commanded the city, the Americans resolved to
seize and fortify the former. It is said that Gage had resolved
to occupy the heights on the night of the 18th June ; but Gage
was habitually too late. On the evening of the 16th, twelve
hundred Americans under General Prescott mustered on
Cambridge Common, and marched to the top of the hill with
out being discovered. Intrenchments were hastily thrown up ;
and in the morning Gage was astonished to see earth-works
and swarms of armed men where, the night before, there had
only been untrodden grass.
4. The British Assault: June 17. — Gage determined to
carry the works by assault. On the afternoon of the 17th,
3,000 picked men, under Generals Howe and Pigot, left Boston,
and were landed on the peninsula. The plan of attack was
simple enough. The British were to march straight up the
hill and drive the undisciplined Americans away. But the
task was not so easy as it seemed. The day was " exceeding
hot." The British soldiers were heavily laden with provisions
and other equipments to enable them to hold the heights when
they had gained them. The hill was steep, the grass was long,
the enemy was watchful and resolute. While yet a long way
off, the British opened a harmless fire of musketry. There was
no reply from the American lines, for the men had been ordered
to withhold their fire till the British were close to them,
and then to aim low. When within one hundred and fifty
yards of the works, the column received a volley so close and
deadly as to send its sadly diminished numbers reeling down
the hill. Again they advanced almost to the American works,
and again they sustained a bloody repulse. Then stripping off
their greatcoats, and leaving them with their knapsacks at the
hill-foot, they resolved to end the fight with the bayonet.
Their ammunition being exhausted, the Americans could give
the enemy only a single volley. The British swarmed over
the parapet. There was a brief hand-to-hand struggle. The
Americans fled down the hill, and across the Neck to Cam-

124 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
bridge, the British ships raking them with grape-shot as
they ran.
5. What the Battle proved. — The Colonists had done their
work. Victory no doubt remained with the British. Their ob
ject had been to carry the American intrenchments, and they
had carried them. But much greater than that was the gain
of the Americans. They had proved to themselves and to the
world that, with the help of some slight field-works, it was
possible for undisciplined patriots to meet on equal terms the
best troops Great Britain could send against them. Henceforth
the success of the Revolution was assured. "Thank God,"
said Washington, when he heard of the battle; "the liberties
of the country are safe."
6. George Washington: 1775. — Two days previously, the
Congress, having reassembled at Philadelphia, had signed ar
ticles of union, and had appointed George Washington Com
mander-in-chief. He immediately joined the army at Boston.
It consisted of men quite undisciplined, wretchedly clothed,
and almost without ammunition, but strong in the courage
which comes of determination and a good cause. Fortunately
they were not yet soldiers enough to know the weakness of
their position, and Gage was too dilatory to take advantage of
it. In October, Gage was succeeded by General Howe.
7. Invasion of Canada : 1775. — The second remarkable
event of the campaign of 1775 was the fruitless invasion of
Canada by the American leaders, Montgomery and Arnold.
Thanks to a conciliatory policy toward the Roman Catholics
on the part of the Government, Canada had remained loyal.
Hence the desire of the Americans to attack Canada. Mont
real fell before General Montgomery. Colonel Arnold, march
ing through the wild backwoods of Maine, joined him before
Quebec. But they were beaten back from that fortress, and
Montgomery was slain. Meanwhile 17,000 Hessian troops had
been called from Germany to aid the British arms. The
Royalist forces in America now numbered 55,000 men.
8. Declaration of Independence : July 4, 1776. — Early in
the second campaign, the cannon of the Americans forced

North.]

AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

125

Howe to evacuate Boston and to sail for Halifax, in Nova
Scotia. Then was issued, by the Congress at Philadelphia, that
famous and eloquent document called " The Declaration of In
dependence," drawn up by Thomas Jefferson. After setting
forth the usurpations of the British Government, and character
izing King George as a tyrant, it announced that the Thirteen
Colonies had ceased to be connected with Great Britain, and
had entered on their career as free and independent States. In
the field, the British retrieved the disasters of March by the
triumphs of August, when General Howe, reinforced by his
brother. Lord Howe, seized Long Island, opposite New York,
drove Washington from that city, and planted the British flag
on its batteries. At home, the Whigs disapproved so strongly
of the war policy of the Government that for some time they
absented themselves from Parliament, taking this way of dis
claiming responsibility for the unnatural conflict.
9. Burgoyne's Surrender at Saratoga: 1777. — At the open
ing of the third campaign, the Americans obtained aid in men
and money from France. Of the French officers the most
distinguished was the young Marquis de la Fayette, i Lord
Cornwallis's victory at Chad's Ford on the Brandy wine River,
and the capture of Philadelphia by Howe, raised hopes at home
that the subjugation of the Colonies was not far distant. But a
great humiliation changed all these hopes into fears. General
Burgoyne, marching from Canada, was so hemmed in by the
American troops at Saratoga, between Albany and Lake Cham
plain, that he was forced to surrender with all his brass cannon,
muskets, and military stores (October 16, 1777). This was the
turning-point of the strife. Thenceforward through five cam
paigns America had decidedly the best of the war.
10. Death of Chatham: 1778. — During the winter, the
soldiers of Washington were shoeless and starving in Valley
Forge, near Philadelphia; but inspired by the noble patience
of their leader, they bore their sufferings bravely. The fourth

1 La Fayette, a celebrated French sol
dier and patriot WTien only twenty years
of age he sailed for America to aid the

Colonists, in a frigate equipped at his own
cost. Two years later he returned to
France for men and money.

126 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
campaign did not open till June. Howe had been succeeded
meanwhile by Sir Henry Clinton, who soon abandoned the city
of Philadelphia, in which the British army had passed the
winter. It was during this year that the venerable Chatham,
while thundering, in spite of age and illness, against a proposal
of the Duke of Richmond to grant the Colonies independence,
fell in a fit on the floor of the House of Lords, and was carried
to a bed whence he never rose. He died five weeks afterwards.
He had all along opposed the war as hopeless and cruel ; but
he had been equally opposed to the dismemberment of the
empire. The policy he advocated was conciliation with a view
to federation.
11. The fifth and sixth Campaigns: 1779-80.— No event
of great note marked the fifth campaign (1779), which was
conducted chiefly in the Southern States. In the sixth, how
ever. Sir Henry Clinton took Charleston, the capital of South
Carolina ; Cornwallis annihilated Gates's army at Camden ; ^
and thus the British were complete masters of the South. In
the North, Arnold, commander of a fort on the Hudson River,
deserted, and became a general in the British service. Major
Andre, who had arranged the affair, being seized by the Ameri
can sentinels, was hanged as a spy by Washington, in spite of
all attempts to save him.
12. Cornwallis's Surrender at Yorktown : 1781. — During
the seventh campaign a second great disaster befell the British
arms. Lord Cornwallis, the conqueror of Gates and La Fayette,
was, by the skilful movements of Washington, shut up in
Yorktown, in Virginia, and compelled to surrender with 7,000
men. This was the decisive blow ; and although the war lin
gered through another campaign, the American Colonies were
now virtually severed from the British Empire.
13. The Cry for Peace: 1779-80. — For several years past
the war had been growing more and more unpopular in En
gland, not so much because its object was disapproved of as on
account of its enormous expense. Public meetings were held
^ Camden, on the Delaware, opposite Philadelphia.

North.] AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. 127
in various parts of the country, in 1779, to give expression to
the feelings of the people. In the following year, a monster
petition, sent up from Yorkshire, in favour of "economical
reform," was received by the House of Commons ; and thus the
right of petitioning, refused to the men of Kent in 1701, was
recognized and established. The Opposition took advantage of
the state of feeling in the country to attack the Ministry.
Protests were raised against the abuse of the patronage of the
Crown for the purpose of influencing votes in Parliament. In
1780 a motion, to the effect "that the power of the Crown has
increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished," was
carried in the Commons by a considerable majority. Lord
Shelburne moved in the Lords for an inquiry into the public
expenditure, and for supporting it the Earls of Caermarthen
and Pembroke were deprived of their lord-lieutenancies. Un
deterred by these examples, Burke introduced a Bill for eco
nomical reform in the Commons, which North, in deference to
public opinion, allowed to reach the stage of Committee ; but
there it was strangled.
14. The Rise of the younger Pitt : 1780. — In the new
Parliament, which met in October, William Pitt the younger,
Chatham's second son, sat as member for Appleby. In the
following February (1781), Burke reintroduced his Bill for
economical reform, and Pitt supported it in a speech which at
once placed him in the front rank of orators and statesmen.
The Bill, however, was rejected on the second reading. In the
same session Fox's motion in favour of terminating the war
was lost by a majority of seventy-three. The news of the
disaster at Yorktown, which occurred shortly afterwards, had
a marked effect on public opinion ; and Pitt seized the oppor
tunity to make a powerful attack on the Government.
15. Independence acknowledged: 1783. — In the following
February (1782), a motion of no confidence was carried by a
majority of one only ; and then North resigned, and the Mar
quis of Rockingham returned to power. A subordinate post
was offered to Pitt ; but he declined it, though he supported
the Government, of which both Fox and Burke were members.

128

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George III.

Lord Rockingham dying in July, the Earl of Shelburne succeeded
him as Prime Minister. Fox and Burke withdrew, and William
Pitt became Chancellor of the Exchequer in the twenty-fourth
year of his age. The war was then brought to a close with as
little delay as possible, and in January 1783 the Independence
of the Thirteen United States was formally acknowledged by
the Treaty of Paris ; and they became a Republic, governed by
an elected President. ^
16. The European War: 1779.— During the later years of
the American War, Great Britain was engaged in a strife nearer
home, which taxed her strength to the utmost. France recog
nized the independence of the United States in 1778, and made
a treaty with them. Spain declared war against Great Britain
in 1779, and Holland was added to the number of her enemies
in the following year. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, and
Norway had formed an Armed Neutrality for the protection of
commerce. The allies claimed a free passage for neutral ships
from port to port and on the coasts of belligerents, and de
manded reality of blockade.
17. Great Siege of Gibraltar: 1779-82.— The chief event of
the war was the unsuccessful siege of Gibraltar for three years
(1779-1782) by the French and the Spaniards. The garrison —
which was commanded by General Elliot, afterwards Lord
Heathfield — -was temporarily relieved by Admiral Rodney in
January 1780, and again by Admiral Darby in April 1781.
Towards the end of the latter year, a brilliant sortie by the gar
rison destroyed the siege-works on the peninsula in less than an
hour. The besiegers then resolved on a tremendous effort to
bombard the place.
18. The Bombardment : 1782. — Forty thousand men, under

^ The names of the Thirteen Original States, with the dates of their settlement or
conquest, are as foUows ; —

North Carolina  1585
Virginia  1607
Massachusetts  1620
New Hampshire  1623
Maryland  1634
Connecticut  1635
Rhode Island  1636

New York  1664
New Jersey  1664
Delaware  1664
South Carolina  1680
Pennsylvania  1681
Georgia  1732

Shelburne.]

INDIA AND IRELAND.

129

the direction of the Due de Crillon, with four hundred pieces of
artillery, gathered around the rock in 1782. To meet the storm
of red-hot balls which Elliot
poured from the town, a
French engineer con
structed, at enormous ex
pense, ten vessels which he
declared to be shot-proof.
Armed with new brass
guns, these vessels floated
slowly up to the batteries,
attended by shoals of gun
boats, frigates, and other
craft. At nine on the
eventful morning (September 13), the "constructions" received
from the garrison a warm welcome of red-hot iron, as they
moved to the attack. All day the cannons roared. Towards
evening, smoke jets, issuing from the sides of the monsters,
showed that they were on fire. Two of them blew up; the rest
were burned either by the British shells or by their own crews.
19. The Relief: 1782 — Peace: 1783.— This repulse, however,
did not relieve Gibraltar ; for it was known that food and
powder were running low within the walls. The blockade there
fore continued, fifty sail of the line, with other vessels, occupy
ing the Bay. The final relief of the garrison was accomplished
by Admiral Lord Howe on the 14th of October. The Treaty
of Versailles (signed on the same day as the Treaty of Paris)
gave peace to Great Britain, France, and Spain in January
1783.

CHAPTER XVIIL— INDIA AND IRELAND.
1. Clive Governor of Bengal: 1765. — The history of British
India has been brought down to the close of the reign of George
II. , when Clive returned to England, leaving the British power
supreme in India. (See page 107.) Clive was received in En
gland with great distinction, and was raised to the Irish peer-
(898) 9

130 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
age as Baron Clive of Plassey. In India, however, things went
wrong. The absence of Clive's vigorous hand and watchful eye
at headquarters was distinctly felt. The East India Company's
servants practised shameful extortion, and the service became
disorganized. The native princes began to assume an independ
ent tone, and to throw off their allegiance. The Company was
threatened with ruin. In these circumstances Clive was in
duced to return to India in 1765 as Governor of Bengal. He
set himself vigorously to reform the service, and he concluded
a favourable treaty with the Mogul Emperor. But his health
again gave way, and he finally left India in 1767.
2. Warren Hastings first Governor-General : 1773. — Clive's
departure was followed by a long succession of disasters.
Hyder Ali, King of Mysore in Southern India, formed an
alliance with the Mahratta chiefs in the north-west of the
Deccan. The Company's trade fell off to an alarming extent.
A terrible famine ravaged the land. Lord North, who had
come into power in 1770, passed in 1773 the Regulating Act,
by which the Governor of Bengal was made superior to the
Governors of Madras and Bombay. Warren Hastings, who
had already filled the office of Member of Council both at Cal
cutta and at Madras, was appointed first Governor-General of
India. In the same year General Burgoyne — afterwards the
ignoble hero of Saratoga (see page 125) — led an attack on
Olive's character in the House of Commons. It was prompted
by those whom his reforms had made his enemies. The House
admitted that he had been guilty of certain irregularities, but
added to its Resolution " That Robert, Lord Clive, did at the
same time render great and meritorious services to his country."
Though he was actually acquitted, the stain cast on his good
name preyed on his mind, and drove him to commit suicide,
November 1774. He was only forty-eight years of age.
3. Conquest of the Carnatic : 1780-83.— Hastings was not
over-scrupulous in the means he adopted for filling his trea
sury, both to satisfy the shareholders of the Company and to
carry on his wars. From the first, however, his administration
was marked by the greatest vigour. When France joined the

North.]

INDIA AND IRELAND.

131

Americans in 1778, Hastings lost no time ere he had captured
Chandernagore and Pondicherry, and had all but ruined French
infiuence in India. In
1780 Hyder Ali overran
the Carnatic, and threat
ened Madras. Hastings
made peace with the
Mahrattas, and hurled
against Hyder the whole
of his available forces
under Sir Eyre Coote.
Coote gained a brilliant
victory over him at Porto
Novo in 1781, and finally
crushed him at Arnee in
1782. Hyder died before
the end of that year, and
in 1783 his son Tipoo made peace with the British.
4. Captain Cook's Discoveries: 1767
had thus been building up the British power in India, the dis
coveries of Captain James Cook had been adding largely to the
empire in another quarter of the globe. This celebrated sailor,
who may well be called the founder of the Australian colo
nies, was born in Yorkshire in 1728. Between the years 1767
and 1779 he made three voyages round the world, exploring
especially the South Seas and the coast of Australia. He was
killed in 1779 at Hawaii, in the Sandwich Islands, by the
spear of a treacherous native.
5. Anti-Catholic Riots : 1780.— Great changes had mean
while taken place at home. Both in Scotland and in England,
the public peace was disturbed by an outburst of fury against
the Roman Catholics. In 1778, Sir George Savile induced
Parliament to pass an Act relieving them from certain dis
abilities and penalties — such as the imprisonment of priests for
saying mass, the inability to purchase land, the forfeiture to
Protestant heirs of the estates of Romanists educated abroad
A cry of " No Popery " was at once raised ; but no more serious

79. — While Hastings

132 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
consequences occurred at first. The proposal to pass a similar
Act for Scotland aroused the most passionate opposition in
that country, at the head of which Lord George Gordon (a son
of the Duke of Gordon) placed himself. A Protestant In
terest Association was formed. In February 1780, an Edin
burgh mob attacked and burned the houses of the Roman
Catholic bishop and of other Romanists ; nor was peace re
stored till the military were called out. Lord George trans
ferred the agitation to London. Escorted by an immense mob,
he went in June to the House of Commons to present a peti
tion against the reversal of these laws. The petition was
rejected, and then riots began. For a week the mob held
London streets ; nor did they yield to the soldiery until more
than four hundred had been killed. Lord George was sent to
the Tower, and tried for high treason ; but he was acquitted.
He afterwards embraced Judaism ; and he died in Newgate in
1793, after six years' imprisonment for a libel on the Queen
of France.
6. The Irish Roman Catholics : 1778-80. — In Ireland, as in
England, some of the disabilities from which Roman Catholics
suffered were removed about this time. In 1778 the Irish
Parliament, led by Henry Grattan — the idol of the Irish people
and an entirely honest patriot — annulled the most severe of the
penal laws of 1707. Romanists were allowed to acquire land,
on taking the oath of allegiance. Two years later, they were
permitted to educate their children and to act as their guardians,
and their clergy were relieved of penalties, on swearing allegi
ance to the King, and on agreeing to be registered.
7. The Irish Volunteers: 1779.— The Irish had other
grievances, however. They complained bitterly that the re
strictions imposed on their trade by the British Parliament
were ruining their manufactures. The demand was therefore
raised for free export; and, following the example of the
American Colonists, the Irish prepared to support their demand
with force. On the pretext of a threatened French attack on
Belfast, they formed the league of the Volunteers, with Lord
Charlemont at its head. Their excuse was that Ireland was

Kooklngham.] INDIA AND IRELAND. 133
defenceless, every available soldier having been sent to America ;
and as they professed entire loyalty, the Government had no
excuse for interfering with them. Bands of armed volunteers
were raised and drilled in all parts of the country, and when
the Irish Parliament met in 1779, 50,000 had been enrolled.
Chiefly by their influence, Grattan carried an amendment to
the Address, declaring " that a free trade alone could save the
country from impending ruin." Bills were then passed for the
free export of woollen and glass manufactures, and for recip
rocal free trade with the British Colonies. In the following
year. Lord North passed Bills in the British Parliament recog
nizing the commercial equality of Ireland, and allowing the free
export of the chief Irish commodities.
8. Grattan's Parliament : 1780-82. — Behind the demand for
free trade there arose the demand for a free Parliament. The
latter demand was stimulated by a declaration of Lord North
— made to allay the fears of his own followers — that such con
cessions as the British Parliament had made, the British
Parliament could withdraw. That led Grattan to assert in
the British House of Commons " that without an Irish legisla
ture wholly independent of that of Britain, the commerce of
Ireland would be precarious " (1780). The agitation then begun
lasted for two years, and resulted in the concession of inde
pendence to the Irish legislature. In 1782 so much of Poyn-
ings's Act (1494) as gave the Privy Council power to alter
or to veto Irish bills was annulled. At the same time the
Act of George I. (1719) which empowered the British Parlia
ment to legislate for Ireland was repealed. The Mutiny Act
was made biennial, and the right of appeal from the Irish law
courts to England was abolished. The Rockingham Ministry,
which had then come into power, did not dare to oppose these
measures. Fox and Shelburne disapproved of them ; but they
gave way, and "Grattan's Parliament" was established with
the unanimous vote of both Houses of the British Parliament.
It lasted till 1801.
9. True Nature of the Settlement : 1782.— The settlement
of 1782 was in no sense a triumph for Irish nationalism. It

134 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George lit
was merely a triumph for the English Protestant aristocracy
in Ireland, of whom Grattan was the leader. The farmers
and the peasantry, who were almost all Roman Catholics,
derived no benefit from the change. In some respects their
position was worse. They were wholly unrepresented in the
Parliament whose independence had been achieved. That in
dependence increased the power of their enemies — the English
landlords, to whoiji they had to pay exorbitant rents ; and the
English Church, to which they had to pay vexatious tithes.
The restraint of the British Parliament and the control of the
British Privy Council being both removed, the Irish legislature
was free to do whatever injustice it was inclined to. The
change might benefit the manufacturers of Ulster ; it could not
improve the position of the mass of the Irish people. In one
respect only was the power of the Parliament restrained. It
did not control the Executive. Though it had received in
dependence, it had not received responsible government. The
power to appoint the ministers still rested with the Lord-
Lieutenant. 10. Catholic Emancipation. — After the question of legis
lative independence there arose the question of Parliamentary
Reform, which included as its main issue Catholic Emancipa
tion — the right of Roman Catholics to exercise the franchise
and to sit in Parliament. Grattan himself was in favour of
Catholic Emancipation ; but his party was against it. Its
chief advocates at this period were Henry Flood and John
Philpot Curran. Flood's Bill for Parliamentary Reform was
rejected in the Irish Parliament in 1783. In the same year,
the Order of the Knights of St. Patrick was instituted, with
the King as " Sovereign," and the Lord-Lieutenant as " Grand
Master." 11. Parliamentary Reform. — The reform of the representa
tion of Great Britain was fast becoming one of the questions of
the day. The demand for reform was due to several causes —
to the prevalence of bribery and corruption, to the limited
franchise, to the fact that the House of Commons was repre
sentative of great land-owners rather than of the true Commons,

Portland.] INDIA AND IRELAND. 135
and to the demand for economical reform. The slow progress
of the movement was due to the circumstance that it had to be
dealt with by a corrupt Parliament, which could not, in the
nature of things, be expected to be zealous in reforming itself.
Wilkes brought forward a motion for reform in the House of
Commons in 1776, and it was rejected. The Duke of Rich
mond proposed sweeping reforms in the House of Lords in
1780, and he also failed. Pitt's motion for a Committee of
Inquiry iu 1782 met with the same fate, though it was de
feated by only twenty votes. In the same year, however,
some specific reforms were adopted : contractors with the
Government were excluded from the House of Commons, and
revenue officers were disfranchised.
12. Fox's India Bill : 1783. — On the Shelburne Ministry, in
which Pitt was Chancellor of the Exchequer, there devolved
the task of completing the treaty with the United States.
Though the country was pledged to peace, the treaty was un
popular. Fox and the moderate Whigs joined North and the
Tories, and drove the Ministry from office. A Coalition
Ministry was then formed by the Duke of Portland (April
1783). It included North and Fox, formerly bitter opponents,
as well as Burke and Sheridan. The chief subject that engaged
the attention of this Ministry was the government of India,
Fox, in his India Bill, prepared by himself and Burke, proposed
to vest the government of India for four years in a Commission
appointed by Parliament, and afterwards to be nominated by
the Crown. The Commons passed the measure ; but it was
violently opposed by the King, who authorized Earl Temple to
say that any peer who voted for the Bill " would be considered
by him as an enemy." The Lords then rejected the Bill. Pitt
again brought forward the subject of Parliamentary Reform,
commenting in a jjowerful speech on the unreality of the
representation, the corruption of the electorate, and the power
exercised by the Crown. His resolution was rejected by a
majority of 144 — nearly two to one.
13. Pitt's first Ministry: 1783-84.— The Portland Minis
try was dismissed in December, and Pitt became Prime Minis-

136 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
ter and Chancellor of the Exchequer in his twenty-fifth year.
His task was one of great difficulty, for he had to contend with
a hostile majority, led by Fox and North, the most experienced
Parliamentary tacticians of the day ; and he had not a single
able speaker on his side — himself excepted. For four months
he fought with matchless skill and unfailing courage. Again
and again the House of Commons adopted by large majorities
resolutions declaring the continuance of the Ministry in office
to be unconstitutional, and calling on the King to dismiss them.
Pitt's India Bill was thrown out ; supplies were postponed ;
even the Mutiny Bill was held over, all in order to force the
Ministry to resign. The King, however, stood by Pitt. The
Lords and the City of London supported him. Above all, he
knew that the mass of the nation was in his favour. Gradually
the majority dwindled. When it had been reduced from one
hundred and four to one, he dissolved Parliament (March 24).
In the new Parliament, Pitt had an overwhelming majority,
which insured his supremacy during the remainder of his life.
One hundred and sixty supporters of the Coalition lost their
seats. 14. Indian Board of Control : 1784. — One of the first uses
Pitt made of his majority was to settle the government of
India. This he did in 1784, by a Bill erecting the Board of
Control, which consisted of six Privy Councillors appointed by
the Crown, the principal Secretaries of State, and the Chan
cellor of the Exchequer. This Board, which continued till the
Company was abolished in 1858, was a Ministerial Commis
sion sitting in London which had supreme authority over the
government of India and the affairs of the Company. All
patronage, except that of the very highest offices, and all bus
iness, were left in the hands of the Company.
15. Pitt's financial Schemes: 1784-86. — In 1784, Pitt
passed the Commutation Act, reducing the duties on tea and
spirits. His object was to lessen the inducements to smuggling,
which had increased enormously, and which always does in
crease when import duties are high. Two years later, Pitt
established his Sinking Fund for the reduction of the National

Pitt.] INDIA AND IRELAND. 137
Debt. One million sterling was laid aside every year, and was
allowed to accumulate at compound interest. The plan worked
well enough as long as there was a surplus from the ordinary
revenue ; but the fallacy of the scheme became evident a few
years later, when the nation continued to invest its one million
a year at a low rate of interest, and to borrow many millions at
a much higher rate. Pitt also concluded in 1786 a Commercial
Treaty with France, which abolished most of the protective
duties imposed by each nation against the other. There was
thus established a large measure of free trade between the
two countries. This was the first practical application of the
doctrine of Adam Smith.
16. Pitt's Irish Resolutions : 1785. — Pitt made a resolute
effort to put the commercial relations of Great Britain and
Ireland on a sound and liberal footing. The rejection of Flood's
Reform Bill by the Irish Parliament in 1784, and again in 1785,
threw Ireland into a state of wild excitement. In the very
midst of it, Pitt's resolutions for the establishment of commer
cial equality between the two countries were adopted by the
British Parliament. In order to get rid of the opposition of
the English merchants, Pitt had modified his proposals, and had
made them less favourable to Ireland. When a Bill embody
ing them was produced in the Irish Parliament in August 1785,
it was vehemently opposed by Grattan, Curran, and Flood ;
and the Government majorities were so small that the Bill had
to be withdrawn. The excitement increased. The Whiteboys
reappeared and committed many outrages. In Kerry, the
Rightboys (followers of an imaginary " Captain Right ") pro
duced a reign of terror. Pitt then adopted the view that
nothing could cure the ills of Ireland but a legislative union.
17. Pitt and Parliamentary Reform : 1785. — Pitt's last
Abroad. — In 1786, Frederick the Great of Prussia died, leaving Prussia in
the position of one of the great powers of Europe.
In 1787, a civil war in the Low Countries led to the interference of
Prussia and Austria; and the Netherlands fell from its leading position
among European states. The Netherlands at that time came very much
under the influence of Prussia, as the Belgian provinces were under that of
Austria.

138 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
effort on behalf of Parliamentary Reform was made in the same
year. As Prime Minister he introduced a Bill in which he
proposed to disfranchise thirty-six 'J pocket boroughs,'' return
ing seventy-two members, and to give the seats to London and
the counties. The extraordinary feature of the measure was
its proposal to give compensation to the owners of these
boroughs, at a cost to the country of one million sterling. The
admission involved in this proposal, that the representation of
the people was private property, could not reconcile even a
venal House of Commons to the proposed reform ; and the
Bill was rejected by a majority of seventy-four. Pitt did not
again touch the subject of reform.
18. The Regency Question : 1788-89. — King George had
already given signs of mental weakness and derangement. In
1788, his symptoms assumed so serious a form that it became
necessary, as in 1765 (see page 117), to consider the question
of the Regency. Here the views of Pitt and those of Fox
were found to be in sharp conflict. Pitt maintained that it
was the prerogative of Parliament to aiipoint the Regent, but
announced his intention to propose the Prince of Wales. Fox
held that " the heir-apparent had an inherent right to assume
the reins of government." Pitt's was the constitutional view.
As Parliament had established its power to change the suc
cession to the throne, and had changed it, that implied its right
to appoint a temporary ruler. Fox's " inherent right " theory
implied also an " inherent right " to the crown. Pitt moved,
in 1789, that the Prince of Wales should be invested with the
royal authority, under certain specified limitations, one of
which was that no new peers should be created. In the midst
of the controversy, the King's recovery was announced, to the
relief of Parliament and the joy of the nation.
19. The Test and Corporation Acts : 1787-90. — An attempt
was made at this time to repeal the Corporation Act of 1661
and the Test Act of 1673. The former required all holders of
municipal offices to renounce the Covenant and to conform to
the Church of England ; the latter imposed the same test on
all persons holding any office under the Crown, and required

Pitt.] INDIA AND IRELAND. 139
also a special renunciation of the doctrine of transubstantiation.
A motion for the repeal of these Acts was made by Mr.
Beaufoy in 1787, but it was defeated by a large majority. It
was rejected again in 1789, but by a greatly reduced majority.
In the following year. Fox's motion on the same subject was
negatived by a majority so overwhelming (294 to 105) that it
shelved the question for a generation. It was not revived
again till 1828, when both Acts were repealed. (See page 193.)
20. The Slave Trade: 1787-91.— To the same period be
longs the beginning of the agitation for the abolition of the
slave trade, which, however, did not achieve its end till twenty
years later. An Association for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade was formed in 1787, and in the following year an Act
was passed regulating the traffic carried on in slave-ships.
The great and persistent advocate of the abolition of the in
human traffic was William Wilberforce, the member for Hull.
His resolutions condemning the trade were supported in the
House of Commons by Burke and Fox in 1789, and by both
Fox and Pitt in 1791 ; but they were rejected on both occa
sions. Undeterred by these rebuffs, Wilberforce and his
friends Thomas Clarkson and Zachary Macaulay transferred
the agitation from Parliament to the country, and the sup
porters of their cause steadily increased.
21. Trial of Warren Hastings : 1788-95.— Warren Hastings
finally quitted India in 1785 ; and he left it in a state of un
exampled peace. At first he was received at home with marked
favour; but by-and-by murmurs of detraction began to be
heard, and eventually he was impeached before the House of
Lords. The chief charges against him were : that he had hired
out British troops to crush certain free native tribes ; that he
had extorted large sums of money from native princes — in
particular from the Rajah of Benares and the Princesses of Oudh ;
that, to this end, he had used oppression, and even torture;

Abroad.— In 1789, George Washington was elected fir.st President of the
United States of America. The city of Washington, named after him, was
made the seat of the Government in 1792. The Capitol there was begun in
1793.

140 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
and that he had supported his authority by other unlawful
means. The impeachment was moved in the House of Com
mons by Burke in a magnificent speech. Fox and Sheridan
expended their most brilliant eloquence in assailing him. Pitt
could not deny that he had acted tyrannically. The impeach
ment was accordingly voted. The trial commenced before the
Lords in Westminster Hall in 1788. It lasted seven years,
and in the end Hastings was acquitted. But the trial had
ruined him, and he received a pension from the East India
Company which enabled him to pass the close of his life in
comfort. 22. Conquest of Mysore : 1792-99. — Hastings was succeeded
as Governor-General by Lord Cornwallis, under whom the war
against Tipoo was so vigorously prosecuted that in 1792 he
was forced to submit. A few years later, however, a change
in the government encouraged the Rajah to resume hostilities.
In 1799, a powerful army was despatched to Mysore under
General Harris. Seringapatam was stormed by Sir David
Baird, and Tipoo was slain. Colonel Arthur Wellesley (after
wards the great Duke of Wellington), younger brother of Lord
Wellesley, the Governor-General, was then appointed English
Governor of Mysore. In 1803, he gained a brilliant victory
over the Mahratta chiefs at Assaye, and forced them by treaty
to surrender extensive territories to the British.

CHAPTER XIX.— THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.
1. Causes of the Revolution : 1789.— The French Revolution,
which began in 1789, was the greatest event of the eighteenth
century. During its continuance, the history of Great Britain is

Abroad. — In 1789, the great French Revolution commenced with the
destruction of the Bastille, or state prison of Paris, and the summary exe
cution of the governor and other officers. The Tiers Etat (Third Estate), or
Commons members of the States -General, constituted themselves a National
Assembly. The King and Queen attempted flight, but were arrested. In
1792, the National Convention proclaimed France a Republic.

"**•] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 141
to a great extent merged in the general history of Europe. In
France, a long course of tyrannical oppression, and of reckless
extravagance on the part of the Court, ended in serious national
embarrassment. That was followed by an intolerable weight
of taxation, which caused rankling discontent. Minister after
minister tried to grapple with the financial difficulties, and
failed. Then the Paris mob stormed the Bastille, and the
Revolution began (July 14).
2. Its Effects in Great Britain. — The ferment quickly* spread
to Great Britain ; but the great concessions made to the Par
liament and the people at the Revolution of 1688 and sub
sequently, rendered it comparatively harmless there. Yet it
imbittered party feeling, all the more that the claims of the
people to larger and more direct representation in the House
of Commons were beginning to be urged. Many even of the
friends of reform were alarmed by the proceedings in France,
and became opponents of change. Fox and the Whigs sym
pathized with the demands of the French people for liberty.
Burke, however, denounced the excesses in France, and fore
told the overturn of law and order. In 1790, he published his
" Reflections on the French Revolution," in which he warned
Englishmen against cherishing ideas which were yielding such
terrible fruits across the Channel. Pitt's policy during the
earlier scenes of the Revolution was that of strict neutrality.
Ultimately its excesses impressed him with the danger of in
creasing the power of the people, and he changed his views on
the extension of the franchise.
3. Affairs of Canada. — The effects of the Revolution were
seen in the discussions raised by the Canada Bill of Earl Gren
ville, the Home Secretary, in 1791. Ever since the conquest
of Canada, its government had been beset with difficulties
arising from the differences in nationality and in religion which
separated the inhabitants — the French being Roman Catholic,
and the English generally Protestant. The Quebec Act of 1774
was an attempt to cure the evils, but it had been found wanting.
That Act, in reality, had constituted Quebec a French province.
It had established the Roman Catholic religion, and introduced

142 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
the whole body of the French civil law. The English popu
lation felt much aggrieved by these changes ; and the French
themselves were not satisfied with the Act, as the majority of
the members of the Council were of English birth.
4. The United Empire Loyalists : 1783. — The controversies
were suspended during the revolutionary war in the United
States. The southern colonists made great efforts to induce
the Canadians to join them ; but these efforts were attended
with very partial success. At the peace (1783), several thou
sands of the United Empire Loyalists, as the adherents of the
King in the States were called, migrated to Canada. A large
party of them from New York settled in Nova Scotia, west
of the Bay of Fundy. In 1784, this district was constituted a
separate province, styled New Brunswick, with Fredericton as
capital. 5. The Canada Constitutional Act: 1791. — The object of
the Bill of 1791 was to divide Canada into two provinces, Upper
and Lower, with a separate provincial government in each.
Though a Government measure, it was heartily supported by Fox.
Burke, on the contrary, denounced it in a violent philippic
against republican principles which he thought the Bill favoured ;
and he declared that he would hold no intercourse with those
who defended them. Fox, who had been his life-long friend,
whispered, "There is no loss of friendship, I hope." "Yes,"
replied Burke, " there is loss of friendship. I know the price
of my conduct: our friendship is at an end." The BUI passed,
and is known as the Canada Constitutiortal Act. It established
a Representative Assembly, a Legislative Council, and a Gov
ernor in each province. It did not, however, put an end to
the evils which afilicted the colonies.
6. Pitt's first Coalition against France: 1793. — The Re
public was established in France in 1792, and one of its first
Abroad. — In 1792, the Emperor Leopold II. concluded a treaty with
Prussia against France. Tlie allies were defeated both in Belgium and in
Italy. After the defeat of the Austrians .it the Bridge of Lodi (1796),
Napoleon forced them to conclude a peace (1797) which gave Belgium to
France in exchange for Dalmatia and other Venetian provinces.

Pitt-] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 143
acts was to offer help to the English people against their
" tyrannical " Government. A few days after the execution of
Louis in the following year, the French liepublic declared war
against Great Britain, which was joined by Holland, Spain,
Austria, Prussia, and five smaller states in the first Coalition.
The strife then kindled continued with little interruption for
twenty-two years. It was soon manifest that the energies of
France had been braced rather than exhausted by the hurricane
of Revolution. Toulon, a strong fortress on the Mediterranean
shore, having been surrendered to a British fieet by the French
Royalists, was retaken by the cannon of the Republic, directed
chiefly by a Corsican officer of artillery named Napoleon Bona
parte — afterwards the famous general and emperor.
7. Parliamentary Reform : 1793-94. — In Great Britain, the
admirers of the Revolution became bolder. A Society of the
Friends of the People was formed, and revived the cry for a
reform of the representation in Parliament. Charles Grey
(afterwards Earl Grey) brought forward a motion in favour of
Reform in the House of Commons (1793). It was opposed not
only by Burke, but also by Pitt, and was rejected by a majority
of five to one. That was followed by great excitement in the
country. Public meetings were held in support of the demands
of the people. There were riots in Sheffield, Dundee, and
other towns. The Government became alarmed, and suspended
the Habeas Corpus Act, besides passing an Act against seditious
assemblies (1794). Home Tooke, a clergyman and a member
of the Constitution Society, was, with two associates, tried for
high treason at the Old Bailey, but was acquitted. In Scotland,
the demand for reform, both economical and parliamentary, led
to seditious meetings and publications. In Edinburgh, in 1793,
five men were convicted of seditious practices, and were sen
tenced to transportation for periods varying from seven to
Abroad.— Louis XVI. of France was beheaded at the beginning of 1793,
and his Queen before the end of the year. This was the time of the Reign
of Terror, during which a band of demagogues, headed by Robespierrp, shed
the best blood in France like water. Its tyranny came to an end with the
execution of Robespierre and nearly one hundred of his followers in 1794.

144 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
fourteen years. In the following year, a man named Robert
Wall — a political Titus Gates — concocted a plot for the seizure
of Edinburgh Castle, and was convicted of high treason and
executed. 8. State of Ireland. — In Ireland the people prepared for re
bellion. The Society of " United Irishmen " was formed in 1791,
ostensibly to secure Parliamentary reform. The founders were
Theobald Wolfe Tone, a young barrister, and James Napper
Tandy, a Dublin demagogue, who thought that Romanists and
Ulster republicans might be united on the ground of their
common hatred of England. They agitated for the creation
of an Irish republic independent of Great Britain, and held
secret correspondence with France. The British Government
endeavoured to conciliate the Irish by fresh concessions to
Roman Catholics (1793) ; but as these did not include the right
to sit in Parliament, they had no effect. Earl Fitz-William,
appointed Lord-Lieutenant in 1795, after Portland and the
Whigs joined Pitt, proposed, in conjunction with Grattan, to
concede the Catholic claims, and was at once recalled. Riots
followed, and the United Irishmen openly demanded separa
tion, and prepared for rebellion with the aid of France. The
Ulster Protestants, on the other hand, formed Orange Lodges in
defence of the Government.
9. State of political Parties.- — Pitt's recantation of his
opinions about reform was part of a general reaction which
his views on political questions had undergone. His dread of
disturbance and violence led him to distrust the people, on
whose support he had formerly relied. He now held it to be
the first and chief duty of Government to maintain law and
order, and to support the Crown as their symbol From this
point onward in his career, Pitt was the head of a new Toryism,
which consisted in resolute defence of the Constitution as it
was, against all attempts to alter or amend it, combined with
which there was defence of the rights of property. Many of

Abroad. — In 1793, Russia and Prussia took advantage of the disturbed
state of Europe to effect a further joartition of Poland.

Pitt.] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 145
the Old Whigs found themselves in practical agreement with
Pitt's views, and joined his supporters. This led to a re
construction of the Ministry in 1794, when the Duke of Port
land, formerly a Whig, became Home Secretary. A third
Secretaryship of State was now added to the Ministry — that
of "Secretary /or War," in addition to the existing "Secretary
at War " — and was filled by the appointment of Henry Dundas,
formerly Lord Advocate for Scotland. The Whigs who re
mained in opposition were called the " Friends of the People,''
and naturally became more advanced in their views. Fox and
Grey were their leaders, and their watchword was "Peace,
Retrenchment, and Reform!" It was about this time that Fox
declared that " radical reform " was necessary.
10. War with Holland and Spain: 1795. — Abroad, the
British arms were generally successful. Lord Hood took Cor
sica. At the siege of Calvi, Captain Horatio Nelson greatly
distinguished himself ; but he lost the sight of his right eye in
the action. A still greater victory was gained by Lord Howe
on June 1, 1794, when he defeated the Brest fleet, capturing
seven ships and sinking one. Most of the French settlements
in the East and the West Indies were taken. The French,
however, had become masters of Flanders, and in 1795 Holland
submitted to them, and was punished by the loss of the Cape
of Good Hope and numerous settlements in the East and the
West Indies. In the same year Prussia made a separate treaty
with France, and Spain declared war against Great Britain.
Nevertheless Pitt resolved to prosecute the war with vigour.
Notwithstanding Pitt's determination to spare no effort while
the war lasted, there can be no doubt of his genuine desire
for peace. One of his chief difficulties hitherto had been the
Abroad. — In 1796, the last partition of Poland took place, Russia, Austria,
and Prussia getting shares. Poland ceased to be an independent monarchy.
A rising of the Poles under Kosciusko formed the excuse for its final dis
memberment. Russia was thus brought more directly into the heart of
Europe, and afterwards wielded greater influence as a European power. The
remainder of Poland was annexed to Russia as a province in 1832.
In 1795, the French republican anny drove the House of Orange from
power in Holland, and established the Batavian Republic.
(Sfts) 10

146 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
absence of a settled government in France with which to nego
tiate. That difficulty seemed to be removed when the Directory
was established in 1795, and in the following year negotiations
were opened, the Earl of Malmesbury being sent to Paris as
Ambassador. As might have been expected, the British terms
were scornfully rejected. The proposal had Fox's hearty
approval; but Burke, though no longer in Parliament, de
nounced it as "a regicide peace."
11. Distress and Discontent at home : 1796-97.— In England
it was a time of great gloom and distress. Food was dear, taxes
were heavy, discontent was wide-spread. The ears of the King
were assailed in the streets with cries of " Bread, bread ! " and
"Peace, peace ! " The Bank of England hachadvanced so much
money to the Government that it could no longer supply the
demands of the public in specie. It therefore stopped cash
payments, and issued notes of £1 and £2 ; and Pitt introduced
and passed his Bank Restriction Act, prohibiting the Bank
from paying in cash sums over 20 shillings (February). Fox
still raised his voice against the war and in favour of freedom.
In 1797, he moved for the repeal of the repressive measures
adopted two years previously for checking treasonable practices
and seditious meetings ; but he was supported with only forty
votes. In the following year his name was struck off the list of
Privy Councillors by order of the King.
12. Battle of St. Vincent: February 1797. — The year 1797
was one of the most eventful of the war. France, Spain, and
Holland organized a double invasion of the British Isles. The
French and Spanish fleets were to unite and descend on Britain.
The Dutch fleet was to carry an army of 14,000 men to the
shores of Ireland. The Spanish fleet was at Cadiz, the French
at Brest, and the Dutch at the island of Texel. The object of

Abroad. — In 1795, the French Directory succeeded the Convention. It
gave place to a Jlilitary Dictatorship, with Napoleon Bonaparte as First
Consul, in 1799. Bonaparte was made Consul for life in 1802, and Emperor
in 1804. The successive forms of government between 1789 and 1804 were —
absolute monarchy, limited monarchy, republic, oligarchy, aristocracy, dic
tatorship, and empire.

Pitt.] THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 147
the British tactics was to prevent the union of any two of these
fleets. For that purpose Viscount Bridport (Hood's brother)
watched the French fieet, and Admiral Duncan blockaded the
Dutch, while Sir John Jervis with the Mediterranean squadron
cruised off the south of Portugal to intercept the Spaniards
should they sail northward. Their attempt to do so led to the
Battle of St. Vincent, on February 14, in which the British,
though inferior in the number and size of their ships, gained a
complete victory. The result was mainly due to the brilliant
dash into the very midst of the enemy's lines made by Commo
dore Nelson in defiance of orders. Having captured the San
Nicolas, he boarded from it the San Josef, the flag-ship of the
Spanish Admiral, himself leading the assault, and shouting,
" Westminster Abbey or victory ! " Spain was so crippled that
she could take no part in the projected invasion.
13. Mutiny in the Fleet: April-June 1797. — The French
and Dutch fleets were still intact, and, if combined, would have
been formidable. This critical juncture was chosen by the
sailors of the British fleet as the time for a serious and wide
spread mutiny. The men had no doubt good grounds of com
plaint. They demanded more pay, better food, better attention
when sick, and more liberty when in port. There was, however,
something recklessly unpatriotic in the time they chose for
urging their demands. The mutiny began at the Spithead in
April. There it was suppressed without much difficulty, chiefly
owing to the personal popularity of Lord Howe. In May it
spread to Sheerness, and assumed a much more serious aspect.
The mutineers, led by Richard Parker, who took the style of
" Rear-Admiral," seized the ships and sent the officers on shore.
Removing from the neighbourhood of the land batteries at Sheer
ness to the Nore, they anchored the ships across the Thames
in order to close the mouth of the river. There they were
joined by the greater part of Admiral Duncan's North Sea fleet ;
and if the Dutch had known how matters stood they might
have had an easy victory. But Duncan, though left with only
two ships, deceived the enemy by continuing to signal as if his
whole squadron were with him still. London was in dismay ; but

148

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George IIL

the Government acted with firmness and promptitude. What
really caused the collapse of the mutiny was the proposal of
the ringleaders to sail the fleet into a French port. The scorn
with which the advice was rejected showed that the men
were still loyal at heart; and they surrendered in June.
Eighteen of the ringleaders, including Parker, were hanged at
the yard-arm.
14. Battle of Camperdown: October 1797.— In October,
Duncan, who had taken an
active part in suppressing the
mutiny, learned that the Texel
fleet had put to sea. He im
mediately rejoined his squad
ron, and, cutting in between
the enemy and a lee shore off
Camperdown, brought on an
engagement which lasted four
hours, and ended in the total
defeat of the Dutch, with the
loss of eight sail of the line and
three other ships. All danger
of an invasion was now at an
end. On the Continent, how
ever, the French arms were
successful. Napoleon and Mas-
sena broke the power of Aus
tria in a series of brilliant victories, and she had to submit to
the humiliating Treaty of Campo Formio, near Venice. This
broke up the Coalition.
15. Battle of the Nile: 1798. — Bonaparte spent two cam
paigns in Egypt and Syria, engaged in a fruitless attempt to
open a path for the conquest of India. Sailing from Toulon

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Abroad. — In 1798, the French dashed into Switzerland, to secure the
treasure at Berne. They upset the cantonal government, setting up the
Helvetian Republic on the French model. The Smss resisted, and in 1802 a
new league was formed on the old cantonal plan. It was re-formed in 1814 ;
and a new constitution was introduced in 1848, with Berne as the sole capital.
Pitt]

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

149

/o''

with a great fleet and army, he took Malta i on his way, and
landed at Alexandria. Then pressing on to Cairo,- he defeated
the ^Mamelukes-' of Egypt in the
Battle of the Pyramids, On
the eve of the battle he pointed
to the Pyramids and exclaimed,
" Soldiers ! remember that from
these Pyramids forty centuries
contemplate your deeds." But
he had been followed by Admiral
Nelson, who anniliilated his fleet
as it lay in the Bay of Aboukir.
The action began at sunset, and
lasted until daybreak. Nelson
was severely wounded on the
head by a splinter of iron. The French flag-ship, L'Orient, blew
up during the battle, with the admiral and his crew of 1,000
men. Nelson at once sent boats to rescue the French seamen
who were struggling in the water. Never was a naval victory
more complete than that of the Nile. Of thirteen French men-
of-war, nine were taken and two burned. The victor was made
a peer, with the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile.
16. Battle of Alexandria: 1801. — By this brilliant victory
the army of Bonaparte was imprisoned amid the sands of
Egypt But, never inactive, he led his soldiers, earh* in 1799,
across the desert between Egypt and Palestine, took the town
of Jaffa by storm, and laid siege to Acre.'' Two days before his

^ Malta, an island in the Mediterra
nean ; 54 miles south-west of Sicily. Chief
town, V;ilctta. In 1530 it was granted by
the Emperor Charles V. to the Knights of
St. John of Jerusalem, then driven from
Rhodes by the Turks. It remained in
theirhands till 1798. In 1800 the British
took it. and it has ever since continued one
of their most important ocean fortresses.
- Cairo, the chief city of Egypt; 112
miles south-east of Alexandria.
•' Mamdukis. originally a bodyguard of
the Sultan of Egypt, composed of Tiu-tar
slaves (1230). By-and-by they acquired

supreme power, founding one dynasty in
1254 and another in 1382. From 1507
till 1798 Egj*pt was governed by twenty-
four Mameluke Beys, or governors of
provinces. ^ Acre, on the coast of Syria, near the
foot of Mount Carmel. It is famous for its
sieges. It was taken by the Crusaders in
1104; by the Saracens in 1187; by tlie
Crusaders again, under Kichard I., in 1191.
It was retaken by the Saracens in 1291,
when 60,000 Christians were put to death.
It was seized by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832.
In 1840 it WAS taken by England.

1.50 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
arrival at the place. Sir Sidney Smith had entered the bay with
a small squadron. The Turkish commander was on the point
of surrendering ; but Smith sent seamen and marines, guns and
ammunition, into the old fortress of St. John. Additional for
tifications were hastily thrown up, and the place was so gallantly
defended that after repeated efforts to storm its walls during
two months, the French were forced to retreat to Egypt.
Alarming news from Paris caused Bonaparte to leave his
soldiers in Egypt, and hurry back to France. The army thus
abandoned lost spirit, and was finally routed at Alexandria in
1801 by Sir Ralph Abercromby, who received a mortal wound
during the action.
17. French Designs on Ireland : 1796. — In no part of Europe
did the evil example of the French Revolution bear more bitter
fruit than in Ireland. The United Irishmen still persisted in
their schemes, and still intrigued with France. In 1796, after
Pitt formed his Coalition with Prussia and Austria, the French
Directory, by way of retaliation, projected an invasion of Ire
land with 25,000 men under Marshal Hoche. The fleet, how
ever, was scattered by storms, and only a few ships reached
Bantry Bay. Being unable to effect a landing owing to adverse
winds, they returned to France. In the following year, renewed
disturbances having occurred in the north, owing to the con
flicts of Romanists and Orangemen, General Lake was ordered
to disarm the Ulster rebels. He carried out the order with
excessive rigour and cruelty, frequently torturing the peasants
in order to force from them their concealed arms.
18. Irish Rebellion: 1798.— In the beginning of 1798, the
Government received information of a formidable conspiracy in
Ireland,' in support of which 250,000 men were ready to appear
in arms. Arthur O'Connor and two accomplices were arrested
at Margate with treasonable documents in their possession.
The hiding-place of Lord Edward Fitzgerald in Dublin having
been discovered, three ofiicers were sent to arrest him. Of
these he killed one and seriously wounded another, while he
was himself shot by the third, and died a few days later (May).
Then an aimless and unsuccessful rising took place. A pro-

Pitt-l THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 151
jected attack on Dublin failed, the Government being thoroughly
prepared. In Antrim and Down the rebellion was slightly
felt, but it raged fiercely for about two months in Wicklow
and Wexford. In the Battle of Vinegar Hill, near Enniscorthy
in Wexford, General Lake routed the great mass of the Irish
army (June 21). When all was over, 1,100 French troops
under General Humbert landed at Killala Bay in Mayo, and
marched inland. Having been joined by 1,000 of the Irish,
they defeated Lake at Castlebar (August 26). Lord Cornwallis,
the Viceroy, then took the field, and surrounding Humbert's
force at Ballinamuck, near Longford, compelled him to surrender
(September). In October another French squadron appeared
in Lough Swilly, and was defeated. Wolfe Tone and Napper
Tandy, who had been specially active in carrying on the in
trigues with the French, were both arrested soon afterwards.
The former committed suicide in prison when under sentence of
death. The latter was spared, being deemed too contemptible
for punishment. He died in 1803.
19. The Irish Union: 1799-1801.— Though the rebellion
had been crushed, its seriousness confirmed Pitt in the view he
had long held, that nothing but a complete legislative union
between the two countries would secure peace. Resolutions
proposing such a union were, in 1799, carried in the British
Parliament ; but in the Irish Parliament they were denounced
in the most violent terms. The work of conciliating opponents
was undertaken by Lord Cornwallis the Viceroy, and by Lord
Castlereagh the Chief Secretary, a young and eager Irish poli
tician who had been won over to the side of the Government.
The chief instrument employed was money, given not in the
offensive form of open bribes, but in the veiled form of " com
pensation" to the owners of seats in the Irish Parliament.
After much controversy and much negotiating, the end was
accomplished. On February 18, 1800, the resolutions for
union were adopted by the Irish Parliament by a majority of
46. The Bill completing the union received the royal assent on
August 2, and the union came into effect on January 1, 1801.
Thenceforward the people of Ireland were to be represented in

152 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
the Imperial Parliament by thirty-two Lords and one hundred
Commoners ; their traders obtained many new and valuable
privileges, while the taxes were much lighter than those paid
in Great Britain. The sum of money spent in " compensation "
was £1,260,000, and that formed an addition to the Irish
national debt. At the same time many new peerages were
created, while many existing peers were rewarded with a step
in their dignities.
CHAPTER XX.— THE CONTINENTAL WARS.
1. Pitt's second Coalition: 1799. — Nelson's great victory at
the Nile (1798) had enabled Pitt to form a second Coalition
against France (1799), in which Great Britain was joined by
Russia, Austria, Portugal, Turkey, and Naples. When the
news of that arrangement reached Bonaparte, he suddenly
returned from the East, as has been mentioned already, over
threw the Directory, and established the Consulate. He was
made First Consul for ten years ; and wishing to consolidate
his government, he wrote directly to King George proposing
peace. Pitt rejected his overtures, and the war continued.
Bonaparte then hurled his legions once more against Austria.
With 36,000 men he crossed the Alps by the Great St. Bernard,
and poured his army like an avalanche on the plains of Lom-
bardy (1800). Austria, humbled at Marengo, in Piedmont
(June), and Hohenlinden,! in Bavaria (December), was con
strained to accept terms of peace at Luneville early in 1801.
2. The Armed Neutrality League : 1800. — Meanwhile Bona
parte had succeeded in detaching Russia from the Coalition.
Malta, which had been captured by Bonaparte on his way to
Egypt, surrendered to Gyeat Britain in September 1800. The
island had been in the possession of the Knights of St. John
for two centuries and a half. The Czar Paul, as titular Grand
Master of the Order, thought himself entitled to it, and was
much annoyed because the British retained it. He also objected
to the right claimed by Great Britain to search neutral ships.
^ Read Thomas Campbell's " Hohenlinden."

Addlngton.j

THE CONTINENTAL "WARS.

153

On these pretexts, the Czar revived, with Prussia, Sweden, and
Denmark, the Armed Neutrality League of the Northern
Powers. Great Britain was thus left almost alone in the
struggle with France.
3. Resignation of Pitt: 1801. — At this juncture the man
who had directed the policy of the country during the war
was removed from the helm of State. Though Pitt had re
nounced his early views on the representation of the people in
Parliament, he thought that the union with Ireland would
be more complete and lasting if the Roman Catholics were
"emancipated;" that is to say, if they were allowed to sit in
Parliament and to hold public ofiices, like their fellow-citizens.
As the King refused to listen to these proposals, Pitt resigned,
after ha-ving held office for upwards of seventeen years. He
was succeeded by Henry Addington (February). Lord Hawkes-
bury, afterwards Earl of Liverpool, was Foreign Secretary.
4. Bombardment of Copenhagen : 1801. — To counteract the
Northern League, a fleet of
eighteen sail under Sir Hyde
Parker and Lord Nelson left
Yarmouth Roads for the
Sound on the 12th of March.
Nelson undertook to reduce
the batteries of Copenhagen
with ten ships ; and, having
got twelve, he proceeded to
take soundings and to lay
down buoys in the winding
channel which led up to the
Danish position. In the hot
test of the cannonade a
signal fluttered on the top
mast of Parker's ship, com
manding Nelson to cease firing. The hero turned his telescope
towards the flag, but held it to his sightless eye, and went on
with the attack, desiring his own signal for "closer action"
to be nailed to the mast. At about two in the afternoon

1 .5 4 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
the Danish fire slackened and then ceased. Some of the
ships which had struck fired on boats that were pulling to
take possession of them ; upon which Nelson wrote as follows
to the Crown Prince : — " Vice- Admiral Lord Nelson has been
commanded to spare Denmark when she no longer resists.
The line of defence which covered her shores has struck to
the British flag; but if the firing is continued on the part
of Denmark, he must set on fire all the prizes that he has
taken, without having the power of saving the men who have
so nobly defended them. The brave Danes are the brothers,
and should never be the enemies, of the English. "^ This humane
and dignified remonstrance had its effect. A flag of truce came
from the shore, and next day the victor landed to tell the
Crown Prince why the battle had been fought. This " glorious
disobedience " was rewarded with the title of Viscount.
5. The Treaty of Amiens : 1802. — A second and fatal blow
to the Northern League was the death of its originator, the
Czar Paul, who was assassinated by the Governor of St. Peters
burg and other malcontents. His successor, Alexander, formed
a treaty with Britain, to which Denmark and Sweden acceded.
The way being thus smoothed for a general peace, Amiens was
appointed as the place for its discussion. After some wrangling
about Malta, the Treaty of Amiens was concluded and signed
on the 27th of March 1802. The parties to it were Great
Britain, France, Spain, and Holland. France gained unduly,
both in Flanders and in the East. Great Britain retained only
Trinidad and Ceylon, and agreed to give up Malta. Yet it
was well known that the peace was a shallow pretence on the
part of Bonaparte, and every one regarded it as merely an
armed truce. The war had raised the National Debt of Great
Britain to £520,000,000 sterling.
6. Rene-wal of the War: 1803. — The peace was of short
duration. The British Government knew well that Bonaparte
(now First Consul for life) was continuing his preparations for
war. He did his utmost, by slights and insults, to provoke
' See Campbell's "The Battle of the Baltic."

Addington.] THE CONTINENTAL WARS. 155
Britain to a declaration of hostility. He demanded that re
straints should be put on the British press, which made virulent
attacks on him ; and he required the expulsion of French refu
gees who were his enemies. All these demands were rejected.
On one thing the British Government was resolved— that Malta
should not be evacuated until it was certain that Bonaparte
would not seize it with a view to the reoccupation of Egypt.
The Government therefore proposed to hold it for ten years,
and then to restore it to the Knights of St. John. This ulti
matum having been rejected, war with France was declared by
the King on the IStli of May 1803. Four days later, a decree
of the First Consul threw into prison several thousand British
tourists, whom the peace had induced to cross the Channel.
7. Threatened In-yasion : 1803. — The great terror of a French
invasion took a very distinct shape in the summer of 1803.
One hundred thousand men lay encamped at Boulogne ; and
the wings of this great central body spread to the number of
50,000 more from Brest on the one hand to Antwerp on the
other. Quietly and resolutely Great Britain collected her
energies for the conflict. In addition to her previous resources,
a force of volunteers begirt her with a ring of defence. Civil
ians to the number of 300,000 went to drill and learned the use
of arms. Gun-boats also clustered along the line of the Cinque
Ports. The watchfulness of Collingwood and Nelson prevented
the invasion. Suddenly the " Army of England " was marched
against Austria.
8. Emmet's Rising in Dublin: 1803. — In Ireland an out
break, which might have been serious had it not been prema
ture, took place on the 23rd of July. A store of gunpowder
having exploded, the insurgents were forced into action ; and,
breaking into various bands in the streets which branch from
the Castle of Dublin, they were dispersed by the fire of the
military and the police. The murder of Chief-Justice Kilwar-
den degraded their enterprise. Robert Emmet, the leader of
the rising, was seized in his hiding-place among the hills of
Wicklow, was brought to trial, condemned, and executed, as
were also seventeen of his accomplices.

156

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George III.

9. Pitt's second Ministry : 1804.— When the Addington
Ministry resigned in 1804, having manifestly lost the confidence
of Parliament and the country, the King commissioned Pitt to
form a new Cabinet. Though the Ministry had fallen before
the combined attacks of Pitt, Fox, and Grenville, the King
made it a special condition that Fox was to have no place in
the new Government ; and Grenville declined to accept ofiice
without him. Pitt further agreed to postpone the question of
the Roman Catholic disabilities. Henry Dundas, now Lord
Melville,! .^^^^ First Lord of the Admiralty, and Castlereagh
acted as President of the Board of Control, while Pitt took the
Exchequer for himself. The Treasurership of the Navy was
given to George Canning, a young statesman of rare wit and
eloquence, who, as Under Secretary, had been a valuable
member of Pitt's earlier administration. Fox led the Opposi
tion in the Commons, and Earl Grenville in the Lords. In the
same month Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French,
with the title Napoleon I.
10. Pitt's third Coalition : 1805. — Pitt then formed — with
Russia, Austria, and Sweden — his third Coalition against France.
France was joined by Spain. Napoleon, now Emperor, once more
meditated an invasion of Great Britain, before marching against
Austria. His great difl5.culty was, that he could not get com
mand of the Channel, so watchful were Nelson and the other
British admirals. To decoy Nelson from his post. Napoleon
ordered his admiral (Villeneuve) across the Atlantic, to
threaten the West Indies. Nelson followed him. Villeneuve,
escaping Nelson's notice, suddenly returned to Spanish waters.
Nelson then returned to England ; but when he heard that the
French and Spanish fieets had taken refuge in Cadiz harbour,
where they were watched by Admiral Collingwood, he at once
tendered his services to Pitt. On the 14th September his flag
was run up to the top-mast of the Victory in Portsmouth
harbour.

^ Melville. In April 1805 he was com
pelled to resign, liis impeachment on a
charge of misapplying the public money
having been carried in the House of Com

mons. He was tried in AprU 1806, and
was acquitted, although it was admitted
that his confidential agent, I\lr. Trotter, had
used public money for his own advantage.

Pitt.]

THE CONTINENTAL 'WARS.

157

11. The Battle of Trafalgar: 1805.— A fortnight later, he
was within reach of Cadiz. Hiding behind Cape St. Mary-
north-west of the entrance to Cadiz harbour— he watched the
foe by means of a few frigates, as eagerly, to use his own
phrase, " as a cat watches
mice." On the 19th October,
Villeneuve stole out of the
harbour, hoping to reach the
Strait of Gibraltar, and ulti
mately Toulon, without no
tice. Nelson feared that his
prey had escaped him, but
at daybreak of the 21st he
sighted a great line of vessels
between him and the low
dark headland of Trafalgar, midway between Cadiz and Gib
raltar. The combined fleets of France and Spain amounted to
thirty-three sail of the line, five frigates, and two brigs. Nelson
had twenty -seven first-rates, four frigates, one schooner, and one
cutter. A presentiment of death clouded his spirit as he neared
the foe ; and one of the first things he did, after giving the
signal of approach, was to write in his diary a short prayer.
In two columns — the one led by Nelson in the Victory, the
other by Collingwood in the Royal Sovereign — the line of battle
bore down on the enemy, whose ships had drifted out of a
straight line into the form of an irregular crescent. Words
were then signalled from the mast-head of the Victory which
have ever since stirred the heart like a peal of patriotic music,
— " England expects every man to do his duty."
The French opened the action by firing single shots to try
their range. Nelson paced the quarter-deck of the Victory in
his well-worn frock-coat, whose tarnished stars on the left
breast displayed the decoration of the Bath. At ten .minutes
past twelve Collingwood reached the centre of the enemy's line.
For quarter of an hour the Royal Sovereign was surrounded by
five vessels of the enemy, which fired at her, and of course at
one another, in the most reckless style. Tiring soon of this.

1.58 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
and pressed by other English ships that had followed their
noble leader into the heart of action, four of these vessels
turned to defend themselves. The line of Villeneuve, though
yet unbroken, was thrown into some confusion.
Nelson then directed his flag-ship, the Victory, against that
horn of the French crescent which pointed towards Cadiz. The
Santissima Trinidad was the goal for which he steered ; and,
as he bore steadily down, a galling fire tore his rigging and
raked his deck. Like Collingwood, he bore the brunt of a
cannonade from several of the enemy's ships at one time. Yet
not a match was laid to touch-hole in the Victory until she
reached the Bucentaur, in which ViUeneuve was thought to be.
Then out burst from every port in the side of Nelson's ship a
jet of fire, hurling double and treble shot into the hull, which
in two minutes S'wiing a mere log on the rolling sea.
12. Death of Nelson : 1805. — The interest of the scene
deepened when the rigging of the Victory became entangled
with that of the Redoubtable. The latter shut her lower ports,
lest boarders might leap through ; and the ships, whose guns
lay almost mouth to mouth, continued to crush each other's
oaken sides with heavy shot. Every stage or cradle on the
masts of the Redoubtable was filled with French rifiemen, who
fired at the officers and men on the decks of the Victory.
Nelson, walking on the quarter-deck, with stars on his breast,
attracted the eye of a rifleman in the mizzen-top of the French
vessel. He fired ; and Nelson fell, shot through epaulet,
shoulder, and spine. It was a . quarter-past one ; and three
hours later he died, having breathed into the ear of Captain
Hardy his last words — " Thank God, I have done my duty."
Before the end came he was cheered with the news of a com
plete victory. Ere the battle ceased, nineteen ships of the
line had struck their fiags. Nelson was buried in St. Paul's
Cathedral, London, the whole nation mourning for its " darling
hero." His brother was made an earl, and large grants of
money were made to him and to his sister.
13. Rupture of the Coalition: 1805. — While England thus
triumphed at sea. Napoleon, as usual, was successful on land.

GrenvUle.] THE CONTINENTAL WARS. 159
In October he caught General Mack at Ulm, in Wurtemburg,
and forced him to surrender with 28,000 Austrians. He then
occupied Vienna. In December he defeated the Emperors of
Austria and Russia at Austerlitz, in Moravia, and forced on
Austria the Treaty of Pressburg, which brought to an end the
" Holy Roman Empire," founded by Charles the Great in 800.
This broke up the Coalition. At the same time Prussia re
nounced her alliance with Great Britain, and joined France,
having acquired Hanover from Napoleon by treaty.
14. Death of Pitt : 1806. — In January 1806, Pitt succumbed
to the toils of statesmanship. He was only forty-six years of
age when he died. A magnificent public funeral, and a grant
of £40,000 to pay his debts, testified the regard in which he
was held by his contemporaries. Earl Grenville became First
Lord and Prime Minister, with Fox as Foreign Secretary, and
Lord Sidmouth (Henry Addington) as Privy Seal. The friends
of this Ministry boasted that it contained " All the Talents " of
the country — a description which its enemies applied to it in
derision. Fox directed the energies of the last year of his life
toward the accomplishment of two objects — the conclusion of
peace and the suppression of slavery. Wilberforce, whose anti-
slavery Bill had been thrown out by the Lords in 1804, had the
satisfaction this year of seeing Fox in the Commons, and Gren
ville in the Lords, carry resolutions agreeing to take measures
for the abolition of the slave trade. An Act giving effect to
the resolutions was carried in the following year. Slavery
itself was not abolished in the British dependencies till 1833.
15. Death of Fox : 1806. — The summer of 1806 brought
symptoms of the end to Fox. Dropsy of the most obstinate
kind setting in, he tried to reach the house he loved at St.
Ann's HUl, but could get no further than the Duke of Devon- •

Abroad. — In 1804, the Emperor Francis I. was declared hereditary Em
peror of Austria. The title of Emperor of Germany was dropped from 1806.
Napoleon formed the other German States — some of which, as Bavaria,
¦Wurtemburg, and Saxony, were erected into monarchies— into the "Con
federation of the Rhine," with himself as Protector. It lasted from 1806
till 1814.

160 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III
shire's house at Chiswick. Surrounded by kind friends, and
but rarely visited by any of his colleagues, he breathed his last
on the 13th of September, being then in his fifty -eighth year.
Scarcely seven months had elapsed since he spoke words of
sorrowful tribute over the early grave of Pitt, whose policy he
had combated with all his might, but whose genius he cordially
admired. Now the roof of Westminster shadowed the dust of
these two great Englishmen. " Drop upon Fox's grave the tear,
'Twill trickle to his rival's bier."
16. Fourth Coalition against France : 1806. — Fox's place as
Foreign Secretary was taken by Lord Howick (afterwards Earl
Grey), who succeeded in forming a fourth Coalition against
France. It was joined by Russia, Prussia, and Saxony. The
conduct of Prussia not unnaturally excited Napoleon's wrath.
She had occupied Hanover in April, and, though then at peace
with Great Britain, had accepted it from Napoleon. But the
erection of the Confederation of the Rhine in July excited her
jealousy, and in October she declared war against France. At
Prussia, therefore. Napoleon resolved to strike the first blow.
Within a week of the declaration of war, he infiicted on Prince
Hohenlohe the irretrievable defeat of Jena, near Leipzig ; and
on the same day another division of his army overthrew the
King of Prussia at Auerstadt, ten miles farther north. Napo
leon then marched to Berlin, and issued thence his famous
Berlin Decree against British commerce (November). This
famous Decree was the beginning of Napoleon's " Continental
System." It declared the British Islands to be in a state of
blockade, and ordered all Englishmen in countries occupied by
the French to be seized as prisoners of war. The British
Government retaliated by issuing Orders in Council prohibiting
trade with France and her allies (November 1807). Napoleon
responded with the Milan Decree (December 17), which threat
ened with forfeiture any neutral ship bound for a French port,
or a port friendly to France, if it called first at a British port.
The Continental System did Napoleon harm rather than good.

Portland.] THE CONTINENTAL WARS. 161
It hampered commerce, and raised the price of commodities,
and thus caused discontent among the European States. It
led on the one hand to the Peninsular War, and on the other
hand to the American War of 1812.
17. The Portland Ministry : 1807.— Meantime the Ministry
of " All the Talents " had fallen. Grenville introduced a Bill
to admit Roman Catholics into the army and the navy. This
excited the alarm of the King on the point on which he was
most nervous. Not content with the withdrawal of the Bill
by the Ministry, he dismissed the ministers. The new Piime
Minister was the Duke of Portland, but the Government was
really directed by Spencer Perceval, the Chancellor of the Ex
chequer and leader of the House of Commons. Canning was
Foreign Secretary, Castlereagh was War and Colonial Secretary,
and Sir Arthur Wellesley Chief Secretary for Ireland. In the
new Parliament, which met in June, the majority was strongly
Tory and anti-Catholic.
18. Second Bombardment of Copenhagen: 1807. — Canning
saw with alarm the union of Napoleon and the Czar, who.
meeting upon a raft in the river Niemen, concluded the Treaty
of Tilsit. He knew that Napoleon meant to seize the fieets of
Denmark and Portugal, and use them in his designs on Britain.
With all speed and secrecy, therefore, he sent out an expedition
to Denmark, under Admiral Gambler and Lord Cathcart, who
was assisted by General Wellesley. Caution was necessary, as
a French army lay ready for action close to the Danish frontier.
On the refusal of the Danes to surrender their fleet, shot and
shell began to fall on Copenhagen with such devastating fury
that the whole city seemed wrapped in flames. Opening on the
2nd of September 1807, the fire continued to roar till the even
ing of the 5th, when the Danish general agreed to surrender

Abroad.— In 1806, Napoleon made one brother (.Joseph) King of Naples,
which was separated from Sicily; and another (Louis) King of Holland.
\\Tien Joseph was made King of Spain in 1808, Napoleon conferred the
crown of Naples on Joachim Murat, his brother-in-law. Louis abdicated in
1810, and Holland was annexed to France till 1813, when the House of
Orange was recalled ; and the seventeen provinces were united as the King
dom of the Netherlands. Murat reigned at Naples till 1815.
(S98) 11

162

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George III.

the ships. The small island of Heligoland,! jn the North Sea,
was then taken from Denmark, and became a British possession.

CHAPTER XXI.— THE PENINSULAR WAR.
1. French Occupation of Portugal : 1807.— Portugal, which
had always been the faithful ally of Britain, declined to accept
the Berlin Decree. Napoleon, annoyed by this show of spirit,
resolved to crush the little country by a single blow. He
formed a secret treaty with Spain, by which he obtained leave
to send his troops through that country to the frontier of
Portugal. He published a proclamation that "the House of
Braganza ^ had ceased to reign in Europe ; " and sent General
Junot with 30,000 men to take possession of Lisbon. On his
approach, the Prince-Regent ^ and the royal family of Portugal
sailed to Brazil. Junot then occupied Portugal in the name of
the French Emperor.
2. The Spanish Crown: 1808. — Meanwhile a quarrel was
disturbing the royal family of Spain. Ferdinand, the heir-
apparent to the crown, was annoyed by the ascendency possessed
by Godoy,* the minister of state of Charles IV., and the favour
ite of the Queen. The Prince intrigued against Godoy, and
therefore quarrelled with his father. An insurrection in Madrid
in March 1808 led to the abdication of Charles and the pro
clamation of Ferdinand. Within a week of this event Marshal
Murat entered Madrid with a French army. First Ferdinand
and then Charles was lured to Bayonne, to hold an interview
with the French Emperor. Partly by artifice and partly by

^ Heligoland remained a British possession
till 1890, when it was ceded to Germany.
2 House of Braganza. Its founder was
John, Duke of Braganza, who was pro
claimed King as John IV. in 1640. The
House of Braganza still holds the Portu
guese throne.
^Prince -Regent. His mother. Queen
Maria I. , had fallen into a state of melan
choly and derangement in 1792. On her

death in 1816, he succeeded her as John
VI., and returned to Lisbon in 1821.
* Godoy (Don Manuel). He was of
humble birth, and began life as a private
in the Royal Guards. He owed his pro
motion to the favour of the Queen, Louisa.
Having in 1795 concluded witli Bona
parte the Treaty of Basle between Spain
and France, he was afterwards known as
" the Prince of the Peace."

Portland.] THE PENINSULAR WAR. 163
menace, both father and son were induced to resign all their
rights to the Spanish throne into the hands of Napoleon. He
then made his brother Joseph, who had for some time held the
throne of Naples, King of Spain ; and he gave the throne of
Naples to his brother-in-law, Joachim Murat.
3. The British in Portugal : 1808.— The National party in
Spain rose in arms against this usurpation, and appealed to
Great Britain for help, which Canning, the Foreign Secretary,
induced the Government to promise. Hence arose the Penin
sular War, in which Napoleon's ambition received its first
serious check. The real struggle was not only for the possession
of Spain and Portugal. It was a conflict between the despotism
which Napoleon was trying to establish all over Europe, and
free institutions represented by Great Britain. Sir Arthur
Wellesley, already distinguished in Indian wars, was sent to
the Peninsula with 10,000 men. Having landed at Mondego
Bay in Portugal, he defeated Marshal Junot at Vimiero^ on
the 21st of August. On the same day he was superseded in
the command by the arrival of Sir Harry Burrard, his senior,
whose dilatoriness enabled the French to escape to Torres
Vedraa Next day Sir Hew Dalrymple, the commander-in-
chief, arrived from Gibraltar, and superseded Burrard.
4. The Battle of Corunna : 1809. — Sir Hew Dalrymple, on
his own responsibility, made with Junot a treaty called the
Convention of Cintra," actually signed at Lisbon, by which the
French were allowed to evacuate Portugal with all their arms
and warlike stores. For this foolish leniency Sir Hew was
recalled and censured, and Sir John Moore took his place.
Burrard and Wellesley were also recalled, and the latter was
freed from blame. Deceived by promises of aid which the
Spanish Junta or Council of State could not fulfil, Moore led
Abroad. — In 1808, at the beginning of the Peninsular War, the royal
family of Portugal took refuge in Brazil. That country was constituted
a kingdom subject to Portugal in 1815, and became an independent empire
under Dom Pedro (son of the King of Portugal) in 1822.
' Vimiero, thirty -five miles north ofi - Cintra, fourteen miles north-west of
Lisbon. I Lisbon.

164

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George III.

his army into the heart of Leon ; but there he received the
alarming news that, notwithstanding the gallant defence of
 Saragossa 1 by the Spaniards,
Napoleon was master of Madrid.
There was no course open to
the British leader but a retreat
toward the shore of Galicia, in
the north-west of Spain. The
suflferings of the array during
that backward march were past
description. It was mid-winter,
food was scarcely to be had, and
Soult pressed constantly on the
rear. When the British reached
Corunna, on January 10th, their
ships had not yet arrived, and
Soult was close upon them. Moore arranged to embark on
the 1 6th, the ships having by that time arrived ; but on that
very day the French attacked him, and were gallantly re
pulsed with great slaughter. Moore, killed by a cannon-ball
toward the close of the action, was buried in his cloak on the
ramparts of Corunna.^ The British army embarked the same
night, and sailed for home.
5. Battle of Talavera: 1809. — Sir Arthur Wellesley was
then intrusted with the supreme command of the army in
Portugal. Having invaded Spain, he won a great battle at
Talavera, on the banks of the Tagus (July 28). For this
victory he was created Viscount Wellington. But the ap
proaches to Madrid being covered by three French armies,
under Soult, Ney, and Mortier, he was obliged to fall back
on the frontiers of Portugal. Austria during this year made
a desperate effort to retrieve her credit ; but at Wagram her
power was again shattered by Napoleon, who dictated terms

Abroad. — In 1809, Russia acquired Finland and Bothnia from Sweden.

l.S'nroijo'i.w,, or Zaragoza, 176 miles north I ^ See Wolfe's famous Elegy, "The
east of Madrid. I Burial of Sir John Moore."

PercevaL] THE PENINSULAR WAR. 165
of peace to the Emperor Francis in his palace of Schonbrunn,
at Vienna. The treaty was confirmed by the marriage of
Maria Louisa, daughter of Joseph II., to Napoleon, who had
divorced his wife Josephine because she had borne him no
children. 6. The Walcheren Expedition : 1809. — To aid Austria in
her struggle against Napoleon, the ill-fated Walcheren e.xpedi-
tion was sent to the coast of the Netherlands in July, by the
advice of Castlereagh, the Minister at War. It comprised
forty thousand men, placed under the command of the Earl
of Chatham, elder brother of Pitt ; while Sir Richard Strachan
commanded the fleet. The object of the movement was to
seize the French batteries on the Scheldt, and destroy the naval
works at Antwerp ; but on the marshy island of Walcheren
disease swept ofi' the troops in thousands, and only a wreck of
the splendid force returned to Britain in December. Canning
had objected to the Walcheren expedition long before it sailed.
Acting as Foreign Secretary, he insisted on the unfitness of
Viscount Castlereagh to hold the War Secretaryship, and told
the Duke of Portland that unless a change were made he would
resign. Castlereagh sent a challenge to the Foreign Secretary.
Both ministers resigned, and in a duel on Putney Heath Can
ning got a slight flesh-wound. Soon afterward Portland, the
Prime Minister, resigned, and Spencer Perceval succeeded him,
with the Marquis Wellesley as Foreign Secretary. Lord Pal-
merston was Secretary at War, and Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert)
Peel held a subordinate post in the Ministry.
7. The Heights of Torres Vedras : 1810.— Portugal was the
scene of the next Peninsular campaign. The armies of France
were concentrated in that country for the purpose of driving
the British to their ships; but in the Battle of Busaco (Sep
tember 27) Wellington repulsed Massena with heavy loss.
Then, retreating to the heights of Torres Vedras, some distance
Abroad. — In 1810, Bemadotte, one of Napoleon's generals, was appointed
Crown Prince of Sweden. In 1813, he entered into an alliance with Great
Britain and Russia against Napoleon. He became King in 1814, as Charles
John XIV. By the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, Norway and Sweden were united.

166

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George IIL

north of Lisbon, he took up a position within lines of defence
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of the French marshal could dislodge him. After waiting and
watching for several weeks, without venturing to attack the
first line, Massena retreated to Spain, leaving upwards of twenty
thousand of his soldiers behind him in their graves. In Spain
tho French troops were terribly galled and harassed by the
Spanish guerillas, who fired on them from places of conceal
ment where they could not be reached.
8. The Burdett Riots : 1810. — During the greater part of
the year 1810, the citizens of London were kept in a ferment
by the Burdett Riots ; in connection with which the conduct of
the war was mixed up with the character of the government
and the need for parliamentary reform. In January the un
fortunate Walcheren expedition was again discussed in the
PercevaLj THE PENINSULAR WAR. 167
House of Commons. This was followed by the City of London
presenting an address to the King, calling for an inquiry into
" the national misfortunes " at home and abroad. The address
was rejected ; whereupon the citizens declared this to be proof
of the " shameful inadequacy of the representation of the people
in the Commons' House," and voted thanks to Sir Francis
Burdett, who had revived that question in 1809. Burdett then
published a speech, in which he spoke contemptuously of the
House of Commons. For this he was arrested amid great
excitement, his house in London having to be stormed by con
stables before he could be captured. During all the time that
Burdett was confined in the Tower (from April till June) pub
lic meetings were held in the chief towns. The prevailing dis
content was increased by great commercial distress. Ireland
contributed its share to the general confusion, Daniel O'Connell
having this year commenced an agitation for the repeal of the
Union. 9. The Regency : 1811. — Before the end of the year, an im
portant constitutional question was settled by Parliament.
The King's mind, long tottering, had at last given way ; blind
ness, too, had come upon him. The appointment of a Regent
became necessary. The exclusive right of the Prince of Wales
to the Regency had been denied by Pitt on the occasion of the
King's illness in 1788. He had maintained, in opposition to
Fox, that the appointment lay with Parliament, and a Bill for
the Prince's Regency was in progress, when the King recovered.
(See page 138.) On this occasion the right of Parliament to
settle the matter was assumed ; and before the year closed, the
Prince of Wales was appointed Regent, under certain restric
tions as to the granting of peerages and pensions. The Prince
of Wales was accordingly installed as Prince-Regent with due
pomp and ceremony on the 5th February 1811.
10. Campaign of 1811.— Three important victories marked
the fourth campaign in the Peninsula. Graham defeated

Abroad,— In 1811, the Mamelukes in Egypt (see Note 3, page 149) were
slaughtered by Mehemet Ali.

168 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
Marshal Victor at Barrosa, near Cadiz (March 5). Massena
was routed by Wellington at Fuentes d'Onoro, near Ciudad
Rodrigo (May 5), and had to give place to Marmont. A still
more sanguinary battle was fought at Albuera, near Badajoz
(May 16), where Soult, marching to relieve that frontier
fortress, then besieged by General Beresford, was repulsed by
him with great slaughter.
11. The Luddites : 1811. — The long war had now begun to
tell heavily on British commerce, and there were many bank
ruptcies in London and other cities. An ignorant prejudice
against the use of machinery in the cotton manufacture also led
to much distress. The Luddites — so called from Ned Lud, a
half - witted boy who made himself notorious by smashing
stocking-frames — began the destruction of factories at Not
tingham in November. The mania soon spread to other
manufacturing towns, the rioters supposing that machinery
would keep them out of employment. These fanatical out
breaks continued during the next five or six years, and they
were not suppressed until some of the rioters had been sent
to the scaffold.
12. Change of Ministry : 1812. — As the Whigs had been the
friends of the Prince of Wales, Earl Grenville and Earl Grey
(formerly Lord Howick) fuUy expected to be called to office
when he became Regent. They were disappointed when he
resolved to retain Perceval's Ministry. An opportunity was
given them of taking office under Perceval early in 1812, but
they refused the offer. Lord Castlereagh then became Foreign
Secretary iu succession to the Marquis Wellesley, who was
anxious, like Grenville and Grey, to concede the claims of the
Irish Romanists. Perceval then hoped that his Ministry was
thoroughly established; but on May 11, he was shot in the
lobby of the House of Commons by a merchant named John
Bellingham, whose business had been ruined by the war, and
whose mind had become unhinged. Bellingham was executed
on May 18. Negotiations were opened with Wellesley, and
also with Grenville ; but these failed, and the Earl of Liver
pool (Lord Hawkesbury) became Prime Minister, and Viscount

UverpooL] THE PENINSULAR WAR. 169
Castlereagh Foreign Secretary. Peel was Chief Secretary for
Ireland. In this Cabinet the matter of the Catholic claims
was allowed to be an open question. Canning, like Wellesley,
had now declared himself willing to grant them, and carried in
the House of Commons a motion in favour of considering the
laws affecting Catholics by a majority of 129.
13. Campaign of 1812. — Holding Portugal as a base of
operations on which he could at any time fall back, Wellington
invaded Spain for the third time in 1812. Ciudad Rodrigo
and Badajoz, great forts which guarded the western frontier of
Spain, soon fell before him. The defeat of Marmont at Sala
manca, on July 22, opened the way to Madrid, into which the
victor led his troops on the 12th of August amid the rejoicings
of all Spain. But the approach of two French armies, march
ing in hot haste from the south and the east, forced him to
retreat on Portugal.
14. Napoleon's Russian Campaign : 1812. — Meanwhile the
Russians, losing faith in Napoleon's " Continental System " for
excluding England from commercial relations with the Con
tinent, declared war against France ; and Napoleon undertook
his great invasion of Russia with an army of 420,000 men.
He penetrated the vast territory of the Czars to its very heart ;
but the flames of Moscow, kindled in self-defence by the
Russians, drove him back. In all history there is nothing more
appalling than the story of his retreat over the snow-covered
plains. In this disastrous expedition, 200,000 Frenchmen
perished, and 100,000 were left behind as prisoners.
15. Peninsular Campaign of 1813-14.— Step by step the
French eagles -neve driven towards and then across the Pyrenees.
The decisive battle was fought at Vittoria in Biscay, where Well
ington defeated King Joseph on June 21. The capture of San
Sebastian and Pampeluna speedily followed ; and the victorious
Wellington, crossing the Bidassoa, the frontier stream, entered
France. On the 10th of April 1814 he scattered the remnant
of Soult's army in the Battle of Toulouse. Six days earlier.
Napoleon had abdicated the throne of France. In the preced
ing October he had been routed in the great Battle of Leipzig

170

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George IIL

— " the battle of the nations," which lasted three days — and
followed to Paris by a victorious host of Russians, Swedes, Ger
mans, Austrians, and Prussians. Louis XVI.'s brother, the
Count of Provence, now returned to Paris as Louis XVIIL
Ferdinand VII. was received as King at Madrid. On the 30th
of May 1814, there was signed the First Treaty of Paris, by
which the boundaries of France reverted to what they were at
the beginning of 1792, while Great Britain retained Malta,
Tobago, and other conquests. The fallen Emperor retired to
the island of Elba, in the Mediterranean.
16. War with the United States : 1812-14.— During the
later years of the struggle. Great Britain had had a serious
diflference with the United States of America. The quarrel
grew out of Napoleon's Continental System. In 1808, America
had replied both to the Berlin Decree and to the Orders in
Council, by passing the Non-Intercourse Act, which put an
end to the American trade both of Great Britain and of
France. The right of search for deserters from the nav)',
claimed by the British, aggravated the ill-feeling of the
Americans. In 1811 Napoleon made concessions which led
to the repeal of the Non-Intercourse Act in relation to France.
But the British Ministry would yield nothing, and war was

Liverpool.] RENEWAL AND CLOSE OF THE WAR. 171
declared in June 1812. An invasion of Canada by the Ameri
cans failed. The English captured Washington, and burned
the public buildings. The most striking incident of the war,
however, was the ocean duel between the English Shannon
and the American Chesapeake, in which the latter, though the
larger vessel, was boarded and taken in fifteen minutes (June 1,
1813). The Treaty of Ghent (December 1814) put an end to
the war without settling the points in dispute. After peace
had been concluded, but before the news of it reached America,
the British were repulsed with considerable loss in an attempt
to take New Orleans (1815).
17. The Duke of Wellington. — For his great services in the
Peninsula, Wellington was made a Duke, was publicly thanked
by the Houses of Parliament, and received a grant of £400,000.
The allied sovereigns visited England in June 1814. Towards
the close of the year, a Congress met at Vienna to settle the
affairs of Europe, which were in great disorder after a war so
long and so costly. Great Britain was represented at the Con
gress by Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington.

CHAPTER XXII.— RENEWAL AND CLOSE OF
THE WAR.
1. Return of Napoleon to Paris : 1815. — The deliberations
of the Vienna Congress were suddenly interrupted in March
1815, by the news that Napoleon had quitted Elba. He
landed on the 1st of March on the coast of Provence, in the
south-east of France, and marched rapidly on Paris. His
marshals hastened to his side. The French soldiers, despising
the government of the Bourbons, flocked in thousands around
his banner. In twenty days after his landing, he once more
held the capital and the throne of France. Louis XVIII. fled
to Ghent. All Europe was alarmed and enraged at this daring
disregard of treaties and of oaths. The British Parliament
voted a budget of £90,000,000 for the overthrow of the usurper.
The Duke of Wellington took the command of 80,000 troops.

172 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
Blucher marshalled 110,000 Prussians for the campaign.
Austria and Russia prepared to invade France on the eastern
frontier with enormous armies. Before May, the different
Powers were ready to put in the field armies amounting to one
million men. All offers of negotiation from Napoleon were
unheeded, and his only hope lay in instant action.
2. Quatre Bras and Ligny. — Wellington arranged to join
the Prussian army in Belgium, and thence to march rapidly on
Paris from the north-east. Napoleon, resolving if possible to
prevent this union, crossed the French frontier at Charleroi, on
the 1 5th of June. The British lay then at Brussels ; the
Prussians were at Ligny, some miles nearer the frontier.
Wellington received the news of the French advance on the
afternoon of the 15th. In the ball-room of the Duchess of
Richmond '^ a hurried whisper passed round among the officers ;
and at daybreak on the 1 6th the British army began to pour out
of Brussels toward Quatre Bras, an important point twenty
miles southward, where two roads crossed. There they were
attacked by Marshal Ney, who strove without success to force
the position. But on the same day Napoleon drove the
Prussians from Ligny in the direction of Wavre, and sent
Grouchy in pursuit with 35,000 men, to cut them off' from a
union with the army of Wellington. This defeat of the
Prussians obliged Wellington to fall back on the village of
Waterloo, about ten miles south of Brussels. Even there
Bliicher was distant from him nearly a day's march ; and
Napoleon exulted in the prospect of victory, for he had got,
as he thought, between the allied armies, and all that now
remained was to defeat them in turn.
3. The Position at Waterloo.— The Battle of Waterloo-
called by the French St. Jean ^ — was fought on Sunday, June
18. During the previous night rain had fallen in torrents,
and when the troops rose from their cheerless bivouac amon"
the crushed and muddy rye, a drizzling shower still fell. The
armies faced each other on two gentle slopes, across which ran
' See Byron's " Field of Waterloo "I ^ St Jean, from Mont St. Jean, a slight
(Childc Harold, canto iii.). I eminence In front ot Waterloo.

LiverpooL] RENEWAL AND CLOSE OF THE WAR.

173

BRUSSELS

j Houiaumont

* ' * L I Ha^e Sai nte
LiLlclle AII,,incE

the highroad to Brussels. The army of Wellington numbered
70,000, that of Napoleon about 80,000 men. Between, in a
slight hollow, lay the farm-house La Haye Sainte ; and on an
angle of the northern slope, serving as a key to the British
position, was Hougoumont, an old red-brick chateau. Around
these buildings the severest fighting took place.
4. The Struggle at Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte. —
Shortly after eleven o'clock — when the morning service was
beginning in the churches at home — the first shot was fired
from the British guns. The French artillery replied, and then
followed such a cannonade as had never been heard on battle
field before. The French battalions dashed on Hougoumont,
which was held by the British Guards. Round this chateau the
battle raged furiously for hours. The French took the wood and
broke the gate to pieces, but could not withstand the withering

174

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George IU

PLAN OF THE BATTLE-FIELD.
fire from the house and the rain of shells from the British
howitzers. Marshal Ney led several columns against La Haye
Sainte, and made a temporary lodgment there, the Germans
who occupied it having used all their ammunition ; but this
success came too late to be of any use. The circumstance which
gave Waterloo a special character was the trial of strength be
tween the "rocky squares" of British infantry and the torrents
of French horse. When the latter had almost spent their force
in frequent charges, the British cavalry dashed at a sweeping
gallop into the hollow, and literally rode over the lancers and
cuirassiers, who had been vainly fiinging themselves on the
squares all day.
5. Repulse of the " Old Gruard." — About four in the after
noon, the head of the Prussian column under Bulow began to
emerge from the wood to the eastward. Attacking the right
flank of the French position, they obliged Napoleon to risk his
last desperate throw for the game, then all but lost. This was
the advance of the "Old Guard," which had been kept in
reserve in the rear of the French lines. As far as the foot of
the British position Napoleon led these veterans, who had never
failed him yet. " There, gentlemen," he said, pointing to the
British lines, " there is the way to Brussels." He had seen his
powerful artillery foiled, his splendid cavalry broken; but he

LiverpooL] RENEWAL AND CLOSE OF THE WAR. 175
still trusted in the Old Guard. On they went under Ney's
command up the face of the ridge near La Haye Sainte. On
the top of the ridge, the British Guards under Maitland, and
the brigade of Adams, arranged four deep by Wellington him
self, lay on the ground, awaiting the attack. When the French
were within fifty yards of the top, the British started to their
feet and levelled their muskets. Then there was poured in a
fire so terrible and so well directed that the columns, galled
on their flanks by other attacks, became mixed in the act of try
ing to deploy, and were driven in rout down the hill. "They
are mixed ! " cried the fallen Corsican, as he rode away to the
rear. 6. The Victory. — "Let the whole line advance!" was Wel
lington's flnal order, as he galloped to the front. Then the
great mass, which with patient resolution had stood on the
plateau since early morning with scarce a murmur, now swept
grandly forward — infantry, horse, and guns in one imposing
rush, which carried every French position, and drove the relics
of the Grand Army along wreck - strewn roads toward the
frontier of France. During the three eventful days (June 16,
17, 18) 40,000 French, 16,000 Prussians, 13,000 British and
Germans were killed. Wellington could scarcely restrain his
emotion as he rode over the plain by moonlight ; but who can
tell the thoughts of the fallen despot, as he fled from the fatal
field ! Paris, where he abdicated in favour of his son ; Roche-
fort, on the west coast of France, whence he tried to escape
to America ; the Roads of Aix where, on the quarter-deck of
the Bellerophon, he cast himself on the mercy of the British ;
the lonely rock of St. Helena, where for six years he dwelt im
prisoned by the Atlantic waves, — these were the last scenes in
the history of Napoleon I. He died on the 5th of May 1821,
and in 1840 his remains were removed to France.
7. The Second Treaty of Paris : 1815.— Before Waterloo was
fought — on the 9th of June 1815 — the Congress of Vienna had
marked on the map of Europe the changed lines which were to
follow the fall of Napoleon. This Treaty of Settlement was
followed in November (20th) by the Second Treaty of Paris,

176' LIMITED MONARCHY, [George IIL
which was signed by Wellington and Castlereagh on the part of
Great Britain. By these treaties the Empire of France, dis
tended far beyond its natural limits by the ambition of Napoleon,
collapsed into a kingdom similar in size to that of 1792, and
Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne. Thus ended a war
during which Great Britain had made gigantic efforts. The
National Debt, which at the end of the Seven Years' War
(1763) was £139,000,000, and at the end of the American
War (1783) was £268,000,000, had now reached the enor
mous sum of £880,000,000. But fast as the debt grew, still
faster grew the wealth of the cotton-mills, where steam-power
had come to the aid of the spinning-frame and the hand-
loom. Without these it might have been impossible for
Great Britain to bear the long-continued strain and the heavy
burden. 8. Distress at Home: 1815. — The Proclamation of Peace
was followed by great distress in the British Isles. When the
excitement of the war was over, people had time to consider
its consequences, and were forced to feel them. Commerce
was almost completely stagnant. The weight of taxation was
excessive. Food was scarce, and therefore dear. There was
little demand for labour, and therefore wages were low. Never
theless, the Government, in order to favour the English farmers
and land-owners, passed a Corn Act, forbidding the importation
of foreign grain until the price of wheat had reached eighty
smllings per quarter. This led to riots in the larger towns,
which were attended with great destruction of property, especi
ally of machinery, and in some cases with loss of life. Then
arose the cry for a reform of the House of Commons, with
universal suffrage and annual Parliaments. Political societies
Abroad. — In 1815, the Congress of Vienna met and formed the Germanic
Confederation, with the Emperor of Austria as President. Lombardy,
Milan, and Venice were annexed to Austria ; which also became the pro
tector of Tuscany, Lucca, and the other states of Northern Italy. Sardinia
'recovered Piedmont and Savoy, which had been annexed to France in 1801.
"the King of Sicily recovered Naples.
'¦ (In 1815, Great Britain assumed the complete sovereignty of the island of
Ct'ylon, which had been ceded to her by the Peace of Amiens in 1802.

Liverpool.] RENEWAL AND CLOSE OF THE WAR. 177
called "Hampden Clubs" were formed all over the country,
that in London being presided over by Sir Francis Burdett.
The writings of William Cobbett the journalist, who had begun
life as a ploughman, had great influence with the tradesmen
and labourers of England, whose champion he proclaimed him
self to be. The ^Ministry, influenced by Lord Castlereagh, stood
firm in resisting all change.
9. Agitation for Reform. — The agitation thus resumed, which
continued during the next seventeen years, had been in progress
before the war began. While the war lasted, the public mind
was occupied by that to the exclusion of nearly every other
subject ; but when peace came, the question of reform was re
opened with all the more keenness because of the national dis
tress and the wide-spread discontent. Ever since the reign of
Queen Anne, the ascendency of the House of Commons had
been iindoubted ; but the complaint was that that House did
not represent the nation. The influence of the Crown, of the
Ministry for the time being, and of the chief land-owners, was
so great that a large proportion of the representation was in
their hands. As has been already noticed, the younger Pitt
was one of the first to raise the question; but the excesses of
the French Revolution frightened him, and led him to abandon
reform. The subject was again raised by Sir Francis Burdett
in 1810, but it was not till the close of the war that the
question really aroused the nation.
10. Excitement in the country : 1817. — The price of wheat
continued to rise steadily after the peace. It reached its maxi
mum (96s. lid. per quarter) in 1817 — a year of gloom and
distress. The Prince-Regent was fired at when returning from
the opening of Parliament. No fewer than 600 petitions for
reform — some of them with 30,000 signatures each — were sent
to Parliament. In spite of a Royal Proclamation against riot
ing and unlawful assemblages, both riots and seditious meetings
increased. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended ; but the
Abroad. — In 1816, Algiers (North Africa) was bombarded by Lord Ex-
mouth. The Dey or Governor surrendered, and agreed to set free all Chris
tian slaves, and to seize no more. Algiers was annexed by France in 1830.
(898) 12

178 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George HI.
riots still continued, and at Derby three of the ringleaders were
executed. In May, Burdett introduced in the House of Com
mons a motion for reform. It obtained only 77 supporters,
while 265 voted for its rejection. Towards the end of the year
the death of the Princess Charlotte, only child of the Regent,
and wife of Prince Leopold, afterwards King of the Belgians,
caused deep national sorrow, and revived for a time the loyalty
of the people. The death of this amiable princess caused anxiety
as to the succession. The only other married son of George
III. was the Duke of Cumberland, and he was extremely un
popular. Three other sons, however, married in 1818 ; and the
daughter of one of them — the Duke of Kent — in the course of
time succeeded to the throne as Queen Victoria.
11. "Peterloo:" 1819. — During the next two years the
excitement and the discontent continued to spread. In 1818,
Burdett's resolution for universal suffrage and annual Parlia
ments obtained only two votes in the House of Commons. A
crisis came in 1819. Riots by the unemployed were common
in the manufacturing towns. Public meetings in favour of
Parliamentary Reform were held everywhere. A great meet
ing held at Smithfield was watched by the military and by
6,000 "special constable.?." In St. Peter's Field, Manchester,
100,000 persons assembled to petition for reform. They were
dispersed by the military, but not until several had been killed
and hundreds wounded. The affair was derisively called the
" Battle of Peterioo."
12. The Six Acts: 1819. — For writing a letter condemning
the "Manchester massacre," Sir Francis Burdett was fined
£2,000, and was imprisoned for three months. Parliament
met in November, and passed Six Acts restricting public liberty.
The specific objects of these Acts were — (1) to secure the more
speedy execution of justice ; (2) to prevent military training ;
(3) to punish profane and seditious libels ; (4) for the seizin" of
arms ; (5) for the repressing of libels ; (6) to prevent seditious
meetings and assemblies. An unusually severe winter added
greatly to the sufferings of the poor.
13. Death and Character of George IIL: 1820. — On the

George IIL] THE CONSTITUTION. 179
23rd January 1820, the Duke of Kent died; and on the
29th the old King, blind as well as insane, also breathed his
last. His age was eighty-one, and his reign of sixty years was
the longest in the long list of English Sovereigns. The third
George was good-natured and honest, and his personal character
was irreproachable. There was much simplicity in the homely
life he and his queen were fond of leading — a life which gained
for him the familiar name of "Farmer George." His faults
were love of power and selfishness. The former led him to
overrule the policy of his ministers, and to dismiss them from
office when they displeased him. The latter led him to seek for
the aggrandizement of the Crown. ^
14. The Constitution. — George III. came to the throne with
the determination of being an actual ruler — master both of the
Ministry and of Parliament. He strove to get rid of the
system of responsible government under which the Ministry
was dependent on the House of Commons, and therefore he
chose his own ministers, and dismissed or rejected those who
displeased him. In 1761, he insisted that his favourite. Lord
Bute, should be admitted to the Ministry, and a Secretary of
State had to retire to give him a place. In the following year
he forced Newcastle to retire, and made Bute Prime Minister.
He dismissed Lord Rockingham and the Old Whigs while
they had still the support of the Commons (1766). He kept
Lord North in power long after his coercive policy in America
had lost the support of the House of Commons and of the
people. He kept Pitt in power in defiance of the House
of Commons (1783-84) ; but this was justified by the large
majority for Pitt in the new Parliament. In 1783, he ordered
the House of Lords, with threats, to reject Fox's India Bill,
and the Lords did so. He forced Pitt to resign in 1801 by
refusing to allow him to introduce a Catholic Relief Bill. He
allowed Pitt to return to power in 1804, on condition that he
dropped the question of the Catholic claims. At the same time he
positively refused to allow Fox to enter the Pitt Ministry, because
' See Thackeray's " Four Georges," Lecture III.

180 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George III.
of his sympathy with the French Revolution. In 1807 he dis
missed the Grenville Ministry, because they refused to pledge
themselves not to revive the Catholic claims. The King thus
placed the Crown above the Ministry and above Parliament.
George adopted other methods of asserting his power. In
1762, the Dukes of Newcastle, Grafton, and Buckingham were
deprived of their Lord-Lieutenancies for expressing disapproval
of the Preliminary Articles of Fontainebleau, accepted by Bute's
Ministry, while the Duke of Devonshire's name was struck oiT
the list of the Privy Council by the King's hand. In 1763,
several members of Parliament who held public offices were dis
missed from the latter because of their votes. In 1780, the
Earls of Caermarthen and Pembroke were deprived of their
Lord-Lieutenancies for supporting Shelburne's motion for an
inquiry into the public expenditure. In 1798, Fox's name was
struck off" the list of the Privy Council, because he moved for
the repeal of the Treason and Sedition Acts of 1795.
These encroachments and arbitrary measures of the Crown
were not allowed to pass without protest. In 1780, the House
of Commons adopted Dunning's motion, "that the power of
the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be di
minished." In 1807, motions were introduced declaring "that
ministers ought not to bind themselves by any pledge as to
what advice they shall give the King;" and "that it is im
possible for the King to act without advice." These motions
were defeated ; but the fact that tjiey were brought forward,
and were supported even by a minority, was significant.
The truth is, that the character of the House of Commons,
and the state of the representation, made a wholesome system
of responsible government impossible. There was an open
traffic in seats. In 1774, Gatton was sold for £75,000. The
price of a small borough was £4,000. When seats and votes
were bought and sold, and when the House represented a few
great landlords, and not the mass of the people, the fact that
a minister had a majority at a given time proved nothing as to
the direction or the weight of public opinion. King George
saw, as clearly as any man, the evil of the Commons being in

George III.] THE CONSTITUTION. 181
the pay of the Whig Lords; but he set himself to cure the evil
by getting the Commons into his own pay.
The only effective cure for the combined evils lay in a com
plete reform of the representation — such an extension of the
franchise, and such a redistribution of seats, as would make
the House of Commons truly representative of the people, and
place its members beyond the reach of bribery. Pitt was one
of the first men to see this. He moved resolutions in favour
of reform soon after entering Parliament, and after he became
Prime Minister he proposed to get rid of the "rotten" or
¦' pocket " boroughs by purchasing seventy-two seats from their
owners with public money (1785). The motion was rejected,
and Pitt did not again touch the question. The excesses of the
French Revolution made him distrust the people, and postponed
the question for a generation. The cause of reform was after
wards taken up by Mr. Charles Grey (afterwards Lord Grey)
and Sir Francis Burdett, and at the close of the reign by Lord
John Russell. Two of these men, Grey and Russell, were the
authors of the Reform Act of 1832.
Other questions of importance raised in connection with
reform of the representation were Economical Reform, urged
by Burke (1780-81), Roman Catholic Emancipation (supported
by Pitt, Grenville, Canning, and Grattan), and the Repeal of
the Test and Corporation Acts (supported by Beaufoy).
Some minor reforms were, however, adopted during the reign.
In 1762, a Bribery Act was passed, attaching pecuniary penalties
to the offence. In 1770, George Grenville passed an Act trans
ferring the hearing of election petitions from the House of
Commons, as a whole, to a committee of thirteen, selected from
forty-nine members chosen by ballot, with a nominee from
each side of the House. In the following year the right to
publish Parliamentary debates was established. An attempt
had been made to prevent their publication, but it was foiled by
Alderman Wilkes and the Lord Mayor. An important point
was also settled in connection with the law of libel. In the
trial of the publisher of the '' Letters of Junius," Lord Mans
field ruled that the jury had the right to determine only the

182 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IIL
fact of publication, and not whether it was a libel. In 1792,
Fox's Libel Act was passed, allowing the jury to decide what
constituted a libel, as well as the fact of publication. In 1780,
a great petition from Yorkshire in favour of Economical Re
form was received by the House of Commons, and thus the
right of petitioning Parliament was established. Important
changes were made on the Civil List (the Parliamentary grant
to the Sovereign for the royal household, personal expenses, etc.)
by Lord Rockingham's Act in 1782. Useless offices were abol
ished. Pensions were restricted, and secret pensions were no
longer allowed. In 1782, persons holding Government contracts
were disqualified for sitting in the House of Commons, and
revenue officers were disfranchised.
A Bill was passed in 1784 limiting to fifteen days the time
during which the poll at a Parliamentary election could be kept
open. Previously the poll might be open for forty days. The
change was made in consequence of the disgraceful scenes at the
Westminster election, when more votes were given than there
were voters. No return was made by the high bailiff', and Fox,
though at the head of the poll, was excluded from Parliament.
Since 1785 the Parliamentary session has begun in January
or February, instead of in the autumn. About the same time
the two Secretaries of State began to be distinguished as " Home
Secretary" and "Foreign Secretary." They had previously had
jurisdiction over the north and the south of the kingdom re
spectively, foreign affairs also being divided between them. In
1794 a third Secretaryship of State was established — that of
"Secretary for War" — in addition to the existing office of
"Secretary at War,'' which became a Parliamentary Under-
Secretaryship. In 1801, the Colonies (managed since 1782 by
the Home Office) were added to the work of the War Secretary.
The Royal Marriage Act, passed in 1772, has a bearing on
the Constitution. By it no descendant of George II. can make
a legal marriage without the consent of the reigning Sovereign,
unless he or she is over twenty-five years of age, and has given
twelve months' notice to the Privy Council, and unless Parlia
ment has not petitioned against the marriage.

George IIL]

THE CONSTITUTION.

183

The Regency Act of 1811 also settled an important point,
namely, the power of Parliament to determine who should be
Regent. When the question was raised for the first time in
1788, Pitt and Fox took opposite sides, the former supporting
the right of Parliament, the latter maintaining the "inherent
right " of the heir-apparent. Pitt's view was adopted by Par
liament in 1811.
The most important Act of the reign was that effecting the
Legislative Union of Ireland with Great Britain (1800). The
first Imperial Parliament of the United Kingdom met on
January 22, 1801.
The Treasonable Practices Act and the Seditious Meetings
Act were passed in 1795, as a means of checking the agitation
for reform stimulated by the French Revolution. In 1798,
Pitt imposed an income-tax of 10 per cent, on incomes over
£200. (The last occasion on which such a tax had been levied
was by the Parliament at the beginning of the Civil War,
December 1642).
In 1819 the Six Acts were passed, to prevent seditious meet
ings, blasphemous publications, and the possession of arms.

George iv.
= Caroline of
Brunswick.

Charlotte.
(Died 1817.)

Frederick, Duke of
York.
(Died 1827.

HOUSE OP HANOVBE.
{ContintiECifrom p. ¦j6.'\
George III.
 h 

William IV. Edward,
I Duke of Kent
s= Victoria of
 I Saxe-Coburg.
I I I
Charlotte. Elizabeth. Victoria
= Albert of
Saxe-Coburg. J_

Ernest,
King of
Hanover.

 i I
Adolphus, Seven
Duke of others.
Cambridge.

George. George. Augusta. Mary.

Albert Edward
= Alexandra of
Penmark.

Victoria
= Frederick
of Prussia.
William II.,
Emperor. 

Alfred.
2 of Edinburgh
= Marie of
Russia.

Alee
= Louis of
Hesse.
(Died 1878.J

I
Arthur,
Duke of Connaught
= Louise of
Prussia.

Helena
= Frederick of Schleswig-
Holstein.

Leopold,
Duke of Albany
= Helena of
Waldeck.
(Died 1S84.) I
Louise Beatrice
Marquis of = Henry of
Lome. Eattenberg.

Albert Victor,
D. of Clarence
and Avondale.
(Died 189Z.)

George,
D. of York.

Louise
= Duke of Fife.

184

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George IIL

CHIEF EVENTS.

1763. The Treatyof Paris (Qreat Britain, France,
Spain, and Portngal) — George Grenville
Prime Minister.
1766. The American Stamp Act passed- Lord
Rockingham Prime Minister.
1766. Repeal of the American Stamp Act— The
Grafton-Chatham Ministry.
1767. Taxes imposed on American imports.
1769. The"Letter3of Junius "appeared— Wilkes
elected member for Middlesex four times—
Not admitted.
1770. Lord North Prime Minister.
1771. Publication of debates in Parliament al
lowed.
1772. The Royal Marriage Act passed.
1773. Nath's Regulating Act for India passed—
The tea-ships emptied in Boston Harbour.
1774. American colonists held Philadelphia
Congress.
1776. Battles of Lexington and Bunker's Hill.
1776. Declaration of Independence by the
United States.
1777. Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga.
1778. Death of Lord Chatham— Savile's Act for
the Relief of Roman Catholics.
1779. Great Siege of Gibraltar begun : till 1782.
1780. Great petition from Yorkshire for Econ
omical Reform— The Gordon Riots against
Roman Catholics.
1781. Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
1782. Rockingham Prime Minister— An inde
pendent Parliament (Grattan's) granted to
Ireland— Lord Shelburne Prime Minister-
Pitt Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1783. Treaties of Paris (Great Britain and
United States) and Versailles (Great Britain,
France, and Spain)— Duke of Portland Prime
Minister — William Pitt Prime Minister-
Pitt's India Bill passed.
1788. Disciission as to Regency Bill
1789. Beginning of the French Revolution.
1791. Formation of the "United Irishmen"-
Canada divided into two Provinces.
1792. Fox's Libel Bill passed, giving the press
the protection of Juries.
1793. War with France declared— Pitt's First
Coalition (Great Britain, Spain, Holland,
Austria, Prussia).
1796. Prussia, Spain, and Holland left the
Coalition— Capture of the Cape of Good
Hope— Treasonable Practices Act and Sedi
tious Meetings Act passed— Acquittal of
Warren Hastings.
1796. Failure of French expedition to Ireland.
1797. British vlctoi*y at Cape St. Vincent-
Mutiny at Spithead and the Nore— British
victory at Camperdown,

1798. British victory at the Nile— Rebellion in
Ireland— Vinegar HIU.
1799. Pitt's Second Coalition (Great Britain.
Austria, and Russia, etc. )— Capture of Serin
gapatam.
1800. Malta taken fTom the French.
1801. Irish Parliamentary Union— First Imperial
Parliament —Addington Prime Minister-
British victory at Alexandria— Danish fleet
destroyed off Copenhagen.
1802. Treaty of Amiens (Great Britain, France,
Spain, and Holland).
1803. War renewed with France— British vic
tory at Assaye.
1804. William Pitt Prime Minister— Spain de
clared war.
1805. Failure of Napoleon's projected invasion
of England — Pitt's Third Coalition (Great
Britain, Russia, Austria, etc.)— British vic
tory at Trafalgar- Death of Nelson.
1806. Death of Pitt— "All the Talents" Minis
try — Grenville and Fox- Death of Fox—
Napoleon's Berlin Decree issued.
1807. British Orders in Council issued— Abolition
of the slave trade— Duke of Portland Prime
Minister— Bombardment of Copenhagen.
1808. Beginning of Peninsular Wax— British vic
tory at Vimiero— Convention of Cintra.
1809. British victory at Corunna and Talavera
—Failure of the Walcheren expedition-
Perceval Prime Minister.
1810. Eritish victory at Busaco— Lines of Torres
Vedras.
1811. The Prince of Wales Regent^British vic
tories at Barrosa— Fuentes D'Onoro and
Albuera- Luddite Riots.
1812. Storming of Ciudad Rodrigo and Bada
joz— Assassination of Perceval— Lord Liver
pool Prime Minister— The United States de
clare war— British victory at Salamanca.
1813. British victories at Vittoria, the Pyre
nees, St, Sebastian, and Pampeluna.
1814. British victory at Toulouse— First Treaty
of Paris— Vienna Congresa- Treaty of Ghent
(Great Britain and the United States).
1816. Escape of Napoleon from Elba— Overthrow
of Napoleon at Waterloo.
181B. Second Treaty of Paris.
1816. Distress and rioting in England.
1817. The Prince-Regent fired upon— Habeas
Corpus Act SUSP ended— Act against Seditious
Meetings passed.
1819. Birth of the Princess Alexandrina Victoria
-Manchester Reform Meeting— The Six
Acts passed.
1820. Death of George in.

George IIL]

NAMES OF NOTE.

185

NAMES OF NOTE.

Henry Addington. Speaker, 1789 ; Prime Minis
ter and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1801-4;
Baron Sidmouth, 1800 ; Home Secretaiy,
1812-20.
Duke of Bedford (John Russell), head of one of
the sections of the Whig party Lord Presi
dent of the Council. 1763-66; died. 1771.
Napoleon Bonaparte, bom, 1769 ; at siege of
Toulon. 1793 : commanded in Italy, victory
at Lodi, 1796; took Malta, commanded in
Egypt and Syria, 1798 ; First Consul, 1799;
crossed the Alps, victory at Marengo, 1800;
Consul for Life, 1802 ; Emperor, 1804 ; King
of Italy, victory at Austerlitz, 1805 ; victory
at Jena, Berlin Decree, 1806 ; occupied
Rome, entered Madrid, 1808; victory at
Wagram, divorced Josephine. 1809; married
Maria Louisa, 1810 ; Russian campaign, 1812;
defeated at Leipzig, 1813; abdicated, and
went to Elba, 1814; escaped, defeated at
Waterloo, sent to St. Helena, 1815 ; died
there, 1821.
Edmund Burke. Private Secretary to Rocking
ham, 1766: M.P. for Wendover, 1766; Pay
master of the Forces, 1782 ; again, 1783-84;
impeached Warren Hastings, 1786 ; quarrel
with Fox, 1790 ; publication of " Reflections
on the Revolution in France," 1790 ; sepa
rated from the Whigs, 1791 ; retired from
Parliament, 1794 ; wrote " Letters on a Regi
cide Peace," 1796 ; died, 1797.
Earl of Bute (John Stuart), favourite of George
Itr, ; Secretary of State, 1761 ; Prime Minis
ter, 1762 ; became unpopular, and resigned,
1763 : died, 1792.
Viscount Castlereagh (Robert Stewart), sat in
Irish Parliament as M.P. for Down, 1790 ;
supported the coercive meastires of the
Government, 1796 ; Chief Secretary for Ire
land, 1798 ; advocated the Union, 1799-1800 ;
M.P. for Down, President of Board of Con
trol, 1801-4; Secretary at War, 1804-6;
again, 1807; sent out Walcheren expedi
tion ; duel with Canning, 1809 ; Foreign Sec
retary, 1812; British Plenipotentiary at
Vienna Congress, 1816; unpopular; Marquis
of Londonderry, 1821 ; committed suicide,
1822.
Robert Clive, made Baron Clive of Plassey, 1761 ;
Governor of Benga!, 1766 ; flnal return to
England, 1767 ; inquiry into his conduct,
1773 ; died by suicide, 1774.
Marquis Cornwallis (Charles Cornwallis), victory
over Gates at Camden, 1780 ; surrendered at
Yorktown, 1781 ; Governor-General of India,
1786; conquered Tipoo Sahib, 1792; Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland, 1798-1801; Governor-
General of India, 1804; died there, 1805.
Duke of Cumberland, son of George n., died,
1765.
Henry Dundas, Lord Advocate, 1776 ; Treasurer
of the Navy, 1782, 1783. 1784-88 : President

of the Board of Control, Home Secretary,
1791; War Secretary, 1794-1801; created
Viscount Melville, 1802 ; First Lord of the
Admiralty, 1804 ; charged with peculation
and impeached, 1806 ; tried and acquitted,
1806 ; died, 1811.
Charles James Fox, third son of Lord Holland,
born, 1749; M.P. for Medhurst, 1768; a
Lord of the Treasury. 1773 : dismissed by
order of the King ; Joined the Whigs, 1774 ;
Foreign Secretary, 1782 ; again, 1783 ; India
BUI rejected by Lords, 1783 ; M.P. for West
minster, 1784; quarrel with Burke, 1790:
withdrew from politics, 1797-1802 ; re
elected for Westminster, 1802 ; Foreign Sec
retary, 1806 ; died, 1806.
Henry Fox, Paymaster of the Forces In 1760:
Lord Holland, 1763; resigned, 1766; died,
1774.
Duke of Grafton (Augustus Henry Fitzroy), Sec
retary of State, 1765-66; Prime Minister,
1766-70 ; attacked by Junius, 1769-71 ; Lord
Privy Seal, 1782-83 ; died, 1811.
Henry Grattan, entered Irish Parliament, 1775 ;
secured the independence of the Irish Par
liament, 1782 ; advocated Catholic emanci
pation, 1791 ; opposed the rebellion, 1798 ;
opposed the Union, 1799-1800; entered the
Imperial Parliament, 1805; died. 1820.
George Grenville, brother-in-law of Chatham,
Secretary of State and leader of the Com
mons. 1762 ; First Lord of the Treasury and
Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1763; resigned.
1765 ; died, 1770.
William Wyndham. Earl Grenville, third son of
George Grenville, Speaker of the House of
Commons, 1789 ; Home Secretary, 1789 ; cre
ated Baron, 1790 ; passed Act for Removal of
Aliens, 1793; Foreign Secretary, 1791-1801;
supported Catholic Emancipation, 1801;
Prlme Minister ("All the Talents"), 1806-7;
separated from the Whigs, 1817.
Charles Grey, Lord Howick (afterwards Earl
Grey), M.P. for Northumberland, Joined
Fox and the Whigs, 1786; a member of the'
"Friends of the People," 1792; moved a
plan of Parliamentary reform, 1797 ; Lord
Howick and First Lord of the Admiralty,
1806 ; Foreign Secretary and leader of the
Commons, 1806 ; Earl Grey, 1807.
Warren Hastings, Member of Council in India,
1761 ; Governor-General of British India,
1774-86 ; Impeachment carried, 1786 ; trial
commenced, 1788; acquitted, 1796; died,
1818.
Marquis de la Fayette, French soldier, bom,
1757; a volunteer in the American army,
1777; employed in America, 1780-81; pro
moted the French Revolution. 1789 ; became
unpopular, 1792; imprisoned in Austria,
1792 ; opposed Bonaparte, 1802-4 ; promoted
the revolution of 1830 : died, 1834.

186

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[George IIL

Earl of Liverpool (Robert Banks Jenkinson),
Lord Hawkesbury, 1796; Foreign Secretary,
1801-4 ; Home Secretary, 1806-6 ; again,
1807-9 ; Earl of Liverpool, 1808 ; Prime Minis
ter, 1812-27 ; died, 1828.
Sir John Moore, served in West Indies, 1796-7;
in Ireland, 1798; In Holland, 1799 ; in Egypt,
1801; In Sweden and in Spain, 1808; killed
at Corunna, 1809.
Horatio Nelson, bom, 1758; commanded the
" Agamemnon " In the Mediterranean, 1793 ;
lost an eye at Calvl. Corsica, 1794 ; at St.
Vincent, 1797; made Rear-Admiral, 1797:
lost right arm at Santa Cruz, 1797 ; victory
at the Nile, 1798 ; Baron Nelson, 1798 ; bom
bardment of Copenhagen, 1801; Viscount
Nelson, 1801 ; victory and death at Trafal
gar, 1805.
Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister in 1760;
resigned, 1762 ; deprived of Lord-Lieuten
ancy, 1763; Lord Privy Seal, 1765; died,
1768.
Frederick Lord North, in Grenville Ministry,
1763: in Rockingham Ministry, 1765-66;
Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of
the Commons, 1767 ; Prime Minister, 1770-
82 ; Home Secretary in Portland Ministry,
1783 ; Earl of GuUford, 1790 ; died, 1792.
Spencer Perceval, Solicitor -General, 1801; At
torney-General, 1802-6; Chancellor of the
Exchequer, 1807 ; Prime Minister, 1809 ;
shot by Bellingham, 1812.
WiUiam Pitt, Secretary of State, resigned, 1761 ;
Lord Chatham and Lord Privy Seal, 1766 ;
resigned on account of ill health, 1768 ;
opposed coercion of the American colonists,
1776 ; opposed motion to recognize the in
dependence of the United States ; died, 1778.
William Pitt, second son of Lord Chatham, bom,
1759 ; M.P. for Appleby, 1780 ; Chancellor
of the Exchequer, 1782-83; Prime Minister
and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1783-1801 ;
Prime Minister, 1804-6 ; died, 1806.
Duke of Portland (William Henry Cavendish
Bentinck), Lord-Lteutenant of Ireland, 1782 ;
Prime Minister, 1783 ; Home Secretary,
1794, Lord President, 1801; Prime Minis
ter, 1807-9 ; died, 1809.

Marquis of Rockingham (Charles Watson Went
worth), First Lord of the Treasury, 1765-
1766 ; again, 1782 ; died, 1782.
Earl of Shelburne (William Petty), Secretary of
State, 1766-68; Foreign Secretary, 1782;
Prime Minister. 1782-83 ; Marquis of Lana-
downe, 1784; died, 1786.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, M.P. tor Stafford.
1780 : Under-Secretary of State, 1782 ; Sec
retary of the Treasury, 1783 ; Treasurer ot
the Navy, 1806-7; wrote "The Rivals" and
other comedies, 1775-79; speech against
Warren Hastings, 1787 ; died, 1816.
Earl Temple (Richard Grenville), brother-in-
law of Chatham, lord Privy Seal, 1767-61 ;
died, 1779.
Charles Townshend, Secretary at War, 1761 ;
Paymaster-General, 1765 ; Chancellor of the
Exchequer. 1766; died. 1767,
George Washington, bom in Virginia, 1732;
major in militia, 1761 ; Commander-in-Chief
of the Colonial Army, 1775 ; first President
of the United States, 1789 ; re-elected, 1793;
retired, 1797 ; died, 1799.
Sir Arthur Wellesley, fourth son of the Earl of
Momington, bom. 1769 ; entered the army,
1787 ; served in Holland, 1794 ; went to India,
1797 ; first victory at Assaye, 1803 ; retumed
to England. 1805; Secretary for Ireland,
1807 ; went to Portugal, victory at Vimiero,
1808; victory at Talavera, 1809; Viscount
Wellington, 1809 ; occupied lines of Torres
Vedras, 1810 ; stormed Ciudad Rodrigo, Earl
of Wellington, stormed Badajoz, victory at
Salamanca, Marquis of Wellington, 1812;
vifAory at Vittoria, 1813 ; victory at Tou
louse, Duke of Wellington. 1814 ; at Vienna
Congress, 1815 ; victory at Waterloo, 1815.
William Wilberforce. M.P. for Hull, 1780 ; advo
cated abolition of the slave trade, 1789-
1807.
John Wilkes. M.P. for Aylesbury 1757; pub
Ushed "North Briton, No. 45," 1762; ex
pelled from Commons, 1764 ; elected for
Middlesex four times, and excluded, 1768-
69 ; Lord Mayor, and again elected for
Middlesex, and admitted, 1774; the records
of his exclusion expunged, 1782 ; died, 1797.

THE PITTS AND THE GRENVILLES.
Richard Grenville = Hester, Countess of Temple.

Hester Grenville
= William Pitt.
E. of Chatham.

John.
E. of Chath

Richard Grenville,
Earl Temple.

William Pitt.
P M /1783-1801,

Hester
- Earl Stanhope.

George Grenville.
P M 176^-65-
: Elizabeth Wyndnam.

I
George Grenville,
E. Temple and
M of Buckingham

n 1
Thomas William
Grenville. Wyndham,
E. Grenville.
P.M. r8o6-7.

REIGNS OF GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV.
(HANOVER).
1S20-1837.

CHAPTER XXIII.— CATHOLIC EilANCIPATION.
1. The Cato Street Conspiracy: 1820.— George IV.,i who
had already ruled for nine years as Prince-Regent, now became
King. A few days after his accession, a plot to murder the
ministers, when they were assembled at an official dinner, was
discovered by the police. The leader of the conspiracy was
Thistlewood, a desperate fellow, who had already been a year
in jail for challenging Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary.
After the murder, the prisons were to be broken open, London
was to be set on fire, .and a revolution accomplished. On the
very evening fixed for the crime, the police came suddenly on
the conspirators in a hayloft in Cato Street, near the Edge-
ware Road, London. A desperate scuffle ensued, in which a
policeman was killed ; but the capture was made. Thistlewood
and four others were executed ; the rest were transported. This
plot discredited the honest reformers, and caused a reaction in
the country. A slight rising about the same time at Kilsyth,
between Glasgow and Stirling, was soon suppressed. Three
men were executed and sixteen were transported for their con
nection with this affair.
2. Questions of the Day. — The depressed state of commerce
still caused much anxiety and suffering in the large towns.
1 George IV., son of George III. and Charlotte Sophia. Born, 1762. Married, 1735,
Caroline of Brunswick. Issue, the Princess Charlotte, who died November 6, 1817.

188 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George rv.
Mercantile men complained of the restrictions to which trade
was subjected by such laws as the Corn Act of 1815 (see page
176); and petitions with this burden began to pour into the
House of Commons. Thus, side by side with the demand for
Parliamentary Reform, there arose a demand for Free Trade,
A third question which agitated the public mind at the same
time was Roman Catholic Emancipation. The cause had been
taken up by Canning in 1812; and in nearly every session since
that year a Relief Bill had been introduced, and had been
thrown out by very narrow majorities.
3. Queen Caroline: 1820-21. — Shortly after the King's acces
sion, popular excitement found a new channel, in connection
with his attempt to obtain a divorce from his wife, Caro
line of Brunswick, to whom he had been married in 1795.
They had never agreed, and had soon separated. During the
Regency she had lived in Italy. When her husband became
King, she hastened to England to claim the honours due to
a Queen, especially as she learned that her name had been
omitted in the Litany. On the 6th of July 1820, a Bill of
Pains and Penalties was brought into the House of Lords,
charging her with flagrant misconduct. Canning resigned his
office and went abroad, rather than take any part in supporting
the Bill. The Queen was ably defended by Brougham and
Denman; and on the 10th of November the Bill was aban
doned, to the great joy of the people, the majority of whom
took her part, from a feeling that, however bad she might have
been, the King's conduct had been more glaringly immoral. In
the following year she went to the door of Westminster Abbey
on the day of her husband's coronation ; but she was refused
admittance by order of the King. She sank under this blow,
and nineteen days later she died. Even around her cofiin, as
Abroad. — In 1820, a revolution broke out in Spain. The free constitution
of 1812 was revived, and sworn to by Ferdinand VII., who had been re
stored in 1814. But the French sent Ferdinand help, and a despotic govern
ment was re-established. On the death of Ferdinand in 1833, his daughter,
Isabella II., succeeded. Her uncle, Don Carlos, claimed the throne, and
war raged for several years ; but at last Isabella, with British aid, secured
the throne in 1843.

Uverpool.] CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 189
it was borne from London to Harwich, there was deadly
strife between the soldiers and the people. In the same month
in which his wife died, the King visited Ireland, where he was
received with joy, as the first British King who had paid a visit
of peace to the island.
4. Opposition to Reform : 1821-22.— Neither the prevailing
distress nor the threatening attitude of a large section of the
people had any effect on the Government or on Parliament.
In 1821, indeed, a Catholic Relief Bill was passed by the
Commons ; but it was thrown out by the Lords. In the fol
lowing year, the Lords dealt in the same way with Canning's
Bill for the admission of Catholic peers to the Upper House.
In February 1822, the Commons rejected a motion, proposed
by Brougham, for inquiry into the causes of the national dis
tress. In April they threw out Lord John Russell's motion
for Reform. In June they rejected, by more than two to one.
Brougham's motion declaring the influence of the Crown to be
destructive of the independence of Parliament, and asserting
that that influence had increased since 1780. (See page 127.)
5. Liberal Tendencies: 1823-26.— Towards the end of the
year, the King spent thirteen days in Scotland. There he
received the news that one of his chief ministers, the Marquis
of Londonderry — better known as Lord Castlereagh — had com
mitted suicide, his mind having given way under the strain of
overwork. Canning gave up the post of Governor-General of
India, to which he had been appointed, in order to become
Foreign Secretary and leader of the House of Commons. A
few months later, Robinson and Huskisson, both free-traders,
joined the Ministry, which began to assume a more liberal tone.
With Huskisson's appointment as President of the Board of
Abroad.— In 1821, the Cortes (or National Assembly) of Portugal pro
claimed the sovereignty of the people and the liberty of the press, and
obliged King John VI. to return from Brazil. On his death in 1826, Iiis
son, Pedro IV., preferred the throne of Brazil, which had bein declared an
independent empire in 1822, and proclaimed his daughter JIaria (aged seven)
Queen of Portugal. She was opposed by her uncle, Dom Miguel, who held
the throne till 1833, when ho was overthrown by Dom Pedro, with the assist
ance of the British, and JLu-ia was restored.

190 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IV.
Trade, and Robinson's as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1823),
the free-trade policy of the country may be said to have begun.
By an Act establishing Reciprocity of Duties, the Navigation
Acts were practically repealed, and the importation of foreign
goods was facilitated (1823). AVhen the commercial prosperity
of the country began to revive, and the revenue was increased,
Robinson reduced the duties on silk, wool, and other imports
(1824), and abolished the house duty on small and cheap houses
(1826). At the same time Peel, who had been Home Secretary
since Sidmouth's retirement in 1822, helped to remove restric
tions on labour and the combinations of labourers, though com
binations for the purpose of intimidation were declared illegal
(1824-25). He also passed a Currency Act (1823).
6. Commercial Crisis : 1825. — The revival of trade had
another effect. Money being abundant, men invested it, on the
promise of high interest, in unsound schemes. Loans were
granted to half the States of the world. Paper money was
issued by the banks to an extent far beyond what was prudent.
The natural result was a panic or commercial crisis in 1825,
when sixty banks suspended business, and more than two
hundred merchants became insolvent. By causing the issue
of one-pound and two-pound notes, by coining hastily a new
supply of sovereigns, and by inducing the Bank of England to
advance money on the security of goods, the Government met
the crisis, and to some extent restored commercial credit.
7. Canning's Foreign Policy : 1822-26.— The spirit of Can
ning's foreign policy was diametrically opposed to that of
Londonderry. It may be shortly summed up as lying in a
desire to counteract the Holy Alliance — a despotic league
formed in 1815 by Russia, Austria, and Prussia — and to loose
the shackles of oppressed nationalities in all parts of the
world. Refusing to interfere in Spanish affairs, he yet acknow
ledged the new-won freedom of the South American States,
which had lately shaken off the Spanish yoke. To preserve
peace, and yet to cut Great Britain loose from the Holy
Alliance, were the conflicting aims which the genius of Can
ning enabled him to reconcile. He saved^ Portugal in a

Liverpool.]

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.

191

critical moment of December 1826. Spain, jealous of her
western neighbour's free constitution, permitted some rene
gade Portuguese to harass the frontier of the country they had
betrayed. The Princess-Regent applied to Britain, and troops
were in the Tagus by Christmas Day. They were not needed,
however, for Canning's speech had gone before them, and had
frightened the aggressors into flight.
8. The first Burmese War : 1824-26.— The troubles of the

Liverpool Ministry
were increased by
a Burmese war. It
originated in dis
putes about the
boundary-line be
tween Burma and
British India. The
British attack was delivered both by land and by sea. Assam
was invaded and annexed (1825). At the same time an ex
pedition sailed to the mouth of the Irrawadi. In May 1824,
a force under Sir Archibald Campbell captured the city of
Rangoon. The march up the river was impeded by stockades
of teak- wood and bamboo, which the Burmese defended fiercely;
but the British bayonet forced its resistless way on to Yanda-
boo, within sixty miles of Ava. There in 1826 a treaty was

192 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IV.
signed, by which Aracan and Tenasserim, as well as Assam,
became British possessions.
9. Canning's Ministry : 1827. — Apoplexy having struck down
Lord Liverpool early in 1827, Canning became Prime Minis
ter. Many of his former colleagues, including Peel and Well
ington, refused to accept office under Canning, because of his
strong advocacy of Roman Catholic Emancipation. That,
however, gained him the support of Burdett and Brougham in
the House of Commons. The short session then opening was
a time of misery to the Prime Minister. Though estranged
from his old associates, taunted by many foes, and weak in
health, he held resolutely to his post in the face of every
difficulty. But the springs of life were failing. When he
had secured an object for which he had long been working —
the conclusion of the Treaty of London for the pacification of
Greece — he took his last journey, to the Duke of Devonshire's
villa at Chiswick. There, in the room where Fox had died,
he too died, ostensibly of cold, in reality of thankless political
toil (August 8, 1827). Viscount Goderich (Robinson) was his
successor. 10. Navarino : 1827. — Before the year closed, the treaty
which formed the last act of Canning's foreign policy, and
which bound together Britain, France, and Russia in a league
to save Greece from the despoiling hands of Turkey, led to
hostilities. While negotiations were pending, Ibrahim Pasha
with the Egyptian fleet entered the harbour of Navarino, in the
south-west of the Morea, where the Turkish squadron lay. The
British admiral, Codrington, warned him that he would be
driven in again if he ventured out. In violation of an express
agreement, he did sail out, and the allied admirals then mounted
guard over the Eastern fleets. The Turks rashly opened fire ;
the allies replied, and very soon the engagement became general.
In four hours the fleets of Turkey and Egypt were utterly
destroyed (October 28). The news of this unexpected collision
shook the Goderich Ministry to its foundation, and internal
discord completed its ruin. Unable to reconcile the differences
of his colleagues, Goderich himself resigned, and in January

Wellington.] CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 193
1828 the Duke of Wellington became Prime Minister, with
Peel as Home Secretary and leader of the House of Commons.
The War Secretary was Viscount Palmerston, an Irish peer
who sat in the House of Commons as member for the Univer
sity of Cambridge.
11. The Catholic Question. —Though both Peel and Welling
ton had broken ofi" from Canning on the Catholic question, it
fell to their lot to concede the Catholic claims in the fullest
manner. George III. had never been induced to relax his
stubborn attitude on the question, his honest conviction being
that to assent to such a measure would have been a violation of
his coronation oath. During the Regency, however, there was
passed, with the approval of all parties, the Military and Naval
Officers' Oath Act, which opened all ranks in the army and the
navy to Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters alike
(1817). Catholics were still excluded, however, from both
Houses of Parliament; and that was felt to be a great hardship,
especially in Ireland, where the majority of the population
were of that faith. Canning was the firm advocate of Emanci
pation during the whole of his career. Grattan, who entered
the Imperial Parliament in 1805, devoted to the cause the
wisdom and eloquence of his old age. Neither of these men,
however, lived to see the final triumph of the question. The
great champion of Emancipation in its latest stage was Daniel
O'Connell, an Irish barrister, whose eloquence and humour gave
him extraordinary influence with his fellow-countrymen. A
vast confederacy called the " Catholic Association " was organ
ized to promote the movement, and for its support the Irish
peasantry voluntarily paid a weekly tax called the " Catholic
Rent" (1824).
12. Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts. — An import
ant step in the direction of religious freedom was taken in
April 1828, when Lord John Russell moved for the repeal of
the Test and Corporation Acts (see page 138), and carried this
relief of Dissenters through Parliament in spite of ministerial
opposition supported by Peel, Huskisson, and Palmerston.
That was the first triumph of the party of progress and
(898) 13

194 LIMITED MONARCHY. [George IV.
reform. The Test Act had required members of Parliament,
as well as other office-holders, to receive the communion in the
Church of England. The removal of that condition opened
Parliament to Dissenters; but the retention of a declaration
against transubstantiation excluded Roman Catholics, and the
insertion of the words " on the true faith of a Christian " un
intentionally excluded Jews. Soon afterwards Huskisson left
the Ministry, having voted against it on a motion for enfran
chising Birmingham. He was followed by Palmerston, Dudley,
and the other " Canningites," and the Ministry became purely
a Tory one.
13. The Catholic Emancipation Act: 1829. — The repeal of
the Test Act greatly encouraged the advocates of the Roman
Catholic claims. An incident which occurred this year brought
that question to a crisis. In consequence of changes in the
Ministry, several seats in the House of Commons became
vacant. One of these was for Clare county. Daniel O'Connell,
the great champion of Emancipation, and himself a Roman
Catholic, was elected. Government saw plainly that his ex
clusion from the House would inevitably be followed by a
rebellion in Ireland. Wellington and Peel therefore withdrew
their opposition. Having first resigned his seat for Oxford
and secured his election for Westbury, Peel set about the pre
paration of a pacific measure. King George at first refused
to approve the Bill ; but when Wellington and Peel intimated
their resignation, he gave way. On the 5th of March 1829, the
Bill was brought before the Commons. Modifying the oath so
as to admit of its being taken by Roman Catholics, it opened
to them all corporate and public offices, with the exception of
four — the Regency, the Lord Chancellorship of England, and
the Viceroyalty and the Lord Chancellorship of Ireland. Peel's
change of side caused indignation in the High Church party,
to which he belonged. The Earl of Winchelsea accused Welling-
Abroad, — In 1829, the Peace of Adrianople, closing a short war between
Russia and Turkey, gave the former additional territory in Asia Minor,
recognized the independence of Greece, and secured an independent ad
ministration for ^loldavia and Wallachia.

Wellington.] CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 19.T
ton of entertaining " insidious designs for the infringement of
our liberties, and the introduction of Popery into every depart
ment of the State." The charge led to a harmless duel between
the two peers — the last in which an English Prime Minister
took part. About four in the morning of the 1st of April the
Emancipation Bill was passed in the Commons by a majority of
178 in a House of 462. Ten days later, it passed the Lords by
a majority almost as large. It received the King's signature on
the 13th of April (1829).
14. Forty-shilling Freeholders : 1829. — This was a second
triumph for the party of progress. But Ireland was made to
pay a price for the boon ofiered to her. In the Clare election
Peel saw with dismay the forty-shilling freeholders revolt from
their landlords and vote at the bidding of their priests. He at
tributed their conduct to fear of spiritual denunciation. " The
landlord," he said, " has been disarmed by the priest." He
therefore introduced a Bill to disfranchise the forty-shilling
freeholders, and to fix the qualification of an elector at £10.
Brougham accepted the measure as "the all but extravagant
price" of emancipation ; and the two Bills were carried through
Parliament together. O'Connell then took his seat for Clare
county, but not until he had been re-elected ; and at once he
began to agitate for a repeal of the Union. The members of
the Whig Opposition in the Commons now organized them
selves to promote additional reforms, and chose Lord Althorp
as their leader.
15. Death and Character of George IV. — On June 26, 1830,
King George IV. died, aged sixty-eight. Having no direct
heir, he was succeeded by his brother William, Duke of Clar
ence. An older brother — Frederick, Duke of York — had died
in 1827. George's handsome figure, courtly manners, and fine
taste in matters of dress, obtained for him the name of "the
first gentleman in Europe ; " but in all that goes to make a real
gentleman — in goodness of heart, in disinterestedness, in purity
of life and conduct — he was lamentably deficient. A seeker
after pleasure in every form, he was the worst sovereign that
had occupied the throne since Charles II. A recent historian

196 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William IV.
describes him as "a bad son, a bad husband, a bad father, a
bad subject, a bad monarch, and a bad friend."
Notes of Progress. — During this reign Captains Parry and Ross explored
the Arctic Seas in search of the North-west Passage. In 1819, the first
steamer — the Savannah— crossed the Atlantic. In 1820, the use of broken
stones in road-making was introduced by Mr. Macadam. In 1821, the first
iron steam-boat was seen on the Thames. In 1824, Mechanics' Institu
tions were established. In 1825, the first railway (Stockton and Darling
ton) was opened for passenger traffic. In the same year, the Enterprise,
under Captain Johnson, made the first steam voyage to India. The London
University, chartered in 1826, was opened in 1828. The London Metropoli
tan Police was organized by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 ; hence their names —
" Bobbies " and " Peelers."

CHAPTER XXIV.— PARLIAMENTARY AND
MUNICIPAL REFORM.
1. Accession of William IV.i : 1830.— William IV. was
sixty-five years of age when he ascended the throne. He could
not, in the nature of things, be expected to occupy it long, and
therefore his accession excited no enthusiasm. The people liked,
however, the simplicity of his life and the homeliness of his
manners. He was fond of wandering through the streets of
London unattended. His eccentricities were so marked that
many persons thought he had inherited his father's mental
weakness. 2. The first Steam Railway: 1830. — One of the earliest
incidents of the reign was the opening of the Liverpool and
]\Ianchester Railway, the first locomotive line in the world.
The Rocket steam-engine, constructed by George and Robert
Stephenson, performed the unprecedented feat of running a
mile in less than two minutes. At the opening ceremony, there
was a gathering of Cabinet ministers and other noted men to
make a trial trip. During a temporary stoppage of the train,
while Wellington and Huskisson stood on the line talking, a
shout from an approaching engine startled them. Huskisson,

' William IV., tMiA son of George III. I ried, 1818, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningca
and Charlotte Sophia. Born, 1765. Mar- I Issue, two daughters, who died in infancy

Orey.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 197
enfeebled from recent illness, fell on the rail, and had his leg
crushed. He died the same night.
3. Continental Revolutions : 1830.— The revolutions of 1830
in France and Belgium caused much excitement in Great
Britain, and provoked sympathetic movements there. The
causes of the agitation were the same at home as abroad —
namely, impatience of the rule of the aristocracy, and demand
for increased power on the part of the middle classes. Thus
a new impetus was given to the agitation for a reform of the
representation. The Duke of Wellington was strangely blind
to the feeling of the country. After Huskisson's death, he
renewed efibrts formerly made to induce the Canningites to
rejoin his Ministry. Palmerston declined to return without
Melbourne (William Lamb), Lansdowne, and Grey. The Duke
refused Lansdowne and Grey, because they were reformers.
Palmerston himself declared his intention to vote for reform.
4. The Reform Ministry : 1830. — In the new Parliament,
which met in October, the number of Whigs was increased,
although the Tories had still a majority. Replying in the
House of Lords to a speech of Earl Grey, in which the Whig
peer declared the reform of Parliament to be necessary, Well
ington asserted that the system of representation was incapable
of improvement, and possessed the entire confidence of the
people. The hasty speech sounded the knell of the administra
tion. A few days later, a motion on the Civil List was carried
in the House of Commons against the Government by a majority
of twenty-nine (November 15). Wellington then resigned ; and
a Whig Ministry was formed under Earl Grey, on the expressed
condition that Parliamentary Reform was to be a Cabinet ques-
Atiroad. — In 1830, a second revolution in France expelled Charles X.
Louis - Philippe, Duke of Orleans, was elected "King of the French."
Charles had begun to reign in 1824, and soon showed a disposition to rule
with absolute power. About the same time the French suppressed the
Algerine pirates, and Algiers (in Africa) became a French colony.
In 1830, the Belgians, being mostly Roman Catholics, revolted from the
Netherlands, and established their independence. Belgium became a sepa
rate kingdom (1831), with a free constitution, under Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-
Gotha, uncle of Queen Victoria.

198 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William IV
tion. Brougham became Lord Chancellor ; Althorp was Chan
cellor of the Exchequer ; Melbourne took the Home, and Pal
merston the Foreign Office. Lord John Russell, though not in
the Cabinet, became the champion of the cause of reform.
5. The first Bill: 1831. — Lord John Russell introduced a
Reform Bill in the House of Commons on the 1st of March
1831. Its sweeping provisions, aiming at the utter extinction
of close or " rotten " boroughs, took even the friends of reform
by surprise : for the first night it seemed to the Opposition only
an amusing farce. There was no division on the first reading —
March 14th; but on the occasion of the second reading (March
21), after a hot debate, the numbers stood 302 to 301, the
Ministry being victorious by one vote. This looked ominous
for the Bill; and the House, going into Committee, took up
the clauses. The Government experienced two defeats within
three days. Grey insisted on an appeal to the country, and to
this the King with much reluctance agreed.
6. The second Bill: 1831. — The excitement in the country
was extraordinary. Great riots took place during the elections.
The new Parliament, which met in June, contained a large
majority of reformers. A second Bill was introduced, and was
carried on the second reading in the Commons by a large
majority. After much discussion in Committee, the third
reading was carried by a majority of 109. The Lords, how
ever, rejected it by a majority of 41, after a fierce debate which
lasted flve nights (October 7). The rfesult was followed by a
renewal of the excitement and rioting in the country. Not
tingham Castle was attacked and burned to the ground. Riots,
accompanied with destruction of property, took place at Bristol,
Derby, and other large towns. Members of the House of Lords
were insulted by the mob.
7. The third Bill: 1831-32.— Lord John Russell brought
in a third Bill before the close of the year (December 12).
This Bill was passed by the Commons ; but the opposition in
the Lords grew so strong that Earl Grey proposed a creation of
Liberal peers. The King objected, and Grey resigned. The
Duke of Wellington was again called on to form a Ministry ;

Grey.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 199
but this he failed to do. The current of public feeling turned
fiercely against him ; and the victor of Waterloo, once the idol
of the people, was obliged to barricade his house against a Lon
don mob ! Earl Grey was then recalled, and the King inti
mated to the Opposition Lords that he was prepared to create
new peers in order to pass the Bill. This had the desired effect.
About one hundred Tory peers absented themselves from the
division, and the Bill became law, receiving the royal assent on
June 7. The Reform Bills of Scotland and Ireland recei\ed
the royal assent on the 17th of July, and on the 7th of August.
8. Effects of the Bill. — Three great changes were thus made :
(1.) The right of sending members to Parliament was taken
away from many places — called pocket or rotten boroughs — in
which there were very few voters, and sometimes none residing
in the borough. Of this class the most notorious example was
Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, in which there was not a single house !
(2.) Several towns, such as Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester,
and Sheffield, which had grown within the last century into
first-class cities, now for the first time received the right of send
ing members to Parliament. (3.) The franchise, or right of vot
ing, was extended more widely among the middle classes. In
towns, the right of voting was given to owners, and to tenants,
of houses worth £10 a year and upwards. In counties, all were
entitled to vote who owned property worth £10 a year, or who
paid a yearly rent of at least £50 for their holdings. These
changes established the principle that the House of Commons
is the People's House of Parliament, and that it should be made
to represent all classes and interests in the country.
9. Abolition of Slavery : 1833. — The flrst Reformed House
of Commons, which met in February 1833, comprised 485
" Liberals " and 173 " Conservatives " — names which now began
to supersede the old party-names of Whig and Tory. One of
the first questions that occupied its attention was the Eman-
Abroad. — In 1832, the kingdom of Poland was at last abolished, and what
remained of its territory became a province of Russia. A revolt began in
1830, in which the Poles were at first successful ; but they were at last over.
whelmed by superior numbers.

200 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William IV.
cipation of the Slaves in the British Colonies. Ever since
1806, when the slave trade was abolished by the efforts of
Wilberforce and Fox, a movement had been going on in the
country and in Parliament with that view. Wilberforce, who
now sat for the county of York, clung with noble persever
ance to his life-work. From time to time the debates were
renewed, amid great opposition from slave-holders, planters,
and merchants. At last, in 1833, an Act was passed for the
emancipation of slaves in all parts of the British dominions,
and granting £20,000,000 to the slave-owners as compensation.
The Act came into force on August 1, 1834 ; but the slaves
were not set free at once, being bound to serve their masters as
apprentices for five years longer, if the masters required them
to do so. Before the end of 1838 eight hundred thousand
slaves received their freedom. Wilberforce lived only long
enough to see the triumph of his humane exertions. He died
in 1833.
10. A new Poor Law : 1834. — The chieL work of the ses
sion of 1834 was a new poor law. The rate to support the
poor had risen to £8,000,000 a year ; and a great part of the
Sum was squandered on the support of strong men and women,
who were too idle to work. The new Bill placed the local
boards under the superintendence of a Government department
called the Poor Law Board, and ordered that no aid should be
given to able-bodied paupers, unless they chose to go to the
poor-houses, and work for their living there. The Irish Poor
Law was not amended till 1838.
11. Trade-unions and Strikes: 1834. — The same year is
memorable as the first in which trade strikes occurred on a
serious scale. Laws regulating the price of labour, and pro
hibiting workmen from combining for their own protection,
were common from the time of Edward III., when two Statutes
of Labourers were passed. All the laws against combination
were repealed in 1825. Thereafter trade-unions became com
mon, and frequently led to disturbances in the manufacturing
towns. In 1834 the trade-unionists held a great demonstration
in London, which happily passed without serious disturbance.

Melbourne.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 201
The tailors of London struck work for increase of wages ; and
their example was followed by the weavers of Leeds and the
calico-printers of Glasgow. In each case the loss of wages led
to great suffering.
12. Disturbed State of Ireland: 1832-33.— The affairs of
Ireland now began to occupy a great deal of the time and
attention of Parliament. The record of crimes in 1832 showed
a total of 9,000, all connected with the disturbed state of- the
country. The chief grievance of the people was the exaction of
tithes for the payment of the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal
Church. In most cases the payment of tithes was refused, and
the collectors were maltreated and in some instances murdered.
In 1833 the Government introduced a Coercion Act, giving the
Irish Executive exceptional powers. At the same time an Irish
Church Temporalities Act was passed, suppressing ten bishop
rics, reducing incomes, abolishing sinecures, and' appointing a
Commission to administer surplus revenues. The Bill at first
contained an "appropriation" clause for the application of the
surplus to secular purposes ; but that the Ministry was forced
to drop in order to carry the Bill. By another Act, the Irish
clergy received a million sterling in compensation for arrears —
nominally as a loan, but ultimately as a gift
13. Fall of the Grey Ministry: 1834. — In a debate on a
motion adverse to the Irish Church in 1834, Lord John Russell
maintained the right of Parliament to appropriate the surplus
revenue. At once Lord Stanley (the Irish Secretary), Sir James
Graham, and the Earl of Ripon (Goderich) resigned. This
was the beginning of the break-up of the Grey Ministry, which
had been steadily losing its popularity. Two months later, a
difference of opinion as to the renewal of the Coercion Act led
to Lord Althorp's resignation ; and then Earl Grey, feeling
himself unable to control the discordant elements in the Minis
try, resigned also. Lord Melbourne took his place at the head
of the Government, to which Lord Althorp returned. When
Lord Althorp was transferred to the House of Lords, on the
death of his father. Earl Spencer, the King summarily dismissed
the Melbourne Ministry, without any apparent reason except

202 LIMITED MONARCHY. [William IV.
his dread of the reforming spirit, and placed Sir Robert Peel,
who was then abroad, at the head of afiairs (November 1834).
14. Peel's first Ministry: 1834-35.— Peel held the offices of
First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Duke of Wellington was Foreign Secretary, Mr. W. E.
Gladstone was Under-Secretary for the Colonies. Peel made
it a condition of his accepting office that he should be allowed
to dissolve Parliament and appeal to the country. The famous
" Tamworth Manifesto " — Peel was member for Tamworth — in
which he announced his policy, showed how greatly the Reform
Bill had changed the attitude of parties. The obstructive
policy of Toryism was abandoned, and a progres^ve spirit was
avowed. There were two reforms, however, which he declared
his intention of resisting. These were the secularization of the
Irish Church surplus, and the admission of Dissenters to the
English Universities. The election gave the Conservatives con
siderable gains ; but they were still in a minority (273 to 380);
and when Parliament met in February 1835, ministers were
beaten in several divisions, and their measures were thrown
out. In April Lord John Russell carried his motion for the
appropriation of the Irish Church surplus by 285 to 258. Peel
then resigned, having been in power only four months, and
Melbourne returned to office.
15. The Municipal Reform Act : 1835. — In Lord Melbourne's
second Ministry, which lasted for five years. Lord John Russell
was Home Secretary and leader of the House of Commons, and
Lord Palmerston was Foreign Secretary. The chief measure
of the session was the 2Iunicipal Corporations Act, which re
formed the representation of the people in town councils, in
the same way as the Reform Act had improved that of the
people in Parliament. A Royal Commission, appointed in
1832, had revealed an extraordinary amount of corruption in
the municipal corporations. The members were generally self-
Abroad. — In 1835, the Zollverein (Customs' Union), establishing freedom
of trade among the different German States, was confirmed by treaty. It
began with Prussia and a few other States in 1818, and was gradually joined
by all the leading German States except Austria.

Melbourne.] MUNICIPAL REFORM. 203
elected, and frequently sat for life, while the freemen alone had
any voice in the administration. By the Act of 1835, the
burgesses, or resident rate-payers, elected the councillors, who
elected the mayor and the aldermen from among themselves.
The Scottish municipalities had been reformed in the same way
in 1833. The case of Ireland gave rise to much controversy,
which postponed the settlement till 1840.
16. Tithe-commutation Act: 1836. — The last months of
William's reign were occupied with controversies over the Irish
Tithes question, with special reference to the "appropriation
clauses," which the Commons adopted, but which the Lords
systematically rejected by large majorities. A Bill was passed,
however, for the Commutation of Tithes in England, those
payable in kind being converted into a rent-charge payable in
money. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were incorporated
in the same year (1836), for the purpose of revising the ec
clesiastical endowments, so as to reduce excessive expenditure
and augment small livings.
17. Death and Character of William IV. : 1837.— The King
died on June 20, 1837, aged seventy-two. He left no children.
Though William IV. was remarkable neither for ability nor for
character, his natural goodness of heart and kindliness of man
ner made him a favourite with his people. He had chosen the
sea as his profession, and his manners partook of the bluntness
as well as of the good-nature of the British sailor. He inherited
his father's good sense, with a share also of his obstinacy.
18. The Constitution. — The period covered by the reigns of
George IV. and William IV. is one of the most remarkable in
the history of the Constitution. It witnessed the first introduc
tion of the democratic element into the parliamentary and the
municipal institutions of the country. At the beginning of the
period, the Imperial Parliament was complete in its representa-
Abroad. — In 1836, Prince Louis Napoleon (nephew of Napoleon I.) at
tempted to raise an insurrection at Strasbourg, but failed, and was allowed
to go to America. He made a second attempt at Boulogne in 1840. This
time he was arrested, and imprisoned "for life " in the Castle of Ham ; but
he made his escape to England in 1846, in the disguise of a mason.

204 LIMITED MONARCHY. [WUliam IV
tion of the three United Kingdoms. The supremacy of the
House of Commons over the other parts of the Constitution
was also established ; but that supremacy was often used for
bad ends, and still oftener failed to be used for good ends,
because the House did not really represent the people. The
principle of ministerial responsibility was now fully recognized.
In 1834 the King dismissed the Melbourne Ministry, and
made Sir Robert Peel Prime Minister ; but the latter was able
to hold office for only four months.
The first reform was effected in 1828, when the Corporation
Act (1661) and the Test Act (1673) were repealed. The Acts
had been practically inoperative since 1728, when the first
Annual Bill of Indemnity for not observing them was passed.
The second reform was eflfected in 1829, when the Catholic
Relief Act was passed, after a struggle extending over many
years. In 1833, an Act was passed which enabled Quakers,
Moravians, and Separatists returned to the House of Commons
to substitute an affirmation for the statutory oath. In the same
year, a Bill to admit Jews to Parliament was passed by the
Commons, but was rejected by the Lords.
The third step was taken in the Reform Act of 1832, which
disfranchised a large number of nomination or " pocket "
boroughs, deprived others of one of their members, and gave
additional seats to counties and to large towns of recent origin,
such as Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds. It also added
large numbers of the middle classes to the voters by enfranchis
ing tenants of houses worth £10 a-year. In counties the vote
was given to copy-holders and lease-holders, and also to tenants
at will paying £50 a-year for their holdings. Similar measures
were introduced for Scotland and Ireland.
The fsurth step was taken when the Municipal Reform Act
was passed in 1835. It gave the municipal franchise to resi
dent rate-payers, and made the system of municipal government
uniform in the boroughs to which it applied. A similar mea
sure for Scotland had been passed in 1833. That for Ireland
did not pass till 1840.
One proof of the earnestness with which the reformed House

William IV.] THE CONSTITUTION. 205
of Commons entered on its work, was that it adopted the prac
tice of holding morning sittings for the despatch of business.
The publication of the Division Lists began in 1836.
Among the important measures adopted by the first reformed
Parliament were, the Abolition of Slavery, Lord Ashley's Act
regulating the work of women and children in factories (1833),
and a new Poor Law (1834).
The work of mitigating the severity of the Criminal Code,
in which Sir Samuel Romilly was so persistent till his death
(1818), was taken up by Sir James Mackintosh. In 1820 he
succeeded in passing a Bill abolishing capital punishment for
shop-lifting to the amount of 5s.
The petitioning of Parliament was now regarded as a legiti
mate way of bringing public opinion to bear on its deliberations.
In 1823 a petition, signed by 17,000 freeholders in favour of
Reform, was sent to the House of Commons from Yorkshire.
Several important Acts on the employment of labour were
passed in 1824. One of these repealed the Act fixing the
wages of weavers at Spitalfields. Another repealed Act was
that which restricted the right of workmen to travel in search
of work. All the laws regulating the combinations of workmen
or of masters were also repealed, excepting, however, those for
bidding combinations for the purpose of intimidation.
The era of Free Trade was heralded by the measures of
Huskisson and Robinson in 1823 and subsequent years. A
sliding-scale for regulating the duty on imported corn was
adopted in 1828 — that is to say, the duty rose when the price
fell, and fell when the price rose. Joseph Hume's motion for
the repeal of the Corn Laws was defeated by a large majority
in 1829. Peel's first Currency Act came into force in 1823.
The State support of elementary education began during this
period. In 1831, the House of Commons voted £30,000 for
education in Ireland. In 1833, it voted £20,000 for education
in England. In 1836, the newspaper stamp was reduced from
4d. to Id. on each newspaper.

206

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[WUliam IV.

CHIEF EVENTS.

1820. The Cato Street Conspfracy.
1822. Suicide of Lord Londonderry.
1823. HuBkiBBon'B Reciprocity of Duties Bill—
The Irish Catholic Association formed.
1824. Laws against combination repealed.
182S. Great money panic.
1827. Treaty of London (Great Britain, France,
and Russia) for the pacification of Greece-
Battle of Navarino.
1828. Corporation Act and Test Act repealed.
1829. Roman Catholic Emancipation.
1830. Death of George IV.— Accession of William
IV.— Death of Huskisson— Earl Grey Prime
Minister.
1831. Two Reform BiUs defeated-A third intro-

duced-Education grant of £30,000 for Ire
land.
1832. The Reform Act passed.
1833. Church Temporalities (Ireland) Act passed
—Abolition of slavery— Act regulating the
work of women and children in factories-
Municipal Reform Act for Scotland— Educa
tion grant:of £20,000 for England.
1834. Poor Law Amendment Act— Lord Mel
bourne Prime Minister— Sir Robert Peel
Prime Minister.
1835. Lord Melbourne Prime Minister— Munici
pal Reform Act for England.
1836. Newspaper stamp duty reduced to Id.
1837. Death Of William IV.

NAMES OF NOTE.

Lord Althorp, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
1830-34; Earl Spencer, 1834; died, 1846.
Henry Brougham, Attorney-General for Queen
Caroline, 1820 ; M.P. for Yorkshire, 1830;
Lord Chancellor and a peer, 1830 ; resigned,
1834.
George Canning, President of Board of Control,
1816 ; resigned In consequence of prosecu
tion of Queen Caroline, 1820 ; appointed
GovernoiSGeneral of India, 1822 ; proposed
to admit Catholic peers to the House of
Lords, 1822 ; Foreign Secretary, 1822 ; sup
ported Huskisson's free-trade policy, 1323;
Prime Minister, 1827 ; died, 1827.
William Ewart Gladstone, a Lord of the Treasury,
1834; Under-Secretary for the Colonies,
January to April 1835.
Lord Goderich (Frederick Robinson), President
of the Board of Trade, 1818; Chancellor of
the Exchequer, 1823 ; aided Huskisson's free-
trade measures, 1824 ; Secretary for the Col
onies and Viscount Goderich, 1827 ; Prime
Minister, 1827 ; resigned, 1828 ; Secretary for
the Colonies, 1830-33 ; Lord Privy Seal and
Earl of Ripon, 1833.
Earl Grey, Prime Minister, 1830 ; resigned and
recaUed, 1832 ; carried the Reform Act,
1832 ; resigned, 1834.
William Huskisson, President of Board of Trade,
1823; introduced free-trade policy; passed
Reciprocity of Duties Bill, 1823 ; reduced
duties on silk and wool, 1824 ; Secretary for
the Colonies, 1827 ; resigned, 1827 ; Colonial
Secretary again, 1828 ; resigned, 1828 ; killed
at opening of Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, 1830.
Eari of Liverpool (Robert Banks Jenkinson,
Lord Hawkesbury), Prime Minister, 1820 ;
brought in Bill against Queen Caroline, 1820 ;
opposed Reform, 1822 ; opposed Catholic
Emancipation, 182S ; struck down with pa
ralysis, retired, 1827; died, 1828.

Viscount Melbourne (William Lamb), Chief Sec
retary for Ireland, 1827 ; Home Secretary,
1830-34 ; Prime Minister, July to November
1834; again, AprU 1836.
Daniel O'Connell, founded the Catholic Associa
tion, 1823 ; elected for Clare county, ex
cluded &om ParUament, 1828 ; retumed
again and admitted, 1829 ; pleaded guilty to
a charge of holding Illegal meetings, 1831 ;
supported the Reform BiU, 1831; opposed
the Coercion Act, 1833.
Viscount Palmerston (Henry John Temple), Sec
retary at War, 1809-28; resigned with Hus
kisson, 1828; Foreign Secretary, 1830-34;
again, 1835.
Robert Feel, Home Secretary, 1822; resigned,
1827; refused to join Canning, 1827 ; Home
Secretary, 1828 ; resolved to support the
Catholic claims, resigned his seat for Oxford,
and was defeated, retumed for Tamworth,
1829 ; passed the Catholic Relief Bill, 1829 ;
Sir Robert Feel, 1330; resigned, 1830; op
posed Reform, 1831-32; Prime Minister,
1834 ; resigned. 1836.
Lord John Russell, moved for Parliamentary
Reform, 1818 ; carried Repeal of Corporation
and Test Acts, 1828 ; supported Catholic
Emancipation, 1829 ; Paymaster of the
Forces, 1830; Introduced the Reform Bill,
1831; leader of the Opposition, 1834; Home
Secretary, 1836-39.
Lord Stanley (afterwards Earl of Derby), M.P.
for Stockbridge. 1820; Under-Secretary for
the Colonies, 1828 ; Chief Secretary for Ire
land, 1830; opposed O'Connell, Colonial Sec
retary, 1833-34.
Duke Of Wellington, Prime Minister, 1828 ; duel
with Lord Winchelsea, 1829 ; resigned, 1830 ;
opposed the Reform Bill, 1831 ; put iron
shutters on Apsley House, failed to form a
Ministry, 1832; acted for Peel as Prime
Minister, 1834 ; Foreign Secretary, 1834-35.

REIGN OF VICTORIA (HANOVER).
1837.

CHAPTER XXV.— SOCIAL REFORM.
1. Accession of Victoria :i 1837. — As William IV. left no
direct heir, he was succeeded by his niece the Princess Victoria,
who had just completed her eighteenth year. From early life
her education had been carefully watched and directed by her
mother, the Duchess of Kent, in prospect of the high sphere
which she was one day likely to fill. The change of Sovereign
strengthened the Ministry of Lord Melbourne. Instead of having
the influence of the Crown against him, as in the late reign,
the young Queen was now dependent on him for guidance and
advice in constitutional matters. As the Salic Law excluded
women from the throne of Hanover, that state now ceased to
be connected with the British Crown. Ernest, Duke of Cumber
land, fifth son of George III, then became King of Hanover.
2. Rebellion in the Canadas: 1837. — One of the earliest
events of the new reign was a rebellion in the Canadas (De
cember). Ever since their foundation, an oligarchical system
of government had prevailed in the North American Provinces.
For years the Colonists had been demanding free institutions
and responsible government. For years the French in Lower
Canada had been crying out against British exclusiveness and
British tyranny. The triumj5h of Reform in the mother-
country inspired the malcontents with hope. The Government,

^ Victoria. Alexandrina-Victoria, daugh
ter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son
of George III. and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg.

Born 1819. Married, 1840, Albert, Prince
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Issue, four sons
and five daughters.

208 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
however, was stubborn when it ought to have been conciliatory.
Its conduct drove the reformers in the Assembly of Lower
Canada to withhold the supplies till grievances should be re
dressed. This deprived Government officials of their salaries,
and caused much distress. Thereupon the British Parliament
empowered the Governor-General to appropriate a large sum
out of the treasury. The extreme reformers in the two Canadas
coalesced, and rebellion followed.
The rebellion was short-lived. There was little actual fight
ing and little loss of life. Before the end of December, the
leaders either had fled or had been lodged in jaiL A second
rising, in Lower Canada, in the following year was as speedily
put down. These events, however, convinced the British Par
liament of the necessity of making concessions. To strengthen
the Government of the colony, a Union Act was passed in 1840,
by which the two Canadas were made one Province. The
union was not a success politically, but it indirectly led to the
wider confederation of 1867.
3. The Anti-Com-Law League: 1838. — There were loud
complaints in England at this time of the hardships sufiered by
the mass of the population in consequence of the laws restrict
ing the importation of corn. The Corn Act of 1815 had been
superseded in 1828 by the Sliding-Scale Act, which reduced the
duty on imported corn in proportion as the price of home-grown
corn increased ; but practically the duty was still prohibitory.
The movement by which these laws were at last repealed had
its origin in 1838. Then was formed the famous Anti-Corn-Law
League, with Richard Cobden and John Bright as its leaders.
There followed a great agitation all over the country. The
Free Traders maintained that the " daily bread " of the people
was the last article that should be taxed. Those who lived by
agriculture wished to keep foreign grain out of the country.
But to buy in the cheapest markets of the world was the policy
advocated by the Free Traders.
4. The People's Charter: 1838-39.— About this time the
proceedings of a society of men who called themselves Chartists
began to attract notice. They sought a remedy for the miser-

MelUourne.] SOCIAL REFORM. 209
able condition of the labouring classes — especially of the poorest
— in the extension to them of political power. That was the
aim of " The People's Charter," a document in which they de
manded six sweeping changes in the Constitution : — (1.) Uni
versal suffrage. (2.) Vote by ballot. (3.) Annual Parliaments.
(i.) Payment of members of Parliament. (5.) Abolition of
the property qualification for a seat in Parliament. (6.) Equal
electoral districts. Towards the end of 1839, a band of these
discontented men, headed by John Frost, who had once been a
magistrate, raised a serious disturbance at Newport, in Mon
mouthshire, which was attended with loss of life. For this.
Frost and two others were condemned to death ; but the sen
tence was commuted to transportation for life.
5. The Criminal Code : 1837. — The good work of Sir Samuel
Romilly and Sir James Mackintosh in mitigating the almost
savage cruelty of the penal code was now carried forward with
energy. The Criminal Law Commission, issued at the instance
of Sir Robert Peel, recommended that the number of capital
oflfences should be largely reduced. At the beginning of the
century 223 capital oiFences were recognized by law. A few of
these were removed by Romilly and Mackintosh. The reduc
tion began in earnest in 1832. In 1837, all had disappeared but
seven ; and the use of the pillory was at the same time
abolished. 6. Irish Questions : 1838. — Irish questions still formed the
chief battle-ground of political parties. Under the able and
conciliatory administration of Thomas Drummond, the Chief
Secretary, the condition of Ireland and the contentment of
the people improved so much that O'Connell thought it pru
dent to suspend his agitation for repeal. An Irish Poor Law
was passed, for the relief of evicted tenants and others who
suffered from poverty and want. The Irish tithe question was
also settled by the Melbourne Ministry, but not on the basis
for which Lord John Russell and the Whigs had so earnestly
contended. A vote on the " appropriation clause " — providing
that the surplus of the Church funds might be applied to gen
eral moral and religious purposes — -had driven Peel from office
(898) 14

210 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
in 1835, and had raised Melbourne to power. The " appropria
tion clause " was now dropped, at the bidding of the House of
Lords, and the Bill passed in 1838 simply commuted tithes into
a permanent rent-charge in money, payable by the landlords.
This lowering of their flag weakened the position of the Min
istry, both with Parliament and with the country. What was
virtually a vote of confidence, proposed by Lord John Russell
in 1839, was carried in the Commons by a majority of only
twenty-two. 7. The Jamaica Question: 1838-39. — The feeble financial
policy of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Spring Rice)
still further weakened the Government. The Jamaica difficulty
proved fatal to it. The plan of partial or postponed emancipa
tion of slaves, proposed in the Act of 1833, had not been suc
cessful. That was especially the case in Jamaica, where the
slaves were in the meantime in a worse position than before.
Private imprisonment had been abolished, but the public pris
ons were turned into torture-houses by the slave-owners. The
Government passed an Act for immediate emancipation, which
came into operation in August 1838, and provoked the wrath of
the owners, who regarded it as a breach of faith. A second Act
was then passed, transferring the management of the prisons in
Jamaica from the Colonial Parliament to the Governor. As
this was done without consulting the Colonial Parliament, that
body declared that its constitutional rights had been violated,
and resolved to abstain from exercising its functions until its
position had been recognized. The Home Government then
introduced a Bill suspending the Constitution of Jamaica for
five years. The Bill was opposed not only by Peel and the
Conservatives, but also by Joseph Hume and the Radicals.
The result was that the Government majority was reduced to
five (May 1839).
8. Ministerial Crisis: 1839. — Lord Melbourne immediately
resigned, and advised the Queen to send for the Duke of Wel
lington, the recognized leader of the Opposition. Wellington
advised the Queen to commit the formation of the new Ministry
to Sir Robert Peel. Peel undertook the task, and submitted

Meltoume.] SOCIAL REFORM. 211
his list to the Queen, but informed' her at the same time that
it would be necessary to change some of the Ladies of the
Household. Having satisfied herself that this was neither cus
tomary nor necessary, the Queen declined to agree to it. Peel
refused to withdraw his condition, probably because the Queen's
ladies included relatives of some of the outgoing ministers.
He therefore abandoned the task ; and Melbourne resumed
office with a reconstructed Cabinet. Lord John Russell be
came Colonial Secretary, probably in view of the Jamaica diffi
culty ; Francis Baring was Chancellor of the Exchequer ; the
Marquis of Normanby took the Home Office ; and Thomas Bab-
ington Macaulay was Secretary at War.
9. Penny Postage : 1839-40. — In the same year the Ministry
undertook a great and useful reform in the postal system, in
spite of the opposition of the Postmaster-General. That was
the adoption of a uniform rate of postage for the whole country.
Previously the rate varied, first, with the weight of the letter ;
secondly, with the distance it was to be carried ; and thirdly,
with the means of carriage. The rates, moreover, were high.
That system tended to limit rather than to extend the business
of the Post-OflBce and the revenue derived from it ; while the
time and labour involved in estimating the cost of each letter
unnecessarily swelled the expenditure. In a pamphlet issued
in 1837, Rowland HiU, the son of a Birmingham schoolmaster,
suggested the plan of a uniform and cheap rate for all dis
tances, the cost varying only with the weight of the letter.
A Committee of the House of Commons having reported fa
vourably on the scheme, it was adopted by Parliament in
1839, the rate being at first 4d., and in the following year Id.,
per half-ounce. The plan resulted at first in serious loss ; but
by-and-by it led to an enormous increase of business, and to a
large revenue.
10. The First Education Act : 1839. — The year 1839 is also
remarkable as that in which the management of elementary
education was first intrusted to a Committee of the Privy
Council. An Act was passed constituting the Committee, in
creasing the grant from £20,000 voted in 1833, to £30,000,

212 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
and subjecting the aided schools to Government inspection.
The Act was strongly opposed, chiefly because it was held that
inspection would unwarrantably interfere with the freedom of
management ; and it was carried by a majority of two only.
11. The Queen's Marriage: 1840. — In 1840, Queen Victoria
married her cousin. Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The
union gave satisfaction to the country, and afterwards realized
the highest hopes of Sovereign and of subjects. The Prince
was a man of cultured mind and high aims, and he understood
clearly his position as Consort to the Sovereign.
12. The Eastern Question. — What is called "the Eastern
Question " has oftener than once during this century broken
the peace of Europe. The Eastern Question, it has been wittily
said by an English statesman, is, " Who shall have Constan
tinople 1 " For upwards of four centuries that city has been
held by the Turks. Though the Turks are an alien race in
Europe, and one with which the other European nations have
little sympathy, the Great Powers are willing that they should
hold Constantinople, rather than that it should fall into the
hands of any European state. For years it has been the dream
of Russian statesmen to extend the Empire of the Czars to the
Bosporus. With that view quarrels have been picked and
fomented, and bloody wars have been waged, over very trifling
matters. 13. Egypt and Turkey : 1840-41. — This question assumed a
new phase in 1840, when the existence of Turkey as a European
state was threatened by Russia on the one hand and by Egypt,
one of its own dependencies, on the other. In defence of Tur
key, British fleets and troops assisted in operations on the
Syrian coast, undertaken for the purpose of wresting Syria from
Mehemet Ali, Pasha of Egypt, who had declared himself inde
pendent of the Sultan. Russia was watching eagerly for the
breaking up of the Turkish Empire ; and France, being jealous
of the increase of British influence in Egypt, secretly encour
aged Mehemet Ali. Lord Palmerston, the British Foreign
Secretary, contrived to outwit both. He forced Russia into a
convention for armed interference in the East, which was joined

Melbourne.]

SOCIAL REFORM.

213

also by Austria and Prussia, but from which France was ex
cluded (July 15). The French Ministry was so enraged that it
was on the point of de-

ALeppo

daring war against Great
Britain. But Palmerston
disregarded the bluster
ing, and sent a fleet to
the Levant. Beyrout was
bombarded. Sidon was
stormed by Commodore
Napier. The fortress of
St. Jean d'Acre, hitherto
deemed impregnable, was
taken by the British after
being bombarded for only
three hours (November).
Mehemet Ali then sub
mitted, and in February
he was reinvested as he
reditary Pasha, his de
pendence on the Sultan
being declared and ac
knowledged. 14. The First Afghan
War : 1839-42. — From 1839 to 1842 a war raged in Afghan
istan. The British Government, having reason to believe that
Russia had evil designs on India, deemed it of the highest
importance that a prince friendly to Great Britain should sit
on the throne of Afghanistan. Early in 1839, during the
administration of Lord Auckland, a British army under Sir
John Keane entered Afghanistan to replace Shah Soojah on
the throne, from which he had been driven by Dost Moham
med. The army, which amounted to 19,350 men, first directed
its march on Candahar. On the 4th of May, the British en
tered that city, from which the Afghan chiefs had fled. On
the 23rd of July, the gate of Ghazni was blown open with
gunpowder. Dost Mohammed fled from Cabul, into which the

214

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Victoria.

British marched without opposition being oflfered to them ; and
then Shah Soojah was enthroned, the land being apparently
conquered. The surrender of Dost Mohammed, who placed his sword in
the hands of Sir William Macnaghten, the British envoy,
seemed to jjetoken the end of trouble. It proved, however, far
otherwise. It soon became evident that Shah Soojah had no

hold on the Afghans, and that he was maintained on the throne
solely by the British troops. The emissaries of Dost Moham
med were busily engaged for months in plots and intrigues
against the British. At length, in November 1841, the houses
of Sir Alexander Burnes and Captain Johnson at Cabul were
attacked and looted by Afghans, and the inmates were mur-

Melbourne.]

SOCIAL REFORM.

215

dered. The misery and peril of the beleaguered Europeans
grew daily worse, reaching its crisis when Akbar, son of Dost
Mohammed, came in person to direct the Afghan operations.
Trusting to his honour, Macnaghten met Akbar in conference,
and was shot dead by the hand of that treacherous chief.
A little later — January 7, 1842 — began the fatal march
through the Koord Cabul Pass to Jelalabad. Of sixteen thou
sand human beings who began the retreat, about seventy were
made captive ; nearly all the rest were slaughtered or died on
the road. Only one European (Dr. Brydone) and four or five
natives reached Jelalabad. Ghazni also fell into Afghan hands,
and a similar fate would have befallen Candahar and Jelalabad
but for the ability and courage of Generals Nott and Sale. A
new season and a new governor restored the credit of the British
army. Lord Ellenborough arrived in India, while General
Pollock, having forced the Khyber Pass,i was pursuing his
victorious march to Jelalabad. From April to August he lay
there, and then began to move on Cabul, towards which Nott
was also advancing from Candahar. The occupation of Cabul,
where Sir Robert Sale was reunited to his wife and daughter,
who had been Akbar's captives since the retreat, formed the
crowning operation of the war. After destroying the fortifica
tions of the city, the British troops withdrew from Afghanistan.
Shah Soojah having already met his death at the hand of an
assassin, the way was cleared for Dost Mohammed again to
hold the throne. In 1855, he made a friendly alliance with
Great Britain.
15. War with China: 1839-42. — A smuggling trade in opium
having sprung up on the coast of China, to the great anger of
the Chinese authorities, they issued an edict for the extinction
of the traffic. Captain Elliot, the British superintendent, re
sisted this edict, and a fire from British ships was poured into
a fleet of junks anchored in the Canton River — November 3,
1839. The island and town of Chusan were taken by British

^ Khyber Pass, the chief northern pass
between Hindustan and Afghanistan. It
begins about ten miles west of Peshawur,

and extends thirty miles, between lofty
cliffs, from six hundred to one thousand
feet high.

216

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Victoria.

guns in June 1840, and in the following January Commodore
Sir Gordon Bremer reduced the forts at the mouth of the Canton
River. These two blows led
to a Chinese proposal for peace,
believing in which Bremer
caused Chusan to be evacuated,
and took possession of Hong-
Kong. But war broke out
again. Amoy, Chusan, and
Ningpo fell into the hands of
the British, whose march to
Nankin in 1842 forced the
Chinese Government to submit
The principal articles of the
Treaty of Nankin ceded the
island of Hong-Kong to the
British, established a right of
trading with five cities — Can
ton, Amoy, Foo-Choo, Ningpo,
and Shanghai — and handed
over to Great Britain twenty-

seven millions of silver dollars as war indemnity.

CHAPTER XXVL— FREE TRADE.
1. Peel's Second Ministry : 1841. — Before the conclusion of
the Chinese War the Melbourne Ministry fell. In May 1841,
Peel carried a vote of want of confidence in the Government.
Parliament was dissolved, and in the new House of Commons
the Conservatives had a majority of eighty. Melbourne at once
resigned, and Sir Robert Peel became Prime Minister for the
second time. His administration lasted from September 1841
until June 1846, undergoing during that time but little change.
In 1843, the Duke of Wellington became Commander-in-Chief;
and in 1844, Mr. W. E. Gladstone was made President of the
Board of Trade.

Peel.] FREE TRADE. ,217
2. The Com Laws and the New Tariff: 1842.— The first
question to which Peel turned his attention was the modifica
tion of the Corn Laws. In 1842, he carried the second Sliding-
scale Act, by which the duty ranged from one pound to one
shilling, as the price of wheat rose from fifty-one shillings to
seventy-three shillings per quarter. This, however, did not
satisfy the Free Traders, and the agitation continued to gather
strength. For some years the national expenditure had been
in excess of the income. To meet the growing deficiency, Peel
proposed and carried an income-tax of sevenpence per pound.
This, he estimated, would not only make up the deficiency, but
also leave a surplus. This surplus he proposed to devote to the
reduction of customs duties on imported articles. With this
view he introduced a new tariff, in which the duty on the raw
materials used in manufactures was reduced to a merely nominal
amount, and the duty on manufactured articles was such as to
enable the foreign producer to compete fairly with the home
manufacturer. Peel's proposals alarmed some of his followers ;
but they were heartily supported by many of his political oppo
nents, who saw in them a recognition of free-trade principles,
and they were carried by large majorities. This was the begin
ning of a new financial policy, which has greatly extended the
commerce of the country, and has aflforded new openings for
domestic industry. At the same time. Peel objected to reduce
the tax on com, on the ground that he was unwilling to alarm
the agricultural party.
3. Ecclesiastical Movements: 1843. — The year 1843 was
marked by ecclesiastical troubles in both divisions of Great
Britain. In England, the Tractarian or Puseyite party created
no small stir, especially in Oxford, the centre of their agitation.
Holding doctrines resembling those of the Church of Rome
rather than those of the Church of England, many of them in
process of time went over to the ranks of the Roman Catholics.
In Scotland, the National Church was rent by a new Disruption.
The intrusion of unacceptable ministers under the Patronage
Act of 1712 had long been regarded as a grievance by the
Scottish people ; and in 1834, the General Assembly passed a

218 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
Veto Act, which gave a majority of the male heads of families
in a congregation the right to reject the patron's presentee.
The Court of Session, and the House of Lords on appeal, de
cided that the Veto Act was beyond the power of the Church.
The claim of the Civil Courts to have jurisdiction over the
Church Courts in matters spiritual having been confirmed by
Parliament, two hundred members of the Assembly which met at
Edinburgh in May 1843 separated from the Church of Scotland,
and formed themselves into the "Free Church of Scotland."
The seceders were followed by many thousands of the peopla
4. Conquest of Sindh: 1843. — War had, in the meantime,
broken out again in India. During the Afghan War (1839-42),
Sindh — a district of fifty thousand square miles, with a sea-
coast of one hundred and fifty miles, lying on both sides of the
mouths of the Indus — was occupied by British troops. The
Ameers or rulers of Sindh objected to this, and an attack was
made on the British Residency at Hyderabad. Major Outram,
who had only one hundred men, retreated skilfully after a
gallant defence, and joined the main army under Sir Charles
Napier. A few days later the British won the Battle of
Meeanee;! and a second victory at Dubba completed the
conquest of Sindh.
5. The Rebecca Riots : 1843. — The Rebecca riots in Wales,
which aflfected chiefly the counties of Caermarthen, Pembroke,
and Cardigan, arose out of the bad management of turnpikes
and tolls. The strange distortion of a Scripture text gave
origin to the name : " And they blessed Rebekah, and said
unto her. Let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate
them" (Gen. xxiv. 60). Disguised in bonnets, caps, and
gowns, the rioters stole at dead of night upon the toll-bars,
flung out the keepers' furniture, pulled down the houses, and
levelled the gates with the ground. One old woman, a toll-
keeper, was killed. Some Chartist emissaries crept among
them, and the spirit of the mob grew worse. They attacked
workhouses and burned stacks. At last some of the gang were
^ Meeanee, in Sindh, six miles north of Hyderabad. Dubba is also in the neighbour
hood of Hyderabad. (See Map, page 220.)

Peel.] FREE TRADE. 219
taken and punished, and by justice tempered with mercy the
ferment was allayed.
6. O'Connell and Repeal: 1843. — O'Connell's agitation for
the Repeal of the Union with Ireland reached its height in
1843. A monster meeting at Trim preceded a still greater
gathering on the historic Hill of Tara, in Meath (August 15).
O'Connell drove out from Dublin in a four-in-hand coach on
that fine summer morning ; and in a great speech he promised
his hearers, who numbered hundreds of thousands, that within
a twelvemonth they should see a Parliament in College Green
at Dublin. On Sunday morning, October 8, cannon and
dragoons went to the Strand of Clontarf, three miles north of
Dublin, sent by the Viceroy to support his proclamation for
bidding a monster meeting there. O'Connell wisely refrained
from facing the artillery. Six days later (October 14), he
was arrested with his son and eight other men on a charge of
conspiracy and sedition. The trial, delayed by the difficulty
of forming a jury, began on the 15th of January. For six-and-
twenty days it continued to linger, until a verdict of " Guilty "
came from the exhausted jury. The sentence, not pronounced
till the 30th of May, inflicted two years' imprisonment and
a fine of £2,000 upon O'Connell, but dealt more lightly with
his accomplices. He lay, accordingly, in Richmond Penitentiary
in Dublin for a time, until a verdict of the House of Lords, to
which an appeal was made, reversed the sentence and set him
free. Smith O'Brien, an Irish Protestant gentleman whose
reputation for good sense and moderation had been previously
unstained, became the leader of the Young Ireland party.
O'Connell then went abroad to die. His body, borne from
Genoa in the summer of 1847, was followed through the streets
of Dublin by thousands of his sorrowing countrymen.
7. The First Sikh War: 1845-46.— North-east of Sindh,
higher up the Indus, lies the great district of the Punjab,
which derives its name from Persian words meaning "five
waters. "1 The country was held by the Sikhs — the High-
^ Five waters. It is watered by flve I taries the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Bavee,
rivers— namely, the Indus, and its tribu- ' and the Sutlej.

220

LIMITED MONARCHY.

landers of India — who had seized it in the middle of last
century. One of their Princes, Runjeet Singh, the " Lion of
the Punjab," had been a firm friend of the British ; but his
death in 1839 caused a prolonged struggle for the throne. The
disturbance gave the British Government an excuse for placing
an army on the frontier. In 1845, Duleep Singh, a boy of
seven, came to the throne, his mother acting as Regent. In
December of that year a sudden and unprovoked attack was
made on a British force stationed at Moodkee. The Sikhs were
repulsed with loss ; but they proved themselves formidable foes.
They had fine horses, and their gunners were drilled by Eu
ropean officers of artillery.
The British army, under Sir Hugh Gough and the Governor-
General, Sir Henry Hardinge, then moved on the Sikh camp at
Ferozeshah, and took it after two days' hard fighting. The
Sikhs fled across the Sutlej. The victory of Aliwal on the
26th of January 1846, and that of Sobraon a fortnight later.

Abroad.— In 1846, Texas was incorporated with the United States of
America. It had revolted from Mexico in 1835, and its independence was
acknowledged in 1840. Its annexation by the States led to a war with
Mexico, in which the States gained California, Utah, and New Mexico.

1*661] FREE TRADE. 221
opened the path of the British soldiers to Lahore, the capital
of the Punjab, where a treaty was signed. The British frontier
was moved forward to the Beas, the Sikh army was disbanded,
and all guns used against the British were given up.
8. Repeal of the Corn Laws: 1846.— The battle of Free
Trade had now been transferred from the country to the House
of Commons. Cobden became member for Stockport in 1841.
His friend John Bright found a seat in Parliament in 1844 as
member for the city of Durham, and his manly and thoroughly
English speeches soon won for him a name among the foremost
orators of the century. They were vigorously supported by
Charles Villiers, whose annual motion on the subject since
1838 had done much to keep the question alive. By men
like these no rest was given to the Ministry and the country
until the Corn Laws were abolished. A new impetus was
given to the agitation by a blight which fell on the potato
crop in Ireland in 1845, and which caused sore famine and
fever during the ensuing winter. The potato formed the
chief food of the people. All other food was so dear that they
could not afford to buy it, and they starved. These circum
stances furnished the Free Traders with powerful arguments,
and they influenced no one more than the Prime Minister.
Sir Robert Peel had entered office as a pledged upholder of
the Corn Laws. The success of his new tariflf had led him to
modify his views on that subject very considerably. The
Irish famine completed his conversion to free-trade principles.
In the end of 1845, he resigned, in order to give those who
had advocated these principles an opportunity of introducing
a measure. Lord John Russell attempted to form a Ministry,
but failed. Sir Robert Peel then resumed office; and in January
1846, he introduced a measure for the repeal of the Corn Laws,
which became law in June. The duty on imported corn was
reduced at once to four shillings per quarter; and after 1849
it was to be reduced to the nominal rate of one shilling per
quarter.! pgg] generously gave the credit of the measure to
1 The duty was wholly abolished in 1869 by the Gladstone Government.

222 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
Cobden, as he had given the credit of Catholic Emancipation
to Canning ; but his change of side for the second time
alienated from him many of his supporters, prominent among
whom were Lord Stanley (afterwards Earl of Derby), Lord
George Bentinck, and Mr. Disraeli. These malcontents were
for a time known as the Protectionist party.
9. Fall of the Peel Ministry : 1846. — On the same night on
which the Lords passed the Repeal Act, the Ministry was
defeated by a combination of the Whigs and the Protection
ists, on a Bill to repress outrages in Ireland. Peel at once
resigned, and Lord John Russell became Prime Minister, and
continued in office during the next six years. Richard Cobden,
the champion of the people in this struggle for free bread,
declared at Manchester that " if Sir Robert had lost office, he
had gained a country.'' During the rest of his life Peel gave
an independent support to the Whig ministers in furthering
the free-trade policy which he had inaugurated. Mr. Disraeli
soon came to be regarded as the leader of the Conservatives.

CHAPTER XXVII.— THE RUSSELL illNISTRY.
1. State of Ireland : 1847. — The aspect of aflfairs in Ireland
was dark indeed when the Russell Ministry entered office.
During the following winter the suff'erings of the peasantry
were frightful. In 1847, Parliament voted a grant of ten
millions sterling for the relief of the Irish distress. Extensive
public works were set on foot for the benefit of the labouring
population, and cargoes of Indian meal and other articles of
food were sent across the sea to Ireland. In spite of all these
kindly eflforts, the double drain — death and emigration — de
prived Ireland of nearly two millions of people. Among those
left behind, discontent and sedition were still prevalent. Before
the end of the year the Government was compelled to carry
through Parliament a Coercion Bill for Ireland quite as stringent
as that for proposing which Peel had been turned out of office.
Peel avenged himself by helping the Government to pass the Bill.

RusseU.] THE RUSSELL MINISTRY. 223
2. Responsible Government in Canada: 1847. — The prin
ciple of responsible government, for which the reformers in the
North American Provinces had been struggling so long and so
determinedly, was fairly established in 1847, not only in Canada,
but also in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A despatch on
tenure of office, written by Lord John Russell in 1839 when he
was Colonial Secretary, had prepared the way for this. It had
intimated that members of the Executive Council and the chief
officials were no longer to consider themselves as appointed
practically for life, but as holding office during the pleasure of
the Crown or of its representative. It was appropriately
reserved for the Ministry of Lord John Russell to complete
the work. In 1847, Earl Grey, as Colonial Secretary, wrote
a despatch in which the rule was distinctly laid down that
those who directed the policy of a province should hold office
only as long as they had the confidence of the majority of the
representative House. The rule was very soon put in practice,
and it has been acted on ever since. The beneficial results
were immediately felt. Discontent was allayed ; the energies
of the country were turned into more useful channels than that
of political agitation. The history of Canada since that time
has been a history of steady and in some respects unexampled
progress in industry, in commerce, in intelligence, and in the
development of free institutions.
3. Revolutions Abroad : 1848. — The year 1848 was stormy
over all Europe. Paris, Milan, Palermo, Florence, Munich,
Madrid, Berlin, Buda-Pesth, Vienna, all felt the shocks of
revolution more or less. But in France they were most severe.
A short week of revolution in Paris (February 21-27) hurled
Louis Philippe from the throne, to which the " Three Days' "
Revolution of 1830 had raised him. The prohibition of a
reform banquet infuriated the mob. The prohibitory notices
were torn down, and the trees along the Boulevards supplied
Abroad. — In 1848, a new constitution was introduced in Switzerland. The
supreme power was vested in a Federal Assembly of two Chambers, meet
ing at Berne. This change was the result of a war in 1847 between the
Protestant and the Roman Catholic cantons.

224 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
material for barricades. In vain came concession, and then
abdication on the part of the King. The throne, borne from
the pillaged Tuileries, was broken to pieces, and a provisional
Government announced that France had become a democratic
republic. The royal family of France fled for refuge to En
gland ; and there, in the Palace of Claremont, Louis Philippe
died in 1850.
4. Effect in England. — The only tumult in England worthy
of notice was a Chartist meeting on Kennington Common
(April 10th), which gathered for the purpose of escorting a
petition to the House of Commons. In anticipation of a pos
sible attack on the public offices, the Duke of Wellington put
them under an elaborate system of defence. Fergus O'Connor,
who was to present the petition, was made aware of the Gov
ernment preparations. When the Chartists saw the streets
filled with two hundred thousand citizens, sworn in as special
constables, they slunk quietly through the day's programme.
5. Effect in Ireland. — Ireland proved a better subject for
the revolutionary infection. William Smith O'Brien and
Thomas Francis Meagher, leaders of the Young Ireland party,
visited Paris to exchange tokens of fraternity with Lamartine
and the republican leaders ; but they were coldly received.
During the spring, pikes and green flags were manufactured
abundantly in Ireland. Seditious newspapers — of which the
cleverest and most violent was the " United Irishman," edited
by John Mitchell— openly advocated rebellion. The Govern
ment passed through Parliament a Security Act, constituting the
new crime of " treason-felony," consisting in writing or speak
ing for the purpose of exciting to sedition, and punishable with

Abroad.— In 1848, the discontent of the French people with the govern
ment of Louis Philippe led to a third revolution. It was followed by
disturbances in Prussia, Austria, and other German states. The King of
Prussia proposed a union of all the German states. Ferdinand of Austria
abdicated, and was succeeded by his nephew, Francis-Joseph. In France
a republic was proclaimed, of which Louis Napoleon was voted President.
Having become master of Paris by a coup d'itat in 1851, he was declared
President for ten years. In 1852, he was proclaimed Emperor of the
French.

Russell.] THE RUSSELL MINISTRY. 225
transportation. Mitchell was convicted under the Act, and was
sent to Tasmania, whence he escaped. O'Brien and Meagher
were discharged. A few months later, a feeble rising under
O'Brien and others took place in Tipperary, where, among the
cabbages of a widow's garden, a skirmish took place which
would have been amusing but for the blood that was spilled.
It was suppressed by a few policemen, and the leaders were
soon taken. O'Brien and Meagher were condemned to death,
but the sentence was afterwards changed to exile. The
others were released one by one, or were allowed to escape.
O'Brien was permitted to return home after a time. Meagher,
who escaped from Tasmania in 1852, found in the American
Civil War a fitting outlet for the martial fire which won for
him the name " Meagher of the Sword."
6. Second Sikh War: 1849.— The Earl of Dalhousie, the
greatest of Indian Viceroys, succeeded Hardinge in the govern
ment of India in January 1848. Six months later, events
occurred which led to a second Sikh War. It originated in a
rebellion at Mooltan, where two British officers, who had gone
there to install a new governor, were murdered. The Sikhs,
strongly posted at Chillianwalla on the Jhelum, were attacked
by Lord Gough on the 13th of January 1849. The victory was
doubtful, and the loss of the British was so severe that their
leader was greatly blamed for having risked the engagement.
Eight days later, however, Mooltan surrendered to General

Abroad.— In 1849, the independence of Hungary was proclaimed by Louis-
Kossuth ; but this displeased the officers of the army. The Hungarians
were defeated by the Austrians and Russians, the revolution collapsed, and
Kossuth fled to Turkey, and thence to England. The Emperor Francis-
Joseph was crowned King of Hungary in 1867.
In 1849, the Sardinians, attempting to drive the Austrians out of Italy,
were defeated at Novara. Charles-Albert of Sardinia was then forced to
abdicate in favour of his son Victor Emanuel, afterwards King of Italy.
In 1849, France sent troops to the assistance of the Pope, and took Rome.
An insurrection, headed by the "Young Italy" party, had broken out in
1848, and a popular government was proclaimed. The Pope appealed to the
Catholic Powers, and France sPnt him aid. He returned to the Vatican in
1850. Rome was garrisoned by French troops till 1870, when the Franco-
Prussian war rendered their withdrawal necessary.
(89S) 1 5

220 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
Whish. On the 21st of February, at Goojerat, Gough utterly
routed an immense host of Sikhs, and thus redeemed his fame.
The Punjab was shortly afterwards, by a proclamation of
the Governor-General, annexed by the Indian Government
(March 30). (See Map, page 220.)
7. The Australian Colonies: 1850. — An Act settling the
form of government in the Australian colonies was passed in
1850. It led, in the course of the next year or two, to the
establishment of representative governments in New South
Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. The dis
covery of gold in Australia about this time (1850) gave a great
impetus to the colonization and development of that continent.
The first gold-field was discovered near Bathurst, in New
South Wales. Soon afterwards the precious metal was found
also in Victoria, which has from the first yielded more gold
than any other colony. During recent years, wool and bread-
stuflfs have become more valuable products of the Australian
colonies than gold.
8. Death of Peel : 1850.— In the middle of 1850, Sir Robert
Peel was thrown from his horse while riding in St. James's
Park, London, and died a few days afterwards from the eff'ects
of his injuries (July 2). Peel was universally respected and
admired as one of the most honest, courageous, and patriotic of
English statesmen. Great as his reputation was in his own
day, it has increased as the asperities of partisanship have dis
appeared, and as the uprightness and purity of his character
have become better known.
9. The First Great Exhibition : 1851.— The Great Exhibi
tion of the Industries of all Nations, held in London in 1851,
was a striking proof of the rapid development which the re
sources of the country had lately undergone. To Prince Albert
is due the credit of first starting the idea of this great enter
prise. It was, indeed, a splendid success. It gave a great
impulse to every branch of manufactures and of arts, while,
by drawing together men of every complexion, costume, and
national character, who met under the same roof for the same
peaceful end, it caused a kindlier feeling to prevail among the

Russell.] THE RUSSELL MINISTRY. 227
nations of the earth. Similar exhibitions have since been held
at London repeatedly, as well as at Liverpool, Manchester,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, Vienna, and Philadelphia.
10. Ministerial Diflculties : 1850-51.— The Opposition had
now become better organized under the leadership of Mr.
Benjamin Disraeli, who had made himself famous by his bitter
attacks on Sir Robert Peel, his former leader. Every session
he introduced a motion impeaching the policy of the Govern
ment. Under these repeated attacks, the Government majority
gradually declined. It was 21 in 1850; it was only 14 in
1851. A month later Mr. Locke King's motion in favour of
assimilating the county to the borough franchise was carried
against the Government by 100 to 52. Notwithstanding the
smallness of the House on that occasion, RusseU resigned ; but
as Lord Stanley was unable to form a Ministry, Russell re
turned to office. When Locke King's County Franchise Bill
was introduced, it was rejected by 299 to 83.
11. Fall of the Russell Ministry : 1852. — Four months later
the Russell Ministry again got into trouble. In September
1850, Pope Pius IX. issued a Bull creating a number of Roman
Catholic bishops in England. It caused a panic among Prot
estants, under the influence of which the Government passed
the Ecclesiastical Titles Act, declaring the Papal Bull null and
void, and imposing fines on those who gave eflfect to it (July
1851). The Bill excited much opposition, and when passed it
at once became a dead letter. No attempt was made to put it
in force. 1 In December, Lord Palmerston was summarily dis
missed from his office as Foreign Secretary, because on his own
authority he had signified approval of Louis Napoleon's coup
d'etat in Paris. He retaliated by overthrowing the Govern
ment. Early in 1852, he carried an amendment to a Govern
ment Militia Bill, and Russell resigned. Lord Stanley, now
Earl of Derby, then formed a Conservative Ministry, in which
Mr. Disraeli was Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the
House of Commons (February). ' It was repealed in 1871.

228 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria
12. Second Burmese War: 1852. — A second Burmese War
broke out in 1852. The Governor of Rangoon having ill-treated
the commanders of two British vessels. Commodore Lambert
wiLS sent by the Indian Government to demand compensation.
He was met with an insulting refusal. A second attempt to
arrange the difficulty also failed ; and a British army then
entered Burma. Martaban on the shore, Rangoon on the
eastern branch of the Irrawaddy, and Pegu on the river of the
same name, were soon captured. A determined effort of the
Burmese to recover Pegu was bravely met by the Madras
Fusiliers. Notwithstanding these severe losses, the Court of
Ava still refused to treat with the Indian Government ; and
the province of Pegu was made an integral part of the British
dominions in the East. (See Map, page 191.)
13. Death of Wellington : 1852.— On the 14th of September
in the same year (1852) the " Iron Duke," as Wellington was
proudly called by his grateful countrymen, died at Walmer
Castle, aged eighty-three. On the 1 8th of November his coffin
was borne with warlike honours to St. Paul's, and was laid
beside the dust of Nelson.
14. The Aberdeen Ministry: 1852. — In the hope of
strengthening the Ministry in the House of Commons, Lord
Derby had recourse to a dissolution of Parliament in July.
The new House of Commons assembled in November ; but
although the Government had abandoned Protection, it failed
to secure a majority. It was defeated on the Budget proposals,
and resigned in December. The Earl of Aberdeen then formed
a Coalition Ministry, consisting of Whigs and Peelites, and
including Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. Glad
stone, the last being Chancellor of the Exchequer. The new
Ministry was pledged to a free-trade policy, and the further
development of Peel's principles of finance.

Aberdeen.]

THE RUSSIAN WAR.

229

CHAPTER XXVIIL— THE RUSSIAN WAR.
1. Gladstone's First Budget : 1853.— The late Government
having been defeated on its financial proposals, the introduction
of Mr. Gladstone's first Budget, in May 1853, was regarded as
a critical occasion for the new Ministry. It turned out a re
markable success, and strengthened the position of the Govern
ment. It was the first of a series of masterly Budgets, ex
pounded in brilliant speeches, which established Mr. Gladstone's
reputation as one of the ablest financiers and foremost orators
of the century. His object was to apply the principle of Peel's
New Tariff" on a more extended scale. He either abolished or
greatly reduced the duty on upwards of two hundred and fifty
separate articles. The chief remission he made was that of the
soap duty, which involved a loss to the revenue of £1,110,000.
He arranged for the reduction of the duty on tea from 2s. 2d.
to Is. per pound. The total reduction of taxes he estimated at
£1,656,000. To obtain a surplus with which to meet this loss,
he taxed incomes between £100 and £150, and extended the
income-tax to Ireland ; he readjusted the succession duties, and
increased the duties on spirits and on brewers' licenses. This
comprehensive scheme provoked a good deal of criticism, but it
was carried without material change (May 2). Mr. Gladstone
retained the income-tax, because of its convenience as a means
of raising money in emergencies, but he held out the hope of
its gradual extinction before 1860. His next Budget was a
war Budget, and it doubled the income-tax.
2. Russia and Turkey: 1853-54. — For several years a dis
pute about the Holy Places i at Jerusalem had been causing
irritation between Russia and Turkey. The Czar made this an
excuse for claiming protection over all members of the Greek
Church within the Turkish dominions. Turkey rejected the
demand. Suddenly Russia pushed her troops across the Pruth

^ Holy Places, the Holy Sepulchre, the
Church at Bethlehem, etc. For centuries
the Greek and Latin Churches have quar

relled (or the possession and guardianship
of these places. The territory on which
they stand is now the property of Turkey,

2.30

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Victoria.

into Moldavia, which, with its neighbouring principality, Wal
lachia, she wished to hold as " a material guarantee " (July 2).
This step led Turkey to declare war (October 5). Some weeks
later a British fleet entered the Bosporus; for Britain and France
had resolved to interfere on the part of Turkey, desirous both
of defending the weak against the strong and of preserving the
balance of power. Though anxious to the last to bring the
rupture to a peaceful close, the Allies nevertheless thought it
well to prepare for emergencies by sending their united fleets
into the Black Sea (January 4). The Russian Ambassador
soon left London, and war was formally declared against Russia
by Great Britain and France on the 28th of March 1854.
3. The Secretaryship of War: 1854. — ^The declaration of
war did not find the British army ready at once to take the
field. In order that the preparations might be pushed forward
with vigour, the Secretaryship of War was separated from that
of the Colonies, and the " Secretary at War " became a Parlia
mentary Under-Secretary. The Duke of Newcastle retained
the War Secretaryship, and Sir George Grey went to the Colo
nial Office. The navy was, as usual, in a much better state of
preparedness. 4. Beginning of Hostilities: 1854. — The first operation of
the war was the bombardment of Odessa,^ the batteries of
which opened fire on a British boat proceeding under a flag of
truce to carry off" the Consul. For this flagrant outrage the
city suflfered severely under the guns of twelve war-steamers.
Although the British took no direct part in the war on the
Danube, the siege of Silistria^ is memorable for the heroic part
taken in its defence by two young Anglo-Indian officers, going
home on leave — Captain Butler and Lieutenant Nasmyth.
Sir Charles Napier, commanding the Baltic fleet, destroyed
the batteries of Bomarsund,^ and reconnoitred the great for-

^ Odessa, a fortified Kussian port on
the Black Sea ; near the mouth of the
Dniester. It has large exports of grain.
2 Silistria, a fortified city on the Turk
ish side of the Danube. Its siege, by a
force of 60,000 Kussians, began 17th May

1854. On June 15, the Russians were
forced to abandon their works, and were
driven across the Danube.
•^ Bomarsund, a fortified sea-port, and
station of the Kussian fleet, in the island
of Aland, in the Baltic.

Aberdeen.]

THE RUSSIAN WAR.

231

tress of Cronstadt, which guards the approach to the Russian
capital. 5. Invasion of the Crimea : 1854. — But the Crimea was the
chief theatre of the war. An army of 51,000 men, under
Marshal St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan, landed at Eupatoria^
on the 14th of September. As they pressed southward along
the shore, they found 60,000 Russians lining the steep slopes
on the left bank of the Alma. The battle, fought on the 20th,
was confined to infantry and artillery. In three hours the
passage of the river was forced, the southern heights were
scaled, and the Russians fell back on Sebastopol, their great
stronghold. The Allies then took up a position on the south
of that city. Behind the British army, some six miles distant,
was the port of Balaklava, where lay their ships and stores.
On the 17th of October, the city was bombarded by land and
sea. But the Russians had made good use of their time, and
the works, strong before, were now almost impregnable.
6. Battle of Balaklava : 1854. — On October 25, a Russian
attack on the British lines at Balaklava was nobly repulsed.
Forcing the redoubts, which the Turks failed to hold, the
Russians were rapidly breaking in on the lines, when a single
Highland regiment — the 93rd, led by Sir Colin Campbell —
deployed in a double line, and, with the rifle only, brought the
^ Eupatoria, a Bussian sea-port on the I Sebastopol, Balaklava, and Inlcermann, see
west coast of the Crimea ; 50 miles north Map of the Black Sea on page 232, and
of Sebastopol. For this and for the Alma, I Map of the Crimea on page 233.

232

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Victoria.

enemy to a stop. The Brigade of Heavy Horse — -Scots Greys,
Enniskillens, and Dragoon Guards — dashed through a mass of
Russian cavalry thrice their number. But an interest more
intense belongs to the heroic feat of the " Light Brigade." By
a mistake, a band of Light Horsemen, little more in number
than six hundred, rode a mile down a slight slope, exposed to a
merciless cross-fire, for the purpose of saving a few guns from
capture. They reached the battery, sabred the gunners, and
rode back again. Not two hundred escaped from the carnage
of that charge. 1 A French cavalry regiment then coming up,
caused a part of the attacking Russian force to retreat, which
led to the final rout of the whole.
7. Battle of Inkermann : 1854. — There were two battles of
Inkermann. The first, won by Sir De Lacy Evans and General
Bosquet, repulsed a formidable sortie from Sebastopol on the day
after the conflict of Balaklava. The second, a fierce struggle,
ending in a great victory, took place on Sunday, the 5th of No
vember. In the dusk of the morning, a host of 60,000 Russians,
concealed by fog, pressed up the hill toward the British lines.

^ On this incident Tennyson wrote his "Charge of the Light Brigade.'

Aberdeen.!

THE RUSSIAN WAR.

233

An earthwork, called the Two-gun Battery, formed the centre
of the engagement. Finding the Russians in possession of this
place, the Grenadier
Guards, scarcely nine
hundred in force, dashed
gallantly on, supported
by the Fusiliers, cleared
the battery, and kept it
all day in spite of every
thing that the enemy
could do. Inkermann
differed from most mod
ern battles in its want
of a plan, and in the
opportunity thusaflforded
for the display' of indi
vidual prowess. It was
emphatically the soldiers
who won the day, not
the generals. The
French arrived late in
the day, and saved the
heroic line of exhausted
men from giving way
to numbers that seemed
to have no end. Eight
thousand British troops, helped by six thousand French, kept
the heights of Inkermann that day against a Russian force four
times as great.
8. The Winter at Balaklava : 1854-55. — During the winter
the troops suff"ered greatly from want of food and shelter,
although ships laden with stores thronged Balaklava Harbour.
When the actual state of affairs became known at home, a
cry arose for remedy, inquiry, and redress. A noble band of
women, led by Florence Nightingale, went out to tend the
sick and the wounded at Scutari and elsewhere. The pity of
the nation took a practical shape in the formation of commit-

234 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
tees, the establishment of funds, and the transmission of sup
plies to Balaklava.
9. Palmerston Prime Minister : 1855. — In January 1855,
Roebuck's motion taxing the Ministry with mismanagement of
the war, and proposing a committee of inquiry, was passed in
the Commons by a majority of 157 votes. The Earl of Aber
deen then resigned, and Lord Palmerston became the head of a
Coalition Ministry which included all the members of the late
Cabinet excepting Lord Aberdeen and the Duke of Newcastle.
More active measures were at once taken. A railway soon
stretched from Balaklava to the camp, and then was seen the
strange spectacle of a locomotive puffing to the field of war
with supplies of food, or with a deadly load of shot and shell.
There were other novel features in this war, unknown to the
heroes of Vittoria and Waterloo. A telegraph connected Bala
klava with London, where every turn in the great struggle was
known an hour or two after its occurrence. The leading news
papers, too, had reporters in the camp, the most distinguished
of whom was Dr. William Russell, the "special correspondent"
of the Times.
10. Ministerial Changes : 1855. — The Palmerston Ministry
had to be reconstituted when it was only a few days old. The
Prime Minister's proposal to accept Roebuck's motion for a com
mittee of inquiry was strongly objected to by the Peelites on
constitutional grounds, and they resigned. Sir George Corn
wall Lewis became Chancellor of the Exchequer in place of Mr.
Gladstone, and Lord John Russell succeeded Mr. Sidney Her
bert as Colonial Secretary.
11. The Vienna Conference : 1855.— The Czar Nicholas died
in March 1855, and was succeeded by his son Alexander II.
A Conference of the European powers was held at Vienna shortly
afterwards, in the hope of the terms of peace being arranged ;
but it proved fruitless. It threatened, however, a ministerial
crisis in England. Lord John Russell, the Colonial Secretary,
who had acted as British Plenipotentiary at the Conference,
strongly urged the continuance of the war on his return, though
it was discovered that at Vienna he had favoured peace pro-

Palmerston.] THE RUSSIAN WAR. 235
posals. Notice was given of a vote of censure on him, and to
avoid embarrassing the Ministry he resigned.
12. Continuance of the War : 1855. — The war continued
with unabated energy. The Russians in Sebastopol had not
wasted the opportunities aflforded by the comparative rest of
winter. In particular, they had strengthened their lines of
defence with earthworks. The Mamelon, the Malakoff", the
Redan, the Flagstafif Battery, and other defences assumed a
size and strength unknown before. Sorties and advances kept
the men on duty in the trenches and the rifle-pits always on
the alert ; but the Russians gained no decisive advantage in
these frequent struggles. An expedition to Kertch^ and the
Sea of Azov, in May 1855, destroyed many Russian ships and
several towns. Twice during the war the French and the
British leaders were changed. Marshal St. Arnaud, dying after
the victory of Alma, was followed by Canrobert, who in May
1855 gave place to the victorious Pelissier. In the following
month Lord Raglan, the British commander-in-chief, died of
cholera. General Simpson then took the command ; but he was
soon displaced by Sir William Codrington.
13. Battle of the Tchemaya : 1855. — In August, Prince
Gortschakoflf, who had been the great director of the Russian
defence, felt that there was but one hope left — such a success
in the field as might force the Allies to raise the siege. Ac
cordingly on the 16th of August he made an attack in force
on the French position at a bridge on the River Tchemaya.
Pelissier repulsed the advance with signal success, and afforded
the Sardinians, who had joined the Allies in winter under Delia
Marmora, an opportunity of showing their valour.
14. Fall of Sebastopol : 1855. — After a last bombardment,
the sixth in number and the most terrific in violence, which
lasted night and day from the 6th to the 8th of September, a
double assault was made on the Malakoflf and the Redan. A
brilliant and resistless rush left the French masters of the

^ Kertch, a town on the shore of the Strait of Yenikale, leading from the Black Sea
to the Sea of Azov.

236

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Victoria.

Malakoflf 1 in a quarter of an hour; nor could all the eflforts of
the Russians, maintained with overwhelming forces for many
hours, succeed in dislodging them. Not so fared the British
in the Redan. When the French flag floated over the Malakoflf,
the attacking force left the British trenches for the Redan.
There were only a thousand men, and during their race of two
hundred yards to the foot of the angle at which their rush
was directed, many fell under the sweeping fire that met them.
With difficulty they scrambled over the ditch into the work ;
and there, huddled into a corner, on which converged a jiitiless
fire from many points, they stood waiting for reinforcements
that never came. Colonel Windham, reckless of the danger
he incurred, rushed out of the work to General Codrington to
urge the instant advance of a supporting force. But the
spirit of the men gave way in his absence, and those who
could leaped from the Redan and fled to the trenches. During
that night Gortschakoflf led the Russian garrison across the
harbour to the northern part of the city, which they held till
peace was concluded. Before their flight the Russians sank
their ships. All the batteries and dockyards were blown up
by the Allies, and the grand fortress of Southern Russia was
rendered powerless and untenable.
15. Close of the War : 1856.— During the summer of 1855,
Admiral Dundas, who had superseded Sir Charles Napier in the
command of the Baltic fleet, inflicted a severe blow on Russia
by the bombardment of Sveaborg^ (August 9-11, 1855). The
Russian War raged also in Circassia, where the brave chief
Schamyl fought against the troops of the Czar. Kars,3 the
central point of attack, was nobly defended by General Will
iams, until the want of reinforcements compelled him to sur-
Crippled both on the Baltic and on the Black Sea,

render.

' Mtihkoff Tower, a strongly fortified
tower on a hill of the same name, form
ing the chief defence of Sebastopol on
the southern side. The Mamelon and
Redan were strong works on the same
side. - Sveaborg, a strongly fortified Russian

town, built on islands in the north of the
Oulf of Finland, opposite Helsingfors.
Russia took it from Sweden in 1789.
3 Kars, a fortified city of Asiatic Tur
key; 100 miles inland from the south
eastern shore of the Black Sea. The
houses are all built of black basalt.

Palmerston.] WARS IN ASIA. 237
Russia at last sought for peace. The treaty was signed at
Paris in March 1856. The neutrality of the Black Sea was
declared : it was to be open to the merchant ships of all na
tions, and closed to their ships of war.i Any dispute arising
between Turkey and any of the Great Powers was to be re
ferred to their joint decision. The concessions granted to the
Christian population were to be maintained. Conquests were
to be restored, but Russia was deprived of the southern por
tion of Bessarabia. The independence of Moldavia and Wal
lachia, under the suzerainty of Turkey, was secured.

CHAPTER XXIX.— WARS IN ASIA.
1. War with Persia: 1856-57. — Before the Russian War
was over. Great Britain was embroiled with Persia. A Con
vention made in 1853 had declared the independence of Herat,
a city and state on the borders of Khorassan and Afghanistan,
so placed as to command the approaches to India through the
Hindoo Koosh. Persia now interfered, with regard to a dis
puted succession in that state ; but evidently the movement
was the result of Russian intrigues. The British Government
resented the interference, and war was declared in November
1856. A squadron under Admiral Leeke, with troops on board,
appeared (December 7) oflf Bushire, which stands on a peninsula
in the Persian Gulf, separated from the mainland by swamps.
As the troops landed, some shots were fired from clumps of
date-trees ; but the opposition was of the slightest kind.
Bushire soon fell before a cannonade. Then came Sir James
Outram, with Havelock under his command, who entirely de
feated the Persians, and took several of their fortified places.
Lessons such as these brought Persia to submission, and to an
acknowledgment of the independence of Herat. Peace was
concluded in March 1857.
2. War with China : 1856-57. — A new Chinese War began in
^ These provisions were cancelled by the Congress of London in 1871.

238 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
1856. A lorcha, or small native ship, called the Arrow, flying
the British flag, was boarded in the Canton River by the Chinese
police, who, being in search of a pirate, arrested the crew. Sir
John Bowring, the British Minister at Hong-Kong, demanded
an apology from Commissioner Yeh of Canton. A refusal led
to an attack on the forts which defended that city, and to the
shelling of the city itself in October. These severe measures
were made the ground of a motion in the House of Commons,
proposed by Cobden, and carried against the Government by a
majority of 16. Lord Palmerston appealed to the country, and
obtained a large majority, while Cobden and his friends Bright
and Milner Gibson lost their seats (March 1857).
3. The War Renewed : 1857-58. — Finding in this a warrant
for continuing his policy in China, Palmerston joined with the
French Government in sending the Earl of Elgin and Baron Gros
as plenipotentiaries to Hong-Kong. Free admission to Canton
for British subjects having been demanded and refused, the
bombardment of the city was renewed (December 28, 1857),
and next morning British and French soldiers scaled the walls
and took the town. Yeh was sent as a captive to Calcutta.
The plenipotentiaries sailed to Tien-tsin, a city at the entrance
of the Grand Canal, and there (June 26, 1858) was signed a
treaty opening to British trade five new ports, Formosa and
Hainan among them, and allowing British subjects with pass
ports to go to any part of the interior. Lord Elgin then went
to Japan, landed in state at Jeddo, and concluded a treaty on
terms favourable to British trade.
4. Dalhousie's Indian Policy. — In India, Lord Dalhousie,
though strongly inclined for peace, was led by circumstances
to carry out the policy of annexation with a firm hand. Berar
in 1853, Jhansi in 1854, Nagpore in the same year, and,
greatest of all, Oudh in 1856, were the trophies of his admin
istrative talent. Moslems and Hindus in Oudh having come
into fierce collision, and the King seeming to be involved in the
war, a body of British troops marched to Lucknow, deposed
the monarch, and completed the work of annexation.
5. Outbreak of the Mutiny : 1857. — Early in 1856 Lord

Palmerston.]

WARS IN ASIA.

239

Dalhousie gave place to Viscount Canning, a son of the great
statesman George Canning. During his administration the
^Mutiny occurred. It broke out at Meerut, near Delhi, on the
10th of May 1857, by the 3rd Bengal Cavalry attacking the

prison. There some of their comrades had been confined for
refusing to bite cartridges, which they alleged were greased
with cow's fat so as to make the Indians lose caste, or undergo
social degradation. Not content with liberating their comrades,
the Sepoys set some houses on fire and murdered several Euro
peans. The mutineers then marched to Delhi, which was gar
risoned by Sepoys. Fortunately a British officer blew up the
powder-magazine at Delhi before the rebels could seize it. A
similar outbreak took place at Lucknow on the 31st of May.
These two capitals became the great centres of the strife. On
receiving the news. Sir John Lawrence, Commissioner in the
Punjab, at once disarmed the Sepoys at Lahore ; and the example
was followed at Peshawur and ^Mooltan.

240 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
6. The Cawnpore Massacre: 1857. — On the 4th of June
1857, the siege of Delhi was begun by an army of about 3,000
men, almost all Europeans. About the same time Sir Henry
Lawrence (elder brother of Sir John), upon whom his own
guns had been treacherously turned, took refuge in the Resi
dency of Lucknow, and was there besieged by Sepoys. On
the 27th of June a number of Europeans, who had fled out
of Cawnpore to a hastily-formed intrenchment in the neigh
bourhood, surrendered to the Mahratta chief, generally known
as Nana Sahib, on condition that he would supply them with
boats in which to float down the Ganges to Allahabad. The
promise was a cruel snare. All the men but two were slain,
either in the boats or on the banks of the river. The women
and children were thrust into a small dwelling-house, where
they were ordered to be put to death by Nana Sahib when he
heard of the advance of a relieving force under Colonel Henry
Havelock. They were butchered without mercy, and theii-
bodies were thrown into a well close by (July 15).
7. Siege of Lucknow : 1857. — On the following day, the 16th
of July, Colonel Havelock drove Nana Sahib from Cawnjjore,
and saw for himself the traces of the pitiless cruelty that had
been perpetrated there. The relief of Lucknow, whose defender.
Sir Henry Lawrence, had already received his death-wound,
then became the great task of Havelock. On the 25th of July
he set out from Cawnpore. Sir James Outram, who had been
sent to supersede Havelock, generously declined to interfere
with his operations, and served with him as a volunteer. Hav
elock and Outram crossed the Ganges with 2,800 men on the
19th of September, pushed their way on to the Alumbagh, which
they took, and reached the Residency at Lucknow on the
23rd, where they were received with joy. It soon appeared,
however, that the women and children could not be removed •
so that Havelock and Outram were themselves besieged in the
place which they had come to succour.
8. Fall of Delhi : 1857.— The fall of Delhi, on the 20th of
September, was mainly due to Sir John Lawrence, Commissioner
in the Punjab. By almost superhuman exertions he o'athered

Derby.] WARS IN ASIA. 241
forces of every kind, and sent down heavy cannon to breach
the walls. Sir Aichdale Wilson and General Nicholson were
the officers under whose command the siege was brought to a
successful end.
9. End of the Mutiny : 1857-58.— Sir Colin Campbell, who
had been hastily sent out from England to take the command,
then marched to the relief of Lucknow, which he entered on
the 17th of November. From the Residency, round which
the earth was honeycombed with mines, those who survived
the siege were removed to a place of safety. Sir Colin then
defeated the Gwalior mutineers, and swept the basin of the
Ganges, gradually trampling out the rebellion. On the 2nd of
March 1858, he cleared Lucknow of rebels. The fall of Bareilly
on May 7th was the closing act of the terrible drama. For
these services the veteran chief received the title of Lord Clyde
of Clydesdale, and later the baton of a field-marshal. General
Sir Hugh Rose also rendered splendid service in helping to.
suppress the Mutiny. He accomplished a successful march
from Bombay to Bengal, taking Jhansi and recapturing Gwalior
for Scindia, the firm ally of Great Britain.
10. Fall of the Palmerston Ministry : 1858. — In the mean
time, a change of Ministry had taken place at home. In con
sequence of a plot formed in England to assassinate the Em
peror of the French, Lord Palmerston introduced a Conspiracy
to Murder Bill, making such conspiracy a felony punishable
with penal servitude. On the second reading of the Bill the
Ministry was defeated, and therefore resigned. In February
the Earl of Derby became a second time Prime Minister.
11. New India Act: 1858.— The India Act of 1858, ex-
tingu^Efng the East India Company as a ruling body, was the
work of the Derby Ministry. It was deemed necessary to
strengthen the administration of India by putting it directly
under the Government at home. On the 1st of November, a
public proclamation was read at Calcutta, declaring that the
Queen of Great Britain and Ireland had assumed the direct
control and sovereignty of India, which would thenceforth be
ruled by a Viceroy in her name. The Board of Control was
(898) 1 *i

242 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
abolished, and the home government of India was intrusted to
a Secretary of State and a Council of fifteen.
12. Jewish Relief Act: 1858. — A struggle concerning the
admission of Jews into Parliament, which had long been a bone
of contention between the two Houses, was now brought to a
close. The first Jewish Relief Bill was passed by the House
of Commons in 1833, and was rejected by the Lords. The
same course was repeated in 1848 and 1853. In the general
election of 1847, Baron Lionel de Rothschild, a wealthy Jewish
banker, was returned as member for the city of London ; but he
was not allowed to take his seat. His election gave the same
kind of personal interest to the struggle that O'Connell's return
for Clare County in 1828 had given to the question of Catholic
Relief. Rothschild, who was the first Jew ever returned to
Parliament, was re-elected in 1849 ; but with the same result.
In 1851, Alderman Salomons, having been returned for Green
wich, took the oath, omitting the words " on the faith of a
Christian ; " but for this he was fined £500 by the Court of
Queen's Bench. Now at length the question was settled, chiefly
by the exertions of Lord John Russell. An Act was passed
enabling either House to modify its oath by resolution. In the
case of a Jew, the oath is taken on the Old Testament, and the
words "on the faith of a Christian" are omitted. On July 26,
1858, Baron Rothschild i took the modified oath on assuming
his seat for the city of London.

CHAPTER XXX.— FRANCHISE EXTENSION.
1. The Radical Demands. — Parliamentary representation
had remained practically unchanged since 1832. A Corrupt
Practices Act had been passed (1854), and the property qualifica
tion of members of the House of Commons had been abolished
(1858) ; Roman Catholics, Jews, and Nonconformists of every
-sect had been admitted to Parliament; but the franchise re-
1 His eldest son, Nathanael Meyer, was created a British peer— the flrst Jew en
nobled in England— in 1885.

Aberdeen.] FRANCHISE EXTENSION. 243
mained unchanged. The necessity for a further extension of
it had long been evident. The Act of 1832 left the representa
tion in the hands of the propertied class, though within the
limits of that class it was widened. The masses of the people —
the democracy — were still outside of the enfranchised circle.
It had, however, been brought so near to them that it had
quickened their desire to be embraced within it. Important
social and industrial questions were pressing for settlement.
Every day new questions were arising in connection with the
relations of capital and labour. So long as legislation was
mainly in the hands of the capitalists, the labouring classes
could expect little benefit. Not merely an extension but a
complete reconstruction of the representative system was de
manded in the interest of the democracy, and with a view to
the just settlement of other questions. The demand was raised
and supported within the House of Commons itself by a small
but growing body of Radical reformers, conspicuous among
whom were George Grote, the historian of Greece, John Arthur
Roebuck, Joseph Hume, Locke King, and Edward Baines.
As early as 1833, Grote introduced for the first time his annual
motion in favour of the ballot. Other points raised were —
household suflfrage, the assimilation of the county with the
borough franchise, and triennial Parliaments. These sweeping
proposals at first alarmed the Whig aristocrats who had carried
the Reform Act of 1832. Lord John Russell himself had as
serted the " finality " of that measure.
2. The Reform Bill of 1854. — The exigencies of party gov
ernment by-an<l-by forced the Whigs, and even the Tories, to
give consideration to the Radical claims. It fell to the lot of
Lord John Russell to be the first minister to falsify his own
declaration of finality. In 1854, as a member of Lord Aber
deen's Cabinet, he introduced a Reform Bill which proposed a
£10 rating franchise in counties and a £6 franchise in boroughs,
together with educational, professional, and other "fancy"
franchises, which were intended as concessions to the Radicals.
The Bill was ultimately withdrawn, owing to the outbreak of
the Russian War.

244 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
3. The Reform BiU of 1859. — The question was not again
raised till 1859, and it was raised by the Conservatives. Lord
Derby found himself in the unfortunate position of having to
carry on his government with the majority of the House of
Commons against him. He hoped to secure a majority by
adopting the Liberal tactics and bringing in a Reform Bill. On
the 28th of February, Mr. Disraeli explained the Government
proposals in the House of Commons. They included the as
similation of the county with the borough franchise — the latter
remaining unchanged — a lodger franchise, and educational andl
other "fancy" franchises. The debate on the second reading
lasted for seven nights, after which Lord John Russell's adverse
amendment was carried by thirty-nine votes.
4. The Reform Bill of I860.— Lord Derby appealed to the
country, but that did not give him the majority he hoped for.
When the new Parliament met on the 31st of May 1859, the
debate in the Commons on the Address turned on the
conduct of ministers, who were left in a minority of thirteen.
They resigned, therefore, on the 17th of June; and were suc
ceeded by Lord Palmerston, with Lord John Russell as Foreign
Minister, and Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Lord John Russell brought forward a Reform Bill in 1860, which
proposed a £10 franchise in counties and a £6 qualification in
boroughs ; but, being coldly received, it was withdrawn. Six
years passed before a Reform Bill was again introduced as a
Government measure.
5. The Volunteer Movement: 1859. — The interference of
the French Emperor in the aflfairs of Italy combined with other
things to create a suspicion that, like the first Napoleon, whom
he made his model, he intended to adopt an aggressive foreign
policy. The uneasiness felt in Great Britain suggested the
Volunteer movement, which was sanctioned by the Derby Gov
ernment in May 1859. With the temperate words Defence, not
Defiance as its motto, a great citizen army was rapidly enrolled.
Before the end of the year, it numbered 180,000 riflemen and
artillerymen, of whom some 50,000 were declared to be ready
for service in the field.

Talmerston.] FRANCHISE EXTENSION. 24.5
6. Mr. Gladstone's Budgets: 1859-65.— Mr. Gladstone had
entered on the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer with the
intention of carrying out the financial principles of Peel, espe-
icially in two directions — the reduction of indirect taxes fore
shadowed in Peel's New Tariff", and the extension of free trade,
following on the repeal of the Corn Laws. The uneasiness
prevailing in Europe, and the consequent necessity for strength
ening the national defences, made it necessary that he should
proceed with caution at first ; but in the course of the following
six years he produced a series of brilliant budgets which com
pletely revolutionized the fiscal system of the country. In
1845, the articles subject to customs duties were 1163 ; in 1853,
they were 460; in 1859, 419. Mr. Gladstone stated that when
the changes he proposed were carried out, only 48 articles would
remain on the tariff At the same time (1860) a commercial
treaty, negotiated by Mr. Cobden, was concluded with France,
Tinder which the value of the exports to that country was doubled
in two years.
7. Chinese War : 1860. — The war with China was renewed in
1860. When the British envoy was about to ascend the Peiho
for the purpose of having the Treaty of Tien-tsin ratified, he was
fired on at the mouth of the river. An expedition under Sir Hope
Grant and Admiral Grant proceeded to avenge the insult. After
destroying the Taku forts, they captured the Summer Palace
at Pekin on the 6th of October ; but Pekin did not surrender
until the 12th. A Convention, signed October 24, ceded to Great
Britain a district of the province of Canton called Cowloon.
Abroad. — In 1859, a war broke out between Sardinia and Austria for the
possession of Northern Italy. France aided Sardinia. Austria was defeated.
Sardinia gained Lombardy, and France was rewarded by the cession of
Savoy and Nice. In 1860, Garibaldi conquered Naples, which was annexed
to Sardinia. The other Italian states (excepting part of the Papal Territory
and Venetia) were amalgamated with the new Kingdom of Italy under
"Victor Emanuel, which held its tirst Parliament at Turin in 1861. In 1865,
Florence was made the capital temporarily. In 1866, Venetia was ceded by
Austria to France, and added to Italy. In 1871, after the withdrawal of the
French troops, Rome was made the capital. The temporal power of the
Popes (begun in 754) then came to an end, but the Pope's spiritual supremacy
was not interfered with.

246 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria
8. The American Civil War: 1860. — The American Civil
War, between the Southern or Confederate States and the
Northern or Federal Government, which now attracted the
earnest attention of Europe, was one of the most momentous
struggles in which a great nation ever engaged. The war had
its origin in the demand of the North for the abolition of slavery,
which was carried on chiefly in the South. In 1860, the elec
tion of President turned on the question whether slave-owners
might settle in the Territories of the Union, taking their slaves
with them. Abraham Lincoln, a noted abolitionist, was elected.
This was a great triumph for the North and for the abolition
party. When the Southern or Slave States found themselves
defeated, they resolved to secede from the Union, and to form
a new Union in which slavery would be allowed. The North
denied the right of any State to secede, and on that technical
point the war was waged, although there was behind it the
great question of the abolition of slavery. Six of the Southern
States seceded at once, and five others followed a few months
later. 9. Attitude of Great Britain: 1861-62.— The first shot of
the war was fired on the 9th January 1861 in Charleston Har
bour, when a battery on Morris Island cannonaded a Federal
ship going with troops to Fort Sumter. Adhering closely to a
policy of non-intervention. Great Britain watched the progress
of the struggle keenly until an incident, trifiing enough in
appearance, almost embroiled her in the war. On board the
Trent, a British steam -packet plying between Havana and
St. Thomas, Messrs. Mason and SUdell, two Southern envoys
bound for Europe, were seized by Captain Wilkes of the Federal
cruiser San Jacinto, and placed on board of his ship (Nov. 8).
The British Government resented this, and matters assumed a
very serious aspect. It soon appeared, however, to President
Lincoln and Secretary Seward that a mistake had been made,
and the envoys were placed on board a British vessel The

Abroad.— In 1861, the Czar of Russia issued a decree for the total aboli
tion of serfage within two years. The number of slaves thus emancipated
was 23,000,000.

Palmerston.] FRANCHISE EXTENSION. 247
poUcy of non-intervention was afterwards steadily maintained.
The Americans, however, held Great Britain liable for the
damage inflicted in 1862 by a Confederate cruiser, the Alabama,
because the vessel had been built on the Mersey ; and it was
decided by a court of arbitration, which met at Geneva (1872),
that Great Britain should pay to the United States Government
upwards of three millions sterling, as compensation for the injury
done by the Alabama and other Confederate cruisers fitted out
at British ports. Long before the award was given, the feelings
of irritation on both sides had entirely disappeared.
10. Repeal of the Paper Duty : 1861.— In the Budget of the
year 1861, Mr. Gladstone's proposal to repeal the Paper Duty
was included, and it excited strong Conservative opposition,
which, however, was unavailing. The clause relating to this
tax was carried in Committee by a majority of fifteen. In the
previous year a Bill for the Abolition of the Duty on Paper was
passed by the Commons, but was rejected by the Lords. As
the BiU was in fact, though not in form, a Money Bill, the
action of the Lords was condemned by the Commons as un
constitutional. By including the Paper Duty with their other
financial proposals in a single Bill, the Government took the
matter out of the hands of the House of Lords. In the same
Budget, "Sir. Gladstone reduced the import duty on light wines,
and this caused a very large increase in the quantity imported.
11. Death of the Prince Consort: 1861. — The last month of
1861 was saddened by the death of the Prince Consort, who
well deserved the title accorded to him by public writers and
speakers of every class — Albert the Good. Fully aware of the
delicate position he held as a foreigner and a subject, and yet
as the husband of the Queen, he carefully avoided all interfer
ence with the aflfairs of Government, while his advice was ever
ready in emergency. His share in the success of the Great
International Exhibition of 1851 has been referred to already.
To him also was mainly due the origin of the extensive Museum
of Science and Art formed at South Kensington.
12. Cotton Famine: 1862. — The year 1862 passed without
much domestic incident to mark it. Across the Atlantic the

248 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
war still raged with varying fortune. At home debates on
national education excited much attention. The revised code,
classifying children by age, and paying according to results,
drew forth much variety of opinion. The International Exhibi
tion of the same year, which drew crowds to London from all
parts of the world, displayed a wonderful advance in the indus
trial arts. The disastrous war in America interfered seriously
with the Lancashire cotton manufacture, by stopping the supply
of cotton. Great distress followed ; but the sympathy of the
higher classes led to the formation of a fund which to some
extent mitigated the evil.
13. Royal Marriages.— On the 10th of March 1863, Albert
Edward, Prince of Wales, married the Princess Alexandra of
Denmark. Other marriages have linked the royal house to
diflferent Continental thrones. In 1858, the Princess Royal
became the wife of Prince Frederick-WUliam, afterwards the
Crown Prince of Prussia, and ultimately Emperor of Germany,
though only for three months. In 1874, Prince Alfred, Duke
of Edinburgh, married the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia ;
and in 1879, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, married the
Princess Louise of Prussia.
14. The Ionian Islands : 1863-64. — The inhabitants of the
Ionian Islands, which since 1814 had been under British pro
tection, and administered by British commissioners, declared in
1863 in favour of union with Greece. Five years previously
Mr. Gladstone had been sent to the islands on a special mission
to inquire into their political position. The Government, of
which Mr. Gladstone was a leading member, now assented to
the transference, and it took place in the following year.
15. Denmark Abandoned: 1864. — British foreign policy was
somewhat discredited by Lord John Russell's feeble effort to
support Denmark in her struggle with Prussia and Austria.
The point in dispute was the possession of the Duchies of
Abroad. — In 1863, the Russian Government ordered a conscription in
Poland, which was intended to remove all the young men of the higher and
middle classes from their country. The Poles rose in rebellion, but the
rising was put down with great cruelty.

Russeai FKANCHLSE EXTENSION. 249
Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauenburg. Practically the British
Government abandoned Denmark to its fate, and the three
duchies were ceded to Prussia. Motions of want of confidence
in ministers were proposed in both Houses of Parliament. In
the Commons, Mr. Disraeli declared that the course adopted
by the Government had "lowered the just influence of the
country in the capitals of Europe." The motion was lost by
only 18 votes. That in the Lords was carried by a majority
of 9.
16. Death of Palmerston : 1865. — When the general elec
tion took place in the following year, the Government found
itself stronger than ever, the Liberal majority being increased
to 77. That was due, however, mainly to the success of their
financial policy, and the large amount of taxation remitted in
Mr. Gladstone's budgets. In 1865, on the eve of the election,
the income-tax was reduced from 6d. to 4d. per pound ; and
the duty on tea, which had been Is. on the pound since 1862,
was further reduced to 6d. Mr. Gladstone, however, had to
pay for his popularity with the loss of his seat for the Uni
versity of Oxford, for which his Liberalism had become too
pronounced. His election for South-west Lancashire left him
completely untrammelled. The death of Lord Palmerston,
which occurred in October, left a serious blank in the political
world, and deprived Great Britain of a statesman whose un
erring tact, especially in aflfairs relating to foreign policy, had
tided over many public difficulties and perils. Earl Russell ^
became Prime Minister in his stead, and Mr. Gladstone became
leader of the House of Commons.

Abroad. — In 1864, an attack on Japan, bj' English, French, Dutch, and
American forces, in consequence of the murder of an English subject there,
led to the opening of Japan to Western commerce.
In 1864, the Archduke Maximilian, brother of the Emperor of Austria,
was made Emperor of Mexico by the French. England, France, and Spain
had interfered in the internal affairs of Mexico in 1862. France alone pro
secuted the quarrel vigorously, and set Maximilian on the throne. In 1867,
he was vanquished and shot by Juarez, the native President.
^ Lord John Russell was made a peer in 1861.

250 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
17. A New Reform Bill: 1866. — In the meantime, the
Russell Ministry had taken up once more the subject of Parlia
mentary Reform. Ever since the withdrawal of the Bill of
1860, the question had been kept in the background, though
year after year Messrs. Locke King and Baines had pressed on
the attention of the House of Commons their proposal for the
lowering of the franchise, both in boroughs and in counties.
The new BiU was introduced in the House of Commons by Mr.
Gladstone in March. It proposed a county franchise of £14
rental, and a borough franchise of £7 rental, with a lodger
franchise of £10 clear annual value. The second reading was
carried by five votes only, owing to the secession of the
" AduUamites " led by Mr. Lowe, Mr. Horsman, and Lord
Elcho. In committee, one of that party (Lord Dunkellin)
moved as an amendment to substitute " rating " for " rental,"
and that amendment was carried against the Government by a
majority of eleven. The Government consequently resigned,
and the Earl of Derby became Prime Minister for the third
time, with Mr. Disraeli as Chancellor of the Exchequer and
leader of the House of Commons.
18. The Second Reform Act : 1867.— The change of Ministry
was accompanied by popular demonstrations in favour of reform.
The new Government was bound to deal with that question ;
nor did Mr. Disraeli shrink from the task, in spite of his failure
in 1859. The new Bill was introduced in February. Its radi
cal character alarmed many Conservatives, and General Peel,
Lord Carnarvon, and Lord Cranborne (afterwards ^Marquis of
Salisbury) resigned the offices of War, Colonial, and Indian Secre
tary respectively. On the same ground it disarmed the opposi-
Abroad. — In 1866, Prussia claimed Schleswig and Holstein. This, with
other causes of jealousy, led to the Seven Weeks' War between Prussia and
Austria, in which Prussia was joined by Italy. Austria was signally de
feated in the Battle of Sadowa (or Kliniggratz). The resvdts of the war
were, that Austria was excluded from the Germanic Confederation, and that
Venetia was transferred to Italy. (See Note, page 24.5. ) A North German
Confederation (including all the states north of the Main and Bohemia) was
formed, with Prussia at its head ; the states south of that line formed the
South German Confederation.

^S'^jy-] FRANCHISE EXTENSION. 251
tion of the Liberals, who contented themselves with making
suggestions for its improvement, most of which were accepted.
The Bill was read a third time without opposition in the Com
mons in July, and in August it passed the House of Lords and
became law. In its final shape, the new Reform Act established
household suff'rage in boroughs, and thus the democracy gained
a signal triumph. A lodger franchise of £10 was also granted.
In counties the occupancy franchise was fixed at £12. In
boroughs returning three members, each voter was allowed only
two votes — a device for giving power to minorities, which was
inserted by the House of Lords. Corresponding Bills for Scof>
land and Ireland were passed in the following year. In Scotland
the occupancy franchise was fixed at £14, and in Ireland the
borough franchise was reduced from £8 to £4. The lodger
franchise and the minority franchise were intended to be checks
on the democratic tendency of these measures. In the redis
tribution of seats, England lost eight, of which Wales received
one and Scotland seven. Of the latter, two were given to the
universities. At the same time a member was given to the
University of London.
19. The Dominion of Canada: 1867. — British North America
was started on a new career of prosperity in 1867, by the con
federation of the four leading colonies — Quebec (Lower Canada),
Ontario (Upper Canada), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick —
and the formation of the Dominion of Canada, with Ottawa as
capital. All the other colonies except Newfoundland have
since entered the Dominion, while several new provinces have
been carved out of the old Hudson Bay Territory. Since the
Dominion was established, the resources and prosperity of the
country have developed enormously.
20. The Abyssinian War : 1867-68. — Parliament was called
together in November for the purpose of voting money for an
expedition to Abyssinia. The war arose from the refusal of the
Abroad. — In 1867, Ismail (the grandson of Mehemet Ali), who had suc
ceeded in 1863, was pronounced Khedive (Sovereign) of Egypt by the Sultan
iu 1867; and the title, with hereditary succession, was confirmed by firman
in 1873.

2.52

LIMITED MONARCHY.

[Victoria,

jects

Abyssinian king, named Theodore, to liberate some British sub-
n-hom he had seized in reprisal for a visit which the
British Consul had
paid to provinces
owning the sway of
Egypt. Having
landed on the shore
of the Red Sea, with
a military force of
nearly 12,000 men,
and a train of 14,000
non-combatants. Sir
Robert Napier
marched toward Mag-
dala, the rock-fortress
which represented the
capital of Theodore's
dominion. It was an
enterprise of great difficulty, owing to the nature of the coun
try through which the expedition passed. The engineers were,
in fact, obliged to make a path for the army through deep
gorges, over gigantic rocks, and across the face of precipices.
Having retired to the rock of Fahla, Theodore planted there a
large cannon, on whose performances he rested all his hopes.
With this piece of ordnance he commenced to fire on the
British as they advanced up the Arogee Pass. They replied
with the Snider rifle and their light field-pieces so eflfectively
that the African force was completely scattered in a short time.
In response to Napier's demand, all the European captives were
sent into the British camp. Next day the rock of ISIagdala was
stormed by five thousand men ; and when the stockade guard
ing the northern gate was forced, Theodore in despair shot
himself dead with a pistol (April 12, 1868). Napier was made
Lord Napier of Magdala. The expedition cost the country
£8,300,000.

Russell.] IRISH QUESTIONS. 253

CHAPTER XXXL— IRISH QUESTIONS.
1. Fenianism in Ireland: 1865. — The prevalence of discon
tent and disloyalty in Ireland was shown by the Fenian con
spiracy, which assumed proportions so serious in the summer
of 1865 that the Government found it necessary to interfere.
It was promoted mainly by some reckless adventurers in the
United States, who, finding their occupation gone by the cessa
tion of the American Civil War, organized a plot by which
the peace of Ireland was seriously disturbed. The Fenians
•derived their name from Finn or Fionn, a chieftain who com
manded a famous body of Irish soldiers in the reign of Cormac
(in the third century). They aimed, not at the repeal of
the Union, which would have satisfied O'Connell and O'Brien,
but at the total subversion of the British government in Ire
land, and the formation of that island into an independent re
public. The seizure of the " Irish People," a seditious newspaper
published in Dublin, and the arrest of James Stephens, the
" head-centre " or chief organizer of the plot in Ireland, and of
O'Donovan Rossa, one of its most reckless schemers, were the
chief blows struck in 1865. Stephens escaped from Richmond
Jail in Dublin ; but several of his accomplices, convicted of
treasourfelony, were sentenced to penal servitude.
2. Habeas Corpus suspended : 1866. — So urgent did the
danger arising from Fenianism grow in the following year,
that on the 17th February 1866 Parliament passed a measure
for suspending the Habeas Corjms Act in Ireland. The Bill
ran through all the necessary stages in both Houses in a single
day ; and more than one hundred arrests were made. More
important even than the arrests was the eflfect of this decided
step in driving out of Ireland most of the American adven
turers already referred to. This, however, did not cure the
evil. Arms continued to be secretly conveyed into Ireland;
money was collected from sympathizers with the movement in
America and at home; and the Irish peasantry engaged in
midnight drUl and lawless meetings, in spite of all that the

2. 5 4 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria
Roman Catholic clergy, who were resolutely opposed to the
treason, could say or do.
3. Secret Outrages : 1867-68. — Baffled in two weak eflforts
at open war, which were easily crushed in the spring of 1866,
the Fenians commenced a system of secret outrage, which dis
played itself in three notorious instances. At Manchester, in
September 1867, they attacked a prison-van and rescued two
Fenian prisoners ; and a police-sergeant was shot in the scuffle.
For this crime three of them were executed in November. In
December they blew up a part of the wall of Clerkenwell
prison, in- which two of their comrades were detained. The
explosion shattered the adjacent houses and killed twelve and
maimed many more of the inmates. Early in the following
year (1868), a Fenian attempted to assassinate the Duke of
Edinburgh, while he was visiting a public garden at Sydney,
in Australia. Reckless acts like these aroused strong feeling
against the plot.
4. Irish Policy of the Liberals : 1868. — Lord Derby resigned
in February 1868, on account of ill-health, and jMr. Disraeli
became Prime Minister, with Earl Cairns as Lord Chancellor
and leader of the House of Lords. The Liberal party, led by
Mr. Gladstone in the House of Commons, now declared their
belief that at the root of Irish discontent there were certain
real grievances. The Irish people had two special grounds of
complaint : — 1. Their Established Church was the Protestant
Church of England, while the majority of the people were
Roman Catholics. 2. Their land laws were conceived and
executed in a spirit favourable to the absentee landlords, and
unjust to the Irish tenants. The Liberals began the assault on
the Irish Church. Shortly after Jlr. Disraeli became Prime
Minister, Mr. Gladstone proposed three resolutions in favour
of the disestablishment of that Church. He was met by the
Conservatives with a determined resistance ; but in April he
succeeded in carrying his first resolution by the decisive
majority of 65. The resolution declared that it was necessary
that the Established Church of Ireland should cease to exist as
an establishment, personal interests and rights of property

Gladstone.] IRISH QUESTION.S. 2.55
being conserved. Mr. Disraeli offered to resign, but it was
arranged that an appeal should be made to the new constitu
encies under the recent Reform Act in the autumn.
5. First Gladstone Ministry: 1868.— The general election
took place in November, and it gave the Liberals so decided a
majority (393 to 265) that Mr. Disraeli resigned office at once,
and made way for a Cabinet presided over by Mr. Gladstone
(December 9). The new administration included for the first
time members of the Advanced Liberal or Radical party, chief
of whom was j\Ir. John Bright, who became President of the
Board of Trade.
6. Disestablishment of the Irish Church : 1869. — The first
duty incumbent on the new Ministry was to deal with the Irish
Church on the lines of Jlr. Gladstone's resolutions. On the
1st of March, the Prime Minister introduced in the House of
Commons his " BiU for the Disestablishment and Disendow-
ment of the Irish Church." The opposition to it in the Lower
House was unreal and despondent, because the passing of it
was deemed a foregone conclusion ; and in May the third read
ing was carried by a majority of 114. In the House of Lords
the measure was violently opposed ; but instead of throwing
out the Bill, the majority introduced amendments vitally
aflfecting its principle, and making more favourable terms for
the Irish Church. On the motion of Mr. Gladstone, the House
of Commons rejected these amendments. A deadlock seemed
inevitable, when a compromise was arranged by Earl Cairns
and Lord Granville. The Bill received the royal assent in
July. 7. Provisions of the Act. — By this Act, which came into
operation on January 1, 1871, the Protestant Church of Ireland
ceased to be a State Establishment, and became a free Episcopal
Church, and the Irish bishops ceased to sit in the House of
Lords. The clergy and officials of the Church were compensated
for their life interests. The Crown grant {Regium Donum) to
the Presbyterians, and the Maynooth grant to the Roman
Catholics, were commuted. The capitalized revenues of the
Church were estimated at sixteen millions sterling, of which the

256 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
new Cliurch received about thirteen millions, the remainder
being reserved as a national fund for the relief of unavoid
able calamity in Ireland. The suspension of the Habeas Corpus
Act was allowed to lapse at the close of the year (1869), and
several Fenian prisoners were amnestied.
8. Opening of the Suez Canal : 1869. — The opening of the
Suez Canal was an event of importance to this country from its
effect on the commercial traffic with India. It was the work
of M. de Lesseps, a French engineer, and was inaugurated in
November 1869. In 1875, the British Government, in order
to secure the control of the canal, purchased nearly one-half of
its shares from the Khedive of Egypt for £4,080,000.
9. The Irish Land Act : 1870. — The Irish Land Act was
the chief legislative work of the next session of Parliament.
The Act, which received the royal assent in August, gave legal
recognition to tenant right in Ulster, and to similar customs in
other parts of Ireland. It conferred on all tenants new rights
in the matter of compensation for disturbance by the landlord,
except in cases of eviction for non-payment of rent ; it awarded
compensation for improvements carried out by the tenant ; and
it enabled Government to advance two-thirds of the purchase-

Abroad. — In 1870, Queen Isabella of Spain, dethroned in 1868, resigned
her crown in favour of her son Alfonso, Prince of Asturias. But the Spanish
people elected Amadeo (second son of Victor Emanuel of Italy), and he
entered Madrid in January 1871. As he w.is unable to reconcile the factions
by which the country was torn, he abdicated in 1873, and returned to Italy.
A Republic was then proclaimed.
In 1870, France declared war against Prussia (July 15), being dissatisfied
with the conduct of the latter in connection with the candidature of the
Prince of Hohenzollern for the vacant Spanish crown. After the Prench
had sustained several severe defeats, the Emperor Napoleon III. was forced
to surrender at Sedan, September 1. The Empire was abolished, and »
Republic was proclaimed at Paris. The Prussians invested Paris, Septem
ber 19. Fighting went on in other parts of France. Paris surrendered
(January 28, 1871) ; and the war was terminated by the Peace of Frankfort
(May 10), by which most of Elsass (Alsace) and the German-speaking
portion of Lothringen (Lorraine), including the great fortress of Metz were
transferred to Prussia, Prussia also occupied the north and east of France
till a very large w.ar indemnity was paid. Napoleon died in England in
1873.

Gladstone] IRISH QUESTIONS. 257
money of their holdings to tenants desirous of buying from
landlords wUling to sell. Along with this ameliorative measure.
Parliament at the same time passed a Pectce Preservation Act,
intended to suppress disorder in Ireland. The Act increased
the powers &f the police, intrusted magistrates with summary
jurisdiction, prohibited the use of firearms in proclaimed dis
tricts, and gave the Government power, under certain condi
tions, to suppress newspapers.
10. The English Education Act : 1870. — The parliamentary
session of 1870 produced also the English Education Act,
which was rendered necessary by the deficiency of the existing
school supply, and also by the extension of the franchise. Mr.
W. E. Forster introduced the Bill, and steered it successfully
through the Commons. It excited a vigorous contest between
the diflferent ecclesiastical bodies, and in the end was carried
through by concession and compromise. It ordered the estab
lishment in London of a School Board with rating powers, and
it authorized the formation of similar boards wherever they
were necessary in boroughs and rural parishes. Vote by ballot
was publicly used for the first time in England in the school-
board elections. The Act has been amended by subsequent
Acts, especially by that of 1876, which introduced compulsory
attendance and instituted school attendance committees wher
ever there were no school boards.
11. The Scottish Education Act: 1872.— The Act of 1870,
which appUed only to England and Wales, was foUowed in 1872
by a Scottish Education Act of a more complete and thorough
going character. It established a school board in every parish
and in every borough in Scotland, with power to levy rates, build
schools, and enforce attendance. The country was very soon
covered with a magnificent supply of public school-buildings.
By authorizing the teaching of religion according to " the use
and wont" of Scotland, the Act practically made the public
schools Presbyterian; and the Episcopalians and the Roman
Catholics were allowed to maintain their denominational schools,
with the aid of Government grants.
12. The Ballot Act : 1872. — The democracy had obtained
f898) 17

258 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
the franchise, in the boroughs at least, but working-men did
not think themselves safe in the exercise of their rights without
the protection of the ballot. Nearly forty years had passed
since the adoption of the ballot had first been proposed in
Parliament by Grote the historian. For many years the pro
posal was rejected by large majorities. The great extension
of the franchise now made it indispensable, and its utility and
convenience had been proved by the school-board elections. A
Ballot Act was therefore one of the achievements of the session
of 1872. The House of Lords, having rejected a similar
measure in the previous year, accepted the Bill with evident
dislike, and inserted a clause Umiting its operation to eight
years. When the time came for renewing the Act, it was
made permanent as a matter of course. The Ballot Act
abolished the ancient custom of the public nomination of candi
dates on the hustings.
13. Irish University Bill: 1873. — A ministerial crisis was
brought on in 1873 in connection with an Irish University Bill
introduced in the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone, and
supported with his accustomed eloquence. The Bill proposed
the erection and endowment of a non-denominational university

Abroad. — In 1871, William I. of Prussia was proclaimed Emperor of
Germany at Versailles. On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the
States of the Southern Confederation joined Prussia. The triumph of
Prussia over France increased its influence very greatly ; and advantage
was taken of this to complete the unification of Germany. The Confedera
tions of 1866 were abolished, and all the German States except Austria were
combined in a new German Empire, under the hereditary supremacy of
Prussia. In 1871, a Communist insurrection broke out in Paris (March 18), which
was besieged by the forces of the National Assembly meeting at Versailles.
After a siege of two months, during which the Paris mob perpetrated
barbarous cruelties and wanton destruction of property, the insurgents
surrendered. May 29. M. Thiers was elected President of the new French
Republic, August 31. He resigned in 1873, and was succeeded by Marshal
MacMahon, who was appointed President for seven years. Meantime the
question of adopting a permanent Constitution was postponed.
In 1871, the Mont Cenis Timne], on the Chambery and Turin Railway,
connecting France with Italj', was formally opened for traffic. It occupied
fourteen years in making.

Gladstone.] IRISH QUESTIONS. 259
in Dublin, to which the existing colleges, including Trinity
College, would be affiliated. The teaching of mental and moral
phUosophy, of theology, and of modern history, was to be
excluded. On the second reading the Bill was thrown out by
a combination of Roman Catholics and discontented Liberals
with the Conservative Opposition, and ]\Ir. Gladstone resigned.
As the Conservatives were not prepared to carry on the
government with a majority of the House of Commons against
them, and as a dissolution was impossible at the moment, Mr.
Disraeli declined to take office, and Mr. Gladstone returned to
power. Before the crisis came on, the Supreme Court of
Judicature Act was passed,' consolidating the existing courts in
two great branches — the High Court of Justice, and the Court
of Appeal.
U. The Ashantee War: 1873-74.— The Ashantee War-
one of those little wars from which the widespread empire of
Great Britain is seldom free — occupied the remainder of the
year. In exchange for a concession to Holland on the Strait
of Malacca, the Dutch granted to Great Britain certain forts
on the African Gold Coast. The warlike Ashantees, occupying
the interior north of the Gold Coast, objected to the change,
because the British required them to pay customs duties on
imports, which the Dutch had not done. The British also pro
tected the Fantees, a neighbouring tribe whom the Ashantees
hated. Suddenly a host of these barbarians swooped down on
the coast and threatened the British settlements. A small
force having been sent out under the command of Sir Garnet
Wolseley, it marched to Coomassie, the Ashantee capital, and
after defeating the natives in two battles, burned the town
and the royal palace. The King could not be induced to sign
a treaty untU a second British division under Captain Glover
arrived and terrified him into submission (February 1874).
15. Second Disraeli Ministry: 1874. — Before the war was
over, the Gladstone Ministry had fallen. Its prestige had been
damaged by its defeat on the Irish University BiU. Though it
had passed several great measures — the Irish Church Act, the
Irish Land Act, the Education Acts, the Ballot Act, the

260 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
Judicature Act— it had latterly been growing more and more
unpopular in the country. Nevertheless Liberals as well as
Conservatives were surprised when, in January 1874, Mr.
Gladstone suddenly dissolved Pariiament. Although he put in
the forefront of his manifesto a promise to abolish the income-
tax, the country declared against him. In the new Parliament
the Conservatives had a majority of 50 over Liberals and Irish
Home Rulers combined. Mr. Gladstone resigned at once,
without waiting for a formal dismissal by the House of
Commons, and Mr. Disraeli became Prime Minister for the
second time. Some months later, Mr. Gladstone retired (only
temporarily, as it proved) from the leadership of the Liberal
party, and the Marquis of Hartington was chosen in his place.

CHAPTER XXXIL— THE BEACONSFIELD
MINISTRY.
1. The Home Rule League : 1873. — Mr. Gladstone's Irish
measures produced quietness, but not contentment. The Irish
Church Act did not excite the enthusiasm of the people. The
Irish Land Act did not go nearly far enough to meet their
wishes. It was seen, however, that the Fenians had gone too
far in demanding entire separation and an independent govern
ment. A more moderate demand was made toward the end
of 1870 — a demand for legislative independence under a federal
system, without separation. To carry out the scheme, the
Home Government Association — known after 1873 as the Home
Rule League — was formed, with Mr. Isaac Butt as its Parlia
mentary exponent. In its constitution it repudiated the idea
of " separation," or of interfering with the prerogatives of the
Crown. Abroad. — In 1873, Russia sent an expedition to invade Khiva, in Turke
stan. The Khan or Governor surrendered. Many Russian captives were
released, and a large portion of territory was annexed to Russia.
In 1874, Prince Alfonso, son of the ex-Queen Isabella, was proclaimed King
of Spain, as Alfonso XII. The Carlist War continued till the beginning of
1876, when Don Carlos (the Second) fled first to France, then to England.

Beaconsfield.] THE BEACONSFIELD MINISTRY. 261
2. Higher Education in Ireland: 1878-79.— The rejection
of Mr. Gladstone's Irish University BUI (1873) was chiefiy
important on account of the ministerial crisis which it brought
on. It was significant, however, of the Prime Minister's desire
to induce the Liberal party to treat the Irish disorder with
remedial measures. As the Church Act had redressed a reli
gious grievance, and as the Land Act had attempted to redress
an agrarian grievance, so the University BiU was an effort to
remove a disability which was partly religious and partly edu
cational. Mr. Gladstone did not again touch the question of
Irish education. In 1878 the Beaconsfield i Government passed
an Act devoting one mUlion sterling of the Irish Church sur
plus to the encouragement of intermediate education. In the
following year the same Ministry passed an Act constituting
the Royal University of Ireland, in which the Queen's Univer
sity (founded in 1850) was absorbed. The degrees, exhibitions,
and scholarships of the new university — which is simply an
examining body — were opened to women as well as to men.
3. Home Rule in Parliament : 1874. — Home Rule made its
first appearance in Parliament in 1874, when a motion on the
subject was made by Mr. Isaac Butt, the member for Limerick.
The pleas for it were that Ireland was entitled to manage its
own affairs, and that the Imperial Parliament was overburdened
with work and required relief. Mr. Disraeli heaped unmea
sured ridicule on the proposal, which was rejected by four
hundred and fifty-eight votes to sixty-one. In the following
year, the Government showed its determination to put down
disorder with a strong hand by renewing the Peace Preservation
Act, and also the Act for the Protection of Life and Property
in West Meath, passed by the Gladstone Government in 1870.
These Acts were persistently opposed by the Home Rule
members, but were passed by large majorities, including both
Conservatives and Liberals.
4. Domestic Legislation: 1875-76. — The second Disraeli,
or the Beaconsfield Ministry, held office for six years and two
' Mr. Disraeli was raised to the peerage as Earl ot Beaconsfield in 1876.

262 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria
months. As the Conservatives had accused the Liberals of
adopting harassing and heroic legislation, the new ministers
felt bound, on succeeding to office, to devote their energies to
the production of soothing domestic measures. Among the
important Acts which they passed were that Abolishing Lay
Patronage in the Church of Scotland, and transferring the
election of ministers to the communicants and adherents in
each congregation ; the Public Worship Regulation Act, de
signed to check the increase of ritualism in the Church of
England ; the Employers and Workmen Act, placing the con
tract between them on a purely civil basis, but making criminal
any breach of contract that endangers the public safety ; an
Agricultural Holdings Act, allowing compensation to tenants
for unexhausted improvements ; a Regimental Exchamges Act,
regarded in some quarters as a partial return to the system of
purchase ; and the Additional Titles Act, which enabled the
Queen to add to her existing titles that of " Empress of India."
Her Majesty's new title was proclaimed in London on April 28,
1876, and at Calcutta with great solemnities on January 1, 1877.
5. The Russo-Turkish War : 1877. — The events with which
the Ministry is chiefiy identified, and which indeed led to its
overthrow, occurred in the field of foreign politics. The
Eastern Question — the question which gave rise to the Egyp
tian War of 1840 (see page 212), and to the Crimean AVar
in 1854 (see page 229) — was reopened by a new war between
Russia and Turkey in 1877. Russia made herself the champion
of the " oppressed nationalities " — the Servians, the Bulgarians,
the Montenegrins — who had been groaning for years under
the tyranny of the Sublime Porte, not without the occasional
stimulus supplied by Russian emissaries. The Servians had
failed in an effort to throw off the Turkish yoke in 1876, and had
made peace with Turkey ; but after Russia declared war (April
1877), she was joined both by Roumania^ and by Scrvia, and
the disturbances in Montenegro and Herzegovina were renewed.

^ Ron)nania. Tliis name was assumed by the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and
Wallachia, in 1861.

Beaconsfield.] THE BEACONSFIELD MINISTRY. 263
6. Attitude of Great Britain. — The British Government
took no part in the war, but watched its course very narrowly.
Great Britain could not allow Russia to seize Constantinople.
On the other hand, the atrocities perpetrated by Turkish agents
in Bulgaria had aroused too much indignation in this country
to make an open alliance with Turkey possible. The Min
istry resolved that the proper time for them to intervene would
be when the terms of peace came to be settled. The Russians
were successful in the war. The Turks in their disorganized
state, and unaided by European allies, were no match for the
Muscovite hordes. Osman Pasha made a brave and stubborn
stand in an intrenched camp at Plevna in Bulgaria for five
months (July to December). When Plevna fell, the Russians
poured masses of troops over the Balkans and threatened
Constantinople. Then Turkey yielded, and signed with Russia
the Treaty of San Stefano (February 24, 1878).
7. The Treaty of Berlin: 1878.— That treaty had not the
sanction of the European Powers, and was regarded as pro
visional. At the suggestion of the British Government, a
Congress of the Powers was summoned at Berlin to arrange the
terms of a permanent treaty, and met there in July, Lord
Beaconsfield and the Marquis of Salisbury, the Foreign Minis
ter, attending as the British plenipotentiaries. In the mean
time it became known that a Convention or defensive alliance
between Great Britain and Turkey had been signed at Con
stantinople in June. Under this " secret treaty," as it was
called. Great Britain agreed to protect Turkey from aggression
in Asia ; while Turkey promised internal reforms, and gave up
the island of Cyprus to be administered by Great Britain. By
the Treaty of Berlin, Roumania, Servia, and Montenegro were
made independent states. Bulgaria was made a free tributary
state; and Eastern Roumelia received a share of self-govern
ment and a Christian prince. Greece was promised an exten
sion of territory ; whUe Russia recovered the part of Bessarabia
lost in 1856 (see page 237), and received Batum, Ardahan, and
Kars in Armenia.
8. Obstruction in Parliament: 1877. — The session of 1877

264 LllUTED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
is memorable for an extraordinary development of obstruction
in the House of Commons by the Irish members. Mr. Shaw's
motion for a select committee to inquire into the nature, ex
tent, and grounds of the demand for an Irish Parliament was
rejected by four hundred and seventeen votes to sixty-seven.
The minority, feeling themselves powerless to obtain what they
demanded, resolved to punish the majority by preventing the
ordinary business of the House from being advanced. During
the previous three years — ever since the general election of 1874,
when fifty-eight Home Rulers were returned — these tactics had
been indulged in occasionally and fitfully. In 1877 obstruction
was practised systematically. It was reduced to a science, its
instruments being in themselves legitimate. Not only were
long and irrelevant speeches made for the purpose of consum
ing time, but the forms of the House, which were designed to
facilitate business, were ingeniously used to retard it. For
that end, Mr. Biggar, Mr. O'Donnell, and Mr. Charles Stuart
Parnell made themselves masters of the forms of the House,
and learned how they could be used or abused with impunity.
9. Retirement of Mr. Butt : 1878.— Mr. Butt, the ostensible
leader of the Home Rule party, did not countenance these
tactics, and in fact confessed his inability to keep his followers
in hand. A crisis came on the 2nd of July, when the House
was in Committee of Supply. A small vote for the Army
Reserve force was met by a motion to report progress. Though
the motion was rejected by one hundred and twenty-eight votes
to eight, it was repeated in that and in other forms till seven
teen divisions were taken, and the sitting was prolonged tUl
seven o'clock on the morning of the 3rd, when the House was
counted out. As these tactics were repeated, the Government
proposed and carried new rules of procedure, limiting the
powers of members in speaking, and in repeating motions in
Committee. Nevertheless, on July 31, when the South African
Bill was discussed, the House was kept sitting continuously
for twenty-six hours. Obstruction was continued in the session
of 1878 ; but the action of Mr. Parnell and Mr. O'Donnell
was repudiated even by some of the Irish members, and Mr.

Beaconsfield.] THE BEACONSFIELD MINISTRY 265
Butt withdrew in disgust from the leadership of the party.
He died in 1879.
10. Afghan War : 1879-80.— The conduct of the Beaconsfield
Ministry in connection with the Eastern Question, and espe
cially with the "secret treaty," undoubtedly damaged its repu
tation in the country. Lord Carnarvon and Lord Derby
withdrew from it early in 1878, because they believed that it
was drifting into war. Its position was further weakened by
a new Afghan War, begun in the end of 1878. The objects of
the war were to force the Ameer Shere Ali to receive a British
Resident at Cabul, so as to counteract Russian influence there,
and to obtain a better frontier for the defence of India. After
these objects had been secured by the Peace of Gandamak,
concluded with Yakub Khan, the son of Shere Ali who had
fled and died. Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British Envoy, was
murdered at Cabul, and the war was renewed. Its most
brilliant exploit was General Roberts's march from Cabul to
Candahar, to relieve a small British force beleaguered in the
latter stronghold. He accomplished the march of three hun
dred and twenty miles across a barren country with eighteen
thousand men in twenty-three days with only two halts ; and
at the end of the march he attacked and defeated the enemy.
The British then withdrew, having recognized as Ameer Abdur
rahman Khan, a nominee of Russia. (See Map, page 214.)
11. Zulu War: 1879. — At the same time the country
was burdened with another petty war in Zululand, brought
about by the refusal of Cetewayo, the Zulu King, to disarm
and disband his army. The British, under Lord Chelmsford,
suffered a great disaster at Isandlhana, redeemed somewhat by
the magnificent defence of Rorke's Drift by a handful of
British soldiers under Chard and Bromhead. That check
prevented the Zulus from pouring into Natal, and saved the
Abroad. — In 1879, Marshal Mac^Mahon resigned the Presidency of the
French Republic, and was succeeded by M. Grevy.
In 1880, in France the Government of M. de Freycinet resolved to execute
the decrees against the Jesuits and other unauthorized religious orders
(March).

266 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
colony. In the end Cetewayo was subdued and captured
(1879). The Queen's sovereignty over Zululand was pro
claimed at Ekowe in 1887. In this war Prince Louis Napoleon,
son of the late Emperor Napoleon the Third of France, was
killed in a reconnaissance.
12. The Irish Land League : 1878-79. — During the winter
and spring there was much distress in the west and the south
of Ireland ; and, as usual, distress led to discontent, and dis
content to outrage. A wet season in 1878 led to a failure
of the potato crop, and also of the peat harvest. Famine
seemed imminent. Political agitators took advantage of the
distress to incite the people against the Government. The
Home Rulers, now led by Mr. Parnell, put themselves at the
head of the discontent, and demanded a complete change in
the land laws. They formed a Land League, which advised
the farmers not to pay rents. The advice was readily acted on,
and more serious consequences followed. Landlords and their
agents were shot ; the cattle and goods of those who obeyed
the law were destroyed. There came into vogue the system
of social persecution which had been described by Cobden and
others as "exclusive dealing," and which was now called "boy
cotting " — from a Captain Boycott, who was its first victim.
Several of the Irish leaders, including Michael Davitt, were
arrested, but were released on baU. The law was openly defied,
and the country seemed on the brink of civil war.
13. Amendment of Procedure : 1880. — The Queen's speech
at the opening of Parliament in February 1880 expressed deep
sympathy with the condition of the population in certain parts
of Ireland, and announced that a grant would be made from
the Irish Church surplus with the view of alleviating the dis
tress. The House of Commons then set itself to revise its rules
of procedure, so as to resist obstruction. Power was given to
the Speaker and to the Chairman of Committees to name an
obstructive member, whereupon the House could suspend him
for the remainder of the sitting, or for a longer period. A
Relief of Distress Act for Ireland, in fulfilment of the promise
of the Queen's speech, had scarcely been passed when Lord

Gladstone.] THE SECOND GLADSTONE MINISTRY. 267
Beaconsfield dissolved Parliament, and appealed to the country
(March). 14. Beaconsfield's Fall: 1880. — The country had obviously
grown tired of Lord Beaconsfield's spirited and imperial policy.
It had little sympathy with his desire that Great Britain should
become again a Continental power. When he returned in
triumph from Berlin, bringing, as he said, " peace with honour,"
his fame had reached its zenith. Thereafter it declined. His
Ministry, like most ministries that have held office for several
years, had failed to realize all the hopes it had raised, and had
disappointed many of that considerable class that is swayed
from side to side by personal interest. In the general election
the experience of 1874 was almost exactly reversed. The
Liberals had a majority of forty-six over Conservatives and
Home Rulers combined. IMr. Gladstone was recaUed to power,
and formed a Ministry which included a still larger representa
tion of the Radical party than his previous administration —
notably Mr. Bright, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Fawcett, Sir Charles
Dilke, and Mr. (afterwards Sir George) Trevelyan. Lord
Beaconsfield did not long sur\ive his retirement from office.
He died in April 1881.

CHAPTER XXXIIL— THE SECOND GLADSTONE
MINISTRY.
1. Disorder in Ireland : 1880. — The serious view taken of
the state of Ireland by Mr. Gladstone was shown by his appoint
ment of so prominent a politician as Mr. W. E. Forster to the
Irish Secretaryship, alongside of Earl Cowper as Lord -Lieu
tenant. The new Government allowed the Peace Preservation
Act to lapse. They also passed a second Relief of Distress
Act, though the Lords threw out the Compensation for Disturb
ance clause which the Commons had inserted. The concilia
tory measures of the Government were, however, of little avail
in presence of the growing distress and disorder. The withhold
ing of rents at the instigation of the Land League was met by

268 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
evictions on the side of the landlords. Great excitement fol
lowed, and agrarian outrages became fearfully common in the
autumn, Mr. Parnell and other members of the Land League
were prosecuted for inciting to breaches of the law ; but the
jury disagreed, and were dismissed.
2. Obstruction in Parliament : 1881. — Early in the follow
ing session, a Protection of Life and Property Act and a new
Peace Preservation Act were passed, in the face of determined
obstruction in the House of Commons. The sitting at which
the first reading of the former Bill was carried extended to
forty-one hours. On the following day thirty-six Irish meriibers
were suspended and removed from the House, for defying the
authority of the Speaker. A new rule was adopted giving the
Speaker power to restrict discussion when " urgency " had been
voted. A new Land Act was also passed granting to tenants
still more liberal terms than the Act of 1870. These included
" the three F's "—-Fair Rents, to be fixed by a land court, Fixity
of Tenure, and Free Sale of their holdings by tenants. Among
those imprisoned as "suspects," under the Protection of Life
and Property Act, were Mr. Parnell and two other Irish mem
bers of Parliament. The Land League then issued a " No
Rent Manifesto," ordering tenants to withhold their rents, but
to hold their farms. Thereupon the Government proclaimed
the Land League as "an illegal and criminal association." By-
and-by the National League arose in its place.
3. Revolt in the Transvaal: 1881. — Mr. Gladstone returned
to office with a strong desire to escape from the entanglements
of foreign wars. In this he was not successful. Before the
end of the year there was a revolt of the Boers in the Transvaal.
They proved themselves splendid riflemen at Laing's Nek and
Majuba Hill (February) ; but they submitted, after being prom
ised self-government under British suzerainty.
4. War in Egypt : 1882.— The settlement of the affairs of
Egypt proved a more difficult task. The security of the Suez
Canal, the highway between England and India, depends on
the presence of a stable and friendly government in Egypt. A
military revolt in 1882, headed by Arabi Pasha, overthrew the

Gladstone.] THE SECOND GLADSTONE MINISTRY. 269
Government of the Khedive. The cry of British interests in
danger was at once raised. It was felt, or feared, that if Great
Britain did not interfere to restore order, France would do so.
Armed intervention was therefore resolved on. The British
fleet, under Admiral Seymour, bombarded the forts of Alex
andria on July nth. Thereafter the rebels set fire to the town
and massacred many foreigners. In September Sir Garnet
Wolseley drove Arabi out of his intrenchments at Tel-el-Kebir.
A rapid march on Cairo followed, and the war was finished.
The Khedive was restored. Arabi surrendered, and was ban
ished to Ceylon. The greater part of the British army at once
withdrew. Sir Garnet Wolseley and Sir Beauchamp Seymour
were rewarded with peerages.
5. The Phoenix Park Murders : 1882.— In the beginning of
May 1882, the number of "suspects" in prison in Ireland
under the Coercion Acts was upwards of 900. Mr. Gladstone
seems to have thought that force had been carried far enough,
and that a conciliatory policy would be more effective. He is
even said to have come to an understanding with Mr. Parnell,
then in Kilmainham Jail. However that may be, the three
imprisoned members of Parliament were released in May. Mr.
W. E. Forster did not approve of this leniency, and resigned
the office of Chief Secretary. At the same time Earl Spencer
took the place of Earl Cowper as Lord-Lieutenant. A few days
later. Lord Frederick Cavendish,^ the new Chief Secretary, and
Abroad. — In 1881, Alexander II. , Czar of Russia, was assassinated in St.
Petersburg. Four attempts on his life had previously been made. These
were the result of the plots of a discontented section of his subjects, called
Nihilists. In 1881, General Garfield, President of the United States, was shot and
mortally wounded at Washington. He died eleven weeks later.
In 1881, a French expedition to Tunis resulted in the submission of the Bey.
It was unpopular in France ; but the treaty was ratified by the Chamber.
In 1881, the St. Gothard tunnel through the Alps (begun in 1870) was
completed and a train passed through it. It was not opened tor traffic till
1882. In 1882, Servia was declared a kingdom, and Prince Milan was proclaimed
King. ^ Lord Frederick Cavendish was a younger brother of the Marquis of Hartington.

270 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria
Mr. Burke, the Chief Under-Secretary, were brutally murdered
in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in open day (May 6). The history
of the crime was not discovered till the following year, when a
secret society called " the Irish Invincibles " was discovered in
Dublin, and its members were arrested (1883). Several of the
prisoners turned informers, and five of the murderers were con
demned to death and were executed.
6. Repressive Legislation: 1882. — Immediately after the
murder of Cavendish and Burke, the Government introduced
into the House of Commons a stringent Prevention of Crimes
Bill, and an Arrears Bill, proposing that the arrears of rent
due for the past three years should be paid partly from the
Irish Church surplus, and partly from the Consolidated Fund.
Both Bills were passed, though the latter was keenly opposed
in the House of Lords. The Crimes Act was -vigorously admin
istered by Earl Spencer, and by Mr. Trevelyan, who had taken
the post of Chief Secretary. During the next two years the
number of agrarian outrages steadily declined.
7. War in the Soudan : 1883-84. — A revolt of the native
tribes in the Soudan reopened the Egyptian question. The re\olt
was headed by Achmet Mahomet, a fanatical chief who called
himself "the Mahdi" or reformer of Mohammedanism ; and its
avowed object was to drive the Egyptian rulers and garrisons
out of the Soudan. In November, an Egyptian force was sent
to Kordofan, under Colonel Hicks, a British officer ; but it was
surrounded and annihilated. The IMahdi was elated with this
victory, and declared himself to be invulnerable, and his mission
to be a divine one. Osman Digna, one of his lieutenants, occu
pied the Nubian Desert north of Abyssinia, and threatened the
coast of the Red Sea. Early in 1884, a British force, under
General Sir Gerard Graham, was despatched to Suakim, and
succeeded in relieving the Egyptian garrisons at Tokar and
other places.
8. General Gordon's Mission: 1884. — In order to prevent
bloodshed, the British Government was induced to send General
Gordon (" Chinese Gordon ") to Khartoum, to negotiate for the
withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons there and at Berber and

Gladstone.] THE SECOND GLADSTONE MINISTRY 271
Dongola. Gordon went with a small escort and without troops,
as he declared his mission to be a peaceful one (January 1884).
But his mission failed, and he had to defend himself in Khar
toum against the followers of the IMahdi, who besieged the town.
The cry was then raised at home that Gordon was being sacri
ficed, and the excitement became intense when weeks and months
passed without any communications having been received from
Khartoum. 9. The Relief Expedition : 1884-85. — Yielding at last to the
public clamour, the Government, in August, despatched a force
of 10,000 men under Lord Wolseley, to relieve General Gordon.
The Nile route was selected for the advance. When the army
reached Korti, one division was sent across the Bayuda Desert,
with instructions to push on to Khartoum. The desert march
was a splendid feat, ending in a brilliant victory at Abu-Klea
(January 14, 1885), and another, two days later, near Metammeh,
where General Stewart was mortally wounded. From Metam
meh, General Wilson steamed up the river to Khartoum, only
to find that the place had fallen, and that Gordon had been
killed two days previously (January 26). The news of Gordon's
death caused extraordinary excitement at home ; but it soon
died down, and then the expedition was gradually withdrawn.
Lord Wolseley returned to England in July.
10. Dynamite Outrages: 1884-85.^ — In carrying on their
agitation for Home Rule, the Irish malcontents received sub
stantial aid from their brethren in the United States. The
American Irish subscribed thousands of pounds to the funds
of the Land League and of the National League, and to the
Parliamentary Fund for the maintenance of Irish members in
London. Help of a more questionable kind came from a band
Abroad.— In 1883, the French seized Tamatave in Madagascar. Their
interference at Tonquin led to a rupture with China.
In 1883, Henry, Comte de Chambord, the last representative of the House
of Bourbon, died in Austria. He was styled Henry V. of Friince by the
Legitimists. In 1884, the British Association met at Montreal, Canada.
In 1884, at Calcutta, the Legislative Council passed the Ilbert Bill,
allowing natives to act as judges.

272 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
of desperate men, headed by O'Donovan Rossa, who sought
to strike terror into the heart of London by a series of well-
planned dynamite outrages. In May 1884, a terrific explo
sion took place in Scotland Yard, the head-quarters of the
London police, which wrecked several buildings and did much
damage. Still more daring were the outrages of January 24,
1885, which were perpetrated almost simultaneously within
the precincts of the House of Commons, in Westminster Hall,
and in the Tower of London. For complicity in these wicked
and dastardly exploits two men were sentenced to penal servi
tude for life.
11. Scottish Home Rule: 1885. — The demand for land-law
reform spread from Ireland to the Highlands and Islands of
Scotland, where the crofters, or small farmers, suffered from
causes similar to those which afflicted the Irish peasantry.
There, as in Ireland, rents were withheld, and sheriff-officers
sent to serve notices on the defaulting tenants were deforced
with violence.
At the same time, an agitation for Home Rule in Scotland
took a more reasonable form than the similar movement in Ire
land. For years great dissatisfaction had been expressed with
the manner in which Scottish business was conducted by the
administrative departments in London. This led to a demand
for the transference of all Scottish business to a separate de
partment, with a Secretary of State at its head. The Gladstone
Government recognized the fairness of the demand, and intro
duced a Bill to give it effect. The Bill passed through its final
stages under the Salisbury Ministry in August 1885, and the
Duke of Richmond and Gordon became the first Secretary for
Scotland, with a seat in the Cabinet.
12. The County Franchise Act: 1884.— One of the last acts
of the Gladstone Ministry was to complete the fabric of the-
British democracy by the extension of the household and lodger
franchise to counties. The rejection of the measure by the
House of Lords in July 1884 led to the holding of an autumn
session for the purpose of passing the BiU. During the recess
there were defiant demonstrations against that House over the

Gladstone.] THE SECOND GLADSTONE MINISTRY. 273
whole country. Its very existence was threatened. When the
Bill was reintroduced, attempts were made to lessen its demo
cratic tendencies by compromises and amendments ; but these
failed, with the single exception that the Government agreed to
make known the terms of its Distribution of Seats Bill before
the Franchise Bill was finally passed. The latter Bill became
law on December 6th. It added two million voters to the
electorate, and it contained a novelty in the shape of the service
franchise, giving votes to servants who enjoyed the occupancy
of a dwelling-house as part of their wages. The Distribution
of Seats Bill, though introduced in the House of Commons in
December 1884, was by consent postponed till next session,
and did not pass till June. Boroughs with less than 15,000
inhabitants were disfranchised as such, and were absorbed in
their respective counties. Boroughs with less than 50,000
inhabitants were allowed only one member. Those with more
than 50,000 received two or more members in proportion to
their population. Single-member constituencies were made the
rule, large cities and counties being broken up into divisions
with one member eacl^ In England, 43 new boroughs were
created. England received 2 additional members and Scotland
12, while Ireland lost 2. The total number of members in the
House of Commons was increased from 658 to 670.
13. First Salisbury Ministry: 1885. — While the Redistri
bution Bill was passing through its final stages in the House
of Lords, a ministerial crisis was precipitated in the Commons
by the Budget proposals of the Government. The features
which were condemned by the Opposition were the increase of
Abroad. — In 1885, the Congo Free State in Central Africa was recognized
by the European Powers at Berlin.
In 1885, the French troops suffered reverses in Tonquin. The result was
a ministerial crisis in France. M. Ferry resigned, and was succeeded by
M. Brisson. Peace was concluded with China in June.
In 1885, a ten days' war broke out between Servia and Bulgaria. The
Servians, who were the aggressors, were obliged to sue for peace. A treaty
was signed in March 1886.
In 1886, Eastern Roumelia was united with Bulgaria by firman of the
SultaiL f898l 1 8

274 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
the beer and spirit duties, and the failure to give relief to local
taxation. An adverse motion in these terms was carried by a
majority of twelve (June 8), and Mr. Gladstone resigned. The
Marquis of Salisbury became Prime Minister, though, having a
majority of the Commons against him, he knew that he would
have great difficulty in carrying on the government during the
short period that must elapse before the general election under
the new franchise. In the meantime the Ashbourne Act was
passed, to advance money to Irish tenants desirous of purchas
ing their holdings. The Crimes Act was not renewed, and
outrages again became common. As the general election
approached, it was evident that it would turn mainly on the
Irish question. INIr. Gladstone asked the country to give him
such a Liberal majority as would counterbalance any possible
combination of Conservatives and Parnellites, as the defeat of
his Ministry in June had been due to such an alliance. The
result did not realize his hopes. When the election came in
November, it gave the Liberals a majority of eighty-four over
the Conservatives ; but as the Irish Nationalists numbered
eighty-six, they evidently held the balance between the two
great parties in British politics.

CHAPTER XXXIV.— IRISH JIOME RULE.
1. Third Gladstone Ministry : 1886. — When the new Par
liament met in January, the Salisbury Ministry was defeated
on an amendment to the Address, complaining that no proposal
was made for enabling agricultural labourers to obtain allot
ments and small holdings on equitable terms. While Mr.
Gladstone and Mr. Chamberlain supported the amendment,
Lord Hartington and Mr. Goschen voted with the Government
— the first indication of the rupture of the Liberal party
which subsequently took place. The Irish Nationalists did
not take part in the division. Lord Salisbury resigned, and
Mr. Gladstone became Prime INIinister for the third time. The
new Cabinet did not include Lord Hartington or Mr. Goschen.

Gladstone.] IRISH HOME RULE. 275
Mr. John Morley was the Chief Secretary for Ireland. It was
obvious from the first that Mr. Gladstone could not carry on
the Government without the support of the Irish National
ists. Moreover, the large majority of Nationalists returned
from Ireland forced on him the conviction that the de
mand for Home Rule could no longer be resisted. He there
fore made the Government of Ireland Bill his first important
measure. 2. The Home Rule Bill: 1886. — Mr. Gladstone explained
the proposals of his Government of Ireland Bill in the House
of Commons on April 8. They included the establishment in
Dublin of a " legislative body " with executive powers, and
comprising two orders ; the exclusion of the Irish members
from the Imperial Parliament ; all taxation in Ireland, except
excise and customs duties, to be in the hands of the legislative
body ; the appointment of the judges to lie with the same body ;
the question of the ordinary police to be left open ; securities
to be taken for the unity of the empire, and for the protection
of the minority and of Protestants. The scheme produced
intense excitement. It was hailed with joy by Mr. Parnell
and the Irish members. It was denounced by the Conservatives
and by a section of the Liberals, including Mr. Chamberlain,
who left the Cabinet, and also by Lord Hartington and Mr,
Goschen. 3. Rupture of the Liberal Party : 1886. — A week later, Mr.
Gladstone introduced his Irish Land Purchase Bill, which pro
posed the issue of fifty million of new three-per-cent. stock, for
the purpose of buying up the estates of landlords who were
willing to sell their lands at a cost of from twenty to twenty-
five years' purchase, the Irish taxes being held as security for
the purchase-money. The opposition to this Bill was quite as
violent as that to the other. Meetings for and meetings against
the two BiUs were held in all parts of the country. Many
influential Liberals broke off" from Mr. Gladstone, and formed
the " Liberal Unionist " party. It included Lord Hartington,
the Duke of Argyle, Earl Cowper, Mr. Goschen, INIr. Bright,
Sir Henry James, and Mr. Chamberlain,

276 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
4. Rejection of the Home Rule Bill.— The rejection of the
Government of Ireland Bill was moved by Lord Hartington on
May 10th. The division was taken on June 6th, when 313
(including 83 Irish Nationalists) voted with the Government,
and 343 (including 93 Liberal Unionists) voted against it :
majority against the Government, 30. The Bill was therefore
thrown out. The Cabinet resolved on an immediate dissolution
of Parliament, and an appeal to the country on the sole and
direct issue of self-government or repressive laws as the remedy
for the Uls of Ireland. Lord Salisbury, on the other hand,
declared the issue to be separation or union; but Mr. Glad
stone and his followers repudiated the name of "Separatists"
applied to them by their opponents, and denied the right of the
latter to appropriate the title of "Unionists." The general
election took place in July. It resulted in the return (exclud
ing the Speaker) of 317 Conservatives and 75 Liberal Unionists
(together 392), and of 192 Liberals and 85 Nationalists (together
277): majority against the Government, 115. The Gladstone
Ministry at once resigned.
5. Second Salisbury Ministry: 1886. — The Marquis of Salis
bury once more undertook the task of forming an administration.
Lord Randolph Churchill was Chancellor of the Exchequer and
leader of the House of Commons, Sir StaflPord Northcote being
made Foreign Secretary with a peerage (Earl of Iddesleigh).
Lord Hartington, who had been offered but had declined the
premiership of a Coalition Government, promised Lord Salisbury
the independent support of the Liberal Unionist party. The
Ministry continued purely Conservative till the resignation of
Lord Randolph Churchill in January 1887, when he was suc
ceeded by Mr. Goschen as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr.
W. H. Smith then became First Lord of the Treasury and
leader of the House of Commons.

Abroad, — In 1886, the Orleans and Bonaparte princes were expelled from
France by vote of the Senate. (The vote was rescinded as regards the Duo
d'Aumale in March 1889.)
In 1886, Prince Alexander of Bulgaria resigned his throne, and was suc
ceeded by Duke Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg (July 1887).

SaUsbury.] IRISH HOJIE RULE. 277
6. Irish Policy. — It was announced in the House of Commons,
in August 1886, that the Irish policy of the Government would
include three points — the preservation of social order ; the
settlement of the land question; and the extension of local
government — which points would be dealt with in that order.
Legislative work relating to Ireland was postponed till next
session ; but General Redvers BuUer was at once sent to Kerry,
with powers that would enable him "to bring the reign of
terror to an end." A Royal Commission was at the same time
appointed, to ascertain how far non-payment of rent was due to
financial inabUity, and how far to other causes. The Nation
alists on their part adopted a scheme, called " the Plan of
Campaign," for depositing with trustees rents refused by the
landlords as being too small ; and the money was to be used in
supporting evicted tenants.
7. The Scottish Crofters' Act : 1886. — In the meantime the
Government ventured to deal with the Scottish land question.
They succeeded in passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland)
Act, giving crofters more secure tenure and compensation for
improvements, and appointing commissioners to revise rents
and to make reductions from arrears (June). The commis
sioners made very large reductions on rents and on arrears in
the Highlands and Islands. Before they had reached the
Hebrides in their inquiry, the crofters in Tiree and Skye re
fused to pay the arrears of their rents ; and when writs were
attempted to be served, the officers were deforced. Bodies of
marines were sent to the islands to restore order, and several
of the offenders were tried and imprisoned.
8. Annexation of Upper Burma: 1886. — About this time
the Indian Empire was greatly extended and enriched by the
annexation of Upper Burma — a fertile region of Further India,
teeming also with mineral wealth. In November 1885, the
arrogance and extortion of King Thee-Baw forced the British
to present an ultimatum. An insolent reply from the King
was followed by the march of 15,000 British troops, under
General Prendergast, to Mandalay, the capital. The Burmese
made a feeble resistance, and King Thee-Baw was captured and

278 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
sent into exile. On January 1, 1886, Burma was annexed to
the Indian Empire by proclamation. A desultory war followed,
to put down the Dacoits or native brigands. Before the end
of 1887, comparative order had been restored ; but it was stiU
necessary to keep a large British force in the country.
9. Further Amendment of Procedure: 1887.— The Pariia-
mentary session of 1887 was given up almost wholly to Irish
business. Two of the three points in the Government policy
were treated with great elaboration — namely, social order and
the land question. The third point — local government — was
postponed until it had been dealt with in England and in
Scotland. As a preliminary to its legislative work, the House
of Commons further amended its rules of procedure. The most
important of these amendments put it in the power of any
member to move the closure ("That the question be now put")
without the initiative of the Speaker, i
10. The Crimes Act : 1887. — The first Government measure
of importance was the Criminal Law Amendment (Ireland)
Act, which became law in July. All previous repressive Acts
had been passed for a limited period. This Act was made
permanent. It increased greatly the power of the Irish execu
tive, enabling it to stop the holding of public meetings, to
" proclaim " disturbed districts, to suppress dangerous associa
tions, to change the place of the trial of prisoners, and to ob
tain convictions without a jury in certain cases. The measure
was violently opposed and " obstructed " during its passage
through the House of Commons, and the "closure" was fre
quently applied. The Land Act was designed to restrain evic
tions, and to reduce rents where they were excessive, and where
landlords were extortionate ; but no power was given to deal
with arrears.
11. Effects of the Act. — The Crimes Act was promptly put
in force by Mr. A. J. Balfour, the Irish Chief Secretary. The
Irish National League was proclaimed in certain districts as a
dangerous association (August). At Mitchelstown the police
' The motion was not carried unless the majority consisted of at least 200.

Salisbury.j IRISH HOME RULE. 279
came into coUision with a mob, and unfortunately killed three
persons and wounded others (September). Several Irish mem
bers of Parliament were imprisoned for attending "proclaimed"
meetings, and for publishing reports of their proceedings. The
effect of the Crimes Act was soon seen in a diminution of out
rages and an increased observance of the law. So much was
admitted by the Nationalists ; but they maintained at the same
time that the improvement was merely on the surface, and that
the discontent and disaffection in Ireland were as strong as
ever. 12. Jubilee of Queen Victoria: 1887. — These keen contro
versies did not prevent men of all parties from joining cordially
in the celebration of the jubilee of the accession of her Majesty
Queen Victoria. The event was celebrated with the greatest
enthusiasm in all parts of Great Britain on the 21st of June.
The Queen attended a thanksgiving service in Westminster
Abbey, at which there were present the members of the royal
family, European and Indian potentates, the nobility, and
representatives of public bodies in all parts of the United
Kingdom. The jubilee was commemorated in permanent forms
of countless variety in all parts of the empire — by the erection
of monuments, hospitals, museums, and libraries, by the dedi
cation of public parks and fountains, and by other benefactions.
Two of the projects assumed national proportions — the Imperial
Institute, for which half a million sterling was subscribed ; and
the Women's Jubilee Offering, amounting to £75,000, the bulk
of which her Majesty applied to the establishment of an insti
tution for nurses of the sick poor.
Here the detailed narrative may appropriately close. More
recent events have not yet had time to crystallize into history.
It is pleasant to close with a great national demonstration of
affection and loyalty towards the person of a Queen whose
Abroad. — In 1887, the one hundredth anniversary of the Constitution of
the United States was celebrated in America.
In 1887, charges of fraudulent disposal of honours brought against M.
Wilson, son-in-law of Presi<^ent Gr^vy (France), led to the resignation of
the latter. M. Sadi-Camot succeeded to the Presidency.

280 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
public conduct has always been as judicious as her private life
has been irreproachable.
13. The Constitution. — Two important Acts for the Reform
of Parliamentary Representation were passed in the reign of
Queen Victoria. The Second Reform Act (1867) established
household suff'rage in boroughs, with a £10 lodger franchise;
and in counties a £12 occupation franchise. In boroughs
returning three members, each voter had only two votes.
Similar Acts were passed for Scotland and Ireland in 1868.
In Scotland the occupation franchise was £14. In Ireland
the borough franchise was reduced from £8 to £4. In England
46 boroughs were disfranchised in whole or in part, and of the
52 seats thus set free, 44 were given to England, 1 to Wales,
and 7 to Scotland.
The Third Reform Act (1884) extended to counties the
household and lodger franchise, and established the service
franchise, giving votes to servants who occupied a dwelling-
house as part of their wages. The Distribution Act (1885)
disfranchised boroughs with fewer than 15,000 inhabitants,
and allowed those with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants only one
member. Those with more than 50,000 received additional
members in proportion to population. Single-member con
stituencies became the rule. The number of members in the
House of Commons was increased from 658 to 670. Six new
seats were given to England and Wales, which, with 132 seats
obtained by disfranchisement of small boroughs, gave 138 seats
to be disposed of. Of these seats 72 were given to large bor
oughs, and 66 to counties. Twelve new seats were given to
Scotland, which, with 2 seats obtained by disfranchisement,
gave 14 seats to be disposed of. Of these 7 seats were given
to large boroughs, and 7 to counties. In Ireland the number
of seats was fixed at 103 : 25 seats were taken from small
boroughs, and 21 of these were given to counties, and 4 to Dub
lin and Belfast. Voting by ballot was adopted in the case of
school-board elections in 1870. A BiU for its adoption in Par
liamentary elections was passed by the Commons in 1871, and
was rejected by the Lords. In the following year the Lords

Victoria.] THE CONSTITUTION. 281
passed the BiU, with a clause added limiting the operation of
the Act to eight years. At the end of that time the Act was
made permanent
That was not the only occasion on which, during this reign,
the two Houses came into collision. The Lords threw out a
Jewish Relief BiU, which the Commons had passed, in 1848,
and again in 1853. In 1860, a Bill for abolishing the Paper
Duty was carried in the Commons by 219 to 210, and was
rejected in the Lords by 193 to 104. As the Bill was of the
nature of a money biU, the action of the Lords caused much
irritation, and the Prime Minister proposed and carried in the
Commons a resolution with the view of preventing such inter
ference in future ; and in the following year the abolition of
the Paper Duty was included in the Budget proposals, to which
the Lords had no power to object. In 1868, a Bill for suspend
ing patronage in the Irish Church passed the Commons, and
was rejected by the Lords. The Scottish Education Bill and
the University Tests Abolition Bill were treated in the same
way in 1869. The latter was, however, accepted in 1871. In
the Army Regulation Bill of 1871, the Lords omitted the clause
abolishing purchase ; but the Ministry advised the Queen to
cancel the royal warrant legalizing purchase ; and then the
Lords passed the BUI. The most serious collision was in 1884,
when the Lords threw out the County Franchise BiU on the
second reading. This led to many threatening demonstrations
throughout the country ; and in an autumn session a com
promise between the two Houses was effected, and the Bill
was passed. In 1885, a vote of censure on the Egyptian policy
of the Gladstone Government was rejected by the Commons
and carried by the Lords. Several measures were passed
during the reign for the purpose of preventing bribery and
corruption in connection with Parliamentary elections. The
Act of 1852 provided for the appointment of royal commis
sioners to inquire into cases of corruption. The Act of 1854
made the off'er or the acceptance of a bribe a misdemeanour,
punishable with fine, imprisonment, and forfeiture of the fran
chise. It also required the publication of election accounts, and

282 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
prohibited candidates from paying expenses except through
their authorized agents. The Act of 1858 permitted the
conveyance of voters to the poll, but forbade the giving of
money to the voters for the purpose. The Corrupt and Illegal
Practices Act of 1883 is the most important of the whole.
The expenditure of each candidate and his agents is limited
by the Act to a certain sum calculated on the number of
electors; and heavy penalties are incurred if that limit is ex
ceeded. A candidate proved to have been guilty of bribery,
directly or indirectly, is incapacitated for sitting in the House
of Commons, or for voting at an election, for seven years. Any
person convicted of bribery, or of " undue influence," may be
sent to prison for a year, and fined £200. The conveyance of
electors to the poll in hired carriages is made an illegal practice.
Before 1868, election petitions, charging members with cor
rupt practices, were decided by the House of Commons on the
report of a Select Committee (see page 181), and were too often
treated as party questions. By a resolution of that year the
House transferred its jurisdiction in such matters to one of the
judges, who was required to report his decision to the Speaker
after trying the case. In the case of conviction, besides the
penalties inflicted on offending individuals, the House may
suspend the writ or disfranchise the constituency. In 1880,
it was enacted that a petition must be tried before two judges.
The property qualification required in the case of members of
Parliament (£300 a year derived from freehold or copyhold)
was abolished in 1858.
In 1858 also, an Act was passed enabling Jews to sit in
Parliament. The Act allowed either House to modify its oath
by resolution.
In 1880, Mr. Charles Bradlaugh (an avowed atheist), elected
for Northampton, claimed the right to make an aifirmation of
allegiance without taking the oath. He was allowed to do so,
but the judges afterwards decided that the step was illegal. In
February 1882, he was forbidden by a \'ote of the House to go
through the form of repeating the words of the oath, as he
proposed. A few days afterwards he appeared at the table of

Victoria,] THE CONSTITUTION. 283
the House, with a copy of the New Testament in his hand, and
took the oath. He was then expelled from the House for
violating its orders. A new writ having been issued for
Northampton, Bradlaugh was re-elected ; but the House re
peated its former resolution. In February 1884, he again took
the oath, but was excluded from the precincts of the House, He
resigned his seat, and was again returned. In 1886, when the
new Parliament met, Bradlaugh took the oath in due form, and
the matter was allowed to drop.
Important changes in the rules of its procedure have been
made by the House of Commons during the reign. These were
rendered necessary by the systematic obstruction of business by
certain members. By a resolution passed in 1877, the House
took power to itself to prevent a member who had been twice
called to order from again taking part in the debate. In 1880,
a rule was made enabling the House to suspend for a sitting a
member who had been " named " by the Speaker for having
practised obstruction — three suspensions in one session to
lead to suspension for a week, or longer. In 1881, the Speaker
received power to limit discussion when " urgency " has been
voted in debate. In 1882, the "closure" was adopted, but
it was required to be initiated by the Speaker and to be
supported by at least 200 ; or opposed by less than 40, and
supported by at least 100. The rule was amended in 1887 by
requiring a simple majority of 200, As a means of enabling
the House of Commons to cope with the ever-increasing amount
of business before it, the House in 1883 appointed two Grand
Committees — the one for law and justice ; the other for trade,
shipping, and manufactures — to which BUls were sent for con
sideration, and which reported on them to the House.
In 1845, strangers were admitted to the galleries of the
House, but it was still in the power of any member to request
their withdrawal. In 1875, the rule was made that strangers
should be excluded only on the vote of a majority of the House.
The Speaker's right to close the House was still reserved to
him. Three times during the reign, persons convicted of treason or

284 LIMITED MONARCHY. [Victoria.
treason-felony were excluded from the House after election,
— Smith O'Brien in 1849, O'Donovan Rossa in 1870, and John
Mitchell in 1875. The disqualification may be removed by
serving the sentence, or by a pardon under the Great Seal.
The Irish Church Act (1869) removed the Irish bishops from
the House of Lords. In 1856, the Committee of PrivUeges de
cided that a life peer was not entitled to sit and vote in the
House of Lords. The case which raised the question was that
of Sir James Parke, an eminent judge, who was created Baron
Wensleydale for life by letters patent. He was afterwards
made an hereditary peer. By the Appellate Jurisdiction Act
(1876), two law lords were added to the Upper House as life
peers. By the Amending Act of 1887, the number was in
creased to three, and a retired life peer was allowed to sit and
vote in the House of Lords. Down till 1868, peers had the
right to vote by proxy. In that year the right was abandoned.
Near the beginning of the reign, a question arose touching
the prerogatives of the Crown. In 1839, Sir Robert Peel de
clined to become Prime Minister, because the Queen refused to
allow the removal of the Ladies of the Household. The Queen
held that the office was not, and ought not to be, a political one,
and, therefore, that the ladies ought not to be required to resign
when a Ministry went out of office. Peel pointed to the fact
that two at least of the ladies were near relations of the out
going ministers, and held that they might prejudice the mind
of the Queen against her new advisers. The Queen had her
way, and the question was not again raised.
In 1850, the Queen sent an important memorandum to the
Foreign Secretary (Lord Palmerston), requiring him to inform
her distinctly what he meant to do in any case before she gave
her royal sanction, and forbidding the minister, under penalty of
dismissal, to alter any measure after she had given her sanction
to it. The Queen added that she expected to be kept informed
of what passed between the Foreign Secretary and foreign min
isters before decisions were taken ; to receive foreign despatches
in good time ; and to receive drafts in sufficient time to allow
her to make herself acquainted with them.

Victoria.]

THE CONSTITUTION.

285

In 1871, an Act was passed transferring the authority over
the militia, the yeomanry, and the volunteers from the lord-
lieutenants of counties to the Crown, and designating them "the
reserved forces."
In 1876, the Queen assumed, by authority of Parliament, the
additional title of Empress of India.
Several important changes have been made in the adminis
trative departments of Government. In 1847, the Poor Law
Board was established. In 1871, it was superseded by and
absorbed in the Local Government Board. In 1854 the Secre
taryship for War was separated from the Colonial Secretary
ship. In 1856, the Vice-President of the Committee of the
Privy Council on Education became virtually a paid minister
of education. In 1858, a Secretaryship of State for India was
constituted. In 1885 an Act was passed constituting a Secre
taryship of State for Scotland.
The Supreme Court of Judicature Act was passed in 1873.
It constituted one High Court of Justice (consolidating the
Courts of Equity and Common Law) and a supreme Court of
Appeal. The High Court of Justice held its first sitting in
November 1875.

CHIEF EVENTS.

1839. Cheap postage introduced— Committee of
Privy Council on Education established-
Afghan War.
1840. Marriage of the Queen with Prince Albert
of Saxe-Coborg
1841. Sir Robert Feel Prime Minister.
1842. Income-Tax imposed.
1843. Secession of the Free Church in Scotland.
1844. Trial and conTictioa of O'Connell— Sen
tence reversed.
1845. Feel's New Tariff— Maynooth Act passed—
Queen's College founded in Ireland.
1846. Repeal of the Corn Laws— Potato famine
In Ireland.
1847. Poor Law Board constituted— Lord John
RusseU Prune Minister.
1S48. Chartist meeting in London— Mitchell and
Smith O'Brien, Irish agitators, transported.
ISSl. Great Exhibition, London, opened.
1852. Lord Derby Prime Minister— Lord Aber
deen Pnme Minister.
1854. The Russian War began— Alma, Balaklava,
Inkermann— War Secretaryship separated
from CoIoniaL

1855. Lord Palmerston Prime Minister— Vienna
Conference— Failure— Fall of Sebastopol,
1856. Seizure of the lorcha " Arrow," and
quarrel with China.
1867. The Indian Mutiny.
1S&8. Lord Derby Prime Minister— The Mutiny
suppressed— Goremment of India transferred
to the Crown— Secretary of State— Treaty
with China— Admission of Jews to Parlia
ment.
1859. The Volunteer movement sanctioned by
the War Office —Lord Palmerston Prime
Minister.
1860. Commercial Treaty with France.
1861. Abolition of the Paper Duty —Death of the
Prince Consort.
1862. Sailing of the "Alabama," Confederate
cruiser.
1863. Marriage of the Prince of Wales.
1865. Earl Russell Prime Minister.
1866. Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act In
Ireland.
1867. lord Derby Prime Minister- The Second
Reform Act— Household fl-anchlse.

286

LIMITED MONARCHY

[Victoria.

1868. Mr. DlsraeU Prime Minister- The Abys
sinian expedition- Mr. Gladstone Prime Min
ister.
1869. Disestablishment of the Irish Church.
1870. The Irish Land Act— The Elementary Edu
cation Act— The Home Rule League founded
in Ireland.
1871. Abolition of Tests in Oxford and Cam
bridge-Treaty of Washington— Abolition of
Purchase in the Army.
1872. Vote by Ballot adopted.
1873. The Supreme Court of Judicature Act.
1874. Mr. Disraeli Prime Minister.
1875. Purchase of shares In the Snez Canal.
1876. The Queen proclaimed Empress of India.
1877. Rise of Obstruction in Parliament.
1878. Treaty of Berlin- Invasion of Afghanistan.
1879. Zulu War— Irish Land League formed.
1880. Evictions and agrarian outrages in Ireland
—Mr. Gladstone Prime Minister.

1881. Second Irish Land Bill— The Land League
proclaimed.
1882. Murder of Cavendish and Burke in Dublin
—War in Egypt— Adoption of the " closure "
in the House of Commons.
1883. War in the Egyptian Soudan.
1884. General Gordon sent to Khartoum— Third
Reform Act (county franchise).
1885. Death of Gordon at Khartoum- Lord Salis
bury Prime Minister- Distribution of Seats
Act— Irish Land Purchase (Ashbourne's) Act
—Secretary of Scotland Act.
1886. Bradlaugh allowed to take his seat— Scot
tish Crofters' Act passed— Mr. Gladstone
Prime Minister— Irish Home Rule BiU de
feated—Lord Salisbury Prime Minister-
Rupture of the Liberal party— "Plan of
Campaign" adopted.
1887. New Procedure Rules In Commons— Queen
Victoria's JubUee.

NAMES OF NOTE.

Earl of Aberdeen (George Hamilton Gordon),
Foreign Secretary, 1828-30 : again, 1841-46 ;
Colonial Secretary, 1834-35 ; Prime Minis
ter, 1852-66 ; died, 1860.
Albert, Prince Consort, bom, 1819 ; married
Queen Victoria, 1840 ; promoted first Great
Exhibition, 1849-51; created "Prince Con
sort," 1867 ; died, 1861.
Earl of Beaconsfield (Benjamin DisraeU), bom,
1805; entered ParUament, 1837; became
Protectionist, 1846 ; Chancellor of the Ex
chequer, 1852; again, 1868-69; again, 1866-
68; Prime Minister, 1868; again, 1874-80;
a peer, 1876 ; author of numerous novels,
1826-1880; died, 1881.
John Bright, bom, 1811; M.P. for Durham,
1843 ; promoted Anti-Com-Law League,
1839-46 ; President of Board of Trade, 1868-
70 ; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,
1873-74; died, 1889.
Isaac Butt, Irish barrister ; M.P. for Limerick,
1871 ; leader of Home Rule party, 1872 ; re
tired from leadership, 1878 ; died, 1879.
Earl Cairns (Hugh M'Calmont), a native of
County Down; called to the bar, 1844;
M.P. for Belfast, 1852; SoUcitor-General,
1868 ; Attorney-General, 1866 ; Lord Justice
of Appeal, 1866 ; a peer, 1867 ; Lord Chan
cellor, 1868 ; again, 1874-80 ; died, 1885.
Joseph Chamberlain, chairman of Birmingham
School Board, 1873; mayor, 1873-75; M.P
for Birmingham, 1876; President of the
Board of Trade, 1880-85 ; President of Local
Government Board, 1885 ; again, 1886 ; re
signed, and became a Liberal Unionist, 1886.
Lord Clyde (GoUn CampbeU), bom, 1792 ; fought
In Peninsular War, 1808-13; in the Punjab,
1848-49 ; In the Crimea, 1854-55 ; Com
mander-in-Chief in India, 1857-58 ; a peer,
1868; died, 1863.
Richard Cobden, torn, 1804 ; promoted Antl-

Com-Law League, 1839-46 ; M.P. for Stock
port, 1841 ; advocatedarbltrationandpeace,
1849 ; negotiated Commercial Treaty with
France, 1860 ; died, 1865.
Earl of Derby (Edward Geofilrey Smith), Colonial
Secretary, 1841-46 ; called to Upper House
in his father's lifetime, 1844 ; Earl of Derby,
1861 ; Prime Minister, 1862 ; again, 1858-
69; again, 1866; retired, 1868; died, 1869.
William Edward Forster, entered Parliament.
1861; Under-Secretary for Colonies, 1865-
66 ; Vice-President of Committee of Council
on Education, 1869-74 ; in Cabinet, 1870 ;
carried Elementary Education Act. 1870;
Ballot Act, 1872; Chief Secretary for Ire
land, 1880 ; resigned, 1882 ; died, 1886.
William Ewart Gladstone, bom, 1809 ; Vice-
President ofBoard of Trade, 1841 ; President
of Board of Trade, 1843-45; Colonial Secre
tary, 1846-46 ; separated from the Tories,
ChanceUor of the Exchequer, 1852-66; first
Budget, 1853 ; Chancellor of the Exchequer,
1855; left Palmerston's Ministry with other
"Peelites," 1855; Lord High Commissioner
to Ionian Islands, 1858 ; ChanceUor of the
Exchequer, 1869-66 ; again, and leader of
the House of Commons, 1866-66 ; proposed to
disestablish the Irish Church, 1868 ; Prime
Minister, 1868-74; retired from leadership
of Liberal party, 1875; led In agitation
against the Beaconsfield Ministry, 1879 ;
Prime Minister, second time, 1880-85 ; a
third time (February to July), 1886; de
feated on Home Rule scheme, 1886.
Major-General Charles George Gordon, entered
Royal Engineers ; served in Crimea, 1854-
66 ; engaged in Chinese War, 1860 ; com
manded tbe Chinese imperial forces against
the Taepings, hence "Chinese Gordon,"
1862-64, Governor-General of the Soudan,
1874-79 . again In China, assisting the Gov-

Victoria.]

NAMES OF NOTE.

287

ernment, 1881 ; sent to reUeve garrisons In
Soudan, 1884, killed at Khartoum, 1885.
George Joachim Goschen, entered ParUament,
1863; Vice-President of the Board of Trade,
1866; Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster,
1866 ; President of Poor Law Board, 1868-
71; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1871-74;
sent to Cairo to arrange financial affaire,
1876; opposed county franchise, and did
not Join Gladstone's Ministry In 1880; mis
sion to Constantinople, 1880 , opposed Glad
stone's Home Rule poUcy. 1886; ChanceUor
of Exchequer In Salisbury Ministry, 1887.
Earl OranviUe (George Leveson-Gowerl, M.P. for
Morpeth, 1836 : Foreign Under-Secretary,
1840; House of Lords. 1846; Vice-President
OfBoard of Trade, 1848 , Foreign Secretary,
1851-52; President of the Council and Liberal
leader of House of Lords. 1866-68 : again,
1859-66, again, 1866-66; Lord Warden of
the Cinque Ports, 1866 ; Colonial Secretary,
1868-70; Foreign Secretary 1870-74; again,
1880-85 ; Colonial Secretary, 1886 ; sup
ported Gladstone's Home Rule poUcy, 1886.
Sir WiUiam Vernon Harcourt, entered Parlia
ment, 1868; SoUcitor-General, 1873-74;
Home Secretary, 1830-86; ChanceUor of the
Exchequer, 1886.
Marquis of Hartington {Spencer Compton Caven
dish), entered Parliament, 1867 ; a lord of
the Admiralty, 1863 ; Under-Secretary for
War, 1863; Secretary for War, 1866 ; Post
master-General, 1869-71; Chief Secretary
for Ireland, 1871-74 ; chosen leader of the
Liberal party, 1874; Secretary for India,
1880-82; Secretary for War, 1882-86; de
cUned to Join the Gladstone Ministry, 1886;
leader of Liberal Unionist party, 1886.
General Sir Henry Havelock, entered the army,
1816; served in India, 1823; in Burma, 1824;
in Punjab, 1846, in the Indian Mutiny; re
Ueved Lucknow , died, 1867.
Sir Rowland HiU, bom, 1795; pamphlet on
postal reform, 1837; appointed to carry it
out, 1840-42; received a national testi
monial, 1846 ; Secretary to the Postmaster-
General. 1846; Chief Secretary, 1864-64;
died, 1879.
Lord Lawrence (John Laird Malr), checked the
mutiny at Lahore, 1867; Viceroy of India,
1863-68, a peer, 1869, chairman of first
London School Board, 1870-73 , died, 1879.
Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, served in
Afghanistan, 1843, Chief Commissioner of
Oudh, 1866 ; died of his wounds at Lucknow,
1867.
Viscount Melbourne (WiUiam Lamb), Prime
Minister, 1834; again, 1836-41 ; died, 1848.
Right Hon. John Morley, called to the bar,
1873; author of "Life of Cobden," "Life of
Burke," etc.; editor of "Fortnightly Re
view," 1867-82, editor of "Pall MaU Ga
zette,' 1881-83 ; editor of " MacmiUan's
Maga2ine," 1883-86; entered Parliament,
1883 ; Chief Secretary for Ireland, 1886.

Daniel O'ConneU, M.P. for Dublin, 1837 ; sup.
ported the Whig party, 1837-41 ; agitated
for Repeal of the Union, 1843; condemned
for sedition ; sentence reversed by House of
Lords, 1844 , died at Genoa, 1847.
General Sir James Outram, went to India, 1819 ;
served in Afghanistan, 1838-39 ; active in
suppressing IndlanMutlny, 1867- 68 ;thanked
by Parliament, 1860 ; died, 1863.
Viscount Palmerston (Henry John Temple),
Foreign Secretary, 1835-41 ; again, 1846-61 ;
Home Secretary, 1852-66; Prime Minister,
1865-68; again, 1869-66; died, 1865.
Charles Stuart Parnell, M.P. for Meath, 1876 ;
first president of the Land League, 1879 ;
raised £70,000 in America for distress in
Ireland, 1879; elected leader of the Irish
Parliamentary party, 1880; arrested on
charge of intimidation, 1881 ; released, 1882 ;
aUlance with Liberals, 1886 ; supported
Gladstone's Home Rule proposals, 1886.
Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister second time,
1841-46 ; died, 1860.
Lord Raglan (Fitzroy, James Henry Somerset),
son of the Duke of Beaufort; served iu Pen
insular War, 1807-16 ; lost an arm at Water
loo, 1816 ; a peer, 1852 ; Commander-in-
Chief in the Crhnea, 1864; died, 1866.
Lord Roberts, Frederick, entered Indian army,
1861 ; served with distinction in the Mutiny,
1857-58; in Abyssinian War, 1868; In Af
ghan War, 1878 ; famous march ftom Cabul
to Candahar, 1878 ; a baronet, 1881 ; Com
mander-in-Chief in India, 1885.
Earl of Rosebery (Archibald Philip Primrose),
succeeded, 1868 ; Endowments Commissioner,
1872 ; Under-Secretary of State, Home
Office, 1881-83; Lord Privy Seal and First
Commissioner of Works, 1885; Foreign Sec
retary, 1886.
Earl RusseU (Lord John RusseU), Colonial Secre
tary. 1839-41; Prime Minister, 1846-62;
Foreign Secretary, 1852-63; Lord President
of the Council, 1854-66; Colonial Secretary,
1865; Foreign Secretary, 1869-66; a peer,
1861 ; Prime Minister, 1865-66 ; died, 1878.
Marquis of SaUsbury (Robert Arthur Cecil),
bom, 1830; M.P. for Stamford, 1863; Sec
retary of State for India, 1866-67; Lord
Cranborne, 1866 ; Marquis of Salisbury, 1867 ;
Secretary for India, 1874-78 ; Constantinople
Conference, 1876; Berlin Congress, 1878;
Foreign Secretary, 1878-80 ; Prime Minister
and Foreign Secretary, 1886 : again, 1886.
Duke of WeUington (Arthur WeUesley), Com
mander-in-Chief, 1842: died at Walmer
Castle, 1852.
Viscount Wolseley (Garnet Joseph), entered the
army, 1852 ; served In second Burmese War,
1862 ; in Crimea, 1864-65 ; in India, 1857-69;
in China, 1860; In Canada, 1862-70; Red
River Expedition, 1867 ; commanded in Ash
antee War, 1873-74; in South Africa, 1879;
In Egypt, 1882 ; a peer, 1882 ; In the Soudan.
1884-86.

288 LIMITED MONARCHY.

CHAPTER XXXV.— PROGRESS OF THE NINE
TEENTH CENTURY.
1. Steamships and Railways. — The application of steam to
the purposes of locomotion has wrought a marvellous change on
the life of the civilized world since the present century began.
In 1811, Henry Bell, an innkeeper of Helensburgh, launched
on the Clyde the Comet, a vessel of twenty-five tons' burden,
propelled by steam. Four years later, George Stephenson con
structed a locomotive engine capable of drawing waggons on a
railway. Aided by his son Robert, he placed the Rocket on the
rails of the new line between Liverpool and Manchester in
1830; and thenceforward the railway system grew and ex
panded over the world. The first ocean triumphs, achieved by
steamboats, were the voyage of the Savannah from New York
to London in twenty-six days (1819), and that of the Enterprise
to India (1825). Now the great ocean steamers — floating
palaces, built of iron and steel, lit throughout with the electric
light, and carrying hundreds of passengers — cross the Atlantic
in less than six days.
2. Steam in Factories. — Soon after its introduction, the steam-
engine was in use in all kinds of factories. Other inventions
made it possible to apply it on a wide scale. Before the end of
last century the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, Cromp-
ton, and Cartwright had started the cotton trade on its mar
vellous career. The steam-engine is largely used in metal works,
for the turning, planing, and drilling of iron and steel. One of
the most wonderful of recent inventions is the steam-hammer,
invented by James Nasmyth, which can in a few minutes beat
out a huge mass of iron into a thin plate. Steam has also been
applied to the printing-press, and has been the chief cause of
the production of cheap books and newspapers in vast quantities.
3. The Penny Postage — The Telegraph. — The efforts of
Rowland Hill, the son of a Birmingham schoolmaster, resulted
in 1840 in the establishment of a general penny postage, which
has had the effect of immensely increasing correspondence.

PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 289
This was comparatively a slight matter when viewed beside the
achievement of Wheatstone and Cooke, who, in 1837, jointly
constructed the electric telegraph. Their first successful trial
took place on wires laid between Euston Square in London and
Camden Town. A necessary sequel was the invention of the
submarine cable, of which the first idea occurred in 1842 to
Morse, the famous American electrician. Jacob Brett reduced
the idea to a practical form in 1851, by laying a wire wrapped in
gutta-percha from Dover to Calais. This was followed in 1866
by the gigantic enterprise of placing a cable across the Atlantic
between Ireland and Newfoundland.
4. Iron and Steel Ships. — In 1821, an iron ship, put together
in a London dock, steamed down the Channel to Havre. The
application of iron armour to vessels of war followed after a
few years. These ironclads, as they are called, came into use
during the Civil War in America. The hull of the vessel con
sists of plates of iron, or of steel. Axmour has been recently
applied also to forts. A shot-proof turret, or cupola, revolving
on a pivot, and containing a large gun, is generally placed on
the ironclad or in the iron fort.
5. Steel Guns and Bifies. — Steel cannon, not cast, but built
ring by ring, are now made, weighing eighty or one hundred
tons, and capable of throwing an enormous conical shell with
such force as to penetrate iron plates several inches thick. In
small guns or fire-arms remarkable changes and improvements
have been made. The old flint musket has given place to the
breech-loading rifle, capable of sending a conical bullet to a great
distance with remarkable precision and force. Another addi
tion to the engines of destruction is the machine-gun, which
consists of rows of rifles fired continuously by turning a wheel.
6. Iron and Steel Bridges— Crystal Palaces.— The modern
applications of iron and steel have not been confined to the
science of destruction. In addition to the railroads, locomo
tives, and steamboats already noticed, vast bridges, such as the
Britannia Tubular Bridge across the Menai Strait (1805),
have been constructed of iron. It has been applied also to
building purposes, of which the crystal palaces, the first of
f898) 19

290 LIMITED MONARCHY.
which was erected for the Great Exhibition of 1851, have been
the most notable examples. The Forth Bridge (1890), which
has the widest spans in the world (1,700 feet), is built of steel,
on the cantilever or bracket principle.
7. Minor Inventions. — The general use of coal gas (first
employed to light the streets of London in 1815), the advance
of photography (first applied to the taking of portraits in 1839),
the invention of the seioing-machine, the gas-engine, the type
writer, the electric light and the telephone, may be noted as steps
of progress. In sanitary affairs, the removal of cemeteries to
the outskirts of cities — the improved ventilation and sewerage
of houses — the enforcement of vaccination by law — have done
much to abate the virulence of infectious diseases such as
cholera and small-pox, and to improve the tone of public health.
8. Providence — Education — Newspapers. — Providence
among the working-classes has been encouraged by the estab
lishment of savings-banks, the increased facilities afforded by
insurance companies, and the spread of education. Emigra
tion to the colonies clears the land of its surplus population ;
while the poor-houses, under Government control, minister to
the wants of those unable to support themselves. Not only
is free elementary education placed within reach of every child
in Great Britain, but school attendance is made compulsory.
The repeal of the paper duty (1861) gave a great impulse to
the diffusion of literature and the extension of education. The
abolition of the newspaper stamp, and the subsequent reduc
tion of the postage to one halfpenny, gave a great stimulus to
newspaper enterprise.
9. The North-west Passage. — Remarkable progress has
been made in geographical discovery during the nineteenth
century. The secret of the north-west passage from Europe
to the Pacific Ocean has been solved by two independent
explorers. The earlier was the hapless Sir John Franklin,
who left England in 1845, and who perished with all his associ
ates. Captain Robert Maclure, in the Investigator, sailed from
Behring Sea to Baffin Sea, in October 1850. A new British
Arctic expedition, equipped for scientific purposes, was sent

PROGRESS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 291
out by Government in 1875, under the command of Sir George
Nares. The highest latitude reached was 83° 20' N. This
was surpassed by the expedition of Lieutenant Greely of the
United States army (1881-84), which reached 83° 24' N— the
farthest point by land or sea yet attained by civilized man.
10. Exploration of Australia. — The most successful explorer
of Australia was Captain Sturt, who in 1829 traced the course
of the tributaries of the Murray, and in 1847 penetrated the
sandy interior of the continent. A tragic interest hangs over
the expedition of Burke and Wills, who died of starvation at
Cooper's Creek in 1860-61. In 1862, Stuart succeeded in
crossing the continent from south to north. Much of the
interior has now been explored.
11. Exploration of Africa. — In Africa, the basin of the
Zambesi was explored by David Livingstone. During his
tirst journey (1849) he discovered Lake Ngami. His second
(1852-56) resulted in the discovery on the Zambesi of the
Victoria Falls, a cataract larger than Niagara. He then ex
plored Lake Nyassa (1859), and everywhere found a fertile
land. In his last journey he explored Lake Tanganyika and
the water-system of Central Africa. He died at Ilala in May
1873. In 1876 Lieutenant Cameron accomplished the feat of
crossing Central Africa from the east to the west coast. This
was done with better effect a year or two later by Mr. H. M.
Stanley, who descended the Lualaba, and found it to be the
Congo. As the result of further explorations in this fertile
region, a new state — the Congo Free State — was organized under
the sovereignty of the King of the Belgians. The whole of the
east coast of Africa has been divided into " spheres of influ
ence," regulated by the British, French, German, and Portu
guese Governments respectively. The extensive region between
the Zambesi and Cape Colony has been brought under British
control. The Nile has also received its share of attention from
explorers. Captain Speke penetrated the continent from Zan
zibar, and discovered (1858) a vast lake, which he named
Victoria Nyanza, which is the main source of the Nile.

APPENDIX.

1. THE CONSTITUTION AS IT IS,
]. Its composite Character.— The government of Great Britain, Ireland,
and the English colonies and dependencies, is vested in the Sovereign and
the two Houses of Parliament, — the House of Lords and the House of Com
mons. It is thus a mixed government, — not pure monarchy, nor pure
aristocracy, nor pure democracy, but a compound of all three — a Limited
or Constitutional monarchy.
2. Tlie Sovereign. — The crown is hereditary, and females are not ex
cluded ; but the Sovereign must be a Protestant of the Church of England.
The Sovereign has power to make war and peace ; to pardon a convicted
criminal ; to summon, prorogue, and dissolve Parliament ; to coin money ;
and to confer nobility. The assent of the Sovereign is also necessary to
every new law. But these prerogatives are now exercised by the Sovereign
under the advice of the Ministry for the time being ; or by the Ministry in
the name of the Sovereign.
3. The House of Lords.— The chief business of the two Houses of Parlia
ment is to make laws, and to vote money for the public service. The " three
Estates of the realm " are the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the
Commons. The Lords Spiritual and the Lords Temporal constitute the
Upper House, or House of Lords, nearly as follows : —
LOKDS SPIRITUAL.
English Archbishops  2
English Bishops  24
 26
LORDS TEMPORAL.
Royal Princes  5
Hereditary Peers  479
Scottish representative Peers, elected for each Parlia
ment  16
Irish representative Peers, elected for life  28
Life Peers  4
 532
Total  558
The Lord Chancellor, sitting on the woolsack, acts as president or chairman
of the Lords. New laws are introduced in the form of Bills. Any Bill,

APPENDIX.

293

except a money Bill, may originate in the House of Lords. As the Sover
eign, advised by the Ministry, may create new peers at any time, the num
ber of members of the House of Lords is constantly changing.
4. The House of Commons.— The House of Commons, or Lower House of
Parliament, consists of 670 representatives of the counties, boroughs, and
universities in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, distributed as
follows :—

England.

Wales.

Scotland.

Ireland.

Total.

County  Members
City and Borough n
University h

231226 5

19
11 0

3931 2

89 12

381 280 9

Total 

465

30

72

103

670

5. The Electors. — The electors, both in boroughs and in counties, are house
holders rated for the relief of the poor, lodgers occupying rooms valued at
£10 a year unfurnished, and persons in service who occupy free houses as
part of their remuneration. The members for the universities are elected
by the graduates.
6. Functions of the Commons. — The chairman of the Commons is called
the Speaker, because he is their spokesman or representative in approaching
the Sovereign. A Speaker is elected at the beginning of each new Parlia
ment. Any Bill may be introduced in the House of Commons ; and money
BiUs can originate in that House alone. Thus, commanding the sources of
supply, it can effectually control the Sovereign. In great emergencies it
also controls the Upper House ; for a Ministry, strongly supported in the
House of Commons, may advise the Sovereign to create a sufficient number
of new peers to give its party a majority in the House of Lords. The
threat of this measure has generally induced the Lords to yield to the
M'ishes of the Commons.
7. Adjournment— Prorogation-Dissolution. — Each House of Parliament
may adjourn its meetings from day to day. The Sovereign, advised by the
Ministry, prorogues Parliament from session to session ; and dissolves it when
a new Parliament is to be elected. The duration of a Parliament is limited
by law to seven years ; but no Parliament, since that law was passed (1716),
has exceeded six years and two months in duration.
8. Law-making. — The process of law-making is conducted as follows: —
The proposed law is introduced in either House in the form of a Bill, after
leave has been given so to do. After being read for the first time, usually
without opposition, it is ordered to be printed, to acquaint the members
with its details. The Bill is then printed and circulated, and a day is fixed
for the second readimj. The first debate and voting usually take place on
the question whether the Bill shall pass this reading or not. If it pass the
second reading, the House goes into Committee on the BiU, and proceeds to
consider and vote upon each clause separately. The committee consists of
the same members as the House, but the Chairman of Committees takes the

294 APPENDIX.
place of the Speaker, and the strict rules of debate and forms of procedure
observed in the House are relaxed, to the extent of allowing a member to
speak oftener than once on the same clause. After the Bill has passed
through committee, it is reported to the House in its amended form, and is
ready for the third reading. If it pass this reading, it is then sent to the
other House. There it undergoes an exactly similar process— three read
ings, with a detailed examination in committee between the second and the
third. If amended or altered there, the Bill is sent back to the House in
which it originated, which either agrees to the amendments or not, and may
demand a conference with the other House to settle differences. When the
BiU has finaUy passed both Houses, the royal assent is required before it
can become an act or law. This is given either personally or by commission.
No Sovereign has ventured to exercise the right of veto — that is, of withhold
ing the royal assent — since 1707.
9. The Privy Council.— From very early times, the advisers of the Sovereign
have been known as the Privy Council, the members of which are dignified
with the title of Right Honourable. But this body was found to be too
numerous, and too widely scattered, for the systematic transaction of bus
iness. It moreover consists of men of different parties and conflicting views.
It therefore became customary, after the Revolution of 1688, to intrust the
government to a committee of the Privy Council, called the Cabinet.
10. The Ministry— Cabinet—The head of the Ministry is the Prime Min
ister. He used to owe his oifice to the good-will or favour of theSovereign,
but now he owes it to the confidence of his supporters in Parliament. The
Sovereign chooses as Prime Minister the recognized leader of that political
party which has a majority in the House of Commons for the time, and in
trusts him with the task of forming a Ministry from among his own sup
porters. The chief ministers form the Cabinet, which determines the policy
of the Ministry, and the measures which are to be proposed to Parliament.
The Cabinet is not a body recognized by the Constitution. A Cabinet
council is merely a private conference of ministers. The Cabinet consists
necessarUy of —
¦ 1. The Prime Minister, or First Lord of the Treasury.*
2. The Lord Chancellor.
3. The Chancellor of the Exchequer.
4. The Home Secretary.
b. The Foreign Secretary.
6. The Colonial Secretary.
7. The Indian Secret.ary.
8. The Secretary of War.
9. The President of the Privy Council.
The following ministers have also at different times been included in the
Cabinet ; but that body does not usually consist of more than fourteen or
fifteen members : —
* Sometimes these two ofiices are held by different ministers ; and the Prime Minister
may at the same time hold some other ofiice, as Cliancellor of the Exchequer, or Foreign
Secretary.

APPENDIX. 295
The First Lord of the Admiralty.
The President of the Board of Trade.
The President of the Local Government Board.
The Lord Privy Seal.
The Secretary of State for Scotland.
The Chief Secretary for Ireland.
The Postmaster-General.
The ChanceUor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
The Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education.
11. Appeal to the Country.— When a Ministry loses the confidence of the
majority of the House of Commons, it is customary for it to resign. The
Sovereign then intrusts the leader of the opposite party with the formation
of a Ministry. Instead of resigning, a defeated Ministry may advise the
Sovereign to dissolve the Parliament and to caU a new one, in the hope that
the constituencies may return a majority of members favourable to its
views. This is called an " appeal to the country."
12. Colonial Governments.— The colonies and dependencies have their
internal affairs administered by resident governors and councils, appointed
by the Crown, and controUed in London by a Secretary of State, who is a
member of the Cabinet. The more populous and older colonies have been
placed as much as possible on the footing of self-government — that is to say,
there is in each a legislative assembly elected by the people.
13. The Dominion of Canada. — The Dominion of Canada may be taken as
an example of a self-governed colony. The executive power is vested in the
Governor-General, aided by a Privy Council, all the members of which are
appointed by the Crown. The Legislature consists of two Houses : the
Senate, or Upper House, consisting of seventy-seven members appointed by
the Governor-General in Council ; and the House of Commons, consisting of
two hundred members elected by the people for the term of five years. The
Executive Council, or Ministry, is responsible to the House of Commons —
that is to say, when it ceases to command a majority there it resigns. For
local purposes, each province has a Lieutenant-Governor and a Legislature
of its own — the latter generally consisting of two Houses. •
14. Government of India. — India is an example of a dependency still
directly under imperial control. Since 1858, the affairs of India have been
regulated by the Secretary of State for India and the Indian Council, sitting
in London, of which the Secretary is president. The Council consists of
fifteen members— seven appointed by the Court of Directors of the East
India Company, and eight by the Crown. The executive authority in
India is vested in the Viceroy, appointed by the Crown, and responsible to
the Secretary of State for India.
15. Government of Ceylon.— Ceylon, which as a colony is independent
of India, is an example of a government in which the local and the imperial
elements are combined. But the influence of the latter greatly pre
ponderates. The Governor and the executive council of five members are
appointed by the Crown. The legislative council contains fifteen members
—five of them, are the executive council, other four are also officials, and six
only are unofficial and elected.

296 APPENDIX.

2. SUMMARY OF RECENT EVENTS.
1888, A Local Government Act for England and Wales was passed, estab
lishing County Councils, three-fourths of the members of which are elected
and one-fourth selected. To these councils were transferred the administra
tive and financial powers of the quarter sessions and the county justices.
— Under the direction of the Chief Secretary (Mr. A. J. Balfour), the
Crimes Act was stringently administered in Ireland. The number of out
rages and agrarian crimes decreased ; but the imprisonment of Nationalist
speakers and newspaper writers continued, and complaints were made of
their treatment in prison.
— Lord Lansdowne succeeded Lord Duflerin as Viceroy of India.
— The Rules of Procedure of the House of Commons were further
amended : the majority required for the closure was reduced to 100 ; the
House to meet at 3 o'clock instead of 4 ; no opposed business to be taken
after 12, midnight ; the House, as a rule, to rise at 1 A.M.
— " The Times " newspaper having accused Mr. Parnell and other Irish
members of being accessory to crimes and outrages, a. Special Commission
was appointed by Parliament to try the case.
— An Irish Land Purchase Act passed, on the same lines as the Ash
bourne Act (1885), voting ten millions sterling to enable tenants to buy their
holdings. — Lord Cross's Commission on Elementary Education reported in favour
of abolishing payment on the results of individual examination. This was
given effect to in the Code of 1889.
1889. A Local Government Act for Scotland was passed, establishing elect
ive County Councils, and granting Scotland's portion of the probate duty
in relief of fees in elementary schools. A new Universities Act for Scotland,
appointing an Executive Commission, was also passed.
— Mr. H. M. Stanley reached the east coast of Africa along with Emin
Pasha, whom he had gone to relieve at Wadelai, on Lake Albert Nyanza.
Stanley started from the west coast in 1887, and traveUed inland by the
basin of the Congo.
1890. The Special Commission of 1888 delivered its Report. The letters,
the publication of which originated the charges, were declared to be forgeries.
Certain specific charges brought against Mr. Parnell were held not to have
been proved ; but he and others were found to have countenanced intimida
tion which led to crime, and to have conspired against landlords.
— The British Government made an agreement with the German Govern
ment, by which their respective spheres of influence in Africa were defined.
Heligoland was ceded to Germany, and the protectorate of Zanzibar was
granted to Great Britain.
— A decision of the divorce court in the O'Shea case led to the deposition
of Mr. Parnell from the leadership of the Irish Parliamentary party, and
to the rupture of that party. The majority (Anti-Parnellites) adopted Mr.
.Tustin M 'Carthy as le.ader.
1891. Parliament passed the .Assisted Education Act for England , providing
money for the abolition of fees up to ten shillings per scholar, and allowing

APPENDIX. 297
fees to be charged in their excess above that sum. This made education free
in many schools. As Scotland had already appropriated money to free
education, she received an " equivalent grant," which was applied partly to
local purposes, and partly to university and secondary education.
— Earl Granville died in March, and Mr. ParneU in October.
1892. An Elementary Education Act for Ireland was passed. It applied
Ireland's " equivalent grant " (see 1891) to providing free education in aU
elementary schools.
— Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, eldest son of the Prince
of Wales, died at Sandringham.
— By his father's death, the Marquis of Hartington became Duke of
Devonshire, arid Mr. Chamberlain was chosen as leader of the Liberal
Unionist party iu the Commons.
— A general election took place in July. The new House of Commons
consisted of 274 Liberals, 81 Irish Nationalists, 269 Conservatives, and 46
Liberal Unionists. Having been defeated on an amendment to the Address,
the Salisbury Government resigned, aud Mr. Gladstone became Prime
Minister for the fourth time.
— Lord Tennyson, the Poet-Laureate, died in October.
— A Special Commission was appointed by the Irish Viceroy to inquire
into the case of evicted tenants on certain estates.
1893. The " Victoria," ironclad man-of-war, was rammed and sunk by the
" Camperdown " when manceuvring off the coast of Tripoli ; 358 lives were
lost out of a total of 649 (June 22).
— George, Duke of York, son of the Prince of Wales, was married to the
Princess Victoria Mary ("May ") of Teck (July 6).
— On the death of his uncle, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the Duke
of Edinburgh succeeded to that title (August).
— A new Home Rule BiU was passed by the House of Commons ; but was
rejected by the House of Lords (September).
1894. The Employers' Liability BUI was so altered by the House of Lords
that the Government dropped it. The Sea Fisheries {Scotland) Bill met with
the same fate. The Parish and District Councils Bill became -law, the
Government accepting the Lords' amendments.
— Mr. Gladstone resigned, owing to faUing eyesight, and the Earl of
Rosebery became Prime Minister (March 5).

SUMMAET OF THE CONSTITUTIO]^.

I.— THE STUART SOVEREIGNS.— (Coniinued.)
WILLIAM III. AND MARY IL
1689. The Convention IB made into a ParUament. " Non-jurors " refuse to
take the new oath of aUegiance and supremacy. The Annual
Mutiny Bill passed for the first time. The BiU of Bights passed as
a statute, embodying chief points in the Declaration of Right.
1693. Beginning of the National Debt, in a loan raised by Charles Montague.
1694. The Triennial Act passed.
1695. Act against bribery in elections. — Censorship of the Press dropped.
1701. Act of Settlement passed. Right of petitioning ParUament estabUshed.
ANNE.
1707. The Act of Union of England and Scotland.
1708. Pensioners of the Crown and holders of offices created after October
25, 1705, prevented from sitting in Parliament.
1708. Establishment of the principle of government by party — the Ministry
representing the majority in the House of Commons.
1710. An Act passed fixing a Property Qualification for members of Parlia
ment.
1711. The Earl of Oxford creates twelve new Peers, to secure a majority
in the House of Lords. An Act is passed against Occasional Con
formity.
1712. Lay Patronage restored in the Church of Scotland.
1714. The Schism Act passed, requiring aU schoolmasters in England to be
members of the Church of England.

II.-THE HANOVERIAN SOVEREIGNS.
GEORGE I.
1716. The Biot Act passed.
1716. The Septennial Act passed.
1718. Repeal of the Orcasional Conformity Act and the Schism Act.
1719. The British Parliament is authorized to legislate for Ireland (till 1782).

SUMMARY OF THE CONSTITUTION. 299

GEORGE IL
1728. The publication of the debates in Parliament declared to be a breach
of privUege (also in 1738).
1742. The Place Bill is passed, restricting the number of offices which might
be held by members of Parliament.GEORGE III.
1762. A new Bribery Act passed, attaching fines to the offence.
1763. Placemen are dismissed on account of their votes in Parliament.
1770. Transference of the hearing of election petitions from the House of
Commons to a Select Committee.
1770. Lord Mansfield decides that a jury cannot declare whether a publica
tion is Ubellous, but only whether it has been published.
1771. Publication of debates in Parliament by Wilkes, in defiance of the
House of Commons.
1772. The Royal Marriage Act passed.
1774. Wilkes is allowed to take his seat for Middlesex, after a long struggle
(1763). At the general election, the representation of Gatton is sold
for £75,000. The average price of a small borough was £4,000.
1780. A great petition in favour of economical reform, sent up from York
shire, is received by the House of Commons. (See 1701.) A motion
carried in the Commons declares that the power of the Crown
ought to be diminished.
1782. Government contractors are excluded from the House of Commons.
Revenue officers are deprived of their votes. Legislative independ
ence granted to Ireland (Grattan's Parliament).
1782. Regulation and classification of the Civil List ; reduction of pensions.
1783. By the King's threats, the Lords are induced to reject Fox's India
Bill, which the Commons had passed.
1784. Limitation of the poll to 15 days (instead of 40) at elections.
1785. The ParUamentary session opened in January or February.
1792. A Libel Bill passed, aUowing juries to decide whether a publication is
Ubellous, and not merely whether it has been pubUshed. (See 1770.)
1794. A separate Secretaryship of State for War is estabUshed.
1801. Union of Great Britain and Ireland takes effect. War and the
Colonies placed under one Secretary of State (tiU 1854).
1811. The Prince of Wales is made Regent by Act of ParUament.
1817. The Naval and Military Officers' Oath Bill is passed, opening aU ranks
of the services to Roman Catholics and other Dissenters.
1819. Passing of the Six Acts against seditious meetings, blasphemous pub
lications, training in the use of arms, etc.
GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV.
1823. A monster petition in favour of Parliamentary Reform is sent from
Yorkshire to the House of Commons (signed by 17,000 freeholders).
1828. Repeal of the Corporation Act (1661) and the Test Act (1673).
1829. The Catholic Relief Bill is passed after a prolonged struggle. An Act

300 SUMMARY OF THE CONSTITUTION.
passed disfranchising 40s. freeholders in Ireland, and raising the
qualification of voters to £70 rental.
1832. The First Reform Act is passed after a prolonged struggle. The
number of members for Scotland was increased from 45 to 53, and
those for Ireland from 100 to 105.
1833. An Act is passed enabling Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists returned
to the House of Commons to substitute an affirmation for an oath.
AboUtion of slavery in the British Colonies from August 1, 1834.
The Scottish Municipal Reform Act is passed.
1835. The Municipal Reform Act is passed.
1836. Publication of the Division Lists of the House of Commons begins.
VICTORIA.
1837. The number of capital offences is largely reduced about this time.
1840. The Irish Municipal Reform Act is passed.
1842. Peel revises the customs tariff, and imposes an income tax.
1845. Further large reduction of the customs tariff.
1846. Repeal of the Corn Laws and introduction of Free Trade.
1847. The Poor Law Board is constituted.
1848. The Treason-felony Act is passed, to put down sedition in Ireland.
1851. The Ecclesiastical Titles Act is passed.
1852. New Bribery Act, providing for inquiry by a Commission.
1853. Large remission of taxes by Gladstone. Repeal of the Advertisement
Duty (1855).
1854. The Corrupt Practices Act is passed, requiring publication of election
accounts, and aU expenses to be paid through the authorized agents
of candidates. War Secretaryship separated from the Colonial.
1866. The creation of Life Peers declared to be iUegal.
1868. New Corrupt Practices Act. Abolition of the property qualification
for members of ParUament. New India Act passed, transferring
the powers of the Company to the Crown, and constituting a
Secretary of State for India. Admission of Jews to Parliament.
1860. The Lords reject a Government BiU abolishing the Paper Duty.
1861. The aboUtion of the Pajjer Duty included in the Budget. New Bank
ruptcy Act ; imprisonment of debtors abandoned.
1867. The Second Reforin Act is passed, establishing household franchise in
boroughs. Seven additional members given to Scotland.
1868. Voting by proxy abandoned by the Lords. The trial of election peti
tions is transferred from a committee of the Commons to the judges.
1870. English Elementary Education Act passed. The Irish Home Rule
League founded (1873).
1871. AboUtion of religious Tests in the Universities of Oxford and Cam
bridge. New Army Regulation Act; abolition of Purchase by
Royal Warrant. The Crown resumes authority over the reserve
forces. The Local Government Board (superseding the Poor Law
Board) is constituted.
1872. The Ballot Act is passed for eight years. Scottish Elementary Edu
cation Act passed.

SOVEREIGNS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

301

1873. The Supreme Court of Judicature Act is passed.
1876. The Queen is authorized to assume the title of Empress of India.
1882. New Rule of Procedure applies the " closure " if 200 vote in the majority,
or if 100 vote in the majority and the minority is under 40.
1883. New Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act is passed.
1884. The Third Refcn-m Act is passed, making household and lodger fran
chise uniform in counties and boroughs.
1885. Redistribution of Seats Act passed, making number of members de
pend on population, and adopting, with a few exceptions, single-
member districts. England, 465 members ; Wales, 30 ; Scotland,
72 ; Ireland, 103 : total, 670. Secretary of State for Scotland Act
passed, placing Scottish affairs under a separate department.
1887. New Rule of Procedure in the House of Commons, allowing the
" closure " to be applied by a simple majority of 200. Celebration
of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

SOVEEEIGI^^S OF GREAT BRITAIN.

HOUSE OF STUART.

William III. and Mary II., 

1689-1694

William IIL, 

1694-1702

Anne, 

1702-1714

HOUSE OP HANOVER.

George I.,
George II. ,
George III.,
George IV.,
William IV.,
Victoria, . .

1714-1727 1727-17601760-18201820-1830
1830-1837 1837

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

Adjournment, the postponement of
the meeting of either House of Par
liament from one day to another.
AduUamites, seceding Liberals who
voted against the Government Re
form BUI in 1866, led by Mr. Robert
Lowe, and included Horsman, Lord
Elcho, Earl Grosvenor, and Lord
Robert Grosvenor. When King David
fled for fear of Saul, and felt himself
unsafe in Gath, he took refuge in
' ' the cave of AduUam, " where he was
joined by 400 malcontents (1 Sam.
xxii. 1).
Alien Act (1793), for the supervi
sion, and, if necessary, the expulsion
of foreigners resident in Great Brit
ain. It was renewed in 1818.
Alliance, The Triple (1717), made
by Great Britain, France, and Hol
land, to guarantee the Hanoverian
succession. Antl-Corn-Law League, a league
formed in 1838 by the advocates of
the aboUtion of the Corn Laws, led
by Richard Cobden and John Bright.
Assent, The Royal, requires to be
given to a bill before it becomes law.
It was last withheld by Queen Anne
in 1707.
Assiento, The, a " contract," origin
ally between France and Spain, for
supplying slaves to the Spanish colo
nies in America. By an article in the
Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the right to
trade in slaves was surrendered to

Great Britain, and it was afterwards
confirmed by special treaty. The
right was renewed in 1725 and 1748,
and expired in 17-'J2.
Assize, the sessions or sittings of
a court of justice, especially of itin
erant judges.
Attainder, loss of civil rights,
titles, and property by a subject, in
consequence of conviction for treason.
A Bill of Attainder goes through the
same course as other bills in Parlia
ment. Bank of England, proposed by
William Paterson, a Scotsman, in
1691. In 1694, Government borrowed
£1,200,000 at 8 per cent., and formed
the subscribers into a company, to
which a charter was granted, allow
ing it to trade in bullion, bills of ex
change, forfeited pledges, etc.
Benefit of clergy, the right claimed
by the clergy to exemption from the
jurisdiction of the civil courts in cer
tain cases ; entirely abolished in 1827.
Bill of Rights, passed in October
1689, confirmed the Declaration of
Right (accepted by WiUiam and
Mary, February 13), in the form of
a statute. It declared it to be illegal
to suspend or to dispense with any
law, to set up such a court as the
Court of Ecclesiastical Commission,
to levy money without consent of
Parliament, to maintain a standing
army in time of peace without con-

GLO.SSARY OF HISTORICAL TEUMS.

303

sent of Parliament. It declared that
subjects have a right to petition the
King, that the election of members
to Parliament ought to be free, that
speech and debate in Parliament
ought to be free and unquestioned,
that jurors in cases of high treason
should be freeholders, that Parlia
ments should be held frequently, that
William and Mary were King and
Queen of Great Britain, and that no
Papist and no one who married a
Papist should possess the crown.
Billeting, or cantoning, is the
method of feeding and lodging sol
diers during a campaign by quarter
ing them in private houses.
Blanketeers (1817), :i. body of dis
contented Manchester workmen, who
met at St. Peter's Fields on March
10, each man carrying a blanket as a
greatcoat. They opposed the intro
duction of machinery, and demanded
reform. They meant to join the
Derbyshire rioters, and march on
London ; but the affair collapsed.
Cabinet, the chief ministers of the
Sovereign for the time being. Theo
retically, it is a committee of the
Privy Council, but the two bodies are
practically independent of each other.
The Cabinet is an inner circle of the
Ministry or Administration. It is not
recognized by the law, and no official
record of its proceedings is kept. The
Cabinet consists only of the chief
ministers, generaUy twelve in num
ber, and seldom more than fourteen
or fifteen. Till the time of William
III. the Sovereign chose his ministers
individually, and cabinets were there
fore mixed. The first homogeneous
or united Ministry was the Whig
Ministry of 1697. Both WilUam III.
and Anne reverted to the system of
mixed cabinets, and George I. strove
to continue it. The modern system
of party government by a united

Cabinet holding office only as long
as it had the support of a major
ity of the House of Commons was
not fully established till the reign of
George II.
Campaign, Plan of, a scheme a-
dopted by the Irish Nationalists in
1886, under which rents declined by
landlords as insufficient were de
posited with trustees, to be retained
until landlords agreed to reductions.
Canada Act (1791), divided Canada
into two provinces. Upper and
Lower. Catholic Relief Act (1829), admit
ted Roman Catholics to sit in Parlia
ment, and to occupy all civil and po-
Utical offices, except those of Regent,
Lord Chancellor, and Lord- Lieuten
ant of Ireland.
Cave, a small body of seceders from
a political party. (See "AduUam
ites. ")
Charter (Lat. carta, a paper), a for
mal declaration by the King, granting
certain rights and privileges either to
an individual, to a town or commu
nity, or to the nation.
Chartists, a society of men who
demanded the extension of political
power to the labouring classes. They
embodied their demands in "The
People's Charter," namely — (1) Uni
versal suffrage, (2) vote by ballot, (3)
annual Parliaments, (4) payment of
members of Parliament, (5) abolition
of the property qualification of mem
bers, (6) equal electoral districts.
Recent legislation has gone a long
way toward conceding these de
mands : (2) and (5) have been wholly
conceded, (1) and (6) partially.
Cinque Ports, five (Fr. cinque) ports
on the south-east coast bound to fur
nish the King with a certain number
of ships — Dover, Hastings, Romney,
Hythe, and Sandwich. Winchelsea
and Rye were afterwards added.

304

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

They were under the charge of a
baron with the title of Warden. The
office is now purely honorary.
Circuit, a round or district within
which a traveUing judge holds his
courts or assizes.
Closure, a procedure rule of the
House of Commons, whereby a de
bate may be closed and a vote taken
if a majority of at least 100 members
vote for applying it (1888).
Commission, a written instrument
issued by the Crown, and authoriz
ing some person or body to perform
certain acts. The Sovereign may
open or dissolve Parliament by
commission. The name is generally
transferred to the person or body
authorized, as "the Commission of
the Peace," "the Universities Com
mission." The Treasury is said to
be " put into Commission " when the
duties of Lord Treasurer are intrusted
to a committee of several persons.
Conservatives, the name assumed
by the opponents of Parliamentary
reform in the debates on the Reform
Bills of 1831-32, on the ground that
they wished to conserve the constitu
tion. After 1832 the names "Liberal "
and " Conservative " began to super
sede "Whig" and "Tory."
Consols, a short name for consoli
dated annuities, — that part of the
National Debt which consists of in
dividual annuities consolidated into a
single fund.
Convention, an assembly acting as
a Parliament, but not summoned by
the royal writ ; e.g., the Assembly
which met on January 22, 1689,
which settled the crown on WiUiam
and Mary, and which was made into
a Parliament on February 13.
Convocation, the general assembly
of the clergy of the Church of En
gland, divided into two bodies— the
Convocation of Canterbury and the

Convocation of York. It consists
of the archbishop, the bishops,
abbots, priors, deacons, and arch
deacons, ex officio, with elected proc
tors returned by the clergy of each
diocese and each cathedral or col
legiate charge. Convocation taxed
the clergy and granted subsidies to
the King, just as Parliament did,
till 1663, when the clergy were taxed
by ParUament along with the laity.
At that time also the clergy became
entitled to vote for members of Par
liament, and Convocation ceased to
have poUtical importance.
Corporation Act, passed 1661, re
quiring all municipal officers to re
nounce the Covenant and to take the
sacrament according to the forms of
the EngUsh Church. Abolished 1828.
Covenant, The National, or Scot
tish, a deed in which the Scottish
Presbyterians bound themselves to
defend their religion. It was pre
pared and signed in 1638.
Customs, customary duties on cer
tain imports and exports, as wine, tea,
sugar, silk, wool.
Debates, Publication of Parlia
mentary, was declared a breach of
privilege by the Commons in 1728,
and again in 1738. Another attempt
to prevent publication was made in
1771, but it was foiled by Wilkes, and
the custom has been continued ever
since with little hindrance.
Defender of the Faith (Latin F. D.
= Fidei Defensor), the title given by
Pope Leo X. to Henry VIIL, when
he wrote his treatise in defence of the
seven sacraments, in reply to Luther
(1521). The title has been used by
all subsequent sovereigns.
Derbyshire Insurrection (1817), a
threatened rebellion by discontented
workmen of Derby. They meant to
march on London, but the affair col
lapsed.

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

305

Dissolution, the breaking up of a
Parliament, so that a new House of
Commons has to be elected.
Ecclesiastical Titles Act (1851), de
clared it illegal to assume in Great
Britain or Ireland territorial titles
conferred by the Pope. Repealed in
1871. Election Petition, a petition asking
the House of Commons to unseat a
member because of bribery, corrup
tion, or irregularity in his election.
Election petitions were considered in
committee of the whole House, and
were treated as party questions tiU
1770. In that year the hearing of
such petitions was given to a select
committee of thirteen members. In
1868 the duty was transferred to the
judges. Exchequer, Court of, the court in
which the financial business of the
country was attended to : so called
from thecheckered cloth with which the
table of the court- room was covered.
Excise Duties, duties on articles of
consumption and home manufacture,
as spirits, beer, cider, groceries ; and
on Ucenses for certain trades. Same
as assessment.
Franchise, the right of voting for a
member of Parliament (literally, free
dom). The franchise now belongs,
both in counties and in boroughs, to
all resident householders, or rated oc
cupants of dwelling-houses, after pay
ment of one year's rates ; to persons
occupying lodgings of the value of
£10 unfurnished (lodger franchise);
to persons occupying a dwelling-
house, or part of one, as part of their
wages (service franchise) ; to gradu
ates, in university constituencies.
Freehold, land held by a free
tenure — that is, by knight service or
socage ; opposed to villein tenure.
Grattan's Parliament (1782), an
independent Irish legislature ; lasted

till 1800. In 1782 the British ParUa
ment repealed the Act of 1719, enab
ling the British Parliament to legis
late for Ireland, and the Permanent
Mutiny Act of 1781.
Habeas Corpus Act, passed 1679,
prevents the detention in jail of any
unconvicted prisoner beyond a Umited
time. The accused must within
twenty days be either brought to trial
or released on bail. The Act is named
from the opening words of the judge's
writ addressed to the jailer : Habeas
corpus, ad faciendum, subjiciendum,
et recipiendum, etc. — "Thou art to
produce the body, to do, submit, and
receive what the court shall order, "etc.
Home Rule League, established as
the Home Government Association
in 1870: objects — to obtain for Ire
land the right of managing her own
affairs by an Irish Parliament ; to
secure for that Parliament, under a
federal arrangement, the right of
legislating for and regulating all mat
ters relating to the internal affairs of
Ireland, and control over Irish reve
nues, subject to the obligation of con
tributing a just proportion to the
Imperial expenditure. The title was
changed to the "Home Rule League"
in 1873.
Impeachment, the trial of an of
fender at the bar of the House of
Lords, by order of the House of Com
mons ; for example, impeachment of
Warren Hastings, 1786.
Income tax, a direct tax on each
man's profits for the year, whether
derived from property or from trad
ing. Probably its earliest use was by
the Long Parliament in December
1642. The modern income tax dates
from 1798.
Indemnity, Act of (1818), securing
from punishment or damage those
who, during the previous year, had
been engaged in arresting persons on
20

306

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

suspicion of sedition, or in dispersing
seditious meetings.
Irish Union (1801), established one
Parliament for Great Britain and
Ireland. Ireland was to be repre
sented in the Imperial Parliament by
28 peers elected for Ufe, and 100 com
moners. Equality of trade was estab
lished. The Irish Law Courts and
the Protestant Episcopal Established
Church were to be maintained.
Jacobites. The adherents of the
Stuarts were so called because they
supported James II. (Latin, Jacobus)
against William III., and James the
Old Pretender against George I. On
behalf of the latter James, the first
Jacobite rebellion took place in 171"'.
The second Jacobite rebelUon was
undertaken in 1745, on behalf of his
son Charles Edward, the Young Che
valier. Both were failures.
Jewish Relief Act (1858), admitted
Jews to Parliament by enabling either
House to modify its oath by a reso
lution. Land League, Irish, founded in 1879,
to secure changes in the Irish land
laws which would give better terms
to tenants. The Land League was
declared an illegal body in 1881.
Libel, a malicious statement made
for the purpose of injuring some one's
character or reputation.
Libel Act (1792). Lord Mansfield
having laid it down in the Junius
case (1770) that the jury have no
right to decide whether a statement
is libellous, but only whether it has
been pubUshed, Fox's Act was passed
in 1792, allowing the jury to decide
what constitutes a libel as weU as the
fact of publication. This placed the
freedom of the press under the pro
tection of juries.
Liberals, the name assumed by the
advocates of reform when its oppo
nents were called Conservatives.

Liberal Unionists, the name adopt
ed by those Liberals who separated
from Mr. Gladstone when he adopted
Home Rule as part of his Irish policy.
Licensing Act, first passed in 1692,
to give the Government control of all
printing. It was renewed from time
to time. The refusal of the Com
mons to renew it in 1695 estabUshed
the freedom of the press. The Cen
sorship of the Press was at the same
time abandoned.
Local Government Board, consti
tuted in 1871, had the powers and
duties of the Poor Law Board trans
ferred to it; also the powers and duties
of the Home Secretary regarding re
gistration of births, deaths, and mar
riages, public health, etc. ; and also
the powers and duties of the Privy
Council regarding vaccination and
the prevention of disease. The pre
sident is a member of the Ministry.
Manchester Massacre (1819). On
August 16, a great reform meeting in
St. Peter's Fields was dispersed by
yeomanry. The affair was called in
derision the battle of "Peterloo."
Marriage Act, Royal (1772), pre
venting any descendant of George
II. from making a legal marriage
without the consent of the Sovereign,
unless he or she be 25 years of age,
and have given 12 months' notice to
the Privy Council, and unless the
marriage shaU not have been peti
tioned against by Parliament.
Martial law, the body of rules
ordained for the government of an
army, and administered by courts-
martial. Methuen Treaty, concluded with
Portugal in 1703, by Sir Paul Methuen.
By it English woollen goods were ad
mitted into Portugal, and Portuguese
wines were admitted into England at
two-thirds of the duty on French
wines.

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

307

Mutiny Act, first enacted in 1689,
owing to the mutiny of a Scottish
regiment at Ipswich. Previously mu
tiny and desertion had been treated
as ordinary felonies punishable with
imprisonment ; now they were made
punishable with death, or such Ugh ter
penalty as a court-martial might deem
sufficient. As the Act is passed only
for one year at a time, it affords an
indirect security for the annual sum
moning of Parliament.
National Debt, originated in 1693,
when Charles Montague, Chancellor
of the E.vchequer, borrowed one mil-
Uon sterling at 10 per cent, interest,
secured on duties on Uquors. Another
loan of £1,200,000 was contracted in
1694, in the form of the capital of the
Bank of England. In 1697, the debt
exceeded twenty milUons.
In 1748 the debt was 78 million.

1763

„ 139

1783

u 268

1815

.. 880

1883

n 756
1890
„ 690
Nationalists, Irish, those Irish
members of Parliament who sup
ported Home Rule.
Nomination Boroughs, boroughs in
which there were very few voters,
and in which the member was prac
tically nominated by some peer or
powerful land -owner. Also called
" pocket " and " rotten " boroughs.
Nonconformists, persons who re
fuse to conform to the worship and
doctrine of the EstabUshed Church.
(See "Uniformity.")
Non-jurors, the bishops (7) and
clergymen (300) who refused to take
the new oath of allegiance and supre
macy imposed on aU place-holders in
Church and State by the Parliament
of 1689. Archbishop Sancroft was the
most distinguished of them. The
body did not become extinct till 1805.
There were Presbyterian non-jurors
in Scotland.
Oath Bill, Military and Naval
Oflcers' (1817), opened aU ranks in
army and navy to Dissenters and Ro
man CathoUcs.
Occasional Conformity Prevention
Act (1711), made it penal for any
officer, civil or military, or any magis
trate, to comply with the Test Act
on his appointment, and afterwards
to attend conventicles. It was re
pealed in 1718.
Paper Duty, a duty on manufac
tured paper, abolished in 1861.
Parnellites, followers of Mr. C. S.
ParneU, the advocate of Home Rule
for Ireland. After his deposition
from the leadership, the party was
broken up into Parnellites and anti-
ParnelUtes. Patronage, Lay, the right of the
heritors in each parish to present to
Uvings in the Church of Scotland ;
restored by the Act of 1712. This
led to the Disruption of 1843. By the
Act of 1874, patronage was transferred
to the communicants and adherents
of each church.
Peelites, disciples of Sir Robert
Peel, who, after the repeal of the
Corn Laws, formed an intermediate
party between the Conservatives
and the Liberals. Prominent Peel
ites were Mr. W. E. Gladstone and
Sir James Graham.
Penal Laws, laws involving the
punishment of offenders.
Petitions. Petitioning the King
was declared to be a right of the
subject in the BUI of Rights (1689).
Those who presented the Kent peti
tion in 1701 were imprisoned. In
1780, the great Yorkshire petition
for economical reform was accejited
by Parliament, and thus the modern
system of petitioning was estab
lished.
308

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

Placemen, members of Parliament
holding offices under the Crown. An
Act was passed in 1708 excluding from
Parliament holders of pensions from
the Crown, and of offices created after
October 25, 1705. Holders of offices
existing before that date were re
quired to vacate their seats, but might
be re-elected.
Poor Law Board, a Government de
partment for the supervision of the
administering of the poor laws ; con
stituted in 1847 ; absorbed in the
Local Government Board in 1871.
Prerogative, The Royal, the sum
of the powers legally vested in and
exercised by the Crown.
Presbyterianism, or Presbytery,
that form of church government in
which aU the clergy or presbyters are
of the same rank.
Privy Council, the whole body of
the sworn advisers of the Sovereign.
No member attends its meetings un
less specially summoned. As an ad
ministrative body it has been entirely
superseded by the Cabinet (q.v.). It,
however, exercises certain functions
through committees, as the Judicial
Committee, the Education Commit
tee, the Universities' Committee.
Prorogation, the postponement of
Parliament from one session to an
other. Protectionists, those members of
the Tory party who broke off from
Peel when he repealed the Corn
Laws in 1848. They wished to afford
" protection " to the British farmers
and land-owners.
Purchase in the Army, the system
by which commissions, authorizing
officers to discharge their duties, were
bought and sold. It was abolished
in 1871, the roy.al warrant legalising
purchase being withdrawn.
Radicals, or radical reformers, a
body of politicians who demanded

thorough changes in the Constitu
tion. The demand for "radical re
forms " was made by C. J. Fox in
1797. After the French Revolution
(1789) the Radicals were regarded,
even by Whigs, as revolutionists and
rebels. During the Reform agitation
(1830-32) and afterwards, the name
was appUed to the most advanced
Liberals, and lost its disreputable
character. Regulating Act (1773), Lord North's
Act for the regulation of the gov
ernment of India. It estabUshed
a Supreme Court of Justice, made
the Governor of Bengal Governor-
General of India, and constituted a
Council of five.
Repealers, the followers of Daniel
O'ConneU, who advocated the Repeal
of the Union of Ireland with Great
Britain. Right, Declaration of, the state
ment drawn up by the Convention in
1689 of the arbitrary and illegal acts
of James II. , and of the rights and
Uberties claimed for the people and
the Parliament. Its substance was
embodied in the Bill of Rights {q.v.)
passed by Parliament in the same year.
Biot Act (1715), passed in conse
quence of riots connected with the
Jacobite rising; made it felony for
twelve or more persons to continue
together for one hour after a procla
mation by a justice of the peace or a
sheriff, bidding them disperse. Prac
tically, it authorized the calling out
of the military to disperse riotous
mobs, and indemnified them for any
injury they might commit.
Schism Act (1714), requiring aU
schoolmasters to be members of the
Church of England, and to be licensed
by a bishop. It was repealed in
1718. Scottish Union (1707), established
'ine Parliament for England and

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TERMS.

309

Scotland. Scotland was represented
in the Imperial Parliament by 16
elective peers and 45 commoners.
The Protestant succession was con
firmed. Equality of trade was estab
lished. The Scottish Law Courts and
the Scottish Established Church were
to be maintained.
Secretaries of State, heads of the
chief departments of the Government.
There are five principal Secretaries of
State, who are members of the Cabi -
net — Home, Foreign, Colonial, War,
and India. From the reign of Eliza
beth to that of George III. there were
only two Secretaries of State, distin
guished as Northern and Southern.
In 1782 the duties were divided into
Home and Foreign. In 1794 a Sec
retary for War was added. In 1801
War and the Colonies were placed
under one Secretary. In 1854 they
were separated. In 1858 the Secre
tary for India was added ; and in
1885 the Secretary for Scotland.
Sedition, an offence against the
State not amounting to treason. The
Sedition Act (179.5) forbade political
meetings unless advertised before
hand, and empowered two justices to
disperse them if they thought them
¦dangerous. Septennial Act (1716), prolonged
the possible duration of any Parlia
ment to seven years. The excuse for
it was the disturbed state of the
¦country, owing to the Jacobite rebel
Uon of 1715.
Six Acts, The (1819), a series of Acts
passed hurriedly for the suppression
of sedition and blasphemy, and to
prevent the military training of pri
vate persons. The Acts were vio
lently opposed in Parliament by the
Radicals. Sliding Scale Act, an Act, passed
in 1828, for regulating the import
duty on corn. The duty was reduced

as the price of corn rose. The duty
was £1, 5s. 8d. when the average
price of EngUsh wheat was under
62s. a quarter. For every shilling
added to the price of wheat, one
shilling was taken off the duty.
Spanish Succession, War of the
(1702), arose out of the Partition
Treaties {q.v.) of 1698 and 1700.
Charles II. of Spain bequeathed the
whole of his possessions to Philip of
Anjou, second son ot the Dauphin
of France. The Treaty of Utrecht
ended the war (1713).
Speaker, The, the President of the
House of Commons ; so called be
cause he is the spokesman of the
House in addressing the Crown.
Statute (lit. something set up), a
formal Act of Parliament. From
the time of Edward III., statutes
were founded on Petitions of the
Commons to the King. In the reign
of Henry V. , the King agreed not to
alter the petitions. In that of Henry
VI., the statutes were introduced in
the form of BiUs, as a more certain
way of preventing alterations.
Succession Act, or Act of Settle
ment (1701), settled the crown first
on Anne, then on the Electress
Sophia and her Protestant descend
ants. The Sovereign was not to leave
Great Britain without consent of the
Parliament. Judges were to receive
fixed salaries, and were to be ap
pointed ad vitam out culpam.
Suffrage, a vote (Lat. suffragium).
Supremacy, the position and au
thority of the Sovereign as head both
of Church and of State, " in all causes
and over all persons as well ecclesias
tical as civil."
Test Act, passed in 1673, requiring
all persons holding any office under
the Crown to take the sacrament
according to the forms of the Church
of England. Abolished 1828.

310

GLOSSARY OF HISTORICAL TEEMS,

Toleration Act, passed May 24, 1689,
relaxed the most stringent conditions
of the Act of Uniformity (1662), the
Conventicle Act (1664), and the Five
.Vile Act (1665)
Tories, the name given to the
" Court party " or " Abhorrers," who
opposed the Exclusion Bill in 1679.
The word, meaning " a robber," orig
inally belonged to a set of Irish out
laws about 1654, and w.is applied in
contempt to.the Romanist supporters
of James II. (See " Conservatives.")
Trade, Board of, a Government de
partment constituted by Order in
Council in 1786. Its powers and
duties have been greatly enlarged
since. These relate to harbours, mer
cantile marine, finance, commerce,
railways and fisheries, patents, bank
ruptcy. The president is a member
of the Ministry.
Treason, an act of treachery to the
Sovereign as the head of the State,
such as compassing the death of the
King, levying war against the King,
aiding the King's enemies. The
Treason A,l (1795) declared the writ
ing or speaking of words against the
King's authority to be treason.
Treason-felony, a new crime cre
ated during the Irish disturbances
in 1848. By the Security Act then
passed, exciting to sedition by writ
ing or speaking was made treason-
felony, and was punishable with
penal servitude.
Triennial Act, passed in 1694,
limited the duration of a Parliament
to three years, and provided that
three years should not pass without
a Parliament.

Trimmers, politicians who some
times voted with the Whigs and some
times with the Tories.
Uniformity, agreement ot all sub
jects in using and observing the same
forms of worship. Important Acts
of Uniformity ^^¦cre passed in 1549,
1559, and l(iti2. Ecclesiastical agree
ment is also called conformili/, and its
opponents are Nonconformists.
University Tests, religious or theo
logical tests, excluding dissenters
from the I'niversities of Oxford and
Cambridge, and from the colleges
and fellowships therein, were abol
ished in 1871. The theological tests,
requiring aU professors in the Scot
tish universities to be members ot
the Established Church, were abol
ished in 18(11, excepting in the case of
the theological chairs. Tests were
abolished in Dublin Uni\^(.rsity in
1873. Utrecht, Treaty of (1713), ended
the War of the Spanish Succession.
France acknowledged the Protestant
succession in Great Britain.
Whigs, the name given to the Oppo
sition in the time of Charles II. (See
"Petitioners.") They were, infact.the
same party that had opposed the arbi
trary acts of .lames I. and Charles I,,
sometimes called the "Country"
party, as distinguished from the
"Court" or Tory party, "^\'hig"
is an abbreviation of " \\'higga-
more," a name given in derision to
the Co\enanteis in the south -west
of Scotland, and derived probably
from "Whig, whig," the call used
in urging on their horses (See
"Liberals.")

I IT D E X.

Abdurrahman Khan, 265.
Abercromby, Sir Ralph, 150.
Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon, Earl
of. Prime Minister, 228-234.
Aboukir, Battle, 149.
Abraham, Plains of, Battle, 104.
Abu-Klea, Battle, 271.
Abyssinia, War with, 251.
Acre, Siege, 149 ; taken, 213.
Act of Grace, The, 67.
Addington, Henry (Lord Sidmouth), Prime
Minister, 153-166 ; again, 159, 187.
Addison, Joseph, 48. 66, 112.
AdditioiMl Titles Act, The, 262.
Adelaide, Queen, 196 (h.).
" AduUamites," The, 250.
Afghanistan, Wars in, 213, 266.
Africa, Exploration of, 291.
Aghrim, Battle, 18.
Agricultural Holdings Act, The, 262.
Aislabie, John, 66, 70.
Aii-la-Chapellc, Treaty, 93.
Alabama, Case of the, 247.
Alberoni, Giulio, 66.
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, 248.
Albert, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Con
sort of Victoria, 212, 226 ; death, 247.
Albuera, Battle, 168.
Alexander I., Czar, 154.
Alexander II., Czar, 234, 269 (n.).
Alexandra, Princess of Wales, 248.
Alexandria, Battle, 160.
Algiers, 177 (m.), 197 (n.).
Aliwal, Battle, 220.
"All the Talents" Ministry, The, 159.
Allegiance, Oath of, 11.
Alliance, The Grand, 35 ; the Triple, 65 ;
the Quadruple, 86 ; the Holy, 190.
Alma, The, Battle, 232.
Almanza, Battle, 43.
Althorp, John Charles Spencer, Lord, 201.
See "Spencer, Earl."

American Colonies, The, 113-121 ; inde
pendence of, 121-129.
Amherst, General, 103.
Amiens, Treaty, 154.
Andre, Major, 126.
Anne, Queen, 13, 26 ; Beign of, 40-69.
Anson's Voyage, 84.
Anti-Corn-Law League, 208.
Appellate Jurisdiction Act, The, 284.
Aracan annexed, 192.
Arcot, Siege of, 99.
Argyle, Archibald, Earl ot, 15 ; Duke of, 20.
Argyle, George, Duke of, 275.
Argyle, John, Duke of, 63.
Armed Neutrality League, 152.
Army, Standing, reduced, 31.
Arnee, Battle, 131.
Arnold, American colonel, 124, 126.
Ashantee War, 269.
Ashbourne Act, The, 274.
Assam annexed, 192.
Assassination Plot, The, 27.
Assaye, Battle, 140.
Assiento, The, SO.
Atterbury, Bishop Francis, 64, 71, 72
Auerstadt, Battle, 160.
Augsburg, League, 21.
Augusta of Saxe-Coburg, Princess Dowager
of Wales, 96, 113, 117.
Austerlitz, Battle, 159.
Australia, Government of, 226 ; explora
tion ot, 291.
Austrian Empire, 164.
Austrian Succession, War of the, 85.
Aylesbury Election, The, 47.
Badajoz taken, 169.
Baines, Edward, 243, 250.
Baird, Sir David, 140.
Balaklava, Battle, 232 ; winter at, 233.
Balfour, Arthur J., 278.
Ballot Act, The, 257, 280.

312

INDEX.

Balmerino, Lord, 93. .
Bank of England, 26, 68.
Barik Restriction Act, 146.
Barcelona captured, 42.
Baring, Francis, 211.
Barrosa, Battle, 168.
Bath, Order of the, 74.
Bath, William Pulteney, Earl of, 85.
Bavaria, Elector of, 32.
Beachy Head, Battle off, 21.
Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of,
261, 263 ; death, 267.
Bedford, Dak© of, 118
Belgium, a kingdom, 197.
Bellingham, John, 168.
Bentinck, Lord George, 222.
Beresford, William Carr, General, 168.
Berlin Decree, Napoleon's, 160.
Berlin, Treaty, 263.
Berwick, James Fitz-James, Duke, 18, 43.
Bill ofRighti, The, 13, 36.
Blenheim, Battle, 41, 42.
Blucher, Prussian marshal, 172.
Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount,
66, 61, 72, 80.
Bomarsund, Siege, 231.
Bonaparte, Napoleon. See "Napoleon I."
Bonaparte, Prince Louis Napoleon, 266.
Boscawen, Admiral, 102.
Bosquet, French general, 232.
Boston Harbour, 120.
Bowring, Sir John, 238.
Boycott, Captain, 266.
Boyne, Battle of the, 17, 18.
Braddock, General, 102.
Bradlaugh, Charles, 282.
Breadalbane, John Campbell, Earl of, 19, 20.
Brest, Attack on, 24.
Bribery, 26, 27.
Bribery Acts, 181, 281.
Bright, John, 208, 221, 267, 276.
"Broad Bottom" Ministry, The, 87.
Brougham, Henry, 188, 189, 198.
Bunker's Hill, Battle, 122.
Burdett, Sir Francis, 166, 167, 177, 178, 181.
Burgoyne, General, 126, 130.
Burke, Edmund, 121, 127, 135, 140, 141.
Burke, T. H., 270.
Burmese wars, 191, 228, 278.
Burnes, Sir Alexander, 214.
Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop of Salisbury, 12.
Burrard, Sir Harry, 163.
Busaco, Battle, 165.
Bute, John Stuart, Earl of, 9."., 113 ; Prime
Minister, 115.
Butt, Isaac, 260, 261, 264.
Byng, Sir George, Admiral, 43, 66.
Byng, John, Admiral. 97.

Cabinet, Origin of the, 29 ; flrst party, 63 ;
power of, 61, 75, 76, 294.
Caermarthen, Earl of, 127.
Caermarthen, Thomas Osborne, Marquis
of, 14, 22. See " Leeds, Duke of."
Cairns, Hugh M'Calmont, Earl, 254.
Calcutta, Black Hole of, 99.
Calendar, Correction of the, 95.
Cameron of Lochiel, 88.
Campbell, Captain, of Glenlyon, 20.
Campbell, Sir Archibald, General, 191.
Campbell, Sir Colin (Lord Clyde), 232, 241.
Camperdown, Battle, 148.
Campo Formio, Treaty, 148.
Canada Constitutional Act, The, 142.
Canada, Struggle with the French in, 102 ;
the conquest of, 105 ; invasion of, 124 ;
affairs of, 142, 143; rebellion in, 207:
Union Act, 208 ; responsible govern
ment in, 223 ; Dominion, 251 ; govern
ment of, 295.
Canning, George, 156, 161, 165, 169, 188,
189 ; Prime Minister, 192.
Canrobert, Marshal, 235.
Carnarvon, H«nry Herbert, Earl of, 266.
Caroline of Anspach, 78 ; death of, 82.
Caroline, Queen, 188.
Carstares, William, 15.
Carteret, John, Lord, 71, 73, 79, 85, 87, 94.
See " Granville, Earl."
Carthagena attacked, 84.
Castlereagh, Robert Stewart, Viscount, 151,
156, 161, 166, 168, 176, 177. See "Lon
donderry, Marquis of."
Catholic Association, The, 193.
Catholic Emancipation, 134, 163, 156, 161,
181, 188, 189, 193-196, 204.
Cato Street Conspiracy, The, 187.
Cavagnari, Sir Louis, 265.
Cavendish, Lord Frederick, 269, 270.
Cawnpore, Massacre, 240.
Ceylon, 176 (n.) ; government of, 295.
Chamberlain, Joseph, 267, 275.
Charles, Archduke, 32, 33 ; King of Spain
41 ; Emperor, 46, 73.
Charles II. of Spain, 32-34.
Charles XII. of Sweden, 65, 66.
Charlotte, Princess, 178.
Charter, The People's, 208.
Chartists, 208, 224.
Chatham, John Pitt, Earl of, 165.
Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of, in power,
118-120 ; death, 126.
Chelmsford, Frederick Thesiger, Lord, 26.'..
Chesterfield, Philip Stanhope, Earl, 80, 88.
Chillianwalla, Battle, 225.
Chinese wars, 215, 237, 245.
Churchill, Lord Randolph, 276.

IMDEX.

31.3

Cintra, Convention of, 163.
Ciudad Rodrigo taken, 169.
Clarence, Prince William, Duke of, 195.
See " William IV."
Clarendon, Henry Hyde, Earl of, 14.
Clarkson, Thomas, 139.
Clinton, Sir Henry, 126.
Clive, Robert, 98-101, 106, 107, 129, 130.
Clubs, Eighteenth century, 109.
Cobbett, William, 177.
Cobden, Richard, 208, 221, 222.
Codrington, Sir Edward, Admiral, 192.
Codrington, Sir William, General, 235.
Coffee-houses, Eighteenth century, 109.
Collingwood, Admiral, 155-157.
Colonial Secretary, 230, 286.
Colonies, Government of, 182, 295.
Commercial Crisis, 190.
Commons and Lords in collision, 281.
Commons, House of, 293.
Commons, Supremacy of the, 55.
Commutation Act, The, 136.
Compton, Henry, Bishop of London, 12.
Compton, Sir Spencer, 78. See " Wilming
ton, Earl of."
Congo Free SUtc, The, 273 Cn.), 291.
Congress ot Philadelphia, 121, 124.
Connaught, Prince Arthur, Duke of, 248.
"Conservatives" and "Liberals," 199.
Constitution, The — William and Mary, 36 ;
Anne, 57 ; George I., 75 ; George II.,
107; George III., 179; George IV. and
WiUiam IV. , 203 ; Victoria, 280 ; As it is,
292-295.
Conventicle Act relaxed, 13.
Cook, Captain James, 131.
Coote, Sir Eyre, 106, 131.
Cope, Sir John, 88.
Copenhagen, Bombardment of, 153, 161.
Com Act, 176 ; agitation against, 217 ; re
peal of, 221.
Cornwallis, Marquis, 126, 126, 140, 151.
Coronation Oath, New, 11.
Corporation Act, 13, 67, 138 ; repealed, 193,
204.
Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act, 282.
Corunna, Battle, 163, 164.
Cotton Famine, 247.
County Franchise, 227 ; Act, 272.
Cowper, Francis Thomas de Grey, Earl,
267, 269, 275.
Cowper, Lord Chancellor, 48.
" Craftsman, The," 72.
Craggs, James, 66, 70.
Cranboume, Robert Gascoyne Cecil, Lord,
250. See " Salisbury, Marquis of."
Crefeld, Battle, 101.
Crimea, Invasion of, 231.

Criminal Code mitigated, 205, 209.
Crofters* Holdings (.Scotland) Act, Til.
Crown, Power of the, 127, 180, 189; pre
rogatives of the, 211, 284.
Culloden, Battle, 91, 92.
Cumberland, Ernest, Duke of, 178; King
of Hanover, 207.
Cumberland, William Augustus, Duke of,
87, 90, 91, 101.
Curran, John Philpot, 134.
Currency Act, Peel's, 190.
Dalrymple, Sir Hew, 163.
Dalrymple, Sir John, Master of Stair, 16,
19, 20.
Danby, Thomas Osborne, Earl of, 11. See
" Caermarthen, Earl of."
Darby, Admiral, 12S.
Darien Scheme, The, 30.
Dartmouth, Earl of, 14.
Daun, Marshal, 106.
Debates, Publication of, 181.
Declaration of Right, The, 13, 36.
Declaration of Righl^, American, 121.
Defoe, Daniel, 48, 60, 112.
Delhi, FaU of, 240.
Denman, Thomas, 188.
Denmark, 248.
Derby, Edward Geoffrey Smith, Earl of,
Prime Minister, 227, 228; again, 241-
244 ; again, 260-254.
Derby, Edward Henry Smith, Earl of, 265.
Derwentwater, Earl of, 62, 64.
Dettingen, Battle, 86.
Devonshire, William Cavendish, Duke of,
97.
Dilke, Sir Charles Wentworth, 267.
DisraeU, Benjamin, 222, 227; Prime Min
ister, 254, 255 ; again, 260-267. See
"Beaconsfield, Earl of."
Distribution of Seats Act, 273, 280
" Drapier's Letters," 73.
Dress, Eighteenth century, 110.
Drummond, Thomas, 209.
Dubba, Battle, 218.
Duncan, Admiral, 147, 148.
Dundas, Henry, 146. See " Melville, Vis
count."
Dundas, Sir Richard, Admiral, 236.
Dundee, John Graham, Viscount, 15, 16.
Dupleix, Joseph, 99.
Duquesne, Governor in Canada, 1U2.
East India Company, new charter, 26.
Eastern Question, Tbe, 212, 229, 262.
Ecclesiastical Commission, Court of, 13.
Ecclesiastical Titles Act, Tlie, 227.
Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed, 41.

,314

INDEX.

Edinburgh, Alfred, Duke of, 248, 264,
Education, Eighteenth century. 111 ; State
support of, 206 ; Committee of Council on,
211; English Act, 267; Scottish Art, 257;
Vice-President of Committee of Privy
Council, 285 ; free, 290.
Egremont, Earl of, 115.
Egypt, Affairs of, 212 ; war in, 268.
Election petitions, 181, 282.
Electors, 293.
Electric, telegraph, 289 ; telephone, 290 ;
light, 290.
Elgin, James Bruce, Earl of, 238.
EUiott, General, 128.
Emmet, Robert, 156.
Employers and Workmen Act, The, 262.
Empress of India, The, 262, 285.
Eugene, Prince, of Savoy, 41, 43.
Evans, Sir George De Lacy, 232.
Excise Bill, Walpole's, 80.
Exhibition, First Great, 226 ; Second, 248.
Falkirk, Skirmish at, 90.
Family (Bourbon) Compact, 114.
Fawcett, Henry, 267.
Fenianism in Ireland, 253.
Fenwick, Sir John, 28.
Ferdinand, Prince of Brunswick, 101, 102.
Ferdinand VII. of Spain, 170.
'Fifteen, The, 62-64
Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, 150.
Five Mile Act relaxed, 13.
Flood, Henry, 134, 137.
Fontenoy, Battle, 87.
Foreign affairs, George I., 64, 74; George
II., 79, 81, 85 ; George IV., 190.
Foreign Secretary, 182 ; Queen Victoria's
instructions to, 284.
Forster, Mr., Jacobite, 62, 63, 64.
Forster, William Edward, 267, 269.
'Forty-five, The, 85-93
Fox, Charles James, 121, 127, 135, 140, 141,
146, 156, 169.
Fox, Henry, 95, 96, 115, 116. See "Hoi
land, Baron."
France, War with, 21, 128; Commercial
Treaty with, 137 ; Revolution in, 140-152 ;
First Coalition against, 142 ; designs on
Ireland, 160; Second Coalition against,
162 ; war with, 155 ; Third Coalition
against, 156 ; Fourth Coalition against,
160 ; Commercial Treaty with, 245.
Francis I., Emperor, 87.
Francis I., Emperor of Austria, 164.
Francis, Sir Philip, 119 (n.).
Frankfort, League, 86
Franklin, Benjamin, 121
Predeviok, Prince of Wales, 82 ; death, 96

Frederick II. of Prussia, 86, 96, 106.
Frederick- William, Prince of Prussia, 248.
Free Trade, Demand for, 188, 205.
Frost, John, 209.
Fuentes d'Onoro, Battle, 168.
Gage, General, 122, 123.
Galway, Earl of, 43.
Gambling, 110.
Gardiner, Colonel, 88.
Garfield, James Abram, 269 (m.).
Gas, coal, 290 ; engine, 290.
Gates, American General, 126.
Gay, John, 82.
General warrants, 116, 117.
George, Elector of Hanover, 56 ; George I.,
reign of, 60-77.
George, Prince of Wales, 68 ; George II..
reign of, 78-108.
George, Prince of Wales, 95; George III.,
reign of, 113-186.
George, Prince of Wales, 138; Regent,
167, 177 ; George IV., reign of, 187-196.
Ghent, Treaty, 171.
Gibraltar, 42, 74, 128.
Ginkell, General (Earl of Athlone), 18, 19.
Gladstone, William Ewart, 202, 216, 228
first Budget, 229, 234, 244 : Budgets,
245, 249; Prime Minister, 255-260; re
tirement, 260 ; Prime Minister, 267-274
again, 274-276.
Glencoe, Massacre of, 19, 20.
Gloucester, Duke of, 34.
Goderich, Frederick Robinson, Viscount,
Prime Minister, 192. See "Ripon, Earl
of"
Godolphin, Sydney, Earl of, 11, 22, 28, 29,
32, 34, 38, 40, 48, 64.
Godoy, Don Manuel, 162.
Goojerat, Battle, 226.
Gordon, Duke of, 15.
Gordon, General Charles, 270, 271.
Gordon, Lord George, 132.
Gortschakoff, Prince, 236, 236.
Goschen, George Joachim, 274-276.
Gough, Sir Hugh, General, 220, 225.
Grace, Act of, 14.
Grafton, Dnke of. Prime Minister, 118
Graham, Sir Gerard, 270.
Graham, Sir James, 20.
Grant, Admiral, 246
Grant, Sir James Hope, 246.
Granville, John Carteret, Earl, 94, 96, 116.
Grattan, Henry, 13-3, 133, 193.
Great Britain, First Parliament of, 51.
Greece, Affairs of, 192.
Grenville, George, 114; Prime Minister,
116-118.

INDEX.

315

GrenviUe, Hester, wife ot Pitt, 114 (n.).
GrenvUle, William Wyndham, Earl, 141,
166 ; Prime Minister, 159-161.
Grey, Charles, Earl, 143, 16S, ISl ; Prime
Minister, 197-201
Grey, Henry Geoi^e, Earl, -223.
Grey, Sir George, 230.
Grote, Geoi^e, 243
Guiscard, Marquis de, 54.
Habeas Corpus Act suspended, 2S, 72, 143,
17S. 253.
HaUfax, Ch&rles Montague, Baron, 34 ;
Earl of, and Prime Minister, 60-62.
Halifax, George, Earl of, 115.
Halifax, George SavOe, Marquis of, 11, 14.
Hampden Clul>s, 177.
Hanover separated from Britain, 207.
Hanover, Treaty. 74. 79.
HiLuoverian Succession, The, 60.
Hardinge, Sir Henry, 2-:0.
Hardwicke, Lord ChanceUor, S5.
Harley, Robert, 41, 44, 4S, 63, 54. See
" Oxford, Earl of."
Harris, General, 140.
Hartington, Marquis of, 260, 276, 276.
Hastenbeck, 101.
Hastings, Warren, 130 ; trial of, 139.
Havelock, Sir Henry, General, 237, 210.
Hawke, Sir Edward, lOi
Hawkesbury, Lord. See " Liverpool, Earl
Hawley, General, 9a [of."
Heligoland, 162.
Herbert, Sidney, 234.
High Court (tf Justice. The, 285.
HUl, Rowland, 211, 2S8.
Hoche, Marshal, 150.
Hohenlinden, Battle, 152.
Holland, Henry Fox, Baron, 116.
HoUand, War with, 12S, 145.
Holy Places at Jerusalem, The, 229.
Holy Roman Empire, The, 159.
Home Rule, Irish, 260, 261, 274-279 ; Scot
tish, 272.
Home Secretary, 1S2.
Hood, Lord, Admiral, 145.
Howe, Richard, Admiral. 101, 126, 12;\ 145.
Howe, Sir WiUiam, 123, 125.
Hubertsburg, Treaty, 115.
Humbert, French general, 161.
Hume, Joseph, 210, 243.
Huskisson, WUUam, 189, 196.
Hyder Ali, 130.
Income-Tax. The, 1S3. 217, 249, 260.
I}idciniiUy, Bill of, 13.
Independence, American, Declaration of,
124 ; acknowledged, 127.

India, (George II. , 0^, 106 ; British suprem
acy in, 107 ; George III., 129-131 ; Fox's
BiU, 135 ; the Board of Control, 136 ;
conquest of Mysore, 140 ; of Sindh, 21S ;
of the Punjab, 226; of Oudh, 238; the
Mutiny, 238-241 ; New India Act, 241 ;
Ilbert BiU, 271 ()i.); Secretary of State
for, 285 ; government of, 295.
Inkermann, Battle, 232.
Ionian Islands, 248.
Ireland,The Revolution in, 17 ; persecution
of Romanists in, 29; forfeitures in, 31,
33; under Anne, 49; under George I.,
72, 73, 76 ; George IL, 81 (li.) ; distress
in, 97 ()!,) ; tbe ^\ hiteboys, 99 (ii.), 116
in.); French invasions, 106 (tu); Hearts
of Steel, 120 (n.) ; toleration in, 132 ;
grievances, 132 ; Grattan's ParUament
in, 133 ; CathoUc emancipation, 134, 193-
195 ; Rightboys, 137 ; Pitt's resolutions,
137 ; United Irishmen, Orange Lodges,
144 ; French designs on, 150 ; rebellion,
150 : the Union, 151 ; Emmefs rising,
155 ; repeal agitation, 167, 196, 219 ;
anti-tithe agitation, 201, 209 ; distress
in, 222 ; sedition in, 224, 225 ; Fenianism,
253 ; outrages, 254 ; Cliurch disestab
lished, 255 ; University BiU, 25S ; Home
Rule, 260 ; higher education, 261 ; dis
order, 267 ; outrages, 271 ; representation
of, 273, 2S0 ; Home Rule BUI, 275 ; Land
Purchase BiU, 276 ; Plan of Campaign,
277 ; effects of Crimes Act, 278
Irish Arrears Act, 270.
" Irish Brigade," The, 19.
Irish Church Temporalitits Act, 201.
Irish Chunjh, The, 254, 255, 2S4.
Irish Coercion Actf, 201, 222.
Jri,Ji Criminal Law Amendment Act, 278.
" Irish Invincibles," 270.
Irish Land Laws, 254, 266, 268.
Irish Land League, 266, 2i5S.
Irish National League, 268, 271, 27S.
Irisli NationaUsts, 274, 275, 276.
Irish Peace Preservation Acts, 261. 26S
Irish Frcvcnticn of Crimes Act, 270.
Irish Protection of Life and Property Acts,
261, 268.
Irish Relief <if Distress Acts, 266, 267.
Irish Securitii Act, 224.
Iron, ships, 2S9 ; bridges, 289.
Isandlhana, Battle, 265.
Jaooblto plots, 14 ; tlie 'Fifteen, 62 ; the
'Forty-five, 85-93.
Jacobites, The Irish, 31.
Jamaica, Emancipation of slaves in, 210.
James II., 17, IS, 23. 3...

316

INDEX.

James, Sir Henry, 276.
Jefferson, Thomas, 125.
Jeffreys, Judge, Death of. 11.
Jena, Battle, 160.
Jenkins, Captain, 84.
Jews and the Franchise, 194 ; the Relief
Act, 242, 282.
Johnson, General, 103.
Joseph Ferdinand, Electoral Prince, 32.
Joseph I., Emperor, 42, 45.
Josephine Bonaparte, 165.
Junius," The "Letters of, 119.
Junot, General, 162, 163.
Kars, Defence of, 236.
Kendal, Duchess of, 72, 74.
Kenmure, Lord, 64.
Kent, Edward, Duke of, 178, 179.
Kertch Expedition, 235.
Khartoum, 270, 271.
Kidd, WiUiam, 32, 37.
KiUiecrankie, Battle, 16.
KUmarnock, Lord, 93.
King, Locke, 227, 243, 260.
King, Lord ChanceUor, 74.
Klosterseven, 101.
Labour Acts, 205, 262.
La Fayette, Marquis de, 125.
La Hogue, Battle off, 23.
Lake, General, 150, 151.
Landen, Battle, 23.
Law-making, 293.
Lawrence, Sir Henry, 240.
Lawrence, Sir John, 239.
Lay Patronage (Scotland) Act, 262.
Leake, Sir John, 42.
Leeds, Thomas Osborne, Duke of, 27, 28.
Leeke, Admiral, 237.
Legge, Henry, 114.
Leipzig, Battle, 169.
Leopold, Emperor, 32, 34.
Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Coburg, 178 ;
King of the Belgians, 197.
Lewis, Sir George CornwaU, 234.
Lexington, Battle, 122.
Libel, Law of, 26, 181, 182.
" Liberals " and " Conservatives," 199.
Liberal Unionist party, 276.
Licensing Act, The, 26.
Liegnitz, Battle, 106.
Ligny, Battle, 172.
Limerick, Siege, 18 ; Pacification of, 19.
Lincoln, Abraham, 246.
Literature and poUtics, 48.
Literature, Eighteenth century. 111, 112.
Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl
of, 153 ; Prime Minister, 16S-192.

Livingstone, David, 291.
Locke, John, 112.
London, Treaty, 192.
Londonderry, Robert, Marquis of, 189.
Londonderry, Siege, 17.
Lords and Commons, Conflict of, 47, 281.
Lords, House ot, 292.
Lords-Justices, The, 60.
Louis Philippe, King of France, 224.
Louis, the Dauphin, 32, 33.
Louis XIV. of France, 17, 21, 62.
Louis XV. of France, 65.
Louis XVI. of France, 121 (n.), 143.
Louis XVIII of France, 170, 171, 176.
Lovat, Lord, 47, 93.
Lowe, Robert, 260.
Luddites, The, 168.
LunviUe, Treaty, 152.
Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 211.
Macaulay, Zachary, 139.
Macclesfield, Earl of, 71, 74.
Macdonald, Maclan, of Glencoe, 19.
Mackay, General Andrew, 16.
Mackintosh, Sir James, 205, 209.
Macnaghten, Sir WiUiam, 214, 216.
Mahdl, The (Achmet Mahomet), 270.
Mahoun, James Stanhope, Viscount, 66.
Malmesbury, Earl of, 146.
Malplaquet, Battle, 44.
Malta, 149, 162, 164, 155, 170.
Manchester, Charles Montague, Earl of, 35.
Mansfield, Lord, 181.
Mar, Earl of, 62, 63, 64.
Marengo, Battle, 152.
Maria-Louisa, 165.
Maria-Theresa, Empress, 73 (w.), 86.
Marie, Duchess of Edinburgh, 248.
Marischal, Earl, 66.
Marlborough, John Churchill, Earl ef, 18;
22, 24, 36, 40; Duke, 41, 42, 44; faU of,
46, 47, 48, 65, 60.
Marlborough, Sarah, Countess of, 26, 40,
62; Duchess, 94.
Marmont, French general, 169.
Marriage Act, The Royal, 182.
Mary II., Reign of, 9-26.
Masham, Mrs. (AbigaU Hill), 62, 54.
IMassena, French general, 165, 166, 168.
Meagher, Thomas Fr,ancis, 224, 226.
Meeanee, Battle, 21S.
Mehemet Ali, 167 (n.), 212.
Melbourne, WiUiam Lamb, Viscount,
Prime Minister, 201 ; again, 202-216.
MelviUe, Henry Dundas, Viscount, 156.
Melville, Robert Dundas, Viscount, 15, 19,
Metammeh, Battle, 271.
Methodism, Rise of, 83.

INDEX.

317

Methuen Treaty, 41.
Mexico. French Empire in, 249.
Milan Decree, Napoleon's, 160.
MiUtia, National, established by Pitt, 97.
Minden, Battle, 102.
Ministerial responsibility, 10, 29, 53, 65,
68, 107, 113, 179, 204.
Ministry, First United, 29, 3&
Ministry, The, 294.
Minorca, 44, 97.
MitcheU, John, 224, 225.
Mitchelstown, 279.
Mohocks, 109.
Monmouth, Charles Mordaunt, Earl of, 11.
Montague, Charles, 24, 29, 32. See " HaU
fax, Baron."
Montcalm, Marquis, 103-105.
Montgomery, American general, 124.
Moodkee, Battle, 220.
Mooltan, Surrender of, 226.
Moore, Sir John, 163.
Morley, John, 275.
Mortier, French general, 164.
Moscow, The burning of, 169.
Motmtjoy, Lord, 17.
Mutiny Act, 12, 36.
Mutiny in the Fleet, 147.
Murat, Joachim, King of Naples, 162, 163.
Murray, Lord George, 90, 91.
Mysore, Conquest of, 140.
Namur, Siege, 23.
Napier, Sir Charles James, General, 218.
Napier, Sir Charles John, Admiral, 213,
231.
Napier, Sir Robert, 252.
Napoleon L, Emperor of France, 143, 152,
166, 159, 160, 169, 170, 171, 172, 175.
Narva, Battle, 33.
National Debt, The, 24, 68, 69; Sinking
Fund, 136 ; in 1802, 154 ; in 1816, 176.
Navarino, Battle, 192.
Neerwinden, Battle, 23.
Nelson, Horatio, 145, 147, 153, 155-168.
Netherlands, The, 137 (n.), 161 (n.).
New Brunswick founded, 142.
Newcastle, Henry Pelham, Duke of, 230.
Newcastle, Thomas Pelham, Duke of, 73,
85; Prime Minister, 95-97, 97-115.
Newspapers, 205, 290.
Ney, Marshal, 164, 172, 174, 176.
Nicholas, Czar, 234.
Nightingale, Florence, 233.
NUe, Battle, 149.
Nile exploration, 291.
Nithsdale, Earl of, 64.
Non-jurors, 11, 12.
Nore, Mutiny at the, 147-

Normanby, Constantine Henry Phipps.
Marquis of, 211.
"North Briton, The," 116.
Northcote, Sir Stafford, 276.
Northern League, The, 66.
North, Frederick, Lord, 118; Prime Min.
ister, 120-127, 135.
North- West Passage, The, 290.
Nottingham, Daniel Finch, Earl of, 11, 40,
41, 47, 48, 55.
Oatb, the Parliamentary, 282.
O'Brien, WUUam Smith, 219, 224, 226.
Obstruction in ParUament, 263.
Occasimial Conformity Bill, 47, 55, 68, 67.
O'ConneU, Daniel, 167, 193, 194, 219.
O'Connor, Arthur, 160.
O'Connor, Fergus, 224.
Odessa, Bombardment, 231.
Officers' Oaths Act, The, 193.
Orders in Council, The British, 160.
Orford, Robert Walpole, Earl of, 86.
Ormond, James, Duke of, 40, 46, 66, 61.
Oudenarde, Battle, 44.
Outram, Major, 218; Sir James, 237, 240.
Oxford and Mortimer, Robert Harley,
Earl of, 56, 66, 61, 67.
Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Vis
count, 166, 193, 212, 227, 228 ; Prime
Minister, 234-241 ; again, 244-249.
Pampeluna taken, 169.
Paper Duty, Repeal of the, 247.
Paris, Treaties, 115, 128, 170, 175, 237.
Parker, " Rear-Admiral," 147.
Parker, Sir Hyde, Admiral, 153.
ParUament, The Convention, 11, 13; Tri
ennial, 25, 37; under WUUam III., 37;
Septennial, 04, 75; under George I., 75;
under George III., 180 ; first of Great
Britain, 61 ; and Ireland, 161.
ParneU, Charles Stuart, 264, 266, 269.
Partition Treaties (Spanish), 32, 33.
Paterson, WiUiam, 25, 30.
" Patriots," The, 80, 82.
Paul, Czar, 162, 164.
Peel, Robert, 165, 169, 190, 193; Prime
Minister, 202 ; Baronet, 209 ; Prime
Minister, 216-222 ; death, 226.
Peerage Bill, The, 67.
Peers, Creation of, by Oxford, 65.
Pegu annexed, 228.
Pelham, Henry, 73 ; Prime Minister, 87-94.
PeUssier, Marshal, 235.
Pembroke, Earl of. 127.
Peninsular War, The, 162-171.
Perceval, Spencer, 161 ; Prime Minister,
165-168.

318

INDEX.

Persia, War with, 237.
Peterborough. Charles, Earl of, 42.
" Peterloo," 178.
Petitioning the Commons, 34, 37, 127, 182,
Philip, Duke of Orleans, 66. [205.
PhiUp of Anjou, 33, 34, 65.
Photography, 290.
Pigot, General, 123.
Pitt, WilUam (the first), 8.3, 84; early
career, 93 ; in oflice, 94, 96, 97, 98-114,
118-120. See " Chatham, Earl of."
Pitt, WiUiam (the second), 127, 135 ; Prime
Minister, 135-153 ; again, 166-169.
Place Bill, 85, 107.
Plassey, Battle, 100.
" Pocket boroughs," 138.
PoUing days, 182.
Poor Law, New, 200 ; Irish, 209.
Pope, Alexander, 82.
Porteous Mob. The, 81, 82.
Portland, Duke of, Prime Minister, 135 ;
again, 161-165.
Portland, William Bentinck, Earl of, 34.
Portugal, Alliance with, 41.
Portugal. French occupation ot, 162.
Postage, Penny, 211, 288.
Pragmatic Sanction, 73 («.), 79.
Pratt, Chief-Justice, 116.
Prendergast, General, 277.
Pressburg, Treaty, 169.
Presbyterian Church in Scotland, 16
Prescott, American general, 123.
Press, Freedom of the, 26.
Preston, Viscount, 14.
Prestonpans, Battle, 88, 89.
Prime Minister, OflSoe of, 61, 76.
Privy CouncU, The, 294.
Procedure in Parliament, 266, 278, 283.
Property qualification of members, 54, 58,
Protectionist Party, The, 222. [282.
Prussia, 86, 96, 106, 159, 160.
Public Worship Regulation Act, The, 262.
Pulteney, William, 66, 72, 79. See "Bath,
Earl of."
Punjab, The, 219 ; annexed, 226.
Pyramids, Battle, 149.
Quatre Bras, Battle, 172.
Quebec Act, The, 141.
Quebec, Siege of, 103-106.
Queensberry, Duke of, 50. 51.
Queen's Household. Ladies of the, 211, 284.
Quiberon, Battle, 102.
Rabbling tbe curates, 15.
" Radical Reform," demanded by Fox, 145.
Radicals, The, 210, 242, 243.
Raglan, Fitzroy Somerset, Lord, 231, 235.

Railways, 196, 288.
Ramiilies, Battle, 43.
Rastadt, Treaty, 46.
Rebecca Riots, The, 218.
Reciprocity of D^lties Act, 190.
Reform, Economical, 127, 181.
Reform, Municipal, 202, 204.
Reform, Parliamentary, 134, 137, 143, 166,
176. 177, 178, 181; the three Bills, 198,
204; 242-244; Second Act, 250, 280:
Third Act, 272, 280.
Reform, Social, 207.
Regency, The, 117, 138, 167, 183.
Regimental Exchanges Act, The, 262.
Regulating Act, India, 130.
Reserved Forces, The, 285.
Responsible government, 10, 29, 53, 179.
Revolution, The, its nature, 9.
Revolutions, The First French, 140-152;
Continental, 197; the Second French,
197 (n.) ; the Third French, 223, 224 (n.).
Rice, Spring, 210.
Richmond, Duke of, 135.
Riot Act, The, 62.
Ripon, Frederick Robinson, Earl of, 201.
Robinson, Frederick, 189, 190. See "God
erich, Viscount."
Robinson, Sir Thomas, 96.
Rochester, Laurence Hyde, Earl of, 32, 34,
38, 48.
Rockingham, Marquis of. Prime Minister,
117, 118, 127, 128.
Rodney, Admiral, 128.
Roebuck, John Arthur, 234, 243.
Romanists, 13, 131.
Romilly, Sir Samuel, 205.
Rooke, Sir George, 40, 42.
Rorke's Drift, Battle, 265.
Rose, Sir Hugh, General, 241.
Rossa, O'Donovan, 272.
Rothschild, Baron Lionel de, 242.
Roumania, 262.
Royal assent. The, 68.
Russell, Admiral Edward, Earl of Orford,
28, 29, 32, 34, 37.
Russell, Dr. WiUiam, 234.
RusseU, Lord John, 181, 189, 198, 211, 221;
Prime Minister, 222-227, 228, 234, 243,
244 ; Earl, Prime Minister, 249, 250.
Russia, Extension of, 122, 194 ; Napoleon's
campaign, 169 ; war with Turkey, 229.
Ryswick, Treaty, 24, 29, 31.
Sacheverell, Dr., 44, 63, 54.
St. Arnaud, Marshal, 231, 235.
St. John, Henry, 41, 44, 48, 63, 64.
St. Patrick, Knights of, 134.
St Ruth, French general, 18.

INDEX.

319

St. Vincent, Battle, 146.
St. Vincent, Battle off Cape, 24.
Salamanca, Battle, 169.
Salic Law, The, 207.
Salisbury, Robert Cecil, Marquis of, 263;
Prime Minister, 274 ; again, 276.
Salomons, Alderman, 242.
Sancroft, Archbishop, 11, 12.
Sandys, Samuel, 86.
San Sebastian taken, 169.
Saratoga, 125.
Sarsfield, General Patrick, 18.
Saunders, Admiral, 103.
SavUe, Sir George, 131
Saxe, Marshal, 87.
Schism Act, The, 56, 58, 67.
Schomberg, Marshal, 17.
Scotland, The Revolution in, 15, 16, 19-21 ;
Union, 38, 50-52 ; projected invasion,
43, 47; Act of Security, 50; Church
patronage, 65 ; Ale Tax, 73 ; Porteous
Mob, 81 ; demand for Reform, 143 ; Muni
cipal Reform, 203; Disruption of the
Church, 218 ; Elementary Education,
257 ; Secretary of State, 272, 286 ; re
presentation of, 273, 280 ; crofters, 277.
Seaforth, Earl of, 66.
Sebastopol, Siege of, 232 ; faU of, 235.
Secretary at War, 145, 182, 230.
Secretary for War, 145, 182, 230, 285.
Seditious Meetings Act, The, 183.
Septennial Act, The, 64, 75.
Seringapatam stormed, 140.
Settlement, Act of, 34, 37, 38.
Seven Years" War, The, 96.
Seymour, Admiral, 269 ; Viscount, 269.
Sheer AU, 265.
Sheerness, Mutiny at, 147.
Shelburne, Lord, 127; Premier, 128, 135.
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 136, 140.
Sheriffmuir, Battle, 63.
Shovel, Sir Cloudesley, 42, 43.
Shrewsbury, Charles Talbot, Earl of, 11,
22 ; Duke of, 28, 57, 60.
Sidney, Viscount, 22.
Sikh War, The First, 219; the Second, 225.
SUistria, Siege, 231.
Simpson, Sir James, General, 236.
Sindh, Conquest of, 218.
Sinking Fund, 136.
Six Acts, The, 178, 183.
Slave Trade, AboUtion, 139, 159.
Slavery, Abolition of, 200, 206.
Sliding Scale (Corn) Acts, 208, 217.
Smith, Sir Sidney, 160.
Smith, WilUam H., 276.
Sobraon, Battle, 220.
Somers, Lord ChanceUor, 28, 32, 34, 37.

Sophia-Dorothea, Queen, 60 (n.), 74.
Sophia, Princess of Hanover, 34, 51, 56.
Soudan, War in the, 270.
Soult, Marshal, 104, 168.
South Sea Scheme, The, 68, 69.
Sovereign, The, 292.
Spain, War with, 128, 146; occupied by .
the French, 162.
Spanish Succession, The, 32, 34, 40.
Spanish War of 1739, 83.
Speaker, The, 293.
Spencer, John Charles, Earl, 201 .
Spencer, John Poyntz, Earl, 269.
Spithead, Mutiny at the, 147.
Stair, James Dalrymple, Viscount, 15.
Stamp Act, The American, 116, 117.
Stanhope, James, 44, 60, 66 ; Earl, 67, 70.
Stanley, Lord, 201, 222. See "Derby,
Earl of."
State of Society, eighteenth century, 109-
112; progress of nineteenth century,
288-291.
Steam in factories, 288.
Steamships, 288.
Steel, ships, 289; guns and rifles, 289;
bridges, 289.
Steele, Richard, 49, 112.
Steenkirke, Battle, 23.
Stephens, James, 253.
Stephenson, George and Robert, 196.
Strachan, Sir Richard, Admiral, 165.
Strikes, 200.
Stuart, Charles Edward, the Young Pre
tender, 86, 88-93.
Stuart, Henry, Cardinal, 93.
Stuart, James, the Old Pretender, 35, 43,
62-64.
Subsidies, Foreign, 96, 101.
Suez Canal, The, 256.
Sunderland, Charles Spencer, Earl of, 48,
64, 65 ; Prime Minister, 66-70.
Sunderland, Robert Spencer, Earl of, 28.
Supremacy, Oath of, 11.
Supreme Court of Judicature Act, 259, 286.
Surajah-Dowlah, 99, 100.
Sveaborg bombarded, 236.
Swift, Jonathan, 49, 72, 73, 82, 112.
Switzerland, French invasion of, 148 (n.).
Talavera, Battle, 164.
Tallard, Marshal, 42.
Tandy, Napper, 144, 151.
Tchemaya, the. Battle, 236.
Tel-el-Kebir, Battle, 269.
Temple, Richard GrenviUe, Earl, 114, 135.
Tenasserim annexed, 192.
Tennyson, Lord, 232 (n.).
Test Act, IB, 67, 138 ; repealed, 193, 204.

320

INDEX.

Theodore, King of Abyssinia, 262.
TUlotson, John, Archbishop, 12.
Tilsit, Treaty, 161.
Tipoo Sahib, 131, 140.
Tithe Commutation Act, The, 203.
Toleration Act, 12.
Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 144, 151.
Tooke, Home, 143.
Torgau, Battle, 106.
Tories and Whigs, 37, 47, 48, 62, 62.
Torres Vedras, Heights of, 166.
Torrington, Earl of, 21.
Toulouse, Battle, 169.
Tournay captured, 44.
TourviUe, French admiral, 21, 24.
Townshend, Charles, 118.
Townshend, Charles, Viscount, 60, 65, 66,
68, 71, 74, 79.
Tractarian Party, The, 217.
Trade-Unions, 200.
Trafalgar, Battle, 167.
Transvaal, War in the, 268.
Treason Act of 1696, 27, 38.
Treason-felony, 224.
Treasonable Practices Act, 183.
Trent, Affair of the, 246.
Trevelyan, Sir George Otto, 267.
Trevor, Sir John, 27.
Triennial Act, 25, 37.
"Triumvirate," The, 115.
TulUbardine, Marquis of, 66, 88.
Turkey, Affairs of, 192, 212; wars with
Russia, 229-237, 262, 263.
Tyrconnel, Duke of, 17, 18.
Clm, Surrender of, 169.
Uniformity, Act of, relaxed, 13.
Union, The Scottish, 60-52, 68; proposed
repeal, 55 ; the Irish, 161 ; repeal agita
tion, 167, 196.
United Empire Loyalists, 142.
"United Irishman, The," 224.
United Irishmen, 'The, 144.
United States ot America, The, 128; war
with, 170 ; Civil War in, 246.
University, Ireland, 268; Eoyal Irish, 261;
Tests Abolition, 281.
Utrecht, Treaty, 46, 65.
Venddme, Marshal, 44.
Vernon, Admiral, 84.
VersaiUes, Treaty, 129.
Victoria, Princess, 178 ; Reign of, 207-287 ;
Empress of India, 262 ; Jubilee, 279

Victoria, Princess Royal, 248.
Vienna, Treaties, 74, 79, 80, 81, 165 ; Con
gress, 171, 176 (n.) ; Conference, 234.
Vigo Bay, Ships captured in, 40.
Villars, ^farshal, 44.
ViUeroi, Marshal, 43.
VilUers, Charles, 221.
Vimiero, Battle, 163.
Vinegar HiU, 161.
Vittoria, Battle, 169.
Volunteers, British, 165, 244.
Volunteers, The Irish, 132.
Wagram, Battle, 164.
Walcheren Expedition, 165.
Walker, Rev. George, 17.
Walpole, Robert, 44, 46, 63, 60 ; Prime
Minister, 62-66, 71-85; Sir Robert, 74.
See " Orford, Earl of."
Wandiwash, Battle, 106.
Washington, George, 102, 124, 139 (n.).
Waterloo, Battle, 173.
Wellesley, Arthur, 140, 161, 163, 164. See
"Wellington, Viscount."
WeUesley, Baron, 140 ; Marquis, 165, 168.
WeUington, Viscount, 164, 165, 168, 169;
Duke, 171-176 ; Prime Minister, 193-197 ;
duel, 196 ; 202, 216 ; death, 228.
Wentworth, Lord, 84.
Wesley, John, 83.
Wharton, Earl of, 29.
" Whig Junto," The, 28, 29, 38.
Whigs and Tories, 37, 47, 48, 52, 62.
Whitfield, George, 83.
WUberforce, WUliam, 139, 159, 200,
Wilkes, John, 116, 119, 136.
WiUiam III., Reign of, 9-39.
WiUiam IV., Reign of, 196-206.
WUliams, WiUiam Fenwick, General, 236.
WUmington, Spencer Compton, Earl of,
78 ; Prime Minister, 85-87.
Winchelsea, Earl of, 194.
Wolfe, James, General, 103-105.
Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 269, 269 ; Viscount,
269, 271.
Women and children. Act on labojir of, 205.
WoodfaU, WiUiam, 119.
Wood's Halfpence, 72, 73.
Worms, Treaty, 86.
Wyndham, Sir WiUiam, 81.
Yakub Khan, 265
Zulu War, 266.

YALE

Date Issued