Under Henry VII the country revived from the evils of a long civil
war, in the course of which the chief nobility had been broken down,
and the industry and commerce of the land interrupted. It was
remarkable, nevertheless, that, during the past period, England was
upon the whole an improving country. The evils of war had fallen
chiefly on those who made it; the government, however disturbed by
various claimants of the throne, was mild and equitable――at least as
compared with that of other countries; and the people at large throve
under a system in which their own consent, by the voice of the House
of Commons, was necessary to the making of every new law, and the
laying on of every tax. The reign of Henry VII was much disturbed by
insurrections, in consequence of his imperfect title. A baker’s boy,
named Lambert Symnel, and a Jew’s son, named Perkin Warbeck, were
successively set up by the York party――the one as a son of the late
Duke of Clarence, and the other as the younger brother of Edward V,
but were both defeated. Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn in 1499; and
nearly about the same time, Henry procured, by forms of law, the death
of the Earl of Warwick, the real son of the late Duke of Clarence, a
poor idiot boy, whom he had kept fifteen years in confinement, and
whose title to the throne, being superior to his own, rendered him
uneasy.
Henry though a cruel prince, as were most of the sovereigns of his
age, was a sagacious and peaceful ruler. He paid great attention to
all his affairs, and in some of his acts looked far beyond the present
time. For example, by marrying his daughter Margaret to James IV of
Scotland, he provided for the possibility of the future union of the
two crowns. By a law allowing men of property to break entails, he
insured the reduction of the great lords, and the increase of the
number of small proprietors. His constant policy was to depress the
chief nobles, and to elevate the clergy, lawyers, and men of new
families, as most likely to be dependent on him. The greatest fault of
his character was his excessive love of money, of which he amassed an
immense sum. During his reign, Ireland was made more dependent on the
English crown by a statute prohibiting any parliament from being held
in it until the king should give his consent.