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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 5 + English History + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 10, 2011 [EBook #35236] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. BRITANNICA, VOL 9 SL 5 *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #dcdcdc; color: #696969; " summary="Transcriber's note"> +<tr> +<td style="width:25%; vertical-align:top"> +Transcriber’s note: +</td> +<td class="norm"> +A few typographical errors have been corrected. They +appear in the text <span class="correction" title="explanation will pop up">like this</span>, and the +explanation will appear when the mouse pointer is moved over the marked +passage. Sections in Greek will yield a transliteration +when the pointer is moved over them, and words using diacritic characters in the +Latin Extended Additional block, which may not display in some fonts or browsers, will +display an unaccented version. <br /><br /> +<a name="artlinks">Links to other EB articles:</a> Links to articles residing in other EB volumes will +be made available when the respective volumes are introduced online. +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<div style="padding-top: 3em; "> </div> + +<h2>THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA</h2> + +<h2>A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INFORMATION</h2> + +<h3>ELEVENTH EDITION</h3> +<div style="padding-top: 3em; "> </div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<h3>VOLUME IX SLICE V<br /><br /> +"English History"</h3> +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="padding-top: 3em; "> </div> + +<p class="center1" style="font-size: 150%; font-family: 'verdana';">Articles in This Slice</p> +<table class="reg" style="width: 90%; font-size: 90%; border: gray 2px solid;" cellspacing="8" summary="Contents"> + +<tr><td class="tcl"><a href="#ar1">ENGLISH HISTORY</a></td><td class="tcl"> </td></tr> + +</table> +<p class="pt2"> </p> + +<hr class="art" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page466" id="page466"></a>466</span></p> +<p><span class="bold">ENGLISH HISTORY.<a name="ar1" id="ar1"></a></span>—The general account of English history +which follows should be supplemented for the earlier period by +the article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Britain</a></span>. See also <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Scotland</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Ireland</a></span>, <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Wales</a></span>.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">I. From the Landing of Augustine to the Norman +Conquest (600-1066)</p> + +<p>With the coming of Augustine to Kent the darkness which +for nearly two centuries had enwrapped the history of Britain +begins to clear away. From the days of Honorius to those of +Gregory the Great the line of vision of the annalists of the continent +was bounded by the Channel. As to what was going on +beyond it, we have but a few casual gleams of light, just enough +to make the darkness visible, from writers such as the author +of the life of St Germanus, Prosper Tiro, Procopius, and Gregory +of Tours. These notices do not, for the most part, square +particularly well with the fragmentary British narrative that can +be patched together from Gildas’s “lamentable book,” or the +confused story of Nennius. Nor again do these British sources +fit in happily with the English annals constructed long centuries +after by King Alfred’s scribes in the first edition of the <i>Anglo-Saxon +Chronicle</i>. But from the date when the long-lost communication +between Britain and Rome was once more resumed, +the history of the island becomes clear and fairly continuous. +The gaps are neither broader nor more obscure than those which +may be found in the contemporary annals of the other kingdoms +of Europe. The stream of history in this period is narrow and +turbid throughout the West. Quite as much is known of the +doings of the English as of those of the Visigoths of Spain, the +Lombards, or the later Merovingians. The 7th century was +the darkest of all the “dark ages,” and England is particularly +fortunate in possessing the <i>Ecclesiastica historia</i> of Bede, which, +though its author was primarily interested in things religious, +yet contains a copious chronicle of things secular. No Western +author, since the death of Gregory of Tours, wrote on such a +scale, or with such vigour and insight.</p> + +<div class="center pt2"><img style="width:517px; height:709px; vertical-align: middle;" src="images/img466.jpg" alt="" /></div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page467" id="page467"></a>467</span></p> + +<p class="pt2">The conversion of England to Christianity took, from first to +last, some ninety years (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 597 to 686), though during the last +thirty the ancestral heathenism was only lingering on +in remote comers of the land. The original missionary +<span class="sidenote">Conversion of England.</span> +impulse came from Rome, and Augustine is rightly +regarded as the evangelist of the English; yet only +a comparatively small part of the nation owed its Christianity +directly to the mission sent out by Pope Gregory. Wessex was +won over by an independent adventurer, the Frank Birinus, who +had no connexion with the earlier arrivals in Kent. The great +kingdom of Northumbria, though its first Christian monarch +Edwin was converted by Paulinus, a disciple of Augustine, relapsed +into heathenism after his death. It was finally evangelized +from quite another quarter, by Irish missionaries brought by +King Oswald from Columba’s monastery of Iona. The church +that they founded struck root, as that of Paulinus and Edwin +had failed to do, and was not wrecked even by Oswald’s death +in battle at the hands of Penda the Mercian, the one strong +champion of heathenism that England produced. Moreover, +Penda was no sooner dead, smitten down by Oswald’s brother +Oswio at the battle of the Winwaed (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 655), than his whole +kingdom eagerly accepted Christianity, and received missionaries, +Irish and Northumbrian, from the victorious Oswio. It is clear +that, unlike their king, the Mercians had no profound enthusiasm +for the old gods. Essex, which had received its first bishop +from Augustine’s hands but had relapsed into heathenism after +a few years, also owed its ultimate conversion to a Northumbrian +preacher, Cedd, whom Oswio lent to King Sigeberht after the +latter had visited his court and been baptized, hard by the +Roman wall, in 653.</p> + +<p>Yet even in those English regions where the missionaries from +Iona were the founders of the Church, the representatives of +Rome were to be its organizers. In 664 the Northumbrian king +Oswio, at the synod of Whitby, declared his adhesion to the +Roman connexion, whether it was that he saw political advantage +therein, or whether he realized the failings and weaknesses of the +Celtic church, and preferred the more orderly methods of her rival. +Five years later there arrived from Rome the great organizer, +Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus, who bound the hitherto isolated +churches of the English kingdoms into a well-compacted whole, +wherein the tribal bishops paid obedience to the metropolitan +at Canterbury, and met him frequently in national councils and +synods. England gained a spiritual unity long ere she attained +a political unity, for in these meetings, which were often attended +by kings as well as by prelates, Northumbrian, West Saxon and +Mercian first learnt to work together as brothers.</p> + +<p>In a few years the English church became the pride of Western +Christendom. Not merely did it produce the great band of +missionaries who converted heathen Germany—Willibrord, +Suidbert, Boniface and the rest—but it excelled +<span class="sidenote">The English church.</span> +the other national churches in learning and culture. +It is but necessary to mention Bede and Alcuin. The +first, as has been already said, was the one true historian who +wrote during the dark time of the 7th-8th centuries; the second +became the pride of the court of Charles the Great for his unrivalled +scholarship. At the coming of Augustine England had +been a barbarous country; a century and a half later she was +more than abreast of the civilization of the rest of Europe.</p> + +<p>But the progress toward national unity was still a slow one. +The period when the English kingdoms began to enter into the +commonwealth of Christendom, by receiving the +missionaries sent out from Rome or from Iona, practically +<span class="sidenote">Formation of the kingdoms.</span> +coincides with the period in which the occupation +of central Britain was completed, and the kingdoms +of the conquerors assumed their final size and shape. Ęthelfrith, +the last heathen among the Northumbrian kings, cut off +the Britons of the North from those of the West, by winning the +battle of Chester (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 613), and occupying the land about the +mouths of the Mersey and the Dee. Cenwalh, the last monarch +who ascended the throne of Wessex unbaptized, carried the +boundaries of that kingdom into Mid-Somersetshire, where they +halted for a long space. Penda, the last heathen king of Mercia, +determined the size and strength of that state, by absorbing into +it the territories of the other Anglian kingdoms of the Midlands, +and probably also by carrying forward its western border beyond +the Severn. By the time when the smallest and most barbarous +of the Saxon states—Sussex—accepted Christianity in the year +686, the political geography of England had reached a stage from +which it was not to vary in any marked degree for some 200 +years. Indeed, there was nothing accomplished in the way of +further encroachment on the Celt after 686, save Ine’s and +Cuthred’s extension of Wessex into the valleys of the Tone and +the Exe, and Offa’s slight expansion of the Mercian frontier +beyond the Severn, marked by his famous dyke. The conquests +of the Northumbrian kings in Cumbria were ephemeral; what +Oswio won was lost after the death of Ecgfrith.</p> + +<p>That the conversion of the English to Christianity had anything +to do with their slackening from the work of conquest it +would be wrong to assert. Though their wars with the Welsh +were not conducted with such ferocious cruelty as of old, and +though (as the laws of Ine show) the Celtic inhabitants of newly-won +districts were no longer exterminated, but received as the +king’s subjects, yet the hatred between Welsh and English did +not cease because both were now Christians. The westward +advance of the invaders would have continued, if only there had +remained to attract them lands as desirable as those they had +already won. But the mountains of Wales and the moors of +Cornwall and Cumbria did not greatly tempt the settler. Moreover, +the English states, which had seldom turned their swords +against each other in the 5th or the 6th centuries, were engaged +during the 7th and the 8th in those endless struggles for supremacy +which seem so purposeless, because the hegemony which +a king of energy and genius won for his kingdom always disappeared +<span class="sidenote">The “Bretwaldas.”</span> +with his death. The “Bretwaldaship,” as +the English seem to have called it, was the most +ephemeral of dignities. This was but natural: conquest +can only be enforced by the extermination of the conquered, +or by their consent to amalgamate with the conquerors, or by +the garrisoning of the land that has been subdued by settlers +or by military posts. None of these courses were possible to a +king of the 7th or 8th centuries: even in their heathen days the +English were not wont to massacre their beaten kinsmen as +they massacred the unfortunate Celt. After their conversion to +Christianity the idea of exterminating other English tribes grew +even more impossible. On the other hand, local particularism +was so strong that the conquered would not, at first, consent +to give up their natural independence and merge themselves in +the victors. Such amalgamations became possible after a time, +when many of the local royal lines died out, and unifying influences, +of which a common Christianity was the most powerful, +sapped the strength of tribal pride. But it is not till the 9th +century that we find this phenomenon growing general. A +kingdom like Kent or East Anglia, even after long subjection +to a powerful overlord, rose and reasserted its independence +immediately on hearing of his death. His successor had to +attempt a new conquest, if he felt himself strong enough. To +garrison a district that had been overrun was impossible: the +military force of an English king consisted of his military household +of <i>gesiths</i>, backed by the general levy of the tribe. The +strength of Mercia or Northumbria might be mustered for a +single battle, but could not supply a standing army to hold down +the vanquished. The victorious king had to be content with +tribute and obedience, which would cease when he died, or +was beaten by a competitor for the position of Bretwalda.</p> + +<p>In the ceaseless strife between the old English kingdoms, +therefore, it was the personality of the king which was the main +factor in determining the hegemony of one state over +another. If in the 7th century the successive great +<span class="sidenote">Supremacy of Northumbria.</span> +Northumbrians—Edwin, Oswald, Oswio and Ecgfrith—were +reckoned the chief monarchs of England, and +exercised a widespread influence over the southern realms, yet +each had to win his supremacy by his own sword; and when +Edwin and Oswald fell before the savage heathen Penda, and +Ecgfrith was cut off by the Picts, there was a gap of anarchy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page468" id="page468"></a>468</span> +before another king asserted his superior power. The same +phenomenon was seen with regard to the Mercian kings of the +8th century; the long reigns of the two conquerors +<span class="sidenote">Supremacy of Mercia.</span> +Ęthelbald and Offa covered eighty years (716-796), +and it might have been supposed that after such a +term of supremacy Mercia would have remained +permanently at the head of the English kingdoms. It was not +so, Ęthelbald in his old age lost his hegemony at the battle +of Burford (752), and was murdered a few years after by his +own people. Offa had to win back by long wars what his kinsman +had lost; he became so powerful that we find the pope +calling him <i>Rex Anglorum</i>, as if he were the only king in the +island. He annexed Kent and East Anglia, overawed Northumbria +and Wessex, both hopelessly faction-ridden at the time, +was treated almost as an equal by the emperor Charles the Great, +and died still at the height of his power. Yet the moment that +he was dead all his vassals revolted; his successors could never +recover all that was lost. Kent once more became a kingdom, +and two successive Mercian sovereigns, Beornwulf and Ludica, +fell in battle while vainly trying to recover Offa’s supremacy +over East Anglia and Wessex.</p> + +<p>The ablest king in England in the generation that followed +Offa was Ecgbert of Wessex, who had long been an exile abroad, +and served for thirteen years as one of the captains of +Charles the Great. He beat Beornwulf of Mercia at +<span class="sidenote">Supremacy of Wessex.</span> +Ellandune (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 823), permanently annexed Kent, to +whose crown he had a claim by descent, in 829 received +the homage of all the other English kings, and was for the remainder +of his life reckoned as “Bretwalda.” But it is wrong +to call him, as some have done, “the first monarch of all England.” +His power was no greater than that of Oswio or Offa +had been, and the supremacy might perhaps have tarried with +Wessex no longer than it had tarried with Northumbria or Mercia +if it had not chanced that the Danish raids were now beginning. +For these invasions, paradoxical as it may seem, were the +greatest efficient cause in the welding together of England. +They seemed about to rend the land in twain, but they really +cured the English of their desperate particularism, and drove all +the tribes to take as their common rulers the one great line of +native kings which survived the Danish storm, and maintained +itself for four generations of desperate fighting against the invaders. +On the continent the main effect of the viking invasions +was to dash the empire of Charles the Great into fragments, and +to aid in producing the numberless petty states of feudal Europe. +In this island they did much to help the transformation of the +mere Bretwaldaship of Ecgbert into the monarchy of all England.</p> + +<p>Already ere Ecgbert ascended the throne of Kent the new +enemy had made his first tentative appearance on the British +shore. It was in the reign of Beorhtric, Ecgbert’s +predecessor, that the pirates of the famous “three +<span class="sidenote">Danish invasions.</span> +ships from Heretheland” had appeared on the coast +of Dorset, and slain the sheriff “who would fain have known +what manner of men they might be.” A few years later another +band appeared, rising unexpectedly from the sea to sack the +famous Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne (793). After +that their visits came fast and furious on the shore-line of every +English kingdom, and by the end of Ecgbert’s reign it was they, +and not his former Welsh and Mercian enemies, who were the +old monarch’s main source of trouble. But he brought his +Bretwaldaship to a good end by inflicting a crushing defeat on +them at Hingston Down, hard by the Tamar, probably in 836, and +died ere the year was out, leaving the ever-growing problem to +his son Ęthelwulf.</p> + +<p>The cause of the sudden outpouring of the Scandinavian +deluge upon the lands of Christendom at this particular date is +one of the puzzles of history. So far as memory ran, +the peoples beyond the North Sea had been seafaring +<span class="sidenote">Influence of viking sea-power.</span> +races addicted to piracy. Even Tacitus mentions +their fleets. Yet since the 5th century they had been +restricting their operations to their own shores, and are barely +heard of in the chronicles of their southern neighbours. It seems +most probable that the actual cause of their sudden activity +was the conquest of the Saxons by Charles the Great, and his +subsequent advance into the peninsula of Denmark. The emperor +seemed to be threatening the independence of the North, +and in terror and resentment the Scandinavian peoples turned +first to strike at the encroaching Frank, and soon after to assail +the other Christian kingdoms which lay behind, or on the flank +of, the Empire. But their offensive action proved so successful +and so profitable that, after a short time, the whole manhood +of Denmark and Norway took to the pirate life. Never since +history first began to be recorded was there such a supreme +example of the potentialities of sea-power. Civilized Europe +had been caught at a moment when it was completely destitute +of a war-navy; the Franks had never been maritime in their +tastes, the English seemed to have forgotten their ancient seafaring +habits. Though their ancestors had been pirates as fierce +as the vikings of the 9th century, and though some of their later +kings had led naval armaments—Edwin had annexed for a +moment Man and Anglesea, and Ecgfrith had cruelly ravaged +part of Ireland—yet by the year 800 they appear to have ceased +to be a seafaring race. Perhaps the long predominance of Mercia, +an essentially inland state, had something to do with the fact. +At any rate England was as helpless as the Empire when first the +Danish and Norwegian galleys began to cross the North Sea, and +to beat down both sides of Britain seeking for prey. The number +of the invaders was not at first very great; their fleets were not +national armaments gathered by great kings, but squadrons of +a few vessels collected by some active and enterprising adventurer. +Their original tactics were merely to land suddenly near some +thriving seaport, or rich monastery, to sack it, and to take to the +water again before the local militia could turn out in force against +them. But such raids proved so profitable that the vikings +soon began to take greater things in hand; they began to ally +themselves in confederacies: two, six or a dozen “sea-kings” +would join their forces for something more than a desultory raid. +With fifty or a hundred ships they would fall upon some unhappy +region, harry it for many miles inland, and offer battle to +the landsfolk unless the latter came out in overpowering force. +And as their crews were trained warriors chosen for their high +spirit, contending with a raw militia fresh from the plough, they +were generally successful. If the odds were too great they +could always retire to their ships, put to sea, and resume their +predatory operations on some other coast three hundred miles +away. As long as their enemies were unprovided with a navy +they were safe from pursuit and annihilation. The only chance +against them was that, if caught too far from the base-fort +where they had run their galleys ashore, they might find their +communication with the sea cut off, and be forced to fight for +their lives surrounded by an infuriated countryside. But in the +earlier years of their struggles with Christendom the vikings +seldom suffered a complete disaster; they were often beaten +but seldom annihilated. Ere long they grew so bold that they +would stay ashore for months, braving the forces of a whole +kingdom, and sheltering themselves in great palisaded camps +on peninsulas or islands when the enemy pressed them too hard. +On well-guarded strongholds like Thanet or Sheppey in England, +Noirmoutier at the Loire mouth, or the Isle of Walcheren, they +defied the local magnates to evict them. Finally they took to +wintering on the coast of England or the Empire, a preliminary +to actual settlement and conquest. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Viking</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>King Ecgbert died long ere the invaders had reached this stage +of insolence. Ęthelwulf, his weak and kindly son, would undoubtedly +have lost the titular supremacy of Wessex +over the other English kingdoms if there had been in +<span class="sidenote">Progress of Danish conquest.</span> +Mercia or Northumbria a strong king with leisure to +concentrate his thoughts on domestic wars. But the +vikings were now showering such blows on the northern states +that their unhappy monarchs could think of nothing but self-defence. +They slew Redulf—king of Northumbria—in 844, took +London in 851, despite all the efforts of Burgred of Mercia, and +forced that sovereign to make repeated appeals for help to +Ęthelwulf as his overlord. For though Wessex had its full share +of Danish attacks it met them with a vigour that was not seen in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page469" id="page469"></a>469</span> +the other realms. The defence was often, if not always, successful; +and once at least (at Aclea in 851) Ęthelwulf exterminated +a whole Danish army with “the greatest slaughter among the +heathen host that had been heard of down to that day,” as the +Anglo-Saxon chronicler is careful to record. But though he +might ward off blows from his own realm, he was helpless to aid +Mercia or East Anglia, and still more the distant Northumbria.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, till after Ęthelwulf’s death that the +attack of the vikings developed its full strength. The fifteen +years (856-871) that were covered by the reigns of his three +short-lived sons, Ęthelbald, Ęthelbert and Ęthelred, were the +most miserable that England was to see. Assembling in greater +and ever greater confederacies, the Danes fell upon the northern +kingdoms, no longer merely to harry but to conquer and occupy +them. A league of many sea-kings which called itself the “great +army” slew the last two sovereigns of Northumbria and stormed +York in 867. Some of the victors settled down there to lord it +over the half-exterminated English population. The rest continued +their advance southward. East Anglia was conquered +in 870; its last king, Edmund, having been defeated and taken +prisoner, the vikings shot him to death with arrows because +he would not worship their gods. His realm was annexed and +partly settled by the conquerors. The fate of Mercia was hardly +better: its king, Burgred, by constant payment of tribute, bought +off the invaders for a space, but the eastern half of his realm was +reduced to a wilderness.</p> + +<p>Practically masters of all that lay north of Thames, the “great +army” next moved against Wessex, the only quarter where a +vigorous resistance was still maintained against them, though +its capital, Winchester, had been sacked in 864. Under two kings +named Halfdan and Bacsceg, and six earls, they seized Reading +and began to harry Berkshire, Surrey and Hampshire. King +Ęthelred, the third son of Ęthelwulf, came out against them, +with his young brother Alfred and all the levies of Wessex. In the +year 871 these two gallant kinsmen fought no less than six +pitched battles against the invaders. Some were victories—notably +the fight of Ashdown, where Alfred first won his name +as a soldier—but the English failed to capture the fortified camps +of the vikings at Reading, and were finally beaten at Marten +(“Maeretun”) near Bedwyn, where Ęthelred was mortally +wounded.</p> + +<p>He left young sons, but the men of Wessex crowned Alfred +king, because they needed a grown man to lead them in their +desperate campaigning. Yet his reign opened inauspiciously: +defeated near Wilton, he offered in +<span class="sidenote">Alfred the Great.</span> +despair to pay the vikings to depart. He must have +known, from the experience of Mercian, Northumbrian and +Frankish kings, that such blackmail only bought a short +respite, but the condition of his realm was such that even a +moderate time for reorganization might prove valuable. The +enemy had suffered so much in the “year of the six battles” +that they held off for some space from Wessex, seeking easier +prey on the continent and in northern England. In 874 they +harried Mercia so cruelly that King Burgred fled in despair to +Rome; the victors divided up his realm, taking the eastern half +for themselves, and establishing in it a confederacy, whose jarls +occupied the “five boroughs” of Stamford, Lincoln, Derby, +Nottingham and Leicester. But the western half they handed +over to “an unwise thegn named Ceolwulf,” who bought for a +short space the precarious title of king by paying great tribute.</p> + +<p>Alfred employed the four years of peace, which he had bought +in 871, in the endeavour to strengthen his realm against the +inevitable return of the raiders. His wisdom was shown by the +fact that he concentrated his attention on the one device which +must evidently prove effective for defence, if only he were given +time to perfect it—the building of a national navy. He began +to lay down galleys and “long ships,” and hired “pirates”—renegade +vikings no doubt—to train crews for him and to teach +his men seamanship. The scheme, however, was only partly completed +when in 876 three Danish kings entered Wessex and resumed +the war. But Alfred blockaded them first in Wareham +and then in Exeter. The fleet which was coming to carry them +off, or to bring them reinforcements, fought an indecisive +engagement with the English ships, and was wrecked immediately +after on the cliffs of the Isle of Purbeck, where more than +100 galleys and all their crews perished. On hearing of this +disaster the vikings in Exeter surrendered the place on being +granted a free departure.</p> + +<div class="center pt2"><img style="width:515px; height:705px; vertical-align: middle;" src="images/img469.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p class="pt2">Yet within a few months of this successful campaign Alfred +was attacked at midwinter by the main Danish army under +King Guthrum. He was apparently taken by surprise by an +assault at such an unusual time of the year, and was forced to +escape with his military household to the isle of Athelney among +the marshes of the Parrett. The invaders harried Wiltshire +and Hampshire at their leisure, and vainly thought that Wessex +was at last subdued. But with the spring the English rallied: +a Danish force was cut to pieces before Easter by the men of +Devonshire. A few weeks later Alfred had issued from Athelney, +had collected a large army in Selwood, and went out to meet the +enemy in the open field. He beat them at Edington in Wiltshire, +blockaded them in their great camp at Chippenham, and in +fourteen days starved them into surrender. The terms were that +they should give hostages, that they should depart for ever from +Wessex, and that their king Guthrum should do homage to Alfred +as overlord, and submit to be baptized, with thirty of his chiefs. +Not only were all these conditions punctually fulfilled, but +(what is more astonishing) the Danes had been so thoroughly +cured of any desire to try their luck against the great king that +they left him practically unmolested for fourteen years (878-892). +King Guthrum settled down as a Christian sovereign in East +Anglia, with the bulk of the host that had capitulated at +Chippenham. Of the rest of the invaders one section established +a petty kingdom in Yorkshire, but those in the Midlands were +subject to no common sovereign but lived in a loose confederacy +under the jarls of the “Five Boroughs” already named above. +The boundary between English and Danes established by the +peace of 878 is not perfectly ascertainable, but a document of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page470" id="page470"></a>470</span> +a few years later, called “Alfred and Guthrum’s frith,” gives +the border as lying from Thames northward up the Lea to its +source, then across to Bedford, and then along the Ouse to +Watling Street, the old Roman road from London to Chester. +This gave King Alfred London and Middlesex, most of Hertfordshire +and Bedfordshire, and the larger half of Mercia—lands that +had never before been an integral part of Wessex, though they +had some time been tributary to her kings. They were now +taken inside the realm and governed by the ealdorman Ęthelred, +the king’s son-in-law. The Mercians gladly mingled with the +West Saxons, and abandoned all memories of ancient independence. +Twenty years of schooling under the hand of the +Dane had taught them to forget old particularism.</p> + +<p>Alfred’s enlarged kingdom was far more powerful than any +one of the three new Danish states which lay beyond the Lea and +Watling Street: it was to be seen, ere another generation was +out, that it was stronger than all three together. But Alfred +was not to see the happy day when York and Lincoln, Colchester +and Leicester, were to become mere shire-capitals in the realm +of United England.</p> + +<p>The fourteen years of comparative peace which he now +enjoyed were devoted to perfecting the military organization +of his enlarged kingdom. His fleet was reconstructed: +in 882 he went out with it in person and destroyed a +<span class="sidenote">Alfred’s reforms.</span> +small piratical squadron: in 885 we hear of it coasting +all along Danish East Anglia. But his navy was not yet strong +enough to hold off all raids: it was not till the very end of his +reign that he perfected it by building “long ships that were nigh +twice as large as those of the heathen; some had 60 oars, some +more; and they were both steadier and swifter and lighter than +the others, and were shaped neither after the Frisian nor after +the Danish fashion, but as it seemed to himself that they would +be most handy.” This great war fleet he left as a legacy to his +son, but he himself in his later campaigns had only its first +beginnings at his disposal.</p> + +<p>His military reforms were no less important. Warned by the +failures of the English against Danish entrenched camps, he +introduced the long-neglected art of fortification, and built many +“burhs”—stockaded fortresses on mounds by the waterside—wherein +dwelt permanent garrisons of military settlers. It +would seem that the system by which he maintained them was +that he assigned to each a region of which the inhabitants were +responsible for its manning and its sustentation. The landowners +had either to build a house within it for their own inhabiting, +or to provide that a competent substitute dwelt there to +represent them. These “burh-ware,” or garrison-men, are repeatedly +mentioned in Alfred’s later years. The old national levy +of the “fyrd” was made somewhat more serviceable by an +ordinance which divided it into two halves, one of which must +take the field when the other was dismissed. But it would seem +that the king paid even more attention to another military +reform—the increase of the number of the professional fighting +class, the thegnhood as it was now called. All the wealthier +men, both in the countryside and in the towns, were required +to take up the duties as well as the privileges of membership +of the military household of the king. They became “of thegn-right +worthy” by receiving, really or nominally, a place in the +royal hall, with the obligation to take the field whenever their +master raised his banner. The document which defines their +duties and privileges sets forth that “every ceorl who throve so +that he had fully five hides of land, and a helm, and a mail-shirt, +and a sword ornamented with gold, was to be reckoned gesithcund.” +A second draft allowed the man who had the military +equipment complete, but not fully the five hides of land, to slip +into the list, and also “the merchant who has fared thrice over +the high seas at his own expense.” How far the details of the +scheme are Alfred’s own, how far they were developed by his +son Edward the Elder, it is unfortunately impossible to say. +But there is small doubt that the system was working to some +extent in the later wars of the great king, and that his successes +were largely due to the fact that his army contained a larger +nucleus of fully armed warriors than those of his predecessors.</p> + +<p>Military reforms were only one section of the work of King +Alfred during the central years of his reign. It was then that he +set afoot his numerous schemes for the restoration of the learning +and culture of England which had sunk so low during the long +years of disaster which had preceded his accession. How he +gathered scholars from the continent, Wales and Ireland; how +he collected the old heroic poems of the nation, how he himself +translated books from the Latin tongue, started schools, and set +his scribes to write up the <i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i>, is told elsewhere, +as are his mechanical inventions, his buildings, and his +dealings with missionaries and explorers (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Alfred</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The test of the efficiency of his work was that it held firm +when, in his later years, the Danish storm once more began to +beat against the shores of Wessex. In the years 892-896 Alfred +was assailed from many sides at once by viking fleets, of which +the most important was that led by the great freebooter Hasting. +Moreover, the settled Danes of eastern England broke their oaths +and gave the invaders assistance. Yet the king held his own, +with perfect success if not with ease. The enemy was checked, +beaten off, followed up rapidly whenever he changed his base of +operation, and hunted repeatedly all across England. The +campaigning ranged from Appledore in Kent to Exeter, from +Chester to Shoeburyness; but wherever the invaders transferred +themselves, either the king, or his son Edward, or his son-in-law +Ethelred, the ealdorman of Mercia, was promptly at hand with a +competent army. The camps of the Danes were stormed, their +fleet was destroyed in the river Lea in 895, and at last the +remnant broke up and dispersed, some to seek easier plunder in +France, others to settle down among their kinsmen in Northumbria +or East Anglia.</p> + +<p>Alfred survived for four years after his final triumph in 896, +to complete the organization of his fleet and to repair the damages +done by the last four years of constant fighting. He died on the +26th of October 900, leaving Wessex well armed for the continuance +of the struggle, and the inhabitants of the “Danelagh” +much broken in spirit. They saw that it would never be in their +power to subdue all England. Within a few years they were +to realize that it was more probable that the English kings +would subdue them.</p> + +<p>The house of Wessex continued to supply a race of hard-fighting +and capable monarchs, who went on with Alfred’s work. +His son, Edward the Elder, and his three grandsons, +Ęthelstan, Edmund and Edred, devoted themselves +<span class="sidenote">Edward the Elder.</span> +for fifty-five years (<span class="scs">A.D.</span> 900-955) to the task of conquering +the Danelagh, and ended by making England into +a single unified kingdom, not by admitting the conquered +to homage and tribute, in the old style of the 7th century, but +by their complete absorption. The process was not so hard as +might be thought; when once the Danes had settled down, +had brought over wives from their native land or taken them +from among their English vassals, had built themselves farmsteads +and accumulated flocks and herds, they lost their old +advantage in contending with the English. Their strength +had been their mobility and their undisputed command of the +sea. But now they had possessions of their own to defend, and +could not raid at large in Wessex or Mercia without exposing +their homes to similar molestation. Moreover, the fleet which +Alfred had built, and which his successors kept up, disputed +their mastery of the sea, and ended by achieving a clear superiority +over them. Unity of plan and unity of command was also +on the side of the English. The inhabitants of the three sections +of the Danelagh were at best leagued in a many-headed confederacy. +Their opponents were led by kings whose orders +were punctually obeyed from Shrewsbury to Dover and from +London to Exeter. It must also be remembered that in the +greater part of the land which they possessed the Danes were +but a small minority of the population. After their first fury +was spent they no longer exterminated the conquered, but +had been content to make the Mercians and Deirans their +subjects, to take the best of the land, and exact tribute for the +rest. Only in Lincolnshire, East Yorkshire and parts of Nottinghamshire +and Leicestershire do they seem to have settled thickly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page471" id="page471"></a>471</span> +and formed a preponderating element in the countryside. In +the rest of the Midlands and in East Anglia they were only a +governing oligarchy of scanty numbers. Everywhere there was +an English lower class which welcomed the advent of the conquering +kings of Wessex and the fall of the Danish jarls.</p> + +<p>Edward the Elder spent twenty-five laborious years first in +repelling and repaying Danish raids, then in setting to work to +subdue the raiders. He worked forward into the Danelagh, +building <i>burhs</i> as he advanced, to hold down each district that +he won. He was helped by his brother-in-law, the Mercian +ealdorman Ęthelred, and, after the death of that magnate, by +his warlike sister Ęthelflęd, the ealdorman’s widow, who was +continued in her husband’s place. While Edward, with London +as his base, pushed forward into the eastern counties, his sister, +starting from Warwick and Stafford, encroached on the Danelagh +along the line of the Trent. The last Danish king of East +Anglia was slain in battle in 918, and his realm annexed. Ęthelflęd +won Derby and Leicester, while her brother reduced +Stamford and Nottingham. Finally, in 921, not only was the +whole land south of the Humber subdued, but the Yorkshire +Danes, the Welsh, and even—it is said—the remote Scots of the +North, did homage to Edward and became his men.</p> + +<p>In 925 Edward was succeeded by his eldest, son Ęthelstan, +who completed the reduction of the Danelagh by driving out +Guthfrith, the Danish king of York, and annexing +his realm. But this first conquest of the region beyond +<span class="sidenote">Ęthelstan.</span> +Humber had to be repeated over and over again; time +after time the Danes rebelled and proclaimed a new king, aided +sometimes by bands of their kinsmen from Ireland or Norway, +sometimes by the Scots and Strathclyde Welsh. Ęthelstan’s +greatest and best-remembered achievement was his decisive +victory in 937 at Brunanburh—an unknown spot, probably by +the Solway Firth or the Ribble—over a great confederacy of +rebel Danes of Yorkshire, Irish Danes from Dublin, the Scottish +king, Constantine, and Eugenius, king of Strathclyde. Yet +even after such a triumph Ęthelstan had to set up a Danish +under-king in Yorkshire, apparently despairing of holding it +down as a shire governed by a mere ealdorman. But its overlordship +he never lost, and since he also maintained the supremacy +which his father had won over the Welsh and Scots, it +was not without reason that he called himself on his coins +and in his charters <i>Rex totius Britanniae</i>. Occasionally he +even used the title <i>Basileus</i>, as if he claimed a quasi-imperial +position.</p> + +<p>The trampling out of the last embers of Danish particularism +in the North was reserved for Ęthelstan’s brothers and successors, +Edmund and Edred (940-955), who put down +several risings of the Yorkshiremen, one of which was +<span class="sidenote">Edmund: Edred.</span> +aided by a rebellion of the Midland Danes of the Five +Boroughs. But the untiring perseverance of the house of Alfred +was at last rewarded by success. After the expulsion of the last +rebel king of York, Eric Haraldson, by Edred in 948, we cease +to hear of trouble in the North. When next there was rebellion +in that quarter it was in favour of a Wessex prince, not of a +Danish adventurer, and had no sinister national significance. +The descendants of the vikings were easily incorporated in the +English race, all the more so because of the wise policy of the +conquering kings, who readily employed and often promoted +to high station men of Danish descent who showed themselves +loyal—and this not only in the secular but in spiritual offices. +In 942 Oda, a full-blooded Dane, was made archbishop of Canterbury. +The Danelagh became a group of earldoms, ruled by +officials who were as often of Danish as of English descent.</p> + +<p>It is notable that when, after Edred’s death, there was civil +strife, owing to the quarrel of his nephew Edwy with some of +his kinsmen, ministers and bishops, the rebels, who included the +majority of the Mercians and Northumbrians, set up as their +pretender to the throne not a Dane but Edwy’s younger brother +Edgar, who ruled for a short time north of Thames, and became +sole monarch on the death of his unfortunate kinsman.</p> + +<p>The reign of Edgar (959-975) saw the culmination of the +power of the house of Alfred. It was untroubled by rebellion +or by foreign invasions, so that the king won the honourable +title of <i>Rex Pacificus</i>. The minor sovereigns of Britain owned +<span class="sidenote">Edgar.</span> +him as overlord, as they had owned his grandfather +Edward and his uncle Ęthelstan. It was long +remembered “how all the kings of this island, both the Welsh +and the Scots, eight kings, came to him once upon a time on +one day and all bowed to his governance.” The eight were +Kenneth of Scotland, Malcolm of Strathclyde, Maccus of Man, +and five Welsh kings. There is fair authority for the well-known +legend that, after this meeting at Chester, he was rowed in his +barge down the Dee by these potentates, such a crew as never +was seen before or after, and afterwards exclaimed that those +who followed him might now truly boast that they were kings +of all Britain.</p> + +<p>Edgar’s chief counsellor was the famous archbishop Dunstan, +to whom no small part of the glory of his reign has been ascribed. +This great prelate was an ecclesiastical reformer—a leader in a +movement for the general purification of morals, and especially +for the repressing of simony and evil-living among the clergy—a +great builder of churches, and a stringent enforcer of the rules +of the monastic life. But he was also a busy statesman; he +probably had a share in the considerable body of legislation +which was enacted in Edgar’s reign, and is said to have encouraged +him in his policy of treating Dane and Englishman with +exact equality, and of investing the one no less than the other +with the highest offices in church and state.</p> + +<p>Edgar’s life was too short for the welfare of his people—he +was only in his thirty-third year when he died in 975, and his sons +were young boys. The hand of a strong man was still needed +to keep the peace in the newly-constituted realm of all England, +and the evils of a minority were not long in showing themselves. +One section of the magnates had possession of the thirteen-year-old +king Edward, and used his name to cover their ambitions. +The other was led by his step-mother Ęlfthryth, who was set +on pushing the claims of her son, the child Ęthelred. After much +factious strife, and many stormy meetings of the Witan, Edward +was murdered at Corfe in 978 by some thegns of the party of +the queen-dowager. The crime provoked universal indignation, +but since there was no other prince of the house of Alfred available, +the magnates were forced to place Ęthelred on the throne: +he was only in his eleventh year, and was at least personally +innocent of complicity in his brother’s death.</p> + +<p>With the accession of Ęthelred, the “Redeless,” as he was +afterwards called from his inability to discern good counsel from +evil, and the consistent incapacity of his policy, an +evil time began. The retirement from public life of +<span class="sidenote">Ęthelred the Unready.</span> +Edgar’s old minister Dunstan was the first event of +the new reign, and no man of capacity came forward +to take his place. The factions which had prevailed during the +reign of Edward “the Martyr” seem to have continued to rage +during his brother’s minority, yet Ęthelred’s earliest years were +his least disastrous. It was hoped that when he came to man’s +estate things would improve, but the reverse was the case. The +first personal action recorded of him is an unjust harrying of +the goods of his own subjects, when he besieged Rochester +because he had quarrelled with its bishop over certain lands, +and was bribed to depart with 100 pounds of silver. Yet from +978 to 991 no irreparable harm came to England; the machinery +for government and defence which his ancestors had established +seemed fairly competent to defend the realm even under a +wayward and incapable king. Two or three small descents of +vikings are recorded, but the ravaging was purely local, and +the invader soon departed. No trouble occurred in the Danelagh, +where the old tendency of the inhabitants to take sides +with their pagan kinsmen from over the sea appears to have +completely vanished. But the vikings had apparently learnt +<span class="sidenote">Danish invasions.</span> +by small experiments that England was no longer +guarded as she had been in the days of Alfred or +Ęthelstan, and in 991 the first serious invasion of +Ęthelred’s reign took place. A large fleet came ashore in Essex, +and, after a hard fight with the ealdorman Brihtnoth at Maldon, +slew him and began to ravage the district north of the Thames. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page472" id="page472"></a>472</span> +Instead of making a desperate attempt to drive them off, the +king bribed them to depart with 10,000 pounds of silver, accepting +it is said this cowardly advice from archbishop Sigeric. +The fatal precedent soon bore fruit: the invaders came back +in larger numbers, headed by Olaf Tryggveson, the celebrated +adventurer who afterwards made himself king of Norway, and +who was already a pretender to its throne. He was helped by +Sweyn, king of Denmark, and the two together laid siege to +London in 994, but were beaten off by the citizens. Nevertheless +Ęthelred for a second time stooped to pay tribute, and bought +the departure of Dane and Norwegian with 16,000 pounds of +silver. There was a precarious interval of peace for three years +after, but in 997 began a series of invasions led by Sweyn which +lasted for seventeen years, and at last ended in the complete +subjection of England and the flight of Ęthelred to Normandy. +It should be noted that the invader during this period was no +mere adventurer, but king of all Denmark, and, after Olaf +Tryggveson’s death in 1000, king of Norway also. His power +was something far greater than that of the Guthrums and +Anlafs of an earlier generation, and—in the end of his life at +least—he was aiming at political conquest, and not either at +mere plunder or at finding new settlements for his followers. +But if the strength of the invader was greater than that of his +predecessors, Ęthelred also was far better equipped for war +than his ancestors of the 9th century. He owned, and he sometimes +used—but always to little profit—a large fleet, while all +England instead of the mere realm of Wessex was at his back. +Any one of the great princes of the house of Egbert who had +reigned from 871 to 975, would have fought a winning fight with +such resources, and it took nearly twenty years of Ęthelred’s +tried incapacity to lose the game. He did, however, succeed +in undoing all the work of his ancestors, partly by his own +slackness and sloth, partly by his choice of corrupt and treacherous +ministers. For the two ealdormen whom he delighted to +honour and placed at the head of his armies, Ęlfric and Eadric +Streona, are accused, the one of persistent cowardice, the other +of underhand intrigue with the Danes. Some of the local magnates +made a desperate defence of their own regions, especially +Ulfkytel of East Anglia, a Dane by descent; but the central +government was at fault. Ęthelred’s army was always at the +wrong place—“if the enemy were east then was the <i>fyrd</i> held west, +and if they were north then was our force held south.” When +Ęthelred did appear it was more often to pay a bribe to the +invaders than to fight. Indeed the <i>Danegeld</i>, the tax which he +raised to furnish tribute to the invaders, became a regular +institution: on six occasions at least Ęthelred bought a few +months of peace by sums ranging from 10,000 to 48,000 pounds +of silver.</p> + +<p>At last in the winter of 1013-1014, more as it would seem from +sheer disgust at their king’s cowardice and incompetence than +because further resistance was impossible, the English +gave up the struggle and acknowledged Sweyn as king. +<span class="sidenote">Canute.</span> +First Northumbria, then Wessex, then London yielded, and +Ęthelred was forced to fly over seas to Richard, duke of Normandy, +whose sister he had married as his second wife. But +Sweyn survived his triumph little over a month; he died suddenly +at Gainsborough on the 3rd of February 1014. The Danes hailed +his son Canute, a lad of eighteen, as king, but many of the +English, though they had submitted to a hard-handed conqueror +like Sweyn, were not prepared to be handed over like slaves to his +untried successor. There was a general rising, the old king was +brought over from Normandy, and Canute was driven out for a +moment by force of arms. He returned next year with a greater +army to hear soon after of Ęthelred’s death (1016). The +witan chose Edmund “Ironside,” the late king’s eldest son, to +succeed him, and as he was a hard-fighting prince of that normal +type of his house to which his father had been such a disgraceful +exception, it seemed probable that the Danes might be beaten +off. But Ęthelred’s favourite Eadric Streona adhered to Canute, +fearing to lose the office and power that he had enjoyed for so +long under Ęthelred, and prevailed on the magnates of part of +Wessex and Mercia to follow his example. For a moment the +curious phenomenon was seen of Canute reigning in Wessex, +while Edmund was making head against him with the aid of the +Anglo-Danes of the “Five Boroughs” and Northumbria. There +followed a year of desperate struggle: the two young kings +fought five pitched battles, fortune seemed to favour Edmund, +and the traitor Eadric submitted to him with all Wessex. But +the last engagement, at Assandun (Ashingdon) in Essex went +against the English, mainly because Eadric again betrayed the +national cause and deserted to the enemy.</p> + +<p>Edmund was so hard hit by this last disaster that he offered +to divide the realm with Canute; they met on the isle of Alney +near Gloucester, and agreed that the son of Ęthelred should +keep Wessex and all the South, London and East Anglia, while +the Dane should have Northumbria, the “five boroughs” and +Eadric’s Mercian earldom. But ere the year was out Edmund +died: secretly murdered, according to some authorities, by the +infamous Eadric. The witan of Wessex made no attempt to set +on the throne either one of the younger sons of Ęthelred by his +Norman wife, or the infant heir of Edmund, but chose Canute +as king, preferring to reunite England by submission to the +stranger rather than to continue the disastrous war.</p> + +<p>They were wise in so doing, though their motive may have +been despair rather than long-sighted policy. Canute became +more of an Englishman than a Dane: he spent more of his time +in his island realm than in his native Denmark. He paid off and +sent home the great army with whose aid he had won the English +crown, retaining only a small bodyguard of “house-carls” and +trusting to the loyalty of his new subjects. There was no confiscation +of lands for the benefit of intrusive Danish settlers. On +the contrary Canute had more English than Danish courtiers +and ministers about his person, and sent many Englishmen as +bishops and some even as royal officers to Denmark. It is strange +to find that—whether from policy or from affection—he married +King Ęthelred’s young widow Emma of Normandy, though +she was somewhat older than himself—so that his son King +Harthacnut and that son’s successor Edward the Confessor, the +heir of the line of Wessex, were half-brothers. It might have +been thought likely that the son of the pagan Sweyn would have +turned out a mere hard-fighting viking. But Canute developed +into a great administrator and a friend of learning and culture. +Occasionally he committed a harsh and tyrannical act. Though +he need not be blamed for making a prompt end of the traitor +Eadric Streona and of Uhtred, the turbulent earl of Northumbria, +at the commencement of his reign, there are other and less +justifiable deeds of blood to be laid to his account. But they +were but few; for the most part his administration was just and +wise as well as strong and intelligent.</p> + +<p>As long as he lived England was the centre of a great Northern +empire, for Canute reconquered Norway, which had lapsed into +independence after his father’s death, and extended his power +into the Baltic. Moreover, all the so-called Scandinavian +colonists in the Northern Isles and Ireland owned him as overlord. +So did the Scottish king Malcolm, and the princes of Wales +and Strathclyde. The one weak point in his policy that can be +detected is that he left in the hands of Malcolm the Bernician +district of Lothian, which the Scot had conquered during the +anarchy that followed the death of Ęthelred. The battle of +Carham (1018) had given this land to the Scots, and Canute +consented to draw the border line of England at the Tweed +instead of at the Firth of Forth, when Malcolm did him homage. +Strangely enough it was this cession of a Northumbrian earldom +to the Northern king that ultimately made Scotland an English-speaking +country. For the Scottish kings, deserting their native +Highlands, took to dwelling at Edinburgh among their new subjects, +and first the court and afterwards the whole of their Lowland +subjects were gradually assimilated to the Northumbrian +nucleus which formed both the most fertile and the most civilized +portion of their enlarged realm.</p> + +<p>The fact, that England recovered with marvellous rapidity +from the evil effects of Ęthelred’s disastrous reign, and achieved +great wealth and prosperity under Canute, would seem to show +that the ravages of Sweyn, widespread and ruthless though they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page473" id="page473"></a>473</span> +had been, had yet fallen short of the devastating completeness +of those of the earlier vikings. He had been more set on exacting +tribute than on perpetrating wanton massacres. A few years +of peace and wise administration seem to have restored the realm +to a satisfactory condition. A considerable mass of his legislation +has survived to show Canute’s care for law and order.</p> + +<p>Canute died in 1035, aged not more than forty or forty-one. +The crown was disputed between his two sons, the half-brothers +Harold and Harthacnut; it was doubtful whether the birth of +the elder prince was legitimate, and Queen Emma strove to get +her own son Harthacnut preferred to him. In Denmark the +younger claimant was acknowledged by the whole people, but +in England the Mercian and Northumbrian earls chose Harold +as king, and Wessex only fell to Harthacnut. Both the young +kings were cruel, dissolute and wayward, most unworthy sons +of a wise father. It was to the great profit of England that they +died within two years of each other, the elder in 1040, the +younger in 1042.</p> + +<p>On Harthacnut’s death he was succeeded not by any Danish +prince but by his half-brother Edward, the elder son of Ęthelred +and Emma, whom he had entertained at his court, and +had apparently designated as his heir, for he had no +<span class="sidenote">Edward the Confessor.</span> +offspring. There was an end of the empire of Canute, +for Denmark fell to the great king’s nephew, Sweyn +Estrithson, and Norway had thrown off the Danish yoke. Engaged +in wars with each other, Dane and Norseman had no leisure +to think of reconquering England. Hence Edward’s accession +took place without any friction. He reigned, but did not rule, +for twenty-four years, though he was well on in middle age before +he was crowned. Of all the descendants of Alfred he was the only +one who lived to see his sixtieth birthday—the house of Wessex +were a short-lived race. In character he differed from all his +ancestors—he had Alfred’s piety without his capacity, and +Ęthelred’s weakness without his vices. The mildest of men, a +crowned monk, who let slip the reins of government from his +hands while he busied himself in prayer and church building, he +lowered the kingly power to a depth to which it had never sunk +before in England. His sole positive quality, over and above +his piety, was a love for his mother’s kin, the Normans. He had +spent his whole life from 1013 to 1040 as an exile at the court of +Rouen, and was far more of a Norman than an Englishman. It +was but natural, therefore, that he should invite his continental +relatives and the friends of his youth to share in his late-coming +prosperity. But when he filled his court with them, made +them earls and bishops, and appointed one of them, Robert of +Jumičges, to the archbishopric of Canterbury, his undisguised +preference for strangers gave no small offence to his English +subjects. In the main, however, the king’s personal likes and +dislikes mattered little to the realm, since he had a comparatively +small share in its governance. He was habitually overruled and +dominated by his earls, of whom three, Leofric, Godwine and +Siward—all old servants of Canute—had far more power than +their master. Holding respectively the great earldoms of West +Mercia, Wessex and Northumbria, they reigned almost like petty +sovereigns in their domains, and there seemed some chance that +England might fall apart into semi-independent feudal states, +just as France had done in the preceding century. The rivalries +and intrigues of these three magnates constitute the main part +of the domestic politics of Edward’s reign. Godwine, whose +<span class="sidenote">Harold.</span> +daughter had wedded the king, was the most forcible +and ambitious of the three, but his pre-eminence provoked +a general league against him and in 1051 he was cast out +of the kingdom with his sons. In the next year he returned in +arms, raised Wessex in revolt, and compelled the king to in-law +him again, to restore his earldom, and to dismiss with ignominy +the Norman favourites who were hunted over seas. The old earl +died in 1053, but was succeeded in power by his son Harold, who +for thirteen years maintained an unbroken mastery over the king, +and ruled England almost with the power of a regent. There +seems little doubt that he aspired to be Edward’s successor: +there was no direct heir to the crown, and the nearest of kin +was ah infant, Edgar, the great-nephew of the reigning sovereign +and grandson of Edmund Ironside. England’s experience of +minors on the throne had been unhappy—Edwy and Ęthelred +the Redeless were warnings rather than examples. Moreover, +Harold had before his eye as a precedent the displacement of +the effete Carolingian line in France, by the new house of Robert +the Strong and Hugh Capet, seventy years before. He prepared +for the crisis that must come at the death of Edward the Confessor +by bestowing the governance of several earldoms upon +his brothers. Unfortunately for him, however, the eldest of +them, Tostig, proved the greatest hindrance to his plans, provoking +wrath and opposition wherever he went by his high-handedness +and cruelty.</p> + +<p>Harold’s governance of the realm seems to have been on the +whole successful. He put down the Scottish usurper Macbeth +with the swords of a Northumbrian army, and restored +Malcolm III. to the throne of that kingdom (1055-1058). He +led an army into the heart of Wales to punish the raids of King +Griffith ap Llewelyn, and harried the Welsh so bitterly that they +put their leader to death, and renewed their homage to the +English crown (1063). He won enthusiastic devotion from the +men of Wessex and the South, but in Northumbria and Mercia +he was less liked. His experiment in taking the rule of these +earldoms out of the hands of the descendants of Siward and +Leofric proved so unsuccessful that he had to resign himself to +undoing it. Ultimately one of Leofric’s grandsons, Edwin, was +left as earl of Mercia, and the other, Morcar, became earl of +Northumbria instead of Harold’s unpopular brother Tostig. +It was on this fact that the fortune of England was to turn, for +in the hour of crisis Harold was to be betrayed by the lords of the +Midlands and the North.</p> + +<p>Somewhere about the end of his period of ascendancy, perhaps +in 1064, Harold was sailing in the Channel when his ship was +driven ashore by a tempest near the mouth of the +Somme. He fell into the hands of William the Bastard, +<span class="sidenote">Origin of the Norman Conquest.</span> +duke of Normandy, King Edward’s cousin and best-loved +relative. The duke brought him to Rouen, and +kept him in a kind of honourable captivity till he had extorted +a strange pledge from him. William alleged that his cousin +had promised to make him his heir, and to recommend him to +the witan as king of England. He demanded that Harold +should swear to aid him in the project. Fearing for his personal +safety, the earl gave the required oath, and sailed home a perjured +man, for he had assuredly no intention of keeping the +promise that had been extorted from him. Within two years +King Edward expired (Jan. 5, 1066) after having recommended +Harold as his successor to the thegns and bishops who stood +about his death-bed. The witan chose the earl as king without +any show of doubt, though the assent of the Mercian and Northumbrian +earls must have been half-hearted. Not a word was +said in favour of the claim of the child Edgar, the heir of the +house of Alfred, nothing (of course) for the preposterous claim +of William of Normandy. Harold accepted the crown without +a moment’s hesitation, and at once prepared to defend it, for +he was aware that the Norman would fight to gain his purpose. +He endeavoured to conciliate Edwin and Morcar by marrying +their sister Ealdgyth, and trusted that he had bought their +loyal support. When the spring came round it was known that +William had begun to collect a great fleet and army. Aware +that the resources of his own duchy were inadequate to the +conquest of England, he sent all over Europe to hire mercenaries, +promising every knight who would join him broad lands beyond +the Channel in the event of victory. He gathered beneath his +banner thousands of adventurers not only from France, Brittany +and Flanders, but even from distant regions such as Aragon, +Apulia and Germany. The native Normans were but a third +part of his host, and he himself commanded rather as director +of a great joint-stock venture than as the feudal chief of his own +duchy. He also obtained the blessing of Pope Alexander II. for +his enterprise, partly on the plea that Harold was a perjurer, +partly because Stigand, the archbishop of Canterbury, had +acknowledged the late anti-pope Benedict.</p> + +<p>All through the summer Harold held a fleet concentrated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page474" id="page474"></a>474</span> +under the lee of the Isle of Wight, waiting to intercept William’s +armament, while the fyrd of Wessex was ready to support him +if the enemy should succeed in making a landing. By September +the provisions were spent, and the ships were growing unseaworthy. +Very reluctantly the king bade them go round to +London to refit and revictual themselves. William meanwhile +had been unable to sail, because for many weeks the wind had +been unfavourable. If it had set from the south the fortune of +England would have been settled by a sea-fight. At this moment +came a sudden and incalculable diversion; Harold’s turbulent +brother Tostig, banished for his crimes in 1065, was seeking +revenge. He had persuaded Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, +almost the last of the great viking adventurers, to take him as +guide for a raid on England. They ran into the Humber with +a great fleet, beat the earls Edwin and Morcar in battle, and +captured York. Abandoning his watch on the south coast Harold +of England flew northward to meet the invaders; he surprised +them at Stamford Bridge, slew both the Norse king and the +rebel earl, and almost exterminated their army (Sept. 25? 1066). +But while he was absent from the Channel the wind turned, and +William of Normandy put to sea. The English fleet and the +English army were both absent, and the Normans came safely +to shore on the 28th of September. Harold had to turn hastily +southward to meet them. On the 13th of October his host was +arrayed on the hill of Senlac, 7 miles from the duke’s camp at +Hastings. The ranks of his thegnhood and house-carles had been +thinned by the slaughter of Stamford Bridge, and their place was +but indifferently supplied by the hasty levies of London, Wessex +and the Home Counties. Edwin and Morcar, who should have +been at his side with their Mercians and Northumbrians, were +still far away—probably from treachery, slackness and jealousy.</p> + +<p>Next morning (October 14) William marched out from Hastings +and attacked the English host, which stood at bay in a solid +mass of spear and axemen behind a slight breastwork on the +hillside. After six hours of desperate fighting the victory fell +to the duke, who skilfully alternated the use of archers and +cavalry against the unwieldy English phalanx. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Hastings</a></span>: +<i>Battle of</i>.) The disaster was complete, Harold himself was +slain, his two brothers had fallen with him, not even the wreck +of an army escaped. There was no one to rally the English in +the name of the house of Godwine. The witan met and hastily +saluted the child Edgar Ętheling as king. But the earls +Edwin and Morcar refused to fight for him, and when William +appeared in front of the gates of London they were opened +almost without resistance. He was elected king in the old English +fashion by the surviving magnates, and crowned on Christmas +Day 1066.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">II. The Norman and Angevin Monarchy (1066-1199)</p> + +<p>When William of Normandy was crowned at Westminster by +Archbishop Aldred of York and acknowledged as king by the +witan, it is certain that few Englishmen understood +the full importance of the occasion. It is probable +<span class="sidenote">William the Conqueror.</span> +that most men recalled the election of Canute, and +supposed that the accession of the one alien sovereign +would have no more permanent effect on the realm than that of +the other. The rule of the Danish king and his two short-lived +sons had caused no break in the social or constitutional history +of England. Canute had become an Englishman, had accepted +all the old institutions of the nation, had dismissed his host of +vikings, and had ruled like a native king and for the most part +with native ministers. Within twenty years of his accession the +disasters and calamities which had preceded his triumph had +been forgotten, and the national life was running quietly in its +old channels. But the accession of William the Bastard meant +something very different. Canute had been an impressionable +lad of eighteen or nineteen when he was crowned; he was ready +and eager to learn and to forget. He had found himself confronted +in England with a higher civilization and a more advanced +social organization than those which he had known in +his boyhood, and he accepted them with alacrity, feeling that +he was thereby getting advantage. With William the Norman +all was different: he was a man well on in middle age, too old +to adapt himself easily to new surroundings, even if he had been +willing to do so. He never even learnt the language of his +English subjects, the first step to comprehending their needs +and their views. Moreover, unlike his Danish predecessor, he +looked down upon the English from the plane of a higher civilization; +the Normans regarded the conquered nation as barbarous +and boorish. The difference in customs and culture between the +dwellers on the two sides of the Channel was sufficient to make +this possible; though it is hard to discern any adequate justification +for the Norman attitude. Probably the bar of language +was the most prominent cause of estrangement. In five generations +the viking settlers of Normandy had not only completely +forgotten their old Scandinavian tongue, but had come to look +upon those who spoke the kindred English idiom not only as +aliens but as inferiors. For three centuries French remained the +court speech, and the mark of civilization and gentility.</p> + +<p>Despite all this the Conquest would not have had its actual +results if William, like Canute, had been able to dismiss his +conquering army, and to refrain from a general policy +of confiscation. But he had won his crown not as +<span class="sidenote">Progress of Norman Settlement.</span> +duke of Normandy, but as the head of a band of cosmopolitan +adventurers, who had to be rewarded with land +in England. Some few received their pay in hard cash, and +went off to other wars; but the large majority, Breton and +Angevin, French and Fleming, no less than Norman, wanted +land. William could only provide it by a wholesale confiscation +of the estates of all the thegnhood who had followed the house +of Godwine. Almost his first act was to seize on these lands, and +to distribute them among his followers. In the regions of the +South, which had supplied the army that fell at Hastings, at +least four-fifths of the soil passed to new masters. The dispossessed +heirs of the old owners had either to sink to the condition +of peasants, or to throw themselves upon the world and +seek new homes. The friction and hatred thus caused were bitter +and long enduring. And this same system of confiscation was +gradually extended to the rest of England. At first the English +landowners who had not actually served in Harold’s host were +permitted to “buy back their lands,” by paying a heavy fine +to the new king and doing him homage. What would have +happened supposing that England had made no further stir, and +had not vexed William by rebellion, it is impossible to say. +But, as a matter of fact, during the first few years of his reign +one district after another took up arms and endeavoured to +cast out the stranger. As it became gradually evident that +William’s whole system of government was to be on new and +distasteful lines, the English of the Midlands, the North and the +West all went into rebellion. The risings were sporadic, ill-organized, +badly led, for each section of the realm fought for its +own hand. In some parts the insurrections were in favour of +the sons of Harold, in others Edgar Ętheling was acclaimed as +king: and while the unwise earls Edwin and Morcar fought for +their own hand, the Anglo-Danes of the East sent for Sweyn, +king of Denmark, who proved of small help, for he abode but +a short space in England, and went off after sacking the great +abbey of Peterborough and committing other outrages. The +rebels cut up several Norman garrisons, and gave King William +much trouble for some years, but they could never face him in +battle. Their last stronghold, the marsh-fortress of Ely, surrendered +in 1071, and not long after their most stubborn chief, +Hereward “the Wake,” the leader of the fenmen, laid down his +arms and became King William’s man (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Hereward</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The only result of the long series of insurrections was to +provoke the king to a cruelty which he had not at first shown, and +to give him an excuse for confiscating and dividing among his +foreign knights and barons the immense majority of the estates +of the English thegnhood. William could be pitiless when provoked; +to punish the men of the North for persistent rebellion +and the destruction of his garrison at York, he harried the whole +countryside from the Aire to the Tees with such remorseless +ferocity that it did not recover its ancient prosperity for centuries. +The population was absolutely exterminated, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page475" id="page475"></a>475</span> +great Domesday survey, made nearly twenty years later, shows +the greater part of Yorkshire as “waste.” This act was exceptional +only in its extent: the king was as cruel on a smaller scale +elsewhere, and not contented with the liberal use of the axe and +the rope was wont to inflict his favourite punishments of blinding +and mutilation on a most reckless scale.</p> + +<p>The net result of the king’s revenge on the rebellious English +was that by 1075 the old governing class had almost entirely +disappeared, and that their lands, from the Channel to the +Tweed, had everywhere been distributed to new holders. To a +great extent the same horde of continental adventurers who +had obtained the first batch of grants in Wessex and Kent were +also the recipients of the later confiscations, so that their newly +acquired estates were scattered all over England. Many of them +came to own land in ten or a dozen counties remote from each +other, a fact which was of the greatest importance in determining +the character of English feudalism. While abroad the great +vassals of the crown generally held their property in compact +blocks, in England their power was weakened by the dispersion +of their lands. This tendency was assisted by the fact that +even when the king, as was his custom, transferred to a Norman +the estates of an English landowner just as they stood, those +estates were already for the most part not conterminous. Even +before the Conquest the lands of the magnates were to a large +extent held in scattered units, not in solid patches. Only in +two cases did William establish lordships of compact strength, +and these were created for the special purpose of guarding the +turbulent Welsh March. The “palatine” earls of Chester and +Shrewsbury were not only endowed with special powers and +rights of jurisdiction, but were almost the only tenants-in-chief +within their respective shires. These rare exceptions prove the +general rule: William probably foresaw the dangers of such +accumulation of territory in private hands. He made a complete +end of the old English system by which great earls ruled +many shires: there were to be no Godwines or Leofrics under the +Norman rule. This particular feudal danger was avoided: +where earls were created, and they were but few, their authority +was usually restricted to a single shire.</p> + +<p>It remains to speak of the most important change which +William’s rearrangements made in the polity of England. It +is of course untrue to say—as was so often done by +early historians—that he “introduced the feudal +<span class="sidenote">Feudalism.</span> +system into England.” In some aspects feudalism was already +in the land before he arrived: in others it may be said +that it was never introduced at all. He did not introduce +the practice by which the small man commended himself to the +great man, and in return for his protection divested himself of +the full ownership of his own land, and became a customary +tenant in what later ages called a “manor.” That system was +already in full operation in England before the Conquest. In +some districts the wholly free small landowner had already +disappeared, though in the regions which had formed the Danelagh +he was still to be found in large numbers. Nor did William +introduce the system of great earldoms, passing from father to +son, which gave over-great subjects a hereditary grip on the +countryside. On the contrary, as has been already said, he did +much to check that tendency, which had already developed in +England.</p> + +<p>What he really did do was to reconstruct society on the +essentially feudal theory that the land was a gift from the king, +held on conditions of homage and military service. The duties +which under the old system were national obligations resting +on the individual as a citizen, he made into duties depending +on the relation between the king as supreme landowner and the +subject as tenant of the land. Military service and the paying +of the feudal taxes—aids, reliefs, &c.—are incidents of the +bargain between the crown and the grantee to whom land has +been given. That grantee, the tenant-in-chief, has the right to +demand from his sub-tenants, to whom he has given out fractions +of his estate, the same dues that the king exacts from himself. +As at least four-fifths of the land of England had fallen into the +king’s hands between 1066 and 1074, and had been actually +regranted to new owners—foreigners to whom the feudal system +was the only conceivable organization of political existence—the +change was not only easy but natural. The few surviving English +landholders had to fall into line with the newcomers. England, +in short, was reorganized into a state of the continental type, +but one differing from France or Germany in that the crown +had not lost so many of its regalities as abroad, and that even +the greater earls had less power than the ordinary continental +tenant-in-chief.</p> + +<p>The English people became aware of this transformation in +the “theory of the state” mainly through the fact that the new +tenants-in-chief, bringing with them the ideas in which they +had been reared, failed to comprehend the rather complicated +status of the rural population on this side of the Channel. To the +French or Norman knight all peasants on his manor seemed to +be villeins, and he failed to understand the distinction between +freemen who had personally commended themselves to his +English predecessor but still owned their land, and the mass of +ordinary servile tenants. There can be no doubt that the first +effect of the Conquest was that the upper strata of the agricultural +classes lost the comparative independence which they +had hitherto enjoyed, and were in many cases depressed to the +level of their inferiors. The number of freemen began to decrease, +from the encroachments of the landowner, and continued to +dwindle for many years: even in districts where Domesday Book +shows them surviving in considerable numbers, it is clear that +a generation or two later they had largely disappeared, and +became merged in the villein class.</p> + +<p>In this sense, therefore, England was turned into a feudal +state by the results of the work of William the Conqueror. But +it would be wrong to assert that all traces of the +ancient social organization of the realm were swept +<span class="sidenote">Domesday.</span> +away. The old Saxon customs were not forgotten, though +they might in many cases be twisted to fit new surroundings. +Indeed William and his successors not infrequently caused them +to be collected and put on record. The famous Domesday Book +(<i>q.v.</i>) of 1086 is in its essential nature an inquiry into the state +of England at the moment of the Conquest, compiled in order +that the king may have a full knowledge of the rights that he +possesses as the heir of King Edward. Being primarily intended +to facilitate the levy of taxation, it dwells more on the details of +the actual wealth and resources of the country in 1066 and 1086, +and less on the laws and customs that governed the distribution +of that wealth, than could have been wished. But it is nevertheless +a monument of the permanence of the old English institutions, +even after the ownership of four-fifths of the soil has been +changed. The king inquires into the state of things in 1066 +because it is on that state of things that his rights of taxation +depend. He does not claim to have rearranged the whole realm +on a new basis, or to be levying his revenue on a new assessment +made at his own pleasure. Nor is it in the sphere of taxation +alone that William’s organization of the realm stands on the old +English customs. In the military sphere, though his normal army +is the feudal force composed of the tenants-in-chief and the +knights whom they have enfeoffed, he retains the power to call +out the <i>fyrd</i>, the old national <i>levée en masse</i>, without regard to +whether its members are freemen or villeins of some lord. And +in judicial matters the higher rights of royal justice remain +intact, except in the few cases where special privileges have been +granted to one or two palatine earls. The villein must sue in +his lord’s manorial courts, but he is also subject to the royal +courts of hundred and shire. The machinery of the local courts +survives for the most part intact.</p> + +<p>William’s dealings with the Church of England were no less +important than his dealings with social organization. In the +earlier years of his reign he set himself to get rid of +the whole of the upper hierarchy, in order to replace +<span class="sidenote">Position of the Church.</span> +them by Normans. In 1070 Archbishop Stigand was +deposed as having been uncanonically chosen, and six +or seven other bishops after him. All the vacancies, as well as +those which kept occurring during the next few years, were +immediately filled up with foreigners. By the time that William +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page476" id="page476"></a>476</span> +had been ten years on the throne there were only three English +bishops left. At his death there was only one—the saintly +Wulfstan of Worcester. The same process was carried out with +regard to abbacies, and indeed with all important places of +ecclesiastical preferment. By 1080 the English Church was +officered entirely by aliens. Just as with the lay landholders, +the change of <i>personnel</i> made a vast difference, not so much in +the legal position of the new-comers as in the way in which they +regarded their office. The outlook of a Norman bishop was as +unlike that of his English predecessor as that of a Norman baron. +The English Church had got out of touch with the ideals and the +spiritual movements of the other Western churches. In especial +the great monastic revival which had started from the abbey +of Cluny and spread all over France, Italy and Germany had +hardly touched this island. The continental churchmen of the +11th century were brimming over with ascetic zeal and militant +energy, while the majority of the English hierarchy were slack +and easy-going. The typical faults of the dark ages, pluralism, +simony, lax observation of the clerical rules, contented ignorance, +worldliness in every aspect, were all too prevalent in England. +There can be no doubt that the greater part of William’s nominees +were better men than those who preceded them; his great archbishop, +Lanfranc, though a busy statesman, was also an energetic +reformer and a man of holy life. Osmund, Remigius and others +of the first post-Conquest bishops have left a good name behind +them. The condition of the church alike in the matter of +spiritual zeal, of hard work and of learning was much improved. +But there was a danger behind this revival; for the reformers +of the 11th century, in their zeal for establishing the Kingdom +of God on earth, were not content with raising the moral and +intellectual standards prevailing in Christendom, but sought +to bring the whole scheme of life under the church, by asserting +the absolute supremacy of the spiritual over the temporal power, +wherever the two came in contact or overlapped. The result, +since the feudal and ecclesiastical systems had become closely +interwoven, and the frontier between the religious and secular +spheres must ever be vague and undefined, was the conflict +between the spiritual and temporal powers which, for two +centuries to come, was to tear Europe into warring factions +(see the articles <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Church History</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Papacy</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Investiture</a></span>). +The Norman Conquest of England was contemporaneous with +the supreme influence of the greatest exponent of the theory of +ecclesiastical supremacy, the archdeacon Hildebrand, who in +1073 mounted the papal throne as Gregory VII. (<i>q.v.</i>). William, +despite all his personal faults, was a sincerely pious man, but it +could not be expected that he would acquiesce in these new +developments of the religious reformation which he had done +his best to forward. Hence we find a divided purpose in the +policy which he pursued with regard to church affairs. He +endeavoured to keep on the best terms with the papacy: he +welcomed legates and frequently consulted the pope on purely +spiritual matters. He even took the hazardous step of separating +ecclesiastical courts and lay courts, giving the church leave to +establish separate tribunals of her own, a right which she had +never possessed in Saxon England. The spiritual jurisdiction +of the bishop had hitherto been exercised in the ordinary national +courts, with lay assessors frequently taking part in the proceedings, +and mixing their dooms with the clergy’s canonical +decisions. William in 1076 granted the church a completely +independent set of courts, a step which his successors were to +regret for many a generation.</p> + +<p>At the same time, however, he was not blind to the possibilities +of papal interference in domestic matters, and of the danger of +conflict between the crown and the recently-strengthened +clerical order. To guard against them he laid down three general +rules: (1) that no one should be recognized as pope in England +till he had himself taken cognizance of the papal election, and +that no papal letters should be brought into the realm without +his leave; (2) that no decisions of the English ecclesiastical +synods should be held valid till he had examined and sanctioned +them; (3) that none of his barons or ministers should be excommunicated +unless he approved of such punishment being +inflicted on them. These rules seem to argue a deeply rooted +distrust of the possible encroachments of the papacy on the power +of the state. The question of ecclesiastic patronage, which was +to be the source of the first great quarrel between the crown and +the church in the next generation, is not touched upon. William +retained in his own hands the choice of bishops and abbots, and +Alexander II. and Gregory VII. seem to have made no objection +to his doing so, in spite of the claim that free election was the only +canonical way of filling vacancies. The Conqueror was allowed +for his lifetime to do as he pleased, since he was recognized as a +true friend of the church. But the question was only deferred +and not settled.</p> + +<p>The political history of William’s later years is unimportant; +his main energy was absorbed in the task of holding down and +organizing his new kingdom. His rather precarious +conquest of the county of Maine, his long quarrels +<span class="sidenote">William’s later reign.</span> +with Philip I. of France, who suborned against him his +undutiful and rebellious eldest son Robert, his negotiation +with Flanders and Germany, deserve no more than a +mention. It is more necessary to point out that he reasserted +on at least one occasion (when King Malcolm Canmore did him +homage) the old suzerainty of the English kings over Scotland. +He also began that encroachment on the borders of Wales which +was to continue with small interruptions for the next two +centuries. The advance was begun by his great vassals, the earls +of Chester, Shrewsbury and Hereford, all of whom occupied +new districts on the edge of the mountains of Powys and +Gwynedd. William himself led an expedition as far as St +Davids in 1081, and founded Cardiff Castle to mark the boundary +of his realm north of the Bristol Channel.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most noteworthy event of the second portion of +the Conqueror’s reign was a rebellion which, though it made no +head and was easily suppressed, marks the commencement of +that feudal danger which was to be the constant trouble of the +English kings for the next three generations. Two of the greatest +of his foreign magnates, Roger, earl of Hereford, and Ralph, earl +of Norfolk, rose against him in 1075, with no better cause than +personal grievances and ambitions. He put them down with +ease; the one was imprisoned for life, the other driven into exile, +while Waltheof, the last of the English earls, who had dabbled +in a hesitating way in this plot, was executed. There was never +any serious danger, but the fact that under the new régime +baronial rebellion was possible, despite of all William’s advantages +over other feudal kings, and despite of the fact that the +rebels were hardly yet settled firmly into their new estates, had +a sinister import for the future of England. With the new +monarchy there had come into England the anarchic spirit of +continental feudalism. If such a man as the Conqueror did not +overawe it, what was to be expected in the reigns of his successors? +William had introduced into his new realm alike the +barons, with their personal ambition, and the clerics of the school +of Hildebrand, with their intense jealousy for the rights of the +church. The tale of the dealings of his descendants with these +two classes of opponents constitutes the greater part of English +history for a full century.</p> + +<p>William died at Rouen on the 7th of September 1087; on his +death-bed he expressed his wish that Normandy should pass to +his elder son, Robert, in spite of all his rebellions, +but gave his second son William (known by the nickname +<span class="sidenote">William Rufus.</span> +of Rufus) the crown of England, and sent him +thither with commendatory letters to archbishop Lanfranc and +his other ministers. There was at first no sign of opposition +to the will of the late king, and William Rufus was crowned +within three weeks of his father’s decease. But the results of the +Conquest had made it hard to tear England and Normandy +apart. Almost every baron in the duchy was now the possessor +of a smaller or a greater grant of lands in the kingdom, and the +possibility of serving two masters was as small in 1087 as at any +other period of the world’s history. By dividing his two states +between his sons the Conqueror undid his own work, and left +to his subjects the certainty of civil war. For the brothers +Robert and William were, and always had been, enemies, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page477" id="page477"></a>477</span> +every intriguing baron had before him the tempting prospect +of aggrandizing himself, by making his allegiance to one of the +brothers serve as an excuse for betraying the other. Robert was +thriftless, volatile and easy-going, a good knight but a most incompetent +sovereign. These very facts commended him to the +more turbulent section of the baronage; if he succeeded to the +whole of the Conqueror’s heritage they would have every opportunity +of enjoying freedom from all governance. William’s +private character was detestable: he was cruel, lascivious, +greedy of gain, a habitual breaker of oaths and promises, ungrateful +and irreligious. But he was cunning, strong-handed and +energetic; clearly the “Red King” would be an undesirable +master to those who loved feudal anarchy. Hence every turbulent +baron in England soon came to the conclusion that Robert +was the sovereign whom his heart desired.</p> + +<p>The greater part of the reign of William II. was taken up +with his fight against the feudal danger. Before he had been six +months on the throne he was attacked by a league comprising +more than half the baronage, and headed by his uncles, bishop +Odo of Bayeux and Robert of Mortain. They used the name +of the duke of Normandy and had secured his promise to cross +the Channel for their assistance. A less capable and unscrupulous +king than Rufus might have been swept away, for the rising +burst out simultaneously in nearly every corner of the realm. +But he made head against it with the aid of mercenary bands, +the loyal minority of the barons, and the shire-levies of his English +subjects. When he summoned out the fyrd they came in great +force to his aid, not so much because they trusted in the promises +of good governance and reduced taxation which he made, but +because they saw that a horde of greedy barons would be worse +to serve than a single king, however hard and selfish he might +be. With their assistance William fought down the rebels, +expelled his uncle Odo and several other leaders from the realm, +confiscated a certain amount of estates, and then pardoned the +remainder of the rebels. Such mercy, as he was to discover, +was misplaced. In 1095 the same body of barons made a second +and a more formidable rising, headed by the earls of Shrewsbury, +Eu and Northumberland. It was put down with the same +decisive energy that William had shown in 1088, and this time +he was merciless; he blinded and mutilated William of Eu, +shut up Mowbray of Northumberland for life in a monastery, +and hanged many men of lesser rank. Of the other rebels some +were deprived of their English estates altogether, others restored +to part of them after paying crushing fines. This second feudal +rebellion was only a distraction to William from his war with his +brother Robert, which continued intermittently all through the +earlier years of his reign. It was raging from 1088 to 1091, and +again from 1093 to 1096, when Robert tired of the losing game, +pawned his duchy to his brother and went off on the First +Crusade. Down to this moment William’s position had been +somewhat precarious; with the Norman war generally on hand, +feudal rebellion always imminent, and Scottish invasions occasionally +to be repelled, he had no easy life. But he fought +through his troubles, conquered Cumberland from the Scots +(1092), in dealing with his domestic enemies used cunning where +force failed, and generally got his will in the end. His rule was +expensive, and he made himself hated by every class of his subjects, +baronage, clergy and people alike, by his ingenious and +oppressive taxation. His chosen instrument, a clerical lawyer +named Ranulf Flambard (<i>q.v.</i>), whom he presently made bishop +of Durham, was shameless in his methods of twisting feudal +or national law to the detriment of the taxpayer. William supported +him in every device, however unjust, with a cynical frankness +which was the distinguishing trait of his character; for he +loved to display openly all the vices and meannesses which most +men take care to disguise. In dealing with the baronage Ranulf +and his master extorted excessive and arbitrary “reliefs” whenever +land passed in succession to heirs. When the church was +a landholder their conduct was even more unwarrantable; every +clerk installed in a new preferment was forced to pay a large +sum down—which in that age was considered a clear case of +simony by all conscientious men. But in addition the king kept +all wealthy posts, such as bishoprics and abbacies, vacant for +years at a time and appropriated the revenue meanwhile.</p> + +<p>This policy, when pursued with regard to the archbishopric +of Canterbury, brought on Rufus the most troublesome of his +quarrels. When the wise primate Lanfranc, his +father’s friend, died in 1089, he made no appointment +<span class="sidenote">Anselm.</span> +till 1093, extracting meanwhile great plunder from the see. In a +moment of sickness, when his conscience was for a space troubling +him or his will was weak, he nominated the saintly Anselm +(<i>q.v.</i>) to the archbishopric. When enthroned the new primate +refused to make the enormous gift which the king expected from +every recipient of preferment. Soon after he began to press for +leave to hold a national synod, and when it was denied him, spoke +out boldly on the personal vices as well as the immoral policy +of the king. From this time William and Anselm became open +enemies. They fought first upon the question of acknowledging +Urban II. as pope—for the king, taking advantage of the fact +that there was an antipope in existence, refused to allow that +there was any certain and legitimate head of the Western church +at the moment. Then, after William had reluctantly yielded +on this point, the far more important question of lay investitures +cropped up. The council of Clermont (Nov. 1095) had just +issued its famous decree to the effect that bishops must be chosen +by free election, and not invested with their spiritual insignia +or enfeoffed with their estates by the hands of a secular prince. +Anselm felt himself obliged to accept this decision, and refused +to accept his own pallium from William when Urban sent it +across the sea by the hands of a legate. The king replied by +harrying him on charges of having failed in his feudal obligation +to provide well-equipped knights for a Welsh expedition, and +imposed ruinous fines on him. It was even said that his life was +threatened, and he fled to Rome in 1097, not to return till his +adversary was dead. There was much to be said for the theory +of the king as to the relations between church and state; he was +indeed only carrying on in a harsh form his father’s old policy. +But the fact that he was a tyrant and an evil-liver, while Anselm +was a saint, so much influenced public opinion that William was +universally regarded as in the wrong, and the sympathy of the +laity no less than the clergy was with the archbishop. For the +remaining three years of his life the Red King was considered to +be in a state of reprobation and at open strife with righteousness.</p> + +<p>Yet so far as secular affairs went William seemed prosperous +enough. Since his brother had pawned the duchy of Normandy +to him, so that he reigned at Rouen no less than at London, +the danger of rebellion was almost removed. His foreign policy +was successful: he installed a nominee of his own, Edgar, the +son of Malcolm Canmore, on the throne of Scotland (1097); he +reconquered Maine, which his brother Robert had lost; he made +successful war upon King Philip of France. His barons subdued +much of South Wales, though his own expeditions into North +Wales, which he had designed to conquer and annex, had a less +fortunate ending. He dreamed, we are told, of attacking Ireland, +even of crowning himself king at Paris. But on the 2nd of August +1100 he was suddenly cut off in the midst of his sins. While +hunting with some of his godless companions in the New Forest, +he was struck by an arrow, unskilfully shot by one of the party. +The knight Walter Tyrrell, who was persistently accused of +being the author of his master’s death, as persistently denied +his responsibility for it; and whether the arrow was his or no, +it was not alleged that malice guided it. William’s favourites +had all to lose by his death.</p> + +<p>The king’s death was unexpected: he was only in his fortieth +year, and men’s minds had not even begun to ponder over the +question of who would succeed him. The crown of +England was left vacant for the boldest kinsman to +<span class="sidenote">Succession of Henry I.</span> +snatch at, if he dared. William had two surviving +brothers, beside several nephews. Robert’s claim seemed +the more likely to succeed, for not only was he the elder, +but England was full of barons who desired his accession, and +had already taken up arms for him in 1087 or 1095. But he was +far away—being at the moment on his return journey from +Jerusalem—while on the spot was his brother Henry, an ambitious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page478" id="page478"></a>478</span> +prince, whose previous efforts to secure himself a territorial +endowment had failed more from ill-luck than from want of +enterprise or ability. Seeing his opportunity, Henry left his +brother’s body unburied, rode straight off to Winchester with a +handful of companions, and seized the royal treasure. This and +his ready tongue were the main arguments by which he convinced +the few magnates present, and persuaded them to back him, +despite the protests of some supporters of Robert. There was +hardly the semblance of an election, and the earl of Warwick +and the chancellor William Giffard were almost the only persons +of importance on the spot. But Henry, once hailed as king, +rode hard for London and persuaded bishop Maurice to crown +him without delay at Westminster, since the primate Anselm +was absent beyond seas. He certainly lost no time: Rufus was +shot on Thursday, the 2nd of August—his successor was crowned +on Sunday the 5th of August! The realm heard almost by the +same messengers that it had lost one king and that it had gained +another.</p> + +<p>Henry at once issued a proclamation and charter promising +the redress of all the grievances with which his brother had +afflicted his feudal tenants, the clergy and the whole nation. +He would keep the ancient laws of King Edward, as amended +by his father the Conqueror, and give all men good justice. +These promises he observed more faithfully than Norman kings +were wont to do; if the pledge was not redeemed in every detail, +he yet kept England free from anarchy, abandoned the arbitrary +and unjust taxation of his brother, and set up a government that +worked by rule and order, not by the fits and starts of tyrannical +caprice. He was a man of a cold and hard disposition, but full +of practical wisdom, and conscious that his precarious claim +to the crown must be secured by winning the confidence of his +subjects. Almost the first and quite the wisest of his inspirations +was to wed a princess of the old English line—Edith,<a name="fa1a" id="fa1a" href="#ft1a"><span class="sp">1</span></a> the niece +of Edgar Ętheling, the child of his sister Margaret of Scotland +and Malcolm Canmore. The match, though his Norman barons +sneered at it, gave him the hearts of all his English subjects, +who supported him with enthusiasm, and not merely (as had +been the case with Rufus) because they saw that a strong king +would oppress them less than a factious and turbulent baronage. +Henry won much applause at the same time by filling up all +the bishoprics and abbacies which his brother had kept so long +vacant, by inviting the exiled Anselm to return to England, and +by imprisoning William’s odious minister Ranulf Flambard. +He had just time to create a favourable impression by his first +proceedings, when his brother Robert, who had returned from +Palestine and resumed possession of Normandy, landed at Portsmouth +to claim the crown and to rouse his partisans among the +English baronage. Henry bought him off, before the would-be +rebels had time to join him, by promising him an annual tribute +of 3000 marks and surrendering to him all his estates in Normandy +(1101). His policy seemed tame and cautious, but was +entirely justifiable, for within a few months of Robert’s departure +the inevitable feudal rebellion broke out. If the duke and his +army had been on the spot to support it, things might have gone +hardly with the king. The rising was led by Robert of Belesme, +earl of Shrewsbury, a petty tyrant of the most ruffianly type, the +terror of the Welsh marches. He was backed by his kinsmen +and many other barons, but proved unable to stand before the +king, who was loyally supported by the English shire levies. +After taking the strong castles of Arundel, Tickhill, Bridgnorth +and Shrewsbury, Henry forced the rebels to submit. He confiscated +their estates and drove them out of the realm; they fled +for the most part to Normandy, to spur on duke Robert to make +another bid for the English crown. From the broad lands which +they forfeited Henry made haste to reward his own servants, +new men who owed all to him and served him faithfully. From +them he chose the sheriffs, castellans and councillors through +whom he administered the realm during the rest of his long reign.</p> + +<p>This minor official nobility was the strength of the crown, and +was sharply divided in spirit and ambition from the older feudal +aristocracy which descended from the original adventurers who +had followed William the Conqueror. Yet the latter still remained +strong enough to constitute a danger to the crown whenever +it should fall to a king less wary and resolute than Henry +himself.</p> + +<p>Henry was by nature more of an administrator and organizer +than of a fighting man. He was a competent soldier, but his +wish was rather to be a strong king at home than a great conqueror +abroad. Nevertheless he was driven by the logic of +events to attack Normandy, for as long as his brother reigned +there, and as long as many English barons retained great holdings +on both sides of the Channel and were subjects of the duke as +well as of the king, intrigues and plots never ceased. The +Norman war ended in the battle of Tenchebrai (Sept. 28, 1106), +where Duke Robert was taken prisoner. His brother shut him +up in honourable confinement for the rest of his life, though otherwise +he was not ill-treated. For the rest of his reign Henry was +ruler of all the old dominions of the Conqueror, and none of his +subjects could cloak disloyalty by the pretence of owing a +divided allegiance to two masters. With this he was content, +and made no great effort to extend his dominions farther; his +desire was to reign as a true king in England and Normandy, rather +than to build up a loosely compacted empire around them.</p> + +<p>Throughout the time of Henry’s Norman war, he was engaged +in a tiresome controversy with the primate on the question of lay +investitures, the continuation of the struggle which +had begun in his brother’s reign. Every English king +<span class="sidenote">Henry’s difficulties with the church.</span> +for five generations had to face the danger from the +church, no less than the danger from the barons. +Anselm had come back from Rome confirmed in the theories +for which he had contended with Rufus—nay, taught to +extend them to a further extreme. He now maintained not +only that it was a sin that kings should invest prelates with their +spiritual insignia, the pallium, the staff, the ring, but claimed +that no clerk ought to do homage to the king for the lands of his +benefice, though he himself seven years before had not scrupled +to make his oath to his earlier master. He now refused to swear +allegiance to the new monarch, though he had recalled him and +had restored him to the possession of his see. He also refused +to consecrate Henry’s nominees to certain bishoprics and abbacies +on the ground that they had not been chosen by free election +by their chapters or their monks. The king was loath to take +up the quarrel, for he highly respected the archbishop; yet he +was still more loath to surrender the ancient claims and privileges +of the crown. Anselm was equally reluctant to force matters +to an open breach, yet would not shift from his position. There +followed an interminable series of arguments, interrupted by +truces, till at last Anselm, at the king’s suggestion, went to Rome +to see if the pope could arrange some <i>modus vivendi</i>. Paschal II. +for some time refused to withdraw from his fixed theory of the +relation of church and state, and Anselm, in despair, preferred +to remain abroad rather than to press matters to the rupture that +seemed the only logical issue of the controversy. But in 1107 +the pope consented to a compromise, which satisfied the king, and +yet was acceptable to the church. Bishops and abbots were for +the future to be canonically elected by the clergy, and were no +longer to receive the ring and staff from lay hands. But they +were to do homage to the king for their lands, and since they thus +acknowledged him as their temporal lord Henry was content. +Moreover, he retained in practice, if not in theory, his power to +nominate to the vacant offices; chapters and monasteries seldom +dared to resist the pressure which the sovereign could bring to +bear upon them in favour of the candidate whom he had selected. +The arrangement was satisfactory, and served as the model for +the similar compromise arrived at between Pope Calixtus II. +and the emperor Henry V. fifteen years later.</p> + +<p>From 1107 onward Henry was freed from both the dangers +which had threatened him in his earlier years, and was free to +develop his policy as he pleased. He had yet twenty-eight +years to reign, for he survived to the age of sixty-seven, an age +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page479" id="page479"></a>479</span> +unparalleled by any of his predecessors, and by all his successors +till Edward I.</p> + +<p>It is to Henry, aided by his great justiciar, Roger, bishop of +Salisbury, that England owed the institution of the machinery +of government by which it was to be ruled during the +earlier middle ages. This may be described as a primitive +<span class="sidenote">Constitutional machinery.</span> +kind of bureaucracy, which gradually developed +into a much more complicated system of courts +and offices. Around the sovereign was his <i>Curia Regis</i> or body +of councillors, of whom the most important were the justiciar, +the chancellor and the treasurer, though the feudal officers, the +constable and marshal, were also to be found there. The bulk +of the council, however, was composed of knights and clerks +selected by the king for their administrative or financial ability. +The Curia, besides advising the king on ordinary matters of state, +had two special functions. It sat, or certain members of it sat, +under the presidency of the king or the justiciar, as the supreme +court of justice of the realm. In this capacity it tried the suits +of tenants-in-chief, and all appeals from the local courts. But +Henry, not contented with this, adopted the custom of sending +forth certain members of the Curia throughout the realm at +intervals, to sit in the shire court, along with or in place of the +sheriff, and to hear and judge all the cases of which the court +had cognizance. From these itinerant commissioners (justices +in eyre) descend the modern justices of assize. The sheriff, the +original president of the shire court, was gradually extruded by +them from all important business.</p> + +<p>But there were other developments of the Curia. The justiciar, +chancellor and treasurer sat with certain other members of the +council as the court of exchequer, not only to receive and audit +the accounts of the royal revenue, but to give legal decisions +on all questions connected with finance. Twice in every year +the sheriffs and other royal officials came up to the exchequer +court, which originally sat at Winchester, with their bags of +money and their sheaves of accounts. Their figures were subjected +to a severe scrutiny, and the law was laid down on all +points in which the interests of the sheriff and the king, or the +sheriff and the taxpayer, came into conflict. In this way the +exchequer grew into a law court of primary importance, instead +of remaining merely a court of receipt. Though its members +were originally the same men who sat in the Curia Regis, the +character of the question to be tried settled the capacity in which +they should sit, and two separate courts were evolved. (See +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Exchequer</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>Under the superintendence of the Curia Regis and the exchequer, +the sheriff still remained the king’s factotum in local +affairs. He led the shire-levies, collected the royal revenues +both feudal and non-feudal, and presided in the shire-court as +judge, till in the course of years his functions in that sphere were +gradually taken over by the itinerant justices. On his fidelity +the king had to rely both for military aid in times of baronial +revolt and for the collection of the money which formed the +sinews of war. Hence the position was one of the highest importance, +and Henry’s new nobility, the men of ability whom he +selected and promoted, found their special occupation in holding +the office of sheriff. It was they who had to see that the shire +court, and in minor affairs the hundred court, did not allow cases +to slip away into the jurisdiction of the feudal courts of the +baronage.</p> + +<p>Henry I. must count not merely as the father of the English +bureaucracy, but as a fosterer of the municipal independence of +the towns. He gave charters of a very liberal character to many +places, and in especial to London, where the citizens were allowed +to choose their own sheriff, and to deal directly with the exchequer +in matters of revenue. He even farmed out to them the +charge of the taxes of the whole shire of Middlesex, outside the +city walls. Such a grant was exceptional—though Lincoln also +seems to have been granted the privilege of dealing directly with +the exchequer. But in many other smaller towns the first grants—the +smaller beginnings of autonomy—may be traced back +to this period (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Borough</a></span>).</p> + +<p>Though Henry was an autocrat, and governed through +bureaucratic officials who were entirely under his hand, yet a +reign of law and order such as his was indirectly favourable to +the growth of constitutional liberty. It was equally favourable +to the growth of national unity: it was in his time that Norman +and English began to melt together: intermarriage in all classes +became common, and only thirty years after his death a contemporary +writer could remark that it was hard for any man to +call himself either Norman or English, so much had blood been +intermingled.</p> + +<p>It is unnecessary to go into the very uninteresting and unimportant +history of Henry’s later years. A long war with +France, prosecuted without much energy, led to no results, for +the French king’s attempts to stir up rebellions in the name of +William the Clito (<i>q.v.</i>), the son of Duke Robert, came to an end +with that prince’s death in 1129. But the extension of the +English borders in South Wales by the conquests of the lords +marcher as far as Pembroke and Cardigan deserves a word of +notice.</p> + +<p>The question of the succession was the main thing which +occupied the mind of the king and the whole nation in Henry’s +later years. It had a real interest for every man in +an age when any doubt as to the heir meant the outbreak +<span class="sidenote">Henry’s heir.</span> +of civil war such as had occurred at the death of +the Conqueror and of Rufus. There was now a problem of some +difficulty to be solved. Henry’s only son William had been +drowned at sea in 1120. He had no other child born in wedlock +save a daughter, Matilda, who married the emperor Henry V., +but had no issue by him. On the emperor’s decease she wedded +as her second husband Geoffrey of Anjou (1127), to whom during +her father’s last years she bore two sons. But the succession of +a woman to the crown was as unfamiliar to English as to Norman +ideas, nor did it seem natural to either to place a young child on +the throne. Moreover, Matilda’s husband Geoffrey was unpopular +among the Normans; the Angevins had been the chief +enemies of the duchy for several generations, and the idea that +one of them might become its practical ruler was deeply resented. +The old king, as was but natural, had determined that his +daughter should be his successor; he made the great council +do homage to her in 1126, and always kept her before the eyes +of his people as his destined heir. But though he had forced or +cajoled every leading man in England and Normandy to take +his oath to serve her, he must have been conscious that there +was a large chance that such pledges would be forgotten at his +death. The prejudice against a female heir was strong, and +there were too many turbulent magnates to whom the anarchy +that would follow a disputed succession presented temptations +which could not be resisted.</p> + +<p>Henry died suddenly on the 25th of November 1135, while +he was on a visit to his duchy of Normandy. The moment that +his death was reported the futility of oaths became +apparent. A majority of the Norman barons appealed +<span class="sidenote">Matilda, and Stephen.</span> +to Theobald, count of Blois, son of the Conqueror’s +daughter Adela, to be their duke, and to save +them from the yoke of the hated Angevin. His supporters and +those of Matilda were soon at blows all along the frontier of +Normandy. Meanwhile in England another pretender had +appeared. Stephen, count of Boulogne, the younger brother +of Theobald, had landed at Dover within a few days of Henry’s +death, determined to make a snatch at the crown, though he +had been one of the first who had taken the oath to his cousin +a few years before. The citizens of London welcomed him, +but he was not secure of his success till by a swift swoop on +Winchester he obtained possession of the royal treasure—an +all-important factor in a crisis, as Henry I. had shown in 1100. +At Winchester he was acknowledged as king by the bishop, his +own brother Henry of Blois, and by the great justiciar, Roger, +bishop of Salisbury, and the archbishop, William of Corbeil. +The allegiance of these prelates was bought by an unwise promise +to grant all the demands of the church party, which his predecessor +had denied, or conceded only in part. He would permit +free election to all benefices, and free legislation by ecclesiastical +synods, and would surrender any claims of the royal courts to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page480" id="page480"></a>480</span> +have jurisdiction over clerks or the property of clerks. It then +remained necessary to buy the baronage, of which only a few +members had as yet committed themselves to his side. It was +done by grants of lands and privileges, the first instalment of +a never-ending crop of ruinous concessions which Stephen +continued to make from the day of his accession down to the +day of his death.</p> + +<p>The pretender was crowned at Westminster on the 22nd of +December 1135—less than a month after his uncle’s death. +No one yet openly withstood him, but he was well aware that his +position was precarious, and that the claims of Matilda would +be brought forward ere long by the section of the baronage +which had not yet got from him all they desired. Meanwhile, +however, he was encouraged to persevere by the fact that his +brother Theobald had withdrawn his claim to the duchy of +Normandy, and retired in his favour. For a space he was to be +duke as well as king; but this meant merely that he would +have two wars, not one, in hand ere long. Matilda’s adherents +were already in the field in Normandy; in England their rising +was only delayed for a few months.</p> + +<p>Stephen, though he had shown some enterprise and capacity +in his successful snatch at the crown, was a man far below his +three predecessors on the throne in the matter of perseverance +and foresight. He was a good fighter, a liberal giver, and a +faithful friend, but he lacked wisdom, caution and the power +to organize. Starting his career as a perjurer, it is curious that +he was singularly slow to suspect perjury in others; he was the +most systematically betrayed of all English kings, because he +was the least suspicious, and the most ready to buy off and to +forgive rebels. His troubles began in 1136, when sporadic rebellions, +raised in the name of Matilda, began to appear; they +grew steadily worse, though Stephen showed no lack of energy, +posting about his realm with a band of mercenary knights +whenever trouble broke out. But in 1138 the crisis came; the +baronage had tried the capacity of their new master and found +him wanting. The outbreak was now widespread and systematic—caused +<span class="sidenote">Civil war.</span> +not by the turbulence of a few wild spirits, +but by the deliberate conspiracy of all who saw their +advantage in anarchy. Matilda had a few genuine partisans, +such as her half-brother Robert, earl of Gloucester, the +illegitimate son of Henry I., but the large majority of those +who took arms in her name were ready to sell their allegiance +to either candidate in return for lands, or grants of rank or +privilege. A long list of doubly and triply forsworn nobles, led +by Geoffrey de Mandeville, Aubrey de Vere and Ralph of Chester, +made the balance of war sway alternately from side to side, as +they transferred themselves to the camp of the highest bidder. +It is hard to trace any meaning in the civil war—it was not a +contest between the principle of hereditary succession and the +principle of elective kingship, as might be supposed. It was +rather, if some explanation must be found for it, a strife between +the kingly power and feudal anarchy. Unfortunately for +England the kingly power was in the hands of an incapable +holder, and feudal anarchy found a plausible mask by adopting +the disguise of loyalty to the rightful heiress.</p> + +<p>The civil war was not Stephen’s only trouble; foreign invasion +was added. David I., king of Scotland, was the uncle of Matilda, +and used her wrongs as the plea for thrice invading northern +England, which he ravaged with great cruelty. His most formidable +raid was checked by the Yorkshire shire levies, at the +battle of the Standard (Aug. 22, 1138). Yet in the following +year he had to be bought off by the grant of all Northumberland +(save Newcastle and Bamborough) to his son Earl Henry. Carlisle +and Cumberland were already in his hands. Some years +later the Scottish prince also got possession of the great “Honour +of Lancaster.” It was not Stephen’s fault that the boundary of +England did not permanently recede from the Tweed and the +Solway to the Tyne and the Ribble.</p> + +<p>But the affairs of the North attracted little attention while +the civil war was at its height in the South. In 1139 Stephen +had wrought himself fatal damage by quarrelling with the ecclesiastical +bureaucrats, the kinsmen and allies of Roger of Salisbury, +who had been among his earliest adherents. Jealous of their +power and their arrogance, and doubting their loyalty, he imprisoned +them and confiscated their lands. This threw the +whole church party on to the side of Matilda; even Henry, +bishop of Winchester, the king’s own brother, disowned him and +passed over to the other side. Moreover, the whole machinery +of local government in the realm fell out of gear, when the +experienced ministers who were wont to control it were removed +from power.</p> + +<p>Matilda had landed in England in the winter of 1139-1140; +for a year her partisans made steady progress against the king, +and on the 2nd of February 1141 Stephen was defeated and taken +prisoner at the battle of Lincoln. All England, save the county +of Kent and a few isolated castles elsewhere, submitted to +Matilda. She was hailed as a sovereign by a great assembly at +Winchester, over which Stephen’s own brother Bishop Henry +presided (April 7, 1141) and entered London in triumph in +June. It is doubtful whether she would have obtained complete +possession of the realm if she had played her cards well, for there +were too many powerful personages who were interested in the +perpetuation of the civil war. But she certainly did her best +to ruin her own chances by showing an unwise arrogance, and +a determination to resume at once all the powers that her father +had possessed. When she annulled all the royal acts of the last +six years, declared charters forfeited and lands confiscated, and +began to raise heavy and arbitrary taxes, she made the partisans +of Stephen desperate, and estranged many of her own supporters. +A sudden rising of the citizens drove her out of London, while +she was making preparations for her coronation. The party +of the imprisoned king rallied under the wise guidance of his +wife Matilda of Boulogne and his brother Henry, and many other +of the late deserters adhered to it. Their army drove the lately +triumphant party out of Winchester, and captured its military +chief, Robert, earl of Gloucester. So much was his loss felt that +his sister exchanged him a few months later for King Stephen.</p> + +<p>After this the war went on interminably, without complete +advantage to either side, Stephen for the most part dominating +the eastern and Matilda the western shires. It was the zenith +of the power of the baronial anarchists, who moved from camp +to camp with shameless rapidity, wresting from one or other of the +two rival sovereigns some royal castle, or some dangerous grant +of financial or judicial rights, at each change of allegiance. The +kingdom was in the desperate state described in the last melancholy +pages of the <i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i>, when life and property +were nowhere safe from the objectless ferocity of feudal tyrants—when +“every shire was full of castles and every castle filled +with devils and evil men,” and the people murmured that +“Christ and his saints slept.”</p> + +<p>Such was England’s fate till 1153, when Matilda had retired +from the strife in favour of her son, Henry of Anjou, and Stephen +was grown an old man, and had just lost his heir, Eustace, to +whom he had desired to pass on the crown. Both parties were +exhausted, both were sick of the incessant treachery of their +more unscrupulous barons, and at last they came to the compromise +of Wallingford (October 1153), by which it was agreed that +Stephen should reign for the remainder of his life, but that on +his death the crown should pass to Henry. Both sides promised +to lay down their arms, to dismiss their mercenaries, and to +acquiesce in the destruction of unlicensed castles, of which it is +said, with no very great exaggeration, that there were at the +moment over 1000 in the realm. Henry then returned to Normandy, +of which his mother had been in possession since 1145, +while Stephen turned his small remaining strength to the weary +task of endeavouring to restore the foundations of law and order. +But he had accomplished little when he died in October 1154. +The task of reconstruction was to be left to Henry of Anjou: his +predecessor was only remembered as an example of the evil that +may be done by a weak man who has been reckless enough to +seize a throne which he is incapable of defending. England has +had many worse kings, but never one who wrought her more +harm. If his successor had been like him, feudal anarchy might +have become as permanent in England as in Poland.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page481" id="page481"></a>481</span></p> + +<p>Fortunately the young king to whom Stephen’s battered +crown now fell was energetic and capable, if somewhat self-willed +and hasty. He was inferior in caution and +self-control to his grandfather Henry I., though he +<span class="sidenote">Henry II.</span> +resembled him in his love of strong and systematic governance. +From the point of view of his English subjects his +main achievement was that he restored in almost every detail +the well-organized bureaucracy which his ancestor had created, +and with it the law and order that had disappeared during +Stephen’s unhappy reign. But there was this essential difference +between the position of the two Henries, that the elder aspired +to be no more than king of England and duke of Normandy, +while the younger strove all his life for an imperial position in +western Europe. Such an ambition was almost forced upon +him by the consequences of his descent and his marriage. Besides +his grandfather’s Anglo-Norman inheritance, he had received from +his father Geoffrey the counties of Anjou and Touraine, and +the predominance in the valley of the Lower Loire. But it was +his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, two years before his accession +to the English throne, which gave him the right to dream +of greatness such as his Norman forbears had never enjoyed. +This lady, the divorced wife of Louis VII. of France, brought to +her second husband the whole of the lands from Poitou to the +Pyrenees, the accumulated gains of many warlike ancestors. In +wealth and fighting strength the duchy of Aquitaine was a full +third of France. Added to Anjou and Normandy it made a +realm far more important than England. Hence it came that +Henry’s ambitions and interests were continental more than +English. Unlike his grandfather he dwelt for the greater part +of his time beyond seas. It must be remembered, too, that +his youth had been spent abroad, and that England only came +to him when he was already a grown man. The concerns of his +island realm were a matter of high importance to him, but only +formed a part of his cares. Essentially he was an Angevin, +neither a Norman nor an Englishman, and his primary ambition +was to make the house of Anjou supreme in France. Nor did this +seem impossible; he owned a far broader and wealthier domain +beyond the Channel than did his nominal suzerain King +Louis VII., and—what was of more importance—he far excelled +that prince both in vigour and in capacity.</p> + +<p>On succeeding to the English crown, however, he came over +at once to take possession of the realm, and abode there for over +a year, displaying the most restless energy in setting to rights the +governance of the realm. He expelled all Stephen’s mercenaries, +took back into his hands the royal lands and castles which his +predecessor had granted away, and destroyed hundreds of the +“adulterine” castles which the barons and knights had built +without leave during the years of the anarchy. Hardly a single +magnate dared to oppose him—Bridgnorth, now a castle of the +Mortimers, was the only place which he had to take by force. His +next care was to restore the bureaucracy by which Henry I. had +been wont to govern. He handed over the exchequer to Nigel, +bishop of Ely, the nephew of the old justiciar Roger of Salisbury, +and the heir of his traditions. His chancellor was a young clerk, +Thomas Becket, who was recommended to him by archbishop +Theobald as the most capable official in the realm. A short +experience of his work convinced the king that his merits had +not been exaggerated. He proved a zealous and capable minister, +and such a strong exponent of the claims of the crown that no +one could have foreseen the later developments by which he was +to become their greatest enemy.</p> + +<p>The machine of government was beginning to work in a satisfactory +fashion, and the realm was already settling down into +order, when Henry was called abroad by a rebellion raised in +Anjou by his brother Geoffrey—the first of the innumerable +dynastic troubles abroad which continued throughout his reign to +distract his attention from his duties as an English king. He +did not return for fifteen months; but when he did reappear it +was to complete the work which he had begun in 1155, to extort +from the greater barons the last of the royal fortresses which +still remained in their hands, and to restore the northern boundaries +of the realm. Malcolm IV., the young king of Scotland, +was compelled to give up the earldoms of Northumberland and +Cumberland, which his father Henry had received from Stephen. +He received instead only the earldom of Huntingdon, too far +from the border to be a dangerous possession, to which he had +a hereditary right as descending from Earl Waltheof. He did +homage to the king of England, and actually followed him with +a great retinue on his next continental expedition. In the same +year (1157) Henry made an expedition into North Wales, and +forced its prince Owen to become his vassal, not without some +fighting, in which the English army received several sharp checks +at the commencement of the campaign.</p> + +<p>Yet once more Henry’s stay on the English side of the Channel +was but for a year. In 1158 he again departed to plunge into +schemes of continental conquest. This time it was an attempt +to annex the great county of Toulouse, and so to carry the +borders of Aquitaine to the Mediterranean, which distracted +him. Naturally Louis of France was unwilling to see his great +vassal striding all across his realm, and did what he could to +hinder him. Into the endless skirmishes and negotiations which +followed the raising of the question of Toulouse it would be fruitless +to enter. Henry did not achieve his purpose, indeed he +seems to have failed to use his strength to its best advantage, +and allowed himself to be bought off by a futile marriage treaty +by which his eldest son was to marry the French king’s daughter +(1160). This was to be but the first of many disappointments +in this direction; there was apparently some fatal scruple, both +in Henry’s own mind and in that of his continental subjects, as +to pressing their suzerain too hard. But it must also be remembered +that a feudal army was an inefficient weapon for long +wars, and that the mercenaries, by whom alone it could be +replaced, were both expensive and untrustworthy. Henry +developed as far as he was able the system of “scutage” (<i>q.v.</i>) +which his grandfather had apparently invented; by this the +vassal compounded for his forty days’ personal service by paying +money, with which the king could hire professional soldiers. +But even with this help he could never keep a large enough army +together.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile England, though somewhat heavily taxed, was +at least enjoying quiet and strong governance. There is every +sign that Henry’s early years were a time of returning +prosperity. But there was also much friction between +<span class="sidenote">Quarrel with the church.</span> +the crown and its subjects. The more turbulent part +of the baronage, looking back to the boisterous times +of Stephen with regret, was reserving itself for a favourable +opportunity. The danger of feudal rebellion was not yet past, +as was to be shown ten years later. The towns did not find +Henry an easy master. He took away from London some of the +exceptional privileges which his grandfather had granted, such +as the free election of sheriffs of Middlesex, and the right of +farming the shire at a fixed rent. He asserted his power to raise +“tallages”—arbitrary taxation—from the citizens on occasion. +Yet he left the foundations of municipal liberty untouched, +and he was fairly liberal in granting charters which contained +moderate privileges to smaller towns. His most difficult task, +however, was to come to a settlement with the Church. The +lavish grants of Stephen had made an end of the old authority +which the Conqueror and Henry I. had exercised over the +clergy. Their successor was well aware of the fact, and was +resolved to put back the clock, so far as it was in his power. It +was not, however, on the old problems of free election, of lay +investiture, that his quarrel with the clerical body broke out, +but on the comparatively new question of the conflicting claims +of ecclesiastical and secular courts. The separate tribunals of +the church, whose erection William I. had favoured, had been +developing in power ever since, and had begun to encroach on the +sphere of the courts of the state. This was more than ever the +case since Stephen had formally granted them jurisdiction over +all suits concerning clerics and clerical property. During the +first few years of his reign Henry had already been in collision +with the ecclesiastical authorities over several such cases; he +had chafed at seeing two clerks accused of murder and blackmailing +claimed by and acquitted in the church courts; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page482" id="page482"></a>482</span> +most of all at the frequency of unlicensed appeals to Rome—a +flagrant breach of one of the three rules laid down by William +the Conqueror. Being comparatively at leisure after the pacification +with France, he resolved to turn his whole attention +to the arrangement of a new <i>modus vivendi</i> with the church. +As a preliminary move he appointed his able chancellor Thomas +Becket to the archbishopric of Canterbury, which fell vacant in +<span class="sidenote">Becket.</span> +1162. This was the greatest mistake of his reign. +Becket was one of those men who, without being +either hypocrites or consciously ambitious, live only to magnify +their office. While chancellor he was the most zealous servant +of the crown, and had seemed rather secular than clerical in his +habits and his outlook on life. But no sooner had he been +promoted to the archbishopric than he put away his former +manners, became the most formal and austere of men, and set +himself to be the champion of the church party in all its claims, +reasonable or unreasonable, against the state. The king’s +astonishment was even greater than his indignation when he +saw the late chancellor setting himself to oppose him in all +things. Their first quarrel was about a proposed change in some +details of taxation, which seems to have had no specially ecclesiastical +bearing at all. But Becket vehemently opposed it, and +got so much support when the great council met at Woodstock +that Henry withdrew his schemes. This was only a preliminary +skirmish; the main battle opened in the following year, when +the king, quite aware that he must for the future look on Thomas +as his enemy, brought forward the famous <i>Constitutions of +Clarendon</i>, of which the main purport was to assert the jurisdiction +of the state over clerical offenders by a rather complicated +procedure, while other clauses provided that appeals to Rome +must not be made without the king’s leave, that suits about land +or the presentation to benefices, in which clerics were concerned, +should be tried before the royal courts, and that bishops should +not quit the realm unless they had obtained permission to do +so from the king (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Clarendon, Constitutions of</a></span>). Somewhat +to the king’s surprise, Becket yielded for a moment to his +pressure, and declared his assent to the constitutions. But he +had no sooner left the court than he proclaimed that he had +grievously sinned in giving way, suspended himself from his +archiepiscopal functions, and wrote to the pope to beg for pardon +and absolution. He then made a clandestine attempt to escape +from the realm, but was detected on the seashore and forced +to return.</p> + +<p>Incensed with Becket for his repudiation of his original submission, +Henry proceeded to open a campaign of lawsuits against +him, in order to force him to plead in secular courts. He also +took the very mean step of declaring that he should call him to +account for all the moneys that had passed through his hands +when he was chancellor, though Becket had been given a quittance +for them when he resigned the office more than two years +before. The business came up at the council of Northampton +(October 1164), when the archbishop was tried for refusing to +recognize the jurisdiction of the king’s courts, and declared +to have forfeited his movable goods. The sentence was passed +by the lay members of the Curia Regis alone, the bishops having +been forbidden to sit, and threatened with excommunication +if they did so, by the accused primate. When Becket was visited +by the justiciar who came to rehearse the judgment, he started +to his feet, refused to listen to a word, declared his repudiation +of all lay courts and left the hall. That same night he made a +second attempt to escape from England and this time succeeded +in getting off to Flanders. From thence he fled to the court of +the pope, where he received less support than he had expected. +Alexander III. privately approved of all that he had done, and +regarded him as the champion of the Church, but he did not wish to +quarrel with King Henry. He had lately been driven from Rome +by the emperor Frederick I., who had installed an antipope in his +place, and had been forced to retire to France. If he sided with +Becket and thundered against his persecutor, there was small doubt +that the king of England would adhere to the schism. Accordingly +he endeavoured to temporize and to avoid a rupture, to the +archbishop’s great disgust. But since he also declared the Constitutions +of Clarendon uncanonical and invalid, Henry was equally +offended, and opened negotiations with the emperor and the antipope. +This conduct forced Alexander’s hand, and he gave +Becket leave to excommunicate his enemies. The exile, who +had taken refuge in a French abbey, placed the justiciar and six +other of the king’s chief councillors under the ban of the Church, +and intimated that he should add Henry himself to the list +unless he showed speedy signs of repentance (April 1166).</p> + +<p>Thus the quarrel had come to a head. Church and State were +at open war. Henry soon found that Becket’s threats had more +effect than he liked. Many of the English clergy were naturally +on the side of the primate in a dispute which touched their +loyalty to the Church and their class feeling. Several bishops +declared to the king that, since his ministers had been duly excommunicated, +they did not see how they could avoid regarding +them as men placed outside the pale of Christendom. Fortunately +the pope interfered for a moment to lighten the friction; +being threatened with a new invasion by the emperor Frederick, +he suspended the sentences and sent legates to patch up a peace. +They failed, for neither the king nor the archbishop would give +way. At this juncture Henry was desirous of getting his eldest +son and namesake crowned as his colleague, the best mode that +he could devise for avoiding the dangers of a disputed succession +at his death. He induced the archbishop of York, assisted by +the bishops of London and Salisbury, to perform the ceremony. +This was a clear invasion of the ancient rights of the primate, +and Becket took it more to heart than any other of his grievances.</p> + +<p>Yet the next move in the struggle was a hollow reconciliation +between the combatants—a most inexplicable act on both sides. +The king offered to allow Becket to return from exile, and to +restore him to his possessions, without exacting from him any +promise of submission, or even a pledge that he would not reopen +the dispute on his return. Apparently he had made a wrong +interpretation of the primate’s mental attitude, and thought +him desirous of a truce, if not ready for a compromise. He had +wholly misjudged the situation; Becket made neither promises +nor threats, but three weeks after he reached Canterbury publicly +excommunicated the bishops of London and Salisbury for the +part that they had taken in the coronation of the young king, and +suspended from their functions the other prelates who had been +present at the ceremony. He then proceeded to excommunicate +a number of his minor lay enemies.</p> + +<p>The news was carried overseas to Henry, who was then in +Normandy. It roused one of the fits of wild rage to which he +was not unfrequently liable; he burst out into ejaculations +of wrath, and cursed “the cowardly idle servants +<span class="sidenote">Becket’s murder.</span> +who suffered their master to be made the +laughing-stock of a low-born priest.” Among those who stood +about him were four knights, some of whom had personal +grudges against Becket, and all of whom were reckless ruffians, +who were eager to win their master’s favour by fair means or +foul. They crossed the Channel with astonishing speed; two +days after the king’s outburst they stood before Becket at +Canterbury and threatened him with death unless he should +remove the excommunications and submit to his master. The +archbishop answered with words as scornful as their own, and +took his way to the minster to attend vespers. The knights went +out to seek their weapons, and when armed followed him into +the north transept, where they fell upon him and brutally slew +him with many sword-strokes (December 29, 1170). Thomas +had been given time to fly, and his followers had endeavoured +to persuade him to do so. It seems that he deliberately courted +martyrdom, anxious apparently that his death should deal the +king the bitterest blow that it was in his power to inflict (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Becket</a></span>).</p> + +<p>Nothing could have put Henry in such an evil plight; the +whole world held him responsible for the murder, and he was +forced to buy pardon for it by surrendering many +of the advantages over the Church which he had +<span class="sidenote">Its results.</span> +hoped to gain by enforcing the Constitutions of Clarendon. +Especially the immunity of clerical offenders from the jurisdiction +of lay courts had to be conceded; for the rest of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page483" id="page483"></a>483</span> +middle ages the clerk guilty of theft or assault, riot or murder, +could plead his orders, and escape from the harsh justice of the +king’s officers to the milder penalties of the bishop’s tribunal. +“Benefit of clergy” became an intolerable anomaly, all the more +so because the privilege was extended in practice not only to all +persons actually in minor orders, but to all who claimed them; +any criminal who could read had a fair chance of being reckoned +a clerk. Another concession which Henry was forced to make +was that the appeals to Rome of litigants in ecclesiastical suits +should be freely permitted, provided that they made an oath +that they were not contemplating any wrong to the English +crown or the English church, a sufficiently easy condition. Such +appeals became, and remained, innumerable and vexatious. +Pope Alexander also extorted from the king a pledge that he +would relinquish any customs prejudicial to the rights of the +Church which had been introduced since his accession. To +the pope this meant that the Constitutions of Clarendon were +disavowed; to the king, who maintained that they were in the +main a mere restatement of the customs of William I., it bore +no such general interpretation. The points were fought out in +detail, and not settled for many years. Practically it became +the rule to regard suits regarding land, or presentations to benefices, +as pertaining to the king’s court, while those regarding +probate, marriage and divorce fell to the ecclesiastical tribunal. +The question of election to bishoprics and abbacies went back +to the stage which it had reached in the time of Henry I.; the +choice was made in canonical form, by the chapters or the +monasteries, but the king’s recommendation was a primary +factor in that choice. When the electors disregarded it, as was +sometimes the case, there was friction; a weak king was sometimes +overruled; a strong one generally got his way in the end.</p> + +<p>Becket’s death, then, gave a qualified triumph to the church +party, and he was rightly regarded as the successful champion of +his caste. Hence they held his death in grateful remembrance; +the pope canonized him in 1173, and more churches were dedicated +to him during the next two centuries than to any other +English saint. In the eyes of most men his martyrdom had put +the king so much in the wrong that the obstinacy and provocative +conduct which had brought it about passed out of memory. +His life of ostentatious austerity, and the courage with which +he met his death, had caused all his faults to be forgotten. +Henry himself felt so much the invidious position in which he +was placed that even after making his submission to the pope’s +legates at Avranches in 1172, he thought it necessary to do +penance before Becket’s tomb in 1174, on which occasion he +allowed himself to be publicly scourged by the monks of Canterbury, +who inflicted on him three cuts apiece.</p> + +<p>Between the outbreak of the king’s quarrel with Becket at +the council of Woodstock and the compromise of Avranches +no less than ten years had elapsed—the best years of Henry’s +manhood. During this period his struggle with the Church had +been but one of his distractions. His policy of imperial aggrandisement +had been in progress. In 1163 he had completed the +conquest of South Wales; the marcher lords were now in +possession of the greater part of the land; the surviving Welsh +princes did homage for the rest. In 1166 Henry got practical +possession of the duchy of Brittany, the only remaining large +district of western France which was not already in his hands. +Conan, the last prince of the old Breton house, recognized him +as his lord, and gave the hand of his heiress Constance to Geoffrey, +the king’s third son. When the count died in 1171 Henry did +not transfer the administration of the land to the young pair, +who were still but children, but retained it for himself, and clung +to it jealously long after his son came of age. Intermittent wars +with France during these years were of small importance; Henry +never pushed his suzerain to extremity. But the Angevin +dominions were extended in a new direction, where no English +king had yet made his power felt.</p> + +<p>The distressful island of Ireland was at this moment enjoying +the anarchy which had reigned therein since the dawn of history. +Its state had grown even more unhappy than before since +the Danish invasions of the 10th century, which had not +welded the native kingdoms into unity by pressure from without—as +had been the case in England—but had simply complicated +<span class="sidenote">Conquest of Ireland.</span> +affairs, by setting up two or three alien principalities +on the coastline. As in England, the vikings had +destroyed much of the old civilization; but they had +neither succeeded in occupying the whole country nor had they +been absorbed by the natives. The state of the island was much +like that of England in the days of the Heptarchy: occasionally +a “High King” succeeded in forcing his rivals into a precarious +submission; more usually there was not even a pretence of a +central authority in the island, and the annals of objectless +tribal wars formed its sole history. King Henry’s eyes had +been fixed on the faction-ridden land since the first years of his +reign. As early as 1155 he had asked and obtained the approval +of Pope Adrian IV., the only Englishman who ever sat upon the +papal throne, for a scheme for the conquest of Ireland. The +Holy See had always regarded with distaste the existence in the +West of a nation who repudiated the Roman obedience, and +lived in schismatical independence, under local ecclesiastical +customs which dated back to the 5th century, and had never +been brought into line with those of the rest of Christendom. +Hence it was natural to sanction an invasion which might bring +the Irish within the fold. But Henry made no endeavour for +many years to utilize the papal grant of Ireland, which seems +to have been made under the preposterous “Donation of Constantine,” +the forged document which gave the bishop of Rome +authority over all islands. It was conveniently forgotten that +Ireland had never been in the Roman empire, and so had not even +been Constantine’s to give away.</p> + +<p>Not till 1168, thirteen years after the agreement with Pope +Adrian, did the interference of the English king in Ireland +actually begin. Even then he did not take the conquest in hand +himself, but merely sanctioned a private adventure of some of +his subjects. Dermot MacMorrough, king of Leinster, an unquiet +Irish prince who for good reasons had been expelled by his +neighbours, came to Henry’s court in Normandy, proffering his +allegiance in return for restoration to his lost dominions. The +quarrel with Becket, and the French war, were both distracting +the English king at the moment. He could not spare attention +for the matter, but gave Dermot leave to enlist auxiliaries among +the turbulent barons of the South Welsh Marches. The Irish +exile enlisted first the services of Maurice Fitzgerald and Robert +Fitzstephen, two half-brothers, both noted fighting men, and +afterwards those of Richard de Clare, earl of Pembroke, an +ambitious and impecunious magnate of broken fortunes. The +two barons were promised lands, the earl a greater bribe—the +hand of Dermot’s only daughter Eva and the inheritance of the +kingdom of Leinster. Fitzgerald and Fitzstephen crossed to +Ireland in 1169 with a mere handful of followers. But they +achieved victories of an almost incredible completeness over +Dermot’s enemies. The undisciplined hordes of the king of +Ossory and the Danes of Wexford could not stand before the +Anglo-Norman tactics—the charge of the knights and the arrow-flight +of the archers, skilfully combined by the adventurous invaders. +Dermot was triumphant, and sent for more auxiliaries, +aspiring to evict Roderic O’Connor of Connaught from the +precarious throne of High King of Ireland. In 1170 the earl of +Pembroke came over with a larger force, celebrated his marriage +with Dermot’s daughter, and commenced a series of conquests. +He took Waterford and Dublin from the Danes, and scattered +the hosts of the native princes. Early in the next spring Dermot +died, and Earl Richard, in virtue of his marriage, claimed the +kingship of Leinster. He held his own, despite the assaults of +a great army gathered by Roderic the High King, and of a viking +fleet which came to help the conquered jarls of Waterford and +Dublin. At this moment King Henry thought it necessary to +interfere; if he let more time slip away, Earl Richard would +become a powerful king and forget his English allegiance. +Accordingly, with a large army at his back, he landed at Waterford +in 1171 and marched on Dublin. Richard did him homage +for Leinster, engaging to hold it as a palatine earldom, and not +to claim the name or rights of a king. The other adventurers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page484" id="page484"></a>484</span> +followed his example, as did, after an interval, most of the native +Irish princes. Only Roderic of Connaught held aloof in his +western solitudes, asserting his independence. The clergy, +almost without a murmur, submitted themselves to the Roman +Church.</p> + +<p>Such was the first conquest of Ireland, a conquest too facile +to be secure. Four years later it appeared to be completed by +the submission of the king of Connaught, who did homage like +the rest of the island chiefs. But their oaths were as easily +broken as made, and the real subjection of the island was not +to be completed for 400 years. What happened was that the +Anglo-Norman invaders pushed gradually west, occupying the +best of the land and holding it down by castles, but leaving the +profitless bogs and mountains to the local princes. The king’s +writ only ran in and about Dublin and a few other harbour +fortresses. Inland, the intruding barons and the Irish chiefs +fought perpetually, with varying fortunes. The conquest hardly +touched central and western Ulster, and left half Connaught +unsubdued: even in the immediate vicinity of Dublin the tribes +of the Wicklow Hills were never properly tamed. The English +conquest was incomplete; it failed to introduce either unity or +strong governance. After a century and a half it began to recede +rather than to advance. Many of the districts which had been +overrun in the time of the Angevin kings were lost; many of the +Anglo-Norman families intermarried with and became absorbed +by the Irish; they grew as careless of their allegiance to the +crown as any of the native chiefs. The “Lordship of Ireland” +was never a reality till the times of the Tudors. But as long as +Henry II. lived this could not have been foreseen. The first +generation of the conquerors pushed their advance with such +vigour that it seemed likely that they would complete the +adventure. (See <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Ireland</a></span>: <i>History</i>.)</p> + +<p>It was in 1173, the year after his return from Ireland and his +submission to the papal legates at Avranches, that King Henry +became involved in the first of a series of troubles +which were to pursue him for the rest of his life—the +<span class="sidenote">Rebellion of Henry’s sons.</span> +rebellions of his graceless sons. His wife Eleanor of +Aquitaine had borne him many children. Henry, the +eldest surviving son, had already been crowned in 1170 as his +father’s colleague and successor; not only he, but Richard the +second, and Geoffrey the third son, were now old enough to +chafe against the restraints imposed upon them by an imperious +and strong-willed father. The old king very naturally preferred +to keep his dominions united under his own immediate government, +but he had designated his eldest son as his successor in +England and Normandy, while Richard was to have his mother’s +heritage of Aquitaine, and Geoffrey’s wife’s dowry, the duchy +of Brittany, was due to him, now that he had reached the verge +of manhood. The princes were shamelessly eager to enter on +their inheritance, the king was loath to understand that by conferring +a titular sovereignty on his sons he had given them a sort +of right to expect some share of real power. Their grudge +against their father was sedulously fostered by their mother +Eleanor, a clever and revengeful woman, who could never forgive +her husband for keeping her in the background in political +matters and insulting her by his frequent amours. Her old +subjects in Aquitaine were secretly encouraged by her to follow +her son Richard against his father, whom the barons of the +south always regarded as an alien and an intruder. The Bretons +were equally willing to rise in the name of Geoffrey and Constance +against the guardian who was keeping their prince too long +waiting for his inheritance. In England the younger Henry had +built himself up a party among the more turbulent section of the +baronage, who remembered with regret and longing the carnival +of licence which their fathers had enjoyed under King Stephen. +Secret agreements had also been made with the kings of France +and Scotland, who were eager to take advantage of the troubles +which were about to break out.</p> + +<p>In 1173 the plot was complete, and Henry’s three elder sons +all took arms against him, collecting Norman, Breton and Gascon +rebels in great numbers, and being backed by a French army. +At the same moment the king of Scots invaded Northumberland, +and the earls of Norfolk, Chester and Leicester rose in the name +of the younger Henry. This was in all essentials a feudal rebellion +of the old type. The English barons were simply desirous of +getting rid of the strong and effective governance of the king, +and the alleged wrongs of his sons were an empty excuse. For +precisely the same reason all classes in England, save the more +turbulent section of the baronage, remained faithful to the elder +king. The bureaucracy, the minor landholders, the towns, and +the clergy refused to join in the rising, and lent their aid for its +suppression, because they were unwilling to see anarchy recommence. +Hence, though the rebellious princes made head +for a time against their father abroad, the insurrection of their +partisans in England was suppressed without much difficulty. +The justiciar, Richard de Lucy, routed the army of the earl of +Leicester at Fornham in Suffolk, the castles of the rebel earls +were subdued one after another, and William of Scotland was +surprised and captured by a force of northern loyalists while +he was besieging Alnwick (1173-1174). The war lingered on +for a space on the continent; but Henry raised the siege of +Rouen, which was being attacked by his eldest son and the king +of France, captured most of Richard’s castles in Poitou, and then +received the submission of his undutiful children. Showing +considerable magnanimity, he promised to grant to each of them +half the revenues of the lands in which they were his destined +heirs, and a certain number of castles to hold as their own. +Their allies fared less well; the rebel earls were subjected to +heavy fines, and their strongholds were demolished. The king +of Scots was forced to buy his liberty by doing homage to Henry +for the whole of his kingdom. Queen Eleanor, whom her husband +regarded as responsible for the whole rebellion, was placed in +a sort of honourable captivity, or retirement, and denied her +royal state.</p> + +<p>Henry appeared completely triumphant; but the fourteen +years which he had yet to live were for the most part to be times +of trouble and frustrated hopes. He was growing old; the indomitable +energy of his early career was beginning to slacken; +his dreams of extended empire were vanishing. In the last +period of his life he was more set on defending what he already +enjoyed, and perfecting the details of administration in his +realms, than on taking new adventures in hand. Probably the +consciousness that his dominions would be broken up among his +sons after his death had a disheartening effect upon him. At +any rate his later years bear a considerable resemblance to the +corresponding period of his grandfather’s reign. The machinery +of government which the one had sketched out the other completed. +Under Henry II. the circuits of the itinerant justices +became regular instead of intermittent; the judicial functions +of the Curia Regis were delegated to a permanent committee of +that body which took form as the court of king’s bench (<i>Curia +Regis in Banco</i>). The sheriffs were kept very tightly in hand, +and under incessant supervision; once in 1170 nearly the whole +body of them were dismissed for misuse of their office. The +shire levies which had served the king so well against the feudal +rebels of 1173 were reorganized, with uniformity of weapons +and armour, by the <i>Assize of Arms</i> of 1181. There was also a +considerable amount of new legislation with the object of protecting +the minor subjects of the crown, and the system of trial +by jurors was advanced to the detriment of the absurd old +practices of trial by ordeal and trial by wager of battle. The +13th-century jury was a rough and primitive institution, which +acted at once as accuser, witness and judge—but it was at any +rate preferable to the chances of the red-hot iron, or the club of +the duellist.</p> + +<p>The best proof that King Henry’s orderly if autocratic régime +was appreciated at its true value by his English subjects, is that +when the second series of rebellions raised by his undutiful sons +began in 1182, there was no stir whatever in England, though in +Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine the barons rose in full force +to support the young princes, whose success would mean the +triumph of particularism and the destruction of the Angevin +empire. Among the many troubles which broke down King +Henry’s strong will and great bodily vigour in those unhappy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page485" id="page485"></a>485</span> +years, rebellion in England was not one. For this reason he +was almost constantly abroad, leaving the administration of the +one loyal section of his realm to his great justiciar. Hence the +story of the unnatural war between father and sons has no part +in English history. It is but necessary to note that the younger +Henry died in 1183, that Geoffrey perished by accident at a +tournament in 1186, and that in 1189, when the old king’s +strength finally gave out, it was Richard who was leading the +rebellion, to which John, the youngest and least worthy of the +four undutiful sons, was giving secret countenance. It was the +discovery of the treachery of this one child whom he had deemed +faithful, and loved over well, that broke Henry’s heart. “Let +things go as they will; I have nothing to care for in the world +now,” he murmured on his death-bed, and turned his face to the +wall to breathe his last.</p> + +<p>The death of the younger Henry had made Richard heir to all +his father’s lands from the Tweed to the Bidassoa save Brittany, +which had fallen to Arthur, the infant son of the unlucky +Geoffrey. John, the new king’s only surviving +<span class="sidenote">Richard I.</span> +brother, had been declared “Lord of Ireland” by his +father in 1185, but Henry had been forced to remove him for +persistent misconduct, and had left him nothing more than a +titular sovereignty in the newly conquered island. In this +Richard confirmed him at his accession, and gave him a more +tangible endowment by allowing him to marry Isabella, the +heiress of the earldom of Gloucester, and by bestowing on him +the honour of Lancaster and the shires of Derby, Devon, Cornwall +and Somerset. The gift was over-liberal and the recipient +was thankless; but John was distinctly treated as a vassal, not +granted the position of an independent sovereign.</p> + +<p>Of all the medieval kings of England, Richard I. (known as +Cœur de Lion) cared least for his realm on the English side of +the Channel, and spent least time within it. Though he chanced +to have been born in Oxford, he was far more of a foreigner than +his father; his soul was that of a south French baron, not that +of an English king. Indeed he looked upon England more as a +rich area for taxation than as the centre of a possible empire. +His ambitions were continental: so far as he had a policy at all +it was Angevin—he would gladly have increased his dominions +on the side of the upper Loire and Garonne, and was set on keeping +in check the young king of France, Philip Augustus, though +the latter had been his ally during his long struggle with his +father. Naturally the policy of Richard as a newly crowned +king was bound to differ from that which he had pursued as a +rebellious prince. As regards his personal character he has +been described, not without truth, as a typical man of his time +and nothing more. He was at heart a chivalrous adventurer +delighting in war for war’s sake; he was not destitute of a conscience—his +undutiful conduct to his father sat heavily on his +soul when that father was once dead; he had a strong sense of +knightly honour and a certain magnanimity of soul in times of +crisis; but he was harsh, thriftless, often cruel, generally lacking +in firmness and continuity of purpose, always careless of his +subjects’ welfare when it interfered with his pleasure or his +ambitions of the moment. If he had stayed long in England +he would have made himself hated; but he was nearly always +absent; it was only as a reckless and spasmodic extorter of +taxation, not as a personal tyrant, that he was known on the +English side of the Channel.</p> + +<p>At the opening of his reign Richard had one all-engrossing +desire; he was set on going forth to the Crusade for the recovery +of Jerusalem which had been proclaimed in 1187, +partly from chivalrous instincts, partly as a penance +<span class="sidenote">The Crusade.</span> +for his misconduct to his father. He visited England +in 1189 only in order to be crowned, and to raise as much money +for the expedition as he could procure. He obtained enormous +sums, by the most unwise and iniquitous expedients, mainly +by selling to any buyer that he could find valuable pieces of +crown property, high offices and dangerous rights and privileges. +The king of Scotland bought for 15,000 marks a release from +the homage to the English crown which had been imposed upon +him by Henry II. The chancellorship, one of the two chief +offices in the realm, was sold to William Longchamp, bishop of +Ely, for £3000, though he was well known as a tactless, arrogant +and incapable person. The earldom of Northumberland, with +palatine rights, was bought by Hugh Puiset, bishop of Durham. +Countless other instances of unwise bargains could be quoted. +Having raised every penny that he could procure by legal or illegal +means, Richard crossed the Channel, and embarked at Marseilles +with a great army on the 7th of August 1190. The only security +which he had for the safety of his dominions in his absence was +that his most dangerous neighbour, the king of France, was also +setting out on the Crusade, and that his brother John, whose +shifty and treacherous character gave sure promise of trouble, +enjoyed a well-merited unpopularity both in England and in the +continental dominions of the crown.</p> + +<p>Richard’s crusading exploits have no connexion with the +history of England. He showed himself a good knight and a +capable general—the capture of Acre and the victory of Arsuf +were highly to his credit as a soldier. But he quarrelled with all +the other princes of the Crusade, and showed himself as lacking +in tact and diplomatic ability as he was full of military capacity. +The king of France departed in wrath, to raise trouble at home; +the army gradually melted away, the prospect of recovering +Jerusalem disappeared, and finally Richard must be reckoned +fortunate in that he obtained from Sultan Saladin a peace, by +which the coastland of Palestine was preserved for the Christians, +while the Holy City and the inland was sacrificed (Sept. 2, 1192). +While returning to his dominions by the way of the Adriatic, the +king was shipwrecked, and found himself obliged to enter the +dominions of Leopold, duke of Austria, a prince whom he had +offended at Acre during the Crusade. Though he disguised +<span class="correction" title="amended from himelf">himself</span>, he was detected by his old enemy and imprisoned. The +duke then sold him to the emperor Henry VI., who found pretexts +for forcing him to buy his freedom by the promise of a +ransom of 150,000 marks. It was not till February 1194 that +he got loose, after paying a considerable instalment of this vast +sum. The main bulk of it, as was to be expected, was never +made over; indeed it could not have been raised, as Richard +was well aware. But, once free, he had no scruple in cheating +the imperial brigand of his blackmail.</p> + +<p>For five years Richard was away from his dominions as a +crusader or a captive. There was plenty of trouble during his +absence, but less than might have been expected. +The strong governance set up by Henry II. proved +<span class="sidenote">John’s treachery.</span> +competent to maintain itself, even when Richard’s +ministers were tactless and his brother treacherous. A generation +before it is certain that England would have been convulsed +by a great feudal rising when such an opportunity was granted +to the barons. Nothing of the kind happened between 1190 and +1194. The chancellor William Longchamp made himself odious +by his vanity and autocratic behaviour, and was overthrown +in 1191 by a general rising, which was headed by Prince John, +and approved by Walter, archbishop of Rouen, whom Richard +had sent to England with a commission to assume the justiciarship +if William should prove impossible as an administrator. +Longchamp fled to the continent, and John then hoped to seize +on supreme power, even perhaps to grasp the crown. But he +was bitterly disappointed to find that he could gather few supporters; +the justiciar and the bureaucrats of the Curia Regis +would give him no assistance; they worked on honestly in the +name of the absent king. Among the baronage hardly a man +would commit himself to treason. In vain John hired foreign +mercenaries, garrisoned his castles, and leagued himself with +the king of France when the latter returned from the Crusade. +It was only the news of his brother’s captivity in Austria which +gave the intriguing prince a transient hope of success. Boldly +asserting that Richard would never be seen alive again he went +to France, and did homage to King Philip for Normandy and +Aquitaine, as if they were already his own. Then he crossed to +England with a band of mercenaries, and seized Windsor and +Wallingford castles. But no one rose to aid him, and his garrisons +were soon being besieged by loyal levies, headed by the justiciar +and by Hubert Walter, the newly elected archbishop of Canterbury. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page486" id="page486"></a>486</span> +At the same time King Philip’s invasion of Normandy was +repulsed by the barons of the duchy. Richard’s faithful ministers, +despite of all their distractions, succeeded in raising the +first instalment of his ransom by grinding taxation—a fourth +part of the revenue of all lay persons, a tithe from ecclesiastical +land, was raised, and in addition much church plate was seized, +though the officials who exacted it were themselves prelates. +John and Philip wrote to the emperor to beg him to detain his +captive at all costs, but Henry VI. pocketed the ransom money +and set Richard free. He reached England in March 1194, just +in time to receive the surrender of the last two castles which were +holding out in his treacherous brother’s name. With astonishing, +and indeed misplaced, magnanimity, Richard pardoned his +brother, when he made a grovelling submission, and restored him +to his lordship of Ireland and to a great part of his English lands.</p> + +<p>The king abode for no more than three months in England; +he got himself recrowned at Winchester, apparently to wipe +out the stain of his German captivity and of an enforced homage +which the emperor had extorted from him. Then he raised a +heavy tax from his already impoverished subjects, sold a number +of official posts and departed to France—never to return, though +he had still five years to live. He left behind Archbishop Hubert +Walter as justiciar, a faithful if a somewhat high-handed minister.</p> + +<p>Richard’s one ruling passion was now to punish Philip of +France for his unfriendly conduct during his absence. He +plunged into a war with this clever and shifty prince, which +lasted—with certain short breaks of truces and treaties—till +his death. He wasted his considerable military talents in a +series of skirmishes and sieges which had no great results, and +after spending countless treasures and harrying many regions, +perished obscurely by a wound from a cross-bow-bolt, received +while beleaguering Chālus, a castle of a rebellious lord of Aquitaine, +the viscount of Limoges (April 6, 1199).</p> + +<p>During these years of petty strife England was only reminded +at intervals of her king’s existence by his intermittent demands +for money, which his ministers did their best to satisfy. +The machine of government continued to work without +<span class="sidenote">English constitutional development.</span> +his supervision. It has been observed that, from one +point of view, England’s worst kings have been her +best; that is to say, a sovereign like Richard, who persistently +neglected his duties, was unconsciously the foster +father of constitutional liberty. For his ministers, bureaucrats +of an orderly frame of mind, devised for their own convenience +rules and customs which became permanent, and could be cited +against those later kings who interfered more actively in the +details of domestic governance. We may trace back some small +beginnings of a constitution to the time of Henry II.—himself +an absentee though not on the scale of his son. But the ten years +of Richard’s reign were much more fruitful in the growth of +institutions which were destined to curb the power of the crown. +His justiciars, and especially Hubert Walter, were responsible +for several innovations which were to have far-spreading results. +The most important was an extension of the use of juries into +the province of taxation. When the government employs committees +chosen by the taxpayers to estimate and assess the +details of taxation, it will find it hard to go back to arbitrary +exactions. Such a practice had been first seen when Henry II., +in his last year, allowed the celebrated “Saladin Tithe” for +the service of the crusade to be assessed by local jurors. In +Richard’s reign the practice became regular. In especial when +England was measured out anew for the great carucage of 1197—a +tax on every ploughland which replaced the rough calculation +of Domesday Book—knights elected by the shires shared in all +the calculations then made for the new impost. Another constitutional +advance was that which substituted “coroners,” +knights chosen by the county court, for the king’s old factotum +the sheriff in the duty of holding the “pleas of the crown,” <i>i.e.</i> +in making the preliminary investigations into such offences as +riot, murder or injury to the king’s rights or property. The +sheriff’s natural impulse was to indict every man from whom +money could be got; the new coroners were influenced by other +motives than financial rapacity, and so were much more likely +to deal equitably with accusations. The towns also profited +in no small degree from Richard’s absence and impecuniosity. +One of the most important charters to London, that which +granted the city the right of constituting itself a “commune” +and choosing itself a mayor, goes back to October 1191, the +troubled month of Longchamp’s expulsion from England. It +was given by Prince John and the ministers, who were then +supporting him against the arrogant chancellor, to secure the +adherence of London. Richard on his return seems to have +allowed it to stand. Lincoln was also given the right of electing +its own magistrates in 1194, and many smaller places owe grants +of more or less of municipal privilege to Hubert Walter acting +in the name of the absent king. The English nation began to +have some conception of a régime of fixed custom, in which its +rights depended on some other source than the sovereign’s +personal caprice. The times, it may be remembered, were not +unprosperous. There had been no serious civil war since the +baronial rising of 1173. Prince John’s turbulence had only +affected the neighbourhood of a few royal castles. Despite of +the frequent and heavy demands for money for the king’s service, +wealth seems to have been increasing, and prosperity to have +been widespread. Strong and regular governance had on the +whole prevailed ever since Henry II. triumphed over baronial +anarchy.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">III. The Struggle for Constitutional Liberty (1199-1337)</p> + +<p>Richard’s queen, Berengaria of Navarre, had borne him no +children. At the moment of his premature death his nearest +kinsmen were his worthless brother John, and the boy +Arthur of Brittany, the heir of Geoffrey, the third son +<span class="sidenote">Accession of John.</span> +of Henry II. On his death-bed the king had designated +John as his successor, holding apparently that a bad ruler who +was at least a grown man was preferable to a child. John’s claim +prevailed both in Normandy and in England, though in each, +as we are told, there were those who considered it a doubtful +point whether an elder brother’s son had not a better right than +a younger brother. But the ministers recognized John, and the +baronage and nation acquiesced, though with little enthusiasm. +In the lands farther south, however, matters went otherwise. +The dowager duchess Constance of Brittany raised her son’s +claim, and sent an army into Anjou, and all down the Loire +many of the nobles adhered to his cause. The king of France +announced that he should support them, and allowed Arthur to +do him homage for Anjou, Maine and Touraine. There would +have been trouble in Aquitaine also, if the aged Queen Eleanor +had not asserted her own primary and indefeasible right to her +ancestral duchy, and then declared that she transferred it to her +best loved son John. Most of her subjects accepted her decision, +and Arthur’s faction made no head in this quarter.</p> + +<p>It seemed for a space as if the new king would succeed in retaining +the whole of his brother’s inheritance, for King Philip +very meanly allowed himself to be bought off by the cession +of the county of Evreux, and, when his troops were withdrawn, +the Angevin rebels were beaten down, and the duchess of Brittany +had to ask for peace for her son. But it had not long been +granted, when John proceeded to throw away his advantage +by acts of reckless impolicy. Though cunning, he was destitute +alike of foresight and of self-control; he could never discern the +way in which his conduct would be judged by other men, because +he lacked even the rudiments of a conscience. Ere he had been +many months on the throne he divorced his wife, Isabella of +Gloucester, alleging that their marriage had been illegal because +they were within the prohibited degrees. This act offended the +English barons, but in choosing a new queen John gave much +greater offence abroad; he carried off Isabella of Angoulźme +from her affianced husband, Hugh of Lusignan, the son of the +count of la Marche, his greatest vassal in northern Aquitaine, +and married her despite the precontract. This seems to have +been an amorous freak, not the result of any deep-laid policy. +Roused by the insult the Lusignans took arms, and a great part +of the barons of Poitou joined them. They appealed for aid to +Philip of France, who judged it opportune to intervene once +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page487" id="page487"></a>487</span> +more. He summoned John to appear before him as suzerain, +to answer the complaints of his Poitevin subjects, and when he +failed to plead declared war on him and declared his dominions +<span class="sidenote">War with Phillip Augustus.</span> +escheated to the French crown for non-fulfilment of his +feudal allegiance. He enlisted Arthur of Brittany in +his cause by recognizing him once more as the rightful +owner of all John’s continental fiefs save Normandy, +which he intended to take for himself. Philip then entered +Normandy, while Arthur led a Breton force into Anjou and +Poitou to aid the Lusignans. The fortune of war at first turned +in favour of the English king. He surprised his nephew while +he was besieging the castle of Mirebeau in Poitou, where the old +Queen Eleanor was residing. The young duke and most of his +chief supporters were taken prisoners (August 1, 1202). Instead +of using his advantage aright, John put Arthur in secret confinement, +and after some months caused him to be murdered. He +is said also to have starved to death twenty-two knights of Poitou +who had been among his captives. The assassination of his +nearest kinsman, a mere boy of sixteen, was as unwise as it was +cruel. It estranged from the king the hearts of all his French +subjects, who were already sufficiently disgusted by many +minor acts of brutality, as well as by incessant arbitrary taxation +and by the reckless ravages in which John’s mercenary troops +had been indulging. The French armies met with little or no +<span class="sidenote">Loss of Normandy.</span> +resistance when they invaded Normandy, Anjou and +Poitou. John sat inert at Rouen, pretending to take +his misfortunes lightly, and boasting that “what was +easily lost could be as easily won back.” Meanwhile Philip +Augustus conquered all western Normandy, without having to +fight a battle. The great castle of Chāteau Gaillard, which +guards the Lower Seine, was the only place which made a strenuous +resistance. It was finally taken by assault, despite of the +efforts of the gallant castellan, Roger de Lacy, constable of +Chester, who had made head against the besiegers for six months +(September 1203-March 1204) without receiving any assistance +from his master. John finally absconded to England in December +1203; he failed to return with an army of relief, as he had +promised, and before the summer of 1204 was over, Caen, Bayeux +and Rouen, the last places that held out for him, had been +forced to open their gates. The Norman barons had refused to +strike a blow for John, and the cities had shown but a very +passive and precarious loyalty to him. He had made himself +so well hated by his cruelty and vices that the Normans, forgetting +their old hatred of France, had acquiesced in the conquest. +Two ties alone had for the last century held the duchy to the +English connexion: the one was that many Norman baronial +families held lands on this side of the Channel; the second was +the national pride which looked upon England as a conquered +appendage of Normandy. But the first had grown weaker as the +custom arose of dividing family estates between brothers, on the +principle that one should take the Norman, the other the English +parts of a paternal heritage. By John’s time there were comparatively +few landholders whose interests were fairly divided +between the duchy and the kingdom. Such as survived had now +to choose between losing the one or the other section of their +lands; those whose holding was mainly Norman adhered to +Philip; those who had more land in England sacrificed their +transmarine estates. For each of the two kings declared the +property of the barons who did not support him confiscated to +the crown. As to the old Norman theory that England was a +conquered land, it had gradually ceased to exist as an operative +force, under kings who, like Henry II. or Richard I., were neither +Norman nor English in feeling, but Angevin. John did not, and +could not, appeal as a Norman prince to Norman patriotism.</p> + +<p>The successes of Philip Augustus did not cease with the +conquest of Normandy. His armies pushed forward in the south +also; Anjou, Touraine and nearly all Poitou submitted +to him. Only Guienne and southern Aquitaine held +<span class="sidenote">Loss of Anjou, Touraine and Poitou.</span> +out for King John, partly because they preferred a +weak and distant master to such a strenuous and +grasping prince as King Philip, partly because they +were far more alien in blood and language to their French +neighbours than were Normans or Angevins. The Gascons were +practically a separate nationality, and the house of Capet had +no ancient connexion with them. The kings of England were +yet to reign at Bordeaux and Bayonne for two hundred and fifty +years. But the connexion with Gascony meant little compared +with the now vanished connexion with Normandy. Henry I. +or Henry II. could run over to his continental dominions in a +day or two days; Dieppe and Harfleur were close to Portsmouth +and Hastings. It was a different thing for John and his +successors to undertake the long voyage to Bordeaux, around +the stormy headlands of Brittany and across the Bay of Biscay. +Visits to their continental dominions had to be few and far +between; they were long, costly and dangerous when a French +fleet—a thing never seen before Philip Augustus conquered +Normandy—might be roaming in the Channel. The kings of +England became perforce much more home-keeping sovereigns +after 1204.</p> + +<p>It was certainly not a boon for England that her present +sovereign was destined to remain within her borders for the +greater part of his remaining years. To know John well was to +loathe him, as every contemporary chronicle bears witness. The +two years that followed the loss of Normandy were a time of growing +discontent and incessant disputes about taxation. The king +kept collecting scutages and tallages, yet barons and towns complained +that nothing seemed to be done with the money he collected. +At last, however, in 1206, the king did make an expedition +to Poitou, and recovered some of its southern borders. +Yet, with his usual inconsequence, he did not follow up his +success, but made a two years’ truce with Philip of France on +the basis of <i>uti possidetis</i>—which left Normandy and all the +territories on and about the Loire in the hands of the conqueror.</p> + +<p>It is probable that this pacification was the result of a new +quarrel which John had just taken up with a new enemy—the +Papacy. The dispute on the question of free election, +which was to range over all the central years of his +<span class="sidenote">Quarrel with the Papacy.</span> +reign, had just begun. In the end of 1205 Hubert +Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, had died. The +king announced his intention of procuring the election of John +de Gray, bishop of Norwich, as his successor; but, though his +purpose was well known, the chapter (<i>i.e.</i> the monks of Christ +Church, Canterbury) met secretly and elected their sub-prior +Reginald as archbishop. They sent him to Rome at once, to +receive confirmation from Pope Innocent III., whom they knew +to be a zealous champion of the rights of the Church. But John +descended upon them in great wrath, and by threats compelled +them to hold a second meeting, and to elect his nominee Gray, +in whose name application for confirmation was also made to the +pope. Innocent, however, seeing a splendid chance of asserting +his authority, declared both the elections that had taken place +invalid, the first because it had been clandestine, the second +because it had been held under <i>force majeure</i>, and proceeded +to nominate a friend of his own—Cardinal Stephen Langton, an +Englishman of proved capacity and blameless life, then resident +in Rome. He was far the worthiest of the three candidates, but +it was an intolerable invasion of the rights of the English crown +and the English Church that an archbishop should be foisted +on them in this fashion. The representatives of the chapter +who had been sent to Rome were persuaded or compelled to +elect him in the pope’s presence (Dec. 1206).</p> + +<p>King John was furious, and not without good reason; he +refused to accept Langton, whom he declared (quite unjustly) +to be a secret friend of Philip of France, and sequestrated the +lands of the monks of Canterbury. On this the pope threatened +to lay an interdict on himself and his realm. The king replied +by issuing a proclamation to the effect that he would outlaw any +clerk who should accept the validity of such an interdict and +would confiscate his lands. Despising such threats Innocent +carried out his threat, and put England under the ban of the +Church on the 23rd of March 1208.</p> + +<p>In obedience to the pope’s orders the large majority of the +English clergy closed their churches, and suspended the ordinary +course of the services and celebration of the sacraments. Baptism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page488" id="page488"></a>488</span> +and extreme unction only were continued, lest souls should +be lost; and marriages were permitted but not inside the walls +of churches. Foreseeing the wrath of the king against all who +obeyed the mandate from Rome, the larger number of the bishops +and many others of the higher clergy fled overseas to escape the +storm. Those who were bold enough to remain behind had much +to endure. John, openly rejoicing at the plunder that lay before +him, declared the temporalities of all who had accepted the interdict, +whether they had exiled themselves or no, to be confiscated. +His treasury was soon so well filled that he could dispense with +ordinary taxation. He also outlawed the whole body of the +clergy, save the timid remnant who promised to disregard the +papal commands.</p> + +<p>Nothing proves more conclusively the strength of the Angevin +monarchy, and the decreasing power of feudalism, than that an +unpopular king like John could maintain his strife +with the pope, and suppress the discontents of his +<span class="sidenote">Character of John’s rule.</span> +subjects, for nearly five years before the inevitable +explosion came. Probably his long immunity was +due in the main to the capacity of his strong-handed justiciar +Geoffrey Fitz-Peter; the king hated him bitterly, but generally +took his advice. The crash only came when Geoffrey died in +1213; his ungrateful master only expressed joy. “Now by God’s +feet am I for the first time king of England,” he exclaimed, when +the news reached him. He proceeded to fill the vacancy with a +mere Poitevin adventurer, Peter des Roches, whom he had made +bishop of Winchester some time before. Indeed John’s few +trusted confidants were nearly all foreigners, such men as the +mercenary captains Gerard of Athies and Engelhart of Cigogné, +whom he made sheriffs and castellans to the discontent of all +Englishmen. He spent all his money in maintaining bands of +hired <i>Brabanēons</i> and <i>routiers</i>, by whose aid he for some time +succeeded in terrorizing the countryside. There were a few +preliminary outbreaks of rebellion, which were suppressed with +vigour and punished with horrible cruelty. John starved to +death the wife and son of William de Braose, the first baron +who took arms against him, and hanged in a row twenty-eight +young boys, hostages for the fidelity of their fathers, Welsh +princes who had dabbled in treason. Such acts provoked rage +as well as fear, yet the measure of John’s iniquities was not full +till 1212. Indeed for some time his persistent prosperity provoked +the indignant surprise of those who believed him to be +under a curse. If his renewed war with Philip of France was +generally unsuccessful, yet at home he held his own. The most +astounding instance of his success is that in 1210 he found leisure +for a hasty expedition to Ireland, where he compelled rebellious +barons to do homage, and received the submission of more than +twenty of the local kinglets. It is strange that he came back to +find England undisturbed behind him.</p> + +<p>His long-deserved humiliation only began in the winter of +1212-1213, when Innocent III., finding him so utterly callous +as to the interdict, took the further step of declaring +him deposed from the throne for contumacy, and +<span class="sidenote">John does homage to the pope.</span> +handing over the execution of the penalty to the king +of France. This act provoked a certain amount of +indignation in England, and in the spring of 1213 the king was +able to collect a large army on Barham Down to resist the +threatened French invasion. Yet so many of his subjects were +discontented that he dared not trust himself to the chances of +war, and, when the fleet of King Philip was ready to sail, he surprised +the world by making a sudden and grovelling submission +to the pope. Not only did he agree to receive Stephen Langton +as archbishop, to restore all the exiled clergy to their benefices, +and to pay them handsome compensation for all their losses +during the last five years, but he took the strange and ignominious +step of declaring that he ceded his whole kingdom to the +pope, to hold as his vassal. He formally resigned his crown into +the hands of the legate Cardinal Pandulf, and took it back as +the pope’s vassal, engaging at the same time to pay a tribute of +1000 marks a year for England and Ireland. This was felt +to be a humiliating transaction by many of John’s subjects, +though to others the joy at reconciliation with the Church +caused all else to be forgotten. The political effect of the device +was all that John had desired. His new suzerain took him +under his protection, and forbade Philip of France to proceed +with his projected invasion, though ships and men were all ready +(May 1213). John’s safety, however, was secured in a more +practical way when his bastard brother, William Longsword, +earl of Salisbury, made a descent on the port of Damme and +burnt or sunk a whole squadron of the French transports. +After this John’s spirits rose, and he talked of crossing the seas +himself to recover Normandy and Anjou. But he soon found +that his subjects were not inclined to follow him; they were +resigned to the loss of the Angevin heritage, whose union with +England brought no profit to them, however much it might +interest their king. The barons expressed their wish for a peace +with France, and when summoned to produce their feudal contingents +pleaded poverty, and raised a rather shallow theory +to the effect that their services could not be asked for wars +beyond seas—against which there were conclusive precedents +in the reigns of Henry I. and Henry II. But any plea can be +raised against an unpopular king. John found himself obliged +to turn back, since hardly a man save his mercenaries had rallied +to his standard at Portsmouth. In great anger and indignation +he marched off towards the north, with his hired soldiery, swearing +to punish the barons who had taken the lead in the “strike” +which had defeated his purpose. But the outbreak of war was +to be deferred for a space. Archbishop Langton, who on assuming +possession of his see had shown at once that he was a patriotic +English statesman, and not the mere delegate of the pope, +besought his master to hold back, and, when he refused, +threatened to renew the excommunication which had so lately +been removed. The old justiciar Geoffrey Fitz-Peter, now on +his death-bed, had also refused to pronounce sentence on the +defaulters. John hesitated, and meanwhile his enemies began +to organize their resistance.</p> + +<p>A great landmark in the constitutional history of England +was reached when Langton assembled the leading barons, +rehearsed to them the charter issued by Henry I. on +his accession, and pointed out to them the rights +<span class="sidenote">Opposition of the barons.</span> +and liberties therein promised by the crown to the +nation. For the future they agreed to take this document +as their programme of demands. It was the first of the +many occasions in English history when the demand for reform +took the shape of a reference back to old precedents, and now +(as on all subsequent occasions) the party which opposed the +crown read back into the ancient grants which they quoted a +good deal more than had been actually conceded in them. To +Langton and the barons the charter of Henry I. seemed to cover +all the customs and practices which had grown up under the rule +of the bureaucracy which had served Henry II. and Richard I. +A correct historical perspective could hardly be expected from +men whose constitutional knowledge only ran back as far as the +memory of themselves and their fathers. The Great Charter of +1215 was a commentary on, rather than a reproduction of, the +old accession pledges of Henry I.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile John, leaving his barons to discuss and formulate +their grievances, pushed on with a great scheme of foreign +alliances, by which he hoped to crush Philip of France, +even though the aid of the feudal levies of England +<span class="sidenote">Alliance against France.</span> +was denied him. He leagued himself with his nephew +the emperor Otto IV. (his sister’s son), and the counts +of Flanders and Boulogne, with many other princes of the +Netherlands. Their plan was that John should land in Poitou +and distract the attention of the French by a raid up the Loire, +while the emperor and his vassals should secretly mobilize a +great army in Brabant and make a sudden dash at Paris. The +scheme was not destitute of practical ability, and if it had been +duly carried out would have placed France in such a crisis of +danger as she has seldom known. It was not John’s fault that the +campaign failed. He sent the earl of Salisbury with some of his +mercenaries to join the confederates in Flanders, while he sailed +with the main body of them to La Rochelle, whence he marched +northward, devastating the land before him. Philip came out +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page489" id="page489"></a>489</span> +to meet him with the whole levy of France (April 1214), and +Paris would have been left exposed if Otto and his Netherland +vassals had struck promptly in. But the emperor was late, and +by the time that he was approaching the French frontier Philip +Augustus had discovered that John’s invasion was but a feint, +executed by an army too weak to do much harm. Leaving a +small containing force on the Loire in face of the English king, +Philip hurried to the north with his main army, and on the 27th +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Bouvines.</span> +of July 1214 inflicted a crushing defeat on the emperor +and his allies at Bouvines near Lille. This was the +greatest victory of the French medieval monarchy. It +broke up the Anglo-German alliance, and gave the conqueror +undisturbed possession of all that he had won from the Angevin +house and his other enemies.</p> + +<p>Indirectly Bouvines was almost as important in the history +of England as in that of France. John returned to England +foiled, and in great anger; he resolved to give up the +French war, secured a truce with King Philip by +<span class="sidenote">Magna Carta.</span> +abandoning his attempt to reconquer his lost lands +on the Loire, and turned to attack the recalcitrant subjects +who had refused to join him in his late campaign beyond the +Channel. Matters soon came to a head: on hearing that the +king was mobilizing his mercenary bands, the barons met at +Bury St Edmunds, and leagued themselves by an oath to obtain +from the king a confirmation of the charter of Henry I. (November +1214). At the New Year they sent him a formal ultimatum, +to which he would not assent, though he opened up futile negotiation +with them through the channel of the archbishop, who did +not take an open part in the rising. At Easter, nothing having +been yet obtained from the king, an army headed by five earls, +forty barons, and Giles Braose, bishop of Hereford, mustered at +Stamford and marched on London. Their captain was Robert +FitzWalter, whom they had named “marshal of the army of +God and Holy Church.” When they reached the capital its +gates were thrown open to them, and the mayor and citizens +adhered to their cause (May 17). The king, who had tried to +turn them back by taking the cross and declaring himself a +crusader, and by making loud appeals for the arbitration of the +pope, was forced to retire to Windsor. He found that he had +no supporters save a handful of courtiers and officials and the +leaders of his mercenary bands; wherefore in despair he accepted +the terms forced upon him by the insurgents. On the 15th of +June 1215 he sealed at Runnymede, close to Windsor, the +famous <i>Magna Carta</i>, in face of a vast assembly among which +he had hardly a single friend. It is a long document of 63 +clauses, in which Archbishop Langton and a committee of the +barons had endeavoured to recapitulate all their grievances, +and to obtain redress for them. Some of the clauses are unimportant +concessions to individuals, or deal with matters of +trifling importance—such as the celebrated weirs or “kiddles” +on Thames and Medway, or the expulsion of the condottieri +chiefs Gerard d’Athies and Engelhart de Cigogné. But many of +them are matters of primary importance in the constitutional +history of England. The Great Charter must not, however, be +overrated as an expression of general constitutional rights; +to a large extent it is a mere recapitulation of the claims of the +baronage, and gives redress for their feudal grievances in the +matters of aids, reliefs, wardships, &c., its object being the repression +of arbitrary exactions by the king on his tenants-in-chief. +One section, that which provides against the further encroachments +of the king’s courts on the private manorial courts of the +landowners, might even be regarded as retrograde in character +from the point of view of administrative efficacy. But it is most +noteworthy that the barons, while providing for the abolition +of abuses which affect themselves, show an unselfish and patriotic +spirit in laying down the rule that all the concessions which the +king makes to them shall also be extended by themselves to their +own sub-tenants. The clauses dealing with the general governance +of the realm are also as enlightened as could be expected +from the character of the committee which drafted the charter. +There is to be no taxation without the consent of the Great +Council of the Realm—which is to consist of all barons, who are +to be summoned by individual units; and of all smaller tenants-in-chief, +who are to be called not by separate letters, but by a +general notice published by the sheriff. It has been pointed out +that this provides no representation for sub-tenants or the rest +of the nation, so that we are still far from the ideal of a representative +parliament. John himself had gone a step farther on +the road towards that ideal when in 1213 he had summoned four +“discreet men” from every shire to a council at Oxford, which +(as it appears) was never held. But this would seem to have +been a vain bid for popularity with the middle classes, which +had no result at the time, and the barons preferred to keep things +in their own hands, and to abide by ancient precedents. It was +to be some forty years later that the first appearance of elected +shire representatives at the Great Council took place. In 1215 +the control of the subjects over the crown in the matter of +taxation is reserved entirely for the tenants-in-chief, great and +small.</p> + +<p>There is less qualified praise to be bestowed on the clauses of +Magna Carta which deal with justice. The royal courts are no +longer to attend the king’s person—a vexatious practice when +sovereigns were always on the move, and litigants and witnesses +had to follow them from manor to manor—but are to be fixed +at Westminster. General rules of indisputable equity are fixed +for the conduct of the courts—no man is to be tried or punished +more than once for the same offence; no one is to be arrested +and kept in prison without trial; all arrested persons are to be +sent before the courts within a reasonable time, and to be tried +by a jury of their peers. Fines imposed on unsuccessful litigants +are to be calculated according to the measure of their +offence, and are not to be arbitrary penalties raised or lowered +at the king’s good pleasure according to the sum that he imagined +that the offender could be induced to pay. No foreigners or other +persons ignorant of the laws of England are to be entrusted +with judicial or administrative offices.</p> + +<p>There is only a single clause dealing with the grievances of +the English Church, although Archbishop Langton had been the +principal adviser in the drafting of the whole document. This +clause, “that the English church shall be free,” was, however, +sufficiently broad to cover all demands. The reason that +Langton did not descend to details was that the king had +already conceded the right of free canonical election and the +other claims of the clerical order in a separate charter, so that +there was no need to discuss them at length.</p> + +<p>The special clauses for the benefit of the city of London were +undoubtedly inserted as a tribute of gratitude on the part of the +barons for the readiness which the citizens had shown in adhering +to their cause. There are other sections for the benefit +of the commons in general, such as that which gives merchants +full right of leaving or entering the realm with their goods on +payment of the fixed ancient custom dues. But these clauses +are less numerous than might have been expected—the framers +of the document were, after all, barons and not burghers.</p> + +<p>The most surprising part of the Great Charter to modern eyes +is its sixty-first paragraph, that which openly states doubts as to +the king’s intention to abide by his promise, and appoints a +committee of twenty-five guardians of the charter (twenty-four +barons and the mayor of London), who are to coerce their master, +by force of arms if necessary, to observe every one of its clauses. +The twenty-five were to hear and decide upon any claims and +complaints preferred against the king, and to keep up their +numbers by co-optation, so that it would seem that the barons +intended to keep a permanent watch upon the crown. The +clause seems unnecessarily harsh and violent in its wording; +but it must be remembered that John’s character was well known, +and that it was useless to stand on forms of politeness when +dealing with him. It seems certain that the drafters of the +charter were honest in their intentions, and did not purpose to +set up a feudal oligarchy in the place of a royal autocracy. +They were only insisting on the maintenance of what they +believed to be the ancient and laudable customs of the realm.</p> + +<p>That the barons were right to suspect John is sufficiently +shown by his subsequent conduct. His pretence of keeping his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page490" id="page490"></a>490</span> +promise lasted less than two months; by August 1215 he was +already secretly collecting money and hiring more mercenaries. +He wrote to Rome to beg the pope to annul the charter, +stating that all his troubles had come upon him in consequence +of his dutiful conduct to the Holy See. He also stated that +he had taken the cross as a crusader, but could not sail to +Palestine as long as his subjects were putting him in restraint. +Innocent III. at once took the hint; in September Archbishop +Langton was suspended for disobedience to papal commands, +and the charter was declared uncanonical, null and void. +The “troublers of the king and kingdom” were declared +excommunicate.</p> + +<p>Langton departed at once to Rome, to endeavour to turn the +heart of his former patron, a task in which he utterly failed. +Many of the clergy who had hitherto supported the +baronial cause drew back in dismay at the pope’s +<span class="sidenote">Civil War.</span> +attitude. But the laymen were resolute, and prepared for +open war, which broke out in October 1215. The king, who +had already gathered in many mercenaries, gained the first +advantage by capturing Rochester Castle before the army +of the barons was assembled. So formidable did he appear to +them for the moment that they took the deplorable step of inviting +the foreign foe to join in the struggle. Declaring John +deposed because he had broken his oath to observe the charter, +they offered the crown to Louis of France, the son of King +Philip, because he had married John’s niece Blanche of Castile +and could assert in her right a claim to the throne. This was a +most unhappy inspiration, and drove into neutrality or even +into the king’s camp many who had previously inclined to the +party of reform. But John did his best to disgust his followers +by adopting the policy of carrying out fierce and purposeless +raids of devastation all through the countryside, while refusing +to face his enemies in a pitched battle. He bore himself like a +captain of banditti rather than a king in his own country. +Presently, when the French prince came over with a considerable +army to join the insurgent barons, he retired northward, leaving +London and the home counties to his rival. In all the south +country only Dover and Windsor castles held out for him. His +sole success was that he raised the siege of Lincoln by driving +off a detachment of the baronial army which was besieging it. +<span class="sidenote">Death of John.</span> +Soon after, while marching from Lynn towards Wisbeach, +he was surprised by the tide in the fords of the +Wash and lost part of his army and all his baggage and +treasure. Next day he fell ill of rage and vexation of spirit, +contracted a dysenteric ailment, and died a week later at Newark +(Oct. 19, 1216). It was the best service that he could do his +kingdom. Owing to the unwise and unpatriotic conduct of the +barons in summoning over Louis of France to their aid, John +had become in some sort the representative of national independence. +Yet he was so frankly impossible as a ruler that, save +the earls of Pembroke and Chester, all his English followers had +left him, and he had no one to back him but the papal legate +Gualo and a band of foreign mercenaries. When once he was +dead, and his heritage fell to his nine-year-old son Henry III., +whom none could make responsible for his father’s doings, the +whole aspect of affairs was changed.</p> + +<p>The aged William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, by far the most +important and respectable personage who had adhered to John’s +cause, assumed the position of regent. He at once +offered in the name of the young king pardon and +<span class="sidenote">Henry III.</span> +oblivion of offences to all the insurgent barons. At the +same time he reissued the Great Charter, containing all the +important concessions which John had made at Runnymede, +save that which gave the control of taxation to the tenants-in-chief. +Despite this and certain other smaller omissions, it was +a document which would satisfy most subjects of the crown, +if only it were faithfully observed. The youth of the king and +the good reputation of the earl marshal were a sufficient guarantee +that, for some years at any rate, an honest attempt would be +made to redeem the pledge. Very soon the barons began to +return to their allegiance, or at least to slacken in their support +of Louis, who had given much offence by his openly displayed +distrust of his partisans and his undisguised preference for his +French followers. The papal influence was at the same time +employed in the cause of King Henry, and Philip of France was +forced to abandon open support of his son, though he naturally +continued to give him secret help and to send him succours of +men and money.</p> + +<p>The fortune of war, however, did not turn without a battle. +At Lincoln, on the 20th of May 1217, the marshal completely +defeated an Anglo-French army commanded by the +count of Perche and the earls of Winchester and Hereford. +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Lincoln.</span> +The former was slain, the other two taken +prisoners, with more than 300 knights and barons. This was the +death-blow to the cause of Louis of France; when it was followed +up by the defeat in the Dover Straits of a fleet which was bringing +him reinforcements (Aug. 17), he despaired of success and asked +for terms. By the treaty of Lambeth (Sept. 11, 1217) he secured +an amnesty for all his followers and an indemnity of 10,000 marks +for himself. Less than a month later he quitted England; the +victorious royalists celebrated his departure by a second reissue +of the Great Charter, which contained some new clauses favourable +to the baronial interest.</p> + +<p>After the departure of Prince Louis and his foreigners the earl +marshal had to take up much the same task that had fallen to +Henry II. in 1154. Now, as at the death of Stephen, the realm +was full of “adulterine castles,” of bands of robbers who had +cloaked their plundering under the pretence of loyal service to +the king or the French prince, and of local magnates who had +usurped the prerogatives of royalty, each in his own district. +It was some years before peace and order were restored in the +realm, and the aged Pembroke died in 1219 before his work was +completed. After his decease the conduct of the government +passed into the hands of the justiciar Hubert de Burgh, and the +papal legate Pandulf, to whom the marshal had specially recommended +the young king. Their worst enemies were those who +during the civil war had been their best friends, the mercenary +captains and upstart knights whom John had made sheriffs and +castellans. From 1219 to 1224 de Burgh was constantly occupied +in evicting the old loyalists from castles which they had seized +or offices which they had disgraced. In several cases it was +necessary to mobilize an army against a recalcitrant magnate. +The most troublesome of them was Falkes de Breauté, the most +famous of King John’s foreign <i>condottieri</i>, whose minions held +Bedford castle against the justiciar and the whole shire levy of +eastern England for nearly two months in 1224. The castle was +taken and eighty men-at-arms hanged on its surrender, but Falkes +escaped with his life and fled to France. It was not till this severe +lesson had been inflicted on the faction of disorder that the +pacification of England could be considered complete.</p> + +<p>The fifty-six years’ reign of Henry III. forms one of the periods +during which the mere chronicle of events may seem tedious +and trivial, yet the movement of national life and constitutional +progress was very important. Except during the stirring epoch +1258-1265 there was little that was dramatic or striking in the +events of the reign. Yet the England of 1272 was widely different +from the England of 1216. The futile and thriftless yet busy +and self-important king was one of those sovereigns who irritate +their subjects into opposition by injudicious activity. He was +not a ruffian or a tyrant like his father, and had indeed not a few +of the domestic virtues. But he was constitutionally incapable +of keeping a promise or paying a debt. Not being strong-handed +or capable, he could never face criticism nor suppress +discontent by force, as a king of the type of Henry I. or Henry II. +would have done. He generally gave way when pressed, without +attempting an appeal to arms; he would then swear an oath to +observe the Great Charter, and be detected in violating it again +within a few months. His greatest fault in the eyes of his subjects +was his love of foreigners; since John had lost Normandy the +English baronage had become as national in spirit as the +commons. The old Anglo-Norman houses had forgotten the +tradition of their origin, and now formed but a small section of +the aristocracy; the newer families, sprung from the officials +of the first two Henries, had always been English in spirit. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page491" id="page491"></a>491</span> +Unfortunately for himself the third Henry inherited the continental +cosmopolitanism of his Angevin ancestors, and found +himself confronted with a nation which was growing ever more +and more insular in its ideals. He had all the ambitions of his +grandfather Henry II.; his dreams were of shattering the +newly-formed kingdom of France, the creation of Philip Augustus, +and of recovering all the lost lands of his forefathers on the Seine +and Loire. Occasionally his views grew yet wider—he would +knit up alliances all over Christendom and dominate the West. +Nothing could have been wilder and more unpractical than the +scheme on which he set his heart in 1255-1257, a plan for conquering +Naples and Sicily for his second son. Moreover it was +a great hindrance to him that he was a consistent friend and +supporter of the papacy. He had never forgotten the services +of the legates Pandulf and Gualo to himself and his father, and +was always ready to lend his aid to the political schemes of the +popes, even when it was difficult to see that any English interests +were involved in them. His designs, which were always shifting +from point to point of the continent, did not appeal in the least +to his subjects, who took little interest in Poitou or Touraine, +and none whatever in Italy. After the troubled times which +had lasted from 1214 to 1224 they desired nothing more than +peace, quietness and good governance. They had no wish to +furnish their master with taxation for French wars, or to follow +his banner to distant Aquitaine. But most of all did they dislike +his practice of flooding England with strangers from beyond +seas, for whom offices and endowments had to be found. The +moment that he had got rid of the honest and capable old +justiciar Hubert de Burgh, who had pacified the country during +his minority, and set the machinery of government once more +in regular order, Henry gave himself over to fostering horde +after horde of foreign favourites. There was first his Poitevin +chancellor, Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, with a numerous +band of his relations and dependents. As a sample of the +king’s methods it may be mentioned that he once made over +nineteen of the thirty-five sheriffdoms, within a fortnight, to Peter +of Rivaux, a nephew of the chancellor. Des Roches was driven +from office after two years (1234), and his friends and relatives +fell with him. But they were only the earliest of the king’s alien +favourites; quite as greedy were the second family of his mother, +Isabella of Angoulźme, who after King John’s death had married +her old betrothed, Hugh of Lusignan. Henry secured great +English marriages for three of them, and made the fourth, +Aymer, bishop of Winchester. Their kinsmen and dependents +were equally welcomed. Even more numerous and no less expensive +to the realm were the Provenēal and Savoyard relatives +of Henry’s queen, Eleanor of Provence. The king made one of +her uncles, Boniface of Savoy, archbishop of Canterbury—it +was three years before he deigned to come over to take up the +post, and then he was discovered to be illiterate and unclerical in +his habits, an unworthy successor for Langton and Edmund of +Abingdon, the great primates who went before him. Peter of +Savoy, another uncle, was perhaps the most shameless of all +the beggars for the king’s bounty; not only was he made earl +of Richmond, but his debts were repeatedly paid and great sums +were given him to help his continental adventures.</p> + +<p>King Henry’s personal rule lasted from 1232, the year in +which he deprived Hubert de Burgh of his justiciarship and +confiscated most of his lands, down to 1258. It was thriftless, +arbitrary, and lacking in continuity of policy, yet not tyrannical +or cruel. If he had been a worse man he would have been put +under control long before by his irritated subjects. All through +these twenty-six years he was being opposed and criticised by +a party which embraced the wisest and most patriotic section +of the baronage and the hierarchy. It numbered among its +leaders the good archbishop, Edmund of Abingdon, and Robert +Grosseteste, the active and learned bishop of Lincoln; it was +not infrequently aided by the king’s brother Richard, earl of +Cornwall, who did not share Henry’s blind admiration for his +foreign relatives. But it only found its permanent guiding +spirit somewhat late in the reign, when Simon de Montfort, +earl of Leicester, became the habitual mouthpiece of the +grievances of the nation. The great earl had, oddly enough, +commenced his career as one of the king’s foreign favourites. +<span class="sidenote">Simon de Monfort.</span> +He was the grandson of Amicia, countess of Leicester, +but his father, Simon the Elder, a magnate whose +French interests were greater than his English, had +adhered to the cause of Philip Augustus in the days of King John +and the Leicester estates had been confiscated. Simon, reared +as a Frenchman, came over in 1230 to petition for their restoration. +He not only obtained it, but to the great indignation +of the English baronage married the king’s sister Eleanor in 1238. +For some time he was in high favour with his brother-in-law, +and was looked upon by the English as no better than Aymer +de Valence or Peter of Savoy. But he quarrelled with the fickle +king, and adhered ere long to the party of opposition. A long +experience of his character and actions convinced barons and +commons alike that he was a just and sincere man, a friend of +good governance, and an honest opponent of arbitrary and unconstitutional +rule. He had become such a thorough Englishman +in his views and prejudices, that by 1250 he was esteemed +the natural exponent of all the wrongs of the realm. He was +austere and religious; many of his closest friends were among the +more saintly of the national clergy. By the end of his life the +man who had started as the king’s unpopular minion was known +as “Earl Simon the Righteous,” and had become the respected +leader of the national opposition to his royal brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>Though Henry’s taxes were vexatious and never-ending, +though his subservience to the pope and his flighty interference +in foreign politics were ever irritating the magnates +and the people, and though outbreaks of turbulence +<span class="sidenote">Condition of England under Henry III.</span> +were not unknown during his long period of personal +rule, it would yet be a mistake to regard the central +years of the 13th century as an unprosperous period for +England. Indeed it would be more correct to regard the +period as one of steady national development in wealth, culture +and unity. The towns were growing fast, and extending their +municipal liberties; the necessities of John and the facile carelessness +of Henry led to the grant of innumerable charters and +privileges. As was to be seen again during the first period of the +reign of Charles I., political irritation is not incompatible either +with increasing material prosperity or with great intellectual +development. The king’s futile activity led to ever more frequent +gatherings of the Great Council, in which the theory of the +constitution was gradually hammered out by countless debates +between the sovereign and his subjects. Every time that Henry +confirmed the Great Charter, the fact that England was already +a limited monarchy became more evident. It is curious to find +that—like his father John—he himself contributed unconsciously +<span class="sidenote">Beginnings of Parliament.</span> +to advances towards representative government. +John’s writ of 1213, bidding “discreet men” from each +shire to present themselves at Oxford, found its +parallel in another writ of 1253 which bids four knightly +delegates from each county to appear along with the tenants-in-chief, +for the purpose of discussing the king’s needs. When +county members begin to present themselves along with the +barons at the national assembly, the conception of parliament +is already reached. And indeed we may note that the precise +word “parliament” first appears in the chroniclers and in official +documents about the middle of Henry’s reign. By its end the +term is universally acknowledged and employed.</p> + +<p>We may discern during these same years a great intellectual +activity. This was the time of rapid development in the universities, +where not only were the scholastic philosophy +and systematic theology eagerly studied, but figures +<span class="sidenote">Intellectual life.</span> +appear like that of the great Roger Bacon, a scientific +researcher of the first rank, whose discoveries in optics and +chemistry caused his contemporaries to suspect him of magical +arts. His teaching at Oxford in 1250-1257 fell precisely into +the years of the worst misgovernance of Henry III. It was the +same with law, an essentially 13th-century study; it was just +in this age that the conception of law as something not depending +on the pleasure of the king, nor compiled from mere collected +ancestral customs, but existing as a logical entity, became +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page492" id="page492"></a>492</span> +generally prevalent. The feeling is thoroughly well expressed +by the partisan of Montfort who wrote in his jingling Latin +verse:—</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> <div class="poemr"> +<p>“Dicitur vulgariter ‘ut rex vult lex vadit’:</p> +<p class="i05">Veritas vult aliter: nam lex stat, rex cadit.”</p> +</div> </td></tr></table> + +<p class="noind">Law has become something greater than, and independent of, +royal caprice. The great lawyers of the day, of whom Bracton +is the most celebrated name, were spinning theories of its origin +and development, studying Roman precedents, and turning the +medley of half-understood Saxon and Norman customs into a +system.</p> + +<p>Intellectual growth was accompanied by great religious +activity; it is no longer merely on the old questions of dispute +between church and state that men were straining +their minds. The reign of Henry III. saw the invasion +<span class="sidenote">Religious life: the friars.</span> +of England by the friars, originally the moral reformers +of their day, who preached the superiority +of the missionary life over the merely contemplative life of +the old religious orders, and came, preaching holy poverty, +to minister to souls neglected by worldly incumbents and +political prelates (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Mendicant Movement</a></span>). The mendicants, +Dominican and Franciscan, took rapid root in England; +the number of friaries erected in the reign of Henry III. is +astounding. For two generations they seem to have absorbed +into their ranks all the most active and energetic of those who +felt a clerical vocation. It is most noteworthy that they were +joined by thinkers such as Grosseteste, Adam Marsh, Roger +Bacon, Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. Still more striking +is the fact that the friars threw themselves energetically into +the cause of political reform, and that several of their leading +brothers were the close friends and counsellors of Simon de +Montfort.</p> + +<p>Architecture and art generally were making rapid strides +during this stirring time. The lofty Early English style had +now completely superseded the more heavy and +sombre Norman, and it was precisely during the years +<span class="sidenote">Literature and art.</span> +of the maladministration of Henry III. that some of +the most splendid of the English cathedrals, Salisbury (1220-1258) +and Wells (1230-1239), were built. The king himself, +when rearing the new Westminster Abbey over the grave of +Edward the Confessor, spent for once some of his money on a +worthy object. It may be noted that he showed a special reverence +for the old English royal saint, and christened his eldest +son after him; while his second bore the name of Edmund, +the East Anglian martyr. These were the first occasions on +which princes of the Angevin house received names that were +not drawn from the common continental stock, but recalled +the days before the Conquest. The reappearance of these old +English names bears witness to the fact that the vernacular +was reasserting itself. Though French was still the language +of the court and of law, a new literature was already growing +up in the native tongue, with such works as Layamon’s <i>Brut</i> +and the <i>Ormulum</i> as its first fruits. Henry III. himself on rare +occasions used English for a state document.</p> + +<p>All these facts make it sufficiently clear that England was +irritated rather than crushed by Henry’s irregular taxation and +thriftless expenditure. The nation was growing and prospering, +despite of its master’s maladministration of its resources. On +several occasions when he endeavoured to commit parliaments +to back his bills and endorse his policy, they refused to help him, +and left him to face his debts as best he might. This was especially +the case with the insane contract which he made with Pope +Innocent IV. in 1254, when he bound the realm of England to +find 140,000 marks to equip an army for the conquest of Naples +and Sicily. Henry lacked the energy to attempt to take by force +what he could not obtain by persuasion, and preferred to break +his bargain with the pope rather than to risk the chance of civil +war at home.</p> + +<p>It was over this Sicilian scheme, the crowning folly of the +king, that public opinion at last grew so hot that the intermittent +criticism and grumbling of the baronage and the nation passed +into vigorous and masterful action. At the “Mad Parliament,” +which met at Oxford, 1258, the barons informed their master +that his misgovernment had grown so hopeless that they were +<span class="sidenote">Public discontent. The Provisions of Oxford.</span> +resolved to put him under constitutional restraints. +They appointed a committee of twenty-four, in which +Simon de Montfort was the leading spirit, and entrusted +it with the duty, not only of formulating +lists of grievances, but of seeing that they were redressed. +Henry found that he had practically no supporters +save his unpopular foreign relatives and favourites, and yielded +perforce. To keep him in bounds the celebrated “Provisions +of Oxford” were framed. They provided that he was to do +nothing without the consent of a permanent council of fifteen +barons and bishops, and that all his finances were to be controlled +by another committee of twenty-four persons. All aliens were +to be expelled from the realm, and even the king’s household +was to be “reformed” by his self-constituted guardians. The +inevitable oath to observe honestly all the conditions of the +Great Charter of 1215 was, as usual, extorted from him with +special formalities. Though Montfort and the barons voiced the +public discontent, the constitution which they thus imposed +on the king had nothing popular about it. The royal functions +of which Henry was stripped were to be exercised by a series of +baronial committees. The arrangement was too cumbersome, +for there was nothing which would be called a central executive; +the three bodies (two of twenty-four members each, the +third of fifteen) were interdependent, and none of them possessed +efficient control over the others. It was small wonder +that the constitution established by the Provisions of Oxford +was found unworkable. They were not even popular—the +small landholders and subtenants discovered that their interests +had not been sufficiently regarded, and lent themselves to an +agitation against the provisional government, which was got +up by Edward, the king’s eldest son, who now appeared prominently +in history for the first time. To conciliate them the +barons allowed the “Provisions of Westminster” to be enacted +in 1259, in which the power of feudal courts was considerably +restricted, and many classes of suit were transferred to the royal +tribunals, a sufficient proof that the king’s judges did not share +in the odium which appertained to their master, and were regarded +as honest and impartial.</p> + +<p>The limited monarchy established by the Provisions of Oxford +lasted only three years. Seeing the barons quarrelling among +themselves, and Montfort accused of ambition and overweening +masterfulness by many of his colleagues, the king took heart. +Copying the example of his father in 1215, he obtained from the +pope a bull, which declared the new constitution irregular and +illegal, and absolved him from his oath to abide by it. He then +began to recall his foreign friends and relatives, and to assemble +mercenaries. De Montfort answered by raising an army, arresting +prominent aliens, and seizing the lands which the king had +given them. Henry thereupon, finding his forces too weak to +face the earl, took refuge in the Tower of London and proposed +an arbitration. He offered to submit his case to Louis IX., the +saintly king of France, whose virtues were known and respected +all over Europe, if the baronial party would do the same. An +appeal to the pope they would have laughed to scorn; but the +confidence felt in the probity of the French king was so great +that Montfort advised his friends to accede to the proposal. +This was an unwise step. Louis was a saint, but he was also +an autocratic king, and had no knowledge of the constitutional +customs of England. Having heard the claims of the king and +the barons, he issued the mise of Amiens (Jan. 23, 1264), so called +from the city at which he dated it, a document which stated that +King Henry ought to abide by the terms of Magna Carta, to +which he had so often given his assent, but that the Provisions +of Oxford were wholly invalid and derogatory to the royal +dignity. “We ordain,” he wrote, “that the king shall have full +power and free jurisdiction over his realm, as in the days before +the said Provisions.” The pope shortly afterwards confirmed +the French king’s award.</p> + +<p>Simon de Montfort and his friends were put in an awkward +position by this decision, to which they had so unwisely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page493" id="page493"></a>493</span> +committed themselves. But they did not hesitate to declare that +they must repudiate the mise. Simon declared that it would be +a worse perjury to abandon his oath to keep the Provisions of +Oxford than his oath to abide by the French king’s award. +He took arms again at the head of the Londoners and his personal +adherents and allies. But many of the barons stood neutral, +not seeing how they could refuse to accept the arbitration they +had courted, while a number not inconsiderable joined the king, +deciding that Leicester had passed the limits of reasonable loyalty, +and that their first duty was to the crown.</p> + +<p>Hence it came to pass that in the campaign of 1264 Simon +was supported by a minority only of the baronial class, and the +king’s army was the larger. The fortune of war inclined +at first in favour of the royalists, who captured +<span class="sidenote">The barons’ war: battle of Lewes.</span> +Northampton and Nottingham. But when it came +to open battle, the military skill of the earl sufficed +to compensate for the inferiority of his numbers. At +Lewes, on the 14th of May, he inflicted a crushing defeat on the +king’s army. Henry himself, his brother Richard of Cornwall, +and many hundreds of his chief supporters were taken prisoners. +His son Prince Edward, who had been victorious on his own flank +of the battle, and had not been caught in the rout, gave himself +up next morning, wishing to share his father’s fate, and not to +prolong a civil war which seemed to have become hopeless.</p> + +<p>On the day that followed his victory Leicester extorted from +the captive king the document called the “mise of Lewes,” +in which Henry promised to abide by all the terms +of the Provisions of Oxford, as well as to uphold the +<span class="sidenote">Montfort’s parliament.</span> +Great Charter and the old customs of the realm. +Montfort was determined to put his master under +political tutelage for the rest of his life. He summoned a parliament, +in which four knights elected by each shire were present, +to establish the new constitution. It appointed Simon, with +his closest allies, the young earl of Gloucester and the bishop of +Chichester, as electors who were to choose a privy council for +the king and to fill up all offices of state. The king was to exercise +no act of sovereignty save by the consent of the councillors, +of whom three were to follow his person wherever he went. +This was a far simpler constitution than that framed at Oxford +in 1258, but it was even more liable to criticism. For if the +“Provisions” had established a government by baronial committees, +the parliament of 1264 created one which was a mere +party administration. For the victorious faction, naturally but +unwisely, took all power for themselves, and filled every sheriffdom, +castellany and judicial office with their own firm friends. +Simon’s care to commit the commons to his cause by summoning +them to his parliament did not suffice to disguise the fact +that the government which he had set up was not representative +of the whole nation. He himself was too much like a dictator; +even his own followers complained that he was over-masterful, +and the most important of them, the young earl of Gloucester, +was gradually estranged from him by finding his requests often +refused and his aims crossed by the old earl’s action. The new +government lasted less than two years, and was slowly losing +prestige all the time. Its first failure was in the repression of +the surviving royalists. Isolated castles in several districts held +out in the king’s name, and the whole March of Wales was never +properly subdued. When Simon turned the native Welsh prince +Llewelyn against the marcher barons, he gave great offence; +he was accused of sacrificing Englishmen to a foreign enemy. +The new régime did not give England the peace which it had +promised; its enemies maintained that it did not even give the +good governance of which Simon had made so many promises. +It certainly appears that some of his followers, and notably his +three reckless sons, had given good cause for offence by high-handed +and selfish acts. Much indignation was provoked by +the sight of the king kept continually in ward by his privy +councillors and treated with systematic neglect; but the treatment +of his son was even more resented. Edward, though he +had given little cause of offence, and had behaved admirably in +refusing to continue the civil war, was deprived of his earldom +of Chester, and put under the same restraint as his father. +There was no good reason for treating him so harshly, and his +state was much pitied.</p> + +<p>Montfort attempted to strengthen his position, and to show +his confidence in the commons, by summoning to his second +and last parliament, that of 1265, a new element—two citizens +from each city and two burgesses from each borough in the +realm. It must be confessed that his object was probably not +to introduce a great constitutional improvement, and to make +parliament more representative, but rather to compensate for +the great gaps upon the baronial benches by showing a multitude +of lesser adherents, for the towns were his firm supporters. +The actual proceedings of this particular assembly had no great +importance.</p> + +<p>Two months later Prince Edward escaped from his confinement, +and fled to the earl of Gloucester, who now declared himself +a royalist. They raised an army, which seized the fords of +the Severn, in order to prevent de Montfort—who was then at +Hereford with the captive king—from getting back to London +or the Midlands. The earl, who could only raise a trifling force +in the Marches, where the barons were all his enemies, failed in +several attempts to force a passage eastward. But his friends +raised a considerable host, which marched under his son Simon +the Younger and the earl of Oxford, to fall on the rear of the +royalists. Prince Edward now displayed skilful generalship—hastily +turning backward he surprised and scattered the army +of relief at Kenilworth (Aug. 1); he was then free to deal with +the earl, who had at last succeeded in passing the Severn during +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Evesham.</span> +his absence. On the 4th of August he beset Montfort’s +little force with five-fold numbers, and absolutely +exterminated it at Evesham. Simon fought most +gallantly, and was left dead on the field along with his eldest son +Henry, his justiciar Hugh Despenser, and the flower of his party. +The king fell into the hands of his son’s followers, and was once +more free.</p> + +<p>It might have been expected that the victorious party would +now introduce a policy of reaction and autocratic government. +But the king was old and broken by his late misfortunes: his +son the prince was wise beyond his years, and Gloucester and +many other of the present supporters of the crown had originally +been friends of reform, and had not abandoned their old views. +They had deserted Montfort because he was autocratic and +masterful, not because they had altogether disapproved of his +policy. Hence we find Gloucester insisting that the remnant +of the vanquished party should not be subjected to over heavy +punishment, and even making an armed demonstration, in the +spring of 1267, to demand the re-enactment of the Provisions +of Oxford. Ultimately the troubles of the realm were ended +by the Dictum of Kenilworth (Oct. 31, 1266) and the Statute +of Marlborough (Nov. 1267). The former allowed nearly all of +Montfort’s faction to obtain amnesty and regain their estates +on the payment of heavy fines; only Simon’s own Leicester +estates and those of Ferrers, earl of Derby, were confiscated. +The latter established a form of constitution in which many, +if not all, of the innovations of the Provisions of Oxford were +embodied. The only unsatisfactory part of the pacification was +that Llewelyn of Wales, who had ravaged the whole March while +he was Montfort’s ally, was allowed to keep a broad region (the +greater part of the modern shire of Denbigh) which he had won +back from its English holders. His power in a more indirect +fashion extended itself over much of Mid-Wales. The line of +the March was distinctly moved backward by the treaty of 1267.</p> + +<p>King Henry survived his restoration to nominal, if not to +actual, authority for seven years. He was now too feeble to +indulge in any of his former freaks of foreign policy, +and allowed the realm to be governed under his son’s +<span class="sidenote">Death of Henry III.</span> +eye by veteran bureaucrats, who kept to the old customs +of the land. Everything settled down so peacefully that +when the prince took the cross, and went off to the Crusades in +1270, no trouble followed. Edward was still absent in Palestine +when his father died, on the 16th of November 1272. For the +first time in English history there was no form of election of +the new king, whose accession was quietly acknowledged by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page494" id="page494"></a>494</span> +officials and the nation. It was nearly two years after his +father’s death that he reached England, yet absolutely no trouble +had occurred during his absence. He had taken advantage of his +leisurely journey home to pacify the turbulent Gascony, and to +visit Paris and make a treaty with King Philip III. by which +the frontiers of his duchy of Aquitaine were rectified, to some +slight extent, in his favour. He, of course, did homage for the +holding, as his father had done before him.</p> + +<p>The reign which began with this unwonted quietness was +perhaps the most important epoch of all English medieval +history in the way of the definition and settlement of +the constitution. Edward I. was a remarkable figure, +<span class="sidenote">Edward I.</span> +by far the ablest of all the kings of the house of Plantagenet. +He understood the problem that was before him, the construction +of a working constitution from the old ancestral customs of the +English monarchy plus the newer ideas that had been embodied +in the Great Charter, the Provisions of Oxford, and the scanty +legislation of Simon de Montfort. Edward loved royal power, +but he was wise in his generation, and saw that he could best +secure the loyalty of his subjects by assenting to so many of +the new constitutional restraints as were compatible with his +own practical control of the policy of the realm. He was prepared +to refer all important matters to his parliament, and (as +we shall see) he improved the shape of that body by reintroducing +into it the borough members who had appeared for the first +time in Montfort’s assembly of 1265. He would have liked +to make parliament, no doubt, a mere meeting for the voting +of taxation with the smallest possible friction. But he fully +realized that this dream was impossible, and was wise enough +to give way, whenever opposition grew too strong and bitter. +He had not fought through the civil wars of 1263-66 without +learning his lesson. There was a point beyond which it was +unwise to provoke the baronage or the commons, and, unlike +his flighty and thriftless father, he knew where that point came. +The constitutional quarrels of his reign were conducted with +decency and order, because the king knew his own limitations, +and because his subjects trusted to his wisdom and moderation +in times of crisis. Edward indeed was a man worthy of respect, +if not of affection. His private life was grave and seemly, his +court did not sin by luxury or extravagance. His chosen +ministers were wise and experienced officials, whom no man could +call favourites or accuse of maladministration. He was sincerely +religious, self-restrained and courteous, though occasionally, +under provocation, he could burst out into a royal rage. He +was a good master and a firm friend. Moreover, he had a +genuine regard for the sanctity of a promise, the one thing in +which his father had been most wanting. It is true that sometimes +he kept his oaths or carried out his pledges with the literal +punctuality of a lawyer, rather than with the chivalrous generosity +of a knight. But at any rate he always endeavoured to +discharge an obligation, even if he sometimes interpreted it by +the strict letter of the law and not with liberality. A conscientious +man according to his lights, he took as his device the motto +<i>Pactum serva</i>, “keep troth,” which was afterwards inscribed on +his tomb, and did his best to live up to it. Naturally he expected +the same accuracy from other men, and when he did not +meet it he could be harsh and unrelenting in the punishment +that he inflicted. To sum up his character it must be added that +he was a very great soldier. The headlong courage which he +showed at Lewes, his first battle, was soon tempered by caution, +and already in 1265 he had shown that he could plan a campaign +with skill. In his later military career he was the first general +who showed on a large scale how the national English weapon, +the bow, could win fights when properly combined with the +charge of the mailed cavalry. He inaugurated the tactics by +which his grandson and great-grandson were to win epoch-making +victories abroad.</p> + +<p>Edward’s reign lasted for thirty-five years, and was equally +important in constitutional development and in imperial policy. +The first period of it, 1272-1290, may be defined as mainly notable +for his great series of legislative enactments and his conquest +of Wales. The second, 1290-1307, contains his long and ultimately +unsuccessful attempt to incorporate Scotland into his +realm, and his quarrels with his parliament.</p> + +<p>The changes made by Edward in constitutional law by his +great series of statutes commenced very soon after his return to +his kingdom in 1274. We may trace in all of them the +same purpose of strengthening the power of the crown +<span class="sidenote">Constitutional changes. Statutes of Westminster and Gloucester.</span> +by judicious and orderly definition of its privileges. +The great enactments start with the First Statute +of Westminster (1275), a measure directed to the +improvement of administrative details, which was +accompanied by a grant to the king of a permanent +customs-revenue on imports and exports, which soon became +more valuable to the royal exchequer than the old feudal taxes +on land. In 1278 followed the Statute of Gloucester, an act +empowering the king to make inquiry as to the right by which +old royal estates, or exceptional franchises which infringed on +the royal prerogative of justice or taxation, had passed into the +hands of their present owners. This inquest was made by the +writ <i>Quo Warranto</i>, by which each landholder was invited to +show the charter or warrant in which his claims rested. The +baronage were angry and suspicious, for many of their customary +rights rested on immemorial and unchartered antiquity, while +others were usurpations from the weakness of John or Henry III. +They showed signs of an intention to make open resistance; +but to their surprise the king contented himself with making +complete lists of all franchises then existing, and did no more; +this being his method of preventing the growth of any further +trespasses on his prerogative.</p> + +<p>Edward’s next move was against clerical encroachments. +In 1279 he compelled Archbishop Peckham to withdraw some +legislation made in a synod called without the royal +permission—a breach of one of the three great canons +<span class="sidenote">Statute of Mortmain.</span> +of William the Conqueror. Then he took the offensive +himself, by persuading his parliament to pass the Statute of +Mortmain (de religiosis). This was an act to prevent the further +accumulation of landed property in the “dead hand” of religious +persons and communities. The more land the church acquired, +the less feudal taxation came into the royal exchequer. For +undying corporations paid the king neither “reliefs” (death +duties) nor fees on wardship and marriage, and their property +would never escheat to the crown for want of an heir. The +Statute of Mortmain forbade any man to alienate land to the +church without royal licence. It was very acceptable to the +baronage, who had suffered, on a smaller scale, the same grievance +as the king, for when their subtenants transferred estates +to the church, they (like their masters) suffered a permanent +loss of feudal revenue. A distinct check in the hitherto +steady growth of clerical endowments began from this time, +though licences in mortmain were by no means impossible to +obtain.</p> + +<p>The great group of statutes that date from Edward’s earlier +years ends with the legislative enactments of 1285, the Second +Statute of Westminster and the Statute of Winchester. +The former contains the clause <i>De Donis Conditionalibus</i>, +<span class="sidenote">Second Statute of Westminster.</span> +a notable landmark in the history of English +law, since it favoured the system of entailing estates. +Hitherto life-owners of land, holding as subtenants, had possessed +large powers of alienating it, to the detriment of their +superior lords, who would otherwise have recovered it, when +their vassals died heirless, as an “escheat.” This custom was +primarily harmful to the king—the greatest territorial magnate +and the one most prone to distribute rewards in land to his +servants. But it was also prejudicial to all tenants-in-chief. +By <i>De Donis</i> the tenant for life was prevented from selling his +estate, which could only pass to his lawful heir; if he had none, +it fell back to his feudal superior. Five years later this legislation +was supplemented by the statute <i>Quia Emptores</i>, equally +beneficial to king and barons, which provided that subtenants +should not be allowed to make over land to other persons, retaining +the nominal possession and feudal rights over it, but should +be compelled to sell it out and out, so that their successor in title +stood to the overlord exactly as the seller had done. Hitherto +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page495" id="page495"></a>495</span> +they had been wont to dispose of the whole or parts of their +estates while maintaining their feudal rights over it, so that the +ultimate landlord could not deal directly with the new occupant, +whose reliefs, wardship, &c., fell to the intermediate holder who +had sold away the land. The main result of this was that, when +a baron parted with any one of his estates, the acquirer became +a tenant-in-chief directly dependent on the king, instead of being +left a vassal of the person who had passed over the land to him. +Subinfeudation came to a complete stop, and whenever great +family estates broke up the king obtained new tenants-in-chief. +The number of persons holding immediately of the crown began +at once to multiply by leaps and bounds. As the process of the +partition of lands continued, the fractions grew smaller and +smaller, and many of the tenants-in-chief were ere long very +small and unimportant persons. These, of course, would not +form part of the baronial interest, and could not be distinguished +from any other subjects of the crown.</p> + +<p>The Statute of Winchester, the other great legislative act of +1285, was mainly concerned with the keeping of the peace of the +realm. It revised the arming and organization of the +<span class="sidenote">Statute of Winchester.</span> +national militia, the lineal descendent of the old <i>fyrd</i>, +and provided a useful police force for the repression of +disorder and robbery by the reorganization of <i>watch +and ward</i>. This was, of course, one more device for strengthening +the power of the crown.</p> + +<p>In the intervals of the legislation which formed the main +feature of the first half of his reign, Edward was often distracted +by external matters. He was, on the whole, on very +good terms with his first cousin, Philip III. of France; +<span class="sidenote">Welsh wars.</span> +the trouble did not come from this direction, though +there was the usual crop of feudal rebellions in Gascony. Nor +did Edward’s relations with the more remote states of the continent +lead to any important results, though he had many +treaties and alliances in hand. It was with Wales that his most +troublesome relations occurred. Llewelyn-ap-Gruffydd, the old +ally of de Montfort, had come with profit out of the civil wars of +1263-66, and having won much land and more influence during +the evil days of Henry III., was reluctant to see that his time +of prosperity had come to an end, now that a king of a very +different character sat on the English throne.</p> + +<p>Friction had begun the moment that Edward returned to his +kingdom from the crusade. Llewelyn would not deign to appear +before him to render the customary homage due from Wales to +the English crown, but sent a series of futile excuses lasting over +three years. In 1277, however, the king grew tired of waiting, +invaded the principality and drove his recalcitrant vassal up +into the fastnesses of Snowdon, where famine compelled him +to surrender as winter was beginning. Llewelyn was pardoned, +but deprived of all the lands he had gained during the days of +the civil war, and restricted to his old North Welsh dominions. +He remained quiescent for five years, but busied himself in +knitting up secret alliances with the Welsh of the South, who +were resenting the introduction of English laws and customs +by the strong-handed king. In 1282 there was a sudden and +well-planned rising, which extended from the gates of Chester +to those of Carmarthen; several castles were captured by the +insurgents, and Edward had to come to the rescue of the lords-marchers +at the head of a very large army. After much checkered +fighting Llewelyn was slain at the skirmish of Orewyn Bridge near +Builth on the 11th of December 1282. On his death the southern +rebels submitted, but David his brother continued the struggle +for three months longer in the Snowdon district, till his last +bands were scattered and he himself taken prisoner. Edward +<span class="sidenote">Conquest of Wales.</span> +beheaded him at Shrewsbury as a traitor, having the +excuse that David had submitted once before, had +been endowed with lands in the Marches, and had +nevertheless joined his brother in rebellion. After this the king +abode for more than a year in Wales, organizing the newly +conquered principality into a group of counties, and founding +many castles, with dependent towns, within its limits. The +“statute of Wales,” issued at Rhuddlan in 1284, provided for +the introduction of English law into the country, though a +certain amount of Celtic customs was allowed to survive. For +the next two centuries and a half the lands west of Dee and Wye +were divided between the new counties, forming the “principality” +of Wales, and the “marches” where the old feudal +franchises continued, till the marcher-lordships gradually fell +by forfeiture or marriage to the crown. Edward’s grip on the +land was strong, and it had need to be so, for in 1287 and 1294-1295 +there were desperate and widespread revolts, which were +only checked by the existence of the new castles, and subdued +by the concentration of large royal armies. In 1301 the king’s +eldest surviving son Edward, who had been born at Carnarvon +in 1284, was created “prince of Wales,” and invested with the +principality, which henceforth became the regular appanage +of the heirs of the English crown. This device was apparently +intended to soothe Welsh national pride, by reviving in form, +if not in reality, the separate existence of the old Cymric state. +For four generations the land was comparatively quiet, but the +great rebellion of Owen Glendower in the reign of Henry IV. +was to show how far the spirit of particularism was from +extinction.</p> + +<p>Some two years after his long sojourn in Wales Edward made +an even longer stay in a more remote corner of his dominions. +Gascony being, as usual, out of hand, he crossed to Bordeaux in +1286, and abode in Guienne for no less than three years, reducing +the duchy to such order as it had never known before, settling +all disputed border questions with the new king of France, +Philip IV., founding many new towns, and issuing many useful +statutes and ordinances. He returned suddenly in 1289, called +home by complaints that reached him as to the administration +of justice by his officials, who were slighting the authority of +his cousin Edmund of Cornwall, whom he had left behind as +regent. He dismissed almost the whole bench of judges, and +made other changes among his ministers. At the same time +he fell fiercely upon the great lords of the Welsh Marches, who +had been indulging in private wars; when they returned to +their evil practice he imprisoned the chief offenders, the earls +of Hereford and Gloucester, forfeited their estates, and only +gave them back when they had paid vast fines (1291). Another +<span class="sidenote">Expulsion of the Jews.</span> +act of this period was Edward’s celebrated expulsion +of the Jews from England (1290). This was the continuation +of a policy which he had already carried +out in Guienne. It would seem that his reasons were +partly religious, but partly economic. No earlier king could have +afforded to drive forth a race who had been so useful to the crown +as bankers and money-lenders; but by the end of the 13th +century the financial monopoly of the Jews had been broken +by the great Italian banking firms, whom Edward had been +already employing during his Welsh wars. Finding them no +less accommodating than their rivals, he gratified the prejudices +of his subjects and himself by forcing the Hebrews to quit +England. The Italians in a few years became as unpopular as +their predecessors in the trade of usury, their practices being +the same, if their creed was not.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile in the same year that saw the expulsion of the +Jews, King Edward’s good fortune began to wane, with the rise +of the Scottish question, which was to overshadow +the latter half of his reign. Alexander III., the last +<span class="sidenote">Edward I. and Scotland.</span> +male in direct descent of the old Scottish royal house, +had died in 1286. His heiress was his only living +descendant, a little girl, the child of his deceased daughter +Margaret and Eric, king of Norway. After much discussion, +for both the Scottish nobles and the Norse king were somewhat +suspicious, Edward had succeeded in obtaining from them a +promise that the young queen should marry his heir, Edward of +Carnarvon. This wedlock would have led to a permanent union +of the English and Scottish crowns, but not to an absorption +of the lesser in the greater state, for the rights of Scotland were +carefully guarded in the marriage-treaty. But the scheme was +wrecked by the premature death of the bride, who expired by +the way, while being brought over from Norway to her own +kingdom, owing to privations and fatigue suffered on a tempestuous +voyage.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page496" id="page496"></a>496</span></p> + +<p>She had no near relatives, and more than a dozen Scottish +or Anglo-Scottish nobles, distantly related to the royal line, put +in a claim to the crown, or at least to a part of the royal heritage. +The board of six regents, who had been ruling Scotland for the +young queen, seeing their own power at an end and civil war +likely to break out, begged Edward of England to arbitrate +between the claimants. The history of the next twenty years +turned on the legal point whether the arbitrator acted—as +he himself contended—in the capacity of suzerain, or—as the +Scots maintained—in that of a neighbour of acknowledged +wisdom and repute, invited to settle a domestic problem. This +question of the relations between the English and the Scottish +crowns had been raised a dozen times between the days of +Edward the Elder and those of Henry III. There was no denying +the fact that the northern kings had repeatedly done homage +to their greater neighbours. But, save during the years when +William the Lion, after his captivity, had owned himself the +vassal of Henry II. for all his dominions, there was considerable +uncertainty as to the exact scope of the allegiance which had +been demanded and given. And William’s complete submission +had apparently been cancelled, when Richard I. sold him in +1190 a release from the terms of the treaty of Falaise. Since that +date Alexander II. and Alexander III. had repeatedly owned +themselves vassals to the English crown, and had even sat in +English parliaments. But it was possible for patriotic Scots to +contend that they had done so only in their capacity as English +barons—for they held much land south of Tweed—and to point +to the similarity of their position to that of the English king +when he did homage for his duchy of Guienne at Paris, without +thereby admitting any suzerainty of the French crown over +England or Ireland. On the last occasion when Alexander III. +had owned himself the vassal of Edward I., there had been considerable +fencing on both sides as to the form of the oath, and, as +neither sovereign at the moment had wished to push matters to a +rupture, the words used had been intentionally vague, and both +parties had kept their private interpretations to themselves. +But now, when Edward met the Scottish magnates, who had +asked for his services as arbitrator, he demanded that they +should acknowledge that he was acting as suzerain and overlord +of the whole kingdom of Scotland. After some delay, and with +manifest reluctance, the Scots complied; their hand was forced +by the fact that most of the claimants to the crown had hastened +to make the acknowledgment, each hoping thereby to prejudice +the English king in his own favour.</p> + +<p>This submission having been made, Edward acted with honesty +and fairness, handing over the adjudication to a body of eighty +Scottish and twenty-four English barons, knights and bishops. +These commissioners, after ample discussion and taking of +evidence, adjudged the crown to John Baliol, the grandson of the +eldest daughter of Earl David, younger brother of William the +Lion. They ruled out the claim of Robert Bruce, the son of David’s +second daughter, who had raised the plea that his descent was +superior because he was a generation nearer than Baliol to their +common ancestor. This theory of affinity had been well known +in the 12th century, and had been urged in favour of King John +when he was contending with his nephew Arthur. But by 1291 +it had gone out of favour, and the Scottish barons had no hesitation +in declaring Baliol their rightful king. Edward at once +gave him seizin of Scotland, and handed over to him the royal +castles, which had been placed in his hands as a pledge during +the arbitration. In return Baliol did him homage as overlord +of the whole kingdom of Scotland.</p> + +<p>This, unfortunately, turned out to be the beginning, not the +end, of troubles. Edward was determined to exact all the +ordinary feudal rights of an overlord—whatever might have been +the former relations of the English and Scottish crowns. The +Scots, on the other hand, were resolved not to allow of the introduction +of usages which had not prevailed in earlier times, and +to keep the tie as vague and loose as possible. Before Baliol had +been many months on the throne there was grave friction on +the question of legal appeals. Scottish litigants defeated in the +local courts began to appeal to the courts of Westminster, just +as Gascon litigants were wont to appeal from Bordeaux to Paris. +King John and his baronage, relying on the fact that such +evocation of cases to a superior court had never before been +known, refused to allow that it was valid. King Edward insisted +that by common feudal usage it was perfectly regular, and +announced his intention of permitting it. Grave friction had +already begun when external events precipitated an open rupture +between the king of England and his new vassal.</p> + +<p>Philip III. of France, who had always pursued a friendly +policy with his cousin of England, had died in 1285, and had +been succeeded by his son Philip IV., a prince of a +very different type, the most able and unscrupulous of +<span class="sidenote">Edward I. and Philip IV.</span> +all the dynasty of Capet. In 1294 he played a most +dishonourable trick upon King Edward. There had +been some irregular and piratical fighting at sea between English +and Norman sailors, in which the latter had been worsted. +When called to account for the doings of his subjects, as well +as for certain disputes in Gascony, the English king promised +redress, and, on the suggestion of Philip, surrendered, as a +formal act of apology, the six chief fortresses of Guienne, which +were to be restored when reparation had been made. Having +garrisoned the places, Philip suddenly changed his line, refused +to continue the negotiations, and declared the whole duchy +forfeited. Edward was forced into war, after having been tricked +out of his strongholds. Just after his first succours had sailed +for the Gironde, the great Welsh rebellion of 1294 broke out, and +the king was compelled to turn aside to repress it. This he +accomplished in the next spring, but meanwhile hardly a foothold +remained to him in Gascony. He was then preparing +to cross the Channel in person, when Scottish affairs began +to become threatening. King John declared himself unable to +restrain the indignation of his subjects at the attempt to enforce +English suzerainty over Scotland, and in July 1295 leagued +himself with Philip of France, and expelled from his realm the +chief supporters of the English alliance. Finding himself involved +in two wars at once, Edward made an earnest appeal to +his subjects to rise to the occasion and “because that which +<span class="sidenote">The “model parliament” of 1295.</span> +touches all should be approved of all” summoned the +celebrated “model parliament” of November 1295, +which exactly copied in its constitution Montfort’s +parliament of 1265, members from all cities and +boroughs being summoned along with the knights of +the shires, and the inferior clergy being also represented by their +proctors. This system henceforth became the normal one, and +the English parliament assumed its regular form, though the +differentiation of the two houses was not fully completed +till the next century. Edward was voted liberal grants by +the laity, though the clergy gave less than he had hoped; +but enough money was obtained to fit out two armies, one +destined for the invasion of Scotland, the other for that of +Gascony.</p> + +<p>The French expedition, which was led by the king’s brother +Edmund, earl of Lancaster, failed to recover Gascony, and came +to an ignominious end. But Edward’s own army +achieved complete success in Scotland. Berwick was +<span class="sidenote">Invasion of Scotland.</span> +stormed, the Scottish army was routed at Dunbar +(April 27), Edinburgh and Stirling were easily captured, +and at last John Baliol, deserted by most of his adherents, +surrendered at Brechin. Edward pursued his triumphant march +as far as Aberdeen and Elgin, without meeting further resistance. +He then summoned a parliament at Berwick, and announced +to the assembled Scots that he had determined to depose King +John, and to assume the crown himself. The ease with which +he had subdued the realm misled him; he fancied that the slack +resistance, which was mainly due to the incapacity and unpopularity +of Baliol, implied the indifference of the Scots to the +idea of annexation. The alacrity with which the greater part +of the baronage flocked in to do him homage confirmed him +in the mistaken notion. He appointed John, earl Warenne, +lieutenant of the realm, with Hugh Cressingham, an English +clerk, as treasurer, but left nearly all the minor offices in Scottish +hands, and announced that Scottish law should be administered. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page497" id="page497"></a>497</span> +He then returned to England, and began to make preparations +for a great expedition to France in 1297.</p> + +<p>His plan was something more ambitious than a mere attempt +to recover Bordeaux; succours were to go to Gascony, but he +himself and the main army were to invade France from +the north with the aid of the count of Flanders. Much +<span class="sidenote">Disputes with the clergy and baronage.</span> +money was, of course, needed for the double expedition, +and in raising it Edward became involved +in two desperate constitutional disputes. Though the barons +and the commons voted a liberal grant at the parliament of +Bury (Nov. 1296) the clergy would give nothing. This was +owing to a bull—the celebrated <i>Clericis Laicos</i>, recently issued +by the arrogant and contentious pope Boniface VIII., which +forbade the clergy to submit to any taxation by secular princes. +Robert Winchelsea, the archbishop of Canterbury, an enthusiastic +exponent of clerical rights and grievances, declared himself +in conscience bound to obey the pontiff, and persuaded the +representatives of the Church in the parliament to refuse +supplies. The king, indignant that an attempt should be made +to exempt the vast ecclesiastical lands from taxation at a time +of national crisis, sequestrated the estates of the see of Canterbury, +and copied John’s conduct in 1208 by outlawing the +whole body of the clergy. Winchelsea in return excommunicated +all those who refused to recognize the authority of the +pope’s bull.</p> + +<p>Scarcely was this quarrel developed when Edward found +himself involved in an equally hot dispute with the commons +and the baronage. In his eagerness to collect the sinews of war +he had issued orders for the levy of a heavy customs duty on +wool, the main export of the land, and in some cases laid hands +on the wool itself, which lay ready for shipping, though this +had not been granted him by the late parliament. The “maltolt”—or +illegal tax—as his subjects called it, provoked the anger +of the whole body of merchants in England. At the same time +the barons, headed by the earls of Norfolk and Hereford, raised +the old grievance about feudal service beyond seas, which had +been so prominent in the time of King John. Norfolk, who +had been designated to lead the expedition to Guienne; declared +that though he was ready to follow his master to Flanders in his +capacity of marshal, he would not be drafted off to Gascony +against his own will. Hereford and a number of other barons +gave him hearty support.</p> + +<p>Harassed by these domestic troubles, the king could not carry +out his intention of sailing for Flanders in the spring, and spent +the greater part of the campaigning season in wrangles with +his subjects. He was obliged to come to a compromise. If the +clergy would give him a voluntary gift, which was in no way +to be considered a tax, he agreed to inlaw them. They did so, +and even Winchelsea, after a time, was reconciled to his master. +As to the barons, the king took the important constitutional +step of conceding that he would not ask them to serve abroad +as a feudal obligation, but would pay them for their services, +if they would oblige him by joining his banner. Even then +Norfolk and Hereford refused to sail; but the greater part of +the minor magnates consented to serve as stipendiaries. The +commons were conciliated by a promise that the wool which +the royal officers had seized should be paid for, when a balance +was forthcoming in the exchequer.</p> + +<p>By these means Edward succeeded at last in collecting a +considerable army, and sailed for Flanders at the end of August. +But he was hardly gone when dreadful news reached +him from Scotland. An insurrection, to which no +<span class="sidenote">Insurrection in Scotland. Wallace.</span> +great importance was attached at first, had broken +out in the summer. Its first leader was none of the +great barons, but a Renfrewshire knight, Sir William Wallace; +but ere long more important persons, including Robert Bruce, +earl of Carrick (grandson of Robert Bruce of Annandale, one +of the competitors for the crown of Scotland), and the bishop +of Glasgow, were found to be in communication with the rebels. +Earl Warenne, the king’s lieutenant in Scotland, mustered his +forces to put down the rising. On the 11th of September 1297 +he attempted to force the passage of the Forth at Stirling Bridge, +and was completely beaten by Wallace, who allowed half the +English army to pass the river and then descended upon it and +annihilated it, while Warenne looked on helplessly from the +other bank. Almost the whole of Scotland rose in arms on +hearing of this victory, but the barons showed less zeal than +the commons, owing to their jealousy of Wallace. Warenne +retired to Berwick and besought his master for aid.</p> + +<p>Edward, who was just commencing an autumn campaign in +Flanders which was to lead to no results, sent home orders to +summon a parliament, which should raise men and money for +the Scottish war. It was called, and made a liberal grant for +that purpose, but Archbishop Winchelsea and the earls of Norfolk +and Hereford took advantage of their master’s needs, and of +his absence, to assert themselves. Taking up the position of +defenders of the constitution, they induced the parliament to +couple its grants of money with the condition that the king +should not only confirm Magna Carta—as had been so often done +before—but give a specific promise that no “maltolts,” or other +taxes not legally granted him, should be raised for the future. +Edward received the petition at Ghent, and made the required +<span class="sidenote">The “Confirmatio Cartarum.”</span> +oath. The document to which he gave his assent, the <i>Confirmatio +Cartarum</i> (less accurately called the statute +<i>De Tallagio non concedendo</i>) marked a distinct advance +beyond the theories of Magna Carta; for the latter +had been drawn up before England possessed a parliament, +and had placed the control of taxation in the hands of +the old feudal council of tenants-in-chief, while the <i>Confirmatio</i> +gave it to the assembly, far more national and representative, +which had now superseded the Great Council as the mouthpiece +of the whole people of the realm.</p> + +<p>The Scottish revolt had become so formidable that Edward +was compelled to abandon his unfruitful Flemish campaign; +he patched up an unsatisfactory truce with the king of France, +which left four-fifths of his lost Gascon lands in the power of +the enemy, and returned to England in the spring of 1298. In +July he invaded Scotland at the head of a formidable army of +15,000 men, and on the 22nd of that month brought Wallace +to action on the moors above Falkirk. The steady Scottish +infantry held their own for some time against the charge of the +English men-at-arms. But when Edward brought forward his +archers to aid his cavalry, as William I. had done at Hastings, +Wallace’s columns broke up, and a dreadful slaughter followed. +The impression made on the Scots was so great that for some +years they refused to engage in another pitched battle. But +the immediate consequences were not all that might have been +expected. Edward was able to occupy many towns and castles, +but the broken bands of the insurgents lurked in the hills and +forests, and the countryside as a whole remained unsubdued. +Wallace went to France to seek aid from King Philip, and his +place was taken by John Comyn, lord of Badenoch, a nephew of +Baliol, who was a more acceptable leader to the Scottish nobles +than the vanquished knight of Falkirk. Edward was detained +in the south for a year, partly by negotiations with France, +partly by a renewed quarrel with his parliament, and during his +absence Comyn recovered Stirling and most of the other places +which had received English garrisons. It was not till 1300 that +the king was able to resume the invasion of Scotland, with an +army raised by grants of money that he had only bought by +humiliating concessions to the will of his parliament, formulated +in the <i>Articuli super cartas</i> which were drawn up in the March +of that year. Even then he only succeeded in recovering some +border holds, and the succeeding campaign of 1301 only took +him as far as Linlithgow. But in the following year his position +was suddenly changed by unexpected events abroad; the king +of France became involved in a desperate quarrel with the pope, +and at the same moment his army received a crushing defeat +before Courtrai at the hands of the Flemings. To free himself +for these new struggles Philip made up his mind to conclude +peace with England, even at the cost of sacrificing his conquests +in Gascony. Bordeaux had already revolted from him, and +he gave up the rest of his ill-gotten gains of 1294 by the treaty +of Paris (May 20, 1303).</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page498" id="page498"></a>498</span></p> + +<p>Now that he had only a single war upon his hands Edward’s +position was entirely changed. There was no more need to +conciliate the magnates nor the parliament. His displeasure +fell mainly on the archbishop and the earl +<span class="sidenote">Edward again invades Scotland, 1303.</span> +of Norfolk, who had so long led the opposition. +Winchelsea was put in disgrace, and ultimately exiled. +Norfolk, who was childless, was forced to sign a grant +by which his lands went to the king after his death—a harsh +and illegal proceeding, for he had collateral heirs. But the Scots, +as was natural, bore the brunt of the king’s wrath. In June +1303, a month after the peace of Paris, he advanced from Roxburgh, +determined to make a systematic conquest of the realm, +and not to return till it was ended. He kept up his campaign +throughout the winter, reduced every fortress that held out, and +carried his arms as far as Aberdeen and Elgin. In February +1304 the regent Comyn and most of the Scottish baronage submitted, +on the promise that they should retain their lands on +doing homage. Wallace, who had returned from France, kept +up a guerilla warfare in the hills for a year more, but was captured +in July 1305, and sent to London to be executed as a +traitor. Even before his capture it seemed that Scotland was +thoroughly tamed, and was destined to share the fate of Wales.</p> + +<p>Edward’s arrangements for the administration of the conquered +kingdom were wise and liberal, if only the national spirit of the +Scots could have tolerated them. The Scottish parliament was +to continue, though representatives from beyond Tweed were +also to be sent to the English parliament. The sheriffdoms +and most of the ministerial posts were left in the hands of Scots, +though the supreme executive authority was put in the hands +of John of Brittany, earl of Richmond, the king’s nephew. +The land seemed for a time to be settling down, and indeed the +baronage were to such a large extent English in both blood and +feeling, that there was no insuperable difficulty in conciliating +them. A considerable fraction of them adhered consistently to the +English cause from this time forth, and ultimately lost their lands +for refusing to follow the rest of the nation in the next insurrection.</p> + +<p>But the delusion that Scotland had been finally subdued was +to last only for a year, although in 1305 Edward seemed to have +accomplished his task, and stood triumphant, with the northern +realm at his feet, his domestic foes humbled, and France and the +papacy defeated. His last short interval of peaceful rule was +distinguished by the passing of the Statute of Trailbaston in the +parliament of 1305. This was a measure for the repression of +local riots, empowering justices in every shire to suppress clubmen +(<i>trailbastons</i>), gangs of marauders who had been rendering +the roads unsafe.</p> + +<p>In the first month of 1306, however, the weary Scottish war +broke out again, with the appearance of a new insurgent chief. +Robert Bruce, earl of Carrick, grandson of the claimant +to the throne of 1292, had hitherto pursued a shifty +<span class="sidenote">Robert Bruce.</span> +policy, wavering between submission and opposition +to the English invader. He had been in arms more than once, but +had finally adhered to the pacification of 1304, and was now +entirely trusted by the king. But he was secretly plotting rebellion, +disgusted (as it would seem) that Edward had not transferred +the crown of Scotland to the line of Bruce when the house +of Baliol was found wanting. Though he found himself certain +of a considerable amount of support, he yet could see that there +would be no general rising in his favour, for many of the magnates +refused to help in making king a baron whom they regarded +as no more important than one of themselves. But the +insurrection was precipitated by an unpremeditated outrage. +Bruce was conferring at Dumfries with John Comyn, the late +regent, whom he was endeavouring to tempt into his plots, on +the 10th of January 1306. An angry altercation followed, for +Comyn would have nothing to do with the scheme, and Bruce +and his followers finally slew him before the altar of a church +into which he had fled. After this crime, which combined the +disgrace of sacrilege with that of murder under tryst, Bruce +was forced to take arms at once, though his preparations were +incomplete. He raised his banner, and was hastily crowned at +Scone on the 25th of March; by that time the rising had burst +out in many shires of Scotland, but it was neither unanimous nor +complete. Edward by no means despaired of crushing it, and +had raised a large army, when he was smitten with an illness +which prevented him from crossing the border. But his troops, +under Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, pressed north, and +surprised and routed Bruce at Methven near Perth. The +pretender’s brother Nigel and many of his chief supporters were +taken prisoners, and he himself escaped with a handful of +followers and took refuge in the Western islands. Edward +ordered young Nigel Bruce and many other captives to be +executed; for he was provoked to great wrath by the rebellion +of a magnate who had given him every assurance of loyalty. +He intended to follow de Valence to Scotland, and to complete +the suppression of the rising in person. But this proved beyond +his strength; he struggled as far as the border in July, but could +not shake off his disease, and was forced to linger, a broken +invalid, in the neighbourhood of Carlisle for many months. +Meanwhile his lieutenants failed to follow up with energy the +victory gained at Methven, and in the next spring Bruce reappeared +in the Lowlands, gathered new levies, and inflicted +a defeat on de Valence at Loudoun Hill. Roused to anger +King Edward rose from his bed, mounted his horse, and started +for Scotland. But after struggling on for a few miles he fell by +the way, and died at Burgh-on-Sands, just inside the English +border, on the 7th of July 1307.</p> + +<p>Despite the chequered fortunes of his later years the reign of +Edward had been a time of progress and prosperity for England. +He had given his realm good and strong governance; +according to his lights he had striven to keep faith +<span class="sidenote">Character of Edward I.’s rule.</span> +and to observe his coronation oath. He had on more +than one occasion quarrelled with his subjects, but +matters had never been pushed to an open rupture. The king +knew how to yield, and even opponents like Winchelsea and the +earls of Norfolk and Hereford respected him too much to drive +him to an extremity. The nation, however much it might +murmur, would never have been willing to rebel against a sovereign +whose only fault was that he occasionally pressed his prerogative +too far. Edward’s rule was seldom or never oppressive, +the seizure of the merchants’ wool in 1297 was the only one of +his acts which caused really fierce and widespread indignation. +For his other arbitrary proceedings he had some show of legal +justification in every case. It would have been absurd to +declare that his rule was tyrannical or his policy disastrous. +The realm was on the whole contented and even flourishing. +Population was steadily increasing, and with it commerce; the +intellectual activity which had marked the reign of Henry III. +was still alive; architecture, religious and military, was in its +prime. He was himself a great builder, and many of the perfected +castles of that concentric style, which later ages have +called the “Edwardian type,” were of his own planning. In +ecclesiastical architecture his reign represents the early flower +of the “Decorated” order, perhaps the most beautiful of all +the developments of English art. In many respects the reign +may be regarded as the culmination and crowning point of the +middle ages. It certainly gave a promise of greatness and steady +progress which the 14th century was far from justifying.</p> + +<p>With the great king’s death a sudden change for the worse +was at once visible. The individual character of the reigning +king was still the main factor in political history, +and Edward II. was in every respect a contrast to his +<span class="sidenote">Edward II.</span> +father. He was incorrigibly frivolous, idle and apathetic; +his father had given him much stern schooling, but this +seems only to have inspired him with a deeply rooted dislike +for official work of any kind. He has been well described +as “the first king since the Conquest who was not a man of +business.” Even Stephen and Henry III. had been active and +bustling princes, though their actions were misguided and inconsequent. +But Edward II. hated all kingly duties; he +detested war, but he detested even more the routine work of +administration. He was most at his ease in low company, +his favourite diversion was gambling, his best trait a love for +farming and the mechanical arts of the smith and the gardener.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page499" id="page499"></a>499</span></p> + +<p>His first acts on coming to the throne caused patriotic Englishmen +to despair. His father, on his death-bed, had made him +swear to conduct the Scottish expedition to its end. +But he marched no further than Dumfries, and then +<span class="sidenote">Piers Gaveston.</span> +turned back, on the vain pretext that he must conduct +his parent’s funeral in person. Leaving Bruce to gather fresh +strength and to commence the tedious process of reducing the +numerous English garrisons in Scotland, he betook himself to +London, and was not seen on the border again for more than +three years. He then dismissed all his father’s old ministers, +and replaced them by creatures of his own, for the most part +persons of complete incompetence. But his most offensive act +was to promote to the position of chief councillor of the crown, +and disperser of the royal favours, a clever but vain and ostentatious +Gascon knight, one Piers Gaveston, who had been the +companion of his boyhood, and had been banished by Edward I. +for encouraging him in his follies and frivolity. Piers was given +the royal title of earl of Cornwall, and married to the king’s +niece; when Edward went over to France to do homage for +Gascony, he even made his friend regent during his absence, in +preference to any of his kinsmen. It was his regular habit to +refer those who came to him on matters of state to “his good +brother Piers,” and to refuse to discuss them in person.</p> + +<p>It was of course impossible that the nation or the baronage +should accept such a preposterous régime, and Edward was soon +involved in a lively struggle with his subjects. Of +the leaders of opposition in his father’s reign both +<span class="sidenote">Baronial opposition.</span> +Hereford and Norfolk were now dead. But Archbishop +Winchelsea had returned from exile in a belligerent +mood, and the place of Norfolk and Hereford was taken +by an ambitious prince of the royal house, Thomas, earl of +Lancaster, the son of the younger brother of Edward I. Thomas +was selfish and incompetent, but violent and self-assertive, +and for some years was able to pose successfully as a patriot +simply because he set himself to oppose every act of the unpopular +king. He had several powerful baronial allies—the +earls of Warwick, Pembroke and Warenne, with Humphrey +Bohun of Hereford, who had succeeded to his father’s politics, +though he had married the king’s own sister.</p> + +<p>The annals of the early years of Edward II. are mainly filled +by contemporary chroniclers with details of the miserable strife +between the king and his barons on the question of +Gaveston’s unconstitutional position. But the really +<span class="sidenote">Progress of Bruce in Scotland.</span> +important feature of the time was the gradual reconquest +of Scotland by Robert Bruce, during the continuance +of the domestic strife in England. Edward I. had laid +such a firm grip on the northern realm that it required many +years to undo his work. A very large proportion of the Scottish +nobility regarded Bruce as a usurper who had opened his career +with murder and sacrilege, and either openly opposed him or +denied him help. His resources were small, and it was only by +constant effort, often chequered by failures, that he gradually +fought down his local adversaries, and reduced the English +garrisons one by one. Dumbarton and Linlithgow were only +mastered in 1312. Perth did not finally fall into his hands till +1313; Edinburgh, Roxburgh and Stirling were still holding out +in 1314. During all this time the English king only once went +north of the Border—in 1311—and then with a very small army, +for Lancaster and his friends had refused to join his banner. +Yet even under such conditions Bruce had to retire to the +mountains, and to allow the invaders to range unopposed +through Lothian and Fife, and even beyond the Tay. With +ordinary capacity and perseverance Edward II. might have +mastered his enemy; indeed the Comyns and Umfravilles and +other loyalist barons of Scotland would have carried out the +business for him, if only he had given them adequate support. +But he spent what small energy he possessed in a wretched +strife of chicanery and broken promises with Thomas of Lancaster +and his party, dismissing and recalling Gaveston according +to the exigencies of the moment, while he let the Scottish war +shift for itself. It must be confessed that the conduct of his +adversaries was almost as contemptible and unpatriotic. They +refused to aid in the war, as if it was the king’s private affair and +not that of the nation. And repeatedly, when they had Edward +at their mercy and might have dictated what terms they pleased +to him, they failed to rise to the situation. This was especially +the case in 1311, when the king had completely submitted +in face of their armed demonstrations. Instead of introducing +any general scheme of reform they contented themselves with +<span class="sidenote">The “Lords Ordainers.”</span> +putting him under the tutelage of twenty-one “lords +ordainers,” a baronial committee like that which had +been appointed by the Provisions of Oxford, fifty +years back. Edward was not to levy an army, appoint +an official, raise a tax, or quit the realm without their leave. +He had also to swear an obedience to a long string of constitutional +limitations of his power, and to promise to remove +many practical grievances of administration. But there were +two great faults in the proceedings of Thomas of Lancaster and +his friends. The first was that they ignored the rights of the +commons—save indeed that they got their ordinances confirmed +by parliament—and put all power into the hands of a council +which represented nothing but the baronial interest. The second, +and more fatal, was that this council of “ordainers,” when +installed in office, showed energy in nothing save in persecuting +the friends of Edward and Gaveston; it neglected the general +welfare of the realm, and in particular made no effort whatever +to end the Scottish war. It was clearly their duty either to make +peace with Robert Bruce, or to exert themselves to crush him; +but they would do neither.</p> + +<p>Gaveston’s unhappy career came to an end in 1312. After +he had been twice exiled, and had been twice recalled by the +king, he was besieged in Scarborough and captured by the earl +of Pembroke. He was being conducted to London to be tried +in parliament, when his two greatest enemies, Thomas of Lancaster +and Guy, earl of Warwick, took him out of the hands of +his escort, and beheaded him by the wayside without any legal +authority or justification. The unhappy king was compelled +to promise to forget and forgive this offence, and was then +restored to a certain amount of freedom and power; the barons +believed that when freed from the influence of Gaveston he +would prove a less unsatisfactory sovereign. The experiment +did not turn out happily. Bruce having at last made an almost +complete end of the English garrisons within his realm, laid siege +to Stirling, the last and strongest of them all, in the spring of +1313. Compelled by the pressure of public opinion to attempt +its relief, Edward crossed the border in June 1314, with an army +of 20,000 foot and 4000 men-at-arms. He found Bruce prepared +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Bannockburn.</span> +to dispute his advance on the hillside of Bannockburn, +2 m. in front of Stirling, in a strong position with a +stream in front and his flanks covered by rows of pitfalls, +dug to discomfit the English cavalry. The Scots, +as at Falkirk, were ranged in solid clumps of pikemen above the +burn, with only a small reserve of horse. The English king, +forgetting his father’s experiences, endeavoured to ride down +the enemy by headlong frontal charges of his men-at-arms, and +made practically no attempt to use his archery to advantage. +After several attacks had been beaten off with heavy loss, the +English host recoiled in disorder and broke up—the king, who +had kept in the rear all day, was one of the first to move off. +The flower of his knights had fallen, including his nephew, the +earl of Gloucester, who was the only one of the great magnates +of the realm who had shown loyalty to him during the last six +years. The Scots also made many prisoners; the disaster was +complete, and the wrecks of the beaten army dispersed before +reaching the border. Bruce followed them up, and spent the +autumn in ravaging Northumberland and Cumberland.</p> + +<p>Thomas of Lancaster, who had refused to join in the late +campaign, took advantage of its results to place the king once +more in complete tutelage. His household was dismissed, +he was bidden to live as best he could on an +<span class="sidenote">Thomas, earl of Lancaster.</span> +allowance of £10 a day, and all his ministers and +officials were changed. For more than three years +Lancaster practically reigned in his cousin’s name; it was soon +found that the realm got no profit thereby, for Earl Thomas, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page500" id="page500"></a>500</span> +though neither so apathetic nor so frivolous as Edward, was +not a whit more competent to conduct either war or domestic +administration. The Scots swept everything before them, +ravaging the north at their will, and capturing Berwick. They +even made a great expedition to Ireland, where Bruce’s brother +Edward was proclaimed king by the rebellious Celtic septs, and +rode across the whole island, exterminating the Anglo-Irish +population in many districts (1315-1317). But the colonists +rallied, and cut to pieces a great Irish army at Athenry (1316), +while in the next year Roger Mortimer, a hard-handed baron +of the Welsh march, crossed with reinforcements and drove back +Edward Bruce into the north. Resuming his advance after a +space, the rebel king was routed and slain at Dundalk (Oct. 14, +1318) and the insurrection died out. But it had had the permanent +result of weakening the king’s grip on the north and west of +Ireland, where the Englishry had been almost exterminated. +From this time forth until the reign of Henry VIII. the limit of +the country in full subjection to the crown was always shrinking, +and the Irish chiefs of the inland continued to pay less and less +attention to orders issued from Dublin or London.</p> + +<p>Though the Scottish expedition to Ireland had been beaten +off, this was not in the least to be ascribed to the credit of +Lancaster, who was showing the grossest incompetence as an +administrator. He could neither protect the Border, nor even +prevent private civil wars from breaking out, not only on the +Welsh marches (where they had always been common), but even +in the heart of England. The most extraordinary symptom +of the time was a civic revolt at Bristol (1316), where the townsfolk +expelled the royal judges, and actually stood a siege before +they would submit. Such revolts of great towns were normal +in Germany or Italy, but almost unknown on this side of the +Channel. All this unrest might well be ascribed to Lancaster’s +want of ability, but he had also to bear—with less justice—the +discontent caused by two years of famine and pestilence. In +August 1318 he was removed from power by a league formed +by Pembroke, Warenne, Arundel and others of the lords ordainers, +who put a new council in power, and showed themselves +somewhat less hostile to the king than Earl Thomas had been. +Edward was allowed to raise an army for the siege of Berwick, +and was lying before its walls, when the Scots, turning his flank, +made a fierce foray into Yorkshire, and routed the shire-levy under +Archbishop Melton at the battle of Myton. This so disheartened +the king and the council that controlled him that they concluded +a two years truce with Robert of Scotland, thus for the first time +acknowledging him as a regular enemy and no mere rebel (1319).</p> + +<p>The time of comparative quiet that followed was utilized +by the king in an attempt to win back some of his lost authority. +For a short space Edward showed more capacity +and energy than he had ever been supposed to possess. +<span class="sidenote">The Despensers.</span> +Probably this was due entirely to the fact that he +had come under the influence of two able men who had +won his confidence and had promised him revenge for the +murdered Gaveston. These were the two Hugh Despensers, +father and son; the elder was an ambitious baron who hated +Lancaster, the younger had been made Edward’s chamberlain +in 1318 and had become his secret councillor and constant +companion. Finding that the king was ready to back them in +all their enterprises, the Despensers resolved to take the fearful +risk of snatching at supreme power by using their master’s +name to oust the barons who were now directing affairs from +their position. The task was the more easy because Lancaster +was at open discord with the men who had supplanted him, so +that the baronial party was divided; while the mishaps of the +last six years had convinced the nation that other rulers could +be as incompetent and as unlucky as the king. Indeed, there +was a decided reaction in Edward’s favour, since Lancaster and +his friends had been tried and found wanting. Moreover, the +Despensers felt that they had a great advantage over Gaveston +in that they were native-born barons of ancient ancestry and +good estate: the younger Hugh, indeed, through his marriage +with the sister of the earl of Gloucester who fell at Bannockburn, +was one of the greatest landowners on the Welsh border: they +could not be styled upstarts or adventurers. Edward’s growing +confidence in the Despensers at last provoked the notice and +jealousy of the dominant party. The barons brought up many +armed retainers to the parliament of 1321, and forced the king +to dismiss and to condemn them to exile. But their discomfiture +was only to last a few months; in the following October +a wanton outrage and assault on the person and retinue of +Edward’s queen, Isabella of France, by the retainers of Lord +Badlesmere, one of Pembroke’s associates, provoked universal +reprobation. The king made it an excuse for gathering an army +to besiege Badlesmere’s castle at Leeds; he took it and hanged +the garrison. He then declared the Despensers pardoned, and +invited them to return to England. On this Thomas of Lancaster +and the more resolute of his associates took arms, but +the majority both of the baronage and of the commons remained +quiescent, public opinion being rather with than against the +king. The rebels displayed great indecision, and Lancaster +proved such a bad general that he was finally driven into the +north and beaten at the battle of Boroughbridge (March 16, +<span class="sidenote">Execution of Lancaster.</span> +1322), where his chief associate, the earl of Hereford, +was slain. Next day he surrendered, with the wreck +of his host. But the king, who showed himself unexpectedly +vindictive, beheaded him at once; three +other peers, Badlesmere, Clifford and Mowbray, were subsequently +executed, with a score of knights.</p> + +<p>Such severity was most impolitic, and Lancaster was ere long +hailed as a saint and a martyr. But for the moment the king +seemed triumphant; he called a parliament which revoked the +“ordinances” of 1311, and replaced the Despensers in power. +For the remaining four years of his reign they were omnipotent; +but able and unscrupulous as they were, they could not solve +the problem of successful governance. To their misfortune the +Scottish war once more recommenced, King Robert having +refused to continue the truce. The fortune of Edward II. now +hung on the chance that he might be able to maintain the struggle +with success; he raised a large army and invaded Lothian, but +Bruce refused a pitched battle, and drove him off with loss by +devastating the countryside around him. Thereupon Edward, +to the deep humiliation of the people, sued for another cessation +of hostilities, and obtained it by conceding all that Robert asked, +save the formal acknowledgment of his kingly title. But peace +did not suffice to end Edward’s troubles; he dropped back into +his usual apathy, and the Despensers showed themselves so harsh +and greedy that the general indignation only required a new +leader in order to take once more the form of open insurrection. +The end came in an unexpected fashion. Edward had quarrelled +with his wife Isabella, who complained that he made her the +“handmaid of the Despensers,” and excluded her from her +proper place and honour. Yet in 1325 he was unwise enough +to send her over to France on an embassy to her brother +Charles IV., and to allow his eldest son Edward, prince of Wales, +to follow her to Paris. Having the boy in her power, and being +surrounded by the exiles of Lancaster’s faction, she set herself +<span class="sidenote">Rebellion of Queen Isabella and Mortimer.</span> +to plot against her husband, and opened up communications +with the discontented in England. It was +in vain that Edward besought her to return and to restore +him his son; she came back at last, but at the head +of an army commanded by Roger, Lord Mortimer, the +most prominent survivor of the party of Earl Thomas, with +whom she had formed an adulterous connexion which they for +some time succeeded in keeping secret.</p> + +<p>When she landed with her son in Essex in September 1326, +she was at once joined by Henry of Lancaster, the heir of Earl +Thomas, and most of the baronage of the eastern +counties. Even the king’s half-brother, the earl of +<span class="sidenote">Deposition and murder of Edward II.</span> +Norfolk, rallied to her banner. Edward and the Despensers, +after trying in vain to raise an army, fled +into the west. They were all caught by their pursuers; +the two Despensers were executed—the one at Bristol, the other +at Hereford. Several more of Edward’s scanty band of friends—the +earl of Arundel and the bishop of Exeter and others—were +also slain. Their unhappy master was forced to abdicate on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page501" id="page501"></a>501</span> +the 20th of January 1327, his fourteen-year old son being proclaimed +king in his stead. He was allowed to survive in close +prison some eight months longer, but when his robust constitution +defied all attempts to kill him by privations, he was +murdered by the orders of the queen and Mortimer at Berkeley +Castle on the 21st of September.</p> + +<p>The three years regency of Isabella, during the minority of +Edward III., formed a disgraceful episode in the history of +England. She was as much the tool of Mortimer as +her husband had been the tool of the Despensers, and +<span class="sidenote">Regency of Isabella and Mortimer.</span> +their relations became gradually evident to the whole +nation. All posts of dignity and emolument were +kept for their personal adherents, and a new and formidable +dignity was conferred on Mortimer himself, when he was made +both justiciar of the principality of Wales, and also earl of March, +in which lay both his own broad lands and the estates of Despenser +and Arundel, which he had shamelessly appropriated. +It is surprising that the adulterous pair succeeded in maintaining +themselves in power for so long, since the ignominy of the +situation was evident. They were even able to quell the first +attempt at a reaction, by seizing and beheading Edmund, earl +of Kent, the late king’s half-brother, who was betrayed while +organizing a plot for their destruction. The one politic act of +Mortimer’s administration, the conclusion of a permanent peace +with Scotland by acknowledging Bruce as king (1328), was not +one which made him more popular. The people called it “the +shameful peace of Northampton,” and firmly believed that he +had been bribed by the Scots.</p> + +<p>Yet Isabella and her paramour held on to power for two years +after the peace, and were only overthrown by a blow from an +unexpected quarter. When the young king had +reached the age of eighteen he began to understand +<span class="sidenote">Edward III.</span> +the disgraceful nature of his own situation. Having +secured promise of aid from Henry of Lancaster, his cousin, and +other barons, he executed a <i>coup de main</i>, and seized Mortimer +in his chamber at midnight. The queen was also put under +guard till a parliament could be called. It met, and at the +king’s demand passed sentence on the earl for the murder of +Edward II. and other crimes. He was hanged at Tyburn (Nov. +1330); the queen suffered nothing worse than complete exclusion +from power, and lived for more than twenty years in +retirement on the manors of her dowry.</p> + +<p>Edward III., who thus commenced his reign ere he was out +of his boyhood, was, as might have been foretold from his prompt +action against Mortimer, a prince of great vigour and enterprise. +He showed none of his father’s weakness and much of his grandfather’s +capacity. He fell short of Edward I. in steadiness of +character and organizing power, but possessed all his military +capacity and his love of work. Unfortunately for England his +ambition was to be the mirror of chivalry rather than a model +administrator. He took up and abandoned great enterprises +with equal levity; he was reckless in the spending of money; +and in times of trouble he was careless of constitutional precedent, +and apt to push his prerogative to extremes. Yet like +Edward I. he was popular with his subjects, who pardoned him +much in consideration of his knightly virtues, his courage, his +ready courtesy and his love of adventure. In most respects +he was a perfect exponent of the ideals and foibles of his age, +and when he broke a promise or repudiated a debt he was but +displaying the less satisfactory side of the habitual morality of the +14th century the chivalry of which was often deficient in the less +showy virtues. With all his faults Edward during his prime +was a capable and vigorous ruler; and it was not without reason +that not England only but all western Europe looked up to him +as the greatest king of his generation.</p> + +<p>His early years were specially fortunate, as his rule contrasted +in the most favourable way with that of his infamous mother +and his contemptible father. The ministers whom +he substituted for the creatures of Mortimer were +<span class="sidenote">Edward III. invades Scotland.</span> +capable, if not talented administrators. He did much to +restore the internal peace of the realm, and put down +the local disorders which had been endemic for the last twenty +years. Moreover, when the war with Scotland recommenced +he gave the English a taste of victory such as they had not +enjoyed since Falkirk. Robert Bruce was now dead and his +throne was occupied by the young David II., whose factious +nobles were occupied in civil strife when, in 1332, a pretender +made a snatch at the Scottish throne. This was Edward, the +son of John Baliol, an adventurous baron who collected all the +“disinherited” Scots lords, the members of the old English +faction who had been expelled by Bruce, and invaded the realm +at their head. He beat the regent Mar at the battle of Dupplin, +seized Perth and Edinburgh, and crowned himself at Scone. +But knowing that his seat was precarious he did homage to the +English king, and made him all the promises that his father had +given to Edward I. The temptation was too great for the young +king to refuse; he accepted the homage, and offered the aid of +his arms. It was soon required, for Baliol was ere long expelled +from Scotland. Edward won the battle of Halidon Hill (July 19, +1333)—where he displayed considerable tactical skill—captured +Berwick, and reconquered a considerable portion of Scotland for +his vassal. Unfortunately for himself he made the mistake of +requiring too much from Baliol—forcing him to cede Lothian, +Tweeddale and the larger part of Galloway, and to promise a +tribute. These terms so irritated the Scots, who had shown signs +of submission up to this moment, that they refused to accept +the pretender, and kept up a long guerilla warfare which ended +in his final expulsion. But the fighting was all on Scottish +ground, and Edward repeatedly made incursions, showy if not +effective, into the very heart of the northern realm; on one +occasion he reached Inverness unopposed. He held Perth till +1339, Edinburgh till 1341, and was actually in possession of much +Scottish territory when his attention was called off from this +minor war to the greater question of the struggle with France. +Meanwhile he had acquired no small military reputation, had +collected a large body of professional soldiers whose experience +was to be invaluable to him in the continental war, and had +taught his army the new tactics which were to win Creēy and +Poitiers. For the devices employed against the Scottish +“schiltrons” of pikemen at Dupplin and Halidon, were the +same as those which won all the great battles of the Hundred +Years’ War—the combination of archery, not with cavalry (the +old system of Hastings and Falkirk), but with dismounted men-at-arms. +The nation, meanwhile prosperous, not vexed by overmuch +taxation, and proud of its young king, was ready and +willing to follow him into any adventure that he might indicate.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">IV. The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453)</p> + +<p>Wars between England and France had been many, since +William the Conqueror first linked their fortunes together by +adding his English kingdom to his Norman duchy. +They were bound to recur as long as the kings who +<span class="sidenote">Causes of the Hundred Years’ War.</span> +ruled on this side of the Channel were possessed of +continental dominions, which lay as near, or nearer, to +their hearts than their insular realm. While the kingdom +of France was weak, monarchs like Henry II. and Richard I. +might dream of extending their transmarine possessions to the +detriment of their suzerain at Paris. When France had grown +strong, under Philip Augustus, the house of Plantagenet still +retained a broad territory in Gascony and Guienne, and the house +of Capet could not but covet the possession of the largest surviving +feudal appanage which marred the solidarity of their +kingdom. There had been a long interval of peace in the 13th +century, because Henry III. of England was weak, and Louis IX. +of France an idealist, much more set on forwarding the +welfare of Christendom than the expansion of France. But +the inevitable struggle had recommenced with the accession of +the unscrupulous Philip IV. Its cause was simple; France +was incomplete as long as the English king ruled at Bordeaux +and Bayonne, and far up the valleys of the Garonne and the +Adour. From 1293 onward Philip and his sons had been striving +to make an end of the power of the Plantagenets in Aquitaine, +sometimes by the simple argument of war, more frequently by the +insidious process of encroaching on ducal rights, summoning +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page502" id="page502"></a>502</span> +litigants to Paris, and encouraging local magnates and cities +alike to play off their allegiance to their suzerain against that to +their immediate lord. Both in the time of Edward II. and in +that of his son active violence had several times been called +in to aid legal chicanery. Fortunately for the duke of Guienne +the majority of his subjects had no desire to become Frenchmen; +the Gascons felt no national sympathy with their neighbours +of the north, and the towns in especial were linked to +England by close ties of commerce, and had no wish whatever +to break off their allegiance to the house of Plantagenet. The +English rule, if often weak, had never proved tyrannical, and +they had a great dread of French taxes and French officialism. +But there were always individuals, more numerous among the +noblesse than among the citizens, whose private interests impelled +them to seek the aid of France.</p> + +<p>The root of the Hundred Years’ War, now just about to +commence, must be sought in the affairs of Guienne, and not in +any of the other causes which complicated and obscured the +outbreak of hostilities. These, however, were sufficiently important +in themselves. The most obvious was the aid which +Philip VI. had given to the exiled David Bruce, when he was +driven out of Scotland by Edward and his ally Baliol. The +English king replied by welcoming and harbouring Robert +of Artois, a cousin whom Philip VI. had expelled from France. +He also made alliances with several of the dukes and counts of +the Netherlands, and with the emperor Louis the Bavarian, +obviously with the intention of raising trouble for France on +her northern and eastern frontiers.</p> + +<p>It was Philip, however, who actually began the war, by declaring +Guienne and the other continental dominions of Edward III. +forfeited to the French crown, and sending out a fleet +which ravaged the south coast of England in 1337. +<span class="sidenote">Beginning of the war.</span> +In return Edward raised a claim to the throne of +France, not that he had any serious intention of pressing it—for +throughout his reign he always showed himself ready +to barter it away in return for sufficient territorial gains—but +because such a claim was in several ways a useful asset to +him both in war and in diplomacy. It was first turned to account +when the Flemings, who had scruples about opposing their liege +lord the king of France, found it convenient to discover that, +since Edward was the real king and not Philip, their allegiance +was due in the same direction whither their commercial interests +drew them. Led by the great demagogue dictator, Jacob van +Artevelde, they became the mainstay of the English party in +the Netherlands.</p> + +<p>Edward’s claim—such as it was—rested on the assertion that +his mother, Isabella, was nearer of kin to her brother Charles +IV., the last king of the main line of the house of Capet, +than was Charles’s cousin Philip of Valois. The French +<span class="sidenote">Edward III. and the French crown.</span> +lawyers ruled that heiresses could not succeed to the +crown themselves, but Edward pleaded that they +could nevertheless transmit their right to their sons. He found +it convenient to forget that the elder brother of Charles IV., +King Louis X., had left a daughter, whose son, the king of +Navarre, had on this theory a title preferable to his own. This +prince, he said, had not been born at the time of his grandfather’s +death, and so lost any rights that might have passed to +him had he been alive at that time. A far more fatal bar to +Edward’s claim than the existence of Charles of Navarre was the +fact that the peers of France, when summoned to decide the +succession question nine years before, had decided that Philip +of Valois had the sole valid claim to the crown, and that Edward +had then done homage to him for Guienne. If he pleaded that +in 1328 he had been the mere tool of his mother and Mortimer, +he could be reminded of the unfortunate fact that in 1331, after +he had crushed Mortimer, and taken the power into his own +hands, he had deliberately renewed his oath to King Philip.</p> + +<p>Edward’s claim to the French crown embittered the strife in +a most unnecessary fashion. It was an appeal to every discontented +French vassal to become a traitor under a plausible +show of loyalty, and from first to last many such persons utilized +it. It also gave Edward an excuse for treating every loyal +Frenchman as guilty of treason, and, to his shame, he did not +always refrain from employing such a discreditable device. +Yet, as has been already said, he showed his consciousness of the +fallacy of his claim by offering to barter it again and again during +the course of the war for land or money. But he finally passed +on the wretched fiction as a heritage of his descendants, to cause +untold woes in the 15th century. It is seldom in the world’s +history that a hollow legal device such as this has had such long +enduring and deplorable results.</p> + +<p>In the commencement of his continental war Edward took +little profit either from his assumption of the French royal title, +or from the lengthy list of princes of the Low Countries +whom he enrolled beneath his banner. His two land-campaigns +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Sluys.</span> +of 1339 and 1340 led to no victories or +conquests, but cost enormous sums of money. The Netherland +allies brought large contingents and took high pay from the king, +but they showed neither energy nor enthusiasm in his cause. +When Philip of Valois refused battle in the open, and confined +his operations to defending fortified towns, or stockading himself +in entranched camps, the allies drifted off, leaving the king with +his English troops in force too small to accomplish anything. +The sole achievement of the early years of the war which was +of any profit to Edward or his realm was the great naval triumph +of Sluys (June 24, 1340), which gave the English the command +of the sea for the next twenty years. The French king had built +or hired an enormous fleet, and with it threatened to invade +England. Seeing that he could do nothing on land while his communications +with the Low Countries were endangered by the +existence of this armada, Edward levied every ship that was to +be found, and brought the enemy to action in the Flemish +harbour of Sluys. After a day of desperate hand to hand +fighting—for the vessels grappled and the whole matter was +settled by boarding—the French fleet was annihilated. Henceforth +England was safe from coast raids, could conduct her +commerce with Flanders without danger, and could strike without +difficulty at any point of the French littoral. But it was +not for some years that Edward utilized the advantage that +Sluys had given him. As long as he persevered in the attempt +to conduct the invasion of the northern frontier of France he +achieved nothing.</p> + +<p>Such schemes were finally abandoned simply because the king +discovered that his allies were worthless and that his money +was all spent. On his return from Flanders in 1340 +he became involved in an angry controversy with his +<span class="sidenote">Financial crisis. Trial of Archbishop Stratford.</span> +ministers, whom he accused, quite unjustly, of wasting +his revenue and wrecking his campaign thereby. He +imprisoned some of them, and wished to try his late +chancellor, Archbishop Stratford, for embezzlement, +in the court of the exchequer. But the primate contended +very vigorously for the right to be tried before his peers, and +since the king could get no subsidies from his parliament till he +acknowledged the justice of this claim, he was forced to concede +it. Stratford was acquitted—the king’s thriftlessness and not +the chancellor’s maladministration had emptied the treasury. +Edward drifted on along the path to financial ruin till he actually +went bankrupt in 1345, when he repudiated his debts, and ruined +several great Italian banking houses, who had been unwise +enough to continue lending him money to the last. The Flemings +were also hard hit by this collapse of the king’s credit, and very +naturally lost their enthusiasm for the English alliance. Van +Artevelde, its chief advocate, was murdered by his own townsmen +in this same year.</p> + +<p>The second act of the Hundred Years’ War, after King Edward +had abandoned in despair his idea of invading France from the +side of the Netherlands, was fought out in another +quarter—the duchy of Brittany. Here a war of +<span class="sidenote">War in Brittany.</span> +succession had broken out in which (oddly enough) +Edward took up the cause of the pretender who had male +descent, while Philip supported the one who represented a +female line—each thus backing the theory of heritage by which +his rival claimed the throne of France. By espousing the cause +of John of Montfort Edward obtained a good foothold on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page503" id="page503"></a>503</span> +flank of France, for many of the Breton fortresses were put +into his hands. But he failed to win any decisive advantage +thereby over King Philip. It was not till 1346, when he adopted +the new policy of trusting nothing to allies, and striking at the +heart of France with a purely English army, that Edward found +the fortune of war turning in his favour.</p> + +<p>In this year he landed in Normandy, where the English banner +had not been seen since the days of King John, and executed a +destructive raid through the duchy, and up the Seine, +<span class="sidenote">Edward invades France.</span> +till he almost reached the gates of Paris. This brought +out the king of France against him, with a mighty +host, before which Edward retreated northward, +apparently intending to retire to Flanders. But after crossing +the Somme he halted at Creēy, near Abbeville, and offered +battle to the pursuing enemy. He fought relying on +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Creēy.</span> +the tactics which had been tried against the Scots at +Dupplin and Halidon Hill, drawing up his army with +masses of dismounted men-at-arms flanked on either side by +archery. This array proved as effective against the disorderly +charges of the French noblesse as it had been against the heavy +columns of the Scottish pikemen. Fourteen times the squadrons +of King Philip came back to the charge; but mowed down by the +arrow-shower, they seldom could get to handstrokes with the +English knights, and at last rode off the field in disorder. This +astonishing victory over fourfold numbers was no mere chivalrous +feat of arms, it had the solid result of giving the victors a +<span class="sidenote">Capture of Calais.</span> +foothold in northern France. For Edward took his +army to beleaguer Calais, and after blockading it for +nearly a year forced it to surrender. King Philip, +after his experience at Creēy, refused to fight again in order to +raise the siege. From henceforth the English possessed a secure +landing-place in northern France, at the most convenient point +possible, immediately opposite Dover. They held it for over +two hundred years, to their own inestimable advantage in every +recurring war.</p> + +<p>The years 1345-1347 saw the zenith of King Edward’s prosperity; +in them fell not only his own triumphs at Creēy and +Calais, but a victory at Auberoche in Périgord won +by his cousin Henry of Lancaster, which restored +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Neville’s Cross.</span> +many long-lost regions of Guienne to the English +suzerainty (Oct. 21, 1345), and another and more +famous battle in the far north. At Neville’s Cross, near Durham, +the lords of the Border defeated and captured David Bruce, king +of Scotland (Oct. 17, 1346). The loss of their king and the +destruction of a fine army took the heart out of the resistance of +the Scots, who for many years to come could give their French +allies little assistance.</p> + +<p>In 1347 Edward made a short truce with King Philip: even +after his late victories he felt his strength much strained, his +treasury being empty, and his army exhausted by the +year-long siege of Calais. But he would have returned +<span class="sidenote">Truce with France. The Black Death.</span> +to the struggle without delay had it not been for +the dreadful calamity of the “Black Death,” which +fell upon France and England, as upon all Europe, in the +years 1348-1349. The disease, on which the 14th century +bestowed this name, was the bubonic plague, still familiar in the +East. After devastating western Asia, it reached the Mediterranean +ports of Europe in 1347, and spread across the continent +in a few months. It was said that in France, Italy and +England a third of the population perished, and though this +estimate may be somewhat exaggerated, local records of unimpeachable +accuracy show that it cannot be very far from the +truth. The bishop’s registers of the diocese of Norwich show +that many parishes had three and some four successive vicars +admitted in eighteen months. In the manor rolls it is not uncommon +to find whole families swept away, so that no heir can +be detected to their holdings. Among the monastic orders, whose +crowded common life seems to have been particularly favourable +to the spread of the plague, there were cases where a whole community, +from the abbot down to the novices, perished. The +upper classes are said to have suffered less than the poor; but +the king’s daughter Joan and two archbishops of Canterbury +were among the victims. The long continuance of the visitation, +which as a rule took six or nine months to work out its virulence +in any particular spot, seems to have cowed and demoralized +society. Though it first spread from the ports of Bristol and +Weymouth in the summer of 1348, it had not finished its destruction +in northern England till 1350, and only spread into +Scotland in the summer of that year.</p> + +<p>When the worst of the plague was over, and panic had died +down, it was found that the social conditions of England had +been considerably affected by the visitation. The condition +of the realm had been stable and prosperous during +<span class="sidenote">Economic and social effects of the Black Death.</span> +the earlier years of Edward III., the drain on its resources +caused by heavy war-taxation having been more +than compensated by the increased wealth that arose +from growing commerce and developing industries. The victory +of Sluys, which gave England the command of the seas, had +been a great landmark in the economic no less than in the naval +history of this island. But the basis of society was shaken by +the Black Death; the kingdom was still essentially an agricultural +community, worked on the manorial system; and the +sudden disappearance of a third of the labouring hands by which +that system had been maintained threw everything into disorder. +The landowners found thousands of the crofts on which their +villeins had been wont to dwell vacant, and could not fill them +with new tenants. Even if they exacted the full rigour of service +from the survivors, they could not get their broad demesne +lands properly tilled. The landless labourers, who might have +been hired to supply the deficiency, were so reduced in numbers +that they could command, if free competition prevailed, double +and triple rates of payment, compared with their earnings in +the days before the plague. Hence there arose, almost at once, +a bitter strife between the lords of manors and the labouring +class, both landholding and landless. The lords wished to exact +all possible services from the former, and to pay only the old two +or three pence a day to the latter. The villeins, as hard hit +as their masters, resented the tightening of old duties, which in +some cases had already been commuted for small money rents +during the prosperous years preceding the plague. The landless +men formed combinations, disputed with the landlords, and +asked and often got twice as much as the old rates, despite of the +murmurings of the employer.</p> + +<p>After a short experience of these difficulties the king and +council, whose sympathies were naturally with the landholders, +issued an ordinance forbidding workmen of any kind +to demand more than they had been wont to receive +<span class="sidenote">The Statute of Labourers.</span> +before 1348. This was followed up by the famous +Statute of Labourers of 1351, which fixed rates for +all wages practically identical with those of the times before the +Black Death. Those workmen who refused to accept them were +to be imprisoned, while employers who went behind the backs +of their fellows and secretly paid higher sums were to be punished +by heavy fines. Later additions to the statute were devised to +terrorize the labourer, by adding stripes and branding to his +punishment, if he still remained recalcitrant or absconded. And +landowners were empowered to seize all vagrant able-bodied +men, and to compel them to work at the statutory wages. As +some compensation for the low pay of the workmen, parliament +tried to bring down the price of commodities to their former +level, for (like labour) all manufactured articles had gone up +immensely in value.</p> + +<p>Thirty years of friction followed, while the parliament and the +ruling classes tried in a spasmodic way to enforce the statute, +and the peasantry strove to evade it. It proved impossible to +carry out the scheme; the labourers were too many and too +cunning to be crushed. If driven over hard they absconded to +the towns, where hands were needed as much as in the countryside, +or migrated to districts where the statute was laxly administered. +Gradually the landowners discovered that the only +practical way out of their difficulties was to give up the old +custom of working the manorial demesne by the forced labour of +their villeins, and to cut it up into farms which were rented out +to free tenants, and cultivated by them. In the course of two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page504" id="page504"></a>504</span> +generations the “farmers” who paid rent for these holdings +became more and more numerous, and demesne land tilled by +villein-service grew more and more rare. But enough old-fashioned +landlords remained to keep up the struggle with the +peasants to the end of the 14th century and beyond, and the +number of times that the Statute of Labourers was re-enacted +and recast was enormous. Nevertheless the struggle turned +gradually to the advantage of the labourer, and ended in the +creation of the sturdy and prosperous farming yeomanry who +were the strength of the realm for several centuries to come.</p> + +<p>One immediate consequence of the “Black Death” was the +renewal of the truce between England and France by repeated +agreements which lasted from 1347 to 1355. During this interval +Philip of France died, in 1350, and was succeeded by his son +John. The war did not entirely cease, but became local and +spasmodic. In Brittany the factions which supported the two +claimants to the ducal title were so embittered that they never +laid down their arms. In 1351 the French noblesse of Picardy, +apparently without their master’s knowledge or consent, made +an attempt to surprise Calais, which was beaten off with some +difficulty by King Edward in person. There was also constant +bickering on the borders of Guienne. But the main forces +<span class="sidenote">Renewal of the war with France.</span> +on both sides were not brought into action till the +series of truces ran out in 1355. From that time +onward the English took the offensive with great +vigour. Edward, prince of Wales, ravaged Languedoc +as far as the Mediterranean, while his younger brother John of +Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, executed a less ambitious raid in +Picardy and Artois. In the south this campaign marked real +progress, not mere objectless plunder, for it was followed by the +reconquest of great districts in Périgord and the Agenais, which +had been lost to England since the 13th century. A similar +double invasion of France led to even greater results in the +following year, 1356. While Lancaster landed in Normandy, +and with the aid of local rebels occupied the greater part of the +peninsula of the Cōtentin, the prince of Wales accomplished +greater things on the borders of Aquitaine. After executing a +great circular sweep through Périgord, Limousin and Berry, he +was returning to Bordeaux laden with plunder, when he was +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Poitiers.</span> +intercepted by the king of France near Poitiers. The +battle that followed was the most astonishing of all +the English victories during the Hundred Years’ War. +The odds against the prince were far heavier than those of Creēy, +but by taking up a strong position and using the national tactics +which combined the use of archery and dismounted men-at-arms, +the younger Edward not merely beat off his assailants in +a long defensive fight, but finally charged out upon them, +scattered them, and took King John prisoner (Sept. 19, 1356).</p> + +<p>This fortunate capture put an enormous advantage in the +hands of the English; for John, a facile and selfish prince, was +ready to buy his freedom by almost any concessions. +He signed two successive treaties which gave such +<span class="sidenote">The English ravage France.</span> +advantageous terms to Edward III. that the dauphin +Charles, who was acting as regent, and the French +states-general refused to confirm them. This drove the English +king to put still further pressure on the enemy; in 1359 he led +out from Calais the largest English army that had been seen +during the war, devastated all northern France as far as Reims +and the borders of Burgundy, and then—continuing the campaign +through the heart of the winter—presented himself before +the gates of Paris and ravaged the Īle de France. This brought +the regent Charles and his counsellors to the verge of despair; +<span class="sidenote">Peace of Brétigny.</span> +they yielded, and on the 8th of May 1360, signed an +agreement at Brétigny near Chartres, by which nearly +all King Edward’s demands were granted. These +preliminaries were ratified by the definitive peace of Calais +(Oct. 24, 1360), which brought the first stage of the Hundred +Years’ War to an end.</p> + +<p>By this treaty King Edward formally gave up his claim to +the French throne, which he had always intended to use merely +as an asset for barter, and was to receive in return not only a sum +of 3,000,000 gold crowns for King John’s personal ransom, but +an immense cession of territory which—in southern France at +least—almost restored the old boundaries of the time of +Henry II. The duchy of Aquitaine was reconstructed, so as +to include not only the lands that Edward had inherited, and +his recent conquests, but all Poitou, Limousin, Angoumois, +Quercy, Rouergue and Saintonge—a full half of France south +of the Loire. This vast duchy the English king bestowed not +long after on his son Edward, the victor of Poitiers, who reigned +there as a vassal-sovereign, owing homage to England but administering +his possessions in his own right. In northern France, +Calais and the county of Guīnes, and also the isolated county of +Ponthieu, the inheritance of the wife of Edward I., were ceded +to the English crown. All these regions, it must be noted, were +to be held for the future free of any homage or acknowledgment +of allegiance to an overlord, “in perpetuity, and in the manner +in which the kings of France had held them.” There was to be +an end to the power of the courts of Paris to harass the duke of +Aquitaine, by using the rights of the suzerain to interfere with +the vassal’s subjects. It was hoped that for the future the +insidious legal warfare which had been used with such effect by +the French kings would be effectually prevented.</p> + +<p>To complete the picture of the triumph of Edward III. at this, +the culminating point of his reign, it must be mentioned that +some time before the peace of Calais he had made terms +with Scotland. David Bruce was to cede Roxburgh +<span class="sidenote">Submission of David of Scotland.</span> +and Berwick, but to keep the rest of his dominions on +condition of paying a ransom of 100,000 marks. This +sum could never be raised, and Edward always had it in his +power to bring pressure to bear on the king of Scots by demanding +the instalments, which were always in arrear. David gave +no further trouble; indeed he became so friendly to England +that he offered to proclaim Lionel of Clarence, Edward’s second +son, as his heir, and would have done so but for the vigorous +opposition of his parliament.</p> + +<p>The English people had expected that a sort of Golden Age +would follow the conclusion of the peace with Scotland and +France. Freed from the war-taxes which had vexed +them for the last twenty years, they would be able +<span class="sidenote">Economic progress in England.</span> +to repair the ravages of the Black Death, and to develop +the commercial advantages which had been won +at Sluys, and secured by the dominion of the seas which they +had held ever since. In some respects this expectation was not +deceived; the years that followed 1360 seem to have been prosperous +at home, despite the continued friction arising from the +Statute of Labourers. The towns would seem to have fared +better than the countryside, partly indeed at its expense, for +the discontented peasantry migrated in large numbers to the +centres of population where newly-developed manufactures +were calling for more hands. The weaving industry, introduced +into the eastern counties by the king’s invitation to Flemish +settlers, was making England something more than a mere +producer of raw material for export. The seaports soon recovered +from their losses in the Black Death, and English shipping was +beginning to appear in the distant seas of Portugal and the +Baltic. Nothing illustrates the growth of English wealth better +than the fact that the kingdom had, till the time of Edward III., +contrived to conduct all its commerce with a currency of small +silver, but that within thirty years of his introduction of a +gold coinage in 1343, the English “noble” was being struck in +enormous quantities. It invaded all the markets of western +Europe, and became the prototype of the gold issues of the +Netherlands, Scotland, and even parts of Germany. It is in the +latter years of Edward III. that we find the first forerunners of +that class of English merchant princes who were to be such a +marked feature in the succeeding reigns. The Poles of Hull, +whose descendants rose in three generations to ducal rank, were +the earliest specimens of their class. The poet Chaucer may +serve as a humbler example of the rise of the burgher class—the +son of a vintner, he became the father of a knight, and the +ancestor, through female descents, of many baronial families. +The second half of the 14th century is the first period in English +history in which we can detect a distinct rise in the importance +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page505" id="page505"></a>505</span> +of the commercial as opposed to the landed interest. The latter, +hard hit by the manorial difficulties that followed the plague of +1348-1349, found their rents stationary or even diminishing, +while the price of the commodities from which the former +made their wealth had permanently risen. As to intellectual +vigour, the age that produced two minds of such marked originality +in different spheres as Wycliffe and Chaucer must not be +despised, even if it failed to carry out all the promise of the +13th century.</p> + +<p>For a few years after the peace of 1360 the political influence +of Edward III. in western Europe seemed to be supreme. France, +prostrated by the results of the English raids, by +peasant revolts, and municipal and baronial turbulence, +<span class="sidenote">English rule in France.</span> +did not begin to recover strength till the thriftless king +John had died (1364) and had been succeeded by his +capable if unchivalrous son Charles V. Yet the state of the +English dominions on the continent was not satisfactory; in +building up the vast duchy of Aquitaine Edward had made a +radical mistake. Instead of contenting himself with creating +a homogeneous Gascon state, which might have grown together +into a solid unit, he had annexed broad regions which had been +for a century and a half united to France, and had been entirely +assimilated to her. From the first Poitou, Quercy, Rouergue +and the Limousin chafed beneath the English yoke; the noblesse +in especial found the comparatively orderly and constitutional +governance to which they were subjected most intolerable. +They waited for the first opportunity to revolt, and meanwhile +murmured against every act of their duke, the prince of Wales, +though he did his best to behave as a gracious sovereign.</p> + +<p>The younger Edward ended by losing his health and his wealth +in an unnecessary war beyond the Pyrenees. He was persuaded +by the exiled Peter the Cruel, king of Castile, to restore +him to the throne which he had forfeited by his misgovernment. +<span class="sidenote">The Black Prince in Spain.</span> +In 1367 he gathered a great army, +entered Castile, defeated the usurper Henry of Trastamara +at the battle of Najera, and restored his ally. But Peter, +when once re-established as king, forgot his obligations and left +the prince burdened with the whole expense of the campaign. +Edward left Spain with a discontented and unpaid army, and +had himself contracted the seeds of a disease which was to leave +him an invalid for the rest of his life. To pay his debts he was +obliged to resort to heavy taxation in Aquitaine, which gave his +discontented subjects in Poitou and the other outlying districts +an excuse for the rebellion that they had been for some time +meditating. In 1368 his greatest vassals, the counts of Armagnac, +Périgord and Comminges, displayed their disloyalty by appealing +to the king of France as their suzerain against the legality +of Edward’s imposts. The French overlordship had been +formally abolished by the treaty of 1360, so this appeal amounted +to open rebellion. And when Charles V. accepted it, and cited +Edward to appear before his parlement to answer the complaints +of the counts, he was challenging England to renewed war. He +found a preposterous excuse for repudiating the treaty by which +he was bound, by declaring that some details had been omitted +in its formal ratification.</p> + +<p>The Hundred Years’ War, therefore, broke out again in 1369, +after an interval of nine years. Edward III. assumed once more +the title of king of France, while Charles V., in the +usual style, declared that the whole duchy of Aquitaine +<span class="sidenote">Renewal of the war with France.</span> +had been forfeited for treason and rebellion on +the part of its present holder. The second period of +war, which was to last till the death of the English king, and for +some years after, was destined to prove wholly disastrous to +England. All the conditions had changed since 1360. Edward, +though only in his fifty-seventh year, was entering into a premature +and decrepit old age, in which he became the prey of +unworthy favourites, male and female. The men of the 14th +century, who commanded armies and executed <i>coups d’état</i> at +eighteen, were often worn out by sixty. The guidance of the +war should have fallen into the hands of his eldest son, the victor +of Poitiers and Najera, but the younger Edward had never recovered +from the fatigues of his Spanish campaign; his disease +having developed into a form of dropsy, he had become a confirmed +invalid and could no longer take the field. The charge +of the military operations of the English armies had passed to +John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, the king’s younger son, a +prince far inferior in capacity to his father and brother. Though +not destitute of good impulses Lancaster was hasty, improvident +and obstinate; he was unfortunate in his choice of friends, for +he allied himself to all his father’s unscrupulous dependents. +He was destitute of military skill, and wrecked army after army +by attempting hard tasks at inappropriate times and by mistaken +methods. Despite of all checks and disasters he remained active, +self-confident and ambitious, and, since he had acquired a complete +control over his father, he had ample opportunity to +mismanage the political and military affairs of England.</p> + +<p>Lancaster’s strategy, in the early years of the renewed war, +consisted mainly of attempts to wear down the force of France +by devastating raids; he hoped to provoke the enemy +to battle by striking at the heart of his realm, but +<span class="sidenote">Character of the war.</span> +never achieved his purpose. Warned by the disasters +of Creēy and Poitiers, Charles V. and his great captain +Bertrand du Guesclin would never commit themselves to an +engagement in the open field. They let the English invaders +pass by, garrisoning the towns but abandoning the countryside. +Since Lancaster, in his great circular raids, had never the leisure +to sit down to a siege—generally a matter of long months in the +14th century—he repeatedly crossed France leaving a train of +ruined villages behind him, but having accomplished nothing +else save the exhaustion of his own army. For the French +always followed him at a cautious distance, cutting off his +stragglers, and restricting the area of his ravages by keeping +flying columns all around his path. But while the duke was +executing useless marches across France, the outlying lands of +Aquitaine were falling away, one after the other, to the enemy. +The limit of the territory which still remained loyal was ever +shrinking, and what was once lost was hardly ever regained. +Almost the only reconquest made was that of the city of Limoges, +which was stormed in September 1370 by the troops of the +Black Prince, who rose from his sick-bed to strike his last blow at +the rebels. His success did almost as much harm as good to his +cause, for the deliberate sack of the city was carried out with +such ruthless severity that it roused wild wrath rather than +terror in the neighbouring regions. Next spring the prince +returned to England, feeling himself physically unable to administer +or defend his duchy any longer.</p> + +<p>The greater part of Poitou, Quercy and Rouergue had been +lost, and the English cause was everywhere losing ground, when +a new danger was developed. Since Sluys the enemy +had never disputed the command of the seas; but in +<span class="sidenote">English reverses.</span> +1372 a Spanish fleet joined the French, and destroyed +off La Rochelle a squadron which was bringing reinforcements +for Guienne. The disaster was the direct result of the campaign +of Najera—for Henry of Trastamara, who had long since dethroned +and slain his brother Peter the Cruel, remained a consistent +foe of England. From this date onward Franco-Spanish +fleets were perpetually to be met not only in the Bay of Biscay +but in the Channel; they made the voyage to Bordeaux unsafe, +and often executed descents on the shores of Kent, Sussex, +Devon and Cornwall. It was to no effect that, in the year after +the battle of La Rochelle, Lancaster carried out the last, the most +expensive, and the most fruitless of his great raids across France. +He marched from Calais to Bordeaux, inflicted great misery on +Picardy, Champagne and Berry, and left half his army dead +by the way.</p> + +<p>This did not prevent Bertrand du Guesclin from expelling +from his dominions John of Brittany, the one ally whom King +Edward possessed in France, or from pursuing a consistent +career of petty conquest in the heart of Aquitaine. By 1374 +little was left of the great possessions which the English had held +beyond the Channel save Calais, and the coast slip from Bordeaux +to Bayonne, which formed the only loyal part of the duchy of +Guienne. Next year King Edward sued for peace—he failed +to obtain it, finding the French terms too hard for acceptance—but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page506" id="page506"></a>506</span> +a truce at least was signed at Bruges (Jan. 1375) which +endured till a few weeks before his death.</p> + +<p>These two last years of Edward’s reign were filled with an +episode of domestic strife, which had considerable constitutional +importance. The nation ascribed the series of disasters +which had filled the space from 1369 to 1375 entirely +<span class="sidenote">Domestic strife.</span> +to the maladministration of Lancaster and the king’s +favourites, failing to see that it was largely due to the mere fact +that England was not strong enough to hold down Aquitaine, +when France was administered by a capable king and served by a +great general. Hence there arose, both in and out of parliament, +a violent agitation for the removal of Lancaster from power, +and the punishment of the favourites, who were believed, with +complete justification, to be misusing the royal name for their +own private profit. Among the leaders of this agitation were +the clerical ministers whom John of Gaunt had expelled from +office in 1371, and chiefly William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, +the late chancellor; they were helped by Edmund +Mortimer, earl of March, a personal enemy of Lancaster, and +could count on the assistance of the prince of Wales when he was +well enough to take a part in politics. The greater part of the +House of Commons was on their side, and on the whole they +may be regarded as the party of constitutional protest against +maladministration. But there was another movement on foot +at the same time, which cut across this political agitation in the +most bewildering fashion. Protests against the corruption of the +<span class="sidenote">Agitation against the Church.</span> +Church and the interference of the papacy in national +affairs had always been rife in England. At this +moment they were more prevalent than ever, largely +in consequence of the way in which the popes at +Avignon had made themselves the allies and tools of the kings +of France. The Statutes of Praemunire and Provisors had been +passed a few years before (1351-1365) to check papal pretensions. +There was a strong anti-clerical party, whose practical aim was +to fill the coffers of the state by large measures of disendowment +and confiscations of Church property. The intellectual head +of this party at the time was John Wycliffe, a famous Oxford +<span class="sidenote">Wycliffe.</span> +teacher, and for some time master of Balliol College. +In his lectures and sermons he was always laying stress +on the unsatisfactory state of the national church and the infamous +corruption of the papacy. The doctrine which first made him +famous, and commended him to all members of the anti-clerical +faction, was that unworthy holders of spiritual endowments +ought to be dispossessed of them, because “dominion” should +depend on “grace.” Churchmen, small and great, as he held, +had been corrupted, because they had fallen away from the +early Christian idea of apostolic poverty. Instead of discharging +their proper functions, bishops and abbots had become statesmen +or wealthy barons, and took no interest in anything save politics. +The monasteries, with their vast possessions, had become corporations +of landlords, instead of associations for prayer and +good works. The papacy, with its secular ambitions, and its +insatiable greed for money, was the worst abuse of all. A bad +pope, and most popes were bad, was the true Antichrist, since +he was always overruling the divine law of the scriptures by his +human ordinances. Every man, as Wycliffe taught—using the +feudal analogies of contemporary society—is God’s tenant-in-chief, +directly responsible for his acts to his overlord; the pope +is always thrusting himself in between, like a mesne-tenant, and +destroying the touch between God and man by his interference. +Sometimes his commands are merely presumptuous; sometimes—as +when, for example, he preaches crusades against Christians +for purely secular reasons—they are the most horrible form of +blasphemy. Wycliffe at a later period of his life developed views +on doctrinal matters, not connected with his original thesis about +the relations between Church and State, and foreshadowed most +of the leading tenets of the reformers of the 16th century. But +in 1376-1377 he was known merely as the outspoken critic of +the “Caesarean clergy” and the papacy. He had a following of +enthusiastic disciples at Oxford, and scattered adherents both +among the burghers and the knighthood, the nucleus of the party +that afterwards became famous as the Lollards. But they had +not yet differentiated themselves from the body of those who +were merely anti-clerical, without being committed to any +theories of religious reform.</p> + +<p>Since Wycliffe was, above all things, the enemy of the political +clergy of high estate, and since those clergy were precisely +the leaders of the attack upon John of Gaunt, it came +to pass that hatred of a common foe drew the duke and +<span class="sidenote">John of Gaunt and Wycliffe.</span> +the doctor together for a space. There was a strange +alliance between the advocate of clerical reform, and +the practical exponent of secular misgovernment. The only +point on which they were agreed was that it would be highly +desirable to strip the Church of most of her endowments, in +order to fill the exchequer of the state. Lancaster hoped to use +Wycliffe as his mouthpiece against his enemies; Wycliffe hoped +to see Lancaster disendowing bishops and monasteries and defying +the pope. Hence the attempt of the political bishops to get +Wycliffe condemned as a heretic became inextricably mixed +with the attempt of the constitutional party, to which the bishops +belonged, to evict the duke from his position of first councillor +to the king and director of the policy of the realm.</p> + +<p>The struggle began in the parliament of 1376, called by the +anti-Lancastrian party the “Good Parliament.” Headed by the +earl of March, William Courtenay, bishop of London, +<span class="sidenote">The “Good Parliament.”</span> +and Sir Peter de la Mare, the daring speaker of the +House of Commons, the duke’s enemies began their +campaign by accusing the king’s ministers and +favourites of corruption. Here they were on safe ground, for +the misdeeds of Lord Latimer—the king’s chamberlain, +Lord Neville—his steward, Richard Lyons—his financial +agent, and Alice Perrers—his greedy and shameless mistress, +<span class="sidenote">Overthrow of the king’s favourites.</span> +had been so flagrant that it was hard for Lancaster to +defend them. In face of the evidence brought forward +the old king and his son had to abandon their friends +to the angry parliament. Latimer and Lyons were +condemned to imprisonment and forfeiture of their goods, Alice +Perrers was banished from court. Encouraged by this victory, +the parliament passed on to constitutional reforms, forced on +the king a council of twelve peers nominated by themselves, +who were to exercise over him much the same control +<span class="sidenote">Constitutional reforms.</span> +that the lords ordainers had held over his father, and +compelled him to assent to a long list of petitions +which, if properly carried out, would have removed +most of the practical grievances of the nation. Having so done +they dispersed, not guessing that <span class="correction" title="amended from Lancester">Lancaster</span> had yielded so +easily because he was set on undoing their work the moment +that they were gone.</p> + +<p>This, however, was the case; after the shortest of intervals +the duke executed something like a <i>coup d’état</i>. In his father’s +name he released Latimer and Lyons, dismissed the +council of twelve, imprisoned Peter de la Mare, +<span class="sidenote">John of Gaunt re-establishes the royal power.</span> +sequestrated the temporalities of Bishop Wykeham, +and sent the earl of March out of the realm. Alice +Perrers took possession again of the king, and all his +corrupt courtiers came back to him. A royal edict declared +the statutes of the “Good Parliament” null and void. Lancaster +would never have dared to defy public opinion and +challenge the constitutional party to a life-and-death struggle +in this fashion, had it not been that his brother the prince of +<span class="sidenote">Death of the Black Prince.</span> +Wales had died while the “Good Parliament” was +sitting; thus the opposition had been deprived of +their strongest support. The prince’s heir was a mere +child, Richard of Bordeaux, aged only nine. It was +feared by some that Duke John might carry his ambitions so far +as to aim at the throne—he could do what he pleased with his +doting father, and flaws might have been picked in the marriage +of the Black Prince and his wife Joan of Kent, who were cousins, +and therefore within the “prohibited degrees.” As a matter +of fact Lancaster was a more honest man than his enemies suspected; +he hastened to acknowledge his little nephew’s rights, +acknowledged him as prince of Wales, and introduced him as +his grandfather’s heir before the parliament of January 1377.</p> + +<p>The character of this body was a proof of the great strength +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page507" id="page507"></a>507</span> +of the royal name and power even in days when parliamentary +institutions had been long in existence, and were supposed to act +as a check on the crown. To legalize his arbitrary acts Duke +John dared to summon the estates together, after he had issued +stringent orders to the sheriffs to exclude his enemies and return +his friends when the members for the Commons were chosen. He +obtained a house of the complexion that he desired, and having +a strong following among the peers actually succeeded in undoing +all the work of 1376. No sign of trouble or rebellion followed, +the opposition being destitute of a fighting leader. March had +left the realm; Bishop Wykeham showed an unworthy subservience +by suing for pardon through the mediation of Alice +Perrers. Only Bishop Courtenay refused to be terrorized; he +chose this moment to open a campaign against the duke’s ally, +John Wycliffe, who was arraigned for heresy before the ecclesiastical +courts. His trial, however, ended in a scandalous fiasco. +Lancaster and his friend Lord Percy came to St Paul’s, and so +insulted and browbeat the bishop, that the proceedings degenerated +into a riot, and reached no conclusion (Feb. 19). +Courtenay dared not recommence them, and Lancaster ruled +as he pleased till his father, five months later, died. Deserted +<span class="sidenote">Death of Edward III.</span> +by his worthless courtiers and plundered on his death-bed +by his greedy mistress, the victor of Sluys and +Creēy sank into an unhonoured grave. It was a relief +to the nation that he was gone. Yet there was a general +feeling that chaos might follow. If Lancaster should justify +the malevolent rumours that were afloat by making a snatch +at the crown, the last state of the realm might be worse than the +first.</p> + +<p>Duke John, however, was a better man than his enemies +supposed. He was loyal to the crown according to his lights, and +showed a chivalrous self-denial that had hardly been +expected from him. He saluted his little nephew as +<span class="sidenote">Richard II.</span> +king without a moment’s hesitation, though he was aware +that with the commencement of a new reign his own dictatorship +had come to an end. The princess of Wales, in whose +hands the young Richard II. was placed, had never been +his friend, and was surrounded by adherents of her deceased +husband, who belonged to the constitutional party. Disarmed, +however, by the duke’s frank submission they wisely resolved +not to push him to extremes, and the first council which was +appointed to act for the new monarch was a sort of “coalition +ministry” in which Lancaster’s followers as well as his foes were +represented. For that very reason it was lacking in strength and +unity of purpose, and proved lamentably incapable of dealing +with the problems of the moment.</p> + +<p>Of these the most pressing was the renewal of the French +war; the truce had expired a few weeks before the death of +Edward III., and the new reign began with a series +<span class="sidenote">The French war.</span> +of military disasters. The French fleet landed in great +force in Sussex, burnt Rye and Hastings and routed +the shire levies. Simultaneously the seneschal of +Aquitaine was defeated in battle, and Bergerac, the last great +town in the inland which remained in English hands, was +captured by the duke of Anjou.</p> + +<p>The first parliament of Richard II. met in October under the +most gloomy auspices. It showed its temper by taking up the +work of the “Good Parliament.” Lancaster’s adherents +were turned out of the council; the persons +<span class="sidenote">First parliament of Richard. Reforms.</span> +condemned in 1376 were declared incapable of serving +in it; Alice Perrers was sentenced to banishment +and forfeiture, and the little king was made to repudiate +the declaration whereby his uncle had quashed the +statutes of 1376 by declaring that “no act of parliament can be +repealed save with parliament’s consent.” John of Gaunt +bowed before the storm, retired to his estates, and for some time +took little part in affairs of state.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately the new government proved wholly unable +either to conduct the struggle with France successfully or to +pluck up courage to make a humiliating peace—the only wise +course before them. The nation was too proud to accept +defeat, and persevered in the unhappy attempt to reverse the +fortunes of war. An almost unbroken series of petty disasters +marked the first three years of King Richard. The worst was +the failure of the last great devastating raid which the English +launched against France. Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest +son of Edward III., took a powerful army to Calais, and marched +through Picardy and Champagne, past Orleans, and finally to +Rennes in Brittany, but accomplished nothing save the ruin +of his own troops and the wasting of a vast sum of money. +Meanwhile taxation was heavy, the whole nation was seething +with discontent, and—what was worst—no way was visible +out of the miserable situation; ministers and councillors were +repeatedly displaced, but their successors always proved equally +incompetent to find a remedy.</p> + +<p>This period of murmuring and misery culminated in the Great +Revolt of 1381, a phenomenon whose origins must be sought +in the most complicated causes, but whose outbreak +was due in the main to a general feeling that the realm +<span class="sidenote">The Great Revolt of 1381.</span> +was being misgoverned, and that some one must be +made responsible for its maladministration. It was +actually provoked by the unwise and unjust poll-tax of one +shilling a head on all adult persons, voted by the parliament of +Northampton in November 1380. The last poll-tax had been +carefully graduated on a sliding scale so as to press lightly on the +poorest classes; in this one a shilling for each person had to be +exacted from every township, though it was provided that +“the strong should help the weak” to a certain extent. But +in hundreds of villages there were no “strong” residents, and +the poorest cottager had to pay his three groats. The peasantry +defended themselves by the simple device of understating the +numbers of their families; the returns made it appear that the +adult population of England had gone down from 1,355,000 to +896,000 since the poll-tax of 1379. Thereupon the government +sent out commissioners to revise the returns and exact the missing +shillings. Their appearance led to a series of widespread and +preconcerted riots, which soon spread over all England from the +Wash to the Channel, and in a few days developed into a formidable +rebellion. The poll-tax was no more than the spark +which fired the mine; it merely provided a good general grievance +on which all malcontents could unite. In the districts +which took arms two main causes of insurrection may be differentiated; +the first and the most widespread was the discontent +of the rural population with the landowners and the Statute of +Labourers. Their aim was to abolish all villein-service, and to +wring from their lords the commutation of all manorial customs +and obligations for a small rent—fourpence an acre was generally +the sum suggested. But there was a simultaneous outbreak +in many urban districts. In Winchester, London, St Albans, +Canterbury, Bury, Beverley, Scarborough and many other places +the rioting was as violent as in the countryside. Here the object +of the insurgents was in most cases to break down the local +oligarchy, who engrossed all municipal office and oppressed +the meaner citizens; but in less numerous instances their end +was to win charters from lords (almost always ecclesiastical lords) +who had hitherto refused to grant them. But it must not be +forgotten that there was also a tinge of purely political discontent +about the rising; the insurgents everywhere proclaimed their +intention to destroy “traitors,” of whom the most generally +condemned were the chancellor, Archbishop Sudbury, and the +treasurer, Sir Robert Hailes, the two persons most responsible +for the levy of the poll-tax. Often the rebels added the name +of John of Gaunt to the list, looking upon him as the person +ultimately responsible for the mismanagement of the war and +the misgovernment of the realm. It must be added that though +the leaders of the revolt were for the most part local demagogues, +the creatures of the moment, there were among them +a few fanatics like the “mad priest of Kent,” John Ball, who +had long preached socialist doctrines from the old text:</p> + +<table class="reg" summary="poem"><tr><td> <div class="poemr"> +<p>“When Adam delved and Eve span</p> +<p class="i05">Who was then the gentleman?”</p> +</div> </td></tr></table> + +<p class="noind">and clamoured for the abolition of all differences of rank, status +and property. Though many clerics were found among the +rebels, it does not seem that any of them were Wycliffites, or that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page508" id="page508"></a>508</span> +the reformer’s teaching had played any part in exciting the +peasantry at this time. No contemporary authority ascribes +the rising to the Lollards.</p> + +<p>The riots had begun, almost simultaneously in Kent and Essex: +from thence they spread through East Anglia and the home +counties. In the west and north there were only isolated and +sporadic outbreaks, confined to a few turbulent towns. In the +countryside the insurrection was accompanied by wholesale +burnings of manor-rolls, the hunting down of unpopular bailiffs +and landlords, and a special crusade against the commissioners +of the poll-tax and the justices who had been enforcing the +Statute of Labourers. There was more arson and blackmailing +than murder, though some prominent persons perished, such as +the judge, Sir John Cavendish, and the prior of Bury. In many +regions the rising was purely disorderly and destitute of organization. +This was not, however, the case in Kent and London. +<span class="sidenote">Wat Tyler.</span> +The mob which had gathered at Maidstone and Canterbury +marched on the capital many thousands strong, +headed by a local demagogue named Wat Tyler, whom they +had chosen as their captain; his most prominent lieutenant +was the preacher John Ball. They announced their intention +of executing all “traitors,” seizing the person of the king, and +setting up a new government for the realm. The royal council +and ministers showed grievous incapacity and cowardice—they +made no attempt to raise an army, and opened negotiations +with the rebels. While these were in progress the malcontent +party in London, headed by three aldermen, opened the gates +of the city to Tyler and his horde. They poured in, and, joined +by the London mob, sacked John of Gaunt’s palace of the Savoy, +the Temple, and many other buildings, while the ministers took +refuge with the young king in the Tower. It was well known +that not only the capital and the neighbouring counties but all +eastern England was ablaze, and the council in despair sent out +the young king to parley with Tyler at Mile End. The rebels at +first demanded no more than that Richard should declare +villeinage abolished, and that all feudal dues and services should +be commuted for a rent of fourpence an acre. This was readily +conceded, and charters were drawn up to that effect and sealed +by the king. But, while the meeting was still going on, Tyler +went off to the Tower with a part of his horde, entered the fortress +unopposed, and murdered the unhappy chancellor, Archbishop +Sudbury, the treasurer, and several victims more. This +was only the beginning of massacre. Instead of dispersing with +their charters, as did many of the peasants, Tyler and his confederates +ran riot through London, burning houses and slaying +lawyers, officials, foreign merchants and other unpopular persons. +This had the effect of frightening the propertied classes in the +city, who had hitherto observed a timid neutrality, and turned +public opinion against the insurgents. Next day the rebel +leaders again invited the king to a conference, in the open space +of Smithfield, and laid before him a programme very different +from that propounded at Mile End. Tyler demanded that all +differences of rank and status should cease, that all church +lands should be confiscated and divided up among the laity, +that the game laws should be abolished, and that “no lord should +any longer hold lordship except civilly.” Apparently he was +set on provoking a refusal, and thus getting an excuse for seizing +the person of the king. But matters went otherwise than he +had expected; when he waxed unmannerly, and unsheathed +his dagger to strike one of the royal retinue who had dared to +answer him back, the mayor of London, William Walworth, +drew his cutlass and cut him down. The mob strung their +bows, and were about to shoot down the king and his suite. +But Richard—who showed astounding nerve and presence of +mind for a lad of fourteen—cantered up to them shouting that +he would be their chief and captain and would give them their +rights. The conference was continued, but, while it was in +progress, the mayor brought up the whole civic militia of London, +who had taken arms when they saw that the triumph of the +rebels meant anarchy, and rescued the king out of the hands +of the mob. Seeing such a formidable body of armed men +opposed to them, the insurgents dispersed—without their +reckless and ready-witted captain they were helpless (June 15, +1381).</p> + +<p>This was the turning-point of the rebellion; within a few +days the council had collected a considerable army, which +marched through Essex scattering such rebel bands +as still held together. Kent was pacified at the same +<span class="sidenote">Suppression of the rising.</span> +time; and Henry Despenser, the warlike bishop of +Norwich, made a separate campaign against the East +Anglian insurgents, defeating them at the skirmish of North +Walsham, and hanging the local leader Geoffrey Lister, who +had declared himself “king of the commons” (June 25, 1381). +After this there was nothing remaining save to punish the leaders +of the revolt; a good many scores of them were hanged, though +the vengeance exacted does not seem to have been greater than +was justified by the numerous murders and burnings of which +they had been guilty; the fanatic Ball was, of course, among +the first to suffer. On the 30th of August the rough methods +of martial law were suspended, and on the 14th of December +the king issued an amnesty to all save certain leaders who +had hitherto escaped capture. A parliament had been called in +November; it voted that all the charters given by the king at +Mile End were null and void, no manumissions or grants of +privileges could have been valid without the consent of the +estates of the realm, “and for their own parts they would never +consent to such, of their own free will nor otherwise, even to +save themselves from sudden death.”</p> + +<p>The rebellion, therefore, had failed either to abolish villeinage +in the countryside or to end municipal oligarchy in the towns, +and many lords took the opportunity of the time of +reaction in order to revindicate old claims over their +<span class="sidenote">Decline of the manorial system.</span> +bondsmen. Nevertheless serfdom continued to decline +all through the latter years of the 14th century, and +was growing obsolete in the 15th. This, however, was the result +not of the great revolt of 1381, but of economic causes working +out their inevitable progress. The manorial system was already +doomed, and the rent-paying tenant farmers, who had begun +to appear after the Black Death, gradually superseded the +villeins as the normal type of peasantry during the two generations +that followed the outbreak that is generally known as +“Wat Tyler’s rebellion.”</p> + +<p>King Richard, though he had shown such courage and ready +resources at Smithfield, was still only a lad of fourteen. For +three years more he was under the control of tutors +and governors appointed by his council. Their rule +<span class="sidenote">Wycliffe and the Lollards.</span> +was incompetent, but the chief danger to the realm +had passed away when both Charles V. of France and +his great captain Du Guesclin died in 1380. The new king at +Paris was a young boy, whose councils were swayed by a knot +of quarrelsome and selfish uncles; the vigour of the attack on +England began to slacken. Nevertheless there was no change +in the fortune of war, which continued to be disastrous, if on a +smaller scale than before. The chief domestic event of the time +was the attack of the clerical party on Wycliffe and his followers. +The reformer had begun to develop dogmatic views, in addition +to his old theories about the relations of Church and State. +When he proceeded to deny the doctrine of transubstantiation, +to assert the all-sufficiency of the Scriptures as a rule of life, to +denounce saint-worship, pilgrimages, and indulgences, and to +declare the pope to be Antichrist, he frightened his old supporter +John of Gaunt and the politicians of the anti-clerical clique. +They ceased to support him, and his followers became a sect +rather than a political party. He and his disciples were expelled +from Oxford, and ere long the bishops began to arrest and try +them for heresy. Wycliffe himself, strange to say, was not +molested. He survived to publish his translation of the Bible and +to die in peace in December 1383. But his followers were being +hunted, and imprisoned or forced to recant, all through the +later years of Richard II. Yet they continued to multiply, and +exercised at times considerable influence; though they had +few supporters among the baronage, yet among the lesser gentry +and still more among the burgher class and in the universities +they were strong. It was not till the next reign, when the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page509" id="page509"></a>509</span> +bishops succeeded in calling in the crown to their aid, and +passed the statute <i>De heretico comburendo</i>, that Lollardy ceased +to flourish.</p> + +<p>King Richard meanwhile had grown to man’s estate, and had +resolved to take the reins of power into his own hands. He +was wayward, high-spirited and self-confident. He +wished to restore the royal powers which had slipped +<span class="sidenote">Richard’s personal rule.</span> +into the hands of the council and parliament during +his minority, and had small doubts of his capacity +to restore it. His chosen instruments were two men whom +his enemies called his “favourites,” though it was absurd to +apply the name either to an elderly statesman like Michael de +la Pole, who was made chancellor in 1384, or to Robert de Vere, +earl of Oxford, a young noble of the oldest lineage, who was the +king’s other confidant. Neither of them was an upstart, and +both, the one from his experience and the other from his high +station, were persons who might legitimately aspire to a place +among the advisers of the king. But Richard was tactless; +he openly flouted his two uncles, John of Gaunt and Thomas +of Woodstock, and took no pains to conciliate either the baronage +or the commons. His autocratic airs and his ostentatious preference +for his confidants—of whom he made the one earl of Suffolk +<span class="sidenote">Impeachment of the king’s “favourites.”</span> +and the other marquess of Dublin—provoked both +lords and commons. Pole was impeached on a groundless +charge of corruption and condemned, but Richard +at once pardoned him and restored him to favour. De +Vere was banished to Ireland, but at his master’s desire +omitted to leave the realm. The contemptuous disregard for +the will of parliament which the king displayed brought on him +a worse fate than he deserved. His youngest uncle, Thomas of +Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, was a designing and ambitious +prince who saw his own advantage in embittering the strife +between Richard and his parliament. John of Gaunt having +departed to Spain, where he was stirring up civil strife in the name +of his wife, the heiress of Peter the Cruel, Gloucester put himself +at the head of the opposition. Playing the part of the demagogue, +and exaggerating all his nephew’s petulant acts and +sayings, he declared the constitution in danger, and took arms +at the head of a party of peers, the earls of Warwick, Arundel +and Nottingham, and Henry, earl of Derby, the son of John of +<span class="sidenote">The “lords appellant.”</span> +Gaunt, who called themselves the lords appellant, +because they were ready to “appeal” Richard’s +councillors of treason. Public opinion was against +the king, and the small army which his confidant +De Vere raised under the royal banner was easily scattered by +Gloucester’s forces at the rout of Radcot Bridge (Dec. 20, 1387). +Oxford and Suffolk succeeded in escaping to France, but the +king and the rest of his adherents fell into the hands of the lords +appellant. They threatened for a moment to depose him, +but finally placed him under the control of a council and ministers +<span class="sidenote">Execution of the king’s friends.</span> +chosen by themselves, and to put him in a proper +state of terror, executed Lord Beauchamp, the judge, +Sir Robert Tressilian, and six or seven more of his +chief friends. This was a piece of gratuitous cruelty, +for the king, though wayward and unwise, had done nothing to +justify such treatment.</p> + +<p>To the surprise of the nation Richard took his humiliation +quietly. But he was merely biding his time; he had sworn +revenge in his heart, but he was ready to wait long for +it. For the next nine years he appeared an unexceptionable +<span class="sidenote">Richard rules constitutionally.</span> +sovereign, anxious only to conciliate the +nation and parliament. He got rid of the ministers +imposed upon him by the lords appellant, but replaced them +by Bishop Wykeham and other old statesmen against whom +no objection could be raised. He disarmed Gloucester by making +a close alliance with his elder uncle John of Gaunt, who had been +absent in Spain during the troubles of 1387-1388, and was displeased +at the violent doings of his brother. His rule was mild +and moderate, and he succeeded at last in freeing +<span class="sidenote">Peace with France.</span> +himself from the incubus of the French war—the +source of most of the evils of the time, for it was the +heavy taxation required to feed this struggle which embittered +all the domestic politics of the realm. After two long truces, +which filled the years 1390-1395, a definitive peace was at last +concluded, by which the English king kept Calais and the coast-strip +of Guienne, from Bordeaux to Bayonne, which had never +been lost to the enemy. To confirm the peace, he married +Isabella, the young daughter of Charles VI. (Nov. 1396); he +had lost his first wife, the excellent Anne of Bohemia, two years +before.</p> + +<p>The king seemed firmly seated on his throne—so much so that +in 1395 he had found leisure for a long expedition to Ireland, +which none of his ancestors had visited since King +<span class="sidenote">Richard reduces Ireland to obedience.</span> +John. He compelled all the native princes to do him +homage, and exercised the royal authority in such a +firm manner as had never before been known in the +island. But those who looked forward to quiet and prosperous +times both for Ireland and for England were destined to be undeceived. +In 1397 Richard carried out an extraordinary and +unexpected <i>coup d’état</i>, which he had evidently premeditated +for many years. Having lived down his unpopularity, and made +himself many powerful friends, he resolved to take his long-deferred +revenge on Gloucester and the other lords appellant. +<span class="sidenote">His revenge on Gloucester and the lords appellant.</span> +He trumped up a vain story that his uncle was once more +conspiring against him, arrested him, and sent him +over to Calais, where he was secretly murdered in +prison. At the same time Gloucester’s two chief +confederates of 1387, the earls of Arundel and Warwick, +were tried and sentenced to death: the former was +actually executed, the latter imprisoned for life. The +other two lords appellant, Mowbray, duke of Norfolk,<a name="fa2a" id="fa2a" href="#ft2a"><span class="sp">2</span></a> and +Henry of Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt, were dealt +with a year later. Richard pretended to hold them among his +<span class="sidenote">Banishment of Bolingbroke and Norfolk.</span> +best friends, but in 1398 induced Bolingbroke to accuse +Norfolk of treasonable language. Mowbray denied it, +and challenged his accuser to a judicial duel. When +they were actually facing each other in the lists at +Coventry, the king forbade them to fight, and announced +that he banished them both—Henry for six years, +Norfolk for life.</p> + +<p>Having thus completed his vengeance on those who had slain +his friends ten years before—their respective punishments were +judiciously adapted to their several responsibilities in +that matter—Richard began to behave in an arbitrary +<span class="sidenote">Arbitrary rule of Richard.</span> +and unconstitutional fashion. He evidently thought +that no one would dare to lift a hand against him after +the examples that he had just made. This might have been so, +if he had continued to rule as cautiously as during the time when +he was nursing his scheme of revenge. But now his brain seemed +to be turned by success—indeed his wild language at times +seemed to argue that he was not wholly sane. He declared that +all pardons issued since 1387 were invalid, and imposed heavy +fines on persons, and even on whole shires, that had given the +lords appellant aid. He made huge forced loans, and employed +recklessly the abuse of purveyance. He browbeat the judges +on the bench, and kept many persons under arrest for indefinite +periods without a trial. But the act which provoked the nation +most was that he terrified the parliament which met at Shrewsbury +in 1398 into voting away its powers to a small committee +of ten persons, all creatures of his own. This body he used as +his instrument of government, treating its assent as equivalent +to that of a whole parliament in session. There seemed to be an +end to the constitutional liberties of England.</p> + +<p>Such violence, however, speedily brought its own punishment. +In 1399 Richard sailed over to Ireland to put down a revolt of +the native princes, who had defeated and slain the +earl of March, his cousin and their lord-lieutenant. +<span class="sidenote">Second expedition to Ireland.</span> +While he was absent Henry of Bolingbroke landed +at Ravenspur with a small body of exiles and mercenaries. +He pretended that he had merely come to claim the +estates and title of his father John of Gaunt, who had died a +few months before. The adventurer was at once joined by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page510" id="page510"></a>510</span> +earl of Northumberland and all the lords of the north; the army +<span class="sidenote">Henry of Bolingbroke lands in England.</span> +which was called out against him refused to fight, and joined +his banner, and in a few days he was master of all +England (July 1399). King Richard, hurrying back +from Ireland, landed at Milford Haven just in time +to learn that the levies raised in his name had dispersed +or joined the enemy. He still had with him a +considerable force, and might have tried the fortune of war with +some prospect of success. But his conduct seemed dictated +by absolute infatuation; he might have fought, or he might +have fled to his father-in-law in France, if he judged his troops +<span class="sidenote">Flight of Richard.</span> +untrustworthy. Instead of taking either course, he +deserted his army by night, and fled into the Welsh +mountains, apparently with the intention of collecting +fresh adherents from North Wales and Cheshire, the only regions +where he was popular. But Bolingbroke had already seized +Chester, and was marching against him at the head of such a +large army that the countryside refused to stir. After skulking +for three weeks in the hills, Richard surrendered to his cousin +at Flint, on the 19th of August 1399, having previously stipulated +that if he consented to abdicate his life should be spared, +<span class="sidenote">Surrender and abdication of Richard.</span> +his adherents pardoned, and an honourable livelihood +assured to him. This surrender put the crown to his +career of folly. He should have known that Henry +would never feel safe while he survived, and that no +oaths could be trusted in such circumstances. At all costs he +should have endeavoured to escape abroad, a course that was +still in his power.</p> + +<p>Richard carried out his part of the bargain; he executed a deed +of abdication in which he owned himself “insufficient and useless.” +It was read to a parliament summoned in his +name on the 30th of September, and the throne was +<span class="sidenote">Accession of Henry IV.</span> +declared vacant. There was small doubt as to the +personality of his successor; possession is nine points +of the law, and Henry of Bolingbroke for the moment had the +whole nation at his back. His hereditary title indeed was imperfect; +though he was the eldest descendant of Edward III. +in the male line after Richard, yet there was a whole family +which stood between him and the crown. From Lionel of +Clarence, the second son of Edward III. (John of Gaunt was +only the third) descended the house of March, and the late king +had proclaimed that Edmund of March would be his heir if he +should die childless. Fortunately for Bolingbroke the young +earl was only six years of age; not a voice was raised in his +favour in parliament. When Henry stood forward and claimed +the vacant throne by right of conquest and also by right of +descent, no one gainsaid him. Lords and commons voted that +they would have him for their king, and he was duly crowned +on the 13th of October 1399. No faith was kept with the unhappy +Richard; he was placed in close and secret confinement, +and denied the ordinary comforts of life. Moreover the adherents +for whose safety he had stipulated were at once impeached +of treason.</p> + +<p>Henry of Lancaster came to the throne, for all intents and +purposes as an elective king; he had to depend for the future +on his ability to conciliate and satisfy the baronage +and the commons by his governance. For by his +<span class="sidenote">Position of the new king.</span> +usurpation he had sanctioned the theory that kings +can be deposed for incapacity and maladministration. +If he himself should become unpopular, all the arguments that +he had employed against Richard might be turned against himself. +The prospect was not reassuring; his revenue was small, +and parliament would certainly murmur if he tried to increase +it. The late king was not without partisans and admirers. +There was a considerable chance that the French king might +declare war—nominally to avenge his son-in-law, really to win +Calais and Bordeaux. Of the partisans who had placed Henry +on the throne many were greedy, and some were wholly unreasonable. +But he trusted to his tact and his energy, and +cheerfully undertook the task of ruling as a constitutional king—the +friend of the parliament that had placed him on the +throne.</p> + +<p>The problem proved more weary and exhausting than he had +suspected. From the very first his reign was a time of war, +foreign and domestic, of murmuring, and of humiliating +shifts and devices. Henry commenced his career by +<span class="sidenote">Rebellion of the earls.</span> +granting the adherents of Richard II. their lives, after +they had been first declared guilty of treason and had +been deprived of the titles, lands and endowments given them +by the late king. Their reply to this very modified show of mercy +was to engage in a desperate conspiracy against him. If they +had waited till his popularity had waned, they might have had +some chance of success, but in anger and resentment they struck +too soon. The earls of Kent and Huntingdon, close kinsmen +of Richard on his mother’s side, the earl of Salisbury—a noted +Lollard—and the lords Despenser and Lumley took arms at +midwinter (Jan. 4, 1400) and attempted to seize the king at +Windsor. They captured the castle, but Henry escaped, raised +the levies of London against them, and beat them into the west. +Kent and Salisbury were slain at Cirencester, the others captured +and executed with many of their followers. Their rebellion +sealed the fate of the master in whose cause they had risen. +Henry and his counsellors were determined that there should +<span class="sidenote">Murder of Richard.</span> +be no further use made of the name of the “lawful +king,” and Richard was deliberately murdered by +privation—insufficient clothing, food and warmth—in +his dungeon at Pontefract Castle (Feb. 17, 1400). It is impossible +not to pity his fate. He had been wayward, unwise and +occasionally revengeful; but his provocation had been great, +and if few tyrants have used more violent and offensive language, +few have committed such a small list of actual crimes. It was +a curious commentary on Henry’s policy, that Richard, even +when dead, did not cease to give him trouble. Rumour got +abroad, owing to the secrecy of his end, that he was not +really dead, and an impostor long lived at the Scottish court +who claimed to be the missing king, and was recognized as +Richard by many malcontents who wished to be deceived.</p> + +<p>The rising of the earls was only the first and the least dangerous +of the trials of Henry IV. Only a few months after their +death a rebellion of a far more formidable sort broke +out in Wales—where Richard II. had been popular, +<span class="sidenote">Welsh rising under Owen Glendower.</span> +and the house of March, his natural heirs, held large +estates. The leader was a gentleman named Owen +Glendower, who had the blood of the ancient kings of +Gwynedd in his veins. Originally he had taken to the hills as +a mere outlaw, in consequence of a quarrel with one of the +marcher barons; but after many small successes he began to +be recognized as a national leader by his countrymen, and proclaimed +himself prince of Wales. The king marched against +him in person in 1400 and 1401, but Glendower showed himself +a master of guerrilla warfare; he refused battle, and defied +pursuit in his mountains, till the stores of the English army were +exhausted and Henry was forced to retire. His prestige as a +general was shaken, and his treasury exhausted by these fruitless +irregular campaigns.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile worse troubles were to come. The commons were +beginning to murmur at the king’s administration; they had +obtained neither the peace nor the diminished taxation +<span class="sidenote">Discontent of the commons.</span> +which they had been promised. Moreover, among +some classes at least, he had won desperate hatred +by his policy in matters of religion. One of his chief +supporters in 1399 had been Archbishop Arundel, an old enemy +of Richard II. and brother to the earl who had been beheaded +in 1397. Arundel was determined to extirpate the Lollards, +and used his influence on the king to induce him to frame and +<span class="sidenote">Statute De heretico comburendo.</span> +pass through parliament the detestable statute <i>De +heretico comburendo</i>, which recognized death by burning +at the stake as the penalty of heresy, and bound +the civil authorities to arrest, hand over to the church +courts, and receive back for execution, all contumacious Lollards. +Henry himself does not seem to have been particularly enthusiastic +for persecution, but in order to keep the church party +on his side he was forced to sanction it. The burnings began +with that of William Sawtré, a London vicar, on the 2nd of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page511" id="page511"></a>511</span> +March 1401; they continued intermittently throughout the reign. +The victims were nearly all clergy or citizens; the king shrank +from touching the Lollards of higher rank, and even employed +in his service some who were notoriously tainted with heresy.</p> + +<p>External troubles continued to multiply during Henry’s +earlier years. The Scots had declared war, and there was every +sign that the French would soon follow suit, for the +<span class="sidenote">War with Scotland.</span> +king’s failure to crush Glendower had destroyed his +reputation for capacity. The rebel achieved his +greatest success in June 1402, when he surprised and routed the +whole levy of the marcher lords at Bryn G’las, between Pilleth +and Knighton, capturing (among many other prisoners) Sir +Edmund Mortimer, the uncle and guardian of the young earl of +March, whom all malcontents regarded as the rightful monarch +of England. A few months after the king’s fortune seemed to +take a turn for the better, when the Scots were defeated at +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Homildon Hill.</span> +Homildon Hill by the earl of Northumberland and +his son Henry Percy, the celebrated “Hotspur.” But +this victory was to be the prelude to new dangers: +half the nobility of Scotland had been captured in +the battle, and Northumberland intended to fill his coffers with +their ransoms; but the king looked upon them as state +prisoners and announced his intention of taking them out of the +earl’s hands. Northumberland was a greedy and unscrupulous +Border chief, who regarded himself as entitled to exact whatever +he chose from his master, because he had been the first to join +him at his landing in 1399, and had lent him a consistent support +ever since. He had been amply rewarded by grants of land +and money, but was not yet satisfied. In indignation at the first +refusal that he had met, the earl conspired with Glendower to +<span class="sidenote">Conspiracy of Northumberland with Glendower.</span> +raise rebellion in the name of the rightful heirs of +King Richard, the house of March. The third party +in the plot was Sir Edmund Mortimer, Glendower’s +captive, who was easily persuaded to join a movement +for the aggrandizement of his own family. He married +Owen’s daughter, and became his trusted lieutenant. +Northumberland also enlisted the services of his chief Scottish +prisoner, the earl of Douglas, who promised him aid from beyond +Tweed.</p> + +<p>In July 1403 came the crisis of King Henry’s reign; while +Glendower burst into South Wales, and overran the whole +countryside as far as Cardiff and Carmarthen, the +Percies raised their banner in the North. The old earl +<span class="sidenote">Insurrection in the north and west.</span> +set himself to subdue Yorkshire; his son Hotspur +and the earl of Douglas marched south and opened +communication with the Welsh. All Cheshire, a district always +faithful to the name of Richard II., rose in their favour, and they +were joined by Hotspur’s uncle, the earl of Worcester. They +then advanced towards Shrewsbury, where they hoped that +Glendower might meet them. But long ere the Welsh could +appear, King Henry was on the spot; he brought the rebels +to action at Hately Field, just outside the gates of +<span class="sidenote">Defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury.</span> +Shrewsbury, and inflicted on them a complete defeat, +in which his young son Henry of Monmouth first +won his reputation as a fighting man. Hotspur was +slain, Worcester taken and beheaded, Douglas desperately +wounded (July 23, 1403). On receiving this disastrous news +the earl of Northumberland sued for pardon; the king was +unwise enough to grant it, merely punishing him by fining him +and taking all his castles out of his hands.</p> + +<p>By winning the battle of Shrewsbury Henry IV. had saved +his crown, but his troubles were yet far from an end. The long-expected +breach with France had at last come to +pass; the duke of Orleans, without any declaration of +<span class="sidenote">War with France renewed.</span> +war, had entered Guienne, while a French fleet attacked +the south-west of England, and burnt Plymouth. +Even more menacing to the king’s prosperity was the news +that another squadron had appeared off the coast of Wales, +and landed stores and succours for Glendower, who had now +conquered the whole principality save a few isolated fortresses. +The drain of money to meet this combination of foreign war +and domestic rebellion was more than the king’s exchequer +could meet. He was driven into unconstitutional ways of +raising money, which recalled all the misdoings of his predecessor. +Hence came a series of rancorous quarrels with his +<span class="sidenote">Parliament assumes control of the finances.</span> +parliaments, which grew more disloyal and clamorous +at every new session. The cry was raised that the +taxes were heavy not because of the French or Welsh +wars, but because Henry lavished his money on +favourites and unworthy dependents. He was forced +to bow before the storm, though the charge had small +foundation: the greater part of his household was dismissed, +and the war-taxes were paid not to his treasurer but to a +financial committee appointed by parliament.</p> + +<p>It was not till 1405 that the worst of Henry’s troubles came +to an end. This year saw the last of the convulsions that +threatened to overturn him,—a rising in the North +headed by the old earl of Northumberland, by Richard +<span class="sidenote">Rising of 1405 in the North.</span> +Scrope, archbishop of York, and by Thomas Mowbray +the earl marshal. It might have proved even more +dangerous than the rebellion of 1403, if Henry’s unscrupulous +general Ralph, earl of Westmorland, had not lured Scrope and +Mowbray to a conference, and then arrested them under circumstances +of the vilest treachery. He handed them over to the king, +who beheaded them both outside the gate of York, without any +proper trial before their peers. Northumberland thereupon +fled to Scotland without further fighting. He remained in exile +till January 1408, when he made a final attempt to raise rebellion +in the North, and was defeated and slain at the battle of +Bramham Moor.</p> + +<p>Long before this last-named fight Henry’s fortunes had begun +to mend. Glendower was at last checked by the untiring energy +of the king’s eldest son, Henry of Monmouth, who +had been given charge of the Welsh war. Even when +<span class="sidenote">Suppression of the Welsh rising.</span> +French aid was sent him, the rebel chief proved unable +to maintain his grip on South Wales. He was beaten +out of it in 1406, and Aberystwyth Castle, where his garrison +made a desperate defence for two years, became the southern +limit of his dominions. In the end of 1408 Prince Henry captured +this place, and six weeks later Harlech, the greatest stronghold +of the rebels, where Sir Edmund Mortimer, Owen’s son-in-law +and most trusted captain, held out till he died of starvation. +From this time onwards the Welsh rebellion gradually died +down, till Owen relapsed into the position from which he had +started, that of a guerrilla chief maintaining a predatory warfare +in the mountains. From 1409 onward he ceased to be a public +danger to the realm, yet so great was his cunning and activity +that he was never caught, and died still maintaining a hopeless +rebellion so late as 1416.</p> + +<p>The French war died down about the same time that the Welsh +rebellion became insignificant. Louis of Orleans, the head of +the French war party, was murdered by his cousin +John, duke of Burgundy, in November 1407, and after +<span class="sidenote">End of the French and Scottish wars.</span> +his death the French turned from the struggle with +England to indulge in furious civil wars. Calais, +Bordeaux and Bayonne still remained safe under the English +banner. The Scottish war had ended even earlier. Prince James, +the heir of Robert III., had been captured at sea in 1406. The +duke of Albany, who became regent when Robert died, had no +wish to see his nephew return, and concluded a corrupt agreement +with the king of England, by which he undertook to keep +Scotland out of the strife, if Henry would prevent the rightful +heir from returning to claim his own.<a name="fa3a" id="fa3a" href="#ft3a"><span class="sp">3</span></a> Hence Albany and his +son ruled at Edinburgh for seventeen years, while James was +detained in an honourable captivity at Windsor.</p> + +<p>From 1408 till his death in 1413 Henry was freed from all +the dangers which had beset his earlier years. But he got small +enjoyment from the crown which no longer tottered +on his brow. Soon after his execution of Archbishop +<span class="sidenote">Illness of the king. Faction in the court.</span> +Scrope he had been smitten with a painful disorder, +which his enemies declared to be the punishment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page512" id="page512"></a>512</span> +inflicted on him by heaven for the prelate’s death. It grew +gradually worse, and developed into what his contemporaries +called leprosy—a loathsome skin disease accompanied by bouts +of fever, which sometimes kept him bedridden for months at a +time. From 1409 onwards he became a mere invalid, only able +to assert himself in rare intervals of convalescence. The domestic +politics of the realm during his last five years were nothing +more than a struggle between two court factions who desired +to use his name. The one was headed by his son Henry, prince +of Wales, and his half-brothers John, Henry and Thomas Beaufort, +the base-born but legitimized children of John of Gaunt. +The other was under the direction of Archbishop Arundel, the +king’s earliest ally, who had already twice served him as chancellor, +and had the whole church party at his back. Arundel +was backed by Thomas duke of Clarence, the king’s second son, +who was an enemy of the Beauforts, and not on the best terms +with his own elder brother, the prince of Wales. The fluctuating +influence of each party with the king was marked by the passing +of the chancellorship from Arundel to Henry Beaufort and back +again during the five years of Henry’s illness. The rivalry +between them was purely personal; both were prepared to go on +with the “Lancastrian experiment,” the attempt to govern +the realm in a constitutional fashion by an alliance between the +king and the parliament; both were eager persecutors of the +Lollards; both were eager to make profit for England by interfering +in the civil wars of the Orleanists and Burgundians which +were now devastating France.</p> + +<p>The prince of Wales, it is clear, gave much umbrage to his +father by his eagerness to direct the policy of the crown ere yet +it had fallen to him by inheritance. The king suspected, +and with good reason, that his son wished +<span class="sidenote">Prince Hal.</span> +him to abdicate, and resented the idea. It seems that +a plot with such an object was actually on foot, and that the +younger Henry gave it up in a moment of better feeling, when +he realized the evil impression that the unfilial act would make +upon the nation. At this time the prince gave small promise of +developing into the model monarch that he afterwards became. +There was no doubt of his military ability, which had been fully +demonstrated in the long Welsh wars, but he is reputed to have +shown himself arrogant, contentious and over-given to loose-living. +There were many, Archbishop Arundel among them, +who looked forward with apprehension to his accession to the +throne.</p> + +<p>The two parties in the council of Henry IV. were agreed that +it would be profitable to intervene in the wars of France, but +they differed as to the side which offered the most +advantages. Hence came action which seemed inconsistent, +<span class="sidenote">English expedition to France.</span> +if not immoral; in 1411, under the prince’s +influence, an English contingent joined the Burgundians +and helped them to raise the siege of Paris. In 1412, +by Arundel’s advice, a second army under the duke of Clarence +crossed the Channel to co-operate with the Orleanists. But the +French factions, wise for once, made peace at the time of +Clarence’s expedition, and paid him 210,000 gold crowns to leave +the country! The only result of the two expeditions was to give +the English soldiery a poor opinion of French military capacity, +and a notion that money was easily to be got from the distracted +realm beyond the narrow seas.</p> + +<p>On the 20th of March 1413, King Henry’s long illness at last +reached a fatal issue, and his eldest son ascended the throne. +The new king had everything in his favour; his father +had borne the odium of usurpation and fought down +<span class="sidenote">Accession of Henry V.</span> +the forces of anarchy. The memory of Richard II. +had been forgotten; the young earl of March had +grown up into the most harmless and unenterprising of men, +and the nation seemed satisfied with the new dynasty, whose +first sovereign had shown himself, under much provocation, the +most moderate and accommodating of constitutional monarchs.</p> + +<p>Henry V. on his accession bade farewell to the faults of his +youth. He seems to have felt a genuine regret for the unfilial +conduct which had vexed his father’s last years, and showed a +careful determination to turn over a new leaf and give his +enemies no scope for criticism. From the first he showed a sober +and grave bearing; he reconciled himself to all his enemies, +<span class="sidenote">His character.</span> +gave up his youthful follies, and became a model king +according to the ideas of his day. There is no doubt +that he had a strong sense of moral responsibility, +and that he was sincerely pious. But his piety inspired him to +redouble the persecution of the unfortunate Lollards, whom his +father had harried only in an intermittent fashion; and his +sense of moral responsibility did not prevent him from taking +the utmost advantage of the civil wars of his unhappy neighbours +of France.</p> + +<p>The first notable event of Henry’s reign was his assault upon +the Lollards. His father had spared their lay chiefs, and contented +himself with burning preachers or tradesmen. +<span class="sidenote">Persecution of the Lollards.</span> +Henry arrested John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, their +leading politician, and had him tried and condemned +to the stake. But Oldcastle escaped from the Tower +before the day fixed for his execution, and framed a wild plot +for slaying or deposing his persecutor. He planned to gather +the Lollards of London and the Home Counties under arms, +and to seize the person of the king—a scheme as wild +<span class="sidenote">Rising under Oldcastle.</span> +as the design of Guy Fawkes or the Fifth Monarchy +Men in later generations, for the sectaries were not +strong enough to coerce the whole nation. Henry +received early notice of the plot, and nipped it in the bud, +scattering Oldcastle’s levies in St Giles’ Fields (Jan. 10, 1414) +and hanging most of his lieutenants. But their reckless leader +escaped, and for three years led the life of an outlaw, till in 1417 +he was finally captured, still in arms, and sent to the stake.</p> + +<p>This danger having passed, Henry set himself to take advantage +of the troubles of France. He threatened to invade that +realm unless the Orleans faction, who had for the +moment possession of the person of the mad king +<span class="sidenote">Henry V. and France.</span> +Charles VI., should restore to him all that Edward III. +had owned in 1360, with Anjou and Normandy in +addition. The demand was absurd and exorbitant and was +refused, though the French government offered him the hand of +their king’s daughter Catherine with a dowry of 800,000 crowns +and the districts of Quercy and Périgord—sufficiently handsome +terms. When he began to collect a fleet and an army, they added +to the offer the Limousin and other regions; but Henry was +determined to pick his quarrel, and declared war in an impudent +and hypocritical manifesto, in which he declared that he was +driven into strife against his will. The fact was that he had +secured the promise of the neutrality or the co-operation of the +Burgundian faction, and thought that he could crush the +Orleanists with ease.</p> + +<p>He sailed for France in August 1415, with an army compact +and well-equipped, but not very numerous. On the eve of his +departure he detected and quelled a plot as wild and +futile as that of Oldcastle. The conspirators were his +<span class="sidenote">Henry invades France.</span> +cousin, Richard, earl of Cambridge, Lord Scrope, and +Sir Thomas Grey, a kinsman of the Percies. They +had planned to raise a rebellion in the name of the earl of March, +in whose cause Wales and the North were to have been called +to arms. But March himself refused to stir, and betrayed them +to the king, who promptly beheaded them, and set sail five days +later. He landed near the mouth of the Seine, and commenced +his campaign by besieging and capturing Harfleur, which the +Orleanists made no attempt to succour. But such a large +number of his troops perished in the trenches by a pestilential +disorder, that he found himself too weak to march on Paris, and +took his way to Calais across Picardy, hoping, as it seems, to lure +the French to battle by exposing his small army to attack. +The plan was hazardous, for the Orleanists turned out in great +numbers and almost cut him off in the marshes of the Somme. +When he had struggled across them, and was half-way to Calais, +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Agincourt.</span> +the enemy beset him in the fields of Agincourt (Oct. 25, +1415). Here Henry vindicated his military reputation +by winning a victory even more surprising than those +of Creēy, and Poitiers, for he was outnumbered in an even greater +proportion than the two Edwards had been in 1346 and 1356, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page513" id="page513"></a>513</span> +and had to take the offensive instead of being attacked in a strong +position. The heavily armoured French noblesse, embogged +in miry meadows, proved helpless before the lightly equipped +English archery. The slaughter in their ranks was terrible, and +the young duke of Orleans, the head of the predominant faction +of the moment, was taken prisoner with many great nobles. However, +so exhausted was the victorious army that Henry merely +led it back to Calais, without attempting anything more in this +<span class="sidenote">Effect of the battle.</span> +year. The sole tangible asset of the campaign was +the possession of Harfleur, the gate of Normandy, +a second Calais in its advantages when future invasions +were taken in hand. The moral effects were more important. +The Orleanist party was shaken in its power; the +rival Burgundian faction became more inclined to commit itself +to the English cause, and the terror of the English arms weighed +heavily upon both.</p> + +<p>It was not till the next year but one that Henry renewed his +invasion of France—the intervening space was spent in negotiations +with Burgundy, and with the emperor +<span class="sidenote">England and the council of Constance.</span> +Sigismund, whose aid the king secured in return for +help in putting an end to the scandalous “great +schism” which had been rending the Western Church +for so many years. The English deputation lent their aid to +Sigismund at the council of Constance, when Christendom was +at last reunited under a single head, though all the reforms +which were to have accompanied the reunion were postponed, +and ultimately avoided altogether, by the restored papacy.</p> + +<p>In July 1417 Henry began his second invasion of France, and +landed at the mouth of the Seine with a powerful army of 17,000 +men. He had resolved to adopt a plan of campaign +<span class="sidenote">Henry’s second invasion of France.</span> +very different from those which Edward III. or the +Black Prince had been wont to pursue, having in view +nothing more than the steady and gradual conquest +of the province of Normandy. This he was able to accomplish +without any interference from the government at Paris, for the +constable Armagnac, who had succeeded the captive Orleans +at the head of the anti-Burgundian party, had no troops to spare. +<span class="sidenote">Conquest of Normandy.</span> +He was engaged in a separate campaign with Henry’s +ally John the Fearless, and left Normandy to shift +for itself. One after another all the towns of the duchy +were reduced, save Rouen, the siege of which, as the +hardest task, King Henry postponed till the rest of the countryside +was in his hands. He sat down to besiege it in 1418, and +was detained before its walls for many months, for the citizens +made an admirable defence. Meanwhile a change had taken +place in the domestic politics of France; the Burgundians seized +Paris in May 1418; the constable Armagnac and many of his +<span class="sidenote">Triumph of the Burgundians.</span> +partisans were massacred, and John the Fearless got +possession of the person of the mad Charles VI., +and became the responsible ruler of France. He had +then to choose between buying off his English allies +by great concessions, or taking up the position of champion of +French interests. He selected the latter rōle, broke with Henry, +and tried to relieve Rouen. But all his efforts were foiled, and the +Norman capital surrendered, completely starved out, on +<span class="sidenote">Henry takes Rouen.</span> +the 19th of January 1419. On this Burgundy resolved +to open negotiations with Henry; he wished to free +his hands for an attack on his domestic enemies, who +had rallied beyond the Loire under the leadership of the dauphin +Charles—from whom the party, previously known first as Orleanists +and then as Armagnacs, gets for the future the name +of the “Dauphinois.” The English king, however, seeing the +manifest advantage of his position, tried to drive too hard a +bargain; he demanded the old boundaries of 1360, with his new +conquest of Normandy, the hand of the princess Catherine, and +a great sum of ready money. Burgundy dared not concede so +much, under pain of alienating all his more patriotic +<span class="sidenote">Murder of John of Burgundy.</span> +supporters. He broke off the conference of Meulan, +and tried to patch up a peace with the dauphin, in +order to unite all Frenchmen against the foreign invader. +This laudable intention was wrecked by the treachery +of the young heir to the French throne; on the bridge of +Montereau Charles deliberately murdered the suppliant duke, as +he knelt to do homage, thinking thereby that he would make +an end of the Burgundian party (Sept. 9, 1419).</p> + +<p>This abominable deed gave northern France for twenty years +to an English master. The young duke of Burgundy, Philip +the Good, and his supporters in Paris and the north, +<span class="sidenote">The Burgundians acknowledge Henry as heir of France.</span> +were so incensed with the dauphin’s cruel treachery +that they resolved that he should never inherit his +father’s crown. They proffered peace to King Henry, +and offered to recognize his preposterous<a name="fa4a" id="fa4a" href="#ft4a"><span class="sp">4</span></a> claim to +the French throne, on condition that he should marry +the princess Catherine and guarantee the constitutional +liberties of the realm. The insane Charles VI. should keep nominal +possession of the royal title till his death, but meanwhile the +Burgundians would do homage to Henry as “heir of France.” +These terms were welcomed by the English king, +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Troyes.</span> +and ratified at the treaty of Troyes (May 21, 1420). +Henry married the princess Catherine, received the +oaths of Duke Philip and his partisans, and started forth to +conquer the Dauphinois at the head of an army of which half +was composed of Burgundian levies. Paris, Picardy, Champagne, +and indeed the greater part of France north of the Loire, +acknowledged him as their sovereign.</p> + +<p>Henry had only two years longer to live; they were spent in +incessant and successful campaigning against the partisans of +his brother-in-law, the dauphin Charles; by a long +series of sieges the partisans of that worthless prince +<span class="sidenote">Death of Henry V.</span> +were evicted from all their northern strongholds. +They fought long and bitterly, nor was this to be marvelled at, +for Henry had a custom of executing as traitors all who withstood +him, and those who had once defied him did well to fight +to the last gasp, in order to avoid the block or the halter. In +the longest and most desperate of these sieges, that of Meaux +(Oct. 1421-March 1422), the king contracted a dysenteric ailment +which he could never shake off. He survived for a few months, +but died, worn out by his incessant campaigning, on the 31st of +August 1422, leaving the crown of England and the heirship of +France to his only child Henry of Windsor, an infant less than +two years old.</p> + +<p>Few sovereigns in history have accomplished such a disastrous +life’s work as this much-admired prince. If he had not been +a soldier of the first ability and a diplomatist of the +most unscrupulous sort, he could never have advanced +<span class="sidenote">Effects of his conquests.</span> +so far towards his ill-chosen goal, the conquest of +France. His genius and the dauphin’s murderous act +of folly at Montereau conspired to make the incredible almost +possible. Indeed, if Henry had lived five years longer, he would +probably have carried his arms to the Mediterranean, and have +united France and England in uneasy union for some short space +of time. It is clear that they could not have been held together +after his death, for none but a king of exceptional powers could +have resisted their natural impulse to break apart. As it was, +Henry had accomplished just enough to tempt his countrymen +to persevere for nearly thirty years in the endeavour to complete +the task he had begun. France was ruined for a generation, +England was exhausted by her effort, and (what was worse) her +governing classes learnt in the long and pitiless war lessons of +demoralization which were to bear fruit in the ensuing struggle +of the two Roses. It is a strange fact that Henry, though he was +in many respects a conscientious man, with a strong sense of +responsibility, and a sincere piety, was so blind to the unrighteousness +of his own actions that he died asserting that +“neither ambition nor vainglory had led him into France, but +a genuine desire to assert a righteous claim, which he desired +his heirs to prosecute to the bitter end.”</p> + +<p>The guardianship of the infant Henry VI. fell to his two +uncles, John of Bedford and Humphrey of Gloucester, the two +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page514" id="page514"></a>514</span> +surviving brothers of the late king. Bedford became regent +in France, and took over the heritage of the war, in which he +<span class="sidenote">Henry VI.</span> +was vigorously aided by the young Philip of Burgundy, +whose sister he soon after married. Almost +his first duty was to bury the insane Charles VI., who only +survived his son-in-law for a few months, and to proclaim his +little nephew king of France under the name of Henry II. +Gloucester, however, had personal charge of the child, who was +to be reared in England; he had also hoped to become protector +of the realm, and to use the position for his own private +interests, for he was a selfish and ambitious prince. But the +council refused to let him assume the full powers of a regent, +and bound him with many checks and restrictions, because they +were well aware of his character. The tiresome and monotonous +domestic history of England during the next twenty years +consisted of little else than quarrels between Gloucester and +the lords of the council, of whom the chief was the duke’s half-uncle +Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, the last to survive +of all the sons of John of Gaunt. The duke and the bishop were +both unscrupulous; but the churchman, with all his faults, +was a patriotic statesman, while Gloucester cared far more for +his own private ends than for the welfare of the realm.</p> + +<p>While these two well-matched antagonists were wrangling +in England, Bedford, a capable general and a wise administrator, +was doing his best to carry out the task which the +dying Henry V. had laid upon him, by crushing the +<span class="sidenote">Bedford’s rule in France.</span> +dauphin, or Charles VII. as he now called himself since +his father’s death. As long as the Burgundian party +lent the regent their aid, the limits of the land still unsubdued +continued to shrink, though the process was slow. Two considerable +victories, Cravant (1423) and Verneuil (1424), marked +the early years of Bedford’s campaigning; at each, it may be +noted, a very large proportion of his army was composed of +Burgundian auxiliaries. But after a time their assistance began +to be given less freely; this was due to the selfish intrigues of +<span class="sidenote">Humphrey of Gloucester.</span> +Humphrey of Gloucester, who, regardless of the general +policy of England, had quarrelled with Philip the +Good. He had married Jacoba (Jacquelaine), countess +of Hainaut and Holland, a cousin of the Burgundian +duke, who coveted and hoped to secure her lands. Pressing her +claims, Gloucester came to open blows with Philip in Flanders +and Hainaut (1424). In his anger the Burgundian ceased to +support Bedford, and would have joined Charles VII. if revenge +on the murderers of his father had not still remained his dominant +passion. But Gloucester’s attempt to seize Hainaut failed, and +Philip, when he had got possession of his cousin’s person and +estates, allowed himself to be pacified by Bedford, who could +prove that he had no part in his brother’s late intrigues.</p> + +<p>This quarrel having been appeased, the advance against the +territories of Charles VII. was resumed. It went slowly on, till +in 1428 the tide of war reached the walls of Orleans, +how the only place north of the Loire which remained +<span class="sidenote">Siege of Orleans.</span> +unsubdued. The siege was long; but after the last +army which the Dauphinois could raise had been beaten at the +battle of Rouvray (Feb. 1429) it seemed that the end was near. +Charles VII. was in such a state of despair after this last check, +that he was actually taking into consideration a flight to Italy +or Spain, and the abandonment of the struggle. He had shown +himself so incapable and apathetic that his followers were sick +of fighting for such a despicable master.</p> + +<p>From this depth of despair the party which, with all its faults, +represented the national sentiment of France was rescued by +the astonishing exploits of Joan of Arc. Charles and +his counsellors had no great confidence in the mission +<span class="sidenote">Joan of Arc.</span> +of this prophetess and champion, when she presented +herself to them, promising to relieve Orleans and turn back the +English. But all expedients are worth trying in the hour of +ruin, and seeing that Joan was disinterested and sincere, and +that her preaching exercised a marked influence over the people +and the soldiery, Charles allowed her to march with the last +levies that he put into the field for the relief of Orleans. From +that moment the fortune of war turned; the presence of the +prophetess with the French troops had an immediate and incalculable +effect. Under the belief that they were now led by +a messenger from heaven, the Dauphinois fought with a fiery +courage that they had never before displayed. Their movements +were skilfully directed—whether by Joan’s generalship or that of +her captains it boots not to inquire—and after the first successes +which she achieved, in entering Orleans and capturing some of +the besiegers’ forts around it, the English became panic-stricken. +They were cowed, as they said, “by that disciple and limb of +the fiend called La Pucelle, that used false enchantments and +sorcery.” Suffolk, their commander, raised the siege, and sent +to Bedford for reinforcements; but as he retreated he was set +upon by the victorious army, and captured with most of his men +at Jargeau and Beaugency (June 1429). The succours which +were coming to his aid from Paris were defeated by the Maid at +Patay a few days later, and for the most part destroyed.</p> + +<p>The regent Bedford was now in a desperate position. His field +army had been destroyed, and on all sides the provinces which +had long lain inert beneath the English yoke were +beginning to stir. When Joan led forth the French +<span class="sidenote">Coronation of Charles VII. at Reims.</span> +king to crown him at Reims, all the towns of Champagne +opened their gates to her one after another. +A large reinforcement received from England only just +enabled Bedford to save Paris and some of the fortresses of the +Īle de France. The rest revolted at the sight of the Maid’s +white banner. If Joan had been well supported by her master +and his counsellors, it is probable that she might have completed +her mission by expelling the English from France. But, despite +all that she had done, Charles VII. and his favourites had a +profound disbelief in her inspiration, and generally thwarted +her plans. After an ill-concerted attack on Paris, in which Joan +was wounded, the French army broke up for the winter. They +had shaken the grip of the English on the north, and reconquered +a vast stretch of territory, but they had failed by their own fault +to achieve complete success. Nevertheless the crucial point of +the war had passed; after 1429 the Burgundian party began +to slacken in its support of the English cause, and to pass over +piecemeal to the national side. This was but natural: the +partisans who could remember nothing but the foul deed of +Montereau were yearly growing fewer, and it was clear that +Charles VII., personally despicable though he might be, represented +the cause of French nationality.</p> + +<p>The natural drift of circumstances was not stayed even by the +disastrous end of the career of Joan of Arc in 1430. The king’s +ministers had refused to take her counsels or to entrust +her with another army, but she went forth with a small +<span class="sidenote">Capture and execution of Joan.</span> +force of volunteers to relieve the important fortress of +Compičgne. The place was saved, but in a sortie she +was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her for 10,000 francs +to Bedford. The regent handed her over for punishment as +a sorceress to the French clergy of his own party. After a long +trial, carried out with elaborate formality and great unfairness, +the unhappy Joan was found guilty of proclaiming as divine +visions what were delusions of the evil one, or of her own vain +imagination, and when she persisted in maintaining their reality +she was declared a relapsed heretic, and burnt at Rouen on the +30th of May 1431. Charles VII. took little interest in her fate, +which he might easily have prevented by threatening to retaliate +on the numerous English prisoners who were in his power. +Seldom had a good cause such an unworthy figurehead as that +callous and apathetic prince.</p> + +<p>The movement which Joan had set on foot was in no way +crushed by her execution. For the next four years the limits +of the English occupation continued to recede. It +was to no profit that Bedford brought over the young +<span class="sidenote">Philip of Burgundy joins Charles. Treaty of Arras.</span> +Henry VI. and had him crowned at Paris, in order to +appeal to the loyalty of his French partisans by means +of the king’s forlorn youth and simplicity. Yet by +endless feats of skilful generalship the regent continued +to maintain a hold on Paris and on Normandy. The fatal blow +was administered by Philip of Burgundy, who, tired of maintaining +a failing cause, consented at last to forget his father’s murder, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page515" id="page515"></a>515</span> +and to be reconciled to Charles VII. Their alliance was celebrated +by the treaty of Arras (Sept. 6, 1435), at which the English +were offered peace and the retention of Normandy and Guienne +if they would evacuate Paris and the rest of France. They +would have been wise to accept the agreement; but with +obstinate and misplaced courage they refused to acknowledge +Charles as king of France, or to give up to him the capital.</p> + +<p>Bedford, worn out by long campaigning, died at Rouen on +the 14th of September 1435, just before the results of the treaty +of Arras began to make themselves felt. With him +died the best hope of the English party in France, +<span class="sidenote">Death of Bedford. English defeats.</span> +for he had been well loved by the Burgundians, and +many had adhered to the cause of Henry VI. solely +because of their personal attachment to him. No worthy +successor could be found—England had many hard-handed +soldiers but no more statesmen of Bedford’s calibre. It was +no wonder that Paris was lost within six months of the regent’s +death, Normandy invaded, and Calais beleaguered by an army +headed by England’s new enemy, Philip of Burgundy. But the +council, still backed by the nation, refused to give up the game; +Burgundy was beaten off from Calais, and the young duke of +York, the heir of the Mortimers, took the command at Rouen, +and recovered much of what had been lost on the Norman side.</p> + +<p>The next eight years of the war were in some respects the +most astonishing period of its interminable length. The English +fought out the losing game with a wonderful obstinacy. +Though every town that they held was eager to revolt, +<span class="sidenote">Truce with France.</span> +and though they were hopelessly outnumbered in +every quarter, they kept a tight grip on the greater part of +Normandy, and on their old domain in the Bordelais and about +Bayonne. They lost nearly all their outlying possessions, but +still made head against the generals of Charles VII. in these +two regions. The leaders of this period of the war were the duke +of York, and the aged Lord Talbot, afterwards earl of Shrewsbury. +The struggle only ceased in 1444, when the English +council, in which a peace party had at last been formed, concluded +a two-year truce with King Charles, which they hoped to +turn into a permanent treaty, on the condition that their king +should retain what he held in Normandy and Guienne, but sign +away his claim to the French crown, and relinquish the few +places outside the two duchies which were still in his power—terms +very similar to those rejected at Arras nine years before—but +there was now much less to give up. To mark the reconciliation +of the two powers Henry VI. was betrothed to the French +king’s niece, Margaret of Anjou. The two years’ truce was repeatedly +prorogued, and lasted till 1449, but no definitive treaty +was ever concluded, owing to the bad faith with which both +parties kept their promises.</p> + +<p>The government in England was now in the hands of the +faction which Bishop Beaufort had originally led, for after long +struggles the churchman had at last crushed his nephew +Humphrey. In 1441 the duchess of Gloucester had +<span class="sidenote">Supremacy of the Beauforts in England.</span> +been arrested and charged with practising sorcery +against the health of the young king—apparently not +without justification. She was tried and condemned +to imprisonment for life; her guilt was visited on her husband, +on whose behalf she was acting, for if Henry had died his uncle +would have come to the throne. For some years he was constrained +to take a minor part in politics, only emerging occasionally +to make violent and unwise protests against peace with +France. The bishop now ruled, with his nephew Edmund +Beaufort, duke of Somerset, and William de la Pole, earl of +Suffolk, as his chief instruments. As he grew older he let the +power slip into their hands, as it was they who were mainly +responsible for the truce of 1444. King Henry, though he had +reached the age of 23 at the time of his marriage, counted for +<span class="sidenote">Character of Henry VI.</span> +nothing. He was a pious young man, simple to the +verge of imbecility; a little later he developed actual +insanity, the heritage of his grandfather Charles VI. +He showed a blind confidence in Suffolk and Somerset, +who were wholly unworthy of it, for both were tricky and unscrupulous +politicians. His wife Margaret of Anjou, though she +possessed all the fire and energy which her husband lacked, +was equally devoted to these two ministers, and soon came to +share their unpopularity.</p> + +<p>The truce with France had offended the natural pride of the +nation, which still refused to own itself beaten. The evacuation +of the French fortresses in Maine and elsewhere, which +was the price paid for the suspension of arms, was +<span class="sidenote">Death of Humphrey of Gloucester and Henry Beaufort.</span> +bitterly resented. Indeed the garrisons had to be +threatened with the use of force before they would +quit their strongholds. A violent clamour was raised +against Suffolk and Somerset, and Humphrey of +Gloucester emerged from his retirement to head the agitation. +This led to his death; he was arrested by the order of the queen +and the ministers at the parliament of Bury. Five days later +he died suddenly in prison, probably by foul play, though it +was given out that he had been carried off by a paralytic stroke. +His estates were confiscated, and distributed among the friends +of Suffolk and the queen. Six weeks later the aged Bishop +Beaufort followed him to the grave—he had no share in Gloucester’s +fate, having long before made over his power and the +leadership of his party to his nephew Edmund of Somerset +(1447).</p> + +<p>The truce with France lasted for two years after the death +of Duke Humphrey, and came to an end partly owing to the +eagerness of the French to push their advantages, but +much more from the treachery and bad faith of Suffolk +<span class="sidenote">Renewal of the war with France.</span> +and Somerset, who gave the enemy an admirable +<i>casus belli</i>. By their weakness, or perhaps with their +secret connivance, the English garrisons of Normandy carried out +plundering raids of the most impudent sort on French territory. +When summoned to punish the offenders, and to make monetary +compensation, Suffolk and Somerset shuffled and prevaricated, +but gave no satisfaction. Thereupon the French king once more +declared war (July 1449) and invaded Normandy. Somerset +was in command; he showed hopeless incapacity and timidity, +and in a few months the duchy which had been so long held by +<span class="sidenote">Loss of Normandy.</span> +the swords of Bedford, York and Shrewsbury was +hopelessly lost. The final blow came when a small +army of relief sent over from England was absolutely +exterminated by the French at the battle of Formigny +(April 15, 1450). Somerset, who had retired into Caen, +surrendered two months later after a feeble defence, and the +English power in northern France came to an end.</p> + +<p>Even before this final disaster the indignation felt against +Suffolk and Somerset had raised violent disturbances at home. +Suffolk was impeached on many charges, true and +false; it was unfair to accuse him of treason, but +<span class="sidenote">Jack Cade’s Rebellion.</span> +quite just to lay double-dealing and bad faith to his +charge. The king tried to save him from the block +by banishing him before he could be tried. But while he was +sailing to Flanders his ship was intercepted by some London +vessels, which were on the look-out for him, and he was deliberately +murdered. The instigators of the act were never discovered. +But, though Suffolk was gone, Somerset yet survived, +and their partisans still engrossed the confidence of the king. +To clear out the government, and punish those responsible for +the late disasters, the commons of Kent rose in insurrection +under a captain who called himself John Mortimer, though his +real name seems to have been John Cade. He was a soldier of +fortune who had served in the French wars, and claimed to be in +the confidence of the duke of York, the person to whom the eyes +of all who hated Somerset and the present régime were now +directed.</p> + +<p>Cade was not a social reformer, like his predecessor Wat Tyler, +with whom he has often been compared, but a politician. +Though he called himself “John Amend-all,” and promised +to put down abuses of every kind, the main part of the programme +which he issued was intended to appeal to national +sentiment, not to class feeling. Whether he was the tool of other +and more highly placed malcontents, or whether he was simply +a ready-witted adventurer playing his own game, it is hard to +determine. His first success was marvellous; he defeated the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page516" id="page516"></a>516</span> +king’s troops, made a triumphant entry into London and held +the city for two days. He seized and beheaded Lord Saye, the +treasurer, and several other unpopular persons, and might have +continued his dictatorship for some time if the Kentish mob +that followed him had not fallen to general pillage and arson. +This led to the same results that had been seen in Tyler’s day. +The propertied classes in London took arms to suppress anarchy, +and beat the insurgents out of the city. Cade, striving to keep +up the rising outside the walls, was killed in a skirmish a month +later, and his bands dispersed.</p> + +<p>But the troubles of England were only just beginning; the +protest against the misgovernment of Somerset and the rest +of the confidants of the king and queen was now +taken up by a more important personage than the +<span class="sidenote">Richard, duke of York, heads the opposition.</span> +adventurer Cade. Richard, duke of York, the heir +to the claims of the house of Mortimer—his mother +was the sister of the last earl of March—now placed +himself at the head of the opposition. He had plausible grounds +for doing so; though he had distinguished himself in the French +wars, and was, since the death of Humphrey of Gloucester, the +first prince of the blood royal, he had been ignored and flouted +by the king’s ministers, who had sent him into a kind of honourable +banishment as lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and had forbidden +him to re-enter the realm. When, in defiance of this mandate, +he came home and announced his intention of impeaching +Somerset, he took the first step which was to lead to the Wars +of the Roses.</p> + +<p>Yet he was a cautious and in the main a well-intentioned +prince, and the extreme moderation of his original demands +seems to prove that he did not at first aim at the crown. He +merely required that Somerset and his friends should be dismissed +from office and made to answer for their misgovernment. +Though he backed his demands by armed demonstration—twice +calling out his friends and retainers to support his policy—he +carefully refrained for five long years from actual violence. +Indeed in 1452 he consented to abandon his protests, and to +lend his aid to the other party for a great national object, the +recovery of Guienne. For in the previous year Charles VII. +had dealt with Bordeaux and Bayonne as he had already dealt +with Normandy, and had met with no better resistance while +completing the conquest. Six months’ experience of French rule, +however, had revealed to the Bordelais how much they had +lost when they surrendered. Their old loyalty to the house of +Plantagenet burst once more into flame; they rose in arms and +called for aid to England. For a moment the quarrel of York +and Somerset was suspended, and the last English army that +crossed the seas during the Hundred Years’ War landed in Guienne, +joined the insurgents, and for a time swept all before it. But +there seemed to be a curse on whatever Henry VI. and Somerset +took in hand. On the 17th of July 1453 the veteran earl of +Shrewsbury and the greater part of his Anglo-Gascon host were +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Castillon. Loss of Guienne.</span> +cut to pieces at the hard-fought battle of Castillon. +Bordeaux, though left to defend itself, held out for +eighty days after Talbot’s defeat and death, and then +made its final submission to the French. The long +struggle was over, and England now retained nothing of her old +transmarine possessions save Calais and the Channel Islands. +The ambition of Henry V. had finally cost her the long-loyal +Guienne, as well as all the ephemeral conquests of his own sword.</p> + +<p>The last crowning disaster of the administration of the +favourites of Henry VI. put an end to the chance that a way out +of domestic strife might be found in the vigorous prosecution of +the French war. For the next twenty years the battles of England +were to be fought on her own soil, and between her own +sons. It was a righteous punishment for her interference in the +unnatural strife of Orleanists and Burgundians that the struggle +between York and Lancaster was to be as bitter and as bloody +as that between the two French factions.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">V. The Wars of the Roses (1453-1497)</p> + +<p>The Wars of the Roses have been ascribed to many different +causes by different historians. To some their origin is mainly +constitutional. Henry VI., it is argued, had broken the tacit compact +which the house of Lancaster had made with the nation; +<span class="sidenote">Origin of the Wars of the Roses.</span> +instead of committing the administration of the realm +to ministers chosen for him by, or at least approved +by, his parliament, he persisted in retaining in office +persons like Suffolk and Somerset, who had forfeited +the confidence of the people by their many failures in +war and diplomacy, and were suspected of something worse +than incapacity. They might not be so personally odious as +the favourites of Edward II. or of Henry III., but they were +even more dangerous to the state, because they were not foreign +adventurers but great English peers. In spite of the warnings +given by the assault on Suffolk in 1450, by Jack Cade’s insurrection, +and by the first armed demonstrations of Richard of +York in 1450 and 1452, the king persisted in keeping his friends +in office, and they had to be removed by the familiar and forcible +methods that had been applied in earlier ages by the lords +ordainers or the lords appellant. Undoubtedly there is much +truth in this view of the situation; if Henry VI., or perhaps we +should rather say, if his queen Margaret of Anjou, had been +content to accept ministries in which the friends of Richard of +York were fairly represented, it is probable that he might have +died a king, and have transmitted his crown to his natural heir. +But this explanation of the Wars of the Roses is not complete; +it accounts for their outbreak, but not for their long continuance.</p> + +<p>According to another school the real key to the problem is +simply the question of the succession to the crown. If the +wedlock of Henry VI. and Margaret of Anjou had +been fruitful during the first few years after their +<span class="sidenote">Claims of the duke of York to the crown.</span> +marriage, no one would have raised the question of a +change of dynasty. But when they remained childless +for seven years, and strong suspicion arose that there was a +project on foot to declare the Beauforts heirs to the throne, +the claim of Richard of York, as the representative of the houses +of Clarence and March, was raised by those who viewed the +possible accession of the incapable and unpopular Somerset with +terror and dislike. When once the claims of York had been +displayed and stated by his imprudent partisan, Thomas Yonge, +in the parliament of 1451, there was no possibility of hiding the +fact that in the strict legitimate line of succession he had a better +claim than the reigning king. He disavowed any pretensions +to the crown for nine years; it was only in 1460 that he set forth +his title with his own mouth. But his friends and followers were +not so discreet; hence when a son was at last born to Henry +and Margaret, in 1453, the succession question was already +in the air and could no longer be ignored. If the claim of +<span class="sidenote">Birth of Edward, prince of Wales.</span> +York was superior to that of Lancaster in the eyes of a considerable +part of the nation, it was no longer possible to +consider the problem solved by the birth of a direct +heir to the actual occupant of the throne. Though +Duke Richard behaved in the most correct fashion, +acknowledged the infant Edward as prince of Wales, and made +no attempt to assert dynastic claims during his two regencies +in 1454 and 1455-1456, yet the queen and her partisans already +looked upon him as a pretender to the throne. It is this fact +which accounts for the growing bitterness of the Yorkist and +<span class="sidenote">Queen Margaret.</span> +Lancastrian parties during the last years of Henry VI. +Margaret believed herself to be defending the rights +of her son against a would-be usurper. Duke Richard, +on the other hand, considered himself as wrongfully oppressed, +and excluded from his legitimate position as a prince of the blood +and a chief councillor of the crown. Nor can there be any +doubt that the queen took every opportunity of showing her +suspicion of him, and deliberately kept him and his friends from +sharing in the administration of the realm. This might have +been more tolerable if the Lancastrian party had shown any +governing power; but both while Somerset was their leader, +down to his death in the first battle of St Albans, and while in +1456-1459 Exeter, Wiltshire, Shrewsbury and Beaumont were +the queen’s trusted agents, the condition of England was deplorable. +As a contemporary chronicler wrote, “the realm was +out of all good governance—as it has been many days before: +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page517" id="page517"></a>517</span> +the king was simple, and led by covetous councillors, and owed +more than he was worth. His debts increased daily, but payment +<span class="sidenote">Condition of the country.</span> +was there none, for all the manors and possessions +that pertained to the crown he had given away, +so that he had almost nought to live on. For these +misgovernances the hearts of the people were turned +from them that had the land in rule, and their blessing was +turned to cursing. The officers of the realm, and especially +the earl of Wiltshire the treasurer, for to enrich himself plundered +poor people and disinherited rightful heirs, and did many wrongs. +The queen was defamed, that he that was called the prince was +not the king’s son, but a bastard gotten in adultery.” When +it is added that the Lancastrian party avoided holding a parliament +for three years, because they dared not face it, and that +the French were allowed to sack Fowey, Sandwich and other +places because there was no English fleet in existence, it is not +wonderful that many men thought that the cup of the iniquities +of the house of Lancaster was full. In the military classes it +was felt that the honour of the realm was lost; in mercantile +circles it was thought that the continuance for a few years more +of such government would make an end of English trade. Some +excuse must be found for getting rid of the queen and her +friends, and the doubtful legitimacy of the Lancastrian claim +to the crown afforded such an excuse. Hence came the curious +paradox, that the party which started as the advocates of the +rights of parliament against the incapable ministers appointed +by the crown, ended by challenging the right of parliament, +exercised in 1399, to depose a legitimate king and substitute for +him another member of the royal house. For Richard of York +in 1460 and Edward IV. in 1461 put in their claim to the throne, +not as the elect of the nation, but as the possessors of a divine +hereditary right to the succession, there having been no true +king of England since the death of Richard II. Hence Edward +assumed the royal title in March 1461, was crowned in June, but +called no parliament till November. When it met, it acknowledged +him as king, but made no pretence of creating or electing +him to be sovereign.</p> + +<p>But putting aside the constitutional aspects of the Wars of +the Roses, it is necessary to point out that they had another +aspect. From one point of view they were little more +than a great faction fight between two alliances of +<span class="sidenote">Motives of the contending parties.</span> +over-powerful barons. Though the Lancastrians +made much play with the watchword of loyalty to the +crown, and though the Yorkists never forgot to speak of the +need for strong and wise governance, and the welfare of the realm, +yet personal and family enmities had in many cases more effect +in determining their action than a zeal for King Henry’s rights +or for the prosperity of England. It is true that some classes +were undoubtedly influenced in their choice of sides mainly by +the general causes spoken of above; the citizens of London and +the other great towns (for example) inclined to the Yorkist +faction simply because they saw that under the Lancastrian rule +the foreign trade of England was being ruined, and insufficient +security was given for life and property. But the leading men +among the baronage were undoubtedly swayed by ambition and +resentment, by family ties and family feuds, far more than by +enlightened statesmanship or zeal for the king or the commonweal. +It would be going too far to seek the origin of the Yorkist +party—as some have done—in the old enmity of the houses of +March, Norfolk and Salisbury against Henry IV. But it is +not so fantastic to ascribe its birth to the personal hatred that +existed between Richard of York and Edmund of Somerset, +to the old family grudge (going back to 1405) between the +Percies and the Nevilles, to the marriage alliance that bound the +houses of York and Neville together, and to other less well-remembered +quarrels or blood-ties among the lesser baronage. +As an example of how such motives worked, it may suffice to +quote the case of those old enemies, the Bonvilles and Courtenays, +in the west country. While Lord Bonville supported the queen, +the house of Courtenay were staunch Yorkists, and the earl of +Devon joined in the armed demonstration of Duke Richard in +1452. But when the earl changed his politics and fought on the +Lancastrian side at St Albans in 1455, the baron at once became +a strenuous adherent of the duke, adhered firmly to the white +rose and died by the axe for its cause.</p> + +<p>Richard of York, in short, was not merely the head of a +constitutional opposition to misgovernment by the queen’s +friends, nor was he merely a legitimist claimant +to the crown, he was also the head of a powerful +<span class="sidenote">The baronial party. The Nevilles.</span> +baronial league, of which the most prominent members +were his kinsmen, the Nevilles, Mowbrays and +Bourchiers. The Nevilles alone, enriched with the +ancient estates of the Beauchamps and Montagus, and with +five of their name in the House of Lords, were a sufficient nucleus +for a faction. They were headed by the two most capable +politicians and soldiers then alive in England, the two Richards, +father and son, who held the earldoms of Salisbury and Warwick, +and were respectively brother-in-law and nephew to York. It +must be remembered that a baron of 1450 was not strong merely +by reason of the spears and bows of his household and his +tenantry, like a baron of the 13th century. The pernicious +practice of “livery and maintenance” was now at its zenith; +all over England in times of stress the knighthood and gentry +were wont to pledge themselves, by sealed bonds of indenture, to +follow the magnate whom they thought best able to protect +them. They mounted his badge, and joined his banner when +strife broke out, in return for his championship of their private +interests and his promise to “maintain” them against all their +enemies. A soldier and statesman of the ability and ambition +of Richard of Warwick counted hundreds of such adherents, +scattered over twenty shires. The system had spread so far that +the majority of the smaller tenants-in-chief, and even many +of the lesser barons, were the sworn followers of an insignificant +number of the greater lords. An alliance of half-a-dozen of these +over-powerful subjects was a serious danger to the crown. For +the king could no longer count on raising a national army against +them; he could only call out the adherents of the lords of his +own party. The factions were fairly balanced, for if the majority +of the baronage were, on the whole, Lancastrian, the greatest +houses stood by the cause of York.</p> + +<p>Despite all this, there was still, when the wars began, a very +strong feeling in favour of compromise and moderation. For +this there can be no doubt that Richard of York was +mainly responsible. When he was twice placed in +<span class="sidenote">Attitude of Richard of York.</span> +power, during the two protectorates which followed +Henry’s two long fits of insanity in 1454 and 1455-1456, +he carefully avoided any oppression of his enemies, though he +naturally took care to put his own friends in office. Most of all +did he show his sincere wish for peace by twice laying down the +protectorate when the king was restored to sanity. He was +undoubtedly goaded into his last rebellion of 1459 by the queen’s +undisguised preparations for attacking him. Yet because he +struck first, without waiting for a definite <i>casus belli</i>, public +opinion declared so much against him that half his followers +<span class="sidenote">Suppression of York’s rebellion. Executions and confiscations.</span> +refused to rally to his banner. The revulsion only came when +the queen, victorious after the rout of Ludford, +applied to the vanquished Yorkists those penalties of +confiscation and attainder which Duke Richard had +always refused to employ in his day of power. After +the harsh doings at the parliament of Coventry (1459), +and the commencement of political executions by the +sending of Roger Neville and his fellows to the scaffold, +the trend of public opinion veered round, and Margaret and her +friends were rightly held responsible for the embittered nature +of the strife. Hence came the marvellous success of the Yorkist +counterstroke in June 1460, when the exiled Warwick, landing +in Kent with a mere handful of men, was suddenly +<span class="sidenote">The earl of Warwick defeats the Lancastrians at Northampton.</span> +joined by the whole of the south of England and the +citizens of London, and inflicted a crushing defeat on +the Lancastrians at Northampton before he had been +fifteen days on shore (July 10, 1460). The growing +rancour of the struggle was marked by the fact that +the Yorkists, after Northampton, showed themselves +by no means so merciful and scrupulous as in their earlier +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page518" id="page518"></a>518</span> +days. Retaliatory executions began, though on a small scale, +and when York reached London he at last began to talk of his +rights to the crown, and to propose the deposition of Henry VI. +Yet moderation was still so far prevalent in the ranks of his +adherents that they refused to follow him to such lengths. +Warwick and the other leading men of the party dictated a +compromise, by which Henry was to reign for the term of his +<span class="sidenote">Richard of York declared heir to the throne.</span> +natural life, but Duke Richard was to be recognized +as his heir and to succeed him on the throne. They +had obviously borrowed the expedient from the terms +of the treaty of Troyes. But the act of parliament +which embodied it did not formally disinherit the +reigning king’s son, as the treaty of Troyes had done, but merely +ignored his existence.</p> + +<p>It would have been well for England if this agreement had +held, and the crown had passed peaceably to the house of York, +after the comparatively short and bloodless struggle which had +just ended. But Duke Richard had forgotten to reckon with +the fierce and unscrupulous energy of Queen Margaret, when she +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Wakefield. Richard slain.</span> +was at bay in defence of her son’s rights. Marching with a trifling +force to expel her from the north, he was surprised and +slain at Wakefield (Dec. 30, 1460). But it was not his +death that was the main misfortune, but the fact +that in the battle the Lancastrians gave no quarter +to small or great, and that after it they put to death York’s +brother-in-law Salisbury and other prisoners. The heads of the +duke and the earl were set up over the gates of York. This +<span class="sidenote">Battle of St Albans.</span> +ferocity was repeated when Margaret and her northern +host beat Warwick at the second battle of St Albans +(Feb. 17, 1461), where they had the good fortune to +recover possession of the person of King Henry. Lord Bonville +and the other captives of rank were beheaded next morning.</p> + +<p>After this it was but natural that the struggle became a mere +record of massacres and executions. The Yorkists proclaimed +Edward, Duke Richard’s heir, king of England; they +took no further heed of the claims of King Henry, +<span class="sidenote">Edward, earl of March, proclaimed as Edward IV.</span> +declared their leader the true successor of Richard II., +and stigmatized the whole period of the Lancastrian +rule as a mere usurpation. They adopted a strict +legitimist theory of the descent of the crown, and +denied the right of parliament to deal with the succession. +This was the first step in the direction of absolute monarchy +which England had seen since the short months of King +Richard’s tyranny in 1397-1399. It was but the first of many +encroachments of the new dynasty upon the liberties that had +been enjoyed by the nation under the house of Lancaster.</p> + +<p>The revenge taken by the new king and his cousin Richard of +Warwick for the slaughter at Wakefield and St Albans was prompt +and dreadful. They were now well supported by the +whole of southern England; for not only had the +<span class="sidenote">Changed character of the war.</span> +queen’s ferocity shocked the nation, but the reckless +plundering of her northern moss-troopers in the home +counties had roused the peasantry and townsfolk to an interest +in the struggle which they had never before displayed. Up to +this moment the civil war had been conducted like a great faction +fight; the barons and their liveried retainers had been wont to +seek some convenient heath or hill and there to fight out their +quarrel with the minimum of damage to the countryside. The +deliberate harrying of the Midlands by Margaret’s northern +levies was a new departure, and one bitterly resented. The +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Towton.</span> +house of Lancaster could never for the future count on an +adherent south of Trent or east of Chiltern. The Yorkist army +that marched in pursuit of the raiders, and won the +bloody field of Towton under Warwick’s guidance, +gave no quarter. Not only was the slaughter in that +battle and the pursuit more cruel than anything that had been +seen since the day of Evesham, but the executions that followed +were ruthless. Ere Edward turned south he had beheaded +<span class="sidenote">Ruthless reprisals of the Yorkists.</span> +two earls—Devon and Wiltshire—and forty-two +knights, and had hanged many prisoners of lesser +estate. The Yorkist parliament of November 1461 +carried on the work by attainting 133 persons, ranging from +Henry VI. and Queen Margaret down through the peerage and +the knighthood to the clerks and household retainers of the late +king. All the estates of the Lancastrian lords, living or dead, +were confiscated, and their blood was declared corrupted. +This brought into the king’s hands such a mass of plunder as no +one had handled since William the Conqueror. Edward IV. +<span class="sidenote">Personal rule of Edward IV.</span> +could not only reward his adherents with it, so as to +create a whole new court noblesse, but had enough +over to fill his exchequer for many years, and to +enable him to dispense with parliamentary grants of +money for an unexampled period. Between 1461 and 1465 +he only asked for £37,000 from the nation—and won no small +popularity thereby. For, in their joy at being quit of taxation, +men forgot that they were losing the lever by which their +fathers had been wont to move the crown to constitutional +concessions.</p> + +<p>After Towton peace prevailed south of the Tyne and east of +the Severn, for it was only in Northumberland and in Wales that +the survivors of the Lancastrian faction succeeded +in keeping the war alive. King Edward, as indolent +<span class="sidenote">Civil war in the north and west.</span> +and pleasure-loving in times of ease as he was active +and ruthless in times of stress and battle, set himself +to enjoy life, handing over the suppression of the rebels to his +ambitious and untiring cousin Richard of Warwick. The annals +of the few contemporary chroniclers are so entirely devoted to +the bickerings in the extreme north and west, that it is necessary +to insist on the fact that from 1461 onwards the civil war was +purely local, and nine-tenths of the realm enjoyed what passed +for peace in the 15th century. The campaigns of 1462-63-64, +though full of incident and bloodshed, were not of first-rate +political importance. The cause of Lancaster had been lost at +Towton, and all that Queen Margaret succeeded in accomplishing +was to keep Northumberland in revolt, mainly by means +of French and Scottish succours. Her last English partisans, +attainted men who had lost their lands and lived with the +shadow of the axe ever before them, fought bitterly enough. +But the obstinate and hard-handed Warwick beat them down +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Hexham. Imprisonment of Henry VI.</span> +again and again, and the old Lancastrian party was +almost exterminated when the last of its chiefs went +to the block in the series of wholesale executions that +followed the battle of Hexham (May 15, 1464). A +year later Henry VI. himself fell into the hands of his +enemies, as he lurked in Lancashire, and with his consignment +to the Tower the dynastic question seemed finally solved in +favour of the house of York.</p> + +<p>The first ten years of the reign of Edward IV. fall into two +parts, the dividing point being the avowal of the king’s marriage +to Elizabeth Woodville in November 1464. During the +first of these periods Edward reigned but Warwick +<span class="sidenote">Richard Neville, earl of Warwick.</span> +governed; he was not only the fighting man, but the +statesman and diplomatist of the Yorkist party, and +enjoyed a complete ascendancy over his young master, who long +preferred thriftless ease to the toils of personal monarchy. +Warwick represented the better side of the victorious cause; +he was no mere factious king-maker, and his later nickname of +“the last of the barons” by no means expresses his character +or his position. He was strong, not so much by reason of his +vast estates and his numerous retainers, as by reason of the +confidence which the greater part of the nation placed in him. +He never forgot that the Yorkist party had started as the +advocates of sound and strong administration, and the mandatories +of the popular will against the queen’s incapable and +corrupt ministers. “He ever had the goodwill of the people +because he knew how to give them fair words, and always spoke +not of himself but of the augmentation and good governance +of the kingdom, for which he would spend his life; and thus he +had the goodwill of England, so that in all the land he was the +lord who was held in most esteem and faith and credence.” As +long as he remained supreme, parliaments were regularly held, +and the house of York appeared to be keeping its bargain with +the nation. His policy was sound; peace with France, the rehabilitation +of the dwindling foreign trade of England, and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page519" id="page519"></a>519</span> +maintenance of law and justice by strong-handed governance +were his main aims.</p> + +<p>But Warwick was one of those ministers who love to do everything +for themselves, and chafe at masters and colleagues who +presume to check or to criticise their actions. He was surrounded +and supported, moreover, by a group of brothers and +cousins, to whom he gave most of his confidence, and most of +the preferment that came to his hands. England has always +chafed against a family oligarchy, however well it may do its +work. The Yorkist magnates who did not belong to the clan +of the Nevilles were not unnaturally jealous of that house, and +Edward IV. himself gradually came to realize the ignominious +position of a king who is managed and overruled by a strong-willed +and arbitrary minister.</p> + +<p>His first sign of revolt was his secret marriage to Elizabeth +Woodville, a lady of decidedly Lancastrian connexions, for her +father and her first husband were both members of +the defeated faction. Warwick was at the moment +<span class="sidenote">Edward IV. marries Elizabeth Woodville.</span> +suing for the hand of Louis XI.’s sister-in-law in +his master’s name, and had to back out of his negotiations +in a sudden and somewhat ridiculous fashion. +His pride was hurt, but for two years more there was no open +breach between him and his master, though their estrangement +grew more and more marked when Edward continued to heap +titles and estates on his wife’s numerous relatives, and to conclude +for them marriage alliances with all the great Yorkist families +who were not of the Neville connexion. In this way +<span class="sidenote">Breach between Warwick and the king.</span> +he built up for himself a personal following within the +Yorkist party; but the relative strength of this faction +and of that which still looked upon Warwick as the +true representative of the cause had yet to be tried. +The king had in his favour the prestige of the royal name, and +a popularity won by his easy-going affability and his liberal +gifts. The earl had his established reputation for disinterested +devotion to the welfare of the realm, and his brilliant record +as a soldier and statesman. In districts as far apart as Kent +and Yorkshire, his word counted for a good deal more than that +of his sovereign.</p> + +<p>Unhappily for England and for himself, Warwick’s loyalty +was not sufficient to restrain his ambition and his resentment. +He felt the ingratitude of the king, whom he had +made, so bitterly that he stooped ere long to intrigue +<span class="sidenote">Warwick organizes a rebellion.</span> +and treason. Edward in 1467 openly broke with him +by dismissing his brother George Neville from the +chancellorship, by repudiating a treaty with France which the +earl had just negotiated, and by concluding an alliance with +Burgundy against which he had always protested. Warwick enlisted +in his cause the king’s younger brother George of Clarence, +who desired to marry his daughter and heiress Isabella Neville, +and with the aid of this unscrupulous but unstable young man +began to organize rebellion. His first experiment in treason was +the so-called “rising of Robin of Redesdale,” which +<span class="sidenote">Rising of “Robin of Redesdale.”</span> +was ostensibly an armed protest by the gentry and +commons of Yorkshire against the maladministration +of the realm by the king’s favourites—his wife’s +relatives, and the courtiers whom he had lately promoted to high +rank and office. The rebellion was headed by well-known adherents +of the earl, and the nickname of “Robin of Redesdale” +seems to have covered the personality of his kinsman Sir John +Conyers. When the rising was well started Warwick declared +his sympathy with the aims of the insurgents, wedded his +daughter to Clarence despite the king’s prohibition of the match, +and raised a force at Calais with which he landed in Kent.</p> + +<p>But his plot was already successful before he reached the scene +of operations. The Yorkshire rebels beat the royalist army at +the battle of Edgecott (July 6, 1469). A few days later +Edward himself was captured at Olney and put into +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Edgecott. Edward a prisoner.</span> +the earl’s hands. Many of his chief supporters, including +the queen’s father, Lord Rivers, and her brother, +John Woodville, as well as the newly-created earls of Pembroke +and Devon, were put to death with Warwick’s connivance, if +not by his direct orders. The king was confined for some +weeks in the great Neville stronghold of Middleham Castle, but +presently released on conditions, being compelled to accept +new ministers nominated by Warwick. The earl supposed that +his cousin’s spirit was broken and that he would give +<span class="sidenote">Execution of the queen’s relatives.</span> +no further trouble. In this he erred grievously. +Edward vowed revenge for his slaughtered favourites, +and waited his opportunity. Warwick had lost +credit by using such underhand methods in his attack on his +master, and had not taken sufficient care to conciliate public +opinion when he reconstructed the government. His conduct +had destroyed his old reputation for disinterestedness and +honesty.</p> + +<p>In March 1470 the king seized the first chance of avenging himself. +Some unimportant riots had broken out in Lincolnshire, +originating probably in mere local quarrels, but possibly +in Lancastrian intrigues. To suppress this rising the +<span class="sidenote">King Edward drives Warwick into exile.</span> +king gathered a great force, carefully calling in to his +banner all the peers who were offended with Warwick +or, at any rate, did not belong to his family alliance. +Having scattered the Lincolnshire bands, he suddenly turned +upon Warwick with his army, and caught him wholly unprepared. +The earl and his son-in-law Clarence were hunted out of the realm +before they could collect their partisans, and fled to France; +Edward seemed for the first time to be master in his own +realm.</p> + +<p>But the Wars of the Roses had one more phase to come. +Warwick’s name was still a power in the land, and his expulsion +had been so sudden that he had not been given an +opportunity of trying his strength. His old enmity +<span class="sidenote">Warwick takes up the cause of Henry VI.</span> +for the house of Lancaster was completely swallowed +up in his new grudge against the king that he had +made. He opened negotiations with the exiled Queen +Margaret, and offered to place his sword at her disposition for +the purpose of overthrowing King Edward and restoring King +Henry. The queen had much difficulty in forcing herself to +come to terms with the man who had been the bane of her cause, +but finally, was induced by Louis XI. to conclude a bargain. +Warwick married his younger daughter to her son Edward, prince +of Wales, as a pledge of his good faith, and swore allegiance to +<span class="sidenote">He lands in England.</span> +King Henry in the cathedral of Angers. He then set himself +to stir up the Yorkshire adherents of the house of Neville to +distract the attention of Edward IV. When the king +had gone northward to attack them, the earl landed +at Dartmouth (Sept. 1470) with a small force partly +composed of Lancastrian exiles, partly of his own +men. His appearance had the effect on which he had calculated. +Devon rose in the Lancastrian interest; Kent, where the +earl’s name had always been popular, took arms a +<span class="sidenote">King Edward in exile.</span> +few days later; and London opened its gates. King +Edward, hurrying south to oppose the invader, found +his army melting away from his banner, and hastily +took ship at Lynn and fled to Holland. He found a refuge +with his brother-in-law and ally Charles the Bold, the great +duke of Burgundy.</p> + +<p>King Henry was released and replaced on the throne, and for +six months Warwick ruled England as his lieutenant. But there +was bitterness and mistrust between the old Lancastrian +faction and the Nevilles, and Queen Margaret +<span class="sidenote">Restoration of Henry VI.</span> +refused to cross to England or to trust her son in the +king-maker’s hands. Her partisans doubted his sincerity, +while many of the Yorkists who had hitherto followed +Warwick in blind admiration found it impossible to reconcile +themselves to the new régime. The duke of Clarence in particular, +discontented at the triumph of Lancaster, betrayed his +father-in-law, and opened secret negotiations with his exiled +brother. Encouraged by the news of the dissensions among his +enemies, Edward IV. resolved to try his fortune once +<span class="sidenote">Edward returns to England.</span> +more, and landed near Hull on the 15th of March +1471 with a body of mercenaries lent him by the +duke of Burgundy. The campaign that followed was +most creditable to Edward’s generalship, but must have been +fatal to him if Warwick had been honestly supported by his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page520" id="page520"></a>520</span> +lieutenants. But the duke of Clarence betrayed to his brother +the army which he had gathered in King Henry’s name, and +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Barnet. Death of Warwick.</span> +many of the Lancastrians were slow to join the earl, +from their distrust of his loyalty. Edward, dashing +through the midst of the slowly gathering levies of +his opponents, seized London, and two days later +defeated and slew Warwick at the battle of Barnet (April 13, +1471).</p> + +<p>On that same day Queen Margaret and her son landed at +Weymouth, only to hear that the earl was dead and +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Tewkesbury. Death of Edward, prince of Wales.</span> +his army scattered. But she refused to consider the +struggle ended, and gathered the Lancastrians of the +west for a final rally. On the fatal day of Tewkesbury +(May 3, 1471) her army was beaten, her son +was slain in the flight, and the greater part of her +chief captains were taken prisoner. She herself was +captured next day. The victorious Edward sent to the block +the last Beaufort duke of Somerset, and nearly all +the other captains of rank, whether Lancastrians or +<span class="sidenote">Capture of Queen Margaret and murder of Henry VI.</span> +followers of Warwick. He then moved to London, +which was being threatened by Kentish levies raised +in Warwick’s name, delivered the city, and next day +caused the unhappy Henry VI. to be murdered in the +Tower (May 21, 1471).</p> + +<p>The descendants of Henry IV. were now extinct, and the +succession question seemed settled for ever. No one dreamed +of raising against King Edward the claims of the +remoter heirs of John of Gaunt—the young earl of +<span class="sidenote">Edward IV.</span> +Richmond, who represented the Beauforts by a female +descent, or the king of Portugal, the grandson of Gaunt’s eldest +daughter. Edward was now king indeed, with no over-powerful +cousin at his elbow to curb his will. He had, moreover, at his +disposal plunder almost as valuable as that which he had divided +up in 1461—the estates of the great Neville clan and their adherents. +A great career seemed open before him; he had proved +himself a fine soldier and an unscrupulous diplomatist; he was +in the very prime of life, having not yet attained his thirty-first +year. He might have devoted himself to foreign politics and +have rivalled the exploits of Edward III. or Henry V.—for the +state of the continent was all in his favour—or might have set +himself to organize an absolute monarchy on the ruins of the +parliament and the baronage. For the successive attainders +of the Lancastrians and the Nevilles had swept away many of +the older noble families, and Edward’s house of peers consisted +for the main part of new men, his own partisans promoted for +good service, who had not the grip on the land that their +predecessors had possessed.</p> + +<p>But Edward either failed to see his opportunity or refused to +take it. He did not plunge headlong into the wars of Louis XI. +and Charles of Burgundy, nor did he attempt to recast +the institutions of the realm. He settled down into +<span class="sidenote">Character of the reign.</span> +inglorious ease, varied at long intervals by outbursts +of spasmodic tyranny. It would seem that the key +to his conduct was that he hated the hard work without which +a despotic king cannot hope to assert his personality, and +preferred leisure and vicious self-indulgence. In many ways +the later years of his reign were marked with all the signs of +absolutism. Between 1475 and 1483 he called only one single +parliament, and that was summoned not to give him advice, +or raise him money, but purely and solely to attaint his brother, <span class="correction" title="'the duke' was missing">the duke</span> +of Clarence, whom he had resolved to destroy. The +<span class="sidenote">Murder of the duke of Clarence.</span> +duke’s fate (Feb. 17, 1478) need provoke no sympathy, +he was a detestable intriguer, and had given his brother +just offence by a series of deeds of high-handed violence +and by perpetual cavilling. But he had committed no act of +real treason since his long-pardoned alliance with Warwick, +and was not in any way dangerous; so that when the king +caused him to be attainted, and then privately murdered in the +Tower, there was little justification for the fratricide.</p> + +<p>Edward was a thrifty king; he was indeed the only medieval +monarch of England who succeeded in keeping free of debt and +made his revenue suffice for his expenses. But his methods +of filling his purse were often unconstitutional and sometimes +<span class="sidenote">Fiscal policy.</span> +ignominious. When the resources drawn from confiscations +were exhausted, he raised “benevolences”—forced +gifts extracted from men of wealth by the unspoken +threat of the royal displeasure—instead of applying to +parliament for new taxes. But his most profitable source of +revenue was drawn from abroad. Having allied himself with his +brother-in-law Charles of Burgundy against the king of France, +he led an army into Picardy in 1475, and then by the treaty of +Picquigny sold peace to Louis XI. for 75,000 gold crowns down, +and an annual pension (or tribute as he preferred to call it) of +50,000 crowns more. It was regularly paid up to the last year +of his reign. Charles the Bold, whom he had thus deliberately +deserted in the middle of their joint campaign, used the strongest +language about this mean act of treachery, and with good cause. +But the king cared not when his pockets were full. Another +device of Edward for filling his exchequer was a very stringent +enforcement of justice; small infractions of the laws being +made the excuse for exorbitant fines. This was a trick which +Henry VII. was to turn to still greater effect. In defence of +both it may be pleaded that after the anarchy of the Wars of the +Roses a strong hand was needed to restore security for life and +property, and that it was better that penalties should be over-heavy +rather than that there should be no penalties at all. +Another appreciable source of revenue to Edward was his private +commercial ventures. He owned many ships, and traded with +great profit to himself abroad, because he could promise, as a +king, advantages to foreign buyers and sellers with which no +mere merchant could compete.</p> + +<p>During the last period of Edward’s rule England might have +been described as a despotism, if only the king had cared to be +a despot. But except on rare occasions he allowed his power +to be disguised under the old machinery of the medieval +monarchy, and made no parade of his autocracy. Much was +pardoned by the nation to one who gave them comparatively +efficient and rather cheap government, and who was personally +easy of access, affable and humorous. It is with little justification +that he has been called the “founder of the new monarchy,” +and the spiritual ancestor of the Tudor despotism. Another +king in his place might have merited such titles, but Edward +was too careless, too unsystematic, too lazy, and too fond of self-indulgence +to make a real tyrant. He preferred to be a man of +pleasure and leisure, only awaking now and then to perpetrate +some act of arbitrary cruelty.</p> + +<p>England was not unprosperous under him. The lowest point +of her fortunes had been reached under the administration of +Margaret of Anjou, during the weary years that preceded +the outbreak of the civil wars in 1459. At that +<span class="sidenote">Condition of the country.</span> +time the government had been bankrupt, foreign +trade had almost disappeared, the French and pirates +of all nations had possession of the Channel, and the nation had +lost heart, because there seemed no way out of the trouble save +domestic strife, to which all looked forward with dismay. The +actual war proved less disastrous than had been expected. It +fell heavily upon the baronage and their retainers, but passed +lightly, for the most part, over the heads of the middle classes. +The Yorkists courted the approval of public opinion by their +careful avoidance of pillage and requisitions; and the Lancastrians, +though less scrupulous, only once launched out into +general raiding and devastation, during the advance of the +queen’s army to St Albans in the early months of 1461. As +a rule the towns suffered little or nothing—they submitted to +the king of the moment, and were always spared by the victors. +It is one of the most curious features of these wars that no town +ever stood a siege, though there were several long and arduous +sieges of baronial castles, such as Harlech, Alnwick and Bamborough. +Warwick, with his policy of conciliation for the masses +and hard blows for the magnates, was mainly responsible for +this moderation. In battle he was wont to bid his followers +spare the commons in the pursuit, and to smite only the knights +and nobles. Towton, where the Yorkist army was infuriated by +the harrying of the Midlands by their enemies in the preceding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page521" id="page521"></a>521</span> +campaign, was the only fight that ended in a general +massacre. There were, of course, many local feuds and riots +which led to the destruction of property; well-known instances +are the private war about Caister Castle between the duke of +Norfolk and the Pastons, and the “battle of Nibley Green,” +near Bristol, between the Berkeleys and the Talbots. But on +the whole there was no ruinous devastation of the land. Prosperity +seems to have revived early during the rule of York; +Warwick had cleared the seas of pirates, and both he and King +Edward were great patrons of commerce, though the earl’s +policy was to encourage trade with France, while his master +wished to knit up the old alliance with Flanders by adhering +<span class="sidenote">Commercial development.</span> +to the cause of Charles of Burgundy. Edward did +much in his later years to develop interchange of +commodities with the Baltic, making treaties with +the Hanseatic League which displeased the merchants +of London, because of the advantageous terms granted to the +foreigner. The east coast ports seem to have thriven under his +rule, but Bristol was not less prosperous. On the one side, +developing the great salt-fish trade, her vessels were encompassing +Iceland, and feeling their way towards the Banks of +the West; on the other they were beginning to feel their way +into the Mediterranean. The famous William Canynges, the +patriarch of Bristol merchants, possessed 2500 tons of shipping, +including some ships of 900 tons, and traded in every sea. Yet +we still find complaints that too much merchandize reached +and left England in foreign bottoms, and King Edward’s treaty +with the Hansa was censured mainly for this reason. Internal +commerce was evidently developing in a satisfactory style, +despite of the wars; in especial raw wool was going out of +England in less bulk than of old, because cloth woven at home +was becoming the staple export. The woollen manufactures +which had begun in the eastern counties in the 14th century +were now spreading all over the land, taking root especially in +<span class="sidenote">Manufactures and wool trade.</span> +Somersetshire, Yorkshire and some districts of the +Midlands. Coventry, the centre of a local woollen +and dyeing industry, was probably the inland town +which grew most rapidly during the 15th century. +Yet there was still a large export of wool to Flanders, and the +long pack-trains of the Cotswold flockmasters still wound +eastward to the sea for the benefit of the merchants of the staple +and the continental manufacturer.</p> + +<p>As regards domestic agriculture, it has been often stated that +the 15th century was the golden age of the English peasant, and +that his prosperity was little affected either by the +unhappy French wars of Henry VI. or by the Wars +<span class="sidenote">State of the rural population.</span> +of the Roses. There is certainly very little evidence of +any general discontent among the rural population, +such as had prevailed in the times of Edward III. or Richard II. +Insurrections that passed as popular, like the risings of Jack +Cade and Robin of Redesdale, produced manifestos that spoke +of political grievances but hardly mentioned economic ones. +There is a bare mention of the Statute of Labourers in Jack +Cade’s ably drafted chapter of complaints. It would seem that +the manorial grudges between landowner and peasant, which +had been so fierce in the 14th century, had died down as the lords +abandoned the old system of working their demesne by villein +labour. They were now for the most part letting out the soil +to tenant-farmers at a moderate rent, and the large class of +yeomanry created by this movement seem to have been prosperous. +The less popular device of turning old manorial arable +land into sheep-runs was also known, but does not yet seem +to have grown so common as to provoke the popular discontents +which were to prevail under the Tudors. Probably such labour +as was thrown out of work by this tendency was easily absorbed +by the growing needs of the towns. Some murmurs are heard +about “enclosures,” but they are incidental and not widely +spread.</p> + +<p>One of the best tests of the prosperity of England under the +Yorkist rule seems to be the immense amount of building that +was on hand. Despite the needs of civil war, it was not +on castles that the builders’ energy was spent; the government +<span class="sidenote">Architecture.</span> +discouraged fortresses in private hands, and the dwellings of the +new nobility of Edward IV. were rather splendid manor-houses, +with some slight external protection of moat and gate-house, +than old-fashioned castles. But the church-building +of the time is enormous and magnificent. +A very large proportion of the great Perpendicular churches of +England date back to this age, and in the cathedrals also much +work was going on.</p> + +<p>Material prosperity does not imply spiritual development, +and it must be confessed that from the intellectual and moral +point of view 15th-century England presents an unpleasing +picture. The Wycliffite movement, the one +<span class="sidenote">Religious condition of the country.</span> +phenomenon which at the beginning of the century +seemed to give some promise of better things, had +died down under persecution. It lingered on in a subterranean +fashion among a small class in the universities and the minor +clergy, and had some adherents among the townsfolk and even +among the peasantry. But the Lollards were a feeble and helpless +minority; they no longer produced writers, organizers or +missionaries. They continued to be burnt, or more frequently +to make forced recantations, under the Yorkist rule, though the +list of trials is not a long one. Little can be gathered concerning +them from chronicles or official records. We only know that +they continued to exist, and occasionally produced a martyr. +But the governing powers were not fanatics, bent on seeking +out victims; the spirit of Henry V. and Archbishop Arundel +was dead. The life of the church seems, indeed, to have been +in a more stagnant and torpid condition in this age than at any +other period of English history. The great prelates from Cardinal +Beaufort down to Archbishops Bourchier and Rotherham, and +Bishop John Russell—trusted supporters of the Yorkist dynasty—were +mere politicians with nothing spiritual about them. +Occasionally they appear in odious positions. Rotherham was +the ready tool of Edward IV. in the judicial murder of Clarence. +Russell became the obsequious chancellor of Richard III. +Bourchier made himself responsible in 1483 for the taking of the +little duke of York from his mother’s arms in order to place him +in the power of his murderous uncle. It is difficult to find a single +bishop in the whole period who was respected for his piety or +virtue. The best of them were capable statesmen, the worst were +mean time-servers. Few of the higher clergy were such patrons +of learning as many prelates of earlier ages. William Grey of +Ely and James Goldwell of Norwich did something for scholars, +and there was one bishop in the period who came to sad grief +through an intellectual activity which was rare among his +contemporaries. This was the eccentric Reginald Pecock of +Chichester, who, while setting himself to confute Lollard controversialists, +lapsed into heresy by setting “reason” above +“authority.” He taught that the organization and many of +the dogmas of the medieval church should be justified by an +appeal to private judgment and the moral law, rather than to +the scriptures, the councils, or the fathers. For taking up this +dangerous line of defence, and admitting his doubts about +several received articles of faith, he was attacked by the Yorkist +archbishop Bourchier in 1457, compelled to do penance, and shut +up in a monastery for the rest of his life. He seems to have had +no school of followers, and his doctrines died with him.</p> + +<p>In nothing is the general stagnation of the church in the later +15th century shown better than by the gradual cessation of the +monastic chronicles. The stream of narrative was +still flowing strongly in 1400; by 1485 it has run dry, +<span class="sidenote">The monasteries.</span> +even St Albans, the mother of historians, produced +no annalist after Whethamstede, whose story ceases +early in the Wars of the Roses. The only monastic chronicler +who went on writing for a few years after the extinction of the +house of York was the “Croyland continuator.” For the last +two-thirds of the century the various “London chronicles,” +the work of laymen, are much more important than anything +which was produced in the religious houses. The regular clergy +indeed seem to have been sunk in intellectual torpor. Their +numbers were falling off, their zeal was gone; there is little good to +be said of them save that they were still in some cases endowing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page522" id="page522"></a>522</span> +England with splendid architectural decorations. But even in the +wealthier abbeys we find traces of thriftless administration, +idleness, self-indulgence and occasionally grave moral scandals. +The parochial clergy were probably in a healthier condition; +but the old abuses of pluralism and non-residence were as +rampant as ever, and though their work may have been in many +cases honourably carried out, it is certain that energy and +intelligence were at a low ebb.</p> + +<p>The moral faults of the church only reflected those of the +nation. It was a hard and selfish generation which witnessed +the Wars of the Roses and the dictatorship of +Edward IV. The iniquitous French war, thirty years +<span class="sidenote">Moral decay of the nation.</span> +of plunder and demoralization, had corrupted the +minds of the governing classes before the civil strife +began. Afterwards the constant and easy changes of allegiance, +as one faction or the other was in the ascendant, the wholesale +confiscations and attainders, the never-ending executions, the +sudden prosperity of adventurers, the premium on time-serving +and intrigue, sufficed to make the whole nation cynical and +sordid. The claim of the Yorkists to represent constitutional +opposition to misgovernment became a mere hypocrisy. The +claim of the Lancastrians to represent loyalty soon grew almost +as hollow. Edward IV. with his combination of vicious self-indulgence +and spasmodic cruelty was no unfit representative +<span class="sidenote">The “Paston Letters.”</span> +of his age. The <i>Paston Letters</i>, that unique collection +of the private correspondence of a typical family of +<i>nouveaux riches</i>, thriftless, pushing, unscrupulous, give +us the true picture of the time. All that can be said in +favour of the Yorkists is that they restored a certain measure of +national prosperity, and that their leaders had one redeeming +virtue in their addiction to literature. The learning which had +died out in monasteries began to flourish again in the corrupt soil +of the court. Most of Edward’s favourites had literary tastes. +His constable Tiptoft, the “butcher earl” of Worcester, was a +figure who might have stepped out of the Italian Renaissance. +<span class="sidenote">Influence of the Italian Renaissance.</span> +A graduate of Pavia, a learned lawyer, who translated +Caesar and Cicero, composed works both in Latin +and English, and habitually impaled his victims, he +was a man of a type hitherto unknown in England. +Antony, Lord Rivers, the queen’s brother, was a mere adventurer, +but a poet of some merit, and a great patron of +Caxton. Hastings, the Bourchiers, and other of the king’s +friends were minor patrons of literature. It is curious to find +that Caxton, an honest man, and an enthusiast as to the future +of the art of printing, which he had introduced into England, +waxes enthusiastic as to the merits of the intelligent but unscrupulous +peers who took an interest in his endeavours. Of +the detestable Tiptoft he writes that “there flowered in virtue +and cunning none like him among the lords of the temporalty in +science and moral virtue”! And this is no time-serving praise +of a patron, but disinterested tribute to a man who had perished +long before on the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The uneventful latter half of the reign of Edward IV. ended +with his death at the age of forty-one on the 9th of April 1483. +He had ruined a splendid constitution by the combination +of sloth and evil living, and during his last +<span class="sidenote">Death of Edward IV.</span> +years had been sinking slowly into his grave, unable +to take the field or to discharge the more laborious +duties of royalty. Since Clarence’s death he had been gradually +falling into the habit of transferring the conduct of great matters +of state to his active and hard-working youngest brother, +Richard, duke of Gloucester, who had served him well +and faithfully ever since he first took the field at Barnet. +<span class="sidenote">Richard, duke of Gloucester.</span> +Gloucester passed as a staid and religious prince, and +if there was blood on his hands, the same could be said +of every statesman of his time. His sudden plunge into crime +and usurpation after his brother’s death was wholly unexpected +by the nation. Indeed it was his previous reputation for loyalty +and moderation which made his scandalous <i>coup d’état</i> of 1483 +possible. No prince with a sinister reputation would have had +the chance of executing the series of crimes which placed him +on the throne. But when Richard declared that he was the +victim of plots and intrigues, and was striking down his enemies +only to defend his own life and honour, he was for some time +believed.</p> + +<p>At the moment of King Edward’s death his elder son by +Elizabeth Woodville, Edward, prince of Wales, was twelve; +his younger son Richard, duke of York, was nine. It +was clear that there would be a long minority, and +<span class="sidenote">Gloucester proclaims himself protector.</span> +that the only possible claimants for the regency were +the queen and Richard of Gloucester. Elizabeth was +personally unpopular, and the rapacity and insolence of her +family was well known. Hence when Richard of Gloucester +seized on the person of the young king, and imprisoned Lord +Rivers and Sir Richard Grey, the queen’s brother and son, on +the pretence that they were conspiring against him, his action +was regarded with equanimity by the people. Nor did the fact +that the duke took the title of “protector and defender of the +realm” cause any surprise. Suspicions only became rife after +Richard had seized and beheaded without any trial, Lord +Hastings, the late king’s most familiar friend, and had arrested +at the same moment the archbishop of York, Morton, bishop of +Ely, and Lord Stanley, all persons of unimpeachable loyalty to +the house of Edward IV. It was not plausible to accuse such +persons of plotting with the queen to overthrow the protector, +and public opinion began to turn against Gloucester. Nevertheless +he went on recklessly with his design, having already +enlisted the support of a party of the greater peers, who were +ready to follow him to any length of treason. These confidants, +the duke of Buckingham, the lords Howard and Lovel, and a few +more, must have known from an early date that he was aiming +at the crown, though it is improbable that they suspected that +his plan involved the murder of the rightful heirs as well as mere +usurpation.</p> + +<p>On the 16th of June, Richard, using the aged archbishop +Bourchier as his tool, got the little duke of York out of his +mother’s hands, and sent him to join his brother in the Tower. +A few days later, having packed London with his own armed +retainers and those of Buckingham and his other confidants, he +openly put forward his pretensions to the throne. Edward IV., +as he asserted, had been privately contracted to Lady Eleanor +Talbot before he ever met Queen Elizabeth. His children +therefore were bastards, the offspring of a bigamous union. As +to the son and daughter of the duke of Clarence, their blood had +been corrupted by their father’s attainder, and they could not +be reckoned as heirs to the crown. He himself, therefore, was the +legitimate successor of Edward IV. This preposterous theory +was set forth by Buckingham, first to the mayor and corporation +of London, and next day to an assembly of the estates of the realm +held in St Paul’s. Cowed by the show of armed force, and +remembering the fate of Hastings, the two assemblies received +the claim with silence which gave consent. Richard, after a +<span class="sidenote">Richard III. crowned.</span> +hypocritical show of reluctance, allowed himself to +be saluted as king, and was crowned on the 6th of July +1483. Before the coronation ceremony he had issued +orders for the execution of the queen’s relatives, who +had been in prison since the beginning of May. He paid his +adherents lavishly for their support, making Lord Howard duke +of Norfolk, and giving Buckingham enormous grants of estates +and offices.</p> + +<p>Having accomplished his <i>coup d’état</i> Richard started for a +royal progress through the Midlands, and a few days after his +departure sent back secret orders to London for the +murder of his two nephews in the Tower. There is +<span class="sidenote">Murder of the princes.</span> +no reason to doubt that they were secretly smothered +on or about the 15th of July by his agent Sir James +Tyrrell, or that the bones found buried under a staircase in the +fortress two hundred years after belonged to the two unhappy +lads. But the business was kept dark at the time, and it was +long before any one could assert with certainty that they were +dead or alive. Richard never published any statement as to +their end, though some easy tale of a fever, a conflagration, +or an accident might have served him better than the mere +silence that he employed. For while many persons believed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page523" id="page523"></a>523</span> +that the princes still existed there was room for all manner of +impostures and false rumours.</p> + +<p>The usurper’s reign was from the first a troubled one. Less +than three months after his coronation the first insurrection +broke out; it was headed—strangely enough—by the +duke of Buckingham, who seems to have been shocked +<span class="sidenote">Buckingham’s rebellion.</span> +by the murder of the princes; he must have been +one of the few who had certain information of the +crime. He did not take arms in his own cause, though after the +house of York the house of Buckingham had the best claim +to the throne, as representing Thomas of Woodstock, the youngest +son of Edward III. His plan was to unite the causes of York and +Lancaster by wedding the Lady Elizabeth, the eldest sister of the +murdered princes, to Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, a young +exile who represented the very doubtful claim of the Beauforts +to the Lancastrian heritage. Henry was the son of Margaret +Beaufort, the daughter of John, first duke of Somerset, and the +niece of Edmund, second duke, who fell at St Albans. All her +male kinsmen had been exterminated in the Wars of the Roses.</p> + +<p>This promising scheme was to be supported by a rising of +those Yorkists who rejected the usurpation of Richard III., +and by the landing on the south coast of Henry of +Richmond with a body of Lancastrian exiles and +<span class="sidenote">Execution of Buckingham.</span> +foreign mercenaries. But good organization was +wanting, and chance fought for the king. A number +of scattered risings in the south were put down by Richard’s +troops, while Buckingham, who had raised his banner in Wales, +was prevented from bringing aid by a week of extraordinary +rains which made the Severn impassable. Finding that the rest +of the plan had miscarried, Buckingham’s retainers melted away +from him, and he was forced to fly. A few days later he was +betrayed, handed over to the king, and beheaded (Nov. 2, 1483). +Meanwhile Richmond’s little fleet was dispersed by the same +storms that scattered Buckingham’s army, and he was forced +to return to Brittany without having landed in England.</p> + +<p>Here King Richard’s luck ended. Though he called a parliament +early in 1484, and made all manner of gracious promises +of good governance, he felt that his position was insecure. The +nation was profoundly disgusted with his unscrupulous policy, +and the greater part of the leaders of the late insurrection had +escaped abroad and were weaving new plots. Early in the spring +he lost his only son and heir, Edward, prince of Wales, and the +question of the succession to the crown was opened from a new +point of view. After some hesitation Richard named his nephew +John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, a son of his sister, as his heir. +But he also bethought him of another and a most repulsive plan +for strengthening his position. His queen, Anne Neville, the +daughter of the kingmaker, was on her death-bed. With indecent +haste he began to devise a scheme for marrying his niece Elizabeth, +whose brothers he had murdered but a year before. Knowledge +of this scheme is said to have shortened the life of the +unfortunate Anne, and many did not scruple to say that her +husband had made away with her.</p> + +<p>When the queen was dead, and some rumours of the king’s +intentions got abroad, the public indignation was so great that +Richard’s councillors had to warn him to disavow the +projected marriage, if he wished to retain a single +<span class="sidenote">Henry of Richmond lands at Milford.</span> +adherent. He yielded, and made public complaint +that he had been slandered—which few believed. +Meanwhile the conspirators of 1483 were busy in organizing +another plan of invasion. This time it was successfully carried +out, and the earl of Richmond landed at Milford Haven with +many exiles, both Yorkists and Lancastrians, and 1000 mercenaries +lent him by the princess regent of France. The Welsh +joined him in great numbers, not forgetting that by his Tudor +descent he was their own kinsman, and when he reached Shrewsbury +English adherents also began to flock in to his banner, for +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Bosworth.</span> +the whole country was seething with discontent, and +Richard III. had but few loyal adherents. When the +rivals met at Bosworth Field (Aug. 22, 1485) the king’s +army was far the larger, but the greater part of it was determined +not to fight. When battle was joined some left the field +and many joined the pretender. Richard, however, refused to +fly, and was slain, fighting to the last, along with the duke of +Norfolk and a few other of his more desperate partisans. The +slaughter was small, for treason, not the sword, had settled the +day. The battered crown which had fallen from Richard’s +helmet was set on the victor’s head by Lord Stanley, the chief +of the Yorkist peers who had joined his standard, and his army +hailed him by the new title of Henry VII.</p> + +<p>No monarch of England since William the Conqueror, not +excluding Stephen and Henry IV., could show such a poor title +to the throne as the first of the Tudor kings. His +claim to represent the house of Lancaster was of the +<span class="sidenote">Henry VII.</span> +weakest—when Henry IV. had assented to the legitimating +of his brothers the Beauforts, he had attached a clause +to the act, to provide that they were given every right save that +of counting in the line of succession to the throne. The true +heir to the house of John of Gaunt should have been sought +among the descendants of his eldest legitimate daughter, not +among those of his base-born sons. The earl of Richmond had +been selected by the conspirators as their figure-head mainly +because he was known as a young man of ability, and because he +was unmarried and could therefore take to wife the princess Elizabeth, +and so absorb the Yorkist claim in his own. This had been +the essential part of the bargain, and Henry was ready to carry +it out, but he insisted that he should first be recognized as king +in his own right, lest it might be held that he ruled merely as his +destined wife’s consort. He was careful to hold his first parliament +and get his title acknowledged before he married the +princess. When he had done so, he had the triple claim by +conquest, by election and by inheritance, safely united. Yet +his position was even then insecure; the vicissitudes of the last +thirty years had shaken the old prestige of the name of king, +and a weaker and less capable man than Henry Tudor might +have failed to retain the crown that he had won. There were +plenty of possible pretenders in existence; the earl of Lincoln, +whom Richard III. had recognized as his heir, was still alive; +the two children of the duke of Clarence might be made the tools +of conspirators; and there was a widespread doubt as to whether +the sons of Edward IV. had actually died in the Tower. The +secrecy with which their uncle had carried out their murder was +destined to be a sore hindrance to his successor.</p> + +<p>Bosworth Field is often treated as the last act of the Wars +of the Roses. This is an error; they were protracted for twelve +years after the accession of Henry VII., and did not +really end till the time of Blackheath Field and the +<span class="sidenote">Early years of the reign.</span> +siege of Exeter (1497). The position of the first Tudor +king is misconceived if his early years are regarded +as a time of strong governance and well-established order. On +the contrary he was in continual danger, and was striving +with all the resources of a ready and untiring mind to rebuild +foundations that were absolutely rotten. Phenomena like the +Cornish revolt (which recalls Cade’s insurrection) and +the Yorkshire rising of 1489, which began with the +<span class="sidenote">Insurrections and plots.</span> +death of the earl of Northumberland, show that at +any moment whole counties might take arms in sheer +lawlessness, or for some local grievance. Loyalty was such an +uncertain thing that the king might call out great levies yet be +forced to doubt whether they would fight for him—at Stoke +Field it seems that a large part of Henry’s army misbehaved, +much as that of Richard III. had done at Bosworth. The +demoralization brought about by the evil years between 1453 +and 1483 could not be lived down in a day—any sort of treason +was possible to the generation that had seen the career of +Warwick and the usurpation of Gloucester. The survivors of that +time were capable of taking arms for any cause that offered a +chance of unreasonable profit, and no one’s loyalty could be +trusted. Did not Sir William Stanley, the best paid of those +who betrayed Richard III., afterwards lose his head for a +deliberate plot to betray Henry VII.? The various attempts +that were made to overturn the new dynasty seem contemptible +to the historian of the 20th century. They were not so contemptible +at the time, because England and Ireland were full +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page524" id="page524"></a>524</span> +of adventurers who were ready to back any cause, and who +looked on the king of the moment as no more than a successful +member of their own class—a base-born Welshman who had been +lucky enough to become the figurehead of the movement that +had overturned an unpopular usurper. The organizing spirits +of the early troubles of the reign of Henry VII. were irreconcilable +Yorkists who had suffered by the change of dynasty; but +their hopes of success rested less on their own strength than on +the not ill-founded notion that England would tire of any ruler +who had to raise taxes and reward his partisans. The position +bore a curious resemblance to that of the early years of Henry IV., +a king who, like Henry VII., had to vindicate a doubtful elective +title to the throne by miracles of cunning and activity. The +later representative of the house of Lancaster was fortunate, +however, in having less formidable enemies than the earlier; the +power of the baronage had been shaken by the Wars of the Roses +no less than the power of the crown; so many old estates had +passed rapidly from hand to hand, so many old titles were +represented by upstarts destitute of local influence, that the +feudal danger had become far less. Risings like that of the +Percies in 1403 were not the things which the seventh Henry +had to fear. He was lucky too in having no adversary of genius +of the type of Owen Glendower. Welsh national spirit indeed +was enlisted on his own side. Yet leaderless seditions and the +plots of obvious impostors sufficed to make his throne tremble, +and a ruler less resolute, less wary, and less unscrupulous might +have been overthrown.</p> + +<p>The first of the king’s troubles was an abortive rising in the +north riding of Yorkshire, the only district where Richard III. +seems to have enjoyed personal popularity. It was led by Lord +Lovel, Richard’s chamberlain and admiral; but the insurgents +dispersed when Henry marched against them with a large force +(1486), and Lovel took refuge in Flanders with Margaret of York, +the widow of Charles the Bold of Burgundy, whose dower towns +were the refuge of all English exiles, and whose coffers were +always open to subsidize plots against her niece’s husband. +Under the auspices of this rancorous princess the second conspiracy +was hatched in the following year (1487). Its leaders +were Lovel and John, earl of Lincoln, whom Richard III. had +designated as his heir. But the Yorkist banner was to be raised, +not in the name of Lincoln, but in that of the boy Edward of +Clarence, then a prisoner in the Tower. His absence and captivity +might seem a fatal hindrance, but the conspirators had +<span class="sidenote">Lambert Simnel.</span> +prepared a “double” who was to take his name till he +could be released. This was a lad named Lambert +Simnel, the son of an Oxford organ-maker, who bore +a personal resemblance to the young captive. The conspirators +seem to have argued that Henry VII. would not proceed to +murder the real Edward, but would rather exhibit him to prove +the imposition; if he took the more drastic alternative Lincoln +could fall back on his own claim to the crown.</p> + +<p>In May 1487 Lincoln and Lovel landed in Ireland accompanied +by other exiles and 2000 German mercenaries. The +cause of York was popular in the Pale, and the Anglo-Irish barons +seem to have conceived the notion that Henry VII. was likely +to prove too strong and capable a king to suit their convenience. +The invading army was welcomed by almost all the lords, and +the spurious Clarence was crowned at Dublin by the name of +Edward VI. A few weeks later Lincoln had recruited his army +with 4000 or 5000 Irish adventurers under Thomas Fitzgerald, +son of the earl of Kildare, and had taken ship for England. He +landed in Lancashire, and pushed forward, hoping to gather the +English Yorkists to his aid. But few had joined him when +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Stoke.</span> +King Henry brought him to action at Stoke, near +Newark, on the 17th of July. Despite the doubtful +conduct of part of the royal army, and the fierce +resistance of the Germans and Irish, the rebel army was routed. +Lincoln and Fitzgerald were slain; Lovel disappeared in the +rout; the young impostor Simnel was taken prisoner. Henry +treated him with politic contempt, and made him a cook boy +in his kitchen. He lived for many years after in the royal household. +The Irish lords were pardoned on renewing their oaths +of fealty; the king did not wish to entangle himself in costly +campaigns beyond St George’s Channel till he had made his +position in England more stable.</p> + +<p>The Yorkist cause was crushed for four years, till it was raised +again by Margaret of Burgundy, with an imposture even more +preposterous than that of Lambert Simnel. In the +intervening space, however, while Henry VII. was +<span class="sidenote">Foreign alliances.</span> +comparatively undisturbed by domestic rebellion, he +found opportunity for a first tentative experiment at interfering +in European politics. He allied himself with Ferdinand and +Isabella of Spain and with Maximilian of Austria, who was +ruling the Netherlands in behalf of his young son, Philip, the +heir of the Burgundian inheritance, for the purpose of preventing +France from annexing Brittany, the last great fief of the crown +which had not yet been absorbed into the Valois royal domain. +This struggle, the only continental war in which the first of the +Tudors risked his fortunes, was not prosecuted with any great +energy, and came to a necessary end when Anne, duchess of +Brittany, in whose behalf it was being waged, disappointed her +allies by marrying Charles VIII. of her own free will (Dec. 1491). +Henry very wisely proceeded to get out of the war on the best +terms possible, and, to the disgust of Maximilian, sold peace to +the French king for 600,000 crowns, as well as an additional +sum representing arrears of the pension which Louis XI. had +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Étaples.</span> +been bound to pay to Edward IV. This treaty of +Étaples was, in short, a repetition of Edward’s treaty +of Picquigny, equally profitable and less disgraceful, +for Maximilian of Austria, whom Henry thus abandoned, had +given more cause of offence than had Charles of Burgundy in +1475. Domestic malcontents did not scruple to hint that the +king, like his father-in-law before him, had made war on France, +not with any hope of renewing the glories of Creēy or Agincourt, +still less with any design of helping his allies, but purely to get +first grants from his parliament, and then a war indemnity from +his enemies. In any case he was wise to make peace. France +was now too strong for England, and both Maximilian and +Ferdinand of Spain were selfish and shifty allies. Moreover, it +was known that the one dominating desire of Charles VIII. was +to conquer Italy, and it was clear that his ambitions in that +direction were not likely to prove dangerous to England.</p> + +<p>In the year of the treaty of Étaples the Yorkist conspiracies +began once more to thicken, and Henry was fortunate to escape +with profit from the French war before his domestic +troubles recommenced. Ever since 1483 it had been +<span class="sidenote">Yorkist plots. Perkin Warbeck.</span> +rumoured that one or both of the sons of Edward IV. +had escaped, not having been murdered in the Tower. +Of this widespread belief the plotters now took advantage; +they held that much more could be accomplished with such a +claim than by using that of the unfortunate Edward of Clarence, +whose chances were so severely handicapped by his being still +the prisoner of Henry VII. The scheme for producing a false +Plantagenet was first renewed in Ireland, where Simnel’s imposture +had been so easily taken up a few years before. The tool +selected was one Perkin Warbeck, a handsome youth of seventeen +or eighteen, the son of a citizen of Tournai, who had lived +for some time in London, where Perkin had actually been born. +There is a bare possibility that the young adventurer may have +been an illegitimate son of Edward IV.; his likeness to the late +king was much noticed. When he declared himself to be Richard +of York, he obtained some support in Ireland from the earl of +Desmond and other lords; but he did not risk open rebellion +till he had visited Flanders, and had been acknowledged as +her undoubted nephew by Duchess Margaret. Maximilian +of Austria also took up his cause, as a happy means of revenging +himself on Henry VII. for the treaty of Étaples. There can +be small doubt that both the duchess and the German King +(Maximilian had succeeded to his father’s crown in 1493) were +perfectly well aware that they were aiding a manifest fraud. But +they made much of Perkin, who followed the imperial court for +two years, while his patron was intriguing with English malcontents. +The emissaries from Flanders got many promises of +assistance, and a formidable rising might have taken place had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page525" id="page525"></a>525</span> +not Henry VII. been well served by his spies. But in the winter +of 1494-1495 the traitors were themselves betrayed, and a large +number of arrests were made, including not only Lord Fitzwalter +and a number of well-known knights of Yorkist families, +but Sir William Stanley, the king’s chamberlain, who had been +rewarded with enormous gifts for his good service at Bosworth, +and was reckoned one of the chief supports of the throne. +Stanley and several others were beheaded, the rest hanged or +imprisoned. This vigorous action on the part of the king seems +to have cowed all Warbeck’s supporters on English soil. But the +pretender nevertheless sailed from Flanders in July 1495 with +a following of 2000 exiles and German mercenaries. He attempted +to land at Deal, but his vanguard was destroyed by +Kentish levies, and he drew off and made for Ireland. Suspecting +that this would be his goal, King Henry had been doing his +best to strengthen his hold on the Pale, whither he had sent his +capable servant Sir Edward Poynings as lord deputy. Already +before Warbeck’s arrival Poynings had arrested the earl of +Kildare, Simnel’s old supporter, cowed some of the Irish by +military force, and bought over others by promises of subsidies +and pensions. But his best-remembered achievement was that +he had induced the Irish parliament to pass the ordinances known +as “Poynings’ Law,” by which it acknowledged that it could +pass no legislation which had not been approved by the king +and his council, and agreed that all statutes passed by the +English parliament should be in force in Ireland. That such +terms could be imposed shows the strength of Poynings’ arm, +and his vigour was equally evident when Warbeck came ashore +in Munster in July 1495. Few joined the impostor save the earl +of Desmond, and he was repulsed from Waterford, and dared not +face the army which the lord deputy put into the field against +him. Thereupon, abandoning his Irish schemes, Warbeck sailed +to Scotland, whose young king James IV. had just been seduced +by the emperor Maximilian into declaring war on England. +He promised the Scottish king Berwick and 50,000 crowns in +return for the aid of an army. James took the offer, gave him +the hand of his kinswoman Catherine Gordon, daughter of the +earl of Huntly, and took him forth for a raid into Northumberland +(1496). But a pretender backed by Scottish spears did +not appeal to the sympathies of the English borderers. The +expedition fell flat; not a man joined the banner of the white +rose, and James became aware that he had set forth on a fool’s +errand. But Warbeck soon found other allies of a most unexpected +sort. The heavy taxation granted by the English +parliament for the Scottish war had provoked discontent and +rioting in the south-western counties. In Cornwall especially +<span class="sidenote">Cornish rebellion.</span> +the disorders grew to such a pitch that local demagogues +called out several thousand men to resist the +tax-collectors, and finally raised open rebellion, proposing +to march on London and compel the king to dismiss his +ministers. These spiritual heirs of Jack Cade were Flammock, +a lawyer of Bodmin, and a farrier named Michael Joseph. +Whether they had any communication with Warbeck it is impossible +to say; there is no proof of such a connexion, but their +acts served him well. A Cornish army marched straight on +London, picking up some supporters in Devon and Somerset on +their way, including a discontented baron, Lord Audley, whom +they made their captain.</p> + +<p>So precarious was the hold of Henry VII. on the throne that +he was in great danger from this outbreak of mere local turbulence. +The rebels swept over five counties unopposed, +and were only stopped and beaten in a hard fight on +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Blackheath.</span> +Blackheath, when they had reached the gates of +London. Audley, the farrier and the lawyer were all +captured and executed (June 18, 1497). But the crisis was not +yet at an end. Warbeck, hearing of the rising, but not of its +suppression, had left Scotland, and appeared in Devonshire in +August. He rallied the wrecks of the west country rebels, and +presently appeared before the gates of Exeter with nearly 8000 +men. But the citizens held out against him, and presently the +approach of the royal army was reported. The pretender led +off his horde to meet the relieving force, but when he reached +Taunton he found that his followers were so dispirited that disaster +was certain. Thereupon he absconded by night, and took +sanctuary in the abbey of Beaulieu. He offered to confess his +imposture if he were promised his life, and the king accepted +the terms. First at Taunton and again at Westminster, Perkin +publicly recited a long narrative of his real parentage, his frauds +and his adventures. He was then consigned to not over strict +confinement in the Tower, and might have fared no worse than +Lambert Simnel if he had possessed his soul in patience. But +in the next year he corrupted his warders, broke out from his +prison, and tried to escape beyond seas. He was captured, but +the king again spared his life, though he was placed for the +future in a dungeon “where he could see neither moon nor +sun.” Even this did not tame the impostor’s mercurial temperament. +In 1499 he again planned an escape, which was to +be shared by another prisoner, the unfortunate Edward of +Clarence, earl of Warwick, whose cell was in the storey above +his own. But there were traitors among the Tower officials +whom they suborned to help them, and the king was warned of +the plot. He allowed it to proceed to the verge of execution, +and then arrested both the false and the true Plantagenet. +<span class="sidenote">Execution of Warbeck and Edward of Clarence.</span> +Evidence of a suspicious character was produced to +show that they had planned rebellion as well as mere +escape, and both were put to death with some of their +accomplices. Warbeck deserved all that he reaped, +but the unlucky Clarence’s fate estranged many hearts +from the king. The simple and weakly young man, who had +spent fifteen of his twenty-five years in confinement, had, in all +probability, done no more than scheme for an escape from his +dungeon. But as the true male heir of the house of Plantagenet +he was too dangerous to be allowed to survive.</p> + +<p>The turbulent portion of the reign of Henry VII. came to an +end with Blackheath Field and the siege of Exeter. From that +time forward the Tudor dynasty was no longer in +serious danger; there were still some abortive plots, +<span class="sidenote">Establishment of the Tudor dynasty.</span> +but none that had any prospect of winning popular +support. The chances of Warbeck and Clarence had +vanished long before they went to the scaffold. The Yorkist +claim, after Clarence’s death, might be supposed to have passed +to his cousin Edmund, earl of Suffolk, the younger brother of that +John, earl of Lincoln, who had been declared heir to the crown +by Richard III., and had fallen at Stoke field. Fully conscious +of the danger of his position, Suffolk fled to the continent, and +lived for many years as a pensioner of the emperor Maximilian. +Apparently he dabbled in treason; it is at any rate certain that +in 1501 King Henry executed some, and imprisoned others, of his +relatives and retainers. But his plots, such as they were, seem +to have been futile. There was no substratum of popular discontent +left in England on which a dangerous insurrection +might be built up. It was to be forty years before another +outbreak of turbulence against the crown was to break +forth.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">VI. The Tudor Despotism and the Beginnings of the +Reformation (1497-1528)</p> + +<p>The last twelve years of the reign of Henry VII. present in +most respects a complete contrast to the earlier period, 1485-1497. +There were no more rebellions, and—as we have already seen—no +more plots that caused any serious danger. Nor did the king +indulge his unruly subjects in foreign wars, though he was +constantly engaged in negotiations with France, Scotland, Spain +and the emperor, which from time to time took awkward turns. +But Henry was determined to win all that he could by diplomacy, +and not by force of arms. His cautious, but often unscrupulous, +dealings with the rival continental powers had two main ends: +the first was to keep his own position safe by playing off France +against the Empire and Spain; the second was to get commercial +advantages by dangling his alliance before each power in turn. +Flanders was still the greatest customer of England, and it was +therefore necessary above all things to keep on good terms with +the archduke Philip, the son of Maximilian, who on coming of +age had taken over the rule of the Netherlands from his father. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page526" id="page526"></a>526</span> +The king’s great triumphs were the conclusion of the <i>Intercursus +Magnus</i> of 1496 and the <i>Intercursus Malus</i> (so called by the +<span class="sidenote">Commercial treaties.</span> +Flemings, not by the English) of 1506. The former +provided for a renewal of the old commercial alliance +with the house of Burgundy, on the same terms under +which it had existed in the time of Edward IV.; the +rupture which had taken place during the years when Maximilian +was backing Perkin Warbeck had been equally injurious to both +parties. The <i>Malus Intercursus</i> on the other hand gave England +some privileges which she had not before enjoyed—exemption +from local tolls in Antwerp and Holland, and a licence for +English merchants to sell cloth retail as well as wholesale—a +concession which hit the Netherland small traders and middlemen +very hard. Another great commercial advantage secured +by Henry VII. for his subjects was an increased share of the trade +to the Scandinavian countries. The old treaties of Edward IV. +with the Hanseatic League had left the Germans still in control of +the northern seas. Nearly all the Baltic goods, and most of those +from Denmark and Norway, had been reaching London or Hull +in foreign bottoms. Henry allied himself with John of Denmark, +who was chafing under the monopoly of the Hansa, and obtained +the most ample grants of free trade in his realms. The Germans +murmured, but the English shipping in eastern and northern +waters continued to multiply. Much the same policy was +pursued in the Mediterranean. Southern goods hitherto had +come to Southampton or Sandwich invariably in Venetian +carracks, which took back in return English wool and metals. +Henry concluded a treaty with Florence, by which that republic +undertook to receive his ships in its harbours and to allow them +to purchase all eastern goods that they might require. From +this time forward the Venetian monopoly ceased, and the visits +of English merchant vessels to the Mediterranean became +frequent and regular.</p> + +<p>Nor was it in dealing with old lines of trade alone that Henry +Tudor showed himself the watchful guardian of the interests of +his subjects. He must take his share of credit for the +encouragement of the exploration of the seas of the +<span class="sidenote">English navigators.</span> +Far West. The British traders had already pushed far +into the Atlantic before Columbus discovered America; +fired by the success of the great navigator they continued their +adventures, hoping like him to discover a short “north-west +passage” to Cathay and Japan. With a charter from the king +giving him leave to set up the English banner on all the lands +he might discover, the Bristol Genoese trader John Cabot +successfully passed the great sea in 1497, and discovered Newfoundland +and its rich fishing stations. Henry rewarded him +with a pension of £20 a year, and encouraged him to further +exploration, in which he discovered all the American coastline +from Labrador to the mouth of the Delaware—a great heritage +for England, but one not destined to be taken up for colonization +till more than a century had passed.</p> + +<p>Henry’s services to English commerce were undoubtedly of +far more importance to the nation than all the tortuous details +of his foreign policy. His chicanery need not, however, +be censured over much, for the princes with whom +<span class="sidenote">Foreign policy of Henry VII.</span> +he had to deal, and notably Ferdinand and Maximilian, +were as insincere and selfish as himself. Few +diplomatic hagglings have been so long and so sordid as that +between England and Spain over the marriage treaty which +gave the hand of Catherine of Aragon first to Henry’s eldest +son Arthur, and then, on his premature death in 1502, to his +second son Henry. The English king no doubt imagined that +he had secured a good bargain, as he had kept the princess’s +dowry, and yet never gave Ferdinand any practical assistance +in war or peace. It is interesting to find that he had for some +time at the end of his reign a second Spanish marriage in view; +his wife Elizabeth of York having died in 1503, he seriously +proposed himself as a suitor for Joanna of Castile, the elder +sister of Catherine, and the widow of the archduke Philip, +though she was known to be insane. Apparently he hoped thereby +to gain vantage ground for an interference in Spanish politics, +which would have been most offensive to Ferdinand. Nothing +came of the project, which contrasts strangely with the greater +part of Henry’s sober and cautious schemes.</p> + +<p>On the other hand a third project of marriage alliance which +Henry carried out in 1503 was destined to be consummated, +and to have momentous, though long-deferred, results. +<span class="sidenote">Marriage of James IV. of Scotland and Margaret Tudor.</span> +This was the giving of the hand of his daughter +Margaret to James IV. of Scotland. Thereby he +bought quiet on the Border and alliance with Scotland +for no more than some ten years. But—as it chanced—the +issue of this alliance was destined to unite the +English and the Scottish crowns, when the male line of +the Tudors died out, and Henry, quite unintentionally, had his +share in bringing about the consummation, by peaceful means, +of that end which Edward I. had sought for so long to win by +the strong hand.</p> + +<p>All the foreign politics of the reign of Henry VII. have small +importance compared with his work within the realm. The +true monument of his ability was that he left England +tamed and orderly, with an obedient people and a full +<span class="sidenote">Character of Henry’s internal rule.</span> +exchequer, though he had taken it over wellnigh +in a state of anarchy. The mere suppression of insurrections +like those of Simnel and Warbeck was a small part +of his task. The harder part was to recreate a spirit of order +and subordination among a nation accustomed to long civil strife. +His instruments were ministers of ability chosen from the +clergy and the gentry—he seems to have been equally averse +to trusting the baronage at the one end of the social scale, or +mere upstarts at the other, and it is notable that no one during +his reign can be called a court favourite. The best-known +names among his servants were his great chancellor, Archbishop +Morton, Foxe, bishop of Winchester, Sir Reginald Bray, and +the lawyers Empson and Dudley. These two last bore the brunt +of the unpopularity of the financial policy of the king during +the latter half of his reign, when the vice of avarice seems to +have grown upon him beyond all reason. But Henry was such +a hard-working monarch, and so familiar with all the details +of administration, that his ministers cannot be said to have had +any independent authority, or to have directed their master’s +course of action.</p> + +<p>The machinery employed by the first of the Tudors for the +suppression of domestic disorder is well known. The most +important item added by him to the administrative +machinery of the realm was the famous Star Chamber, +<span class="sidenote">The Star Chamber.</span> +which was licensed by the parliament of 1487. It +consisted of a small committee of ministers, privy councillors +and judges, which sat to deal with offences that seemed to lie +outside the scope of the common law, or more frequently with +the misdoings of men who were so powerful that the local courts +could not be trusted to execute justice upon them, such as great +landowners, sheriffs and other royal officials, or turbulent +individuals who were the terror of their native districts. The +need for a strong central court directly inspired by the king, +which could administer justice without respect of persons, was +so great, that the constitutional danger of establishing an +autocratic judicial committee, untrammelled by the ordinary +rules of law, escaped notice at the time. It was not till much +later that the nation came to look upon the Star Chamber as +the special engine of royal tyranny and to loathe its name. In +1500 it was for the common profit of the realm that there should +exist such a court, which could reduce even the most powerful +offender to order.</p> + +<p>One of the most notable parts of the king’s policy was his +long-continued and successful assault on the abuse of “livery +and maintenance,” which had been at its height during +the Wars of the Roses. We have seen the part which +<span class="sidenote">Suppression of livery and maintenance.</span> +it had taken in strengthening the influence of those +who were already too powerful, and weakening the +ordinary operation of the law. Henry put it down +with a strong hand, forbidding all liveries entirely, save for the +mere domestic retainers of each magnate. His determination +to end the system was well shown by the fact that he heavily +fined even the earl of Oxford, the companion of his exile, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page527" id="page527"></a>527</span> +victor of Bosworth, and the most notoriously loyal peer in the +realm, for an ostentatious violation of the statute. Where +Oxford was punished, no less favoured person could hope to +escape. By the end of the reign the little hosts of badged adherents +which had formed the nucleus for the armies of the +Wars of the Roses had ceased to exist.</p> + +<p>Edward IV., as has been already remarked, had many of the +opportunities of the autocrat, if only he had cared to use them; +but his sloth and self-indulgence stood in the way. +Henry VII., the most laborious and systematic of men, +<span class="sidenote">Personal rule.</span> +turned them to account. He formed his personal +opinion on every problem of administration and intervened +himself in every detail. In many respects he was his own prime +minister, and nothing was done without his knowledge and +consent. A consistent policy may be detected in all his acts—that +of gathering all the machinery of government into his own +hands. Under the later Plantagenets and the Lancastrian +kings the great check on the power of the crown had been that +financial difficulties were continually compelling the sovereign +to summon parliaments. The estates had interfered perpetually +in all the details of governance, by means of the power of the +purse. Edward IV., first among English sovereigns, had been +able to dispense with parliaments for periods of many years, +because he did not need their grants save at long intervals. +Henry was in the same position; by strict economy, by the use +of foreign subsidies, by the automatic growth of his revenues +during a time of peace and returning prosperity, by confiscation +and forfeitures, he built himself up a financial position which +rendered it unnecessary for him to make frequent appeals to +parliament. Not the least fertile of his expedients was that +regular exploitation of the law as a source of revenue, which +had already been seen in the time of his father-in-law. This +part of Henry’s policy is connected with the name of his two +extortionate “fiscal judges” Empson and Dudley, who “turned +law and justice into rapine” by their minute inquisition into +all technical breaches of legality, and the nice fashion in which +they adapted the fine to the wealth of the misdemeanant, +without any reference to his moral guilt or any regard for extenuating +circumstances. The king must take the responsibility +for their unjust doings; it was his coffers which mainly +profited by their chicane. In his later years he fell into the vice +of hoarding money for its own sake; so necessary was it to his +policy that he should be free, as far as possible, from the need +for applying to parliament for money, that he became morbidly +anxious to have great hoards in readiness for any possible day +of financial stress. At his death he is said to have had £1,800,000 +in hard cash laid by. Hence it is not strange to find that he was +able to dispense with parliaments in a fashion that would have +seemed incredible to a 14th-century king. In his whole reign +he only asked them five times for grants of taxation, and three +of the five requests were made during the first seven years of +his reign. In the eyes of many men parliament lost the main +reason for its existence when it ceased to be the habitual provider +of funds for the ordinary expenses of the realm. Those who had +a better conception of its proper functions could see that it had +at any rate been stripped of its chief power when the king no +longer required its subsidies. There are traces of a want of public +interest in its proceedings, very different from the anxiety +with which they used to be followed in Plantagenet and Lancastrian +times. Legislation, which only incidentally affects +him, is very much less exciting to the ordinary citizen than +taxation, which aims directly at his pocket. It is at any rate +clear that during the latter years of his reign, when the time +of impostures and rebellions had ended, Henry was able to dispense +with parliaments to a great extent, and incurred no unpopularity +by doing so. Indeed he was accepted by the English +people as the benefactor who had delivered them from anarchy; +and if they murmured at his love of hoarding, and cursed his +inquisitors Empson and Dudley, they had no wish to change the +Tudor rule, and were far from regarding the times of the “Lancastrian +experiment” as a lost golden age. The present king +might be unscrupulous and avaricious, but he was cautious, +intelligent and economical; no one would have wished to recall +the régime of that “crowned saint” Henry VI.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless when the first of the Tudors died, on the 21st +of April 1509, there were few who regretted him. He was not +a monarch to rouse enthusiasm, while much was expected +from his brilliant, clever and handsome son +<span class="sidenote">Henry VIII.</span> +Henry VIII., whose magnificent presence and manly +vigour recalled the early prime of Edward IV. Some years later +England realized that its new king had inherited not only the +physical beauty and strength of his grandfather, but also every +one of his faults, with the sole exception of his tendency to sloth. +Henry VIII. indeed may be said, to sum up his character in +brief, to have combined his father’s brains with his grandfather’s +passions. Edward IV. was selfish and cruel, but failed to become +a tyrant because he lacked the energy for continuous work. +Henry VII. was unscrupulous and untiring, but so cautious and +wary that he avoided violent action and dangerous risks. Their +descendant had neither Edward’s sloth nor Henry’s moderation; +he was capable of going to almost any lengths in pursuit of the +gratification of his ambition, his passions, his resentment or his +simple love of self-assertion. Yet, however far he might go on +the road to tyranny, Henry had sufficient cunning, versatility +and power of cool reflection, to know precisely when he had +reached the edge of the impossible. He had his father’s faculty +for gauging public opinion, and estimating dangers, and though +his more venturous temperament led him to press on far beyond +the point at which the seventh Henry would have halted, he +always stopped short on the hither side of the gulf. It was the +most marvellous proof of his ability that he died on his throne +after nearly forty years of autocratic rule, during which he had +roused more enmities and done more to change the face of the +realm than any of the kings that were before him.</p> + +<p>But it was long before the nation could estimate all the features +of the magnificent but sinister figure which was to dominate +England from 1509 to 1547. At his accession Henry VIII. was +only eighteen years of age, and, if his character was already +formed, it was only the attractive side of it that was yet visible. +His personal beauty, his keen intelligence, his scholarship, his +love of music and the arts, his kingly ambition, were all obvious +enough. His selfishness, his cruelty, his ingratitude, his fierce +hatred of criticism and opposition, his sensuality, had yet to be +discovered by his subjects. A suspicious observer might have +detected something ominous in the first act of his reign—the +arrest and attainder of his father’s unpopular ministers, Empson +and Dudley, whose heads he flung to the people in order to win +a moment’s applause. Whatever their faults, they had served +the house of Tudor well, and it was a grotesque perversion of +justice to send them to the scaffold on a charge of high treason. +A similar piece of cruelty was the execution, some time later, of +the earl of Suffolk, who had been languishing long years in the +Tower; he was destroyed not for any new plots, but simply for +his Yorkist descent. But in Henry’s earlier years such acts were +still unusual; it was not till he had grown older, and had learnt +how much the nation would endure, that judicial murder became +part of his established policy.</p> + +<p>Henry’s first outburst of self-assertion took the form of +reversing his father’s thrifty and peaceful policy, by plunging +into the midst of the continental wars from which +England had been held back by his cautious parent. +<span class="sidenote">Continental projects of Henry VIII.</span> +The adventure was wholly unnecessary, and also +unprofitable. But while France was engaged in the +“Holy War” against the pope, Venice, the emperor, +and Ferdinand of Spain, Henry renewed the old claims of the +Plantagenets, and hoped, if not to win back the position of +Edward III., at least to recover the duchy of Aquitaine, or some +parts of it. He lent an army to Ferdinand for the invasion of +Gascony, and landed himself at Calais with 25,000 men, to beat +up the northern border of France. Little good came of his +efforts. The Spanish king gave no assistance, and the northern +campaign, though it included the brilliant battle of the Spurs +(August 16th, 1513), accomplished nothing more than the +capture of Tournai and Thérouanne. It was soon borne in upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page528" id="page528"></a>528</span> +King Henry that France, even when engaged with other enemies, +was too strong to be overrun in the old style. Moreover, his +allies were giving him no aid, though they had eagerly accepted +his great subsidies. With a sudden revulsion of feeling Henry +offered peace to France, which King Louis XII. gladly bought, +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Étaples.</span> +agreeing to renew the old pension or tribute that +Henry VII. had received by the treaty of Étaples. +Their reconciliation and alliance were sealed by the +marriage of the French king to Henry’s favourite sister Mary, +who was the bridegroom’s junior by more than thirty years. +Their wedlock and the Anglo-French alliance lasted only till the +next year, when Louis died, and Mary secretly espoused an +old admirer, Charles Brandon, afterwards duke of Suffolk, King +Henry’s greatest friend and confidant.</p> + +<p>While the French war was still in progress there had been +heavy fighting on the Scottish border. James IV., reverting to +the traditionary policy of his ancestors, had taken the +opportunity of attacking England while her king +<span class="sidenote">War with Scotland. Battle of Flodden.</span> +and his army were overseas. He suffered a disaster +which recalls that of David II. at Neville’s Cross—a +fight which had taken place under precisely similar +political conditions. After taking a few Northumbrian castles, +James was brought to action at Flodden Field by the earl of +Surrey (September 9th, 1513). After a desperate fight lasting +the greater part of a day, the Scots were outmanœuvred and +surrounded. James IV.—who had refused to quit the field—was +slain in the forefront of the battle, with the greater part of +his nobles; with him fell also some 10,000 or 12,000 of his men. +Scotland, with her military power brought low, and an infant +king on the throne, was a negligible quantity in international +politics for some years. The queen dowager, Margaret Tudor, +aided by a party that favoured peace and alliance with England, +was strong enough to balance the faction under the duke of +Albany which wished for perpetual war and asked for aid from +France.</p> + +<p>With the peace of 1514 ended the first period of King Henry’s +reign. He was now no longer a boy, but a man of twenty-three, +with his character fully developed; he had gradually +got rid of his father’s old councillors, and had chosen +<span class="sidenote">Thomas Wolsey.</span> +for himself a minister as ambitious and energetic as +himself, the celebrated Thomas Wolsey, whom he had just made +archbishop of York, and who obtained the rank of cardinal +from the pope in the succeeding year. Wolsey was the last of +the great clerical ministers of the middle ages, and by no means +the worst. Like so many of his predecessors he had risen from +the lower middle classes, through the royal road of the church; +he had served Henry VII.’s old councillor Foxe, bishop of Winchester, +as secretary, and from his household had passed into that +of his master. He had been an admirable servant to both, full +of zeal, intelligence and energy, and not too much burdened with +scruples. The young king found in him an instrument well fitted +to his hand, a man fearless, ingenious, and devoted to the furtherance +of the power of the crown, by which alone he had reached +his present position of authority. For fourteen years he was his +master’s chief minister—the person responsible in the nation’s +eyes for all the more unpopular assertions of the royal prerogative, +and for all the heavy taxation and despotic acts which +Henry’s policy required. It mattered little to Henry that the +cardinal was arrogant, tactless and ostentatious; indeed it +suited his purpose that Wolsey should be saddled by public +opinion with all the blame that ought to have been laid on his +own shoulders. It was convenient that the old nobility should +detest the upstart, and that the commons should imagine him +to be the person responsible for the demands for money required +for the royal wars. As long as his minister served his purposes +and could execute his behests Henry gave him a free hand, and +supported him against all his enemies. It was believed at the +time, and is still sometimes maintained by historians, that +Wolsey laid down schemes of policy and persuaded his master +to adopt them; but the truth would appear to be that Henry +was in no wise dominated by the cardinal, but imposed on him +his own wishes, merely leaving matters of detail to be settled +by his minister. Things indifferent might be trusted to him, +but the main lines of English diplomacy and foreign policy +show rather the influence of the king’s personal desires of the +moment than that of a statesman seeking national ends.</p> + +<p>It has often been alleged that Henry, under the guidance of +Wolsey, followed a consistent scheme for aggrandizing England, +by making her the state which kept the balance of power of +Europe in her hands. And it is pointed out that during the +years of the cardinal’s ascendancy the alliance of England was +sought in turn by the great princes of the continent, and proved +the make-weight in the scales. This is but a superficial view +of the situation. Henry, if much courted, was much deceived +by his contemporaries. They borrowed his money and his armies, +but fed him with vain promises and illusory treaties. He and +his minister were alternately gulled by France and by the +emperor, and the net result of all their activity was bankruptcy +and discontent at home and ever-frustrated hopes abroad. It +is hard to build up a reputation for statecraft for either Henry +or Wolsey on the sum total of English political achievement +during their collaboration.</p> + +<p>During the first few years of the cardinal’s ascendancy the +elder race of European sovereigns, the kings with whom +Henry VII. had been wont to haggle, disappeared one +after the other. Louis of France died in 1515, Ferdinand +<span class="sidenote">Henry VIII. and the rivalry of Francis I. and Charles V.</span> +of Aragon in 1516, the emperor Maximilian—the +last survivor of his generation—in 1519. Louis +was succeeded by the active, warlike and shifty +Francis I.; the heritage of both Ferdinand and +Maximilian—his maternal and paternal grandfathers—fell to +Charles of Habsburg, who already possessed the Netherlands +in his father’s right and Castile in that of his mother. The +enmity of the house of Valois and the house of Habsburg, +which had first appeared in the wars of Charles VIII. and +Maximilian, took a far more bitter shape under Francis I. and +Charles V., two young princes who were rivals from their youth. +Their wars were almost perpetual, their peaces never honestly +carried out. Their powers were very equally balanced; if +Charles owned broader lands than Francis, they were more +scattered and in some cases less loyal. The solid and wealthy +realm of France proved able to make head against Spain and +the Netherlands, even when they were backed by the emperor’s +German vassals. Charles was also distracted by many stabs in +the back from the Ottoman Turks, who were just beginning their +attack on Christendom along the line of the Danube. To each +of the combatants it seemed that the English alliance would +turn the scale in his own favour. Henry was much courted, +and wooed with promises of lands to be won from the other side +by his ally of the moment. But neither Charles nor Francis +wished him to be a real gainer, and he himself was a most untrustworthy +friend, for he was quite ready to turn against his ally +if he seemed to be growing too powerful, and threatened to +dominate all Europe; the complete success of either party +would mean that England would sink once more into a second-rate +power. How faithless and insincere was Henry’s policy +may be gauged from the fact that in 1520, after all the pageantry +of the “Field of the Cloth of Gold” and his vows of undying +friendship for Francis, he met Charles a few weeks later at +Gravelines, and concluded with him a treaty which pledged +England to a defensive alliance against the king’s “good +brother” of France. Such things happened not once nor twice +during the years of Wolsey’s ministry. It was hardly to be +wondered at, therefore, if Henry’s allies regularly endeavoured +<span class="sidenote">Failure of Henry’s diplomacy.</span> +to cheat him out of his share of their joint profits. +What use was there in rewarding a friend who might +become an enemy to-morrow? The greatest deception +of all was in 1522, when Charles V., who had +made the extraordinary promise that he would get Wolsey made +pope, and lend Henry an army to conquer northern France, +failed to redeem his word in both respects. He caused his +own old tutor, Adrian of Utrecht, to be crowned with the papal +tiara, and left the English to invade Picardy entirely unassisted. +But this was only one of many such disappointments.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page529" id="page529"></a>529</span></p> + +<p>The result of some twelve years of abortive alliances and +ill-kept treaties was that Henry had obtained no single one +of the advantages which he had coveted, and that he +had lavished untold wealth and many English lives +<span class="sidenote">Beginnings of parliamentary resistance.</span> +upon phantom schemes which crumbled between his +fingers. His subjects had already begun to murmur; +the early parliaments of his reign had been passive +and complaisant; but by 1523 the Commons had been goaded +into resistance. They granted only half the subsidies asked from +them, pleading that three summers more of such taxation as +the cardinal demanded for his master would leave the realm +drained of its last penny, and reduced to fall back on primitive +forms of barter, “clothes for victuals and bread for cheese,” +out of mere want of coin. Fortunately for the king his subjects +laid all the blame upon his mouthpiece the cardinal, instead of +placing it where it was due. On Wolsey’s back also was saddled +the most iniquitous of Henry’s acts of tyranny against individuals—the +judicial murder of the duke of Buckingham, the +highest head among the English nobility. For some hasty words, +amplified by the doubtful evidence of treacherous retainers, +<span class="sidenote">Execution of the duke of Buckingham.</span> +together with a foolish charge of dabbling with astrologers, +the heir of the royal line of Thomas of Woodstock +had been tried and executed with scandalous haste. +His only real crime was that, commenting on the lack +of male heirs to the crown—for after many years of +wedlock with Catherine of Aragon Henry’s sole issue was one sickly +daughter—he had been foolish enough to remark that if anything +should happen to the king he himself was close in succession +to the crown. The cardinal bore the blame, because he and +Buckingham had notoriously disliked each other; but the deed +had really been of the king’s own contriving. He was roused +to implacable wrath by anyone who dared to speak on the forbidden +topic of the succession question.</p> + +<p>In the later years of Wolsey’s ascendancy, nevertheless, that +same question was the subject of many anxious thoughts. +From Henry’s own mind it was never long absent; he +yearned for a male heir, and he was growing tired of +<span class="sidenote">Question of the king’s divorce.</span> +his wife Catherine, who was some years older than +himself, had few personal attractions, and was growing +somewhat of an invalid. Somewhere about the end of 1526 +those who were in the king’s intimate confidence began to be +aware that he was meditating a divorce—a thing not lightly +to be taken in hand, for the queen was the aunt of the emperor +Charles V., who would be vastly offended at such a proposal. +But Henry’s doubts had been marvellously stimulated by the +fact that he had become enamoured of another lady—the +beautiful, ambitious and cunning Anne Boleyn, a niece of the +duke of Norfolk, who had no intention of becoming merely the +king’s mistress, but aspired to be his consort.</p> + +<p>The question of the king’s divorce soon became inextricably +confused with another problem, whose first beginnings go back +to a slightly earlier date. What was to be the attitude +of England towards the Reformation? It was now +<span class="sidenote">England and the Reformation.</span> +nearly ten years since Martin Luther had posted up +his famous theses on the church door at Wittenberg, +and since he had testified to his faith before the diet of Worms. +All Germany was now convulsed with the first throes of the revolt +against the papacy, and the echoes of the new theological +disputes were being heard in England. King Henry himself +in 1521 had deigned to write an abusive pamphlet against Luther, +for which he had been awarded the magnificent title of <i>Fidei +Defensor</i> by that cultured sceptic Pope Leo X. About the same +time we begin to read of orders issued by the bishops for the +discovery and burning of all Lutheran books—a clear sign +that they were reaching England in appreciable quantities. +Hitherto it had been only the works of Wycliffe that had +merited this attention on the part of inquisitors. In the +Wycliffite remnant, often persecuted but never exterminated, +there already existed in England the nucleus of a Protestant +party. All through the reign of Henry VII. and the early years +of Henry VIII. the intermittent burning of “heretics,” and +their far more frequent recantations, had borne witness to the +fact that the sect still lingered on. The Wycliffites were a feeble +folk, compelled to subterraneous ways, and destitute of learned +leaders or powerful supporters. But they survived to see +Luther’s day, and to merge themselves in one body with the +first English travelling scholars and merchants who brought +back from the continent the doctrines of the German Reformation. +The origins of a Protestant party, who were not mere +Wycliffites, but had been first interested in dogmatic controversy +by coming upon the works of Luther, can be traced back to the +year 1521 and to the university of Cambridge. There a knot of +scholars, some of whom were to perish early at the stake, while +others were destined to become the leaders of the English +Reformation, came together and encouraged each other to test +the received doctrines of contemporary orthodoxy by searching +the Scriptures and the works of the Fathers. The sect spread +in a few years to London, Oxford and other centres of intellectual +life, but for many years its followers were not numerous; like +the old Lollardy, Protestantism took root only in certain +places and among certain classes—notably the lesser clergy +and the merchants of the great towns.</p> + +<p>King Henry and those who wished to please him professed +as great a hatred and contempt for the new purveyors of German +doctrines as for the belated disciples of Wycliffe. But there +was another movement, whose origins went back for many +centuries, which they were far from discouraging, and were +prepared to utilize when it suited their convenience. This was +the purely political feeling against the tyranny of the papacy, +and the abuses of the national church, which in early ages had +given supporters to William the Conqueror and Henry II., +which had dictated the statutes of Mortmain and of Praemunire. +Little had been heard of the old anti-clerical party in England +since the time of Henry IV.; it had apparently been identified +in the eyes of the orthodox with that Lollardy with which it had +for a time allied itself, and had shared in its discredit. But it +had always continued to exist, and in the early years of +Henry VIII. had been showing unmistakable signs of vitality. +The papacy of the Renaissance was a fair mark for criticism. +It was not hard to attack the system under which Rodrigo Borgia +wore the tiara, while Girolamo Savonarola went to the stake; +or in which Julius II. exploited the name of Christianity to serve +his territorial policy in Italy, and Leo X. hawked his indulgences +round Europe to raise funds which would enable him to gratify +his artistic tastes. At no period had the official hierarchy of +the Western Church been more out of touch with common +righteousness and piety. Moreover, they were sinning under +the eyes of a laity which was far more intelligent and educated, +more able to think and judge for itself, less the slave of immemorial +tradition, than the old public of the middle ages. In +Italy the Renaissance might be purely concerned with things +intellectual or artistic, and seem to have little or no touch with +things moral. Beyond the Alps it was otherwise; among the +Teutonic nations at least the revolt against the scholastic +philosophy, the rout of the obscurantists, the eager pursuit of +Hellenic culture, had a religious aspect. The same generation +which refused to take thrice-translated and thrice-garbled +screeds from Aristotle as the sum of human knowledge, and +went back to the original Greek, was also studying the Old and +New Testaments in their original tongues, and drawing from them +conclusions as unfavourable to the intelligence as to the scholarship +of the orthodox medieval divines. Such a discovery as that +which showed that the “False Decretals,” on which so much +of the power of the papacy rested, were mere 9th-century forgeries +struck deep at the roots of the whole traditional relation between +church and state.</p> + +<p>The first English scholars of the Renaissance, like Erasmus +on the continent, did not see the logical outcome of their own +discoveries, nor realize that the campaign against obscurantism +would develop into a campaign against Roman orthodoxy. +Sir Thomas More, the greatest of them, was actually driven into +reaction by the violence of Protestant controversialists, and the +fear that the new doctrines would rend the church in twain. +He became himself a persecutor, and a writer of abusive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page530" id="page530"></a>530</span> +pamphlets unworthy of the author of the <i>Utopia</i>. But to the +younger generation the irreconcilability of modern scholarship +and medieval formulae of faith became more and more +evident. One after another all the cardinal doctrines were +challenged by writers who were generally acute, and almost +invariably vituperative. For the controversies of the Reformation +were conducted by both sides, from kings and prelates +down to gutter pamphleteers, in language of the most unseemly +violence.</p> + +<p>But, as has been already said, the scholars and theologians +had less influence in the beginning of the English Reformation +than the mere lay politicians, whose anti-clerical tendencies +chanced to fit in with King Henry’s convenience when he +quarrelled with the papacy. It is well to note that the first +attacks of parliament on the church date back to two years before +Luther published his famous theses. The contention began +in 1515 with the fierce assault by the Commons on the old abuse +of benefit of clergy, and the immunity of clerical criminals from +due punishment for secular crimes—a question as old as the +times of Henry II. and Becket. But the discussion spread in +later years from this particular point into a general criticism +of the church and its relations to the state, embracing local +grievances as well as the questions which turned on the dealings +of the papacy with the crown. The old complaints which had +been raised against the Church of England in the days of +Edward I. or Richard II. had lost none of their force in 1526. +The higher clergy were more than ever immersed in affairs of +state, “Caesarean” as Wycliffe would have called them. It +was only necessary to point to the great cardinal himself, and +to ask how far his spiritual duties at York were properly discharged +while he was acting as the king’s prime minister. The +cases of Foxe and Morton were much the same; the former +passed for a well-meaning man, yet had been practically absent +from his diocese for twenty years. Pluralism, nepotism, simony +and all the other ancient abuses were more rampant than ever. +The monasteries had ceased to be even the nurseries of literature; +their chronicles had run dry, and secular priests or laymen had +taken up the pens that the monks had dropped. They were +wealthier than ever, yet did little to justify their existence; +indeed the spirit of the age was so much set against them that +they found it hard to keep up the numbers of their inmates. +Truculent pamphleteers like Simon Fish, who wrote <i>Beggars’ +Supplication</i>, were already demanding “that these sturdy +boobies should be set abroad into the world, to get wives of their +own, and earn their living by the sweat of their brows, according +to the commandment of God; so might the king be better +obeyed, matrimony be better kept, the gospel better preached, +and none should rob the poor of his alms.” It must be added +that monastic scandals were not rare; though the majority +of the houses were decently ordered, yet the unexceptionable +testimony of archiepiscopal and episcopal visitations shows that +in the years just before the Reformation there was a certain +number of them where chastity of life and honesty of administration +were equally unknown. But above all things the church +was being criticized as an <i>imperium in imperio</i>, a privileged +body not amenable to ordinary jurisdiction, and subservient +to a foreign lord—the pope. And it was true that, much as +English churchmen might grumble at papal exactions, they +were generally ready as a body to support the pope against the +crown; the traditions of the medieval church made it impossible +for them to do otherwise. That there would in any case have +been a new outbreak of anti-clerical and anti-papal agitation +in England, under the influence of the Protestant impulse started +by Luther in Germany, is certain. But two special causes gave +its particular colour to the opening of the English Reformation; +the one was that the king fell out with the papacy on the question +of his divorce. The other was that the nation at this moment +was chafing bitterly against a clerical minister, whom it (very +unjustly) made responsible for the exorbitant taxation which +it was enduring, in consequence of the king’s useless and unsuccessful +foreign wars. The irony of the situation lay in the +facts that Henry was, so far as dogmatic views were concerned, +a perfectly orthodox prince; he had a considerable knowledge +of the old theological literature, as he had shown in his pamphlet +against Luther, and though he was ready to repress clerical +immunities and privileges that were inconvenient to the crown, +he had no sympathy whatever with the doctrinal side of the new +revolt against the system of the medieval church. Moreover, +Wolsey, whose fall was to synchronize with the commencement +of the reforming movement, was if anything more in sympathy +with change than was his master. He was an enlightened +patron of the new learning, and was inclined to take vigorous +measures in hand for the pruning away of the abuses of the +church. It is significant that his great college at Oxford—“Cardinal’s +College” as he designed to call it, “Christ Church” +as it is named to-day—was endowed with the revenues of some +score of small monasteries which he had suppressed on the +ground that they were useless or ill-conducted. His master +turned the lesson to account a few years later; but Henry’s +wholesale destruction of religious houses was carried out not in +the interests of learning, but mainly in those of the royal +exchequer.</p> +<div class="author">(C. W. C. O.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">VII. The Reformation and the Age of Elizabeth +(1528-1603)</p> + +<p>Wolsey did not fall through any opposition to reform; nor +was he opposed to the idea of a divorce. Indeed, both in France +and Spain he was credited with the authorship of the +project. But he differed from Henry on the question +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Wolsey.</span> +of Catherine’s successor. Wolsey desired a French +marriage to consummate the breach upon which he was now +bent with the emperor; and war, in fact, was precipitated with +Spain in 1528. This is said to have been done without Henry’s +consent; he certainly wished to avoid war with Charles V., and +peace was made after six months of passive hostility. Nor did +Henry want a French princess; his affections were fixed for +the time on Anne Boleyn, and she was the hope of the anti-clerical +party. The crisis was brought to a head by the failure of +Wolsey’s plan to obtain a divorce. Originally it had been suggested +that the ecclesiastical courts in England were competent +without recourse to Rome. Wolsey deprecated this procedure, +and application was made to Clement VII. Wolsey relied upon +his French and Italian allies to exert the necessary powers of +persuasion; and in 1528 a French army crossed the Alps, +marched through Italy and threatened to drive Charles V. out +of Naples. Clement was in a position to listen to Henry’s +prayer; and Campeggio was commissioned with Wolsey to hear +the suit and grant the divorce.</p> + +<p>No sooner had Campeggio started than the fortunes of war +changed. The French were driven out of Naples, and the +Imperialists again dominated Rome; the Church, +wrote Clement to Campeggio, was completely in the +<span class="sidenote">Question of the divorce.</span> +power of Charles V. The cardinal, therefore, must on +no account pronounce against Charles’s aunt; if he +could not persuade Henry and Catherine to agree on a mutual +separation, he must simply pass the time and come to no conclusion. +Hence it was June 1529 before the court got to work at +all, and then its proceedings were only preparatory to an adjournment +and revocation of the suit to Rome in August. Clement VII. +had, in his own words, made up his mind to live and die an +imperialist; the last remnants of the French army in Italy had +been routed, and the pope had perforce concluded the treaty +of Barcelona, a sort of family compact between himself and +Charles, whereby he undertook to protect Charles’s aunt, and the +emperor to support the Medici dynasty in Florence. This peace +was amplified at the treaty of Cambrai (August 1529) into a +general European pacification in which England had no voice. +So far had it fallen since 1521.</p> + +<p>In every direction Wolsey had failed, and his failure involved +the triumph of the forces which he had opposed. The fate of +the papal system in England was bound up with his personal +fortunes. It was he and he alone who had kept parliament at +arm’s length and the enemies of the church at bay. He had +interested the king, and to some extent the nation, in a spirited +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page531" id="page531"></a>531</span> +foreign policy, had diverted their attention from domestic +questions, and had staved off that parliamentary attack on the +church which had been threatened fifteen years before. Now +he was doomed, and both Campeggio and Cardinal du Bellay +were able to send their governments accurate outlines of the +future policy of Henry VIII. The church was to be robbed of +its wealth, its power and its privileges, and the papal jurisdiction +was to be abolished. In October Wolsey was deprived of the +great seal, and surrendered many of his ecclesiastical preferments, +though he was allowed to retain his archbishopric of York +which he now visited for the first time. The first lay ministry +since Edward the Confessor’s time came into office; Sir Thomas +More became lord chancellor, and Anne Boleyn’s father lord +privy seal; the only prominent cleric who remained in office +was Stephen Gardiner, who succeeded Wolsey as bishop of +Winchester.</p> + +<p>Parliament met in November 1529 and passed many acts +against clerical exactions, mortuaries, probate dues and +pluralities, which evoked a passionate protest from +Bishop Fisher: “Now, with the Commons,” he cried +<span class="sidenote">Attack on the church in parliament.</span> +in the House of Lords, “is nothing but ‘Down with +the Church.’” During 1530 Henry’s agents were busy +abroad making that appeal on the divorce to the universities +which Cranmer had suggested. In 1531 the clergy +in convocation, terrified by the charge of <i>praemunire</i> brought +against them for recognizing Wolsey’s legatine authority, paid +Henry a hundred and eighteen thousand pounds and recognized +him as supreme head of the church so far as the law of Christ +would allow. The details of this surrender were worked out +by king and Commons in 1532; but Gardiner and More secured +the rejection by the Lords of the bill in which they were embodied, +and it was not till 1533, when More had ceased to be chancellor +and Gardiner to be secretary, that a parliamentary statute +annihilated the independent legislative authority of the church. +An act was, however, passed in 1532 empowering the king, if +he thought fit, to stop the payment of annates to Rome. Henry +suspended his consent in order to induce the pope to grant +Cranmer his bulls as archbishop of Canterbury where he succeeded +Warham late in 1532. The stratagem was successful, and +Henry cast off all disguise. The act of annates was confirmed; +another prohibiting appeals to Rome and providing for the +appointment of bishops without recourse to the papacy was +passed; and Cranmer declared Henry’s marriage with Catherine +<span class="sidenote">Henry VIII. marries Anne Boleyn.</span> +null and void and that with Anne Boleyn, which had +taken place about January 25, 1533, valid. Anne +was crowned in June, and on the 7th of September the +future Queen Elizabeth was born. At length in 1534 +Clement VII. concluded the case at Rome, pronouncing +in favour of Catherine’s marriage, and drawing up a bull of excommunication +against Henry and his abettors. But he did +not venture to publish it; public opinion in England, while +hostile to the divorce, was not in favour of the clergy or the pope, +and the rivalry between Charles V. and Francis I. was too bitter +to permit of joint, or even isolated, action against Henry. +Charles was only too anxious to avoid the duty of carrying out +the pope’s commands, and a year later he was once more involved +in war with France. Henry was able to deal roughly with such +manifestations as Elizabeth Barton’s visions, and in the autumn +<span class="sidenote">The Act of Supremacy.</span> +of 1534 to obtain from parliament the Act of Supremacy +which transferred to him the juridical, though not the +spiritual, powers of the pope. No penalties were +attached to this act, but another passed in the same +session made it treason to attempt to deprive the king of any +of his titles, of which supreme head of the church was one, +being incorporated in the royal style by letters patent of January +1535. Fisher and More were executed on this charge; they had +been imprisoned in the previous year for objecting to take the +form of oath to the succession as vested in Anne Boleyn’s children +which the commissioners prescribed. But their lives could only +be forfeit on the supposition that they sought to deprive the +king of his royal supremacy. Many of the friars observant of +Greenwich and monks of the Charterhouse were involved in a +similar fate, but there was no general resistance, and Henry, now +inspired or helped by Thomas Cromwell, was able to proceed +with the next step in the Reformation, the dissolution of the +monasteries.</p> + +<p>It was Cecil’s opinion twenty-five years later that, but for +the dissolution, the cause of the Reformation could not have +succeeded. Such a reason could hardly be avowed, +and justification had to be sought in the condition of +<span class="sidenote">Dissolution of the monasteries.</span> +the monasteries themselves. The action of Wolsey and +other bishops before 1529, the report of a commission +of cardinals appointed by Paul III. in 1535, the subsequent +experience of other, even Catholic, countries give collateral +support to the conclusions of the visitors appointed by Cromwell, +although they were dictated by a desire not to deal out impartial +justice, but to find reasons for a policy already adopted in +principle. That they exaggerated the evils of monastic life +hardly admits of doubt; but even a Henry VIII. and a Thomas +Cromwell would not have dared to attack, or succeeded in destroying, +the monasteries had they retained their original purity and +influence. As it was their doubtful reputation and financial +embarrassments enabled Henry to offer them as a gigantic bribe +to the upper classes of the laity, and the Reformation parliament +met for its last session early in 1536 to give effect to the reports +of the visitors and to the king’s and their own desires.</p> + +<p>But it had barely been dissolved in April when it became +necessary to call another. In January the death of Catherine +had rejoiced the hearts of Henry and Anne Boleyn, but Anne’s +happiness was short-lived. Two miscarriages and the failure +to produce the requisite male heir linked her in Henry’s mind +and in misfortune to Catherine; unlike Catherine she was unpopular +and not above suspicion. The story of her tragedy is +still one of the most horrible and mysterious pages in English +history. It is certain that Henry was tired and wanted to get +rid of her; but if she were innocent, why were charges brought +against her which were not brought against Catherine of Aragon +and Anne of Cleves? and why were four other victims sacrificed +when one would have been enough? The peers a year before +could acquit Lord Dacre; would they have condemned the queen +without some show of evidence? and unless there was suspicious +evidence, her daughter was inhuman in making no effort subsequently +to clear her mother’s character. However that may be, +<span class="sidenote">Execution of Queen Anne Boleyn.</span> +Anne was not only condemned and executed, but her +marriage was declared invalid and her daughter a +bastard. Parliament was required to establish the +succession on the new basis of Henry’s new queen, +Jane Seymour. It also empowered the king to leave the crown +by will if he had no legitimate issue; but the illegitimate son, +the duke of Richmond, in whose favour this provision is said to +have been conceived, died shortly afterwards.</p> + +<p>Fortunately for Henry, Queen Jane roused no domestic or +foreign animosities; Charles V. and Francis I. were at war; +and the pope’s and Pole’s attempt to profit by the +Pilgrimage of Grace came too late to produce any effect +<span class="sidenote">The Pilgrimage of Grace.</span> +except the ruin of Pole’s family. The two risings of +1536 in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire were provoked +partly by the dissolution of the monasteries, partly by the collection +of a subsidy and fears of fresh taxation on births, marriages +and burials, and partly by the protestantizing Ten Articles of +1536 and Cromwell’s <i>Injunctions</i>. They were conservative +demonstrations in favour of a restoration of the old order by +means of a change of ministry, but not a change of dynasty. +The Lincolnshire rising was over before the middle of October, +the more serious revolt in Yorkshire under Aske lasted through +the winter. Henry’s lieutenants were compelled to temporize +and make concessions. Aske was invited to come to London and +hoodwinked by Henry into believing that the king was really +bent on restoration and reform. But an impatient outburst of +the insurgents and a foolish attempt to seize Hull and Scarborough +gave Henry an excuse for repudiating the concessions +made in his name. He could afford to do so because England +south of the Trent remained stauncher to him than England +north of it did to the Pilgrimage. Aske and other leaders were +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page532" id="page532"></a>532</span> +tried and executed, and summary vengeance was wreaked on +the northern counties, especially on the monasteries. The one +satisfactory outcome was the establishment of the Council of +the North, which gave the shires between the Border and the +Trent a stronger and more efficient government than they had +ever had before.</p> + +<p>Probably the Pilgrimage had some effect in moderating +Henry’s progress. The monasteries did not benefit and in +1538-1539 the greater were involved in the fate which +had already overtaken the less. But no further advances +<span class="sidenote">The “Six Articles.”</span> +were made towards Protestantism after the +publication and authorization of the “Great” Bible in English. +The Lutheran divines who came to England in 1538 with a +project for a theological union were rebuffed; the parliament +elected in 1539 was Catholic, and only the reforming bishops in +the House of Lords offered any resistance to the Six Articles +which reaffirmed the chief points in Catholic doctrine and +practice. The alliance between pope, emperor and French +king induced Henry to acquiesce in Cromwell’s scheme for a +political understanding with Cleves and the Schmalkaldic League, +which might threaten Charles V.’s position in Germany and the +Netherlands, but could not be of much direct advantage to +England. Cromwell rashly sought to wed Henry to this policy, +proposed Anne of Cleves as a bride for Henry, now once more +a widower, and represented the marriage as England’s sole +protection against a Catholic league. Henry put his neck under +the yoke, but soon discovered that there was no necessity; for +Charles and Francis were already beginning to quarrel and had +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Thomas Cromwell.</span> +no thought of a joint attack on England. The discovery +was fatal to Cromwell; after a severe struggle +in the council he was abandoned to his enemies, +attainted of treason and executed. Anne’s marriage +was declared null, and Henry found a fifth queen in Catherine +Howard, a niece of Norfolk, a protégée of Gardiner, and a friend +of the Catholic church.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless there was no reversal of what had been done, +only a check to the rate of progress. Cranmer remained archbishop +and compiled an English Litany, while Catherine Howard +soon ceased to be queen; charges of loose conduct, which in her +case at any rate were not instigated by the king, were made +against her and she was brought to the block; she was succeeded +by Catherine Parr, a mild patron of the new learning. The Six +Articles were only fitfully put in execution, especially in 1543 +and 1546: all the plots against Cranmer failed; and before he +died Henry was even considering the advisability of further +steps in the religious reformation, apart from mere spoliation +like the confiscation of the chantry lands.</p> + +<p>But Scotland, Ireland and foreign affairs concerned him most. +Something substantial was achieved in Ireland; the papal +sovereignty was abolished and Henry received from +the Irish parliament the title of king instead of lord of +<span class="sidenote">Policy in Ireland and Scotland.</span> +Ireland. The process was begun of converting Irish +chieftains into English peers which eventually divorced +the Irish people from their natural leaders; and principles of +English law and government were spread beyond the Pale. +In Scotland Henry was less fortunate. He failed to win over +James V. to his anti-papal policy, revived the feudal claim to +suzerainty, won the battle of Solway Moss (1542), and then after +James’s death bribed and threatened the Scots estates into +concluding a treaty of marriage between their infant queen and +Henry’s son. The church in Scotland led by Beaton, and the +French party led by James V.’s widow, Mary of Guise, soon +reversed this decision, and Hertford’s heavy hand was (1544) +laid on Edinburgh in revenge. France was at the root of the +evil, and Henry was thus induced once more to join Charles V. +in war (1543). The joint invasion of 1544 led to the capture of +Boulogne, but the emperor made peace in order to deal with the +Lutherans and left Henry at war with France. The French +attempted to retaliate in 1545, and burnt some villages in the +Isle of Wight and on the coast of Sussex. But their expedition +was a failure, and peace was made in 1546, by which Henry +undertook to restore Boulogne in eight years’ time on payment +of eight hundred thousand crowns. Scotland was not included in +the pacification, and when Henry died (January 28, 1547) he was +busy preparing to renew his attempt on Scotland’s independence.</p> + +<p>He left a council of sixteen to rule during his son’s minority. +The balance of parties which had existed since Cromwell’s fall +had been destroyed in the last months of the reign +by the attainder of Norfolk and his son Surrey, and +<span class="sidenote">Edward VI.</span> +the exclusion of Gardiner and Thirlby from the council +of regency. Men of the new learning prevailed, and Hertford +(later duke of Somerset), as uncle to Edward VI., was made protector +of the realm and governor of the king’s person. He soon +succeeded in removing the trammels imposed upon his authority, +and made himself king in everything but name. He used his +arbitrary power to modify the despotic system of the Tudors; +all treason laws since Edward III., all heresy laws, all restrictions +upon the publication of the Scriptures were removed in the first +parliament of the reign, and various securities for liberty were +<span class="sidenote">Progress of the Reformation.</span> +enacted. The administration of the sacrament of +the altar in both elements was permitted, the Catholic +interpretation of the mass was rendered optional, +images were removed, and English was introduced +into nearly the whole of the church service. In the following +session (1548-1549) the first Act of Uniformity authorized the +first Book of Common Prayer. It met with strenuous resistance +in Devon and in Cornwall, where rebellions added to the thickening +troubles of the protector.</p> + +<p>His administration was singularly unsuccessful. In 1547 he +won the great but barren victory of Pinkie Cleugh over the +Scots, and attempted to push on the marriage and +union by a mixture of conciliation and coercion. He +<span class="sidenote">Administration of the protector Somerset.</span> +made genuine and considerable concessions to Scottish +feeling, guaranteeing autonomy and freedom of trade, +and suggesting that the two realms should adopt the +indifferent style of the empire of Great Britain. But he also +seized Haddington in 1548, held by force the greater part of the +Lowlands, and, when Mary was transported to France, revived +the old feudal claims which he had dropped in 1547. France +was, as ever, the backbone of the Scots resistance; men and +money poured into Edinburgh to assist Mary of Guise and the +French faction. The protector’s offer to restore Boulogne could +not purchase French acquiescence in the union of England and +Scotland; and the bickerings on the borders in France and +open fighting in Scotland led the French to declare war on +England in August 1549. They were encouraged by dissensions +in England. Somerset’s own brother, Thomas Seymour, jealous +of the protector, intrigued against the government; he sought +to secure the hand of Elizabeth, the favour of Edward VI. and +the support of the Suffolk line, secretly married Catherine Parr, +and abused his office as lord high admiral to make friends with +pirates and other enemies of order. Foes of the family, such as +Warwick and Southampton, saw in his factious conduct the +means of ruining both the brothers. Seymour was brought +to the block, and the weak consent of the protector seriously +damaged him in the public eye. His notorious sympathy with +the peasantry further alienated the official classes and landed +gentry, and his campaign against enclosures brought him into +conflict with the strongest forces of the time. The remedial +measures which he favoured failed; and the rising of Ket in +Norfolk and others less important in nearly all the counties of +England, made Somerset’s position impossible. Bedford and +Herbert suppressed the rebellion in the west, Warwick that in +Norfolk (July-August 1549). They then combined with the +majority of the council and the discontented Catholics to remove +the protector from office and imprison him in the Tower (October).</p> + +<p>The Catholics hoped for reaction, the restoration of the mass, +and the release of Gardiner and Bonner, who had been imprisoned +for resistance to the protector’s ecclesiastical +policy. But Warwick meant to rely on the Protestant +<span class="sidenote">Administration of the duke of Northumberland.</span> +extremists; by January 1550 the Catholics had been +expelled from the council, and the pace of the Reformation +increased instead of diminishing. Peace was made +with France by the surrender of Boulogne and abandonment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page533" id="page533"></a>533</span> +of the policy of union with Scotland (March 1550); and the +approach of war between France and the emperor, coupled +with the rising of the princes in Germany, relieved Warwick from +foreign apprehensions and gave him a free hand at home. +Gardiner, Bonner, Heath, Day and Tunstall were one by one +deprived of their sees; a new ordinal simplified the ritual of +ordination, and a second Act of Uniformity and Book of Common +Prayer (1552) repudiated the Catholic interpretation which had +been placed on the first and imposed a stricter conformity to +the Protestant faith. All impediments to clerical marriage were +<span class="sidenote">Establishment of Protestantism.</span> +removed, altars and organs were taken down, old +service books destroyed and painted windows broken; +it was even proposed to explain away the kneeling at +the sacrament. The liberal measures of the protector +were repealed, and new treasons were enacted; Somerset himself, +who had been released and restored to the council in 1550, +became an obstacle in Warwick’s path, and was removed by +means of a bogus plot, being executed in January 1552; while +Warwick had himself made duke of Northumberland, his friend +Dorset duke of Suffolk, and Herbert earl of Pembroke.</p> + +<p>But his ambition and violence made him deeply unpopular, and +the failing health of Edward VI. opened up a serious prospect +for Northumberland. He was only safe so long as he controlled +the government, and prevented the administration of justice, +and the knowledge that not only power but life was at stake +drove him into a desperate plot for the retention of both. He +could trade upon Edward’s precocious hatred of Mary’s religion, +he could rely upon French fears of her Spanish inclinations, and +the success which had attended his schemes in England deluded +him into a belief that he could supplant the Tudor with a Dudley +dynasty. His son Guilford Dudley was hastily married to Lady +Jane Grey, the eldest granddaughter of Henry VIII.’s younger +sister Mary. Henry’s two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, the +descendants of his elder sister Margaret, and Lady Jane’s mother, +the duchess of Suffolk, were all to be passed over, and the succession +was to be vested in Lady Jane and her heirs male. +Edward was persuaded that he could devise the crown by will, +the council and the judges were browbeaten into acquiescence, +and three days after Edward’s death (July 6, 1553), Lady Jane +Grey was proclaimed queen in London. Northumberland had +miscalculated the temper of the nation, and failed to kidnap +Mary. She gathered her forces in Norfolk and Suffolk, Northumberland +rode out from London to oppose her, but defection +dogged his steps, and even in London Mary was proclaimed +queen behind his back by his fellow-conspirators. Mary entered +London amid unparalleled popular rejoicings, and Northumberland +was sent to a well-deserved death on the scaffold.</p> + +<p>Mary was determined from the first to restore papalism as +well as Catholicism, but she had to go slowly. The papacy +had few friends in England, and even Charles V., on +whom Mary chiefly relied for guidance, was not eager +<span class="sidenote">Queen Mary. Restoration of the old religion.</span> +to see the papal jurisdiction restored. He wanted +England to be first firmly tied to the Habsburg interests +by Mary’s marriage with Philip. Nor was it generally +anticipated that Mary would do more than restore +religion as it had been left by her father. She did not attempt +anything further in 1553 than the repeal of Edward VI.’s legislation +and the accomplishment of the Spanish marriage. The +latter project provoked fierce resistance; various risings were +planned for the opening months of 1554, and Wyat’s nearly +proved successful. Only his arrogance and procrastination +and Mary’s own courage saved her throne. But the failure of +this protest enabled Mary to carry through the Spanish marriage, +which was consummated in July; and in the ensuing parliament +(Oct.-Jan. 1554-1555) all anti-papal legislation was repealed; +Pole was received as legate; the realm was reconciled to Rome; +and, although the holders of abbey lands were carefully protected +against attempts at restitution, the church was empowered to +work its will with regard to heresy. The Lollard statutes were +revived, and between February 1555 and November 1558 some +three hundred Protestants were burnt at the stake. They began +with John Rogers and Rowland Taylor, and Bishops Ferrar of +St Davids and Hooper of Gloucester. Ridley and Latimer were +not burnt until October 1555, and Cranmer not till March 1556. +London, Essex, Hertfordshire, East Anglia, Kent and Sussex +provided nearly all the victims; only one was burnt north of the +Trent, and only one south-west of Wiltshire. But in the Protestant +districts neither age nor sex was spared; even the dead +were dug up and burnt. The result was to turn the hearts of +Mary’s people from herself, her church and her creed. Other +causes helped to convert their enthusiastic loyalty into bitter +<span class="sidenote">Unpopularity of the Spanish marriage. Philip II.</span> +hatred. The Spanish marriage was a failure from +every point of view. In spite of Mary’s repeated delusions, +she bore no child, and both parliament and +people resisted every attempt to deprive Elizabeth of +her right to the succession. Philip did all he could to +conciliate English affections, but they would not have +Spanish control at any price. They knew that his blandishments +were dictated by ulterior designs, and that the absorption of +England in the Habsburg empire was his ultimate aim. As it +was, the Spanish connexion checked England’s aspirations; her +adventurers were warned off the Spanish Main, and even trade +with the colonies of Philip’s ally Portugal was prohibited. They +had to content themselves with the Arctic Ocean and Muscovy; +and they soon found themselves at war in Philip’s interests. +Philip himself refused to declare war on Scotland on England’s +behalf, but he induced Mary to declare war on France on his +own (1557). The glory of the war fell to the Spaniards at +St Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558), but the shame to +England by the loss of Calais (Jan. 1558). Ten months later +Mary died (Nov. 17), deserted by her husband and broken-hearted +at the loss of Calais and her failure to win English +hearts back to Rome.</p> + +<p>The Spanish and Venetian ambassadors in London were +shocked at what they regarded as the indecent rejoicings over +Elizabeth’s accession. The nation, indeed, breathed +a new life. Papal control of its ecclesiastical, and +<span class="sidenote">Accession of Elizabeth. English national struggle with Spain.</span> +Spanish control of its foreign policy ceased, and it had +a queen who gloried in being “mere English.” There +was really no possible rival sovereign, and no possible +alternative policy. The English were tugging at the +chain and Elizabeth had to follow; her efforts throughout +were aimed at checking the pace at which her people wanted +to go. She could not have married Philip had she wished to, and +she could not have kept her sea-dogs off the Spanish Main. +They were willing to take all the risks and relieve her of all +responsibility; they filled her coffers with Spanish gold which +they plundered as pirates, knowing that they might be hanged +if caught; and they fought Elizabeth’s enemies in France and +in the Netherlands as irregulars, taking their chance of being shot +if taken prisoners. While Elizabeth nursed prosperity in peace, +her subjects sapped the strength of England’s rivals by attacks +which were none the less damaging because they escaped the +name of war.</p> + +<p>It required all Elizabeth’s finesse to run with the hare and hunt +with the hounds; but she was, as Henry III. of France said, +<i>la plus fine femme du monde</i>, and she was ably seconded by Cecil +who had already proved himself an adept in the art of taking +cover. Nevertheless, English policy in their hands was essentially +aggressive. It could not be otherwise if England was to +emerge from the slough in which Mary had left it. The first step +was to assert the principle of England for the English; the queen +would have no foreign husband, though she found suitors useful +as well as attractive. Spanish counsels were applauded and +neglected, and the Spaniards soon departed. Elizabeth was +glad of Philip’s support at the negotiations for peace at Cateau +Cambrésis (1559), but she took care to assert the independence +<span class="sidenote">Triumph of the new religion. The Act of Uniformity.</span> +of her diplomacy and of England’s interests. At +home the church was made once more English. All +foreign jurisdiction was repudiated, and under the +style “supreme governor” Elizabeth reclaimed nearly +all the power which Henry VIII. had exercised as +“supreme head.” The Act of Uniformity (1559) +restored with a few modifications the second prayer-book of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page534" id="page534"></a>534</span> +Edward VI. The bishops almost unanimously refused to conform, +and a clean sweep was made of the episcopal bench. An eminently +safe and scholarly archbishop was found in Matthew Parker, +who had not made himself notorious by resistance to authority +even under Mary. The lower clergy were more amenable; the +two hundred who alone are said to have been ejected should +perhaps be multiplied by five; but even so they were not +one in seven, and these seven were clergy who had been promoted +in Mary’s reign, or who had stood the celibate and other +tests of 1553-1554. Into the balance must be thrown the +hundreds, if not thousands, of zealots who had fled abroad +and returned in 1558-1559. The net result was that a few +years later the lower house of convocation only rejected by +one vote a very puritanical petition against vestments and other +“popish dregs.”</p> + +<p>The next step was to expand the principle of England for +the English into that of Britain for the British, and Knox’s +reformation in 1559-1560 provided an opportunity +for its application. By timely and daring intervention +<span class="sidenote">Elizabeth and Scotland.</span> +in Scotland Elizabeth procured the expulsion of the +French bag and baggage from North Britain, and that +French avenue to England was closed for ever. The logic of this +plan was not applied to Ireland; there it was to be Ireland for +the English for many a generation yet to come; and so Ireland +remained Achilles’ heel, the vulnerable part of the United Kingdom. +The Protestant religion was forced upon the Irish in a +foreign tongue and garb and at the point of foreign pikes; and +national sentiment supported the ancient faith and the ancient +habits in resistance to the Saxon innovations. In other directions +the expansion of England, the third stage in the development of +Elizabeth’s policy, was more successful. The attractions of the +Spanish Main converted the seafaring folk of south-west England +<span class="sidenote">Struggle against the Spanish dominion at sea.</span> +into hardy Protestants, who could on conscientious +as well as other grounds contest a papal allocation +of new worlds to Spain and Portugal. Their monopoly +was broken up by Hawkins, Drake, Frobisher, Raleigh, +and scores of others who recognized no peace beyond +the line; and although, as far as actual colonies went, +the results of Elizabeth’s reign were singularly meagre, the idea +had taken root and the ground had been prepared. In every +direction English influence penetrated, and Englishmen before +1603 might be found in every quarter of the globe, following +Drake’s lead into the Pacific, painfully breaking the ice in search +of a north-east or a north-west passage, hunting for slaves in the +wilds of Africa, journeying in caravans across the steppes of +Russia into central Asia, bargaining with the Turks on the +shores of the Golden Horn, or with the Greeks in the Levant, +laying the foundations of the East India Company, or of the +colonies of Virginia and Newfoundland.</p> + +<p>This expansion was mainly at the expense of Spain; but at +first Spain was regarded as Elizabeth’s friend, not France. +France had a rival candidate for Elizabeth’s throne +in Mary Stuart, the wife of the dauphin who soon +<span class="sidenote">Mary, queen of Scots.</span> +(1559) became king as Francis II.; and Spanish favour +was sought to neutralize this threat. Fortunately for +Elizabeth, Francis died in 1560, and the French government +passed into the hands of Catherine de’ Medici, who had no cause +to love her daughter-in-law and the Guises. France, too, was +soon paralysed by the wars of religion which Elizabeth judiciously +fomented with anything but religious motives. Mary Stuart +returned to Scotland with nothing but her brains and her charms +on which to rely in her struggle with her people and her rival. +She was well equipped in both respects, but human passions +spoilt her chance; her heart turned her head. Elizabeth’s head +was stronger and she had no heart at all. When Mary married +Darnley she had the ball at her feet; the pair had the best +claims to the English succession and enjoyed the united affections +of the Catholics. But they soon ceased to love one another, and +could not control their jealousies. There followed rapidly the +murders of Rizzio and Darnley, the Bothwell marriage, Mary’s +defeat, captivity, and flight into England (1568). It was a +difficult problem for Elizabeth to solve; to let Mary go to +France was presenting a good deal more than a pawn to her +enemies; to restore her by force to her Scottish throne might +have been heroic, but it certainly was not politics; to hand her +over to her Scottish foes was too mean even for Elizabeth; and to +keep her in England was to nurse a spark in a powder-magazine. +Mary was detained in the hope that the spark might be carefully +isolated.</p> + +<p>But there was too much inflammable material about. The +duke of Norfolk was a Protestant, but his convictions were +weaker than his ambition, and he fell a victim to +Mary’s unseen charms. The Catholic north of England +<span class="sidenote">Rebellion of 1569 and excommunication of Elizabeth.</span> +was to rise under the earls of Westmorland and +Northumberland, who objected to Elizabeth’s seizure +of their mines and jurisdictions as well as to her proscription +of their faith; and the pope was to assist +with a bull of deposition. Norfolk, however, played the coward; +the bull came nearly a year too late, and the rebellion of the earls +(1569) was easily crushed. But the conspiracies did not end, +and Spain began to take a hand. Elizabeth, partly in revenge +for the treatment of Hawkins and Drake at San Juan de Ulloa, +seized some Spanish treasure on its way to the Netherlands +(Dec. 1569). Alva’s operations were fatally handicapped by +this disaster, but Philip was too much involved in the Netherlands +to declare war on England. But his friendship for Elizabeth +<span class="sidenote">Plots against Elizabeth. Relations with France and Spain.</span> +had received a shock, and henceforth his finger +may be traced in most of the plots against her, of which +the Ridolfi conspiracy was the first. It cost Norfolk +his head and Mary more of her scanty liberty. Elizabeth +also began to look to France, and in 1572, by the +treaty of Blois, France instead of Spain became England’s +ally, while Philip constituted himself as Mary’s +patron. The massacre of St Bartholomew placed a severe strain +upon the new alliance, but was not fatal to it. A series of +prolonged but hollow marriage negotiations between Elizabeth +and first Anjou (afterwards Henry III.) and then Alenēon +(afterwards duke of Anjou) served to keep up appearances. +But the friendship was never warm; Elizabeth’s relations with +the Huguenots on the one hand and her fear of French designs +on the Netherlands on the other prevented much cordiality. +But the alliance stood in the way of a Franco-Spanish agreement, +limited Elizabeth’s sympathy with the French Protestants, and +enabled her to give more countenance than she otherwise might +have done to the Dutch.</p> + +<p>Gradually Philip grew more hostile under provocation; +slowly he came to the conclusion that he could never subdue +the Dutch or check English attacks on the Spanish +Main without a conquest of England. Simultaneously +<span class="sidenote">The Jesuit missions.</span> +the counter-Reformation began its attacks; the +“Jesuit invasion” took place in 1580, and Campion +went to the block. A papal and Spanish attempt upon Ireland +in the same year was foiled at Smerwick. But more important +was Philip’s acquisition of the throne of Portugal with its harbours, +its colonies and its marine. This for the first time gave him a +real command of the sea, and at least doubled the chances of +a successful attack upon England. But Philip’s mind moved +slowly and only on provocation. It took a year or two to satisfy +him that Portugal was really his; not until 1583 was the fleet +of the pretender Don Antonio destroyed in the Azores. The +victor, Santa Cruz, then suggested an armada against England, +but the English Catholics could not be brought into line with a +Spanish invasion. The various attempts to square James VI. +of Scotland had not been successful, and events in the Netherlands +and in France disturbed Philip’s calculations. But his +purpose was now probably fixed. After the murder of William +the Silent (1584) Elizabeth sided more openly with the Dutch; +the Spanish ambassador Mendoza was expelled from England +<span class="sidenote">Execution of Mary, queen of Scots, 1587.</span> +for his intrigues with Elizabeth’s enemies (1586); and +on the discovery of Babington’s plot Elizabeth yielded +to the demand of her parliament and her ministers +for Mary’s execution (1587); her death removed the +only possible centre for a Catholic rebellion in case +of a Spanish attack. It also removed Philip’s last doubts; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page535" id="page535"></a>535</span> +Mary had left him her claims to the English throne, and he +might, now that she was out of his path, hope to treat England +like Portugal. Drake’s “singeing of Philip’s beard” in Cadiz +harbour in 1587 delayed the expedition for a year, and a storm +again postponed it in the early summer of 1588. At length the +armada sailed in July under the incompetent duke of Medina +Sidonia; its object was to secure command of the narrow seas +and facilitate the transport of Parma’s army from the Netherlands +to England. But Philip after his twenty years’ experience +in the Netherlands can hardly have hoped to conquer a bigger +and richer country with scantier means and forces. He relied +<span class="sidenote">The Great Armada, 1588.</span> +in fact upon a domestic explosion, and the armada +was only to be the torch. This miscalculation made +it a hopeless enterprise from the first. Scarcely an +English Catholic would have raised a finger in Philip’s +favour; and when he could not subdue the two provinces of +Holland and Zeeland, it is absurd to suppose that he could have +simultaneously subdued them and England as well. English +armies were not perhaps very efficient, but they were as good +as the material with which William of Orange began his +task. Philip, however, was never given the opportunity. +His armada was severely handled in a week’s fighting on its +way up the Channel, and was driven off the English ports +into the German Ocean; there a south-west gale drove it +far from its rendezvous, and completed the havoc which the +English ships had begun. A miserable remnant alone escaped +destruction in its perilous flight round the north and west of +Scotland.</p> + +<p>The defeat of the armada was the beginning and not the end +of the war; and there were moments between 1588 and 1603 +when England was more seriously alarmed than in 1588. The +Spaniards seized Calais in 1596; at another time they threatened +England from Brest, and the “invisible” armada of 1599 +created a greater panic than the “invincible” armada of 1588. +It was not till the very end of the reign that what was in some +ways the most dangerous of Spanish aggressions was foiled at +Kinsale. Nor were the English counter-attacks very happy; +the attempt on Portugal in 1589 under Drake and Norris proved +a complete failure. The raid on Cadiz under Essex and Raleigh +in 1596 was attended with better results, but the “Islands” +voyage to the Azores in 1597 was a very partial success. Still +it was now a war upon more or less equal terms, and there was +little more likelihood that it would end with England’s than +with Spain’s loss of national independence. The subjection +of the Netherlands was now almost out of the question, and +although Elizabeth’s help had not enabled the Protestant cause +to win in France, Henry IV. built up a national monarchy +which would be quite as effectual a bar to the ambitions of +Spain.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth had in fact safely piloted England through the +struggle to assert its national independence in religion and +politics and its claim to a share in the new inheritance +which had been opened up for the nations of Europe; +<span class="sidenote">Last years of Elizabeth.</span> +and the passionate loyalty which had supported her as +the embodiment of England’s aspirations somewhat +cooled in her declining years. She herself grew more cautious +and conservative than ever, and was regarded as an obstacle +by the hotheads in war and religion. She sided with the +“scribes,” Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil, against the men of +war, Essex and Raleigh; and she abetted Whitgift’s rigorous +persecution of the Puritans whose discontent with her <i>via media</i> +was rancorously expressed in the Martin Marprelate tracts. +Essex’s folly and failure to crush Hugh O’Neill’s rebellion (1599), +the most serious effort made in the reign to throw off the English +yoke in Ireland, involved him in treason and brought him to +the block. Parliament was beginning to quarrel with the royal +prerogative, particularly when expressed in the grant of monopolies, +and even Mountjoy’s success in Ireland (1602-1603) +failed to revive popular enthusiasm for the dying queen. Strange +as it may seem, the accession of James I. was hailed as heralding +a new and gladder age by Shakespeare, and minor writers +(March 24, 1603).</p> +<div class="author">(A. F. P.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">VIII. The Stuart Monarchy, the Great Rebellion and +the Restoration (1603-1689)</p> + +<p>The defeat of the Spanish armada in 1588 had been the final +victory gained on behalf of the independence of the English +church and state. The fifteen years which followed +had been years of successful war; but they had been +<span class="sidenote">James I. 1603-1625.</span> +also years during which the nation had been preparing +itself to conform its institutions to the new circumstances +in which it found itself in consequence of the great +victory. When James arrived from Scotland to occupy the +throne of Elizabeth he found a general desire for change. +Especially there was a feeling that there might be some relaxation +in the ecclesiastical arrangements. Roman Catholics and +Puritans alike wished for a modification of the laws which bore +hardly on them. James at first relaxed the penalties under +which the Roman Catholics suffered, then he grew frightened +by the increase of their numbers and reimposed the penalties. +The gunpowder plot (1605) was the result, followed by a sharper +persecution than ever (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Gunpowder Plot</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The Puritans were invited to a conference with the king +at Hampton Court (1604). They no longer asked, as many +of them had asked in the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, to +substitute the presbyterian discipline for the episcopal government. +All they demanded was to be allowed permission, whilst +remaining as ministers in the church, to omit the usage of +certain ceremonies to which they objected. It was the opinion +of Bacon that it would be wise to grant their request. James +thought otherwise, and attempted to carry out the Elizabethan +conformity more strictly than it had been carried out in his +predecessor’s reign.</p> + +<p>In 1604 the Commons agreed with Bacon. They declared that +they were no Puritans themselves, but that, with such a dearth +of able ministers, it was not well to lose the services +of any one who was capable of preaching the gospel. +<span class="sidenote">James I. and the Commons.</span> +By his refusal to entertain their views James placed +himself in opposition to the Commons in a matter +which touched their deeper feelings. As a necessary consequence +every dispute on questions of smaller weight assumed an exaggerated +importance. The king had received a scanty revenue +with his crown, and he spent freely what little he had. As the +Commons offered grudging supplies, the necessity under which +he was of filling up the annual deficit led him to an action by +which a grave constitutional question was raised.</p> + +<p>From the time of Richard II. to the reign of Mary no attempt +had been made to raise duties on exports and imports without +consent of parliament. But Mary had, under a specious pretext, +recommenced to a slight extent the evil practice, and Elizabeth +had gone a little further in the same direction. In 1606 a +merchant named John Bates (<i>q.v.</i>) resisted the payment of an +imposition—as duties levied by the sole authority of the crown +were then called. The case was argued in the court of exchequer, +and was there decided in favour of the crown. Shortly afterwards +new impositions were set to the amount of £70,000 a year. +When parliament met in 1610 the whole subject was discussed, +and it was conclusively shown that, if the barons of the exchequer +had been right in any sense, it was only in that narrow technical +sense which is of no value at all. A compromise attempted broke +down, and the difficulty was left to plague the next generation. +The king was always able to assert that the judges were on his +side, and it was as yet an acknowledged principle of the constitution +that parliament could not change the law without the +express consent of the crown, even if, which was not the case +in this matter, the Lords had sided with the Commons. James’s +attempt to obtain further supplies from the Commons by opening +a bargain for the surrender of some of his old feudal prerogatives, +such as wardship and marriage, which had no longer any real +meaning except as a means of obtaining money in an oppressive +way, broke down, and early in 1611 he dissolved his first +parliament in anger. A second parliament, summoned in 1614, +met with the same fate after a session of a few weeks.</p> + +<p>The dissolution of this second parliament was followed by a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page536" id="page536"></a>536</span> +short imprisonment of some of the more active members, and +by a demand made through England for a benevolence to make +up the deficiency which parliament had neglected to meet. The +court represented that, as no compulsion was used, there was +nothing illegal in this proceeding. But as the names of those +who refused to pay were taken down, it cannot be said that +there was no indirect pressure.</p> + +<p>The most important result of the breach with the parliament of +1614, however, was the resolution taken by James to seek refuge +from his financial and other troubles in a close alliance +with the king of Spain. His own accession had done +<span class="sidenote">Attempted union with Scotland.</span> +much to improve the position of England in its relation +with the continental powers. Scotland was no longer +available as a possible enemy to England, and though an attempt +to bind the union between the two nations by freedom of commercial +intercourse had been wrecked upon the jealousy of the +English Commons (1607), a legal decision had granted the status +of national subjects to all persons born in Scotland after the king’s +accession in England. Ireland, too, had been thoroughly overpowered +at the end of Elizabeth’s reign, and the flight of the +<span class="sidenote">The colonization of Ulster.</span> +earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel in 1607 had been +followed by the settlement of English and Scottish +colonists in Ulster, a measure which, in the way in +which it was undertaken, sowed the seeds of future +evils, but undoubtedly conduced to increase the immediate +strength of the English government in Ireland.</p> + +<p>Without fear of danger at home, therefore, James, who as king +of Scotland had taken no part in Elizabeth’s quarrel with +Philip II., not only suspended hostilities immediately +on his accession, and signed a peace in the following +<span class="sidenote">The Spanish alliance.</span> +year, but looked favourably on the project of a Spanish +marriage alliance, so that the chief Protestant and the +chief Catholic powers might join together to impose peace on +Europe, in the place of those hideous religious wars by which +the last century had been disfigured. In 1611 circumstances had +disgusted him with his new ally, but in 1614 he courted him +again, not only on grounds of general policy, but because he +hoped that the large portion which would accompany the hand +of an infanta would go far to fill the empty treasury.</p> + +<p>In this way the Spanish alliance, unpopular in itself, was +formed to liberate the king from the shackles imposed on +him by the English constitution. Its unpopularity, great +from the beginning, became greater when Raleigh’s execution +(1618) caused the government to appear before the world as +truckling to Spain. The obloquy under which James laboured +increased when the Thirty Years’ War broke out (1618), and +when his daughter Elizabeth, whose husband, the elector palatine, +was the unhappy claimant to the Bohemian crown (1619), +stood forth as the lovely symbol of the deserted Protestantism +of Europe. Yet it was not entirely in pity for German Protestants +that the heart of Englishmen beat. Men felt that their +own security was at stake. The prospect of a Spanish infanta +as the bride of the future king of England filled them with +suspicious terrors. In Elizabeth’s time the danger, if not entirely +external, did not come from the government itself. Now the +favour shown to the Roman Catholics by the king opened up a +source of mischief which was to some extent real, if it was to a +still greater extent imaginary. Whether the danger were real or +imaginary, the consequence of the distrust resulting from the +suspicion was the reawakening of the slumbering demand for +fresh persecution of the Roman Catholics, a demand which +made a complete reconciliation between the crown and the Lower +House a matter of the greatest difficulty.</p> + +<p>In 1621 the third parliament of James was summoned to +provide money for the war in defence of his son-in-law’s inheritance, +the Palatinate, which he now proposed to +undertake. But it soon appeared that he was not +<span class="sidenote">Parliament and the monopolies.</span> +prepared immediately to come to blows, and the +Commons, voting a small sum as a token of their +loyalty, passed to other matters. Indolent in his temper, James +had been in the habit of leaving his patronage in the hands of +a confidential favourite, and that position was now filled by +George Villiers, marquess and afterwards duke of Buckingham. +The natural consequence was that men who paid court to him +were promoted, and those who kept at a distance from him +had no notice taken of their merits. Further, a system of granting +monopolies and other privileges had again sprung up. Many of +these grants embodied some scheme which was intended to serve +the interests of the public, and many actions which appear +startling to us were covered by the extreme protectionist theories +then in vogue. But abuses of every kind had clustered round +them, and in many cases the profits had gone into the pockets +of hangers-on of the court, whilst officials had given their assistance +to the grantors even beyond their legal powers. James +was driven by the outcry raised to abandon these monopolies, and +an act of Parliament in 1624 placed the future grant of protections +to new inventions under the safeguard of the judges.</p> + +<p>The attack on the monopolies was followed by charges brought +by the Commons before the Lords against persons implicated +in carrying them into execution, and subsequently +against Lord Chancellor Bacon as guilty of corruption. +<span class="sidenote">Fall of Bacon.</span> +The sentence passed by the Lords vindicated the right +of parliament to punish officials who had enjoyed the favour +of the crown, which had fallen into disuse since the accession +of the house of York. There was no open contest between +parliament and king in this matter. But the initiative of demanding +justice had passed from the crown to the Commons. It is +impossible to overestimate the effect of these proceedings on +the position of parliament. The crown could never again be +regarded as the sum of the governmental system.</p> + +<p>When the Commons met after the summer adjournment a +new constitutional question was raised. The king was at last +determined to find troops for the defence of the Palatinate, and +asked the Commons for money to pay them. They in turn +petitioned the crown to abandon the Spanish alliance, which +they regarded as the source of all the mischief. James told them +that they had no right to discuss business on which he had not +asked their opinion. They declared that they were privileged +to discuss any matter relating to the commonwealth which they +chose to take in hand, and embodied their opinion in a protest, +which they entered on their journals. The king tore the protest +out of the book and dissolved parliament.</p> + +<p>Then followed a fresh call for a benevolence, this time more +sparingly answered than before. A year of fruitless diplomacy +failed to save the Palatinate from total loss. The ill-considered +journey to Madrid, in which Prince Charles, accompanied by +Buckingham, hoped to wring from the Spanish statesmen a +promise to restore the Palatinate in compliment for his marriage +with the infanta, ended also in total failure. In the autumn of +1623 Charles returned to England without a wife, and without +hope of regaining the Palatinate with Spanish aid.</p> + +<p>He came back resolved to take vengeance upon Spain. The +parliament elected in 1624 was ready to second him. It voted +some supplies on the understanding that, when the +king had matured his plans for carrying on the war, +<span class="sidenote">The French alliance.</span> +it should come together in the autumn to vote the +necessary subsidies. It never met again. Charles had +promised that, if he married a Roman Catholic, he would grant +no toleration to the English Catholics in consideration of the +marriage. In the autumn he had engaged himself to marry +Henrietta Maria, the sister of the king of France, and had bound +himself to grant the very conditions which he had declared to +the Commons that he never would concede. Hence it was that +he did not venture to recommend his father to summon parliament +till the marriage was over. But though there was but little +money to dispose of, he and Buckingham, who, now that James +was sick and infirm, were the real leaders of the government, +could not endure to abstain from the prosecution of the war. +Early in 1625 an expedition, under Count Mansfeld, was sent to +Holland that it might ultimately cut its way to the Palatinate. +Left without pay and without supplies, the men perished by +thousands, and when James died in March the new king had +to meet his first parliament burthened by a broken promise +and a disastrous failure.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page537" id="page537"></a>537</span></p> + +<p>When parliament met (1625) the Commons at first contented +themselves with voting a sum of money far too small to carry on +the extensive military and naval operations in which +Charles had embarked. When the king explained his +<span class="sidenote">Charles I. 1625-1649.</span> +necessities, they intimated that they had no confidence +in Buckingham, and asked that, before they granted +further supply, the king would name counsellors whom they +could trust to advise him on its employment. Charles at once +dissolved parliament. He knew that the demand for ministerial +responsibility would in the end involve his own responsibility, +and, believing as he did that Buckingham’s arrangements had +been merely unlucky, he declined to sacrifice the minister whom +he trusted.</p> + +<p>Charles and Buckingham did their best to win back popularity +by strenuous exertion. They attempted to found a great Protestant +alliance on the continent, and they sent a great expedition +to Cadiz. The Protestant alliance and the expedition +to Cadiz ended in equal failure. The second parliament of the +reign (1626) impeached Buckingham for crimes against the state. +As Charles would not dismiss him simply because the Commons +were dissatisfied with him as a minister, they fell back on charging +him with criminal designs. Once more Charles dissolved +parliament to save Buckingham. Then came fresh enterprises +and fresh failures. A fleet under Lord Willoughby (afterwards +earl of Lindsey) was almost ruined by a storm. The king of +Denmark, trusting to supplies from England which never came, +was defeated at Lutter. A new war in addition to the Spanish +war, broke out with France. A great expedition to Ré, under +Buckingham’s command (1627), intended to succour the +Huguenots of La Rochelle against their sovereign, ended in +disaster. In order to enable himself to meet expenditure on +so vast a scale, Charles had levied a forced loan from his subjects. +Men of high rank in society who refused to pay were imprisoned. +Soldiers were billeted by force in private houses, and military +officers executed martial law on civilians. When the imprisoned +gentlemen appealed to the king’s bench for a writ of <i>habeas +corpus</i>, it appeared that no cause of committal had been assigned, +and the judges therefore refused to liberate them. Still Charles +believed it possible to carry on the war, and especially to send +relief to La Rochelle, now strictly blockaded by the forces of the +French crown. In order to find the means for this object he +summoned his third parliament (1628). The Commons at once +<span class="sidenote">The Petition of Right.</span> +proceeded to draw a line which should cut off the +possibility of a repetition of the injuries of which they +complained. Charles was willing to surrender his claims +to billet soldiers by force, to order the execution of +martial law in time of peace, and to exact forced loans, benevolences, +or any kind of taxation, without consent of parliament; +but he protested against the demand that he should surrender +the right to imprison without showing cause. It was argued on +his behalf that in case of a great conspiracy it would be necessary +to trust the crown with unusual powers to enable it to preserve +the peace. The Commons, who knew that the crown had used +the powers which it claimed, not against conspirators, but +against the commonwealth itself, refused to listen to the argument, +and insisted on the acceptance of the whole Petition of +Right, in which they demanded redress for all their grievances. +The king at last gave his consent to it, as he could obtain money +in no other way. In after times, when any real danger occurred +which needed a suspension of the ordinary safeguards of liberty, +a remedy was found in the suspension of the law by act of parliament; +such a remedy, however, only became possible when +king and parliament were on good terms of agreement with one +another.</p> + +<p>That time was as yet far distant. The House of Commons +brought fresh charges against Buckingham, whose murder soon +after the prorogation removed one subject of dispute. +But when they met again (1629) they had two quarrels +<span class="sidenote">Crown and parliament.</span> +left over from the preceding session. About a third +part of the king’s revenue was derived from customs +duties which had for many generations been granted by parliament +to each sovereign for life. Charles held that this grant +was little more than a matter of form, whilst the Commons held +that it was a matter of right. But for the other dispute the +difficulty would probably have been got over. The strong +Protestantism of Elizabeth’s reign had assumed a distinctly +Calvinistic form, and the country gentlemen who formed the +majority of the House of Commons were resolutely determined +that no other theology than that of Calvin should be taught in +England. In the last few years a reaction against it had arisen +especially in the universities, and those who adopted an unpopular +creed, and who at the same time showed tendencies to +a more ceremonial form of worship, naturally fell back on the +support of the crown. Charles, who might reasonably have +exerted himself to secure a fair liberty for all opinions, promoted +these unpopular divines to bishoprics and livings, and the divines +in turn exalted the royal prerogative above parliamentary rights. +He now proposed that both sides should keep silence on the points +in dispute. The Commons rejected his scheme, and prepared +to call in question the most obnoxious of the clergy. In this +irritated temper they took up the question of tonnage and +poundage, and instead of confining themselves to the great +public question, they called to the bar some custom-house +officers who happened to have seized the goods of one of their +members. Charles declared that the seizure had taken place +by his orders. When they refused to accept the excuse, he dissolved +parliament, but not before a tumult took place in the +House, and the speaker was forcibly held down in his chair +whilst resolutions hostile to the government were put to the vote.</p> + +<p>For eleven years no parliament met again. The extreme +action of the Lower House was not supported by the people, +and the king had the opportunity, if he chose to use it, of putting +himself right with the nation after no long delay. But he never +understood that power only attends sympathetic leadership. +He contented himself with putting himself technically in the +right, and with resting his case on the favourable decisions of +the judges. Under any circumstances, neither the training nor +the position of judges is such as to make them fit to be the final +arbiters of political disputes. They are accustomed to declare +what the law is, not what it ought to be. These judges, moreover, +were not in the position to be impartial. They had been +selected by the king, and were liable to be deprived of their office +when he saw fit. In the course of Charles’s reign two chief +justices and one chief baron were dismissed or suspended. +Besides the ordinary judges there were the extraordinary +tribunals, the court of high commission nominated by the crown +to punish ecclesiastical offenders, and the court of star chamber, +composed of the privy councillors and the chief justices, and +therefore also nominated by the crown, to inflict fine, imprisonment, +and even corporal mutilation on lay offenders. +Those who rose up in any way against the established order +were sharply punished.</p> + +<p>The harsh treatment of individuals only calls forth resistance +when constitutional morality has sunk deeply into the popular +mind. The ignoring of the feelings and prejudices +of large classes has a deeper effect. Charles’s foreign +<span class="sidenote">Ship-money.</span> +policy, and his pretentious claim to the sovereignty +of the British seas, demanded the support of a fleet, which might +indeed be turned to good purpose in offering a counterpoise +to the growing navies of France and Holland. The increasing +estrangement between him and the nation made him averse from +the natural remedy of a parliament, and he reverted to the +absolute practices of the middle ages, in order that he might +strain them far beyond the warrant of precedent to levy a +tax under the name of ship-money, first on the port towns and +then on the whole of England. Payment was resisted by John +Hampden, a Buckinghamshire squire; but the judges declared +that the king was in the right (1638). Yet the arguments used +by Hampden’s lawyers sunk deeply into the popular mind, and +almost every man in England who was called on to pay the tax +looked upon the king as a wrong-doer under the forms of law.</p> + +<p>In his ecclesiastical policy Charles was equally out of touch +with the feelings of his people. He shared to the full his father’s +dislike and distrust of the Puritans, and he supported with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page538" id="page538"></a>538</span> +whole weight of the crown the attempt of William Laud (<i>q.v.</i>), +<span class="sidenote">The Church.</span> +since 1633 archbishop of Canterbury, to enforce conformity to +the ritual prescribed by the Prayer Book. At the same +time offence was given to the Puritans by an order +that every clergyman should read the Declaration +of Sports, in which the king directed that no one should be +prevented from dancing or shooting at the butts on Sunday +afternoon. Many of the clergy were suspended or deprived, +many emigrated to Holland or New England, and of those who +remained a large part bore the yoke with feelings of ill-concealed +dissatisfaction. Suspicion was easily aroused that a deep plot +existed, of which Laud was believed to be the centre, for carrying +the nation over to the Church of Rome, a suspicion which +seemed to be converted into a certainty when it was known +that Panzani and Conn, two agents of the pope, had access to +Charles, and that in 1637 there was a sudden accession to the +number of converts to the Roman Catholic Church amongst the +lords and ladies of the court.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1638 Charles had long ceased to reign in +the affections of his subjects. But their traditionary loyalty +had not yet failed, and if he had not called on them +for fresh exertions, it is possible that the coming revolution +<span class="sidenote">Charles and Scotland.</span> +would have been long delayed. Men were +ready to shout applause in honour of Puritan martyrs +like Prynne, Burton and Bastwick, whose ears were cut off in 1637, +or in honour of the lawyers who argued such a case as that of +Hampden. But no signs of active resistance had yet appeared. +Unluckily for Charles, he was likely to stand in need of the active +co-operation of Englishmen. He had attempted to force a new +Prayer Book upon the Scottish nation. A riot at Edinburgh in +1637 quickly led to national resistance, and when in November +1638 the general assembly at Glasgow set Charles’s orders at +defiance, he was compelled to choose between tame submission +and immediate war. In 1639 he gathered an English force, and +marched towards the border. But English laymen, though +asked to supply the money which he needed for the support of +his army, deliberately kept it in their pockets, and the contributions +of the clergy and of official persons were not sufficient +to enable him to keep his troops long in the field. The king, +therefore, thought it best to agree to terms of pacification. +Misunderstandings broke out as to the interpretation of the +treaty, and Charles having discovered that the Scots were +intriguing with France, fancied that England, in hatred of its +ancient foe, would now be ready to rally to his standard. After +an interval of eleven years, in April 1640 he once more called +a parliament.</p> + +<p>The Short Parliament, as it was called, demanded redress of +grievances, the abandonment of the claim to levy ship-money, +and a complete change in the ecclesiastical system. +Charles thought that it would not be worth while even +<span class="sidenote">The Short Parliament.</span> +to conquer Scotland on such terms, and dissolved +parliament. A fresh war with Scotland followed. +Wentworth, now earl of Strafford, became the leading adviser of +the king. With all the energy of his disposition he threw himself +into Charles’s plans, and left no stone unturned to furnish the +new expedition with supplies and money. But no skilfulness of +a commander can avail when soldiers are determined not to fight. +The Scots crossed the Tweed, and Charles’s army was +<span class="sidenote">The Scottish invasion.</span> +well pleased to fly before them. In a short time the +whole of Northumberland and Durham were in the +hands of the invaders. Charles was obliged to leave +these two counties in their hands as a pledge for the payment +of their expenses; and he was also obliged to summon parliament +to grant him the supplies which he needed for that object.</p> + +<p>When the Long Parliament met in November 1640 it was in +a position in which no parliament had been before. Though +nominally the Houses did not command a single +soldier, they had in reality the whole Scottish army at +<span class="sidenote">The Long Parliament.</span> +their back. By refusing supplies they would put it +out of the king’s power to fulfil his engagements to +that army, and it would immediately pursue its onward march +to claim its rights. Hence there was scarcely anything which +the king could venture to deny the Commons. Under Pym’s +leadership, they began by asking the head of Strafford. Nominally +he was accused of a number of acts of oppression +<span class="sidenote">Attainder of Strafford.</span> +in the north of England and in Ireland. His real +offence lay in his attempt to make the king absolute, +and in the design with which he was credited of intending +to bring over an Irish army to crush the liberties of England. +If he had been a man of moderate abilities he might have escaped. +But the Commons feared his commanding genius too much to +let him go free. They began with an impeachment. Difficulties +arose, and the impeachment was turned into a bill of attainder. +The king abandoned his minister, and the execution of Strafford +left Charles without a single man of supreme ability on his side. +Then came rapidly a succession of blows at the supports by +which the Tudor monarchy had been upheld. The courts of +star chamber and high commission and the council of the north +were abolished. The raising of tonnage and poundage without +a parliamentary grant was declared illegal. The judges who +had given obnoxious decisions were called to answer for their +fault and were taught that they were responsible to the House +of Commons as well as the king. Finally a bill was passed providing +that the existing House should not be dissolved without its +own consent.</p> + +<p>It was clearly a revolutionary position which the House had +assumed. But it was assumed because it was impossible to expect +that a king who had ruled as Charles had ruled could take +up a new position as the exponent of the feelings which were +represented in the Commons. As long as Charles lived he could +not be otherwise than an object of suspicion; and yet if he were +dethroned there was no one available to fill his place. There arose +therefore two parties in the House, one ready to trust the king, +the other disinclined to put any confidence in him at all. The +division was the sharper because it coincided with a difference +in matters of religion. Scarcely any one wished to see the +Laudian ceremonies upheld. But the members who favoured +the king, and who formed a considerable minority, wished to see +a certain liberty of religious thought, together with a return +under a modified Episcopacy to the forms of worship which +prevailed before Laud had taken the church in hand. The other +side, which had the majority by a few votes, wished to see the +Puritan creed prevail in all its strictness, and were favourable to +the establishment of the Presbyterian discipline. The king by +his unwise action threw power into the hands of his opponents. +He listened with tolerable calmness to their Grand Remonstrance, +but his attempt to seize the five members whom he accused +of high treason made a good understanding impossible. The +Scottish army had been paid off some months before, and civil +war was the only means of deciding the quarrel.</p> + +<p>At first the fortune of war wavered. Edgehill was a drawn +battle (1642), and the campaign of 1643, though it was on the +whole favourable to the king, gave no decisive results. +Before the year was at an end parliament invited a +<span class="sidenote">The civil war.</span> +new Scottish army to intervene in England. As an +inducement, the Solemn League and Covenant was signed by all +Parliamentarian Englishmen, the terms of which were interpreted +by the Scots to bind England to submit to Presbyterianism, +though the most important clauses had been purposely left +vague, so as to afford a loophole of escape. The battle of Marston +Moor, with the defeat of the Royalist forces in the north, +was the result. But the battle did not improve the +<span class="sidenote">Presbyterians and Independents.</span> +position of the Scots. They had been repulsed, and +the victory was justly ascribed to the English contingent. +The composition of that contingent was such +as to have a special political significance. Its leader was Oliver +Cromwell. It was formed by men who were fierce Puritan +enthusiasts, and who for the very reason that the intensity of +their religion separated them from the mass of their countrymen, +had learnt to uphold with all the energy of zeal the doctrine that +neither church nor state had a right to interfere with the forms +of worship which each congregation might select for itself (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Congregationalism</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Cromwell, Oliver</a></span>). The principle +advocated by the army, and opposed by the Scots and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page539" id="page539"></a>539</span> +majority of the House of Commons, was liberty of sectarian +association. Some years earlier, under the dominion of Laud, +another principle had been proclaimed by Chillingworth and +Hales, that of liberty of thought within the unity of the church. +Both these movements conduced to the ultimate establishment +of toleration, but for the present the Independents were to have +their way.</p> + +<p>The Presbyterian leaders, Essex and Manchester, were not +successful leaders. The army was remodelled after Cromwell’s +pattern, and the king was finally crushed at Naseby +(1645). The next year (1646) he surrendered to the +<span class="sidenote">The second civil war.</span> +Scots. Then followed two years of fruitless negotiation, +in which after the Scots abandoned the king to the +English parliament, the army took him out of the hands of the +parliament, whilst each in turn tried to find some basis of arrangement +on which he might reign without ruling. Such a basis +could not be found, and when Charles stirred up a fresh civil war +and a Scottish invasion (1648) the leaders of the army vowed +that, if victory was theirs, they would bring him to justice. To +do this it was necessary to drive out a large number of the +members of the House of Commons by what was known as +<span class="sidenote">Execution of the king.</span> +Pride’s Purge, and to obtain from the mutilated +Commons the dismissal of the House of Lords, and +the establishment of a high court of justice, before +which the king was brought to trial and sentenced +to death. He was beheaded on a scaffold outside the windows +of Whitehall (1649).<a name="fa5a" id="fa5a" href="#ft5a"><span class="sp">5</span></a></p> + +<p>The government set up was a government by the committees +of a council of state nominally supporting themselves on the +House of Commons, though the members who still +retained their places were so few that the council of +<span class="sidenote">The Commonwealth.</span> +state was sufficiently numerous to form a majority +in the House. During eleven years the nation passed +through many vicissitudes in its forms of government. These +forms take no place in the gradual development of English +institutions, and have never been referred to as affording precedents +to be followed. To the student of political science, +however, they have a special interest of their own, as they show +that when men had shaken themselves loose from the chain of +habit and prejudice, and had set themselves to build up a +political shelter under which to dwell, they were irresistibly +attracted by that which was permanent in the old constitutional +forms of which the special development had of late years been +so disastrous. After Cromwell had suppressed resistance in +Ireland (1649), had conquered Scotland (1650), and had overthrown +the son of the late king, the future Charles II., at Worcester +(1651), the value of government by an assembly was tested +and found wanting. After Cromwell had expelled the remains +of the Long Parliament (1653), and had set up another assembly +of nominated members, that second experiment was found +equally wanting. It was necessary to have recourse to one head +of the executive government, controlling and directing its +<span class="sidenote">Cromwell’s protectorate.</span> +actions. Cromwell occupied this position as lord +protector. He did all that was in his power to do to +prevent his authority from degenerating into tyranny. +He summoned two parliaments, of only one House, and +with the consent of the second parliament he erected a second +House, so that he might have some means of checking the Lower +House without constantly coming into personal collision with its +authority. As far as form went, the constitution in 1658, so +far as it differed from the Stuart constitution, differed for the +better. But it suffered from one fatal defect. It was based +on the rule of the sword. The only substitute for traditional +authority is the clearly expressed expression of the national will, +and it is impossible to doubt that if the national will had been +expressed it would have swept away Cromwell and all his system. +The majority of the upper and middle classes, which had united +together against Laud, was now reunited against Cromwell. +The Puritans themselves were but a minority, and of that +minority considerable numbers disliked the free liberty accorded +to the sects. Whilst the worship of the Church of England was +proscribed, every illiterate or frenzied enthusiast was allowed +to harangue at his pleasure. Those who cared little for religion +felt insulted when they saw a government with which they had +no sympathy ruling by means of an army which they dreaded +and detested. Cromwell did his best to avert a social revolution, +and to direct the energies of his supporters into the channels of +merely political change. But he could not prevent, and it cannot +be said that he wished to prevent, the rise of men of ability from +positions of social inferiority. The nation had striven against +the arbitrary government of the king; but it was not prepared +to shake off the predominance of that widely spreading aristocracy +which, under the name of country gentlemen, had rooted +itself too deeply to be easily passed by. Cromwell’s rule was +covered with military glory, and there can be no doubt that he +honestly applied himself to solve domestic difficulties as well. +But he reaped the reward of those who strive for something better +than the generation in which they live is able to appreciate. +His own faults and errors were remembered against him. He +tried in vain to establish constitutional government and religious +toleration (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Cromwell, Oliver</a></span>). When he died (1658) there +remained branded on the national mind two strong impressions +which it took more than a century to obliterate—the dread of +the domination of a standing army, and abhorrence of the very +name of religious zeal.</p> + +<p>The eighteen months which followed deepened the impression +thus formed. The army had appeared a hard master when it +lent its strength to a wise and sagacious rule. It was +worse when it undertook to rule in its own name, to +<span class="sidenote">The anarchy.</span> +set up and pull down parliaments and governments. +The only choice left to the nation seemed to be one between +military tyranny and military anarchy. Therefore it was that +when Monk advanced from Scotland and declared for a free +parliament, there was little doubt that the new parliament would +recall the exiled king, and seek to build again on the old +foundations.</p> + +<p>The Restoration was effected by a coalition between the +Cavaliers, or followers of Charles I., and the Presbyterians +who had originally opposed him. It was only after +the nature of a great reaction that the latter should for +<span class="sidenote">The Restoration.</span> +a time be swamped by the former. The Long Parliament +of the Restoration met in 1661, and the Act of Uniformity +entirely excluded all idea of reform in the Puritan direction, +and ordered the expulsion from their benefices of all clergymen +who refused to express approval of the whole of the Book of +Common Prayer (1662). A previous statute, the Corporation +Act (1661), ordered that all members of corporations should +renounce the Covenant and the doctrine that subjects might +in any case rightfully use force against their king, and should +receive the sacrament after the forms of the Church of England. +The object for which Laud had striven, the compulsory imposition +of uniformity, thus became part of the law of the land.</p> + +<p>Herein lay the novelty of the system of the Restoration. +The system of Laud and the system of Cromwell had both +been imposed by a minority which had possessed itself of the +powers of government. The new uniformity was imposed by +parliament, and parliament had the nation behind it. For the +first time, therefore, all those who objected to the established +religion sought, not to alter its forms to suit themselves, but +to gain permission to worship in separate congregations. Ultimately, +the dissenters, as they began to be called, would obtain +their object. As soon as it became clear to the mass of the nation +that the dissenters were in a decided minority, there would be no +reason to fear the utmost they could do even if the present +liberty of worship and teaching were conceded to them. For +the present, however, they were feared out of all proportion +to their numbers. They counted amongst them the old soldiers +of the Protectorate, and though that army had been dissolved, +it always seemed possible that it might spring to arms once more. +A bitter experience had taught men that a hundred of Oliver’s +Ironsides might easily chase a thousand Cavaliers; and as long +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page540" id="page540"></a>540</span> +as this danger was believed to exist, every effort would be made +to keep dissent from spreading. Hence the Conventicle Act +(1664) imposed penalties on those taking part in religious +meetings in private houses, and the Five Mile Act (1665) forbade +an expelled clergyman to come within five miles of a corporate +borough, the very place where he was most likely to secure +adherence, unless he would swear his adhesion to the doctrine +of non-resistance.</p> + +<p>The doctrine of non-resistance was evidently that by which, +at this time, the loyal subject was distinguished from those +whom he stigmatized as disloyal. Yet even the most +loyal found that, if it was wrong to take up arms +<span class="sidenote">Doctrine of non-resistance.</span> +against the king, it might be right to oppose him in +other ways. Even the Cavaliers did not wish to see +Charles II. an absolute sovereign. They wished to reconstruct +the system which had been violently interrupted by the events +of the autumn of 1641, and to found government on the co-operation +between king and parliament, without defining to +themselves what was to be done if the king’s conduct became +insufferable. Openly, indeed, Charles II. did not force them +to reconsider their position. He did not thrust members of the +Commons into prison, or issue writs for ship-money. He laid no +claim to taxation which had not been granted by parliament. +But he was extravagant and self-indulgent, and he wanted +more money than they were willing to supply. A war with the +<span class="sidenote">The first Dutch war.</span> +Dutch broke out, and there were strong suspicions that +Charles applied money voted for the fleet to the maintenance +of a vicious and luxurious court. Against the +vice and luxury, indeed, little objection was likely to +be brought. The over-haste of the Puritans to drill England +into ways of morality and virtue had thrown at least the upper +classes into a slough of revelry and baseness. But if the vice did +not appear objectionable the expense did, and a new chapter in +the financial history of the government was opened when the +Commons, having previously gained control over taxation, proceeded +to vindicate their right to control expenditure.</p> + +<p>As far, indeed, as taxation was concerned, the Long Parliament +had not left its successor much to do. The abolition of +feudal tenures and purveyance had long been demanded, +and the conclusion of an arrangement which +<span class="sidenote">The Commons aim at control over expenditure.</span> +had been mooted in the reign of James I. is only notable +as affording one instance out of many of the tendency +of a single class to shift burdens off its own shoulders. +The predominant landowners preferred the grant of an +excise, which would be taken out of all pockets, to a land-tax +which would exclusively be felt by those who were relieved by +the abolition of the tenures. The question of expenditure was +constantly telling on the relations between the king and the +House of Commons. After the Puritan army had been disbanded, +the king resolved to keep on foot a petty force of 5000 men, and +he had much difficulty in providing for it out of a revenue which +had not been intended by those who voted it to be used for such +a purpose. Then came the Dutch war, bringing with it a suspicion +that some at least of the money given for paying sailors +and fitting out ships was employed by Charles on very different +objects. The Commons accordingly, in 1665, succeeded in +enforcing, on precedents derived from the reigns of Richard II. +and Henry IV., the right of appropriating the supplies granted +to special objects; and with more difficulty they obtained, in +1666, the appointment of a commission empowered to investigate +irregularities in the issue of moneys. Such measures were the +complement of the control over taxation which they had +previously gained, and as far as their power of supervision went, +it constituted them and not the king the directors of the course +of government. If this result was not immediately felt, it was +because the king had a large certain revenue voted to him for +life, so that, for the present at least, it was only his extraordinary +expenses which could be brought under parliamentary control. +Nor did even the renewal of parliamentary impeachment, which +ended in the banishment of Lord Chancellor Clarendon (1667), +bring on any direct collision with the king. If the Commons +wished to be rid of him because he upheld the prerogative, the +king was equally desirous to be rid of him because he looked +coldly on the looseness of the royal morals.</p> + +<p>The great motive power of the later politics of the reign was +to be found beyond the Channel. To the men of the days of +Charles II., Louis XIV. of France was what Philip II. +of Spain had been to the men of the days of Elizabeth. +<span class="sidenote">Charles II. and Louis XIV.</span> +Gradually, in foreign policy, the commercial emulation +with the Dutch, which found vent in one war in the +time of the Commonwealth, and in two wars in the time of +Charles II., gave way to a dread, rising into hatred, of the arrogant +potentate who, at the head of the mightiest army in Europe, +treated with contempt all rights which came into collision with +his own wishes. Louis XIV., moreover, though prepared to +quarrel with the pope in the matter of his own authority over +the Gallican Church, was a bigoted upholder of Catholic orthodoxy, +and Protestants saw in his political ambitions a menace +to their religion. In the case of England there seemed a special +danger to Protestantism; for whatever religious sympathies +Charles II. possessed were with the Roman Catholic faith, and +in his annoyance at the interference of the Commons with his +expenditure he was not ashamed to stoop to become the pensioner +of the French king. In 1670 the secret treaty of Dover +was signed. Charles was to receive from Louis £200,000 a year +and the aid of 6000 French troops to enable him to declare himself +a convert, and to obtain special advantages for his religion, +whilst he was also to place the forces of England at Louis’s disposal +for his purposes of aggression on the continent of Europe.</p> + +<p>Charles had no difficulty in stirring up the commercial jealousy +of England so as to bring about a second Dutch war (1672). +The next year, unwilling to face the dangers of his +larger plan, he issued a declaration of indulgence, +<span class="sidenote">Second Dutch war, and declaration of indulgence.</span> +which, by a single act of the prerogative, suspended +all penal laws against Roman Catholics and dissenters +alike. To the country gentlemen who constituted the +cavalier parliament, and who had long been drifting +into opposition to the crown, this was intolerable. The predominance +of the Church of England was the prime article of +their political creed; they dreaded the Roman Catholics; they +hated and despised the dissenters. Under any circumstances +an indulgence would have been most distasteful to them. But +the growing belief that the whole scheme was merely intended +to serve the purposes of the Roman Catholics converted their +dislike into deadly opposition. Yet the parliament resolved +to base its opposition upon constitutional grounds. The right +claimed by the king to suspend the laws was questioned, and +his claim to special authority in ecclesiastical matters was +treated with contempt. The king gave way and withdrew his +declaration. But no solemn act of parliament declared it to +be illegal, and in due course of time it would be heard of again.</p> + +<p>The Commons followed up their blow by passing the Test Act, +making the reception of the sacrament according to the forms +of the Church of England, and the renunciation of the +doctrine of transubstantiation, a necessary qualification +<span class="sidenote">The Test Act.</span> +for office. At once it appeared what a hold the +members of the obnoxious church had had upon the administration +of the state. The lord high admiral, the lord treasurer, +and a secretary of state refused to take the test. The lord +high admiral was the heir to the throne, the king’s brother, the +duke of York.</p> + +<p>Charles, as usual, bent before the storm. In Danby (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Leeds, 1st Duke of</a></span>) he found a minister whose views answered +precisely to the views of the existing House of Commons. +Like the Commons, Danby wished to silence both +<span class="sidenote">Danby’s ministry.</span> +Roman Catholics and dissenters. Like the Commons, +too, he wished to embark on a foreign policy hostile to France. +But he served a master who regarded Louis less as a possible +adversary than as a possible paymaster. Sometimes Danby +was allowed to do as he liked, and the marriage of the duke of +York’s eldest daughter Mary to her cousin the prince of Orange +was the most lasting result of his administration. More often +he was obliged to follow where Charles led, and Charles was +constantly ready to sell the neutrality of England for large sums +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page541" id="page541"></a>541</span> +of French gold. At last one of these negotiations was detected, +and Danby, who was supposed to be the author instead of the +unwilling instrument of the intrigue, was impeached. In order +to save his minister, Charles dissolved parliament (1678). He +could not have chosen a more unlucky time for his own quiet. +<span class="sidenote">The Popish plot.</span> +The strong feeling against the Roman Catholics had +been quickened into a flame by a great imposture. +The inventors of the so-called popish plot charged the +leading English Roman Catholics with a design to +murder the king. Judges and juries alike were maddened with +excitement, and listened greedily to the lies which poured forth +from the lips of profligate informers. Innocent blood was shed +in abundance.</p> + +<p>The excitement had its root in the uneasy feeling caused by +the knowledge that the heir to the throne was a Roman Catholic. +Three parliaments were summoned and dissolved. In +each parliament the main question at issue between +<span class="sidenote">The Exclusion Bill.</span> +the Commons and the crown was the Exclusion Bill, +by which the Commons sought to deprive the duke +of York of his inheritance; and it was notorious that the +leaders of the movement wished the crown to descend to the +king’s illegitimate son, the duke of Monmouth.</p> + +<p>The principles by which the Commons were guided in these +parliaments were very different from those which had prevailed +in the first parliament of the Restoration. Those +principles, to which that party adhered which about +<span class="sidenote">Whigs and Tories.</span> +this time became known as the Tory party, had been +formed under the influence of the terror caused by militant +Puritanism. In the state the Tory inherited the ideas of +Clarendon, and, without being at all ready to abandon the +claims of parliaments, nevertheless somewhat inconsistently +spoke of the king as ruling by a divine and indefeasible title, and +wielding a power which it was both impious and unconstitutional +to resist by force. In the church he inherited the ideas of Laud, +and saw in the maintenance of the Act of Uniformity the safeguard +of religion. But the hold of these opinions on the nation +had been weakened with the cessation of the causes which had +produced them. In 1680 twenty years had passed since the +Puritan army had been disbanded. Many of Cromwell’s soldiers +had died, and most of them were growing old. The dissenters +had shown no signs of engaging in plots or conspiracies. They +were known to be only a comparatively small minority of the +population, and though they had been cruelly persecuted, they +had suffered without a thought of resistance. Dread of the +dissenters, therefore, had become a mere chimaera, which only +those could entertain whose minds were influenced by prejudice. +On the other hand, dread of the Roman Catholics was a living +force. Unless the law were altered a Roman Catholic would +be on the throne, wielding all the resources of the prerogative, +and probably supported by all the resources of the king of France. +Hence the leading principle of the Whigs, as the predominant +party was now called, was in the state to seek for the highest +national authority in parliament rather than in the king, and +in the church to adopt the rational theology of Chillingworth +and Hales, whilst looking to the dissenters as allies against the +Roman Catholics, who were the enemies of both.</p> + +<p>Events were to show that it was a wise provision which led +the Whigs to seek to exclude the duke of York from the throne. +But their plan suffered under two faults, the conjunction +of which was ruinous to them for the time. +<span class="sidenote">Tory reaction.</span> +In the first place, their choice of Monmouth as the heir +was infelicitous. Not only was he under the stain of illegitimacy, +but his succession excluded the future succession of Mary, whose +husband, the prince of Orange, was the hope of Protestant +Europe. In the second place, drastic remedies are never generally +acceptable when the evil to be remedied is still in the future. +When, in the third of the short parliaments held at Oxford the +Whigs rode armed into the city, the nation decided that the +future danger of a Roman Catholic succession was incomparably +less than the immediate danger of another civil war. Loyal +addresses poured in to the king. For the four remaining years +of his reign he ruled without summoning any parliament. Whigs +were brought before prejudiced juries and partial judges. Their +blood flowed on the scaffold. The charter of the city of London +was confiscated. The reign of the Tories was unquestioned. +Yet it was not quite what the reign of the Cavaliers had been +in 1660. The violence of the Restoration had been directed +primarily against Puritanism, and only against certain forms +of government so far as they allowed Puritans to gain the upper +hand. The violence of the Tories was directed against rebellion +and disorder, and only against dissenters so far as they were +believed to be the fomenters of disorder. Religious hatred had +less part in the action of the ruling party, and even from its +worst actions a wise man might have predicted that the day of +toleration was not so far off as it seemed.</p> + +<p>The accession of James II. (1685) put the views of the opponents +of the Exclusion Bill to the test. A new parliament +was elected, almost entirely composed of decided +Tories. A rebellion in Scotland, headed by the earl +<span class="sidenote">James II., 1685-1688.</span> +of Argyll, and a rebellion in England, headed by the +duke of Monmouth, were easily suppressed. But the +inherent difficulties of the king’s position were not thereby overcome. +It would have been hard, in days in which religious +questions occupied so large a space in the field of politics, for +a Roman Catholic sovereign to rule successfully over a Protestant +nation. James set himself to make it, in his case, impossible. It +may be that he did not consciously present to himself any object +other than fair treatment for his co-religionists. On the one +hand, however, he alienated even reasonable opponents by +offering no guarantees that equality so gained would not be converted +into superiority by the aid of his own military force and +of the assistance of the French king; whilst on the other hand +he relied, even more strongly than his father had done, on the +technical legality which exalted the prerogative in defiance of +the spirit of the law. He began by making use of the necessity +of resisting Monmouth to increase his army, under the pretext +of the danger of a repetition of the late rebellion; and in the +regiments thus levied he appointed many Roman Catholic officers +who had refused to comply with the Test Act. Rather than +submit to the gentlest remonstrance, he prorogued parliament, +and proceeded to obtain from the court of king’s bench a judgment +in favour of his right to dispense with all penalties due +by law, in the same way that his grandfather had appealed to +the judges in the matter of the post-nati. But not only was +the question put by James II. of far wider import than the +question put by James I., but he deprived the court to which +he applied of all moral authority by previously turning out of +office the judges who were likely to disagree with him, and by +appointing new ones who were likely to agree with him. A +court of high commission of doubtful legality was subsequently +erected (1686) to deprive or suspend clergymen who made +themselves obnoxious to the court, whilst James appointed +Roman Catholics to the headship of certain colleges at Oxford. +The legal support given him by judges of his own selection was +fortified by the military support of an army collected at Hounslow +Heath; and a Roman Catholic, the earl of Tyrconnel, was +sent as lord-deputy to Ireland (1687) to organize a Roman +Catholic army on which the king might fall back if his English +forces proved insufficient for his purpose.</p> + +<p>Thus fortified, James issued a declaration of indulgence (1687) +granting full religious liberty to all his subjects. The belief, that +the grant of liberty to all religions was only intended +to serve as a cloak for the ascendancy of one, was so +<span class="sidenote">James’s declaration of indulgence.</span> +strong that the measure roused the opposition of all +those who objected to see the king’s will substituted for +the law, even if they wished to see the Protestant dissenters +tolerated. In spite of this opposition, the king thought it +possible to obtain a parliamentary sanction for his declaration. +The parliament to which he intended to appeal was, however, +to be as different a body from the parliament which met in the +first year of his reign as the bench of judges which had approved +of the dispensing power had been different from the bench +which existed at his accession. A large number of the borough +members were in those days returned by the corporations, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page542" id="page542"></a>542</span> +the corporations were accordingly changed. But so thoroughly +was the spirit of the country roused, that many even of the new +corporations were set against James’s declaration, and he had +therefore to abandon for a time the hope of seeing it accepted +even by a packed House of Commons. All, however, that he +could do to give it force he did. He ordered the clergy to read +<span class="sidenote">Trial of the seven bishops.</span> +it in all pulpits (1688). Seven bishops, who presented +a petition asking him to relieve the clergy from the +burthen of proclaiming what they believed to be +illegal, were brought to trial for publishing a seditious +libel. Their acquittal by a jury was the first serious blow to the +system adopted by the king.</p> + +<p>Another event which seemed likely to consolidate his power +was in reality the signal of his ruin. The queen bore him a son. +There was thus no longer a strong probability that +the king would be succeeded at no great distance of +<span class="sidenote">Revolution of 1688.</span> +time by a Protestant heir. Popular incredulity expressed +itself in the assertion that, as James had attempted to +gain his ends by means of a packed bench of judges and a packed +House of Commons, he had now capped the series of falsifications +by the production of a supposititious heir. The leaders of both +parties combined to invite the prince of Orange to come to the +rescue of the religion and laws of England. He landed on the +5th of November at Brixham. Before he could reach London +every class of English society had declared in his favour. James +was deserted even by his army. He fled to France, and a convention +parliament, summoned without the royal writ, declared +that his flight was equivalent to abdication, and offered the crown +in joint sovereignty to William and Mary (1689).</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">IX. The Revolution and the Age of Anne (1689-1714)</p> + +<p>The Revolution, as it was called, was more than a mere change +of sovereigns. It finally transferred the ultimate decision in +the state from the king to parliament. What parliament +had been in the 15th century with the House of +<span class="sidenote">William III. and Mary II., 1689.</span> +Lords predominating, that parliament was to be again +in the end of the 17th century with the House of +Commons predominating. That House of Commons was far +from resting on a wide basis of popular suffrage. The county +voters were the freeholders; but in the towns, with some +important exceptions, the electors were the richer inhabitants +who formed the corporations of the boroughs, or a body of select +householders more or less under the control of some neighbouring +landowner. A House so chosen was an aristocratic body, +but it was aristocratic in a far wider sense than the House of Lords +was aristocratic. The trading and legal classes found their +representation there by the side of the great owners of land. +The House drew its strength from its position as a true representative +of the effective strength of the nation in its social and +economical organization.</p> + +<p>Such was the body which firmly grasped the control over every +branch of the administration. Limiting in the Bill of Rights +the powers assumed by the crown, the Commons declared that +the king could not keep a standing army in time of peace without +consent of parliament; and they made that consent effectual, +as far as legislation could go, by passing a Mutiny Act year by +year for twelve months only, so as to prevent the crown from +exercising military discipline without their authority. Behind +these legal contrivances stood the fact that the army was organized +in the same way as the nation was organized, being +officered by gentlemen who had no desire to overthrow a constitution +through which the class from which they sprung controlled +the government. Strengthened by the cessation of any +fear of military violence, the Commons placed the crown in +financial dependence on themselves by granting a large part of +the revenue only for a limited term of years, and by putting +strictly in force their right of appropriating that revenue to +special branches of expenditure.</p> + +<p>Such a revolution might have ended in the substitution of the +despotism of a class for the despotism of a man. Many causes +combined to prevent this result. The landowners, who formed +the majority of the House, were not elected directly, as was +the case with the nobility of the French states-general, by their +own class, but by electors who, though generally loyal to them, +<span class="sidenote">Causes in favour of liberty.</span> +would have broken off from them if they had attempted +to make themselves masters of their fellow citizens. +No less important was the almost absolute independence +of the judges, begun at the beginning of +the reign, by the grant of office to them during good behaviour +instead of during the king’s pleasure, and finally secured by the +clause in the Act of Settlement in 1701, which protected them +against dismissal except on the joint address of both Houses of +Parliament. Such an improvement, however, finds its full +counterpart in another great step already taken. The more +representative a government becomes, the more necessary it is +for the well-being of the nation that the expression of individual +thought should be free in every direction. If it is not so, the +government is inclined to proscribe unpopular opinion, and to +forget that new opinions by which the greatest benefits are likely +to be conferred are certain at first to be entertained by a very +few, and are quite certain to be unpopular as soon as they come +into collision with the opinions of the majority. In the middle +ages the benefits of the liberation of thought from state control +had been secured by the antagonism between church and state. +The Tudor sovereigns had rightfully asserted the principle that +in a well-ordered nation only one supreme power can be allowed +to exist; but in so doing they had enslaved religion. It was +fortunate that, just at the moment when parliamentary control +was established over the state, circumstances should have arisen +which made the majority ready to restore to the individual +conscience that supremacy over religion which the medieval +ecclesiastics had claimed for the corporation of the universal +church. Dissenters had, in the main, stood shoulder to shoulder +with churchmen in rejecting the suspicious benefits of James, +and both gratitude and policy forbade the thought of replacing +them under the heavy yoke which had been imposed on them +at the Restoration. The exact mode in which relief should be +afforded was still an open question. The idea prevalent with the +more liberal minds amongst the clergy was that of comprehension—that +is to say, of so modifying the prayers and ceremonies +of the church as to enable the dissenters cheerfully to enter +in. The scheme was one which had approved itself to minds +of the highest order—to Sir Thomas More, to Bacon, to Hales and +to Jeremy Taylor. It is one which, as long as beliefs are not +very divergent, keeps up a sense of brotherhood overruling +the diversity of opinion. It broke down, as it always will break +down in practice, whenever the difference of belief is so strongly +felt as to seek earnestly to embody itself in diversity of outward +practice. The greater part of the clergy of the church felt that +to surrender their accustomed formularies was to surrender +somewhat of the belief which those formularies signified, while +the dissenting clergy were equally reluctant to adopt the common +<span class="sidenote">The Toleration Act.</span> +prayer book even in a modified form. Hence the +Toleration Act, which guaranteed the right of separate +assemblies for worship outside the pale of the church, +though it embodied the principles of Cromwell and +Milton, and not those of Chillingworth and Hales, was carried +without difficulty, whilst the proposed scheme of comprehension +never had a chance of success (1689). The choice was one which +posterity can heartily approve. However wide the limits of +toleration be drawn, there will always be those who will be left +outside. By religious liberty those inside gain as much as those +who are without. From the moment of the passing of the +Toleration Act, no Protestant in England performed any act +of worship except by his own free and deliberate choice. The +literary spokesman of the new system was Locke. His <i>Letters +concerning Toleration</i> laid down the principle which had been +maintained by Cromwell, with a wider application than was +possible in days when the state was in the hands of a mere +minority only able to maintain itself in power by constant and +suspicious vigilance.</p> + +<p>One measure remained to place the dissenters in the position of +full membership of the state. The Test Act excluded them from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page543" id="page543"></a>543</span> +office. But the memory of the high-handed proceedings of +Puritan rulers was still too recent to allow Englishmen to run +the risk of a reimposition of their yoke, and this feeling, fanciful +as it was, was sufficient to keep the Test Act in force for years +to come.</p> + +<p>The complement of the Toleration Act was the abolition of +the censorship of the press (1695). The ideas of the author of the +<i>Areopagitica</i> had at last prevailed. The attempt to +fix certain opinions on the nation which were pleasing +<span class="sidenote">Liberty of the press.</span> +to those in power was abandoned by king and parliament +alike. The nation, or at least so much of it as cared to +read books or pamphlets on political subjects, was acknowledged +to be the supreme judge, which must therefore be allowed to +listen to what counsellors it pleased.</p> + +<p>This new position of the nation made itself felt in various ways. +It was William’s merit that, fond as he was of power, he recognized +the fact that he could not rule except so far as he carried +the goodwill of the nation with him. No doubt he was helped +to an intelligent perception of the new situation by the fact that, +as a foreigner, he cared far more for carrying on war successfully +against France than for influencing the domestic legislation of +a country which was not his own, and by the knowledge that the +conduct of the struggle which lasted till he was able to treat with +France on equal terms at Ryswick (1697) was fairly trusted to +his hands. Nevertheless these years of war called for the united +action of a national government, and in seeking to gain this +support for himself, he hit upon an expedient which opened +a new era in constitutional politics.</p> + +<p>The supremacy of the House of Commons would have been +an evil of no common magnitude, if it had made government +impossible. Yet this was precisely what it threatened +to do. Sometimes the dominant party in the House +<span class="sidenote">Beginning of cabinet government.</span> +pressed with unscrupulous rancour upon its opponents. +Sometimes the majority shifted from side to side as +the House was influenced by passing gusts of passion or sympathy, +so that, as it was said at the time, no man could foretell +one day what the House would be pleased to do on the next. +Against the first of these dangers William was to a great extent +able to guard by the exercise of his right of dissolution, so as +to appeal to the constituencies, which did not always share in +<span class="correction" title="the appeared twice">the</span> passions of their representatives. But the second danger +could not be met in this way. The only cure for waywardness +is responsibility, and not only was this precisely what the +Commons had not learned to feel, but it was that which it was +impossible to make them feel directly. A body composed of +several hundred members cannot carry on government with the +requisite steadiness of action and clearness of insight. Such +work can only fitly be entrusted to a few, and whenever difficult +circumstances arise it is necessary that the action of those few +be kept in harmony by the predominance of one. The scheme +on which William hit, by the advice of the earl of Sunderland, +was that which has since been known as cabinet government. +He selected as his ministers the leading members of the two +Houses who had the confidence of the majority of the House of +Commons. In this way, the majority felt an interest in supporting +the men who embodied their own opinions, and fell in turn +under the influence of those who held them with greater prudence +or ability than fell to the lot of the average members of the +House. All that William doubtless intended was to acquire a +ready instrument to enable him to carry on the war with success. +In reality he had refounded, on a new basis, the government of +England. His own personal qualities were such that he was able +to dominate over any set of ministers; but the time would come +when there would be a sovereign of inferior powers. Then the +body of ministers would step into his place. The old rude +arrangements of the middle ages had provided by frequent depositions +that an inefficient sovereign should cease to rule, and +those arrangements had been imitated in the cases of Charles I. +and James II. Still the claim to rule had, at least from the time +of Henry III., been derived from hereditary descent, and the +interruption, however frequently it might occur, had been regarded +as something abnormal, only to be applied where there +was an absolute necessity to prevent the wielder of executive +authority from setting at defiance the determined purpose of the +nation. After the Revolution not only had the king’s title been +so changed as to make him more directly than ever dependent +on the nation, but he now called into existence a body which +derived its own strength from its conformity with the wishes +of the representatives of the nation.</p> + +<p>For the moment it seemed to be but a temporary expedient. +When the war came to an end, the Whig party which had sustained +William in his struggle with France split up. The dominant +feeling of the House of Commons was no longer the desire +to support the crown against a foreign enemy, but to make +government as cheap as possible, leaving future dangers to the +chances of the future. William had not so understood the new +invention of a united ministry as binding him to take into his +service a united ministry of men whom he regarded as fools and +knaves. He allowed the Commons to reduce the army to a +skeleton, to question his actions, and to treat him as if he were +a cipher. But it was only by slow degrees that he was brought +to acknowledge the necessity of choosing his ministers from +amongst the men who had done these things.</p> + +<p>The time came when he needed again the support of the +nation. The death of Charles II., the heirless king of the huge +Spanish monarchy, had long been expected. Since +the peace of Ryswick, William and Louis XIV. had +<span class="sidenote">The Spanish succession.</span> +come to terms by two successive partition treaties for +a division of those vast territories in such a way that +the whole of them should not fall into the hands of a near relation +either of the king of France or of the emperor, the head of the +house of Austria. When the king of Spain actually died in 1700, +William seemed to have no authority in England whatever; +and Louis was therefore encouraged to break his engagements, +and to accept the whole of the Spanish inheritance for his +grandson, who became Philip V. of Spain. William saw clearly +that such predominance of France in Europe would lead to the +development of pretensions unbearable to other states. But the +House of Commons did not see it, even when the Dutch garrisons +were driven by French troops out of the posts in the Spanish +Netherlands which they had occupied for many years (1701).</p> + +<p>William had prudently done all that he could to conciliate +the Tory majority. In the preceding year (1700) he had given +office to a Tory ministry, and he now (1701) gave his +assent to the Act of Settlement, which secured the +<span class="sidenote">The Act of Settlement.</span> +succession of the crown to the electress Sophia of +Hanover, daughter of James I.’s daughter Elizabeth, +to the exclusion of all Roman Catholic claimants, though it +imposed several fresh restrictions on the prerogative. William +was indeed wise in keeping his feelings under control. The +country sympathized with him more than the Commons did, +and when the House imprisoned the gentlemen deputed by the +freeholders of Kent to present a petition asking that its loyal +addresses might be turned into bills of supply, it simply advertised +its weakness to the whole country.</p> + +<p>The reception of this Kentish petition was but a foretaste of +the discrepancy between the Commons and the nation, which +was to prove the marked feature of the middle of the +century now opening. For the present the House +<span class="sidenote">The Grand Alliance.</span> +was ready to give way. It requested the king to enter +into alliance with the Dutch. William went yet further in the +direction in which he was urged. He formed an alliance with +the emperor, as well as with the Netherlands, to prevent the +union of the crowns of France and Spain, and to compel France +to evacuate the Netherlands. An unexpected event came to +give him all the strength he needed. James II. died, and Louis +acknowledged his son as the rightful king of England. Englishmen +of both parties were stung to indignation by the insult. +William dissolved parliament, and the new House of Commons, +Tory as it was by a small majority, was eager to support the +king. It voted men and money according to his wishes. England +was to be the soul of the Grand Alliance against France. +But before a blow was struck William was thrown from his horse. +He died on the 8th of March 1702. “The man,” as Burke said +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page544" id="page544"></a>544</span> +of him, “was dead, but the Grand Alliance survived in which +King William lived and reigned.”</p> + +<p>Upon the accession of Anne, war was at once begun. The +Grand Alliance became, as William would have wished, a league +to wrest the whole of the Spanish dominions from +Philip, in favour of the Austrian archduke Charles. +<span class="sidenote">Queen Anne, 1702-1714.</span> +It found a chief of supreme military and diplomatic +genius in the duke of Marlborough. His victory at +Blenheim (1704) drove the French out of Germany. His victory +of Ramillies (1706) drove them out of the Netherlands. In +Spain, Gibraltar was captured by Rooke (1704) and Barcelona +by Peterborough (1705). Prince Eugene relieved Turin from a +French siege, and followed up the blow by driving the besiegers +out of Italy.</p> + +<p>The influence of Marlborough at home was the result partly +of the prestige of his victories, partly of the dominating influence +of his strong-minded duchess (“Mrs Freeman”) over the queen +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Anne</a></span>, queen of England). The duke cared little for home +politics in themselves; but he had his own ends, both public +and private, to serve, and at first gave his support to the Tories, +whose church policy was regarded with favour by the queen. +Their efforts were directed towards the restriction of the Toleration +Act within narrow limits. Many dissenters had evaded the Test +Act by partaking of the communion in a church, though they +subsequently attended their own chapels. An Occasional Conformity +Bill, imposing penalties on those who adopted this +practice, twice passed the Commons (1702, 1703), but was rejected +by the House of Lords, in which the Whig element predominated. +The church was served in a nobler manner in 1704 +by the abandonment of first-fruits and tenths by the queen for +<span class="sidenote">Union with Scotland.</span> +the purpose of raising the pittances of the poorer +clergy (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Queen Anne’s Bounty</a></span>). In 1707 a piece +of legislation of the highest value was carried to a +successful end. The Act of Union, passed in the +parliaments of England and Scotland, joined the legislatures of +the two kingdoms and the nations themselves in an indissoluble +bond.</p> + +<p>The ministry in office at the time of the passing of the Act +of Union had suffered important changes since the commencement +of the reign. The Tories had never been as +earnest in the prosecution of the war as the Whigs; +<span class="sidenote">United Whig ministry.</span> +and Marlborough, who cared above all things for the +furtherance of the war, gradually replaced Tories by +Whigs in the ministry. His intention was doubtless to conciliate +both parties by admitting them both to a share of power; but +the Whigs were determined to have all or none, and in 1708 a +purely Whig ministry was formed to support the war as the first +purely Whig ministry had supported it in the reign of William. +The years of its power were the years of the victories of Oudenarde +(1708) and of Malplaquet (1709), bringing with them the +entire ruin of the military power of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>Such successes, if they were not embraced in the spirit of +moderation, boded no good to the Whigs. It was known that +even before the last battle Louis had been ready to abandon +the cause of his grandson, and that his offers had been rejected +because he would not consent to join the allies in turning him +out of Spain. A belief spread in England that Marlborough +wished the endless prolongation of the war for his own selfish +ends. Spain was far away, and, if the Netherlands were safe, +enough had been done for the interests of England. The Whigs +were charged with refusing to make peace when an honourable +and satisfactory peace was not beyond their reach.</p> + +<p>As soon as the demand for a vigorous prosecution of the war +relaxed, the Whigs could but rely on their domestic policy, +in which they were strongest in the eyes of posterity but weakest +in the eyes of contemporaries. It was known that they looked +for the principle on which the queen’s throne rested to the +national act of the Revolution, rather than to the birth of the +sovereign as the daughter of James II., whilst popular feeling +preferred, however inconsistently, to attach itself to some fragment +of hereditary right. What was of greater consequence was, +that it was known that they were the friends of the dissenters, +and that their leaders, if they could have had their way, would +not only have maintained the Toleration Act, but would also +have repealed the Test Act. In 1709 a sermon preached by +Dr Sacheverell (<i>q.v.</i>) denounced toleration and the right of +resistance in tones worthy of the first days of the Restoration. +Foolish as the sermon was, it was but the reflection of folly +which was widely spread amongst the rude and less educated +classes. The Whig leaders unwisely took up the challenge and +impeached Sacheverell. The Lords condemned the man, but +they condemned him to an easy sentence. His trial was the +<span class="sidenote">Tory Ministry.</span> +signal for riot. Dissenting chapels were sacked to the +cry of High Church and Sacheverell. The queen, who +had personal reasons for disliking the Whigs, dismissed +them from office (1710), and a Tory House of Commons +was elected amidst the excitement to support the Tory ministry +of Harley and St John.</p> + +<p>After some hesitation the new ministry made peace with +France, and the treaty of Utrecht (1713), stipulating for the +permanent separation of the crowns of France and +Spain, and assigning Milan, Naples and the Spanish +<span class="sidenote">Peace of Utrecht.</span> +Netherlands to the Austrian claimant, accomplished +all that could reasonably be desired, though the abandonment +to the vengeance of the Spanish government of her Catalan +allies, and the base desertion of her continental confederates +on the very field of action, brought dishonour on the good +name of England. The Commons gladly welcomed the cessation +of the war. The approval of the Lords had been secured +by the creation of twelve Tory peers. In home politics the new +ministry was in danger of being carried away by its more violent +supporters. St John, now Viscount Bolingbroke, with unscrupulous +<span class="sidenote">Occasional Conformity Act and the Schism Act.</span> +audacity placed himself at their head. The +Occasional Conformity Bill was at last carried (1711). +To it was added the Schism Act (1714), forbidding +dissenters to keep schools or engage in tuition. Bolingbroke +went still farther. He engaged in an intrigue +for bringing over the Pretender to succeed the queen +upon her death. This wild conduct alienated the moderate +Tories, who, much as they wished to see the throne occupied +by the heir of the ancient line, could not bring themselves to +consent to its occupation by a Roman Catholic prince. Such +men, therefore, when Anne died (1714) joined the Whigs in +proclaiming the elector of Hanover king as George I.</p> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">X. The Hanoverian Kings (1714-1793)</p> + +<p>The accession of George I. brought with it the predominance +of the Whigs. They had on their side the royal power, the +greater part of the aristocracy, the dissenters and the +higher trading and commercial classes. The Tories +<span class="sidenote">Accession of the House of Hanover.</span> +appealed to the dislike of dissenters prevalent amongst +the country gentlemen and the country clergy, and +to the jealousy felt by the agricultural classes towards those +who enriched themselves by trade. Such a feeling, if it was +aroused by irritating legislation, might very probably turn to +the advantage of the exiled house, especially as the majority +of Englishmen were to be found on the Tory side. It was therefore +advisable that government should content itself with as +little action as possible, in order to give time for old habits to +wear themselves out. The landing of the Pretender in Scotland +(1715), and the defeat of a portion of his army which had advanced +to Preston—a defeat which was the consequence of the +apathy of his English supporters, and which was followed by +the complete suppression of the rebellion—gave increased +strength to the Whig government. But they were reluctant to +face an immediate dissolution, and the Septennial Act was +<span class="sidenote">Repeal of Occasional Conformity Act and Schism Act.</span> +passed (1716) to extend to seven years the duration +of parliaments, which had been fixed at three years by +the Triennial Act of William and Mary. Under General +Stanhope an effort was made to draw legislation in a +more liberal direction. The Occasional Conformity +Act and the Schism Act were repealed (1719); but +the majorities on the side of the government were unusually +small, and Stanhope, who would willingly have repealed the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page545" id="page545"></a>545</span> +Test Act so far as it related to dissenters, was compelled to +abandon the project as entirely impracticable. The Peerage +Bill, introduced at the same time to limit the royal power of +creating peers, was happily thrown out in the Commons. It +was proposed, partly from a desire to guard the Lords against +such a sudden increase of their numbers as had been forced +on them when the treaty of Utrecht was under discussion, and +partly to secure the Whigs in office against any change in the +royal councils in a succeeding reign. It was in fact conceived +by men who valued the immediate victory of their principles +more than they trusted to the general good sense of the nation. +The Lords were at this time, as a matter of fact, not merely +wealthier but wiser than the Commons; and it is no wonder +that, in days when the Commons, by passing the Septennial +Act, had shown their distrust of their own constituents, the +peers should show, by the Peerage Bill, their distrust of that +House which was elected by those constituencies. Nevertheless, +the remedy was worse than the disease, for it would have established +a close oligarchy, bound sooner or later to come into +conflict with the will of the nation, and only to be overthrown +by a violent alteration of the constitution.</p> + +<p>The excitement following on the bursting of the South Sea +Bubble (<i>q.v.</i>), and the death or ruin of the leading ministers, +brought Sir Robert Walpole to the front (1721). As +a man of business when men of business were few in +<span class="sidenote">Walpole’s ministry.</span> +the House of Commons, he was eminently fit to +manage the affairs of the country. But he owed his long continuance +in office especially to his sagacity. He clearly saw, +what Stanhope had failed to see, that the mass of the nation was +not fitted as yet to interest itself wisely in affairs of government, +and that therefore the rule must be kept in the hands of the upper +classes. But he was too sensible to adopt the coarse expedient +which had commended itself to Stanhope, and he preferred +humouring the masses to contradicting them.</p> + +<p>The struggle of the preceding century had left its mark in every +direction on the national development. Out of the reaction +against Puritanism had come a widely-spread relaxation of +morals, and also, as far as the educated class was concerned, an +eagerness for the discussion of all social and religious problems. +The fierce excitement of political life had quickened thought, +and the most anciently received doctrines were held of little +worth until they were brought to the test of reason. It was a +time when the pen was more powerful than the sword, when a +secretary of state would treat with condescension a witty +pamphleteer, and when such a pamphleteer might hope, not in +vain, to become a secretary of state.</p> + +<p>It was in this world of reason and literature that the Whigs +of the Peerage Bill moved. Walpole perceived that there was +another world which understood none of these things. With +cynical insight he discovered that a great government cannot rest +on a clique, however distinguished. If the mass of the nation +was not conscious of political wants, it was conscious of material +wants. The merchant needed protection for his trade; the +voters gladly welcomed election days as bringing guineas to their +pockets. Members of parliament were ready to sell their votes +for places, for pensions, for actual money. The system was not +new, as Danby is credited with the discovery that a vote in the +House of Commons might be purchased. But with Walpole it +reached its height.</p> + +<p>Such a system was possible because the House of Commons +was not really accountable to its constituents. The votes of its +members were not published, and still less were their speeches +made known. Such a silence could only be maintained around +the House when there was little interest in its proceedings. +The great questions of religion and taxation which had agitated +the country under the Stuarts were now fairly settled. To reawaken +those questions in any shape would be dangerous. +Walpole took good care never to repeat the mistake of the +Sacheverell trial. When on one occasion he was led into the +proposal of an unpopular excise he at once drew back. England +in his days was growing rich. Englishmen were bluff and independent, +in their ways often coarse and unmannerly. Their life +was the life depicted on the canvas of Hogarth and the pages +of Fielding. All high imagination, all devotion to the public +weal, seemed laid asleep. But the political instinct was not +dead, and it would one day express itself for better ends than +an agitation against an excise bill or an outcry for a popular +war. A government could no longer employ its powers for +direct oppression. In his own house and in his own conscience, +every Englishman, as far as the government was concerned, was +the master of his destiny. By and by the idea would dawn on +the nation that anarchy is as productive of evil as tyranny, and +that a government which omits to regulate or control allows +the strong to oppress the weak, and the rich to oppress the +poor.</p> + +<p>Walpole’s administration lasted long enough to give room +for some feeble expression of this feeling. When George I. was +succeeded by George II. (1727), Walpole remained in +power. His eagerness for the possession of that power +<span class="sidenote">George II. 1727-1760.</span> +which he desired to use for his country’s good, together +with the incapacity of two kings born and bred in a +foreign country to take a leading part in English affairs, completed +the change which had been effected when William first entrusted +the conduct of government to a united cabinet. There was now +for the first time a prime minister in England, a person who was +himself a subject imposing harmonious action on the cabinet. +The change was so gradually and silently effected that it is +difficult to realize its full importance. So far, indeed, as it only +came about through the incapacity of the first two kings of the +house of Hanover, it might be undone, and was in fact to a great +extent undone by a more active successor. But so far as it was +the result of general tendencies, it could never be obliterated. +In the ministries in which Somers and Montagu on the one hand +and Harley and St John on the other had taken part, there was +no prime minister except so far as one member of the administration +dominated over his colleagues by the force of character +and intelligence. In the reign of George III., even North and +Addington were universally acknowledged by that title, though +they had little claim to the independence of action of a Walpole +or a Pitt.</p> + +<p>The change was, in fact, one of the most important of those +by which the English constitution has been altered from an +hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary regulative agency +to a parliamentary government with an hereditary regulative +agency. In Walpole’s time the forms of the constitution had +become, in all essential particulars, what they are now. What +was wanting was a national force behind them to set them to +their proper work.</p> + +<p>The growing opposition which finally drove Walpole from +power was not entirely without a nobler element than could be +furnished by personal rivalry, or ignorant distrust of +commercial and financial success. It was well that +<span class="sidenote">The Opposition.</span> +complaints that a great country ought not to be +governed by patronage and bribery should be raised, although, +as subsequent experience showed, the causes which rendered +corruption inevitable were not to be removed by the expulsion +of Walpole from office. But for one error, indeed, it is probable +that Walpole’s rule would have been still further prolonged. +In 1739 a popular excitement arose for a declaration +<span class="sidenote">War with Spain.</span> +of war against Spain. Walpole believed that war +to be certainly unjust, and likely to be disastrous. +He had, however, been so accustomed to give way to popular +pressure that he did not perceive the difference between a wise +and timely determination to leave a right action undone in the +face of insuperable difficulties, and an unwise and cowardly +determination to do that which he believed to be wrong and +imprudent. If he had now resigned rather than demean himself by +acting against his conscience, it is by no means unlikely that he +would have been recalled to power before many years were over. +As it was, the failures of the war recoiled on his own head, and +in 1742 his long ministry came to an end.</p> + +<p>After a short interval a successor was found in Henry Pelham. +All the ordinary arts of corruption which Walpole had practised +were continued, and to them were added arts of corruption +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page546" id="page546"></a>546</span> +which Walpole had disdained to practise. He at least understood +<span class="sidenote">Ministry of Henry Pelham.</span> +that there were certain principles in accordance with which +he wished to conduct public affairs, and he had driven +colleague after colleague out of office rather than allow +them to distract his method of government. Pelham +and his brother, the Thomas Pelham, duke of +Newcastle, had no principles of government whatever. They +offered place to every man of parliamentary skill or influence. +There was no opposition, because the ministers never attempted +to do anything which would arouse opposition, and because +they were ready to do anything called for by any one who had +power enough to make himself dangerous; and in 1743 they +embarked on a useless war with France in order to please the +king, who saw in every commotion on the continent of Europe +some danger to his beloved Hanover.</p> + +<p>At most times in the history of England such a ministry +would have been driven from office by the outcry of an offended +people. In the days of the Pelhams, government was +regarded as lying too far outside the all-important +<span class="sidenote">The Rebellion of 1745.</span> +private interests of the community to make it worth +while to make any effort to rescue it from the degradation +into which it had fallen; yet the Pelhams had not been +long in power before this serene belief that the country could +get on very well without a government in any real sense of +the word was put to the test. In 1745 Charles Edward, the +son of the Pretender, landed in Scotland. He was followed by +many of the Highland clans, always ready to draw the sword +against the constituted authorities of the Lowlands; and even +in the Lowlands, and especially in Edinburgh, he found adherents, +who still felt the sting inflicted by the suppression of the +national independence of Scotland. The British army was in as +chaotic a condition as the British government, and Charles +Edward inflicted a complete defeat on a force which met him +at Prestonpans. Before the end of the year the victor, at the +head of 5000 men, had advanced to Derby. But he found no +support in England, and the mere numbers brought against him +compelled him to retreat, to find defeat at Culloden in the +following year (1746). The war on the continent had been waged +with indifferent success. The victory of Dettingen (1743) and +the glorious defeat of Fontenoy (1745) had achieved no objects +worthy of English intervention, and the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle +put an end in 1748 to hostilities which should never have been +begun. The government pursued its inglorious career as long +as Henry Pelham lived. He had at least some share in the financial +ability of Walpole, and it was not till he died in 1754 that +the real difficulties of a system which was based on the avoidance +of difficulties had fairly to be faced.</p> + +<p>The change which was needed was not any mere re-adjustment +of the political machine. Those who cared for religion or morality +had forgotten that man is an imaginative and emotional +being. Defenders of Christianity and of deism alike +<span class="sidenote">Moral and religious atmosphere.</span> +appealed to the reason alone. Enthusiasm was treated +as a folly or a crime, and earnestness of every kind was +branded with the name of enthusiasm. The higher order of +minds dwelt with preference upon the beneficent wisdom of the +Creator. The lower order of minds treated religion as a kind +of life assurance against the inconvenience of eternal death. +Upon such a system as this human nature was certain to revenge +itself. The preaching of Wesley and Whitefield +<span class="sidenote">Wesley and Whitefield.</span> +appealed direct to the emotions, with its doctrine of +“conversion,” and called upon each individual not +to understand, or to admire, or to act, but vividly +to realize the love and mercy of God. In all this there was +nothing new. What was new was that Wesley added an organization, +Methodism (<i>q.v.</i>), in which each of his followers unfolded +to one another the secrets of their heart, and became accountable +to his fellows. Large as the numbers of the Methodists ultimately +became, their influence is not to be measured by their numbers. +The double want of the age, the want of spiritual earnestness and +the want of organized coherence, would find satisfaction in many +ways which would have seemed strange to Wesley, but which +were, nevertheless, a continuance of the work which he began.</p> + +<p>As far as government was concerned, when Henry Pelham +died (1754) the lowest depth of baseness seemed to have been +reached. The duke of Newcastle, who succeeded his +brother, looked on the work of corruption with absolute +<span class="sidenote">Ministry of Newcastle.</span> +pleasure, and regarded genius and ability as an +awkward interruption of that happy arrangement which +made men subservient to flattery and money. Whilst he was +in the very act of trying to drive from office all men who were +possessed of any sort of ideas, he was surprised by a great war. +In America, the French settlers in Canada and the English settlers +on the Atlantic coast were falling to blows for the possession of +the vast territories drained by the Ohio and its tributaries. +In India, Frenchmen and Englishmen had striven during the last +war for authority over the native states round Pondicherry and +Madras, and the conflict threatened to break out anew. When +war began in earnest, and the reality of danger came home to +Englishmen by the capture of Minorca (1756), there arose a +demand for a more capable government than any which Newcastle +could offer. Terrified by the storm of obloquy which he +aroused, he fled from office. A government was formed, of which +the soul was William Pitt. Pitt was, in some sort, to the +political life of Englishmen what Wesley was to their religious +life. He brought no new political ideas into their minds, but +he ruled them by the force of his character and the example +of his purity. His weapons were trust and confidence. He +appealed to the patriotism of his fellow-countrymen, to their +imaginative love for the national greatness, and he did not appeal +in vain. He perceived instinctively that a large number, even +of those who took greedily the bribes of Walpole and the Pelhams, +took them, not because they loved money better than their +country, but because they had no conception that their country +had any need of them at all. It was a truth, but it was not the +<span class="sidenote">Ministry of Pitt and Newcastle.</span> +whole truth. The great Whig families rallied under +Newcastle and drove Pitt from office (1757). But if +Pitt could not govern without Newcastle’s corruption, +neither could Newcastle govern without Pitt’s energy. +At last a compromise was effected, and Newcastle undertook +the work of bribing, whilst Pitt undertook the work of governing +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Chatham, William Pitt, 1st earl of</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The war which had already broken out, the Seven Years’ +War (1756-1763), was not confined to England alone. By the +side of the duel between France and England, a war +was going on upon the continent of Europe, in which +<span class="sidenote">The Seven Years’ War.</span> +Austria—with its allies, France, Russia and the +German princes—had fallen upon the new kingdom +of Prussia and its sovereign Frederick II. England and +Prussia therefore necessarily formed an alliance. Different +as the two governments were, they were both alike in recognizing, +in part at least, the conditions of progress. Even in Pitt’s +day England, however imperfectly, rested its strength on the +popular will. Even in Frederick’s day Prussia was ruled by +administrators selected for their special knowledge. Neither +France nor Austria had any conception of the necessity of fulfilling +these requirements. Hence the strength of England +and of Prussia. The war seemed to be a mere struggle for territory. +There was no feeling in either Pitt or Frederick, such as +there was in the men who contended half a century later against +Napoleon, that they were fighting the battles of the civilized +world. There was something repulsive as well in the enthusiastic +nationalism of Pitt as in the cynical nationalism of Frederick. +Pitt’s sole object was to exalt England to a position in which she +would fear no rival. But in so doing he exalted that which, in +spite of all that had happened, best deserved to be exalted. The +habits of individual energy fused together by the inspiration of +patriotism conquered Canada. The unintelligent over-regulation +of the French government could not maintain the colonies +which had been founded in happier times. In 1758 Louisburg +was taken, and the mouth of the St Lawrence guarded against +France. In 1759 Quebec fell before Wolfe, who died at the +moment of victory. In the same year the naval victories of +Lagos and Quiberon Bay established the supremacy of the British +at sea. The battle of Plassey (1757) had laid Bengal at the feet +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page547" id="page547"></a>547</span> +of Clive; and Coote’s victory at Wandiwash (1760) led to the +final ruin of the relics of French authority in southern India. +When George II. died (1760) England was the first maritime +and colonial power in the world (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Seven Years’ War</a></span>; +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Canada</a></span>: <i>History</i>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">India</a></span>: <i>History</i>).</p> + +<p>In George III. the king once more became an important factor +in English politics. From his childhood he had been trained +by his mother and his instructors to regard the breaking +down of the power of the great families as the task +<span class="sidenote">George III., 1760-1820.</span> +of his life. In this he was walking in the same direction +as Pitt. If the two men could have worked together, +England might have been spared many misfortunes. Unhappily, +the king could not understand Pitt’s higher qualities, his bold confidence +in the popular feeling, and his contempt for corruption +and intrigue. And yet the king’s authority was indispensable to +Pitt, if he was to carry on his conflict against the great families +with success. When the war came to an end, as it must come +to an end sooner or later, Pitt’s special predominance, derived +as it was from his power of breathing a martial spirit into the +fleets and armies of England, would come to an end too. Only +the king, with his hold upon the traditional instincts of loyalty and +the force of his still unimpaired prerogative, could, in ordinary +times, hold head against the wealthy and influential aristocracy. +Unfortunately, George III. was not wise enough to deal with the +difficulty in a high-minded fashion. With a well-intentioned +but narrow mind, he had nothing in him to strike the imagination +of his subjects. He met influence with influence, corruption with +corruption, intrigue with intrigue. Unhappily, too, his earliest +relations with Pitt involved a dispute on a point on which he +<span class="sidenote">Pitt’s resignation.</span> +was right and Pitt was wrong. In 1761 Pitt resigned +office, because neither the king nor the cabinet were +willing to declare war against Spain in the midst of the +war with France. As the war with Spain was inevitable, and as, +when it broke out in the following year (1762), it was followed +by triumphs for which Pitt had prepared the way, the prescience +of the great war-minister appeared to be fully established. But +it was his love of war, not his skill in carrying it on, which was +really in question. He would be satisfied with nothing short +of the absolute ruin of France. He would have given England +that dangerous position of supremacy which was gained for +France by Louis XIV. in the 17th century, and by Napoleon in +the 19th century. He would have made his country still more +haughty and arrogant than it was, till other nations rose against +it, as they have three times risen against France, rather than +submit to the intolerable yoke. It was a happy thing for England +that peace was signed (1763).</p> + +<p>Even as it was, a spirit of contemptuous disregard of the rights +of others had been roused, which would not be easily allayed. +The king’s premature attempt to secure a prime +minister of his own choosing in Lord Bute (1761) +<span class="sidenote">Bute and Grenville.</span> +came to an end through the minister’s incapacity +(1763). George Grenville, who followed him, kept the king in +leading strings in reliance upon his parliamentary majority. +Something, no doubt, had been accomplished by the incorruptibility +of Pitt. The practice of bribing members of parliament +by actual presents in money came to an end, though the practice +of bribing them by place and pension long continued. The +arrogance which Pitt displayed towards foreign nations was +displayed by Grenville towards classes of the population of the +British dominions. It was enough for him to establish a right. +He never put himself in the position of those who were to suffer +by its being put in force.</p> + +<p>The first to suffer from Grenville’s conception of his duty +were the American colonies. The mercantile system, which had +sprung up in Spain in the 16th century, held that +colonies were to be entirely prohibited from trading, +<span class="sidenote">The American colonies.</span> +except with the mother country. Every European +country had adopted this view, and the acquisition +of fresh colonial dominions by England, at the peace of 1763, +had been made not so much through lust of empire as through +love of trade. Of all English colonies, the American were the +most populous and important. Their proximity to the Spanish +colonies in the West Indies had naturally led to a contraband +trade. To this trade Grenville put a stop, as far as lay in his +power. Obnoxious as this measure was in America, the colonists +had acknowledged the principle on which it was founded too +long to make it easy to resist it. Another step of Grenville’s +met with more open opposition. Even with all the experience +of the century which followed, the relations between a mother +country and her colonies are not easy to arrange. If the burthen +of defence is to be borne in common, it can hardly be left to the +mother country to declare war, and to exact the necessary +taxation, without the consent of the colonies. If, on the other +hand, it is to be borne by the mother country alone, she may well +complain that she is left to bear more than her due share of the +weight. The latter alternative forced itself upon the attention +of Grenville. The British parliament, he held, was the supreme +legislature, and, as such, was entitled to raise taxes in America +to support the military forces needed for the defence of America. +The act (1765) imposing a stamp tax on the American colonies +was the result.</p> + +<p>As might have been expected, the Americans resisted. For +them, the question was precisely that which Hampden had +fought out in the case of ship-money. As far as they +were concerned, the British parliament had stepped +<span class="sidenote">The Rockingham ministry.</span> +into the position of Charles I. If Grenville had remained +in office he would probably have persisted in +his resolution. He was driven from his post by the king’s resolve +no longer to submit to his insolence, and a new ministry was +formed under the marquess of Rockingham, composed of some of +those leaders of the Whig aristocracy who had not followed the +Grenville ministry. They were well-intentioned, but weak, and +without political ability; and the king regarded them with +distrust, only qualified by his abhorrence of the ministry which +they superseded.</p> + +<p>As soon as the bad news came from America, the ministry +was placed between two recommendations. Grenville, on the +one hand, advised that the tax should be enforced. +Pitt, on the other, declared that the British parliament +<span class="sidenote">The Declaratory Act and repeal of Stamp Act.</span> +had absolutely no right to tax America, though he +held that it had the right to regulate, or in other words +to tax, the commerce of America for the benefit of the +British merchant and manufacturer. Between the +two the government took a middle course. It obtained from +parliament a total repeal of the Stamp Act, but it also passed +a Declaratory Act, claiming for the British parliament the +supreme power over the colonies in matters of taxation, as well +as in matters of legislation.</p> + +<p>It is possible that the course thus adopted was chosen simply +because it was a middle course. But it was probably suggested +by Edmund Burke, who was then Lord Rockingham’s +private secretary, but who for some time to come was +<span class="sidenote">Burke’s political theory.</span> +to furnish thought to the party to which he attached +himself. Burke carried into the world of theory those +politics of expediency of which Walpole had been the practical +originator. He held that questions of abstract right had no +place in politics. It was therefore as absurd to argue with Pitt +that England had a right to regulate commerce, as it was to argue +with Grenville that England had a right to levy taxes. All that +could be said was, that it was expedient in a widespread empire +that the power of final decision should be lodged somewhere, +and that it was also expedient not to use that power in such +a way as to irritate those whom it was the truest wisdom to +conciliate.</p> + +<p>The weak side of this view was the weak side of all Burke’s +political philosophy. Like all great innovators, he was intensely +conservative where he was not an advocate of change. +With new views on every subject relating to the +<span class="sidenote">Arguments of Pitt and Burke.</span> +exercise of power, he shrank even from entertaining the +slightest question relating to the distribution of power. +He recommended to the British parliament the most self-denying +wisdom, but he could not see that in its relation to the colonies +the British parliament was so constituted as to make it entirely +unprepared to be either wise or self-denying. It is true that if +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page548" id="page548"></a>548</span> +he had thought out the matter in this direction, he would have +been led further than he or any other man in England or America +was at that time prepared to go. If the British parliament was +unfit to legislate for America, and if, as was undoubtedly the case, +it was impossible to create a representative body which was fit +to legislate, it would follow that the American colonies could only +be fairly governed as practically independent states, though +they might possibly remain, like the great colonies of our own +day, in a position of alliance rather than of dependence. It was +because the issues opened led to changes so far greater than the +wisest statesman then perceived, that Pitt’s solution, logically +untenable as it was, was preferable to Burke’s. Pitt would have +given bad reasons for going a step in the right direction. Burke +gave excellent reasons why those who were certain to go wrong +should have the power to go right.</p> + +<p>Scarcely were the measures relating to America passed when +the king turned out the ministry. The new ministry was formed +by Pitt, who was created earl of Chatham (1766), +on the principle of bringing together men who had +<span class="sidenote">Ministry of Lord Chatham.</span> +shaken themselves loose from any of the different +Whig cliques. Whatever chance the plan had of +succeeding was at an end when Chatham’s mind temporarily +gave way under stress of disease (1767). Charles Townshend, a +brilliant, headstrong man, led parliament in the way which had +been prepared by the Declaratory Act, and laid duties on tea +and other articles of commerce entering the ports of America.</p> + +<p>It was impossible that the position thus claimed by the +British parliament towards America should affect America +alone. The habit of obtaining money otherwise than by the +consent of those who are required to pay it would be certain +to make parliament careless of the feelings and interests of +that great majority of the population at home, which was unrepresented +in parliament. The resistance of America to the +taxation imposed was therefore not without benefit to the people +of the mother country. Already there were signs of a readiness +in parliament to treat even the constituencies with contempt. +<span class="sidenote">Wilkes and “The North Briton.”</span> +In 1763, in the days of the Grenville ministry, John +Wilkes, a profligate and scurrilous writer, had been +arrested on a general warrant—that is to say, a warrant +in which the name of no individual was mentioned—as +the author of an alleged libel on the king, contained in No. 45 +of <i>The North Briton</i>. He was a member of parliament, and as +such was declared by Chief Justice Pratt to be privileged against +arrest. In 1768 he was elected member for Middlesex. The +House of Commons expelled him. He was again elected, and +again expelled. The third time, the Commons gave the seat to +which Wilkes was a third time chosen to Colonel Luttrell, who +was far down in the poll. Wilkes thus became the representative +of a great constitutional principle, the principle that the electors +have a right to choose their representatives without restriction, +save by the regulations of the law.</p> + +<p>For the present the contention of the American colonists +and of the defenders of Wilkes at home was confined within the +compass of the law. Yet in both cases it might easily pass beyond +that compass, and might rest itself upon an appeal to the duty of +governments to modify the law, and to enlarge the basis of their +authority, when law and authority have become too narrow.</p> + +<p>As regards America, though Townshend died, the government +persisted in his policy. As resistance grew stronger in America, +the king urged the use of compulsion. If he had not +the wisdom of the country on his side, he had its +<span class="sidenote">Lord North’s ministry.</span> +prejudices. The arrogant spirit of Englishmen made +them <span class="correction" title="amended from comtemptuous">contemptuous</span> towards the colonists, and the +desire to thrust taxation upon others than themselves made +the new colonial legislation popular. In 1770 the king made +Lord North prime minister. He had won the object on which +he had set his heart. A new Tory party had sprung up, not +distinguished, like the Tories of Queen Anne’s reign, by a special +ecclesiastical policy, but by their acceptance of the king’s claim to +nominate ministers, and so to predominate in the ministry himself.</p> + +<p>Unhappily the opposition, united in the desire to conciliate +America, was divided on questions of home policy. Chatham +would have met the new danger by parliamentary reform, giving +increased voting power to the freeholders of the counties. +Burke from principle, and his noble patrons mainly from lower +motives, were opposed to any such change. As Burke had wished +the British parliament to be supreme over the colonies, in confidence +that this supremacy would not be abused, so he wished +the great landowning connexion resting on the rotten boroughs +to rule over the unrepresented people, in confidence that this +power would not be abused. Amid these distractions the king +had an easy game to play. He had all the patronage of the +government in his hands, and beyond the circle which was +influenced by gifts of patronage, he could appeal to the ignorance +and self-seeking of the nation, with which, though he knew it +not, he was himself in the closest sympathy.</p> + +<p>No wonder resistance grew more vigorous in America. In +1773 the inhabitants of Boston threw ship-loads of tea into the +harbour rather than pay the obnoxious duty. In 1774 +the Boston Port Bill deprived Boston of its commercial +<span class="sidenote">The American War of Independence.</span> +rights, whilst the Massachusetts Government Bill took +away from that colony the ordinary political liberties +of Englishmen. The first skirmish of the inevitable +war was fought at Lexington in 1775. In 1776 the thirteen +colonies united in the continental congress issued their Declaration +of Independence. England put forth all its strength to beat +down resistance; but the task, which seemed easy at a distance, +proved impossible. It might have been so even had the war +been conducted on the British side with greater military skill +and with more insight into the conditions of the struggle, which +was essentially a civil contest between men of the same race. +But the initial difficulties of the vast field of operations were +greatly increased by the want of skill of the British leaders in +adapting themselves to new conditions, while even loyalist +sentiment was shocked by the employment of German mercenaries +and Red Indian savages against men of English blood. +Even so, the issue of the struggle was for long doubtful, and +there were moments when it might have ended by a policy of +wise concession; but the Americans, though reduced at times +to desperate straits, had the advantage of fighting in their own +country, and above all they found in George Washington a leader +after the model of the English country gentleman who had upheld +the standard of liberty against the Stuarts, and worthy of +the great cause for which they fought. In 1777 a British army +under Burgoyne capitulated at Saratoga; and early in 1778 +France, eager to revenge the disasters of the Seven Years’ War, +formed an alliance with the revolted colonies as free and independent +states, and was soon joined by Spain.</p> + +<p>Chatham, who was ready to make any concession to America +short of independence, and especially of independence at the +dictation of France, died in 1778. The war was continued for +some years with varying results; but in 1781 the capitulation +of a second British army under Cornwallis at Yorktown was a +decisive blow, which brought home to the minds of the dullest +the assurance that the conquest of America was an impossibility.</p> + +<p>Before this event happened there had been a great change +in public feeling in England. The increasing weight of taxation +gave rise in 1780 to a great meeting of the freeholders of Yorkshire, +which in turn gave the signal for a general agitation for +the reduction of unnecessary expense in the government. To this +desire Burke gave expression in his bill for economical reform, +though he was unable to carry it in the teeth of interested +opposition. The movement in favour of economy was necessarily +also a movement in favour of peace; and when the surrender of +Yorktown was known (1782), Lord North at once resigned office.</p> + +<p>The new ministry formed under Lord Rockingham comprised +not only his own immediate followers, of whom the most prominent +was Charles Fox, but the followers of Chatham, +of whom Lord Shelburne was the acknowledged leader. +<span class="sidenote">The second Rockingham ministry.</span> +A treaty of peace acknowledging the independence +of the United States of America was at once set on +foot; and the negotiation with France was rendered easy by +the defeat of a French fleet by Rodney, and by the failure +of the combined forces of France and Spain to take Gibraltar.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page549" id="page549"></a>549</span></p> + +<p>Already the ministry on which such great hopes had been +placed had broken up. Rockingham died in July 1782. The +two sections of which the government was composed had different +aims. The Rockingham section, which now looked up to Fox, +rested on aristocratic connexion and influence; the Shelburne +section was anxious to gain popular support by active reforms, +and to gain over the king to their side. Judging by past experience, +the combination might well seem hopeless, and honourable +men like Fox might easily regard it with suspicion. But +Fox’s allies took good care that their name should not be associated +with the idea of improvement. They pruned Burke’s +Economical Reform Bill till it left as many abuses as it suppressed; +and though the bill prohibited the grant of pensions +above £300, they hastily gave away pensions of much larger +value to their own friends before the bill had received the royal +assent. They also opposed a bill for parliamentary reform +brought in by young William Pitt. When the king chose +Shelburne as prime minister, they refused to follow him, and +put forward the incompetent duke of Portland as their candidate +for the office. The struggle was thus renewed on the old ground +of the king’s right to select his ministers. But while the king +now put forward a minister notoriously able and competent to the +task, his opponents put forward a man whose only claim to office +was the possession of large estates. They forced their way back +to power by means as unscrupulous as their claim to it was unjustifiable. +They formed a coalition with Lord North, whose +<span class="sidenote">The coalition.</span> +politics and character they had denounced for years. +The coalition, as soon as the peace with America and +France had been signed (1783), drove Shelburne from +office. The duke of Portland became the nominal head of the +government, Fox and North its real leaders.</p> + +<p>Such a ministry could not afford to make a single blunder. +The king detested it, and the assumption by the Whig houses +of a right to nominate the head of the government +without reference to the national interests, could never +<span class="sidenote">The India Bill.</span> +be popular. The blunder was soon committed. +Burke, hating wrong and injustice with a bitter hatred, had +descried in the government of British India by the East India +Company a disgrace to the English name. For many of the +actions of that government no honourable man can think of +uttering a word of defence. The helpless natives were oppressed +and robbed by the company and its servants in every possible +way. Burke drew up a bill, which was adopted by the coalition +government, for taking all authority in India out of the hands +of the company, and even placing the company’s management +of its own commercial affairs under control. The governing +and controlling body was naturally to be a council appointed +at home. The question of the nomination of this council at once +drew the whole question within the domain of party politics. +The whole patronage of India would be in its hands, and, as +parliament was then constituted, the balance of parties might +be more seriously affected by the distribution of that patronage +than it would be now. When, therefore, it was understood that +the government bill meant the council to be named in the bill +for four years, or, in other words, to be named by the coalition +ministry, it was generally regarded as an unblushing attempt to +turn a measure for the good government of India into a measure +for securing the ministry in office. The bill of course passed the +Commons. When it came before the Lords, it was thrown out +in consequence of a message from the king, that he would regard +any one who voted for it as his enemy.</p> + +<p>The contest had thus become one between the influence of +the crown and the influence of the great houses. Constitutional +historians, who treat the question as one of merely +theoretical politics, leave out of consideration this +<span class="sidenote">Ministry of the younger Pitt.</span> +essential element of the situation, and forget that, if +it was wrong for the king to influence the Lords by +his message, it was equally wrong for the ministry to acquire +for themselves fresh patronage with which to influence the +Commons. But there was now, what there had not been in the +time of Walpole and the Pelhams, a public opinion ready to throw +its weight on one side or the other. The county members still +formed the most independent portion of the representation, +and there were many possessors of rotten boroughs, who were +ready to agree with the county members rather than with the +great landowners. In choosing Pitt, the young son of Chatham, +for his prime minister, as soon as he had dismissed the coalition, +George III. gave assurance that he wished his counsels to be +directed by integrity and ability. After a struggle of many +weeks, parliament was dissolved (1784), and the new House of +Commons was prepared to support the king’s minister by a large +majority.</p> + +<p>As far as names go, the change effected placed the new Tory +party in office for an almost uninterrupted period of forty-six +years. It so happened, however, that after the first eight years +of that period had passed by, circumstances occurred which +effected so great a change in the composition and character of +that party as to render any statement to this effect entirely +illusive. During eight years, however, Pitt’s ministry was not +merely a Tory ministry resting on the choice of the king, but a +Liberal ministry resting on national support and upon advanced +political knowledge.</p> + +<p>The nation which Pitt had behind him was very different from +the populace which had assailed Walpole’s Excise Bill, or had +shouted for Wilkes and liberty. At the beginning +of the century the intellect of thoughtful Englishmen +<span class="sidenote">Material progress.</span> +had applied itself to speculative problems of religion +and philosophy. In the middle of the century it applied itself +to practical problems affecting the employment of industry. +In 1776 Adam Smith published the <i>Wealth of Nations</i>. Already +in 1762 the work of Brindley, the Bridgewater canal, the first +joint of a network of inland water communication, was opened. +In 1767 Hargreaves produced the spinning-jenny; Arkwright’s +spinning machine was exhibited in 1768; Crompton’s mule was +finished in 1779; Cartwright hit upon the idea of the power-loom +in 1784, though it was not brought into profitable use till +1801. The Staffordshire potteries had been flourishing under +Wedgwood since 1763, and the improved steam-engine was +brought into shape by Watt in 1768. During these years the +duke of Bedford, Coke of Norfolk, and Robert Bakewell were +busy in the improvement of stock and agriculture.</p> + +<p>The increase of wealth and prosperity caused by these changes +went far to produce a large class of the population entirely outside +the associations of the landowning class, but with sufficient +intelligence to appreciate the advantages of a government carried +on without regard to the personal interests and rivalries of the +aristocracy. The mode in which that increase of wealth was +effected was even more decisive on the ultimate destinies of the +country. The substitution of the organization of hereditary +monarchy for the organization of wealth and station would +ultimately have led to evils as great as those which it superseded. +It was only tolerable as a stepping-stone to the organization of +intelligence. The larger the numbers admitted to influence the +affairs of state, the more necessary is it that they respect the +powers of intellect. It would be foolish to institute a comparison +between an Arkwright or a Crompton and a Locke or a +Newton. But it is certain that for one man who could appreciate +the importance of the treatise <i>On the Human Understanding</i> or +the theory of gravitation, there were thousands who could understand +the value of the water-frame, or the power-loom. The +habit of looking with reverence upon mental power was fostered +in no slight measure by the industrial development of the second +half of the 18th century.</p> + +<p>The supremacy of intelligence in the political world was, +for the time, represented in Pitt. In 1784 he passed an India +Bill, which left the commerce and all except the highest +patronage of India in the hands of the East India +<span class="sidenote">Pitt’s India Bill.</span> +Company, but which erected a department of the home +government, named the board of control, to compel the company +to carry out such political measures as the government +saw fit. A bill for parliamentary reform was, however, thrown +out by the opposition of his own supporters in parliament, whilst +outside parliament there was no general desire for a change in +a system which for the present produced such excellent fruits. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page550" id="page550"></a>550</span> +Still more excellent was his plan of legislation for Ireland. Irishmen +had taken advantage of the weakness of England during +the American War to enforce upon the ministry of the day, in +1780 and 1782, an abandonment of all claim on the part of the +English government and the English judges to interfere in any +way with Irish affairs. From 1782, therefore, there were two +independent legislatures within the British Isles—the one sitting +at Westminster and the other sitting in Dublin. With these +political changes Fox professed himself to be content. Pitt, whose +mind was open to wider considerations, proposed to throw open +commerce to both nations by removing all the restrictions placed +on the trade of Ireland with England and with the rest of the +world. The opposition of the English parliament was only +removed by concessions continuing some important restrictions +upon Irish exports, and by giving the English parliament the +right of initiation in all measures relating to the regulation of +the trade which was to be common to both nations. The Irish +parliament took umbrage at the superiority claimed by England, +and threw out the measure as an insult, though, even as it stood, +it was undeniably in favour of Ireland. The lesson of the incompatibility +of two coordinate legislatures was not thrown +away upon Pitt.</p> + +<p>In 1786 the commercial treaty with France opened that +country to English trade, and was the first result of the theories +laid down by Adam Smith ten years previously. The first attack +upon the horrors of the slave-trade was made in 1788; and in +the same year, in the debates on the Regency Bill caused by the +king’s insanity, Pitt defended against Fox the right of parliament +to make provision for the exercise of the powers of the crown +when the wearer was permanently or temporarily disabled from +exercising his authority.</p> + +<p>When the king recovered, he went to St Paul’s to return thanks +on the 23rd of April 1789. The enthusiasm with which he was +greeted showed how completely he had the nation on his side. +All the hopes of liberal reformers were now with him. All the +hopes of moral and religious men were on his side as well. The +seed sown by Wesley had grown to be a great tree. A spirit +of thoughtfulness in religious matters and of moral energy was +growing in the nation, and the king was endeared to his subjects, +as much by his domestic virtues as by his support of the great +minister who acted in his name. The happy prospect was soon +to be overclouded. On the 4th of May, eleven days after the +appearance of George III. at St Paul’s, the French states-general +met at Versailles.</p> + +<p>By the great mass of intelligent Englishmen the change was +greeted with enthusiasm. It is seldom that one nation understands +the tendencies and difficulties of another; and +the mere fact that power was being transferred from +<span class="sidenote">The French Revolution; English feeling.</span> +an absolute monarch to a representative assembly +led superficial observers to imagine that they were +witnessing a mere repetition of the victory of the +English parliament over the Stuart kings. In fact, +that which was passing in France was of a totally different nature +from the English struggle of the 17th century. In England, the +conflict had been carried on for the purpose of limiting the power +of the king. In France, it was begun in order to sweep away +an aristocracy in church and state which had become barbarously +oppressive. The French Revolution was not, therefore, a conflict +for the reform of the political organization of the state, but one +for the reorganization of the whole structure of society; and +in proportion as it turned away from the path which English +ignorance had marked out for it, Englishmen turned away from it +in disgust. As they did not understand the aims of the French +Revolutionists, they were unable to make that excuse for even +so much of their conduct as admits of excuse. Three men, Fox, +Burke and Pitt, however, represented three varieties of opinion +into which the nation was very unequally divided.</p> + +<p>Fox, generous and trustful towards the movements of large +masses of men, had very little intellectual grasp of the questions +at issue in France. He treated the struggle as one simply for +the establishment of free institutions; and when at last the +crimes of the leaders became patent to the world, he contented +himself with lamenting the unfortunate fact, and fell back on +the argument that though England could not sympathize with +the French tyrants, there was no reason why she should go to +war with them.</p> + +<p>Burke, on the other hand, while he failed to understand the +full tendency of the Revolution for good as well as for evil, +understood it far better than any Englishman of that day understood +it. He saw that its main aim was equality, not liberty, +and that not only would the French nation be ready, in pursuit +of equality, to welcome any tyranny which would serve its +purpose, but would be the more prone to acts of tyranny over +individuals. This would arise from the remodelling of institutions, +with the object of giving immediate effect to the will of the +masses, which was especially liable to be counterfeited by designing +and unscrupulous agitators. There is no doubt that in all +this Burke was in the right, as he was in his denunciation of the +mischief certain to follow when a nation tries to start afresh, and +to blot out all past progress in the light of simple reason, which +is often most fallible when it believes itself to be most infallible. +Where he went wrong was in his ignorance of the special circumstances +of the French nation, and his consequent blindness to +the fact that the historical method of gradual progress was impossible +where institutions had become so utterly bad as they +were in France, and that consequently the system of starting +afresh, to which he reasonably objected, was to the French a +matter not of choice but of necessity. Nor did he see that the +passion for equality, like every great passion, justified itself, +and that the problem was, not how to obtain liberty in defiance +of it, but how so to guide it as to obtain liberty by it and +through it.</p> + +<p>Burke did not content himself with pointing out speculatively +the evils which he foreboded for the French. He perceived +clearly that the effect of the new French principles could no more +be confined to French territory than the principles of Protestantism +in the 16th century could be confined to Saxony. He knew +well that the appeal to abstract reason and the hatred of aristocracy +would spread over Europe like a flood, and, as he was in +the habit of considering whatever was most opposed to the +object of his dislike to be wholly excellent, he called for a crusade +of all established governments against the anarchical principles +of dissolution which had broken loose in France.</p> + +<p>Pitt occupied ground apart from either Fox or Burke. He +had neither Fox’s sympathy for popular movements, nor Burke’s +intellectual appreciation of the immediate tendencies of the +Revolution. Hence, whilst he pronounced against any active +interference with France, he was an advocate of peace, not +because he saw more than Fox or Burke, but because he saw +less. He fancied that France would be so totally occupied with +its own troubles that it would cease for a long time to be +dangerous to other nations.</p> + +<p>This view was soon to be stultified by the effect of the coalition +against France in 1792 of Prussia and Austria. The proclamation +of the allies calling on the French to restore the royal +authority was answered by a passionate outburst of +<span class="sidenote">Beginning of the revolutionary wars.</span> +defiance. The king himself was suspected of complicity +with the invaders of his country, and the rising +of the 10th of August was followed by the proclamation of the +republic and by the awful “September massacres” of helpless +prisoners, guilty of no crime but noble birth, and therefore presumably +of attachment to the old régime, and treason towards +the new. This passionate attachment to the Revolution, which +in France displayed itself in a carnival of insane suspicion and +cruelty, inspired on the frontiers an astonishing patriotic resistance. +Before the end of the year the invasion was repulsed, +and the ragged armies of the Revolution had overrun Savoy +and the Austrian Netherlands, and were threatening the aristocratic +Dutch republic.</p> + +<p>Very few governments in Europe were so rooted in the +affections of their people as to be able to look without terror +on the challenge thus thrown out to them. The English government +was one of those very few. No mere despotism was here +exercised by the king. No broad impassable line here divided +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page551" id="page551"></a>551</span> +the aristocracy from the people. The work of former generations +of Englishmen had been too well done to call for that +<span class="sidenote">Change of feeling in England.</span> +breach of historical continuity which was a dire +necessity in France. There was much need of reform. +There was no need of a revolution. The whole of the +upper and middle classes, with few exceptions, clung +together in a fierce spirit of resistance; and the mass of the +lower classes, especially in the country, were too well off to wish +for change. The spirit of resistance to revolution quickly +developed into a spirit of resistance to reform, and those who +continued to advocate changes, more or less after the French +model, were treated as the enemies of mankind. A fierce hatred +of France and of all that attached itself to France became the +predominating spirit of the nation.</p> + +<p>Such a change in the national mind could not but affect the +constitution of the Whig party. The reasoning of Burke would, +in itself, have done little to effect its disruption. But +the great landowners, who contributed so strong an +<span class="sidenote">Division of the Whig party.</span> +element in it, composed the very class which had most +to fear from the principles of the Revolution. The old +questions which had divided them from the king and Pitt in +1783 had dwindled into nothing before the appalling question of +the immediate present. They made themselves the leaders of +the war party, and they knew that that party comprised almost +the whole of the parliamentary classes.</p> + +<p>What could Pitt do but surrender? The whole of the intellectual +basis of his foreign policy was swept away when it became +evident that the continental war would bring with it an accession +of French territory. He did not abandon his opinions. His +opinions rather abandoned him. A wider intelligence might have +held that, let France gain what territorial aggrandizement it +might upon the continent of Europe, it was impossible to resist +such changes until the opponents of France had so purified +themselves as to obtain a hold upon the moral feelings of mankind. +Pitt could not take this view; perhaps no man in his +day could be fairly expected to take it. He did not indeed +declare war against France; but he sought to set a limit to her +conquests in the winter, though he had not sought to set a limit +to the conquests of the allied sovereigns in the preceding summer. +He treated with supercilious contempt the National Convention, +which had dethroned the king and proclaimed a republic. Above +all, he took up a declaration by the Convention, that they would +give help to all peoples struggling for liberty against their respective +governments, as a challenge to England. The horror +caused in England by the trial and execution of Louis XVI. +completed the estrangement between the two countries, and +though the declaration of war came from France (1793), it had +been in great part brought about by the bearing of England and +its government.</p> +<div class="author">(S. R. G.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">XI. The Revolutionary Epoch, the Reaction, and the +Triumph of Reform (1793-1837)</p> + +<p>In appearance the great Whig landowners gave their support +to Pitt, and in 1794 some of their leaders, the duke of Portland, +Lord Fitzwilliam, and Windham, entered the cabinet +to serve under him. In reality it was Pitt who had +<span class="sidenote">The government and the “revolutionary” agitation.</span> +surrendered. The ministry and the party by which +it was supported might call themselves Tory still; +but the great reforming policy of 1784 was at an +end, and the government, unconscious of its own +strength, conceived its main function to be at all +costs to preserve the constitution, which it believed to be +in danger of being overwhelmed by the rising tide of revolutionary +feeling. That this belief was idle it is now easy +enough to see; at the time this was not so obvious. Thomas +Paine’s <i>Rights of Man</i>, published in 1791, a brilliant and bitter +attack on the British constitution from the Jacobin point of +view, sold by tens of thousands. Revolutionary societies with +high-sounding names were established, of which the most conspicuous +were the Revolution Society, the Society for Constitutional +Information, the London Corresponding Society, and the +Friends of the People. Of these, indeed, only the two last +were directly due to the example of France. The Revolution +Society, founded to commemorate the revolution of 1688, had +long carried on a respectable existence under the patronage +of cabinet ministers; the Society for Constitutional Information, +of which Pitt himself had been a member, was founded +in 1780 to advocate parliamentary reform; both had, however, +developed under the influence of the events in France in a +revolutionary direction. The London Corresponding Society, +composed mainly of working-men, was the direct outcome of +the excitement caused by the developments of the French Revolution. +Its leaders were obscure and usually illiterate men, +who delighted to propound their theories for the universal +reformation of society and the state in rhetoric of which the +characteristic phrases were borrowed from the tribune of the +Jacobin Club. Later generations have learned by repeated +experience that the eloquence of Hyde Park orators is not the +voice of England; there were some even then—among those +not immediately responsible for keeping order—who urged the +government “to trust the people”;<a name="fa6a" id="fa6a" href="#ft6a"><span class="sp">6</span></a> but with the object-lesson +of France before them it is not altogether surprising that ministers +refused to believe in the harmlessness of societies, which not +only kept up a fraternal correspondence with the National +Convention and the Jacobin Club, but, by attempting to establish +throughout the country a network of affiliated clubs, were +apparently aiming at setting up in Great Britain the Jacobin +idea of popular control.</p> + +<p>The danger, of course, was absurdly exaggerated; as indeed +was proved by the very popularity of the repressive measures +to which the government thought it necessary to resort, and +which gave to the vapourings of a few knots of agitators the +dignity of a widespread conspiracy for the overthrow of the +constitution. On the 1st of December 1792 a proclamation was +issued calling out the militia on the ground that a dangerous +spirit of tumult and disorder had been excited by evil-disposed +persons, acting in concert with persons in foreign parts, and this +statement was repeated in the king’s speech at the opening of +parliament on the 13th. In spite of the protests of Sheridan and +other members of the opposition, a campaign of press and other +prosecutions now began which threatened to extinguish the most +cherished right of Englishmen—liberty of speech. The country +was flooded with government spies and informers, whose efforts +were seconded by such voluntary societies as the Association +for preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and +Levellers, founded by John Reeves, the historian of English +law. No one was safe from these zealous and too often credulous +defenders of the established order; and a few indiscreet words +spoken in a coffee house were enough to bring imprisonment +and ruin, as in the case of John Frost, a respectable attorney, +condemned for sedition in March 1793. In Scotland the panic, +and the consequent cruelty, were worse than in England. The +meeting at Edinburgh of a “convention of delegates of the +associated friends of the people,” at which some foolish and +exaggerated language was used, was followed by the trial +of Thomas Muir, a talented young advocate whose brilliant +defence did not save him from a sentence of fourteen years’ +transportation (August 30, 1793), while seven years’ transportation +was the punishment of the Rev. T. Fyshe Palmer for +circulating an address from “a society of the friends of liberty +to their fellow-citizens” in favour of a reform of the House of +Commons. These sentences and the proceedings which led up +to them, though attacked with bitter eloquence by Sheridan +and Fox, were confirmed by a large majority in parliament.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, till late in the session of 1794 that +ministers laid before parliament any evidence of seditious +practices. In May certain leaders of democratic societies were +arrested and their papers seized, and on the 13th a king’s message +directed the books of certain corresponding societies to be laid +before both Houses. The committee of the House of Commons +at once reported that there was evidence of a conspiracy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page552" id="page552"></a>552</span> +to supersede the House of Commons by a national convention, +and Pitt proposed and carried a bill suspending the +Habeas Corpus Act. This was followed by further reports of +the committees of both Houses, presenting evidence of the secret +manufacture of arms and of other proceedings calculated to +endanger the public peace. A series of state prosecutions +followed. The trials of Robert Watt and David Downie for +high treason (August and September 1794) actually revealed +a treasonable plot on the part of a few obscure individuals at +Edinburgh, who were found in the possession of no less than +fifty-seven pikes of home manufacture, wherewith to overthrow +the British government. The execution of Watt gave to this +trial a note of tragedy which was absent from that of certain +members of the Corresponding Society, accused of conspiring +to murder the king by means of a poisoned arrow shot from +an air-gun. The ridicule that greeted the revelation of the +“Pop-gun Plot” marked the beginning of a reaction that found +a more serious expression in the trials of Thomas Hardy, John +Horne Tooke and John Thelwall (October and November 1794). +The prisoners were accused of high treason, their chief offence +consisting in their attempt to assemble a general convention +of the people, ostensibly for the purpose of obtaining parliamentary +reform, but really—as the prosecution urged—for subverting +the constitution. This latter charge, though proved to +the satisfaction of the committees of both Houses of Parliament, +broke down under the cross-examination of the government +witnesses by the counsel for the defence, and could indeed only +have been substantiated by a dangerous stretching of the +doctrine of constructive treason. Happily the jury refused to +convict, and its verdict saved the nation from the disgrace +of meting out the extreme penalty of high treason to an attempt +to hold a public meeting for the redress of grievances.</p> + +<p>The common sense of a British jury had preserved, in spite +of parliament and ministry, that free right of meeting which +was to be one of the strongest instruments of future reform. +The government, however, saw little reason in the events of +the following months for reversing their coercive policy. The +year 1795 was one of great suffering and great popular unrest; +for the effect of the war upon industry was now beginning to +be felt, and the distress had been aggravated by two bad harvests. +The sudden determination of those in power, who had hitherto +advocated reform, to stereotype the existing system, closed the +avenues of hope to those who had expected an improvement of +their lot from constitutional changes, and the disaffected temper +of the populace that resulted was taken advantage of by the +London Corresponding Society, emboldened by its triumph in +the courts, to organize open and really dangerous demonstrations, +such as the vast mass meeting at Copenhagen House on the 26th +of October. On the 29th of October the king, on his way to open +parliament, was attacked by an angry mob shouting, “Give +us bread,” “No Pitt,” “No war,” “No famine,”; and the glass +panels of his state coach were smashed to pieces.</p> + +<p>The result of these demonstrations was the introduction in +the House of Lords, on the 4th of November, of the Treasonable +Practices Bill, the main principle of which was that it modified +the law of treason by dispensing with the necessity for the proof +of an overt act in order to secure conviction; and in the House +of Commons, on the 10th, of the Seditious Meetings Bill, which +seriously limited the right of public meeting, making all meetings +of over fifty persons, as well as all political debates and lectures, +subject to the previous consent and active supervision of the +magistrates. In spite of the strenuous resistance of the opposition, +led by Fox, and of numerous meetings of protest held +outside the walls of parliament, both bills passed into law by +enormous majorities. The inevitable result followed. The +London Corresponding Society and other political clubs, deprived +of the right of public meeting, became secret societies pledged +to the overthrow of the existing system by any means. United +Englishmen and United Scotsmen plotted with United Irishmen +for a French invasion, and sedition was fomented in the +army and the navy. Their baneful activities were exposed in +the inquiries that followed the Irish rebellion of 1798, and the +result was the Corresponding Societies Bill, introduced by Pitt +on the 19th of April 1799, which completed the series of repressive +measures and practically suspended the popular constitution +of England. The right of public meeting, of free speech, of the +free press had alike ceased for the time to exist.</p> + +<p>The justification of the government in all this was the life and +death struggle in which Great Britain was engaged with the +power of republican France in Europe. Yet Pitt’s +conduct of the war, so far as the continent was concerned, +<span class="sidenote">The Revolutionary War.</span> +had hitherto led to nothing but failure after +failure. In 1794, in spite of the presence of an English +army under the duke of York, the Austrian Netherlands had +been finally conquered and annexed to the French republic; +in 1795 the Dutch republic was affiliated to that of France, and +the peace of Basel between Prussia and the French republic left +Austria to continue the war alone with the aid of British subsidies. +On the sea Great Britain had been more successful, +Howe’s victory of the 1st of June 1794 being the first of the long +series of defeats inflicted on the French navy, while in 1795 a +beginning was made of the vast expansion of the British Empire +by the capture of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope from the +Dutch (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">French Revolutionary Wars</a></span>). The war, however, +had become so expensive, and its results were evidently so small, +that there was a growing feeling in England in favour of peace, +especially as the Reign of Terror had come to an end in 1794, +and a regular government, the Directory, had been appointed +in 1795. At last Pitt was forced to yield to the popular clamour, +and in 1796 Lord Malmesbury was sent to France to treat for +peace. The negotiation, however, was at once broken off by his +demand that France should abandon the Netherlands.</p> + +<p>The French government, assured now of the assistance of +Spain and Holland, and freed of the danger from La Vendée, +now determined to attempt the invasion of Ireland. +On the 16th of December a fleet of 17 battle-ships, +<span class="sidenote">Hoche’s expedition to Ireland.</span> +13 frigates and 15 smaller vessels set sail from Brest, +carrying an expeditionary force of some 13,000 men +under General Hoche. The British fleet, under Lord Bridport, +was wintering at Spithead; and before it could put to sea the +French had slipped past. Before it reached the coast of Ireland, +however, the French fleet had already suffered serious losses, +owing partly to the attacks of British frigate detachments, +partly to the bad seamanship of the French crews and the +rottenness of the ships. Only a part of the fleet succeeded in +reaching Bantry Bay on the 20th of December, and of these a +large number were scattered by a storm on the 23rd. Hoche +himself, with the French admiral, had been driven far to the +westward in an effort to avoid capture; the attempt of Grouchy, +in his absence, to land a force was defeated by the weather, +and by the end of the month the whole expedition was in full +retreat for Brest. A French diversion on the coast of Pembroke +was even less successful; a force of 1500 men, under Colonel +Tate, an American adventurer, landed in Cardigan Bay on the +22nd of February 1797, but was at once surrounded by the local +militia and surrendered without a blow.</p> + +<p>A more serious attempt was now made to renew the enterprise +by means of a junction of the French, Spanish and Dutch fleets. +The victory of Jervis over the Spanish fleet at +St Vincent on the 14th of February postponed the +<span class="sidenote">Mutinies at Spithead and the Nore.</span> +imminence of the danger; but this again became acute +owing to the general disaffection in the fleet, which in +April and May found vent in the serious mutinies at Spithead +and the Nore. The mutiny at Spithead, which was due solely +to the intolerable conditions under which the seamen served at +the time, was ended on the 17th of May by concessions: an +increase of pay, the removal of officers who had abused their +power of discipline, and the promise of a general free pardon. +More serious was the outbreak at the Nore. The disaffection +had spread practically to the whole of Admiral Duncan’s fleet, +and by the beginning of June the mutineers were blockading +the Thames with no less than 26 vessels. The demands of the +seamen were more extensive than at Spithead; their resistance +was better organized; and they were suspected, though without +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page553" id="page553"></a>553</span> +reason, of harbouring revolutionary designs. The return of the +Channel fleet to its duty emboldened the admiralty to refuse +any concessions, and the vigorous measures of repression taken +proved effective. One by one the mutinous crews surrendered; +and the arrest of the ringleader, Richard Parker, on board the +“Sandwich,” on the 14th of June, brought the affair to an end.<a name="fa7a" id="fa7a" href="#ft7a"><span class="sp">7</span></a> +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Camperdown.</span> +The seamen regained their reputation, and those who +had been imprisoned their liberty, by Duncan’s victory +over the Dutch fleet at Camperdown (October 11), by +which the immediate danger was averted. Though +the French attempt at a concerted invasion had failed, however, +the Directory did not abandon the enterprise, and commissioned +Bonaparte to draw up fresh plans.</p> + +<p>At the close of the year 1797 the position of Great Britain +was indeed sufficiently alarming. On the 18th of April, during +the very crisis of the mutiny at Spithead, Austria had signed +with Bonaparte the humiliating terms of the preliminary peace +of Leoben, which six months later were embodied in the treaty +of Campo Formio (October 17). On the 10th of August Portugal +had concluded a treaty with the French Republic; and Great +Britain was left without an ally in Europe. The mutiny at the +Nore, the threat of rebellion in Ireland, the alarming fall in +consols, argued strongly against continuing the war single-handed, +and in July Lord Malmesbury had been sent to Lille to +open fresh negotiations with the plenipotentiaries of France. +The negotiations broke down on the refusal of England to restore +the Cape of Good Hope to the Dutch. But though forced, in +spite of misgivings, to continue the struggle, the British government +in one very important respect was now in a far better +position to do so. For though Great Britain was now isolated +and her policy in Europe advertised as a failure, the temper of +the British people was less inclined to peace in 1798 than it had +been three years before. The early enthusiasm of the disfranchised +classes for French principles had cooled with the later +developments of the Revolution; the attempted invasions had +roused the national spirit; and in the public imagination the +sinister figure of Bonaparte, the rapacious conqueror, was beginning +to loom large to the exclusion of lesser issues. Henceforth, +in spite of press prosecutions and trials for political libel, the +government was supported by public opinion in its vigorous +prosecution of the war.</p> + +<p>If the danger of French invasion was a reality, it was so +mainly owing to the deplorable condition of Ireland, where the +natural disaffection of the Roman Catholic majority +of the population—deprived of political and many +<span class="sidenote">The Act of Union with Ireland.</span> +social rights, and exposed to the insults and oppression +of a Protestant minority corrupted by centuries of +ascendancy—invited the intervention of a foreign enemy. The +full measure of the intolerable conditions prevailing in the +country was revealed by the horrors of the rebellion of 1798, +and after this had been suppressed Pitt decided that the only +way to deal with the situation was to establish a union between +Great Britain and Ireland, similar to that which had proved so +successful in the case of England and Scotland. He saw that +to establish peace in Ireland the Roman Catholics would have +to be enfranchised; he realized that to enfranchise them in a +separated Ireland would be to subject the proud Protestant +minority to an impossible domination, and to establish not peace +but war. The Union, then, was in his view the necessary preliminary +to Catholic emancipation, which was at the same time +the reward held out to the majority of the Irish people for the +surrender of their national quasi-independence. It was a bribe +little likely to appeal to the Protestant minority which constituted +the Irish parliament, and to them other inducements +had to be offered if the scheme was to be carried through. These +inducements were not all corrupt. Those members who stood +out were, indeed, bought by a lavish distribution of money and +coronets; but the advantages to Ireland which might reasonably +be expected from the Union were many and obvious; and +if all the promises held out by the promoters of the measure +have even now not been realized, the fault is not theirs. The +Act of Union was placed on the statute-book in 1800; Catholic +emancipation was to have been accomplished in the following +session, the first of the united parliament. But Pitt’s policy +broke on the stubborn obstinacy of George III., who believed +himself bound by his coronation oath to resist any concession +to the enemies of the Established Church. The disadvantage +of the possession of too strait a conscience in politics was never +<span class="sidenote">Resignation of Pitt.</span> +more dismally illustrated. To the Irish people it was +the first breach of faith in connexion with the Union, +and threw them into opposition to a settlement into +which they believed themselves to have been drawn +under false pretences. Pitt, realizing this, had no option but +to resign.</p> + +<p>The resignation of the great minister who had so long held +the reins of power coincided with a critical situation in Europe. +The isolation of Bonaparte in Egypt, as the result +of Nelson’s victory of the Nile (1798), had enabled +<span class="sidenote">Bonaparte breaks up the coalition.</span> +the allies to recover some of the ground lost to France. +But this had merely increased Bonaparte’s prestige, +and on his return in 1799 he found no difficulty in making himself +master of France by the <i>coup d’état</i> of the 18th Brumaire. +The campaign of Marengo followed (1800) and the peace of +Lunéville, which not only once more isolated Great Britain, but +raised up against her new enemies, to the list of whom she added +by using her command of the sea to enforce the right of search +in order to seize enemies’ goods in neutral vessels. Russia joined +with Sweden and Denmark, all hitherto friendly powers, in +resistance to this claim.</p> + +<p>Such was the position when Addington became prime minister. +He was a man of weak character and narrow intellect, whose +main claim to succeed Pitt was that he shared to +<span class="sidenote">Addington ministry.</span> +the full the Protestant prejudices of king and people. +His tenure of power was, indeed, marked by British +successes abroad; by Nelson’s victory at Copenhagen, which +broke up the northern alliance, and by Abercromby’s victory +at Alexandria, which forced the French to evacuate Egypt; +but these had been prepared by the previous administration. +Addington’s real work was the peace of Amiens (1802), +<span class="sidenote">The peace of Amiens.</span> +an experimental peace, as the king called it, to see +if the First Consul could be contented to restrain +himself within the very wide limits by which his authority in +Europe was still circumscribed.</p> + +<p>In a few months Great Britain was made aware that the +experiment would not succeed. Interference and annexation +became the standing policy of the new French government; +and Britain, discovering how little intention +<span class="sidenote">Renewal of the war.</span> +Bonaparte had of carrying out the spirit of the treaty, +refused to abandon Malta, as she had engaged to do by the terms +of peace. The war began again, no longer a war against revolutionary +principles and their propaganda, but against the +boundless ambitions of a military conqueror. This time the +British nation was all but unanimous in resistance. This time +its resistance would be sooner or later supported by all that was +healthy in Europe. The news that Bonaparte was making +preparations on a vast scale for the invasion of England roused +a stubborn spirit of resistance in the country. Volunteers were +enrolled, and the coast was dotted with Martello towers, many +of which yet remain as monuments of the time when the “army +of England” was encamped on the heights near Boulogne within +sight of the English cliffs. To meet so great a crisis Addington +was not the man. He had been ceaselessly assailed, in and out +of parliament, by the trenchant criticism, and often unmannerly +wit, of “Pitt’s friends,” among whom George Canning was now +conspicuous. Pitt himself had remained silent; but in view +of the seriousness of the crisis and of a threatened illness of the +king, which would have necessitated a regency and—in view of +the prince of Wales’s dislike for him—his own permanent +exclusion from office, he now put himself forward once more. +The government majorities in the House now rapidly dwindled; +on the 26th of April 1804, Addington resigned; and Pitt, after +his attempt to form a national coalition ministry had broken +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page554" id="page554"></a>554</span> +down on the king’s refusal to admit Fox, became head of a +government constructed on a narrow Tory basis. Of the +<span class="sidenote">Pitt returns to office.</span> +members of the late government Lord Eldon, the duke +of Portland, Lord Westmorland, Lord Castlereagh and +Lord Hawkesbury retained office, the latter surrendering +the foreign office to Lord Harrowby and going to +the home office. Dundas, now Lord Melville, became first lord +of the admiralty, and the cabinet further included Lord Camden, +Lord Mulgrave and the duke of Montrose. Canning, Huskisson +and Perceval were given subordinate offices.</p> + +<p>Save for the commanding personality of Pitt, the new government +was scarcely stronger than that which it had replaced. It +had to face the same Whig opposition, led by Fox, who scoffed +at the French peril, and reinforced by Addington and his friends; +and the whole burden of meeting this opposition fell upon Pitt; +for Castlereagh, the only other member of the cabinet in the +House of Commons, was of little use in debate. Nevertheless, +fresh vigour was infused into the conduct of the war. The +Additional Forces Act, passed in the teeth of a strenuous opposition, +introduced the principle of a modified system of compulsion +to supplement the deficiencies of the army and reserve, +while the navy was largely increased. Abroad, Pitt’s whole +energies were directed to forming a fresh coalition against +Bonaparte, who, on the 14th of May 1804, had proclaimed himself +emperor of the French; but it was a year before Russia +signed with Great Britain the treaty of St Petersburg (April 11, +1805), and the accession to the coalition of Austria, Sweden and +<span class="sidenote">Battle of Trafalgar.</span> +Naples was not obtained till the following September. In the +following month (October 21) Nelson’s crowning victory +at Trafalgar over the allied fleets of France and Spain +relieved England of the dread of invasion. It served, +however, to precipitate the crisis on the continent of Europe; +the great army assembled at Boulogne was turned eastwards; +by the capitulation of Ulm (October 19) Austria lost a large +part of her forces; and the last news that reached Pitt on his +<span class="sidenote">Austerlitz.</span> +death-bed was that of the ruin of all his hopes by the +crushing victory of Napoleon over the Russians and +Austrians at Austerlitz (December 2).</p> + +<p>Pitt died on the 23rd of January, and the refusal of Lord +Hawkesbury to assume the premiership forced the king to +summon Lord Grenville, and to agree to the inclusion +of Fox in the cabinet as secretary for foreign affairs. +<span class="sidenote">Death of Pitt. “Ministry of all the Talents.”</span> +Several members of Pitt’s administration were admitted +to this “Ministry of all the Talents,” including +Addington (now Lord Sidmouth), who had rejoined +the ministry in December 1804 and again resigned, owing to +a disagreement with Pitt as to the charges against Lord Melville +(<i>q.v.</i>) in July 1805. The new ministry remained in office for a +year, a disastrous year which saw the culmination of Napoleon’s +power: the crushing of Prussia in the campaign of Jena, the +formation of the Confederation of the Rhine and the end of the +Holy Roman Empire. In the conduct of the war the British +government had displayed little skill, frittering away its forces +<span class="sidenote">Abolition of the slave-trade.</span> +on distant expeditions, instead of concentrating them +in support of Prussia or Russia, and the chief title +to fame of the Ministry of all the Talents is that it +secured the passing of the bill for the abolition of the +slave-trade (March 25, 1807).</p> + +<p>The death of Fox (September 13, 1806) deprived the ministry +of its strongest member, and in the following March it fell on +the old question of concessions to the Roman Catholics. +True to his principles, Fox had done his best to negotiate +<span class="sidenote">Catholic question.</span> +terms of peace with Napoleon; but the breakdown +of the attempt had persuaded even the Whigs that an arrangement +was impossible, and in view of this fact Grenville thought +it his duty to advise the king that the disabilities of Roman +Catholics and dissenters in the matter of serving in the army +and navy should be removed, in order that all sections of the +nation might be united in face of the enemy. The situation, +moreover, was in the highest degree anomalous; for by an act +passed in 1793 Roman Catholics might hold commissions in the +army in Ireland up to the rank of colonel, and this right had +not been extended to England, though by the Act of Union the +armies had become one. The king, however, was not to be +moved from his position; and he was supported in this attitude +not only by public opinion, but by a section of the ministry itself, +of which Sidmouth made himself the mouthpiece. The demand +of George III. that ministers should undertake never again +to approach him on the subject of concessions to the Catholics +was rejected by Grenville, rightly, as unconstitutional, and on +the 18th of March 1807 he resigned.</p> + +<p>The new ministry, under the nominal headship of the valetudinarian +duke of Portland, included Perceval as chancellor +of the exchequer, Canning as foreign secretary and +Castlereagh as secretary for war and the colonies. +<span class="sidenote">Portland ministry.</span> +It had given the undertaking demanded by the king; +those of its members who, like Canning, were in favour of +Catholic emancipation, arguing that, in view of greater and more +pressing questions, it was useless to insist in a matter which +could never be settled so long as the old king lived. Of more +importance to Great Britain, for the time being, than any +constitutional issues, was the life-and-death struggle with +Napoleon, which had now entered on a new phase. Defeated +at sea, but master now of the greater part of the continent of +Europe, the French emperor planned to bring Great Britain +<span class="sidenote">The continental system.</span> +to terms by ruining her commerce with the vast +territories under his influence. In November 1806 +he issued from Berlin the famous decree prohibiting +the importation of British goods and excluding from +the harbours under his control even neutral ships that had +touched at British ports. The British government replied by +the famous Orders in Council of 1807, which declared +<span class="sidenote">The Orders in Council.</span> +all vessels trading with France liable to seizure, and +that all such vessels clearing from France must touch +at a British port to pay customs duties. To this +Napoleon responded with the Milan decree (December 17), forbidding +neutrals to trade in any articles imported from the +British dominions. The effects of these measures were destined +to be far-reaching. The Revolution had made war on princes +and privilege, and the common people had in general gained +wherever the Napoleonic régime had been substituted for their +effete despotisms; but the “Continental System” was felt +as an oppression in every humble household, suddenly deprived +of the little imported luxuries, such as sugar and coffee, which +custom had made necessaries; and from this time date the +beginnings of that popular revolt against Napoleon that was +to culminate in the War of Liberation. Great Britain, too, +was to suffer from her own retaliatory policy. The Americans +<span class="sidenote">War with America.</span> +had taken advantage of the war to draw into their own +hands a large part of the British carrying trade, a +process greatly encouraged by the establishment of +the Continental System. This brought them into conflict +with the British acting under the Orders in Council, and the +consequent ill-feeling culminated in the war of 1812.</p> + +<p>It was not only the completion of the Continental System, +however, that made the year 1807 a fateful one for Great Britain. +On the 7th of July the young emperor Alexander I. +of Russia, fascinated by Napoleon’s genius and bribed +<span class="sidenote">Treaty of Tilsit.</span> +by the offer of a partition of the world, concluded the +treaty of Tilsit, which not only brought Russia into the Continental +System, but substituted for a coalition against France +a formidable coalition against England. A scheme for wresting +from the British the command of the sea was only defeated by +Canning’s action in ordering the English fleet to capture the +Danish navy, though Denmark was still nominally a friendly +power (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Canning, George</a></span>). Meanwhile, in order to complete +the ring fence round Europe against British commerce, +<span class="sidenote">French Invasion of Spain and Portugal.</span> +Napoleon had ordered Junot to invade Portugal; +Lisbon was occupied by the French, and the Portuguese +royal family migrated to Brazil. In the following +year Napoleon seized the royal family of Spain, +and gave the crown, which Charles VI. resigned on behalf of +himself and his heir, to his brother Joseph, king of Naples. +The revolt of the Spanish people that followed was the first of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page555" id="page555"></a>555</span> +the national uprisings against his rule by which Napoleon was +destined to be overthrown. In England it was greeted with +immense popular enthusiasm, and the government, without +realizing the full import of the step it was taking, sent an expedition +to the Peninsula. It disembarked, under the command +<span class="sidenote">Peninsular War.</span> +of Sir Arthur Wellesley, at Figueras on the 1st of +August. It was the beginning of the Peninsular War, +which was destined not to end until, in 1814, the +British troops crossed the Pyrenees into France, while the Allies +were pressing over the Rhine. The political and military events +on the continent of Europe do not, however, belong strictly to +English history, though they profoundly affected its development, +and they are dealt with elsewhere (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Europe</a></span>: <i>History</i>; +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Napoleon</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Napoleonic Campaigns</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Peninsular War</a></span>; +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Waterloo Campaign</a></span>).</p> + +<p>The war, while it lasted, was of course the main preoccupation +of British ministers and of the British people. It entailed +enormous sacrifices, which led to corresponding discontents; +and differences as to its conduct produced +<span class="sidenote">Walcheren expedition. Cabinet crisis.</span> +frequent friction within the government itself. A +cabinet crisis was the result of the outcome of the +unfortunate Walcheren expedition of 1809. It had been Castlereagh’s +conception and, had it been as well executed as it was +conceived, it might have dealt a fatal blow at Napoleon’s hopes +of recovering his power at sea, by destroying his great naval +establishments at Antwerp. It failed, and it became the subject +of angry dispute between Canning and Castlereagh, a dispute +embittered by personal rivalry and the friction due to the ill-defined +relations of the foreign secretary to the secretary for +war; the quarrel culminated in a duel, and in the resignation +of both ministers (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Londonderry, 2nd Marquess of</a></span>, and +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Canning, George</a></span>). The duke of Portland resigned at the same +time, and in the reconstruction of the ministry, under Perceval +<span class="sidenote">Perceval ministry.</span> +as premier, Lord Wellesley became foreign secretary, +while Lord Liverpool, with Palmerston as his under-secretary, +succeeded Castlereagh at the war office. +The most conspicuous member of this government was Wellesley, +whose main object in taking office was to second his brother’s +efforts in the Peninsula. In this he was, however, only partially +successful, owing to the incapacity of his colleagues to realize +the unique importance of the operations in Spain. In November +1810 the old king’s mind gave way, and on the 11th of February +1811, an act of parliament bestowed the regency, under certain +<span class="sidenote">The regency.</span> +restrictions, upon the prince of Wales. The prince +had been on intimate terms with the Whig leaders, +and it was assumed that his accession to power would +mean a change of government. He had, however, been offended +by their attitude on the question of the restriction of his authority +as regent, and he continued Perceval in office. A year later, +the king’s insanity being proved incurable, the regency was +definitively established (February 1812). Lord Wellesley took +advantage of the reconstruction of the cabinet to resign a +position in which he had not been given a free hand, and his +post of foreign secretary was offered to Canning. Canning, +however, refused to serve with Castlereagh as minister of war, +and the latter received the foreign office, which he was to hold +till his death in 1822. A month later, on the 11th of May, +Perceval was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons, +and Lord Liverpool became the head of a government that was +to last till 1827.</p> + +<p>The period covered by the Liverpool administration was a +fateful one in the history of Europe. The year 1812 saw +Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, and the disastrous +retreat from Moscow. In the following year Wellington’s +<span class="sidenote">Liverpool ministry.</span> +victory at Vitoria signalled the ruin of the French +cause in Spain; while Prussia threw off the yoke of France, and +Austria, realizing after cautious delay her chance of retrieving +the humiliations of 1809, joined the alliance, and in concert with +Russia and the other German powers overthrew Napoleon at +Leipzig. The invasion of France followed in 1814, the abdication +of Napoleon, the restoration of the Bourbons and the assembling +of the congress of Vienna. The following year saw the return +of Napoleon from Elba, the close of the congress of Vienna, and +the campaign that ended with the battle of Waterloo. The +succeeding period, after so much storm and stress, might seem +dull and unprofitable; but it witnessed the instructive experiment +of the government of Europe by a concert of the great +powers, and the first victory of the new principle of nationality +in the insurrection of the Greeks. The share taken by Great +Britain in all this, for which Castlereagh pre-eminently must +take the praise or blame, is outlined in the article on the history +<span class="sidenote">Foreign policy of Castlereagh.</span> +of Europe (<i>q.v.</i>). Here it must suffice to point out +how closely the development of foreign affairs was +interwoven with that of home politics. The great +war, so long as it lasted, was the supreme affair of +moment; the supreme interest when it was over was to prevent +its recurrence. For above all the world needed peace, in order +to recover from the exhaustion of the revolutionary epoch; and +this peace, bought at so great a cost, could be preserved only +by the honest co-operation of Great Britain in the great international +alliance based on “the treaties.” This explains +Castlereagh’s policy at home and abroad. He was grossly +attacked by the Opposition in parliament and by irresponsible +critics, of the type of Byron, outside; historians, bred in the +atmosphere of mid-Victorian Liberalism, have re-echoed the +cry against him and the government of which he was the most +distinguished member; but history has largely justified his +attitude. He was no friend of arbitrary government; but he +judged it better that “oppressed nationalities” and “persecuted +Liberals” should suffer than that Europe should be again +plunged into war. He was hated in his day as the arch-opponent +of reform, yet the triumph of the reform movement would have +been impossible but for the peace his policy secured.</p> + +<p>To say this is not to say that the attitude of the Tory government +towards the great issues of home politics was wholly, +or even mainly, inspired by a far-sighted wisdom. It +had departed widely from the Toryism of Pitt’s +<span class="sidenote">Character of the Tory party.</span> +younger years, which had sought to base itself on +popular support, as opposed to the aristocratic exclusiveness +of the Whigs. It conceived itself as the trustee of +a system of government which, however theoretically imperfect, +alone of the governments of Europe had survived the storms +of the Revolution intact. To tamper with a constitution that +had so proved its quality seemed not so much a sacrilege as a +folly. The rigid conservatism that resulted from this attitude +served, indeed, a useful purpose in giving weight to Castlereagh’s +counsels in the European concert; for Metternich at least, +wholly occupied with “propping up mouldering institutions,” +could not have worked harmoniously with a minister suspected +of an itch for reform. At home, however, it undoubtedly +tended to provoke that very revolution which it was intended +to prevent. This was due not so much to the notorious corruption +of the representative system as to the fact that it represented +social and economic conditions that were rapidly passing away.</p> + +<p>Both Houses of Parliament were in the main assemblies of +aristocrats and landowners; but agriculture was ceasing to +be the characteristic industry of the country and the +old semi-feudal relations of life were in process of +<span class="sidenote">Parliament and the industrial revolution.</span> +rapid dissolution. The invention of machinery and +the concentration of the working population in manufacturing +centres had all but destroyed the old village +industries, and great populations were growing up outside the +traditional restraints of the old system of class dependence. +The distress inevitable in connexion with such an industrial +revolution was increased by the immense burden of the war +and by the high protective policy of the parliament, which +restricted trade and deliberately increased the price of food +in the interests of the agricultural classes. Between 1811 and +1814 bands of so-called “Luddites,” starving operatives out of +work, scoured the country, smashing machinery—the immediate +cause of their misfortunes—and committing every sort of outrage. +The fault of the government lay, not in taking vigorous +measures for the suppression of these disorders, but in remaining +obstinately blind to the true causes that had produced them. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page556" id="page556"></a>556</span> +Ministers saw in the Luddite organization only another conspiracy +against the state; and, so far from seeking means for +removing the grievances that underlay popular disaffection, +the activity of parliament, inspired by the narrowest class +interests, only tended to increase them. The price of food, +already raised by the war, was still further increased by successive +<span class="sidenote">Corn Laws and Enclosure Acts.</span> +Corn Laws, and the artificial value thus given +to arable land led to the passing of Enclosure Bills, +under which the country people were deprived of their +common rights with very inadequate compensation, +and life in the village communities was made more and more +difficult. In the circumstances it is not surprising that the +spirit of unrest grew apace. In 1815 the passing of a new Corn +Law, forbidding the importation of corn so long as the price +for home-grown wheat was under 80s. the quarter, led to riots +in London. An attack made on the prince regent at the opening +of parliament on the 28th of January 1817 led to an inquiry, +which revealed the existence of an elaborate organization for +the overthrow of the existing order. The repressive measures +<span class="sidenote">Repressive legislation.</span> +of 1795 and 1799 were now revived and extended, and +a bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act for a year +was passed through both Houses by a large majority. +On the 27th of March Lord Sidmouth opened the +government campaign against the press by issuing a circular to +the lords-lieutenants, directing them to instruct the justices of +the peace to issue warrants for the arrest of any person charged +on oath with publishing blasphemous or seditious libels. The +legality of this suggestion was more than doubtful, but it was +none the less acted on, and a series of press prosecutions followed, +some—as in the case of the bookseller William Hone—on grounds +so trivial that juries refused to convict. William Cobbett, the +most influential of the reform leaders, in order to avoid arbitrary +imprisonment, “deprived of pen, ink and paper,” suspended +the <i>Political Register</i> and sailed for America. A disturbance +that was almost an armed insurrection, which broke out in +Derbyshire in June of this year, seemed to justify the severity +of the government; it was suppressed without great difficulty, +and three of the ringleaders were executed.</p> + +<p>It was, however, in 1819 that the conflict between the government +and the new popular forces culminated. Distress was +acute; and in the manufacturing towns mass meetings +were held to discuss a remedy, which, under the guidance +<span class="sidenote">Agitation for reform.</span> +of political agitators, was discovered in universal +suffrage and annual parliaments. The right to return members +to parliament was claimed for all communities; and since +this right was unconstitutionally withheld, unrepresented +towns were invited to exercise it in anticipation of its formal +concession. At Birmingham, accordingly, Sir Charles Wolseley +was duly elected “legislatorial attorney and representative” +of the town. Manchester followed suit; but the meeting +arranged for the 9th of August was declared illegal by the +magistrates, on the strength of a royal proclamation against +seditious meetings issued on the 30th of July. Another meeting +was accordingly summoned for the undoubtedly legal purpose +of petitioning parliament in favour of reform. On the appointed +day (August 16) thousands poured in from the surrounding +districts. These men had been previously drilled, for the purpose, +as their own leaders asserted, of enabling the vast assemblage +to be conducted in an orderly manner; for the purpose, +as the magistrates suspected, of preparing them for an armed +insurrection. An attempt was made by a party of yeomanry +<span class="sidenote">The “Manchester Massacre.”</span> +to arrest a popular agitator, Henry Hunt; the angry +mob surged round the horsemen, who found themselves +powerless; the Riot Act was read, and the 15th +Hussars charged the crowd with drawn swords. The +meeting rapidly broke up, but not before six had been killed +and many injured. The “Manchester Massacre” gave an +immense impetus to the movement in favour of reform. The +employment of soldiers to suppress liberty of speech stirred +up the resentment of Englishmen as nothing else could have +done, and this resentment was increased by the conviction that +the government was engaged with the “Holy Alliance” in an +unholy conspiracy against liberty everywhere. The true tendency +of Castlereagh’s foreign policy was not understood, nor had +he any of the popular arts which would have enabled Canning +to carry public opinion with him in cases where a frank explanation +was impossible. The Liberals could see no more than +that he appeared to be committed to international engagements, +the logical outcome of which might be—as an orator of the +Opposition put it—that Cossacks would be encamped in Hyde +Park for the purpose of overawing the House of Commons.</p> + +<p>The dangerous agitation that gave expression to this state +of feeling was met by the government in the session of November +1819 by the passing of the famous Six Acts. The first +of these deprived the defendant of the right of traversing, +<span class="sidenote">The “Six Acts.”</span> +but directed that he should be brought to trial +within a year; the second increased the penalties for seditious +libel; the third imposed the newspaper stamp duty on all +pamphlets and the like containing news; the fourth (Seditious +Meetings Act) once more greatly curtailed the liberty of public +meetings; the fifth forbade the training of persons in the use +of arms; the sixth empowered magistrates to search for and +seize arms.</p> + +<p>The apparent necessity for the passing of these exceptional +measures was increased by the imminent death of the old king, +the tragic close of whose long reign had won for him +a measure of popular sympathy which was wholly +<span class="sidenote">Accession of George IV.</span> +lacking in the case of the prince regent. On the 23rd +of February 1820 George III. died, and the regent +became king as George IV. This was the signal for an outburst +of popular discontent with the existing order of a far more +ominous character than any that had preceded it. The king +was generally loathed, not so much for his vices—which would +have been, in this case as in others, condoned in a more popular +monarch—but for the notorious meanness and selfishness of +his character. Of these qualities he took the occasion of his +accession to make a fresh display. He had long been separated +from his wife, Caroline of Brunswick; he now refused her the +title of queen consort, forbade the mention of her name in the +liturgy, and persuaded the government to promote an inquiry +in parliament into her conduct, with a view to a divorce. Whatever +grounds there may have been for this action, popular sympathy +was wholly with Queen Caroline, who became the centre +round which all the forces of discontent rallied. The failure of +the Bill of Pains and Penalties against the queen, which was +dropped after it had passed its third reading in the Lords by a +majority of only seven, was greeted as a great popular triumph. +The part played by the government in this unsavoury affair +had discredited them even in the eyes of the classes whose fear +of revolution had hitherto made them supporters of the established +system; and the movement for reform received a new stimulus.</p> + +<p>The Tory government itself realized the necessity for some +concessions to the growing public sentiment. In 1821 a small +advance was made. The reform bill (equal electoral +districts) introduced by Lambton (afterwards Lord +<span class="sidenote">Beginnings of reform.</span> +Durham) was thrown out; but the corrupt borough +of Grampound in Cornwall was disfranchised and the +seats transferred to the county of York. Even more significant +was the change in the cabinet, which was strengthened by the +admission of some of the more conservative section of the +Opposition, Lord Sidmouth retiring and Robert Peel becoming +home secretary. A bill for the removal of Catholic disabilities, +too, was carried in the Commons, though rejected in the Lords; +and the appointment of Lord Wellesley, an advocate of the +Catholic claims, to the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland marked yet +another stage in the settlement of a question which, more than +anything else at that time, kept Ireland and Irishmen in a state +of chronic discontent and agitation.</p> + +<p>It is not without significance that this modification of the +policy of the Tory government at home coincided with a modification +of its relations with the European powers. The tendency +of Metternich’s system had long been growing distasteful to +Castlereagh, who had consistently protested against the attempt +to constitute the Grand Alliance general police of Europe and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page557" id="page557"></a>557</span> +had specially protested against the Carlsbad Decrees (<i>q.v.</i>). The +first steps towards the inevitable breach with the reactionary +powers had already been taken before Castlereagh’s tragic +death on the eve of the congress of Verona brought George +Canning into office as the executor of his policy. With +<span class="sidenote">George Canning.</span> +Canning, foe of the Revolution and all its works though +he was, the old liberal Toryism of Pitt’s younger days +seemed once more to emerge. It might have emerged in any +case; but Canning, with his brilliant popular gifts and his frank +appeal to popular support, gave it a revivifying stimulus which +it would never have received from an aristocrat of the type of +Castlereagh.</p> + +<p>The new spirit was most conspicuous in foreign affairs; in +the protest of Great Britain against the action of the continental +powers at Verona (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Verona, Congress of</a></span>), in +the recognition of the South American republics, and +<span class="sidenote">Changed tendency of British policy.</span> +later in the sympathetic attitude of the government +towards the insurrection in Greece. This policy had +been foreshadowed in the instructions drawn up by Castlereagh +for his own guidance at Verona; but Canning succeeded in giving +it a popular and national colour and thus removing from the +government all suspicion of sympathy with the reactionary spirit +of the “Holy Alliance.” In home affairs, too, the government +made tentative advances in a Liberal direction. In January +1823 Vansittart was succeeded as chancellor of the exchequer +by Robinson (afterwards Lord Goderich), and Huskisson became +president of the Board of Trade. The term of office of the latter +was marked by the first tentative efforts to modify the high +protective system by which British trade was hampered, especially +by the Reciprocity of Duties Act (1823), a modification of +the Navigation Acts, by which British and foreign shipping +were placed on an equal footing, while the right to impose restrictive +duties on ships of powers refusing to reciprocate was +retained. In spite, however, of the improvement in trade that +ultimately resulted from these measures, there was great depression; +in 1825 there was a financial crisis that caused widespread +ruin, and in 1826 the misery of the labouring poor led +to renewed riots and machinery smashing. It became increasingly +clear that a drastic alteration in the existing system +was absolutely inevitable. As to this necessity, however, the +ministry was in fact hopelessly divided. The government was +one of compromise, in which even so burning a question as +Catholic emancipation had been left open. Among its members +were some—like the lord chancellor Eldon, the duke of Wellington, +and the premier, Lord Liverpool, himself—whose Toryism +was of the type crystallized under the influence of the Revolution, +adamant against change. Such progressive measures as it had +passed had been passed in the teeth of its own nominal supporters, +even of its own members. In 1826 Lord Palmerston, +himself a member of the government, wrote: “On the Catholic +question, on the principles of commerce, on the corn laws, on +the settlement of the currency, on the laws relating to trade in +money, on colonial slavery, on the game laws...; on all these +questions, and everything like them, the government will find +support from the Whigs and resistance from their self-denominated +friends.” It was, in fact, only the personal influence +of Liverpool that held the ministry together, and when, on the +17th of February 1827, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, a +crisis was inevitable.</p> + +<p>The crisis, indeed, arose before the nominal expiration of the +Liverpool administration. Two questions were, in the view of +Canning and his supporters, of supreme importance—Catholic +emancipation and the reform of the Corn Laws. +<span class="sidenote">Catholic Emancipation and Corn Laws.</span> +The first of these had assumed a new urgency since the +formation in 1823 of the Catholic Association, which +under the brilliant leadership of Daniel O’Connell +established in Ireland a national organization that threatened +the very basis of the government. In March 1826 Sir Francis +Burdett had brought in a Catholic Relief Bill, which, passed +in the Commons, was thrown out by the Lords. A year later +Burdett’s motion that the affairs of Ireland required immediate +attention, though supported by Canning, was rejected in the +Commons. A bill modifying the Corn Laws, introduced by +Canning and Huskisson, passed the House of Commons on the +12th of April 1827, but was rejected by the Lords.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile (April 10) Canning had become prime minister, +his appointment being followed by the resignation of all the most +conspicuous members of the Liverpool administration: +<span class="sidenote">Canning ministry.</span> +Wellington, Eldon, Melville, Bathurst, Westmorland +and Peel, the latter of whom resigned on account +of his opposition to Catholic emancipation. The new government +had perforce to rely on the Whigs, who took their seats +on the government side of the House, Lord Lansdowne being +included in the cabinet. Before this coalition could be completed, +however, Canning died (August 8). The short-lived +Goderich administration followed; and in January 1828 the king, +<span class="sidenote">Wellington ministry.</span> +weary of the effort to arrange a coalition, summoned +the duke of Wellington to office as head of a purely +Tory cabinet. Yet the logic of facts was too strong +even for the stubborn spirit of the Iron Duke. In +May 1828, on the initiative of Lord John Russell, the Test and +Corporation Acts were repealed; in the same session a Corn +Bill, differing but little from those that Wellington had hitherto +opposed, was passed; and finally, after a strenuous agitation +which culminated in the election of O’Connell for Clare, and in +<span class="sidenote">Catholic emancipation passed. Revolution of 1830.</span> +spite of the obstinate resistance of King George IV., +the Catholic Emancipation Bill was passed (April 10, +1829) by a large majority. On the 26th of June 1830 +the king died, exactly a month before the outbreak +of the revolution in Paris that hurled Charles X. from +the throne and led to the establishment of the Liberal +Monarchy under Louis Philippe; a revolution that was to exert a +strong influence on the movement for reform in England.</p> + +<p>King William IV. ascended the throne at a critical moment +in the history of the English constitution. Everywhere misery +and discontent were apparent, manifesting themselves +in riots against machinery, in rick-burning on a large +<span class="sidenote">William IV.</span> +scale, and in the formation of trades unions which +tended to develop into organized armies of sedition. All the +elements of violent revolution were present. Nor was there +anything in the character of the new king greatly calculated +to restore the damaged prestige of the crown; for, if he lacked +the evil qualities that had caused George IV. to be loathed as +well as despised, he lacked also the sense of personal dignity +that had been the saving grace of George, while he shared the +conservative and Protestant prejudices of his predecessors. +Reform was now inevitable. The Wellington ministry, hated +by the Liberals, denounced even by the Tories as traitorous for +the few concessions made, resigned on the 16th of November; +<span class="sidenote">Whig ministry under Lord Grey.</span> +and the Whigs at last came into office under Lord +Grey, the ministry also including a few of the more +Liberal Tories. Lord Durham, perhaps the most +influential leader of the reform movement, became +privy seal, Althorp chancellor of the exchequer, Palmerston +foreign secretary, Melbourne home secretary, Goderich colonial +secretary. Lord John Russell, as paymaster-general, and +Stanley (afterwards Lord Derby), as secretary for Ireland, held +office outside the cabinet. With the actual House of Commons, +however, the government was powerless to effect its purpose. +Though it succeeded in carrying the second reading +<span class="sidenote">The great Reform Bill.</span> +of the Reform Bill (March 21, 1831), it was defeated +in committee, and appealed to the country. The +result was a great governmental majority, and the +bill passed the Commons in September. Its rejection by the +Lords on the 8th of October was the signal for dangerous rioting; +and in spite of the opposition of the king, the bill was once more +passed by the Commons (December 12). A violent agitation +marked the recess. On the 14th of April 1832 the bill was read +a second time in the Lords, but on the 7th of May was again +rejected, whereupon the government resigned. The attempt +of Wellington, at the king’s instance, to form a ministry failed; +of all the Tory obstructionists he alone had the courage to face +the popular rage. On the 15th Lord Grey was in office again; +the demand was made for a sufficient creation of peers to swamp +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page558" id="page558"></a>558</span> +the House of Lords; the king, now thoroughly alarmed, used +his influence to persuade the peers to yield, and on the 4th of +June the great Reform Bill became law. Thus was England +spared the crisis of a bloody revolution, and proof given to the +world that her ancient constitution was sufficiently elastic to +expand with the needs of the times.</p> + +<p>The effect of the Reform Bill, which abolished fifty-six +“rotten” boroughs, and by reducing the representation of others +set free 143 seats, which were in part conferred on the new industrial +centres, was to transfer a large share of political power +from the landed aristocracy to the middle classes. Yet the +opposition of the Tories had not been wholly inspired by the +desire to maintain the political predominance of a class. Canning, +who had the best reason for knowing, defended the unreformed +system on the ground that its very anomalies opened a variety +of paths by which talent could make its way into parliament, +and thus produced an assembly far more widely representative +than could be expected from a more uniform and logical system. +This argument, which the effect of progressive extensions of the +franchise on the intellectual level of parliament has certainly +not tended to weaken, was however far outweighed—as Canning +himself would have come to see—by the advantage of reconciling +with the old constitution the new forces which were destined +during the century to transform the social organization of the +country. Nor, in spite of the drastic character of the Reform +Bill, did it in effect constitute a revolution. The 143 seats set +free were divided equally between the towns and the counties; +and in the counties the landowning aristocracy was still supreme. +In the towns the new £10 household franchise secured a democratic +constituency; in the counties the inclusion of tenants at +will (of £50 annual rent), as well as of copyholders and lease-holders, +only tended to increase the influence of the landlords. +There was as yet no secret ballot to set the voter free.</p> + +<p>The result was apparent in the course of the next few years. +The first reformed parliament, which met on the 29th of January +1833, consisted in the main of Whigs, with a sprinkling of Radicals +and a compact body of Liberal Tories under Sir Robert Peel. +Its great work was the act emancipating the slaves in the British +colonies (August 30). Other burning questions were the condition +of Ireland, the scandal of the established church there, +the misery of the poor in England. In all these matters the +House showed little enough of the revolutionary temper; so +little, indeed, that in March Lord Durham resigned. To the +Whig leaders the church was all but as sacrosanct as to the +Tories, the very foundation of the constitution, not to be touched +save at imminent risk to the state; the most they would adventure +was to remedy a few of the more glaring abuses of an +establishment imposed on an unwilling population. As for +O’Connell’s agitation for the repeal of the Union, that met with +but scant sympathy in parliament; on the 27th of May 1834 +his repeal motion was rejected by a large majority.</p> + +<p>In July the Grey ministry resigned, and on the 16th Lord +Melbourne became prime minister. His short tenure of office +is memorable for the passing of the bill for the reform +of the Poor Law (August). The reckless system of +<span class="sidenote">Melbourne ministry.</span> +outdoor relief, which had pauperized whole neighbourhoods, +was abolished, and the system of unions and workhouses +established (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Poor Law</a></span>). An attempt to divert some of the +revenues of the Irish Church led in the autumn to serious differences +of opinion in the cabinet; the king, as tenacious as his +father of the exact obligations of his coronation oath, dismissed +the ministry, and called the Tories to office under Sir Robert +Peel and the duke of Wellington. Thus, within three years of the +passing of the Reform Bill, the party which had most strenuously +opposed it was again in office. Scarcely less striking testimony +to the constitutional temper of the English was given by the new +attitude of the party under the new conditions. In the “Tamworth +<span class="sidenote">The “Conservative” party.</span> +manifesto” of January 1835 Peel proclaimed +the principles which were henceforth to guide the +party, no longer Tory, but “Conservative.” The +Reform Bill and its consequences were frankly accepted; +further reforms were promised, especially in the matter of the +municipal corporations and of the disabilities of the dissenters. +The new parliament, however, which met on the 19th of February, +was not favourable to the ministry, which fell on the 8th of April. +Lord Melbourne once more came into office, and the Municipal +Corporations Act of the 7th of September was the work of a +Liberal government. This was the last measure of first-rate +importance passed before the death of King William, which +occurred on the 20th of June 1837.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to exaggerate the importance, not only for +England but for the world at large, of the epoch which culminated +in the passing of the Reform Bill of 1832. All Europe, +whether Liberal or reactionary, was watching the constitutional +struggle with strained attention; the principles of monarchy +and of constitutional liberty were alike at stake. To foreign +observers it seemed impossible that the British monarchy could +survive. Baron Brunnow, the Russian ambassador in London, +sent home to the emperor Nicholas I. the most pessimistic reports. +According to Brunnow, King William, by using his influence to +secure the passage of the Reform Bill, had “cast his crown into +the gutter”; the throne might endure for his lifetime, but the +next heir was a young and inexperienced girl, and, even were the +princess Victoria ever to mount the throne—which was unlikely—she +would be speedily swept off it again by the rising tide +of republicanism. The course of the next reign was destined +speedily to convince even Nicholas I. of the baselessness of +these fears, and to present to all Europe the exemplar of a +progressive state, in which the principles of traditional +authority and democratic liberty combined for the common +good.</p> +<div class="author">(W. A. P.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">XII. The Reign of Victoria (1837-1901)</p> + +<p>The death of William IV., on the 20th of June 1837, placed +on the throne of England a young princess, who was destined +to reign for a longer period than any of her predecessors. +The new queen, the only daughter of the +<span class="sidenote">Queen Victoria’s accession.</span> +duke of Kent, the fourth son of George III., had just +attained her majority. Educated in comparative +seclusion, her character and her person were unfamiliar to her +future subjects, who were a little weary of the extravagances +and eccentricities of her immediate predecessors. Her accession +gave them a new interest in the house of Hanover. And their +loyalty, which would in any case have been excited by the +accession of a young and inexperienced girl to the throne of the +greatest empire in the world, was stimulated by her conduct +and appearance. She displayed from the first a dignity and +good sense which won the affection of the multitude who merely +saw her in public, and the confidence of the advisers who were +admitted into her presence.</p> + +<p>The ministry experienced immediate benefit from the change. +The Whigs, who had governed England since 1830, under Lord +Grey and Lord Melbourne, were suffering from the reaction +which is the inevitable consequence of revolution. The country +which, in half-a-dozen years, had seen a radical reform of parliament, +a no less radical reform of municipal corporations, the +abolition of slavery, and the reconstruction of the poor laws, +was longing for a period of political repose. The alliance, or +understanding, between the Whigs and the Irish was increasing +the distrust of the English people in the ministry, and Lord +Melbourne’s government, in the first half of 1837, seemed +doomed to perish. The accession of the queen gave it a new +lease of power. The election, indeed, which followed her accession +did not materially alter the composition of the House +of Commons. But the popularity of the queen was extended +to her government. Taper’s suggestion in <i>Coningsby</i> that the +Conservatives should go to the country with the cry, “Our +young queen and our old institutions,” expressed, in an epigram, +a prevalent idea. But the institution which derived most +immediate benefit from the new sovereign was the old Whig +ministry.</p> + +<p>The difficulties of the ministry, nevertheless, were great. +In the preceding years it had carried most of the reforms +which were demanded in Great Britain; but it had failed to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page559" id="page559"></a>559</span> +obtain the assent of the House of Lords to its Irish measures. +<span class="sidenote">Lord Melbourne’s difficulties.</span> +It had desired (1) to follow up the reform of English corporations +by a corresponding reform of Irish municipalities; +(2) to convert the tithes, payable to the +Irish Church, into a rent charge, and to appropriate +its surplus revenues to other purposes; (3) to deal +with the chronic distress of the Irish people by extending to +Ireland the principles of the English poor law. In the year which +succeeded the accession of the queen it accomplished two of +these objects. It passed an Irish poor law and a measure +commuting tithes in Ireland into a rent charge. The first of +these measures was carried in opposition to the views of the Irish, +who thought that it imposed an intolerable burden on Irish +property. The second was only carried on the government consenting +to drop the appropriation clause, on which Lord Melbourne’s +administration had virtually been founded.</p> + +<p>It was not, however, in domestic politics alone that the +ministry was hampered. In the months which immediately +followed the queen’s accession news reached England of disturbances, +or even insurrection in Canada. The rising was easily +put down; but the condition of the colony was so grave that +the ministry decided to suspend the constitution of lower Canada +for three years, and to send out Lord Durham with almost dictatorial +powers. Lord Durham’s conduct was, unfortunately, +marked by indiscretions which led to his resignation; but before +leaving the colony he drew up a report on its condition and on its +future, which practically became a text-book for his successors, +and has influenced the government of British colonies ever since. +Nor was Canada the only great colony which was seething with +discontent. In Jamaica the planters, who had sullenly accepted +the abolition of slavery, were irritated by the passage of an act +of parliament intended to remedy some grave abuses in the +management of the prisons of the island. The colonial House +of Assembly denounced this act as a violation of its rights, and +determined to desist from its legislative functions. The governor +dissolved the assembly, but the new house, elected in its place, +reaffirmed the decision of its predecessor; and the British +ministry, in face of the crisis, asked parliament in 1839 for +authority to suspend the constitution of the island for five years. +The bill introduced for this purpose placed the Whig ministry +in a position of some embarrassment. The advocates of popular +government, they were inviting parliament, for a second time, to +suspend representative institutions in an important colony. +Supported by only small and dwindling majorities, they saw +that it was hopeless to carry the measure, and they decided on +placing their resignations in the queen’s hands. The queen +naturally sent for Sir Robert Peel, who undertook to form +a government. In the course of the negotiations, however, he +stated that it would be necessary to make certain changes in the +household, which contained some great ladies closely connected +<span class="sidenote">The bed-chamber question.</span> +with the leaders of the Whig party. The queen +shrank from separating herself from ladies who had +surrounded her since she came to the throne, and +Sir Robert thereupon declined the task of forming a +ministry. Technically he was justified in adopting this course, +but people generally felt that there was some hardship in compelling +a young queen to separate herself from her companions +and friends, and they consequently approved the decision of +Lord Melbourne to support the queen in her refusal, and to +resume office. The Whigs returned to place, but they could not +be said to return to power. They did not even venture to renew +the original Jamaica Bill. They substituted for it a modified +proposal which they were unable to carry. They were obviously +indebted for office to the favour of the queen, and not to the +support of parliament.</p> + +<p>Yet the session of 1839 was not without important results. +After a long struggle, in which ministers narrowly escaped defeat +in the Commons, and in the course of which they +suffered severe rebuffs in the Lords, they succeeded +<span class="sidenote">Penny postage.</span> +in laying the foundation of the English system of +national education. In the same session they were forced against +their will to adopt a reform, which had been recommended by +Rowland Hill, and to confer on the nation the benefit of a +uniform penny postage. No member of the cabinet foresaw the +consequences of this reform. The postmaster-general, Lord +Lichfield, in opposing it, declared that, if the revenue of his +office was to be maintained, the correspondence of the country, +on which postage was paid, must be increased from 42,000,000 +to 480,000,000 letters a year, and he contended that there were +neither people to write, nor machinery to deal with, so prodigious +a mass of letters. He would have been astonished to +hear that, before the end of the century, his office had to deal +with more than 3,000,000,000 postal packets a year, and that the +net profit which it paid into the exchequer was to be more than +double what it received in 1839.</p> + +<p>In 1840 the ministry was not much more successful than it +had proved in 1839. After years of conflict it succeeded indeed +in placing on the statute book a measure dealing with +Irish municipalities. But its success was purchased +<span class="sidenote">Fiscal policy.</span> +by concessions to the Lords, which deprived the +measure of much of its original merit. The closing years of the +Whig administration were largely occupied with the financial +difficulties of the country. The first three years of the queen’s +reign were memorable for a constantly deficient revenue. The +deficit amounted to £1,400,000 in 1837, to £400,000 in 1838, +and to £1,457,000 in 1839. Baring, the chancellor of the exchequer, +endeavoured to terminate this deficiency by a general +increase of taxation, but this device proved a disastrous failure. +The deficit rose to £1,842,000 in 1840. It was obvious that the +old expedient of increasing taxation had failed, and that some +new method had to be substituted for it. This new method +Baring tried to discover in altering the differential duties on +timber and sugar, and substituting a fixed duty of 8s. per quarter +for the sliding duties hitherto payable on wheat. By these +alterations he expected to secure a large increase of revenue, +and at the same time to maintain a sufficient degree of protection +for colonial produce. The Conservatives, who believed in protection, +at once attacked the proposed alteration of the sugar +duties. They were reinforced by many Liberals, who cared very +little for protection, but a great deal about the abolition of +slavery, and consequently objected to reducing the duties on +foreign or slave-grown sugar. This combination of interests +proved too strong for Baring and his proposal was rejected. As +ministers, however, did not resign on their defeat, Sir Robert Peel +followed up his victory by moving a vote of want of confidence, +and this motion was carried in an exceptionally full house by +312 votes to 311.</p> + +<p>Before abandoning the struggle, the Whigs decided on appealing +from the House of Commons to the country. The general +election which ensued largely increased the strength +of the Conservative party. On the meeting of the +<span class="sidenote">Sir R. Peel forms a ministry.</span> +new parliament in August 1841, votes of want of +confidence in the government were proposed and +carried in both houses; the Whigs were compelled to resign +office, and the queen again charged Sir Robert Peel with the task +of forming a government. If the queen had remained unmarried, +it is possible that the friction which had arisen in 1839 might +have recurred in 1841. In February 1840, however, Her Majesty +had married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. +She was, therefore, no longer dependent on the Whig ladies, to +whose presence in her court she had attached so much importance +in 1839. By the management of the prince—who later in the reign +was known as the prince consort—the great ladies of the household +voluntarily tendered their resignations; and every obstacle +to the formation of the new government was in this way removed.</p> + +<p>Thus the Whigs retired from the offices which, except for a +brief interval in 1834-1835, they had held for eleven years. +During the earlier years of their administration they had succeeded +in carrying many memorable reforms: during the later +years their weakness in the House of Commons had prevented +their passing any considerable measures. But, if they had failed +in this respect, Lord Melbourne had rendered conspicuous service +to the queen. Enjoying her full confidence, consulted by her on +every occasion, he had always used his influence for the public +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page560" id="page560"></a>560</span> +good; and perhaps those who look back now with so much satisfaction +at the queen’s conduct during a reign of unexampled +length, imperfectly appreciate the debt which in this respect is +owed to her first prime minister. The closing years of the Whig +government were marked by external complications. A controversy +on the boundary of Canada and the United States was +provoking increasing bitterness on both sides of the Atlantic. +The intervention of Lord Palmerston in Syria, which resulted +in a great military success at Acre, was embittering the relations +between France and England, while the unfortunate expedition +to Afghanistan, which the Whigs had approved, was already +producing embarrassment, and was about to result in disaster. +Serious, however, as were the complications which surrounded +British policy in Europe, in the East, and in America, the country, +in August 1841, paid more attention to what a great writer called +the “condition of England” question. There had never been +a period in British history when distress and crime had been so +general. There had hardly ever been a period when food had been +so dear, when wages had been so low, when poverty had been so +widespread, and the condition of the lower orders so depraved +and so hopeless, as in the early years of the queen’s reign. The +condition of the people had prompted the formation of two great +associations. The Chartists derived their name from the charter +which set out their demands. The rejection of a monster petition +which they presented to parliament in 1839 led to a formidable +riot in Birmingham, and to a projected march from South Wales +on London, in which twenty persons were shot dead at Newport. +Another organization, in one sense even more formidable than +the Chartist, was agitating at the same time for the repeal of +the corn laws, and was known as the Anti-Corn Law League. +It had already secured the services of two men, Cobden and +Bright, who, one by clear reasoning, the other by fervid eloquence, +were destined to make a profound impression on all classes of the +people.</p> + +<p>The new government had, therefore, to deal with a position +of almost unexampled difficulty. The people were apparently +sinking into deeper poverty and misery year after year. +As an outward and visible sign of the inward distress, +<span class="sidenote">Budget reforms.</span> +the state was no longer able to pay its way. It was +estimated that the deficit, which had amounted to £1,842,000 +in 1840, would reach £2,334,000 in 1841. It is the signal merit +of Sir Robert Peel that he terminated this era of private distress +and public deficits. He accomplished this task partly by +economical administration—for no minister ever valued economy +more—and partly by a reform of the financial system, effected +in three great budgets. In the budget of 1842 Sir Robert Peel +terminated the deficit by reviving the income tax. The proceeds +of the tax, which was fixed at 7d. in the £, and was granted in +the first instance for three years, were more than sufficient to +secure this object. Sir Robert used the surplus to reform the +whole customs tariff. The duties on raw materials, he proposed, +should never exceed 5%, the duties on partly manufactured +articles 12%, and the duties on manufactured articles 20% of +their value. At the same time he reduced the duties on stage +coaches, on foreign and colonial coffee, on foreign and colonial +timber, and repealed the export duties on British manufactures. +The success of this budget in stimulating consumption and in +promoting trade induced Sir Robert Peel to follow it up in 1845 +with an even more remarkable proposal. Instead of allowing the +income tax to expire, he induced parliament to continue it for +a further period, and with the resources which were thus placed +at his disposal he purged the tariff of various small duties which +produced little revenue, and had been imposed for purposes of +protection. He swept away all the duties on British exports; +he repealed the duties on glass, on cotton wool, and still further +reduced the duties on foreign and colonial sugar. This budget +was a much greater step towards free trade than the budget of +1842. The chief object in his third budget in 1846—the reduction +of the duty on corn to 1s. a quarter—was necessitated by +causes which will be immediately referred to. But it will be +convenient at once to refer to its other features. Sir Robert +Peel told the house that, in his previous budgets, he had given +the manufacturers of the country free access to the raw materials +which they used. He was entitled in return to call upon them +to relinquish the protection which they enjoyed. He decided, +therefore, to reduce the protective duties on cotton, woollen, silk, +metal and other goods, as well as on raw materials still liable to +heavy taxation, such as timber and tallow. As the policy of +1842 and 1845 had proved unquestionably successful in stimulating +trade, he proposed to extend it to agriculture. He +reduced the duties on the raw materials which the farmers used, +such as seed and maize, and in return he called on them to give +up the duties on cattle and meat, to reduce largely the duties +on butter, cheese and hops, and to diminish the duty on corn by +gradual stages to 1s. a quarter. In making these changes Sir +Robert Peel avowed that it was his object to make the country +a cheap one to live in. There is no doubt that they were followed +by a remarkable development of British trade. In the twenty-seven +years from 1815 to 1842 the export trade of Great Britain +diminished from £49,600,000 to £47,280,000; while in the +twenty-seven years which succeeded 1842 it increased from +£47,280,000 to nearly £190,000,000. These figures are a simple +and enduring monument to the minister’s memory. It is fair +to add that the whole increase was not due to free trade. It was +partly attributable to the remarkable development of communications +which marked this period.</p> + +<p>Two other financial measures of great importance were +accomplished in Sir Robert Peel’s ministry. In 1844 some +£250,000,000 of the national debt still bore an interest of 3½%. +The improvement in the credit of the country enabled the +government to reduce the interest on the stock to 3¼% for the +succeeding ten years, and to 3% afterwards. This conversion, +which effected an immediate saving of £625,000, and an ultimate +saving of £1,250,000 a year, was by far the most important +measure which had hitherto been applied to the debt; and no +operation on the same scale was attempted for more than forty +years. In the same year the necessity of renewing the charter +of the Bank of England afforded Sir Robert Peel an opportunity +of reforming the currency. He separated the issue department +from the banking department of the bank, and decided that in +future it should only be at liberty to issue notes against (1) the +debt of £14,000,000 due to it from the government, and (2) any +bullion actually in its coffers. Few measures of the past century +have been the subject of more controversy than this famous act, +and at one time its repeated suspension in periods of financial +crises seemed to suggest the necessity of its amendment. But +opinion on the whole has vindicated its wisdom, and it has +survived all the attacks which have been made upon it.</p> + +<p>The administration of Sir Robert Peel is also remarkable for +its Irish policy. The Irish, under O’Connell, had constantly +supported the Whig ministry of Lord Melbourne. +But their alliance, or understanding, with the Whigs +<span class="sidenote">Ireland.</span> +had not procured them all the results which they had expected +from it. The two great Whig measures, dealing with the church +and the municipalities, had only been passed after years of +controversy, and in a shape which deprived them of many +expected advantages. Hence arose a notion in Ireland that +nothing was to be expected from a British parliament, and hence +began a movement for the repeal of the union which had been +accomplished in 1801. This agitation, which smouldered during +the reign of the Whig ministry, was rapidly revived when Sir +Robert Peel entered upon office. The Irish contributed large +sums, which were known as repeal rent, to the cause, and they +held monster meetings in various parts of Ireland to stimulate +the demand for repeal. The ministry met this campaign by +coercive legislation regulating the use of arms, by quartering +large bodies of troops in Ireland, and by prohibiting a great +meeting at Clontarf, the scene of Brian Boru’s victory, in the +immediate neighbourhood of Dublin. They further decided +in 1843 to place O’Connell and some of the leading agitators on +their trial for conspiracy and sedition. O’Connell was tried +before a jury chosen from a defective panel, was convicted on +an indictment which contained many counts, and the court +passed sentence without distinguishing between these counts. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page561" id="page561"></a>561</span> +These irregularities induced the House of Lords to reverse the +judgment, and its reversal did much to prevent mischief. +O’Connell’s illness, which resulted in his death in 1847, tended +also to establish peace. Sir Robert Peel wisely endeavoured to +stifle agitation by making considerable concessions to Irish +sentiment. He increased the grant which was made to the +Roman Catholic College at Maynooth; he established three +colleges in the north, south and west of Ireland for the undenominational +education of the middle classes; he appointed +a commission—the Devon commission, as it was called, from the +name of the nobleman who presided over it—to investigate the +conditions on which Irish land was held; and, after the report +of the commission, he introduced, though he failed to carry, a +measure for remedying some of the grievances of the Irish +tenants. These wise concessions might possibly have had +<span class="sidenote">Free trade.</span> +some effect in pacifying Ireland, if, in the autumn of +1845, they had not been forgotten in the presence of +a disaster which suddenly fell on that unhappy country. The +potato, which was the sole food of at least half the people of an +overcrowded island, failed, and a famine of unprecedented +proportions was obviously imminent. Sir Robert Peel, whose +original views on protection had been rapidly yielding to the +arguments afforded by the success of his own budgets, concluded +that it was impossible to provide for the necessities of Ireland +without suspending the corn laws; and that, if they were once +suspended, it would be equally impossible to restore them. He +failed, however, to convince two prominent members of his +cabinet—Lord Stanley and the duke of Buccleuch—that protection +must be finally abandoned, and considering it hopeless +to persevere with a disunited cabinet he resigned office. On +Sir Robert’s resignation the queen sent for Lord John Russell, +who had led the Liberal party in the House of Commons with +conspicuous ability for more than ten years, and charged him +with the task of forming a new ministry. Differences, which +it proved impossible to remove, between two prominent Whigs—Lord +Palmerston and Lord Grey—made the task impracticable, +and after an interval Sir Robert Peel consented to resume power. +Sir Robert Peel was probably aware that his fall had been only +postponed. In the four years and a half during which his +ministry had lasted he had done much to estrange his party. +They said, with some truth, that, whether his measures were +right or wrong, they were opposed to the principles which he +had been placed in power to support. The general election +of 1841 had been mainly fought on the rival policies of +protection and free trade. The country had decided for +protection, and Sir R. Peel had done more than all his predecessors +to give it free trade. The Conservative party, moreover, +was closely allied with the church, and Sir Robert had +offended the church by giving an increased endowment to +Maynooth, and by establishing undenominational colleges—“godless +colleges” as they were called—in Ireland. The +Conservatives were, therefore, sullenly discontented with the +conduct of their leader. They were lashed into positive fury +by the proposal which he was now making to abolish the corn +laws. Lord George Bentinck, who, in his youth, had been +private secretary to Canning, but who in his maturer years had +devoted more time to the turf than to politics, placed himself +at their head. He was assisted by a remarkable man—Benjamin +Disraeli—who joined great abilities to great ambition, and who, +embittered by Sir Robert Peel’s neglect to appoint him to office, +had already displayed his animosity to the minister. The policy +on which Sir Robert Peel resolved facilitated attack. For the +minister thought it necessary, while providing against famine +by repealing the corn laws, to ensure the preservation of order +by a new coercion bill. The financial bill and the coercion bill +were both pressed forward, and each gave opportunities for +discussion and, what was then new in parliament, for obstruction. +At last, on the very night on which the fiscal proposals of the +ministers were accepted by the Lords, the coercion bill was +defeated in the Commons by a combination of Whigs, radicals +and protectionists; and Sir R. Peel, worn out with a protracted +struggle, placed his resignation in the queen’s hands.</p> + +<p>Thus fell the great minister, who perhaps had conferred more +benefits on his country than any of his predecessors. The +external policy of his ministry had been almost as +remarkable as its domestic programme. When he +<span class="sidenote">Peel’s foreign policy.</span> +accepted office the country was on the eve of a great +disaster in India; it was engaged in a serious dispute +with the United States; and its relations with France were so +strained that the two great countries of western Europe seemed +unlikely to be able to settle their differences without war. In +the earlier years of his administration the disaster in Afghanistan +was repaired in a successful campaign; and Lord Ellenborough, +who was sent over to replace Lord Auckland as governor-general, +increased the dominion and responsibilities of the East India +Company by the unscrupulous but brilliant policy which led +to the conquest of Sind. The disputes with the United States +were satisfactorily composed; and not only were the differences +with France terminated, but a perfect understanding was formed +between the two countries, under which Guizot, the prime +minister of France, and Lord Aberdeen, the foreign minister of +England, agreed to compromise all minor questions for the sake +of securing the paramount object of peace. The good understanding +was so complete that a disagreeable incident in the +Sandwich Islands, in which the injudicious conduct of a French +agent very nearly precipitated hostilities, was amicably settled; +and the ministry had the satisfaction of knowing that, if their +policy had produced prosperity at home, it had also maintained +peace abroad.</p> + +<p>On Sir R. Peel’s resignation the queen again sent for Lord +John Russell. The difficulties which had prevented his forming +a ministry in the previous year were satisfactorily arranged, +and Lord Palmerston accepted the seals of the foreign office, +while Lord Grey was sent to the colonial office. The history of +the succeeding years was destined, however, to prove that Lord +Grey had had solid reasons for objecting to Lord Palmerston’s +return to his old post; for, whatever judgment may ultimately +be formed on Lord Palmerston’s foreign policy, there can be +little doubt that it did not tend to the maintenance of peace. +The first occasion on which danger was threatened arose immediately +after the installation of the new ministry on the +<span class="sidenote">The Spanish marriages.</span> +question of the Spanish marriages. The queen of +Spain, Isabella, was a young girl still in her teens; the +heir to the throne was her younger sister, the infanta +Fernanda. Diplomacy had long been occupied with +the marriages of these children; and Lord Aberdeen had +virtually accepted the principle, which the French government +had laid down, that a husband for the queen should be found +among the descendants of Philip V., and that her sister’s marriage +to the duc de Montpensier—a son of Louis Philippe—should +not be celebrated till the queen was married and had issue. +While agreeing to this compromise, Lord Aberdeen declared +that he regarded the Spanish marriages as a Spanish, and not as +a European question, and that, if it proved impossible to find a +suitable consort for the queen among the descendants of Philip +V., Spain must be free to choose a prince for her throne elsewhere. +The available descendants of Philip V. were the two sons of Don +Francis, the younger brother of Don Carlos, and of these the +French government was in favour of the elder, while the British +government preferred the younger brother. Lord Palmerston +strongly objected to the prince whom the French government +supported; and, almost immediately after acceding to office, +he wrote a despatch in which he enumerated the various candidates +for the queen of Spain’s hand, including Prince Leopold +of Saxe-Coburg, a near relation of the prince consort, among the +number. Louis Philippe regarded this despatch as a departure +from the principle on which he had agreed with Lord Aberdeen, +and at once hurried on the simultaneous marriages of the queen +with the French candidate, and of her sister with the duc de +Montpensier. His action broke up the <i>entente cordiale</i> which +had been established between Guizot and Lord Aberdeen.</p> + +<p>The second occasion on which Lord Palmerston’s vigorous +diplomacy excited alarm arose out of the revolution which broke +out almost universally in Europe in 1848. A rising in Hungary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page562" id="page562"></a>562</span> +was suppressed by Austria with Russian assistance, and after +its suppression many leading Hungarians took refuge in Turkish +territory. Austria and Russia addressed demands to the +Porte for their surrender. Lord Palmerston determined to support +the Porte in its refusal to give up these exiles, and actually +sent the British fleet to the Dardanelles with this object. His +success raised the credit of Great Britain and his own reputation. +The presence of the British fleet, however, at the Dardanelles +suggested to him the possibility of settling another long-standing +controversy. For years British subjects settled in Greece had +raised complaints against the Greek government. In particular +<span class="sidenote">Don Pacifico.</span> +Don Pacifico, a Jew, but a native of Gibraltar, complained +that, at a riot, in which his house had been +attacked, he had lost jewels, furniture and papers +which he alleged to be worth more than £30,000. As Lord +Palmerston was unable by correspondence to induce the Greek +government to settle claims of this character, he determined to +enforce them; and by his orders a large number of Greek vessels +were seized and detained by the British fleet. The French +government tendered its good offices to compose the dispute, +and an arrangement was actually arrived at between Lord +Palmerston and the French minister in London. Unfortunately, +before its terms reached Greece, the British minister at Athens +had ordered the resumption of hostilities, and had compelled +the Greek government to submit to more humiliating conditions. +News of this settlement excited the strongest feelings both in +Paris and London. In Paris, Prince Louis Napoleon, who had +acceded to the presidency of the French republic, decided on +recalling his representative from the British court. In London +the Lords passed a vote of censure on Lord Palmerston’s proceedings; +and the Commons only sustained the minister by +adopting a resolution approving in general terms the principles +on which the foreign policy of the country had been conducted.</p> + +<p>In pursuing the vigorous policy which characterized his +tenure of the foreign office, Lord Palmerston frequently omitted +to consult his colleagues in the cabinet, the prime +minister, or the queen. In the course of 1849 Her +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston dismissed.</span> +Majesty formally complained to Lord John Russell +that important despatches were sent off without her +knowledge; and an arrangement was made under which Lord +Palmerston undertook to submit every despatch to the queen +through the prime minister. In 1850, after the Don Pacifico +debate, the queen repeated these commands in a much stronger +memorandum. But Lord Palmerston, though all confidence +between himself and the court was destroyed, continued in office. +In the autumn of 1851 the queen was much annoyed at hearing +that he had received a deputation at the foreign office, which +had waited on him to express sympathy with the Hungarian +refugees, and to denounce the conduct of “the despots and +tyrants” of Russia and Austria, and that he had, in his reply, +expressed his gratification at the demonstration. If the queen +had had her way, Lord Palmerston would have been removed +from the foreign office after this incident. A few days later the +<i>coup d’état</i> in Paris led to another dispute. The cabinet decided +to do nothing that could wear the appearance of interference +in the internal affairs of France; but Lord Palmerston, in conversation +with the French minister in London, took upon himself +to approve the bold and decisive step taken by the president. +The ministry naturally refused to tolerate this conduct, and +Lord Palmerston was summarily removed from his office.</p> + +<p>The removal of Lord Palmerston led almost directly to the +fall of the Whig government. Before relating, however, the +exact occurrences which produced its defeat, it is necessary to +retrace our steps and describe the policy which it had pursued +in internal matters during the six years in which it had been in +power. Throughout that period the Irish famine had been its +chief anxiety and difficulty. Sir Robert Peel had attempted +to deal with it (1) by purchasing large quantities of Indian corn, +which he had retailed at low prices in Ireland, and (2) by enabling +the grand juries to employ the people on public works, which were +to be paid out of moneys advanced by the state, one-half being +ultimately repayable by the locality. These measures were not +entirely successful. It was found, in practice, that the sale of +Indian corn at low prices by the government checked the efforts +<span class="sidenote">Irish famine.</span> +of private individuals to supply food; and that the +offer of comparatively easy work to the poor at the +cost of the public, prevented their seeking harder +private work either in Ireland or in Great Britain. The new +government, with this experience before it, decided on trusting +to private enterprise to supply the necessary food, and on throwing +the whole cost of the works which the locality might undertake +on local funds. If the famine had been less severe, this +policy might possibly have succeeded. Universal want, however, +paralysed every one. The people, destitute of other means +of livelihood, crowded to the relief works. In the beginning of +1847 nearly 750,000 persons—or nearly one person out of every +ten in Ireland—were so employed. With such vast multitudes +to relieve, it proved impracticable to exact the labour which +was required as a test of destitution. The roads, which it was +decided to make, were blocked by the labourers employed upon +them, and by the stones, which the labourers were supposed +to crush for their repair. In the presence of this difficulty the +government decided, early in 1847, gradually to discontinue the +relief works, and to substitute for them relief committees charged +with the task of feeding the people. At one time no less than +3,000,000 persons—more than one-third of the entire population +of Ireland—were supported by these committees. At the same +time it decided on adopting two measures of a more permanent +character. The poor law of 1838 had made no provision for the +relief of the poor outside the workhouse, and outdoor relief was +sanctioned by an act of 1847. Irish landlords complained that +their properties, ruined by the famine, and encumbered by the +extravagances of their predecessors, could not bear the cost of +this new poor law; and the ministry introduced and carried +a measure enabling the embarrassed owners of life estates to +sell their property and discharge their liabilities. It is the +constant misfortune of Ireland that the measures intended for +her relief aggravate her distress. The encumbered estates act, +though it substituted a solvent for an insolvent proprietary, +placed the Irish tenants at the mercy of landlords of whom they +had no previous knowledge, who were frequently absentees, +who bought the land as a matter of business, and who dealt +with it on business principles by raising the rent. The new +poor law, by throwing the maintenance of the poor on the soil, +encouraged landlords to extricate themselves from their responsibilities +by evicting their tenants. Evictions were made on a +scale which elicited from Sir Robert Peel an expression of the +deepest abhorrence. The unfortunate persons driven from their +holdings and forced to seek a refuge in the towns, in England, +or—when they could afford it—in the United States, carried +with them everywhere the seeds of disease, the constant handmaid +of famine.</p> + +<p>Famine, mortality and emigration left their mark on Ireland. +In four years, from 1845 to 1849, its population decreased from +8,295,000 to 7,256,000, or by more than a million persons; and +the decline which took place at that time went on to the end of +the century. The population of Ireland in 1901 had decreased +to 4,457,000 souls. This fact is the more remarkable, because +Ireland is almost the only portion of the British empire, or +indeed of the civilized world, where such a circumstance has +occurred. We must go to countries like the Asiatic provinces +of Turkey, devastated by Ottoman rule, to find such a diminution +in the numbers of the people as was seen in Ireland during the +last half of the 19th century. It was probably inevitable that +the distress of Ireland should have been followed by a renewal +of Irish outrages. A terrible series of agrarian crimes was committed +in the autumn of 1847; and the ministry felt compelled, +<span class="sidenote">Rebellion of 1848.</span> +in consequence, to strengthen its hands by a new +measure of coercion, and by suspending the Habeas +Corpus Act in Ireland. The latter measure at once +brought to a crisis the so-called rebellion of 1848, for his share +in which Smith O’Brien, an Irish member of parliament, was +convicted of high treason. The government, however, did not +venture to carry out the grim sentence which the law still applied +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page563" id="page563"></a>563</span> +to traitors, and introduced an act enabling it to commute the +death penalty to transportation. The “insurrection” had from +the first proved abortive. With Smith O’Brien’s transportation +it practically terminated.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the difficulties which the government was +experiencing from the Irish famine had been aggravated by a +grave commercial crisis in England. In the autumn of 1847 +a series of failures in the great commercial centres created a panic +in the city of London, which forced consols down to 78, and +induced the government to take upon itself the responsibility +of suspending the Bank Charter Act. That step, enabling the +directors of the Bank of England to issue notes unsecured by +bullion, had the effect of gradually restoring confidence. But a +grave commercial crisis of this character is often attended with +other than financial consequences. The stringency of the money +market increases the distress of the industrial classes by diminishing +the demand for work; and, when labour suffers, political +agitation flourishes. Early in 1848, moreover, revolutions on +the continent produced a natural craving for changes at home. +Louis Philippe was driven out of Paris, the emperor of Austria +was driven out of Vienna, the Austrian soldiery had to withdraw +from Milan, and even in Berlin the crown had to make terms +with the people. While thrones were falling or tottering in +every country in Europe, it was inevitable that excitement and +agitation should prevail in Great Britain. The Chartists, reviving +the machinery which they had endeavoured to employ in 1839, +decided on preparing a monster petition to parliament, which +was to be escorted to Westminster by a monster procession. +Their preparations excited general alarm, and on the invitation +<span class="sidenote">Chartism.</span> +of the government no less than 170,000 special constables +were sworn in to protect life and property +against a rabble. By the judicious arrangements, however, +which were made by the duke of Wellington, the peace of the +metropolis was secured. The Chartists were induced to abandon +the procession which had caused so much alarm, and the monster +petition was carried in a cab to the House of Commons. There +it was mercilessly picked to pieces by a select committee. It +was found that, instead of containing nearly 6,000,000 signatures, +as its originators had boasted, less than 2,000,000 names were +attached to it. Some of the names, moreover, were obviously +fictitious, or even absurd. The exposure of these facts turned +the whole thing into ridicule, and gave parliament an excuse +for postponing measures of organic reform which might otherwise +have been brought forward.</p> + +<p>If the ministry thus abstained from pressing forward a large +scheme of political reform, it succeeded in carrying two measures +of the highest commercial and social importance. In +1849 it supplemented the free trade policy, which +<span class="sidenote">Navigation Acts.</span> +Sir Robert Peel had developed, by the repeal of the +Navigation Acts. Briefly stated, these acts, which had been +originated during the Protectorate of Cromwell, and continued +after the Restoration, reserved the whole coasting trade of the +country for British vessels and British seamen, and much of the +foreign trade for British vessels, commanded and chiefly manned +by British subjects. The acts, therefore, were in the strictest +sense protective, but they were also designed to increase the +strength of Great Britain at sea, by maintaining large numbers +of British seamen. They had been defended by Adam Smith on +the ground that defence was “of much more importance than +opulence,” and by the same reasoning they had been described +by John Stuart Mill as, “though economically disadvantageous, +politically expedient.” The acts, however, threw a grave +burden on British trade and British shipowners. Their provisions +by restricting competition naturally tended to raise freights, +and by restricting employment made it difficult for shipowners +to man their vessels. Accordingly the government wisely +determined on their repeal; and one of the last and greatest +battles between Free Trade and Protection was fought over the +question. The second reading of the government bill was carried +in the House of Lords by a majority of only ten: it would not +have been carried at all if the government had not secured a +much larger number of proxies than their opponents could obtain.</p> + +<p>If the repeal of the Navigation Acts constituted a measure of +the highest commercial importance, the passage of the Ten +Hours Bill in 1847 marked the first great advance in +factory legislation. Something, indeed, had already +<span class="sidenote">Ten Hours Bill.</span> +been done to remedy the evils arising from the employment +of women and very young children in factories and +mines. In 1833 Lord Ashley, better known as Lord Shaftesbury, +had carried the first important Factory Act. In 1842 he had +succeeded, with the help of the striking report of a royal commission, +in inducing parliament to prohibit the employment of +women and of boys under ten years of age in mines. And in +1843 Sir James Graham, who was home secretary in Sir Robert +Peel’s administration, had been compelled by the pressure of +public opinion to introduce a measure providing for the education +of children employed in factories, and for limiting the hours of +work of children and young persons. The educational clauses +of this bill were obviously framed in the interests of the Church +of England, and raised a heated controversy which led to the +abandonment of the measure; and in the following year Sir +James Graham introduced a new bill dealing with the labour +question alone. Briefly stated, his proposal was that no child +under nine years of age should be employed in a factory, and that +no young person under eighteen should be employed for more +than twelve hours a day. This measure gave rise to the famous +controversy on the ten hours clause, which commenced in 1844 +and was protracted till 1847. Lord Ashley and the factory +reformers contended, on the one hand, that ten hours were long +enough for any person to work; their opponents maintained, +on the contrary, that the adoption of the clause would injure +the working-classes by lowering the rate of wages, and ruin the +manufacturers by exposing them to foreign competition. In +1847 the reform was at last adopted. It is a remarkable fact +that it was carried against the views of the leading statesmen on +both sides of the House. It was the triumph of common sense +over official arguments.</p> + +<p>During the first four years of Lord John Russell’s government, +his administration had never enjoyed any very large measure +of popular support, but it had been partly sustained +by the advocacy of Sir Robert Peel. The differences +<span class="sidenote">Death of Peel.</span> +which estranged Sir Robert from his old supporters +were far greater than those which separated him from the Whigs, +and the latter were therefore constantly able to rely on his +assistance. In the summer of 1850, however, a lamentable +accident—a fall from his horse—deprived the country of the +services of its great statesman. His death naturally affected +the position of parties. The small remnant of able men, indeed, +who had been associated with him in his famous administration, +still maintained an attitude of neutrality. But the bulk of the +Conservative party rallied under the lead of Lord Stanley +(afterwards Derby) in the House of Lords, and gradually submitted +to, rather than accepted, the lead of Disraeli in the +House of Commons.</p> + +<p>In the autumn which succeeded Sir Robert Peel’s death, an +event which had not been foreseen agitated the country and +produced a crisis. During the years which had succeeded +the Reform Bill a great religious movement +<span class="sidenote">Oxford movement.</span> +had influenced politics both in England and Scotland. +In England, a body of eminent men at Oxford—of whom J.H., +afterwards Cardinal, Newman was the chief, but who numbered +among their leaders Hurrell Froude, the brother of the historian, +and Keble, the author of the <i>Christian Year</i>—endeavoured to +prove that the doctrines of the Church of England were identical +with those of the primitive Catholic Church, and that every +Catholic doctrine might be held by those who were within its +pale. This view was explained in a remarkable series of tracts, +which gave their authors the name of Tractarians. The most +famous of these, and the last of the series, Tract XC., was published +three years after the queen’s accession to the throne. In +Scotland, the Presbyterian Church—mainly under the guidance +of Dr Chalmers, one of the most eloquent preachers of the century—was +simultaneously engaged in a contest with the state on the +subject of ecclesiastical patronage. Both movements had this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page564" id="page564"></a>564</span> +in common, that they indicated a revival of religious energy, +and aimed at vindicating the authority of the church, and resisting +the interference of the state in church matters. The Scottish +movement led to the disruption of the Church of Scotland and the +formation of the Free Church in 1843. The Tractarian movement +was ultimately terminated by the secession of Newman and many +of his associates from the Church of England, and their admission +to the Church of Rome. These secessions raised a feeling of +alarm throughout England. The people, thoroughly Protestant, +were excited by the proofs—which they thought were afforded—that +the real object of the Tractarians was to reconcile +England with Rome; and practices which are now regarded as +venial or even praiseworthy—such as the wearing of the surplice +in the pulpit, and the institution of the weekly offertory—were +denounced because they were instituted by the Tractarians, and +were regarded as insidious devices to lead the country Romewards. +The sympathies of the Whigs, and especially of the Whig prime +minister, Lord John Russell, were with the people; and Lord +John displayed his dislike to the Romanizing tendencies of the +Tractarians by appointing Renn Dickson Hampden—whose +views had been formally condemned by the Hebdomadal Board +at Oxford—to the bishopric of Hereford. The High Church party +endeavoured to oppose the appointment at every stage; but +their attempts exposed them to a serious defeat. The courts +held that, though the appointment of a bishop by the crown +required confirmation in the archbishop’s court, the confirmation +was a purely ministerial act which could not be refused. The +effort which the High Church party had made to resist Dr +Hampden’s appointment had thus resulted in showing conclusively +that authority resided in the crown, and not in the archbishop. +It so happened that about the same time this view was +confirmed by another judicial decision. The lord chancellor +presented the Rev. G.C. Gorham to a living in Devonshire; and +Dr Phillpotts, the bishop of Exeter, declined to institute him, +on the ground that he held heretical views on the subject of +baptism. The court of arches upheld the bishop’s decision. +The finding of the court, however, was reversed by the privy +council, and its judgment dealt a new blow at the Tractarian +party. For it again showed that authority—even in doctrine—resided +in the crown and not in the church. Within a few +months of this famous decision the pope—perhaps encouraged +by the activity and despondency of the High Church party—issued +a brief “for re-establishing and extending the Catholic +faith in England,” and proceeded to divide England and Wales +into twelve sees. One of them—Westminster—was made an +archbishopric, and the new dignity was conferred on Nicholas +Patrick Stephen Wiseman, who was almost immediately afterwards +created cardinal. The publication of this brief caused +much excitement throughout the country, which was fanned by +a letter from the prime minister to the bishop of Durham, condemning +the brief as “insolent and insidious” and “inconsistent +with the queen’s supremacy, with the rights of our bishops and +clergy, and with the spiritual independence of the nation.” +Somewhat unnecessarily the prime minister went on to condemn +the clergymen of the Church of England who had subscribed the +Thirty-nine Articles, “who have been the most forward in +leading their own flocks, step by step, to the very edge of the +precipice.”</p> + +<p>In accordance with the promise of Lord John Russell’s letter, +the ministry, at the opening of the session of 1851, introduced +a measure forbidding the assumption of territorial +titles by the priests and bishops of the Roman Catholic +<span class="sidenote">Ecclesiastical Titles Bill.</span> +Church, declaring all gifts made to them and all acts +done by them under these titles null and void, and +forfeiting to the crown all property bequeathed to them. The +bill naturally encountered opposition from many Liberals, +while it failed to excite any enthusiasm among Conservatives, +who thought its remedies inadequate. In the middle of the +debates upon it the government was defeated on another question—a +proposal to reduce the county franchise—and, feeling that +it could no longer rely on the support of the House of Commons, +tendered its resignation. But Lord Stanley, whom the queen +entrusted with the duty of forming a new administration, was +compelled to decline the task, and Lord John resumed office. +Mild as the original Ecclesiastical Titles Bill had been thought, +the new edition of it, which was introduced after the restoration +of the Whigs to power, was still milder. Though, after protracted +debates, it at last became law, it satisfied nobody. Its +provisions, as was soon found, could be easily evaded, and the +bill, which had caused so much excitement, and had nearly +precipitated the fall of a ministry, remained a dead letter. The +government, in fact, was experiencing the truth that, if a defeated +ministry may be occasionally restored to place, it cannot be +restored to power. The dismissal of Lord Palmerston from the +foreign office in 1851 further increased the embarrassments of +the government. In February 1852 it was defeated on a proposal +to revive the militia, and resigned.</p> + +<p>The circumstances which directly led to the defeat of the +Whigs were, in one sense, a consequence of the revolutionary +wave which had swept over Europe in 1848. The +fall of Louis Philippe in that year created a panic in +<span class="sidenote">French scare.</span> +Great Britain. Men thought that the unsettled state +of France made war probable, and they were alarmed at the +defenceless condition of England. Lord Palmerston, speaking +in 1845, had declared that “steam had bridged the Channel”; +and the duke of Wellington had addressed a letter to Sir John +Burgoyne, in which he had demonstrated that the country was +not in a position to resist an invading force. The panic was so +great that the ministry felt it necessary to make exceptional +provisions for allaying it. Lord John Russell decided on asking +parliament to sanction increased armaments, and to raise the +income tax to 1s. in the pound in order to pay for them. The +occasion deserves to be recollected as one on which a prime +minister, who was not also chancellor of the exchequer, has +himself proposed the budget of the year. But it was still more +memorable because the remedy which Lord John proposed at once +destroyed the panic which had suggested it. A certain increase +of the income tax to a shilling seemed a much more serious +calamity than the uncertain prospect of a possible invasion. +The estimates were recast, the budget was withdrawn, and the +nation was content to dispense with any addition to its military +and naval strength. Events in France, in the meanwhile, moved +with railway speed. Louis Napoleon became president of the +French Republic: in 1852 he became emperor of the French. +The new emperor, indeed, took pains to reassure a troubled +continent that “the empire was peace.” The people insisted +on believing—and, as the event proved, rightly—that the empire +was war. Notwithstanding the success of the Great Exhibition +of 1851, which was supposed to inaugurate a new reign of peace, +the panic, which had been temporarily allayed in 1848, revived +at the close of 1851, and the government endeavoured to +allay it by reconstituting the militia. There were two possible +expedients. An act of 1757 had placed under the direct authority +of the crown a militia composed of men selected in each parish +by ballot, liable to be called out for active service, and to be +placed under military law. But the act had been supplemented +by a series of statutes passed between 1808 and 1812, which had +provided a local militia, raised, like the regular militia, by ballot, +but, unlike the latter, only liable for service for the suppression +of riots, or in the event of imminent invasion. Lord John +Russell’s government, forced to do something by the state of +public opinion, but anxious—from the experience of 1848—to +make that something moderate, decided on reviving the local +militia. Lord Palmerston at once suggested that the regular +and not the local militia should be revived; and, in a small house +of only 265 members, he succeeded in carrying a resolution to +that effect. He had, in this way, what he called his “tit for tat” +with Lord John; and the queen, accepting her minister’s +resignation, sent for Lord Derby—for Lord Stanley had now +succeeded to this title—and charged him with the task of forming +a ministry.</p> + +<p>The government which Lord Derby succeeded in forming +was composed almost exclusively of the men who had rebelled +against Sir Robert Peel in 1845. It was led in the House of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page565" id="page565"></a>565</span> +Commons by the brilliant, but somewhat unscrupulous statesman +<span class="sidenote">Lord Derby.</span> +who had headed the revolt. With the exception of +Lord Derby and one other man, its members had +no experience of high office; and it had no chance +of commanding a majority of the House of Commons +in the existing parliament. It owed its position to the divisions +of its opponents. Profiting by their experience, it succeeded +in framing and passing a measure reconstituting the regular +militia, which obtained general approval. It is perhaps worth +observing that it maintained the machinery of a ballot, but +reserved it only in case experience should prove that it was +necessary. Voluntary enlistment under the new Militia Bill +was to be the rule: compulsory service was only to be resorted +to if voluntary enlistment should fail. This success, to a certain +extent, strengthened the position of the new ministry. It was +obvious, however, that its stability would ultimately be determined +by its financial policy. Composed of the men who had +resisted the free trade measures of the previous decade, its fate +depended on its attitude towards free trade. In forming his +administration Lord Derby had found it necessary to declare +that, though he was still in favour of a tax on corn, he should +take no steps in this direction till the country had received an +opportunity of expressing its opinion. His leader in the House +of Commons went much further, and declared that the time had +gone by for reverting to protection. The view which Disraeli +thus propounded in defiance of his previous opinions was confirmed +by the electors on the dissolution of parliament. Though +the new government obtained some increased strength from the +result of the polls, the country, it was evident, had no intention +of abandoning the policy of free trade, which by this time, it was +clear, had conferred substantial benefits on all classes. When +the new parliament met in the autumn of 1852, it was at once +plain that the issue would be determined on the rival merits +of the old and the new financial systems. Disraeli courted the +decision by at once bringing forward the budget, which custom, +and perhaps convenience, would have justified him in postponing +till the following spring. His proposal—in which he avowedly +threw over his friends on the ground that “he had greater +subjects to consider than the triumph of obsolete opinions”—was, +in effect, an attempt to conciliate his old supporters by +a policy of doles, and to find the means for doing so by the +increased taxation of the middle classes. He offered to relieve +the shipping interest by transferring some of the cost of lighting +the coasts to the Consolidated Fund; the West India interest +by sanctioning the refining of sugar in bond; and the landed +classes by reducing the malt tax by one-half, and by repealing +the old war duty on hops. He suggested that the cost of these +measures should be defrayed by extending the income tax to +Ireland to industrial incomes of £100 and to permanent incomes +of £50 a year, as well as by doubling the house tax, and extending +it to all £10 householders. The weight, therefore, of these +measures was either purposely or unintentionally thrown mainly +on persons living in houses worth from £10 to £20 a year, or on +persons in receipt of incomes from £50 to £150 a year. This +defect in the budget was exposed in a great speech by Gladstone, +which did much to ensure the defeat of the scheme and the fall +of the ministry.</p> + +<p>On the resignation of Lord Derby, the queen, anxious to +terminate a period of weak governments, decided on endeavouring +to combine in one cabinet the chiefs of the Whig +party and the followers of Sir Robert Peel. With this +<span class="sidenote">Coalition, 1853.</span> +view she sent both for Lord Aberdeen, who had held +the foreign office under Sir Robert, and for Lord Lansdowne, +who was the Nestor of the Whigs; and with Lord Lansdowne’s +concurrence charged Lord Aberdeen with the task of forming a +government. In the new ministry Lord Aberdeen became first +lord of the treasury, Gladstone chancellor of the exchequer, +Lord John Russell foreign minister—though he was almost +immediately replaced in the foreign office by Lord Clarendon, +and himself assumed the presidency of the council. Lord +Palmerston went to the home office. One other appointment +must also be mentioned. The secretary of state for the colonies +was also at that time secretary of state for war. No one in 1852, +however, regarded that office as of material importance, and it +was entrusted by Lord Aberdeen to an amiable and conscientious +nobleman, the duke of Newcastle.</p> + +<p>The first session of the Aberdeen administration will be +chiefly recollected for the remarkable budget which Gladstone +brought forward. It constituted a worthy supplement +to the measures of 1842, 1845 and 1846. Gladstone +<span class="sidenote">Budget of 1853.</span> +swept away the duty on one great necessary of life—soap; +he repealed the duties on 123 other articles; he reduced +the duties on 133 others, among them that on tea; and he found +means for paying for these reforms and for the gradual reduction +and ultimate abolition of the income tax, which had become +very unpopular, by (1) extending the tax to incomes of £100 a +year; (2) an increase of the spirit duties; and (3) applying the +death duties to real property, and to property passing by settlement. +There can be little doubt that this great proposal was +one of the most striking which had ever been brought forward +in the House of Commons; there can also, unhappily, be no +doubt that its promises and intentions were frustrated by events +which proved too strong for its author. For Gladstone, in +framing his budget, had contemplated a continuance of peace, +and the country was, unhappily, already drifting into war.</p> + +<p>For some years an obscure quarrel had been conducted at +Constantinople about the custody of the holy places at Jerusalem. +France, relying on a treaty concluded in the first half +of the 18th century, claimed the guardianship of these +<span class="sidenote">The holy places.</span> +places for the Latin Church. But the rights which +the Latin Church had thus obtained had practically fallen into +disuse, while the Greek branch of the Christian Church had +occupied and repaired the shrines which the Latins had neglected. +In the years which preceded 1853, however, France had shown +more activity in asserting her claims; and the new emperor of +the French, anxious to conciliate the church which had supported +his elevation to the throne, had a keen interest in upholding +them. If, for reasons of policy, the emperor had grounds for his +action, he had personal motives for thwarting the tsar of Russia; +for the latter potentate had been foolish enough, in recognizing +the second empire, to address its sovereign as “Mon Cher Ami,” +instead of, in the customary language of sovereigns, as “Monsieur +Mon Frčre.” Thus, at the close of 1852, and in the beginning +of 1853, Russia and France were both addressing opposite and +irreconcilable demands to the Porte, and France was already +talking of sending her fleet to the Dardanelles, while Russia was +placing an army corps on active service and despatching Prince +Menshikov on a special mission to Constantinople. So far the +quarrel which had occurred at the Porte was obviously one in +which Great Britain had no concern. The Aberdeen ministry, +however, thought it desirable that it should be represented in +the crisis by a strong man at Constantinople; and it selected +Lord Stratford de Redcliffe for the post, which he had filled in +former years with marked ability. Whatever merits Lord +Stratford possessed—and he stands out in current diplomacy +as the one strong man whom England had abroad—there was +no doubt that he had this disqualification: the emperor Nicholas +had refused some years before to receive him as ambassador at +St Petersburg, and Lord Stratford had resented, and never +forgiven, the discourtesy of this refusal. Lord Stratford soon +discovered that Prince Menshikov was the bearer of larger +demands, and that he was requiring the Porte to agree to a +treaty acknowledging the right of Russia to protect the Greek +Church throughout the Turkish dominions. By Lord Stratford’s +advice the Porte—while making the requisite concession respecting +the holy places—refused to grant the new demand; and +Prince Menshikov thereupon withdrew from Constantinople.</p> + +<p>The rejection of Prince Menshikov’s ultimatum was followed +by momentous consequences. Russia—or rather her tsar—resolved +on the occupation of the Danubian principalities; the +British ministry—though the quarrel did not directly concern +Great Britain—sent a fleet to the Dardanelles and placed it +under Lord Stratford’s orders. Diplomacy, however, made a +fresh attempt to terminate the dispute, and in July 1853 a note +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page566" id="page566"></a>566</span> +was agreed upon by the four neutral powers, France, Great +Britain, Austria and Prussia, which it was decided to present +to Constantinople and St Petersburg. This note, the adoption of +which would have ensured peace, was accepted at St Petersburg; +at Constantinople it was, unfortunately, rejected, mainly on Lord +Stratford’s advice, and in opposition to his instructions from +home. Instead, however, of insisting on the adoption of the note +to which it had agreed, Lord Aberdeen’s ministry recommended +the tsar to accept some amendments to it suggested by Lord +Stratford, which it was disposed to regard as unimportant. It +then discovered, however, that the tsar attached a meaning to +the original note differing from that which it had itself applied +to it, and in conjunction with France it thereupon ceased to +recommend the Vienna note—as it was called—for acceptance. +This decision separated the two western powers from Austria +and Prussia, who were disposed to think that Russia had done +all that could have been required of her in accepting the note +which the four powers had agreed upon.</p> + +<p>It was obvious that the control of the situation was passing +from the hands of the cabinet at home into those of Lord Stratford +at Constantinople. The ambassador, in fact, had the great +advantage that he knew his own mind; the cabinet laboured +under the fatal disadvantage that it had, collectively, no mind. +Its chief, Lord Aberdeen, was dominated by a desire to preserve +peace; but he had not the requisite force to control the stronger +men who were nominally serving under him. Lord John Russell +was a little sore at his own treatment by his party. He thought +that he had a claim to the first place in the ministry, and he did +not, in consequence, give the full support to Lord Aberdeen +which the latter had a right to expect from him. Lord Palmerston, +on the other hand, had no personal grudge to nurture, but he was +convinced that the first duty of England was to support Turkey +and to resist Russia. He represented in the cabinet the views +which Lord Stratford was enforcing at Constantinople, and +step by step Lord Stratford, thus supported, drove the country +nearer and nearer to war.</p> + +<p>In October the Porte, encouraged by the presence of the +British fleet in the Bosporus, took the bold step of summoning +the Russians to evacuate the principalities. Following up this +demand the Turkish troops attacked the Russian army, and +inflicted on it one or two sharp defeats. The Russians retaliated +by loosing their squadron from Sevastopol, and on the 30th of +November it attacked and destroyed the Turkish fleet at Sinope. +The massacre of Sinope—as it was rather inaccurately called +in Great Britain, for it is difficult to deny that it was a legitimate +act of a belligerent power—created an almost irresistible demand +for war among the British people. Yielding to popular opinion, +the British ministry assented to a suggestion of the French +emperor that the fleets of the allied powers should enter the +Black Sea and “invite” every Russian vessel to return to +Sevastopol. The decision was taken at an unfortunate hour. +<span class="sidenote">Crimean War.</span> +Diplomatists, pursuing their labours at Vienna, had +succeeded in drawing up a fresh note which they thought +might prove acceptable both at St Petersburg and at +Constantinople. This note was presented almost at the moment +the tsar learned that the French and British fleets had entered the +Black Sea, and the Russian government, instead of considering +it, withdrew its ministers from London and Paris; the French +and British ambassadors were thereupon withdrawn from St +Petersburg. An ultimatum was soon afterwards addressed to +Russia requiring her to evacuate the principalities, and war +began. In deciding on war the British government relied on +the capacity of its fleet, which was entrusted to the command +of Sir Charles Napier, to strike a great blow in the Baltic. The +fleet was despatched with extraordinary rejoicings, and amidst +loud and confident expressions of its certain triumph. As a +matter of fact it did very little. In the south of Europe, however, +the Turkish armies on the Danube, strengthened by the advice +of British officers, were more successful. The Russians were +forced to retire, and the principalities were evacuated. A prudent +administration might possibly have succeeded in stopping the +war at this point. But the temper of the country was by this +time excited, and it was loudly demanding something more than +a preliminary success. It was resolved to invade the Crimea +and attack the great arsenal, Sevastopol, whence the Russian +fleet had sailed to Sinope, and in September 1854 the allied +armies landed in the Crimea. On the 20th the Russian army, +strongly posted on the banks of the Alma, was completely defeated, +and it is almost certain that, if the victory had been at once +followed up, Sevastopol would have fallen. The commanders +of the allied armies, however, hesitated to throw themselves +against the forts erected to the north of the town, and decided +on the hazardous task of marching round Sevastopol and attacking +it from the south. The movement was successfully carried out, +but the Allies again hesitated to attempt an immediate assault. +The Russians, who were advised by Colonel Todleben, the only +military man who attained a great reputation in the war, thus +gained time to strengthen their position by earthworks; and +the Allies found themselves forced, with scanty preparations, to +undertake a regular siege against an enemy whose force was +numerically superior to their own. In the early days of the +siege, indeed, the allied armies were twice in great peril. A +formidable attack on the 25th October on the British position +at Balaklava led to a series of encounters which displayed the +bravery of British troops, but did not enhance the reputation of +British commanders. A still more formidable sortie on the 5th +of November was with difficulty repulsed at Inkerman. And +the Russians soon afterwards found, in the climate of the country, +a powerful ally. The allied armies, imperfectly organized, and +badly equipped for such a campaign, suffered severely from the +hardships of a Crimean winter. The whole expedition seemed +likely to melt away from want and disease.</p> + +<p>The terrible condition of the army, vividly described in the +letters which the war correspondents of the newspapers sent home, +aroused strong feelings of indignation in Great Britain. When +parliament met Roebuck gave notice that he would move for +a committee of inquiry. Lord John Russell—who had already +vainly urged in the cabinet that the duke of Newcastle should be +superseded, and the conduct of the war entrusted to a stronger +minister—resigned office. His resignation was followed by the +defeat of the government, and Lord Aberdeen, thus driven from +power, was succeeded by Lord Palmerston. In selecting him +for the post, the queen undoubtedly placed her seal on the wish +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston’s ministry.</span> +of the country to carry out the war to the bitter end. +But it so happened that the formation of a new +ministry was accompanied by a fresh effort to make +terms of peace. Before the change of administration +a conference had been decided on, and Lord Palmerston +entrusted its management to Lord John Russell. While the +latter was on his way to Vienna an event occurred which seemed +at first to facilitate his task. The tsar, worn out with disappointment, +suddenly died, and was succeeded by his son Alexander. +Unfortunately the conference failed, and the war went on for +another year. In September 1855 the allied troops succeeded +in obtaining possession of the southern side of Sevastopol, and +the emperor of the French, satisfied with this partial success, or +alarmed at the expense of the war, decided on withdrawing from +the struggle. The attitude of Napoleon made the conclusion +of peace only a question of time. In the beginning of 1856 a +congress to discuss the terms was assembled at Paris; in February +hostilities were suspended; and in April a treaty was concluded. +The peace set back the boundaries of Russia from the Danube +to the Pruth; it secured the free navigation of the first of these +rivers; it opened the Black Sea to the commercial navies of the +world, closing it to vessels of war, and forbidding the establishment +of arsenals upon its shores. The last condition, to which +Great Britain attached most importance, endured for about +fourteen years. Peace without this provision could undoubtedly +have been secured at Vienna, and the prolongation of the war +from 1855 to 1856 only resulted in securing this arrangement for +a little more than one decade.</p> + +<p>The Crimean War left other legacies behind it. The British +government had for some time regarded with anxiety the +gradual encroachments of Russia in central Asia. Russian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page567" id="page567"></a>567</span> +diplomacy was exerting an increasing influence in Persia, and +the latter had always coveted the city of Herat, which was +popularly regarded as the gate of India. In 1856 the Persian +government, believing that England had her hands fully occupied +in the Crimea, seized Herat, and, in consequence, a fresh war—in +which a British army under Sir James Outram rapidly secured +a victory—broke out. The campaign, entered upon when +parliament was not in session, was unpopular in the country. +A grave constitutional question, which was ultimately settled +by legislation, was raised as to the right of the government to +undertake military operations beyond the boundaries of India +<span class="sidenote">Wars with Persia and China.</span> +without the consent of parliament. But the incidents +of the Persian war were soon forgotten in the presence +of a still graver crisis; for in the following year, 1857, +the country suddenly found itself involved in war +with China, and face to face with one of the greatest dangers +which it has ever encountered—the mutiny of the sepoy army in +India. The Chinese war arose from the seizure by the Chinese +authorities of a small vessel, the “Arrow” commanded by a +British subject, and at one time holding a licence (which, however, +had expired at the time of the seizure) from the British superintendent +at Hongkong, and the detention of her crew on the +charge of piracy. Sir John Bowring, who represented Great +Britain in China, failing to secure the reparation and apology +which he demanded, directed the British admiral to bombard +Canton. Lord Palmerston’s cabinet decided to approve and +support Sir John Bowring’s vigorous action. Cobden, however, +brought forward a motion in the House of Commons condemning +these high-handed proceedings. He succeeded in securing the +co-operation of his own friends, of Lord John Russell, and of +other independent Liberals, as well as of the Conservative party, +and in inflicting a signal defeat on the government. Lord +Palmerston at once appealed from the House to the country. +The constituencies, imperfectly acquainted with the technical +issues involved in the dispute, rallied to the minister, who was +upholding British interests. Lord Palmerston obtained a +decisive victory, and returned to power apparently in irresistible +strength. Lord Elgin had already been sent to China with a +considerable force to support the demand for redress. On his +way thither he learned that the British in India were reduced +to the last extremities by the mutiny of the native army in +Bengal, and, on the application of Lord Canning, the governor-general, +he decided on diverting the troops, intended to bring +the Chinese to reason, to the more pressing duty of saving India +for the British crown.</p> + +<p>During the years which had followed the accession of the +queen, the territories and responsibilities of the East India +Company had been considerably enlarged by the +annexation of Sind by Lord Ellenborough, the conquest +<span class="sidenote">Indian mutiny.</span> +of the Punjab after two desperate military campaigns +under Lord Dalhousie, the conquest of Pegu, and the annexation +of Oudh. These great additions to the empire had naturally +imposed an increased strain on the Indian troops, while the +British garrison, instead of being augmented, had been depleted +to meet the necessities of the Russian war. Several circumstances, +moreover, tended to propagate disaffection in the Indian +army. Indian troops operating outside the Company’s dominions +were granted increased allowances, but these were automatically +reduced when conquest brought the provinces in which they +were serving within the British pale. The Sepoys again had +an ineradicable dislike to serve beyond the sea, and the invasion +of Pegu necessitated their transport by water to the seat of war. +Finally, the invention of a new rifle led to the introduction of a +cartridge which, though it was officially denied at the moment, +was in fact lubricated with a mixture of cow’s fat and lard. +The Sepoys thought that their caste would be destroyed if they +touched the fat of the sacred cow or unclean pig; they were even +persuaded that the British government wished to destroy their +caste in order to facilitate their conversion to Christianity. +Isolated mutinies in Bengal were succeeded by much more serious +events at Cawnpore in Oudh, and at Meerut in the North-West +Provinces. From Meerut the mutineers, after some acts of +outrage and murder, moved on Delhi, the capital of the old +Mogul empire, which became the headquarters of the mutiny. +In Oudh the native regiments placed themselves under a Mahratta +chief, Nana Sahib, by whose orders the British in Cawnpore, +including the women and children, were foully murdered. In +the summer of 1857 these events seemed to imperil British rule +in India. In the autumn the courage of the troops and the arrival +of reinforcements gradually restored the British cause. Delhi, +after a memorable siege, was at last taken by a brilliant assault. +Lucknow, where a small British garrison was besieged in the +residency, was twice relieved, once temporarily by Sir James +Outram and General Havelock, and afterwards permanently +by Sir Colin Campbell, who had been sent out from England to +take the chief command. Subsequent military operations broke +up the remnants of the revolt, and in the beginning of 1858 the +authority of the queen was restored throughout India. The +mutiny, however, had impressed its lesson on the British people, +and, as the first consequence, it was decided to transfer the +government from the old East India Company to the crown. +Lord Palmerston’s administration was defeated on another issue +before it succeeded in carrying the measure which it introduced +for the purpose, though Lord Derby’s second ministry, which +succeeded it, was compelled to frame its proposals on somewhat +similar lines. The home government of India was entrusted to a +secretary of state, with a council to assist him; and though the +numbers of the council have been reduced, the form of government +which was then established has endured.</p> + +<p>The cause which led to the second fall of Lord Palmerston +was in one sense unexpected. Some Italian refugees living +in London, of whom Orsini was the chief, formed a +design to assassinate the emperor of the French. On +<span class="sidenote">Orsini.</span> +the evening of 14th January 1858, while the emperor, accompanied +by the empress, was driving to the opera, these men threw +some bombs under his carriage. The brutal attempt happily +failed. Neither the emperor nor the empress was injured by the +explosion, but the carriage in which they were driving was +wrecked, and a large number of persons who happened to be in +the street at the time were either killed or wounded. This +horrible outrage naturally created indignation in France, and +it unfortunately became plain that the conspiracy had been +hatched in England, and that the bombs had been manufactured +in Birmingham. On these facts becoming known, Count +Walewski, the chief of the French foreign office, who was united +by ties of blood to the emperor, called on the British government +to provide against the danger to which France was exposed. +“Ought the right of asylum to protect such a state of things?” +he asked. “Is hospitality due to assassins? Ought the British +legislature to continue to favour their designs and their plans? +And can it continue to shelter persons who by these flagrant acts +place themselves beyond the pale of common rights?” Lord +Clarendon, the head of the British foreign office, told the French +ambassador, who read him this despatch, that “no consideration +on earth would induce the British parliament to pass a measure +for the extradition of political refugees,” but he added that it +was a question whether the law was as complete and as stringent +as it should be, and he stated that the government had already +referred the whole subject to the law officers of the crown for +their consideration. Having made these remarks, however, he +judged it wise to refrain from giving any formal reply to Count +Walewski’s despatch, and contented himself with privately +communicating to the British ambassador in Paris the difficulties +of the British government. After receiving the opinion of the +law officers the cabinet decided to introduce a bill into parliament +increasing in England the punishment for a conspiracy +to commit a felony either within or without the United Kingdom. +The first reading of this bill was passed by a considerable +majority. But, before the bill came on for a second reading, the +language which was being used in France created strong resentment +in England. The regiments of the French army sent +addresses to the emperor congratulating him on his escape and +violently denouncing the British people. Some of these addresses, +which were published in the <i>Moniteur</i>, spoke of London as “an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page568" id="page568"></a>568</span> +assassins’ den,” and invited the emperor to give his troops the +order to destroy it. Such language did not make it easier to +alter the law in the manner desired by the government. The +House of Commons, reflecting the spirit of the country, blamed +Lord Clarendon for neglecting to answer Count Walewski’s +despatch, and blamed Lord Palmerston for introducing a bill +at French dictation. The feeling was so strong that, when the +Conspiracy Bill came on for a second reading, an amendment +hostile to the government was carried, and Lord Palmerston +at once resigned.</p> + +<p>For a second time Lord Derby undertook the difficult task +of carrying on the work of government without the support of +a majority of the House of Commons. If the Liberal +party had been united his attempt would have failed +<span class="sidenote">Lord Derby’s second ministry.</span> +immediately. In 1858, however, the Liberal party +had no cohesion. The wave of popularity which had +carried Lord Palmerston to victory in 1857 had lost its strength. +The Radicals, who were slowly recovering the influence they had +lost during the Crimean War, regarded even a Conservative +government as preferable to his return to power, while many +Liberals desired to entrust the fortunes of their party to the +guidance of their former chief, Lord John Russell. It was obvious +to most men that the dissensions thus visible in the Liberal +ranks could be more easily healed in the cold shade of the +opposition benches than in the warmer sunlight of office. And +therefore, though no one had much confidence in Lord Derby, +or in the stability of his second administration, every one was +disposed to acquiesce in its temporary occupation of office.</p> + +<p>Ministries which exist by sufferance are necessarily compelled +to adapt their measures to the wishes of those who permit them +to continue in power. The second ministry of Lord Derby +experienced the truth of this rule. For some years a controversy +had been conducted in the legislature in reference to the admission +of the Jews to parliament. This dispute had been raised in 1847 +into a question of practical moment by the election of Baron +Lionel Nathan Rothschild as representative of the City of London, +and its importance had been emphasized in 1851 by the return +of another Jew, Alderman Salomons, for another constituency. +The Liberal party generally in the House of Commons was in +favour of such a modification of the oaths as would enable the +<span class="sidenote">Jews in parliament.</span> +Jews so elected to take their seats. The bulk of the +Conservative party, on the contrary, and the House +of Lords, were strenuously opposed to the change. +Early in 1858 the House of Commons, by an increased +majority, passed a bill amending the oaths imposed by law on +members of both Houses, and directing the omission of the words +“on the true faith of a Christian” from the oath of abjuration +when it was taken by a Jew. If the Conservatives had remained +in opposition there can be little doubt that this bill would have +shared the fate of its predecessors and have been rejected by the +Lords. The lord chancellor, indeed, in speaking upon the clause +relieving the Jews, expressed a hope that the peers would not +hesitate to pronounce that our “Lord is king, be the people never +so impatient.” But some Conservative peers realized the inconvenience +of maintaining a conflict between the two Houses +when the Conservatives were in power; and Lord Lucan, who +had commanded the cavalry in the Crimea, suggested as a compromise +that either House should be authorized by resolution to +determine the form of oath to be administered to its members. +This solution was reluctantly accepted by Lord Derby, and +Baron Rothschild was thus enabled to take the seat from which +he had been so long excluded. Eight years afterwards parliament +was induced to take a fresh step in advance. It imposed a new +oath from which the words which disqualified the Jews were +omitted. The door of the House of Lords was thus thrown open, +and in 1885 Baron Nathan Mayer Rothschild, raised to the +peerage, was enabled to take his seat in the upper chamber.</p> + +<p>This question was not the only one on which a Conservative +government, without a majority at its back, was compelled to +make concessions. For some years past a growing disposition +had been displayed among the more earnest Liberals to extend +the provisions of the Reform Act of 1832. Lord John Russell’s +ministry had been defeated in 1851 on a proposal of Locke +King to place £10 householders in counties on the same footing +<span class="sidenote">Reform Bill, 1859.</span> +as regards the franchise as £10 householders in towns, +and Lord John himself in 1854 had actually introduced +a new Reform Bill. After the general election of +1857 the demand for reform increased, and, in accepting office +in 1858, Lord Derby thought it necessary to declare that, though +he had maintained in opposition that the settlement of 1832, with +all its anomalies, afforded adequate representation to all classes, +the promises of previous governments and the expectations of +the people imposed on him the duty of bringing forward legislation +on the subject. The scheme which Lord Derby’s government +adopted was peculiar. Its chief proposal was the extension of +the county franchise to £10 householders. But it also proposed +that persons possessing a 40s. freehold in a borough should in +future have a vote in the borough in which their property was +situated, and not in the county. The bill also conferred the +franchise on holders of a certain amount of stock, on depositors +in savings banks, on graduates of universities, and on other +persons qualified by position or education. The defect of the +bill was that it did nothing to meet the only real need of reform—the +enfranchisement of a certain proportion of the working classes. +On the contrary, in this respect it perpetuated the settlement +of 1832. The £10 householder was still to furnish the bulk of +the electorate, and the ordinary working man could not afford +to pay £10 a year for his house. While the larger proposals of +the bill were thus open to grave objection, its subsidiary features +provoked ridicule. The suggestions that votes should be conferred +on graduates and stockholders were laughed at as “fancy +franchises.” The bill, moreover, was not brought forward with +the authority of a united cabinet. Two members of the government—Spencer +Walpole and Henley—declined to be responsible +for its provisions, and placed their resignations in Lord Derby’s +hands. In Walpole’s judgment the bill was objectionable because +it afforded no reasonable basis for a stable settlement. There +was nothing in a £10 franchise which was capable of permanent +defence, and if it was at once applied to counties as well as +boroughs it would sooner or later be certain to be extended. +He himself advocated with some force that it would be wiser +and more popular to fix the county franchise at £20 and the +borough franchise at £6 rateable value; and he contended that +such a settlement could be defended on the old principle that +taxation and representation should go together, for £20 was the +minimum rent at which the house tax commenced, and a rateable +value of £6 was the point at which the householder could not +compound to pay his rates through this landlord. Weakened +by the defection of two of its more important members, the government +had little chance of obtaining the acceptance of its scheme. +An amendment by Lord John Russell, condemning its main +provisions, was adopted in an unusually full house by a substantial +majority, and the cabinet had no alternative but to +resign or dissolve. It chose the latter course. The general +election, which almost immediately took place, increased to +some extent the strength of the Conservative party. For the +first time since their secession from Sir Robert Peel the Conservatives +commanded more than three hundred votes in the +House of Commons, but this increased strength was not sufficient +to ensure them a majority. When the new parliament assembled, +Lord Hartington, the eldest son of the duke of Devonshire, was +put forward to propose a direct vote of want of confidence in the +administration. It was carried by 323 votes to 310, and the +second Derby administration came to an end.</p> + +<p>It was plain that the House of Commons had withdrawn its +support from Lord Derby, but it was not clear that any other +leading politician would be able to form a government. +The jealousies between Lord John Russell and Lord +<span class="sidenote">Palmerston’s second ministry.</span> +Palmerston still existed; the more extreme men, who +were identified with the policy of Cobden and Bright, +had little confidence in either of these statesmen; and it was +still uncertain whether the able group who had been the friends +of Sir Robert Peel would finally gravitate to the Conservative +or to the Liberal camp. The queen, on the advice of Lord Derby, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page569" id="page569"></a>569</span> +endeavoured to solve the first of these difficulties by sending +for Lord Granville, who led the Liberal party in the Lords, and +authorizing him to form a government which should combine, +as far as possible, all the more prominent Liberals. The attempt, +however, failed, and the queen thereupon fell back upon Lord +Palmerston. Lord John Russell agreed to accept office as foreign +minister; Gladstone consented to take the chancellorship of +the exchequer. Cobden was offered, but declined, the presidency +of the Board of Trade; and the post which he refused was +conferred on a prominent free trader, who had associated +himself with Cobden’s fortunes, Milner Gibson. Thus Lord +Palmerston had succeeded in combining in one ministry the +various representatives of political progress. He had secured +the support of the Peelites, who had left him after the fall of +Lord Aberdeen in 1855, and of the free traders, who had done +so much to defeat him in 1857 and 1858. His new administration +was accordingly based on a broader bottom, and contained +greater elements of strength than his former cabinet. And the +country was requiring more stable government. The first three +ministries of the queen had endured from the spring of 1835 to +the spring of 1852, or for very nearly seventeen years; but the +next seven years had seen the formation and dissolution of no +less than four cabinets. It was felt that these frequent changes +were unfortunate for the country, and every one was glad to +welcome the advent of a government which seemed to promise +greater permanence. That promise was fulfilled. The administration +which Lord Palmerston succeeded in forming in 1859 +endured till his death in 1865, and with slight modifications, +under its second chief Lord John (afterwards Earl) Russell, till +the summer of 1866. It had thus a longer life than any cabinet +which had governed England since the first Reform Act. But +it owed its lasting character to the benevolence of its opponents +rather than to the enthusiasm of its supporters. The Conservatives +learned to regard the veteran statesman, who had +combined all sections of Liberals under his banner, as the most +powerful champion of Conservative principles; a virtual truce +of parties was established during his continuance in office; and, +for the most part of his ministry, a tacit understanding existed +that the minister, on his side, should pursue a Conservative +policy, and that the Conservatives, on theirs, should abstain +from any real attempt to oust him from power. Lord John +Russell, indeed, was too earnest in his desire for reform to abstain +from one serious effort to accomplish it. Early in 1860 he proposed, +with the sanction of the cabinet, a measure providing +for the extension of the county franchise to £10 householders, +of the borough franchise to £6 householders, and for a moderate +redistribution of seats. But the country, being in enjoyment of +considerable prosperity, paid only a languid attention to the +scheme; its indifference was reflected in the House; the Conservatives +were encouraged in their opposition by the lack of +interest which the new bill excited, and the almost unconcealed +dislike of the prime minister to its provisions. The bill, thus +steadily opposed and half-heartedly supported, made only slow +progress; and at last it was withdrawn by its author. He did +not again attempt during Lord Palmerston’s life to reintroduce +the subject. Absorbed in the work of the foreign office, which +at this time was abnormally active, he refrained from pressing +home the arguments for internal reform.</p> + +<p>In one important department, however, the ministry departed +from the Conservative policy it pursued in other matters. +Gladstone signalized his return to the exchequer by +introducing a series of budgets which excited keen +<span class="sidenote">Gladstone’s budgets.</span> +opposition at the time, but in the result largely added +to the prosperity of the country. The first of these +great budgets, in 1860, was partly inspired by the necessity of +adapting the fiscal system to meet the requirements of a commercial +treaty which, mainly through Cobden’s exertions, had +been concluded with the emperor of the French. The treaty +bound France to reduce her duties on English coal and iron, and +on many manufactured articles; while, in return, Great Britain +undertook to sweep away the duties on all manufactured goods, +and largely to reduce those on French wines. But Gladstone +was not content with these great alterations, which involved a +loss of nearly £1,200,000 a year to the exchequer; he voluntarily +undertook to sacrifice another million on what he called a supplemental +measure of customs reform. He proposed to repeal the +duties on paper, by which means he hoped to increase the +opportunities of providing cheap literature for the people. The +budget of 1860 produced a protracted controversy. The French +treaty excited more criticism than enthusiasm on both sides of +the Channel. In France the manufacturers complained that +they would be unable to stand against the competition of English +goods. In England many people thought that Great Britain +was wasting her resources and risking her supremacy by giving +the French increased facilities for taking her iron, coal and +machinery, and that no adequate advantage could result from +the greater consumption of cheap claret. But the criticism +which the French treaty aroused was drowned in the clamour +which was created by the proposed repeal of the paper duties. +The manufacture of paper was declared to be a struggling +industry, which would be destroyed by the withdrawal of +protection. The dissemination of cheap literature and the +multiplication of cheap newspapers could not compensate the +nation for the ruin of an important trade. If money could be +spared, moreover, for the remission of taxation, the paper duties +were much less oppressive than those on some other articles. +The tax on tea, for example, which had been raised during the +late war to no less than 1s. 5d. a ℔, was much more injurious; +and it would be far wiser—so it was contended—to reduce the +duty on tea than to abandon the duties on paper. Notwithstanding +<span class="sidenote">Paper duties repealed.</span> +the opposition which the Paper Duties Bill +undoubtedly excited, the proposal was carried in the +Commons; it was, however, thrown out in the Lords, +and its rejection led to a crisis which seemed at one +time to threaten the good relations between the two houses of +parliament. It was argued that if the Lords had the right to +reject a measure remitting existing duties, they had in effect the +right of imposing taxation, since there was no material difference +between the adoption of a new tax and the continuance of an +old one which the Commons had determined to repeal. Lord +Palmerston, however, with some tact postponed the controversy +for the time by obtaining the appointment of a committee to +search for precedents; and, after the report of the committee, +he moved a series of resolutions affirming the right of the +Commons to grant aids and supplies as their exclusive privilege, +stating that the occasional rejection of financial measures by +the Lords had always been regarded with peculiar jealousy, +but declaring that the Commons had the remedy in their own +hands by so framing bills of supply as to secure their acceptance. +In accordance with this suggestion the Commons in the following +year again resolved to repeal the paper duties; but, instead +of embodying their decision in a separate bill, they included it +in the same measure which dealt with all the financial arrangements +of the year, and thus threw on the Lords the responsibility +of either accepting the proposal, or of paralysing the whole +machinery of administration by depriving the crown of the +supplies which were required for the public services. The Lords +were not prepared to risk this result, and they accordingly +accepted a reform which they could no longer resist, and the bill +became law. In order to enable him to accomplish these great +changes, Gladstone temporarily raised the income tax, which he +found at 9d. in the £, to 10d. But the result of his reforms +was so marked that he was speedily able to reduce it. The +revenue increased by leaps and bounds, and the income tax was +gradually reduced till it stood at 4d. in the closing years of the +administration. During the same period the duty on tea was +reduced from 1s. 5d. to 6d. a ℔; and the national debt +was diminished from rather more than £800,000,000 to rather +less than £780,000,000, the charge for the debt declining, mainly +through the falling in of the long annuities, by some £2,600,000 +a year. With the possible exception of Sir Robert Peel’s term +of office, no previous period of British history had been memorable +for a series of more remarkable financial reforms. Their +success redeemed the character of the administration. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page570" id="page570"></a>570</span> +Liberals, who complained that their leaders were pursuing a +Conservative policy, could at least console themselves by the +reflection that the chancellor of the exchequer was introducing +satisfactory budgets. The language, moreover, which Gladstone +was holding on other subjects encouraged the more advanced +Liberals to expect that he would ultimately place himself at the +head of the party of progress. This expectation was the more +remarkable because Gladstone was the representative in the +cabinet of the old Conservative party which Sir Robert Peel +had led to victory. As lately as 1858 he had reluctantly refused +to serve under Lord Derby; he was still a member of the Carlton +Club; he sat for the university of Oxford; and on many questions +he displayed a constant sympathy with Conservative +traditions. Yet, on all the chief domestic questions which came +before parliament in Lord Palmerston’s second administration, +Gladstone almost invariably took a more Liberal view than his +chief. It was understood, indeed, that the relations between the +two men were not always harmonious; that Lord Palmerston +disapproved the resolute conduct of Gladstone, and that Gladstone +deplored the Conservative tendencies of Lord Palmerston. +It was believed that Gladstone on more than one occasion +desired to escape from a position which he disliked by resigning +office, and that the resignation was only averted through a +consciousness that the ministry could not afford to lose its most +eloquent member.</p> + +<p>While on domestic matters, other than those affecting finance, +the Liberal ministry was pursuing a Conservative policy, its +members were actively engaged on, and the attention of the +public was keenly directed to, affairs abroad. For the period +was one of foreign unrest, and the wars which were then waged +have left an enduring mark on the map of the world, and have +affected the position of the Anglo-Saxon race for all time. In +the far East, the operations which it had been decided to undertake +in China were necessarily postponed on account of the +diversion of the forces, intended to exact redress at Peking, to +the suppression of mutiny in India. It was only late in 1858 +that Lord Elgin and Baron Gros, the French plenipotentiary +(for France joined England in securing simultaneous redress of +grievances of her own), were enabled to obtain suitable reparation. +It was arranged that the treaty, which was then provisionally +concluded at Tientsin, should be ratified at Peking in the following +<span class="sidenote">China war, 1859-60.</span> +year; and in June 1859 Mr (afterwards Sir +Frederick) Bruce, Lord Elgin’s brother, who had been +appointed plenipotentiary, attempted to proceed up +the Peiho with the object of securing its ratification. The allied +squadron, however, was stopped by the forts at the mouth of +the Peiho, which fired on the vessels; a landing party, which +was disembarked to storm the forts, met with a disastrous check, +and the squadron had to retire with an acknowledged loss of +three gunboats and 400 men. This reverse necessitated fresh +operations, and in 1860 Lord Elgin and Baron Gros were directed +to return to China, and, at the head of an adequate force, were +instructed to exact an apology for the attack on the allied fleets, +the ratification and execution of the treaty of Tientsin, and the +payment of an indemnity for the expenses of the war. The weakness +of the Chinese empire was not appreciated at that time; +the unfortunate incident on the Peiho in the previous summer had +created an exaggerated impression of the strength of the Chinese +arms, and some natural anxiety was felt for the success of the +expedition. But the allied armies met with no serious resistance. +The Chinese, indeed, endeavoured to delay their progress by +negotiation rather than by force; and they succeeded in treacherously +arresting some distinguished persons who had been sent +into the Chinese lines to negotiate. But by the middle of October +the Chinese army was decisively defeated; Peking was occupied; +those British and French prisoners who had not succumbed to +the hardships of their confinement were liberated. Lord Elgin +determined on teaching the rulers of China a lesson by the +destruction of the summer palace; and the Chinese government +was compelled to submit to the terms of the Allies, and to ratify +the treaty of Tientsin. There is no doubt that these operations +helped to open the Chinese markets to British trade; but +incidentally, by regulating the emigration of Chinese coolies, +they had the unforeseen effect of exposing the industrial markets +of the world to the serious competition of “cheap yellow” +labour. A distinguished foreign statesman observed that Lord +Palmerston had made a mistake. He thought that he had +opened China to Europe; instead, he had let out the Chinese. +It was perhaps a happier result of the war that it tended to the +continuance of the Anglo-French alliance. French and British +troops had again co-operated in a joint enterprise, and had +shared the dangers and successes of a campaign.</p> + +<p>War was not confined to China. In the beginning of 1859 +diplomatists were alarmed at the language addressed by the +emperor of the French to the Austrian ambassador at Paris, +which seemed to breathe the menace of a rupture. Notwithstanding +the exertions which Great Britain made to avert +hostilities, the provocation of Count Cavour induced Austria +to declare war against Piedmont, and Napoleon thereupon +moved to the support of his ally, promising to free Italy from +the Alps to the Adriatic. As a matter of fact, the attitude of +northern Germany, which was massing troops on the Rhine, +and the defenceless condition of France, which was drained of +soldiers for the Italian campaign, induced the emperor to halt +before he had carried out his purpose, and terms of peace +were hastily concerted at Villafranca, and were afterwards +<span class="sidenote">Unification of Italy.</span> +confirmed at Zurich, by which Lombardy was given +to Piedmont, while Austria was left in possession of +Venice and the Quadrilateral, and central Italy was +restored to its former rulers. The refusal of the Italians to take +back the Austrian grand dukes made the execution of these +arrangements impracticable. Napoleon, indeed, used his +influence to carry them into effect; but Lord John Russell, +who was now in charge of the British foreign office, and who had +Lord Palmerston and Gladstone on his side in the cabinet, gave +a vigorous support to the claim of the Italians that their country +should be allowed to regulate her own affairs. The French +emperor had ultimately to yield to the determination of the +inhabitants of central Italy, when it was backed by the arguments +of the British foreign office, and Tuscany, Modena, Parma, as +well as a portion of the states of the Church, were united to +Piedmont. There was no doubt that through the whole of the +negotiations the Italians were largely indebted to the labours +of Lord John Russell. They recognized that they owed more +to the moral support of England than to the armed assistance +of France. The French emperor, moreover, took a step which +lost him the sympathy of many Italians. Before the war he +had arranged with Count Cavour that France should receive, +as the price of her aid, the duchy of Savoy and the county of +Nice. After Villafranca, the emperor, frankly recognizing that +he had only half kept his promise, consented to waive his claim +to these provinces. But, when he found himself unable to resist +the annexation of central Italy to Piedmont, he reverted to the +old arrangement. The formation of a strong Piedmontese +kingdom, with the spoliation of the papal dominion, was unpopular +in France; and he thought—perhaps naturally—that +he must have something to show his people in return for sacrifices +which had cost him the lives of 50,000 French soldiers, and +concessions which the whole Catholic party in France resented. +Count Cavour consented to pay the price which Napoleon thus +exacted, and the frontier of France was accordingly extended +to the Alps. But it is very doubtful whether Napoleon did not +lose more than he gained by this addition to his territory. It +certainly cost him the active friendship of Great Britain. The +Anglo-French alliance had been already strained by the language +of the French colonels in 1858 and the Franco-Austrian War of +1859; it never fully recovered from the shock which it received +by the evidence, which the annexation of Savoy and Nice gave, +of the ambition of the French emperor. The British people gave +way to what Cobden called the last of the three panics. Lord +Palmerston proposed and carried the provision of a large sum +of money for the fortification of the coasts; and the volunteer +movement, which had its origin in 1859, received a remarkable +stimulus in 1860. In this year the course of events in Italy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page571" id="page571"></a>571</span> +emphasized the differences between the policy of Great Britain +and that of France. Garibaldi, with a thousand followers, made +his famous descent on the coast of Sicily. After making himself +master of that island, he crossed over to the mainland, drove the +king of Naples out of his capital, and forced him to take refuge +in Gaeta. In France these events were regarded with dismay. +The emperor wished to stop Garibaldi’s passage across the strait, +and stationed his fleet at Gaeta to protect the king of Naples. +Lord John Russell, on the contrary, welcomed Garibaldi’s +success with enthusiasm. He declined to intervene in the +affairs of Italy by confining the great liberator to Sicily; he +protested against the presence of the French fleet at Gaeta; +and when other foreign nations denounced the conduct of Piedmont, +he defended it by quoting Vattel and citing the example +of William III. When, finally, Italian troops entered the +dominions of the pope, France withdrew her ambassador from +the court of Turin, and England under Lord John Russell’s +advice at once recognized the new kingdom of Italy.</p> + +<p>In these great events—for the union of Italy was the greatest +fact which had been accomplished in Europe since the fall of +the first Napoleon—the British ministry had undoubtedly +acquired credit. It was everywhere felt that the new kingdom +owed much to the moral support which had been steadily and +consistently given to it by Great Britain. Soon afterwards, +however, in the autumn of 1863, the death of the king of Denmark +led to a new revolution in the north of Europe, in which Lord +Palmerston’s government displayed less resolution, and lost +much of the prestige which it had acquired by its Italian policy. +The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein had been for centuries +united to the kingdom of Denmark by the golden link of the +<span class="sidenote">Schleswig-Holstein question.</span> +crown; in other respects they had been organically +kept distinct, while one of them—Holstein—was a +member of the German confederation. The succession +to the crown of Denmark, however, was different +from that in the duchies. In Denmark the crown could descend, +as it descends in Great Britain, through females. In the duchies +the descent was confined to the male line; and, as Frederick +VII., who ascended the Danish throne in 1848, had no direct +issue, the next heir to the crown of Denmark under this rule +was Prince Christian of Glücksburg, afterwards king; the next +heir to the duchies being the duke of Augustenburg. In 1850 +an arrangement had been made to prevent the separation of +the duchies from the kingdom. As a result of a conference held +in London, the duke of Augustenburg was induced to renounce +his claim on the receipt of a large sum of money. Most of the +great powers of Europe were parties to this plan. But the +German confederation was not represented at the conference, +and was not therefore committed to its conclusions. During the +reign of Frederick VII. the Danish government endeavoured to +cement the alliance between the duchies and the kingdom, and +specially to separate the interests of Schleswig, which was largely +Danish in its sympathies, from those of Holstein, which was +almost exclusively German. With this object, in the last year +of his life, Frederick VII. granted Holstein autonomous institutions, +and bound Schleswig more closely to the Danish monarchy. +The new king Christian IX. confirmed this arrangement. The +German diet at Frankfort at once protested against it. Following +up words with acts, it decided on occupying Holstein, and it +delegated the duty of carrying out its order to Hanover and +Saxony. While this federal execution was taking place, the duke +of Augustenburg—regardless of the arrangements to which he had +consented—delegated his rights in the duchies to his son, who +formally claimed the succession. So far the situation, which +was serious enough, had been largely dependent on the action +of Germany. In the closing days of 1863 it passed mainly into +the control of the two chief German powers. In Prussia Bismarck +had lately become prime minister, and was animated by ambitious +projects for his country’s aggrandizement. Austria, afraid of +losing her influence in Germany, followed the lead of Prussia, +and the two powers required Denmark to cancel the arrangements +which Frederick VII. had made, and which Christian IX. had +confirmed, threatening in case of refusal to follow up the occupation +of Holstein by that of Schleswig. As the Danes gave only +a provisional assent to the demand, Prussian and Austrian +troops entered Schleswig. These events created much excitement +in England. The great majority of the British people, who +imperfectly understood the merits of the case, were unanimous +in their desire to support Denmark by arms. Their wish had +been accentuated by the circumstance that the marriage in the +previous spring of the prince of Wales to the daughter of the new +king of Denmark had given them an almost personal interest +in the struggle. Lord Palmerston had publicly expressed the +views of the people by declaring that, if Denmark were attacked, +her assailants would not have to deal with Denmark alone. +The language of the public press and of Englishmen visiting +Denmark confirmed the impression which the words of the prime +minister had produced; and there is unfortunately no doubt +that Denmark was encouraged to resist her powerful opponents +by the belief, which she was thus almost authorized in entertaining, +that she could reckon in the hour of her danger on the active +assistance of the United Kingdom. If Lord Palmerston had been +supported by his cabinet, or if he had been a younger man, he +might possibly, in 1864, have made good the words which he +had rashly uttered in 1863. But the queen, who, it is fair to add, +understood the movement which was tending to German unity +much better than most of her advisers, was averse from war. +A large section of the cabinet shared the queen’s hesitation, and +Lord Palmerston—with the weight of nearly eighty summers +upon him—was not strong enough to enforce his will against +both his sovereign and his colleagues. He made some attempt +to ascertain whether the emperor of the French would support +him if he went to war. But he found that the emperor had not +much fancy for a struggle which would have restored Holstein +to Denmark; and that, if he went to war at all, his chief object +would be the liberation of Venice and the rectification of his own +frontiers. Even Lord Palmerston shrank from entering on a +campaign which would have involved all Europe in conflagration +and would have unsettled the boundaries of most continental +nations; and the British government endeavoured thenceforward +to stop hostilities by referring the question immediately +in dispute to a conference in London. The labours of the conference +proved abortive. Its members were unable to agree +upon any methods of settlements, and the war went on. Denmark, +naturally unable to grapple with her powerful antagonists, was +forced to yield, and the two duchies which were the subject of +dispute were taken from her.</p> + +<p>The full consequences of this struggle were not visible at the +time. It was impossible to foresee that it was the first step +which was to carry Prussia forward, under her ambitious minister, +to a position of acknowledged supremacy on the continent. +But the results to Great Britain were plain enough. She had +been mighty in words and weak in deeds. It was no doubt open +to her to contend, as perhaps most wise people consider, that +the cause of Denmark was not of sufficient importance to justify +her in going to war. But it was not open to her to encourage +a weak power to resist and then desert her in the hour of her +necessity. Lord Palmerston should not have used the language +which he employed in 1863 if he had not decided that his brave +words would be followed by brave action. His conduct lowered +the prestige of Great Britain at least as much as his Italian policy +had raised it. Continental statesmen thenceforward assumed +that Great Britain, however much she might protest, would +not resort to arms, and the influence of England suffered, as it +was bound to suffer, in consequence.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in this period of warfare, another struggle was +being fought out on a still greater scale in North America. The +election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency of the United +States emphasized the fact that the majority of the inhabitants +of the Northern States were opposed to the further spread of +<span class="sidenote">American civil war.</span> +slavery; and, in the beginning of 1861, several of the +Southern States formally seceded from the union. A +steamer sent by the Federal government with reinforcements +to Fort Sumter was fired upon, and both parties made preparations +for the civil war which was apparently inevitable. On +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page572" id="page572"></a>572</span> +the one side the Confederate States—as the seceding states were +called—were animated by a resolution to protect their property. +On the other side the “conscience” of the North was excited +by a passionate desire to wipe out the blot of slavery. Thus +both parties were affected by some of the most powerful considerations +which can influence mankind, while the North were +further actuated by the natural incentive to preserve the union, +which was threatened with disruption. The progress of the +great struggle was watched with painful attention in England. +The most important manufacturing interest in England was +paralysed by the loss of the raw cotton, which was obtained +almost exclusively from the United States, and tens of thousands +of workpeople were thrown out of employment. The distress +which resulted naturally created a strong feeling in favour of +intervention, which might terminate the war and open the +Southern ports to British commerce; and the initial successes +which the Confederates secured seemed to afford some justification +for such a proceeding. In the course of 1862 indeed, when the +Confederate armies had secured many victories, Gladstone, +speaking at Newcastle, used the famous expression that President +Jefferson Davis had “made a nation”; and Lord Palmerston’s +language in the House of Commons—while opposing a motion +for the recognition of the South—induced the impression that +his thoughts were tending in the same direction as Mr Gladstone’s. +The emperor Napoleon, in July of the same year, confidentially +asked the British minister whether the moment had not come +for recognizing the South; and in the following September +Lord Palmerston was himself disposed in concert with France +to offer to mediate on the basis of separation. Soon afterwards, +however, the growing exhaustion of the South improved the +prospects of the Northern States: an increasing number of +persons in Great Britain objected to interfere in the interests of +slavery; and the combatants were allowed to fight out their +quarrel without the interference of Europe.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the war, Lord John Russell (who was +made a peer as Earl Russell in 1861) acknowledged the Southern +States as belligerents. His decision caused some ill-feeling at +Washington; but it was inevitable. For the North had proclaimed +a blockade of the Southern ports; and it would have +been both inconvenient and unfair if Lord Russell had +decided to recognize the blockade and had refused to acknowledge +the belligerent rights of the Southern States. Lord Russell’s +decision, however, seemed to indicate some latent sympathy +for the Southern cause; and the irritation which was felt in the +North was increased by the news that the Southern States were +<span class="sidenote">The “Trent” incident.</span> +accrediting two gentlemen to represent them at Paris +and at London. These emissaries, Messrs Mason and +Slidell, succeeded in running the blockade and in +reaching Cuba, where they embarked on the “Trent,” +a British mail steamer sailing for England. On her passage +home the “Trent” was stopped by the Federal steamer “San +Jacinto”; she was boarded, and Messrs Mason and Slidell were +arrested. There was no doubt that the captain of the “San +Jacinto” had acted irregularly. While he had the right to stop +the “Trent,” examine the mails, and, if he found despatches +for the enemy among them, carry the vessel into an American +port for adjudication, he had no authority to board the vessel +and arrest two of her passengers. “The British government,” +to use its own language, “could not allow such an affront to the +national honour to pass without due reparation.” They decided +on sending what practically amounted to an ultimatum to the +Federal government, calling upon it to liberate the prisoners +and to make a suitable apology. The presentation of this +ultimatum, which was accompanied by the despatch of troops +to Canada, was very nearly provoking war with the United +States. If, indeed, the ultimatum had been presented in the +form in which it was originally framed, war might have ensued. +But at the prince consort’s suggestion its language was considerably +modified, and the responsibility for the outrage was thrown +on the officer who committed it, and not on the government +of the Republic. It ought not to be forgotten that this important +modification was the last service rendered to his adopted country +by the prince consort before his fatal illness. He died before the +answer to the despatch was received; and his death deprived +the queen of an adviser who had stood by her side since the +earlier days of her reign, and who, by his prudence and conduct, +had done much to raise the tone of the court and the influence +of the crown. Happily for the future of the world, the government +of the United States felt itself able to accept the despatch +which had been thus addressed to it, and to give the reparation +which was demanded; and the danger of war between the two +great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race was averted. But, in +the following summer, a new event excited fresh animosities, +and aroused a controversy which endured for the best part of +ten years.</p> + +<p>The Confederates, naturally anxious to harass the commerce +of their enemies, endeavoured from the commencement of +hostilities to purchase armed cruisers from builders of neutral +nations. In June 1862 the American minister in London drew +Lord Russell’s attention to the fact that a vessel, lately launched +at Messrs Laird’s yard at Birkenhead, was obviously intended +to be employed as a Confederate cruiser. The solicitor to the +commissioners of customs, however, considered that no facts had +been revealed to authorize the detention of the vessel, and this +opinion was reported in July to the American minister, Charles +Francis Adams. He thereupon supplied the government with +additional facts, and at the same time furnished them with the +opinion of an eminent English lawyer, R.P. Collier (afterwards +<span class="sidenote">The “Alabama.”</span> +Lord Monkswell), to the effect that “it would be +difficult to make out a stronger case of infringement +of the Foreign Enlistment Act, which if not enforced +on this occasion is little better than a dead letter.” +These facts and this opinion were at once sent to the law officers. +They reached the queen’s advocate on Saturday the 26th of July; +but, by an unfortunate mischance, the queen’s advocate had +just been wholly incapacitated by a distressing illness; and the +papers, in consequence, did not reach the attorney- and solicitor-general +till the evening of the following Monday, when they at +once advised the government to detain the vessel. Lord Russell +thereupon sent orders to Liverpool for her detention. In the +meanwhile the vessel—probably aware of the necessity for haste—had +put to sea, and had commenced the career which made +her famous as the “Alabama.” Ministers might even then have +taken steps to stop the vessel by directing her detention in any +British port to which she resorted for supplies. The cabinet, +however, shrank from this course. The “Alabama” was allowed +to prey on Federal commerce, and undoubtedly inflicted a vast +amount of injury on the trade of the United States. In the +autumn of 1862 Adams demanded redress for the injuries which +had thus been sustained, and this demand was repeated for many +years in stronger and stronger language. At last, in 1871, long +after Lord Palmerston’s death and Lord Russell’s retirement, +a joint commission was appointed to examine into the many +cases of dispute which had arisen between the United States +and Great Britain. The commissioners agreed upon three rules +by which they thought neutrals should in future be bound, and +recommended that they should be given a retrospective effect. +They decided also that the claims which had arisen out of the +depredations of the “Alabama” should be referred to arbitration. +In the course of 1872 the arbitrators met at Geneva. +Their finding was adverse to Great Britain, which was condemned +to pay a large sum of money—more than £3,000,000—as +compensation. A period of exceptional prosperity, which +largely increased the revenue, enabled a chancellor of the +exchequer to boast that the country had drunk itself out of the +“Alabama” difficulty.</p> + +<p>In October 1805 Lord Palmerston’s rule, which had been +characterized by six years of political inaction at home and by +constant disturbance abroad, was terminated by his +death. The ministry, which had suffered many losses +<span class="sidenote">Lord Russell’s second ministry.</span> +from death during its duration, was temporarily reconstructed +under Lord Russell; and the new minister +at once decided to put an end to the period of internal +stagnation, which had lasted so long, by the introduction of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page573" id="page573"></a>573</span> +new Reform Bill. Accordingly, in March 1866 Gladstone, who +now led the House of Commons, introduced a measure which +proposed to extend the county franchise to £14 and the borough +franchise to £7 householders. The bill did not create much +enthusiasm among Liberals, and it was naturally opposed by +the Conservatives, who were reinforced by a large section of +moderate Liberals, nicknamed, in consequence of a phrase +in one of Bright’s speeches, Adullamites. After many debates, +in which the Commons showed little disposition to give the +ministry any effective support, an amendment was carried by +Lord Dunkellin, the eldest son of Lord Clanricarde, basing the +borough franchise on rating instead of rental. The cabinet, +recognizing from the division that the control of the House had +passed out of its hands, resigned office, and the queen was compelled +to entrust Lord Derby with the task of forming a new +administration.</p> + +<p>For the third time in his career Lord Derby undertook the +formidable task of conducting the government of the country +with only a minority of the House of Commons to +support him. The moment at which he made this +<span class="sidenote">Lord Derby’s third ministry.</span> +third attempt was one of unusual anxiety. Abroad, +the almost simultaneous outbreak of war between +Prussia and Austria was destined to affect the whole aspect of +continental politics. At home, a terrible murrain had fallen +on the cattle, inflicting ruin on the agricultural interest; a grave +commercial crisis was creating alarm in the city of London, and, +in its consequences, injuring the interests of labour; while the +working classes, at last roused from their long indifference, and +angry at the rejection of Lord Russell’s bill, were assembling in +their tens of thousands to demand reform. The cabinet determined +to prohibit a meeting which the Reform League decided +to hold in Hyde Park on the 23rd of July, and closed the gates +of the park on the people. But the mob, converging on the park +in thousands, surged round the railings, which a little inquiry +might have shown were too weak to resist any real pressure. +Either accidentally or intentionally, the railings were overturned +in one place, and the people, perceiving their opportunity, at +once threw them down round the whole circuit of the park. +Few acts in Queen Victoria’s reign were attended with greater +consequences. For the riot in Hyde Park led almost directly +to a new Reform Act, and to the transfer of power from the +middle classes to the masses of the people.</p> + +<p>Yet, though the new government found it necessary to introduce +a Reform Bill, a wide difference of opinion existed in the +cabinet as to the form which the measure should take. +Several of its members were in favour of assimilating +<span class="sidenote">Reform, 1867.</span> +the borough franchise to that in force in municipal +elections, and practically conferring a vote on every householder +who had three years’ residence in the constituency. General +Peel, however—Sir Robert Peel’s brother—who held the seals +of the war office, objected to this extension; and the cabinet +ultimately decided on evading the difficulty by bringing forward +a series of resolutions on which a scheme of reform might ultimately +be based. Their success in 1858, in dealing with the +government of India in this way, commended the decision to +the acceptance of the cabinet. But it was soon apparent that +the House of Commons required a definite scheme, and that it +would not seriously consider a set of abstract resolutions which +committed no one to any distinct plan. Hence on the 23rd of +February 1867 the cabinet decided on withdrawing its resolutions +and reverting to its original bill. On the following day Lord +Cranborne—better known afterwards as Lord Salisbury—discovered +that the bill had more democratic tendencies than he +had originally supposed, and refused to be a party to it. On +Monday, the 25th, the cabinet again met to consider the new +difficulty which had thus arisen; and it decided (as was said +afterwards by Sir John Pakington) in ten minutes to substitute +for the scheme a mild measure extending the borough franchise +to houses rated at £6 a year, and conferring the county franchise +on £20 householders. The bill, it was soon obvious, would be +acceptable to no one; and the government again fell back on +its original proposal. Three members of the cabinet, however, +Lord Cranborne, Lord Carnarvon and General Peel, refused +to be parties to the measure, and resigned office, the government +being necessarily weakened by these defections. In the large +scheme which the cabinet had now adopted, the borough franchise +was conferred on all householders rated to the relief of the poor, +who had for two years occupied the houses which gave them the +qualification; the county franchise was given to the occupiers +of all houses rated at £15 a year or upwards. But it was proposed +that these extensions should be accompanied by an educational +franchise, and a franchise conferred on persons who had paid +twenty shillings in assessed taxes or income tax; the taxpayers +who had gained a vote in this way being given a second vote +in respect of the property which they occupied. In the course +of the discussion on the bill in the House of Commons, the +securities on which its authors had relied to enable them to stem +the tide of democracy were, chiefly through Gladstone’s exertions, +swept away. The dual vote was abandoned, direct payment +of rates was surrendered, the county franchise was extended +to £12 householders, and the redistribution of seats was largely +increased. The bill, in the shape in which it had been introduced, +had been surrounded with safeguards to property. With their +loss it involved a great radical change, which placed the working +classes of the country in the position of predominance which +the middle classes had occupied since 1832.</p> + +<p>The passage of the bill necessitated a dissolution of parliament; +but it had to be postponed to enable parliament to supplement +the English Reform Act of 1867 with measures applicable +to Scotland and Ireland, and to give time for +<span class="sidenote">Disraeli prime minister.</span> +settling the boundaries of the new constituencies +which had been created. This delay gave the Conservatives +another year of office. But the first place in the +cabinet passed in 1868 from Lord Derby to his lieutenant, +Disraeli. The change added interest to political life. Thenceforward, +for the next thirteen years, the chief places in the two +great parties in the state were filled by the two men, Gladstone +and Disraeli, who were unquestionably the ablest representatives +of their respective followers. But the situation was also remarkable +because power thus definitely passed from men who, +without exception, had been born in the 18th century, and had +all held cabinet offices before 1832, to men who had been born +in the 19th century, and had only risen to cabinet rank in the +’forties and the ’fifties. It was also interesting to reflect that +Gladstone had begun life as a Conservative, and had only +gradually moved to the ranks of the Liberal party; while +Disraeli had fought his first election under the auspices of +O’Connell and Hume, had won his spurs by his attacks on Sir +Robert Peel, and had been only reluctantly adopted by the +Conservatives as their leader in the House of Commons.</p> + +<p>The struggle commenced in 1868 on an Irish question. During +the previous years considerable attention had been paid to a +secret conspiracy in Ireland and among the Irish in America. +The Fenians, as they were called, actually attempted insurrection +in Ireland, and an invasion of Canada from the United States. +At the beginning of 1866 Lord Russell’s government thought +itself compelled to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland; +and in 1867 Lord Derby’s government was confronted in the +spring by a plot to seize Chester Castle, and in the autumn by +an attack on a prison van at Manchester containing Fenian +prisoners, and by an atrocious attempt to blow up Clerkenwell +prison. Conservative politicians deduced from these circumstances +the necessity of applying firm government to Ireland. +Liberal statesmen, on the contrary, desired to extirpate rebellion +<span class="sidenote">Irish Church.</span> +by remedying the grievances of which Ireland still +complained. Chief among these was the fact that +the Established Church in Ireland was the church of +only a minority of the people. In March 1868 John Francis +Maguire, an Irish Catholic, asked the House of Commons to +resolve itself into a committee to take into immediate consideration +the affairs of Ireland. Gladstone, in the course of the +debate, declared that in his opinion the time had come when +the Irish Church, as a political institution, should cease; and +he followed up his declaration by a series of resolutions, which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page574" id="page574"></a>574</span> +were accepted by considerable majorities, pledging the House to +its disestablishment. Disraeli, recognizing the full significance +of this decision, announced that, as soon as the necessary preparations +could be made, the government would appeal from +the House to the country. Parliament was dissolved at the end +of July, but the general election did not take place till the end +of the following November. The future of the Irish Church +naturally formed one of the chief subjects which occupied the +attention of the electors, but the issue was largely determined +by wider considerations. The country, after the long political +truce which had been maintained by Lord Palmerston, was +again ranged in two hostile camps, animated by opposing views. +It was virtually asked to decide in 1868 whether it would put +its trust in Liberal or Conservative, in Gladstone or Disraeli. +By an overwhelming majority it threw its lot in favour of +Gladstone; and Disraeli, without even venturing to meet +parliament, took the unusual course of at once placing his +resignation in the queen’s hands.</p> + +<p>The Conservative government, which thus fell, will be chiefly +recollected for its remarkable concession to democratic principles +by the passage of the Reform Act of 1867; but it +deserves perhaps a word of praise for its conduct of +<span class="sidenote">Abyssinian war.</span> +a distant and unusual war. The emperor of Abyssinia +had, for some time, detained some Englishmen +prisoners in his country; and the government, unable to obtain +redress in other ways, decided on sending an army to release +them. The expedition, entrusted to Sir Robert Napier, afterwards +Lord Napier of Magdala, was fitted out at great expense, +and was rewarded with complete success. The prisoners were +released, and the Abyssinian monarch committed suicide. +Disraeli—whose oriental imagination was excited by the triumph—incurred +some ridicule by his bombastic declaration that +“the standard of St George was hoisted upon the mountains +of Rasselas.” But the ministry could at least claim that the +war had been waged to rescue Englishmen from captivity, that +it had been conducted with skill, and that it had accomplished +its object. The events of the Abyssinian war, however, were +forgotten in the great political revolution which had swept the +Conservatives from office and placed Gladstone in power. His +government was destined to endure for more than five years. +During that period it experienced the alternate prosperity and +decline which nearly forty years before had been the lot of the +Whigs after the passage of the first Reform Act. During its +first two sessions it accomplished greater changes in legislation +than had been attempted by any ministry since that of Lord +Grey. In its three last sessions it was destined to sink into +gradual disrepute; and it was ultimately swept away by a wave +of popular reaction, as remarkable as that which had borne it +into power.</p> + +<p>It was generally understood that Gladstone intended to deal +with three great Irish grievances—“the three branches of the +upas tree”—the religious, agricultural and educational +grievances. The session of 1869 was devoted +<span class="sidenote">Gladstone’s first ministry.</span> +to the first of these subjects. Gladstone introduced +a bill disconnecting the Irish Church from the state, +establishing a synod for its government, and—after leaving it in +possession of its churches and its parsonages, and making ample +provision for the life-interest of its existing clergy—devoting +the bulk of its property to the relief of distress in Ireland. The +bill was carried by large majorities through the House of Commons; +and the feeling of the country was so strong that the +Lords did not venture on its rejection. They satisfied themselves +with engrafting on it a series of amendments which, on the +whole, secured rather more liberal terms of compensation for +existing interests. Some of these amendments were adopted +by Gladstone; a compromise was effected in respect of the +others; and the bill, which had practically occupied the whole +session, and had perhaps involved higher constructive skill than +any measure passed in the previous half-century, became law. +Having dealt with the Irish Church in 1869, Gladstone turned +to the more complicated question of Irish land. So far back as +the ’forties Sir R. Peel had appointed a commission, known +from its chairman as the Devon commission, which had recommended +that the Irish tenant, in the event of disturbance, +should receive some compensation for certain specified +improvements which he had made in his holding. +Parliament neglected to give effect to these recommendations; +in a country where agriculture was the chief or +almost only occupation, the tenant remained at his landlord’s +mercy. In 1870 Gladstone proposed to give the tenant a +pecuniary interest in improvements, suitable to the holding, +which he had made either before or after the passing of the act. +He proposed also that, in cases of eviction, the smaller tenantry +<span class="sidenote">Irish land.</span> +should receive compensation for disturbance. The larger +tenantry, who were supposed to be able to look after their own +interests, were entirely debarred, and tenants enjoying leases +were excluded from claiming compensation, except for tillages, +buildings and reclamation of lands. A special court, it was +further provided, should be instituted to carry out the provisions +of the bill. Large and radical as the measure was, reversing many +of the accepted principles of legislation by giving the tenant a +<i>quasi</i>-partnership with the landlord in his holding, no serious +opposition was made to it in either House of Parliament. Its +details, indeed, were abundantly criticized, but its principles +were hardly disputed, and it became law without any substantial +alteration of its original provisions. In two sessions two branches +of the upas tree had been summarily cut off. But parliament +in 1870 was not solely occupied with the wrongs of Irish tenantry. +In the same year Forster, as vice-president of the council, +succeeded in carrying the great measure which for the first time +made education compulsory. In devising his scheme, Forster +endeavoured to utilize, as far as possible, the educational +machinery which had been voluntarily provided by various +religious organizations. He gave the institutions, which had +been thus established, the full benefit of the assistance which the +government was prepared to afford to board schools, on their +adopting a conscience clause under which the religious susceptibilities +of the parents of children were protected. This provision +led to many debates, and produced the first symptoms of disruption +in the Liberal party. The Nonconformists contended +that no such aid should be given to any school which was not +<span class="sidenote">Elementary education.</span> +conducted on undenominational principles. Supported +by the bulk of the Conservative party, Forster +was enabled to defeat the dissenters. But the victory +which he secured was, in one sense, dearly purchased. +The first breach in the Liberal ranks had been made; and the +government, after 1870, never again commanded the same +united support which had enabled it to pursue its victorious +career in the first two sessions of its existence.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of the session of 1870 other events, for +which the government had no direct responsibility, introduced +new difficulties. War unexpectedly broke out between +France and Prussia. The French empire fell; the +<span class="sidenote">Black Sea neutrality.</span> +German armies marched on Paris; and the Russian +government, at Count Bismarck’s instigation, took advantage +of the collapse of France to repudiate the clause in the treaty of +1856 which neutralized the Black Sea. Lord Granville, who had +succeeded Lord Clarendon at the foreign office, protested against +this proceeding. But it was everywhere felt that his mere +protest was not likely to affect the result; and the government +at last consented to accept a suggestion made by Count Bismarck, +and to take part in a conference to discuss the Russian proposal. +Though this device enabled them to say that they had not +yielded to the Russian demand, it was obvious that they entered +the conference with the foregone conclusion of conceding the +Russian claim. The attitude which the government thus chose +to adopt was perhaps inevitable in the circumstances, but it +confirmed the impression, which the abandonment of the cause +of Denmark had produced in 1864, that Great Britain was not +prepared to maintain its principles by going to war. The weakness +of the British foreign office was emphasized by its consenting, +almost at the same moment, to allow the claims of the United +States, for the depredations of the “Alabama,” to be settled +under a rule only agreed upon in 1871. Most Englishmen now +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page575" id="page575"></a>575</span> +appreciate the wisdom of a concession which has gained for them +the friendship of the United States. But in 1871 the country +resented the manner in which Lord Granville had acted. Whatever +credit the government might have derived from its domestic +measures, it was discredited, or it was thought to be, by its +foreign policy. In these circumstances legislation in 1871 was +not marked with the success which had attended the government +in previous sessions. The government succeeded in terminating +a long controversy by abolishing ecclesiastical tests at universities. +But the Lords ventured to reject a measure for the introduction +of the ballot at elections, and refused to proceed with a bill +for the abolition of purchase in the army. The result of these +decisions was indeed remarkable. In the one case, the Lords +in 1872 found it necessary to give way, and to pass the Ballot Bill, +which they had rejected in 1871. In the other, Gladstone +decided on abolishing, by the direct authority of the crown, +the system which the Lords refused to do away with by +legislation. But his high-handed proceeding, though it forced +the Lords to reconsider their decision, strained the allegiance of +many of his supporters, and still further impaired the popularity +of his administration. Most men felt that it would have been +permissible for him, at the commencement of the session, to have +used the queen’s authority to terminate the purchase system; +<span class="sidenote">Army purchase.</span> +but they considered that, as he had not taken this +course, it was not open to him to reverse the decision +of the legislature by resorting to the prerogative. +Two appointments, one to a judicial office, the other to an +ecclesiastical preferment, in which Gladstone, about the same +time, showed more disposition to obey the letter than the spirit +of the law, confirmed the impression which the abolition of +purchase had made. Great reforming ministers would do well +to recollect that the success of even liberal measures may be +dearly purchased by the resort to what are regarded as unconstitutional +expedients.</p> + +<p>In the following years the embarrassments of the government +were further increased. In 1872 Bruce, the home secretary, +succeeded in passing a measure of licensing reform. +But the abstainers condemned the bill as inadequate; +<span class="sidenote">1872-1874.</span> +the publicans denounced it as oppressive; and the +whole strength of the licensed victuallers was thenceforward +arrayed against the ministry. In 1873 Gladstone attempted to +complete his great Irish measures by conferring on Ireland the +advantage of a university which would be equally acceptable +to Protestants and Roman Catholics. But his proposal again +failed to satisfy those in whose interests it was proposed. The +second reading of the bill was rejected by a small majority, and +Gladstone resigned; but, as Disraeli could not form a government, +he resumed office. The power of the great minister was, +however, spent; his ministry was hopelessly discredited. +History, in fact, was repeating itself. The ministry was suffering, +as Lord Grey’s government had suffered nearly forty years +before, from the effect of its own successes. It had accomplished +more than any of its supporters had expected, but in doing so it +had harassed many interests and excited much opposition. +Gladstone endeavoured to meet the storm by a rearrangement +of his crew. Bruce, who had offended the licensed victuallers, +was removed from the home office, and made a peer and president +of the council. Lowe, who had incurred unpopularity by his +fiscal measures, and especially by an abortive suggestion for +the taxation of matches, was transferred from the exchequer +to the home office, and Gladstone himself assumed the duties +of chancellor of the exchequer. He thereby created a difficulty +for himself which he had not foreseen. Up to 1867 a minister +leaving one office and accepting another vacated his seat; after +1867 a transfer from one post to another did not necessitate a +fresh election. But Gladstone in 1873 had taken a course which +had not been contemplated in 1867. He had not been transferred +from one office to another. He had accepted a new in addition +to his old office. It was, to say the least, uncertain whether +his action in this respect had, or had not, vacated his seat. It +would be unfair to suggest that the inconvenient difficulty with +which he was thus confronted determined his policy, though he +was probably insensibly influenced by it. However this may be, +on the eve of the session of 1874 he suddenly decided to dissolve +parliament and to appeal to the country. He announced his +decision in an address to his constituents, in which, among other +financial reforms, he promised to repeal the income tax. The +course which Gladstone took, and the bait which he held out +to the electors, were generally condemned. The country, +wearied of the ministry and of its measures, almost everywhere +supported the Conservative candidates. Disraeli found himself +restored to power at the head of an overwhelming majority, and +the great minister who, five years before, had achieved so marked +a triumph temporarily withdrew from the leadership of the party +with whose aid he had accomplished such important results. +His ministry had been essentially one of peace, yet its closing +days were memorable for one little war in which a great soldier +increased a reputation already high. Sir Garnet Wolseley +triumphed over the difficulties which the climate of the west +coast of Africa imposes on Europeans, and brought a troublesome +contest with the Ashantis to a successful conclusion.</p> + +<p>The history of Disraeli’s second administration affords an +exact reverse to that of Gladstone’s first cabinet. In legislation +the ministry attempted little and accomplished less. +They did something to meet the wishes of the publicans, +<span class="sidenote">Disraeli’s second ministry.</span> +whose discontent had contributed largely to Gladstone’s +defeat, by amending some of the provisions of Bruce’s +licensing bill; they supported and succeeded in passing a measure, +brought in by the primate, to restrain some of the irregularities +which the Ritualists were introducing into public worship; and +they were compelled by the violent insistence of Plimsoll to pass +an act to protect the lives of merchant seamen. Disraeli’s +government, however, will be chiefly remembered for its foreign +policy. Years before he had propounded in <i>Tancred</i> the theory +that England should aim at eastern empire. Circumstances in +his second term of office enabled him to translate his theory into +practice. In 1875 the country was suddenly startled at hearing +that it had acquired a new position and assumed new responsibilities +in Egypt by the purchase of the shares which the khedive +of Egypt held in the Suez Canal. In the following spring a new +surprise was afforded by the introduction of a measure authorizing +the queen to assume the title of empress of India. But +these significant actions were almost forgotten in the presence +of a new crisis; for in 1876 misgovernment in Turkey had produced +its natural results, and the European provinces of the Porte +were in a state of armed insurrection. In the presence of a grave +danger, Count Andrassy, the Austrian minister, drew up a note +which was afterwards known by his name, declaring that the +Porte had failed to carry into effect the promises of reform which +she had made, and that some combined action on the part of +Europe was necessary to compel her to do so. The note was +accepted by the three continental empires, but Great Britain +refused in the first instance to assent to it, and only ultimately +consented at the desire of the Porte, whose statesmen seem to +<span class="sidenote">Bulgarian “atrocities.”</span> +have imagined that the nominal co-operation of +England would have the effect of restraining the action +of other powers. Turkey accepted the note and +renewed the promises of reform, which she had so often +made, and which meant so little. The three northern powers +thereupon agreed upon what was known as the Berlin Memorandum, +in which they demanded an armistice, and proposed +to watch over the completion of the reforms which the Porte +had promised. The British government refused to be a party +to this memorandum, which in consequence became abortive. +The insurrection increased in intensity. The sultan Abdul +Aziz, thought unequal to the crisis, was hastily deposed; he +was either murdered or led to commit suicide; and insurrection +in Bulgaria was stamped out by massacre. The story of the +“Bulgarian atrocities” was published in Great Britain in the +summer of 1876. Disraeli characteristically dismissed it as +“coffee-house babble,” but official investigation proved the +substantial accuracy of the reports which had reached England. +The people regarded these events with horror. Gladstone, +emerging from his retirement, denounced the conduct of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page576" id="page576"></a>576</span> +Turks. In a phrase which became famous he declared that the +only remedy for the European provinces of the Porte was to +turn out the Ottoman government “bag and baggage.” All +England was at once arrayed into two camps. One party was +led by Disraeli, who was supposed to represent the traditional +policy of England of maintaining the rule of the Turk at all +hazards; the other, inspired by the example of Gladstone, was +resolved at all costs to terminate oppression, but was at the same +time distrusted as indirectly assisting the ambitious views by +which the Eastern policy of Russia had always been animated. +The crisis soon became intense. In June 1876 Servia and +Montenegro declared war against Turkey. In a few months +Servia was hopelessly beaten. Through the insistence of Russia +an armistice was agreed upon; and Lord Beaconsfield—for +Disraeli had now been raised to the peerage—endeavoured to +utilize the breathing space by organizing a conference of the +great powers at Constantinople, which was attended on behalf +of Great Britain by Lord Salisbury. The Constantinople conference +proved abortive, and in the beginning of 1877 Russia +declared war. For some time, however, her success was hardly +equal to her expectations. The Turks, entrenched at Plevna, +delayed the Russian advance; and it was only towards the +close of 1877 that Plevna at last fell and Turkish resistance +collapsed. With its downfall the war party in England, which +was led by the prime minister, increased in violence. From the +refrain of a song, sung night after night at a London music hall, +its members became known as Jingoes. The government ordered +the British fleet to pass the Dardanelles and go up to Constantinople; +and though the order was subsequently withdrawn, it +asked for and obtained a grant of £6,000,000 for naval and military +purposes. When news came that the Russian armies had +reached Adrianople, that they had concluded some arrangement +with the Turks, and that they were pressing forward towards Constantinople, +the fleet was again directed to pass the Dardanelles. +Soon afterwards the government decided to call out the reserves +and to bring a contingent of Indian troops to the Mediterranean. +Lord Derby,<a name="fa8a" id="fa8a" href="#ft8a"><span class="sp">8</span></a> who was at the foreign office, thereupon retired +from the ministry, and was succeeded by Lord Salisbury. Lord +Derby’s resignation was everywhere regarded as a proof that +Great Britain was on the verge of war. Happily this did not +occur. At Prince Bismarck’s suggestion Russia consented to +refer the treaty which she had concluded at San Stefano to a +congress of the great powers; and the congress, at which Great +Britain was represented by Lord Beaconsfield and Lord Salisbury, +<span class="sidenote">Berlin treaty.</span> +succeeded in substituting for the treaty of San Stefano +the treaty of Berlin. The one great advantage derived +from it was the tacit acknowledgment by Russia +that Europe could alone alter arrangements which Europe had +made. In every other sense it is doubtful whether the provisions +of the treaty of Berlin were more favourable than those of the +treaty of San Stefano. On Lord Beaconsfield’s return, however, +he claimed for Lord Salisbury and himself that they had brought +back “peace with honour,” and the country accepted with wild +delight the phrase, without taking much trouble to analyse +its justice.</p> + +<p>If Lord Beaconsfield had dissolved parliament immediately +after his return from Berlin, it is possible that the wave of +popularity which had been raised by his success would have +borne him forward to a fresh victory in the constituencies. His +omission to do so gave the country time to meditate on the consequences +of his policy. One result soon became perceptible. +Differences with Russia produced their inevitable consequences +in fresh complications on the Indian frontier. The Russian +government, confronted with a quarrel with Great Britain in +<span class="sidenote">Afghan wars.</span> +eastern Europe, endeavoured to create difficulties in +Afghanistan. A Russian envoy was sent to Kabul, +where Shere Ali, who had succeeded his father Dost +Mahommed in 1863, was amir; and the British government, +alarmed at this new embarrassment, decided on sending a mission +to the Afghan capital. The mission was stopped on the frontier +by an agent of Shere Ali, who declined to allow it to proceed. +The British government refused to put up with an affront of +this kind, and their envoy, supported by an army, continued +his advance. Afghanistan was again invaded. Kabul and +Kandahar were occupied; and Shere Ali was forced to fly, and +soon afterwards died. His successor, Yakub Khan, came to the +British camp and signed, in May 1879, the treaty of Gandamak. +Under the terms of this treaty the Indian government undertook +to pay the new amir a subsidy of £60,000 a year; and Yakub +Khan consented to receive a British mission at Kabul, and to +cede some territory in the Himalayas which the military advisers +of Lord Beaconsfield considered necessary to make the frontier +more “scientific.” This apparent success was soon followed +by disastrous news. The deplorable events of 1841 were re-enacted +in 1879. The new envoy reached Kabul, but was soon +afterwards murdered. A British army was again sent into +Afghanistan, and Kabul was again occupied. Yakub Khan, +who had been made amir in 1879, was deposed, and Abdur +Rahman Khan was selected as his successor. The British did +not assert their superiority without much fighting and some +serious reverses. Their victory was at last assured by the excellent +strategy of Sir Donald Stewart and Sir Frederick (afterwards +Lord) Roberts. But before the final victory was gained +Lord Beaconsfield had fallen. His policy had brought Great +Britain to the verge of disaster in Afghanistan: the credit of +reasserting the superiority of British arms was deferred till his +successors had taken office.</p> + +<p>It was not only in Afghanistan that the new imperial policy +which Lord Beaconsfield had done so much to encourage was +straining the resources of the empire. In South Africa a still +more serious difficulty was already commencing. At the time +at which Lord Beaconsfield’s administration began, British +territory in South Africa was practically confined to Cape Colony +and Natal. Years before, in 1852 and 1854 respectively, the +British government, at that time a little weary of the responsibilities +of colonial rule, had recognized the independence of the +two Dutch republics, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. +Powerful native tribes occupied the territory to the north of +Natal and the east of the Transvaal. War broke out between +the Transvaal Republic and one of the most powerful of these +native chieftains, Sikukuni; and the Transvaal was worsted +in the struggle. Weary of the condition of anarchy which +existed in the republic, many inhabitants of the Transvaal were +ready to welcome its annexation to Great Britain—a proposal +favoured by the colonial secretary, Lord Carnarvon, who wished +to federate the South African states, after the manner in which +the North American colonies had become by confederation the +Dominion of Canada. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who was sent +to inquire into the proposal, mistook the opinion of a party for +the verdict of the republic, and declared (April 1877) the Transvaal +a part of the British Empire. His policy entailed far more +serious consequences than the mission to Afghanistan. The first +<span class="sidenote">Zulu War.</span> +was a war with the Zulus, the most powerful and +warlike of the South African natives, who under their +ruler, Cetewayo, had organized a formidable army. A dispute +had been going on for some time about the possession of a strip +of territory which some British arbitrators had awarded to the +Zulu king. Sir Bartle Frere, who had won distinction in India, +and was sent out by Lord Beaconsfield’s government to the Cape, +kept back the award; and, though he ultimately communicated +it to Cetewayo, thought it desirable to demand the disbandment +of the Zulu army. In the war which ensued, the British troops +who invaded Zulu territory met with a severe reverse; and, +though the disaster was ultimately retrieved by Lord Chelmsford, +the war involved heavy expenditure and brought little credit +to the British army, while one unfortunate incident, the death +of Prince Napoleon, who had obtained leave to serve with the +British troops, and was surprised by the Zulus while <span class="correction" title="amended from reconnoitring">reconnoitering</span>, +created a deep and unfortunate impression. Imperialism, +which had been excited by Lord Beaconsfield’s policy in 1878, +and by the prospect of a war with a great European power, fell +into discredit when it degenerated into a fresh expedition into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page577" id="page577"></a>577</span> +Afghanistan, and an inglorious war with a savage African tribe. +A period of distress at home increased the discontent which Lord +Beaconsfield’s external policy was exciting; and, when parliament +was at last dissolved in 1880, it seemed no longer certain +that the country would endorse the policy of the minister, who +only a short time before had acquired such popularity. Gladstone, +emerging from his retirement, practically placed himself again at +the head of the Liberal party. In a series of speeches in Midlothian, +where he offered himself for election, he denounced the +whole policy which Lord Beaconsfield had pursued. His impassioned +eloquence did much more than influence his own +election. His speeches decided the contest throughout the +kingdom. The Liberals secured an even more surprising success +than that which had rewarded the Conservatives six years before. +For the first time in the queen’s reign, a solid Liberal majority, +independent of all extraneous Irish support, was returned, and +Gladstone resumed in triumph his old position as prime minister.</p> + +<p>The new minister had been swept into power on a wave of +popular favour, but he inherited from his predecessors difficulties +in almost every quarter of the world; and his own +language had perhaps tended to increase them. He +<span class="sidenote">Gladstone’s second ministry.</span> +was committed to a reversal of Lord Beaconsfield’s +policy; and, in politics, it is never easy, and perhaps +rarely wise, suddenly and violently to change a system. In one +quarter of the world the new minister achieved much success. +The war in Afghanistan, which had begun with disaster, was +creditably concluded. A better understanding was gradually +established with Russia; and, before the ministry went out, +steps had been taken which led to the delimitation of the Russian +and Afghan frontier. In South Africa, however, a very different +result ensued. Gladstone, before he accepted office, had denounced +the policy of annexing the Transvaal; his language +was so strong that he was charged with encouraging the Boers to +maintain their independence by force; his example had naturally +been imitated by some of his followers at the general election; +and, when he resumed power, he found himself in the difficult +dilemma of either maintaining an arrangement which he had +declared to be unwise, or of yielding to a demand which the +Boers were already threatening to support in arms. The events +of the first year of his administration added to his difficulty. +Before its close the Boers seized Heidelberg and established a +republic; they destroyed a detachment of British troops at +Bronkhorst Spruit; and they surrounded and attacked the +British garrisons in the Transvaal. Troops were of course sent +from England to maintain the British cause; and Sir George +Colley, who enjoyed a high reputation and had experience in +South African warfare, was made governor of Natal, and entrusted +with the military command. The events which immediately +followed will not be easily forgotten. Wholly miscalculating +the strength of the Boers, Sir George Colley, at the +end of January 1881, attacked them at Laing’s Nek, in the north +of Natal, and was repulsed with heavy loss. Some ten days +afterwards he fought another action on the Ingogo, and was again +forced to retire. On the 26th February, with some 600 men, he +occupied a high hill, known as Majuba, which, he thought, +dominated the Boer position. The following day the Boers +attacked the hill, overwhelmed its defenders, and Sir George +Colley was himself killed in the disastrous contest on the summit. +News of these occurrences was received with dismay in England. +It was, no doubt, possible to say a good deal for Gladstone’s +indignant denunciation of his predecessor’s policy in annexing +the Transvaal; it would have been equally possible to advance +many reasons for reversing the measures of Lord Beaconsfield’s +<span class="sidenote">Boer War, 1881.</span> +cabinet, and for conceding independence to the +Transvaal in 1880. But the great majority of persons +considered that, whatever arguments might have been +urged for concession in 1880, when British troops had suffered +no reverses, nothing could be said for concession in 1881, when +their arms had been tarnished by a humiliating disaster. Great +countries can afford to be generous in the hour of victory; but +they cannot yield, without loss of credit, in the hour of defeat. +Unfortunately this reasoning was not suited to Gladstone’s +temperament. The justice or injustice of the British cause +seemed to him a much more important matter than the vindication +of military honour; and he could not bring himself to +acknowledge that Majuba had altered the situation, and that +the terms which he had made up his mind to concede before +the battle could not be safely granted till military reputation +was restored. The retrocession of the Transvaal was decided +upon, though it was provided that the country should +remain under the suzerainty of the queen. Even this great +concession did not satisfy the ambition of the Boers, who were +naturally elated by their victories. Three years later some +Transvaal deputies, with their president, Kruger, came to London +and saw Lord Derby, the secretary of state for the colonies. Lord +Derby consented to a new convention, from which any verbal +reference to suzerainty was excluded; and the South African +republic was made independent, subject only to the condition +that it should conclude no treaties with foreign powers without +the approval of the crown. (For the details and disputes concerning +the terms of this convention the reader is referred to +the articles <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Transvaal</a></span> and <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Suzerainty</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>Gladstone’s government declined in popularity from the date +of the earliest of these concessions. Gladstone, in fact, had +succeeded in doing what Lord Beaconsfield had failed to accomplish. +Annoyance at his foreign policy had rekindled the +imperialism which the embarrassments created by Lord Beaconsfield +had done so much to damp down. And, if things were +going badly with the new government abroad, matters were not +progressing smoothly at home. At the general election of 1880, +the borough of Northampton, which of late years has shown an +unwavering preference for Liberals of an advanced type, returned +as its members Henry Labouchere and Charles Bradlaugh. +<span class="sidenote">Bradlaugh.</span> +Bradlaugh, who had attained some notoriety for an +aggressive atheism, claimed the right to make an +affirmation of allegiance instead of taking the customary oath, +which he declared was, in his eyes, a meaningless form. The +speaker, instead of deciding the question, submitted it to the +judgment of the House, and it was ultimately referred to a +select committee, which reported against Bradlaugh’s claim. +Bradlaugh, on hearing the decision of the committee, presented +himself at the bar and offered to take the oath. It was objected +that, as he had publicly declared that the words of the oath had +no clear meaning for him, he could not be permitted to take it; +and after some wrangling the matter was referred to a fresh +committee, which supported the view that Bradlaugh could not +be allowed to be sworn, but recommended that he should be +permitted to make the affirmation at his own risk. The House +refused to accept the recommendation of this committee when +a bill was introduced to give effect to it. This decision naturally +enlarged the question before it. For, while hitherto the debate +had turned on the technical points whether an affirmation could +be substituted for an oath, or whether a person who had declared +that an oath had no meaning for him could properly be sworn, +the end at which Bradlaugh’s opponents were thenceforward +aiming was the imposition of a new religious test—the belief +in a God—on members of the House of Commons. The controversy, +which thus began, continued through the parliament +of 1880, and led to many violent scenes, which lowered the +dignity of the House. It was quietly terminated, in the parliament +of 1886, by the firm action of a new speaker. Mr Peel, +who had been elected to the chair in 1884, decided that neither +the speaker nor any other member had the right to intervene to +prevent a member from taking the oath if he was willing to +take it. Parliament subsequently, by a new act, permitted +affirmations to be used, and thenceforward religion, or the +absence of religion, was no disqualification for a seat in the +House of Commons. The atheist, like the Roman Catholic and +the Jew, could sit and vote.</p> + +<p>The Bradlaugh question was not the only difficulty with +which the new government was confronted. Ireland was again +attracting the attention of politicians. The Fenian movement +had practically expired; some annual motions for the +introduction of Home Rule, made with all the decorum of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page578" id="page578"></a>578</span> +parliamentary usage, had been regularly defeated. But the +Irish were placing themselves under new leaders and adopting +new methods. During the Conservative government of 1874, the +Irish members had endeavoured to arrest attention by organized +obstruction. Their efforts had increased the difficulties of +<span class="sidenote">Parnell.</span> +government and taxed the endurance of parliament. +These tactics were destined to be raised to a fine art +by Parnell, who succeeded to the head of the Irish party about +the time of the formation of Gladstone’s government. It was +Parnell’s determination to make legislation impracticable, and +parliament unendurable, till Irish grievances were redressed. +It was his evident belief that by pursuing such tactics he could +force the House of Commons to concede the legislation which +he desired. The Irish members were not satisfied with the +legislation which parliament had passed in 1869-1870. The +land act of 1870 had given the tenant no security in the case +of eviction for non-payment of rent; and the tenant whose +rent was too high or had been raised was at the mercy of his +landlord. It so happened that some bad harvests had temporarily +increased the difficulties of the tenantry, and there was no doubt +that large numbers of evictions were taking place in Ireland. +In these circumstances, the Irish contended that the relief which +the act of 1870 had afforded should be extended, and that, till +such legislation could be devised, a temporary measure should +be passed giving the tenant compensation for disturbance. +Gladstone admitted the force of this reasoning, and a bill was +introduced to give effect to it. Passed by the Commons, it was +thrown out towards the end of the session by the Lords; and +the government acquiesced—perhaps could do nothing but +acquiesce—in this decision. In Ireland, however, the rejection +of the measure was attended with disastrous results. Outrages +increased, obnoxious landlords and agents were “boycotted”—the +name of the first gentleman exposed to this treatment adding +a new word to the language; and Forster, who had accepted the +office of chief secretary, thought it necessary, in the presence of +outrage and intimidation, to adopt stringent measures for +enforcing order. A measure was passed on his initiation, in +1881, authorizing him to arrest and detain suspected persons; +and many well-known Irishmen, including Parnell himself and +other members of parliament, were thrown into prison. It was +an odd commentary on parliamentary government that a Liberal +ministry should be in power, and that Irish members should +be in prison; and early in 1882 Gladstone determined to liberate +the prisoners on terms. The new policy—represented by what +was known as the Kilmainham Treaty—led to the resignation +of the viceroy, Lord Cowper, and of Forster, and the appointment +of Lord Spencer and Lord Frederick Cavendish as their +successors. On the 6th of May 1882 Lord Spencer made his entry +into Dublin, and on the evening of the same day Lord Frederick, +unwisely allowed to walk home alone with Burke, the under-secretary +to the Irish government, was murdered with his +companion in Phoenix Park. This gross outrage led to fresh +measures of coercion. The disclosure, soon afterwards, of a +conspiracy to resort to dynamite still further alienated the +sympathies of the Liberal party from the Irish nation. Gladstone +might fairly plead that he had done much, that he had risked +much, for Ireland, and that Ireland was making him a poor +return for his services.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile another difficulty was further embarrassing +a harassed government. The necessities of the khedive of Egypt +had been only temporarily relieved by the sale to +Lord Beaconsfield’s government of the Suez Canal +<span class="sidenote">Egypt.</span> +shares. Egyptian finance, in the interests of the bondholders, +had been placed under the dual control of England and France. +The new arrangement naturally produced some native resentment, +and Arabi Pasha placed himself at the head of a movement +which was intended to rid Egypt of foreign interference. His +preparations eventually led to the bombardment of Alexandria +by the British fleet, and still later to the invasion of Egypt by a +British army under Sir Garnet, afterwards Lord Wolseley, and +to the battle of Tell-el-Kebir, after which Arabi was defeated +and taken prisoner. The bombardment of Alexandria led to the +immediate resignation of Bright, whose presence in the cabinet +had been of importance to the government; the occupation of +Egypt broke up the dual control, and made Great Britain +responsible for Egyptian administration. The effects of British +rule were, in one sense, remarkable. The introduction of good +government increased the prosperity of the people, and restored +confidence in Egyptian finance. At the same time it provoked +the animosity of the French, who were naturally jealous of the +increase of British influence on the Nile, and it also threw new +responsibilities on the British nation. For south of Egypt +lay the great territory of the Sudan, which to some extent +commands the Nile, and which had been added to the Egyptian +dominions at various periods between 1820 and 1875. In 1881 +a fanatic sheikh—known as the mahdi—had headed an insurrection +against the khedive’s authority; and towards the close +of 1883 an Egyptian army under an Englishman, Colonel Hicks, +was annihilated by the mahdi’s followers. The insurrection +increased the responsibilities which intervention had imposed +on England, and an expedition was sent to Suakin to guard +the littoral of the Red Sea; while, at the beginning of 1884, +General Gordon—whose services in China had gained him a high +reputation, and who had had previous experience in the Sudan—was +sent to Khartum to report on the condition of affairs. These +decisions led to momentous results. The British expedition to +Suakin was engaged in a series of battles with Osman Digna, +<span class="sidenote">Gordon.</span> +the mahdi’s lieutenant; while General Gordon, after +alternate reverses and successes, was isolated at +Khartum. Anxious as Gladstone’s ministry was to restrict the +sphere of its responsibilities, it was compelled to send an expedition +to relieve General Gordon; and Lord Wolseley, who was +appointed to the command, decided on moving up the Nile to +his relief. The expedition proved much more difficult than +Lord Wolseley had anticipated. And before it reached its goal, +Khartum was forced to surrender, and General Gordon and his +few faithful followers were murdered (January 1885). General +Gordon’s death inflicted a fatal blow on the Liberal government. +It was thought that the general, whose singular devotion to +duty made him a popular hero, had been allowed to assume an +impossible task; had been feebly supported; and that the +measures for his relief had been unduly postponed and at last +only reluctantly undertaken. The ministry ultimately experienced +defeat on a side issue. The budget, which Childers brought +forward as chancellor of the exchequer, was attacked by the +Conservative party; and an amendment proposed by Sir Michael +Hicks-Beach, condemning an increase in the duties on spirits +and beer, was adopted by a small majority. Gladstone resigned +office, and Lord Salisbury, who, after Lord Beaconsfield’s death, +had succeeded to the lead of the Conservative party, was instructed +to form a new administration.</p> + +<p>It was obvious that the new government, as its first duty, +would be compelled to dissolve the parliament that had been +elected when Gladstone was enjoying the popularity +which he had lost so rapidly in office. But it so happened +<span class="sidenote">Reform Act, 1884.</span> +that it was no longer possible to appeal to the old constituencies. +For, in 1884, Gladstone had introduced a new +Reform Bill; and, though its passage had been arrested by the +Lords, unofficial communications between the leaders of both +parties had resulted in a compromise which had led to the +adoption of a large and comprehensive Reform Act. By this +measure, household franchise was extended to the counties. +But counties and boroughs were broken up into a number of +small constituencies, for the most part returning only one +member each; while the necessity of increasing the relative +weight of Great Britain, and the reluctance to inflict disfranchisement +on Ireland, led to an increase in the numbers of the House +of Commons from 658 to 670 members. This radical reconstruction +of the electorate necessarily made the result of the elections +doubtful. As a matter of fact, the new parliament comprised +334 Liberals, 250 Conservatives and 86 Irish Nationalists. It +was plain beyond the possibility of doubt that the future depended +on the course which the Irish Nationalists might adopt. +It they threw in their lot with Gladstone, Lord Salisbury’s +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page579" id="page579"></a>579</span> +government was evidently doomed. If, on the contrary, they +joined the Conservatives, they could make a Liberal administration +impracticable.</p> + +<p>In the autumn of 1885 it was doubtful what course the Irish +Nationalists would take. It was generally understood that +Lord Carnarvon, who had been made viceroy of +Ireland, had been in communication with Parnell; +<span class="sidenote">Home Rule.</span> +that Lord Salisbury was aware of the interviews +which had taken place; and it was whispered that Lord +Carnarvon was in favour of granting some sort of administrative +autonomy to Ireland. Whatever opinion Lord Carnarvon may +have formed—and his precise view is uncertain—a greater man +than he had suddenly arrived at a similar conclusion. In his +election speeches Gladstone had insisted on the necessity of the +country returning a Liberal majority which could act independently +of the Irish vote; and the result of the general election +had left the Irish the virtual arbiters of the political situation. +In these circumstances Gladstone arrived at a momentous +decision. He recognized that the system under which Ireland +had been governed in the past had failed to win the allegiance +of her people; and he decided that it was wise and safe to +entrust her with a large measure of self-government. It was +perhaps characteristic of Gladstone, though it was unquestionably +unfortunate, that, in determining on this radical change +of policy, he consulted few, if any, of his previous colleagues. +On the meeting of the new parliament Lord Salisbury’s government +was defeated on an amendment to the address, demanding +facilities for agricultural labourers to obtain small holdings for +gardens and pasture—the policy, in short, which was described +as “three acres and a cow.” Lord Salisbury resigned, and +Gladstone resumed power. The attitude, however, which +Gladstone was understood to be taking on the subject of Home +Rule threw many difficulties in his way. Lord Harrington, and +others of his former colleagues, declined to join his administration; +Mr Chamberlain, who, in the first instance, accepted +office, retired almost at once from the ministry; and Bright, +whose eloquence and past services gave him a unique position +in the House, threw in his lot in opposition to Home Rule. A +split in the Liberal party thus began, which was destined to +endure; and Gladstone found his difficulties increased by the +defection of the men on whom he had hitherto largely relied. +He persevered, however, in the task which he had set himself, +and introduced a measure endowing Ireland with a parliament, +and excluding the Irish members from Westminster. He was +defeated, and appealed from the House which had refused to +support him to the country. For the first time in the queen’s +reign two general elections occurred within twelve months. The +country showed no more disposition than the House of Commons +to approve the course which the minister was taking. A large +majority of the members of the new parliament were pledged +to resist Home Rule. Gladstone, bowing at once to the verdict +of the people, resigned office, and Lord Salisbury returned to +power.</p> + +<p>The new cabinet, which was formed to resist Home Rule, did +not succeed in combining all the opponents to this measure. +The secessionists from the Liberal party—the Liberal +Unionists, as they were called—held aloof from it; +<span class="sidenote">Unionism.</span> +and Lord Salisbury was forced to form his cabinet out of his +immediate followers. The most picturesque appointment was +that of Lord Randolph Churchill, who was made chancellor of +the exchequer and leader of the House of Commons. But +before many months were over, Lord Randolph—unable to +secure acceptance of a policy of financial retrenchment—resigned +office, and Lord Salisbury was forced to reconstruct his ministry. +Though he again failed to obtain the co-operation of the Liberal +Unionists, one of the more prominent of them—Goschen—accepted +the seals of the Exchequer. W.H. Smith moved from +the war office to the treasury, and became leader of the House +of Commons; while Lord Salisbury himself returned to the +foreign office, which the dramatically sudden death of Lord +Iddesleigh, better known as Sir Stafford Northcote, vacated. +These arrangements lasted till 1891, when, on Smith’s death, +the treasury and the lead of the Commons were entrusted to +Lord Salisbury’s nephew, Mr Arthur Balfour, who had made +a great reputation as chief secretary for Ireland.</p> + +<p>The ministry of 1886, which endured till 1892, gave to London +a county council; introduced representative government into +every English county; and made elementary education free +throughout England. The alliance with the Liberal Unionists +was, in fact, compelling the Conservative government to promote +measures which were not wholly consistent with the stricter +Conservative traditions, or wishes. In other respects, the legislative +achievements of the government were not great; and +the time of parliament was largely occupied in devising rules +for the conduct of its business, which the obstructive attitude +of the Irish members made necessary, and in discussing the +charges brought against the Nationalist party by <i>The Times</i>, +of complicity in the Phoenix Park murders. Under the new +rules, the sittings of the House on ordinary days were made to +commence at 3 <span class="scs">P.M.</span>, and opposed business was automatically +interrupted at midnight, while for the first time a power was +given to the majority in a House of a certain size to conclude +debate by what was known as the closure. Notwithstanding +these new rules obstructive tactics continued to prevail; and, +in the course of the parliament, many members were suspended +for disorderly conduct. The hostility of the Irish members was +perhaps increased by some natural indignation at the charges +brought against Parnell. <i>The Times</i>, in April 1887, printed +the facsimile of a letter purporting to be signed by Parnell, in +which he declared that he had no other course open to him but +to denounce the Phoenix Park murders, but that, while he +regretted “the accident” of Lord Frederick Cavendish’s death, +he could not “refuse to admit that Burke got no more than his +deserts.” The publication of this letter, and later of other +similar documents, naturally created a great sensation; and +the government ultimately appointed a special commission of +three judges to inquire into the charges and allegations that were +made. In the course of the inquiry it was proved that the +letters had emanated from a man named Pigott, who had at one +time been associated with the Irish Nationalist movement, but +who for some time past had earned a precarious living by writing +begging and threatening letters. Pigott, subjected to severe +cross-examination by Sir Charles Russell (afterwards Lord +Russell of Killowen), broke down, fled from justice and committed +suicide. His flight practically settled the question; and an +inquiry, which many people had thought at its inception would +brand Parnell as a criminal, raised him to an influence which +he had never enjoyed before. But in the same year which +witnessed his triumph, he was doomed to fall. He was made +co-respondent in a divorce suit brought by Captain O’Shea—another +Irishman—for the dissolution of his marriage; and the +disclosures made at the trial induced Gladstone, who was +supported by the Nonconformists generally throughout the +United Kingdom, to request Parnell to withdraw from the +leadership of the Irish party. Parnell refused to comply with +this request, and the Irish party was shattered into fragments +<span class="sidenote">Nationalist split.</span> +by his decision. Parnell himself did not long survive +the disruption of the party which he had done so +much to create. The exertions which he made to +retrieve his waning influence proved too much for his strength, +and in the autumn of 1891 he died suddenly at Brighton. +Parnell’s death radically altered the political situation. At the +general elections of 1885 and 1886 the existence of a strong, +united Irish party had exercised a dominating influence. As the +parliament of 1886 was drawing to a close, the dissensions among +the Irish members, and the loss of their great leader, were +visibly sapping the strength of the Nationalists. At the general +election of 1892 Home Rule was still the prominent subject +before the electors. But the English Liberals were already a +little weary of allies who were quarrelling among themselves, +and whose disputes were introducing a new factor into politics. +The political struggle virtually turned not on measures, but on +men. Gladstone’s great age, and the marvellous powers which +he displayed at a time when most men seek the repose of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page580" id="page580"></a>580</span> +retirement, were the chief causes which affected the results. His +influence enabled him to secure a small Liberal majority. But +it was noticed that the majority depended on Scottish, Irish and +Welsh votes, and that England—the “predominant partner,” +as it was subsequently called by Lord Rosebery—returned a +majority of members pledged to resist any attempt to dissolve +the union between the three kingdoms.</p> + +<p>On the meeting of the new parliament Lord Salisbury’s +government was defeated on a vote of want of confidence, and +for a fourth time Gladstone became prime minister. +In the session of 1893 he again introduced a Home +<span class="sidenote">Home Rule Bill, 1893.</span> +Rule Bill. But the measure of 1893 differed in many +respects from that of 1886. In particular, the Irish were +no longer to be excluded from the imperial parliament at +Westminster. The bill which was thus brought forward was +actually passed by the Commons. It was, however, rejected +by the Lords. The dissensions among the Irish themselves, and +the hostility which English constituents were displaying to the +proposal, emboldened the Peers to arrive at this decision. Some +doubt was felt as to the course which Gladstone would take in +this crisis. Many persons thought that he should at once have +appealed to the country, and have endeavoured to obtain a +distinct mandate from the constituencies to introduce a new +Home Rule Bill. Other persons imagined that he should have +followed the precedent which had been set by Lord Grey in 1831, +and, after a short prorogation, have reintroduced his measure in +a new session. As a matter of fact, Gladstone adopted neither +of these courses. The government decided not to take up the +gauntlet thrown down by the Peers, but to proceed with the rest +of their political programme. With this object an autumn session +was held, and the Parish Councils Act, introduced by Mr Fowler +(afterwards Lord Wolverhampton), was passed, after important +amendments, which had been introduced into it in the House of +Lords, had been reluctantly accepted by Gladstone. On the other +hand, an Employers’ Liability Bill, introduced by Mr Asquith, +the home secretary, was ultimately dropped by Gladstone after +passing all stages in the House of Commons, rather than that an +amendment of the Peers, allowing “contracting out,” should be +accepted.</p> + +<p>Before, however, the session had quite run out (3rd March +1894), Gladstone, who had now completed his eighty-fourth +year, laid down a load which his increasing years made it impossible +for him to sustain (see the article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Gladstone</a></span>). He was +succeeded by Lord Rosebery, whose abilities and attainments +had raised him to a high place in the Liberal counsels. Lord +Rosebery did not succeed in popularizing the Home Rule +<span class="sidenote">Lord Rosebery.</span> +proposal which Gladstone had failed to carry. He +declared, indeed, that success was not attainable till +England was converted to its expediency. He hinted +that success would not even then be assured until something was +done to reform the constitution of the House of Lords. But if, +on the one hand, he refused to introduce a new Home Rule Bill, +he hesitated, on the other, to court defeat by any attempt to +reform the Lords. His government, in these circumstances, +while it failed to conciliate its opponents, excited no enthusiasm +among its supporters. It was generally understood, moreover, +that a large section of the Liberal party resented Lord Rosebery’s +appointment to the first place in the ministry, and thought that +the lead should have been conferred on Sir W. Harcourt. It was +an open secret that these differences in the party were reflected +in the cabinet, and that the relations between Lord Rosebery and +Sir W. Harcourt were too strained to ensure either the harmonious +working or the stability of the administration. In these circumstances +the fall of the ministry was only a question of time. +It occurred—as often happens in parliament—on a minor issue +which no one had foreseen. Attention was drawn in the House of +Commons to the insufficient supply of cordite provided by the +war office, and the House—notwithstanding the assurance of the +war minister (Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman) that the supply +was adequate—placed the government in a minority. Lord +Rosebery resigned office, and Lord Salisbury for the third time +became prime minister, the duke of Devonshire, Mr Chamberlain +and other Liberal Unionists joining the government. Parliament +was dissolved, and a new parliament, in which the Unionists +obtained an overwhelming majority, was returned.</p> + +<p>The government of 1892-1895, which was successively led by +Gladstone and Lord Rosebery, will, on the whole, be remembered +for its failures. Yet it passed two measures which have exercised +a wide influence. The Parish Councils Act introduced electoral +institutions into the government of every parish, and in 1894 +Sir W. Harcourt, as chancellor of the exchequer, availed himself +of the opportunity, which a large addition to the navy invited, to +reconstruct the death duties. He swept away in doing so many +of the advantages which the owner of real estate and the life +tenant of settled property had previously enjoyed, and drove +home a principle which Goschen had tentatively introduced a few +years before by increasing the rate of the duty with the amount +of the estate. Rich men, out of their superfluities, were thenceforward +to pay more than poor men out of their necessities.</p> + +<p>The Unionist government which came into power in 1895 +lasted, with certain changes of <i>personnel</i>, till 1905, with a break +caused by the dissolution of 1900. History may hereafter +conclude that the most significant circumstance of the earlier +period is to be found in the demonstration of loyalty and +affection to which the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s +accession led in 1897. Ten years before, her jubilee had been the +occasion of enthusiastic rejoicings, and the queen’s progress +through London to a service of thanksgiving at Westminster +had impressed the imagination of her subjects and proved the +<span class="sidenote">The two jubilees.</span> +affection of her people. But the rejoicings of 1887 were +forgotten amid the more striking demonstrations ten +years later. It was seen then that the queen, by her +conduct and character, had gained a popularity which has had no +parallel in history, and had won a place in the hearts of her +subjects which perhaps no other monarch had ever previously +enjoyed. There was no doubt that, if the opinion of the English-speaking +races throughout the world could have been tested by a +plebiscite, an overwhelming majority would have declared that +the fittest person for the rule of the British empire was the +gracious and kindly lady who for sixty years, in sorrow and in joy, +had so worthily discharged the duties of her high position. This +remarkable demonstration was not confined to the British +empire alone. In every portion of the globe the sixtieth anniversary +of the queen’s reign excited interest; in every country +the queen’s name was mentioned with affection and respect; +while the people of the United States vied with the subjects of the +British empire in praise of the queen’s character and in expressions +of regard for her person. Only a year or two before, an obscure +dispute on the boundary of British Venezuela had brought the +United States and Great Britain within sight of a quarrel. The +jubilee showed conclusively that, whatever politicians might say, +the ties of blood and kinship, which united the two peoples, were +too close to be severed by either for some trifling cause; that the +wisest heads in both nations were aware of the advantages which +must arise from the closer union of the Anglo-Saxon races; and +that the true interests of both countries lay in their mutual +friendship. A war in which the United States was subsequently +engaged with Spain cemented this feeling. The government and +the people of the United States recognized the advantage which +they derived from the goodwill of Great Britain in the hour of +their necessity, and the two nations drew together as no other +two nations had perhaps ever been drawn together before.</p> + +<p>If the jubilee was a proof of the closer union of the many +sections of the British empire, and of their warm attachment to +their sovereign, it also gave expression to the “imperialism” +which was becoming a dominant factor in British politics. Few +people realized the mighty change which in this respect had been +effected in thought and feeling. Forty years before, the most +prominent English statesmen had regarded with anxiety the +huge responsibilities of a world-wide empire. In 1897 the whole +tendency of thought and opinion was to enlarge the burden of +which the preceding generation had been weary. The extension +of British influence, the protection of British interests, were +almost universally advocated; and the few statesmen who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page581" id="page581"></a>581</span> +repeated in the ’nineties the sentiments which would have been +generally accepted in the ’sixties, were regarded as “Little +Englanders.” It is important to note the consequences which +these new ideas produced in Africa. Both in the north and +in the south of this great and imperfectly explored continent, +memories still clung which were ungrateful to imperialism. In +the north, the murder of Gordon was still unavenged; and the +vast territory known as the Sudan had escaped from the control of +Egypt. In the south, war with the Transvaal had been concluded +by a British defeat; and the Dutch were elated, the English +irritated, at the recollection of Majuba. In 1896 Lord Salisbury’s +government decided on extending the Anglo-Egyptian rule over +the Sudan, and an expedition was sent from Egypt under the +command of Sir Herbert (afterwards Lord) Kitchener to Khartum. +Few military expeditions have been more elaborately organized, +or have achieved a more brilliant success. The conquest of the +country was achieved in three separate campaigns in successive +years. In September 1898 the Sudanese forces were decisively +beaten, with great slaughter, in the immediate neighbourhood of +<span class="sidenote">Omdurman, Fashoda.</span> +Omdurman; and Khartum became thenceforward the +capital of the new province, which was placed under +Lord Kitchener’s rule. Soon after this decisive +success, it was found that a French expedition under +Major Marchand had reached the upper Nile and had hoisted the +French flag at Fashoda. It was obvious that the French could +not be allowed to remain at a spot which the khedive of Egypt +claimed as Egyptian territory; and after some negotiation, and +some irritation, the French were withdrawn. In South Africa +still more important events were in the meanwhile progressing. +Ever since the independence of the South African Republic had +been virtually conceded by the convention of 1884, unhappy +differences had prevailed between the Dutch and British +residents in the Transvaal. The discovery of gold at Johannesburg +and elsewhere in 1885-1886 had led to a large immigration +of British and other colonists. Johannesburg had grown into +a great and prosperous city. The foreign population of the +Transvaal, which was chiefly English, became in a few years more +numerous than the Boers themselves, and they complained that +they were deprived of all political rights, that they were subjected +to unfair taxation, and that they were hampered in their industry +and unjustly treated by the Dutch courts and Dutch officials. +Failing to obtain redress, at the end of 1895 certain persons +among them made preparations for a revolution. Dr Jameson, +the administrator of Rhodesia, accompanied by some British +officers, actually invaded the Transvaal. His force, utterly +<span class="sidenote">Jameson Raid.</span> +inadequate for the purpose, was stopped by the Boers, +and he and his fellow-officers were taken prisoners. +There was no doubt that this raid on the territory of +a friendly state was totally unjustifiable. Unfortunately, Dr +Jameson’s original plans had been framed at the instance of +Cecil Rhodes, the prime minister at the Cape, and many persons +thought that they ought to have been suspected by the colonial +office in London. England at any rate would have had no valid +ground of complaint if the leaders of a buccaneering force had +been summarily dealt with by the Transvaal authorities. The +president of the republic, Kruger, however, handed over his +prisoners to the British authorities, and parliament instituted an +inquiry by a select committee into the circumstances of the raid. +The inquiry was terminated somewhat abruptly. The committee +acquitted the colonial office of any knowledge of the plot; but a +good many suspicions remained unanswered. The chief actors in +the raid were tried under the Foreign Enlistment Act, found +guilty, and subsequently released after short terms of imprisonment. +Rhodes himself was not removed from the privy council, +as his more extreme accusers demanded; but he had to abandon +his career in Cape politics for a time, and confine his energies to +the development of Rhodesia, which had been added to the +empire through his instrumentality in 1888-1889.</p> + +<p>In consequence of these proceedings, the Transvaal authorities +at once set to work to accumulate armaments, and they succeeded +in procuring vast quantities of artillery and military stores. +The British government would undoubtedly have been entitled to +insist that these armaments should cease. It was obvious that +they could only be directed against Great Britain; and no +nation is bound to allow another people to prepare great +armaments to be employed against itself. The criminal folly of +the raid prevented the British government from making this +demand. It could not say that the Transvaal government had no +cause for alarm when British officers had attempted an invasion +of its territory, and had been treated rather as heroes than as +criminals at home. Ignorant of the strength of Great Britain, +and elated by the recollection of their previous successes, the +Boers themselves believed that a new struggle might give them +predominance in South Africa. The knowledge that a large +portion of the population of Cape Colony was of Dutch extraction, +and that public men at the Cape sympathized with them in their +aspirations, increased their confidence. In the meantime, while +the Boers were silently and steadily continuing their military +preparations, the British settlers at Johannesburg—the +Uitlanders, as they were called—continued to demand consideration +for their grievances. In the spring of 1899, Sir Alfred +<span class="sidenote">Boer War, 1899.</span> +Milner, governor of the Cape, met President Kruger at +Bloemfontein, the capital of the Orange Free State, and +endeavoured to accomplish that result by negotiation. +He thought, at the time, that if the Uitlanders were given the +franchise and a fair proportion of influence in the legislature, other +difficulties might be left to settle themselves. The negotiations +thus commenced unfortunately failed. The discussion, which +had originally turned on the franchise, was enlarged by the +introduction of the question of suzerainty or supremacy; and at +last, in the beginning of October, when the rains of an African +spring were causing the grass to grow on which the Boer armies +were largely dependent for forage, the Boers declared war and +invaded Natal. The British government had not been altogether +happy in its conduct of the preceding negotiations. It was certainly +unhappy in its preparations for the struggle. It made the great +mistake of underrating the strength of its enemy; it suffered its +agents to commit the strategical blunder of locking up the few +troops it had in an untenable position in the north of Natal. +It was not surprising, in such circumstances, that the earlier +months of the war should have been memorable for a series of +exasperating reverses. These reverses, however, were redeemed +by the valour of the British troops, the spirit of the British +nation, and the enthusiasm which induced the great autonomous +colonies of the empire to send men to support the cause of the +mother country. The gradual arrival of reinforcements, and the +appointment of a soldier of genius—Lord Roberts—to the +supreme command, changed the military situation; and, +before the summer of 1900 was concluded, the places which had +been besieged by the Boers—Kimberley, Ladysmith and +Mafeking—had been successively relieved; the capitals of the +Orange Free State and of the Transvaal had been occupied; and +the two republics, which had rashly declared war against the +British empire, had been formally annexed.</p> + +<p>The defeat and dispersal of the Boer armies, and the apparent +collapse of Boer resistance, induced a hope that the war was +over; and the government seized the opportunity in +1900 to terminate the parliament, which had already +<span class="sidenote">The close of 1900.</span> +endured for more than five years. The election was +conducted with unusual bitterness; but the constituencies +practically affirmed the policy of the government by maintaining, +almost unimpaired, the large majority which the Unionists had +secured in 1895. Unfortunately, the expectations which had +been formed at the time of the dissolution were disappointed. +The same circumstances which had emboldened the Boers to +declare war in the autumn of 1899, induced them to renew a +guerilla warfare in the autumn of 1900—the approach of an +African summer supplying the Boers with the grass on which +they were dependent for feeding their hardy horses. Guerilla +bands suddenly appeared in different parts of the Orange River +Colony and of the Transvaal. They interrupted the communications +of the British armies; they won isolated victories +over British detachments; they even invaded Cape Colony. +Thus the last year of the century closed in disappointment +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page582" id="page582"></a>582</span> +and gloom. The serious losses which the war entailed, the +heavy expenses which it involved, and the large force which +it absorbed, filled thoughtful men with anxiety.</p> + +<p>No one felt more sincerely for the sufferings of her soldiers, and +no one regretted more truly the useless prolongation of the +struggle, than the venerable lady who occupied the +throne. She had herself lost a grandson (Prince +<span class="sidenote">The death of the queen.</span> +Christian Victor) in South Africa; and sorrow and +anxiety perhaps told even on a constitution so unusually +strong as hers. About the middle of January 1901 it +was known that she was seriously ill; on the 22nd she died. +The death of the queen thus occurred immediately after the close +of the century over so long a period of which her reign had +extended.</p> + +<p>The queen’s own life is dealt with elsewhere (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Victoria, +Queen</a></span>), but the Victorian era is deeply marked in English +history. During her reign the people of Great Britain doubled +their number; but the accumulated wealth of the country +increased at least threefold, and its trade sixfold. All classes +shared the prevalent prosperity. Notwithstanding the increase +of population, the roll of paupers at the end of the reign, +compared with the same roll at the beginning, stood as 2 stands +to 3; the criminals as 1 to 2. The expansion abroad was still +more remarkable. There were not 200,000 white persons in +Australasia when the queen came to the throne; there were +nearly 5,000,000 when she died. The great Australian colonies +were almost created in her reign; two of them—Victoria and +Queensland—owe their name to her; they all received those +autonomous institutions, under which their prosperity has been +built up, during its continuance. Expansion and progress were +not confined to Australasia. The opening months of the queen’s +reign were marked by rebellion in Canada. The close of it saw +Canada one of the most loyal portions of the Empire. In Africa, +the advance of the red line which marks the bounds of British +dominion was even more rapid; while in India the Punjab, +Sind, Oudh and Burma were some of the acquisitions added to +the British empire while the queen was on the throne. When +she died one square mile in four of the land in the world was under +the British flag, and at least one person out of every five persons +alive was a subject of the queen.</p> + +<p>Material progress was largely facilitated by industry and +invention. The first railways had been made, the first steamship +had been built, before the queen came to the throne. But, so +far as railways are concerned, none of the great trunk lines had +been constructed in 1837; the whole capital authorized to be +spent on railway construction did not exceed £55,000,000; and, +five years after the reign had begun, there were only 18,000,000 +passengers. The paid-up capital of British railways in 1901 +exceeded £1,100,000,000; the passengers, not including season +ticket-holders, also numbered 1,100,000,000; and the sum +annually spent in working the lines considerably exceeded the +whole capital authorized to be spent on their construction in +1837. The progress of the commercial marine was still more +noteworthy. In 1837 the entire commercial navy comprised +2,800,000 tons, of which less than 100,000 tons were moved by +steam. At the end of the reign the tonnage of British merchant +vessels had reached 13,700,000 tons, of which more than +11,000,000 tons were moved by steam. At the beginning of the +reign it was supposed to be impossible to build a steamer which +could either cross the Atlantic, or face the monsoon in the Red +Sea. The development of steam navigation since then had +made Australia much more accessible than America was in 1837, +and had brought New York, for all practical purposes, nearer +to London than Aberdeen was at the commencement of the reign. +Electricity had even a greater effect on communication than +steam on locomotion; and electricity, as a practical invention, +had its origin in the reign. The first experimental telegraph +line was only erected in the year in which Queen Victoria came +to the throne. Submarine telegraphy, which had done so much +to knit the empire together, was not perfected for many years +afterwards; and long ocean cables were almost entirely constructed +in the last half of the reign.</p> +<div class="author">(S. W.)</div> + +<p>On the death of Queen Victoria, the prince of Wales succeeded +to the throne, with the title of Edward VII. (<i>q.v.</i>). The coronation +fixed for June in the following year was at the +last moment stopped by the king’s illness with appendicitis, +<span class="sidenote">Reign of Edward VII.</span> +but he recovered marvellously from the operation +and the ceremony took place in August. His excellent +health and activity in succeeding years struck every one with +astonishment. The Boer War had at last been brought to an end +in May 1902 (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Transvaal</a></span>), and the king had the satisfaction of +seeing South Africa settle down and eventually receive self-government. +The political history of his reign, which ended with his +death in May 1910, is dealt with in detail in separate biographical +and other articles in this work (see especially those on Lord +Salisbury, Mr A.J. Balfour, Mr J. Chamberlain, Lord Rosebery, +Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, Mr H.H. Asquith, Mr D. Lloyd +George, and on the history of the various portions of the British +Empire); and in this place only a summary need be given. +The king himself (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Edward VII.</a></span>), who nobly earned the title +of Edward the Peacemaker, played no small part in the domestic +and international politics of these years; and contemporary publicists, +who had become accustomed to Victorian traditions, gradually +realized that, within the limits of the constitutional monarchy, +there was much more scope for the initiative of a masculine +sovereign in public life than had been supposed by the generation +which grew up after the death of his father in 1862. Edward +VII. made the Crown throughout all classes of society a popular +power which it had not been in England for long ages. And +while the growing rivalry between England and Germany, in +international relations, was continually threatening danger, +his influence in cementing British friendship on all other sides +was of the most marked description. His sudden death was +felt, not only throughout the empire but throughout the world, +with even more poignant emotion than that of Queen Victoria +herself, for his personality had been much more in the forefront.</p> + +<p>The end of his reign coincided with a domestic constitutional +crisis, to which party politics had been working up more and +more acutely for several years. The Tariff Reform +propaganda of Mr Chamberlain (<i>q.v.</i>) in 1903 convulsed +<span class="sidenote">The Crisis of 1910.</span> +the Conservative party, and the long period of Unionist +domination came to an end in November 1905. Mr +Balfour (<i>q.v.</i>), who became prime minister in 1902 on Lord +Salisbury’s retirement, resigned, and was succeeded by Sir H. +Campbell-Bannerman (<i>q.v.</i>), as head of the Liberal party; and +the general election of January 1906 resulted in an overwhelming +victory for the Liberals and their allies, the Labour party (now +a powerful force in politics) and the Irish Nationalists. Just +before Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman’s death in April 1908 he +was succeeded as prime minister by Mr Asquith, a leader of far +higher personal ability though with less hold on the affections of +his party. The Liberals had long arrears to make up in their +political programme, and their supremacy in the House of +Commons was an encouragement to assert their views in legislation. +In several directions, and notably in administration, they +carried their policy into effect; but the House of Lords (see +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Parliament</a></span>) was an obvious stumbling-block to some of their +more important Bills, and the Unionist control of that House +speedily made itself felt, first in wrecking the Education Bill of +1906, then in throwing out the Licensing Bill of 1908, and finally +(see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Lloyd George, D.</a></span>) in forcing a dissolution by the rejection +of the budget of 1909, with its novel proposals for the increased +taxation of land and licensed houses. The Unionist party in +the country had, meanwhile, been recovering from the Tariff +Reform divisions of 1903, and was once more solid under Mr +Balfour in favour of its new and imperial policy; but the campaign +against the House of Lords started by Mr Lloyd George +and the Liberal leaders, who put in the forefront the necessity +of obtaining statutory guarantees for the passing into law of +measures deliberately adopted by the elected Chamber, resulted +in the return of Mr Asquith’s government to office at the election +of January 1910. The Unionists came back equal in numbers to +the Liberals, but the latter could also count on the Labour party +and the Irish Nationalists; and the battle was fully arrayed for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page583" id="page583"></a>583</span> +a frontal attack on the powers of the Second Chamber when the +king’s death in May upset all calculations. This unthought-of +complication seemed to act like the letting of blood in an +apoplectic patient.</p> + +<p>The prince of Wales became king as George V. (<i>q.v.</i>), and a +temporary truce was called; and the reign began with a serious +attempt between the leaders of the two great parties, +by private conference, to see whether compromise was +<span class="sidenote">Accession of George V.</span> +not possible (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Parliament</a></span>). Apart from the +parliamentary crisis, really hingeing on the difficulty +of discovering a means by which the real will of the people should +be carried out without actually making the House of Commons +autocratically omnipotent, but also without allowing the House +of Lords to obstruct a Liberal government merely as the organ +of the Tory party, the new king succeeded to a noble heritage. +The monarchy itself was popular, the country was prosperous and +in good relations with the world, except for the increasing naval +rivalry with Germany, and the consciousness of imperial solidarity +had made extraordinary progress among all the dominions. +However the domestic problems in the United Kingdom might +be solved, the future of the greatness of the English throne lay +with its headship of an empire, loyal to the core, over which the +sun never sets.</p> +<div class="author">(H. Ch.)</div> + +<p class="pt2 center sc">XIII.—Sources and Writers of English History</p> + +<p>The attempt here made to combine a bibliography of English +history with some account of the progress of English historical +writing is beset with some difficulty. The evidential value of +what a writer says is quite distinct from the literary art with +which he says it; the real sources of history are not the works +of historians, but records and documents written with no desire +to further any literary purpose. Domesday Book is unique as a +source of medieval history, but it does not count in the development +of English historical writing. That is quite a secondary +consideration; for there was much English history before any +Englishman could write; and even after he could write, his +compositions constitute a minor part of the evidence.</p> + +<p>Our earliest information about the land and its people is derived +from geological, ethnological and archaeological studies, from +the remains in British barrows and caves, Roman roads, walls +and villas, coins, place-names and inscriptions. The writings +of Caesar and Tacitus, and a few scattered notices in other +Roman authors, supplement this evidence. But the scientific +accuracy of Tacitus’ <i>Germania</i> is not beyond dispute, and that +light fails centuries before the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Great +Britain. The history of that conquest itself is mainly inferential; +there is the <i>flebilis narratio</i> of Gildas, vague and rhetorical, moral +rather than historical in motive, and written more than a century +after the conquest had begun, and the narrative of the Welsh +Nennius, who wrote two and a half centuries after Gildas, and +makes no critical distinction between the deeds of dragons and +those of Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxons themselves could not +write until Christian missionaries had reintroduced the art at +the end of the 6th century, and history was not by any means +the first purpose to which they applied it. It was first used to +compile written statements of customs and dooms which were +their nearest approach to law, and these codes and charters +are the earliest written materials for Anglo-Saxon history. +The remarkable outburst of literary culture in Northumbria +during the 7th and 8th centuries produced a real historian in +Bede; Bede, however, knows little or nothing of English +history between 450 and 596, and he is valuable only for the +7th and early part of the 8th centuries. Almost contemporary +is the <i>Vita Wilfridi</i> by Eddius, but more valuable are the letters +we possess of Boniface and Alcuin. The famous Anglo-Saxon +Chronicle was probably started under the influence of Alfred +the Great towards the end of the 9th century. Its chronology +is often one, two or three years wrong even when it seems to be a +contemporary authority, and the value of its evidence on the conquest +and the first two centuries after it is very uncertain. But +from Ecgbert’s reign onwards it supplies a good deal of apparently +trustworthy information. For Alfred himself we have also +Asser’s biography and the <i>Annals of St Neots</i>, a very imaginative +compilation, while most of the stories which have made Alfred’s +name a household word are fabulous. Even the Chronicle +becomes meagre a few years after Alfred’s death, and its value +depends largely upon the ballads which it incorporates; nor is +it materially supplemented by the lives of St Dunstan, for +hagiologists have never treated historical accuracy as a matter +of moment; and our knowledge of the last century of Anglo-Saxon +history is derived mainly from Anglo-Norman writers +who wrote after the Norman Conquest. Some collateral light +on the Danish conquest of England is thrown by the <i>Heimskringla</i> +and other materials collected in Vigfusson and Powell’s +<i>Corpus Poeticum Boreale</i>, and for the reign of Canute and his +sons there is the contemporary <i>Encomium Emmae</i>, which is a +dishonest panegyric on the widow of Ęthelred and Canute. +For Edward the Confessor there is an almost equally biased +biography.</p> + +<p>For the Norman Conquest itself strictly contemporary evidence +is extremely scanty, and historians have exhausted their own +and their readers’ patience in disputing the precise significance +of some phrases about the battle of Hastings used by Wace, a +Norman poet who wrote nearly a century after the battle. One +version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle goes down to 1079 and +another to 1154, but their notices of current events are brief +and meagre. The Bayeux tapestry affords, however, valuable +contemporary evidence, and there are some facts related by +eye-witnesses in the works of William of Poitiers and William +of Jumičges. A generation of copious chroniclers was, moreover, +springing up, and among them were Florence of Worcester, +Henry of Huntingdon, Simeon of Durham and William of +Malmesbury. Their ambition was almost invariably to write the +history of the world, and they generally begin with the Creation. +They only become original and contemporary authorities +towards the end of their appointed tasks, and the bulk of +their work is borrowed from their predecessors. Frequently +they embody materials which would otherwise have perished, +but their transcription is marred by an amount of conscious +or unconscious falsification which seriously impairs their +value. All the above-mentioned writers lived in the half-century +immediately following the Norman Conquest, but their +critical acumen and their literary art vary considerably. William +of Malmesbury, Eadmer and Ordericus Vitalis attain a higher +historical standard than had yet been reached in England by +any one, with the possible exception of Bede. They are not +mere annalists; they practise an art and cultivate a style; +history has become to them a form of literature. They have +also their philosophy and interpretation of history. It is mainly +a theological conception, blind to economic influences, and +attaching excessive importance to the effects of the individual +action of emperors and popes, kings and cardinals. Even their +characters are painted in different colours according to their +action on quite irrelevant questions, as, for instance, their +benefactions to the monastery, to which the historian happens +to belong, or to rival houses; and the character once determined +by such considerations, history is made to point the moral of +their fortunes, or their fate. It is regarded as the record of moral +judgments and the proof of orthodox doctrine, and it is long +before ecclesiastical historians expel the sermon from their text.</p> + +<p>The line of monastic historians stretches out to the close of +the middle ages. Most of the great monasteries had their official +annalists, who produced such works as the Annals of Tewkesbury, +Gloucester, Burton, Waverley, Dunstable, Bermondsey, Oseney, +Winchester (see <i>Annales Monastici</i>, 5 vols., ed. Luard, and other +volumes in the Rolls series). Some of them are mainly local +chronicles; others are almost national histories. In particular, +St Albans developed a remarkable school of historians extending +over nearly three centuries to the death of Whethamstede in +1465 (see <i>Chronica Monasterii S. Albani</i>, Rolls series, 7 vols., +ed. Riley). Only a few of the 235 volumes published under the +direction of the master of the Rolls, and called the Rolls series, +can here be mentioned. Other medieval writers have been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page584" id="page584"></a>584</span> +edited for the earlier English Historical Society; some of them +have been re-edited without being superseded in the Rolls +series. For the reign of Stephen we have the anonymous +<i>Gesta Stephani</i> in addition to the writers already mentioned, +several of whom continue into Stephen’s reign. For Henry II. +we have William of Newburgh, who reaches the highest point +attained by historical composition in the 12th century; the +so-called Benedict of Peterborough’s <i>Gesta Henrici</i>, which Stubbs +tentatively and without sufficient authority ascribed to Richard +Fitznigel; Robert of Torigni; and seven volumes of “Materials +for the History of Thomas Becket,” which contain some of the +best and worst samples of hagiological history. For Richard +and John the chronicles of Roger of Hoveden, Ralph de Diceto +(Diss), Gervase of Canterbury, Ralph of Coggeshall, and a later +continuation of Hoveden, known under the name of Walter of +Coventry, are the best narrative authorities.</p> + +<p>With the accession of Henry III., Roger of Wendover, the +first of the St Albans school whose writings are extant, becomes +our chief authority. He was re-edited and continued after 1236 +by Matthew Paris, the greatest of medieval historians. His work, +which goes down to 1259, is picturesque, vivid, and marked by +considerable breadth of view and independence of judgment. +The story is carried on by a series of jejune compilations known +as the <i>Flores historiarum</i> (ed. Luard). Better authorities for +Edward I. are Rishanger, Trokelowe and Blaneforde, Wykes, +Walter of Hemingburgh, Nicholas Trevet, Oxnead and Bartholomew +Cotton, and others contained in Stubbs’s <i>Chronicles of +Edward I. and Edward II.</i> In the 14th century there is a +significant deterioration in the monastic chroniclers, and their +place is taken by the works of secular clergy like Adam Murimuth, +Geoffrey the Baker, Robert of Avesbury, Henry Knighton and +the anonymous author of the <i>Eulogium historiarum</i>. Monastic +history is represented by Higden’s voluminous <i>Polychronicon</i>, +which succeeds the <i>Flores historiarum</i>. A brief revival of the +St Albans school towards the end of the century is seen in the +<i>Chronicon Angliae</i> and the works of T. Walsingham, which +continue into the reign of Henry V. For Richard II. we have +also Malverne and the Monk of Evesham; for the early Lancastrians, +Capgrave, Elmham, Otterbourne, Adam of Usk; +and for Henry VI., Amundesham, Whethamstede, William of +Worcester and John Hardyng, as well as a number of anonymous +briefer chronicles, edited, though not in the Rolls series, by +J. Gairdner, C.L. Kingsford, N.H. Nicolas and J.S. Davies.</p> + +<p>These are the principal English historical writers for the +middle ages; but as the connexion between England and the +continent grew closer, and international relations developed, +an increasing amount of light is thrown on English history by +foreign writers. Of these authorities one of the earliest is the +<i>Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois d’Angleterre</i> (ed. +Michel); briefer are the <i>Chronique de l’Anonyme de Béthune</i> +and the <i>Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal</i>. A large number +of French and Flemish chronicles illustrate the history of the +Hundred Years’ War, by far the most important being Froissart +(best edition by Luce, though Lettenhove’s is bigger). Next +come Jehan le Bel, Waurin’s <i>Recueil</i>, Monstrelet, Chastellain, +Juvenal des Ursins, and more limited works such as Créton’s +<i>Chronique de la traison et mort de Richard II</i>.</p> + +<p>Chronicles, however, grow less important as sources of history +as time goes on. Their value is always dependent upon the +absence of the more satisfactory materials known as records, +and these records gradually become more copious and complete. +They develop with the government, of whose activity and policy +they are the real test and evidence. Perhaps the most important +thing in history is the evolution of government, the development +of consciousness and a will on the part of the state. This will +is expressed in records; and, as the state progresses from infancy +through the stage of tutelage under the church to its modern +“omnicompetence,” so its will is expressed in an ever widening +and differentiating series of records. The first need of a government +is finance; the earliest organized machinery for exerting +its will is the exchequer; and the earliest great record in English +history is Domesday Book. It is followed by a series of exchequer +records, called the Pipe Rolls, which begin in the reign of Henry I., +and dating from that of Henry II. is the <i>Dialogus de scaccario</i>, +which explains in none too lucid language the intricate working +of the exchequer system. It was Henry II. who gave the greatest +impetus to the development of the machinery for expressing +the will of the state. He began with finance and went on to +justice, recognizing that <i>justitia magnum emolumentum</i>, the +administration of justice was a great source of revenue. So +national courts of law are added to the national exchequer, and +by the end of the 12th century legal records become an even +more important source of history than financial documents. +The judicial system is described by Glanvill at the end of the +12th, and by Bracton and Fleta in the 13th century (for the +exchequer see the <i>Testa de Nevill</i> and the <i>Red Book of the +Exchequer</i>). During that period the Curia Regis threw off three +offshoots—the courts of exchequer, king’s bench and common +pleas; and records of their judicial proceedings survive in the +Plea Rolls and Year Books, some of which have been edited for +the Rolls series, the Selden and other societies. Numerous other +classes of legal and administrative records gradually develop, +the Patent and Close Rolls (first calendared by the Record +Commission, and subsequently treated more adequately under +the direction of the deputy keeper of the Records), Charters +(which were first grants to individuals, then to collective groups, +monasteries or boroughs, then to classes, and finally expanded—as +in Magna Carta—into grants to the whole nation), Escheats, +Feet of Fines, Inquisitiones post mortem, Inquisitiones ad quod +damnum, Placita de Quo Warranto, and others for which the +reader is referred to S.R. Scargill-Bird’s <i>Guide to the Principal +Classes of Documents preserved in the Record Office</i> (3rd ed., 1908). +Every branch of administration comes to be represented in +records almost as soon as it is developed. The evolution of the +army which won Creēy and Poitiers is accompanied by the +accumulation of a mass of indentures and other military documents, +the value of which has been illustrated in Dr Morris’s +<i>Welsh Wars of Edward I</i>. and George Wrottesley’s <i>Creēy and +Calais from the Public Records</i>. The growth of naval organization +is reflected in the <i>Black Book of the Admiralty</i>; the growth of +taxation in the <i>Liber custumarum</i> and <i>Subsidy Rolls</i>; the rise +of parliament in the <i>Parliamentary Writs</i> (ed. Palgrave), in the +<i>Rotuli parliamentorum</i>, in the <i>Official Return of Members of +Parliament</i>, and in the <i>Statutes of the Realm</i>; that of Convocation +in David Wilkins’s <i>Concilia</i>. The register of the privy +council does not begin until later in the 14th century, and then +is broken off between the middle of the 15th and 1539.</p> + +<p>Local as well as central government begets records as it grows. +From the <i>Extenta manerii</i> of the 12th century we get to the +<i>Manorial Rolls</i> of the 13th, when also we have <i>Hundred Rolls</i>, +records of forest courts, of courts leet and of coroners’ courts, +and a variety of municipal documents, for which the reader is +referred to Dr C. Gross’s <i>Bibliography of British Municipal +History</i> and to Mrs J.R. Green’s more popular <i>Town Life in the +Fifteenth Century</i>. The municipal records of London, its hustings +court and city companies, are too multifarious to describe; +some classes of these documents have been exemplified in the +works of Dr R.R. Sharpe. Ecclesiastical records are represented +by the episcopal registers (for the most part still unpublished), +monastic cartularies, and other documents rendered comparatively +scarce by the spoliation of the monasteries, and +scattered proceedings of ecclesiastical courts. (See also the +article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Record</a></span>.)</p> + +<p>Documents, other than records strictly so called, begin to +grow with the habit of correspondence and the necessity of +communication. A few letters survive from the time of the +Norman kings, but the earliest collection of English royal letters +is the <i>Letters of Henry III</i>. (Rolls series). Contemporary are the +<i>Letters of Grosseteste</i>, and a little later come the <i>Letters of Archbishop +Peckham</i> and Raine’s <i>Letters from Northern Registers</i> +(all in the Rolls series). Private correspondence appeared earlier +in the voluminous epistles of Peter of Blois, archdeacon of Bath +(ed. Giles). This is a somewhat intermittent source of history +until we come to the 15th century, when the well-known <i>Paston Letters</i> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page585" id="page585"></a>585</span> +(ed. Gairdner) begin a stream which never fails thereafter +and soon becomes a torrent. The most important series of +official correspondence is the <i>Papal Letters</i>, calendared from 1198 +to 1404 in 4 vols. (ed. Bliss, Johnson and Twemlow). Subsidiary +sources are the <i>Political Songs</i> (ed. Wright), treatises like those +of John of Salisbury, Gerald of Wales, and, later, Wycliffe’s +works, Netter’s <i>Fasciculi Zizaniorum</i>, Gascoigne’s <i>Loci e libro +veritatum</i>, Pecock’s <i>Repressor</i>, and the literary writings of +Chaucer, Langland, Gower, Richard Rolle and others.</p> + +<p>During the 15th century the transition, which marks the +change from medieval to modern history, affects also the +character of historical sources and historical writing. In the first +place, history ceases to be the exclusive province of the church; +monastic chronicles shrink to a trickle and then dry up; the last +of their kind in England is the <i>Greyfriars Chronicle</i> (Camden +Society), which ends in 1554. Their place is taken by the city +chronicle compiled by middle-class laymen, just as the Renaissance +was not a revival of clerical learning, but the expression +of new intellectual demands on the part of the laity. Secondly, +the definite disappearance of the medieval ideas of a cosmopolitan +world and the emergence of national states begat diplomacy, and +with it an ever-swelling mass of diplomatic material. Diplomacy +had hitherto been occasional and intermittent, and embassies +rare; now we get resident ambassadors carrying on a regular +correspondence (see <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Diplomacy</a></span>). The mercantile interests of +Venice made it the pioneer in this direction, though its representatives +abroad were at first commercial rather than diplomatic +agents. The <i>Calendar of Venetian State Papers</i> goes back to the +14th century, but does not become copious till the reign of +Henry VII., when also the Spanish Calendar begins. Resident +French ambassadors in England only begin in the 16th century, +and later still those from the emperor, the German and Italian +states other than Venice. In the third place, the development +of the new monarchy involved an enormous extension of the +activity of the central government, and therefore a corresponding +expansion in the records of its energy.</p> + +<p>The political records of this energy are the State Papers, a +class of document which soon dwarfs all others, and renders +chroniclers, historians and the like almost negligible quantities as +sources of history; but in another way their value is enhanced, +for these hundreds of thousands of documents provide a test of +the accuracy of modern historians which is imperfect in the case +of medieval chroniclers and almost non-existent in that of +ancient writers. These state papers are either “foreign” or +“domestic,” that is to say, the correspondence of the English +government with its agents abroad, or at home. There is also the +correspondence of foreign ambassadors resident in England with +their governments. This last class of documents exists in England +mainly in the form of transcripts from the originals in foreign +archives, which have been made for the purpose of the Venetian +and Spanish Calendars of state papers. The Venetian Calendar +had by 1909 been carried well into the 17th century; the Spanish +(which includes transcripts from the Habsburg archives at +Vienna, Brussels and Simancas) covered only the reigns of +Henry VII. and VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. No attempt had +yet been made to calendar the French correspondence in a similar +way, though the French Foreign Office published some fragmentary +collections, such as the <i>Correspondance de MM. de +Castillon et de Marillac</i> and that of Odet de Selve. There are +other collections too numerous to enumerate, such as Lettenhove’s +edition of Philip II.’s correspondence relating to the Netherlands, +Diegerick and Müller’s, Teulet’s and Albéri’s collections, +the French <i>Documents inédits</i> and the Spanish <i>Documentos +ineditos</i>, all containing state papers relating to England’s +foreign policy in the 16th century. The Scottish and Irish state +papers are calendared in separate series and without much +system. Thus for Scottish affairs there are four series, the +Border Papers, the Hamilton Papers, Thorp’s Calendar, and, +more recent and complete, Bain’s Calendar. For Ireland, +besides the regular Irish state papers, there are the Carew Papers, +almost as important. Anarchy, indeed, pervades the whole +method of publication. For the reign of Henry VII. we have, +besides the Venetian and Spanish Calendars, only three volumes—Gairdner’s +<i>Letters and Papers of Richard III. and Henry VII.</i> +and Campbell’s <i>Materials</i> (2 vols., Rolls series). Then with the +reign of Henry VIII. begins the magnificent and monumental +<i>Letters and Papers of Henry VIII.</i>, the one modern series for +which the Record Office deserves unstinted praise. This is not +limited to state papers, domestic and foreign, nor to documents in +the Record Office; it calendars private letters, grants, &c., +extant in the British Museum and elsewhere. It extends to +21 volumes, each volume consisting of two or more parts, and +some parts (as in vol. iv.) containing over a thousand pages; +it comprises at least fifty thousand documents. Its value, however, +varies; the earlier volumes are not so full as the later, the +documents are not so well calendared, and some classes are +excluded from earlier, which appear in the later, volumes.</p> + +<p>After 1547 a different plan is adopted, though not consistently +followed. Only state papers are calendared, and as a rule only +those in the Record Office; and the domestic are separated from +the foreign. The great fault is the neglect of the vast quantities +of state papers in the British Museum. The Domestic Calendar +(the first volume of which is very inadequate) extended in 1909 +in a series of more than seventy volumes nearly to the end of the +17th century; the mass of MSS. calendared therein may be +gathered from the fact that for the reign of Elizabeth the Domestic +state papers fill over three hundred MS. volumes. The Foreign +Calendar had only got to 1582, but it occupied sixteen printed +volumes against one of the Domestic Calendar. For the masses +of MSS. uncalendared in the British Museum there is no guide +except the imperfect indexes to the Cotton, Harleian, Lansdowne, +Additional and other collections. Hardly less important than the +calendars are the reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission +and the appendices thereto, which extend to over a +hundred volumes; twelve are occupied by Lord Salisbury’s +16th-century MSS. at Hatfield House. The dispersion of these +state papers is due to the fact that they were in those days +treated not as the property of the state, but as the private +property of individual secretaries.</p> + +<p>State papers represent only one side of the activity of the +central government. The register of the privy council, extending +with some lacunae from 1539 to 1604, has been printed in +thirty-two volumes. The <i>Rotuli parliamentorum</i> end with +Henry VII., but in 1509 begin the journals of the House of +Lords, and in 1547 the journals of the House of Commons. +These are supplemented by private diaries of members of +parliament, several of which were used in D’Ewes’s <i>Journals</i>. +Legal history can now be followed in a continuous series of law +reports, beginning with Keilway, Staunford and Dyer, and +going on with Coke and many others; documentary records of +various courts are exemplified in the <i>Select Cases</i> from the +star chamber, the court of requests and admiralty courts, +published by the Selden Society; and there are voluminous +records of the courts of augmentations, first-fruits, wards and +liveries in the Record Office. For Ireland, besides the state +papers, there are the Calendars of Patents and of Fiants, and +for Scotland the Exchequer Rolls and Registers of the Privy +Council and of the Great Seal, both extending to many volumes.</p> + +<p>Unofficial sources multiply with equal rapidity, but it is +impossible to enumerate the collections of private letters, &c., +only a few of which have been published. The chronicles, +which in the 15th century are usually meagre productions like +Warkworth’s (Camden Society), get fuller, especially those +emanating from London. Fabyan is succeeded by Hall, an +indispensable authority for Henry VIII., and Hall by Grafton. +Other useful books are Wriothesley’s <i>Chronicle</i> and Machyn’s +<i>Diary</i>, and they have numerous successors; some of their works +have been edited for the Camden Society, which now takes the +place of the Rolls series. The most important are Holinshed, +Stow and Camden; and gradually, with Speed and Bacon, the +chronicle develops into the history, and early in the 17th century +we get such works as Lord Herbert’s <i>Reign of Henry +VIII.</i>, Hayward’s <i>Edward VI.</i>, and, on the ecclesiastical side, +Heylyn, Fuller, Burnet and Collier’s histories of the church and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page586" id="page586"></a>586</span> +Reformation. Foxe, who died in 1587, included a vast and +generally accurate collection of documents in his <i>Acts and +Monuments</i>, popularized as the <i>Book of Martyrs</i>, though his own +contributions have to be discounted as much as those of Sanders, +Parsons and other Roman Catholic controversialists. Two other +great collections are the Parker Society’s publications (56 vols.), +which contain besides the works of the reformers a considerable +number of their letters, and Strype’s works (26 vols.). The +naval epic of the period is Hakluyt’s <i>Navigations</i>, re-edited in 12 +vols. in 1902, and continued in Purchas’s <i>Pilgrims</i>.</p> + +<p>In the 17th century the domestic and foreign state papers +eclipse other sources almost more completely than in the 16th. +The colonial state papers now become important and extensive, +those relating to America and the West Indies being most +numerous (18 vols. to 1700). Parliamentary records naturally +expand, and the journals of both houses become more detailed. +Parliamentary diarists like D’Ewes, Burton and Walter Yonge, +only a fragment of whose shorthand notes in the British Museum +has been published (Camden Society), elucidate the bare official +statements; and from 1660 the series of parliamentary debates +is fairly complete, though not so full or authoritative as it +becomes with Hansard in the 19th century. Social diarists of +great value appear after the Restoration in Pepys, Evelyn, +Reresby, Narcissus Luttrell and Swift (<i>Journal to Stella</i>), and +political writing grows more important as a source of history, +whether it takes the form of Bacon’s (ed. Spedding) or Milton’s +treatises, or of satires like Dryden’s and political pamphlets like +Halifax’s and then Swift’s, Defoe’s and Steele’s. Clarendon’s +<i>Great Rebellion</i> and Burnet’s <i>History of My Own Time</i> are the +first modern attempts at contemporary history, as distinct from +chronicles and annals, in England, although it is difficult to +exclude the work of Matthew Paris from the category. The +innumerable tracts and newsletters are a valuable source for +the Civil Wars and Commonwealth period (see J.B. Williams, +<i>A History of English Journalism</i>, 1909), while Thurloe’s, +Clarendon’s and Nalson’s collections of state papers deserve a +mention apart from the Domestic Calendar. There is a still +more monumental collection—the Carte Papers—on Irish affairs +in the Bodleian Library, where also the Tanner MSS. and other +collections have only been very partially worked. The volumes +of the Historical MSS. Commission are of great value for the +later Stuart period, notably the House of Lords MSS.</p> + +<p>For the 18th century the only calendars are the Home Office +Papers and the Treasury Books and Papers, the further specialization +of government having made it necessary to differentiate +domestic state papers into several classes. But it need hardly +be said that the bulk of correspondence in the Record Office +does not diminish. Outside its walls the most important single +collection is perhaps the duke of Newcastle’s papers among the +Additional MSS. in the British Museum; the Stuart papers at +Windsor, Mr Fortescue’s at Dropmore, Lord Charlemont’s +(Irish affairs), Lord Dartmouth’s (American affairs) and Lord +Carlisle’s, all calendared by the Historical MSS. Commission, +are also valuable. Chatham’s correspondence with colonial +governors has been published (2 vols., 1906), as have the <i>Grenville +Papers</i>, <i>Bedford Correspondence</i>, Malmesbury’s <i>Diaries</i>, Auckland’s +<i>Journals and Correspondence</i>, Grafton’s <i>Correspondence</i>, +Lord North’s <i>Correspondence with George III.</i>, and other correspondence +in <i>The Memoirs of Rockingham</i>, and the duke of +Buckingham’s <i>Court and Cabinets of George III.</i> Mention should +also be made of Gower’s <i>Despatches</i>, the <i>Cornwallis Correspondence</i>, +Rose’s <i>Correspondence</i> and Lord Colchester’s <i>Correspondence</i>. +Of special interest is the series of naval records, despatches to +and from naval commanders, proceedings of courts-martial, and +logs in the Record Office which have never been properly utilized.</p> + +<p>Among unofficial sources the most characteristic of the 18th +century are letters, memoirs and periodical literature. Horace +Walpole’s <i>Letters</i> (Clarendon Press, 16 vols.) are the best comment +on the history of the period; his <i>Memoirs</i> are not so good, +though they are superior to Wraxall, who succeeds him. +Periodical literature becomes regular in the reign of Queen Anne, +chiefly in the form of journals like the <i>Spectator</i>; but several +daily newspapers, including <i>The Times</i>, were founded during +the century. <i>The Craftsman</i> provided a vehicle for Bolingbroke’s +attacks on Walpole, while the <i>Gentleman’s Magazine and Annual +Register</i> begin a more serious and prolonged career. Both contain +occasional state papers, and not very trustworthy reports of +parliamentary proceedings. The publication of debates was not +authorized till the last quarter of the century; parliamentary +papers begin earlier, but only slowly attain their present portentous +dimensions. Political writing is at its best from Halifax +to Cobbett, and its three greatest names are perhaps Swift, +“Junius” and Burke, though Steele, Defoe, Bolingbroke and +Dr Johnson are not far behind, while Canning’s contributions +to the <i>Anti-Jacobin</i> and Gillray’s caricatures require mention.</p> + +<p>The sources for 19th-century history are somewhat similar +to those for the 18th. Diaries continue in the <i>Creevey Papers</i>, +Greville’s Diary, and lesser but not less voluminous writers like +Sir M.E. Grant-Duff. The most important series of letters is +Queen Victoria’s (ed. Lord Esher and A.C. Benson, 1908), and +the correspondence of most of her prime ministers and many of +her other advisers has been partially published. Of political +biographies there is no end. The great bulk of material, however, +consists of blue-books, Hansard’s <i>Parliamentary Debates</i>, and +newspapers—which are better as indirect than direct evidence. +The real truth is not of course revealed at once, and many episodes +in 19th-century history are still shrouded by official secrecy. In +this respect English governments are more cautious or reactionary +than many of those on the continent of Europe, and access to +official documents is denied when it is granted elsewhere; even +the lapse of a century is not considered a sufficient salve for +susceptibilities which might be wounded by the whole truth.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the 19th century witnessed a great development +in historical writing. In the middle ages the stimulus to write +was mainly of a moral or ecclesiastical nature, though the +patriotic impulse which had suggested the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle +was perhaps never entirely absent, and the ecclesiastical motive +often degenerated into a desire to glorify, sometimes even by +forgery, not merely the church as a whole, but the particular +monastery to which the writer belonged. As nationalism +developed, the patriotic motive supplanted the ecclesiastical, +and stress is laid on the “famous” history of England. Insular +self-glorification was, however, modified to some extent by the +Renaissance, which developed an interest in other lands, and the +Reformation, which gave to much historical writing a partisan +theological bias. This still colours most of the “histories” of +the Reformation period, because the issues of that time are +living issues, and the writers of these histories are committed +beforehand by their profession and their position to a particular +interpretation. In the 17th century political partisanship +coloured historical writing, and that, too, remained a potent +motive so long as historians were either Whigs or Tories. +Histories were often elaborate party pamphlets, and this race +of historians is hardly yet extinct. Macaulay is not greatly +superior in impartiality to Hume; Gibbon and Robertson were +less open to temptation because they avoided English subjects. +Hallam deliberately aimed at impartiality, but he could not +escape his Whig atmosphere. Nevertheless, the effort to be +impartial marks a new conception of history, which is well +expressed in Lord Acton’s admonition to his contributors in the +<i>Cambridge Modern History</i>. Historians are to serve no cause +but that of truth; in so far even as they desire a line of investigation +to lead to a particular result, they are not, maintains +Professor Bury, real historians. S.R. Gardiner perhaps attained +most nearly this severe ideal among English historians, and +Ranke among Germans. But, even when all conscious bias is +eliminated, the unconscious bias remains, and Ranke’s history +of the Reformation is essentially a middle-class, even <i>bourgeois</i>, +presentment. Stubbs’s medievalist sympathies colour his +history throughout, and still more strongly does Froude’s anti-clericalism. +Freeman’s bias was peculiar; he is really a West +Saxon of Godwine’s time reincarnated, and his Somerset hatred +of French, Scots and Mercian foreigners sets off his robust +loyalty to the house of Wessex. Lecky and Creighton are almost +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page587" id="page587"></a>587</span> +as dispassionate as Gardiner, but are more definitely committed +to particular points of views, while democratic fervour pervades +the fascinating pages of J.R. Green, and an intellectual secularism, +which is almost religious in its intensity and idealism, inspired +the genius of Maitland.</p> + +<p>The latest controversy about history is whether it is a science +or an art. It is, of course, both, simply because there must be +science in every art and art in every science. The antithesis +is largely false; science lays stress on analysis, art on synthesis. +The historian must apply scientific methods to his materials +and artistic methods to his results; he must test his documents +and then turn them into literature. The relative importance +of the two methods is a matter of dispute. There are some who +still maintain that history is merely an art, that the best history is +the story that is best told, and that what is said is less important +than the way in which it is said. This school generally ignores +records. Others attach little importance to the form in which +truth is presented; they are concerned mainly with the principles +and methods of scientific criticism, and specialize in palaeography, +diplomatic and sources. The works of this school are little read, +but in time its results penetrate the teaching in schools and +universities, and then the pages of literary historians; it is +represented in England by a fairly good organization, the Royal +Historical Society (with which the Camden Society has been +amalgamated), and by an excellent periodical, <i>The English +Historical Review</i> (founded in 1884), while some sort of propaganda +is attempted by the Historical Association (started in +1906). Its standards have also been upheld with varying success +in great co-operative undertakings, such as the <i>Dictionary of +National Biography</i>, the <i>Cambridge Modern History</i>, and Messrs +Longmans’ <i>Political History of England</i>.</p> + +<div class="condensed"> +<p>These 19th-century products require some sort of classification +for purposes of reference, and the chronological is the most convenient. +Lingard’s, J.R. Green’s and Messrs Longmans’ histories +are the only notable attempts to tell the history of England as a +whole, though Stubbs’s <i>Constitutional History</i> (3 vols.) covers the +middle ages and embodies a political survey as well (for corrections +and modifications see Petit-Dutaillis, <i>Supplementary Studies</i>, 1908), +while Hallam’s <i>Constitutional History</i> (3 vols.) extends from 1485 +to 1760 and Erskine May’s (3 vols.) from 1760 to 1860. Sir James +Ramsay’s six volumes also cover the greater part of medieval +English history. There is no work on a larger scale than Lappenberg +and Kemble, dealing with England before the Norman Conquest, +though J.R. Green’s <i>Making of England</i> and <i>Conquest of England</i> +deal with certain portions in some detail, and Freeman gives a +preliminary survey in his <i>Norman Conquest</i> (6 vols.). For the +succeeding period see Freeman’s <i>William Rufus</i>, J.H. Round’s +<i>Feudal England</i> and <i>Geoffrey de Mandeville</i>, and Miss Norgate’s +<i>England under the Angevins and John Lackland</i>. From 1216 we have +nothing but Ramsay, Stubbs, Longmans’ <i>Political History</i> and +monographs (some of them good), until we come to Wylie’s <i>Henry IV</i>. +(4 vols.); and again from 1413 the same is true (Gairdner’s <i>Lollardy +and the Reformation</i> being the most elaborate monograph) until we +come to Brewer’s <i>Reign of Henry VIII</i>. (2 vols.; to 1530 only), +Froude’s <i>History</i> (12 vols., 1529-1588) and R.W. Dixon’s <i>Church +History</i> (6 vols., 1529-1570). From 1603 to 1656 we have Gardiner’s +<i>History</i> (England, 10 vols.; Civil War, 4 vols.; Commonwealth and +Protectorate, 3 vols.), and to 1714 Ranke’s <i>History of England</i> (6 +vols.; see also Firth’s <i>Cromwell</i> and <i>Cromwell’s Army</i>, and various +editions of texts and monographs). For Charles II. there is no good +history; then come Macaulay, and Stanhope and Wyon’s <i>Queen +Anne</i>, and for the 18th century Stanhope and Lecky (England, +7 vols.; Ireland, 5 vols.). From 1793 to 1815 is another gap only +partially filled. Spencer Walpole deals with the period from 1815 to +1880, and Herbert Paul with the years 1846-1895.</p> + +<p>A few books on special subjects deserve mention. For legal +history see Pollock and Maitland’s <i>History of English Law</i> (2 vols. +to Edward I.), Maitland’s <i>Domesday Book and Beyond</i>, and Anson’s +<i>Law and Custom of the Constitution</i>; for economic history, Cunningham’s +<i>Growth of Industry and Commerce</i>, and Ashley’s <i>Economic +History</i>; for ecclesiastical history, Stephens and Hunt’s series (7 +vols.); for foreign and colonial, Seeley’s <i>British Foreign Policy</i> and +<i>Expansion of England</i>, and J.A. Doyle’s books on the American +colonies; for military history, Fortescue’s <i>History of the British +Army</i>, Napier’s and Oman’s works on the <i>Peninsular War</i>, and +Kinglake’s <i>Invasion of the Crimea</i>; and for naval history, Corbett’s +<i>Drake and the Tudor Navy, Successors of Drake, English in the Mediterranean</i> +and <i>Seven Years’ War</i>, and Mahan’s <i>Influence of Sea-Power +on History</i> and <i>Influence of Sea-Power upon the French Revolution +and Empire</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="sc">Bibliography of Bibliographies</span>.—The sources for the middle +ages have been enumerated in C. Gross’s <i>Sources and Literature of +English History ... to about 1485</i> (London, 1900), but there is +nothing similar for modern history. G.C. Lee’s <i>Source Book of +English History</i> is not very satisfactory. More information can be +obtained from the bibliographies appended to the volumes in +Longmans’ <i>Political History</i>, or the chapters in the <i>Cambridge +Modern History</i>, or to the biographical articles in the <i>D.N.B.</i> and +<i>Ency. Brit.</i> A series of bibliographical leaflets for the use of teachers +is issued by the Historical Association. For MSS. sources see +Scargill-Bird’s <i>Guide to the Record Office</i>, and the class catalogues +in the MSS. Department of the British Museum. Lists of the state +papers and other documents printed and calendared under the direction +of the master of the Rolls and deputy keeper of the Records +are supplied at the end of many of their volumes.</p> +</div> +<div class="author">(A. F. P.)</div> + +<hr class="foot" /> <div class="note"> + +<p><a name="ft1a" id="ft1a" href="#fa1a"><span class="fn">1</span></a> As the name Edith (Eadgyth) sounded uncouth to Norman ears, +she assumed the continental name Maheut or Mahelt (Eng. Mahald, +later Mold and Maud), in Latin Matildis or Matilda. Sir J.H. +Ramsay, <i>Foundations of England</i>, ii. 235. (Ed.)</p> + +<p><a name="ft2a" id="ft2a" href="#fa2a"><span class="fn">2</span></a> The Nottingham of 1387, who had been promoted to the higher +title.</p> + +<p><a name="ft3a" id="ft3a" href="#fa3a"><span class="fn">3</span></a> Mr Andrew Lang takes a different view of the character of +Albany and his attitude in this matter. See <i>Hist. of Scotland</i>, i. +289, and the article <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Scotland</a></span>: <i>History</i>.—<span class="sc">Ed.</span></p> + +<p><a name="ft4a" id="ft4a" href="#fa4a"><span class="fn">4</span></a> The peculiar absurdity of Henry’s claim to be king of France was +that if, on the original English claim as set forth by Edward III., +heirship through females counted, then the earl of March was +entitled to the French throne. A vote of the English parliament +superseding March’s claim in favour of that of Henry IV. could +obviously have no legal effect in France.</p> + +<p><a name="ft5a" id="ft5a" href="#fa5a"><span class="fn">5</span></a> The events of the reign of Charles I. are treated in greater +detail in the articles <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Charles I.</a></span>, King of Great Britain and Ireland; +<span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Strafford</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Hampden</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Pym</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Great Rebellion</a></span>; <span class="sc"><a href="#artlinks">Cromwell</a></span>, &c.</p> + +<p><a name="ft6a" id="ft6a" href="#fa6a"><span class="fn">6</span></a> The position of the Corresponding Society was greatly +strengthened by the establishment of the Friends of the People by +Erskine and Grey.</p> + +<p><a name="ft7a" id="ft7a" href="#fa7a"><span class="fn">7</span></a> A vivid account of the mutiny and its causes is given in +Captain Marryat’s <i>King’s Own</i>.</p> + +<p><a name="ft8a" id="ft8a" href="#fa8a"><span class="fn">8</span></a> Edward Henry Stanley, 15th earl of Derby, son of the 14th earl +and former prime minister.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="art" /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th +Edition, Volume 9, Slice 5, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. 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