fT^JW^W" .^V. i.' '■ HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE XVIIF^ CENTURY VOL. I. LIBRARY PRINTED BY SFOTTISWOODE AKD CO., NEW-STKEET SQUARE iOSDON HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUUY BY WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY NEW EDITION VOLUME L LONDON LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 1892 All rights reserved v./ PREFACE TO THE CABINET EDITION In consequence of a desire which has been frequently and urgently expressed, I have, in the present edition, connected in one continuous narrative the Irish chap- ters, which had been previously scattered through several volumes and divided by great tracts of Eng- lish history. This portion of my work will form the concluding volumes of this edition, and will be sepa- rately sold. The whole history has, at the same time, been carefully revised. Since its first volumes ap- peared in January 1878 much controversy has gathered round some of the subjects I have treated ; many new books relating to them have been published, and a few original sources of information have been for the first time disclosed. Without making any large or very material changes, I have endeavoured to bring my work up to the level of our present knowledge, and by a few retouches, additions, and erasures, I have, I hope, added considerably both to its accuracy and to its completeness. January 1892. PEEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION The history of a nation may be written in so many different ways that it may not be useless, in laying these volumes before the public, to state in a few words the plan which I have adopted, and the chief objects at which I have aimed. I have not attempted to write the history of the period I have chosen year by year, or to give a detailed account of military events or of the minor personal and party incidents which form so large a part of political annals. It has been my object to disengage from the great mass of facts those which relate to the permanent forces of the nation, or which indicate some of the more enduring features of national life. The growth or decline of the monarchy, the aristocracy, and the demo- cracy, of the Church and of Dissent, of the agricultural, the manufacturing, and the commercial interests ; the increasing power of Parliament and of the Press ; the history of political ideas, of art, of manners, and of belief; the changes that have taken place in the social and economical condition of the people ; the influences that have modified national character ; the relations of PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION VU the mother country to its dependencies, and the causes that have accelerated or retarded the advancement of the latter, form the main subjects of this book. In order to do justice to them within moderate limits it is necessary to suppress much that has a purely biographical, party, or military interest ; and I have also not hesitated in some cases to depart from the strict order of chronology. The history of an in- stitution or a tendency can only be written by collect- ing into a single focus facts that are spread over many years, and such matters may be more clearly treated according to the order of subjects than according to the order of time. It will appear evident, I think, from the foregoing sketch, that this book differs widely from the very valuable History of Lord Stanhope, which covers a great part of the same period. Two writers, dealing with the same country and the same time, must necessarily relate many of the same events ; but our plans, our objects, and the classes of facts on which we have es- pecially dwelt, are so very different that our books can hardly, I hope, come into any real competition ; and I should much regret if it were thought that the present work had been written in any spirit of rivalry, or with any wish to depreciate the merits of its predecessor. Lord Stanhope was not able to bring to his task the artistic talent, the power, or the philosophical insight of some of his contemporaries ; but no one can have studied with care the period about which he wrote without a feeling of deep respect for the range and accuracy of his research, for the very unusual skill which he displayed in the difficult art of selecting from VIU PKEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION great multitudes of facts those which are truly charac- teristic and significant, and, above all, for his trans- parent honesty of purpose, for the fullness and fairness with which he seldom failed to recount the faults of. those with whom he agreed and the merits of those from whom he differed. This last quality is one of the rarest in history, and it is especially admirable in a writer who had himself sti'ong party convictions, who passed much of his life in active politics, and who was often called upon to describe contests in which his own ancestors bore a part. To the great courtesy of the authorities of the French Foreign Office I am indebted for copies of some valuable letters relating to the closing days of Queen Anne ; and I must also take this opportunity of ac- knowledging the unwearied kindness I have received from Sir BERNARD BuRKE, Ulster King of Arms, during my investigation of those Irish State Papers which he has arranged so admirably and which he knows so well. London : November 1877. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. PAGE Vicissitudes of Wliigs and Tories 1 Not true that the parties have exchanged their principles . 2 The Eevolution much more due to special than to general causes 7 Many general influences had long been inimical to Freedom The decline of the yeomen Kestrictions on the political influence of the commercial classes ........ Subserviency of the Judges Intellectual tendency towards Despotism Growth of the doctrine of the Divine Eight of Kings . Summary of the causes of the Eevolution Skill with which the Whig leaders availed themselves their opportunities ....... Part played by general and particular causes in history Unpopularity of the Eevolutionary Government Strength of the English hatred of foreigners It acted at first in favour of the Eevolution And was strengthened by the Protestant feelings of country Dangers to Protestantism in Europe The jealousy of foreigners gradually turns agaanst the Eevolution the 8 9 9 10 10 12 13 19 21 22 23 23 28 X CONTENTS OF PAOB Foreign Policy The Spanish Succession England desires the acceptance of the will of Charles II. Change of feeUng produced by the invasion of Flanders Formation and prospects of the Grand Alliance Kecognition of the Pretender by Lewis XIV. Strong warhke feeUng. Dissolution of Parliament and triumph of the Whigs Death of William Tory sympathies of Anne New Tory Ministry and Parliament .... The exigencies of foreign policy draw Godolphin and Marlborough towards the Whigs .... Partial transformation of the Ministry Blenheim ......... Anger of the clergy against the Queen Great Whig majority of 1705 Progress of the alienation of the Government from the Tories Regency Act — other events of the Godolphin Ministry Government at length completely Whig Alienation of the Queen. The Ministers depend mainly for their power on the continuance of the war Negotiations of 1706 And of 1709 Marlborough refused the position of Captain-General The Church Opposition The Sacheverell case Downfall of the Whigs Coincidence of great ecclesiastical influence in England with great political and intellectual activity Eelations of the clergy to the Eevolution : the abjuration oath Exaltation of Charles I The miracle of the royal touch Strength of the Church in England .... Its gains and losses by the Eeforniation Poverty and low social position of the clergy Effect of the Eevolution in weakening their power Growth of the Lalitudinarian party. Burnet Change in the tone of the pulpit ..... The non-juror theology ...... Conflict between the lower clergy and the bishops . Divisions in Convocation Several Church measures carried under Anne THE FIRST VOLUME XI History of the Occasional Conformity Bill . « Conduct of the Whig party .... The Schism Act Political and religious liberty in great danger Review of Foreign Policy Deaths in the French and Austrian royal families Military situation .... Conferences of Gertruydenberg . Eeasons for a peace .... Inevitable dissolution of the alliance . Wisdom of recognising the title of Philip V. Hostility of the new Government to Marlborou Secret negotiations and preliminaries Conference at Utrecht England abandons her allies • Disasters that follow . Violent proceedings at home . Fall of Marlborough . His character and career The Peace of Utrecht Abandonment of the Catalans Eefiections on the Peace The Assiento contract . Harley and St. John made peers Landed property qualification bill Strength and weakness of the Government Characters of its leaders 160 Strength of the Jacobite party throughout the kingdom . 103 Attitude of leading politicians towards it . . . . 164 The Protestant succession in great danger . . . 167 Eefusal of the Pretender to become a Protestant . . . 171 Forms the chief obstacle to his success .... 172 Advantages of the Whigs 175 The Commercial Treaty 177 Its failure weakens the Ministry 181 General Election. Clerical and Jacobite agitation . . 181 Divergence of Oxford and Bolingbroke 185 Attitude of the opposing parties. Intentions of Boling- broke 187 Death of the Electress Sophia — Prorogation of Parliament — balance of parties 194 Pohcy of Swift 196 Dismissal of Oxford ........ 201 Jacobite designs of Bohngbroke. His intended Ministry . 202 The Queen is seized with a mortal illness . . . . 204 PAGB 115 117 118 119 121 122 123 124 127 129 132 134 135 138 141 141 142 148 152 156 158 158 159 182 m CONTENTS OF Conduct of Shrewsbury, Argyle, and Somerset . Shrewsbury made Treasurer Preparations to secure the Hanoverian succession Queen dies George I. proclaimed Attitude of Parhament and of parties Formation of a Whig Ministry .... FAGB 204 205 206 200 207 207 210 CHAPTER 11. Analysis of the Whig Party. 1. The Aristocracy Their remarkable liberality in England Their influence in raising public labour to honour In averting unscrupulous legislation In making government popular . In sustaining patriotic feelings In bringing young men into poHtics . Other uses of the peerage Its evils Moderation of the English aristocracy Peerage Bill of Stanhope . Great influence of the aristocracy at the lution 2. time of the Eevo- 212 215 220 221 222 223 224 226 228 230 232 The- Commercial Classes The natural representatives of poUtical progress . . 233 And of religious toleration 233 Immigration of Eefugees 234 Its imiDortance in the history of industry , . . . 237 Eifect on the Whig party 240 Growth of industrial influence and prosperity in England . 240 Effect of the funding system and of the great mercantile corporations in strengthening the Whigs . . . . 247 Political corruption by rich merchants .... 249 Sunmiary of the political influence of the commercial classes 251 The Nonconformists Their position at the time of the Eevolution . How far the Eevolution favoured religious liberty The Toleration Act The Comprehension scheme .... Position of the Quakers Their affirmation allowed instead of oaths Increased facility for levying tithes Jacobitism under Anne very hostile to Dissenters Impeachment of Tory statesmen . 252 253 253 254 255 256 257 257 259 THE FIRST VOLUME. XIU PAGE Growing discontent . 261 Bremen and Yp^^^h 263 jjigm-j-poifon of 1715 265 jj.uguor of public opinion. The Septennial Act . . . 269 Decline of the Monarchical Sentiment in England Multiplication of disputed successions throughout Europe . 271 Decay of the doctrine of Divine right 271 The party interest of the Tories hostile to the reigning King 273 The respect for law opposed to high monarchical views . 274 Influences favourable to the royal power were overbalanced 274 Increased simplicity of the Court 274 Disappearance of the miracle of the royal touch . . 276 Lingering traces among the Stuarts 276 Growth of party government diminishes monarchical authority 278 Methods by which the Whig party strengthened their power 281 Close alhance with France 284 Peace of Rastadt 287 Disturbances in Spain 288 Alberoni. His early career 290 Directs Spanish policy— gradually diverges from England . 291 Turkish war of 1715. Alberoni secretly assists the Turks . 293 Northern politics. Contest between Sweden and JRussia . 294 Plot against England. Arrest of Gyllenborg . . . 296 Spain makes war against Austria 296 Attack on Sicily. Peace of Passarowitz . . . . 298 Quadruple Alliance 299 Peace and the cession of Gibraltar offered to Spain. Re- fused by Alberoni 300 Defeat of the Spaniards at Cape Passaro .... 301 Victor Amadeus accedes to the Quadruple AUiance. Death of Charles Xn 301 Conspiracy supported by Alberoni for seizing the French Regent 302 Its failure. Last efforts of Alberoni 303 Spanish expedition to Scotland. France invades Spain . 304 Banishment and later history of Alberoni . . . 306 Pacification of Europe. Congress of Cambray (1724) . . 308 Disputes about Gibraltar. French alliance strengthens the Hanoverian Dynasty ....... 309 Decline of the Ecclesiastical Spirit Growth of Scepticism — its different effects on Churches . 310 Political results of the Trinitarian controversy and of the writings of Hoadly 312 XIV CONTENTS OF Indefinite prorogation ot Ooxiyoontinn .... 313 Banishment of Atterbury . . . ',','. 314 Manner in which it was received ..... 315 Religious Legislation of the Whigs Discussions on the Sacramental Test. Its history and effects 316 Unsuccessful efforts to repeal it 321 Bepeal of the Schism and Occasional Conformity Acts . 322 Measures in favour of the Irish Presbyterians . . . 323 Belaxations of the English test 323 Measures in favour of the Quakers 324 Eevival of the Bill for Naturalising foreign Protestants . 326 The Jewish Naturalisation Act 327 Popular disturbances. Bepeal of the Act . . . . 329 Intolerance not confined to the Anglicans or High Church- men 331 Bepeal of the law against witchcraft 332 Bectification of the calendar 334 The position of the Catholics unimproved . . . . 335 Peculiarity of the position of Catholicism in Europe . . 335 And in England 340 New laws against Catholics in England .... 344 Laws against Catholics in the Colonies 346 Condition of the Catholics in England .... 348 And in Scotland 357 Measures relating to Unitarians, Arians, and Sceptics . 358 Bapid growth of religious indifferentism in England . . 361 CHAPTER III. Monotony of English party politics. Tories still esteemed Jacobite 364 Policy and partial restoration of Bolingbroko . . , 364 Schism of the Whigs in 1717 367 Partial reconciliation in 1720 370 The South Sea catastrophe 371 Complete ascendency of Walpole 375 Sketch of his life 375 Ministry of Walpole His skill in managing men 880 His care in avoiding violent concussions of opinion . . 381 His measures to reconcile the country gentry to the dynasty 383 His prudent religious policy 384 THE FIRST VOLUME XV PAGE Instances of his sagacity of judgment .... 385 His. financial skill 388 Great prosperity of the country 389 Proceedings relating to the National Debt. Arguments for National Debts 390 Their dangers 391 Erroneous estimates of the financial capacities of the country 394 Connection between the Eevolution and the National Debt 396 The sinking fund of Walpole 398 His deference to public opinion combined with great abso- lutism in the Cabinet ........ 399 His moderation to opponents has been exaggerated . . 402 His pacific policy 405 Treaty between Spain and Austria in 1725 . . . 406 Siege of Gibraltar 409 Negotiations for peace 409 Peace of Seville and Peace of Vienna 412 War of the Polish Succession 413 Military sentiment of the King and country . . . . 415 Menacing progress of France 415 Walpole maintains peace 419 His ascendency not due to great eloquence. Oratory not supreme in Parliament 422 Summary of the merits of Walpole 426 His Defects Low political honour 424 Want of decorum 426 Corruption. History of Parliamentary corruption . . 427 Degree in which the guilt of it attaches to Walpole . . 432 His influence over young men 433 Eeport of the Committee of Inquiry 434 Effect of the language of Walpole on political morality in England 436 Elements of Opposition Pulteney 438 Carteret 440 Chesterfield 443 The Boy Patriots 444 The Tories 445 Position of Bolingbroke 445 The Prince of Wales 447 Death of the Queen. Isolation of Walpole • . . 448 XVI CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME PAGE Foreign Troubles Disputes with Spain 449 The Family Compact 450 Jenkins' ears 451 Declaration of war. First Expeditions .... 454 Death of the Emperor. Weakness of Maria Theresa . . • 455 Frederick II 456 The succession of Juliers and Berg 458 Claims to Silesia 459 Invasion of Silesia. Coalition against Maria Theresa . . 460 Policy of Walpole 461 Subsidy to the Empress. Neutrality of Hanover . . . 462 FaU of Walpole 465 Buin of the influence of Pulteney 468 Failure of the impeachment of Walpole .... 469 His last days 470 HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. CHAPTER I. The political history of England in the eighteenth century falls naturally into two great divisions. After a brief period of rapid fluctuations, extending over the latter days of William and through the reign of Anne, the balance of parties was determined on the accession of George I. The Whigs acquired an ascendency so complete that their adversaries were scarcely able even to modity the course of legislation, and that ascendency continued without intermission, and almost without ob- struction, for more than forty-five years. But on the accession of George III. the long period of Whig rule terminated. After about ten years of weak govern- ments and party anarchy. Lord North succeeded, in 1770, in forming a Tory ministry of commanding strength. The dominion of the party was, indeed, broken in 1782 for a few months, in consequence of the disasters of the American war ; but on the failure of the Coalition Ministry it was speedily re-established. It became as absolute as the Whig ascendency had ever been. It lasted, without a break, to the end of the VOL. I. B 2 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cir. i. century, and it wan only overthrown on the eve of the Hefonii Bill of 1832. There is one theory on the subject of these political vicissitudes to which it is necessary brielly to advert, for it has been advocated by an historian of great eminence, has been frequently repeated, and has, in some respects, considerable plausibility. It has been alleged that the policy of the two great ])arties has been not merely modilied, but reversed, since the first half of tlie eighteenth century; that the' Tories of the time of Queen Anne and of the first two Georges were substan- tially the same as the Whigs of the early years of the ])resent century, and the older Whigs as the modern Tories. The Tories, we are reminded, opposed ]\Iai4- borough and the French war, as the Whigs of the nineteenth century opposed Wellington and the Penin- sular war. The Tories in 1711 overcame the opposition of the House of Lords by the creation of twelve peers, as the Whigs in 1832 overcame the same opposition by the threat of a still larger creation. The Tories ad- vocated, and the Whigs op])Osed, free trade principles at t he Peace of Utrecht. The Tories had at least some Catholic sympathies, while the Whigs were the chief authors of the penal laws against Catholics. The Tories agitated in the early Hanoverian period for short parlia- ments and for the resti'iction of the corrupt intluence of the Crown. The Whigs carried the Septeimial Act, and were the usual opponents of place bills and pension bills. I think, however, that a more careful examination will sulliciently show that, in spite of these ap])earances, the ground fur assuming this inversion of principles is very small. The main object of the Whig party in the early ])art of the eighteenth century was to establish in I'higlaiid a system of government in which the will of the people as expressed by I'arliament should be CH. I. WriKiS AND TORIES. 6 supreme, and the power of the monarch should be subject to the limitations it imposed. 'J^he substitution of a parliamentary title for divine right as the basis of the throne, and the asseition of the right of the nation to depose a dynasty which had transcended the limits of the constitution, were the great principles for which the Whigs were contending. They involved or governed the whole system of Whig policy, and they were as- suredly in perfect accordance with its later develop- ments. The Tory party, on the other hand, under Queen Anne was to a great extent, and under George I. was almost exclusively, Jacobite. The overwhelming majority of its members held fervently the doctrines of the divine right of kings and of the sinfulness of all resistance, and they accordingly regarded the power of Parliament as altogether subordinate to that of a legiti- mate king. The difference of dynasties was thus not merely a question of persons but a question of principles. Each dynasty represented a whole scheme of policy or theory of government, the one being essentially Tory and the other essentially Whig. The maintenance of the Hanoverian dynast}^ on the throne was, therefore, very naturally the supreme aim of the Whig pai'ty. They adopted whatever means they thought conducive to its attainment, and in this simple fact we have the key to what may appear the aljerrations of their policy. If we enter more into detail there can be no ques- tion that the Tory party of the present century has been essentially the party of the landed gentry and of the Established Church, while it has been a main function of the Whigs to watch over the interests of the commercial classes and of the Nonconformists. But these characteristics are just as true of the days of Oxford and Bolingbroke as of those of Eldon and Castle- reagh. The imuiense majority of the country gentry and clergy in the early years of the eighteenth century B 2 4 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. 1, were Tories, and the party was called indifferently the ' Church party,' or the ' country party,' while the com- mercial classes and the Dissenters uniformly sup})orted the Wliigs. TJie law making the possession of a certain amount of landed property an essential qualification for all members of Parliament, except a few specified categories, was a Tory law, carried under Queen Anne, in spite of the opposition of the Whigs, and it continued unaltered till I808, when the land qualification was exchanged for a general property qualification, which in its turn was abolished by the Liberals in 1858. The two ecclesiastical measures which excited most dis- cussion under Aiuie were the Occasional Conformity Act, which was intended to break the political power of the Dissenters by increasing the stringency of the Test Act, and the Schism Act, which was intended to prevent them from educating their children in their faith. Both of them were Tory measures; both of them became law in a period of Tory ascendency ; both of them were repealed at the triumph of the Whigs. A very analogous conflict raged in the present century around the Test Act and around the restrictions that excluded the Dissenters from the Universities. Like their predecessors in the eighteenth century, the modern WJiigs were the steady advocates of the Dissenters. Like their predecessors in the eighteenth century, the Tories contended vehemently for restrictions which they believed to be useful to the Church. In no respect were the Tory Governments in the days of Pitt and Castlereagli more remarkably distinguished from tlieir Wliig successors than by their extreme jealousy of the l^i'ess, their desire to liuiit its influence, and the severity with which they punished its excesses. But precisely the same contrast between the ])arties existed in the earlier phases of tlieir history, 'l^he Wliig (Jovcfiiment that followed the lievolutiun established the liberty of CH. X. WniCJS AND TORIES. O the Press. The first of the series of taxes on know- h^dge which the modern Lilierals, after a long struggle against Tory opposition, succeeded in abolishing were the stamp upon paper and the duty upon advertise- ments, which were imposed by the Tory ministry of Anne. The same ministry was prominent in the eighteenth century for the frequency and bitterness of its Press prosecutions, while the long Whig ministry of Walpole was in no respect more remarkable than for its uniform tolerance of the most virulent criticism. In the face of these facts it is not, I think, too much W say that the notion of the two parties having ex- changed their pviuci])les is altogetlier fallacious, and the force of the instances that have been alleged will, on examination, be much weakened, if not wholly dis- pelled. The attitude of parties towards Euro]iean wars is so slightly and remotely connected with their political principles that the fact of a party having opposed a war in one century and supported a war in another can hardly be regarded as a reasonable presumption of apostasy. The free trade policy which the Tories up- held in the reign of Anne has never been distinctively Whig, and in promoting its triumph the party which counts Hume and Tucker among its writers, and Pitt and Huskisson among its statesmen, deserves a credit at least equal to its opponents. The attacks which the Whigs directed in 1713 against the free trade clauses of the Tory commercial treaty with France, were scarcely more vehement than those wliich Fox and Grey directed on the same groimd against the commercial treaty negotiated by Pitt in 1786. It is true that the Whigs in the seventeenth, and in the first half of the eighteenth, century, were more actively anti-Catholic in their policy than the Tories, and that they are re- sponsil)le for the most atrocious of the penal laws against Catholicism ; but the obvious explanation is to 6 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY, en. i. he found in the fact that the Whigs were struggling for a Protcslant succession, while the legitiniate line ad- hered to Catholicism. A])art from this, the Tories had little or no sympathy with the Catholics. If the Dis- senters were more strongly antipapal than the clergy of the Establislied Cliurch, the commercial classes were certainly more tolerant than the country gentry. The Tory Government under Anne did nothing for the Catholics; it even issued a proclamation in 1711 for putting the laws against them into force, and it is a remarkal)le fact that tlie only minister in the first quarter of the eighteenth cent ury who showed any real disposition to relieve them of their disabilities was the Whig Stanhope. The Bill substituting septennial for triennial parliaments was, it is true, a Whig measure, and it is also true tliat the Tories in the early Hano- verian period were, in conjunction with a large body of discontented Whigs, energetic parliamentary reformers, advocating triennial or even annual ])arliaments, and inveighing bitterly against pensioi'is and places. But in this there is uotliing perplexing. The Whigs carried the Septennial Act because they believed tliat a dissolu- tion immediately after the accession of George I. and tlie rebellion of 1715 would be of the utmost danger to the dynasty which it was their great object to defend. They maintained tlie Septennial Act mainly because they were in power, and desired, like all administra- tions, to avoid any unnecessary shock tliat would endanger tlieir stability. That short parliaments are not naturally Tory, or long parliaments naturally Whig, is abundantly shown by the earlier history of the Triennial Bill, which, having been first earried by the revolutionary Long Parliament in 1641, was repealed in the Torv reaction of the Restoration, and re-enacted in 1691, aftcn- a struggle that lasted for sevei'al years, during which the Whigs had generally supported and en. I. DECLINE OF THE YEOMEN. 7 tlie Tories luid usunlly opposed it. The Whigs, Avlien in office under Wal[)olc, maintained and multiplied places and pensions because they were at their dis- posal, and were powerful instruments in maintaining their majority. The Tories acted in the same manner when they regained power under George III. If, at a time when they were in almost hopeless opposition, they took a different course, they were merely adopting the ordinary tactics of an Opposition. The great triuuiph of Whig principles that was achieved at the Revolution was much less due to any genei'al social, or intellectual development than to tlie follies of a single sovereign, and the abilities of a small group of statesmen. For a long time, indeed, the ten- dency of events had been in the opposite direction. In the earlier periods of English history, perhaps the most important element of English liberty lay in the great multitude of independent yeomen or small landed pro- prietors. In the reign of Henry VI., Fortescue had declared that in no other cduntry in Europe were they so numerous as in England, and he attributed to this fact a very large part of the well-being of the nation. ^ For many genei'ations, however, this class had been steadily declining. The relaxation of the feudal system enabled proprietors to alienate their land ; the increase of wealth had the inevitable result of accumulating landed properties ; the great extension of the woollen trade, combined with the high rate of agricultural wages under Henry VII., made it the interest of landlords to turn arable land into pasture ; the sudden alteration in the value of money resulting from the discoveries of precious metals in America, and the violent changes in the distribution of wealth produced by the confiscation of Church property aggravated the tendency ; and in ' Fortescue, De Laudibus Legum Anglice, cap. xxix. 8 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. the latter Tudor reigns tliei-e were bitter complaints that the small proprietors were being rapidly absorbed, that tenants were being everywhere turned adrift, and that great tracts which had once been inhabited by a flourish- ing yeomanry were being converted into sheepwalks. More, Roger Ascham, Harrison, Latimer, Strafford, and Bacon bear abundant testimony to the magnitude of the evil. A long series of attempts was made to check it by laws placing obstacles in the way of new inclosures, prohibiting the pulling down of farmhouses to which twenty acres of arable land were attached, restraining the number of sheep in a flock, and even I'egulating the num- ber of acres under tillage ; but this legislation, which had been warmly eulogised, and in part originated, by Bacon, was probably imperfectly executed and was certainly insuflicient to arrest the tendency. The yeomanry formed the chief political counterpoise to the country gentry. In the Civil War they were conspicuous on the side of the Parliament, and even after the Restoration it was estimated that there were more than 160,000 small landed proprietors in England. Every year, however, their number diminished.^ If they continued in the country districts, they sank into peasants, or rose into country gentry, and in the first case they lost all political power, while in the second case they usually passed into tiie Tory ranks. The towns, and the commercial classes who inhabited them, liad, no doubt, rapidly in- creased under the Stuarts, but they had hardly made a corresponding advance in political importance. The guilds which gave the commercial classes a largo ^HeeFAen's Hist, of the Work- santry in Mr. Thornton's Ovcr- hu) Cla.'iscs, i. 7:5, 115 ; Macau- ]}0]nil(ition. ]5a(:on lias dwelt lay's Iliat. chap. iii. ; Fisohcl strongly on the evil in his His- OnthcC(inf:iUntion,m').iiir),?,l(), tory of Henry VII. and in his and tlie admirable chapter on essay On the True Greatness of the IIis'( ry of the English Pea- Kingdoms. CH. I. TENDENCIES TOWARDS DESPOTISM. amount of political concentration, had disappeared. The modern inventions that have given manufacturing in- dustry an unparalleled extension had not yet arisen, and by a recent and skilful innovation the political power of the commercial classes had been fatally impaired. Under Charles II. the corporations most hostile to the Crown had been accused of petty irregularities and misdemeanours. Sentences of forfeiture had been pronounced against them ; new charters were granted, framed in such a manner that the members were necessarily subject to the approval of the Crown, and by this process almost the whole boi'ough representation througfhout England had been reduced to a condition of complete subserviency. The judicial bench has more than once proved the most formidable bulwark against the encroachments of despotism, but in England the judges were removable at pleasure, and had become the mere creatures of the Crown. In no age, and in no country have State trials been conducted with a moi'e flagrant disregard for justice and for decency, and with a more scandalous subserviency to the Crown, than in England under Charles II,, and eleven out of the twelve judges gave their sanction to the claim of his successor to dispense with the laws. Nor was the balance of intellectual influences more favourable to freedom. There existed, it is true, a small body of able men who adopted the principles of Sidney or of Locke, and who often carried them almost or altogether to the verge of republicanism ; but the universities, which were the very centres of intellectual life, were thoroughly Tory, Hobbes, who was the most influential freethinker of the Restoration, advocated a system of the most crushing despotism, and the eccle- siastical influences which exercised an overwhelming influence over the great mass of the English peo[)le were eminently inimical to freedom. In the old 10 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. Cathf)lic times an Avclil)is]iop of Canterbury had com- bined witli the l);u'ons at Jiunnymede, and, in opposition to the P()i)e and to liis h^gate, had wrested the great charter of English liberty from the sovereign, but the Church whicli succeeded to the sceptre of Catholicism was essentially Erastian, and the instincts of its clergy were almost uniformly des})otic. The free spirit gene- rated in the Reformation had taken refuge in Puri- tanism, but m the reaction that accompanied and followed tlie Restoration, Puritanism seemed hopelessly discredited and crushed. The hostility which the country gentry and the established clergy liad always felt towards it was intensified by the many battles which the first had fought, and by the many humiliations which the latter had undergone, while the populace hated it for its austerity, and the deepest feelings of the English nation were stung to madness at the memory of their slaughtered king. The doctrine of non- r(^sistance in its extreme foi'm was taught in the Homilies of the Church, embodied in the oath of allegiance,' in the corporal ion oath of Charles II.,'-* and in the declaration prescribed by the Act of Uniformity,^ enrolled by great Anglican casuists among the leading tenets of Christianity, and persistently enforced from the pulpit. It had become, as a later bishop truly said, ' the distinmiishinor character of the Church of Mno-land.' '' At a time when the constitution was still unfoi'iniil. when every institution of freedom and every bulwark against despotism was continually assailed, the authorised religious teachers of the nation were incessantly incul- cating this doctrine, and it may probably be said ' 'I, A B, do declare and be- ' 14 Car. II. stat. ii. c. 1. lieve that it is not lawful upon * Sec the dying profession any pretence whatever to take up of Lake, Bishop of Chichester, arms against the king.' Lathbury's Hist, of the Non- ■ 13 Car. II. c. 2. jurors, p. 50. CH. I. TENDENCIES TOWARDS DESPOTISM. 11 without exao^goration tliat it occupied a movo prominent position in the preaching and the literature of the Angiican Church than any other tenet in the whole com- pass of theology. Even Burnet and Tillotson, who were men of unquestionable honesty, and who subsequently took a conspicuous part on the side of the Revolution, when attending Russell in his last hours, had impressed upon him in the strongest manner the duty of accepting the doctrine of the absolute unlawfulness of resistance, and had clearly intimated that if he did not do so tliey could feel no confidence in his salvation.' The clergy who attended Monmouth at his execution told him he could not belong to the Church of England unless he acknowledged it.^ The University of Cambridge in 1679, and the University of Oxford on the occasion of the death of Russell, authoritatively proclaimed it, and the latter university consigned the leading Whig writ- ings in defence of freedom to the flames, and prohibited all students from reading them.^ The immense popu- larity which the miracle of the royal touch had acquired, indicated only too faithfully the blind and passionate loyalty of the time ; nor was there any other period in English liistory in which the spirit of independence and the bias in favour of freedom which had long characterised the English people were so little shown as in the years that followed the Restoration. It was impossible that this could last. The enthu- siasm of loyalty was strung to so high a pitch that reaction was inevitable, but had it not been for a very rare combination of causes it would never have been carried to the point of revolution. The immorality of the court of Charles which shocked the sober feelings • Birch's Life of Tillotson (2nd Hist, of Parties, i. 105, 345-355. eel.), 109-122. Someis' Tracts, viii. 420-424 ; ix. - See Fox's James II. p. 265. 367. ^ See on these decrees Cooke's 12 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. of tlie middle class, the contemptible cliaracter of the Kiii2f,tlie humiliation which French patronasj^e and Dutch victtjries inipos(>d upon the nation, the growth of re- ligious scepticism, which at last weakened the influence of the clergy, the atrocious persecution of Noncon- formists, and the infamy of the State trials, had all considerable effect, but they operated chiefly upon a small body of enlightened men. The popularity of the Revolution, so far as it existed, arose from the conflict between the three great passions of the English mind. These were attachment to the throne, attachment to the Church, and dread of Catholicism. The ' No Popery ' feeling under Charles II. had burst out fiercely in the panic about the Popish plot and in the atrocities that followed it ; but when the Whigs endeaN'oured to avail themselves of it to pass the Exclusion Bill their eflnvts recoiled upon themselves, and it became evident that even this passion was less powerful than attachment to the leo'itimate order of succession. Yet it was to this feeling that the triumph of the Revolution was mainly due. Had the old dynasty adhered to the national faith, its position would have been impregnable, and in the existing disposition of men's minds it was neither impossible nor improbable that the free institutions of England would liave shared the fate of those of Spain, of Italy, and of Prance. Most happily for the country, a bigoted CathoHc, singularly destitute both of the tact and sagacity of a statesman, and of the qualities tliat win the affection of a people, mounted tlie throne, devoted all the energies of his nature and all the re- sources of his position to extending the religion most hateful to his people, attacked with a strange faluity the very Churcli on whose teaching the monarchical enthusiasm mainly rested, and thus drove the most loyal of his subjects into violent opposition. Without the assistance of the Church and Tory ])arty <,lie Revo- cii. 1. CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 13 lutioii would huve been impossible, uiid it is certain tluit the Cliiu'cli would never Imve led the opposition to the dispensing power had not that power been exerted to remove the disabilities of the Catholics and Dis- senters. The overtures of the King to the Noncon- formists, whom the Church regarded as her bitterest enemies, his manifest intention to displace Protestants by Catholics in the leading posts of the Government, the violation of the constitution of an Oxford college which assailed the clergy in the very citadel of their power, and, finally, the prosecution of the seven bishops, at last forced the advocates of passive obedience into reluctant opposition to their sovereign. Yet even then attaclunent to the legitimate line might have prevailed but for the belief that was industriously spread that the Prince of Wales was a supposititious cliild, and every stage in the intricate drama that ensued was governed more by the action of individuals and by accidental circumstances than by general causes. The defection of Marlborough, and of almost every leading politician on whom the Kang relied, brought William without opposition to London, but this was only the first step of the change. The Whigs were themselves by no means unanimous in desiring his accession to the throne, and it is quite certain that the great majority of the English people had no wish to break the natural order of suc- cession. The doctrine of the indefeasible right of the legitimate sovereign, and of the absolute sinfulness of resistance, was in the eyes of the great majority of Englishmen the cardinal principle of political morality, and a blind, unqualified, unquestioning loyalty was the strongest and most natural form of political enthusiasm. Tliis was the real danger to English liberty. Until this tone of thought and feeling was seriously modified, free institutions never could take root, and even after the intervention of William it was quite possible, and in 14 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cir. i. the eyes of most Englishmen eminently desirable, that a Government should have been established so nearly legitimate as to receive tlu^ support of this enthusiasm — the. consecration of this Ijelief. The most obvious method of achieving this end would have been to retain James on the throne, im- posing on him new parliamentary restrictions ; but his ilight to France rendered this impracticable, removed tJie greatest difficulty from the path of the Whigs, and made it possible for them to construct the ingenious fiction of abdication, which was of much use in quieting the consciences of the Tories. Assuming that James had abdicated, the infant prince was tlie natural heir, and he might have been called to the throne under a Protestant regency. But this, too, was made impos- sible by circumstances. The child had been carried to France, and the popular belief that he was supposititious damped the enthusiasm of his supporters. Assuming that James had al)dicated, and that his alleged son was supposititious, the coronation of Mary as sole sovereign would have established a legitimate monai-chy. The wishes of the queen and the resolution of William, who threatened at once to retire to Holland and leave the country to anarchy, prevented this solution, and made it absolutely necessary to call to the throne a sovereign whose title was manifestly a parliamentary one. Had any one of the other three courses been pursued, a shock would, no doubt, have been given to the Tory theory of government ; but the whole current of politi- cal thought would soon liave resumed its course. The sovei'eigiity would have still been regarded as of divine right. The political enthusiasm of the great majority of the nation would have centred upon it, and the belief that it possessed a sanctity generically dillerent from, and innneasuiably transcending, that of any otliei- insti- tution in the country would have given it a fatal power CH. 1. CHARACTER OF THE REVOLUTION. 15 ill every conflict with the Parliament. By a very rare concurrence of circumstances, by the extraordinary folly of the legitimate sovereign, by the ambition and con- summate statesmanship of William and of a small group of Wliig statesmen, a form of government was established and maintained in Encjland for which the mass of the people were intellectually wholly unpre- pared. The French war soon roused the national feel- ing, w4iile James, with great folly, identified himself ostentatiously with the enemies of his country ; and the indignation produced by the plots against the life of William, and at a later period by the recognition of the Pretender by Lewis XIV., conspired powerfully to the maintenance of the new Government. The Whig leaders employed in the interests of toleration and liberty an opportunity which was the result of violent currents of public feeling of a very different kind. A considerable portion of the Tories were gradually won over, and it is a remarkable fact that the Act of Settle- ment was passed by a Tory majority. Religious liberty was extended probably quite as far as the existing con- dition of opinion would allow. The ancient limits of the constitution, which had been grievously infringed in the last two reigns, were reasserted by the Declaration of Rights, and new guarantees of national freedom were enacted, so efficient, and at the same time so moderate, that very few of them were subsequently annulled. The law limiting the duration of Parliament to three years was, indeed, as we have seen, replaced by the iSei)ten- nial Act, and three of the clauses of the Act of Settle- ment were in a few years repealed. That excluding all servants of the Crown from the House of Commons would have destroyed the harmony between the execu- tive and legislative bodies, which is one of the chief advantages of parliamentary government, and by with- drawing the ministers from the Lower House, would IG ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUrxY. cir. i. Lave fatally weakened its influence. That compelling every member of the Privy Council to sign liis opinions was thought an excessive restriction on the liberty of statesuH'ii. That forljidding the sovereign to leave the British Isles without the consent of Parliament was re- voked at the desire of George I. But these were com- paratively small matters. The great legislative changes that were effected at the Revolution — the immobility of the judges, the rrfbrm of the trials for treason, the liberty of the Press, the more efllicient control of the income of the sovereign, the excision from the oath of allegiance of the clause which, in direct contradiction to the Great Charter, asserted that under no pretence what- ever might subjects take up arms against their king ; the establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland, and the partial toleration of Dissenters in England, have all been justified by history as measures of real and un- questional )le progress. The English Revolution belongs to a class of suc- cessful measures of wliich there are very few examples in history. In most cases where a permanent change has been effected in the government and in the modes of political thinking of a country, this has been mainly because the nation has become I'ipe for it through the action of general causes. A doctrine which had long been fervently held, and which was interwoven with the social fa1)ric, is sapped by intellectual scepticism, loses its hold on the affections of the people, and becomes un- realised, obsolete and incredible. An institution which was once useful and honoured has become unsuited to the altered conditions of society. The functions it once discharged are no longer needed, or are discharged more elliciently in other ways, and as modes of thought and life grow up that are not in h;irmony with it, the re- verence that consecrates it slowly ebbs away. Social and economical causes change the relative importance rii. I. GOVF.RNINO INFLUENCES IN HISTORY. 17 of classes and professions till the old political arrano^e- ments no longer reflect with any fidelity the real dis- position of power. Causes of this kind undermine institutions and prepare great changes, and it is only when they have fully done their work that the men arise who strike the final blow, and whose names are associated with the catastrophe. Whoever will study the history of tlie downfall of the Roman Republic ; of the triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire ; of the dissolution of that empire ; of the media? val transi- tion from slavery to serfdom ; of the Reformation, or of the French Revolution, may easily convince himself that each of these great changes was the result of a long series of religious, social, political, economical, and in- tellectual causes, extending over many generations. So eminently is this the case, that some distinguished writers have maintained that the action of special circum- stances and of individual genius, efforts, and peculiarities, counts for nothing in the great march of human affairs, and that every successful revolution must be attributed solely to the long train of intellectual influences that prepared and necessitated its triumph. It is not difficult, however, to show that this, like most very absolute historical generalisations, is an ex- asrseration, and several instances mio-ht be cited in which a slight change in the disposition of circumstances, or in the action of individuals, would have altered the whole course of history. There are, indeed, few streams of tendency, however powerful, that might not, at some early period of their career, have been arrested or de- flected. Thus the whole religious and moral sentiment of the most advanced nations of the world has been mainly determined by the influence of that small nation which inhabited Palestine ; but there liave been periods when it was more than probable that the Jewish race would have been as completely absorbed or extirpated VOL. I. c 18 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. as were tlie ten tribes, and every trace of the Jewish writings blotted from the world. Not less distinctive, not less unique in its kind, has been the place which the Greek, and especially the Athenian, intellect has occupied in history. It has been the great dynamic agency in Eui'opean civilisation. Directly or indirectly it has contributed more than any other single influence, to stimulate its energies, to shape its intellectual type, to determine its political ideals and canons of taste, to impart to it the qualities that distinguish it most widely from the Eastern world. But how much of this influence would have arisen or have sui'vived if, as might easily have ha])]iened, the invasion of Xerxes had succeeded, and an Asiatic despotism been planted in Greece? It is a mere question of strategy whether Hannil)al, after Cannae, might not have marched upon Rome and burnt it to the ground, and had he done so, the long train of momentous consequences that flowed fi'om the Roman Empire would never have taken place, and a nation widely different in its joosition, its character, and its pursuits, would have presided over the developments of civilisation. It is, no doubt, true that the degradation or disintegration of Oriental Christianity assisted the triumph of JNIoliammedanism ; but if Mohammed had been killed in one of the first skirmishes of his career, there is no reason to believe that a great monotheistic and military religion would have been organised in Arabia, destined to sweep with resistless fanaticism over an immense part both of the Pagan and of the Christian world, and to establish itself for many centuries and in three continents as a serious rival to Christianity. As Gibbon truly says, had Charles Martel been defeated at the l)attle of Poitiers, Moliamniedanism would have almost certainly overspread the whole of Gallic and Teutonic Europe, and the victory of the Christians was only gained after several days of doubtful and indecisive CH. 1. ACCIDENTS IN HISTORY. 19 struggle. The obscui-e lil under of some forgotten captain, who perhaps moved his troops to the right when he should have moved them to the left, may have turned the scale, and determined the future of Europe. Even the changes of the French Revolution, prepared as they undoubtedly were by a long train of irresistible causes, might have worn a wholly different complexion had the Duke of Burgundy succeeded Lewis XIV. and directed with the intelligence, and the liberality that were gene- rally expected from the pupil of Fenelon, the government of his country. Profound and searching changes in the institutions of France were inevital)le, but had they been effected peacefully, legally, and gradually, had the shameless scenes of the Regency and of Lewis XV. been avoided, that frenzy of democratic enthusiasm which has been the most distinctive product of the Revolution, and which has passed, almost like a new religion, into European life, might never have arisen, and the whole Napoleonic episode, with its innumerable consequences, would never have occurred. The English Revolution is an example, though a less eminent one, of the same kind. It was a movement essentially aristocratic. The whole course of its policy was shaped by a few men who were far in advance of the general sentiments of the nation. The King, in spite of his great abilities, was profoundly unpopular, and his cold and unsympatlietic manners, and his mani- fest dislike to the island over which he reigned, checked all real enthusiasm even among the Whisfs. The Church was sullen and discontented, exasperated by the Act of Toleration, which the clergy were anxious to repeal, implacably hostile to the scheme of comprehension, by which William wished to unite the Protestant bodies, and to the purely secular theory of government which triumphed at the Revolution. In the existing state of public opinion it was impossible that any system which c 2 20 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. the Church disliked could he really popular, and many causes, both just and unjust, contributed to the dis-^ content. The moral feelings of the conununity were scandalised by the spectacle of a child making- war upon her father, by the base treachery of many whom the dethroned sovereign had loaded with benefits, by the tergiversation of multitudes, who, in taking the oaths to a revolutionar}'' Government, were belying the ])rinci]>les wliich for years they had most strenuously maintained. There was an uneasy consciousness that the Revolution, though singularly unstained by bloodshed and by excess, was far from glorious to the English people. It was effected by a foreign prince with a foreign army. It was rendered possible, or, at least, bloodless, by an amount of aggravated treachery, duplicity, and ingratitude seldom surpassed in history. Besides this, national prosperity had rapidly declined. A great and by no means suc- cessful war was entailed upon the nation, and thousands of Englishmen had been mown down by tlie sword or by disease in Flanders and in Ireland. The lavish sums bestowed on Dutch favourites, the immense subsidies voted to the confederates in the war, the rajiid increase of taxation, the creation of a national debt, and of great standing armies, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, the defeat of Steinkii'k, when five regiments of Englishmen were cut to pieces by a superior force while whole battalions of allied forces remained passive spec- tators of the scene, the desolation of Ireland, the massacre of Cllencoe, the abandomnent of the Darien colonists, the 'rabbling' of about 300 Episco])alian clergymen in Scotland, the Partition Treaty, signcnl by William witliout consultation with any English minister except Somers, all added to the flame. Tlie discontent was unreasonably, but not unnaturally, aggravated by a long series of bad harvests. From 1690 to 1009 there was hardly a single year of average prosperity. The loaf which in the last cH. I. DISTRESS DURING THE REVOLUTION. 21 reign had cost threepence rose to ninepence. Great multitudes who liad been employed in the woollen manu- factories, or in the mines, were turned adrift. In the eight years from 1688 to 1G96 it was stated in official documents that the value of the merchandise exported from England sank from 4,086,087/. to 2,729,520/., and the Post Office revenue from 76,318/. to 58,672/. Every shoi)keeper and innkeeper bore witness to the increasing poverty. In every part of the kingdom there were accounts of rents being unpaid, of tenants breaking, of impoverished landlords ; and alarming bread riots broke out at Worcester, Gloucester, Hereford, Staftbrd, North- ampton, Sudl)ury, Colchester, and other ])laces.' The most formidable element in this discontent was that hati'ed of foreigners which was so deeply rooted in the English mind, and which has played a part that can hardl}^ be exaggerated in English liistory. Hatred of foreign interference lay at the root of that old antipathy to Rome which alone rendered possible the English Reformation. Hatred of the Irish and hatred of the French were leading elements in the popular feeling against James II., while the adherents of tlie Stuarts continually appealed to the hatred of the Dutch, of the Germans, and of the French refugees. The very name of each of the great parties in the State bears witness to the feeling, for it was at first only an offensive nick- name, deriving its point and its popularity from a national antipathy. The ' Tory ' was originally an Irish robber, and the term was applied by Gates to the dis- believers in the Popish plot, was afterwards extended to the Irish Catholic friends of the Duke of York at the time of the Exclusion Bill, and soon became the desig- ' Somers' Tracts, ix. 457, x. Jcind, in England (1707), p. 87. o;jG-358. Short's Hist, of the Chiilmevs' Estimate, Ci-ailCs Hist. Increase and Decrease of Man- of Cuimnerce, p. 117. 22 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. 1. nation of the whole body of liis supporters. The term ' Whig' was a nickname ajiplied to the Scotch Presby- terians. It began at the time when the Cameronians took up arms for their religion, and was derived from the whey, or refuse milk which their poverty obliged them to use, or, according to another version, from ' Whiggam,' a word employed by Scotch cattle-drovers of the west in driving their horses.' In many cases these national jealousies might be justified by a real national danger, but there lay behind them a vast mass of uni'easoning prejudice which the insular position of England made exceptionally strong, and which was one of the most powerful forces in English politics. In the latter Stuart reigns this sentiment was strongly on the side of the Whigs. The sale of Dun- kirk to France, the shameful day when the Dutch fleet sailed unmolested into the Thames, burnt the shipping at Chatham, and menaced the security of the capital, and, still more, the growing subordination of England to the policy of Lewis XIV., had irritated to the veiy hitjliest deo-ree the national sentiment. England, whicli had shattered the power of France at Agincourt, Crecy, and Poitiers, which under Elizabeth and Cromwell had been feared or lionoured in every quarter of the Conti- nent, had now sunk into complete disrepute, and fol- lowed humbly in the wake of her ancient rival. Year by year the power and the airdjition of Lewis increased, and threatened to overshadow all the liberties of Europe; but no danger could rousi^ the English sovereign from his ignoble toi'por, and both he and his ministers were suspected with only too good reason of being the paid vassals of the French king. It may easily be understood how galling such a sub- ' North's Examcn, p. 321. Burnet's Hist, of liis Own Times (folio ed.), i. 43. va. 1. TUE PKOTESTANT CAUSE. 23 serviency to foreig'nevs must have been to large classes who were very iudiftemit to questions of constitutions and parliaments, and the indignation was greatly in- creased by the close connection between the foreign policy of England and the interests of Protestantism in Europe. In England Protestantism was the religion of so large and so energetic a majority of the people that any attempt to overthrow it was hopeless, but on the Continent its prospects at the time of the Revolution were extremely gloomy. For several generations over a great part of Europe the conflict had been steadily against it, and there was much reason to believe that it might sink into complete political impotence. Partly by the natural reaction that follows a great movement of enthusiasm, partly by the superior attraction of a pic- torial form of worsliip, partly through the skilful orga- nisation of the Society of Jesus, and still more by a systematic policy of repression, Protestantism had almost disappeared in many countries, in which, some fifty years after the Reformation, it appeared to have taken the firmest root. Bohemia had once been mainly Protestant. In Hungary, Transylvania, Poland, Austria proper, and even Bavaria, Protestants had formed either a majority, or nearly half of the population. In France they had occupied great towns and organised powerful armies. They might once have been found in numbers in the northern provinces of Italy, in Flanders, in Cologne, Bamberg, Wiirzburg, and Ems. In all these quarters the ascendency of Catholicism was now almost undivided, and the balance of political power was im- mensely in its favour. Spain, though in a state of de- cadence, was still the greatest colonial power in the world. The Emperor and the King of France were by far the greatest military powers on the Continent, and the Emperor was persecuting Protestants in Hungary, while Lewis XIV. made it a main object of his home 24 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTK1:NTII CENTURY. ch. i. policy to drive tlinii iVom France, and a jiKiiii object of his foreign! jiolicy to crush Holland, which was then the most powevl'ul bulwark of Protestantism on the Conti- nent. Of the Protestant States Sweden was too poor and too remote to exercise nuieh [jci'iiianent influence, and she had for many years been little more than a satellite of France ; Holland had been raised under a succession of able leaders to an importance much beyond her natural resources, but her very existence as an inde- pendent power was menaced by her too powerful neigh- bour ; England had sunk since the Restoration into complete insignificance, and a bigoted Catholic had now mounted her throne. The Peace of Westphalia had been more than once violated in Germany to the detri- ment of the Protestants, and several petty German princes had already abandoned the faith. That great Protestant country which is now Prussia, was then the insignificant Electorate of Brandenbui'g, and was but just Ijeginning, under an Elector of conspicuous talent, to emerge from obscurity. That great country which is now the United States of America, consisted then of a few rude and infant colonies, exercising no kind of influence beyond their borders, and although the policy of Iloman Catholic nations was by no means invariably subser- vient to the Church, the movement of religious scepti- cism which now makes the preponderance of intelligence and energy in every Iloman Catholic country hostile to the priests had not yet arisen. From almost every point of the compass dai'k and threatening clouds were gather- ing around tJie Protestant cause, and the year 1G85 was ])ronounced ilie most fatal in all its annals. In Feb- ruary an English king declared himself a Papist. In June Charles, the Elector Palatine, dying without issue, the electoral dignity passed to the bigoted Po])ish House of Neuburg. In October Lewis XIV. revoked tJie I]di(;t of Nantes, and began that ferocious persecution which CH. I. CATUOLIC SUrPOKT OK WILLIAM. 25 couipleted tlie work of vSt. J Bartholomew in Fi'auce. In December the Duke of Savoy was induced by Froncli ])ersuasion to put an end to the toleration of the Vaudois.* Happily for the interests of the world the religious difference was not the sole or the chief line of national division, and the terror that was excited by tlie ambition of France enlisted a great part of Catholic Europe on the side of William. The King of Spain was decidedly in his favour, and the Spanish ambassador at the Hague is said to have ordered masses in his chapel for the success of the expedition.^ The Emperor employed all his inMuence at Rome on the same side, and by singular good fortune the Pope himself looked with favour on the Revolution. Odescalchi, who, under the name of Innocent XI., had mounted the Papal throne in 1676, was a man of eminent virtue and moderation, and he had, in conjunction with a considerable body of the English Catholics, steadily disa])proved of the violent and unconstitutional means by which James, under the advice of Father I'etre, was endeavouring to bring the English Catholics to power. He appears to have seen the probability of a reaction, and he wished the King to restrict himself to endeavouring to ol»tain toleration for his co-religionists, and the English Catholics to abstain as much as possible from political ambition and from every course that could arouse the popular indig- nation. He had directed the general of the Jesuits to rebuke Father Petre for his am!)ition, and he posi- tively refused the urgent request of James to raise his favourite to the episcopate and to the purple. On the ' See a striking picture of the Calamy's Life, i. 125, 126 ; Kcm- light in wliicli this struggle ap- ble's State Papers, p. xli, xlii. peared to contemporaries in tlie - Macphurson's Original I'a- Somers' Tracts, ix. 593-595 ; ijcrs, i. aOl. 26 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. other hand he looked with extreme apprehension and dislike upon the policy of Lewis XIV. In the interests of ]*]urope he clearly saw that the overwlielnnng' power and the insatiable ambition of the French kiiiu; foi'uied the greatest danger of the time, and that the complete subserviency of England was a main elenient of his strength. In the interests of the Church he dreaded the atteuipts of Lewis, while constituting himself the great representative and protector ot Catholicism in Europe, to make himself almost as absolute in ecclesias- tical as in temporal affairs. The French king had for sometime shown a peculiar jealousy of Papal authority, and a peculiar desire to humiliate it. In a former pontificate he had made use for this purpose of a quarrel which had arisen between some Corsican guards of the Pope and some Frenchmen attached to the embassy at Rome, had seized Avignon, had threatened to invade Rome, and had compelled Alexander YII. to make the most abject apologies, to engage for the future to admit no Corsicans into his service, and even to erect a monument commemorating the transaction.^ Soon after the accession of Innocent XL the feud again broke out, and it was so bitter that the Papal Court began to look upon the French king as the worst enemy to the Church. The antagonism arose on the question of the right, or the alleged right, of the French sovereign to appoint to ecclesiastical benefices in France during the vacancy of the episcopal sees. The claim had long been contested by the Pope, but it was admitted by the French clergy, who were now closely allied to the sovereign, and were looking forward to the revocation of tlie Edict of Nantes. The dispute led to the famous articles of 1682, by wliich the French Church denied that the Pope possessed by divine right any temporal ' De Flassan, Hist, de la Diplomatie Franraisc, iii. 292-302. CH. t. ENMITY OF THE TOrE TO LEWIS XIV. 27 jurisdiction, declared its adhesion to the decrees by which the Council of Constance asserted the supremacy of general councils, and maintained that tlie rules and customs of the Galilean Church must prevail in France, that the apostolic power should only be exercised in accordance with the canons, and that even on questions of dogma the Papal decrees were fallible, unless they had been confirmed by the general adoption of the Church. These articles, which were the foundation of Gallican liberties, were published by order of the King, and registered by the parliaments and universities, while the Pope protested strongly against them, and began to refuse bulls to those whom the King nominated to vacant bishoprics. A still more bitter quarrel speedily followed. The Pope desired to abolish the scandalous I'ight of sanctuary, by virtue of which the precincts of the hotels of the ambassadors of the Great Powers at Rome had become nests of smugglers, bankrupts, and thieves ; and as all the Great Powers except France readily acquiesced in the reform, he announced his intention of receiving no ambassador who would not renounce the shameful privilege. Lewis, however, determined to maintain it. Contrary to the expressed desire of the Pope, he sent an ambassador to Rome, with instructions to assert the right of sanctuary, and he directed him to enter Rome as if it were a conquered town, escorted by a large body of French troops. The Pope refused to receive the ambassador, excommunicated him, and placed the French church at Rome, in which he had worshipped, under interdict, while the King retaliated by arrest- ing the Nuncio at Paris. Nearly at the same time the important electorate and archbishopric of Cologne became vacant, and the Pope opposed a favourite scheme of Lewis by refusing his assent to the promotion to these dignities of the French candidate, Cardinal 2S ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. Fursteiiberi^. Lewis, on the other hand, accused the Pope of conspiring with the enemies of France. He (^si)ouspd the claims of the ]3iike of Parma to some parts of the Papal domi)ii(^ns, seized Avignon, and threatened to send an army to Italy. Under these circumstances Innocent was fidly disposed to listen with favour to any scheme whicli promised to i-epress the ambition and arrest the growing power of the French king. He was assured that William would grant toleration to the English Catholics, and he actually favoured the enter- prise with his iniluence, and it is said even with his money.^ The effect of the Revolution, in some degree at least, corresponded with the expectation of the allies. The balance of power was redressed. Tlie whole weight of English influence was thrown into the scale against France, and a servitude which had incessantly galled the national sentiment of England was removed. Very soon, however, the antii)athy to foreigners began to act against the Whigs. It was not simply that William was a foi^eign prince, who had overthrown a sovereign of English birth. It was not simply that he never concealed his ]iartiality for his own country, that he surrounded himself with Dutch guards and with Dutch favourites, whom he rewai'ded with lavish pro- fusion. There lay beyond this anotJier and a deeper complaint. William was the ruler of a continental State placi'd in a position of extreme and constant danger. He was above all the head of a great Europi in confederation against France, and he valued his acces- sion to the English throne chiefly as enabling him to employ the resources of England in the struggle. Tlie • Mimoircs du Mariclml de Oton Times, i. 661, 662, 706-707, Bcrunck,i.n,W. Macphcrson's 772-774. De Flassan's //zsi. cZc Original Papers, i. 301, :502. la Diplomatio Franraisc, iv. 94- Dalryiiiple's Memoirs of Great 105. See, too, liunke'a Hist, of BrUaiii, pait i. bl;. v. Buruet's England, xviii. 1. CH. I. HATRED OF FOREIGNERS TURNS AGAINST WHTGS. 29 Tory party soon l)oo;a.ii to coinplaiii witJi i);rcat plau- sibility, and with not a little truth, that Eu^'lish interests were comparatively lost sight of, that English blood and English treasure were expended to secure a stronger barrier for Holland, that the Revolution had deprived England of the inestimable advantage of her insular position and involved her inextricably in continental com])lications. For several generations it became the maxim of Tory statesmen that England should, as far as possible, isolate herself from continental embarrass- ments, and, if compelled to wage war, should do so only on lier national element, the sea.' After the Peace of Ryswick especially, this feeling gathered strength, and it l^ecame evident that the Tory party, wliich now rose to power, and which undoubtedly represented the tx'ue national sentiment, was resolved to pursue a steady policy of isolation and of peace. The army, to the bitter indignation of the King, was reduced to 10,000, and afterwards to 7,000 men. The sailors we^e reduced from 40,000 to 8,000. Even the Dutch guards were summarily dismissed, and these measures were taken at a time when a danger of the greatest magnitude was looming on the horizon. Charles II. of Spain was sinking rapidly to the grave, leaving no child to inherit his vast dominions, and there were three rival claimants for the succession. The nearest in point of birth was the Dauphin, the son of the elder sister of the Spanish king, but his claim was barred by a formal renunciation of all right of succession made by his mother when she married Lewis XIV., and ratified with great solemnity ' As Bolingbroke tersely ex- such that nothing less than the pressed it, ' Our true interests weight of Great Britain can pre- require that we should take few vent the scales of power from engagements on the Continent, being quite overturned.' — March- and never those of making a land mont Fapcrs, ii. 314. war unless the conjunction be 30 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. by the oath and the word of honour of her husband when he acc(^pted the treaty of the Pyrenees. Next to the Dauphin came the electoral prince of Bavaria, whose mother was the daughter of the younger sister of the Spanish king, but in this case also an express renuncia- tion barred the title. The third competitor was the Emperor, who could claim only as the son of Charles's aunt, but his claim was barred by no renunciation. The Emperor waived his claim in favour of his second son, the Archduke Charles, but beyond this he would make no concession, though France was prepared to oppose to the last, and England was far from de- siring, so great an increase of power to the House of Hapsburg. The electoral prince of Bavaria was still in infancy ; his father was the sovereign of an incon- siderable State, and unable to enforce his claims. The queen mother of Spain, who had wannly favoured this disposition of the crown, died in 1696, and although William would gladly have supported it, neither the Austrians nor the French would acquiesce in the arrangement. The Dauphin resigned his claim in favour of his second son, the Duke of Anjou, but Austria was desperately opposed to his succession, and William considered so great an aggrandisement of the House of Bourbon fatal to the freedom of Europe and to the whole policy of his life. It is not necessary here to relate at length how Lewis and William endeavoured to meet the difficulty by the treaty of partition of 1698, providing that on the death of the Spanish king tlie ]\lilanese should pass to the Archduke Charles, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Tuscan ports, the marquisate of Finale, and the pro- vince of Guipuscoa to the Dauphin, and the remainder of the Spanish dominions to the electoral prince of Ba- varia ; how, on the death of the last-nauied prince, a second pai-tition treaty was signed in 1700, granting CH. I. THE TREATIES OF PARTITION. 31 Spain, the Spanisli Netherlands, and tlie Indies, to the Archduke, increasing the compensation to France by the Duclues of Lorraine and Bar, and transferring; the Duke of Lorraine to the Milanese ; how these treaties were made without communication with the sovereign and statesmen of the Spanish monarchy, which was so unceremoniously disposed of, without the assent of the Empei'or, who refused to diminish any of his preten- sions, without any real regard for the opinion of English ministers, though an English army would probably be required to enforce their pro\dsions ; how when the pro- ject became known in Spain a fierce storm of indigna- tion convulsed the land, and the dying king, who had once favoured the Bavarian succession, was induced, after many vacillations, to endeavour to save his king- dom from dissolution by bequeathing the whole to the Duke of Anjou ; and how upon the death of Charles, in the November of 1700, Lewis tore to shreds the treaty he had signed, and boldly accepted the bequest for his grandson. What we have especially to notice is the attitude of parties in England. The whole Tory party, which was now rising to the ascendant, steadily censured the interference of England in the contest. When the projects of partition were announced they were received with the severest disapprobation, and when the will of Charles was published the Tories strenuously urged that England should acquiesce. ' It grieves me to the soul,' wrote William with extreme bitterness, ' that almost everyone rejoices that France has preferred the will to the treaty.'^ Independently of the gross injustice of measures for dividing by force a great monarchy which had given no provocation to its neiglibours, it was con- tended that the terms of the partition treaty would have given France a most dangerous ascendency, that the ' Hardwicke's State Papers, ii. 396. 32 ENGLAND IN THE ETGnTEEXTIT OENTr'RY. en. i. possession of Naples and the Tuscan ports would have made her supreme in the Mediterranean, that the pos- session of Ciuipuscoa would have given her the trade of the West Indies and of South America, and have placed Spain at her mercy in time of war, that the acquisition of so long a line of valuable seaboard, in addition to wliat she already possessed, would have imparted an immense impulse to her naval power. Tlie dangers re- sulting from the will were, it was said, much less. The strong national sentiment f)f the Spanish people, who have been pre-eminently jealous of foreign interference, might fairly be relied on to counteract the French sym- pathies of their sovereign ; and Si)anish jealousy had been rendered peculiarly sensitive by the participation of Lewis in the partition treaties. Nor was it likely that a prince, placed at a very early age on a great tln'one, surrounded by Spanish influences, and courted by every Power in Europe, would be characterised by an excessive deference to his grandfather. Above all, it was a matter of vital importance to England that she sliould enjoy a period of repose after her long and ex- hausting war, and that the system of standing armies' of national debts, and of foreign subsidies, should come to an end. Tliese were the views of the Tory party, and there can be little qu(^Rtion that they would have prevailed, in spite of the opposition of the King, had Lewis, at this critical moment, acted with common prudence and com- mon moderation. There was one point on the Con- tinent, however, which no patriotic Englishman, whether Wliig or Tory, could look upon with indifference. Tlie line of Spanish fortresses which protected the Nether- lands from the ambition of France was of vital import- ance to the security of Holland, and if Holland passed into French hands it was more tlian doubtful whether English independence would long survive. To preserve CD. I. LEWIS SEIZES THE DUTCH BARRIER. 33 these fortresses tVoin French aggraudiseiuent liad been for generations a main end of Englisli policy ; during the hist fifty years torrents of English blood had been shed to secure them ; and with this object, William had agreed with the Elector of ]3avaria, who governed them as the representative of the iSpanish king, that they should be garrisoned in part with Dutch troops. Pro- positions for the absolute cession of the Spanish Nether- lands to the Elector of Bavaria had been made, but for various reasons abandoned ; but the maintenance of the Dutch garrisons was of extreme importance, and if, as was alleged, the transfer of the Spanish monarchy to the grandson of Lewis XIV. did not mean the subservi- ency of Spain to French policy, it was on this, beyond all other questions, that the most careful neutrality should have been shown. Lewis, however, was quite determined that these garrisons should cease, and he at the same time saw the possibility of forcing the Dutch to recognise the validity of the will of Charles 11. With the assent of the Spanish authorities he sent a French army into the Spanish Netherlands, occupied the whole line of Spanish fortresses in the name of his grandson, and in a time of perfect peace detained the Dutch gar- rison prisoners until Holland had recognised the title of the new sovei-eign to the vSpanish throne. It would be difficult to exaggerate either the arro- gance or the folly of tliis act. The Tory party, which in the beginning of 1701 was ascendant in England, was bitterly hostile to William ; the partition treaties excited throughout the country deep and general dis- content, and the ardent wish of the English people was to detach their country as far as possible from conti- nental complications, and to secure a long and perma- nent peace on the basis of a frank acceptance of the will of Charles II. But it was impossible that any English party, however hostile to William, could see with in- VOL. I. D 34 EKGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cii. I. difference the whole line of Spanish fortresses, including Luxemburg, Mons, Namur, Cliarleroi, and the seaports of Nieuport and Ostend occupied by the French, tlie whole English policy of tlie last war overthrown without a blow, and the transfer of the Spanish monarchy to Philip immediately employed in the interests of French ambition. When the Dutch formally ap]ilied for the succour which, under such circumstances, England was bound by treaty to furnish, both Houses of Parliament declared their determination to fulfil their obligations, and English troops were actually sent to Holland ; but still several months of anxious negotiation ensued, and on the side of England there was a most sincere and earnest desire to avert the war. Party spirit ran furi- ously at home. The two Houses were engaged in bitter quarrels, and the Tories lost no opportunity of iri-itating the King. The Commons ordered Portland, Somers, Halifax, and Orford to be impeached ; they censured in the severest terms the treaties of partition, and the Tory ministers compelled William, even after the French aggression on the Dutch, to recognise Philip as king of Spain. The Act of Settlement, which was made neces- sary by the death of the young Duke of Gloucester, the last surviving child of Anne, secured, indeed, the crown to the Protestant House of Brunswick, but surrounded it with limitations extremely offensive to the King. Tlie House of Commons, wliicli was so violently Tory, had been but just elected, and though a warlike spirit was slowly growing in the country, it was not only possible, l)ut easy to have allayed it. Had the French sovereign consented to re-estal)lish the Dutch garrisons in some at least of the frontier towns, or had he consented to the transfer of the Spanish Netherlands either to the Emperor or to Holland, the peace of Europe might have been pi-eservod. But he was seized at this moment with what appeared a judicial blindness. He did not CH. I. CAT-CULATIONS OK T.EWIS. 35 desire war, but he imagined that his power would inti- midate all opponents. If a war broke out, the great resources of France and Spain would be united. Franco had secured the alliance of the Dukes of Savoy and of Mantua in Italy, of the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne in Germany, and had opened what appeared to be pro- mising negotiations with Portugal. The Emperor was enibai'rassed by troubles produced in Hungary by Ilak<3czy, the brav^est and most popular of Hungarian chiefs, and in Germany itself he had aroused much jealousy among the princes of the Empire, by creating a new electorate for Hanover, and by raising the electo- rate of Brandenburg into the kingdom of Prussia. The King of England seemed paralysed by the opposition of his Parliament, while the fortresses that were the key to Holland were in French hands. Under tliese circum- stances, Lewis persuaded himself that there was notliing to fear. He released the Dutch troops, indeed, on ob- taining a recognition of the title of his grandson, and he offered to withdraw his troops from the fortresses they had seized as soon as the Spaniards were able fully to garrison them, but he would give no further security to Holland. The light in which he looked upon events was very clearly shown in his speech to the Constable of Castile in the beginning of 1701. 'The French and Spanish nations,' he said, ' are so united that they will hencefoith be only one. . . . My grandson, at the head of the Spaniards, will defend the French, I, at the head of the French, will defend the Spaniards.'^ The Emperor was already in arms. A great change passed over public opinion in England. It was chielly shown in the House of Lords, but it appeared also, though much less strongly, in the House of Commons, and on the 7th of September, 1701, William concluded the triple * De Flassan, Hist, de la Diplomatie Frangaise, iv. 203. D 2 36 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cii. i. .illiance of England, Holland, and the Emperor, for the purpose of recovering the Low Countries from ilu' hands uf the J*'rench, securing tlu-m as a barrier to protect the United I'l'ovinces from the French, and redressing the l)alance of power by obtaining for the Emperor the Spanisli dominions in Italy. Such was the foundation of that great alliance which for a time brought the French yjower to the lowest depth. It was stiengthened in 1702 by the accession of the new kingdom of Prussia, and afterwards of nearly the whole Empire, and in the following year by the ac- cession of Portugal, and by the change of sides of the Did^e of Savoy. Its prospects of success were at first, however, very gloomy. William was now dying. The Tory pnrty, which was bitterly hostile to him and ex- ceedingly reluctant to engage in the war, had a large majority in the Commons. War was not yet declared, and the treaty of alliance provided that two months should pass before any active steps of hostility were taken. It was not improbable that before that time the King, who was the soul of the policy of war, would be in his grave, and it was certain that the alliance itself could easily have been broken up by very modei'ate con- cessions. The jealousy between England and Holland, the profound dislike of the ruling party in the former to continental wars, the difference of aim between the Emperor, who claimed the whole Spanish dominions, and the Dutch and English, who desired only to secui-e Holland and to restore the balance of power by a parti- tion, threatened to prevent all energetic and united action, and it was more than doubtful whether the Com- mons would vote adequate subsidies, when Lewis him- self, by an act of gratuitous folly, changed the whole aspect of affairs. Only ten days after the triple alliance was signed, James II. died, and Lewis, who had bound himself by the Peace of Kysmck to take no step calcu- CH. I. DEATH OF WILTJAM. 37 lated to disturb William in his possession of the throne of Eng-land, resolved, in spite of the earnest entreaty of his ministers, to recognise the Pretender as King of Enofland. The effect on the English nation was instan- taneous. The storm which had for some months been slowly gathering burst into a hurricane. The attempt of a French king to prescribe to the English people the sovereign wIkiui they should obey touched acutely that sentiment of national jealousy of foreign interference which was then the strongest of English sentiments ; and William, by dissolving Parliament while the re- sentment was at its height, overthrew the Tory power and obtained a large majority pledged to the policy of war. William died on the 8th of March, 1702. He did not live to declare the war, but he lived to fill his ministry with statesmen who were favourable to it, and to see the new House of Commons carry addresses and vote military supplies which made it inevitable. The sudden fluctuation of the national sentiments in 1701 is very remarkable. In that year there had been the most unusual spectacle of two new Parliaments violently antagonistic in their policy. The Parliament which met for the first time in February was vehemently and ag- gressively Tory. The Parliauient which met in Decem- ber contained a large majority of Whigs. The change, however, was in reality more superficial than might appear. The strong national jealousy of foreign rulers, and foreign politics, and foreign interference, which was usually the strength of the Tory pai'ty, was as vehement as ever, though it had for the moment been enlisted on the side of the Whigs. It was no attachment to the Dutch sovereign, no desire to alter the disposition of power on the Continent in the general interests of Europe that animated the electors, but solely resent- ment at French interference : aiid few English sovereigns ^)8 ENGI.AND TN TITE ETOnTEENTn CENTURY. CH. I. liave ever sunk to the tomb less regretted by the mass (jf the English nation than William III. With such sentiments prevailing in the nation, it is not surprising that the accession of Anne should liave been followed by a violent reflux of Tory feeling. The Queen herself was intensely Tory in her sym})athies, and though intellectually slie was below the average of her subjects, she Was in many respects well fitted to revive the party. Her charactei-, though somewhat peevish and very obstinate, was pure, generous, simple, and affectionate, and she had displayed, under bereave- ments far more numerous tlian fall to the share of most, a touching piety that endeared her to her people. If er part in the Revolution had been comparatively small. She was, as she stated in hi^r first speech from the throne, ' entirely English ' at heart, and the strongest and deepest passion of her nature was attachment to the English Church. Though promising her protection to the Dissenters, she looked with secret horror on the toleration they enjoyed, and her own severe orthodoxy had been undimmed in the Popish Court of her faiher, and in the latitudinarian atmosphere of the Revolution. Her reverence for ecclesiastical authority was early shown when she rebuked her chaplain at Windsor for adminis- tering to her the Sacrament before the clergy ; ' her zeal against the Dissenters, wIkmi she compelled her husband, though himself a Lutheran, holding high office under the Cro>vn, to vote for the Bill against occasional confoi'mity, which was intended to exclude that laro-e class of habitual Dissentei'S who had no objection to qualify for office by taking the Anglican Sacrament; her care for the interests of the Church, wIkmi she surrendered to it those first- fruits and tenths which bad originally been claimed by the Pope, and had been afterwards appropriated by the ' Coke's Detection. CH. I. RISE OF MARLBOROUGH AND GODOLPHIN. 39 Crown ; her generosity, when she devoted 100,000Z. out of the first year's income of her civil list, to alleviate the public burdens. In the eyes of the upholders of divine right, she was as near a legitimate sovereign as it was then possible for a Protestant to be, and it was felt that her own sympathies would be entirely with the legiti- mate cause, but for her stronger aft'ection for the English Church. In this respect she represented with singular fidelity the feelings of her people, and she became the provisional object of much of that peculiar attachment wdiich is usually bestowed only on a sovereign whose title is beyond dispute. It was also a happy circumstance for the glory of her reign, tliough not for the Tory party, that the wife of the greatest living Englishman exercised at this time an almost absolute empire over the royal mind. A great war was inevitable and imminent, and Marlborough be- came almost omnipotent in the State. Within a few days of the accession of the sovereign he was nominated Knight of the Garter ; he was made Captain-General of the Forces, and was sent to Holland on a special mission to ratify the new alliance against France, while his wife was entrusted with the management of the privy purse, and made groom of the stole, mistress of the robes, and ranger of Windsor Park. Godolphin, whose son had married the daughter of Marlborough, and who was bound to Marlborough in the closest friendship, became Lord Treasurer, He had been actively engaged in political life since the first Parliament of the Restoration, and, in spite of some serious stains which in a purer age would have covered him with infamy, his long career will on the whole appear respectable, if measured by the low standard of the corrupt and perilous times in which his lot was cast. With the exception of Halifax he was the foremost financier of his age ; an old, wary, taciturn, plodding, unobtrusive, and moderate man, who, though 40 ENGLAND IN THE EKiHTEKNTR CENTURY. ch. i. he had voted in turn for the Exclusion Bill and for the regency, had won the confidence both of James and William, and who without any strong convictions, any charm of manners, or any brilliancy or fascination of intellect, had more than once stood in the first line of pai'ty warfare. He was now attached, though without fanaticism, to the Tories ; and his experience, his pru- dence, his administrative talents, and his respectable and conciliatory character, made him well fitted to preside over the Government. The ministry was rapidly re- organised by the appointment of Tories to most of the leading places. Howe, the bitterest assailant of William, was now called to the Privy Council, and made one of the Paymasters of the Forces. Nottingham, who of all statesmen was most dear to the High Church party, was made one of the Secretaries of State, his colleague being Sir Charles Hedges. Harcourt. the ablest Tory lawyer, and Seymour, the most influential Tory country gentle- man in the Lower House, were made respectively Solicitor-General and Comptroller of the Household. Lord Pembi'oke became Lord President, Lord Bi'adford, Treasurer of the Household, and Lord Normanby, who was soon after created Duke of Buckingham, Privy Seal. Wright continued to be Chancellor, and Rochester Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The great Whig names of Somers, Orford, and Halifax were omitted from the Privy Council. Prince George, the husband of the Queen, was gratified by the title of Generalissimo of the Forces, and he was also very injudiciously made High Admii-al, and thus placed at the head of the naval adniinistration. The House of Commons, in accordance with the law, was dis- solved within six monflis of the death of the last sove- reign, and the constituencies, which at the close of the preceding year had sent in a dt^cided AVhig majority, now returned a House in which the Tories were nearly double the number of tJK^ Wliio-s. CH. I, DISSENSIONS IN THE MINISTRY. 41 The victory of the party was complete, but it was very transient, and tlie exigencies of foreign policy again speedily modified the home policy of England. It was a strange fortune that bequeathed to the Tory party, in the very moment of its triumph, a Whig war, and the great general who rose to power liad the strongest per- sonal reasons for promoting it. William, who had been reconciled to him at the close of his reign, had taken him with him on his last journey to Holland, and had given him the chief part in negotiating the triple alliance. Independently, therefore, of all considerations of mili- tary ambition, Marlborough was personally committed to the i^olicy of war. Noi', indeed, was it possible to avoid it. The engagements of the allies were too ex- plicit ; the feeling aroused in England by the recognition of the Pretender was too strong ; the dangers arising from the will of Charles II., as disclosed by the pro- ceedings of Lewis in the Netherlands, were too glaring for any English party to remain passive. The Tories felt this, and though it was one of the main objects of their policy to withdraw the country from continental complications, they in general concurred in the declara- tion of war which was issued on the 4th of May. Dissensions, however, speedily arose. Eochester, who had been regarded as the leader of the party, was bit- terly disappointed at not obtaining a more influential place than that of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The second son of the great Lord Clarendon, and conse- quently the uncle of the Queen, he had long viewed with great jealousy the ascendency the Marlboroughs had obtained over lier mind. His Toryism was of a very different complexion from that of Marlborough and Godolphin, and he wished to ]tush the victory of the party to its extreme consequences, expelling the few Whigs who romained from the former administration. Nottingham, with several other members of the party, 42 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. dissented for less personal reasons. They had been forced reluctantly into a war which had been prepared by William ; but they desired at least that it should be carried on witliiu the narrowest limits : that England should, as much as possible, restrict herself to defensive operations and to the Spanish Netherlands, that she sliould enter into the struggle not as a principal, but as an auxiliary. They objected to every vigorous measure that was taken — to the march of tlie English troops into Germany, to the encouragement given to the Protestant insurrection of the Cevennes. It was not likely that a Government vii^tually ruled by a great and ambitious general would yield to such views, and Godolphin and Marlborougli, finding their foreign policy most cor- dially supported by the Whigs, began from this time steadily to gravitate to that party. The defection of Rochester in 1702, and of Nottingham in 1704 ; the dis- missal in the same year of Lord Jersey and Sir Edward Seymour ; the dismissal of the Duke of Buckingham from the Privy Seal in 1705, changed the whole spirit of the Government, while the great popularity of the war produced a corresponding change in the spirit ot the country. There were many reasons why this war should be regarded in a light wholly different from that of William. From the time when Lewis recognised the Pretender, it became a truly national war, produced by a great outburst of national resentment. The English troops were now commanded by an English general, and by a general of whose transcendent genius his country- men were soon justly proud. The army, whicli during tlie greater part of the last war was still raw and almost undisciplined, had now acquired the qualities of vete- rans,' and the nation was soon excited by the struggle and intoxicated by the cup of military glory. ' ' Wliat I remember to have say before he went to take on heard the Duke of Marlboroni;;]! him the command of the army in cii. I. POLICY OF GODOLPIIIN AND MARLBOROUGH. 43 This cliange in the political cliaracter of the ministry at a time when its two principal figures remained the same, is very remarkable. Both Godolphin and ]\[arl- borough, however, were wholly destitute of strong party feelings, and both of them desired a ministry in which each party was represented. The first was naturally a very moderate Tory ; the second held, as far as possible, aloof from party contests. He had acted in turn with each party, and he had several private grounds of sym- pathy with the Whigs. His wife had decided Whig leanings ; his son-in-law, Sunderland, was one of the most violent members of the Whig party ; and when Marlborough was made Duke, in 1702, the Toi'y ma- jority in the House of Commons had rejected the pro- posal of the Queen to annex a grant of 5,000/. a year for ever to the title. The strong Tory sym})athies of the Queen, and the great outburst of Church enthusiasm that followed her accession had given the administration a more exclusively Tory character than either of its chiefs desired, and they had no sympathy with that large section of their followers who were endeavouring to carry matters to extremities, who desired to expel the Whigs even from the most subordinate offices, and who would gladly have repealed the Toleration Act. The fierce party spirit shown by the Toiy party towards the close of the preceding reign had deeply injured its reputation with moderate men, and there were signs that a similar spirit was again animating it. The Bill against occasional conformity was supported by all the • the Low Countries in 1702 i")roved the most part when it began, the true. The French mis-reckoned British particularly, but they very much if they made the same were disciplined, if I may say comparison between their troops so, by their defeats. They were and those of their enemies, as grown to be victorious at the tliey had made in precedent wars. pi'ace of Ryswic' — Bolingbroke's Those that had been opposed to Sketch of the Hist, of Euroim. them in the last, wer-e raw for 44 ENGLAND IN THE ETOIITEENTH CENTURY ch. i. weight of the Crown; a manifest censure upon the late king was implied in the resolution complimenting Marlborough on having ' signally retrieved the ancient honour and glory of the l^]iiglish nation ; ' the attitude of the House of Commons to the House of Lords, in which the Whig element preponderated, was extremely offensive ; and it is probable that a most dangerous reaction would have ensued but for the counteracting influence of tlie war. During the first two years, however, there was but little to arouse enthusiasm. In July 1701, before Eng- laTul liad engaged in the war, Eugene, at the head of an Austrian army, entered Italy by the valley of the Trent, defeated the French at Carpi, on the Adige, and com- pelled Catinat to retreat beyond the Oglio, and in the June of the following year the Imperial and Dutch forces succeeded, after a long and bloody siege, in cap- turino- Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. It had been put into the hands of the French by the Elector of Cologne, and, as it exposed both the circle of Westphalia and the dominions of the States to invasion, it was of great military inqwrtance. In September 1702 the still more important fortress of Landau was taken by the Prince of Baden. Marlborough commanded an army of in- vasion in the Spanish Guelderland, but he was tliwarted and trammelled at every step by his Dutch and German allies ; and, though he took the line of fortresses along the Meuse, captured Boini, and subdued Limburg and the whole bishopric of Liege, he fought no pitched battle, and gained no very brilliant success. The only regular battle in the Netherlands was at Eckt^'en, near Antwerp, where a Dutch detachment, commanded by the Dutch general Obdam, was surprised and defeated by a very superior French force commanded by Boufflers. In Spain, the failure of an English ex])edition against Cadiz was redeemed by the captui-e or destruction of a CH. I. MILITARY OPERATIONS 1702-1704. 45 4 large licet of Spanish galleons under the escort of some Freucli frigates in the Bay of Vigo ; but in Italy, on the Danube, and on the llhine, the advantage lay de- cidedly with the French. Eugene failed in his attempt to take Creiiiona, though lie succeeded in ca]jturing Villeroy, the French conmiander ; he was compelled to raise the siege of JNlantua, and the battle of Luzzara, in which he encountered Vendome, was indecisive in its issue. Visconti was defeated by Vendome in the battle of San Vittoria, and the defection of the Duke of Savoy from the French was punished by the occupation of a great part of his territory. In Germany several serious disasters befell the allies. The Prince of Baden was defeated by Villars in the battle of Friedlingen, and the Count de Stirum in the battle of Plochstiidt. Ulm was seized by the Elector of Bavaria, who was in alliance with the French. Brisach was captured by the Duke of Burgundy. Tallard, having defeated the Germans in the battle of Spirbach, recaptured Landau, and Augs- burg was taken by the Elector of Bavaria. On both sides the dangers of foreign war were soon complicated by those of rebellion at home, for the atrocious persecu- tion of the Protestants had roused a fierce storm in the Cevenncs, while in Hungary the insurrection, which had been for a short time suppressed, broke out anew. The fortunes of the war were not fully changed till 1704, when Marlborough, in spite of innumerable obstacles from his own allies, marched to the Danube, and having broken the Bavarian lines near Donauwerth, succeeded, in condjination with Eugene, in striking a fatal blow at the power of France. That year was indeed one of the most glorious in the military annals of England. By the great victory of Blenheim, the united forces of the French and Bavarians were hopelessly shattered. The prestige of the French arms received a shock from which it never recovered during the war. The conquests in 46 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cii. i. Germany during the preceding years were all recovered, and the French Ijcing driven headlong from Germany, Bavaria was com})elled to cede all her strong places to the Emperor, and to withdraw from her alliance witli France. Lorraine and Alsace were both seriously menaced by the occupation of Treves, and by the cap- ture of Landau, whilst in another region Rooke planted the British flag on the rock of Gibraltar, from which the most desperate and most persevering efforts have been unable to displace it. It was inevitable that such success should strengthen the party especially associated with the war, and the changed spirit of the Government was shown by its attitude towards the Occasional Conformity Bill. In 1702 the Court had warmly and ostentatiously sup- ported it ; in 1703 it was coldly neutral. The Toiies were divided on the question whether to tack it to a bill of supply in order to overcome the opposition of the Lords, and at the end of 1704 this question gave rise to a great schism in their ranks. The clergy, on the other hand, who had expected the speedy repeal of the Toleration Act, were furious at the change. The cry of ' Church in danger ! ' was raised, and a fierce ecclesiastical agitation began. At Candjridge the op- ponents of the Occasional Conformity Bill were liooted by the students. At Oxford, which had so long prided itself on its loyalty, a weathercock was erected, bearing the Queen's motto semper eadem, with the translation ' worse and worse.' ' The Lower House of Convocation rang with complaints of the conduct of the bishops, who usually leaned to counsels of moderation ; of the ad- ministration of ba])tism by Dissenting ministers in private houses ; of tlie schools and seminaries in which the Dissenters educated their children ; of the hardship » Oldmixon, p. 380. Cii. 1. GKOWTII Of' AVllIG INFLUKNCK. 47 of ol)lic^intj the parochial clergy to administer tlie Sacra- ment as aqualiheation for oiiice to notorious schismatics. The Churcli was described in many pulpits as on the brink of destruction, and the ministers were accused of treacherously alienating the Queen from its interests. The country, however, was still under the spell of the victories of Marlborough. The popularity of the war, the influence of the ministers, who leaned more and more to the Whig side, and the division of the Tories, together produced another great revulsion of power, and at the election of ] 705 a large Whig majority was re- turned to Parliament. The Government was still in a great degree Tory. Harley, one of the most sagacious leaders, and St. John, the most brilliant orator of the party, had been ap- pointed, the first. Secretary of State, and the second. Secretary of War, at the time of the dismissal of Not- tingham. The Whig leaders were still out of office, though several less prominent members of the party were incorporated in the ministry. Prior to the general election, the Privy Seal had been taken from the Duke of Buckingham, who was conspicuous among the Tories, and given to the Whig Duke of Newcastle, and Walpole obtained a subordinate office in the Admiralty. The election of 1705 naturally aided the transformation, and by the Marlborough influence the Queen was very re- luctantly induced to take a step which gave a decisive ascendency to the Whig element in the Cabinet. The Tory Chancellor Wright, who had been appointed at the dismissal of Somers in 1700, was turned out of an office for which he was notoriously unfit, and the place was given to Cowper, one of the most eminent of the Whigs. The Tor}^ party, exasperated with the Queen for yield- ing to the pressure, brought in a motion wholly repug- nant to their ordinary politics, and intended chiefly to be pei'sonally offensive to the sovereign, petitioning her 48 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. to invite over the Electiess Sophia, the heir presump- tive, to reside in tlie country. It was, of course, defeated, but it served to shake the sympathies of the Queen, and the Whigs availed themselves skilfully of the occasion to carry a Regency Bill, still further strengthening that Hanoverian succession for which their rivals had very little real predilection. It provided that, on the death of the reigning sovereign, the govern- ment should pass into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper, Lord Treasurer, Lord President, Lord Privy Seal, Lord High Admiral, and the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, for the time being ; that with them should be joined a list of persons named by the successor to the throne, in a sealed paper, of which thi'ee copies were to be pre- viously sent to England ; one to be deposited with the Archbishop of Canterbury, anothei- with the Lord Keeper, a third with his own minister residing in Eng- land ; and that Parliament was to be immediately convoked and empowered to sit for six montlis. At the same time, in order if possible to allay the ecclesiastical outcry, resolutions were carried in both Houses aflirm- ing that whoever asserted or insinuated that the Church was in danger was an eneniy to the Queen and to the kingdom. The ministry of Godolphin and Marlborough lasted till 1710, and it was one of the most glorious in English liistory. It was rendered illustrious by the great vic- tories of Blenheim, Ramillies, Gudenarde, Malplaquet, and Saragossa ; by the expulsion of the French from Flanders and from Germany ; by the brilliant though somewhat barren achievements of Peterborough in Spain; by the capture of Gibraltar by Rooke, and of Minorca by Stanhope ; by the defeat of the combined eflEbrts of the French and S]);uiiards to retake the former; by the suc- cessful accomplishment of the union with Scotland ; by en. I. FLUCTUATIONS IN TTIE WAR. 49 the complete failure of the French attempt to invade Scotland in 1708. It was, however, chequered by more than one serious calamity. The allies were expelled from Castille, and defeated in the great battle of Almanza. The siege of Toulon was unsuccessful ; the English plan- tations in St. Christopher were ruined ; a considerabh^ part (»f the British navy was destroyed in the great storm of 170o; the great Admiral Sir Cloudesley Sliovel pe- rished ingloriously in a shi|)wreck off the Scilly Isles in 1707. In Italy and Spain the fortune of arms violently fluctuated, and the natural consummation of the war was growing more and more evident. The passionate attach- ment displayed by all the Spaniards except the Catalans for the cause of Philip plainly showed how impossible was the scheme of the allies to place, or at least perma- nently to maintain, an Austrian prince on the Spanish throne. On the other hand, the dismemberment of the Spanish dominions was already accomplished in Italy, for the French had been driven completely from the ter- ritory of Milan, and the Austrians had conquered the whole kingdom of Naples. France, though making heroic efforts against her enemies, was reduced to the lowest depths of exhaustion. The distress of many years of desperate warfare, aggravated by the financial incapacity of Chamillart, and still more by the persecution of the Protestants, which had driven a vast part of her capital and commercial energy to other lands, had at length broken that proud spirit which aimed at notliing short of complete ascendency in Europe. If England desired no other objects than those which were assigned in the treaty of alliance ; if she wished only to secure an ade- quate barrier for Holland, and ' a reasonable satisfac- tion ' for the Emperor by obtaining for him the Spanish dominions in Italy, there was absolutely no obstacle to the establishment of peace. The Government, however, had gradually undergone VOL. I. E 50 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. a complete change. Unity of action and energy was especially needed for a ministry conducting a great war. Many leading Tories who had been expelled from it were now in opposition, and were suspected of holding com- munications with those who remained. The Whig party were in the ascendant in the House of Commons after the election of 1705, and in the Cabinet after the ap- pointment of Cowper, and they put a constant pressure upon the Queen and upon the ministry. Under these circumstances, the system of a divided Cabinet became completely untenable, though both the Queen and Godol- phin clung tenaciously to it, and the remnants of Tory influence were gradu^ally extruded. Sunderland, the son-in-law of Marlborough, and one of the most violent of the Whigs, was introduced into the Cabinet as Secre- tary of State in 1707. In 1708 Harley, who had for some time been acquiring the foremost place in the con- fidence of the Queen, was driven from office. It was known or suspected that he was busily intriguing against his colleagues, and especially against Godolphin, and he desired to strengthen the Tory and Church element in the ministry. The course of events, however, was evi- dently running counter to his policy ; and a recent inci- dent had involved him in much suspicion and obloquy. A clerk in liis office, named Gregg, was found to have despatched copies of important State papers to the French. Gregg underwent a searching examination before the Privy Council, and afterwards before aComuiittee of the House of Lords ; pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey, and was sentenced to be hanged, but his execution was re- spited for nearly three months, in hopes of extorting from liim a confession implicating Harley. Nothing, liowever, except great carelessness was proved against the minister, and Gregg before execution solemnly ex- culpated him from all participation in the crime. Still the circumstance weakened his position. Marlborough CH. EXPULSION OF TORIES FROM THE MINISTRY. 51 and Goclolpliin insisted on his dismissal, and the Queen having refused, they tendered their resignations. The Queen, who is said to have regarded that of Godolphin with great equanimity, though she felt that the retire- ment of Marlborough in the midst of the war would have been a national calamity, procrastinated, and showed much disposition to enter into a hopeless struggle, but the prudence of Hai'ley averted it. He retired from office, and was accompanied by St. John, the Secretary of War ; by the Attorney-General, Sir Simon Hai'court, who was the most eminent of the Tory lawyers ; and by Sir Thomas Mansell, Comptroller of the Household. The position of Attorne3"-General remained for some time vacant, but the others were filled with Whigs ; and it was at this time that Walpole attained the dignity of Secretary of War. One more step remained to be accomplished. A well-planned Jacoljite expedition, intended to raise Scot- land, whicJi was then bitterly exasperated by the Union, was despatched from Dunkirk in the March of 1708. 4,000 French troops were on board ; and, as Scotland was at this time generally disaffected, and as it was almost denuded of troops, the hopes of the French ministers were very sanguine. The vigilance of the Government, however, discovered the secret ; and when the expedition was already in sight of Scotland it was attacked by an overwhelming fleet under Byng, put to flight, and, with the loss of one ship, driven to France. This expedition aroused a strong resentment in England, which was very favourable to the Whigs ; and the energy shown by the Government also tended to strengthen its position. The election of 1708 immediately followed, and it resulted in another large Whig majority. The party was now too strong, not only for the Queen, but also for Godolphin himself, who desired to temporise, and, at least, to exclude the great Whig leaders from E 2 52 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTITRY. rn. i. power. In a few inontlis the revolution, which lind long been in progress, was completed. On the death of the Prince Consort in the October of this year. Lord Pem- broke, who was both President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was removed to the vacant place at the head of the Admiralty, and the Queen was com- pelled to admit Somers into the Government as Presi- dent of the Council ; to make Wharton Lord Liciidiiniit of Ireland, where he distinguished himself by his r.ipa- cilyand his oppression, and soon after on the resignation of Pembroke to place Orford at the head of the Admiralty. The Church party being now wholly in opposition, and the Nonconformists wholly on the Ministerial side, a corresponding change was shown in the spirit of legis- lation. The Occasional Conformity Bill entirely dis- appeared. The Scotch Union of 1707, which was the most important domestic measure of this period, and which will be more fully considered in another chapter, was carried in a spirit very favourable to the Kirk, and the same spirit was still more strongly shown by a mea- sure carried in 1709 for naturalisine' all foreitjn Protes- tants who settled in England. In the same year the Jacobite cause was seriously injui*ed by an Act extending the English law of treason to Scotland ; but the Govern- ment at tke same time passed an act of grace granting an indemnity for all past treasons, with certain specified exceptions. Marlborough and Godolphin, who had both corresponded with the Pretender, and who must have seen with some apprehension the advent of the most uncompromising Whigs to power, secured themselves, by this measure, against the very possible liostility of their present allies. In the meantime the Queen was completely alienated from her ministers. Her ideal was a Government in which neither Whigs nor Tories possessed a complete ascendency ; but above all things, she dreaded and hated t:Q CH. 1. THE QUEEN ALIENATED FROM TIER MINISTERS OO a supremacy of the Wliigs. She had the strongest con- viction that they were the enemies of her prerogative, and still more the enemies of the Church ; and a long series of particular incidents had contributed to intensify her feelings.' She remembered with indignation the treat- ment she had received from William in the latter i)art of his life, and with gratitude the support the Tories had given her in the matter of her settlement. A bill graiit- ing her husband the enormous income of 100,000L a year in the event of his surviving her, had been intro- duced by the Tories in 1702, and had been carried in spite of the protests of some conspicuous Whigs. On the other hand, the Whigs had repeatedly assailed the maladministration of the Prince, and a desire to avert a threatened and most ungenerous attack upon him when he was on his death-bed was the chief motive which at last induced her to admit Somers to the Cabinet.^ All the great Wliig appointments after 1705 were wrung from lier almost by force, and caused her the deepest and most heartfelt anguish. The tie of warm personal friendship wliich had long bound her to the wife of Marlborough was at length cut. The furious, domineering, and inso- ' See her remarkable letter power inclined so much to the (Oct. 24, 1702), in the Account of the Conduct of the Duchess of Marlborough, pp. 138-140. This book contains much curious evi- dence of the sentiments of the Queen. - Coxe's Marlhoruugh, ch. Ixxv. Pari. Hist. vi. 002, 603, 619-662. According to the Hamilton papers the change was accelerated by a discovery which Wharton had made of some earlier negotiations of Godolphin with the Pretender. See a note in Burnet, ii. 516. It is obvious that the balance of — Fart. Hist. vi. 777 Whigs that the speedy admis- sion of their leaders to office was inevitable. The disregard shown for the feelings of the Queen is very striking. Her husband, to whom she was pas- sionately attached, died on Oct. 28, 1708. On Jan. 28, following, both Houses presented an ad- dress to her, ' that she would not suffer her just grief so far to prevail, but would have such indulgence to the hearty desires of her subjects as to entertain thoughts of a second marriage.' 54 ENGLAND IN THE EKJHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. t. lent temper of the Duchess at last wore out a patience and ail affection of no coninion strength; and Abigail Hill, who as Mrs. Mashani played so great a i)art during the remainder of the reign, I'ose rapidly into lavour. She was lady of the bedchamber, and was cousin to the Duchess of Marlborough, to whom she owed her |)osition at Court; ))ut her influence over the Queen ap])(\ars to have been due to her sweet and compliant temper ; and she soon formed a close alliance with Harley, and aided powerfully in the overthrow of the ministry. As early as 1 707 the presence of a new Court influence was felt, and the Queen had marked her feelings to her servants by a})pointing two High Church bishops without even announcing her intention to the Cabinet. The effect of these events upon the foreign policy of the Government was very pernicious. The question of the Protestant succession, which might have rallied the country around the Whigs, was now in abeyance. The Church party, which in peaceful times was naturally by far the strongest in England, was in violent hostility to the Government, and it became more and more evident that in the moment of crisis, the influence of the Queen would ])e on the same side. Under these circumstances the Whig leaders perceived clearly that their main party interest was to prevent the termination of the war. As long as it continued, Marll)orough, who was now com- pletely identifled with tlem, could scarcely fail to be at tlie head of aflairs, and the brilliancy of his victories had given the jjarty a transient and abnormal popularity. In 1 70G Lewis, being thoroughly depressed, opened a negotiation with the Dutch, and oifered ])eace to the allies on terms which would have abundantly fulhlled eveiy legitimate end of the war. The battle of Ramil- lies had utterly ruined the French cause in the Spanish Netherlands, and had been followed by the loss of Louvain, Brussels, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, Menin, and CH. 1. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS IN 1706 55 other places. In S]iain the victory was for the time no less complete. Philip had been compelled to abandon the siege of Barcelona, and to take refuge in France, and the allies, after a long series of successes, had occu- pied Madrid, where they proclaimed his rival king. In Italy, however, Philip was still powerful; his cause had been of late almr)st uniformly successful, and althougli, with the victory of Eugene over Marsin before Turin, the tide had begun to turn, j^et the kingdom of tlie Two Sicilies was still in his complete possession. Under these circumstances the French king proposed that Philip should relinquish all claim to the Spanish throne, that he should be compensated out of the Spanish domi- nions in Italy by a separate kingdom consisting of the Milanese territory, of Naples, and of Sicily, that the strong places of the Spanish Netherlands should be all ceded as a barrier to Holland, and that important com- mercial privileges should be granted to the maritime powers. Something might, no doubt, be said about the cession of the Milanese, which would endanger the terri- tory of the Duke of Savoy, but this question of detail could easily have been arranged, for Lewis showed him- self quite prepared in the subsequent negotiations to restrict the kingdom he desired for his grandson to Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, with a small part of Tus- cany, to Naples and Sicily, or, if absolutely necessary, to Sicily alone. By the proposition of France the union of the crowns of France and Spain would have been ettectually prevented. The division of the Spanish dominions woidd have fully realised the object of the treaties of partition, and the great danger arising to Europe from the weakness of Holland would have been as far as possible removed. The Euqieror, however, claimed for the Archduke the whole Spanish succession, and this claim, which, if realised, would have created in Europe a supremacy for the House of Austria, hardly 56 ENGLAND IN TUE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. I. less dangerous than that which Lewis desired for France, was so strenuously supported by the Whig ministers of England that they made the cession of all the Spanish dominions to the Austrian Prince an essential prelimi- nary to the peace. No such condition had been laid down by William in the treaty of alliance, but in 1707 Somers induced both Houses of Parliament to carry re- solutions to the efiect that no peace could be safe or honourable if Spain, the West Indies, or any part of the Spanish monarchy were suffered to remain under the House of Bourbon. ' I am fully of your opinion,' said the Queen, in replying to the address, ' that no peace can be honourable or safe for us or our allies till the entire monarchy of Spain be restored to the House of Austria.' ^ A year later the House of Lords again pledged itself by an address to the same policy. The danger and the impolicy of such pledges were very clearly shown by the event. Had the peace been made in 1706 instead of 1713, more than thirty millions of English money as well as innumerable English lives would have been saved, and there can be little doubt that the party interest of the Whig ministers was a main cause of the failure of the negotiation. Still more indefensible was their conduct in 1709. The years that had elapsed since the previous negotiation, though very chequered, had, on the whole, been disastrous to Prance. The allies had, it is true, been cumpellod to raise the siege of Toulon, and in the beginning of 1708 the French had retaken some of the towns they had lost in Flanders, but the l^attle of Oudenarde speedily ruined all their hopes in that quarter, and Mons, Nieiq)ort, and Ijuxemburg were soon the only towns of the Spanish Netherlands which were not in the hands of the allies. ' Pari. Uist. vi. 609, 610. See, too, Mai'lboiough's Letters in Coxe, ch. 1. en. 1. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS IN 1709. 57 The English ha,d tMkmi Port Mahon a,ud Sardinia; the Duke of Savoy had taken Exilles and Fenestrelles, and a succession of Austrian victories had driven the French out of Lombardy and out of Naples. In Spain, how- ever, a brilliant gleam of success had lit up the fallen fortunes of Lewis. In the great battle of Almanza the allies were utterly defeated by Berwick, and all Spain, except Catalonia, was again under the sceptre of Philip. The position of France itself, however, was most deplor- able. Lewis, who in the beginning of the war had given his orders on the banks of the Danube, the Po, and the Tagus, was now reduced to such straits that it was doubtful whether he could long be secure in his capital. To the ruin of the finances, the frightful drain of men, the despondency produced by a long train of crushing calamities in the field, were now added the horrors of famine. A winter of almost unparalleled severity had ruined the olives and a great propoition of the vineyards throughout France ; the corn crops were everywhere de- ficient, and the people were reduced to the most abject wretchedness. Even in Paris, though every effort was made to produce an artificial plenty at the expense of the provinces, it was noticed that in 1709 the death-rate was nearly double the average, while the decrease in the average of births and marriages amounted to one quarter.* Under these circumstances Lewis, resolving on peace at any price, subndtted to the allies the most humiliating offers ever made by a French king. He consented, after a long and painful struggle, to abandon the whole of the Spanish dominions to the Austrian Prince without any compensation whatever, to yield Strasburg, Bi'isach, and Luxemburg to the Emperor, to yield ten fortresses as a barrier to the Dutch, includ- ' St. Simon's Mt'juoirs; Tovcy's evidence of the French distress Memoirs. M. Martin in his i/is^. at this period. See, too, Cooke's de France has collected much Hist, of Parties, i. 573. 58 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. ing Lille and Tournay, which were justly regarded as essential to the security of Fj'aiice, to yield Exilles and Fenestrelles to the Duke of Savoy, to recognise the titles of the Queen of England, of the King of Prussia, and of the Elector of Hanover, to expel the Pretender from his dominions, to destroy the fortifications and harbour of Uunkii-k, and to restore Newfoundland to J^higland. All these concessions, togetlicM- with consider- able commercial advantages to the maritime powers, were offered by France without any compensation wliat- ever except the peace, and they were all found to be in- sufficient. By a ])rovision as impolitic as it was barba- rous — for it once more kindled the flagging enthusiasm of the French into a flame — it was insisted, as a preli- minary to the peace, that Lewis should join with the allies in expelling, if necessary, by force of arms, his grandson from Spain, that this task must be accom- plished within two months, that if it was not accom- plished within that time the war should begin anew, but that in the meantime the fortifications of Dunkirk should be demolished, and all the strong places mentioned in the treaty which were still in French hands should be ceded, so that at the expiration of what might be merely a truce of two months, France should be helpless before her enemies.^ Til ere are few instances in modern history of a more scandalous abuse of the rights of conquest than this transaction. It may be in part explained by the am- bition of the Em]_)eror, who desired a complete ascen- dency in Europe; and in part also by the excessive demands and animosity of the Dutch, who remembered the unprovoked invasion of their country in 1G70, and the almost insane arrogance with which Louvois had ' Torcy's Memoirs. Coxc's Life of Marlboroiujh. Burnet's Own Tunes. Martin, Hist, dc France, torn. xiv. CH. I. INFLUENCE OF MARLIJOROUGH. 59 threatened their ambassador with the Bastille. The prolongation of the war, however, would have been im- possible l)ut for the policy of the Whig ministers, who supported the most extravagant claims of their allies. Marlborough himself went over to the Hague, and the French endeavoured to bribe him by graduated oflei'S ranging from two to four millions of livres, in case he could obtain for Philip a compensation in Italy, and for France Strasburg and Landau and the integrity of Dun- kirk, or at least some part of these boons. ^ The oiler was unavailing ; no one of these several advantages was conceded, and Marlborough steadily opposed the peace. His conduct was very naturally ascribed to his interest as a general and a politician in the continuance of the war, but liis private cori'espondence shows the imputa- tion to be unfounded. It appears from his letters to his wife that he, at this time, earnestly desired repose, that he considered the demands of the allies, in more than one respect, excessive, and that the chief blame of the failure rests upon his colleagues. He took, however, about this time, a step which greatly injured him with the country. It was evident that liis position was very precarious. The old affection of the Queen for his wife, which had been the firm basis of his power, was gone. The war, which made him necessary, could hardly be greatly protracted. Godol- phin, who of all statesmen was most closely allied with him, was evidently declining. The Tories and Jacobites could never forgive the part which Marlborough had taken in the Revolution, and since the accession of Anne ; while, on the other hand, he had tried to secure himself from possible ruin by more than one Jacobite intrigue, and his conversion to Whiggism was too recent ' See the curious letter of Lewis authorising these olTeis. — Torcy's 3Icinolrs. 60 ENGLAND IN TDE KKiHTKKNTII CENTURY. tii. 1. and too purtial to enable him to win the confidence of the uneonipi'oinising Whigs who had now risen to power. It must be added, tliat he liad I'ecently undergone a very serious disappointment. In 1706, wlien the battle of Ramillies had driven the French out of the Spanish Netherlands, the Emperor, filling up a blank form which had been given him by his brother, conferred upon Marlborough the governorship of that province. It was a post of much dignity and power, and of very great emolument, and Marlborough earnestly desired to accept it. The Queen at this time cordially approved of the appointment ; the ministers supported it ; and Somers, who was the most important Whig outside tlie ministry, expressed a strong opinion in its favour. But in Hol- land it excited the most violent opposition. The Dutch desired that no step should be taken conferring the province definitely upon the Austrian claimant till the question of the barrier had been settled. They hoped that some of the towns would pass under their undivided dominion, and that the system of government would be such as to give them a complete ascendency in the rest ; and the danger of breaking up the alliance was so great that Marlborough at once gracefully declined the offer. It was renewed by Charles himself in 1708, after the battle of Oudenarde, in terms of the most flattering description, but was again, on public grounds, declined. Under these circumstances, Marlborough con- sidered himself justified, in I 7()1>, in taking the start- ling step of asking the position of Captain-General for life. It is possible, and Ijy no means improbable, that his motive was mainly to secure himself from disgrace, and to disentangle himself from party politics. In his most confidential letters he frequently sjaeaks of his longing for repose, of his weariness of those personal and ])oliti- cal intiigues which had so often paralysed his military CH. I. mai{M!orough's request refused. 61 enterprise, of his sense of the growing infirmities of age. The position of commander-in-chief for life would a,t once free him from political apprehensions and embar- rassments, and enable him to restrict himself to that department in which he had no rival. But if, on the other hand, his object was ambition, it is plain that the position to which he aspired would give him a power of the most formidal)le kind. Cautious, reticent, and, at the same time, in the highest degree sagacious and ' CD CD CD courageous, he had ever shrunk from identifying him- self absolutely with either side, and it had been his aim to hold the balance between parties and dynasties, to dictate conditions, to watch opportunities. A general who was the idol of his troops, who possessed to the highest degree every military acquirement, and who, at the same time, held his command independently of the ministers and even of the Crown, might easily, in a divided nation and in the crisis of a disputed succession, determine the whole course of affairs. Had the request been made soon after the battle of Blenheim, it is not impossible that it might have been conceded, but the time for making it had passed. The Chancellor Cowper, on being apprised of it, coldly answered that it was wholly unprecedented. The Queen, to the great indig- nation of Marlborough, absolutely refused it ; when the transaction was divulged, the nation, which had at least learnt from Cromwell a deep and lasting hatred of mili- tary despotism, placed upon it the worst construction, and it contributed much to the unpopularity of the Whigs. Besides this cause of division and discontent, some murmurs arose at the reckless prolongation of a war which produced much distress among the poor ; but on the whole they were not very serious, and the approach- ing downfall of the ministers was mainly due to the alienation of the Queen and to the opposition of the 62 ENGLAND TN THK ETOrTTEFNTH CENTURY. en. i. Church. For some time the controversy about the doc- trine of non-resistance had been rag-in of with increased intensity, and there were many evident signs that the Churcli opposition, which had been thrown into the shade by the glories of Blenheim, was acquiring new strength. A sermon preached by Hoadly against the doctrine of passive ol^edience, in 1705, was solemnly condeuniod l)y the Lower House of Convocation. Black- hall, one of tlio bishops appointed l)y Anne without con- sultation witli luH- ministers, being called upon to preach before the Queen shortly after his consecration, availed himself of the occasion to assert the Tory doctrine of non-resistance in its extreme form ; and the sermon, which was in fact a condemnation of the Revolution, was published without any sign of royal disapprobation. The Scotch Union was violently denounced as intro- ducing Presbyt,erians into Parliament, recognising by a great national act tlie non-Episco})al l'jstal)lislnuent of Scotland, and providing a powerful ally for the enemies of the Church. The Act for naturalising foreign Pi-o- testants was even more unpopular. It was certain to swell the ranks of the Nonconformists. It excited all the English animosity against foreigners; and, soon after it had passed, more than 6,000 Germans, from the Palatinate, came over in a state of extreme destitution at a time when a pei-iod of great distress was already taxing to the utmost the benevolence of the rich. Nearly at the same time, too, the Church acquired a con- siderable accession, not indeed in luimbers, but in moral force, by the jiartial extinction of the Nonjuror schism. Ken had resigned his pretc^nsions to liis bisho]iric. Llr)yd, th(^ deposed bishop of Norwich, died on eJamuiry 1, 1700-10, and tliei-e remained no other of the prelates who had been deprived by William. One section of the Nonjurors, it is true, took measures to pei'petuate the division, but Dodwell, Nelson, Brokesby, and some en. I. SERMONS OF SACHEVERELL. 63 others revorted to the Church.' The language of the clergy became continually more aggressive. The pulpits rang with declamations about the danger of the Church, with invectives against Nonconformists, with covert attacks upon the ministers. The train was fully laid ; the impeachment of Sacheverell produced the explosion that shattered the Whig ministry of Anne. The circumstances of that singular outbreak of Church fanaticism are well known. The hero of the drama was fellow of Magdalen College and rector of St. Saviour, Southwark ; and, though himself the grandson of a dissenting minister who soon after the Restoration had suffered an imprisonment of thi-ee years for officia- ting in a conventicle,^ he had been for some time a conspicuous preacher and an occasional writer ^ in the High Church ranks. It was alleged by his opponents, and, after the excitement of the contest had passed, it was hardly denied by his friends, that he was an insolent and hot-headed man, without learning, literary ability, or real piety ; distinguished chiefly by his striking person and good delivery, and by his scurrih)us abuse of Dissenters and Whigs. Of the two sermons that came under the consideration of Parliament, the first was preached at the Assizes of Derby, and was published with a dedication to the high sheriff and jury, deploring the dangers that menaced the Church and the betrayal of its ' principles, interests, and constitution.' The second and more famous one, ' On the perils from false brethren,' was preached on November 5, 1709, in St. Paul's Cathedral, before the Lord Mayor and aldermen ' See Lathbury's Uist. of the works that produced Defoe's NonJ2irors and Uist. of Cunvoca- Shortest WaywitktheDissentcrs), tion. an assize sermon at Oxford, * Tindal. preached in 1704, and two pam- ^ He had published ^ Fast- phlets called Poh'fica? f/jjjon, and day Sermon, preached at Oxford T!ie liiijlits of the Clmrcli of in 1702 (which was one of the Ewjlaiid. 64 ENGLAND IN THE EltiU'rKKNTII CENTURY. CH. i. of London, and was dedicated to the former. In tliis sermon the preaclior maintained at great length the doctrine of absolute non-resistance, inveighed against the principle of toleration, described the Church as in a condition of imminent danger, insinuated very intelligil)ly that the ministers were amongst the false brethren, reilected severely upon liurnet and Hoadly, and glanced at Oodolpliin himself under the nickname of Volpon(\' ]lt'l'cn'iiig to the vote of Parliament de- claring that the Church was in no danger, he rather happily reminded his hearers that a similar vote had been carried, about the person of Charles I., at the very time when his future murdeiers were conspiring his death. The sermon being delivered on a very conspicuous occasion, and conveying with great violence the sentiments of a large party in the State, had an immense circulation and effect ; and Dolben, the son of a former Ai'chbishop of York, brought both it and the sermon at Derby under the notice of the House of Commons. The House voted both sermons scurrilous and seditious libels, and summoned Sacheverell to the bar. He at once acknowledged the authorship, and stated that the Lord Mayor, who was a Tory member, had encouraged him to publish the sermon at St. Paul's. This assertion would probably have led to the expulsion of the Lord ]\layor had he not strenuously contradicted it. The House ultimately resolved to proceed against Sacheverell in the most formal and solemn manner in its power — by an impeachment at the bar of the House of Lords. It was desired to obtain a condemnation of the doctrine of the sermon, invested with every circum- stance of dignity that could strike the imagination, and, if possible, prevent a revival of the agitation. 'Jlu^ House, at the same time, took great pains that there A character in the ' Fox ' of Ben Jonson. CH. I, IMPEACHMENT OF SACnEVERET.L. 65 should be no doubt of the main issue that was raised. The ablest and most conspicuous assailant of the doctrine of passive obedience was Hoadly , who had recently been answering the sermon of Bishop Blackball on this very question. The House of Commons, accordingly, when condemning Sacheverell, passed a resolution warmly eulogising the writings of Hoadly in defence of the Revolution, and petitioning the Queen to bestow upon him some piece of Church prefei'ment. It 7'efused to admit Sacheverell to bail ; but this favour was soon afterwards granted him by the House of Lords. The extreme impolicy of the course which was adopted was abundantly shown by the event. Had Sacheverell been merely pi-osecuted in the ordinary law courts, or had the House by its own authority burnt the sermon and imprisoned the preacher for the i-emainder of the Session, the matter would probably have excited but little commotion. Somei-s, and Eyre the Solicitor- General, from the beginning opposed the impeachment, and there is reason to believe that both Marlborough and Walpole joined in the same view. Godolphin, however, actuated, it was said,^ by jjersonal resentment, urged it on, and it was voted by a large majority, and was at once accepted by the Church as a challenge. The necessary delay was sufficient for the organisation of a tremendous opposition, and an outburst of enthusiasm was manifested such as England had never seen since the day of the acquittal of the bishops. The ablest Tory counsel undertook the defence of Sacheverell. Atterbury, the most brilliant of the High Church con- troversialists, took a leading part in composing the speech which he delivered. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford was one of his bail. He appeared in court ostentatiously surrounded by several of the chaplains of ' See the Hist, of the last Four Years of Queen Anne. VOL. I. F 66 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. the Queen. Prayers were offered in all the leading churches, and even in the royal chapel, for ' Dr. Sacheverell under persecution,' and the pulpits all over England were enlisted in his cause. When the Queen went to listen to the proceedings, her sedan cliair was surrounded by crowds crying, ' God bless your Majesty ! We hope your Majesty is for High Church and Sacheverell.' When Sacheverell himself drove to West- minster Hall, the people thronged in multitudes to kiss his hand, and every head was uncovered as he passed. The meeting-houses of the Dissenters were everywhere wrecked, and that of Burgess, one of their most conspicuous preacliers in London, was burnt. The houses of the Lord Chancellor, of Wharton, of Burnet, Hoadly, and Dolben, were threatened. All who were believed to be hostile to Sacheverell, all who refused to join in the cry of ' High Church and Sacheverell,' were insulted in the streets, and the condition of London became so serious that large bodies of troops were called out. The excitement propagated itself to every part of the country, and to every class of society, and the Church agitations under Anne were amonsf the first political movements in England in which women are recorded to have taken a very active part.' ' See Swift's Exammer, No. 31. Defoe has given a cha- racteristic description of the fe- male enthusiasm for Sacheverell. ' Matters of government and af- fairs of state are become the province of the ladies . . . they have hardly leisure to live, little time to eat and sleep, and none at all to say their prayers. . . . Little Miss has Dr. Sachevercll's picture put into her prayer-book, that God and the Doctor may t^ke her up in the morning before breakfast ; and all manner of discourse among the women runs now upon war and government. . . . This new invasion of the IJolitician'sprovince is an eminent demonstration of the sympathetic influence of the clergy uj^on the sex, and the near aflinity between the gown and tlic petticoat ; since all the errors of our present and past administrators, and all breaches made upon our politics could never embark the ladies till you fall upon the clergy. But CH. I. IMPEACHMENT OF SACHEVERELL. 67 The prosecution, on the other hand, was conducted with much skill. The charges were that Sacheverell had described the necessary means to bring about the Revolution as odious and unjustifiable, had denounced the Toleration Act, and, in defiance of the votes of both Houses of Parliament, had represented the Church as in great danger, and the administration, both in eccle- siastical and civil affairs, as tending to the destruction of the constitution. Whatever may be thought of the conduct of a party which treated such expressions of opinion as criminal offences, it must be admitted that the speeches of the managers of the impeaclmaent were distinguished both for moderation and ability, and it is remarkable that Burke, long afterwards, when sepa- rating from the Whig party at the French Revolution, appealed to them as the ablest and most authentic expression of the Whig policy of the statesmen of 1688.' It is impossible, indeed, to read those of Jekyll, Walpole, Lechmere, Parker, Eyre, and the other managers, with- out being struck with the guarded caution they display in asserting the right of nations to resist their sovereigns. They carefully restrict it to cases in which the original contract was broken, in which the sovereign has violated the laws, endeavoured to subvert the scheme of govern- ment determined on in concert by King, Lords, and Commons. It is on these grounds, and on these alone, that they justify the Revolution. The notion that the son of James II. was a supposititious child, which had borne a greater part in the struggle than Whig as soon as you pinch the parson ever, notices a similar outburst he holds out his hand to the of feminine zeal in the semi- ladies for assistance, and they religious Politics of the Eebel- appear as one woman in his de- lion. fence.' Wilson's Life of Defoe, • Appeal from the New to the iii. 124-126. See, too, the Sp>cc- Old Whigs, tator. No. Ivii. Clarendon, how- F 2 68 ENGLAND IN TT[F, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. writers like to admit, was completely abandoned. The managers rested their case solely on the ground that a sovereign may be legitimately resisted who has in- fringed the constitutional compact by which he was bound ; but at the same time they acknowledged fully that a grave and distinct violation of a fundamental law is necessary as a justification, that obedience is in all normal times a stringetit duty, and that the instability of a government exposed without ticfcnce in its most essential parts to perpetual revision, at every fluctuation of poyjular caprice, is wholly foreign to tlie genius of the English constitution. To state in the fullest and most authentic manner the principles on which the Whig party justified the Revolution was one great object of the impeachment, and that object was fully attained. Another important result was that the Tory defenders of Sacheverell abandoned in the law courts the obvious meaning of the teaching of the pulpit, and, aiming chielly at acquittal, met the charges rather by evasion than by direct defence. The right of nations in extreme cases to resist their sovereign was the main question discussed, and the language of the pulpit on the subject had been perfectly unecpiivocal. The clergy had long taught that royalty was so eminently a divine institution, that no injustice, no tyranny, no persecution could justify resistance. Sa- cheverell, it is true, in liis speech during the trial, reaffirmed this doctrine without qualification, and numerous passages were cited from the homilies and from the works of Anglican divines, supporting it ; but his counsel, on the other hand, admitted the right of resistance in extreme cases. They contended that a preacher was justified in laying down broad moral precepts, without pausing to enumerate all possible exceptions to their application ; and one of the ablest of them maintained, in direct opposition to the spirit of cu. t, CONDEMNATION OF SACHEVEKELL. 69 Tory theology, thnt the supi*eme power in Enghnid was not in the sovereign, but in the legislature.^ In the same spirit they urged that the term ' Toleration Act ' was a popular expression unknown to the law, that the proper designation of the law referred to was the ' Act of Indulgence ; ' and that when Sacheverell denounced ' toleration ' he alluded only to the insufficient prosecu- tion of sceptical or blasphemous books. Many passages from such books were cited, and Sacheverell himself scandalised a large part of his audience by calling God to witness, in opposition to the plain, direct, and unques- tionable meaning of his sermon, that ' he had neither suggested, nor did in his conscience believe, that the Church was in the least peril from her Majesty's ad- ministration.' Such an assertion could have no effect, except to shake the credit of the man who made it ; and the House of Lords voted him guilty, by sixty-nine to fifty-two. Here, however, ended the triumph of the Wliigs. The popular feeling in favour of Sacheverell throughout England had risen almost to the point of revolution. The immense majority of the clergy were ardently on his side. The sympatliies of the Queen were in the same direction. In the excited condition of the pul)lic mind, any act of severity might lead to the most danger- ous consequences, and the House did not venture to impose more than a nominal penalty. The Dukes of Argyle and Somerset, who had for some time been wavering in their allegiance, took this occasion of aban- doning the ministry, and several other Whig peers accom- panied them.^ Sacheverell was merely sus})ended from preaching for three years, and his sermons, together \vith the Oxford decree of 1683, were burnt. A resolution, ' See Sir Simon Harcourt's '^ Coxe's MarlbuiviKjli,, Speech for Sacheverell. Ixxxvii. 70 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUIiY. CH. I. that during tlie three years of his suspension he should be ineligible for promotion, was rejected by a majority of one. The House of Commons at the same time ordered the collection of sceptical passages which had been made for the defence to be burnt, as well as two books, ' On the Rights of the Christian Church,' and a treatise ' On the Word Person,' of which the friends of Sacheverell had complained. The sentence was very naturally regarded as a tri- umph for the accused, and it was followed by a long and fierce burst of popular enthusiasm. In London and almost every provincial town the streets were illumi- nated, and the blaze of bonfires attested the exultation of the people. Addresses to the Queen poured in from every part of the country, sometimes assei'ting in abject form the doctrine of passive obedience, censuring the conduct of her ministers, and in many cases imploring her to dissolve a Parliament which no longer represented the sentiments of her people.^ Sacheverell, witliin a few months of his trial, obtained a living in Slu'opshire, and his journey to take possession of it was almost like a royal progress. At Oxford, where he continued for some time, he was magnificently entertained by the Earl of AJjingdon, by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, and by the heads of the colleges. At Banbury the INIayoi-, Recorder, and Aldermen came, in full robes and with the mace before them, to bring him a present of wine, and to congratulate him on his deliverance. At War- wick, at Wrexham, at Shr(nvs])ury, at Bridgenorth, at Ludlow, hundi-eds of the inhabitants, on horseback, es- corted him into the town, while the church bells rang in his honour, and the steeples were draped with flags, and the streets hung with flowers. Drums beat and trumpets ' A collection of these addresses has been published in a single volume (1710). CH. I. POPULAllITY OF SACHEVEllELL. 71 sounded at his approach, and wherever he appeared, his steps were thronged by admirers, wearing the oak-leaf so popular since the Restoration. He was forbidden to preach, but the churches could not contain the multi- tudes who pressed to hear him read the prayers, and crowds of infants were borne to the fonts where he pre- sided. The Dissenters all over England were fiercely assailed. At Bristol one of their places of worship was pulled down, and the materials were flung into the river. At Exeter, Cirencester, Oxford, Gloucester, and many other places, their meeting-houses and habitations were attacked, and the Low Churchmen were regarded with scarcely less virulence. One clergyman — -the rector of the important and populous parish of Whitechapel — signalised himself by exhibiting, as an altar-piece in his church, a picture of the Last Supper, in which Judas was represented attired in a gown and band, with a black patch upon his forehead, and seated in an elbow-chair. The figure is said to have been at first intended for Burnet, but the painter, fearing prosecution, ultimately fixed upon Dean Kennet, a somewhat less powerful op- ponent of Sacheverell.^ The policy of the Queen during this outbreak was marked by much cautious skill. However strong may have been her private sympathies, she appears during the trial to have acted in accordance with the wishes of her ministers. The chaplain who prayed for Sacheverell in her chapel was dismissecl. Chief Justice Holt having died during the trial, Parker, one of the most eloquent managers of the impeachment, was promoted to his place, ' KcnneVs Life, pi^. 140-142. Sacheverell episode. See, too, Kennet wore a patch on account Wright's House of Hanover, Wil- of a gun-shot received in early son's Life of Defoe, and the His- youth. This book gives a curious tories of Burnet, Boyer, Somer- picture of the animosity against ville, and Tindal. the Low Churchmen during the 72 ENGLAND IN THE EKHiTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. and a fortniglit after the verdict the Queen prorogued l\irlianient with a speech, deploring tliat some had in- sinuated that the Church was in danger under her ad- ministration, and expressing her wish 'that men would study to be quiet, and to do their own business, rather than busy themselves in reviving questions and disputes of a very high nature,' She soon, however, perceived that the country was with the Tories, and manifested her own inclination witliout restraint. Among the minor incidents of the impeachment one of the most remarkable had been the reappearance in public life of the Duke of Sln'ewsbuiy. He had been conspicuous among the great Whig nobles who invited Williani to England ; but after a brief, troubled, and vacillating career, had abandoned politics, and retired, embittered and disappointed, to Italy. ' I wonder,' he wa-ote with great bitterness to Somers, in 1700, 'how any man who has bread in Eng- land, will be concerned in business of State. Had I a son, I would sooner bind him a cobbler than a courtier, and a hangman than a statesman.' After a long period of occultation, however, he again took his place in that assembly of which he had once been the brightest orna- ment, and when the Saclieverell case arose he gave the weight of a name and influence that were still very gi*eat to the Tory side, and was one of those who voted for the acquittal, xlbout a week after the prorogation, the Queen, witliout even apprising her ministers till the last moment of her intention, dismissed Lord Kent, the Lord Chaml)erlain, and gave the stafi' to Shrewslnny. The ministry should, undoubtedly, have resigned, but, partly through tlie constitutional iutlecision of Cjioilolphin, and partly perhaps in order to avoid a dissolution of Parlia- ment at a time when the current flowed strongly against their party, they remained to drink the cup of humilia- tion to the dregs. Godoli)hin, it is true, wrote a very singular letter of frank and even angry remonstrance to CH. I. FALL OF THE MINISTRY IN 1710. 73 the Queen. • ' Your Majesty,' he said, ' is suffering your- self to be guided to your own ruin and destruction as fast as it is possible for them to compass it to whom you seem so much to hearken ; ' and he proceeded to expatiate upon the new appointment, in terms which few ministers would have employed towards their sovereign. But this letter had no result. In the following month Marl- borough was compelled to bestow the command of two regiments upon Colonel Hill, the brother of Mrs. Masham, who had displaced his own wife in the favour of the Queen. In June, Sunderland, the Secretary of State and son-in-law of Marlborough, was summarily dismissed, and the seals were bestowed upon Lord Dartmouth, one of the most violent of Tories. In August a still bolder step was taken. Godolphin himself was dismissed. The treasury was placed in commission, Harley being one of the commissioners, and that statesman became at the same time Chancellor of the Exchequer and virtually Prime Minister. In September, the remaining ministers were dismissed. Parliament was dissolved. An election took place, which was one of the most turbulent ever known in England, and the defeat of the Whigs was so crushing that the ascendency of their opponents during the remaining years of the reign was undisputed. The immense power displayed by the Church in this struggle was not soon forgotten by statesmen. The utter ruin of a ministry supported by all the military achievements of Marlborough and by all the financial skill of Godolphin was beyond question mainly due to the exertions of the clergy. It furnished a striking proof that when fairly roused no other body in the coun- try could command so large an amount of political enthusiasm, and it was also true that except under very peculiar and abnormal circumstances no other body had ' See this curious letter in Boycr. pp. 470, 171. 74 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. SO firm and steady a hold on the afi'ections of the people. The fact is the more remarkable when we consider the very singular intellectual and political activity of the time. If we measure the age of Anne by its highest intellectual acliievements, a period that was adorned among other names by those of Newton, Pope, Swift, Addison, Steele, Defoe, Bolingbroke, and Prior, can hardly find a rival in English history betw^een the age of Shakespeare and Bacon and the age of J3yron iind Scott. If we measure it less by its highest achieve- ments than by its efibrts to enlarge the circle of intel- lectual interests, it will appear scarcely less eminent. The realistic novel which was created by Defoe under George I. had been foreshadowed in the admirable cha- racter sketches of Addison, and it was under Anne that Steele originated the periodical essay which was so long the most popular form of English literature, that the first daily newspaper was published in England, that the first English law was enacted giving a full legal pro- tection to literaiy property.^ A passion for physical science had sj^read widely through the nation. Except in the University of Leyden, where it was taught by an eminent professor named s'Gravesande, the great dis- covery of Newton had scarcely found an adherent on the Continent till it was popularised by Voltaire in 1728, but in England it had already acquired an ascen- dency. Bentley, Whiston, and Clarke enthusiastically adopted it. Gregory and Keill made it popular at Ox- ford, and Desaguliers, who gave lectures in London in 1713, says that he found the Newtonian philosophy generally received among persons of all ranks and pro- fessions, and even among the ladies, by the help of ex- ' 8 Anne, c. 19. It gave au- tion ; and if they were alive when thors the copyright of their books that period ex2)ired, for u second ior fourteen years after publica- period of the same duration. CH. I. INTELLECTUAL ACTIVITY UNDER ANNE. 75 periments.^ Never before had so large an amount of literary ability been enlisted in politics. Swift, Boling- broke, Atterbury, Arbutlmot, and Prior were prominent among the Tories; Addison, Steele, and Defoe among the Whigs. Side by side with the ' Tatler,' the ' Spec- tator,' the ' Guardian,' and the ' Englishman,' in which the political was in a great degree subordinate to the literary element, there arose a multitude of newspapers and periodicals, which were exclusively or mainly poli- tical. The ' Observator ' of Tutchin, the ' Eeview ' of Defoe, the ' Rehearsal ' of Leslie, the ' Examiner ' of Swift, ' Fog's Journal,' ' Dyer's News Letter,' the ' Medley,' the ' Mercurius Rusticus,' tlie ' Postman,' the ' Flying Post,' the ' English Post,' and many others contril uted largely to the formation of public opinion. The licentiousness of the Press was made a matter of formal complaint in an address by the Lower House of Convocation in 1703, and the subject was afterwards brought before Parliament, Many prosecutions were instituted, and in 1711 the Tory Government succeeded in carrying a law imposing a duty of a halfpemiy on any printed half sheet or less, and of a penny on a whole sheet, and also a duty of 12d. on every advertisement.^ ' There is scarcely any man in England,' said a great Whig writer a few years later, ' of what denomination soever, that is not a free tliinker in politics, and hath not some particular notions of his own by which he dis- tinguishes himself from the rest of the community. Our island, which was formerly called a nation of saints, may now be called a nation of statesmen.' ^ The extra- ordinary multiplication of pamphlets published at a very low price, and industriously dispersed in the streets, was especially noticed,"* and political writings which ' See Whewell's Hist, of In- ^ Freeholder, No. 53. ductive Philosophy, ii. 145-155. ■* See Wilson's Life of Defoe, - 10 Anne, c. 19. ii. 29. Leibnitz, a few years be- 7Q> ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cu. i. iKippened to strike the popular taste acquired in the be- ginning of tlic eigliteenth century a circulation perhajjs greater in i)V()portion to the population than any even of our own time. The 'True-born Englishman' of Defoe, which was published in 1700-1 in-order to check the clamoui- against William as a foreigner, went through nine editions on good paper in about four years, was printed in the same jx'riod twelve times without the concurrence of the author, and no h-ss than 80,000 copies of the cheap editions are said to have been dis- posed of in the streets of London.' About 40,000 copies of the famous sermon of Sacheverell were sold in a few days.2 ]\fore than 60,000 copies of a now forgotten Whig pamphlet, by an auilior named Benson, pul'jlished in answer to the Tory addresses to the Queen after the impeachment of Sacheverell, are said to have been sold in London.3 Bisset's 'Modern Fanatic,' a scunilous pamphlet against Saclieverell, ran through at least twelve editions. Of Swift's 'Conduct of the Allies,' which was written to prepare the country for the Peace of Utrecht, 11,000 copies were sold in a single month.^ The ' Spectator,' as Fleetwood assures us, attained at last a daily circulation of 14,000. The unprecedented multiplication of political clubs, which forms one of the most remarkable social features of the period, attests no less clearly the almost fevei-ish activity of political life. Never was tliere a period less characterised by that in- loie, wrote, ' Les feuilles volantes out ])liis d'ellicace en Anglcterre (lu'eti tout uutro pays.' - Curres- jiundancc avcc I'Elcctricc Suplde, ii. 221. ' Wilson's Life of Defoe, i. S4G. - Burnet's Oivn Times, ii. 5:58. ■' Wilson's Life of Defoe, iii. 12'.). The paniplilet was untitled. ^•1 Letter to Sir Joseph Banks, by birth a Swede, but natural- ised and a Member of the present Parliameyit, coiLcerning tJie late Minehcad doctrine ivhich tuas established by a certain free Par- liament of Sioeden, to the utter enslaving of that country. * Wilson's Life of Defoe, iii. CH. I. THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. 77 tellectual torpor wliich we are accustomed to associate with ecclesiastical domination, yet in very few periods of English history did the English Church manifest so great a power as in the reign of Anne, Another consideration wliich adds largely to the im- pressiveness of this fact is the nature of the doctrine that was mainly at issue. Whatever may be thougivb of its truth, the opinion tliat it is unlawful for subjecls to resist their sovereign muler any circumstances of ty- ranny and misgovernment does not appear to be well fitted to excite popular enthusiasm. This, however, was the doctrine which, during the whole of the Sache- verell agitation, was placed in the forefront of the battle both by the Whigs who assailed and by the Tories who maintained it. It is obvious that in its plain meaninsf it amounted to a condemnation of the Revolu- tion, and it is equally manifest that those who conscien- tiously held it would eventually gravitate rather to the House of Stuart than to the House of Brunswick. The position of the clergy during the whole of the preceding reign had been a very false one. A small minority had consistently refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new sovereign. A minority, which was probably still smaller, consistently maintained the Whig theory of government. The immense majority, however, held the doctrines of the indefeasible title of hereditary royalty, and of the sinfulness of all resistance to oppression, and they only took the oaths to the Revolutionary Govern- ment with much equivocation, and after long and painful misgiving. Much was said about the supposed vacancy of the throne by the abdication of James. Much was said about the suspicions attaching to the birth of the Prince of Wales, though in a few years these appear to have gradually disappeared. Burnet in 1689 had writ- ten a pastoral letter, in which he spoke of William as having a legitimate title to the throne of James ' in 78 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. right of conquest over him,' and although the House of Commons, resenting tlie expression, had ordered the letter to be burnt, the theory it advocated was probably- adopted by many.^ Among the clergy, however, who subscribed the oath of allegiance, the usual refuge lay in the distinction between the king de jure and the king de facto. Sherlock and many other divines, wlio asserted the doctrine of passive obedience, contended that it should be paid to the king who was actually in power. They were not called upon to defend the Revolution. They were quite ready to admit that it was a crime, and that all concerned in it had endangered their salvation, but, as a matter of fact, William was upon the throne, and rebellion being in all cases a sin, they were bound to obey him. As long, therefore, as they were not ex pected to pronounce any judgment upon his title, they could conscii^ntiously take the oath of allegiance. They believed it to be a sin to resist the actual sovereign, and they could therefore freely swear to obey him. The statesmen of the Revolution at first very judiciously met the scruples of the clergy by omitting from the new oath of allegiance the words ' rightful and lawful king,' ^ which had formed part of the former oath, but in the last year of William this refuge was cut off. On the death of James, and on the recognition of the Pretender by Lewis, the Parliament, aiming expressly at this clerical distinction,^ imposed upon all ecclesiastical per- sons, as well as upon all other officials, the oath of abjuration, which rerjuired them to assert that the pre- tended Prince of Wales had no right whatever to the ' See Soniors' Tracts, xii. 242. and rubricks will make you 2 Lathbury's Hist, of tJie Non- owned by the present Cliurch if jurors, pp. 52-54. A writer in you should acknowledge the King 1696 said with much truth, ' The to be otherwise so than dc facto.'' Shibboleth of the Cliurch now is — An Acconnt of the Growth of King William's dc facto title, Deism in England, p. 10. and no conformity to homilies ' Burnet's Oiu7i Times, ii. 297. cii. r. THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS. 70 crown, nnd to swear allegiance to the existing sovereign as ' rightful ' and ' lawful.' This harsh and impolitic measure was only carried after a violent struggle, and it was very naturally ex- pected that it would produce a great schism in the Church. The new oath involved a distinct judgment on the Revolution, and it is not easy to see how anyone who held the doctrine of the divine right of kings as it was commonly taught in the English Church from the time of the Restoration, could possibly take it.' The re- sources of casuistry, however, have never been a mono- poly of the disciples of Loyola ; and State Churches, though they have many merits, are not the schools of heroism. At the time of the Reformation the great body of the English clergy, rather than give up their preferments, oscillated to and fro between Protestantism and Catholicism at the command of successive sove- reigns, and their conduct in 1702 was very similar. With scarcely an exception they bowed silently before the law, and consented to take an oath which to every unsophisticated mind was an abnegation of the most cherished article of their teaching. At the time wlien the Act came into force Anne had just mounted the throne, and the hopes which the clergy conceived from her known affection for the Church made them peculiarly anxious to remain attached to the Government. The ' Burnet gives us a summary of the methods that were resorted to. ' Though in the oath they de- clared that the pretended Prince of Wales had not any right what- soever to the crown, yet in a paper (which I saw) that went about among them, it was said that right was a term of law which had only relation to leqal rights, but not to a divine right or to birthrights ; so, since that right was condemned by law, they by abjuring it did not renounce the divine right that he had by his birth. They also supposed that this abjuration would only bind during the present state of things, but not in case of another revo- lution or conquest.' Burnet's Own Times, ii. 314. See, too, a curious letter in Byrom's Re- mains, vol. i.part i. pp. 30,31. 80 ENGLAND IN THE ETOHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i, abjuration oath contributed to perpetuate the Nonjuror sell ism by repelling those wlio would otherwise have returned to the Church at the death of James. It lowered the morality of the country by impairing very materially the sanctity of oaths, but it neither paralysed the energies nor changed the teaching of the Tory clergy. At no period since the Restoration did they preach the doctrine of the divine right of kings and the duty of passive obedience more strenuously than in the reign of Anne, and at very few periods did they exercise a greater influence on the English ])eople. One of the most characteristic features of this teach- ing was the language that was adopted about Charles I. The memory of that sovereign had long since been transfigured in the Tory legend, and immediately after his execution it became the custom of the Episcopal clergy to draw elaborate parallels between his sufferings and those of Christ. The service in the Prayer Book commemorating the event, by appointing the narrative of the sufferings of Christ to be read from the Gospel, suggested the parallel, which was also faintly intimated by Clarendon, and developed in some of the Royalist poems and sermons with an astonishing audacity.^ Foremost in this branch of literature was a very curious sermon preached befoi-e Charles II. at Breda in 16 1-9. ^ The preaclier declared that ' amongst all the martyrs that followed Christ into heaven bearing his cross never was there any one who expressed so great conformity ' See two curious colloctions Kintrs are gotJs once removed. It hence called Momimcnhcm Beqale ; or, xT"'''^'^'^i\ ^ -rr . . . ., Select Epitaphs mul Poems on l^o,^^';* heaven scan tne them by Charles I. (Ifl 4!)), and Vat lei- So tliat for Charles the Good to have nium Votiviim, with Eleqics on , ''™" 'J-y^^^ ^ , ^ .,...., y-,7 7 T T T i~i 7 ;r 7 Aijil c.ist bv mortal votes was Dpiculc. Charles I., Lord Capcl, ami Lord Villiers {1st year of Charles I.'s " It was reprinted in the de- Martyrdovi). I subjoin one fence of the sermon of Dr. Binckea specimen : in 1702, CH. I. CHARLES I. COMPARED TO CHRIST. 81 with our Saviour in his sufferings ' as King Charles. He observed that the parallel was so exact that it ex- tended to the minutest particulars, even to the hour of execution, for both sufferers died at three in the after- noon. ' When Christ was apprehended,' he continued, ' he wrought a miraculous cure for an enemy, healing ]\Ialchus' ear after it was cut oft"; so it is well known that God enabled our sovereign to work many wonder- ful cures even for his enemies. . . . When our Saviour suffered, there were terrible signs and wonders, for there was darkness over all the land ; so during the time of our sovereign's trial there were strange signs seen in the sky in divers places of the kingdom. When our Saviour suffered, the centurion, beholding his passion, was convinced that he was the Son of God, and feared greatly. So one of the centurions who guarded our sovereign . . . was convinced and is to this day stricken with great fear, horror, and astonishment. When they had crucified our Saviour, they parted liis garments amongst them, and for his coat (because being without seam it could not easily be divided) they did cast lots ; even so, having crucified our sovereign, they have parted his garments amongst them, his houses and furniture, his parks and revenues, his three kingdoms, and for Ireland, because it will not be easily gained, they have cast lots who should go thither to conquer it, and, so, take it to themselves ; in all these things our sovereign was the living image of our Saviour.' In the reign of Anne language of this kind again became common, and in 1702 a noted clergyman named Binckes, in a sermon before the Lower House of Con- vocation, not only intimated that the plague and the fire of London were due to the death of Charles, but even proceeded to argue that his execution transcended in enormity the murder of Christ. ' If, with res]iect to the dignity of the person, to have been born King of the VOL. I. G 82 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cif. i. Jews was what ought to have screened our Saviour from violence ; here is also one not only born to a crown Imt actually possessed of it. He was not only called king by some and at the same time derided by others for be- ing so called, but he was acknowledged by all to be a king. He was not just dressed up for an hour or two in purple robes, and saluted with a " Hail, King! " but the usual ornaments of royalty were his customary ap- parel. . . . Our Saviour declaring that " His kingdom was not of tliis world " might look like a sort of renun- ciation of his temporal sovereignty, for the present desiring only to reign in the hearts of men, but here was nothing of this in the case before us. Here was an indisputable, unrenounced right of sovereignty, both by the laws of God and man. . . . Christ was pleased to set himself out of the reach of the usual temptations in- cident to royal greatness, and chose a condition which in all respects seemed to be the reverse to majesty, as if it had been with design to avoid the snares which accompany it, notwithstanding that he knew himself otherwise sufficiently secure, having neither been con- ceived in sin, nor in any way subject to the laws of it. Though the prince whom God was pleased to set over us was no way excepted from human frailty, had no other guard against sin when surrounded with temjjta- tions, but only a true sense of religion and the usual assistance of God's grace . . . yet his greatest enemies . . . could never charge him with the least degree of vice. . . . When Pilate asked the Jews, " Shall I crucify youi- king ? " they thought th-emselves obliged to express their utmost resentment against anyone that should pretend to be their king in opposition to Ca3sar. This they did upon a principle of loyalty, and out of a misguided zeal, and some stories they had got of a de- sign he had to destroy their temple, to set himself up, and pull down the Church ; but in the case before us CH. I. CHARLES 1. COMPARED TO CHRIST. 83 he against whom our people so clamorously called foi* justice was one whose greatest crime was his being a king and a friend to the Church.' This sermon was censured by the House of Lords as ' containing several expressions which gave just scandal and offence to all Christian people,' ^ but the author was soon after ap- pointed Dean of Lichfield, and was twice elected by the clergy Prolocutor of Convocation. The publication of Clarendon's History in 1702 and the two following years probably contributed something to the enthusiasm for Charles. A writer during the Sacheverell agitation, speaking of the doctrine of passive obedience, said, ' I may be positive, at Westminster Abbey where I heard one sermon of repentance, faith, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, I heard three of the other, and it is hard to say whether Jesus Christ or King Charles were oftenest mentioned and magnified.' ^ The University of Oxford caused two similar pictures to be painted, the one re- presenting the death of Christ, and the other the death of Charles. An account of the sufferings of each was placed below ; and they were hung in corresponding places in the Bodleian Library.^ The poet Young, in his poem on the Last Day, described the English king as standing among ' the spotless saints and laurelled martyrs,' while the Almighty Judge, bending from the throne, examined the scars on the neck of Charles, and then looked at his own wounds.'* Another and still more curious feature of the Church ' Pari. Hist. \i. 23,24:. Bur- Th' Almighty Judge bends forward from r\F^^''3. Dimi TimcR ii 31() bis throne net SUWn limes, n. au). Those scars to mark, and then regards - Bisset s Modern FanaticK his own. (12th ed.), p. 57. The Last Day, book iii. ^ G. Agar Ellis's Inqitiries re- specting Clarendon (1827), p. 177. Young had the grace to suppress * His lifted bauds bis lofty neck sur- this passage in a later edition of round, the poem. To bide the scarlet of a circling wound. o 2 84 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. L'uLluisiasiu under Queen Anne was the revival of the old belief that the sovereign was endowed with the miraculous power of curing the struma, or scrofulous tumours, by his touch. Tliis singular sui)erstition had existed from a very early time, both in Enghuid and in France. The English kings were supposed to have in- herited the power from Edward the Confessor ; the French, according to some writers, from St. Lewis, ac- cording to others, from Clovis.' The miracle was per- formed with eveiy circumstance of publicity, under the inspection of the royal surgeons, and in the presence of the King's chaplains, and the tenacity with which it survived so many changes of civilisation and of religion, is one of the most curious facts in ecclesiastical history. In France it was an old custom for the King, imme- diately after his consecration, to go in pilgrimage to the monastery of St. IMarcoul, in Champagne, where, after a period of preparatory devotion, he performed the cure. The patients were first visited by the chief physician of the King. They were then ranged in the church, or, if they were too numerous, in the adjoining cloisters and park. The King went among them, ac- companied by his grand almoner, the captain of liis guards, and his chief physician, and he made the sign ' There was, however, some controversy on the subject, and a good deal of national jealousy was shown. Tookcr thinks that the gift was originally the sole prerogative of the English kings, that they derived it from Lucius, who was converted before Clovis, and that the French kings de- rived it from alliance of blood with the Knglish. Charisvia sea Doiium Saittitloiiis (IT)!)?). Lau- rentius, a physician of Henry IV. of France, wrote a book De Mi- rabili Strumarum Curatiotie, in which ho appropriates the power solely to the French kings. Usu- ally the English writers admitted that the French kings derived the power from St. Lewis, and contented themselves witli as- serting the superior antiquity of the British prerogative derived from Edward the Confessor. See Collier's Ecdcsiaslical Hist. bk. iii. ch. ii. Fuller's Church Hist. bk. i. CH. I. THE KOYAL TOTTCn. 85 of the cross on the face of each, pronouncing the words, ' Dieu te guerisse, le Roy te touche.' It was pretended that the cures were more numerous in France under the third race of kings than under the two preceding- ones, and it is recorded that Lewis XIV., three days after his consecration, in 1G54, touched more than 2,500 sick persons in the church of St. Remy, at Rheims.^ In England a special Latin service was drawn up for the occasion under Henry VII., and it appears to have continued, with the omission of some Popish phraseo- logy, till the end of the reign of Elizabeth. ^ The Re- formation in no degree weakened tlie belief. A Doctor of Divinity, named William Tooker, in the reign of Elizabeth, wrote a work describing the cures he had himself witnessed, and he relates among other cases that of a Popish recusant who was converted to Pro- testantism, when he found by experience that the ex- communicated Queen had cured his scrofula by her touch. The Catholics were much perplexed by the miracle, and wei'e inclined to argue that it was per- formed by virtue of the sign of the cross which was employed, but in the following reign this sign was omitted from the ceremony, without in any degree im- pairing its efficacy. Under Charles I. the service was drawn up in English, and in the conflict between the royal and re- publican parties the miracle assumed a considerable prominence. One cure worked by this sovereign was especially famous. As he was being brought by his enemies through Winchester, on his way from Hurst Castle, an iinikeeper of Winchester, who was grievously ill, and in daily fear of suffocation, and who had vainly ' Menin, Histoire du Sacrc et cured many scrofulous per- Couronncmcnt des Bois de France sons. (17'23), pp. 307-314. St. Marcoul - See Lathbury's iJis^.o/ Co7i- is said during his life to have vocation, p. 435. 86 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTFI CENTURY. ch. i. sought help from the doctors, flung himself in the way of the royal prisoner. He was driven back by the guards and not suffered to touch the King, but he threw himself on his knees upon the ground, imploring help, and crying, ' God save the King ! ' The King, struck l)y the spectacle of so much loj-alty, said, ' Friend, I see thou art not permitted to come near me, and I cannot tell what thou wouldst have, but God bless thee and grant thy desire.' The prayer was heard ; the illness va- nished, and, strange to relate, the blotches and tumours which disappeared from the body of the patient ap- peared in the bottle from which he had before taken his unavailing medicine, and it began to swell both within and without. Tlie story is related by Dr. John Nicholas, warden of Winchester College, who declares it ' within his own knowledge to be every word of it essentially true.' ' After the death of the Kino- it was found that handkerchiefs dipped in his blood possessed the same efficacy as the living touch. Richard Wiseman, ' ser- geant chirurgeon of Charles II.,' published, in 1676, a very curious work called ' Chirurgical Treatises,' in which he entered largely into the treatment of the king's evil, and declared that many hundreds liad de- rived benefit from the blood of Charles.^ A case was related of a girl of fourteen or fifteen, at Deptford, who had become quite blind through the king's evil. She had sought in vain for help from the surgeons, till at last her eyes were touched with a handkerchief stained with the royal blood, and she at once regained her sight. Hundreds of persons, it was said, came daily to see her from London and other places.^ ' Browne's Charisma Basili- tract in the British Museum, con, pp. 132-137. called, A Miracle of Miracles ^ P. 2'47. See, too, Browne's wrought by the Blood of Charles Charisma Basilicon, p. 109. I. npon a Mayd at Delford, four ^ This case is related in a miles from London (16i9), CH. I. THE ROYAL TOUCH. 87 Charles II. retained the power in exile, as Francis had done when a jjrisoner at Madrid, and he touched for the scrofula in Holland, Flanders, and even France.' In the great outburst of enthusiastic loyalty that followed the Restoration the superstition attained its climax, and it may be seriously questioned whether in the whole compass of history there is any individual to whom a greater number of miracles has been ascribed than to the most worthless and immoral of English kings. Wiseman assures us that he had bee:# a ' frequent eye- witness of cures performed by his Majesty's touch alone, without any assistance from chirurgery, and these many of them such as had tired out all the endeavours of all chirurgeons before they came thither.' One of his sur- geons, named John Browne, whose official duty it was, during many years, to inspect the sick and to witness and verify the cures, has written a book on the subject, which is among the most curious in the literature of superstition, and which contains a history of the cures, a description of numerous remarkable cases which came before the author, and a full calendar, year by year, of the sick who were touched. It appears that in a single year Charles performed the ceremony 8,500 times, and that in the course of his reign he touched nearly 100,000 persons. Before the sick were admitted into the presence of the King it was necessary that they should obtain medical certificates attesting the reality of the disease, and in 1684 the throng of sufferers demanding these was so great that six or seven persons were pressed to death before the surgeon's door.^ Some points, how- ever, connected with the miracle were much disputed. It was a matter of controversy whether, as was popu- larly believed, the touch had a gi-eater efficacy on Good ^ Vfiseman'sChirurgicalTrea- - Evelyn's Diary, March 28, Uses, p. 2-45. Browne's Charts- 1684. See, too, Evelyn's descrip- ma Basilicon, pp. 63, 64. tion of the ceremony, July 1660. 88 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. rn. i. Friday than on any other day ; wlu'thcr, as Sii' Kenelm Digby maintained, the cure was so dependent upon tlie gold medal wliich the King hung around the neck of the patient that if this were lost the malady returned ; whether the King obtained the power directly from God or thr()U"-h the medium of the oil of consecration. The Catholicism of James did not impair his power, and he exercised it to the very eve of the Revolution. A petition has been preserved in the records of the town of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, asking the As- sembly of that province, in 1687, to grant assistance to one of the inhabitants who desired to make the long journey to England in order to obtain the benefit of the royal touch.' In that same year, in the eenti'e of the learned society of Oxford, the King touched seven or eight hundred sick on a single Sunday.^ In the preced- ing year, in the midst of what is termed the Augustan age of French literature, the traveller Gemelli saw Lewis XIV. touch, on Easter Sunday, about 1,600 at Versailles.^ The political importance of this superstition is very manifest. Educated laymen might deride it, but in the eyes of the English poor it was a visible, palpable attes- tation of the indefeasible sanctity of the royal line. It placed the sovereignty entirely apart from the categoiy of mere human institutions, and proved that it possessed a virtue and a glory which the other political forces of tlie nation could neither create, nor rival, nor destroy. It proved that no personal immorality, no misgovern- ment, no religious a})ostasy, no deprivation of political power, could annul the consecration which the divine hand had im])arted to the legitimate heir of the British throne. The Revolution in England at once susj^ended ' GrnhMn's Hist, of tJieUnilcd ^ Chur chilVsCollcctmi of Voy- States, i. ii^. ages, \v. iV.;0. - Life of Anthony Wood. CH. I. THE ROYAL TOUCH. 89 the miracle, for William, being a stranger, was not generally believed to possess the power, though Whiston relates that on a solitary occasion the King was pre- vailed upon to touch a sick person, ' praying God to heal the patient, and grant liim more wisdom at the same time,' and that the touch, in spite of the manifest incredulity of the sovereign, proved efficacious.' In the person of Anne, however, the old dynasty was again upon the throne, and in the ecclesiastical and political reaction of her reign the royal miracle speedily revived. The service, which was before printed separately, was now inserted in the Prayer Book. The Privy Council issued proclamations stating when the Queen would per- form the miracle. The announcement was read in all the parish churches. Dr. Dicken, the Sergeant Surgeon to the Queen, who examined the patients, attested in the strongest terms the reality of many of the cures. ^ Swift mentions, in his ' Journal to Stella,' making an application through the Duchess of Ormond, in 1711, in favour of a sick boy. In a single day in 1712, 200 persons we re touched, and among the sci'ofulous children who underwent the operation was Samuel Johnson.^ The Nonjurors were especially zealous in urging the miracle as a proof of the necessity of adhering to the ancient line, and it is indeed remarkable how many eminent authorities, in different periods, may be cited in favour of the belief. It found its way into the great- est of the plays of Shakespeare,"* and Fuller, Heylin, Collier, and Carte, among historians, as well as Sancroft, Whiston, Hickes, and Bull, among divines, have ex- pressed their firm belief in the miracle. Nothing can be ' Whiston's Memoirs (eel. pp. 203-205. 1753), i. 377. Whiston ascribed •' Boswell's Johnson (Croker's the cures to the prayers of the ed.), p. 7. priests. * Macbeth, act iv. scene iii. - Douglas' Criterion {ed. 1807), 90 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch, r. more emphatic than the language of some of them. ' This noisome disease,' says Fuller, speaking of the king's evil, 'is happily healed by the hands of the kings of England stroking the sore, and if any doubt of the truth thereof, they may be remitted to their own eyes for further con- firmation.'^ ' To dispute the matter of fact,' said Collier, ' is to go to the excesses of scepticism, to deny our senses and to be incredulous even to ridiculousness.' ^ ' That divers persons desperately labouring under the king's evil,' said Bull, ' have been cured by the mere touch of the royal hands, assisted with the prayers of the priests of our Church attending, is unquestionable, unless the faith of all our ancient writers, and the consentient report of hundreds of most credible persons in our own ages, attesting the same, is to be questioned.'^ We may observe, however, that even Tooker and Browne acknow- ledged that there were some who questioned the miracle, and it was admitted that the sick were not always cured, and that the cures were not always lasting. The force of imagination, to which the ceremony powerfully ap- pealed, doubtless effected much. Many impostors came for the purpose of obtaining the gold medal which was bestowed on the occasion in England, or the alms which were distributed in France, and the great political utility of the belief, as well as simj^le sycophancy, combined with honest credulity to sustain the delusion.^ What has been said will be sufficient to show the extent and the nature of the political influence the ' Fuller's Church Hist. bk. ii. subject in Wilson's Life of De- * Collier's Ecclesiastical Hist, foe, ii. 15-21 ; Nichols' Literary bk. iii. ch. ii. Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Cen- ^ Sermon on St. Paztl's Thorn tury, ii. 495-504 ; Lathbury's in the Flesh. Hist, of Convocation, pp. 428- ' In addition to the older books 439; Bishop Douglas' Criterion, I have cited, the reader may find pp. 195-210; Tindal's Hist, of much information on this curious England, book xxvi. CH. I. JACOBITE TENDENCIES OF THE CLERGY. 91 Anglican clergy at this time exercised in England. It will show that their theory of the nature of royalty was radically different from that of a constitutional government ; that, but for the happy fact of the Catho- licism of James II. and of his son, the whole stress of their influence would have been thrown into the scale of arbitrary government ; and that, in spite of that Catholicism, they were accustomed to preach doctrines from the pulpit which could have no other legitimate or logical conclusion than the restoration of the Stuarts. They were, it is true, sincerely devoted to the reigning sovereign. It is true also that they looked forward with real alai'm to a Catholic king, that they sometimes at least professed themselves attached to the Protestant succession.' and that very few of them were prepared to make serious sacrifices for a restoration which might be injurious to the Church. Still, the natural issue of their teaching could not be mistaken. When the nation ' The ablest of the Tory clergy, of passive obedience, non-resist- writing with the object of repel- ance, and hereditary right, and ling the charge of Jacobitism, find them all necessary for pre- says, ' The logick of the highest serving the present Establish- Tories is now that this was the ment in Church and State, and Establishment they found as for continuing the succession in soon as they arrived at a capa- the House of Hanover, and must, city of judging, that they had in their own opinion, renounce no hand in turning out the late all those doctrines by setting up King, and therefore had no crime any other title to the crown, to answer for if it were any; that This, I say, seemeth to be the the inheritance to the crown is political creed of all the high- in pursuance of laws made ever principled I have for some time since their remembrance, by met with of forty years old and which all Papists are excluded, under.' Swift's Free Thoughts and they have no other rule to go upon the Present State of Affairs. by ; that they will no more dis- The language commonly used pute King William III.'s title about Charles I. is quite suffi- than King William I.'s, since cient to show that the clergy they must have recourse to his- were not as unhistorical as was tory for both ; that they have alleged, been instructed in the doctrines 92 ENGLAND TN THE ETGHTEENTH CENTURY. ctt. i. was called to choose between a sovereign whose title was lineal descent and a sovereign whose title rested upon a revolution and an Act of Parliament, there was n(jt much doubt to which side the consistent adherent of the divine right of kinmphatically Protestant portion of the clergy, and they had every disposition to enter into alliance with the Dissenters. Burnet had been the strongest advocate of the Comprehension Bill, and, as ho has himself informed us, he had no scruple in communicating with non-episcopal churches .in Hol- land and Geneva. Kidder was suspected of a leaning towards Presbyterianism. Stillingfleet, though in his later life he was much less latitudinarian than his col- leagues, had accepted a living in Cambridgeshire at a time when Episcopacy was proscribed. Patrick had been educated as a Dissenter, had received his first orders from the Presbytery during the Commonwealth, and had token a prominent part, in conjunction with Burnet, Tillotson, and Stillingfleet, in the scheme of comprehension. Tillotson himself was avowedly of the school of Chillingworth, and if we may believe the as- sertion of Hickes, he had shown his indifference to forms very practically by allowing communicants to receive the Sacrament sitting, if they were foolish enough to object to receiving it kneeling. The measure which aroused the strongest clerical indignation in the reign of Anne was undoubtedly the impeachment of Sache- verell, but seven out of twelve bisho[)s voted for his con- demnation. The measures wliich excited the warmest clerical enthusiasm were the Occasional Conformity and the Schism Acts, but themajority of the bishops opposed the first Act l)oth in 1703, wlien it was ardently sup- )K)rted by the Court, and in 1 704, when the Court held aloof from it, and five bishops signed a protest against the second. In the eyes of the majority of the bishops the Church of England was emphatically a Protestant Church, and the differences between the Establishment en. I. LATITUDINARIANS AND NONJURORS. 107 and the chief Nonconformist bodies were on matters of comparatively little moment. They were in this respect of the school of Leighton, and still more clearly of the school of Cliillingworth, and there can be no doubt that they carried with them the great body of educated laymen in the towns. Three men — Chillingwortli, Locke, and Tillotson — had set the current of relio-ious thoua'ht in this class, and their in- fluence extended with but little abatement through the greater part of the eighteenth century. On the other hand the great body of the clergy, who hated the Revo- lution, the Toleration Act, and the Dissenters, and who perceived with rage and indignation that political as- cendency was passing from their hands, strained all their energies to aggrandise their priestly power, and to envenom the dift'erence between themselves and the Nonconformists. The Nonjuror theology represented this tendency in its extreme form, and exercised a wide influence beyond its border. The writers of this school taught that Episcopalian clergymen were as literally priests as were the Jewish priests, though they belonged not to the order of Aaron, but to the higher order of Melchisedek ; that the Communion was literally and not metaphorically a sacrifice ; that properly constituted clergymen had the power of uttering words over the sacred elements which produced the most wonderful, though unfortunately the most imperceptible, of mira- cles ; that the right of the clergy to tithes was of direct divine origin, antecedent to and independent of all secu- lar legislation ; that the sentence of excommunication involved an exclusion fi'om heaven ; that the Romish practice of prayers for the dead was highly commend- able ; that the Church of England, in violently severing itself from the authority of the Pope, proscribing the religious worship which before the Reformation had been universal in Christendom, persecuting even to death 108 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. numbers who were guilty only of remaining attached to the old order of things, and branding a leading por- tion of its former theology as ' blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits,' liad done no act at all savouring of schism, but tliat all non-episcopal communities who dissent(Ml from the Anglican Church were schismatics, guilty of tlie sin and reserved for the fate of Korali, Dathan, and Abiram. Aiming especially at sacerdotal power, these theologians had naturally a strong leaning towai'ds the communities in which that power had been most successfully claimed, and negotiations were ac- cordingly at one time opened for union with the Galli- can, at another with the Eastern Church. Some of them contended that all baptisms except those by Episcopalian clergymen were not only irregular but invalid, and that therefore Dissenters had no kind of title to be regarded as Christians. Brett, some time before he joined the sect, preached and published a sermon maintaining that repentance itself was useless unless it were followed by priestly absolution, whicli could only be adn\inistered by an Episcopalian clergyman, and botli Dodwell and Leslie were of opinion that such absolution was essential to salvation. The former of these writers, who was perhaps the most learned of the party, contended in one of his works tliat ' there is no communicating with the Father or the Son but by communion with the bishops ; ' in another that all marriages between mem- bers of different religious creeds are of the nature of adultery ; in a third that even the immortality of the soul is ordinarily dependent upon the intervention of a bishop. Our souls, he thought, are naturally mor- tal, but become immortal by baptism, if administered by an Episcopalian clergyman. Pagans and unbap- tised infants cease to exist at death; but Dissenters who have neglected to enter the Episcopalian fold are kept alive by a special exercise of the divine power CH. 1. DISSENSIONS IN THE CHURCH. 109 ill order tliat they may be, after death, eternally damned.' It was in this conflict of opinions during the reign of Anne that the terms High and Low Church first came into use, 2 and it is a very remarkable fact that the epi- scopacy was the special representative of the latter. The one party, which included many grades of sacerdotal pretension, and was characterised by intense hatred of Dissenters, carried with it the sympathy of the great body of the country clergy, of the country gentry, and of the poor. The other party consisted of perhaps one- tenth of the clergy,^ but it contained a very dispro- portionate number of adherents of high position and of great ability, and it exercised a commanding influence over the educated classes in the towns. The co-existence of these two schools adapted to different orders of mind and education may perhaps have in some cases extended the religious influence of the Church, but it in a great degree paralysed its political action. One feature of the struggle has been curiously reproduced in our own day. It might have been imagined from the solemnity of the ordination vow, and from the peculiar sanctity supposed to attach to the clerical profession, that clergymen would be distinguished from lawyers, soldiers, and members of other mere secular professions by their deference and obedience to their superiors. It might have been ima- gined that this would have been especially true of men ' See Doclwell's One Priest- hood, his Discourse on the Obli- gation to Marry within the True Communion, annexed to Leslie's Sermon against Mixed Marri- ages, and his Discourse on the Soul ' wherein is proved that none have the power of giving this Divine immortalising spirit since the Apostles, hut only the bishops.' For the other Non- juror notions, see especially the works of Hickes, Leslie, and Brett. Lathbury, in his History of the Nonjurors, has summarised many of their works. See, too, Burnet's Own Times, ii. 603, 604. - Burnet, ii. 347. ^ Macaulay. 110 ENGLAND IN TPIE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. whu were continually i)reaching the duty of passive obedience in the sphere of politics, and the transcendent and almost divine prerogatives of episcopacy in thc- sphere of religion. As a matter of fact, however, this has not been the case. If the most constant, contemptu- ous, and ostentatious defiance both of civil and ecclesias- tical authorities be a result of the Protestant principlt^, of private judgment, it may be truly said that the ex- treme High Church party, in more than one peiiod of its history, has shown itself, in this respect at least, the most Protestant of sects. While idolising episcopacy in the abstract, its members have made it a main object of their policy to bring most existing bishops into con- tempt, and their polemical writings have been conspi- cuous, even in theological literature, for their feminine spitefulness, and for their recklessness of assertion. The last days of Tillotson were altogether emljittered by the stream of calumny, invective, and lampoons of which lie was the object. One favourite falsehood, repeated in spite of the clearest disproof, was that he had never been baptised. He was charged, without a shadow of founda- tion, with infamous conduct during Ms collegiate life. He was accused of Hobbism. He was accused, like Burnet and Patrick, of being a Socinian, though the plainest passages were cited from his writings, as well as fi'om those of his colleagues, asserting the divinity of Clu'ist. One wiiter, wlio was eulogised by Hickes as a person 'of great candour and judgment,' described the Archbishop as ' an atlieist as much as a man could be, though the gi-avest certainly that ever was.' ^ Nor was this a mere transient ebullition of scuriility. All through ' Birch's Life of Tillotson, p. scrujile to call him a downright 269. Dr. Jortin says, 'I heard atheist." . . . This when I was Dr. B. say in a sermon, " If any- young was sound, orthodox, and one denies the uninterru^jted sue- fasliiniiable doctrine.' — Jortin's cession of bishops, I shall not Tracts, i. 436. cu. I. DISSENSIONS IN THE CIIUKCU. Ill tlie ri'ign of Ainic, and lor severul years of the Hano- verian period, the bishops were the oljjects of the inces- sant and virulent attacks of the High Church party. Bisliops complained pathetically in Parliament of the factions formed and fomented in their dioceses by their own clergy, ' of the opprobrious names the clergy gave their bishops, and the calumnies they laid on them, as if they were in a plot to destroy the Church.' ' ' One would be provoked by the late behaviour of the bishops,' said a prominent Tory member under Anne, ' to bring in a bill for the toleration of episcopacy, for, since they are of just the same principles with the Dissenters, it is but just, I think, that they should stand on the same foot.' ^ A satirist of the day faithfully and wittily de- scribed the prevailing High Church sentiments when he represented the Tory fox-hunter thinking the neighbour- ing shire very happy in having ' scarce a Presbyterian in it — except the bishop ' ! ^ The antagonism between the higher and lower clergy was very apparent in Convocation. This body, from the time when it was deprived of its taxing functions, had sunk into insigniticance. Having crushed the scheme of William for uniting the Dissenters with the Church, a period of ten years elapsed before it again sat. The clergy, however, at last grew impatient. An anonymous ' Letter to a Convocation Man,' which appeared in 1696, asserting the right of Convocation to meet for the trans- action of business whenever the lay Parliament was sum- moned, excited a violent controversy in the ecclesiastical world, which raged for several years, and in which the most remarkable disputants were Wake and Kennet on the side of the civil power, and Atterbury on the side of ' See e.g. the complaints of Patrick, Hough, and Burnet, rati. Hist. vi. mi 497. - Pari. Hid. vi. 154. ^ Freeholder, No. 22. 112 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. Convocation. In 1701 the two Houses of Convocation were again summoned to meet, and tliey immediately l)lunged into a contest. Tliey wrangled alxnit the limits of their authority, about the right of the Lower House to adjourn or prolong its debates independently of the Upper House, about an address which the Lower House desired to present on the accession of Anne, reflecting injuriously upon her predecessor, about the right of Convocation to pass j udicial censures on men and books, about several minute points of order. The Lower House condemned Burnet's book on the Thirty-nine Articles, which is now one of the classics of the Church. It cen- sured at different periods Toland, Clarke, and Whiston. It passed resolutions lamenting the immorality of the age, denouncing the theatre, and pointing out that a Unitarian congregation had been allowed to meet, and that Popish and Quaker books were disseminated. It also, in conjunction with the Upper House, drew up some forms of prayer for special occasions ; but, on the whole, its performances were so trivial, and the tone of the Lower House to the bishops was so petulant, that it served chiefly to discredit the character and to impair the influence of the Church. These considerations will, I hope, be sufficient to explain why it was that the Church party, though it was naturally incomparably the most powerful in England, and was in general animated by a spirit of intense Tory- ism, was unable to overthrow the religious settlement that had been made at the Revolution. That the danger was very serious cannot reasonably be denied. Politics had passed into the pulpit to a degree unknown in Eng- land since the Commonwealth.^ The Toleration Act, • ' Les ecclesiastiques auroient delicate ; ils se m^lent tous de en memc temps grand besoin politi(jue ; c'est la morale qu'ils d'une ruforme, mais personne traitcnt dans leur sermon. On veut toucher icy a una corde si I'abolira d'autaut moins que lea CH. I. TORY CHURCn LEGISLATION. 113 the establislmient of the Kirk in Scotland, and perhaps still more the seminaries which, on account of their ex- clusion from the Universities, the Dissenters had lately set up for the education of their sons, were the object of the bitterest hatred of the High Church party. But the efforts of that party were only very partially successful. In Scotland, although there were some thoughts of the restoration of Episcopacy,' the new establishment was confirmed by the Union, but the Tories carried in 1712 a very righteous Act securing toleration to the Scotch Episcopalians, as well as an Act which has proved fertile in division, even to our own day, taking away from the Presbyterian elders and heritors in each parish the right of choosing their ministers, which had l)een granted them at the Revolution, and ivstoring in a restricted form the old system of lay patronage. A third measure, which would appear almost too trivial to be noticed, were it not for the violent outcry it created among the more rigid Presbyterians, revived the old ' Yule Vacance,' or Christmas holidays, in the law courts, and also made the 30th of January a legal holiday. In Ireland the worst of the penal laws, which in this reign were enacted against the Catholics, originated with the Whig party, but the imposition of the sacramental test on the Irisli Protestant Dissenters, though it took place at a time when the Tory power was tottering, was probably due to Tory influence. The history of this measure is a curious one. The Irish Parliament in 1703 having carried an atrocious penal law against the Catholics, sent it over to England for the necessary ratification. It was returned, with an additional clause extending, for the first time, the Test Act to Ireland. According to the constitutional deux partis croyent trouver tour 1711. Kemble's State Papers, a tour leur conte dans cette p. 480. metode.' — Baron de Bothmar to ' See Stanhope's ffisf.o/Qttfien the Electress Sophia, April 10, Anne, i. 97. VOL. I. I 114 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. arrangements tlien prevailing, the Irish Parliament could not alter a Bill returned from England, though it might reject it altogether, and, in order to save the anti-Popery clauses of the Bill, it reluctantly accepted the test clause. Burnet ascribes the introduction of the clause to the desire of the English ministers to throw out the whole Bill, which they imagined the Irish Parliament would refuse to ratify if burdened with the test,' but this ex- planation is very improbable. The Irish House of Com- mons only contained ten or twelve J^resbyterians. It had recently shown its hostility to the Presb3rterians by voting the Eeginm Donum an unnecessary expense, and, although it had not demanded the test, there was no reason to believe it would make any serious resistance to its imposition.^ The simplest explanation is probably the true one. The ministry consisted of two parts, the party of Godolphin and Marlborough, who on the ground of foreign policy, but on this alone, were rapidly approxi- mating to the Whigs, and the party of Nottingham, who was vehemently Tory, and who made it the very first object of his home policy to increase the stringency of the Test Act. These two sections were rapidly diverging, and it was only by much management and compromise that they were kept together. It is probable the Irish Test Act was due to the influence of Nottingham, and was accepted the more readily as it applied to a country which had then no weight in English politics, and excited no interest in the English mind.^ In the same spirit the Tory ministry, in the closing years of Anne, sus- pended the llegium Donum — a small annual endowment ' JTist. of his Own Times, ii. have been inserted here in Coun- 361, :'>IV2. eil by the Lords Nottingham and 2 Killen's Ecclesiastical Hist. Kochcstcr, after the Bill was sent o/I)(7«»fZ, ii. 191, 198. from Ireland.' Calamy's Life, ' According to Calamy the ii. 28. Sec, too, Wilson's Life of clause ' was commonly said to Defoe, ii. 180-190, CH. I. OCCASIONAL CONFORMITY BILL. 115 which William had given towards the support of the Presbyterian ministers in Ireland. In England a Bill for the repeal of the Act naturalising foreign Protestants was carried through the Commons in 1711, but rejected by the Lords. In the following year, however, it became law, and the Tory House of Commons, in 1711, also manifested its ecclesiastical zeal by voting a duty of Is. on every chaldron of coal for three years, to be applied to the erection of fifty new churches in London.^ The subject, however, around whicli the ecclesiastical struggle raged most fiercely was the Occasional Confor- mity Bill. The Test Act making the reception of the Anglican Sacrament a necessary qualification for becom- ing a member of corporations, and for the enjoyment of most civil offices, was very efficacious in excluding Catholics, but was altogether insufficient to exclude moderate Dissenters, whose Nonconformity was solely due to a preference for a presbyterian to an episcopal form of worship, or to disagreement with some petty detail in the church discipline or doctrine. Such men, while habitually attending their own places of worship, had no scruple about occasionally entering an Anglican church, or receiving the Sacrament from an Anglican clergyman. The Independents, it is true, and some of ' A similar duty had formerly sliouUl be taken for the building been employed in building St. of churches, that five parts in Paul's. Somers' Tracts, xii. 328. six of the people are absolutely Swift, in 1709, had forcibly hindered from hearing divine called attention to the want in a service ? Particularly here in passage which is said to have London, where a single minister, given rise to the Bill. ' Parlia- with one or two sorry curates, ment ought to take under con- has the care sometimes of above sideration whether it be not a 20,000 souls incumbent on him — shame to our country and a scan- a neglect of religion so ignomi- dal to Christianity that in many nious, in my opinion, that it can towns where there is a prodigious hardly be equalled in any civilised increase in the number of houses ago or country.' — A Project for and inhabitants, so little care the Advaiicement of Beligion. I 2 nr> K\(JLAND IN TnE ETGTITEENTn CENTURY. en. i. the Baptists, censured this practice, and Defoe wrote vehemently against it, but it was very general, and was supported by a long list of imposing authorities. It was remembered that in the very year of the Act of Uniformity the principal ejected ministers in London had met to- gether and resolved that they would occasionally attend the services of the Anglican Church and couimunicate at its altars.^ The great names of Baxter, Howe, and Henry might be cited in favour of occasional conformity, and their opinion was adopted by the whole liody of the Presbyterians. In the City of London the Dissenters were numerous and o]iulent, and they soon acquired an important place in the Corporation. Sir John Shorter, who became Lord Mayor of London in the year of the Revolution, was a Dissenter, and, having died during his year of office, his place was supplied by Sir John Eyles, who was of the same persuasion. Sir Humphry Edwin, who was also a Presbyterian, was elected Lord Mayor in 1697, and he greatly strengthened the growing feel- ing against occasional conformity by very impi^udently going in state, with the regalia of the City, to a Dissent- ing meeting-house. From this time the High Church party made the prohibition of occasional conformity a main object of their policy. Another Dissenter, Sir John Abney, became Lord Mayor in 1701, and in the following year the question was brought into Parliament. In 1702, in 1703, and in 1704, measures for suppressing occasional conformity were carried through the Commons, but on each occasion they were defeated by the Whig preponderance in the Lords. In 1702 the question gave rise to a free conference between the Houses. In 1704, as we have already seen, an attempt was unsuccessfully made to tack the measure to a Money Bill. From this time th(^ f(uestion was sufiTered to drop until the Sache- ' See Hunt's Hist, of Religious Thovght in England, ii. 314. CH. I, OCCASIONAL CONFORMITY BILL. 117 verell .igitution had anniliilated the Whig ministry and the Wliig majority in tlie Commons. It revived in 1711, but a very siuguUir trausfon nation of parts took place. The Tories were completely in the ascendant in the House of Commons, but it was in the House of Lords that the measure was first brought forward, and it was carried without a division. The explanation of the change is very easy. The Whig party had at this time made it their main object to defeat the negotiations that led to the Peace of Utrecht. A section of the extreme Tories, guided by Nottingham, concurred with this view, but they made it the condition of alliance that the Occasional Conformity Bill sliould be accepted by the Whigs. The bargain was made ; the Dissenters were abandoned, and, on tlie motion of Nottingham, a measure was carried pi'oviding that all persons in jilaces of profit or trust, and all common councilmen in corporations, who, while holding office, were proved to have attended any Nonconformist place of worship, should forfeit the place, and should continue incapable of ])ublic employ- ment till they should depose that for a whole year they had not attended a conventicle. The House of Commons added a fine of 4^01. which was to be paid to the informer, and with this addition the Bill became law. Its effects during the few years it continued in force were very inconsiderable, for the great majority of conspicuous Dissenters remained in office, abstaining from public worship in conventicles, but having Dissenting ministers as private chaplains in their houses. The House of Lords, and especially the Whig party, have been very bitterly censured for their desertion of the Nonconformists on this occasion, but their conduct is not, I think, incapable of defence. Three times the House of Commons, by a large majority, had carried the Bill. Since the measure had last been introduced the election of 1710 had taken place. It had turned 1 18 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. ex|Dressly upon Church qui-stiuiis, and it pi'oved, Ijeyoiid all dispute, that the country was on the side of the High Church party. Neitlier as a matter of principle, nor as a matter of policy, ouglit tlie House of Lords to oppose a permanent veto to the wish of tlie great majority of the Lower House, when that wish clearly reflects the senti- ments of the nation. There can be no question that the House of Commons would have carried the measure by a majority at least as large as in former years, and it was stated that the Court was resolved to use its utmost powers to make it law. Under these circumstances the Lords miglit justly consider that they were consulting their own dignity by taking the first step when conces- sion was inevitable ; that a measure, mitigated in some of its provisions by amicable compromise, and taking its rise in a friendly rather than an unfriendly House, was likely to be less injurious to the Dissenters than a measure framed by a hostile party, and carried by another explosion of fanaticism ; and, lastly, that it was for the advantage of the nation that the opportunity should not be lost of endeavouring by a coalition of parties to avert the great evils apprehended fi'om the peace. The object of the Occasional Conformity Bill was to exclude the Dissenters from all Government positions of power, dignity, or profit. It was followed in 1714 by the Schism Act, which was intended to crush their seminaries and deprive them of the means of educating their children in their faith. The seminaries of the Dissenters had been severely noticed in a dedication of the second part of Lord Clarendon's History to Queen Anne, whicli was ascribed to the pen of Rochester, by the Archbishop of York in the House of Lords, and by Brom- ley in the House of Commons, and they were denounced with extraordinary violence, as schools of immorality and sedition, by Sacheverell, and by Samuel Wesley, CH. 1. THE SCHISM ACT. 119 the father of the great founder of Methodism. They appear to have been ably conducted, and it is a curious fact that both Archbishop Seeker and Bishop Butler were partly educated at the Dissenting academy of Tewkesbury.' The measure for suppressing them was one of the most tyrannical enacted in the eigliteenth century, and it appears especially shameful from the fact that those who took the most prominent part in carrying it were acting without the excuse of religious bigotry. Bolingbroke, who introduced it in the Lords, and Windham, who introduced it in the Commons, were both men of the laxest principles, and of the laxest morals, and it was finally defended by the former mainly on the ground that it was necessary for the party in- terest of the Tories to prevent the propagation of Dis- sent.^ As carried through the House of Commons it provided that no one, under pain of three months' im- prisonment, should keep either a public or a private school, or should even act as tutor or usher, unless he had obtained a licence from the Bishop, had engaged to conform to the Anglican liturgy, and had received the Sacrament in some Anglican church within the year. In order to prevent occasional conformity it was further provided that if a teacher so qualified were present at any other form of worship, he should at once become liable to three months' imprisonment, and should be in- cajDacitated for the rest of his life from acting as school- master or tutor. In order to prevent latitudinarian Anglicans from teaching Dissenting formularies, a clause was carried, making any licensed teacher who taught any catechism other than that of the Church of England liable to all the penalties of the Act. The Bill was supported by the whole weight of the Tory ministry, ' Calamy's Life, ii. 503. ^ Bolingbroke, Letter to Wiudham. 120 ENGLAND IN THE EIGUTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i and was carried in the House of Commons by 237 to 126 votes. In the House of Lords the feeling against it was very strong, but the recent creation of twelve peers had weakened the ascendency of the Whigs. It is remarkable, however, that on this occasion Notting- ham himself spoke on the side of religious liberty. Tlie Dissenters petitioned to be heard by counsel against the Bill, but their petition was rejected. The measure having been defended, among other reasons, by the alle- gation that many children of Churchmen had been at- tracted to Nonconformist schools, Halifax moved that the Dissenters mio'lit have schools for the exclusive education of children of their own persuasion, but he was defeated by 62 against 48, and the Bill was finally carried through the Lords by 77 to 72. Some imjwr- tant clauses, however, were introduced by the Whig party qualifying its severity. They provided that Dis- senters might have schoolmistresses to teach their chil- dren to read ; that the Act should not extend to any person instructing youth in reading, writing, or arith- metic, in any part of mathematics relating to navigation, or in any mechanical art only ; that tutors in the. houses of noblemen should be exempt from the necessity of ob- taining an episcopal licence ; and that the infliction of penalties under the Act should be removed from the jurisdiction of the justices of the peace, and ]ilaced under that of the su})erior courts. The facility with which this atrocious Act was carried, abundantly shows the danger in which religious lil^erty was ])laced in the latter yeai's of the reign of Queen Anne. There can, indeed, be little doubt that, had the Tory ascendency been but a little prolonged, the Toleration Act would have been repealed, and it is more than doubtful whether the purely political con- quests of the Revolution would have survived. The more, indeed, those very critical years are examined, CH. I. DEATHS AT THE FRENCH COURT. 121 the more evident it becomes on how slender a chain of causes the political future of England then depended. There can be little doubt that if, while the Pretender re- mained a Catholic, a son of Anne had survived, he would have mounted the throne amid the acclamations of the English people, and would have been the object ot an enthusiasm of unqualified loyalty even more intense than that which was subsequently bestowed upon George III. There can also, I think, be little doubt that if, after the death of the children of Anne, thi^. Pretender had consented to conform to the English Church, the immense majority of the people would have reverted irresistibly to the legitimate heir. It is less certain, but far from improbable, that if the life of the Queen had been prolonged for a single year, the Act of Settlement would have been disregarded, and the Pretender, in spite of his Catholicism, would have been brought back by a Tory ministry. In order, however, to understand the position of parties at the time of the death of the Queen, it will be necessary to turn from domestic affairs to foreign politics, and to give a brief outline of the chief work of the Tory ministry — the negotiation of the Peace of Utrecht. At the time when this momentous measure was carried, the political aspects of the war had in some respects very materially changed. When the Whig ministry fell, the chances of Philip of Spain inheriting the crown of France were so remote that they might have been almost disregarded, but the shadows of death soon fell darkly around the French king. In February 1710-11 the Dauphin fell sick of small-pox complicated with fever, and after a short illness he died, leaving as his heir the young pupil of Fenelon, whose virtues and solid acquirements had inspired ardent hopes, only too soon to be overcast. In February 1711-12 the wife of the new Dauphin was seized with a deadly sickness, and 122 ENGLAND IN TtlE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. i, in a few days she expired. A week had hardly passed when her husband followed her to the tomb, and in another month the elder of her two children was also dead. Thus, ])y a strange fatality which gave rise to tlie darkest suspicions, three successive heirs to the French throne, representing three successive generations, had, in little more than a year, been swept away, and the old king and a sickly infant alone remained between Philip and the crown of France. On the Austrian side the change was even more important. The Emperor Leopold I., who began the war, had died in May 1705. His successor, Joseph I. , died in April 1711, leaving no son, and Charles, the Austrian claimant, now wore the imperial crown. The military conditions in the meantime had not been very seriously modified. France was still reduced to extreme and abject wretchedness. Her finances were ruined. Her people were half starving. Marlborough declared that in the villages through which he passed in the summer of 1710, at least half the inhabitants had perished since the beginning of the preceding winter, and the rest looked as if they had come out of their graves.^ All the old dreams of French conquests in the Spanish Nethei'lands, in Italy, and in Germany were dispelled, and the French generals were now struggling de- sperately and skilfully to defend their own frontier. The campaign of 1709 had been marked by the capture of Menin and Tournay by the allies, by the bloody victory of Malplaquet, in whieh the losses of the conquerors were nearly double the losses of the conquered, and finally by the capture of Mons. In 1710, while the Whig ministry was still in power, but at a time when it was manifestly tottering to its fall, Lewis had made one more attempt to obtain peace by the most ample con- ' Coxe's Marlbm-ottgh, ch. Fenelon, in Martin, Hist, do Ixxxviii. See, too, the striking France, xiv. 528, u2y. description of the country by CH. I. CONFERENCE OF GERTiaiYDENBERG. 123 cessions. The conferences were held at the Dutch for- tress of Gertruydenberg. Lewis declared himself ready to accept the conditions exacted as preliminaries of peace in the preceding year, with the exception of the article compelling Philip within two months to cede the Spanish throne. He consented, in the course of the negotiations, to grant to the Dutch nearly all the for- tresses of the French and Spanish Netherlands, includ- ing, among others, Ypres, Tournay, Lille, Furnes, and even Valenciennes, to cede Alsace to the Duke of Lorraine, to destroy the fortifications of Dunkirk, and those on the Rhine from Bale to Philipsburg. The main difficulty was on the question of the Spanish succession. The French urged that Philip would never voluntarily abdicate unless he received some compensation in Italy or elsewhere, and the Dutch and English ministers now seemed inclined to accept the proposition, but the oppo- sition of the Emperor and of the Duke of Savoy was in- flexible. The French troops had already been recalled from Spain, and Lewis consented to recognise the Arch- duke as the sovereign, to engage to give no more assist- ance to his grandchild, to place four cautionaiy towns in the hands of the Dutch as a pledge for the fulfilment of the treaty, and even to pay a subsidy to the allies for the continuance of the war against Philip. The allies, how- ever, insisted that he should join with them in driving his grandson by force of arms from Spain, and on this article the negotiations were broken off. The English ministers in this negotiation showed themselves a little more moderate in their inclinations than on former occasions, but they yielded to the wish of the allies, and the war was for a third time needlessly and recklessly prolonged. It is always an impolitic ' Compare Mdmoircs de Torcy, France, xiv. 525-527. Coxc's i. 352-428. Martin, Hist, de Life of Marlboroiigli, chAxxxxiii. 124 ENGLAND IN THE EIOIITEEXTII CENTURY. ch. 1. thing to impose on a greut Power conditions so igno- minious and dishonouring as to produce enduring re- sentment, and it would be dillicult to exaggerate either the folly or the injustice of the course which on this occasion was pursued. England and Holland had absolutely no advantage to expect from the war, which Lewis was not prejiared to concede. They prolonged it in order to impose on the Spaniards a sovereign they hated, and to deprive them of a sovereign they adored, in order to obtain the Spanish dominions for a prince who was now the heir to the Austrian throne, though a revival of the empire of Charles V. would have dis- turbed the whole balance of European power. If a general peace was not signed, the war might have at least been narrowed into a duel between Austria and Spain, and in any case its object was almost unattain- able. Spain is not, and never has been, one of those centralised countries in which the captui-e of the capital implies the subjugation of the nation. Stanhope, who knew it well, frankly declared ' that armies of 20,000 or 30,000 men might walk about that country till doomsday ; that wherever they came the people would submit to Charles out of terror, and as soon as they were gone proclaim Philip V. again out of affection ; that to conquer Spain, required a great army, to keep it a greater.' ' The fortunes of the war had more than once fluctuated violently, but no success of the allies liad aloated the hostility of the great body of the Spaniards. When Lewis withdrew his ti-ooi)s from S])ain, the cause of Charles was for a brief i)eriod com- ])letely triumphant; but when, after the victory of Saragossa, Madrid was for the second time occupied by the allies in September 1 710, it was found to be nearly deserted, almost the whole active population having ' Bolingbroke's Sketch of the History of Euivj^e. en. I, FRENCH SUCCESSES. ] 25 retired with Philip to Valladolid. When it became evident that the conferences at Gertruydenberg would lead to no result, Lewis sent Vendome to command the Spanish forces. Charles was compelled to abandon Madrid for Toledo, where his troops added to their unpopularity by burning the Alcazar, He soon after left his army and retreated with 2,000 men to Barcelona. Bands of guerillas cut off communications on every side, and it was found almost impossible, in the face of the determined hostility of the population, to obtain either provisions or information. Stanhope, at the head of an English army of between 5,000 and 6,000 men, w^as surrounded at Brihuega, and after a desperate resistance the whole army was forced to surrender. Staremberg had marched at the head of the Austrian army to his assistance, but the battle of Villaviciosa compelled him to evacuate Aragon, and to retreat with great loss into Catalonia, while at the same time a French corps, commanded by Noailles, descending from Rousillon, invested and captin-ed Gerona, so that, with the excep- tion of the seaboard of Catalonia, the cause of Charles at the close of the year was ruined in Spain, In the meantime the cost of the war to England was rapidly increasing, while her interest in the result had greatly diminished. In 1702, when the war began, its expense for the year was estimated at about 3,700,000?. In 1706, when Lewis offered terms more than fulfilling every legitimate object of the war, it had I'isen to nearly 5,700,000/. In 1711 it was about G,850,000/.i The land tax was now at 4s. in the pound. The house tax had been greatly increased. Additional duties had been imposed on beer, tea, coffee, leather, candles, and many other articles, but the expenditure still vastly exceeded the revenue, and every year added some millions to the See Ralph's Use and Abuse of Parliaments, i. 167, 168. 126 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, CH. I. burden of debt. N(\irly 800 corsairs had sailed, during the war, from Dunkirk to prey upon English and Dutch commerce,^ and the former had been severely crippled by the heavy duties rendered necessary by the increasing expenses. More than 18,000 of the allied troops had been killed or wounded at JSIalplaquet. England, too, which of all tlie allied Powers had the least direct interest in the war, bore by far the greatest share of the burden. Holland had obtained from Eng- land, in 1709, a ti'eaty guaranteeing her, in return for a Dutch guarantee of the Protestant succession, the rio'ht of ararrisonino^ a lono^ line of barrier fortresses, including Nieuport, Purnes, Knocke, Ypres, Menin, Lille, Tournay, Conde, Valenciennes, Maubeuge, Char- leroy, Namur, and other strong places, hereafter to be captured from France, while some strong places were to be incorporated absolutely in her dominions. The war, therefore, offered her advantages of the most vital nature, but she had invariably fallen short of the proportion of soldiers and sailors which at the beginning of the struggle she agreed to contribute ; she refused even to prohibit her subjects from trad- ing with France, and, with the exception of a duty of one per cent, for encouraging her own privateers, she had imposed no additional trade duty during the war. The Emperor had acquired immense territories in Italy and Germany, and he was fighting for the claims of an Austrian prince to the Spanish thi^one ; but he, too, as well as the Princes of the Empire, continually fell short of the stipulated quota. The minor Powers in the alliance were chiefly subsidised by England, who had at one time no less than 244,000 men in her pay.^ ' Martin, Ilist. de France, England had agreed to furnish xiv. 572. only 40,000 men, the Emperor - At the beginning of the war 90,000, and the States-General CH. I. DISSENSIONS AMONG THE ALLIES. 127 Nor was this all. It was quite evident that the alliance must soon fall to pieces. From the first the mutual jealousies and the conflicting objects of the con- federate Powers had thrown obstacles in the way of the military operations, which it required all the genius and all the admirable patience and dexterity of Marlborough and Eugene to surmount. The absurd habit adopted by the Dutch, of sending deputies with their armies to control their generals, had again and again paralysed the allies. Marlborough thus lost his most favourable op- portunity of crushing Boufflers at Zonhoven in 1702. He was prevented by the same cause from invading French Flanders in 1703, and from attacking Villars on the plain of Waterloo in 1705, though he expressed his confident belief that he could have gained a victory even more decisive than Blenheim ; and Dutch jealousy was plausibly said to have been the chief reason why the war was never carried into the Spanish West Indies, where conquests would have been very easy and very lucrative to England. The conduct of the Emperor was no less open to censure. In the beginning of 1707 he had entered into separate and secret negotiations with the French ; had concluded with them, without the consent of any of the allies except the Duke of Savoy, a treaty for the neutrality of Italy, and had thus enabled them to send reinforcements from Lombardy to Spain, which prepared the way for the great disaster of Almanza. In the course of the same year he insisted, contrary to the wishes of his allies, upon sending a large body of troops to conquer Naples for himself ; and the no less than 102,000, of whom States. On the extent to which 42,000 were to supply their garri- England exceeded and the other Bons, and 60,000 to act against Powers fell short of the stipulated the enemy. Of the ships five- proportion, see the Eepresenta- eighths were to be supplied by tion of the House of Coimnons, England, and three-eighthsby the Pari. Hist. vi. 1095-1105. 128 ENGLAND l.N THE EIGIITEKNTII CENTURY en. I. want of his co-operation led to tlie calamitous failure of tlie siege of Toulon. There was hardly an expedition, hai'dly a negotiation, in wliich bickerings and divergent counsels did not appear. The Dutch and the English were animated by the bitterest spirit of commercial jealousy ; and when Charles assumed the imperial crown, the alliance was at once placed in the most imminent danger. Portugal and Savoy formally declared that they would carry on the war no longer to unite the crown of S})ain with that of Austria ; and there was probably scarcely a statesman out of Germany who considered such a union in itself a good.' Such was the state of affairs when the Tory ministry rose to power. It was evidently in the highest degi'ee their party interest to negotiate a speedy peace. The war was originally a Whig war. It had been mainly supported by the Whig party. The great general who chietly conducted it had been the pillar of the Whig ' See on the rccasons for mak- ing peace, Swift's Conduct of the Allies, The History of the Last Four Years of Queen Anne, as- cribed to Swift, the very forcible Represcntatimi of the House of Commons, drawn up by Sir Thomas Hanmer, Ralph's Use and Abuse of Parliaments, i. IfiO- 176, Bolingbroke's Sketch of the History of Eiiropc. Coxe's Life of Mar-lborough, though written from the Whig point of view, abundantly illustrates the selfish conduct of the allies. As early as Nov. 1710, Bolingbrokc wrote to Drummond, ' Our trade sinks, and several channels of it, for want of the usual flux, become choked, and will in time be lost ; whilst in the meanwhile the commerce of Holland extends itself and flourishes to a great degree. I can see no immediate benefit likely to accrue to this nation by the war, let it end how and when it will, besides the general advantages common to all Europe of reducing the French power ; whilst it is most apparent that the rest of the confederates have in their own hands already very great addi- tions of power and dominion ob- tained by the war, and parti- cularly the States.' — IJoling- broke's Letters, i. 2C>, 27. See, too, i. 54, 55, 191-195, and also his able letter to the Examiner in 1710, which was answered by no less a person than the Chan- cellor Cowper. — Somers' Tracts, xiii. 71-75. CH. I. EEASONS FOR PEACE. 129 ministiy, and eveiy victory he gained redounded to its credit. The principal allies of England during the struggle had, moreover, shown themselves actively hostile to the Tories. When the change of ministry was contemplated, the Emperor wrote to Anne to dissuade her from the step; and the Dutch Govern- ment directed their envoy to make a formal remon- strance to the same effect.' Besides this, it was a favom-ite doctrine of the Tory leaders that the large loans necessitated by the war had given an unnatural importance to the monej^ed classes, who were the chief supporters of the Whigs, and who were regarded with extreme jealousy by the country gentry.^ The mixture of party with foreign policy in times when a great national struggle is raging, is perhaps the most serious danger and evil attending parliamentary government ; and it was shown in every part of the reign of Anne. But if the foregoing arguments are just, it will appear evident that in this case the party interest which led the Tory ministers to desire the immediate termination of the war was in complete accordance with the most momentous and pressing interests of the nation. It will appear almost equally evident that the essential article of the Peace of Utrecht, which was the recogni- tion by England of Philip as the sovereign of Spain, was perfectly righteous and politic. The permanent maintenance of Charles on the Spanish throne was, probably, an impossibility. If it had been effected, so great an accession of power to the Empire would have been most dangerous to Europe. No other solution than the recognition of Philip was possible without a ' Coxe's Life of Marlborongli. letter to Sir W. Windham, Bo- Bolingbroke's Le^^crs, i. 9, iii. 76. lingbroke very frankly admitted ' See Bolingbroke's Letters, ii. that the peace was a supreme 74, 211. The same idea fre- party interest, quently occurs in Swift. In his VOL. I. K 130 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. I. great prolongation of the war, and the dangers ap- prehended from that recognition might never arise, and could be at least partially averted. Philip might never become the heir to the French throne, and as long as the two kingdoms remained separate, there was no reason to believe that the relationship between their sovereigns would make Spain the vassal of France. The intense national jealousy of the Spanish character was a sufficient safeguard. More than half the wars which desolated Europe had been wars between sove- reigns who were nearly related ; and if it was true that Lewis exercised a great personal ascendency over Philip, it was also true that Lewis was now so old a man, and his kingdom so reduced, that another war during his lifetime was almost impossible. If, on the other hand, the death of the infant Dauphin made Philip the heir to the French throne, a real danger would arise ; but serious measures were taken by the Peace of Utrecht to mitigate it. In the first place, Philip made a solemn renunciation of his claims to the succession of France, and that renunciation was con- firmed by the Spanish Cortes and registered by the French Parliaments. It was, it is true, only too probable that this renunciation would be disregarded if any great political end was to be attained. The examples of such a course were only too recent and glaring, and in this case an admirable pretext was already furnished. French lawyers liad laid down the doctrine that such a renunciation, by the fundamental laws of France, would be null and invalid ; that the next prince to the throne is necessarily the heir, by the right of birth ; and that no political act of his own, or of the sovereign, could divest him of his title. In the earlier stages of the negotiation Torcy had maintained this doctrine in his correspondence with St. John, and if it was found convenient it would probably be revived. But even in CH. I. CONDUCT OF THE MINISTRY. 131 case Philip became the heir to the French throne, it by- no means followed that peace would be broken ; for, as a mere matter of policy, it was probable that Philip would remain faithful to his engagement, and would content himself with one crown. An attempt to unite the French and Spanish thi'ones would undoubtedly be met by another European coalition, and the offending sovereign would be weakened, not only by the great reluctance of the Spanish people to become subsidiary to a more powerful nation, but most probably also by the divisions of a disputed succession in France. In the face of these considerations, there was a fair prospect of the maintenance of peace ; and even if events assumed their darkest aspect, the English, by the Peace of Utrecht, retained Gibraltar, Port Mahon, and Minorca, which gave them the command of the Medi- terranean, while the Spanish possessions in Italy and the Netherlands were added to the dominions of the Empire. For these reasons the abandonment by the Tory ministry of the articles before insisted on, requiring Philip to give up the Spanish throne, and Lewis to employ his arms against him, appears perfectly justifi- able, nor can we, I think, remembering the fate of the former negotiations, blame English statesmen very severely if, before attempting to negotiate a formal treaty, they entered into some separate explanation with the French. Here, however, the language of eulogy or apology must end, for the tortuous proceedings that ter- minated in the Peace of Utrecht form, beyond all ques- tion, one of the most shameful pages in English history. A desire for peace was hardly a stronger feeling with the ministers than hatred and jealousy of the Dutch, and their first object was to outwit them by separate and clandestine negotiation ; to obtain for England a monopoly of commercial privileges, and to obtain them, E 2 132 ENGLAND IN THK ETGITTEENTn CENTURY. en. I. in a great degree, at the cost of the towns which would otherwise have been ceded for the Dutch barrier. As early as the autumn of 1710 a secret negotiation was carried on with the French, but for some time the aspect of the war was not very materially changed. For the first year after the new ministry came to power, Marl- borough was still at the head of the army, though his position was a most painful one. The parliamentary vote of thanks to him was withheld ; his opinion, even on military matters, was ostentatiously disregarded ; his wife — who had, indeed, made herself intolerable to the Queen — was dismissed from her posts. Godolphin, who, of all his political friends, was most closely at- tached to him, was falsely and vindictively accused of having leit no less than 35,000,000/. of public money unaccounted for,^ and in spite of the urgent protest of Marlborough, more than 5,000 men were withdrawn from the army to be employed in an enterprise from which St. John expected the most brilliant results. The Tories had long complained, with some reason, that the Whig Government carried on the war by land rather than by sea, and in the centre of Europe, where Eng- land had nothing to gain, rather than in distant quar- ters, where her colonial empire might be largely in- creased. St. John accordingly, anticipating one of the great enterprises of the elder Pitt, sent out ^ an expe- dition, consisting of twelve ships of war and fifty trans- ports, for the conquest of Canada. The naval part was under the command of Sir Hoveden Walker, and the soldiers were under that of Brigadier Hill, the brother > Walpole very ably refuted pay his funeral expenses. Sec this calumny. When Godolphin a letter of the Duchess of Marl- died in the following year, his borough, Coxe's Marlborough, whole personal property, after ch. cix. his debts were paid, is said to ^ May 1711. have been scarcely suflicient to CH. I. WEAKNESS OF MARLBOROUGH. 133 of Mrs. Masliaiu. It was, however, feebly cond netted, and, having encountered some storms and losses at sea, it returned without result. It may ajjpear strange that Marlborough should have continued in command in spite of so many causes of irritation, but he was implored by his Whig friends to do so. Besides this, there is some reason to believe that his resolution of character was not altogether what it had been ; and his conduct in civil affairs never dis- played the same decision as his conduct in the field. It is ditiicult to avoid the conclusion that he might, by a prompt intervention, supported by a threat of resigna- tion, have retarded, if not prevented, the fall of Godol- pliin; and in the period immediately preceding the Peace of Utrecht, he displayed considerable weakness and hesitation. It is curious to observe that, of all public men, he showed the greatest sensitiveness to the libels of the Press ; and he complained to Harley and St. John, in terms of positive anguish, of the attacks to which he was subject.^ His frequent negotiations with both Hanoverians and Jacobites rendered his position peculiarly perplexing. His love of money amounted to a disease, and made it difficult for him to sacrifice his official emoluments. He had tried without success, at the time when the Whig ministry was falling, to obtain from the Emperor the government of the Spanish Nether- lands, which on two previous occasions he had refused.^ He had the natural desire of a great general to remain at the head of the army during the war, and of an adroit politician to preserve a position of much power at a time when the question of a disputed succession was impend- ing. He was so incomparably the greatest English general that it seemed scarcely possible to displace him, and at one moment there were symjjtoms of reconcilia ' Coxe's Marlborough, ch. c, cv. * Ibid. ch. xcvi. 134 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. tion between himself and St. Jolin. In September 1711 lie succeeded, by a masterly movement, in breaking through the lines of Villars, and ha\ang captured Bou- chain, the struggle seemed aljout to take a more decisive form. Quesnoy and Landrecies were the only strong places of the French barrier that were now interposed between the allies and a rich and open country extend- ing to the very walls of Paris. The Emperor and the Dutch were straining all their powers for a new effort, and there can be little doubt that, under the guidance of Marlborough and Eugene, it would have been successful. The ministers, however, had by this time arrived at such a point in their secret negotiations that they looked for- ward to an immediate peace, and were anxious, if pos- sible, to paralyse the operations of war. On September 27, 1711, two sets of preliminaries of peace were secretly signed. The first, the most impoi'tant, and by far the most explicit, concerned England mainly or exclusively, were signed on the part of both England and France, and were kept carefully secret from the allies. By these preliminaries the title of Anne and her successors, as by law established, was recognised ; the cession of Gibral- tar, Port Mahon, and Newfoundland, with a reservation of the right of fishing to the French, was granted or confirmed ; the port and fortijications of Dunkirk were to be destroyed at the peace, France receiving an equi- valent to be determined in tlie final treaty ; a treaty of commerce -with France was promised ; the lucrative right of suppljdng the Spanish colonies in America with negroes was transferred from a French company to the English, and some places in America were assigned to the English for the refreshment and sale of the negroes. The other set of preliminaries, which were communi- cated to the Dutch and were signed only on the part of France, comprised the recognition of the title of the Queen and of the succession established by law, the CH, 1. PEELIMINARIES OF PEACE, 1711. 135 article relating to Dunkirk and a promise of commercial advantages for England and Holland ; they made no mention of the special advantages England secured for herself, but provided that measures should be taken to prevent the union of the crowns of France and Spain ; that barriers, the nature and extent of which were as yet undefined, should be formed for the Dutch and for the Empire ; and, by a separate article, that the places taken from the Duke of Savoy should be restored, and his power in Italy aggi*andised. These articles were communicated by the English to the alHes, who were summoned to a conference for the negotiation of a definite peace. The difficulties of the ministers were very great. The Dutch, though they at length consented to join the pro- posed conference at Utrecht, expressed strong dissatis- faction with the preliminaries of which they had been apprised. The Emperor was still more emphatic, and he only consented to take part in the proceedings on condition that the preliminaries should be regarded as mere propositions, without any binding force. The Elector of Hanover, whose judgment had naturally a special weight with English politicians, was prominent on the same side ; and although the ministers could count on a large majority in the Commons, a majority in the House of Lords, supported by Marlborough him- self, voted that no peace could be safe or honourable which left Spain and the Indies to a Bourbon prince. Public opinion received a severe shock when, at the close of the year, the greatest of England's generals was removed ignominiously from the command of the army, and was replaced by the Duke of Ormond, a strong Tory, but a man of no military ability. The conference, however, met at Utrecht at the close of January 1711- 12, and early in the next month the French made their propositions for a peace. Lewis offered to recognise the lS6 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. Queen of England and the succession established by- law, but only on the signature of peace ; to destroy the fortiiications of Dunkirk after the peace, on condition of receiving a satisfactory equival<:'nt ; to cede to Eng- land St. Christopher, Hudson's Bay, and Newfoundland, reserving, however, the fort of Placentia and the light of fisliing around Newfoundland, and receiving again the whole of Acadia ; and he also undertook to make a treaty of commerce with England, based on the principle of reciprocity. When, however, the question of the Dutch barrier arose, the French propositions showed the enormous change which had passed over the pretensions of Lewis since the conferences of Gertruydenberg. He now demanded that the sovereignty of the Spanish Netherlands should be granted to his ally the Elector of Bavaria ; and, although he recognised the right of the Dutch to garrison the frontier towns, he prescribed limits for their barrier wholly different from those wliich had been guaranteed by England in the treaty of 1709, and recognised by France in the conferences of 1710. He demanded the surrender of both Lille and Tournay as an equivalent for the destruction of the harbour of Dunkirk. Of the cession of Valenciennes there was no longer any question. He offered, it is true, to cede Furnes, Knocke, Ypres, and Menin, but only in ex- change for Aire, St. Venant, Bethune, and Douay. These demands were made, though not a single success in Flanders had improved the position of the French since 1709, while the immense concessions the allies were preparing to make in leaving Philip undisturbed on the Spanish throne entitled tliem to demand that in other respects at least the conditions accepted in that year should be rigidly exacted. The arrogance, as it was deemed, of the French king, excited not only indig- nation, but astonishment ; Init those who blamed it did not know the secret stipulations by which England was CH. I. DEMANDS OF LEWIS. 137 now bound to France. They did not know that the English ministers were on far more confidential terms with the enemy than with their allies ; that St. John had informed the French negotiator that, though they could not avoid demanding a barrier for the Dutch, they desired it to be neither very extended nor very strong ; that he had specially urged the French to stand firm against Holland, in order to resist any attempt she might make to obtain a share of the advantages con- ceded to England.' Under such circumstances, the position of France in the negotiations was not that of an isolated and defeated Power. She had a weighty ally at the Council-board — an ally all the more valuable because her position was unavowed ; because her statesmen had entered upon a course in which failure or even exposure might lead to impeachment. The other French demands were in the same key. Lewis consented, indeed, in the name of his grandson, to the abandonment of the Spanish dominions in Italy, which were already in the hands of the allies ; but he demanded that the frontiers between France and Germany, between France and the territory of the Duke of Savoy, and between Portugal and Spain, should be re-established as they were before the war. He consented to give guarantees against the possible union of the crowns of France and Spain, and to recog- nise those titles in Germany wliich he had hitherto re- fused to acknowledge ; but he demanded in return that Philip should retain the tin-ones of Spain and of the Indies, and that the Electors of Cologne and Bavaria should be fully re-established in the territory and the position from which they had been driven by the war. It is not surprising that such demands, made after a long succession of crushing defeats, by a Power which less than three years before would have gladly purchased Torcy's Memoirs. 138 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. t. peace by a complete abandonment of the cause of Philip, by the cession of all or almost all the strong places on the Dutch frontier, and by the restoration of Strasburg to the Emperor, should have been branded by the House of Lords as scandalous, frivolous, and dishonouring to the Queen and to the allies. The English ministers, however, were not discouraged, and they advanced fear- lessly in the path which they had chosen. The course of duty before them at this time was very clear. The terms or propositions of peace should have been fully, frankly, and unreservedly laid before the plenipotentiaries assembled at Utrecht. As long as no conclusion was arrived at, military operations should have been strenu- ously pursued, but if after mature deliberation England desired to make peace on terms which were unacceptable to the allies, she had a perfect right to withdraw for- mally from the alliance. Harley and St. John, however, though widely different in most respects, agreed in pre- ferring tortuous to open methods, and they at this time carried on the foreign policy of the Government rather in the manner of conspirators than of statesmen. They plunged deeper and deeper into separate clandestine negotiations, and they allowed these negotiations to interfere fatally with military operations. The allied army in Flanders in the spring of 1712 considerably outnumbered that of Villars which was opposed to it, and although the English contingent was feebly com- manded, the presence of Eugene gave great promise of success. The opposing armies were in close proximity, and there was every reason to look forward to brilliant results, when Ormond received peremptory orders from St. John to engage in no siege and to hazard no battle till further instructions, and to keep this order strictly secret from the general with whom he was co-operating. A postscript was added, in which the seriousness of the matter contrasted strangely with the levity of the form. CH. I. DEFECTION OF THE ENGLISH. 139 ' I had almost forgot to tell your Grace that comDiuni- cation is made of this order to the Court of France, so that if the Marshal de Villars takes, in any private way, notice of it to you, your Grace will answer accordingly,' ^ Twelve days later another letter directed Ormond to take the first step by sending a messenger to Villars,^ and a secret correspondence was thus opened between the English general and the enemy who was opposed to him in the field. The suspicions of Eugene were at last aroused. He perceived an oppoi-tunity of compelling the enemy either to fight a battle at great disadvantage, or else to repass the Somme, and he at once prepared a general attack. The English general was overwhelmed with confusion : he tried by excuses that were palpably futile to evade the request, and he finally begged a post- ponement. The treachery now could no longer be con- cealed. Eugene insisted on besieging Quesnoy. Ormond could find no excuse, and yielded. The siege was for- mally begun when Ormond announced to the Austrian commander and to the Dutch that England had sig-ned a suspension of arms for two months, and that the British troops and the auxiliaries who were subsidised by Great Britain were about, in the face of the enemy, to retire from the confederate army. These transactions formed afterwards one of the most formidable of the articles of impeachment against Bolingbroke, and they admit of but little palliation. The scene when the suspension of arms was announced to the army was a very memorable one. The Austrian and Dutch generals protested in vain. The subsidised allies loudly declared that they would be no parties to an act of such aggravated treachery. Their pay was considerably in arrear, and with a rare refinement of meanness it was thi*eatened that their arrears would not ' Bolingbroke's Letters, ii. 321 (May 10). ^ Ibid. p. 344. 140 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. i. be paid unless they withdrew, but the threat with the great majority was unavailing. Among the British troops the sentiment was but little different. When the withdrawal was announced at the head of each regi- ment, a general hiss and murmur ran through the ranks. In order to prevent the spread of disaSection, strict orders were given that there should be no communica- tion between the troops who were to retire and those who were to remain ; l:)ut yet, in the words of a con- temporary, the Biitish camp resounded ' with curses against the Duke of Ormond as a stupid tool and gene- ral of straw. The colonels, captains, and other brave officers were so overwhelmed with vexation that they sat apart in their tents, looking on the ground for very shame with downcast eyes, and for several days shrank from the sight even of their fellow soldiers. . . . Some left their colours, to serve among the allies, and others afterwards withdrew, and whenever they recollected the Duke of Marlborough and the late glorious times their eyes filled with tears,' ^ At length, on the 12th of July, the British troops, numbering 12,000 men, and accom- panied only by four squadrons and one battalion of the Holstein auxiliaries, and by a regiment of dragoons from the contingent of Liege, marched in dejected silence from the confederate camp. The Dutch governors of Bouchain, Douay, and Tournay refused to open their gates, and the English in reprisal seized upon Ghent and Bruges. One of the terms of the agreement with France was that a Biitish garrison should at once occupy Dun- kirk ; but the French, alleging that the gi'eater part of tlie auxiliaries in the pay of England still remained with the confederate army, declared that the treaty was broken, and refused to open the gates, nor was it till after considerable negotiations and urgent appeals that Cunningham. CH. I. FRENCH SUCCESSES. HI Lewis consented, more as a matter of favour than of right, to admit the English into Dunkirk. This defection left a deep stain on the honour of England, and, as might have been expected, it gave a complete turn to the war. Quesnoy, it is true, surren- dered on the very day of the retreat of Ormond, and Landrecies was besieged, but the tide of fortune speedily receded. Villars, strengthened by the garrisons of towns which the English armistice relieved, attacked and de- feated one section of 'the weakened army of Eugene at Denain. Douay was invested by the French and com- pelled to surrender. Quesnoy was retaken, and the campaign closed with the recapture of Bouchain, the last great conquest of Marlborough. Had not the allies in the pay of England for the most part refused to abandon the army of Eugene, it is not improbable that it would have been totally destroyed. Immediately after the battle of Denain the French minister, Torcy, wrote in characteristic terms to St. John to communicate to him the disaster which had befallen the allies of England. ' The King of France,' he said, ' is persuaded that the advantage which his troops have obtained will give the Queen so much the more pleasure, as it may be an aid to overcome the obstinacy of the enemies to peace.' ^ Three months later we find Ormond informing Boling- broke of the intention of the Dutch to attempt the sur- prise of Nieuport or Furnes. ' If it be thought more for her Majesty's service to prevent it,' he added, ' I am humbly of opinion some means should be found to give advice of it to Marshal Villars.' '^ While these events were taking place, the Govern- ment at home had been pressing on the peace by measures of almost unparalleled violence. Supported by ' Bolingbroke's Letters, ii. 443. * Eeport of the Secret Committee. 142 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. a large majority in the House of Commons, it resolved to silence or crusli all opposition. The first and most conspicuous victim was Marlborough. It was alleged, and alleged with truth, that while commanding in the Netherlands he had during several years received an annual present of about 6,0001. from the contractor who supplied his army with bi'ead, and also that he had appropriated two and a half per cent, of the money which had been voted by Parliament for paying the subsidised troops, and on these grounds he was accused of peculation. The answer, however, in ordinary times would have been accepted as conclusive. It was shown that the former sum was a perquisite always granted to the commander in the Netherlands and employed by him for obtaining that secret intelligence which is ab- solutely essential to a general, and which was never more complete than under Marlborough, and that the deduction from the subsidies was expressly authorised by the foreign Powers who were subsidised, and by a royal warrant which granted it to the commander-in- chief ' for extraordinary contingent expenses.' ^ What- ever irregularity there might be in providing by these means a supply of secret-service money, it was of old standing ; there was no reason whatever to believe that the fund was misappropriated, though from its very nature it could not be accounted for in detail, and it was proved that the expenditure of secret-service money in the campaigns of Marlborough was considerably smaller than it had been in the incomparably less successful campaigns of William, Prince Eugene afterwards very candidly declared that he had himself given for intelli- gence three times as much as Marlborough was charged with on that head.^ The object of the dominant party, > Coxe. June 22, 1711.— MSS. Dublin ^ W. Watson to Jas. Dawson, State Paper Office. CH, I, DISGRACE OF MARLBOROUGH. 143 however, was at all costs to discredit Marlborough. He was dismissed from all his employments, pronounced guilty by a party vote of the House of Commons, and exposed to a storm of mendacious obloquy. When Eugene came over to England in order to use his in- fluence against the peace in the January of 1711-12, he perceived with no little generous indignation that every effort was made to extol his military talents at the expense of the great English commander. Marlborough was assailed as he drove through the streets with cries of ' Stop thief ! ' He was grossly insulted in the House of Lords. He was accused of the most atrocious plots against the Queen and against the State. The scurri- lous pens of Mrs. Manley and of a host of other libel- lers were employed against him. Ballads describing him as the basest of men were sung publicly in the highways. The funds which the Queen had hitherto pro- vided for the construction of Blenheim were stopped, and the tide of calumny and vituperation ran so strongly that he thought it advisable to abandon the country, and accordingly proceeded in November 1712 almost alone to Flanders, and soon after to Germany. He was received in both countries with a respect and an en- thusiasm that contrasted strangely with his treatment at home, and he at the same time invested 50,000Z. in Holland, in case the state of home politics should ex- clude him for ever from his country. English history contains no more striking instance of the sudden revulsion of popular feeling. Beyond com- parison the greatest of English generals, Marlborough had raised his country to a height of military glory such as it had never attained since the days of Poitiers and of Agincourt, and his victories appeared all the more dazzling after the ignominious reigns of the two last Stuarts, and after the many failures that chequered the enterprises of William. His military genius, though 144 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. once bitterly decried by party malignity,' will now be universally acknowledged, and it was sufficient to place him among the greatest captains who have ever lived. Hardly any other modern general combined to an equal degree the three great attributes of daring, caution, and sagacity, or conducted military enterprises of equal magnitude and duration without losing a single battle or failing in a single siege. He was one of the very few commanders who appear to have shown equal skill in directing a campaign, in winning a battle, and in im- proving a victory. It cannot, indeed, be said of him, as it may be said of Frederick the Great, tliat he was at the head of a small Power, with almost all Europe in arms against it, and that nearly every victory he won was snatched from an army enormously outnumbering his own. At Blenheim and Oudenarde the French ex- ceeded by a few thousands the armies of the allies. At Ramillies the army of Marlborough was slightly supe- rior. At Malplaquet the opposing forces were almost equal. Nor did the circumstances of Marlborough admit of a military career of the same brilliancy, variety, and magnitude of enterprise as that of Napoleon. But both Frederick and Napoleon experienced crushing disas- ters, and both of them had some advantages which Marlborough did not possess, Frederick was the abso- lute ruler of a State which had for many years been governed exclusively on the military principle, in which the first and almost the sole object of the Government ' Thus in the History of the fonr last Years of Queen Anne, Swift— if he be indeed the author of this work — says : ' I will say nothing of his military accom- phshments, which the opposite reports of his friends and ene- mies among the soldiers have rendered problematical ' (p. 14). Wellington, as is well known, was depreciated in the same manner in Whig circles. Thug Byron — Oh, blnody and most bootless Waterloo ! Which proves liow fools may have their fortune too, Won half by blunder, half by treachery. The Age of Bronze. CH. I. CHARACTER OF MARLBOROUGH. 145 had been to train and discipline the largest and most perfect army the nation could support. Napoleon was the absolute ruler of the foremost military Power on the Continent at a time when the enthusiasm of a great revolution had given it an unparalleled energy, when the destruction of the old hierarchy of rank and the opening of all posts to talent had brought an extra- ordinary amount of ability to the forefront, and when the military administrations of surrounding nations were singularly decrepit and corrupt. Marlborough, on the other hand, commanded armies consisting in a great degree of confederates and mercenaries of many different nationalities, and under many different rulers. He was thwarted at every step by political obstacles, and by the much graver obstacles arising from divided command and personal or national jealousies ; he con- tended against the first military nation of the Continent, at a time when its military organisation had attained the highest perfection, and when a long succession of brilliant wars had given it a school of officers of con- summate skill. But great as were his military gifts, they would have been insufiicient had they not been allied with other qualities well fitted to win the admiration of men. Adam Smith has said, with scarcely an exaggeration, that ' it is a characteristic almost peculiar to the great Duke of Marlborough, that ten years of such uninter- rupted and such splendid successes as scarce any other general could boast of, never betrayed him into a single rash action, scarcely into a single rash word or expres- sion.' ^ Nothing in his career is more admirable than the unwearied patience, the inimitable skill, the courtesy, the tact, the self-command with which he employed himself during many years in reconciUng the incessant ' Moral Philosophy. VOL. I. 146 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. ditt'erences, overcoming the incessant ojjposition, and soothing the incessant jealousies of those with whom he was compelled to co-operate. His private corre- spondence a])undantly shows how gross was the provo- cation he endured, how keenly he felt it, how nobly he bore it. As a negotiator he ranks with the most skil- ful diplomatists of his age, and it was no doubt his great tact in managing men that induced his old rival Bolingbroke, in one of his latest writings, to describe him as not only the greatest general, but also ' the greatest minister our country or any other has pro- duced.' ^ Chesterfield, while absurdly depreciating his intellect, admitted that ' liis manner was irresistible,' and he added that, of all men he had ever known, Marlborough ' possessed the graces in the highest de- gree.' ^ Nor was his character without its softer side. Though he cannot, I think, be acquitted of a desire to prolong war in the interests of his personal or political ambition, it is at least true that no general ever studied more, by admirable discipline and by uniform humanity, to mitigate its horrors. Very few friendships among great political or military leaders have been as constant or as unclouded by any shade of jealousy as the friend- ship between Marlborough and Godolphin, and between Marlborough and Eugene. His conjugal fidelity, in a time of great laxity, and under temptations and pro- vocations of no common order, was beyond reproach. His attachment to the Church of England was at one time the great obstacle to his advancement. It appears never to have wavered through all the vicissitudes of his life ; and no one who reads his most private letters with candour can fail to perceive that a certain vein of genuine piety ran through his nature, however in- ' Letters on the Study of ^ Letters to his Son, Nov. 18, History. 1748. CH. I. CHARACTER OF MARLBOROUGH. 147 consistent it may appear with some portions of his career. Yet it may be questioned whether, even in the zenith of Ms fame, he was really popular. He had grave vices, and they were precisely of that kind which is most fatal to public men. His extreme rapacity in acquiring and his extreme avarice in hoarding money contrasted for- cibly with the lavish generosity of Ormond, and alone gave weight to the charges of peculation that were brought against him. It is true that this, like all his passions, was under control. Torcy soon found that it was useless to attempt to bribe him, and he declined, as we have seen, with little hesitation the enormously lu- crative post of Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, when he found that the appointment aroused the strong and dangerous hostility of the Dutch. In these cases his keen and far-seeing judgment perceived clearly his true interest, and he had sufficient resolution to follow it. Yet still, like many men who have risen from great poverty to great wealth, avarice was the passion of his life, and the rapacity both of himself and of his wife was insatiable. Besides immense grants for Blenheim, and marriage portions given by the Queen to their daughters, they at one time received between them an annual in- come of public money of more than 64,000^.^ Nor can he be acquitted of very gross and aggi*a- vated treachery to those he served. It is, indeed, not easy to form a fair estimate in this respect of the con- duct of public men at the period of the Revolution. Historians rarely make sufficient allowance for the degree in which the judgments and dispositions even of the best men are coloured by the moral tone of the age, society, or profession in which they live, or for the • Lord Stanhope's History of and British Ingratitude,' in the England, i. 20. Swift's ' Con- Exanilner, No. IC. trast between Eoman Gratitude 1.2 118 ENGLAJVD m THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY, ch. i. teiiiptations of men of great genius and of natural ambi- tion in times when no liig'lily scrupulous man could pos- sibly succeed in public life. Marlborough struggled into greatness from a very humble position, in one of the most profligate periods of English politics, and he lived through a long period when the ultimate succession of the crown was very doubtful. A very large proportion of the leading statesmen during this long season of sus- pense made such overtures to the deposed dynasty as would at least secure them from absolute ruin in the event of a change ; and their conduct is surely suscep- tible of much palHation. The apparent interests and the apparent wishes of the nation hung so evenly and oscillated so frequently that strong convictions were rare, and even good men might often be in doubt. But the obligations of Churchill to James were of no com- mon order, and his treachery was of no common dye. He had been raised by the special favour of his sovereign from the position of a page to the peerage, to great wealth, to high command in the army. He had been trusted by him with the most absolute trust. He not only abandoned him in the crisis of his fate, with cir- cumstances of the most deliberate and aggravated trea- chery, but also employed his influence over the daughter of his benefactor to induce her to fly from her father, and to array herself with his enemies. Such conduct, if it had indeed been dictated, as he alleged, solely by a regard for the interests of Protestantism, would have been certainly, in the words of Hume, ' a signal sacri- fice to public virtue of every duty in private life ; ' and it ' required ever after the most upright, disinterested, and public-spirited beha\'iour, to render it justifiable.' How little the later career of Marlborough fulfilled this condition is well known. When we find that, having been loaded under the new Government with titles, honours, and wealth, having been placed in the inner en. I. MARLBOROUGH AND CROMWELL. 140 council and entrusted with the most important State secrets, he was one of the first Englishmen to enter into negotiations with St. Germain's ; that he purchased his pardon from James by betraying important military secrets to the enemies of his country, and that during a great part of his subsequent career, while holding office under the Government, he was secretly negotiating with the Pretender, it is difficult not to place the worst con- struction upon his public life. It is probable, indeed, that his negotiations with the Jacobites were never sin- cere, that he had no real desire for a restoration, and that his guiding motive was much less ambition than a desire to secure what he possessed ; but these considera- tions only slightly palliate his conduct. At the period of his downfall his later acts of treason were for the most part unknown, but his conduct towards James weighed heavily upon his reputation, and his intercourse with the Pretender, though not proved, was at least sus- pected by many. Neither Hanoverians nor Jacobites trusted him, neither Whigs nor Tories could regard him without reserve as their own. And with this feeling of distrust there was mingled a strong element of fear. In the latter years of Qneen Anne the shadow of Cromwell fell darkly across the path of Marlborough. To those who prefer the violent methods of a reforming despotism to the slow process of parliamentary amelioration, to those who despise the wisdom of following public opinion and respecting the prejudices and the associations of a nation, there can be no better lesson than is furnished by the history of Crom- well. Of his high and commanding abihties it is not here necessary to speak, nor yet of the traits of magna- nimity that may, no doubt, be found in his character. Everything that great genius and the most passionate sympathy could do to magnify these has in this century been done, and a long period of unqualified depreciation 1 50 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. has been followed by a reaction of extravagant eulogy. But the more the qualities of the man are exalted, the more significant are the lessons of his life. Despising the national sentiment of loyalty, he and liis party de- throned and belieaded the King. Despising the eccle- siastical sentiment, tliey destroyed the Church. Despis- ing the deep reverence for the constitution, they sub- verted the Parliament. Despising the oldest and most cherished customs of the people, they sought to mould the whole social life of England in the die of an austere Puritanism. They seemed for a time to have succeeded, but the result soon appeared. Republican equality was followed by the period of most obsequious, servile loyalty England has ever known. The age when every amuse- ment was denounced as a crime was followed by the age when all virtue was treated as hypocrisy, and when the sense of shame seemed to have almost vanished from the land. The prostration of the Church was followed, with the full approbation of the bulk of the nation, by the bitter, prolonged persecution of Dissenters. The hated memory of the Commonwealth was for more than a centuiy appealed to by every statesman who desired to prevent reform or discredit liberty, and the name of Cromwell gathered around it an intensity of hatred ap- proached by no other in the history of England. Tins was the single sentiment common in all its vehemence to the Episcopalians of England, the Presbyterians of Scotland, and the Catholics of Ireland, and it had more than once considerable political effects. The ^^rofound horror of military despotism, wliich is one of the strong- est and most salutary of English sentiments, has been, perhaps, the most valuable legacy of the Commonwealth. In Marlborough, for the first time since the Restoration, men saw a possible Cromwell, and they looked forward with alarm to the death of the Queen as a period pecu- liarly propitious to military usurpation. Bolingbroke CH. I, VIOLENCE OF THE MINISTRY. 151 never represented more happily the feeh'ngs of the people than in the well-known scene at the first repre- sentation of the ' Cato ' of Addison. Written by a great Whig writer, the play was intended to advocate Whig sentiments ; but when the Whig audience had made the theatre ring with applause at every speech on the evil of despotism and arbitrary principles, the Tory leader availed himself of the pause between the acts to summon the chief actor, to present him with a purse of money, and to thank him publicly for having defended the cause of liberty so well against a perpetual military dictator. These considerations help to explain the complete- ness of the downfall of Marlborough. His secretary Cardonnel was at the same time expelled from the House of Commons, on the charge of having received a gratuity from some bread contractors; and Walpole, who was rapidly rising to a foremost place in the Whig ranks, was on a very similar charge not only expelled, but sent to the Tower. The opposition of the Upper House was met by the simultaneous creation of twelve peers — one of them being a brother to Mrs. Masham — and the friends of Marlborough in the Lords were also seriously weakened by the death of Godolphin in September 1712. The language adopted towards the Dutch was that of undis- guised and implacable hostility. The treaty of 1709, by which England had guaranteed Holland a strong barrier, while Holland guaranteed the Protestant succession in England, and undertook, in time of danger, to support it by arms, was brought before the House of Commons, and severely censured as too favourable to the Dutch ; and Lord Townshend, who negotiated it, was voted an enemy to his country. Strong resolutions were carried, censuring the conduct of Holland, in falling below the stipulated proportion of troops and sailors, and a power- ful representation, which was in fact an indictment against the allies, was drawn up. The States issued a 152 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. memorial in reply, but it was voted by the House of Commons ' a false, scandalous, and mal^ciol^s libel,' and orders were given that those who had printed and pub- lished it in England should be taken into custody. In the same spirit two protests of peers against the proceed- ings of the ministers were expunged from the records of the House of Lords. Fleetwood, the Bishop of St. Asaph, having published some sermons, preached many years before, with a very moderate preface, repudiating the doctrine of passive obedience, deploring the ingratitude shown to William, and complaining that the spirit of discord had entered into the councils and impaired the glory of England, this preface, by order of the House of Commons, was burnt by the hangman.^ Libels of the most virulent kind, some of them from the pen of Swift, were showered upon the allies and upon the Whigs, while the hand of power was perpetually raised against the writings of the Opposition. Prosecutions of this kind had for some time been very numerous, and the Stamp Act of 1712, imposing a stamp of a halfpenny on every sheet, gave a severe blow to the rising activity of the Press. I do not propose to follow in detail the negotiations which terminated in the Peace of Utrecht. Their stoiy has been often told with a fullness that leaves nothing to be desired, and it will be sufficient to relate the general issue. The desertion of England and the dis- asters of the last campaign had broken the courage of the allies, and, with the exception of the Emperor, all the Powers consented to make separate treaties of peace with France on terms which were, in a very great mea- sure, detennined by English influence. On March 31, 1713, these several treaties were signed, and soon after, that between England and Spain. As far as England was concerned, the peace left little to be desired. The ' It was republished in the Spectator, No. 384. CH. I. PEACE OF UTRECHT. 153 possession or restoration of Gibraltar, Minorca, Hudson's Bay, Acadia or Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and the French part of St. Christopher, and the immense acces- sion of guilty wealth acquired through the Assiento treaty, by which England obtained the monopoly of the slave-trade to the Spanish colonies, did much to com- pensate for the great pecuniary sacrifices of the war ; while some slight additional security was given to the nation by the French recognition of the Act of Settle- ment, by the es:[3ulsion of the Pretender from the French dominions, and, above all, by the destruction of the forts and harbour of Dunkirk. The Duke of Savoy obtained the restoration of the territory he had lost in Savoy and in Nice, a slight rectification of his frontier, and also the island of Sicily ; and it was provided that, in the event of the failure of the line of Philip, the Spanish thi'one should descend to the House of Savoy. The treaty with Portugal was confined to some not very im- portant articles relating to her frontier in America ; but Prussia obtained from France for the first time the re- cognition of the royal title of her sovereign, and of his right to the sovereignty of Neuchatel, which, on the death of the Duchess of Nemours in 1707, had been recognised by the' States of Neuchatel, but violently re- pudiated by the French king. Prussia at the same time renounced in favour of France all claims to the princi- pality of Orange, receiving Upper Guelderland instead. Holland obtained some advantages, but they were so much less than those which she had claimed, and than those she had been promised, and so insufficient to com- pensate her for the long struggle she had undergone, that she may be justly regarded as one of the chief sufferers by the peace. No new fortresses were incor- porated in her territory, but the Spanish Netherlands, as they had been possessed by Charles XL, were to be ceded to the House of Austria, the Dutch maintaining 154 ENGT.AXD IN THE EIGHTEEXTIT CENTURY. ch. i. the riglat of garrisoning the strong places so as to form a barrier against France. By this means the Dutch and Austrian power would combine to shelter Holland from French invasion ; but the Dutch occupation of Austrian towns could hardly fail to produce discord between Austria and the Nethei-lands. Holland was compelled to restore Lille, Aire, Bethune, and St. Venant to France ; Qupsnoy, which was strategically of great importance, and wliich had been lost thi'ough the treachei'ous de- sertion of England, remained in French hands ; Tour- nay would have almost certainly been surrendered had not St. John feared the indignation of English public opinion ; ^ and although Holland procured a treaty of connnerce with France, her statesmen complained bit- terly that she was excluded from all share in the As- siento contract, and in the advantages which England ol )tained by her new stations in the Mediterranean. As the Emperor refused to accede to the Peace of Utrecht, the Spanish Netherlands were placed in Dutch hands till peace was finally concluded, and in this quainter, therefore, the war was at an end. The Spanish domi- nions in Italy, with the exception of Sicily and of a small portion of the Milanese, which passed to the Duke of Savoy, were ceded to the Emperor, and a military convention, signed just before the Peace of Utrecht, establislied the neutrality of Italy, while, by another similar convention, guaranteed by both England and France, the Emperor agreed to withdraw his troops from Catalonia and from the islands of Majorca and Ivica. He still refused to abandon his claims to the whole Spanish dominions, or to treat with Philip; and the German frontier on the side of France was only deter- mined after another campaign in which Villars captured in a few weeks both Landau and Fribourg. Tlie Em- SceBolinf^broke's correspondence on the subject with Torcy. CH. I. RESULTS OF THE PEACE. 155 peror then came to terms, and peace was signed, at Rastadt, on March 6 (N.S.), and confirmed by the treaty of Baden, in September 1714, By this peace Prance restored to the Empire Brisach, Friboiirg, and Kehl ; engaged to destroy the fortresses she had built since the Peace of Ryswick along the RMne, and recognised the new electoral dignity in the House of Hanover, while the Emperor, on his side, consented to the re-establish- ment of the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne in the territory and dignities they had lost by the war. Alsace continued French, and Landau was for a time added to the French dominions. The Emperor refused to include the Spanish king in the treaty, but without any formal peace active hostilities ceased, and though the ambition of the House of Hapsburg was baffled, it was hoped that the gi-eat end of the allies was accomplished by the solemn and reiterated renunciation by Philip of all claim to the French thi-one. France, which had been reduced to an almost hope- less condition, emerged from the struggle much weak- ened for a time by the exhaustion of the war, but scarcely injured by the peace. With the exception of a very few fortresses, her European territory was intact ; her mili- tary prestige was in some degree restored by the victory of Denain and by the last campaign of Villars on the Rhine ; and her ascendency in Europe, which had proved a source of many dangers, was not permanently im- paired. Spain had undergone the dismemberment she so greatly feared ; but the severance of distant, ill- governed, and discontented provinces did not seriously diminish her strength. She retained the sovereign of her choice. She preserved the colonial possessions which were the great source of her wealth, and she was in some degree reinvigorated by the infusion of a foreign element into her government. Alone among the Spaniards the Catalans had real reason to regret the peace. They had 156 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. clung to tlie cause of Charles with a desperate fidelity, and the Peace of Utrecht rang the death-lmell of pro- vincial liberties to which they were passionately attached. From the beginning of 1705 they had been the steady and faithful allies of England ; they had again and again done eminent service in her cause ; they had again and again received fi'om her ministers and generals the most solemn assurances that they would never be abandoned. When England first opened a separate negotiation for peace, she might easily have secured the Oatalonian liberties by making their recognition an indispensable preliminary of peace ; but, instead of this, the English ministers began by recognising the title of Philip, and contented themselves with a simple prayer that a general amnesty might be granted. When the convention was signed for the evacuation of Catalonia by the imperial troops, the question of the provincial liberties was re- ferred to the definite peace, the Queen and the French king promising at that time to interpose their good offices to secure them. The Emperor, who was bound to the Catalans by the strongest ties of gratitude and honour, could have easily obtained a guai^antee of their fueros at the price of an acknowledgment of the title of Philip ; but he was too proud and too selfish for such a sacrifice. The English, it is true, repeatedly urged the Spanish king to guarantee these privileges, and their ambassador. Lord Lexington, represented 'that the Queen thought herself obliged, by the strongest ties, those of conscience and honour,' to insist upon this point ; but these were mere representations, supported by no action, and were therefore perem]itorily refused. The English peace with Spain contained a clause granting the Cata- lans a general armistice, and also a promise that they should be placed in the same position as the Castilians, which gave them the right of holding employments and carrying on a direct trade with the West Indies, but it CH. 1, DESERTION OF THE CATALANS. 157 made no mention of their provincial privileges. The Peace of Rastadt was equally silent, for the dignity of the Emperor would not suffer him to enter into any negotiations with Philip. The unhappy people, aban- doned by those whom they had so faithfully served, re- fused to accept the position offered them by treaty, and, much to the indignation of the English Government, they still continued in arms, struggling with a desperate courage against overwhelming odds. The King of Spain then called upon the Queen, as a guarantee of the treaty of evacuation, ' to order a squadron of her ships to re- duce his subjects to their obedience, and thereby com- plete the tranquillity of Spain and of the Mediterra- nean commerce.' A fleet was actually despatched, which would probably have been employed against Barcelona, but for an urgent address of the House of Lords, ^ and the whole moral weight of England was thrown into the scale against the insurgents. The conduct of the French was more decided. Though the French king had en- gaged himself with the Queen by the treaty of evacua- tion to use his good offices in the most effectual manner in favour of the Catalan liberties, he now sent an army to hasten the capture of Barcelona. The blockade of that noble city lasted for more than a year. The insur- gents hung up over the high altar the Queen's solemn declaration to protect them. They continued the hope- less struggle till 14,000 bombs had been thrown into the city ; till a great part of it had been reduced to ashes; till seven breaches had been made; till 10,000 of the besieging army had been killed or wounded ; and till famine had been added to the horrors of war. At last, on September 11, 1714, Barcelona was taken by storm. A frightful massacre took place in the streets. Many of the inhal^itants were afterwards imprisoned or ' April 3, 1714. 158 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. transpoi-ted, and the old piivileges of Catalonia were finally abolished.^ Such was the last scene of this disastrous war, and such were the leading articles of the treaties by wliich the balance and disposition of power in Euroj^e were for a long period determined. France and Austria, whose competition for the dominions of Charles II. was the real cause of the war, would both have been more power- ful had they never drawn the sword, but simply accepted the treaty of partition. As far as England was con- cerned, the peace was less blamable than the means by which it was obtained, and the foreign policy of the Tory party was hardly more deflected by dishonourable motives than that of their adversaries. Those, indeed, who can look undazzled through the blaze of military glory that illuminates the reign of Anne will find very little in English public life during that period deserving of respect. Party motives on both sides were supreme. They led one party to prolong a war, which was once unquestionably righteous, beyond all just and reasonable limits. They led the other party to make a peace which was desii-able and almost necessary, in such a manner that it left a deep and lasting stain on the honour of the nation. To those who care to note the landmarks of moral history which occasionally appear amid the vicissi- tudes of politics, it may not be uninteresting to obsei-ve that among the few paits of the Peace of Utrecht which appear to have given unqualified and unanimous satis- faction at home was the Assiento contract, which made England the great slave-trader of the world. The last prelate who took a leading part in English politics affixed his signature to the treaty. A Te Leum, composed by ' See the Report of the Com- tome ii. BoUngbroke's Letters, mittee of Secrecy of the House iii. 365 ; Somers' Tracts, xiii. of Commons on the Peace of 636-638 ; Sismondi, Hist, des Utrecht. Mimoires de Berwick, Frant^ais, xix. 32-40. CH. I. STRENGTPI OF THE MINISTRY. 159 Handel, was sung in thanksgiving in the churches. Theological passions had been recently more vehemently aroused, and theological controversies had for some years acquired a wider and more absorbing interest in England than in any period since the Commonwealth ; but it does not yet appear to have occurred to any class that a national policy which made it its main object to en- courage the kidnapping of tens of thousands of negroes, and their consignment to the most miserable slavery, might be at least as inconsistent with the spirit of the Christian religion as either the establishment of Presby- terianism or the toleration of prelacy in Scotland. While the peace was still in process of negotiation, the two leaders of the Government were raised to the peerage, but with unequal honours ; and the fact that St. John was only made Viscount Bolingbroke, while Harley became Earl of Oxford, greatly strengthened the jealousy which had arisen between them. The position of the Government, however, on the conclusion of the peace, was very strong, for it was warmly supported by the Queen and by the two most powerful classes in Eng- land. The Church was gratified by the measures against the Dissenters. The country gentry had obtained in 1711 a Bill which they believed of the highest value to their interests. In 1703, before the ascendency of the Tories in the ministry had been overthrown, a Bill was carried through the House of Commons, providing that no person who did not possess sufficient real estates should be chosen member of that House; but the measure was thrown out by the Whig majority in the Lords. The Government now, however, succeeded in carrying through both Houses a measure providing that all members of Parliament, except the eldest sons of peers and those who sat for universities or for Scotch constituencies, must possess landed property, the bo- rough members to the extent of 300^., the county mem- IGO ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. i. bers to the extent of GOO^. a year. In times of peace, when no abnormal agency was disturbing the natural disposition of parties, it was believed that the ascen- dency of the Tories must be indisputable ; the desire for peace arising from many causes had for some time been growing in the country, and there was a general and well-founded conviction that the war had been need- lessly prolonged through party motives ; that no results could be hoped for at all equivalent to the sacrifices that were demanded ; and that the allies had thrown upon England a very unfair and excessive proportion of the burden. Still, when all this was admitted, there was much in the foreign policy of the Government to give a great shock to the national pride. The abrupt termination of the splendid victories of Marlborough ; the disgrace of the great general who had raised Eng- land to a loftier pinnacle than she had occupied in the palmiest days of Elizabeth ; the many shameful, humilia- ting and violent incidents which occurred during the negotiations ; the final triumphs of France, due in a great measure to an English defection ; the abandonment of the Catalan insurgents ; the manifest inadequacy of the concessions exacted from France by the treaty, were all keenly felt by those large classes who were not blindly attached to party interests. Besides this, the great question of the succession to the tlu'one began to rise into a greater prondnence, and filled the minds of men with anxiety and doubt. The characters of the ministers were not fitted to reassure them. With the exception of Ormond, none of the Tory leaders were personally popular, though a cer- tain transient enthusiasm had for a few weeks centred upon Oxford after the attempt upon his life by Guiscard in 1711. The character of Oxford bore in many respects a curious resemblance to that of Godolphin. Both of them were slow, cautious, temporising, moderate, and CH. I. OXFORD. IGl somewhat selfish men ; tedious and inefficient in debate, and entirely without sympathy with the political and religious fanaticisms of their parties. Yet both states- men passed in the race of ambition several who were far superior to them in intellect, and the qualities to which they owed their success were in a great degree the same. A good private character, great patience, courage, and perseverance, much sobi'iety of judgment, and much moderation in victory, characterised both. But here the resemblance ceased. Cock-fighting, racing, and gambling occupied most of the leisure of Godolphin, while the literary tastes of Oxford made him the idol of the great writers of his day, and reacted very favour- ably on his position in history. He had, indeed, like Addison and Bolingbroke, the vice of hard drinking; but in other respects his private life was unassailable. His simple manners, his wide culture, his generous but discriminating patronage of literature, his fidelity in friendship, his freedom from all sordid pecuniary views, gained for him, in the circle of those who knew him well, a large measure of respect and even of affection. But in public life his faults were graver than those of Godolphin, and he was far inferior to him in the solid qualities of statesmanship. Though his business habits and his recognised caution and moderation gave him some weight with the mercantile classes, he had no pre- tension to the consummate financial ability of his rival. He had been Speaker during thi-ee Parliaments, and his political knowledge was chiefly a knowledge of the forms of the House, and of the dispositions of its mem- bers. His special skill lay, not in the higher walks of administration, but in parliamentary tactics and in poli- tical intrigues, and his intrigues seem to have seldom had any object except his own aggrandisement. He had that kind of mind and character that can attach it- self firmly to no party or set of principles, and seeks VOL. I. M 162 ENGLAND m THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. r, only for compromise and delay. He was insincere, dilatory, mysterious, and irresolute, entirely incapable of giving his full confidence to Ms colleagues, of taking any prompt decision, or of committing liimself without reserve to one line of policy. And these defects he showed at a time when resolution and frankness were supremely necessary. One high political quality, it is true, he possessed perhaps more conspicuously than any of his contemporaries. It is the strengtli of slow and sUiggish temperaments that they can often bear tlic vicissitudes of fortune with a calm constitutional courasre rarely attained by more nervous and highly organised natures, and tliis attribute Oxfoi'd pre-er;iinently dis- played. The keenest observer then living pronounced liim to be, of all men he had ever known, the least changed either by adversity or pi'osperity ; ^ and he ^VJis in this respect rather remarkably distinguished from his brilliant colleague. The genius and daring of Boling- broke were, indeed, incontestable, but his defects as a l^arty leader were scarcely less. No statesman was ever truer to the interests of his party, but, by a strange con- ti-adiction, no leader was ever less fitted to represent it. His eminently Italian character, delighting in elaborate intrigue, the contrast between his piivate life and his stoical professions, his notorious indifference to the reli- gious tenets which were the very basis of the politics of his party, shook the confidence of the country gentry and country clergy, who formed the bulk of his followers ; and he exhibited, on some occasions, an astonishing combination of recklessness and insincerity. In England the House of Commons was mainly Tory j Swift. See the noble lines of Pope on Harley : ' A soul supreme in each hard instance tried, Above all pain, all passion, and all pride, The rage of power, the blast of public breath, The lust of lucre, and the dread of death.' CH. I. SCOTCH JACOBITISM. 16^ but in the Huiise of Lords the balance of power, even atter the creation of the twelve peers, hung doubtfully ; and there were several eminent men who had gone cordially with the Tories on the question of the peace, but whose allegiance on other questions was less certain. In Ire- land, on the contrary, the peers were entirely subservient to the ministry, while the House of Commons was in violent opposition, and strenuously maintained the prin- ciples of the Revolution. Scotland had lost her parlia- ment, but there can be little doubt that her dominant sentiment was Jacobite. In 1711 the Duchess of Gordon openly presented the Faculty of Advocates with a medal representing on one side the Pretender, with the words ' Cujus est,' and on the other the British Islands, with the motto ' reddite ; ' ^ and the medal was accepted with thanksHby that body. Among the Highlanders and the Episcopalian gentry Jacobitism had always been very powerful, and the Presbyterians of the Lowlands, who might naturally be regarded as the implacable enemies of a Catholic sovereign, and especially of a sovereign of the House of Stuart, were so bitterly hostile to the Union that great numbers of them were prepared to subordinate their whole policy to the single end of obtaining its repeal. Their discontent was greatly in- creased by the toleration accorded to the Episcopalians, and the Jacobites entertained ardent, though, no doubt, exaggerated, expectations, that the Pretender, by pro- mising repeal, could rally all Scotland to his cause.^ • See an engraving of this ' The affair of Greenshields, a medal in Beyer's Anne (folio minister of the Church of Eng- ed.), p. 511. land, whom the Parliament has -' This appears very iiromi- lately protected against the Pres- nently in the Stuart papers. I byterians of Scotland, has irri- may give as a sample a few tated the latter to such a degree Unes from a very able memorial that they would concur in what- on the state of Jacobitism in the ever might deliver them from kingdom by Leslie (April 1711) : the Union with England, which 164 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CII. 1. The Scotch Jacobite party, however, suffered a very serious loss in 1712 by the death of the Duke of Hamihon, who was kiHed in a duel witli Lord Mohun. In England the probal)ilities of the next succession were so nearly balanced that there were few leading statesmen who did not more or less enter into Jacobite intrigues, some of them in order to obtain a refuge for themselves in case of a restoration, others in order to obtain the parliamentary support of the Jacobite con- tingent, and others again through a sincere desire to revert to the old line. In the first category may be placed Marlborough and Godolphin. In July 1710, when the Godolphin ministry was on the eve of dissolu- tion, Marlborough was engaged in intimate correspon- dence with the Pretender, and a letter is jDresei'ved written to him by the wife of the Pretender, imploring him in the most urgent terms not to resign his com- is universally detested in Scot- land, where they are persuaded that nothing can deliver them from it but the return of their sovereign. . . . There is not a man in Great Britain who is not convinced that if the King of England had landed the last time in Scotland he would have infallibly succeeded.' — Macpher- son's Original Papers, ii. 211. See, too, the LockJiart Papers. On the other hand, 15oyer says that one of the good results of the abortive invasion of Scotland in 1708 was that it 'opened the eyes of the Scotch I'resbytfrians, most of whom, having been seduced by the Pre- tender's partisans, had till then appeared obstinately averse to the Union.' — Boyer's Anne, p. 33G, As late as 1717, Lock- hart, reviewing the prospects of Jacobitism in Scotland, wrote : ' Though the Kuig [the Pre- tender] does not want some friends in the western shires, yet the gross of the i)eople, both gentry and commons, are cither Presbyterians favourably dis- liosed towards the present Go- vernment, or pretty indifferent as to all governments whatso- ever; but as the far greatest part of both these have an heartie aversion to the Union, if once they were thoroughly convinced that the King's pro- sperity would terminate in the dissolution thereof, there is rea- son to believe a great many of the first would be converted at least so far as to be neutral, and most of the others declare for him.' — LockJiart Papers, ii. 20. en. I. INTRIGUES WITH THE PRETENDER. 165 mand, but to retain it in the interests of the Stuarts.^ As late as 1713, at a time when Marlborough was c>ii- gaged in the closest correspondence with the Hanoverian party, and wlien, as there is little reason to doubt, he was sincerely wedded to tlie Hanoverian cause, a Jaco- bite agent reports a conversation with him, in which he gave the strongest assurances of his attachment to the cause of the Stuarts.^ Godolphin was more or less mixed up with Jacobite correspondence to the end of his life. The leaders of that party appear to have had some real belief in his sincerity, and he is said after his expulsion from office to have expressed his deep regret that he had not remained in power long enough to bring in the rightful king.^ Harley, towards the end of 1710, had sent the Abbe Gaultier, who afterwards took a lead- ing ]3art in the negotiation of the peace, to treat with the Duke of Berwick for the restoration of the Pretender after the death of the Queen, and the Jacobite members were accordingly directed to support his measures,"* but it does not appear that he had any real desire to restore the Stuarts. The hopes of the party for a time ran very high when the Jacobite Duke of Hamilton was appointed ambassador extraordinary to France, but they soon ceased to trust in Harley, and the leaders of the Jaco- bites usually spoke of him with peculiar bitterness. He had in the former reign taken a leading part in framing the Act of Settlement. At the time when the Whig 1 Marlborough was at this time tomecT to speak of the Pretender, also corresponding with the Elec- ^ gee Carte's memorandum, tor of Hanover. Macpherson, ii. where Godolphin is described as 157-1G1,183. the sincerest friend the Pre- - See the very curious letter of tender ever had. Macpherson's Tunstal to Lord Middleton, Oct. Original Papers, ii. 170, 1713. Macpherson's Original * Mimoires du Marichal de Papers, ii. 441, 442. See, too, the Beriozcfc, ii. 12(3, 127. A similar evidence furnished by the il/c)Hoi/'S direction was given to the Jaco- of Torcy of the respectful way in bite members in F(^b. 1712-13. which Marlborough was accus- Macpherson, ii. 382, 883. 16G ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. ministry fell, he desired to make a coalition adminis- tration, under which Marlborough could still retain his command, and in which lie might himself turn the balance of power. When this became impossible, he generally tried to moderate the violence of his colleagues, to support a policy of compromise and expedients, and to keep open for himself more than one path of retreat. ' It is my Lord of Oxford's politics,' said a Jacobite agent in ' 171 2, to smoothe and check, and he would not have removed the Duke of Marlborough if it had not been absolutely necessary.' ^ As the struggle became more critical he wrapped himself in a veil of impenetrable mystery, avoided as far as possible confidential inter- course either with his colleagues or with Jacobite or Hanoverian agents, procrastinated, kept open communi- cations with the Hanoverians, with the Jacobites, and even with the Whigs ; intimated from time to time his willingness to co-operate with the more moderate Whigs; tried, to the great indignation of the October Club, to divide the employments between the High and Low Churcli ; talked obscurely of the necessity of avoiding alike Scylla and Cliarybdis, and had the air of a man who was still uncertain as to the course he would ultimately pursue.^ Bolingbroke, on the other hand, though utterly destitute of the beliefs and enthusiasms ' Maeplierson, ii. 280. - Ibid. ii. 380, 300. In Feb. 1712-13, the best judges on both sides seem to have thought him Jacobite. Plunket, one of the leading Jacobite agents, wrote in this month : ' Mr. Harley manages tlie Low Church and Hanover till he can get the peace settled. Believes him hearty to the King's interest, and has several instancca of it, though few of the Jacobites believe him to be so.' — Macpher- son, ii. 388. In the same month Eobethon, the Hanoverian secre- tary, wrote : ' My Lord Oxford is devoted irrecoverably to the Pi'e- tcnder and to the King of France.' — Ibid. p. 472. There are nu- merous other passages in these papers illustrating the fluctua- tions, uncertainties, and intrigues of Oxford. See, too, the Loch- hart Papers, i. 365, 482. M6m. dc Berwick, ii. 126-133. CH. I. PROSPECTS OF THE SUCCESSION. 167 of a genuine Jacobite, flung himself, from the end of 1712,^ with decisive impetuosity, into the Jacobite cause, which he now regarded as the only hope for the future of his party. The peace was emphatically a Tory mea- sure, and he had taken, beyond all other statesmen, a leading part in negotiating it, but the Court of Hanover had protested against it in the strongest terms, and had thrown all its influence into the scale of the Whigs. Besides this a bitter animosity and jealousy had arisen between Bolingbroke and Oxford ; and while the more moderate Tories usually supported the latter, the former endeavoured to rally around him the extreme Church party by the stringency of his measures against the Dis- senters, and the Jacobites by throwing himself heartily into the cause of the Pretender. In this manner the balance in the last years of Queen Anne hung very doubtfully. The ministry and the Parliament, indeed, openly professed their attachment to the Protestant succession. The Queen, in more than one speech from the throne, declared that it was in no danger. Both Houses of Parliament passed votes to the same efifect. Both Houses voted large sums for the appre- hension of the Pretender in case he landed in Great Britain. In both Houses addresses were carried urging his expulsion from Lorraine, to which he had gone after the peace. But at this very time the leading ministers were deeply implicated in Jacobite plots, and the ad- ministration of every branch of the service was pass- ing rapidly into Jacobite hands. Ormond, who was a Jacobite, was at the head of the army, and was made Governor of the Cinque Ports, at one of which the new sovereign would probably arrive. The government of Scotland was soon after bestowed on the Jacobite Earl of Mar, while the government of Ireland was in a great ' Macpherson, ii. 3G6, 367. Lockhart Papers, i. 412, 413. 168 ENGLA^^D m the eighteenth century, ch. I. degree in tlie hands of its Jacobite Chancellor, Sir Con- stantine Phipps. When the army was reduced after the peace, it was noticed that officers of known Whig tendencies were systematically laid aside, ^ and tlie most important trusts were given to suspected Jacobites. The same process was gradually extending over the less conspicuous civil posts.^ The sentiments of the Queen herself were undecided or vacillating. Her brother had written to her in 1711 and 1712,^ but it does not appear that she replied. She was drawn to him by a feeling of natural affection, by a feeling, at least as strong, oi jealousy and antipathy towards the Hanoverian dynasty, by a conviction that according to the principles of her Church any departure from the strict order of succession was criminal, and in the last part of her reign by tlie influence of Lady Masham. On the other hand, she knew that if Iier brother's title was good, her own was invalid, she looked with dread upon the prospect of a Popish successor, and the Duchess of Somerset, who for a short tiuie rivalled the influence of Lady Masham, was decidedly Hanoverian. The Queen felt at the same time the very natural antipathy of a nervous invalid to a constant discussion of what was to come after her death, and to the constant mention of a successor. In July 1712 she permitted the Duke of Buckingham to sound her on the subject, and he easily gathered that the Catholicism of her brother alone prevented her from favouring his succession."* She was said to attribute the death of her children to the part she had taken in de- throning her father. ° Her health was rapidly giving way, and the perplexities of her own mind, and the in- ' Maephcrson's Original Pa- * Macpherson.ii. 327-331. See, pers, ii. 412. too, the account of her interview - Ibid. ii. 430; Coxe's Marl- with Lockhart, in 1710, Lock- horough, ch. cxi. hart I'dpors, i. 31.'). =* Macpherson, ii. 223, 21)5. * Macpherson, ii. 503, 504. CH. I. PROSPECTS OF THE SUCCESSION. 169 trigues and dissensions of her ministers probably accele- rated her end. The Whig party now strongly urged the necessity of some member of the Electoral family being in England at the time of her death, but the Queen was inflexibly opposed to such a course, and it is probable if he had come over contraiy to her wishes it would have produced a reviilsion of feeling very un- favourable to his cause. ^ Alavuiing rumours were spread that the Pretender was about to be invited over ; that he was receiving instructions from an Anglican clergy- man ; that he was about to declare his adherence to the Protestant Church. The Electress Sophia was now very old, and the Elector, who managed her affairs, refused to make any real sacrifice in the cause, and appeared to be chiefly anxious to extract as much money as possible from the English Exchequer. He refused to send over his son. He refused, on the plea of poverty, to furnish thq secret-service money which his partisans pronounced to be absolutely indispensable, while at the same time he pertinaciously urged the Government to give a pen- sion to his mother, and to pay the arrears due to his ■ Baron von Steinghens, who him immediately, and that he was at this time residing in Lon- don as Minister of the Elector Palatine, and who, while a strong Hanoverian, was also a warm sympathiser with the Go- vernment, wrote : ' I can assure you, in sj)ite of the fine promises of the Whigs, that the Parliament would never have voted one sou for the subsistence of this prince if he had come against the will of the Queen, and I can tell you still more, that I have learnt from people of the first order that if the prince had come to this king- dom in that way the Pretender would not have failed to follow would have found here all the dispositions which the spite and rage of an insulted Court and party could inspire ; so much horror people have of falling again under the domination of the Whigs, the hatred of whom can be compared to nothing better than that of the Catholic Nether- lands against the Dutch, either for atrocity or for extent ; for I am well assured that there are more than thirty Tories for one Whig in this kingdom.' — To Schulenburg, .June 5, 1714 (N.S.) ; Kemble, State Papers, p. 502. See, too, Macpherson, ii. 629. 170 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. troops, which had remained with the allies before Quesnoy. Oxford favoured the latter claim, and his cousin, the auditor Hai4ey, introduced the sum clan- destinely into the estimates ; but Eolingbroke, having lieard of it, called a meeting of the Cabinet, and at his desire the claim was disallowed. A large proportion of the Tories were Jacobites, only because they inferred from the attitude of the Elector that lie was com[)letely identified with the Whigs, and that his accession to the throne would be a signal for the overthrow of the painty, but George Lewis made no attempt whatever to calm their fears.' He made no overture to the ministry, which commanded a large majority in the House of Commons and in the country, and, since the creation of the twelve peers, a small majority in the House of Lords. He did not trouble himself to learn even the rudiments of the language of the people over whom he was to rule, nor did ho show the smallest interest in their Church. His conduct in this respect was contrasted with that of William, who, some time before he came to the throne, went frequently witli his wife to the English Church.^ It is impossible to deny that under these circum- stances the Protestant succession was in extreme danger, and there was great fear that the intervention of French ' This was strongly urged by of the nation, and endeavour to some of the foreign observers. abolish these factions.' — Ibid. p. Thus Steinghcns wrote: ' The 506. Hanoverian Tories are the i^arty - Swift's Frccthoiiglits on the which must be looked after, for Present State of Affairs, Mac- it is an illusion to believe that pherson, ii. 4G7, 4(38. See, too, the Whigs alone can bring in the on the great indil'fcrcncc shown House of Hanover.' — ToSchulen- by the Elector to the throne of burg, May 12, 1714 (N.S.) ; Kcm- England at the very time when ble, p. 493. Leibnitz wrote : the Queen was dying, a letter of ' They would be very wi'ong at Schulenburg to Leibnitz. Gor- Hanover to attach themselves rcspondance de Leibnilz avec only to the Whigs; they ought VElectricc Sophie, in.l&. to attach themselves to the bulk CH. I. THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION. 171 troops on the side of the Pretender, and of Dutch troops on the side of the Elector, might have made England the theatre of a great civil war. The immense majority of the landed gentry and the immense majority of the lower clergy were ardent Tories ; these two formed incomparably the strongest classes in England, and it appeared probable that in this great crisis of the national history, under the influence of counteracting motives, they would remain perfectly passive. They hated the Whigs and Nonconformists, and they saw in the Hano- verian succession the ruin of their party. Their leanings and their principles were all on the side of the legiti- mate line. They looked with a strong English aversion to a German Lutheran prince, who could not even speak the language of his future subjects. On the other hand, they dreaded receiving a sovereign from France, and, above all, they would never draw the sword for a king of the religion which was most hateful to the English people, and most hostile to the English Church. Had the Pretender consented to change or even to dissemble his creed, everything would, most probably, have been changed, but,' with a magnanimity that may be truly called heroic, all through these doubtful and trying years, he steadily resisted the temptation. He was always ready, indeed, to promise a toleration, but he suffered no obscurity to hang upon his own sentiments. ' Plain dealing is best in all things,' he wrote in May 1711, 'especially in matters of religion; and as I am resolved never to dissemble in religion, so I shall never tempt others to do it, and as well as I am satisfied of the truth of my own religion, yet I shall never look worse upon any persons because in this they chance to differ with me. . . But they must not take it ill if I use the same liberty I allow to others, to adhere to the religion which I in my conscience think the best.' ^ ' Macpherson's Original Papers, ii. 225. 172 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. In September 1713 the same sentiments were strenu- ously repeated by one of his coniidential advisers, in reply to a remonstrance of Lord Mar. It was emphati- cally stated that there was no chance or possibility of a change of creed, and the Jacobites were ordered not only not to encourage, but steadily to deny, all rumours to an opposite effect. ' If it were to receive a crown,' added the writer, ' the King would not do a thing that might reproach either his honour or sincerity. ... If his friends require this condition from him, they do him no favour ; for he could compound at that rate with his greatest enemies.'* In March 1714, when the Queen was manifestly dying, and when one more urgent de- mand was made upon the Pretender by those who had most weiglit i7i the government of England, he answered with his own hand : ' I neither want counsel nor advice to remain unalterable in my fixed resolution of never dissembling my religion ; but rather to abandon all tlian act against my conscience and honour, cost what it will. . . . How could ever my subjects depend upon me or be happy under me if I should make use of such a noto- rious hypocrisy to get myself amongst them ? , . . My present sincerity, at a time it may cost me so dear, ought to be a sufficient earnest to them of my religious observance of wliatever I promise tliem.' ^ Such an appeal, coming from a Protestant, would have been irre- sistible, but coming from a Catholic it only increased the uneasiness and distrust. It sliowed that his devotion to his creed amountc-d to a passion, and it was the strong conviction of the English people that it is a peculiarity of the Catholic creed that in cases in which its interests are concerned, it can sap, in a tliorough devotee, every obligation of secular honour. In a mind thoroughly imbued with the Catholic enthusiasm, attachment to the ' Macpherson's Oricjinal Papers, pp. 436, 437. ^ Ibid. ii. 525, 526. CH. I. THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION. 173 corpoi'ate interest of tlie Cliurcli gradually destroys and replaces the stnitiuient of patriotism. The belief in the power of the C'hiivch to absolve from the obligation of an oath annuls the binding force of the most solemn engagements. The Church is looked upon as so empha- tically the one centre upon earth of guidance, inspira- tion, and truth, that duty is at last regarded altogether through its medium ; its interests and its precepts become the supreme measure of right and wrong, and men sj^eedily conclude that no course can possibly be criminal which is conducive to its progress and sanc- tioned by its head. The language of the Jacobites and Hanoverians on CD O this subject substantially agrees, and their numerous confidential letters enable us to form a very clear notion of the state of feeling prevailing in England. Thus the eminent Nonjuror Leslie wrote, in April 1711, that if James would induce the French sovereim to connive at ' allowing the Protestant domestics of the King of Eng- land to assemble themselves from time to time at St. Germain's, in order to worship God in the most secret manner that possibly could be, that would do more service [to the Jacobite cause] than 10,000 men. For in England that would appear as a sort of toleration with regard to his attendants; and being obtained by his Britannic Majesty, everyone would consider it as a mark of his inclination to favour his Protestant subjects, and as a pledge of what they might expect from him when he was restored to his throne. . . . If it could be said in England that the King has procured for the Protestant servants who attend him the liberty which is here proposed for them, that would be half the way to his restoration. I only repeat here the very words which I have heard from sensible men in London.' ^ Macpherson's Original Papers, ii. 216. 17 i ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. ' TJie best part ut' llie gentry and half the nobility,' wrote another Jacobite a year later, ' are resolved to have the King, and Parliament would do it in a year if it could be believed he liad changed his religion.' ' ' I am con- vinced,' wrote the Duke of Buckingham in July 1712, ' that if Harry [the King] would return to the Church of England all would be easy. Nay, from what I know, if he would but barely give hopes he would do so, my brother [Queen Anne] would do all he can to leave him his estate.' '^ ' The country gentlemen,' said an agent of remarkable acuteness, ' are for the Princess Anne and her ministers, and will not be for Hanover. . . . The Parliament will declare neither way. Their busi- ness will be to secure the Protestant religion, and order matters so that it will not be in the King's power ever to hurt it. . . . The country gentlemen mil never be reconciled to the A¥higs. . . . Most of them are for having the King, but will liaz.ard nothing.'^ Another Jacobite writes in Apiil 1713 that if he were the Pope he would oblige James to declare himself a Pi'otestant, as the safest way of securing the crown, and establishing Catholicism, ' and when he completes the work appear with safety in his own shape, and not be beholden to anybody.''* Another, wjiting in August 1713, ])redicted that the new Parliament would effect the restcn-ation if the Queen lived long enough to let it sit. ' But the terms would be cruel and unfit to be taken ; but if once in possession the power of altering, in time, will of course follow.''^ The language from the Hanoverian side was little different. Thus llobethon, a Secretary of the Embassy at Hanover, wrote in January 1712-13: ' The Pretender, on the slightest appearance of pr(4ended conversion, might ruin all, the religion, the liberties, • Macpberson, ii. 296. * Ibid. p. 399. ^ Ibid. p. 329. * Ibid. p. 424. a Ibid. pp. 392, 393. Cii. I. ADVANTAGES OF THE WHIGS. 175 the privileges of the nation.' ^ Stanhope, in October 1713, laid liis view of the state of affairs before Schlitz, the envoy of the Elector in England. ' He does not think there will be fewer Whigs in the next Parliament than in the last, but he has a very bad opinion of it ; . . . his opinion is that if things continue never so short a time upon the present footing, the Elector will not come to the crown unless he comes with an army. He believes the greatest number of the country gentlemen are rather against us than for us, but to make amends he assures us that the wisest heads and most honest members have our interest at heart.' ^ INIarlborough again and again wrote describing the Pro- testant succession as in imminent dan^er.^ Schiitz O wrote to his Court in February 1713-14: 'The real state of this kingdom is that all honest men, without distinction of party, acknowledge that although of every ten men in the nation, nine should be for us, it is cer- tain that of fifteen Tories there are fourteen who would not oppose the Pretender in case he came with a French army; but instead of making any resistance to liim, would be the first to receive and acknowledo-e him.'^ In this conflict of parties the Whigs had some power- ful advantages. The country districts, where Toryism was most rife, are never prompt in organising or exe- cuting a revolution ; while the Whigs, though numeri- cally fewer, were to be found chiefly in the great centres of commercial activity, among the active and intelligent population of the towns. Besides this the Whigs were earnest and united in advocating the Protestant suc- cession, while their opponents were for the most part lukewarm, uncertain, or divided. The nyjnber of un- qualified Jacobites who would jDlace the government of ' Macpheison, ii. 466. ^ Cose's Marlborouc/h, eh. cxi. * Ibid. pp. 505, 506. * Macpherson, ii. 556. 176 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. the country witliout conditions in the hands of a Roman Catholic sovereign was, probably, very small. A large di\'ision of the party were only prepared to restore the Stuarls after negotiations that would secure their Church from all possible danger ; and they were conscious that it was not easy to make such terms, that it was extremely doubtful whether they would be observed by a Catholic sovereign, and that the very idea of imposing terms and conditions of obedience was entirely repugnant to their own theory of monarchy. Another section, usually led by Sir Thomas Haiimer, regarded the dangers of a Catholic sovei-eign as sufficient to outweigh all other considerations, and its members were in consequence sincerely attached to the Hanoverian succession, and desired only that it should be preceded by such nego- tiations as would secure their party a reasonable share of power. The opinions of the great mass of the party who were not actively engaged in politics oscillated between these two, and were compounded, in different and fluctuating proportions, of attachment to the legiti- mate line, hatred of Germans, Whigs, and Dissenters, dread of French influence, and detestation of Popery. The Whigs, too, had the great advantage of resting upon the distinct letter of the law. However illegitimate the Revolution might have been in its origin, it had been consecrated by a great mass of subsequent legislation, and the succession to the throne had been formally established by law. As long as the Act of Settlement remained, the Jacobite was in the position of a con- spirator ; he was compelled to employ one language in public while he employed another in private, and the great moral weight which in England always attaches to the law was against him. On the other hand, the power of a united administration, supported by a majority in the House of Commons, was extremely great. It was more than probable that it could determine the course CH. I. COMMERCIAL TREATY WITH FRANCE. 177 of affaii^s immedintply nfter the decease of the Queen, and wlien either claimant was in power he was sure to command the support of those large classes whose first desire was to strengthen authority and avert civil war. But the Government was far from being powerful or united. The peace, though it had excited some clamours, was not sufficient seriously to shake it, but the com- mercial treaty with France, wliich immediately followed it, led to an explosion of party feeling of the most for- midable character. It is somewhat humiliating that the measure which most seriously injured the Tory ministry of Anne was that which will now be almost universally regarded as their chief glory. The object of Bolingbroke was to establish a large measure of free trade between England and France; and, had he succeeded, he would have unquestionably added immensely both to the com- mercial prosperity of England, and to the probabilities of a lasting peace. ^ The eighth and ninth articles of the treaty, which formed the great topic of discussion, provided that all subjects of the sovereigns of Great Britain and France, in all places, subject to their power on either side, should enjoy the same commercial pri- vileges in all matters relating to duties, impositions, customs, immunities, and tribunals, as the most favoured foreign nation ; that within two months the English Parliament should pass a law repealing all prohibitions of French goods which had been imposed since 1664, and enacting that no French goods imported into Eng- land should pay higher duties than similar goods imported from any other European country ; while, on the other hand, the French repealed all prohibitions of English goods enacted since 1664, and restored the tariff of that year. Some classes of goods, however, it was desired ' See his own admirably states- (May 31). Bolingbroke' s Letters manlike letters on the subject to iv. 137-142, 151-154. Shrewsbury (May 29), and to Prior VOL. I. N 178 ENGT.AISD TN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. to exempt from these provisions, and commissioners on both sides were appointed to adjust their details. One of the eifects of this measure was virtually to abolish the Methuen Treaty, which had been contracted with Portugal in 1703, at the time when Portugal ac- ceded to the alliance against France. By that treaty it had been provided that England should admit Portu- guese wines at a duty one-thii'd less than tJiat imposed on French wines, and that in consideration ol" I his favour English woollen manufactures should be admitted into Portugal on papnent of moderate duties. A charge of bad faith was on this ground raised against the English Government, but the very words of the Methuen Treaty were sufficient to refute it. The right of the English to revise their tariff was clearly reserved by the clause which stated that, 'if at any time this deduction or abatement of customs, which is to be made as aforesaid, shall in any manner be attempted and prejudiced, it shall be just and lawful for his sacred royal Majesty of Portugal again to prohibit the woollen cloths, and the rest of the British woollen manufactures.' The question was solely one of expediency. The Portuguese an- nounced, as they had a perfect right to do, that when the French wines were placed on a level with their own, they would withdraw the privileges they had given to the English woollen manufactures, and the sole question for an English statesman was whether the advantages given to British ti-ade l)y the treaty with France were sufficient to compensate for this withdrawal. On this subject thei'e cannot be a shadow of rational doubt. The enormous market which the English woollen m.inufac- tures would Iiim* k ceived in France immeasui'ably out- weiirhed nnv ulvautages England could have received from the Portuguese trade. The manner, however, in which the proposition was received in England is one of the most curious instances on record of the influence en. I. THE MEECANTILE THEORY. 179 of an entirely delusive theory of political economy on general policy. According to the mercantile theory which was then in the ascendant, money alone is wealth, the one end in commerce is to obtain as large a share as possible of the precious metals, and therefore no com- merce can be advantageous if the value of the imports exceeds that of the exports. In estimating the compara- tive value of commerce with different nations we have not to consider the magnitude of the transaction — we have simply to ask in what form England receives tlie price of the ai"ticl(>s she exports. If the balance is in money the affair is for her advantage ; if it is in goods the commerce is a positive evil, for it diminishes the amount of the precious metals. In accordance with this theory elaborate statistics were made of every branch of national com- merce, showing which were advantageous and which detrimental to the nation. In the former category was the trade of Portugal, which the new treaty would pro- bably destroy, for although we brought home wine, oil, and some other things for our own consumption, con- siderably the greater part of our returns was in silver and gold. The commerce with Spain, with Italy, with Hamburg and other places in Germany, and with Hol- land, was for the same reason advantageous, and con- tinually increased the wealth of the community. The commerce with France, on the other hand, was a positive evil, for the productions of that country were so useful and so highly valued by Englishmen that England re- ceived goods to a greater value than she exported. The difterence was, of course, paid in money, and the trade was, in consequence, according to the mercantile theory, a perpetual and a growing evil. It was estimated by leading commercial authorities that, if the provisions of the commercial treaty were executed, there would soon be an annual balance against England of more than 1,400,000?., while, at the same time, France, by her N 2 180 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. greater cheapness of labour, could undersell the English in some of their most successful trades. The treaty left England at perfect liberty to impose whatever duties she pleased on the importation of French goods, provided the same duties were imposed on similar articles imported from other countries, but in spite of this fact it was confidently asserted that French competition would ruin the wool trade and the silk trade at home. A wild panic passed through the trading classes, and was vehemently fanned by the whole Whig party and by the greatest financial authorities in the country. Godolphin had died in the September of 1712, but Halifax, who as Charles Montague had been the chief founder of the financial system of the Revolution, was prominent in the Opposi- tion. Walpole, the ablest of the rising financiers, took the same side. Stanhope eulogised the law of Charles II. absolutely forbidding the impoi-tation of French goods into England. The Bank of England and the Turkey Company threw all their weight into the struggle. Three out of the four members of the City of London, as well as the two members for Westminster, voted against the Bill, and many merchants were heard on the same side at the bar of the House. Defoe attempted to stem the tide in a periodical called 'The Mercator,' but the leading merchants set up a rival paper called ' The British Mer- chant,' which acquired an extraordinary influence. They maintained that the treaty, if carried into effect, would be more ruinous to the British nation than if London were laid in ashes ; that from that moment the wealth of England must be steadily drained away into the coffers of France ; that England would lose her best markets both at home and abroad ; that rents must inevitably sink, and that the common people must either starve for want of work, be thrown for subsistence on the pai'ish, or seek their bread in foreign lands. Still more alarm- ing was the revolt of a large section of the Tories under CH. I. DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. 181 the guidance of Sir Thomas Hanmer. The strength of these combined influences was such that at its last stage the Bill was lost in the Commons by 191 to 185.^ The efiect of this defeat on the stability of the Government was very perceptible. The immediate danger of a catastrophe was, it is true, averted by a vote of confidence expressing a general satisfaction with the peace ; but a ministry which has been once defeated on a capital question rarely recovers its moral force. As Bolingbroke graphically expressed it, ' Instead of gathering strength either as a ministry or a party, we grew weaker every day. The peace had been judged with reason to be the only solid foundation whereupon we could create a Tory system ; and yet when it was made we found ourselves at a full stand. Nay, the very work which ought to have been the basis of our strength was in part demolished before our eyes, and we were stoned with the ruins of it.' ^ A Bill, wliich was immediately afterwards carried for raising 500,000^. to pay the debts of the Queen, appeared somewhat strange to those who knew the great parsimony of her Court, and somewhat suspicious at a time when a general election was impending. The House was prorogued by the Queen with an angry speech in July 1713, and in the following month it was dissolved. It was noticed as a significant fact that in this last Speech from the Thi'one the customary assurance of the determination of the Queen to maintain the Protestant succession was omitted. The election, however, did not at first sight appear to modify very seriously the condition of parties. Much use was made by the Whigs of the unpopularity of the commercial treaty and of the anti-Popery feeling. Whig ' Pari. Hist. vi. 1220-1225. Hist, of Commerce, ii. 165-170. Burnet's Own Times, ii. 622, 623. ^ Letter to Windham. Tlie British Merchant. Craik's 182 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTIIKY. cu. I. candidates appeared at the hustings wearing pieces of wool in their hats ; figures of the Pope, the Pretender, and the devil were burnt in numerous places; and a few seats were won ; but wlien the last Parliament of Queen Anne assembled, it was found to contain a Tory majority not much smaller than its predecessor. Tlie influence of the Government had been exerted to the utmost, and the Church was still unwavering in its allegiance. In the March preceding the dissolution, the period during which Sacheverell had been excluded from the pulpit by the House of Lords expired, and the event was celebrated with great rejoicings in many parts of the kingdom. He preached his first sermon in St. Saviour's from the text, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,' drawing a tacit parallel between his own sufferings and those of Clnist; and he was selected on the following anniversary of the Restoration to preach before the House of Commons, was rewarded for liis services to the party by the valu- able rectory of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and would have been made a bishop but for the refusal of the Queen.^ In 1713, also, Atterbury, the ablest of the High Church Jacobites, was raised to the bench. The doctrine of the divine right of kings again assumed an alarming prominence in the pul])it, and there were many signs of the increasing confidence of the Jacobites. The birthday of the Pretender was celebrated in Edinburgh with bonfires and fireworks. In Ireland, the Chan- cellor, Sir Constantino Phipps, was strongly suspected of Jacobite sentiments, and he was supported by the House of Lords, in which the bishops predominated, and by the Convocation. Men were openly enlisted ' See Lord Dartmouth's note contempt for Sacheverell, to give to liurnut, ii. (130; Tiiulal. luin the living. Sheridan's I/i/e Swift is said to have imUiccd uf Swift, p. liO. Boliiigbroke, who had a yiuat CH. I. JACOBITE ACTIVITY. 183 for the service of the Pretender, and Shrewsbury, who had been sent over as Viceroy, found that the English Government paid much more attention to the recom- mendations of the Chancellor than to his own. Sir Patrick Lawless, an Irish Roman Catholic, well known to have been the envoy of the Pretender at Madrid, appeared in London with credentials from King Philip. It was reported that the health of the Stuart prince was constantly drunk at meetings and in clubs, and it was certain that Jacobite agents were constantly arriving from France. A metrical edition or adaptation of some of the Psalms, written in the highest strain of Tory loyalty, and entitled ' The Loyal Man's Psalter,' was widely circulated throughout England. Anonymous letters were sent to the mayors and magistrates, during the elections, urging them to promote the interests of the Pretender, and suggesting that such a course would be ' acceptable to the Queen and to her ministers. A book which had lately appeared, called, ' The Hereditary Right of the Crown of England Asserted,' maintaining the absolute criminality of all departure from the strict order of succession, was distributed gratuitously far and wide ; its title-page appeared on Sunday mornings on every prominent door or post to attract the atten- tion of the congregations, and a copy of it is said to have been presented by Nelson, the Nonjuror, to the Queen. Violent remonstrances, however, having been made, the Government ordered a prosecution to be instituted, and a Nonjuror clergyman, named Bedford, who was found guilty of having brought the manu- script to the printer,' incurred a severe sentence, part of which was remitted by the Queen. ^ It was evident that the crisis was at hand. The ' Its author was a Nonjuror, - Boyer, Tindal, Somerville. named Harbin. See Lathbury's Coxe, Life of Marlborough. Hist, of the Nonjurors. 184 ENGLAND IN TIJE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. I. Queen, in the beginning of 1714', had a very dangerous ilhiess, and it was certain that her life could not be greatly prolonged. ' If in this life only they have hope,' said Wliarton, with his usual profane wit, point- ing in turn to the Queen and to the ministers, ' they are of all men the most wretched.' The reorganisatioii of the army in the Jacobite interest was rapidly pro- ceeding. Considerable sums had been sent, in 1711, by the Treasurer, to the chiefs of Scotch clans, who were notoriously Jacobite, with commissions empower- ing them to arm their followers for her Majesty's service ; ^ and in January 1713-14, Marlborough wrote to Bobethon : ' The ministers drive on matters so fast in favour of the Pretender that everybody must agree if something further be not done in the next sessions of Parliament towards securing the succession, it is to be feared it may be irretrievably lost.'^ In February, Gaultier wrote, at the dictation of Oxford, a letter to the Pretender, in emphatic terms, urging him, as the indispensable condition to obtaining the support of the Queen and ultimately the crown, to change, or at least to dissemble, his creed ; but the answer was a refusal so clear and so decisive that it completely disconcerted the tactics of the party. Bolingbroke said, with per- fect truth, to Iberville, the French secretary of lega- tion, that if the Elector of Hanover ever mounted the English throne it would be entirely the fault of the Pretender, who thus refused to accept the one essential condition; and Iberville himself fully shared the oi)inion, and predicted that, without conformity to the Church of England, King James would never ob- tain the sincere support of the Tories.^ Argyle, whose enmity to Marlborough had been very useful to the ' Loclchart Papers, i. 377. Paris archives quoted in Lord - Coxe's Marlborough, ch. cxi. StaiihoiJe's Mist, of Eiujlarul, i. ^ tSue tlie passages Iroui the 55. CH. 1. MEETING OF PAKLIAMENT. 185 ministry, but who was strongly attached to the Hano- verian succession, was removed from all his places ; and Lord Stair, who was also Hanoverian, was obliged to dispose of his regiment. Oxford, however, hesitated more and more, kept up communications with the Jacobites, but threw obstacles in the path of every de- cisive measure in their favour, sent his cousin Harley to Hanover to express his sentiments of devotion to the Elector, tended slowly and ii'resolutely towards the Whigs, and was trusted by neither party but courted by both.^ Bolingbroke now looked upon his colleague with a deadly aversion, and made it a main object of his policy to displace him, and though he may, perhaps, have had no very settled or irrevocable design of bring- ing in the Pretender, he felt that he had gone too far for safety, and was anxious at least to reorganise the party on a strong Church basis, so that at the death of the Queen he might be the master of the situation. 2 The Parliament met on the 16th of February, and it soon appeared that the streng-th of the Government was much shaken. In the Lords the Whig majority was all but restored. In the Commons the Tories formed a large majority, but their discipline was broken, they were divided between the Hanoverian Tories and ' See in Macpherson the Stuart ments, and cement closely to- and Hanoverian Papers for 1714 ; gether, they will be too powerful also the LocTiliart Papers, i. a body to be ill treated.' — Boling- 369, 370. broke's Letters, iv. 499. In his '^ See a very remarkable pas- letter to Sir W. Windham, he sage in one of his letters, April afterwards said : ' As to what 13, 1713. ' The prospect before might hapj)en afterwards on the us is dark and melancholy. What death of the Queen, to speak will happen no man is able to truly, none of us had any settled foretell, but this proposition is resolution.' See also a letter of certain, that if the members of his to Lord Marchmont. March- the Church of England lay aside tnont Papers, ii. 192. their little piques and resent- 186 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. the Jacobites, between the followers of Bolinji^broke and the followers of Oxford, and the jealousies, the vacilla- tions, the conflicting counsels of their leaders in a great degree paralysed their strength. The Queen, in her opening speech, spoke severely of the excesses of the Press, and of those who had ' arrived to that height of malice as to insinuate that the Protestant succession in the House of Hanover is in danger under my govern- ment ; ' but there is little doubt that at this very time her sympatliies were with the Pretender. The House of Commons expelled Steele ostensibly for the publica- tion of a pamphlet called ' The Crisis,' really on account of his decided Whig views. The House of Lords re- taliated by ottering a reward for the discovery of the author of ' The Public Spirit of the Whigs,' an anony- mous pamphlet which Swift had written in reply to ' The Crisis,' and which had excited much indignation in the North by its bitter reflections upon the Scots. The Whigs in the House of Lords brought forward, with much efiect, the case of the Catalans who had been so shamefully abandoned, and also the commercial treaty ; and Wharton, supported by Cowper and Halifax, in- troduced a scandalous resolution urging the Queen to issue a proclamation oftering a reward for anyone who should apprehend her brother alive or dead. Nothing was said about this reward being contingent upon acts of hostility against England, and it might have been claimed by anyone who murdered the Pretender while he was living peacefully in Lorraine. The address waa carried without a division, but the better feeling of the House of Lords, after some reflection, revolted against it, and a clause was substituted merely asking the Queen to ofier a reward for the apprehension of the Pretender in case he landed in the kingdom.' The ' Pari. Hist. vi. 1337, 1338. CH. I, SESSION OF 1714. 187 Queen answered that she saw no present necessity for such a proclamation. Several other motions for the defence of the Hano- verian succession were carried through Parliament, and were accepted with apparent alacrity by the Government, but Bolingbroke, on at least one occasion, privately as- sured the French envoy that they would make no differ- ence.^ Nor did they deceive the people. An uneasy feeling was abroad. Men felt as if on the brink of a great convulsion. The stocks fell, and it was evident that the dread of a Popish sovereign was in the ascendant. Mutinous proceedings were reported among the soldiers at Gibraltar and some other quarters, and Bolingbroke wi'ote with much alarm about the necessity of changing garrisons, and about the dangerous spirit of faction which had arisen among the troops.^ The bishops also began to waver in their allegiance to the Government. A motion ' that the Protestant succession was in danger under the present administration,' moved by Wharton, in the House of Lords, was only defeated by a majority of twelve, and it was a very significant fact that the Archbishop of York and the majority of his brethi'en voted against the Government. In the House of Com- mons a similar motion was defeated by 256 to 208, and was supported by a considerable body of Tories under the leadership of Sir Thomas Hanmer, who was Speaker of the House, and whose elevation to that position Ox- ford had warmly supported, in the vain hope of in this manner diverting him from opposition.^ In a confiden- tial letter to Lord Straflbrd, dated Llarcli 23, Bolingbroke said : ' In both Houses there are the best dispositions I ever saw, but I am sorry to tell you that these disi^osi- tions are unimproved ; the Whigs pursue their plans ' Stsnaho^e's Hist, of England, 489. i. 85. ^ Bunbury's Life of Hannier, ■ Bolingbioke's Letters iv. p. 42. 188 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. I. with good order and in concert. The Tories stand at gaze, expect the Court should regulate their conduct and lead them on, and the Court seems in a lethargy. Nothing, you see, can come of this, but what would be at once the greatest absurdity and the greatest misfor- tune. The minority, and that minority unpopular, easily get the better of the majority who have the Queen and the nation on their side.' • ()xford still held the position of Prime Minister, and liad the foremost place in the party and with the Queen, but liis brilliant and impe- tuous colleague was in both quarters rapidly superseding him, and with him the star of Jacobitism rose in the ascendant. The Jacobite appointments were more de- cided and more numerous, and the Schism Act, which was at this time carried, was believed by the party to have intimidated the Dissenters, and at the same time secured anew the full support of the Church. And yet even at this time the policy of Bolingbroke was, probably, less unfaltering than has been supposed. When speaking at a later period of these anxious months, he said : ' Notliing is more cei'tain than this ti'uth, that there was at this time no formed design in the party, whatever views some particular men might have, against his Majesty's succession,'^ and the assertion, if not strictly accurate, appears to me to have at least approximated to tlie truth. It is certain that though he now led the Jacobite wing, though he continually and unreservedly expressed to Jacobites his sympathy with their cause,^ ' Bolingbroke's Letters, iv. 494. ■■^ Letter to Sir W. Windham. •' Loclcliart Papers, i. 441, 442, 460, 461, 470, 477,478. The ex- tent of BoHn^,'broke's direct ne- gotiations with the Pretender- is chiefly shown bythepapers from tlu! French archives in the Mac- kintosh collection. Some of them have been i^rinted in the Edin- burgh Review, vol. Ixii., and in Bunbury's Life of ITanmcr. Lord Stanhope has made use of them with his usual skill. See, too, the remarkable statement of Walpole. Coxe's Wal]Jole, i. 48. CH. I. DESIGNS OF BOLTNGRROKE. 189 and tliougli his policy manifestly tended towards a Re- storation, lie was nower a ijenuine Jacobite. He was driven into Jacobitism by the force of the Jacobite con- tingent in his party, by his antagonism to Oxford, which led him to rely more and more upon that contingent, by the increasing difficulty of receding from engagements into winch he had entered in order to obtain parliamen- tary support, by the necessity he was under as a minister of the Crown of opposing the Whig scheme of bringing over the Electoral Prince contrary to the strongest wishes of the Queen, by the violent opposition of Hanover to the peace, by the close and manifest alliance that had been established between the Hanoverian Court and the Whig party. In his eyes, however, the restoration of the House of Stuart was not an end but a means. The real aim of his policy was to maintain the ascendency of that Church or Tory party which, as he truly boasted, represented, under all normal circumstances, the over- whelming preponderance of English opinion. To re- establish that ascendency which had been shaken by the victories of Marlborough was the chief motive of the Peace of Utrecht ; to secure its continuance was the real end of his dynastic intrigues. If he could have obtained from the head of the House of Hanover an assurance that the royal favour, under the new dynasty, would still be bestowed on his party, it is very probable that he would have supported the Act of Settlement. But the Elector was plainly in the hands of the Whigs, and the party interest of the Tory leader attracted him to the Stuarts. At the same time, so far as we can judge his motives, his immediate object seems to have been to place the whole administration of civil and military matters in the hands of men who, while they had a certain leaning towards Jacobitism, were beyond all things Tories, and might be trusted fully to obey a Tory Government. Had this been done, he would have com- 190 ENGLAND IN TOE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH, I. manded the position, and been able on the death of the Queen to dictate his terms and to decide the succession. That his decision would have been in favour of the Stuarts, his engagements and his present policy made most probable, but it is also probable that to the very close of his ministerial career he liad never formed in his own mind an irrevocable decision. The result would probably have depended on the relative strength of the Jacobite and Hanoverian elements in the Tory party, on the power of the Opposition, on the policy of the rival c-mdidates ; and a change in the religion of one of them or in the political attitude of the other, might, even at the last moment, have proved decisive. This, as far as I can understand it, is the true key to the policy of Bolingbroke. But his own very natural hesitation in taking a step that might cost him his head, the much greater hesitation of Oxford, and the activity of the Whig Opposition, had liitherto trammelled it. The Peace of Utrecht was carried, and it was a great step towards Tory ascendency ; but it is remarkable that, although it was supported by the Jacobites, its terms were by no means favourable to their interest. The recognition by France of the Hanoverian succession, and the removal of the Pretender to Lorraine, were not, indeed, matters of much consequence, but the arrange- ment with Holland was of a very different order of im- ]iortance. We have seen that, by the barrier treaty of 1709, England guaranteed a very extensive barrier, while the States-General guaranteed the Hanoverian succession, and undertook ' to furnish by sea or land the succour and assistance ' necessary to maintain it. This treaty, having been condemned by Parliament, was ab- rogated, but a new treaty, with the same general objects, was signed in January 1712-13. It was much less favourable than its predecessor to the Dutch, but it still retained the guarantee of the Hanoverian succession, CH. 1. THE DUTCH GUARANTEE. 191 and even made it more precise. England engaged to support Holland, if her barrier was assailed, with a fleet of twenty men-of-war, and an army of 10,000 men. Holland enarased to furnish the same number of vessels and an army of 6,000 men, at the request either of the Queen or of the Protestant heir, to defend the Protestant succession whenever it was in danger. This treaty was negotiated by the Tory Government, and its great value to the House of Hanover was at a later period abun- dantly shown. No measure was more obnoxious to the Jacobites. They were accustomed to ask with some plausibility whether the supporters of the House of Han- over were in reality the friends of English liberty which they pretended. They were about to place the sceptre of England in the hands of a German prince, who was wholly ignorant of the English constitution, and accus- tomed to despotic rule in his own country. He already disposed of a German army altogether beyond the con- trol of the English Parliament. He would find in Eng- land many thousands of refugees driven from a despotic country, who would support his dynasty at any sacrifice as representing the cause of Protestantism in Europe, but who were likely to care very little for the British constitution ; and if, by exceeding his powers, he arrayed his subjects against him, he could summon over 6,000 Dutch troops to his support. If the German prince happened to be an able, ambitious, and arbitrary man, he would thus be furnished with means of attacking the liberties of England such as Charles I. had never possessed.' On the other hand, as the Jacobite wing rose with Bolingbroke to the ascendant, the reorganisation of the army rapidly advanced. At the time when Marlborough ' See the powerful statement issued by the Pretender, Aug. 29, of these dangers in the address 1714. 192 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY CH. 1. was removed from command, a project seems to have been miicli discussed in political circles of making the Elector of Hanover commander in Flanders ; ' but sucli a measure, if it was ever proposed, was speedily ])ut aside, and it was doubtless expected that Ormond would in time make the army what he desired. But Boling- broke had no wish to let the Jacoliite movement pass out of his control; and it is remarkable that, even in the latter days of June 1714, he wrote to the Lords Justices of Ireland, urging them to search diligently for all persons who were recruiting for the Pretender, and to prosecute them with the full rigour of the law.^ ' This is stated in a MS. letter from J. Williams to Josh. Daw- son, Jan. 8, 1711, in the Irish State Paper Office. Kumours to the same effect seem to have been floating for some time. As early as 1703 this measure was dis- cussed {Corrcspondancc da Leib- nitz avcc VElcdricc Sophie, iii. 61-70), and on Feb. 14, 1707-8, one of the informants of Dawson (who was Secretary at Dublin Castle) wrote from London : ' There is a story in town, how true I cannot tell — you shall hear it- that at the Council, when Lord Marlborough said he could not serve any longer, seve- ral of the lords gave their opinion that if my Lord laid down his commission we had none able to command the forces, nor none that had such interest with the allies as his Grace ; on which Lord Wharton said there was one who he thought as able, and every way as well qualified to head the English army, and one who he thought should be better known to the English, and that he was not ashamed to name him, which was the Elector of Hanover. This, they say, made everybody there mute.' — B. But- ler to Josh. Dawson, Irish State Paper Office. In 1707 the Elec- tor actually obtained a command on the Khine, which he resigned in 1710. " ' I inclose a copy of a letter from Captain Eouse, commander of her Majesty's ship the " Sa- phire," wherein your Excellen- cies will find an account of seve- ral men who have been listed in Ireland and carried to Prance for the service of the Pretender, and that one Fitz-Simonds, a merchant of Dublin, is mentioned to be chiefly concerned in raising these recruits. I am, therefore', to accjuaint your Excellencies it is her Majesty's pleasure that you inquire into the conduct of this merchant, that you use your utmost diligence to gain a true knowledge of this fact, and to discover all practices of the like nature, and that by a rigorous prosecution of those who have en. T. PEOSrECTS OF THE SUCCESSION. 193 It was difficult for the most sagacious man to predict the issue. Berwick strongly urged upon the Jacobites that they sliould induce the Queen to take the bold step of inviting the Pretender over during her lifetime, and presenting him to the Parliament as her successor, on the condition that he bound himself to defend the liber- ties of the Church ; • and Lord To^^'nshend wrote to Hanover that the Whig party entertained strong feai-s that some such course might be adopted.^ The Jacobite Lord Hamilton was reported to have said that ' he who would be first in London after the Queen's death would be crowned. If it is the Pretender he will have the crown, undoubtedly, and if it is the Elector of Hanover, he will have it.' ^ Schiitz wi'ote in March to the same effect : ' Of ten who are for us, nine will accommodate them- selves to the times, and embrace the interests of him who will be the first on the spot, and who will undoubt- edly have the best game and all the hopes of success, rather than expose themselves by their opposition to a civil war, which appears to them a real and an imme- diate evil ; whereas they flatter themselves that the government of the Pretender, whom they look upon as a weak prince, will not be such a great evil as civil war.'* The Whig leaders were not . inactive. While the Government were placing Jacobites in the most im- portant military posts, Stanhope was concerting measures been already found to be guilty the death of the Queen (Aug. 7, of them your Excellencies should 1714). MSS. Irish State Paper as much as possible deter others Office. Shrewsbury had issued from attempting the same.' a strong proclamation against (June 15, 1714.) On the 2Gth enlistments for the Pretender he again writes, urging the pro- (Dublin Gazette, May 28, 1714)._ secution of Fitz-Simonds ' if he ' Mt'moires de Berwick, ii. appear guilty of conveying men 129, 130. out of her Majesty's dominions '^ Macpherson, ii. 596, 597. into the service of the Preten- ' Ibid. ii. 557. der ; ' and another letter was * Ibid. ii. 572, 573. written on the same subject alter VOL. I. O 191< ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. with the French refugee officers, who were naturally violently opposed to the Pretender ; Marlborough, who was still on the Continent, was arranging with the Dutch to send over a fleet and an army, and he undertook to employ his influence with the troops who were stationed at Dunkirk, and, if necessary, to invade England at their head. Another measure was taken which threw the Government into great perplexity. The Queen was inflexibly opposed to the residence of any member of the Hanoverian family in England ; but the Electoral Prince, the son of the Elector, had been made Duke of Cambridge, and as such had a right to sit in the House of Lords. At the urgent request of the Whig leaders, Schtitz, without informing either the Queen or the ministers, applied to the Chancellor Harcourt for a writ enabling the prince to take his seat. The chancellor, who was deeply mixed in Jacobite intrigues, was ex- tremely embarrassed, but it was impossible to refuse the demand. The Government treated it as a direct insult to the Sovereign. The Queen herself was exceedingly incensed. She wrote angry letters of remonstrance to the Electress Sophia, to the Elector, and to the Prince himself. She forbade Schiitz to appear at her Court, and insisted on his recall. The Elector, to the rag-e and disappointment of the Whigs, refused to send over his son. On May 28 the old Electress Sophia died sud- denly, her death having, it is said, been hastened by her annoyance at the letters fiom the Queen ; * and the Elector, according to the Act of Settlement, became the immediate heir to the British throne. The Parliament was prorogued on July 9, and it left England in a condition of the strangest confusion. The Queen was dying, and the fierce conflicts among her ' Corrcspondance de Leibnitz nenx to Marlliorougb. Coxe'a avec I'Electrice Sophie, iii. 481, Marlborough, ch. cxi. 483. See, too, aletter of Mr. Moly. CH. I. PROSPECTS OF THE SUCCESSION. 195 servants and in her own mind at once embittered and accelerated her end. A Tory ministry, commanding a large majority in the House of Commons and a majority perhaps still larger in the comitry, was in power; but both the Government and those whom it represented were distracted by internal dissensions, and were wholly uncertain in the object of their policy. A question, which was one of the most momentous in the history of the nation, was imminent. It was whether the mon- archy of England should rest upon the Tory principle of the divine right of kings, or on the principles established by the Revolution. The answer to this question might determine the fate of parliamentary institutions in Eng- land, and would certainly determine for more than a generation the character of its legislation, the position of its parties, the habitual bias of its Government. Had it been decided simply on this issue, there can be little doubt of the result. All the instincts, all the traditions, all the principles and enthusiasms of the Tory party inclined them to the Stuarts, and, as BoKngbroke truly said, a Whig ascendency in England could in that age only rest upon adventitious and exceptional circum- stances. Under all normal conditions, ' the true, real, genuine strength of Britain ' lay with the Tories. The persistent Catholicism of the Pi-etender, however, had connected with this great issue another, on which the popular feeling ran strongly in the opposite direction, and the dread of Popery was the great coiniterpoise to the love of legitimacy. The Government had naturally an immense power of determining the result, but the fatal division between its chiefs, and the fatal irresolu- tion of the character of Oxford, had during several criti- cal months all but suspended its action. On May 18, while Parliament was still sitting. Swift wrote a letter to Peterborough which clearly described the situation : ' I never led a life so thoroughly uneasy as I do at o 2 196 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. present. Our situation is so bad that onr enemies could not, without abundance of invention and abihty, have placed us so ill if we had left it entirely to their manage- ment. . . . The Queen is pretty well at present, but the least disorder she has puts us all in alarm, and when it is over we act as if she were immortal. Neither is it possible to persuade people to make any preparation against the evil day.' ^ The position of Swift at this time is well worthy of attention, for his judgment was that of a man of great shrewdness as well as great genius, and he proljably represented the feelings of many of the more intelligent members of his party. Though a fierce, unscrupulous, and singularly scurrilous political writer, he was not, in the general character of his politics, a violent man,^ and the inconsistency of his political life has been very grossly exaggerated. It was almost inevitable that a young man, brought up as Secretary to Sir W. Temple, should enter public life with Whig prepossessions. It was almost equally inevitable that a High Church divine should, in the party conflicts under Queen Anne, ulti- mately gravitate to the Tories. Pei'sonal ambition, no doubt, as he himself very frankly admitted, contributed * Swift's C(y)'res])onclcnce. Bo- have clone this great while, I am lingbroke's letters show a de- sure they would quit my service.' spondency quite as great. Writing Swift's Correspondence, 1. 469 to Prior, July 19, he said : 'These (ed. 17GG). four or five months last past ^ His genuine political opinion have afforded such a scene as I was expressed by him in one hope never again to bo an actor very hiippy and characteristic in. All the confusion which sentence : ' Whoever lias a true could be created by the disunion value for Church and State of friends and malice of enemies should avoid the extremes of has subsisted at Court and in Whig for the sake of the former, Parliament.' — Bolingbroke'sLei- and the extremes of Tory on tcrs, iv. 561, 562. Writing to account of the latter.' — Senti- Swift on the l.Sth of the same mcnts of a Church of England month, he said : ' If my grooms Man. did not live a happier life than I CH. I. SWIFT. 197 to his clic'iiige, but there was nothmg iu it of that com- plete and scandalous apostasy of which he has often been accused. From first to last an exclusive Church feeling was his genuine passion. It appeared fully, though in a very strange form, in the ' Tale of a Tub,' which was published as early as 1704. It appeared still more strongly in his ' Project for the Reforma- tion of Manners,' in his ' Sentiments of a Church of England Man,' in his ' Argument against abolishing Christianity,' in his ' Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning the Saci-amental Test ; ' all of which were pubhshed at the time when he was ostensibly a Whig.' It appeared not less clearly many years afterwards in his Irish tracts, written at a period when it would have been eminently conducive to the objects lie was aiming at to have rallied all religions in opposition to the Go- vernment. In the latter part of the reign of Anne political parties were grouped, much more than in the jarevious reign, by ecclesiastical considerations ; and, after the impeachment of Sacheverell, the Tory party had become, before all things, the party of the Church. On the other hand. Swift never appears to have wavered in his attachment to the Protestant line ; and there is not the smallest evidence that he had at any period of his life the slightest communication with St. Germain's. His position in the party was a very prominent one. He was, without exception, the most effective political writer in England at a time when political writing was of transcendent importance. His influence coiitributed very much to that generous and discriminating pati'on- age of literature which was the special glory of the Tory ministry of Anne. To his pen we owe by far the most powerful and most rational defence of the Peace of ' See also a curious letter on early as 1703. Swift's Corre- the Occasional Conformity Bill, spondence, pp. 1-4. to Esther Johnson, written as 198 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. Utrecht that has ever been composed; and although, like the other writers of his party, he wrote much in a strain of disgraceful scurrility against Marlborough, it is at least very honourable to his memory that he dis- approved of, and protested against, the conduct of the ministers in superseding that great general in the midst of the war.* In the crisis which we are considering, he strongly urged upon them to reconcile themselves with the Elec- tor ; and he came over specially from Ireland in order to compose the differences in the Cabinet. Having failed in his attempt, he retired to the house of a friend in Berkshire, and there wrote a remarkable appeal to the nation, which shows clearly his deep sense of the dangers of the time. Though he was much more closely con- nected, both by personal and political sympathy, with Oxford than with Bolingbroke, he now strongly blamed the indecision and procrastination of the former, and maintained that the party was in such extreme and im- minent danger that nothing but the most drastic reme- dies could save it. The great majority of the nation, he maintained, had two wishes. The first was, ' that the Church of England should be preserved entire in all her rights, power, and privileges ; all doctrines relating to government discouraged which she condemned ; all schisms, sects, and heresies discountenanced.' The second was, the maintenance of the Protestant succes- sion in the House of Brunswick, ' not for any partiality to that illustrious house further than as it had the honour to mingle with the blood royal of England, and is the nearest branch of our royal line reformed from ' Journal to Stella, Jan. 7, undertake, though I do not think 1711-12. In one of his letters so well of him as you do, yet I to Steele, dated May 27, 1713, have been the cause of prevent- he says : ' As to the great xuan ing 500 hard things to be said [Marlborough] whose defence you against him.'— Scott's cd. xvi. 69. CH. 1. SWIFT. 199 Popery.' He proceeded, in language which showed some insincerity or some blindness, to deny the exist- ence of any considerable Jacobitism outside the Nonjuror body, maintaining that the supporters of the theory of passive obedience could have no difficulty in supporting a line which they found established by law, and were not at all called upon by their principles to enter into any historical investigation of the merits of the Revolu- tion. But the danger of the situation lay in the fact that the heir to the throne had completely failed to give any assurance to the nation that he would support that Church party to which the overwhelming majority of the nation was attached ; that he had, on the contrary, given all his confidence to the implacable enemies of that party — to the Wliigs, Low Churchmen, and Dis- senters. Swift maintained that the only course that could secure the party was the immediate and absolute exclusion of all such persons from every description of civil and military office. The whole government of the country, in all its departments, must be thi'own into the hands of Tories, and it would then be impossible to dis- place them. This was necessary because the Whigs had already proved very dangerous to the constitution in Church and State, because they were highly irritated at the loss of power, ' but princij^ally because they have bailed, by misrepresentations and other artifices, to make Ls-^ the successor look upon them as the only persons he can trust, upon which account they cannot be too soon or too much disabled ; neither will England ever be safe from the attempts of this wicked confederacy until theif strength and interests shall be so far reduced that for the future it shall not be in the power of the Oro^vn, although in conjunction with any rich and factious body of men, to choose an ill majority in the House of Com- mons.' He at the same time urged that the Elector should be peremptorily called upon by the Queen to 200 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. declare his approbation of the policy of the Queen's ministers, and to disavow all connection with the Whigs. ^ It must be owned that this pamphlet showed very little of that extreme subservience to royal authority for which the Tory party had been so often reproached. The policy indicated, if openly avowed, might have led to a civil war, and Boling1)roke probaljly showed much wisdom in inducing tSvvifb to withhold the publication. Though caring only for the ascendency of the Tory party, Bolingbroke had by this time gone so far in the direction of Jacobitism lliat it was difficult to recede, and the policy of the Government tended more and more to a restoration of the Stuarts. Yet Oxford op- posed to the last any step wliich amounted to an ir- revocable decision, and at the time when Parliament was prorogued nothing had been arranged. Many military and civil a])[)oiutments had, indeed, been made in the interest of the Pretender, but nothing had been done to induce the Queen to invite him over, or to deter- mine formally the conditions on which he might mount the throne, or the plan of operations after the death of the Queen. The leaders in Fi-ance became more and more convinced of the insincerity of Oxford. Ber- wick and Torcy wrote to him representing that the Queen's death might happen very shortly, and asking for a distinct account of liis measures to secure in that case the inten^sts of the legitimate heir, as well as of the steps the I'rince liimself should take ; but they could obtain no other answer than that, if the Queen now died, the affairs both of the Stuarts and of the Govern- ment were ruined without resource.^ France was so exhausted after the late struggle that she could not • Free Thoughts upon the - Mdtnoircs de Berwick, PrcuciU Stale of Affairs (1714). 1^1. CH. 1. DISGRACE OF OXFORD. 201 venture, at the risk of another war, to support the Pre- tender by force of arms ; and it was also an unfortunate circumstance for his cause that about tliis time Ber- wick, who was one of its chief supports, received a command in Catalonia. The object of the Jacobites under these circum- stances was to displace Oxford, and they had no great difficulty in accomplishing it. The influence wliich his good private character and his moderate and compro- mising temperament once gave him in the country had been rapidly waning. His party were disgusted with his habitual indecision. The Queen had to complain of many instances of gross and scandalous disrespect ; ^ but the influence which at last turned the scale was that of Lady Masham. She was now wholly in the interests of the Jacobites. She had quarrelled violently with Oxford about a pension, and, at the request of the Jaco- bite leaders, she used her great influence with the Queen to procure his dismissal. Seldom has it been given to a wo- man wholly undistinguished by birth, character, beauty, or intellect to affect so powerfully the march of affairs. Her influence, though by no means the sole, was un- doubtedly a leading, cause of the change of ministiy in 1710, which saved France from almost complete ruin, and determined the Peace of Utrecht. Her influence in 1714 all but altered the order of succession in England, and with it the whole course of English politics. On July 27, afber a long and violent altercation in the Cabinet, Oxford was dismissed, the Queen resumed the white stafl of Treasurer, and Bolingbroke became Prime Minister. The cause of the Protestant succession had now touched its nadir. Bolingbroke, it is true, on this memorable occasion invited the Whig leaders to a ' Erasmus Lewis to Swift, July 27, 1714. Swift's Correspond- ence. 202 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. 1. conference at his house,^ but they would give him no support unless he attested his sincerity by insisting on the expulsion of the Pretender from Lorraine ; and on that very day he assured Gaultier that his sentiments towards the Stuart prince were unchanged,^ and he proceeded to sketch the outlines of a ministry almost exclusively Jacobite. There is every reason to believe that such a ministry, supported by the Queen, presided over by a statesman eminently skilful, daring, and un- scrupulous, and disposing of all the civil and military administration of the country, could, in the existing condition of England, have efiected the restoration of the Stuarts. Pledges would have been exacted for the security of the Church, but such pledges would readily have been granted. Time was now of vital importance, and as Parliament had been recently prorogued, the ministers were likely, during several months, to be practically unfettered. Bolingbroke, a few days later, assured Iberville that his measures had been so well taken that in six weeks matters would have been placed in such a condition that he would have had nothing to fear.^ He proposed to retain in the new Government his old position of Secretary of State, with the control of all foreign affairs. Bromley and Lord Mar were to be the other two secretaries. Atterbury, whose fierce and ' Coxe's Walpole, i. 49. This fact is, I think, very signiticant of the true motives of Boling- broke. See, too, Macpherson, ii. 532, 533. - Stanhope's Hist of Eng- land, i. 88. See, too, the account of Bolingbroke's conversations with his Scotch sui^portcis in the Lockhart Pai:iers. ^ After the death of the Queen, Iberville wrote to the French king : ' My Lord Boling- broke est p6n6tr6 de douleur de la perte de la Eeyne, au point de sa fortune particuli^re et de la consomniation de toutes les affaires qui out este faites depuis quatre ans. II m'a assuriS que les mesures 6toient si bicn prises qu'en six semaines de temps on auroit mis les choses en tel estat qu'iln'y auroiteu rien acraindre de ce qui vient d'arriver.' — 13 Aout, 1714 (N.S.), MSS. Paris Foreign Office. ca. I. 'boLingbroke's intended ministry. 203 brilliant genius was much more fitted for the arena of politics than for the episcopacy, and who was the idol of the lower clergy, was to have the Privy Seal. Harcourt was to continue Chancellor. The Dukes of Ormond and Buckingham, who were conspicuous among the ad- herents of the Pretender, were to be respectively Com- mander-in-Chief and Lord President. The Treasury, which had lately carried with it the chief power in the Government, was to be placed in commission. Wind- ham, the brother-in-law and devoted friend of Boling- broke, was to be placed at its head, but the names of the other commissioners were undecided after a long and angry discussion, which lasted far into the night. All these statesmen were Jacobites. One, however, remained, whose position was still ambiguous. The Duke of Shrewsbury occupied a position wliicli made it difficult for him to be subordinate to any other minister, though at the same time a disinclination for the rough work of public life, and some weakness of character, incapacitated him for the foremost place in active politics. On the death of the Duke of Hamilton he had been sent to Paris as ambassador to negotiate the peace. He was afterwards appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and he held that position at the time of the dismissal of Oxford. He had there professed his attachment to the Protestant succession, but not more than Oxford and Bolingbroke in England, and he ap- pears to have persuaded the latter that he was devoted to his fortunes. The Jacobite cause, under the influ- ence of the Lish Chancellor, seemed ascendant in Ire- land, with the important exception of the House of Com- mons, which continued violently Wliig ; and Shrewsbury, having vainly attempted to secure a Tory majority by an election, consented, at the desire of the ministers, to prorogue the Parliament abruptly, thus apparently de- stroying the best security of the Protestant succession 204 ENGLAND IN TUE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. i. in Ireland. He at the same time carefully concealed his own sentiments, came over to England to watch the course of events, and received constant private intelli- gence of the condition of the Queen's health from her physician. Dr. Shadwell. Such was the condition of aflFairs when an event occurred in which the partisans of the Protestant suc- cession long loved to trace the special intervention of a gracious Providence. On the very day following the dismissal of Oxford — when everything was still un- settled — when the destinies of the kingdom trembled in the balance — the Queen was struck down by a mortal illness. The excitement of the protracted struggle had been too much for her failing strength. The Council sat in her presence till two in the morning of the 28th, and had been disturbed by the most furious altercations. She retired at last, weary, anxious, and agitated, saying to those about her that she would never outlive the scene, and she sank almost immediately into a lethargic illness. Next day the imposthume in her leg suddenly ceased. The gout flew to her brain, and she was manifestly dying. The crisis had now come, and those who had been so lately flushed with the prospect of assured power were wholly unprepared. They assembled in Privy Council at Kensington, where a strange scene is said to have occurred. Argyle and Somerset, though they had contributed largely by their defection to the downfall of the Whig ministry of Godoljihin, were now again in opposition to the Tories, and h;ul recently been dis- missed from their posts. Availing themselves of their rank of Privy Councillors, they appeared unsummoned in the council room, pleading the greatness of the emer- gency. Shrewsbury, who had probably concocted the scene, rose and warmly thanked them for their offei' of assistance ; and these three men appear to have guided the course of events. At their request the physicians en. I. SHREWSBURY MADE TREASURER. 205 were examined, and they deposed that the Queen was in imminent danarer. The Council resolved that the s^veat office of Treasurer should be at once filled, and that it should be filled by Slirewsbury.^ There was no opposi- tion. Bolingbi'oke is said himself to have made the proposition, and both he and his colleagues appeared stupefied by the sudden change. They knew that the * This is the account given by Boyer, Tindal, and Oldmison, and reproduced by most later historians. Mr. Wyon, however, has justly observed, in his valu- able History of Queen Anne (ii. 524-526), that it is not quite consistent with the letters written by Ford to Swift (July 31 and Aug. 5). Ford, who was a Govern- ment official, and wrote from the spot, says : ' The Whigs were not in the Council when he [Shrewsbury] was recommended. Lord Bolingbroke proposed it there as well as to the Queen.' Boyer says that after Argyle and Somerset had appeared in the Council, 'one of the Council ' re- presented how necessary it was that the office of Treasurer should be filled, and that the board then unanimously approved of Shrewsbury. — Boyer's Queen Anne, p. 714. As Argyle and Somerset were Whigs, though very inconsistent ones, Mr. Wyon thinks the appointment was made before their arrival. It appears, however, that after the episode relating to Shrewsbury the Council agreed, on the mo- tion of Argyle and Somerset, to summon all Privy Councillors in or near London without distinc- tion of party, and that it was then only that Somers and other Whig statesmen appeared on the scene (Boyer, pp. 714, 715). This is, probably, all that was meant by Ford when he describes the appointment of Shrewsbury as having taken place before the arrival of the Whigs. Lord Stan- hoi^e, however, is mistaken in saying that the appointment was suggested by the two intruding dukes. Iberville, who had good means of information, corrobo- rates the assertion that Argyle and Somerset appeared unsum- moned at the Council. With reference to the appointment of Shrewsbury, he only says : ' Aus- sitot que la Heine avoit repris connoissance le conseil avoit propose de faire M. le Due de Shrewsbury Grand Tr6sorier, ce qu'elle fit de bon coeur. II ne faut pour cela que donner la baguette^ au lieu qu'il falloit une commission en chancellerie pour une nomination de commission- aires dont on n'^toit pas encore convenu, et qu'il auroit fallu bien du temps pour cela.' — Iber- ville to Torcy, 11 Aout, 1714 (N.S.). Two days later he writes: ' On dit que c'est a la pri^re de my lord Bolingbroke que my lord Shrewsbury s'est deter- mine a accepter la charge.' — MSS. Paris Foreign Office. 206 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. i. coming King regai'ded them with complete hostility, but nothing had been organised for a restoration of the Stuarts, and there was no time or opportunity for making conditions. A deputation, headed by Boling- broke, was sent to the dying Queen, who feebly assented to whatever was asked. Shrewsbury, who was already Chamberlain and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, became Lord Treasurer, and assumed the authority of Prime Minister. Summonses were at once sent to all Privy Councillors, iri'espective of party, to attend ; and Somers and several others of the Whig leaders were speedily at their post. They had the great advantage of knowing clearly the policy they should pursue, and their measures were taken with admirable promptitude and energy. The guards of the Tower were at once doubled. Four regiments were ordered to march from the country to London, and all seamen to repair to their vessels. An embargo was laid on all shipping. The fleet was equipped, and speedy measures were taken to protect the seaports, and to secure tranquillity in Scotland and Ireland. At the same time despatches were sent to the Netherlands ordering seven of the ten British battalions to embark without delay ; to Lord Strafford, the ambas- sador at the Hague, desiring the States-General to fulfil their guarantee of the Protestant succession in England; to the Elector, urging him to hasten to Holland, where on the death of the Queen he would be met by a British squadron, and escorted to his new kingdom. Marlborough, who had long oscillated between the parties, was now in the Hanoverian interest, and was hastening over to employ his influence, if necessary, with the army. The Queen remained in a condition of stupor, broken by a few faint intervals of consciousness, till the morning of the 1st, when she died. On the 30th of July, Stanhope had written to the Emperor Charles VI. informing him CH. I. DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 207 of lier sudden illness, and he predicted that if her death was postponed only for a few weeks the Protestant suc- cession would be in grave danger.^ The feelings of Bolingbroke may be clearly seen in his own words : 'The Earl of Oxford was removed on Tuesday, the Queen died on Sunday ! What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us ! ' ^ The new King was at once proclaimed, and it is a striking proof of the danger of the crisis that the funds, which had fallen on a false rumour of the Queen's re- covery, rose at once when she died.-"* Atterbury is said to have urged Bolingbroke to proclaim James III. at Charing Cross, and to have offered to head the proces- sion in his lawn sleeves, but the counsel was mere mad- ness, and Bolingbroke saw clearly that any attempt to ' ' Cet accident subit et im- pi-6vu est un coup de foudre pour le parti Jacobite, qui n'a point pris de mesures pour faire r6us- sir leur projet aussitost qu'il seroit n6cessaire, et j'ose assurer a votre M. I. et C. que si les m6decins ont devin6 juste Mgr. I'Electeur d'Hanovre sera pro- clam6 Roy et prendra possession du Eoyaume aussi paisiblement que I'a fait aucun de ses pr6d6- cesseurs. II est vray que si la maladie trainoit en longueur, quand ce ne seroit que quelques semaines, nous pourrions etre fort embarrasses.'- — Correspon- dance de Leibnitz, iii. 504, .505. - Bolingbroke to Swift, Aug. 3, 1714. Swift's Correspon- dence. ^ Two interesting MS. letters in the Irish State Paper Office, wi'itten by Edward Southwell to Josh. Dawson, from London immediately after the Queen's death, give a curious pictui'e of the state of feeling : ' I attended my royal mistress to the hour of her death. . . . There is a superabundancy of joy on this occasion. The stocks rise pro- digiously. The merchants expect vast commerce, the soldiers great employment, and those who have been out all the employments of those who are in.' ' Thank God, everything is very quiet, but the joy of the City of London is very peculiar, for the stocks sank as the news came from Kensington that her Majesty was like to re- cover, and rose as her case grew more desperate.' See, too, Ford to Swift (July 31, 1714), Swift's Correspondence. Iberville wrote to the French king : ' La tran- quillity qu'on voit icy sans au- cune apparence qu'il y ait le moindre mouvement en faveur du Chevalier, a fait hausser de sept a huit pour cent les actions sur les fonds publics.' — Aug. 13 (N.S.). 208 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. i. overtlirow the Act of Settlement would be now worse than useless. He had assented to all measures for the se- curity of the succession which had been taken in the last Council of Anne, and he cordially approved of the con- duct of Iberville, who, the morning after the Queen's death, paid his official compliments to the Hanoverian minister.* The more violent spirits among the Jaco- bites now looked eagerly for a French invasion, but the calmer members of the party perceived that such an invasion was impossible, that a Jacobite expedition un- supported by French arms would be entirely hopeless, and that the true policy of the Tory pai'ty was to ab- stain from every demonstration that savoured of Jaco- bitism. The calm of the city at this critical moment was very remarkable. Oxfoi'd was, it is true, insulted in the streets, but there was no serious disorder, and the guard which, as a measure of precaution, had been placed before the French Embassy was speedily with- drawn. The Eegency Act of 1705 came at once into operation. The Hanoverian minister produced the sealed list of the names of those to whom the ]<]lector entrusted the government before his arrival, and it was ' IbervUle to the French king, letters to Torcy on the 11th he Aug. 13 (N.S.). Iberville adds : • said : ' La teste tourne a la plu- ' II [Bolingbroke] croit que V. M. part des Jacobites, surtout des doit 6viter avec grand soin la Ecossais. lis se figurent que le moindre demonstration en faveur Koi va fournir au Chevalier ce du Chevalier qui pust fournir un qu'il faut pour passer en Ecosse pretexte aux Whigs de recom- et y soutenir la guerre ; et quand mencer la guerre. Tons les gens on Icur dit que sa Majeste ne le sensez, sans exceptor les Jaco- pourroit sans contrcvenir aux bites declarez, en conviennent, traites de paix et s'attirer sur lea m^me pour I'mt^rM du Cheva- bras une nouvelle guerre, ils lier, dont ils craignent une fin repondent que le Chevalier est maiheureuse, s'il se hazardoit perdu pour jamais et que nous 16g^rement sur la parole de n'en serons pas plus exempts de certaines gens qu'ils traitcnt ]& guerre.'— MSS. Taris Foreign d'aventuriers, zel6s ^ la v6rit6, Office. mais sans teste.' In one of his CH. I. ACCESSION OF GEORGE I. 209 found to consist of eighteen names taken from tlie leaders of the Whig party, omitting, however, Somers, who was a confirmed invalid, and Marlborough, who was still profoundly distrusted by the Hanoverian party. Parliament, in accordance with the provisions of the Bill, was at once summoned, and it was soon evident that there was nothing to fear. The moment for a re- storation was past, and the one object of the '^L'ory party was now to proclaim their adliesion to the dynasty, and if possible to avoid proscription.' Dutiful addresses were unanimously voted. The Tories tried to win the favour of the new King by proposing that the Civil List, which had been 700,000/. under Anne, should be raised to a million, but the danger of so extravagant an augmentation was felt, and the former sum was voted. The arrears due to the Hanoverian troops were paid. A reward of 100,000/. was offered for the apprehension of the Pretender in case he attempted to land. That prince, on the news of the death of Anne, had hastened to Paris, but by this time a powerful fleet protected the English coast. The Jacobite party was unorganised or paralysed; the large class who dreaded beyond all things civil war, now supported the Government ; the French were not prepared to draw the sword, and at the request of Torcy the Stuart Prince returned to Lorraine. He issued a proclamation deploring ' the death of the Princess our sister, of whose good inten- tions towards us we could not for some time past well ' Bolingbroke seems to have month if you please.' — Swift's hoped lor a time to attract the Correspondence. new King to his party. He On the 7th Erasmus Lewis wrote to Swift (Aug. 3) : ' The wrote to Swift : ' We are gaping Tories seem to resolve not to be and staring to see who is to rule crushed, and that is enough to us. The Whigs think they shall prevent them from being so. . . . engross all. We think we shall The Whigs are a pack of Jaco- have our share.' — Ibid, bites ; that shall be the cry in a VOL. I. P 210 ENGLAND IN THE EIOnTEENTH CENTURY. ch. i. doubt, uud this was the reason we then sate still, ex- pecting the good effects thereof, which were unfortu- nately prevented by her deplorable death.' It was in tliis manner that, contrary to all reason- able expectations, this great change was effected with- out bloodshed, and almost without difficulty, ihe King, either from policy or indifference, did not appear in Eno-land till September 18, when he was received with no opposition, and with some applause. Those who hoped that he might share his favours between both parties were speedily undeceived. Even before his land- ino- Bolingbroke was deprived of the office ot feecre- taiT of State which he still held, in a manner of positive insult. Lord Townshend, the author of the barrier treaty, was appointed to the place, and he soon assumed the rank of Prime Minister. Ormond was not pei-mitted to come into the King's presence. Oxford was made to undergo the most marked slights, and a Whig ministry was speedily formed. Townshend, Stanhope, Sunder- land, Cowper, Marlborough, Nottingham, and Argyle filled the cliief places, while Walpole, who was rising rapidly to the foremost rank among the young Whigs, became Paymaster-General, and Pulteney, who after- wards became his greatest rival, was Secretary at War. Shrewsbury, whose services in the crisis had been so transcendent, but who had been deeply implicated m the Peace of Utrecht, retained the office of Lord (cham- berlain but resigned those of Lord Treasurer and Lord Lieutenant of L-eland. The post of Lord Treasurer was not filled up. It was put into commission, with Lord Halifax at its head, and it was never revived ; and it was observed that though ^larlborough became Commandei-- in-Chief, his power was always carefully restricted, and that the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which was regarded as a dignified banishment, was reserved for his son-in-law Sunderland. The Parliament, according to CH. I. TRILlMrH OF THE WHIGS. 211 law, determined in six months after the decease of the Sovereign ; and at the election that ensued the influence of the Crown was thrown unscrupulously into the scale of the Wliigs. An extraordinary Royal Proclamation was issued reflecting on the evil designs of men disaflected to the King, noticing the perplexity of public afliiirs, the interruption of commerce, and the grievous miscarriages of the late Government, and urging the electors, in their choice of members, ' to have a particular regard to such as showed a firmness to the Protestant succession when it was in danger.' In the face of such a proclamation, emanating from the Sovereign himself, a Tory Parlia- ment would have been a direct incentive to civil war. The Government exerted all its powers over the electors. An immense Whig majority was returned, and the Par- liament which assembled in the beginning of 1715 formed the commencement of that long period of Whig ascendency which continued without intermission till the accession of Geor^'e III. p 'i 212 enl;la.nd m tue eighteenth century, en. n. CHAPTER n. It lias been my object in the last chapter to show that the tiiuniph of the' Whig policy, which was efFected by the Revolution, and confirmed by the accession of the House of Brunswick, was the triumph of the party which was naturally the weakest in England. Several isolated political events contributed to the result, but the chief causes were the superiority of the smaller party in energy, intelligence, concentration, and organisation, and the division and partial paralysis of the larger party, arising from the accidental conflict between the cause of legitimacy and the cause of Protestantism. Before pro- ceeding to relate the methods by which the Whig power was consolidated, and the manner in which it was used it will be necessary to examine the chief elements ot which it was composed, and the causes of its political bias Its strength lay in three quarters— the aristo- cracy, the commercial classes, and the Nonconformists. The eminently popular character of the English aristocracy is of a very early date, and it has probably done more than any other single cause to determine the trne and insure the permanence of English freedom The position of the Norman nobility in England had always been widely diflei-ent from that of the same nobility at home, WilliaTu being able to withhold m the one case important privileges he was compelled to re- coiruise in the other; and a long conflict, m which the nobles in alliance with the Commons, were struggling ao-ainst the power of the monarchy, contributed, with CH. II. THE ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY. 213 other causes, to give a popular bias to the former. The Great Charter had been won by the barons, but, instead of being confined to a demand for new aristocratical pi-ivileges, it guaranteed the legal rights of all freemen, and the ancient customs and liberties of cities, prohibited every kind of ai'bitrary punishment, compelled the barons to grant their sub-vassals mitigations of feudal burdens similar to those which they themselves obtained from the King, and even accorded special protection to foreigii merchants in England. Philip de Comines had noticed as a remarkable fact the singular humanity of the nobles to the people duiing the civil wars. In these wars the nobility were almost anniliilated, and as they were but little increased during the reign of Henry VII., the revival of the order in numbers and wealth dates in a great measure from the innovating and liberal move- ment of the Reformation. The Puritan rebellion was chiefly democratic, but the Revolution of 1688 was chiefly aristocratic ; and while the reforms of the former was soon swept away, and its excesses followed by a long reaction towards despotism, the latter founded on a secure basis the liberties of England . Although Stuart creations had raised the teuiporal peerage from 59 to about 150 — although the introduction of Scotch peers at the Union, and the simultaneous creation of twelve Tory peers by Harley, had impaired the liberalism of the Upper House — still from the time of the Revolution to the reign of George III. the Wliig party almost always preponderated in it, and contained the families of the greatest influence and dignity. The House of Lords threw its shelter successively over Somers and Walpole when the Hovise of Commons was ready to sacrifice them. By its strenuous opposition to the encroachments of the House of Commons it secured for electors in 1 704 the all-important right of defending a disputed qualification before an impartial legal tribunal. It delayed or miti- 214 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. gated the persecuting legislation directed under Anne against the Dissenters. It steadily upheld the Pro- testant succession at the period of its greatest peril, and during tlie long Whig rule of Walpole and the Pellianis it no? only gave the Government a secure majority in one House, but also, by the influence of the peers over the small boroughs, contributed very largely to the majority in the other. " The causes of the liberal tendencies that have so broadly distinguished the English nobility from those of most other countries are to be found not only in the traditions of its early history, but also in the constitu- tion of the order. In most continental countries an aristocracy has a tendency to become an isolated and at length an enervated caste, removed from the sympathies and occupations, and opposed to the interests, of the community at large, despising, and therefore discredit- ing, all active occupations except those of a soldier, a mniister, or a diplomatist, and thus connecting in the minds of men the idea of social rank with that of an idle and frivolous life. But in England the interests of the nobles, as a class, have been carefully and indisso- lubly interwoven with those of the people. They have never claimed for themselves any immunity from taxa- tion. Their sons, except the eldest, have descended, after one or two generations, into the ranks of the com- moners. Their eldest sons, before obtaining their titles, have usually made it a great object of their ambition to sit in the House of Commons, and have there acquired the tastes of popular politics. In the public school system the peers and the lower gentry are united in the closest ties. The intermarriage of peers and commoners has always been legal and common. A constant stream of lawyers of brilliant talents, but often of humble birth, has poured into the Upper House, whicli is presided over by one of them ; and the purely hereditary cha- CH. II. USES OF AN ARISTOCRACY. 215 racter of the body has been still further qualified by the introduction of the bishops. Not less distinctive and remarkable is the influence which the aristocracy in England has exercised on the estimate of labour. One of the chief ends of the whole social organisation is to develop to the highest point and apply to the greatest advantage the sum of talent exist- ing in the community. In its first rudimentary stage Government accomplishes this end chiefly in a negative way, by discharging those police functions without which there can be no peaceful labour ; but with the increased elaboration of society it becomes apparent that the Legis- lature can in two distinct ways directly and very power- fully assist the development. The first of these ways is by supplying opportunities for the exercise of talent which would otherwise be lost. There is at every period latent among poor men a large amount of special talent of the highest value which cannot be elicited without a long and expensive process of cultivation, or which, when elicited, is of a kind that would produce no pecu- niary results at all commensurate with its importance, and which would, therefore, in the natural course of things, either remain wholly uncultivated, or be diverted to lower but more lucrative channels. It is one of the most useful functions of Government to provide means by which poor men who exliibit some special aptitude may be brought within the reach of an appropriate edu- cation ; and it is one of the most important advantages of m.any institutions that they supply requisite spheres for the expansion of certain casts of intellect, and ade- quate rewards for pursuits which are of great value to the community, but which, if left to the unassisted ope- ration of the law of supply and demand, would remain wholly, or in a great degree, unremunerative. The manner in which this function of (Government has been executed is a subject to which I shall hereafter 21G ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ii. revert. At present, however, my object is to notice a second way in wliicli legislation may assist intellectual development. If much talent is wasted on account of want of oppoitunities, much also is miemployed for want of incentives. It is not a natural or in most countries ,1 common tiling for those large classes who possess all the mea.ns of enjoyment and luxury, who have the world before them to choose from, and who have never known the pressure of want or of necessity, to devote them- selves to long, painful, and plodding drudgery, to incur all the responsibilities, anxiety, calumny, ingratitude, and bondage of public life. If in the case of men of ex- traordinary ability the path of ambition may be itself sufficiently attractive, it is not naturally so to rich men of little more than average talent. On the other hand, the forms of useful labour which are unremunerative to the labourer are so numerous, the force of the example of the Jiigher classes is so great, the advantages of inde- pendent circumstances for the prosecution of many kinds of labour are so inestimable, and in public life especially, such circumstances assist men so powerfully in resisting the most fatal temptations, that the existence of labo- rious tastes and habits among the ricl.er classes is of the utmost value to the community. The legislation which can produce them will not only add directly to the amount of active talent, but will also set the whole current of society aright, and generate in the higher classes a moral influence that sooner or later will per- meate all. The indissoluble connection of the enjojmient and the dignity of property with the discharge of public duties was the pre-eminent merit of feudalism, and it is one of the special excellences of English institutions tliat they have in a great measure preserved this connection, notwithstanding the necessary dissolution of the feudal system. This achievement has been the result of more CH. n. USES OF AN ARISTOCRACY. 217 than one agency, and of the accumulated traditions of many generations. Tlie formation of an unpaid magis- tracy, and the great governing duties thrown upon the House of Lords, combined with the vast territorial pos- sessions and the country tastes of the upper classes, have made the gratuitous discharge of judicial, legis- lative, and administrative functions the natural accom- paniment of a considerable social position, while the retrospective habits which an aristocracy creates per- petuate and intensify the feelings of an honourable ambi- tion. The memory of great ancestors, and the desire not to sulier a great name to fade, become an incentive of the most powerful kind. A point of honour condu- cive to exertion is created, and men learn to associate the idea of active patriotic labour with that of the social condition they deem most desirable. A body of men is thus formed who, with circumstances peculiarly favour- able for the successful prosecution of important un- remunerative labours, combine dispositions and habits eminently laborious, and who have at the same time an unrivalled power of infusing by their example a love of labour into the whole community. The importance of the influence thus exercised will scarcely, I think, be overlooked by those who will re- member, on the one hand, how many great nations and how many long jieriods have been almost destitute of developed talent, and, on the other hand, how very little evidence we have of the existence of any great difference in respect to innate ability between different nations or ages. The amount of realised talent in a community depends mainly on the circumstances in which it is l^laced, and, above all, upon the disposition that ani- mates it. It depends upon the force and direction that have been given to its energies, upon the nature of its ambitions, upon its conception and standard of dignity. In all large classes who have great opportunities, and, 218 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. at the same time, great temptations, there will be in- numerable examples of men who neglect the former and yield to the latter ; but it can hai'dly, I think, be denied that in no other country has so large an amount of salu- tary labour been gratuitously accomplished by the upper classes as in England ; and, in the present day at least, aristocratic iniluence in English legislation is cliiefly to be traced in the number of offices that are either not at all or insufficiently paid. The impulse which was first given in the sphere of public life has gradually extended through many others, and in addition to many states- men, orators, or soldiers — in addition to many men who have exhibited an admirable administrative skill in the management of vast properties and the improvement of numerous dependants, the English aristocracy has been extremely rich in men who, as poets, historians, art critics, linguists, philologists, antiquaries, or men of science, have attained a great, or, at least, a respectable eminence. The peers in England have been specially connected with two classes. They are the natural re- presentatives of the whole body of country gentlemen, while, from their great wealth and their town lives, they are intimately connected with that important and rapidly increasing class who have amassed or inherited large fortunes from commerce or manufactui'es, whose politics during the early Hanoverian period they steadily repre- sented. It will be found, I think, that the House of Lords, even when most Tory , has been more liberal than tlie first class, and has produced in proportion to its numbers more political talent than the latter. In this manner it appears that the existence of a powerful aristocracy, and the ^^olitical functions with which it is invested, cannot be regarded as isolated facts. '^Ilicy arc^ connected with tliat whole condition of society wliich in England has always thrown on the upper classes the chief political leadership of the country, and as such CH. II. USES OF AN ARISTOCRACY. 219 tliey open out questions of the gravest kind. No maxim in politics is more certain than that, whenever a single class possesses a monoply or an overwhelming prepon- derance of power, it will end by abusing it. Whatever may be the end of morals, ' the greatest happiness of the greatest number ' is undoubtedly the rule of politics, and a system of government which throws all power into the hands of one class, of the smallest class, and of the rich- est class, is assuredly not calculated to promote it. But it is one tiling to give a class a monopoly of political power ; it is quite another thing to entrust it, under the restrictions of a really popular government, with the chief share of active administration. A structure of so- ciety like that of England, which brings the upper class into such political prominence that they usually furnish the popular candidates for election, has at least the ad- vantage of saving the nation from that government by speculators, adventurers, and demagogues which is the gravest of all the evils to which representative institu- tions are liable. When the suffrage is widely extended, a large proportion of electors will always be wholly des- titute of political convictions, while every artifice is em- ployed to mislead them. Under such circumstances it is very possible — in many countries it is even very pro- bable — that the supreme management of affairs may pass into the hands of men who are perfectly unprincipled, who seek only for personal aggrandisement or personal notoriety, who have no real stake in the country, and who are absolutely reckless of its future and its permanent interests. It would be difficult to exaggerate the dangers that may result from even a short period of such rule, and they have often driven nations to take refuge from their own representatives in the arms of despotism. The disposal of the national revenue may pass into the hands of mere swindlers, and become the prey of simple malversation. The foreign policy of the country may be CTI. II. 220 ENGLAND IX THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. directed by men who seek only for notoriety or for the consolidation of their tottering power, and who with these views plunge the nation into wars that lead speedily to national ruin. In home politics institutions which" are lost in the twih'ght of a distant past may, through similar motives, in a few months be recklessly destroyed. Neai-ly all gi^eat institutions are the growtJi of centuries ; their first rise is slow, obscure, undemonstrative; they have been again and again modified, recast, and expanded ; their founders leave no reputation, and reap no harvest from their exertions. On the other hand, the destruction of a great and ancient institution is an eminently dra- matic thing, and no other political achievement usually produces so much noisy reputation in proportion to the ability it requires. The catastrophe (however long pre- paring) is concentrated in a short time, and the name of the man who effects it is immortalised. As a great writer i has finely said, ' When the oak is felled, the whole forest echoes with its fall, but a hundred acorns are sown in silence by an unnoticed breeze.' Hence to minds ambitious only of notoriety, careless of the per- manent interests of the nation, and destitute of all real feeling of political responsibility, a policy of mere de- struction possesses an irresistible attraction. From these extreme evils a country is for the most part saved by entrusthig the management of its affairs chiefly to the upper classes of the conmiunity. A govern- ment of gentlemen may be and often is extremely de- ficient in intelligence, in energy, in sympathy with the poorer classes. It may be shamefully biassed by class interests, and guilty of great corruption in the disposal of patronage, but the standard of honour conmion to the class at least secures it from the grosser forms of mal- versation, and the interests of its members ai-e indisso- ' Carlyle. en. 11. USES OF AN ARISTOCKACY. 221 lubly connected with the permanent well-being of the country. Such men may be guilty of much niisgovcrii- ment, and they will certainly, if uncontrolled by other classes, display much sellishness, but it is scarcely pos- sible that they should be wholly indifferent to the ulti- mate consequences of their acts, or should divest them- selves of all sense of responsibility or public duty. When other tilings are equal, the class which has most to lose and least to gain by dishonesty will exhibit the highest level of integrity. When other things are equal, the class whose interests are most permanently and seriously bound up with those of the nation is likely to be the most careful guardian of the national welfare. When other things are equal, the class which has most leisure and most means of instruction will, as a whole, be the most intelligent. Besides this, the tact, the refinement, the reticence, the conciliatory tone of thought and man- ner characteristic of gentlemen are all peculiarly valuable in public men, whose chief task is to reconcile conflicting pretensions and to harmonise jarring interests. Nor is it a matter of slight importance to the political life of a nation, or to the estimate in which a nation is held by its neighbours, that its government should be in the hands of men on whom no class can look down. Rightly or wrongly, nations are judged mainly by their poli- ticians and by their political acts, and when these have ceased to command respect, the character of a nation in the world is speedily lowered. To these advantages, arising indirectly from the in- tervention of an hereditary aristocracy in government, others may be added. In the first place such an aris- tocracy exists, and, for good or for ill, attracts to itself among great multitudes of men a warm feeling of reve- rence and even of affection. It is the part of wise statesmen — and it is one of the characteristics by which such men are distinguished from crude theorists — to avail 222 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cii. ii. themselves for the purposes of government of all those strong, enduring, and unreasoning attachments which tradition, associations, or other causes have generated. Such are, the sentiment of loyalty, the respect for re- ligion, the homage paid to rank. These feelings endear government to the people, counteract any feeling of re- pulsion the sacrifices it exacts might produce, give it that permanence, security, and stability which are essen- tial to the well-being of society. Sometimes, no doubt, the reverential or conservative elements have an excessive force, and form an obstacle to progress ; but that they should exist, and under some form be the basis of the national character, is the essential condition of all per- manent good government. A state of society in which revolution is always imminent is disastrous alike to moral, political, and material interests, and it is much less a reasoning conviction than unreasoning sentiments of attachment that enable Governments to bear the strain of occasional maladministration, revolutionary panics, and seasons of calamity.^ These considerations may be carried a step farther. All civic virtue, all the heroism and self-sacrifice of patriotism spring ultimately from the habit men acquire of regarding their nation as a great organic whole, identifying themselves with its fortunes in the past as in the present, and looking forward anxiously to its future destinies. When the members of any nation have come to regard their country as nothing more than the plot of ground on which they reside, and their Government as a mere organisation for providing police or contracting treaties ; when they have ceased to entertain any warmer feelings for one another than those which private interest, or personal friendship, or mere general philanthropy, ' See on this subject a noble English Constitution, pp. 271, passage, full of piofound wisdom, 272 (ed. 186(3). in Lord liussell's Essay on Die en. II. USES OF AN ARISTOCRACY. 223 may produce, the moral dissolution of that nation is at hand. Even in the oi'der of material intei'ests the well- being of each generation is in a great degree dependent upon the forbearance, self-sacrifice, and providence of those who have preceded it, and civic virtues can never flourish in a generation which thinks only of itself. ' Those will not look forward to their posterity who never look backwards to their ancestors.' ^ To kindle and sustain the vital flame of national sentiment is the chief moral end of national institutions, and wliile it cannot be denied that it has been attained under the most various forms of government, it is equally certain that an aristocracy which is at once popular and here- ditary, which blends and assimilates itself with the general interests of the present, while it perpetuates and honours the memories of the past, is peculiarly fitted to foster it. Another advantage which should not be neglected in a review of the effects of aristocratic institutions is their tendency to bring young men into active political life. In politics, as in most other professions, early training is of extreme importance, and in a country where government is conducted mainly through the in- strumentality of Parliament, this training, to be really eflScient, must include an early practice of parliamentary duties. A young man of energy and history, possessing the tact and manners of good society, and endowed with abilities slightly superior to those of the average of men, is likely, it brought into parliamentary and oflicial life between twenty and thirty, to acquire a skill in the con- duct of pubHc business rarely attained even by men of great genius whose minds and characters have been formed in other spheres, and who have come late into the arena of Parliament. The presence in Parliament of a certain ' Burke. 224 ENGLAND IN THE EIGIITKENril CENTUUY nr. II, number of young politicians, from whom the lower offices of administration may be filled, and who may gradually rise to the foremost places, is an essential condition of the well-being of constitutional government, and it is one of the conditions which, since the abolition of the nomination boroughs, it has become most difficult to attain. Popular election is in this i-espect exceed- ingly worthless. It may be trusted to create, with a rough but substantial justice, a representation of public opinion. It may be trusted, but much less perfectly, to secure some recognition of old services and of matui^ed genius, but an extended constituency has neither the capacity nor the desire to discover undeveloped talent, or to recognise the promise of future excellence. Hardly any other feature of our parliamentary system appears so ominous to a thoughtful observer as the growing ex- clusion of young men from the House of Commons, and if a certain number are still found witliin its walls, this is in England mainly due to that aristocratic sentiment which makes the younger members of noble families the favourite candidates with many constituencies. There are other consequences which it will be suffi- cient simply to enumerate. The existence of a powerful, independent, and connected class, carrying with it a dignity, and in many respects an influence, fully equal to that of the servants of the Crown, has more than once proved the most formidable obstacle to the encroach- ments of despotism ; wliile, on the other hand, in demo- cratic times this hierarchy of I'anks serves to mitigate the isolation of the throne, and is thus a powerful bul- wark to monarchy. A second chamber is so essential to the healthy working of constitutional government that it may almost be pronounced a political necessity ; and in times when the position of that chamber is a secondary one, when its leading functions are merely to delay and to revise, it is no small advantage that it should be com- CH. II. USES OF AN ARISTOCRACY. 225 posed of men possessing, indeed, great local knowledge and influence, but at the same time independent of local intrigues and jealousies, and of the transient bursts of popukir passion. A permanent hereditary chamber has at least a tendency to impart to national policy that character of continuity and stability, and to infuse into its discussions that judicial spirit, which it is most difficult to preserve amid the rapid fluctuations and the keen contests of ])opular government. It may even very materially contribute to make legislation a reflex of the popular will. No matter how perfect may be the system of election, an elected body can never represent with complete fidelity the political sentiments of the com- munity. In particular constituencies purely local and personal considerations continually falsify the political verdict. In the country at large a general election usually tin-ns on a single great party issue, or on the comparative popularity of rival statesmen, and hardly a year passes in which the politicians in whom, on the whole, the nation has most confidence do not act on some particular question in a manner opposed to the national sentiment. If the question is a subordinate one, this divergence does not make the country desire a change of ministry ; and it is extremely difficult, under the system of party government, to enforce by any less violent means the national will. Under these circumstances a body such as the House of Lords, exempt from the necessity of popular election, representing at the same time most of the forms of public opinion, and exercising in tlie constitution a kind of revising, judicial, and moderating office, is of great utility ; it is able to arrest or retard a particular course of policy, without produc- ing a ministerial crisis, and it may thus be said, without a paradox, to contribute to the representative character of the Government. Besides this, the peerage enables the country to avail itself of the talents of statesmen of VOL. I. Q 226 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ii. ability and experience, who are physically incapable of enduring the fatigue inse]iarable from the position of a minister in the Lower House; it forms a cheap yet highly prized reward for great services to the nation or the Crown; and it exercises in some respects a con- siderable refining influence upon the manners of society by counteracting the empire of mere wealth, and sus- taining that order of feelings and sentiments which constitutes the conception of a gentleman. Nor should we altogether disregard its minor uses in settling doubt- ful questions of precedence, and marking out the natural leaders for many movements, which would otherwise be weakened by conflicting claims and by personal jealousies. There are, no doubt, serious drawbacks to these bene- fits. No human institution is either an unmitigated good or an unmitigated evil ; and the main task of every statesman and of every sound political thinker is to weigh with impartiality the good and evil consequences that arise out of each. Considered abstractedly, every institution is an evil which teaches men to estimate their fellows not according to their moral and intellectual worth, but by an unreal and factitious standard. The worship of baubles and phantasms necessarily perverts the moral judgment, nor can anyone who is acquainted with English society doubt that in this respect the evil of aristocratic institutions is deeply felt in every grade. Their moral eff'ects are, on the whole, more doubtful than their political effects, and the servile and sycophantic dispositions, the vulgarity of thought and feeling they tend to foster in the community, form the most serious counterpoise to their undoubted advantages. These evils, however, lie far too deep for mere political reme- dies ; and when the worship of rank and the worship of wealth are in competition it may, at least, be said that the existence of the two idols diminishes by dividing the CH. II. EVILS OF AN ARISTOCRACY. 227 force of each superstition, and that the latter evil is an increasing one, while the former is never again likely to be a danger. The injurious effects of aristocratic influence may, however, be abundantly traced in the desire to aggregate the vast preponderance of family property in a single heir, which is often displayed in England to an extent that is an outrage upon morality ; in the frequent spectacle of many children — often daughters, who are almost incapable of earning a liveli- hood — reduced to penury, in order that the eldest son may gratify the family vanity by an adequate display of ostentatious luxury ; in the scandalous injustice of the law relating to intestacy. Although it would be an absurd exaggeration to attribute to the existence of an aristocracy the frightful contrast of extreme opulence and abject misery which is so frequent in England, it is undoubtedly true that the excessive inequality of the distribution of wealth, resulting from laws which were originally intended to secure the preponderance of a class, and from manners which were originally the pro- duct of those laws, has seriously aggravated it. The laws have for the most part passed away, but the habits that grew out of them remain, and they operate over a far larger circle than that of the aristocracy. Great as is the use of the peerage in sustaining public spirit in the nation, it is imquestionable that the passion for founding families which it produces diminishes largely the flow of private munificence to public objects, and its value in promoting laborious habits is in some degree counteracted by its manifest tendency to depress the purely intellectual classes. Rank is much less local in its influence than wealth, and wherever a powerful aris- tocracy exists, it overshadows intellectual eminence, and becomes its successful rival in most forms of national competition. The political advantages of an hereditary chamber are very great, but the power of unlimited veto Q 2 228 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. ii. resting in such a chamber is a grave anomaly in a free government. Nor is it one of those anomalies which are merely theoretical. On great questions on which popular passions are violently aroused, the spirit of com- promise and political sagacity so general among the upper classes in England, may usually be counted on to prevent serious collisions ; and the power of creating an unlimited number of peers provides in the last resort an extreme, dangerous, but efficient remedy. There are, however, many questions on which the national judgment is plainly pronounced, but which from their nature do not appeal to any strong passions, and on these the obstructive power of the House of Lords has sometimes proved very miscliievous. More than one measure of reform has thus been rejected through several successive Parliaments, in spite of unbroken and repeated majorities in the Lower House. Looking again at the question from a purely lustori- cal standing-point, it is certain that the politicians of the Upper House were deeply tainted with the treachery and duplicity common to most English statesmen be- tween the Restoration and the American Revolution. Most of the Bills for preventing corrupt influence in the Commons during the administration of Walpole were crushed by the influence of the minister in the House of Lords. The country was long seriously burdened, and some of the professions were systematically de- graded in order to furnish lucrative posts for the younger members of the aristocratic families ; and the repre- sentative character of the Lower House was so utterly perverted by the multiplication of nomination boroughs in the hands of the peers that a storm of indignation ^vas at last raised which shook the very pillars of the constitution. Still, even in these respects, the ]^]nglish nobility foi-m a marked contrast to those of the Con- tinent. Though rank has in England almost always CH. II. COMMONERS IN ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. 229 brought with it a very disproportionate weight, although it is undoubtedly true that in the last years of George II. and in the first years of George III. three or four aristocratic families threatened to control the efficient power in the State, yet, on the whole, no other aristo- ci'acy has shown itself so free from the spirit of mono- poly. In the great Whig period, from the Revolution till the death of Walpole, there were numerous instances of statesmen who were not of noble birth taking a fore- most place in English politics.^ The names of Somers, • Montague, Churchill, Addison, Craggs, and many others will at once occur to the reader, and the most powerful leader of this age was a simple country gentleman, a member of the House of Commons, who was so far from allowing himself to be the puppet of anyone, that one of the chief faults of his administration was his extreme reluctance to part with the smallest share of the influ- ence of the Government. The steady support which the Whig House of Lords gave to Walpole during every stage of his career is a decisive proof not only of its enlightenment but also of its moderation. Nor is this less true of the opposite party. No Tory minister has had so absolute an authority as William Pitt, and in the period of the darkest and most bigoted Torjdsm the House of Lords was governed with an almost absolute sway by the knowledge and the ability of Eldon. If the nomination boroughs were perverted, as they un- doubtedly were to a very large extent, to the most selfish purposes, it is also true that there was sufficient ' This has been noticed by been generally placed in new Swift, in a very remaikalile paper men, with few exceptions.' He on tlie Decline of the Political ascribes this chiefly to the de- Influence of the Nobility, in the fective education of the upper Intelligencer-, No. 9. He declares classes. Swift was, I believe, that ' for above sixty years past wrong, in imagining that aristo- the chief conduct of affairs hath cratic influence had declined. 230 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. ii. public spirit among their proprietors to induce them to bring into the House of Commons a far larger propor- tion of young men of promise and genius than have ever, under any other system , entered its walls. If the nume- . rous Tory creations of George III. at last altered the spirit of the body, it should at least not be forgotten that the old tradition never was extinct, that in the great struggle of the Keform Bill some of the chief aristocratic borough-owners were among the foremost advocates of the people, and that the large majority of the peers of an older creation than George III. were on the same side,^ while the most obstinate opponents of progress found their leaders in Eldon and Lyndhurst, who had but lately risen from the ranks. There was, however, one marked exception to the general tenor of aristocratic politics. One attempt was made, which, if it had been successful, would have con- verted the English nobihty into a separate caste. I allude, of course, to the Peerage Bill, which was intro- duced by the ministry of vSunderland and Stanhope in 1719, and which was, perhaps, the most dangerous con- stitutional innovation since the Kevolution. It was in- spired by the party interest of the Whigs, and it was intended to prevent the son of George I., who was in opposition to his father, from overthrowing, if he came to the throne, the Whig majority in the Upper House by the creation of Tory peers. Had it been carried, it would have made the House of Loixls an almost un- changeable body, entirely beyond the control of King or Minister or Commons. It provided that, with the exception of members of the Royal Family, the Sove- reign should at no time be allowed to add more than six^to the number of the English hereditary peers exist- ing when the Bill was passed; though, whenever a ' Molesworth's Hist, of England, I 203, CH. IT. THE PEERAGE BILL, 1719. 231 peerage became extinct, lie might make a creation to replace it; and also that twenty-five Scotch peers, selected in the first instance by the Sovereign and after- wards sitting by hereditary right, should be substituted for the sixteen elective peers. It is obvious that such a measure would have given the peerage all the characteristics of a close corporation, would have pre- vented that influx into its ranks of legal, political, and commercial talent which now constitutes one of its most distinctive merits, would have in consequence destroyed its value as a reward of genius, and its weight as a representative body, and would have abolished the only means which the constitution provides for overcoming, in extreme cases, the opposition of the Lords. Yet this Bill was introduced by the party which is the natural guardian of the popular element in the constitution, and it had at first considerable prospect of success. The King readily relinquished his prerogative of unlimited creation. The indignation excited by the lavish crea- tions of Harley in 1712 was largely made use of. The pen of Addison was enlisted in the cause. The Bill appealed at once to the party spirit of the Whigs, who designed to perpetuate their ascendency, and to the class feeling of the peers, who desired, by preventing new creations, to increase their consequence ; and it was carried without difficulty through the Lords. Fortu- nately, however, a great storm of indignation was soon aroused. Steele, whose judgment it is the custom of some writers invariably to decry, employed all his talent in exposing the dangers of the scheme, and his essays, though they destroyed his friendship with Addison, and brought down upon his head the prompt vengeance of the Government,^ were of immense service to the real ' He had obtained a patent Government scheme the Lord for the theatre of Drury Lane, Chamberlain revoked his licence but as soon as he opposed the for acting plays, and thus re- 232 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. ii. interests of the country. Walpole, who was at this time in opposition, both spoke and wrote against the Bill with consummate power. The jealousy of the country gentry was aroused when they saw the portals of the Upper House about to close for ever against them ; and the Bill was lost in the Commons by 269 to 177. This, however, was but a passing aberration; and it was due much more to party interest than to aristo- cratic exclusiveness. In general, the services of the peers to the cause of civil and religious liberty, at the time we are considering, were incontestable, and the advantage of an Upper House in this portion of our history can scarcely be questioned by anyone who re- gards the Revolution, and the principles it estabhshed, as good. Its members formed, perhaps, the most im- portant section of the Whig party, for they were at this time almost at the acme of their influence. The over- shadowing majesty of the Church had been broken at the Reformation. The monarchy had been seriously re- stricted by the Revolution, and the great democratic agencies of modern times were still in their infancy. In opulence the nobles were altogether imrivalled. The Indian nabobs, whose great fortunes in some degree competed with them, only came into prominence in the reio-n of George III., and the great commercial fortunes belong chiefly to a still later period. The numerous sinecures at their disposal secured the nobility a pre- ponderance both of wealth and influence ; the tone of manners before the introduction of railways was far more favourable than at present for a display of the pomp and the pretensions of rank ; and the borough duced liim to complete ruin. critics than Steele. I must ex- Soe Montgomery's Life of Steele, cept, however, the essay on is ii. 210-216. Few writers of the life in Forster's Biographical eighteenth contury have received Essays. harder measure from modern en. II. THE COMMERCIAL CLASSES. 233 system gave the great families a commanding influence in the Lower House. In addition to the aristocracy, the Whigs could usually count upon the warm support of the moneyed classes and of the Dissenters, who in this, as in most other periods, were very closely united. The country, it has been justly said, always represents the element of permanence, and the towns the element of progress. In the former the national spirit is usually the most intense, and the force of tradition, prejudice, and association most supreme. New ideas, on the other hand, appear most quickly, and circulate most easily, in the crowded centres of population; and the habits of industrial specu- lation, the migratory nature of capital, and the contact with many nations and with many creeds resulting from commercial intercourse, tend to sever, both for good and for ill, the chain of tradition. At the time of the Refor- mation the towns were the strongholds of Protestantism, at the time of the Commonwealth they were the strong- holds of Puritanism, and in the Hanoverian, as in most subsequent periods, of liberal politics. On religious questions this bias has been especially strong. It is an ingenious, and, I believe, a just remark of Sir W. Petty that ' trade is most vigorously carried on in every state and government by the heterodox part of the same, and such as profess opinions different from what are publicly established,' ' The fact may be ascribed partly, as I have said, to the superior accessibility of the town populations to new and innovating ideas, and partly also to per- secuting laws which divorced heretics from the soil, and led them to seek forms of industry of which the fruits in seasons of trial can be easily realised and dis- placed. The result has been that religious persecution has usually fallen with a peculiar severity upon com- ' Political Arithmetic, p. 118. 234 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. mercial interests ; and in the two centuries that followed the Reformation hardly any other single circumstance affected so powerfully the relative industrial position of nations as the degrees in which they conceded religious toleration. Among the less noticed consequences of the Reformation, perhaps the most important was the dis- persion of industry produced by the many thousands of skilled artisans who were driven by persecution beyond their national borders, carrying with them trades which had hitherto been strictly or mainly local, and planting them wherever they settled. Nor was this the only re- sult of the migration. Men who are prepared to abandon friends and country rather than forsake a religion which is not that of their nation are usually superior to the average of their fellow-countrymen in intelligence, and are almost always greatly superior to them in strength and nobility of character. Religious persecution, by steadily weeding out such men from a community, slowly but surely degrades the national type, while a policy of tole- ration which attracts refugees representing the best moral and industrial qualities of other nations is one of the most efficient of all means of expanding and improving it. The effect of these influences on the well-beina: of nations has been very great. The ruin of Spain may be chiefly traced to the expulsion or extirpation of her Moorish, Jewish, and heretical subjects ; and French industry, and still more French character, have never recovered the injuiy they received from the banishment of the most energetic and enlightened portion of the nation. By the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and by the savage persecution which immediately preceded and followed it, France probably lost upwards of a quarter of a million of her most industrious citizens ; ' ' The estimates, as might be put the number as high as expected, vary greatly. Voltaire 000,000, and some writers still CH. II. INFLUENCE OF THE REFUGEES. 235 and, amid the enthusiastic applause of the Catholic party, a blow was struck at her true interests, of which some of the effects may be perceived even to the present day. Bossuet, Massillon, and Flechier, vied with each other in extolling the new Theodosius who had banished heresy from the land. The Chancellor Le Tellier re- peated the ecstatic words of Simeon as he affixed the great seal to the Act. The Abbe Tallemand eulogised it in glowing terms in the French Academy. Madame de Sevigne wrote that no other king either had done or could do a nobler act. The brush of Le Sueur was employed to illustrate it on the walls of Versailles, and medals were struck, and a bronze statue was erected in front of the Town Hall, to commemorate the triumph of the Church. The results of that triumph may be soon told. Many of the arts and manufactures which had been for generations most distinctively French passed for ever to Holland, to Germany, or to England. Local liberties in France received their death-blow when those who most strenuously supported them were swept out of the country. The destruction of the most solid, the most modest, the most virtuous, the most generally en- lightened element in the French nation, prei:)ared the way for the inevitable degradation of the national cha- racter, and the last serious bulwark was removed that might have broken the force of that torrent of scepticism and vice which, a century later, laid prostrate, in merited ruin, both the altar and the throne.^ Not less conspicuous was the benefit derived by na- tions which pursued an opposite course. Holland, which higher. See a collection of esti- some striking remarks on the mates from different writers, in pre-eminence of the French Pro- Macpherson's Annals of Com- testants in the very moral quali- merce, ii. ClG-620. ties in which the French nation ' Mr. Pattison, in his admir- as a whole is now most deti- able Life of Casaubon, has made cient. 236 ENGT,AND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ii. had suffered so severely, and in so many ways, from religious intolerance under the Spanish domination, made it a main object of her policy to atti-act by perfect religious liberty the scattered energies of Europe ; ^ and Prussia owes to the same cause not a little of her moral and industrial greatness. Twenty thousand Frenchmen, attracted to Brandenburg by the liberal encouragement of the Elector, at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, laid the foundation of the prosperity of Berlin, and of most of the manufactures of Prussia ; 2 and the later persecutions of Salzburg and Bohemia drove many thousands of Southern Germans to her soil. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, it was noticed that in Zell and Hanover French was spoken and wiitten as purely as in Paris, and a re- fineuient hitherto unknown began to distinguish the Northern Courts.^ Even Russia sought to attract French energy for the development of her slumbering powers, and at the instance of the Elector of Brandenburg an 'It is remarlcable to find ' the false politicks of a set of the leading English antliority men who . . . take it into their on trade, as early as IGTO, spe- imagination that trade can never cifymg among the causes of the flourish unless the country be- great commercial prosperity of comes a common receptacle for the Dutch, ' their toleration of all nations, religions, and lan- different opinions in matters of guages— a system only proper religion, by reason of which many for small, popular States.'— industrious people of other coun- Swift's Examiner, No. 21. See tries that dissent from the esta- too, his Sentiments of a Church bhshed government of their of England Man. Church resort to them, with •■= Frederick the Great {Mceur!> their families and estates, and et Coutumcs), fEtwrcs de Fn'd after a few years' cohabitation i. 227, gives a long catalogue witli them become of the same of the industries planted in common interest.'— Sir J. Child's Brandenburg by the refugees lJisco2,rse of Trade (5th ed.), See, too, Weiss's Hist, des Ri- p. 4. On the other hand, we fiigiis Franqais. find the greatest Tory writer of '■' Kemble's State Papers, p. the next generation denouncing 386. CH. II. INFLUENCE OF TBE REFUGEES. 237 imperial ukase was issued, offering liberty, settlement, and employment to the refugees.^ But no country owes more to her toleration than England. For nearly two centuries a steady stream of refugees, representing the best continental types, poured into her population, blending with English life, trans- mitting their qualities of mind and character to English descendants, and contributing immensely to the perfec- tion and variety of English industry. Elizabeth, though her religious opinions were very inimical to those of the continental Protestants, with the instinct of true political genius, invariably encouraged the immigration, and, in spite of more than one remonstrance from the French sovereign, of much hatred of foreigners and Dis- senters, of much jealousy of local interests and of rival ti'ades, there was always sufficient good sense among the English rulers to maintain the toleration. For a short time, indeed, the persecuting and meddling policy of Laud threatened to overthrow it. That mischievous prelate had hardly obtained the See of Canterbury, when he ordered that those members of the foreign communi- ties who had been born in England should be compelled to attend the Anglican Church, while the English liturgy was to be translated into Dutch and Walloon in the hope of converting the others.^ The civil war, however, restored the liberty of the refugees, and though they were afterwards exposed to much unpopularity and to serious riots, though, as we have seen, the Bill for the general naturalisation of foreign Protestants was re- pealed, they continued, far into the eighteenth century, to make England their favourite resort. The extent and importance of the successive im- migrations have hardly been appreciated by English ' Kemble's State Papers, pp. of Protestant Refugees in Eng- 388, 389. land, pp. 15, 16. - See Southerden Burn's Hist. 238 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. historians. Those which were due to religious causes appear to have begun in 15G7, when the news of the intended entry of Alva into the Netherlands was known, and when, as the Duchess of Parma wrote to Philip, more than 100,000 persons in a few days abandoned their country. Great numl^crs of them took refuge in England, and they were followed, in 1572, by a crowd of French Huguenots, who had escaped from St. Bar- tholomew; and in 1585, on the occasion of the sacking of Antwerp, by about a third part of the merchants and workmen of that city. A century later the Revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes produced a new immigra- tion of French Protestants, variously estimated at from fifty to a hundred thousand. Several thousand Ger- mans, chiefly from the Palatinate, came over in 1709 ; many others about 1732, after the persecutions in Salzburg; and towards the middle of the century a renewal of persecution in France was followed by a fresh French immigration. In this manner the com- mercial classes in England were at length thoroughly pervaded by a foreign element. Spitalfields was almost wholly inhabited by French silk manufacturers. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the population of London was probably about 000,000,' it contained no less than thirty-five French Protestant churches.^ Important refugee settlements were planted at Norwich, Canterbury, Sandwich, Yarmouth, Ipswich, Exeter, Bideford, and Barnstaple ; and there is hardly a town in England in which their presence may not be traced. Nor were they confined to England. Great numbers went over to Ireland. French Protestant > Petty, in his Political Arith- 530,000. See Craik's Hist, of mctic, published in 1687, esti- Commerce, ii. 115. mated the population of London - Smiles 's Huguenots in Eng- at 696,000. GvcRory King, ten land, p. 278. years later, computed it at only CH. II. INFLUENCE OF THE REFUGEES. 239 churches were founded in New York and Cliarlestown about 1724, and Salzburg refugees were very prominent in the colonisation of Georgia. About 1732, a colony of French Protestants settled in Edinburgh, where they introduced the manufacture of cambric. Some were incorporated in the British army, but by far the greater number were employed in manufactures, many of them in forms of industry which had been wholly unknown in England. Cloth makers from Antwerp and Bruges, lace makers from Valenciennes, cambric makers from Cambray, glass makers from Paris, stuff weavers from Meaux, potters from Delft, shipwrights from Havre and Diejape, silk manufacturers from Lyons and Tours, paper manufacturers from Bordeaux and Auvergne, woollen manufacturers from Sedan, and tanners from the Tou- raine, were all plying their industries in England. The manufactures of silk, damask, velvet, cambric and baize, of the finer kinds of cloth and paper, of pendu- lum clocks, mathematical instruments, felt hats, toys, crystal and jjlate glass, all owe their oiigin in England wholly or chiefly to Protestant refugees, who also laid the foundation of scientific gardening, introduced nu- merous flowers and vegetables that had before been unknown, and improved almost every industry that was indigenous to the soil.^ It is a significant fact that at the close of the seven- teenth century, while the balance of political and mili- tary power in Europe was still clearly on the side of Catholicism, the supremacy of industry was as decidedly on the side of Protestantism. It w^as computed that ' The fullest account of the R^fugiis Franqais, Mr. Smiles's refugee settlements and industry two interesting volumes on The is to be found in Southerden Huguenots, and the notices of Burn's very valuable Hist, of the the Kefugee Manufactures, in Protestant Refugees in England. Macpherson's Annals of Corn- See, too, Weiss's Histoire des vierce. 240 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUllY. CH. ii. Great Britain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Hanseatic Towns, and the Protestant parts of German}^ possessed between them three-fomths of the commerce of the world ; ^ while in France itself, before the Revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes, an extraordinary pro- portion of the national industry was in the hands of the Huguenots. The immigration of these latter into England had the natural effect of strengthening the Whig party both in numbers and in zeal.^ The indus- trial classes, who formed the bulk of the party, were largely increased. The anti-Gall ican and anti-Papal enthusiasms were intensified by great personal wrongs. The Dissenting or Low Church interest obtained a great accession of power from the presence of a large body of men educated in non-episcopal churches ; and the great Whig maxim, that a Government should accord perfect toleration to all Protestant sects, derived a new strength from the manifest material benefits it produced. The influence of the industrial classes had for a long time been steadily increasing, with the accumulation of industrial wealth. The reigns of the Stuarts, though in their political aspects they were in many respects chequered or disastrous, formed a period of almost unin- terrupted material prosperity the more striking because it was not due to any of those great mechanical inven- tions which in the present century have suddenly revo- lutionised great departments of industry. The progress was strictly normal. It may be ascribed to the reclama- tion of waste lands, to the extension and development of the colonies, to the freedom of the country for a long ' Petty's Political Arithmetic, French, Itafian, or Turkish p. 118. growth, but became a Whig in a - Thus Atterbury very bitterly little time after mixing with us.' wrote: 'I scarce ever knew a — ' English Advice to the Free- foreigner settled in England, holders of England ' (1714), whether of Dutch, German, Somers' Tracts, xiii. 537. CH. n. GROWING PROSPERITY. 241 period from any serious land war. It was noticed, as a remarkable sign of tlio democratic spirit tliat followed the Commonwealtli, that country gentlemen in England had begun to bind their sons as apprentices to mer- chants,' and also that about the same time the desire to obtain large portions in marriage led to alliances between the aristocracy and the merchants. Sir W. Temple, writing in the last quarter of the seventeenth century, says : ' I think I remember witliin less than fifty years, the first noble families that married into the city for downright money, and tliereby introduced by degrees tills public grievance which has since ruined so many estates by the necessity of giving good portions to daughters.' ^ The increase of wealth was abundantly attested by all the best authorities. Thus Sir Josiah Child, who published his well-known ' Discourse on Trade' in 1670, assures us that both the merchants aud shipping in England had doubled in twenty years. Petty, in his ' Political Arithmetic,' which was pub- lished a few years later, declared that within forty years the value of the houses of London had doubled, while most of the leading provincial towns had largely in- creased, that the royal navy had tripled or quadrupled, that the coal-shipping of Newcastle had quadrupled, that the value of the customs had tripled, that the postage of letters had multiplied twenty-fold, and that, through the great increase of money, the natural rate ' See Hume's Hist, of Eng- 'Now the greatest gentlemen land, ch. Ixii. So Pope : affect to make their junior sons Boastful and rough your first son is a Turkey merchants, and while the squire, diligent son is getting an estate The next a tradesman meek, and much by foreign traffic, the wise father a har. Moral Essays, Bs. i. / , , ■,.,■,, at home employs his talent In a pamphlet published in in railing at foreigners.'— See 1722 called The Danger of the Southerden Burn's Hist, of Pro- Church and Kingdom from testant Bcf^igees, p. 13. Foreigners considered, it is said : ^ Temple's Miscellanies. VOL. I. B 242 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. n. of interest had fallen from eight to six per cent Davenant, who examined with great care the material condition of the country at the time of the devolution, supplies much evidence to the same etiect. _ He teiis us that the tonnage of the merchant shippmg m 1688 was nearly double of what it had been in 1066; that the royal navy had increased from 62,594 tons to 101 032 tons • that the customs, which in 1666 were farmed out for 390,000?. a year, had in the last seventeen years yielded on an average 555,752L In a work published m 1698 he calculated that the general rental of Ji^ngland had risen, since the beginning of the century, from 6 000 000/. to 14,000,000/., and the purchasing value offi land from' 72,000,000/. to 252,000,000/^ The whole income of the country at the time of the Uevoiu- tion was estimated at about 43,500,000/.^ Of the manufactures, the most important were still those of wool, which had already become famous under the Tudors, and were scattered through the valleys ot the Thames and Severn, through East Norfolk South Lancasliire, Yorkshire, and Westmoreland. The nw and hardware manufactures of Sheffield and Birming- ham were already in existence, and it was noticed that in the later Stuart reigns industry was not only largely increased, but was also more and more concentrated m a few great centres.^ The prosperity of the country was very seriously retarded by the war that followed the devolution, but it resumed its progressive march atter the Peace of Ryswick, and' was accelerated by tlie foundation of the Bank of England, which greatly assisted credit ; by the renovation of the com, which 1 Chilfl's Disrorirsc on Trade. Annals ofC(nnmeTce,-^.Q29, 630. VetWBPolUical Arithmetic, pp. '^ Gregory King's Conchiswns 170 171 Davenant's Discoicrscs n^on the State of England, ^ vi. In^lhe rullic Revenue and ; Baines' mst. of Uverpool, Trade of England. Macpherson's 253-259. en. II. BRITISH TRADE, 243 gave a new stimulus to every branch of industry ; and, perhaps, also by the partial abolition of two consider- able trade monopolies. The African trade, though it had been largely pursued by interlopers, was from the early Stuart reigns legally a monopoly; but in 1698 all English subjects were allowed to trade, without re- striction, in negroes, gold and silver ; and the other branches of the African trade were also opened to them, provided they paid to the Company a duty of five per cent, on redwood, and of ten per cent, on other goods. The Russian trade had been accorded to some London adventurers, who, in the reign of Mary, when seeking for a north-west passage to China, had discovered Arch- angel, and it had been confirmed to their successors by an Act of Elizabeth. The Company, however, proved too limited and feeble to contend with the rivalry of the Dutch, and it was accordingly enacted, in 1699, that all English subjects might belong to it on the pay- ment of bl} At the close of the reign of William, a return of the mercantile navy of England was drawn up by the Commissioners of Customs, from which it appears that the number of vessels belonging to all the English ports was then 3,281, measuring 261,222 tons, and employing 27,196 men. Of these vessels 560 belonged to London, 165 to Bristol, and 143 to Yar- mouth.2 The costly wars of Anne, though they for a time depressed, did not permanently injure, industry. The lowest point in this reign appears to have been in 1705, when the value of the exports was only 5,308,966L; but in 1713, 1714, and 1715, the three years which immediately followed the peace, the average value was 7,696,573^, which exceeded by nearly a million sterling the amount in the preceding peace.' ' Macpherson. ' Craik's Hist, of Commerce, - Macpherson's Annals of ii. 1G3. Co^nmerce, ii. 719. R 2 244 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. rH. ii. Many of these figures can, of course, only pretend to an approximate accuracy. All of them appear very small when compared with the gigantic dimensions of modern commerce, but they are sufficient to show tliat the condition of England was a healthy and a progressive one, and that the commercial classes were steadily rising in importance. One result of this increasing prosperity must, indeed, be looked upon with very mingled feel- ings. I mean the rapidly accelerated disappearance of the yeomanry class. The main causes of the destruction of this most useful element of English country life are very evident. The system of primogeniture, settle- ments, and entails, as well as the maze of expensive intricacies with which English law has encumbered the transfer of land, by diminishing greatly the amount which is brought to market, have given it an unnatural and monopoly price, which is still further increased by the social distinction its possession confers, and by the country tastes which make its acquisition an object of great desire to the rich. Under such circumstances the continued existence of a large class of small proprietors was impossible. Men of narrow means could not afford to purchase land. Small landowers had the strongest inducement to sell. But the impulse was greatly strengthened when the development of commercial and manufacturing industry multiplied the paths to wealth. On the one hand, the nuuiber of large fortunes com- peting in the land market was increased. On the other hand, ^numerous additional facilities were furnished for investing small capitals in more lucrative employments than agriculture. The inclosure of common land,^ ren- dering the position of the small yeoman more difficult, aggravated the tendency, and the result was a very considerable transfer of energy from the country to the towns. The feebler members of the yeomanry sank gradually into tenants or labourers, while the more CH. II. THE GREAT TOWNS. 245 ambitious and enterprising were raj^idly absorbed in industrial life.^ Of the population of the great manufacturing and trading towns, we are unfortunately unable to speak with much precision. No official census of the popu- lation of England was made till 1801, and the compu- tations that were based on the returns of births and deaths, and of the hearth-money, though far from value- less, are too vague and too conflicting to be positively relied on. According to the estimates we possess, the population of England at the beginning of the eighteenth century appears to have been somewhat under6,000,000,2 of whom about a tenth part were concentrated in Lon- don. Next to London, but next at a great interval, was Bristol, which retained its position as the second city in England till after the middle of the eighteenth century, and owed its wealth chiefly to its large trade with the American colonies. Its population under Charles II. is said to have been 29,000, and in the middle of the eighteenth century rather more than 90,000.^ Norwich, which was an old resort of Flemish refugees, and was famous during many generations for ' On this subject much valu- 7,380,000. Davenant, adopting able evidence has lately been the same basis of calculation, collected in Thornton's Over estimated it in 1695 at not quite Population, Cliff Leslie's Land 8,000,000. Gregory King com- Systems of Ireland, England, puted it in 1690 at nearly and the Coiitment,'!^asse's Essay 5,500,000, and Mr. Finlaison, on Land Tenures, and in some who investigated the subject very of the papers published by the minutely in the present century, Cobden Club. concluded that at the close of the -' The estimates, as might be seventeenth century the popula- expected, are very various. Chief tion of England was a little under Justice Hale in 1670 computed 5,200,000. See the different esti- the population of England at at mates collected in Macpherson's least 6,000,000. In 1G89 another Annals of Commerce, ii. 68, 634, authority, who reckoned the large 674, iii. 134, and in Macaulay's number of six persons for every Hist. ch. iii. house, fixed the population at ^ Macphersou, iii. 322, 323. 246 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. !I. its manullicture of worsted and other woollen works, as well as for its supply of fuller's earth, long ranked third among English cities. Its population in 1693 was between 28,000 and 29,000, and it was believed to have nearly or quite doubled by 1760.1 Manchester had been the seat of a woollen manufacture under the Tudors, and a book published in 1641 mentions that cotton was also worked there, which appears to be the earliest record of that industry in England. It is said to have contained at the end of the seventeenth century less than 6,000 inhabitants, but if so it must have increased with extraordinary rapidity in the first years of the eighteenth century, for Defoe, in his 'Tour thi-ough Great Britain,' which was pul)lished in 1727, estimates the population of the city and suburbs at not less than 50,000. According to another estimate, the town alone contained from 40,000 to 45,000 persons in 1760,^ at which date the population of Birmingham was believed to have been about 30,000, and that of Newcastle, including the suburbs, about 40,000.-^ Liverpool was somewhat slower in emerging into greatness. It was a village of much antiquity, consisted in 1565 of 138 houses or cabins, derived some importance from the Fire and the Plague, which induced many merchants to aban- don London, and gradually became a centre of commerce for the new colonies in the West Indies and for America. It was assisted also by the reclamation of great tracts of waste lands, which stimulated the corn trade, and by the growth of Manchester and other manufacturing towns in its neighbourhood. It is curious, however, to notice that it was only in 1699 that it was thought ' Macaulay, ch. iii. Macpher- Baines' Hist, of tlie Cotton Trade, son, iii. 323. Blomefield's Zfisi. pp. 99, 100. Defoe's Tour, in. of Norfolk, vol. ii. 210. Whittaker's Hist, of Man- ■^ Cony's Hist, of Lancashire, Chester. __ i. 276. Macpheison, iii. 136, 323. " Macpherson, lu. 824, 825. CH. II. TIIK FUNDED LNTKUEST. 247 sufficiently important to form a parish to itself, and that its first dock was not built before 1709. Its popu- lation in 1700 is believed to have been slightly under 6,000, but to have increased in the course of the next half-century to about 30,000. Liverpool had by this time become indisputably the tliird port in the king- dom, and it was soon prominent beyond all others in tlie slave trade.' The whole population of Lancasliire was estimated at 106,200 in 1700, and at 297,400 in 1750.2 At the time of the census of 1871 it exceeded 2,800,000. In addition to the other causes which united the industrial classes with the Whigs we must reckon the funded system and the creation of the great mercantile companies established after the Revolution. The na- tional debt, which at the accession of William had been very inconsiderable, had increased during his reign and during the reign of his successor with a portentous rapidity. Incurred as it was in a struggle against the Power that was in alliance with the Pretender, it was more than doubtful whether the interest of the debt would be paid if the Government of the Revolution wei'e overthrown, and thus an immense proportion of the capitalists had the strongest personal reasons for sup- porting the Government. In this manner the national debt, which was in some respects very injurious to the country, was eminently advantageous to the Whigs. Very similar considerations apply to the Bank of Eng- ' Bailies' Hist, of Liverpool. Picton's Memorials of Liverpool. Corry's Hist, of Lancashire. Macpherson's Annals of Com- merce, iii. 135. Derrick's Letters from Liverpool. See, too, the voyage of Gonzales (a Portu- guese) to En^'land and Scotland, in 1730, Pinkerton's Voyages, ii. 39. It appears from the petition of the Liverpool corporation in 1699 for making a new church there, that they already claimed for Liverpool the position of the third port of the trade of Eng- land. See Picton, i. 145, 146. - Corry's Hist, of Lancashire, i. 265 248 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cii. ii. land and to the new East India Company. These great cor])orations exercised an influence which extended to every city in the kingdom, and affected, directly or in- directly, almost every great mercantile fortune. Both of them were created by the Whig Government. Both of them obtained their privileges by the loan of large sums to that Government, and both of them depended for their very existence on the regular payment of the interest. In this manner a great Whig interest was artificially created, which was attached by the closest ties to the Government of the Revolution and to the House of Brunswick. In 1707, at the news of the intended in- vasion by the Pretender, the price of stocks at once fell fourteen or fifteen per cent.^ In 1710, when the Queen resolved to dismiss the Whig ministry of Godolphin, the Bank of England sent a formal deputation to her to deprecate the change.^ The accession of the Harley ministry, though it promised a return of peace, was at once followed by a depreciation of the funds, wliicli con- tinued till Harley, following in the steps of his prede- cessors, created the South Sea Company, on the same principle as the great Wliig corporations, by granting important mercantile privileges to a portion of the national creditors.^ As long as Harley retained his ascendency the national credit was not seriously im- perilled ; but when Bolingbroke succeeded in displacing him, wlien tlie reins of ]iower seemed passing into Jacobite hands, a panic innuediately ensued. The funds, as we have seen, rose when the illness of the Queen was followed by a report of her death ; they fell at a false rumour of her recovery ; they rose again when ' Francis' JJi.si. o/ the Bank ^ MiiQ-ghexson's Amialsof Com- of Eiuiland, i. 85. 7nc7-cc,m. 17-21. Suuicrs' Tracts, '^ I'arL Hint. vi. 90G, 907. xiii. 65. CH. II. THE FUNDED INTEREST. 249 lier sudden death disconcerted the Jacobite intrigues.^ The Jacobites, on the other hand, looked forward to the ruin of the Bank as the most probable of all means of accomplisliing their designs.^ Had Bolingbroke con- tinued in power, it is possible that the funds would have been taxed, and probable that measures would have been taken seriously to restrict the powers of the great mer- cantile companies, and there were great fears that they might be wholly subverted.^ The country gentry looked with feelings of the keenest jealousy on the new political power which was arising, and contrasted bitterly the exemption of the fundholder from taxation with the burdens imposed upon land. ' The proprietor of the land,' it was said, ' and the merchant who brought riches home by the returns of foreign trade, had during two wars borne the whole immense load of the national ex- penses ; while the lender of money, who added nothing to the common stock, throve by the public calamity, and contributed not a mite to the public charge.' ^ Nor was this all. It was a fundamental maxim of the Tory party that ' Law in a free country is, or ought to be, the deter- mination of the majority of those who have property in land ; ' ^ that ' the right strength of this kingdom de- pends upon the land, which is infinitely superior, and ought much more to be regarded than our concerns in trade.' •* The Landed Property Qualification Act of 1712 was intended to assert this principle, and it was elicited by the manifest fact that in the latter days of » Calamy's Life, ii. 292. ^ Swift. - See Macphersou's Original ^ Davenant, iii. 328. Thus, Papers, ii. 211, 212. too, Defoe said that in case of ^ See a remarkable passage iu the dissokitiou of the Goveru- Boliugbroke's Letter to Wind- ment, power devolves on the hain. freeholders, ' who are the proper * 'Boiin^xokQ'^ Letter to Wind- owners of the country.' — Wil- Jiam. sou's Life of Defoe, i. 425. 250 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. ii. William, aud still more in the reign of Anne, the moneyed was, in a gi-eat measure, superseding the landed interest. ' Power,' said Swift, ' which, accord- ing to an old maxim, was used to follow land, is now gone over to money.'^ Individual capitalists, and still more the two great corporations, descended into the political arena, wrested boroughs, by sheer corruption, from the landlords who had for generations controlled them, and strained every nerve to acquire the political influence which was essential to the security of their property. In 1701 there had been gi-ave inquiries in Parliament about the lavish sums which the East India Company expended among the members,^ and the in- creasing corruption at elections was universally recog- nised. ' It is said,' wrote one high authority, ' that several persons, utter strangers in the counties to which they went, have made a progress throughout England, endeavouring by very large sums to get themselves elected. ... It is said that there are known brokers who have tried to stock-job elections upon the Exchange, and that for many boroughs there was a stated price. . . . Some persons, having considerable stocks in the Bank of England and in the new East India Company, are more particularly charged with these facts.' ^ 'The mischievous consequence,' wrote Bolingbroke, ' which had been foreseen and foretold too at the establislmient * Examiner, No..xiii. In one what is for the advantage of the of his private letters (Jan. 1721), kingdom. If others had thought he says : ' I have ever ahomi- the same way, funds of credit nated that scheme of politics, and South Sea projects would now about thirty years old, of neither have been felt nor heard setting up a moneyed interest in of.' opposition to the landed— for I - Burnet's Own Times, ii. 258, conceived there could not be a 259. truer maxim in our government '* Davcnant on the Balance of than this : that the possessors of Power. the soil are the best judges of CH. H. POLITICAL TENDENCIES OF INDUSTRIAL CLASSES. 251 of these corporations, appeared visibly. The country genth^men were vexed, put to great expenses, and even baffled by them at their elections ; and among the mem- bers of every Parliament numbers were imnu-diately or indirectly under their influence.' ^ ' Boroughs,' said a third writer, ' are rated in the Royal Exchange like stocks and tallies ; the price of a vote is as well known as of an acre of land, and it is no secret who are the moneyed men, and conse(]ut'ntly the best customers.' ^ Under all these circumstances the political influence of the industrial and moneyed classes was greatly in- creased by the llevolution. They have been the steady supporters of English liberty, the steady advocates of reliffious toleration within the limits of the Protestant creed. To them, more than to any other class, may be ascribed the tempered energy, the dislike to abstractions and theories, the eminently practical spirit so charac- teristic of English political life ; and their influence has been especially useful in moderating the love of adven- ture and extravagance common to pure aristocracies. On the other hand, the mercantile theory, which governed commercial legislation till after the writings of Hume, planted a new and powerful principle of international jealousy in European politics. The narrow spirit of commercial monopoly crushed the rising industry of Ireland, and trammelled the industry of the colonies ; and the desire of the moneyed classes to acquire political power at the expense of the country gentlemen was the first and one of the chief causes of that political corrup- tion which soon overspread the whole system of parlia- mentary government. • Letter to Wincnuim. too, Bolingbroke on the Study of - See the very brilliant pam- History, Letter ii. The History phlet called ' English Advice to of the Last Four Years of Queen the Freeholders of England.' — Aome, ascribed to Swift. Wil- Somers' Tracts, vol. xiii. See, son's Life of Defoe, i. 340, 341. 252 ENCJLAND IN TDE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. II. The Protestant Nonconformists formed the third ConsiLleral)le Ijrcinch of the Whig party; but the re- action wliich followed the Restoration, the persecuting laws of the Stuarts, and the gradual diminution of the yeomanry had reduced both their numbers and their influence. In a very imperfect return made to the Government in 1689 those in England and Wales were estimated at about 110,000,^ and, according to a paper in the possession of William, among the freeholders of the kingdom the proportion of Protestant Noncon- formists and Catholics united was not quite 1 to 22,^ The strength of the Dissenters lay among the tradesmen of the towns and among seafaring men ; ^ they reckoned among their number many rich merchants and capital- ists, and some of them, as we have seen, attained the highest municipal dignity. They could also boast of a very considerable intellectual eminence. Baxter, Howe, Calamy, and Bunyan would have done honour to any Church. The writings of Matthew Henry are even now the favourite Scripture commentaries of thousands; and Defoe, if not quite the greatest, was certainly the most versatile and prolific of that brilliant group of political writers who have made the reign of Anne so remarkable in literature. The Catholics, and also the Unitarians, Socinians, and all others who spoke against the doctrine of the Trinity, or against the supernatural origin of Christianity, continued after the Revolution subject to penal laws which, if they had been strictly enforced, would have amounted to absolute proscrip- tion ; but other Dissentea's were exempted, on certain conditions, from their provisions by the Toleration Act. ' See Skeats' Hist, of the Free tainly far below the truth. Churches of England, p. 151. - Dah-ymple'silfcwioirs, partii. This return reckons the whole book i. append, population of England and Wales =* Daveuant's Works, iv. 411. as only 2,G00,U06, which is ccr- Cii. II. THE XOXCOXFORMISTS. 253 They were allowed to attend their own places of wor- ship, and were protected by law from all disturbance, provided they took the oaths of allegiance and supre- macy and subscribed the declaration against transub- stantiation, provided their congregations were duly registered in the Court of the Bishop or Archdeacon or at the County Sessions, and provided also the doors of their meeting-houses remained unlocked and unbarred. Their ministers, however, were compelled to subscribe the doctrinal portion of the Anglican Articles, with the exception of the Baptists, who were exempted from the article relating to infant baptism. The Quakers, who objected to all oaths, and to all subscriptions to human formularies, were only required to affirm their adhesion to the Government, to abjure transubstantiation, and to profess their belief in the Trinity and in the inspiration of the Bible. This measure undoubtedly conferred a great prac- tical advantage upon the Nonconformists, though it is hardly, I think, deserving of the enthusiasm that has been bestowed on it. It is, indeed, extremely doubtful whether the cause of religious liberty in England owes anything to the Eevolution ; for James, stupid and bigoted as he was, had at least quite sufficient intelli- gence to perceive that he could only relieve the small Catholic minority by associating their cause with that of the much larger body of Protestant dissidents, while those who opposed the royal designs would have been almost inevitably driven to compete by large conces- sions for the alliance of the Dissenters. As we have already seen, the Act of William was technically de- scribed only as ' an Act of Indulgence,' suspending in certain cases the operation of laws which still remained upon the statute book, and thus leaving the Dissenters, more or less, under the stigma of the law. They were still excluded from the universities, they could be 254 ENGLAND IN THE ETGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. married only according to the Anglican ceremony, and the Corporation and Test Acts prevented them from entering corporations and public offices without receiv- ing the Sacrament according to the Anglican rite. William earnestly desired complete religious toleration, if not equality, among Protestants ; but such a policy, when the fear of a Catholic sovereign was removed, was impossilile. Measures to abolisli the sacramental test, or to malce the reception of the Sacrament in any Pro- testant form a sufficient test, were introduced and de- feated. Another measure, which the King was very anxious to carry, was the Comprehension Bill, the object of which was, by slight alterations in the Angli- can Liturgy, by making optional the surplice, the prac- tice of kneeling at one Sacrament, the intei'vention of sponsors and the employment of the sign of the cross in the other, and by substituting for subscription to the Articles a general declaration that the Anglican worship and doctrine contain all things necessary to salvation, to remove the objections of the great majority of the Dissenters, and to reunite them to the Church. Ac- cording to the first cast of this Bill, Presbyterian ordi- nation was recognised as valid, but only after the impo- sition of the bishop's hands ; and by this restriction the Eomish or sacerdotal element which runs thi'ough the English Church would have been preserved. Sectarian spirit, however, on both sides was opposed to the mea- sure. Politicians of all shades saw that an alteration in the forms and Liturgy of the Church would give an increased importance to the Nonjuror schism. Tlie great majority of the clergy were violently op]iosed to all overtures to the Dissenters. Many of the Dissenters dreaded a Bill which, while it would certainly not ex- tinguish Dissent, would as certainly divide and dis- locate the Nonconformist body, impoverish many of its ministers, nnd lower the position of almost all ; while en. IT. THE QUAKERS. 255 many Whigs feared tliat the transfer of a large portion of the descendants of the Puritans to the Established Church would incline the balance of power still more to the side of despotism. The opposition grew stronger and stronger, and the Bill was at last referred to Con- vocation and speedily crushed. One other measure had been carried in this reign which was of considerable importance, as securing tli(> position of the Quakers. This eccenti^ic, but, in many respects, most admirable sect will always be remem- bered in history for its noble services to the causes of religious tolerance and of the abolition of slavery : and its members, in these latter days, liave been chiefly dis- tinguished for their singular benevolence, for the quaint, quiet decorum of their manners, and for their systematic but very harmless defiance, in many small matters of conduct and of belief, of what appear to the outer world to be the dictates of common sense. In spite of much atrocious persecution, they had multiplied greatly in the closing years of the Stuarts, and as soon as the Toleration Act wag passed, England was studded with their meeting-houses. Between 1688 and 1690 licences were taken out for 131 new temporary and 108 new permanent places of worship for the society, 64 being in Lancashire.' The fanaticism wliich had led some of the first apostles of the sect to walk naked, or almost naked, through the streets, to interrupt the services in the churches, and to rebuke the judges and magistrates in the courts, had gradually subsided. An austere morality, and a tone of manners which rendered im- possible most of the forms of wasteful, luxurious, and ostentatious expenditure, speedily raised the society to wealth. It had produced a great statesman in Penn, a great writer in Barclay, a considerable scholar in George > Skeats' Hist, of Free CJmrches, p. 153. 256 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. ii. Keith, and it was now a large and well-organised body Many of the peculiarities of the Quakers were of a k wMch gave little or no trouble to the legislators fem h was their refusal to recognise the gods Tuesco or Woden rspSno- of Tuesday o"r Wednesday, to flat er a smgle Mvkual by addressing a plural pronoun to take off their hats in salutation, to use the ordmary t)hrases of deference or courtesy, or to abandon on any SaSr their peculiar attire ; and such, too, m a country Xre there were few soldiers, and where there wa. no conscription, was their objection to bear arms. Then refusal, however, to take oaths, to pay tithes, and to subscribe articles, rendered nece-ary a conside^^^^^ amount of special legislation. The hrst g^^at ^tep as we have seen, was taken ^Y .^^^ . ^^^^/i^^^^^^^^^^^^ second was the measure, carried m 169o, winch, enact What the solemn affirmation of a Quaker ' m presence of Almighty God' should in legal cases be accepted as eqrdvalent to an oath, gave the sect for the first time a power of protecting their property against fraud, and sa^ed them from a vast amount of petty persecution and annoyance. It was only enacted for a period of seven vears and to the end of the following session. It was IZZeZl for eleven years, but in the Tory ascend- ency in the last days of Queen Anne ^t was great^^^^^^^ Derilled Early in the session of 1713 the Quakei. Stioned the House of Commons for a contiiuiance of the Act but the House would not even permit the peti- "be brought up. They then applied to the Loi^^^^ wV,n nassed a Bill in their favour, but tlie Oommons Teted even to give it a first reading.' Fovtimate y, however for the lect, the -^"^y ^rTZl^X^- stroved and the new Government made the Act ot WU- iSm perpetual. In the matter of tithes the Quakers ■ See the Hist, of the Last F<»r Years oj Quern Anm. CH. II. THE NONCONFORMISTS. 257 had also obtained some relief in the leign of William. They were not relieved from the obligation of paying them, but an inexpensive method was provided, under which tithes not exceeding 101. might be levied before two justices of the peace, thus saving the long, expen- sive, and oppressive proceedings of the Ecclesiastical or Exchequer Courts. This Bill was first enacted only for three years, but it was afterwards renewed, was ex- tended, in the case of Quakers, to all tithes, and was at last made perpetual. Such was the position acquired by the Nonconfor- mists at the Revolution. We have seen how seriously it was imperilled in the reign of Anne, and how entirely the legislation against them was the work of the Tory party. It was natural that it should be so, as the Established Church was the especial stronghold of Tory- ism ; but it is not the less true that a certain change had passed over the attitude of parties since James had made overtures to the Dissenting leaders, and, by the promise of toleration, had drawn some of them for a time to his side. The Jacobitism of the reign of Anne was violently hostile to the Dissenters, and it was chiefly the Jacobite wing of the Tories, led by Bolingbroke and Atterbury, which forced the hand of Oxford and carried the Schism Act. As a natural consequence the whole body of Protestant Dissenters were passionately devoted to the Hanoverian succession.^ Their numbers appear by this time to have considerably increased. It appears, by a report drawn up by Neal, the well-known historian of Puritanism, in 1715 and 1716, that at that date there were 1,107 Dissenting congregations in England and ' Burgess, the most popular descendants of Jacob were called Dissenting minister in London Israelites ' because God did not in the reigns of William and wish his people to be callei! Anne, is said to have once ex- Jacobites.' — Bogue and l^ennctt plained from the pulpit that the VOL. I. S 258 ENGLAND IN THE EIOnTEENTH CENTURY. Ch. it. 43 in Wales. The Presbyterians were by far the most nnmerous, and they about equalled the Independents and Baptists united.^ The position of the Nonconfor- mists in the last few months of the reign of Anne was extremely perilous, and they had everything to fear from the ministry of Bolingbroke ; but the Queen, by a remarkable coincidence, died on the very day on which the Schism Act was to have come into operation. It is related that on that morning Burnet met Bradbury, the minister of the great Independent Chapel in Fetter Lane, walking through Smithfield with slow steps, and with an absent and dejected air. ' I was thinking,' he said, in reply to the greeting of the Bishop, ' whether I shall have the constancy and resolution of the martyrs who suffered in this spot, for I most assuredly expect to see similar times of violence and persecution.' The Bishop consoled him by the intelligence that the Queen was dying, and promised, as soon as the event occurred, to send a messenger to inform him, or, if it was the hour of public worship, to drop a handkerchief from the gallery of his chapel. A few hours later, while London was still wholly ignorant of what had happened, the signal was given. Bradbury concluded his sermon with a '^fervent thanksgiving to God, who had blasted the hopes and designs of wicked men. He announced to his startled hearers the accession of George I., and having implored the divine blessing on the King and on his family, minister and congregation joined in a psalm 2 of triumph, describing the chosen prince, raised up by the Almighty Hand to save His people from their enemies. Some time later the same minister, accompa- nied by several other leading Nonconforuiists, was de- puted to present an address of congratulation to the » Bogue and Bennett, Hist, of the Dissenters, i. 357-359. « The eighty-ninth Psalm. CH. II. PROSCRIPTION OF THE TORIES. 259 new sovereign. In the vestibule of the palace they met Bolingbroke, who asked them sarcastically, as he pointed to their dark robes, which contrasted strangely with the pageantry about them, ' Is this a funeral ? ' ' No, my Lord,' was the answer, ' not a funeral, but a resur- rection ! ' ^ These were the chief elements that composed the Whig party which the accession of George I. raised to power. But although a singular combination of skill and good fortune had secured its success, although a dynasty which was once on the throne, and was sup- ported by the army, was able, for a time at least, to command the allegiance of the classes who always rally around order, yet the permanence of the Government seemed more than doubtful. The strongest sympathies and enthusiasms of the nation took other directions, and the balance of classes was decidedly against it. The Whigs directed everything to their own advantage, and entirely discarded the policy of endeavouring to con- ciliate their opponents. The systematic exclusion of all Tories from the Government ; the censure by both Houses of a peace which had been approved by two suc- cessive Parliaments ; the report of the Secret Committee in which the whole conduct of the late ministers in negotiating the peace was minutely investigated and painted in the blackest colours ; and finally the impeach- ment of Bolingbroke, Oxford, Ormond, and Strafford were sufficient to drive almost the whole party into the arms of Jacobitism. It is remarkable, however, that, even in this season of party violence and party triumph, the Whig leaders shrank from a repetition of the Sache- verell agitation, and abstained very prudently, though ' Or according to another ver- Hist, of Dissenters, ii. pp. 78, 79, sion, ' The funeral of the Schism and Wilson's Hist, of Dissent- Act — the resurrection of liberty.' ing Churches, iii. 513, 514. Compare Bogue and Bennett's s 2 2G0 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. u. very illoo-ically, from impeacliing the Bishop of Bristol, who hacfbeen one of the plenipotentiaries mnegotiatnig the peace, though they impeached his colleague, Lord Strafford The violence shown on this occasion was a natural consequence of the measures of the last adminis- tration, but few will now question that it was excessive. No conclusive evidence of the Jacobite intrigues ol the late Government was at that period accessible to the ministers. The ' restraining orders ' furnished a groij^id for impeachment which was unciuestionably valid, but they could aflect neither Ormond, whose duty as a sol- dier was simply to obey orders, nor Strafford, who was negotiating in Holland. However inadequate, and even criminal, might have been the terms of the peace the approbation of the preceding Parliaments should have slu-ltered its authors from criminal proceedings. Ihe aspect of English politics was now rapidly changed by the disappearance of many leading figures from the scene. Bolingbroke fled to France, and, m a moment of ano-er or miscalculation, thi^ew himself openly into the semce of the Pretender, and thus exposed^ himself to an Act of Attainder and irretrievably ruined his future career. Ormond, soon after, took the same course, with a similar result ; but after a short time he^aban- doned politics and lived quietly in France. Oxford awaited the storm with Ms usual calm courage and he was flung into the Tower, where he remained untried for two years. In 1715 the Whigs lost Wharton, the most skilful and unscrupulous of their party managers, Halifax, the greatest of their financiers, and Burnet, the most brilliant of their Churchmen. Somers lingered till 1716 but he was now a helpless paralytic, and, thoucrh a' few fitful flashes of his old intelligence were occasnonally discerned, his mind for many months before his death was profoundly impaired. Marjboroiigh soon experienced the same fate. Though appointed Captain- CH. 11. JACOBITE DEMONSTRATIONS. 261 General and Master of the Ordnance by the new Govern- ment, he received no confidence and exercised scarcely any influence, and he viewed with bitter displeasure the course of events. The death of tw^o dauHiters, in 1714, threw a deep shadow over his life. In 1716 he was reduced by two successive strokes of paralysis to almost complete impotence, and he remained a pitiable wreck till his death in 1722. In the country the surprised acquiescence and the sense of relief from impending danger, which had greeted the accession of George I., were soon replaced by a general discontent. The University of Oxford testified its sentiments by conferring, on the very day of the King's coronation, an honorary degree on Sir Constan- tine Phipps, who had just been removed from the go- vernment of Ireland on suspicion of Jacobitism. On the same day violent riots broke out at Birmingham, Bristol, Chippenham, Norwich, and Beading. Similar scenes soon occurred in almost every considerable town in the kingdom. The birthdays of Anne and of Ormond and the imprisonment of Oxford were the occasions of violent and threatening disturbances. The House of Lords in 1716 strongly censured the University autho- rities of Oxford for having refused to take any measures for celebrating the birthday of the Prince of Wales. On the other hand, those who attempted to celebrate the King's birthday in London with the usual festivities were insulted by the populace ; and on the following day, which happened to be the anniversary of the Restora- tion, bonfires were lit, the streets were illuminated, a picture of King William was burnt in Smithfield, great crowds patrolled the city, shouting ' Ormond and High Church for ever ! ' and several persons were injured. The Dissenters, in 1714 and 1715, were exposed to violence very similar to that which they had experienced after the impeachment of Sacheverell. In London several 262 ENGLAND IN THE EICxSTEENTH CENTURY. CH. il. of their ministers were burnt in effigy. At Oxford a Quaker meeting-house was utterly destroyed, and in most of the towns of Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Che- shire the Nonconformist chapels were wrecked.^ _ The Nonjurors now very generally attended the ordinary church service, but they took great pains to show that their antipathy to the Eevolution was unabated. Some of them, when the names of the King and royal family were mentioned in the prayers, stood up and^ faced the congregation. Others less demonstratively glided down on their hassocks, and remained sitting till the prayers were over. Others tried the gravity of the congrega- tion by ostentatiously rustling the pages of their Prayer Books in order that they might not hear the obnoxious names.2 A fashion became common of drinking dis- loyal toasts in disguised forms, such as ' Kit,' or Kmg James III. ; ' Job,' or James, Ormond, and Bolingbroke ; ' three pounds fourteen and fivepence,' or James III., Lewis XIV., and Philip V. Innumerable ballads and pamphlets circulated thi-ough the country, sustaining and representing the prevailing discontent. The situation was, undoubtedly, very critical.^ The ministers had secured a large Whig majority in the Parliament, but there was every probability that if a dissolution occurred in three years, the verdict would have been reversed, and another of those great revul- sions of power which of late years had been so frequent would have taken place.^ The utter ignorance of the ' See Wright's England and most moderate of the Jaco- nndcr the House of Hanover, bite leaders, declared at tliis Tindal's History, Wilson's Life time that five out of six of the of Defoe, Kogers' Protests of English nation were on the side the House of Lords, i. 234-'236. of King James, not, indeed, so 2 Kennelt's Life, pp. 161, 1G2. much on account of his incon- Perry's Hist, of the Church of testable right, as from hatred to Enijtand, iii. 71. the House of Hanover, and to « Marshal Ecrwick, the truest prevent the ruin of the Church CH. II. BREMEN AND VERDEN. 263 King of the language of his people, and liis awkward retiring manners, disgusted the nation all the more because it was the habit of the Whig party to throw many imputations upon the late Queen. It was re- marked with bitterness that one of the very first acts of the new Government in foreign policy was to embroil England with a Northern Power in the interests ot Hanover. Bremen and Verden, whicli had been ceded to Sweden by the treaty of Westphalia, had, on account of their situation between Hanover and the sea, been long an object of desire to the Princes of the House ol Brunswick. In 1712 these provinces, together with Schleswig and Holstein, had been conquered by Den- mark; but the King of Denmark, foreseeing that he would be unable to resist the arms of Sweden, on the return of Charles XII. from Turkey, resolved, by the sacrifice of a portion of his new dominions, to endeavour to secure the remainder. He accordingly sold Bremen and Verden to George, as Elector of Hanover, for 150,000Z., on the further condition that Hanover should join in the war against Sweden. No sooner had this step been taken than a British fleet was despatched to the Baltic, ostensibly for the purpose of protecting British trade, really for the purpose of intimidating Sweden into concession. The Wliig ministers supported this policy, on the ground that these provinces, which command the navigation of the Elbe and of the Weser, the only inlets from the British seas into Germany, are of essential importance in case of war, as protecting or interrupting the British commerce with Hamburg, and it was therefore a great British interest that they should and of the liberties of the king- gentlemen, had given assurances dom ; and he added that many of their good intentions. — Md- persons of the greatest considera- moires du MarAchal de Berwick, tion, many noblemen, clergy, and ii. 139, 140. 264 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cu. it. be in possession of a power which was necessarily- friendly to Great Britain. It was answered that a serious risk of war was incurred for the attainment of an old object of Hanoverian ambition, that George would never have entered into the enterprise had it not been for the power he possessed as a British sovereign, and that the English ministers would never have acquiesced in it had they not been anxious by every means to monopolise the favour of the King. A similar disposi- tion, both on the part of the Sovereign and his ministers, was shown in the speedy repeal of that clause of the Act of Settlement which prohibited the King from going abroad without the consent of his Parliament. While the tide of discontent in England rose higher and higher, alarming news was reported from Scotland. On Sep- tember 6, 1715, Lord Mar set up the Jacobite banner at Braemar, and in a few weeks 10,000 men were gathered around it. The measures of the Government were marked with great energy, promptitude, and severity. The hawkers who cried Tory pamphlets and bi'oadsides through the streets were at once sent to the House of Correction. A reward of 1,000Z. was offered for the discovery of the author, a reward of 500Z. for that of the printer, of the 'Englisli Advice to the Freeholders of England,' the most brilliant and popular of the Tory pamphlets. A schoolmaster named Bournois, who asserted that the King had no right to the British throne, was condemned to be scourged through the city, and the sentence was executed with such ferocity that he died in a few days. The disturbances in the great towns were met by a per- manent Act, still in force, providing that any assembly of more than twelve persons who, having been enjoined to disperse by a justice of the peace, and having heard the pi'oclamation against riots read, did not separate within an hour, should be esteemed guilty of felony. A cfl. It, Rebellion of i7i5. 265 royal order was issued strictly forbidding the clergy to introduce any political allusions into their sermons ; but when the rebellion broke out, all the bishops except Atterbury and Smalridge signed a joint paper condemn- ing it. On the first news of that event, the Habeas Corpus Act was suspended. A reward of 100,000/., was offered for the apprehension of the Pretender, alive or dead. The contingent of 6,000 men, which the Dutch had bound themselves by treaty to furnish whenever the Protestant succession was in danger, was claimed, and orders were given for raising in England thii^teen regiments of dragoons and eight of infantry ; for keep- ing the trained bands in readiness to suppress tumults ; for dismissing suspected Jacobites from their posts in the army, and even for arresting, with the consent of the House, some Jacobite Members of Parliament. The rebellion was from the first almost hopeless. Berwick stated, indeed, with much plausibility, that if supported by a body of regular troops it must have suc- ceeded ; ^ but everything at this time seemed to conspire against the Stuarts, Between the inception and the execution of the project, Lewis XIV, died, the Regent who succeeded to power leaned towards the English alliance, and thus, while the reigning King could receive succours both from Germany and from Holland, all chance of French assistance to the Jacobites was lost. Hardly less calamitous had been the flight of Ormond. His character, his position, and his great liberality, had made him one of the most popular men in England. Had he been in it when the insurrection broke out, he would have been universally recognised as its cliief, and as he had commanded the British army, he had at least some military knowledge, and would probably have drawn a portion of the regular troops to liis side. An Mimoires de Berwick, ii. 148. 266 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. il. attempt was made to induce the King of Sweden to join in the enterprise, but it was unsuccessful, and the whole project was undertaken with a recklessness and a fatuity almost incredible. No single step was taken to produce a rebellion in Ireland, and the Government was there- fore able to despatch several regiments from that country to crush the Scotch Jacobites. Even in England no general rising appears to have been prepared. The re- bellion in Scotland was hurried on by the oiders of the Pretender, without the knowledge either of Bolingbroke or of Berwick,! and there was scarcely a single man of ordinary military knowledge connected with it. Mar, tliough in other fields he showed considerable ability, was in this respect conspicuously deficient, and he was also wholly without the decision and daring needed for the enterprise. Tlie Jacobites were almost without arms and without organisation. Their secret intelligence was intercepted ; their plans were discovered ; several of their leaders, before they had time to take arms, were thrown into prison ; and, although a large proportion of the nation undoubtedly sympathised with their cause, few men were prepared to risk their lives and properties in an enterprise at once so hazardous and so mis- managed. A plan for surprising Edinburgh Castle was defeated by the secret information of a woman. The Highland chiefs were summoned by the Government to Edinburgh; and though few of them obeyed, Argyle and Sutherland, who were, perhaps, the most powerful, were on the Hanoverian side, and many of the leading Jacobites in Scotland were put under arrest. Mar, with the bulk of the insurgents, seized on Perth ; but he remained therp inactive and undecided, waiting, apparently, for an insurrection in England during the critical time that Mimoires de Berwick, ii. 142. CH. 11, REBELLION OF 1715. 267 elapsed before the Government could organise its forces. In England the energy of the ministers completely- paralysed the rebellion. Oxford, which was a special centre of Jacobitism, was occupied by a large body of cavalry. Ormond, after a very unwise delay, attempted a descent upon Devonshire, and as the western counties were intensely Tory, he expected a general rising, but his plans were beti-ayed by a Jacobite agent named M'Lean. Windham, Lord Lansdowne, and other promi- nent gentlemen who were to have organised the move- ment, were arrested ; the garrison of Plymouth was changed, Biistol was defended by a body of infantry, and the success of these measures was so complete that Ormond, finding no prospect of support, returned to Finance without even landing. In Northumberland a body of Jacobites took up arms under Mr. Forster, one of the members for the county, supported by Lord Derwentwater and some other leading gentry. They were joined by a small body of Scotch insurgents under Lord Kenmure and the Earls of Carnwath, Nithsdale, and Wintoun, who had taken arms in the south-west of Scotland, and soon after by a brigade of about 2,000 Highlanders under the command of an oJBficer named Mackintosh, who had been despatched by Mar. This ofiicer, who was one of the few men who gained some laurels in the contest, had previously succeeded in cross- ing the Frith of Forth in the face of three English men- of-war, had taken possession of Leith, and would pro- bably have captured Edinburgh itself had not the royal army under Argyle marched to its assistance. Mackin- tosh then retreated unmolested, and joined the Northum- berland army, but many of his Highlanders deserted. Instead of marching northwards to attack Argyle in the rear, the insurgents made an unsuccessful attempt upon Newcastle, marched into Lancashire, where they were joined by many of the Roman Catholics who were 268 ENGLAND IN THE filGHTEENTfl CENTURY, ch. il. SO numerous in that county, and occupied Preston ; but they were soon attacked by General Wills, and, after a short siege, compelled to surrender. On the same day the first considerable encounter in Scotland took place. Mar, after a long delay, having been joined by the northern clans under Lord Seaforth, and by those of the west under General Gordon, marched towards Stirling in hopes of joining the insurgents in the south, and was encountered by Argyle at SherifF- muir. The battle was indecisive, or, to speak more accurately, the left wing of the army of Argyle was totally defeated by the Highlanders, while the right wing was as completely victorious. Each party claimed the victory, and each party drew off at last without molestation. Nearly at the same time the cause of the Pretender received a fatal blow in the capture of Inver- ness by Lord Lovat. This sagacious and unprincipled man had now for a short time deserted, through a per- sonal motive, the Jacol^ite cause, to which he had for- merly belonged, and for which he afterwards died, and he rendered an eminent service to the Government. Lord Seaforth and Lord Huntly were compelled to return to defend their own country, where they soon after laid down their arms, and the army of Mar was rapidly disintegrated by desertions and divisions. At last, towards the close of December, the Pretender himself came over to Scotland. He made a public entry into Dundee, reviewed the remnant of his army at Perth, and tried to rekindle its waning spirit. It was, however, too late. The Dutch auxiliaries had already arrived. The Jacobites were almost destitute of money, forage, ammunition, and provisions, and nothing remained but a precipitate retreat. It was effected through the deep snow of a Scotch winter. The Pretender, with Lord Mar and a few other persons of distinction, embarked in a small French vessel from Montrose, and having first en. II. STATE OF OriNTON IN ENGLAND. 269 sailed to Norway, they succeeded, by a circuitous route, in evading the English cruisers, and arriving in safety at the French coast, while their army rapidly dispersed. Of the prisoners, great numbers were brought to trial. Two peers and thirty-four commoners were executed. Lords Nithsdale and Wintoun, who were reserved for the same fate, succeeded in escaping, and many Jacobites were sentenced by the law courts to less severe punish- ments, or were deprived of their titles and possessions by Acts of Attainder. So ended the Rebellion of 1715, which reflected very little credit on any of those concerned in it. How little confidence the most acute observers felt in the stability of the dynasty is curiously illustrated by the fact, which has recently been discovered, that Shrewsbury, who in 1714 had, of all men, done most to bring it on the throne, was deeply engaged in 1715 in Jacobite intrigues, while Marlborough had actually furnished money for the enterprise of the Pretender.^ Had that enterprise ever worn a hopeful aspect, large classes would probably have rallied around it; but in England, at least, scarcely anyone was prepared to make serious sacrifices, or to encounter serious dangers for its success. Dislike to the foreign dynasty was general, but the conflict between the jaassion of loyalty and the hatred of Catholicism had lowered the English character. The natural political enthusiasm of the time was driven inwards and repressed. Divided sentiments produced weak resolutions, and a material and selfish spirit was creeping over politics. In this, as in the preceding reign, the Whigs showed themselves incomparably superior to their opponents in • This very remarkable fact is the Stuart Papers, and given in established by two letters from the appendix to the first volume Bolingbroke to the Pretender, of Lord Stanhope's Hist, of Eng- dated respectively Aug. 20 and land. Sept. 25, 1715, extracted from 270 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. organisation, in energy, and in skill ; but how little they counted upon the national gratitude or support was shown by the fact that one of their first cares, on the termination of the rebellion, was to pass the Septennial Act, in order to adjourn for several years a general election. Much was, indeed, said of the demoralisation of the country, and of the ruin of the country gentry, resulting from triennal elections ; of the animosities planted in constituencies, which liad no time to subside ; of the instability of a foreign policy depending on a constantly fluctuating legislature ; but the real and governing motive of the change was the conviction that an election in 1717 would be probably fatal to the ministry and, very possibly, to the djaiasty. The Bill, though it related specially to the constitution of the Lower House, was first introduced in the House of Lords, and as it was passed without a dissolution, Pai'- liament not only determined the natural duration of future legislatures, but also prolonged the tenure of the existing House of Commons for four years beyond the time for which it was elected. It was on this side that the great dangers of the dynasty lay. If the character of Parliament continued to fluctuate as rapidly as it had done in the first decade of the century ; if the Church and the landed gentry continued to look on the reigning family with hostility or with a sullen inditterence, it was inevitable that the normal action of parliamentary government should soon bring the enemies of the dynasty into power. If the House of Brunswick was to continue on the throne, it was absolutely necessary that something should be done to clog tlie parliamentary machine, to prevent it from responding instantaneously to every breath of popular passion, to strengthen the influence of the executive both over the House and over the constituencies. The first great step towards this end was the Septennial Act, en. II. DECLINE OF MONAECHICAL SENTIMENT. 271 but it would, probably, have proved less successful had not a long series of causes been in action, which lowered still more the Tory sentiment in England, and gradually and almost insensibly produced a condition of thought and government very favourable to the policy of the Whigs. In the first place, it was inevitable that the monar- chical sentiment should be materially diminished bj^thc mere fact that the title to the crown was disputed. In tliis respect the position of England resembled that of a very large part of Europe, for the great multitude of disputed titles forms one of the most remarkable political characteristics of the early years of the eighteenth cen- tury. The throne of England was disputed between the House of Hanover and the House of Stuart. The Spanish thi'one was disputed between Philip V. and the Emperor. In Italy the Houses of Medici and of Farnese became extinct, and the successions of Tuscany and Parma were disputed by the Emperor and the Spanish Queen. In Poland the rival claims of Stanislaus, who was supported by Charles XII., and of Augustus, who was supported by Peter the Great, were during many years contested by arms. In France the title of the young King was, indeed, undisputed, but his fragile constitution made men look forward to his speedy death, and parties were already forming in support of the rival claims of the Regent and of the King of Spain. Among the causes which were lowering the position of monarchy in Europe in the eighteenth century, the multiplication of these disputed titles deserves a pi'ominent place. They shook the reverence for the throne ; they destroyed the mystic sanctity that surrounded it ; they brought the supreme authority of the nation into the arena of controversy. In England, since the period of the Pestoration, the doctrine of the divine right of kings and of the absolute 272 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. n. criminality of all rebellion, was, as we have seen a fundamental tenet, not only of the Tory party, but also of the Established Church. But from the accession of George I. it began rapidly to declme. The enthrone- ment of the new dynasty had, for a time at least, solved the doubtful question of the succession, accordmg to the prin- ciples ot the Revolution. The chief offices m the Church were reserved for divines who accepted those principles. The inconsistencies of the clergy during the three pre- ceding reigns had weakened their authority and broken the f?rce of the Anglican tradition; and m the rapid disappearance ot doctrinal teaching, and the silent con- version of Christianity into a mere system of elevated morality, a theory of government which based authority upon a religious dogma appeared peculiarly mcon- Zous. The tendency was assisted by the rebgious Septicism of the most brilliant of the Tory chiefs^ Tlie theory of the 'Patriot King,' as far as it can be discerned through the cloud of vague though eloquent verbiage in which it is enveloped, is, that the power and prerogative of the sovereign should be greatly enlarged as the only efficient check upon the corruption of Parlia- ments; but in this, as in other of 1^^« ^^^^^^ yy;:?^g^j Bolingbroke spoke of the theological .doctnne which had once been the rallying cry of his party wi h nnm^tigated contempt.^ It was, of course, impossible that such ^ a tone should have been employed by the Tory leader m ' 'As kings have found the great effects wrought in govern- ment by the empire which priests obtain over the consciences of mankind, so priests have been taught by experience that the best way to preserve their own rank, dignity, wealth, and power, all raised upon a supposed divine right, is to communicate the same pretension to kings, and, by a fallacy common to both, impose their usurpations on a silly world. This they have done : and iu the State as in the Church, these pretensions to a divine right have been carried highest by those who have had the least pretension to the divine favour.' ^'-Thc Idea of a Fatriot King. See also the Dissertation on Parties, letters vi. viii. xiv. CH. 11. DECLINE OF MONARCHICAL SENTIMENT. 273 the more active portion of his career ; but his religious sentiments were, probably, very generally surmised, and there is, I believe, no evidence that he ever employed or countenanced the language of Sacheverell and his school. There was another consideration which had a very powerful influence in the same direction. The un- doubted benefits which England obtained from the events of the Revolution were purchased not only by the evil of a disputed succession, but also by that of a party King. The very politicians who would naturally have been most inclined to magnify the royal authority learned to look upon the reigning Sovereign as the head of their opponents, and to make it a main object of their policy to abridge his power. This change had been already foreshadowed in the severe restrictions the Act of Settlement imposed upon the Sovereign, and there were few subjects on which Tory pamphleteers dilated with more indignant eloquence than the facility with which the Whigs afterwards consented to relax its limitations.^ Windham denounced in the strongest terms the uncon- stitutional conduct of the new King in endeavouring by a proclamation to influence the elections of 1715. The most jealous critics of the civil list were to be found in the Tory ranks. In 1722, when the House of Commons voted an address to the King, promising to enable him to suppress all remaining spirit of rebellion, it was the Tory Shippen who moved that the clause should be added ' with due regard to the liberty of the subject, the constitution in Church and State, and the laws now in force.' ^ Whatever may have been the private senti- ments of its leaders, the party which assumed this atti- ' See, for example, Atterbury's ' English Advice to the Free- holders of England.' Somers' Tracts, vol. xiii. = Farl. Hist. viii. 37. VOL. I. T CH. n. 274 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. tnde publicly disclaiiued the imputation of JacoLitism. its members, indeed, well knew that tins nnpu^ ion was the main obstacle to their political success, but at the same time they regarded the royal power with con- stant iealousy, and their public language was m glaimg cj'piition io that which had so long been the very shibboleth of their school.^ -r, v i, f.alino- of By a similar inversion, the deep English fee mg ot respect for law and for all duly constituted authority, was now turned against high monarchical views. J^ng- hS political opinion has usually been pre-eminently dLtinguished for its moderation, and this characten^ic has been very largely due to two great events m l^ng- S Ms oiT- Democratic excesses had been comp e ely dfsciSiteJby the Commonwealth while the Revolution had discredited extreme monarchical doctrines, by as sociating them with Jacobitism, and therefore with conspiracy against the law. ^n-avino- the The influences that were at work, alterm| the position of the Sovereign, were, it is true, ?^;t aU m^^^^^^ same direction. The large standmg armies that weie maintained after the Eevo ution the ^^'Jf^J^_ increase of patronage ^^^^ t-S/lT/'^f ^^^^^^^ blishments and from the National Debt, and lastly tlie pllngation of the duration of Pai4iame.s^^^^^^^ favourable to his power or his influence. ^leat inst. tions however, cannot rest solely upon a mateua basis, She causes that were at work lowermg the English lii"e..e such as no extension o^pa^-ge o^ even of prerogative could compensate. Divested ot tne moial and .i4ginativ^^ ^^^ long obliged to talk m the re- "^/'"/^ .^.^^^^',,s^rics.._Hume's selves by their hypocrisy, and en. II. DECLINE OF MONARCHICAL SENTIMENT. 275 legitimate line, deprived of the religious doctrine on which it had once been based, and alienated from the party who are the natural exjaonents of monarchical enthusiasm, it sank at once into a lower plane. The King could lay no claim to a divine right.' His title was exclusively parliamentary, and there was nothing either in his person or his surroundings to appeal to the popular imagination. A profound revolution, it was noticed, took place in the etiquette of the Court. The pomp and pageantry of royalty, which had long been dear to Englishmen, and which had reflected, and in some degree sustained, the popular reverence for the King, had almost disappeared.^ George I. brought to England the simple habits of a German Court. His wife was a prisoner in Germany. His favourites were coarse and avaricious German mistresses. He spoke no English ; he was in his fifty-fifth year, and he had no grace of manner and no love of display. Under these circumstances his Court assumed a particularly simple and unimposing character, which the parsimony and the tastes of his two successors led them to maintain. ' As Bolingbroke said : ' A stitious way of being served on notion was entertained by many the knee at table. King Charles that the worse title a man had, II., King James, King William, the better king he was likely to and Queen Anne, whenever they make.' — Dissertation on Parties, dined in public, received wine letter vi. upon the knee from a man of - A very intelligent traveller the first quality, who was Lord who described England about of the Bedchamber in waiting ; 1720, writes: 'No prince in the and even when they washed their world lives in the state and hands that lord on the knee held grandeur of the King and Queen the bason. But King George of England. . . . Yet in my own hath entirely altered thatmethod; private opinion it savours too he dines at St. James's privately, much of superstition, being a re- served by his domestics, and spect that religion allows only to often sups abroad with his nobi- the King of kings. King George, lity.'— A Journey through Eng- since his accession to the throne, land (by Macky), 4th ed. 1724, hath entirely altered this super- i. 198, 199. T 2 CH. II. 27 G ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. With the divine right, the ascription of a miraculous power naturally passed away._ The service for he miracle of the royal touch was, indeed, reprinted m the first Prayer Book of George I.^ ; but the_ power was never exercised or claimed by the Hanoverian dynasty, and thus one great source of the popular reverence for the monarchy disappeared. For some time, however we may trace the faint glimmermgs of a supernatuial aureole in the exiled line. James IL, havmg lost his crown mainly on account of his religion, and havmg shown in his latter years a deep and touching piety,- was naturally regarded with great reverence by the more devoted of his co-religionists, and on his death theie were some attempts to invest him with the reputation of a saint. Worshippers flocked in multitudes to the church where his body was laid, to ask favour by his intercession. A curious letter is still pi-eserved written by the Bishop of Autun, in the December of 1701, to the widow of James, describing in much detail what the writer believed to have been a miraculous cure ot which he had himself been the object. For more than forty years, he said, he had been afflicted with a tumour beneath the right eye, which, when pressed emitted matter. In the beginning of the preceding April the fluxion ceased, the tumour rapidly grew larger than a nut, and it became so painful that the patient had not a moment of repose. A surgeon lanced it, and from this time the fluxion recommenced with such abundance that it was necessary to dress the sore eight or ten times in the twenty-four hours. The bishop came to Pans and consulted several leading physicians, but they told him that there was no remedy, and that he must bear '"^T^ie more amiable aspects of in his mst of England (Eng. the latter days of James -which trans.), v. 274, lti>. CH. 11. JACOBITE MIRACLES. 277 the inconvenience for the remainder of his life. On September 19 and 20, two or three days after the death of James, two nuns, in two different convents, inde- pendently announced to him their persuasion that the first miracle of the deceased King would be in his favour, and promised to pray God, by the intercession of James, to effect a cure. A few days after, as the bishop was celebrating Mass, in the nunnery of Chaillot, for the soul of the King, his tumour ceased to flow, and all traces of the malady disappeared. Another story was circulated, concerning a young man of Auvergne, who had been afflicted with fits, which were believed to be of a paralytic nature, had lost all use of his limbs, and had tried in vain many remedies, both medical and spiritual. Immediately upon the death of James, a friend, who had a great veneration for that prince, re- commended the sufiei-er to seek help through the inter- cession of the saintly King. He did so, and vowed, if he recovered, to make a pilgrimage to his tomb. From that day he began to amend. On the ninth day he was completely recovered, and a deposition was drawn up by the priest of his parish and signed by himself, attest- ing the miraculous nature of the cure.' Several other cases were narrated of miracles worked by the interces- sion of the King, and there is not much doubt that if the Stuarts had been restored, and had continued Catholics, he would have been canonised.^ Occasional rumours of cures of scrofula, effected by the touch of the Pretender, in Paris or in Rome, were long circulated in ' These documents are pre- 595-599. Bolingbroke noticed in served among the papers of 1717 how James ' passes already the Cardinal Gualterio. British for a saint, and reports are en- Museum, Add. MSS. 20311. couraged of miracles which they - See the very curious extracts suppose to be wrought at his from the Nairne Papers, in tomb.' — Letter to Windham. Macpherson's Original Papers, i. 278 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. England,' and the old ceremony was revived at Edin- bumh in 1745.2 The credit that once attached to it, however, had almost passed, though the superstition long lingered, and is, perhaps, even now hardly extinct in some remote districts. In France, the ceremony was performed as recently as the coronation of Charles X., who touched, on tliat occasion, 121 sick persons.^* As late as 1838, a minister of the Shetland Isles, where scrofulous diseases are very prevalent, tells us that no cure was there believed to be so efficacious as the royal touch; and that, as a substitute for the actual living finger of royalty, a few crowns and half-crowns, bearing the^ effigy of Charles I., were carefully handed down from generation to generation, and employed as a remedy for the evil.'' Another very important cause of the decline of the power of royalty was the increased development of party government. The formation of a ministry, or homo- geneous body of ruling statesmen of the same politics, deliberating in common, and in which each member is responsible to the others, has been justly described Ijy Lord Macaulay as one of the most momentous and least noticed consequences of the Eevolutidn. It was essential to the working of parliamentary government, and it was ' Thus the Nonjuror historian in the neighbourhood of that Carte relates the case of a young city (1721). man from Bristol named Christo- '' Chambers' Hist, of the Be- pher Lovel, known to himself, hellion of 1745, p. 125. who was cured by the Pretender ' Ammaire Historiqiie, 1825, at Paris in 171() (Carte's Hist. p. 275. of England, i. 291, 292). This ' Neiu Statistical Account of anecdote is said to have seriously Scotland, xv. 85. A seventh son impaired the success of Carte's was also believed to have the history. See, too, a tract called power of curing scrofula by his A Letter from a Gcntlcynan in touch. See a case in Sinclair's Rome giving an account of some Statistical Account of Scotland, surprising Cures of the King's xiv.210. See, too, Aubrey's ilf^s- Evil by the touch, lately effected cellanies, art. Miranda. en. II. FORMATION OF A MINISTRY. 279 scarcely less iTTiportant as abridging the influence of the Crown. As long as the ministers were selected by the Sovereign from the most opposite parties, as long as each was responsible only for his own department, and was perfectly free to vote, speak, or intrigue against his colleagues, it is obvious that the chief efficient power must have resided with the Sovereign. When, how- ever, the conduct of aii'airs was placed in the hands of a body forming a coherent whole, bound together by principle and by honour, and chosen out of the leaders of the dominant party in Parliament, the chief efficient power naturally passed to this body, and to the party it represented. Although, in the reign of William, the advice of Sunderland and the exigencies of public affairs had induced William to fall back upon government by a single party, yet he never renounced his preference for a mixed ministry, composed of moderate Whigs and mode- rate Tories ; during almost the whole of his reign he suc- ceeded, in some degree, in attaining it, and he always held in his own hands the chief direction of foreign af- fairs. His successor, in this respect at least, steadily pursued the same end, and the moderate and temporis- ing policy, as well as the love of power, of Godolphin and Harley assisted in perpetuating the old system. The first ministry of Anne, to almost the close of its exist- ence, was a chequered one, and although at last the Whig- element became completely predominant, the introduc- tion of the Wliig junto was distasteful to Godolphin, and bitterly resented by the Queen. Her letters to Godolphin, when the accession of Sunderland to the ministry had become inevitable, express her sentiments on the subject in the strongest and clearest light. She urged that the appointment would be equivalent to throwing herself entirely into the hands of a party ; that it was the object of her life to retain the faculty of appointing to her service honourable and useful men on either side ; 280 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. that if she placed the direction of affairs exclusively in the hands either of Whigs or Tories, she would be entirely their slave, the quiet of her life would be at an end, and her sovereio-nty would be no more than a name.^ On the overthrow of Godolphin it was the earnest desire both of Harley and of the Queen that a coalition ministry should be formed, in which, though the Tories predominated, they should not possess a monopoly of power. Overtures w-ere made to Somers and Halifax ; and CowiDer was urgently and repeatedly pressed by the Queen to retain the Great Seal.^ The refusal of the Whig leaders made the Government essentially Tory, but, as we have already seen, it was a bitter complaint of the October Club that several of the less prominent Whigs were retained in oflfice, and the habit of balancing between the parties still continued. ' I'll tell you one great state secret,' wrote Swift to Stella, as early as February 1710-11 ; ' the Queen, sensible how much she was governed by the late ministry, runs a little into t'other extreme, and is jealous in that point, even of those who got her out of the other's hands.' ' Her plan,' said a well-informed writer, ' was not to suffer the Tory interest to grow too strong, but to keep such a number of Whigs still in office as should be a constant check upon her ministers.' ^ Harley, who dreaded the ex- treme Tories, fully shared her view ; he was always open to overtures from the W^higs, and it was this > Coxe's Marlhm-oucih, ch. li. of the Queen's last Mhiisters, ]jj Swift says : ' She had entertained '■' See Onslow's note to Burnet's the notion of forming a mode- Own Kmcs, ii. 553, 554. Camp- rate or comprehensive scheme bell's Lives of the Chancellors which she maintained with great (5th ed ) V 274-277 firmness, nor would ever depart " Sheridan's Life of Sivift, from, until about half a year be- pp. 124, 125. In a tract called fore her death.' An Enqiiiry into the Behaviour CH. II. WHIG MINISTRY OF GEORGE I. 281 policy which at last produced the ministerial crisis that was cut short by the death of the Queen. With the new reign all was changed. In the first anxious month after the accession of George I., it was doubtful whether he would throw himself entirely into the hands of the Whigs, or whether, by bestowing some offices on the Tories, he would make an effort at once to conciliate his opponents, and to retain in his own hands a substantial part of the direction of affairs. Every step in his policy, however, showed that he was resolved to adojat the former alternative, and the Tories soon learned to realise the pathetic truth of the words which Boling- broke wrote, on the occasion of his own contemptuous dismissal : ' The grief of my soul is this : I see plainly that the Tory party is gone.' Halifax appears to have urged the appointment of Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bromley, and some other Tories, to high office under the Crown ; ^ but Townshend and Cowper, with a zeal that was not purely disinterested, pressed upon the King the impos- sibility of distributing his favours equally between the parties,^ and, with the exception of Nottingham, who, during the latter days of Queen Anne, had completely identified himself with the Whigs, and who was for a short time President of the Council, all Tories were ex- cluded from the management of affairs. It was urged that, in the very critical moment of accession, it was ' Coxe's Life of Walpole, i. p. 60 (ed. 1798). It appears that offices, but apparently sine- cures, were offered to and refused by Hanmer and Bromley. See some interesting letters on tliis subject in SirH. Bunbury's Life of Hanmer, pp. 53-56, 60, 61. Lord Anglesey, who, though a Tory, had followed Sir Thomas Hanmer in opposing the Tory ministry, received a place in the Irish treasury. - Campbell's CJmneellors, v. 293. It is said that, among his German advisers, Gortz recom- mended some favour to the Tories, but Bernsdorf was wholly in favour of the Whigs. See a letter of Horace Walpole in Coxe's Walpole, ii. 48. 282 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ii. indispensable that the King should be served only by statesmen on whom he could perfectly rely ; that the leaders of the Tory party liad in the last reign been deeply implicated in Jacobite intrigues ; that it was dilBcvilt or impossible to say how far Jacobitism had spread among them ; that a division of offices would be sure to create jealousy and disloyalty in the weaker party, and to enfeeble, in a period of great danger, the policy of the Government ; that, in the very probable event of the Pretender becoming Protestant, the House of Brunswick could count on no one but the most de- cided Whigs. On the other hand, it is certain that a very large part of the Stuart sympathies of the Tories was simply due to a fear that the new Govei-nment would not recognise the legitimate claims of the party to a fair share of political pov/er, and it is equally cer- tain that the landed gentry and the clergy in England were strongly attached to that party and were bitterly exasperated by its pi'oscription. It was not forgotten that the Act of Settlement, by virtue of which the King sat on tlie throne, was brought in by a Tory statesman, that the Peace of Utrecht, which was the great measure of the Tory ministry, contained a clause compelling the French sovereign to recognise the Protestant succession, and to expel the Pretender from France, and that one section of the painty, under the guidance of Sir Thomas Hanmer, had never wavered in its attachment to the Act of Settlement. On the death of the Queen, they had all, at least passively, accepted the change of dynasty, and there is no I'eason to question the sub- stantial truth of the assertion of Bolingbroke, tJiat the proscription of the Tories by George I. for the first time made the party entirely Jacobite.^ But, whatever may ' Letter to Windham. This king, written on Oct. 24, 1714 is strongly corroborated by a (N.S.). He says :' Votre Majesty letter of Iberville to the French a vu par mes iirueeilentes d^pS- CH. II. CONSOLIDATION OF WHIG POWER. 283 have been its effect, on the stability of the dynasty, thei'e can be no doubt of the effect of the Whig monopoly of office on the authority of the Sovereign. He was no longer the moderating power, holding the balance in a lieterogeneous and divided Cabinet, able to dismiss a statesman of one policy and to employ a statesman of another, and thus in a great measure to determine the tendency of the Government. He could govern only through a political body which, in its complete union and in its command of the majority in Parliament, was usually able, by the threat of joint resignation, which would make government impossible, to dictate its own terms. The peculiarity of his position added to his de- pendence. His throne was exceedingly insecure. He enjoyed no popularity, and he was almost wholly ignorant of the language, the customs, and the domestic policy of his people. His predecessors always presided at the deliberations of the Cabinet, but George I., on account of his ignorance of the language, was never present, and his example was in this respect followed by his suc- cessors. In this manner, by the force of events, much more than by any express restrictive legislation, a profound change had passed over the position of the monarchy in England. The chief power fell into the hands of the Whig statesmen. Nottingham, who was the only par- tial exception, having exerted himself in favour of ches que plusieurs des Tories ment n^cessaire pour y r^ussir. qu'on appelle rigides, e'est k dire J'ai vu clairement que ce senti- z616s 4 routrance pour I'Eglise ment devenoit chaque jour plus Anglicane et pour le gouverne- commun parmy eux et qu'il y a ment monarcliique, sent devenus toute apparence que les Tories Jacobites, ne voyant d'autre mod6r6s y entreront aussi par moyen d'empescher I'enti^re pur z^le de party, mais avec plus ruine de leur party que d'appeler de retenue.' Bunbury's Life of le Pretendant ; et que la guerre Sir T. llanmcr, pp. GO, 61. avec V. M. leur paroissoit absolq- 284 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. clemency towards the noblemen who were condemned during the rebellion, was dismissed in the beginning of 1716/ and the triumphant pax'ty made it their main task to consolidate their ascendency. Tliey did this chiefly in two ways. They steadily laboured to identify the Tory party with Jacobitism, and thus to persuade both the Sovereign and the people that a Tory Govern- ment meant a subversion of the dynasty. As there was absolutely no enthusiasm for the reigning Sovereign, the prospect might not in itself appear very alarming, but it was clearly understood that the downfall of the dynasty meant civil war, revolution, and perhaps national bankruptcy. They also began systematically to build up a vast system of parliamentary influence. The wealth of the great Wnig houses, the multitude of small and venal boroughs, the increase of Government patronage, and the Septennial Act, which, by prolong- ing the duration of Parliament, made it more than ever amenable to ministerial intluence, enabled them to carry out their policy with a singular completeness. The condition of European politics greatly assisted them. The chief external danger to the dynasty lay in the hostility of France, biit this hostility was now for a long period removed. The Regent from the first had leaned somewhat towards the English alliance, and after the suppression of the rebellion of 1715 he took decided steps in this direction. He had, indeed, the strongest personal interest in doing so. The young prince, who was his ward, and who was the undoubted heir to the throne, was so weak and sickly that his death might at any time be expected. In that case the Crown, accord- ing to the provisions of the Peace of Utrecht, devolved upon the Regent, but it was extremely probable that ' See, on this dismissal, Rotort March 6, 1715-16. Coxe's TTaZ- Walpole to Horace Walpole, pole, ii. 51. CH. II. THE FRENCH ALLIANCE. 285 Philip of Spain would claim it, in spite of the act by which he had renounced his title. The succession of the Eeu'iMit would then be in the utmost dano-er. It was possible that Philip, inspired by the daring genius of Alberoni, who was now rising rapidly to ascendency in his councils, would endeavour to unite under one sceptre the dominions both of France and of Spain. In that case a European war was inevitable, but it would be a war in which the whole national sentiment of France would be opposed to the Regent, who was per- sonally unpopular, and who would be an obstacle to the most cherished dream of French ambition. It was possible also, and perhaps more probable, that Philip would endeavour merely to exchange the throne of Spain for that of France. If he abdicated in favour of a prince who was acceptable to the Powers who had been allied in the last war, the great object of the Whig party in the reign of Anne would be realised ; and it was therefore by no means improbable that the allied Powers would favour his attempt. If England could be induced unequivocally to guarantee the succession of the House of Orleans, if the Whig Government of George I. would in this respect, at least, cordially adopt the policy of the Tory ministry which negotiated the Peace of Utrecht, it was clear that the prospects of the Regent would be immensely improved. On the other hand, the reasons inducing the English Government to seek a French alliance were equally strong. France could do more than all other Powers combined to shake the dynasty, and as long as the Jacobite party could look forward to her support, it would never cease to be powerful. Besides tliis, an English guarantee might so strengthen the House of Orleans as to prevent another European war, and avert the danger of the union of the two crowns. Hanoverian politics had also begun to colour all English negotiations, and a great coldness 286 ENGLAISD IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, cii. ii. which had sprung up between the Emperor and the Hanoverian Government, on accomit of the claims of the latter to Bremen and Verden, helped to incline George towards a Fi'ench rather than an Austrian alli- ance. There was also a dangerous question pending between England and France, which it might be pos- sible amicably to arrange. The Peace of Utrecht had stipulated that the harbour of Dunkirk should be_ de- stroyed, and the injury that had been done to British commerce by the privateers which issued from that harbour was so great that scarcely any provision in the treaty was equally popular. It had been in a great degree fulfilled, but the French had proceeded to nullify it "by constructing a new caiml on the same coast at Mardyke. The destruction of this incipient harbour became in consequence one of the strongest desires of the English. These various considerations drew together the Powers which had so long been deadly enemies. The negotiation was chiefly conducted at Hanover by Stan- hope on the side of England, and by Dubois on that of France, and it resulted in a treaty which gave an entirely new turn to the foreign policy of England. By this treaty the Eegent agreed to break altogether with the Pretender, to compel him to reside beyond the Alps, and to destroy the new port at IMardyke, while both Powers confirmed and guaranteed the Peace of Utrecht and particularly the order of the succession to the crowns of England and France which it established. Thus, by a singular vicissitude of politics, it was the Whig party which was now the most anxious to ally itself with France in the interest of that Protestant succession which Lewis XIV. had so bitterly opposed. The States-General somewhat reluctantly acceded to the treaty, which was finally concluded in January 1716-17. CH. 11. THE DUTCH BAHKIER. 287 It would be difficult to overrate the value of this alliance to the new dynasty and to the Whig party. It paralysed the efforts of the Jacobites, and it was especi- ally important as the aspect of Europe was still in many respects disquieting. The Emperor, as we have seen, had prolonged the war unsuccessfully for some months after the Peace of Utrecht, and though hostilities were terminated by the peace which was negotiated at Eastadt, and finally ratified at Baden in September 1714, there were still serious questions to be settled. One of the most important results of the war was the transfer of the Spanish Netherlands to the Emperor. It was a measure which William had regarded as of transcendent importance in securing Holland from the aggression of France, and it was accordingly given a prominent place among the objects of the great treaty of alliance of 1701.^ It was, however, the determination both of the Dutch and of the English that this cession should be conditional upon the Dutch retaining the right of garrisoning a line of border fortresses in Spanish Flanders, and this privilege was very displeasing to the Emperor. The barrier treaty of 1709 had been negotiated between England and Holland without his assent. The Peace of Utrecht had, indeed, restored to France some towns which the earlier treaty had reserved for the Dutch barrier, but, to the great indignation of the Emperor, it provided that such a barrier should be secured. As the war was still going on, France, in accordance with the treaty, surrendered the Spanish Netherlands provisionally to Holland, to be transferred by her to Austria, as soon as peace should have been restored and the conditions and limits of the barrier arranged. A long, tedious, and irritating negotiation ensued between the Dutch and the Emperor, but it was ' Art. V. 288 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. il. at last, chiefly through English mediation, concluded in November 1715. The treaty which was then signed, and confirmed by England, gave Holland the exclusive right of garrisoning Namur, Tournay, Menin, Furnes, Warneton, Ypres, and the fort of Knocke. The gar- rison of Dendermonde was to be a joint one. A sum of 500,000 crowns, levied on what were now the Austrian Netherlands, was to be annually paid by the Emperor to the Dutch for the support of the Dutch garrisons in the barrier towns, and several provisions were made regulating the number of the troops to be maintained, the municipal arrangements, and the religious liberty to be conceded. To the Emperor, who claimed an absolute right over the whole Spanish dominions, this arrangement was very irksome, and there was a strong ill-feeling between the Austrians and the Dutch, which by no means subsided on the conclusion of the treaty. A divided sovereignty almost necessarily led to con- stant difficulties. One of the Powers was despotic, the other was rather notoriously minute and pimctilious in its exactions. There were violent disputes between the inhabitants of the newly annexed territory and the Dutch on the question of commercial privileges. There were disputes about the frontiers. There were bitter complaints of the subsidy to the Dutch, and it was found necessary for the three Powers to make another convention, which was executed in December 1718, and which in several small details modified the treaty of 1715. Another and a much more serious danger arose from the relations between Austria and Spain. We have seen that when the Emperor at the time of the Peace of Utrecht resolved to continue the war, he determined, if possible, to contract its limits to the Rhine ; and he accordingly concluded with England and France a treaty of neutrality for Spain, Italy, and the Low Countries, CH. It. TREATY OF 1716. 289 and withdrew the Austrian troops from Catalonia and the islands of Majorca and Ivica. The short war that ensued was a war with France, and the Peace of Baden was negotiated between the Emperor and the French king, but no formal peace had ever been established between the Emperor and the King of Spain. The Emperor still refused to recognise the title of Philip to the Spanish throne. Philip still maintained his claims to the kingdom of Naples, the Milanese, and the Spanish Netherlands, which the Peace of Utrecht had transferred to Austria. War might at any time break out, and the chief pledge of peace lay in the exhaustion of both bel- ligerent parties, in the difficulties in which the Emperor was involved with the Turks, and in the guarantees which England, I'rance, and Holland had given for the maintenance of the chief arrangements of the peace. In May 1716, when the relations between England and France were still uncertain, a defensive alliance had been contracted between England and the Emperor, by which each Power guaranteed the dominions of the other in case of an attack by any Power except the Turks, and, by an additional and secret article subsequently signed, each Power agreed to expel from its territory the rebel subjects of the other. Of the arrangements of the Peace of Utrecht, one of the most obnoxious to the Empei'or was that which made the Duke of Savoy King of Sicily, with reversion of the kingdom of Spain in the event of a failure of male issue of Philip. The Austrian statesmen maintained that the kingdom of Naples never would be secure so long as Sicily was in the hands of a foreign and perhaps a hostile Power ; and they soon engaged in secret negotiations with England and France to induce or compel the Duke of Savoy to exchange Sicily for Sardinia. The project became known, and both the Duke of Savoy and the King of Spain were determined to resist it. On the other hand, VOL, I. U 290 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. it. a strange transformation had passed over the spirit and tendency of the Spanish Government. The first wife of Philip, who was a daughter of the Duke of Savoy, died in February 1714-15, and, a few months after, the King married Elizabeth Farnese, the young Princess of Parma — a bold and aspiring woman, who was bitterly hostile to the Austrian dominion in Italy, and who had some claims to the succession of Parma, Placentia, and Tuscany. The Sovereign of the first two Duchies had no son. The Queen of Spain was his niece, and she claimed the succession as a family inheritance, but her title was disputed by both the Emperor and the Pope. The Grand Duke of Tuscany had a son, but this son was without issue, and was separated from his wife, and the succession was claimed by Elizabeth Farnese, by the Emperor, and by the wife of the Elector Palatine. The anxiety of the Spanish Queen to claim this inheritance was greatly intensified by the birth of a son. She soon obtained an absolute dominion over the mind of the King, and her own policy was completely governed by an Italian priest, who, probably, only needed somewhat more fovourable circumstances to have played a part in the world in no degree inft^rior to that of liichelieu or Chatham. Cardinal Alberoni is one of the most striking of the many exam})les of the great value of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical organisation in forming a ladder by which men of genius can climb from the lowest positions to great dignity and influence. The son of a very poor and very illiterate gardener at Placentia, he was born in 1064, was taught to read and write by the charity of a parish priest, and having entered the order of the Barnabites and passed through the lowest forms of ecclesiastical drudgery, he was at length, with con- siderable difficulty, raised to the priesthood, and became in time chaphiin to the bishop of his diocese, and canon en. II. ALBERONI. 291 in its catlieclral. By the friendship of anotlier bishop he was bronofht to tlie Court of the reiffniiisr Duke of Parma, where he was introduced in 1702 to the Dulco of Vendome, wlio was then commandiiigf tlie French army in Italy, and whose warm attachment laid the foundation of his futui-e success. Few men without any advantaore either of birth or fortune have ever risen to great political eminence without drinking deeply of the cup of moral humiliation; and St. Simon, whose aristo- cratic leanings made him regard the low-boi'n adventurer witli peculiar malevolence, assures us, probably with some truth, that Alberoni first won the favour of Ven- dome by gross sycophancy and buffoonery. His small round figure, surmounted by a head of wholly dispro- portioned size, gave him at first sight a burlesque appearance. His language and habits were very coarse, and he possessed to the highest degree the supple and insinuating manners, the astute judgment, the patient, flexible, and intriguing temperament of his country and of his profession. But with these qualities he combined others of a very different order. He was the most skilful, laborious, and devoted of servants. His im- agination teemed with grand and daring projects, and in energy of action and genius of organisation very few statesmen have equalled him. For a time everything seemed to smile upon him. He was employed by the Duke of Parma in negotiations with the Emperor. He was presented by Vendome to Lewis XIV. He obtained a French pension ; he accompanied Vendome in his brilliant Spanish campaign ; he became the envoy of the Duke of Parma at the Spanish Court, and having taken a leading part in negotiating the second marriage of the King, he acquired a complete ascendency over the Queen, and directed Spanish policy for some time before he became ostensibly Prime Minister of Spain. His whole soul was filled with a passionate desire to u 2 292 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. ii. free his native country from Austrian thraldom, to raise Spain from the chronic decrepitude and debility into which she had sunk, and to make her, once more, the Spain of Isabella and of Charles V. The task was a Herculean one, for the national spirit had been for generations steadily declining. The finances were all but ruined, and corruption, maladminis- tration, and superstition had corroded all the energies of the State. The firm hand of a great statesman was, however, soon felt in every department. Amid a storm of unpopularity, corrupt and ostentatious expenditure was rigidly cut down. The nobles and clergy were compelled to contribute their share to taxation ; the army was completely reorganised ; a new and powerful navy was created. Pampeluna, Barcelona, Cadiz, Ferrol, and several minor strongholds were strengthened. The numerous internal custom-houses, which restricted in- land trade, were, witli some violence to local customs and to provincial privileges, summarily abolished. The lucrative monopoly of tobacco, which had been alienated from the State, and grossly abused, was resumed. Great pains were taken to revive agriculture and extend manu- factures ; in spite of the national hostility to heretics, Dutch manufacturers, and even English dyers, were brought over to Spain ; and the improvement effected was so rapid that Alberoni boasted, with much reason, that five years of peace would be sufficient to raise Spain to an equality with the greatest nations of the earth. At fii-st he was very favourable to the English alliance, and through his influence an advantageous commercial treaty was negotiated between England and Spain in 1715. Soon, however, the two Governments rapidly diverged. The treaty of mutual defence, made between the Emperor and England in 1716, was a great blow to Spanish policy, and the treaty between England, France, and the Netherlands, which speedily followed cu. II. THE TURKISH WAR. 293 was a still greater one. An attempt to expel the Austrians from Italy without the assistance of France, and in the face of the hostility of England, appeared hopeless. Alberoni would liave at least postponed the enterprise, but his hand was forced. He was surrounded with enemies, and could only maintain his position by constant address and audacity. The Queen, on whom he mainly depended, wished for war. The proceedings of the Emperor about Sicily, and the arrest of the Grand Inquisitor of Spain on his journey through Milan, ex- asperated the Spanish Court ; and a Turkish war, which had recently broken out, seemed to furnish a favourable opportunity. In 1715 the Turks, on the most frivolous pretexts, had broken the Peace of Carlowitz, had declared war with the Venetians, had conquered the Morea, and laid siege to Corfu, and, the Emperor having drawn the sword in defence of his ally, the war was now raging in Hungary. The position of Alberoni at this time became a very difficult one. The Pope was summoning all Catholic Powers to the defence of Christendom, and threatened severe spiritual penalties against all who attacked the Empei'or while engaged in the holy war. Alberoni was himself a priest, and he was at the head of a nation which was passionately superstitious, and beyond all others the hereditary enemy of the Moham- medan. He accordingly professed himself ready to assist in the defence of the Christian intei'ests, made great naval preparations ostensibly for that purpose, and obtained his cardinal's hat chiefly by a show of zeal in the cause, but at the same time there is little doubt that he was secretly both encouraging and aiding Turkish invasion. His hopes, however, were in a great degree disappointed. Schulenburg, one of the ablest of the military adventurers who in the eighteenth century lent their services in succession to many different nations, commanded the Venetians at Corfu, and after a terrible 294 KNULANl) IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. ii. siege, and in spite of prodigies of undisciplined valour/ the Turks were obliged to abandon their enterprise with the loss of about 17,000 men, of fifty-six cannon, of all their magazines and tents. Nearly at the same time, Eugene, at the head of an army far inferior in numbers to that of the enemy, completely routed them in the great battle of Peterwardein, drove them beyond the frontier of Hungary, secured the possession of the Banat, and laid siege to Belgrade, The Austrian forces were, however, for a considerable time arrested, and at the time when the Spaniards began their contest, a considerable pro- portion of them were employed in that quarter. Albe- I'oni at the same time was indefatigable in efforts to raise up allies, or to paralyse the Powers which were hostile to him. He obtained a promise of assistance from the Duke of Savoy by offering him the Milanese instead of Sicily. He intrigued alike with the discon- tented party in Hungary, in Naples, and in the Cevennes. He met the hostility of the Regent by reviving the claims of IMiilip to the eventual succession of the French crown, and supporting the party of the Duke of Maine, who was opposed to the Regent and to the English alliance, and who desired tofollowthe policy of Lewis XIV. He endeavoured to intimidate England into neutrality by suspending the connnercial privileges that had been granted her, and by threatening to support the Jacobite cause with a Spanish army. Another and still more gigantic project, if it was not originated, was at least warmly supported by him. The North of Europe had long been convulsed by the contest between Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great, the two most amliitious monarchs of the age. ' ' II ne manque a ces f^ons-la Schulenburp; to Loibnitz. Kem- quo rorilif et la discipline mili- blc's State Pcqjers, p. 540. tairo et ils nous battroient tous.' — c'li. II. THE NOIITIIKKN CONl'KnEUATlON. 295 Goertz, the ministtn- of" the former — a bold, adventurous, and unscrupulous uian — now conceived the idea of ne- gotiating a peace and an alliance between these two sovereigns, and of making them the arbiters of the North. In order to make this peace it was necessary for Charles to relinquish to Russia the Baltic provinces which had so long been in dis]3ute, but he could obtain compensations on the side of Denmark, Norway, and Germany, and he could gratify his long-continued re- sentment against the King of Poland and the Elector of Hanover. His animosity against the latter dates from the time when George, without provocation, had joined the confederation against him, and had annexed to his German dominions Bremen and Verden. On other grounds the Czar fully shared his hatred of the English King. George had watched with great and unconcealed jealousy the incursions of the Czar into Germany, and liis growing power on the Baltic. He had prevented, by the threat of war, a Russian expedition against Mecklenburg in 1716, and he had refused to permit a canal, from which the Czar expected great commercial advantages, to pass through a small part of his German dominions. Through combined motives of policy and resentment, the Czar lent a willing ear to the project of the Swedish minister, while Charles threw himself into it with characteristic ardour. His plan was to wrest from Denmark and Hanover the conquests they had made, to ruin the Hanoverian power, to replace Augus- tus by Stanislaus on the throne of Poland, to invade England or Scotland in person with a Swedish army transported in Russian ships, and to change the whole tenor of English policy by a restoration of the Stuarts. It was a scheme well fitted to fascinate that wild imagri- nation, and it was full of danger to England. A very small army of disciplined soldiers would probably have turned the scale against the Government in 1715, and 296 ENGLAND IN THE EIGnTEENTH CENTURY, en. ii. Charles was a great master of the art of war, and he was fi'ee from the taint of Catholicism, which in general so fatally weakened the Jacobite cause. The great diffi- culty lay in the poverty of the two sovereigns ; but Alberoni, whose influence was actively employed in promoting the alliance, strained every nerve to supply the funds. Peter, in a journey to France, tried to in- duce France to join against England, but the Regent was steadily loyal to the English alliance, and it is said to have been through his spies that the English mini- sters were first informed of the plot that was preparing. Letters were intercepted, which disclosed the design. The Government promptly arrested Gyllenborg, the Swedish ambassador at St. James's, while, at the insti- gation of England, the Dutch arrested Goertz, who was in Holland concocting the plans of the future expedi- tion. The Spanish ambassador protested against these proceedings as a violation of the laws of nations, but the letters found in the possession of Gyllenborg fur- nished such decisive evidence that no other Power joined him. The Czar, who was not implicated in the correspondence, protested his friendship to England. The King of Sweden took refuge in a haughty silence, but retaliated by throwing the English envoy into prison. The disclosure of the plot rendered its execu- tion more difficult, but by no means averted the danger which, partly through the intrigues of Alberoni, hung over the fortunes of England, The arrest of the Swedish ambassador took place on January 20, 1716-17, In the following summer a Spanish fleet sailed from Barcelona, Though its destina- tion was uncertain, it was most generally believed that it was intended to act against the Turks, and all Europe was startled to hear that on August 22 (N.S.) it had swept down upon Sardinia, that a large body of Spanish troops had landed and invested Cagliari, and that they CH. II. ALBERONl'S WAR POLICY. 297 were advancing rapidly in the conquest of tlio island. After about two months of hard lighting the conquest was achieved, and the Austrian flag had everywhere dis- appeared. The perplexity of the Great Powers was very serious. Though no peace had been made between the Emperor and the Spanish king, hostilities had been dormant, and the act of Alberoni kindled a new war. The Pope strongly denounced the conduct of a states- man who attacked a Christian Power while engaged in wars with Mohammedans. England had guaranteed the Austrian dominions in Italy, and, supported by- France and Holland, she laboured earnestly to bring about a definite peace between the Empire and Spain. Alberoni consented to negotiate, but at the same time he actively armed. Statesmen who had looked upon the Spanish power as almost effete, saw with bewilder- ment the new forces that seemed to start into life, as beneath the enchanter's wand. A fleet such as Spain had hardly equalled since the destruction of the Armada was equip})ed. Catalonia had been hitherto bitterly- hostile to the Bourbon dynasty, but Alberoni boldly threw himself upon the patriotism and the martial ardour of its people, summoned them around the Spanish flag, and formed six new regiments of the Catalonian mountaineers. Many years later the elder Pitt dealt in a precisely similar way with the Jacobite clans in the Highlands of Scotland, and the success of this measure is justly regarded as one of the great proofs of the high quality of his statesmanship. By a skilful and strictly- honest management of the finances, by a rigid economy in all the branches of unnecessary expenditure, it was found possible to make the most formidable prepara- tions without imposing any very serious additional bur- den upon the people, while at the same time Spanish diplomacy was active and powerful from StocLcholm to Constantinople. 298 ENGLAND IN TIIK KKiHTKKNTII CENTURY. .11. 11. Hitherto fortune li.id for the most part favoured Alberoni, but the scaU' now turned, and a long succes- sion of cahimities blasted his prospects. His design was to pass at once from Sardinia into the kingdom of Naples in conjunction with the new Sovereign of Sicily ; but, within a few days of the landing of the Spaniards in Sardinia, Eugene had completely defeated the Turks in a great battle at lielgrade, and the capture of that town enabled the Emperor to secure Naples by a power- ful reinfoi-cement. The defection of the King of Sicily speedily followed. The whole career of Victor Amadeus had been one of sagacious treachery, and, without de- cisively abandoning the Spaniards or committing him- self to the Austrians, he was now secretly negotiating with the Emperor. Alberoni knew or suspected the change, and met it with equal art and with superior energy. He still professed a warm friendship for the Savoy prince. A Spanish fleet of 22 ships of the. line with more than oOO transports, and carrying no less than 33,000 men, was now afloat in the Mediterranean ; and, at a time when Victor Amadeus imagined it was about to descend upon Naples, it unexpectedly attacked Sicily, which was left almost untlefended and a Spanish army, under the command of the Marquis of Lede, captured Palermo, and speedily ovei'ran almost the whole island. This, however, was the last gleam of success. In July 1718, the very month in wliich the Spaniards landed in Sicily, the war between the Austrians and the Turks was concluded, chiefly through English mediation, by the Peace of Passarowitz ; the Austrian frontier was extended far into Servia and Wallachia, and the whole Austrian forces were liberated. Eno-land had long been negotiating in order to obtain peace in Italy, or, iailing in this end, to form an alliance which would overpower the aggressor, and she succeeded in at least attaining the latter end by inducing Austria and France to join CH. II, QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE. 200 lior in what, under the expectation of tlie accession of the Dutch, was called the Quadi'uple Alliance, for the purpose of maintaining the Peace of Utrecht, and guaranteeing the tranquillity of Europe. It was con- cluded in the beginning of July, but not signed till the beginning of August. By this most important measure, the Emperor at last reluctantly agreed to renounce his pretensions to the kingdom of Spain, and to all other parts of the Spanish dominions recognised as such by the Peace of Utrecht. Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia were acknowledged to be male fiefs of the Empire, but the Emperor engaged that their sovereignty, on the death of the reigning princes, should pass to Don Carlos, the son of the Spanish Queen, and to his successors, subject to the reservation of Leghorn as a free port, and also to the condition that the crowns of these Duchies should never pass to the Sovereign of Spain. To secure the succession of Don Carlos, Swiss garrisons, paid by the three contracting or mediating Powers, were to be placed in the chief towns. On the other hand, Philip was to be compelled to renounce his pretensions to the Netherlands, to the Two Sicilies, and to the Duchy of Milan ; Victor Amadeus was to cede Sicily to the Em- peror in exchange for Sardinia, while, as a compensation for the sacrifice thus made, the Emperor acknowledged the succession of the House of Savoy to the Spanish throne, in the event of the failure of the issue of Philip. The contracting Powers agreed by separate and secret articles that if in three months the Sovereigns of Spain and Sicily did not notify their assent to these conditions, the whole force of the allied potentates was to be em- ployed against them, and that even within this interval they would support the Emperor if any attack was made on his Italian dominions. The very favourable terms which were offered by this alliance to the Spanish Government show how for- 300 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. midable the situation had become. The English Govern- ment, at the advice of Stanhope, even went so for, in their anxiety for peace, as secretly to offer Spain the restoration of Gibraltar. The refusal of these terms was the master error of Alberoni, and the sacrifice of such considerable positive advantages, in pursuit of a policy which could only succeed by a concurrence of many favourable circumstances, showed more the spirit of a daring gambler than of a great statesman. The blame has been thrown exclusively upon Alberoni, though it is probable that part, at least, should fall on those upon whose favour he depended. At the time when the terms were fii'st offered, the expedition against Sicily was pre- pared, the Spaniards were sanguine of being able to organise such a fleet as would give them the command of the Mediterranean, and there was some reasonable prospect of re-establishing the Spanish dominion in Italy. The Pope was at this time violently hostile to Spain, and the combination of forces against it secured by the Quadruple Alliance appeared at first sight irre- sistible, but there were many considerations whicli served to weaken it. Holland was only desirous of peace, and as long as the war was confined to the Medi- terranean it was very improbable that she would take any active part in it. The alliance of France with England against the grandson of Lewis XIV. was utterly opposed to French traditions and to French feeling. The health of the young King was very precarious. His death would probably be followed by a disputed succes- sion, and during his lifetime there was a strong party opposed to the Regent. If, as there was some reason to anticipate, this party triumphed, France would imme- diately disappear from the alliance, and her weight would pass into the Spanish scale. England had taken the most energetic part in the negotiation, and she looked with great jealousy on the formidable navy which en. II. MISFORTUNES OF SPAIN. 301 had arisen in the Spanish waters ; but in this case also everything depended on the contimiance of a tottering dynasty, and if the great Northern alliance burst upon her, her resources would be abundantly occupeid at home. Such were probably the calculations of the Spanish Court, and the successes in Sicily, and the safe arrival of a fleet of galleons bringing a large supply of gold from the colonies, strengthened its determination. The result was the utter ruin of the reviving greatness of Spain. On August 22 the British fleet, commanded by Admiral Byng, attacked, and, aiter a desperate en- counter, almost annihilated, the Spanish fleet off Cape Passaro, in the neighbourhood of Syracuse. The Spaniards complained bitterly that this step had been taken without a declaration of war, when the three months allowed by the Quadruple Alliance had but just begun ; but it was answered with reason that the in- vasion of Sicily clearly endangered the territorial ar- rangements that had been made by the allied Powers, and that Stanhope had fully warned Alberoni that no such act would be permitted by England. In the be- ginning of November, Victor Amadeus acceded to the Quadruple Alliance, and all hope of assistance in that quarter was at an end. In December a ball fired from the obscure Norwegian fortress of Frederikshall cut down Charles XII., in the very flower of his age, when he was just about to organise his expedition against England. No more terrible blow could have fallen on the Spanish statesman. The Government which fol- lowed, at once reversed the policy of Charles. Goertz was brought to the scaftbld. The Czar made no attempt to execute the project which his rival had begun, and in the following year a treaty was made between Han- over and Sweden, by which, in consideration of a money payment, the cession of Bremen and Verden to tlie former was fully recognised. 302 EN(iLAXD IN THE EiailTKENTH CEMURY, cii. ii. Nor was this all. Alberoni, with characteristic daring, emleavuurod, evon after the deatli of Charles, to strike down the hostile Governments both in France and England. The strong party in France which was opposed to the English alliance had formed the bold design of seizing the person of the Regent, carrying him prisoner into Spain, and conferring the regency upon Philip, who was content that the power should be actually exercised by the Duke of Maine. The Duke, or rather the Duchess, was at the head of the con- spiracy, wliich comprised several men of great import- ance and influence. The most conspicuous wei'e the Cardinal de Polignac, the well-known author of the ' Anti-Lucrece,' who had received a cardinal's hat through the influence of the Pretender, and had repre- sented France in the conferences of Gertruydenberg and of Utrecht ; the young Duke of ilichelieu, famous alike for his courage and his intrigues, who promised to place Bayonne, where he was garrisoned, in the hands of the Spaniards, and to head a rising in the South ; the Comte de Laval, a man of great energy and influence, who was devotedly attached to the Duchess of Maine ; and the Marquis of Pompadour, who was a passionate worshipper of the memory and policy of the late King. All the more ardtMit followers of Lewis XIV. had seen with great indignation the accession of France to the Quad- ruple Alliance negotiated by England against Spain. The complete reversal of French policy was, undoubtedly, distasteful to the nation, and the Regent was personally unpopular, both with the nobles and with the people. His authority was of very doubtful legitinuicy, for he had completely disregarded the restrictions on the re- gency imposed by the will of the late King, and had also deprived the Duke of Maine of the position of guardian to the young Sovereign, which Lewis had assigned him. He was accused, though, no doubt, un- cii. ti, PLANS OF ALBEROXI DEFEATED. 303 truly, of having poisoned the late Dauphin, and of medi- tating the death of the feeble boy who stood between him and the throne ; and, with much more justice, of having in foreign affairs sacrificed to his own personal interest the national and traditional policy of France, The ascendency of Dubois, and the growing influence of Law, excited many jealousies. Brittany had been bi'ought by fiscal oppression to the verge of revolt, and, if the plot succeeded, there was no doubt that the Par- liament of Paris would gladly pronounce the renuncia- tion of Philip to be invalid, and declare him to be the next heir to the French throne. Alberoni threw him- self ai'dently into the conspiracy, and the Spanish am- bassador and a Spanish priest named Portocarrero, a relative of the famous cardinal minister of Charles II., took a leading part in organising it. It was, however, soon discovered. Intercepted letters revealed its nature and extent. The Duke and Duchess of Maine and the other leading conspirators were imprisoned or exiled. A violent rupture had just at this time taken place between the Spanish minister and the French ambassa- dor at Madrid, and the latter had hastily leit the capital, and with great difficulty reached the frontier. The Spanish ambassador at Paris was arrested, aiid papers of the most compromising description having been found in his possession, he was conducted speedily under escort to Blois. The revolt in Brittany, whicli suddenly broke out, was extinguished before the Spanish fleet sent to its assistance could be of any avail, and the Regent and the King of England almost simultaneously declared war against Spain. The Cardinal was equally unfortunate in his mea- sures against England. The death of Charles XII. seemed to have blasted every hope of, at this time, overthrowing the Hanoverian dynasty ; but Alberoni still presented a bold front to his enemies, and his 004 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. en. ii. courage only rose the higher as the tempest darkened around his path. Despairing of assistance from the North, he resolved to place himself at the head of Eng- lish Jacobitism, and to make one more effort to paralyse his most formidable opponent. He invited the Pre- tender to Madrid. With an energy really wonderful after the events in the Mediterranean, he collected a small fleet of men-of-war, with some twenty transports, at Cadiz, embarked about 5,000 men, and despatched tliem, with arms for 30,000 more, to raise the Jacobites in Scotland. Ormond was to join the expedition, as commander, at Corunna. But French spies discovered the plan. The French Government sent speedy infor- mation to that of England, and the ministers took pre- cautions that showed their sense of the magnitude of the danger. Fearing the inadequacy of their own re- sources, they invited over Austrian and Dutch troops from the Netherlands for the protection of England. The fleet was hastily equipped, and a reward of 10,OOOL was offered for the ap})rehension of Ormond. But the danger had already passed. A great storm in the Bay of Biscay scattered and ruined the Spanish fleet, and the captains deemed themselves only too happy if they could conduct their dismantled and disabled vessels back to some Spanish port. Two ships, containing 300 Spanish soldiers and a few Scotch nobles, outrode the tempest, and reached Scotland in safety, where they were joined by about 2,000 Highlanders. For a time they evaded pursuit, and even notice, in the mountain fastnesses, but on June 10 they were attacked in the valley of Glenshiel and easily crushed. All hope was now over; Spain had not an ally in the world ; her navy was anniliilated ; three of the greatest European Powers were combined against her; her best army was penned up in Sicily, and she could not enroll more than 15,000 men fur lier own defence CH. II. DOWNFALL OF ALBERONL 305 when a French army of 40,000 men, under the command of Berwick, had penetrated into her territory. Berwick, by the great victory of Ahnanza, had formerly contri- buted largely to place the sceptre in the hand of Philip. He was the illegitimate son of James II., and, there- fore, the brother of the prince whom Philip was now endeavouring to place upon the throne of England, and one of his own sons had entered into the Spanish service, and had been rewarded by a Spanish dukedom. He was, however, beyond all things a soldier, and an almost stoical sentiment of military duty subdued every natural affection. He accepted without hesitation the command \vhich had been refused by Villars, invaded Navarre, subdued the whole province of Guipuscoa, burnt the arsenal and the ships of war that were building at Pas- sages, and afterwards attacked Catalonia. The arsenal of Santona was destroyed ; an English squadron harassed the Spanish coast, and a detaclmient of English soldiers stormed and captured Vigo. The Austrian army drove the now isolated army in Sicily, after a brave, and in one instance successful, resistance, from all its posts. Nothing remained but submission, and there was one sacrifice which would make it comparatively easy. All classes now turned their resentment against Alberoni. The jealousy of the nobles, the anger of the provinces at his violent reforms and his neglect of provincial privileges, the arrogance which power and overstrained nerves had produced, the patriotic indignation springing from the disasters he had brought upon Spain, had made him bitterly unpopular, and numerous intrigues were hastening his inevitable downfall. The influence of the Regent and of Dubois, the influence of Peter- borough, who was then in close communication with the Duke of Parma, the influence of the King's confessor, and the influence of the Queen's nurse, were all made VOL. I. X 306 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. use of, and they soon succeeded. On Decemljer 5, 1719, he received an order dismissing him from all his em- ployments, and banishing him from the Spanish soil. Many of the Spanish nobles showed him in this hour of his disgrace a rare consideration, but the King and Queen refused even to see him, and a letter which he wrote remained wholly unnoticed. On his way to the frontier he was arrested, and some important papers which he had appropriated we-i-e taken back to Madrid. He was conducted through France, and sailed from thence to Italy, exclaiming bitterly against the ingrati- tude of the Sovereigns he had so long and so faithfully served. He intended to proceed to Rome, but Pope Clement XI., whom he had deeply offended, forbade him to enter it, and for some time he lived in complete concealment. A copy of the ' Imitation ' of Thomas a Kempis which shows by its marginal notes that it was at this time his constant companion was long preserved in the Ducal Library of Parma. The hostility of the Spanish Court pursued him, and there were even some steps taken towards depriving liim of his cardinal's hat. On the death, however, of Clement XI. he was invited to assist at the conclave, and, after a short period of seclusion in a monastery, he was admitted into warm favour by Innocent XIII. On the death of that Pope he received ten votes in the conclave. He quarrelled with Benedict XIII., and was obliged during his pontificate to leave Rome, but he returned to high favour under Clement XII. ; was appointed legate at Ravenna, where he dis- tinguished himself by his great works of drainage, and also by a furious quarrel with the little State of San Marino, and was afterwards removed to the legation of Bologna. He at last retired from afiairs, and died in 1 752 at the great age of eighty-eight, bequeathing the bulk of his fortune to the foundation of a large institu- CH. II. SIGNIFICANCE OF ALBPJRONl's CAREER. 307 tion near Placentia for the education of his needy fellow- citizens.* So ended a career which was certainly one of the most remarkable of the eighteenth century. Had there been more of moral principle and less of the reckless- ness of a gambler in the nature of Alberoni, he would have deserved to rank among the greatest of statesmen. He was, however, singularly unfortunate in the latter part of his public life, and his fall was, with good reason, a matter of rejoicing throughout Europe. Per- haps no part of his history is more curiously significant than its close. We can hardly have a more striking illustration of the decline of the theological spirit in Europe than^ the fact that the Pope was unable to re- strain a Christian nation from attacking the Emperor when engaged in the defence of Christendom against the Turks; that the nation which perpetrated this, which a few generations before would have been deemed the most inexpiable of all crimes, was Spain, under the guidance of a cardinal of the Church, and that this cardi- nal lived to be the favourite and the legate of the Pope. With the dismissal of Alberoni the troubles ^ of Europe gradually subsided. Philip, after a short nego- tiation, acceded to the Quadruple Alliance, and Sicily and Sardinia were speedily evacuated. Many difficulties of detail, however, and many hesitations remained, and ' See the Hist, dit Cardinal Alberoni by J. Eousset ; the notices of Alberoni in the Me- moirs of St. Simon and Du- clos, and in the Letters of the President de Brosses ; his own apologies printed in the Nouvellc Biographie Ginerale (art. ' Albe- roni ') ; the Stanhope correspond- ence, in the appendix to the second volume of Lord Stan- hope's History of England ; Vol- taire's Hist, de Charles XIL, and especially the admirable history of Alberoni in Coxe's Memoirs of the Spanish Kings of the House of Bourbon, vol. ii. In private life Alberoni seems to have been irreproachable, and many of the charges St. Simon and others have brought against him have been successfully re- futed. 308 ENdl.AND IN THE EKiHTEENTIl CENTURY. cii. ii. the negotiations still drafjfged slowly on for some years. A congress was held at Cambray in 172'1', and several new treaties of alliance wore made confirming or eluci- dating the Quadruple Alliance. The singular good for- tune of the Wliig ministry during the struggle I hav(^ described is very evident. The Hanoverian policy of the King on the question of Bremen and Verden had exposed England to a danger of the most serious kind ; and, but for the premature death of Charles XII., and the steady, unwavering loyalty of the French Regent to an alliance which was entirely opposed to the traditions of French policy, it might easily have proved fatal to the dynasty. The general result of the foreign policy of England was undoubtedly very favourable to the Whig cause. The Whig party completed the work which the Peace of Utrecht had left unfulfilled ; the commanding position which England occupied in the course of the struggles tliat have been related, and the very large amount of success she achieved, added to the reputation of the country ; the pacification of Europe, and especially the alliance with France, withdrew from the Jacobites all immediate prospect of foreign assistance, and without such assistance it was not likely that Jacobite insurgents could successfully encounter disciplined armies. Several clouds, it is true, still hung upon the horizon. In the North the storm of war raged for some time after it was ap])eased in the South. In 1710 Carteret was sent as English ambassador to Stockholm, and in 1720 he succeeded in negotiating an alliance between England and Sweden. By the mediation of England, Sweden made in turn treaties of peace with Hanovei-, Pi'ussia, Denmark, and Poland ; but tlie war with the Czar continued, and the Swedish coast, in spite of the presence of a British fleet, was fearfully devas- tated. Peace w^as at last made in this quarter at Nystadt in September 1721, on terms extremely favourable to en. It. PROrOSED CESSION OF GIBRALTAR. 309 Russia and extremely disastrous to Sweden, A bitter jealousy had arisen between the Empire and the mari- time Powers on account of the Ostend Company, estab- lished by the former, to trade with the East Indies. The question of the cession of Gibraltar to Spain, which had been imprudently raised during the late war, con- tinued in a very unsatisfactory state. The obscure and secret negotiation which had at that time been carried on, partly through the intervention of the French Re- gent, led, as might have been expected, to grave mis- understanding. The English Government maintained that the offer had been made only in order to avert war with Spain, and that the hostilities which followed an- nulled it.^ The Spanish Government treated the offer as unconditional, and declared that as soon as peace was restored England was bound to cede the fortress. The French Regent, through whose hands some of the nego- tiations passed, on the whole, supported the Spanish de- mand. ^ Much negotiation on the subject took place. Propositions were made for an exchange of Gibraltar for Florida, but they found no favour with the Spanish Court. Stanhope, though apparently willing to cede Gibraltar, soon perceived that the English Parliament would never consent, and there was much agitation in the country at the suspicions that such a project had been entertained. But George I., who appears to have been perfectly indifferent to Gibraltar, wrote a letter to the King of Spain in June 1721, which afterwards gave rise to very grave complications. Having spoken of the prospect of a cordial union between the two nations, he added, ' I do no longer balance to assure your Majesty of my readiness to satisfy you with regard to your de- mand touching the restitution of Gibraltar, promising you to make use of the first favourable opportunity to regulate this article with the assent of my Parliament.' This letter, wliich was for some years kept secret, was 310 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ii. very naturally regarded as a iull admission of the claims of the Spanish King, and, as we shall see, it hereafter led to serious dangers.' The temporary abdication of Philip in favour of his son in 1 724 gave rise to some new and dangerous complications ; and in the same year Ripperda greatly modihed the foreign policy of Spain, and brought matters to the verge of a general war. Still for some years the world enjoyed a real though a precarious peace, and the firm alliance be- tween England and Fi-ance, which gave security to Western Europe, enabled the Whig pai-ty in England to consolidate its power, and the Hanoverian dynasty to strike its roots somewhat deeper in the English soil. The violent hostility of the Church party to the Government was at the same time slowly subsiding, and the influence of the Church itself was diminished. The persistent Catholicism of the Pretender, the Latitu- dinarian or Low Church appointments of the Govern- ment, and the great increase of religious scepticism modified the state of Church feeling. The causes of the religious scepticism of the eighteenth century I shall hereafter examine, but it may here be noticed how very (b'fferent at different times are the effects of scepticism u})on the spirit of Churches. When it is not very vio- lent, aggressive, or dogmatic, and when it produces no serious convulsion in society, its usual tendency is to lower enthusiasm and to diminish superstition. Men l)ecome half-believers. Strong religious passions of all kinds die away. The more superstitious elements of re- ligious systems are toned down, unrealised, and silently ' See on this negotiation Coxe's letter was negatived in the Com- Life of Walpole, i. 301-309 ; mens (Jan. 23), i)ut in Marcli 'R&\]}h.'' s Use and Abuse of Parlia- 1720, when George II. was on 97ic7igislation would speedily relieve them from their disabilities, all the Dissenters in the House of Commons voted for the Bill.^ The patriotism of the course wdiich they pursued w\as then fully recog- nised, and some attempts were made at the time to re- ' Burnet's Oton Times, i. 317-348. en. II, THE TEST ACT. 321 lieve them from a part of the burdens to which they were liable, but they were frustrated by the lateness of the session and by certain difficulties which had arisen in the House of Lords. Such were the circumstances under which the Test Act was carried. That such a law, cai'ried in such a manner, should have continued when the Revolution was firmly established ; that it should have survived a period of forty-five years of unbroken Whig ascendency ; that it should have outlived the elder and have been defended by the younger Pitt, and that it should have been re- served for Lord John Russell to procure its repeal, is surely one of the most striking instances of national in- gratitude in history. William, in whose reign, as Swift bitterly complained, the maxim had come into fashion ' that no man ought to be denied the liberty of serving his country upon account of a different belief in matters of speculative opinion,' had done everything in his power to procure the abolition of the test, but great majorities in Parliament defeated his intention. Stanhope had entertained the same desire, and such a measm'e actually formed part of a Bill which was carried through its second reading in 1718, but the opposition was so strong that the clauses referring to the Test and Corporation Acts were struck out in Committee ; and the premature death of Stanhope prevented their speedy revival. The Dissenters were now organising rapidly with a view to obtaining relief; and Hoadly, Kennett, and several others of the more liberal Anglicans, seconded them ; but Walpole, though he was personally favourable to the measure, and though the Dissenters had steadily supported him, shrank to the last from provoking a new ebullition of Church fanaticism. They at last lost patience, and had a measure for the repeal brought for- ward in 1736; but Walpole, in a very moderate and conciliatory speech, while expressing much sympathy VOL. I. Y 322 ENGLAND IN THE EKiriTEKNTIl CENTURy. ch. ii. for the Dissenters, pronounced the motion ill-timed, and, through the opposition of the Whig Government, it was tlu'own out by 251 to 128. Tlie measure was agrain brougrht forward in 1739, at a time which seemed peculiarly favourable, for the Tory party had lately seceded from Parliament, leaving the conduct of afiairs wholly in the hands of the Whigs. But the Govern- ment was still inflexible, and the measure was defeated in an exclusively Whig House by 188 to 89. It was, probably, about this time that a deputation of Noncon- formists, headed by Dr. Chandler, had an interview with Walpole, and remonstrated with liim on the course he w\as pursuing in spite of his repeated assurances of good- will and his repeated intimations that he would some day assist in procuring the repeal. The minister, as usual, answered the deputation that, whatever were his private inclinations, the time had not arrived. ' You have so often returned this answer,' said Dr. Chandler, ' that I trust you will give me leave to ask when the time will come ? ' 'If you require a specific answer,' replied Walpole, with a somewhat imprudent candour, ' I will give it you in a word — never.' • But although the dread of an ebullition of Church feeling like that which destroyed the great ministry of Godolphin induced the Whigs to maintain the Test Act, yet something was done to remove the reproach of in- tolerance from the English name. The Schism Act, which restricted the education of the Dissenters, and the Occasional Conformity Act, which was intended to restrict their political power, were both repealed in 1718; but, in order to prevent a repetition of the scan- dal which had been given by Sir Humphrey Edwin in the reitrn of William, a clause was at the same time enacted providing that no mayor or bailiff or other magistrate > Coxe's Walpole, i. 608. See, too, Doddridge's Diary, iii. 365, 366. CH. II. ACTS OF INDEMNITY. 323 should attend a meeting-house with the ensigns of office, under pain of being disqualified from holding any public office.' In the debates on tliis occasion Hoadly and Kennett were conspicuous in their advocacy of the Dis- senters, but the Archbishops of Canterbury and York were both opposed to the repeal of the Acts of Anne. The Government silentlv favoured the Nonconformist interests by its steady promotion, both in Church and State, of Latitudinai-ians and Whigs. It secured the Protestant Dissenters in Ireland a Toleration Act con- siderably more liberal than that of England. It en- deavoured, though without success, to free the Irish Dissenters from the Test Act, and it gradually relaxed the administration of the English Act to such a degree that it became almost nugatory. The original Act of Charles II. enjoined that every official should receive the Ansrlican Sacrament within three months after his admission into office, but the time of grace was extended under George I. to six months. Soon after, the policy was adopted of passing annual bills of indemnity in favour of those who had accepted office but had not taken the Sacrament within the required time. There is something in this device which is curiously cha- racteristic of the course of English legislation, and especially of the policy of Walpole. The broad rule, that no one should hold office under the Crown without taking the Anglican Sacrament within six months of his accession, remained. The stigma upon the Dissenters was unremoved. The Indemnity Acts, on the face of them, had no reference to conscientious scruples, for they purported only to relieve those who, ' through ignorance of the law, absence, or unavoidable accident,' had omitted to qualify, and it was only by a very liberal interpretation that the relief was extended to those who ' 5 George I. c. 4. T 2 324 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. it. abstained IVoiii conscieiilious motives. The Acts applied only to those who were actually in office or in corpora- tions, and in elections to corporate offices where previous contbrniity was required it was still open to any in- dividual to object to a Dissenting candidate, and such an objection rendered invalid all votes that were given to him.* A few scrupulous Nonconformists considered it wrong to avail themselves of the permission of the Legislature to break the law, or to be guilty of what Lord North pronounced to be 'a mental fraud ' by sheltering their conscientious scruples under a law which professed only to give relief to the careless, the io'norant, or the absent. Manv instances were cited in which Dissenting candidates were excluded from cor- porations, because previous to tlxe election, notice had been given that they had not fulfilled the requirement of the law bv receivino; the Sacrament in an Anglican Church within the preceding j^ear, and those who ob- tained office enjoyed only a precarious liberty, depending upon the ai:inual vote of Parliament.^ But when all these qualifications have been made, the fact remains that through the operation of the Indemnity Acts a OTeat number of the Dissenters were admitted to offices and corporations, and were admitted without exciting any fei'ment in the community. The first Indemnity Act was passed in 1727, and, with a few exceptions, a similar Act was passed eveiy year till the Test Act was repealed in 1828. Another branch of the religious policy of the Whigs was intended to meet the scruples of the Quakers. When the temporary Act making their solemn atfirma- tion equivalent, in all civil cases, to an oath, was made ' See Pari. Hist. (New Series) tical operation of tlie Test Act 13 xviii. 089, 726. in a collection called The Test -' The fullest information I Act Reporter (3rd ed. 1829). have met with about the prac- CH. II. QUAKER GRIEVANCES. 325 perpetual in 1715, an mnendment was introduced by tlie Lords, and accepted by the Commons, extending the Act to Scotland and, for a limited period, to the colonies.^ An o2:)inion, however, soon grew up among tlie Quakers that to affirm ' in the presence of Almighty God' was not less sinful than to swear, and a Bill was accordingly introduced by the Government in 1721, providing a new form of affirmation, from which the obnoxious words were omitted.^ A portion of the London clergy petitioned against the Bill, and the two Archbishops opposed it, but it was carried by a large majority. Another measure was less successful. The Acts providing a cheap method of levying tithes were not compulsory, and it was still in the power of the clergy to carry their tithe cases before the Exchequer or Ecclesiastical Courts, and thus to inflict on the Quakers heavy costs and imprisonment. That this coui'se was actually adopted to a very considerable extent appears from the petitions of the Quakers, who stated that not less than 1,180 of their number had, since the passing of the Relief Acts, been prosecuted for tithes in the Ex- chequer, Ecclesiastical, or other courts in England and Wales ; that 302 of them had been committed to prison, and that nine had died prisoners. They added that ' these prosecutions, though fi-equently commenced for trivial sums, from 4s. to 5s., and the greater part of them for sums not exceeding 40s., have been attended with such heavy costs and rigorous exactions that above 800^. have been taken from ten persons when the original demands upon all of them collectively did not amount to 15/.' ^ Walpole, who, in his elections, had been brought in much contact with Quakers, warmly ' 1 George I. ii. 0. Gough's ' Bogue and Bennett's Hist. Hist, of the Quakers, iv. IGl. of Dissenters, ii. 128. Gough's '-' 8 George I. c. G. Hist, of Quakers, iv. 279-302. 326 ENGLAND IN THE EKillTKEXTII CENTURY. CH. il. o\ supported their deuiiuul that the simplest metliod levying tithes should be the only method, and a Bill embodying this principle passed easily through the House of Commons. A great agitation, however, then arose among the clergy. They contended that the security of tithes would be diminished, and that it was necessary to deter those who refused to pay them, by the infliction of heavy fines, and it was suggested with whimsical ingenuity that there might be persons who, believing tithes to be of divine origin, would think it wrong to enforce their claims before any but an Eccle- siastical Court, and would in consequence be pei'secuted if they were obliged to resort to the magistrates.^ The Bishop of London led tlie opposition ; fourteen other bishops voted agamst the Bill, and the Chancellor having taken the same side, the measure, to the great indigna- tion of Walpole, was rejected in the Lords. The next class of questions bearing in some degree upon religious lilierty were those relating to the natu- ralisation of foreign Protestants and of Jews. The proposal to naturalise foreign Protestants upon their taking the oaths and receiving the Sacrament in any Protestant Church, which had l)een carried in 1709 and repealed in 1712, was brought forward by Mr. Nugent in 1745, and again in 1751. An alarm which had at this time been spread about an alleged decrease of po]3ulation through excessive drinking greatly favoured it,^ and on the latter occasion it was warmly su])ported }>y Pelham, who was then at the head of the Govern- ment, and it was carried successfully through its earlier stages. It soon, however, appeared that a ])Owerful combination of influences was opposed to it. The City of London, fearing a dangerous rivalry in trade, led the op})Osition, and although petitions from Liverpool Pari. lEst. ix. 1165-1219. ^ gee Walpole's Gmrge II. i. 44, 45. CH. II. THE JEWS IN ENGLAND. 327 and Bristol, and from some London merchants, were pre- sented in its favour, the balance of mercantile opinion seems to have been against it. The Church dreaded an accession to the forces of Dissent, and the strong popu- lar antipathy to foreigners was speedily aroused. The death of the Prince of Wales led to a slight postpone- ment of the Bill, and the petitions against it were so numerous and so urgent that the minister thought it advisable silently to drop it. A more remarkable history is the attempt of the Pelhams in 1753 to legalise the naturalisation of Jews. The Jews, as is well known, had been completely banished from England by a statute of Edward I., and they did not attempt to return till the Commonwealth, and were not formally authorised to establish themselves in England till after the Restoration,^ The first syna- gogue in London was erected in 1662. It is possible that occasional physicians or merchants may have se- cretly come over before,^ but they must have been very few, and it is more than probable that Shakespeare, when he drew his immortal picture of Shylock, had him- self never seen a Jew. The hatred, indeed, of that unhappy race in England was peculiarly tenacious and intense. The old calumny that the Jews were ac- customed on Good Friday to crucify a Christian boy, which was sedulously circulated on the Continent, and which even now forms the subject of one of the great frescoes around the Cathedral of Toledo, was firmly believed, and the legend of the crucifixion of young Hew of Lincoln sank deeply into the popular imagina- ' Blunt's Hist, of the Jeios in physicians of Queen Elizabeth England, p. 72. and was executed for an attempt " The Jews were specially to poison her. See Hume's Hist. famous for their knowledge of of England, ch. xliii. See, too, medicine, and a Jewish doctor, Picciotto's Anglo-Jewish Hist. named Lopez, was one of the p. 24. 328 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, cii. ii. tion. Tlie story was told by Matthew Paris ; it was embodied in an early ballad ; it was revived, many years after the expulsion of the Jews, by Chaucer, who made the Jewish murder of a Christian child tlie sub- ject of one of his most graphic tales; ' and in the same spirit Marlowe, towards the close of the sixteenth cen- tury, painted his ' Jew of Malta ' in the darkest colours. There does not appear, however, to have been any legal obstacle to the Sovereign and Parliament naturalising a Jew till a law, enacted under James I., and directed against the Catholics, made the sacramental test an essential preliminary to naturalisation. Two subse- quent enactments exempted from this necessity all foreigners who were engaged in the hemp and flax manufacture, and all Jews and Protestant foreigners who had lived for seven continuous years in the Ame- rican plantations.^ In the reign of James II. the Jews were relieved from the payment of the alien duty, but it is a significant fact that it was reimposed aff.er the Revolution at the petition of the London merchants.^ In the reign of Anne some of them are said to have privately negotiated with Godolphin for permission to purchase the town of Brentford, and to settle there with full privileges of trade ; but the minister, fearing to arouse the spirit of religious intolerance and of com- mercial jealousy, refused the application.* The great development of industrial enterprise which followed the long and prosperous administration of Walpole natu- rally attracted Jews, who were then as now pre-eminent in commercial matters, and many of them appear at this time to have settled in England ; among others a young Venetian Jew, whose son obtained an honourable ' The I'riorcss's Talr. ^ Blunt's Hist, of the Jews in ■' Pari. Hist. xiv. 137:5, 1374. England, p. 72. * ypence's Anecdotes. en. II. THE JEW BILL. 329 place in l^nglish literature, and whose grandson has been twice Prime Minister of England. The object of the Pelhams was not to natiii'alise all resident Jews, but simply to enable Parliament to pass special Bills to naturalise those who applied to it, although they had not lived in the colonies or been engaged in the hemp or flax manufacture. As the principle of naturalisation had been fully conceded by these two Acts, which had been passed without any difficulty, and had continued in operation wdthout exciting any murmur, as the Bill could only apply to a few rich men who were prepared to under- take the expensive process of a parliamentary applica- tion, as Jews might be naturalised in any other country in Europe except Spain and Portugal,' and as they were among the most harmless, industrious, and useful members of the community, it might have been im- agined that a Bill of this nature could scarcely offend the most sensitive ecclesiastical conscience. When it was brought forward, however, a general election was not far distant, the opponents of the ministry raised the cry that the Bill was an unchristian one, and England was thrown into paroxysms of excitement scarcely less intense than those which followed the impeachment of Sacheverell. There is no page in the history of the eighteenth century that shows more decisively how low was the intellectual and political condition of English public opinion. According to its opponents, the Jewish Naturalisation Bill sold the birthright of Englishmen for nothing : it was a distinct abandonment of Chris- ' This at least was stated in man States also refused to ra- the debate. Farl. Hist. xiv. ceive Jews. An Answer to a 1480. One of the pamphleteors Pamplilct entitled ' Considera- against the measure stated tliat tions for Permitting Persons Sweden, Russia, the Ropublic of Professing the Jeivish Religion Genoa, and a score of the Ger- to be Naturalised,' p. 40. 330 ENGLAND IN TDE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. ii. tianity, it would draw upon England all the curses which Providence had attached to the Jews. The com- mercial classes complained that it would fill England with usurers. The landed classes feared that ultimately the greater part of the land of England would pass into the hands of the Jews, who would avail themselves of their power to destroy the Church. One member of Parliament urged that to give the Jews a resting-place in England would invalidate prophecy and destroy one of the principal reasons for believing in the Christian religion. Another reminded the ministers that after 430 years the Jews in Egy^^t had mustered 600,000 armed men, and that, according to the ' Book of Esther,' they had once, when they got the upper hand in the land where they were living, ' put to death in two days 76,000 of those whom they were pleased to call their enemies, without either judge or jury.' The time inight come, it was suggested, when, through another Esthei-, they might govern the destinies of England, or when they might even take their seats as members of Parlia- ment. It was stated that when Cromwell first extended his protection to the race some Asiatic Jews imagined him to be the promised Messiah, and even sent over deputies to make private inquiries in Huntingdonshire, in order, if possible, to establish his Jewish extraction, and it was argued that through a similar persuasion the Jews would probably su])])oi't another Cromwell in his attacks upon the Constitution. The Mayor and Cor- ] (oration of London petitioned against the l^ill. The clergy all over England denounced it. The old story of the crucifixion of Christian children by Jews was revived, and the bishops who had voted for the Bill were libelled, and insulted in the streets. The measure had first been introduced into the House of Lords, and was carried through without difficulty, and with the acquiescence of most of the bishops. It passed, after CH. II. OTHER SIGNS OF INTOLERANCE. 331 a fierce opposition, through the Commons, and received the royal assent ; but as the tide of popular indigna- tion rose higher and higher, the ministers in the next year brought forward and carried its repeal. Had they not done so, it is probable that the election, which was then imminent, would have proved disastrous to their power, and they argued plausibly, and perhaps justly, that in the excited state of popular feeling the Jews could not, if the Act continued in force, live safely in England. An attempt was made by the Church party to carry their victory further and repeal the Act which naturalised Dissenters from the Anglican creed who had resided for seven years in the plantations, in so far as it related to the Jews, but the Government resisted, and succeeded in defeating the attempt.^ The agitation which was excited by this very mode- rate measure of the Pelham ministry goes far to justify the Whig party for not having done more in the cause of religious liberty during the long period of their as- cendency. The feelings of the country would not allow it, and in spite of the incontestable decline of the tlieo- logical spirit, there was still no other question on which public opinion was so sensitive. Nor was this intole- rance confined to England, or to the Church of England, or to the High Church section of the clergy. In Scot- land the hatred of religious liberty ran still higher. The Scotch preachers denounced it with untiring vehe- mence, and the General Assembly, in 1702, presented a solemn address to the Lord High Commissioner urging that no motion ' of any legal toleration of those of the prelatical principle might be entertained by the Parlia- ment,' and declaring that such a toleration would be ' to ' See the very curious dis- 1G3 ; Coxe's Life of Pelham, ii. cnssions on this Bill. Pari. 245-253, 2yO-2U8. Hkt. xiv. 13(')n-1430; xv. 92- 332 ENGLAND IN TIIK FKillTEENTH CENTURY. en. il. establish iniquity by law.'' In 1G97 a deputation of English Dissenting ministers waited upon the King to urge him to interdict the printing of any work advocat- ing Socinian opinions.^ In 1702 a Dissenter named Emlyn, being accused by some Irish Nonconformists, but with the encouragement of the Archbishops of Ai-magh and Dublin, was sentenced to pay a fine of 1,000/. and to lie in gaol till it was paid, because he had written against the Trinity.^ Among the clergy of the Church of England one of the most active in fanning the absurd agitation on the Jewish question was Romaine, who was one of the earliest and most pro- minent leaders of the Evangelical party.* One very important step, however, was taken with- out provoking any agitation or opposition. The belief in witchcraft, which has furnished one of the most singular and tragical pages in the history of supersti- tion, had almost disappeared in England among the educated classes at the time of the Revolution, though it was still active in Scotland and the colonies. The law, however, condemning witches to death still re- mained on the statute book, and it was not altogfether a dead letter. Three witches Jiad been hung at Exeter in 1082,'^ and even after the Revolution there had been occasional trials. Addison — whose judgment was after- ' Lathbury's Hist, of the Non- jurors, pp. 441-451. ■•' Skeat's Hist. of Free Churches, p. 184. •* As Hoadly very sarcastically said, ' The Nonconformists ac- cused him, the Conformists con- demned him, the secular power was called in, and the cause ended in an imprisonment and a very f^'reat fine, two methods of conviction about which the Gos- pel is silent.'— See Hunt's ii!c/(Yyi- ous Thought in Englaiul, ii. 32G. * Ilyle's Christian Leaders of the Last Century. Cadogan's Life of Romaine. •' Hutchinson's Historical Es- say on Witclicraft, p. 08. Hutch- inson says that these were the last judicially executed in Eng- land, but Dr. Parr speaks of two having suffered at Northamp- ton in 170r>, and fivt^ others at the same place in 1722. - Parr's Works, iv. 182 (I82s). CH. II. DECLINE OF WITCHCRAFT. 333 wards echoed by Rlackstone — speaks on the sul)ject with a curious hesitation. ' I believe in general,' he says, ' that there is and has been such a thing as witch- craft, but at the same time can give no credit to any particular instance of it.' ^ The great clerical agitation which followed the Saheverell impeachment is said to have produced a temporary recrudescence of the super- stition,^ and it was observed about this time that there was scarcely a village in England which did not contain a reputed witch. ^ At the same time those who were in authority steadily discouraged the superstition. A woman named Jane Wenham having been found guilty of the offence in 1712 received a free pardon at the instance of the judge, in spite of the urgent protest of some of the clergy of the county,* and in the same year the death of a suspected witch who had been thrown into the water in order to ascertain whether she would sink or swim, and who had perished during the trial, was pronounced by Chief Justice Parker to be mui'der.'^ It is one of the great glories of the early Hanoverian period that it witnessed the abrogation of the sanguinary enact- ment by which so many innocent victims had perished. Chief Justice Holt did good service to humanity in exposing the imposture which lay at the I'oot of some cases he was obliged to try,^ and in 1736 the law ' Spectator, 'No. in. See, too, witches.' — Collins' Discourse on the remarks of Blackstone, Frecthinking, p. 30. Commentaries, bk. iv. c. 4. ^ Spectator, No. 117. " ' Since the reign of Dr. Sach- * Hutchinson, 163-171. everell, when the clamours * Hutchinson, 175, 176. Hutch- against freethinking began to be inson, who wrote in 1718, says: loudest, the devil has again re- ' Our country people are still as sumed his empire and appears fond of this custom of swimming in the shape of cats, and enters as they are of baiting a bear or into confederacy with old women ; a bull.' and several have been tryed, and "* Campbell's Chief Jtcstices — many are accused through all Life of Holt, parts of the kingdom for being 334 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. making witchcraft punishable by deatli was repealed. The suj)erstition long smouldered among the poorer classes ; there were several instances of the murder of suspected witches ; and Methodism did something to strengthen the belief, but as it had no longer the sanction of the law, and as diseased imaginations were no longer excited by the executions, it sank speedily into insignificance. It is a curious fact that the Irish law against witchcraft, though long wholly obsolete, remained on the statute book till 1821. Another measure of a very different kind, but also in some degree dependent upon the theological temper- ature, belonging to the period I am considering, was the reform of the calendar. The New Style, as is well known, had been first brought into use by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582, and had gradually been adopted by all the continental nations, except Russia and Sweden, but England, partly from natural conservatism, and partly from antipathy to the Pope, still resisted, and had at last got eleven days wi'ong. The change was carried on the motion of Lord Chesterfield, and with the assist- ance of the eminent mathematicians, Lord Macclesfield and Mr. Bradley, under the Pelham Ministry in 1751. The year was henceforth to begin on January 1 instead of on March 25 ; and in order to rectify the errors of the old calendar it was ordered that the day following September 2, 1752, should be denominated the 14[\,co\V s, Abridgment of CH. II. THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 353 service of the gentlemen of that religion thei-eabouts, of which there are several of note, and who live very quietly and friendly with their neighbours ; they have also a private seminary for their children, three miles off, where they prepare them for the colleges abroad.' • The same traveller visited the holy well of St. Winifred in Wales, and found the Catholic pilgi^images to it un- diminished. The Catholic church at the well had, it is true, been converted into a Protestant school, but ' to supply the loss of this chapel the Roman Catholics have chapels erected almost in every inn for the devotion of the pilgrims that flock hither from all the Popish parts of England.' ^ Three years later Defoe's well-known ' Tour through Great Britain ' appeared. He mentions without comment ' Popish chapels ' among the religious edifices existing in London,^ and, having visited Dur- ham, he writes of it : ' The town is well built but old, full of Roman Catholics, who live peaceably and disturb nobody and nobody them, for we, being there on a holi- day, saw them going as publicly to Mass as the Dis- senters did on other days to their meeting-houses.''* The Earl of Derwentwater, who was executed for his complicity in the rebellion of 1715, was a Catholic, and it was a popular tradition that his body, on its journey from London to its burial-place in Scotland, was moved only by night, and rested every day in a place dedicated to the Catholic worship.'^ As the century advanced, the complaints of the growth of Popery became very numerous. The law of England still laid down that ' when a person is re- ' A Journey tJirough England: p. 4. St. Winifred was the first Familiar Letters from a Gentle- stage from Chester to Holyhead. man here to his Friend abroad '■' Defoe's Totir through Great [by Macky], ii. 26. Britain, ii. 1-56. - Ibid. ii. 134. See, too, on * Ibid. iii. 189. the pilgrimages to this well, ■' Scott's Tales of a Grand- Bush's Hibcrnia Curiosa (1769), father, c. Ixxi. VOL. I. A A 354 ENGLAND IX THE EIGHTKENTH CENTURY. CH. ii. conciled to tlie See of iiume, or procures others to be reconciled, the offence amounts to high treason,' ^ and the sentence of perpetual imprisonment still hung over every Catholic priest; but yet it appears evident that Catholicism in certain classes was extending. It was asserted in 1735 that there was ' scarcely a petty coffee- house in London where there is not a Popish lecture read on Sunday evenings.' ^ Reports, which appear to have been entirely calumnious, were spread that Bishop Butler had died a Catholic.^ ' The growth of Popery,' wrote Doddridge, in 1735, ' seems to give a general and just alarm. A priest from a neighbouring gentleman's family makes frequent visits hither, and many of the Church people seem Popishly inclined.' ■* Seeker com- plained, in 1738, that 'the emissaries of the Romish Church . . . have begun to reap great harvests in the field.' ^ Sherlock, in the letter which he issued on the oc- casion of the eai'thquake of 1750, mentions the ' great increase of Popery ' among the crying evils of the time.*^ Browne, in his ' Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Time,' which appeared a few years later, echoes the same complaint. ' The priests,' he writes, ' are assiduous in making proselytes, and in urging their party to make them. There is at present a gentleman in the West of England who openly gives 5/, to every person who becomes a proselyte to the Roman Church ; and the additional bribe of a Sunday dinner for every such person that attends Mass. Allurements of the same kind are known to prevail in most parts of the kingdom, ' Blackstone. 281-283. - This was stated in the Free ^ Bartlett's hife of Butler, p. Britoyi of January 173.^. See a 164. very interesting coUeotion of pas- ' Doddridge's Diary, iii. 182. sages on this subject, chiefly '■• Seeker's Charges, Charge i. from old newspapers, in Miss 1738. Wedgwood's Johyi Wesley, pp. ** Gentleman's Magazi7ie,n 50. CH. II. THE ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 355 and among those of the higliest rank, though not so openly- declared.' ^ A fashion which had arisen among ladies of wearing Capuchin cloaks was somewhat absurdly repre- hended, on the ground that it was teaching men ' to view the cowl not only with patience but complacency.' ^ The leaders of the Dissenters were so sensible of the danger from the activity of the priests that they estab- lished in 173 i and 1735 a course of anti-Popery lectures, in Salters' Hall ; and the laws against priests were so entirely in abeyance that two of these had a formal con- troversy with two Protestant divines.^ In 1738 Bishop Gibson, with a view of checking the Romish pro- pagandism, collected and republished, under the title of ' A Preservation against Popery,' the anti-Papal tracts which had appeared in England between the Restoration and the Revolution. At the time of the Rebellion of 1745, it is true, the laws were more severely enforced. A proclamation was issued, banishing all Catholics from London, and for- bidding them to go more than five miles from their homes ; and another proclamation offered a reward for the capture of priests and Jesuits, some of whom were actually apprehended. A Mass-house was about this time destroyed by the populace, at Stokesley, in York- shire, and another burnt by the sailors at Sunderland.'* Resident Catholic ambassadors complained of the seve- rities of the Government against their co-religfionists : but these seventies do not appear to have been very serious, and they were purely exceptional events pro- duced by the existence of a great public danger, and ' Browne's Estimate, ii. 140, was therefore, I suppose, at least 141. partially public. This book fur- - See Wedgwood's Wcslcij, p. nishes considerable evidence of 283. the activity of the Popish con- ^ Wilson's Hist, of Dissenting troversy among the Dissenters. Churches, ii. 368. The debate *- British Ghronologist, Dec. was published by both sides, and 1745, Jan. 1746. A A 2 356 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. it. Ijy llie notorious syinpntliy of the Catholics with the invaders. In general the chief effects of the legislation against the Catholic worship appear to have been that it was carried on unostentatiously in private houses, that proselytisni was ditKcult and somewhat dangerous, and that any Catholic who was suspected of disaffection was absolutely at the mercy of the Government The unequal and oppressive taxation, however, and the innu- merable discjualifications, bringing with them a great social stigma, still continued, and the laws against the priesthood offered such inducements to informers that their position was one of continual danger. As we shall hereafter see, they were occasionally prosecuted at a much later period than that with which we are at pre- sent concerned ; and in 1729 — in the reign of George II. and under the ministry of Townshend and Walpole — a Franciscan friar, named Atkinson, died in Hurst Castle, in the seventy-fourth year of his life and the thirtieth of his imprisonment, having been incarcerated in 1700 for performing the functions of a Catholic priest.' The only minister who appears to have had any real wish to relieve the Catholics was Stanhope, who had contemplated some mitigations of the penal code. In 1719 negotiations took place between his ministry and some leading Catholics, through the inter- vention of Strickland, the Bishop of Namur ; but diffi- culties raised on the Catholic side for a time impeded them, and the disasters of the South Sea Company brought the design to a determination.^ As far as the condition of Catholics was improved under George II., it was only by a milder administration of existing laws, and by the more tolerant maxims which prevailed among the higher clergy. In the days of Cromwell and Milton ' Historical Register for 172'J (Oct. 15). Butler's Historical Me- moirs, ii. 68. -■ Ibid. ii. 59. CH. II. THE SCOTCH CATHOLICS. 357 it had been argued that Catholicism was idolatry, and that it oiio'ht tlierefore to be suppi-esscd, by virtue of the Old Testament decree against that sin. In the teaching of the Latitudinarian divines, and of the classes who adopted the principles of Locke, this doctrine had disappeared, and the measures against Catholicism were defended solely on the ground of the hostility of that religion to the civil government. In Scotland the Kirk mniisters watched it with a fiercer animosity than the English clergy ; but even in Scotland it was not extinguished. It found a powerful protector in the ducal family of Gordon. In 1699 the Duke of Gordon had been arrested for holdnig Popish meetings in his lodging at Edinburgh, but he was lib- erated after a fortnight's imprisonment. In 1722 a meeting of fifty Catholics was surprised in the house of the Dowager Duchess of Gordon, and the priest for a time imprisoned. He was soon, however, bailed, and, not appearing to stand his trial, was outlawed. The Goi'don family abandoned Catholicism on the death of the second Duke, in 1728, and from that time we very rarely find traces of Catholicism in the Lowlands. In the Highlands it had still its devoted adherents. A small cottage, called Scalan, at Glenlivat, one of the wildest and most untrodden spots among the mountains of Aberdeenshire, continued during most of the eighteenth century to be a seminary, where eight or ten youths were usually educating for the priesthood. Many of the old superstitions lingered side by side with the new faith, and an occasional priest, or monk, or even Jesuit, celebrated in private houses the worship of his fore- fathers. In the western islands, in several of the mountain valleys of Moray, and especially on the pro- perty of the Dukes of Gordon, the Catholics continued numerous, and they ap})ear to have been but little molested. As late as 1773, when Dr. Johnson visited 358 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. cii. ii. the Hebrides, there were two small islands, named Egg and Canna, which were still altogether inhabited by Catholics.' The other class excluded from the benefits of the Toleration Act, and existing only in violation of the law, consisted of all those who impugned eitlier the or- thodox doctrine of the Trinity, or the supernatural character of Christianity, or the divine authority of Scripture. All such persons, by a law of William, were disabled, upon the first conviction, from holding any ecclesiastical, civil, or military office, and were deprived, upon the second conviction, of the power of suing or prosecuting in any law court, of being guardian or ex- ecutor, and of receiving an}^ legacy or deed of gift. They were also made liable to imprisonment for three years ; but in case they renounced their error publicly, within four months of the first conviction, they were dis- chai'ged from their disabilities.^ Avowed Unitarianism has never been, and is never likely to be, a very im- portant or very aggressive sect, for the great majority of those who hold its fundamental tenet are but little disposed to attach themselves to any definite religious body, or to take any great interest in sectarian strife. The small school which followed Socinus had at first but few disciples in England, and exercised no appreci- able influence in the conflict of parties. Under Edward VI., Joan Bocher and a Dutchman named Van Parris had been burnt for their heresies concerning the Trinity ; ' See Lachlan Shaw's Hist, of Sinclair's Statistical Account of ilfora?/ (1775), p. 3.S0 ; Chambers' Scotland, xiii. 83; and a few Domestic Annals of Scotland, notices of Jesuits in Scotland, in iii. 204, 205, 40G, 554 ; Martin's Oliver's Collections illustrating Description of the Western Is- the Biographi/ of Scotch, English, lands; Johnson's Tour in the and Irish Members of ilie Society //efcitVZc.s, pp. 1(J2, 190 ; Burton's of Jesus. Hist, of Scotland, ii. 351»-361 ; - 9 & 10 William ill. c. 32. CH. II. DISBELIEVERS IN THE TRINITY. 359 and two other heretics were burnt, on a similar charge, under James I. The term Unitarian, however, appears to have been first adopted by John Biddle, a teacher of some learning and of great zeal and piety, who, during the stormy days of the Commonwealth, defended the doctrines of Socinus with unwearied energy, both in the pulpit and with his pen, A law had recently been passed, making it a capital offence to impugn the re- ceived doctrine of the Trinity, and this law would pro- bably have been applied to Biddle, had not the influence of Cromwell and the support of some powerful friends been employed to screen him. As it was, his life was a continual martyrdom. His works were burnt by the hangman, he was banished for a time to the Scilly Islands, fined, and repeatedly imprisoned, and he at last died in prison in 1662. ^ He left a small sect behind him, its most remarkable members being Emlyn, to whose long imprisonment I have already referred,^ and Firmin, a London merchant, of considerable wealth and influence, who was one of the foremost supporters of every leading work of charity in his time, and who was intimately acquainted with Tillotson and several other leading Anglican divines.^ At his expense several anonymous tracts in defence of Socinian views were published. Less advanced heresies about the Trinity are said to have been widely diffused in the seventeenth century. Arianism may be detected in the ' Paradise Lost.' It tinged the theology of Newton, and it spread gradually through several Dissenting sects. Early in the eighteenth century it rose into great prominence. Whiston, who was one of the most learned theologians of his time, and the Professor of Mathematics at Cam- ' See Wallace's Anti-Tri7ii- ^ Life of Mr. Thomas Firmin, tarian Biography. Citizen of London. By J. Cornish. - See p. 332. 1780. oGO ENGLAND IN THE EIGIITEENTO CENTURY. ch. ii. Writlge, openly maintained it. Larclner, who occupies so cons})icuous a place anioiig the apologists for Christi- anity, was at one time an Arian, though his opinion Stems to have ultimately inclined to Socinianism.' Views which were at least semi-Arian appeared timidly in the writings of Clarke; and the long Trinitarian con- troversy, in which Sherlock, Jane, South. Wallis, Burnet, Tillotson, and many others took part, familiarised the whole nation with the difficulties of the question. It was, however, among the Presbyterians that the defec- tions from orthodoxy were most numerous and most grave. In 1719 two Presbyterian ministers were de- prived of their pastoral charge on account of their Uni- tarian opinions, but soon either Arianism or Socinianism became the current sentiments of the Presbyterian semi- naries, and by the middle of the eighteenth century most of the principal Presb^irerian ministers and con- gregations had silently discarded the old doctrine of the Trinity.^ When the intention of Whiston and Clarke to stir this question was first known, Godolphin, who was then in power, remonstrated with them, saying to the latter that ' the affairs of the public were with difficulty then kept in the hands of those that were at all for liberty ; that it was therefore an unseasonable time for the pub- lication of a book that would make a great noise and disturl)ance, and that therefore the ministers desired him to forbear till a surer opportunity should offer itself.'^ The storm of indignation that arose in Convo- cation upon the appearance of the work of Whiston in ' See Kippis's Life of Lardner other beings.' prefixed to Lardner's Works, p. - Bogue and Bennett's Ilist. xxxii. His ultimate view is said of Dissenters, ii. HOO-303. See, to have been that ' Jesus was a too Lindsey's Historical Vietv. man api)ointed, exalted, loved, ' Winston's Memoirs of Clarke, and honoured by God beyond all p. 25. CH. n. SCEPTICAL WORKS. 361 some degree justified tlie judgment, but, on the whole, few things are more remarkable in the eighteenth cen- tury than the ease and impunity with which anti-Trini- tarian views were propagated. The prosecution of Emlyn called forth an emphatic and noble protest from Hoadly, and though Whiston was deprived of his pro- fessorship, and censured by Convocation, he was not otherwise molested. Noisier controversies drew away most of the popular fanaticism, and the suppression of Convocation was eminently favourable to religious liberty. A Bill which was brought forward in 1721, sup- ported by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and by some other prelates, to increase the stringency of the legisla- tion against anti-Trinitarian writings, was rejected,' and the laws against anti-Trinitarians were silently dis- used. Works, however, which were directed against the Christian religion were still liable to prosecution, though the measures taken against them were not usu- ally very severe. ' The Fable of the Bees ' of Mande- ville, the ' Christianity not Mysterious ' of Toland, the ' Rights of the Christian Church ' by Tindal, and the ' Posthumous Works ' of Bolingbroke, were all presented by the Grand Jury of Middlesex. When Collins, in 1713, published his 'Discourse on Freethinking,' the outcry was so violent that the author thought it prudent to take refuge for a time in Holland. Woolston — whose mind seems to have been positively disordered — having published, in 1727 and the two following years, some violent discourses impugning the Miracles of Christ, was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and to a fine of 1,000Z. — a sentence against which the apologist Lardner very nobly protested, and which Clarke endea- voured to mitigate. When Toland visited Ireland his book was burnt by order of the Irish Parliament, and Pari. Hist. vii. 893-895. 362 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. ii. he only escaped arrest by a precipitate flight.' Towards the middle of the century, however, interest in these subjects liad almost ceased. The ' Treatise on Human Nature/ by Hume, which appeared in 1739, though one of the greatest masterpieces of sceptical genius, fell still-born from the press, and the posthumous works of Bolingbroke, in spite of the noisy reputation of their author, produced only the most transient ripple of emo- tion.2 A letter written by Montesquieu to Warburton was quoted with much applause, in which that great French thinker somewhat cynically argued that, how- ever false might be the established religion in England, no good man should attack it, as it injured no one, was divested of its worst prejudices, and was the source of many practical advantages.^ An acute observer on the side of orthodoxv noticed that there was at this time little sceptical speculation in England, because there was but little interest in any theological question ; ■* and a gi'eat sceptic described the nation as ' settled into the most cool indifference with regard to religious matters that is to be found in any nation of the woi'ld.' ^ Lati- ' South wrote with great de- sensible that in Spain or Portu- light : ' Your Parliament pre- gal a man who is going to be sently sent him packing, and burnt . . . hath very good reason without the help of a faggot soon to attack it. . . . But the case is made the kingdom too hot for very different in England, where him.' See Disraeli's Calamities a man that attacks revealed re- of Authors, ix.l^i. Hgion does it without the least ■^ Hume's Autobiography. personal motive, and where this Browne's Estimate, i. 56. champion if he should succeed — ^ Referring to Bolingbroke's nay, should he be in the right lihilosophy, he wrote : ' Wliat too— would only deprive his motive can there be for attack- country of numberless real bene- ing revealed religion in England ? fits for the sake of establishing a In that country it is so purged of merely speculative truth.' .4?i- all destructive prejudices that it nual Register, 1700, p. 189. can do no harm, but on the con- ' Browne's Estiinate, i. 52-58. l-rary is capable of producing '• Hume's Essay on National numberless good effects. I am Characters. I CH. II. RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE. 363 fudinari.inism hat! spread widely, but almost silently, througli all religious bodies, and dogmatic teaching was almost excluded from the pulpit. In spite of occasional outbursts of popular fanaticism, a religious languor fell over England, as it had fallen over the Continent ; and if it produced much neglect of duty among clergymen, and much laxity of morals among laymen, it at least in some degree assuao-ed the bitterness of sectarian ani- mosity and prepared the way for the future triumph of religious liberty. 3G4 ENGLAND IN THE EIUIITEENTII CENTURY. CH. iii. CHAPTER III. While tlie changes described in the last chapter were taking place, the history of parties in England continued to present a singular monotony. The stigma of Jacobit- ism still rested on the Tories, though Bolingbroke did everything in his power to efface it. This great Toiy statesman had soon discovered that the confidence of the Pretender was never given to any but the most bigoted Catholics, and that his narrow and superstitious mind was wholly unsuited for the delicate task of recon- ciling the political principles of the Tory party with their religious interests and sympathies. Sliglited and neglected by the master for whom he had sacrificed so much, finding his political judgment habitually treated as of less value tlian that of ignorant and inexperienced fanatics, he soon openly quarrelled with the Pretender, received his dismissal in 1716, and with a heart burninc; with resentment abjured all farther connection with Jacobitism. The importance of such a secession from the Jacobite ranks was self-evident. Bolingbroke was the greatest orator and the most brilliant party leader of his time. He had been, and in spite of recent errors he would probably, if restored to English political life, again be the leader of the Church and of the comitry party, and he could do more than any other living man to reconcile the Tory party to the new dynasty. His first object was to be restored to his country, foT'tune, and titles ; he offered his services unreservedly to the Government, and liis violent quarrel with the Jacobites was a pledge of his sincerity. CH. Ill, POSITION OF BOLINGBROKE. 365 The Whit^ Ministry were, however, in general fat from desiring to accept the offer. On public grounds they probably doubted the sincerity, or at least the per- manence, of his conversion. ' Parties,' as Pulteney once said, ' like snakes, are moved by their tails.' It was certain that the Tory party in 1716 was almost wholly Jacobite. There was nothing in the principles or ante- cedents of Bolingbroke to make it improbable that if it again suited his interests he would place himself in sympathy with his followers, and it was evident that his presence would give them an importance they would not otherwise possess. Besides this, it was the obvious party interest of the Whigs to exclude from the arena the most formidable of all their opponents, and there was no other statesman whom they regarded with such animosity. Much as they desired the maintenance of the dynasty, they had little desire to see the Tory party reconciled to it. They well knew that their monopoly of place and power depended upon the success with which they represented their opponents, both to the King and to the country, as necessarily Jacobite. As Bolingbroke himself very happily said, in the disposition of parties in England, ' the accidental passions ' of the people were on one side, ' their settled habits of think- ing ' on the other. The natural preponderance of classes and sentiment was with the Tories, but the temporary association of Toryism with Popery and with rebellion had thrown all power into the hands of the Wliigs. A Tory party thoroughly reconciled to the dynasty, and guided by a statesman of great genius and experience, would probably in no long time become the ruler of the Such were probably the motives of the Whig leaders in rejecting the overtures of Bolingbroke. Walpole, who, no doubt, clearly saw in him the most dangerous of competitors, was especially vehement and especially 366 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. hi. resolute in maintaiiiiiig his ostracism, and it was not until 1723 that Boliugbroke obtained, by the influence of the King's mistress, a pardon which enaliled him to return to England. With the assent of Sir William Windham, Lord Bathurst, and Lord Gower, three of the most considerable men in the Tory party, he in that year made a formal offer of co-operation to Walpole, but that offer was absolutely declined.^ The Act of Attain- der, which was still in force, and wliich could only be annulled by Parliament, deprived him of his estates and of his seat in the House of Lords, and although he suc- ceeded in 1725 in regaining the former by Act of Par- liament, he was still steadily excluded from the latter. The adroitness and splendid eloquence with wliich in his last speech in the House of Lords he had met the minis- terial charges against the Peace of Utrecht were not soon forgotten, and the Whig leaders and the Whig Parliaments were fully resolved to paralyse so formid- able an adversary. The career of Hulingbroke is in some respects one of the most unfortunate in English history. Gifted, by the confession of all who knew him, with abilities of the very highest order, some fatal obstacle seemed always in his path. The inveterate dilatoriness of Oxford, the death of the Queen in the most critical moment of his life, the incapacity and incurable bigotry of the Pretender, frustrated all his efforts, and he found himself in the very zenith of his transcendent powers condeunied to political impotence. The first of living orators, he was shut out for ever from Parliament, wliich, at a time when public meetings were unknown, was the only theatre for political elo- quence. A devoted Tory, and at the same time a bitter enemy to the Pretender, he found his party, wliich was ' Walpole to Townshend, August 3, 1723. Coxe's Walpole, ii. 2fi3, 264. CH. ni. WHIG SCHISM OF 1717. 367 naturally the strongest in England, reduced to insigni- ficance tlirougli the imputation of Jacobitism. His political writings continued for many years to agitate the country, and he was indefatigable in his efforts to unite the scattered fragments of opposition into a new party, taking for its principle the suppression of corrup- tion in Parliament ; but his efforts met with little success, and a politician excluded from the Legislature could never take a foremost place in English politics. Once, indeed, after many years of weary waiting, the favour of the Prince of Wales seemed likely to break the spell of misfortune, but the sudden death of his patron again clouded liis prospects and drove him in despair from public life. The Whig party, under these circumstances, was almost uncontrolled, and its strength was not seriously impaired by the great schism which broke out in 1717, when Lord Townshend was dismissed from office, when Walpole, with several less noted Wliigs, resigned, and went into violent opposition, and when the chief power passed into the hands of Sunderland and Stanhope. It is the plan of this book to avoid as much as pos- sible discussing the personalities of history, except so far as they illustrate the political character and tenden- cies of the time, and I shall therefore content myself with the most cursory reference to this schism. It was almost inevitable that divisions should have taken place. The party was in an overwhelming majority. Its leaders were very much upon a level ; for Walpole, though far abler than his colleagues, was somewhat in- ferior to several of them in the weight of his political connections, and he had not yet attained the Parliamen- tary ascendency he afterwards enjoyed. The Hanoverian ministers, and a crowd of rapacious Hanoverian favour- ites of the King, were perpetually endeavouring to make English politics subservient to Hanoverian inter- 368 ENGLAND IN TIIR EHIirrisKXTII CENTURY. ch. hi. ests, and to obtain places, pensions, or titles for them- selves ; and another serious element of complicat ion and intri Walpole's Letters, i. 175. * Coxe's WaliMlc, i. 712. CH. lit. tHE SRC RET SERVICE MONEY. 435 Walpole, but though it passed the Commons, it was re- jected by the Lords. Under these circumstances we can hardly lay much stress upon the fact that the discoveries of the Committee were chiefly of the most trivial description. The bestowal of places on the Mayor of Weymouth and on his brother- in-law, in order to secure the nomination of a favourable returning oSicer at an election, the removal of a few re- venue officers who failed to vote for a ministerial candi- date, the distribution of some small sums for borough prosecutions and suits, the somewhat suspiciously liberal terms of a contract for the payment of British troops at Jamaica, were all matters which appeared of little moment when they were regarded as the result of a solemn inquiry into ministerial proceedings for ten years. Much more important was the discovery that in this space of time no less than 1,453,400?. had been expended in secret service money, and that of that sum above 50,000/. had been paid to writers in defence of the ministry. It has been shown, indeed, by the apologists for Walpole that the secret service money included the whole pension list, as well as the large sums necessarily expended in obtaining information at foreign Courts, and also that the comparisons instituted between the expenditure of secret service money in the last ten years of Walpole, and that in an equal portion of the reign of Anne, were in several respects fallacious ; ^ but there cannot, I think, be much reasonable doubt, though the Committee were unable to obtain evidence on the subject, that much of it was expended in parliamentary corruption. It is said that supporters of the Government frequently received at the close of the session from bOOl. to 1,000/. for their services ; ^ that Walpole himself boasted that ' See the elaborate chapter in - Ahnon's Anecdotes of Chat- Coxe, on the report of the Com- ham, i. 137. ' This was written mittee. of the Pelham ministry, but that F F 2 436 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. hi. one impoi'tant division rejecting the demand of the Prince of Wales for an increased allowance cost the Government only 900?./ that more than half the Mem- bers of Parliament were in the receipt of public money in the form of pensions or Government offices.^ It is certain that the consentient opinion of contemporaries accused the ministers of gross and wholesale corruption, and that they uniformly opposed every inquiry that could vindicate their honour, and every Bill that could tend to purify the Parliament. The complaints of the Opposition were met by Wal- pole in a strain of coarse and cynical banter. Patriots, saints, Spartans, and boys were the terms he continually employed. Something, no doubt, was due to the strong hatred of cant which was a prominent feature of his character, and which sometimes led him, like his great contemporary Swift, into the opposite extreme of cyni- cism. He knew that he was speaking the secret senti- ments of the great majority of his hearers, that among ministry only continued in a Queen both told me separately somewhat more moderate form that it [the ministerial triumph] the system of Walpole. Wraxall cost the King but 900Z. — 500/. to positively asserts that Eoberts, one man and 400Z. to another; who was Secretary of the Trea- and that even these two sums sury under Pelliam, assured a ivere cnily advanced to two men friend, from whom Wraxall re- tvJio were to have received them ceived the story, that he, Roberts, at the end of the session had this while he remained at the Trea- question never been moved, and sury regularly jjaid secret sti- who only took this opportunity pends varying from 500Z. to 800Z. to solicit prom-pt payment.' — to a number of Members at the Lord Harvey's Memoirs, ii. 280. end of each session. Their names - Some interesting facts on were entered in a book which the fluctuations of the number was kept in the deejoest secrecy of placemen in ParUament will and which on the death of Pel- be found in Brougham's great ham was burnt by the King.' — speech on the increasing infiu- See Wraxall's Memoirs (1815), ence of the Crown. June 2i, ii. 498, 500. 18'22. ' ' Sir E. Walpole and he CH. III. LOW MORAL TONE, 437 the declaimers against corruption were some of the most treacherous and unprincipled politicians of the time, and that personal disappointment and baffled ambition had their full share in swelling the ranks of his oppo- nents ; but when every allowance is made for this,, his language must appear grossly culpable. He profoundly lowered the moral tone of public life, and thus, as an acute observer has said, ' while he seemed to strengthen the superstructure, he weakened the foundations of our constitution.' ^ Nor is it true that the politicians of the time were universally corrupt. Godolphin and Boling- broke had both retired from their ministerial careers poor men. Oxfoi'd was in this respect beyond all re- proach. Neither Pulteney, nor Windham, nor Onslow, nor Carteret, nor Shippen, nor Barnard, nor Pitt, what- ever their other faults, could be suspected of personal corruption. Above all, there was the public opinion of England which was deeply scandalised by the extent to which parliamentary corruption had arisen, and by the cpiicism with which it was avowed, and on this point, t hough on this alone, Walpole never respected it. Like many men of low morals and of coarse and prosaic natures, he was altogether incapable of appreciating as an element of political calculation the force which moral sentiments exercise upon mankind, and this incapacity was one of the great causes of his fall. His own son has made the memorable admission that Walpole ' never was thought honest till he was out of power.' ^ Through these faults, as well as through the discon- tent which always follows the great prolongation of a single administration, a powerful though heterogeneous Opposition was gradually formed, and the small band of Tories were reinforced by a considerable section of ' Brown's Estimate, i. 115. * Walpole's Memoirs of George II. i. 236. 438 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. m. discontented Whigs, who seceded under the guidance of Pulteney, Carteret, and Chesterfield, and by several young men of promise or genius. Pulteney, who usu- ally led the phalanx, had been for many years the friend and colleague of Walpole. He had co-operated with him during the depression of the party under Queen Anne, defended him when he was expelled from the House in 1712, assumed the office of Secretary of War in the Whig ministry of 1714, taken the same side with Walpole in the Whig schism of 1717, and he appeared at one time likely to rise at least as high in the State. He was a country gentleman of good character, old family, and large property, a scholar, a writer, and a wit, and probably the most graceful and brilliant speaker in the House of Commons in the interval between the withdrawal of St. John and the appearance of Pitt. His separation from Walpole appears to have been wholly due to personal motives. Possessing abilities and parliamentary standing which entitled him, in his own opinion and in the opinion of many others, to rank as the equal of Walpole, he found that Walpole allowed his colleagues little more influence than if they were his clerks, and was always seeking, by direct or indirect means, to displace them when they became prominent. He is said to have been bittei-ly offended when, Carteret having in 1724 resigned the position of Secretary of State, the claims of Newcastle were preferred to his own, and the offer of a peerage, which was intended only to remove him from the centre of power, and after- wards of a very unimportant place, completed his alienation. He went into violent opposition, rejected scornfully the overtures of the minister, who when too late perceived his error, dedicated all liis powers to the subversion of the administration, and became the most skilful exponent of the popular feehng about the cor- ruption of Parliament, the subservience of Walpole to CH. III. PULTENEY. 439 France and to Spain, and tlie dangers of a standing army in time of peace. He was bitterly opposed to the Galilean sympathies of Walpole, and especially to the Treaty of Hanover, and was for some time in very close and confidential communication with the ministers of the Emperor.' Of all the opponents of Walpole he was probably the most formidable, for he seems to have been at least his equal as a debater ; his great social talents made him popular among politicians, and he at the same time exercised a powerful influence beyond the walls of Parliament. The ' Craftsman,' which for many years contained the bitterest and ablest attacks on Wal- pole, was founded, inspired, and perhaps in part written '^ by Pulteney in conjunction with Bolingbroke. He was also the author of two or thi'ee pamphlets of more than ordinary merit, of several happy witticisms which are still remembered, and of a political song which was once among the most popular in the language.^ When accused of being actuated in his opposition by sordid motives, he incautiously pledged himself never again to accept oflice, and in the hour of his triumph he remem- bered his pledge ; but he cannot be acquitted of having shaped his career through a feeling of personal rancour, he never exhibited either the business talents or the tact and prescience of statesmanship so conspicuous in his rival, and he probably contributed more than any other single man to plunge the country into the Spanish war. ' See the intercepted letters of founded upon them. As Pulteney Count Palm printed in Coxe's was confessedly a skilful writer Life of Walpole. and pamphleteer, this story seems - Horace Walpole (to H. Mann, very improbable. April 27, 1763) asserts that the =* ' The Honest Jury ; or, Caleb printer of the ' Craftsman ' as- Triumphant,' written on the oc- sured him Pulteney ' never wrote casion of the acquittal of the a " Craftsman " himself, only ' Craftsman ' on a charge of libel, gave hints for them,' though —yNiVK.\ns' Collection of Political much of his reputation was Ballads, ii. 232-236. 440 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. in. A more remarkable man, but a less formidable poli- tician, was Carteret, afterwards Lord Granville, who at the time of the downfall of Walpole led the Whig Opposition in the House of Lords. He had entered the Upper House in 1711, had joined the Sunderland section of the Whigs in 1717, had been appointed ambassador to Sweden in the following year, and had afterwards accepted several brief diplomatic missions in Germany and France. On the death of Sunderland he made some unsuccessful efforts to perpetuate the divi- sion of the party, but his opposition to Walpole was at first rather latent than avowed. He became Secretary of State in 1721, but, disagreeing with his colleague Lord Townshend, he was compelled to relinquish the post in 1724, when he became Lord Lieutenant of L'e- land. Atter several differences with the ministry in England he resigned this appointment in 1730. and from that time became a leader of Opposition and a close ally of Pulteney. Of all the leading English statesmen of the eighteenth century he is. perhaps, the one of whose real merits it is most difficult to speak with confidence. Like Charles Townshend in the next generation, he was a man who liad the very highest reputation for ability among his contemporaries, but whose abihty we are obliged to take altogether upon trust, for, except some impublished despatches, often full of fire and force, and a few detached sayings, he has left no monument behind him. His career was, on the whole, unsuccessful. His speeches have perished. His policy has come down to us chiefly through the repre- sentations of his opponents, and he himself appears to have taken no part in political literature. Yet Horace Walpole and Chesterfield, who disliked him, have both spoken of him as the ablest man of his time.' Swift ' 'Lord Granville, they say, is head in England dies too, take dying. When he dies the ablest him for all in all.'— Chesterfield CH, III. CARTERET. 441 and Smollett have expressed warm admiration for his genius, and Chatham, who was at one time his bitter opponent, has left on record his opinion that in the upper departments of government he had no equal.^ In the range and variety of his knowledge he was un- rivalled among the politicians of his time, and the sin- gular versatility of liis intellect made him almost equally conspicuous as an orator, a linguist, a statesman, a scholar, and a wit. Having travelled much in Germany, he was intimately acquainted with its laws, manners, and internal politics ; and his thorough knowledge of the language, then a very rare accomplishment in Eng- land, gave him a special influence with the Hanoverian kings. In Parliament he was placed, by the confession of all parties, in the foremost rank of debaters, but good judges complained that his eloquence was somewhat turgid and declamatory in its style, that he was more to be dreaded as an opponent than to be desired as a colleague, and that he was almost equally unfitted, by his defects and by his merits, for the position of a par- liamentary leader. He was of a careless, sanguine, impulsive, and desultory nature, easily and extrava- gantly elated and never depressed, delighting in intrigue and in strokes of sudden and brilliant daring, but apt to treat politics as a game, and almost wholly destitute of settled principles, fixity of purpose, and earnestness of character. His mind teemed with large schemes, and he could carry them out with courage and with skill, but he was not equally expert in dealing with details, and he looked with a contempt which had at to his son, Dec. 13, 17G2. See, Memoirs of George II. iii. 85. too, his admirable portrait of ' Pari. Hist. xvi. 1097. He Granville in his ' Characters.' added : ' I feel a pride in declar- Walpole pronounced him to be a ing that to his patronage, to his greater genius than Sir R. Wal- friendship and instruction, I owe pole, Mansfield, or Chatham. — whatever I am.' 442 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, en. in, least an affinity to virtue upon the arts of management, conciliation, and corruption, by which Walpole and Pelham secured their parliamentary influence. ' What is it to me,' he once said, ' who is a judge or who a bishop? It is my business to make kings and em- perors, and to maintain the balance of Europe.' His temper was naturally imperious. He was entirely indifferent to money. He drank hard. He overflowed with riotous animal spirits, scoffed and ranted at his colleagues, or treated them with the most superciUous contempt ; and though he could be at times the most generous and engaging of men, though no other states- man bore defeat with such unforced good humour, or showed himself so free from rancour against his oppo- nents, he was not popular in the Cabinet and not trusted in Parliament. To the King, on the other hand, he was eminently acceptable. He succeeded in very skilfully flattering and almost winning the Queen at the very time when he was a leading counsellor in the rival party of her son. He had a strong natural leaning, intensi- fied by education, to high monarchical views. He would gladly have based his power altogether on royal favour ; he delighted in framing his measures with the King alone, and was the only English statesman who fully shared and perhaps fully understood the King's German policy. It was natural that his rare knowledge of con- tinental affairs should nave invested them in his eyes with an interest and an attraction they did not possess in the eyes of ordinary politicians, and that he should have found in them a field peculiarly congenial to his daring and adventurous nature. 'I want to instil a nobler ambition into you,' he said to Fox in later years, ' to make you knock the heads of the kings of Europe together, and jumble something out of it which may be of service to this country.' As minister of a despotic sovereign he might have risen to great eminence, but he CH. III. CARTERET. 443 was not suited for the coiulitions of parliamentary go- vernment, and he usually inclined towards unpopular opinions. Thus he was one of the most powerful oppo- nents of the Militia Bill at a time when the creation of a great militia had almost become a national craze. He was accustomed to assert strongly the dignity of the House of Lords in opposition to the House of Commons. He ruined his political prospects by his bold advocacy of Hanoverian measures. The last public words he is rc^corded to have uttered were a stern rebuke to Pitt for having spoken of himself rather as the minister of the people than of the Crown, and for having thus intro- duced the language of the House of Commons into the discussions of the Cabinet ; and his last recorded poli- tical judgment was an approbation of the unpopular Peace of Paris. His ambition, like his other qualities, was very spasmodic. He could cast aside its prizes with a frank and laughing carelessness that few could rival, but when heated with the contest he was accused of being equally capable of a policy of the most reckless daring and of the most paltry intrigue. Queen Caro- line, reviewing the leaders of the Opposition, said that Bolingbroke would tell great lies, Chesterfield small ones, Carteret both kinds.' Of Chesterfield it is not necessary to say much, for his part in the overthrow of Walpole was much less prominent. He was naturally most fitted to shine in a drawing-room, and though a graceful and accomplished. ' The principal materials for describing Carteret are to be found in Horace Walj^ole's Let- ters and Histories, LordHervey's Memoirs, Chesterfield's Charac- ters, Lady Hervey's Letters, Sir Hanbury Williams' Songs, and the recently published Autobio- graphy of Shelburne. Many vo- lumes of papers belonging to him are in the British Museum, and they have been made use of by Mr. Ballantyne in his Life of Car- teret (1887). It appears from Lord Hervey's Memoirs that Carteret was at one time occupied with a history of his own time, but it has unfortunately never appeared. 444 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. III. if somewhat laboured, speaker, his political talents, like those of Sir W. Temple in the preceding generation, were more adapted for diplomacy than for parliamentary- life. He was twice amkassador to Holland, and dis- charged his duties with great ability and success. During his short viceroyalty in Ireland he showed very remark- able administrative talents, and his letters to his illegiti- mate son, which were published contrary to his desire, furnish ample evidence of his delicate but fastidious taste, of his low moral principle, and of his hard, keen, and worldly wisdom. His life was darkened by much private sorrow, which he bore with great courage ; and his political prospects were blasted by the hostility of the Queen, who never forgave him for having made his court to the mistress of her husband. Lord Hervey, comparing him to Carteret, says that Carteret had the Ijetter public and Court understanding, Chesterfield the better private and social one. His hostility to Walpole dates from his dismissal from office after the Excise scheme. On the fall of that minister he pressed on the measures against him much more violently than either Pulteney or Carteret. In addition to these older politicians, the ranks of the opponents of Walpole contained a small group of young men who did not altogether coalesce with either party, and who were much ridiculed under the name of Boy Patriots, but who reckoned in their number several men of credit and ability, and one man of the most splendid and majestic genius. The principal members of this party were Lord Cobham, Lyttelton, George Grenville, and, above all, William Pitt. This last poli- tician had entered Parliament for Old Sarum in 1735. He was still a very young and very poor man, holding the post of cornet in a regiment of dragoons, entirely destitute of the influence which springs from rank, ex- perience, or parliamentary connection, but already dis- CH. 111. THE TORY OPPOSITION. 445 tinguished for the lofty purity of his character and for an eloquence which, in its full maturity, has, probably, never been equalled in England, and never been sur- passed among mankind. The Tory wing of the Opposition appears to have been numerically about equal to the Whig one. It consisted of about 110 members, but it was far from unanimous. One section was distinctly Jacobite, and it was the policy of Government to attribute Jacobitism to the whole ; but with many, Toryism was, probably, mainly a matter of family tradition, and consisted chieliy of attachment to the Established Church, and dislike to Hanoverian politics, to the moneyed interests, and to septennial parliaments. The party had for many years a skilful and eloquent leader in Sir W. Windham — the son-in-law of the Duke of Somerset — who had been Chancellor of the Exchequer under Queen Anne, and who in that capacity had brought forward and carried the Schism Act. His death in 1740 was a great blow to the Opposition, and his successor, Lord Gower, after- wards abandoned the party. Among the Members who usually acted with the Tories was Sir John Barnard, a retired merchant, who had acquired great influence in the House as the only man capable of coping with Wal- pole on questions of finance, and the party included Shippen, the able and honest leader of the Jacobites. It consisted, for the most part, of country squires of little education and strong prejudices, but in general superior to their allies in rectitude of purpose and sin- cerity of conviction. In addition to the parliamentary combatants there is another influence to be mentioned. Bolingbroke, though excluded from the parliamentary arena, had, as I have said, devoted his great experience and his bril- liant pen to the service of the Opposition, and in one respect at least his policy was now the exact opposite to 446 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ill. that which he had pursued under Anne. He had then, in opposition to Oxford, endeavoured to make the lines of party division as clear and strong as possible, to put an end to the system of divided administrations, and to expel all Whigs from the Government. Now, however, when his party was apparently hopelessly shattered, he employed all his talents in the task of effecting a union between the Tories and a large section of the Whigs. In his ' Dissertation on Parties ' and in his private letters, he maintained strongly that the old demarcation of parties had lost all meaning ; that the question of dynasty was virtually settled ; that the Whig enthusiasm for the House of Hanover was chiefly a party pretext for monopolising all the ofiices of the State and excluding the Tories as enemies to the establishment ; and that this monopoly and this exclusion had necessarily led to an aggrandisement of corrupt influence on the side of those in power, which was fatal to the purity and might easily prove incompatible with the existence of the con- stitution.^ Corruption, he was accustomed to maintain, is much more dangerous to English liberty than prero- gative, because it is slow and insensible in its operation, because it arouses no feeling of opposition in the coun- try like that wliich follows an unconstitutional act, and because its influence is especially felt in the very House wliich is the appointed guardian of the interests of the people. A warm and affectionate friendship with Wind- ham gave Bolingbroke for a considerable time an ascen- dency over those Tories who had abandoned Jacobitism, wliile his position as co-editor with Pulteney of the ' Craftsman,' and his confidential relations with many of the discontented Whigs, gave him influence with the other section of the Opposition. ' See among other letters a Polwarth, Marchmont Papers, very remarkable one to Lord ii. 177-191 CH. III. BOLINGBROKE AND FREDERICK. 447 Bolingbroke, however, was unpopular in the coun- try ; he was wearied of the secondary place he was compelled to occupy in party warfare, and owing to this and perhaps to other causes which we are not able to unravel, he retired to France in 1735, and did not again visit England till after the downfall of Walpole. But before his departure he had obtained a great ascendency over the mind of Frederick, Prince of Wales, who soon became the leading opponent of the Government. It is natural in a government like that of England, that a party in opposition should tm-n their hopes to the successor to the throne, and it is equally natural that an ambitious Prince should lean towards a course of policy which alone during his father's lifetime enables him to take an independent and a foremost place. Many private causes conspired to inflame the jealousj'". The Prince desired to marry a Prussian Princess, and the King refused his request. After the marriage of the Prince with the Princess of Saxe-Gotha, the King only granted him an allow- ance of 50,00 OZ. a year, though the King himself when Prince of Wales had received an allowance of 100,000L Besides this, the Prince's affable manners rendered him more popular in the country than the King, and his tastes inclined him to the brilliant literary and social circle wliich was in opposition to the ministry. From 1734 there was an open breach, and in 1737 the Prince took the extraoixlinary step of inducing the Op- position to bring forward a motion in Parliament urging the King to allow his son out of the Civil List 100,000/. a year. The Court was naturally furious, and Walpole succeeded with some difficulty in defeating the motion. Lord Hervey has left us a curious picture of the feelings of the royal family at this time — the Queen a hundred times a day saying she wished her son would fall dead with apoplexy, cursing the hour of his birth, and describ- 448 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ill. ing him as ' a nauseous beast,' ' the gi-eatest liar that ever spoke,' while his sister declared that she grudged him every hour he continued to breathe, and the King regarded him with a steady though somewhat calmer hatred. The Prince, on the other hand, seems to have lost no opportunity of irritating his father and his mother ; and when his wife was in labour he huriied her, in the midst of her pains and at the imminent danger ot her life, from Hampton Court to St. James's, for the sole purpose of insulting the King, who had given orders that the lying-in should take place at the former palace. With the same motive he made his Court the special centre of opposition to the Government, and he exerted all his influence for the ruin of Walpole.^ While all these elements of strength were combining against the minister, the death of the Queen ^ deprived him of his firmest friend. She died solemnly commend- ing her husband to his care, and her loss was never replaced. He now stood alone, confronting all the ablest debaters in Parliament, whom his jealousy had driven into opposition, while intrigues and dissensions were undermining his position at the Court and in the Cabinet, and while a fierce storm of popular indignation was raging without. He had somewhat ostentatiously displayed his contempt for literature, and most of the ablest political writers were arrayed against him. He had ridiculed the cry of parliamentary purity and the aspirations of young politicians, and all the hope and promise of England was with his opponents. He had laboured through good report and through evil report to maintain the peace of l^hirope, and the Opposition leaders succeeded in arousing in the country a martial frenzy which it was impossible to resist. The pretext was the severities of the Spaniards to ' Hervey's Memoirs. Walpole's Reminiscences. '^ Nov. 20, 1737. CH. III. DISPUTES WITH SPAIN. 449 English sailors. Spain, in attempting to monopolise the commerce of the most important part of the New World, and in forbidding all other European countries from holding intercourse with it, had advanced a claim which sooner or later must inevitably have led to war. Her right, however, to regulate the traffic with her trans-Atlantic dominions had been fully recognised by England : the principle of trade monopoly was strenuously maintained by England in her own domi- nions, and by an article in the Treaty of Utrecht, in addition to the trade in negroes, English commerce with Spanish America had been expressly restricted to a single ship of the burden of 600 tons. This treaty was soon systematically violated. An immense illicit trade sprang up, which was for a time unmolested, but was afterwards met by a rigid exercise of the right of search on the high seas, and by the constant seizure of English ships, and it was accompanied on both sides by many acts of violence, insolence, and barbarity. A dis- pute had at the same time arisen between the two nations about the right of the English traders to cut logwood in the Bay of Oampeachy, and to gather salt on the island of Tortuga, and there were chronic difficulties about the frontiers of Georgia and Carolina on the one side, and of Florida on the other. For many years the ill feeling smouldered on, and it gradually assumed very formidable proportions. The maintenance of the balance of power had been the chief cause of the wars of the cen- tury, and it was observed with truth that there was a balance by sea as well as by land. The growing prepon- derance of the English navy and of English commerce had long been seen with a jealous eye both in Spain and in France, and strong mutual interests drew the two countries together. The recovery of Gibraltar had since the Peace of Utrecht been a great object of Spanish policy, and Spain had lost, with her dominions in the VOL. I. G G 450 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. iii. Netherlands, her chief reason for desiring an English alliance and her chief cause of quarrel with France. In the counsels of the latter country a strong military party had appeared who protested against the pacific policy of Fleury, who maintained that French continental interests had been unduly sacrificed to England, and who desired to revive, in part at least, the policy of Lewis XIV. and to seek new combinations of power. This party was strengthened by the English treaty with the Emperor in 1731, which was regarded with some reason as the abandonment of a French for an Austrian alliance, and also by the great danger of an English declaration of war during the struggle of 1733. At the close of that year a secret treaty, called the Family Compact, was signed by the Kings of France and Spain, with the ob- ject of guarding against the naval supremacy of Eng- land. ^ By this treaty the French agreed, if necessary, to assist Spain in her eflforts to extii-pate the abuses which crept into her trade with England, and also to endeavour to procure for Spain the cession of Gibraltar ; while Spain agi^eed, on a fitting occasion, to revoke the trade privileges of England and to admit France to a large share of her trans-Atlantic commerce. This treaty was a profound secret, and was unknown both to Walpole and the Opposition, but there were several signs of a growing coldness between England and France. Chauvelin, who was Secretary of State for foreign affairs from 1727 to 1737, gradually acquired almost a complete empire over the mind of Fleury, and his influence was usually very hostile to the English alliance. In 1735 the English minister carried on a very secret negotiation with him, and endeavoured by the offer of a large bribe to win him to his interest ; but the attempt does not appear to have been successful, and the disgrace and exile of Chauvelin, in the begin- ning of 1737, was regarded as a great triumph of English CB. til. JENKINS* EARS. 451 policy.* On sea France displayed a new activity, while Spain, secure in her secret alliance, grew more severe in enforcing the right of search against British sailors. The latter, who despised and hated the Spaniards as foreigners, as Papists, and as ancient enemies, appear to have continually acted with great insolence. The Spaniards in their turn retaliated by many acts of violence, which were studiously collected, aggravated, and circulated in England, One story especially pro- duced a deep impression. An English captain named Jenkins was brought before Parliament and alleged that when sailing for Jamaica, so far back as 1731, he had been seized by Spanish sailors, tortured and deprived of his ears ; and when he was asked what he thought when he found himself in the hands of such barbarians, he answered, in words which bad doubtless been suggested to him and wliich were soon repeated through the length and breadth of England, that ' he had recommended his soul to God and his cause to his country.' The truth of the story is extremely doubtful, but the end that was aimed at was attained.^ The indignation of the people, fanned as it was by the Press and by the untiring efforts of all sections of the Opposition, became uncontrollable. Every device was employed to sustain it. English sailors returned from captivity in Spain were planted at the Exchange, exhibiting to the crowds who passed by, specimens of the loathsome food they were obliged to eat in the dungeons of Spain. Literature caught up the excitement, and it was reflected in the poetry of Pope, ' See the secret correspon- dence of the English Govern- ment, in Coxe's Walpole, iii. 308, 309, 316, 317, 451-457. " According to Horace Wal- pole, when Jenkins died it was found that his ear had never been cut off at all. According to Tin- dal, 'Jenkins lost his ear or part of his ear on another occasion, and pretended it had been cut off by a guarda costa.' See, for other details on this matter, Coxe's Walpole, i. 579, 580. Burke called it ' the fable of Jenkins' ears.' — Letters on a Begicide Peace. G G 2 452 ENGLAA'D IN TDE EIGHTEENTH CENTUKY. ch. hi. of Glover, and of Johnson. "Walpole tried bravely and ably to moderate it, but his conduct was branded as the grossest pusillanimity. The King fully shared the the grossest pusillanimity. The King fully shared the popular sentiment. Petitions poured into Parliament from every part of the kingdom demanding redress ; while Spain, relying on the letter of the treaty and on the support of France, met eveiy overture with suspicion or arrogance. Strong resolutions were carried through both the Commons and Lords. Letters of marque and reprisal were offered to the merchants. Admiral Had- dock was despatched with a fleet of ten ships to the Mediterranean, and troops were sent to the infant colony of Georgia to protect it from an apprehended invasion. These events took place in 1738. It is a remarkable proof of the tact and influence of Walpole that, notwith- standing the fierce and warlike spirit in the country, in the Parliament and in the palace, notwithstanding the fact that in his own Cabinet both Newcastle and Hard- wicke were advocates of war, the catastrophe did not take place till the November of the following year. It is clear that in the essential points of difference England was in the wrong. A plain treaty had been grossly and continually violated by English sailors. The right of search by which Spain attempted to enforce it, though often harshly and improperly exercised, was perfectly legal, and before the war was ended some of the noisiest of those who now denounced it were compelled to ac- knowledge the fact. Walpole himself had no doubt on the subject, but he tried in vain to convince the country. The House of Lords passed a resolution strongly con- demning the right of search, and the people, prompted by the leaders of the Opposition and now fully excited, insisted upon its unqualified relinquishment. All that could be done was to negotiate about the many instances of gross and unwarrantable violence of which Spanish CH. in. THE SPANISH CONVENTION. 453 captains had been guilty. The country was full of accounts of English sailors who had been seized by the Spaniards, plundered of all they possessed, laden with chains in a tropical cKmate, imprisoned for long periods in unhealthy dungeons, tortured or consigned to the tender mercies of the Inquisition. In these accounts there was much exaggeration and not a little deliberate falsehood, but there was also a real basis of fact. After great difficulties, and by a combination of intimidation and address, Spain was induced to sign a convention regulating the outstanding accounts between the two nations and awarding to England as compensation a balance which was ultimately settled at 95,000Z. No mention was made in this convention of the right of search, or of the punishment of the offending captains, and Spain was only induced to sign it, by England con- senting to acknowledge a doubtful claim of compensation for Spanish ships that had been captured by Byng in 1718. It was soon, however, plain that this convention could not finally settle the difierences between the two countries. Walpole succeeded, though with great diffi- culty, in carrying it through both Houses, and the Op- position, exasperated by his success, for a time seceded. In the country, however, the outcry was fierce and loud, and the Prince of Wales put himself at the head of the malcontents. The divisions of the Cabinet became more and more serious. The attitude of France towards Eng- land grew steadily hostile, and the language of Spain proportionately haughty. She threatened immediate reprisals upon the South Sea Company on account of an old debt which was alleged to be unpaid. She re- monstrated, with an arrogance an English minister could hardly brook, against the presence of a British fleet in the Mediterranean. She reasserted in the strongest language that right of search which the English nation was resolved at all hazards to resist. 454 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. in. The Opposition had now succeeded in their design. War had become inevitable ; and Walpole, instead of retiring, as he should have done, declared it himself. ' They are ringing their bells now,' he exclaimed, as the joy bells pealed at the announcement, ' they will be wi'inging their hands soon.' It was in vain, however, that he had yielded to the clamour, for the long agony of his ministry had already begun. Supporter after supporter dropped away. The Duke of Argyle, the most powerful and eloquent of the Scottish chiefs, had gone into open opposition ; ^ and his influence, combined with the irritation due to the repressive measures that followed the Porteous riots, produced at the next election, for the first time, a Scotch majority hostile to the minister. The Duke of Newcastle was moody, discon- tented, and uncertain. The authority of the minister in his Cabinet, and his majority in Parliament, steadily declined. The military organisation having fallen into decay during the long peace, the war was feebly and unsuccessfully conducted, and the commanders by land and sea were jealous and disunited. Anson plundered and burnt Paita, and captured a few Spanish prizes. Admiral Vernon took Porto Bello, but the capture was speedily relinquished ; and, Vernon being a personal enemy of Walpole, his triumph rather weakened than strengthened the Government. With these exceptions, the first period of the war presented little more than a monotony of disaster. The repulse of an expedition against Carthagena, the abandonment of an expedition against Cuba, the destruction of many thousands of English soldiers and sailors by tropical fever, the in- ' In a letter to Swift, 1734-5, nistry, and how formidable a Pultcney had noticed the steadi- body they were in the House of ness with which the bishops and Lords. — Swift's Corresjjondmce, Scotch peers supported the mi- iii. 120. CH. III. MARIA THERESA, 455 activity of the British fleet in the Mediterranean, the rapid decline of British commerce, accompanied by severe distress at home — all contributed to the discontent. In the midst of these calamities, a new series of events began, which soon plunged the greater part of Europe into war. In October 1740 the Emperor Charles VI. died, after a very short illness, at the early age of fifty-five, leaving no son. For many years the great objects of his policy had been to bequeath his whole Austrian dominions to his daughter Maria Theresa, and to obtain for her husband, the Duke of Tuscany, and former ruler of Lorraine, the Imperial crown. The latter object could, of course, only be attained when the vacancy occurred, and by the ordinary process of election ; but in order to secure the former, Charles VI. had promulgated the law called the Pragmatic Sanction, regulating the succession, and had obtained a solemn assent to that law from the Germanic body, and from the great hereditary States of Europe. With so distinct and so recent a recognition of her title by all the great Powers of Europe, the young Archduchess, it was hoped, would have no difficulty in assuming the throne as Queen of Hungary and of the other hereditary dominions of her father, and she did so with the warm assent of her subjects. She was, however, a young and inex- perienced woman, wholly unversed in public business, and at this time far advanced in pregnancy. Her do- minions were threatened by the Turks from without, and corroded by serious dissensions within. Her army, exclusive of the troops in Italy and the Netherlands, amounted to only 30,000 men, and her whole treasure consisted of 100,000 florins, which were claimed by the Empress Dowager.^ All these circumstances might have moved generous natures in her favour, but they ' See Coxe's House of Austria. 456 ENGLAjS'D in the eighteenth century, ch. III. served only to stimulate the rapacity of her neiglibours. The Elector of Bavaria had never signed the Pragmatic Sanction, and he laid claim to the Austrian throne on gi'ounds which were demonstrably worthless. France had not only assented to, but even guaranteed, the Pragmatic Sanction ; and Cardinal Fleury, who was at the head of affairs, would probably have kept his faith, but he was now a very old and vacillating man, and his hand was forced by Marshal Belleisle, who, at the head of a powerful body of French nobles, saw in the weak- ness of the young queen an opportunity of aggrandising France, and dismembering an ancient rival. Prussia also was a party to the Pragmatic Sanction ; but Frederick II., who had just ascended the throne, was burdened with no scruples ; he found himself at the head of an admirable army of 76,000 men, and was im- patient to employ it in the plunder of his enfeebled neighbour. The Elector of Bavaria refused to acknowledge the title of the Empress, but the first blow was struck by Frederick. That he was moved to this course simply by the consciousness of his own great military strength, and of the weakness and disorganisation of the Empire ; that he sought his own aggrandisement with circum- stances of peculiar treachery, and with a clear know- ledge that he was about to apply the spark to a powder magazine, and to involve the greater part of Europe in the horrors of war, are facts which remain intact after all the elaborate apologies that have been written in his favour. He was a man of singularly clear, vivid, and rapid judgment, admirably courageous in seizing perilous opportunities, and in encountering adversity ; admirably energetic and indefatigable in raising to the highest point of efficiency all the details both of civil and military administration. Perfectly free from every tinge of religious bigotry, he was one of the most CH. III. FEEDERICK II. 457 tolerant rulers of liis age, and lie was one of the first who, by abolishing torture in his dominions, introduced the principles of Beccaria into practical legislation. Though intensely avaricious of real power, and disposed to exercise a petty, meddling, and spiteful despotism in the smallest spheres,* he had nothing of the royal love for the pomp and trappings of majesty, nothing of the blind reverence for old forms and for old traditions, nothing of the childish cowardice which so often makes those who are born to the purple unable to hear unwel- come truths or to face unwelcome facts. Like Richelieu, the element of weakness in his character took the form of literary vanity, and of a feeble vein of literary senti- mentality, but it never affected his active career. Un- like Napoleon, to whom in many respects he bore a striking resemblance, his faculties were always com- pletely under his control ; he was never intoxicated, either by the magnitude of his schemes or by the violence of his passions, and his shrewd, calculating intellect remained unclouded through all the vicissitudes of fortune. He was at the same time hard and selfish to the core, and, in his political dealings at least, he was without a spark of generosity or of honour. His one object was the aggrandisement of the territory over which he ruled. Of patriotism, in the higher and more disinterested sense of the word, he had little or nothing. All his natural leanings of mind and disposition were French, and few men appear to have had less appreciation of the nobler aspects of the German character, or of the dawning splendour of the German intellect. His own words, describing the motives of his first war, have been often cited : ' Ambition, interest, the desire of making ' See some very curious illus- Berlin. Walpole's Memoirs of trations of this in the letters George II. i. 452-461. of Sir Hanbury WiUiams frooi 458 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. m. men talk about me, carried the day, and I decided for war.' It was not difficult, in the confused and intricate field of German politics, to find pretexts for aggression, and Prussia had one real reason to complain of the conduct of the Empire. One of her most ardent desires was to obtain for herself the succession to the little Duchies of Juliers and Berg. They had passed in 1675 under the sceptre of the Neuberg branch of the Palatine Electoral family, but the reigning Elector Palatine was the last sovereign of that branch, and the succession was claimed by the Prussian sovereigns, and also by the Sulzbach branch of the Palatine family. After much secret negotiation, a compromise was arrived at. Frederick William, who was then King of Prussia, re- stricted his demand to the possession of Berg ; and he made it a condition of the recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction that the Emperor should assist him in obtain- ing the succession. The treaty was made, but it was speedily broken. The Elector Palatine ardently desired the succession for the Sulzbach branch of his family ; and all Catholic Germany looked upon Diisseldorf as an essential frontier fortress against Protestant aggression. It was probable that the Prussian claims could only be enforced by arms, and that France would resent any considerable aggrandisement of Prussia on the Ehine. These and other considerations of German j)olitics threw the Emperor Charles VI. decidedly on the side of the Palatine succession, and in conjunction with the other great European Powers, he even urged that the Duchy should be provisionally garrisoned by troops belonging to the Sulzbach branch until a European arbitration had decided the disputed succession. Whatever might be the rights of the question of succession, Frederick William considered with reason that the Emperor had broken faith with him, and he speedily opened secret CH. in. Prussia's claims to silesia. 459 negotiations with France. French statesmen seldom lost an opportunity of obtaining an ally or an influence in Germany, and a secret alliance was ultimately con- cluded by which they undertook to support the claims of Prussia to a portion of the Duchy, excluding, how- ever, Diisseldorf, the capital.^ This was a real ground of difference. The claims of Prussia to the greater part of the Austrian province of Silesia were of a much more flimsy description. The Duchy of Jagerndorf had once been in the possession of a collateral branch of the House of Brandenburg, which had been deprived of it — ^it was alleged, unjustly — in 1623, and Frederick claimed the territory as lineal descendant, though it had remained undisturbed in Austrian hands for more than a century. It is plain that by the application of such a principle the security of Europe might be at any moment destroyed, for there is no State which has not at some distant period gained or lost territory by acts of at least disputable justice. The Duchies of Liegnitz, Brieg, and Wohlau were claimed on somewhat more complicated grounds. About 1635, a family compact had been made between Frede- rick, who then governed them as Duke, and the Elector Joachim II., Duke of Brandenburg, providing that in the event of the failure of the male issue of either sovereign, his territory was to pass to the descendants of the other. Ferdinand I., King of Bohemia, who was the feudal lord, refused to recognise this compact, and its validity was in consequence very doubtful ; and when in 1675 the ducal house of Liegnitz became extinct, Austria took possession of the territory, and the Elector of Brandenburg was soon after induced to renounce for himself and his descendants all claim to its possession. ' See the details of this negotiation in Eanke's Hist, of Prmsia. 460 ENGLAND IN TOE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. iii. Frederick maintained this renunciation to be invalid, and he claimed by virtue of the original compact.^ These, however, were mere pretexts, and the secret correspondence of Frederick abundantly shows how little influence they had on his decision. With consummate address, and with consummate baseness, he lulled the suspicions of the young queen to rest by professions of the warmest friendship till his army was on the eve of marching. He made no alliance, but just before starting for the war he said significantly to the French ambassador, ' I am going, I believe, to play your game, and if I should throw doublets, we will share the stake.' ^ Without making any demands, or stating any conditions, without any previous notice, or any declaration of war, he suddenly poured 30,000 soldiers into Silesia, which was plunged in the security of profound peace, and left almost wholly destitute of troops. Then, and not till then, he apprised ]\Iaria Theresa of his designs, and offered, if she would cede to him the whole Lower Duchy which he had invaded, to defend her title to the Austrian throne.^ The offer was rejected as an insult, and the whole province was overrun by Prussian soldiers. Breslau and several minor towns were captured, and an army which marched from Moravia, under Marshal Neipperg, to the rescue of Silesia was defeated at the great battle of Molwitz. The signal was given, and from every side the wolves rushed upon their prey. France had at first duped the Queen of Hungary by false and treacherous assurances, but she soon flung off ' The original statements of '^ Voltaire, SUcle de Louis XV. the causes of the war both on the ch. vi. Prussian and Austrian side are * Gotter, who was sent on this given at length in the Histoire de message, arrived at Vienna two la Dernidrc Guerre de Boh&me, days after the Prussians had par D. M. V. L. N. (Amsterdam, entered Silesia.— Frederick, If^w. 1756). de vion Tcm^JS. Cfl. til. OUTBREAK OF THE WAR. 461 the mask. The Kings of Spain and of Sardinia and the Elector of Saxony laid claims to portions of the Austrian dominions, and prepared openly or secretly to dismem- ber them. In June 1741 a treaty, after a prolonged negotiation, was signed between France and Prussia; in August a French army crossed the Ehine, and by the end of October the fortunes of Austria appeared desperate. Silesia was irrecoverably gone. Moravia was invaded by the Prussians. Bohemia was overrun by a united army of French and Bavarians ; Vienna was seriously menaced ; Linz and Passau were taken ; the capture of Prague followed in November, and, before the close of the year, the Elector of Bavaria was crowned King of Bohemia. The Queen of Hungary, however, presented an in- flexible front to her enemies. Driven from Vienna, she threw herself on the loyalty of her Hungarian subjects, who received her with an enthusiasm that dispelled every hesitation from her mind, and she urgently called on those Powers which had accepted the Pragmatic Sanc- tion, guaranteeing her succession to the whole Austrian dominions, to assist her in her struggle. Of these Powers, France, Prussia, Spain, and Poland, whose sovereign was the Elector of Saxony, had combined to plunder her. Eussia, chiefly by French intrigues, was embroiled in war with Sweden. The Dutch desired above all things to avoid the conflict. In England the feeling of the King, of the people, and of Newcastle and Hardwicke, was in favour of war ; but Walpole strained every nerve to maintain peace. In addition to his con- stitutional and very honourable hatred of war, he had many special reasons. He clearly foresaw from the first, what Maria Theresa refused till the last moment to believe, that the French were secretly meditating the dismemberment of Austria, and he was therefore anxious at all costs to put an end to the war between Austria 462 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ca. 111. and Prussia. Besides this, England was already at war with Spain, and a French war would probably lead to a Jacobite insurrection. Walpole urgently, but vainly, laboured to induce the Queen of Hungary to propitiate Frederick by the cession of the whole or part of Silesia, to induce Frederick, through fear of the ascendency of France, to secede from the confederation, and, having failed in both objects, he was dragged reluctantly into the war. In April 1741 the King's speech called upon Parliament to aid him in maintaining the Pragmatic Sanction, and a subsidy of 300,000?. to the Queen of Hungary was voted. In the following month the King, in spite of the remonstrances of Walpole, went over to Hanover to organise a mixed army of English and Ger- man troops, but a French army passed the Meuse, and marched rapidly upon Hanover, and the King, scared by the threatened invasion of liis Principality, concluded, in his capacity of Elector, without consulting or even informing his English ministers, a treaty pledging Han- over to neutrality for a year. Ever since the accession of the House of Brunswick, Hanover had been a per- petual source of embarrassment and danger to England, but a German war was one of the very few contingen- cies in which its alliance was of some real value. The indignation excited in England by the treaty of neu- trality was in consequence very violent, and nearly at the same time the news arrived that 15,000 Spanish troops, under the protection of a French squadron, had sailed from Barcelona, in spite of the neighbourhood of a British fleet, to attack the Austrian dominions in Italy. Many of these faults and misfortunes can in no degree be ascribed to Walpole. Many of them were, indeed, the direct consequence of tlie abandonment of his policy ; but in the mood in which the nation then was, they all contiibuted to his unpopularity. He was, in fact, emphatically a peace minister, and even had it CH. III. walpole's last stkuggle. 463 been otherwise, no minister can command the requisite national enthusiasm if he is conducting a war of which he notoriously disapproves. There are few pictures more painful or humiliating than are presented by the last few months of his power. He had lived so long in office, and he had so few other tastes, that he clung to it with a desperate tenacity. His private fortune was disordered. He knew that his fall would be followed by a hostile inquiry and probably by an impeachment, and he had none of the magnanimity of virtue that has sup- ported some statesmen under the ingratitude of nations, and has enabled them to look forward with confidence to the verdict of posterity. Once, it is true, he placed his resignation in the hands of the King, who desired him to continue in office, and he consented too readily for his fame. He encountered the opposition within Parliament, and the obloquy without, with a courage that never flinched, but he felt that the end was draw- ing near, and his old buoyancy of spirits was gone. ' He who in former years,' wrote his son, ' was asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow . . . now never sleeps above an hour without waking ; and he who at dinner always forgot he was minister, and was more gay and thoughtless than all his company, now sits without speaking, and with his eyes fixed, for an hour together.' ^ He met a motion for his removal, which was brought forward by Sandys, with a speech of consummate power, and the secession of Shippen and his followers gave him on this occasion the victory. He tried in vain to detach the Prince of Wales from the Opposition by inducing the King to offer him the increase of his allowance wliich he had long desired. He tried to crush Pitt by depriving him of his commission in the army. There is even some reason to believe that he tiled at one time to > To Sir H. Mann. Oct. 19, 1741. 464 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. CH. ni. win a few Jacobite votes by an insincere and futile over- ture to the Pretender.' The great frost at the close of 1739 added seriously to his difiiculties by the distress and the discontent it produced. The harvest that fol- lowed was miserably bad. Bread rose almost to famine price. Bakers' shops were broken open, and fierce riots took place in many parts of England. The people were angi-y, sullen, and wretched, and quite disposed to make the minister responsible for their sufferings. At the moment when his unpopularity was at its height, the ' Stanhope's Hist, of England, iii. 23, 24, Append. The evidence of this overture is a letter from the Pretender to Carte referring in terms of great surprise and much doubt to ' a very singular and extraordinary ' message which had been transmitted to him in 1739 through Carte, from an important person in England who had it greatly in his power to serve the Jacobite cause. The Pretender complains that Carte was only able to deliver the message from second hand. He says that he had ' no sort of proof ' of Carte's be- ing authorised by the person in question, and he exi)rcsses great doubt of the sincerity of that person. At the same time, the Pretender authorises Carte to give full assurance that in the event of the Kcstoration the Church of England would be se- cured in its privileges ; that no injury would be done to the Princes of the House of Han- over ; that the person who sent the message would be trusted and ultimately rewarded if he despatched a confidant to Home to explain his views, and if he pursued measures which mani- festly tended to a Eestoration. 'I thought it proper,' the Pre- tender concludes, ' to explain in this manner my sentiments on these heads, not absolutely to neglect an occurrence which may be of great importance if well grounded, and if otherwise no inconvenience can arise from what I have here said.' This letter was placed by Carte in Walpole's hands, and it bears Walpole's own endorsement at- testing the fact. This evidence is not conclusive, and no one will suppose that Walpole really desired a Jacobite restoration, but Carte's fidelity to the Jaco- bite cause is beyond dispute ; it is exceedingly improbable that he would have placed decisive written proof of his own treason in Walpole's hands, if Walpole had not given him encourage- ment ; and it is not, I think, al- together improbable that Wal- pole may have endeavoured, without committing himself to writing, at a time when votes were very closely balanced, to win the Jacobite votes by hold- ing out hopes to the party. CH. irr. FALL OF WALPOLE. 4G5 period for a dissolution of Parliament arrived. The jpeelings of the people could not be doubted, but party- connections, borough influence, and a lavish expenditure of secret service money might still protract his rule, and all three were strained to the uttermost. An unforeseen circumstance appears to have turned the scale. An in- judicious and hasty interference of some soldiers in a riot that took place at the Westminster election, though Walpole was certainly wholly unconcerned in it, was made the basis of an absurd and malignant report that the ministers were attempting to coerce the voters by military force, and the indignation thus aroused affected several elections. The Duke of Argyle carried the gi'eat majority of the Scotch members into opposition. The influence of the Prince of Wales and of Lord Falmouth drew many of the Cornish boroughs to the same side. When Parliament met, in the beginning of December 1741, Walpole had only a bare majority, and after eight weeks of fierce and factious wrangling, being defeated on January 28 on a question relating to an election peti- tion, he resigned.^ He had already provided, with his usual caution, for his fall. In the course of his ministry he had bestowed upon his sons permanent offices, chiefly sinecures, amounting in all to about 15,000^. a year,^ and had ob- tained the title of Baron for his eldest son, and the Orders of the Bath and of the Garter for liimself. He now procured for himself the title of Earl of Orford, and a pension of 4,000Z. a year, and for his illegitimate ' See the graphic account of tion 12,000/. this last struggle in H. Wal- - See the list in Coxe's Wal- pole's letters to Sir H. Mann. pole, i. 730, 731, and Horace Glover asserts in his Memoirs Walpole's Memoir of his own that the Prince of Wales as- income in Walpole's Life and snred him that the last votes Letters (ed. Cunningham), vol. i. against Walpole cost the Opposi- VOL. I. II H 4G6 ENGLAND IN Til?: EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. ch. hi. daughter the rank and precedence of an earl's daughter. He is said, many years before, to have disarmed the animosity of Shippen by saving from punislmient a Jacobite friend of that statesman ; and he endeavoured to avei't an impeaclunent by inducing the King to offer Pulteney the chief place in the Government on the con- dition that he would save his predecessor from prosecu- tion. The King, though he had always disliked the peace policy of his minister, acted towards him with a fidelity that has not been sufficiently appreciated ; strained all his influence for his protection, and even burst into tears when parting with him. To the mass of the nation, however, the fall of Walpcie was the signal of the wildest rejoicing. It was believed that the reign of corruption had at last ended ; that triennial parliaments would be restored ; that standing armies would be abolished in time of peace ; that a new energy would be infused into the conduct of the war ; that all pensioners would be excluded from Parliament ; that the number of placemen would be strictly limited. Statesmen observed with concern the great force which the democratic element in the country had almost silently acquired during the long and pacific ministry of Wal- pole. The increasing numbers and wealth of the trading classes, the growth of the great towns, the steady pro- gress of the Press, and the discredit which corruption had brought upon the Parliament, had all contributed to produce a spirit beyond the walls of the Legislature such as had never before been shown, except when ecclesiastical interests were concerned. Political aofitation assumed new dimensions, and doctrines about the duty of repre- sentatives subordinating their judgments to those of their electors, which had scarcely been heard in Endand since the Commonwealth, were freely expressed. A very able ])olitical writer, who had been an ardent oppo- nent of Walpole, but who was much terrified at tlio CH. III. GROWTH OF DEMOCRATIC FEELING. 467 aspect the country had assumed upon his fall, has left us a lively picture of what he termed ' the republican spirit that had so strangely arisen.' He notices as a new and curious fact the ' instructions ' drawn up by some of the electors of London, of Westminster, and several other ■cities to their representatives, prescribing the measures that were required, and asserting or implying ' that it was the duty of every Member of Parliament to vote in every instance as his constituents should direct him in the House of Commons,' contrary to ' the constant and allowed principle of our Constitution that no man, after he is chosen, is to consider himself as a member for any particular party, but as a representative for the whole nation.' He complains that ' the views of the popular interest, inflamed, disti-acted, and misguided as it has been of late, are such as they were never imagined to have been ; ' that ' a party of malcontents, assuming to themselves, though very falsely, the title of the People, claim with it a pretension which no people could have a right to claim, of creating themselves into a new order in the State, affecting a superiority to the whole Legis- lature, insolently taking upon them to dictate to all the three estates, in which the absolute power of the Govern- ment, by all the laws of this country, has indisputably resided ever since it was a Government, and endeavour- ing in effect to animate the people to resume into their own hands that vague and loose authority which exists (unless in theory) in the people of no country upon earth, and the inconvenience of which is so obvious that it is the first step of mankind, when formed into society, to divest themselves of it, and to delegate it for ever from themselves.' ^ ' Faction detected by the Evi- through many editions) has been dence of Facts. This very re- ascribed to Lord Egmont. markable pamphlet (which went 468 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. hi. In these movements of public opinion we may clearly trace the conditions that rendered possible the career of Pitt. On the present occasion, however, they were doomed to a speedy disappointment. Petitions poured into Westminster, and for a time Pulteney was the object of a popularity such as few English politicians have ever enjoyed. But in a few days the prospect was overclouded. Statesmen of the most opposite parties had concurred for the purpose of hurling Walpole from power ; but when they succeeded, their disunion was at once apparent, and the hollowness of their pretensions to purity was exposed. Pulteney fulfilled his rash pledge of not taking office, but, by a fatal error of judg- ment, he accepted the earldom of Bath, as well as a seat in the Cabinet, and his influence was irrevocably de- stroyed.^ He lost all credit with the nation for disinter- estedness. He was removed from the House of Com- mons, wliich he might have led, and his attempts to exercise a controlling direction over affairs without accepting the responsibility of office utterly failed. The King, it is said, indignant at his conduct, at first shi'ank from giving him the peerage which in the course of his career he had already three times refused, but the old minister, perceiving clearly the error of his rival, per- suaded his master to yield. ' I have turned the key of the Cabinet on him,' he exclaimed, with a significant gesture, and he soon afterwards greeted him with mock gravity in the House of Lords, ' Here we are, my Lord, the two most insignificant men in the kingdom.' Pul- teney, indeed, was utterly overwhelmed by the re- proaches of the Tories, by the poignant satires of Sir ' His intentions appear to ' Pulteney's terms seem to be a have been known before the fall peerage, and a place in the of Walpole. Sir K. Wilniot, in Cabinet Council, if he can get a letter to the Duke of Devon- it.' — Coxc's Waljwle in. 587. shire, Jan. 12, 1711 2, said : CH. III. Ex\D OF PULTENEY AND WALPOLE, 469 Hanbury Williams^ and by the execration of the people. For years he had discharged the easy task of criticising abuses which he was not called upon to remedy. He had made himself the great adversary of all corrupt in- fluence, the idol of all who aspired to reform, but no sooner had the hour for action arrived than he shrank ignobly from the helm. Henceforth his political life was a wretched tissue of disappointed hopes. He tried in vain to grasp the reins of power on the death of Lord Wilmington. He tried to assist Carteret in forming an administration in 1746. He declared himself in the next reign a supporter of the Tory Bute, but he never again enjoyed either popular or royal favour. In a few years he was powerless and almost forgotten. He had always loved money too much, and under the influence of age and disappointment this failing is said to have deepened into an avarice not less sordid than that which had clouded the noble faculties of Marlborough. Walpole also, or, to give him his new title, Orford, soon disappeared from the scene, but his influence en- dured to the last. For a time his life seemed in immi- nent danger. The cry of the people for his blood was fierce and general, and politicians of most parties had pledged themselves to impeach him. It soon, however, appeared that, with the exception of Pitt, Chesterfield, and the Duke of Argyle, no man of importance was anxious to push matters to extremity, while many and various influences favoured him. Those who had come in immediate contact with him could hardly be wholly insensible to his many gi-eat qualities and to the emi- nent services he had rendered to the country and the dynasty. The King and House of Lords were warmly in his favour. The Prince of Wales was reconciled to him. Newcastle, though he had often quarrelled with him, was anxious, for many reasons, to shield him, and negotiated with great tact to prevent the complete 470 ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, ch. iir. triumph of his enemies.^ Pulteney was alarmed at the sudden impulse given to the Jacobite party, and at the loud cry for the suppression of the standing army, which might, if it succeeded, be fatal to the dynasty, and it was impossible to form an administration without in- cludinar a considerable section of the former Govern- ment. Besides this, corrupt influence had pervaded all parties. No party sincerely wished to change the system, and therefore all parties shrank from exposing it. Walpole was compelled, indeed, to relinquish his pension, which two years after he resumed, and Pulteney was reluctantly obliged to urge on his impeachment, but, as might have been expected, it was without result. Carteret himself took a leading ])art in inducing the House of Lords to throw out the Bill granting indem- nity to those who gave evidence against Walpole, and the blunders of the new ministers, if they did not re- store the popularity of the fallen statesman, at least speedily diverted into new channels the indignation of the people. He retained his influence with the King to the last, and he used it successfully to divide his adversaries, to perpetuate the exclusion of the Tory party, and to bring the Pelhams into the forefront. He died in 1 745, after great suffering, which he bore with great courage. ' A few days before he died,' writes his biographer, ' the Duke of Cumberland, who had ineffectually remon- strated with the King against a marriage with the Princess of Denmark, who was deformed, sent his go- vernor, Mr. Poyntz, to consult the Earl of Orford on the best methods wliich he could adopt to avoid the match. After a moment's reflection, Orford (who was well aware of the penurious character of the King) advised him to give his consent to the marriage on condition of receiv- Coxe's rdham, Introd. sec. 3. CH. HI. DEATH OF WALPOLE. 471 ing an ample and- immediate establishment, " and be- lieve me," he added, " when I say the match will be no longer pressed." The Duke followed the advdce, and the event happened as the dying statesman had fore- told.' ' ' Coxe's Walpolc, i. 743. See, too, Horace Walpole's Memoirs of George II. i. 105. END or THE rreST VOLUME. rniXTKD BY eroTTrswooDB and co., xew-strkkt squaeb LONDOIf THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series 9482 ;^^- ^^^%^ . .K' m H .'-<. 1 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 000 328 547 5 'WM^JH^