WILLIAM AND MARY.
[Sidenote: William and Mary.]
From Louis XIV. we turn to consider the reign of his illustrious
rival, William III., King of England, who enjoyed the throne
conjointly with Mary, daughter of James II.
The early life and struggles of this heroic prince have been already
alluded to, in the two previous chapters, and will not be further
discussed. On the 12th day of February, 1689, he arrived at Whitehall,
the favorite palace of the Stuart kings, and, on the 11th of April, he
and Mary were crowned in Westminster Abbey.
Their reign is chiefly memorable for the war with Louis XIV., the
rebellion in Ireland, fomented by the intrigues of James II., and for
the discussion of several great questions pertaining to the liberties
and the prosperity of the English nation, questions in relation to the
civil list, the Place Bill, the Triennial Bill, the liberty of the
press, a standing army, the responsibility of ministers, the veto of
the crown, the administration of Ireland, the East India Company, the
Bank of England, and the funded debt. These topics make the domestic
history of the country, especially in a constitutional point of view,
extremely important.
The great struggle with Louis XIV. has already received all the notice
which the limits of this work will allow, in which it was made to
appear that, if Louis XIV. was the greater king, William III. was the
greater man; and, although his military enterprises were, in one
sense, unsuccessful, since he did not triumph in splendid victories,
still he opposed successfully what would have been, without his
heroism, an overwhelming torrent of invasion and conquest, in
consequence of vastly superior forces. The French king was eventually
humbled, and the liberties of continental Europe were preserved.
Under the wise, tolerant, and liberal administration of William, the
British empire was preserved from disunion, and invaluable liberties
and privileges were guaranteed.
[Sidenote: Irish Rebellion.]
Scarcely was he seated on the throne, which his wife inherited from
the proud descendants of the Norman Conqueror, when a rebellion in
Ireland broke out, and demanded his presence in that distracted and
unfortunate country.
The Irish people, being Roman Catholics, had sympathized with
James II. in all his troubles, and were resolved to defend his cause
against a Calvinistic king. In a short time after his establishment at
St. Germain's, through the bounty of the French king, he began to
intrigue with the disaffected Irish chieftains. The most noted of
these was Tyrconnel, who contrived to deprive the Protestants of Lord
Mountjoy, their most trusted and able leader, by sending him on a
mission to James II., by whose influence he was confined, on his
arrival at Paris, in the Bastile. Tyrconnel then proceeded to disarm
the Protestants, and recruit the Catholic army, which was raised in
two months to a force of forty thousand men, burning to revenge their
past injuries, and recover their ancient possessions and privileges.
James II. was invited by the army to take possession of his throne. He
accepted the invitation, and, early in 1689, made his triumphal entry
into Dublin, and was received with a pomp and homage equal to his
dignity. But James did not go to Ireland merely to enjoy the homage
and plaudits of the Irish people, but to defend the last foothold
which he retained as King of England, trusting that success in Ireland
would eventually restore to him the throne of his ancestors. And he
was cordially, but not powerfully, supported by the French king, who
was at war with England, and who justly regarded Ireland as the most
assailable part of the British empire.
The Irish parliament, in the interest of James, passed an act of
attainder against all Protestants who had assisted William, among whom
were two archbishops, one duke, seventeen earls, eighteen barons, and
eighty-three clergymen. By another act, Ireland was made independent
of England. The Protestants were every where despoiled and insulted.
But James was unequal to the task he had assumed, incapable either of
preserving Ireland or retaking England. He was irresolute and
undecided. He could not manage an Irish House of Commons any better
than he could an English one. He debased the coin, and resorted to
irritating measures to raise money.
At last he concluded to subdue the Protestants in Ulster, and advanced
to lay siege to Londonderry, upon which depended the fate of the north
of Ireland. It was bravely defended by the inhabitants, and finally
relieved by the troops sent over from England under the command of
Kirke--the same who inflicted the cruelties in the west of England
under James II. But William wanted able officers, and he took them
indiscriminately from all parties. Nine thousand people miserably
perished by famine and disease in the town, before the siege was
raised, one of the most memorable in the annals of war.
Ulster was now safe, and the discomfiture of James was rapidly
effected. Old Marshal Schomberg was sent into Ireland with sixteen
thousand veteran troops, and, shortly after, William himself (June 14,
1690) landed at Carrickfergus, near Belfast, with additional men, who
swelled the Protestant army to forty thousand.
[Sidenote: King James in Ireland.]
The contending forces advanced to the conflict, and on the 1st of July
was fought the battle of the Boyne, in which Schomberg was killed, but
which resulted in the defeat of the troops of James II. The
discomfited king fled to Dublin, but quitted it as soon as he had
entered it, and embarked hastily at Waterford for France, leaving the
Earl of Tyrconnel to contend with vastly superior forces, and to make
the best terms in his power.
The country was speedily subdued, and all the important cities and
fortresses, one after the other, surrendered to the king. Limerick
held out the longest, and made an obstinate resistance, but finally
yielded to the conqueror; and with its surrender terminated the final
efforts of the old Irish inhabitants to regain the freedom which they
had lost. Four thousand persons were outlawed, and their possessions
confiscated. Indeed, at different times, the whole country has been
confiscated, with the exception of the possessions of a few families
of English blood. In the reign of James I., the whole province of
Ulster, containing three millions of acres, was divided among the new
inhabitants. At the restoration, eight millions of acres, and, after
the surrender of Limerick, one million more of acres, were
confiscated. During the reign of William and Mary, the Catholic Irish
were treated with extreme rigor, and Ireland became a field for
place-hunters. All important or lucrative offices in the church, the
state, and the army, were filled with the needy dependants of the
great Whig families. Injustice to the nation was constantly exercised,
and penal laws were imposed by the English parliament, and in
reference to matters which before came under the jurisdiction of the
Irish parliament. But, with all these rigorous measures, Ireland was
still ruled with more mildness than at any previous period in its
history, and no great disturbance again occurred until the reign of
George III.
But the reign of William III., however beneficial to the liberties of
England and of Europe, was far from peaceful. Apart from his great
struggle with the French king, his comfort and his composure of mind
were continually disturbed by domestic embarrassments, arising from
the jealousies between the Whigs and Tories, the intrigues of
statesmen with the exiled family, and discussions in parliament in
reference to those great questions which attended the settlement of
the constitution. A bill was passed, called the _Place Bill_,
excluding all officers of the crown from the House of Commons, which
showed the jealousy of the people respecting royal encroachments. A
law also was passed, called the _Triennial Bill_, which limited the
duration of parliament to three years, but which, in a subsequent
reign, was repealed, and one substituted which extended the duration
of a parliament to seven years. An important bill was also passed
which regulated trials in case of treason, in which the prisoner was
furnished with a copy of the indictment, with the names and residences
of jurors, with the privilege of peremptory challenge, and with full
defence of counsel. This bill guaranteed new privileges and rights to
prisoners.
[Sidenote: Freedom of the Press.]
The great question pertaining to the Liberty of the Press was
discussed at this time--one of the most vital questions which affect
the stability of government on the one side, and the liberties of the
people on the other. So desirable have all governments deemed the
control of the press by themselves, that parliament, when it abolished
the Star Chamber, in the reign of Charles I., still assumed its powers
respecting the licensing of books. Various modifications were, from
time to time, made in the laws pertaining to licensing books, until,
in the reign of William, the liberty of the press was established
nearly upon its present basis.
William, in general, was in favor of those movements which proved
beneficial in after times, or which the wisdom of a subsequent age saw
fit to adopt. Among these was the union of England and Scotland, which
he recommended. Under his auspices, the affairs of the East India
Company were considered and new charters granted; the Bank of England
was erected; benevolent action for the suppression of vice and for the
amelioration of the condition of the poor took place; the coinage was
adjusted and financial experiments were made.
The crown, on the whole, lost power during this reign, which was
transferred to the House of Commons. The Commons acquired the complete
control of the purse, which is considered paramount to all other
authority. Prior to the Revolution, the supply for the public service
was placed at the disposal of the sovereign, but the definite sum of
seven hundred thousand pounds, yearly, was placed at the disposal of
William, to defray the expense of the civil list and his other
expenses, while the other contingent expenses of government, including
those for the support of the army and navy, were annually appropriated
by the Commons.
[Sidenote: Act of Settlement--Death of William III.]
The most important legislative act of this reign was the Act of
Settlement, March 12, 1701, which provided that England should be
freed from the obligation of engaging in any war for the defence of
the foreign dominions of the king; that all succeeding kings must be
of the communion of the Church of England; that no succeeding king
should go out of the British dominions without consent of parliament;
that no person in office, or pensioner, should be a member of the
Commons; that the religious liberties of the people should be further
secured; that the judges should hold office during good behavior, and
have their salaries ascertained; and that the succession to the throne
should be confined to Protestant princes.
King William reigned in England thirteen years, with much ability, and
sagacity, and prudence, and never attempted to subvert the
constitution, for which his memory is dear to the English people. But
most of his time, as king, was occupied in directing warlike
operations on the Continent, and in which he showed a great jealousy
of the genius of Marlborough, whose merits he nevertheless finally
admitted. He died March 8, 1702, and was buried in the sepulchre of
the kings of England.
[Sidenote: Character of William.]
Notwithstanding the animosity of different parties against
William III., public opinion now generally awards to him, considering
the difficulties with which he had to contend, the first place among
the English kings. He had many enemies and many defects. The Jacobites
hated him because "he upset their theory of the divine rights of
kings; the High Churchmen because he was indifferent to the forms of
church government; the Tories because he favored the Whigs; and the
Republicans because he did not again try the hopeless experiment of a
republic." He was not a popular idol, in spite of his great services
and great qualities, because he was cold, reserved, and unyielding;
because he disdained to flatter, and loved his native better than his
adopted country. But his faults were chiefly offences against good
manners, and against the prejudices of the nation. He distrusted human
nature, and disdained human sympathy. He was ambitious, and his
ambition was allied with selfishness. He permitted the slaughter of
the De Witts, and never gave Marlborough a command worthy of his
talents. He had no taste for literature, wit, or the fine arts. His
favorite tastes were hunting, gardening and upholstery. That he was,
however, capable of friendship, is attested by his long and devoted
attachment to Bentinck, whom he created Earl of Portland, and
splendidly rewarded with rich and extensive manors in every part of
the land. His reserve and coldness may in part be traced to his
profound knowledge of mankind, whom he feared to trust. But if he was
not beloved by the nation, he secured their eternal respect by being
the first to solve the problem of constitutional monarchy, and by
successfully ruling, at a very critical period, the Dutch, the
English, the Scotch, and the Irish, who had all separate interests and
jealousies; by yielding, when in possession of great power, to
restraints he did not like; and by undermining the intrigues and power
of so mighty an enemy of European liberties as Louis XIV. His heroism
shone brilliantly in defeat and disaster, and his courage and exertion
never flagged when all Europe desponded, and when he himself labored
under all the pains and lassitude of protracted disease. He died
serenely, but hiding from his attendants, as he did all his days, the
profoundest impressions which agitated his earnest and heroic soul.
[Sidenote: Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke.]
Among the great men whom he encouraged and rewarded, may be mentioned
the historian Burnet, whom he made Bishop of Salisbury, and Tillotson
and Tennison, whom he elevated to archiepiscopal thrones. Dr. South
and Dr. Bentley also adorned this age of eminent divines. The great
poets of the period were Prior, Dryden, Swift, and Pope, who, however,
are numbered more frequently among the wits of the reign of Anne.
Robert Boyle distinguished himself for experiments in natural science,
and zeal for Christian knowledge; and Christopher Wren for his genius
in architectural art. But the two great lights of this reign were,
doubtless, Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke, to whom the realm of
natural and intellectual philosophy is more indebted than to any other
men of genius from the time of Bacon. The discoveries of Newton are
scarcely without a parallel, and he is generally regarded as the
greatest mathematical intellect that England has produced. To him the
world is indebted for the binomial theorem, discovered at the age of
twenty-two; for the invention of fluxions; for the demonstration of
the law of gravitation; and for the discovery of the different
refrangibility of rays of light. His treatise on Optics and his
_Principia_, in which he brought to light the new theory of the
universe, place him at the head of modern philosophers--on a high
vantage ground, to which none have been elevated, of his age, with the
exception of Leibnitz and Galileo. But his greatest glory was his
modesty, and the splendid tribute he rendered to the truths of
Christianity, whose importance and sublime beauty he was ever most
proud to acknowledge in an age of levity and indifference.
John Locke is a name which almost exclusively belongs to the reign of
William III., and he will also ever be honorably mentioned in the
constellation of the very great geniuses and Christians of the world.
His treatises on Religious Toleration are the most masterly ever
written, while his Essay on the Human Understanding is a great system
of truth, as complete, original, and logical, in the department of
mental science, as was the system of Calvin in the realm of theology.
Locke's Essay has had its enemies and detractors, and, while many
eminent men have dissented from it, it nevertheless remains, one of
the most enduring and proudest monuments of the immortal and
ever-expanding intellect of man.
[Sidenote: Anne.]
On the death of William III., (1702,) the Princess Anne, daughter of
James II., peaceably ascended the throne. She was thirty-seven years
of age, a woman of great weaknesses, and possessing but few
interesting qualities. Nevertheless, her reign is radiant with the
glory of military successes, and adorned with every grace of fancy,
wit, and style in literature. The personal talent and exclusive
ambition of William suppressed the national genius; but the incapacity
of Anne gave scope for the commanding abilities of Marlborough in the
field, and Godolphin in the cabinet.
The memorable events connected with her reign of twelve years, were,
the war of the Spanish succession, in which Marlborough humbled the
pride of Louis XIV.; the struggles of the Whigs and Tories; the union
of Scotland with England; the discussion and settlement of great
questions pertaining to the constitution, and the security of the
Protestant religion; and the impulse which literature received from
the constellation of learned men who were patronized by the
government, and who filled an unusual place in public estimation.
In a political point of view, this reign is but the continuation of
the reign of William, since the same objects were pursued, the same
policy was adopted, and the same great characters were intrusted with
power. The animating object of William's life was the suppression of
the power of Louis XIV.; and this object was never lost sight of by
the English government under the reign of Anne.
Hence the great political event of the reign was the war of the
Spanish succession, which, however, pertains to the reign of Louis as
well as to that of Anne. It was during this war that the great battles
of Blenheim, Ramillies, and Malplaquet attested the genius of the
greatest military commander that England had ever sent into the field.
It was this war which exhausted the energies and resources of all the
contending states of Europe, and created a necessity for many years of
slumbering repose. It was this war which completed the humiliation of
a monarch who aspired to the sovereignty of Europe, which preserved
the balance of power, and secured the liberties of Europe. Yet it was
a war which laid the foundation of the national debt, inflamed the
English mind with a mad passion for military glory, which demoralized
the nation, and fostered those international jealousies and enmities
which are still a subject of reproach to the two most powerful states
of Europe. This war made England a more prominent actor on the arena
of European strife, and perhaps contributed to her political
aggrandizement. The greatness of the British empire begins to date
from this period, although this greatness is more to be traced to
colonial possessions, manufactures, and commercial wealth, than to the
victories of Marlborough.
[Sidenote: The Duke of Marlborough.]
It will ever remain an open question whether or not it was wise in the
English nation to continue so long the struggle with Louis XIV. In a
financial and material point of view, the war proved disastrous. But
it is difficult to measure the real greatness of a country, and solid
and enduring blessings, by pounds, shillings, and pence. All such
calculations, however statistically startling, are erroneous and
deceptive. The real strength of nations consists in loyalty,
patriotism, and public spirit; and no sacrifices can be too great to
secure these unbought blessings--"this cheap defence." If the
victories of Marlborough secured these, gave dignity to the British
name, and an honorable and lofty self-respect to the English people,
they were not dearly purchased. But the settlement of these questions
cannot be easily made.
As to the remarkable genius of the great man who infused courage into
the English mind, there can be no question. Marlborough, in spite of
his many faults, his selfishness and parsimony, his ambition and
duplicity, will ever enjoy an enviable fame. He was not so great a
moral hero as William, nor did he contend against such superior forces
as the royal hero. But he was a great hero, nevertheless. His glory
was reached by no sudden indulgence of fortune, by no fortunate
movements, by no accidental circumstances. His fame was progressive.
He never made a great mistake; he never lost the soundness of his
judgment. No success unduly elated him, and no reverses discouraged
him. He never forgot the interests of the nation in his own personal
annoyances or enmities. He was magnanimously indulgent to those Dutch
deputies who thwarted his measures, criticized his plans, and lectured
him on the art of war. The glory of his country was the prevailing
desire of his soul. He was as great in diplomacy and statesmanship as
on the field of Blenheim. He ever sacrificed his feelings as a
victorious general to his duty as a subject. His sagacity was only
equalled by his prudence and patience, and these contributed, as well
as his personal bravery, to his splendid successes, which secured for
him magnificent rewards--palaces and parks, peerages, and a nation's
gratitude and praise.
But there is a limit to all human glory. Marlborough was undermined by
his political enemies, and he himself lost the confidence of the queen
whom he had served, partly by his own imperious conduct, and partly
from the overbearing insolence of his wife. From the height of popular
favor, he descended to the depth of popular hatred. He was held up, by
the sarcasm of the writers whom he despised, to derision and obloquy;
was accused of insolence, cruelty, ambition, extortion, and avarice,
discharged from his high offices, and obliged to seek safety by exile.
He never regained the confidence of the nation, although, when he
died, parliament decreed him a splendid funeral, and a grave in
Westminster Abbey.
[Sidenote: Character of Marlborough.]
In private life, he was amiable and kind; was patient under
contradiction, and placid in manners; had great self-possession, and
extraordinary dignity. His person was beautiful, and his address
commanding. He was feared as a general, but loved as a man. He never
lost his affections for his home, and loved to idolatry his imperious
wife, his equal, if not superior, in the knowledge of human nature.
These qualities as a man, a general, and a statesman, in spite of his
defects, have immortalized his name, and he will, for a long time to
come, be called, and called with justice, the _great_ Duke of
Marlborough.
Scarcely less than he, was Lord Godolphin, the able prime minister of
Anne, with whom Marlborough was united by family ties, by friendship,
by official relations, and by interest. He was a Tory by profession,
but a Whig in his policy. He rose with Marlborough, and fell with him,
being an unflinching advocate for the prosecution of the war to the
utmost limits, for which his government was distasteful to the Tories.
His life was not stainless; but, in an age of corruption, he ably
administered the treasury department, and had control of unbounded
wealth, without becoming rich--the highest praise which can ever be
awarded to a minister of finance. It was only through the coöperation
of this sagacious and far-sighted statesman that Marlborough himself
was enabled to prosecute his brilliant military career.
[Sidenote: Whigs and Tories.]
It was during his administration that party animosity was at its
height--the great struggle which has been going on, in England, for
nearly two hundred years, between the Whigs and Tories. These names
originated in the reign of Charles II., and were terms of reproach.
The court party reproached their antagonists with their affinity to
the fanatical conventiclers in Scotland, who were known by the name of
the _Whigs_; and the country party pretended to find a resemblance
between the courtiers and the Popish banditti of Ireland, to whom the
appellation of _Tory_ was affixed. The High Church party and the
advocates of absolutism belonged to the Tories; the more liberal party
and the advocates of constitutional reform, to the Whigs. The former
were conservative, the latter professed a sympathy with improvements.
But the leaders of both parties were among the greatest nobles in the
realm, and probably cared less for any great innovation than they did
for themselves. These two great parties, in the progress of society,
have changed their views, and the opinions once held by the Whigs were
afterwards adopted by the Tories. On the whole, the Whigs were in
advance in liberality of mind, and in enlightened plans of government.
But both parties, in England, have ever been aristocratic, and both
have felt nearly an equal disgust of popular influences. Charles and
James sympathized with the Tories more than with the Whigs; but
William III. was supported by the Whigs, who had the ascendency in his
reign. Queen Anne was a Tory, as was to be expected from a princess of
the house of Stuart; but, in the early part of her reign, was obliged
to yield to the supremacy of the Whigs. The advocates for war were
Whigs, and those who desired peace were Tories. The Whigs looked to
the future glory of the country; the Tories, to the expenses which war
created. The Tories at last got the ascendency, and expelled
Godolphin, Marlborough, and Sunderland from power.
Of the Tory leaders, Harley, (Earl of Oxford,) St. John, (Lord
Bolingbroke,) the Duke of Buckingham, and the Duke of Ormond, the Earl
of Rochester, and Lord Dartmouth, were the most prominent, but this
Tory party was itself divided, in consequence of jealousies between
the chiefs, the intrigues of Harley, and the measureless ambition of
Bolingbroke. Under the ascendency of the Tories the treaty of Utrecht
was made, now generally condemned by historians of both Whig and Tory
politics. It was disproportioned to the success of the war, although
it secured the ends of the grand alliance.
[Sidenote: Dr. Henry Sacheverell.]
One of the causes which led to the overthrow of the Whigs was the
impeachment and trial of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, an event which excited
intense interest at the time, and, though insignificant in itself,
touched some vital principles of the constitution.
This divine was a man of mean capacity, and of little reputation for
learning or virtue. He had been, during the reign of William, an
outrageous Whig; but, finding his services disregarded, he became a
violent Tory. By a sort of plausible effrontery and scurrilous
rhetoric, he obtained the applause of the people, and the valuable
living of St. Saviour, Southwark. The audacity of his railings against
the late king and the revolution at last attracted the notice of
government; and for two sermons which he printed, and in which he
inculcated, without measure, the doctrine of passive obedience,
consigned Dissenters to eternal damnation, and abused the great
principle of religious toleration, he was formally impeached. All
England was excited by the trial. The queen herself privately
attended, to encourage a man who was persecuted for his loyalty, and
persecuted for defending his church. The finest orators and lawyers of
the day put forth all their energies. Bishop Atterbury wrote for
Sacheverell his defence, which was endorsed by a conclave of High
Church divines. The result of the trial was the condemnation of the
doctor, and with it the fall of his adversaries. He was suspended for
three years, but his defeat was a triumph. He was received, in college
halls and private mansions, with the pomp of a sovereign and the
reverence of a saint. His sentence made his enemies unpopular. The
great body of the English nation, wedded to High Church principles,
took sides in his favor. But the arguments of his accusers developed
some great principles--led to the assertion of the doctrines of
toleration; for, if passive obedience to the rulers of the state and
church were obligatory, then all Dissenters might be curbed and
suppressed. The Whig managers of the trial, by opposing the bigoted
Churchmen, aided the cause of dissent, justified the revolution, and
upheld the conquest by William III. And their speeches are upon
record, that they asserted the great principles of civil and religious
liberty, in the face of all the authority, dignity, and wisdom of the
realm. It is true they lost as a party, on account of the bigotry of
the times; but they furnished another pillar to uphold the
constitution, and adduced new and powerful arguments in support of
constitutional liberty. The country gained, if they, as a party, lost;
and though Sacheverell was lauded by his church, his conviction was a
triumph to the friends of freedom. Good resulted in many other ways.
Political leaders learned moral wisdom; they saw the folly of
persecuting men for libels, when such men had the sympathy of the
people; that such persecutions were undignified, and that, while they
gained their end, they lost more by victory than by defeat. The trial
of Sacheverell, while it brought to view more clearly some great
constitutional truths, also more effectually advanced the liberty of
the press; for, surely, restriction on the press is a worse evil, than
the violence and vituperation of occasional libels.
[Sidenote: Union of Scotland and England.]
The great domestic event of this reign was doubtless the union of
Scotland and England; a consummation of lasting peace between the two
countries, which William III. had proposed. Nothing could be more
beneficent for both the countries; and the only wonder is, that it was
not done before, when James II. ascended the English throne; and
nothing then, perhaps, prevented it, but the bitter jealousy which had
so long existed between these countries; a jealousy, dislike, and
prejudice which have hardly yet passed away.
Scotland, until the reign of James II., was theoretically and
practically independent of England, but was not so fortunately placed,
as the latter country, for the development of energies. The country
was smaller, more barren, and less cultivated. The people were less
civilized; and had less influence on the political welfare of the
state. The aristocracy were more powerful, and were more jealous of
royal authority. There were constant feuds and jealousies between
dominant classes, which checked the growth in political importance,
wealth, and civilization. But the people were more generally imbued
with the ultra principles of the Reformation, were more religious, and
cherished a peculiar attachment to the Presbyterian form of church
government, and a peculiar hatred of every thing which resembled Roman
Catholicism. They were, moreover, distinguished for patriotism, and
had great jealousy of English influences.
James II. was the legitimate King of Scotland, as well as of England;
but he soon acquired a greater love for England, than he retained for
his native country; and England being the greater country, the
interests of Scotland were frequently sacrificed to those of England.
Queen Anne, as the daughter of James II., was also the legitimate
sovereign of Scotland; and, on her decease, the Scotch were not bound
to acknowledge the Elector of Hanover as their legitimate king.
[Sidenote: Duke of Hamilton.]
Many ardent and patriotic Scotchmen, including the Duke of Hamilton
and Fletcher of Saltoun, deemed it a favorable time to assert, on the
death of Queen Anne, their national independence, since the English
government was neither just nor generous to the lesser country.
Under these circumstances, there were many obstacles to a permanent
union, and it was more bitterly opposed in Scotland than in England.
The more patriotic desired complete independence. Many were jealous of
the superior prosperity of England. The people in the Highlands and
the north of Scotland were Jacobinical in their principles, and were
attached to the Stuart dynasty. The Presbyterians feared the influence
of English Episcopacy, and Scottish peers deprecated a servile
dependence on the parliament of England.
But the English government, on the whole, much as it hated Scotch
Presbyterianism and Scotch influence, desired a union, in order to
secure the peaceful succession of the house of Hanover, for the north
of Scotland was favorable to the Stuarts, and without a union, English
liberties would be endangered by Jacobinical intrigues. English
statesmen felt this, and used every measure to secure this end.
The Scotch were overreached. Force, bribery, and corruption were
resorted to. The Duke of Hamilton proved a traitor, and the union was
effected--a union exceedingly important to the peace of both
countries, but especially desirable to England. Important concessions
were made by the English, to which they were driven only by fear. They
might have ruled Scotland as they did Ireland, but for the intrepidity
and firmness of the Scotch, who while negotiations were pending,
passed the famous Act of Security, by which the Scottish parliament
decreed the succession in Scotland, on the death of the queen, open
and elective; the independence and power of parliaments; freedom in
trade and commerce; and the liberty of Scotland to engage or not in
the English continental wars. The English parliament retaliated,
indeed, by an act restricting the trade of Scotland, and declaring
Scotchmen aliens throughout the English dominions. But the conflicts
between the Whigs and Tories induced government to repeal the act; and
the commissioners for the union secured their end.
It was agreed, in the famous treaty they at last effected, that the
two kingdoms of England and Scotland be united into one, by the name
of _Great Britain_.
That the succession to the United Kingdom shall remain to the Princess
Sophia, Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the heirs of her body, being
Protestants; and that all Papists, and persons marrying Papists, shall
be excluded from, and be forever incapable of inheriting, the crown of
Great Britain;
That the whole people of Great Britain shall be represented by one
parliament, in which sixteen peers and forty-five commoners, chosen
for Scotland, should sit and vote;
That the subjects of the United Kingdom shall enjoy an entire freedom
and intercourse of trade and navigation, and reciprocal communication
of all other rights, privileges, and advantages belonging to the
subjects of either kingdom;
That the laws, in regard to public rights and civil government, shall
be the same in both countries, but that no alteration shall be made in
the laws respecting private rights, unless for the evident utility of
the subjects residing in Scotland;
That the Court of Session, and all other courts of judicature in
Scotland, remain as before the union, subject, however, to such
regulations as may be made by the parliament of Great Britain.
Beside these permanent regulations, a sum of three hundred and
ninety-eight thousand pounds was granted to Scotland, as an equivalent
to the augmentation of the customs and excise.
By this treaty, the Scotch became identified with the English in
interest. They lost their independence; but they gained security and
peace; and rose in wealth and consequence. The nation moreover, was
burdened by the growth of the national debt. The advantage was mutual,
but England gained the greater advantage by shifting a portion of her
burdens on Scotland, by securing the hardy people of that noble
country to fight her battles, and by converting a nation of enemies
into a nation of friends.
We come now to glance at those illustrious men who adorned the
literature of England in this brilliant age, celebrated for political
as well as literary writings.
Of these, Addison, Swift, Bolingbroke, Bentley, Warburton, Arbuthnot,
Gay, Pope, Tickell, Halifax, Parnell, Rowe, Prior, Congreve, Steele,
and Berkeley, were the most distinguished. Dryden belonged to the
preceding age; to the period of license and gayety--the greatest but
most immoral of all the great poets of England, from the time of
Milton to that of Pope.
[Sidenote: Wits of Queen Anne's Reign.]
The wits of Queen Anne's reign were political writers as well as
poets, and their services were sought for and paid by the great
statesmen of the times, chiefly of the Tory party. Marlborough
neglected the poets, and they contributed to undermine his power.
Of these wits the most distinguished and respectable was Addison, born
1672. He was well educated, and distinguished himself at Oxford, and
was a fellow of Magdalen College. His early verses, which would now be
pronounced very inferior, however attracted the notice of Dryden, then
the great autocrat of letters, and the oracle of the literary clubs.
At the age of twenty-seven, Addison was provided with a pension from
the Whig government, and set out on his travels. He was afterwards
made secretary to Lord Halifax, and elected a member of the House of
Commons, but was never able to make a speech. He, however, made up for
his failure as an orator by his power as a writer, being a perfect
master of elegant satire. He was also charming in private
conversation, and his society was much sought by eminent statesmen,
scholars, and noblemen. In 1708, he became secretary for Ireland, and,
while he resided at Dublin, wrote those delightful papers on which his
fame chiefly rests. Not as the author of Rosamond, nor of Latin
verses, nor of the treatise on Medals, nor of Letters from Italy, nor
of the tragedy of Cato, would he now be known to us. His glory is
derived from the Tatler and Spectator--an entirely new species of
writing in his age, original, simple, and beautiful, but chiefly
marked for polished and elegant satire against the follies and bad
taste of his age. Moreover, his numbers of the Spectator are
distinguished for elevation of sentiment, and moral purity, without
harshness, and without misanthropy. He wrote three sevenths of that
immortal production, and on every variety of subject, without any
attempt to be eloquent or _intense_, without pedantry and without
affectation. The success of the work was immense, and every one who
could afford it, had it served on the breakfast table with the tea and
toast. It was the general subject of conversation in all polite
circles, and did much to improve the taste and reform the morals of
the age. There was nothing which he so severely ridiculed as the show
of learning without the reality, coxcombry in conversation,
extravagance in dress, female flirts and butterflies, gay and
fashionable women, and all false modesty and affectation. But he
blamed without bitterness, and reformed without exhortation, while he
exalted what was simple, and painted in most beautiful colors the
virtues of contentment, simplicity, sincerity, and cheerfulness.
His latter days were imbittered by party animosity, and the malignant
stings of literary rivals. Nor was he happy in his domestic life,
having married a proud countess, who did not appreciate his genius. He
also became addicted to intemperate habits. Still he was ever honored
and respected, and, when he died, was buried in Westminster Abbey.
[Sidenote: Swift.]
Next to Addison in fame, and superior in genius, was Swift, born in
Ireland, in 1677, educated at Dublin, and patronized by Sir William
Temple. He was rewarded, finally, with the deanery of St. Patrick's.
He was very useful to his party by his political writings; but his
fame rests chiefly on his poetry, and his Gulliver's Travels, marked
and disgraced by his savage sarcasm on woman, and his vilification of
human nature. He was a great master of venomous satire. He spared
neither friends nor enemies. He was ambitious, misanthropic and
selfish. His treatment of woman was disgraceful and heartless in the
extreme. But he was witty, learned, and natural. He was never known to
laugh, while he convulsed the circles into which he was thrown. He was
rough to his servants, insolent to inferiors, and sycophantic to men
of rank. His distinguishing power was his unsparing and unscrupulous
sarcasm and his invective was as dreadful as the personal ridicule of
Voltaire. As a poet he was respectable, and as a writer he was
original. He was indifferent to literary fame, and never attempted any
higher style of composition than that in which he could excel. His
last days were miserable, and he lingered a long while in hopeless and
melancholy idiocy.
[Sidenote: Pope--Bolingbroke--Gay--Prior.]
Pope properly belongs to a succeeding age, though his first writings
attracted considerable attention during the life of Addison, who first
raised him from obscurity. He is the greatest, after Dryden, of all
the second class poets of his country. His Rape of the Lock, the most
original of his poems, established his fame. But his greatest works
were the translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, the Dunciad, and his
Essay on Man. He was well paid for his labors, and lived in a
beautiful villa at Twickenham, the friend of Bolingbroke, and the
greatest literary star of his age. But he was bitter and satirical,
irritable, parsimonious, and vain. As a versifier, he has never been
equalled. He died in 1744, in the Romish faith, beloved but by few,
and disliked by the world generally.
[Sidenote: Writers of the Age of Queen Anne.]
Bolingbroke was not a poet, but a man of vast genius, a great
statesman, and a great writer on history and political philosophy, a
man of most fascinating manners and conversation, brilliant, witty,
and learned, but unprincipled and intriguing, the great leader of the
Tory party. Gay, as a poet, was respectable, but poor, unfortunate, a
hanger on of great people, and miserably paid for his sycophancy. His
fame rests on his Fables and his Beggar's Opera. Prior first made
himself distinguished by his satire called A City Mouse and a Country
Mouse, aimed against Dryden. He was well rewarded by government, and
was sent as minister to Paris. Like most of the wits of his time, he
was convivial, and not always particular in the choice of his
associates. Humor was the natural turn of his mind. Steele was editor
of the Spectator and wrote some excellent papers, although vastly
inferior to Addison's. He is the father of the periodical essay, was a
man of fashion and pleasure, and had great experience in the follies
and vanities of the world. It is doubtful whether the writings of the
great men who adorned the age of Anne will ever regain the ascendency
they once enjoyed, since they have all been surpassed in succeeding
times. They had not the fire, enthusiasm, or genius which satisfies
the wants of the present generation. As poets, they had no greatness
of fancy; and as philosophers, they were cold and superficial. Nor did
they write for the people, but for the great, with whom they sought to
associate, by whose praises they were consoled, and by whose bread
they were sustained. They wrote for a class, and that class alone,
that chiefly seeks to avoid ridicule and abstain from absurdity, that
never attempts the sublime, and never sinks to the ridiculous; a class
keen of observation, fond of the satirical, and indifferent to all
institutions and enterprises which have for their object the elevation
of the masses, or the triumph of the abstract principles of truth and
justice.
* * * * *
REFERENCES.--Lord Mahon's History of England, which
commences with the peace of Utrecht, is one of the most
useful and interesting works which have lately appeared.
Smollett's continuation of Hume should be consulted,
although the author was greater as a novelist than as an
historian. Burnet's history on this period is a standard.
Hallam should be read in reference to all constitutional
questions. Coxe's Life of Marlborough throws great light on
the period, and is very valuable. Macaulay's work will, of
course, be read. See, also, Bolingbroke's Letters, and the
Duke of Berwick's Memoirs. A chapter in the Pictorial
History is very good as to literary history and the progress
of the arts and sciences. See, also, Johnson's Lives of the
Poets; Nichols's Life of Addison; Scott's Life of Swift;
Macaulay's Essay on Addison; and the Spectator and Tatler.