The members of the cabinet applied themselves, though very secretly,
to the business of bringing about a peace. When their plans were
matured, the consent of the House of Commons was easily gained; but
the Lords having shown some reluctance, it was found necessary to
create twelve new peers, in order to overpower the sense of that part
of the legislature. After a tedious course of negotiation, Britain and
Holland concluded a peace at Utrecht (1713), leaving the emperor of
Germany still at war. By this arrangement, Philip V was permitted to
retain Spain and the Indies, but no other part of the dominions which
his ambitious grandfather had endeavored to secure for him; and it was
provided that he and his descendants should never inherit the kingdom
of France, nor any future king of France accede to the crown of Spain.
Britain obtained nothing tangible by all her exertions, except the
possession of Gibraltar and Minorca, and the privilege of being
exclusively employed to carry slaves to the Spanish American colonies.
It has justly been considered a stain upon the nation, that it should
have concluded a separate peace under such clandestine circumstances,
as the interests of the other belligerent parties were thereby greatly
injured. For the gratification of their High Church supporters, the
ministers obtained an act for preventing dissenters from keeping
schools, and another for establishing church patronage in Scotland,
the former of which was repealed in the following reign.
It is believed that Queen Anne and her Tory ministers were in secret
willing to promote the restoration of the main line of the Stuart
family, and Harley and St. John are now known to have intrigued for
that purpose. But before any plan could be formed, the queen took
suddenly ill and died (August 1, 1714), when the ministers had no
alternative but to proceed according to the Act of Settlement. The
Electress Sophia being recently dead, her son, the elector, was
proclaimed under the title of GEORGE I.
The reign of Queen Anne is not more distinguished by the wonderful
series of victories gained by Marlborough, than by the brilliant list
of literary men who now flourished, and who have caused this to be
styled the Augustan age of English literature, as resembling that of
the Roman Emperor Augustus. Alexander Pope stands unrivaled in
polished verse on moral subjects. Jonathan Swift is a miscellaneous
writer of singular vigor and an extraordinary kind of humor. Joseph
Addison wrote on familiar life and on moral and critical subjects with
a degree of elegance before unknown. Sir Richard Steele was a lively
writer of miscellaneous essays. This last author, with assistance from
Addison and others, set on foot the ‘Tatler,’ ‘Spectator,’ and
‘Guardian,’ the earliest examples of small periodical papers in
England, and which continue to this day to be regarded as standard
works. Cibber, Congreve, Vanburgh, and Farquhar, were distinguished
writers of comedy; and Prior, Philips, and Rowe, were pleasing poets.
In graver literature, this age is not less eminent. Dr. Berkeley
shines as a metaphysician; Drs. Sherlock, Atterbury, and Clark as
divines; and Bentley as a critic of the Roman classics.