expressed a view that the monarchy was not based on divine right,
but rather on a contractual relationship with the people, who were
reasonable, free, and equal by nature. This idea was first adopted
by revolutionists and then became accepted as orthodoxy. Also, he
articulated the right of resistance, the supremacy of legislative
assemblies, and the responsibility of rulers to answer to their
subjects. He theorized that men turn to forming a civil government
when there is a need to protect accumulated property from some
unreasonable men. This, along with the protection of life and
liberty, was the primary function of government, before royal
pleasure, national pride, or foreign conquest. He wrote theories
on the interaction of supply, demand, interest rates, rents,
coinage, and foreign exchange rates. He believed that interest
rates should be the natural ones determined by market forces
rather than by the legislature, especially if there was an attempt
to lower interest rates below their natural rate, which was not
only undesirable but easily circumvented. He thought that
attempting to legislate contrary to natural economic laws, e.g.
prices, was doomed to failure from unexpected consequences. He
agreed with most mercantilists that by maintaining a large inflow
of precious metals through consistent export of surpluses in
foreign trade would lead to low interest rates, increased trade,
increased capital stock, high employment, and high prices, and
therefore a healthy economy and enrichment of the nation.
Locke thought that knowledge comes primarily from experience, i.e.
sensation and reflection, rather than from innate ideas placed in
the mind by God, so that observation and experimentation are
necessary to find truth. He theorized that propositions of truth
have probability rather than certainty. Probable propositions
included opinion, belief, and revelation. His "Thoughts on
Education" was a great book on the formation of character. Locke
also advocated the use of a large field for inventing labor-saving
and economic devices for agriculture. He espoused freedom of
thought in "Letters on Toleration" and wrote "An Essay Concerning
Human Understanding", which described how the mind functions in
learning about the world and which attempted to reconcile science
and Christianity. He was a great admirer and friend of Newton and
they shared religious views. He was also a member of the Royal
Society.
At Oxford and Cambridge Universities, there were the most
enlightened theologians, classicists, orientalists, philologists,
mathematicians, chemists, architects, and musicians. There were
professors of Anglo-Saxon, Hebrew, and Arabic. John Locke's
influence caused modern philosophy to supercede traditional
scholasticism. There were no more disputations to qualify for
degrees. Some of the students were the sons of noblemen and sat at
meals with the heads, tutors, and fellows of the colleges. Most
students were the sons of landowners, clergymen, professional men,
or prosperous men of business. They were known as the gentlemen
commoner students. The few poor students were known as servitors
and paid for their education by menial work. Corporal punishment
ceased. Instead there were fines, suspension, and expulsion.
Fellows of colleges had common rooms for drinking and smoking
together as they had done in taverns outside college walls. The
king had authority to grant licenses in sell or give land in
perpetuity, to encourage founding and augmenting colleges and
schools. The two universities were vested with the presentation of
benefices that had belonged to Papists.
English nonconformists such as Presbyterians were excluded from
Oxford and Cambridge Universities, so they were educated at
Glasgow in Scotland.
Grammar schools were blamed for the past civil war by educating
too many people above their station, so ecclesiastical control now
stifled them. A few dissenting schools were established. Charity
was given to schools for children of the poor for placement as
apprentices, but not to educate them above their stations.
In the 1670s, about 70% of males in London were literate. By 1680,
illiteracy was a special characteristic of the poor instead of a
characteristic of the vast majority of common people as in 1580.
Fountain pens came into use.
Many books written tended to be about the author's experiences,
for instance Samuel Pepys' "Diary", Gilbert Burnet's "History of
my own Times", John Evelyn's lifelong diary with vivid
descriptions of striking events of the day, and nonconformist
Celia Fiennes' description of her tour of England on horseback.
There were many political biographies. Historians did not yet
study history as a continuous process, but narrated self-contained
stories to instruct by example. William Fleetwood wrote about
economic history in "Chronicon Preciogum". George Hicks put
together a "Thesaurus" of the northern languages. Thomas Hyde
wrote on ancient Persian religion. John Spenser compared Jewish
rites with those of other Semitic people, thus starting
comparative religion. Richard Bentley, William's librarian, wrote
a "Dissertation" on the ancient Greeks. He compared the ancient
Greek life with modern life. He also confuted atheism on the
Newtonian system. A translated version of "Critical History of Old
Testament" by Frenchman Richard Simon identified the old testament
as history instead of divine revelation. John Milton wrote
"Paradise Lost", which retells the Biblical story of the Creation
and the fall of Adam and Eve against the backdrop of Satan's
rebellion and expulsion from heaven and emphasized God's justice
in spite of everything. The poem deals with the puritan struggling
against evil and the problem of sin and redemption. It has a cold
and severe conception of moral virtue and stoical self-repression
in its characters. There is no sympathy with the human condition.
Reading this book made the English more serious, earnest, and
sober in life and conduct and more firm in the love of freedom.
John Bunyan wrote "Pilgrim's Progress" in which a tinker takes a
journey to find the Everlasting City of heaven and on the way
meets people who try to harm him. But he derives strength from his
adversities. The journey is a metaphor for the Christian soul
trying to find salvation. It is Puritan in its sympathies and has
insights into human nature. John Dryden wrote on large social,
political, and humanistic issues, often by political satire.
William Congreve wrote plays such as a comedy on manners. William
Wycherley wrote cynical satires and portrayed folly, affection,
and vice. John Vanbrugh wrote plays satirizing London high society
and social institutions. John Toland wrote "Christianity and
Mysterious" on deism. "Puss in Boots", "Red Ridinghood", and
"Cinderella" became available in print. There were many female
poets, bookwriters, and playwrights. Anne Finch, later Vicountess
Conway, wrote the philosophical book: "Principle of the Most
Ancient and Modern Philosophy" to reconcile the new science with
Christian belief. In it every creature had a body and a spirit.
Mrs. Aphra Behn wrote "Oroonoko", one of the first novels. Basua
Makin, governess of the little sister of Charles II wrote an essay
to revive the education of women, arguing that women's activity in
wartime showed that they were fit to be educated. Elizabeth
Elstob, who studied Teutonic languages, was one of the founders of
women's education. Mary Astell proposed a college for women. Some
women painted portraits.
There were rigid censorship acts from 1662 to 1695. The first
required that no one could print a book without first registering
it with the Company of Stationers of London and having it licensed
by appropriate authority: common law books by the Lord Chancellor
or the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, affairs of state and history
books by the Secretaries of State, heraldry books by the Earl
Marshall or Kings of Arms Garter, university books by the
Chancellor or Vice Chancellor of either of the universities, and
all others including divinity, physics, and philosophy by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, or Bishop of London. Books could be
imported only into London and not sold until approved by the
Archbishop of Canterbury or Bishop of London after being opened
and viewed by a scholar appointed by these bishops and a
representative of the Company of Stationers. If heretical,
seditious, scandalous, schismatic or otherwise dangerous or
offensive, the importer could be punished. No one could print or
import copies of any books without consent of the owner with right
by letters patent. The penalty for not doing so was to forfeit
6s.9d. for each such book, of which the king would receive one
half and the owner one half. Printers had to set their own name to
the books they printed and also the name of the author or else
forfeit such book. Only freemen of London who were members of the
Company of Stationers could sell books. The Company of Stationers
had the authority accompanied by a constable to search all houses
and shops where they knew or had "probable reason" to suspect
books were being printed. They could search houses of persons of
other trades only by special warrant. They could examine books
found to determine if they were licensed and, if not, to seize
them. Justices could imprison offenders. The first offense by
offending printers was to be punished by suspension from printing
for three years, the second offense by permanent disallowance from
printing, fine, imprisonment, and corporal punishment not
extending to life or limb. This statute was enforced by frequent
prosecutions, such as of publishers of pornographic books.
The only newspapers to appear between 1660 and 1679 were official
government sheets. But in 1695 the requirement to license
publications, including newspapers, was abolished, thereby giving
some freedom to the press. Locke had argued for this freedom,
stating "I know not why a man should not have liberty to print
whatever he would speak and to be answerable for the one just as
he is for the other..." In 1702 the first daily newspaper in the
world came into existence in England. The Stationer's Company
monopoly of printing also ended in 1695. Printing was not
regulated and no longer criminal just because it was unauthorized.
Printing could now be done in other places than London, York,
Oxford, and Cambridge.
The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Many successful
merchants and manufacturers bought landed estates and established
a line of country squires or baronets or even peers. The fashion
started in the nobility and the richest mercantile families that
their wives should become ladies of leisure. For workers though,
there was constant underemployment. In periods of economic crisis
industrial workers lost their jobs. Much work was seasonal. Anyone
who could work most of the time was fortunate. Laboring and out-
servants, who comprised one fourth of the population, and
cottagers and paupers, who comprised another fourth of the
population, had to spend more than they earned. The poor rate
collected from the parishes for the cottagers and paupers was 3d.
per week. There was an agricultural depression that was deepest in
the 1680s after the collapse of a boom. It was the only bad
depression experienced in peace time. There was famine in 1698.
Any person receiving relief from any parish and his family members
cohabiting with him was required to wear a badge with a "P" which
identified his parish. This was to differentiate them from idle,
sturdy, and disorderly beggars who were not entitled to relief.
There were more poor people and, despite the poor laws, many
became rogues or vagabonds or starved to death. Many went from
parish to parish to build cottages and consumed all the wood there
and then went to another parish. So the parishes were allowed by
statute to remove any person coming to settle in any tenement
under the value of ten pounds who was likely to be chargeable to
it. They were then removed to the last parish were they had
resided for at least forty days. Excepted were people temporarily
moving to another parish to work at harvest time. The overall
effect was to decrease the mobility of people. But a later statute
permitted greater movement of poor people by allowing those who
were poor for want of work to go to another parish where labor was
wanted. They had to bring a certificate of their present parish
membership to the new parish, where they could settle if they
rented a tenement worth ten pounds a year or served in a parish
office. Later, settlement had to be given to inhabitants paying
its parish's rates, and unmarried inhabitants hired for one year, and
apprentices bound by indenture. But parishes were displeased with
the requirement to give settlements to these people because they
feared they would become poor and need parish assistance, thereby
increasing the rates to be paid.
Parish poor houses were converted into spinning schools to obtain
an income. Parishes of large towns were combined to set up large
workhouses, where the poor could be set to unskilled manufacture,
but the managers lacked the character and education to make them
work.
Because prisoners often died before trial and the poor prisoners
became instructed in the practice of thievery in prison, they were
set to work on materials provided to them at public expense. No
parish was rated at more than 6d. per week for such. The president
and governors of corporations oversaw rogues, vagrants, sturdy
beggars, and idle or disorderly persons working in corporations or
workhouses.
Assessments were made for building and repairing gaols in order to
maintain the health and safe custody of the prisoners. Also, gaol
fever, a virulent form of typhus, was so prevalent in the large
prisons for criminals and debtors that it frequently spread
through the adjacent towns. During some assizes, it killed
sheriffs, lawyers, and justices.
In 1692, London lands were taxed for the relief of orphans.
Churchwardens could seize the goods and chattels of putative
fathers and mothers deserting bastard children.
>From 1691 to 1740, Societies for the Reformation of Manners
prosecuted poor people for moral offenses.
All hackney coaches and stage coaches in all the realm became
required to be licensed. The turnpike system came into use. Tolls
were paid for road upkeep and repair by private companies. The
local parishes ceased to have this responsibility. John Ogilby
wrote the first road book based on actual surveys of the roads.
Stage coaches cost a shilling for every five miles and went 40-50
miles a day. The trip from London to Oxford was twelve hours. The
company of Coach and Coach Harness Makers was founded with the
consent of the king. The body of a coach hung from the frame by
leather braces. One axle pivoted for turns. Plate glass was used
in the windows. Rivers improved so that most places were no more
distant from navigable waters than a long day's haul on land.
The several post offices were put under the authority of one
Postmaster General appointed by the king for the purpose of speed
and safety of dispatches, which were carried by horseback. One
sheet letter going less than 80 miles cost 2d., and more than 80
miles, 4d.
When the army was disbanded after the Restoration, its officers
and soldiers were allowed return to their trades and their
apprenticeships without serving the usual seven years. Parishes
were required to provide for poor and maimed officers and soldiers
who served Charles I or Charles II. The Royal Hospital founded by
Charles as a home for veteran soldiers opened in 1692. Greenwich
palace was converted to a hospital for seamen and their widows and
children to encourage men to become seamen: mariner, seaman,
waterman, fisherman, lighterman, bargeman, keelman, or seafaring
man in the king's Navy. Also, children of disabled seamen were to
be educated at the expense of the hospital.
Charles retained one regiment from which he started a small
standing army, which slowly increased in size ever after. The army
was primarily mercenary, as it had been in medieval times, with
officers buying their commissions. Colonels were the proprietors
of their regiments and captains were the proprietors of their
companies. The soldiers were ill mannered, swearing and cursing
and stealing, sometimes from peoples' homes, and intimidating
people with their swords. The bayonet was invented to attach onto
a gun, which were muzzle-loading with a match lock. So pikemen
with their long spears became obsolete. Hand grenades and small
explosive bombs came into use about 1670.
Explosives were also used in mines. Mines for coal became deeper
as coal replaced the use of increasingly expensive wood charcoal
for brewing and for brick, glass, and china manufacture. Flooding
of coal, tin and copper mines became a problem. In 1698, Thomas
Savery invented the Miner's Friend, a practical atmospheric steam
engine without a piston.
There was resort to many devices to fund wars. The land tax was
still the primary tax. The customs and excise taxes were often
extended to more goods and wares. Sometimes there were duties
imposed on marriages, births, and deaths. Also, hawkers, peddlers,
and other trading persons going from town to town to other men's
houses on foot or on horse carrying wares had to buy a license.
There were also loans from privileged companies such as the Bank
of England, East India Co., and the South Sea Co. Commissioners
were appointed to take and state the account of all money in the
public revenue. This discouraged the prevalent corruption of
government officials and thereby the people were encouraged to pay
their taxes.
The Goldsmiths loaned money to the king and to private persons and
to the Exchequer. Receipts from Goldsmiths for storage in strong
boxes had become a de facto paper currency. But when the
Goldsmiths had no more money to lend, the Bank of England was
founded in 1694 under whig auspices to provide money for war. It
was the first institution to issue notes in excess of its total
deposits. However, it was not allowed to lend money to the Crown
without the consent of Parliament. It was incorporated as the
first English joint-stock bank and had about 1,300 shareholders.
These original subscribers were individuals from London from many
walks of life, including well-to-do tradesmen and about 12% of
whom were women: wives, widows, or spinsters. Not many
corporations were original subscribers. Holders of at least 500
pounds could vote, of 2000 pounds could be directors, and of 4000
pounds could be Governor. The Bank issued notes payable to bearer
and discounted bills, but these were not legal tender. It lent at
8% to the Crown and occasionally to corporations. Money was also
borrowed by offering annuities on single lives. This was the first
time the government borrowed directly from the public on a long-
term basis.
In 1695 there was inflation due to over issue by the Bank because
of inexperience, pressure from government, and the Bank's greed
for business. After a dividend of 5% in 1695, the next year there
was no dividend and so the bank stock price fell. In 1696, five
pound and ten pound short term bonds were sold to the public. Also
in that year was the first run on the bank. This occurred two days
after clipped money lost currency; people wanted the new recoined
money, but the Mint had not supplied the Bank with sufficient
supplies. Interest instead of cash was given for notes. Cash was
short for months. The Bank's credit was much shaken. It was then
given a monopoly so that its notes would not have competition.
Thereafter, its dividends were good - about 12% per year. Because
of its monopoly, its dividends were about 3% above the current
going rate of interest. About this time, Exchequer Bills, with
interest, were started by the Exchequer and circulated by the Bank
of England. They were frequently endorsed many times by successive
holders.
The Bank simply took over from the goldsmiths its main everyday
business of deposit; running cash note [cashier's note, specie
note, cash note], which was payable on demand and normally did not
bear interest; and drawn note [precursor to the check, but not on
special paper]. The Bank gradually convinced many of its clients
to use its "check" [cheque] paper when drawing. The check paper
was unique to the Bank and embellished with distinctive scroll
work to serve as an obstacle to fraud. Over time the running cash
note tended to be for round sums of at least twenty pounds and
multiples of five pounds. The Bank of England had a monopoly on
issuing notes in the London area. Country banks arose and issued
bearer notes payable on demand and interest-bearing notes in their
areas. The Bank of England gave to its depositors the service of
paying annually to a designee without further order.
A decision of the common law courts held that bills of exchange
(written orders to pay a given a sum on a given date) were
transferable to other people by successive endorsements. So long
distance payments no longer had to be made in coin, with all the
dangers of highway robbery.
The financial revolution of the 1690s meant that the merchant
elite could invest in government bonds or company bonds at 5-6%,
or London leases at 10%, as opposed to income from landed estates,
which was under 3%. Shareholders were no longer personally liable
for company losses. Interest on loans was no longer considered
sinful as long as it was not oppressive. The greater ability to
borrow spurred the growth of capitalism.
All brokers and stock jobbers in London and Westminster of bank
stock, bank bills, shares and interests in joint stock must be
licensed by the mayor, which shall necessitate their taking an
oath to exercise their office without fraud or collusion to the
best of his skill and knowledge as of 1697. This is to avoid the
collusion of fixing values to their own advantage.
Compilations of tables of mortality originated the science of
life-statistics. This made life insurance possible. But it was
administered by ad hoc offices rather than companies and was not
reliable in making payments.
William Petty made a statistical study of economics and determined
that the basic values of an economy derive not from its store of
treasure, but from its capacity for production. Trade was studied
empirically by statistics by new offices such as the Inspector
General of Imports and Exports.
Charles instituted a hearth tax of 2s. per year in 1662, with
constables and officers authorized to verify the number of hearths
and stoves in houses. It was repealed in 1688 because it could not
be enforced except by exposing every man's house to be entered and
searched at pleasure by persons unknown to the people, which was
oppressive and a badge of slavery.
By bribes, Charles built up a body of support in Parliament which
could be relied upon for a majority. They came to be called
"tories" by their opponents. "Tory" had been a term of abuse for
Irish Catholic bandits. The tory and whig groups were known by
their disagreement over the authoritarianism of the Crown. The
tories were sympathetic to the doctrine of divine right and
favored a doctrinally high church. The tories represented landed
property and the established church, and usually wore blue in
contrast to the purple of royalty. Many royalists became tories.
The whigs refused to accept the sacrosanct character of the
monarchy. The whigs opined that government depended upon consent
of the people and that the people had a right of resistance. They
subordinated the Crown to Parliament. The whigs represented the
dissenters and the mercantile classes, and often wore red. Many
former Puritans became whigs. "Whig" had been a term of abuse for
Scots Presbyterian rebels and horse thieves.
The gout and venereal disease were common among political leaders.
A primitive condom just introduced to the aristocracy from France
helped deter syphilis, but was uncomfortable and unreliable.