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diff --git a/35236.txt b/35236.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e54d8c --- /dev/null +++ b/35236.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17718 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, +Volume 9, Slice 5, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. 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: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + + + + + +Transcriber's notes: + +(1) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript. + +(2) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective + paragraphs. + +(3) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not + inserted. + +(4) The following typographical errors have been corrected: + + ARTICLE ENGLISH HISTORY: "Though he disguised himself, he was + detected by his old enemy and imprisoned." 'himself' amended from + 'himelf'. + + ARTICLE ENGLISH HISTORY: "Having so done they dispersed, not + guessing that Lancaster had yielded so easily because he was set on + undoing their work the moment that they were gone." 'Lancaster' + amended from 'Lancester'. + + ARTICLE ENGLISH HISTORY: "... but purely and solely to attaint his + brother, the duke of Clarence, whom he had resolved to destroy." + 'the duke' was missing. + + ARTICLE ENGLISH HISTORY: "... so as to appeal to the + constituencies, which did not always share in the passions of their + representatives." 'the' appeared twice. + + ARTICLE ENGLISH HISTORY: "The arrogant spirit of Englishmen made + them contemptuous towards the colonists, and the desire to thrust + taxation upon others than themselves made the new colonial + legislation popular." 'contemptuous' amended from 'comtemptuous'. + + ARTICLE ENGLISH HISTORY: "... and was surprised by the Zulus while + reconnoitering, created a deep and unfortunate impression." + 'reconnoitering' amended from 'reconnoitring'. + + + + + ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA + + A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE + AND GENERAL INFORMATION + + ELEVENTH EDITION + + + VOLUME IX, SLICE V + + English History + + + + +ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE: + + + ENGLISH HISTORY + + + + +ENGLISH HISTORY.--The general account of English history which follows +should be supplemented for the earlier period by the article BRITAIN. +See also SCOTLAND, IRELAND, WALES. + + +I. FROM THE LANDING OF AUGUSTINE TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST (600-1066) + +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 _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_. 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 _Ecclesiastica historia_ 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. + +[Illustration: Map--Anglo-Saxon Britain 597-825.] + + + Conversion of England. + +The conversion of England to Christianity took, from first to last, some +ninety years (A.D. 597 to 686), though during the last thirty the +ancestral heathenism was only lingering on in remote comers of the land. +The original missionary 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 (A.D. 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. + +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. + + + The English church. + +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 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. + + + Formation of the kingdoms. + +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 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. AEthelfrith, 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 (A.D. 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. + + + The "Bretwaldas." + +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 +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 _gesiths_, 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. + + + Supremacy of Northumbria. + + Supremacy of Mercia. + +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 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 +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 AEthelbald 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, AEthelbald 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 _Rex Anglorum_, 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. + + + Supremacy of Wessex. + +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 Ellandune (A.D. 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. + + + Danish invasions. + +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 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 AEthelwulf. + + + Influence of viking sea-power. + +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 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 VIKING.) + + + Progress of Danish conquest. + +King Ecgbert died long ere the invaders had reached this stage of +insolence. AEthelwulf, his weak and kindly son, would undoubtedly have +lost the titular supremacy of Wessex over the other English kingdoms if +there had been in 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 AEthelwulf as his overlord. For though Wessex had its full +share of Danish attacks it met them with a vigour that was not seen in +the other realms. The defence was often, if not always, successful; and +once at least (at Aclea in 851) AEthelwulf 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. + +It was not, however, till after AEthelwulf'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, AEthelbald, +AEthelbert and AEthelred, 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. + +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 AEthelred, the third son of AEthelwulf, 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 AEthelred +was mortally wounded. + + + Alfred the Great. + +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 +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. + +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. + +[Illustration: Map--England, 886, after Alfred & Guthrum's Peace.] + +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 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 AEthelred, 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. + +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. + + + Alfred's reforms. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, is told +elsewhere, as are his mechanical inventions, his buildings, and his +dealings with missionaries and explorers (see ALFRED). + +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. + +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. + + + Edward the Elder. + +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, AEthelstan, Edmund and Edred, devoted +themselves for fifty-five years (A.D. 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 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. + +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 _burhs_ as he +advanced, to hold down each district that he won. He was helped by his +brother-in-law, the Mercian ealdorman AEthelred, and, after the death of +that magnate, by his warlike sister AEthelflaed, 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. AEthelflaed 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. + + + AEthelstan. + +In 925 Edward was succeeded by his eldest, son AEthelstan, 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 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. AEthelstan'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 AEthelstan 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 _Rex totius Britanniae_. Occasionally he even used the +title _Basileus_, as if he claimed a quasi-imperial position. + + + Edmund: Edred. + +The trampling out of the last embers of Danish particularism in the +North was reserved for AEthelstan's brothers and successors, Edmund and +Edred (940-955), who put down several risings of the Yorkshiremen, one +of which was 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. + +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. + + + Edgar. + +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 _Rex Pacificus_. +The minor sovereigns of Britain owned him as overlord, as they had owned +his grandfather Edward and his uncle AEthelstan. 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. + +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. + +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 AElfthryth, +who was set on pushing the claims of her son, the child AEthelred. 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 AEthelred on the throne: he was only in his eleventh +year, and was at least personally innocent of complicity in his +brother's death. + + + AEthelred the Unready. + + Danish invasions. + +With the accession of AEthelred, 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 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 +AEthelred'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 by small experiments +that England was no longer guarded as she had been in the days of Alfred +or AEthelstan, and in 991 the first serious invasion of AEthelred'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. 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 AEthelred 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 AEthelred 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, +AEthelred 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 AEthelred'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, AElfric 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. AEthelred's army was always at the wrong place--"if the +enemy were east then was the _fyrd_ held west, and if they were north +then was our force held south." When AEthelred did appear it was more +often to pay a bribe to the invaders than to fight. Indeed the +_Danegeld_, the tax which he raised to furnish tribute to the invaders, +became a regular institution: on six occasions at least AEthelred bought +a few months of peace by sums ranging from 10,000 to 48,000 pounds of +silver. + + + Canute. + +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. First Northumbria, then Wessex, then London +yielded, and AEthelred 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 AEthelred'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 AEthelred's favourite +Eadric Streona adhered to Canute, fearing to lose the office and power +that he had enjoyed for so long under AEthelred, 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. + +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 AEthelred 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 AEthelred 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. + +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 AEthelred'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. + +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 AEthelred. 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. + +The fact, that England recovered with marvellous rapidity from the evil +effects of AEthelred'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 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. + +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. + + + Edward the Confessor. + + Harold. + +On Harthacnut's death he was succeeded not by any Danish prince but by +his half-brother Edward, the elder son of AEthelred and Emma, whom he had +entertained at his court, and had apparently designated as his heir, for +he had no 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 AEthelred'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 Jumieges, 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 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 AEthelred 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. + +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. + + + Origin of the Norman Conquest. + +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, 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. + +All through the summer Harold held a fleet concentrated 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. + +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 +HASTINGS: _Battle of_.) 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 +AEtheling 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. + + +II. THE NORMAN AND ANGEVIN MONARCHY (1066-1199) + + William the Conqueror. + +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 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. + + + Progress of Norman Settlement. + +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 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 AEtheling 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 HEREWARD). + +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 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. + +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. + + + Feudalism. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + Domesday. + +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 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 (q.v.) 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 _fyrd_, the +old national _levee en masse_, 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. + + + Position of the Church. + +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 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 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 +_personnel_ 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 CHURCH HISTORY; PAPACY; INVESTITURE). 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. (q.v.). 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. + +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. + + + William's later reign. + +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 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. + +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 regime 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. + + + William Rufus. + +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 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 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. + +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 (q.v.), 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. + + + Anselm. + +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 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 (q.v.) 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. + +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. + + + Succession of Henry I. + +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 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 +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. + +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,[1] the niece of Edgar AEtheling, 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. + +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. + +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. + + + Henry's difficulties with the church. + +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 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 _modus vivendi_. 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. + +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 unparalleled by any of his +predecessors, and by all his successors till Edward I. + + + Constitutional machinery. + +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 kind of bureaucracy, which +gradually developed into a much more complicated system of courts and +offices. Around the sovereign was his _Curia Regis_ 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. + +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 EXCHEQUER.) + +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. + +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 BOROUGH). + +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. + +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 (q.v.), 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. + + + Henry's heir. + +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 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. + + + Matilda, and Stephen. + +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 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 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. + +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. + + + Civil war. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, +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." + +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. + + + Henry II. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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" (q.v.) 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. + + + Quarrel with the church. + + Becket. + +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 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 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 _modus vivendi_ with the church. As a +preliminary move he appointed his able chancellor Thomas Becket to the +archbishopric of Canterbury, which fell vacant in 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 _Constitutions of Clarendon_, 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 CLARENDON, CONSTITUTIONS OF). +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. + +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). + +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. + +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. + + + Becket's murder. + +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 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 BECKET). + + + Its results. + +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 +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + Conquest of Ireland. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 IRELAND: _History_.) + + + Rebellion of Henry's sons. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 (_Curia Regis in Banco_). 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 _Assize of Arms_ 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. + +The best proof that King Henry's orderly if autocratic regime 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 +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. + + + Richard I. + +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 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. + +Of all the medieval kings of England, Richard I. (known as Coeur 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. + + + The Crusade. + +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 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 L3000, +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. + +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 himself, 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. + + + John's treachery. + +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 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. 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. + +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. + +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 Chalus, a castle of a rebellious lord of Aquitaine, the +viscount of Limoges (April 6, 1199). + + + English constitutional development. + +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 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.e. 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 regime 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. + + +III. THE STRUGGLE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY (1199-1337) + + Accession of John. + +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 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. + + + War with Phillip Augustus. + + Loss of Normandy. + +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 Angouleme 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 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 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 +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 Chateau 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. + + + Loss of Anjou, Touraine and Poitou. + +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 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. + +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 _uti +possidetis_--which left Normandy and all the territories on and about +the Loire in the hands of the conqueror. + + + Quarrel with the Papacy. + +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 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.e. 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 _force majeure_, 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). + +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. + +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 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. + + + Character of John's rule. + +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 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 Cigogne, whom he made +sheriffs and castellans to the discontent of all Englishmen. He spent +all his money in maintaining bands of hired _Brabancons_ and _routiers_, +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. + + + John does homage to the pope. + +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 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. + + + Opposition of the barons. + +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 +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. + + + Alliance against France. + + Battle of Bouvines. + +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 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 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 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. + + + Magna Carta. + +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 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 _Magna Carta_, 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 Cigogne. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +That the barons were right to suspect John is sufficiently shown by his +subsequent conduct. His pretence of keeping his 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. + + + Civil War. + + Death of John. + +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 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. 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. + + + Henry III. + +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 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. + + + Battle of Lincoln. + +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. 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. + +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 Breaute, the most famous of King John's foreign _condottieri_, +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. + +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. 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 Angouleme, 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 +Provencal 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. + + + Simon de Monfort. + +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. 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. + + + Condition of England under Henry III. + + Beginnings of Parliament. + +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 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 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. + + + Intellectual life. + +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 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 generally prevalent. The feeling is +thoroughly well expressed by the partisan of Montfort who wrote in his +jingling Latin verse:-- + + "Dicitur vulgariter 'ut rex vult lex vadit': + Veritas vult aliter: nam lex stat, rex cadit." + +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. + + + Religious life: the friars. + +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 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 MENDICANT MOVEMENT). 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. + + + Literature and art. + +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 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 _Brut_ and the +_Ormulum_ as its first fruits. Henry III. himself on rare occasions used +English for a state document. + +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. + + + Public discontent. The Provisions of Oxford. + +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 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. + +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. + +Simon de Montfort and his friends were put in an awkward position by +this decision, to which they had so unwisely 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. + + + The barons' war: battle of Lewes. + +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 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. + + + Montfort's parliament. + +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 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 regime 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. + +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. + + + Battle of Evesham. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Death of Henry III. + +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 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 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. + + + Edward I. + +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, 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 _Pactum serva_, +"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. + +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. + + + Constitutional changes. Statutes of Westminster and Gloucester. + +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 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 _Quo Warranto_, 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. + + + Statute of Mortmain. + +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 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. + + + Second Statute of Westminster. + +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 _De Donis Conditionalibus_, 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 +_De Donis_ 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 _Quia Emptores_, 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 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. + + + Statute of Winchester. + +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 national militia, the lineal +descendent of the old _fyrd_, and provided a useful police force for the +repression of disorder and robbery by the reorganization of _watch and +ward_. This was, of course, one more device for strengthening the power +of the crown. + + + Welsh wars. + +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; 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. + + + Conquest of Wales. + +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 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. + + + Expulsion of the Jews. + +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 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. + + + Edward I. and Scotland. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + Edward I. and Philip IV. + + The "model parliament" of 1295. + +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 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 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. + + + Invasion of Scotland. + +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 +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. He then returned to England, and +began to make preparations for a great expedition to France in 1297. + + + Disputes with the clergy and baronage. + +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 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 _Clericis Laicos_, 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. + +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. + +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. + + + Insurrection in Scotland. Wallace. + +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 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. + + + The "Confirmatio Cartarum." + +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 oath. The document to which he gave his assent, +the _Confirmatio Cartarum_ (less accurately called the statute _De +Tallagio non concedendo_) 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 +_Confirmatio_ 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. + +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 _Articuli super cartas_ 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). + + + Edward again invades Scotland, 1303. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 (_trailbastons_), gangs of marauders who had been +rendering the roads unsafe. + + + Robert Bruce. + +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 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. + + + Character of Edward I.'s rule. + +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 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. + + + Edward II. + +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 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. + + + Piers Gaveston. + +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 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. + + + Baronial opposition. + +It was of course impossible that the nation or the baronage should +accept such a preposterous regime, and Edward was soon involved in a +lively struggle with his subjects. Of the leaders of opposition in his +father's reign both 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. + + + Progress of Bruce in Scotland. + + The "Lords Ordainers." + +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 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 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. + + + Battle of Bannockburn. + +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 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. + + + Thomas, earl of Lancaster. + +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 allowance of L10 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, 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. + +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). + + + The Despensers. + + Execution of Lancaster. + +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. 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, 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. + + + Rebellion of Queen Isabella and Mortimer. + +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 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. + + + Deposition and murder of Edward II. + +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 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 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. + + + Regency of Isabella and Mortimer. + +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 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. + + + Edward III. + +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 the disgraceful nature of his own situation. Having secured +promise of aid from Henry of Lancaster, his cousin, and other barons, he +executed a _coup de main_, 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. + +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. + + + Edward III. invades Scotland. + +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 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 Crecy 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. + + +IV. THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR (1337-1453) + + Causes of the Hundred Years' War. + +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 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 +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. + +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. + + + Beginning of the war. + +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. 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. + + + Edward III. and the French crown. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Battle of Sluys. + +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 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. + + + Financial crisis. Trial of Archbishop Stratford. + +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 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. + + + War in Brittany. + +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 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 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. + + + Edward invades France. + + Battle of Crecy. + + Capture of Calais. + +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, 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 Crecy, +near Abbeville, and offered battle to the pursuing enemy. He fought +relying on 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 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 Crecy, 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. + + + Battle of Neville's Cross. + +The years 1345-1347 saw the zenith of King Edward's prosperity; in them +fell not only his own triumphs at Crecy and Calais, but a victory at +Auberoche in Perigord won by his cousin Henry of Lancaster, which +restored 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. + + + Truce with France. The Black Death. + +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 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. + + + Economic and social effects of the Black Death. + +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 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. + + + The Statute of Labourers. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + Renewal of the war with France. + + Battle of Poitiers. + +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 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 Perigord 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 Cotentin, the prince of Wales accomplished greater +things on the borders of Aquitaine. After executing a great circular +sweep through Perigord, Limousin and Berry, he was returning to Bordeaux +laden with plunder, when he was 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 Crecy, 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). + + + The English ravage France. + + Peace of Bretigny. + +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 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 Ile de France. This brought the +regent Charles and his counsellors to the verge of despair; they +yielded, and on the 8th of May 1360, signed an agreement at Bretigny +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. + +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 Guines, 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. + + + Submission of David of Scotland. + +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 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. + + + Economic progress in England. + +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 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 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. + + + English rule in France. + +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, 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. + + + The Black Prince in Spain. + +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. 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, Perigord 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. + + + Renewal of the war with France. + +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 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 _coups d'etat_ 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. + + + Character of the war. + +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 never achieved his purpose. Warned by the disasters of +Crecy 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. + + + English reverses. + +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 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. + +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 a +truce at least was signed at Bruges (Jan. 1375) which endured till a few +weeks before his death. + + + Domestic strife. + + Agitation against the Church. + + Wycliffe. + +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 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 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 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. + + + John of Gaunt and Wycliffe. + +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 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. + + + The "Good Parliament." + + Overthrow of the king's favourites. + + Constitutional reforms. + +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, 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, 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 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 Lancaster had yielded so easily because he was set on undoing their +work the moment that they were gone. + + + John of Gaunt re-establishes the royal power. + + Death of the Black Prince. + +This, however, was the case; after the shortest of intervals the duke +executed something like a _coup d'etat_. In his father's name he +released Latimer and Lyons, dismissed the council of twelve, imprisoned +Peter de la Mare, 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 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. + + + Death of Edward III. + +The character of this body was a proof of the great strength 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 by his worthless courtiers and +plundered on his death-bed by his greedy mistress, the victor of Sluys +and Crecy 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. + + + Richard II. + +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 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. + + + The French war. + +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 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. + + + First parliament of Richard. Reforms. + +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 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. + +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. + + + The Great Revolt of 1381. + +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 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: + + "When Adam delved and Eve span + Who was then the gentleman?" + +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 the reformer's teaching +had played any part in exciting the peasantry at this time. No +contemporary authority ascribes the rising to the Lollards. + + + Wat Tyler. + +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. 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). + + + Suppression of the rising. + +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 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." + + + Decline of the manorial system. + +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 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." + + + Wycliffe and the Lollards. + +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 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 bishops succeeded in calling +in the crown to their aid, and passed the statute _De heretico +comburendo_, that Lollardy ceased to flourish. + + + Richard's personal rule. + + Impeachment of the king's "favourites." + + The "lords appellant." + + Execution of the king's friends. + +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 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 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 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 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. + + + Richard rules constitutionally. + + Peace with France. + +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 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 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. + + + Richard reduces Ireland to obedience. + + His revenge on Gloucester and the lords appellant. + + Banishment of Bolingbroke and Norfolk. + +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 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 _coup d'etat_, 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. 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,[2] and Henry of +Bolingbroke, the son of John of Gaunt, were dealt with a year later. +Richard pretended to hold them among his 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. + + + Arbitrary rule of Richard. + +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 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. + + + Second expedition to Ireland. + + Henry of Bolingbroke lands in England_. + + Flight of Richard. + + Surrender and abdication of Richard. + +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. 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 earl of Northumberland and all the lords of the +north; the army 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 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, +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. + + + Accession of Henry IV. + +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 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. + + + Position of the new king. + +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 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. + + + Rebellion of the earls. + + Murder of Richard. + +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 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 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. + + + Welsh rising under Owen Glendower. + +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, 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. + + + Discontent of the commons. + + Statute De heretico comburendo. + +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 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 +pass through parliament the detestable statute _De heretico comburendo_, +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 Sawtre, a +London vicar, on the 2nd of 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. + + + War with Scotland. + + Battle of Homildon Hill. + + Conspiracy of Northumberland with Glendower. + +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 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 +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 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. + + + Insurrection in the north and west. + + Defeat of the rebels at Shrewsbury. + +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 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 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. + + + War with France renewed. + + Parliament assumes control of the finances. + +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 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 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. + + + Rising of 1405 in the North. + +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 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. + + + Suppression of the Welsh rising. + +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 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. + + + End of the French and Scottish wars. + +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 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.[3] Hence Albany and his son ruled at Edinburgh for +seventeen years, while James was detained in an honourable captivity at +Windsor. + + + Illness of the king. Faction in the court. + +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 Scrope he had been smitten with a painful disorder, which his +enemies declared to be the punishment 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. + + + Prince Hal. + +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 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. + + + English expedition to France. + +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, 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. + + + Accession of Henry V. + + His character. + +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 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. + +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, 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. + + + Persecution of the Lollards. + + Rising under Oldcastle. + +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. 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 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. + + + Henry V. and France. + +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 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 Perigord--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. + + + Henry invades France. + + Battle of Agincourt. + + Effect of the battle. + +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 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, 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 Crecy, and Poitiers, for he +was outnumbered in an even greater proportion than the two Edwards had +been in 1346 and 1356, 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 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. + + + England and the council of Constance. + +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 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. + + + Henry's second invasion of France. + + Conquest of Normandy. + + Triumph of the Burgundians. + + Henry takes Rouen. + + Murder of John of Burgundy. + +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 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. 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 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 role, +broke with Henry, and tried to relieve Rouen. But all his efforts were +foiled, and the Norman capital surrendered, completely starved out, on +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 +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). + + + The Burgundians acknowledge Henry as heir of France. + + Treaty of Troyes. + +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, 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[4] 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, 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. + + + Death of Henry V. + +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 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. + + + Effects of his conquests. + +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 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." + + + Henry VI. + +The guardianship of the infant Henry VI. fell to his two uncles, John of +Bedford and Humphrey of Gloucester, the two surviving brothers of the +late king. Bedford became regent in France, and took over the heritage +of the war, in which he 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. + + + Bedford's rule in France. + + Humphrey of Gloucester. + +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 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 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. + + + Siege of Orleans. + +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 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. + + + Joan of Arc. + +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 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. + + + Coronation of Charles VII. at Reims. + +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 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 Ile 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. + + + Capture and execution of Joan. + +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 force of volunteers to relieve the important +fortress of Compiegne. 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. + + + Philip of Burgundy joins Charles. Treaty of Arras. + +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 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, 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. + + + Death of Bedford. English defeats. + +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, 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. + + + Truce with France. + +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, 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. + + + Supremacy of the Beauforts in England. + + Character of Henry VI. + +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 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 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. + + + Death of Humphrey of Gloucester and Henry Beaufort. + +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 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). + + + Renewal of the war with France. + + Loss of Normandy. + +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 and Somerset, who gave the enemy an admirable _casus belli_. +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 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. + + + Jack Cade's Rebellion. + +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 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 regime were now directed. + +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 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. + + + Richard, duke of York, heads the opposition. + +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 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. + + + Battle of Castillon. Loss of Guienne. + +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 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. + +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. + + +V. THE WARS OF THE ROSES (1453-1497) + + Origin of the Wars of the Roses. + +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; 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. + + + Claims of the duke of York to the crown. + + Birth of Edward, prince of Wales. + + Queen Margaret. + + Condition of the country. + +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 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 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 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: the king was +simple, and led by covetous councillors, and owed more than he was +worth. His debts increased daily, but payment 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. + + + Motives of the contending parties. + +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 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. + + + The baronial party. The Nevilles. + +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 +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. + + + Attitude of Richard of York. + + Suppression of York's rebellion. Executions and confiscations. + + The earl of Warwick defeats the Lancastrians at Northampton. + + Richard of York declared heir to the throne. + +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 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 _casus belli_, public opinion declared so +much against him that half his followers 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 +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 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 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. + + + Battle of Wakefield. Richard slain. + + Battle of St Albans. + +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 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 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. + + + Edward, earl of March, proclaimed as Edward IV. + +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, 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. + + + Changed character of the war. + + Battle of Towton. + + Ruthless reprisals of the Yorkists. + + Personal rule of Edward IV. + +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 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 +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 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. 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 L37,000 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. + + + Civil war in the north and west. + + Battle of Hexham. Imprisonment of Henry VI. + +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 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 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. + + + Richard Neville, earl of Warwick. + +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 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 maintenance of law and justice by strong-handed governance were +his main aims. + +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. + + + Edward IV. marries Elizabeth Woodville. + + Breach between Warwick and the king. + +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 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 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. + + + Warwick organizes a rebellion. + + Rising of "Robin of Redesdale." + +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 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 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. + + + Battle of Edgecott. Edward a prisoner. + + Execution of the queen's relatives. + +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 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 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. + + + King Edward drives Warwick into exile. + +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 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. + + + Warwick takes up the cause of Henry VI. + + He lands in England. + + King Edward in exile. + +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 +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 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 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. + + + Restoration of Henry VI. + + Edward returns to England. + + Battle of Barnet. Death of Warwick. + +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 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 regime. 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 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 lieutenants. But the duke of Clarence +betrayed to his brother the army which he had gathered in King Henry's +name, and 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). + + + Battle of Tewkesbury. Death of Edward, prince of Wales. + + Capture of Queen Margaret and murder of Henry VI. + +On that same day Queen Margaret and her son landed at Weymouth, only to +hear that the earl was dead and 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 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). + + + Edward IV. + +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 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. + + + Character of the reign. + + Murder of the duke of Clarence. + +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 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, the duke +of Clarence, whom he had resolved to destroy. The 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. + + + Fiscal policy. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Condition of the country. + + Commercial development. + + Manufactures and wool trade. + +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 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 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 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 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. + + + State of the rural population. + +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 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. + + + Architecture. + +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 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. + + + Religious condition of the country. + +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 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. + + + The monasteries. + +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, 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 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. + + + Moral decay of the nation. + + The "Paston Letters." + + Influence of the Italian Renaissance. + +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 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 of his age. The _Paston Letters_, that unique +collection of the private correspondence of a typical family of +_nouveaux riches_, 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. 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. + + + Death of Edward IV. + + Richard, duke of Gloucester. + +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 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. 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 _coup +d'etat_ 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. + + + Gloucester proclaims himself protector. + +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 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. + + + Richard III. crowned. + +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 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. + + + Murder of the princes. + +Having accomplished his _coup d'etat_ 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 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 that the princes still +existed there was room for all manner of impostures and false rumours. + + + Buckingham's rebellion. + +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 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. + + + Execution of Buckingham. + +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 +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. + +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. + + + Henry of Richmond lands at Milford. + + Battle of Bosworth. + +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 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 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. + + + Henry VII. + +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 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. + + + Early years of the reign. + + Insurrections and plots. + +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 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 +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 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. + + + Lambert Simnel. + +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 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. + + + Battle of Stoke. + +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 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. + + + Foreign alliances. + + Treaty of Etaples. + +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 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 been bound to pay to Edward IV. This treaty of Etaples +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 Crecy 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. + + + Yorkist plots. Perkin Warbeck. + + Cornish rebellion. + +In the year of the treaty of Etaples 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 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 +Etaples. 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 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 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. + + + Battle of Blackheath. + + Execution of Warbeck and Edward of Clarence. + +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 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. +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. + + + Establishment of the Tudor dynasty. + +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, 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. + + +VI. THE TUDOR DESPOTISM AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE REFORMATION +(1497-1528) + + Commercial treaties. + +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. The king's great triumphs were +the conclusion of the _Intercursus Magnus_ of 1496 and the _Intercursus +Malus_ (so called by the 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 _Malus Intercursus_ 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. + + + English navigators. + +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 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 L20 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. + + + Foreign policy of Henry VII. + +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 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. + + + Marriage of James IV. of Scotland and Margaret Tudor. + +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. 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. + + + Character of Henry's internal rule. + +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 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. + + + The Star Chamber. + +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, +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. + + + Suppression of livery and maintenance. + +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 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 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. + + + Personal rule. + +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, 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 L1,800,000 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 regime of that "crowned saint" Henry VI. + + + Henry VIII. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Continental projects of Henry VIII. + + Treaty of Etaples. + +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. 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 Therouanne. It was soon borne in upon 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, agreeing to renew the old pension or tribute that +Henry VII. had received by the treaty of Etaples. 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. + + + War with Scotland. Battle of Flodden. + +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 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 outmanoeuvred 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. + + + Thomas Wolsey. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Henry VIII. and the rivalry of Francis I. and Charles V. + + Failure of Henry's diplomacy. + +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 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 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. + + + Beginnings of parliamentary resistance. + + Execution of the duke of Buckingham. + +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 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, 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. + + + Question of the king's divorce. + +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 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. + + + England and the Reformation. + +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 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 +_Fidei Defensor_ 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. + +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. + +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 +pamphlets unworthy of the author of the _Utopia_. 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. + +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 _Beggars' +Supplication_, 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 _imperium in imperio_, +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. (C. W. C. O.) + + +VII. THE REFORMATION AND THE AGE OF ELIZABETH (1528-1603) + + Fall of Wolsey. + +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 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. + + + Question of the divorce. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + + + Attack on the church in parliament. + + Henry VIII. marries Anne Boleyn. + + The Act of Supremacy. + +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 +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 _praemunire_ 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 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 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. + + + Dissolution of the monasteries. + +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 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. + + + Execution of Queen Anne Boleyn. + +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, 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. + + + The Pilgrimage of Grace. + +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 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 +_Injunctions_. 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 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. + + + The "Six Articles." + + Fall of Thomas Cromwell. + +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 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 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 protegee of Gardiner, +and a friend of the Catholic church. + +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. + + + Policy in Ireland and Scotland. + +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 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. + + + Edward VI. + + Progress of the Reformation. + +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 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 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. + + + Administration of the protector Somerset. + +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 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). + + + Administration of the duke of Northumberland. + + Establishment of Protestantism. + +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 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 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 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. + +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. + + + Queen Mary. Restoration of the old religion. + + Unpopularity of the Spanish marriage. Philip II. + +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 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 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. + + + Accession of Elizabeth. English national struggle with Spain. + +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 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. + + + Triumph of the new religion. The Act of Uniformity. + +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, _la plus fine +femme du monde_, 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 Cambresis +(1559), but she took care to assert the independence 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 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." + + + Elizabeth and Scotland. + + Struggle against the Spanish dominion at sea. + +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 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 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. + + + Mary, queen of Scots. + +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 (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. + + + Rebellion of 1569 and excommunication of Elizabeth. + + Plots against Elizabeth. Relations with France and Spain. + +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 +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 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 Alencon (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. + + + The Jesuit missions. + + Execution of Mary, queen of Scots, 1587. + + The Great Armada, 1588. + +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 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 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; 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 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. + +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. + + + Last years of Elizabeth. + +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; 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 _via media_ 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). (A. F. P.) + + +VIII. THE STUART MONARCHY, THE GREAT REBELLION AND THE RESTORATION +(1603-1689) + + James I. 1603-1625. + +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 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 GUNPOWDER +PLOT). + +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. + + + James I. and the Commons. + +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. 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. + +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 (q.v.) +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 L70,000 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. + +The dissolution of this second parliament was followed by a 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. + + + Attempted union with Scotland. + + The colonization of Ulster. + +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 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 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. + + + The Spanish alliance. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Parliament and the monopolies. + +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 +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. + + + Fall of Bacon. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + + + The French alliance. + +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, 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. + + + Charles I. 1625-1649. + +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 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. + + + The Petition of Right. + +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 Re, +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 +_habeas corpus_, 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 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. + + + Crown and parliament. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Ship-money. + +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 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. + + + The Church. + +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 whole weight of the +crown the attempt of William Laud (q.v.), 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. + + + Charles and Scotland. + +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 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. + + + The Short Parliament. + + The Scottish invasion. + +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 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 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. + + + The Long Parliament. + + Attainder of Strafford. + +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 +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 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. + +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. + + + The civil war. + + Presbyterians and Independents. + +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 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 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 CONGREGATIONALISM and CROMWELL, OLIVER). +The principle advocated by the army, and opposed by the Scots and the +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. + + + The second civil war. + + Execution of the king. + +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 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 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).[5] + + + The Commonwealth. + + Cromwell's protectorate. + +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 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 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 CROMWELL, OLIVER). 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. + + + The anarchy. + +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 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. + + + The Restoration. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + Doctrine of non-resistance. + + The first Dutch war. + +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 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 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. + + + The Commons aim at control over expenditure. + +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 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. + + + Charles II. and Louis XIV. + +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. 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 L200,000 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. + + + Second Dutch war, and declaration of indulgence. + +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, 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. + + + The Test Act. + +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 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. + + + Danby's ministry. + + The Popish plot. + +Charles, as usual, bent before the storm. In Danby (see LEEDS, 1ST DUKE +OF) 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 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 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. 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. + + + The Exclusion Bill. + +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 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. + + + Whigs and Tories. + +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 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. + + + Tory reaction. + +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. 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. + + + James II., 1685-1688. + +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 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. + + + James's declaration of indulgence. + + Trial of the seven bishops. + +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 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 +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 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. + + + Revolution of 1688. + +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 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). + + +IX. THE REVOLUTION AND THE AGE OF ANNE (1689-1714) + + William III. and Mary II., 1689. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Causes in favour of liberty. + + The Toleration Act. + +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, 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 +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 _Letters concerning +Toleration_ 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. + +One measure remained to place the dissenters in the position of full +membership of the state. The Test Act excluded them from 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. + + + Liberty of the press. + +The complement of the Toleration Act was the abolition of the censorship +of the press (1695). The ideas of the author of the _Areopagitica_ had +at last prevailed. The attempt to fix certain opinions on the nation +which were pleasing 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. + +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. + + + Beginning of cabinet government. + +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 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 the +the 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. + +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. + + + The Spanish succession. + +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 +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). + + + The Act of Settlement. + +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 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. + + + The Grand Alliance. + +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 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 of him, "was dead, but the Grand Alliance survived in which King +William lived and reigned." + + + Queen Anne, 1702-1714. + +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. 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. + + + Union with Scotland. + +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 ANNE, 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 the +purpose of raising the pittances of the poorer clergy (see QUEEN ANNE'S +BOUNTY). 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. + + + United Whig ministry. + +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; 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. + +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. + + + Tory Ministry. + +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 (q.v.) 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 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. + + + Peace of Utrecht. + + Occasional Conformity Act and the Schism Act. + +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 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 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. + + +X. THE HANOVERIAN KINGS (1714-1793) + + Accession of the House of Hanover. + + Repeal of Occasional Conformity Act and Schism Act. + +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 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 +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 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. + + + Walpole's ministry. + +The excitement following on the bursting of the South Sea Bubble (q.v.), +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + George II. 1727-1760. + +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 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. + +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. + + + The Opposition. + + War with Spain. + +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 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 +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. + + + Ministry of Henry Pelham. + +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 which Walpole had disdained +to practise. He at least understood 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. + + + The Rebellion of 1745. + +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 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. + + + Moral and religious atmosphere. + + Wesley and Whitefield. + +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 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 +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 (q.v.), 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. + + + Ministry of Newcastle. + + Ministry of Pitt and Newcastle. + +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 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 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 CHATHAM, WILLIAM PITT, +1ST EARL OF). + + + The Seven Years' War. + +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 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 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 +SEVEN YEARS' WAR; CANADA: _History_; INDIA: _History_). + + + George III., 1760-1820. + + Pitt's resignation. + +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 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 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). + + + Bute and Grenville. + +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) 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. + + + The American colonies. + +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, 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. + + + The Rockingham ministry. + +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 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. + + + The Declaratory Act and repeal of Stamp Act. + +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 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. + + + Burke's political theory. + +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 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. + + + Arguments of Pitt and Burke. + +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 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 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. + + + Ministry of Lord Chatham. + +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 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. + + + Wilkes and "The North Briton." + +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. 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 _The North Briton_. 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. + +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. + + + Lord North's ministry. + +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 prejudices. The arrogant spirit of Englishmen made them +contemptuous 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. + +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. + + + The American War of Independence. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + The second Rockingham ministry. + +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. 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. + + + The coalition. + +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 L300, 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 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. + + + The India Bill. + +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 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. + + + Ministry of the younger Pitt. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Material progress. + +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 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 _Wealth of Nations_. 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. + +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 _On the +Human Understanding_ 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. + + + Pitt's India Bill. + +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 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. 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. + +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. + +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. + + + The French Revolution; English feeling. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + Beginning of the revolutionary wars. + +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 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 +regime, 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. + + + Change of feeling in England. + +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 the aristocracy from the people. The work of former generations +of Englishmen had been too well done to call for that 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. + + + Division of the Whig party. + +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 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. + +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. (S. R. G.) + + +XI. THE REVOLUTIONARY EPOCH, THE REACTION, AND THE TRIUMPH OF REFORM +(1793-1837) + + The government and the "revolutionary" agitation. + +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 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 _Rights of Man_, 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";[6] 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + The Revolutionary War. + +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, 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 FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS). +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. + + + Hoche's expedition to Ireland. + +The French government, assured now of the assistance of Spain and +Holland, and freed of the danger from La Vendee, now determined to +attempt the invasion of Ireland. On the 16th of December a fleet of 17 +battle-ships, 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. + + + Mutinies at Spithead and the Nore. + + Battle of Camperdown. + +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 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 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.[7] 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. + +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. + + + The Act of Union with Ireland. + + Resignation of Pitt. + +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 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 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. + + + Bonaparte breaks up the coalition. + +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 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 _coup d'etat_ of the 18th Brumaire. The campaign of Marengo +followed (1800) and the peace of Luneville, 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. + + + Addington ministry. + + The peace of Amiens. + +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 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), 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. + + + Renewal of the war. + + Pitt returns to office. + +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 +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 down on the +king's refusal to admit Fox, became head of a government constructed on +a narrow Tory basis. Of the 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. + + + Battle of Trafalgar. + + Austerlitz. + +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 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 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). + + + Death of Pitt. "Ministry of all the Talents." + + Abolition of the slave-trade. + +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. 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 +(q.v.) 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 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). + + + Catholic question. + +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 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. + + + Portland ministry. + + The continental system. + + The Orders in Council. + + War with America. + +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. 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 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 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 regime +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 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. + + + Treaty of Tilsit. + + French Invasion of Spain and Portugal. + + Peninsular War. + +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 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 CANNING, GEORGE). Meanwhile, in order to +complete the ring fence round Europe against British commerce, 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 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 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 EUROPE: _History_; NAPOLEON; NAPOLEONIC CAMPAIGNS; PENINSULAR WAR; +WATERLOO CAMPAIGN). + + + Walcheren expedition. Cabinet crisis. + + Perceval ministry. + + The regency. + +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 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 LONDONDERRY, 2ND MARQUESS OF, and CANNING, GEORGE). The +duke of Portland resigned at the same time, and in the reconstruction of +the ministry, under Perceval 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 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. + + + Liverpool ministry. + + Foreign policy of Castlereagh. + +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 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 of Europe (q.v.). 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. + + + Character of the Tory party. + +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 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. + + + Parliament and the industrial revolution. + + Corn Laws and Enclosure Acts. + + Repressive legislation. + +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 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. 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 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 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 _Political Register_ 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. + + + Agitation for reform. + + The "Manchester Massacre." + +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 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 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. + + + The "Six Acts." + +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, 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. + + + Accession of George IV. + +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 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. + + + Beginnings of reform. + +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 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. + + + George Canning. + +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 had specially protested against the Carlsbad +Decrees (q.v.). 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 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. + + + Changed tendency of British policy. + +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 VERONA, CONGRESS OF), in the recognition of the South American +republics, and 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. + + + Catholic Emancipation and Corn Laws. + +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. 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. + + + Canning ministry. + + Wellington ministry. + + Catholic emancipation passed. Revolution of 1830. + +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: 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, 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 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. + + + William IV. + + Whig ministry under Lord Grey. + + The great Reform Bill. + +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 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; 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 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 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. + +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 L10 household franchise secured a democratic constituency; in +the counties the inclusion of tenants at will (of L50 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. + +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. + + + Melbourne ministry. + + The "Conservative" party. + +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 outdoor relief, which had pauperized whole +neighbourhoods, was abolished, and the system of unions and workhouses +established (see POOR LAW). 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 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. + +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. (W. A. P.) + + +XII. THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (1837-1901) + + Queen Victoria's accession. + +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 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. + +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 _Coningsby_ 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. + + + Lord Melbourne's difficulties. + +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 obtain the assent of the House +of Lords to its Irish measures. 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. + + + The bed-chamber question. + +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 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. + + + Penny postage. + +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 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. + + + Fiscal policy. + +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 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 L1,400,000 +in 1837, to L400,000 in 1838, and to L1,457,000 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 L1,842,000 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. + + + Sir R. Peel forms a ministry. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + Budget reforms. + +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, the state was no longer able to pay its way. It was +estimated that the deficit, which had amounted to L1,842,000 in 1840, +would reach L2,334,000 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 +L, 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 L49,600,000 to L47,280,000; while +in the twenty-seven years which succeeded 1842 it increased from +L47,280,000 to nearly L190,000,000. 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. + +Two other financial measures of great importance were accomplished in +Sir Robert Peel's ministry. In 1844 some L250,000,000 of the national +debt still bore an interest of 31/2%. The improvement in the credit of the +country enabled the government to reduce the interest on the stock to +31/4% for the succeeding ten years, and to 3% afterwards. This conversion, +which effected an immediate saving of L625,000, and an ultimate saving +of L1,250,000 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 L14,000,000 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. + + + Ireland. + + Free trade. + +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 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. +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 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. + + + Peel's foreign policy. + +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 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. + + + The Spanish marriages. + +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 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 _entente cordiale_ which had been established +between Guizot and Lord Aberdeen. + + + Don Pacifico. + +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 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 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 L30,000. 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. + + + Palmerston dismissed. + +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 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 _coup d'etat_ +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. + + + Irish famine. + +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 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. + + + Rebellion of 1848. + +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, 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 +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. + + + Chartism. + +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 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. + + + Navigation Acts. + +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 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. + + + Ten Hours Bill. + +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 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. + + + Death of Peel. + +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 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. + + + Oxford movement. + +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 +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 _Christian +Year_--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 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." + + + Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. + +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 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. + + + French scare. + +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 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. + + + Lord Derby. + +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 Commons by the brilliant, but somewhat +unscrupulous statesman 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 +L100 and to permanent incomes of L50 a year, as well as by doubling the +house tax, and extending it to all L10 householders. The weight, +therefore, of these measures was either purposely or unintentionally +thrown mainly on persons living in houses worth from L10 to L20 a year, +or on persons in receipt of incomes from L50 to L150 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. + + + Coalition, 1853. + +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 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. + + + Budget of 1853. + +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 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 L100 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. + + + The holy places. + +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 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 Frere." 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. + +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 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. + +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. + + + Crimean War. + +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. 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. + + + Palmerston's ministry. + +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 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. + + + Wars with Persia and China. + +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 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 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. + + + Indian mutiny. + +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 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. + + + Orsini. + +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 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 _Moniteur_, +spoke of London as "an 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. + + + Lord Derby's second ministry. + +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 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. + + + Jews in parliament. + +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 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. + + + Reform Bill, 1859. + +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 L10 householders in counties on the same footing as +regards the franchise as L10 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 L10 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 L10 +householder was still to furnish the bulk of the electorate, and the +ordinary working man could not afford to pay L10 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 L10 +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 L20 and +the borough franchise at L6 rateable value; and he contended that such a +settlement could be defended on the old principle that taxation and +representation should go together, for L20 was the minimum rent at which +the house tax commenced, and a rateable value of L6 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. + + + Palmerston's second ministry. + +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 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, 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 L10 householders, of the borough franchise to L6 +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. + + + Gladstone's budgets. + + Paper duties repealed. + +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 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 L1,200,000 +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 lb., 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 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 L, 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 lb.; and the national debt was +diminished from rather more than L800,000,000 to rather less than +L780,000,000, the charge for the debt declining, mainly through the +falling in of the long annuities, by some L2,600,000 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 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. + + + China war, 1859-60. + +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 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. + + + Unification of Italy. + +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 +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 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. + + + Schleswig-Holstein question. + +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 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 Gluecksburg, 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. + +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. + + + American civil war. + +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 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 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. + + + The "Trent" incident. + +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 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. + + + The "Alabama." + +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 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 +L3,000,000--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. + + + Lord Russell's second ministry. + +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 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 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 L14 and the borough +franchise to L7 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. + + + Lord Derby's third ministry. + +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 +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. + + + Reform, 1867. + +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 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 L6 a year, +and conferring the county franchise on L20 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 L15 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 L12 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. + + + Disraeli prime minister. + +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 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. + + + Irish Church. + +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 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 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. + + + Abyssinian war. + +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 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. + + + Gladstone's first ministry. + + Irish land. + + Elementary education. + +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 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 +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 _quasi_-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 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. + + + Black Sea neutrality. + + Army purchase. + +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 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 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; 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. + + + 1872-1874. + +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; 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. + + + Disraeli's second ministry. + + Bulgarian "atrocities." + + Berlin treaty. + +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, 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 _Tancred_ 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 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 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 L6,000,000 +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,[8] 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, 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. + + + Afghan wars. + +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 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 +L60,000 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. + + + Zulu War. + +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 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 reconnoitering, 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 +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. + + + Gladstone's second ministry. + + Boer War, 1881. + +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 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 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 TRANSVAAL and SUZERAINTY.) + + + Bradlaugh. + +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. 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. + + + Parnell. + +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 +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 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. + + + Egypt. + + Gordon. + +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 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, 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. + + + Reform Act, 1884. + +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 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 +government was evidently doomed. If, on the contrary, they joined the +Conservatives, they could make a Liberal administration impracticable. + + + Home Rule. + +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; +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. + + + Unionism. + +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; 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. + + + Nationalist split. + +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 _The Times_, 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 P.M., 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. _The Times_, 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 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 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. + + + Home Rule Bill, 1893. + +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 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. + + + Lord Rosebery. + +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 GLADSTONE). 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 +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. + +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. + + + The two jubilees. + +The Unionist government which came into power in 1895 lasted, with +certain changes of _personnel_, 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 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. + + + Omdurman, Fashoda. + + Jameson Raid. + +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 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 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 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. + + + Boer War, 1899. + +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 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. + + + The close of 1900. + +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 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 +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. + + + The death of the queen. + +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 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. + +The queen's own life is dealt with elsewhere (see VICTORIA, QUEEN), 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. + +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 +L55,000,000; 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 L1,100,000,000; 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. (S. W.) + + + Reign of Edward VII. + +On the death of Queen Victoria, the prince of Wales succeeded to the +throne, with the title of Edward VII. (q.v.). The coronation fixed for +June in the following year was at the last moment stopped by the king's +illness with appendicitis, 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 TRANSVAAL), +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 EDWARD VII.), 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. + + + The Crisis of 1910. + +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 (q.v.) in +1903 convulsed the Conservative party, and the long period of Unionist +domination came to an end in November 1905. Mr Balfour (q.v.), who +became prime minister in 1902 on Lord Salisbury's retirement, resigned, +and was succeeded by Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman (q.v.), 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 PARLIAMENT) 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 LLOYD GEORGE, +D.) 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 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. + + + Accession of George V. + +The prince of Wales became king as George V. (q.v.), 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 not possible (see PARLIAMENT). 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. (H. Ch.) + + +XIII.--SOURCES AND WRITERS OF ENGLISH HISTORY + +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. + +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' _Germania_ 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 _flebilis narratio_ 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 _Vita Wilfridi_ 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 _Annals of St Neots_, 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 _Heimskringla_ and other materials collected in +Vigfusson and Powell's _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, and for the reign of +Canute and his sons there is the contemporary _Encomium Emmae_, which is +a dishonest panegyric on the widow of AEthelred and Canute. For Edward +the Confessor there is an almost equally biased biography. + +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 Jumieges. 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. + +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 _Annales +Monastici_, 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 _Chronica Monasterii S. Albani_, 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 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 _Gesta Stephani_ 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 _Gesta Henrici_, 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. + +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 _Flores historiarum_ (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 _Chronicles of Edward I. and Edward II._ 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 _Eulogium historiarum_. +Monastic history is represented by Higden's voluminous _Polychronicon_, +which succeeds the _Flores historiarum_. A brief revival of the St +Albans school towards the end of the century is seen in the _Chronicon +Angliae_ 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. + +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 _Histoire des ducs de Normandie et des rois +d'Angleterre_ (ed. Michel); briefer are the _Chronique de l'Anonyme de +Bethune_ and the _Histoire de Guillaume le Marechal_. 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 +_Recueil_, Monstrelet, Chastellain, Juvenal des Ursins, and more limited +works such as Creton's _Chronique de la traison et mort de Richard II_. + +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 _Dialogus de scaccario_, 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 _justitia magnum emolumentum_, +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 _Testa de Nevill_ and the _Red Book +of the Exchequer_). 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 _Guide +to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Record Office_ +(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 Crecy 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 _Welsh Wars of Edward I_. and George +Wrottesley's _Crecy and Calais from the Public Records_. The growth of +naval organization is reflected in the _Black Book of the Admiralty_; +the growth of taxation in the _Liber custumarum_ and _Subsidy Rolls_; +the rise of parliament in the _Parliamentary Writs_ (ed. Palgrave), in +the _Rotuli parliamentorum_, in the _Official Return of Members of +Parliament_, and in the _Statutes of the Realm_; that of Convocation in +David Wilkins's _Concilia_. 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. + +Local as well as central government begets records as it grows. From the +_Extenta manerii_ of the 12th century we get to the _Manorial Rolls_ of +the 13th, when also we have _Hundred Rolls_, 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 +_Bibliography of British Municipal History_ and to Mrs J. R. Green's +more popular _Town Life in the Fifteenth Century_. 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 RECORD.) + +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 _Letters of Henry III_. +(Rolls series). Contemporary are the _Letters of Grosseteste_, and a +little later come the _Letters of Archbishop Peckham_ and Raine's +_Letters from Northern Registers_ (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 +_Paston Letters_ (ed. Gairdner) begin a stream which never fails +thereafter and soon becomes a torrent. The most important series of +official correspondence is the _Papal Letters_, calendared from 1198 to +1404 in 4 vols. (ed. Bliss, Johnson and Twemlow). Subsidiary sources are +the _Political Songs_ (ed. Wright), treatises like those of John of +Salisbury, Gerald of Wales, and, later, Wycliffe's works, Netter's +_Fasciculi Zizaniorum_, Gascoigne's _Loci e libro veritatum_, Pecock's +_Repressor_, and the literary writings of Chaucer, Langland, Gower, +Richard Rolle and others. + +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 +_Greyfriars Chronicle_ (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 +DIPLOMACY). 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 _Calendar of Venetian +State Papers_ 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. + +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 _Correspondance de MM. de Castillon et de Marillac_ 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 Mueller's, Teulet's and Alberi's +collections, the French _Documents inedits_ and the Spanish _Documentos +ineditos_, 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 _Letters +and Papers of Richard III. and Henry VII._ and Campbell's _Materials_ (2 +vols., Rolls series). Then with the reign of Henry VIII. begins the +magnificent and monumental _Letters and Papers of Henry VIII._, 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. + +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. + +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 +_Rotuli parliamentorum_ 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 _Journals_. 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 _Select Cases_ 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. + +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 _Chronicle_ and Machyn's _Diary_, +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 _Reign of Henry +VIII._, Hayward's _Edward VI._, and, on the ecclesiastical side, Heylyn, +Fuller, Burnet and Collier's histories of the church and Reformation. +Foxe, who died in 1587, included a vast and generally accurate +collection of documents in his _Acts and Monuments_, popularized as the +_Book of Martyrs_, 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 _Navigations_, +re-edited in 12 vols. in 1902, and continued in Purchas's _Pilgrims_. + +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 (_Journal to +Stella_), 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 _Great +Rebellion_ and Burnet's _History of My Own Time_ 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, _A History of English Journalism_, 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. + +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 _Grenville Papers_, _Bedford Correspondence_, +Malmesbury's _Diaries_, Auckland's _Journals and Correspondence_, +Grafton's _Correspondence_, Lord North's _Correspondence with George +III._, and other correspondence in _The Memoirs of Rockingham_, and the +duke of Buckingham's _Court and Cabinets of George III._ Mention should +also be made of Gower's _Despatches_, the _Cornwallis Correspondence_, +Rose's _Correspondence_ and Lord Colchester's _Correspondence_. 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. + +Among unofficial sources the most characteristic of the 18th century are +letters, memoirs and periodical literature. Horace Walpole's _Letters_ +(Clarendon Press, 16 vols.) are the best comment on the history of the +period; his _Memoirs_ 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 +_Spectator_; but several daily newspapers, including _The Times_, were +founded during the century. _The Craftsman_ provided a vehicle for +Bolingbroke's attacks on Walpole, while the _Gentleman's Magazine and +Annual Register_ 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 _Anti-Jacobin_ and Gillray's caricatures require +mention. + +The sources for 19th-century history are somewhat similar to those for +the 18th. Diaries continue in the _Creevey Papers_, 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 _Parliamentary Debates_, 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. + +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 _Cambridge Modern History_. 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 _bourgeois_, 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 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. + +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, +_The English Historical Review_ (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 _Dictionary of National +Biography_, the _Cambridge Modern History_, and Messrs Longmans' +_Political History of England_. + + 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 _Constitutional History_ (3 vols.) covers the middle ages and + embodies a political survey as well (for corrections and modifications + see Petit-Dutaillis, _Supplementary Studies_, 1908), while Hallam's + _Constitutional History_ (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 _Making of + England_ and _Conquest of England_ deal with certain portions in some + detail, and Freeman gives a preliminary survey in his _Norman + Conquest_ (6 vols.). For the succeeding period see Freeman's _William + Rufus_, J. H. Round's _Feudal England_ and _Geoffrey de Mandeville_, + and Miss Norgate's _England under the Angevins and John Lackland_. + From 1216 we have nothing but Ramsay, Stubbs, Longmans' _Political + History_ and monographs (some of them good), until we come to Wylie's + _Henry IV_. (4 vols.); and again from 1413 the same is true + (Gairdner's _Lollardy and the Reformation_ being the most elaborate + monograph) until we come to Brewer's _Reign of Henry VIII_. (2 vols.; + to 1530 only), Froude's _History_ (12 vols., 1529-1588) and R. W. + Dixon's _Church History_ (6 vols., 1529-1570). From 1603 to 1656 we + have Gardiner's _History_ (England, 10 vols.; Civil War, 4 vols.; + Commonwealth and Protectorate, 3 vols.), and to 1714 Ranke's _History + of England_ (6 vols.; see also Firth's _Cromwell_ and _Cromwell's + Army_, and various editions of texts and monographs). For Charles II. + there is no good history; then come Macaulay, and Stanhope and Wyon's + _Queen Anne_, 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. + + A few books on special subjects deserve mention. For legal history see + Pollock and Maitland's _History of English Law_ (2 vols. to Edward + I.), Maitland's _Domesday Book and Beyond_, and Anson's _Law and + Custom of the Constitution_; for economic history, Cunningham's + _Growth of Industry and Commerce_, and Ashley's _Economic History_; + for ecclesiastical history, Stephens and Hunt's series (7 vols.); for + foreign and colonial, Seeley's _British Foreign Policy_ and _Expansion + of England_, and J. A. Doyle's books on the American colonies; for + military history, Fortescue's _History of the British Army_, Napier's + and Oman's works on the _Peninsular War_, and Kinglake's _Invasion of + the Crimea_; and for naval history, Corbett's _Drake and the Tudor + Navy, Successors of Drake, English in the Mediterranean_ and _Seven + Years' War_, and Mahan's _Influence of Sea-Power on _History_ and + _Influence_ of Sea-Power upon the French Revolution and Empire_. + + BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BIBLIOGRAPHIES.--The sources for the middle ages have + been enumerated in C. Gross's _Sources and Literature of English + History ... to about 1485_ (London, 1900), but there is nothing + similar for modern history. G. C. Lee's _Source Book of English + History_ is not very satisfactory. More information can be obtained + from the bibliographies appended to the volumes in Longmans' + _Political History_, or the chapters in the _Cambridge Modern + History_, or to the biographical articles in the _D.N.B._ and _Ency. + Brit._ A series of bibliographical leaflets for the use of teachers is + issued by the Historical Association. For MSS. sources see + Scargill-Bird's _Guide to the Record Office_, 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. (A. F. P.) + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] 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, + _Foundations of England_, ii. 235. (Ed.) + + [2] The Nottingham of 1387, who had been promoted to the higher + title. + + [3] Mr Andrew Lang takes a different view of the character of Albany + and his attitude in this matter. See _Hist. of Scotland_, i. 289, and + the article SCOTLAND: _History_.--ED. + + [4] 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. + + [5] The events of the reign of Charles I. are treated in greater + detail in the articles CHARLES I., King of Great Britain and Ireland; + STRAFFORD; HAMPDEN; PYM; GREAT REBELLION; CROMWELL, &c. + + [6] The position of the Corresponding Society was greatly + strengthened by the establishment of the Friends of the People by + Erskine and Grey. + + [7] A vivid account of the mutiny and its causes is given in Captain + Marryat's _King's Own_. + + [8] Edward Henry Stanley, 15th earl of Derby, son of the 14th earl + and former prime minister. + + + + + + + +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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